Intersections

What will be the lasting impact of Bethany UMC? That is an interesting question. Thinking about legacy seems like a very odd thing to do at the beginning of my second year as pastor of this church. But here we are. The summer is winding down. Before long, my kids will be back in school, and the neighborhood will be a little quieter behind my office because school is in session at Shambaugh.  Sometimes it is good to reflect - to wonder, though. I was listening to a podcast recently which said, “Start with the end in mind,” referring to Stephen Covey’s second principle in his book “Seven Habits of Highly Successful People.” In the book, Dr. Covey offers a thought experiment - writing your obituary. Now, some people may find this to be too dark and macabre to consider doing. I know, especially in my 20s and 30s, I would think, “that’s a long time away! I need to make some living first before I figure out what the end is going to look like!” But after living through a pandemic and half...

 Last week, I talked about the first part of Hosea, this book of God’s unrequited love as shown through a marriage that was anything but ordinary.  Who is the person or group hardest for you to extend love to? We all have that one person or group. We also know that God offers grace and mercy to all who come to the throne. I’ll be honest with you - I find difficult people some of the hardest to love. And having two children who are as stubborn as I am means that Tadj has a really hard job some days. What do I mean when I say difficult people? I mean, those friends, acquaintances, maybe family members who put up walls, are unpredictable, don’t know how to apologize or compromise.  Does that sound like you sometimes? Because I’m realizing that that might be hitting a little too close to home for me. Don’t worry - it’s good to know I have more work to do. I might be calling my therapist tomorrow. But coming from the world of family law, I dealt with these people all the t...

 This passage from the Bible doesn’t seem like it belongs there. It feels like we’re reading from a different book, and you might be feeling confused. This and next week may a the only times you ever hear a sermon preached on Hosea and Gomer, so hopefully it’ll make an impact. And if not, well - I’m pretty sure it’s a lot cooler in here than it is outside, so why don’t ya’ll stay for a bit?  Let’s take a wider view of this book before we jump into the scripture today. Hosea is one of the twelve minor Old Testament prophets we’ve been talking about for the last few weeks, and he’ll be the last one in the series. He lived in the northern kingdom of Israel, and he lived about the same time as Amos from last week, just a little bit after him 753 to 715BC, so about seven centuries before Christ. Israel would be captured by Assyria in about 722 BC, so this is the beginning of the end, and based on what Amos heard from God, that seems accurate.  Hosea is preaching to Israel, and...

 Twelve years ago, I was reeling and recovering from my life implosion that happened only the previous year. I had been knocked down and to be honest, I was kind of bitter about it. I was angry that this is how my life was turning out. I knew I had to get out, make some new connections, friends, acquaintances - even. Fort Wayne was a very different place then. As much as we still had the Three Rivers Festival downtown, that was about the ONLY attraction, especially in the summer, that was going on and pulled people in from the suburbs and outlying regions to celebrate, or even to spend much time down there. If you would have gone downtown at any time after 5:00 on a weekday, you might have seen some misplaced tumbleweeds rolling down the street. Nothing was happening.  One thing that had started happening though, that there was a new young professionals group, called YLNI or Young Leaders of Northeast Indiana, who were under 40 and wanted to make Fort Wayne more palatable sinc...

  Last week, the scripture was out of 2nd Kings, and the story about Elisha and Naaman. Naaman had been struck with leprosy and wanted to get healed. His wife’s servant knew of a man who could do just that. He had to listen to the Spirit and go into his enemy’s land to get healed. At any point, he could have refused but he also knew that his goal of healing wouldn’t happen.  But if last week was about listening to the Spirit and follow as you’re lead, our scripture today is all about looking around and seeing who may be prophets around us. We are switching from a narrative story told more from the kings perspective to individual prophets. Before we dive too deep in, let’s zoom out for a second. This book takes place about the same time period as the stories from last week. We are talking about 8 centuries before Christ. The Israelite nation are still split into a northern kingdom (known as Israel) and the southernmost kingdom (known as Judah). Amos was from the southern kingdo...

  What might we learn if we took the risk to listen? If we took the risk to let these holy ones of God become our traveling companions on our summer journey? We might be troubled, and we will be, but we might also be lifted up. We might be challenged, but we might find reasons for hope, or we might find a renewed vision that inspires us for all the journeys we make. So, what do you say? Are you up for a journey this summer, a journey to the edge of our faith? Then you’re ready for “Prophet Margins.” I understand that this is a play on the phrase "profit margins", which are a business assessment tool to determine what percentage of their income is, on average, more than their expenses. The higher a profit margin, the more a company can keep or reinvest in their business. Profitability is a good sign for the health of a company.  But how do we determine whether the church is profitable or not? Do we really have a good or service that we are “selling”? I’d like to think everyone...

  Where have you felt most at home? I gotta be honest, when I was switching churches from Covenant to here, I was nervous as anything. Not only was I coming to a whole community that I had never met, but ya'll expected me to lead in an area which I felt very unprepared for. Don't get me wrong, I had a good several months of culture and career change shock, but I'd like to think I handled it well. How do you know you're at a place that feels like home? As some of you know from the Eagles' song, it's a peaceful easy feeling. You can let your guard down after some time... it's amazing how long some people keep their guards up. Especially in church. I understand the idea that this is where you've always attended or your parents or grandparents laid the foundation. But you still need to feel at home, comfortable, because that helps in living an authentic life.  This scene reminded me, if you crank up the dramatics past ten, of a scene from the Lord of the R...

  This morning we are celebrating Trinity Sunday - that may not mean a whole lot to each of you, but it’s a celebration of the triune nature of God - the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. In the celebration of these three - in some pastors, there’s a desire to try to explain the relationship between these, and so this might be a really quick sermon or much more than anyone bargained for today. To help out - let’s take a twenty minute meditation as I have my children come in here with blown up photos of puppies and kittens.   Ok - they’re not coming. But this is one of the most difficult concepts in the whole Bible to try to explain. And any of my words will not do it any justice, even if I was an expert on the topic, but I am not. What do you think of when you think of wisdom? Your teeth? - all four of my wisdom teeth are out. Do you think of the term “collective wisdom” - wisdom seems to be more than just one individual thing, right? Like - let’s put our brains together...

The Bible is full of big stories, and how they can get done through what God can do. From Noah and the ark, Joseph and his ability to decipher dreams, to Daniel in the lions' den; God is capable of doing amazing things.  Pentecost is one of these stories. Let me set up the scene, Jesus had just died and before his ascension to heaven, told the disciples - stay in Jerusalem until they receive "the gift that the Father promised", and that soon they will be "baptized with the Holy Spirit", in chapter 1 of Acts.  Since they were followers of Jesus, they decided to wait. It may have been like hunkering down at the beginning of our pandemic. They knew something awesome was going to happen, they just couldn't know WHEN it would. We don't know what time of year it is when Jesus tells them to wait, but we know now that is the time of Pentecost.  Pentecost is also known as "the Festival of Weeks" because it happens fifty days, or approximately seven week...

School’s out! My kids just finished up their last in their respective classes, and I’m sure they are excited to be out for a couple months. I know especially that the teachers are ready for a break. My favorite memories of summertime were being able to ride my bike through my neighborhood and playing games with my friends - whether it was baseball, basketball, street hockey, or whatever - we’d take advantage of all of the daylight that we could. There’s something about this time about this time of year that everything feels a little looser, like our spirit gets reinvigorated. Not sure if it’s the sunshine, the warm weather, or more things to do, but I’ll take it, especially since the COVID restrictions have been lifted most places. We feel like we can travel if we want, even if it’s to a state park or lake for some camping.  This aliveness reminds me of Pentecost, which we will be celebrating on  June  5th - the day when the Holy Spirit came down to live in the hearts of ...

Representative John Lewis, a towering figure for civil rights, coined the phrase "good trouble." This week's text says some wrongs need to be righted: there are systems, presumptions and prejudices, oppressive patterns, and economic cycles that are impossible to break out of without help. We are making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. What does that transformation look like?   Wait - you might be thinking that this is going to get political... No - don't worry. It might get political, but not in the way you think. At least - not in any more than I have been any other week. Isn't it political to call for the transformation of the world? Doesn't that cast a vision on how we want to live?  In that vision, do we sing about peace and stop studying war? Shall we pray about an end to hunger and living into God's abundance even here and now in our fruitful world? Who can we look to partner with?  These are questions to ask when ...