And Their Stomachs Grumbled...

Sometimes I think, “If I die, I won’t have to see my children suffering as they are.” Sometimes I even think of killing myself. So often I see them crying, hungry; and there I am, without a cent to buy them some bread. I think, “My God, I can’t face it! I’ll end my life. I don’t want to look anymore.”
--Iracema da Silva, resident of a slum in Brazil
--Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger by Ron Sider, page 1

This mother is faced with poverty, and issue that surrounds us, everyday! Today over 30,000 children still die of starvation and preventable diseases, and 1.2 billion people live in relentless, unrelieved poverty worldwide. I have asked myself if I can truly understand poverty when I sit in a comfortable house, with closets filled with more clothes than I can wear and enough food that I’ll never go hungry. We may not be able to truly understand the lifestyle of the 1.2 billion neighbors who live in desperate poverty but on April 25th and 26th the youth of our church will attempt to get a peek into what a life of poverty is truly like.

We will engage in a 24 hour fast beginning at 6 pm Friday, April 25th until 6 pm, Saturday, April 26th. During our time together we will evaluate our lives in a world that tells us that more is better while using resources such as Sider’s book, Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger, and other PC (USA) material to guide our fast and to help us imagine what poverty means.

While fasting will allow us to put ourselves in the shoes of the 2.5 billion low-income people who live off of less than a dollar a day, we will take a look at the spiritual benefits of fasting and see how one can incorporate fasting as a spiritual discipline into ones own life. Our time will be marked by the hours of prayer that have shaped the prayer lives of our brothers and sisters of the monasteries for centuries. My hope is that as our stomachs grumble for food, we will be reminded that only God can truly sustain us and to pray for those who suffer daily from poverty.

We will begin this fast at either 1 pm or 6 pm Friday, April, 25th and go to 1 pm or 6 pm on Saturday, April, 26th. We will have juice breaks, service hours opportunities, fun, games, deep heart to hearts and other activites to bring us closer as a community yet being aware of those who live a life of poverty. I hope you all can attend. If you have any questions please feel free to call me, email me or simply leave a comment here on the blog!

Capture the Flag

Christ has risen!
Christ has risen indeed!

On Sunday, March 30th, 2008, join the youth at First Presbyterian Church Owensboro as we play capture the flag on the grassy knolls of what is known as our front yard.

The evening begins at 5:00 pm with a worship service.
Following this there will be a dinner at 5:30ish pm.
After the dinner starts the mayhem and fun with capturing some flags!

However, it is to rain this night and if this is the case then our fun will be moved indoors where we will simply watch movies and what not.

Bring a friend and plan to be at the church until 8:30 pm or so!

Hope to see you there friends!

Maundy Thursday Meditation over John 13.1-17, 31-35

Be silent and still.

Listen to the water being poured into the bowl by the Lord.

Listen as the sound of the water gets louder and then finally trickles off with a few last drips.

Feel the anxiety and confusion come over your body as you see your Rabbi kneel before you with only a towel on to wash YOUR feet.

Listen as Peter tries to tell Jesus that Jesus will never wash his feet.

Take in every word that then comes out of the mouth of the Christ, "Unless I was you, you won't belong to me."

Feel the goosebumps come over your body when your feet enter into the cold water.

Find rest in the rhythm that is in the way Jesus dries your feet.

Embrace the love that you see in Jesus' eyes as he gets up to move to the next disciple.

Get lost in the moment of being with the 12 closest friends you have.

Often times we do not want to be washed by Christ. More often than not we either consider ourselves not deserving of this gift or that Jesus should not have to do it, kind of like what Peter thought. Yet the washing our the feet allowed Christ to demonstrate the kind of love we are to have for one another. Without making the moment less holy, imagine what it must have been like to wash 12 people's feet after walking for a great distance? Blisters, dust, smelly feet and toe jam. Yet I often times find myself again wondering about what happen when Jesus went to wash Judas' feet. At this time Jesus knew that Judas would betray him and yet he still washed his feet, showing that although he will wrong me, he is still my beloved and needing me to serve him.

Through the gift of the Holy Spirit Christ is still with us today. Take time now to allow Jesus to wash your feet. To clean you of the dust and filth that you have picked up or been reminded of during this Lenten journey. Then think about those whom you would find difficult to humble yourself and wash their feet and meditate on Jesus' new commandment, "Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other."

Jesus, come to us today as you draw nearer to your death. Dine with us and wash our feet so that we may belong to you. Teach us about love and may we live and breath this new commandment onto all those whom we encounter, whether they are our friends or our foes. May we bask in your love and live into your love and give it to the world. Amen.

Holy Wednesday Meditation John 13.21-32

There it sits on the table, the meal is ready for us to eat. All twelve of us have been working hard to prepare this meal and now there he comes, the Messiah himself. Smells good in here, doesn’t it?

Yet as we sit here with each other, we sense a bit of tension in the air, especially since Jesus is talking about how he will die and how he will soon enter into his glory. He has been acting strange lately and I must admit that I was a little uncomfortable at first with Jesus washing my feet. I had not a clue what was going on and did not expect that. He really wants us to understand that there is a cost to the last three years of following him. However, the most bizarre thing he has said is that one of us is not clean? Who can this be? I wonder if it is Peter. I mean, he is always jumping to conclusions trying to outdo us it may seem and he would be the least likely. Surely it isn’t John is it? Either way, Jesus has taught us to love one another and to wash one another’s feet regardless, so this I must do.

Oh He is speaking again, “I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me.” What! Again with this betrayal deal, none of us will do this to him. We respect and love him too much. Who can it be? Surely it isn’t I, no way. I will not believe it. Everybody is bewildered and confused. Someone needs to ask him who it is. Ah, I knew the one who Jesus loved would. Yet he did not say it loud enough for it to be heard, “It is the one whom I give the bread I dip in the bowl. Now hurry and do what you’re going to do.” Why would he tell Judas to go and pay for the food now, right in the middle of his teaching? This all just does not make any sense!

I wonder what else he will say now that Judas is gone. “The time has come for the Son of Man to enter into his glory, and God will be glorified because of him. And since God receives glory because of the Son, he will soon give glory to the Son.” May I one day glorify the Father like Jesus is explaining.

The mood around the table begins to grow even gloomier as Jesus tells his disciples that his time is coming. But this time we see that the one who will betray Jesus is revealed, yet the other eleven did not understand, but Judas did. Imagine the troubled heart of Judas as he comes face to face with the very one who chose him to be his friend says, “Hurry and do what you’re going to do.” Fear and probably much trembling overcame his body we can imagine as he ran to turn Jesus over for few silver coins. Yet greed and jealousy is still much apart of our lives and culture today. How often do you feel this tension pulling at your heart, the greed or the desire to want more, to push yourself to the point where you question your morals and end up crossing the line?

May today we find ourselves approaching the cross, asking God to relieve our heavy hearts and the burdens on our backs that are weighing us down. May we come to realize that living a life of Christ does indeed require a cost but the result is something more beautiful than we can imagine. May we cast our care and our feelings onto the Lord and share our deepest feelings to Christ. We have one to turn to, even when we miss the mark greatly!

Peace to you on this Holy Wednesday!

A Lenten Meditation

"There are many times when I cannot pray, when I am too tired to read the gospels, too restless to have spiritual thoughts, too depressed to find words for God, or too exhausted to do anything. But I can still look at these images so intimately connected with the experience of love."
~Henri J.M. Nouwen~
Behold the Beauty of the Lord: Praying With Icons

Tuesday Holy Week Meditation over John 12.20-36

It is 2 am and you just woke up because you have just spent the last five minutes coughing and you need a drink to satisfy the tickle in your throat. Darkness has overtaken your room and you cannot seem to find your way smoothly. Bumping into your bedpost you stub your toe and mumble a few words under your breath out of frustration. Finally, you arrive to the kitchen and you flip the switch only to feel as if you pupils have just exploded. Light now surrounds your self and you can see again, although it causes you to squint. You can find your way now as you navigate through the light to the sink, then as you leave your turn the light on in the hallway and finally you return to your room, where you climb back into bed and sleep.

Christ tells his disciples that his light is soon to be put out as he approaches the cross and essentially his death. This comes after a confused crowd looks around and is puzzled over how the messiah, if this Nazarene really is the Messiah, can die because the Scriptures say he will live forever. Ignoring these questions Jesus simply explains that his light will shine for only a little longer. Imagine some are looking intently while others still scratching their heads, Christ tells them that if you walk in the light, darkness will not overtake them. Finally Christ says, “put your trust in the light while there is still time, then you will become children of the light.”

Staying in the light is difficult at times. Yet what is this darkness that Christ teaches and warns us about? Satan’s name is thrown in the mix earlier in the text, yet we are afraid to mention this man. We tell our selves that we need not worry about the darkness for it has no control over our lives now and that Christ spoke symbolically. Are we afraid to follow Jesus? Are we afraid of putting our trust in this light and to be recognized as a child of the light?

"Anyone who wants to be my disciple must follow me, because my servants must be where I am. And the Father will honor anyone who serves me.”

May we come to realize that our life’s are indeed corrupted and consumed by darkness and that our hope lies in the Light of the world himself who during this week, walks in the darkest of places for us, providing us a path that is and will be lit until he comes again. Today, light a candle in a dark room, meditate on the dancing flame and allow Christ to come to you with his light and teach you what it means to be his servant. Awake in the middle of the night and give thanks for the light that encompasses your life! Peace to you.

Not Afraid to ask Questions

Community.

What is true community?

What is community?

What is required in a community?

What makes a community a community?

A question that has been long pondered by many a persons. As i continue to think about sacred space and sanctuary, I cannot help but to talk about the word that i often times find myself saying, probably too much. Yet, it is a deep hope for me that one day I may rest at ease with fellow people and be an authentic commune. Yet I find myself saying words like authentic and rest, commune and sanctuary and I begin to question myself of if I really know what these mean. Well friends, thats why I love blogging and our newsletter and being in conversation with each other for we will take on this dialogue into community and hopefully stumble into it.

Approaching this with particular stories of Scripture in mind, let us think of the disciples. It is an interesting string of events that led these 12 men (and other men and women who found themselves flocking to this group) to come together and follow Jesus. Accounts of how these disciples came to follow the one who is called Christ are recorded throughout the Gospels. Many of the disciples were fishermen, others tax collectors and others came because their brother did. Nonetheless, these men all came with this idea that they would follow this rabbi, teacher, and they would learn from his teachings.

Yet my amazement does not stop there. No, you see what I love about the 12 disciples and Jesus is there authenticity with each other. Granted, Jesus knew everything about them, even those who did hide behind a mask (referring to Judas). However, it was for this very reason I find comfort amidst these 12 men who often times wondered around, as I picture it in my head, aimlessly except with one thing on their minds, follow this guy and try and pay attention. Throughout the Gospel accounts we see Jesus will be teaching, he will teach through a parable or a story and then the disciples ask questions that gets Jesus to respond in a way that seems to be frustrating him. To get a better peek into the lives of these often time disciples, Mark would be a good source to look to as he does not show much favor for these students of the Christ. We see the disciples wrestling with the parables Jesus told and would wait until they were with him alone until they would ask to have it explained. Plus, they were not very good picking up on details of the prediction of Jesus' death (8.32-33; 9.32; 10.32-41). In other Gospel stories they would ask things like, "May we sit at the right and left side of you on your throne? Who is the greatest?" Some, according to the Gospel of Matthew, have their mother ask Jesus questions.

"If your going to mess up, do it big," a quote I once heard in a local bowling alley as a man was attempting a spare to save his team from ending their season. Maybe the disciples too had this thought in their mind when they were with each other. If we are going to follow this guy, lets be ourselves even if that requires extra explanation or even, humility and embarassament. Yet these things are too important to overlook as we evaluate the disciples community. As they wrestled and doubted even this mans divinity, they did not care as to how silly they were and were themselves. They asked the question that the guy next to them was afraid to ask or they did things that were not the best things to do by accident, like falling asleep in the garden. Yet these things played a key role in the development of the community. Everyone had a place and purpose in the 12, even Judas as we see him as the drama unfolds cling tighter to the moneybag and complains when a woman cleanses Jesus feet with perfume, for he knew that it could have been used for the poor. All 12 disciples were called, chosen and sent out for a reason and all needed each other.

Another key point to focus on is the way the disciples went out. You see, they went out not alone but in pairs, covering less ground maybe, but going with each other for support and encouragment we can assume. Never did they do anything alone. Together, always, eating, sleeping, walking and even asking Jesus how to pray. Together, all for one and one for all. No individuals, all striving to be a community.

Take some time to read these times when Jesus and the 12 gathered together. Place yourself in the story and listen to Jesus talking. Look around and look at the faces of those who would be surrounding you and see if you can listen as intently as they are. But if the times comes we you simply do not know or understand, don't be afraid to ask for the guy/gal next to you probably is wanting to ask the same thing. As M. Scott Peck says (who is guiding me behind these posts), "No one could exist without the other." (A Different Drum M. Scott Peck pg. 61.)

Community. A journey we will begin, an ending we hope will come true.
Grace, peace and love to you this day and may you seek the face of Christ in all you meet.