The Next To the Last Supper

Mark 14:1-9 (The Message)

 In only two days the eight-day Festival of Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread would begin. The high priests and religion scholars were looking for a way they could seize Jesus by stealth and kill him. They agreed that it should not be done during Passover Week. "We don't want the crowds up in arms," they said. 

Jesus was at Bethany, a guest of Simon the Leper. While he was eating dinner, a woman came up carrying a bottle of very expensive perfume. Opening the bottle, she poured it on his head. Some of the guests became furious among themselves. "That's criminal! A sheer waste! This perfume could have been sold for well over a year's wages and handed out to the poor." They swelled up in anger, nearly bursting with indignation over her. 

But Jesus said, "Let her alone. Why are you giving her a hard time? She has just done something wonderfully significant for me. You will have the poor with you every day for the rest of your lives. Whenever you feel like it, you can do something for them. Not so with me. She did what she could when she could—she pre-anointed my body for burial. And you can be sure that wherever in the whole world the Message is preached, what she just did is going to be talked about admiringly." 

My old friend Curt Cloninger, the amazing actor and interpreter of scripture, calls the meal Jesus is eating in the scripture above "the next to the last supper."  In Curt's brilliant one-man play entitled Witnesses, he plays a fictional character (Abe the Banana Man) who was present at this meal.  He used to be unable to speak, he tells us.  In fact, he points out, almost everyone there (in Curt's version) was a used to be. In his mind the party guests included many of the people who had encountered Jesus over the previous 3 years.  Simon (their host) used to be a leper.  Bart used to be blind.  Lazurus used to be dead!  Curt points out that Jesus most likely ended the party during His speech praising the woman who had anointed His feet with perfume, because He once again announced that He would soon be dead.  The whole evening must have been indicative of the highs and lows of that last week.

We all used to be something before Jesus got hold of our hearts.  Some of us still are things that we would rather not be.  Holy Week is a wonderful time to let Jesus make you a used to be again.  He will- if you become WIDE OPEN to the grace he offers you.  Honor Him this week (and every week) with your very life.


Because of Jesus,

The Triumphal Entry

Today is Palm Sunday, a celebration of the day Jesus entered Jerusalem to the cheers and praises of the crowd.  According to to the gospels of Matthew, Mark and John, the crowds shouted things like "Hosanna" and "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!"  It was a glorious day.  Here is the account from the gospel of Luke:

Luke 19:28-40 (New International Version)

The Triumphal Entry 
After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, "Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, 'Why are you untying it?' tell him, 'The Lord needs it.' "

Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, "Why are you untying the colt?" 
They replied, "The Lord needs it." 
They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road. 
When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen: 
"Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!" 
"Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!" 

Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples!" 
"I tell you," he replied, "if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out."

It is hard to believe that less than a week after such an entrance those same people would be shouting "Crucify Him!"  This Lenten season we have spent much time seeking to praise God and lift high the name of Jesus.  But we too often turn our backs when times get tough.  In what ways do we turn our backs on the Messiah, despite the fact that we claim to be his followers?  Have a blessed Palm Sunday, and prepare your hearts for Holy Week.  Easter is only a week away!

Because of Jesus,

The Ministry of The Next Big Thing

Scott, Robbie & evidence from a
Polaroid Scavenger Hunt- 1982!

Early on in my ministry at New Garden Friends Meeting (1978-83) I began to understand that the missing link in most youth ministries at the time was communication.  Letting students and parents know what was going on, what was coming up, and what they needed to do about it was a new concept in the fly by the seat of your pants world of youth work.  Sometime in the year after David Stone turned me on to the concept of Wholistic Youth Ministry (that is ministry to the whole person- body, soul, mind and spirit) I began to actually plan months in advance for YFYF  (Young Friends Youth Fellowship) programs.  As part of that planning, I began doing a monthly newsletter that we mailed to the home of every youth on our roster- active or not.  Doing a newsletter was not easy in 1979. Those were the days of cut and paste clip art, rub on letters and mimeograph machines. But I felt it was that important.  The first objective of this newsletter was to inform.  My theory was that it would inform much better if it was actually something the students wanted to read, so I set out to make it creative and exciting.   No matter how great a youth ministry you build, it is worthless if no one shows up.  So we needed to build a buzz! I used lots of names of active youth in the articles; I hid inside jokes and contests in the body of the letter; and I tried to give catchy, creative names to everything I could.  For instance, one Sunday a month we would go to a local fast food restaurant instead of just having snacks.  We just said we were going to Burger Doodle, and that name stuck no matter where we went.  We also tried to keep sameness, tameness and lameness (with apologies to Jesse Jackson) out of our ministry.  We hoped the kids were never quite sure what would happen each Sunday afternoon.  I soon discovered it was working.  We were almost hip!  Do you know how hard it is for Quakers to be hip?  Even students who rarely showed up for YFYF were talking to me about the newsletter and hoping to see their name show up in it!

The second objective was to get them excited about things that were still to come, things that we wanted them to look forward to.  I began to think of this as the ministry of The Next Big Thing.  Did we have a trip or retreat coming up in a few months?  Were we going to see Ghandi or having a Marathon (lock-in) soon?  Did we have a Polaroid Panic planned or a guest speaker coming?  Anything I could think of that we could plug as a way to keep students anticipating was featured in the newsletter.  This, in turn, forced us as leaders to plan in advance.  It all seems so basic now, but at the time youth ministry was just coming of age and this was pretty radical stuff!  And it worked...

Over the years the methods of communication changed.  There would be summer booklets, telephone hotlines (like 847-XLAX in Kissimmee) and websites.  But they all served the same purpose- to keep parents and students up to date, and to hype The Next Big Thing.  I was always looking for ways to inject my sense of humor into these things, and in the New Garden years I did it by ending each newsletter with "And remember..."  I looked back through some of those letters, (Yes, I still have them- I know, I am pathetic!) and here are some of the actual things I wrote for those students to remember:

• An apple a day keeps the doctor away...but an onion takes care of everybody!
• It is better to give than to receive...unless,of course, you are Darek Newby!
• He who lives in a glass house...should dress in the bathroom!
• A bird in the hand...BITES!
• March 20-26 is International Youth Leaders Are Great People Week.  It is also International Pickle Week.  So in another YFYF first, we proudly bring you International Buy Your Youth Leader A Pickle Week!  We prefer dills!  And a happy April Fools Day to all of you!
• A day without sunshine is like...NIGHT! (Thanks, Steve Martin)

Those early days were exciting, and I will never forget what it was like to grow up right along side my students.  They taught me so much about effective youth ministry.  But I still had lots to learn.  It would be several more years before I figured out that if I made a newsletter the right size to fit on the back of a toilet, even more people would read it! Communication is a critical element of any student ministry. In this day of texts and social networking youth pastors have more opportunities than ever to stay in touch.  Use them. I'd love to hear what you are doing to bridge the communication gap. In the meantime, here's a final thought for all of you...

And remember:  This blog is like toilet paper.  You may not need it every day, but it's always here- and if it's not, you will really miss it!


Because of Jesus,

Summer 101: The Chain of Prayer

My Summer 101 series continues today with a very special event that every student ministry can do.  I have written here before that summers were the busiest time of year for the student ministries I served, beginning in 1986.  I always felt that the best way to start a summer was the same as the best way to start a day- with prayer.  After a few hit & miss ideas, I decided to try a Chain of Prayer as our summer kick-off- and I never looked back.

The Chain of Prayer is not an original idea, and there are lots of ways to do it.  Today I will share with you the things that worked best with my groups over the years.  We would pick a set number of hours on a day at the beginning of summer vacation and set them aside for our COP.  We did as many as 24 hours and as few as 6; it really depends on the size of your ministry and how many students you can get involved.  The hours would then be divided into half hour sections.  Students would be asked to commit to 30 minutes of prayer in a specific location at the church.  The idea was that for whatever number of hours we chose, there would be someone praying for our church, our youth ministry, our summer programs and our people.  It's a very powerful idea.

I know of groups who have done this and allowed students to pray at home and just call in at the beginning and end of their session, but I don't feel like that has quite the same impact.  If everyone comes to the church (sanctuary, chapel, youth room, your office- you make the call!) then there is a greater connection.  Plus it allows you to provide the pray-er with devotional materials and a conducive atmosphere, such as a darkened space with candles.  Thirty minutes can be a long time for a teenager, and it helps for them to be in a place that feels like a sacred space for that time. Also, everyone coming to the same spot allows you to keep an ever-growing list of prayer requests as each person adds their own joys and concerns.  And finally, everyone coming to the church allows for you to greet and thank each participant and pray for them, as well as walk each person in and out of the space to keep the chain connected. That was always my favorite part...

I have a couple of final tips for leaders.  It's fine to have more than one person praying at a time, but try not to have best friends sharing a time slot.  They may have difficulty with focus.  Secondly, do NOT play music in the prayer space.  We need to to teach our youth the wonders of "being still" and enjoying silence. If they want to sing a praise song or break out a hymnal, that's wonderful!  But don't just provide background noise. And finally, be willing to fill the gaps.  If a student (or adult volunteer; they can sign up too!) doesn't show or no one signs up for any specific time slot, you need to fill that 30 minutes.  The whole idea is that for those hours, your group is in a unbroken chain of prayer to the Father.  As Fleetwood Mac would say, "Never break the chain."

So give it a try!  Start small and see the amazing things that can happen to your group when you teach your students to pray.  I'll be back next Friday with more tips on ways summer can change your ministry!  Join me!


Because of Jesus,

Remember

Today's Lenten devotion is a simple reminder not to forget.  When Jesus was with the disciples in the Upper Room, He broke bread and drink wine with them and told them that from that day forward each time they did that they should remember Him.  The Apostle Paul later began the Sacrament of Communion based on the events of that night.  I love sharing the eucharist with my church family, but in my days as a Quaker I also learned that Jesus was imploring us to to think of Him EVERYTIME we sit down to eat (in fact, Quakers believe communion with Jesus can take place anytime in any situation, should you be willing to be still...).  Bread and wine were not a special meal; they were part of every meal! The message of the Lord's Supper is not found in the elements; it is found in the remembering. So today, I invite you to turn one of your meals into a time of personal communion with the Christ.  As you eat, whatever you eat, remember His body that was broken for you.  As you drink, remember the blood that was spilled for the forgiveness of our sins.  Share your thoughts with the people with whom you are eating.  The events of Holy Week are almost upon us.  Be open to the realization that Jesus is always present, and always loving us- a fact we far too often forget to remember. 


Because of Jesus,

It Was Just So Cold

Welcome to entry #2 in my 49 Days of Grace series, which will be featured every Wednesday for 7 weeks. To catch up on my story, check out the My Journey tab at the top of this blog.

It was just so cold. With everything that was swirling around me, with all of the confusion and fear and hopelessness and anger, that is the thing I remember most about the first night I spent in jail in March of 2007. It was just so cold.  

I mentioned some of this in a previous post, but it bears repeating here for the purpose of clarity. When I was booked, I was given an orange and white striped jumpsuit that was way too small for my 6'4" inch frame. The pants were Capri length. Actually, because of how old and tattered they were, a better analogy might be that they looked like the Hulk's pants following his transformation. I was wearing white ankle socks that I was allowed to keep, but I was allowed no shoes. I was given 2 thin sheets and a towel that was the size of a hand towel from the linen closet at home. I was in a room by myself, but it had a bunk bed in it. I am not sure why this next fact surprised me, but it turns out that all the movies are correct- the toilet was a stainless steel bowl sitting in the middle of the back of the cell. It didn't take long for me to become very aware that the air vent was blowing like it was cooling an entire house, when it fact it was only a 10 x 8 cell. As I looked up at the vent, I noticed that there were giant globs of toilet paper stuck to the ceiling all around the vent grate. Previous occupants had wet toilet paper and thrown these masses at the vent seeking to block the air. It didn't work, and several times that first night I was startled at the sound of the globs falling from the ceiling. It seemed that the temperature continued to drop as the night wore on. I was shivering and freezing and there was nothing I could do about it. I couldn't sleep. I had previously lived in Massachusetts and Chicago, but that night was the coldest I have ever been. I am known for being someone who is never cold. But that night, it was just so cold...

And then it got worse. I will spare you the details, but suffice it to say that when my skin finally made contact with the stainless steel for the first time it was actually painful. Remember the scene in A Christmas Story where the kid licks the metal pole? I  was afraid I was stuck. It was awful. Going back to bed was no better. I usually sleep on two pillows. I had none. I used my folded towel as a pillow, leaving me one sheet for cover. I laid in bed, starred at the bunk bed above me, tried to avoid the falling TP- and contemplated how I had arrived at such a place in my life. It was hard to believe that night that there was anyway I could be forgiven by my family or my God. The grace I had taught about for so long seemed like a bad theological concept, not a reality of the love of God's whose name is Jesus. It was difficult to imagine that anything could be worse that that moment, freezing in a jail cell, separated from everyone I loved and feeling like a total failure. My only consolation  was that everyone I had encountered told me I was only there for one night. I held on to that hope as I tried to stop shivering and go to sleep. It turned out to be a false hope, as 48 more night lay ahead of me. You can read more about that next week. But I can tell you this- it never got warmer.  It was just so cold...

Because of Jesus,

A Peculiar People

Have you ever noticed that Christians are strange? We fight like cats and dogs about things Jesus never even talked about.  We spend way too much time trying to impress each other.  We worship a carpenter. Christians are a pretty peculiar bunch.  In fact, the Bible even says so.  1 Peter 2:9 tells us that we are a "peculiar people" who have been "called out of darkness into His marvelous light."  But in this case, peculiar doesn't mean strange, as it so often does when our society describes us.  It means special.  More specifically, in this instance it means we are special to God, who loved us so much He sacrificed his only Son so that we might spend eternity in communion with Him. Jesus died so that we could follow his example and show others how to walk in the Light.  What a peculiar thing to do...


Demonstrating God's love is the whole reason the Church exists.  It isn't a private club where members go to uphold sacred rituals and traditions. It isn't a place to argue about whether my way of worshiping is better than yours.  It isn't a building where people who think they have all the answers and are better than everyone else hang out.  It isn't a place where we attempt to dictate the politics of our nation. The Church was designed by God to be a living organism- a body of believers - who bring the light of Christ into a dark and hurting world. When the church gathers our message should not be "we are right and you are wrong."  Instead, we should resonate with a message of hope and love.  Our very lives should scream that God is love, and that He is worthy to receive all the honor and praise we can possibly give Him!!!  We worry so much about "converting" people to our way of thinking.  Our job is to love them and show them Jesus. God still handles all the conversions...


When our churches are truly being the Church, working as God planned, then we are like lighthouses.  When we worship God through our music, our messages, our giving and our service it is like we are shining the Light, showing all of the world what a glorious and mighty God we serve.  It is true that people cannot see God.  It is also true that they can, if we choose to be lighthouses, see Jesus shine thorough the Church and through each of us.  It is not our light, not our wisdom and not our love that the world needs. It is his.  Through Jesus, we are God's Plan A for lighting this dark world.  There is no Plan B.  


I have heard so many people lamenting lately what a terrible place this world has become.  The darkness is thick and heavy all around us.  But John 1:8 reminds us that "the Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it."  The question, Church, is this:  are we still peculiar enough to believe that?


Because of Jesus,