SC Chapel Podcast

Do you like to keep up with what's happening at SC's chapel even though you aren't in Winfield? We now have Chapel available for you to subscribe to through iTunes or your other favorite system for mp3's. You can subscribe through searching Southwestern College in iTunes or go here and subscribe. We've had a great semester...I hope that you can listen in!

Taking a Look Around

I tend to be one of those people who stays busy. If I'm truly honest, I really like it that way best, I suppose. I do recognize, however, that there are times in the year that I'm too busy. These last 6 weeks definitely fit that scenario. School starting involves all of the excitement, emotion, and stress of setting an inert machine into motion. The potential for great power is there, but so is the potential for numerous malfunctions. But by now, we are up and moving. The rust has worn off, the new pieces have been broken in, and we're moving.

And so, I stop. Yes, I stop and take a look around. I look back to these last 40 days and see that lots of great things have happened:

• I participated in a prayer effort that started on August 10 and finishes up tomorrow (Friday, September 25) that intentionally lifted United Methodist Campus Ministries in prayer. There were days when I felt like I was a hamster running on a wheel and when I prayed these prayers, I sensed camraderie, understanding, and provision in a significant way. There were some days when these prayers were the substance of my static prayer time, but even in those days, I was surrounded by prayers.
• We've initiated a new group of leaders for campus ministry at Southwestern. Both the Shepherd Team of Discipleship (affectionately known as the Disciple-Sheep) and the leaders for our Campus Ministries are leading others in ministry! There truly is nothing more exciting than when students that you love are ministering to others! Love it!
• Chapel at SC. Wow! I have been blown away by the chapel services this year so far! Each preacher (all from within the SC community so far--and I'm counting Steve Rankin as still being from within the SC community) has spoken words of challenge, comfort, and truth to our campus. The worship teams are learning what it means to lead their peers, and the support ministries are creatively engaging the community in worship. I can hardly wait to get to chapel each week.
• I've had a couple of conversations with current students and alumni this fall that have been incredibly affirming...not necessarily of me, but of what I sense that God is doing and wants to do in our midst. Many seeds have been planted in years past here at SC and things are coming together for fruit to be borne. It's exciting.

From reading this little glance around, it would seem that Southwestern is heaven on earth. Well, it is pretty great, but we have our own struggles, too. But through it all, we know that God's presence is guiding, sustaining, and empowering us to meet those challenges. As I look around, I see places where God is asking me to trust and keep going, places where I need to ask forgiveness, and even places where I may need to just stop what we've been doing. So whether we move forward, or stop, we trust all of it for God's glory alone! And that's actually the best place of all to be.

Some Changes at SC

Well, it has often been said that change is inevitable, and we find that to be true at Southwestern College. After 14 wonderful years as the Campus Minister and Chair of the Philosophy and Religion department, Steve Rankin has felt the call of God to minister in another community. As of July 1, he has accepted an invitation to become the Chaplain at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. We are certainly sad to see him leave Southwestern, as his ministry is keenly felt on campus at this time. I was a sophomore the year that Steve started at SC, which means that during my freshmen year we were absent a Campus Minister. The impact that he made, even in the next 3 years, was significant. He redesigned chapel involving student worship teams. He started Discipleship Southwestern, a program that has now involved over 150 students (and of which I am currently the director). He nurtured the call to ministry in a number of students (including myself). And he poured his life into his students. In the 11 years since, he has continued on that initial impact in incredible ways. I have been honored to join him in the work at SC during the last four years. Keeping up with him is at times dizzying, but always significant. I cannot begin to express the impact that Steve has made on my own life and on the lives of many other students in the last 14 years.

Steve will be significantly missed on campus, but, as has been his goal, he is about the work of the Kingdom of God. He has simply chosen to be obedient to that goal through another arm of the United Methodist Church. While I'm sad for us at SC, I'm very excited for him and for SMU! I believe that he will make an impact for Christ in that community as well! Here is his take on the move. Please join me in praying for Steve and his family as they all adjust to life outside of Winfield.

Waiting for Inspiration

I recently preached in chapel at Southwestern. Here is a "version" of what I preached!

One of my bad habits is that I’m a bit of a procrastinator, especially when it comes to sermon titles. I am notoriously bad about starting early on sermon preparation, but honestly, when it comes to prepping my sermons, I’m not disciplined enough (and preach so infrequently) that I don’t spend the time developing sermon ideas regularly. I do regularly pray for upcoming preaching, but don’t “simmer” in ideas and texts like I should early enough. My tactic has been to “wait for inspiration.” Some of you know what I mean—you’ve got a paper to do or a project to work on, but you’re not in the mood. So, you just sort of do other things and wait to be inspired to work on it. But, it often doesn’t work that way…we may be waiting for something—for inspiration, for God to breathe life into us—but those deadlines keep coming at us, regardless of whether we’ve been “inspired” or not!

There are definitely thing that we DON’T have to wait for inspiration in order to do? The “mood” doesn’t have to strike me in order to do a certain number of things. For me it’s watching LOST on Wednesday nights, or eating a piece of dark chocolate, or responding to an email. But other things—things that are harder, or more important, or more complicated—they require more attention, more drive, more focus. When the stakes are higher, we sometimes need that inspiration in order to get started.

But sometimes we wait because there’s nothing else that we can do! Ever had something unexpected come your way that derailed you? Maybe you got sick, you got a flat tire, or a friend came by with an emergency. Sometimes the waiting is more about being stuck. Sometimes we may say that we’re waiting for inspiration, but the truth is, we’re hoping that no one comes along to inspire us because we’re too tired, or in too deep to want to move.

Our passage today gives us a glimpse into that kind of waiting. Here is the context: Jerusalem has been sacked—the Holy City (and its worship) has been taken over by infidels. The author of this chapter (traditionally thought to be Jeremiah—the weeping prophet) is taking the fall of Jerusalem personally, actually, his description is much more of a man who is in a pretty deep depression—he cannot escape, he is crying out to God for help.
You get the impression that he pretty much think that his life has bottomed out.

Despair. Stress. Fear. Resignation. The world is falling apart. Actually, the way that this is written, quite literally, the world is falling apart! In fact, from A to Z. Each chapter of Lamentations is an acrostic in the original Hebrew language. The author is telling us that there are so many things wrong with the world that he can tell us something for EVERY letter of the alphabet! In fact, they probably memorized this and recited it at various times of the year. The world has gone to the pits!

Do you know despair? Do you know stress? Well, we all know hard times—like this time of year when we have lots to do and it’s hard to find the motivation to hunker down and get it done. But do you know the depths of despair? I would guess that some of you do. When your life is sort of spinning out of control…you’re not sure what the future holds, or if you even want the future to hold anything at all. Maybe you’re getting ready to graduate and you just see a big question mark for May 11, the day after graduation. Maybe you’re far from graduation and you can’t see how you are going to finish out the rest of your schooling. Maybe you’ve gotten bad news from home and you feel helpless in the situation. The darkest place in all of these situations (or whatever you are) is that place where you’re waiting for the other shoe to drop.

That’s where our guy is…in despair, announcing his lack of glory, brooding on his affliction. And yet…he says this.

What? That’s not what you expected, is it? He’s just told us how depressed he is and then, he drops the bombshell: God still loves me! And God—you are worthy of my praise! Great is your faithfulness!


We sang earlier a song earlier, “Great is Thy Faithfulness.” It was written by Thomas O. Chisholm (1866-1960). Mr. Chisholm was converted at age 27 and became a Methodist minister for a short time, but spent most of his life selling life insurance. He was never a wealthy man, in fact struggled with health and financially. And yet, he proclaimed the faithfulness of God: Great is thy faithfulness, Great is thy faithfulness, morning by morning new mercies I see. All I have needed, thy hand hath provided. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me.

We also sang “It is Well With My Soul.” This song has an incredibly compelling story to it, too! It was written by Horatio Spafford (1828-1888) who was a businessman who lost a great deal of money in the great Chicago fire and also lost a son. Shortly after the fire, he planned a trip with his wife and 4 daughters to Europe but was delayed as his family set sail shortly before he was able to leave. On their trip over, their ship was met with disaster and sunk, leaving few survivors. Of his family, his wife, alone, survived. He followed shortly after their tragedy and penned these words: When peace like a river, attendeth my way, when sorrows, like sea billows roll; whatever my lot, thou has taught me to say, it is well, it is well, with my soul.

What gives these men hope? They have learned the secret of finding hope, even when circumstances are tragic—say, “teeth-breaking-ly tragic,” they have hope. How do they do that? Let’s turn back to the scripture and see what we can find.

What? Wait quietly in the midst of all this tragedy? No…here is our normal reaction: If there is something wrong, let’s use our voices, let’s lament! Let’s write a blog complaining about it or tweet our friends or even just complain loudly in the cafeteria when we’re ticked off about something!

But our lamenter says, “the Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him” and even adds “It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.”

Do you buy that? Do you believe that the Lord is good to those who wait for him? Does waiting bring good things? Waiting feels like WASTED time, but is it?

We’re going to watch a short video of a woman who shows us that waiting does bring good things. Above all, in this clip, she exemplifies hope. Perhaps she hasn’t always exemplified hope, but she’s had some recent circumstances that have given us insight into what it means to wait.

Well, I’m guessing that you’ve seen the video of Susan Boyle, the 47 year old, singing sensation on Simon Cowell’s Britain’s Got Talent. Did you hear the hope in her voice:

• “Currently unemployed, but still looking”
• “Always wanted to perform in front of a large audience…I’m going to make that audience rock!”
• “Trying to be a professional singer—she hasn’t been given a chance before, but here’s hoping it’ll change”

She hasn’t won the competition yet, but she’s definitely won the hearts of the world! As of yesterday, there were 37.5 MILLION hits on her YouTube video. Susan Boyle not only has hope, but she shows us that hope is contagious! We all want to think about our dreams a little when we watch her sing. I wonder what gave her the courage to stand up on the world’s stage and sing. I wonder if it was reading words like this:

It is good for one to bear the yoke in youth, to sit alone in silence when the Lord has imposed it, to put one’s mouth to the dust (there may yet be hope), to give one’s cheek to the smiter, and be filled with insults. For the Lord will not reject forever. Although he causes grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love; for he does not willingly afflict or grieve anyone.

Susan Boyle certainly knew what it felt like to be rejected, and yet, maybe she knew these words to be true—God would show compassion on her—he doesn’t willingly afflict or grieve anyone. There is a lesson in this passage for you, though, too. It specifically speaks to the young and says that it is good to “bear the yoke” in youth. See all these negative images:
• Sitting alone in silence
• Put one’s mouth to the dust (a posture of repentance or humility)
• Give one’s cheek to the smiter—that sounds like it’s going to hurt! (sound familiar—turn the other cheek?)
• Be on the receiving end of insults
Why is this something that youth should be bearing? It doesn’t seem like anyone should have to bear this mistreatment! Can anything good happen while you’re waiting?

Well, actually, the answer is yes: Have you seen a child that got everything that he demanded from his parents—candy, doesn’t have to brush his teeth, doesn’t go to school? Can you imagine this kid as an adult? An unchallenged kid would turn into an overindulged and narcissistic adult, demanding his way, regardless of who it hurts in the process.

But, have you met a child who has endured challenges—perhaps just boundaries set down from his parents, but maybe more—a loss in his family, or even a physical challenge. Not everyone responds productively in this circumstance, but there are those that take tragedy and turn it to triumph—that is the stuff of Disney Movies, right?

Can you see it: young man in despair, lost, alone, ominous music in the background, repentant posture, covered in dust, a man throws insults and slaps him on one cheek while the tortured offers the other one, when, off in the distance the hero is visible (there may yet be hope), and he rescues the afflicted. The hero is compassionate, strong, powerful, and loving! You see, this passage reflects more the sad reality that we will face trouble in our lives and points out that while God is not to blame for it, God is the one in whom we can place our trust. Learning this lesson, especially as a youth, allow us to persevere into maturity, trusting the goodness of God, despite difficult circumstances.

In waiting, we learn that our character needs to be refined: we must wait, as it proves what we are made of.

We also learn about God’s character when we’re patiently waiting before the Lord: God is compassionate, loving, merciful, faithful. In other words, God is worthy of our hope!
So…how do we wait? How do we have this hope? I think that there are 3 kinds of waiting:

1. Jiffy Lube Waiting Room (Passive waiting)—just a matter of time,
• Doing nothing
• Doing “busy work”—puzzle, knitting, watching tv
• Not necessarily productive, but not destructive
There is a spiritual parallel: going through the motions, getting distracted by “good” things, but not taking time to find out what’s really important

2. Hospital Waiting Room (Anxious)
• Anxiety, tears, prayer—complaint
• Time drags out—excruciating
• “Stuck in the mud” waiting
There is a spiritual parallel here, too: praying, but then worrying; laying it down, and then picking it back up again; impatience.

3. American Idol Waiting Room (Active)
• People rehearsing
• Maybe have family or friends there with
• Chatting about chances
• Praying
• Scoping out competition
• Palpable anticipation
The spiritual parallel here is more productive: quietly listening to God, spending time in prayer, reading scripture, surrounded by Christian community.

When you’re waiting for inspiration, what kind of waiting are you doing? Are you passively waiting? Anxiously waiting? Or are you actively waiting?

There are important lessons that are learned while waiting. We can join in with the writer of Lamentations and hymn writers Thomas Chisholm and Horatio Spafford and find our hope in God! You may feel like your life is in a pit right now. Or maybe things aren’t even that bad, but you’re waiting for something—waiting to be inspired, perhaps. Waiting to graduate. Waiting to take the next step.

Are you taking advantage of the gift of waiting? Waiting is not wasted on the young! As you wait, you will learn of the character of God—the compassionate, faithful, loving character of God. You just might find the priceless gift of hope in the midst of tragedy. You just might be inspired by the Spirit of God in the midst of your waiting. What are you waiting for?

Living God's Call in Hard Times

There is a caricature of the “Christian Life”, sometime propagated by Hollywood, sometimes by TV Preachers, that says that a person who has a messed up life can bring all their problems to God and, snap, things are going to be perfect. The birds will sing, you’ll always find a great parking spot, and your team will always win the big game. Well, unfortunately, this is simply not true. “Bad things happen to Good People,” accidents happen and the Moundbuilders occasionally have a bad game. It’s true that we can bring all of our pain and sorrow to God and he can rebuild our lives, but unfortunately it usually doesn’t happen overnight.

We pick up our story today here, in the book of 1 Samuel in the Old Testament:

Scene 1:
They’re living in hard times—a couple hundred years ago their people, the Israelites, came from slavery in Egypt where they were being oppressed. They are ruled by a group of people who are known as Judges—not really a king, not really a priest, but they’re called by God and given insight into what God wants to do with this group of people. A woman, Hannah, is married to a man, Elkanah, who loves her very much. She’s got two problems, however. Problem #1: she is barren and has been unable to have children. The only thing worse is problem #2.) Elkanah is also married to another woman, Peninniah (they used to do that in those days). Peninniah isn’t her husband’s favorite, but she feels vindicated b/c she has a slew of children. Each year when they go up to make sacrifices, Hannah makes an offering to the Lord and prays before God. The typical way that they prayed included them gathering in their place of worship praying aloud. However, this particular year, Hannah was so overcome with grief over her barrenness that she poured out her heart before God in silence, moving her lips, but not able to express her prayer verbally. This caught the attention of Eli, the priest, who noticed her abnormal behavior and even accused her of being drunk! Hannah even offered her son in service to the Lord, as a Nazarite, never to cut his hair or give him wine to drink. That was the ultimate offering, it seemed, to give him back to the God that gave him first to her once he turned 3 years old. After she explained her situation, he blessed and said, “Go in peace; the God of Israel grant the petition that you have made to him.”

Scene 2:
They’re living in hard times—the word of the Lord was rare in those days; visions were not wide spread. Eli, the old priest tried to be faithful, but the task felt too big for him. He had just been warned by a man of God about the bad behavior of his two sons, Hophni and Phinehas. They served with him, receiving sacrifices and conducting religions ceremonies which made matters worse. They skimmed a little off the top of the sacrifices, taking more than their fair share and cutting into what was supposed to be offered to the Lord. No only that, but they also copied the practices of those in the land of Canaan that they were trying to replace and had sex with temple prostitutes—not quite the example that you want your children to set when you’re the religious leader! Eli was grateful for one thing, though, that’s for sure: Samuel, the boy who had been serving with him the last couple of years was sure an answer to prayer! Eli remembered that he had first thought that his mother was drunk, praying like she was with her lips moving, but no sound coming out! At second glance, she prayed reverently, desperately even, imploring the God of the Universe to grant her one prayer: to have a child. Eli was grateful for Samuel’s ministry among them. It seemed almost a “do-over” to him, an opportunity to discuss who the God of Israel was, to teach him of God’s mighty acts in bringing them out of oppressive Egypt and to carry on the work of God.

This story isn’t turning out well at all! Our hero—Samuel—is thrown a curveball and given an unglamorous task! If we were writing the story, we might write the story differently:

• Hannah—God blessed her with a child, Samuel, and he did grow up to be a faithful servant of God, but she didn’t have to give him up at age 3. He matured on his own and chose to follow God as a priest.
• Hophni & Phinehas—They repented of their wicked ways and once again were used by God to minister to the people.
• Eli—He saw the repentance of his sons and died and old, happy man.
• Samuel—He lived his life knowing that he was an answer to prayer, feeling blessed and lived his life in response to God.

These things COULD have happened, but they didn’t. We often have the desire for things to turn out with a fairytale ending, but they often don’t.

So how do we live God’s call in the hard times?

We learn a lesson from Hannah. She gave up her son in service to the Lord. She didn’t try to make excuses to God. And she didn’t know if she would ever have any more children. But she remained faithful to her promise to dedicate her son to God’s service. We learn from Hannah that living with integrity—keeping one’s promise—is one way to live God’s call in hard times.

We learn a lesson from Eli. While Eli was reluctant to confront his sons about their bad behavior, he did maintain an open heart to God. He taught Samuel to be able to hear God’s voice and even encouraged him to share openly with him about the message that God had given him, even if he knew that it would be at a personal cost to him. We learn from Eli that pointing others to God is one way to live God’s call in hard times.

We learn a lesson from Samuel. Samuel did not get a say in whether he would be raised in service to the Lord. He was handed over as a 3 year old to be shaped and formed by the priest Eli. And yet, Samuel was obedient. He acts heroically when he is faithful despite the fact that he really has been dealt a difficult hand. We learn from Samuel that God speaks to us when we are listening and sheer obedience is the way to live God’s call in hard times.

We even learn a lesson from Hophni and Phinehas. While it may seem that you’re living a self-indulgent life without any consequences, eventually sin and obedience catches us to you. We learn from these two guys that God has a standard and we are to keep it even in hard times.

The rest of the story:

Hannah went on to miraculously have more children—3 sons and 2 daughters—and was blessed for her willingness to serve God faithful. And Samuel, despite his difficult first task, went on to live a blessed life with all his enemies slain by just a simple nod of his head. His rule as a judge ushered in a time of peace and harmony for the people of Israel and his team always won….Uh-oh, there’s that tricky caricature, again! The first part about Hannah is true, but that’s not quite what happened. Even though he encountered many difficult days in his life, Samuel did grow up to be a figure in the history of Israel that ushered in a new period: the Monarchy. He anointed the first king, Saul, and then the Greatest King, David, preparing a new chapter in the lives of the people of Israel. His faithful mother would never have known that day when she prayed desperately for a child that her son would grow up to play such an important role in the history of Israel! That he would become a mouthpiece for God during a time of much silence. That he would speak words of truth to King David, preparing him for his role as the unifier of Israel (even a unified Israel lasted for only a brief time).

Scene 3:

We’re living in hard times. We often feel tossed and torn by the pressures that come our way. We have relationship pressures, academic pressures, and financial pressures. We vacillate between silence of God and steps that seem impossible to follow. The word of the Lord seems to be apparent to everyone around us except for us! We try to pray, but our prayers feel as though they hit the ceiling and never reach God’s ears. We compare our faith to those around us and seem to never match up. We ask forgiveness for the same thing over and over again, never quite feeling like we’re back in God’s good graces. And we forget that in the hard times, God is present here with us.

It’s good that we don’t write the end of the stories. It’s good that we learn how to live out the call of God in the hard times. It’s good that God has left us with the image of a Savior that endured difficulty, and we can look not only to what Christ did, but also to what he is doing in the world today.