Which Caterpillar Are You?



Transformation



A small, earthbound, slow moving caterpillar inches its way along the branch of the tree, munching on the leaves as he crawls along.  Life is OK.  He was surviving.  He eventually finds his best friend, another small earthbound, slow moving caterpillar inching his way along the branch of the tree, munching on leaves as he crawls along.  They talk about the weather, about the tenderness of the leaves, and other such things important to caterpillars.  One of the caterpillars finally got up the courage to say what was on his mind, “So, what do you think about this cocoon thing?”  “Oh, I don’t like it at all,” replied the other caterpillar.  “I heard once you go in, that’s it.  As a caterpillar you die.  You are all cramped up in the tiny space and you start to change and it hurts and its dark.  I’m not going to do it.  How about you?” 

“I don’t know,” answered the first caterpillar.  “They say that what happens is really amazing. And that you can fly and be all colorful.  I’d love to know what it feels like to fly.  I don’t like the thought of being in a cocoon, but I think that afterward, life could be way better.  It’ll be hard and scary, I know.  But I hear that it’s worth it.  I think I might try it.”  Trusting the process of transformation, that caterpillar entered into the cocoon, giving up life as he knew it, and after some painful and scary times, emerged from that cocoon as a beautiful butterfly, floating along the air, living a life he had never dreamed possible.  The other caterpillar remained a small earthbound slow moving creature inching his way along the branch of the tree, munching on the leaves as he crawled along.

Transformation.  The process of dying in order to live.  As this Lenten season begins, we are reminded that God is all about transformation.  In Christ, we are a new creation.  The old is gone and a new life has begun.  But being inside the cocoon is scary, dark, painful, and uncertain.  New life begins in the dark, uncertain times of our life.  In the operating room, in the loneliness, in the doubt, in the trials and tribulations of life.  We worship a God who knows all about this.  Who went through the cocoon of betrayal, mockery, beatings, and crucifixion in order to get to Easter Sunday.  The only way to get to the empty tomb is through the cross.  Jesus asks us to die to ourselves, our ambitions, desires, greed, selfishness, in order to fully live an abundant life in him: a life of love and sacrifice and generosity.  Ponder in this Lenten season whether God is asking you to let a part of you die (a bad habit, over indulgence, frivolous spending, thinking of yourself first) in order for you to truly live.  Yes, it's dark and painful inside that cocoon.  But as the first caterpillar found out: Boy, is it worth it!  Which caterpillar will you be this year?

Recalculating!

I can't imagine how I ever lived without my GPS.  I don't go anywhere without it.  It has been a lifesaver in so many instances.  At the same time, I can't tell you how many times I have made a wrong turn trying to follow my GPS only to hear those words, "Recalculating!"  It means I messed up (again!).  But it also means that this little device is going to help me get back on track, no matter how many "when possible make a u-turn" statements it makes.  Eventually it may take a little longer, but I always get where I intend to go.

Two weeks from today is Ash Wednesday.  In essence, God's Positioning System is telling us to recalculate.  Have you ever been confounded by life?  Confused, lost, without direction. Ever feel like you were always making the wrong choices and going down the wrong path?  We have all gone in some wrong directions, made wrong turns, and gotten off course.  God uses Ash Wednesday as a day to "recalculate."  To take stock of where we are, where we want to be headed, and to make some adjustments in life.  But Ash Wednesday isn't just a way of guilting us into how wrong we have been.  It also helps us to "make a u-turn when possible" and with our faithful obedience, can get us back on the right track.

Wherever you are, go to an Ash Wednesday service this year.  Allow God's Positioning System to recalculate your route in life.  Make some u-turns of repentance of the ways you have strayed.  And get back on the right road this Lenten season.

Under Renovation

As I type this, the sound of hammering is pounding in my ears.  The church started renovations this week.  What a mess!!  The existing internal structure of platforms and carpet were torn out.  Hammering, saws, and other pounding noise fills my days.  Dust and dirt and sawdust fill the air.  Fascinating items have been unearthed such as an old acorn that some critter brought in and left in the church walls as well as old newspaper pages shoved under the old platform dated February 25, 1929. 

Being under renovation is inconvenient to say the least.  The office is cold because the door to the sanctuary (which is not heated) is left open all the time.  People come in to ask me questions.  And it's not the ideal working environment with noise and dust everywhere.

 

Being under renovation is hard, messy work.  It takes skill, strength, patience, and persistence.  It takes a vision to see beyond the mess to what could be, what will soon be.  It takes a set of plans so those involved know the next step and the specifications needed to make that vision a reality.

And yet being under renovation means that something better is coming our way.  The sanctuary gets "worse" before it can be improved and more suitable for use.  It's exciting!  While all I see now is a complete mess, that mess indicates that something newer will be here soon, something we as a church have dreamed about for a long time.

And while our sanctuary is under physical renovation, maybe we as human beings are under renovation too.  Maybe God the Great Contractor wants to tear some things down, some attitudes, some behaviors, some thoughts out of our lives and replace them with more loving, accepting, sacrificial attitudes.  Maybe God is trying to renovate our hearts so that we can become more like Christ.  But in order to do that, it will be inconvenient.  It will be hard and messy.  But it means that we will be created into something better, something more like what we are called to be.

So what do you say?  Do you want to be someone who is under God's renovation?

God Will Make A Way

We all go on journeys in life: college, marriage, new job, retirement.  Journeys begin and end with the rhythm of life.  I've found that spending some time with the Exodus story gives me a better idea how to live out the journeys I travel in life.  Maybe that's why I want to spend 6 weeks preaching on that whole story.  We know bits and pieces of course: crossing the Red Sea, manna and quail in the wilderness, the ten commandments, and finally crossing the Jordan to reach the promised land.  And what strikes me about each scene is that through it all they whine and complain and doubt and beg Moses to go back to slavery in Egypt.

I can relate.  It's easier to live with the slavery we know, the chains we are comfortable with, rather than venture out into uncertainty and the unknown.  It's easier to stay in that job you hate, instead of take the leap to look for another, possibly better job.  It's easier to stay in that relationship that is not right for you, instead of getting back into the dating scene again.  It's easier to stay stuck in the same old routine, in life, in church, in your family, rather than break away from that cycle to do something different.  It's easier to keep silent when we hear racist or hurtful remarks, instead of speaking up and challenging those comments. 

So on one hand, I try not to beat myself up when I have thoughts of going back to Egypt.  When I want to regress and return to a simpler but unhealthy way of life.  At the same time, I remember that God was faithful in leading the Israelites to the promised land.  That even with the whining and complaining and doubting and begging to go back, God persevered with the people God loved so much.  God was faithful to the end.  God is faithful even now.  God will always be faithful.

So when you have moments of regretting your bold decision to move forward in life, or you can't seem to make that decision to break away from the slavery you find yourself in, just remember that God can make a way when there seems to be no way.  God will remain faithful even when we aren't.  Thanks be to God!

Baptism: Jesus' Coming Out Party

Have you ever thought about why Jesus was baptized?  I mean, if baptism is about forgiving sin then Jesus didn't need to be baptized since he never sinned.  If baptism is about joining the church, Jesus didn't need to be baptized since there was no church to join at that point, at least not an organized one.  So why was Jesus baptized?

Part of the answer has to do with the scene at his baptism.  Mark records in the fifth verse of the first chapter, "And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him (John), and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins."  Imagine hundreds and hundreds of people all gathered along the river bank, some in the water, some lined up to be next, some just observing as spectators.  Then comes Jesus.  Jesus wasn't baptized because he needed to be.  He was baptized because WE needed him to be.

Baptism was Jesus' coming out party.  He came out to humanity as God's Son, publicly announced by God's own voice and the descending of the Holy Spirit.  After living 30 years on this earth, it was time for multitudes of people to know who he really was.  It was time for humanity, then and now, to experience Jesus, not just as a good guy or even a good prophet, but as the Son of the Living God. 

Jesus plunged into the same muddy river Jordan as hundreds of others that John baptized, uniting in solidarity with them and with us.  Identifying himself with humanity, broken and struggling, Jesus joined the masses in order to reveal who he was.  Now they knew.  Now they could follow.  Now they caught a glimpse, not of Jesus of Nazareth, but of Jesus the Christ.

May we too catch a glimpse of Jesus the Christ as we remember his baptism this Sunday.  May we participate in his coming out party as we rejoice that he is Son of the Living God, Lord of all creation, and Savior of humanity.  At Christmas we believed, we hoped, we kept the faith that the Savior was born.  Now we know for sure, for we too are invited to be witnesses to Jesus at his coming out party.

Read It Again, Mommy!

     I continue to be amazed at how my young children can listen to stories over and over and over again.  Just as soon as the last page is read, I invariably hear, "Read it again, Mommy!"  The same goes for videos or CDs in the car.  How can children hear the same thing so many times?  Don't they already know the characters, the plot, and how it all ends?  In fact, my 4 year old is starting to recite various lines from movies, books, and songs because he knows them so well.  What is this fascination with listening to the same story over and over again?  Maybe it's the way human beings learn, even absorb stories and lessons and truth.  It starts to shape us, our thinking, our behavior, our speech. 

     Perhaps that is the reason for the rhythm of the church calendar.  After all it's the same stories over and over and over again, Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Ash Wednesday, Lent, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter, Pentecost.  The same stories in scripture such as the Good Samaritan, the Widow offering her two last coins at the temple, the Woman at the Well, Jesus with the Children, the Greatest Commandments, salt and light and sheep and goats.  Attending church on a regular basis, we will hear all these stories multiple times.  Maybe it's the way Christians learn, even absorb the stories and lessons and Truth that God has to teach us.  And it starts to shape us, our thinking, our behavior, our speech.
     As you hear the Christmas story once again this weekend, ask God to "Read it again!"  It's not that we don't know the story.  But maybe it's that we need to allow that story to re-create us, shape our thinking, our behavior, our speech.  Maybe we need to absorb that story, even memorize some of its lines, so that it becomes a part of us each and every day of the year.  God's love became flesh and lived among us.  May you know God's love, living among you, this Christmas season.

And a Little Child Shall Lead Them

    If there ever was a time of year when children lead us adults in joy, wonder, and imagination, it's Christmas time.  Seeing through the eyes of a child, we experience the magic of Christmas once again.  Remember when the days leading up to Christmas seemed to last forever?  Remember when the possibilities seemed endless when you filled out your Christmas list?  Remember when you woke up WAY before dawn to rush into the living room where presents were stacked around the Christmas tree?  There was no such thing as stress or pressure during this time.  Only excitement and happiness and wonder.  Don't you wish you could recapture some of that childlike excitment this time of year?
    I'm fortunate to experience Christmas with a 4 and 2 year old this year.  I love watching their eyes dance when we open our advent calendars and light candles.  I love witnessing their excitement as they pick toys for other children listed on the angel tree.  I love watching them become animated as we anticipate lighting the advent wreath in church this Sunday, or the coming of grandma and grandpoo, or reiterating the one or two things they really want for Christmas.
    My children have helped me to dream and imagine once again.  If the possibilities are endless, what do I want for Christmas?  Peace, hope, wisdom, joy.  That's at least a good start.  And why not?  Are these not gifts that come from God for those who ask, seek, and knock? 
    After all, who is putting all that adult stress and pressure and expectation on me, anyway?  So maybe this year I'm going to be a little less adultlike, and a little more childlike.  Maybe I'll wonder a little more, allow the excitement to seep into my bones,  and awaken my imagination to the endless possibilities that Christmas brings.  And my little children shall lead me.