"I'm OUT---You're OUT--We're All OUT!"

To all the KING'S men,

I've been thinking about this for a while...

The paradox of life and faith in God and we hold up the ways of the world and the ways of God...they don't always overlap and fall into place like those old plastic page overlays in the HUMAN BODY section of the Encyclopedia Brittanica...

Our thoughts and actions are challenged everyday...  what we do and what we say... and how we say it and the 'meanings' that accompany...

Like... 'good' is 'bad' and "hi, how are you?" is "Sup?" and 'chillin' has nothin' to do with the weather outside... and you can call someone 'Einstein' and most likely you're not referring to an IQ but rather...lack of one... and ... well you get the point...

Same goes for "I'm out"... and "You're out"... what this may mean for a game of Texas Hold 'Em or baseball...does not mean the same in Jesus' kingdom...
Consider John's gospel in the 10th chapter to see what I mean...  Jesus said to his friends...

"The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.”

How many times have I read this before? How many times have you heard John's retelling of Jesus' insight shared with his friends?

Well, this is what I've been muddling over for days... in the midst of life and death and births and weddings, baptisms and burials and school years beginning and ending as well as hanging around with the Bishop at Synod Assembly ... putting  this 'listening' to Jesus and 'following' Jesus into a perspective that takes on meaningful-ness and bears fruit and... well... keep reading...

It's the verse 3 of John 10 that grabbed my heart in the public reading a Sunday ago... and it was just one word that poked me in the eye... and got wrapped around my heart...

v. 3  "The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out."

And ... you got it... the word that poked me in the eye is the word "OUT!" Jesus calls his sheep by name and then leads then "OUT!"  Wow!  This is the exact opposite of how so many men in the world "see" and "view" CHURCH... a boring place to go in... so they never hear about the OUT-ness of God's kingdom work we share...

Imagine that???  ... being "called out" and it being a really good thing... being 'called out' and in order to make a difference...

But that's how the gospel is... it's above and against as well as that thing of God which challenges our culture...the gospel supports and yet is contrary to the life that we call 'real life.' When I fold a hand in a game of Texas Hold 'Em I throw down my cards and say, "I'm out." It is a sign of defeat... a loss... at least for that round... or if I hit a sharp grounder to the 2nd baseman in a softball game...my old legs won't get me to the base faster than the throw and 99 chances out of 100 the umpire will call me OUT!... And again... I go down in flames... head hanging discouraged and quietly sulking in the dugout...

But, when Jesus leads us OUT and calls us by name and calls us OUT...it is a sign of victory and a 'branding' that we belong to him and he goes ahead of us to prepare the way and what that means he is pointing us out to others as we follow to serve...

It's what is said often in my congregation @ New Life... "This is God's house (the sheep pen) and we are God's people (named and known by the shepherd) claimed, gathered and sent (called out by the shepherd's voice) into the world (not gathered to stay in the church nave) with God's amazing grace..." (what the world needs and more than enough has been given to us!)

So, if you hear me say..."I'm OUT" or if you hear me say to you..."You're OUT"...then know it is a good thing... as it is at the heart of what work as Lutheran Men in Mission is all about... it is the reality that we can't sit still as we follow the shepherd who has gone ahead of us...

But, let the sheep beware... we will need to keep listening for his familiar voice as Jesus reminded his disciples that there will be other voices who will seek our time and attention and our loyalty...our very heart and soul and mind... maybe you have heard these other voices...maybe you have let them drown out the voice of Jesus and maybe you have even followed them... but that's where the 'beware' comes in...the 'other' voices will trick us...they will seduce us and they will invite us away from the voice and the life and the mission of Jesus and lead us away from the one who offers grace upon grace and lead us to sin, death and destruction... they will dress up 'selfishness' and they will lift up 'greed' and 'self-indulgence' only to make us full of ourselves and in the end find that life has been sucked out of us and snatched away... and we will feel LEFT OUT and we will die...

However, the voice of the shepherd will keep calling...calling our names...your name...my name... and when we hear it... we will remember to whom we belong and what our purpose in life is all about... and we will be OUT with good cause and we will make a difference in each day via the name of Jesus'...the one who makes ALL the difference in the world...

Now, I hope to have you thinking about this for a while... and thinking that you may want to talk to the men in your congregation about the OUT-ness we are all part of...

So, what is there to do?

1. Pray--be specific;
2. Talk to some men around you...find out what they need...respond;
3. Seek out some HS grads or college grads--find out who is starting a new job;
4. Look around your facilities.  Ask--- "are men 'welcome' here?"
5. Call all the 'dads' in your congregation and ask them to be at worship JUNE 19;
6. Plan a "men's day" Sunday this Fall;
7. How will you honor the military vets in your congregtation this NOV?
8. Do you have a men's study year round plan?  Why?  Why not?

Blessings to you these Summer months...and do let me know what is happening with men's ministry in your corner of the Kingdom...

     Brian