How Do You Get By? What Are Your Causes?

Bill and Teresa have been through their fair share of issues and more. Breast cancer, kidney disease, organ transplant, to name a few.

How do you get by? is/was a common question. You do what you do, said Bill.

God only gives you the problems you have the strength to handle, several told them. Well, I don't want any more strength, Bill responded in commendable honesty.

They had a great support system in the church and in the community. I don't know what people do without a church, noted Teresa.

They were able to come out the other side able and willing to give back. And what had been their greatest problems have turned into some of the great passions of their lives.

What are the greatest problems and the greatest passions of your life? You have a support system at FBC. Are you ready to transform your problems into your passions? Let us help in the process and let your problem/passion be our problem/passion.

Hospitality

Thi and Pacher gave a report last night (Wednesday) about the ministry First Laotian Baptist has been doing with the refugees in our backyard. It was a moving testimony of how God is working.

Love God by Loving People, Thi stated, restating 'the Greatest Commandment,' which says that the Law and the Prophets can be summed up by the double command to love God and to love our neighbor (Matthew 22.36-40).

We've been there, Thi said, quite literally referring to the struggles of the Laotian families when they came to America--and specifically to Memphis--as refugees.

And you helped us, he continued, referring to how First Laotian started as an outreach to the Laotian refugee community. Pacher emphasized this point, recalling her family's experience.

We want to help them like you helped us, he said, asking for any assistance we could provide in the process.

These are our neighbors, Pacher stressed. There's a huge language barrier, but we speak the language of love.

It was so moving that two members of our congregation went to the apartment complex at which the refugees are staying last night.

You can help--and, if fact, many of us already have. But the needs are great. And the needs are as follows:

• transportation (if you can volunteer to drive people to the store, or if you have an extra vehicle to be shared among the families),
• employment (if you know of any jobs that are available for those with limited English language skills),
• clothes (if you have any extra clothes, from newborn up to adult),
• baby/children's items (if you have any surplus items, the need here is large),
• Refugee Empowerment Program volunteers (if you can tutor children with their schoolwork, or be an assistant for an adult English class).

God With Us?

Almighty God, to You all hearts are open, all desires known, and from You no secrets are hidden. Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of You Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love You, and worthily magnify Your holy name, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Those are the words we pray together each week at FBC before the pastor's sermon. We call it the 'Prayer of Preparation' because it helps prepare us to receive the kerygma (Greek for 'proclamation, announcement, preaching') of the church.

Many of us do not know the origins of this prayer, which has nonetheless become very familiar over the years. It was written by St John Chrysostom, one of the great Greek Fathers of the Church. He lived during the last half of the 4th century, was appointed (against his will) Archbishop of Constantinople, and was/is famous for his preaching.

The elegant words of John Chrysostom brought this response from our pastor on Sunday: "God is with us and our only prayer is that we listen up."

Listen, we shall. And, listen, we are already. These are exciting times at FBC, as we are reaching out to our neighbors in need of a hand and our neighbors in need of a church family--and some need both.

God is at work. Won't you join in what God is already doing?

**NOTE**

The Prayer of Preparation was originally written in Latin as:

Deus, cui omne cor patet et omnis uoluntas loquitur, et quem nullum latet secretum: purifica per infusionem Sancti Spiritus cogitationes cordis nostri, ut perfecte te diligere et digne laudare mereamur, per Dominum nostrum Iesum Christum. Amen.

No Reservations?

During their couple share this morning, Richard said something about responding to God's call that made us all laugh, even as I think it may have made us all feel a bit guilty.

What he said was this: 'I can't do this because I'm not coming here!' He was wrestling with God's calling on his life when he visiting a certain place in Mississippi, a place very different than the part of Mississippi where he was raised. And that's when he realized that he had certain reservations about responding to God's call.

Thank you, Richard, for being so honest with us. We are glad you didn't resist the call that brought you to Memphis.

But the question for your thoughts is this: what are your reservations? Is there somewhere you wouldn't go if God called? Is there something you wouldn't do for God? Are there certain people with and for whom you would not want to work?

And why?

Just Getting By

An interesting point was made this morning during the Connect4 couple share.

It can be boiled down to this question: do you live your life with a purpose, or are you just getting by?

The point was made discussing a book about raising children, but could apply to life in general, especially during such trying times as the one in which the current economic situation has placed so many of us.

So, how are you living? Is there a larger purpose that governs your life, that holds you accountable, that provides you with perspective? Or, are you just getting by?

I am reminded of a point an old professor often made, contrasting purpose and plan.

If you have a plan (a specific means and ends), what happens if the planned path closes? For example, if you plan to drive to Nashville on I-40, what happens if, for whatever reason, they block the interstate? You're up the creek if you have time constraints. The end goal of your plan is thwarted just because you haven't allowed room for adjustments.

This is how it is when you're just getting by, when you're so focused on the here and now that you lose sight of the bigger picture.

If, rather than focusing on the plan, you focus on the purpose (a specific ends, but not means), you can make adjustments. If your purpose is to get to Nashville, you can take any number of roads to get there. If there is a roadblock, it doesn't matter so much. You could get off the beaten path and enjoy the scenery. And maybe you were meant to take the long way, to see the small towns between here and there, to experience something other than the interstate, which is pretty much the same all over.

When you have a purpose, you may have a plan as well, but you also have backup plans that can get you where you need to be. Remember, the plan isn't the goal, but what gets you to the goal; the goal is your destination.

The Impossible

David spoke this morning about kindness and forgiveness. These are difficult things that often are simplified into simplistic notions like being nice and tolerant and accepting. Yet, being nice and tolerant and accepting do not require much of us. In fact, we can be nice and tolerant and accepting by just not caring one way or another, by being apathetic, by merely ignoring others.

The biblical notion, by contrast, is quite demanding. John Caputo, drawing on Jacques Derrida, has even called it impossible (or the im-possible). By that he means we can never completely get outside of the circle of exchange, of reciprocity, because gifts form a circular economy.

When you forgive me, I am then indebted to you, which really cancels the act of forgiveness. So, I try to do something for you, which then puts you in debt to me. And so on. In short, a chain is formed. (Incidentally, the French for gift, cadeau, is actually derived from the the word for chain, catena.)

The problem is this: we are stuck between the world of forgiveness and the world of economics. We can't choose one or the other, but have to negotiate the space in between. We can't simply get outside of give and take, of reciprocity, just as we can never reach the act of pure forgiveness.

But that's okay.

We can't get outside the circle of reciprocity, but we can expand and widen its boudaries. We can bust through the perimeter, if only for an instant, before it closes back up again. Yet, it never closes the same way twice. Rather, each time we bust it open, we force its radius outward, thus creating a larger and more inclusive circle.

The point becomes twofold. We must forgive, but remember that forgiveness cancels itself out and so never actually is. And we must have economy, the circle of exchange and reciprocity, but don't let the circle close too tightly.

May the impossible drive us, let it be our passion. May we work towards true forgiveness. May we embrace the impossible, try to do the impossible. In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, who has already done the impossible by offering himself.

Leaving/Arriving: Church

Discuss.