Where do you go to Church?  What do you say when people ask you that?

When I was a kid, going to church was the rule.  We went to church at First Baptist in Colman, South Dakota and then Ramsey Baptist in Montrose South Dakota.  It may surprise you to hear this — me being a pastor and all — but I didn’t always like it.  We went Sunday morning, Sunday evening, Wednesday evening, and youth group, rarely did we miss.  But I do remember trying to miss… a few times.  You may remember “Wonderful World of Disney?”  It was always half over when it was time to leave for the evening worship service.  Where do you suppose I wanted to be?

Now let me proclaim, I am so thankful that my parents forced — yes even though my Father’s favorite line was “you don’t have to go to church, you get to go to church” sometimes forced was the proper verb — forced me to go to church all the time.  It created good habits in my life that were hard to break.

But I wonder if Jesus ever intended for church to be an address?  At Calvary we have four different addresses with six different worship gatherings, and I love them all.  But church is not an address.  In fact, I don’t think the church Jesus said he would built was ever meant to be stationary.  Perhaps we should stop asking, “Where do you go to church?”  Perhaps we should start asking, “Where is your church going?”

Okay — all of that to say — two weekends ago, I did not go to church.  I was a part of the church that is going to people all over our community.  Very simply, we cancelled our worship gatherings for the weekend and went out to serve.  It was a great way to worship and a great way to encounter Jesus.  Watch the video for a bit of a look at where the church in State College went one weekend in May.

I would say that I don’t come from a family of huggers — but that’s not entirely true.  My mom and my sister are pretty decent huggers, but us guys not so much — at least not each other.  I’m guessing they probably hug their wives and their kids.  (Each of them only has one wife, it’s plural wives because it’s plural brothers.  Just wanted to make that clear.)  The first time I remember getting hugged by a guy who was not an immediate family member was a man named Doc Dalton.  (Just to make another thing clear — I’m not counting sports hugs, like touchdown hugs, winning shot of the basketball game hugs, or huddles, or wrestling takedowns.  Those don’t count.)  Anyway the first time he hugged me, it was kind of confusing, there wasn’t a football game within miles.  To be honest I grew to respect and appreciate Doc.  He became a good friend, and after four years of college, I was a little more comfortable with hugs — but still not a hugger.

Now, understand this.  I love to hug my wife and my kids.  I will not run away if you try to hug me.  And I will on occasion even initiate a hug if it you are celebrating a special occasion or going through a hard time.  But if a handshake or a clasp on the shoulder will do I’m okay with that.

So why a post on hugging?  I just ran across this article related to the swine flu.

Swine Flu:  No Touching at Church. If you don’t have time to read it, it’s about a church of 25,000 in Charlotte NC that has declared church a no-touching zone during the swine flu season.  I don’t know –

– I’m not a hugger and I know that there is a small chance the swine flu could turn into a pandemic — but I think declaring church a no-touch zone is a bit too risk aversive for a movement that is called by Jesus to storm the gates of hell and give our lives for a friend.

So this week, I’m gonna hug someone — but not a pig — that’s taking it too far.  :)

Have you ever seen the rip-offs of the inspirational wall-hangings?  Here’s one that I ran across recently on fear.  If you can’t read it, it says, “Until you have the courage to lose sight of the shore, you will not know the terror of being forever lost at sea!

I went for a jog last night.  I went almost three miles in about 40 minutes, not exactly all-star material, but I worked up a good sweat, and for most of you reading this — just imagine carrying a 50 pound backpack for your 3 mile jog.  So I was coming home, less than half a block away and Delma was dropping Josh off after Xstream.  So I yelled out, “Hey little man, whatcha doing?”  He just kept walking, didn’t even respond.  I yelled out again, “Hey, can’t you even say hi?”  He just kept walking — a little faster.  I got up to the door and it was locked.  Not only would my son, not say hi to me, he locked me out.  So I started ringing the doorbell, knocking on the door.  Finally he came and opened the door — a sheepish grin on his face.  When I asked him why he didn’t say hi and why he locked the door, he said, “Dad I thought you were some strange guy, when you started yelling at me, I got scared.  I couldn’t get in the house quick enough.  My legs were shaking.”

My first thought was, “C-mon, why in the world would you be scared of that?”  But then I started thinking back to my days on the farm.  Dad would ask me to go check on the pigs that were giving birth — seems like it was always late at night.  When I would come back from the barn to the house.  I would start walking normal — but by the time I got to the house, I was running as fast as I could, not daring to look back, certain that some night-time monster was right on my heels.  I was afraid and I didn’t even have a stranger yelling at me.

Fear does funny things to us.  That’s why we struggle a little bit with verses in the Bible that call us to fear God.  In fact one writer says that the “fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.”  So we like to tone down the word — because we also know that God is our father.  So we say that when it talks about fear in the Bible, it doesn’t really mean scared, it means respect or awe.  I think it means respect, awe and so scared that my knees are knocking!

But when we see God for all that He is — awesome, holy, loving, fearsome, father, Jesus — then I think that fear of God gives me courage for life.  I heard someone put it this way once — “If  you fear God, you will fear nothing else.  But if you don’t fear God you will be afraid of everything else.”

What or whom do you fear?

We’ve been working on a new website at Calvary — well mostly Lauren, our communications director has been working on a new website at Calvary.  But for my part, she asked me to do some updating of some of our vision stuff, so I’ve been thinking about church without walls — c-wow. That’s our vision at Calvary.  We want to build a church without walls so that people can find life without walls.  But I still like the words gave me a number of years ago, so I thought I would share them again.

– Envision a community of people living a life so extraordinary — at work, in the neighborhood, at school — that it’s like a light shining in the darkness, living life and giving life in such a way that a whole region is being transformed.
– Envision a community of people with open hearts who extend open hands to bring wholeness to the broken, comfort to the grieving, and help to those in need.
– Envision a community founded on the stability of truth and understanding the power of grace–a community that regularly experiences a sense of awe because of God’s Good Deeds being done in and through people.
– Envision a community where people come from all over the world to find their calling, get equipped for life, and go out to transform the world through life-giving connections.
– Envision a community so passionate about Jesus Christ and the glory of God that God doesn’t just visit their community, He pitches His tent.

And that’s where it starts… a passion for Jesus and the glory of God so full and vibrant, that God doesn’t just visit our community…he pitches a tent.  He settles in for the long haul.  It starts in an on-going encounter with Jesus that leads to an overwhelming sense of the presence of God.

What would it look like, if we built that kind of church in this kind of place?

It’s one of my favorite stories because it grabs my heart no matter how many times I hear it or tell it.  Picture a South African woman standing in an emotionally charged courtroom.  She is listening to white police officers acknowledge the atrocities they had perpetrated in the name of apartheid.  Listen in as Officer Van deBroek acknowledges his  his responsibilty in the death of her son.  He shot her 18-yr-old son at point-blank range.  Your stomach turns as you listen to him tell how he and others partied while they burned his body, turning it over the fire until it was reduced to ashes.

The tears start stream down your face as you learn that eight years later Van deBroek and others arrived to seize her husband.  A few [hours] later, shortly after midnight, Van deBroek came to fetch the woman. He took her to a woodpile where her husband lay bound.  She was forced to watch as they poured gasoline over his body and ignited the flames that consumed his life.

Your tears are turning to anger.  You simply cannot understand how somebody could do something like that to a person.  Then you hear this small woman relate that the last words she heard her husband say were the words, “Forgive them.”

Now, van deBroek stands before her awaiting judgment. South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission asks her what she wants to happen.  “I want three things,” she says calmly.   You are waiting for her to exact retribution.  “I want Mr. van de Broek to take me to the place where they burned my husband’s body. I would like to gather up the dust and give him a decent burial.”  You are still waiting for justice.  She goes on, “Secondly, Mr. van deBroek took all my family away from me,” — you are eager to hear her bitter judgement — “and I still have a lot of love to give. Twice a month, I would like for
him to come to the ghetto and spend a day with me so I can be a mother to him.”

Your mouth drops open and almost as quickly your eyes start to leak.  “Third, I’d like Mr. van de Broek to know that he is forgiven by God and me. I would like someone to lead me to..(him), so I can embrace him and he can know my forgiveness is real.”

As the elderly woman was led across the courtroom, Mr. Van deBroek fainted. Someone began singing
“Amazing Grace.”  Gradually everyone joined in, as a good heart transformed a courtroom into sacred space.

What is the capacity of our hearts?  What is our capacity to forgive?  What is our capacity to choose joy in tragic circumstances?  What is our capacity to love even those who heart us?  I guess when Jesus comes to live in our hearts, he expands our capacity.

Last weekend we (Calvary) cancelled church.  Well actually we just cancelled 6 worship gatherings in three locations.  But that’s not really church, is it.  You can’t come to church because church was never meant to be a place.  Church is a people.  Church is not an address.  Church is a movement.   So last weekend we didn’t really cancel church, we didn’t even cancel worship.  We just asked the church (people) to go out and worship in the community — by serving.

There is this story that Jesus told once, about how whenever we give a cup of cold water to the thirsty or a meal to the hungry; whenever we visit the lonely or clothe the needy; could I say, whenever we rake the lawns of our neighbors, we are actually doing it for Jesus.  So I guess if the point of worship is to hang out where Jesus is and show Jesus how much we love him, then we did that.

I know some of the Calvary folks couldn’t stand to miss the routine of going somewhere and standing to sing and sitting to listen — but I hope you didn’t miss Jesus while you were at church.  :)

So what was the weekend like.  Well God smiled with the weather.  What a beautiful two days!  And we had over 800 people serving on close to 100 projects.  Some painted.  Some visited a nursing home.  Some raked.  Some put in carpet.  Some did carpentry projects.  More raked.  There was a fishing derby with 70+ kids and their parents in tow.  We provided a spa experience for some very worthy single moms.  We served the 2nd Mile, and Big Brother, Big Sister, and the Youth Service Bureau, and the House of Care and Strawberry Fields, and the list goes on and on.

Some quotes from the day…

From a local community leader, “You and your congregation (and now other congregations joining you) have always had my admiration because I think you live Christ’s teaching to serve others.  Don’t we live in a wonderful community, full of the most incredible people?”

From the Faith Centre in Bellefonte, “What a great job everyone did!  I can share what a true blessing you all were to the Faith Centre.  Sometimes we don’t give our all when helping others.  But, not true with all of you.  I saw nothing but giving, and giving above and beyond.”

From a participant, “As the day comes to a close, my heart is overflowing with gratitude for all God has done through CityServe. I find myself wishing we already had that amphitheater at Harvest Fields where everyone could gather, sing some praise songs, share some testimonies and end the day with a time of prayer that God would continue to move in the hearts and lives of the people in the Centre Region….I guess I’m sort of not ready for the weekend to end.”

Here are a few final reflections…

1) When we serve those in need, we serve Jesus.  So it might be easier to find Jesus when we are serving than it is while we are singing.

2) Nothing opens the doors, pulls down the defenses, and brings people to the same side like service.

3) Sometimes people can’t hear the good news until they see the good deeds.

4) It’s okay to cancel church because you can’t really cancel church.

5) Usually when we gather on the weekend, one person — me — preaches one sermon.  Last weekend, 800 people were preaching and we had more seekers “in church” than we’ve had in years.  Can we count the people we served in our attendance figures?

6) Next year I think we’ll see 10+ congregations and 1500 people.

7) Installing carpet is a bit harder than I remember.

Susan Boyle.  I ran across this story that fills in some of the details of the life of Susan Boyle.  Susan Boyle is the 47 year old, never been kissed, a bit unfashionable singer who wowed Simon Cowell, brought a skeptical audience to it’s feet and has had over 20,000,000 hits on YouTube.  If you don’t know what I’m talking about check out my blog from a few days ago.

I got this story from Pastor Stac’s blog.  I think the thought that connects with me the most is the very last line of the story.  It states that Susan was laughed at because of her looks, then respected because of her talent — but should have been respected from the beginning for the caliber of her character.

It made me think of the question — who are our heroes?  Who are the people to whom we look for the wisdom of life?  I guess it all depends on our goals.  If our goal is to look a certain way, we look to those with looks.  If our goal is to have a certain quality of talent, we look to those with talent.  If our goal is to be known we look to the celebrities.  But if our goal is to be worth knowing, we need to look to those with character and heart.  So who are you looking at…and why?

To read more of Susan’s story click here:  Susan Boyle.

Just thought I would put up our last CityServe promo video.  We are looking forward to a great weekend in Centre Region, even Centre County.  Planning for 600+ volunteers spread out throughout the county doing good deeds like Jesus, with Jesus, and for Jesus. If you live in Centre County and want to join us — go to www.sc-cityserve.org to register.

I know, nobody judges albums anymore — nobody buys albums anymore.  So I guess the saying would better be the more traditional, “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover.”  Only in this case it was a song and a singer.  The point is, how often do we equate success with a certain style of beauty?  How often do we label and tag based on a look and miss the treasure inside?  Then every once in awhile we are reminded, that skin deep doesn’t show the true glory of a heart.  Anyway, someone sent me the link to this youtube clip from England’s version of American Idol.  Just watch — better yet, don’t watch — just listen.

Patrick Morley tells the story of three men and a boy who were going fishing in Alaska.  They were flying into a section of wilderness that could only be reached by a sea plane.  But when they landed something went wrong with one of the floats.  Before long, the plane was sinking and all four of them had to jump from the plane into the sea.  Two men, a father and his son, began to swim for shore.  The water was so cold, but even worse was the powerful rip-tide pulling everything out to sea.   The three men were strong enuf to swim against the tide, but before long they realized the boy couldn’t make it.   The father of course swam back to help his son.  He thought he could pull him along and make it to shore.  But it soon became obvious to the father that nothing he could do was going to save his son.  His son was going to die.  The other 2 men watched in wonder as the father turned to them and waved them into shore, and then turned back around and wrapped his arms around his son as the rip-tide carried them both out to sea.

When I read this story, three thoughts come to mind, a statement and two questions.  First the statement:  I am fairly certain that I would do the same.  It isn’t so much because I know how courageous I am, as it is that I know how much I love my children.  I could not let one of them die alone.  Which leads me to the first question: How much does God love us, if He was willing to let his son die alone?  Or a similar question from the other side:  How much does Jesus love us, if he was willing to wrap his arms around us and not let go, even though it led him to death?

Which leads to my final question — an Easter question of sorts: What do we have our arms wrapped around?  To what or whom are we giving our lives?  Some of us have wrapped our arms around stuff that isn’t leading us to life.  What are your arms wrapped around?