Biography
The Rev. Stephen Williams is co-pastor, with his wife Jamie,
of the United Methodist Church of Libertyville, Illinois, a congregation of
more than 1,500 members in Chicago’s northern suburbs. Stephen earned the
Doctor of Ministry in Preaching degree from North Park Theological Seminary,
and was awarded the 2011 Chicago Sunday Evening Club Award in Preaching by the
Association of Chicago Theological Seminaries Doctor of Ministry in Preaching
program. [Biographical information is correct as of the broadcast date noted
above.]
Stephen William's
Message
"Sabbath Rest"
Mahatma Gandhi was one of the 20th century’s most inspiring
figures. He once said, “There is more to life than increasing its speed.” I
think the God of all Hindus, Christians, Muslims and Jews would agree with
Gandhi’s statement. There is more to life than increasing its speed. Slowing
down, being still, resting wherever we are in life’s journey is the most
spiritual of practices.
In the opening chapter of the book of Genesis, the Creation
story is wonderfully told. Many have delighted in its peculiar rhythm of “God
said…” and then—voila!—it was so. But that divine rhythm in the epic Creation
poem points out a helpful pattern that has sustained humans for countless
generations. At each step of the Creation story, God the Creator steps back,
slows down, reflects on the enormity and beauty of what is unfolding, evolving,
and pauses to appreciate the moment. And each time God pauses in the Creation
story, after each day of Creation, God gives a wondrous affirmation, “And it
was good…And it was good…,” then finally, “Behold, it was very good.”
Slowing down has never been easy for most of humanity, the
only part of the Creation who alone are set apart as made in God’s very own
image. It is perhaps our haste that is the source of so much anxiety, sorrow,
and hardship to which history bears witness. We do not give ourselves much
permission to slow down, step back, or reflect on the glory of our own
humanity, that we are the image bearers of the Divine. We do not pause long
enough to discover, as Jesus taught, “You are all sons and daughters of God”
or, as he taught elsewhere, “…the kingdom of heaven is within you.”
I am the proud owner of an old piece of machinery, a 1984
Honda Goldwing motorcycle. I drive my motorcycle almost everywhere, whenever
the weather allows. Now if you are a motorcycle aficionado, you know that the
84 Goldwing is a bit of a classic. Motorcycle buffs call it romantically “the
last naked Goldwing.” That description gets a lot of buzz in some circles, but
it is a lot more erotic than the facts allow. If you saw it, you would swear
that it is just a beat up, old motorcycle. But I love that bike. It, perhaps
like me, is missing a few non-vital parts—I recently had a knee replacement
surgery—but the engine on my Goldwing works like a charm. It purrs in a perfect
rhythm. It runs strong and true and gets me to the places I love, out in the
beauty of Creation.
So on my Sabbath days, and in my Sabbath moments, I leave
the suburbs of Chicago behind and go out to the cornfields of DeKalb, or up the
shoreline of Lake Michigan or beyond, to explore the endless green garden
called Wisconsin. Around nearly every bend of two lane black top I can find,
there is always another delight awaiting: a field, a meadow, a stream, or just
the sight of a father scooping up a kid and playing with his child. Somehow, it
never gets old. It never fails to refresh my spirit or speak to my soul. If you
slow down, ease off the gas a bit, the beauties of the creation are not hard to
find.
Almost everyone knows this. Not everyone practices it. The
classic James Taylor song, “Up on a Roof,” pays homage to Sabbath or at least
the Sabbath idea. “On the roof it’s peaceful as can be. And I don’t let nobody
bother me…” We need a place where we can be still, a place where we can
remember and reflect on who we are and on whose we are. To dare to believe in
the post-modern world that we as humans are the ones, as male and female, who
are made in the image of God, is still a breathtaking proposition. It is still
a revolutionary thought. Surely it secures once, for all, forever, our
individual dignity and worth, which no one can ever touch or bother. And to
then act on this idea by following the divine rhythm, the divine pattern of
slowing down, being still, seeking out green pastures or sitting beside still
waters, or just going up on the roof of a tenement, allows us to open our souls
to God our Creator who can speak, God our Redeemer, who does speak.
I love the creation story in Genesis, chapter 1, because it
suggests that God the Creator is still creating, still “hovers” above God’s
good creation. It says, “In the beginning the Spirit of God hovered above the
darkness and the deep that was formless and empty.” The remarkable Hebrew verb
“to hover” is found only a few other times in Hebrew Scripture. In Deuteronomy,
God is like “an eagle that stirs up her nest and hovers over her young, that
spreads her wings to catch them and carries them aloft” [Deuteronomy 32:11]. It
is a maternal image of a mother eagle, which hovers over her brood. God hovers
over the Creation. Later God says to the Hebrew people, “You yourselves have
seen what I did, how I carried you on eagles’ wings…” [Exodus 19:4].
This image of God the Creator hovering, birthing and caring
for humanity is a recurring theme in the Bible. Just as an eagle spreads out
her wings to catch her young and carry them aloft, so God spreads out divine
wings of mercy to catch us and lift us skyward. And like an eagle with her
young, God must teach us what we need to know if we are to be truly free to
soar the heights of the Creation.
Surprisingly, God’s very first object lesson for humanity is
to teach us how to rest. After making humankind as male and female in the divine
image, after urging humanity to be fruitful and multiply and to exercise a
loving dominion over all that has been made, God rests from God’s work,
declaring it very good. This pattern, the order of working and resting, is
God’s invitation to all to learn the ways and rhythms that allow us to enjoy
life. There is more to life than increasing its speed. Remember the Sabbath.
Rest is an essential ingredient of life, as necessary as air. Without rest, we
cannot sustain the energy we need to have life, let alone enjoy life.
My youngest son Joshua just gave up a great job in Denver to
go to New York City and work for Teach for America. He is now at a charter
school in the South Bronx, a very urban neighborhood. His days are full. For
the last two months he has been in “teacher boot camp” as he calls it, and
15-17 hour days are routine. But Joshua feels that his life is blessed and he
is grateful for an opportunity to give back in tangible ways to a world that
has been so very good to him.
Service in a neighborhood that does not have all the
advantages he enjoyed as a child is a path that seems right and fulfilling.
Still, as a dad I worry about my son in New York City. Life there seems so big
and hurried and harried, at least to a pastor from Chicago. So, as a person of
faith, I am hoping that God will lift him up on eagles’ wings. I am hoping he
finds his way up to a roof top or two and can take in the magic of the stars,
or can enjoy jogging in Central Park, which still has some green space, I hear.
I am hoping he can find time to pause, and smell the roses
and understand life has its peculiar, life-giving rhythms. In the words of
Wayne Muller, “Our willingness to rest depends on what we believe we will find
there. At rest, we come face-to-face with the essence of life. If we believe
that life is fundamentally good, we will seek out rest as a taste of that
goodness.” May we slow down, if only to
taste and see that the Lord is good. May we pause, to look up and perceive a
majestic presence above. May we rest, and discover that eagle wings are spread
out beneath us. “Be still and know that I am God” is still the wisdom of the
ages. “Be still” and discover that God is good and that God is love.
Conversation with Stephen Williams
Daniel Pawlus: If you’d like a printed transcript, CD or DVD
of the message you just heard from Stephen Williams, we’ll tell you how to
place an order at the end of the program. Or you can visit our website at
30goodminutes.org to watch the video again or read the text anytime. Now, let’s
talk with Stephen Williams. Stephen, thank you for being with us today and
congratulations on the Sunday Evening Club award.
Stephen Williams: Thank you.
Daniel Pawlus: You called out for us something that we need
to be reminded of always and that’s this challenge of slowing down. I thought
I’d start by asking an interesting question of both of you. This might be a non
sequitur, but as pastors, is it any easier to talk about this with a certain
size congregation? If you have larger group of folks to get into some kind of
active dialogue or sermons around this, or is it just the nature of your church
moving at a certain speed that may work against this? Stephen, let’s start with
you. I’d love to have Lillian answer that as well.
Stephen Williams: I think that’s a great question. My
experience is people everywhere are pretty harried and pretty busy and so the
encouragement to people to slow down, to do Sabbath, is something that
resonates with almost everyone that I know. My great concern is that people are
so busy that they don’t pause and reflect. Rest is a gift from God, who created
us to enjoy life. The idea of pursuing happiness and allowing ourselves to be
happy is part, I think, of the Creator’s mandates to love ourselves.
Daniel Williams: You’re an active person, Lillian.
Lillian Daniel: I’m like a shark. I’m going to die if I’m
not moving forward! But I think that’s a great question to ask. One of the
ironies is some of our best church leaders, the most devoted members of our church,
then become the busiest and don’t get to practice Sabbath. I think it’s
something we all have to look at in churches, that sort of desire to stay busy,
busy, busy. It used to be, I think, that the church was a place that reinforced
Sabbath and asked people to take a day apart. But now the culture doesn’t
support that and people are even struggling to make it to church, with sports
events and games scheduled in the morning. How do you speak to that in your
congregation?
Stephen Williams: Well, I think that’s a concern for all
pastors. I think the other side of the coin though is you don’t want to
encourage Sabbath as an excuse for not doing work, not being engaged in the
world. At our church we have a group of ten people that just went to Gulfport,
Mississippi and this is six years in a row since Hurricane Katrina. So Sabbath
rest is not an excuse to disengage from the world. I think of James’ statement,
“Faith without works is dead.” We’re called to be engaged in meaningful work,
but the idea that sometimes we just need to pause and reflect on what’s going
on around us I think is terribly important. Sometimes, especially with our
youth, they’re just over engaged, over committed and almost too busy. So I
think you see that point well made with a lot of our youth.
Daniel Pawlus: I wonder if the two of you will allow me to
throw you another zinger perhaps. And that is working with a spouse in
ministry, which is a new experience for you, Stephen. And we know that Lou
[Lillian’s husband] is very engaged in the church, as well. So again, both of
you, how would you respond to that interesting challenge of wanting to do good
work and then you’re together all the time. Where is that space to just be
still?
Lillian Daniel: I love my husband, but I could never work
with him! So I want to know how you do it. I mean, if you work together in the
ministry, which is so demanding, and then you come home, how do you have time
with each other and not feel like you’re working 24/7?
Stephen Williams: Well, I think Jamie and I have found a
really good rhythm. I think in some respects because she has been a pastor of a
number of different churches and a very successful pastor, we have always been
engaged in the conversation of how to serve our congregations in a good and helpful
way. She’s a colleague, she’s a friend, and she’s just a person I respect in so
many ways. So it’s been a real joy and a delight to actually be partners in
ministry for the first time.
Lillian Daniel: Do you guys have some kind of Sabbath of
your own creation, rules like we’re not going to talk about the church at these
times?
Daniel Pawlus: This is great for our audience. A lot of
pastors watch the program, so give us some good advice.
Stephen Williams: Once a week we say let’s not talk about
the church anymore because, again, as important as it is, as rich an experience
and great blessing as it is to our lives, there are times you have to focus on
other parts of our world, our children, our friends, family members that aren’t
close by. So you do have to give it a break from time to time. That’s for sure.
But we both enjoy being together and on our Sabbath days frequently go to the
botanic gardens, or she likes to go on the motorcycle with me from time to
time.
There you go.
Daniel Pawlus: Great.
Lillian Daniel: We were saying we thought it was funny that
you chose as your metaphor for taking a pause a very fast moving machine! How
did you get involved in riding the motorcycle?
Stephen Williams: Well, that’s a great story. I had one in
high school and then at the last church I was at in Lombard a number of
different people were motorcycle buffs. So one thing led to another and it
actually is a great way for me to get out and explore the countryside. Before I
had the bike, whenever I had a day off I would go into Chicago. Since then, I
always go west towards DeKalb or up into Wisconsin. So it’s been actually a
great way for me just to go somewhere, get off, and just go for a walk and
enjoy the Creation.
Daniel Pawlus: Stephen, you talked about your son in this
Teach for America organization, a wonderful organization, obviously.
Stephen Williams: Yes.
Daniel Pawlus: Lillian, you have a son who is a freshman in
college this year, too. Sorry to keep asking you both questions, but how do you
speak about this to your children, especially at that age when they are
ensconced with technology and the idea of speed and keeping up in the world?
It’s interesting stuff. Lillian, why don’t you take that one first? What do you
think?
Lillian Daniel: Well, I think it’s a huge challenge. But I
think our kids are actually watching us a lot more than we think. And so we
tend to point to the children as being technology driven, but a lot of times
it’s the parents who are pulling out the Blackberry or answering the phone
during dinner. I think in many ways we’ve got to take responsibility for what’s
happening with our children.
Daniel Pawlus: Absolutely.
Stephen Williams: I think one of the things that I’ve
enjoyed in watching my young children use technology is how they use it to
connect with their friends; when Josh was doing a semester abroad, the thrill
of doing Skype and just being able to talk to him. I mean, technology can
actually help create community. I think the other danger is that we can cocoon
with it and not engage in face-to-face dialogue and networking, which is also
equally important. But I think it can be a tool that actually allows us to
order our lives in such a way we create Sabbath moments. And certainly my son
in New York City with Teach for America is just a whiz at reaching out and
maintaining a wide circle of friends. I frankly marvel at it.
Lillian Daniel: I love the idea that technology doesn’t just
speed us up but also can help slow us down.
So, I want to say that I am not going after him just because
of what he said but because this so called, pastor was one that I was under
before I was saved. I know a lot about him outside of what was going on in this
TV joke show. But with this I want to break down this so called talk or
whatever you wish to call it, and then I will give you some info on him from an
insider of his old church. But first the brake down.
“Mahatma
Gandhi was one of the 20th century’s most inspiring figures. He once said, “There
is more to life than increasing its speed.” I think the God of all Hindus,
Christians, Muslims and Jews would agree with Gandhi’s statement.” The Gods of the Hindus most likely would
agree with this because of the link to Gandhi and Buddhism to Hinduism,
Buddhism came out of Hinduism, and in fact we see a brake with in Buddhism, and
it going two ways with Tibetan Buddhism (Mahayana) and Theravada Buddhism, this
was done when The Chinese monk Yijing who visited India in the 7th century CE,
distinguishes Mahāyāna from Hīnayāna as follows.
So would the God of the Christians
agree with this statement? Well the only way to find this to be truth is by the
bible its self. Does the bible tell us to slow down are life? Does it tell us
to do anything outside of what we do to bring the glory to God alone? Well
there is no verse to back us slowing down are live and for the Sabbath Rest
idea put out by Mr. Williams would be talking about the day that God took to
rest after his work in genesis 2, “Gen 2:2
And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he
rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.
” We hear that the seventh day was for the
Lord, there is a difference in the Lords day and the seventh day of rest. “WSC
Q. 59. Which day of the seven hath God appointed to be the weekly Sabbath? A.
From the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ, God appointed
the seventh day of the week to be the weekly Sabbath; and the first day of the
week ever since, to continue to the end of the world, which is the Christian
Sabbath.
”
but does this mean anything to what was said by Gandhi yes it does because of
what is said after it by the so called pastor. He is saying that all the gods
of old and the one true God would say that it is true what was said buy Gandhi
but it is just not, the day of rest is what is said by the wsc.
The God of the Muslims would not
agree with this as well, along with the Jewish God, this is because; the Muslim
god is one that pulls from Christian and Jewish teaching. The God of the Jewish
people is the same God as the ones that the Christians worship. So with this
being said it is very disturbing coming from someone who says they worship the
one true God.
“In the opening chapter of the book
of Genesis, the Creation story is wonderfully told. Many have delighted in its
peculiar rhythm of “God said…” and then—voila!—it was so. But that divine
rhythm in the epic Creation poem points out a helpful pattern that has
sustained humans for countless generations. At each step of the Creation story,
God the Creator steps back, slows down, reflects on the enormity and beauty of
what is unfolding, evolving, and pauses to appreciate the moment. And each time
God pauses in the Creation story, after each day of Creation, God gives a
wondrous affirmation, “And it was good…And it was good…,” then finally,
“Behold, it was very good.” Really this
shows that God is slowing down? Steve come on give me a break, the theological inferences
in that statement is that God changed something about himself, that the God
that is the same today and tomorrow has not changed, “Heb 13:8 Jesus Christ is
the same yesterday and today and forever.
”
the very view you giving is heresy in part that your saying God is changing,
and this view is dispensationalism. The God you give lip service to is one that
is not going to change what he does. When
it was that God says it was very good? After what he had made that it was good?
Well let’s look at the verse saying it
was very good. “Gen 1:31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold,
it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
”
so it was after everything he made before he said it was very good, but the one
thing that need to see is was not very good until man was made, God in his own
will could have said it was very good after all of the steps he took to make
this world. So were you get that God has slowed down Is something that is
heresy and the worst and just foolish theology and the lest. So with your idea
that God has slowed down is just so far out there that it makes rob bell or his
group look somewhat better than they are, and they are outright heretics. But let’s
look at it deeper is it really matter when he says it is good? Well yea it does
the theological implications of what you’re saying is that nothing matters of the context or of
the history of the books, the context is shown then you think that Gandhi has any place in this type of talk. He has
none, and I really don’t think you know anything about what it was that Gandhi thought
and wanted and about the brake of Hinduism and Buddhism, I don’t think you know
anything about the two views with in Buddhism.
Context means everything to someone
who cares about the word of God and wants to keep it whole, and you just show
time after time that you could care less about the word of God and more about
people liking you. Sir, no one at first that I know of liked you. But with you
playing fast and loose with the bible makes you not care about the context. So look
at the context and try again.
“So on my Sabbath days, and in my
Sabbath moments, I leave the suburbs of Chicago behind and go out to the
cornfields of DeKalb, or up the shoreline of Lake Michigan or beyond, to
explore the endless green garden called Wisconsin. Around nearly every bend of
two lane black top I can find, there is always another delight awaiting: a
field, a meadow, a stream, or just the sight of a father scooping up a kid and
playing with his child. Somehow, it never gets old. It never fails to refresh
my spirit or speak to my soul. If you slow down, ease off the gas a bit, the
beauties of the creation are not hard to find.”
Sir, you don’t get to choose when
you want the Sabbath day, it is Sunday for the Christian, and is that why after
you lack of a sermon on the book you read of a lost person, you were nowhere to
be found, unless if you wanted to yell at someone for something that is not
there job, i.e. me when you wanted me to do the job of the ushers in the balcony,
sir it is not my job to keep the younger kids under control, and God would not
have blessed me for doing it because my works are nothing to him! is that why
you ran off so you did not have to do YOUR JOB AS A PASTOR? You carried more
about your bike then you did the people of the church. So back to your Sabbath,
when did God give you the right to say that you got that power to say when it
is? Where is the text to back it? And don’t give it in the English but the Greek,
if you can even read the Greek. So again the idea that it is your Sabbath is
one that you should be falling to your knees and repenting for! You should not
be riding your bike on the Sabbath because you should be resting! “and in my Sabbath moments,” what is this? I would
like to hear the biblical text backing that the Sabbath is not just moments.
“Almost everyone knows this. Not
everyone practices it. The classic James Taylor song, “Up on a Roof,” pays
homage to Sabbath or at least the Sabbath idea. “On the roof it’s peaceful as
can be. And I don’t let nobody bother me…” We need a place where we can be
still, a place where we can remember and reflect on who we are and on whose we
are. To dare to believe in the post-modern world that we as humans are the
ones, as male and female, who are made in the image of God, is still a
breathtaking proposition. It is still a revolutionary thought. Surely it
secures once, for all, forever, our individual dignity and worth, which no one
can ever touch or bother. And to then act on this idea by following the divine
rhythm, the divine pattern of slowing down, being still, seeking out green
pastures or sitting beside still waters, or just going up on the roof of a
tenement, allows us to open our souls to God our Creator who can speak, God our
Redeemer, who does speak.” To start what does James Taylor have to do with the bible?
Let me tell you because you might not know the answer nothing not one thing, he
has nothing to do with it. The Sabbath and a Sabbath idea, are not the same, in
fact they are so different that it is like me trying to say that fumet and Foie
gras are the same thing when they are not even close. To have this idea of a Sabbath
if not like you have a Sabbath so Steve I would start using the bible if you
even remember what that is.
“I love the creation story in
Genesis, chapter 1, because it suggests that God the Creator is still creating,
still “hovers” above God’s good creation. It says, “In the beginning the Spirit
of God hovered above the darkness and the deep that was formless and empty.”
The remarkable Hebrew verb “to hover” is found only a few other times in Hebrew
Scripture. In Deuteronomy, God is like “an eagle that stirs up her nest and
hovers over her young, that spreads her wings to catch them and carries them
aloft” [Deuteronomy 32:11]. It is a maternal image of a mother eagle, which
hovers over her brood. God hovers over the Creation. Later God says to the
Hebrew people, “You yourselves have seen what I did, how I carried you on
eagles’ wings…” [Exodus 19:4].” This is one of the only parts that you did
anything close to biblical exegeses but still somewhat off.
I want to take some time to go over
my exercise with him as a pastor or if you wish to call him one I don’t. but he at one point told the church body that
he had a cell phone but he would not give it out, now what is it that we was
thinking why did he not want to give it out? Well I know because his bike was
more important than the Lord’s church. His time alone away from the people that
we was “called” to look after he had no care for, he had no care for the youth
in the church along with no care for the kids of the church, he stopped the children’s
sermon he did not want to have a Sunday school for the 18 and up groups not
until you were in your mid-40s and up was there something for you. As I said
about how he yelled at me for something I had no control over, one that is something
that your usher needs to handle, and then you need to talk with the father of
that kid as it is his job in the house to give out the discipline.
But the thing that I think was one
of the worst things on his list of what you doing is that he ever visited
people who were in the hospital nor did he know who was in the hospital. His whole
Job is to care for the sheep in his church and that does not stop when he was
done talking on Sunday, in fact that job is a 24-7 job and he thought it was a
when I want to have that job, then again he does chose when his Sabbath is so
why not when he wants to be a “pastor” and he did not want fellowship of the
body outside of the church, there is a camp out every year and he would come to
it for 20-30 mins make others cook his food manly me, and then go just disappear.
I know that the church he is at now wants his gone, and the only thing about
this whole thing is that he did not put me to sleep like he all ways does. One question
I have for him is how many takes did it take for you to look like less of a
fool to one who knows the word of God and knows your back round at first umc
Lombard?
I hope that this brings light in to
what it is that many pastors are doing even the small time ones. I plain on
email the link of this blog to his new church, as well as to the ds of the umc.
God bless,
The sheep of God and to the sound
teaching of his word.
Soli Deo Gloria
RCM
Charlie Brenan
