"Let it be to me according to your word."

It is Mary's response to being told that she will conceive and bear the child, Jesus. As a staff we are reading "Watch for the Light: Readings for Advent and Christmas". I was trying to figure out which of the past readings to highlight at Staff Meeting tomorrow (as I will be going around the table asking each staff for their favorite from the week -- guessing that they didn't read -- grades will then be handed out -- Yes, I'm preaching on John the Baptist this Sunday, so I'm trying to get in the part -- REPENT YOU SNAKES!) ... as I was reflecting upon our time of confession and repentance during staff meeting tomorrow, I realized I hadn't read today's reading. Knowing that I was probably going to highlight Henri Nouwen's "Waiting for God", I read today's devotion, "In Defense of Humility" by Bernard of Clairvaux. I had one of the "wow" moments as I read what Bernard wrote about Mary and her response, "Let it be to me according to your word." It reads like a prayer:

Let it be to me according to your word concerning the Word. Let the Word that was in the beginning with God become flesh from my flesh. Let the Word, I pray, be to me, not as a word spoken only to pass away, but conceived and clothed in flesh, not in air, that he may remain with us. Let him be, not only to be heard with the ears, but to be seen with the eyes, touched with the hands and borne on the shoulders. Let the Word be to me, not as a word written and silent, but incarnate and living. That is, not traced with dead signs upon dead parchments but livingly impressed in human form upon my chaste womb; not by the tracing of a pen of lifeless reed, but by the operation of the Holy Spirit. Let it thus be to me, as was never done to anyone before me, nor after me shall be done. I desire that he may be formed, not as the word in preaching, not as a sign in figures, or as a vision in dreams, but silently inspired, personally incarnated, found in the body, in my body. Let the Word therefore deign to do in me and for me what he needed not to do, and could not do, for himself, according to your word. Yes, let it be done for the sake of the whole world, but specially let it be done unto me, according to your word.

Excerpt from "Watch for the Light"

BIT: It's no John the Baptist ... Happy Advent!

We're Social

I've been on Facebook for some time now, at least personally. I must admit I don't do a whole lot with it. I check on friends and wish them a happy birthday (when I don't miss it because I've not been on in a while). Recently, First Farragut started a group page for our children's ministry and Mark has been getting a page for youth. Well, not to be outdone, I decided to get a Facebook page up and running for the church in general. With some help from our 20 something administrative assistant, I was able to get it to work.

I was partly inspired by our new worship series for Advent, "Keepin' it Real: A Life-giving Christmas." The resource we are using had some suggestions for carrying the series into the social media world -- letting people interact with it throughout the week. I decided to give it a try. Hopefully I will be more regular than my blogging. Follow us on Facebook! First Farragut United Methodist Church

BIT: One thing this whole experience has shown me -- I'm either getting old, or everything is getting more complicated. I'm going with complicated.

There Is Hope (2)

At First Farragut we've had two Sundays now of "There is HOPE". Hope in Church and Hope in Christ have taken us through the first chapter of Colossians. My plan was to write a blog entry after each session of "There is HOPE" to be done by the time the "By the Way" (First Farragut's weekly newsletter) goes out on Wednesday. I've not been able to do it this week. It's not that I don't have anything to say, but because someone else already said it better than I ever could. Amanda Cleveland, a First Farragut youth, writes some incredible blog entries and she has one from Sunday. Check it out!

BIT: Hope isn't a fairytale, it's a promise. Thanks Amanda!

Update: 50 in 5

Yes, I know that I have not been doing regular updates on my 50 in 5 challenge. If you've not read the previous post ... I'm trying to lose 50 pounds in 5 months. It started on July 1 and runs through November. If your a math genius, you know that the average I need to lose is 10 pounds per month. It has been a month and a half ... so to be on target I would need to have lost 15 pounds.

[Scene cuts to John eating at the All-You-Can-Eat Seafood Buffet at Seafood World in Myrtle Beach] As we all know John struggled in July with his challenge as he was on vacation and tempted by all the wonderful food of Myrtle Beach. [Scene cuts to John walking around Pirate Land Family Campground] But he was no slouch either, regularly walking in the mornings even while on vacation. Did John exercise enough to be on his target loss or did he eat away all of his loss?

Well, for the first two weeks of July (before vacation) I did lose 5 pounds. Then two weeks of vacation, where I LOST 1 pound. Not the loss I wanted, but a loss while on vacation is a keeper. Then two weeks in August, back on the walking trail, and I lost another 4 pounds. My update is that I have lost 10 pounds (and am 5 pounds behind my goal).

But there is good news. I had my 3 month check up (which was really 5 months, but Dr. Ken didn't mention being 2 months late so we're going with it). My cholesterol came in at 199 -- below 200 for the first time since I've been testing. My sugars were down. My blood pressure top number was down 30 points (it's still high, but 30 points!).

I'll update you at the end of August. Maybe I can make up two or three pounds? Who knows.

BIT: I just wanted to share "The Call to Prayer" for my morning time with God. It is from Psalm 147:1. "Hallelujah! How good it is to sing praises to our God! How pleasant it is to honor him with praise!"

There Is HOPE

Have you ever listened to a song over and over again and then all of a sudden you are hit with this deep meaning spiritual moment? I have the album "Hawk Nelson is My Friend!" on my ipod. I listen to it when I'm walking (as part of my 50 in 5). It's fast paced and it inspires me to go faster and further. My favorite song on the album is Let's Dance, but I listen to them all. So, I've listened to One Little Miracle more than a few times. Nothing had really jumped out at me. A lot of times my mind is wandering when I'm walking (with an occasional run here and there) ... thinking about God, my next sermon series, what's going on in the life of my family, etc. Or, the voice of Jillian Michaels is screaming at me "Run, fat boy, run" (which we'll leave to later blog). I'm not always paying attention to the lyrics of the songs I'm hearing. But this morning, as I rounded the turn for my 4th mile, I was on Union Rd behind the Church (which is narrow and scary), that song came on and it was like the words and music were speaking just to me.


Perhaps I was more attune to the topic of hope because of our new worship series "There is HOPE (Colossians @ First Farragut). Usually my walks fill me with dread and pain, but this morning I was filled with God's reassuring hope as I listened to One Little Miracle by Hawk Nelson.

BIT: I "hope" you're being filled supernaturally by God's hope this week and/or sharing God's hope with someone who needs it. There is HOPE in Church!

50 in 5

No, I'm not turning 50 in 5 days. That's way, way, way off. It's my new goal. Today is July 1st and half of 2010 is gone. There's been something on my "to do" list for far too long. So, I've decided to finally go for it. Do it! Lose 50 lbs in 5 months. Why 5 months? Well, that would take me to Thanksgiving. What a Thanksgiving I will have if ... no, when ... I reach my goal.

I started today with a 3.5 mile walk. My plan is to blog on my progress on the 1st and 15th of each month (accountability).

BIT: I told my better half of my plan and goal and she has decided to join me. She also suggested that we make it a competition. Of course I laughed at her. "Haven't you watched the Biggest Loser? You don't stand a chance." After I picked myself up off the floor, we've decided on a friendly competition. So, I'll share how badly I'm beating her with each progress report.

First Fruits

This is the first year in many that the Brewster Family has had a garden. Now, it's pretty small (5 ft. x 10 ft.), but it has generated really big excitement with the kids. A little over two weeks ago, we saw our first banana pepper make it to picking stage. I thought this would be a great teaching moment. So, I took my two out to the backyard and I told the story from Leviticus 23:9-11, 14

Then the Lord said to Moses,“Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. When you enter the land I am giving you and you harvest its first crops, bring the priest a bundle of grain from the first cutting of your grain harvest. On the day after the Sabbath, the priest will lift it up before the Lord so it may be accepted on your behalf.
Do not eat any bread or roasted grain or fresh kernels on that day until you bring this offering to your God. This is a permanent law for you, and it must be observed from generation to generation wherever you live.

[Yes, I know, I left out the part about offering a one-year old lamb. I just didn't think the folks of Farragut (or my subdivision) would appreciate me burning a lamb on an altar in my back yard (besides, I'm pretty sure there's a permit form for that). I know, I also left out the part about bringing a quart of wine to church as a liquid offering, but we have rules about that at First Farragut (though I may try that offering in my back yard later, I think it will fit nicely with the Farragut milieu)] Of course if you don't read your Bible, you wouldn't have known I left out that valuable info ...

... but back to the story. I told my two we would take our first fruit, the banana pepper, to church on Sunday. And we did. I had a teaching moment with the congregation right before the offering about first fruits. We laid the pepper on the altar with the offerings.

BIT: The problem came the next week when the squash I'd been eyeing ripened. My mouth was watering for some fried squash and onions ... I came home from work to find that it had been picked, so I told the family we should fry that puppy up. To my horror, my two theologians told me that since it was the "first" squash, it too would have to go to church. And so it has progressed. The first cucumber came last Sunday and the first bell pepper is on it's way.

BITTER: You know, I think my garden is growing faster since giving the first fruits. I wonder if that's in that Bible? Let me know if you find it.