Tag Archives: stories

My encounter with April

02 Thursday Aug 2018

Posted by in Humanity, Theology

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April reached out to me by e-mail.  I was recommended to her as someone she should reach out to as someone who could help her out.  She wasn’t looking for help with paying the fee to live in the hotel, but help to get out.  She told me that she had to leave – that she needed to set free of the bondage of the place she was living in.  She was being reunited with her ex-husband who was living in Colorado.

I came and visited with her in her room just a couple of days ago.  I didn’t know what to expect.  She spent the first hour telling me her story, but with a twist.  It was a story of God’s timing and God’s plans and how they are different from ours.  She has been separated from her husband for 14 months, but that separation allowed healing to happen.  That separation gave room for April to see how God is Lord, and not anything or anyone else.

We talked and shared our faith stories, moments in our lives when we have experienced God nudging us and tapping us on the shoulder, and sometimes shouting directly at us to get our attention.

She shared with me what it has been like living in the motel – like a trap.  Things deteriorate, service is terrible, there is no kitchen or way to make food, except for a microwave, and things generally don’t work consistently.  But there aren’t a whole lot of options for people in her situation.  She described it as being in bondage – a term that is not used lightly.  And a term that seems very fitting.  It’s not just physical bondage, but bondage of the spirit, of the human will to live.  Every week, the bill comes due to cover the shelter of the room – an expense that is way beyond normal.  An expense that often times takes advantage of the poor who are sheltered there.  But then again, where else are these folks going to go?

In this country, there is a creed that we live by – individualism.  It’s the belief that we can pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, that everyone is able to get themselves out of trouble, and that only the lazy suffer the consequences.

And in this country, we like to claim that we are a Christian nation.  Many churches proclaim the creeds of the church that were established centuries ago in far off lands.  And we claim to follow Jesus who favored the poor and proclaimed Good News to the poor.

How do these two creeds and belief systems compliment each other though?  Christianity isn’t so much about our personal salvation devoid of public implications, but as something far more greater.  Revelation 21 paints a picture of the entirety of creation being renewed and restored.  Jesus doesn’t proclaim that only the strong will survive and only those with material wealth are the ones who are blessed by God.

When I keep encountering more and more people who are struggling with the basic necessities of life, I have to compare our national operating creeds and beliefs with those of Jesus.  And frankly, I find our nation’s operating beliefs to be lacking – failing in the promise of an American Dream.  But Jesus has yet to fail to come through on his promises.  If we are a great nation, then why do so many struggle to survive?  If you think there is an easy answer for this, then you are dismissing the struggles that exist because you think they don’t affect you.  And you are wrong.

Homelessness does affect you.  When a homeless person without insurance gets sick, they go the hospital to receive treatment.  Going to a hospital for routine care is expensive.  Someone has to pay for that.  It ends up showing up in your insurance premiums and taxes.  When the poor don’t have enough food because they are being gorged with weekly payments, they become sicker and have health problems.  Guess who pays for that?  When the homeless sneak over to an abandoned hotel to find shelter and every day the local police department are sent over to kick people out – someone has to pay for the police to do this, as opposed to doing something else.  Guess who pays?  That’s right, everyone does, including the people who think that homelessness has no impact on their lives.  Apparently, we like to lie to ourselves and think that we are like islands.  Yet Christ calls us into community, to proclamation, and to service of others.

1 Peter 2:9-10 states:

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.
Once you were not a people,
but now you are God’s people;
once you had not received mercy,
but now you have received mercy.

This isn’t only about individuals.  It’s much bigger than the American ideal of catering to each individual.  In the side commentary of the Lutheran Study Bible related to this passage of Scripture, it states:

What is the priesthood of all believers?  This is a key concept for Martin Luther, who insists that all Christians are priests or God’s messengers.  Proclaiming God’s mighty acts is not a job reserved for only a few people.  God calls all believers – no matter what their vocation or standing – to share the Gospel and serve their neighbors to that others come to know Christ.

(Source – Lutheran Study Bible, pg. 2002)

Did you catch the end of that – All believers are to share the Gospel and serve their neighbor.  Not make excuses.  Not judge.  Not put blinders on and ignore those around us.  The Gospel is Good News to the Poor.

At the end of my conversation with April, I got her set up with transportation.  And we spent time in prayer.

April was having a true Jesus moment that had nothing to do with me.  Her old life, the life she was living here – a life in bondage – was dying.  Today her old life will die as she gets on the bus.  Following Jesus is about dying.  It’s about trusting what Jesus tells us – that following him will lead to death – death daily, death to self, death of life, death of bondage.

But it doesn’t end there.  Death doesn’t get the final say.  Jesus does.  In order to experience resurrection, we have to go through death.  When April steps on the bus, she will also begin to experience resurrection, new life.  A life of hope.  A life where bondage has ended and there is a future. A transformed life.  This is what Jesus promises.  And it’s not just for some time in the distant future.  It’s here and now.

Sometimes we have to hit rock bottom before we are stop fighting with God and allow God to take over.  Sometimes we have to get to a point of complete loss of hope in order to let go of the chains that bind us, that hold us bound.

April is a reminder that death and resurrection are real and are what Jesus calls us to – right here and now.  April left the bondage of a motel room with a life that was hopeless and she is getting on a bus filled with hope, looking forward to the embrace of love and family, and experiencing Jesus’ mercy and grace.  This is the Good News of Jesus in our midst.

People at Dachau

26 Friday Feb 2016

Posted by in Humanity, Travel

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When you visit a place like Dachau, it’s easy to get lost in the numbers – the sheer volume of people that moved through the camp, were housed there, and died there.  But if you really want to feel the full impact of the camp, you start to look at the details – the individuals who were in Dachau.  The camp has some amazing stories.

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This images tells a lot of history.  And yet, it’s only a tiny portion of just one person’s story.  The camp has several of these collages.

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Each collage is a collection of items that tells a story about a person.

And the interesting thing is, if you just look a the person’s face, you can’t tell very much about the person.  But that’s ok, the Nazis couldn’t either.  So they instituted a way to identify each prisoner with a group.

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As you can see, there were many different groups.  The chart also shows a hierarchy of existence as well – it was better to be a member of the groups at the top of the chart.

Another amazing thing about going to Dachau are the artifacts that survived the war.

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This is the actual table, we were told, where prisoners would be registered.  The Nazis would use prisoners to register other prisoners.  They would throw out promises to the prisoners who did their dirty work.  But as with most things, it was a lie – these prisoners would be killed within a matter of months.  The Nazis were concerned that these prisoners would gain too much power over other prisoners, so they eliminated the threat and threw in more unsuspecting victims and a few months later kill them.  On and on the cycle went.

Dachau is full of stories – many we’ll never know.  But we take in the ones that survive.

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What Makes a Good Sermon?

24 Wednesday Sep 2014

Posted by in Church, Sermon Prep

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I read an interesting article the other day.  It was one preacher’s perspective on what makes a good sermon.

My initial reaction was one of agreeing with some of the things, and disagreeing with a lot of other points.  Here’s the five points the author stated that make a good sermon:

  1. Explain the text.
  2. Fewer stories, please.
  3. Leave your politics and social justice at home please, unless…
  4. Don’t sweat the time.
  5. Don’t preach same-old, same-old.

I was going to comment on each of these, but the commentary would make this blog post way to long, so here’s the short version of what I think about this.

There is no standard for what makes a good sermon generally.  There are some guidelines that each denomination teaches of what should be in a sermon. So, for example, Lutherans generally preach Law and Gospel.  Other denominations focus on other things.  But can you really compare different sermons if the criteria is different.

Here’s what I think makes for a good sermon.  But keep in mind, this is my preference.  I don’t pretend to say that I’m some kind of expert. I’m only preached about 20 times, which is not much in the grand scheme of things.

1. Keep your listeners engaged.  This doesn’t mean you have to do all sorts of theatrics or have an awesome inspiring story or anything like that.  It means, read the listeners while you are preaching to them.  Do you understand the context of who you are preaching to?  Are they paying attention?  Does anyone care?  Or are they off thinking about what’s for lunch when they get home.  It’s amazing that we have a message of grace and hope for a hopeless world and yet some preachers are able to crush those things and bore people.  In other words, be authentic and sincere and preach what you actually believe.  It will come through and people will listen because they will hear the authenticity of what is being preached.

2. Stories help.  It’s what people remember.  Bible stories and contemporary stories.  We are visual society, so telling stories connects with people and helps them to understand the point without getting all academic on them.  If it was good enough for Jesus, then it should be good enough for me.

3. Leave your politics at home.  People didn’t come to church to get a political speech, or be a mouth-piece for a certain political party.  They came to hear a message of grace and hope.  Politics is neither.  Does this mean we shouldn’t challenge our listeners?  No.  Challenge them, but leave the politics out.  When I go to church and hear a political speech, it just pisses me off.  That’s not why I went to church.  I went to hear about how God was active in the world and giving people hope, not how we should feel guilty because we aren’t activists for some cause that is in the news.  Jesus challenged the reigning authorities and ways of doing things.  He was political, but it was different.  It wasn’t a comparison of one political belief system versus an opposing one.  It was criticizing a political system that was opposed to God’s kingdom.  And when he did this, he offered a different vision for how life could be.  I hope I never preach in a way that seems to claim that God is a Democrat, Republican, or member of any other political party.  God is not any of those.  God’s ways are not Democrat or Republican ways.  God’s ways are better.

There’s more to a good sermon for me, but these are things that I think are essential.  As a Lutheran, I would also add in that a sermon should preach Law and Gospel.  But again, this is not a universal preaching thing – it’s Lutheran.

I’d love to hear what you think makes for a good sermon.  I would especially appreciate hearing the perspective of people who don’t preach, but listen week-in and week-out, those who don’t attend church often or rarely.  What makes for a good sermon for you?  Leave your comments in the comment section.  I’m looking forward to hearing what you think.  Thanks.

Message of Hope

06 Sunday Apr 2014

Posted by in CPE

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Today I gave a message of hope for a memorial service at a cancer center that I am a chaplain at.  It was a nice service.  Below is the reading that was chosen for the event along with the message that I delivered.  Enjoy!

 

When you were born,
you cried and the world rejoiced.
Live your life so that when you die,
the world cries and you rejoice.

– Cherokee Expression

 

It was May 2002. I was living the dream. I was 26 years old, and married to my college sweetheart, Abby, for two years. We lived in a great house in a great neighborhood. I had a job I loved. Life was perfect. We were rejoicing.

Then our world started to unravel. Abby’s mom, Bonnie, informed us that she had gone to the doctor because a large lump on her back was bothering her. It turns out it was cancer. The doctors didn’t know how extensive the cancer was or what type of cancer it was exactly. We were devastated and we cried.

Bonnie soon found out that the cancer had metastasized throughout her body. The doctors told her there was nothing they could do. They told her to go home and spend time with the ones she loved. We cried again.

Abby and I made the decision to move in with her and become her primary care givers.

Then in Mid-June, we found out that Abby was pregnant. Here in the midst of sickness, we had new life to celebrate. We rejoiced.

We stayed with Bonnie as much as possible. We worked at our jobs and when work was over, we rushed home. Abby’s pregnancy progressed well thankfully. And all the while, we watched Bonnie become weaker. But we stayed beside her, kept watch, talked and just remained present with her. There were more times of crying and rejoicing.

In late summer we found out we were having a baby girl. It was great news. We were excited.   Bonnie was excited. It was as if it gave her something to live for. Again, we rejoiced in the midst of struggle.

By fall, we could feel the baby kicking. We also could feel Bonnie slipping away from us. She was dying and her death would be coming soon – sooner than we wanted. We doubted she would make it to see or hold her first grand-daughter.

As the days went on, her bedroom looked more and more like a hospital room. But this was necessary as more and more of Bonnie was slipping away – physically and consciously. She was losing the ability to feed herself. She was seeing things and talking with beings in the room that no one else could see. We cried.

It was a low point in our time there.

Ironically, one afternoon during this time, Bonnie felt well enough to ask Abby if she could feel her grand daughter’s kicking. The baby decided to cooperate. The image of Bonnie laying in bed with her hand on Abby’s stomach is seared into my memory. Seeing the joy on her face as she felt our child’s kicks wiped all sorrow and pain and fear away – for everyone. In that moment, Bonnie felt alive. It was a profound moment – life affirming. We rejoiced together.

Soon after this, Bonnie passed away, a little over 11 years ago now, and just about seven months from when she informed us that she had cancer. We were there when she died. And we cried.

We all know what it’s like to go through losing someone close to us. We’ve done enough crying over the pain of loss. We’ve experienced the rejoicing over any victory that our loved one gained while we were with them.

Even in the midst of pain and tears, there are blessings and rejoicings. We can thank God for these moments. For me, it’s the image of seeing a grandmother touching her granddaughter still in the womb, knowing that Bonnie had the opportunity to connect with her grandchild, regardless of whether she could see her or not.

In that moment, what I saw was one generation rejoicing in the coming birth of a new generation and a new life. It was as if Bonnie was passing on a piece of herself to her granddaughter with a simple and tender touch. Not only did she pass on a piece of herself to our child, but to both Abby and I in that moment as well. She touched our hearts. We are so blessed and thank God to have that memory.

Each of us have these memories, of something, or some way in which our loved one passed on a piece of themselves to us. We cry and we rejoice when we think about these times.

When I read the Cherokee Expression, I couldn’t help but think of that moment of connection between Bonnie and our child. Here was a new life that created rejoicing for our little world of Bonnie, Abby and myself. And at the very same time, here was a person in Bonnie who our little world would mourn over soon enough.

When our daughter was born, she cried and we rejoiced. When Bonnie died, we cried and she rejoiced for the life she lived, the lives she touched and all the blessings she was given by God.

We come here together today to remember and honor our loved ones. We remember the tears that we have shed. But we also rejoice in how our loved ones have touched us and have passed on a piece of themselves to us. And while we would gladly exchange all of these memories for more time with our loved ones, we can rejoice that our loved ones will live on in our hearts and in our memories and in the stories that we are able to share with others about them. Amen.