Jim's 2007 Messages
November 2007
Invite Outsiders Into Our Story
One of our joys in returning from sabbatical has been reconnecting with the St. Andrew community. Being a visitor at various congregations was a strange feeling. The signs of Christian community witnessed by the greetings or lack thereof made me long for St. Andrew. But I learned some things about community in the process. Community is a group of diverse people. Like-minded people are nothing more than a club. A community thrives on the need for outsiders coming into the system. Clubs, on the other hand, only want duplicates of those persons who already belong. Frankly, some of the churches we attended were more like clubs than communities.
I think St. Andrew is a community of diverse persons who gather together as one in worship, ministry and mission. But do we know what holds us together? For some congregations it is their past, a unifying event that has become a part of their congregational story. For others, their purpose becomes part of their story. For me, part of St. Andrew’s story is how Jesus called the apostle Andrew and how Andrew kept bringing people to Jesus.
One of the realizations in our summer travels was how diverse the first Christian communities were. Paul brought together Jews and Gentiles, with the majority being Gentile. Paul brought together men and women, with women having a significant role. Paul brought together slave and freed, with freed slaves being a specific target audience. Freed Roman slaves were not beholden to any group. They had no allegiance to the domination system and were like “free radicals” in chemistry, able to go where opportunities were available. Paul took note and invited freed slaves who were looking for a place to belong and a place to bond with others.
Paul seized the opportunity to reach out to them with the Christian message. I can imagine Paul telling them about the exodus from Egypt and how God freed the slaves to bring them into the Promised Land. I am sure he taught them about the captives held in Babylon and how God freed them to return to their home in Jerusalem. And undoubtedly he talked about how God again in Jesus frees us from the world, death and even sin itself.
Is not part of our story at St. Andrew about how Jesus has called us from our own slavery into freedom by God’s grace? Is not part of the St. Andrew story inviting new people into this same story?
While visiting other congregations we missed knowing some of those stories of how Jesus called people from slavery into freedom and others knowing some of our story. My hope is that St. Andrew not only embodies this message of freedom but takes seriously inviting outsiders into this same story and community.
Peace,
Pastor Jim
October 2007
My goal: to speak from the heart
It is with deep gratitude that I return to St. Andrew after my first sabbatical experience. Sept. 1 marked the beginning of my tenth year of pastoral ministry here, but I return different. Traveling in Turkey, Greece and Rome has given me an education in the ancient Roman world along with new eyes in looking at the works of Paul. I had always thought of Paul as a theological radical. Now I see him also as a political rebel out to challenge the very social fabric of the day, because of his experience in Jesus Christ. Paul has a specific mission plan for a specific target group of people in every capital city in Asia Minor, and it was not the Jews. Instead, it was the worshippers of God who often attended the synagogues but who were Gentile. My new respect for Paul is not only his Jewish background, but the Roman context that shapes his message and writings. I am thankful for this experience, but there is so much more.
After the foreign travel, I was able to spend two months at the Queen of Angels Monastery in Mount Angel, Oregon, with the Benedictine sisters at the Shalom Prayer Center. On Mondays through Thursdays at Mount Angel, I wrote My Spiritual Memoirs and Public Testimony, equivalent to about 75 sermons. It is autobiographical and my best attempt at stringing together formational events in my spiritual life. During my normal work week, I work hard at building relationships with people in the parish, my own family and community. Going to Mount Angel was a time to build the relationship with God and myself. This was by far the best part of my sabbatical. I have traveled before, and traveling is great, but spending that much time with just me is something I had never done before.
I love my parish family/ministry and my biological family/ministry. I love them so much I do not want to lose either. But what I discovered is that if I love, really love them, I have to risk losing both. This is not unlike the dilemma God faces in Jesus Christ. God risks losing what God does best when God becomes one of us in the incarnation. The risk is that the very people whom God wants to love will reject Jesus -- the completion of all that God is. Yet anything less than risking rejection is no free gift. It is nothing short of manipulation. God does not manipulate a response from us, and I don’t want to do that from either my parish or my biological family. This means that as God risks possible rejection, so must I, from the very people I most want to love and be loved by.
This means I intend to be more forthright. It’s a quality some people will embrace and others may not like or appreciate. If so, I’ll have to deal with the consequences. I must speak what’s in my heart, and if people don’t like what they hear, I’ll have to be able to accept the risk this entails.
I am looking forward to sharing my new Biblical insights as well as my personal insights as we journey together down the path of discipleship.
I have tried to be faithful with the wonderful gift given me. I know no words to express my profound thanks except, “Thank you, Jesus!”
Peace,
Pastor Jim
*Copies of Pr. Jim’s Spiritual Memoirs and Public Testimony are available in the church office for a suggested donation of $6 or can be checked out from the library.
March 2007
An Intentional Spiritual Life is a Journey
What comes to mind when you hear the word “journey?” Do you know your beginning, your destination or the path you will take? A journey implies that there are new discoveries along the way. But what happens if you don't know exactly where you are going or where you will end up? Here the journey is both discovery of direction and ending. This is how I would describe my Christian journey, a discovery process along the way and a discovery of new destinations. This journey is not a set of beliefs or set of belief statements about Jesus. I see many of our Christian brothers and sisters reducing the journey of faith down to truth statements or belief statements. I would call this dogma or a set of belief statements about the Bible, Jesus, or even a set of practices. We all want a list of beliefs or a self-help book to give us security along the way. But that's not how it works.
Practices in the journey are important in finding that place where God speaks to you. Practices help put you on the right path in the journey. But practices are only a means to an end. Beliefs are important in describing what is below the water line in an iceberg. But beliefs can get in the way of God's leading to new truths.
A faith journey for me is one where God will take you to places where you would not venture on your own. God also takes you to deep places where you have never been.
An intentional spiritual life is a journey and the journey is an intentional spiritual life. It's a journey of keeping God first. It is the journey of discipleship. It is the journey of Jesus' way. It is a matter of being open to the possibilities God has for you. It's an unknown place, but it is where God dwells.
The prayers, worship, devotional book and small groups are all designed to be a journey during Lent. They are designed to be a conscious decision on your part to put God first in the journey. God only knows where God will lead you along the way/path/journey. God only knows that place where God will take you where you would not venture alone.
May the journey of an intentional spiritual life lead you to as-yet undiscovered places that fill your soul.
Journeying through Lent, Luke and life!
Pastor Jim
February 2007
I am overwhelmed with the power of God and the people at St. Andrew.
It would have been enough that we helped 37 families with food baskets for Christmas, including presents for 80-some children. It made Lynn Longrie, the coordinator from Orchards, cry. But then we turned around and gave 875 pounds of leftover food donations to FISH.
It would have been enough to celebrate the nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ, but our attendance grew by 30 persons.
It would have been enough for us to staff WHO the week of Christmas. But then there were scores of volunteers from St. Andrew who also helped during both the week before our week and the week after it provided an open door, open hearts and a warm, dry place at St. Andrew for homeless women, families and children.
It would have been enough for the financial giving in December to keep St. Andrew in the black, but the generous outpouring of gifts was nothing short of a miracle. It was a demonstration of God’s power and the generosity of friends and members.
It would have been enough to host the memorial service of much-loved Lynn Longrie, but it was also an opportunity to give witness to 425 people in attendance of our faith in Jesus. The reason Lynn thought so much of St. Andrew was because we take seriously living out our faith as a servant church, especially in the Orchards community.
It would have been enough for us to begin 2007, but the Epiphany Celebration and Follow the Star Sunday brought more new guests to our congregation and were blessings for all.
It would have been enough for our congregational council meeting in January to be effective, but it was also a spiritual experience. People shared God moments, prayer concerns, and together celebrated
the Lord’s Supper, distributed by the two people for whom it was their last council meeting.
I for one want to be more vocal than ever before about how God is alive in the people of St. Andrew, the community of St.
Andrew and my own life. I would invite
you, when and where you see God at work, to proclaim it openly for all to hear.
God is gracious beyond words!
Pastor Jim