Church of the Wayfarer

The Journey to Hope: 1. Traveling with Children, February 26, 2012

2012-02-28T13:22:00.000-08:00

The Journey to Hope: 1. Traveling with Children
The Church of the Wayfarer, Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA
Dr. Norm Mowery, Pastor
First Sunday in Lent, February 26, 2012
Mark 10:13-16Today we start a journey…… together.

Welcome aboard!

***Video

It is a journey from hurt to hope—
from the cross to the resurrection.

The journey will continue for six weeks through the Lenten Season till we experience the Easter event.

My messages during our journey will explore:
Packing for the journey
Traveling as a group
What to do when we are tired
How to pay for the journey, and
Dealing with hardships.

Along the way we will discover that Hope can be found even as we encounter some of life’s most difficult circumstances.

What emotions do you feel just before going on a journey? I can remember that as a child I couldn’t sleep because I was so excited the night before we took our school trips to Hershey Park.

When you’re going on a journey, what’s the one thing you won’t leave home without?

Think about the trips you’ve taken over your lifetime. Who was with you for the ride? Who is on this journey with you?

How can people encourage or discourage you when the going gets tough?
Those with whom we travel on life’s journey can make good times better and hard times less difficult. Traveling with others can get rather interesting at times. Communication is important as we travel together.

Some years ago a couple in the church I was serving asked if I would council with them about a marriage problem. I said, “Sure.” And I suggested that my wife, Linda, join us so the four of us went to a lake and had a picnic together.

The problem that the other couple was facing was that the husband was angry at the wife because while he was driving she would offer suggestions to help him find a parking space. He took that as criticism and he said that it made him angry.

That is when I made the biggest mistake in my married life because I said, “O, Linda does that!”

Well it wasn’t long till the picnic was over and for a while I thought that Linda and I needed the counseling!

Have you traveled with someone who tried to keep you from getting to where you knew you belong and as a result you stopped before you reached your goal?

Remember the road trips where you or your children asked, “Are we there yet?”

As we start the Lenten Journey lets all begin the journey as children. Jesus says that children are welcome. We begin this journey with a child’s
Imagination
Trust
Curiosity, and
Humility.

In our scripture today Jesus reminds us that children are with us on our journey to hope.

It is as though he says, “Remember the children.” Don’t plan too many adult activities on the trip. It is not unlike a parent saying, “Be careful what you say because children are present.”

**As Art Linkletter used to say, "Kids say the darndest things." But in the passage today, it is Jesus who says the most amazing things.

Yes, let’s all be children as we journey together. Children are not hesitant to hold hands and help each other. Children’s needs are the same as ours.

If a child lives with criticism,
he learns to condemn.
If a child lives with hostility,
she learns to fight.
If a child lives with ridicule,
he learns to be shy.
If a child lives with shame,
she learns to feel guilty.
If a child lives with tolerance,
he learns to be patient.
If a child lives with encouragement,
she learns confidence.
If a child lives with praise,
he learns to appreciate.
If a child lives with fairness,
she learns justice.
If a child lives with security,
he learns to have faith.
If a child lives with approval,
she learns to like herself.
If a child lives with acceptance and friendship,
he learns to find love in the world.

**Children and childhood is a distinctively Christian concept that must be protected and cherished. Jesus elevated children to their rightful place in the family.

The people brought children to Jesus, hoping he might touch them. The disciples shooed them off. But Jesus was irate and let them know it:
"Don't push these children away.
Don't ever get between them and me.
These children are at the very center of life in the kingdom.”

Jesus was clear. “Unless you accept God's kingdom in the simplicity of a child, you'll never get in." Then, gathering the children up in his arms, he laid his hands of blessing on them and said:

**"Let the children come to me;
do not hinder them,
for to such belongs the kingdom of God.”

We are told that parents brought their little ones to Jesus. In all of this we see a beautiful picture of Jesus ministering not only to the children but also to the parents, for they were lined up to get their blessing from Jesus.

Today we begin our Confirmation Classes. This is one of the most important things that a church can provide. I invite you to pray for the young people who attend today.

**We must remove all hindrances to children knowing the love of Jesus Christ.

I can picture Jesus listening to children. Yesterday, Ted Getschman, who is now in Japan but was one of our ushers last year sent me a most helpful email saying that he thought that a good theme for the church would be, “I’m listening!”

I love it. I’m listening.

On Friday Stephanie Brown shared ideas as to how we can make our worship more child friendly and inviting to young families. Let’s do it! It will take us all.

When our son, Nathan, was a baby we had a baby doctor who kept in his office a massive oversized frame containing snapshots all of the children he doctored. He was personally invested in the lives of babies and children.

We can imagine Jesus loving the children in the same way.

I can imagine this church loving children in this way.

**We do not make the rules about who comes to Jesus; Jesus does. Jesus invited all who had a childlike faith. Jesus invited questions.

Not long ago I was watching a program in which university researchers tagged a baby whale in Monterey. For years they watched as that baby grew. She went all over the world, but at the right time in her life she returned home.

The touch of God on a child's life early on is like a divine tag in which Jesus says, “This child is mine.” She may wander all over the world, but she has the tag, the touch of Christ on her life.

I find that there is a rather normal pattern where young people may wonder away from the church for a time but when they have their first child they will often come back home to the church. When they do will we be here to welcome them? Will we accept them as they are?

Proverbs says,
**Train up a child in the way he should go;even when he is old he will not depart from it.

Last Sunday Linda and I went to Lodi to have dinner with our children and then we got a motel room for the night. We had a slumber party with our 5 year old and 3 year old granddaughters along with our dog Pixie. We had a great time till two in the morning when our five year old turned on the TV really loud.

Nana and I turned it off but Emma was not very happy about that. In fact she was totally unhappy and cried and screamed.

It was a test!

Grandpa and Nana did not give in. The TV stayed off. And we listened to the screaming for what seemed an eternity. Traveling with children can get interesting at times!

In this passage, like the one before, Jesus is taking a stand for the least and last in society.

It is one singular aspect of children that Jesus is pointing to as necessary to come into His kingdom. The key must be called helpless dependency. There is no other way to get into the kingdom of God.

Rembrandt, the great Dutch artist, would paint himself into his paintings of biblical themes in order to show that he, too, needed Christ.

In a similar way, we must paint ourselves into the biblical painting of "Children in the Arms of a Loving God."

This passage says that until we see ourselves as children being brought to Jesus we will not be ready to bring others to Him.

We will only fully understand the beauty of this passage if we remember when it happened. We remember that Jesus was on the way to the Cross—and he knows it.

It was at such a time as that that he had time for the children!

Do you remember the Robert Fulghum book, All I ever Really Needed to Know I learned in Kindergarten? He says,
“Most of what I really need to know
about how to live,
and what to do,
and how to be,
I learned in kindergarten.”
Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain,
but there in the sandbox at the nursery school.”
He concludes:
“And it is still true,
No matter how old you are,
when you go out into the world,
It is best to hold hands and stick together.”
During this Lenten Season let’s hold hands and stick together!

**Door Slide

Open the door. The journey begins.

To close the message today I would like for you to stand because I would like to bless you as you begin the journey.
“The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face to shine upon you,
and be gracious to you;
the Lord lift up his countenance upon you,
and give you peace.”

I Want to Be Just Like You; February 19, 2012

2012-02-21T13:27:00.000-08:00

“I Want to be Just Like You”
The Church of the Wayfarer
Dr. Norm Mowery, Pastor
February 19, 2012
2 Kings 2:1-12

A friend of mine told me the following story.

He said that on his first Sunday at a new church he decided he would go to the main entrance, to the front steps of a large older downtown church, to greet people on their way in knowing that they would not know that he was their new pastor.
As he stood there he noticed an elderly woman climbing the stairs to go into the church. So he took her arm and helped her up the stairs. When they finally got to the top of the stairs, she collected her breath, straightened herself up a bit, and adjusted the tilt in her hat with her white- gloved hands.

“Thank you,” she said. “Could you tell me who’s preaching here this morning?” “Why your new pastor is preaching here this morning,” he said. Whereupon, the elderly lady looked around and said, “Thank you. Could you please help me back down the stairs?”

Being a pastor does have its interesting moments!

Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
These are the first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures known as the ‘Books of Moses’. They are the books of the Law. In them we have Moses and the Ten Commandments.

In these books we also have the transfiguration of Moses in that after he received the Ten Commandments he entered God’s very presence.

After the five books of Moses we have the twelve History Books including:
Joshua
Judges
Ruth
First and Second Samuel
And, First and Second Kings

In Second Kings we meet the great prophet Elijah and we see how he, too, was taken into God’s presence.

Do you get the picture? Elijah did not die. He was taken up into heaven with a chariot and horses of fire! Wow! What a way to go!

The interesting thing for me is that everyone knew that it was going to happen! Listen to the story:

**Scene 1
“Just before God took Elijah to heaven in a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on a walk out of Gilgal. Elijah said the Elisha, “Stay here. God has sent me on an errand to Bethel.”
Elisha said, “Not on your life! I’m not letting you out of my sight!” So they both went to Bethel.”
The guild of prophets at Bethel met Elisa and said, “Did you know that God is going to take your master away from you today?”
“Yes,” he said, “I know it. But keep it quiet.”

Isn’t that fun? Everyone knew that Elijah was going to get a special ride to heaven in what some have theorized to be a UFO!

As I was working in my office yesterday Carl Iverson called to say that my sermon might be better if I stopped what I was doing and watched some of the Whitney Houston funeral. So, I took a break from what I was doing and I’m glad I did.

When the young woman Alicia Keys, a friend of Whitney’s, sang about being, “behind a closed door with no key” and prayed that God would “send me an angel” my eyes began to water.

The words of her song say, “It’s a long road to travel” and “It’s a long, long way to heaven, but I got to get there.” Isn’t that so true? That is the human struggle.

Her song took me to heaven for a few moments just as Whitney Houston did when she sang the Nation Anthem many years ago.

It is a long way to heaven but Elijah was prepared to go there in an unusual way.

These two Prophets—Moses and Elijah—are important not just because they experienced God’s presence but because they were there when Jesus was surrounded by God’s presence at what we call the Transfiguration of our Lord.

Let’s take a closer at this great celebrity of the Bible—Elijah.

We meet the great prophet Elijah in the books of First and Second Kings. These books of the Bible are tucked away in the middle of the Hebrew Scriptures that many of us call the Old Testament.

First Kings which spans a period of 400 years tells about Israel’s golden age under King Solomon following King David when there is peace and security. We see here Solomon’s grandeur, wealth, wisdom and fame.

However, Solomon’s end is most pitiful. And the kingdom was divided.

Second Kings spans the next 400 years and tells of the divided kingdoms spiral to destruction. In this book they continue their political and moral decline. They are oppressed by their enemies.

Here we have a premier witness to the sovereignty of God carried out among some of the most unlikely and uncooperative people who have ever lived.

The verdict of the kings is sadly repetitive: “They did evil in the eyes of the Lord.”

**Thus, the Books of the Kings are a relentless exposition of failure.

**Enter Elijah and Elisha.

Elijah is the elder statesman known even today as the greatest prophet of Israel. In the history of Israel, Elijah’s prophetic ministry sets the standard for all prophets who would come after him.

Even Jesus was compared to him.

The Prophet Elijah is the major player of the Old Testament narrative. So familiar was Elijah to the people of Israel that, generations after his ministry, the disciples of Jesus recognized him alongside Moses and Jesus at the transfiguration.
Even so, Elijah, like most famous people, had his down moments. When threatened by Ahab’s murderous wife Jezebel, Elijah headed for the hills in fear, pouting under a tree. Regardless of his shortcomings, however, Elijah’s ministry was conducted boldly and passionately.

Elijah wouldn’t leave this earthly world in the normal way, with a widely attended funeral like Whitney Houston did yesterday, but instead would go out in Hollywood style. He was ready to be take a ride in a chariot of fire.

**PICTURE—I took this at Carmel Point this week. I can just see the Chariot of Fire with Elijah going up into Heaven.

**Let’s sing about it—I’ll Fly Away
**Scene 2 The story picks up with Elijah trailing his apprentice Elisha behind him as he travels to Bethel and Jericho. We see that Elisha is ever faithful to his mentor, Elijah.

Here’s the Biblical account:
“Meanwhile, fifty men from the guild of prophets gathered some distance away while the two of them stood at the Jordan.”
“Elijah took his cloak, rolled it up, and hit the water with it. The river divided and he two men walked through on dry land.”

Note that Elijah parts the waters of the Jordan with his rolled up outer garment— an apparent sequel to Moses doing the same thing with his staff at the Red Sea.

When they reached the other side, Elijah said to Elisha, “What can I do for you before I’m taken from you? Ask anything.”
Elisha said, “Your life repeated in my life. I want to be a holy man just like you.”
“That’s a hard one!” said Elijah. “But if you’re watching when I’m taken from you, you’ll get what you’ve asked for. But only if you’re watching.”
“And so it happened. They were walking along and talking. Suddenly a chariot and horses of fire came between them and Elijah went up in a whirlwind to heaven.”
Elisha saw it all and shouted, “My father, my father!”

**Note that Elijah says to Elisha, “Tell me what I may do for you before I am taken from you.”

Elisha could have asked for anything.

**His response is powerful—
he’s not asking for fame,
riches or reward,
just, “I want to be just like you!”
Elisha wants to be like Elijah and then some! The ensuing power of the chariot and horses of fire that pick Elijah up into the whirlwind is a stunning vision.

**Elijah gets a personal chauffeur into God’s presence. The real power here, though, is in what happens next. Elisha mourns the departure of his teacher, but then “picked up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan”.
He didn’t want bling;
he wanted blessing,
and he got what he asked for.
Not fame and fortune,
but the ability to move God’s agenda forward in the spirit of Elijah.
Most of us who have come to faith do so because of the investment and mentoring of others who have gone before us.
Like Moses, Elijah's life was a study in contrasts.
Both prophets emerged from the desert.
Both performed miraculous feats of power.
Both prophets worked to train their replacements.
Moses instructed Joshua,
and Elijah, prepared Elisha to take up his mantle. There are two other thing about them.

**1. They were both Flawed. Fortunately, God does not seek the flawless when looking for those to be in service. Being flawed and having shortcomings and weaknesses does not mean God's going to pass over and look for someone else to do God's work in the world. **2. They were both Fearful. Elijah was a bit of a curmudgeon, which means he was like so many of us who swing between the poles of victory and defeat or contentment and crisis, on a regular basis.
Remember, Moses and Elijah both appeared with Jesus above the disciples at the Transfiguration, which signaled to the disciples that death wasn't the end.

Talking about heaven can be confusing. “How’s your wife?” the man asked his neighbor, whom he hadn’t seen in years. “She’s in heaven,” replied the friend. “Oh, I’m sorry.” Then he realized that was not the thing to say, so he added, “I mean, I’m glad.” And that was even worse.
He finally came out with, “Well, I’m surprised.”
When God asks us, "What do you want me to do for you," you can have confidence that God will deliver on his promises.

How does one pass on the essentials of faith and service?
How does one receive what others have to pass on?
Who are you mentoring in the faith?

**Will people say of you, “I want to be just like you?”

On the Mark: 5. Moved, February 12, 2012

2012-02-13T13:32:00.000-08:00

On the Mark: 5. Moved
The Church of the Wayfarer
Dr. Norm Mowery, Pastor
February 12, 2012
Mark 1: 40-45

This morning I want to talk about an old fashioned word. It is a word we don’t hear very often in church anymore. But, it is a very important word.

It is the word conversion.
Conversion involves change.
Change is very much a part of the teachings of Jesus and the experience of the Christian life.

Change is difficult.

I’ve said many times that the only person who likes change is a baby with a wet diaper.

Change is inevitable if we are going to grow as a Christian.

In the Bible, the Hebrew word for conversion is shub—s-h-u-b, which means “to turn” or “to return,” and the Greek word is metanoia, which means “to turn around.”

In the Christian faith a U-turn is okay! Actually it is a must!

In the case of the man that Jesus healed in our scripture this morning,
there was clearly a return,
in that he could now go back to his family and community,
but there was also a turning around.

To be converted means to have the direction of one’s life shifted,
so that it no longer points toward self,
but points toward God.

And that’s exactly what happened to this man. He stepped off the “woe is me” path and onto the “Jesus is great” road. The conversions we usually hear about are often accompanied, at least initially, by excitement, zest, intensity, an eagerness to tell others about it.

My older brother Chuck experienced a conversion when he was about seventeen years old. His life was changed. I will never forget the morning that he came into to barn where I was milking the cows and said, “Normie (that is what I was called then—but please, don’t ever call me Normie now--okay!) I am sorry for everything I ever did to hurt you.”

Then he went running away!

Chuck’s life had totally changed.

Often the converted person looks back at the time of the conversion as a significant turning point in their lives.

In preparation for this message I invited Judy Mayfield to share a story of conversion from her life’s experience.

(Judy share)
All the healed man could say was, “Once I was very sick; now I am well. Praise God!” Say it with me….

Today’s reading from Mark gives us an opportunity to think about a needed conversion experience in our lives right now.
What do we need to turn away from?
What do we need to turn to?

There was turning-point moment when Jesus touched the man with leprosy. Everything in that man’s life changed.
We, too, can change.
No one is too old to change.

In our story he who had been separated from his family, community, temple and friends by disease,
who was considered unclean and made an outcast,
now was made whole
and enabled to join the mainstream.

He went from outcast to cast in,
from sickness to health,
from unclean to clean,
from brokenness to wholeness. And what did the man do?

He told everyone.

Nothing could stop this man from broadcasting what Jesus had done for him even though Jesus clearly instructed him not to.

The Scripture says he “proclaimed it freely” and “spread the word.”
Here’s the story—
1. Jesus was moved with pity to the depths of his being.
2. Jesus said, “I am willing!”
3. Jesus said, “Don’t tell anyone.”
4. The man proclaimed the story at length and spread it all over!

This is the picture the story gives of Jesus—
1. Jesus did not drive away a man even though he had broken the law.
2. Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him.
3. Jesus sent him to fulfill the prescribed ritual.

Here we see compassion, power and wisdom all conjoined.

Jesus was moved with “pity” toward the leper, but a footnote in the NRSV on that word indicates that “Other ancient authorities read anger.”

This suggests that Jesus may have been moved to anger by the circumstances that caused sufferers such as this leper to become social outcasts. Jesus may have been angry at the systemic causes of the man’s isolation.

Some of us here this morning cannot point to a moment of conversion.

We may have attended church since childhood and never questioned the faith as it was presented to us.

We may have accepted Jesus along the way without ever wandering deeply into sin or recognizing a moment of turning from it.

Or we may have entered the church as a teen or an adult and rationally opened our mind to the faith and recognized that we agreed with it.

There may have been no precise moment when that happened, but we know today that we are disciples of Jesus Christ. While it’s essential that one be committed to follow Jesus today, it’s not essential that one can point to a calendar date as the moment of one’s conversion.
The man healed of leprosy could say, “Once I was very sick; now I am well. Praise God!”

Can you say that?

I hope that everyone here this morning can do so, “Once I was sick; now I am well. Praise God!”

I would like to close with several examples of change. We can experience conversion in many ways.

Today is Boy Scout Sunday. I would like to ask Mike Milligan to come forward and all Boy Scouts—past or present—to stand and recite the Scout Oath.

“On my honor, I will do my best To do my duty to God and my country
and to obey the Scout Law; To help other people at all times; To keep myself physically strong,
mentally awake and morally straight.”

That is an example of conversion—change.

Today is the birthday of President Abraham Lincoln. The Gettysburg address was about conversion—conversion from war to peace. Let’s say it together.

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.

We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live.

It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.

It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

That is conversion—that is change.

As I watched the Super Bowl last Sunday and saw the Clint Eastwood commercial I said to myself, “That is change. Everyone pulling together is the conversion message we need to hear.”

I immediately texted several people and asked for help to show it in part this morning.

(Super Bowl Commercial)
In England there is a paper factory that makes the world’s finest stationery. If you visit it and ask what this stationery is made from, you will be surprised to find out that much of what makes this perfect, high-quality paper is dirty rags!

One man who visited there wouldn’t believe it. Then six weeks after his visit he received a package of paper from the company with his initials embossed on it.

On the first page were written the words, “Dirty rags transformed!” Christ does the same to our lives. He takes our dirty rags and transforms us into the image of Christ.

This concludes a five week series of messages based on the first chapter of the Gospel of Mark. Here we have:
Experienced the baptism of Jesus
Heard him calling his disciples
Sat in the synagogue as he spoke with authority
Felt Jesus’ touch of healing as he healed Peter’s mother-in-law
And we have rejoiced with the man whose life was turned around.

As you go from here it is my prayer that Jesus will be a part of your story!

Prayer to St Valentine
O glorious advocate and protector, St Valentine,
look with pity upon our wants,hear our requests,attend to our prayers,relieve by your intercession the miseriesunder which we labour,and obtain for us the divine blessing,that we may be found worthy to join youin praising the Almighty for alleternity: through the merits of Our Lord Jesus Christ.Amen.

O Lord, we recognize that in this congregation,
in a place like this, in times like these, there are those who are wounded,
who are hurting and who are struggling with hopelessness.
Lord Jesus, as you touched the hurting and healed the wounded,
we pray that you would touch and heal us today.
We pray for your healing of physical needs.
We pray for your healing in emotional and spiritual brokenness.
We beg your healing touch on fractured relationships.
Mostly, though, we pray for faith … faith to wait and faith to stand up under the deeper hurt that often comes with your healing.
Give us faith to trust your healing. Amen.
On the Mark: 5. Moved
The Church of the Wayfarer
Dr. Norm Mowery, Pastor
February 12, 2012
Mark 1: 40-45

This morning I want to talk about an old fashioned word. It is a word we don’t hear very often in church anymore. But, it is a very important word.

It is the word conversion.
Conversion involves change.
Change is very much a part of the teachings of Jesus and the experience of the Christian life.

Change is difficult.

I’ve said many times that the only person who likes change is a baby with a wet diaper.

Change is inevitable if we are going to grow as a Christian.

In the Bible, the Hebrew word for conversion is shub—s-h-u-b, which means “to turn” or “to return,” and the Greek word is metanoia, which means “to turn around.”

In the Christian faith a U-turn is okay! Actually it is a must!

In the case of the man that Jesus healed in our scripture this morning,
there was clearly a return,
in that he could now go back to his family and community,
but there was also a turning around.

To be converted means to have the direction of one’s life shifted,
so that it no longer points toward self,
but points toward God.

And that’s exactly what happened to this man. He stepped off the “woe is me” path and onto the “Jesus is great” road. The conversions we usually hear about are often accompanied, at least initially, by excitement, zest, intensity, an eagerness to tell others about it.

My older brother Chuck experienced a conversion when he was about seventeen years old. His life was changed. I will never forget the morning that he came into to barn where I was milking the cows and said, “Normie (that is what I was called then—but please, don’t ever call me Normie now--okay!) I am sorry for everything I ever did to hurt you.”

Then he went running away!

Chuck’s life had totally changed.

Often the converted person looks back at the time of the conversion as a significant turning point in their lives.

In preparation for this message I invited Judy Mayfield to share a story of conversion from her life’s experience.

(Judy share)
All the healed man could say was, “Once I was very sick; now I am well. Praise God!” Say it with me….

Today’s reading from Mark gives us an opportunity to think about a needed conversion experience in our lives right now.
What do we need to turn away from?
What do we need to turn to?

There was turning-point moment when Jesus touched the man with leprosy. Everything in that man’s life changed.
We, too, can change.
No one is too old to change.

In our story he who had been separated from his family, community, temple and friends by disease,
who was considered unclean and made an outcast,
now was made whole
and enabled to join the mainstream.

He went from outcast to cast in,
from sickness to health,
from unclean to clean,
from brokenness to wholeness. And what did the man do?

He told everyone.

Nothing could stop this man from broadcasting what Jesus had done for him even though Jesus clearly instructed him not to.

The Scripture says he “proclaimed it freely” and “spread the word.”
Here’s the story—
5. Jesus was moved with pity to the depths of his being.
6. Jesus said, “I am willing!”
7. Jesus said, “Don’t tell anyone.”
8. The man proclaimed the story at length and spread it all over!

This is the picture the story gives of Jesus—
4. Jesus did not drive away a man even though he had broken the law.
5. Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him.
6. Jesus sent him to fulfill the prescribed ritual.

Here we see compassion, power and wisdom all conjoined.

Jesus was moved with “pity” toward the leper, but a footnote in the NRSV on that word indicates that “Other ancient authorities read anger.”

This suggests that Jesus may have been moved to anger by the circumstances that caused sufferers such as this leper to become social outcasts. Jesus may have been angry at the systemic causes of the man’s isolation.

Some of us here this morning cannot point to a moment of conversion.

We may have attended church since childhood and never questioned the faith as it was presented to us.

We may have accepted Jesus along the way without ever wandering deeply into sin or recognizing a moment of turning from it.

Or we may have entered the church as a teen or an adult and rationally opened our mind to the faith and recognized that we agreed with it.

There may have been no precise moment when that happened, but we know today that we are disciples of Jesus Christ. While it’s essential that one be committed to follow Jesus today, it’s not essential that one can point to a calendar date as the moment of one’s conversion.
The man healed of leprosy could say, “Once I was very sick; now I am well. Praise God!”

Can you say that?

I hope that everyone here this morning can do so, “Once I was sick; now I am well. Praise God!”

I would like to close with several examples of change. We can experience conversion in many ways.

Today is Boy Scout Sunday. I would like to ask Mike Milligan to come forward and all Boy Scouts—past or present—to stand and recite the Scout Oath.

“On my honor, I will do my best To do my duty to God and my country
and to obey the Scout Law; To help other people at all times; To keep myself physically strong,
mentally awake and morally straight.”

That is an example of conversion—change.

Today is the birthday of President Abraham Lincoln. The Gettysburg address was about conversion—conversion from war to peace. Let’s say it together.

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.

We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live.

It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.

It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

That is conversion—that is change.

As I watched the Super Bowl last Sunday and saw the Clint Eastwood commercial I said to myself, “That is change. Everyone pulling together is the conversion message we need to hear.”

I immediately texted several people and asked for help to show it in part this morning.

(Super Bowl Commercial)
In England there is a paper factory that makes the world’s finest stationery. If you visit it and ask what this stationery is made from, you will be surprised to find out that much of what makes this perfect, high-quality paper is dirty rags!

One man who visited there wouldn’t believe it. Then six weeks after his visit he received a package of paper from the company with his initials embossed on it.

On the first page were written the words, “Dirty rags transformed!” Christ does the same to our lives. He takes our dirty rags and transforms us into the image of Christ.

This concludes a five week series of messages based on the first chapter of the Gospel of Mark. Here we have:
Experienced the baptism of Jesus
Heard him calling his disciples
Sat in the synagogue as he spoke with authority
Felt Jesus’ touch of healing as he healed Peter’s mother-in-law
And we have rejoiced with the man whose life was turned around.

As you go from here it is my prayer that Jesus will be a part of your story!

Prayer to St Valentine
O glorious advocate and protector, St Valentine,
look with pity upon our wants,hear our requests,attend to our prayers,relieve by your intercession the miseriesunder which we labour,and obtain for us the divine blessing,that we may be found worthy to join youin praising the Almighty for alleternity: through the merits of Our Lord Jesus Christ.Amen.

O Lord, we recognize that in this congregation,
in a place like this, in times like these, there are those who are wounded,
who are hurting and who are struggling with hopelessness.
Lord Jesus, as you touched the hurting and healed the wounded,
we pray that you would touch and heal us today.
We pray for your healing of physical needs.
We pray for your healing in emotional and spiritual brokenness.
We beg your healing touch on fractured relationships.
Mostly, though, we pray for faith … faith to wait and faith to stand up under the deeper hurt that often comes with your healing.
Give us faith to trust your healing. Amen.

On The Mark: 4. Message, February 5, 2012

2012-02-06T10:32:00.000-08:00

On the Mark: 4. Message
The Church of the Wayfarer
Dr. Norm Mowery, Pastor
February 5, 2012
Mark 1:29-39

And…immediately…!!

Mark says, “And immediately!”

Can you feel the action in those words?

Last Sunday we ended with Jesus teaching in the synagogue.
He was teaching with authority.
He healed a person who was greatly disturbed.
He gave direct and clear orders.

Mark says, “And immediately, when they had come out of the synagogue.” Note that they had to come out of the safety of the synagogue to touch lives.

Then they went with Peter and John into the house of Simon and Andrew.

Remember that these are disciples that Jesus had just recruited. Little did they realize what they were getting into.

When they got to the house they discovered that Peter’s mother-in-law was sick. So Jesus took her by the hand and the fever left her!

Guess what she does then? It is most interesting that, “She attended to their needs!”

This private miracle tells us something about three people.
1. It tells us something about Jesus
He did not require an audience to exert his power.
He was never too tired to help.
He helped instinctively.
2. It tells us something about the disciples.
Early on they learned to ask Jesus for help.
3. It tells us something about Peter’s mother-in-law.
No sooner was she healed than she began to attend to their needs.

Jesus helped her so that she could help others!

This is the fourth message from the very first chapter of the Gospel of Mark. Next week I will conclude the series.
We started three weeks ago with Jesus’ baptism .
A week later we saw how Jesus started to put his team together.
Last week Jesus spoke with authority in the synagogue.

We have all learned that the reward of a job well done is more work to do. After Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law the whole city crowded to the door of the house for Jesus to heal them. And, Jesus did heal many of them.

Three times we have seen Jesus healing people.
1. Last week we saw that he healed in the synagogue.
2. Then Jesus healed in the house of his friend.
3. Now Jesus heals in the street.

That is a good ministry model for us.
We start in the church
Then go to our friends
and finally take the message to the world.

That is exactly what we did yesterday.

Our finance chair, Dwight Morris, invited business people in Carmel who have very seldom been here to share their ideas for strengthening our ministry. We got fascinating responses to two questions:
1. If the church of the Wayfarer ceased to exist how it would affect the community? And
2. If you were the CEO of the Church of the Wayfarer how would you grow its influence?

The ideas flowed!

One person came up with seventy great ideas! The Church Council has much work to do with all this but the bottom line is that like Jesus we must take the message to the world.

When those outside the church look at us/you, what do they see? • Maybe nothing perhaps we are invisible when we should be visible; (One of the things that prompted yesterday’s meeting was that I invited a computer repair person to help fix some computer problems. His office is a half block from us on Lincoln Street and I told him to come to the Church of the Wayfarer and he said, “Where is it?!” • Maybe a lot of hype but not much substance; • Maybe a focus only on ourselves; • Maybe a defense of the institution, structure, doctrine or style of worship instead of compassion for those beyond the system; • Maybe they see the face of Jesus in compassion,
concern and openness,
taking the risk to welcome and include others unconditionally. It is time for Christians to get out of their caves and into the culture.
According to The Los Angeles Times, an enterprising young man has set up a rejection hotline phone number (310-217-7638) for single women to use when they are asked for their number but don’t really want to give it out. They don’t want to be rude. So the young man gets this number.

When the prospective suitor calls the number the next day, he gets a rejection message: “The person who gave you this number obviously did not want you to have her real number.” The message continues: “Maybe you’re just not this person’s type .... This could mean short, fat, ugly, dumb, annoying, arrogant or just a general loser.

Maybe you suffer from bad breath, body odor or even both. Maybe you just give off that creepy, overbearing, psycho-stalker vibe. Maybe the idea of going out with you just seems as appealing as playing leapfrog with unicorns.” Trust me this is not the treatment we get from God!

After Jesus went out onto the street what did he do? The Bible says that he went away to a deserted place to pray.

Jesus decided that it was time to take care of himself.

I am reminded of the great Swiss Psychiatrist, Carl Jung. When Dr. Jung would take on a new patient he would get to know the patient, fill out all the paper work, go over the contract and then he would pull his chair up close to the patient, look the patient in the eyes and without looking away say, “And I promise you that I will take good care of myself while I am treating you so that you can count on me to be here when you need me.”

Jesus knew his limits.

Sometimes we need to be left alone to see what God has for us to see.

I love our bench out in front of the church with the words, “Rest and be thankful.”

“Loners” are, in this age of social media, an increasingly rare breed. Consider how often in your day you are actually “alone.”
When are you alone?
Not when you are on the phone. Not when you are on-line. Not when you are awaiting a return text-message. Not when you are watching TV. Not when you are listening to the news.

The extremes of solitude and society have always been the crucial poles that have kept our souls and psyches in equilibrium. Exclude one of those poles and everything in life gets bumped askew.

After this healing there was no big celebration. Instead, Jesus chose to come apart by himself. There he spent time alone in prayer.
Time alone.
In solitude.
In prayer.

Each of us needs to find a rhythm between the ‘sandbox’ — our solitary life — and the ‘soapbox’ — our social life.

The whole life of Jesus was the swing between socialness and solitude.

And it is what many people will do this week at the AT&T. Even with a catty a golfer is all alone when they hit that ball. It is a lonely thing. I found that out this past week as I played nine holes at Quail with Bill Brebaugh.
I can always tell when my game is lacking because my partner will say, “Norm, you have a good short game!”
By the way Robert Louis Stevenson called the curve of Carmel Bay upon which the Pebble Beach golf course was built in 1919, "the most felicitous meeting of land and sea in creation." Other courses are as architecturally brilliant, but none overwhelms the senses like Pebble Beach.
When Jesus went to a "deserted place," he prayed.

We may get up early, we may even leave the house, but how many of us find a solitary place to pray - like Jesus? Jesus came to Peter’s house and healed one woman and then left to pray.

As the crowd knew so well, if Jesus could heal one woman and get her back on her feet, he can heal us all.

In conclusion there are three things Jesus never separated.
1. He never separated Words and Actions. They were one and the same. His statements were put into action.
2. He never separated Soul and Body. Jesus was concerned about feeding the poor and also about caring for their soul.
3. He never separated Earth and Heaven. Jesus’s dream was a time when earth and heaven would be one.

Yesterday Linda and I went to see the movie “The Artist.” It is a 2011 French comedy-drama film shown in black and white and mostly silent. It was nominated for 10 Academy Awards.

The story takes place between 1927 and 1932, and revolves around the relationship between a declining film star and a rising actress.

The story is about an actor who could not make the transition between silent movies and what they called ‘talkies’ or talking movies.

Some of us, too, are having trouble making the transition to a changing world.

So what do I want you to do?

I want us to keep doing what we are doing but do it better and better.
I want us to take our message out to the streets in new and different ways.
I want us to go deeper in our prayer lives and have time alone with Jesus.
I want is to take care of ourselves and have fun as we embody the message.

On The Mark: 3. Miracle, January 29, 2012

2012-02-01T10:24:00.000-08:00

On the Mark: 3. Miracle
The Church of the Wayfarer
Dr. Norm Mowery, Pastor
January 29, 2012
Mark 1:21-28

It’s time to get your smart phones out to record another scene in Jesus’ life from the first chapter of the Gospel of Mark.

The Gospel of Mark is the place to go if you want to know what the man Jesus was really like. The book is filled with snap shots of the highlights of Jesus’ ministry. It is a photo album of Jesus’ last three years of life.

The first ten chapters show us, as it were, ‘U-Tube Videos’ of Jesus three years of ministry and start with a grown up Jesus and the last six chapters show us what Jesus’ last week in life was like.

This is the third in a series of five messages based on the first chapter of this dynamic action packed story.

Two weeks ago we saw that Jesus was baptized by his cousin John the Baptist. It was a baptism of repentance or confession and I said, ‘that Jesus came remind us that we, too, are God’s children and beloved of God.’

Last week we saw that Jesus called his first four disciples—two sets of brothers. I said that Jesus calls us too. At the end of the message Bill Shewchuk sent us off the flight deck, as it were, and into the world.

The scenes before us this morning describe the first significant acts of Jesus. It is as though he is declaring who he is. He might have just come to the awareness of his divine powers himself.
Scene I
Visualize a beautiful small town by the side of what we call the Sea of Galilee with a climate similar to the central valley of California. The Sea of Galilee is about the size of Lake Tahoe. It is a beautiful place with an abundance of citrus crops. I have been there.
It was in this setting that Jesus began his ministry. He was most certainly known by everyone.
This morning I want you to experience the sights, sounds and smells of this small town?
Mark says that ‘they’ went to Capernaum. I wonder who ‘they’ were. Were they Simon and his brother Andrew? James and John? The first disciples?
Mark says that he began to teach. I think that this is a beautiful thought: the first thing Jesus did after he called his disciples was to take them to the synagogue. He knew that that was the place to begin.
Jesus didn’t just call them he was intentional about training them.
Jesus wasn’t just any teacher.
Scene II
1. He taught them as one who had authority—not as the teachers of the law!”
“And the people were amazed.”

Was that a ‘put down’ of the clergy of the day, or what?
And the Bible says, “The people were amazed.” They were surprised. He was so forthright, so confident!
Let’s stop right here for a moment and talk about authority.
Throughout the gospel, Mark seeks to highlight Jesus' authority in answering the main question of his work: Who is Jesus?
This scene in the synagogue of Capernaum, Jesus teaches with an authority that the religious leaders lack.
The audience's amazement was due to the fact that he possessed an authority previously unheard.
2. His authority was recognized.
“I know who you are—the Holy One of God.”

So, here is the story. Jesus is teaching. The people are spell bound. The disciples are being trained. Everyone is sitting with a sense of awe.

And then it happens!

Just then a man who is deeply disturbed yells out,
“What business do you have here with us?
I know what you are up to.
I know who you are!
You are the Holy One of God!”

Then he asks,
“What do you want with us?”
“Have you come to destroy us?”

Can you feel the feelings? Can you hear the people gasp?

I had the experience once in a worship service when a person cried out and marched around the church screaming during one of my sermons. It was a pretty unnerving experience. It must have been just as unnerving for Jesus.

We need to stop here for a moment and ask who this man was.
Was he mentally ill?
Was he emotionally distraught?
Was he overcome by a force of evil?

I honestly don’t know. All I know is that the man was experiencing a very emotional moment.

3. He gave orders with authority.
“He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him.”

Jesus authority gave him power and courage so he says, “Be quiet!”

The people of Jesus day perceived that this was an evil spirit in the man and so thought that even the forces of evil obeyed Jesus.

At any rate the people were amazed and asked, “What is this? He even gives orders to the evil spirits and they obey him.

Scene III

The gospel says, “The news about his spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee.”

I’m sure that it was on Facebook and Twitter!

People talked about it with their friends. Everyone wanted to hear about it and everyone wanted to talk about it.

Groups of people walking up the road stopped groups coming toward them to say, “Do you know what just happened at the synagogue?” Or, “You won’t believe what just happened!”

It is the buzz of the town.

Now that to me is what I want for this church! I want us to be so involved in the pain of this community that we all want to tell others about it and everybody will want to hear about it because it is so exciting.

Three Action Points—they say that every sermon should have three points!

1. Claim the authority
Max Weber divided legitimate authority into three types:
The first type is legal authority. It is that form of authority which depends for its legitimacy on formal rules and established laws of the state.
The second type of authority is Traditional authority, which derives from long-established customs, habits and social structures.
The third form of authority is Charismatic authority. Here, the charisma of the individual or the leader plays an important role.
As a church we need to claim the authority and speak authoritatively.
I wonder, “Can you speak authoritatively about your relationship with Christ?”

How much authority does Jesus have in your life?

2. Speak to the pain of the world authoritatively.
If this church is to remain relevant we must address the hurts and hopes of the world.

There are people in this community that are just as distraught as the man who yelled in the synagogue that day. Emotional pain surrounds us and I would even guess is present with some of us this morning.

To us Jesus says, “Be quiet. Find peace. Calm your spirit.”

Some people in our world are confused like an old Irishman, Shamus, who was courting Bridget for 50 years.
Finally she said, “Shamus don’t you think it’s time we got married?”
He replied, “Bridget, who would have us?”

We need to be the peace and embody peace for the world.

Last week Linda and I were in south central Pennsylvania visiting my elderly mother. As we drove the back roads through the Amish country and saw the clothes on the lines drying I remembered a story.

It is a story of a housewife who told a visitor that she could not understand her next door neighbor who always hung out dirty clothes on her clothes line.

Her friend said, “Her clothes are clean. The problem is your our windows are dirty.”

Often we look at people and make false judgments. We are looking at them through dirty windows. Jesus saw people as they were.

As we visited my mother’s friends and relatives I became aware of the losses that many seniors face as they leave their homes and go to a care home. While there with my mother we discovered that in the same home are two other women that are her friends but she didn’t even know that they were there. They were just on a different floor in the same building.

There is much pain among seniors in our community. Can we address them with authority?

I thought about authority a great deal this past week as I watched the State of the Union address by President Obama and watched parts of the two Republican debates.

3. Share the story
In order to share the story you must have a story to share.
What is your story?
Where do you experience Jesus in your life?
How do you see the spirit at work in our world?

Where are you in this story?

Some years ago, a young man who wanted to change his life went into a church and sat down in the sanctuary for a while.
He took out a piece of paper and a pencil and began writing down a long list of things that he promised he would do to change his life - a whole page of things - and he signed his name at the bottom and took it up and placed it on the altar, and sat down again in the sanctuary. As he was sitting there, however, he began to sense the voice of God speaking softly in his own soul.
And the more he listened to it, the more he heard God saying to him, "You've done it all wrong. I want you to go back up there and get the piece of paper and tear it up. And then I'll give you another instruction. " So, the young man got out of his pew and walked up to the altar and did as the Lord told him. And then he went back to sit down in the pew and waited for the Lord to instruct him.
It did not happen immediately, but finally the message came through.
The Lord said to him, very gently, "Now take a piece of paper and sign your name to it at the bottom and let me fill in all the rest!"
This morning let God fill in the empty pages of your life. If you do so you will live authoritatively.
Next Sunday we will see what happens when Jesus left the Synagogue.

On the Mark Sermon Series, 2. Ministry, January 22, 2012

2012-01-23T11:23:00.000-08:00

On the Mark: 2. Ministry
The Church of the Wayfarer
Dr. Norm Mowery, Pastor
January 22, 2012
Mark 1:14-20

This is the second in a series of five messages based on the first chapter of the Gospel of Mark. I decided to give this series of messages because for my personal devotions I have been reading this Gospel and have felt once more its exciting action based message. It has touched my spiritual life.

The Gospel of Mark is the place to begin if you want to capture the essence of Jesus and I challenge you to read and reread this first chapter over and over.

Last Sunday we saw the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist and the affirmation from heaven, “You are my son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased.”

Guess what happened next.

The Bible says that Satan appeared. Isn’t that so true to life? We are on the mountain top one day and then suddenly we crash.

Sounds like the life of politicians today doesn’t it?

After 40 days in the wilderness Jesus gets the news that John the Baptist is arrested. You know the rest of that story.

But, neither Satan or Nero could not stop Jesus now.

With a passion Jesus goes to Galilee proclaiming the good news saying,
“The time is fulfilled
The kingdom of God is near
Repent,
And believe the Good News.

Notice how this is different from John the Baptist’s message. There is more to do than repentance. There is believing the good news.

By this time Jesus is on a mission. He is driven.

He goes to the Sea of Galilee and finds brothers Simon and Andrew and says, ‘follow me.’ Immediately they left and followed.

Then he finds brothers James and John fixing their nets and says, ‘follow me.’ Immediately they left and followed.

I have read this story many times and noted that they left their father Zebedee but I never noticed that they also left behind their hired men. I always thought that they were poor fishermen. But, no, they had hired hands! They were business men.

This make me wonder, “As an entrepreneur what kind of people did Jesus want to work with him?”

Entrepreneurs know that starting a business requires some help from their friends. So what kind of friends is Jesus looking for?

In today’s world there are four types of persons entrepreneurs want to have on their team to help start a new business.
• The Cheerleader:
Cheerleaders are those who will rally behind an idea and provide encouragement. Clearly, you need to have positive-thinking people around you.
• The Role Model:
This is the “follow me and do as I do” person. A role model could be a teacher or mentor.
• The Expert:
It’s always good to surround yourself with people who are smarter than you about certain areas. Experts fill in the gaps by asking questions that begin with, “Have you given any thought to …” • The Techie:
These are folks who are wizards with things like computers and communication systems. They have the ability to provide efficient technical support. The point is that it takes a team to really be successful. Jesus needed help from his friends. Jesus is beginning an entrepreneurial venture and surrounds himself with a team. The practical side of Jesus’ mission required the help and participation of others. He doesn’t wait for them to come to him.
Jesus goes to the lakeshore reeking with the stink of fish, and begins by inviting some fishermen to be on his team.
We have to remember that any entrepreneurial venture worth its salt begins with a solid mission statement. Here it is:
“The time is fulfilled,
and the kingdom of God has come near;
repent,
and believe in the good news”.

In other words the time is now,
God is here,
change your ways and believe the good news. The announcement of the kingdom would have sounded both exciting and dangerous to those hearing Jesus by the Galilean lake.

It was exciting because it meant that God was going to act decisively on Israel’s behalf,
but dangerous because that meant a challenge to the prevailing Roman authority.

The message was that outsiders would be insiders.
That was the “good news” that required a response. A response is what Jesus was looking for as he came to the lakeshore.

Remember that these four fishermen were likely quite prosperous. Chances are that these men may have had some education. These weren’t desperate drifters with nothing to lose, but well-established businessmen.

Following Jesus, then, was no small disruption of their lives but a complete change of course. Throwing in with Jesus meant throwing out their security, their reputations and their livelihoods. Jesus wanted people with just one primary qualification for discipleship:
a willingness to follow.
Regardless of his role each disciple shared a common trait: They said “Yes” to Jesus’ invitation.
Even as Jesus disrupted their lives he will disrupt our lives. Later, these same disciples would be accused of “turning the world upside down”. Being a disciple means being willing to drop our own agendas for life and get on board with the kingdom agenda of Jesus.
Whatever job we’re working at, Jesus challenges us to see our primary vocation as being kingdom people, spiritual entrepreneurs who are fully invested — body, mind,
spirit, wallet,
time — in that venture!

Jesus' call to discipleship is an invitation to get off the flight deck and into the cockpit!
As I reflected on this message I remembered the movie "Top Gun"? All I remembered was that it was a 1986 movie about planes taking off and landing on aircraft carriers?

That is the metaphor I want to capture for today’s message. Jesus is sending us off the security of the flight deck, into the cockpit and off to the world.

In researching Top Gun I found some information that I thought was perfect only to find out from one of our own that it is wrong information. First I will give you what I found and in a few minutes you will hear how it is wrong!

What I found was that those trained to pilot the most powerful and sophisticated aircraft in the world must rely upon and wait for a series of "go-ahead" signals from their "airboss or air officer." Each step must be carried out in proper sequence before the big jets can set off on their appointed missions. 1. The first duty of the airboss is to signal the removal of the "chocks," the small clamps that lock in place the aircraft's wheels and keep them from rolling. The chocks have the same function on an aircraft carrier as do the blocks that you see placed under the wheels of commercial aircraft. By jamming the wheels, the chocks make it impossible for the big jets to roll forward. Without the airboss signaling to remove these chocks, the flight cannot get under way.

When Jesus utters his first proclamation of the Good News, that "the kingdom of God has come near", he follows it with the command to "repent." Before anything else can happen Jesus preaches repentance. Before we can hope to begin our own journey into discipleship, these "stumbling blocks" must be removed. 2. The second duty of the airboss is to listen carefully to the noises on all sides, judge the vibrations of the plane, and signal the pilot when the engines sound ready.

This signal means that the engines, screaming to life, sound strong and safe, ready to propel the plane down the runway when the time is right.
For us today vibration comes before vision. We must hear the call before we can see the calling.
Like the pilots of those aircraft, we sit perched on a seat of tremendous power--but we, too, must wait for the next signal before getting fully underway. 3. After the engine is revved up and ready, the airboss next looks into the cockpit of the plane and asks if the pilot is ready. The question is vision.
Can the pilot see his way forward?
Is the pilot prepared? Before Jesus calls his very first disciples, he is already calling people to faith. We have no way of knowing if the course ahead of us carries smooth air or turbulence and storms. We have no special foreknowledge if the skies will be friendly or filled with hostility and danger. What we do have is faith.
4. The fourth signal given by the airboss goes beyond the mechanical. In order to remind the pilot of the significance of the assigned mission the airboss offers the pilot a formal salute. By saluting, the airboss reminds the pilot of the seriousness of the venture.
Jesus called his first disciples not only to learn at his feet but to join them in offering the world a vital message. This is truly a mission of life or death. The gospel has the power to save but only if those called to discipleship understand the nature of their mission and choose to accept it. 5. The final gesture the airboss makes sends the waiting plane and pilot off into the sky. The airboss points the pilot off the flight deck, into the direction of the carrier's mission.

Can we let go and let God take us into the wild blue yonder?

Jesus calls us. We join Simon and Andrew and James and John on a mission. Jesus sends us forth to share the good news.

As we go and share our faith here are some tips:
*Be with people on their turf.*Be real, be vulnerable, be honest.*Be creative: Do old things in news ways.*Be spiritual, not churchy.*Be patient.*Be ready for surprises.*Be willing to step out of your comfort zone.*Be on the lookout for where God is at work.*Be praying.

Or as John Wesley said:
“Do all the good you can,
by all the means you can,
in all the ways you can,
in all the places you can,
at all the times you can, to all the people you can,
as long as ever you can.”

This morning I have shared with you the version of the duties of an air officer that I came up with but here this morning is one who has ‘been there and done that’.

Bill Shewchuk come forward and ‘tell it like it really is’.

…………
Thanks Bill.

Send us off like you did many times!

Prayer

God of grace,
we want to save the world and yet sometimes we cannot even begin to save ourselves.
And so we gather our thoughts during this time of prayer and pray for ourselves.
………..
Teach us how to rearrange our lives so that what you would have us do is our first priority.
Grant us the courage to release what we desire and firmly grasp what you would have us do.
Help us to step outside of our comfort zone in your name.
Grant us a willing heart to serve you no matter where we are or what we do.
Alert us to the needs of those around us,
and encourage us to meet that need in love,
thereby being the church of Jesus Christ our Lord,
in whose name we pray and the one who taught us to
pray the prayer for all ages saying………..

On the Mark Series; 1. Messenger, January 15, 2012

2012-01-23T11:19:00.000-08:00

On the Mark: 1. Messenger
The Church of the Wayfarer
Dr. Norm Mowery, Pastor
January 15, 2012
Mark 1:4-11

A police officer in a small town stopped a motorist who was speeding down Main Street. “But officer.” the young man began, “I can explain.” “Just be quiet,” snapped the officer. “I’m going to let you cool your heels in jail until the chief gets back.” “But officer, I just wanted to say ....” “And I said to keep quiet! You’re going to jail!” A few hours later the officer looked in on his prisoner and said, “Lucky for you that the chief is at his daughter’s wedding. He’ll be in a good mood when he gets back.” “Don’t count on it,” answered the young fellow in the cell. “I’m the groom.”

That was a message that the officer did not want to hear.

The Gospel of Mark has a message that we do want and need to hear.

If you haven’t read much of the Bible I encourage you to begin reading the Gospel of Mark. It is the easiest of the Gospels to understand. It was the first of the four Gospels to be put into writing. It was probably put into writing in the mid-60s some thirty years after the death of Jesus.

Yesterday I was walking on Dolores Street and saw a sign on a gallery that said, “If you don’t come in you will miss the wonder!” Likewise, if you don’t read the Gospel of Mark you will miss the wonder of Jesus.

Mark is not so much a biography of Jesus as it is a character sketch. Without any introduction or infancy narrative, Jesus bursts onto the scene as a fully grown man. Three years of ministry are packed into chapters 1-10, while Jesus’ final week stretches out through chapters 11-16.

This Gospel was written for a Gentile audience.
It was to bring a word of hope to people whose faith was severely tested by persecution from the Emperor Nero.
The Gospel of Mark is a message of encouragement for the world beyond Jerusalem.
It is the nearest thing we will ever get to an eyewitness report of Jesus’ life.
Here we see little vivid details which are the hall-mark of one who was there with Jesus.

Mark emphasizes both the human and the divine nature of Jesus and he tells the story as an eager child might tell it.

The Gospel marches! Youth today would say that it rocks! It rushes in a vivid attempt to bring the story alive. The word immediately is used 30 times in this book. Mark says, ‘And then this happened, and then this happened over and over.
This book encourages the early followers who are suffering but it also calls them to serve Christ faithfully even as they shared in his sufferings. It would encourage these suffering believers by showing them Jesus’ authority over all types of opposing forces.

This Gospel has a message that is relevant for us today. I have been reading it for my personal devotions. That is why for five weeks we will be looking at just the first chapter of this action packed book.

Mark chapter 1 has of Jesus. It is as though the writer grabs his I-phone when he sees Jesus takes five different short videos and then up loads them to U-Tube.

Today we look at the first story Mark tells.

Here we see Jesus’ cousin, John the Baptist, preparing the way for the coming of Jesus through baptism. Talk about a strange character –John the Baptist is it! Even though he was Jesus’ cousin he was someone I’m not sure I would like if I met him today. John the Baptist said it like it was! He didn’t pull any punches.

John the Baptist’s baptism emphasized that confession must be made to three different people:
1. Ourselves—there is no one in the entire world harder to face than ourselves.
2. Those we have wronged—why is it so hard to say, “I’m sorry?”
3. God—it is when we say, “I have sinned,” that God gets the chance to say, “I forgive.”

What a strong message! Isn’t it interesting that crowds of people came to hear him! Mark says that the whole country of Judea and all of Jerusalem went out to hear him.

John the Baptist was clear that more than confession was needed and that is where Jesus comes in. He knew that there was something more. John promised that Jesus would bring the power of God’s love and grace! Spirit was needed.

When we receive Christian baptism, we all can lay claim to the most powerful secret weapon ever offered to creation--the power of God's love and grace.

God's love is a transformative, transfiguring power so great that it can change lives.
Why is it that so few of us have taken this power,
unleashed it
and released it into our lives?

To live in that spirit there are three things we need to do daily:

1. Daily alignment with God and the Sacred:
Sunday morning at 10 a.m. just isn't enough. Spirit-powered living requires that we intentionally seek out God every day. The more we seek to encounter the divine in our daily lives, the more we will begin to recognize that God's presence surrounds us and sustains us wherever we may be. 2. Daily self-scrutiny and self-reflection:
Everyone who has ever tried to tone a few muscles knows that isometric exercises--those that push our own muscles against each other--are the ones that build both strength and elasticity.

Spirit-powered living turns the power of the Spirit inward as well as outward. 3. Daily embodiment:
This is Spirit-powered living in action. The Spirit that God lets free within our souls needs to be set free out in the world. The strength of the Spirit is in service. We are God's people, touched by the Spirit to ... think more clearly. feel more deeply. speak more truthfully. love more extravagantly. serve more creatively. live more fully.

All of life changes when Jesus comes on the scene of the life changing spirit of Jesus.

Mark tells us that Jesus comes from Nazareth of Galilee and is baptized by John in the Jordan, and just as he is coming up out of the water, he sees the heavens torn apart and the Holy Spirit descends on him like a dove. And a voice from heaven says, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased”. The meaning of baptism is that Jesus is God’s Son, the Beloved.

The mix of feelings up to this point —
gratitude for cleansing,
surprise at the baptizer’s clothing,
confusion about the identity of the powerful one —
are suddenly pushed aside.

In their place, a new emotion emerges: joy.

In Jesus baptism,
we are filled to overflowing with a feeling of joy that God has revealed his Son,
announced his love
and proclaimed just how pleased he is with Jesus. Jesus is now, for us,
the Word of God in human form …
the Way,
the Truth and the Life …
God from God,
Light from Light,
true God from true God.

After witnessing his baptism, we don’t have to wonder any longer about who Jesus is. We know his true identity. The very same is true for us, as we remember our own baptism. In this sacrament, we are connected to the body of Christ — the universal community of Christians that’s nothing less than the flesh-and-blood physical presence of Jesus in the world today.

In this sacrament, we become children of God, no less loved and accepted than Jesus Christ himself. The meaning of baptism is that we are connected to the body of Christ.

It gives us a freshly minted identity as children of a loving Lord.
Think about what happens immediately after the baptism of Jesus — Mark tells us that the Spirit immediately drives Jesus “out into the wilderness,” where he is tempted by Satan for 40 days.

Then his Galilean ministry begins, and Jesus comes face to face with a woman with a fever and a steady stream of people who are sick. So there’s no rest for the freshly baptized.

But I will save that story till next Sunday. Some years ago I discovered this for myself when I led a group of volunteers on a mission trip to Mexico. A number of times through the first days there, different people came to me and confessed how overwhelmed they felt as they saw the need. One person said, “I feel like I’m drowning.” We were all experiencing the flood of the world’s pain — and that’s not a bad thing.

It is when we feel like we’re drowning — overwhelmed by the flood of the world’s anguish, pain and loss — that we discover that the breath of God fills us.
The message this morning is that you are baptized.

“If I say, ‘I was married,’ you will likely assume that my wife has died or I am divorced.

But if I say, ‘I am married,’ you will assume I have a wife and that on a certain date I was married and still am.

Although it’s true to say ‘I was baptized,’ it is also necessary to assert, ‘I am baptized’”.
More than anything else, baptism marks our birth as Christians. Through baptism, we are identified as children of God who are both loved and lovable, chosen by the Lord to be his people in the world.

“The truth, even though I cannot feel it right now,” wrote the Dutch priest Henri Nouwen, “is that I am the chosen child of God, precious in God’s eyes, called the Beloved from all eternity and held safe in an everlasting embrace.” Think of it! The chosen child of God! This is not just for Jesus … it is each one of us.
Precious.
Beloved.
Safe in an everlasting embrace.
Our true identity. Maya Angelou said,
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said,
people will forget what you did,
but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

We are the Body of Christ. The medium is the message. Who we are is the message that the world hears. God’s spirit bears witness our spirit that we are children of God.

Today I want you to embrace your baptism.
Claim the power of the spirit in your life.
Know that you are a child of God’s
Daily connect with the spirit.

God says to you, “You are my child, the beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

On the Mark: 1. Messenger

“You are my child, the beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

1. Daily alignment with God and the Sacred

2. Daily self-scrutiny and self-reflection

3. Daily embodiment

We are God's people, touched by the Spirit to ... think more clearly. feel more deeply. speak more truthfully. love more extravagantly. serve more creatively. give more lavishly. live more fully.

This is the meaning of baptism: Jesus is God’s Son, the Beloved

This is the meaning of baptism: Baptism connects us to the body of Christ

“If I say, ‘I was married,’ you will likely assume that my wife has died or I am divorced. But if I say, ‘I am married,’ you will assume I have a wife and that on a certain date I was married and still am.

Although it’s true and essential to say ‘I was baptized,’ it is also necessary to assert, ‘I am baptized’”. The medium is the message

“You are my child, the beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

Most gracious God,
In your own good time you moved to reveal yourself firsthand, fully, in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.
We give you thanks for the cherished stories which surround his birth, particularly for the story of that bright and wondrous star that guided wise men from far away to his side.
With them, we hail the light of your love, for your creation and for us, which shone from that little boy. On this day, we praise you for expanding your circle of witnesses to include, beyond his people, all those who find in him the Light of the World; for creating, out of his sacrificial death and resurrection, a new people, a worldwide community of his disciple.
We pray for the church; for that strange, richly diverse company of women and men who have found in your divine Son a fresh start for human history and an unquenchable source of light. Help us, O God, to let his light shine from us that we may be sources of light for others who stumble about in
ignorance,
anxiety,
self-destructive passion,
hatred
or any other form of darkness.
Grant that we may serve as messengers of your grace for persons whose lives have been darkened by illness or who are at this very moment walking through the valley of the shadow of death.
Amen

How Do You Live Your Dash?; January 1, 2012

2012-01-23T11:12:00.000-08:00

How Do You Live Your Dash?
Dr. Norm Mowery, Pastor of the Church of the Wayfarer
August 6, 2006 and January 1, 2012
Philippians 4:4-9

The question that I want you to think about today is “How do you live your dash?” I’m not talking about the dash of your car or running a 50 yard dash.

I’m talking about your dash. We all have a dash.

Our dash is that little line on our tomb stone that will be between the date of our birth and date of our death sometime in the future. One little line will represent all our time on earth.

Isn’t that a happy thought? Our whole life will some day be summed up with a little dash. We are all living our dash right now.

How are you living your dash?

A poet, Linda Ellis, said it this way:
“I read of a man who stood to speak
At the funeral of a friend.
He referred to the dates on her tombstone
From the beginning …to the end.

He noted that first came the date of her birth
And spoke the following date with tears,
But he said what mattered most of all
Was the dash between those years.

For that dash represents all the time
That she spent alive on earth…
And now only those who loved her
Know what that little line is worth.

For it matters not, how much we own;
The cars…the house…the cash,
What matters is how we live and love
And how we spend our dash.

So think about this long and hard…
Are there things you’d like to change?
For you never know how much time is left,
That can still be rearranged.

If we could just slow down enough
To consider what’s true and real,
And always try to understand
The way other people feel.

And be less quick to anger,
And show appreciation more
And love the people in our lives
Like we’ve never loved before.

If we treat each other with respect,
And more often wear a smile…
Remembering that this special dash
Might only last a little while.

So when your eulogy’s being read
With your life’s actions to rehash…
Would you be proud of the things they say
About how you spend your dash?”

The book of Philippians gives some good advice as to how to live our dash. It says:
Rejoice in the Lord always.
Do not worry about anything.
Be prayerful.
Have the peace of God in your hearts and minds.
Think about what is true.
Think about what is honorable.
Think about what is just.
Think about what is pure.
Think about what is
lovely, excellent, and praiseworthy.

There are some other things that I hope will be a part of your dash.

1. I hope that dreams are a part of your dash.
“If you think you are beaten, you are,
If you think you dare not, you don’t.
If you like to win—but you think you can’t
It’s almost certain you won’t.

If you think you’ll lose, you’ve lost
For out of this world we find
Success begins with a person’s will,
It’s all in the state of mind.

If you think you’re out-classed, you are.
You’ve got to think high to rise.
You’ve gotta be sure of yourself,
Before you can win the prize.

Life’s battles don’t always go
To the stronger or fastest ones.
But sooner or later the one who wins,
Is the one who thinks they can.”

A woman, named Maude, had been diagnosed with a terminal illness. As Maude was getting her things “in order” for the end of her life, she contacted her pastor and had him come to her house to discuss certain aspects of her final wishes.

She told him which songs she wanted sung at the funeral service, what scriptures she would like read, and what outfit she wanted to be buried in.

Then Maude remembered something very important. “There’s one more thing,” she said. “I want to be buried with a fork in my right hand.” The pastor stood looking at Maude, not knowing quite what to say.

Maude explained. “In all my years of attending church socials and potluck dinners, I always remember that when the dishes of the main course were being cleared, someone would inevitably lean over and say, ‘Keep your fork.”

It was my favorite part because I knew that if they said that some better dessert than jello or custard was coming…like chocolate cake or apple pie.

I want people to see me there in the casket with a fork in my hand and I want them to wonder, “What’s with the fork?”

Then, pastor, I want you to tell them: “The best is yet to come.”

Maude had a dream that something better was coming for her. I hope that great dreams are a part of your dash.

2. I also hope that basic principles for living will be a part of your dash.

Some years ago when I was serving on the School Board I attended a Model Schools conference in Atlanta, Georgia. One of the speakers, Dr. Willard Daggett, emphasized the importance of public schools teaching guiding principles for living like:
Responsibility Respect
Compassion Initiative
Adaptability Honesty
Optimism Trustworthiness
Courage Loyalty

When I left that lecture I said, “That is what I’ve been preaching for over thirty years.” Are these principles part of your dash?

I was raised at Dry Run, Pennsylvania. Dry Run is two miles north of Spring Run, Pennsylvania. I’m sure you all know where that is. One of my teachers at Dry Run taught me an important principle for living when I was in high school.

At that time we had “Newsweek” standardized current events tests. One week a student broke into the teacher’s closet and stole the answer sheet. He shared the answers with all the class—except me. He knew that I would not cheat.

My nick name in High School was ‘Deacon’ because I was quite religious. I think I’m still religious!
Anyway we all took the test. Everyone else got an ‘A’ but I failed the test!

The teacher, Mr. Miller, knew that everyone else had cheated and he was very angry. He lectured the class about cheating. By this time I was feeling rather self-righteous because I hadn’t cheated like all the others.

But, then, Mr. Miller came to my desk, looked me in the eye and said, “Deacon, you’re just as bad as everyone else because you knew they were all cheating and did nothing to stop it.”

That day I learned a basic principle for living. It is not enough to simply do what is right. We also need to stand against that which is wrong.

One time there was a very fine carpenter who took great pride in his craftsmanship. He worked for many years doing quality work but the day came when he felt that it was time to retire. His boss asked the carpenter if he wouldn’t please build him one last house.

The carpenter agreed to do so but his heart wasn’t in his work. His previous quality work became shoddy on this last house. The corners did not match and the house was not plumb. Finally the day came when he went to his boss to report that the house was finished.

With that the boss gave the keys to the house to the carpenter and said, “Here, this is your house. I want you to have it as a gift from me.”

What is the quality of the house we are building with our lives? What are your basic principles for living?

Mohandas Gandhi once warned against the “seven deadly social sins” that could destroy a nation from within.
· Politics without principle,
· Wealth without work,
· Commerce without morality,
· Pleasure without conscience,
· Education without character,
· Science without humanity, and
· Worship without sacrifice.

3. Finally, I hope that you will have service as a part of your dash.

As any good Rotarian would say, “Put service above self.”

In the 1960s, Bishop Muzorewa became the first African leader of a major denomination in Rhodesia. In 1979, he became Zimbabwe’s first black Prime Minister. His philosophy was:
“People are unreasonable, illogical and self-centered. Love them anyway.
If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway.
The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
The biggest men with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest minds. Think big anyway.
What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway.
Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you have anyway.”

The story is told that a young reporter went through the hill country of Texas interviewing people as he was writing a book about Lyndon Baines Johnson. Over and over the reporter heard the response, “He brought the light.”

“He brought the light?”

After a time the reporter discovered that what the people were saying was that when Johnson was a first term congressman he brought electricity to the hill country of Texas.

I hope that it can be said of each of us that we brought the light to this world.

A few years ago my wife, Linda, and I took a little vacation to New Orleans. We had a great time drinking chicory coffee and eating Cajun food but the thing that I enjoyed the most was learning a new word.

It’s lagniappe.
L-a-g-n-i-a-p-p-e means to “give beyond full measure.” If you sell a bag of flour give an extra cup. If you sell a dozen apples, give a couple extra.

Laginappe means to go beyond that which is expected—to give a little more. Why don’t you put the word lagniappe on your desk to remind you to give more than what is expected.

I hope that dreams, guiding principles, and service will all be a part of your dash—that little line between your birth and death.

Independence, Missouri, was the staging area during the 1800s for covered wagons as they were about to set out for the Pacific Northwest on the Lewis and Clark Trail. I’m told that at the beginning of the trail there was a sign that said, “Choose your rut carefully. You’ll be in it the next 2000 miles!”

Choose a rut in life that includes great dreams, basic principles for living and acts of service.

How do you live your dash?

Restore Us O God: Love, December 18, 2011

2011-12-19T14:04:00.000-08:00

Restore Us, O God: Love
Psalm 89:1-4, 19-26 12/18/2011 Fourth Sunday of Advent
The Church of the Wayfarer, Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA
Dr. Norm Mowery, Pastor

What's the craziest thing you have ever done for love? To what lengths would you go for the one you love? Has love ever inspired you to make some vaguely ridiculous,
over-the-top actions? I’ve noted elaborate marriage proposals that pop up in the news from time to time.
· I remember one man who paid to have his marriage proposal flashed across the jumbotron at a baseball game.
· Another that I heard about invited his girlfriend into a small plane so that they could have a bird's-eye view of a hayfield where the farmer had mown out the words "marry me."
· Another guy took the risk of proposing to his girlfriend on live morning television as millions watched.
· Our own Amber Hess was proposed to by Gus who rewrote a video game. While the two of them played the game one of the characters popped the question! Each of these people took a risk;
because these proposals could have gone wrong.

Instead, they had the desired effect—the answer in each case was yes! The point I want to make is that daring openly to express our love can have wonderfully satisfying results. It's not just new love that encourages dramatic displays of devotion. Love can invite sacrifice and determination at any age and under many circumstances.
· Consider the father who drives all night to avoid missing his first grader's school play.
· Or the mother who sits at her desk every day to write to her son during his yearlong deployment overseas.
· There's the insurance agent who donated his kidney for his coworker in the next office cubicle.
· Even animals can demonstrate a humbling sense of loyalty and devotion; think about the beagle that refused to leave the site of a car accident which left its owners badly injured.
· Concerned neighbors fed the dog for weeks until the owners could finally reclaim this faithful animal that just wouldn't give up. What would you do for the one you love?

What wouldn't you do for the one you love?

There comes a time when it's not enough to simply declare love; words can seem empty without convincing actions to back them up.

A constant theme in love songs is the celebration of
tangible,
visible
devotion on display for all to see.
· Love is the thousand yellow ribbons on the old oak tree;
· it's Marvin Gaye vowing that there's no mountain too high,
no river too wide
or any valley too low
to keep him away from his beloved.

This is what love looks like. The Psalm for today tells of God's love for the world. The psalmist sings God's love song for the world to hear as God's unbreakable covenant is proclaimed.

God's steadfast love will be recklessly poured out on God's beloved.

Psalm 89 is filled with action verbs, reflecting a God in motion, unstoppable because of the power of this love.
· It says that there will inevitably be obstacles to love, but God is prepared.
· God will not allow the enemy to outwit the beloved.
· Any foes will be crushed and haters will be struck down.

This is not a fairy tale,
sticky-sweet,
unrealistic love;
this is a relationship that will be tested by daunting obstacles but which will continue because of the faithfulness of God. In this enduring covenant,
God promises "my faithfulness and steadfast love."

The beloved will respond to this lasting relationship with the heartfelt cry, "You are my Father, my God, and the Rock of my salvation!"

This is what God would do for love—God enters into this relationship wholeheartedly and without reservation.

God declares unending love without abandon. This is Christmas love. This kind of love demands courage.

As we celebrate Advent and Christmas, we're fully aware of where God's love is leading us.
· The love might begin in the soft manger, but it inevitably will lead to the harsh noonday sun reflecting on the Cross.
· God knows this but does not shy away from the pain that is coming.
· God's extravagant love is demonstrated in God's willingness to give sacrificially.
· God bestows the most precious gift, God's Son, knowing that this offering will not
be appreciated, honored, or at times, even recognized.

The price is great, almost beyond measure.

The gift of Christmas is that God looks at the cost without blinking. God does indeed care enough to send the very best.

The best is the gift of Christ.

It's the gift -- - that makes the angels sing, - the shepherds run to attention, - the magi travel to worship - and it's the gift that continues to bless us even today. God's love is an "always" love;
the psalmist assures us that God is steadfast in devotion and faithfulness.

This covenant is reminiscent of a marriage vow;
the divine promise is to be faithful until parted by death.

This covenant is like the covenant we have made with Pixie. You knew that Pixie would come into this sermon someplace didn’t you?!
Pixie is the newest member of the Mowery family.
Pixie is a rescue dog that has been a part of the Mowery Family for a total of one week.
Pixie is an eight pound ball of fluffy joyous loving Maltese mix.

Pixie has changed my life! What a week it has been! I had no idea what was involved in adding a dog to the family.

We have had to make a commitment to Pixie with an ‘always’ kind of love. I am only beginning to realize how big a commitment we have made. We ask,
Why won’t she eat?
Does she need to go out?
Why won’t she stay in her bed?
What is she trying to tell us now?

The thing that I have become most aware of this week is how dependent Pixie is on Linda and me and how we must now schedule our activities around her. She is the one in charge!

When we got Pixie from the Peace of Mind Rescue agency last Saturday we were told that we could return her at any time.

No way! Not! Pixie is ours. We are committed.

The love that we light in our hearts as we light the love candle on the Advent Wreath is not a conditional love. There is no turning back.
It is not a careful love.
There is no prenuptial agreement here.
There is no backing out.

This is dive in,
take no prisoners,
head-over-heels,
no-holds-barred kind of love.

God is willing to give Jesus the beloved
on behalf of this fickle, unappreciative world.
God is willing to give Jesus even if we reject him.

This is what God would do for love:
God will offer that which is most precious. The strength of this love should bring to mind the pledge of parents when they catch the first glimpse of their newborn child.

In that instant an unbreakable bond is formed with the understood vow, "I will always be there for you."

It is fierceness like that of a tigress or a mother bear—“I will fight for you, if necessary,” God says. I will defend you with my life. Although this love will seek to protect
and promises never to abandon,
it does not and cannot promise
an absence of danger, loss or stress.

As we face the longest night of the year this coming week we remember that God promises that the love of God will never end;
the evil that exists cannot prevail.

It's not a gilded path free of pain or sorrow, but rather the faithfulness along a precarious journey;
it's the promise of a love that is steadfast,
strong
and true.

We can count on this love, no matter what comes. As creative as some marriage proposals might be, it's this mature,
lasting love
that every couple really needs.

They need a love that offers the armor and protection that is needed to see them through the ups and downs that await them down the road. That love arrives in a simple package,
laid in a manger,
approachable by all who wish to encounter him.

This gift and promise of God is for everyone.

One could mistakenly believe that Advent is about an adorable baby who mysteriously appears annually at this time of year.

Yet this child who is born to us,
this Son who is given is the Savior of the world.

The Advent season asks us to prepare our hearts to receive a love that is humbling in its passion
and amazing in its depth. God's love does not fade, weaken or diminish.
It's offered to us fresh and new every day.

What are we asked to do for this love? Simply say "yes" to God who is always willing to give us more.

Longest Night
Harry Andersen
Joan Solak
Margaret Nelson
Matt Maybaurer
Compassionate God, as we face the longest night in this time of darkness, we wait for the One who will come to us.

As we revel in the merriment of the season we need to remember there are also many for whom the holiday season isn’t one of joy and good cheer.
We pray for those who cannot see the light in the darkness, that they would find hope in the promise of the Christ child.
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.We pray for those who grieve this Advent season that they would know your hope in the promise of the resurrection.
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.We pray for those who struggle to feel joy because lack of employment, that they would have faith that you will provide.
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.We pray for our military families who are separated by great distance from their loved ones serving in Iraq, Afghanistan or elsewhere, whose tables have an empty seat this Christmas.
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.We pray for those whose family dynamics make holidays not a time of festive joy but of stress and anger.
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.We lift our joys and give over our concerns to your tender care as we pray the prayer that you pray for your disciples of all ages saying……

Restore Us O God: Joy, December 11, 2011, Dr. Norm Mowery, Pastor

2011-12-12T16:18:00.000-08:00

Restore Us, O God: Joy
Psalm 126 12/11/2011 Third Sunday of Advent
The Church of the Wayfarer
Dr. Norm Mowery, Pastor

The theme for this the third Sunday of Advent is JOY.

Talk about joy.

Yesterday, from the first moment that I met Pixie, I experienced sheer joy! Pixie is the cutest, most lovable and adorable rescue dog in the whole world. I am thrilled to announce that Linda and I are in the process of becoming Pixie’s family.

It was sheer joy for me at first sight.

Some weeks ago I read about a man who recovered his wallet that was lost for 63 years, and rejoices.

I thought that that story was a great example of joy until I met Pixie.

As we journey to the Christ Event during this Advent Season, we imagine the joy that man had as he recovered a piece of his identity!
Have you ever lost your wallet? It’s hard to imagine something more traumatic.

Our wallets contain the proof of our identity,
They tell others we're licensed to drive a car,
We carry our cash and credit cards in them,
just about everything we need to move about in the world can be found in our wallets.

You can tell a lot about a person by what they have in their wallets.
A few years ago as Linda and I were flying to China we lost Linda’s Passport.
Panic.
Fear.
I could imagine either being sent home or going to jail when we arrived in Bejing.

Relief.
Joy—when the flight attendant found it among the purses on the floor of the plane.
It was a man named Bill Fulton who lost his wallet in 1946, and 63 years later he'd pretty much forgotten about it. Bill's not sure exactly when or under what circumstances he accidentally dropped his smooth leather wallet behind the wooden bleachers at Baker Middle School in Baker City, Oregon.

It was probably during a basketball game between the Baker Bulldogs and some long forgotten opponent.

There it sat for 63 years until a worker found it in June 2009, while tearing out the old bleachers at the school.

The wallet was found right where Bill had dropped it; along with stuff other students had dropped back there during the school's history:
some old homework,
and lost library books. The next day, the Baker Middle School secretary brought the newly found wallet to Fulton's home in Baker City and reported, "He was pretty much amazed.”

"He just kept saying, 'Thank you. Thank you so much.'" Bill was overjoyed to have it back, but not necessarily because of what was still in it. His Social Security Card was still tucked in its usual place. He didn't have any cash to begin with, so none was missing. His bicycle license was in there.

While all those things were important at the time, the real value of the wallet for Bill was the memories it brought back of a wonderful period in his 78 years of life. After high school, Bill went off to the Korean War, then to Berlin, and back to Baker City where he worked for a lumber company for 30 years.

If only for a moment, feeling the leather of that long lost wallet reminded Bill that life has all been worth it, and reminds him of who he is. Finding something we've lost—especially something as valuable as a wallet that reminds us who we are—is cause for both relief and joy.

On this Sunday during Advent, as we light the candle of joy, we celebrate the fact that God exposes our lost and hidden identity and, to borrow the words of the psalmist, restores our "fortunes". Psalm 126 is a musical piece that pilgrims would sing on their pilgrimage up to Jerusalem—to Zion and the temple.

Like an ode to a lost wallet, the psalm is divided into two parts, each beginning with the restoration of the "fortunes" of Zion and God's people.

The phrase "restore our fortunes" is difficult to translate but it's usually used to denote the radical change between the conditions that existed as the result of the exile and the conditions that result from
God's restoration,
forgiveness
and divine favor.

It means the restoration of the situation between God and God's people that existed before the people's apostasy or rebellion. The people who were once lost,
scattered
and forgotten
would now be found,
brought together
and remembered forever. Notice, however, that the phrase is used as a past-present contrast between the two parts of the psalm. The first section brings up memories of the past. Back in the good old days, the psalmist seems to be saying, things were great, "dreamy," if you will.

Back then, he says, everyone laughed and shouted for joy.

Humans have a tendency to remember "the good old days" with fondness, and something like recovering a wallet or finding a photo from a bygone era makes us nostalgic.

Maybe it's part of our healthy defense mechanisms to dwell on good things, but the psalmist seems to imply that the passage of time and the painful remembrance of sin can turn the good old days into only a memory.

Reputations can be lost,
good memories clouded by hard truths,
and joy squelched by the realization of what we've lost.
From the moment of our birth, life is a series of loses! The psalmist, however, doesn't dwell on the past but invites God to restore the people's memories by giving them a vision of the future. Those shouts of joy whose echoes have long faded can be lifted again if we return to the Lord. "Restore our fortunes, O Lord," prays the psalmist in the present tense. What good things the pilgrims remember about the past they pray for in the present.

Zion can be restored,
sins can be forgiven,
new life can emerge
and a fresh start can be embarked upon.

The psalmist equates God's forgiveness and reconciling love to the way water flows in the desert—a vision of refreshment and sustenance in the midst of the harsh and brutal reality of the pain of life.

Such a vision turns tears and weeping into shouts of joy and the seed of hope can grow into a harvest that will sustain the people forever. The psalmist thus teaches us that joy isn't just a good feeling that arises spontaneously.

Instead, we feel joy most intently after the resolution of a period of distress.

It's one thing to be happy to be carrying around a wallet that we take for granted, it's quite another to find that wallet after a long period of searching for it frantically.

It's one thing to live in God's grace when everything's going well, but it's quite another to experience the reality of that same grace after a period when we ourselves have been lost,
searching
or distant from God.

It's not just something you nod and smile about but, it's something you have to shout about! Like Lent, Advent is a season of preparation,
self-examination,
repentance
and restoration.

The culture around us celebrates the "joy" of Easter and Christmas, but it's really more a general sense of warm and fuzzy feelings connected to holiday memories with family and friends.

The joy the Psalmist feels is not the warm and fuzzy feeling I have for Pixie, either!

Real joy only comes after we've been willing to allow God to deal with the brokenness in our lives,
which is what the season Advent is designed to do.

We can't really express the joy of being found unless we are first able to name the fact that we've been lost—that we need God!

We light the candle of "joy" during Advent because we want to recognize that the coming of Jesus is the climax of all of history.

That's why the babe in the manger is the ultimate discovery. When we were lost, God himself came to find us! Bill Fulton could only keep repeating "Thank you, thank you" when that long lost wallet showed up at his door in the hands of a caring school secretary.

The third Sunday of Advent is an opportunity for us to say "Thank you" to God for giving us the ability to discover our true identities as children of God and to shout with joy! You’ve heard the phrase, ‘Naughty Or Nice?’ If you've been naughty we are told that Santa may skip a nocturnal visit to your house.

This week I discovered that if you're not sure, you can go to http://www.santaclaus.net/Naughty.asp and type your name into a box, and Santa will do some research and let you know how you're doing.

When I typed in Mike Fillmore the naughty/nice meter went up to green which meant, “Great job, you are perfect!”

When I typed in— Norm Mowery, ops; I better not tell you any more!

The fact is you can't teach happiness.
You cannot earn it, buy it or deserve it.
It is a divine gift to receive rather than a goal to pursue. The opposite of joy is not sadness or sorrow but anxiety.

Jesus encouraged his followers, "Do not worry about your life. Consider the joy of the birds in their morning songs, or the flowers in their springtime glory.”

"Happiness is a warm puppy" is one of the most famous quotes by Peanuts comic strip creator, Charles Schulz.

Schulz is a man who, by every ordinary standard, should have known what happiness is. At the height of his success, in the 1980s, he was one of the 10 highest-paid entertainers in America. A not so recent biography of Schulz presents a different picture of this beloved figure's inner life. He was a tortured soul, troubled by frequent bouts with depression. In fact he was lonely and unhappy.
When Schulz was pulling in the unprecedented sum of over a million dollars a week from his comic strip and its merchandising empire he built an ice-hockey rink outside his family's home in Santa Rosa.

Schulz's hockey rink includes a fully-equipped snack bar. It is called, "The Warm Puppy Snack Bar."

It's almost as though Schulz knew that happiness was not to be found in earning and spending millions, or in being world famous.

The truest happiness is found in small, ordinary experiences: like sitting quietly at home with a sleeping dog on one's lap.

That is what I intend to do this evening with Pixie!

The truest happiness is found, in other words, in simple gratitude for the goodness of God's creation.

Today, let God’s joy find you!

Will you please excuse me? I must go home and walk Pixie.

Prayer
O Creator, promise for the world, hear our prayers during this time of wait-ing. We hear your call to journey toward the light, and yet we stumble. Our journey toward your promise of Christ's coming is filled with doubt, pain and often despair that there is meaning in the waiting.
Our losses, our worries overtake us, so that we dwell in darkness rather than moving toward the light.

[silent prayer]

Create in us the thread of hope that pulls us forward from promise to the miracle of new life.
Create in us a clean spirit so that our journey is no longerweary, but filled with the energy of adventure!
As the Christ child comes, so we, too, come back to you this day and we join disciples of all ages in praying your prayer saying…..

Restore Us, O God: Peace, December 4, 2011

2011-12-05T11:18:00.000-08:00

After a very long and boring sermon, the parishioners filed out of the church saying nothing to the preacher. Toward the end of the line was a thoughtful person who always commented on the sermons. "Pastor, today your sermon reminded me of the peace and love of God!" The pastor was thrilled. "No one has ever said anything like that about my preaching before. Tell me why." "Well," said the parishioner, "It reminded me of the Peace of God because it ‘passed all understanding’ and the Love of God because ‘it endured forever!’"

Psalm 85 contains the verb "to restore." This suggests a theme that speaks to the spiritual hunger within us—that of having once known a very precious truth or felt a very special experience that has somehow slipped from our grasp.

The human dilemma is that we spend a lot of time groping
on our hands and knees in the dark,
hoping to find a light that will reveal the meaning of life, or a lantern that will light our path.

What we need is the Light of the World, to come to us and reveal the truth, and perhaps to remind us that the treasure we've been seeking isn't the true treasure after all.

Last Sunday I talked about the Restoration of Hope. Today we look at the Restoration of Peace.

On Friday night Linda and I took our granddaughters, Emma and Kira, to the Christmas tree lighting ceremony at Devendorf Park. It was a festive time with Santa, music, food, hot cider—an all American evening.

I couldn’t wait to see the expressions on my granddaughter’s faces when the tree would be turned into brilliant red and green lights.

As I waited I thought, “I wish that we could just wait for a time and then magically the world would be transformed into a world of peace.”

After counting down 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 the tree magically changed from darkness to brilliance and I was not disappointed by Emma and Kira’s reactions. Emma said several times. “This is the best day of my life!” and “This is like the magic at Disneyland.” And grandpa’s eyes got tears!

That is the magic that the Psalmist expresses as he visions the restoration of peace in our world. I have come across a chain of stores called Restoration Hardware. This high-end store is where people go when they want to step back in time and buy an item that reminds them of some golden age from the past like:
Paris in the 1880s.
Hollywood in the 1940s.
The space race of the 1960s. People who buy things at Restoration Hardware look back with longing, feeling that something precious has been lost. They want a missing treasure to be restored. And so do we. Our world’s darkness is not going to be eliminated by a Hollywood lamp designed to illuminate the famous faces of classic films.

We long for a lantern that will light our path,
a beacon to guide us and lead us home.
And so we light a candle—an Advent candle.
Each Sunday we light another candle and say, "Restore us, O God." Restore our hope.
Restore our peace.
Restore our joy.
Restore your love. We know we need restoration but not something we can buy at Restoration Hardware.
True peace will escape us until our restless hearts begin to rest in God.

Serenity cannot be granted by
a diploma,
a promotion,
a McMansion
or a luxury sedan.

It comes to us as a gift from God, and it includes the restoration of our relationship with God. I recently learned about an artist named Franck Mercedes who is taking the idea of peace packages literally. He mails small boxes with abstract designs on the outside to anyone, anywhere in the world—for free. Pasted under the address is a label that reads:
Fragile.
Handle with Care.
Contains Peace.

When I read about that I thought, “That’s fun. I’ll order one.” When I did so I discovered that it would be back ordered for eight months unless I paid extra and got VIP shipping! That’s the way it is with peace. We wait patiently. There is not enough of it available so it is back ordered and if we want it now we must pay a price! Franck says that we expect something of value to come in a box. But his boxes are empty of everything except a message that has no price, such as "Peace," "Love" or "Hope." Since 2006, the artist and his wife have mailed more than 9,000 boxes to people around the world. Franck's hope is that people who receive his boxes will devote some thought and conversation to intangibles such as peace, love and hope. The idea has now spread to schools and churches that are making their own boxes. God offers a peace package, too. When God sends a peace package, the box is never empty and it is not back ordered. You don’t pay extra for express shipping. God offers peace but God requires a response. The only way we will benefit from this gift is to accept it. Each of us must accept this package, instead of choosing to "return to sender," unopened. When we open it, a precious collection of treasures spills out. "Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet," says the psalm, "righteousness and peace will kiss each other.
Faithfulness will spring up from the ground, and righteousness will look down from the sky.
The Lord will give what is good, and our land will yield its increase.
Righteousness will go before him, and will make a path for his steps". God's peace package contains more than meets the eye. Packed into this box is the entire character of God:
Steadfast love,
faithfulness,
righteousness,
peace and goodness.

All of these qualities are intertwined and mutually supportive, since love is connected closely to faithfulness, and true peace is always dependent on the presence of justice and righteousness.

It is impossible for peace to exist in a community or a country that is marked by injustice and unrighteousness. As one American leader said in the mid-20th century, "Peace and justice are two sides of the same coin." The speaker was not a peace activist or a radical. He was Dwight David Eisenhower, five-star general and president of the United States.

Peace and justice are two sides of the same coin, in the world as we know it and in the peace package that comes to us from God. As the Hebrew prophet Micah says, “Do justice. Love kindness. Walk humbly with your God.” When we tear open this package, we find the gift of God's own self.
We need this gift now more than ever because we are not going to find peace by shopping at Restoration Hardware—even if we could afford it.

The economic recovery is moving slowly, and our material fortunes have not yet been restored. But even in tough economic times, God gives us the gift of non-material wealth:
Steadfast love,
faithfulness,
righteousness,
peace,
and goodness. Nonmaterial wealth.
Not the kind of riches we normally pursue. We don't really need Hollywood lamps or space pens, aviator-wing desks or models of the Eiffel Tower—all things you can buy at Restoration Hardware. The treasure that needs restoration today is the gift of Christ at Christmas.

It is through the birth of Jesus that God speaks "peace to his people."
Our homework is to send a peace package? In this season of Advent, why not respond to God’s gift by sending out some peace packages of your own? So what could it mean to send a peace package?

Extend steadfast love to a teenager who is rebelling.
Practice faithfulness in your marriage.
Show kindness in your school or workplace, by being honest and fair in all of your activities.
Work for peace in your relationships,
looking for ways to reduce tensions and increase harmony
.
If you invest as much in these packages as in your holiday gifts this year will turn out to be your best Christmas ever.
Restore us, O God. Give us the gift of your peace, so that we can share it with others.

Prayer

Most gracious God, we are bound for Bethlehem and we come with gratitude that you are ever with us as we journey.
Help us as we travel to stay on the path and keep us focused on the purpose of our mission.
We confess that in the busyness of this season, we stray from the holy day and concentrate instead on the holiday.
So we would ask that you guide us. As we put up our Christmas lights, might we be reminded of your light.
As we trim our trees, let us take time to share the treasured memories of family gatherings so that it is your love that decorates our homes.
As we shop for gifts, keep us mindful of whose birthday we celebrate.
When we bake cookies and make candy, let us stir in forgiveness ... serenity ... peace ... joy ... and love so that they reflect the gift of your presence. We are bound for Bethlehem, O God.
We each must answer as to whether there is room inside the inn of our hearts for you.
Grant that it might be so.
We pray in the name of the one whom the wisest seek, the baby Jesus the Christ, the Messiah who taught us to say…

Restore Us O God: HOPE, Nov. 27, 2011 ~ First Sunday of Advent

2011-11-28T11:15:00.000-08:00

Restore Us, O God: Hope
The Church of the Wayfarer
Dr. Norm Mowery, Pastor
First Sunday of Advent 2011
Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19

Anger.
Sorrow.
Enmity.
Or,
Hope.
Peace.
Joy.

Which do you choose?

Where are you on your life’s journey right now?

Are you choosing anger, sorrow and enmity or hope, peace and joy?

Two weeks ago Linda and I were in Fairbanks, Alaska, for the funeral of my sister-in-law who died suddenly at the age of 65 leaving behind my brother, eleven children and twenty-two grandchildren—with more grandchildren on the way!

For us the trip to attend the funeral was an adventure. It was below zero when we arrived in Fairbanks. The clerk at the Budget Rental Car lectured us as to how to drive in snow and then told us that the car was outside and was plugged in!

“Plugged in?” I asked.

“Yes, at night the cars have to be plugged in to keep the oil warm or there could be major damage for which you are responsible,” the clerk said.

And then she really talked down to me! “And sir,” she said, “Don’t forget to unplug it before you drive away!”

“Daaah! Sure! Makes sense!” I thought.

There is more that I would love to tell you about that trip including my nephew spilling Linda and me off the ‘snow machine’ in minus 15 degree weather but what I will remember the most was the feeling the people had at Margaret’s funeral.

The funeral was at the town of North Pole, Alaska. Actually it was way out in the country. It was held in a beautiful large log church that my brother and his family helped to start.

I’m sure that the pastor was thrilled the day that Charles, Margaret and eleven children came walking in! Instant Sunday school!

The thing that struck me the most at the funeral was that there were very few tears. There was only the feeling of hope. More than three hundred people were rejoicing that Margaret was in heaven with Jesus.

Rather than choosing
anger, sorrow and enmity
they were choosing hope, peace and joy?

On this first Sunday of Advent we remember that God's timeless message is, ‘Hope is born anew.’
I am looking forward to the next weeks with you as we journey together to the Christ Event.

Each Sunday during Advent I will be speaking about the psalms from our Lectionary Readings. In all of my years of ministry I have never preached from the Psalms during Advent.

All of the Psalms we will be looking at contain the verb "to restore."

This suggests a theme that speaks to the spiritual hunger within all of us—that of having once known a very precious truth that has somehow slipped from our grasp.

It indicates reconnecting with a time when we felt close to God.

The human dilemma is that we spend a lot of time groping on our hands and knees in the dark, hoping to find a light that will reveal the meaning of life.

Clearly the writer of the Psalms feels that God's love has been restored; once again.

Here we see the ultimate evidence that
God has not abandoned us,
but rather loves us,
is committed to us
and is among us. In this sermon series I will be looking at:
Restoration of Hope,
Restoration of Peace,
Restoration of Joy
Restoration of Love.

The word restore indicates that we once had something that has been lost or has slipped away. It indicates that we want God to bring us back spiritually to where we were at one time in the past or to return us to a past feeling or experience.

The word restore indicates that we want God to refresh us or revive us.

The word ‘revive’ or ‘revival’ brings back memories for me. I was raised in a faith tradition that had Revival Meetings. These were week long or more series of meetings that were designed to bring people back to renewal in their faith and often times they were highly charged with emotion.

It is my prayer that during this Season God’s spirit of renewal will be with us.

If you are not experiencing the hope, peace and joy you once experienced in life it is my prayer that you will be
restored, revived, renewed
over the next weeks.

Let God bring you back to wholeness.

Three times in Psalm 80 the refrain says:
Restore us, O God;
Let your face shine,
That we may be saved!

Let’s say it together….

At various times in my life I have prayed this prayer and each time it was during times of searching, questioning and turmoil in my life.

· As a young teen I felt that I was not good enough to be a pastor. I felt guilt, fear and enmity with myself so I prayed, “Restore me, O God; let your face shine that I might be saved!
· My last year in seminary was a difficult time of discernment. I struggled with many questions:
Should I change denominations and leave the church of my youth?
Would the United Methodists accept me?
Would I be a success as a pastor? So I prayed, “Restore me, O God; let your face shine that I might be saved.”
· At mid life I felt overwhelmed with the cares of ministry. I was drained. I had experienced numerous loses. During that time I prayed, “Restore me, O God; let your face shine that I might be saved.”
· Before I came here over eight years ago I felt a need for a sabbatical for renewal, revival and restoration. It was a wonderful ten months as I prayed, “Restore me, O God; let your face shine that I might be saved.”

People are talking or communicating with each other more frequently than at any other time in human history.

I see people texting as they are driving,
talking on cell phones as they eat
and spending hours on Facebook.

Just back a few years ago if you wanted to talk to someone you might:
a) pick up the phone—a black device owned by the Bell company,
b) write a letter and post it in the mail,
c) record a message on a little spool of tape, or
d) actually go visit someone and chat face-to-face.

Recently a teenager got in my car and said, “Gee this car must be old.”
I said, “It is 10 years old but why do you say that?” He said, “Because it has a cassette tape player.” That’s old?!
Today we talk on the mobile phone, but many prefer to text. We visit with friends, but drop-in visits are a thing of another era. The concept of ‘face time’ has taken on a whole new meaning with the advent of Skype.

"Face time" no longer means sitting down, face-to-face, looking into the eyes of another human being.

· Advent is about ‘face time’ with God. However, our time spent one on one with God is on the endangered list.
· Advent celebrates the Word-becomes-flesh God.
· Advent announces that God was not willing to have a distant, arms-length relationship with us.
· Advent is all about God's willingness—even insistence—to be vulnerable,
accessible,
reachable,
and attainable.
· Advent breaks down the barriers between the created and the Creator. God begins Advent with a ‘text’ message.
There's the star in the sky;
There’s Gabriel and company;
There are the shepherds and anyone else who will listen. But messaging was not enough.
God did not choose to communicate through a third person. God's desire was to deliver the Good News of hope in person.
God chose ‘face time’ in a way that would change the world.

Psalm 80 repeats the heartfelt need of God's children:
"Restore us, O God;
let your face shine,
that we may be saved".

This writer isn't asking for a message or a brief assurance.
These are people without hope.
They fear being utterly consumed and lost.
They feel alienated and alone.
They need a word of hope and assurance.
Without hope they're doomed to utter despair. This is a cry for a relationship,
for personal interaction,
for "face time" with God. The prayer of the psalmist echoes the hopeful yearning of God's people today.

"Let your face shine that we may be saved," is the call of people who are surrounded by technology but are still lonely for meaningful communication.

It's the cry of people who may receive hundreds of texts every day but who still feel unheard.

It is the yearning of the human heart which needs to be transformed by love. This is the promise of Advent -- that God's strength meets us in the midst of our weakness.
We need God who is our hope—in person, tangible.

Not a message, not a text, not even just a star in the sky. We don't simply want the trappings of Advent; we want a hopeful sense that we're okay, that there's a future, that God is with us, that there's more to life than tinsel. "Come to save us!" we cry out to God. And God does. And that is a message of hope.

One of the true originals of World War II was Winston Churchill, who led the British people through "their finest hour" of resistance to the Nazis. There was a time in the struggle of the British when things looked dark indeed. London was being bombed daily. The courage of the citizenry seemed to be wearing thin. Only 21 miles of water separated them from the fearsome invasion force that Hitler was assembling on the French coast. Just as the situation seemed most desperate, Churchill called a meeting of his most trusted advisers. He laid out for them the facts: that the nation stood alone, and that they were doing so with few resources other than spirit and courage. The room fell silent before the Prime Minister's gloomy appraisal. It became clear, as the leaders of government glanced around at each other's ashen faces that at least some of them were ready to suggest giving in.

Then Churchill said quietly to the hushed gathering, "Gentlemen, I find it rather inspiring." One of Churchill's greatest attributes, as a leader, was his capacity to transmit hope to others.

Can we?
Will we?

Enough: Discovering Joy Through Simplicity and Generosity; 1. When Dreams Become Nightmares, October 23, 2011

2011-10-24T11:34:00.000-07:00

Enough: Discovering Joy Through Simplicity and Generosity
When Dreams Become Nightmares
The Church of the Wayfarer
Dr. Norm Mowery, Pastor
October 23, 2011

Jane Biswanger sent the following this week. It’s titled, “Who Does What?”
A man and his wife were having an argument about who should brew the coffee each morning.
The wife said, “You should do it because you get up first and then we don’t have to wait as long to get our coffee.”
The husband said, “You are in charge of cooking around here. It is your job.”
The wife replied, “No, you should do it because it says in the Bible that the man should make the coffee.”
The man said, “I don’t believe that. Show me.”
So the wife fetched the Bible and opened the New Testament and showed him that at the top of several pages it indeed says….

HEBREWS!

Thanks for your sense of humor, Jane.

Stress.
Anxiety.
Fear.
These words capture well the state of mind of many of us in America today.

We have witnessed dramatic market losses;
the collapse of the world’s largest insurance company
and foreclosures of homes.
The economic nightmare goes on and on. Everyday seems to bring another piece of economic uncertainty.

When I got my third quarter pension statement last week I dreaded opening it. It was even worse that I thought it would be!

The declining state of our nation’s economy is taking a physical and emotional toll.
That is why this series of four messages is important. Over the next four weeks we will look at—
Enough: Discovering Joy through Simplicity and Generosity.

The causes of our national economic woes are many. I for one, am tired of the finger pointing and blaming that is taking place in Washington today. I think it will get worse during the next year before the presidential election.

The ultimate causes of our economic nightmare are not financial but spiritual. At least five of the seven deadly sins come into play both on “Wall Street” and “Main Street”:
Gluttony
Greed
Sloth
Envy
And pride.
These led to absurd economic practices around the world that bordered on the criminal.

It was not simply the CEOs and Wall Street types who danced to this tune. It was every one of us whose 401ks prospered by their efforts.

More than that, it was most of us who abandoned financial wisdom and borrowed beyond our capacity to repay in order to buy houses, cars and whatever our heart desired.

Unwilling to delay gratification, we used tomorrow’s money to finance today’s lifestyle.
We stopped saving,
took the equity out of our homes,
and we charged away as if there was no tomorrow.
But tomorrow did come.

And many Americans woke up with an economic hangover.

This series of messages is an invitation for us to rediscover truths that will suggest that joy and contentment are found in simplicity and generosity.

I am not suggesting that any of us live in poverty.
There is no sin in having wealth.
Money itself is morally neutral.
It can be used for good or evil.
It is the love of money that the Scripture says is a root of all kinds of evil.

The problem arises when we make the acquisition of wealth and material possessions our focus in life.

Jesus was right to warn us that we cannot serve both God and wealth—only one can be important in our life.

The government has a role to play in times of economic uncertainty. But the primary problems that led to the economic crisis are not solved by government policy. They are spiritual issues that require a change within the individual. And it is right and proper that the church struggles with this justice issue.

Several years ago the Royal Bank of Scotland sent out a offer for a Gold MasterCard to Monty Slater. The card came with a $20,000 credit limit—quite impressive for his first credit card, particularly when you consider that Monty is a dog.

That may be funny but it illustrates a truth: We live in a world that encourages us to live beyond our means.

When Linda and I were first married we had very little money. At the time I was in my first appointment in Burlingame and had just started playing golf. I was sure that if I had new golf clubs my game would be much better.

At the time we also felt that it was important to entertain parishioners in our home. To do so properly, Linda, felt like we needed to buy ironstone dishes.

Both golf clubs and ironstone dishes were major purchases for us at the time but I was sure that my clubs were much more important. Linda was not so sure.

That prompted us to sit down and make a list of all the things we wanted. We each got to put our wishes on the list. Then, we came to the hard part. We went back and prioritized the order that we would purchase each item.

We agreed that we would give ourselves permission to charge one thing at a time but not get the next item till we paid off the charged item. In that way I knew that I would get my golf clubs after we paid off the dishes.

By the way we still have the dishes but my golf game is not any better than it was thirty five years ago. In fact it is worse. Don’t you all think that, just maybe, I need some new clubs again?

When it comes to material possessions and money, we are not in a position to pass judgment on others. Throughout these messages I invite you to think about what God may be speaking to you, rather than to pass judgment on anyone else.

We often speak of the American Dream.

But, what is the American Dream? For most people it has to do with a subconscious desire for achieving success and material possessions. The American Dream is the opportunity to
pursue more than what we have,
to gain more than what we have,
and to meet with success.
We tend to measure our success by the stuff that we possess. Sometimes that stuff fills our homes, storage facilities and garages so that our lives are cluttered.

Consuming,
Acquiring,
Buying—this is what the American Dream has come to mean.

I don’t take today’s message lightly. Many people are living a nightmare like the person who sent me an email just yesterday. It said, “My dreams have definitely turned into nightmares here. Would the Church of the Wayfarer be able to help me with a train ticket out of here?

So, how did the ‘American Dream’ become a nightmare? I think that it is due to two illnesses:

1. Affluenza. This is the constant need for more and bigger and better stuff. Most of us have been infected by this virus to some degree. My weakness is Costco. I love to go to Costco and browse but hardly ever leave without buying something. (Actually, though, the samples are great, too!)

2. Credit-itis. Credit-itis is the opportunity for us to buy now and pay later. It is the illness that promises ‘six months same as cash,’ or a twenty percent discount if you apply for the store credit card. Our economy today is built on the concept of credit-itis.

It didn’t used to be that way.

Remember when you could ‘layaway’ clothes? You didn’t get them till you paid for them. Kids today don’t know what layaway is.

I could talk about new car loans, home mortgages, home equity loans (ops. That’s one that is a sensitive topic in the Mowery house!) and, much more but we would be here all morning.

The point is this: We have become a credit-crazed society. This is the American nightmare. The sobering fact is that the number one cause of divorce is financial issues.

There is a spiritual issue that lies beneath the surface of affluenza and credit-itis.

Jesus said it this way, “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?”

From the parable in our scripture this morning we learn that what we sow we reap. The point of the parable is that when any person sows a seed they cannot and must not look for quick results. There is never any haste in nature’s growth.

It takes a long, long time before an acorn becomes an oak.

We live in an age that looks for quick results, but in sowing the seed we must sow in patience and sow in hope, and sometimes we must leave the harvest to the years.

In this generation we would do well to take this message to heart.

And that is exactly the answer as we seek healing from affluenza and credit-itis.

We need a changed heart,
which results in changed desires
and a changed sense of our life purpose.

I believe that as we seek first God’s kingdom we begin to sense a higher calling—a calling to simplicity and generosity. We begin to look at ways we can make a difference with our time, talents and resources.

Financial serenity is a term that I love.
I am not suggesting we should never buy anything for ourselves.
I am not suggesting we should not buy something we want.
I am suggesting that, with the help of God, we simplify our lives so we are able to live generously and faithfully.

The sect of Christians called Shakers were known for their simplicity as well as other things. Perhaps the best known Shaker song is “Simple Gifts.” This song was sung as people danced and worshipped. They are on the words of the banners before us.

Speaking of simplicity—Steve Jobs and Walt Disney were two dreamers and gamblers. These two men defied all the naysayers and changed the world.
And they both did it with a mouse!

With that I guess I better stop. I need to go buy some new golf clubs!

Let us pray:
Lord, help me to be grateful for what I have,
to remember that I don’t need most of what I want,
and that joy is found in simplicity and generosity. Amen.

Seeing Gray in a World of Black and White: 5. Spiritual Maturity, September 25, 2011

2011-09-26T11:49:00.000-07:00

Seeing Gray in a World of Black and White;
5. Spiritual Maturity
The Church of the Wayfarer
Dr. Norm Mowery, Pastor
September 25, 2011
Matthew 18:1-5; 1 Corinthians 13:1

A little boy had been misbehaving and was sent to his room. After a while he emerged and informed his mother that he had thought it over and then said a prayer. "Fine," said the pleased mother. "If you ask God to help you not misbehave, God will help you." "Oh, I didn't ask God to help me not misbehave," said Johnny. "I asked him to help you put up with me."

Today we once more look at ‘Seeing Gray in a World of Black and White.’ I want us to consider what it means to be spiritually mature. This is the final message in this five week series based on Rev. Adam Hamilton’s book by the same title.

Simply put, spiritual maturity is characterized by two things—
trust and love.

I believe that God wants us:
To be life long learners
To grow in our faith
And, to ask good questions.

Yesterday I was privileged to attend the Authors and Ideas Conference at the Sunset Center. As I listened to renowned speaker after speaker I was reminded about how much I have to learn.

The mature Christian is the one who realizes that there is mystery, that God created and is still creating, and that God wants us to grow in our faith.

In this church it is okay to question what I say.
In this church it is okay to question the Bible.
In this church we do not have all the answers.

The mature Christian is the one,
who will think,
question
and be open to learning from all persons.

God does not spoon feed us with the answers to the issues of our day.

There was a group of military leaders who succeeded in building a super computer that was able to solve any problem--large or small. One day these leaders assembled in front of the new machine for a demonstration.

The engineer conducting the demonstration instructed these officers to feed a difficult tactical problem into it. The military leaders proceeded to describe a hypothetical situation to the computer and then asked the pivotal question: attack or retreat?

This enormous super computer hummed away for an hour and then printed out its one-word answer . . . YES. The generals looked at each other, somewhat stupefied. Finally one of them submitted a second request to the computer: YES WHAT?

Instantly the computer responded: YES, SIR!

Many people are just like that. They want to be hand fed simple answers. They want milk rather than a solid diet of faith. The Pharisees that Jesus encountered, like these generals, were accustomed to people saying "Yes, sir" to them.

They were the religious authorities.
They were use to being treated as VIP’s.
They were the people with the answers.

When Jesus came to them there was a new teacher in town, a teacher who was threatening their authority. The Pharisees were alarmed.

In their eyes, Jesus was preaching heresy and leading people away from the religious traditions. The Pharisees wanted to expose him as a fraud. They didn’t want people to question what they were teaching.

Jesus knew that ‘Love Your Enemies Doesn’t Mean Don’t Make Any’. He challenged the conventional thinking of the day.

Sometimes I have people come to me and say, “Tell me what I am supposed to believe.”

I prefer to encourage people to think for themselves,
to study the Scriptures,
listen for the voice of the Spirit.
The reality is that although some things in life are black and white with absolute certainty, many other things are gray.

When we refuse to be open and to trust, division soon results.

1. There is the division of denominationalism
Seeing gray is the capacity to look at other Christian denominations that disagree with us and say, “I might disagree with you, but I still love you. Instead of being undone by our differences, I’m going to listen and hear what you have to say; and maybe my own faith will be enriched and strengthened as a result.”

The ability to listen and learn from one another requires humility.

On Friday I had a little wedding here in the Wayfarer Gardens. A couple from Texas had planned a large wedding in Texas. The date was set. The invitations had been sent. All arrangements were made.

But then divisions arose between the families about the service. There were great arguments. The couple felt overwhelmed so the groom called me to see if I would marry them in our gardens—no family, no music—just me and them.

However the bride was Jehovah’s Witness and the groom had no faith! When they called me with just a few days notice they asked if I would I be willing to marry them—so that they could get away from their fighting families. They also requested that I not mention the Trinity or the cross.

I asked them if they believed in love. They said, “Yes.”
Is it okay if I talk about love in your wedding?”
“Yes,” they said.
I said, “Love is good enough for me.” And I married them.

Did I do the right thing? I honestly don’t know. I know that I tried to show them Jesus, the Trinity and the cross by offering unconditional love.

That was Friday. On Saturday I had a little blessing for a one year old child. When that family called they said that they did not want a baptism but they wanted a blessing for their child.

“Would I do a ceremony for them in the church that is not Christian?” they asked. Some of the family was Buddhist, some Christians and some had no faith.

Here I found myself standing in front of them offering them Jesus even though they didn’t know it! Did I do the right thing? I think so.

Don’t get me wrong. I am clear that I love my Jesus. Jesus is my savior. I won’t compromise that. But, I believe that if the world out there will just crack their heart’s door open a bit then it is my job to try to open it a little more.

If we want to overcome religious divisions, we must humble ourselves, listen, learn from one another and serve one another. As we do, we will grow in spiritual maturity.

2. The division of liberals verses conservatives
Another major division within Christianity is the split between liberals and conservatives. This division has existed since the beginning of Christianity.

I believe that if we only have the gospel represented by the conservatives or only by the liberals, we have a faith that is imbalanced. Ideally, if we can bring the two together giving us a faith that captures the richness and fullness of whom God is.

The Apostle Paul says, “And now faith, hope and love abide and the greatest of these is love.” Spiritual maturity is trusting with childlike faith while never letting go of hope.

Mike Rowe has made a career out of doing dirty jobs. As the host of the Discovery Channel series “Dirty Jobs,” Rowe has done some of the dirtiest jobs on the planet.

Rowe has consistently shown his viewers how even the most grungy, grimy, gross job still has its own dirty dignity.

Whether he is scraping up penguin poop or harvesting worms the underlying message of “Dirty Jobs” is that no matter how nasty, a job is a job and doing it well gives a sense of well-being.

Likewise, Jesus taught that we must get involved in the real struggles of the world. Sometimes living the Christian faith is a dirty job.

Jesus touched and healed the untouchables.
Jesus comforted a Roman centurion grieving for his daughter.
Jesus extended his hand to those out of their minds.

1. As mature Christians we need to get all the facts.
A little boy was standing on the sidewalk in the middle of a city block. He was obviously waiting for something. An older man approached him and asked what he was waiting for.

The little boy confidently told the older man that he was waiting for the bus. The man said the bus stop was in the next block. The boy acknowledged that fact but insisted the bus would stop for him right here.

The older man became annoyed. He raised his voice and told the little boy that he'd better start walking if he hoped to ride that bus. The boy politely turned down the suggestion and said he would wait for the bus right where he stood.

The man started walking off. But before he was too far away, he heard the screeching of brakes. He turned around and couldn't believe his eyes. The bus was actually stopping for the little boy. The bus door opened and the boy started climb aboard. But just before he did, he turned toward the man down the street and yelled, "My daddy is the bus driver."

When we have all the facts we can have that kind of confidence.

2. As mature Christians we need to practice what we preach.
One time a High School physician came to the school to talk about the dangers of smoking. He scared the students with his grim pictures of smokers' lungs and tales of death from lung cancer.

All the students were impressed, especially those boys who would sneak out behind at lunch to light one up.

But a couple of the guys saw the doctor himself lighting up when he got back in his car after the lecture. And his credibility was shot. He was the talk of the campus.

It would have been better for the no-smoking campaign if he had never come to speak. Saying one thing and doing another is something nobody respects.

I wonder…..are we living what we teach?

3. As mature Christians we are called to be as humble as a child.
One time the disciples were arguing about who was the greatest—who was most important. What did Jesus do?

He brought in a child and said, “Unless you change and become like children you do not measure up to the kingdom ideals.”

The fact is that change is hard. The only person who likes change is a child with a wet diaper! But, change and grow we must.

The Bible says:
“When I was a child,
I spoke like a child,
I thought like a child,
I reasoned like a child;
When I became an adult,
I put an end to childish ways.

I challenge each of us to strive to grow in faith, hope and love. May we place our trust in God and demonstrate our love for God and others, always holding firmly to the hope we have in Jesus Christ.

Prayer
In the quietness of this moment, matchless God, speak to our hearts. We long to know you completely and fully, but the problem is that our vision and faith are too small to envision your greatness. We can look into the heavens and see countless stars and look in to the outer reaches of our solar system. Yet, when all is said and done, we have explored only a speck of dust in comparison to the vastness of the universe. How, then, can we hope to fathom you, for whom the universe is but a small thing?
How can we hope to explain your presence and power when it wasyou who flung the stars and planets upon the tapestry of space?
We cannot explain you, understand you or limit you, but we can say in faith, "We believe." This is precisely what we say today as we meet as your people.
Honor us in our attempts to share your love,
to spread around your compassion,
to notify people of your presence in our world,
so that they, too, may believe in you –
whom to believe is life eternal.
Amen.

Seeing Gray in a World of Black and White: 4. How Should We Live? The Ethics of Jesus

2011-09-26T11:47:00.000-07:00

Seeing Gray in a World of Black and White:
4. How Should We Live? The Ethics of Jesus
The Church of the Wayfarer
Dr. Norm Mowery, Pastor
September 18, 2011
Luke 10:30-36

The question that I want us to consider this morning is, “How do you determine what is right and wrong?”

I learned the ethical values that I hold today mostly from my parents and my church. I wonder where children today are learning right from wrong.
From TV?
From Video Games?
From Movies?
From the Internet?

If they do not learn them at church where do children learn ethical values today?

I wonder?

This is the fourth in a series of sermons that I have titled, “Seeing Gray in a World of Black and White.” In this message I want us to look at the Ethics of Jesus.

Let us begin by recognizing that there are three primary ways of thinking about ethics.

1. Rules-based Ethics

This involves deciding what is right and wrong based upon a set of rules that some authority has given us. As people of faith, we say this authority is God.

So, we determine what is right and wrong according to what God has told us is right and wrong.

A problem that arises with rules-based ethics is that there are never quite enough rules for every life situation.

In the Gospels we see that Jesus was regularly confronted by the rules-based folks of his day. Although he did not dismiss the idea of rules, he clearly did not follow the letter of the law in every situation.

He continually got into trouble with the Pharisees because he often broke their rules.

Jesus did not throw out the rules, but he chose to be reasonable about them.

2. Outcomes-based Ethics

On the other end of the spectrum is outcomes-based ethics. We also might call this consequence-based ethics.

According to this way of doing ethics, no activity is moral or immoral in and of itself. It is the outcome that determines whether something is moral or immoral so if I do something that hurts someone else, the act is immoral in that given situation because it hurts someone.

If I do the same thing in another situation and it helps someone, then the act is moral in that situation.

Outcomes-based ethics is a very popular way of doing ethics, but it has its problems, too. I lived through the 1960s when the outcomes-based mantra was “If it feels good, do it.”

We know that there are many things we shouldn’t do even though they feel good.

When taken to the extreme this view says that the end justifies the means.

Jesus actually took a stand somewhere between the two extremes—between rules-based ethics and outcomes-based ethics. He did not give up rules, but he also intentionally considered the outcome. By his example, he showed us that there is a balance between the two—a gray area or middle ground.

3. Virtues-based Ethics

Virtues-based ethics involves making decisions based on a set of virtues or values. In every situation, you try to do what those virtues call you to do. As followers of Jesus Christ, we look to the virtues of Jesus when making decisions.

Jesus was compassionate and taught us to be compassionate. So, whenever we see someone who is hungry or thirsty or in need, we do something about it. That’s a virtues-based ethic.

Jesus also told us to serve one another and love one another and forgive one another. Serving and loving and forgiving or showing mercy are all virtues. As followers of Jesus, we choose to do the things that allow us to live into these virtues. That’s a virtues-based way of doing ethics.

It is only when this method of doing ethics is tied to the person and life of Jesus Christ, who is Truth, that it becomes fully trustworthy and true.

As Christians, we are called to follow Jesus Christ. In other words, we are to do those things that Jesus wants us to do.

As followers of Jesus we are to give our lives to him each day.

Gandhi commented on this once. He was intrigued by Jesus and liked the things that Jesus said, but when he looked at Christians, he did not see much evidence that they lived out their faith. He said that everyone seemed to know what Jesus said except Christians.

So, what did Jesus say?

Jesus gave three simple rules in the Sermon on the Mount.

Rule 1: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.

Question: Will this honor God?

Jesus said that this is the greatest and first commandment.

This means that we are to honor God in everything we do. Our lives—all that we say and all that we do—are to express the love of God and our love for God. It means that before every decision we make and every action we take, we must ask ourselves his question: “Will this honor God?”

Rule 2: Love your neighbor as yourself.

Question: What is the loving thing to do?

The second great commandment that Jesus gave us is to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. This was the central ethical principle of Jesus’ teachings. He said that not only are we to love our neighbor; we also are to love our enemy and pray for those who hate us.

Love was the organizing principle of Jesus’ ethics.

So in every situation we ask: What is the loving thing to do?
In every conversation, what is the loving thing to do?
In every business transaction, what is the loving thing to do?
In every situation involving coworkers or employees or family members, what is the loving thing to do?
In every national issue or concern, what is the loving policy that we might pursue?

Rule 3: Do to others as you would have them do to you.

Questions: How would I feel if I were in the other person’s shoes? What would Jesus have me to do in this situation?

We call this the Golden Rule.

Walking in the other person’s shoes was an important organizing principle of ethics for Jesus. The question to ask is, “How would I feel if I were in the other person’s shoes?” Or, “What would Jesus do if he were walking in my shoes?”

We can be certain that the right, moral choice will never contradict the central ethic of love.

No story captures the ethic of love more beautifully than the parable of the Good Samaritan.

Basically the lawyer coming to Jesus was asking, “Whom do I not have to love?”

The last sermon Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. ever preached was on this passage. The conclusion of the sermon King preached that night is often quoted. King said that it wouldn’t matter if he died, because he had been to the mountaintop and had seen the other side. He said that his eyes had seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.

Earlier in the sermon he said that the first question the Levite and the priest asked was: “If I stop to help this man, what’s going to happen to me?” Then the Good Samaritan came by and reversed the question. He asked, “If I don’t stop to help this man, what’s going to happen to him?”

King told his listeners that this was the question before them that night—not, “If I stop to help, what will happen to me? But “if I do not stop to help, what will happen to them?”

As followers of Jesus Christ, this is the question we must ask ourselves on a daily basis: “If I don’t do anything, what’s going to happen to them?”
Prayer
Lord, open for me, Open for me — courage for my fear. Open for me — light for my darkness.
Open for me — peace for my turmoil; hope for my despair, peace for my soul, joy for my sorrow, health for my illness, strength for my weakness, wisdom for my confusion, forgiveness for my sin, love for my hate, praise for my doubt, insight for my troubles. Lord, open for me, your cross for my life! Amen.

Seeing Gray in a World of Black and White: 3. What Would Jesus Say to America?, Sept. 11, 2011

2011-09-13T09:51:00.000-07:00

Seeing Gray in a World of Black and White:
3. What Would Jesus Say to America?
The Church of the Wayfarer
Dr. Norm Mowery, Pastor
September 11, 2011
Jeremiah 9:24; 22:3-5

Today is the 10th anniversary of 9/11.

It is also the first day of NFL Sunday afternoon football.

This morning I am not up to the task of giving you words that will address the horror of 9/11 in any way that is consoling. Along with many of you I watched the reading of the names in New York this morning and a flood of emotions came over me.

As we struggle to find images and stories that might reveal the depth of our emotions on this tenth anniversary we can connect with some of those feelings by holding hands and watching a football game.

The first four televised games of this year’s NFL season were specifically chosen to commemorate the events of 9/11. I find this to be interesting because some have felt that we should not have fun today but rather use our time reflecting.

*At 1 p.m. there is a game between Pittsburgh and Baltimore — midway between those two cities is Shanksville, PA, the site of the crash of flight 93.

*Later in the afternoon there is a game between the New York Giants and the Washington Redskins, played only a few miles from the site of the Pentagon plane attack.

*This afternoon there is a game between Carolina and Arizona, which will feature ceremonies honoring Pat Tillmon, the Cardinals player who left a lucrative pro-football career to join the military after the 9/11 attacks and who was killed in action in Iraq.

*Finally the Dallas Cowboys will play the New York Jets just across the Hudson River in full view of where the Twin Towers fell.

Today is a good day to hold hands with your loved ones as you enjoy the simple act of being together and watch a football game.

Some of us will choose to attend the Peace Fest at Carmel High School others will reflect quietly.

There is only one way to get through the horror of an event like 9/11: it is day by day. “Twelve Step” recovery programs, like Alcoholics Anonymous, all emphasize that recovery is a day-by-day journey.

Since 9/11 we have all been on a “day-by-day” journey of recovery.
Recovery from horror.
Recovery from hatred.
Recovery from the realization that the world does not love us. Recovery from a fear of the future.
Recovery from vengeance.
Recovery from grief and despair.

It has been said that the opposite of faith is not doubt, but fear. Has this been a decade of fear?

I started planning this service several months ago. At that time I sent letters to two leaders of our country who live locally and invited them be here today—Defense Secretary, Leon Panetta and Representative Sam Farr. Leon Panetta said he had previous commitments and Sam Farr said he was needed in Washington.

I just about sent him a note back to say, “I agree. You need to be there more than here!”

In preparation for this message I sent emails to numerous persons in our church family asking if they thought that the attacks on 9/11 were motivated by anger or the desire to control the world with a certain ideology. Here are some of their responses.

One person said, “I think the hijackers on 9/11 were motivated by both: anger at western capitalism, and also their overall ideology of wanting world wide control. I am still angry. I will never forgive them.”

One said, “They were Saudi's and they didn't like the USA relationship with their sheik rulers. I believe that the hijackers look at us like we are the Hitler, not because they want to take over the world.”
One was brutally honest when he wrote back saying, “I think they were ignorant people, misinformed, dominated and controlled by a group of fanatics who were probably so ignorant they did not even know who Hitler was. Try and work that into a sermon!” Well, I just did.

Bill Shewchuk sent a most thoughtful response, “Al-Qaida’s long standing goal is to repel the invading (and now occupying) Americans from Muslim lands.
The current aims of the global jihadists and al-Qaida are to:
Cause the US, their enemy, to reach a state of security exhaustion. Create political confusion—the American public is for the most part tired of war.
Result in economic failure—the cost of the war is a drain on resources at a time of intense fiscal austerity.
It seems that jihadists need only bide their time to achieve mission success.”

I couldn’t believe the level of feeling in some of the responses like this one who said, “Holy crap, Norm! I think it was a display of power. I don't believe they ever thought they could control us. I think it was a matter of blind submission to superiors and the belief that they would be rewarded in heaven.”

Another said, “I feel very conflicted as to my feelings about this anniversary. I think hard questions need to be asked about how our country has acted since 9/11.”

“I think it is important that we now look to the future. Let us as Christians be a light in the darkness of terror, of fear, of retribution. Our message is one of love for all, especially for those whose light of love has become extinguished and turned to hate,” said another.

From these responses we see the broad spectrum of feelings represented here this morning.

This message is the third in a series titled, “Seeing Gray in a World of Black and White.” Today I ask, “What would Jesus say to America?”

To begin the discussion, I would like to introduce three words that are prevalent in Old Testament discussions about Israel’s system of government. These words identify three things that God expected of Israel’s leaders. These words define who God is in the Old Testament. Jesus lived and taught these words.

1. Justice
Justice in the Old Testament is doing the right thing by all people. It is making sure that everyone receives what is fair, right and equitable including those who are not in power.

2. Righteousness
Generally Old Testament references to righteousness refer to
doing the right thing
at the right time
in the right place
for the right reason.

Seeking righteousness is asking in every situation, “What is the thing that would please God?”

Another way of thinking about righteousness is that it is doing
the good or right or caring thing
even when the law does not obligate you to do so—for example, not because there is a police officer waiting to write you a ticket!

3. Mercy
Mercy is not a feeling. It is an action. Whether or not you feel love for someone else, you choose to do love toward the person. You act with kindness, even when the other person does not deserve it. It is doing the kind thing even though others may be unloving or uncaring.

Mercy is a defining characteristic of God. God continually shows us mercy despite the fact that we do not deserve it.

Micah 6:8 sums up all three words.
“What does the Lord require of you
but to do justice,
and to love kindness
and to walk humbly with your God?”

All three words also come together in Jeremiah 9:24.
“I act with mercy, justice, and righteousness in the earth,
for in these things I delight, says the Lord.”

Justice, righteousness and mercy define God. They define what God expects of us in our relationships with one another.

Justice, righteousness and mercy also define the ideals of our country.
This ideal is captured in a great symbol of our nation, the Stature of Liberty in the New York Harbor not far from ground zero.

Lady Liberty holds in her hand a torch of light as a reminder that America is a beacon of light to the nations.

There is a poem called, “The New Colossus,” written by Emma Lazarus inscribed on her. Lady Liberty proclaims (say it with me),
“Give me your tired, your poor
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched effuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

We long as a nation to be a force for good. Yet there is a difference between what we long to be and the way other countries perceive us.

The question we must ask is this: How far have we strayed from these ideals in the policies of our nation?

What would Jesus say if he actually came to America today?
If he walked among us, what would he say to us?
I picture him standing in the Lincoln Memorial addressing our nation. What would he say?

When we read Jesus’ words in the Gospels, we read statements such as, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled”

In other words, blessed are those who do
the right thing
in the right place
at the right time
for the right reason.

Likewise, Jesus said, “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy”. That is, those who show kindness, even when someone else does not deserve it, will be shown kindness and mercy.

I believe that if Jesus were here today he would remind us that true greatness is not defined by our gross domestic product.
I believe that he would tell us that true greatness is seen in humility, and servant hood.
I think he would remind us of the things children around the world pray about each night—food, clothes and shelter.

Jesus says,
“I was hungry. Some of you gave me something to eat, and some of you did not.
I was thirsty. Some of you stopped to give me a drink while some of you walked right on by.
I was naked and sick and in prison. Some of you helped, and some pretended not to see.
Inasmuch as you pretended not to see, you will not be seen in the kingdom of heaven.”

As we Americans pursue this common vision of justice, righteousness and mercy I hope we can say, “We may disagree, but I still want to listen to you because you’re my brother or sister.

It is my prayer that we will be people who offer our opinions with humility, recognizing that we might be wrong on some points;
people who listen to one another;
and people who try to work together toward common goals.

My prayer is that we will be people who pursue justice and righteousness and mercy.

As I think about 9/11 I am reminded:
"God hath not promised
Skies ever blue,
Flower-strewn pathways
All our lives through;
God hath not promised
Skies without rain,
Joy without sorrow,
Peace without pain.

"But God hath promised
Strength for the day,
Rest for the labor,
Light for the way,
Grace for the trials,
Help from above,
Unfailing sympathy,
Undying love." - Annie-Johnson Flint

Pastoral Prayer
Today on the 10th Anniversary of the attacks of 9/11.
I know that you remember where you were when you first heard the news.
I know that you remember how you felt as the towers collapsed.
I also know that we all have feelings today as we remember that day.
Some of us have feelings of overwhelming anger. Someone told me last Sunday, “I am so angry. I will never forgive.”
Some of us have feelings of fear. Newsweek Magazine has called the past 10 years, “The decade of fear.”
Some of us have feelings of guilt.
Some of us have feelings of grief.
It is my prayer today that we will find—
Hope…..for the future of our world.
Faith…..that the best is yet to come.
Peace…..that passes all understanding.
And Love….for all humankind.
This is my prayer.
Let us pray (Silence).

Seeing Gray in a World of Black and White: 2. Christ, Christians and the Culture Wars, Sept. 4, 2011

2011-09-13T09:48:00.000-07:00

Seeing Gray in a World of Black and White:
2. Christ, Christians and the Culture Wars
The Church of the Wayfarer
Dr. Norm Mowery, Pastor
September 4, 2011
I Peter 2:11-12; 16-17; John 8:3-11

This past week we held our All Church Silent Retreat at the New Camaldoli Hermitage in Big Sur.

In case you are wondering, yes, I was able to be silent (well almost) for twenty hours!

I must say that it is quite interesting to go on a silent retreat with one’s spouse—especially to celebrate a wedding anniversary!

I got up early on Wednesday morning and went out to sit on my favorite bench at the edge of the 1500 foot cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean only to find that the hermitage was engulfed in thick gray fog. I decided to go anyway and I am glad that I did.

As I sat on ‘my’ bench I discovered that there were varying degrees of gray in the fog and that the view was constantly changing. The fog was blowing over the hill in waves. At times the fog was pressingly close and at other times I could see the outline of trees in the distance.

The hour on that bench was a special time for me. I also made a new friend. I was joined by a friendly wild fox!

Sermon preparation for me is a 24/7 endeavor so this message was on my mind as I sat in silence surrounded by fog.

The time on that bench is a parable of life for me. During my life time I have seen many subtle changes in the attitude of the church regarding social issues as the culture around us has changed. Having graduated from High School in 1965 I experienced the cultural wars of that era as many of you did.

This morning I ask, “How do we discern right from wrong in our ever changing world?”

Jerry Gleason answered it this way as we walked with our walking group. He said, “Norm, a black and white X-ray is of no value. It is in the subtle changes of gray that a doctor can interpret the x-ray image.”

The Chinese symbols ‘yin and yang’ capture black and white as opposing forces that are at work against each other. They complement each other, but they are always opposites. This captures in some way what we find in the culture wars we experience.

There are forces in our society that are at odds with each other, and these opposing forces seem to feed each other. In the political realm we think of
Republicans and Democrats,
liberals and conservatives,
right and left.
The opposition between these forces spreads out into the church. They tend to polarize view points.

The question we must consider is this: In light of this conflict, these opposing points of view, how should we, as Christians, engage with our culture?

This is the second on a series of five messages I have titled, “Seeing Gray in a World of Black and White.” Last Sunday I talked about ‘Where Faith and Politics Meet.’

Next Sunday in a special service of remembrance on the 10th Anniversary of the attacks on America I will talk about ‘What Would Jesus Say to America?’

You can find these messages on our web site in both written and spoken forms.

The past 40 years can be described in the words of Charles Dickens, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” Some have described these years as ‘cultural war years.’

During these years we experienced:
The death of President Kennedy and
of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Civil Rights Movement
The birth control pill
The Vietnam War
Widespread use of drugs
The ‘God is Dead’ theologians
Roe v. Wade

By the early 1970s we saw the reverse pendulum swing to opposing forces like:
The Moral Majority
The Christian Coalition
The Family Research Council, and others.

When I think of this culture war, I think of Newton’s Third Law of Motion which says that “for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.”

In this cultural milieu many Christians ask, “Where do we fit?” “Which side should the church be on?”

Some of us find ourselves somewhere in the middle—
with some of us leaning a little more to the right,
some of us leaning a little more to the left,
and some of us in the center.

That’s right, some of us find ourselves in the middle—what we Methodists call ‘via media’ the middle way. So we are constantly looking at all sides of the truth in the light of the Scriptures—particularly in the light of Jesus’ life and teachings. I believe that it is time to move beyond the culture wars.

Many non-churched persons say, “I know I like Jesus. It’s Christians I don’t like!” From their point of view they explain that Christians are judgmental and narrow minded. As we face the cultural war around us we have several options:

1. We can withdraw from the culture.
That is my background in the Mennonite tradition. I was raised to believe that I was ‘in the world but not of the world.’ I no longer believe that this is what Jesus did. He did not withdraw but got involved.

2. Accommodate the culture.
We can choose to adopt the practices of the culture. I think we have all been guilty of accommodation with the culture.

3. Wage war on the world’s terms—we can fight.
Some take the approach of waging war against the culture like the hymn ‘Onward Christian Soldiers’ depicts and this is what I see happening in Washington today.

This picture does not look much like Jesus. It can be summed up in an interview with George McGovern this week who said, “The Democrats and Republicans in Washington appear to have forgotten that they are Americans.” When asked about the strife in Washington today he said that he wished the Republicans and Democrats would remember that first of all they are Americans.

4. Provide a courageous witness through love.
Our scripture from 1 Peter tells us how to do just that,
“As servants of God,
live as free people.
Honor everyone.
Fear God.
Honor the emperor.”
In other words we are to honor the people around us in our multi faceted culture. We are to treat them with respect even though we disagree with them.

When it comes to the controversial issues involved in the culture wars there is always some truth on both sides.

One of the things I like best about the New Testament is that it is so practical. Jesus spoke in everyday terms about everyday problems. He knew that— Sometimes Christians disagree.
Sometimes they quarrel.
Sometimes they hold grudges.

The Scripture says that we must never tolerate any situation in which there is a breach of personal relationship between us and another member of the Christian community. Jesus admits that disciples are going to have conflicts; but it is their responsibility to resolve them. There will always be differences of opinion,
disappointments with preachers,
hurt feelings,
loss of face,
and lots of mistakes.

It’s the idea that Christians can resolve these conflicts that Jesus puts before us today. Christians are admonished by Jesus to love and pray for their enemies.

In the eighth chapter of John we read that the disciples came to Jesus dragging a woman caught in the act of adultery and they asked Jesus what they should do. The stones were already in their hands.

In discussing this with Geoff Van Loucks, an attorney, he asked, “Where was the man? What did they do about him?”

Jesus said, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”

One by one the stones dropped to the ground and they all walked away. All of the woman’s accusers were gone, and there she sat with Jesus.

Jesus made it clear that adultery is not God’s will for our lives. He told her, “Go your way and from now on sin no more!”

What I love about this is that Jesus has no contradiction with his earlier teaching that adultery is a sin. Rather, he was telling her to live differently in response to his grace toward her.

The dominant message we hear from Jesus is grace that empowers us to act differently.

A few weeks ago, I went for a long bicycle ride on the new bike trail along the bay in Seaside and Marina.

I discovered the Fort Ord Dunes State Park that has recently opened. When I stopped my bike to enjoy the view of the beach I saw a sign that said, “If in doubt, don’t go out.” It meant that the surf is dangerous. Be careful.

I believe that that is Jesus message for us.
Be thoughtful.
Be wise.
Be discerning.

What are we as Christians known for today?
I hope that we will be known as people who practice acts of love and service for others. I hope that we will be known as people who are humble, who listen, and who treat others with respect.
I hope that we will be known as people who live unconditional love.
I believe that these are ways others will see us if we will strive to be people who see gray in a world of black and white.
Prayer
Loving God, we come to you in gratitude for your love, which is always present to us.
In the stillness of these moments, we remember with thanksgiving the times in our lives when your love has enabled us to rise to our better selves. We thank you for the gift of your Son, who came that we might know what perfect love is. We remember, too, the times when we have acted in anger rather than in love; we recall with remorse when our patience has been less than perfect and our behavior has been childish.
Forgive us for the occasions when we have coveted things and used people and failed to make love a priority in our lives. Breathe in us new life, instilling us with enthusiasm for the opportunities we have.
Empowered by your love for us, O God, let us unite ourselves with all of life in the example of Jesus.
Help us to be intentional in the way we interact with one another, and there can be no doubt as to whom we serve.
For we pray in the name of Jesus the living Christ who teaches his disciples of all ages to pray saying…...

Discover the Wonder of Life: 3. By Reaching Out to Others; August 7, 2011

2011-08-08T14:30:00.000-07:00

Discover the Wonder of Life: 3. By Reaching Out to Others
The Church of the Wayfarer
Dr. Norm Mowery, Pastor
August 7, 2011
Matthew 14:13-21

One Sunday, at another church I was serving, a little girl about three years old came to the front of the sanctuary with her Mom to receive Communion. I knelt down beside her and whispered, “This bread means that Jesus loves you” and gave her a little piece which she promptly wolfed down.

Instead of moving down the line, she held out her hands and looked at me with hopeful eyes and said, “More?” More!?

With God there’s always more —
more grace,
more love,
more room,
more of everything.

This is the third in a series of three messages based on our Mission Statement—
Discover the wonder of life
at Carmel’s Church of the Wayfarer by
Reaching up to God
Reaching in to ourselves
Reaching out the others

As I began this series I said that life is a wonder and that it can be discovered right here.
In worship we reach up to a loving God who is reaching down to us. What a wonder!
As we reach into ourselves through prayer we find the God within. What a wonder!

Like the little girl at communion we live in a world where people are longing for more.

The message is that as we reach out to others God reaches in to us. What a wonder!

Some people have not discovered the wonder that comes by living a life of sharing.
Some have not found the joy of generosity.
Some have not found the deep inner peace that comes by losing themselves in a cause that is beyond their own problems.

Having lived through the past month with its political wrangling about the debt ceiling and then this past week watching the stock market tank I think that we need the miracle of wonder in our spirits today.

Only one miracle made it into all four gospels. It transpired on the grassy hills by the shores of the Sea of Galilee at a time when Jesus' popularity was cresting. Wherever he went, a throng that included many deranged and afflicted persons trailed behind.

The day before the big miracle, Jesus crossed the lake to elude the masses. Herod had just executed John the Baptist, Jesus' relative and friend. Jesus needed time alone to grieve.

But, there would be no secluded retreat. A hug multitude made the ten-mile journey around the lake and soon hundreds, even thousands of people clamored around Jesus.

Matthew tells us Jesus saw the heart of their need and “had compassion for them and cured their sick.”

Then the issue of food came up. What to do? There were thousands of people. Send them away, suggested one disciple.

“Buy them dinner,” said Jesus.
What? Is he kidding?
We're talking eight months' wages!

Jesus’ response? “You give them something to eat.”
The Bible says, "They all ate and were satisfied!” They didn’t need to ask, “More?”

In first-century Jewish culture, eating a meal was really more of an event than simply gobbling down fast food. Meals were about hospitality, about sharing, about bonding. If you ate with someone, it meant that you were engaging in a deeper relationship.

Jesus was acting out the idea that the kingdom is a worldwide reality where everyone is welcome and gets fed only the best.
In the training manual for Ritz Carlton Hotel employees, there’s a maxim that says, “If you see a problem, you own it.” To say, “It’s not my problem” or “It’s not my job” is not acceptable.

If you see a problem, you own it
— you take responsibility.

That reminds me of when our children were babies Linda and I had the agreement that whoever found the dirty diaper had to change it!

Jesus doesn’t do the rational thing here but turns the problem into an opportunity — a teachable moment. You give them something to eat. The disciples are thinking scarcity …
Jesus is thinking abundance.

Don’t tell me what you don’t have,
show me what you do have.

“Bring what food you have here to me,” says Jesus, who looks at a meal that’s the equivalent of five dumplings and two spring rolls and sees a feast instead of a fiasco. Jesus had the people sit down on the grass, gave thanks to God and gave the food to his disciples.

The connection to Communion is pretty obvious—a communion experience where they get more than enough.

Actually, the Greek verb here suggests that he “kept giving.” A small amount of bread multiplies into a feast, and there is even some left over — no scarcity, only abundance! When a crowd gathers at our churches for worship, most of us are used to giving and getting a morsel of bread. So much for abundance! We can look at the world around us, a world needing to be fed physically and spiritually, and immediately begin to worry about our assets. Jesus, however, is calling us to look beyond addition and think multiplication.

The hungry multitudes —
people hungry for their next meal,
hungry for God,
hungry for grace,
hungry for a chance to change their lives — are always there.

Jesus says to us, “You give them something to eat.”

Rather than scratching our heads and throwing up our hands in futility when faced with the enormity of need around us, Jesus invites us instead to take inventory.

What do we have to offer?
More than we think!

A friend of mine told me recently that he was on a plane that had an unexpectedly long layover at an airport. A truck that was supposed to deliver the refreshments for the next leg of the journey but broke down. Finally the pilot decided that it was more important to get his passengers on their way than to wait for the snacks to arrive, so he took off. As soon as they were in the air the passengers started grumbling.
Then something interesting happened. A flight attendant came on the public address system. “I know some of you still have your bags of peanuts, which you stuffed in your pocket from the last leg of your flight. Please open them and share them with the people around you.

I’m sure some of you have mints. Would you pass those around, also?

Those of you with newspapers, you can only read one section at a time. Spread the other sections around for others to read.

Some of you are parents are grandparents. Take out the pictures of your children or grandchildren and show them to others.”

With that brief announcement she changed the emotional climate of that flight. The loaves and fishes still work!

Jesus says to us today, “You give them something to eat.”

The world out there is asking, “More?” as we offer them a little communion wafer.

This morning discover the wonder of life at Carmel’s Church of the Wayfarer by reaching out to others.
We have someone with us this morning who knows what it means to give more.

Her name is Linda Forkash. To me she is Saint Linda.

1. How do you do it? You give and give to the men of I-Help day after day. How do you keep from burning out?

2. Do you ever have people ask, “More?” How does if feel when you have to say no.

3. What is the greatest need of homeless in our community?

Prayer
Lord of Light and Life,
Some of us come before you this morning burdened, bewildered and uncertain.
We live in challenging and changing times.
In one way or another, most of us must soon make an important decision.
We must open one door, while closing all the others.
We want to make good decisions.
We want to discern your will for our lives.
We need you to help us choose faithfully and wisely so that we may honor you. Speak to us through your word today.

O God of all wisdom,
Help us to discover the wonder of life by reaching out to others who have greater need than we do.

We pray today for Roger Parkes and Ward Prickett who were hospitalized this week and we pray your blessing upon the memorial service this afternoon for Carol Lorenz.

Open the doors of your abundance this day.
For we pray in the name of Jesus the life changing Christ who teaches his disciples of all ages to pray saying……

Discover the Wonder of Life: 2. By Reaching Into Ourselves; July 31, 2011

2011-08-08T14:28:00.000-07:00

Discover the Wonder of Life: 2. By Reaching into Ourselves
The Church of the Wayfarer
Dr. Norm Mowery, Pastor
July 31, 2011
Isaiah 55:1-6

In an email this week Clay Berling asked, “Are you as old as dirt?” Then he goes on to say that you are as old as dirt if you remember the Burma Shave signs. How many of you remember the Burma Shave signs?

For those who never saw any of the Burma Shave signs, here is a quick lesson in our history of the 1930's, 40s and '50's. Before there were interstates, when everyone drove the old 2 lane roads, Burma Shave signs would be posted all over the countryside in farmers' fields.

They were small red signs with white letters. Five signs, about 100 feet apart. Isn't it funny that back then it seemed we would never get to the next sign, at the speed Dad was driving?!

Each sign contained 1 line of a 4 line couplet......and the obligatory 5th sign advertising Burma Shave, a popular shaving cream.

Here are some of the actual signs:
DON'T LOSE YOUR HEADTO GAIN A MINUTEYOU NEED YOUR HEADYOUR BRAINS ARE IN ITBURMA SHAVE

BROTHER SPEEDERLET'S REHEARSEALL TOGETHERGOOD MORNING, NURSEBURMA SHAVE

SPEED WAS HIGHWEATHER WAS NOTTIRES WERE THINX MARKS THE SPOTBURMA SHAVETHE MIDNIGHT RIDEOF PAUL FOR BEERLED TO A WARMERHEMISPHEREBURMA SHAVEAROUND THE CURVELICKETY-SPLITBEAUTIFUL CARWASN'T IT?BURMA SHAVE

So, Clay, are you older than dirt? I guess some of us are, too.

The message of all of these signs was to slow down, enjoy the ride and be safe. That is my message today.

The Burma Shave signs sound a lot like the Psalmist who said,
“Be still and know that I am God.”

Or, the writer of Isaiah giving an invitation to an abundant life,
“Incline your ear,
and come to me;
listen,
so that you may live.”
and, “Seek the Lord while he may be found,
call upon him while he is near.”

This is the second in a series of three messages based on our Mission Statement which is:
Discover the wonder of lifeat Carmel’s Church of the Wayfarer by
Reaching up to God
Reaching in to ourselves
Reaching out to others

Last Sunday I talked about the wonder of life and I said that life is truly a wonder as we reach up to a loving, forgiving, caring God who at the same time is reaching down to us.

Isaiah 55 is an invitation to an abundant, fulfilling, satisfying life.

The invitation has your name on it.
The invitation is personally addressed to you.
The invitation is for everyone!

Isaiah 55 starts with the word, “Ho.” What fun. “Ho!” H-O.

To my knowledge this is the only place in the Bible where we find the word, “Ho.”
“Ho, everyone who thirsts,
Come to the waters!”

The writer wants to get our attention and does so with the word, “Ho!”

If you are thirsty.
If you are longing for something more in life.
If you are not satisfied.

“Ho.” Come to the waters.

The waters are flowing.
The waters are crystal pure.
There is plenty of water for everyone.

“Ho.” Come and get it.

Jesus says it this way,
“Come unto me all you who labor and are heavy laden
and I will give you rest.”

The message this morning is that we not only find God by reaching up but also by reaching in to ourselves to find the God within.

The setting of Isaiah 55 is Babylon where the people of Judah are in exile. What a surprising invitation! Four times the Lord invites us to “come.” Imagine the excitement for people who where experiencing severe drought to be invited to quench their thirst with abundant water.

Some of us here this morning are longing for that living water. The good news is, “Ho. Come and get it through prayer.”

Prayer for the Christian is firmly established in the life and ministry of Jesus. Prayer is the singularly central means for experiencing God’s grace. The Christian spiritual life is established and maintained by prayer. It is the means by which we relate to God—and Christianity is, at its heart, a relationship.

Remember the words of Isaiah, “Seek the Lord while he may be found.” As we seek I want is to do four things.

1. Pray.
I call our church to be a church of prayer. Gin Weathers is a wonderful new friend. We both serve on the Carmel Chamber of Commerce Board. It is her vision that we start a prayer group for local business people here in the early morning. This is my prayer!

2. Take Inventory.
As we look within we can take inventory and ask—
Am I the kind of person God wants me to be?
Am I the kind of person I want to be?
Am I the kind of person that people around me need me to be?

From time to time I go in search of a rock to sit on. Rock sitting is a good thing. As we rush here and there in life we miss the inner solitude and peace that is deep within. As I ‘rock sit’ I take inventory of my life.

3. Love yourself.
In her book The Body Love Manual, Lily Hills, talks about recovering a sense of self esteem—of loving ourselves.

As we reach in to ourselves we can know that we are:
Created in God’s Image
A beautiful Child of God’s
A unique individual with a special purpose.

I have a secret to tell you. There is something you have never seen but I see it every day—actually several times a day. I am the only one who sees it because it is in the restroom off my office.

It is a beautiful needle work of art that was made for me by my sister-in-law, Laura, who is here this morning. It says:
“I’m me.
I’m beautiful….
Because God don’t make junk!

4. Search. Question. Think.
Yesterday Ted Getschman and I spent a couple of hours discussing the meaning of life, birth and death. I believe that insight is within us as we stop and think. What did that Burma Shave sign say?
DON'T LOSE YOUR HEADTO GAIN A MINUTEYOU NEED YOUR HEADYOUR BRAINS ARE IN IT
God wants us to stop, be still and think.

It is my privilege to introduce Elizabeth “Lily” Hills who is an award winning author, life coach and founder of the Body Love Center, a coaching service designed to assist women in developing connected and accepting relationships with their bodies as they heal food addictions. Her award winning book The Body Love Manual—How to love the body you have as you create the body you want is a result of her personal recovery.

Lily co-hosts a television talk show: The Third Side….because there are always more than two sides to every story.

She lives life to the fullest right here in Carmel-by-the-Sea.

1. The Body Love Manual is not just about weight loss it is about getting to know ourselves. How do we do that?

2. You say, “With each passing year, I have reached deeper levels of friendship with my body.” What do you mean by that?

3. In your book you have written, “I have learned to value myself independent of how I look, and I am experiencing peace and happiness on levels I didn’t know were available to me.” That must be a wonderful place to be in life, isn’t it?

Prayer
Spirit of the living God,
fall afresh on your people gathered here in this special place.

May the world know your desire for all people to praise andgive thanks?
In our differences, bring unity;
in our lethargy, bring life;
in our despair, bring hope!
Surprising God, generous God,
your Spirit is among us,
sending us into new adventures,
opening new doors,
exploring possibility beyond our dreams.
May we be a people filled with the desire to respond,
with the energy for your purpose,
for the centeredness that only your Spirit can bring.

Today we pray for Ward Prickett, Laney Dowlen and Virginia Babka who were hospitalized this week and we continue to lift up the Lorenz family during this time of loss.

We also pray for the political leaders of our country during this time of conflicting ideals.
Grant us new life in the Spirit this very day, for we pray in the name of Jesus our Christ who taught us to pray saying……….

Roundabouts; June 26, 2011

2011-06-30T09:38:00.000-07:00

Roundabouts
2 Corinthians 13:11-13 6/19/2011
The Church of the Wayfarer
Dr. Norm Mowery, Pastor

I took Jim Lindgren’s sermon about weight loss seriously last Sunday. As a result on Monday I went for a ten mile hike in the Ventana Wilderness of the Los Padres National Forest at Big Sur.

It was a perfect day for hiking in what I think is the most beautiful place in the whole world with
wild flower strewn hillsides,
majestic redwoods,
granite peaks,
soaring birds and
refreshing water falls of the Big Sur River.

At one point I came upon another hiker eating his lunch. He was an older man and we struck up a conversation. He said, “With all the young people zipping past me it is great to see a person older than myself on the trails.”

I thought, “What!” I was sure that he was older than me! Then he told me his age and he was ten years younger than me!

As I hiked the next mile my mind went around and around wondering……if I really am old.

After a while I decided that it was time to eat lunch. I found a perfect spot beside a waterfall shaded by redwoods overlooking the granite of Ventana Double Cone. I was in awe of the beauty and was enjoying my nectarine and crackers when a bee decided that it wanted my nectarine.

That little bee totally frustrated and irritated me. It became a real pest. I could not get rid of it.

For the next mile my mind went around and around wondering…..why I permitted that bee to spoil my lunch.

I kept thinking, “Here I am in the most beautiful place in the world only to find out that I am old…..and that bees irritate me!” Do you ever feel as though your mind is going around in circles and so you are missing out on the wonder of life because of little irritants?
Do you ever feel like your life is going around in circles doing things that are not all that important?

Speaking of going around in circles more and more cities are choosing a new approach to traffic control. Inspired by our brothers and sisters across the ocean, city planners are replacing traditional traffic signals with more efficient roundabouts.

Roundabouts. Love 'em or hate 'em, we're going to see more of them. Roundabouts are especially becoming popular in states such as Arizona, which has experienced a 40 percent growth in population during the last 40 years. Instead of drivers stopping and starting according to the changing lights, roundabouts encourage traffic to keep moving in a smooth pattern.

Traffic engineers have discovered that roundabouts, or rotaries, are safer, cause less air and noise pollution, and are more efficient than the usual stop-and-go traffic experienced at traditional intersections. When accidents do occur, they're less severe because cars are moving at a slower pace, rather than barreling through the intersection in an attempt to beat the light.

The statistics in Arizona show that injuries in traffic accidents at intersections are down by 75 percent. Experts conclude that taking away the temptation to beat a red light has led to slower speeds. The emphasis at roundabouts seems to be on cooperation rather than competition.
I think that roundabouts can teach us a lesson about how to survive in community. In roundabouts, as in churches, people need to pay attention to one another in order to get along.

If roundabouts had existed in the first century, Paul might have used them as an example for ordering church life.

A pastor friend of mine who has spent time driving in the United Kingdom says, “One thing you just have to remember is to 'yield to the right'". "Yielding to the right" seems like a good idea but then I guess I better not get into politics!
In our scripture Paul provides some gems in his letter's benediction. The last few sentences of second Corinthians offer much insight into life as a Christian community. Here he teaches us how to live and act as the church and the body of Christ.

He tells us how to adjust to new traffic patterns—how to order our lives. As Paul bids the Corinthians farewell, he leaves them with a to-do list of last-minute reminders, almost like a parent walking out the door and calling back to children over his shoulder, "Now remember to feed the dog and don't hit your sister."

A parent might do well to quote Paul when organizing family relations:
"Put things in order,
listen to my appeal,
agree with one another,
live in peace".
In the words of The Message, "Think in harmony and be agreeable."

I could have used Paul’s advice on my hike last Monday so that I would not let the fact that I am growing old and a pesky little bee upset me.

The Corinthians are on their own now, as Paul leaves them with careful instructions on how to live together as the body of Christ. It is as though he is installing a roundabout to replace a traffic signal. He concludes his letter knowing that if the Corinthians follow his advice, not only will they be better off, but he will receive fewer letters of complaint, and he'll have to deal with less strife during a future visit.

It is now up to these young Christians to take Paul's instructions to heart as they embark on this new challenge of forming community in the name of Jesus. No one can argue with the vision Paul paints for his young churches. Every intentional community desires to be successful and to live in peace with one another and to have an ordered life. And isn’t that our desire as a church family.

The early Corinthians might have wondered,
How do we obtain that ideal balance of working, serving, believing and living in harmony with one another? Can one wake up in the morning and simply choose to be agreeable and to get along with others in the community?
Or, is some concerted effort necessary?
When arguments do crop up, what then?

Church gatherings can be like any extended family together for the holidays; it can be a messy mixture of joy, jealousy, creativity and chaos.

Sometimes we need a roundabout to keep us ordered and moving.

Paul offers wisdom that families, churches, clubs and organizations everywhere can use.
He emphasizes what's important:
Let's all pull together.
Let's be mindful of one another.
Let's consider how to wrestle with the conflicts that will inevitably occur. Living in community is much like driving on busy, crowded highways so Paul presents some rules for the road. At times, he says, it will be necessary to yield, slow down or use extreme caution.

Just like careful drivers, we are urged
to keep our eyes on the road,
not allow ourselves to become distracted
and to pay attention to others on the journey.
Paul's instructions could be compared to a useful driving manual. Perhaps Paul's benediction could be reworded with our roundabouts in mind.
“Farewell, brothers and sisters.
Remember that we are all traveling in the same direction, although at differing speeds.
At times, a fellow traveler may need to exit before you do. Trust each other enough to allow that freedom.
Keep your eyes on the road and wish people well in their travels. Don't be so focused on your destination that you forget to enjoy the scenery along the way.
As we continue in our roundabout journeys, let's endeavor to agree on the general direction we're traveling.
We can work through our differences.
At times, we may bump into one another, but because we're all traveling together, we can handle the collisions easily.
Acknowledge and be aware of the differences that exist.” Here Paul gives us a vision of God's people traveling separately yet together toward a shared destination.

I am excited and passionate as I look forward to the next year as your pastor. I am fortunate to be here. Tourists come by throughout the week and tell me, “You must have done something right to become the pastor of this church.”

I tell them that this is a wonderful place, and I am one lucky guy, but the people of this church are the most special thing about being here.

Many positive things are happening in the life of our church and several changes are on the horizon. In your bulletins I have listed my six priorities for the next six months. I offer these so that you will know what direction I am leading.

As I lead this church I need your prayers to keep me on task. If you see me obsessing about little things like irritating bees or the fact that someone thinks I am growing older I invite you to help me get back on task.

Here are some of my overriding values:
Jesus the Christ is my way for living.
Some people find other paths but Jesus is my way.
Life is a wonder.
We must live while we are alive!
The church’s job is to help us connect with that wonder.
People are the greatest resource we have.
Everyone is important.
Everyone is a minister in this church.
Everyone is needed.
The Church of the Wayfarer helps us to reach
Up to God
Into ourselves
Out to others.

I first met Steve and Sharon Halverson as I participated in the docent training for the Point Sur Light Station. They are a delightful couple and are going to become members in the near future. A few weeks ago they attended the afternoon tea at the Mowery’s. This week Sharon sent me a note and commented about my ‘So That’ sermon:
“I have thought a lot about your message and wanted to share my ‘so that’ with you.
When I lost my job I was truly devastated but looking back I see that I lost my job ‘so that’ I was free to bring a boat up from Mexico and sail by Point Sur.
We sailed by at a beautiful time of day and year ‘so that’ I was really excited when our friend enlisted us on a private tour of the light station.
We were there before a regular tour ‘so that’ the docents had time to talk to us ‘so that’ they could encourage us to become docents with the upcoming class starting in one week.
We did join that class ‘so that’ we could meet you and find our way to your church ‘so that’ we could find good fellowship and a great place to worship—so that’s that!

Today I have a vision of God’s people traveling separately yet together toward a shared destination.

In your Order of Service I have listed two key questions that I would like for us to think about as a church family.
1. Why do we exist?
2. Where are we going?

So That~; June 5, 2011

2011-06-07T11:35:00.000-07:00

So That
6/5/2011 (Ascension Sunday)
The Church of the Wayfarer
Dr. Norm Mowery, Pastor
Acts 1:6-14

Linda and I had an interesting week with our granddaughters, Emma and Kira. On Tuesday night we had a slumber party and Emma asked that I tell her a story about ‘when I was a little boy’. Within a minute after I started the story she fell asleep.

That story worked just like my sermons do sometimes?!

Last Sunday I gave ‘An Eight Word Sermon’ and several people told me it was the best ever!

What were the eight words?
Love Christ,
keep his commandments,
receive the Spirit.

Today’s message is about two words—just two simple words.

You see, words are important.
Words can hurt.
Words can heal.

This past week Peter Addicott, Jane’s son, sent me a U-Tube. You have maybe seen it. It is very popular on the internet right now.

In it a blind man is sitting on a street corner with a sign that says,
“I’m blind. Please Help.”

Many people walk by but only a very few leave money.

Then a young woman comes by, picks up his sign and writes new words.
“It’s a beautiful day and I can’t see it.”

As a result many people leave donations.

The point of the video is: Change the words and you change your world.

The two little words I want to talk about this morning are: ‘so that’.

I bet you never before heard a sermon about ‘So That’.

These two words are tremendously important. Think about it. When you say ‘so that’ you mean that a result is going to follow.

For example, you might say, “I am going to church today so that I can worship God.” Or, “I am going to listen to Pastor Norm’s sermon so that I will learn why he chose a strange title like this.”

In the book of Exodus God tells Moses to have the people make a sanctuary, so that God can dwell among them.

I John says, “God sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him.”

John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”

Psalm 104 says: “You set the earth on its foundations, so that it should never be shaken.”

If someone came up to you and asked you, “Why does your church exist” what would you say?

You would probably answer with the words ‘so that’.
So that we can proclaim Jesus Christ.
So that we can fulfill our mission.
So that we can be a beacon of light to our community.
So that we can bear fruit for God’s kingdom.
Today is Ascension Day on the liturgical calendar. Today we remember how the disciples watched as Jesus disappears into heaven.
For Jesus' disciples, the ascension was a powerful catalyst to get them to work on the mission Jesus had left them so that Jesus message would not be forgotten.
Just before he ascended into heaven Jesus said, "You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth"—implying so that the world will know.

Jesus was perfectly clear in his last earthly words: advance the gospel to the ends of the earth! While the disciples kept craning toward the sky like it was a rocket launch, angels appeared and said, “He'll come back from the skies just like he left.”

As though to say, “Now stop staring! There's work to be done.” The ascension must have been a stunning spectacle to see. But more amazing than Christ's departure was the unlikely lot with whom he left the mission. They grew up cleaning fish and collecting taxes - not as religious leaders.
They'd misunderstood parables.
Fought over who was the greatest.
Fell asleep in the garden.
Denied Jesus in his last days.

Humanly speaking, perhaps the disciples weren't the best choice to advance the good news. The ascension was powerful.
It told the disciples that Jesus' mission was now their mission. Far from feeling abandoned, they felt empowered.
His mission was theirs.
They continued to praise God in the temple, waiting for Pentecost which we will observe next Sunday. The ascension had a counterintuitive effect. Jesus didn't abandon his disciples. Instead, for the first time, they took ownership of the mission. Ascension Sunday is a time to reflect on how we partner with Jesus in life and faith and ask, “Do we have a clear sense of personal mission?

Are we clear what follows so that in our mission? Here are four implications of the ascension.
1. It's on us. If the world is going to be saved it is up to us.
2. We aren't alone. The disciples were told they would have Help.

3. We're in a partnership. We need to understand our mission as a partnership with God's Spirit.
4. The time is now. If we know the good we ought to do and don't do it, we sin. We need a faith that works so that God is alive in our world.
This kind of Christianity is that to which the ascension calls us. Ascension Day is a natural time to take a look at our spheres of influence and ask, "Am I advancing or abandoning my calling?"

One of the most famous composers had a rebellious son who used to come in late at night after his mother and father had gone to bed. And before going to his own room, this rebellious son would go to his father’s piano and slowly, spitefully… and loudly would play a simple scale, all but the final note.

He would play, “Do-Re-Mi-Fa-Sol-La-Ti…” and then he wouldn’t strike that final “Do.” Then leaving the scale unfinished, he would retire to his room. Meanwhile, his father (great musician that he was) hearing the scale minus the final note… would twist and turn and writhe on his bed, his mind unable to relax because the scale was not finished. Finally, not able to stand it any longer, the father would crawl out of bed, stumble down the stairs and strike that final note of the scale. Only then could he relax and be at peace. That’s an interesting parable because it reminds me of the way we so often treat God. We play around with some of the notes of faith, but we don’t play the full scale… - We forgive, but not completely. - We love, but not completely. - We serve, but not completely. - We accept Christ, but not completely. - We live the Christian life-style but not completely
- We commit our lives to God, but not completely.
- We don’t know what comes after so that!

What follows the so that of your life? Can you say I am a Christian so that others will know the love of Jesus?

Some years ago I heard Bishop Desmond Tutu speak. He told the story of how he asked his minister why the people of South Africa had to suffer so much poverty, hardship, and oppression.

"Why doesn't God do something?" he said he wailed.

"He has," said that wise pastor. "He has created you."

And so Desmond Tutu, now the archbishop of South Africa, became the answer to his own question.

Words are important.

The world is looking for honest and authentic answers to life’s problems and they know when they encounter that which is false.

At this time I would like to ask a volunteer to come forward.

Hold out your right arm straight.

I will say a true statement like: 2 + 2 = 4. (I can’t push the arm down.)

I will now say a false statement: 1 + 1 = 3. (I can push it down easily.)

Our words are important. Use them wisely so that the world might know Jesus.

An Eight-Word Sermon; May 29, 2011

2011-06-07T11:30:00.000-07:00

An Eight-Word Sermon
Church of the Wayfarer
Dr. Norm Mowery, Pastor
May 29, 2011 (Special Music Sunday with Tapestry)
John 14:15-21
Jesus was a man on a mission. His mission was clear. But, did he have a mission statement?

Perhaps something such as the mission statement of Starbucks “to inspire and nurture the human spirit—one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time.”

Kevin Starr helps businesses write clear and compelling mission statements and he gives some excellent advice to companies: They must express their mission in no more than eight words. That's the max: an eight-word mission statement.

Clear and compelling mission statements, using eight words or fewer, aren't likely to be forgotten or ignored.

So what should be included in a mission statement for the followers of Jesus, based on the words he spoke the night before his death? "If you love me," he says to his disciples, "you will keep my commandments."

Fortunately, Jesus includes several strong action words in this passage from John: love, keep, know, abide, see, live.

And he offers a clear target as well: the creation of a community of people who love Christ, keep his commandments and experience a truly amazing intimacy with Jesus. And what will be the outcome of this effort?

To receive the Holy Spirit - the continuing presence and power of Jesus Christ himself. A mission statement is slowly emerging, and it seems to be boiling down to eight essential words: Love Christ, keep his commandments, receive the Spirit. This is our purpose: Love Christ, keep his commandments, receive the Spirit. No jargon. Just eight words of authentic Christian mission.

The Six Longest Short Verses in the Bible; May 15, 2011

2011-05-24T09:32:00.000-07:00

The Six Longest Short Verses in the Bible
The Church of the Wayfarer
Dr. Norm Mowery, Pastor
May 15, 2011
Psalm 23

Psalm 23 is probably the best-known passage from the Bible. I wonder what there is about it that draws us to these words so strongly.

Even many people who don't read the Bible can quote at least a line or two from it, if only because they've heard it so often at funerals.

I am sure that many of you here this morning can quote it by heart. If you haven’t yet memorized it I encourage you to do so today.
I am also sure that if you have memorized it you did so from the King James Version. I did!

By the way do you know that the King James Version is celebrating its 400th birthday? It was first published in 1611—400 years ago.

So Happy Birthday, King James.

Do you know that the 1631 edition of the King James Version read: “Thou shalt commit adultery?”
It was a typo, of course. Not was left out.
The printers were heavily fined.
A correction was made and the 1631 edition became known as the Wicked Bible.
Aren’t you glad that you know that!

When most of us conjure up Psalm 23, we hear words,
“The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures;
He leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul.”

Nothing else will do. For many of us Psalm 23 simply has to be read in the King James Version.

If we think of Psalm 23 only as a funeral text, we can miss the fact that the Psalm is mostly about living.

It is a psalm of life! It is about living life to the fullest.
It is a personal hymn. There are seventeen personal pronouns of ‘me’ and ‘I’ in these six verses.
It is a practical message for peaceful worry free living.

I like to think that these are the six longest short verses in the Bible because each one is jam packed with meaning. I could easily preach a sermon on each verse.
I understand that there is a sweatshirt for sale at The Mall of America that says:
Though I walk through
The Mall of AmericaI shall Fear No EvilFor with Time and Plastic in my PocketThere's Nothing to FEAR Anyway.

Speaking of shopping….aren’t you excited to know that Princess Beatrice will be auctioning the hat that she wore recently to the Royal Wedding on e-Bay? As of yesterday the bidding was up to $9,000.00!

That world is a long way from the message of the shepherds psalm!

Psalm 23 is a word of hope in a world of worry.
One of my favorite theologians was the late Irma Bombeck. She said some things about worrying that I think we can all relate to:
“I worry about introducing people and going blank when I get to my mother.
I worry about a snake coming up through the kitchen drain.
That one of my children will marry an Eskimo who will set me adrift on an iceberg when I can no longer feed myself.
I worry about scientists discovering some day that lettuce has been fattening all along.”

Psalms is a collection of Hebrew hymns. In fact, the book of Psalms is actually a “hymn” book.

Isn’t it amazing that 3,000 years ago a person wrote one sentence that should forever be a roadblock on the road to worry. This sentence is part of a song in the longest book in the Bible.

The sentence is “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.”

This is the greatest message of hope that has ever been written!

As I read and reread this verse a thought came to me. God has promised to turn our "thoughs" into "throughs." Do you get it?

Though into through! What a thought. I bet you never had that thought before!

God turns our thoughs into throughs and gives me thoughts! Are you still with me?

There is a story from the first century B.C. that might be helpful.

The story took place when much of the world was unexplored and largely unmapped. Mapmakers had to have some way of portraying those areas of the earth that were as yet unexplored, so they symbolized these regions by dragons, monsters and large fish.

The message was clear.

Uncharted territories were frightening, fearsome places. Terrors lay buried there.

The story is this:
“One commander of a battalion of Roman soldiers was caught up in a battle that took him into the territory that the mapmakers had represented with their monsters and dragons.

Not knowing whether to forge ahead into the unknown, or turn back into the known, which would also be a retreat, he dispatched a messenger to Rome with this urgent request:
"Please send new orders. We have marched off the map."

Do you ever feel like you are marching off the map of life? I do at times.
Like I said, “Uncharted territories were frightening, fearsome places.”

Today we find ourselves in uncharted waters as we march off the technological map,
the political map,
the economic map,
the environmental map,
the demographic map
or virtually whatever map you can think of. How can we possibly hope to navigate through all these uncharted realms? How?

By using Psalm 23, the six longest short verses in the Bible. The power of Psalm 23 comes from its use of two key words.

What are they?

Though and through -- the same word except for a single letter. What is it? Right, it’s— "r."

It is one little letter that makes all the difference in the world. It is the letter that can turn your "though" into a "through." David, the innocent shepherd-boy, knew the truth behind that first word "though" -- there are dangers lurking around every corner. There was no "if" about the reality of life's obstacles and problems.

Psalm 23 candidly faces the inevitable.

It proclaims not "if" but "though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death ...."

Life isn't all loaded tables, overflowing cups or green pastures. Sometimes our hair isn't anointed with oil, but grimed with grease. Sometimes we're not lying in green pastures but flailing in blue Mondays.
Sometimes we're not resting by the shore of still waters but struggling in the valley of the shadow. Every one of us has a valley.

Some of us have a valley we've been given at birth -- a valley of poverty, or abuse, or disability.

Some of us, born into the green pastures of plenty, immediately proceed to dig our own valleys of shadow –
through drugs or alcohol, violence, ignorance, prejudice.
But while we are "walking" the "valley of the shadow," the Bible teaches that God is with us
and that the God with us bears all the sufferings and pains of the world
and the hurts of our scared, scarred souls.

God is with us in whatever we face.

"Though" none of us gets out of life without walking the valley of the shadow of death, the psalmist makes it plain that God does not intend for us to sojourn in valleys as we live.

The valley of the shadow is something one goes through. Valleys are not resting places, but passageways.
We can walk through our problems.
We can walk through our sorrows.
We can walk through our pain.
We can walk through our screwups.
What Psalm 23 promises us is that, in all these journeys, the Lord will walk through with us. As I said, "Though" and "through" differ only by one small letter -- the letter "r."

In American Sign Language, "r" is made by crossing the middle finger over the index finger.

Crossed fingers have a history that far pre dates American Sign Language. In the first centuries of the Church, when Christianity was wholly illegal and Christians were vigorously persecuted, believers found ways to communicate their faith in subtle ways.

Accompanying a greeting or farewell, crossed fingers were a code sign, identifying Christians to one another as "people of the cross." The crossed fingers were a mute symbol for the cross of Christ. This is what the crossed fingers of the letter "r," the difference that turns a "though" into a "through," still mean to the believer today.

Though we may walk in the darkness of the valley of the shadow, we are not alone. God is with us. Walking through the valley with us is the one who suffered and died for our sake:
The Crucified One. "He restoreth my soul" can also be translated as "I come to life again" or "He gives me new life." The presence of a "shadow," implies the presence of a light source. I pray that we will trust that the light at the end of the tunnel is the light of Christ's love and forgiveness.
This is a Psalm of confidence. The Psalms recount all sorts of human troubles, despair and fears, but like a compass needle that keeps swinging back to the north, they keep coming back to the confidence that God is with us in the darkness.
The message this morning is that God has been in the dark valleys ahead of us. We can trust him to help us through them. All because of the six longest short verses in the Bible.
Prayer
Gracious and loving Lord, we might walk through the deepest and darkest valleys of our lives:
sickness,
job loss,
broken marriages,
children who've lost their way
and, yes, even death.
We know these valleys are a part of life that humanity has had to travel since Adam and Eve.
But we know that the valley is not the destination.
We know the One who has faithfully led his followers through this valley countless times before.
For, you, O Lord, are our Shepherd; we shall not want.
You, O Lord, lead us beside the still waters.
You lead us in the paths of righteousness.
We will fear no evil; we will fear nothing in this valley of darkness for you, O Lord, are our Shepherd. Amen.

Feed the Heart; May 22, 2011

2011-05-24T09:31:00.000-07:00

Feed the Heart
John 14:1-14 5/22/2011
The Church of the Wayfarer
Dr. Norm Mowery, Pastor

As I begin today’s message I want to share with you something that I think is fun. It was fun for me to learn that last Sunday someone was sending an email on his cell phone while he was here in worship. I received a copy of the email when I got back to my office after the sermon. It was sent at 10:37 a.m. during the best part of my sermon!

That person is here this morning but I won’t mention any names!

Do you want to know what makes me angry?

I get angry when I know that Christians are using fear and anxiety to build up their organizations or fill their wallets.

You may have guessed what I am talking about because the world did not end yesterday as forecasted by a radio minister!

I have made it a practice to not say anything negative about another church or minister but I am going to break that policy this morning.

I do not believe in using fear, guilt or judgment to bring people into the Kingdom of God and that is just what Harold Camping has done over the past months as he has sponsored bulletin boards, radio broadcasts and full page newspaper ads to say that the world was going to end yesterday.

It didn’t end…..did it? Or, did I miss something?

There is enough to worry about in our world without the church coming up with an apocalyptic scenario saying that the world will end on a certain date like Harold Camping has done.

I find it to be a coincidence that the Gospel lesson for today addresses just that.
“Do not let your hearts be troubled.
Believe in God, believe also in me.
In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places.
If it were not so, would I have told you
that I go to prepare a place for you?
And if I go and prepare a place for you,
I will come again and will take you to myself,
so that where I am, there you may be also.”

These are beautiful words.
They are reassuring words.
They are affirming words.

Last Sunday my message was based on the Twenty-third Psalm—a passage that is often read at funerals. Today’s scripture is also one that is often shared at funerals.

As I think about funerals I remember some years ago shortly after I moved to a new community a mortician called and asked me to lead a funeral service for a family.

He asked, “Are you a ‘mansions’ or a ‘rooms’ preacher?” I didn’t know what he meant at first but then I realized that in the King James Version of the Bible it reads ‘in my Father’s House are many mansions’ and in other translations it reads ‘many rooms’.

I assured him that I am a ‘mansions’ guy. I like mansions better than rooms! Our pew Bibles read ‘many dwelling places.’

We all have worries. I do. As we face our worries Jesus says, “Let not your heart be troubled.”

A church bulletin blooper once read:
Don't let worry kill you - let the church help.

\ But, Jesus said, “Let not your heart be troubled.”
1. An untroubled heart? Really? Moms, doctors and the Mayo Clinic aren't the only ones concerned about heart trouble.

So is Jesus.

In today's gospel text, Jesus gives his disciples - and us - this clear command: "Don’t let your hearts be troubled". Now, to be clear, Jesus isn't talking about cholesterol levels or bypass surgeries. No, he's talking about a different kind of heart trouble: the kind that can also be classified as
worry,
fear,
anxiety or stress.

The kind of heart trouble that can feel like a loss of hope,
a lack of faith,
a panic attack
or pangs of uncertainty.

It’s the kind of heart trouble that keeps you up at night thinking about money,
biting your nails when you're worried about your child
or on the phone with a friend craving advice for a crumbling marriage. Perhaps already today you've had palpitations of worry or fear about some financial issue or family problem? That's the kind of heart trouble Jesus is talking about. It's the kind we've all experienced.

It's the kind of heart trouble,
faith trouble
and lack-of-peace-trouble
that tends to run rampant in our lives. It's clear that heart trouble - of the physical, emotional and spiritual kind - is a major threat to our well-being.

Thanks to the Mayo Clinic, we know a bowl of Cheerios will help our arteries.

But. what about our hearts of faith? What about those gnawing fears?
Is it even possible to have an untroubled heart?
Sure it is. 2. What are you feeding your heart? According to Jesus having an untroubled heart of faith comes down to what you're feeding that heart. What you're feasting on or depriving yourself of makes all of the difference spiritually. Ask any doctors and they'll tell you there are two keys to physical well-being:
It all comes down to a good diet and regular exercise.
Neglect either of those, and you're headed for trouble.

The same is true with your heart of faith. It must be well-fed and well-run in order to be strong and healthy.

Take another look at Jesus' words. He says, "Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me". Jesus tells us the key to "heart health" is to trust in him.
If you already know you suffer from actual heart disease, the Mayo Clinic prescribes a dizzying array of "easy" steps to help establish a healthier existence.
Stop smoking,
control your cholesterol,
manage your diet,
get moving for 30 minutes each day,
manage your stress,
practice good hygiene,
maintain a healthy weight,
take your vitamins
and be sure to get a flu shot.
That's all! But when it comes to our hearts of faith, it's once again about just two things.
We need to be fed spiritually and exercised in a life of faith.
3. So what's a spiritual diet look like?
How do we feed our spiritual hearts?

It comes down to claiming the promises of God and the power of God’s presence.
This past week Linda and I were in Pennsylvania helping my ninety-two year old mother who has been moved to a nursing home. The hardest part of the trip was saying ‘good bye’ to her on Friday morning. Jesus must have had similar feelings as he faced leaving his disciples so he gives them words of reassurance.
Sometimes we need reassurance like the fresh out of business school, a young man who answered a want ad for an accountant. He was being interviewed by a very nervous man who ran a small business he'd started himself. "I need someone with an accounting degree," the man said. "But mainly, I'm looking for someone to do my worrying for me." "Excuse me?" the accountant said. "I worry about a lot of things," the man said. "But I don't want to have to worry about money. Your job will be to take all the money worries off my back." "I see," the accountant said. "And how much does the job pay?" "I'll start you at 80 grand." "Eighty thousand dollars!" the accountant exclaimed. "How can such a small business afford a sum like that?" "That," the owner said, "is your first worry."

Dr. Michael DeBakey made history as a pioneering heart surgeon. He became famous as one of the first surgeons to perform coronary bypass surgery. In 1965 Time magazine honored him by featuring him on the cover. On February 9, 2006, DeBakey made history again - this time, as a patient. At age 97, in Houston's Methodist Hospital, he endured the same operation he himself had perfected, undergoing surgery to repair a torn aortic aneurysm.

He was the oldest patient ever to undergo that operation. He lived nearly two more years after being discharged from the hospital. DeBakey taught the medical world how to repair a broken heart. Aided by the same world-class medical team he himself had trained, he had his own broken heart repaired. Of course, as useful as DeBakey's surgical techniques are, they can only repair the heart muscle and its surrounding arteries. When Jesus uses the word heart he refers to so much more than a mere bodily organ and if he were here today I believe he would ask, “What are you feeding your hearts!”

Dr. Leigh Iverson, our Lay Leader, is a retired heart surgeon. He is also a friend of us all. I would like to invite Leigh to come forward at this time so that I can ask him some questions.

1. What is the most common kind of heart disease you have encountered?
2. Do you have any advice for all of us as we strive to have healthy hearts?
3. Did you ever have any surprises when you were operating on a heart?

While traveling this past week I read several books. One that I highly recommend for women is The Body Love Manual by a Carmel-by-the-Sea author Elizabeth “Lily” Hills. Lily came by last week and gave me a copy. Men, I encourage you to get a copy and give it to a woman you love.

Lily’s book and today’s scripture have inspired me to realize that it is time for me to practice what I preach and keep my hearts—physical and spiritual—healthy.

Your Family: How It Works, May 8, 2011

2011-05-09T13:54:00.000-07:00

Your Family: How It Works
Luke 2:41-52 5/8/11
The Church of the Wayfarer
Dr. Norm Mowery, Pastor

Family. There is no word in the English language that brings up more feelings, both positive and negative, than the word family.

Families come in all sizes and shapes.
There is no perfect family.
Even Jesus’ family was not perfect.

I think that we are just beginning to realize the great influence that our ‘families of origin’ have had on us.

Have you heard of a list called “Murphy’s Laws of Parenting?”
1. The later you stay up, the earlier your child will wake up the nextmorning.
2. The gooier the food, the more likely it is to end up on the carpet.
3. Toys multiply to fill any space available.
4. If the shoe fits . . . it’s expensive.
5. Backing the car out of the driveway causes your child to have to go to the bathroom.

I saw a Mother’s Day card this week that reads like this: “Forget the housework, Mom. It’s your day.” And then you open it, “Besides, you can always do double duty and catch up on Monday!”

A group of children were asked, “If you could change one thing about your mom, what would it be?” 1. She has this weird thing about me keeping my room clean. I'd get rid of that. 2. I'd make my mom smarter. Then she would know it was my sister who did it, not me.
3. I would like for her to get rid of those invisible eyes on the back of her head.

I must confess that the Mowery family is not perfect and I was not and am not a perfect parent.
I will never forget one mistake I made as a parent. We were hiking on the eastern side of the Pinnacles National Monument. It was a hot afternoon. We were not carrying water. The four of us hiked up through the lava tubes. We didn’t have flash lights to find our way through the dark caves.

After we got to the top Nathan and Lori thought that it was a great adventure and wanted to hike back down through the caves—alone— without Mom and Dad.

My thinking was that we needed to show them that we trusted them—that we believed they could do it. Linda, the reasonable one in our family, said that she wasn’t so sure about them going alone. I insisted that we let them do it.

Needless to say, it was a long hike down for Linda and me going another way and letting the children go alone back through the dark tubes. When we got down the children were not there and I was scared to death.

I made other mistakes as a parent, too.

As a child I was taught that if I got in a fight at school I would be in double trouble at home.

That is the rule I made for my children, too. The problem is that at one school Nathan was bullied. I didn’t realize what had happened and instead of supporting Nathan I punished him. Not only did he get bullied by a bully at school; he got punished by me at home.

That’s enough of my mistakes. My children could tell you more!
The life of a mother is a deluge of self-imposed demands:
Write thank-you letters...
Buy new ballet leotard for daughter (blue, not pink) ... Return call from sister...
Baby sitter Saturday/Wednesday,
Pay newspaper bill/read back issues of newspapers,
Trim son’s nails...
Dentist appointment...
Return Snow White video to library...
Be a nicer, more patient person with my daughter, so she doesn’t grow up to be a needy psychopath.

It’s Mother’s Day, and the story of Jesus in the temple gives us a glimpse into the chaotic family life of Mary, Joseph and the child they accidentally leave behind.

Luke is the only gospel writer to include a story about Jesus’ childhood. But it is more. It is a story about a parent’s worst nightmare: losing a child.
As a mom, the Mary of our text is not much different than Moms today. She, too, has a long list in her head to take back to Nazareth from Jerusalem. With the festival of the Passover now over, her mind races ahead to washing ... cleaning ...
Wait a minute: caring for children? Where’s Jesus? Mary doesn’t know it yet, but son Jesus is ‘home alone’ in Jerusalem. The family is now a day away from Jerusalem. No wonder Mary panics when she cannot find Jesus among the friends and relatives. She and Joseph had assumed he was in the group, but when he doesn’t turn up they race back to the city, their hearts pounding like jackhammers. Mary imagines herself being hauled before “The Court of Motherhood.”
For Mary feelings of shame sweep over her as she thinks about forgetting Jesus. How could she have failed to check on him before leaving the city? She knows that she is, the Mother of God.

And now God is, missing! How big is that!

We think that we have crises. She’s lost God! She has no idea where God is and it is her motherly duty to find him. How could she not know where her 12-year-old son is? Mothers are supposed to know that kind of thing!
It takes Mary and Joseph three days to find their son, and when they do he is in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.

Mary is overwhelmed by a mixture of astonishment, relief and anger, and she says to him, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you and we were really worried.” We can understand why she snaps at a boy who wanders off from the family. We can relate to her frustration with a kid who sits around the temple for three days, acting as though nothing is wrong, while she and Joseph are overwhelmed by feelings of helplessness, anxiety, and fear.
But that’s not the end of the story. The real value of today’s passage is found in the words of Jesus, not Mary.

“Why were you searching for me?” asks Jesus.

“Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”

This is a reminder that the true family of Jesus is bigger than the nuclear grouping made up of Mary, Joseph, Jesus, James and the other siblings. The most important family for all of us to consider is the far-reaching family of God. The parenting years go by so quickly.

One day they’re saying all those funny little things you promise yourself you’ll write down and never do, and then they’re talking like some streetwise kid or, even worse, they’re talking just like you.
So as parents, let go, have faith, loosen up, trust God and waste time!
Most of all listen to the children. As I prepared for this message I sent emails to several women in our church asking for their feelings about Mother’s Day.

Alice Ann Glenn responded,
“You do NOT have to birth a child to be a parent. It DOES take a village to raise our children and youth and that is what the church family is all about--raising children IN THE FAITH!
Corinne McCord wrote, “As a woman I look forward to Mother's Day. It's like an extra birthday. I have great memories. Being a single Mom for 10 years I learned to buy myself flowers on this day.”

“My Mom is my inspiration too. Growing up, she had $250 every two weeks to do food shopping for 6 people. She taught me that my actions were my actions and I was held responsible for them.

“My Mom's family is Polish descent.
So Crying, Food, Hugs and Kisses are a part of my life.
Someone dies-- bring them food and sit and have a cup of tea. Someone is happy-- bring food and cheer with them.
Someone is having a problem--make them food and drink wine, talk it though.”

“Being in the military, I don't always get to be with my Mom. I love her and miss her.”

Alison Estep writes, “I love celebrating Mother's Day....
As a kid my mother was always there for me making us girls feel secure.
After school in the afternoon my mom would always greet me when I got off of the bus.
My mom would always have a special treat for my friends and I...when my mother told me she was going to be there, do something she would always follow thru.
My mother always had our best interest at heart. I always felt loved, safe & secure.”

Leisel Iverson who recently lost her Mom says, “My family is a matriarchal family. Not that the fathers and grandfathers aren't equally important but my memories of my Mom, Grammy and Grandma are of women standing at the center of their families, keeping everyone and everything happy, thriving and moving.”

“I know that I wouldn't be the woman I am today without Mom. From Mom, I learned how to manage a household, nurture a loving family, maintain a happy marriage, be a wonderful Mom and a loving daughter and sister, strive to shape the world into a better place and be the kind of friend people cherish.”

Leisel concludes, “Mother's Day is a day of mixed emotion for me.”
Jean Baker says, “I don't have feelings one way or another about Mother's Day. My mother has been gone for many years.
As far as being a mother myself, “I often wish I could start over. Knowing what I know now, and watching the way our children deal with their families, I wish I could go back and change some of the things I did.”
A woman who wished to remain anonymous responded, “I was an only child and although my mother was wonderful and caring, she could also be critical and so my childhood memories are worried nights of tossing and turning.”

Another says, “As a mother whose daughter died, Mother’s Day is always hurt to me. My daughter would always go way out for Mother’s Day. It’s hard to put into words the feeling after losing a child. I know I feel failure and disappointment. I always get upset, but I know I am strong with the love of God.”

Your family: how it works?

It works like Jesus family. Healthy families have:
Rituals—going up to Jerusalem annually
Surprises—a child was lost
Worry—they looked for Jesus
Anger—“Child how could you do this to us?”
Listening—Mary and Joseph listened to Jesus
Poor communication—Obviously Mary and Joseph hadn’t communicated
Obedience—Jesus went with them
Growth—Jesus grew wise

That’s how your family works!

A Mother’s Prayer

If I live in a house of spotless beauty with everything in its place, but have not love, I am a housekeeper--not a homemaker.
If I have time for waxing, polishing, and decorative achievements, but have not love, my children learn cleanliness - not godliness.
Love leaves the dust in search of a child's laugh.
Love smiles at the tiny fingerprints on a newly cleaned window.
Love wipes away the tears before it wipes up the spilled milk. Love picks up the child before it picks up the toys.
Love is present through the trials. Love reprimands, reproves, and is responsive.
Love crawls with the baby, walks with the toddler, runs with the child, then stands aside to let the youth walk into adulthood.
Love is the key that opens life’s message to a child's heart. Before I became a mother I took glory in my house of perfection. Now I glory in God's perfection of my child.
As a mother, there is much I must teach my child, but the greatest of all is love.

A Life Full of Life - May 1, 2011

2011-05-04T10:30:00.000-07:00

A Life Full of Life
The Church of the Wayfarer
Dr. Norm Mowery, Pastor
May 1, 2011 Scholarship Sunday
John 13:34-35

“After growing up as a pastor’s kid, it would be easy for me to claim a faith in Christ just because my parents are Christians. Yet this faith is not just my religion…..it is my relationship with Jesus….who gave me a life full of fulfillment on earth—a life full of life.”

When I read those words by Melanie Hong I said to myself, “There is a sermon here someplace!”

Immediately I picked up the phone and asked her for permission to use ‘A Life Full of Life’ as my title today. In fact, I think I woke her up.

I love it!

A Life Full of Life! These are good words for all of us to take home with us today.

Are you living ‘a life full of life’?

This week I read about two people who are not living a life full of life. They are the only two people in the whole world who speak the indigenous Ayapaneco tongue a dialect in southern Mexico. This dialect will no longer exist when these two persons die.

The sad thing is that the two are not on speaking terms!

What does it mean to live a life full of life?

I wonder. Are Kate and Will living a life full of life on their honeymoon? I understand it is delayed.
I wonder. Is Gabrielle Giffords able to live a life full of life as she recovers from gun shot wounds inflicted by a mad man?
I wonder. Have the people living near Chernobyl for the past 25 years since the nuclear reactor meltdown been living lives full of life all these years?
I wonder. Are the people running the Big Sur Marathon today on one of the most beautiful roads in the world living a life full of life? Are they noticing the beauty as they run?

Each of the students who are receiving a scholarship this morning was asked to ‘comment on what your Christian background has meant to you.’

I am very impressed with each of their statements and will be sharing from them this morning.

The students were also asked to write a paragraph ‘explaining why this scholarship is important to you.’

I was impressed with what Sophie Claudel wrote in response to this question.
“This scholarship is important to me because it is not strictly a reward for what I have accomplished, but an affirmation of my faith…to live out the words of Christ,
‘A new command I give you:
love one another as I have loved you.
You must love one another.
By this everyone will know that you are my disciples,
if you love one another.’
This Scholarship represents my dedication to living the way of Christ.”

Sophie, I selected this passage from the Gospel of John as our text for this morning because I think that these words answer the question, “What does it mean to live a life full of life?” By the way, I talked with your youth minister at the ribbon cutting yesterday.

Living a life full of life means that we ‘love one another as Christ loves us.’

Love is less what you feel than what you do. We know what Christ has done for us. What are we doing for others?

Allison Bales says, “I have grown up in a Christian household which resulted in me being shown love from all different directions.”

I think I know that some proud parents are hearing those words!

When we are shown ‘love from all different directions’ we are living a life full of life.

Nearly thirty years ago a visionary pastor and nine passionate lay persons decided that they wanted to have the Church of the Wayfarer live a life full of life and show it by helping students financially.

With much passion, hard work and enthusiasm the Church of the Wayfarer Foundation was founded as an independent corporation to administer the scholarship funds.

We heard earlier from Mr. John Carley how successful this has been in making it possible to give away hundreds of thousands of dollars to hundreds of students.

Lewis Alabaster was one of the original nine members of the Foundation. He was not only an accomplished pianist but he donated early funds for the scholarships.

Persons who wanted to make a difference and who wanted to live ‘a life full of life’ gave with passion and within a few years tens of thousands of dollars were given out honoring many saints whose lives were remembered by these memorial gifts.

People like:
Barbara Anker, wife of former pastor Charles Anker
Douglas Baker, son of Rev. Dale and Jean Baker
Lloyd and Emma Dixon
Mildred Hoeffel, aunt of Dr. Woudenberg
Pat Lewis, husband of Yvonne Lewis
Joyce Lindgren, first wife of Jim Lindgren
Amy Maroun, first wife of General Autrey Maroun
Amy Lynn Meadows, daughter of Lucy Fillmore
Pearl Pike, long time church secretary
Judge and Mrs. George E Shafer
William Hartman, husband of Ann
Elizabeth Truscott, daughter of Wesley and Gari Ann
Diane McEwen, wife of Alton

Generous donors who wanted to touch lives of young people including the students who are here today included:
LaVerne Ostermeyer
Hilda Pearson
Dr. Rolf and Rhea Ullstead
Woody and Barbara Wood
The George Dean Family
Bruce and Evelyn Freet
Roasbelle Hamann
Robert and Charlotte LaKamp

Over the years many more people have contributed to the Church of the Wayfarer Scholarship Ministry including the Monterey Peninsula Foundation Youth Fund.

One outstanding lay person, the only lay person of the original nine Trustees of the Foundation, who is still living locally, is Marian Clemens.

Marian, I would like to personally thank you for living ‘a life full of life’ by giving of your self to make these gifts to these students possible today. Ray Winstead is another of the early leaders of the Foundation.

Jade Hage says in her faith statement, “I am driven by the belief that I have a responsibility to God that I need to use the gifts that He has given me to serve society.”

Hearing that statement I think the donors of the funds would be proud right now. Thanks Jade.

“Without my Christian background, I wouldn’t be able to jump into my future as the Christian I am today” writes Danica Harootian.

I like that. Danica, I hope that we are all jumping to our future.
Jump!
Jump to it!

She continues, “My parents’ love reflects God’s love for a child like me.”

I think that that is what our Gospel lesson says as well.

Perry Choi, I deeply appreciate your musical abilities, but even more I appreciate what you wrote. You said, “Along with a new found passion for philanthropy, through my Keeping Music Alive program, I began to reconnect with our Father.”

Andrew Clark expresses God’s love in this way, “Socially, I try to be inclusive. I try to never let someone sit alone during lunch in the cafeteria.”

Like I said earlier, “Love is less what you feel than what you do.” Andrew, thanks for caring for the least, last and the lost.

“I’ve discovered that I have the possibility of making a positive impact on a global scale, and this is the goal towards which I am directing my future” writes Elizabeth Clark.
Yes, you can, Elizabeth! Yes, you will!

Katherine Congleton not only knows the words of the Gospel of John but she owns them as her own.
“I still can’t even begin to fathom God,
in all of His power and glory,
humbling Himself to became a man and die for me,
just because He loves me.”
Yes, Katherine, He does love you as though you are the only one to love!

Hee Ae Han affirms that, “He will never forsake me or present me with struggles I cannot handle.”

“God has changed my life from once a middle school student living in darkness to a high school senior living in the light” writes Savannah Lee.

Monica Miles, I especially like what you have written, “Being a Christian is no longer a title….it is my life!”

Erika Kreeger, thanks for affirming retired people in saying, “I became friends with many retired people whom I continue to be friends with today. They have listened to my silly stories and made it clear that they see great value in me.”

To the older people here this morning I ask, “Do you do that? Do you make young people feel important?”

“I try always to be a light in school and beyond,” says Enoch Matsumura. Enoch, if you haven’t yet met Barbara and Woody Wood you must do so today. They are the ones who have provided your scholarship and they are here today. Barbara and Woody are lights!

And Benjamin Regan sums it all up with, “The simplest way for me to say this is that I recognize Christ as my savior and I love him for that!” All I can say is AMEN!

A few years ago a 17-year old high-school senior from Fremont, California, achieved a perfect score on both sections of the SAT and a perfect 8000 on the tough University of California acceptance index. Never in history had any one student accomplished this feat.

In the news story about this young woman was an exchange between her and a reporter. He asked her, “What is the meaning of life?” She replied, “I have no idea.”

I don’t think that she knew what living a life full of life was all about.

I thank all of you for opening your hearts to the Church of the Wayfarer. We surround you with prayers for God’s light and love. We are indebted to you for helping with the message this morning. Thanks.

Know that you have a friend at the Wayfarer. I hope that we can keep in contact with you. We wish you the very best as you journey to your future.

A prayer I remember my Dad praying for me was that I would find the finer things in life. That is my prayer for you. There are good things and there are finer things. May you find the finest things in your life?

Remember, Jesus said, “A new command I give you: love one another as I have loved you.”

Go from here and live a life full of Life!

Always~ Easter Sunday, April 24, 2011

2011-04-25T10:58:00.000-07:00

Always
The Church of the Wayfarer
Dr. Norm Mowery, Pastor
EASTER—April 24, 2011
Matthew 28:1-10, 16-20

This morning I am not going to argue about the reality of the bodily resurrection of Jesus.
I am not going to tell you what Jesus’ resurrection body was like.
Today I am not going to attempt to give a scientific answer to explain the ascension of Jesus into heaven after the resurrection.

I might be a bit simplistic but I just accept the resurrection.
I don’t argue about it.
I don’t defend it.
I don’t feel a need to question it.
I just accept it.

Why? Because the resurrection story is my story!

The song says,
“You ask me how I know He lives.
He lives with in my heart.”

I believe in the resurrection story because it is my story—my reality.

Jesus last words were, “Remember, I am with you always.”
Always! Yes, always!

There is much that I don’t know. But I know that Jesus is with me—always.

The resurrection story is not only Jesus’ story but it can be your story, too. During Lent we listened to stories of Love and Loss.
· We heard how Abraham and Sarah laughed when the angel told them that they would have a child in old age and subsequently became the parents of many nations.
· We heard how Jacob, a scoundrel though he was, was forgiven by his brother Esau.
· We heard how Joseph, though sold into slavery, experienced good growing out of evil.
· We heard how Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt but not into the Promised Land.
· How Joshua drew on spiritual powers to break down the walls of Jericho.
· And how Ruth, a foreigner, became a part of the lineage of Jesus.

We saw ourselves in these stories of Love and Loss and we are in the Easter story, too, which is also a story of love and loss.

This past week, on Holy Thursday, we lived the story of Jesus in the Upper Room with his closest friends on the eve of his death and we had a most intimate time together.

On Friday we walked with Jesus to his death as seven of our own members shared about Jesus last words.

This morning we have read the story of the resurrection and ascension of Jesus into heaven.

It is not good enough for us to know some one else’s story. Even if it is: Abraham’s story
Or Joseph’s
Or Ruth’s
Or even Jesus’ story.
We only need to know our story.
What is your story?
Do you have a story of faith?
Is Jesus a part of your faith journey?

Can you say the following?
“And He walks with me.
And he talks with me.
And He tells me I am his own.
And the joy we share as we tarry there.
None other has ever known.”

I can say that. That is my story. That is how I experience the truth of the resurrection.

My story of faith began when I was born as my parents lived and shared their faith with their seven children through prayer, Bible study, family devotions, and regular church attendance.

My faith was there from the beginning of my life. It was an important part of me. I didn’t question it—that is until later in life. I will tell you about that in a few minutes.

I remember well the time that my parents’ faith became my faith.
I remember the time when I made a conscious choice to believe.
There have been
many moments of decision,
many opportunities to say ‘yes or no’ to faith.
My story includes—
doubts,
questions,
bad decisions,
guilt—
But, Jesus was always there.

I will never forget a hot summer night in a very emotional revival meeting. (Some of you know what those are.) That was the night I said yes to follow Jesus and his way of love.

Looking back I think that the preacher
was probably manipulative,
I know that there was peer pressure,
I know that guilt, fear, judgment and even hell
was a part of the message that night.
Even so, I made a decision to believe.

As a pastor today I proclaim the positive forces like hope and meaning and purpose and love and faith. To me that is what Jesus is all about.

No matter how or why I made the decision for Jesus from that moment I knew that he would always be with me.

In our scripture we have Matthew’s story of the empty tomb. It is fitting that Mary Magdalene and the other Mary should be the first to receive the news of the Risen Lord, and to encounter Him.
They had been there at the cross.
They had been there when he was laid in the tomb.
And now they knew the joy of the resurrection.

Three Imperatives spring out of this resurrection appearance.
1. They were urged to believe.
“Come and See,” see for yourselves the angels said.
2. They were urged to share.
“Go quickly and tell his disciples,” they said.
3. They were urged to rejoice.
“Chairete,” meaning rejoice was the first word that Jesus spoke after the resurrection.

But this is not the end of the story. At the end of our lesson Jesus gives his final words.
1. He assured them of his power.
He gave them and us the Holy Spirit to live a positive, abundant, fulfilled life.
2. He gave them a mission.
He commissioned them to tell the world the good news.
3. He promised them a presence.
He said he would never leave them or forsake them.

Jesus very last words after the resurrection were, “And, look you, I am with you always!

When I read this I thought of the Wal-Mart slogan of some years ago. I think it was, “Always the Low Price Leader” and then because of truth in advertising they had to change it to simply say, ‘Always.’ I guess that ‘Always’ didn’t fit either because now Wal-Mart’s slogan is, “Save Money. Live Better.”

Jesus words don’t have to be changed. They are eternal truth.

I discovered that Jesus’ ‘always’ means ‘always’ when I was in my mid life.

I told you earlier that I never really questioned my faith—the faith I had developed as a child. That was true till I had been in my career for about fifteen years. At that point I needed to be reminded that Jesus was with me even when: I experienced the death of a parent.
My wife had surgery.
I felt like a failure in my job.
I discovered that I was not a perfect parent.
I felt stress and pain.
I experienced evil in the church.

At that point I needed to be reminded of one word: ‘always.’

“And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age” Jesus said.

Today we need to know what truth is. There is much that is not true in our world today.
· Did you know that about two-thirds of the findings published in top medical journals are refuted within just a few years?
· Even worse, there’s a one-in-12 chance that a doctor’s diagnosis will be wrong.
· Having just filed your federal tax returns, you might want to know that professionally prepared returns are more likely to have serious errors than self-prepared returns.
· Fifty percent of all newspaper articles have at least one incorrect fact.

David Freedman has included these shocking discoveries in a book called Wrong: Why Experts Keep Failing Us. He encourages us all to be smarter about how we search for advice and to ask tough questions of people who claim to be experts. The gospel of Matthew tells us that on the first day of the week, early in the morning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary go to see Jesus’ tomb.

The two Marys are nonexperts,
who have now heard, seen and touched
the truth of the resurrection.
The resurrection is still being reported by people who have caught a glimpse of the risen Jesus in the mundane experiences of human life.

Eyewitnesses still report that Jesus is alive and active. The risen Jesus works through individuals in surprising and life-changing ways.
Jesus also appears in communities that are advancing his mission in the world like the Church of the Wayfarer in Carmel-by-the-Sea.
When it comes to religious truth, it’s often wise to trust the advice of nonexperts. So who are the nonexperts on the resurrection today? YOU ARE! Your story is truth. You know it if Jesus lives in your heart and life.

I have a friend who was on a flight to Florida. She is an educational psychologist and was preparing her notes for one of the parent-education seminars she conducts across the nation. The elderly woman sitting next to her explained that she was returning to Miami after having spent two weeks visiting her six children, 18 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren in Boston. Then she inquired what her seat companion did for a living. My friend the psychologist told me she was irritated at the woman and dreaded the rest of the flight. She fully expected to be pestered with questions and was sure that she would be asked for free professional advice. Instead when the elderly woman heard that my friend was an educational psychologist, the elderly woman sat back, picked up a magazine and said, “If there’s anything you want to know, just ask me.”

That elderly woman was confident that she knew more about parenting that my friend.

When our life’s story includes faith we know that Jesus is always with us!

Christ is Risen. Christ is risen indeed. Always.
Christ is Risen. Always. Alleluia.

Easter Prayer

God of glory, we gather to celebrate your victory over death and the power of sin.
The empty cross and the promise of the resurrection are tangible signs of hope in our broken world.
We pray for our brothers and sisters around the world who aren’t free to sing their alleluias out loud.
We give thanks for those who glorify you this day in places where hope is in short supply — in countries recovering from natural disasters or torn by war.
We pray for those who suffer in mind, body or spirit, who lack the strength to sing alleluia. We offer alleluias on their behalf, praying for healing so their voices can join in the joyful songs of praise.
We give you thanks for the saints who have gone before us, singing in your heavenly choir, grateful for their lives of faith.
Help us live as Easter people throughout the year; let our lives be signs of your unending love.
We pray in the name of our risen Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Stories of Love and Loss ~ Taking Down Walls; April 10, 2011

2011-04-11T10:58:00.000-07:00

Stories of Love and Loss—5. Taking Down Walls The Church of the Wayfarer Dr. Norm Mowery, Pastor April 10, 2011 Joshua 6:1-5, 20 Note: This is the fifth in a series of six messages for the Lenten Season. These messages begin with first-person presentations based on the lives of persons in the Hebrew Scriptures. Today we meet Joshua. The Israelites have come to the end of a long, long journey. They had wandered in the wilderness for forty years and now have come to the valley of their dreams. Finally, after years of false starts, dark detours, and dashed hopes, they have come to the land which God had promised. They could have gotten out of the wilderness in forty days, but took forty years because of discontent, disbelief, and disobedience. But now God was willing, because they were willing, to move them into a paradise oasis - a land flowing with milk and honey. I have been to Jericho. It is a beautiful oasis with fruit trees and palm trees that spring up out of the desert. The climate there is very similar to the climate in the central valley of California. The people of Israel were ready to move forward because they had a new leader named Joshua. Now they were ready to be led. They trusted Joshua to lead them onwards. This was a new day and a time in which God would do new things in new ways. The people were ready to be led because they were tired of life in the desert. Joshua would now lead them to their appointed place in history. They would now realize all the things God had in store for them because they, learning the lessons of the past, were ready to be led. The scriptures say they had consecrated themselves before crossing the Jordan and had concentrated on the word of God as spoken to them by Joshua before setting out. The Israelites had crossed over Jordan. They were jubilant and victorious, for a dream so long deferred had now become a reality. You see, it is not enough to cross over to a new life. We must be ready to meet the challenges which await us once we're there. This was more than a military conquest. It was a spiritual one, for it spoke more about their relationship and trust in God than the power of their military might. What was the underlying meaning of this story? First, God wanted it perfectly clear that the people's victory depended on spiritual leadership. The priests led the battle because God wanted the spirituality of the people to become the primary focus of their conquest. The military leaders had to rely upon the spiritual leaders for direction. The clergy leading the way meant that God was still in charge and the people would have to rely completely on the wisdom of God and God's leaders to get them through. Some of the people may have thought the battle plan foolish—that no victory could ever be claimed under such conditions. But with God anything is possible. What appears as God's foolishness is wiser than man's greatest wisdom. The Canaanites were baffled by what they saw. They thought the whole thing was a joke. But when the walls came tumbling down, they saw that God was doing a new and miraculous thing among them. It was no joke. God was for real. Some things God gives us the ability to do. Other things require absolute dependence on God and knowing how to pray, and wait for instructions from God before making a move. Second, God's miraculous methods were possible because the people had spiritually prepared themselves for battle. The spiritual walk is a battle with ourselves and others for spiritual victory. The Canaanites were stunned by the battle strategy because nothing in their religious practices or spirituality prepared them for the impossible. The Israelites had already done their spiritual homework. They were psychologically and spiritually ready to do the impossible. Early in my ministry I had only one sermon. It was titled ‘Mission Impossible’ after the TV program. I bet I preached that sermon a hundred times. To Linda it probably seemed like a thousand times. During that time in my life I was a part of the Gospel Team from the college. We traveled on weekends all over the east coast leading worship services at different churches. Every place we went I preached the ‘Mission Impossible’ sermon. Maybe you would like to hear it sometime! This is a mission impossible story because their God was a God of great expectations. They knew from experience that God could do the possible amid the impossible. Their spiritual instruction and diligent preparation through prayer, scripture study, fasting, cleansing, had put them in the right frame of mind. They knew that with God anything was possible. The miracle of Jericho's storming just didn't happen. A long preparation process preceded that victory. God is a God of preparation. Third, God chose different weapons for conquest by using joy songs, trumpets, and hallelujah shouts to bring down the walls of Jericho. God would use entirely different weapons as instruments to claim the victory. Not swords, not slingshots, not daggers and rocks, but hymn books, trumpet blasts, and hallelujah shouts. Songs, prayers, music, marching and shouting were the weapons. God used new leaders, new strategies, and new battle plans that discomfited the enemy and gave the Israelites victory. Trusting God means that we rely on God even if God requires us to do something in a new way. Sometimes we have to change. Sometimes we have to try new things. Sometimes we have to part with tradition in order to meet the requirements God places on us. Sometimes when the walls come down rocks hit people on the ground. What if the Israelites refused to change and kept their own battle plans? They would have been thoroughly beaten by their enemies. Your enemy can destroy you just in your refusal to look at things in a new way. If we trust God completely, if we spend a little time talking it over with Jesus, if we put our hand in God's hand and humbly ask the Lord to direct our paths, God will show the way. The joy songs reminded them of the sweet melodies of God's everlasting graces, the harmony which comes through the unity of God's people. The trumpets were instruments which allowed them to harmonize the jangling discords of military defeat, and the shout symbolized how the power of their testimony in the heat of battle would bring down the walls that separated them from their greatest dreams. Some joy songs, trumpets, and hallelujah shouts were the only weapons they had, and God gave them the victory!

Stories of Love & Loss ~ When Someone Hurts You; March 27, 2011

2011-03-28T11:43:00.000-07:00

Stories of Love and Loss—When Someone Hurts You The Church of the Wayfarer Dr. Norm Mowery, Pastor March 27, 2011 Note: This is the third in a series of seven messages I am giving for the Lenten Season. These messages begin with first-person presentations based on the lives of persons in the Hebrew Scriptures. Today we meet Joseph. Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all his attendants, and he cried out, "Have everyone leave my presence!" So there was no one with Joseph when he made himself known to his brothers. 2 And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard him, and Pharaoh's household heard about it. 3 Joseph said to his brothers, "I am Joseph! Is my father still living?" But his brothers were not able to answer him, because they were terrified at his presence. 4 Then Joseph said to his brothers, "Come close to me." When they had done so, he said, "I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! 5 And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. 6 For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will not be plowing and reaping. 7 But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. 8 "So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. Genesis 45:1-8a A violent conflict had separated Joseph and his brothers. The story of Joseph begins with his brothers conspiring to kill him, and then throwing him into a pit and selling him into slavery. After this breakup, Joseph is taken down to Egypt, where he becomes a successful manager in the house of an Egyptian officer. Unfortunately, the officer’s wife attempts to seduce Joseph, and her unsatisfied lust results in a jail term for Joseph. But the Bible tells us that “the LORD was with Joseph”, so he becomes the favorite of the chief jailer, and later rises to the position of second-in-command to Pharaoh himself, gaining control over all the land as governor. It is in this position of power that Joseph encounters his brothers again, and their painful breakup results in a divine reunion. Canaan has been hit by a severe famine, and so the brothers of Joseph travel to Egypt to buy grain. They meet with the governor, not recognizing that he is Joseph, and they ask for his assistance. He toys with them, and even throws them into prison for a while, but ends up giving them the grain they need. Then Joseph reveals himself, saying, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt.” Their jaws hit the floor. “And now do not be distressed,” he continues, “or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life”. Joseph sees that God used their ugly breakup for a beautiful purpose — to put Joseph in a position where he could help his family survive a deadly famine. The brothers might have intended evil for Joseph when they sold him into slavery, but God intended it for good. “So it was not you who sent me here, but God,” explains Joseph. The original breakup may have been painful, but it wasn’t all bad. In fact, it was really quite divine. It’s a story that reminds us that when we’ve experienced awful separation it’s possible to move to awesome reconciliation. Evil is turned into good, and loss transformed into gain. It’s a story of estrangement and reconciliation, and it’s an account that unfortunately reflects some of the pain we all experience from time to time. Are there some hints in this text that will help us overcome estrangement? 1. Extend an invitation. Notice that Joseph says to his brothers, “Come closer to me”. It is so hard to make the first move. But we need to remember that the goal of reconciliation is to restore harmony and trust between those who have been offended. If we want to reunite, it may need to begin with an invitation from us to the offender to “come closer.” This is not an invitation to overlook, or dismiss what happened. It’s simply a mechanism to close the gap, to begin to see each other as human beings sometimes tortured by emotions beyond our control. “Come closer” is an invitation to begin a process. Instead of saying, “Get out of my face,” we’re saying, “Get in my face.” Get in my space. We can’t begin the journey to reconciliation when we are so far apart, with you sitting on one side of the room, and me on the other side. Come closer. Let’s talk. 2. Forgive. Joseph says, “And now do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here”. In other words, let go of the offender’s involvement in your life and let God deal with those who have caused the estrangement. Forgiveness is not about keeping score! It’s not something we do for the other guy; it’s something we do for ourselves. Forgiveness is not an action; it is an attitude. It would have been easy for Joseph to keep his brothers at arm’s length, instead of inviting them to get in his face. It would have been easy for him not to forgive. Instead, Joseph says, “Don’t be angry with yourselves.” Look for God’s fingerprints. “So it was not you who sent me here, but God” Joseph says. This is not to say when evil or distress comes into our life, that God is the author of this mess. It is to suggest that in all of our circumstances, if we look, we can see God at work! 3. Be a part of the solution. “I will provide for you there — since there are five more years of famine to come — so that you and your household, and all that you have, will not come to poverty” he told his brothers. Joseph was not about to “forgive,” and then simply write them off, or blow them off. He enters fully into their circumstances, and he takes action to help them “come closer,” to help them find wholeness again. If we want to be together again with those who have been so long apart, we’ll see in Joseph’s behavior a template to help us make it happen. Today’s message concludes the stories in the first book of the Bible –Genesis. Joseph’s revelation is a fitting climax to the series of family stories that form the bulk of the Bible’s beginning, bringing together many of the themes that link the disparate materials in Genesis: the nature of human society, the complexities of family dynamics, the struggle for group identity and survival, the competing demands of insiders and outsiders, the interplay of loyalty, betrayal, selfishness and altruism, and, the nature of God’s interaction with the world. But you may be asking, “What about the scars?” Didn’t Joseph have emotional scars because of the experience? You know there would have to be scars. All those years of hatred and jealousy, abuse and violence ... there would HAVE to be scars. Think of the deep and numerous scars in the life of Joseph and his brothers. The constant taunting when he was a child. The plot to murder him. The heartless sale into slavery. How do you heal these wounds? What about the scars? The text tells us that Joseph and his brothers reconcile, and they kiss and weep and talk. But the scars that this family bear are not easily sanded away. Joseph's scar won't go away. He knows it won't, and he doesn't pretend it will. In fact, he points to his scar and reminds his brothers that they sold him into slavery. He makes no attempt to airbrush the fact that something terrible was done to him, but in spite of this history, Joseph is somehow able to move toward reconciliation with his brothers. God brings healing. "Even though you intended to do harm to me," Joseph tells his brothers, "God intended it for good". The scar is still there. But now it looks beautiful, instead of ugly. Does this mean that every tragedy we experience has a silver lining? That all evil is really good, and that all our suffering is somehow being orchestrated by God? Not at all. Take a look at your scars: physical, emotional, psychological, spiritual. How can they be openings or occasions for new visions? Joseph looked at the scar from his sale into slavery, and saw that God had a saving plan for his life. This past week as Linda took care of our granddaughter, Kira, I learned a few things: 1. I am not a perfect grandparent! 2. I do not have a perfect granddaughter. 3. Two year olds have ‘flip outs’ ‘temper tantrums’ or whatever you call them. 4. It is impossible to know what causes ‘flip outs’ or how to fix them. 5. And, once a ‘flip out’ is over—it is over. No grudges. No residual. It is over as fast as it came. The other night Kira wanted Nana not PaPa. She wanted Nana now! Nana was not there. Kira cried herself to sleep. Grandpa was frustrated. The next morning Kira woke up smiling, happy, laughing. No memory of the night before. No anger. No grudge at Papa. But, I had to have a talking to with myself. I said to me, “Grandpa, just let it go. It is over. Move on.” I did! I wish I could do that more when people hurt me! Prayer Holy God, center us in the journey toward the Cross. At the sights and sounds of Christ's journey toward Jerusalem, may we remember that we, too, must find our way to a new understanding of sacrifice for the sake of love for others? Lead us not into the temptation of excuses, of definitions that keep us distant from your purpose. May we come to know that quiet joy of love, burning deepwithin us, that calls forth a desire to give ourselves for your world, like Christ did? Forgive us our distractions, heal our wounds, give us courage for this journey, not only to the Cross, but also beyond - to your new life for all peoples. May it be so, may it be so. Through Jesus we pray. Amen.

Stories of Love & Loss ~ Strained Relationships; March 20, 2011

2011-03-28T11:41:00.000-07:00

Stories of Love and Loss—Strained Relationships The Church of the Wayfarer Dr. Norm Mowery, Pastor March 20, 2011 Genesis 32:22-32 This is the second in a series of seven messages I am giving for the Lenten Season. These messages begin with first-person presentations based on the lives of persons in the Hebrew Scriptures. Today we met Jacob. After the presentations the scripture is read followed by the message. Last Sunday Abraham said that one of the most difficult things in life is to pull up stakes not knowing where we are going. I found that to be very true this week. Nine of us had planned to have a Silent Lenten Retreat at Big Sur only to find out that part of Highway 1 had fallen into the ocean! God was calling us to retreat but we could not get there. I have a confession to make. Linda and I were both going to be silent but since we couldn’t go to the Hermitage we stayed home and did our taxes. Last Sunday we saw that Abraham went on a journey not knowing where he was going and God blessed him so that he would be a blessing. The poet, James Thurber, once said, “All men must learn before they die, what they are running from…..and to…..and why.” That quote applies to Jacob as he wrestles with God—very probably an experience familiar to what some are feeling here this morning. When daylight begins to break, the mysterious wrestler tries to leave, but Jacob holds on. Like the stubborn newborn holding his brother's heel, Jacob holds on. Jacob says, "I will not let you go until you bless me." And the Lord responds, saying, "What is your name?" Anybody here who has walked through a dark night of the soul, ever been afraid to turn their face toward home, or found themselves in a wrestling match with God, can identify with this man by the name of Jacob. Lets us take a closer look at this struggle in the night. He struggled with a strained relationship he had with his brother Esau. Some of us struggle with strained relationships. I know what strained relationships are first hand. Last Sunday I said that my mother had to go to a nursing home but we didn’t know which one. That’s a journey of pulling up stakes but not knowing where it’s going. This week the seven of my mother’s children had to make a decision as to what is best for Mom. That is a challenge especially when all seven of us live in different states. This week’s communication resulted in some strained relationships. Jacob was left to struggle alone. Such times of solitude call us to introspection, evaluation, and alteration. One of my favorite writers is Henri Nouwen. In one of his last writings he says, “I found myself in a hospital following a car accident. At first I thought it was nothing. Then I was told I was bleeding internally and might not live. Surprisingly, I found the threat of death to be peaceful beyond my understanding. It was when I woke up and discovered myself still alive in this world, that I became restless. In my days of recovery, I discovered I had some unfinished business of the soul. There were certain people I still hadn’t forgiven. There were deep confessions I had hesitated to make.” Suddenly in the night, someone seizes Jacob from behind, and slams him to the ground in a bitter struggle for life. Harold Kushner says this stranger in the night is none other than the conscience of Jacob calling him to accountability. A life of deceit, denial, and duplicity is finally doing him in. Here, alone on the muddy banks of the Jabbok River, he has to face himself. I believe someone besides himself had Jacob in a headlock that night. Jacob is wrestling with none other than God. Jacob wants a blessing. God wants a new person. Back and forth they struggle through the night. The stranger says in the night, “What is your name?” Jacob says, “My name is Jacob.” The trickster, lier, grabber, heel. “My name is Jacob. My father did not like me. My brother cannot stand me. My mother sent me away.” “What is your name?” “My name is Jacob. If I cannot be loved, at least I’ll be in control.” “What is your name?” “My name is Jacob!” Driven, deceitful, successful, powerful, lonely, afraid. Jacob was not very proud of his name. I wonder today if there are some names in your life that you need to abandon? Are there names that have gotten attached to you, but do not belong to you? Like: Dumb, drunk, pest, problem, promiscuous, mean, manipulative, victim. You know the name. If so, I have a new name for you. The stranger in the night said to Jacob, “your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and have overcome. The name Israel meant the straight one, God rules, father of nations, patriarch of people, the blessed of God. I have a new name for you. You see, Israel was not a new label on an old jar, but a new substance in the life and soul of a struggling man. That day, A trickster became a treasure. A heel became a healer. A scoundrel became a saint. Jacob did not need to get back to his old self that morning. He needed to put on a whole new self. We do not need restoration; we need transformation. Your name is no longer Jacob. Your name is Israel. It is something like Bobby trying to become Robert, or Marge trying to become Marjorie, or Dick trying to become Richard. Jacob must have felt weird at first to have taken on this new identity. As he rose that morning to become Israel, the father of all nations, so we must rise to live a life worthy of the name Christian. Jacob is about to be reunited with Esau. What would big brother's reaction be? Have you ever struggled with your conscience at night? Suffered over guilt? Been panicked by fears of the day ahead? Jacob had LOTS of reasons to agonize. In the morning he would be meeting one of them face-to-face. On and on the struggle continued through the night. Now the sun begins to rise. Jacob's antagonist says, "Let me go, for it is daybreak." Who is this nemesis wanting to escape before dawn? Whoever it is, Jacob presumes he is someone beyond the ordinary. He responds, "I will not let you go, unless you bless me." The man asks, "What is your name?" "Jacob." "Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and have overcome." Now it is Jacob's turn to ask the name, but no name is given, just a blessing. The unidentified adversary disappears. And the new day dawns. As he reflects on the events of the night, Jacob becomes more and more confident. The more he thinks about it, the more he becomes convinced that his encounter was with the divine. While Jacob wrestled all that long night, he did not know with what he was struggling, he only knew that he would not let go until some good came of it. There value is in the struggle even if we are struggling with God. The classic illustration is the struggle that a butterfly goes through in breaking free from the cocoon. It is difficult to watch, because the temptation is to want to help this poor, squirming creature. But keep your hands off anyway. You see, it is the STRUGGLE that allows the butterfly opportunity to build enough strength to finally be able to fly. Are there struggles for you right now? Business struggles, family struggles, money struggles, faith struggles, personal struggles? Do not give up. The survival of our scoundrel Jacob may offer some consolation and encouragement. Hang in long enough, and a blessing waits at the end. PASTORAL PRAYER FOR ALL AFFECTED BY THE EARTHQUAKE AND TSUNAMI. Lord, we pray not only for those whose lives have been darkened by disaster over recent days, but also for those whose faith has been shaken; for those who stand bewildered and fearful in the midst of tragedy; for the injured, the bereaved, and the destitute. We commend to your grace all who are seeking to help and heal the injured, and to comfort and calm the bereaved. From you alone can come the word that will lift them above their darkness. Answer, O Lord, the questions in their minds; and assure them that though disaster is not of your will, you are present with them in their suffering and sorrow, and can enable them to find purpose, hope and peace again. Most merciful God, in the midst of natural disaster we took to you in hope and trust, acknowledging that there is much in life beyond our present understanding. Accept our compassion for the suffering; bless those who working for their relief; and show us what we can do to share in their task, as servants of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Stories of Love and Loss ~ Pulling Up Stakes/March 13,2011

2011-03-15T09:30:00.000-07:00

Stories of Love and Loss--Pulling Up Stakes
The Church of the Wayfarer
Dr. Norm Mowery, Pastor
First Sunday of Lent—March 13, 2011
Genesis 12:1-5
This is the first in a series of seven messages for the Lenten Season. These messages will begin with first-person dramatic presentations based on the lives of persons in the Hebrew Scriptures. Today we learn about Abraham and Sarah.

Text: “I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing” Genesis 12:2

One of the hardest things in life is when we must ‘pull up stakes’ and move but we don’t know where we are going.

That’s the way it was for Abraham. That is the way it is in the Christian life, too.

(Bonnie Read)

The Lord said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.”

I will make of you a great nation
And I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
And whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.”

So Abram left, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Haran. He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.”

The Lord God essentially told Abram: “Uproot yourself from the comfort of clan and country, gather all your folks, flocks and other goods, and then head out to points unknown.”

I know what that is like! As a United Methodist pastor I wait for the Bishop’s call to tell me where to move.

My mother is experiencing that right now. She has been hospitalized and now has to move to a nursing home to points unknown.

It requires a lot of trust in God for Abraham to take those many steps of obedience along an indeterminate journey. But the Lord said, “Go,” and Abraham “went”, at the age of 75, leaving much of what was near and dear to him.

Abraham is still called Abram at this point. He and his wife, Sarah, as you may recall, had a name change later on in their lives. We know little about Abram before Genesis 12, but what we do know about him and his cultural ethos is important: • In the ancient Near East, family is the entire basis of social and religious life. • Abram and Sarai battle infertility and have no children. • His father takes the family from Ur to live in Canaan but settles halfway on that common trade route at Haran. When God calls Abram, we have to appreciate how that call utterly turned Abram’s world upside down and totally reshaped his life and his family members’ lives. “Go from your country”. Abram had just uprooted from Ur; now he’s to uproot again from Haran. God has something in mind about Canaan, and he wants Abram to continue the family journey to get there. “Go from … your kindred and your father’s house”. Family is everything — business partners, “church small group,” friendships. He’s supposed to leave that clan. “Go … to the land that I will show you”.

It’s like geographic Simon Says. Start traveling with the family until Yahweh says, “Stop!” That’s a crazy calling. “Go from where you live and whom you know to a place I won’t reveal yet.”

God says that if Abram does that, he’ll bless him deeply.
Barrenness will turn into family.
Family will turn into nation.
Worldwide legacy and impact will result.

We can reduce Abram’s calling into a mission statement for us today:

Follow God. Be blessed by God. Bless others. With both successes and setbacks, Abraham navigates some major-league challenges. Why didn’t he just check out on God after years of empty promises concerning a possible child?

What kept Abraham from moving back to family and what he knew?

How did he go through with circumcision and the potential sacrifice of Isaac? Abraham must have stayed true to that call.

“I follow God. I’ll be blessed by God. I bless others.”

Abraham’s journey was marked by the following features: • First, Abram headed out in response to what he perceived as a call from God. The writer of Hebrews says this was because of Abram’s faith, but the Old Testament writer doesn’t use that word. He simply points out that Abram “went.” He obeyed the call. Obedience is evidence of faith, of course, but it is faith in action. • Second, when Abram arrived at his destination, he listened for what God wanted him to do there. He built the altar at Shechem because he became aware that God was speaking to him. • Third, he “invoked” the name of the Lord. That is, he did what he could to make the place where he was God’s place. In other words he worshipped God. • Fourth, he worked as a selfless peacemaker. In the conflict with Lot, he put his own desires last. • Fifth, he grew in his own understanding of God because he journeyed where God wanted him to go. Those five criteria —
obedience,
listening,
worshiping,
selflessness
and remaining open to new understandings of God —
can turn all sorts of efforts into Abram-type pilgrimages.

That’s important because God sometimes calls us, like Abram, to leave our comfort zones and go places where we feel out of our depth, but he calls us to go anyway.

Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.

“So throw off the bowlines,
sail away from the safe harbor.
Catch the trade winds in your sails.
Explore.
Dream.
Discover”.—Mark Twain.

In closing here are some tips on packing:
When preparing to travel,
lay out all your clothes and all your money.
Then take half the clothes and twice the money.

Building According to Code - February 6, 2011

2011-03-09T15:08:00.000-08:00

Reading from the Holy Gospel—Matthew 7:24-29
24"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
25The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.
26But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.
27The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash." 28When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.

Does anyone know what this is?

I know one person here this morning that does. Jim Lindgren, as a contractor, I bet you know what it is.

In the world of construction it is called a ‘Red Tag’.

If this would be placed on your building project what would it mean?

You stop all work, right?

As I read this scripture I thought about housing construction today and the fact that there are uniform building codes. Houses must be built to code or they will be ‘red tagged’ with one of these.

The staff at Carmel City Hall must have thought that it was a little strange that I went in and asked if I could have a ‘red tag’. I had never seen one before.

Jim probably hopes he never sees one in the future!

This message is a simple one, “Houses must be built to code and so must our lives.”

What is the uniform building code for our lives?

Who issues ‘red tags’ for us if we do not build our lives according to code?

These are some of the questions that I have asked as I worked on this message.

On more than one occasion Jesus used the example of constructing a building to make a serious point.

1. Wise people build their lives on a solid foundation. Every architect knows that. However, it happens from time to time that the principle of a solid foundation is ignored . . . with disastrous consequences.

Joe Emerson in his book, I Wanted the Elevator, But I Got the Shaft, tells about a skyscraper called the Columbus Building that was erected in 1893 in Chicago.

When the Columbus Building was erected it soared above the city, but slowly it began to sink into the sand upon which it was constructed. When it was shored up on one side, it would sink on the other. Finally it had to be torn down. It was impossible to find any way to save it from the shifting sands so it was destroyed in 1959.

Fortunately, by the time the next skyscraper, the Prudential Building, was erected geologists knew what it took to build a skyscraper in Chicago. Pilings were driven 108 feet into the ground. It is still standing today.

One of the self-evident truths of life is: it’s important to build on a solid foundation.

I lived in San Francisco in 1967 when the Bank of America Building was being constructed. I will never forget listening to the pile drivers working day after day driving pilings to bed rock.

I understand that there was little damage here in Carmel in 1989 when the Loma Prieta Earthquake struck because this city is built on rock in comparison to Santa Cruz which is not.

It is significant that Jesus ended the Sermon on the Mount with this parable.
Jesus told the compelling story of two builders who each built a home. Standing inside these homes, going from room to room, there was little to no difference between them. Even from the outside one might say they were virtually indistinguishable from one another but for the foundations, one built upon the rock and the other upon sand.

When Jesus spoke about houses and foundations he knew what he was talking about. He was a stonemason by trade. The Hebrew word for carpenter is the same word for stone mason. Very likely as a young person Jesus was a mason rather than a carpenter. The people understood well the significance of building upon rock verses sand. The sermon comes from the life of these people gathered around Jesus on that day. Jesus was talking about a situation that was very real in the life of the people. Jesus knew that people of all times are involved in building lives.

2. What code are you going to use to build your home? There are all kinds of codes. You ask someone in the construction or architectural business and they will tell you that building codes are complex and sometimes confusing.

In life we have a uniform building code. If you are going to build a home, Jesus said, you must build upon something solid. There are no words more solid on which to base your life than these words from the Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon has been called the
Christian Magna Charta,
the Christian Manifesto,
the Design for Life,
and the Rules for Christian Living.

It contains the
Beatitudes,
the Lord's Prayer,
and the Golden Rule.

It deals with murder, adultery, divorce, oaths, revenge, and worry.

It gives instructions on prayer, giving to the poor, fasting, judging others, and saving money. Just listen to this list of phrases from the Sermon on the Mount that have echoed through the ages: Blessed are the poor in Spirit You Are the Salt of the earth You are the light of the world Let your "Yes" be "Yes" and your "No" be "No" If someone strikes you on the right cheek turn to him the other also Love your enemies Where your treasure is there your heart will be also Seek first the kingdom of God Do not worry about tomorrow Do not judge, or you too will be judged Do not throw your pearls before swine Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find... Do to others what you would have them do to you Enter the narrow gate. Is it any wonder that when Jesus finished saying these things that, "the crowds were amazed at his teaching." So, it is no coincidence when Jesus ends his teaching by saying there were those who were wise and they built their house upon the rocks and there were those who were foolish for they built their house upon the sands.

We ourselves determine what kind of persons we become. You and I both are building our homes. In the final analysis we ourselves determine what kind of person we become. Everyday of our life, either consciously or unconsciously, we are involved in building.
Who is the wise person? He is the one who anchors his life upon the word of God 3. Everyone must occupy the house they build.

Some property can be rented or leased, but not our souls. In the end there is absolutely one person that we must live with: ourselves. A certain rich man wanted to help someone. He saw the squalor in which a certain poor carpenter lived with his large family. The rich man sent for the carpenter and placed in his hands the blueprint for a nice home.

He ordered that the house be made beautifully and sturdy, and that the best materials be used, regardless of the price. He further explained that he was going on an extended trip and wanted the house completed when he returned. Seeing the chance to make a huge profit, the carpenter skimped on materials, hired inexperienced workers at low wages, and covered mistakes with paint. When the rich man returned the carpenter handed him the keys to the house and told him that his instructions had been carried out to the letter.

Good, replied the rich man as he returned the keys to him. For the house that you have been building is yours. You and your family are to live in it. In the years that followed the builder often regretted that he had cheated himself. You and I are building houses with either good or shoddy material. We are building according to code or we are cutting corners. Jesus warned us to build our houses wisely, because the keys are going to be handed to us and we are going to have to live with what we have created.
4. The real test in life comes when the storms are upon us.

Why is a code important?

One day the storms will come and our lives will be tested. The question is how we hold up during the storms of life. Interestingly, Jesus made it clear that the storms came to both houses. Neither was sparred. The storm hit them both.
We know what it is like to have one of life's storms smash against you and leave you breathless.
Whether it is sickness,
or the loss of a loved one,
or a family problem,
or a marital relationship,
or troubles at work,
or financial problems—
most of us have been there.

We know how frightening and shattering the storms can be. Jesus warned not to build your house for fair weather only. You will not be spared, for no one in life, good or bad, is spared. The storm came and it beat against both houses. In 1992, Hurricane Andrew destroyed thousands of homes in South Florida. Yet in an area where the wreckage looked like a war zone, one house remained standing, still firmly anchored to its foundation. When a reporter asked the homeowner why his house had not been blown away, he replied, "I built this house myself. I also built it according to the Florida state building code. When the code called for 2" x 6" roof trusses, I used 2" x 6" roof trusses. I was told that a house built according to code could withstand a hurricane-- and it did." How has your house weathered the storms?

Every house is tested. The difference is not in the weather; it is in the foundation upon which the house is anchored. It is a foolish person who thinks they can begin constructing a proper foundation when they are in the midst of the storm and the floodwaters. When life is rushing upon us; it is then too late. It is my hope this morning that all of us will build according to the code found in the Sermon on the Mount, and that we will build on the only one true foundation--Jesus Christ.

A Sustainable Life; February 27, 2011

2011-03-01T13:56:00.000-08:00

A Sustainable Life
The Church of the Wayfarer
Dr. Norm Mowery, Pastor
February 27, 2011
Matthew 6:24-34

The text for this morning from ‘The Message’ is: “You can’t worship two gods at once. You can’t worship God and Money both.”

This past week Linda and I enjoyed four nights in Honolulu, Hawaii celebrating Linda’s uncle’s 90th birthday.

When we left Honolulu on Friday afternoon it was 82 degrees.

When we arrived in San Jose it was 39 degrees!

As we got off the plane I thought of all of you at the Luau—on the coldest day of the year! Dwight, next year I suggest we have the Luau in Hawaii!
In June of this year, a major business conference called the “Sustainable Brands Innovation Open” took place right here in Monterey! Many business persons, politicians and innovators attended including then Governor Schwarzenegger.

I followed this conference with great interest.

The key word at that conference was—Sustainability. We hear the word sustainability more and more often these days.

Sustainability refers to interacting with the environment in a way that yields long-term maintenance of both
our well-being
and the well-being of the natural world.

It is balancing earth’s two most complex systems —
human culture and the living world. Maybe you’re already into the sustainability movement, or, as it’s sometimes called, the “green” or “Go Green” approach to life.

Are you a Greenie?
You might be a Greenie if …
you haven’t bought a new piece of clothing in years because everything you own finally came back in style again …
you reuse the same tea bag so many times the water in your cup is clear again …
you get a little giddy every time you go out into your back yard to turn your compost pile.
Sustainability means not using up our natural resources as though there were no tomorrow.

It means moving to
renewable-energy sources,
green technologies,
recycling procedures
and other ecologically responsible ways of living so a healthy future is possible. If sustainability is really going to become a way of life, however, it has to be larger than back-yard compost piles and recycling bins in the garage.

Businesses,
industries,
governments and other large entities need to be on board. And some are. I was amazed that back in June more than 700 brand leaders participated in the symposium here in Monterey, including
Best Buy, Clorox, The Coca-Cola Company,
Del Monte Foods, Dell, eBay,
Frito Lay, Nokia, Nike,
Panasonic, PepsiCo, Sierra Nevada,
Starbucks, Staples, Target, and Williams-Sonoma.

The competition involved entrepreneurial teams from 50 businesses vying for awards for sustainable products or processes they’ve introduced.
Entries ranged from forestry carbon-offset programs to a stove that slashes toxic smoke and carbon emissions by 95 percent. One product was sunglasses from MODO Eyewear. That company calls its “green” direction “eco,” (Earth Conscious Optics). Not only are the sunglasses made entirely from recycled materials, but the company plants a tree for each frame sold and donates unused frames to people in need.

When I heard that all these companies were here because they were concerned about sustainability I put a note in my ‘tickler file’ that this topic deserved a sermon! Quite aside from business and profit, however, sustainability is a good thing for humankind and for our planet. In today’s passage Jesus says, “No one can serve two masters. You cannot serve God and wealth.”

In other words I believe that Jesus is saying, “Sustainability is a good thing.” We cannot serve wealth at the expense of sustaining our world for the future. At first glance it would appear that Jesus’ words in this passage aren’t about sustainability. Rather, they seem to be an admonition against worrying and to live life only concerned about now.

It seems that the message is only, “Don’t worry. Be happy.”

As I read this passage I see much more. Here is an instruction about getting one’s priorities straight—about seeking first the kingdom of God. When we hear Jesus say life is more than food and body, more than clothing, we realize he’s talking about something larger than how we function in the immediate moment.

He’s talking about seeing beyond the present moment and its anxieties.

We should live in such a way that we can face tomorrow and our children’s tomorrows confident that God will sustain us as much then as he does now—because we have been good stewards of creation. Let’s take a moment to talk for a moment about worry. Jesus did.

I’m good at worrying.

If I don’t have anything to worry about, I worry about the fact that I don’t have anything to worry about!

There is a familiar story of a man who was a worrier. It showed in his face and his posture. He seemed to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders.

However, one day this man changed. He had a bounce to his step. It was as if he had not a care in the world. A friend asked what had happened.

"Well," he confided, "as you know I have always been one to worry. I have decided that this is both unwise and unhealthy, so I have hired someone to do my worrying for me."

"But how much does this cost you?" the friend asked.

"Oh, about $1,000 a week," the man replied.

"But how can you afford to pay this man who worries for you?" was the astonished response.

The man answered calmly, "That's his worry!"

We can learn a lot about worrying from our animal friends. Jesus knew that when he talked about the birds of the air.

“Look at the birds of the air” he said, “They do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.”

The key to understanding this passage is found in the words, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

In other words: God can supply our need but not our greed!

A few years back psychologist Richard Carlson wrote a best-selling book titled, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff.

Carlson, who died ironically of a heart attack at age 45, got the idea for his book one day while driving his six-year-old daughter home from school.

They got caught in rush hour traffic. They spent 40 minutes or so creeping along the freeway. As they sat in their car, Carlson’s daughter looked out at all the other cars, also creeping along. And finally, she said, “Daddy, why are all the people mad?”

And so Carlson wrote his book, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff, for he was convinced that most of the things we worry over are really not worth worrying about in the first place.

A way to defeat worry is to do the right thing. Jesus says, “It is the right thing to seek first his kingdom and his righteousness.” If you do, all these things will be given to you.”

“Focus on today,” says Jesus. “Live righteously.”

And that is where sustainability comes in.
Sustainability is: Doing what is right in the present—not waiting till tomorrow.
Susatainability is: Seeking first the kingdom of God—right now--today.

Did you all know that Clay Berling is one of my research assistants for my sermons? He saw my sermon title and sent the following from William James who was a philosopher/psychologist. James died over 100 years ago.

James was particularly interested in showing men and women how to convert misery and unhappiness into growth. Here are some of his ideas:
· Lives based on having are less free than lives based either on doing or being.
· Acceptance of what has happened is the first step to overcoming the consequences of any misfortune.
· If you believe that feeling bad or worrying long enough will change a past or future event, then you are residing on another planet with a different reality system.
· Great emergencies and crises show us how much greater our vital resources are than we had supposed.
· Compared with what we ought to be, we are half awake.
· Action may not bring happiness but there is no happiness without action.
· Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact.
· Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.

James taught that we can change our lives by altering our attitudes of mind. He called pessimism "a disease" and said it could be cured by substitution. You can change, for example, "I have to exercise today" to "I get to exercise today."

Two days ago I stood at the Pali overlook on Oahu, Hawaii. It was the most beautiful place I had ever seen (well, maybe other than Point Sur where I am a docent) and it was a picture perfect day.

As we drove back down the hill toward Honolulu, however I saw the big buildings and urban sprawl of Honolulu and asked myself whether we couldn’t build our cities differently.

While in Honolulu we went out for dinner with Jeffrey and Kristin Thompson. Kristin is the director of the Bay Belles. Both Jeffrey and Kristin are vegetarians.

As we ate with them I had this message on my mind and determined to eat less meat. That is still my determination but I must confess that for lunch yesterday I could not resist the left over pork from your Luau that was in the downstairs refrigerator.

Even so I am going to take one little step toward being a vegetarian. Let us each take one step to care for the lilies of the field and the birds of the air.

The text for this morning is: “You can’t worship two gods at once. You can’t worship God and Money both.”

Lessons from Stay at Home Dads; February 13, 2011

2011-02-14T15:03:00.000-08:00

Lessons from Stay at Home Dads
The Church of the Wayfarer
Dr. Norm Mowery, Pastor
February 13, 2011
I Corinthians 3:1-9

The hardest stage for me in my parenting experience was when Nathan and Lori were pre-school age. With two working spouses in our family Linda and I ‘juggled the balls’ of parenting quite well until one of the children got sick.

During those years Linda had her hands full working all day and then she came home to the children and worked another full day because most evenings I had meetings. I had so many meetings that our daughter, Lori, once said, “My daddy is a gonner.”

As a pastor I was able to do some child care on the job and more than once took one of the children to a funeral or a wedding and handed them off to someone to watch while I gave the sermon.

Interesting changes are taking place in parenting roles today. New faces are popping up on neighborhood park benches. And quite often, those faces might need a shave.

I think that stay-at-home dads are here to stay. Gone are the days when a child’s birth automatically resulted in mothers quitting their jobs while fathers stoically headed back to the work routine.

Although stay-at-home dads are still the minority, parents increasingly view being one as a popular option. Many men are embracing the idea and diving into the world of diapers,
play dates
and car pools
with the enthusiasm of an explorer venturing into uncharted territory.

An annual ‘at-home dad’ convention even guides fathers as they juggle the challenges of hands-on child care. In person and online, fathers are sharing the joys and frustrations of being responsible for a young, often needy, life. Not surprisingly, they’re discovering what mothers have known for years: It isn’t easy.

As I read and re-read the scripture for this morning I kept thinking of my son, Nathan, who is a stay at home dad. In my mind I compared him with the Apostle Paul who helped young churches come of age. In our Epistle reading Paul is giving advice and direction to these young churches.

It is fun for me to watch Nathan with my granddaughters, Emma who is four and Kira who is two. Nathan is much better at being contented with spending a day at home with his children than I was with mine.

It is satisfying for me to hear him
bantering with them,
talking with them constantly,
joking around,
and playing video games.

Trust me. I never played video games with Nathan and Lori!

I also deeply admire my daughter-in-law, K.C. who is a professional manager with financial goals to meet and people to hire and fire. She faces pressures all day long and then comes home to Nathan and the girls.

I asked Nathan recently, “So Nathan, do you greet K.C. at the door with flowers when she arrives home after a hard day’s work?”

Nathan’s answer was, “No, because K.C. says that she would rather have a clean house than flowers.” I decided to end my questioning with that!

For the Apostle Paul it’s time to write a letter to his children in Corinth. Here’s Paul, the “women-should-be-quiet-in-church” guy, who suddenly finds himself in a nurturing role, responsible for the care and feeding of newly formed churches and baby Christians.

Remember that this is being written about twenty-five years after the death of Jesus. Paul is addressing the Christian lifestyle in a pagan society. Corinth contained a number of Pagan Temples and was a big secular city.

Much to Paul’s dismay, this church’s growth doesn’t always proceed according to a neat, orderly plan. Paul’s frustration can be heard when he makes reference to their need for baby food — spiritual milk instead of solid food. Modern stay at home dads use online chat groups, while 1950s-era mothers had neighborhood coffee klatches.

But, Paul scribbles on paper his frustration about the lack of progress in his charges:
“I can’t believe it!
You still want milk!
I’m ready to offer so much more.”

Paul’s aggravation is clear in this passage:
“When are you going to grow up?
When is this going to get easier?
When will I be able to trust you on your own?” To which women across the globe would say, “Welcome to my world!”

Experienced parents everywhere respond to Paul: “Are you only now realizing this?” He is discovering what mothers have known for centuries: Sometimes children need some extra time and help to grow up. Parents know that watching over another human being is a frustrating business that requires vast patience.

Recently Linda and I had Emma and Kira for three nights. They were very good. Even so, we were tired for the next week.

Paul has entered into the realm of caregiving and, like mothers and stay at home dads everywhere, has discovered that tending to a person’s needs and encouraging physical, emotional and spiritual growth is a challenging undertaking. Paul, of course, wants only the best for his charges:
• He envisions the day when his young churches will gain some maturity and grow in independence. • He dreams of the time when there will be less sibling rivalry and more unity. • His goal is fewer arguments about status and more willingness to work together. • He yearns for less whining and more appreciation of their blessings. • He would like less self-absorption and more compassion. In other words, Paul wants these children, the early Christians in Corinth, to put aside their childish ways. Much to his dismay, it isn’t a smooth transition from infancy to adulthood but rather a gradual process filled with fits and starts. Looking at this newborn church, Paul is frustrated that the people aren’t responding to his lessons; they aren’t learning as quickly as he thinks they should.

Like any good parent, he has noticed the warning signs of bad and risky behavior.

He’s concerned about the company they’re keeping. Their choice in role models doesn’t meet his approval. These young Christians are allowing themselves to be influenced by the newest fads.
Sometimes children get sent to their rooms.
Sometimes they need a little TLC.
Sometimes they need to review the most basic lessons, yet again. Parents may have to repeat instructions many more times than they believe is necessary.
We may think that our children should have learned long ago, but it’s often necessary to have some remedial sessions.
Anne Sullivan, Helen Keller’s teacher, had introduced the word water scores of times before suddenly, miraculously; Keller made the connection between finger-spelling and object. A whole new world was introduced because of the instructor’s persistence and patience. As we move forward on our spiritual journey we need to take the time to circle back to the foundational lessons of our faith. We need to reinforce essential beliefs necessary to meet the challenges ahead. Paul, like any parent anywhere, frets that his churches aren’t keeping up or making adequate progress.

His task, like any parent’s, is to help prepare these young Christians so they’ll have the tools necessary to face the dangerous world — even when he isn’t present to help them.

Parents’ jobs are to put themselves out of business so the child has the tools needed to conquer challenges and fight temptation on their own. Paul grudgingly recognizes what’s necessary for these young Christians; instead of force-feeding them he must supply their need for spiritual milk.

Although he may wish that such pampering were no longer necessary, he will once again direct their attention to the most basic lesson of all: that they are God’s beloved children who gain their identity from their Creator.

Paul will remind them that other voices and influences may try to lure them on another path, yet they belong to God alone. It is a lesson that must be repeated often so they, and we, are prepared to meet the challenges of a noisy and distracting world.

Stay-at-home dad Mark Trainer tells the story of a trip he made to the dentist’s office. As he was leaving, the dentist shook his hand and said cheerily, “Good luck with the job search.” Trainer reflects: “His assumption, of course, was that being home with the children was something I had fallen into and would extricate myself from as soon as possible. I could have told him, ‘No, doctor, no! This was a choice, a modern choice!’ but I think he would have taken a lot of convincing.” Trainer has gotten used to the strange reactions he often gets from people such as his dentist, who just can’t wrap their minds around the concept that he’s a stay-at-home dad by choice.

Several years ago there was an essay contest. The topic was “What I Really Want That Money Can’t Buy.” A 16 year old girl named Erika wrote: “What I really want that money can’t buy is unconditional love.
As a kid, I need to know that no matter what happens, no matter what grades I get — I will be loved.
So many of my friends have parents that work all the time.
They are not sure their parents love them.
I want to know that I am loved, because my parents are there.
My dog, Casanova, loves me.
Sometimes I yell at him, and sometimes I hug him.
But no matter what I do, he always wags his tail and comes running up to me.
He has unconditional love. My parents love me and buy me many things.
But what tells me they love me the most is when they listen to me. I know we need the money, but I wish he would do more things with me.
What I really want is for all parents to just spend time with their kids.”

This is good advice that even the Apostle Paul could use.

This is good advice as we look forward to Valentine’s Day tomorrow.

This morning I would like for you to meet Kevin McCord, a stay at home dad who is brave enough to be interviewed.

Kevin, how do you respond when people ask you what your job is?

How does it feel when Corinne leaves in the morning and you realize that it is just you and Austin for the rest of the day?

Prayer

This prayer was written by Ralph Lincoln Lindberg. His son and my friend, Jeff, is here this morning. Jeff’s dad, Ralph, died one year ago yesterday and his birthday is today. Jeff’s friend Scott Davis, who is also here this morning, has been carrying this prayer in his pocket for many years. I think that it is especially appropriate for Valentines Day.

It’s titled, Spouse’s Prayer:

Bless our home, dear Lord, I pray.
Bless my spouse and me today.
Bless our family ever so dear.
Spare us from all earthly fear.
Guide me, Lord, that’s all I ask.
Take my hands through every task.
Forgive me my sins, dear Lord, I pray.
Make me a better spouse today.
Fill my heart with joy and love.
Thanks be to thee, dear God above.
Dear Lord in heaven, my best friend,
Guide our lives until the end. Amen

God of the Snowflakes: January 30, 2011

2011-01-31T09:59:00.000-08:00

God of the Snowflakes
The Church of the Wayfarer
Dr. Norm Mowery, Pastor
January 30, 2010
Psalm 27:1, 4-9

I will never forget the excitement I felt as a child when the first soft fluffy snow flakes of the winter started falling.

It has been a long time since I have done that. Living here I have one rule of life in regards to snow—if I have to put on chains I don’t go!

I have wonderful memories of playing in the snow—
Snow angels
Snow forts
Snow ball fights and more.

Some years ago Linda’s aunt and uncle visited from Hawaii. Auntie Marge had never seen snow so we went for a drive to Reno. On top of the Sierras we all had a good laugh when she asked, “What is all that ‘white stuff’ out there?” It wasn’t long till she experienced quite enough of that ‘white stuff’.

Like snow flakes each of us is a miracle of beauty, a masterpiece of design — but also vulnerable to meltdowns.

Recently I learned about a man named Wilson Bentley who lived in Vermont and was fascinated by snow. He found a way to put snowflakes on black velvet and photograph them, testing the hypothesis that no two are exactly the same.

He photographed more than 5,000 individual snowflakes, and today you can see his work at the Buffalo Museum of Science. Because of his obsession he was given a nickname “Snowflake.” Bentley, who lived from 1865 to 1931, examined snowflakes under a microscope and discovered that they were all miracles of beauty.
“Every crystal was a masterpiece of design,
and no one design was ever repeated,” he wrote.
“When a snowflake melted, that design was forever lost. That beauty was gone, without leaving any record behind.” Bentley was especially fond of snowflake number 892 and wrote, “It’s a bit irregular but beautiful.” Irregular but beautiful. I think that that could be said of each of us. We are all a little irregular but beautiful.
Each of us is a miracle of beauty,
a masterpiece of design,
and no one design is ever repeated.

We have all kinds of irregularities —
physical,
mental,
emotional,
spiritual,
you name it.

We are irregular human beings but still miracles of beauty,
shaped in utter uniqueness by a loving and creative Creator. Our God is the God of the snowflakes. Psalm 27 begins with the words,
“The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?”

If we are, in fact, God’s snowflakes — precious, unique and transient we need a Lord to preserve us and act as a stronghold for us.
Otherwise, we’re going to melt, disappear and be lost forever. 1. The opening line of this Psalm challenges us to make a choice between faith and fear.

Either we make the faith choice, seeing God as “my light and my salvation,” Or, we make the fear choice, looking for the answer to the question, “whom shall I fear?” As snowflakes, we don’t have to go far to find something to fear. We know we’re vulnerable to
physical illnesses,
emotional distresses,
relational breakdowns,
economic stresses
and spiritual crises.
Sometimes we feel as delicate and transient as snowflakes — quick to melt down and disappear forever. But if we make the faith choice, our future looks very different. We aren’t so vulnerable if we put our trust in God because we discover that the Lord is our light, our salvation and the stronghold of our life.

The key is to put our trust in God, not in ourselves. 2. When we live in God’s light, we’re living in the Lord’s presence. In the Biblical narrative God’s face often appears as light, or shines upon people, such as in the classic Old Testament blessing,
“The Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you”.
The faith choice reveals that the Lord is the stronghold of our life.
That’s good news for snowflakes like us.

When we choose faith over fear, we receive the assurance of God’s power and presence through all the challenges of life.

This is expressed when the psalm-writer says that he wants “to live in the house of the Lord, all the days of my life”.

To live in the house of the Lord was to be in God’s presence. We talk today about looking for a house in “the best ZIP code.” This means living where the schools are good, crime is low and property values are on the rise. The writer of Psalm 27 knows that the best ZIP code is where God’s presence is felt in a powerful and permanent way. As snowflakes, we cannot afford to live anywhere else. But you have to wonder: What does God actually do for those who choose faith over fear? Psalm 27 says that God “will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will set me high on a rock”.
Challenges will still arise, and crises will come. But God’s promise of protection and deliverance means we’ll never be destroyed by adversity — we will never melt and disappear, like a snowflake in the sun. Patricia Dahlgren experienced a horror that would cause most people to melt down: the murder of her mother.

Twelve years after the killing, Dahlgren, spent an entire day in an Oregon prison with the killer. Dahlgren told the killer about her emotional journey after losing her mother, and the killer told her exactly what he had done, admitting that he was sorry for it and ashamed of it. The meeting led to healing, for victim and offender. Dahlgren told the killer she forgave him, which stunned everybody in the room. 3. The promise of God’s protection and deliverance doesn’t shield us from suffering or pain. But it does mean the Lord shields and guides us as we move through life’s horrors so that we’ll emerge with healing.
That’s probably how Dahlgren was feeling after her day in prison. And that’s how we can feel as well, if we choose faith over fear. Each of us will feel like a snowflake from time to time,
blown around by the wind and in danger of melting.
But when storms hit us we’ll find light and strength surrounding us.
When illness strikes us we’re going to feel weakened and discouraged. But Jesus will say, “Your faith has made you well”. Death is going to threaten us but Jesus will say, “Do not fear, only believe”. We’ll face enormous personal challenges, as the disciples did when they encountered a crowd of 5,000 hungry people. But Jesus will say to us, as he said to his disciples, “Give them something to eat”.

If we choose faith over fear, all will eat and be filled. Bentley photographed more than 5,000 individual snowflakes. Each was a miracle of beauty, a masterpiece of design, and no one design was ever repeated. Or was it? In 1988, two identical snowflakes were discovered and photographed, disproving the hypothesis that no two are exactly the same.
Human beings can still be miracles and masterpieces while having important things in common.
4. There are consequences of choosing fear over faith.

Three men founded the hugely successful Apple computer company — Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ron Wayne.

Wayne left the firm after only 12 days because he was afraid of losing money in a risky venture. His original 10 percent stake in the company would be worth more than $22 billion today — if he had held on to his investment. Now at the age of 76, he’s living off Social Security checks.
Living in a world filled with all kinds of artificial light, it’s hard to appreciate the full impact of light on the human soul. Fear mounts when you cannot see the danger.

I have found this to be true when waiting for a diagnosis or word of a loved one. The God of light exposes and overcomes all that is hidden from us. We can walk on in trust.

Don’t look down. That’s what they say when you’ve a long way to fall. It’s because, of course, looking down leads to thoughts of the really bad things that could happen.

When we stop to ponder how steep the climb, how far we have to fall and the sharpness of the rocks at the bottom, fear takes hold. What if my foot slips or I lose my grip. What if I make a mistake and lose my way or run out of strength before I make it to the top. There’s never a shortage of things to fear. In fact, if we set our minds to it, we can probably all come up with a substantial list of reasons why we cannot overcome the challenges God has set before us.

Sometimes the reasons have to do with the problem.
It’s just too big, too hard, too complicated.

Sometimes it’s us. We’re not strong enough, not smart enough, not up to the challenge. These things cannot be disputed.
Rocks are hard.
Problems can be enormous.
Human beings are human.
Fear then seems a reasonable response — fear and despair. But then there’s God. And that’s the key.

The key to successfully climbing mountains doesn’t actually have to do with the difficulty of the mountain or the skill of the climber.

It’s about the one who made both mountain and climber.

God is bigger than our biggest problem and God is not limited by our weaknesses. When we believe that, it doesn’t matter how high the mountain or how weak the climber. If we focus on God instead of our troubles and shortcomings we can do whatever it is God has called us to do.

I was never much of a hunter though as a teenager I had a 12-gage shot gun with the end of the barrel cut off. I only shot it a few times but when I did it kicked so hard it knocked me to the ground.

When I was old enough to get my first big game hunting license I asked my Dad to drive me ten miles down the road to the top of a mountain so I could hunt for deer as I walked home.

I will never forget the moment that Dad drove away and I was alone on the top of the mountain on the first day of deer hunting season. There was no trail and it was cold.

After only walking about a hundred feet into the woods I was so overcome with the beauty that I sat down on a rock to enjoy the ice covered trees shining in the early morning sunlight.

My eyes filled with tears as I worshipped God in that moment. It was one of the most beautiful moments in my life.

I never did shoot a deer. Even if I had seen one I would not have shot it. The only thing I ever shot was a groundhog that I proudly took home for my mother to prepare for dinner. She refused to cook it saying it was too ugly.

As I walked home along the top of the Kittatinny Mountain I was scared of snakes, bears, getting lost and being shot by other hunters.
At one point I came upon some other hunters who ordered me off their land. I was glad when I got home and never went hunting again.

As we face our fears today I hope that we can exclaim with power and strength, “The Lord is my light and salvation, whom shall I fear.”
Prayer
God of all peoples, we come before you this day as The Church of the Wayfarer, asking for your blessing upon us.
As we give our lives to you we ask that you show us your ways. Where there is sickness, bring healing.
Where there is hurt, bring comfort,
Where there is separation, bring resolution for health. In this place, we lift our own concerns to you in a moment of silence. Grant us the insight to know when you speak to us.
Help us not to drown out your message.
May we know the movement of your Spirit when we experience it?
And then, may we know what you would have us do.
Praise to you, O Creator. Amen.

What Do We Mean by Happiness?; January 23, 2011

2011-01-24T10:57:00.000-08:00

What Do We Mean By Happiness?
The Church of the Wayfarer
Dr. Norm Mowery, Pastor
January 23, 2010
John 1:29-42

What do we mean by happiness?

In our Gospel lesson Jesus recruits his first two disciples, Peter and Peter’s brother Andrew by asking,
“What are you looking for?” or
“What do you want?”

If we were asked that by Jesus I think that we would answer by saying that we are looking for happiness.

But, what do we mean by happiness?

The Simple Living Magazine says that being happier doesn't have to be a long-term ambition. It says that you can start right now. In the next 30 minutes, tackle as many of the following suggestions as possible. Raise your activity level to pump up your energy. Rid yourself of a nagging task. Create a more serene environment. Do a good deed. Act happy. Fake it 'til you feel it. Learn something new. Some people worry that wanting to be happier is a selfish goal, but in fact, research shows that happier people are more
sociable,
likable,
healthy,
and productive―
and they're more inclined to help other people.

By working to boost your own happiness, you're making other people happier, too.
Most people equate happiness with a hot Caribbean beach, but it turns out that cold temperatures can improve your mood.

Researchers at the University of Michigan discovered that blowing cold air up participants’ noses put them in a better frame of mind than did blasts of hot air. Aren’t you glad you know that?

A reporter was interviewing a 104-year-old woman: “And what do you think is the best thing about being 104?” the reporter asked. Her simple reply: “No peer pressure.”

Three elderly gentlemen in their 80s were talking about what their grandchildren would be saying about them 50 years from then.
“I would like my grandchildren to say, ‘He was successful in business,’” declared the first man.
“Fifty years from now,” said the second, “I want them to say, ‘He was a loyal family man.’”
Turning to the third, the first man asked, “So what do you want them to say about you in 50 years?”
“Me?” the third man replied. “I want them all to say, ‘He certainly looks good for his age!’”

Last Sunday I discovered the happiest place on the Monterey Peninsula. It is ‘Dennis the Menace Park’ in Monterey. Linda and I took our two granddaughters there. No one is too old to go there. Do it today!

Again I ask, “What do we mean by happiness?”

This past week at the Chamber of Commerce Mixer I asked a young woman what happiness was to her. She came up with a list:
It’s a beautiful day.
I live in Carmel.
I have a lovable dog.
I like my job.

Is this what we mean by happiness?

As the first wave of baby boomers reach retirement age they are asking, “Is retirement happiness?” Actually retirement is a fairly recent phenomenon. Even as recently as 1900, most Americans died by age 47. In 1870, only 2.5 percent of all Americans made it to age 65.
As Jesus is beginning to call his disciples it is as though he poses the question, “Is there a retirement age for disciples?” The most permanent lifelong vocation is being a disciple of Jesus—a vocation from which you never really retire.

Jesus says that this is what happiness is all about. “Follow me” and “Come and see” are both commands and invitations to check out a new vocation and lifestyle that—it is an invitation to a life worth living. The disciples would see many things:
people being healed,
pious leaders put in their place
and multitudes fed.

Jesus kept trying to tell them they were following him to a cross, the ultimate symbol of failure, but doing so they would find a life worth living.
Jesus’ disciples never got to hang up their sandals and collect a pension. Most of them met pretty horrible fates, dying in some brutal ways.

1. Can happiness be found by empirical research or public opinion polls?
I’m not sure that modern happiness research tells us very much about happiness. Happiness is a feeling. Happiness is personal. Happiness is found in the center of our being.

2. Standards of living have improved, but levels of happiness have not. Happiness is found in the basic human relationships. People
who sustain lasting marriages,
contribute to charities,
engage in community service,
maintain close friendships
and participate in organized religion
seem to be on average considerably happier that those who do not.

3. People are poor judges of what will make them happy. People tend to overestimate the effects that changes in their lives will have on their levels of happiness. They predict that a new car, more money or a move to a warmer climate will bring them more happiness than these things do.

When our children were young Linda and I bought a motor home. I thought that it was the happiest thing that I ever did when we bought it. A few years later I discovered that it was a much happier thing to sell the motor home!

4. The call of Jesus to follow has no expiration date. The work of the kingdom is ours to do whether we’re 7 or 70. Living life with an eternal perspective means we see our lives as belonging to Christ from beginning to end. During the course of Jesus' ministry, it would become blatantly evident just what some of his so-called "followers" were looking for.
- As his reputation spread, there were the throngs that crowded around him with various diseases and ailments. They were looking for healing. - As his popularity spread, there were the religious authorities who began to question his theology. They were looking for a fight. - As his miracles increased, there were the crowds just there for the show. They were looking for entertainment. - As his wisdom spread, there were seekers who tried to second-guess his meanings. They were looking for an easy way into heaven. Everyone is looking for Jesus even if they don't realize it.

The answer to Jesus' soul-searching question, "What are you looking for?” can't be brought home from the shopping mall.

Each one of us has a hole in the heart searching for happiness that only Christ can fill. The eternal answer then and now is, ‘Come and See’.

Come and see what happiness is.
You will only find it when you leave everything to follow Jesus. Come from where you are.
Come from all that holds you back.
Come from the place you are.
Come to a new life.

What do we mean by happiness? We mean a life that has a purpose.

I know that I am happiest when I have a goal for my life. A goal to serve others and to be outside of my problems.

Happiness cannot be found in what we have or what we do. It is found only in who we are.

There is a huge difference between having a job at church and having a ministry at church.
... If you are doing it because no one else will, it's a job. If you aredoing it to serve the Lord, it's a ministry.
... If you're doing it just well enough to get by, it's a job. If you'redoing it to the best of your ability, it's a ministry.
... If you'll do it only so long as it doesn't interfere with otheractivities, it's a job. If you're committed to staying with it even whenit means letting go of other things, it's a ministry.
... It's hard to get excited about a job. It's almost impossible not toget excited about a ministry.
A great church is filled with people involved in ministry.

At the end of Albert Schweitzer's book "The Quest for the Historical Jesus" he writes these words:

He comes to us as One unknown, without a name, as of old, by the lakeside. He came to those who knew Him not. He speaks to us the same word: "Follow thou me!" and sets us to the tasks which He has to fulfill for our time. He commands, and to those who obey Him, whether they be wise or simple, he will reveal Himself in the toil, the conflicts, the sufferings which they shall pass through in His fellowship, and as an ineffable mystery, they shall learn in their own experience Who He is.

In a cathedral in Copenhagen, Denmark, Linda and I saw a most interesting statue of Jesus. The brochure told us that when it was first completed the sculpture the sculptor gazed upon the finished product with great satisfaction.

It was a sculpture of Christ with face looking upward and arms extended upward. It was a statue of a majestic, conquering Christ.

Later that night, however, after the sculptor had left his fine new work in clay to dry and harden something unexpected occurred. Sea mist seeped into the studio in the night and the clay did not harden as quickly as anticipated.

The upraised arms and head of the sculpture began to drop. The majestic Christ with arms lifted up and head thrown back was transformed into a Christ with head bent forward and arms stretched downward as if in a pose of gentle invitation.

At first the sculptor was bitterly disappointed. As he studied the transformed sculpture, however, he came to see a dimension of Christ that had not been real to him before. It was the Christ who is a gently, merciful Savior.

He inscribed on the base of the completed statue, "Come unto Me."

That Christ asks you: “What are you looking for?”

And says, “Come and see!”

That is what we mean by happiness.

Jumping in Rain Puddles: January 16, 2011

2011-01-18T14:58:00.000-08:00

Jumping in Rain Puddles
Isaiah 42:1-9 1/16/2011
The Church of the Wayfarer
Dr. Norm Mowery, Pastor

"May you jump in rain puddles, Christina", said President Barack Obama as he addressed the nation in Tucson, Arizona. This past week he spoke at a memorial service held for the six people who lost their lives, one of whom was nine-year-old Christina Taylor Green.

Obama said, "If there are rain puddles in heaven, Christina is jumping in them today."

“Christina was an ‘A’ student,
a dancer,
a gymnast,
and a swimmer.”

“She often proclaimed that she wanted to be the first woman to play in the major leagues, and as the only girl on her Little League team, no one put it past her.”

“She showed an appreciation for life uncommon for a girl her age, and would remind her mother, ‘We are so blessed. We have the best life.’”
Or president continued, “In Christina we see all of our children.
So curious,
so trusting,
so energetic and full of magic.”
“So deserving of our love.”
“Imagine:
here was a young girl who was just becoming aware of our democracy;
just beginning to understand the obligations of citizenship;
just starting to glimpse the fact that someday she too might play a part in shaping her nation’s future.”

“She had been elected to her student council;
she saw public service as something exciting, something hopeful.”

“She was off to meet her congresswoman, someone she was sure was good and important and might be a role model. She saw all this through the eyes of a child, undimmed by the cynicism that we adults all too often just take for granted.”

Our President said, “I want us to live up to her expectations.”

“I want our democracy to be as good as she imagined it.”

“All of us – we should do everything we can to make sure this country lives up to our children’s expectations.”

“Christina was given to us on September 11th, 2001, one of 50 babies born that day to be pictured in a book called ‘Faces of Hope.’ On either side of her photo in that book were simple wishes for a child’s life.”

“’I hope you help those in need,’ read one.”

“I hope you know all of the words to the National Anthem and sing it with your hand over your heart.”

“I hope you jump in rain puddles.”

“If there are rain puddles in heaven, Christina is jumping in them today. And here on Earth, we place our hands over our hearts, and commit ourselves as Americans to forging a country that is forever worthy of her gentle, happy spirit.”

The question I struggle with this morning is, “IS THERE A CURE FOR THE VIRUS OF VIOLENCE?”

A few days ago, up in the International Space Station, Scott Kelly, the commanding officer, spoke over the radio as flight controllers in Houston fell silent.

"As I look out the window, I see a very beautiful planet that seems very inviting and peaceful," he said.

"Unfortunately, it is not. These days, we are constantly reminded of the unspeakable acts of violence and damage we can inflict upon one another, not just with our actions, but also with our irresponsible words," he said.

"We're better than this," he said. "We must do better."

In the message today I am weaving common themes into one tapestry:
The violence in Tuscon
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday
The vision of Isaiah for peace and justice
The one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the beginning of the
Civil War
And Human Relations Day

Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Sunday, reminding us that 82 years ago he was born and forty-two years ago he was gunned down.

A few days ago Scott Kelly's sister-in-law, Congresswoman, Gabrielle Gifford, was shot in the head in Arizona while staffing a booth where citizens could come to air their complaints.

Today, I believe that America is many things and much of it good.

But, even to the casual observer, America is a victim of the virus of violence.

I wonder if this morning can I really proclaim the vision of Isaiah that someday the wolf and the lamb will lie down together?

That's a vision that belongs to a kingdom that only God can usher in.

Dr. King said of that vision:
"Darkness cannot drive out darkness;
only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate;
only love can do that."

We must never despair.
Today we remember that on January 9, 1861, shots were fired.
150 years ago the Union ship ‘Star of the West’ was attempting to deliver troops and supplies to Fort Sumter in South Carolina. Cadets from The Citadel fired on the ship and forced it to return to New York. This was the first time gunfire erupted between Southern and Northern forces. As we look back on the start of the Civil War, let’s consider what this conflict can teach us as we face the wars going on in our congregations, communities and country today.

One remarkable thing about the Civil War was that both the North and the South assumed God was on their side.
The South had some powerful preachers who used the Bible to defend the institution of slavery.
The preachers of the North, too, suggested that a Northern victory might prepare the way for the coming of God’s kingdom on earth.

“The Battle Hymn of the Republic” summed up the beliefs of the Union:
In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea, With a glory in his bosom that transfigures you and me: As he died to make men holy, let us die to make men free, While God is marching on. Both sides were convinced they were acting as the Lord’s servant, with God right beside them.
President, Abraham Lincoln, offered the most constructive of perspectives on religious warfare.

“My concern is not whether God is on our side,” he said.
“My greatest concern is to be on God’s side.” 1. Are we on God’s side? That’s the question we’re left with today, in the middle of our contemporary civil wars: Are we on God’s side? We will be if we act like the servant of the Lord in Isaiah, the one who “will not cry or lift up his voice” but instead “will faithfully bring forth justice”.

2. Today’s reading includes a passage that scholars once identified as the “Servant Songs” in the book of Isaiah. Although the servant’s identity has been much disputed — most scholars today understand the servant to be personified Israel.
Our struggle isn’t a North-South issue,
nor is it Right-Left,
Blue-Red,
Gay-Straight,
Republican-Democratic.

Wherever we find ourselves on the cultural-theological-political spectrum, we are challenged — when shots are being fired — to be the Lord’s servant.

The key is to not take a particular stand but to play a distinctive role. One that’s civil and serving.
A servant role.
A civil servant, if you will. 3. In the book of the prophet Isaiah the servant is filled with God’s spirit in order to bring justice to the nations,
which means to protect the rule of law, uphold human rights,
deliver social justice
and maintain healthy relationships.

The Bible is particularly concerned about people who are often denied justice because of their lack of power —
widows,
orphans,
resident aliens. So the first role of the servant of the Lord is to “bring forth justice” — to bring the justice of God’s kingdom into the middle of human life.
Notice the ways in which true servants do their work.

These servants aren’t loud or obnoxious, destructive or domineering. They do their work quietly and compassionately, with respect for the people around them, while also standing strong for what they believe in.
True servants of the Lord always produce more light than heat.

God’s servants bring light into darkness and help people see new ways of living together. They work for the liberation of anyone who’s trapped —
in poverty,
in addiction,
in homelessness,
in loneliness,
in despair. The servant of the Lord is constantly working to free the slaves. In our civil wars today, we’re fighting about many cultural, political and theological issues. And, oddly enough, the way out of our struggles isn’t going to be to fight harder but to serve better. Now that the question of slavery has been settled, the challenge of the future is servanthood.

Many people consider Abraham Lincoln’s second Inaugural Address to be his greatest speech, surpassing even the better-known Gettysburg Address. In it, he muses about the victors and the vanquished of the Civil War — and whose prayers God will ultimately answer: “Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes his aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God’s assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men’s faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has his own purposes……so still it must be said ‘the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.’” Somewhere in eastern Oklahoma is an interesting billboard. Driving across the plains, you can see its huge letters from afar: “JESUS SAVES.” Drive a little closer, and you can make out some additional, somewhat smaller words: “JESUS SAVES. He sets the captives free.” It’s only when you’re right up close that you can read the full message: “JESUS SAVES. He sets the captives free. Joe Bob Bail Bonds” (followed by Joe Bob’s phone number). Freedom takes on a whole new meaning when you put it in those terms, doesn’t it?

A spiritual leader, Bill Bright, as a young man made a contract with God. He literally wrote it out and signed my name at the bottom.

It said ‘From this day forward, I am a slave of Jesus Christ.’” Have you considered making a written contract like that with God?
A contract to live a life of non-violence?
A contract with God to stand for justice?
A contract with God to return kindness for anger?

It is always the right time to surrender — to God’s grace, love and wisdom.

Julia Ward Howe was inspired to write her "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" after she and her husband visited Washington, D. C. and met Abraham Lincoln at the White House in November 1861.

It quickly became one of the most popular songs of the Union during the American Civil War.

Let us stand and sing.

And then go out from here and jump in rain puddles!

Prayer

Mighty and merciful God, you call us to action, not complacency.
Yet we avert our eyes when we see someone who is hungry or homeless.
We fail to act when we read or hear about injustice near or far.
Instill in us fervor to speak for people who have no voice, to mentor those who don’t know how to move forward, to share what we have with those who go without.
Take the masks from our faces so we may see clearly and be seen for who we truly are.
Show us how to be accountable to and care for one another.
Help us step out in trust, assured that you will provide whatever is necessary.
Stir up in us a sense of discomfort as long as one person is hungry, one person lives in the streets, one of your children is enslaved, one person lives in fear of violence in his or her home or community.
Give us the confidence to be your servants, doing your work in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Amen.

The Purpose of Christmas ~ Dec. 24, 2010

2010-12-28T11:10:00.000-08:00

The Purpose of Christmas
The Church of the Wayfarer
Dr. Norm Mowery, Pastor
Christmas Eve, 2010
Isaiah 9:2-7

We've all heard of oxymorons like:
Jumbo shrimp,
Fresh frozen,
Pretty ugly,
Holy war,
Inactive Christian.

But have you ever considered that we might just be celebrating one of the biggest oxymorons ever considered: "Silent Night." Is this a Silent Night for anyone here?
Some of us can still hear the cash registers ringing in our minds.
Some of us are worried if we have enough time to wrap the gifts.
Some of us are wondering if we bought the right gift.
We may be asking…
Are we giving enough?
Are we giving the children too much?
Did we get the best buys?

I am asking tonight, “Why did I wait till the last minute to buy my wife, Linda’s, gift and then pay as much for overnight shipping as I did the gift?” Ops!

Not too smart…Right!

In our minds,
bags and boxes crunching and crashing,
harried shoppers bustling and bumping,
parking lots filled with screeches and honks –
these are the sounds of our "Silent Night." The sounds of kids home for the holidays -- fighting over the TV, fighting over the stereo, fighting over the scissors and paper and tape—these are the sounds of our “Silent Night.”
Even if we go to church on Christmas Eve,
we seldom get more than a suggestion of "Silent Night."
Everything about Christmas is an oxymoron. It is this combination of opposites that makes Christmas true. The text read from Isaiah tonight delivers an inspiring promise of hope to a dispirited people. It is against the "darkness" that Isaiah foresees "a great light."
Isaiah gave oxymoron qualities of the divine/human;
child/king when he related the names this ruler would be known by. Wonderful Counselor:
This is the intimate personal Savior,
who offers us wisdom,
insight and advice.
The Wonderful Counselor hears our every problem,
every anxiety, every fear.
The intimate Jesus holds our hand when we are lonely or hurting, offers us his shoulder to cry on when we are sad.
The wonderful counselor is the Jesus who
"walks with me and talks with me." Almighty God:
In this name Christ's divinity comes pouring through.
This is a distant divinity,
controlling the universe,
combating evil,
creating good.
We need the reassurance of an Almighty God on our side when we confront the forces of hate and violence in this world.
Everlasting Father:
In this name we are offered the comfort of an eternal Lord.
Here is the transcendent stability and assurance
that testifies to the validity of our values
and the eternity of our ethics.
Prince of Peace:
As the Prince of Peace, Jesus strode this earth challenging us to do justice and walk in righteousness -- for those are the ways of peace. There is yet another oxymoron for Jesus.

This is the one that has become noticeably more and more popular on Christmas cards over the past few years—Jesus the "Lion and the Lamb." Jesus is the lion—the kingly ruler, Lord of all beasts. Yet, Jesus is also the lamb -- the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. It is as part of his role as "Prince of Peace" that we envision Jesus not only being the lion and the lamb, but enabling the lion and the lamb to lie down together.

Only the One who is as strong and fierce as the lion can command the respect of that powerful creature and win him over.

Only the One who is as gentle and innocent as the lamb can entice its trembling legs to stay put and stand beside him. Jesus the weak and the strong;
the innocence of doves,
the wisdom of serpents.

The greatest oxymoron of Christmas is that Jesus,
the light and the joy that Isaiah foretold,
was born into this world of fear and pain.

So, we ask, “What is the Purpose of Christmas?”

1. The Purpose of Christmas Is Celebration.
Christmas is a party.
It’s a birthday party for Jesus.
That is why we say Merry Christmas.

The good news of Christmas is worth celebrating for three reasons.
First it is personal: “I bring YOU.”
Second it is positive: “GOOD news of great joy.”
And, third, it is universal: “For ALL people.”

It doesn’t matter who you are,
what you’ve done,
where you’ve been,
or where you’re headed—this news is for you.

Tonight is a time to celebrate that God loves you!

Think about this: If God didn’t want to love something,
he would not have created it.

Because God’s love for you is unconditional,
He loves you on your bad days
as much as on your good days.
He loves you when you don’t feel his love
as much as when you do.
He loves you regardless of your performance,
your moods,
your actions,
or your thoughts.
His love for you is unchanging.
There is nothing you can do
that will make God stop loving you.
God loves you and there is nothing you can do about it!

2. The Purpose of Christmas Is Salvation
Now, salvation, is a big word!

It’s likely you haven’t given much thought to your need for a savior or what you need to be saved from.

Perhaps tonight you need to be saved:
From worry
From people who’ve hurt you
From anger
From your past—You can’t seem to let it go.
From bad habits
From yourself

God’s salvation includes your past,
your present
and your future.

Salvation is freedom.
Freedom from guilt over the past.
Freedom from bitterness and resentment.
Freedom from the expectations of others.
Freedom from addictive habits.
Freedom from the fear of death.

3. The Purpose of Christmas Is Reconciliation
Much of world history is the story of conflict.

We human beings don’t seem to be very good at living in peace with one another.

Reconciliation is the restoration of peace.
Peace with God, peace with others, and peace in your heart.

Is rudeness on the increase? I don’t know.

I often hear that there is incompleteness in people’s lives. People say that they don’t know what they’re looking for. “Something is missing.” They say, or, “There’s got to be more to life than just this!”

What they need is to be reconciled with God. That is the Purpose of Christmas!

You’ve probably heard of the Serenity Prayer but you may have not read the entire prayer.

God grant me the serenity to accept the things
I cannot change; courage to change the things
I can; and wisdom to know the difference.
Now the rest of the prayer:
Living one day at a time; enjoying one
Moment at a time; accepting hardships as the
Pathway to peace; taking, as He did, this
Sinful world as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right’
If I surrender to his Will; That I may be
reasonably happy in this life and supremely
Happy with Him forever in the next.

The Path to the peace of God comes through living and enjoying one day at a time,
accepting what cannot be changed instead of worrying about it, trusting in God’s loving care and wisdom,
and surrendering to his purpose and plan for your life.
Here is one final oxymoronic thought for you to take home this special day: The birth of Christ took place almost 2,000 years ago. The birth of Christ takes place tonight.

The truth is that we can do nothing to keep Christ out of Christmas.

For Christ comes.
Ready, or not.
Welcomed, or not.
Hosted, or not.
Recognized, or not.
We can do nothing to keep Christ from coming into our world.

Christmas BeginsWhen the song of the angels is stilledwhen the star in the sky is gonewhen the kings and the princes are homewhen the shepherds are back with their flocksthe work of Christmas beginsto find the lostto heal the brokento feed the hungryto release the prisonerto rebuild the nationsto bring peace among the peopleto make music in the heart. --Howard Thurman

"Immanuel," "God is with us."

PrayerEternal Creator of all life,
thank you for the remembrance that it is such a time as this,
the season of Christmas,
that your heart goes out to the fear of humanity,
as we meditate on the incompleteness of our lives.And we are reminded that unto us a child is born
and unto us a son is given
and his name shall be called Jesus
for he shall save us from the disobedience,
the guilt and pride that separates us
from you and from one another.
Thank you, O God,
that in Christ we have been accepted,
just as we are,
and that your acceptance can infuse us with the power
to become what you have created us to be.Amen

The God Who Sleeps Over ~ December 26, 2010

2010-12-28T11:08:00.000-08:00

The God Who Sleeps Over
Matthew 1:18-25 12/26/2010
The Church of the Wayfarer
Dr. Norm Mowery, Pastor

Corinne, what do you have there? You have things to go on an overnight trip with Austin. Right?

Why all this stuff? What do you have here?
A stroller.
A car seat.
Diaper bag.
Change of clothes.
Food.
Toys.

I want you all to meet Austin—the one who needs all this stuff and more to go for an overnight!

Even so Jesus wants to have an over night with us.
Jesus is the sign that God wants to move in with us,
get to know us better and repair our broken relationships.

Ten years ago, in a suburb of Rochester, New York, Peter Lovenheim was out walking his dog. He was surprised to see a TV news truck parked down the block. As it turned out there was a horrible tragedy. A neighbor three doors down had shot and killed his wife and then himself. Their two young children had escaped, running screaming into the night. Lovenheim was shocked — not only by these violent deaths but by how little true community existed in his neighborhood. He knew the family only slightly, not nearly well enough to sense that trouble was brewing.

Soon a “For Sale” sign appeared in front of the house where the killings had occurred, but everything else remained the same. “A family had vanished, yet the impact on our neighborhood was slight,” writes Lovenheim in a new book called, In the Neighborhood.

I highly commend the book to you. It’s fascinating. I would loan you mine but it is on my Kindle.

Lovenheim asked himself, “How could that be? Did I live in a community or just in a house?” Good question. Do we live in communities or in collections of isolated houses? To find an answer, Lovenheim did what any normal American suburb-dweller would do: He asked his neighbors if he could sleep at their houses! Yes, that’s right! He requested that he be able to spend the night with them, to get to know them better.

Although his daughter yelled, “Dad, you’re crazy,” a surprising number of neighbors agreed to his request. And the result is the book, In the Neighborhood: The Search for Community on an American Street, One Sleepover at a Time. So, Lovenheim is an author who sleeps over! A similar situation existed about 2,010 years ago, when God saw violence and isolation in every nation, race and culture. The human neighborhood was fractured with people separated from God and alienated from each other. God decided to do what no one ever expected a divine being to do: sleep over. Into the neighborhood comes a messenger from God, an angel. He says to a sleeping man, “Joseph, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife for she would give birth to the Son of God who was coming into the world.” The writer of the Gospel of Matthew realizes that God isn’t simply coming for one isolated sleepover.

No! God is moving in with us, permanently.

Forget about making up a bed in the guest bedroom. It’s time to build an addition! God knows that we have trouble with our neighbors. You know the ones.
Parties that run loud and late,
out-of-control
flower-trampling kids,
no respect for neighborhood speed limits.
Neighbors can be a pain.

I loved the Movie, Gran Torino, in which our own Clint Eastwood plays a bigot who doesn’t like his immigrant neighbors. The Scene that was most memorable for me is the one in which Walt first confronts his neighbors, telling them to get off his lawn.
As bad as relationships between people can be, our relationship with God is equally problematic.
We indulge our selfish desires,
and drive too fast through life.
We neglect Jesus’ teachings of community.
From God’s perspective, each of us can be a pain. Despite this,
God wants to move in with us,
get to know us better
and repair our broken relationships.

God breaks through the divine-human barrier in Jesus. He challenges us to break through human-human barriers as well. God comes to us as Immanuel, God with us, because God wants to be In the Neighborhood. So what does God discover?

Some of the same things that Lovenheim uncovers when he packs up his overnight bag and walks over to his neighbor’s house for a sleepover. First, a great number of people today are terribly lonely and don’t know how to make connections.

Lou Guzzetta, the first neighbor Lovenheim spends the night with, is a widower who enjoys his afternoon cocktail, his dog and his local YMCA support group. Yet he often feels alone. Guzzetta tries to reach out by taking dinners to new arrivals in the community. But his kind gestures are rarely reciprocated. At one point, Guzzetta says to Lovenheim, “There are no neighbors here.” This is a sad fact of life today.

Theologian Paul Tillich observed a half-century ago that separation is an aspect of everyone’s experience, and that sin is separation.
“To be in the state of sin is to be in the state of separation,” he said —
separation from other people,
separation from self
and separation from God.” The good news is that God enters human life in Jesus to overcome this separation. God comes to earth as the Christ child to break down barriers and reconnect us to our Creator.

As ambassadors of Christ,
we are to do whatever we can to reach out to our neighbors, make connections
and work to overcome the state of separation
that is a condition of our world today. The second discovery a “sleepover God” would make today is that most people are overscheduled and awfully busy, but still their lives are empty.
Working hard to make a living,
raising children,
pursuing advanced degrees,
participating in sports leagues,
putting time into hobbies
— all these activities have value,
but when you put them all together you end up with a disconnected life. Into the middle of this frenzy, God sends a baby. And babies, we all know, can slow us down and redirect us. Just as the coming of Jesus forced Joseph and Mary to slow down and refocus, Christ’s arrival nudges us to change our pace and our plans.
When a baby comes into our lives, everything changes. Suddenly, we’re forced to pay attention to feedings, diaper changes and naps.

The same is true with the coming of Christ if we allow ourselves to be changed and refocused.

We can’t avoid our neighbors when we focus on Jesus. After all, you can’t practice love or discipleship in isolation. This morning we welcome into our hearts the God who sleeps over. George Carlin says, “A plan I have is for World Peace through Formal Introductions. The idea is that everyone in the world would be required to meet everyone else in the world, formally, at least once.”

“You’d have to look the person in the eye, shake hands, repeat their name and try to remember one physical characteristic. My theory is if you knew everyone in the world personally, you’d be less inclined to fight them in war: “Who? The Iranians? Are you kidding? I know those people!”
In the latter years of the reign of King Hussein of Jordan, a terrible tragedy occurred.

Two Israeli schoolgirls were playing in a park called the “Island of Peace,” located in the middle of the Jordan River, right on the border between the two countries.

While the girls were playing, a Jordanian soldier shot them dead for no apparent reason. The news media flashed the story around the world with lightning speed. For a short while, it seemed that the fragile peace between Israel and Jordan could be broken.

But then it became clear that the soldier was suffering from an undiagnosed mental illness and that he’d acted with no authorization from anyone.

Apologies were made and accepted in diplomatic circles, and the world breathed easier. The story could well have ended there, were it not for King Hussein.

Hearing what one of his soldiers had done, the king left his palace, left even his own country and traveled to the humble homes of the families of the two slain Israeli girls.

Entering each house in turn, King Hussein — who was used to having people bow before him — fell down on his knees.

He bowed before the grieving parents. Then he looked up into their eyes and said, “I beg you, forgive me, forgive me. Your daughter is like my daughter, your loss is my loss. May God help you to bear your pain?”

Nothing in the annals of diplomatic protocol suggested that a king needed to humble himself like that. Ironically, a Muslim king gave the world, that day, a glimpse of how a truly Christlike king might behave.
Ever look for your glasses for 10 minutes, only to realize that they were on your head the whole time?

Or look for your keys but they were in your hand?

God’s ‘near-ness’ is like that. Even as you search for God, God is already near.
The truth is that we can do nothing to keep Christ out of Christmas.
For Christ comes.
Ready, or not.
Welcomed, or not.
Hosted, or not.
Recognized, or not.
We can do nothing to keep Christ from coming into our world.

A Life-Giving Christmas ~ Love...gotta have it!

2010-12-20T13:33:00.000-08:00

A Life-Giving Christmas—Love…gotta have it!
The Church of the Wayfarer
Dr. Norm Mowery, Pastor
December 19, 2010 Fourth Sunday of Advent
Romans 1:1-7

On ‘Larry King Live’ this last Thursday night, Larry King said, “So Long.” It was his last star studded live program of an amazing twenty-five year career.

At the very end of the hour, after his wife and two boys shared in the show, he sat alone, looked directly into the camera and with his voice cracking from emotion said, “I love you!”

Whatever you think of Larry King we must agree that in that moment, the world that was watching felt like he was speaking directly to each of them.

As I watched I asked, “What does he mean?” Here is a man who has interviewed kings, presidents and celebrities—and he is saying to me, “I love you!”

He must have had a TV audience of millions. I find it interesting that Larry King said, ‘I love you’ to:
Some people who liked him and others who didn’t.
Some people who cared and others who didn’t.

This is the fourth in a series of Advent sermons that I have titled: “A Life-Giving Christmas.” In this Series I said that a life-giving Christmas is one with:
Hope…that next year things will be different.
Peace…it is the peace that gives us strength to hold on.
Joy…it is the joy that gets us through the tough days.

Today we remember that A Life-Giving Christmas is one of love. Love…gotta have it!

A Life-Giving Christmas describes for us the very essence of life—the life of Christ Jesus through whom hope, peace, joy and love are truly possible.

Two nights from tonight we will experience the Longest Night of the year. I think that we all look forward to longer days and more sunlight.

Even so, some of us are experiencing the Longest Night of the soul in our lives right now with difficult emotions and feelings and we say, “Love…gotta have it! Gotta have it now!”

At this time of the year, relational expectations are at an all-time high. Whether it is family, romantic or communal love, people want to feel acceptance and reassurance.

God, through Christ, has done just that by accepting humanity and assuring it with life that does not end.

Not just any life, but life abundant with the things that matter.

That is the kind of love we celebrate today and throughout the year. It is the Life-Giving Christmas Love.

Larry King said the words, “I love you”, but, God did the act of love. God gave the ultimate of love in sending Jesus to live among us.
For God so loved the world
That he gave his only Son
That whoever believes in him
Should not perish but have eternal life!

That’s love in action! That’s Life-Giving Christmas Love.

On January 8, we are going to have an all church visioning day. Our time together will focus on what I am calling ‘Contagious Hospitality’. My number one goal for 2011 is hospitality. I want this church to be known for its hospitality. That goal will involve some change for all of us.

We have no choice!
Hospitality is the heart of who we are and whose we are. Hospitality is the meaning of the Life-Giving Christmas Love.
Hospitality is the heart of the Christmas Story.

Paul tells the Romans two things about love in our scripture this morning:
1. It's okay to be a servant. Being willing to serve is a sign of love.

Paul begins his letter by identifying himself as a "servant" of Jesus Christ. If we will put love in action we must be willing to serve. Hospitality is service.
Aging rocker Bob Dylan, as popular today as he was two generations ago, includes this insight in his song "Gotta Serve Somebody". He sings: "You may be an ambassador to England or France, You may like to gamble, you might like to dance, You may be the heavyweight champion of the world, You may be a socialite with a long string of pearls, But you're gonna have to serve somebody. Yes, indeed, You're gonna have to serve somebody, Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord, But you're gonna have to serve somebody." Every one of us has to serve somebody,
whether we are power people in Washington
or powerless persons in Western Samoa.

If we truly love we will be willing to serve.

Cliff Dochterman, President of Rotary International and a former parishioner of mine cleaned up an Old Russian toast that went like this:

If you want to be happy for an hour, get drunk;
if you want to be happy for a month, get married;
if you want to be happy for a lifetime, have good friends.

Cliff Dochterman who spoke here last year, says it this way:

If you want to be happy for an hour, take a nap.If you want to be happy for a week, take a vacation.If you want to be happy for a month, get married.If you want to be happy for a year, inherit a fortune.If you want to be happy for a lifetime, help other people.
2. Real power belongs to the Son of God

Jesus’ might and influence are everywhere, whether we acknowledge it or not. His power is the power of love. His power is the Life-Giving Christmas Love. A mother once told me that her daughter came to her and said, "I'm just not a believer".
"Don't worry about it," this mother told her daughter. "God believes in you."

That’s the heart of the message today. God believes in you! I learned a new term this past week. I had never heard it before. Have you? It is ‘self-gifting’.

I have heard of re-gifting. That is when you give a gift to someone else that was given to you. I heard of one person who ‘re-gifted’ the same gift back to the person who had given it to her!

Ops!

Anyway, one of those talking heads on TV this week said quite excitedly that this year people are self gifting $7.00 more than they did last year. “This is a good thing,” he said.

Last year people bought gifts for themselves valued at $102.00. This year on the average people are spending $109.00 on themselves!

Isn’t that great! They say that it is good news for the economy!

That’s a far cry from the love that is represented in Jesus.
Every one of us faces in life some looming "impossibilities."

As I share each of the following confessions I would like for you to respond with the words, “For God so loved the world…” Confession: I don't think I can face another day of working at my "impossible" job. Congregation: "For God so loved the world ..." Confession: It is "impossible" for me to manage staying in my house by myself any longer. Congregation: "For God so loved the world ..." Confession: I can't seem to get control of my "impossible" drinking/eating/gambling addiction. Congregation: "For God so loved the world ..." Confession: I have "impossible" monthly bills that now outweigh my monthly income. Congregation: "For God so loved the world ..." Confession: I am facing an "impossible" situation with my kids. Congregation: "For God so loved the world ..." Confession: There is a problem in my life that I am finding it "impossible" to face. Congregation: "For God so loved the world ..."
In a beehive producing 100 to 200 pounds of honey a year, a single bee generates only one-twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in its lifetime. But because the 80,000 to 90,000 bees that comprise one hive work together and attack common enemies, not each other, they can produce an amazing amount of honey.
A Life-Giving Christmas Love means that we work together and share the power of Christ.

Just before his death, U.S. Senate Chaplain Richard Halverson shared these thoughts about the church:
"In the beginning, the church was a fellowship of men and women who centered their lives on the living Christ. They had a personal relationship with the Lord. It transformed them and the world around them. Then the church moved to Greece, where it became a philosophy. Later it moved to Rome, where it became an institution.
Next it moved to Europe, where it became a culture. Finally it moved to the United States, where it became an enterprise.
We've got far too many churches and so few fellowships."
This reminds me of the story of the woman who told people she could talk directly to Jesus. About this time, she was approached by the bishop of her denomination, who had been watching her ministry with a great deal of skepticism.
"I understand that you claim to be able to talk to Jesus and that he talks back to you," said the bishop. The woman nodded and replied, "Yes, that's true." "If that's so, prove it," said the bishop. "The next time you talk to Jesus, ask him what I confessed to him in my last prayer." A week later, the bishop happened to run into the woman at a church function.
"Well, tell me," said the bishop. "Did you talk to Jesus this week?" "Yes, I did," said the woman. "And did you ask him what my last confession was?" "Yes." "Well, what did Jesus tell you?" The elderly woman shrugged her shoulders and replied, "Jesus said he forgot.”
That is Life-Giving Christmas Love!

The writer of the Gospel of John could have used two different Greek words for ‘world’ in John 3:16 when he says, “God so loved the world.” He used the Greek word kosmos instead of oikoumene because he wanted to be clear that no one anywhere was outside the realm of God’s love. In fact, he meant that God loves the whole world—everything including the flora and fauna. In other words, God, loves us even
when we are a mess,
when we are guilty of disorderly conduct,
when we are in emotional or spiritual disarray.

That is what Life-Giving Christmas Love is all about. God sees us not only as we are, but also as God calls us to be. God sees us through the lens of love.

It was nice when Larry King said, “I love you” to his TV audience but God put action to his words by sending Jesus. That’s Life-Giving Christmas love....gotta have it!

A Life-Giving Christmas ~ Joy...to get me through the tough days

2010-12-20T13:30:00.000-08:00

A Life-Giving Christmas—Joy…to get me through the tough days
The Church of the Wayfarer
Dr. Norm Mowery, Pastor
December 12, 2010
Isaiah 35:1-10

This past week Linda and I were with my ninety-one year old mother in Pennsylvania following surgery. I guess I had forgotten how cold it gets back there. Even so, it was nice to be there.

Most of our time was taken up with transporting mom to doctors. As we were riding together I asked her what it is that gives her the greatest joy in life. After all, I had today’s sermon on my mind. Her response was that she finds joy in thinking of what Heaven will be like.

So, I asked her what she thinks heaven will be like. She said, “Well, there will be no doctors there!”

Dr. Iverson and all the other doctors here this morning I don’t think that my mother meant that you won’t make it to heaven. She meant that there won’t be a need for doctors in heaven because there will be no sickness.

The question this morning is: How do you define joy?

I learned how not to define joy this week. Joy is not found in leaving Monterey Airport at 9:00 p.m., changing planes in San Francisco, flying all night to Washington, D.C, changing planes again arriving in Harrisburg at 9:00 a.m. only to realize that I had forgotten to reserve a rental car.

No cars were available! All seven companies were sold out.

It was in that moment that I experienced the joy of having an understanding wife. Linda should have said, “How could you forget? It’s cold. There are no buses. We are tired. We flew all night.”

Instead she got her I-phone out to figure out plan B!

The joy I am talking about today is the joy that gets us through the tough days of life.

The forced expectations of joy at this time of year often highlight what is wrong or missing in people’s lives.

Joy is not a surface-level happy—it is deeply seated in one’s character.
Joy may not always manifest itself in smile and laughter, but rather in grace and assurance.
Joy might be described as knowing something better exists, and holding onto that which is better.

It’s kinda like my mother coming to the awareness that she will not need to go see a doctor in heaven!

The Hebrew Prophet Isaiah says,
Wilderness and desert will sing joyously,
The badlands will celebrate and flower—
Like the crocus in spring, bursting into blossom,
A symphony of song and color.

It is important to note the contrast—
that in opposition to brokenness, wrongs, and sorrows,
God will prevail, and one day all shall be well.

Isaiah is known for his beautiful images and profound insights into the nature of God. That is why Isaiah is quoted in the New Testament more than all other prophets combined.

Joy is depicted here as a highway. It is the highway of holiness. Isaiah says, “Get into the joy lane.”

Have you driven on I-680 recently from Pleasanton to San Jose? There is a new toll lane. I can’t figure it out. I’m afraid to get in it. If I understand it right you can drive in it during rush hour with one person in the car if you pay so much money. I don’t understand how that works but I know that Isaiah says that if you are in the joy lane of life—
You will enter Zion with singing;
Everlasting joy will crown your heads.
Gladness and joy will overtake you,
And sorrow and sighing will go around you!

The song “Trading My Sorrows” shows the contrast this way:

I’m trading my sorrow
I’m trading my shame
I’m laying it down for the joy of the Lord

I’m trading my sickness
I’m trading my pain
I’m laying it down for the joy of the Lord

The message of hope this morning is that joy will come in the morning after the dark night of the soul—after the demons that come in the nihght.

Consider the grandmother who took little Ann along on a Christmas shopping trip.

After watching her grand-mother choose and buy gifts all morning, Ann was taken for her promised visit to Santa Claus. She made her requests to Santa politely, and as she started to leave, the jolly gentleman handed her a large candy cane.

"What do you say?" prompted the grandmother.

Little Ann furrowed her brows in thought, then smiled brightly and announced, "Charge it?"

I've begun to think that the manger is a very small place.
There isn't room in the manger for all the baggage we carry around with us.There's no room at the manger for our pious pride and self-righteousness.There's no room in the manger for our human power and prestige.There's no room at the manger for the baggage of past failure.There's no room at the manger for our prejudice and bigotry.There's no room for bitterness and greed.There is no room at the manger for anything other than the absolute reality of who and what we really are:
very human, very real, very fragile, very vulnerable human beings
who desperately need the gift of love and grace
which God so powerfully desires to give.

A Salvation Army volunteer was ringing a bell on a street corner. The man was asked to speak to a TV Reporter and tell about his life.

"Well," the man began, "before I was converted, I led a wild life. I drank all the time, I caroused on the weekends, I gambled away every paycheck.”

“But since I've been converted," he said with the cameras rolling, and pausing for a moment, "all I do now is ring this damn bell."

Gloria Eldred gave me an article from USA Today titled: “Happiness is having friends at church.”
“Attending religious services regularly and having close friends in the congregation are key to having a happier, more satisfying life. Even attend services irregularly—just several times a year— increases a sense of well-being, so long as there is a circle of friendships within the community.”

We're so stressed by trying to live right,
eat right,
think right,
act right,
speak right,
parent right,
exercise right,
look right –
that we've forgotten the joy of Jesus.

However many your fears and failures;
however many times you must pick yourself up from the hurts and pains of life and go on;
however difficult it is to get through each day –
the joy of life can be yours.

One of the greatest examples of joy is Robert Louis Stevenson, someone who was devastatingly ill from childhood on and was in pain almost every day of his adult life.

Stevenson set off from Scotland in 1879 for America and landed, sick, nearly penniless, in New York.

From there he took an overland train journey in miserable conditions to California, where he nearly died. After arriving here in Monterey, he went camping in the Santa Lucia Mountains. There he lay sick for two nights until two frontiersmen found him and nursed him back to health while he fluctuated between life and death. In the closing days of his life at the age of forty-four, Stevenson wrote this prayer that has become somewhat of a classic:
"We thank Thee for this place in which we dwell;
for the love that unites us;
for the peace accorded us this day;
for the hope with which we expect the morrow;
for the health,
the work,
the food and the bright skies that make our lives delightful....
Give us courage, gaiety, and the quiet mind"
Experiencing joy, feeling the laughter of loved life well up
in our spirits and burst out of our mouths is a divine gift.

C. S. Lewis believed that the ability to laugh at ourselves is as close as we get to true repentance in life.

Tears over our brokenness close us down, as we dwell on the empty portions of our lives. Laughter opens us up, allowing us to lift our faces to the Lord.
A mother of eight children came home to find five of her youngest children huddled together in the living room, sitting in a circle around something that held intense interest for them.
Curious about what was holding their attention, she slipped near them, looked over their shoulders, and could not believe her eyes!

In the middle of the circle were five baby skunks! She screamed at the top of her voice, "Children, run!" And they did, each of them grabbing a skunk and exiting the living room just as fast as they could!
Thank God for the innocence of children, who did not recognize that their mother was trying to rob them of their new found joy.
Today is the third Sunday of Advent. Earlier we lit the Candle of Joy, later we'll sing "Joy to the World," and we trust that the Christmas season will be a time of joy for us.
We would like Christmas to be a festive, joyful time, but there are things that rob us of joy. It's difficult to rejoice when the joy busters of the season are busy discouraging us, when dire circumstances surround us, and when people discourage and bewilder us.
It's difficult to rejoice when personal problems become overwhelming.
The people of Israel in Isaiah's day came to the same conclusion: There is not much reason for joy. Their land had been devastated by the Assyrians, and the local economy was in a shambles.
It is into this deathly context, however, that Isaiah brings a promise of transformation and joy! "The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad,"
What a wonderful passage! A wonderful promise of unbelievable transformation! Isaiah believed that into any context, however destitute, God will come with vitality and joy!
The Christian spirit of joy is not the same as happiness, which has more to do with what is happening to me. If people treat me well and things are going well in my life, I'm happy, but if things do not go well, I tend to be unhappy.
Joy is a more profound quality of life that transcends nasty circumstances. Joy is less dependent on circumstances than is happiness.
I close with the question, “What is keeping you from joy in your life?”
Whatever it is remove yourself from it.

Prayer
Family of Dorothy Falkel
Joy Chapman’s Mother
Owen Rabourn
Julie Morris
My Mom

Our God of Advent, As we retell the Christmas story and wait for the celebration of Christmas Day,
we marvel again that you would send the babe to live here on this planet. We learn early in life that it is painful to live here, on this planet of uncertainty;
it can be hard here, Lord - and lonely,
and meaningless;
for our spirits grow cold;
our hearts lose hope too easily; And it is painful, sometimes, even to love too much,
or to care too deeply. So we wait, anxiously, for the birth of the Promised One
who turns the darkness to light,
removes the dreaded sting of death
and in his birth brings eternal hope. Our God we confess that we often have been the cause of your pain.
And so we pray:"For the sins which we have committed against thee
under stress or through choice,
in stubbornness or in error,
in the evil meditations of the heart,
by word of mouth,
by abuse of power,
by exploiting and dealing treacherously with our neighbor,
bear with us,
pardon us,
forgive us!"For this we pray in the name of the Savior born unto us in the city of David:Jesus Christ,
the Lord who taught us to pray saying…..