The Force Awakens

I took the family to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens on opening day.  

We didn’t know how crowded it would be – I warned the kids that we might not get to sit together.  I was shocked when we walked right in.  There was no line and we were the second family in the theater – we sat right in the very middle and had great seats!

I would have loved a real-looking lightsaber like these
but they didn't exist when I was nine.

I was a big Star Wars fan as a kid.  My ninth birthday party involved taking a bunch of my friends to see Star Wars in the theater.  We then went back to my house and ran around using whatever we could find to double as lightsabers that we swung at each other.  I remember my mom making the declaration that the party was over and driving all my friends home!

Star Wars was such a great story because it tapped into archetypal characters that endure through time.  You had the Hero in Luke Skywalker that went on a journey from innocence to maturity as he vanquished evil.  You had the Rogue in Han Solo whose very name represents a me-first attitude.  His journey was to discover that he could in fact care for something more than himself.  You had the Damsel in Distress in Princess Leia who also turned this image on its head by being more than capable of taking charge.  You had the Wise Old Man in Obi Wan Kenobi.  You had the Fool in both C-3PO and R2-D2.  You had the Animal Companion in Chewbacca.  You had the Devil in Darth Vader.

These classic images told a good story where good triumphed over evil.

As we tap into these helpful myths once again with the new release, we realize that these archetypal stories help us to deal with our own chaos and anxiety.  It is no coincidence that the first release was later subtitled, “A New Hope”.  This is what humanity continues to long for.

This week, we also will retell an old old story at Christmas.  We will likely hear Luke 2:1-20 read and if we are attentive, we may rediscover the sense of wonder that this story brings.

In this narrative, we discover that God has dwelt among us.  We remember that God does indeed love us.  We recall that good triumphs over evil.

Worship at Christmas is special because unlike a movie, we actually enter into this story.  We find that our faith in Christ doesn’t just make us observers – as fun as that can be.  We are actual participants.  As we darken the sanctuary and then light the candles at the end of our worship, we are signifying that our job as Christians is to help shine the light of Christ into the world.

The importance of this can be staggering. 

I hope that you’ll make worship a part of your life journey this Christmas Eve.  If you’re in the Edmond area, we’ll have services on December 23 at 7 pm as well as December 24 at 4:00 pm, 7:00 pm and 11:00 pm.  There might be a crowd but it will be worth it!

In Christ,

Sam

Picture by The Conmunity - Pop Culture Geek from Los Angeles, CA, USA [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Passing the Peace

I've been on the receiving end of many angry outbursts as a pastor.

Some of them have been deserved.

Some of them have been because I was an unknown irritant and the rage and frustration finally erupted.

Some of them have been because the person was grieving and I represented the only physical substitute for God that they can yell at.

We all know what it is like for someone to direct angry words our way.  It is never something we would pursue unless we have some kind of weird disorder!

Do arguments over sports represent
a kind of scapegoat for us to release
our pent up anxiety?

Physiologically, our bodies react when this occurs.  We often go into the "fight or flight" response which includes an increase in heart and breathing rates.  Our adrenaline levels also rise. Some become a little sick to their stomach.

If this happens too often for us, the stress of the body moving back and forth into this state may lower our immunity and we can become fatigued or sick more easily.

Lots of people experience conflict at work or at home or at school.  For some it is their extended family members.  For others, it is their in-laws. Some have neighbors that are antagonists.

If you live with a sense that you have an ongoing enemy, you realize that you are in need of the Prince of Peace.  This Sunday, we'll examine Isaiah 11:1-9.  Christians later adopted this Hebrew text as a scripture that speaks to us of Jesus Christ.  What were the people of Isaiah's time going through that they needed to hear this word to them?

There has been conflict since there have been people.  God grants us rest from this. God has always done this.  God continues to do this for us today.

Even in the midst of shootings and warfare and violence.

A blessed peace is what we need.

As we prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, we have one more Sunday to wait. But while we're waiting, may the peace of Christ which passes all our understanding, be ours to share.

In Christ,

Sam


Picture by Googie man on CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons

Stress and the Baby Jesus

Stress is a normal part of the holidays.  It starts right before Thanksgiving and goes right up through New Year's.  

Much of it has to do with seeing relatives that we don't often interact with on a regular basis.

Our relatives have interesting issues - we love them but may also have unresolved conflicts or tension from years ago.  

There are family dynamics that come into light that can be blessings but just as often may cause us to curse!

Moving can also be stressful.  Whether you are moving to a new town or new job or new school, it has its own set of hurdles.  As a kid, I remember moving from Tulsa to Sapulpa.  It wasn't terrible but I didn't know a soul where I was going.  That first day of school, I had to meet new friends as well as navigate a new culture.  School had started the month before so everyone else was used to their routine.

The new drop off is ready to receive
people this Sunday!

I'm not sure if I got snappy with my parents during this time but I wouldn't be surprised if I did.  We often grouse at those whom we love when stressed because it's going to come out somewhere!

At First United Methodist Church of Edmond, we are moving into a new space.  We are moving into a new worship service at 10:50 am.  We are dealing with the stress of things we didn't foresee as well as things we did!  It could be that people feel a little irritated.  For some this comes as a surprise.  After all, we are in a brand new setting - everything looks pretty!  It's got that new car smell to it.

Why would anyone complain?

It may just be a fairly normal reaction to the stress of adaptation.  The good news is that God is a part of this.  We are able to take a deep breath and remember that this is what we've been working toward.  Maybe not the minor irritation - but the mission as a whole to create new space for discipleship.

New space always comes with a few headaches but nothing we can't handle.  

And at the same time, it is very exciting and fresh!  Our glass is more than half full and we have more than enough to share with our community.  Thanks be to God to all who got us here!

As we look toward the baby Jesus on Christmas, may you find the Peace of Christ once more!

In Christ,

Sam

Are You Sure It Works Like That?

Passage for Second Sunday in Advent: Luke 3:1-6

Sometimes life is counter-intuitive.  In order to get our desired results, we have to do things that seem like we might be going backwards.  For instance, in order to grab something that is above your head, you might stretch out to the tips of your toes.  It is still out of reach.  How do you get it?

You could try to jump from the tips of your toes but it would be more effective to squat down to get some spring in your legs before jumping up.  You have to go down before you go up.

Flying Officer T. R. Jacklin inspects the damage to
his plane after flying it back from a mission in the Pacific.

During World War II, there were patterns of bullet holes in surviving aircraft.  They only had enough armored plates to partially outfit the planes.

Where would you put the armor?

The natural thinking would be to put it where the majority of the holes were.  Abraham Wald thought about it differently.  He concluded that these surviving planes were able to fly in spite of being hit in these areas.  Those planes that were shot down were likely hit in the places that didn't show patterns of damage.

So he put the armor where there were no bullet holes!

As we think this week about repentance, it might seem that we would be better off in glossing over former sins or mistakes we have made.  What's done is done and it may be too painful to revisit.

While this is true if one is truly at peace with something, we often try to put embarrassing incidents out of mind without actually resolving them through the forgiveness we need. Then the consequences come back to haunt us in ways we don't expect or realize.  Our behavior toward others may be off.  We might be touchy around certain areas.  There may be topics that are taboo because we are sensitive to what they might recall.

If this is the case, we may need to do some soul searching and some repentance.

In order for us to move forward in a healthy way, we have to tend to those things in our past which may be holding us back.  This can be counter-intuitive, but it works.

I think this is what John the Baptizer is calling people to do when they come out to hear him preach at the Jordan River.  They are convicted and find themselves being baptized in the river.  This coming out of the water reminded the people of their ancestors who crossed the river to enter into the Promised Land for the first time.

It was like starting over.

Repentance.  It's not just for the truly horrible.  It's for all of us.

It helps us to prepare the way of the Lord.

Sometimes we have to go down before we can go up.

In Christ,

Sam

Picture by Harrison, John Thomas [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

What is our Capacity for Love?

Paris shootings - the day after.

As I have watched the devastation in Paris unfold, it is numbing.

At first, it took me back to the awful scene of the homecoming parade in Stillwater a few weeks ago when so many lives were crushed right before my eyes.

It then took me back to 9/11 in seeing the images unfold as a nation stayed glued to the television for days on end as we sought to understand what had happened.

Then I remembered the scenes from the Oklahoma City bombing that impacted so many lives.

Tragedy has always been a part of life.  It is not that we have a greater capacity for violence but that our technology allows us to inflict harm upon such large masses of people all at once.

Before the attacks in Paris, our country was receiving refugees from Syria that were trying to flee the awful violence going on there.  Our capacity for compassion at this point was understandable.  I've watched stories of the persecution not only of Muslims but of Christians as well.  As a father, I can put myself in their shoes.

These stories give us a larger capacity for compassion if not love.

Now that we have seen the horror inflicted upon Paris, we become uneasy about a repeat performance closer to home.  We hear things like the brother of two of the terrorists had no clue that they were planning this.  He said that terrorists blend in with others and give off nothing that would alert anyone to their plans or activities.

The mystery surrounding their identity is a chief weapon of terrorism: fear.

The fear is legitimate in that we may not know who we should be watching.  It makes us paranoid and those of Middle Eastern descent in our country become question marks in the eyes of many.  How well do we really know them?

This line of thinking is very different from when Jesus said, "If you welcome a stranger, you welcome me."

He said this in a day when there was plenty of violence.  He said this when his own country was under foreign occupation.  He said this when people were afraid for their own safety and the safety of their families.

Acts of terror try to increase our capacity for fear.  Fear is a powerful weapon.  When I am afraid, I set my trust aside.  When I am afraid, I set my compassion aside.

This Sunday, we will celebrate the Reign of Christ.  What does that mean in a world torn asunder?  Is it still legitimate?  I believe that it is.

I believe that my faith helps me to conquer my fears.  This doesn't mean that we don't take necessary precautions.  It just means that my perspective is not ruled by fear - which is sometimes easier said than done!

We'll join together in worship and prayer.  We'll pray for our allies in France who are suffering.  We'll pray for our soldiers who are put in harms way.  We'll pray for the innocent families trying to flee a war-torn area.  We'll even listen to our Lord and pray for our enemies which is harder than anything else we do.

Because the Reign of Christ is real.  It becomes all the more tangible when we live it out.

The Reign of Christ increases my capacity for love.

In the end, this is more powerful than any act of terrorism.

In Christ,

Sam

  
Photo by Maya-Anaïs Yataghène from Paris, France (Paris Shootings : The day after) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Do Whatever We Ask of You

Mark 10:35-45

This was the oldest of my X-Men comics which
was pretty cool but I really wanted #1!

What would you do with a million dollars?

I used to play this “what if” game as a child.  It was fun to think about having zero restrictions.

Would I buy the latest Atari 2600 system with all of the game cartridges – even all of the different ones published by Activision?

Or maybe I would pick up all the back issues of my favorite comic books like the X-Men or the Avengers (long before they were movies, I read those stories as a kid). 

Having my own swimming pool with a high dive and a huge slide into the deep end was also something that would have fit nicely in my back yard.

My parents always said something or other about not spoiling me.  At the time this seemed like a ridiculous reply.

Later as we got older, the fantasy question often turns from what would you do with a million dollars to what would you do for a million dollars.  That small change of prepositions changes the entire nature of the question, doesn’t it?

Now we are talking about morals and boundaries in ways that are more profound.

The question changes from a fantasy of excess to an exploration of character and identity.  Kids also have a way of pushing the envelope with one another into places that adults hesitate to go.  As an adult, if I ask it of you, I realize that you might ask it of me!  Kids don’t seem to care.

Sometimes we would say things that we would do just to shock the others.  After all, no one was really going to front the money for such an outlandish experiment.  Later they turned this sometimes dark question into a dark movie called Indecent Proposal which takes the viewer places we really don’t want to go.  But shock value and curiosity go hand in hand.

I wonder what Jesus thought when two of his disciples said to him, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.”  After the miracles they saw him perform, was this their version of “What if we had a million dollars”?

I always picture Jesus smirking when he replies, “What is it you want me to do for you?”

Of course the disciples miss the bigger picture.  It’s been 2,000 years and today’s disciples are still missing it.  It is interesting that Jesus seems to turn the question from what would you do with a million dollars to what would you do for a million.  He lets the disciples know that there are expectations for those who follow him.  It's more fun to think about the great treasure than our responsibility in working toward it.  But it's also comforting to know that they struggled with the same things we do.

In Christ,

Sam

We All Like Our Stuff

Scripture Reading: Mark 10:17-31

When we first moved to Piedmont, Sheryl was pregnant with Kyla.  The parsonage was empty for several months before we arrived as the congregation worked on restoring it.  It was a nice parsonage and was built only about thirteen years before we moved in.

One of the impressive things about that house was all of the storage available to us.

We had a ton of space in the attic.  There were large cabinets in the hallway that you could sleep several people in if they were empty.  We had closets and book shelves and a shed out back.

I see a sign like this and I want to look.  What if there's something I need?

At the beginning of our time, they were empty.  We praised the storage many times over.

This kind of storage allowed you to just keep stuff.  Stuff you might normally get rid of!

If you had a place for it, why not just keep it?

After two children and over thirteen years of accumulation, we finally filled that house up!

When it was time to pack, I no longer praised the storage.   We were moving to a home with far less space and so now we had some choices to make.

We threw away a lot of stuff that we thought we might need.

We made trip after trip to the Goodwill thinking that others might still find it valuable.

One thing we did was improve the attic storage in our new house so that we could fill it with boxes of the things we couldn't bear to part with.  The majority of these boxes have been untouched for over a year now.

I don't think that I am overly fond of material things.  But I have my share.  Someday my kids will inherit a lot of junk.  They'll probably throw most of it out.

What does this mean for our life as spiritual people?  Do our things keep us from being more Christ-like to others?  Do our attachments make us superficial?  With apologies to Sting, can we be spiritual people in the material world?

I do know this - I haven't missed any of the things I threw away or gave away.  I'm not sure what that says but I think if I pay attention, it might be significant.

In Christ,

Sam
  

Picture by Ellin Beltz (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons