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6-6-10 Listen Watch Video
Order of Worship
Dear Friends,
If someone were to ask you where God is to be found, how would you respond? Would you send them to a particular place, with a specific address? Or would you point to a particular group of people and say, “You’ll find God among them.” Would you send them to a quiet stretch along Moonlight beach, or to a long set of steps that lead high up into the Himalayas, or to the wide-open solitude of the desert, or to the crowded Western Wall of Jerusalem.? Where is God to be found?
The truth, of course, is that God can be found in all such places. Each of us can likely name a place, or a circumstance from our past, in which we experienced the presence of God in real and powerful ways. Maybe it was at church, or on a retreat, or in your living room, or in a distant, unfamiliar place.
This Sunday, Luke tells us a story about the day Jesus showed up in a powerful and memorable way. In a little town called Nain, Jesus raised a young man from the dead. To the casual reader it might sound like just another miracle story in the Bible, but for Luke, it was not the miracle itself that caught his attention. Rather, it was what all the people of Nain were saying afterwards: “God has visited us.”
Sometimes the real miracle is not that God chooses to visit us, in both extraordinary and ordinary ways, but that we actually recognize it when it does indeed happen.
I’ll see you Sunday.
Rev. Mark
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5-23-10 Listen Watch Video
Dear Friends,
Of all the painful experiences we are apt to endure in our lives, I suspect that the experience of being misunderstood is among the most painful of all. You have a casual conversation with someone and, through no fault of your own, your words are somehow misconstrued and feelings are hurt and suddenly the air between the two of you is thick with clouds of misunderstanding and bitterness – and you wonder, “What did I say?” Or, you talk with someone you trust about a very personal matter, something from the heart that is still very tender and painful and delicate, and that person dismisses it as “nothing” or “no big deal,” or gives you advice that sounds more like a cheap cliché than anything that might be even remotely true – and you wonder, “Did he not hear me? Does she not understand what I am going through?” Or you commit yourself to some great personal goal, or some social cause, pouring every bit of energy into fulfilling some new calling, and someone minimizes your efforts or the significance of the cause – and you wonder, “Does this person not see what this means to me, or what it means to others?”
Several years ago John Grey, in his popular book, noted that the reason men and women struggle to communicate with one another is that they are from different planets. But I am not so sure our inability to communicate and understand one another is merely a gender issue; rather, it’s very much a spiritual one. It’s a problem in every circle of human relationships – even in the church. Which is why the Day of Pentecost is a pivotal moment in the life of the church. On that day, fifty days after Easter, the early Christians – from just about every corner of the earth – began to understand one another, because the Holy Spirit was finally and fully among them. It wasn’t that they all suddenly agreed with one another on every issue, or that they put aside their diversity in order to conform to one particular perspective. Rather, it was that God’s Spirit showed up, blowing through them like wind, clearing the air, so that they could see and hear one another truthfully, and with love.
See you Sunday as we celebrate Pentecost,
Rev. Mark
5/2/10 Listen Watch Video
Dear Friends,
I have lost count of the number of times over the years that I have heard someone try to sum up the Christian faith by saying that, in the end, “it’s all about the Golden Rule” – that is, doing to others as you would have them do unto you. While it is true that Jesus, on at least three occasions, commanded us to live in such a way, I am not so sure that this is the distinguishing characteristic of how a Christian ought to relate to others in the world. As far as I can tell, thirteen other world religions follow, in some form, the principle of the Golden Rule. This ethical code of conduct, based upon the principle of reciprocity, was a pre-Christian concept intended to keep the peace and ensure justice within and between communities of diverse peoples. For Jesus, the Golden Rule was a good place to start, but it was never intended to become the standard.
This Sunday, we read from John 13 in which Jesus, facing the end of his life, gave his disciples one last lesson, and one more commandment: “Love one another, as I have loved you… By this, others will know that you are my disciples.” Here, in this passage, we come to see the distinguishing characteristic of a Christian: a love that knows no boundaries, that is willing to go to great lengths, and to make great sacrifices, in order to redeem what would otherwise be a lost cause. What we have here in this passage is not a derivative of the Golden Rule, but a way of life that transcends reciprocity. It says, “Do to me what you will, and I will still love you. Take what belongs to me, throw everything you have at me, take even my very life, and I will still love you.” This is Jesus’ “new commandment,” and while we do not have a name for it, we might think of it as the Titanium Rule, because there is nothing more powerful and resilient than this kind of love in the world.
When you join the Christian community, when you become part of a church, you are signing up for this kind of love. This is your calling, the life Jesus commands you to live: to love the way he loves, not merely the way the world loves.
This Sunday, we’re confirming fifteen of our young people after several weeks of preparation. We will baptize five of them; two other baptisms will take place at the second service. More than 25 people will join us after church for our “Lunch with the Pastors” to explore membership in the church. All of these, I believe, have heard the call to live the distinctive life to which Jesus has called them, adding to the ranks of those who believe that the power of redemptive love can and will change the world.
God is at work among us in this season of resurrection. Remarkable things are happening here at San Dieguito UMC. I trust that you will see them and respond in faithful and sacrificial ways.
See you Sunday,
Rev. Mark
4-14-10
sign-up for the Strength to Strength Capital Campaign Prayer Vigil. It begins on April 17th at 9:00 AM and continues for 24 hours. Our hope is to have three people praying each hour throughout this time. Please click on 24 Hour Prayer Vigil Sign-up to view the available spaces and then contact Cindy Fountain at 760-479-0544 or ca.fountain@yahoo.com.The Capital Campaign begins April 18th. Please click on E-Newsletter April 2010 to access this important all-congregation newsletter. (Please be patient while downloading this is a large file)