For Such a Time As This

Today saw me return from The Fund for Theological Education’s annual conference on Excellence in Ministry. I was lucky enough to receive a Congregational Fellowship (which matches dollar for dollar the funding that congregations give for first year seminarians). As part of that fellowship, we are able to attend a conference with nearly two hundred other young people who are either thinking about or are going into seminary and on into Ministry.

What was really amazing about this conference (which I attended last June as well) is that it brings together so many different people and beliefs and reminds us that as the base of who we are, at the core of what we do, it Christ and the church (little c, not big).

The theme is from the book of Esther. Esther has become
queen of Persia, and has the opportunity to save her
people (the Jewish race, in case we were confused), but is
hesitant to do so. Her Uncle, Mordecai, reminds her that
perhaps this was the moment that will define her, the
moment that has been weaving its way to her. The time for
which she was made queen.

The conference suggested to us the same thing--that
perhaps we are all called for such a time as this. In the
midst of a church which is falling apart, in a time in which
hatred about and peace is a all too distant reality. We are
each in Esther’s position. We have inherited wealth and
potential beyond what we need and far beyond what we
deserve. We have able hands. Now we must open our
hearts and make the changes that simply must happen.

The conference also offered multitudes of opportunities to connect with people in the same place--people who have felt a call, who see a need in the world and intend to fill it. Some are finishing college, some are in the midst of Seminary, but have an intense love God, justice and service.

The real blessings of the conference were not only the people, but also the worship. Worship was twice a day. The first act of our day was to center ourselves of God, and our last moments of the evening were spent focusing not on ourselves, but on the reason we were there.

A word about the image above is by a Chinese Christian artist named He Qi. The image is of Jesus calming the storm. Its good to remember that Jesus can calm our storms. See all of the galleries at www.heqigallery.com

So all this sounds pretty serious. I promise I’m not, so here’s a joke.

A really bad one.

Jesus and Satan were having an ongoing argument about who managed to get the most out of his computer. This had been going on for days and God, was tired of hearing all of the bickering.

God said, "Cool it. I am going to set up a test that will run two hours and I will judge who does the better job."

So down they sat at the keyboards and typed away. They moused away. They did spreadsheets, they wrote reports, they sent faxes, they sent out e-mail, they sent out e-mail with attachments, they downloaded, they did some genealogy reports, they made cards, they did every known job. But just a few minutes before the two hours were up, a lightening flashed across the sky. The thunder rolled and the rains came down hard. And of course the electricity went off.

Satan was upset. He fumed and fussed and he ranted and raved, all to no avail. The electricity stayed off. But after a bit, the rains stopped and the electricity came back on. Satan screamed, "I lost it all when the power went off. What am I going to do? What happened to Jesus' work?"

Jesus just sat and smiled.

Again Satan asked about the work that Jesus had done. As Jesus turned his computer back on the screen glowed and when he pushed "print it", it was all there. "How did he do it." Satan asked? God smiled and said, "Jesus Saves."

Until the next time, blessings.