Posted in Grace, Ministry

A disturbing story for the comfortable

Posted on by William Douthwaite
I am working on the gospel, Luke 16:19-31, for the sermon this week. It’s a tough passage that generates enough guilt on its own that you really don’t need to preach too much law. A rich man who enjoys life in this world ends up in a place of torment. A poor man, Lazarus, who lives a miserable life in this world ends up in a place of comfort. It’s a story that makes you realize how often you look right past the poor in pursuit of your own extravagant life-style. Extravagant at least in comparison to most of the world.

We were talking about this in Bible class last week, too, studying The Hole in our Gospel, by Rich Stearns of World Vision. We hear about the poor, empty food pantry shelves, and the needs all around us, but we really don’t see the poor. We know statistics, but we don’t really don’t know the people they speak of. For example, a public school teacher in the class shared that 56% of the children in our school district get free or reduced lunches. I didn’t know that, even though I know lots of money is being spent for that program. Those children are for most part invisible to the average eye, except to those who spend every weekday with them.

The bottom line in Jesus’ parable is to listen to “Moses and the prophets,” the Word of God. What the Word reveals is a God who steps into our world with mercy, justice and love. When we see what God is doing, we see who He came to save. The targets of His mercy suddenly have names, faces and lives. In this way He still opens eyes and invites us to join Him in this mission that supplies both physical and spiritual life in this world. Isn’t it amazing how His Word and Sacraments still open the eyes of the blind, the ears of the deaf, and heal the legs of the paralyzed!

Posted in Grace, Life, Ministry

I was just thinking about you

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Last night I had a free half-hour before my small group met, so I got to make a few phone calls to see how some folks were doing. During the first call, the person said, “I was just thinking about you. In fact, I was going to call you tomorrow.” I’ve found that to be the case too many times to be a coincidence. Somehow God brings to mind just the right person at the right time.

Anyway, they were going to call me with the idea to have our congregation write our own Advent devotional booklet this fall. Not necessarily a new idea, but a new idea for us. It’s a project I’ve sometimes dreamt about, but never implemented. You don’t know how nice it is to hear someone say, “I’d like to organize it.” All I need to do is give her a list of twenty-seven Bible verses, organized around an Advent theme, and she’ll do the rest: enlist writers, gather devotions, and get the collection to our office for duplication and distribution. Pretty cool.

Of course, that means I have to start thinking about Advent, which begins November 28 this year. I’ve found that advance planning sometimes makes you feel like a time of year is already upon you when it really isn’t. Kind of like a time warp. I have to remind myself it’s only September. Whew. But not too early to plan for the busy month of December.

So if you’re a Shepherd of the Coast reader, you read it here first. You’ll have a chance to share a little of your Advent and Christmas thoughts to help others zero in on that time of the church year. Last year we introduced Advent Conspiracy, and challenged ourselves to worship fully, spend less, give more and love fully, all gifts from God. I think we’ll take that to the next level in some way so that Christmas can continue to change the world.

Posted in Grace, Ministry

Walk-in business has been pretty good lately

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Lately I’ve had a lot of walk-in business. Just like the hair salon where someone walks in without an appointment for a haircut, I’ve had a number of people walk in (literally, or by email, or by phone) in search of what I’ll call “spiritual services.” A number of people I’ve never met have called to ask, “Can you perform our wedding?” Or “Can my child(ren) come to confirmation class?” Or, “Can I do some community service hours at your church?”

My first response is, “Who are you?” Well, maybe not in those exact words. But I am always curious how people decided to call me. Remember, these are folks who have had no affiliation with our church and who have never met me. I’ve come to recognize that the church has become for many a place where you go to get certain spiritual services, just as you might go to Jiffy Lube for an oil change or to a chiropractor for an adjustment. There will probably be no lasting connection, but for the time being, you’re the right man for the job.

Sometimes there is a connection, albeit remote. “My friend’s grandnephew had a friend who knew someone whose wedding you performed on the beach.” Another interesting connection: “My daughter went to your church’s preschool years ago.” Or sometimes I get the call by accident. They thought I was someone else or our church was the one on the other side of the interstate.

So what do you do? How should I respond? Chances are once the service has been performed, I will never see them again. Am I just a technician who’s been certified in spiritual ceremonies? Over the years I’ve gotten a little more accommodating. I’ve come to accept each request as an an opportunity. The Holy Spirit must be at work in there somewhere. I may be part of a much bigger project to connect someone to God’s grace. I might meet someone else in the process who needs some good news (of which I have plenty to share). So I usually give them the benefit of the doubt. I’ll marry you. But you’re going to learn something about Jesus in the process. I’ll help you teach your kids. But we’re going to talk a lot about Jesus.

Lots of people came to Jesus for his healing or demon-casting-out services. But they came face-to-face with the Son of God. You never know.

Posted in Grace, Ministry

We’re in this together

Posted on by William Douthwaite
About a week ago, my wife Lisa and I sent out a letter about our upcoming trip to Haiti and how people could support us, both in prayer and financially. As great as a mission trip might sound, there is the sobering reality that you have to pay your own way. You need a flight, ground transportation, food and lodging while you’re there, translators, and you need to bring along medical supplies. Remember, we’re going some place where they basically have nothing, so you have to bring something.

As uncomfortable as raising support for a trip might be, it’s good to remember that many people who can’t or won’t go to various places can be a part of what is happening there through prayer, encouragement, and contributions. If their talents enable them to earn money that can be used for these efforts, that’s their part of the puzzle that makes these medical mission trips happen. What a great reminder that we’re not doing this alone, but we’re the church doing this together. We’re supposed to be dependent on each other, suffer together, rejoice together, worship together, and serve together.

(Having said that, if you’d like a copy of our letter, just respond with an email and I’ll be glad to send one along.)

Posted in Grace, Life

Back to class

Posted on by William Douthwaite

This morning I was reading John 16, and towards the end of the chapter, Jesus’ disciples basically say to him, “Now we understand what you’re talking about. We believe. We trust you.” Jesus replies (my paraphrase), “Oh yeah? We haven’t even gotten to the hard part yet, when you all run away and leave me alone.” In other words, we haven’t even gotten to the main event, the cross and all that would mean. Jesus was teaching them about His departure and the arrival of the Spirit because they would need it later. “In this world, you will have tribulation,” Jesus said, “But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

What I’ve noticed is just when you think you’ve got it all figured out, just when you think you might be able to do this, to be faithful, to follow Christ, something happens and you need to learn to trust him all over again. Illness happens, financial uncertainty happens, conflict happens, disaster happens, and just about anything you can think of. What we learn is good for about a day. Tomorrow there will be another lesson. I once heard someone say that life is like algebra class: there’s always another problem.
Posted in Life, Ministry

Haiti in October

Posted on by William Douthwaite
I am heading down to the health department today to get a few immunizations in preparation for our trip to Haiti in October. Lisa and I (along with Gail, an RN friend) are going to be part of a medical mission team sponsored by LCMS World Relief and Human Care. We’ll be in Poto, a rural community much affected by the earthquake and storms, but far away from where most relief efforts have taken place so far. I get to be a chaplain for the team, as well as providing care and counsel for some of the patients. I am looking forward to seeing firsthand some of the affected people and places I’ve only seen and heard about in the news.

Other than smallpox, polio, and tetanus, I haven’t had many immunizations. I’m old enough to be of the generation that actually had all the diseases we now immunize against. I had measles, chickenpox, rubella, and mumps. I think I had most of them in the first grade. I also broke my ankle that year. It was a rough year, but I survived.

My international travel experience includes three days in Freeport in the Bahamas and one night in Vancouver, British Columbia. Time to expand my horizons a little. While we’re there we hope to see some of the people Lisa met last March when she accompanied a team to Port-au-Prince. Our connections to them via Facebook and email makes the world seem very, very small.

Posted in Life

Keeping in touch

Posted on by William Douthwaite
With more and more ways to communicate available to us, in some ways it’s harder that ever to keep in touch with people. Some of it is generational, I’m sure. To effective shepherd a congregation, it seems like you have to master many modes of communication.

Telephone. Ah, yes, old school. But for some members, that’s the best way to get in touch with them. Some do not even have any kind of voice mail, so it’s hit or miss, and you need to be persistent to catch them at home. If your a grandparent, you’re a fan of the phone, although some younger families prefer it, too.

Email. If you’re a parent, you do a lot of this and you’ve been doing it for a long time. Fortunately, most email clients effectively filter out spam, so it’s a lot more productive than it used to be. Plus, you can check it at work, home, or on your smart phone.

Social media. Lots of adults use Facebook updates, messages, and chats as their main form of communication. Some forget that status updates are public, so you’re sometimes updating the entire world about some personal issues. But it’s cool to see all the pics of what you and your family are doing.

Text. In high school or below? You text and you text a lot.

Mail. By mail, I mean a letter in an envelope with a stamp delivered to a person’s home. If all else fails, I will mail a letter.

In order to reach the entire congregation with information, I use all of the above. There is no one method that will reach more than half of the people. The trick is knowing who likes to use what. Once you discover that, you’re golden.

What methods of communication have you found effective?

Posted in Life

Sophomore year

Posted on by William Douthwaite

Today was the beginning of a new school year here in Flagler County, Florida. My youngest is a Sophomore this year, kind of an in-between year of high school. No freshman jitters, yet no Junior or Senior excitement yet, either. The challenges will be geometry (one of my all-time favorite subjects), honors biology (mom, you get to help with homework in that subject), and world history (there is a lot more history to learn than when I was in high school!)

I am stretching my brain, trying to remember my Sophomore year in high school (1972-1973). We had a three-year high school, so it was my first year at the senior high. I remember walking to school each day, about 1-1/2 miles (no buses for us). I had Algebra 2 with Mrs. Miller, who’s favorite phrase was “that’s good mathematics” when an elegant solution was presented. I had chemistry with Mr. Yoder (wow, pulled his name out of a hat). Somehow I got put in the advanced half of the class, which meant we were left alone in a lab to conduct unauthorized experiments which often resulted in unknown, noxious gases which forced a hurried evacuation from the room. Let’s see, Mrs. Cavanaugh taught English, probably one of the most attractive teachers we had all throughout high school. I had health the first half of the year with Mr. Schnellenbach, the wrestling coach, who taught us more about wrestling than anything about health. Und second year German with Mr. Maiwold, who made our lives miserable until winter break, when he died, and was replaced with Mrs. Carpenter, who was just slightly worse. We had Phys Ed — every year back then — and had to take showers before heading to our next class. And band, which was always fun. Back then we marched to “Get it On,” the Olympic Fanfare, “Parade of the Chariots” from Ben Hur, and jammed to “Jingo” in the stands.

I guess my memory hasn’t totally let me down yet. Things we didn’t have: smart phones, Internet, texting, AIDS, airport security, hand-held calculators, digital cameras, bike helmets, microwave ovens, cable or satellite TV and DVRs. We did have Converse Chuck Taylor All-Stars, curable STDs, classic rock before it was “classic”, pot, great high school football and $.29 McDonald’s hamburgers. It wasn’t such a bad year.

Posted in Grace, Ministry

Hoping to catch a glimpse

Posted on by William Douthwaite
In the Treasury of Daily Prayer the other day, August 3, it was the day to remember Joanna, Mary, and Salome, the women who brought spices to Jesus’ tomb very early on the first day of the week, the third day after his death. At first glance, their work doesn’t seem to be anything of great significance. They were just doing what anyone would do for a friend who had died. Yet, they became the first to see the empty tomb and proclaim the resurrection.

The readings and prayers came in a timely fashion, as I have been lately wondering, “Now what?” As our congregation enters into her fall programs it feels like the same old same old. I don’t have any compelling vision to cast before the congregation, just encouragement to keep doing what we’ve been doing. How do you stay motivated when the work becomes routine and unexciting?

Perhaps it is in the routine proclamation of the word and administration of the sacraments that we get a chance to witness the life-giving grace of God. Maybe it is exactly a time like this when I should have my radar on, so that I don’t miss what God is doing among us and in our community.

Casting vision is something I’ve always been told is very important for a leader, but never something I’ve been good at. Each day I hope to catch a glimpse of those lives that God touches and calls into his kingdom by the Gospel.