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Jesus Graffiti

6/29/2015

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A recent article in several newspapers noted the “Jesus graffiti” that’s been appearing around Florence. Someone has been painting “Jesus Son of God,” “Jesus is Lord,” or just the word “Jesus” on the streets and highways. Reaction has been somewhat mixed.

Some people think it’s free speech, but I wonder if they would feel the same if it said something different. “Death to America,” “I love Clemson” (or USC), or “Mark Sanford is an adulterer,” would all bring different reactions. But when you add “Jesus” to it, somehow people are more accepting of it. Even if it is a childish and silly thing to do. I think that whoever does it, does it because it is a form of “sacred vandalism.” It is a way of being rebellious, but setting up a religious facade. “I was just proclaiming ‘Jesus is Lord.’ What’s wrong with that?” Sort of reminds me of the teenagers who were “Tebowing” in the halls of their high schools a couple of years ago. Ostensibly they were going down on one knee to pray to God. In reality, they were just blocking traffic in the hallways, trying to delay getting to the next class, and wanting to be different without paying much attention to the consequences. Or, in other words, they were being adolescents. A far cry from Jesus’ command, “But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” (Matthew 6:6)

Same goes for the graffiti. Sneaking out onto a road when no one is looking and spray painting the word “Jesus” does not make a profession of faith. Nor does it bring anyone closer to Christ, except maybe those who, while reading the graffiti, swerve off the road and towards a power pole.

I have nothing against symbols and signs. I wear a small cross around my neck,  not to tell others about my faith, but to remind me that I bear Christ wherever I go. It reminds me that when people see me, that I am representing Jesus. My car tag has “HPUMC” on it, and I often worry that people who see me drive will think “Durn if I want to go t that church.” Or worse yet, a child from our preschool will point t my car on Saturday and say “Mommy, what is Pastor Mike’s car doing at the liquor store?” “He’s just getting ready for Sunday, honey.”

I know lots of people who spend lots of money on Jesus paraphernalia (t-shirts, jewelry, home decorations, car stickers, cds, videos), sometimes more than they spend helping others for whom Jesus died. I have a hard time thinking of Jesus saying, “I was hungry, and you bought a t-shirt with John 3:16 on it.”

I think if I want the words “Jesus is Lord” written anywhere, it should be on my heart, in my mind, in the works of my hands and feet, and prominently on my checkbook (see Matthew 6:21). Anywhere else is just…well…..graffiti.


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Change and Transformation

6/26/2015

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I’ve been thinking a lot about change and transformation lately. I read somewhere that change was only transitory or outward (as in “He changed his clothes”) but transformation was inward and longer lasting (as in “She’s transformed into a new person since graduating”). I’ve also read that while we may make changes (or even force them on others) only God can transform a person.

I’m not so sure.

Where I’ve heard this come up the most recently has been in discussions about taking down the Confederate flag from the statehouse grounds. Those who wish to see it remain say it’s removal will change nothing; that people will still be the same as before. Others say that all of this racism is a matter of the heart, and that until the heart is transformed, it doesn’t matter what flags you fly. Or who you honor.

Paul speaks of transformation in his letter to the Romans (“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”- 12:2)

Yet the Bible also speaks powerfully of change. “The Spirit of the Lord will come powerfully upon you, and you will prophesy with them; and you will be changed into a different person.”- 1 Samuel 10:6. “If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly,  if you do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm,  then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your ancestors for ever and ever.”- Jeremiah 4:5-7 “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”- Matthew 18:13

I think that change is something we do. It is action oriented, even when it is interior (change your mind, change of heart), and transformation is something we become. And transformation begins with change.

An example- In the spring of 1970 I was a junior at Dorman High School in Spartanburg. For some foolish reason I ran for president of the student body. There were four candidates. Each of us spoke for a moment about why we wanted to be elected. The fourth person to speak was the grandson of the leader of the state chapter of the Ku Klux Klan. He spoke and said that if he was elected, his grandfather would see that the planned integration of our school for next year would not happen. Several of his campaign supporters waved a giant Confederate battle flag when he said this. (They knew then the real meaning of this flag.) The administration of the school (also known as my sworn enemies) escorted the flag wavers out of the gym, doing the right thing. There was a lot of talk even at that late date saying that black people and white people should not be going to school together. That is was against the laws of God, and should be against the laws of man. That to go against those laws would bring great calamity to all. (By the way, the student body chose wisely- I came in third. The Klan supporters came in a distant fourth.)

Of course, the next year, we integrated, and no great calamity occurred.

Very few people would think of saying those things today. Even here in the deep South. Or in south Boston (racism is not regional). The unity shown in Charleston by all the people there would not have happened if the same event occurred in 1970. We are a new people. We have been transformed. And that transformation came about because of a change in actions. It worked from the outside in, not the other way around.

United Methodist churches for years fought against having female clergy as pastors. Yet women (brave and capable women- the cutting edge has to be sharp) were appointed. And churches found that they continued on well- caring for others, preaching the gospel, living together as a community in Christ. For the most part, female pastors are no longer an issue because we have been transformed. And that transformation started from the outside.

If we want to be new people, we must change the things we do. If we wait until we “feel” like it, we will never get there.

In church we used to sing a little song that said, “Change my heart, O God, make it ever new. Change my heart, O God, may I be like you.” Maybe if we want to be more Christlike, we need to change the way we act. Then we will see God transforming us into new creations.


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"You reap what you sow..." but not always

6/22/2015

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This morning I read again from Oswald Chambers My Utmost for His Highest. It was a brief meditation on Matthew 7:1-2: “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” It got me to thinking about Paul’s later affirmation from Galatians – A person reaps what they sow. (Galatians 6:7)

Except that is not always true. Sometimes the grace of God breaks in in a new way, and what is sown is not what is reaped.

Still thinking about Dylann Roof and the murders in Charleston. He sowed hatred, violence, and what he hoped would be a beginning of a race war. Instead, the harvest (so far) has been forgiveness, peace, and a sense of unity across racial lines that almost defies explanation. Governor Haley said that what Roof did was “inconceivable.” What is really inconceivable was not his heinous acts, but the response of people in Charleston, across South Carolina, and through our country.  

Sometimes you don’t reap what you sow. That gives even me hope.

Thanks be to God.

Pastor Mike


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A Summer Solstice Meditation

6/20/2015

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Tomorrow, for those of us in the northern hemisphere, is the longest day of the year. (I now have lots of friends in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and other countries on the other side of the equator, so I am constantly reminded that my “northern” view is not the only one. Thanks to them for helping me with that.) The sun will rise at 6:08 this morning, and will set at 8:34 tomorrow evening- making 14 hours and 26 minutes of direct sunlight, and an extra half hour on each side of indirect. It’s a long day.

In my festering childhood, I loved the summer! You could spend almost all of the time outdoors. As a matter of fact, parents would push us out the door if we stayed in. Shoes were optional. Even in the stores. If you didn’t get hot and sweaty and then cool yourself off with a spray from the garden hose, the day was not quite right. When the sun would go down, and it would finally get dark, we would watch the fireflies- lightning bugs we called them- blinking through the night. Kids in Inman would search through the night for the mythical lightning bug hive, a place that would glow all night because of the number of fireflies there.

We slept with windows open and maybe a fan in the window to cool things off, or took blankets out in the back yard and “camped out” behind the house. Ancient communities used to dance around the fire at this time of the year, believing this special day to be one where the wall between heaven and earth became very thin. In the late night cool air we could somehow feel the breath of God blowing on us.

This year we need the breath of God to blow on us again. To cool our fevered brows, reawaken our joy in everyday life, remove the heat, and let us enjoy the light. I see the light of God in the forgiveness offered by the families of the Charleston shooting victims. I feel the breath of God in the prayers offered by so many. I see the fire of God in those who call out for us to remove the symbols of hate and division in our land.

But I see heat without light in so many, too. Those who blame the victims. Those who want to further divide people. Those who want use violence as a way to end violence. Even Jesus did not do that, though he could (see Matthew 26:47-53).

As the day is brighter, I pray for more light in my soul, for more fire in my heart, and for the breath of God to blow through me.

Today I found myself singing an old hymn that we kids used to sing while lying on the blankets at night. We would sing the only three songs we knew- starting with Elvis Presley’s “You Ain’t Nothing But A Hound Dog,”, and ending with Sheb Wooley’s “One-Eyed, One-Horned Flying Purple People Eater.” Between the two we would sing “Beneath the Cross of Jesus.”

O God, today we need a place to rest from the burning of the noon-tide heat, and the burden of the day.

Amen.


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Charleston...

6/18/2015

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I woke up to the news of the killings in Charleston. Eight people killed in a prayer meeting, the ninth died in the hospital. Photos show what looks like a young white man walking into Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church.

I’m sure the predominantly black congregation welcomed this stranger, one who stood out in their midst. I’m sure they encouraged him to join in their prayers, hymns, songs of praise, and scripture readings. And I’m sure they prayed for him, seeing someone who they did not know come into their midst.

Now, the internet is filled with hundreds of thousands of people typing that ancient Christian prayer, “Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayers.”

Last night as this young man walked into our sister church down in Charleston, dozens of children and adults at Highland Park were singing and dancing and laughing and praying. “God is powerful!” someone would say, and everyone would loudly clasp their hands together and say “Hold on!” “God will provide!” “Hold on!” “God will forgive!” “Hold on!”

Perhaps that is what we need to do, hold on. Hold on to God, for God will be with us even when times are terrible. Hold on to each other, because we are not made to go through this life alone. God has made us into a body so we may strengthen, comfort, and encourage each other. Hold on to those outside our immediate group- those people who may look, think, or act differently from us. The world is trying to tear us apart. Hold on to hope. Do not let this tear you down, or destroy your faith in a God who is changing the world.

Rabbi Hillel once said, “In a place where there is no humanity, strive to be human.” Today we must strive to be human. To mourn with those who mourn. To seek justice, but not retribution . To ask ourselves, “What can I do here, in my own community, in my own church?”

Today I call on my friends at Highland Park to take time to pray for those in Charleston. To reach out others around them. To strive to be human.

Hold on.

Pastor Mike


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Dying is easy

6/16/2015

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“Dying is easy. Comedy is hard.”  I’ve heard that a thousand times. Today I read something similar from Oswald Chambers. He said, “Jesus does not ask us to die for Him, but to lay down my life for Him. (John 15:13,15)…..It is far easier to die than to lay down the life day in and day out with the sense of the high calling….Salvation is easy because it cost God so  much, but the manifestation of it in my life is difficult. God saves a person and endues that person with the Holy Spirit, and then says in effect- ‘Now, work it out, be loyal to Me, whilst the nature of things around you would make you disloyal.’”

There is a difference between dying and laying down your life. Dying is once; laying down your life is every day. Dying is giving up yourself; laying down your life is taking up the life of Christ. It is much easier to die for someone than to live for someone.

Dying is easy. Laying down your life is hard. And that’s no joke.


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The Bucket Brigade

6/14/2015

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From The Cluttered Desk….

Seth Godin, the business entrepreneur, sends out a daily e-mail. His advice is very practical and often is applicable to the church. He included in one recently the following quote from Cory Doctorow-

      "I love a good bucket brigade, but they’re surprisingly hard to find. A good bucket brigade is where you accept your load, rotate 180 degrees and walk until you reach the next person, load that person, do another volte-face, and walk until someone loads you. A good bucket brigade isn’t just passing things from person to person. It’s a dynamic system in which autonomous units bunch and debunch as is optimal given the load and the speed and energy levels of each participant. A good bucket brigade is a thing of beauty, something whose smooth coordination arises from a bunch of disjointed parts who don’t need to know anything about the system’s whole state in order to help optimize it.

      "In a good bucket brigade, the mere act of walking at the speed you feel comfortable with and carrying no more than you can safely lift and working at your own pace produces a perfectly balanced system in which the people faster than you can work faster, and the people slower than you can work slower. It is the opposite of an assembly line, where one person’s slowness is the whole line’s problem. A good bucket brigade allows everyone to contribute at their own pace, and the more contributors you get, the better it works."

That’s how it is at church. When we all work together, we are able to do so much more.

I saw this at Annual Conference when our youth helped at Stop Hunger Now. Each one had a job to do, and you did it at your pace, helping the next person along the way. As a result, they were able to package in 9 hours over 285,000 meals to help children in Uganda. If each of us tried to pack the whole meals ourselves, we could not have done one-tenth of the number. But working together, we were able to do more. God uses us when we work together as a team in incredible ways!

Highland Park’s ministry is a team ministry. Everyone is a part of it. Together we can do so much more than we can alone. If you have not yet found your place on the team, give me a call (843/662-1233), or e-mail me (mike.henderson@hpumc.net). God can use you to make this team stronger!

Grace and peace,

Pastor Mike


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    Pastor Mike's Ramblings

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Highland Park United Methodist Church / 1300 Second Loop Rd. / Florence, SC 29505 / Phone: 843.662.1233 / Fax: 843.665.5692