It's not about you. I used to say this to my friend Tom, a good friend of mine from seminary. We spent an entire semester sitting next to each other in a class about leadership. When Tom disagreed with something that either the professor or another student was saying, I would turn to him and utter these famous words,

“It's not about you”. This little phrase
found its way into other conversations we
would have, in dinner conversation, in working out at the gym together; Tom let me humble him on a regular basis. It became somewhat amusing until I disagreed with something someone was saying for whatever reason, and he turned to me and said, "Andy, it's not about you."

Lent begins our journey with Jesus as he marches to the cross, sacrificing his life for the sins of the world. In his own journey to the cross, Jesus consistently humbles himself—not to his own will, but to the will of his Father. Part of our journey into the Lenten season is to recognize our humility in the face of Jesus’ sacrifice. It's in the face of the Cross that we are reminded: "It's not about you."

“It's not about you” is Jesus' basic instruction about what it means to follow him. "If anyone wants to follow me, let them pick up their cross, die to themselves and follow me” (Matthew 16, Mark 8, Luke 9). It is this way because Jesus is always concerned about accomplishing God's will of salvation, rather than Jesus' own will for self preservation. This comes to an apex in the garden of Gethsemane when Jesus prays, "Lord, take this cup from me for I do not want it” (Matthew 26, Luke 22, Mark 14). Yet Jesus knows that this is not about him.

Lent is a gentle and sometimes not so gentle reminder to us that: It is not about you. This reminder comes in the form of ashes on our foreheads and practicing having our feet washed. It is a reminder that belonging to God and the Body of Christ, that is Christ's church, is not about getting our own way but about serving God and serving others. It is a reminder that God has bigger plans for all of us than just getting our way. It’s not about you. And my friend Tom will tell you that it is a lot easier to say those words, than hear them for yourself.

God’s Peace,

What is hiding behind the curtain. It came as no surprise to anyone when Lance Armstrong revealed what he had been hiding all along; mainly that he used performance enhancing drugs to helps him achieve 7 tour de france champtionships.  He revealed this in the new confessional booth that is cable/network television.  Nothing wrong with that, confession is good for the soul, as they say.

What startled me was how people reacted and responded to his confession.  Granted, Oprah does not have the power to forgive sins (only God can do that), but there was an out lash at Lance for his truth telling episode.  People became more concerned about whether or not he was really contrite, was he sincere enough etc.  The other reaction came from the people who wondered why Lance was doing it now.

Scripture tells us:

If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts. (1 John 1:8-10)

So this isn't really about Lance Armstrong but more about the ability to confess our sins and to reveal the things we try and hide from God and from others.  This confession takes place in our humility to be present before God, knowing that God can forgive sins...not Oprah.

We come to hear words of forgiveness as we continue to pray attention.

Yesterday...St. Mark's had an epiphany!  We celebrated the coming of the Magi (or wise guys from the East - fahgettaboudit) to give gifts to Jesus and worship him. This is the celebration that ends the season of Christmas and a day we call epiphany. Recognizing that the Magi gave gifts to Jesus, Jesus gave himself for the world, and that we are called to share Jesus with the world, EVERYONE in church was given a dollar and asked to share this dollar with someone outside of the church walls that would need to hear some good news.

It is a tipping point for our congregation because we have invited people to tell how they used this dollar and bring that story back to share on a designated wall in church, so that others can see and hear those stories.  I am excited to hear some of those stories but I am also excited that people are having conversations about how they might share their dollar.  As one person told me already "I can't wait to spend my dollar!"

What would you do with a dollar?  How else would you share God's love with the world?

And more importantly.....where do you see this happen if you are already praying attention?

So have you already broken some of the new year's resolutions you made....yesterday?

It comes every year and every year people feel like they are obligated to make a new year's resolution and every year, that resolution gets broken.  These resolutions often come as empty threats to our bodies.  This year I AM going to go to the gym and if I don't.....or This is definitely the year I quite smoking, over eating, eating out so much etc.  Resolutions seem to be the thing we want our life to be but aren't quite willing to work at it.  We list all the things we don't like about ourselves and we make a resolution to break this bad thing.  Sounds simple.

Yet we put all of our trust and hope in our own ability to accomplish such things.  Therefore, we joke about breaking our resolutions a day after we make them.

Yet, I believe there is hope in a new thing.  God reveals to us

"For I am about to do something new.
    See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?" - Isaiah 43:19

"This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!" - 2 Corinthians 5:17

And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.” - Revelation 21:5

The hope that comes in this new thing being created is that God is the one to accomplish it.  I can trust that my life will be enhanced and renewed in the breaking bad of my life that comes in the trust and hope that was provided me in my Baptism.  This new life is a continuous action happening in our lives over and over again.  It is a promise that is upheld because it is a promise from God.

Praying Attention - Pastor Andy