Week 36
Worship Theme: Discerning your destiny - Exodus 1,2,3
Team Meditation: Right person at right time - Luke 5:27-32; 6:12-16; 8:1-3, 19-21

September is here again. The promise of cooler weather beckons (for those who are really, really tired of the heat). It's a bit early for the leaves to do much changing, but we know that soon cutting the grass will be replaced by raking the yard. It's a time of change. Kids are back in school, there's a mighty push as the third quarter comes to a close and the mighty fourth quarter looms before those in business. The baseball season is coming to an end and the football season is in full swing (with apologies for the mixed metaphor). It's the last of the year on Israel's religious calendar. They, at least, seem to understand that September marks both the end and the beginning of the seasons of life.

Team Meditation
This is the time for prayer. Well, truthfully, anytime is the time for prayer, but it's particularly important to begin September with bountiful prayer. Hopefully you've already identified and recruited volunteer leaders for the "new year that begins this week. But now that you have them, keeping them protected, motivated, and on task becomes what can end up being an all-consuming responsibility. Jesus spent what sometimes seems like an inordinate amount of time in prayer, but prayer was his preparation for life's decisions and events. His question to Peter, "Could you not tarry even an hour in prayer?" haunts many of us who find ten minutes dedicated to prayer to be too much.

Worship Theme
Are leaders born or made? You've probably heard that question a ka-jillion times; you might even have posed it yourself as you try to raise up leaders in your church. At least one of the most important aspects of the book of Exodus is the story of leadership development. In this week's passage we see Moses' first attempt to lead the Israelites as he kills an Egyptian taskmaster. But no one rises up to follow. Perhaps it's because, although Moses had a "position" of leadership, he had limited authority and virtually no credibility. Years later, we find Moses in the land of Midian tending sheep for his father-in-law.
Oh how the mighty have fallen. 
But it's in these circumstances that God calls on Moses to lead, and we all know, he was ultimately successful in his leadership … the Israelites ultimately made it to the Promised Land. And we know this time the Israelites followed him.

+++++++++++++++++++

Week 37
Worship Theme: Gospel in a nutshell - Matthew 5,6,7
Team Meditation: Jesus' basic message - Luke 6

 "What you know changes nothing." The statement so irritated me that even as the words left my professor's mouth, I was nearly out of my chair to argue. After all, look what education had gotten me.
Then he said, "For instance, we all know that eating right and exercising are the two basic ingredients for good health. So, how's that working for you?" If I felt like jumping out of my chair the breath before, I was trying to dissolve into my chair with this observation. His statement rocked my world.
To our knowledge, Jesus never made the claim that what we know changes nothing, but he could have. The statements of belief Jesus made were exclusionary: "Believe in me." Virtually everything else Jesus said was about behaving like a follower of Jesus. In general, Jesus wasn't particularly esoteric. He was down-to-earth. Obedience trumps philosophy every time.

Team Meditation
"A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher" (Luke 6:40 NIV). Everyone who is fully trained. Not fully taught, though certainly there's an implication that a student has some things they have to learn. But a trained student will be like the teacher. That's the kind of person we want to be. Someone like the teacher. But to be like the teacher, we have to be willing to replace the hours of study with hours of practice. Most Christians know enough (Love God; Love Others; Make Disciples), they just lack practical training.

Worship Theme
If Jesus was anything, he was practical. Sure, the beatitudes are a bit heady, but they're statements of comfort for the afflicted, not doctrines for the dogmatic. But after the Blessed be's there are a host of practical tips on how to behave as a Christian. These are the nuggets, the core practices of what it means to live a Kingdom life. Sadly, we spend more time deciphering what it means to be "meek" than what it means to make a marriage work come hell-or-high-water. If you really want to shake the congregation up, just read the expected behaviors and sit down. There's not really much you can add. Besides, it's about doing, not knowing anyway. Until we all put it into practice, we're mostly spinning our wheels anyway.

+++++++++++++++++++

Week 38
Worship Theme: What God wants to do - Ezekiel 37:1-14
Team Meditation: Jesus is Lord over conflict - Luke 8:4-15 and 22-56         

Death is a part of life. We can't avoid it, so we might as well embrace it. Many will spend so much energy trying to cheat death, that they'll miss out on life. "Every man dies. Few men ever truly live" (William Wallace, Braveheart). God used the specter of dried bones to remind Ezekiel (and Israel) that death isn't the final word. The parable of the seed that must die reminded the disciples that death isn't the final word. It turns out that even those who are already "dead" in the life, can be born again to a new life in the here and now, with a guarantee of more following the dark curtain.

Team Meditation
When we read the parable of the sower, we are naturally engaged in the quality of the soil. Seed that falls on the path is eaten before it roots; seed that fell on rocky soil shoots up but dies in the midday heat; seed that falls among the thorns are choked out; and seed that falls on good soil sprouts and bears a harvest.
But there are two pieces of the parable we seldom focus on. The sower and the seed. Of course, Jesus explained this parable so we know that the seed is the "word" (remember that the logos, or word, doesn't mean scripture, it means the good news, the gospel, the way of the Way). The sower, however, doesn't get a second notice. Why? Because even the disciples were quick enough to understand that they were the seed scatterers.
Scattering seed is what we're all about. Not just sowing seed on the good soil, but on all the soils. Wasteful? It's not for us to decide. We sow. God's the only one who really knows if the soil is ready for good seed.

Worship Theme
Ezekiel's vision of the dried bones was an analogy of an exiled Israel. In our contemporary world, most often this passage is applied to the church in the name of church growth or church transformation. However, the parable has application for a seeker's real life. So often, those who are strangers to grace are living lives of quiet desperation. They go through the motions, but there's no real life inside. They live in fear. They wrestle with hopelessness. They are mired in doubts. And so, like a zombie, they slog through life one pointless step after another.
"Can these dried bones live?" Only through the breath of the Spirit can the undead become life-filled again.

 +++++++++++++++++++

Week 39
Worship Theme: Strangers welcome here - Luke 9:10-17
Team Meditation: Who gets honored most - Luke 14:15-24

Hospitality 101 is a course the church should require of all their members, new and old. It used to be we knew what it meant to be hospitable, but not so much anymore. In many cases, church hospitality is one of the untamed wildernesses. We've all heard the story of "Excuse me, but that's my pew," and some of us can even cite real-world "Christians" who still believe that Membership has its privileges.
Hospitality means putting a guest's comfort above our own. It's helping them feel at home. It means meeting their needs here and now. Every person who walks through the doors into the church space, whether church is held in a cathedral or a Starbucks, gets special treatment at the hands of the host. If Jesus can wash feet, surely we can smile, stick out our hand, and say, "Howdy."

Team Meditation
Those in church leadership pretty much understand that church membership carries with it responsibilities rather than privileges. We're quick to point out holes in our congregation's hospitality practices. But there's another level of inhospitality that many of us are guilty of … the belief that "Staff hath its privileges." I don't know how many churches I've visited and consulted with that have special parking spaces reserved for the Senior Pastor and often other staff members (as if those extra steps are going hurt us). We too often carry around an attitude that the church "owe us" something. But as Bill Easum often asks, "Is it a call or a career?" If it's about the money, well, you know what it is. But if your ministry is truly a calling then Jesus and Paul bore the pattern of what that means. It's time we strip off our pretenses, take up a towel, and get busy washing feet.

Worship Theme
The twelve returned from their revival tour, Jesus decided they needed a break. So they withdrew by themselves to a town called Bethsaida. The vacation didn't last long though, and soon they were given the task to play host to over 5,000 people.
Hospitality isn't convenient. Hospitality is plain hard work. The disciples had worked hard and deserved a break. They really did. It isn't easy putting aside your own desires and even your needs for the sake of guests … especially uninvited guests, but there you are. That's the Kingdom way. And when we do buck up and put others before us, we get to witness the miracle of multiplication. Sometimes it's with bread. Sometimes it's with membership. But always it's with the blessing of the Lord.