Dear Friends,

“Those who danced,” wrote Angela Monet, “were thought to be quite insane by those who could not hear the music.”  Perhaps this is why those who attend worship each week discover a strange vitality that powers them throughout their lives — a joy which cannot be understood or felt by those who do not.  This Sunday is Music Appreciation Sunday at San Dieguito UMC, a day to give thanks for the holy “insanity” we share together through the ministry of our music program.  It is a day to honor the extraordinary work of so many people — about 120 adults and youth and children — who contribute to the worship life of our congregation each week, and whose songs of praise lead us to the holy mountain of God.  I know you will want to join me this week in giving thanks for their ministry of music and the joy that it brings to our lives.  Our text, appropriate for the occasion, will be Psalm 47: “Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with songs of joy.”

See you Sunday,
Rev. Mark

Dear Friends,
 
If you’ve ever been given a “promotion” at work, you’ve likely felt both elation and at least a little dread.  What feels like a blessing will surely also be something of a burden – longer hours, greater responsibility, more stress, less sleep.  It’s easier to just stay put and do the job you’ve always done, to do what you are told and, at the end of the day, to punch the clock and not have to take your work home with you.  But then the promotion comes, and you’re staying late, making greater sacrifices, asking more questions, dealing with problems which previously did not concern you.  With the blessing comes the burden.

Jesus, in preparing to say his final goodbye to his disciples, said to them, “I no longer call you servants, but friends” (John 15:9-17).  It was a statement that fundamentally changed their relationship with Jesus.  They had been promoted.  Before, they just did what they were told: feed the hungry, heal the sick, forgive sins, etc…  They never really asked a lot of questions.  They just did the work, because they were servants. 

But now Jesus calls them friends.  And what is a friend?  How do you define a true friend?  If you are a true friend to someone, you take seriously, even personally, what the friend takes seriously – their problems, their passions, their purposes.  You will say, “If it’s important to you, it’s important to me.  I will do anything for you.  Anything.”  

The servant comes and goes as he pleases, doing the job and getting something in return.  The servant maintains proper “boundaries.”  The servant doesn’t sit around wondering what the boss is thinking, or how the company is really doing.  But the friend of Jesus knows the mind and the heart of the boss.  There is a reciprocity; there is shared responsibility.  They are both subjects undergoing the passion and pain of loving the world.  The friends of Jesus, like Jesus himself, know what keeps God up at night while the rest of the world is sleeping.

We are the friends of Jesus.  We do not come and go as we please.  What mattered to him must matter to us.  We know the mind of Jesus, the heart of Jesus, the depth of his mercy, the boundlessness of his compassion.  As his friends, we know the great problems of the world, and we know what we are to do.

This is a blessing, and it’s a burden.  That’s how we know that it’s love.

See you Sunday,

Rev. Mark

Dear Friends,

Last week we celebrated Confirmation Sunday and welcomed nine of our students into the life of the Church.  Another group of our older high school students are currently exploring the Christian faith as they prepare to be confirmed next month.  All of this is evidence that our youth program is thriving under the great leadership of our Youth Director, Chelsea Simon.

This Sunday our Jr. High and High School students will lead us in worship for our annual Youth Sunday Service.  Four of our graduating seniors will share their faith from the pulpit; our youth band will lead music; and more than a dozen of our students will lead various parts of our worship – including what promises to be a lively Children’s Moment. 

I am so proud of our students and inspired by the commitments they have made to God, to their church, and to the needs of our broader community.   I know you’ll want to join me this Sunday as we celebrate this vital ministry in our church. 

See you Sunday,

Rev. Mark

Dear Friends,

Leadership is all the rage these days.  It seems that everyone has something to say about what makes effective, or successful, or persuasive leaders.  Over the years I have read books on “servant” leadership, and “primal” leadership,” “courageous” leadership and “crisis” leadership.”  I’ve read books on the twenty-one laws, and the six steps, and the seven habits, and the twelve keys of leadership.  I’ve even attended a few leadership conferences over the years, shuffling from one seminar to another with my colleagues, listening to leadership gurus teach what, for the most part, is written in the new book they’re hoping I will buy. 

There are countless experts on the subject of leadership, and yet we are reminded everyday that the world suffers from a glaring shortage of genuine leaders.  Read the daily headlines and you will see the overwhelming evidence of people who, from positions of great authority, have abandoned their values, betrayed trust, exploited and manipulated people for self-gain.  Jesus called them not leaders, but “hired hands.”  They may be skilled at what they do, but in the end, their ambition is self-serving. 
 

Jesus modeled a different kind of leadership.  In the tenth chapter of the Gospel of John, he reveals himself as “The Good Shepherd” whose purpose, in contrast to the hired hands, is to serve and protect the sheep, even at the risk of losing his own life.  “I am the Good Shepherd.  I know my sheep and my sheep know me…  And I lay down my life for my sheep.”  
 

We are all leaders, in some form or other.  Whether we occupy positions of influence in the corporate world or coach the local Little League team; whether we lead a Bible Study or Chair a church committee; whether we are parents or grandparents or pastors or playground partners at the local elementary school, we are to understand ourselves as leaders.  And this Sunday morning we hear the words of our Good Shepherd, who says that to lead, something of us must be laid down.  A part of the self must be freely surrendered in order to take up the mantle of life-giving leadership. 
 

As we reflect this week on our own calling to lead like Jesus, we celebrate the confirmation of ten of our students who, over the last several weeks, have studied what it means to follow the Good Shepherd, and committed their lives to serving the world as the new generation of Christian leaders in his name. 
 

I’ll see you Sunday,

Rev. Mark

If you had to convince a few of your best friends that you had just been raised from the dead, how exactly would you make your case?  How would you convince them that it really is you?  Would you tell them a story from the past, or repeat an inside joke, that only you could know?  Would you ask them to look deeply into your eyes for the truth, or to listen closely to your voice for the familiar words and inflections?  How would you prove that it really is you?

When Jesus drops in on his disciples three days after his death, they are faced with two possibilities: either Jesus did not actually die on the cross, or he is a ghost.  The first was not a very real possibility – they had, after all, seen the cross, the body, the tomb, the burial rags, all of which were pretty convincing.  The second possibility, however, seemed a bit more plausible, given what they knew and what they saw standing before them that day.

But it really is his old self.  He’s different now, of course, but it’s the same Jesus.  Look at my hands, my feet, where I was pinned to the wood.  Do ghosts have wounds?  Touch me – do ghosts feel so real?  Still unconvinced, they put some broiled fish in front of him, and he ate it. 

Jesus was resurrected.  What came back to life was his very body, not just his spirit.  And his body wasn’t all cleaned up and perfect; it was scarred and broken.  He wanted us to know that crucifixion and resurrection were inseparable, that rejection, crucifixion, and pain were not detours on his journey, but necessary steps on the journey to save humanity.  In his death, he had taken on all of these things; in his resurrection, he had overcome them.

So he showed them who he was – wounds and all – and said to them, “You are my witnesses.”  As witnesses, they would tell the world the truth of what they had seen with their own two eyes, to give the whole of their lives as evidence to the truth.  If the world would have any chance of believing that suffering and death and violence do not have the last word, then the disciples would have to do thesame thing Jesus did – invite the world to see, to feel, to touch the ache and the awe of their own lives. 

There are times when our own life stories, if told with humility and grace, have the power to lift others out of their own present darkness and despair — to inspire in them faith and courage when all seems lost.  It is why, on occasion, we sing, “I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see.”  This is our witness as Christians.  In the risen Christ, there is power to overcome the world.  

See you Sunday,

Rev. Mark

bulletin Announcements

Dear Friends:

The crowning evidence that Jesus was alive was not a vacant grave,
but a spirit-filled fellowship.
Not a rolled-away stone but a carried away church.
Clarence Jordan

We gather in worship this Sunday as Easter people, revived and renewed by the power of the Easter message. We welcome to the pulpit this Sunday, Rev. Chuck Hoffman, former Senior Minister of our church. Chuck’s sermon will be “It’s About Life” and he will be preaching from John 20:19-31. It is always a pleasure and an inspiration to have Rev. Hoffman with us in worship and I know that you will welcome him warmly.

As many of you gather for worship on Sunday, remember those of us who will be on the Women’s Retreat in Temecula.

Easter Blessings,

Rev. Martha Wingfield

Dear Friends,

It will be another wonderful Easter celebration this year, with inspiring music from our choir and brass ensemble, a message of resurrection hope, and our annual butterfly release for all ages following both services. 

Easter reminds us that it is never too late to begin again, or to start in a new direction.  As such, I encourage you to come with an open heart as we hear again the story of how God rolls away stones and invites us live abundant lives that are committed to the transformation of the world.  It’s a great opportunity to invited a friend or neighbor to church. 

Plan on arriving early, as last year we experienced record attendance.  If you are planning to attend the 9:00 am service, I encourage those of you who are able-bodied to park off-site (the shopping center down on the corner, or the business park across the street are available for your use).  This will make it easier on many of our members and guests, especially our second service crowd.  Our butterfly release will take place after both services, in the grassy area between the Sanctuary and Founder’s Hall.  Butterflies are still available for purchase, and all proceeds will benefit our children’s and family ministries.

Yours in Christ,

Rev. Mark

Dear Friends,

When we think of the word “power,” we are likely to conceive of its most common forms in today’s society: violence, wealth, and knowledge.  The most powerful people, and most powerful nations, are those that display at least one, and often all, of these characteristics.  Power, simply defined, is the ability to do or to act, and it is no accident that the most powerful among us, generally speaking, have the biggest weapons, the greatest wealth, and the most information.  Because of this, power is not merely the capacity to act, but more often, the capacity to control and coerce. 

But in the life and ministry of Jesus, we see an altogether different kind of power on display – not the kind that seeks to coerce us into doing that which we would prefer not to do, but one that draws us to himself in love, so that our only desire would be to do that which he asks of us.  This is the effect that one’s love has on us: we want to please them.  When that desire in us is pure, free from fear or self-interest, we do not need to be coerced.  It is like the parent who understands that there will come a time when she cannot force her children to do anything, but that by her countless sacrifices made in great love, those children will come to know her will for them, and will be more apt to do it.  This kind of power is best understood as “authority.”

Palm Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week, where the worldly powers of violence, wealth and knowledge clash with this rare sacrificial power displayed in Jesus Christ.  Because his power came from God, Jesus could have defeated the worldly powers by any conventional means.  But because his nature is to love rather than coerce, the Apostle Paul reminds us that he “emptied himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:5-11).

I can think of no other reason that, for two thousand years, there are people like you and me who seek still to please him, to the glory of God the Father.

See you Sunday,

Rev. Mark

Dear Friends,

Some people, in the face of extreme hardship, or loss, or grief, find comfort in the well-known, often over-used adage that “God never gives us more than we can bear.”  Having sat with so many people over the years who have been given more than I could ever imagine bearing on my own, and having seen so many people completely overwhelmed, even crushed, by the burdens that life puts on their backs, I personally do not believe in the old cliché.  Even still, I would never argue the point with someone who chooses to believe it while in the midst of their own personal struggle.  Each of us has our own way of understanding God’s role or agency in such struggles, and each of us has our own way of persevering with hope through the worst of them.

What I do believe, and what is central to our faith as Christians, is that the worst of our struggles very often create the conditions by which new life is made possible.  God creates life where once there was – or seemed to be – no life; God restores to life that which, by all accounts, has died.  Out of “nothingness” or chaos God made the world, and in every personal experience that feels very much like “the end of the world” for us, God beckons us to new life.  From Genesis toRevelation, this is the common thread that holds the entire Biblical story together, and which sustains each of us with hope, even in our darkest nights.  In our end is our beginning.

Even as we may believe this, it is highly unlikely that any of us would personally sign up for the ride.  But it will come nonetheless – little “endings” like disappointment, loss, grief, and the ultimate “ending” that none of us can put off forever.  I think this is why Jesus, facing his own end, taught us not to fear, or lose hope, in the midst of our own.  “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains but a single seed; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:24).  This is more than some Pollyanna smile placed over life’s hardships.  Rather, it’s a hopeful, daring confidence that arises from the Christian’s conviction that no matter where life takes us, the God who created us is there with us to recreate us again and again.  

Every one of us, while enduring life’s hardships, will invariably wonder, “Why is this happening to me?”  That question is entirely permissible, and often advisable.   The Bible is full of faithful people who asked such a question, often while shaking a fist at God.  But for the one who perseveres – whose life will indeed bear much fruit even after hardship – the most important question of all must finally be asked: “What is God doing now?”

 In our end is our beginning, as it was with Christ.

 See you Sunday,

Rev. Mark

Dear Friends,

We are born wanting to know why things are the way they are, wanting to know how things work, wanting to know the meaning of things.  We are born full of questions, with an almost insatiable curiosity.  But the older we get, the more settled we often become. We stop asking questions, settling instead for answers we have always trusted to be true, or answers that seem to work just fine for us, whether they are true or not.  

Sometimes we assume that, when it comes to our faith, asking questions – rather than having answers – is a sign of an immature, or even insecure, faith.  Real Christians, we mistakenly believe, are those who have most of the answers already pinned down.  We forget that Jesus, time and time again in Scripture, patiently listens to our questions and creatively answers them – often in astonishing ways.

The most memorable verse from the New Testament, John 3:16, is actually an answer to a question posed by a very religious man.  “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but have eternal life.”  Many people know this verse by heart, yet most would not remember the question.

Nicodemus wants to know: “How can anyone be born after having grown old?  Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?”  The very question itself tells me that his being “reborn” was already underway.  Nicodemus is curious.  He senses that his old answers do not work anymore.  He is literally “in the dark.”  He comes asking, seeking, knocking on doors.

Elsewhere, Jesus tells us: ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and the door shall be opened.  This is part of what it means to be a disciple.

It turns out that the answer comes to us, not as an achievement of our intellectual inquiry, but as a gift from a God who refuses to leave us in the dark.  The gift has a face, the answer has a name: Jesus.

See you Sunday,

Rev. Mark