I thought Lovett H. Weems's article is thoughtful and very timeley for Second B.
Lovett H. Weems: It is not enough to be right | Faith & Leadership
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Inner Resources
This past Sunday afternoon I was invited to be a part of the anniversary service of Greater St. Mark's Baptist Church. It was a special invitation as Greater St. Mark's pastor Rev. Armstead has been battling brain cancer over these past several months and has been unable to be present for Sunday worship. But Rev. Armstead was planning to be there for the anniversary.
When I arrived I was disappointed to learn that Rev. Armstead was too weak to make it. I also learned I was going to be preaching the service. One of the deacons met me at the door and said, "Rev. Armstead can't make it but he wanted to make sure you got this." With that the deacon put a check into my hand.
"Oh, this isn't for me," I said. "I'm not preaching. I'm just saying a prayer."
"Oh no, your preaching," he said. "Rev. Armstead told us."
Without Rev. Armstead present to argue my case against I reconciled myself to the fact that ready or not I was soon going to be preaching. I turned to Elder Robert Kyles, who was a special guest at the service and who just happened to have come to worship at Second B earlier that morning. "You're going to recognize this sermon," I said.
I preached the same sermon I preached Sunday morning - though admittedly with a little more pizzazz and a lot more volume. My subject was "Inner Resources" and I again told how in WWII German U-boats sank British merchant ships and contrary to expectation it was often the older sailors who stayed alive in the turbulent and frigid waters. A study later determined that while the younger sailors were indeed physically strong, the older sailors had the inner resources necessary to survive such a trying ordeal.
At the end of the sermon I told the people of Greater St. Mark's that despite not knowing that I was going to be preaching, I believed God had nevertheless given me a word. I said that Rev. Armstead's boat had been sunk and that he is now swimming for his life. And I reminded them, he is no young sailor. He's been around a long time. He is in touch with his inner resources. He knows from whence his help comes from. He's not about to just give up. "And neither," I said, "is his congregation."
I sat down from the pulpit and Elder Kyles turned and leaned into my ear. "That was better than this morning," he whispered.
May the God of great inner resources give us all just the right words at just the right time as we encourage one another to keep swimming.
When I arrived I was disappointed to learn that Rev. Armstead was too weak to make it. I also learned I was going to be preaching the service. One of the deacons met me at the door and said, "Rev. Armstead can't make it but he wanted to make sure you got this." With that the deacon put a check into my hand.
"Oh, this isn't for me," I said. "I'm not preaching. I'm just saying a prayer."
"Oh no, your preaching," he said. "Rev. Armstead told us."
Without Rev. Armstead present to argue my case against I reconciled myself to the fact that ready or not I was soon going to be preaching. I turned to Elder Robert Kyles, who was a special guest at the service and who just happened to have come to worship at Second B earlier that morning. "You're going to recognize this sermon," I said.
I preached the same sermon I preached Sunday morning - though admittedly with a little more pizzazz and a lot more volume. My subject was "Inner Resources" and I again told how in WWII German U-boats sank British merchant ships and contrary to expectation it was often the older sailors who stayed alive in the turbulent and frigid waters. A study later determined that while the younger sailors were indeed physically strong, the older sailors had the inner resources necessary to survive such a trying ordeal.
At the end of the sermon I told the people of Greater St. Mark's that despite not knowing that I was going to be preaching, I believed God had nevertheless given me a word. I said that Rev. Armstead's boat had been sunk and that he is now swimming for his life. And I reminded them, he is no young sailor. He's been around a long time. He is in touch with his inner resources. He knows from whence his help comes from. He's not about to just give up. "And neither," I said, "is his congregation."
I sat down from the pulpit and Elder Kyles turned and leaned into my ear. "That was better than this morning," he whispered.
May the God of great inner resources give us all just the right words at just the right time as we encourage one another to keep swimming.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
LISD's Expectation Graduation Walk brings dropouts back to school | Lubbock Online | Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
I got a call last week from a from Nancy Sharp a parishioner, friend, and head public information person for the Lubbock Independent School District. "I'm going to make your day," she said. Then she told me about a story the Lubbock Avalanche Journal would soon run. Nancy was right. To have Wade come back a decade later and say, "You made a difference," made my day. Just goes to show you never know how you might change somebody's life. And BTW, Wade didn't even know I was back in town!
LISD's Expectation Graduation Walk brings dropouts back to school | Lubbock Online | Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
LISD's Expectation Graduation Walk brings dropouts back to school | Lubbock Online | Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Thoughts for Second B's 53rd
I forgot to post this in advance of Second B's 53rd anniversary last Sunday:
It's anniversary weekend at Second B and this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday we will
celebrate 53 years of congregational ministry. In advance of what I know will be a
great weekend, I want to go ahead and thank all those who have worked so hard to make
this a very meaningful anniversary.
As part of our anniversary events, the Men's Prayer Breakfast group hosted a special prayer breakfast on Tuesday. We made an extra effort to invite a number of former participants to come back for the breakfast. It was a good morning. How pleasing it is when brothers dwell together in biscuits and gravy!
I was asked to bring that morning's devotional and my thoughts were inspired by the
work of Phyllis Tickle, our upcoming 2012 Adult Retreat leader. In her book The Great Emergence, Tickle argues that approximately every 500 years cataclysmic forces converge to fundamentally re-shape Christianity. Tickle cites the fall of Rome
around 500 AD, the schism which separated the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches around 1000 AD, and then the Reformation around 1500 AD. Tickle suggests the church is in the midst of yet another such cataclysmic eruption today. Tickle locates the eruption in the scientific and philosophical discoveries of Albert Einstein. According to Tickle, Einstein's insights into the metaphysics of time and space combined to at once revolutionize scientific and technological discovery, while at the same time calling into significant question certain philosophical assumptions about the nature of truth. In short, Tickle argues the church is in the midst of a great shakeup wherein the church is being forced to wrestle with the matter of authority -- especially what we Protestants mean by the authority of Holy
Scripture. Tickle believes the church will have to discover new and creative ways of reading Holy Scripture if it is not to be locked into wooden interpretations
which continue to be proven unsatisfactory for the modern age -- the issues of slavery, women's rights, and the creation vs. evolution debate come immediately to mind.
What I wanted to communicate to the men at the prayer breakfast is that Second B ought not to fear such a revolution. In fact, very early on in the life of Second B we decided to face head-on the questions that are being raised. This is most clearly symbolized in our service logo, the Atomic Ichthus. I cited a 2008 Second Page article by former pastor Hardy Clemons which told the story of how the Atomic Ichthus came about. In that article Hardy said the church was looking for a symbol which would adequately communicate Second B's goal of being a contemporary people of God. He made several points about the Second B values that were being communicated, three of which I shall leave with you: 1) Second B is a "church which is both genuinely Christian and intentionally contemporary” 2) We "value open inquiry and valid questionasking as a part of faith" 3) We "seek new truth, welcome new insights, and avoid fear of change to which we feel led by the will of God."
As we celebrate this 53rd anniversary, I believe Second B is well poised to embrace whatever new truths are yet to be discovered in whatever revolutions are to come.
Our God is the great I Am -- the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Yet, our understanding of this God who came to us in Christ continues to evolve and transform. For as Harry Emerson Fosdick -- one of Hardy's great mentors -- was fond of saying, "Astronomies come and go; but the stars abide."
Our North Star is fixed; and it beckons us to journey to even greater heights to ascertain it.
It's anniversary weekend at Second B and this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday we will
celebrate 53 years of congregational ministry. In advance of what I know will be a
great weekend, I want to go ahead and thank all those who have worked so hard to make
this a very meaningful anniversary.
As part of our anniversary events, the Men's Prayer Breakfast group hosted a special prayer breakfast on Tuesday. We made an extra effort to invite a number of former participants to come back for the breakfast. It was a good morning. How pleasing it is when brothers dwell together in biscuits and gravy!
I was asked to bring that morning's devotional and my thoughts were inspired by the
work of Phyllis Tickle, our upcoming 2012 Adult Retreat leader. In her book The Great Emergence, Tickle argues that approximately every 500 years cataclysmic forces converge to fundamentally re-shape Christianity. Tickle cites the fall of Rome
around 500 AD, the schism which separated the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches around 1000 AD, and then the Reformation around 1500 AD. Tickle suggests the church is in the midst of yet another such cataclysmic eruption today. Tickle locates the eruption in the scientific and philosophical discoveries of Albert Einstein. According to Tickle, Einstein's insights into the metaphysics of time and space combined to at once revolutionize scientific and technological discovery, while at the same time calling into significant question certain philosophical assumptions about the nature of truth. In short, Tickle argues the church is in the midst of a great shakeup wherein the church is being forced to wrestle with the matter of authority -- especially what we Protestants mean by the authority of Holy
Scripture. Tickle believes the church will have to discover new and creative ways of reading Holy Scripture if it is not to be locked into wooden interpretations
which continue to be proven unsatisfactory for the modern age -- the issues of slavery, women's rights, and the creation vs. evolution debate come immediately to mind.
What I wanted to communicate to the men at the prayer breakfast is that Second B ought not to fear such a revolution. In fact, very early on in the life of Second B we decided to face head-on the questions that are being raised. This is most clearly symbolized in our service logo, the Atomic Ichthus. I cited a 2008 Second Page article by former pastor Hardy Clemons which told the story of how the Atomic Ichthus came about. In that article Hardy said the church was looking for a symbol which would adequately communicate Second B's goal of being a contemporary people of God. He made several points about the Second B values that were being communicated, three of which I shall leave with you: 1) Second B is a "church which is both genuinely Christian and intentionally contemporary” 2) We "value open inquiry and valid questionasking as a part of faith" 3) We "seek new truth, welcome new insights, and avoid fear of change to which we feel led by the will of God."
As we celebrate this 53rd anniversary, I believe Second B is well poised to embrace whatever new truths are yet to be discovered in whatever revolutions are to come.
Our God is the great I Am -- the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Yet, our understanding of this God who came to us in Christ continues to evolve and transform. For as Harry Emerson Fosdick -- one of Hardy's great mentors -- was fond of saying, "Astronomies come and go; but the stars abide."
Our North Star is fixed; and it beckons us to journey to even greater heights to ascertain it.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Prophetic Words for a Fallen Hero
Father Mike preaches a prophetic word at the funeral of a fallen Chicago police officer.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Young Enough to Feed 5,000
Our forty-two children have all returned from summer camp in Brownwood and I am happy to report it was a great week. Forty-two kids are the most any of us can remember going with Second B to camp and we are all very excited about how well things worked out, even with that many heads to count.
I want to say thanks to our children's pastor Judy Bryant and all our adult leaders who gave up a week to make camp possible. Special thanks also to our Missions Division and numerous individuals for helping to pay the way for a number of kids who otherwise would not have been able to make the trip because of lack of funds. This year ten of our Kids Hope kids along with a number of kids from within our own church membership received partial or whole scholarships to camp. Without all you leaders and sponsors camp simply would not be possible. Thank you.
Though camp really is about fun; its also about growing our children in the faith. A week away at camp provides the time and space for our pastors and adult leaders to connect intentionally with our children and talk to them about life and about life with God. We simply don't have these same kinds of opportunities back at home.
This year one of the lessons we studied was from John 6:1-14 where Jesus feeds the five thousand. A multitude of people has followed Jesus up a mountainside and soon runs out of provisions. The disciples wonder where they are to get enough bread to feed so great a crowd. And then one of Jesus' disciples, Andrew, points out that a young boy has brought five barley loaves and two fish. I read Andrew's words with a certain degree of mocking, "Oh, isn't that cute," condescension. He responds to the boy's meager offering the same way I might respond if we had a flat and my son offered the spare from his Tonka truck. And yet, it turns out that the boy's meager offer really is enough. The next thing we know the whole multitude has been fed.
The point of our study and the subject of many conversations later in the week was that these kids are coming of age. They are old enough to see the needs of this world. And they are old enough to see that they have gifts that they might can share. And, above all, they are young enough to trust that Jesus might take their meager offerings and feed a multitude.
Let us be so young.
I want to say thanks to our children's pastor Judy Bryant and all our adult leaders who gave up a week to make camp possible. Special thanks also to our Missions Division and numerous individuals for helping to pay the way for a number of kids who otherwise would not have been able to make the trip because of lack of funds. This year ten of our Kids Hope kids along with a number of kids from within our own church membership received partial or whole scholarships to camp. Without all you leaders and sponsors camp simply would not be possible. Thank you.
Though camp really is about fun; its also about growing our children in the faith. A week away at camp provides the time and space for our pastors and adult leaders to connect intentionally with our children and talk to them about life and about life with God. We simply don't have these same kinds of opportunities back at home.
This year one of the lessons we studied was from John 6:1-14 where Jesus feeds the five thousand. A multitude of people has followed Jesus up a mountainside and soon runs out of provisions. The disciples wonder where they are to get enough bread to feed so great a crowd. And then one of Jesus' disciples, Andrew, points out that a young boy has brought five barley loaves and two fish. I read Andrew's words with a certain degree of mocking, "Oh, isn't that cute," condescension. He responds to the boy's meager offering the same way I might respond if we had a flat and my son offered the spare from his Tonka truck. And yet, it turns out that the boy's meager offer really is enough. The next thing we know the whole multitude has been fed.
The point of our study and the subject of many conversations later in the week was that these kids are coming of age. They are old enough to see the needs of this world. And they are old enough to see that they have gifts that they might can share. And, above all, they are young enough to trust that Jesus might take their meager offerings and feed a multitude.
Let us be so young.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Mission to Mission
I and 34 other Second Bers have just returned from our mission trip to Mission, TX, where we built a home for and along with Augustine and Laura Tejada.
Augustine is a day labor carpenter, who like so many others down in the Valley is doing all he can to provide a simple living for his family here in America. He, Laura, and the kids have been living in an old trailer behind the Baptist church we work with down there. Pastor Omar keeps the trailer open for families just like Tejadas. They are los pobres de la tierra - the poor people of the land. Yet with assistance from Pastor Omar, they managed to scrape together enough money to buy a small lot at the end of a cul-de-sac just west of the church. It was on that lot that we built their new home.
By the time we arrived Augustine and Pastor Omar had already poured the foundation. From there we went to work - building the frame, raising the trusses, putting down the roof, siding the exterior, plumbing and wiring the interior, setting the windows. Watching a house go up in a week is an amazing thing to behold.
And yet, it took a lot more than a week. It actually took months of planning and fundraising. And it took more than 35 of us. Thirty-five of us went down to Mission, but our whole church built the house.
On Wednesday we took a little time in the morning to pray over the home we were building. We took markers and wrote prayers and words of blessing on the still-exposed studs. It occurred to me as I stood there in the midst of the Tejadas's new living room that we were building more than a house. With my marker I scribbled the following from the Apostle Paul on one of the beams:
So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.
The last thing we did to the house was hang the doors and install the locks. Then on what will be the front porch, we gave Augustine and Laura the keys to their new home. Pastor Omar translated as Augustine said thanks through a combination of Spanish, broken English and tears. He talked about the centurion in the scriptures.
"The centurion said he was 'not worthy' to have Jesus come into his home," Augustine said. "I have not had a home worthy of welcoming Jesus. But you have given me a home. Now I am worthy."
We had not only built a house for a family. We built a home for the Lord.
In fact, last week down in Mission we built the very Kingdom of God.
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