Open Doors

For the past several weeks I have been eating and drinking with the community. At least two mornings a week I have my morning coffee at one of the local coffee shops while I work on my sermon for the week. On Mondays our program staff has its its meetings over lunch in local restaurants. Why? We are doing this to get out of the office more and to learn more about our community. It has been a good experience. The church of the future is not in a church office. The church of the future grows and develops as we meet and develop relationships with persons outside the church walls. I hope to see you soon at a restaurant or coffee house soon.

   It is a simple piece of yellow plastic tape advising one to be aware because something might happen. It is draped across the area that roofing materials might fall into as a new roof is being installed on the sanctuary.

 

But, it could be much more.

 

Caution/Ciudado could also be a piece of yellow tape across our lives. Caution, something might happen. Be aware! As I was reading the story of Bartimaeus, the blind beggar that sat beside the road (Mark 10:46-52), I realized that perhaps we should be aware of encountering God's action in unexpected places. IN the story, the blind beggar that all tried to avoid proclaimed Jesus as the Christ. No one would have expected such faith in the person they tried to avoid. How often is it that way with us. We seek to avoid persons and situations because we are not comfortable or familiar. Yet, often God is lurking in those places to touch our hearts and lives.

 
 

So, CAUTION/CIUDADO! Be aware! You may encounter God in a place or with a person you did not expect.

A few days ago the swimming community lost one its greatest coaches. Richard Quick died of brain cancer in Austin. His swimming titles make him one the greatest coaches of all time. Our paths crossed many years ago in Houston. I can still remember the inspiration that every swimmer felt when Richard Quick was present at a swim meet. Even though I was not on his team, I still remember a regional meet in high school. I was swimming against one of his swimmers in the consolation finals. I don't know the swimmer's name, but what I do remember is the trademark Richard Quick walking up and down the pool whistling and saying "go, go, go." I can still hear his  trademark whistle. He had the ability to coach swimmers to swim faster than ever before. The same was true for me. I was swimming the 200 IM. As I listened to Richard Quick along the side of the pool encouraging his swimmer, I began to believe as well. I began to believe that I could swim faster than I ever did before. And I did! It was one of my best times ever, by far. In fact, his encouragement and motivation, unintended for me, spurred me on to a new level competition that I had never achieved before.

 

Today I read entry after entry across the Internet about Richard's life. One of the things I discovered (I should have known) was that Richard Quick was a person of faith. His faith in Christ undergirded him through his life and particularly in these last several months. I am not surprised because Richard Quick had an uncanny gift from God to bring out the best in his swimmers. Isn't that what God calls all of us to do. Part of our responsibility as God's people is to help others discover the gifts that God has placed within them. Each of us are called to celebrate the gifts God has given each of us and utilize them to make the world a better place.

 

That is what Richard Quick did. He discovered deep inside of his swimmers the gifts that God had given them. He blessed those gifts and helped his swimmers release them. I give thanks to God that along the way I encountered the gifts that God gave Coach Quick.  Thanks be to God!

 

Please pray for his family during  this time of grief and sorrow. My prayers are with them today and will be with them in Austin on Friday, June 19, when his friends gather to celebrate his life.  For more information about the service plans go to http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/richardquick/ .

Early on Sunday morning Mary went to tomb and discovered that the body of Jesus was gone. Eventually she stood face to face with the risen Christ and her life instantly turned around from despair to hope.

 

Early on Sunday morning the lives of three families were forever changed in a house fire that killed two Houston firefighters. Two church members lost their home and almost every possession they owned. Two firefighters lost their lives. Despair is an option. But, I pray that in each situation God will change despair to hope just like he did with Mary. 

 

We grieve the losses that each of these families face. May God give us the strength and the wisdom to know how to be present with each family touched by this tragedy.

I read a section of the Lord's Prayer from The Message this past week.  It is the section that, in traditional versions of the prayer, begins with "Forgive us our tresspasses....."  Matthew 6:14-15 in The Message reads this way: "In prayer there is a connection between what God does and what you do. You can't get forgiveness from God, for instance, without also forgiving others. If you refuse to do your part, you cut yourself off from God's part." 

 

Who in your world needs your forgiveness? How will your forgiveness of that person restore your relationship with them and with God? These are important questions for all of us as we begin each new day (I write this at 6 a.m. in  the morning). Perhaps our individual worlds will be less stressful when we put aside those hurts that have become impediments to our relationships with others and with God.

 

How does such forgiveness work? Most importantly, it requires a change in our hearts. We must lay aside the anger and animosity that we harbor toward the person that has hurt us. We must not let it consume our thoughts any more. We must release it from the stress we feel in our bodies. So, close your eyes, begin a time of prayer with God and let God take that burden from you. As you do, release the tension in your heart and allow God's peace to fill your being. Then, once again, you can access God's forgiveness on your own and become whole.  May God give you the strength you need to offer forgiveness today.

There are a lot of people wearing bracelets these days. You know...the plastic ones in different colors proclaiming a cause. It all started with Lance Armstrong's yellow bracelet proclaiming "Live Strong." But there are pink bracelets to encourage breast cancer awareness. There are green camoflauge bracelets to remind us to "support our troops." There are red bracelets for AIDS awareness and white bracelets from the ONE campaign to encourage us to fight global poverty and injustice. For several years there have been Christians wearing WWJD bracelets. "What Would Jesus Do?"  It seems to me that the folks that wear these bracelets only have it half right. Following Christ is much more than a prescriptive lifestyle that is always asking the question in every situation, "What would Jesus do?" Following Christ involves being as well as  doing. Following Christ involves being like Christ and doing like Christ. Doing is much easier to understand. But being like Christ...that is both more difficult to understand and more difficult to achieve. Being like Christ, in my mind, means that we seek to approach the world in the same way that Christ did. It means that we become aware of the injustices of our world. It means that find ourselves welcoming persons of all lifestyles and circumstances. It means that we notice the persons in our midst that many in our world have labled as untouchables. It means that not only do we notice them, but we engage them and call them by name. Who are these folks in your life? What would it mean fo for you to engage them in conversation and call them by name. Can you do that?

 

So, how will you be more like Christ today? Yes, following Christ is more than asking "what would Jesus do?" That is the easy part.  It is the being like Christ that is much more difficult.