Pastor Jackie

    Yesterday was Thanksgiving.  We had service and lunch at the church.  We served about 100 people a great Thanksgiving day lunch and sent food home with anybody that wanted it.  No requirements.  No guidelines.  Simply need, or desire to have food.
    As far as I know, no one asked who anyone slept with, no one turned down food bcause of who cooked it, or who served it.  People helping people.
    7 Turkeys about 90.00
    2 hams about 30.00
    Lots of sides and desserts  donated
    Acceptance and love by all people   PRICELESS

    Food pantry day today.  We served 120 families.  About 400 people in 3 hours. Most very thankful for the food, the company, the love, the outreach.  A few wondering why they didn’t get a specific cake, or a certain type of bread.  But overwhelmingly, grateful.
    I am reminded each time I help with the food pantry that I am blessed beyond measure, even those times when not all the bill get paid.  I am blessed with a roof over my head, plenty to eat, and a partner who loves me unconditionally.  I am so proud of this church and its’ outreach in our community.  Some times it doesn’t make any sense to me, that so many people who have so little, give so much.  Then I remember that when Jesus walked the face of the earth, He had nothing.  It wasn’t like he went around pulling all of his savings out of the bank and giving it to other people.  He gave of himself.  I have so much to learn about giving. Giving so much more of myself and so much less of the world.  I wonder why the world can not get this simple idea, perhaps because it is more demanding than giving from our checkbook.

    Claudia and I went to see The Diary of Anne Frank at St. James tonight.  An amazing story and a great presentation.  If you have the chance, go see it  One more performance Sunday evening.  I left there wondering about how we (as believers in a God that loves everyone) could possibly have allowed such a thing to have happened?  Where were we?  Then the realization hit me (with Claudias help)
    We are still doing the same type thing.  Oh, they are not Jewish people now, but we silently stand by while some nations are being exterminated.  How shall we reconcile this behavior?  It’s not really our business.  We aren’t the ones doing any of the exterminating, so we can’t really change it.
    I continue to pray that we (whatever group we falls into) might never be the ones that others are trying to exterminate, because the rest of the world might just say “It doesn’t really effect me.”

    This week has been filled with times for thanksgiving.  I try to understand when people tell me they don’t have anything to be thankful for.  I figure if I get up that day, it’s already been a pretty good day.  
    One of the things that I find so incredible is when I think about people like Corrie Ten Boom and Anne Frank and all those who survived the Holocaust and absolutely had no reason to want to live, yet they praised God in some fashion every single day.  I have a good friend who lives day in and day out with MS.  Some days, they can’t get around well, some days they can’t breath well, and some days they can’t even get out of bed.  Yet, nearly every day, this friend of mine has some encouraging word for me.  
    On those days when my back hurts, or my head hurts, or I just really want to curl up in a ball and hide from the world, I think about my friend who struggles each day to walk, and I rethink my gratefulness.  I believe that we all have more to be grateful for than we will ever be able to articulate.  Let us find new ways to thank God for all that we have.

    I was thinking today about our ability to work within systems.  Working within a system requires that at times we do things that we might not really want to do.  It really means that there will be times, and often lots of times when we must make choices for the good of the system or the organization that are contrary to what we want.  Major change, both oganizationally and personally will not happen unless we (the membership) are willing to make changes.
    I was thinking about the picture that Jesus often painted of change and turning into a new creation.  I wonder if that image is somehow tied to the necessity for us to radically change if we are to be this new creation.  It is not like just adding Sunday church to the schedule.  It is more like starting your schedule for the week around church and what God requires of you, then add in the extra.  Seems a little extreme?
    I think that is the picture that is drawn most often for us by the authors in the New Testament though.  I think that we are given the picture of someone totally turning around, and starting to look at the world through a new set of eyes.  What if we saw the world more like God, would the football games be so important?  If we saw as deeply and as totally as God does, would the way we spend our free time and our money be the same?  I have to say that for me, when my eyes began to see deeper in the world, my priorities changed.  Might all of us have the courage to change our priorities.

    Been thinking a lot about leading.  About what being a good leader means.  Some of the books I’ve been reading spend a lot of time defining and describing good leaders.  Detailing skills and expertise that point toward and defne good leaders.  One of the things that many of the authors talk about is who gets lead.  For example, it doesn’t really matter how good a leader is, or what the vision is of the leader, if the people don’t want to put forth the effort to move, the only thing that happens is the leader gets worn out.
    I wonder, how does one determine how much people want to move from where they are to somewhere else?  Is there a quiz?  A questionnaire?  Is there a scale that suggests the amount of effort needed to move from point a to point b?  Perhaps a table that would suggest if there were x number of people who wanted to move to place a, they would need to spend x number of hours every week in the effort.  
    I read once about a dogsled team and the need to pick a new lead dog.  One of the things that the owner had to consider was if the team would work equally as hard as the new lead dog.  Sometimes the owner of the team would spend weeks trying out lead dogs until he could find one that worked well with the team.  Just thinking….

    There is a protest tomorrow about the passage of proposition 8 in California.  It’s at 12:30 at city hall.  Today, several people asked me why I would want to protest something that happened in California.  I guess on the surface, it seems a little stupid.  The truth is, if we don’t stand up for wrongs against humanity, nobody else will.  As a faith community, we have a responsibility to defend the rights of all humanity, no  matter who God created them to be. 
    So, is there a reason that I would want to go to City Hall tomorrow?  You bet!  When people try to spread hate and call it God’s will, they distort the truth of God and cause many people to be discouraged and doubtful of God’s love.  That is what every Christian is called to stand up against.  If we allow the majority to take away rights from the minority, we are not a progressive Christian nation or even following the example of Christ, we are in fact following the example set for us by a Nazi German by the name of Hitler.  I pray that we don’t make the same mistakes again.
    

    Another teacher from a small town called about a student who is coming out and having a hard time.  I really don’t understand.  Most people that I talk to, tell me that the younger generations don’t have near the prejudice that the older generations do.  So then, I am forced to look at other reasons that might drive students to hate one another just because of who they are.
    Small town, central Kansas.  My mind immediately goes to Bible Belt Mentality.  People, families, churches, so conservative and so literally bound to the text of the Bible that they miss the point of the Bible.  For me, its one of those instances of not being able to see the forest for the trees.  Some folks want to hold onto one interpretation, one way of being so tightly that they do not allow any other thought.  
    I am so glad that I serve a God who talks to all people.  A God who loves all people, even when they make mistakes.  I am glad that my God allows questions and wonderings and what ifs.  I am glad that I serve a God who encourages me to widen the path to understanding that all people might hear the good news. 

    In the current issue of the Christian Century, there are several letters to the editor about The Shack.  It seems as though someone thought that it qualified as theological education for pastors and parishoners alike.  Here are my thoughts.  The Shack changed my mind about a lot of things.  It gave me a new way to think about God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit.  Bad?  No, just different.  I believe there is nothing wrong with that.  I do think if we take a novel which is by definition fiction, and try to reorder the world by it, we have moved into stupidity.  However, if we gain a new slant on an old idea, is that wrong.
    I believe God to be far bigger than any of us can imagine.  I believe God to have a sense of humor, and a sense of love for each and every one of us that is beyond our comprehension.  I also know that the bigger I make my concept of God, the bigger my understanding and love for all peoples becomes.  I know beyond any shadow of a doubt that The Shack is fiction.  It is not, nor was it intended to be academic, theological reading.  Does it have a message?  Is it possible that it might be something that would open a door for someone who hadn’t intended to consider any “Biblical” reading?  Yes, yes, and yes.  I think we would be amiss if we didn’t realize that many people question and wonder about lots of things that point them toward God. 

    I’ve been thinking about words today.  I have had the opportunity to speak with a couple of people who don’t get how much their words hurt other people.  They don’t like someone, so rather than lift up the good qualities of that person, they hold up the deficiencies of the person they don’t like.  Is that OK?  Well, technically, we all have areas that we are not so good in, and that is a fact.  It is generally not rumor, but that still does not make it ok to tell other people.
    You see, I believe that we all have choices to make each and every day about how we act, and how that will influence other people.  I get to choose what words I use, as well as what words I listen to.  Does it matter?  You bet it matters.  After a while, if people don’t have anyone that will listen to their trash talk about other people, they just might stop talking trash.  Wouldn’t it be great if there were no trash talk to worry about?  Let us all do our part to dispose of the trash talk. May it be so.