Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Hot Chocolate and Christmas Cookies



It was the very best Christmas ever.

It was late afternoon, the snow was still falling gently—it looked like a picture of a scene in an old-fashioned sentimental Christmas movie—and Laurie DeJager lay on her bed with a brand new cell phone in her hand.
Best. Christmas. Ever.

Oh, before we go further, I must tell you, I first heard this story from Laurie—about 13 years ago, and retold it for the first time the very next year around Christmastime. So this was back when most girls her age didn’t have a cell phone. And the one she had just received for Christmas looked just like this one—   [show phone]       

And as she admired it and entered the names of her friends and their phone numbers… An even bigger surprise than the phone itself… It RANG! It RANG! Excitedly Laurie pressed the green key and said softly, “Hello?” And then a bit louder, “Hello?”

“Hello, Laurie--”
“Hello, who IS this?”
“Hello, Laurie, this is Jesus.”
“What??!!”

Laurie looked at the phone. Speechless.
“Laurie, are you still there? This is Jesus—“

Laurie giggled, and said, “Yes, Jesus?” and she KNEW it must be her dad playing a trick on her. She dashed down the stairs to catch him in the act. But—what?!—there he was, in his easy chair, sound asleep, the only sound in the room his snoring and the movie on the TV where Ralphie was hinting about a Red Ryder BB gun.

Back in her room, trying to figure it all out, the phone rang again. Taking a deep breath, Laurie answered again.
“Laurie, this is Jesus, now don’t you hang up on me.”
“Jesus? Really? What would you be calling ME about?”
“Just one simple thing. I’d like to meet you for hot chocolate and Christmas cookies.”
“How do YOU know about hot choc—oh, yeah, right, I guess you know everything—“

Hot chocolate and Christmas cookies:  Laurie was more than a little bit sentimental about hot chocolate and Christmas cookies. Every year for as long as she could remember her grandmother would invite her over for hot chocolate and Christmas cookies—just the two of them—her grandmother made batches and batches of cookies—mostly stars and trees—usually the week after Thanksgiving.

Laurie was sentimental about a lot of things—her annual date with Grandma, to be sure, but even now that she’d turned 13—and, you need to know, Laurie really felt like this meant she was now a “grown up”—yet even now she was still pretty attached to her four special friends that sat around a small table in her bedroom—now that I think about it, it almost looked like the table in Bonnie’s room in Toy Story 3 (that’s the one where they escape from Sunnyside Day Care)—a table with four chairs, one for each of her most special friends:  two American Girl dolls, a Raggedy Ann, and a big brown teddy bear. But no, no porcupine name Mr. Pricklepants in this story.  Anyway, I tell you all this because Laurie was now 13 and sometimes torn between being all grown up and loving her dolls—she had this feeling like maybe “IMAGINATION” and being grown up were incompatible. She felt this way even though she didn’t really know the word “incompatible” but she just felt like maybe some things didn’t go together.   Like having a cell phone and playing with dolls.    

And some of these thoughts were running through her head when she fell asleep that night, thinking of the next day, the day AFTER Christmas, a Sunday, the day she would meet Jesus for hot chocolate and Christmas cookies at three o’clock….  Which took some sneakiness on her part because her family ALWAYS ate Sunday dinner at Grandma’s after church, and there were extra desserts and expectations of maybe helping with the 1000-piece annual Christmas puzzle. But Grandma’s house was only 9 or 10 blocks from home and she’d walked it a million times. And as 2:30 approached and she walked, bundled up, she congratulated herself on her creativity. She had escaped the puzzle and her crazy little brother and her great aunt who smelled like lavender soap and green tea.  And now she was nearly home when she bumped—she LITERALLY bumped—into Mrs. Jones, their almost-next door neighbor two houses down.

“Are you alright?” Laurie was worried and apologized and helped Mrs. Jones up… they had BOTH landed in the snow… and all the while Mrs. Jones just laughed and laughed at the sight and Laurie thought this might have been the first time she saw her laugh for a long time. Mr. Jones had died in May. And as they brushed each other off, without a thought, Laurie asked, “Would you like some hot chocolate and Christmas cookies? My treat?”

And so they sat around the kitchen table in Laurie’s otherwise empty house. And when Mrs. Jones finally went home it was past 3:30.

Ding-dong.

Laurie jumped to attention and cleared the last crumb off the table and dashed to the door. “Jesus rings the doorbell?” she wondered—

And opening the door it wasn’t Jesus at all but her old friend. OLD friend. Emphasis on OLD. Becky Johnson. Who had turned 13 six months earlier than Laurie—over a year ago—and who immediately, upon turning 13, turned into a—a—well, Laurie couldn’t even THINK that word on a Sunday.

It would take too long to tell you all the details. But something amazing happened. Becky apologized to Laurie and Laurie said, “I forgive you.” And Laurie said, “I’m sorry for calling you a nasty word,” and Becky said, I forgive you.”  And they hugged and shared yellow stars—biting off the points in little bites—and green Christmas trees—biting off the frosting star off each other’s—and sipped hot chocolate. And cried a little. And laughed again.

And by now would you be surprised if I told you the next visitor wasn’t Jesus either, but Laurie’s goofy little brother? And that they shared hot chocolate and Christmas cookies together?

And it was the best Sunday after Christmas ever except when Laurie remembered, as she lay in bed nearly two hours past her bedtime, and half-awake she began to cry.

The phone rang.
“Hello.”
“Jesus?” Laurie tried to hold back her tears. “Jesus, I thought we were going to have—But, but you never showed up. You never came.”


 “Oh, Laurie. I did come. I came three times.”
“What??! I don’t understand,” Laurie said.
“Do you remember the Christmas story? Not the one with Ralphie, but the one with shepherds and a baby born to Mary and Joseph, in a dark, smelly stable with animals all around?”

Laurie nodded.

“Laurie, not many people—no one, in fact—expected to find me lying in a manger. The shepherds didn’t expect it—the angels had to tell them. The magi didn’t expect a baby in a manger—they were following a bright star looking for a king—in a palace or mansion. No one expected to find me there. And today, you didn’t expect to find me in your brother, or in Becky, or in Mrs. Jones. But after you think about it—maybe tomorrow, maybe next year—you’ll realize you really did. And you know what else, Laurie?...

Your brother, and Mrs. Jones, and Becky… they each experienced God’s Love in you, Laurie. They all had hot chocolate and Christmas cookies with me… through you…

So don’t be sad, Laurie. There’s too much sadness in the world. There’s too much anger and hatred and holding grudges and hunger in the world too. Things aren’t all perfect yet, but someday they will be. Until then, Laurie, you and others who love me are called to be Living Signs of my Love. Today, Laurie, you brought gladness and healing to Mrs. Jones, who’s been grieving; you and Becky brought reconciliation into the world by forgiving each other; and you brought grace and joy into the world in the small act of spending an hour with your brother. So keep looking for me, OK? In the most unlikely places… OK?”

Laurie said “yes” softly as she fell asleep, cell phone in hand.

Best. Christmas. Ever.

Sunday, October 6, 2013

World Communion Sunday (Communion Prayer)

"Freedom within constraints" is a way to describe how many poets and artists function creatively. It describes too the liturgical tradition in Reformed and Presbyterian churches. It seems appropriate to me on World Communion Sunday to veer a bit (at least sometimes) from the prescribed prayers ("freedom") and yet stay within the "constraints" of the Eucharistic Prayer--a three-part, Trinitarian prayer of thanksgiving at the table which includes praise and thanksgiving to God the Father, a recounting of and thanksgiving for the sacrifice of our Savior Jesus Christ, and the invocation of Holy Spirit (Epiclesis).

This is how I explained it in the notes to the order of service:
In the spirit of unity and ecumenism for the occasion of World Communion Sunday, the Great Thanksgiving was written by Pastor Randy using various portions of liturgies from various traditions. Resources include: “The Belgic Confession” from Our Faith: Ecumenical Creeds, Reformed Confessions, and Other Resources (2013, CRC/RCA), Book of Common Prayer (1979, Episcopal), Lift Up Your Hearts: Songs, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs (2013, CRC/RCA), and Glory to God: the Presbyterian Hymnal (2013, PCUSA). 

And this is the prayer

Leader: The Lord be with you.
People: And also with you.
Leader: Lift up your hearts.
People: We lift them up to the Lord. 
Leader: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
People: It is right to give our thanks and praise.
Leader: It is right, and a good and joyful thing, always and everywhere to give thanks to you, O Lord our Creator, almighty and everlasting God, for you are the source of light and life, you made us in your image, and called us to new life in Jesus Christ our Lord. With your whole Church on earth and with all the company of heaven we worship and adore your glorious name:

“Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty”

Silence


Leader: Holy and gracious Father, in your infinite love you made us for yourself, and, when we had fallen into sin and become subject to evil and death, you, in your mercy, sent Jesus Christ, your only and eternal Son, to share our human nature, to live and die as one of us, to reconcile us to you, the God and Father of all.
People: He stretched out his arms upon the cross, and offered himself, in obedience to your will, a perfect sacrifice for the whole world.

Leader: We give you thanks that, on the night he was handed over to suffering and death, our Lord Jesus Christ took bread, and when he had given thanks to you, he broke it, and gave it to his disciples, and said, “Take, eat. This is my body, which is given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper, Jesus took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and said, “Drink this, all of you. This is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Whenever you drink it, do this for the remembrance of me.”

According to Christ’s commandment:

People: We remember his death, we proclaim his resurrection, we await his coming in glory.

Leader: Send your Holy Spirit upon us, we pray, that the bread which we break and the cup which we bless may be to us the communion of the body and blood of Christ.
People: Just as we really and truly take and hold the sacraments in our hands and eat and drink them in our mouths, by which our life is then sustained, so too, in faith, may we receive into our souls, for our spiritual lives, the true body and true blood of Christ, our only Savior. And by receiving, at this banquet table, Christ and all his benefits, may we be moved to a fervent love of God and our neighbors.

Leader: Through Christ, with Christ, in Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honor are yours, almighty God, now and forever.
People: Amen.

Lord’s Prayer (Ecumenical):
Our Father in heaven, 
hallowed be your name, 
your kingdom come, 
your will be done, on earth as in heaven. 
Give us today our daily bread. 
Forgive us our sin as we forgive those who sin against us. 
Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil. 
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and forever. Amen.

Breaking of the Bread

Agnus Dei

Leader: Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world,
People: have mercy on us.
Leader: Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world,
People: have mercy on us.
Leader: Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world,
People: grant us your peace. Amen.

"Behold the Lamb" #835 from Lift Up Your Hearts
 

World Communion Sunday (Music)

Congregational Singing on World Communion Sunday
  • Gathering:  "All Who Hunger, Gather Gladly" (Holy Manna) #534 from Lift Up Your Hearts 
  • Song of Praise: "Lord, I Lift Your Name on High" (by Rick Founds) from Sing! A New Creation 
  • Affirmation of Faith: "In Christ Alone" (by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend) from Lift Up Your Hearts 
  • Offertory: "O Day of Peace" (Grace) #487 from Lift Up Your Hearts 
  • Doxology (Old Hundredth)
  • Sanctus during the Communion Prayer: "Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty! (Nicaea) #11 from The Hymnbook 
  • Communion Hymn: "Behold the Lamb" #835 from Lift Up Your Hearts 
  • Closing Hymn: "The Church's One Foundation" #437 from The Hymnbook


Saturday, October 5, 2013

Proverbs 5

The Lord ’s eyes watch over every person’s path, observing all their ways. The wicked will be caught by their own evil acts, grabbed by the ropes of their own sin. Those without instruction will die, misled by their own stupidity (Proverbs 5:21-23 CEB).

"Avoid the Mysterious Woman" is the section heading at the top of Proverbs 5 in the Common English Bible. But for me, at least today, it's these last three verses of the chapter which connect...

"The Green Mile" is still fresh in my mind--and even more than just the film, the discussion following with perceptive and participative middle school students at around midnight last night. We talked about evil and what it looked like. And evil, unrepentent hearts. The guard, Percy, who happens to be the nephew of the governor's wife was part of our conversation, striking most of us as just as evil as the murderer "Wild Bill."  The phrase, "out of sheer petulance" came to mind this morning. Paul, the guard in-charge of death row, is sharing a glimpse into Percy's behavior with the wardon, "He mention he assaulted a prisoner this morning out of sheer petulance? Broke three fingers on Eduard Delacroix's left hand." Percy and Wild Bill are mirrors. In the end,, both are "grabbed by the ropes of their own sin." Percy shoots Wild Bill and, instead of becoming an administrator at the mental hospital has he has been planning, ends up being a patient/inmate there, in the very room where he and other guards had picked up Wild Bill for transfer to death row.     

Friday, October 4, 2013

First Things First (Proverbs 4)

Living by a pace of grace helps us to focus our energies on our true values. We become more aware that whatever we invest our energy in will grow in our lives.... Put your passion first. It is your most productive activity.... Start with what you love... Do what makes your heart sing...
We have choices. Everything works better when we are happy. Seeking joy in our work leads us to what we are meant to be doing. It helps us to find our true sphere of influence.
~Linda Kavelin Popov. A Pace of Grace: The Virtues of a Sustainable Life. pp. 283-4


The first thing is to acquire wisdom;
gain understanding though it cost you all you have.
Do not forsake her [Lady Wisdom], and she will keep you safe;
love her, and she will guard you;
cherish her, and she will lift you high;
if only you embrace her, she will bring you honour.
She will set a garland of grace on your head
and bestow on you a crown of glory.
~Proverbs 4:7-9 NEB


My first passion today is my confirmation class. Our 24-hour "lock-in" retreat at the church begins at 6:00pm tonight. Our theme is from the first line of a Brian Wren hymn, I come with joy, a child of God, forgiven, loved, and free. What a beautiful way to describe who we are. Children of God. Children of Joy. Forgiven. Loved. Free.

Kids love movies. I love movies. So a big part of our retreat (in addition to food, games, and worship) will be watching movies and talking about them--really, really talking about them. Here are only a few of the questions we'll be using...

The Green Mile:  FORGIVEN (Who needs forgiveness in The Green Mile? Who asks someone else for forgiveness? How does forgiveness happen? And where in the movie do we see Baptism, Healing, Grace, Miracles, Evil, Goodness, Faith, Resurrection?)

Toy Story 3:  LOVED (What does it mean? When do we hold on to those you love? When do we let go of those we love? Is there anything about loving your enemies in Toy Story 3?)

Finding Nemo:  FREE (to be free, to be on your own)
Shrek 2 or 3: FREE (to be yourself?)

Final note. This is a 24-hour event.
Thanks in advance to the parents, each taking their shift!
 I'm sure the kids will sleep some.
I'm sure I won't.
So thanks for your prayers.
And for the Red Bull.  



Thursday, October 3, 2013

Blessed are the meek (Proverbs 3)


Dear God, 

Well, this is embarrassing. I just spent some time explaining (with great rhetorical flourish and a variety of logical proofs) why my perspective on an issue was (totally) right. And, of course, why his perspective was flawed at best. And then, after sharing my wealth of wisdom, I turned to Proverbs 3. Perhaps I would find yet more justification for my position on the issue fresh in my mind. 

Put all your trust in the LORD
and do not rely on your own understanding.
Think of him in all your ways,
and he will smooth your path.
Do not think how wise you are,
but fear the LORD and turn from evil.
Do not pick a quarrel with a man for no reason,
if he has not done you a bad turn.
Though God himself meets the arrogant with arrogance,
yet he bestows his favour on the meek.

~Proverbs 3:5-7, 30, 34 (NEB)

So here I am again, God, to confess my Sin with a capital "S" which to me looks like self-centeredness, self-justification, self-reliance, self-satisfaction, self-TRUST. It looks like me, me, me, me, me... thinking all-too-often of how wise I am... when I know deep down... that I am my best and truest self when I put all my trust in you, and lean not on my own understanding.  

Sometimes I feel too old to be learning these lessons I thought I had learned long ago. Too old to be saying, "Lord, have mercy on me" for the same old same old. Too old to be failing again and again on my spiritual Iowa Basic Skills tests. 

Lord, I cannot bear the Proverbs without the Psalms. Thank you for putting them in such close proximity. 

Out of the depths have I called to thee, O LORD;
Lord, hear my cry.
Let thy ears be attentive
to my plea for mercy.
If thou, LORD, shouldest keep account of sins,
who, O Lord, could hold up his head?
But in thee is forgiveness,
and therefore thou art revered.
I wait for the LORD with all my soul,
I hope for the fulfillment of his word.
My soul waits for the Lord
more eagerly than watchmen for the morning.
Like men who watch for the morning,
O Israel, look for the LORD.
For in the LORD is love unfailing,
and great is his power to set men free.
He alone will set Israel free
from all their sins.

~Psalm 130 (NEB)    



  

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Proverbs 2

Lady Wisdom urges you and I to pay attention to her words of wisdom, to give our attention to wisdom. "Turn your ear toward wisdom, and stretch your mind toward understanding" (Proverbs 2:2, CEB).

The Heidelberg Catechism says that because we belong to the Lord, Christ, by his Holy Spirit, "makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him" (Q&A 1). So Proverbs isn't talking about earning our salvation or making brownie points, but rather teaching us that as God's dearly loved children we have the power--yes, let's use that word--we have the power, by God's grace, by the Holy Spirit, to seek after discernment, wisdom, understanding. This reminds me of the title of a great little volume of theology, Faith Seeking Understanding by Daniel L. Migliore.

The promise is this, "...If you seek her [wisdom] out like silver and dig for her like buried treasure, then you will understand the fear [reverence] of the Lord and attain to the knowledge of God; for the Lord bestows wisdom and teaches knowledge and understanding. Out of his store he endows the upright with ability as a shield for those who live blameless lives; for he guards the course of justice and keeps watch over the way of his loyal servants" (Proverbs 2:4-6, NEB).

God "guards the course of justice." Now that is quite a promise!  In 1964, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. preached the Baccalaureate sermon at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. In closing, he said, "The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice."

Seeking understanding means listening to each other. For an inspiring story about one place where this is happening, see:

Bending Towards Justice :: A story about a large and diverse group of churches doing interfaith ministry in Charleston, SC area.

Here's my personal takeaway from the first two days...

Wisdom, for me, begins on my knees, in reverent worship, in prayer, in self-offering to the Source of all wisdom. Lady Wisdom urges me onward and upward, saying, "Listen to my voice. Stretch your mind towards understanding." She urges me to diligently seek understanding so as to learn what is just and right and true and fair. In the end, God's justice road will find a way to win the day!       

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Words of Welcome

Openness and hospitality is emphasized in the Presbyterian Church and this holds true at the Lord's Table, at the tables in the fellowship hall, and--we pray--in our homes. We practice "open communion" which means the Lord's Table isn't "closed" to people outside our congregation or outside our denomination. We emphasize this each time we celebrate communion, but especially on World Communion Sunday.

Here's the words I'll be using to open worship on Sunday.


Leader:  This is the day that the Lord has made;
People:  Let us rejoice and be glad in it!

Welcome in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ!
Today is World Communion Sunday! What a joy—to give thanks for the bread and cup, to proclaim good news of Jesus Christ, and to rejoice in our oneness with Christ and with Christians around the world! 
When we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, we welcome all baptized Christians to come to the Table, regardless of church or denominational affiliation. We welcome baptized children who are being nurtured and taught in the significance of Christ’s invitation and their response by parents, Sunday school teachers, and other spiritual mentors.  
In all this we remember that access to the Table is not a right conferred upon the worthy, but a privilege given to the undeserving who come in faith, repentance, and love.  All persons who desire to come face-to-face with God’s unconditional love in Christ Jesus are welcome!
Whether we are old or young,
whether we are first-time or longtime worshipers,
whether we come full of doubts or confidence,
joy or sorrow, peace or worry,
a sense of healing or a hurting heart,
or some combination of all those things…
In this place we are all family,
because of what Jesus did for us on the cross.
Welcome to all of you today!

Come, let us worship God!

The Beginning of Wisdom (Proverbs 1)

Wisdom has to do with becoming skillful in honoring our parents and raising our children, handling our money and conducting our sexual lives, going to work and exercising leadership, using words well and treating friends kindly, eating and drinking healthily, cultivating emotions within ourselves and attitudes towards others that make for peace. Threaded through all these items is the insistence that the way we think of and respond to God is the most practical thing we do. In matters of everyday practicality, nothing, absolutely nothing, takes precedence over God.
-Eugene Peterson's Introduction to Proverbs in The Message
"Start with God" says Peterson's translation of Proverbs 1:7. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools scorn wisdom and discipline" (NEB).

To be honest, for quite a while I've been reading only very rarely from Proverbs, thinking--mistakenly--that, with only a few exceptions, Proverbs was "merely" a book of moralistic sayings and not really the guts of the gospel. Genesis, Deuteronomy, Isaiah, Jeremiah, some of the minor prophets, the Gospels & Acts & the rest of the New Testament, and above all the Psalms have comprised my primary canon. 

But old dogs can sometimes learn new tricks and the prophet Joel says even old men shall dream dreams. And, yes, per above, only fools scorn wisdom and discipline. So I will, with God's help, discipline myself in the reading of Proverbs, a chapter a day, during October with gratitude to my old friend Dale Davis, a wise and self-disciplined man if I've ever known one, for coming up with the idea. 

Edward J. Lubbers (1910-2005)
By the way, I'm reading Proverbs, the classic wisdom book, using a hardcover copy of The New English Bible which belonged to another very wise man, my grandfather, Edward John Lubbers. I remember Grandpa reading from it after meals at the table on the farm when I was a teen. The NEB was brand new back then (published in 1970) but my grandfather was never categorically opposed to anything just because it was "new," not even in the church. Not that he was a proponent for everything that was new--but we'll save some of those stories for another time. Anyway, to read, to hear, to absorb, to eat these words of wisdom from his Bible just feels right, particularly when I read:

Attend, my son, to your father's instruction
and do not reject the teaching of your mother;
for they are a garland of grace on your head
and a chain of honour round your neck.

Glad to be on the journey with you,
Randy

Come, Holy Spirit!
Open my ears to Lady Wisdom who "cries aloud in the open air" & "raises her voice in public places" & "calls out at the top of the busy street" & proclaims her messages and warnings at the main entrance to the city centre. Open my heart to sound advice and dire warnings--keep me from immediately thinking of all the other people it might apply to other than me. Open my weary soul to reassuring promises, and grant me the grace and courage to make them my own. Help me to listen, so that I may "live without a care, undisturbed by fear of misfortune." 
Amen.