I heard an interview on Friday.  A respected Christian leader was asked, why are Easter and Holy Week so important?  In the long response that followed, the word "resurrection" was never spoken.  The leader talked about the crucifixion and Christ's death, but nothing about rising again.  Wow!!  As important as Christ's death was, it was not meaningful without Easter morning.  Without Easter, Jesus is a moral leader whose example we could follow.  Perhaps with discipline and effort, we can become good like Jesus, but that would miss the point. 
    The resurrection is the new life we can share.  The power that raised Jesus from the dead is available to those who believe.  The risen Christ can now live in us.  This is Easter, without it - we are forever stuck with the darkness of Good Friday.  He is risen!!

   I did something today I haven't done in awhile.  I came home this evening, ate dinner with my wife, and sat down and watched a movie with her in our living room.  From time to time, our daughter came in and talked with us.  Just the three of us, nothing special, but what a good evening.  I think at times we are tempted to stop in the middle of our routine and ask, "is this all there is?"  What if my answer is, "no, not really?"
   Think about this for a minute.  We just are not built to go from high, emotional point to high, emotional point.  Most of life is lived in our routines, in our normal, boring times.  I sure am glad that Jesus came not to a palace, but to a common, routine place.  In fact, I think Christ came to the normal, and to the least in order to make the normal and the least somehow sacred, and infused with meaning.  Perhaps the common meal is a great opportunity.  Maybe the routine question of a 6 year old is really a chance to mold a life.  Is it possible a chance meeting with an old friend can be a chance to change a life?  Perhaps.  So today, as I looked upon a healthy child, and talked with another child 2 states away, and talked with the same wife of 22+ years, I asked myself, "is this all there is?"  My answer is what more could I want?  Thank you Lord, for all your blessings on this average day.

  It seems to happen every week.   A personal challenge to my sense of the world.  This past week I spent time in Luke 18 with the rich, young ruler.  I wanted to try to get a sense of this difficult passage.  In the middle of last week, my son and his college roommate went downtown to see the sights.  Around Canal St. they met a man around 50 years of age - a homeless man.  He was black, had a bit of a beard, and had cracked, rough fingers from frostbite.  My son sat down with him and talked for nearly an hour.  He was not crazy, but he spoke vaguely of a personal loss, perhaps a death of one close to him. This death was the catalyst of a spiral that led to a corner of Canal Street.  He wanted to sketch a picture of Adam and his friend, sketching was the way he earned a few dollars to spend on his needs.  The man apologized that he only had a pencil and a few sheets of paper, his bag of supplies had been stolen only recently.  As the man sketched his friend my son went to CVS and purchased sketch pads, pencils, and colored pencils for the man, along with a few other things.  The sketch was wonderful.
   That night, as my son told the story of this encounter to me, we went through the house and collected a bundle of basic supplies, and placed them in a shoulder bag we had.  The next day my son went back to the same corner and looked for the man he had met the day before.  He looked for some time, but could not find him.  I have not been able to get this man out of my mind for this past week.  What can I do?  Is there anything?  I am not sure of the answer, but I know there are many faceless people who need a stop, a conversation, and perhaps a friend.  One thing I do know, I need to be open to meeting the people I am tempted to merely pass by.  So this summer if you see a man with cracked fingers sketching a picture of someone downtown, his name is Vernon. 

  Finally!  Here it is!   Do you realize how long we have been waiting for a day like this?  It is 70 degrees and beautiful.  Today is well worth the sniffles and sneezes that my usual spring allergies are already providing.  To be honest, I was losing hope that today would ever come.  I cannot remember a winter where I have been so eager to see signs of Spring.  It got cold in mid-November and just never relented until now.  Yet today reminds me that no matter how long winter is, spring will come. 
    I wonder how many of us suffer through other long winters that have nothing to do with the weather.  Those times when things get bleak cold, drab, and we lose hope of life and warmth ever returning.  Let today remind us that spring is always coming.  As bleak as things may look, new life is yet possible.  Do not lose hope, do not ever give up.   Resurrection is more than possible, it is a reality.

    What a beautiful day!  60 degrees, sunny, and I am able to walk around outside without a jacket.  Oh sure, it is not perfect.  There are no leaves yet, there is not much green, and the ground is a little soft.  I mean, there are things I just can't do yet, because the ground is too soft.  Imagine if I let today go to waste because things are not yet perfect!  While not yet perfect, today is wonderful. 
  Sometimes I think we in the church can start talking too much about how perfect heaven will be someday.  With that perfection in mind, we easily find and complain about every thing that is not perfect today.  I know it is not yet perfect, but there is much to celebrate today.  New life in Christ is so much better than what came before, and offers so many opportunities.  I must not let it go to waste.  

  You have heard this phrase before - "All hat and no cowboy."  It is one of those aphorisms that I particularly enjoy.  It is often used to describe someone who talks pretty big, but just can't back it up.  Sometimes in the church, we can be guilty of this phrase. 
   Sometimes we talk a big game.  We tell stories of Moses, Gideon, Elijah, Peter or Paul and tell our people that we can or should be just like them.  Big stories, big dreams and big promises.  Here is the trouble.  Most of us don't live in the land of big dreams, we live in the day to day world filled with bills, challenges, kids, and economic fear.   As big of a dream that we may have, God lives in our world with us.  patience with a spouse, extra love for a challenging child, and kindness to a neighbor or co-corker.  If we have the biggest of dreams, yet do not show these traits to those closest to us, we are "all hat and no cowboy." 
   I live in a world filled with big plans.  All of the big plans in the world have not changed my life much.  The real difference has been made by all of those average people, living average lives, except they demonstrated to me an extraordinary God living in them. 

  I loved Sunday morning.  It had everything I love.  People seemingly glad to see one another.  Faces of people I had never met.  And kids participating in the life of the church.  There are some in the world who might say that they prefer highly accomplished singers - not me.  Sure I love a professional singer, but there is something about the purity of our children singing and playing.  There was one other thing I really loved, when Danny baptized his two sons.  This was a striking visible symbol of what should be important to us - handing down the faith to the next generation.  The church is always one generation away from ceasing to exist.  Seeing a dad baptize his two children fills me with hope, and inspiration.  There is a generation to reach, are we ready?

   Every so often, I like a new challenge.  Some people like a basic routine - they find comfort in the familiar.  There is nothing wrong with this, everyone is different.  I am just not like this.  I like goals and new experiences.  I am ready for a new challenge now.  I want to be a part of a growing, vibrant church.  I want to reach out into our community.  I hope to see lives changed.  I hope many others will enjoy a new challenge as well.  Are you ready?

  Let me add one thing to the sermon from yesterday, January 25th.  I think it is possible to misunderstand my sermon from yesterday, and I should have been more clear.  I was not attacking the idea of people being able to worship emotionally.  Since we are emotional people, I hope that our worship, and our Christian walk engages our emotions.  Yet it seems that at times the church has over-emphasized emotions.  Unless we are happy, then something must be wrong with us spiritually.  This is what I was addressing.  Our foundation is not an emotional feeling.  Sometimes the emotion will be there, but in those times when it is not, we must be connected to something solid - even in times of doubt and sadness.  My foundation is in what Christ did in my behalf. 

   What an interesting day!  I am always thankful for my country on the day of a new president.  In the US power changes with a trumpet fanfare and  handshake.  Throughout most of history, power changes only with the head of the former leader on a bloody pike.  I was also struck by the visual imagery of this changeover.  Maybe we really can say that anyone can be president, and that your skin color does not matter.  For this, I am thankful. 
   Now we enter into a new period.  My prayers are with the new president.  Whether I voted for him or not does not matter, for my future, and my kids future is bound together with President Obama.  And I must admit that my life, and my country are many times more important than my political identity.  So I wish him well.  I will recognize the good, and I will call out the mistakes.  And I will not seek to destroy him from day one, as many did with our former president.  May God truly bless the United States.

  I met new friends last week . . . Michael, Leon, and Lionel are now etched in my memory.  Our cultures are different, our experiences are different, but we share so much more.  We share a common faith, and a common Savior.  In other circumstances we would be fast friends, but for now we will remain people who shared a week.  Yet I know that we will share so much more, an eternity. 
   If you ever get the chance to minister overseas, don't miss it.  It is a great opportunity.

   Well, its finally over.   The nation has spoken and elected a new president.  To be honest, I was not fond of either major party candidate.  Yet that was not the choice we had.  So this morning Barack Obama is my president.  I will pray for him, honor him as president, and wish him success in being a good leader.  This is my duty.  If McCain would have been elected, I would say the same thing.
   At the same time I realize that my hope and my dreams were never invested in any man, in any party, nor in any political system.   My hope was, is, and will remain to be in Christ.  While this is not the time  to swoon with joy over the election, nor is it the time to despair either.  Remember this nation once made it through Warren Harding and Jimmy Carter. 

   I am very fortunate.  Don't get me wrong, I could be richer.  I could live in a larger home.  I could get used to taking exotic vacations every year.  Yet I have none of these things.  This morning was one of my reminders of why I am very fortunate.  I love my church.  Even more than this, I love having the opportunity of pastoring these wonderful people.  This morning was "Pastor's Appreciation Sunday," and my family was given many notes of thanks and appreciation.  I am humbled by this outpouring.  I hope they realize how much I appreciate them, how much I look forward to seeing each of them, and how much I love them.  I am very fortunate.

  The year was 1985, and it was Super Bowl Sunday.  The 49ers were playing the Dolphins later in the day, but that was not the news.  The news was the weather.  It was -29F.  This was not the wind chill, this was the temperature.  I was at college, and we were stuck in our dorms.  We were pretty sure that our cars in the parking lot were dead, but we had to find out.  In the afternoon, with the temperature finally warming to -10, we bundled up, and went to the parking lot in pairs to start our cars, or at least try.  Our cars were dead, we were cold, and warmth seemed a long way off.  Yet we look back fondly on this day.  We did not enjoy the day, we enjoyed each other in the midst of the cold, even as we bundled up like Arctic explorers and headed out for the parking lot.
   We may yet have a cold spell facing us.  A spell of lean times that we have not seen in awhile.  The temptation is to look to the future in fear.  Fear of the cold wind blowing in our direction.  Yet perhaps there is potential here.  Maybe we can learn to lean on each other, maybe we can bundle up together and walk together in the teeth of this wind.  Maybe we can learn to help each other, support each other, and maybe we will look back fondly at this coming time.  Not because the time is pleasant, but because we can be something to each other that makes these times good, and productive.  I think it is possible, just maybe.

  You think I would have learned by now.  A small little restaurant, and only one patron inside.  When my daughter and I went inside, it became clear that this patron, named Paul, was a little challenged.  Maybe he was socially awkward, maybe he was a little slower than some others, but he sure was ready to talk.  I tried to ignore him at the start, hoping he would take the hint, but he missed my hint altogether.  Pretty soon I was in the midst of answering question after question, in this little restaurant in southern Indiana.   After a few questions, I began to hear a little voice, "whatever you did for the least of these - you have done to me."   Ouch.   Sure, I know the verse, and I can tell you what it means, but sometimes living what it means is another matter altogether.  In this little Indiana town on a Thursday evening, living it meant to do more than put up with Paul, but to engage him in conversation.  I like to think I was doing him a favor, talking with Paul.  In hindsight, he did me a favor, he reminded me of what it means to live with "the least of these."