October 17, 1998<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On my first day in my office over there, I couldn\u2019t hear myself talking on the phone with Joy. Fire engines clanging and honking were going up Sacramento. I couldn\u2019t believe I was finally here in SF! I can peer out this other window and see the Transamerican building against the deep blue sky, a landmark of SF known all over the world. I couldn\u2019t believe that I was now in the office where James Chuck sat! I look around my desk and found residue of Gene Wright, Jeff Sharp, and James and thought what big shoes these pastors wore. I couldn\u2019t believe that God has led you to grant me this opportunity to continue the legacy into the next millennium!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It seems that many people have wondered why Joy and I have returned to FCBC and SF. It comes down to one and only one answer: We believe God wants us here! Now, I wonder what it would be like if you didn\u2019t call me to come. For some time, I have felt God was calling me to make a difference in the world. I took very seriously the words of \u201clet not my will but your will be done.\u201d When Joy was invited to come with me to spend some time in SF to see if this is a place where we might want to live, I was literally \u201cover joy\u201d when she felt the same message, \u201cthat against all the comforts and conveniences in Valley Forge, this is where God wants us to serve.\u201d No obstacles will be too big to overcome as long as we have faith in God\u2019s plan for us. And I can say, tonight, that this has been true since we\u2019ve been in SF. And it is true for all of us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I was here 23 years ago, I was doing Christian education. During all the years I was with Educational Ministries, I continued to do Christian education. When I was out speaking in churches to raise funds for Christian education, I would say,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWho taught the missionaries their Bible stories?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHow many missionaries made their decisions for Christ at camps and conferences?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhere did pastors, Christian centers directors, hospital chaplains receive their training for their vocation?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHow do most of us learn how to apply our faith in daily living?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To all of these questions, the answer is Christian education. When we have strong Christian education programs, we are able<\/p>\n\n\n\n
to nurture persons to know that they are children of God;<\/p>\n\n\n\n
to develop persons to utilize their many God-given gifts for ministry, and<\/p>\n\n\n\n
to empower persons to change the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sunday church school, BYF, camps and conferences were all very important in my life.\u00a0 Through these programs, I was able to teach others the Bible stories that I learned, use the skills of leading and counseling that I received, and realized that even when I was \u201cjust a youth\u201d I was making a difference in the lives of others in the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I want our church to continue the strong legacy of growing disciples. As key church leaders, you all can bear witness to the power of Christian education. Look around and see how God has shaped our lives for his purposes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When God works in us, it just doesn\u2019t stop there. To have the heart of Christ in our lives only means that we have to give it away. You just can\u2019t wait to share what you are feeling because Christ has made a difference in your life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of my favorite theologians was Walter Rauschenbusch. He was an American Baptist pastor of a German-American church in New York City. He preached that the Good News of Jesus Christ must make a difference in our society. The neighborhood around his church was so bad that it was called, \u201cHell\u2019s Kitchen.\u201d As he labored tirelessly, he welcomed the poor, the immigrants, the factory workers, the shopkeepers, the outcasts and the homeless into his church. Today, I see myself in such a place too. SF Chinatown is my \u201cHell\u2019s Kitchen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some people think about Chinatown and say,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s so dirty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no parking.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt is so crowded.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m afraid of the homeless people hanging around.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I come to Chinatown to work, I say<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHow can we help our neighborhood to be cleaner beginning with our own church home?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCan we invite everyone, members and visitors to park at St. Mary\u2019s on Sunday if it is necessary?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis must be where the action is that\u2019s why there\u2019s so many people here!\u201d \u201cI want to be here too!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last week when I was arriving at the church, I noticed a man climbing on one of the small trees in front of our church. At first my reactions were:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis man is trespassing!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe\u2019s going to break the tree with his weight!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat is he doing up there?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As I looked closer, he was storing his blanket and knapsack up in the tree. Safe from dogs, cats, street cleaners, and Baptist ministers, this homeless man was making his bed for the day to be able to return home later. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have yet to meet \u201cthe man in the tree.\u201d\u00a0 When he saw me looking at him storing his blanket and knapsack, his eyes looked away.\u00a0 I hope that my eyes did not convey judgment or disgust.\u00a0 And even if I do have the opportunity of meeting him, I\u2019m not sure what I would say.\u00a0 But one thing is clear now, every time I come to work, I look up in the tree and when I see his blanket and knapsack, my ministry is not yet done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I love this place. You must see early in the morning, the many grandmothers and grandfathers who still want to master more English, perhaps to speak with their grandchildren, climb these tall stairs to learn. When the fog lifts later in the morning, through these open windows, I can hear the children playing and laughing. They remind me of new families seeking for a church home. In the evenings, every room in this building is lit up, filled with young adults who have worked all day at their jobs and now<\/p>\n\n\n\n
want to better themselves. What a great place! God is continuing to bring people not only to our doors but inside our church home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the planning team was considering where to have this dinner tonight, it was clear in my mind that we need to be here in our Fellowship Hall in Chinatown. We belong here!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Like the \u201cman in the tree\u201d, we have a ministry here that is not finished yet. Like the people in the Sunset district and other parts of the city, we have a ministry that is not finished yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gold in Our Pockets<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n You might be asking yourselves, \u201cCan this be done?\u201d Or maybe, \u201cWhat kind of crazy pastor have we called?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In teaching the meaning of humility, Parker Palmer told this Hasidic tale:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe need a coat with two pockets. In one pocket there is dust, and in the other<\/p>\n\n\n\n pocket there is gold. We need a coat with two pockets to remind us of who we <\/p>\n\n\n\n are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But too many times, we as church leaders and members have emphasized the dusts that are not only in one pocket but in both pockets. Every place that we can catch a little dust, we fill it with dust!<\/p>\n\n\n\n My friends, there is also gold in our pockets! Our lives and our pockets are full with the glimmering Good News of Jesus Christ, our Lord.<\/p>\n\n\n\n No one person can make this happen. I know that I can\u2019t do this by myself. I know that if all the pastors got together to work on this, we can\u2019t do it by ourselves. We must capture this vision of growing disciples and reaching out to Chinatown together. Only then will we be able to gather all our Bible stories, our gifts and talents, our faith in the Almighty God, to make a difference in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In closing, let me read the passage from Luke 4:18-19 when Jesus was reading the scroll of the prophet Isaiah,<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,<\/p>\n\n\n\n because he has anointed me<\/p>\n\n\n\n to bring good news to the poor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives<\/p>\n\n\n\n and recovery of sight to the blind,<\/p>\n\n\n\n to let the oppressed go free,<\/p>\n\n\n\n to proclaim the year of the Lord\u2019s favor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When is the year, the time that God has chosen? When will the Lord save his people?<\/p>\n\n\n\n I believe the time is now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Cokie Roberts\u2019, We Are Our Mother\u2019s Daughters<\/em>, she writes about Dorothy Height who rallied support to have the YWCA integrated. Ms. Height remembered a stirring keynote address delivered by Dr. Benjamin Mays, then president of Morehouse College: \u201cI hear you say that the time is not ripe. But the time is always ripe to do justice. And if you have a Christian purpose, if the time is not ripe, then it should be your purpose to ripen the time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The time is always ripe to do ministry and mission. From my corner office over there, I don\u2019t always hear the clanging fire engines. I also hear the chimes of Old St. Mary\u2019s every hour. It\u2019s a constant reminder in my ears that the time is ripe to \u201cgrow disciples and win persons for Christ.\u201d May we proclaim the coming years as acceptable to our Lord. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" October 17, 1998 Coming Here On my first day in my office over there, I couldn\u2019t hear myself talking on the phone with Joy. Fire engines clanging and honking wereClosing<\/h6>\n\n\n\n