Before the Story begins…
200 years ago, on February 7, at 3:45 am, the entire mid-section of the country shook with the New Madrid Earthquake. It shook to such an extent that church bells in Boston, MA began ringing due to the motion of the ground.

There was no Kansas City at that time. In 1804, Lewis and Clark and their expedition camped for three days at the confluence of the Kansas and Missouri Rivers.

In 1809, Louis Bertholet became the first white settler to build a cabin in what is now Kansas City, Kansas.

In 1812, 200 years ago, Louisiana formally became a State of the United States and Kansas and Missouri officially became part of the Missouri Territory. The language of the first European settlement in Kansas City was French.

In 1817, the Baptist Board of Foreign Missions appointed Isaac McCoy as a missionary to the Indians. McCoy and his family were to play a key role in the unfolding of Kansas City. McCoy was more of a social reformer than a missionary, and it was his dream to relocate the Indians Tribes of Eastern United States to Kansas, Nebraska and Oklahoma and establish an Indian Territory throughout these states that would become self-governing.

This vision brought the McCoy family to Kansas City in 1831 to be near the newly-formed Indian Reservations. McCoy’s son-in-law, also a Baptist minister, Johnston Lykins, was one of Kansas City’s first mayors and founder of the First Baptist Church of Kansas City, Missouri in 1855. But his son, John Calvin McCoy, opened a trading post in 1833 calling it West Port, because it was the last place to get supplies before travelers went into the Kansas Territory on the California Trail, the Oregon Trail or the Sante Fe Trail.

In 1834, the Steamboat, John Hancock, laden with goods for McCoy’s store, became the first to arrive in Kansas City and docked at West Port Landing, opening a new era of transportation for the then-remote area.

In 1838, John McCoy and Francois Chouteau, both of whom had opened trading posts, named the area, the Village of the Kansa, thankfully rejecting names of Rabbitville and Possom Trot.

We tell this part of the story so that you can see the historical context. For the primary part of the story today happened not here on the Western Frontier of the American nation, but in its older and more established founding colonies. And this part of the story takes us to Massachusetts. Isaac McCoy is one of the great missionary stories of the American Baptists on what was then the American Frontier.

But another frontier, even more daunting and thrilling, was unfolding in Boston. And it was there, that today’s story begins…

The Story Begins…
Ruth: In 1792, the Baptist Missionary Society in Kettering, London, formed and appointed its first missionary, William Carey, to Serampore, India in 1793. Word of this action by the English Baptists spread quickly to the States and impressed many of the early leaders in New England. The Massachusetts Baptist Missionary Society was formed in Boston in 1802 by two Baptist ministers, Samuel Stillman and Thomas Baldwin. Members could join the Society for an annual membership fee of $1.00.

William Carey wrote from India, “Yesterday, I received your favour of Dec. 1, 1804… It gives me real pleasure to hear of the attempts made in America to spread abroad the name of our Lord Jesus Christ… It will give me pleasure to be able at any time to contribute to the promotion of the Massachusetts Baptist Missionary Society.”

Yet, the early Baptist missionary impulses were weak and did not find expression beyond the boundaries of the United States. The Congregationalists of New England, established as the state church of Massachusetts, were out in front.

Adoniram Judson, son of an esteemed Congregational Pastor, had rebelled against his father’s faith while in college at Brown University. He fell under the spell of a fellow student, Jacob Eames, who believed in rationalistic Deism. Adoniram had out-grown his father’s faith. After college, Adoniram had joined a shabby group of actors in New York City who stayed for a few nights in a hotel, then skipped out without paying their bill. Adoniram quickly became disillusioned with their lack of morality.

He left them and stayed at a country inn. That night, there was a guest in the neighboring room who had obviously fallen ill. All night long Judson heard loud moaning and the coming and going of care-givers. The next morning, after a sleepless night, Judson checked out of the hotel and happened to ask if the gentleman in the adjacent room was now well. The innkeeper responded, “No, he died last night.” Judson was shocked, “Died?” Then he remarked, “Do you know who he was?” The innkeeper said, “Why, yes. He was a young man from the university. His name was Eames….Jacob Eames.”

The news was such a shock that Adoniram was in no state to leave the inn for several hours. Eames had taught Judson that there was no after-life. What would happen to Eames now that he was dead? What kind of eternity would he face now? Judson plunged into a crisis of faith.

To find answers, he eventually enrolled in Andover Seminary, where he would have the chance to pick the minds of the best theologians. He began to shed his doubts, one by one. Finally, Adoniram made a solemn dedication of his life to God. It was a day he never forgot: December 2, 1808.

From that point on, Judson was a new man.

Reading of Scripture:
“When it was evening of the day of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the religious officials, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ After Jesus said this, he showed his disciples his hands and his side, marks of his crucifixion.

The disciples rejoiced when they recognized the Lord! Jesus then said to them, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit…” (John 20:19-22)

God was breathing on Adoniram, and urging him to receive the Empowering Spirit. One sign of the Spirit’s breeze came when Adoniram happened onto a printed pamphlet that declared that God was ready to bring many more Asians to Jesus, if young people would go to be the signs to point them to the Savior.

“For some days,” Adoniram wrote, “I was unable to attend to the studies of my class, and spent my time wondering at my past stupidity, picturing to myself the most romantic scenes in missionary life, and roving about the college rooms making speeches about missions.”

His fellow students told him that he was crazy. Nobody had ever left the shores of the United States to preach in another language and climate. They did not believe in Adoniram’s wild ideas and they condemned them. So he was forced to remain quiet.

But God’s breeze blew again. This time it was a book Adoniram read about Burma. He discovered a feudal empire, colourful and rich. The people could read and write, and their literature was well-developed. They were all slaves of their emperor. From that point on, Burma was very much on the young man’s mind. Adoniram thought of the gift that God had given him for languages, as he quickly learned Greek, Latin and Hebrew in seminary. Could that gift be used in Burma?

As he was walking one day in the woods alone, thinking and praying about his future, the call of God came to him –unmistakably and inescapably: ‘the command of Christ, “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature,” was presented to my mind with such clearness and power, that I came to a full decision, and though great difficulties appeared in my way, resolved to obey the command whatever happened.”

The words of scripture came alive: “As the Father has sent me, so I send you!”

Adoniram and his bride, Ann Hasseltine Judson, were appointed by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, and boarded the Caravan, a ship bound for India on this date, 200 years ago, February 19, 1812. Expecting to contact William Carey and the English Baptist missionaries already serving in Calcutta, they sought to prepare themselves on the long voyage to India by studying the meaning of baptism in the Greek New Testament.

To the consternation of their companions, Adoniram and Ann became persuaded of the correctness of believer’s baptism by immersion and shortly after their arrival requested baptism at the hands of Carey. This separated them from the other missionary couple who had also been sent on the same ship by the American Board. This couple, the Newells, decided to stick with the beliefs of their home church and this meant that the two couples, who had been sent to work together, would now separate.

The young missionaries had an immediate problem. They could not continue honorably with the support of the Congregationalists in America while practicing believer’s baptism.

Yet, the Baptists in America had no foreign missionary organization ready to support them. The American Baptists, to their disbelief and shock, suddenly discovered that they had missionaries in India and were galvanized into supporting missions.

The Story Reaches Burma…
The English Colonial government in India was not excited to learn of the arrival of American missionaries and almost immediately ordered them to return home and ordered the captains of those ships not to leave the harbor unless the missionaries were back on board. The Judsons pleaded with the government and they were finally told that if they could find another ship going to another country, they could leave. Otherwise, they must return to America.

Adoniram searched day and night for a ship. Everyone he met in Madras seemed set on discouraging him from going anywhere near Burma. Foreign teachings were hateful to the Emperor of Burma. Missionaries would be persecuted and probably murdered. For a man, life would be very difficult; for a woman, impossible. The Judsons were told stories which made them think of that Golden Kingdom with horror. Still, they were determined.

Desperately, Adoniram started looking for a ship going anywhere – as long as it was gone before the local authorities came for them. At last, Adoniram found one. It was a dilapidated old boat, but it was the only one in the whole port ready to sail. He asked for its destination. The reply was completely unexpected. For a moment, Adoniram could not believe what his ears told him. This ship was bound for Rangoon – in Burma!

The words that he had heard so often from his friends, both in Calcutta and Madras, came back to mind. A multitude of voices in his memory shouted, ‘Whatever you do, stay away from Burma.’ While in front of him stood the ship’s captain, waiting for his reply. A spiritual breeze across the harbor embraced Judson again: “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”

After nearly 18 months of traveling, the Judsons had no doubt that Burma was the place to which God was calling them. Ann thought of the people who had never heard the sound of the gospel, or read, in their own language, of the love of Christ. Ann was ready to make Burma her home for the rest of her life. She was expecting a baby, and as they boarded the ship, they employed a nurse to come with them and assist in the birth. Not long after they boarded the ship, the nurse fell on the floor, apparently in a fit. And after a few gasps, the nurse died.

Ann said, “I had no doctor, no nurse, no attendant, and we were on a very small, dirty boat in continual motion by the violence of the wind and sea.” While in voyage, Ann miscarried. On July 13, 1813, the old ship entered the mouth of the Rangoon River. Late in the afternoon, they saw a flash of gold above the jungle tree-tops. The sun’s rays were catching the tip of a gleaming spire, the top of the great Shwe Dagon pagoda. The pagoda seemed to grow more gigantic as the ship got closer to the port. It towered over the town of bamboo and teak houses which ran along the river for about a mile.

When they docked, Ann was still weak from her miscarriage and upset by the loss of her baby. The couple was not able to rejoice that God had brought them safely to Burma. Four Burmese men lifted her up in an armchair on two long poles, and Ann was paraded into town through narrow streets crowded with people, shouting and chattering, viewing the first foreign woman ever. As Ann finally looked up and smiled, the crowds applauded her.

When I visited Burma a few years ago, we flew into the International Airport at Yangon. I mostly remember young boys, dressed as soldiers, with automatic rifles slung around their necks, watching our every move. And when we left the airport, like Judson, I remember for the first time looking up at the Shwe Dagon, the Buddhist pagoda that sits atop the city. The hotel where we stayed was near the pagoda and my room allowed for a beautiful view of its golden domes. I found it peaceful and inspiring, particularly lit at night. And our visit up the hill, to see the vast collection of statues, pagodas and domes, was amazing – it is one of the wonders of Asia. Everywhere we went in Burma, we were reminded of the heritage of the Judsons. They are like the George Washingtons among the Christians of that nation. The Baptists are the largest religious group after the dominant Buddhists, and for them, Ann and Adoniram Judson, were deeply revered. One Sunday in July, when I was serving as pastor in St. Louis, all the Karen people arrived at church dressed in their native cultural costumes – very bright and beautifully attired. And I asked them, “What’s the occasion? Why are you all dressed up?” They looked at me as if I was a novice Baptist. “You don’t know?,” they asked. “This is Judson’s Birthday.” “Oh, yes,” I responded. “I had quite forgotten!!”

One day, a clandestine meeting was carefully arranged with a group of Buddhist monks. This was quite forbidden by the military government. The government of Burma considered Buddhism to be their “kept religion” and they wanted no interaction with other faiths. The last program on Burmese television every night was the Army Generals kneeling before the supreme leader of the Burmese Buddhists to receive his blessing. Yet, what I remember most from that day with the monks was when our conversation turned to Judson. These Buddhist leaders knew of him well, and they spoke of him as we might of Shakespeare – that Judson’s translation of the Bible and his translation of the Burmese Dictionary, were among the finest examples of flawless Burmese language. Few other writers had come close. Judson had done much for their nation, they said.

Bringing the Story Home…Setting Sail
That brings us back to Prairie Baptist Church. If one wants to understand the DNA of our congregation, it would have to center around missions, the very concept at the heart of the call of Adoniram and Ann Judson, and upon her death, Sarah Judson, and upon her death, Emily Judson. This church was founded in 1950, the very time of the expansion of Prairie Village as a residential, suburban city of Kansas City. One of a few churches to actually set a percentage of budget given to missions in its constitution, and abide by it for years, it meant that Prairie Baptist Church has always been one of American Baptists’ strongest mission-giving churches. For years, we have ranked either as the first among all churches in the denomination, or among the top five churches, far out-stretching our membership size. That’s our heritage and it continues today.

In 1975, the first hands-on mission trip was planned by the church to El Salvador. Subsequent trips were taken to Costa Rica, Haiti, and most recently Joplin and Tijuana. Hands-on mission was involved when the church joined IHN of Johnson County, and a life-changing involvement with Laotian refugees in the 1980’s and the launching of their church, the Bethel Neighborhood Center, and the Prairie Early Childhood Center, starting in 1974. Through More2, Prairie began addressing the heart and soul of our region’s problems: racism, economic inequity and lack of equal opportunity. Mention must also be made of the mission emphasis of American Baptist Men, American Baptist Women’s Ministries, and the twice a year mission trips of Prairie Youth. Through these and many other ventures, Mission is in Prairie’s DNA – more than many churches, it is an integral expression of what makes this church unique.

When the Judson’s sent back word of their change of heart and re-baptism at Carey’s hand, and their subsequent alignment with the Baptists, it ignited a passion for mission that has since characterized the American Baptist Churches ever since. As theologian Emil Brunner once said, “The church exists for mission as fire exists for burning.” Our church’s new by-line, “Serving as the hands of Christ throughout Kansas City,” is an apt description of what makes Prairie tick: in Kansas City and throughout the world.

American Baptists, as with all denominations, have had many issues that have divided us. Just in my 40 years, during the civil rights era, our denomination’s heroic stance caused over a thousand churches of European descent to leave our denomination as over a thousand churches of African American descent entered. Then came the abortion issue pitting the right to life and freedom of choice against each other. Then came women’s rights and the freedom of women to enter pastoral vocation. Doesn’t it make you proud that Prairie Baptist Church is one of the few major pulpits in our denomination to have a female senior pastor serve with distinction for over a decade of leadership? Then came the issue of the acceptance and welcome of homosexuals and other sexual minorities. Through it all, I would say that the “glue” that has held our denomination intact has been our passion for mission.

For a church as mission-focused as ours, a proposed Global Mission Residence could become yet another major expression of turning our campus outward, globally, so that missionaries and national mission leaders from overseas are a continuous part of our church family for years to come. Instead of a parade of mission visitors, we would have the opportunity to develop deep and lasting bonds of friendship with outstanding Christian leaders engaged in mission in the tradition of Ann, Adoniram, Sarah and Emily Judson.

Would American Baptists have been as mission-focused had it not been for the Judsons and the unusual way they became Baptist missionaries in Asia? Possibly, but it would be hard to over-estimate the impact this had upon American Baptists when we still represented a fledgling movement in the USA.

I think there is something to learn from the Judsons. Often we sense God leading us, inviting us to something new. And we “set sail” in new directions. We board the “Caravan Ship” sent forth on the winds of God’s Empowering Spirit. Yet, en route, we learn something new about ourselves or learn something new about the gospel, or experience God in more real ways than ever before, and we find that our destination changes. We leave as Congregationalists and arrive as Baptists. Or just as easily leave as Baptists and arrive in a different place. We don’t hold a monopoly on truth or integrity.

When Adoniram first began to sense God’s call pulsating throughout his soul, he didn’t develop a long range plan or set out a group of goals and objectives. He prepared himself, so that he was nimble and ready, with eyes and ears open, for God’s call. That is what Prairie Baptist Church needs: not a long-range plan. We just need to get ourselves ready, turned outward toward God’s world, listening, heeding, interacting, and imagining how God will call us, lead us, and send us forth. We need as a church to be ready to set sail! Friends, the last thing we need as a church is to sit in neutral and just wait for the arrival of a new lead pastor. We need to set sail now, and your new pastor, recognizing that he or she doesn’t need to wake you up, will eagerly join you on your voyage to God’s distant and exciting shore! Be ready to set sail!

When I left Kansas City in 1970, Jan and I “set sail” for Rochester, New York and my theological studies, and Jan’s bachelor’s degree completion, what I had in my head was an entirely different path than the one I followed. I am not the same person and my mission as a pastor has changed dramatically. Jan is even a better example. She trained to be a public school teacher, and it has been a marvel to watch unfold, through brain injury and open doors of opportunity, her ministry and work as a job coach with adults of special needs and circumstances.

My point is that you are an example, also. As you board your “Caravan Ship”, God takes you to new places. You must only have the courage to first say “Yes!” And then just watch and see where it leads. Where is your ship sailing these days? Does your ship depend upon God’s breezes, and sail where God leads you? If not, why not?

That’s my invitation to you today, standing in the tradition and spirit of the Judsons, let us also be as passionate about mission, and let us be as open of mind and heart as were Ann and Adoniram, that along the way, God will re-direct us and send us to a “land” we have never before seen, taking with us the gifts we have to offer as we serve as the Hands of Christ throughout Kansas City and throughout God’s World! Amen.

My dog is a dog. Sounds rather simplistic, doesn’t it? Let me explain. My dog doesn’t have to work at being a dog. There is no need for my dog to become more dog-like, or more fully a dog. By creation and instinct, my dog is the complete package. She need add nothing to be more authentically “dog.” Like other dogs, she’s the real deal. No struggle needed.

I am a human being. Sounds rather simplistic, doesn’t it? Let me explain. I am a human being but I am decidedly not fully human. I have to work at my humanity every day of my life, sometimes succeeding, often failing. Human beings are mis-named. We would be better called Human Becomings. Alone among all species, we have the capacity, even the inclination to un-do our own creation. Alone among all species, we have the capacity to reach and fulfill our own humanity.

We are born as babies, full and complete, the “whole package,” fully human. But then something happens – and it happens to each one of us – no exceptions. We are born into an imperfect world, a world that begins chipping away at our humanity. We find ourselves doing inhuman things to one another, like the first graders who laugh at a child who makes an innocent mistake, like the third grade bully who picks on kids who are different, like the fourth grader who gossips about those deemed unpopular or unattractive, or the tenth grader who “outs” a lesbian who has confided in her.

We find ourselves becoming inauthentic, pretending to be something we are not. We develop a public face that hides our real selves. Indeed, our “real self” doesn’t seem all that real. Our inhumanity, our callousness, our indifference, our envy, make us less human. And so we strive to regain our lost humanity. Human Becomings — we are, in each and every moment of our lives, even as you sit there and listen to me, either becoming less human, or becoming more fully human. We become more authentic to the humanity within us, or we become more out of touch.

How else can you explain Matthew Nelson, the Grain Valley second grade teacher, who has been groping and fondling little boys in his classroom apparently for years? He was recognized as Teacher of the Year in 2007. Is he now some kind of perverted freak? Sadly, probably, no. He is a man who has become inhuman, out of touch with himself, and out of his inhumanity, he was treating children in vulgar and unhuman ways.

How else can you explain Rev. Shawn Ratigan, a priest of the church, taking inappropriate pictures of little girls in the balcony of his church on Easter Sunday after services? He is a man who has become inhuman, inauthentically human, treating children in vulgar and inhumane ways.

On the other hand, God is all wrapped up in our becoming human. We see this in the first creation story in Genesis. “Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness…’ So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them.” (1:26, 28)

We reflect that image not when we become pious and holy and sanctimonious, but when we become more authentically human. The fullness of our humanity is the reflection of the image of God within us. What does it look like when we become our most authentic selves, when we become the fullest expression of our humanity? Would it not have to look God-like, in whose image and likeness we were created? So, it appears, God-like and human-like are not opposites. Becoming human and become godly are not opposites.

As tiny infants, we are innocent and pure and beautiful. And that is why infants draw adoration from us. They come straight from God. I told you this story not long ago – it bears repeating again:

One young boy asked his mother if he could have some time alone with his new baby sister. The mother was puzzled, but the little boy insisted that she leave the room. Standing on the other side of the door, the mother heard her young son lean over the crib and whisper into his sister’s ear, “Tell me what God is like. I’ve forgotten.”

When we grow up, things get done to us, and we do things to others, we mistreat and mis-use and get mistreated and used, and we lose our humanity. We become, in some way at least, inhuman. Like Adam and Eve in the garden, we learn to lie and conceal and blame. And we have lost our childlike innocence.

The paradox of life breaks in and we become aware that things didn’t work out as we had planned, and we are not the persons we hoped to become. We have been side-tracked and we’ve taken detours that have become dead-ends. We are broken. We are keenly aware of our failures. We look behind us and find that our path has been littered by people whom we have failed or who have failed us, by hurtful relationships, by misunderstandings, by missed opportunity. We thought we would be one place and we have ended up another. We are carrying a lot of heavy baggage, a lot of unfinished business, a lot of broken promises, a lot of shattered dreams.

Somehow we have to pick up the broken pieces, heal from the hurts, lighten the burdens, and strive for a fullness of humanity that has so far eluded us. But, how?

Inhumanity looms all around us. Many of our reactions as a nation since 9/11 have been based on fear and revenge, two signs of inhumanity. We could have shown our nation’s true moral strength. Instead, we chose to get even.

There have been exposés about America’s super-rich, the Wall Street titans who still have little realization that their greed and extravagance have wrought such pain and hardship upon most Americans. Millions were rewarded to America’s CEO’s, even as they were driving their businesses to the brink.

Money speaks more than integrity. Honesty is hard to come by. Entertainment often trivializes rather than elevates basic human values. Just watch TV for an evening. We know more about waging war than waging peace. Apathy abounds. And millions of children in this country and around the world wake up without food, without a good education, without security, without housing. In Kansas, we’re trying to take away food stamps from children who are U.S. citizens!

No one in our midst embodies full humanity. Not one among us. We celebrated Martin Luther King Jr’s life last month. We know he had flaws and made mistakes, but we also recognize that he reached as high as anyone in America toward a full embodiment of his humanity, and offered that freely to others regardless of creed or color. We learned after the death of Mother Theresa that her faith was so meager while her compassion was so extraordinary. I can think of persons who were not famous, not celebrities, who have embodied a fuller sense of their humanity and have challenged me to Reach Higher. Some of those people are sitting among us.

We are a becoming species, created with potentiality, not yet realized. We can become much more than we now are.

We find in the Exodus text a strange statement. Moses is arguing with God, “Since I am a poor speaker, why would Pharoah listen to me?” God said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharoah…” (Ex. 6:30-7:1) In another passage, God says to a reluctant Moses, “Aaron will do all the speaking to the people for you; and you shall serve as God for him.” (Ex. 4: 16)

Moses, like God? Really?

How can you take God out of our becoming human? Can you take Van Gogh from his paintings? Or extract Michaelangelo from his sculpture? Or remove Bach from his music? Or Emily Dickinson from her poetry? Can you remove God from creation? What would remain? Can you speak of us without also speaking of our Creator? God is all wrapped up in our becoming human.

So while not one of us embodies full humanity, many are on a path of becoming. You could choose a path of denial. A religious system that promises that you are “saved” while everyone else is “lost” is a path of denial. You aren’t saved. Paul himself said, “Don’t think that I have arrived, but I press on toward the goal…” (Philippians 3:12) Duke biblical scholar James Efird writes, “Paul almost never uses the verb ‘to save’ in a past tense… (It) is most often found in the future and less frequently in the present. He more typically speaks of ‘being saved.’” (p. 85) Paul used the term, “becoming saved,” or “working on your salvation,” both of which are another way of saying, “I’m becoming more fully human.”

In Ephesians, Paul writes, “Put off your old self…to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and put on the new self, created to be like God…” (Eph 4:22-24) Created to be like God. The Psalmist exclaimed, “What are human beings? …for you have made them little lower than God…” (Psalm 8:4-5)

God cares deeply about our becoming fully human. Why else would Jesus’ life matter? Was he only a rabbi of integrity in the first century? Rabbi Hillel, Rabbi Gamaliel and Rabbi Shammai were even more esteemed Jewish teachers than Jesus, and were his contemporaries. Jesus matters because he is the only example of one who reached his full humanity, his full potentiality.

I don’t happen to believe that Jesus committed no errors, no lapses of integrity, experienced no struggles or doubts, all of which would deny him his humanity. I think the Gospels offer an entirely different view. I do believe that by the time Jesus reached the cross, he was fully human. And that his life choices made him so. And that is why we are people of the cross, not only because of his sacrificial death, but because Jesus, hanging on a cross, is the closest picture we have of a Full Human Being, an Open Revelation of a mirror image of God in whom he was created. So if you want to meet the Full Human Being, focus on Jesus on the cross. Walter Wink states, “My deepest interest in encountering Jesus is…to be delivered from a stunted soul, a limited mind, and an unjust social order. No doubt a part of me wants to whittle Jesus down to any size so that I can avoid painful, even costly change. But another part of me is exhilarated by the possibility of becoming more human.” (p. 16, The Human Being) “Just as one must speak french if one wishes to be understood by those who speak only french, so God speaks as a human being to human beings. Of course, the face God turns toward us is not the incomprehensible and ineffable totality of God but only the countenance that can coax the human species toward its fulfillment.” (p. 34)

God is all wrapped up in our becoming human. It is what God wants for us more than anything else. Not to be sinless, not to reach perfection, not to be better than others, but to become fully human, fully authentic. That’s our highest destiny. Wink says, “Humanizing humanity is one of God’s central concerns.” (p. 32, Wink, The Human One)

If Jesus is fully human and fully divine, then in Christ, what once was separated is now intertwined.

If God is all wrapped up in our becoming human, then I think we have a fuller sense today of what it means to be human than ever before. We know today that owning slaves, or selling daughters into prostitution, or de-valuing women, or working children in sweat shops, or waging unnecessary wars, or allowing the rich to disregard the poor, or racial prejudice, or mis-using the earth, these are things that take away humanity. And so we have a larger sense of what it means to be human today and thus a larger sense of Incarnation, God among us. So, one could say that our sense of God is growing, not diminishing. We are not losing sight of God, we are gaining clarity on God’s reality in these days.

Walter Wink in his mind-blowing book, The Human Being, states, “If God is in some sense true humanness, then divinity is fully realized humanity… The goal of life, then, is not to become something we are not – divine – but to become what we truly are – human. We are not required to become divine: flawless, perfect, without blemish. We are invited simply to become human, which means growing through our sins and mistakes, learning by trial and error, being redeemed over and over… It means giving up pretending to be good and, instead, becoming real.” (p. 29) WOW!

Do you know the story of the Velveteen Rabbit? The stuffed animal was given to a small boy as a Christmas present and for at least two hours, the boy loved him. Then the rabbit was ignored and forgotten. And the rabbit began to feel very insignificant. One day he asked the Skin Horse, sitting on the shelf next to him, “What is real? Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?” The Skin Horse had lived in the nursery longer than any other toy. He said, “Real isn’t how you are made. It’s a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time not just to play with, but really loves you, then you become Real.”

“Does it hurt?”, the rabbit asked. “Sometimes,” said the Skin Horse, “When you are Real, you don’t mind being hurt.”
“Does it happen all at once, or bit by bit?”
“It doesn’t happen all at once,” said the Skin Horse. “You become. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because when you are Real you can’t be ugly.”

Almost by accident the boy began sleeping with the Velveteen Rabbit. And one day, the rabbit had been left outside, and the Nanny had to go out at night and find the rabbit all wet from dew. She returned to the boy’s room fuming, “Fancy all that fuss for a toy!” The boy sat up in bed and stretched out his hands. “Give me my Bunny! You mustn’t say that. He isn’t a toy. He’s Real!”

That is when the Velveteen Rabbit learned that he was real. The boy had pronounced him so.

A God who is the Real Thing is a God of Full Humanity. And thus we are the real thing when we become more fully human. And yet, we hold out perfection, even pretense, not authenticity or integrity, as our primary pursuit. I care how I appear to you more than how I truly am.

A drunk man who smelled like gin sat down on the subway next to a priest. The man’s clothes were stained, his face plastered with red lipstick, and a half empty bottle of gin was sticking out of his torn coat pocket.

He opened his newspaper and began reading. After a few minutes the man turned to the priest and asked, “Say, Father, what causes arthritis?”

The priest had had enough. “My son, it’s caused by loose living, being with cheap women, too much alcohol, a contempt for your fellow man, sleeping around with prostitutes and a lack of a bath.”

“Well, I’ll be,” the drunk muttered, returning to his paper.

The priest, thinking about what he had said, nudged the man and apologized. “I’m very sorry. I didn’t mean to come on so strong. How long have you had arthritis?”

The man replied, “Oh, I don’t have it, Father. I was just reading here that the Pope does.”

God is all wrapped up in our becoming human. God is so much a part of us, so much within us, so much within our struggle to be human, so much within creation, that we can’t always recognize God’s imprint all over our lives.

In 1989, 96 fans were crushed to death in a soccer stadium in Sheffield, England, and another 200 were injured. At one of the hospitals to which these victims were taken, an attending surgeon spoke to the parents who had come to find out the fate of their children. The surgeon soberly read the names of those killed, expressed his sympathy to the stunned parents and then said that as a Christian he believed that God understood the parents’ grief and was with them in their time of need. One father bitterly replied, “What does God know about losing a son?”
Well? Well…

Amen.

Ash Wednesday, February 22nd, 6:00 p.m.:
Hearts of Stone, Hearts of FleshEzekiel 36:26
Simple Meal of Soup and Bread – Fellowship Hall
God’s promise to turn our cold and hardened hearts of stone into living and warm hearts of Flesh. This promise is the reason for our Lenten Journey.

First Sunday of Lent, February 26th:
The Precious Cornerstone
I Peter 2:7, Isaiah 28:16-17a; Psalm 119:22
Jesus is the cornerstone of our faith and a reminder of that is the beginning of our Lenten journey. God is all wrapped up in our becoming human. It is what God did in the incarnation.

February 19th: An Emerging God
Exodus 3:11-17
Stephen Jones preaching
We come alongside an emerging, living God, not a static, statuesque God.

Lenten Worship Theme: Stones of Faith
Ash Wednesday, February 22nd, 6:00 p.m.:
Hearts of Stone, Hearts of Flesh
Ezekiel 36:26
Simple Meal of Soup and Bread – Fellowship Hall
God’s promise to turn our cold and hardened hearts of stone into living and warm hearts of Flesh. This promise is the reason for our Lenten Journey.

First Sunday of Lent, February 26th:
The Precious Cornerstone
I Peter 2:7, Isaiah 28:16-17a; Psalm 119:22
Jesus is the cornerstone of our faith and a reminder of that is the beginning of our Lenten journey.

2. Lenten Candlelight Service Saturday, March 10th, 6:00 p.m. A simple service will provide space for prayer, contemplation, scripture reading and quiet music. Child care will be provided. It will be held in the sanctuary and will be led by Tracy and Mary Icneogle.

He writes this about his time in India: “I visited Orissa (on the eastern coast of India) twice in 2008 in the wake of waves of violence carried out by Hindu militant nationalists against the Christian community. Hundreds of churches were destroyed, people were killed, homes burned and businesses looted. Sometimes the Christians fought back, destroying homes of neighboring Hindus, but mostly they fled, suffered and prayed. I led a series of trainings on conflict transformation and nonviolence trying to provide some immediate support and help for these traumatized and confused Christians.

Since that time the conflict has calmed a bit thanks to a change in state government and actions by the Indian Supreme Court. The hostility still simmers, but a growing network of Hindus, Christians, Muslims and Sikhs are trying to shape a more peaceful community in Orissa. At the heart of these interfaith peacemaking activities are some Baptists… Now they had organized a breakthrough interfaith event in the city of Balasore, bringing together various traditions of Hinduism, Protestant and Catholic Christians, Sikhs and Muslims. We were to meet, discuss inter-religious peacemaking, and explore new partnerships for bringing about community harmony in the region. I was to be one of the resource people, providing an international perspective on interfaith peacemaking…

We had the interfaith gathering, and it was a great success. Two of the more militant Hindus came, including a member of the most radical party that has often been implicated in the violence. He spoke along with peacemaking Hindus, Christians, Muslims and Sikhs. As he listened to others, there was a change in his demeanor. He was met with respect and love, discovering that people he had criticized were different than he realized. By the end of the sessions we were all engaged in friendly conversations. I shared some examples of interfaith peacemaking initiatives from other places around the world, including my home city of Detroit. People responded to those stories, telling me how encouraged they were.” (From Dan Buttry’s Journals at www.internationalministries.org/read/38123-transforming-prayer)

Please keep Dan Buttry in your prayers. We can be grateful to be mission partners with a man so passionately committed to Christ and his call to reconciliation and peace. We experienced Dan to be a dynamic and highly effective speaker, an engaging storyteller, joyful and gracious, flexible and with wonderful relational skills. You can follow his travels and thinking and get to know him better by reading his Journals at www.internationalministries.org/teams/110-buttry.

• Sermon Discussion Group on the Lenten sermon series “Stones of Faith”
Our Interim Senior Minister Stephen Jones will lead this group on Sunday evenings (March 4 – April 1) at 7 p.m. to reflect further on Sunday’s sermon. Topics to be discussed will follow the sermon series and include a focus on: temptation, prayer, judgmentalism, anger, and praise. Steve and Jan will host this Lenten group at their home at: 5017 W. 66th Terrace, two blocks west of Roe, Prairie Village.

• 24 Hours that Changed the World. Gordon Haynes will lead this group on Wednesday mornings (February 22 – April 4) at 10 a.m. at church. This study will use a DVD that travels with Adam Hamilton to the Holy Land to visit the sites where the earth-shaking events of the last day of Jesus’ life occurred. You will be guided, step by step, through the last 24 hours of Jesus life, and through the DVD, walk where Jesus walked and see what he may have seen along the road that led to the pain and triumph of the cross. Adam Hamilton is senior pastor of the Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, KS and has written a companion book by the same title.

• Justice for the Poor: Love God, Serve People, Change the World
Associate Pastor Ruth Rosell will lead this group on Thursday evenings (March 8 – March 29, April 12 and April 26) at 7-8:30 p.m. at church. This study will include learning (via DVD) from Jim Wallis and Sojourners about the biblical vision that links poverty and justice. It will look closely at Jesus’ life and message of “good news for the poor” and explore the experiences of people living in poverty in the United States today. We are utilizing this as a Lenten study because Jesus’ compassionate concern for the marginalized poor and his advocating greater justice for them threatened the powerful of his day and contributed to his eventual crucifixion.

If you are interested in either of these small group opportunities, please sign up on the green sheet or call the church office (913-722-6176) before Monday, February 27th to facilitate planning. If childcare is needed for the Thursday evening group, please call the church office as soon as possible. If you are not available or interested in these particular groups, but would like to be part of forming a different kind of Lenten group at another time, please contact Ruth Rosell (913-951-5462).

We all go through tough times in our lives. We run into hardships which can result in our feeling stuck in undesirable situations and thwarted in pursuing our hoped for future. Some of us may be going through that right now. It may be an illness that keeps you at home or going to doctor’s appointments and hospital treatment rooms, rather than to those places and activities that you would prefer. It may be that the economic downturn has affected your employment situation, and it is a rough place to be right now with too much stress and too much work. Or it may be that you are looking for a job or a different job that will better fit your life goals, and you are finding very little. It may be that changes in a spouse’s health or employment have radically changed your life, or that another family member needs significant amounts of your time and care. It may be that you can’t find that significant other to love or that you have lost the one you shared life with, and it’s hard to move into a future alone. It may be that the income you have available each month can’t seem to stretch far enough and you feel caught in a financial situation you can’t seem to get out of. These are some of the many situations we may find ourselves in that can cause us to feel stuck and thwarted from pursuing the future we had hoped for, situations where we may be experiencing suffering and hardship.

When Paul wrote this letter to the Philippians, he was also stuck in a situation of hardship. He was in prison. We’re not exactly sure which one, but prison conditions in ancient times usually involved severe hardship. Jailers were typically incredibly cruel. Often those imprisoned experienced overcrowding, malnutrition, and living in darkness. With very little food, if any, provided, prisoners had to rely on friends to bring them the basic necessities. At times they were
chained in place, or sometimes to guards. Paul was in prison, with a capital charge. He was awaiting trial in which it would be determined whether he would live or die. Not quite on death row, but close. For a man of Paul’s energy and drive, with an urgent sense of calling to be an “apostle to the Gentiles,” this could have been devastating. He had work to do. He believed God had called him to spread the good news of Jesus Christ to the farthest reaches of the known world. He had new churches to plant and fledging ones to nourish and encourage. How could he do what God had called him to do sitting in this dark prison cell? He was in a tough situation where by all appearances he was stuck and thwarted, and yet his tone throughout this little letter is one of joy, confidence, and hope. In fact, in these four short chapters, Paul speaks of joy or rejoicing 16 times. Joy is one of the most prominent themes of this letter. What’s with this guy? What was it that made him so resilient in tough times? What can we learn from him that will help us be more resilient in the tough times that we face?

There is currently much talk and research on resiliency, looking at what it is that enables some people to overcome significant adversity. Resiliency is our ability to recover from change or misfortune, and to adapt well in the face of adversity. It’s the capacity to “bounce back” from difficult experiences. There is much we can learn from this research and theorizing. But what I am especially interested in exploring this morning is the spiritual aspects of resiliency. How can our faith in God help us “bounce back” and adapt well with the tough situations that we find ourselves in? I confess I haven’t always found this easy to do, so let’s look together at what we can learn from Paul.

The first thing we learn is that resiliency is related to a belief that God is never thwarted but can work through all circumstances. Paul had previously expressed this confidence in God in his letter to the Romans, in chapter 8:28. There are several possible translations to this verse, but I think the one that makes the most sense it this. “We know that in all things God works for good for those who love God.” It is not that all things turn out well, and it’s not that what feels terrible and evil is really good. Rather, we can have confidence that no matter what the situation, God is still working in it to bring about some good. God isn’t thwarted by what evil people do or by the difficult circumstances of life. We can expect God to be with us and even bring about good there.

With such a faith then, resiliency involves being flexible and finding new opportunities to serve God in the midst of our difficult circumstances. That’s what we see Paul doing during this imprisonment. Instead of stewing about what he couldn’t do and where he couldn’t go and who he couldn’t share the good news of Christ with, he looked around his prison cell. There were lots of people there – fellow prisoners and the guards. And so he struck up conversations right where he was and told them about why he was in prison and who Jesus was and what God is doing in the world. And soon everyone there knew about Jesus and had heard some of Paul’s thoughts about him. If Paul had not been imprisoned, how would these people have heard? Not only that, these guards were part of the Roman imperial guard. How would Paul ever have had the opportunity to explain who Jesus was to members of the Roman guard, if he hadn’t been imprisoned, perhaps even chained to them in his imprisonment? Paul was flexible in being willing to speak about God’s work through Jesus Christ, to whoever was with him, rather than withdrawing and feeling like he had to wait until he was released to be of any use to God. In the first verse of this letter he refers to himself as a servant of God. And for a servant of God, there are always people to serve.

In our tough times too, we encounter people we would never otherwise meet. In the waiting rooms of doctors and hospitals, in nursing homes and rehab units, in support groups and job clubs, in food pantry lines and unemployment offices, in all these places we would not choose to go, but sometimes must, are people that God loves and wants to care for, people who need a word of respect and encouragement. And our tough times bring us there to them.

Early in my first pastorate, when visiting one of our members in a nursing home, I met a little Catholic lady in a wheelchair that lived there. This lady organized all the residents who were able and interested to get together and roll bandages for the missionaries, just like our Prairie women do for white cross. Other times she would make her rounds in her wheelchair, visiting those who were in bed and unable to get around, talking and praying with them. Unable to leave the nursing home because of her disability and health, she spent her time expressing love and care to those around her in that difficult place. That is being resilient in tough times and finding new ways to serve God in the midst of difficult circumstances.

Resiliency also involves noticing how God is working in the midst of our difficult situation. Sometimes this is hard to do when one is right in the midst of it. But Paul did notice what God was doing through his feeble efforts. His imprisonment was bringing a lot of press for Jesus. In a world where Jesus was unknown, the message was getting out. It was spreading both on the streets and inside the Imperial guard, right into the Roman establishment. Paul was apostle to the Gentiles, but who would have thought that the message of Christ would spread to the very heart of the empire this way? How could he not feel joy to see God at work in this way?

Being arrested does put someone into contact with people not usually encountered and provides the opportunity to get a message out. What occurred to Paul, occurs also with those engaged in acts of civil disobedience to express their faith and change society in ways that aim at greater peace or justice. And the value of getting a message out this way is now used as a strategy for change.

For a couple of years now there have been people in our city trying to say no to nuclear weapons by protesting the building of a new plant on Highway 150 just south of Grandview. This new plant will take over the current plant’s production of 85% of the parts that go into making nuclear arms. The aim has been to get the city to convert it to being a plant that will instead provide new jobs through perhaps the development of renewable energy production. There have been publicity and protests and various actions. There have also been people willing to be arrested as a statement of conscience and also as a way to gain greater publicity for their concern and bring it to the public attention. Last fall we were at a protest in which at least a couple dozen people trespassed and blocked the road used by trucks for bringing in building supplies, thereby slowing down things for a while. When arrested, they were cooperative, talking to the police officers about their concerns. What took me off guard and surprised me, however, was the cheerfulness, even joy, that they expressed. At one point, those who were gathered together inside a fence under arrest and those who were on the outskirts of the property in support sang responsively a song. “Allelu, allelu, allelu, alleluia,” sang the supporters. “Praise ye the Lord,” sang the arrested in response. Back and forth they went, joyfully, almost gleefully. If I was surprised, surely also were the many police officers. Were they crazy? Now through the words of Paul, I understand. By being arrested, their message for peace and a better society would be brought to places it could not penetrate without this. It would spread through the police force, and the jail they were being taken to. They would have to go to court and speak before judges and others in the legal system. The newspapers would spread the word. How could they not be joyful at the progress the message was making? Paul certainly was. Not only was his message about Jesus getting out, but his example was inspiring and emboldening others to speak the word about Christ.

These words of Paul also show us that resiliency involves focusing on the positive and extending to others grace. In tough times there is plenty of negative to notice. And often there are people who have not been nice, maybe even downright mean, who have made life difficult for us and perhaps even been a big part of thwarting our plans. The easy thing to do in this situation is to negatively focus on this, to feel justifiably angered, to use up energy and experience a lot of inner turmoil with these negative emotions. Paul had some troublesome people in his life. We are not exactly sure who they were, but he at least perceived that they were taking advantage of his imprisonment and trying to make things harder for him, preaching Christ out of envy, rivalry, and selfish ambition. When he was down and out of the picture, they moved in to establish the church there as their own, perhaps. One NT scholar alternately suggests it was unbelievers gossiping about Paul and telling the message of Christ by speaking negatively about it. Whoever they were, Paul decides to focus on the positive. Recognizing that their actions were aimed specifically to hurt him, he brushes them aside. It doesn’t matter what they think about him. What matters is that the message of Christ is getting out, and because it was, he rejoices. He chooses to focus on the positive, and instead of getting offended, he extends grace and rejoices. Focusing on and rejoicing in the positive greatly diminishes the power of the negative in our difficult experiences.

This was impressed upon me when talking to a mother some time ago. Her child was frequently in the hospital and undergoing chemo treatments. She was naturally worried about his outcome, and remained at the hospital practically day and night. She was honest about some of the stresses of this incredibly difficult experience. But she was amazingly focused on the positive ways that she experienced God as present. She took pleasure in getting to know the nurses and other parents she would not have otherwise met. She admired the way her child was handling it and his obvious faith. She was grateful she had the time and space in her life to be there for her child. Her faith-filled resiliency was supported by her intentional focus on the positive and extending grace where it was sometimes needed.

Of course, focusing on the positive is not the same thing as pretending to feel fine and denying painful feelings. We all have lots of difficult feelings in tough times, and it is appropriate to express them. I’m sure there were times this woman did. Paul certainly did. In another letter, Paul talks about how crushed he felt, so much so that he was close to despairing of life. But feelings do not determine what resilient faith believes. Even when feelings are deeply sad, anxious, or anguished, resilient faith keeps on believing and looking for evidences of God’s goodness in life.

Paul also shows us that resiliency emerges from a confidence that we can trust our ultimate future to God as we live our lives in service to others. Paul really had no way to lose. “For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain,” he says. He’d almost prefer to die and be with Christ, for it would be personally better than all the difficulties he was going through, but remaining alive meant fruitful labor, using his life in ways that served others. Life was not all about him. His personal preferences or desires were not the deciding factor for him. With his love firmly focused on Christ and his life firmly committed to the welfare of others, he was able to face with fortitude whatever came his way. What is interesting here is that his greatest concern was that he be able to be faithful and stand up in such a way as to bring glory to God. While we so often naturally get focused on being delivered from the trials we are going through, Paul’s concern is more focused on having the courage and strength to endure under those trials.

In summary, resiliency comes through reframing our life situation to highlight God’s new possibilities rather than our own disappointments. When our life experiences are framed by concern primarily for ourselves and our own advancement, we approach Christian faith with the questions, “What’s in it for me?” and evaluate each situation asking, “How will this affect what I want in life?” With such a frame, tough times can undo us. Expecting God to remove every difficulty and solve every problem, we can feel very disappointed with God. But if we put a different frame around our experiences, a frame that asks, “What can God do in this? What new opportunities are there for God to work through me in this? And how can my life be lived such as to serve God?” a very different life picture emerges.

I have spoken to you before about Wilson Gathungu, the seminary student from Kenya who is working with us on the Kenya Peace Initiative. Wilson received his call to ministry as a teenager, but because his family was very poor, he received only a 6th grade education and could never pursue this vocational call. A number of years ago, he visited the United States, and opportunity opened up to him. He got his GED in a matter of months, and then a student visa and went to college and then seminary. It looked like his lifelong dream of gaining the education he needed to become a minister was occurring, when suddenly things changed again. One of his adult children got into some difficulty and needed a parent. He returned to Kenya to help her and then had his return visa to the United States was denied. There he remains in Kenya, on the cusp of attaining his dreams, but unable to complete them. Central Seminary has worked with him and facilitated his changing degree programs, so he can complete a MA online, even though unable to finish his MDiv degree for pastoral ministry. And yet things are very hard for him. He can’t find a job. He remains separated from his wife and youngest child. He is again very poor. Yet in an email sent last week he wrote, “I am doing fine here despite the setback of being denied a visa to return to finish my studies last year. But I am happy that God is working in a new way through the Kenya Peace Initiative… This is a mustard seed phenomenon and perhaps it called for someone to adjust to have it come alive; and that happened to be Wilson. What is more, to accept and to turn to the encouraging scripture that says “all things work together for good…”

That’s being resilient in tough times – believing that God can work through all circumstances, being flexible and finding new opportunities to serve, noticing how God is at work, focusing on the positive, and reframing our life experience to notice God’s possibilities rather than our own disappointments.

May we too look to God for faith and strength to go through our tough times with resilience. Amen.