Transformation Meditation for 4/28

Pioneering:  Meditations for Our Transformation

Number 22                                                                   April 28, 2013

Oklahoma…Or Bust

Better than Oklahoma!

And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?  Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.  Matthew 5:47-48

…“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”  “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied [to the expert in the law]. “Do this and you will live.”  But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”  Luke 10:27b-29

The earliest song I can recall (outside of ‘Jesus Loves Me’) is ‘The Surrey with the Fringe on Top.’  I can remember my mother and an older cousin, who was kind of a baby sitter, singing it to me.  I was too young to know what a surrey was, but at three years of age, I had fringe figured out.  The song came from the 1940s Broadway hit Oklahoma!

It was many decades later (like about last week) that I realized that the story is a love story twisted around a hate story and all wrapped around another love story.

Curly McLain, the cowpoke, and Laurey Williams, the independent farm girl, circle around each other for most of the show until they settle on each other, with Laurey accepting Curly’s simple cowpoke proposal of marriage.

The open-range ranchers are forever angry about the dad-blamed penny-pinching sod busters and their fences.  The farmers have enough problems raising crops without the cattle trampling the fields and eating their corn.  But both of these dog vs. cat factions love the land and want Oklahoma Territory to become the 46^th state to enter the Union.

The song “The Farmer and the Cowman” spells out the basic problem between farmers and cowboys, as they sling insults at each other in competing stanzas until Aunt Eller steps in and straightens out things by making them all promise to “…learn this sayin’ by heart.”

“I don’t say I’m better than anybody else.
But I’ll be danged if I ain’t just as good!”

Her message is simple: just put up with one another, and show a little toleration.  And that sounds like a pretty good lesson.

But it isn’t.  Christ’s message was not a message of toleration.  Christ never said “Tolerate thy neighbor.” Christ’s message is that we are to (let’s all say it with me) LOVE one another as He loved us.  There is absolutely no room for compromise on this point.  In fact our love should put God first, everyone else next and ourselves at the very bottom of the Love list.

For all the good that comes out at the end of Oklahoma!, it is not enough if we are true followers of Christ.  When it comes to dealing with the farmers or ranchers in our three campuses, we are called to be better than Oklahoma!

I bring this up because as we are nearing the end of our wilderness travels, there is one more mountain range to cross.  It seems we’ve been trying to cross it for some time. There is no hidden pass to make crossing it any easier.  And even after we top the summit we’ll still probably have a rocky descent to the land where we will settle.

The mountain is called Mount Stuff.  It is littered with stuff we need to shed and the stuff we need to master.  It’s a combination of physical presence, emotional environment, and spiritual state that mark the continental divide between our past and our future.  It’s those treasured tangible things we must shed, those particular rituals and memories that set us apart, and those attractions to the precious past that draw us back from the future.

It will take every one of us, every talent and amount of energy we can muster to say goodbye to those things and feelings that prevent us from completing our journey together.  All of us, every single one of us will bear the scars and wounds of sacrifice on this journey, because every single one of us will sacrifice something we’ve considered precious, for the opportunity to love one another as Christ loves us.

Whether we are farmers, ranchers, merchants, or school marms; no matter where we were baptized, where we were married, or where we buried loved ones, we are now together.  We’ve traveled together for nearly two years, and we’ve enjoyed one another’s company; we’ve shared meals and

worshiped, prayed and laughed together, mourned and sung together.  It’s time to show the world we are Better than Oklahoma!

Common Prayer.  Our Father, You have continued to lead us toward the place where we can serve You in the years before us.  Abide in each one of us and lead us through the last stages of shedding things and attitudes that we may be fully prepared to be Your servants in ministry to Carlisle and the world beyond.  Remind us that we are all one in You, by the blood and resurrection of Your Son, our Savior and Master, Jesus Christ.  AMEN.

And a Joy!  Grace Campus has paid off its building debt!

To think about:  Take a personal inventory of what really counts in your faith walk.  Match it against what Jesus calls us to do.  Decide what you will do about it.

Leadership Council and Transformation Team Prayer Emphasis: Completing the interview and hiring process; preparing for the July 7^th celebration at the Fairgrounds and the July 14^th worship at the CUMC Transitional Site; completing the remaining work of the Transition Team.

Please address your feedback and comments to Charles L. Reynolds at papoo99@comcast.net.  I’d really like to hear from you!

Transition Meditation 4/14

Pioneering:  Meditations for Transforming Our Carlisle United Methodist Church

Number 21                                                             April 14, 2013

Pilate’s Report

Now Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus said, “You have said so.”  But when he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he gave no answer.  Then Pilate said to him, “Do you not hear how many things they testify against you?” But he gave him no answer, not even to a single charge, so that the governor was greatly amazed.  …Pilate said to [the crowd], “Whom do you want me to release for you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?” For he knew that it was out of envy that they had delivered him up.  [And] while he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent word to him, “Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered much because of him today in a dream.”…The governor again said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?” And they said, “Barabbas.”  Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” They all said, “Let him be crucified!”…So when Pilate saw that   a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man's blood; see to it yourselves.”  And all the people answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!”  Then he released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, delivered him to be crucified. Matthew 27 Excerpts

Pilate was an important Roman government official.  Any of us who worked for any government know that almost every activity requires some sort of periodic report.  Imagine that this is Pilate’s monthly report to his superiors.

Vale, Valerius Gratus, Counsel and Governor of Syria!  May the gods smile continually on you!

As you doubtless have learned, we in Jerusalem have experienced and weathered one more tempest stirred up by this fractious so-called religion of the Jews.  They are like mercury, both in mercurial temperament and in the propensity to run off in all directions.  I give you the facts and my opinion of the events that have transpired since the beginning of spring. 

During the annual feast they call Passover, a totally innocent and (in my opinion) deranged self-proclaimed rabbi was brought before me charged with treason against our Beloved Claudius Caesar.  At the persistent urgings of their religious leaders, I examined this Jesus of Nazareth to determine if he was a true threat to our Pax Romana, even though my wife expressed fear that I should undertake this, owing to some dream she had.

This Jesus of Nazareth was a taciturn speaker, and gave indications of some education.  The kingdom he proclaimed to me is in his mind only.  I found no criminal fault at all, merely a mystic of questionable use.  But this one took a radically opposite tack.  My spies say he healed people, even raised one from the dead, and told them not to mention his name.  Hardly the tactics of a rebel.

It was common knowledge in Jerusalem that this Jesus was persistently annoying the Pharisee sect, and obviously a thorn in the side of the Jewish leadership.  I almost thought this man was some scapegoat they were using to play a trick on us.

But at my presenting him for public verdict, it was astounding how much the Jewish leaders insisted on their allegiance to our beloved Caesar.  I actually trapped them into swearing publically before all their assembled people that they have no King but Caesar.  That should make it much easier to gather the taxes.

When I extracted that pledge from the lips of the Jewish leadership, I simply washed my hands and gave Jesus to them to satisfy their crucifixion lust.  They moved from the blood of sheep to human sacrifice.  How deranged are these people, I wonder.

Of all things, to add another element of the macabre to the day, we experienced an earthquake and a deep darkening of the sky for some hours after midday.  There was some damage to their temple I understand, some temple curtain being ripped in two, but nothing of significance to Roman property. 

There were also rumors that his tomb was looted and his body stolen by his followers.  I learned that my soldiers were asleep and have since punished them, especially for taking a substantial bribe from the Sanhedrim leadership and not giving me my due.  But no Jesus sightings and I have my spies about. 

Altogether, I consider this a superb surgical execution with an extra twist of the knife into these Jewish leaders: My strategy was adapted from an expression from one of their many prophets: “Strike the shepherd and the sheep will scatter.”

I suppose someone else will take this Jesus’ place as the “Messiah” of the day, giving these scum their own equivalent of bread and circuses.  How these provincials become so frenzied by any religious trickster who appeals to their national pride and past!

This Jesus artlessly claimed that his kingdom was not of this world!  Well, he can now live in it, as his death is well witnessed.

I assure you nothing more will ever come from this crucifixion.

Dear Valerius Gratus, is there any word of a posting back to our beloved Rome?  Perhaps a promotion, considering my skill in averting another Jewish revolt in this god-forsaken backwater?

Back to 2013.  A few days ago Earl Keller and I heard at a Men’s Rally, our bishop, Jeremiah Park, sum up the Easter experience by saying “Good Friday showed us what the world can do; Easter showed what God can do.”

When Pilate struck the Shepherd, the sheep did scatter, but not as he imagined.  They scattered to every corner of the globe to announce the Gospel.  If ever there was a Big Bang, it was that; and the reverberations are all around us to this day. 

Think of this: when Jesus answered the question about paying taxes (Remember April 15^th), He said to pay Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to pay God what is God’s.  This was not some snappy comeback.  It was exactly what the Christ was called to do – to pay to God, His Father, what all humanity owed to atone for our sin, the price of our souls.  That Easter morning every cent of the sin tax was paid in full for every human who ever walked or who will ever walk the face of this planet. 

We cannot pay it back, but we are called to pay it forward by sharing the redeeming love of Christ with all in Carlisle, our very first mission area.

We can do this if we are one in Christ, in our fellowship, and we celebrate Easter Sunday every Sunday wherever Carlisle United Methodist Church is assembled.

Common Prayer.  O Christ, help us to respond to Your sacrifice on the cross with a love and unity among ourselves that bursts from our hearts to all we will learn to love.  AMEN.

Transformation Emphasis for the days ahead:

Our Pastors; Our Council, Team, and Focus Group members; Our sisters and brothers as we journey toward Pentecost and on toward our union with You in Carlisle.

Please address your feedback and comments to Charles L. Reynolds at papoo99@comcast.net. I’d really like to hear from you!