narciejeter

Campus Ministry, Dust, Glee, Kinky Boots, mentors, Rob Bell, Sermon, Timothy

Timothy

Posted on September 22, 2013September 22, 2013 by narciejeter

Sweet starts this chapter with these words, “We are all treading in someone else’s footsteps.” We all work within the framework of someone else’s legacy and to those that have gone before in the great cloud of witnesses.

2 Timothy 3:10-11 says, ^“Now you have observed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness,my persecutions, and my suffering the things that happened to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. What persecutions I endured! Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them.”

A Timothy is a protégé, an heir, and an apprentice. A Timothy knows your mind better than anyone else. They can anticipate your every move even before you make it. A Timothy is not an Andy and a Paul is not a Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada, where she will have to gopher all of Miranda’s every whims at all hours of the day or night. But, they would have spent an awfully lot of time together.

Who is Timothy? Of all the early Christian workers on behalf of the Gospel, Timothy was the closest to Paul. It’s often the case, that Paul pushes Timothy to the beginning of his letters to a particular church. For example, 2 Corinthians, Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians and 2 Thessalonians, all start this way. Paul looks on Timothy as a son in Philippians 2:22. He was from Lystra in Asia Minor. He was born of a Greek father and a Jewish Christian mother. Timothy was young when he first joined Paul and Silas, but his co-workers in Lystra and Iconium spoke so highly of him that Paul decided that he could handle this journey. Although Timothy’s mother was Jewish, he had not been circumcised. Paul was concerned that this would impede his authority among the Jews to whom he would be preaching, who knew his father was Greek, and so he circumcised him personally and ordained him as a preacher. His mother Eunice, and his grandmother, Lois, are noted as examples of piety and faith.

What kind of legacy will you leave your descendants? Alan Jamieson says it like this, “Like Abram, the question that we, too, must consider is whether we will have descendants: not children in our own line but descendants in faith and life. Will we love and care for others in such a way that they become descendants? People to whom and through whom the lessons of faith we have learned are passed on?” What’s our legacy going to be? Will our descendants be numerous as the stars or will they all be extinguished when the mere flicker of doubt sends them running for the hills?

Before Paul had a Timothy, he first had to BE a Timothy. Paul was a protégé of Gamaliel, the most important rabbi in Jerusalem during the time of Jesus. Gamaliel was the grandson of Hillel, one of the greatest interpreters of the Torah in Jewish history, as evidenced by the title bestowed on him of Rabboni, “our teacher” rather than Rabbi, “my teacher.” Even though Gamaliel recommended patience with those who claimed that Jesus was the Messiah, his star pupil Saul didn’t agree with him and stoned the “blasphemers.” Before becoming an evangelizing Paul, Gamaliel’s star pupil was a persecuting Saul. In Acts 22:3 Paul tells a crowd in Jerusalem, “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel according to the strict manner of law of our fathers, being zealous for God as all of you are this day.”

A mentor is someone who is a wise and trusted counselor and teacher or an influential senior sponsor or supporter. Synonyms for mentor are an advisor, master, guide, or preceptor. We all have mentors that shape us and mold us as we ask vocational questions or continue on our career paths. That make it easier for us to not walk this journey alone. It depends on the relationship how hands on the teaching is, how personal.

Osmosis was how protégés like Timothy learned from Paul. He traveled with him, watched what he did, and then was given “tests” or assignments to complete to see how well he was developing his potential. Wherever Timothy went, he carried the aura of Paul’s authority and name with him. For example, the Assistant Directors are leading the leadership meeting this afternoon, and I want y’all to treat them the same way y’all would treat me….only better. The Timothy relationship cannot develop without the patience of presence. A Timothy needs a balance of instruction and silence to process the teaching, and the trust you place in him or her to do the job. You don’t have to say a word, or call every other day, to let him or her know you still care. That’s the difference in a Timothy relationship, you care. You care about how well their soul is doing.

I will have dinner with three of my Timothy’s tomorrow night in Atlanta. I’m meeting with Angela, Jessica and Jon at the Vortex, a hamburger joint in Little Five Points. Angela spent two years with me. She was a rising Junior when I got to Winthrop Wesley, needless to say that first semester our relationship was rocky. She didn’t want anything to change and she liked Wesley small, which would never work for me. I’ll never forget taking Angela on her first camping trip or her first rafting trip. Stories abound, and I will tell you about her first camping trip Wednesday night. She saw me at my best, and at my worst. And she’s the only one that has ever experienced the joy of Enoch projectile vomiting on her when he was an infant. She’s now the campus minister at Georgia State Wesley, and I’m exceedingly proud of her. Jon and Jessica are in their second year of Candler, where I went to seminary. Jessica worked for me as my student assistant for 3 years and Jon lived for two years at Wesley in a small room that we had on the side. So they certainly saw “my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness.” The good, the bad, the ugly.

I could name students that are not ministers, lest you think I’m creating little spawns of me. Josh and Jaime that work at the CDC, Jan that’s a neuro nurse, Ashlee who some of you met in New York, that got her Master’s in Social Work from Columbia University. I am incredibly proud of all of them and I’m hoping that they’re creating a ripple effect of being God’s hands and feet in the world. A healthy tree is not a single tree, no matter how beautiful it may look. A healthy sycamore tree is a tree with heirs, a sycamore community with trees in various stages of growth and development. You must always look at trees successors before you judge its health and vitality.

Joshua in the Old Testament, did not pass the baton, he had no heirs. Then came the judges, spawning the most horrible times recorded in the Hebrew Bible for Israel. When the baton is passed, we tend to grab the wrong end of the stick, where our mentors are holding. We want to be clones not heirs. Joshua is not Moses’ clone. Timothy is not Paul’s clone. What we find is a “mash up.” Mash-ups remix the same song with a different beat, sometimes in a different key.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FPsAVg2DNU

Glee made mashups popular again. Do you see what I’m saying? They’re not the same song, but there are some similarities and you can tell it is the same vein.

The process of being a Timothy is a gradual revelation of the song your life is composing, that one-of-a-kind, unrepeatable, irreplaceable song that only you can sing. Remember Winnie the Pooh in the story about losing his song? He gets his friends to go on the hunt for his song and then he finds that his song is within him. “A friend is someone who, when you forget your song, comes and sings it for you.”

When James Mawdsley was imprisoned in Burma, he sang to give himself courage, “After [the prison guard] left, still unable to sleep, I began singing “How Great Thou Art.” My voice got louder and louder until I was belting it out. I could feel strength coming back to me; I was not going to bow yet. A gaggle of guards came running and told me to be quiet. They were excited and afraid. I sang to the end of the song, congratulating myself on my defiance, then crumpled back into bleakness.” Let Jesus sing through you. When God sings in and through us, liberation happens. The sound of a voice calling from the darkness can pierce through that very same darkness.

The primary organ a Timothy must possess is ears. Jesus says when Pilate confronted him, “Everyone who belongs to the Truth hears my voice.” Sweet says if anything indicates the success or failure of a Timothy, it’s the ability to listen. “Some things can only be heard by those with ears to hear. The more layers of interference—iPods, iPhones, cell phones, the tv, Netflix – the more our inner voice is blocked and the more help we need to hear.

Astonomer and atheist Carl Sagan said, “Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.” Sweet makes the supposition that more either becomes better or different. More as better means doing what you’re already doing, except doing it bigger, faster, with added value. In contrast more as different means doing something unique and outside the box. As Christians, we don’t live better than others. But we sure as heck better be living different. They will know we are Christians by our love. Timothys have to take some leaps into the unknown when they do the different route. How about you, when someone says, “You sure are different and you think different.” Do you take it is a compliment? Is it meant as a compliment, or is it almost always negative in its implications? What about when we say it to others?

Charlie in the Broadway Show Kinky Boots, is set to inherit his father’s shoe business, but he has other plans of moving to London with his girlfriend Nicola. When his father suddenly dies, he must take over the shoe business. His doubts are expressed in a song “Charlie’s Soliloquy” and I would like to play it for you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E81VXIDSxe4

Charlie:
Do I belong here?
Am I what’s wrong here?
Know what I’m doing?
Or am I a fraud?
Do I fit in?
Where do I begin?
Same old Charlie,
Frightened and flawed.
So, I pretend
and keep my head up like I
Know how this will end.

Maybe these pieces
Are falling together.
Making me feel like
I’m not alone.
Punching holes
Into this leather
This kind’a feels like
I’m back home.

I’m watching myself
And I know what to do.
Hey look at me now
It’s a shoe.

Charlie was feeling alone with the burden and the weight of his father’s legacy on top of him. But then he realized that he’s not in it alone, he’s got a community behind him. He’s got a cluster of sycamore trees rooting for him, quite literally.

I couldn’t help but call to mind the Rob Bell NOOMA video “Dust” so I’m going to end there. Because anybody can be a Timothy, if they want to be. Anybody can follow if you have a willingness in your heart. Just pay attention to be on the lookout for mentors.

Dust – 9:30-13:49

Let us pray.

Holy and Gracious God, may we be covered in your dust. May we earnestly seek you and to do your will in our lives. May you give us hearts to follow, but also hearts to mentor, to guide, to lead. Like Charlie may we find reassurance for our doubts. May you speak truth over our lives and may we hear your truth and not brush it to the side. In Jesus’ name I pray, and I pray as you taught your disciples to pray, saying…

Campus Ministry, God's Providence, Identity, Music, Scripture, Sermons

Overcomer

Posted on September 18, 2013September 18, 2013 by narciejeter

My mom sent me a song in an email. It’s meant to be encouraging. It’s meant to speak truth to my life. It’s meant to remind me that God’s with me.

But I deleted it.

This was a particularly low point in chemo (I had brain surgery in May of this past year and they completely got all the tumor, but because it had changed to a grade III which is cancerous and my type of a tumor – an oligodendroglioma – is in the cells, the doctors thought that I should have radiation for 30 days as well as chemo for 6 months. The surgery also affected my speech and right arm since it had invaded the motor cortex.)

But you know how God keeps popping up, two weeks ago, my friend Corrie posted the video. I hesitated opening the link because I didn’t want to acknowledge that it could be about me. You see the song was Mandisa’s “Overcomer.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z29olPjFbqg (Mandisa’s Overcomer Lyric video)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8VoUYtx0kw (Mandisa’s Overcomer Actual video)

I felt God working on my heart so I finally listened to the song. And I’m glad I did.

My communication skills are something I’ve taken for granted. I heavily rely on written and verbal communication. I didn’t realize how much it was my “go to” thing. Until I lost my ability to communicate. These gifts were a part of my identity. They made me who I am. I’ve struggled to find my new normal and I have often found it frustrating. But God has been faithful in the midst. Giving me the verses of scripture that I need for me to keep moving forward.

“Be strong and bold; have no fear or dread of them, because it is the Lord your God who goes with you; he will not fail you or forsake you.” – Deuteronomy 31:6

“Be still before the Lord, and wait patiently for him.” – Psalm 37:7

“The battle is not for you to fight; take your position, stand still, and see the victory on your behalf…Do not fear or be dismayed…the Lord will be with you.” – 2 Chronicles 20:17

“Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.” – James 4:8

“From now on I will tell you of new things, of hidden things unknown to you. They are created now, and not long ago.” – Isaiah 48:6-7

The Lord said to Moses, “I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” – Exodus 9:16

The Lord said, “See, I have refined you, but not like silver; I have tested you in the furnace of adversity.” – Isaiah 48:10

The Lord said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” – 2 Corinthians 12:9

Last week as I drove back from Evensong, I was sharing with a friend, that I felt like there were moments during Communion as I said the Communion liturgy where it naturally flowed. It was the first time post-surgery, I had ever felt that way. That’s when “Overcomer” came on the radio. I had never heard it on the radio before. I guess it’s not in the regular rotation on the JOY FM or 106.9 The Pulse. I just had to stop the car and acknowledge this as a God moment as tears began to fall.

On August 20th my mom sent me another email that had a new video with Laura Story, who she knows I really like and yet again, I haven’t opened the email until this afternoon. Call me a slacker. Call me an avoider. Call me a procrastinator.

Here’s the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VRUU8UBXCk – Laura Story’s “I Can Just Be Me”

We need a healer, comfort, peace… What makes you, YOU? You’re enough. You’re more than enough. Laura Story says about the song, “How freeing it is to just sit back and allow God to be the one that writes the story. Allow God to be the healer in the relationship.” God loves you for you. You were known in secret in your mother’s womb. God knows when we sit and when we rise. What makes you think that God doesn’t know what’s on our hearts – our worries, our fears, our hurts, our struggles? So why are we surprised when God shows up and provides what we need? God is faithful when we least expect it. Even when we don’t want to hear it. Even when we’re kicking and screaming. Even when we ignore Mom’s emails.

Brave, Campus Ministry, Freshman, home, Risk-taking

An Open Letter to New College Students

Posted on September 16, 2013September 16, 2013 by narciejeter

I know that some of you have already started the mass exodus as one by one you and your friends leave for college. Can you believe it’s here? I know whether you’ve already started school or not, it carries with it a wide-range of feelings and emotions. Excitement, apprehension, curiosity, freedom, change, joy, fear, nostalgia, adventure….what will this be like? My hope is that no matter where you find yourself on the sometimes crazy rollercoaster of university life, you will find a community, and hold tight to it.

My campus minister used to say, “The only way to live life is in community,” and he exemplified that by how he lived his life. I know you’ll think I’m biased but I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to root yourself in your new adopted home. Get involved on campus. Explore.

Enjoy every minute that you can of this new step. I’m sure you’ve heard the advice “get out of your comfort zone” so many times you want to scream, but I’ll simply say be brave. Don’t be afraid to take chances. Don’t be afraid to get your nose out of your cell phone and start a conversation. During those sometimes awkward or uncomfortable times when you’re not with the people that know your story, the people from back home – take a deep breath and know that it takes time. Take a risk. Try churches for a second time or a third time, not only to let your parents know that “you gave it a shot.” Real community takes time. It’s not going to be easy. When you share your lives with people it’s messy. Let your guard down. Don’t be afraid to show people all of who you are with the cracks and vulnerabilities.

Find a ministry that’s going to challenge you, nurture you, and love you.

Know that you have people out there that care about you and know you and love you. Both those that you treasure at home and those that you will meet in the coming days. Know that you have people to support you throughout this and don’t be afraid to reach out.

Blessings on your journey – may this be a time in your life when you are able to question and search and wrestle, but may it also be a time when you begin to discover the things that make you come alive! In the midst of academic rigor and residence hall life – may you feel the love and presence of God.

Sara Bareilles – Brave – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUQsqBqxoR4

Campus Ministry, Exodus, Eye of the Tiger, Jethro, Len Sweet, Music, Roar, Sermons, Social Justice, Spiritual Mentors

Jethro – The Butt Kicker

Posted on September 15, 2013September 15, 2013 by narciejeter

Exodus 3:1, 4:18-20

My campus minister retired while I was in college after serving 27 years in campus ministry. Risher Brabham was a true character. All of the Wesley Foundations in South Carolina would do a joint mission trip the week after graduation in Hollywood, SC down in the Sea Islands of South Carolina to work on different houses of the mission site Rural Mission on Johns Island. We would sleep on the floor of a church and take outdoor showers that teams had previously constructed, where if you were a tall person, like me, you’d be able to look the other tall people in the eyes. You either would try to make small talk or……it was more than awkward. The Sea Islands trips were some of the best memories I made in college. One of my favorite parts would be the way that Risher woke us up. He got his kicks from waking us up morning after morning at 6 am, where in a mischievous voice he would say grinning, “The sun is rising, the coffee’s hot, the pancakes are on the griddle, it’s a beautiful day to be alive.” When we grow up, we don’t have our parents to kick us out of bed, but we still need someone to kick us around when we’re intellectually or morally or spiritually lazy. Basically we need a Jethro – a butt kicker! Risher took his job of butt kicker of the work camp very seriously!

Who is Jethro, anyway? The short answer is the father-in-law of Moses. Reuel is probably his proper name and Jethro his official title. Jethro is a priest of Midian and is recorded as living in Midian, a territory stretching along the eastern edge of the Gulf of Aqaba in what is today, northwestern Saudi Arabia. Some believe Midian is within the Sinai Peninsula. Biblical maps from antiquity show Midian in both locations. The Midianites were a nomadic Semitic tribe – they were descendants of Abraham through his second wife Keturah. In the previous scene prior to our passage, Moses is seen fleeing from Pharaoh after killing an Egyptian. He ran into the wilderness and met Jethro’s seven daughters, who needed Moses’ help at the watering hole because shepherds were driving them out. Moses came to their defense and upon their returning, their father asked them why they had come back so soon. They answered, an Egyptian had helped them and Jethro invited Moses to dinner. Jethro gave Moses his daughter in marriage. Then Moses tended Jethro’s sheep for 40 years.

40 years is a long time, and ironically for Moses he would spend another 40 years in the wilderness. But that’s a different sermon. It is believed that Jethro, while not an Israelite, did believe in a monotheistic religion that professed the existence of many gods, yet taught that only one was all-powerful, and only he should be worshipped. It is thought that Jethro taught Moses about the one God. Moses had been raised to believe in the Egyptian deities. An illegal Egyptian underground religion – Atonism – also taught one God. This belief was held surreptitiously by many of the Egyptian nobility, and it was very likely that Moses was exposed to this in the palace so Jethro’s ideas were familiar to him. Because of Jethro’s teaching, Moses was prepared to accept God’s charge to him when he appeared to him in the burning bush.

That’s where Exodus 3 verse 1 comes in. You have the scene where Moses sees the burning bush where God calls to Moses and says God has observed the sufferings of the people of Israel, and God wants Moses to deliver God’s people from the Egyptians by doing signs and wonders. And that’s when Moses needs a good kick in the pants because he says in Exodus 4:10-13, “¹⁰But Moses said to the Lord, “O my Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor even now that you have spoken to your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” ¹¹Then the Lord said to him, “Who gives speech to mortals? Who makes them mute or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? ¹²Now go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you are to speak.” ¹³But he said, “O my Lord, please send someone else.”

One morning, Moses woke up and his father-in-law was grinning, not smiling, much like Risher. Jethro kicked Moses’ butt out of the tent and into the mission God had given him.

Jethro officially returns in the story in the second passage I read, in verse 18, “¹⁸Moses went back to his father-in-law Jethro and said to him, “Please let me go back to my kindred in Egypt and see whether they are still living.” And Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.” The proper translation of the Hebrew phrase is a bit different, lech b’shalom, means “go to peace.” “Go to peace” was a push to make the best use of whatever life remains. “Go to peace” has the peacemaking sense of ‘shalom,’ the channeling of energies that brings wholeness and wellness to the world. It’s one of the most powerful acts you can do to another human being – bless them forward. Len Sweet writes, “When you’re spiritually neutered, or when you’ve become complacent, when you begin to shrink from your mission, you need a Jethro to keep you loyal to your dreams.”

You need a Jethro to kick you in the rear and get you off the couch with whatever Netflix episodes you’re obsessing over or off of the time vacuum of facebook or the latest youtube sensation and says, “What’s your favorite future?” and blesses you forward. You need a Jethro, a nagger who kicks open the doors and window of your house and finds your hidden potential, resources, and the person that you were created to be. You need a Jethro: a commanding voice that kicks it up a notch and asks, “How are you?” to which your soul responds by asking itself, “How should I be?”

Who is your Jethro? And who are you Jethroing?

I bet Johnny Manziel felt like he was being “Jethroed” at times during the game yesterday!

Jethros bless you to go to what God is calling you to do so that you can receive peace in your life – everyone needs someone that’s wild and crazy about them – and cares enough about them to wake and shake them up to dream big and live large. A Jethro is a blesser, not a flatterer, and Risher was not at all a flatterer. He would rather give you honest criticism than empty praise. He was not the most “religious” man even though he was a pastor, but he took seriously the calls of Jesus, and in the words of Micah 6:8, “To do justice, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God.” He inspired all of us to be and live better. He was the one that introduced me to social justice as a life, not just a concept. Risher was the first one to do Hunger and Homeless Awareness Week even when it wasn’t cool. Risher founded the oldest CROP Walk in South Carolina, which raises 75% for the world’s hunger needs and 25% to go to fight local hunger. And there’s one right here in Gainesville. He’s also the one that invited me on a trip to Nicaragua my freshman year – my first international mission trip, frankly the first mission trip that I had ever been on – and pushed me to apply for a summer mission internship for two summers at the Cooperative Ministry, which was a clothing bank, food assistance, car assistance, counseling center for the homeless in Columbia. The first summer I worked in the clothing warehouse part-time and led a summer camp part-time and the second summer I wrote grants and coordinated the largest school supply drive in Columbia. My commitment to social justice is in direct response to Risher’s pushing and his legacy.

A Cheyenne Native American song says, “Only the stones stay on earth forever.” We all end up in the same box – we all must die someday – we only have a short time to fulfill the mission that God has called us to. To leave our legacy. To do the things that we were created to do. “Jethro pushes you out the door with these questions haunting your every step: Will you look back on your life and see a succession of sorrows, missteps, and missed moments? Or will you look back on your life with a sense of satisfaction and joy?”

Risher died from multiple battles with cancer the August that I returned as the campus minister of Winthrop Wesley. Man, I wish I had had more time with him. His daughter at the funeral said that she was glad I was at Winthrop Wesley because she knew I would understand her father’s legacy and life’s work. Fr. David Valtierra, the Catholic priest assigned to do campus ministry, at his retirement party due to his losing battle with cancer, was a part of the Winthrop community and shared in ministry with Risher for over 30 years and also indeed was a butt kicker. I have to admit I was a little afraid of him as a student, and I was a little afraid of him as a campus minister, because you had the sense that he could see inside your soul. Fr. was formidable. It was the day of Winthrop’s Potato Drop ironically, and during his retirement speech, he looked me right in the eye, and called me Risher’s spiritual daughter. You don’t understand what high praise that was! And what a moment of blessing. He was blessing me forward.

Jethros function as reminders that no matter what the world says or thinks – that we are called to a purpose by God and God ‘breathes into us’ the second wind of hope and purpose and puts our mind back on our mission.

My Dad coached my two brothers’ little league baseball team, and he was a DEFINITE Jethro for the team. He wasn’t afraid to give them a good kick in the pants, he was honest and not a flatterer, and he cared about each one of them. Northcutt Motors, the blue team, Dad’s team played in the championship against Sara Lee, the red team. I don’t know why I remember the names and the colors. Dad wanted to get them psyched up for the game so he came up with an idea. He had memorized the rule book, as he is want to do, so he knew it wasn’t against the rules. He set up a boom box. Note for the youngsters in the audience, we have one of these in the prayer room. These are ancient relics that play tapes and the radio, I don’t even think CD’s existed back then. He played this song…..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgSMxY6asoE Eye of the Tiger

I have no recollection if they won the game. You’ll have to ask my brother on fall retreat that one. But I definitely know that it sure pumped the team up. Big time.

It was just the kick in the pants that they needed to play their best.

Remember, your Jethro blesses you forward – forward, not backwards. Your Jethro believes in YOU. Your Jethro believes you will complete your mission, in fact he or she has no doubt about that. Your Jethro is one of God’s angels sent to help us handle the “dark night” of the soul and the “dry well” of the spirit.

Katy Perry experienced her own dark night of the soul after her divorce from Russell Brand. He broke the news to her via text message, and she’s not heard from him since. She says she has been to therapy since her last album, which influenced her new music to be that much more self-empowering and that much more “her.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CevxZvSJLk8 – Katy Perry’s “Roar”

Jethro’s help us find our “roars.” Jethros don’t seek out those people that need a good butt kicking for butt kicking’s sake. A Jethro seeks to inspire and bless. Just as bruised apples make the best pies – bruised and broken people, like you and me and even Katy Perry, make the best blessers and blessings.

I don’t know what Katy’s therapist said, but a Jethro will push you out the door while telling you, “Trust God. The way will open.” Trust God. The way may be hard, but I’ll be there to both cheer you on and give you a reality check. Trust God. Because when you trust God, God will give you the words to say like he gave to Moses, God will give you the inspiration you need for the journey, like the Eye of the Tiger, and God will give you the shoulder to cry on and the ability to do the healing you need.

Amen.

Holy and Gracious God, we come to you seeking your will and seeking your guidance. May we let the Jethros break through to us, may we hear what the Jethros have to say, may we trust that they’re blessing us forward. Your grace doesn’t leave us where we are down in the mire and muck, your grace lifts us out of the pit of despair and realizing that your grace is meant for us inspires us to live life to the fullest, abundant life, and pushes us forward that we may grow in you more deeply. We thank you that you love us so much that you sent your son to die for us and you left your Holy Spirit to guide and lead us in all that we do. We pray now as you taught your disciples to pray, saying…

Campus Ministry, Exams, Hold Me, Music

Hold Me

Posted on September 11, 2013September 15, 2013 by narciejeter

Do you like these Florida days when the weather doesn’t know how to make up its mind? It can be dark and cloudy one minute and bright and sunny the next. Either way, we can’t do anything about the humidity. So whether you wet from rain or wet from sweat, makes no difference in the long run. We’re all a little damp.

We’re three weeks into the semester, so not quite a quarter of the way through, but papers, tests, and projects are still looming. You may feel like you’ve finally got a handle on this college thing. There’s fifth year seniors who admittedly still claim to have no idea. You’ve color-coded your calendar to draw some inspiration from that, but you still may be feeling overwhelmed with everything and it seems like there’s too much to do and not ever enough time.

There are also those times when it’s hard to get started on anything or inspired to actually study or write that paper because there are so many other things you would rather be doing. There are also those days and weeks when there’s so much other “stuff” going on whether friends or family back home or friends and roommates here. Or maybe it’s with your significant other or the one that you want to be with. Life can come at you trying to twist and turn and pull you in many different directions.

Maybe you’re searching for the right answer or a little inspiration. You don’t have to do everything all by yourself. You can ask for help. You can trust that God is right there with you in the all-nighters and in the nights where you didn’t procrastinate and went to bed at a decent hour. God’s right there with you no matter what. Let God speak to you and lift you up and give you that burst of energy or that rest that you need.

An oldie but a goodie – Jamie Grace’s “Hold Me” – Do you like these Florida days when the weather doesn’t know how to make up its mind? It can be dark and cloudy one minute and bright and sunny the next. Either way, we can’t do anything about the humidity. So whether you wet from rain or wet from sweat, makes no difference in the long run. We’re all a little damp.
We’re three weeks into the semester, so not quite a quarter of the way through, but papers, tests, and projects are still looming. You may feel like you’ve finally got a handle on this college thing. There’s fifth year seniors who admittedly still claim to have no idea. You’ve color-coded your calendar to draw some inspiration from that, but you still may be feeling overwhelmed with everything and it seems like there’s too much to do and not ever enough time.
There are also those times when it’s hard to get started on anything or inspired to actually study or write that paper because there are so many other things you would rather be doing. There are also those days and weeks when there’s so much other “stuff” going on whether friends or family back home or friends and roommates here. Or maybe it’s with your significant other or the one that you want to be with. Life can come at you trying to twist and turn and pull you in many different directions.
Maybe you’re searching for the right answer or a little inspiration. You don’t have to do everything all by yourself. You can ask for help. You can trust that God is right there with you in the all-nighters and in the nights where you didn’t procrastinate and went to bed at a decent hour. God’s right there with you no matter what. Let God speak to you and lift you up and give you that burst of energy or that rest that you need.

An oldie but a goodie – Jamie Grace’s “Hold Me” – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISgr8SgCYbYhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISgr8SgCYbY

calling, Campus Ministry, God's Voice, Movies, Nathan, Sermons

Nathan – The Editor

Posted on September 1, 2013September 15, 2013 by narciejeter

This semester at Gator Wesley, we are going to use as our backdrop, Leonard Sweet’s book, 11 – indispensable relationships you can’t be without – in which he talks about the 11 people [relationships] that we need to be who Christ creates us to be – we need
• an Editor
• a True Friend
• a Butt-Kicker
• an Heir
• an Encourager
• a Yoda
• a Back-Coverer
• a Reject
• a ‘Little One’
• a VIP
• a Place
• a Paraclete – “one who consoles, one who intercedes on our behalf, a comforter or an advocate”

This week we have Nathan, the editor.

1 Chronicles 17:1-15
New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
God’s Covenant with David
17 Now when David settled in his house, David said to the prophet Nathan, “I am living in a house of cedar, but the ark of the covenant of the LORD is under a tent.” 2 Nathan said to David, “Do all that you have in mind, for God is with you.”
3 But that same night the word of the LORD came to Nathan, saying: 4 Go and tell my servant David: Thus says the LORD: You shall not build me a house to live in. 5 For I have not lived in a house since the day I brought out Israel to this very day, but I have lived in a tent and a tabernacle. 6 Wherever I have moved about among all Israel, did I ever speak a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people, saying, Why have you not built me a house of cedar? 7 Now therefore thus you shall say to my servant David: Thus says the LORD of hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be ruler over my people Israel; 8 and I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies before you; and I will make for you a name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. 9 I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, so that they may live in their own place, and be disturbed no more; and evildoers shall wear them down no more, as they did formerly, 10 from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel; and I will subdue all your enemies.
Moreover I declare to you that the LORD will build you a house. 11 When your days are fulfilled to go to be with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom. 12 He shall build a house for me, and I will establish his throne forever. 13 I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me. I will not take my steadfast love from him, as I took it from him who was before you, 14 but I will confirm him in my house and in my kingdom forever, and his throne shall be established forever. 15 In accordance with all these words and all this vision, Nathan spoke to David.

Have you ever heard of a “yes” man or woman? It’s a thing. Merriam Webster defines it this way, “a person who agrees with everything that is said; especially: one who endorses or supports without criticism every opinion or proposal of an associate or superior.” You will meet “yes” men all the time in the workplace. Have you ever heard of a celebrity out of control because they’ve surrounded themselves with no one that ever tells them no? I can name all sorts of actors/singers/entertainers that died tragically because they were surrounded by people on the pay roll. They received no unbiased opinions, because the machine around them depended on their celebrity for their livelihood. We can give countless examples of these behaviors…..Hello, Britney shaving her head or Justin Bieber in his latest trouble or need I even say Lindsay Lohan without images flashing through your head?

They needed someone to be “real” with them or keep them grounded. They needed an editor, like Nathan. Nathan spoke truth to power. Who’s not afraid to call you into account for your actions? Who’s not afraid to get under your skin? Who’s not afraid to gently, but firmly say that you’re acting like a jerk? That’s your Nathan.

A Nathan reveals, pulls back the curtain, to who you truly are. Recently I went on a facebook posting rampage, where I watched the movie The Legend of Bagger Vance. In the movie Bagger played by Will Smith, says, “Inside each and every one of us is one true authentic swing. Something that we were born with. Something that’s ours and ours alone. Something that can’t be taught to you or learned. Something that got to be remembered. Over time the world can rob us of that swing. It can be buried inside us in the woulda, coulda, shoulda’s. Some people forget what their swing was like.” A Nathan’s not afraid of calling you out because he can see through the layers to YOU. And the Nathan’s in your life, care about and love you, but they’re not about to let you get away with anything, just like Bagger Vance.

Nathan figured prominently in David’s life 3 times. At 3 critical junctures. In the text for today, 2 Samuel 7, David had just finished building his palace. He had been greatly blessed by God and decided that the ark of the covenant, which was still in a tent, needed a permanent home. He consulted with Nathan who agreed at first, but as you hear in the passage, Nathan changed his mind because it was not what God wanted. Nathan also said some good things to David – that David’s name would be great, his people would have peace, his son would build a “House for my name,” the throne and kingdom of David and his son would be established forever, and what would later become the Davidic Covenant – that Jesus would be in the lineage of David. You may be thinking that’s not gutsy speaking truth to power, he just told him not to build a church, and he said several good things after that. Well in 2 Samuel 12, David had recently committed adultery with Bathsheba and had arranged the death of her husband Uriah. Nathan was sent to David by the Lord with a parable – a poor man had one lamb, a rich man had great flocks of sheep – a traveler came to the rich man who prepared a meal for him – the rich man took the lamb from the poor man rather than use one of his own for the meal. David heard the story and said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this deserves to die!” [vs5] Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man!” [vs7] Awkward.

David repented of his sin, and the Lord forgave him – but the consequences of his sin then meant that the child born to Bathsheba did in fact die. The sign, however, of forgiveness was that David and Bathsheba had another son, Solomon, the inheritor of the promise.

The third time doesn’t have the same sting as the Bathsheba story, but it’s important nonetheless. It happens in 1 Kings 1 right at the end of David’s life. God had made it clear that Solomon would inherit the throne from his father – when another of David’s sons, Adonijah, tried to usurp the throne, Nathan supported David rather than Adonijah. He informed Bathsheba of the plot and advised her on how to ensure the right successor. Nathan was called in by David and told to anoint Solomon king – this he did and it was proclaimed to the people.

An editor works tirelessly so that you can be the best that you can be.

“Joe Myers illustrates the editability with the story of his wife, Sara, handing him back an essay she had edited for him, and all he could see was red. Every page was dripping with blood. As he tried to find one pure white page, she said these words: ‘Joe, this is fantastic! This is one of the best things I have ever read! This is going to change people’s lives.’
‘You’re kidding. You hate it…’
‘No, I love it.’
‘But look at all the red. You hate it.’
‘Joe, I love it. I just want you to get your ideas out as powerfully as you can. Every time you see red on the page, you should hear me saying to you, ‘Joe, I love this, I love you, and I want the whole world to read this book.’”

How many times do we see the editors of our lives as our biggest critics? How many times do we see the ink all in red and think that we’re not good enough? How many times do we take personally what we see as criticism but those that love us have said it to make us better?

Leonard Sweet writes, “What makes the Nathans unique in your life is that they are fundamentally best understood as welcome intruders. They tend to pop in unannounced to take the moral temperature of a particular moment, especially at the most inconvenient and disturbing of times. But because you are already in a relationship with them, and authenticity is your brand, their temperature taking isn’t always welcome. In a culture of increasing transparency, thanks to the internet and ubiquitous surveillance (the average Londoner is captured on camera over three hundred times a day), you refuse them entrance at your peril.”

In biblical language, Nathans “speak the truth in love.” As it says in James 1:22, a Nathan is not someone who rushes to “tell you the truth” but someone who helps you to “do the truth.”

As anyone who has ever written some words on a piece of paper, it’s not always pleasant or fun to get edited. The English major in me, cringes at the thought of taking my paper to the writing center and for them to pull out the fine tooth comb or the magnifying glass to make corrections. It’s like they see my soul stripped bare and the vulnerability is apparent. They see me. In all of my weaknesses, in all of my vulnerabilities, in all of the places I would rather not see – they see me.

So prayerfully consider the Nathans in your life. You don’t want to pick a person that is critical for critical’s sake, that is destructive to your world, or does not care about your well-being. So be discerning as you notice the people in your life that make you better, aren’t afraid to give you a reality check when the situation calls for it, and do so in love.

But as you notice the Nathans in your life they have some tell-tale signs. The first is they get under your skin. They look at the inner workings of your life and are not afraid to call BS. An English teacher in high school taught me the acronym meant Be Specific.

The second is they will ask you questions. Sweet says that questions can comfort, challenge, or convict. A Nathan looks at the heart. Snow White on Once Upon a Time wouldn’t get away with the darkness growing in her heart, if a Nathan was around. A Nathan would ask the familiar words of Wesley, “How well is it with your soul?”

The third and final thing is that they will tell the truth. A Nathan helps us see the truth about ourselves – truth telling, not truth dumping. Truth dumping is when we tell someone the “truth” but we’re really giving our own opinion, and it’s needlessly hurtful because the truth teller is not seeking to make us better but is seeking to destroy, cut down, or belittle. Nathan’s words are blunt, but with love. It is said about a Nathan, “There are kinder words that could have been said to me, but there aren’t truer ones.”

My brother Josh just happens to be a Nathan in my life. You’ll meet him on fall retreat because he’s going to be the speaker. He’s not afraid to call me on the carpet when he thinks I’m not being my most Godly. But I trust him implicitly. I don’t always like what he says. I don’t always agree with what he says. But 9 times out of 10 he has a point. He has perspective on my life. Even when I don’t see it. Even when I can’t see it. He has a way of breaking through. It may take a couple of days, of inner debate within myself, to see truth in his observational interruptions, but I trust him. So I listen to him. Because I know he’s watching out for me and just wants me to be the best that I can be.

So I’m glad that Len Sweet writes, “Everybody needs a Nathan. Even Nathan needs a Nathan.” Even Josh needs a Nathan in his life.

So open your eyes to the Nathan’s of your life. Your Nathan’s may easily come to mind. They may not. But we all need them. Oprah is attempting to be Lindsay Lohan’s, but that is another story and another sermon.

Do you know what David named his son? That’s right. Nathan. And that’s the line through which Jesus came through Mary’s side. You see, the Nathan’s of your life will have a big Godly impact in your life if you will let them. May it be so.

Holy and gracious God, may we be ever on the look out for the Nathan’s in our life. That they call us into account and are willing to ask the hard questions. May you set our feet on right paths and may we walk in your ways. Thank you that we were fearfully and wonderfully made and we can rest in the promise that you will never leave us or forsake us. May you give us wisdom as we discern answers to questions that seemingly have no answers. May you give us your peace that transcends all understanding, when we wrestle or need your comfort. May you give us your grace that we may know your more fully and as we continue in your sanctifying grace to be the person you created us to be. In Jesus’ name I pray. We pray now as you taught your disciples to pray….

Campus Ministry, Commitment, Faith, Friendship, Holy Friendships, Obstacles, Prayer, Sermons

Mark 2

Posted on August 31, 2013September 15, 2013 by narciejeter

Mark 2:1-12

There was a crowd because in the scene immediately preceding this Jesus had healed a leper, and although he told him not to say anything, he did anything but. “⁴⁰A lepercame to him begging him, and kneelinghe said to him, “If you choose, you can make me clean.”⁴¹Moved with pity, Jesusstretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, “I do choose. Be made clean!”⁴²Immediately the leprosyleft him, and he was made clean. ⁴³After sternly warning him he sent him away at once,⁴⁴saying to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” ⁴⁵But he went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the word, so that Jesuscould no longer go into a town openly, but stayed out in the country; and people came to him from every quarter.”

When we were growing up, the nearest movie theater was an hour away. So we would squeeze in my mom’s minivan. One time we laid the back seat flat and fit 8 people on there. We squeezed two people in the back of the van. And we had 4 in the captain’s chairs with 1 in the middle. So we got all 15 of us in the minivan. I do not recommend this. And we broke several laws. And come to think of it, my mom still doesn’t know this happened.

I tell you that image because I visualize it when I read this passage. The crowd that was gathered was packed in like sardines. This was no time to be claustrophobic. Saying it was hard to get in, may be an understatement. But the four friends were determined. They knew that Jesus was the Great Healer, who it was said later in Matthew 11:4-5, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.”

They had to dig into the roof, which was not easy. It was made of beams 3 feet apart filled with twigs, clay and dirt – like working with dry wall. The people below probably were not happy to be covered by first little flecks of dust, then some tiles here and there and not to mention long splinters of wood. Then they had to lower a paralyzed man slowly into the center of the room.

Now what would be your reaction if you were in the crowd?

Sometimes we see obstacles and we’re defeated or coughing up excuses before we even start. Sometimes the impossible is made possible. That’s the thing about faith made real. Their friend couldn’t walk – so they carried him. The crowd blocked their path and access to Jesus – they went around or bypassed them. The roof was in the way – they ripped a hole in it. They were people on a mission. They were determined. Spiritually and physically they were determined.

If only the Gators would be so determined to win games. May it be so. If only we were so determined to dive into the Santa Fe community and University of Florida community – developing relationships, stepping out of our comfort zone, and not being afraid of what people were saying about us.

It would be radical.

We all know people who need healing back home and here at school – what are we doing to be present with them – intercession – prayer, encouragement, our actions?

Jesus commends the man’s friends for their faith. It was their faith that brought the man to a place of forgiveness. I wonder, if the salvation of the people around me depended on my faith and my direct actions, how much more seriously and intentionally I would take my time with God and the Christian community and to what extent would I live out my faith?

Do we get our hands dirty in other people’s lives? Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep.

James said, “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if a person claims to have faith but has no deeds?…Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, ‘Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?” (James 2:14-16).

The Great God of the universe went to extreme measures for us. We need to do the same. It’s the little things. Say a prayer, a kind word, a smile, hoping the Spirit’s imprint on our hearts will be read by someone else.

A couple of years ago an NC State student became involved in a theatre group sponsored by one of the campus ministries. He wasn’t a Christian, he just liked acting. The group performed during the Sunday morning services at several churches in the area. At one of the churches, Adam was captivated by the prayers of the people which included intercessions for people with AIDS. He was so moved that he decided to be baptized and join the church. That church was God’s letter to Adam, which said, “There is suffering in the world, but God cares and we care.”

Lawrence Kushner in Honey from the Rock writes, “We understand that ordinary people are messengers of the Most High. They go about their tasks in holy anonymity. Often, even unknown to themselves. Yet, if they had not been there, if they had not said what they said or did what they did, it would not be the way it is now. We would not be the way we are now. Never forget that you too yourself may be a messenger.”

Some quotes on friendship • A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out. • Everyone hears what you say. Friends listen to what you say. Best friends listen to what you don’t say. • A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words. A friend perseveres.

This semester at Gator Wesley, we are going to use as our backdrop, Leonard Sweet’s book, 11 – indispensable relationships you can’t be without – in which he talks about the 11 people [relationships] that we need in this life to be who Christ creates us to be – we need

an Editor
a True Friend
a Butt-Kicker
an Heir
an Encourager
a Yoda
a Back-Coverer
a Reject
a ‘Little One’
a VIP
a Place
a Paraclete – “one who consoles, one who intercedes on our behalf, a comforter or an advocate”

Who are these people or who can they be for us? I hope you will join us this semester as we take this journey together – but I can assure you, it will not be as great a journey without each of you – I need all of you on this journey of life and faith, and I am grateful for our time together.

As Sweet says, “The real meaning of life is not a journey question or an arrival question. It’s a relationship question. Your journey AND your destination are both important, but neither is possible without an answer to [the] prior question: ‘Who do you have with you?’” [Sweet, 11, page 19]

Bald is Beautiful?

Image• Posted on August 24, 2013September 15, 2013 by narciejeter

Community

Independence Day

Posted on August 24, 2013September 15, 2013 by narciejeter

I LOVE this movie! I saw it in theater and anytime it’s on I have to stop and watch it. Even back when we weren’t even dating, Mike and I saw this on a trip to Nicaragua in Spanish with English subtitles, and we both stopped to watch it. I get caught up in the stories.

I’ve started the 5 days on chemo and three weeks off cycle and I’ve been struggling. I can’t remember ever feeling this bad, then again as soon as I type that, I want to knock on wood.

Something someone said has never been far from my mind, if the trade off Is more years than I would have had otherwise, would I not do anything? As the president’s wife is dying in Independence Day, I tear up every time. Wouldn’t she have chosen to do whatever she has to in order to spend one more afternoon with her child? So I’ll do what I have to do and be grateful that it’s not worse.

I will selfishly ask for prayers as I preach at Gator Wesley tomorrow morning and throughout our leadership team meeting. Thanks for Mike holding down the fort with the kiddos. Thanks for Pam and the new Assistant Directors holding down the fort at the office!

I hope to be back to my old self soon!

Anne Lamott, Prayer, Sermons, Theodicy, Wrestling

Sermon on Prayer

Posted on August 4, 2013September 15, 2013 by narciejeter

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DlNF_ukr0I

You see you don’t have to be nervous about prayer. If Ben Stiller can do it when he is trying to impress his in-laws, how hard can it be to make it part of your daily routine?

The text from Luke obviously has to do with prayer, starting with the familiar words of what we now call the Lord’s prayer. I played basketball in high school and at the beginning of every game while we were still in the locker room, we would say the Lord’s prayer together. Don’t know if it was superstition or the fact that it was in the South, but it was a thing that united us. We said the Lord’s Prayer and the 23^rd Psalm after the death of my grandfather with all 25 of us crammed in the hospital room holding hands. There’s something about those familiar words lifted in corporate prayer that shifts our focus to what truly matters, and it’s not preseason rankings, even though we in the SEC may disagree.

The Lord’s Prayer provides the basic framework. And just as the memorized lyrics of a hymn or recalling a Bible verse can help us through the darkest valleys, so can the remembered words of a prayer. At the very least, they’re a good way to pierce the darkness toward the Source of light.

As we read Luke’s version of the Lord’s Prayer, along with a parable and commentary from Jesus about persistence in prayer. Luke’s version of the prayer is shorter than the more familiar one from Matthew 6, containing only five petitions instead of the seven in Matthew. But the included five are all important petitions: the first two — “hallowed be your name” and “your kingdom come” — are spiritual, and the other three — for daily bread, for forgiveness of sins and being spared the “time of trial” — ask for help with daily life.

Another difference between the two passages is that in Matthew, Jesus gives the Lord’s Prayer as a model as a part of a larger discourse about praying in general, whereas in Luke, he gives it in direct response to a request from one of the disciples, who says, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” We have to wonder why the disciple made that request. After all, the disciples were all children of the synagogue. They had grown up going to worship and hearing public prayers. So didn’t they already know how to pray? Maybe they wanted to hear it directly from the horse’s mouth.

Jesus starts his prayer with a surprising address to God. He says, Abba. The word typically is translated as “Father” and that bothers some people. Certainly the nature of God cannot be summarized in a purely male image. Let me suggest that Jesus does not use the word Abba to describe the nature of God so much as to describe our human relationship to God. Rather than as Father, Abba is better translated Papa or Daddy or Dad or like I call my father, Padre. It is an intimate, family form of address. When Jesus starts the Lord’s Prayer with “Abba,” he means we are to come to God in prayer as though we have an intimate, personal relationship with the Creator of the Universe.

“Hallowed be your name.” In Hebrew a person’s name was more than just how the person is identified. One’s name referred to the whole character of a person. The Psalmist writes, “And those who know your name put their trust in you.” That means more than knowing God’s name is Yahweh. As William Barclay observes: “It means that those who know the whole character and mind and heart of God will gladly put their trust in him.”

Then Jesus says, “Your kingdom come.” Jesus talks extensively about the kingdom of God. In the Gospel of Luke alone it shows up 38 times. These references are usually parables, metaphors, and analogies, not descriptive prose. Although Jesus refers to the “kingdom of God,” one never gets the sense it is a place.

In Romans 14:17 Paul offers a definition when he writes, “For the kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy, in the Holy Spirit.” God reigns in this world where peace, joy, and righteousness prevail. As individuals, we experience the reign of God when we do what is right and when we experience the resulting inner peace and joy.

Saints Origen and Jerome, early leaders of the church, translated this phrase, “Give us what is necessary for daily existence.” We might add, “And, Lord, help us understand the difference between what we really need and what we just want.”

Maybe the prayers the disciples heard didn’t translate easily into meaningful personal conversation with God. Indeed, in Matthew 6:5, Jesus referred to “hypocrites” who stood and prayed in the synagogues “so that they may be seen by others.” The fact that Jesus responded by giving this prayer as a model suggests that he understood that praying is something with which people need help but it’s not something that is innately difficult. Anyone can pray. Not just the holy. Not just Mrs. Smith who sings in the choir and is the most Godly person you know. ANYONE can cry out to God. Just because you’ve been going to the church you’re whole life, doesn’t mean your prayers count any more or less than someone that has never darkened a door of a church. God judges the heart.

I admit that praying, for me, is one of the hardest parts of the Christian life. I’m not referring to public praying in worship, but to personal prayers, those that Jesus referred to when he said, “But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret …” (Matthew 6:6). I love the old Cokesbury Hymn, “Sweet Hour of Prayer,” but it’s a challenge for me to put that amount of time in, I guess maybe I would make it if all of the times I prayed were added together. I struggle with prayer. My mind wanders. I get sleepy. I have a running to do list flashing through my head. One of the students, BJ, challenged me with this, “Pray for us daily. More than once.” So I’ve got to set aside some time to pray, and be intentional about it.

It’s helpful to think about prayer in the context of spiritual gifts. In more than one place in his letters, Paul talks about different Christians having different gifts — talents and abilities that can be put to work for the church. Paul lists such things as the gifts of prophecy, serving, teaching, preaching, giving aid, acts of mercy, discernment and others, and he says that they are given in different measure to different people. We suspect the same is true of prayer. Some people have the gift to be “prayer warriors” like Beth Keith. She puts out a prayer chain email asking for prayer for members of this faith community. Nonetheless, whether we’re “good” at prayer or not, the mere act of it draws us closer to God.

My Dad recently wrote a blog, questioning real prayer versus the phrase, “I’ll be praying for you!” He writes, “This phrase sometimes comes across as a Southern way of saying, “Goodbye.” “I’ll be praying for you,” is it a greeting, prayer, or an unfulfilled intention? So how do I do better? I think one way is to personalize it. What I mean is that prayer is a relationship expressed in words, a give and take, with much more listening than me spouting off a list of what I or others need. What’s really crazy is for us not to listen to God. It’s the difference between a soliloquy for an audience of one and a divine-human dialogue. Therefore, prayer is an art, practiced and spontaneous, speaking and listening to God, both/and, not one without the other. It is meant to be more than a conversation-ending pleasantry, “I’ll be praying for you.” It’s supposed to be a real conversation!”

I’ve mentioned to some of you, I’ve been reading Anne Lamott’s book on prayer, “Help, Thanks, Wow.” She says all prayer can be summed up in these words. In a recent interview, she said about Help, “Well, I’ve heard people say that God is the gift of desperation, and there’s a lot to be said for having really reached a bottom where you’ve run out of anymore good ideas, or plans for everybody else’s behavior; or how to save and fix and rescue; or just get out of a huge mess, possibly of your own creation. And when you’re done, you may take a long, quavering breath and say, ‘Help.’ People say ‘help’ without actually believing anything hears that. But it is the great prayer, and it is the hardest prayer, because you have to admit defeat — you have to surrender, which is the hardest thing any of us do, ever.”

She says about Thanks, “Thanks is the prayer of relief that help was on the way. It can be [the] pettiest, dumbest thing, but it could also be that you get the phone call that the diagnosis was much, much, much better than you had been fearing. The full prayer, and its entirety, is: Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you. But for reasons of brevity, I just refer to it as Thanks. It’s amazement and relief that you caught a break; that your family caught a break; that you didn’t have any reason to believe that things were really going to be OK, and then they were and you just can’t help but say thank you.”

She says about Wow, “Wow is the praise prayer. The prayer where we’re finally speechless — which in my case is saying something. … When I don’t know what else to do I go outside, and I see the sky and the trees and a bird flies by, and my mouth drops open again with wonder at the just sheer beauty of creation. And I say, ‘Wow.’ … You say it when you see the fjords for the first time at dawn, or you say it when you first see the new baby, and you say, ‘Wow. This is great.’ Wow is the prayer of wonder.”

On the way she sees prayer, “Prayer is not about saying, ‘Oh, I think I’m going to pray now.’ Or, ‘Oh, I see I’ve made a notation here to pray at 2:15.’ It’s about getting outside of your own self and hooking into something greater than that very, very limited part of our experience here — the ticker tape of thoughts and solutions, and trying to figure out who to blame. It’s sort of like blinking your eyes open. It’s sort of like in the Wizard of Oz, when Dorothy lands in Oz and the movie goes from black and white to color, and it’s like having a new pair of glasses, and you say, ‘Wow!’ “

I think of prayer as a turning towards God. Or being in tune with God. If we walk and talk with God, consistently with a mind on prayer, how much would we see the world around us differently? It’s a turning towards God out of desperation, out of gratitude, at the awesome grandeur of God.

This has been of help to me, the words of Romans 8:26-27, “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”

Augustine echoes this, “In affliction, then, we do not know what it is right to pray for. Because affliction is difficult, troublesome, and against the grain for us, weak as we are, we do what every human would do. We pray that it may be taken away from us. However, if he does not take it away, we must not imagine that he has forgotten us. In this way, power shines forth more perfectly in weakness.”

I often don’t know what to pray, but I can turn toward God and listen to worship music. Some people walk outside in the garden. Some people draw or do arts and crafts to get out of themselves. To get out of their own way. God will show up. Prayer is not about a particular technique or some sort of magic words, but the means of nurturing our relationship with God. The most important factor in praying is the recognition of the One to whom we pray.

I can’t talk about prayer without being thankful for all of yours. When I had brain surgery on May 10^th and woke up not being able to speak and unable to use my right hand or arm. I remember writing Mike a note a week and a half after the surgery with my left hand asking how long would it be until I recovered. You were some consistent and persistent pray-ers.

This is a clip from Bruce Almighty that’s self explanatory…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0cG11lTS1E

We don’t know how prayer works. Why does God answer some prayers versus others? How did I get a miracle when 45 year old Charlie Summey who was diagnosed after me with a brain tumor died last Saturday? It seems as if there’s no rhyme or reason sometimes. But like a friend said we mourn with his family just as we rejoice with yours. It’s not about asking why so much as who? If our God is a loving God and we believe in the power of prayer, than we can trust in the words ask and it will be given, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened. Just turning towards God with our hearts set on God and drawing nearer to God is enough. I know that God is with us. I feel that to the very core of my being. God journeys with us through our seeming answered prayer and our seeming unanswered prayer alike.

Barbara Brown Taylor writes in an article in “Christian Century,” about some monks she encountered on her journeys, “Four times a day, a bell rang in the courtyard. As soon as it did, the brothers stopped to pray. The rest of us were welcome to join them, but it was not required. If we did not show up, then they would pray for us, as they prayed for everyone else in the world – for those who were present along with those who were absent, for those who were inclined toward God along with those who were not, for those who were in great need of prayer along with those who were not aware they needed anything at all. Prayer was their job, and they took it seriously. They prayed like men who were shoveling coal into the basement furnace of some great edifice. They did not seem to care whether anyone upstairs knew who they were or what they were doing. Their job was to keep the fire going so that people stayed warm, and they poured all their energy into doing just that.”

Persistent prayer is not so much for God, but for us. For the strengthening of our faith, for the drawing closer to the One who created us and numbered our steps, for a lifting of our eyes to make the impossible possible. May we live that out. In Jesus name.

Let us pray…God we know there’s no magic words, but we know that we humbly come before you, seeking your will and your kingdom on earth. Guard our hearts. Guard our lips. May we earnestly seek to draw closer to you. Guide us and lead us in all that we do. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Let us pray…Holy and Gracious God, we earnestly come before you seeking your will for our lives. Even though we may not always understand it, we trust in you. For those that are sick, please surround them with your healing power. For those that are hurting, please surround them in your grace and comfort. For those dealing with uncertainty, please surround them with your peace that surpasses all understanding. For those that it’s been a long time since coming to you in prayer, help them to know it’s a conversation. Give them the words. And reassure them there’s no pressure. For all of us, spur us on that we make prayer an integral part of our personal lives and of the life of Gator Wesley. We ask these things in your holy name and we pray as you taught your disciples to pray….