Pastor’s Point: Meeting the Man Empty-Handed

Probably my favorite story in the life of Jesus involves one of his last acts of ministry before His death. It is his encounter with the two thieves on the cross. One of the songs on our Holy Week CD—How Love Wins—describes the account from the viewpoint of one of those two thieves. The scripture version is brief and to the point:


Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”

But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Literally and figuratively, Jesus was the man in the middle. That is how he died, between two others, two needy ones…like you and me. Died right where he belonged, in a sense—at the center. I don’t think it’s coincidental that the gospel writer pays attention to Jesus’ position in relationship to them. One was on his right, the other on his left. Both sensed that this Jesus was no ordinary criminal. The one says, “if you are the Messiah…” The other one suspects Jesus’s kingdom lies just ahead. “Remember me” then, he pleads. And what could these two guys offer him in exchange? Absolutely nothing. Or more specifically, lives of brokenness and squandered opportunities. They are meeting The Man empty-handed, and would face Him, their Maker, again—in a few short hours.

What does this encounter have to do with you and me? Everything. I believe this scene is a kind of template for all of humankind, when we stand before The Man someday to be judged. The English hymnwriter, Augustus Toplady, wrote these words in 1763:

Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in Thee;

Let the water and the blood, from Thy wounded side which flowed,

Be of sin the double cure, save me from its guilt and power.

Not the labor of my hands can fulfill Thy law's demands;

Could my zeal no respite know, could my tears forever flow,

All for sin could not atone; Thou must save, and Thou alone.

Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to Thy cross I cling;

Naked, come to Thee for dress; helpless, look to Thee for grace;

Foul, I to the fountain fly; wash me, Savior, or I die.

While I draw this fleeting breath, when my eyes shall close in death,

When I rise to worlds unknown, and behold Thee on Thy throne,

Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in Thee.

These were the very sentiments of the thief on the cross, bringing nothing to the table: like you and me, he came naked, helpless, foul. The solution to his desperate situation was the same as yours and mine. The great apostle Paul admits this in his letter to Titus:

 At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.

 As we near Holy week, I urge you to take time to position yourself before Christ—willingly, not reluctantly. Agree with the thief who found the Man in the middle to be His savior and king. Admit your desperate need, and savor the grace that follows. It’s what makes Good Friday so good.

                                                                                                                                           tad

                                                                                                                                                                        

Pastor’s Point: The music’s too loud!!! revisited…

One of my favorite scenes from Back to the Future is when a young Marty McFly is auditioning for the battle of the bands before a panel of teacher/judges. In a cameo appearance, Huey Lewis (himself an ‘80’s rock star in real life), plays one of the uptight teachers who must inform Marty that his band’s sound is “just too darn loud”. (Catch the scene online: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cZ8FvjsbKE)

It’s an ironic moment meant to get a laugh, but it also reminds me how subjective art and artistic tastes can be, even over the simplest ingredients like volume. What is too loud for some is not loud enough for others. Our technical director Darren Mitchell, and our sound engineer Nick Smith, work very hard to strike a balance, given the various styles and generations they have to work with on any given Sunday. Their heart attitude is amazing in all this—very humble and very teachable. Above all they want to glorify God and their goal is to make the technical part of corporate worship “invisible,” so to speak. The less aware of it that we are, the more likely the worshiper can focus on the message in the art.

Recently I ran across this humorous, tongue in cheek, ‘adaptation’ of one of Paul’s letters (don’t think it made it to the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit). My suspicions about its veracity are only strengthened by the fact that I don’t believe too many Corinthian church buildings would have had pipe organs. But as a parable for what it’s like today trying to appeal to everyone’s “volume preference,” I find it instructive.

1 And It Came to Pass, when Paul was at Corinth, he and certain disciples came upon a mob that was stoning an organist. 2 And Paul said unto them, “What then hath he done unto thee that his head should be bruised?” 3 And the people cried with one voice, “He hath played too loud. 4 Yea, in the singing of psalms, he maketh our heads to ring as if they were beaten with hammers. 5 Behold, he sitteth up high in the loft; and mighty are the pipes and mighty is the noise thereof, and though there be few of us below, he nonetheless playeth with all the stops, the Assyrian trumpet stop, and the stop of the ram's horn and the stop that soundeth like the sawing of stone, and we cannot hear the words that do come out of our own mouths. 6 He always tosseth in variations that confuse us mightily and he playeth loud and discordantly and always in militant tempo, so that we have not time to breathe as we sing. 7 Lo, he is a plague upon the faith and should be chastised.” 8 Paul, hearing this, had himself picked up a small stone, and was about to cast it., but he set it down, and bade the organist come forward. 9 He was a narrow man, pale of complexion, dry, flaking, thin of hair. 10 And Paul said unto him, “Why hast thou so abused thy brethren?” 11 And the organist replied, “I could not hear them singing from where I sat, and therefore played the louder so as to encourage them.”12 And Paul turned around to the mob and said loudly, “Let him who has never played an organ cast the first stone!” 13 And they cast stones for a while until their arms were tired and Paul bade the organist repent and he did. 14 And Paul said unto him, “Thou shalt take up the flute and play it for thirty days, to cleanse thy spirit,” and afterwards they returned to Corinth and sang psalms unaccompanied and then had coffee and were refreshed in the faith.

                         Attributed to Garrison Keillor: manuscript edited and corrected.

 Bottom line:  The more things change the more they stay the same.  In the meantime, let’s be thankful for—and loving to—our amazing tech guys. They’re the best!         
                                                                                                                       tad                 

Pastor’s Point: Final Four


This Sunday in our worship community, we will conclude the series on our core values, called Sweet Sixteen. We have intentionally grouped the last four together. Call it “killing four birds with one boulder.” The final four are: stimulate creativity, remain culturally relevant, reproduce the next generation of artistic leaders, and always be loving. One common theme in the first three of these is the idea of thinking ahead. Living things are growing things, and nothing says a church is alive better than newness of life, whether it is new converts, a renewed spirit in worship, new ideas for communicating old truths, even just new faces. The first chapter of the book of Genesis says that God created the heavens and the earth. Later in the same chapter, it says that God made us in His image. Part of being image-bearers of the One who made us is to exhibit creativity ourselves. I once heard it said that people often choose to live in either one of two places: their memories or their imagination. The issue is not whether or not we retain our memory, but rather, do we camp out there, pitch our tent there, so to speak. Sadly, the local churches that exist mainly to perpetuate their own tradition have made that choice.

The problem with this approach can be illustrated by driving a car. As you sit in the driver’s seat and survey all the potential choices before you, there is always that little rear-view mirror which could occupy your time and attention. But it was actually designed to provide you a reference point and a reminder of what is behind you. Organizations which become preoccupied with maintaining their heritage, reputation, or even their buildings (call it the edifice complex), have little time to dream, imagine, or create. The result is oftentimes a loss of credibility and relevancy within the larger culture or community they attempt to engage.

Think about the world of recorded music in our culture. Forty years ago you had only a few AM stations, a handful of accepted musical styles, and products to reproduce music like LPs and 45s (as they were called). When I was growing up, I could not have imagined the number of options which might be available to me even within my own lifetime. What changed? The culture, technology, people’s free time, you name it. And with that evolution, the language of the arts moved to keep up.

So it is with the worship community of any local church if it is to remain sensitive to and reflective of the culture it endeavors to reach. The message needn’t change but the medium must. Bible translators know this. Church architects certainly know this. Those involved in the arts and technology definitely should realize this. Not staying current with these trends is like traveling to a foreign country and assuming all American customs and language are completely transferable. If the message is to be understood, its presentation must relate to its surroundings.

What can help us keep up with this “warp-speed” revolution? I believe it requires our raising up the next generation of leaders in this area. To do this, we must first be willing to listen to our youth and young adults. It will involve engaging them in open-minded dialogue about the way their culture learns and experiences things. And it must include providing them opportunities to actually teach and lead us in these areas. It can be yet another testimony to the work of the Holy Spirit in a church when there is a discernible, intentional passing of the baton to the next generation in full view. No one promises it won’t be messy at times, or never need tweaking or correction. But it is those very times when the love of God, like fine cream, rises to the top and displays itself. And that is exactly where we land…on our final, but perhaps highest, value—always be loving.

Church cultures whose unity sounds more like unison don’t require a lot of love. In fact, in those kinds of environments, when someone starts singing slightly out of tune, or even a different tune, members simply withdraw or, worse, begin the dismantling process of the fellowship. The agape love of the first church was tested early on. It had to intentionally set aside the need for ethnic (cultural) “purity.” They did, after all, start out “all Jewish—all the time,” remember? (Acts 10). Agape love also meant stepping out in faith, being willing to be lovingly corrected by their spiritual leaders, and, at times, even risking death. But their true mark on the world, the distinctive which ultimately turned that world upside down, was not their great faith, not their gifts, or creativity, not even their open-mindedness. Rather, it was how they loved each other.

Imagine, if you will, two piles of bricks standing side by side, one with mortar and the other without. Now think of the love of God as the mortar connecting the one stack of stones which He is using to build a beautiful temple of worship. When viewed side by side, the two stacks neatly piled on top of each other really don’t look all that different. But let the first quake of adversity or division hit, and one thing becomes clear. Without that love, without the connective adhesive of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we will not stand. Our mission is lost. And God moves on.

As we conclude this journey through our ministry’s core values, let me just take a moment to thank you personally for your sacrifice, your faith, your hard work, but mostly for the primary evidence of God’s work in you…His love. To quote an anthem we sang a few years back: “Love with His hands, see with His eyes. Bind it around you, let it never leave you, and they will know us by our love!”

                                                                                                                           tad

Pastor’s Point: Thou Shalt Not Clone

If you’re like me, you love sweets. Try digesting this from John 8:36: “If the Son sets you free, you are truly free.” Pretty sweet, huh? Becoming a child of God releases you and me to finally pursue our true identity and to shed the need to be conformed to others around us. This goes for life both inside and outside the Church. We all know how strong the world’s collective voices can be in defining success and value for us. And even in the local church, we can often fall victim to a cloning process which attempts to make all Christians think, talk and act alike.

For starters, consider our corporate worship experiences. Formally or informally, every local congregation determines what is appropriate and valuable when they come together. Certainly, some non-negotiables come into play here, when we use clear passages of scripture to hedge certain speech, conduct, and practices. We don’t, for instance, find much value in barking like dogs, crowd surfing, or bringing one of our favorite pets to be sacrificed. But to be honest, scripture is fairly non-specific in laying out what is and is not to be allowed in corporate worship. Even so, that does not deter many from trying to institutionalize behaviors which are really nothing more than cultural preferences, or worse, simply the will of the most powerful influences in the local church. Unfortunately, these are often presented as biblical mandates worthy of universal acceptance.

We hear phrases like, “we don’t do (allow) that in our church,” or “that’s what they do in such and such a church.” As a child, I learned this lesson first hand when I observed a worship posture which felt “foreign” to me and not widely practiced in my conservative Lutheran church. It was really rather simple, and certainly within the bounds of scripture. A highly respected man (actually one of my godparents and the choir director of our church) returned from communion (we came forward back then) and simply knelt by his pew to offer a whispered prayer of thanks. Had our church had “kneelers” in front of the pews as do many other more formal churches, it probably would not have even caught my notice. Since we did not have such devices, you can correctly deduce that we were never on our knees—at least not on Sunday morning.

And yet here was Mr. Reinschmidt, kneeling right on the floor…and praying. By himself. I waited for the floor to part and for him to be swallowed up. Surprisingly, he is still alive today! It never even occurred to me that maybe he was just responding to a move of the Holy Spirit in that moment. And if that had been the case, he simply would have been one of many in a long line throughout history who felt the freedom to express with their bodies what was going on in their souls.

Later at lunch that day, I asked my dad (the pastor) what that was all about. I’ll never forget his answer. He shook his head and said simply, “O, that’s what Catholics do.” And his body language was anything but positive. When I pressed him about what he meant by that, he said ‘Lutherans try to avoid showy, even pharisaical postures’, such as hand raising, kneeling, etc. Wow! Without even realizing it, I had received a cultural explanation for why our church dismissed (even criticized) a very valid, scriptural act of worship.

My question is: “Who determines these boundaries or limits we place on the work of the Holy Spirit, especially when we usually begin our services in Jesus’ name and invite the Spirit to work among us?” Paul says in Galatians 5 that [since] Christ has set you free, make sure that you stay free and don’t get tied up again to the law (man’s rules and rituals). Obviously, this is not merely an issue with the contemporary church.

Consider this gem from the earliest local congregation. Acts 3:8 records that a man who was lame from birth and spent his days outside the temple begging, responded to his miraculous healing by “walking, leaping and praising God, and then “went into the temple with them (the disciples who prayed over him). Are we to conclude that the celebration stopped the moment he went inside? Well, if this incident were to have happened in 21st century America, it probably would depend on which church he went into. Paul exhorts us, however, to resist the cloning process in our local churches, do not quench the Spirit’s work among us, and reminds us: “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” (2 Corinthians 3:17)

I find that most Christian churches are so far away from the “out of control” freedom of expression that they fear in public worship that it makes me suspicious the Deceiver is more at work in this than we think. My suggestion: let’s venture into the area of encouraging freedom of expression which is orchestrated by the Holy Spirit in our public gatherings and see if we don’t experience more salvations, healings, power for daily living, and transformed churches. Then we will no longer need to remind people that Hope is EV-Free. They will already sense it.                           

                                                                                                                                tad

                     Portions of this article were excerpted from Sweet Sixteen - Worship and Arts Team Value 12: Encourage freedom of expression.

Pastor’s Point: Preaching to the Choir


Do you ever feel like your life is like an ongoing sound check: Testing, testing… Just when you think you can see the light at the end of the tunnel, you discover it’s an oncoming train. Put another way, You know it’s going to be a bad day when…

You see a 60 Minutes news team in your office
You call suicide prevention hotline, and they put you on hold.
You turn on the news, and they’re showing emergency routes out of the city.
Your twin sister forgot your birthday.
Your car horn goes off accidentally and remains stuck as you follow a group of Hell’s Angels on the highway.
Your boss tells you not to bother to take off your coat.
Your income tax check bounces.
You put both contact lenses in the same eye.

OK, so chances are none of those things is in your immediate future, but what about others, such as

You remain unemployed after months, if not years, of seeking work
Your home feels increasingly unsafe due to emotional or physical abuse
Your childhood innocence was shattered by sexual abuse
One of your parents abandoned you just when you needed them most
You are drowning in debt and see no way of escape
Your prayers for deliverance from addiction seem to go unanswered
You are facing retirement with uncertainty and financial instability

Where is God then? Is He on a break? Does He still care? And why does it seem that folks who don’t know God or aren’t even remotely trying to live for Him are prospering? Have you ever even been tempted to ask these kinds of questions? Well, welcome to the club! One of King David’s very own protégés, Asaph, put it all down in writing for us in his famous rant which we now call Psalm 73. Portions of it go like this:

[At times I am tempted to envy] the proud when I [see] them prosper despite their

wickedness.They seem to live such painless lives; their bodies are so healthy and strong.

They don’t have troubles like other people; they’re not plagued with problems like everyone else.

They wear pride like a jeweled necklace and clothe themselves with cruelty.

These fat cats have everything their hearts could ever wish for!

They scoff and speak only evil; in their pride they seek to crush others.

They boast against the very heavens, and their words strut throughout the earth.

And so [I am] dismayed and confused, drinking in all their words.

What does God know? Does the Most High even know what’s happening?

Look at these wicked people—enjoying a life of ease while their riches multiply.

Did I keep my heart pure for nothing? Did I keep myself innocent for no reason?

Then I went into your sanctuary, O God, and I finally understood the destiny of the wicked. Truly,

you put them on a slippery path and send them sliding over the cliff to destruction. In an instant they are destroyed, completely swept away by terrors.

 When you arise, O Lord, you will laugh at their silly ideas as a person laughs at dreams in the morning.

Then I realized that my heart was bitter, and I was all torn up inside.

I was so foolish and ignorant—I must have seemed like a senseless animal to you.

Yet I still belong to you; you hold my right hand.

You guide me with your counsel, leading me to a glorious destiny.

Whom have I in heaven but you? I desire you more than anything on earth.

My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak,

but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever.

There are times in this life when the only thing we can cling to is the surety of our relationship with God. We sing it this Sunday in our special, “I Know Who I Am.” I am yours and You are mine. Let that be ‘nuf said!’ To follow Jesus requires that we fix our eyes on Him and not get distracted by what’s going on in other peoples’ lives. There will always be someone who is smarter than you, wittier, more physically fit, better looking, appears to have a better family, smarter kids, more devoted spouse, blah, blah, blah. Comparisons are usually a bad idea. No sooner to you post on your bumper that your kid is an honor roll student than you are met with ’My kid can beat up your honor roll student!’ And on and on it goes.

What Asaph learned was what Yogi Berra, the famous Yankee catcher, once opined: “It ain’t over ‘til it’s over.” God has the final word, and what is true in the short run is not always indicative of one’s ultimate destiny. My (then) unsaved, much richer brother used to torment me with “when are you going to get a real job?” as he heaped up wealth and success pursuing the ‘good life.’ Sadly, he died at age 51 from alcoholism, with a broken marriage, a son who today is an atheist and a daughter who struggled for years in and out of jail. Fortunately for him, he came to Christ before he died, but left behind were the casualties of the slippery slope on which he lived his life.

So if you are in a season of ‘testing, testing’ right now, hold on to what you know to be true. You belong to God. And like the prayer you might have learned as a child, He is great and He is good. Asaph was right—whom have I in heaven but Him? Can I get an Amen?

                                                                                                                           tad

Pastor’s Point: The Only Thing We Have to Fear Is Fear Itself…and things that go ‘bump’ in the night.


Yeah, what did FDR know about it anyway? “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” Right. Try telling that to a little boy growing up in South Dakota, far away from the wilds of Africa, but who still thought it necessary to pull his covers up around him (on the top bunk no less) so that tigers and lions couldn’t grab them and crawl up in his bed to eat him. Thinking back, I learned at least two things about fear pretty early on. First, it preys on our imagination, not of what is but what could be. And secondly, it must be managed or it can control us.

As a young lad, I had a vivid imagination. My mom used to say I’d have an ulcer by 15, because I was a worrier. Two of my biggest fears were (don’t laugh) people with handicaps and wild animals. As a toddler, I was traumatized by a young deaf man who would come to our house and could only communicate with guttural sounds and gestures. I found him frightening. Later in my early elementary school years, I found a man with no legs tipped over in his wheelchair near my home. I ran in the house to get help, but couldn’t keep from wondering if he could hurt me if I got close to him. Still another memory involved an usher in our church who (I kid you not) had a hook in place of an amputated hand, and when I went to put in my offering, he clamped the plate with this frightening appendage.

My second fear—that of jungle animals—came from our visiting an exhibit at the St Louis zoo. I remember locking eyes with a famous gorilla named Bushman who had died and been stuffed for all the world to see (and fear!). These two destabilizing fears—handicapped people and jungle animals—finally teamed up in my most vivid nightmare as a child. In the dream, I was on my backyard swing being pushed by my grandmother when what should appear out of the bushes behind me but a one-legged gorilla with a peg leg?! I froze in terror, and even though my grandmother repeatedly yelled for me to run, I couldn’t move. Only waking from the dream saved me from some horrific conclusion.

I’m sure many of you are shaking your heads and saying, “well this explains a lot.” But as absurd as it all seems to me (and you) now, I still recall how real all these fears were to me then and how firm was their grip on me throughout my childhood. Because left unchallenged, that’s how fear works. You and I are tempted throughout our life to be anxious about things, most of which will never happen or are not real threats. They dwell in the realm of what could be or perhaps what has happened to others, but will, in fact, never touch us. When tempted to camp out in these “mind” fields, we would do better to meditate on God’s word and engage in some rational Christian thinking. The psalmist describes the mental gymnastics like this:

The LORD is my light and my salvation—so why should I be afraid?

The LORD is my fortress, protecting me from danger, so why should I tremble?

Though a mighty army surrounds me, my heart will not be afraid.

Even if I am attacked, I will remain confident.

David knew the first rule of managing fear was to acknowledge it and then face it with faith. What I did as a child in moments of fear was to magnify the object of dread and minimize the One who could deliver me (Psalm 34:4). The antidote to these encounters is to do just the opposite.

The one thing I ask of the LORD—the thing I seek most—is to live in the [presence] of the LORD all the days of my life,

delighting in the LORD’s perfections and meditating in his Temple.

For he will conceal me there when troubles come; he will hide me in his sanctuary.

There I will offer sacrifices with shouts of joy, singing and praising the LORD with music.

Yet I am confident I will see the LORD’s goodness while I am here in the land of the living.

It was only after growing in my confidence in the Lord that I could see fear for what it really is…unfaith. Paul writes “be anxious for nothing” and that “God has not given us a spirit of fear.” Scripture teaches that we are not only to acknowledge fear but to confess it:

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.

Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.

It’s a bit like temptation. A thought in the mind is not in and of itself sin. It’s where we let that thought take us…to an obsession, an action, a habit, eventually to an addiction. But even Jesus was tempted, perhaps even to be afraid at times. In asking God to examine our anxious thoughts, we, like David, are praying that our thought life would not be allowed to offend God. Even our anxious thoughts. The remedy? Worship. And better yet, corporate worship, where others can encourage us and buoy us with their faith. Psalm 34 invites us:

Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt His name together.

I sought the Lord and He answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.

Those who look to Him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame.

Speaking as your worship pastor and choir director, my face will be covered with a lot less shame if you keep these admissions from my childhood on the “down low.” Besides, I totally don’t need to sleep on the top bunk anymore.

                                                                                                                                                            tad

Pastor’s Point

Welcome to each and every one of you who have joined us this fall! I hope you have had a refreshing break and are raring to go. To you veterans, you have been missed! To you rookies, we are glad you are here and hope you still feel the same in a few months!! As we start another choir season, we are following the theme “Shine Like Stars” throughout this year, taken from Philippians 2:  “Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life.”  

Each week, we want to look at a specific way we can achieve stardom, not as celebrities but as bright lights that make a difference. As a worship community, we will be studying a set of 16 core values (Sweet Sixteen) we hold up as a way of doing life together biblically. We begin that journey this Sunday as we look at the value of knowing the Word. In addition, this space in our newsletter will be devoted to sharing practical ways we can become brighter in our ministry toward one another and those we serve. While it is called the Pastor’s Point, I’d like to open it up to any of you who would like to contribute an article on this very topic.

As we start a new season, I am aware that each of us, here for the first time or “old-timers” wants to belong, to feel a part of, not apart from the group. And we want to be welcomed and accepted as we are, “warts and all.” Ken Medema, a blind, contemporary Christian songwriter, once wrote these words, referring to the church:

If this is not a place where tears are understood, where can I go to cry?

And if this is not a place where my spirit can take wing, where can I go to fly?

His chorus was equally compelling:

I don’t need another place for trying to impress you with just how good and

virtuous I am.

I don’t need another place for always being on top of things,

everybody knows

 that it’s a sham.

In truth, no matter where we spend the hours of each day, we can be surrounded by people and still feel alone. Maybe it’s because we are in a certain life situation, have a certain color of skin, or have arrived at a certain age that we don’t feel fully accepted. Put another way, we’ve been moved to the margins. We’ve all heard the term marginalized. It refers to those people or persuasions which are out of the mainstream, less influential, or even completely devalued. The dictionary lists, among it’s meanings, “the edge of something, especially the outer edge or the area close to it; the part farthest from the center- that part of anything, e.g., a society or organization, that is least integrated with the center. Least often considered, least typical or most vulnerable.”

Have you ever felt out of the mainstream, devalued, without influence where you want it most…in your job, in your marriage or family, in this church? Or maybe you are one of those who easily flows with the idea that in this dog-eat-dog world of ours, there will always be those who are “losers”, undesirables, or just inconveniences? In such a Darwinian approach to the masses, what’s the big deal when someone less educated, less attractive, perhaps less spiritual than the mainstream goes under for the third time?

But if we take our cues as shining stars from the Light of the World himself, it is a big deal. As our Good Shepherd, he relentlessly pursues those very kinds of people. Those people like you and me. I think of the line from the familiar hymn, “Come Thou Fount”– Jesus sought me when a stranger, wand’ring from the fold of God. Talk about your margins! While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. We weren’t just a little off-center…we were nearly over the cliff!

May it never be an acceptable notion to any of us at Hope that we are outside the margins of God’s love and redemption plan…ever! And may it be equally intolerable that we would view even one person we encounter as less than us or unworthy of the touch of God. As God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, let’s use margins for writing papers, not classifying people.

So, again, welcome to this choir season! Welcome to what I believe will be an exciting year of service, outreach and fun. But also welcome to the grand lab experiment we call Christian community, where we learn how to worship with a lot more than words.

                                                                                                                                                     tad