Running the Race

Running the Race



            One thing that you may not know about me is that I used to be an avid runner.  I was not a fast runner, but I loved to run.  I loved to run so much that I trained for and completed five marathons, and three times I ran the New York City Marathon – my favorite race of all.  In 2017, I was preparing for the NYC Marathon, and I had decided that I was going to run my absolute best marathon.  I was going to prove to myself that even though I was growing older, I could still do better.  That whole year I trained harder, and I was so much more disciplined with my diet than I had ever been before.  I think that I single-handedly probably contributed to the earth-wide shortage of spinach, because you’ve never seen someone eat as many salads as I did that year.  I put everything that I had into that year to get ready for what I hoped to be my best race ever. 

            The morning of the race, I headed off for the Staten Island Ferry to take me over to the start of the race at Fort Wadsworth on Staten Island.  There was a light mist in the air that morning, and the air temperature felt ideal for a race that would take me through all five boroughs.  When my wave started, I stood at the edge of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, and that’s when it started: rain.  It was not all that heavy, but it was enough to get you damp.  I had trained through rain, and I knew that sometimes it is a delight to run through the rain.  That morning, it was not.  The rain would start and then stop; pour and then mist.  Soon, as over 50,000 participants made their way through the streets of Brooklyn, we were stomping through puddles of water.  I don’t know if you are aware of what happens when it rains and you step into a puddle of water, but your shoes become filled with water.  After 15 miles of sloshing through the wet streets of New York, I began to question myself: “Why am I doing this?”  I questioned all of the changes I had made to my diet, and I questioned the hours of pre-dawn running that I had done in my training.  I questioned every single thing that had to do with marathon training and running, and it was on that day that I fell out of love with running.  I finished the race, but did not run anywhere close to the time that I had hoped to have run.  And since that day, I have probably only run a total of 5-6 times. 

            Of the five marathons that I ran, only one had ideal weather.  One race the temperature was 22 degrees at the start of the race, and that was in Orlando!  Two others dealt with significant winds blowing so hard you could barely run straight lines.  One thing that I learned from my time of running was that you cannot just choose to run the race with the perfect weather that you want; you can only run the race that is set before you.  A couple of weeks ago, Brad proclaimed a beautiful message reminding us of that passage from Hebrews, where we are reminded that “since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith . . .”  Sometimes following Christ is hard.  Sometimes following Christ leads us into rainstorms, and sometimes it leads us into the oppressive heat.  But we cannot choose to just follow Christ when the weather and conditions are perfect; we fix our eyes on Jesus, and we just keep moving.  Maybe this week you find yourself trudging along with wet shoes, and you’ve grown weary and worn.  This week I encourage you to look up from the puddles, to fix your eyes on Christ, and run courageously and boldly in the race that is currently before you. 

With God's Help

With God’s Help



            As the son of a United Methodist minister, my sister Amy and I were in church every time the church doors were open.  For us, the churches that my father served became to be like a family for us, and we would often time have “adopted Grandparents” in the various churches that he served.  Whether it was through those relationships with those adopted grandparents, or through the love we received by our Sunday School teachers, going to church was something that my sister and I anticipated each week.  A few years ago I was invited back to preach Homecoming at one of those churches that my father served when I was a little boy (Concord UMC, near Graham), and the people there were still telling stories about the mischievous “Preacher’s Kid” who tried to climb out the window of the nursery one Sunday morning.  Surely, they must have been referencing my sister.  But the fact that they actually remembered me (or my sister) truly meant something to me, because it meant that relationships were actually formed during our time there.  Those relationships that were formed as those people proclaimed the good news to us, and they lived according to the example of Christ.  They surrounded us with a community of love and forgiveness, so that we could grow in our service to others.  They prayed for us, that we would be true disciples who walk in the way that leads to life.  In other words, they lived out the vows that they made at our baptism.

            Each time that a child is baptized in the United Methodist Church, we are reminded that baptism is not an event that is purely singular in nature:  it is communal.  It is the parents presenting a child to a community.  It is the community vowing to help raise the child in such a way that one day they will confirm the vows that are being made of their behalf.  It is many people, completed unrelated, becoming a family together.  And it is a family that is bound together by the love, grace, and mercy of God.

            This Sunday, we have an opportunity to live up to those vows that we made at the baptism of the children within our church.  On Sunday, many of our children will be participating in leading us in worship at both the Pathways and Traditions worship services.  They will lead us in song, and they will lead us in prayer.  They will read the scriptures, and they will help us to give back to God.  At the request of the children, they will also be able to offer us the body and blood of Christ through the sacrament of Holy Communion.  As one of your pastors, I can only say that I am so proud of the community that Orange UMC has established: a community that takes her baptismal vows seriously – with God’s help.



Will you nurture one another in the Christian faith and life and include these persons now before you in your care?

With God’s help we will proclaim the good news and live according to the example of Christ.  We will surround these persons with a community of love and forgiveness, that they may grow in their service to others.  We will pray for them, that they may be true disciples who walk in the way that leads to life. 

-from The United Methodist Hymnal, “The Baptismal Covenant II,” p. 40

Uphill Climb

Uphill Climb

Part of my daily rituals and routines involves my own personal devotion time.  Year ago, I was given A Guide to Prayer by Reuben Job and Norman Shawchuck.  In the book, different readings are assigned for each day, and it offers not just scriptures to read each day, but it also provides different writings – sometimes from contemporary authors, and others from early church fathers.  One thing that is consistent with the book is that it has a Psalm assigned for the week, and the reader is encouraged to read through that exact same Psalm each day of the week.  You would be amazed how when you react the exact same passage of scripture each day, it comes to life in different ways each time. 

This week, my assigned Psalm has been Psalm 127.  Psalm 127 is a part of what is known as the “Songs of Ascents.”  The Songs of Ascents (Psalms 120-134) are believed to be a collection of songs that were sung by worshippers as they ascended to Jerusalem for their feasts and special celebrations.  I recall several years ago as Jenn’s mother was fighting a battle with cancer that would ultimately take her life, I encouraged Mary Lou to pray through the Songs of Ascent.  I encouraged her to think about the worshippers as they walked up the long hill to Jerusalem, and pay attention to the words that they sang.  Sometimes in the journey, they would sing songs of lament, such as Psalm 120: “Too long has my soul had its dwelling with those who hate peace.”  Sometimes as they climbed, they would sing affirmations of faith, such as Psalm 121: “I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; from whence shall my help come?  My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.”  I encouraged my mother-in-law to read through these Psalms in her battle, and that whether it was a psalm of lament or thanksgiving, she would find her place in those songs.  The same holds true for all of us, no matter what battle we may be enduring or hill we may be climbing.

Again, as I previously mentioned, my Psalm this week was Psalm 127.  Reading through these verses each day (and I still have a few more to read through them) has truly reminded me of how completely dependent upon God we all are.  The psalmist reminds us that apart from God, all of our efforts in this world are vain.  I love the way that Eugene Peterson paraphrases the first two verses in The Message: “If God doesn’t build the house, the builders only build shacks.  If God doesn’t guard the city, the night watchman might as well nap.  It’s useless to rise early and go to bed late, and work your worried fingers to the bone.  Don’t you know he enjoys giving rest to those he loves?”

Maybe this week you have been facing an uphill climb, and maybe this week you have grown weary.  Perhaps this week you have felt that your efforts were all in vain.  I encourage you to read through the Songs of Ascent.  Read through these beautiful songs and hold them up to your battle.  Maybe somehow you have been fighting your battles or climbing your hill all on your own strength.  Maybe today you need to be reminded from “whence cometh my help?”  Let us all draw from our source – the One who calls us up the mountain. 

Practicing for Heaven

       This week, I read an article on churchleaders.com titled “9 Reasons a Church Choir Is Important.” Maybe it’s because I’m a product of the David Letterman era, but I’ve always loved lists - so I was drawn into the article.  I will not go over all nine reasons, but one of the reasons in the article really did resonate with me: “A good choir sings and illustrates joy.”  I know that when I am watching a choir or worship team lead, my eyes are drawn to whoever might be emoting the most joy.  Just a couple of weeks ago, my wife Jenn and I attended worship at a “megachurch” when we were up in Pennsylvania, and I simply could not take my eyes off of the keyboardist who was bouncing, singing, and smiling the entire time – even though there was not a microphone anywhere near.   That keyboardist was a shining light as they worshipped, and it truly was a beautiful thing to watch. 

            Each time that I pray the Lord’s Prayer, one particular line of the prayer really stands out for me: “Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”  We may not know exactly what everything is going to be like when we all get to heaven, but, in Revelation, John gives us at least a small glimpse into what it may be like.  Revelation 5:11-12 reads like this: 

Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels surrounding the throne and the living creatures and the elders; they numbered myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, singing with full voice,

“Worthy is the Lamb that was slaughtered

to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might

and honor and glory and blessing!”

Don’t you just love the image of joining with the heavenly chorus singing perfect praise to God?  Take note of what the angels are singing: they are singing about the Lamb of God, and that He would receive seven distinct things (power, wealth, wisdom, might, honor, glory and blessing).  In apocalyptic literature like Revelation, the number 7 represents completion or totality.  Do you know what this means?  When we join with that heavenly chorus, we will be singing complete, total, perfect praise to God! 

            If we pray, “Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven,” then I surmise that we all ought to be practicing and singing so that we are truly ready when our Creator calls us home.  Consider it like this:  when we sing in worship, we’re just practicing for heaven!  And if we are truly practicing for heaven, then we need to sing in such a way that our joy is contagious.  Towards the front of every United Methodist Hymnal, you will find John Wesley’s “Directions for Singing.”  I particularly love his fourth direction: “Sing lustily and with courage.  Beware of singing as if you were half dead, or half asleep; but lift up your voice with strength.  Be no more afraid of your voice now, nor more ashamed of its being heard, than when you sung the songs of Satan.”  All of that takes me back to the reason for a church choir: “A good choir sings and illustrates joy.”  I might paraphrase that to say “A good choir is practicing for heaven.” 

            If you’re interested in any of our music ministries here at Orange, I want to strongly encourage you to step out on faith and give it a shot.  What you will find when you are a part of something like the worship team, choir, or handbells, is that you will immediately become a part of a family.  We have some remarkably gifted leaders in Josh with Pathways and Derek with Traditions, and they will help you find the perfect spot in the family.  After all, we all could use a little practice for heaven.