Missed Opportunities

School starts for the elementary school across the street at 8:30 am. It is a morning ritual to look out at the window to see the children waiting in a single file line, and walking at exactly at 8:30 am. So the other morning, I watched with interest as two janitors walked out the door to take out the garbage and back into the door. Shortly after they were inside, a car pulled up at 8:47 am. A small child jumped out of the back seat, (he couldnt have been more than first grade). He strategically ran to the door and began to knock. He didnt even check to see if the door was open. He didnt even wait to see if somone had heard his knock. It was as if he knew that was not going to work, but he was instructed to at least try. Just as Quickly as he had jumped out of the car, he got back into the car. The care circled around the corner and took him to the office, where he should have been escorted in the first place. But within a half a minute after the boy was back in the car, the two janitors opened the door to the school and walked in. If the little boy had just had a little faith that someone heard his knock, he would have gotten in the building the first time. Many of us approach opportunity in the same way. We knock, not expecting to be heard, and walk away way too soon. As soon as we are gone the door opens. If we only had a little faith. Jesus says to knock and the door shal be opened.

Chicago Marathon 2009 - edited (500 words)

I don’t remember what the inspiration was for me to set a goal to run in the Chicago Marathon . I have never participated in any sport. 6 years later running is a big part of my life.
Last Sunday I volunteered at the Marathon. As a pastor, showing up for duty at 4:30 am, when I have church at 10 is pretty ambitious. But volunteering on race day is the only way to get a free jacket. My duty was to be a part of a human chain in front of the top 100 runners until the buzzer starts – and then to get out of the way. If the runners are not coordinated and controlled, there will be a major trampling. After the start we all starred in amazement for 30 minutes as the mass of adrenalin snaked forward . As the race progresses for 26.2 miles- many of these people will start to drop out, some injured, some discouraged, some disqualified. But at this moment, they were all winners.
The marathon experience starts two days earlier, as the runners arrive. Some are from Chicago, some from across the country, some from around the world. All of them in ordinary clothes, living ordinary lives, preparing themselves for an extraordinary race. It is not physically possible for the human body to run 26.2 miles. After 20 miles, your body depletes every possible energy reserve. Your mind power enables you to complete the last 6 miles. Yet something in each of their spirits has told them they are up for the challenge – so they show up: pick up their registration material, attend the expo, eat pasta, meet other runners, and show up at the starting line in unpredicatable Chicago weather. Being a part of that experience at any point is enough inspiration to believe that you can achieve anything that you set your mind to.
if I had run, I would have honestly been at the very back of the line, cold, praying for just enough strength to finish at some point in the day. As a volunteer, I was at the very front of the starting line. I got the chance to channel the energy of the best athletes in the country, so they could lead 34,000 runners safely across the start line.
I made it to church on time. In many ways, the benediction is the start line of the race of our Christian journey. The light of Jesus Christ goes before us, and we are told to go forth our into the world. Imagine what would happen if , we ran out of the church with the energy of a marathon runner? How would we transform the world?
1 Corinthians 9:23-25 says “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.” For Christians, every day is intended to be a marathon.

Chicago Marathon 2009 - unedited

Now that I think about it, I don’t remember what the inspiration was for me to set a goal to run in the Chicago Marathon in 2003. I was not a runner. I never competed in any type of sports activities in school. I had only just recently even started working out. Maybe I thought that it was a fun way to lose weight. But that was the inspiration for me to start running and working out in hopes to prepare myself to run. I have been running regularly ever since, even became a part of my local runner’s club.
I have not lost much weight in 6 years, but running is still a big part of my life. Last Sunday I volunteered to help with the marathon. As a pastor, showing up for duty at 4:30 am, when I have church at 10 is pretty ambitious. But volunteering on race day is the only way to get a free Chicago Marathon jacket. My duty was to be a part of a human chain, standing in front of the top 100 runners in the race until the starting buzzer starts – and then to get out of the way. That was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. It was my job to stand at the starting line, at the very front of the mass of 34,000 runners. If the runners are not coordinated and controlled, the start of the race will be a major trampling experience. If we don’t stand our ground then we will get trampled by the runners, as they scramble to get ahead. And yet we were given the job of channeling the energy of this huge human desire to race and to win. After the buzzer, all 20 of the human chain stepped aside and starred in amazement for 30 minutes as the mass of adrenalin snaked forward past the start line. As the race progresses for 26.2 miles- many of these people will start to drop out of the race, some injured, some discouraged, some disqualified. But at this moment, there destiny didn’t matter. At this moment they were all winners eager to begin the race.
When it was over, I told a friend that volunteering at the marathon was a holy experience which I will have to participate in for a very long time. A fellow runner, she quipped that it is much more important to train and participate in the race, then it is to volunteer. I explained that she doesn’t understand. The Chicago marathon starts on Friday morning as the runners start to arrive in town, some from Chicago, some from across the country, some from around the world. All in ordinary clothes, living ordinary lives, preparing themselves for an extraordinary race. It is not physically possible for the human body to run 26.2 miles. After 20 miles, your body depletes every possible energy reserve that it has. You have to use the determination of your mind to complete the last 6 miles. And yet something in their spirit has told them they are up for the challenge – so they show up: pick up their registration material, attend the expo, eat pasta, meet other runners, and show up at the starting line in unpredicatable Chicago weather; prepared for the challenge. To step into that experience at any point is enough inspiration to believe that you can achieve anything that you set your mind to.
And yet, if I had registered to run, I would have honestly been at the very back of the line, cold, scared, praying for just enough strength to finish at some point in the day. As a volunteer, I was at the very front of the starting line. A place that I would never get on my own. I was in front of the top 100 race qualifiers. Most were either males on a college track team, or very petite internationals – I don’t belong to either group. I got the chance to channel the energy of some of the best athletes in the country, so they would be able to lead 34,000 runners safely across the start line.
I made it to church on time at 10:00 am. During the benediction, I told the congregation about the experience. In many ways, the benediction is the start line of the race of our Christian journey. The light of Jesus Christ goes before us, and after the benediction we are told to go forth our into the world. Imagine what would happen if when we are given the go ahead, we too ran out of the church with the energy of a marathon runner? Determined to run the race of life and win. How would we transform the world in God’s name?
In 1 Corinthians 9:23-25 Paul says Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. In Paul’s advice to us, he uses the metaphor of running a race in spreading the Christian faith. For Christians, every day is intended to be a marathon.
Peace,

Funeral at Home

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/21/us/21funeral.html

article from New York Times on home burials

Nonviolent Communication

Today, my friend Valencia and I went to the Road to Freedom exhibit at the Field Museum with the Chicago Urban League. Of course it was a moving experience. At powerful way to relive the civil rights movement. The video presentation showed stories of people in the pictures. The protestors often went through training to understand what it meant to respond in a nonviolent way. When people were mean to them, they had to be trained not to respond in a mean way. One woman said that there were a group of people who were spitting at her and calling her names. She asked them if they had a handerkerchief. Her clear request seemed to dispel their anger she said. Why would she ask for a handerkerchief, and why would she expect them to give it to her. But they stopped spitting and left her alone.

Andrew Young commented that the point of nonviolent protest was not to win. There were no winners at all in the process. You don't want to win, you want to transform the relationship. The point is not to win, but the transform the relationship. Nonviolent communication is not a reponse to a situation, but a lifestyle. What a powerful to live.

Our world, our understanding of life is so geared toward winning. What if every gave up the need to win, and instead felt the need to understand one another and live together in peace? My commitment is to give up the need to win, and to live a nonviolent lifestyle. More importantly, teach others to also adopt the pholosophy toward life. Winning also connotes opression, separation, allowing others to lose.

A Sign of Hope

When I moved into my new parsonage three years ago, my district superintendent delivered a plant as a house warming gift. The pot was a combination of three different plants. I never do well with mixtures of plants in the same pot. The plants don't all get the same care, and one or more of them always die off. This particular pot had it pretty rough, because for some reason I didnt take care of it very well at all. In a few months, I just gave up altogether on the plants, and just kept them in the window because I didnt want to throw them away, because they were a gift and I liked the pot they were in. The whole plant, except one lonely stem had wasted away. That one stem, looked like it was about the sprout, but for a two years it just never did. I continued to water it, with the intention to throw it away as soon as it went brown. It never went brown, but it never sprouted either. Last month, not only did the sprout finally grow into a leaf, it is a wonderful plant now. With a number of leaves, and a number of new sprouts. And is is a variety of plant that I have never had any luck with growing.

That plant reminds me of my life - how we all bloom in God's time. And if God does not give up on us, and if there are still signs of life, then we will come to life and start to grow again, no matter how bad and dismal things may come. A sprout is always a sign of new life to come!

What is evil?

There is so much in our western mindset about the concept of good and evil as opposing forces. But what exactly is evil behavior? What is is that possesses people to do mean things? to be heartless, to be disrespectful? to be careless? I think that it is fear. A colleague said that it is a sense of loss. A sense that we are losing at the expense of others. It is interesting that fear us such a prevalent emotion in our world right now. Everyone is afraid. And it causes us to strike out.
As a child, I remember praying for the devil. Praying that he would be understood, so that he would not need to be so mean. I wish life was that simple as an adult. That we can all just understand and get along. But it seems to be something in our value system, which always puts us in opposition to one another. Everyone is condemned to someone else's hell. but why?
The Bible says that perfect love casts out fear. Is that really true?

almost

One of my favorite modern day movies is Mel Gibson's Apocalypto. I think that the story on the Mayans and others tribes of Central America is very fascinating. And the main character demonstrates such strength as he fights will all of his life to return to save his pregnant wife and his young son. When his tribe is captured by the Mayans, one of his captors taunts his and renames him almost. Telling him that he will almost make to freedom, but not quite.

A young boy cries in a circle of new friends. Everyone else seems to be happy about giving their names. He is in shame as he tells them that his real name is not good enough. And this is how he feel about life. Not good enough to compete with others.

There are times in life when we are not good enough. When others will tell us that we are almost but not quite what we should be.

God says that we are not good enough, but that it really does not matter. Because grace is always all that we need in life, no matter what else we may lack, or who we may be.