placeholder for flash movie

First Congregational

United Church of Christ

... exploring the frontiers of faith in Jesus

A great generation

These are the people I grew up among, and the people who explicitly shaped my faith, and who, in shaping my faith, also very much shaped my sense of identity and purpose. I learned from them a style of faith that is a life calling, not merely a Sunday morning duty. There is no way you could separate their faith in Jesus from the rest of their lives because it was so closely and intimately intertwined in everything they thought and said and did.

It is interesting that, for me, the compelling invitation to center my life on Jesus came from outside the church, from experiences and relationships outside church in its traditional forms. And yet it is precisely those experiences and those relationships and that faith born outside the church that led me here into ministry in the church!

Hearing of Rusty’s death made me think again of those formative years, of my father and his InterVarsity colleagues, and Lynne’s father, people of that great generation of Christian men and women to whom I owe so much. And remembering them made me want to tell you about them, so they might inspire you, too!

They were passionate people, passionate about their faith, passionate about Jesus, passionately sharing Jesus’ love with friends and strangers alike.

They were gentle people, strong and capable and smart, but gentle and humble, not needing a lot of attention or accolades.

They were people of depth and integrity, practicing what they preached, their faith, as I have said, seamlessly woven into the fabric of their lives.

They were warm people, fun people, accessible and gracious and welcoming.

They were faithful people, serving God and God’s people with all they had, all their lives, until the end.

And they all had those qualities of character Paul prayed that the people of the Colossian church would have: knowledge and strength and joy.

Read the rest of the sermon

Gently, gently

My friends, if someone is caught in any kind of wrongdoing ...

How would you finish that sentence?

If someone is caught in any kind of wrongdoing ... I hope he gets what’s coming to him!

If someone is caught in any kind of wrongdoing ... whatever happens is her own darn fault for getting caught!

If someone is caught in any kind of wrongdoing ... I just pray, pray it’s not me!

What would you say?

What do you say? What do you do?

What do you do when a friend is caught cheating on his wife? Do you put him on your “do not call” list? Do you cut him off, cut him out of your life? Or do you try to understand what may have led him to do it: stress, conflict in his marriage, a relationship that was already on life support? Do you pity him, pity his weakness, pity his poor judgment, pity the grief he will have to endure? Or are you angry? Are you bitter about his stupidity, his insensitivity, his betrayal of trust? Do you hope he falls flat on his face?

What do you do when you see someone lose her temper? Do you make a mental note to stay out of her way? Or, at least, to make sure you stay on her good side? Do you make excuses for her? She had a hard day. They just pushed her too far. Somebody had to say something, and I’m glad she finally did. Or do you wait and hope for the day when someone will give her a good dose of her own medicine?

What do you do when someone is being a bully: pushy and demanding and insensitive? Do you just take him with a grain of salt and say, “That’s just who he is?” Do you push back, trading barb for barb, cut for cut, letting her know you’re not one to mess with? Or do you keep your cool, saving your resentment to be shared with people who will sympathize and take your side and agree with you that she is indeed a most disagreeable woman?

What do you say when they don’t show up, when they don’t come to church, when they don’t do their part, when you can’t count on them to be there? Nothing? Do you say, “It’s their loss?” Do you say, “I would never do that. I would never join a church and disappear. I keep my commitments.”

What do you do when you catch someone lying to you? Drop him like a hot potato? Read him the riot act? Think of a way to get even?

What do you say, what do you do, when someone is caught in any kind of wrongdoing? This is what Paul said. This is how he finished the sentence ...

Read the rest of the sermon

Shalom

We wait for what God has promised

Earth

... new heavens and a new earth!

• Read my essay, Heaven can wait

From Tidings, Staff Corner ...

It has been a tough year for our planet and its people -- earthquakes in Haiti and China, the swine flu pandemic, the worldwide recession, a mine explosion in West Virginia, a huge oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, catastrophic flooding in Nashville. Fortunately, we have been spared much of the pain here in Iowa -- no floods like 1993 or 2008 or tornadoes like the one that did so much damage that same spring of 2008.

And yet, we have not really been spared, have we? We share the pain of our brothers and sisters, because we care, and because we belong to Christ. Because we belong to Christ, we share each other’s pain, just as Christ shares our pain.

Sometimes, we want to close our eyes or stop our ears. We don’t want to hear any more bad news! But we do watch. We do listen. Because we care. Because we belong to Christ. Because we hope that someday when we are the ones in pain, somebody will be watching and listening.
It is hard to care, hard to keep on caring. Our financial and emotional resources are so quickly tapped out. And yet, because we belong to Christ, we can tap in to an overflowing and infinite spiritual resource! Tears are a Christ-like response to disaster. Despair is not.

I was reading a report recently from someone who had visited Haiti after the earthquake. Her observations reflect my own during my nine days there nineteen years ago. She saw ... joyful people! She heard people in the streets ... singing hymns!

We feel sorry for the people of Haiti, but maybe they should feel sorry for us! It seems that we are often the sad ones! Poverty, struggle, suffering make break us ... or make us. With the Lord’s help, with the Lord’s strength and courage and grace, what is hard can leave us stronger and wiser, more hopeful and more joyful.

May we watch and listen and share the pain of this world, not turning away, not turning off. And as we do, may we be strengthened by and may we encourage others with our faith, faith that lets us see the beauty that is still there to see, the hope that is still there to count on, the God who is still there to believe in.

The future of our world and of ourselves does not hang in the balance. It rests ... in God’s hands.

Tim

From my blog, a believer's journal ...

heaven can wait

I don’t expect to go to heaven.

At one time I did. At one time, making myself worthy of heaven was the focus of my life. From early childhood, I learned what it meant to ask Jesus into my heart with the hope of spending eternity with him in heaven. I learned to live for the sake of heaven. I wanted to please God now, do what God wanted now, so that one day, when my life came to its inevitable end, I might enjoy that great reward, life without end in a perfect place.

That childhood faith became my adolescent faith and the faith I carried into young adulthood. By that time, my faith was more informed and articulate and nuanced, but the core of my belief remained the same: faith in Jesus secured for me, and for all who share that faith, the reward of eternal life in heaven.

I don’t believe that anymore.

Read the rest of this blog post and leave your comment at: heaven can wait.