VillageOhio

“We Are Beloved” by Cheri Holdridge (with an assist by Kurt Young)

2012-02-05T08:53:00.000-08:00

    If I could choose to name one writer whose books most profoundly affected my spiritual life as a young pastor in my first ten years of ministry the answer would be easy: Henri Nouwen. He was still alive when I started reading his books in the early 1990’s. He died in 1996. He wrote an astounding 40 books during his life. One was an amazing book called “Beyond the Mirror.” He had an experience where he came close to death, and reflected on the intensity of that experience.

    In another book, “Inner Voice of Love,” he revealed his own clinical depression and showed his vulnerabilities. It was something you don’t often see: the human side of one of your spiritual giants. I’ve dealt with depression in my life, but not to that level. It was amazing to see this level of vulnerability shown by such a spiritual giant.

    In other books he talks about how after he spent years as a prestigious University professor, he chose to live in a L’Arche community in Toronto. There are 130 of these communities around the world where people with developmental disabilities live with those who care for them. This life of a pastoral servant gave him the most joy as he lived out his faith in the simple daily tasks of being a care giver to some of God’s most misunderstood children.

    My favorite book of Henri Nouwen’s is this tiny little book that, for me, summarizes his understanding of the relationship between us and God. In fact this book sums up the core of my own theology and here it is in five words: we are God’s beloved children. The book is called “Life of the Beloved”. Henri wrote it at the request of a Jewish secular friend, living in New York City.

    The friend said to Henri: “Why don’t you write something for me and my friends?. . . You have something to say, but you keep saying it to people who least need to hear it. . . What about us young, ambitious secular men and women wondering what life is about after all?” (p. 16-17). So Henri Nouwen wrote “Life of the Beloved” as a way to try to engage non-religious people into the idea that God loves them, and wants to be an active part of their lives.

    The book is written to be a sort of spiritual primer, an invitation to the Christian life, if you will. It is a good book for anyone of us who want to take a deep breath, and get to the core of who we are and who God is.   And who we are in relationship to God.

    So we’re going to focus our worship on it, for the next six weeks. You might want to pick up a copy and read it.

    Henri Nouwen says that living the life of the beloved begins with recognizing the voices in our lives. Voices are powerful. Just think about this for a moment. We know that babies can hear the voices of their parents in the womb. Even before we are born, we can hear the voices of those around us. So the parents in the home, preparing for our birth, are the voices most familiar to us once we are born: the mother who carries us, and whatever parent is living in the home and whose voice we hear. That’s why crazy excited birth parents talk to the tummy of a pregnant woman, singing songs, reading favorite books, saying sweet soothing words, and telling silly stories. We want the child to be born, feeling welcome, and hearing our familiar voices, and having warm and fuzzy feelings. We want the child to know our voice.

    We want the child to feel beloved. The story of Jesus’ ministry begins with a voice. We heard this story in our scripture for today (Mark 1: 9-11 if you’re following along on the Net).

    In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” Would you like this kind of dramatic sign for you?

    God’s voice was heard when Jesus was baptized. Not just any voice: THE VOICE. The voice of God saying: you are my beloved child. I have got to believe that Jesus carried that voice with him throughout the next three years of his ministry. What do you think?

    When people were challenging his authority, and questioning his actions and his motives, do you think he might have paused to remember that voice? On the day of his baptism the heavens opened and God’s voice said, “You are my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased.”

    You know sometimes the voice of the world tells us one thing, but God tells us we are beloved children. I think we would do well to listen to God! But we don’t, do we?

    What voices do you choose to listen to?

    From the time we are children, we all hear voices, don’t we?

    They are those human voices of judgment and criticism.

    The loudest voices of all become those of self-rejection.
    What are some of those voices you have been listening to all of your life?

You’re not smart enough.

You’re not pretty enough, or good looking enough.

You will never amount to anything.

You don’t have enough money.
You screwed up.

No one likes you.

You come from a bad family.

You’re black, brown, gay, transgender, slow, disabled, divorced, adopted, you’re different.

    We all listen to those voices and we internalize that negativity. But we don’t have to.

    There is another voice! There is another voice! The soft gentle voice, the bold courageous voice of God deep inside and here’s what it says:   you are beloved child!

    You don’t have to give in to self rejection any more. Every one of us has people in our lives that have encouraged us. We have people who have loved us. You have people who have told you that you are important to them, people who have told you that you matter. You have experienced the joy of knowing that someone values you. You have heard that voice that says you are beloved.

    But for some reason, it is so much easier for us to listen to the one human voice that say we are worthless, than to a hundred human voices that say we are important. And we think to ourselves, if that person who says they love me, could really see everything about me, the worst side of me, would they really still love me? They would walk away if they really knew me.

    And so, Henri Nouwen writes, we continue on this eternal quest for something that will make us feel whole: some book, some fitness program, some perfect life partner, a great job, anything that will make us feel worthy. The compulsiveness keeps us busy, but it just keeps us moving toward burn out. It moves us towards spiritual death. Let me say that again, This is the way to spiritual death.

    We “don’t have to kill ourselves” (p. 30), because We are the Beloved. This is the simple truth. That voice of acceptance is the only voice we need to listen to.
God says, “I have carved you in the palms of my hands and hidden you in the shadow of my embrace. I look at you with infinite tenderness and I care for you with a care more intimate than that of a mother for her child” (p 31).

    Nouwen writes: “Every time you listen with great attentiveness to the voice that calls you the Beloved, you will discover within yourself a desire to hear that voice longer and more deeply. It is like discovering a well in the desert. Once you have touched wet ground, you want to dig deeper” (p. 31).

    Friends this is why Jesus came: to show us to this well. So often, we just stumble around listening to that voice of criticism and judgment. But we choose to listen to it. God is standing here ready to speak in that soft tender voice: “It’s ok, you are my child. I made you, and I love you. I know every hair of your head, every mistake you have made and I know every mistake you will make, and I still love you. I just want to be in relationship with you. Don’t turn your back on me.” That’s what God says.

    Will you say “yes” to this life and “yes” to this voice? When the voices of self-rejection start getting louder, will you tell them to “hush, go away” so you can hear God’s voice? Because, you see, we get to choose. And God wants us to choose this life – the life of being the beloved. We are God’s beloved children! Remember this promise. Claim this promise. Live this promise. We are God’s beloved children.

    Now, I want to share with you the words of a person I had the pleasure of crossing the spiritual journey of, several years ago. Morgan Guyton and my journeys crossed paths about 12 years ago. We walked together for awhile and he is now doing incredible things himself. But just this week he shared on his blog what hearing this kind of message did for him. If you want to read more, here is a link to the blog - http://morganguyton.wordpress.com/2012/02/05/pastor-cheri/#more-1647

    And, if you do not have a faith community where you hear that voice of God telling you that you too are a beloved child of God, go out and look. We are not the only one, believe me. But if you find yourself near the corner of Monroe & Central in Toledo right now, or Maumee on the corner of Conant Street and the Trail in March, come join us. We try to remind each other of that voice as often as we can and spread that out in our world.

Let the Miracles Begin by Cheri Holdridge (with an assist by Kurt Young)

2012-01-29T08:58:00.001-08:00

    There are four Gospels at the beginning of the New Testament – four different tellings of the life of Jesus. Sometimes folks get bent out of shape when we point out that there are some minor differences in these four stories. One story-teller remembers something happened here and another puts it there in the story. I can tell you in my family, we love to tell stories over and over again, but we NEVER disagree about the details of an old family story. (Note: SARCASM HAND IN THE AIR HIGH)

    Of course, each story teller has their own bent on the story. That’s why it’s good to have four gospels. With each one, we learn a little more about the life, the wonder, the magnificence of Jesus. John’s Gospel, the fourth, is known as the book of signs, or miracles. It’s built around some amazing actions Jesus took. We call them miracles. John called them signs – because every sign was meant to point the people to God. You see a simple miracle, could be more like what a magician does. It amazes and points to the skill of the magician or the miracle worker. But Jesus was not about himself – he was always about drawing people’s attention, pointing people to God. Leading people to the love of God was Jesus’ whole purpose. So the Book of John is a book of signs.

    In our scripture reading for today (John 2:1-11 for those following along on the net), we get Jesus’ first miracle; this is the first of the signs pointing people to the power of God. This is a fun one because it’s at a party. Jesus and his mom are attending a wedding. The host has apparently underestimated the need in purchasing the wine, and they run out. This is horrible. No one wants to run out of wine in the middle of a wedding reception. Can you imagine the embarrassment to the family, the bride? Jesus’ mother, like any good mother, is aware of everything going on behind the scenes. She catches on that the kitchen staff has run out of wine and there is about to be a big mess at this party. She knows who her son is, after all, J-E-S-U-S. If he can’t fix a little problem like this, who can?

    So she goes to him with the problem. But Jesus’ first reaction is something like this, “Mom, it’s none of our business, and it’s not time for me to start showing my stuff yet.” Well, sometimes, Mother knows best. She tells the servants to do what Jesus says. He is an obedient son.

    So he walks over to some empty water pots that are usually used for ceremonial cleansing. He tells the servants to fill them up with water. Lo and behold, when they do, the water turns into the best wine ever! The party is saved and everyone thinks the host is the most generous, because most hosts bring out the cheap wine towards the end of the party but he starts serving the best wine at the end. This is a great party.
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    Jesus’ disciples know that he was worked this miracle, and for the first time they see the glory of God in this sign. That’s what John says in his gospel. Because of Jesus’ willingness to use his gift, people see God! This is the beginning of the Jesus movement to change the world. We’re here today, and it all started at that party. I must admit that I like that it all started at a party. Food for thought when we are planning events for The Village. It’s ok to reveal a picture of God while having privilege along the way.

    So what does this tell us about miracles? To be honest, I’m not an expert in miracles. Some people spend their whole lives studying miracles and trying to prove how they might have happened by natural or supernatural means. I have a pretty simple belief system when it comes to miracles. I think if God wants to works miracles, then God can. I also think God can use human beings to work miracles. And I think sometimes we pray for miracles, and God does not choose to interrupt the natural systems that are already put in place in creation, and we just have to accept that.

    In this story, I think we have a miracle. I read it, and I’m willing to believe there is a miracle. But there is a crucial decision point that comes in this story. Jesus allows himself to be used. His mother encourages him. OK to be honest she pushes him, she is a bit pushy here, I’ll admit that. But Jesus has a choice, and he chooses to use his supernatural gifts to change the water into wine.

    I don’t have that gift. But I have other gifts, and so do you. We all have gifts. And we can all work miracles in our own contexts. I saw a story this week on CNN Headline news about someone who works miracles. They have this series called CNN Heroes. They give out awards every year to regular people who do extraordinary things.

    Actor Rainn Wilson, from the show The Office, was nudged by a young activist, Aaron Jackson, to use his influence to help work some miracles. Together they are healing children. Aaron Jackson was a young man of privilege who was traveling in the third world, in Haiti and saw the children there in need. He decided to make a difference, and he went to Haiti and is helping to rid the children of Haiti of stomach/intestinal worms. They are now able to absorb food and come back to life.

    I must confess I’m a sucker for these CNN hero stories. And why not? They point to the power of ordinary people to use our God given gifts to change the world. Aaron Jackson managed to get that worm eradicating medicine to every child in the entire country of Haiti!

    Friends, I believe we can work miracles too. Oh probably not in just the same way Jesus did. But we can do amazing things like Aaron Jackson, and let them be SIGNS that point to God. There is nothing stopping any of us from doing that. We can bring hope to a broken world and point to God.

    There is nothing stopping each one of us. We all have gifts. We all have passion. We all want to follow Jesus, and serve God and change the world. We just have to discern the particular niche where we can best do that.

    Here’s how we do it. We match our gifts with our passion for some particular brokenness in the world. You see, I can stand up here and tell you about all sorts of worthy projects until I am blue in the face. Ministries in Toledo, agencies that can help here and around the world. But you as individuals, and we as The Village, can’t respond to all of them. And that’s ok, because God has lots of followers here in Toledo, in Ohio and around the world.

    But there are some things that are there just for us. Like the children in Haiti and the worms in their stomachs were there just for Aaron Jackson and Rainn Wilson. That was their passion. And they had the skills and the resources to say Yes to God and do something about it.

    So, in order to work miracles, and to point to God, first of all, we have to identify what breaks our hearts. Because once you know what breaks your heart, then you know where God wants you to work miracles in the world.

    And here is the thing: you will be able to work miracles, because you will be on fire with the power of God moving you to change the situation. You will be unstoppable.
Have you ever seen anyone with that kind of focus? Have you ever been that person?
That’s who Jesus was.

    Nothing could stop Jesus from acting and pointing people to the power of God’s love. That’s how I get when I start talking about why the church has to be a place where everybody is welcome. Have you seen me when I’m fire about someone not being welcomed in a church.   That’s my passion – making church a place where the walls come down and everyone has a home. It breaks my heart when people get kicked out of church and don’t have a place at God’s Table.

    What breaks your heart? That’s the place for you to start. That’s place where you can work miracles for God. We all can. Tell us here on this note what breaks your heart, (we put hearts on a board in worship) so you can start to work on what we can do together to change the world. God may call you to do this yourself, but if you need a place where other dreamers want to change the world, we’re here. Right now, we’re at the corner of Monroe & Central, but because we need more room for dreamers and doers like you we will be at the corner of Conant Street & the Anthony Wayne Trail (The Maumee Indoor Theater) starting Sundays in March @ 10:30.

MAKING THE ASK by Cheri Holdridge (with an assist by Kurt Young)

2012-01-22T09:16:00.000-08:00

    A few weeks ago, back before Christmas, I was sitting in an elementary school cafeteria, chatting with another Jody, while our kids played in a chess match. So people are soccer moms, I’m that and a chess mom now too.   Our two kids are in 3rd grade together and have gone to the same school for 3 or 4 years. In the midst of the conversation I had the opportunity to talk about The Village. She said, “You know, our family does not have a church, and we’d like to find one. We just can’t find the right fit.”

    I invited her. She said she thought they would like to come. I’ve heard that before. It was a busy time, in December around the holidays so it was 2 or 3 weeks before they made it. The first week, it was just Jody and Terry but they loved us. Then next time they came back with the three kids, and they have been back every week since.

    Just like that, in the snap of my fingers, a family of five that had no church home, has become part of our Village community. This weekend Terry was here Friday night and Saturday for our launch team retreat. They are totally committed. Do you know why? Because someone “made the ask.”

    I took a risk to invite them to my church. Now, sure, you can say it’s my job. But guess what, I have a fear of rejection too. I don’t like to get the cold shoulder.

    I’ve went to dinner once with a group of parents from the neighborhood. I asked a new mom, “Would you like to visit my church?” She looked right at me and just said, “No.” She didn’t give me any socially acceptable excuse, like, “I have another church.” or “I’m not really religious” and she didn’t make a joke: “I like to sleep in on Sunday.” She didn’t even say, “I don’t do church.” She just said, “No.” It was really awkward.   I still wonder what that was all about.

    But I keep inviting people anyway, because eventually I come across a family like the one I just told you about. They were just waiting. They were looking for us. The Village was made for them, and they were made for us. But unless I had stumbled across the opportunity to invite them one afternoon at a chess match, they would have lived right around the corner from us, and never known we were here. My children would have gone to school with their children for years, and I would have missed the opportunity to invite them to The Village.

    In our scripture for today (Mark 1:14-20, from the Message Translation for those following along on the net), Jesus “makes an ask” of four people who will become his disciples. The story is so simple:

18Passing along the beach of Lake Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew net-fishing. Fishing was their regular work. Jesus said to them, "Come with me. I'll make a new kind of fisherman out of you. I'll show you how to catch men and women instead of perch and bass." They didn't ask questions. They dropped their nets and followed.

19-20A dozen yards or so down the beach, he saw the brothers James and John, Zebedee's sons. They were in the boat, mending their fishnets. Right off, he made the same offer. Immediately, they left their father Zebedee, the boat, and the hired hands, and followed.

    Just like that, snap your fingers, immediately they came along. Now I have to believe there was something magnetic about Jesus’ personality that made it just about impossible for those men to say no to him. Of course, we know he was the son of God. He had the light and power of God shining all around him. I think Simon Peter, Andrew, James and John were astute enough to know this was no ordinary invitation. They knew in their gut, this was the offer of a lifetime. So they dropped everything and gave their lives to this mission with Jesus.

    But here’s the thing: JESUS HAD TO ASK THEM.

    THE ASK is crucial. Sure, they might eventually have wandered their way into the mass of Jesus’ followers, but they could have just lingered on the edges in that case. But to be invited, meant that they were given an opportunity to commit and jump in with both feet. They signed on the dotted line.

    Those four men faced a turning point in their lives. It was a breakthrough for them. Once they joined the movement of Jesus, their lives were never the same. This turning point, this breakthrough has happened to all of us. It has happened to us too.

    Being part of this community has changed our lives. We have something that other people don’t have. We have the reassurance of God’s love. We have a community to encourage us. This community makes a difference to us, and together with other Christian communities we make a difference in the world.

    The Village is about to enter a new phase of our life together. We are moving to a new site in Maumee and launching a new worship service at Easter time. When you move to a new location, it’s an opportunity to get some new attention from a new group of people. We create some buzz when we move into a new neighborhood. We will take out some advertizing, put up some signs, and do some things to let people know we have come to town.   We joked at our leadership retreat yesterday how we are going to be the church and give Northwest Ohio something to talk about. It’s a chance for us to build some new momentum for the church we believe God created us to be together.

    Our theme for 2012 is HOPE. We are bringing God’s hope to NW Ohio and SE Michigan. We are inviting the people of Maumee, and the greater Toledo region to embrace HOPE. We know people need HOPE. We have found our hope in God, and God has called us to share that hope with others.

    It’s not enough just to stay here in this wonderful community we have created, Jesus wants us to go out like Peter, Andrew, James and John did, and fish for some more disciples. Jesus wants us to invite some friends, neighbors, some co-workers and some strangers to experience the hope that we experience when we gather with The Village people each week.

    But they experience this community if WE don’t ASK THEM.   We have to make the ask! We are the only people Jesus has available to ask some particular people that God is going to put in our path. I was the one that God put in Jody’s path on that day at the chess match. I was the one to invite her. And then she was the one to go out on a limb and invite her husband and then they invited their kids.

    Someone invited you here. Do you remember who?   Who are you going to invite? We are going to make it as easy as possible to invite folks over the next few months. In addition to worship each week, with great music, relevant messages, and the best coffee in town, every month we are going to have other events that are going to be easy to invite someone to.

    We call them “Taste and see events” because you can come and get a little taste of The Village at each event. We are going to have silly fun showing Grease Sing a Long – to have fun and see our worship space. Then on February 18th we are going to have a service project at the Seagate Food Bank and spend three hours helping to feed hungry people. Then on February 4th, we are going to go see the movie “Red Tails” and talk about the heroes of that movie and what they did for our country.

    And then on March 18th we are going to have a concert and fund raiser for “Feed Your Neighbor” at the Village Idiot. You can’t go wrong with the Village Church at the Village Idiot. You can come hear music, feed the hungry, and hear about our ministries. And we are going to keep giving you great things to invite people to during Holy Week, and on Mother’s Day, and beyond (wait until you see what the Outreach & Marketing Team has planned this summer, and in October, let just say zombie makeup may be required.   In each of these we will be the church in our world.   We are going to give them something to talk about while we “follow Jesus and change the world”).

    Our goal is 100 people on Easter Sunday because we know there are people out there who are looking for hope for their lives and who are waiting for an invitation just like Terry and Jody and their 3 kids.

    Now we are not really even making a big deal about inviting strangers to The Village. But I, for one, am going to remember this scene of a guy inviting a stranger to church. If he can do this, I think I can certainly tell someone I know about The Village and what it means to me. Because I never know when there might be another Terry and Jody who are just waiting for someone to invite them to church.

“When We Weep . . .(God is still with us)” by Cheri Holdridge & Kurt Young

2012-01-15T08:58:00.000-08:00

    Travis just sang a sad song for us (“Tears in Heaven” for those following along on the net). You may remember the tragic story of when singer Eric Clapton’s four and a half year old son fell from an apartment window in NYC and died. Mr. Clapton wrote this song while he was grieving. Any parent can relate to this song, whether we have lost a child to death, or we have just feared this awful tragedy, a parent’s worst nightmare.

    In our story from Matthew for today, Matthew 2:13-23 for those following along at home or on the road, babies are killed, not by accident, but because of the evil decision and deeds of King Herod. He was the ruler of the area when Jesus was born. He had heard from the Wise Men about the child being born and the star. He heard about the Messiah being born.

    This wicked, evil man put out an order. Kill all of the boys in the region, two years or younger. That’s right, he ordered soldiers to kill innocent babies and toddlers to protect his own reign.   This is not a story we often tell in church, the Slaughter of the Innocents.   THIS IS THE TRUTH: EVIL EXISTS IN OUR WORLD.

    When people die in our world, especially when the death seems untimely, such as the death of a child, people try to make sense of it. We try to comfort ourselves by saying there must have been a reason. “It was their time.” “God needed another angel.” We say these things because we hope it will make us feel better. In my experience it rarely makes the grieving parent or grandparent, or sibling, or friend feel any better. Because it does not make sense. And we want to believe God is a loving God.

    So how can God think it is the right time for a young child to die?   Surely God did not want a bunch of infants and two years olds to be slaughtered by Herod’s soldiers. Would a loving God have chosen that? I want nothing of that God. Do you? No thank you!

    These are hard questions. Does God choose for a young father to be killed by a drunk driver and that driver to walk away unscathed? Does God choose for an 80 year old woman to be shot by a by a gunman, a mistaken target, when some younger gang member was the intended target?   And even then, did God intend for the younger target to be shot instead? I don’t think any of this is part of God’s plan. I think all of this is of human sin. There is evil in our world. And human choice. And there are natural forces. Hurricanes. Tornadoes. Stuff happens.

    This book, this Bible we read, and live our lives by, is a book of real stories about real people. We turn to this book for hope. We find miracles in here, and healings. We find words of encouragement. But sometimes we find stories that are just painful.

    We find stories where the bad guys win. We find stories that are of the things of the world, evil things, not the things of God. I don’t like to preach on those stories. I’m guessing you don’t like to hear them. But they are in here.
And when we make the decision to be followers of Jesus, we get this WHOLE BOOK.
We are stuck with the whole thing: the good and the bad.

    So what do we do with a story like this? What do we do with a story of babies being killed because a terrible, insecure king named Herod, who did not like the idea that Jesus was born to be the new King of the Jews. And so Herod, in his evil and twisted mind, used his power, to kill all the babies in Bethlehem and the surrounding area under the age of 2. Now experts tell us it was only possibly around 20 babies. To be honest, when I had read this story in the past, I thought it was hundreds. But it really does not matter how many. If you are the mother of that baby, it does not matter if it is only one.

    If it is your baby, the loss is unbearable. If ti is your baby, there is no good explanation. There are no words to take the pain away. There is just agony.
All I can think is this: Jesus came to bring salvation to the world, but he could not grow up fast enough to save those babies from the likes of Herod and his evil.
Not even Jesus could save them.

    But I began to imagine as I pondered this text this week, what it must have been like to be a brother or sister of one of those baby boys. What would it have been like to live in a family with that legacy? “Your brother was killed because he was born around the time of that young man Jesus – they say he is the Messiah. God sent him to save us all.”

    Do you think those families had some bit of hope, because of that promise?   Do you suppose, that even in the midst of such grief, that they might have been able to dig deep into their souls, and find a tiny ember of hope, burning ever so bright? God is still with us. In fact, God loves us so much, that God sent God’s own child to earth to love us. Wow!
    That could not entirely heal the pain of losing my baby. But it would give me some comfort in my grief. To be a sibling who survived Herod’s massacre, I think, might have made one feel a strong sense of purpose. My brother will not have died in vain. I will find this Jesus and I will follow him. Herod will not win. Love will win. God’s love, come to earth in Jesus will win.

    Friends, I believe that’s what this painful and oh, so real story has to say to us today. It’s a painful story, a difficult one for us even today, thousands of years later. Even as God’s love was born into the world, and the power of evil was trying so hard to vanquish it, the power of love was strong.

    You see, those weeping mothers and fathers had a choice. They could give in to their despair, and give up on God. I would have been tempted to be there. They could stay in their anger and turn away from God, because God allowed their babies to be taken from them.

    Or they could turn to God, and embrace hope. An innocent child was taken from them, simply because he was born in the wrong place at the wrong time. So each family had a question: would they turn to God, and cling to the promise that God is still with them, and that God loves them. Would they trust that ultimately the power of God’s love always wins over the evil forces of this world? Or would they give up on God? We know of course, that God never gives up on us, but we CAN give up on God. Have you ever wanted to give up on God?

    So what does this say to us today? For one, it tells us, that even the most painful stories in the Bible can speak to us, so we need not avoid the hard stories in the Bible. But that’s a minor point. I think the message is this. We will all experience some kind of tragedy. We will all confront evil in this world. This is a time when we have a choice. We can get angry at God and turn away from God because we think God let us down.   We will all get angry, and to that. But that’s hopefully something short.

    Or we can take the path that I believe those mothers and fathers in Bethlehem took long ago. We can acknowledge that the evil in the world is not from God. Evil comes from human sin. (And some bad things happen just by accident and forces of nature.) God does not make this happen. But out of any tragedy, God still loves us, and God can bring blessing to us. God wants to heal us and comfort us, and restore our lives to wholeness. God does not want to leave us in that place of weeping and mourning and brokenness. There is a time for that, and then there is a time to move on.

    When we weep, God weeps with us. And then when it is time for the weeping to end, God reminds us that there is still a baby over in Egypt, ready to come back to us, to grow up and be our teacher and our Savior. Jesus is our hope. Jesus is always with us. That is the good news of today. God is always with us. God is ALWAYS with us. Let’s follow Jesus and embrace that hope.

    Do you have a place where you can weep? Do you have a community that can weep with you? Do you hear voices that tell you God loves you and will take you through these times? Do you have hope? If not, find a community where you can get all of this. There are many out there. If you are near Central & Monroe in Toledo, and in just a few months Conant Street & the Trail in Maumee, come join us. We will weep with you, because we have, but we also will show you hope.

Overcome With Joy by Cheri Holdridge (with an assist by Kurt Young)

2012-01-08T08:58:00.000-08:00

      Are you done with Christmas? Is it over.   Is that so last month, for you? When did you pack away your Christmas decorations? Have you eaten, or thrown out, all your Christmas cookies?   My mom had a co-worker that kept her Christmas tree up all year long. LOL. Of course, we thought she was a bit nuts. And she was!

      But at our house we always keep our tree up through Jan 6th. It’s Kurt’s Birthday. It’s also a holiday in Puerto Rico, one of the places he lived when he was growing up as a Navy brat. The holiday is: El Dia de los Tres Reyes – The Day of the Three Kings – also known as Three Kings Day, or Epiphany on the Church calendar.

     January 6th is the day we celebrate the day the three kings, or the wise men, from the East arrived at the home of Mary and Joseph and Jesus to bring gifts to the baby. Now in all the Christmas pageants, we see these wise guys showing up at the manger with the shepherds and the angels, but actually we think Jesus was about 2 years old by the time they got there, and the family was living in a house in Bethlehem by this time.

      This is how the story goes. These men were scholars, probably astronomers from a country to the East of Israel. They had read in books, about a prophecy of a king that would be born, and a star that would point to this king. When they saw a bright star in the sky, one they had never seen before, they felt compelled to follow that star and investigate.

      They went to see Herod, who was the identified King, living in Jerusalem, placed there by the Roman government. They said, “We are here looking for a child who has been born King of the Jews.” Herod tried to hide his anger at this affront to his authority. He pretended that he also wanted to worship this newborn King. He consulted with his religious scholars and told the wise men that the prophets said the child would be born in Bethlehem. Then he told them that once they found the child they should let him know where they found him, because he wanted to go worship the child too. Of course, that was a lie. Herod was an evil man. The wise men were on to him. They knew not to trust him.

     They found their way to Bethlehem. This is when the story gets really good. You see, those wise men are just like us. They were looking for the Messiah. They were looking for a Savior. They were looking for someone who would bring hope and healing to their broken world. Isn’t that what we are looking for?

      Isn’t that why we come here to The Village every week? Let’s just pause here a moment and consider that question.   What are you looking for today? When you come here, to this holy place, to this community of Jesus followers – what are you looking for? The answers we got in worship were peace, belonging, fellowship, hope, hugs, encouragement, guidance, to be reminded that God’s grace is enough.

     The wise men went to see the baby, because they wanted to encounter the holy presence of God on earth. And guess what! That’s just what they got. “Instructed by the king, they set off. Then the star appeared again, the same star they had seen in the eastern skies. It led them on until it hovered over the place of the child. They could hardly contain themselves: They were in the right place! They had arrived at the right time! They entered the house and saw the child in the arms of Mary, his mother. Overcome, they kneeled and worshiped him.”
   They were overcome with joy. And do you know what they did? They kneeled in humility and worshiped Jesus. That’s what God invites us to do today. We get one more chance at Christmas today. We don’t have to let go of our Christmas joy quite yet. (We even got to sing one last Christmas carol today.) We can kneel at the baby bed of Jesus, and imagine what it means that God wants to come into our lives.

    You see Herod was the political King of that time and place, and he was outraged that Jesus came. He went crazy, because he wanted all the power. He could not fathom that God was more powerful than him. He could not comprehend that vulnerability, compassion, generosity, and forgiveness were values that would out over political power, selfishness, greed, and judgment. But those wise men, understood. They had great status in their own right, but they chose to give up their power and status. They knelt in humility and were awestruck by a baby. They were filled with wonder at God’s promises.

      God wants us to be awestruck today.   What does it mean to you, for Jesus to come into your world today? We’ve prepared a little space up here where we can kneel and pray. I want to invite you to come up here and open your arms or hands and pray in an attitude of humility or vulnerability.

    I think that’s what Three Kings day is about.   It’s about the contrast between Herod, who was not humble at all, and the Wise Men from the East, who were completely humble. They traveled across a vast distance, and had really no clue if they would find anything. But they had hope. They wanted to believe.

     We want to believe in Jesus too.   We want to believe Jesus can change our lives. Other people might laugh at us for getting out of bed and driving across town to come to this humble little church on this dreary January day, thinking this will change our lives. But we have seen a star. We have seen the light of God. We have seen God transform broken lives into healed, strong amazing examples of new life. We know Jesus can make something of us too.

      So I want to invite you to come kneel beside the baby today. We had a baby basket up by the stage in worshp, to represent, the bed where baby Jesus might have slept. We to received Holy Communion and after we were invited to come and kneel, somewhere near the basket. You can imagine a simple baby’s bed. Come kneel down where you are.   Open your arms or hands in a position of vulnerability and humility.

      We all need Jesus, and God sent Jesus to the world to be here for all of us. So today, I invite us to ask Jesus to come to you again, and be your hope. Amen.

Jesus: God’s Persistent Invitation to the World by Cheri Holdridge (with an assist by Kurt Young)

2011-12-24T20:19:00.001-08:00

    So when my 9 year old son is watching TV or playing a video game, and I need to ask him a question, I might as well be talking to a brick wall. We have had his hearing checked on a regular basis. His hearing is just fine. But when he is focused on electronics, he cannot hear me talking.

    (move lips but don’t make sound): It’s as if I am speaking but no sound is coming out of my mouth. (REPEAT quietly): It’s as if I am speaking but no sound is coming out of my mouth. (SHOUT):IT’S AS IF I AM SPEAKING BUT NO SOUND IS COMING OUT OF MY MOUTH. Any other parents experiencing this?

    Sometimes I will walk over to him and get between him and the TV or the video game and say, “Are you listening to me?” And then I will give him whatever message I want to convey. Now, this can be somewhat amusing if I’m trying to say, “It’s time to empty the trash.” We can laugh that he’s just trying to get out of doing his chores.

    Sometimes it still gets old. This happens in much more serious conversations all the time. You need to talk with your significant other, about some concerns you are having in your relationship. You are not happy. Perhaps you have a problem, for example, about the different values you have about spending money and you think it’s time to have a serious talk. Your partner just brushes you off, in much the same way a 9 year old brushes off Mom saying it’s time to do your chores. We don’t want to have the “money talk.” It’s too stressful. And it will point to other underlying values clashes in our relationship.

    And gradually, we just shut down, and stop communicating about just about everything. They just don’t deal with things. This breakdown in communication is what happens between God and human beings every day. Did you hear me? Can you hear me now?

    Think about it. God is our creator, our parent, our loving Mom or Dad. God wants to be right in there, in the thick of our lives. Yes God is like a nosey parent who wants to know our business. It’s because God really does know what’s best; because God made the world and everything in it. God gives us life. God give us opportunities, and God gives us free will to make choices: good ones and bad ones.
Then God watches as we do what we will do.

    And we make mistakes. We make some dooo-zies! But We do some good things with the skills and the resources God gives us too. Some incredible wonderful things that transform our world for the better. But this is what often happens in our life cycle. We get cut off from God.

    In the days of Mary and Joseph, lots of the people had lost their way. I imagine God feeling like a frazzled Mom at the end of the worst day, when a child won’t pull his attention away from the electronics for ANYTHING – NOT EVEN his favorite dinner and a big old hug from the mama he loves. (And most 9 year old boys really do still love hugs from their mom, don’t let them tell you they don’t.) I imagine God feeling like that with a whole planet full of children.

    In the days of Mary and Joseph, I imagine God being like someone who is living in the house with a partner but they have not felt joy together in years. They are just sharing space. They are not communicating; they are not growing old together. They are just getting old. And God is living like that in a house with a billion people.

    So about 2000 plus years ago, in the time of Mary and Joseph, and King Herod, and all those folks, God said, “Enough!” “I have got to do something.” “I love these people. These are my children. When they listen to me, I can guide them. I can help them find peace and joy. I am their Creator; I gave them life. They are so unhappy, so lost. How did this happen? How did this happen?   You have been in a relationship before and asked that.

    “When I was working through Moses and led the people into the Promised Land those were good times. My people were finally listening to me after all those years in the wilderness. I thought we were on the right track. I felt such a connection. But now look at them. Leaders have taken over that have lost their way.” They just don’t get it.

    And so God formed a plan. “I will start over again with them. God specializes in new starts. I will send my own child down there – my Son. I’ll send a baby – no one can resist loving a baby! At least not until they need a diaper change, get cranky, etc.   And in time, He will show them. He will be so gentle and wise, and so radical in His love and so clear in His call for justice that they will see me – they will remember me.”   And so that is just what God did. God sent Jesus.

    Today, we gather, and light the “Christ Candle” to give thanks to God, for sending Jesus to our world. We give thanks that God Jesus to Mary and Joseph and to the shepherds and the Wise Men. Because God sent Jesus to those first disciples, to those fishermen who were not always that smart: Peter, James and John, to Mary and Martha and their brother Lazarus, God’s message got passed through to them, and filtered down through the ages to us. From that part of the world to ours.

    Now it’s up to us. So on this Christmas, we pause and marvel at this amazing gift of God’s child, born in the midst of humanity. Can we pause, before we go open the gifts and eat too much food and watch sports, and just let this gift soak in to us?
You see this gift proves that God really wants to love us and be the guiding force in our lives. God wants to cut through the noise, and the distractions. God wants to cut through our fears and our resistance and be in relationship with us.

    Will we listen? Will we turn down whatever video games and TV’s, or other material distractions we hold onto? Will we let go of whatever bad choices we know we make that keep us from saying “yes” to God’s path for us? You see, today, is the day. God gives us Jesus, to change our lives. Jesus is the only gift that matters.
All the rest is just icing on the Christmas cake.

    Will you pray with me now? And open your heart to receive God’s gift of Jesus?
God, you did your part to come to us. And now God, we are going to do our part. We are here, ready, ready to receive your gift of Jesus. You love made flesh in the world. We open our hearts to receive your love in the world.

Amen.

Advent: Resting in God’s Possibilities by Cheri Holdridge (with an assist by Kurt Young)

2011-12-18T08:50:00.001-08:00

    A long, long, long time ago, an angel came to a young unmarried girl, who was part of a family that lived a simple life. They were not wealthy. They were not kings and queens. They were not part of the elite class. They were not special in any way.   The angel said, “You’re going to have a baby, and your baby will bring hope and salvation to the world. Are you ready Mary?”

    Mary was confused, she was stunned, she was not married and was not doing the things that caused the usual human being to get pregnant. The angel explained that God would intervene in a miraculous way, and God would be the father of this one of a kind child. “How about that? Are you ready for that Mary?” God is going to be the father of your baby.

    With a sense of calm and obedience well beyond her years, Mary said to the angel, “Here I am, your servant, let it be according to your word,”, what strength and trust. Just like that great Beatles’ song says. LET IT BE. There is such a sense of calm and peace to that song, isn’t there? LET IT BE.
When I find myself in times of trouble
Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be.
When the broken hearted people
Living in the world agree,
There will be an answer, let it be.

    Somehow, miraculously, Mary, knew. Mary knew in her heart, that everything would be alright. She is told that her cousin Elizabeth, who is well beyond her child bearing years, is also pregnant. Her child will grow up to be John the Baptist, the one who preaches and prepares the way for Jesus and his ministry. The angel says, such an old woman can have a baby, and Mary, can have a baby without being with a man – and here’s why, NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR GOD.

    That’s the message of this whole story: NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR GOD. And so, in this season, we are invited to lean into that wonderful promise. Are you ready for that?

    Are you ready to rest in God’s possibilities? And to trust God? Can we say to God, “Let it be”? Can we say to God to take our lives and mold them for your purposes. Say “do something outrageous with our lives? Something we never dreamed we could do without God’s help?”

    Now, there may be something you believe God wants to do with your life individually. You may be praying, and you may hear God speaking to you about some big change God is making in your life. And if so, I encourage you to trust God, to listen to God, and to rest in God’s possibilities, and to be like Mary and put your future in God’s hands.

    But there can be more than one Christmas miracle. There can be lots of individual miracles. As I ponder this scripture and consider the impossibilities before us, I believe God is doing something amazing with The Village right now. Right before our eyes. Right here at Christmas.

    I believe the power of God’s spirit is being born anew within us. It’s like we are a pregnant woman, just waiting to give birth. I can give you some examples, ministry teams, a ministry plan, some new financial, unexpected support, a new band leader and new location, all signs of how we are getting ready for our ministry to be stronger, but there is something more than that. Something intangible.   A God thing. The power of God. The Spirit of God moving among us.

    I believe this is the question God is asking us today: will we be God’s vessels of incarnational love in the way that Mary was? Will we be carriers of God’s love brought into the world? You see, Mary brought Jesus into the world. Mary brought God into the world. And as she gave birth to Jesus, she brought to the world, God’s love and hope, God’s mercy and compassion.

    Now, I believe God is asking us, to give birth to Jesus in our little part of the world. WE are to bring God into the world. It’s our job now. WE are to give birth to God’s love and hope, to God’s mercy and compassion in whatever way we can right here in our little corner of the world.

    We are all God has in the world. We are what God has to be God’s representatives We may not feel worthy. But Mary did not really feel worthy either. She was probably about 12-13 years old, she didn’t feel ready. And yet, in humility she stepped up to the task and said, “Here I am, let it be with me according to your word.”

    And so this is God’s question to us, as we walk through this last week of Advent, in preparation for Christmas. I don’t care how many shopping days are left. Here’s God’s question, Are we ready? Are we ready to give birth to Jesus? Are we ready to represent Jesus in the world?

    Are we ready to be The Village Church in Northwest Ohio? To get out there and stretch ourselves to show God’s love through community service and to invite more people to be part of our church? We can’t just sit at our new location and wait for God to come to us.   Jesus didn’t do that. There are hurting people out there who need to hear the word of hope for hurting people. We know that there are hurting people because we are them. There are the things we need to do, in order to expand the reach of our ministry: Community service and inviting other people to try The Village. We can’t just sit here and wait for them to come to us. We have to get out there and look for them. Because they are hurting, and they need God’s healing love. You know they do.
Everyone here can be part of what seems to be impossible. We want to double our impact between Christmas and Easter. Because we know that there are more people who need a community like this. The task seems impossible. But what seems impossible for humans, is always possible with God.

    You will be hearing more about the opportunities to be part of the various ministry teams. And if you want to join one, today I invite you to take out a yellow Connection Card and just put your name on it and sign up for a Ministry Team. If you want to help with community service and outreach to new people then just write Outreach on the card and we’ll direct you to Kurt and Patrick.

    Most of all, let’s pray about the possibilities. Will you pray in this last week of Advent? Let’s try this: every time we hear a Christmas song this week, let’s invite God to use us, in the way God used Mary – to bring Jesus into the world.

    I know it’s a humbling thought. But it was humbling to Mary too. So let’s pray that God will use each one of us, through the Village Church. I think it’s easier to think about doing it together. Every time we hear a Christmas song this week, let’s pray that God will use each one of us, together, to bring Jesus into the world, Jesus’ message love and hope, mercy and compassion. We are not Mary. But think about how scary it was for Mary. Let’s join Mary and offer our lives to God, “Here we are God, your servants, Let it be, according to your word.” Let’s bring Jesus’ message of love and hope, compassion and mercy into a world that desperately needs it.

“Advent: An Invitation to Come Home” By Cheri Holdridge (with an assist by Kurt Young)

2011-12-11T08:47:00.001-08:00

     What do you want for Christmas? Maybe you have made a Christmas list for your family, because that’s what you do. You let people know about some material “stuff” that you would enjoy having, because that’s our Christmas tradition. We buy one another “stuff” on Jesus’ birthday. It’s kind of an odd tradition if you think about it. God sends God’s own child into the world and we celebrate by buying one another lots of stuff. Occasionally we buy ourselves a little something as well. Kind of an odd tradition if you think about it.

       Now, at places like The Village, we try to balance all that consumerism by inviting folks to keep the gift buying manageable and to remember to buy for folks who are truly in need. So we give food and money to help people who economically poor, with our Christmas Fund for the AIDS Resource Center. This seems to be compassionate way to honor the birth of God’s own son.

       But honestly, what would you really LOVE to have for Christmas? I think if I really got to the heart of the matter with many of you – you would say something like this: peace on earth, harmony in your family or relationships, to not have to live with so much worry about whatever you worry about, when you go to bed at night, when you can’t sleep. How about that?

     Underneath all of that, we want peace for ourselves and those we love. We want to know everything is going to be ok. I would call that “home.” We want to be in that comfortable place, where we can be ourselves, take off our shoes, sit our comfy chair, and just be ourselves, and our mom and dad will love us.   In that best home, the idealized version of home.

       That’s what that song is about – “I’ll be Home for Christmas.” The person just wants to be home, where everything is happy and comfortable and good. They are separated from family for some reason. The song was recorded in 1943 by Bing Crosby during WWII and was very popular during WW II. It reflected the story of a young soldier who wanted to be home for Christmas, if only in his dreams.

     That image is powerful in itself is powerful enough. We are all seeing the stories all over the news of the soldiers coming home from Iraq. At least those soldiers will be home this year for Christmas. And it makes us feel good.   But the song, and the idea of the song, is about more that. You see, at Christmas, many of us get to spend some time with our birth family, or our chosen family. We take some time off work and spend time with people we love. This is Christmas at its best.

     Now let me just pause here to acknowledge that I know Christmas is not like that for everyone. Christmas is not picture perfect for many of us. It is depressing and stressful for many of us, because we don’t have those families that we want to see. Or we feel like we have to spend time with folks that we really don’t want to see. I understand that. But we’ll have to deal with that another day. But I do want to acknowledge that.

      But here is the thing. We can all be at home with Jesus on Christmas Day. We can choose to be home with Jesus for Christmas. In that first Christmas scene. Jesus had humble beginnings. Born in a barn in the back of an inn.

      In our scripture for today, Jesus’ cousin, John the Baptist is preaching to the crowds. You see, he started his preaching ministry a few months or so, before Jesus started his ministry. John the Baptist, started baptizing people with water and telling them to repent and turn away from their sins. But he said to them, “I’m just the opening act.” “The headliner,” meaning Jesus, “is on the way.” The one who is coming, “He is the LIGHT. He is the one you are really waiting for.”

      John was telling them, that when Jesus comes, we can find our home with him. We can find our way to God, when we know Jesus. We can find our HOME in God, when we know Jesus. So we need to get to know this Jesus. Jesus is the one. Where you will find that sense of peace, that place you are longing for. That sense of belonging in a family.

       So every year at Christmas time, we have this big celebration, in order to re-tell this important story, of the baby, with humble beginnings, who would grow up to love the unlovable, and speak the truth to power, and overcome death with resurrection. That’s the baby we can be at home with. That’s the baby we want to love with our Christmas celebrations.   We want to remember Jesus to remember the one who loved the unlovable like us, who would speak to power, so we can too, the one to overcome death, so we can too. This is why it is important to celebrate it that way, every year.

      It is now 14 days until Christmas. Yes, we can view it as 14 shopping days left. We can view it as 14 days left to cram in parties, and home decorating. And some of that stuff is fun. I like Christmas parties and lights, and giving presents. I would invite us, however, to consider, 14 days left to be still, and ponder the gift of Jesus – Emmanuel – God present in the world – to come into our home and live with us.

       And I would challenge us to consider how we will honor Jesus’ birthday, gift from God of Jesus. We will come and worship with our church family on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Will we take time to pray that week, and open our hearts to receive Jesus anew? What does the birth of this child, your child to me, mean this year?

       Will we give some time during Christmas week, or in the new year, to help others through some ministry of compassion – actually trusting God to change us and use us as servants?   To change ourselves through servant ministry. Will we designate some money to help those who are even poorer than us? Because there are people in our community and our world who are poorer than us, even in Toledo, Ohio where we are pretty poor right now. And will we realize that in these acts, we are making a home with Jesus? You see, Jesus wants to be at home in our lives. That’s why Jesus came to live on this Earth, Why God sent Jesus to live with us.

    You see, we will be home for Christmas. Our home, is with Jesus. God is sending Jesus to live with us and in us, and Jesus wants to be with us. Christmas is God’s gift to us every year – to let us receive the gift of Jesus once again. So let’s get ready. We only have two weeks left. Let’s get ready to be home for Christmas.

     Do you have your way home for Christmas? There are lots of places to get on that journey. If you need one, and are near Central & Monroe in Toledo, or Conant Street & the Anthony Wayne Trail this Spring, come join us at the Village. We’re remembering an incredible gift, given to us about 2,000 years ago. We’re gathering as a church family, where all are welcome. Come join us, or another church family this season.

ADVENT PROMISES by Cheri Holdridge (with an assist by Kurt Young)

2011-12-04T08:49:00.001-08:00

    Back in 1997, not long after Kurt and I got married, we made a trip to Texas, my home. It was Kurt’s first trip to West Texas. His third trip West of the Mississippi River. We went to DeLeon, (don’t say it French, it’s DEE LEON) TX, population 2,433, also the smallest town Kurt says he has ever spent a night in (it’s 1/10 of the size of the prior champion in that category). He is a Big City Boy. But the trip there was the most frightening part. The flight down was not so bad. We flew from Detroit Metro to Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. As I recall, that flight was uneventful. We rented a car to make the drive out Interstate 20 to my dad’s home town, where my grandparents had been living for more than seventy years. Kurt was driving and I was navigating. I grew up in West Texas. I know I-20 like an Ohioan knows the Ohio Turnpike. It all came back to me. This was my highway. I told him to slow down at Ranger hill, because it’s a speed trap. We laughed about the Dairy Queens at every exit.

    But to Kurt, this was unfamiliar territory. It was a dark, cold, rainy night. Texas was foreign soil to him. He was going to some tiny town, to meet my relatives, because my grandfather had died. He was feeling protective of his new wife and he just wanted to reach our destination. When we got to the exit for DeLeon, we turned off the Interstate and headed south, and I kid you not, the little state highway turned to dirt road. It started raining harder, and Kurt thought he had gone to the ends of the earth. “Are all the state highways in Texas dirt roads?” he asked me. It was as if he thought we were in some sort of horror movie, or gone to Hell. Remember, he’s a city boy. He had no idea where we were. He tried not to show it. But he had all these disaster scenarios playing in his head, because everything was out of his control. He was in the wilderness of small rural West Texas.

    Well of course, we got there, just fine. We got to my grandparents’ house. My aunt and uncle were there waiting for us. We had something to eat and got a warm bed to sleep in. I reminisced about all the fun summer vacations I had in that house, visiting my grandparents, and the Christmases there with family. This was the house my dad grew up in. The next day we went to the United Methodist Church where my grandmother had played the organ and my granddad was the song leader every Sunday night. I showed Kurt the pulpit where my dad preached his first sermon, and where I preached one of my first sermons. That was cool. This was home for me.

    Kurt relaxed and we had a good visit. You see, DeLeon was a home with family and with God for me. But it was wilderness for Kurt. It’s all a matter of perspective. He had never been there. He had never been there, it was far outside his familiar turf, and the road there was scary for him – literally! So he had to go there with someone he loved, and he had to have a tour of a new place, and be told, that it had good people, and that God lived there too.

    Well, this is my simple story, to help us to today’s Bible story Isaiah. You see, if you are not a Biblical scholar, then the text that was read for us today, might be pretty unfamiliar to you. It’s poetry, written by a prophet, from another time and place. It takes some translating to make sense to us. But it’s a beautiful piece of writing and it speaks to us today, once we unpack it.

    This is the context. The people of Israel, who are God’s chosen people, have been defeated in a war. They have been taken from their country to a far off land and they are living in exile in Babylon. The prophet Isaiah is giving words of hope, because they are living in what is the wilderness to them. Listen to some of the words from Isaiah 40 again in this context:
Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. 2Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.

3A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. 5Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” 6A voice says, “Cry out!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field. 7The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it; surely the people are grass. 8The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever.

9Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!” 10See, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. 11He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.
You see there is a promise that God stands forever. And that a highway will be made across that desert that will lead them out of exile in Babylon and back home to Israel.   Anyone been lost in the wilderness lately? Anyone felt a little down, a little cut off from God’s love? Feel like you are not going to get back on that highway back home?

    Highways were important in Israel. They are important to us now, but we take them for granted because they are usually so readily available. (Except for that night in West Texas, when by the way, the state highway turned to dirt because it was under construction.) Highways in Israel, back in the days that this text was written, were important trade routes between the East and the West. One particular road, The King’s Highway, connected modern Damascus to Cairo, and put Israel on the map for trading. It was a really important highway.

    These people wanted a highway back home. They wanted a highway back to God, because they were feeling abandoned by God. I wanted a highway back home to my family because I had lost my grandfather. They were lost. They had lost everything: their land, their homes, their culture, and their centers of religious practice. They thought that God had forgotten them. Many of you have told me you have felt like God has forgotten you. The prophet Isaiah comes to remind them: God has not forgotten you. God is coming back for you. God will care for you like a shepherd cares for his flock.

    We read these texts during Advent, because they point to Jesus. In fact, over in the New Testament, when John the Baptist is getting the people ready for Jesus, he quotes this passage from Isaiah 40 and he says that he, John, is preparing a way for Jesus.

    You see, scripture is full of God’s promises to God’s people. When we go through any of these wilderness times, and we will go through wilderness times, God reminds us that others have been there too. But God will make a highway, so that we can find our way back to God.

    When I went back to DeLeon, Texas, it was a sad time because my grandfather had died, but it was also a good time, because I connected with my family roots. My grandparents and their son, my father, loved God, and raised me to love God, and I am a pastor today, because of them. That little church in that tiny little town of 2,433 produced several pastors that went on to reach many more people in many more places. People like Kurt, who is a city boy and will never live in a town that small, are still touched by the legacy of the people in that little United Methodist Church. Going to that town was going to the wilderness for Kurt but it was going home to connect with God for me.
    Which kind of place are you in today? Are you in a wilderness time in your life? Are you looking for a highway to connect God to your life? Or are you feeling cozy and warm and right at home with God? We need some people who are at that place on the journey. Or are you somewhere in between? Wherever you are, remember that the promises of God are for you. “The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever” (Is. 40:8)

    Today, we are going to celebrate the promises of God in the lives of some more people. We are going to receive some new members into the community of The Village. We are going to baptize one. And then we are going to have the opportunity for all of us to remember our baptism. It’s a good way to take a step out of that wilderness if you are feeling you have been there, and take a step toward God. Because, you see, God is always ready to reconnect with us. That is a promise. God wants to be in relationship with us. Whether it’s a dirt road, or a super highway, God always wants to receive us.

    We are going to be claiming one person today as God’s and we are going to give us all a chance to remember our baptisms. If you are feeling alone in the wilderness, remember that God is there with you. God never truly leaves us and God will be there if we need God.

    If you need a place to remind you, that you are not alone in the wilderness, come join us at the Village. We’re at the cross roads of Central & Monroe in Toledo on Sundays and coming Spring 2012 to the corner of the Anthony Wayne Trail and Conant Street in Maumee.

“Advent: Be Ready!” by Cheri Holdridge (with an assist by Kurt Young)

2011-11-27T08:56:00.001-08:00

    My kids think I have eyes in the back of my head. It’s a mom thing, a sixth sense. I just know when they are up to something. When they were really little, they thought they could break a household rule and not get caught. But mom always knows what is going on. Am I right? Was your mom like that? Yesterday, they were decorating a gingerbread house with their Gram. I walked in right after one had taken the frosting and squeezed a big gob of it right into their mouth. They smiled and tried to hide it from me. I knew exactly what they had done. They got that innocent look on their face, and then burst out laughing when I said, “We both know you have a mouth full of frosting, young one.” MAMA SEES EVERYTHING!

   From the time a child is crawling, we must establish this truth, because when they become teen-agers, we want this feeling ingrained in their psyches. We hope and pray it will keep them out of trouble when they are out there in the big bad world, driving, and at parties with other teen-agers being tempted by all sorts of evil things. Am I right? You see your Mama could not protect you from everything out there. We all make mistakes, can I get an Amen?

   You see, we want our children to learn to make good choices for themselves. We want them to develop their own internal conscience for making good decisions. We help them when they are younger, but eventually they are outside our homes, and outside our influence. They are on their own. And they will have to live with the consequences. And eventually the consequences out there get really big. Am I right?

   Well, today’s scripture is about ultimate choices and ultimate consequences, BIG ONES. Today is the first Sunday in the church calendar, the church year, the first Sunday in Advent. There is a suggested plan of scripture readings for the church year called a lectionary, and every year on the first Sunday of Advent, and every year we get this really scary text, about what it will look like at what we call the “Second Coming” of Jesus. It’s not my favourite thing to preach on.
   Now, when Jesus was here the first time, and he talked about his return, and these conversations got recorded in the Bible, the assumption was by some people, that this “second coming” was right around the corner. That was 2000 years ago, so it seems that the folks that were listening to Jesus misheard something. Because he also said that no one will know the time or the place, (which makes all these predictions about the date of the second coming kind of silly, to me, but we won’t go there today).

   This is the gist of what Jesus was saying to his followers: always be ready to come face to face with God. This mysterious Second Coming could be at any time, but we never know when the time for the final judgment of the world will come. You never know when your own time will come. So live as a person ready to die, and face God. I think that’s pretty good advice. Always live ready to face God. (Always live as if your Mama can see what you are doing. As a mother, I like that one. I think it would keep lots of us out of trouble. Maybe it’s not such good theology – but I think it could make the world a better place, don’t you think.

   Well, we read part of Mark’s gospel, chapter 13 for you today. Listen to some of the part that comes earlier in chapter 13:

11"When they bring you, betrayed, into court, don't worry about what you'll say. When the time comes, say what's on your heart—the Holy Spirit will make his witness in and through you.
12-13"It's going to be brother killing brother, father killing child, children killing parents. There's no telling who will hate you because of me.
   "Stay with it—that's what is required. Stay with it to the end. You won't be sorry; you'll be saved.

14-18"But be ready to run for it when you see the monster of desecration set up where it should never be. You who can read, make sure you understand what I'm talking about. If you're living in Judea at the time, run for the hills; if you're working in the yard, don't go back to the house to get anything; if you're out in the field, don't go back to get your coat. Pregnant and nursing mothers will have it especially hard. Hope and pray this won't happen in the middle of winter.

19-20"These are going to be hard days—nothing like it from the time God made the world right up to the present. And there'll be nothing like it again. If he let the days of trouble run their course, nobody would make it. But because of God's chosen people, those he personally chose, he has already intervened.

Then we get to the part Kristen read today in our worship celebration:

But the exact day and hour? No one knows that, not even heaven's angels, not even the Son. Only the Father. So keep a sharp lookout, for you don't know the timetable. It's like a man who takes a trip, leaving home and putting his servants in charge, each assigned a task, and commanding the gatekeeper to stand watch. So, stay at your post, watching. You have no idea when the homeowner is returning, whether evening, midnight, cockcrow, or morning. You don't want him showing up unannounced, with you asleep on the job. I say it to you, and I'm saying it to all: Stay at your post. Keep watch."

Those last two words are why these texts are used today, as we begin this season of Advent and prepare our hearts to celebrate Christmas. “Keep watch” for God to give us the gift of Jesus.   Every year we get this amazing gift from God.

   We are in a time of watching and waiting for Jesus. No matter what anyone else tries to tell you, these next 28 days are a season of watching for Jesus. We can decorate our houses, send out cards, buy presents, cook a special meal, but we need to ask ourselves one question. Are we living in such a way, that when Jesus comes, we will bring him joy? Will our lives bring him joy?

   Yes I could put it this way: I could say, Jesus is coming to judge us. I could get all scary like and say, when Jesus comes again – is he going to judge you worthy to live with him in paradise or is he going to condemn you to hell? I could. But here is the thing. If we have chosen hell, we are already living there. Hell is right here on earth when we choose to live apart from God.   We don’t need Jesus to tell us we’re going to hell, we’ve visited.

   Another way to put it is this: are we living our lives for Jesus now? When he gets here, would he recognize we are living that way? Are we crafting our lives and forming our lives in a way that would give Jesus joy, with every decision we make? Are we choosing friends that build us up and encourage us to live in the ways of Jesus? Are we making choices about how we use our time and spend our money that help us live out the values of Jesus? Or are we following someone else’s way?   If Jesus were standing beside us every day, would he be filled with joy at the way we treat our neighbors, our friends, our loved ones, the strangers we meet, even our enemies? Because, here is the thing: Jesus is standing beside us every day, because he lives inside those neighbors and strangers and even our enemies.

   In four weeks we will celebrate the birth of Jesus again. In the newspaper, on the TV and on the net, they will soon start a countdown, sadly of shopping days until Christmas. Now, I’m not totally anti-shopping, but that’s a silly way to countdown to Christmas. I love Christmas. It is my favorite day of the year. Because we get to remember that God comes to the world just like us, a vulnerable little child, helpless and fragile.   Born of average parents, in a barn, without a home.

   For now, Jesus calls us to watch for him. Jesus calls us to take a look at our own lives and consider this: Will we be ready to have Jesus take a close look at our lives with us? And if not, it’s not too late. We can make some changes today. With God’s help, we can carefully move ourselves back into line, be ready. Will you do it? Will you ask God to show you the changes to you need to make? And will we make them? And will you be ready?

   Do you need a place where you can get ready for God’s greatest gift? A tiny baby who would show us the way. A “king” born not in a palace, but homeless in a barn, with a feed trough as a crib. A leader who changed the world, not with military might, but with love. If not, consider stopping by the corner of Monroe & Central in Toledo, we are here Sundays at 11 AM, and soon at the Maumee Indoor Theater (where the Anthony Wayne Trail and Conant Street). We are getting ready for Jesus.

HELPING HANDS - FEEDING THE MASSES by Kurt Young & Bryan Simon

2011-11-21T05:38:00.001-08:00

   If you’re like me (Kurt) and love God’s wondrous diversity and the variety God has created, this week at the Village was a feast. First, we had a group of students from Toledo Campus Ministry (TCM), from the University of Toledo providing our music, an incredible variety of music from around the globe.

   If you’ve never heard of TCM, it is an incredible, and vital, campus ministry. Dee Baker, the Campus Minister has been voted the best campus minister in the country, and they got that one right. Kurt has taken classes out there and enjoyed the incredible gathering of different cultures and viewpoints that make up the tapestry of that program. Then we had Bryan Simon, a Villager and a seminary graduate waiting for his first call, preach at the Village for the first time. Bringing yet another voice to our pulpit.

   Bryan grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota. When he was growing up, his home church started a Wednesday night meal for their community and beyond. The idea was to encourage people to participate in various activities at the church and provide some food and community. They planned for 30-50 people, but they got 90. Of course, the food ran out. Unlike Jesus, thought,though they were unable to feed the masses with two pans of lasagne and five loves of bread.   But you know what happened? Something amazing happened. Despite the food running out, there was fellowship and friendship, conversation and community.

   That’s what kind of kind of what what happened in our Bible story from worship today, Matthew 14: 13-21 for those of you following along on the internet. Jesus and his followers had just learned that John the Baptist, Jesus’ cousin and friend, had just been executed, on a whim. Jesus was looking to go away and mourn, but so were the masses that followed Jesus and so Jesus did what he always did, he taught.

   Like the flash mobs of today, people flocked to where Jesus was. No text messages, no internet, but it happened. Somehow word just got out. And Jesus did what Jesus always did, he brought comfort and teaching to the masses.

   But, no one had food, no one had supplies, and there was no town right there, no inns. At that point, they’ve got 5,000-10,000 people to feed and no way they can do it. Sure they were fishermen, but not with enough time to catch enough fish to feed that many. So, the disciples wanted Jesus to dismiss the crowd. But someone had planned ahead. They brought two fish and five loaves of bread.

   Now it’s possible that the(delete) Jesus supernaturally caused the food to multiply. And that would be incredible in of itself. But it’s also possible something else happened. People may have found things to share, things they were holding back, in case. They may have only taken a very little when the baskets, in which the five loaves and two fish got broken up into, came around , they may have decided to be happy with nothing. Who knows exactly how that worked, but somehow it worked.

   In their grief at the lost of John, in their fear, but in their fellowship, they got a spirit to share. And they spread that food, and maybe others, around and took care of each other. Truly a miracle any way you look at it.

   But we experience it here each week. Each week we have a multitude of people who share what they have. Every Sunday here at the Village; our worship is made possible by a cadre of helpers, people who make & run power point presentations, musicians, coffee makers, food preparers, all make our experiences better, more complete. We jump weekly into this story.

   We pass the spiritual food of learning and feeding our soul, as we pass we nourish each other. Faith begins the size of a mustard seed, and brothers and sisters, it is bigger now than it was five minutes ago. That is the Sunday Miracle, that people across the country and around the world, stand up in front of other people and share with them their piece of faith. No matter what of the above roles, others like Bryan or Cheri sharing their words. Everyone adds their part to the baskets, putting their contributions in, and together, we are feeding each other. We’re feeding what was planned for as 50 today, but swelled closer to 80. When we leave here, in half an hour, do we sit on our hands and keep this to ourselves. Do we?

   NO! We take our nourishment and we go out and we nourish our world. It is how we can begin to understand how 5,000+ could be fed. We, at the Village are here, as our mission statement says to “follow Jesus and Change the World” and we believe we can. Some of us will give money to the Village to support (not it's) its ministries, some our time and talents, some our mere presence at events. But that is how the gifts of 100 or so dedicated followers can feed 5,000 and more. That is how a little church in Toledo is going to expand beyond and start a service in a few months in Maumee and begin feeding Maumee and Perrysburg and beyond, and isn’t that something.

   Just like on a Wednesday Night in September in St. Paul, Minnesota, when a church decided it needed to offer a fellowship opportunity and food to encourage (not it's) its members to participate, we have a challenge in front of us now, here at the Village. A challenge to reach out to our communities, and as a regional church we are in many communities, across Toledo, and into Michigan, in Bowling Green and Maumee, Springfield, Perrysburg and Oregon.

   Where can each of us step up. What fish and bread do we have to offer our brothers and sisters? If everyone adds a little to the baskets, it won’t take long before we are feeding Toledo, Maumee, Perrysburg, and anywhere else we go. We are followers of Jesus and we CAN change the world, and that, that is where we can meet the story of the feeding of the 5,000, not necessarily with food that we magically multiply, but with teaching, learning and fellowship.   We too are sitting on the lakeshore, and we here and now, can make miracles happen, because, both today, like yesterday needs miracles and even miracles need a helping hand.

THE TRUTH WILL MAKE YOU FREE by Cheri Holdridge (with an assist by Kurt Young)

2011-11-13T08:46:00.001-08:00

    Wednesday night, my niece’s husband, Fletcher posted five words on Facebook: “Saddest day of my life.” I knew exactly what he was talking about because the day before he had posted his reflection on the events that were unfolding at Penn State. I read many accounts of what were going on, but Fletcher’s reflection was one of the most poignant. He wrote:

As far back as I can remember I have been a Penn State fan like my father. Every year I could hardly wait for fall to watch Joe take a run at the national championship. This team, this coach, and what it stood for was a part of me. Work hard, have respect for yourself and others, show class and pride in what you do and who you are, don't be a show boat, and no member of the team is more important than the other are just few of the things that this team embodied and represented to me. I love football and I love this team. My heart goes out to everyone who suffered from the actions of one selfish and twisted individual. I can't imagine what they are going through and how hard this must be for them. For me....its hollow. Penn State football stood for something. Something in me and all of the PSU nation. Now that's gone and it is heartbreaking. It is just a game and the sun will rise tomorrow, and what is most important is that these boys get their justice. However, as I sit here now my pride is gone. I still love Joe. I wish he had done more, I wish he could do more. I wish this had never happened. I wish my pride was not gone.

   I don’t get all wrapped up in football the way others do. I had to go to several of you to understand the importance of the Penn State program to football.

   When the beloved coach Joe Paterno got fired the next day, along with the President of the University, for not doing more when they were told that Assistant Coach Jerry Sandusky was allegedly sexually abusing boys while he running a summer sports camp at Penn State, all while he was a coach at Penn State, the students rioted. It was mayhem on Wednesday night.

   People everywhere across the country were talking about it. We all have our opinions. Thankfully, by the next day, the students moved on to a better place and put together a prayer vigil for the victims of the abuse. For all of us, the primary energy needs to go toward prayer and compassion for the victims of the abuse.

   And of course, the children and the families originally affected by the perpetrators of violence are the ones most deeply affected by any kind of abuse. Their lives are forever marked by the experience. Far too many of you know that first hand.

   But here is the thing, when there is a cover up of an incident like this, the circle of victims, grows wider and wider and wider. Those students became a part of the circle of the victims. The University by not acting quickly and instead acting quietly added to the circle of victims.

   Jesus said to some of his first followers, “If you continue in my word, [or my way], then you are my disciples, and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” You see, I believe this means that when we walk in the way of Jesus, then we will see the truth, and we will speak the truth, even when it is inconvenient, and ugly, because the truth sets us free. The truth sets us free from our sin.

   When Jesus made this statement to his followers, they said, “We have never been slaves. We are descendants of Abraham, we are not slaves.” Jesus said, “Everyone who commits a sin is a slave to that sin. But the Son sets you free from that sin.”

   We are all sinners. Remember I told you last week, that we are all saints, but guess what, we are all sinners too? There it is! We are all slaves to sin. But Jesus sets us free. Jesus’ way is the way of truth. When invite Jesus into our lives, Jesus comes like a big spotlight that shines a light on all our sin. We can’t hide it, it’s always there. But that’s good because it’s no good trying to hide our sin. We know we can’t hide from our sin. It’s always there, eating away at us.

   Well here is the thing. Penn State University, it appears, had a big old sin. Now Jerry Sandusky has not been convicted, so this could be a big mistake. But there are at least 40 charges, so it appears that he has a problem of being a child molester. And the University let him keep on working there. They may have made him move his sports camp off campus, but that is not protecting the child, that is just trying to protect their sports program. That is like moving a pastor who is a child molester from one parish to another. That is just plain wrong. We have learned that that is a big mistake.

   When the University officials failed to call the police and take this seriously, they allowed there to be more child victims, but they also allowed all their students to become victims of this whole cover up. They were trying to protect the reputation of their football program. We get that don’t we? Institutions don’t like scandals to come out. Well, that did not work out so well for them, did it?

   Because look at these students now. Coach Joe Paterno was an icon. He was a hero. He probably would have retired this year one of the most beloved men on the planet. He had been nominated for the Presidential Medal of Freedom. And now he has been fired. As best we can tell, he probably did legally what he was supposed to do. He did report to the University. But when they covered it up, he apparently stood by. Because that’s what “good old boys” do in these sorts of systems. It’s been going on for eons. We protect the institution, rather than screaming the truth at the top of our lungs. Joe Paterno is now a victim as well for not doing that.

   I think those students were rioting on Wednesday night because their hero had fallen. If you can’t trust Joe Paterno to do the right thing then who can you trust? The University could not possible fire him! The world is turning upside down if even Joe is falling from grace. I imagine Joe is doing some soul searching this week. From what I hear, he’s a really good man. I’m sure he wants to be someone those students can look up to. He wanted to retire with grace. It’s a shame that his career had to end like this. It all happened because of another man’s sin, and an institution’s decision to cover it up and hope it would just go away, rather than face the truth and deal with the consequences.

   Well there is plenty of sin to go around at Penn State this week. However, before we stand here judging them too harshly, let’s confess that we all do it. It’s easy for us to stand here in Toledo, far away from that situation and say, we would have done it differently. It’s pretty easy for us from here. Jesus says, we are all slaves to sin. We all participate in moral dilemmas every day, and we walk right on by. We probably can’t scold every parent we see hitting a child in the supermarket. We probably can’t challenge every one of our friends who is struggling with health issues and still smoking, or question every friend about whether or not they are practicing safe sex. No one wants to be judged all the time by someone else.   We can’t be the moral police all of the time.

   Perhaps we can start with our own lives. Jesus says that we are all slaves to our own sin. But when we walk in the way of Jesus, he will shine a big light on our lives for ourselves. Jesus says we need to shine that light on our lives. Because we when we know his truth and that truth will set us free. For just a moment, let’s not focus on the sins of the Jerry Sandusky’s of the world, or the intuitions like Penn State and various churches and denominations. That’s too easy.

   What is the thing in your life that keeps you tied up in knots? That binds you and keeps you from walking in the truth that you belong to Jesus and that God loves you without question? Is it some habit, some negative thought? A Tape that keeps going over and over in your head, holding Something you have done that you need to let go of? Whatever it is I’m going to invite you into this ritual.

   Cross your arms like they are tied together as a slave or a prisoner with heavy rope. Clench your fists. Focus on that sin. Dwell on it, experience it. Then say the words of Jesus, “I am free.” And let go and open your hands. Feel the freedom in the truth that you belong to God and you are not a slave to your sin.

   Jesus says when we walk in the way of Jesus, we will be free. God wants us to be free. Free to live the lives that God wants for us. A full life of love and pass that love onto others. Take a minute to really appreciate that you are bound. But then let God set you free by accepting that truth.

"Live Simply, Find Joy and Never Quit!" by Cheri Holdridge (with an assist by Kurt Young)

2011-11-06T08:56:00.001-08:00

   The Scripture for our worship celebration this week starts “[t]he fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living” (Hebrews Chapters 11 & 12 from the Message translation for those following along on the net). I love that, “Trust in God” is the foundation that makes life worth living.

   Nov 1 was “All Saints” day: the day we honor saints, living and dead. We remember the saints that have given us spiritual strength when we don’t have it for ourselves.

   Years ago, when I was a seminary student in Atlanta, my pastor and teacher Claiborne Jones taught me about community: we say the statements of faith for each other. We show up when we feel strong and when we feel weak, and we say that we trust in God. And when I don’t believe it, you say it for me, and when you don’t believe it I say it for you. That’s what it means to be part of the community of saints together. We are strong for each other. One day we mumble through, without the strength to believe them. Other days we say them with vigor and provide the energy the person sitting next to us mumbling needs.

   This scripture for today talks about that. When you get home, take out your Bible and Read Hebrews 11 and 12. We did not read all of it, but here’s some of the best of it:

8-10By an act of faith, Abraham said yes to God's call to travel to an unknown place that would become his home. When he left he had no idea where he was going. By an act of faith he lived in the country promised him, lived as a stranger camping in tents. Isaac and Jacob did the same, living under the same promise. Abraham did it by keeping his eye on an unseen city with real, eternal foundations—the City designed and built by God.
29By an act of faith, Israel walked through the Red Sea on dry ground. The Egyptians tried it and drowned.
30By faith, the Israelites marched around the walls of Jericho for seven days, and the walls fell flat.

These were all saints, our ancestors in the faith, the pioneers who blazed the way, the veterans who never quit– who trusted God. Their strength, is our strength. Hebrews Chapter 11 goes on and on with more stories.

There were those who, under torture, refused to give in and go free, preferring something better: resurrection. Others braved abuse and whips, and, yes, chains and dungeons. We have stories of those who were stoned, sawed in two, murdered; stories of vagrants wandering the earth in animal skins, homeless, friendless, powerless—the world didn't deserve them!—making their way as best they could on the cruel edges of the world.

Chapter 12 1-3Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we'd better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit!

   On All Saints Day in the church, we remember that “great cloud of witnesses, “all those pioneers who blazed the way. We give thanks for saints, living and dead who trusted God through the ups and downs of life and never quit. They are the ones who created communities of faith to welcome us. There would be no churches without those saints. We would not have found our way to Jesus without the saints that have gone before us, telling the story and showing the way. Today we give thanks for the saints. Pause for just a minute and picture that great cloud of witnesses in your own life – the people who have touched your life and encouraged you to trust God. By their lives, and their trust in God, they gave you hope that you could trust in God too.

   Two of my saints are up on the screen today: my mom, Betty, and our friend, Rock. I asked their permission to talk about them today. I warned them I was going to call them saints, and of course they both laughed about that. But then they each said: “Well we are all saints.” They have good theology and get it. We’re all sinners too, they get that too, but that’s another sermon for another day.

   Now I don’t think it’s hard for any of you to imagine my mom as a saint. After all she’s become the grandmother of The Village church. She goes on Facebook every day and checks in on folks. It used to be that the older caring women and men of the church would call and check up on folks, but my mom knows how to keep up with the times so she has adapted to social media quite well; remarkably for a woman of 81! My mom knows how to check up and be the grandmother. It’s not hard to picture her as a saint of the church.

   But Rock, well, we must admit that when you look at her, according to the standards of most churches, folks would not immediately jump to the word “saint” when describing her. Do saints have that many tattoos? But those of you who are in recovery and know that Rock has 14 years clean, and . . .well, you call her a saint for that alone, don’t you? And she will tell you that it is trust in God that gets her through every single day. All of those programs out there and groups,they work, but they too rely on trust in God.

   I am going to tell you a bit more about my mom and Rock today, because here is the thing. We admire saints because they trust God. They seem to have a deeper faith than we feel like we have. We want what they have. But remember, we are really all saints. All of us in this room, who are trying faithfully to follow Jesus and change the world, we are all called to be saints. If it makes you feel better, you can consider yourself a “Saint-in-Training”. I believe All Saints Day, in addition to being the day we give thanks for the special saints in our own life, is also a day when God calls us to step it up. You see there are other people coming along, who need US to be saints for THEM. That’s how this thing of Christian community works. We can’t just be on the receiving end of the gifts of God; we are called to give as well. Others have given to us and now God calls us to give to others.

   So, there are many characteristics that might qualify one to be called a saint, but I have chosen 3 to talk briefly about today:

·   1. Saints are contagious in their care for others. They are not selfish.
·   When Rock came to this church, she had not been in town long and she did not have many friends, she busy chasing two grand kids around. . .

·   My Mom called her. . .
·
·   Rock told us that simple phone call meant so much. . .

·   Mom notices when folks are not here, and she sends you notes on FB or gives you a call. Who has gotten one of those notes? She cares and connected Rock to the Village.

·   Rock really cares about helping people in recovery. Because she has 14 years of sobriety and being clean from drugs, she wants to give encouragement to other addicts and alcoholics who are in recovery. She can do what I can’t do. She can reach people I can never reach.
·
Saints are contagious in their care for others. They are not selfish.
·   2. Saints are hard-working for their church community:
·
·   In her lifetime, I can’t think of a volunteer job my mom did not hold in the church. You see saints understand that a church needs leaders, and team members. She taught 5th grade Sunday school, she chaired the board, and she even cleaned the church! She understands a church needs leaders and workers.
·
·   Rock had only been attending here a few weeks when she asked what she could do to help. She told me she likes to fix things and keep her hands busy. I said “Thank You Jesus, and I gave her a list, and she did it.   I began telling everyone how blessed we were to have a head of our facilities team.
·
·   My vision for The Village all along has been that we are a church where everyone has a ministry. A few churches have enough money that they pay staff to do much of the ministry, or at least that’s what the members want them to do. Well, we don’t have that money, and to be honest, even if we did, I don’t want us to be that kind of church. I don’t think that’s what Jesus has in mind. And it’s just no fun when a few people do all the work and the rest just coast. The few get tired, and the rest, well, they don’t really feel part of the community; they feel like spectators.
·
           Saints are contagious in their care for others.

            Saints are hard-working for their church community.

·   3. Saints are generous:
·
·   My mom was one of the first people who started giving money to The Village. In fact, I think she donated the first $100 at a little Christmas Eve service we had 2007 (two years before we opened here!) As soon as we set up on-line giving, my Mom started giving every month and whenever we have a special need she gives to that. She is not a wealthy woman, she lives in Social Security and her pension from being a retired social worker in Texas. But she loves this church. She loves all of you, and most of all she loves God. And so she is generous and faithful in her giving to this church.
·
·   Rock also gives generously and faithfully to this church. She also set up on line giving to The Village every month. When I asked her why she did it she said, because she was always taught that Christians are supposed to tithe. She also knows that it costs money to run a church. I like Rock. She calls it the way she sees it. It’s not hard to look around and see that this ministry costs money. And so she gives.
·
·   Together, these two women give at least $200 a month to the Village – EVERY MONTH. $200 electronically that we can count on, plus whatever extra money they give to special offerings. That’s $2400 a year. And mom is retired, and Rock lives on disability. That is generous giving.

As the pastor of this church, I am thankful for saints like Rock and Betty, who sacrifice some other pleasures they might enjoy in life, so that The Village is here for the next generation of people who need a church like this.

      Saints are contagious in their care for others.

      Saints are hard-working for their church community.

      Saints are generous.

Finally, saints never quit in any of their faithfulness. That’s what our scripture says for today. They are the ones who hold it together when everyone else falls apart. Because you see, all along, the saints have trusted in God. They have maintained the practices of contagious care, hard-work for the community and generosity. And so when the world throws tragedy to the saint, well, the saint just keeps moving forward, trusting God.
That’s why we need saints. That’s why we admire saints. That’s why we look up to saints. And that’s why some more of us need to be like the people that we call saints. Because the world needs more saints. The world needs people with a deep foundation of trust in God – who will never quit trusting in God.

So, today, let’s give thanks for the saints in your life. And ask God to give you the strength to take YOUR trust in God to be the next level. Someone in your life needs to look to you for help and hope. Someone needs you to be an example. Someone needs you to be the one who never quits. Accept the challenge on this All Saints Day. Be one of the Saints of God. Amen.

“Live Simply, Find Joy, and Have a Plan” by Cheri Holdridge (with an assist by Kurt Young)

2011-10-30T09:19:00.000-07:00

    If you’ve ever attended church for more than a few Sundays you have probably heard a message or two on the story of the Prodigal Son (it’s Luke Chapter 15 for those following along on the internet). It’s a story that makes us feel good, because it’s a story about God’s forgiving love. God is like the father in the story who always lets us come back home when we run away and do stupid things and then we want to come back and get a fresh start. God welcomes us back, and throws us a party and all is forgiven. We love this story. And it’s a great story of how much God does truly love us. I’ve been there, how about you? No matter what, God love us.

    But there is another message in this story that I want to us have a look at today, and that’s the story of the prodigal himself. You see, he is the wild one, the one who does not want to be tied down, he wants to be free. He does not want to be practical, and plan for the future. He does not want to settle. There is a bit of the prodigal in each one of us, myself included, at some point in our lives. We want to be free!

    Did you know, by the way, that the word prodigal does not mean someone who wanders away or is lost? Prodigal literally means “one who wastes money.” Because, you see, that is what the story is about. In the story, the two sons are due an inheritance. They will both get some land, and that is their future stability. With that land, they can plant crops, earn money, and provide for themselves and their family. The inheritance of land is like a full time, job security, and a 401K all rolled into one! The father is going to give this land to each son. But the one son, the one we know as the Prodigal, sells his. He sells his future security. He goes to the big city, spends all his money having fun. He goes to the casino, finds beautiful women to impress, false friends, etc. And when he comes home he has nothing!

    How many young adults, and middle aged adults, find themselves in just this situation today? Filing for bankruptcy! Buried in debt because we have lived the American dream built on consumerism, credit card debt, rent to own, 90 days same as cash, second mortgages, payday loans, playing the lottery, going to the casinos, and all sort of instant gratification. Gone are the days of saving, and waiting to buy something until we have the money, setting aside money for our retirement, rather than counting on Social Security to be enough to provide for us. The Sears Catalog not only did not take credit, it even had the Biblical warnings about borrowing.

    And now we are experiencing the worst economic meltdown of our lives. Something has gone terribly wrong. I asked you a couple of weeks to tell me if you are worried about money. Most of you said yes. You are worried about your health, and a few other things. But overwhelmingly, we are worried about how we are going to pay our bills, and what our country is going to do to get out of this economic mess.

    We need a plan. The prodigal son did not have a plan. His plan was no plan. I have heard this phrase over and over again lately: “A failure to plan, is a plan to fail.”

    Those people who are good at managing their finances will say this to those of us who are not so good at managing our finances all the time: we need a budget. We need to track our spending. Before the month begins, we need to decide how we are going to spend every dollar. You thought you were going to hear a sermon about God’s love and grace. No, today’s is about practical things, how to have a budget.

    THAT is how we have enough money to GIVE to change the world; and that is how we SAVE so we can be ready for the emergencies that WILL come along. We plan. We all want to have money to GIVE. We all want to have money in savings. We all want to have money for retirement and those with kids want our kids to go to college if we want. We don’t want to have credit card debt.

    Well, my friends, it’s not rocket science. I am taking Dave Ramsey’s class, it’s the one everyone raves about. I have read Adam Hamilton’s book and Mike Slaughter’s book. I have talked to a financial advisor. They all say the same thing. ARE YOU READY FOR THE BIG SECRET OF FINANCIAL PEACE & STABILITY? ARE YOU REALLY READY? HERE IT IS: Create a budget at the beginning of the month, and then LIVE BY IT.

    You see, God loves us so much, God does not want us to live in crisis. God gives us so much. Too often, we fail to just stop and look at what we have. That’s why I asked you a couple of weeks ago to stop and take pictures of the abundant joy in your life, and to send them in to me. We are putting these up on our website, so keep sending them and looking at our website. We are so blessed and we take the most simple blessings for granted. Yes, we’ve got bad things going on. As I look around this room I know we are dealing with lost jobs, divorce, lost relationships, physical problems. But we are truly blessed compared to the rest of the world. And we fail to give God thanks. We forget that everything we have comes from God.

    So I have read several of these books on how to have a plan to get our finances in order, and not to worry so much about money, and they are all good. They all have something to teach us. And today I’m going to suggest a plan. Now, All of these plans take time.

    Dave Ramsey says that making our future into what we want, financially is not microwave work; it’s crock pot work. It takes some time.

    But we have to plan. Otherwise we’ll be like that prodigal son and we’ll just waste our money away and look back on life and wonder, where did it go.

So here are some steps to take.
·    Pray. Give thanks to God.

·    Plan to give first. Give your tithe back to God. Give money to your church, or wherever you are going to give money to do God’s work in the world. Everything we have comes from God, and when we love God, we start by giving money back to God every week. It’s that simple. If we are going to have a plan and order our lives with God, then we need to make God a priority.

·    Simplify your lifestyle. Take a look at everything in your life and see what is truly essential. What brings you joy?

·    Save next. You have to have an emergency fund. Dave Ramsey says everyone needs an emergency fund of $1000. (or $500 if your income is less than $20,000 a year). Do whatever it takes to get that emergency fund. Have a garage sale. Eat at home. Shovel snow, Mow lawns. Baby sit. Sell something on Ebay or at a garage sale.

·    Pay off your debts (except your house). Figure out what you owe (it may not be as bad as you think). Start with the little ones first, Dave Ramsey calls it the Debt Snowball. Or with the highest interest rate ones first. Either way, it WORKS.

·    At the same time: BUDGET - create a budget of your income and expenses and live by it every month. This is your plan. Those of us in the Financial Peace class are doing this right now, and we will start Nov 1. Every dollar has a name before the month starts. For those of us that have a partner we have to agree with our partner what every dollar of income will be designated toward. Some things will go toward bills that are paid automatically like the mortgage and utilities. For other things we will get cash and put it in envelopes marked: groceries, eating out, and “blow money” because we know there has to be a category for money we will just blow on stuff. But there will also be money to pay off debt and to build up emergency savings. And the credit cards will be cut up so we won’t add to the debt anymore.

·    After the debt is paid off - establish long term savings and investments for retirement, college funds and larger purchases like cars. We are learning to pay cash for our cars and not see car payments as a necessary way of life.

This is the plan. I am not a planner by nature. I am a free spirit. But I know that in order to reach certain goals I need a plan.   The trend in the US right now, is to have no plan for financial security. According to a CNN Money study in 2007, about 50% of American had less than $25,000 in savings for retirement. So half of us are probably in that boat, with no plan.

    But, you see being a follower of Jesus has always meant that we are radical. We know that. We are not people who go with the status quo. We are change makers. God is inviting us to be radical today, to start over today, to set a trend. As followers of Jesus, we are invited to start a new trend, the trend of finding joy in living simply and having a plan.

    Now we have already started the Financial Peace class for this session, but if you are interested in doing another such class, let me know. Or feel free to talk to one of the folks in the class. We can find other ways to help you, if you need help with getting on a budget and getting your personal finances in order.

    But this is the bottom line. God does not want us to worry about money. Worry does not add a day to anyone’s life. God blesses each one of us with so much. We all have resources, and whatever we have, that is where we start. When we have a plan, we can live simply and find joy.   Let’s do it, let’s live with Joy.

    If you need a place where you can find peace and joy, come join the followers of Jesus. We are many places in this world. If you find yourself at the corner of Monroe & Central in Toledo, or very soon in Maumee, come join us. We’re living simply with a plan that provides for us and others and allows us to find our joy.

There are many resources by Christian writers on this subject, here are just a small few examples:
Enough: Discovering Joy Through Simplicity and Generosity by Adam Hamilton

Financial Peace Revisited by Dave Ramsey

Upside Down Living in a Downside Economy by Mike Slaughter

"Live Simply, Find Joy and Be Generous!" by Cheri Holdridge (with an assist by Kurt Young)

2011-10-23T09:08:00.000-07:00

    Our scripture for today in our worship celebration, Acts 4:32-35 from the Message translation for those following along via the web:

33The whole congregation of believers was united as one—one heart, one mind! They didn't even claim ownership of their own possessions. No one said, "That's mine; you can't have it." They shared everything. The apostles gave powerful witness to the resurrection of the Master Jesus, and grace was on all of them.

34-35And so it turned out that not a person among them was needy. Those who owned fields or houses sold them and brought the price of the sale to the apostles and made an offering of it. The apostles then distributed it according to each person's need.

    According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary, the definition of one political system, communism, is this: “a system in which goods are owned in common and are available to all as needed.” In pure theory, this sounds like a good system.

    In practice, it never really works, because human beings, for the most part, do not seem capable of being completely fair and objective. So we do not share the resources fairly. But at our best, in smaller systems and communities, we can try.

    In my lifetime, I have not seen any evidence, that a large system, like a country, or a government can really make communal living work. But we’re not here today to talk about politics, or how to solve the global economic meltdown, or even how to deal with the United States debt and unemployment crisis. Those are big problems that affect all of us.

    They are important.   They have to be dealt with. Clearly our country has gone too long without finding adequate ways for the people and the leaders to work together to solve our big economic problems together.

    But just for today, we’re going to take this down to the micro level. What does communal
living, or generous living, look like in a small community like a local church called The Village?
You see way back when this Christian movement started, back at the time of those early followers of Jesus, the ones that were there right after he was resurrected into heaven, and that big Spirit of wind and power came over them, this is what church looked like, let me read it to you again:

33The whole congregation of believers was united as one—one heart, one mind! They didn't even claim ownership of their own possessions. No one said, "That's mine; you can't have it." They shared everything. The apostles gave powerful witness to the resurrection of the Master Jesus, and grace was on all of them.
34-35And so it turned out that not a person among them was needy. Those who owned fields or houses sold them and brought the price of the sale to the apostles and made an offering of it. The apostles then distributed it according to each person's need.

    You see, they trusted one another to do those things: to share, according to their need. I like to think they did not have any quarrels about it. Maybe they did – but at their best, I hope they did not. At least this is the VISION of God’s community: PEOPLE ARE GENEROUS AND THEY SHARE, according to their means and according to their need.
Sounds like a little bit of heaven on Earth, doesn’t it?   Now if we could just count on everyone to do their share of the work, and if we could believe that everyone would be taken care of in a fair and just way, wouldn’t that be heaven?

    Well, you can call me naïve if you want, but I say, we can decide to live that way. Let’s choose to live simply, find joy, and BE GENEROUS. It’s a vision, it’s not practical.
Everyone giving, everyone receiving according to our needs, everyone cared for.

    Here’s how we do it. In this community, here at the Village, in the context of Toledo, Ohio, with this horrible unemployment rate, and rotten economy, we just take some baby steps to live into God’s vision.   Let’s just do it anyway.

    Let’s just live simply, find joy, and BE GENEROUS. I’m going to show you how we are already doing it. Some of you know we have a fund here called the Good Samaritan Fund. Let’s call it Good Sam, for short. It’s named after the person in the Bible who helped a stranger. The Samaritans were not the heroes of the time of Jesus. In fact, think of a group you look down on. We are all guilty of having someone we don’t like. Imagine them doing wonderful things for a person in need. (who was, by the way, an enemy).

    We use our fund to help our friends here at The Village. I’m going to ask our friend, Sam (not her real name), to come up here and she and I are going to share a bit of her story with you.

    She is a medical transcriptionist with fibormyalgia, along with major depression, and other help problems. I am applying for disability, but it’s a long, drawn out process. I can not make enough money to pay my bills. I’ve moved several times to try to get cheaper housing, etc.

    When the Village first opened up, I found it through the newspaper article about the Village. I checked it out on Facebook and other places and finally came. And I love the Village. I found community there. If I had not come to the Village, I would be more depressed, and maybe homeless.

    For over five minutes, people in the congregation shared about how Sam has affected their lives, made their lives, etc. How their lives are enriched by Sam and how having Sam makes them better people.

    This is what it means to BE church, to be community. This is the lesson I have learned from Sam, she finds joy in giving. She doesn’t have money, but she has time and love to give.

    You see, we live in a world, where there is a great deal of focus on what we do not have. We talked about this last week. We focus on scarcity. Everyone out there will tell us what we don’t have and what we need in order to be beautiful and successful and popular.

    But the call to the early Christian community turns that upside down. It says, this is the way to follow Jesus – give up what you have – be generous – in sharing – and you will find joy!

    Help others – look for someone in need, and see if you have within your resources, something you can share with them. See if by living more simply, that you can supply the simple needs of someone else. In this act of self sacrifice – you will find joy.

    There are folks in this church who have given to our Good Samaritan Fund over the past year. I know Kurt and I probably gave up going out to eat so that we could give to that fund. That was not a big sacrifice for us. Another person might have given up buying some new clothes, so they could give to the fund. Maybe someone car-pooled to work to save money, and gave that money to help someone get their car fixed and get to work, or find a job. Maybe someone had a garage sale and used that money to help a single parent buy diapers.

    And if we don’t have money, we have time and other gifts. You have other resources, then be generous with your time, to help those who could use some help right now. One of the things we could use help with at The Village right now is help with cleaning our building, and trimming the grass around the edges of the parking lot. We can’t afford to hire a custodian or a maintenance crew so we have to rely on ourselves to do this. Kristen and I cleaned the church yesterday. Kristen and Rock clean the church most of the time, but Rock is having some health issues. I didn’t mind taking a turn, but if you would like to help, we can use some more folks on the facilities team. There are many ways to be generous with your time and your resources, in order to be part of this community.

    It’s tough out there right now. I don’t know how to fix the trillions of dollar debt that the US government has. Somebody needs to figure it out. A group of people smarter than me needs to be working hard on that problem. I’m not seeing a lot of evidence of this happening, but it took a long time to get into this mess and it’s going to take a long time to get out of this mess.

    But I do know this. I do know what it means to follow Jesus and live in community. I see it right here, every week with all of you. We can take the baby steps we need to take, to care for one another.

    And we will get through this economic downturn, together, one day at a time. The early Christians gave us the instructions for how to do it. So I hope you will think about how you can share what you have to help others around here. It is so easy to get overwhelmed by the big problems we are facing

    So you see, we can become overwhelmed by the big problems in the world. Or we can focus on the smaller picture for now. We can look to this community and what we are to one another. We can find our joy. We can create our joy. I think we can do it. And I think it will make all the difference. Let’s live by these words: live simply, find joy, and be Generous.

    If you need a community like this, where you can share your gifts, look hard, they are out there. We’re at the corner of Monroe & Central in Toledo and soon in Maumee. Come join a fellowship of believers getting each other through a dark time and waiting for that day we can dance into the light of God.

LIVE SIMPLY, FIND JOY by Cheri Holdridge (with an assist by Kurt Young)

2011-10-16T08:52:00.001-07:00

Are you someone who doesn’t worry? Then I want to study at your feet. You are more centered than I am. Right now, one of the biggest sources of worry for most people is money and debt. We all have issues we need to address money, debt and finances. But, we spent time during worship writing down what we are worried about when it comes to money.

Some of us at the Village have started a class called Financial Peace University. Author and financial advisor Dave Ramsey’s advice in this class is pretty simple and common sense. Put $1,000 in an emergency fund right away. If you make less than $20,000 per year, then $500 will do. Next, pay off all your debts.   Then 3-6 months of expenses in savings.   The more advanced stuff comes after you get these in order. We are still working on step one and a half.

Now I know there are some folks in this room who have been out of work for quite a while, and there are others who are disabled and living on Social security. There are others who, especially in this economy, are what we call, “under employed.” You are not making as much money as you were few years ago. So saving money seems really hard, really hard.

Many of us wish we had started saving a long time ago, when things were different in our lives, or when the economy was different. But here’s the thing, it is what it is.   His point is this: We’ll feel more secure when we have some money in an emergency savings fund. I don’t think anyone would argue with that.
And unless we are homeless, and destitute, we can all save something. In the class we are learning some tips and we are supporting one another as how to do it. Because you just have to start where you are, even if we are in the worst economy since the Great Depression.   But here is the thing. Some money in savings will give us some sense of material security, and it will help us have less stress when those absolutely predictable life emergencies come along. Because they WILL come. Your car will break down, your house or apartment will cost you something for repairs or replacements.

But I think even Dave Ramsey, who is a Christian, would agree with me, that ultimately, you can’t serve God and wealth. At least that’s what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount.   “You can’t serve God and wealth. No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other.” Mt 6:24

Now, of course, we need money in order to function in this world. But it’s a matter of where our first loyalty is. Where do we put our trust? In God, or in wealth? Wealth is just a tool. It is something we use while we are living here on this earth. That is all it is. And so we need to be good stewards of the resources that God gives us. We need to manage our money instead of letting it manage us.
In fact, when we take control of our money, we have more of it to give away, to make the world a better place for others. Wouldn’t you just love to be able to write a big check every month to support the causes that you believe in? Wouldn’t that make you feel great?

I don’t think God does allows us to have jobs and other sources of income and resources, and then watches with pleasure when we worry about money and live paycheck to paycheck. I don’t think that’s what God has in mind. Seventy percent of us live paycheck to check. I don’t think that’s what God wants for us.

So, let’s look at what Jesus said: “do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” (Mt 6:25-26)

Jesus tells us not to worry. Well I wish Jesus would come to Toledo, OH in 2011 because our economy is in bad shape. I heard this week that we are in the top 10, or maybe I should say, the bottom 10 cities in the country, in terms of how hard we have been hit by this economic recession. And Jesus says: Don’t worry. You are of value to God, and God will provide for your needs. Really? Does it feel like that? Really?

Don’t worry, Jesus says, God will provide. It’s really a matter of which world view we are going to adopt. One world view centers on the attitude of scarcity. There is never enough. So we need more. Just watch the ads on TV for one hour and they will tell you. You are not good enough, beautiful enough, happy enough, popular enough, but if you will just buy these products, THEN things will be better.

It’s a marketing plan based on scarcity. You don’t have what you need but we will sell it to you. Of course, the problem is, there is no end to our scarcity and need, so they continue to create more products that we need to buy. And so we live with a feeling of emptiness, and fear and scarcity.
The fear comes because we spend more than we have, and we run ourselves in debt, and then a real need comes along, like a health crisis in our family, or necessary maintenance on our homes, or sending the kids to college. (It comes to us as a surprise, even though we have 18 years to prepare for it!) And the worries just pile up.

This world view of scarcity is strong in our culture and we buy into it. But there is another world view, one that Jesus invites us into, and that is the idea of abundance. Jesus says33”But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34“So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.” (Matthew 6:33-34 in the New Revised Standard Version for those reading along on the web)

We have enough! Focus on loving God, and TRUSTING God. You see, God’s love is infinite. There is always enough of God. Jesus invites us into a relationship with God; that will sustain us and fill us in the ways that wealth building will never do.

You see, when Jesus was here on the earth, the powers of the world, were focused on scarcity and fear. They wanted to keep the people down. When people are afraid and think there is not enough, then they will do what the political forces tell them to do. But Jesus gave a message of abundance which is a message of freedom, there is freedom. When we trust God we have courage, and we don’t worry about not having enough. We know God will see us through any economic downturn.

Jesus showed the human forces of his day, that their ways were not the most powerful. Because you see, they killed him. But God resurrected him. David Lose writes that “when you think about it [the resurrection], is the ultimate act of abundance: creating something, once again, out of nothing, drawing light from darkness, giving life to the dead.” (Source:http://www.workingpreacher.org/dear_wp.aspx?article_id=458)

I don’t know about you, but I could use some of that resurrection power right now. I could use some light in the darkness. We could use some life to this dead economy in Toledo, Ohio, right now. We can use some hope right here, right now. We need some joy, Jesus.

Friends, we can choose abundance. We can choose to trust God. We can choose to believe we have enough, and make it enough. We can choose to live more simply, we can save money rather than spend so much. We can choose to live with courage rather than fear. We can choose all these things, when we center our lives on and in God.
So I have an idea, an invitation, a challenge. Let’s look for abundance, and take some pictures. Where do you find joy in this life God has given you? Are there some ways that you are living more simply, by choice or by necessity, and are you seeing abundance in living more simply? Kurt and I like to go to dinner and a movie for date night and last week we replaced the movie with a walk. We got some well-needed exercise, we got to TALK, and we saw the beauty of God’s creation. It was lovely.

Where do you find yourself experiencing joy and see others trusting God? Where do you see abundant living rather than scarcity? Over the next couple of weeks, would you snap a picture of something that brings you joy? And e mail those pics to me? We’d like to put them on a page on our web site so we can all see them. It will be on a page called “Live Simply, Find Joy.” We need some pictures that remind us that we are a people who trust God, live simply and find joy.

This will be our reminder to live simply, to experience joy and not give into this lousy economy, this miserable situation. We need to live out of joy and trust, rather than scarcity. Let’s share those moments with each other. Let’s live simply and trust God and find our joy. Come join us at the corner of Monroe & Central (or soon in Maumee) as we share our joy and shed our fear and doubt and scarcity.

Healthy Relationships: Love Like Jesus Loved by Cheri Holdridge (with an assist by Kurt Young)

2011-10-09T08:51:00.000-07:00

    Paul (the biblical writer and the first church planter of our movement as Christians) said in one of his letters to a group of new Christians becoming the church in city named Philippi, : “Make my joy complete.” Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don't be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand”.

   Today we are going to talk about selfless love, this is the last in our series on healthy relationships. Selfless love – the kind that means we give up our power and put someone else ahead of us. We put the scorecards away, and we decide just to care, because it’s what Jesus would do for us.

   In worship we showed a scene from the “West Wing.” It’s a favorite TV show of me and Kurt. In the scene, Leo McGary, who is the President’s chief-of-staff, and his best friend, is in trouble. Information has been leaked that in the past Leo was hospitalized for alcohol and prescription drug addiction. He cleaned up his act before he came to work at the White House, but someone from the other political party has gotten a hold of his personnel record and they are going to crucify him with this information.

   Leo’s staff finds out that a young clerical worker in the White House is the one who leaked the information. They decide to fire her, of course, but before they throw her out of the building, Leo has her come to his office.   You see, he wants to ask her what was she was thinking when she read the file and decided to leak the information.

     In the video, she tells Leo her father was an alcoholic. He was dangerous. She tells Leo she gave the information to a family friend because his role is too important to be held by a person like her dad. They spend a few minutes getting to share their stories and she says that he is not what she thought what he was like. In the end, he realizes her courage in trying to stop something bad from happening.

   Leo gives her another chance. He has all the power over her and her job. Her action had potentially ruined his career, totally ruined his life. But he takes the time to meet her, and to listen to her story. He does not see himself as better than her. He’s probably not surprised to find out there is an alcoholic in her family. Lots of families are touched by alcoholism. I think Leo has some compassion for this woman because he knows how alcoholism hurts a family. He knows she has broken the law by leaking the file. But he realizes that she was really just trying to do the right thing, to protect her country. She misunderstood what kind of man Leo was, because she did not know him. She made assumptions. Ah, assumptions, we all make them don’t we. They had a little talk, and got to know one another a little better. You could say they cleared the air through a little honest communication. Wow, how helpful would it be to engage in some honest communication.

   He had the power to throw her out of the White House, no questions asked. She would be without a job with the snap of his fingers. But here’s what Paul tells us to do: “Put yourself aside and help others get ahead.” That’s how to love like Jesus did. And that’s what Leo did. That woman’s actions caused him to admit publically, his addiction, and he nearly lost his job. It was a huge embarrassment to the President. But Leo put that all aside, and showed mercy upon her, that minor White House staffer.

   That’s what it means to love like Jesus loved.   But here is the thing: they had both made some mistakes. Leo had a problem. There was no denying that. And the woman broke the law by leaking a private White House personnel document. No one is perfect. And so Leo, in essence, says to the woman. We are all broken people. Let’s admit that. And let’s both get back to work.   We are all broken, no perfect people allowed.

   He does not consider himself any better than her or any worse.   He’s the White House Chief of Staff, one of the most powerful people on the planet, she’s a little clerk.

     You see, that is the key to a healthy human relationship: recognizing that no one person is better than another. We all fall short. And so we can all do well do live with some humility.

   Because even Jesus lived with a dose of humility.   Listen to those words of Paul
one more time:
1-4If you've gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care— then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don't push your way to the front; don't sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don't be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.
5-8Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn't think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn't claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion.

   So what do these words mean to us in our closest, human relationships? When you’re in a conflict with those closest to you, there are times, when being strong and loving, means that you set aside yourself, to let the other person get ahead. Now, I did not say that one person always gets walked all over in a relationship. I said, when you are strong and loving, like Jesus, it’s ok to let the other person get ahead. It’s ok to humble yourself so that your partner, or your child, or you mother, or the person you supervise, can win.

   You don’t have to win every time, even when you are right. It’s a Jesus thing.
Leo let that woman win her job back, even though she was wrong, because it was the Jesus thing to do.

   Parents give children another chance, all the time, because it’s a gracious thing to do. Now there is a difference between letting children get away with everything so that they grow up as little self centered monsters who think they will always get their way in life, and giving them a win, now and they, so that they understand grace. It’s OK every now and then to give them a win so they understand grace and compassion.

   When I am in a power struggle with my husband, and he with me, sometimes one of us just gives in, because we don’t need to be obsessed with our own advantage any longer. The greater good of moving forward in our relationship and getting on with our lives is more important than winning that particular day. That is humility. Have you been on the receiving end of that grace sometimes? When you can give it too, that’s humility.

   Jesus wants us to live in humility, willing to put ourselves aside, so that others may experience the love and the grace of God. When we step aside and care about the other more than the win, that’s living like Jesus.   It is really that simple. We are God’s instruments. When we step out of the way, and others move forward, God is the one who is blessed, and we are all better off. So let’s love like Jesus. Let’s be filled with his love, and share that love with others.

   There is a tradition in many churches of kneeling before God. Getting on our knees and praying. It’s a chance to practice humility. To be humble before God for a minute. Wherever you are reading this, think about taking a minute of doing just that. Get down on your knees (if you can, if you can’t just bow your head down, that’s an act of humility too) and pray to God. Pray about that concern on your heart, that relationship you’re concerned about, whatever.

   If you need a place where you can find someone to guide you to relationship with God and others like this, look around, they are out there. If you find yourself near Central & Monroe in Toledo (or coming soon to Maumee) come join us.

"Healthy Relationships: Make Things Right" by Cheri Holdridge (with an assist by Kurt Young)

2011-10-02T08:48:00.001-07:00

     Have you ever heard Christians debating over their “brand” of Christianity? I do. I suppose it just human nature. We are diverse and so we experience God differently and we live out our faith differently. Since the time of Jesus, and long before, there have been debates over what is the best way to be faithful to God.

      In the first part of the Bible, the Hebrew Bible, the one we Christians call the Old Testament, we have much of what we call “the Law.” Of course we have the “big ten,” the Ten Commandments, and then the Old Testament has thousands of other laws to tell us how to live in ways that please God.

      But history shows that some folks got a little too caught up in the details of the law, rather than the spirit of loving God, loving their neighbor, and loving self. Is it the spirit of the law, or hitting every minute detail? That’s the debate. In Matthew’s Gospel, where our scripture for today is found, Jesus has just spoken about this very thing. (And by the way, if you have wanted to start reading your Bible again, Matthew chapters 5-6-7 is a great place to start. We call this The Sermon on the Mount, and it’s a great place to find the heart of Jesus’ teaching.)

     So in Chapter 5, Jesus begins by saying: 17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. “ But then as he begins to preach, we see that he wants to make the law more clear and more down to earth. He wants to connect the law to the real life experiences of the people. It is not about rigid rules – the law is about living the ways of God down to your daily life, down to the very core of your existence. This is serious stuff to Jesus.

       So then Jesus takes the law, and gives some particular examples, and that is where we get our scripture for today. You see, he is trying to say that unless we are ready to LIVE with an attitude of reconciliation and peace in our personal lives, then the law is of no use, and basically the world is doomed, there is no hope for any of us. Following the minutia is useless if you can’t live the life of love God, love your neighbor, as yourself.

     The law says: 'Do not murder.' Jesus says, our angry, hateful thoughts are just as bad. “The simple moral fact is that words kill.” That’s how the Message Bible describes Jesus’ teaching here.   We have all experienced the punch in the stomach of hurtful words, haven’t we? We have wished we were dead when we have been told that someone hated us, or that someone no longer loved us.

      In our world today, the power of words is becoming clearer as we see children committing suicide because of bullying. We are coming to terms with the power of language. It is slapping us in the face. That’s what Jesus was saying.

      We have all said it, haven’t we? “I hate her.” She’s a liar, a manipulator, a self-centered so-and-so. We shoot daggers with our eyes and spit poison with our words. We are murderers, Jesus says.

       And then here’s what he says to his followers: MAKE IT RIGHT. It’s really that simple. MAKE IT RIGHT IN YOUR HEART, and with your actions. You can’t change that other person. You can’t make her stop lying and manipulating and being self-centered and mean and everything else. But you can stop hating and being murderous with your thoughts and actions. Jesus says it is up to you, MAKE IT RIGHT.

      Jesus said, “If you are going to be my disciples, then MAKE IT RIGHT.” He went on to say this: When you see that person walking across the street who is mad at you, and they accost you, MAKE THE FIRST MOVE. Just don’t ignore them, cross the street and make the first move. Wow, this is hard.

      Jesus does let us off the hook. It is not enough just to stay on our side of the street and ignore the person. Jesus wants us to MAKE THE FIRST MOVE AND MAKE IT RIGHT! He wants us to walk right across the street to that person who hates us and seek reconciliation.   Oh, gosh, that’s hard.

      It’s hard. I know it’s hard. But it’s real. We need more honesty and integrity in this world. We need more people who want to make peace. Don’t we?   How would you react to this if someone did this to you?

     I turned in some weapons to the police this week. Someone came to The Village and said, “I have some weapons, some knives and some things from a life I want to leave behind. I want to surrender these to the Police. Can I leave them here, pastor?” YES! That was making the first move to make things right.   That was a powerful move toward making things right.

      For many of us, our weapons are our words. Most of us don’t’ have physical weapons we need to surrender to the police. Will we surrender our weapons of hate? Will we say “no more”! I’m not going to participate anymore in the cycles of murderous language and hatred in our community. If I can’t say something kind then I won’t say anything.

       And when and old enemy tries to stir up trouble with me, I am going to do something kind and loving toward that person, because that’s what Jesus would do! That is radical discipleship, my friends. That is radical love my friends.

      Do you want to have more healthy relationships? Live by these words from Jesus. Let me tell you a story about it. This is told to me as a true story.

“There is a true story about two farmers in Canada. One day the dog of one farmer got loose and mauled to death the two-year-old child of his neighbor. The devastated father cut off all relationship with his neighbor, and the two men lived in cold, defiant enmity for years. Then one day a fire devastated the property of the dog-owning farmer, destroying his barn and all his equipment. He was unable to plow and plant, and so his future appeared doomed. Except that the next morning he woke up and found all his fields plowed and ready for seed. Upon investigation, he discovered that his grieving neighbor had done this good deed. Humbly the rescued farmer approached his neighbor and asked him if he had plowed his fields -- and, if so, why. The answer was clear: "Aye," the former enemy said. "I plowed your fields so that God can live."” (Story as told by William P. Barker in sermon by Susan R. Andrews, “The Embassy At 66011,” sermonsuite.com.)

That’s radical reconciliation. We want God to live, my friends. And when we hold hate in our hearts, of any kind, there is no room for God. I know these are hard words. They are hard for me too.

      In this scripture Jesus also says that when you come to worship, and you come to make an offering, consider whether you are holding a grudge against anyone first. And if you are, go make peace with that person first. That’s why in many churches there is a symbolic passing of the peace before Holy Communion – to symbolize that we have made peace with anyone we are holding a grudge against.

       I wonder today, if you can think of anyone that you are really mad at? Is there anyone you are not speaking to? I have learned that this is a common practice in many families. People have a fight and they quit talking to one another for a day or a week, or even years. We don’t do that in my family. It’s a foreign concept to me. But I know this is very real for some of you. Is there anyone you are not speaking to? Who really, deep down, you need to be in relationship with?

       We’re going to celebrate Holy Communion today. Before you come take communion today, can you make a promise to yourself and God that later today you will reach out to that person you are not speaking to?
You see, its’ just really hard to love God, while we hold a grudge and refuse to speak to a family member or a good friend. It just does not make sense. God does not hold grudges. Now, again, we can’t control the other person and their actions, but we can take the high ground and reach out in reconciliation. We can be loving, even when they are not, because God’s way is love.

       Jesus calls us to MAKE IT RIGHT in our own hearts and with our own actions. We have the power to do that, when we put our trust in God. God gives us the power to do things that we cannot do on our own.
Picture in your mind, right now, that person who has become your enemy, that person with whom you are angry, and with God’s help, decide right now, to MAKE IT RIGHT.

      Too hard for you to do now? You have enough power, enough forgiveness, but you need a place telling you that. Come join us if you are near the corner of Monroe & Central in Toledo, or soon in Maumee. Or, find a community of spiritual strength like the Village. There are more of us out there.

“FORGIVENESS” by Cheri Holdridge (with an assist by Kurt Young)

2011-09-25T09:02:00.000-07:00

     You just heard a brief scripture that is the end of the story of Joseph and his brothers from the book of Genesis (Genesis 50:15-21 from the Message Translation for those following along on the web). Perhaps you know the whole story if you have read Genesis, or you grew up in Sunday School. Or maybe you have seen the fun musical, “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.” Joseph was one of many sons on Jacob and Rebekah. Joseph’s older brothers, who were half brothers who did not like him. He was Mom’s favorite. Dad gave him this great coat. There was lots of sibling rivalry. One day, they threw him down a well.

     They thought about killing him, but one of the older brothers, “the reasonable one”, being reasonable, convinced the others, just to sell him into slavery to some traveling traders that came by. They told their parents he was killed by wild animals. Joseph went to Egypt and being an enterprising young man, who convinced the Pharaoh he could divine the meaning of dreams, made himself indispensible to the Pharaoh. A famine hit the land, a famine Joseph had predicted, and he put himself in charge of stocking up provisions so the people would not die, and passing out food to the people.

       Joseph’s brothers traveled from their far away home. Long story short, they asked their brother for food, not knowing he was their brother. They didn’t initially recognize him, but he recognized them, and after playing with them a little, he revealed himself to them. When they realized he was their brother, they figured he would hold a grudge and let them starve to death.

      But he did not. He had a kind place in his heart for his parents, and his baby brother, and he forgave his older brothers with these words: You planned evil against me but God used those same plans for my good, as you see all around you right now—life for many people. Easy now, you have nothing to fear. I'll take care of you and your children.”

       You planned evil, but God used those plans for good, easy now, you have nothing to fear, I’ll take care of you. These are words to live by, by my friends. These are words that say simply: “I forgive you.” No matter what horrible, evil thing you have done to me, I have a choice. I can live my life being eaten up by hatred, caused by your evil actions, OR I can put my trust in God. I can leave you to God, and let my live be filled with love and forgiveness for you, and get on with my life, and that is what I choose. You see if we want healthy relationships we choose forgiveness. Now, this does not mean we allow ourselves to stay in relationships with people that walk all over us. But it does mean, that we do not allow ourselves to wallow in our anger. We move on. And we ask God to so fill us with love, that there is no room left for hatred and anger.

       Because you see when people are truly evil, and they hurt us, it is really their problem. Something is wrong with them. They are hurting, and broken. Usually their actions are based in wrong thinking or ignorance, because they have been hurt themselves. They are to be pitied. But it is not our place to judge. We leave them to God.

        Let me use this story, from history, as an example. Back in 1963, in Birmingham, Alabama, four white men, were enraged, because the world was changing around them. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his colleagues were using Birmingham as a major base of operations for the movement to end racial segregation. The integration of the schools had just begun. Birmingham had earned the name “Bombingham” because of the activity of the Ku Klux Klan there. Governor George Wallace was doing everything he could to block the integration of the schools. He told the “New York Times that a “few first-class funerals” would stop integration in his state, and the Klan apparently agreed with the governor.” (http://www.newsinhistory.com/blog/% E2%80%98oh-god- they-bombed-our-church%E2%80%99)

       So on September 15, 1963, four Klan members placed a box of dynamite under the church steps of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church steps. That day, twenty-six children were attending Sunday school class in the basement at the church, centered on the day’s sermon: “The Love That Forgives.”   Isn’t that ironic When the bomb exploded,   four girls were killed: Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson and Cynthia Wesley, all 14, and Denise McNair, 11. It was the deadliest single act of terror of the civil rights movement. Two other young men lost their lives that day in related acts of violence to bring the total loss of lives to 6.

        A news report from the day says that as soon as they started carrying the bodies of the girls out of the wreckage, predictably there was chaos, and people were angry, they started shouting words of hate. The Rev. Charles Billips and the church pastor, the Rev. John Cross, got on police megaphones. Cross began the Lord’s prayer: “Our Father, Who art in heaven…” “Go home and pray for the men who did this evil deed,” said Billips. “We must have love in our hearts for these men.” (http://www.newsinhistory.com/blog/%E2% 80%98oh-god-they-bombed-our-church%E2%80%99). Can you imagine having the peace of mind to say that?

   Dr. King came right away from Atlanta. He urged the federal government to intervene to protect the people of Birmingham from further violence and as always, he called upon the people in his movement to work for justice using non-violent means. King was a follower of Jesus with deep convictions that we must work for justice, and do so with love in our hearts, even for those who hurt us. He was adamant that we must never use violence.

       He preached at the funeral for three of the little girls, (one had a separate funeral service). In his eulogy, Dr. King was clear, as always, that followers of Jesus must take the higher ground in the face of hatred. He knew that it was only a matter of time before the laws of our nation would change, the schools would be integrated, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 would be passed. Of course, we still have a long way to go in dealing with systems of racism and oppression, but we gained some essential legal victories during those days, and the hearts and minds of many American people turned during that time.

       But it was a hard fight, some of you remember it more clearly than the rest of us. And it took leaders and followers with a strong moral compass. And it took compassion and forgiveness. You see, in an argument, there ARE sometimes people who are right and people who are wrong. Sometimes we fight over things that are a matter of opinion, like whether or not a movie was good, right? Nobody is right or wrong. But some things really are evil, without question.

        But it takes time for a group of people, a community, or a nation, to come upon an agreement over that. And still there will always be some who disagree.   And so Dr. King and others like him had to step forward, 50 years ago, had to be the leaders who will say: “we must stand by our principles and fight for justice, but we must not be swallowed up by our anger.”

      We are followers of Jesus. We are people of love. And people of love find the strength to forgive. We understand that our enemies are ignorant. They are wrong, but they will come to see that they are wrong, one by one, family by family, as we pass laws, as we change hearts and minds, and as we take the higher ground, they will see the error of their ways, they will see the error of their ways.

      At the funeral for those little girls Dr. King said this: “They did not die in vain. God still has a way of wringing good out of evil. . . . “The spilled blood of these innocent girls may cause the whole citizenry of Birmingham to transform the negative extremes of a dark past into the positive extremes of a bright future. Indeed this tragic event may cause the white South to come to terms with its conscience. . . .“In spite of the darkness of this hour, we must not despair. We must not become bitter, nor must we harbor the desire to retaliate with violence. No, we must not lose faith in our white brothers. Somehow we must believe that the most misguided among them can learn to respect the dignity and the worth of all human personality.” (http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/m_r/randall/ birmingham.htm)

      If you had been a black person living in the South back in September 1963, would you have been able to forgive, and keep working peacefully for justice? I won’t ask you to put yourself in the shoes of the family of those four little girls; that would be too hard. Just imagine that you lived in Birmingham. Could you be like Jesus and have enough love in your heart, to have pity on those bigoted, Ku Klux Klan members, who really did not know any better? Could you forgive them? It’s hard; I know. But having hate in our hearts does not help anyone. Those men were criminals and they deserved to go to prison, but they were also caught up in a system that was way bigger than them. And loving Christian people understand that God can take a horrible, tragic, evil situation, and use it for good.

       That awful, awful tragedy in Birmingham was a turning point. It was a day that shocked the world. It uncovered the ugliness of racism, and segregation, and the remnants of slavery that we thought we had overcome with the Civil War but, my friends those remnants were still with us in 1963, and they are still with us today. And no one believes it was a good thing that those little girls died, but we can be bold to forgive the men who set that bomb because it is the way of Jesus to forgive.

          Well this week in Toledo, we have another situation that invites bold forgiveness. Our battle is not the same as the battle for freedom from racial oppression. But it is another fight against bigotry.
This week, a billboard went up, actually 9 of them, by a local mega church, that says: “Being gay is NOT a gift from God, Forgiveness, Love and Eternal Life are.” A mega church put these up in response to one billboard put up by our sister church, Central United Methodist Church, that said, “we believe being gay is a gift from God.” They were trying to make the point people are created gay and that creation is a gift and so whether we are created gay or straight it’s all part of God’s good creation. Creation is a blessing from God.

         The pastor of the mega church thinks this message is not the truth so his church put up the other billboard. He wrote on his blog that he has never met gay person who could look him in the eye and say they were happy to be gay. So now the debate is going on the internet, the TV news, etc. A bunch of folks planned to get dressed up in their Sunday best clothes and go hold up signs near the entrance of the mega church today that said: “I’m gay and happy to be gay!” They wanted him to know they are happy and healthy and Christian and Gay.

      Now it would be easy for us to get angry. It would be easy for that protest today to have gotten ugly. That was not the plan, and so I pray that did not happen. But there was a time in this world, when well-intentioned Christian people were on the wrong side of the argument of whether or not black people are of the same value to God as white people. Well intentioned people were on the wrong side of that argument.

       Today, some people think that gay people are going to Hell, unless they change their ways. I am sad for those people, because they are misguided and ignorant. The world is changing around them. They grew up in another time and now they must adjust. We used to think gay folks were deviant. And now we know you are beloved children of God just like the rest of us.   We know that to be true, I know that to be true.

       And by the way the bigots are beloved children of God too. So as followers of Jesus, we are called to forgive them, and love them, and to pray that one day, they will get this one right. Not to just be eaten up by hate. We can pray to God for them to be changed, to be on the right side of this, or to judge them.

       Joseph said to his brothers: You threw me into a well. You meant it for evil. But now my people are starving and I am in a position to feed all of you. You meant it for evil, but the joke’s on you. God has turned your evil into good. I forgive you.

         May God fill us with love, so that we are bold to forgive, so there is no more room to hate, and so that they can be in a position to love some day too. Amen.

“Healthy Relationships: Sibling Rivalry” by Cheri Holdridge (with an assist by Kurt Young)

2011-09-18T08:05:00.000-07:00

Ever have a sibling? Raise a set of siblings? Get into a competition with child your own age? If not, feel free to fall asleep this morning or skip this blog. When I was in the 9^th grade, I was in competition with Jimmy Martinez over who would get to be Editor of the Jr. High newspaper. I wrote a great editorial , with meat and substance and edge. Jimmy wrote about graffiti and was trying to get in good with the teacher.

When he won, I held it against him all through Jr. High and High School. I avoided him like the plague, because I was holding a grudge. And in the process I deprived myself of the chance to be his friend. He never knew it.

A few years ago we became friends on Facebook. I figured I could get over it after these decades. Suddenly I discovered we care about all the same things. We had the same likes and dislikes. In fact, he has been a huge fan of the Village from far away in Abilene, Texas.

Thirty years later, I was invited as one of Jimmy’s circle of close friends, at a party at his house, on the weekend of our 30 year high school reunion, I made my confession. We had a big laugh about it. I was the one who had lost out. Of course Jimmy forgave me. He never knew I had been mad at him all those years.

I like Jimmy so much now. And now I look back and I wonder what did I miss in all those years that we could have been friends? I feel so silly now for all those wasted years. I feel ashamed of myself. How could I have been so petty?

You see I did not think there was enough Jr. High status to go around. Jimmy got the status of being the newspaper editor and I wanted that status and recognition. Never mind that I was still on the newspaper staff. There were plenty of other things for me to do in Jr. High. And it appears that I turned out ok. At the time, it was the most important thing in the world.

As a mature adult now, I really try to celebrate each individual person, and recognize that we all have different gifts and every gift is of value. We don’t all have to be the star! But back there in 9^th grade I had a small view of things. And so I could not be happy for Jimmy when he got the job that I wanted for myself. I didn’t think there was enough recognition to go around. I wanted a piece of it, and Jimmy got my piece!

I think a sense of there “not being enough” is at the heart of so many problems in otherwise healthy relationships. We fight over stuff and power and status. But Jesus tells us over and over again, that those are not the things that will bring us joy. A friend who will be there for you when it’s not convenient and love that is tenacious when life gets ugly: that is what brings us joy. There is always enough love and compassion to go around, because God is love and God gives us the capacity to love. We just have to do it for each other.

But we are human beings. We don’t think there is enough love, and so we get caught in rivalry and competition about stuff and status. Has this ever cause you problems in your relationships? So we come to the story of Jacob & Esau. They were the twins of Isaac and Rebekah, here’s the way the Message tells it (Genesis 25:19-34 for those following along from afar):

^21-23 Isaac prayed hard to God for his wife because she was barren. God answered his prayer and Rebekah became pregnant. But the children tumbled and kicked inside her so much that she said, "If this is the way it's going to be, why go on living?" She went to God to find out what was going on. God told her,

Two nations are in your womb,
two peoples butting heads while still in your body.
One people will overpower the other,
and the older will serve the younger.

^24-26 When her time to give birth came, sure enough, there were twins in her womb. The first came out reddish, as if snugly wrapped in a hairy blanket; they named him Esau (Hairy). His brother followed, his fist clutched tight to Esau's heel; they named him Jacob (Heel). Isaac was sixty years old when they were born.

^27-28 The boys grew up. Esau became an expert hunter, an outdoorsman. Jacob was a quiet man preferring life indoors among the tents. Isaac loved Esau because he loved his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

^29-30 One day Jacob was cooking a stew. Esau came in from the field, starved. Esau said to Jacob, "Give me some of that red stew—I'm starved!" That's how he came to be called Edom (Red).

³¹ Jacob said, "Make me a trade: my stew for your rights as the firstborn."

³² Esau said, "I'm starving! What good is a birthright if I'm dead?"

^33-34 Jacob said, "First, swear to me." And he did it. On oath Esau traded away his rights as the firstborn. Jacob gave him bread and the stew of lentils. He ate and drank, got up and left. That's how Esau shrugged off his rights as the firstborn.

Both brothers thought there was not enough to go around. Esau was really short sighted; he was hungry and could not think about anything but his next meal. How often do we make decisions for instant gratification? (But that’s another sermon for another day.).

Jacob was all about the power, at the expense of family. He was all about himself. He had no comprehension that somehow there was enough love and blessing to go around, so he was constantly tricking his brother out of what was rightfully his, as the firstborn.

Well, we didn’t read this part today, but there is another story where Jacob tricks Esau out of the father’s deathbed blessing, which was huge. Jacob finally has to flee the country because of all the terrible things he has done to his brother Esau. Many years later, after Jacob has married, and has children, and has herds of animals (which tell us that he has not fallen into financial ruin) he returns to his homeland. But he is scared. He is afraid that Esau is going to kill him after all the horrible things he has done. And honestly, who wouldn’t blame.

But guess what happens? Jacob has a sleepless night, wrestling with God as he reflects on what he has done with his life. But the next morning, Esau greets him with open arms. Jacob is ready to give half his possessions to Esau in the hopes that Esau will not kill him, and Esau says: “O brother, I have plenty of everything, keep what is yours for yourself.”

That dear Esau! The brother who was cheated out of everything by the conniving younger brother Jacob, could have been bitter, but instead, he welcomes his brother with open arms. He is the hero of the story. There is not a competitive bone is Esau’s body. “We have plenty,” says Esau. There is always enough love to go around, (and there are enough sheep, and goats too.)

Can you imagine walking up to someone that you have been rivals with for your whole life, and suddenly one day, all that rivalry is just gone, and you can relax, and just care about one another and be thankful for the blessing of each other?

That’s what it means to be in a mature, healthy relationship. It is hard. We can do this for one another: every one of us. We can’t control all the people out there, but we can be a model for them what it means to believe that there is enough love and compassion to go around.

Esau is our model for today. If Esau can do it, we can do it too. Jimmy Martinez taught me the lesson. I have been holding that silly grudge against him for more than 30 years, being mad at him for getting the Editor’s position when I think it should have been mine. It is what it is. Jimmy is a good person, and so am I. There could only be one editor. Jimmy got the job. I am the one who chose to be angry. Kurt said for awhile, “let go of it already. So he was the editor”.

But here is the thing, the anger just hurt me. It did not hurt Jimmy because he never even knew about it. And even if he had known, anger based in competition is just an ugly thing. We all have gifts. Why not just celebrate gifts in one another and be happy for another person? Wouldn’t that be something!

So, my friends, we have a choice in our relationships, and in our outlook on the world. We can choose to believe there is not enough to go around: not enough stuff, not enough status and recognition, and we can be resentful when someone else gets what we want.

Or we can chose to believe there is enough. That God give us enough. We can celebrate the victories and the gifts of others. And trust that there is also enough blessing for us too. Imagine trusting that there is enough blessings for us all.

So, what will you do? In response to this sermon I want to give you a chance to talk to someone about this, and to pray a simple prayer for one another if you will. This is going to take a little work, but find someone to talk to about this. Here’s what to do – Share a situation when you have felt competitive or jealous and it got in the way of a relationship, and when you are done share with each other. Then I want you to pray for each other, here’s a sample of what to say: God help (PERSON YOU ARE WITH’s NAME) let go of the need to compete and to know your love is enough. Amen.

"Healthy Relationships: Good Boundaries" by Cheri Holdridge (with an assist by Kurt Young)

2011-09-11T08:43:00.000-07:00

I tend to be a fairly kind person, gentle, easy going. You might even say I am a push over. But something happens every few years when Kurt and I decide to trade in one of our cars. I get kind of mean. Generally I am not a tough negotiator. I cannot haggle for a price at a flea market, but when it comes to a car dealer, something just comes over me. I get to be not nice. One time in particular, I remember there was this car. I had decided which car I wanted. I had a good trade in with a good value. I had decided what I wanted to pay for the new car. There were several dealers in town where I could buy the car. I went in to talk to a sales guy. And you know what he did. He took my car and had their trade in guy take mine for a test drive and told me what they would give me for a trade. And then he told me he was giving me the best possible price for the car I wanted to buy. He kept going back and forth to his manager. You know the drill. I finally said, “Please give me my keys back. I’m not buying the car today.” I took my keys and I walked out.

And I felt so powerful. Because here is the thing. I had the money for the down payment. I had the loan through my credit union. I wanted the car, but I did not have to buy it. I could walk away. Because I was not going to let him manipulate me into paying more than I wanted, just because HE told me it was a good deal.

I have never felt so powerful, because I did not let that salesman tell me what to pay, or when, to buy my car. It was MY choice. I did not let him have control over MY life. Because you see I was the one with the money. I had something HE wanted. He wanted to make the sale.

I owed him nothing. And so I walked away. I did not have to explain, justify or defend my choice to that guy. I ended up buying the car a few days later at another dealer and getting the deal I wanted, by the way. Now that is a story about an interaction with someone, a car salesman. I had next to nothing invested in that relationship. I’ll grant you that. So it was fairly easy to walk away.

Today we’re going to talk about relationships that are important to us: our partners, our parents and children, our close friends, our co-workers, and friends here at The Village. We’re talking about healthy relationships and today we want to just scratch the surface with the concept of good boundaries in healthy relationships.

Now I am not a psycho-therapist, nor a licensed counselor, so if you think you might need one of those, I’ll help you find one, I will be happy to help you with that. I believe in therapy. I have learned a great deal in therapy. But I am a pastor, who has had some conversations with folks who are struggling with relationships with people they care about, and so I have learned a few things.   I have conversations with people every week about bad relationships, trust me.
I have learned that many people get tied up in knots trying to make choices that will please all the people in our lives. We end up looking, AND FEELING, like pretzels. I think it starts when we are young adults, trying to figure out how to grow up and relate to our parents as adults instead of children. Some of us never get past that one. And then all our relationships for the rest of our lives are affected by that one.

You see, one of the biggest challenges to relationships is that we don’t have good boundaries. We don’t know how to pay attention to our own internal feelings, and to value ourselves. We get pulled to and fro by this person and that person and what they say is best for us, and what they want from us. Just like that car dealer who tried to convince me that he had the best car deal for me, our mothers will tell us that they know what is best for us, even when we are 40 years old and we can make our own decisions. Our friends will tell us what we should do, even when we do not ask for their advice. If we ask for advice that is one thing, but some people want to control us, who we see, where we go, because they are insecure, and they need to be with us all the time. There are all kinds of reasons why relationships get unhealthy.

So a friend taught me a phrase to use, (with myself) when I feel like I am being controlled by someone else, or I am having trouble keeping boundaries in a relationship. Here it is: I don’t have to explain, justify or defend my choices.
So let’s try it out. One example I can think of, about a time when folks get caught in the pull of the family dynamics is this: where will we go for Christmas dinner? This is a hard one, especially if you have a partner, and children, and you both still have parents that are living. Or it’s hard if either one of your parents don’t like your partner, for any reason. Some of us have partners that aren’t welcome in our parents’ home, and that’s not acceptable. And so every year, the conversations begin.

If you are in this situation, I would encourage you to try this. First of all, find a quiet place, apart from all the voices of people who are fighting over you, you know the ones that are pulling you (like the wishbone on the Christmas turkey). Dig deep down in your soul, and find your truth. Where would YOU like to be on Christmas day? And with whom? Picture it.   NO, you don’t get Tahiti with the cute guy or girl as choice.

Now, you can only control yourself. But you can decide not to go some places. And here is the thing, here is the mantra, you do not have to explain, defend or justify your choice. You can just say: I’m going to do this for Christmas this year; it’s what I want to do. And just stop. Be silent.

“But you always do this.” “Well that’s not going to work for me this year. I’m going to do this.” You see one of the things we know about family systems, and healthy behavior, is that when one person gets healthy and starts setting healthy boundaries, the rest of the system eventually has to react. And often the rest of the people start getting healthy too. And in any case, you get to do what you want to do for once.

The point is, you have to sit down, in the quiet, and find your truth. What do YOU want, and then you have to speak that truth. And don’t explain, justify or defend your choice. You are living in your peace, your center, your truth, your choice.

And here is why. In a letter to the church at Corinth, Paul tells us how to behave in relationships. He talks about love. But it’s not about romantic love. It’s about what it means to love ourselves, and to know that we are loved by God. You see if I know that God loves me and God loves you, then we can have a mature healthy relationship. We can respect one another. That means we won’t act like children. I won’t let you bully me. I will pay attention to my feelings and stand up for myself.

This is what Paul says: in a loving relationship, people are kind and patient. When people are in a healthy loving friendship, they are not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way and it is not irritable or resentful.

Paul says love does not insist on its own way. Now you might go back to the discussion of where to spend Christmas and say, well if I decide where I want to go for Christmas, and that makes someone in my family mad then I am insisting on my own way. But I think insisting on our own way, as Paul is talking about it, probably refers to controlling other people. You know how this goes, in a group, when one person tries to control the whole group, and always has to have their way.

Paul is saying, in a group of friends, or in a family, there is compromise. People work together, and understand that not everyone is going to get their way all the time if we are going to be together.

Now back to Christmas, you may imagine a Christmas dinner where certain family members that you like are there, and certain family members that are annoying are not there, and of course, you don’t have control over that unless you host the dinner at your house. And then THEY get to decide whether or not they will come, because they also do not have to explain, justify or defend their decisions to you. Do you get the idea?

This takes some time. But the concept is a good one. Paul tells us that in healthy relationships people are patient and kind toward one another. We are not envious, boastful, arrogant or rude. And yet some of you tell me every week, that you are being treated in ways that are the exact opposite of this.

When that happens, after you get over your initial feelings of hurt or anger, I hope you will take out this scripture and read it. And then ask yourself the hard question: am I being loving in this relationship? Either way, pray for that other person. And then respect yourself enough not to allow yourself to be treated badly. If the relationship is one that you are really invested in, then see if you can find a way to have a calm, mature conversation with the person and tell them how you feel. My spiritual director tells me to stand in my truth: “I feel this way when you do these things.” They can’t argue with the way I feel.

But you have to be willing to walk away, at least for awhile, if the person’s treatment of you is not acceptable. Like I walked away from the car salesman, but that was easy. Having good boundaries means that we will say to a person, will not accept being treated badly. I love you, but I also love myself and I will not hang around while you treat me with disrespect. That is the hard, mature part of being in a healthy relationship. And that’s what we want, to be treated well and treat each other well. And we don’t have to explain, justify, or defend our choice.   God calls us to be in living mature relationships.

I’ve given you a lot of information today. This was not an easy message. These skills are not ones that we learn quickly. We are going to be talking about healthy relationships for several weeks. You can read this message and the others again and again on our Village web site and blog.

We all want healthy relationships, and we all deserve to have them. I believe Paul would say that would should not settle for anything less. That’s why he described what love is, and invited us to live in this way. So let’s strive to love in this way (I Corinthians 13:1-7 from the New Revised Standard Version for those following along via the web):

4Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant 5or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. 7It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

So let’s go and be people who love. Amen.

HEALTHY RELATIONSHIPS: NO TURNING BACK by Cheri Holdridge (with an assist by Kurt Young)

2011-09-04T08:26:00.000-07:00

The Village Kids are going to their room now and looking at this picture. They are going to have a chance to imagine what these two girls are thinking. We could do that too if we wanted to. I’m going to ask Jamie over lunch what they came up with.

Do you remember being their age? One day you are best friends with someone, and then next day, you hate their guts. One day you are “in the clique” and the next day you are out. One day you are in love with that boy or that girl, and the next day you wonder what you ever saw in that girl or boy, when you were little kids or maybe next week. Children, and teen-agers are fickle in relationship. They will turn their back on you in no time. Girls especially; am I right?

But here is the sad part: many of us never outgrow this kind of behavior. Now we expect this kind of behavior from our 12 or 13 year olds. We expect it, it happens. But too often, it happens with grown-ups, seriously!?!?

The childish games we played in grade school and junior high, get repeated through adulthood. We turn our backs on our friends. We lie. We cheat. We backstab. We get possessive or jealous. And so we sabotage our relationships despite ourselves.

Now in our defense, it’s not all our fault. It takes two to have a friendship. And other people are not always trustworthy. Sometimes they hurt us. They turn on us. They’re selfish. You fill in the blank. It’s a wonder anyone has a long-lasting partnership or friendship in our world. For the next several weeks at The Village, we are going to focus on relationships here at The Village, and what it takes to have “Healthy Relationships.”

Our theme for the year has been “We have enough.” I believe we have enough emotional maturity to have healthy relationships. I believe we can have good enough boundaries, and self love, to have healthy relationships. I believe we have enough strength, from God, to learn who to have healthy relationships. I believe we have the ability, with God’s help, to have these healthy relationships.

The Bible has some great stories of people learning the hard lessons of how to have good relationships. Sometimes we need to look at good and bad relationships to learn. Over the next few weeks we’re going to hit some of the best stories. Today we look at Ruth.

Here is how the story goes (Ruth Chapter 1 from the Message Translation for those following along via the web): Naomi’s family was from Bethlehem but they went to live in Moab because there was a famine in their homeland. Naomi’s two sons married two Moabite women: Orpah and Ruth. Naomi’s husband died and the sons died and so these three women were left with no men to provide for them. And in these times, you were totally dependent on the men.

Ruth heard that there was food again in her homeland of Judah so she decided to travel back there.

8-9 After a short while on the road, Naomi told her two daughters-in-law, "Go back. Go home and live with your mothers. And may God treat you as graciously as you treated your deceased husbands and me. May God give each of you a new home and a new husband!" She kissed them and they cried openly.

10 They said, "No, we're going on with you to your people."

11-13 But Naomi was firm: "Go back, my dear daughters. Why would you come with me? Do you suppose I still have sons in my womb who can become your future husbands? Go back, dear daughters—on your way, please! I'm too old to get a husband. Why, even if I said, 'There's still hope!' and this very night got a man and had sons, can you imagine being satisfied to wait until they were grown? Would you wait that long to get married again? No, dear daughters; this is a bitter pill for me to swallow—more bitter for me than for you. God has dealt me a hard blow."

14 Again they cried openly. Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-bye; but Ruth embraced her and held on.

15 Naomi said, "Look, your sister-in-law is going back home to live with her own people and gods; go with her."

16-17 But Ruth said, "Don't force me to leave you; don't make me go home. Where you go, I go; and where you live, I'll live. Your people are my people, your God is my god; where you die, I'll die, and that's where I'll be buried, so help me God—not even death itself is going to come between us!"

18-19 When Naomi saw that Ruth had her heart set on going with her, she gave in. And so the two of them traveled on together to Bethlehem.

Ruth understood commitment in a relationship. She had committed to this new family. She was not going to abandon her elderly mother-in-law Naomi, who had lost her husband and her sons. Family was everything to these people. These were the people of Israel and Ruth had taken on their God as her own. We don’t know why. We don’t know what she was leaving behind. But she was ready to stay with her mother-in-law Naomi. They must have had a strong bond, as friends. Ruth understood commitment in a relationship, in relationship not everything is good and light, in for followers of God. She knew the road ahead would be hard, but she made her choice – to stand with Naomi.

Because here is the thing: none of us get any promises of a life without some ups and downs. Ruth understood that. She had already lost her husband to death. So she made a choice, to move forward in life, with Naomi.

We all get a choice. Who will we move through this life with? Who will be the friends we will hang in there with?

I learned an important lesson about all this early on in my adult life. In my first church I had a women’s small group, where we talked about spirituality. It was a great group, because we had women of all life stages, young and old, married, divorced, widowed, some with young children, some who had raised their children long ago and some, like me, who had never had children. One night, we talked about marriage and commitment and those primary, life-long commitments.

Some women, who had divorced and remarried, shared that they had learned that when you leave one committed relationship for another, that you really just leave one set of problems for another. Everyone has baggage. They confessed that if they had it to do over again, they might have just worked harder in the first marriage. You just trade one set of baggage for another set. It gave me something to think about as a 24 year old single woman who really wanted to be married, and who spent the next 10 years thinking I would never find a life partner, the wisdom of those women was not lost on me.

I have some other friends, two men, who were in a relationship about ten years ago. One morning they woke up and realized they were not sure they wanted to stay together. They were at a crossroad. They had to decide if they were going to stay together and it was not looking good. They had been together for about 10 years at the time. They were past that honeymoon stage when you are crazy in love. They were to the point where you realize that those habits of the person that annoyed you for the first year are never going to change. That was on September 10, 2001.

They were living in New Jersey, and one of them was supposed to be working in New York City on September 11, 2001. The events of that day, changed our country and our world forever. Planes hit buildings, lives were lost, and my friends, like many others, took another look at what is most important. Suddenly the little things that were causing conflict in their relationship were not so important. In fact I asked my friend this week, if he could remember what they were fighting about. He said, “not really.” It was the same little stuff they had been struggling with for the first 10 years of their relationship and the past 10. They realized they would rather face life in this crazy world together, rather than alone, and they chose to build a life together. Now, ten years later they adopted two children. Today they have a strong family. They love God, and they understand that commitment is what is most important. No relationship is perfect. What’s important is finding someone worth working with, to build a life together.

So, how about you? Are you happy with your ability to hang in there and do the hard work of being in a friendship or a partnership, some significant relationship with an imperfect person? Because, as we know, no one is perfect. Now, let me be clear. I am not suggesting here that anyone remain in an abusive relationship. We all need clear boundaries to take care of ourselves. And there are limits to what we can put up with, because we cannot control the behavior of the other person. Did you hear me? We can not control the behavior of another person. But if you find someone who wants to work at a friendship or a partnership, are you willing to hang in there, do the hard work and find a healthy relationship. That is the question that this story from Ruth and Naomi has to offer us today.

I want to invite you to think, now, of one relationship that you would like to make better. Perhaps it is one that you are about to give up on. Or maybe it is one that is most important to you, and you simply want to re-commit your energy to it today. I am going to give you some time, in the quiet to ponder how you will commit to working on that relationship. You might write something down, or send a text, an email or a Facebook message to that person and let them you know care about them. Now, you may not succeed in this. It takes two. But you may have someone see the Jesus in you and reconnect.

Do you have a place that will help you foster your health in your relationships? If not, find one. There are many places where you can find that help, many trail heads to the paths that lead to healthy friendships and partnerships. If you haven’t found one yet and you’re near the corner of Monroe & Central some Sunday, drop by at 11 AM (or coming next year in Maumee).

MESSAGE – “21st Century Evangelism (aka Faith Sharing)” by Cheri Holdridge (with the usual assist by Kurt Young)

2011-08-28T08:12:00.000-07:00

I woke abruptly yesterday morning. Jesus had spoken to me in my sleep. He gave me a message. Rebecca, he wants you to be an evangelist (and actually Rebecca and her friend brought another friend to church today), and you, too Terri, and you, Eddie. Will you do that?

Anyone think they woke up in the wrong church this morning? Anyone think that Pastor Cheri went off the edge? Think you checked out the wrong blog today? Well, you didn’t.

An Evangelist is not a person who scares people, scolds them, an evangelist is someone who shares good news, tells about who God is. Can you do that? Another way to say it: evangelist is someone who points to God in order to give HOPE!

In today’s scripture, (Luke 10: 1-12, 16-21, 23-24 for those playing along at home & on the road) Jesus sent out the disciples to teach and heal and to invite people to give their lives to God’s way, to give them hope.

You walked into the front area of a house, houses back then had a reception area like that and you were invited into the front section (no Holiday Inns or Motel 6’s back then) to be received. This was their method when they got to a town:

Present yourself for hospitality
Gave the host an opportunity to be a part of Jesus’ work
You were not expected to house the enemy, so if not, you were going to be kicked out.
The disciples had an easy way to force the question: do you want to be a part of God’s mission on earth?

The disciples were not to take anything with them when they went in and if they were not received, they were not even to take the dirt along with them from that town.

Houses aren’t built that way today. That’s not our custom. And most of us are not called to be full-time traveling evangelists. We are more settled. So sharing the hope of God with people, who are feeling hopeless, is going to look a little different for us.

So how can we do it? How can we share our experience of God, in ways that are authentic for us? Yesterday and last Saturday as well, some of us had a chance to invite some folks to come to The Village.

This week we were at Toledo Pride, inviting folks to come to church. We gave away 300 multi-colored stickers that said “I am loved”. We gave away 300 water bottles with the Village Logo (along with Equality Ohio’s logo). We gave away about 60 gallons of free water. We wore our “No Perfect People Allowed” T-Shirts. We even sold about a dozen of them. So about 500-600 people got the idea that the Village was a place that cared about people. That is one great way to invite folks to connect with God. How many of you came here because someone invited you? By the way, we did the same thing, minus the “I am loved” stickers, but adding face painting at the Maumee Street Fair last weekend.

When you invite people here, what do you say about this community? Do you talk about finding hope here? It takes many invitations to get some folks here. That’s why we just keep gently inviting. We have a variety of events, in addition to Sunday worship every week, to give you lots of opportunities to invite folks. This Friday night we are having a benefit concert for the AIDS Resource center.

But let’s take this a little bit deeper. Inviting folks to come here and experience this community is important. Because once they come here, the Spirit of God will grow in them. They will get hooked on hope, the way we are. But there is another layer in this scripture. Those disciples went out and talked to people about their experience of God’s amazing love. Their lives had been changed by knowing Jesus. We have stories to tell too. And we have opportunities every day, to share those stories with other people. I know it might sound a bit scary, but we can do this, each in our own way.

We can wait for the right time. It will present itself. A friend, a neighbor, a co-worker, will hit the wall, with a crisis, or with just the weight of all the everyday stuff that folks have to deal with. When this happens to me, eventually, I will have a chance to sit down and have a chat. I often do it in a place that is comfortable for me and the other person, over a cup of coffee, at a kitchen table or meeting in a coffee house.

First of all, I try to listen. When a friend is sharing that they don’t know what to do. Life is such a struggle. This is NOT the time to talk about how much MY life is also a struggle. When we think the time is right to invite someone to trust God, then the focus has to be all on the other person and God. It’s not time to dump all our problems back on them. We’ve got to get outside of ourselves. This is really important.

As I am listening I might say a quick prayer in my head, asking God to give me the words, to let met shut up about my problems, and asking God to open this person’s heart to God and let me give them your hope.

Then I wait for what seems like an opportunity to gently invite the person to consider turning to God for help, trusting God. Actually, I love the AA language here, of a higher power. Something seems to melt away, for some people, when I say, “Wow, you are really trying to take on the whole world on your own. Why don’t you let God worry about some of that?”

“TRUST GOD” is the mantra that has sustained me through oh, so many trials and tribulations. If you need a phrase to use when you are beginning to invite people to consider deepening their spiritual life, try that one. It’s a good one: “Trust God.”

Now, you need to be prepared, for a variety of reactions when you bring God into a conversation with someone who is hurting:

They might be open to this, curious, thoughtful, you’ve got to be ready for that.
They might get very emotional and start crying
They might get angry because they have some old hurts around religious folks, I say I don’t like those judgmental, religious people either and neither did Jesus.
They might just blow you off

It’s ok. You still said it. And know they know that you love God and you are a “Jesus freak.” From now on, they will be watching you and testing you. They’ll be looking if you are another one of the judgmental, hypocritical Jesus Freaks.

We talked about this last week. Once we identify ourselves as followers of Jesus, then we have a responsibility, and an opportunity, to act with love, compassion and forgiveness toward other people. We won’t be perfect. But when we make mistakes, we need to own up to our mistakes and apologize. That is what will model to the world, the way of Jesus.

It may take a very long time. . . A VERY LONG TIME. . . but we have to trust God. We are evangelists sometimes, simply by the way we live our lives. It works.

Here, today, we had multiple people share the long road that got them through the doors. Stories of lost church relationships were shared. Stories of a lack of acceptance of the brokenness we all have. Stories of destructive behavior that were fostered out there without a place like the Village.

But, what we really were happy to have shared were the stories of acceptance into the light and hope of our community that those same people shared. In the words of one member of our Village family, who admits she was a drug addict before coming, “God shows up at the Village and I show up to see God”.

So, you see, we all really can be evangelists, because we can all share the hope of Jesus with another person. We can share how trusting God makes a difference in our lives. There are people out there who need to hear that message. They are hungering for a place of hope. We were once out there and now we are in here. They are no different from us. They are counting on us, to offer them hope. So, let’s do it.

And if you’re one of those people out there, hungering for a spiritual life, a deeper relationship with God, we’re here, at the corner of Monroe & Central in Toledo each Sunday at 11 AM, and soon in Maumee.

“LET ‘EM SEE HOW YOU ARE” by Cheri Holdridge (with an assist by Kurt Young)

2011-08-21T08:01:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went to see the first pre-season game at Ford Field in Detroit. The Detroit Lions played my husband Kurt’s (and Rebecca’s) favorite football team, The Cincinnati Bengals (a clash of titans we admit). We drove up to the game with our friends who were here visiting from Philly. The kids, Kurt and I all wore Bengals jerseys. We wanted to identify with OUR team. We were, of course, in the minority, walking the streets of Detroit, and into the Lions stadium.

We got a few shouts from some Lions fans in downtown Detroit as we headed into the game. For awhile we thought we were the only Bengals fans at the game. Eventually we spotted a few other brave Cincinnati fans in the crowd. The Bengals got whooped, 34-3. It was a sad game. We stayed to the end. Though we headed to the car, through the stadium, during the last couple of minutes. Even Kurt could not sit still to the bitter end.

As we headed to our car, which was a bit of a hike, I must confess, I was a little uneasy. It was dark. I’m not so familiar with Detroit. We Bengals fans were waaay outnumbered. And even though our team had lost, some of the Lions fans were still giving us grief on the street. There we were, walking targets, wearing our bright orange and black jerseys. There was no mistaking our loyalties.

I could not help remembering Bryan Stow, the San Francisco Giants Fan. He was also walking out of stadium, a fan of the visiting team, on Opening Day last March 31st, just after the Los Angeles Dodgers had beaten the Giants 2-1.

As Stow and his friends were leaving the stadium, Stow was attacked by two men wearing Dodgers gear. They punched Stow in the back of his head, kicking him even after he fell to the ground, unconscious. Months later he is still trying to recover. All because he was wearing a Giants jersey. He identified himself with a team, and it almost got him killed.

We were wearing Bengals jerseys in Detroit, because we love Kurt’s team. In a way we were taking a bold stand. But I was a little worried, because I know that crazy people do bad things, (even to good people). Of course, we made it home safely, like millions of sports fans every day.

But it made me think. There are so many ways that show our loyalty. And there are consequences to every action. Now, I would like to hope that we could live in a world and country where no one would get beat up for wearing a particular sports jersey. That is just stupid.

The L.A. Dodgers have had to deal with some bad public relations as a result of that beating. Now, of course, no reasonable person blames the team for what some lunatic fans do. But still, the fans, associated with their team, did this horrible thing. So, at some level, at least some of us will make the connection, won’t we? I mean, I was a bit fearful in Detroit last weekend, wondering if some Lions fan might do the same thing. Guilt by association. Sports fans, in general, might get out of hand, and do really stupid and violent acts.

Well, let’s have a look at this concept from in another context. What if we had jersey’s that say: “I’m a Jesus follower.” Can you imagine that? Once we say that we are followers of Jesus – we have a responsibility AND an opportunity – to model Jesus for other people in everything we do.

There’s a saying that goes around, “You may be the only Bible some people read.” That is to say: some people are never going to pick up a Bible and read it – they are only going to learn about God, and Jesus and the ways of love and forgiveness and compassion, by seeing those things in our lives. WOW! That’s a big responsibility, and it’s a great opportunity.

You see, every day, we have a opportunity to show people how much people God loves them – by being wildly extravagant in our love! I don’t mean by being “nice.” Nice is lame. Nice is when your 95 year old great aunt she sends you a birthday card. I mean what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called “being an extremist in our love.”

Can you be so extreme in your love, and compassion and forgiveness that it stops folks dead in their tracks? Wouldn’t that be something? And they’d have to say – “Wow – what is going on with you that you are so centered and generous with your love? Are you some sort of Jesus freak or something?” And you can laugh and say, “Yeah, I guess I am.”

I want to tell you a story about what it means when we do that. I knew a woman once at another church. When she was a child, she grew up in a family where there was abuse, physical and emotional. She did not know love. As an adult, she came to the church where I was pastor. She was in a difficult place in her life. She was struggling to understand what it might mean that God, and people, could actually love her.

She would watch how the parents and children in our church would interact. These were normal healthy loving parents and children. The woman told me one day that she was absolutely fascinated to see children that did not shrink away in fear when their parents called their names. She would watch as a mother sat in church and stroked her child’s back or gave her son a hug. She would watch as a child ran up to give a grandparent a hug with arms open wide. The woman had never experienced this sort of adult-child interaction. She was utterly amaze, utterly amazed at seeing love and compassion in a relationship between family. She told me that those families helped her believe in a world where there could be an honest caring and a healthy way to love.

This is what it means to be followers of Jesus who model love, compassion and acceptance. Those parents were being Jesus with their children. And they were helping their children grow up to be Jesus with other people. And they were modeling behavior for the woman who had not grown up in that sort of home. Generation to generation – this is how we do it. But not everyone starts out in an emotionally healthy home, so some of us have to find some healing, and go through some recovery, as adults. But as followers of Jesus we can create a community showing another way.

But here is the thing – wherever we are in the process – God has enough love to go around. Here’s what Jesus was saying to his disciples in this scripture that we read today (John 13:31-35 for those following along at home). He said:

34-35"Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other."

People are looking at us. They are watching us to see if we really act the way they expect followers of Jesus to act. Now, we are not perfect. So we will make mistakes. When we do, we need to be able to apologize, make our amends, and do our best to change our behavior. We try to do better.

When people see us making an effort to be loving, compassionate and forgiving, it is compelling. This way of life is refreshing compared to the way many folks out there life. They want to be a part of this.

I talked to quite a few folks at the Maumee Street Fair yesterday. I talked to them about what they are looking for in a church. Folks loved our “No Perfect People Allowed” T Shirts. They kept walking by our booth saying, “That’s my kind of church.” They know they are not perfect. And they are tired of churches where they feel like the folks are trying to act perfect.

But they DO want a church where folks are acting like Jesus. And we need to show ‘em that we can be like Jesus. We can be extreme in our love, our compassion, and our forgiveness. We were giving away large, beautiful reusable water bottles with ice cold water (240 bottles & nearly 60 gallons of water). People were shocked at how generous we were. They couldn’t believe we were giving away something others were selling.

So this week, I want to invite you to “Show ‘em how you are.” Don’t be afraid to BE like Jesus. And when you have a chance – let someone know that you love God.

Let someone know that because you are a follower of Jesus, you choose to be more loving than the average sports fan. Be a good loser, and a good winner. Congratulate the other team, whatever the outcome. It’s just a game, folks!

In worship, we responded by taking a multi-colored string and making a wrist band out of it. We want to ask you to respond to The Message today by taking one of these strings (find one out there if you didn’t get here) and tie it. This is a reminder of: God’s love that is in you. Let someone tie it to your wrist.

Wear it for the rest of the day, and maybe the whole week if you will. Let it be a reminder that you are modeling the extravagant love, compassion and forgiveness of Jesus in all that you do. You get to show God to other people this week, in the ways that you treat other people. This little string is you reminder that you are a reflection of Jesus. “God’s love is in you, so let ‘em see it.”

If you want to be a part of a community of faith like this, we’re not alone. Find one, we are out here. If you’re at the corner of Monroe & Central in Toledo some Sunday at 11 AM(or coming soon in Maumee) come check us out. Let us show us you some extravagant love, compassion and the forgiveness that Jesus taught us.

"Kindom Looks Like What" by Kurt Young (doing his best to capture Karyn Wiseman)

2011-08-14T17:49:00.000-07:00

This week in worship we had our friend Dr. Karyn Wiesman preach. I love Karyn to death. Not only has she been a friend of Cheri’s since they were both in the conference youth group, she’s been a part of the dreamers and prayers that created the Village, she is a great friend and a fantastic story teller. Mind you, that’s her job, she is a professor who teaches other ministers to preach. So, she is a story teller’s coach. In fact, she is Cheri’s coach, so if you love Cheri’s messages, give Karyn a little nod of credit.. She really can tell a fantastic story in a pulpit or over a meal. But the one problem with having Karyn as a guest minister is that she NEVER speaks from a manuscript. She rarely does an outline for anyone else (she did bless me with one so as to make this possible). Don’t get me wrong, she has a very organized, thought out tale to tell. But she really pushes folks like me who have to blog that story properly. Hopefully, this will do it justice. Now, that the lawyer disclaimer is done, let’s get to why you clicked over to read, our message this week.

Jesus in Matthew’s Gospel Chapter 13, tells a series of five parables. Parables are stories in the language of the culture of the time. The purpose of parables is teaching. They are not allegories, they are called Koans. They are aphorisms to tease you out of one way of thinking/believing and into seeing the world or living in the world in a new way. Jesus loved to use these stories. And at the time, they made perfect sense to the culture. For example, you may have heard the one about not putting new wine in old wineskins. If you’re like me, you surely scratched your head and said “WHAT?”. That does not speak to me. What in the world is Jesus talking about? But, imagine instead, Jesus said you can’t put new software in old computers. Now, the idea that sometimes a new way of doing things is exactly what’s needed. That’s a parable for today.

Most people have heard of Jesus’ famous Mustard seed parable. It’s one of these parables. The kingdom of God is like . . . It is part of the series of stories he told to explode the popular view of the kingdom. Jesus was counter cultural. He ate with the wrong people. He hung out with the wrong people. He loved to inflict and irritate the religious right and self righteous of the time. And that’s what Chapter 13 of Matthew was about. Totally exploding the myth of the Messiah and what he was going to be. The Messiah was supposed to be a high and mighty king, a great military leader. He was not supposed to be a nobody from Judea, born in a barn, hanging out on the first night with the smelly, nobody shepherds. Yuck.

The Mustard Seed is the most incredible seed is how the story goes. It goes from being the smallest seed to the mighty tree. Except for one thing, he’s messing with them. The mustard seed is not the smallest seed. The tree is not a beautiful tree that grows up housing birds. This is total BS. Yes, Karyn used that term BS in church. None of the stories made any sense. Jesus was trying to mess with these folks. Change their view. And they knew it.. They were farmers. They knew the truth about mustard seeds & trees.

Ever hear of the Kudzu? It’s also called the “Vine that ate the South”. It’s not native to the South though. In 1876, there was a Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. Countries brought their wares from around the world. The Japanese brought them to the US, talking about how they used it for ground cover. A group of farmers of goats and sheep thought it was a great idea to bring it down there. The problem is the animals hated it and Kudzu ate the South. They grew everywhere. It literally spread like wildfire around the South and we even have it in our backyard. It is eating the backyard.

Why tell you about Kudzu? Because the Mustard Seed was the Kudzu of Palestine. It’s terrible. You would never in your right mind plant a mustard seed. So, the kingdom of God is going to be like a destructive plant, you can’t get rid of it, and will eat the world if you let it? No, but the people of the time thought it was what was going to happen. We would all be the good people, we would take over the world. Jesus was laughing when he told this. He knew what the kingdom was going to be and it was not going to be a bunch of perfect people, who all believe alike, look alike, worship alike, etc. No, he was showing them the ridiculousness of their belief. But they didn’t get it. Ever been to a church where they gave you a mustard seed? Run if they do.

The Kindom of God, yes, that’s not a typo. We are kin. This is not a hierarchy. We are not all alike. That’s why Karyn fell in love with the vision of the Village. The Village is a family where we don’t all look alike, think alike, work alike, even believe alike. We don’t have to pass a test to be a member of this church family. You see, we don’t get to decide who’s in and who’s out. We are a family of God. God gets to choose. And believe me, God never chose those the world thought God would. When God needed a great savior for the people of God when they were in Egypt, God chose Moses, a stutterer, whose mother had to abandon him as a child. When God chose a mighty king of Israel, God didn’t choose the oldest, strongest, mightiest warrior in the family God was considering. God chose the runt of the litter, a guy by the name of David. It goes on like that over and over again. When Joshua and his army needed an ally, God gave them Rahab, a woman (gasp) and a member of the “oldest profession” (you may gasp again if you want).

When God became part of the human family as Jesus, well, the trend kept going. Look in the Bible at the linage Jesus came from. Yes, David’s in there. But so is Rahab. Yes, Jesus human blood line includes her (faint if you must). And look at who Jesus picked to hang out with. Was it the shinny, happy, white, rich people? If you answer yes, go back and do a little more reading. Yes, Jesus hung out with the chosen people, the Jews, but he also hung with the outsiders. The lowliest of the lowliest of society. That’s who God chose as kin, everyone, even those who society said NO to.

We are all the Kindom of God. Those folks who exclude others, they don’t get it yet. They will. But for now, we’ve found it at the Village. We have a group of folks that reflect what God really is looking for in a family. Don’t get me wrong, we’ve got rich, white, straight, professional men, I’m one of them. But we’ve got rich, black straight professional women. We’ve got people who could not finish high school and folks with several graduate degrees. We’ve got folks who’ve got lots of money, and others who need a few bucks to get through the next day. We’ve got folks who would be welcomed in any church and we’ve got folks who have been literally run out of the church on a rail.

Karyn told us the story of Kudzu Jesus. A couple of years ago, an image of what looked like Jesus appeared on a pole outside a local restaurant in the south. If you stare at it long enough, you see it. It looks like Jesus on the cross. But, Karyn is tickled beyond all measure by the buzz. Folks would come from around the country and shared it on the internet. And anything that brings Jesus to others is great. But, here’s the start of the problem, it’s not even Kudzu. It’s another vine. So Kudzu Jesus isn’t even Kudzu. When she looks for the kindom of God on Earth, she doesn’t go to see Kudzu Jesus. She looks for places like the Village. And she feels so blessed to be a part of helping dream and pray to create our Kindom. And she ended worship today asking if we could do our best to spread the kindom of God like the kudzu we are.

We’re not the only place where this love can be found spreading around the world. But if you’re near the corner of Monroe & Central in Toledo some Sunday, come check us out. Soon, we’ll have spread to Maumee, and then, well, we’re going to keep spreading, there’s no stopping that.

God's Business: Turning Nobodies Into Somebodies by Cheri Holdridge (with an assist by Kurt Young)

2011-08-07T08:13:00.000-07:00

I went to my 30 year high school reunion last weekend in Abilene Texas. You know they say time is the great equalizer. Most of the posturing and cliques from high school were gone. NOT ALL OF THEM, but most.

Of course I saw some friends that I have known since I moved to Abilene when I was in the 5th grade, and others that I added in Jr. High. I think the best story I heard all weekend was told by my good friend Lawrie, from Jr. High.

On Sunday afternoon, I was at a small back-yard party with some of us who were not really the popular kids ever. We were some of the brainy kids, the geeks. We were some of the ones who had our picture on a page in the yearbook for getting awards for being smart. Yes, we were a nerdy bunch. And no, none of us were very popular in high school. I was a band geek.

Anyway, we were sitting around on Sunday afternoon drinking Texas Dr. Pepper and eating Fritos (also a Texas product, Lubbock in fact) and Lawrie and I were recalling eating this nasty snack bar lunch called “frito pie.” (I was not a vegetarian back then.) She said, that at the beginning of Jr. High, every day, she would get one for herself and one for this popular girl from her elementary school. I’ll just call her “The future cheerleader.” Lawrie wanted to be accepted by this girl, and she wanted to have a place to sit in the lunchroom, so in order to be accepted at the “in” table, Lawrie would to buy “the future cheerleader” a frito pie every day.

Well this went on for awhile. Meanwhile, Lawrie was in the regular PE class and hated it. So she switched to tennis. In tennis class, she met Karen. Karen became her best friend, and by the way, was at this same party last weekend. Karen was intelligent. She could actually carry on a conversation about something other than nail polish what she had for lunch. Lawrie liked Karen. So, the next day at lunch, when Lawrie showed up at the future cheerleader’s table she brought Karen with her, and said, “Hey look, I have a new friend, this is Karen.” The future cheerleader, with a flick of her hair, took one look at Karen and said, “Oh, No, SHE cannot sit at this table.”

Lawrie, in that moment was faced with the 7th grade girl’s moral dilemma. Do I choose the “future cheerleader” and the popular girls’ lunch table? Or do I choose the new friend, who I like having intelligent conversations with, who will mark me as a LOSER for the rest of Jr. and Sr. High. Lawrie chose Karen. She marched with Karen to the losers lunch table. (We paused to cheer Lawrie)

But the story does not end there. A few weeks later, was the Student Council election. Lawrie ran for Student Council. You see, she realized that there are more losers at a school than future cheerleaders. And guess what. She got elected! Her platform? Losers Unite! We have a voice! And the rest, as they say, is history. Lawrie, went on to have a happy life through high school with her chosen group of smart, geeky friends. She got elected the runner up for the friendliest girl in high school (we did make fun of her for only being the second friendliest girl, but . . .Now, let me tell you, she was a bit awkward in junior high. Weren’t we all? But she was happy. And she grew up to have a good job, a beautiful family; she is confident, and content. What more can a person ask for?

The turning point came when Lawrie chose, whether or not she would listen to that inner voice and be the “somebody” that God created her to be. You see God is our creator. And God makes each one of us a unique individual. Today’s scripture talks about how God is like a potter, creating with clay. We are the clay. The clay does not get to say back to the sculptor, “why are you making me this way?” We are born this way. We are born with certain gifts, certain predispositions. Now of course, we can develop skills, we can learn things and grow. We can certainly choose to become better people. We have free will. We make decisions in life. But some of us are wired in some ways, and some of us are wired in other ways –that is what makes the world interesting.

I believe what is wonderful about being in community, is that we can help one another be our best selves. What Lawrie and Karen found in a friendship in the 7th grade was that they were both smart, and they had certain values, and they could encourage one another to become their best selves in life. It’s what I see happening around here, and in the best communities. I saw it a few weeks ago when I visited the AA group that meets in our church.

It’s a confidential group, so I can’t share too much. But I listened as some members of the group were discouraged and other members of the group said, “Oh I have seen so much growth in you.”, “Here is what I saw when you first came to this group, and now I see you doing so much better.” And I looked at the face of the person receiving the encouragement and it was so wonderful. This is what a church community is supposed to be.

Well, our scripture for today is from the book of Romans. If you need some encouragement today, go home and read Romans chapters 8 and 9. There is some good stuff there. Paul is encouraging these young Christians. He’s talking about some of his own personal struggles. Paul, who wrote lots of books in the Bible and founded lots of churches had TONS of struggles. And then he uses his pain to point to God’s compassion, and God’s ability to use everyone to achieve God’s purposes in the world. He quotes the prophet Hosea and says:

I'll call nobodies and make them somebodies;

I'll call the unloved and make them beloved.

In the place where they yelled out, "You're nobody!"

they're calling you "God's living children."

This is the heart of God’s message to us here at The Village. It’s what keeps us going week after week. “God takes nobodies and makes us somebodies.” Because here is the thing: EVERYBODY IS SOMEBODY TO GOD. There are no nobodies to God.

Now, sure, the world will tell you, that you are a nobody. But God does not live by the same rules as the world. God is the creator of the world. So, as God’s people, we can choose to live by God’s rules, and not by the world’s rules. We get to choose. To God, every one of us is SOMEBODY.

But here is the thing. Every day, at some point, everyone of us FEELS like a nobody. Am I right? So, here is our job as The Village Community – we need to build one another up. We have to remind each other – You are somebody, because God made you somebody. That’s why we come back here every week.

BUT, we also have to call one another to BE our best selves. AHHH, here’s the hard part – ACCOUNTABILITY. Accountability is also part of the package when we are in community as Jesus’ followers. You see, I am not doing you any good at all, if I see you making the same mistakes over and over again, and I don’t call you on it. That is not serious love. That is lazy love. It is weak love. It is love that says I don’t really care about you, because I’m afraid that you will get mad at me, if I don’t call you to be your best self. You know, Jesus was not afraid of letting people get mad at him. He spoke the truth. He didn’t get scared.

So, for example, some of you need to tell me, Cheri, you need to exercise more. You are not walking 3-4 days a week. You have not been going to yoga class. You know you should. You talk to us about having balance in our lives, but you are not doing it. You want to live longer for your kids, but you are not being a good example for us. That is courageous love. That is serious love.

You see, when you speak like that to me, then I have the right to say some things to you. Like this: you need to quit smoking, because it’s going to kill you. Or you need to watch your language here at church when there are children around. Yes I know we have people here who come from hard living places. And we welcome all people. But we need to be respectful that not everyone here is used to hearing street language all the time. Just because this place looks like a bar, does not mean we need to talk like we are in a bar.

Yes, we want all folks to feel welcome here. But there are some folks who may be a bit put off by some of our rough ways. One way to be welcoming to all people, is to tone it down a bit too. So we may need to remind one another of this now and then. This is part of being in community.

Everyone here is working on something. None of us are perfect. We can all identify some old behaviors we’d like to leave behind. Right? So this is the place we practice living in those new ways. Sure, we are all going to make mistakes. And this is the place where we are forgiving. BUT this is also the place where we hold one another accountable.

So if we see each other doing something, that is not really living in the way that we think Jesus would have us live, how about, we just say something to one another, in the spirit of love? Are you willing to take that risk? Are you willing to be that kind of community here? We don’t have to be hateful or judgmental about it. When we are friends we can take some gentle correcting from one another without getting our feelings hurt. We are all grown-ups here, aren’t we? I know it may be hard, but I think we can do this.

You see, I know we are all people who feel like nobodies. Even I feel like I am a nobody every day. But God makes each of us somebody. We are nobodies who become some-bodies, because God love us. We are all losers, but we are not losers at all, because by God’s grace, we are forgiven and loved, and we are made whole.

Here’s your challenge, right now find someone to share with. You’ve got someone out there in the world with you, and then share with someone your response to this statement: “This is when I feel like a loser. . . “. Then let the other person respond: “You are somebody! God loves you.”. Do the same for them.

If you’re ready to find a church where everyone is someone, we are out here. If you’re at the corner of Monroe & Central, come by the Village some Sunday, we are nobodies who are being told we are somebodies by each other and by God.

“Prayer: Our Portable Sabbath” by Cheri Holdridge (with an assist by Kurt Young)

2011-07-24T08:27:00.000-07:00

A couple of my friends have a wall in their offices where they have sketches or photographs of their heroes and she-roes -- people they admire. They have these pictures of people they look to for inspiration and encouragement. Some are the usual characters you might expect: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Mahatma Gandhi, and John F. Kennedy. There are some others that are not quite so well known, Dorothy Day, the founder of the Catholic Worker movement, or Thurgood Marshall, chief counsel to the NAACP and later a Supreme Court justice. If you had such a gallery hanging in your home or workplace, whose picture would you hang there? Who inspires you to be a better person?

One of the people I really admire is Judy Craig, a retired bishop in the United Methodist Church, one of the first women bishops in the United Methodist Church. There are many reasons to admire Judy. But today, I want to focus on one. Judy prays. More than that, Judy knows when it is time to STOP her work, and pray. She knows when it is time to stop doing and just take a moment to BE with God.

When she came to the West Ohio Conference as our bishop, we had a session where she met with pastors and someone asked her what she does when she gets really stressed out at work, or discouraged, or does not know what to do in a tough situation. She said that she pushes her chair back from her desk, closes her eyes, takes a deep breath, and just listens to God. She clears her head, she STOPS, and puts her trust in God. The life of a Jesus follower is just that simple -- even for a bishop – we simply pray. We always have enough time to pray.

Wayne Muller, author of the book, Sabbath, says that prayer is like a portable Sabbath. “When we close our eyes for just a moment and let the mind rest in the heart. Like the Muslims, who stop to pray five times a day, like the Roman Catholic practice of prayer at noon, we can be stopped by a bell, a sunset, a meal, and we can pray. We can begin slowly with a simple prayer, like a pebble dropped into the middle of our day, rippling out over the surface of our life.” (Source: http://faithandleadership.com/programs/spe/articles/200509/sabbathpractices.html)

Do you pray? Often people confess to me they don’t really know how to pray. They tell me they think they need a class, or some instruction on how to pray. Or they tell me they do pray but they aren’t getting any answers. Well, here is the thing. We get answers to our prayers, and sometimes the answer is “yes,” but sometimes it’s “no.” Sometimes the answer is my least favorite: “WAIT!” And sometimes the answer this: “I’m not going to give you an answer; you are going to have to work this one out for yourself.”

My oldest sister once told me that she is not really a very spiritual person. Not like me. I think she was trying to say that she thinks prayer and spiritual things might be easier for someone like me, and not so easy for someone like her. But I would have to respectfully disagree. You see, I believe we are all spiritual creatures. We are all created by God. We all have a spirit, because you see, we are all made in the image of God and God is spirit. It’s just that the spiritual life comes more easily for some of us. We are all wired differently. But we all experience mystery. We all have those moments of something that is beyond our comprehension. We all experience wonder and awe at SOMETHING!

Today’s scripture tries, with the inadequacy of language, to describe this sense of mystery, when it comes to our longing to connect with God in prayer. Listen to the scripture again:

If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter. God does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. God knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. (Romans 8:26-28)

God makes prayer out of our wordless sighs. I had a friend who used to say, she did not really understand why we needed to pray, because God knows all our thoughts. She had a point. But here is why we pray, even if our prayer is just “wordless sighs” -- because WE need to connect to God. We need to remember that we belong to God, and that God wants to listen to us.

Think about it, how many times have you been struggling with a decision, or some hurt feelings, and you went and took a walk, to clear your head, or you went to bed, and just gave it over to God with a prayer before you went to sleep, and at the end of the walk, or after a night’s sleep, you had a new insight, or clarity, or sense of calm? Why would we not think that is the Spirit of God working in us, in our wordless sighs? I, for one, believe that is God.

Friends, the call to each of us is a simple one today. Will we pray?

Will we pray more? Will you consider this idea of prayer as your portable Sabbath? If Sabbath is the tool we have, to help us recover balance in our lives, to have a rhythm, so that we do not let the chaos of the world win, then will we make use of this tool?

Will you pray? Will you make a decision to pray more this week than you prayed last week? One way to pray more often is to have a reminder to do it, or to make a commitment to pray a certain time:

- when you wake up, even before you get out of bed

- when you get into bed at night

- When you hear your clock chime, or an alarm on your phone goes off

- When you stop at a stop light

- When you hear a certain word every day, like good bye

- When the commercials come on the TV or the radio

- At meal times

- Every time you get stressed.

- When you get angry (Kurt prays a little blessing on those who cut him off in traffic for their safety. He figures it’s a more Christian response than what he used to do).

I think am going to pray this week, every time I notice how hot it is. I am going to stop and ask God, do you have something to say to me in this heat? Maybe the bright sun is some sort of gift. If I don’t hear anything, I’m just going to say ‘thank you God.’

We can never pray too much. Pray with me this week. It’s a simple invitation. We have enough time to pray. So let’s just do it.

Holy Groud by Cheri Holdridge (with an assist by Kurt Young)

2011-07-17T08:11:00.000-07:00

Take off your shoes. I mean it. If you are willing. Just take off your shoes and socks right here and now for the rest of the service today. This is a religious practice, that we simply don’t practice much in our tradition, but let’s try it today. I’ve been walking around with my shoes off all morning.

Take off your shoes, and realize as you rest your feet on the carpeted floor, that somewhere beneath the flooring is the earth. DIRT. GROUND. HOLY GROUND. The creation of God.

Imagine in this moment that you are connected to every other child of God who has ever walked on this same planet Earth. This one spherical mass of water and mineral is all connected, and we are all touching it with our feet. Holy Ground.

As the story goes in Exodus, God spoke to Moses and told him to take off his shoes. God said, “You are standing on Holy Ground.” Out of humility and respect for God, in that moment, Moses took off his shoes.

In some religions, the people take off their shoes to enter their Holy places of prayer every time. I have a pastor friend who takes off her shoes every Sunday to preach – much to the dismay of some of her more traditional congregations! I don’t know why they would prefer her to wear high heels. You see, bare feet are also a sign of poverty, and putting our materialism behind. I’d like that in a pastor.

So, we take off our shoes, to connect to our Creator, and the creation. We take off our shoes as an act of humility and respect for God, and to let go of material hungers.

Taking off our shoes, is a Sabbath ritual. It’s another way to STOP, and pay attention to God. Do you find it easy to find time and space to STOP and pay attention to God? About twenty of us were on a retreat yesterday at Swan Creek. In the morning, Sr. Breta and Sr. Sandy gave us some printed guides for reflection and sent us out for walks in the park. They asked us to reflect on one of these things: plants, trees, sky, or water. But for many of us the hardest thing was first just to STOP, to still our minds from all the other things we do in a day. Several in our group talked about needing to organize ourselves first, because that’s how we work every day. It was hard just to BE, because most of us are people who DO.

But Kristen shared a great story of how once she was finally able to sit still and just be, that she looked up and saw a small herd of five deer in Swan Creek. It was Gods sabbath gift of beauty in the moment. It was a Sabbath gift, something she never would have seen at work, or at home, busy DOING. She had to STOP her regular routine and be in God’s creation in order to receive this gift. She was still smiling Sunday morning about it.

We stretched ourselves on the retreat. Some of us danced a little dance out there in the park. We looked a little silly. But it was fun, for some of us, just do dance in the sun and be free; to allow our bodies to move, uninhibited for a few moments, like children. . . children of God.

Sabbath moments, are about STOPPING our regular routine, and opening ourselves to God. One of the best scriptures I know, about “stopping,” is the one that says: “Be still and know that I am God.”

Is it easy for you to be still, and just listen to God? For most people, who have never practiced quiet, listening prayer, it is a hard practice to begin. I suggest starting with a minute or two and then adding one minute a day, until you get up to 15 or 20 minutes. But this kind of quiet meditative prayer is something that takes practice, just like any other new thing in our lives.

But here is one good thing: meditative prayer is free, and you don’t need any special equipment, or any membership to an expensive health club to do it. You can practice quiet listening prayer anytime, anywhere. You just sit, you are still, clear your mind of any other thoughts, and listen to God. The STOPPING, of everything else is the biggest challenge. It something we can learn. I love to help people stop and practice this. Just ask me.

Well, let’s turn to our scripture for today, now, and see how God got Moses’ attention. This is a wonderful story, of God stopping Moses in his tracks. Just as God got Kristen’s attention yesterday with the small herd of deer, God gets Moses’ attention with a bush.

In today’s story, Moses was simply minding his own business. He was having a normal work day. He was a shepherd, working for his father-in-law Jethro. You may remember the story of Moses. He was a Hebrew baby, but he was raised in the palace of the Pharaoh of Egypt. But when Moses saw the Hebrew slaves being mistreated he got into a fight, and killed one of the overseers of the slaves. He had to flee the nearby country. He married Zipporah, and worked there for her father Jethro.

But God had much more in mind for Moses, than the quiet life of a shepherd. And so on the day in question, God got Moses’ attention with a burning bush. This was not just any burning bush, it burned but it was not consumed. When Moses saw the bush, he STOPPED, dead in his tracks. God told him to take off his shoes because he was standing on Holy Ground. Then God proceeded to tell Moses that God had a plan, a big job for Moses to do. Moses would go to the new Pharaoh (the old one had died by this time). And Moses would tell Pharaoh to set the slaves free!

But here is the part of the story I want us to focus on today. God got Moses’ attention, out there on the hillside, where Moses had been every day for year. It was the same boring routine. Now I don’t know much about taking care of sheep but I can’t imagine it’s very glamorous work: hard, work, yes, but not very exciting. I imagine it would be similar to the monotony to working in a factory in Toledo. Or maybe sitting behind the counter in a gas station where most people pump their own gas, on the midnight to six a.m. shift. Pretty boring work.

I am sure Moses did not expect to meet God that day. But he did. And here is why. Because God came looking for Moses, and Moses paid attention. When God set that bush on fire, Moses STOPPED! He took off his shoes in humility and respect, and he listened to God. How often do we just walk on by a burning bush of our own?

And in that moment, Moses’ life was changed, and the lives of countless other people where changed. They were set free from slavery because Moses said YES to God’s call upon his life.

How about you? When God sends you a burning bush, are you going to see it and STOP? Are you going to take off your shoes, in humility and respect and LISTEN to God? Are you going to be ready?

We have been talking for a few weeks now about Sabbath, and the idea of Sabbath rest. Last week, we took the long view of Sabbath rest and the idea of taking an every seven year Sabbatical, and the value of vacations to have some rhythm to rest in our lives.

But you don’t have to take a trip or a year off from work or even a week or a whole day to experience Sabbath. Sabbath can come in a moment too. Another way to think about Sabbath is this: to experience Sabbath means simply to STOP and pay attention to God. STOP!

Writer Wayne Muller, in his book, Sabbath, describes it this way, as he encourages us to use our senses to reconnect with God:

“The Sabbath prohibitions restrict those things that would impede our sensuality. Walk leisurely, don’t drive; walk in the garden, don’t answer the phone, turn off the television and the radio, forget the CD and the computer. Quiet the insidious technology, and remember we live in bodies that, through a feast of the senses, appreciate the beauty of the world. Walk under the stars and moon. Knock on the door, don’t ring the bell. Sing at the table. Eat, drink, touch, smell, and remember who you are.”

Many people who have a regular practice of prayer and reconnecting with God, say they do this best in nature. That’s why we usually do our retreats in parks. We take prayer walks. Other people take time on the weekend to go out somewhere in nature. There is something about being in the beautiful creation of God that pulls us outside ourselves.

Some people garden to connect with God, or stare at the stars at night, or go to a nearby stream and take of their shoes and wade in the water, like we all did when we were kids. There is something basic in connecting with the Earth, that soothes us.

We just need to STOP, sometimes, in order to calm and center, and rest in God. Some people take a nice hot bath to wash away the stress of the world and rest in the warm embrace of God.

You see. It’s not that complicated. Sabbath rest is not rocket science. It is time and space – set aside for God. It’s a change of pace.

Sabbath is as simple, as taking off your shoes, where you are, to be humble and remember that the earth is a creation of God. And to connect our bodies to this creation of God, and to remember that we are God’s creation too.

So I invite you this week, to carve out your own time and space for Sabbath. Consider right now how you will do that. What is one Sabbath ritual you will practice this week, and when will you do it? Make yourself a promise right now to do it. Take your shoes off like your crazy pastor. Do it right now, find your Sabbath this week.

SABBATH IS FILLING OUR WELL by Cheri Holdridge (with an assist by Kurt Young)

2011-07-10T08:54:00.001-07:00

I love summer time! I just got back from vacation. I love to go to the beach. Our family is not going to make it to the beach this year, but we did go swimming a lot on our vacation. I wonder what your favorite summer activities are. Not just for vacation, but even just around home, in your free time? What do you love about the summer?

One of the things I love going to outdoor concerts, and play that silly game where we toss around a beach ball, so I thought for fun we would re-create that right here in the Village Commons. It’s summer, right? So why not do something crazy?

So we played "Wade in the Water" and played with a beach ball, right there, in the middle of our worship celebration, right there in the Village Commons (a few coffee mugs got jostled, but no causalities). From time to time we stopped the music a few times and when the music stopped, the person holding the ball, (or hitting the ball) had to tell us one thing we love to do in the summer. We got great responses, camping, going to flea markets, swimming, going to concerts, etc.

I’m glad to be back with you. I was out of town for 12 days, mostly vacation. Becca will tell you a little bit of it was “church stuff.” We went to this Christian festival of music and art and justice called the “Wild Goose Festival” down in North Carolina. Kelly Rye and her husband Jamie were there too, along with about 1500 other people, camping! I did a workshop about church planting in urban settings with progressives. I heard some great speakers talk about how they live out their faith in the world. I met some interesting folks, and had some fun conversations.

There were many young adults at this event. It was so exciting seeing so many young people there talking about the environment, and poverty and other justice issues. People talked about following Jesus and changing the world. There were lots of folks who grew up evangelical and have now become more progressive in their theology. Do you remember those TV evangelists Jim and Tammy Bakker? Their son Jay Bakker is now an amazing young tattoo covered preacher in NYC with a passion for people who are living on the streets. He preaches in a bar, not a former bar like ours. His story was inspiring. I met others who are excited about planting progressive churches like we are here at The Village. And I spent time with friends, my friend Joy Wallis who I met back in 1985 when I had a year of study in England. Becca and I camped with my friend Karyn Wiseman with whom I have been friends since I was 15 years old.

I don’t know about you, but one of the ways I fill my spiritual well, is to be with old friends who have known me for a long time. We tell old stories. We compare notes about raising pre-teens. We encourage one another. It helps restore my soul to spend time with friends who have been with me through thick and thin. We connect on the phone or on Facebook, but face to face is the best. I don’t really need to go to exotic places for summer vacation. Visiting dear friends and reconnecting seems to be enough for me, to center myself, fill my well for another season of work.

After the Wild Goose Festival, Becca and I took a mother-daughter road trip. We had a few days to kill and a few miles to cross because there was a family wedding the next weekend in NYC. She had a goal of trying to swim every day. We visited friends in Durham, and she went swimming in their neighborhood pool. Then we visited friends from Toledo who had moved to a Maryland suburb of DC. Their new house has a pool so she went swimming there two days. We went in to the city of DC one day to do some site seeing, but it was REALLY hot, so we did a little people watching, and then went to visit a friend who lives in a high rise condo with a small pool on the rooftop. You get the theme here, right? Becca, like her mom, gets rejuvenated by water.

Then we went to NYC, where Kurt, Jamie and my mom met us for the big summer family wedding. Sadly, the hotel where we stayed in Brooklyn had no pool. The kids did not quite understand that we could not afford a hotel in NYC with a pool! But we had a great time in NYC, visiting the Statue of Liberty, the biggest toy store in the world on Times Square, and being with our family for the wedding festivities.

The kids had not seen one of their cousins in several years; Jamie did not even remember his cousin Sara. Family is important to us, so it was important for us to spend time with the cousins who are literally spread from coast to coast. Being with family, fills my well too. It gives us all a sense of belonging. I want my kids to have that sense of family. It’s important.

I came home rested and ready to get back to work. I saw lots of people I love. I got some time away from The Village, a needed to break to ponder some things, got some advice from friends who love the Village & support us from afar, and consider some next steps as we move forward. It was just what a vacation is supposed to be.

It was SABBATH. My 12 days away, was part of the truth of what I like to call “Sabbath Summer.” It’s that change of pace – that refueling – that thing we plan to do to keep our lives in balance. You see, we can’t wait until we need a break to take a break. We have to plan these little breaks, these vacations, these days off, these week-end get aways, these spa days, days trips, whatever, it takes for you. We have to set a schedule for ourselves, that sets balance in our lives. Because you see, if we do not SCHEDULE some balance, then our lives will spiral out of control.

We will get sick, or have accidents. Some folks, you know, are accident prone, and it’s often folks who do not know how to keep their lives in balance. They (or we, because I have been there at times) don’t keep our lives in a manageable rhythm, and so our bodies either get sick, or we have accidents. SOMETHING HAPPENS to slow us down (e.g. Kurt had to take a few days off due to overdoing it for a Village event).

Sabbath, is sort of the old, religious term. The new-fangled term for it is “self care.” Hmm… It’s funny. God created “self care” right there from the beginning of creation. In our text for today, (Leviticus 25:1-12 for those of you who are following along from afar) we read not about the seven days of creation and the seventh day being a day of rest, but we hear about a longer term view of this rhythm of Sabbath.

God spoke to Moses at Mount Sinai: "Speak to the People of Israel. Tell them, When you enter the land which I am going to give you, the land will observe a Sabbath to God. Sow your fields, prune your vineyards, and take in your harvests for six years. But the seventh year the land will take a Sabbath of complete and total rest, a Sabbath to God; you will not sow your fields or prune your vineyards. Don't reap what grows of itself; don't harvest the grapes of your untended vines. The land gets a year of complete and total rest. But you can eat from what the land volunteers during the Sabbath year—you and your men and women servants, your hired hands, and the foreigners who live in the country, and, of course, also your livestock and the wild animals in the land can eat from it. Whatever the land volunteers of itself can be eaten (Leviticus 25:1-12).

Even the land gets to rest!

Now that is a comprehensive plan for Sabbath. Here is why Sabbath is so important. We have to plan ahead for rest. We have to plan ahead for time to be still and put ourselves in God’s hands.

We human beings, you see, are prone to think that we are in control. Sabbath is a time to rest, and to remember that we are not in control. When you don’t plant seeds in the ground, you have to just rely on what naturally comes up from the ground, then you have to trust God, don’t you? You have to rely on God to give you food.

If we, could find a way not to work, one year out of seven, and just trust God to provide for our needs, wouldn’t that be amazing? Of course, for most of us, our lives are too complicated for that. We have way too many on-going financial obligations, to just take a year off work. Some professions, like university professors, and actually pastors, have some provisions, for a sabbatical from work every seven years, but it’s rare.

But wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could live out this biblical imperative and just rest from our labors one year out of seven and really just trust God to meet our material needs? That’s an ideal that is a pretty far reach for most of us. But here is something we can do.

We can still find Sabbath days. We can plan a rhythm to our lives, so that our spiritual wells can be filled. We can take our days off from work. We can take our vacation days, and use them, to rest. Not just to do more work, to shop, or make more money, but to have fun and do whatever it takes to restore our souls.

My former brother in law Larry, dazzled the oil company he was working for many years ago, by creating a planned maintenance program for the drilling rigs, for American companies in other countries. Until Larry became the person in charge of maintenance this is what they would do - they would run the drilling rigs, some off-shore platforms, and some on land, in this other countries like Peru. When something would break, they would have to order a part, usually from another country, and it would take a few days to get the rig up and running. That was lost days of production and lost money. Larry came in and had one of those new-fangled computers. He set up a schedule for replacing parts before they wore out. Sort of like you do scheduled maintenance on your car with your brakes and your tires. So the rigs never broke down. The executives in the office thought Larry was a genius! (We love Larry, but he thinks of himself as a good old boy from Texas, who listens to wisdom).

This is what God wants us to do with our spiritual lives. Take care of ourselves before we fall apart. You see, when a tragedy comes, if our spiritual well is empty, then it is too late to try to fill it up. You can’t start praying, after your partner comes to you and says: “I want a divorce,” or after the doctor says: “You have cancer.” We have to have an on-going maintenance program for our souls, so that when the crisis comes, we are not on our last ounce of spiritual oxygen. When I came back from vacation this week, to face the fact that we don’t really have any musicians lined up for most of the rest of the summer, I took it in stride. I was feeling pretty run down before vacation, but I came back ready to change the world with our ministry at The Village. I have been calling musicians all week. Mary (Shapiro our friend from Washington, DC) even called me while I was on vacation and ASKED if she could come here and play!

From the very beginning, God created a world with the rhythm of Sabbath rest. Jesus modeled this rhythm in his life and work. There are so many stories of him taking a break from the crowd to go to the other side of the lake to rest and pray. There are also great stories of him sitting by the well to talk to a woman or going to the home of Mary and Martha for a visit, much like I visited my friends this summer. I imagine Jesus sitting and talking to a friend like he had all the time in the world, not in a rush like most of us are when we are in work mode, but more in a Sabbath vacation mode, just sitting and chatting, and lingering over a second cup of coffee. He didn’t have a wrist watch or a smart phone or Ipad with calendars and alarms.

Our Sabbath Summer here at The Village is an invitation to stop and take a breath. We have a retreat next Saturday which is an invitation to stop for a few hours, in Swan Creek, to catch some Glimpses of God. The world is full of opportunities for us to claim our Sabbath. I hope you will. Sabbath is God’s gift to us. I hope we will all find ways to receive this gift of Sabbath.

Come join us next Saturday (please sign up if you can by contacting the church) to get a little of this Sabbath rest. If not, think about joining us, or another faith community like ours, and learn how to get that peace and rejuvenation from God.

PUTTING TOXIC PEOPLE OUT by Crystal Goodnight and Kurt Young

2011-06-26T17:59:00.000-07:00

When it comes to training for athletic competition, the support of friends, family, etc. are one of the keys of success. Support on issues like healthy eating, exercise, etc. play a huge role.
Encouragement and support is key to building confidence and leveling off stress for athletes in competitions. It has been shown in studies that players improve their performance in measurable ways simply by having encouraging friends and family.

So why did we talk about that in worship today? This is a church right? The Village has a biking group, a healthy living group, a hiking group, etc? They talk about a balance between taking care of the physical and the spirit, have yoga and martial arts demonstrations in worship once in a blue moon, but this is about God right? Yes, yes it is.

Do you have anyone in your life who brings you down when you talk to them? Who make you want to throw up as soon as your done talking to them? The mere act of talking to them drains you of energy?

Crystal experienced that as she first started to feel the call to ministry. She had to clean up her life. No, She wasn’t much of a drinker, not into drugs, or other bad habits. But she had toxic people in her life. Those who would, instead of supporting her, were instead mocking her in her attempt to walk with God.

She prayed to have God show her the people who were doing this to her. God did and then she broke them down into lists of family, friends, neighbors & co-workers. She then prioritized them, deciding that ones would still be a part of her life. But what Crystal did do was to decide to not let them stop this walk. She had to decide what level of contact would they be allowed to have.

And then she called each of them. Her family, well she would still have them in her life, but those toxic family members were told they would not be allowed to run her life any more. Friends, co-workers & neighbors that were toxic were told I love you, but I am trying to walk closer to God, and I’m not going to be talking to you right now.

One of these folks, we’ll call her Jackie, really stood out. On receiving her call, she called Crystal the “B” word. Crystal thanked her for giving her confirmation and said she would pray for Jackie. Ten years later, some of these folks have called Crystal and thanked her for this. They re-examined their lives and changed, even Jackie.

In worship today we read Mark Chapter 5, Verses 35 to 43. Kurt used The Message Translation (mainly cause our usual bible site doesn’t use any other we do). The story goes as follows:

35While he was still talking, some people came from the leader's house and told him, "Your daughter is dead. Why bother the Teacher any more?"

36Jesus overheard what they were talking about and said to the leader, "Don't listen to them; just trust me."

37-40He permitted no one to go in with him except Peter, James, and John. They entered the leader's house and pushed their way through the gossips looking for a story and neighbors bringing in casseroles. Jesus was abrupt: "Why all this busybody grief and gossip? This child isn't dead; she's sleeping." Provoked to sarcasm, they told him he didn't know what he was talking about.

40-43But when he had sent them all out, he took the child's father and mother, along with his companions, and entered the child's room. He clasped the girl's hand and said, "Talitha koum," which means, "Little girl, get up." At that, she was up and walking around! This girl was twelve years of age. They, of course, were all beside themselves with joy. He gave them strict orders that no one was to know what had taken place in that room. Then he said, "Give her something to eat."

In this lesson from the Bible, Jesus got rid of the toxic people in the room. Some people just throw us off our game. Previously, Crystal was the pastor of Stryker UMC. Styker is where the NWO Regional Corrections Center is. One Sunday she had a man come up full of complaints about the church, about her hair that day, how her son left his bike outside the parsonage. Sometimes, you just have to put these people out of your life.

This does not mean you should throw all the people who say bad things to you, things you don’t want to hear. We need people in Christian love to tell us when we are messing up. But there is a difference between those who are there to help you, and those who just punch you in the stomach.

You know what that feels like, right? Getting the wind completely knocked of you. If you haven’t done it spiritually, you have to have that experience in the physical sense. Crystal told the story of getting the wind knocked out of her on the playground on a teeter totter. But Kurt decided his was even bigger in scale.

Kurt was a high school wrestler. In his senior year, he was wrestling in the Akron City Wrestling Tournament Semi-Finals. He was winning when his opponent lifted him overhead and then slammed him to the mat ala the WWE. Kurt’s Mom was many rows up in a crowded, loud gym and heard the whoosh of every bit of air leave Kurt’s body. Truly the wind knocked out of him.

At Age Twenty- One, Crystal discovered who she is, because of getting those toxic people out of her life. She, like us all are all God’s beloved children. Made in God’s image. Never let anyone tell you different. You are God’s, you are loved and never let anyone take the power to tell you that who you are less than that.

Do you need a place to remind you of that? There are faith communities like ours out there. If you are near the corner of Monroe & Central in Toledo (or soon in Maumee) and need a community like this, join us.

Sabbath Summer by Cheri Holdridge

2011-06-20T09:25:00.000-07:00

The flowers outside the front of The Village have died. Well, most of them. Not all. We planted a few flowers in some pots a few weeks ago, at the beginning of the Spring planting season. But the person who was going to water them, got sick and couldn’t do it. It happens. And her back-up person fell through. It happens. And so, most of the plants have died. And so this morning, our kids are planting some new flowers. They are reading the story of creation, and getting to have some fun digging in the dirt and being part of God’s creative work in the world. The plants died, because we simply did not have the people resources to water them, and give them some plant food. I learned in talking to the folks at Barrow’s Nursery yesterday, that those flowers like plant food every week or so. Wow! They need some attention to look beautiful and healthy!

Don’t we all? Don’t we all, need some care and attention to feel good and to look good, down to our very souls?

This is actually God’s design. We read about it in the very first chapter of the very first book in our collection of holy books called the Holy Bible, in the creation story in Genesis.

In Genesis, we read about God creating the world. Day by day, so the story goes, God created the heavens and the earth, the sea creatures, the plants, the birds of the air, and at the end of day one, two, three and so on, God pronounced it good. And on day seven, God rested.

And so God calls us to have a rhythm to our days as well: to work on some days, and to have a day of rest, a day for our souls to be fed. God calls us to have a rhythm so that our lives do not become dried out and weary like those dead plants outside. Instead, we find ways to feed our souls.

Now in some religious practices, this idea of Sabbath has been really structured with lots of rules about what you can and cannot do, and in some other practices, Sabbath simply means that we remember to slow down.

This summer, I am inviting us here at The Village to practice that second kind. Let’s have a Sabbath Summer.

Over the next few weeks in worship, we are going to have some fun, as we give ourselves an invitation to take a breath, and rest in God. After all, Sunday is our Sabbath. This is our day, to reconnect with God. This is our day to ask God to feed and water the dried out places in our lives.

One of the practices I have found most useful in my own spiritual life, is the prayer walk. Perhaps this is something you do already. But if not, I invite you to try it this summer. There are many variations. The prayer walk is a spiritual practice that has deepened my own connection to God over the last 5 or 6 years. You see, one interpretation of Sabbath, is that you set aside a whole day for God. But sadly, for some of us, that is just never going to happen. Another way to practice Sabbath is to think about it as a state of mind, a moment, a few minutes, a break in the day, when you pause to take a breath. It’s a time to remember that you belong to God and that when God created the world, God asked us to take a break now and then to STOP. And so a Prayer Walk is a great way to take a Sabbath break, anytime, anywhere, for any length of time.

I often take a Prayer Walk in the morning, after I get the kids off to school (and Kurt off to work). I might have a cup of coffee, sitting on my front porch. I might read one of the on-line devotionals that we have links to on our Village web site, or do a bit of journaling, or just sit and listen to God in some centering prayer, and then I take a walk. I look at the beauty of God in creation. I try not to think about the news of the day, or my to-do list. I just open myself to God. I just open my eyes to what God is showing me in creation. I just listen for what God has to say to my soul. I breathe deeply. I tend to stroll. It could be a brisk walk, for a bit of exercise, but this is not really a cardio work out, this is a soul work out.

I cannot tell you how much clearer my head, and my soul feel, when I start the day with one of these Sabbath walks. Now, there are other variations. I might also take a Prayer Walk when I am in turmoil over something and I just need to clear my mind and create space for God. Many times I take a Prayer Walk when I need direction and I just need to calm myself and breathe, (again, breathing is crucial). On these prayer walks, by the end, I often find that God has given me clarity for a decision I need to make.

But most of all, I connect with God. This is the rhythm of Sabbath. This is why God asks us to take a day for God. This is why we come to worship every week. This is why we take a break to pray every day.

Because, you see, the world pulls us away from God, away from the God of creation. And we are the only ones who can decide to pay attention to God, and center ourselves back on God on a regular basis. God can ask us to do this. God can do all sort of things to try to get our attention – create beauty in the world, give us gifts of wonderful blessings, but we have to pay attention, and remember these gifts come from God. We have to pause, to remember the source of beauty and blessing.

So, I invite us to practice Sabbath this summer. There is a wonderful book, I suggest to you as a resource if you really want to dig into this. It is called “Sabbath” by Wayne Muller. In my own spiritual life, Muller’s book has helped me dig into the gift of the rhythm of Sabbath. I am going to read this book again this summer. It has wonderful exercises we can do, like the Prayer Walk, that encourage us to experience Sabbath moments throughout our week.

I also invite you to participate in our Summer Spiritual Retreat with our Village Spiritual Directors, Sr. Sandy and Sr. Breta, on July 16 at Swan Creek.

Most of all I invite you to make space for God this summer. Don’t take a vacation from God. Take a vacation TO God. Come worship here with God. Take walks in this beautiful creation with God. Sit and pray with God. BE with God. Practice Sabbath moments. Breathe in God’s presence. This can be a wonderful summer for all of us. And at the end of it, we won’t be like the dried out plants in front of our building. We will be blossoming glorious flowering creations of God ready to change the world! May it be so!

“ON FIRE” by Cheri Holdridge (with an Assist by Kurt Young)

2011-06-12T08:23:00.000-07:00

Have you ever been stuck? Once I got stuck in the Detroit airport. And I was on my way home. I had already been on my trip. I actually caught an earlier flight from wherever I had been to Detroit. But my luggage did not. So I had to wait in Detroit for my bags to catch up with me. The airline would not pay to deliver my bag to Toledo because it was on the correct, original flight, you see. So I waited in the airport, tired, waiting for the flight to arrive. When my bag finally arrived, I got in my car, drove out of the parking garage, and then my credit card got stuck in the machine. I had to sit there and wait while a maintenance truck showed up with a guy with a key to get my card out of the machine. I was tired and I was stuck in the Detroit Airport. I just wanted to get home to see my husband, my kids, and to sleep in my own bed. But I was stuck. I was never so happy to be freed from the Detroit Metropolitan International Airport. Do you ever get stuck? And just want to be free?

Today is the day we in the Church of Jesus Christ call Pentecost. It is a day of getting “unstuck.” On this day, fifty days after Jesus’ had been crucified and rose from the dead, his disciples were left behind here on Earth, and they really did not know what to do without their leader. They didn’t know what to do. They were sitting in a room, moping around, waiting, and wondering how on earth they could lead this movement without Jesus. They had lost their momentum, their fire in the belly. They needed vision, they needed a plan, and they needed power to face the opposition in the world that had put Jesus to death. They loved God, but they were discouraged. They were stuck.

So, as this wonderful, powerful, mysterious story goes, God came to them – in the form of the Holy Spirit, some old school churches still call it the Holy Ghost. The people described it like a gale force wind that just blew the windows and doors all open. It was like fire that burned in their hearts. Do you know the feeling, when you are so full of passion and energy and NO ONE can stop you? That is how they felt. God filled them with power for the mission of sharing God’s love.

They were unstoppable. They had skills they had never had before. They all started preaching in all the languages of all the people from all the surrounding countries. There were visitors in Jerusalem from all these other countries, and these poor, uneducated disciples from Galilee started preaching in the languages of all these other places. It was surely a miracle!

We call this day, Pentecost, the birthday of the church. It’s the day the first followers of Jesus, got unstuck. They were on fire with the ministry of telling other people how their lives could be changed by the love of God.

Well, do you remember our picture from last week? It was someone trying to start a fire. It was a metaphor for the Spirit of God inside each of us, a tiny ember that begins to grow. When we invite the Spirit of Pentecost to come into us, then that tiny fire has the ability to grow and it can eventually blaze like a roaring fire inside of us. That empowers us to go and change the world.

So, what does this mean for us, as a young church, The Village Church? In many ways we are still like that tiny ember from last week. God is still stoking the flame. We have already had some moments of blazing, haven’t we? Do you remember the day we baptized Jesse, Sarah, Vanetta and Faith, and some others? What a great day of claiming folks as part of the family of God! As tiny as our ember is, remember the day we had 100 people out front, for a rally against bullying? It was a powerful day! With 50 or so people in worship, less than a week to plan, and Facebook, we got a 100 people outside to fight injustice. We certainly felt God giving us strength to work for justice in our world on that day. And remember when we raised close to $4000 for our Christmas offering to help people living with AIDS. Surely the power of the Holy Spirit was with us in that amazing act of generosity!

But sometimes in the last few months, I think it would be safe to say, our flame has been a little weak. It happens. No fire can be roaring every day. This past week Kurt, Pat, Cindy, Crystal and I (and our kids) were up at Lakeside at the West Ohio Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. Our brothers and sisters in the UCC were in Tiffin at the same time. The theme for the week was “Unleashing New Life: New Places, New People, Renewed Churches.” Kurt got to speak to the laity session on Sunday night and talk about The Village and he did a great job (Kurt was fired up by over a thousand people repeating the Village Statement and cheering us on). There were some workshops about church planting. I must confess, I was a bit discouraged as the Conference approached. They asked some pastors of some bigger church plants to lead a workshop and tell their story. Sometimes, I get find myself comparing The Village to other church plants and I feel that, because we don’t have as many people as some others, that maybe I’m not working hard enough or I’m doing something wrong.

As I heard some of the pastors of these other churches talk, thought, I was reminded of what my coach, and other trusted colleagues have told me over and over again, “it’s apples and oranges.” Every church plant is different. We have our own unique challenges. And as I kept telling our story to people who asked, everyone was so thrilled to hear of how we are doing so far. Our friend, who is pastor of the biggest church of our conference, and the head of our delegation to our big, nationwide, General Conference, thanks God for us and is praying for us every day. And they just wanted me to tell you, that we need to hang in there, and have faith, because the ministry we are doing here is so important.

It is hard work to plant an urban church, reaching out to progressive minded folks who are disillusioned with the Church. It is hard work to plant a church in a city like Toledo where the economy is so bad and where people are so discouraged. This is WHY our work is so important. This is WHY God put us here for such a time as this. People in this city NEED HOPE. We need God, don’t we? We need the love of God, and the power of God, and the promise that God can give us new life.

So my friends, on this day of Pentecost, we celebrate the Spirit of God coming to us and filling us with power and getting us unstuck. I have an invitation for you. Will you join me in prayer? Will you pray for our Village Church? Every day? Will you pray for God’s Spirit to infuse us with new life?

God has already blessed us so much already. We have an amazing community here. Just look around. Think of the people here and what they mean to you. Think of the people who are not here today. Give someone a call today and tell them you missed them. It will matter to them, trust me.

And then, pray for God’s vision for next steps at our Village. One of the ideas I have been pondering, is a way to expand the use of our space here on Monroe Street to open it up to our community. One idea that Kurt and I keep coming back to is developing our place as a music and arts venue, especially for young musicians and artists. Since the coffee house down the street, The Ground Level, closed last year, there has been a need in Toledo for an alcohol free venue in town for musicians to perform. A few of us have been talking about how we might use The Village for such a space, a music & arts venue for Toledo. If you think God might be speaking to you about this idea, would you let me know? Contact Cheri via email at cheri@villageohio.org to talk about this idea.

Over the next few weeks, we are going to focus our worship on prayer, and listening to God. And Sr. Breta and Sr. Sandy are going to lead a prayer retreat in July, and I hope you will attend. It will continue to center yourself personally and prepare to be a part of what God has next for you and for your community. In my own life, when I feel stuck, like I did in that parking lot at the Detroit airport, I always have to call upon God in prayer to help me get unstuck. I need space in my life to breathe and listen to God.

The Day of Pentecost is about an amazing time when God’s people opened themselves to God, and God came to them. Join me in prayer today, and in the days to come. Let us pray for the power of God to come upon the Village Church, and to take those embers we have for ministry and let them blaze into a roaring fire. I pray that God will use us to bring hope to our city. Will you pray with me?

Starting a Fire and Turning the World Rightside Up by Cheri Holdrdige (with the usual assist by Kurt Young)

2011-06-05T09:06:00.000-07:00

I get text messages from the local TV station on my cell phone. They are called “breaking news” and sometimes they are what I would call important: a local hostage situation, the capture of bin Laden, or even one telling me that I-75 is closed because the President is in Toledo.

On Monday, I got one of those that personally did not mean much to me, but I knew would have significance to my community. I am a pastor, so I like to have the pulse of my congregation and my city. I like to stay in touch with what’s going on. (That’s why I read People magazine every chance I get. I like to keep up on the important stuff J). This was the message on Monday: “Ohio State Football Coach Jim Tressel resigns.”

Now, I will confess, I did not know entirely the ins and outs of this story, but I have lived in Toledo long enough, here on the border, with the Ohio State Michigan Football rivalry and the Ohio State football obsession, to know, that this was news of EPIC proportion.

Some of you know the rest of the story, but for those who don’t, here are a few highlights: he had an amazing winning record over 10 seasons, a national championship, and a few wins over that school to the north that shall not be named out of respect for my church members who are Michigan fans (oops).

But this is what brought the man down. He knew that six of his players, including star quarterback Terrelle Pryor, had violated rules of the National Collegiate Athletic Association when they traded memorabilia at a Columbus tattoo parlor. Not only did the coach fail to report the infractions. Apparently there is a time every year when a coach has to sign an NCAA compliance form stating that he knew of no player violations. He signed the form, which was a lie. Tressel, a respected coach, who by the way, is a Christian who often speaks in public about his faith, lied.

Oh, and people have been talking about it – of that you can be sure. I heard about it on the side lines at my son’s baseball game this week. Should he have lost his job or not? That is the question. Because, of course, we know he’s not the only coach whose players get perks for playing. He’s not the only coach who crosses his fingers behind his back and signs the NCAAform, right? Come on, this is football!!

I grew up in Texas, with Texas high school football. I was a band geek and even I understand the pressures of a winning football team.

But here we have a man who was a role model to young people. He spoke for example at a Fellowship of Christian Athletes event in Perrysburg a few years ago. He was a Christian role model. And now we find out he had systematically lied and covered up, to keep his athletes protected and to keep his winning record.

Now of course, he is not the only one involved. What about the adults who offer these gifts to athletes? What about parents and other school officials who see this happening do nothing? The NCAA even postponed a punishment against some of these athletes for a similar infraction last year so they could play in the Sugar Bowl. I could go on and on.

I don’t know Jim Tressel, and I do not mean to attack him personally. He is part of a system. I can only imagine what sort of process of soul searching, self-reflection he might be going through right now.

Here at The Village we say “there are no perfect people” and so Mr. Tressel is simply one more example of that. God has already forgiven Jim Tressel, just as God forgives us when we make mistakes, little ones, and huge ones.

But this is what I hope we can learn from this story. Jesus came to turn the world upside down, or right side up whichever way you want to think of it. Jesus came to give us the power to do the right thing – even when the systems of the world – and the ways we have always done things – are not right. We all know there are traditions out there, systems, “good old boy networks” and such that are not right. They are downright DISHONEST. And yet we all just go with the flow and let them happen. We don’t want to be the one who stands up and says “ENOUGH.” Because we are afraid.

Listen again to these words from the scripture for today (Luke 12:49-56 (Message) for those following along at home).

Jesus said: 49-53"I've come to start a fire on this earth—how I wish it were blazing right now! I've come to change everything, turn everything rightside up—how I long for it to be finished! Do you think I came to smooth things over and make everything nice?

Jesus came to start a fire! That fire is us. This fire of the Spirit of Jesus living in us, gives us the power to do the right thing in those tough situations in our world. They might be situations a work, in our neighborhood, or even in our family. If nothing else, that fire of the Spirit living in us gives us the power to be honest.

Can you imagine what this world would be like, if we would all just be more honest with one another? Think about it. Just pause for a moment to consider how much better our world would be, if we would all just follow the rules that we have all agreed, for the most part, are good to live by. Respect one another. Don’t take what is not yours. Don’t lie.

Jesus said he came to turn the world rightside up. That’s because the world was – and still is – so messed up. But he goes on to say some things that have always been really hard for me to hear. When I was younger, this was a part of scripture that I just wanted to skip over this scripture because it made absolutely no sense to me.

Jesus says: Do you think I came to smooth things over and make everything nice?

Not so. I've come to disrupt and confront! From now on, when you find five in a house, it will be—

Three against two,

and two against three;

Father against son,

and son against father;

Mother against daughter,

and daughter against mother;

Mother-in-law against bride,

and bride against mother-in-law."

What? Those are really hard words. It is counter-intuitive for us to think that Jesus would turn family members against one another. But here is what he is saying. He wants us to choose his way: the way of honesty and respect and doing the right thing. And if our family members won’t go there with us, then we need to follow Jesus and leave them behind. It’s hard, but we have to choose the way of life. And honestly, they will see the fullness of life in us. We can hope and pray that eventually they will choose this life with Jesus too.

But we have all seen what it is to live that other way – trying to live without Jesus – and to live by the values of the world. It does not work. It does not bring life – it brings death.

Trying to go for the win, at any cost, did not work out so well for Jim Tressel and his players in the end. Finally, his career ended abruptly, in an embarrassing scandal. I am glad he has faith in Jesus and I hope and pray he will find his way to a new life in Jesus, because we all deserve a second chance (and a third, and fourth, and whatever it takes).

So what does this scripture mean for us today? I believe we all have situations where we need to follow Jesus by creating some disruption in the status quo. We need to set things on fire. We need to be Jesus’ instruments to turn things right side up. Maybe there is a situation where we need to speak the truth where no one else will. Maybe there is a place where we need to be more honest and we have not been. Or maybe there is a cause that is burning in our hearts that we have not acted upon because we have felt powerless.

But here is Jesus’ message to us, we have the power. We have the fire. We have the Spirit of God living in us. And that powerful Spirit of God is limitless.

In response to the message today, We gave each other a few minutes to talk in small groups, about how you might be feeling called to respond. Sometimes it’s good to test out our thoughts and feelings by saying them out loud to some other people.

Listen once again to these words from Jesus:

"I've come to start a fire on this earth—how I wish it were blazing right now! I've come to change everything, turn everything rightside up—how I long for it to be finished!

Now, at home, you’re not going to have a small group. So think about this for a few minutes. What situation in your world is Jesus calling you to turn rightside up? And what might that look like?

Want a place where you can explore this? We’re at the corner of Central & Monroe Sunday mornings and out in the world the rest of the week. We’ve got lots of chances to help change the world, and we’re always looking for creating more, or connecting people with more chances to do so.

ALL MEANS ALL by Cheri Holdridge (with an assist by Kurt Young)

2011-05-29T09:02:00.001-07:00

Friday I was at Jamie’s school, at the end of the year “Special Friends Day” program & lunch, talking to a mom I had not really talked with much before. I told her I am a pastor. She said, “Oh, I heard you were a lobbyist.” I laughed. “Well, the last couple of weeks I guess I have been.”

I’ve been what you call a citizen lobbyist. Week before last I went to Columbus for Equality Ohio’s Lobby Day. And this past week, I joined 275 clergy from about 30 faiths in 48 states. We represented the Human Rights Campaign to lobby the United States Senate and House of Representatives. We worked on three main issues: Anti-bullying, or Safe Schools legislation; Employment and Housing non-discrimination, and Respect for Marriage which is the legislation to repeal DOMA (the Defense of Marriage Act, a federal law that defines marriage as between one man and one woman).

Now, of course, you know that I am not a professional lobbyist. I am your pastor. I am trained in theology and pastoral care. I have experience in communications, both public speaking and the written word, but I am not a politician, nor am I a political operative (that’s Kurt by degree & experience).

However, I am a citizen. I am a community leader. And I was reminded while I was in D. C. that the House of Representatives is called The People’s House. We live in a democracy. And so regular citizens, like you and me, when we know about a particular situation, and when we are passionate about it, are given the opportunity to go speak to the leaders of our government. I have written letters to Congress before. I have called them on the phone and let my opinions be noted as “for” or “against” something. But this time, I went there. I looked them in the eye. I told some of YOUR stories, OUR stories, to put a face on what some of them would prefer to keep at arm’s length.

Why did I do that? I went to Columbus and to Washington, for one reason: because I am a follower of Jesus. And Jesus calls us to speak the truth to the principalities and powers, even when they do not like it.

Now some of the people I visited are with us. They vote with us every time. Those visits were easy. We just said “thank you for your support.” Then we talked about how we can work together. It would have been really easy just to go visit the people who are our supporters.

But I went to see some of our adversaries too, some BIG adversaries. Do you know about the line of succession? You know, first, there is the President, then the Vice President, and third in line is the Speaker of the House of Representatives? Well he happens to be from Ohio. His name is John Boehner. He has not been particularly friendly to legislation to protect the rights of lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender persons. So I had the privilege, along with two other clergy and a staffer from the Human Rights Campaign, of going to talk with one of Speaker Boehner’s Legislative staff on Tuesday.

The Congress was in session that day, so most all of our meetings were with staff rather than the actual legislators, but that is okay. It is to be expected. That is the way this is done, but the legislators depend upon their staff to keep them informed about what is important to the citizens they serve.

So here is how that conversation went down. We told some stories to “Darryl.” There was an article in the Blade about me going to do this. Thanks to that my friend called me to tell me about her son. He’s the same age as Jamie: 8 years old, 2nd grade. He goes to school in Toledo and gets called “gay.” He cries for 2-3 hours when he gets home. He’s in therapy. Next year he will go to another school because he has been so traumatized. When his mom heard I was going to DC she called to tell me his story and to thank me. But the truth is, just sending him to another school is not the answer. He will never be the same due to an event in THE SECOND GRADE.

We have to change the culture, where kids (and their parents) think it’s ok, and think it’s funny to call someone gay. And our lawmakers have to change the laws.

We saw this in the 60’s during the Civil rights movement about race. It took people working from all angles. Clergy and community leaders worked to change the culture. Regular Citizens worked too.

At the same time, the law makers changed the laws. And over time, it became no longer socially acceptable, for the most part, to treat black people, or people of any race, as second class citizens. We don’t tolerate racism in this country. We have legal protections against racial discrimination. But there was a time when we did not have it. And citizen lobbyists had to go to Washington, to speak the truth to power.

We told other stories in the last couple of weeks. About a transgender man who can’t rent an apt, even though he has a job and pays his taxes, because when they do a background check they find out he used to be female. About a mother whose 4th grade children, twins, had their teacher ripped out of the classroom, there one day, gone the next, because he was outed as gay on the 6 o’clock news. Never mind he was one of the best teachers in the school district.

So we told these stories to the staffer of the Speaker of the House. He listened intently. And then he told us, ever so politely, that as compelling as our stories might be, that legislation to provide safe schools, and prevent bullying, and to protect people from losing their jobs and their housing are not a priority for his boss.

He explained that they are very busy over there in Washington. They have to prioritize what they can spend their time on. They were elected on a platform of particular things that said they would accomplish. The main one was the budget, and it is taking so much time they just won’t have enough time for our legislation.

I said, “So what you are saying is these things just aren’t important ENOUGH?” He looked at me kind of sheepishly, smiled and said, “I knew you were going to come back to that,” and basically said that was the situation. Sigh.

It took awhile for the gravity of this conversation to sink in. Because you see, he was polite. He was respectful. He listened to us. He said they just don’t have time to deal with all the legislation. But by the time I slept on it, and flew home, but by the time I hit the Detroit airport, I was really angry.

Because you see, I realized, that the Speaker’s staffer was trying to hide behind the budget, in order to say they don’t have time to deal with the concerns of the people who fund that budget and whose lives are affected by that budget.

But we are all citizens, and so are all supposed to have a voice. That is why I went to Washington, and that is why I will continue to speak out. But I want to tell you why there is such clarity in my voice, and why the passion runs so deep when I talk about these things.

I saw my friend Mary while I was in DC. She used to live behind us here in Toledo, and now she lives in Maryland, outside DC. She drove me to the airport on Wednesday morning. She asked me how I became so passionate about speaking out for the rights of LGBT persons. She said, “Is it because you have a sister who is a lesbian?”

“No,” I said, “If you’ll remember, my sister did not come out, until long after I got involved in this work.” It’s because I am a follower of Jesus, and Jesus always takes the side of the oppressed. EVERY TIME.

Over and over and over and over again in scripture – just read it. Jesus goes out of his way to find the people that are being left out, pushed aside, overlooked, and beaten down. He lifts them up. He looks them in the eye. He treats them with dignity. He demands that the rest of the world treat them with respect EVERY TIME, HE DEMANDS.

If we are going to follow Jesus, then this is what we have to do to. EVERY TIME. All means all. “Whoever is on the outside,” Jesus says, “Then draw the circle wider.”

This is what Jesus says to do: "The next time you put on a dinner, don't just invite your friends and family and rich neighbors, the kind of people who will return the favor. Invite some people who never get invited out, the misfits from the wrong side of the tracks. You'll be—and experience—a blessing. They won't be able to return the favor, but the favor will be returned—oh, how it will be returned!—at the resurrection of God's people." (Luke 14:12-14)

All means all. Say it with me, “ALL MEANS ALL”. Here at The Village – this is our calling – to reach out to the people that Jesus calls us to include – whoever it is. There are all kinds of misfits out there (and in here) – depressed people, poor people, people with kids whose lives are messed up, rich people who are consumed with their stuff, hateful people who have no friends and who want to change – but no one will give them another chance. Just think of all the ways people have messed up their lives. Just think of all the ways we draw lines to exclude people in our world. Jesus says: there are NO LINES. ALL MEANS ALL!

So, as followers of Jesus, we are called to stand up for the outcast. When we are given the chance we need to speak the truth to power. But we can also be like Jesus, all by ourselves every day. That is the challenge of our scripture for today. Who do you know who is left out? What can you do to bring that person inside this circle? or to extend this circle to include that person? We are followers of Jesus and followers of Jesus change the world – one person at a time.

I want us to be really concrete as we think about this today. Who do you know who needs the love of Jesus? Look at that person’s face in your mind right now. What can you do to extend the love of Jesus to that person this week? Maybe you have invited them to church many times and they have not said yes yet. Maybe inviting them to our concert at the Old West End Festival is just the thing. Who can turn down free food and good music? Maybe you want to do something to change the world but you don’t know what to do. Come down with me to St. Mark’s church this afternoon to serve food to hungry people. That is one good place to start. Just sitting down with someone, eating a meal you served them, looking them in the eye, and treating someone who had to come to a free meal at a church, can change the world.

It is just that simple. We follow Jesus, when we pay attention to the people around us who are hurting and when we DO SOMETHING. So let’s DO SOMETHING. Let’s stand up for the oppressed, and let’s love the outcast. Just as Jesus loves us! Amen.

If you want to be a part of a community where ALL MEANS ALL, look, there are many out there. But if you can’t find one closer, we’re at the corner of Monroe & Central in Toledo and out in our community the rest of the week. Come, help us draw a bigger circle. There is always room in our circle to make it bigger.