Al Lingren, tells about taking his 13-year-old son fishing a few years ago. It was one of those days when the fish wouldn’t bite and they had a lot of time to talk. Out of the clear blue his son asked, “Dad, what’s the toughest thing God ever tried to do?”

The question caught Lingren, a pastor, off guard. He didn’t know what to say, so like a good teacher, he answered a question with a question, “What do you think it was?” The boy first smiled and said, “Even tho you’re a pastor, you don’t know much about God, do you Dad?”

Then the boy gave his answer. “Since taking science in school, I thought the creation of the world might be the hardest thing God ever tried to do. Then in Sunday School we got to talking about the miracles, like Jesus’ resurrection, and I thought that might be the toughest thing God ever did. Then after thinking some more and talking to others, I decided that no one knows God really well.  So now I think that the toughest thing God ever tried to do is to get us to understand who God is and that God loves us.”

This is our business.  We are in the business of helping the world understand who God is and how much He loves them.  We are in the business of becoming so like Jesus that when we get around people, they can’t help but bump into Jesus.  We are not in the church growth business.  We are not in the lift up Calvary business.  We are in the “serve others” business.  We are in the lift up Jesus business.

That’s why we are doing CityServe.  We simply want to take a weekend, to go out and do everything we possibly can to show people that Jesus loves them.  We are doing CityServe because we want Jesus to come into our city and we don’t want pple to miss him this time.

We are doing CityServe because Jesus loves our city, and compassion without service means little to those we say we love.  In Luke 19:28-34, there is this somewhat unique, almost strange detail included about Palm Sunday.  Jesus needed a donkey to ride into town.

So he sent his disciples to some unnamed man’s house, to get a donkey.  If the man asked them why they were taking his donkey, they were to simply respond, Because the Lord needs it.  The question I’ll leave you with is simply this… What does the Lord need from you to make it possible for him to
come into our communities?

If all he needed was a weekend, would you give it?  What if good deeds done with the heart of Jesus are the donkey that Jesus would ride into town.  CityServe is five Congregations giving a thousand people to work on 122 projects over two days.  That’s what CityServe is all about.

Don’t miss it!  Currently we have about 200 people signed up — need about 800 more!  Go to CityServe for more information and to sign up.

How can I know that Jesus was really raised from the dead by the power of God?  Why do I believe?
I could talk to you about the historical arguments for the resurrection.

– The fact that it is testified to by five independent sources, Matthew, Mark Luke John and Paul.
– The fact that the location of Jesus tomb was well known.  Both skeptical disciples and antagonistic  opponents checked the tomb and all agree, it was empty.
– The transformation of Jesus followers from a grief stricken, fearful, discouraged group to the bold, joyful force which initiated the explosive growth of a new movement which became known as the church.
– The fact that during Paul’s lifetime there were hundreds of eye-witnesses still living, anyone of whom could’ve been contacted for corroperating accounts.
– The conversion of Paul, a man deadset against Christianity until he met the resurrected Christ.
– The English journalist Frank Morison who dealt with most of the objections in the classic Who Moved the Stone? Although Morison had set out to discount the Resurrection as a myth, the evidence convinced him otherwise.

We could talk about all the evidence and yet I know that in every case except that of John, even the disciples did not believe until they saw.  Though I believe the evidence invites belief, it does not compel belief.  So why do I believe?  Like Philip Yancey, one reason is because in the deep cores of my heart I want the Easter story to be true.  Something within me cries out against the meaninglessness of a life which simply ends without purpose.  As Yancey says, “I suppose you could say I want to believe in fairy
tales.”  But as C.S. Lewis relates, perhaps it is the very presence of the hunger for something more which indicates that something more exists.

Why do I believe?  Perhaps more than any other reason for myself personally.  I believe, because like Mary & Mary, there have been too many times when I have trudged dutifully through the darkness, thinking God was gone, only to come once again, upon the empty tomb, the risen Christ, and the presence of God.  Like Peter there have been too many times when I have been given a second chance at life.

Why do you believe?

John Stott relates a haunting conversation he had with two university students, brothers who had rejected the faith of their parents.  One was now an agnostic, the other closer to an atheist.  John asked why they had given up their faith — Did they no longer believe in the truth of Christianity?  No that wasn’t the problem.  “Our dilema,” they said, “is not whether Christianity is true, but whether it is relevant.”

A few years ago, Chris Seay, a pastor from Houston had the opportunity to tour the MTV studios at Times Square with a group of young pastors. After they bumped into singer Jewel, veejay Jesse, and rockologist Matt Pinfield, some executives shared that in a recent survey of MTV viewers, 99% said that they believe in God.  But how many are involved in a church?  Locally at Penn State, it can’t be more than a few thousand out of 40,000+

David Kinnaman recently put out the results of a massive Barna study.  The results can be found in a book entitled, “Unchristian.”  In it he says that 97% of those in their late teens through early 30’s have a negative view of the evangelical church.  Among other things they think we are homophopic, too political, hypocritical, and judgemental — 97%.

We can come up with all sorts of defensive reasons.  Sure we get a bad rap when another Jim & Tammy Fay hit the airwaves.  Sure some people are just looking for an easy out to save them from the heart work of seeking God.  But with all that in mind, it’s still only fair for people outside the church to ask the question of us, “Can you really deliver what I need?”  We need to know how skeptical they are of a “yes” answer.  We did a “person on the street” interview locally.  Take a look at the responses…

It’s not that people don’t want Jesus, they just can’t figure out if we’ve met him.  I don’t think it’s a commitment problem, they just don’t want to give their lives to our religion.  What they want to know is have you met the Jesus, can you help me find him and is he worth my life?

What we need is more capacity for Christ.  We need to become students of Jesus.  We need to be so in Christ, that people can find Jesus when they come to us.  Paul uses two different locational descriptions of our relationship with Jesus.  He talks about “Jesus in us” and he talks about “us in Jesus.”  American evangelicals have been primarily drawn to “Jesus in us.”  We want to know if you have asked “Jesus to come into your heart.”  I have a suspicion that we like that description because then we can keep Jesus compartmentalized.  He gets that little spot in our hearts…not even the whole heart.  But Paul used the other description more frequently.  Paul was shaped by the thought of being “in Jesus,”  like Jesus encompassed all of him, everything he did.  Jesus surrounded him.  He was in Jesus.  When we are in Jesus, everywhere we go, people will bump into Jesus.

So the question is… do people bump into Jesus everywhere I go?

An author by the name of Gerald May once wrote,

There is a desire within each of us, in the deep center of ourselves that we call our heart. We were born with it, it is never completely satisfied, and it never dies…Our true identity, our reason for being, is to be found in this desire.

It is our desire for life as it was meant to be. Sometimes we miss it. Sometimes we ignore it. Sometimes we let it creep into the corner of our souls where it sits – quietly loud. Sometimes we grow weary and wonder if it is time to abandon the journey, but the nagging desire – St. Augustine called it “holy longing” – never quite goes away. In fact with a little nurture, that quiet longing can become a roaring passion; a passion which may lead to not only a re-direction of our life-path, but perhaps even a transformation of the very essence of our hearts.

This holy longing, heart-desire, holy discontent draws us forward. Even if it leads through hard days, our hearts sing on the journey. We know that we are aiming our life for the purpose for which we were created. We need to understand that this is how Jesus came into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.  A better name for the day is Passion Sunday.  Jesus came into Jerusalem filled with passion.

If we are not careful, all we see are misunderstandings, disappointment, discouragement, and confusion. But at the heart of the Easter Journey is the heart of a man who knows that he is on his life-path, a path which will change the world. In the end, he would not be denied – his death on a cross would lead to broken tombs – and God let loose!

I’m not suggesting it wasn’t hard.  I can’t imagine how heart-wrenchingly difficult the steps of that week played out.  I’m just saying that Jesus did what he did — on purpose — to unleash the dreams God has prepared for us.  The passion of Christ let loose the passion of God for us.

It’s going to be a good weekend.  Hope you can join us at one of our gatherings.

Spent time early this week in Dallas with four other folks from Calvary.  We were spending two days with people from eight congregations from across the nation pondering what it means to be a people on mission with God.  So as I said, we were in Dallas.  I’ve only been there a couple of times, so I was glad that one person in our group had a GPS navigator.

This GPS did not have a voice.  I was glad.  The last time I used a GPS, I got so tired of hearing this women with an English accent saying, “Recalculating directions.” Soon after those two words I would be ordered to take the next available u-turn.  It reminded me a little bit of the Holy Spirit in my life.  How many times does God have to recalculate my directions, because I didn’t listen to him yesterday?  How many times do I need to do a u-turn (the Bible calls it repentance) to get back on journey?

Today I’m asking God to keep me headed towards His destination.

Ran into a pretty good thought from blogger Seth Godin.  Made me stop and ask myself, “Who has my  ear?” Often times it is our critics who get our ears right?  If I preach a sermon and 20 people tell me how much God used that message in their life — but 2 people tell me that it was a mediocre sermon — who gets my ear.  Now granted if one of those two critics is my wife — who happens to be my greatest encourager — I better listen.  But the point is we tend to focus on the critics.  Doesn’t it seem like it takes about 10 encouraging comments to balance out 1 negative comment?

Here is where Seth Godin’s insight comes in.  Don’t listen to your critics, he writes, but pay the same level of attention to your fans.  Don’t listen to your fans anymore than you listen to your critics. Critics will never be happy, but fans won’t motivate you to grow.

So who should have our ears?  Godin tells us to listen to the sneezers.  To be honest, I’m not sure why he picked that name…but the sneezers are the people who will tell others about you — he’s coming from a marketing perspective.  Listen to the sneezers.  Make the sneezers happy and your business will grow.

Here is how I would apply it to the church.  Listen to the people who are a part of the team.  Listen to the people who own the vision.  Don’t listen to the customers.  Don’t listen to the critics.  Don’t listen to the fans.  Listen to your teammates.  Give your ear to the “whenever, whatever” people — the “whenever you need me and whatever it takes” people.  One of the reason I love being a part of the Calvary team is because there are so many “whenever, whatever” people.

Thank you, you have my ear.

So I’m pondering a story this week.  It’s a Jesus-story and we are going to explore it together this weekend.  It’s all about Jesus feeding a Bryce Jordan Center sized crowd with a sack lunch.  One of my thoughts is… I wish I could’ve been there just to see the look on everyone’s face.  What a great day to be at church! So anyway, I think there were many times when it had to have been a kick to hang out with Jesus.  The stuff he did, the stuff he said;  5 small loaves of bread and 2 small fish — turns into fast food for a crowd.  Can you imagine Jesus doing that without a small on his face?  I’m thinking at some point, somebody in the crowd started belly-laughing.  It was just too good to be true.

When is the last time you had fun with Jesus?  Child-like giddiness.  Deep-hearted joy.  Unexpected laughter from unsuspected wonder.  I think sometimes we give people the impression that God is perpetually sad, when He is the happiest being in the universe!

So…the video that I attached below has little to do with this sack-lunch story.  I just thought it was funny.  So enjoy.  Laugh a little.

for us, I would be grateful.  You probably know that for about four years we have been trying to develop a plan for some new facilities on this property we call Harvest Fields.  It is a beautiful piece of God’s creation just outside Boalsburg on the way to Harrisburg on 322.  120 acres with about 7 ponds and acres of forest.  I’m sitting in my office up the hill overlooking the valley — an amazing panorama.

Well this month we have overcome a significant wall impeding our progress — access.  The highway occupancy permit that we have long desired is finally in hand, well almost, but it’s okay, any day now it will be in hand.  We have been assured.

For four years, people have prayed and planned and designed, but before we take the next step forward, we (calvary leadership) have been feeling that we need to get away and pray.  Seek God.  Listen to Him and each other and ask Him to show us what our next step is.  So starting Friday at 4pm and ending around 4pm on Saturday, about 30 of Calvary’s leaders will get together to pray and listen and ponder and discuss and hopefully discover God’s next step for us.

So if you are one of the 5 or 6 people who read this blog… :) and you happen to read it before Saturday at 4pm.  Take a moment or two and pray for us.

Jesus used the term closet.  In Matthew 6:6 he said, “But when you pray, enter into your closet and when you have shut the door, pray to your Father which is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.” Now the main principle here is don’t perform your prayers for others.  Prayer is a personal conversation with God, it is not a religious performance.

But Jesus words contain another idea, namely do you have a place?  Do you have a place where you can go to hang out with God?  A place with no cell-phone service, no ipods allowed, a place of quiet stillness?  A place where it might be easier to hear the whisper of God.

Last year, Lynn and I started my sabbatical with a spiritual retreat.  We stayed in a big old house on a lake in Wisconsin.  We were served by a couple and an organization that provides spiritual retreats to pastors.  It was a great way to start a sabbatical.  But one of the high-point moments came in their prayer cabin, a little building — about 12×15 — set near the woods but in view of the lake.  With a wood burning stove, a comfortable chair or two, it was the perfect place to spend time with God.  It just seemed like the kind of place where Jesus would settle in to talk.  Lynn and I had a great evening praying together and alone.  I think I like a prayer cabin better than a prayer closet.  Someday we’ll have one up at Harvest Fields.

Meanwhile, where is your place?  Sometimes Jesus would get into a boat and have his disciples take him to a place where no one could follow.  His place was a boat.  Susannah Wesley sat in the corner of her kitchen and pulled her apron up over her head.  When her children saw that they knew they couldn’t bother her because mother was meeting with God. The underside of an apron was her place.  Across the street from my first church was a cemetery.  I can’t tell you how many times that was my place.  Maybe you’re place is under a tree on top of Mt. Nittany, or in your car sitting on a forgotten road in Rothrock, or with a cup of coffee on the porch.  Chances are good if you don’t have a place and a time, there will be no place anytime.

So grab your lifejournal.  Find a place.  Sit down with your Bible and listen for the whisper of God.  His Words do more good than you know… when they are heard.

Looks can be deceiving.  My grandfather John Nold got polio when he was young.  It left him crippled. Every memory I have of Big Grandpa — yep that’s right, my dad’s folks were Big Grandma and Big Grandpa and my mom’s folks were Little Grandma and Little Grandpa — every memory of Big Grandpa included a cane and a shoe with a leg brace.  He didn’t get around too fast or too well, but he could use that cane with deadly force!  I felt it around my leg, arm and even neck on more than one occasion!

But one thing he did even better than catch runaway grandkids with a cane, he caught my imagination with his stories.  I remember going out to his trailer before school.  I would sit with him and watch for the bus — I was about six or seven — and he would tell me stories.  Stories about the road, following the harvest, riding the rails, and campfire meals with hobos.  As a young boy there was not much better than Grandpa’s stories.

Through those stories my Grandpa left me a love for the journey and a passion for adventure.  I dreamed for hours about Huck Fin and his river raft.  My favorite show was and still is Star Trek and “it’s on going mission.” This wanderlust has not always confined itself to the safer roads of my imagination.  While in college, I hitchhiked home once.  I spent most of the time in a light rain on the back of a Harley Davidson with a biker who stopped about every 10 miles for a beer…now that was a trip…it increased my prayer life exponentially.

As I grew older and a little more perceptive, I came to realize my grandpa’s life was not quite so glamorous as my childhood imagination painted it. Life on the road was really the journey of an alcoholic abandoning his family, leaving home for long periods of time — a combination of running from, and in some ways desperately seeking home.  Gilbert Bilzekian writes, “The silent churning at the core of our being is the tormenting need to know and be known, to understand and be understood,…to belong unconditionally and forever without the fear of loss, betrayal or rejection.”

What we are seeking is love unbounded.  Love without limits.  We want to know that we are not outside the boundaries of somebodies heart.  Can someone out there love me without limits?  But in fact, it’s even more than that.  It’s good to know that I can be real with you and not face rejection.  But it’s not enough, I want to be loved in a way that changes me.  Aren’t we all seeking a love that makes us whole?

Near the end of his life, my grandpa found that love.  He opened up his arms to Jesus.  His marriage was restored and his story was redeemed.  He found the home that he was seeking.  How about you?  Where are you questing for life?  Where is your home?  That place where you are loved without limits?  This week we are starting a new teaching series at Calvary…  LIfe Without Walls. Hope you join us online or in person.  There is a life that God designed for us that is an overflowing kind of life…it’s a life without walls.