Weblog
Saturday, 07 November 2009
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School of Fish?
"There are 2,000 verses of Scripture that tell us we must be committed to protecting the poor and the oppressed... There is no concern of Scripture that is addressed so often and so powerfully as reaching out to the poor" Tony Campolo
This doesn't mean that we are called to just simply hand people stuff.
(though that very well may be what many particular situations call for)
I love the phrase:
"Give a man a fish and he eats for a day, teach a man to fish and he eats forever."
But do we actually do much teaching?
What I hear more often is something along the lines of "They just need to..." or "Why don't they just..."
That's not teaching, that's judging and blaming.
Jesus said we will always have the poor with us. In my experience, they are not always the same group of people who are always in need, but rather particular people in a particular situation. For some of these, giving a fish may be all that is required. For those that find themselves repeatedly in need, the more involved response of teaching is required those of who will teach. Our calling is to help whoever is in need in whatever way we can. Our turn to be helped has either already happened or will happen. No one is an isolated success.
I don't think we will ever eliminate all of the many, many circumstances by which people find themselves in need of help. But if we see similar circumstances occurring again and again, it is also part of our calling to address that.
You don't have to give all your stuff away.
(though it would be very scriptural to do so)
What we at least need to consider is that helping someone IN need is also an opportunity to help someone OUT OF need.
Jesus, give us the courage to live it. Give us the courage.
Tuesday, 03 November 2009
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Weekly Grind - Grandma
I got a generation older this week when my 102-year-old grandmother passed away. For as far back as I can remember, Grandma Martinek was a focal point for our family. She and my grandfather started a family that had grown to five generations and over 100 members, not even counting spouses. As her elderly niece phrased it to my mother and her siblings, "We're the old people now."
Faith, family, and friends are three words that could easily be used to describe my grandmother's priorities, but would not tell the whole story.
Her faith was shown in many ways. She had pictures of Jesus in her home. Palms blessed on Palm Sunday stuck out from behind crosses on the wall. She drove herself to church for as long as she could. The gift of a family bible went to every new couple in our family on their wedding day. She supported those of us that moved into other denominations over the years, telling me, "It's all the same, it's all God's church."
What underlined her faith even more was the love she showed to family and friends. She vary rarely was without a smile on her face and she made everyone around her feel special. Holidays, weddings, birthdays, and even funerals were a chance to celebrate together. One of her gifts was baking. She didn't just have a few good recopies that she kept to herself. Grandma made wedding cakes, kolaches, and strudels for generations of us fortunate enough to be connected to her. Weddings, anniversaries, birthdays, and festivals were better because of her. She instructed and taught others who continue the love and care that she put into her efforts.
I think she loved babies more than anything else in the world. She was always so happy to see and hold new additions to the family. My brother and his wife brought their month-old son and 4-year-old to see her the day before she died. She had not eaten for several days and had been spending most of her time asleep, but they said she got so excited that they thought she was going to hop right out of bed. Our last pictures of her are with bright eyes and big smile as she held this newest member of the family.
One of the phrases that stuck out to me at her funeral was when the priest said, "Forgive Annie for her sins. You know she had the best intentions." I thought to myself, "If Grandma fell short, I don't have a chance. We are lucky to have a God of such grace." I hope to take that love that she showed me with her life. There are so many petty things that we let occupy our attention. Jesus told us that the two most important things are to Love God and to Love each other. Nothing past that really ends up mattering very much.
Thank you Grandma for showing such love and pointing us all toward our Lord. Thank you God for giving me so much love, and especially for putting so much of it in the farm girl and baker that was my grandma. You have both blessed me more than I deserve.
Be Blessed!
Michael
Tuesday, 20 October 2009
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Really Follow, For Real
"The matter is quite simple. The bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obliged to act accordingly." - Soren Kirkegaar
When Lanell gave the message this past Sunday, she told the very compelling story of seeing a need in her community, taking action, and changing not just the lives of those she served, but of changing herself. She explained that scripture very clearly defines what our priorities are supposed to be, but growing up in church didn't always make that clear. As she explained, the Old Testament, the teachings and practices of Jesus Christ, and the writings of Paul all point us to serving the needs of the poor, the sick, and the needy.
The history of our congregation is that of growing to serve the growing city of Woodway. The city of Woodway prospers as part of the greater Waco community. As our congregation grew out of our original space, we committed a great deal of resources to our new location and building. As wonderful as this is, we are called to serve people and we cannot let other matters get in the way of that. Our short distance from our neighbors in need does not excuse us from that call.
Our church budget for next year is almost $850,000. Of that, less than $80,000 is spent on actual ministry and most of that is focused on our own congregation. The rest we spend on our building and related debt, salaries and related compensation. By comparison, Church Under the Bridge donates over half of its budget to the needy. I have read of another church that got rid of their new building designs, pledging to spend at least as much on serving others as themselves. They decided to built an outdoor amphitheater instead and are now better able to minister to their community. When the pastor was asked about possible discomfort for church-goers he replied, "Is what we are doing of so little value that we won't put up with a little inconvenience?
Along with our big budget for next year, we will be starting a new way of dealing with our financial matters. If you have been a part of Financial Peace University that we have been offering for the last couple of years, you will be familiar with the process. It is a system designed to get us, our families and our congregation, past the burden of dealing with money and into a place where we can follow God's call to ministry unencumbered.
This stuff, this Good News, that we claim to follow can be very freeing if we actually take it seriously. It is when we try to control and tame our God, when we undermine and shortcut the teachings and practices of Jesus Christ that we run into trouble. We are called. Give us the courage to follow. Give us the courage.
Be Blessed!
Michael
