Big Rocks

Big Rocks - Jan 31, 2012

Disclaimer: This is going to be somewhat personal. I’m going to attempt to share some of my internal hopes and dreams for the next 12 months. I’m not sure if this format is the right place to do it, but I feel compelled to put it out there. Maybe those who read this will, not only get to know me a little differently, but will also hold me accountable.

I used to have in my bag of tricks a children’s sermon that I could use with a minimal amount of preparation. It dates back to my time in the group “Son’s Reflections” – a group of college students that traveled around to small rural churches in central Nebraska offering to lead worship in exchange for a meal.

The children’s message went like this. I would have two glass jars (the size of spaghetti sauce), several large rocks, and some rice. The glass jar represented our day (finite and limited) and the rice represented the things we chose to spend our time on. I would ask the children to list the things that they do each day and we would pour rice into one of the jars. If it was something they did a lot of (sleep, eat, watch tv) we would put a lot of rice in – until the jar was full. Then I would say that we forgot some pretty important things. These were the big rocks. They represented things like prayer and bible study, worship and thanksgiving. And since we tried to put them in the jar last, they didn’t fit – like trying to fit in a quick prayer at the end of the day. So then I took the other jar and put the big rocks in first. And then we poured the rice around them and it all fit in. The point was that if you take the time to do the important things, i.e. the “big rocks” first you would still have time for the other parts of your day. If you waited until the end to put the “big rocks” in  then there simply wouldn’t be enough time. It was an exercise in priorities and I thought I was very clever (although I’m not sure how effective the lesson really was with small kiddos!).

At the risk of revealing the true depth of my dorkiness, I have always like this idea of big rocks. (And I’ll admit – I was greatly influenced by Stephen Covey’s “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” which I read during my freshman year of college. Covey outlines the practice of “sharpening your saw” as the big rocks. If you really want to know the depths of my Covey admiration, just ask Meg about the 3X5 note card I used to always carry in my back pocket when we first started dating!).

I have four big rocks: Physical, Mental, Social/Emotional, and Spiritual that I find important to think about and prioritize and set goals and live into on a regular basis. This past Sunday (January 29^th) was the annual meeting of Community Presbyterian Church…and I usually use the annual meeting of the church as an excuse to re-examine my big rocks for the coming year. So here are my big rocks for Feb 1, 2012 through Jan 31, 2013.

Big Rock Number 1: Physical – The bottom line is – I need to lose some weight by exercising more because I feel so much better and have more energy when I do. The reality is this: As I get closer to 40, I’ve noticed that my metabolism continues to slow down. And given the history of heart disease and diabetes in my family of origin, I need to make the number on the scale go down a bit.

            When I have run on a regular basis, I have greatly enjoyed it. The “runner’s high” is real and after about 3-4 weeks of running I feel really good. So my goals for the next 12 months are to run more. Specifically to commit to running in a few road races. I think the time is right to train for a ½ marathon. I am going to run a 5K in May in May (Med City 5K in Rochester on May 26), and 10K in June (Circle of Life 10K in Lake City on June 23^rd) and the ½ Marathon in August (Saturday, August 25^th – Rochester). They are close so I might as well.

            And I will specifically target weight loss early in the running plan so that I can reach my target weight by my brother-in-law’s wedding at the end of June.

Big Rock Number 2: Mental – Reading keeps me sharp. My goal for 2012 is to read 20 books. 4 each in the topics of Family Systems, Leadership, Preaching, Theology, and Young Adult/Fantasy (hey – Harry Potter can preach as well!). I’m still putting together my list but I did get 3 books on Family Systems and John Maxwell’s “Put Your Dream to the Test” from Amazon recently.

Big Rock Number 3: Social/Emotional – This big rock has always been the hardest for me to be specific about (you can insert your own joke about my emotional health being the hardest for me to maintain) because after work and family obligation I find it challenging to make time for this. I know that folks at church become friends and time with family is good for emotional health…but I’ve never found the best way to articulate this in a goal form. My initial thoughts for the next 12 months include connecting with my family. I’ve recently gotten interested in genealogy and I would like to take advantage of technology (like Skype) to connect with my extend family and learn some of the history of my people. I would also like to continue to open myself up to new friendships in Plainview and at Community Presbyterian Church. And somehow I think learning how to fish (since I’m in the land of 10000 lakes!) would be good for my emotional health…

Big Rock Number : Spiritual – This is one of my favorite “rocks” to spend time with. As I continue to grow in God’s grace, I will continue to commit to a life of daily prayer, using the first 30 minutes of each work day to ground myself in prayer in the beautiful sanctuary of Community Presbyterian Church. Some days I skip this because I feel to busy, and it affects my psyche. I would also like to figure out some way for me to engage in some form of personal bible study that is not just preparing to preach. Now that I am preaching every Sunday, I am reading more commentaries and delving deeper into the scriptures…but it is all a part of sermon prep. It seems to me that I need something more, or different at least. And finally, I feel compelled to once again start engaging the psaltar, my favorite book of the bible. I want to memorize 12 Psalms in the next 12 months.

In a couple of weekends I will be sitting down with the elders and deacons of Community Presbyterian Church for a leadership retreat and a time of strategic planning. I hope that we will be able to talk about the “big rocks,” the important things at Community Presbyterian Church that we need to focus on in the near and long-term future. I’m sure more will be said about that soon.

Thanks for reading!

Pastor John

Good News

Read Mark 1:14-20

Here is an excerpt from my sermon - "Good News?" - preached on Sunday, January 22nd, 2012 at Community Presbyterian Church in Plainview, Minnesota:

“Jesus, according to Mark’s gospel, came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God and saying “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”
            In these words, I hear an invitation to us. It is an invitation to follow…to follow Jesus Christ into a new life. It might be more dramatic than we can imagine to picture ourselves leaving everything we have to follow him (like the disciples in this story do), but I don’t hear that in the invitation to us. What I hear is the invitation to a new way of life, a way of life that is oriented towards God’s kingdom. Jesus invites us to repent (in other words to turn away from that which keeps us apart from God) and believe in the good news of Jesus Christ (turn towards the God we know in the person of Jesus Christ).

Jesus invites us into a way of life that is far richer and more abundant that a life we could create on our own. It’s not an easy life, a life without difficulty, but it is a life worth living. It’s a life in which we give the best of ourselves away, through service, through mission, through compassion, and find that love and mercy and grace are returned to us in abundance.

There was something compelling enough in Jesus’ invitation to the disciples that they dropped everything and followed him into a new way to live…”

For me, the compelling thing about Jesus message is that invited his disciples to be part of a new story, the unfolding of God's love made real and visible in the world in the person of Jesus Christ. Mark's gospel is pretty clear that the story being told is about the "good news of Jesus Christ (Mark 1:1).

The thing I think about a lot is that we also have a story to tell. And we need to work to make our story compelling enough that others hear in our story the invitation to follow and become disciples. 

I did a little experiment in worship this week. During the sermon, I asked the congregation to turn to one another and to share with others the story about when they made the decision to attend church on their own. When did you come to church because you wanted to, not because you were trying to please your parents (or your grandparents) and not because you were trying to impress someone? When did the church become a part of the story of who you are? I gave folks a minute, and it seemed well received. I don't know what exactly they talked about - but I do know that they weren't silent!

In order for us to tell a compelling story, we need to remind ourselves why the story is compelling to us. For me, I really don't remember a time in which I didn't enjoy going to church. As I recall (and my parents might disagree!) when my triplet sisters went to college and I became a freshman in high school (and somewhat like an only child!), my parents gave me the choice if I wanted to attend church or not. And for the most part I did attend. And I'm grateful for the First Presbyterian Church in Alliance, Nebraska and the community of saints there that kept me fed and nourished me as I grew. When I went to college, I didn't always attend church on Sunday morning...at least not until my future wife, Meg, needed a ride and I saw it as one more opportunity to spend time with her!

In other words, I have always been at home in church. And for me, I think that is important to be a part of a community of faith. Because there is something about struggling with things that matter together and being nourished and fed together that I think are important. 

Somewhere I have my favorite Kathleen Norris quote, which goes something like this. "I'd rather do something together with others and have it come out completely wrong, than do something alone and have it come out exactly right." I like this quote because I suspect that even if things go completely wrong in community, the experience of being and working together is a sacred and holy experience...and in most things holy and sacred, the precise definitions of "exactly right" and "completely wrong" are much harder for us to grasp. Doing things in community, together, matter. 

I guess you could say I believe that "Community Matters."

Pastor John 

Come and See

Jesus said to them, "Come and see." (John 1:39)
Philip said to him, "Come and see." (John 1:46)

I read recently (but not recent enough that I can remember where it came from!) that, at least in John's gospel, our faith does not start with a doctrinal statement about what we are to believe; rather, our faith starts with an invitation. Jesus invites Andrew and Philip. Philip invites Nathanael. And, by extension, we are also invited to "Come and See." This invitation is to enter a relationship. Come and see what God is up to in my life. Come and see what God is up to in the world. Come and see what God is up to in my church.

We who are already experiencing a relationship with God in Jesus Christ are called to invite others to "come and see" what God is doing. This is (surprisingly) harder than it sounds. But it shouldn't be. I don't know if we are afraid of sounding like religious nuts, but I find that it is hard to invite people into a relationship with Jesus. (We must remember, that it is just that - an invitation. We are not trying to convince someone to believe a certain way; we are inviting people into a life-changing relationship.)

Come and see. Here's my invitation to you:

I have been the pastor of Community Presbyterian Church for nearly six months. I love my new church and I am truly marveled and grateful for the work of God, through pastor nominating committees and discernment, that matched us together. For me, the name Community Presbyterian, is so much more than a name--it is descriptive. We are a community. One of the things that I love about my church is that there are many ways to  put our faith into action. We are eager to reach out a hand and extend our love. We care about the community, as well as the world and we are willing to roll up our sleeves and do some good work in the name of Jesus Christ. There are many good things happening at Community Presbyterian Church right now. I invite you to come and see. I believe that you will see God at work in the lives of others as we gather for worship, for study, and for service.

Sincerely,
Pastor John

Home By Another Way

"And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way." Matthew 2:12, King James Version.

Matthew 2:1-12 tells the story of the visit of the wise men from the East, who bring lavish gifts to the baby Jesus and kneel to worship and adore him. It is a wonderful story, one in which the limited amount of details have fueled and captivated our imaginations, the the church tells each Epiphany. (Or, in my opinion, should tell each Epiphany; our culture's collectively shortened attention span attempts to put the entire Christmas story into the weeks preceeding Christmas...and then be done with it. We collapse the stories of the shepherds, angels and wise men into one night's Children's paegent...but I'm starting to rant!)

The part of the story of the visitors that capture my imagination is the very end of the story. The visitors from the East, because they are warned in a dream to not return to Herod (who had plans of his own regarding the newborn Christ child) return home by "another way." For me, this notion of returning home by a different way is a metaphor for our spiritual journey. When we encounter Jesus and when we give him the best of ourselves, we are transformed and become different. We can't help but return home a different way - because we are different. Like the author of Second Corinthians claims, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17)."

Having encountered Christ once again, through the preparation of Advent and the celebration of the birth narratives at Christmas time, I wonder: how am I different? What different route am I going to return home by? I think there are times in my own life where I neglect and forget about the continuing and ongoing nature of the transformed life in Christ. I act as if the moment in which I have been made new was something that happened in the past. I am reminded that this new thing that God is doing in my life is something to be lived into.

The beginning of a new year is a time for many of us to take stock and review and intentionally reflect on ways we want the next 12 months to be different. Many of us make goals that involve eating less candy, exercising more, or get back to blogging more (okay, that one is for me, since this hasn't exactly been the weekly discipline I imagined it to be.). I have certainly done that in the past, and in fact, most years my list of "New Year's Resolutions" is identical. It's difficult to change habits and create something new.

Which means brings be back to this idea that God leads us home by a different way after an encounter with Jesus Christ. As I think about 2012 and the ways in which I hope (and yearn) to experience God's newness in my life, I find myself thinking about reconnecting with the basic disciplines of prayer, reading the bible, bible study with others, and worship. I do this things with some frequency (some better, more regularly than others I'll admit), but I want to approach them with a new spirit of openness to see what new thing God might be doing in/through/around me. I guess you could say that I am returning "home" trusting that God will lead me there by a new way.

I'll do my best to keep you posted.

Pastor John