The Mayberry Preacher

GOD-BREATHED

2 Timothy 3:10-17; Genesis 2: 2-7
Steve Lindsley
August 16, 2009

Margaret was always in the habit sharing her latest poem with me.  As the oldest living member of the church at the time, she would call me every so often to inform me that she had been “busy.”  And when she'd invite me over to share her latest creation, I was always happy to oblige.

On one of my last visits before she died, Margaret shared a poem of hers called “Patio Musings.”  She had written it the previous week on a glorious sunny spring morning, out on her back porch.  Even though her eyesight was failing, it was still enough to soak in the beautiful scene that awaited her that morning; a scene that she recounted in exquisite detail:

How poor we are, if full of care we don't have time to spare
To be still and to rest, and watch a robin build its nest
See the bluebird on the wing and listen to him sing
In this way we see creation at play
When did you last gaze into the sky just to watch the clouds roll by
Or look up in the tree and say a prayer for you and me
What's this world, if full of care we don't have time to spare
Full of care with no time for a prayer
If we take time to see the sights, hear the sounds, love the life
That surrounds our every move instead of hurrying right through
I think you'd be surprised of the wonder right before your eyes
If you only believe

That last stanza, incidentally, was one that I wrote, inspired by Margaret's words and the beautiful way she was able to soak up the scene from her back porch; to see the depth and magnitude of it all.  I was inspired, just as she was inspired.

Tell me this – what inspires you?  What causes you to stop and take notice, perhaps even put pen to paper as Margaret did?  Is it a sunrise over the ocean?  Watching an infant marvel at their new world?  A good book?  Inspiration works that way, doesn't it?  And we don't always know why.  Inspiration often just....happens.  It's not something we can schedule into our Blackberry or plan out like a family trip.  We often speak of inspiration as “striking” us, which suggests that it comes to us unannounced.  And some amazing things have come from people who've been inspired.  Mozart wrote beautiful arias; Van Gogh created some amazing paintings, Einstein discovered relativity, and a guy named Mark Zuckerberg came up with a social networking tool called Facebook.  And despite what some of you may think, it did take some inspiration to come up with that!

We in Christian circles like to speak of the Bible as being “inspired,” although we don't always know what that means exactly.  Does it simply mean that God was part of the process?  Does it mean the scriptures are literally true?  Or is there another way to understand them as “inspired?”  They're all important question to ask, because there's a lot being bantered about there these days about the scriptures – what they mean, what they don't mean; what they say about this topic or that issue.  It's easy to get lost in the shuffle of it all.

Which is why it's a good thing we've got Paul to set things straight.  The author of our scripture today is writing a letter to his protege Timothy, giving advice on how to further the good work of the early church.  And in the third chapter he offers this little nugget of wisdom:

All scripture is inspired by God
and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.

All scripture is inspired by God.  You know what's interesting?  If you were to google this phrase in quotations, as I did this past week, you would get a slew of websites from churches, para-church organizations, and personal blogs; most of which use that quote as a banner to support one single underlying notion – the infallibility and literal nature of the word of God.  Kind of curious, because it's suggesting something besides the inspiring nature of scripture – how the words of the Psalms move us to joy or tears, how the prophets call us to a righteous anger, how the sayings of Jesus lead to transformation.  It's suggesting something more along the lines of a rigid declaration of unquestionable authority.  “The Bible means what it says and says what it means,” one church summarized under the verse.

Now certainly we hold fast to the notion that the Bible speaks the “truth” - a truth about how a people and their God walked together over the course of a few thousand years.  We believe that this “truth” still speaks to us today in our 21st century world.  The question is how that truth comes to us over the centuries and miles in between us and them; how it translates to our modern day.  And it's not as easy as reading what the words say and following them exactly as written.

Just as A.J. Jacobs, author of the best-seller The Year of Living Biblically.  As a self-described agnostic Jew, A.J. made the decision to follow every law in the Bible – all 613 of them – for a full year.  What transpired was both “inspirational” and humorous at the same time.  For instance, A.J. refrained from cutting his hair or shaving his face, per ancient Hebrew code (much to the chagrin of his wife and son).  His diet changed radically.  And in one particularly humorous section he actually stones an adulterer – this from the 20th chapter of Deuteronomy.  It involved, of course, finding someone willing to admit to being an adulterer (which he did) and dealing with the modern-day stigma attached to throwing rocks at people (he justifies that the Bible doesn't specify the size of the stone, so he uses a small pebble).

It's funny stuff, but it's serious too.  Because there are a lot of people in our world today who actually approach scripture like this – for real, not just for writing a book.  There are a lot of people who read the Bible as nothing more than some sort of “manual” or “textbook” for living.  At best this is a one-dimensional way to approach scripture.  At worst it's a way to support an agenda they already possess; propping up what they already believe.  And that's when you get things like scripture being used to support slavery or the non-mixing of races.  That's when you get the “prosperity gospel” where the faithful are rewarded with financial gain.  That's where you get the denigration of women, of minorities, of gays, of anyone who is deemed “different.”

Even A.J. the agnostic recognizes that there's more to being a person of faith than following scripture like some checklist.  There's something else going on behind these holy words that goes deeper than surface level; something else that makes them, in Paul's own words, “inspired.”  In fact, the actual word for “inspired” in 2 Timothy might clue us in a bit.  The Greek word here literally means “God-breathed.”  It's used very rarely in the Bible – in fact, this is the only time it's used.  And in a way it hearkens back to the second chapter of Genesis:

Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground,
and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life,
and the man became a living being.

You see what's being communicated here?  It is the very breath of God that gives us life; that animates what previously was nothing more than “dust of the ground.”  It's God's spirit filling our lungs and rushing through our bloodstream.  And it not only keeps our heart pumping and our organs functioning.  It feeds our soul; that part of us that is not just simple dust.  It is the carpentry behind us being fashioned in the image of God – imago dei.  And now, according to Paul, that very same thing takes place with scripture.  It, too, is “God-breathed.”

And that's saying something, isn't it?  Because think about it – we “God-breathed” human beings are not simple creatures, are we?  There is a lot of depth to us.   We are multi-dimensional; we're intricate and nuanced and complicated.  You don't get the feel of another person by just looking at what's on the surface.  You've got to dig deep.

And I'm wondering if the same sort of thing can be said about inspired, “God-breathed” scripture.  What do you think?  It reflects hundreds of people writing over the course of thousands of years.  It's got some depth to it, it's multi-faceted and diverse and complicated.  To say that a passage has one and only one meaning is failing to dig below the surface.  I have a minister friend who once preached a six-week sermon series on the Prodigal Son parable – six totally different sermons on the same passage.  Now that's some depth!

Kind of reminds me of the kaleidoscope I had as a kid – you know, that tube thing with the angled mirrors inside, reflecting on an assortment of colored pieces of plastic, beads and the like?  No one's changing the contents of what's inside the thing – but as you hold it up to the light and twist the rim you see something entirely different every time; another beautiful colorful truth to take in. 

That's the same sort of thing that happens with “God-breathed” scripture.  It's so much more than guidelines to be adhered to; words to be worshiped, quotations to be quoted.  It is a living entity, filled with God's very oxygen, pulsating and teeming with life.  And like the air we breathe, these words needs to be breathed into our bodies, experienced and pondered and meditated upon; before they are exhaled on in how we respond with our lives. 

It's like the way one 19th century English preacher described it.  One lazy spring afternoon he sat in his backyard and looked at a beech tree growing there.  But he did more than just look at it – he kind of did like Margaret did on her back porch.  He really looked at the tree; studied it with all its intricacies.  The green hue of the leaves, the texture of the bark, the design of the branches.  He watched the way a tiny squirrel ran up the branches, jumping from one to the other, back and forth, making use of every inch of this squirrel playground.  And that's when he put pen to paper and wrote these words:

The way to deal with God’s word is not merely to contemplate it, or study it, as a student does; but to live on it, as that squirrel lives on his beech tree. Let it be to you, spiritually, your house, your home, your food, your medicine, your clothing, the one essential element of your soul’s life and growth.  Let it not be something you observe from a distance.  Let it grow within you.  Let it live. http://homileticsonline.com/subscriber/btl_display.asp?installment_id=93000022, visited on 8.10.2009.

And that's really what it's all about, isn't it?  Because when we let the words of God live in us, we can't help but let them live out of us.  We can't help but let the parting of the Red Sea story lead us to  put our trust in the path God has ahead of us.  We can't help but let the story of David and Bathsheba remind us that no one is above reproach, and how to respond when we've messed up.  We can't help but let all those Old Testament laws about caring for “widows and orphans” direct us to look out for and respond to the vulnerable of our day and time – especially as our country is mired in a heated debate on health care.  We can't help but let Jesus' parable of the Prodigal Son remind us that everyone deserves a second chance, and that God's grace is available to all, even those we may feel least deserving of it.  We can't help but let Paul's words about there being no Jew or Greek, slave or free, remind us that being one in Christ Jesus means doing away with any dogma that claims some are “in” and others “out.”

We can't help but let every one of these “God-breathed” words stir us to action, to discipleship, to faithfulness.  So let them live – and may we always be truly inspired.  Thanks be to God.  AMEN.

PRISON BREAK

Acts 16: 16-40
Steve Lindsley
January 11, 2009

A few years ago FOX network debuted a new sitcom called Prison Break. I've actually never seen it – the last thing I need to do is get sucked into some new television show.  But I've heard it's pretty good and deals with issues beyond just some guys in prison – that it goes into human ethical dilemmas and stuff like that.

I saw a commercial for the show the other night, and for some reason it got me thinking: when was I first introduced to the whole concept of prison or jail?  When did I first become aware that there was a place society sent people who, for whatever reason, were deemed unworthy of being able to function normally in society?

My mind eventually took me back in time – I'm scared to tell you how far – but let's just say I was around preschool age.  Every summer my family and I used to spend a week or so at Grandmother's house – my mom's mom – in Asheville.  One of my favorite memories of these visits was Saturday night in downtown at “Shindig on the Green” - sort of a community festival with mountain music, food and  dancing.  They were lively occasions in the cool mountain summer air, and we had a blast.

But in the shadows of all of this I remember looking beyond the stage to a tall concrete building.  I remember thinking it was odd that, unlike all the other buildings in town, it had no windows.  There were just some sideways slats a few inches high.  And if I squinted hard enough I could see hands hanging out, perhaps clapping or holding a cigarette, and even a face looking through.  I remember at some point asking my Dad what it was, and he told me it was the city jail.  I got the whole scoop on the philosophy of penal institutions; and I remember that conversation left me with two distinct impressions: one, that I never, ever wanted to go there.  Two, if I did go there, there was no way I'd ever be able to get out. Because that's what they did – they kept you locked up.

Unless your name was Paul or Silas, and then you'd be in luck.  I mean, prison was nothing new for Christians in first century Palestine.  That's what the Roman empire did to the “rebel-rousers” - folks who dared to pledge allegiance to anyone other than the emperor, especially when it was to a carpenter from Nazareth.  If they got too passionate about the guy and started disturbing their precious peace, prison was the only place for them.

Prison was exactly where Paul and Silas found themselves – more on how they got there in a minute.  They were shackled like the rest, entombed behind those  thick stone walls, slated to be there for who knows how long.  And then suddenly, all of that changed when an earthquake caused the walls to tumble to the ground and the shackles around their hands and feet to fall away.  Wow!  What incredible luck!  Talk about a prison break – now they were free to go!

And yet, they didn't move.  They just sat there – much to the surprise and shock of the prison guard, whose heart sank as he watched all the other prisoners take off with glee.  The rest may have headed for the exits – but not Paul and Silas.  They didn't move a muscle.

It's an obvious question, so let's go ahead and ask it: why did Paul and Silas stay? What could possibly have kept them from running out like the rest?  I mean, could there have been any greater sign of God's approval of their work in ministry than this – walls falling down and shackles coming undone?  You're free to go!  I tell you – I would've been out the door in a heartbeat.  There's nothing that would've compelled me to stay.  Because, like most people, the last place I want to be is behind bars.

In fact, I was curious exactly how many people are behind those bars these days.  I did some research this past week and learned that worldwide, 8.75 million people are in some kind of penal institution – with half of those in Russia, China, and the United States.  In our country specifically, as of the end of 2007, almost 2.3 million people were behind bars.  We also have the highest prison per capita ratio in the world, at around 686 per 100,000 people (http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/prisons.htm and http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs2/r188.pdf , visited on 1.4.2009).

Lots of people have different perspectives on the purpose of prisons.  Some see it as nothing more than a place to punish criminals and permanently remove them from society.  Still others view it as an opportunity for rehabilitation, where people can move on from their mistakes and become fully functioning members of society.  No matter what you think, though, there always seems to be the need for more of them, such as the prison that's being bantered back and forth right here in Surry County.

All of which brings up back to the question at hand: why did Paul and Silas stay in prison?  It doesn't make a whole lot of sense, does it?  It kind of makes me wonder if there's more to this story than simply some prisoners and a prison break.  Or, putting it more precisely, maybe it's about a different kind of prisoner and a different kind of prison break.  Maybe, just maybe, Paul and Silas aren't the real prisoners here. 

And I think we have to go back a few steps, back before the earthquake, back before the two of them even found themselves in jail, to what got them there in the first place.  Paul and Silas are out and about when they encounter a young slave girl who follows them around everywhere.  The notable thing about this kid is that she's possessed with a “spirit of divination” - some kind of demon is what some call it.  But in contrast to the kind of yucky things horror movies might plant in our heads, this demon-possessed girl has nothing but flattering things to say about Paul and Silas, calling them “slaves of the most high God.” Kind of interesting, isn't it; the irony of a slave girl referring to two totally free men as “slaves” themselves.

I guess there are worse things a demon-possessed girl could've called them.  But after a number of days, either her presence or her persistence apparently started to grate on Paul's nerves.  So in a final fit of frustration, Paul orders the demon to come out of the girl, which it promptly does. The young girl, once imprisoned to this demon, is now free!  How wonderful – a prison break of the spirit!

It's great, isn't it?  It is if you're the girl – but not so much if you're her masters.  Because apparently those who owned her had been making a good bit of money off her odd behavior.  And now, having been set free from that spirit, she was useless to them.  The irony of these men greeting her freedom with such disdain shouldn't go unnoticed to us.  And it's precisely that which causes her masters to send Paul and Silas straight to a real prison.

That girl wasn't the only one who encountered their own sort of prison break.  The same happened to the Roman guard at Paul and Silas' prison.  Even more irony – that a man in charge of guarding the prison doors is the real one imprisoned!  How else can you explain his rationale that the only possible response to the earthquake and all the prisoner's being released was to take his own life?  That is the sign of someone who is hopelessly lost in their captivity.  As a Roman soldier his ultimate authority lay at the feet of the emperor, who ruled with absolute power.  And the emperor's power came solely out of fear of what would happen to those who did not succumb to it.  When power is perverted like that, when it's used to force and get one's way – like masters over a slave girl or the emperor over a prison guard – when that happens , there is no such thing as freedom.  

How about that?  We start with this odd story of a prison break, and two disciples who chose not to follow the masses out of the hole in the prison wall.  We're amazed at their luck and dumbfounded.  We think it's a neat little story and then we move on.  But there's another way, a deeper way, a more meaningful way to see this story, isn't there?  It's a way that calls into question our understanding of so many things – not just what imprisonment is (and, by association, what freedom is), but who is really imprisoned.

Because the truth of the matter is that Paul and Silas were not the real prisoners of this story, are they?  The girl and the Roman guard were.  In their own way they were held captive by their own devices and the people who had authority over them.  And breaking free from that imprisonment – and helping others to do the same – is never easy. 

And yet that's the calling of us Christ-followers, isn't it?  As Christians we are called to set people free, because that's what Jesus did.  When a hated tax collector waited for him in the trees because nobody would make room for him, Jesus invited himself over to the guy's house for dinner.  When the woman was in the process of being executed, Jesus implored those without sin to cast the first stone.  When his closest confidant denied three times that he even knew him in his hour of greatest need, he later had lunch with him on the beach and told him how much he loved him.  And all of this – all of this took him straight to the cross.  Because that's what our world does with people who dare to set the imprisoned free.

And you know something?  It makes me wonder if maybe the reason Paul and Silas stayed put was to call you and me to a different way of living – helping to set people free from whatever it is that holds them captive.  People who are hurting silently; people who have no voice. People who are backed in a corner with nowhere to go; people who cannot fend for themselves.  Maybe, just maybe, the calling of  Christians is to engage in a totally different kind of prison break, where it's not rocks and chains that are busted open, but the human soul; God's image within each of us.

Reminds me of the district court judge who one day heard the case of a man caught stealing a loaf of bread.  When the judge got the whole story, though, he learned that the man had no job and his family was hungry. He had tried unsuccessfully to get work; and finally to feed his family, he resorted to something he neither wanted to do nor was proud of.

It would've been so easy for that judge to look at this as just one of hundreds of similar cases for the day.  But on that day, for whatever reason, the judge chose not to do that.  He first told the man, “I’m sorry, but the law can make no exceptions. You stole. Therefore I have to punish you. I order you to pay a fine.”  But he said, “However, I want to pay the fine myself.”  He reached into his pocket and pulled out the money and handed it to him.

He wasn't done.  As soon as the man took the money, the judge then told the court that he wanted to remit the fine, allowing the man to keep it.  “Furthermore,” he went on to say, “I am going to ask the bailiff to pass the hat around to everyone in this courtroom, and I’m fining everyone in this courtroom a dollar for living in a city where a man has to steal in order to have bread to eat.”  The money was collected and given to the defendant (http://homileticsonline.com/subscriber/illustrations_for_installment.asp?installment_id=93000332, visited on 1.4.2009).

Now don't get me wrong – I'm not suggesting we invade the judicial process and turn it on its heels.  I'm just thinking that Jesus came to set people free from those things in this world that bind us and keep us from becoming the children of God we were created to be.  Let's you and me free some human souls from their captivity, shall we?  Let's join him in the prison break.  Thanks be to God.  AMEN.

EXTREME MAKEOVER: SOUL EDITION

2 Corinthians 5: 16-21
Steve Lindsley
October 26, 2008

First there was just Extreme Makeover.  It aired on Thursday nights at 9:00 on ABC.   According to its website, it described itself as “. . . a real life fairy tale in which (people’s) wishes come true, not just to change their looks, but their lives and destinies. This magic is conjured up through the skills of an ‘Extreme Team,’ including the nation's top plastic surgeons, eye surgeons and cosmetic dentists, along with a talented team of hair and makeup artists, stylists and personal trainers, led by an on-camera Extreme Makeover expert.”  The show concluded as each person had their “climactic unveiling” – a staged and tremendously over-hyped event where he or she finally emerged through the curtains and appeared before their loved ones, who'd hoot and holler, whose mouths gaped open in amazement, and who inevitably cried tears of joy over their “new” mom or wife.

Then came Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.  It had the same basic concept except it involved – you guessed it – a house.  It focused on some family who had gotten a raw deal in life – a natural disaster that destroyed some or all of their home, someone in the family with a terminal illness, some kind of situation that was ripe for a shot in the arm.  Over the course of seven days, the family is shuffled off for a first-rate vacation (paid for by the show's producers), while ringleader Ty Pennington rallies local contractors and other willing hands to totally redo the house – new rooms, appliances, walls – no expense is spared.  Sometimes it involves totally demolishing the old structure and building a new one.  At the end of the show, the family is standing on the other side of the road from their house, whose view is blocked by a bus.  And when the bus is moved, the family literally freaks out as they gaze upon the new creation – all of which is captured on television for the viewing pleasure of millions. 

Who knows what the next evolution will be?  It's interesting how fascinated the public can be about this sort of thing – the work itself (whatever is being “made over”), as well as the emotions and drama of the final “unveiling.”  Lives are changed!.......or are they?  You know, it's rare that they ever do any kind of “follow-up” with these individuals or families a year or two down the road.  It'd be interesting to see what happens after the camera crews leave and the fervor dies down, don't you think?  I mean, is the life of that woman who lost all that weight and had that fancy haircut really changed?  How about the family who is faced with trying to sell a monster of a house in this economy in a neighborhood where the average home is half its size?  These makeovers make for great TV – but do they really change lives?

Changing lives, after all, was what the apostle Paul was writing about in his second letter to the church in Corinth; a church he had had a long-standing relationship with.  And like any relationship, there were some good times and then there were some not-so-good times.  This was one of those “not-so-good” times.  Apparently Paul had endured what he referred to as a “painful visit” not too long before, and the tension and anger were still very much there as he put pen to paper.

And, you know, you gotta feel for Paul.  I mean, it's not like he's trying to tick everyone off.  It's not like wants to make a bunch of enemies, or be the thorn in their collective side.  All he wants is for people to emulate in their lives their relationship with Jesus Christ.  Not simply touched by it; not just giving them a “warm fuzzy feeling” inside.  Paul wants their habits, their routines, their thinking, their reasoning and their actions to undergo radical change.  He wants them to realize, as he says in the verse Octavia read, that anyone in Christ is a new creation – everything old has passed away, and everything has become new.  In other words: Extreme Makeover – Soul Edition.

It's kind of funny, you know.  I mean, it took a number of years before folks came up with a name for these people.  “New Creations” just didn't quite roll off the tongue all that well.  So eventually – years and years after Jesus' death – they took to calling them Christians. “Little Christs” is what the term really means.  People trying to model one's self after what they saw in Jesus.  And notice one thing – it wasn't all about what those people believed.  In fact, in many ways they were still working that part out.  What the word “christian” meant back in the day was how one lived, and how their relationship with Jesus changed the way they lived.

So who exactly is a Christian?  It's not as easy as it sounds, is it?  I mean, what ultimately makes a Christian a Christian?  Is it that they once made a profession of faith – is that it?  Is it that they're active in a church, or on their member rolls – is that who a Christian is?  There are people who think that just because your family attends church makes you a Christian, and then there are people who believe that being a Christian has absolutely nothing to do with going to church.  Defining who and what a Christian is in our day and time can be a tricky business.

Not too long ago I came across a wonderful quote by writer Henri Nouwen; and I want to lift it up to you as a brilliant way of understanding who and what a Christian is.  I've asked Lynn to print it on the back of the announcements page this morning, and as I read it out loud I want to ask you to read it silently with me:

You are Christian only so long
as you constantly pose critical questions to the society you live in,
so long as you emphasize the need of conversion both for yourself and for the world,
so long as you in no way let yourself become established in the situation of the world,

so long as you stay unsatisfied with the status quo
and keep saying that a new world is yet to come.
You are Christian only when you believe you have a role to play
in the realization of the new kingdom,
and when you urge everyone you meet with holy unrest to make haste
so that the promise might soon be fulfilled.
So long as you live as a Christian you keep looking for a new order,
a new structure, a new life.

(http://www.brianmclaren.net/archives/blog/nouwen-quote.html, visited on 7.8.2008)

How about that!  You know, you could take each one of these stanzas and make an entire sermon out of them!  Maybe I'll do that sometime. Because it's not a bad understanding of who and what a Christian is, is it?  It's so much broader, so much deeper than what you and I tend to think of.  It's not about what family someone comes from, or where someone attends church, or whether they even attend church at all. What it boils down to is the rather simple yet terribly difficult notion of allowing your relationship with Christ to change not just your life, but the lives of those around you.

And that is precisely what the apostle Paul was trying to get across to those Christians in Corinth – those wonderful, spirit-filled, faithful, divisive, argumentative, misguided Christians.  People who claim Jesus as Lord don't see things or do things like the way the world sees them and does them.  People who claim Jesus as Lord pose questions to the greater society that no one else dares to ask.  People who claim Jesus as Lord do not only see the need for conversion in everyone else, but first see that same need in themselves.  People who claim Jesus as Lord do not sit idly by, but instead are actively engaged in doing their part to usher in God's kingdom on earth.  And people who claim Jesus – and I love how Nouwen puts this – urge everyone with holy unrest to join in the mission.  “Holy unrest” - there's no time to waste!  The extreme makeover, soul edition begins right now.

And so I wonder – how do Paul's words challenge you, some 2000 years later?  That's the question, isn't it?  How do we enact this new creation as members of First Presbyterian Church of Mount Airy?  Just days away from an important election, how does Christ call us to behave and vote our conscience instead of our fears?  How do we as Christians engage issues like hunger and poverty, torture, AIDS?  Those less fortunate than us, a dying world, a lonely child, a fractured family, a church preparing to conclude its 150th year of service?

You're beginning to see, I hope, that being a Christian is a whole lot more involved than simply following that “A-B-C” formula on the back of the tract you find stuck in the frame of the mirror in the public bathroom.  And the beauty of it is, the kind of “extreme makeover” that Paul talks about – seeking reconciliation and being ambassadors of that reconciliation – is not restricted at all to the confines of a church building.  The embodiment of this new creation can take place just about anywhere.

Tony Campolo knows this is true.  Campolo is a wonderful speaker, writer and evangelist who has an uncanny way of seeing the church in the world around us.  A few years back, Tony traveled to the east coast for a speaking engagement.  It was late at night when he got there, and the time change had played havoc with his sleeping pattern, so he found himself in a run-down doughnut shop well after midnight.  As Tony enjoyed his doughnut and coffee, he also picked up that this place was a gathering point for, of all people, some of the local hooker crowd.

At one point his booth was adjacent to two of those young women in conversation; one of whom was named Agnes.  He heard Agnes say to the other, “You know what?  Tomorrow's my birthday.  I'm gonna be 39.”  Her friend snapped back, “So what d'ya want from me? A birthday party? Huh?  You want me to get a cake and sing happy birthday to you?”  With a sullen look on her face Agnes replied, “Aw, come on, why do you have to be so mean?  Why do you have to put me down?  I'm just sayin' it's my birthday.  I don't want anything from you.  I mean, why should I have a birthday party?  I've never had a birthday party in my whole life.  Why should I have one now?”

The two women eventually left, but Tony stayed.  He stayed because hearing this exchange gave him idea.  He got up and found the doughnut shop owner and asked him if Agnes came in every night.  And when he said yes, Tony invited him to take part in what he called a “surprise party conspiracy.”  The owner's wife even got involved.  Together they arranged for a cake, candles, and typical party decorations for Agnes, who, other than a familiar face, was known to none of them.  They planned all of this out for the next night, when Tony and the others would spring their surprise.

Tony got there a little earlier the next night, just to be sure. And when Agnes eventually walked in, Tony and all the other patrons shouted out, “Surprise!”   At first Agnes was clueless – and a little frightened! But when she finally made the connection, and realized what was going on, and realized this was all for her, she couldn't believe it.  The doughnut shop patrons sang, and when it came time to blow out the candles Agnes struggled to do so through the tears rolling down her face.  And when it came time to cut the cake, Agnes asked if it would be okay if they didn't cut it, and if she could take it home just like it was, to keep it for a while and savor the moment.  So she left, carrying her cake down the street that night as if it were the greatest of treasures.

Tony led the guests in a prayer for Agnes, after which the shop owner told Tony he didn't realize Tony was a preacher. He asked what kind of church Tony came from, and Tony replied, “I belong to a church that throws birthday parties for prostitutes at 3:30 in the morning.”

The shop owner couldn't believe him.  “No you don't.  There ain't no church like that, he said.  If there was, I'd join it.  In a heartbeat.”

(As told by Brian McLaren from his book The Secret Message of Jesus: Uncovering the Truth That Could Change Everything: Thomas Nelson Publishing, 2006 pgs. 144-145)

Folks, it's true that our church is in the middle of a makeover of sorts.  And there may be a little dust and dirt around, and the staff can tell you it gets pretty noisy around here sometimes.  But the real important makeover is the one that takes place in each of our hearts, and how that makeover plays itself out in the lives we live as followers of Christ.  “New Creations,” Paul calls us. Christians.  With God's blessing, may we be the kind of church that changes lives, and that others, like that doughnut shop owner, long to become part of.  Thanks be to God.  AMEN.