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There has been a lot of
building happening here in recent weeks. Have you noticed the Welcome
Center and Library that have been developing just outside the
sanctuary? I walked in there the other day and I found documents that
are both familiar and foreign. They are called blueprints. I refer
to them as familiar, because I see them all over the place. I call
them foreign, because I can’t make heads or tails out of them.
However, the builders can read them. It is not uncommon to walk into
a construction area and see builders huddled around the blueprints to
make sure that they are proceeding as planned. I think every
blueprint could be entitled, “Watch where you’re going.”
We find the blueprint
for our faith in this book – the Bible. Many Bibles have heading over
passages, to give the reader a sense of what that passage is about. I
am sure several of these sections could be titled, “Watch where
you’re going!” I think this is what Paul wanted to convey to
Timothy in his second letter to the young pastor. Listen to his words
in 2 Timothy 1:3-7. Hear now the Word of the Lord:
3I am grateful to God—whom I worship with a clear
conscience, as my ancestors did—when I remember you constantly in my
prayers night and day. 4Recalling your tears, I long to see
you so that I may be filled with joy. 5I am reminded of
your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois
and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, lives in you. 6For
this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within
you through the laying on of my hands; 7for God did not
give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of
love and of self-discipline.
The
Word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. In this passage
Paul told Timothy to frequently fan the flame of faith. Let us pray.
We
are moving toward the end of our Fulfilling the Vision
campaign, an effort to provide for the ministries and facilities of
this church through three-year commitments above and beyond our tithes
and offerings. It is a big task that requires clear communication of
the vision and commitment to the vision. As we move toward next
week’s Festival of the Vision, let me encourage you to watch
where you’re going!
Remember Where You’ve Been
Paul
began his letter to Timothy by remembering where they had been. Paul
met Timothy on one his trips through the area we now call southern
Turkey, in the towns of Lystra and Derbe. Timothy would later pastor
the church in Ephesus for 15 years and was no doubt among the leaders
of that city who wept when Paul left them in Acts 20. I can imagine
Paul sitting down at the desk to write to his child in the faith and
his mind flooding with memories. Four times in this brief passage he
uses some form of the word “remember”. He remembered Timothy’s
tenderness as well as the faith of his mother and grandmother.
Memories must be an important part of our faith journey.
This
past week the West District held a 24-hour pastor’s retreat at Camp
Allen. Thomas Q. Robbins, the pastor of Marlin United Methodist
Church, brought the opening message and talked about the importance of
remembering where we’ve been. He drew a circle on the whiteboard and
then in the middle of the circle put his name. All throughout that
circle he listed people who have influenced his faith journey. Some
were close to the center - these were the most influential to him.
Some were closer to the edge of the circle – these were those who
though less directly influential were still a part of his journey. He
wasn’t even through with the circle before I started to remember all
the people who have played significant roles in my faith journey:
Grandpa Gilts, Gary, Ron, Tank, Gene, Alan, Cheryl, Ellie, Georgia,
Lenna, Tom…the more names I remembered the more that appeared in my
mind. Then I started to remember all those who have played such an
incredible role in this church’s journey. Look at the honorary
chairpersons of Fulfilling the Vision: Bob Cochran, Annie &
Nelson Durst, Marie & Benton Storey, Bobbie Sue & Cleve Walkup, Violet
& Bob Waters. Each of these leaders has touched so many lives through
this congregation. Before them other generations of Fred Brison,
Margaret & Earl Rudder, Polly & Jack Kent, Dean Edwin J. Kyle (for
whom a stadium in town was named).
This
past week I was visiting with Bob & Violet Waters. I love to give Bob
a hard time, but the truth is every pastor who has followed his
leadership has had the advantage of standing taller because of his
faith. We were talking about Fulfilling the Vision and its
ambitious goal of 2.5 million dollars. I remembered hearing about
this church doing something even more ambitious in the early 1980’s,
when Dr. Waters served as senior pastor. The opportunity came for
this church to buy the Baptist Church on the corner of Church Street
and Lodge Street. This church voted to purchase the property and
pledged 1.2 million dollars to do so. That was more than three times
the operating budget at the time. Today’s goal is about two times our
operating budget. Remembering where we’ve been encourages me to move
forward in Fulfilling the Vision. To do so each of us must
heed the warning to watch where you’re going.
Rekindle the Faith that Drives
You
Paul, having remembered so
much about Timothy, reminded his friend to rekindle the gift of God
within him. This word for “rekindle” can mean one of two things: it
can mean “to kindle afresh” or “to keep in full flame”. Either way,
the end result was that the flame of Timothy’s faith was to burn
brightly. Memories were important, but dynamic, living faith was
essential. I like how Eugene Peterson put this in his paraphrase,
The Message, “And the special gift of ministry you
received…keep that ablaze!”
That one verse reminded me
of a scene from The Rookie, a movie about Jim Morris from Big
Lake, Texas who went back to pro baseball at the age of 35 to pursue
his dream of being a Major League baseball player. In the movie,
Morris is tired and concerned about bills back home while he paid his
dues in the minor leagues. He is on the phone to his wife ready to
quit and come home to return to teaching when his wife asked him that
one question that turned everything around, “Do you still love it?”
After hanging up the phone he wandered out to the lights of a Little
League ballpark and watched the kids play the game with pure delight.
He smiled. The next day he walked into the clubhouse not as an old
man on a young team, but as a kid with a grin that would not go away.
He went up to one of the young players and said, “Do you know what we
get to do today, Brooks? We get to play baseball.”
I think of that scene a
lot. In fact, I bought the entire movie for that one scene. It is
easy to get bogged down with the details of life. I can stress out
over campaigns and leaks and libraries. I can forget the joy I felt
when Bob Parrot called me and invited me to pastor my very first
church in San Leon, Texas. When I stood in the pulpit shaking with the
nerves of a rookie before those 25 people, I was filled with joy. I
was doing what God called me to do. Do you know what I get to do
today? I get to pastor a church. Do I still love it? You bet I
do. Guess what we get to do today? We get to be the church today,
more specifically A&M United Methodist Church. Do you still love it?
Keep that ablaze! It is important that you remember where
you’ve been and imperative that you rekindle the faith that drives
you. These are two steps that help you to watch where you’re
going.
Reflect the One Who Calls You
Paul told Timothy that it
was important for him to reflect the spirit of the One who called
him. The NRSV translation begins verse seven with “God did not give
us a spirit of cowardice.” I prefer the NIV translation, “God did not
give us a spirit of timidity.” It sounds less indicting. Perhaps
that is because of an occurrence earlier this month.
Many of you know we had Methodist night at the
Astros game a couple of weeks ago. Somehow I was put in charge of the
West District ticket sales, which wound up being 151 tickets. The
only problem was, we only had 143 people going to the game. This left
me stuck with 8 tickets. I figured that was no big deal. The tickets
were half off the usual price, because we were such a large group. I
simply stopped a few people coming to the ticket window and explained
the situation, “We are with a church group and over bought by eight
tickets. They are half of what you will pay at the window.” Sure
enough the first people to approach the window bought two tickets.
“This is going to be easy,” I thought to myself. The next people were
a little leery and wanted to see where the seats were. I went up to
the ticket window where the seating chart was and began pointing out
the seats. The ticket agent behind the window asked me a silly
question, “Are you giving those tickets away?” I gave her my
well-rehearsed line about being part of a church group, overbuying,
selling them at half price, etc. She then replied, “Unless you are
giving them away you are breaking the law and I’m calling the
police.” That’s when I discovered what the spirit of timidity looks
like. I could see the headlines in the Houston Chronicle, “United
Methodist pastor arrested for scalping tickets on Methodist Night.”
Yes, I know what the spirit of timidity looks like.
Instead we have been given a spirit of power and of
love and of self-discipline. One commentator wrote, “Timothy was
reminded not only of the greatness of his calling, but also of the
adequacy of the divine grace which enables him to perform it.”
The Message reads in verse 7, “God
doesn’t want us to shy with his gifts.” I felt this scripture come to
life when Tammy and I discussed what we would pledge toward
Fulfilling the Vision. We landed on a number larger than we have
ever pledged to a capital effort. I was convinced that God doesn’t
want us to be shy with his gifts. We then started looking closely at
our Faith Ledger keeping track of unexpected income and above and
beyond giving. So far we have received more than our first year’s
pledge in unexpected income from unexpected sources, and one of them
was the U.S. government.
I am excited about the faith
journey that we are on as a church. I am thrilled to have the
opportunity to watch where we’re going. Remember where
we’ve been and you will be encouraged. Rekindle the
faith within you and you will be inspired. Reflect the
spirit of the One who calls you and you will be directed as to what
your commitment will be.
Fulfilling the Vision will require two things
from this congregation: the first is larger gifts than some of you
have ever made in your life – this is called legacy giving and some
have already made such commitments. The second thing this effort will
require is more members participating than we have had in any other
campaign. Estimates are that 455 family units will need to respond
for this church to claim its goal. This goal is over 150 more family
units than responded three years ago, but it is still less than
two-thirds of our membership. We can do it, if we watch where
we’re going. Remember, rekindle, reflect. Amen. |
