Joy-filled Musings

May Christ be born in you (and me).

2011-12-13T22:54:00.000-09:00

The author Sue Monk Kidd has written about her youth and how she would prepare for Christmas. In early December, she would sit by the wooden nativity set clustered under their Christmas tree and think over the last year of her life. She would think deeply about Christmas and the coming of Jesus.

She also remembers how as a girl she once visiting a monastery. It was a couple of weeks before Christmas. As she passed a monk walking outside, she greeted him with, "Merry Christmas." The monk's response caught her off guard a bit. "May Christ be born in you," he replied.

His words seemed strange and peculiar at the time. What did he mean, "May Christ be born in you?" At the time she was unsure of what he meant, but now all these years later, sitting beside the Christmas tree, she felt the impact of his words. She discovered that Advent is a time of spiritual preparation. It is also a time of transformation. It is "discovering our soul and letting Christ be born from the waiting heart."

The thought stuck me as I read these words, “Do I leave time and space for Christ to be born in my heart during the average Advent?” I am embarrassed to say, that far to typically, the answer to that would be, “No.” I get too busy. I get too overwhelmed by all the stuff (good stuff—church stuff, family stuff) that I have to do during the Advent season that I too often miss out on the why of my activity, and certainly on the who. I get so busy working for Christ, I forget to let Jesus be born in me.

As a kid, I always wondered about that line in Issac Watts’ most famous hymn:

Joy to the World, the Lord in come!

Let earth receive her king;

Let ev’ry heart prepare him room…

What did it mean to “prepare room in my heart”? Maybe, I was too young to really understand how stuffed with stuff my heart could get, how the complexities of being an adult could so easily crowd out the Joy of the World in my life. Now that I am older, I realize how full I let my life get, and how empty it can really be at the same time.

Advent is a time to stop. To prepare. To listen. To wonder. Advent invites us to get ready by doing less stuff, and buying less stuff to get ready. I would guess that I am not the only one who gets overwhelmed in the days before Christmas. The danger is, that we will miss out on the beautiful simplicity of the Gift.

We are a busy people and most of what keeps us busy is good stuff- work, family, even church. My prayer for us all this Advent is the simple prayer of the unnamed monk, “May Christ be born in you (and me).

Pastor Martin

"Simil Hircus et Ovis" revisted

2011-11-15T12:33:00.003-09:00

I am going to revisit one of my earliest posts as we look towards Christ the King Sunday this week. Why? Mostly because I really like it.

The vision/parable of the sheep and the goats (Matthew 25:31-46) is terrifyingly familiar to many of us. It's intended to leave a lasting impression. With its double surprise (both the sheep and the goats are equally unaware of Jesus' presence) and pneumonic structure, this was one story Jesus (or at least, Matthew) wanted to be remembered.

It is an uncomfortable tale. On first glance, it's easy or tempting to assume we are the sheep of the story (After all, we ARE in church, aren't we? Don't we give to the correct causes and speak for the poor?) But if we allow ourselves to be honest with the story, allow it to sink past our carefully applied veneer, then Jesus' words should begin to make us squirm--not a little, but a lot. What about the guy(s) I saw just yesterday on the street corner, that ubiquitous presence with the signs? What about the commercial with the disturbing photos of the third world children that I quickly clicked away from? Are they Jesus?

Then the mind floods with all sort of vision of opportunities lost or squandered, Jesus ignored or shunned, or just plain mistreated. Then we squirm. Maybe the assumption of sheep seems a trifle premature. Surely, Jesus, you are not suggesting that I am a goat are you?

But the words stand for themselves: "Just as you did not do it...."

There I am, caught between bad news and good, what theologians call, "law and gospel." The trouble is I can see myself on both sides of the equation, both as a sheep and as a goat, depending on the day, the hour, or the circumstance. Either way, I don't feel as comfortable about this end-of-all-time judgment scene.

I think that's just where we belong, in the in-between.

Luther is famous for, among other things, coining the phrase, simil justis et peccator, "simultaneously saint and sinner" to describe our life before God. We are made righteous by God's grace (free gift) in Jesus Christ, but while we journey on this side of the grave/resurrection, we remain broken, hurting, sin-filled creatures. I believe Jesus' tale of sheep and goats is meant to show us that we are never fully either, but walk through this life as both. To borrow from Luther, we are, as it were, simil hircus et ovis, both sheep and goats. If we are to be considered sheep, it can never be on our own efforts alone. Even a superficial examination of ourselves shows us we are far too goat-like to pass as real sheep. We may have our moments of real caring, but more often than not, it is no much easier to ignore the Jesus at my door or accross the world.

How then, do we face this final judgment?

I think we face our Judge and Savior on this matter in the same fashion we will face him on all others—dependant on his grace. We place our lives, and our eternal future, in the hands of the one who alone could be both sheep and shepherd, who never refuses the broken, hurting, naked, sick and hungry of his flock. At this ultimate level, I must cling to the promise that Jesus has “done it to the last of these” and therefore, he has done so to me. I am a sheep because he makes me one. That is his promise, that is the good news.

Given that gift, Jesus asks me to follow his example with gratitude and not guilt, to learn to see and embrace the world in the same I have been welcomed. I will fail at this, often. I will revert to my goat-ness at the most convenient times. But Jesus will be there to remind me that I am a sheep, one of the flock, and show me the way to right action.

Fortunately, I have a lifetime to practice.

Reformation Day 2011

2011-10-31T17:29:00.000-08:00

In a recent on-line conversation among Lutheran Pastors, the question was posted, “What is the point of Reformation Day and why do we still celebrate it? It raised a lengthy and vigorous debate with quite a few of pastors that Reformation Day/Sunday is just an ancient history exercise, celebrating victories half-a-millennium old, and emphasizing denominational conflict that is neither pertinent or helpful to today’s society. One pastor stated, “It is as helpful as chasing the Redcoats back to England every 4^th of July.”

There is a concern among my colleges that the issues and questions that surround our observance of the Reformation no longer mean much to people today. There is a real worry that our message is becoming increasingly irrelevant and that especially among young people today (sometimes termed, “Millennials” by folks who term such things—“Millennials” are basically folks under 30) the perception is that we are answering questions that they are not asking and fighting battles about which they are not concerned. In short, they don’t often see them selves as guilt-ridden sinners seeking a gracious God and they think all this focus on one denomination’s truth over another’s is exact what turns them off about religion in the first place.

Personally, I think these naysayers are right. If Reformation Day is nothing more than a celebration about being Lutheran, about Martin Luther, even about our great theology, then we should probably stop doing it altogether because it is doing more harm than good. If we are only going to wrap ourselves in our own Lutheran culture, history, and traditions, then we are just window dressing a museum display about a dying movement. If that is all we do, then we have neglected the Gospel as God’s good news for today’s people.

But, I don’t think that is what Reformation has to be about. I don’t think it is what is about at all.

Martin Luther was a great, smart, earthy fellow who was filled by the Holy Spirit and called to refashion the Gospel in his day so that the people of his day could hear it in a new, fresh, dynamic way that made sense to them. They were able to hear God’s Word to and for them in the real-life, every-day struggles they had. Nobody, Martin Luther included, in my opinion, ever considered that this was the only way that this could ever be done, for all time. Period.

In fact, the Reformers were fond of saying that the Reformation was never a past event, but an ongoing movement. One of the powerful slogans of the Reformation era was, ecclesia semper reformans, semper reformanda. In plain English, this means "the church is always reformed and always reforming." The work was not finished in 1517. The Holy Spirit did not stop working among us when Luther died. We are not off the hook—there is so much yet to be done.

That other Martin could never have imagined the needs and issues of the children of God in the 21^st century. He could not relate to our language, our knowledge base, or the global connections we all take for granted. I don’t know what her would say to those protestors who are occupying Wall Street and other places, or to those who feel disenfranchised from society, or those who feel alienated and even repulsed by organized religion. I do know that in his 16^th century world and experience, he was able to find a way to tough the pain and alienation of a people who felt left behind and afraid, who felt the burdens of life and who had little hope.

That was his genius, his Spiritual gift, and his calling. Our calling is to listen to those who feel alone and hopeless in our time, in our world, and speak the Word of Jesus to them in 21^st century words. “If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” (John 8:36) is still the essence of the gospel message. There is a great deal of bondage among God’s people out there. There are so many striving and yearning to find a word of hope, of peace, of freedom. Our call is to ask the Holy Spirit to breath in and through and with us; to send us and empower us find ways to make the message real. To do that, we have to be willing to have that Spirit do new things among us, teach us new ways to talk, and to sing, and to listen.

Because you know, the Reformation has only just begun….

Pastor Martin

Why I am Still a Lutheran

2011-09-27T11:05:00.001-08:00

I participate on an on-line site where people pose questions to me about faith, especially the Lutheran faith. Recently, a questioner asked me, “The Catholic Church reportedly is inviting Protestants to return. Please provide your opinion regarding a few primary reasons to remain Protestant.”

In honor of the Reformation month, I share my answer (with the name changed):

Bill:

Thank you for your question. Why would someone choose to stay within the Protestant fold of Christianity? Obviously, there are many, personal reasons one might choose on either side. I will share my reasons why I remain a Lutheran.

First, I appreciate our emphasis of God's unmerited grace that is given to us as a gift in Jesus Christ. Protestants, and here I especially mean, Lutheran Protestants, are not the only ones who teach this, but we Lutherans choose to make this our major emphasis. Grace, God's gift of acceptance, love and forgiveness, is something I can never earn, no matter how pious or religious I become. It comes to me in the person and the work of Jesus Christ and his life, death and resurrection on my behalf, and on behalf of all sinners. By making this our first priority, we ground our theology and practice in God's actions, not ours. We make the center of all we do Jesus' work, and not my attainment of God's. This is most certainly true and certainly the chief of all reasons I remain Protestant.

Second, I appreciate that fact that God comes to me as an individual, while at the same time God comes to us through the church community. I love that my prayers are directly heard by God, that my confessions are heard and favorably responded to by God, without needing to go through a church mediator. At the same time, I also appreciate that I can also hear that forgiveness through the witness and proclamation of the pastor and other Christians. Sometimes, it is very helpful to physically hear from another baptized Christian, "In the name of Jesus, your sins are forgiven."

I also appreciate that my baptism is both God's promise to me, ("You are my child-I am your God) and my introduction the Christian community. It is the only credential I need to be a full member of God's family, since it is based on God's Word and not mine. Baptism is the original equalizer, making all our vacations (from the Latin. "to call") equally important and holy. My call as a pastor is no more holy or important than my wife's call as a teacher, or my father's as a welder, or my mother's as a homemaker. We are all called to vocations as baptized children of God. We are all bearers of God's promise and presence in what we do. We are all "little Christs" to one another and to and for the world in which we live. There is no hierarchy in God's family. No one is more holy. No one is more loved than another.

I appreciate that while we honor tradition and reason, we hold in a primary place God's Word revealed to us through Jesus Christ and expressed in the written words of the Bible. Martin Luther once said, "All we need to know about God is found with Jesus on the cross." That focus on Christ crucified for us is important. Our human traditions are important, since they contain the wisdom of the community over many years, but they can never supersede the revealed grace we have in Jesus Christ. Humans and institutions will fail us; Jesus will not.

Finally, I revel in the freedom God has given me in Jesus Christ. I am freed from the guilt and shame of not measuring up to God's demands. The Law of God assures me that I can never measure up; the Gospel/Good News of God proclaims to me that the One who could and did (Jesus) took care of this demand. The sins of the past are gone. All my failures and ungodliness: forgiven. Each day, I am reminded that God's grace and love surrounds me and empowers me. I will most likely fail to measure up to perfection today, but I am still a Child of God. Each day, I am called to live out that marvelous freedom because God already loves me. I live out my vocation/ occupation, and my roles as father, husband, child etc. as a freed-in-Christ Child of God. Liberated from the weight of any guilt or shame, I can strive to be a faithful steward of God's gifts and God's Creation, to be gracious and forgiving to those around me, and be a witness to the power of a heart set free in love.

Bill, I hope that this is helpful. I would never denigrate our Roman Catholic sisters and brothers, or what they believe. Obviously, Jesus lives and works with them as well and they honor God through their lives and worship. I can only answer why I am glad to be a Lutheran Protestant, and why I am excited to remain in that camp. I pray for your own journey in faith. May God lead you to where God wants you to be.

Martin Eldred

Eat First the Kingdom of God

2011-08-30T16:56:00.000-08:00

This past Sunday (August 28^th) was our last summer breakfast after worship. The tables have all been cleared and put away, but the benefits of those breakfasts remain among us, and with those visitors who shared time with us. Over and over this summer, I heard how much people appreciate our summer tradition of breakfast; how it allows people the opportunity to stop and visit with each other in a way we don’t seem to take time to do throughout the rest of the year.

Last year, during the “Big Event”, we heard how important relationships were among us. We have the call and the opportunity to develop and maintain a community of caring, of trust, and of hope centered in the Lord who calls and sustains us all with the gift of love and acceptance. One of the major mission objectives that came out of the, “Big Event” was titled, “Relational Conversations.” This group looked to fining way in which we can build on those relationships we have within our community, and to open those conversations to embrace those who may not feel part of or even welcomed by our community of faith.

The “Open Book, Open Minds” events on Thursday evenings were part of this Mission Group’s efforts, as was the continuation of the summer breakfasts. As we look forward to the beginning of a new programmatic year, there are already discussions of what may come next. There seems a great interest in reviving the “4 x 4” dinner groups—another way to keep the conversations flowing (plus food, it is always good to have food). The upcoming Silent Auction plans to focus on items for auction that focus on our relationships together (such as fishing trips; lefse making; etc.).

Our culture sometimes makes it hard to form true relationships. I know a lot about my FaceBook friends, but not always enough about the people nearest to me. I may email, text or twitter a great amount of stuff, but do I really listen to someone when they actually want to talk to me? I think that one of the great gifts we can give to each other and others that live around us is a place to be heard and a place to listen to another. I think one of the great callings that Jesus leaves to us is to fashion places that help people feel safe, where they can be accepted as forgiven sinners, no better and no worse than any one else. I think one of the great needs of our world right now is for the church to step up to the plate and make this happen in their local congregations.

Just think, by sharing a meal, listening to a story or a joke, by hugging a friend, you are part of the power of the Kingdom of God. How easy is that? How important!

Pastor Martin

Loving Your Enemies -- Remembering King on his Commemoration Day

2011-04-04T12:03:00.002-08:00

Another way that you love your enemy is this:

When the opportunity presents itself for you to defeat your enemy,

that is the time which you must not do it.

There will come a time, in many instances,

when the person who hates you most,

the person who has misused you most,

the person who has gossiped about you most,

the person who has spread false rumors about you most,

there will come a time when

you will have an opportunity to defeat that person.

It might be in terms of a recommendation for a job;

it might be in terms of helping that person

to make some move in life.

That's the time you must do it.

That is the meaning of love.

In the final analysis,

love is not this sentimental something that we talk about.

It's not merely an emotional something.

Love is creative, understanding goodwill for all men.

It is the refusal to defeat any individual.

When you rise to the level of love, of its great beauty and power,

you seek only to defeat evil systems.

Individuals who happen to be caught up in that system, you love,

but you seek to defeat the system."

Loving Your Enemies - Martin Luther King Jr. - 1957

Future Tripping and Kingdom Serving

2011-03-31T15:16:00.004-08:00

“Christians are so heavenly minded that they’re no earthly good.” – Attributed to Oliver Wendell Holmes.

“All his life has he looked away... to the future, to the horizon. Never his mind on where he was.” – Attributed to Yoda

In the Recovering community, it’s called “Future Tripping.” Future Tripping is the obsession with plans and designs for tomorrow so much so that it distracts a person from taking care of the essential needs and actions for today. For folks who depend on keeping their focus on One-Day-at-a-Time, it can literally be a fatal mistake. But even for the rest, it can deplete our energy and attention on the important things right in front of us.

For Christians, we can also be prone to “future tripping” - although it usually about Heaven, Hell and the End. In fact, some Christians spend a great deal of time and energy discussing, figuring out, and making lists about who is going where, and just when the End is going to be. We may laugh or be disgusted by weird groups who tell us that the Rapture will happen this May 21, or those Westboro Baptist folks who hold those offensive signs at funerals, but we probably all are more than a little guilty of forgetting what is really important about being a disciple of Jesus today.

Easter is this month (April 24^th). We celebrate Resurrection and eternal life and Jesus’ victory for us over sin, death, and the devil. It is beautiful, and powerful. Easter is the chief Festival in the whole Church calendar, what the ancient church called, "The Queen of Feasts.” But, as two of my favorite contemporary authors point in recent books, (N.T. Wright, After You Believe, HaperOne 2010 and; Rob Bell, Love Wins, HarperOne, 2011.) if Easter only means to us a “get out of hell free card” we are probably selling the Good News a little short. Make that, a lot short. Make that, missing the point completely.

When Jesus burst out of the Tomb that first Easter morning he brought the power of life, eternal life for us all (see, John 3:16). The problem is, most of us focus the location of that Eternal Life somewhere “out there” in Eternity. But Jesus never really says that all this Eternal Life will only happen when we die and go to heaven. The more I read about what Jesus said and did in the Gospels, the more I see a man committed to bringing Eternal Life to the here and now, and sending us, his followers, to do the same in his name. “The Kingdom of God is at hand (as in, “right here!”) Jesus says at the beginning of his earthly ministry (Matthew 4:17). At the end of his ministry he says, “Go, make disciples of all people, baptizing them, and teaching them to observe all that I have said.” (Matthew 28:19 - my paraphrase).

In the power and promise of Easter (sins forgiven, childhood in God established, new life given) we are now sent to be earthly good in the "right now" in heaven’s name. Free from the worries of “Future Tripping”, we can live out the Good News of Easter, live out the Kingdom of God, and live into Jesus’ command as we feed the hungry, embrace the hurting, care for the Creation, and generally do our best to embody the love of Jesus in our world today.

We thank God for the promise of Heaven and Eternal Life. We thank God that I can begin living that right now

A Living Lord's Prayer

2010-07-23T12:46:00.001-08:00

“Lord, teach us to pray...” According to the gospel of Luke, the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to prayer after watching him complete his own time of prayer. In Jesus’ time, teachers such as he was, usually taught their students or disciples special prayers that were just for their group. These prayers served to accomplish two things. First. it was a sign of identity, a sign of belonging. This was a prayer for this specific group, a kind of “secret code” that would show that your belonged to to this specific teacher. Second, it usually summarized the basics of what this teacher taught, thus serving as a sort of catechism that they could memorize and recall throughout their life.

Usually, these prayers were long, complex, and filled with flowery religious language (it made it harder to memorize, thus making it more impressive when you did memorize it, and less likely that some non-disciples would try and take it over). Jesus surprises his disciples in a few ways by what he gives them. First, it is a short. simple prayer, without overly religious language. Second, it presumes an intimacy with God (What we translate “Father” was really, in Jesus’ language, not the more formal title, but the child-like was “Daddy”) that borders on the offensive, even heretical. Third, the content is all about simple, everyday issues--bread, forgiveness and relationships, and the trials or temptations that we all face day to day.

“Lord, teach us to pray...” Jesus really teaches them far more than a prayer, or even how to pray in some specific, “correct” way. Jesus teaches them to live: “To pray is to live; to live is to pray. This is the way it is for my followers.”

“Lord, remember us in your Kingdom and teach us to live and pray...” In the liturgy of Holy Communion, I often introduce our corporate saying of The Lord’s Prayer with these words. A few years ago, I added the “to live” as a way in which to remind myself that Jesus’ prayer loses it’s power the more we make it only something we say on Sundays.

The Lord’s Prayer is a prayer about belonging, just like the original disciples wanted. It is a prayer that identifies us and defines us. We prayer the prayer because we are Jesus’ students/disciples. We learn the prayer the same way those first followers did, and recite it to remind ourselves that we follower our Lord and Teacher, Jesus. But it is also a prayer that shapes and defines us as followers, and shows us how to follow him. There are three main points: live simply (we ask for only daily bread); heal the broken places (as we are forgiven, we are reminded to be about reconciliation and forgiveness in our lives); faith/trust in God (in the trials and temptation that we face, we asks for and depend on God’s guidance and protection). This is who we are. This is who we are called to be. This is what we ask God to help us become. This is how we live lives that show others, “We belong to Jesus.” We will do far more to help and heal the world as we seek to live this prayer than we can possibly do with all the theologies, liturgies, and other systems we create. I think that we will also find that our personal lives will find the peace and serenity that we so often miss as we allow Jesus’ simple, powerful words, become ours in our daily walk.

“Lord, teach us....”

2010-05-27T17:24:00.001-08:00

What are we called to be?
Not a museum,
and not a memorial
(those places honor death and the past)
but a mission:
a people and place that in the present shares new life.

I came across these lines today as I cleared some debris from my desk. They are from a Pentecost sermon I gave a few years ago here at Joy. The words and the message are still vital: God is calling us to mission, to be a source of life and healing for the people in our community.

Recently, some members of the Council were able to meet with Bishop Keys to discuss drafting an Intentional Mission Plan for our congregation. We taking the thoughts and feelings you have previously shared, and drafting them into an intentional plan for the mission and ministry of Joy Lutheran Church. In the early fall, we will call us all together, to review what has been said, to tweak and adjust according to your comments, and to prayerfully dedicate ourselves to this mission in Jesus’ name. We will look toward three years, and identify key missional emphasizes that we plan to add or enhance each of those years. In the meantime, there is still much we can be doing together as we anticipate God’s leading. I invite you to consider three callings for our summer:

First, we are called to pray. I urge you to pray regularly for the mission of our congregation. Where is God calling us? What gifts and assets do we need to accomplish this mission? I am dedicating myself to regular prayer for God’s direction during this summer, and I invite you to follow me in your own prayer life. As one way of coming together in prayer, I will be in the Sanctuary from 6:30 to 7:00 every Monday evening that I am in town this summer. I will be there praying or the life, mission and future of Joy. I will be praying for God’s wisdom and direction. I will be praying for the Spirit’s power and renewal –in my life and in the lives of everyone in our congregation.

Second, we are called to be in the Word. I will be giving us some passages from the Bible for us to reflect upon, to pray upon, and to ask how God’s message to us informs and directs our future in Jesus. This process is what Bishop Keys calls, “biblical work” instead of just biblical study. Study can be an intellectual or even devotional benefit and it has its place. Biblical work allows the Spirit to let the words work in us as we work with it in an intentional, prayerful fashion. I will do my best to describe this more fully later.

Finally, we are called to listen. Holy listening is taking the time and the care to allow your self to really hear the concerns, needs, dreams, and joys of the person who is speaking. I invite us this summer to listen to each other, and especially to folks who are not part of any church community. What are their dreams? What are their fears? How might the good news of Jesus (not religion!) make a difference in their life?

Prayer. Bible. Listen. These are our key words for this summer. It will be an ongoing process, one we can continue as we worship, but also as we fish and travel and otherwise enjoy the summer. The life we have in Jesus fills us, embraces us, and leads us in all that we do. May we draw together in that life as we seek to continue to be a place and a people of new life, of hope and healing, of good news in the name of the Lifegiver, Jesus Christ.

Pentecost Sunday

2010-05-24T13:23:00.002-08:00

Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. (John 14: 27)

I have been thinking about transitions lately. Having just returned from attending our son Paul’s graduation from college, I am reminded that this is the season when many of us in our families are going through similar changes and transitions from one part of life to the next. We have families with High School graduates, families whose sons or daughters have graduated from college. There are some who are going from Middle School to High School, or from Elementary to Middle School, or starting school for the first time. All are facing a similar anxiety: “What will it be like?” “How will I do in this new role?”

I remember a feeling when I graduated from college-- it struck me that after all these years of schooling, I was now on my own. I was now supposed to get a job and be responsible. I was about to get married, and suddenly Shelly and I would have to think about bills and other responsibilities. It was exciting and intimidating at the same time. I remember feeling more than a little sad, because I realize that something was irrevocably changing, I was leaving part of my life that I had come to know and trust and was being thrust into something unknown.

Our lives are series of transitions. We change schools; we get jobs, or lose jobs; we retire. Our relationships change, our families change. We are always adapting to something new. It is easy to get anxious, to feel the fear of not knowing what lies ahead. In the gospel reading for this Sunday, Jesus is preparing the Disciples to face the transition of life without him physically right there with them, and the reading from Acts 2 is their grand graduation day.

For three years, they had been in a school of sorts, with Jesus as their mentor, teacher, and guide. They had experienced so many things-- they had see miracles of God, had their hearts broken by the tragedy of death, and beheld the wonder of God’s new life in the Resurrection. But now, they were about to be launched on their own, sent out into a scary, uncertain world. Before the Spirit fell, they must have felt something close to relief. They gathered in the Upper Room, a familiar place where they last had the formal, ritual supper with Jesus. It was a place they remembered, and felt comfortable together. The doors and window were locked, to keep the uncertainty away. They were safe for the moment.

Then the breath of God ignited and blew through them, propelling them out. They were transformed from merely Disciples (learners) to Apostles (proclaimers) sharing the message of God’s transforming, inclusive love for all people. And so, in the course of this graduation, the church was born.

They made many mistakes along the way. The Book of Acts is the record of both the things they got right and the things they learned by doing it wrong. Every time they thought they understood the boundaries and perimeters of God’s love and acceptance, then the laughter of God broke in and they realized how small their vision, how narrow their embrace really was. But see, that’s the great thing about God’s grace for us: we are free to fail as much as we are free to accomplish. In the mission of the good news, the followers of Jesus are going to make some TREMENDOUS blunders! But Jesus will always be there, to pick us up, dust us off and send us back out there again. “Don’t let you hearts be troubled,” Jesus assures those who believe in him. The peace he gives is different, deeper, made of stouter stuff than the peace we normally find in the world. It is the peace of his presence. “I will not leave you as orphans, “ he promises. That is the great miracle that the first Apostles discovered as they transitioned into the mission in and for the world: they were not on their own at after all, the Spirit lived in and empowered them all along the way. Their graduation day was also the great infusion of God’s power and presence in their lives.

We have the same legacy, the same mission, and the same promise. The church does not belong here in the comfortable confines of this building, in this room that we know so well. We are being constantly propelled out, as disciples and apostles, to be Jesus in the world through the vocations we do in everyday life. Each day, you are Jesus and you meet Jesus in each person in your life. We may feel the anxiety, even the fear of such responsibility, but we are not alone. We have each other. We have the Spirit. We have the promise of Jesus. We live, we share, we invite, we embrace—all in the name of the one who walks with us through all our graduations and transitions, who teaches us each day what unconditional love and acceptance are all about, and who sends us out together in his name.

Thanks be to God.

The Amnesia of Grace

2010-04-28T11:32:00.001-08:00

In his wonderful book, The Ragamuffin Gospel, Brennan Manning relates the following story:
Several years ago in a large city in the far West, rumors spread that a certain Catholic woman was having visions of Jesus. The reports reached the archbishop. He decided to check here out. There is always a fine line between the authentic mystic and the lunatic fringe.
“It is true, ma’am, that you have visions of Jesus?” as the cleric.
“Yes,” the woman replied simply.
“Well, next time you have a vision, I want you to ask Jesus to tell you the sins I confessed in my last confession.”
…
Ten days later the woman notified her spiritual leader of a recent apparition. “Please come,” she said.
Within the hour the archbishop arrived…”You told me on the telephone that you actually had a vision of Jesus. Did you do what I asked?”
“Yes, bishop, I asked Jesus to tell me the sins you confessed in your last confession.”
The bishop leaned forward in anticipation. His eyes narrowed.
“What did Jesus say?”
She told his hand and gazed deep into his eyes. “Bishop,” she said, these are His exact words” ‘I CAN’T REMEMBER.’” (pg. 118-119)

I wonder how often we forget that an essential aspect of God’s grace is God’s forgetfulness. You and I carry around so much needless baggage—guilt and sadness about the things we have done, or failed to do; resentment about what others have done or not done. Is it any wonder that we Christians far too often seem sad or angry? Do we wonder why we are afraid to risk things for God if we worry that we may get in trouble with God if we fail?

Grace is more than a “get-into-heaven-free-card”, a lot more. It is also about living in the here-and-now, everyday eternal and abundant life knowing that God knows us, loves us and liberates us from any need to carry the rotting baggage of our pasts. It is the celebration of God’s intentional amnesia about our sins, faults, imperfections, and screw-ups.
How do we respond to such extravagant forgetfulness? Why not with extravagant, joy-filled thankfulness?

The grace-filled disciple of Jesus is one that seeks to imitate The Master’s example of love and compassion out of the joy of one who has experienced the free gift of God’s compassion and love. Remembering that I have nothing to prove to God, and that God is not some cosmic sin-counting accountant grimly watching my every move, I am FREE to show my appreciation and joy by doing my best to be a bit more like Jesus.

Of course, I will eventually twist that endeavor up, as well. I will find a way to wrap my self in more self-righteousness for the things I accomplish and guilt for the things I failed on. But isn’t wonderful that God will pick me up again from my mess, wrapping me in those great big arms of grace, and set me on my way again…and again...and again…

Ain’t grace grand?

A Magnificat Meditation by Merton

2009-12-16T11:05:00.003-09:00

Her salutation
Sings in the stone valley like a Charterhouse bell:
And the unborn saint John
Wakes in his mother's body,
Bounds with the echoes of discovery.

Sing in your cell, small anchorite!
How did you see her in the eyeless dark?
What secret syllable
Woke your young faith to the mad truth
That an unborn baby could be washed in the Spirit of God?
Oh burning joy!

What seas of life were planted by that voice!
With what new sense
Did your wise heart receive her Sacrament,
And know her cloistered Christ? …

Thomas Merton 1915-1968
From The Quickening of John the Baptist (1949)

Advent Reflections - Isaiah 9

2009-11-30T21:59:00.001-09:00

The people who walk in darkness will see a great light;
Light of the world, fill our hearts
Light of the world, bring us peace,
Light of the world, come.

The people who walk in darkness will see a great light;
Those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them
Gentle Light, in the midst of darkness,
we see your glow and we know hope.
Faithful Light, in the face of uncertainty,
we celebrate your steadfast love.
Stalwart Light, despite the raging winds of chaos and terror,
we rest in your warmth.

For a Child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;
And the government shall rest upon his shoulders;
And his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father.
Into our darkness a gift is given to us, an uncommon gift in common form,
God lives with us as one of us.
Into our chaos, the Prince of Peace brings Shalom
To sooth our warring spirits
To quiet our restless bodies
Into our troubled world, the Counselor comes
With Wisdom
With Comfort
With Reconciliation
With Joy

For a Child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;
And the government shall rest upon his shoulders;
And his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father.

Come, Lord Jesus.

Psalm 109:8 — A Prayer to Destroy Obama?

2009-11-20T13:57:00.001-09:00

by Diana Butler Bass 11-17-2009

During the last few days, Psalm 109:8, a Bible verse in the form of a “prayer for Obama,” has topped the Google trends chart: “May his days be few; may another take his office.” Evidently, a bumper sticker emblazoned with this verse has popped up in various parts of the country. It is a sort of right-wing Christian equivalent to the old “01.20.09″ stickers looking forward to the end of the Bush era.

It was, most likely, intended as a joke. But it isn’t really very funny. Especially since the next verse reads, “May his children be orphans, and his wife a widow.” The passage goes on the same way — asking God to pulverize this poor fellow — that he lose all his worldly goods, that his orphans be abandoned, that his father be remembered as a sinner, and finally, that “his memory be cut off from the earth.”

Thus, the “Prayer for Obama” does more than anticipate that he leaves office; it entreats God to destroy the president.

Psalm 109 belongs to a special category of the psalms known as “imprecatory” prayers — it is a lament in the form of petition to destroy one’s enemies. It is the personal prayer of an individual, someone who has been dealt an injustice by another (usually more powerful) person. The words of Psalm 109 are those of deep agony, the longings of a victim for retribution and justice. This psalm is considered one of the most difficult of all the psalms — full of violent images of vengeance and death. Many a biblical critic has struggled with its words, and not a few — including Roman Catholic and mainline Protestant theologians — recommend it not be used in public worship, much less as a bumper-sticker political slogan.

In his marvelous book, Reflections on the Psalms, C.S. Lewis observed:

In some of the Psalms the spirit of hatred which strikes us in the face is like the heat from a furnace mouth. In others the same spirit ceases to be frightful only by becoming (to a modern mind) almost comic in its naivety. Examples can be found all over the Psalter, but perhaps the worst is in 109 (p. 20).

Lewis suspects that it may be best to leave such psalms alone. But then he says that we must face “facts squarely.”

The hatred is there — festering, gloating, undisguised — and also we should be wicked if we in any way condoned or approved it, or (worse still) used it to justify similar passions in ourselves (p. 22).

Lewis refers to these psalms as horrible, devilish, cruel, hateful, and evil. He believes that Psalm 109 — and the poetry of its kind in the psalter — should point us back to the evil we carry within and teach us each how to behave with goodness, humility, and love.

According to the venerable C.S. Lewis, then, a “Prayer for Obama” is really a prayer for ourselves to go beyond “festering, gloating, undisguised” hatred. ”If the Divine does not call to make us better, it will make us very much worse,” he reminded his readers. “Of all bad men, religious bad men are the worst.”
___________________________

Diana Butler Bass is pretty much a postmodern progressive. In addition to blogging here, she also blogs at Progressive Revival and is the author of the new book, A People’s History of Christianity: The Other Side of the Story.

Blessed be the Water that Holds Us Together

2009-10-29T10:45:00.003-08:00

When I was a little boy, we had a small, collapsible swimming pool. It was a step up from a wading pool, but certainly not anything fancy. It consisted of a heavy rubber liner that was attached to thin, metal wall. It only had one depth (about 2 ½ feet I would guess) and had a diameter of probably 6 or 7 feet, but on a hot August day, it was plenty big for cooling off and having fun.

The funny thing about that swimming pool is that you could always tell when the water was getting too low, because the wall would begin to collapse inward. That metal fence was pretty flimsy and on its own was not really strong enough to support the weight of the liner. Once the walls fell, it was basically useless. It was only when it was pretty full of water that the walls became rigid. The design depended on the tension of the water to hold up the walls.

Some have suggested that the church is much like that swimming pool insofar that we need the force of tension to keep us upright and useable. The history of the church—the whole people of God in Christ Jesus—has been one of tension. There have always been disagreements, conflicts, and differences of opinions. The New Testament is itself a testament to the tension within the early church. In those 27 books, we can see that there are differences, some would suggest even deep disagreements, about what it means to be a faithful follower of Jesus. The four gospels do not always agree, and the writings of Paul and James are at odds. The shocking thing is not that there are differences, but that the later church and the Holy Spirit thought it best to include them together. So, what wisdom do they pass on to us by including a variety of opinions and theologies?

Maybe one truth is that we need these differences to maintain vitality. Efforts at forced same-thinking (think, The Inquisition) have never really helped the church and only served to harm our witness to the world. No, we are better, stronger, and more alive living within the tension of all our differences. It would be nice, as we often joke, if everyone would think like us but then, we would be left with the terror of having our ideas, thoughts, and opinions dictating how everybody else has to live. History has shown us that doesn’t work very well either (think, insert your favorite infamous dictator here). We need the tension, the differences, and the disagreements to make us stronger.

The church will never be perfect this side of the grave. We are sinners (broken) and saints (redeemed) through the work and promise of Jesus Christ. We are not the church because we agree about all things, or even most things. We are the church because we have been called by Jesus.

In the meantime, we get to play in the water. We get to revel in the messy tension that keeps us together and upright. When I was a kid playing in that little pool all those years ago, I don’t think I really cared about the how and whys that kept my swimming pool together—I just cared that it was up, that the water was cool and refreshing, and that my friends and I could play. Maybe that’s not a bad parable for living in the church.

Let's go play in the water...

Back in the Saddle

2009-10-16T09:56:00.003-08:00

Okay, it has been a LONG time since I have posted anything here, so it is a good time to "get back in the saddle" so to speak.

Here's blog #1 of the Post-Sabbatical era:
___________________
We had to have a party. After a summer of sabbatical journey, it seemed good and right to celebrate. And last Sunday (Sept 27), we did what we do best: we gathered around a meal to give thanks and to revel in the good news of what God has done in our community. People embraced by such extravagant grace should throw a party.

The summer was all about God’s grace among us. The sabbatical gave us all the opportunity to see and experience things from a different perspective: to try on new roles, explore new ways of doing ministry, and of being the church. I echo President Betty’s thanks to the many, many people who made the sabbatical journey at Joy such as grand success. So many people (especially Betty herself!) played a huge part in making it happen. From the worship volunteers up front who boldly (even if their knees might be knocking a little bit) preached the Word, Presided at the Table, and shared the love and good news of God to all those folks who worshipped at Joy this summer, to the gathered people of God who boldly supported and encouraged their sisters in brothers—I think we all learned and grew in faith together.

Many athletic coaches advocate the use of “cross training” to their athletes, encouraging them to brake out of the same type of training regimen and to utilize different skills and muscles as a way to make them more completely fit. Perhaps the same thing can be true in the church as well as the athletic field. As I said in a recent sermon, we all experienced some “cross training” in our faith. We tried new “muscles” and new exercises, were stretched in ways we weren’t always certain we could do. But we remained open to the work of our “coach,” the Holy Spirit and found out that not only could we learn, do, and experience new things, but we could be quite good at them as well.

Because of that, we are not the same congregation that we were in May, when the Bishop commissioned our Lay Worship Leaders and Shelly and I left for our travels. We are stronger. The Spirit has blown through us and transformed us in ways we may not have expected. Time will tell just how we have been transformed and I would just bet that the Holy Spirit has many more surprises for us in our journey in God’s grace together.

From my perspective, one thing seems clear: we should never doubt God’s ability to enable us to do anything we are called to do. We will continue to hear God’s calling and urging, and we should remember the faithfulness of God in helping us follow that call. As we now look ahead and seek God’s leading for our congregation, I pray that we remember the faithfulness of God’s providing, and the gifts that the Spirit has showered among us in this congregation. I know that in the process of that discerning and that following of God’s calling, we will continue to do what we do best: gather for meals, hear what God has done, and celebrate. We will have to have a party and invite everyone to join in.

Peace,

PMartin

Advent 4 - Isaiah 9

2008-12-23T16:28:00.006-09:00

The people who walk in darkness will see a great light;

Those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them

Light of the world, fill our hearts

Light of the world, bring us peace,

Light of the world, come.

The people who walk in darkness will see a great light;

Those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them

Gentle Light, in the midst of darkness,

we see your glow and we know hope.

Faithful Light, in the face of uncertainty,

we celebrate your steadfast love.

Stalwart Light, despite the raging winds of chaos and terror,

we rest in your warmth.

For a Child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;

And the government shall rest upon his shoulders;

And his name shall be called

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father.

Into our darkness a gift is given to us, an uncommon gift in common form,

God lives with us as one of us.

Into our chaos, the Prince of Peace brings Shalom

To sooth our warring spirits

To quiet our restless bodies

Into our troubled world, the Counselor comes

With Wisdom

With Comfort

With Reconciliation

With Joy

For a Child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;

And the government shall rest upon his shoulders;

And his name shall be called

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father.

Come, Lord Jesus.

2008-12-20T20:23:00.004-09:00

For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed,

but my steadfast love shall not depart from you,

and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,

says the Lord, who has compassion on you.

- Isaiah 54:10

What kind of peace do we seek? ... Not the peace of the grave or the security of the slave. I am talking about genuine peace, the kind of peace that makes life on earth worth living, the kind that enables men and nations to grow and to hope and to build a better life for their children -- not merely peace for Americans but peace for all men and women, not merely peace in our time but peace for all time.

- John F. Kennedy,

American University speech, June 10, 1963.

Just a few months before he died, President Kennedy gave arguably his most important speech. While perhaps not as famous as some of his other public speeches, this address given at American University marked a significant, if not shocking departure in tenure and substance and hinted at a larger dawning of a potential shift in presidential policy.

What was so shocking, was that this ardent Cold Warrior was beginning to envision and express new possibilities concerning our relationships with our fellow citizens of this planet. Specifically, Kennedy seemed to indicate a new awareness that the then current Cold War policies that existed between the United States and the Soviet Union were not making the world safer, but in fact, served to make the word a more dangerous place. The concept of "Mutually Assured Destruction" the belief that if the two "Super Powers" amassed enough nuclear firepower and automatic systems with which to deliver them, then we could live in the "comfort" that it was in each other's best interest not to attack the other.

Perhaps it was the hair-breath margin of the Cuban Missile Crisis that began the process of unraveling Kennedy's Cold Warrior's resolve. We may never know exactly how close the world came to destruction during those fateful days in 1962, but is is increasingly clear, after almost fifty years of revelations and insights by those who were there, that we were much closer to the brink than we could have ever known at the time.

For whatever the reason, the American University speech marks new territory for Kennedy, a shift from the status quo into an unexplored territory of real peace. There is, in this address, a willingness to talk about peace in a way that would have seemed radically heretical, perhaps even treasonable to some, a the time. In these words, we get a sense that Kennedy calls us to view our enemies as real people, people like us who long to live and thrive in peace together. It is this global vision that is the most radical aspect of Kennedy's words; a willingness to recognize the human face of our opponents. They are not "reds", or "commies", but people, like us.

Of course, we will never really know how President Kennedy would have continued down this path, and how the final years of the twentieth century might have been different had he not been assassinated later that year. His words, however, did strike a chord with many at the time. The Roman Catholic monk, Thomas Merton was both impressed by Kennedy's overtures to true peace and concerned that he had so crossed an unspoken line in the culture of the time, that in private correspondence, he worried for Kennedy's safety.

Forty-five years removed from Kennedy's address, we find our selves living a world that still years for "real peace." It would appear that we have learned precious little over the years. We remain in an unstable, uncomfortable place where security seems all too elusive, even for us in the remaining post-Cold War, "supper power."

Jesus calls us to be the peacemakers of our generation, in whatever time and place we find ourselves to be. Jesus says, "Blessed are the peacemakers" but he is also clear that peacemaking often comes at a great personal price, even to the point of death.

We can only speculate about the "what-might-have-beens" of human history. What we can know is that the vision about which President Kennedy spoke, about which Rev. Dr. King spoke, about which Gandhi, Dorothy Day, Thomas Merton, and ultimately Jesus spoke is still before us. We are now the ones that are called to take up our crosses and speak the truth to a world that is killing itself in a desperate, vain attempt to find peace separate from the Peacemaker.

We wait for liberation

2008-12-15T13:37:00.000-09:00

He gives power to the faint,

and strengthens the powerless.

Even youths will faint and be weary,

and the young will fall exhuasted;

but those who wait for the Lord

shall renew their strength,

they shall mount up with wings like eagles,

they shall run and not be weary,

they shall walk and not faint.

- Isaiah 40:29-31

A prison cell, in which one waits, hopes ... and is completely dependent on the fact that the door of freedom has to be opened from the outside, is not a bad picture of Advent.

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer,

German pastor and philosopher (1906-1945) imprisoned and executed for his attempt to overthrow Adolf Hitler.

Spirit Filled, Spirit Sent

2008-12-09T23:52:00.004-09:00

Isaiah 61

The spirit of the LORD God is upon me,

because the LORD has anointed me;

He has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed,

to bind up the brokenhearted,

to proclaim liberty to captives, and release to the prisoners

to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor,

and the day of the vengeance of out God;

to comfort those who mourn;

to provide for those who mourn in Zion

—to give them a garland instead of ashes,

the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit.

We live in a world that thrives on bad news. Everywhere we go, it seems, the messages are all about what is wrong, what is missing, what is broken.

We read, we hear, we experience so much bad news that we may begin to wonder—is there any hope?

Tonight, we pause to hear a word of comfort.

Tonight, we hear One who is the Word of God

Tonight, we experience his good news for each one of us.

There is good news.

There is healing.

There is hope.

There is light.

Jesus stands in our midst this night and promises us good news.

Into the oppression we sometimes experience – Jesus comes.

Into the brokenhearted places of our lives – Jesus comes

Into the captive parts of our loves – Jesus comes.

They will be called the oaks of righteousness,

the planting of the LORD, to display his glory.

They shall build up the ancient ruins,

they shall raise up the former devastations;

they shall repair to ruined cities.

The presence of God is our Good News.

The healing.

The forgiving,

the acceptance and love,

this is the Good News with which we have been embraced.

Now we are sent.

As bearers of Good News,

healers,

builders,

teachers,

lovers,

givers —we are sent.

As light in the darkness, peace in the chaos, wisdom in the insanity –we are sent.

To help repair the destruction, and rebuild the walls, to cry for justice—we are sent.

I will greatly rejoice in the LORD,

my whole being shall exault in my God;

For God has clothed me with the garments of salvation,

covered me with the robe of righteousness,

as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland,

and a bride adorns herself with jewels.

May the joy of God fill us, from deep within us to fill everything we do,

may we live in the comfort

in the assurance,

in the healing,

in the promise,

in the Joy that is ours in God.

May all that we do flow from this eternal source of power,

of light,

of healing,

and of love.

And when our well runs dry,

may we return to the Anointed One to find our Source

An Intimate, Embodied Creation

2008-12-05T09:23:00.005-09:00

Wednesday, at JMSSA! (Joy Middle School Saints Alive! -- aka Confirmation) we discussed Creation through the lens of Luther's Small Catechism, The Apostles' Creed, Article I.

What struck me anew is that while it is one statement of faith to affirm that, "I believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth", it is a whole other leap of faith to include ourselves personally in that creative act of God. I particularly noticed how Luther picks up not on the cosmic as much as the embodied nature of God's Creation. Luther begins his explanation by stating, "I believe that God created me and all that exists (emphasis mine). In fact, the rest of his explanation expounds on the deeply personal, intimate nature of Creation, "God has given me and still preserves my body and soul: eyes, ears, and all limbs and senses; reasons and all mental faculties." Maybe Martin, as one who came to the Gospel through the long road of all his own struggles with self-doubt, guilt and shame, understood in a profound way the Good News that God's Creation is best understood in the affirmation that, "I am God's Creation. I am created in God's image. I am part of what God affirmed, 'It is good.'"

It is one thing to introduce people to the idea that God Created the mountains, the seas, and all the great expanses of the universe. To insist that God also embraces me in that Creation is a whole other level of faith. It is , I think, always the personal, the intimate that is the most difficult for us to accept--that God has time for me, that God care for me apart from others. The radical freedom of Luther's words remind us that relationship with God is primarily an incarnational affair -- God Creates us in flesh as a creature fashioned in God's image; God saves via the Word made flesh; and God breathes new life into the flesh of men and women through the Spirit.

In the course of my preparation for teach my Middle School sisters and brothers, I came across the song by American Idol alum, Jordin Sparks. I think she has a powerful insight into the intimate nature of Creation, and proclaims a message that is important for us all to hear. Especially for those in Middle School who struggle with a positive self-image, who ae bombarded as well are by the Bad News of culture that tells us that only certain people are really "beautiful", these words have an important, life-affirming message.

God Loves Ugly – Jordin Sparks

You said that I wasn't pretty

so I just believed you

And you said that I wasn't special

so I lived that way

with critical gazes and brutal amazement

at how my reflection could be so imperfect

With all of my blemishes

how could somebody want me?

But God loves ugly

He doesn't see the way I see

Oh, God takes ugly

and turns it into something that is beautiful

apparently I'm beautiful

cause you love me, ohh

I tried to clean up the outside

all shiny and new

Worked overtime to thin up and look right

but inside I knew

that deep in the bottom were secrets I thought I could try to ignore

Old ghosts in my corridors never get tired of haunting the past that's in me

But God loves ugly

He doesn't see the way I see

Oh, God takes ugly

and turns it into something that is beautiful

apparently I'm beautiful

cause you love me

Help me believe

why you love me

when I know you see

you see everything

Help me believe

why you love me

when I know you see

inside and you still say I'm beautiful

you're telling me I'm beautiful

you're screaming out: oh, so beautiful

and I'm finding out I'm beautiful

you're making me so beautiful

and I can see I'm beautiful

cause you love me

Comfort in the Rough Places

2008-12-02T23:15:00.008-09:00

Isaiah 40

Comfort, O comfort my people,

says your God.

Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and cry to her

That she has served her term;

that her penalty is paid

That she has received from the LORD’s hand

double for all her sins.

How often we need comfort. When we were younger, a scraped knee or a broken heart often meant that we could rest and weep in the comfort of a parent’s lap, in the warmth of their loving embrace. Now that we are older, who will comfort us? Who will hear our cries and wipe our tears?

Tonight, we offer ourselves for God’s arms of comfort. Our scrapes, our heart-aches, our tears – we wrap them all in the loving arms of the One who loves us.

A voice cries out:

“In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD,

make straight highway for our God.

Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain made low;

the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places plain.

Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed

and all people will see it together.”

In the uneven places in our lives, in the dry and crooked paths we all too often find ourselves, come, Lord Jesus.

The mountains seem too great, where we travel the rough road is too difficult for us alone. Come, Lord Jesus.

Lift us up. Lift us up in your power and your peace. Hold us tight so that we may be refreshed. Set us free to run with hearts renewed in your love.

Give Me Your Eyes

2008-11-24T16:59:00.002-09:00

In getting ready for last Sunday's sermon on Matthew 25--The Sheep and the Goats, I found this song by the Contemporary Christian Artist, Brandon Heath: "Give Me Your Eyes" from the Album, "What If We"

Very impressed with the depth and poetry of this song.

Looked down from a broken sky

Traced out by the city lights

My world from a mile high

Best seat in the house tonight

Touched down on the cold black tile

Hold on for the sudden stop

Breath in the familiar shock

Of confusion and chaos

All those people going somewhere?

Why have I never cared?

Chorus:

Give me your eyes for just one second

Give me your eyes so I can see

Everything that I keep missing

Give me your love for humanity

Give me your arms for the broken hearted

The ones that are far beyond my reach

Give me your heart for the once forgotten

yeah

Step out on a busy street

See a girl and our eyes meet

Does her best to smile at me

To hide whats underneath

Theres a man just to her right

Black suit and a bright red tie

Too ashamed to tell his wife

Hes out of work

Hes buying time

all those people going somewhere?

Why have I never cared?

Chorus

Give me your eyes for just one second

Give me your eyes so I can see

Everything that I keep missing

Give me your love for humanity

Give me your arms for the broken hearted

The ones that are far beyond my reach

Give me your heart for the once forgotten

yeah

I've been there a million times

A couple of million eyes

just move and pass me by

I swear I never thought that I was wrong

Well I want a second glance

So give me a second chance

To see the way you see the people all alone

Chorus (x2)

2008-11-24T14:16:00.003-09:00

Earlier this month, many of the Alaska Lutheran clergy or clergy-types, and spouses gathered at the Stillpoint Retreat Center in Halibut Cove for a wonderfully relaxing and enriching retreat. We gathered around the worship practice of The Hours, a discipline used in religious communities such as the Benedictines for centuries. The Hours is a way to divide the day into times of worship, prayer, and meditation as well as "normal" time in-between for work, recreation, food, and sleep.

The following is a psalm we all wrote as a wrap-up of the days we were there. Each of us wrote one reflective "verse" on our own and they were ten gathered into this one community psalm. It is wonderful to see how the Spirit guides the community: out of the many--ONE!

Clergy/Spouse Retreat November 2008

Psalm of the Hours

Lord, we praise your creativity

for eagles and inlets

for waves and stillness

We rejoice in the home you’ve given us.

Shout to God for all His marvelous work!

For mountains, praise!

For the valleys, praise!

For the sun, praise!

For the moon, praise!’

Shout to God for all his marvelous works!

Thank you for our walk last night in the darkness, with the light.

We walked the ‘maze’, no words between us.

And at the end—surprise! Hugs among us!

You sent the great arcing rainbow

to surprise and delight us too!

Snow in candlelight,

Song in harmony, Bell rung.

You are there, I found You.

Death of a friend, pain of a caregiver, fear of scarcity;

I found you not, yet you are there.

The majesty of mountains, creating dark too soon

in the valleys.

I accept, O Lord.

Lord, do you call me every

hour of the night?

I want to sleep.

Lord do you call me every

hour of the day? Awaken me.

Why are the poor forgotten

and those who have no voice are

left behind?

Yet they who call upon the Lord shall have their

strength renewed.

Your faithfulness, O Holy One, is like the strong roots of a tree.

As new buds form, and in the falling of the leaves,

your faithfulness endures.

Lord, remember your servant

Help me embrace your burden of light.

The lightness of your grace.

The airy truth of being beloved.

Remember me, Lord, remember your kingdom—

Bring us into the Light of Love.

O Lord, you are my faithful companion

at lying down

and rising up

in mountain peaks

and wooded hills.

Creator God of darkness and light,

of silence and song,

I give you praise that your arms embrace

all that I am

and all that is

in your love.

Simil origis et ovis

2008-11-22T19:28:00.008-09:00

I am going to revisit one of my earliest posts (In fact, on this date three years ago - 2005) as we look towards Christ the King Sunday, tomorrow. Why? Mostly because I really like it.

The vision/parable of the sheep and the goats (Matthew 25:31-46) is terrifyingly familiar to many of us. It's intended to leave a lasting impression. With its double surprise (both the sheep and the goats are equally unaware of Jesus' presence) and pneumonic structure, this was one story Jesus (or at least, Matthew) wanted to be remembered.

It is an uncomfortable tale. On first glance, it's easy or tempting to assume we are the sheep of the story (After all, we ARE in church, aren't we? Don't we give to the correct causes and speak for the poor?) But if we allow ourselves to be honest with the story, allow it to sink past our carefully applied veneer, then Jesus' words should begin to make us squirm--not a little, but a lot. What about the guy(s) I saw just yesterday on the street corner, that ubiquitous presence with the signs? What about the commercial with the disturbing photos of the third world children that I quickly clicked away from? Are they Jesus?

Then the mind floods with all sort of vision of opportunities lost or squandered, Jesus ignored or shunned, or just plain mistreated. Then we squirm. Maybe the assumption of sheep seems a trifle premature. Surely, Jesus, you are not suggesting that I am a goat are you?

But the words stand for themselves: "Just as you did not do it...."

There I am, caught between bad news and good, what theologians call, "law and gospel." The trouble is I can see myself on both sides of the equation, both as a sheep and as a goat, depending on the day, the hour, or the circumstance. Either way, I don't feel as comfortable about this end-of-all-time judgment scene.

I think that's just where we belong, in the in-between.

Luther is famous for, among other things, coining the phrase,simil justis et peccator, "simultaneously saint and sinner" to describe our life before God. We are made righteous by God's grace (free gift) in Jesus Christ, but while we journey on this side of the grave/resurrection, we remain broken, hurting, sin-filled creatures. I believe Jesus' tale of sheep and goats is meant to show us that we are never fully either, but walk through this life as both. To borrow from Luther, we are, as it were, simil origis et ovis, both sheep and goats. If we are to be considered sheep, it can never be on our own efforts alone. Even a superficial examination of ourselves shows us we are far too goat-like to pass as real sheep. We may have our moments of real caring, but more often than not, it is no much easier to ignore the Jesus at my door or accross the world.

How then, do we face this final judgment?

I think we face our Judge and Savior on this matter in the same fashion we will face him on all others—dependant on his grace. We place our lives, and our eternal future, in the hands of the one who alone could be both sheep and shepherd, who never refuses the broken, hurting, naked, sick and hungry of his flock. At this ultimate level, I must cling to the promise that Jesus has “done it to the last of these” and therefore, he has done so to me. I am a sheep because he makes me one. That is his promise, that is the good news.

Given that gift, Jesus asks me to follow his example with gratitude and not guilt, to learn to see and embrace the world in the same I have been welcomed. I will fail at this, often. I will revert to my goat-ness at the most convenient times. But Jesus will be there to remind me that I am a sheep, one of the flock, and show me the way to right action.

Fortunately, I have a lifetime to practice.

Is This All We Get?

2008-11-20T16:09:00.006-09:00

In one of his stand-up routines, comedian Bill Cosby reflects on parenthood and seeing his first-born child for the very first time. Steeped in the popular culture of cute, clean babies, he is totally unprepared to see the “real deal” of a daughter that is just seconds old. Somewhat revolted and certainly not impressed by this slimly, wrinkled, uncoordinated creature he first encounters, he asks the doctor, “Can we put her back? She doesn’t look all done yet.”

Sometimes our expectations don’t match the reality of the situation. After all the hype and build-up of so many events in our lives, how often are we disappointed by the shock of what we really received? It happens in after elections, vacations, in weddings, and a whole host of human events? After so much longing and anticipation for “the day” we may find ourselves asking, “Is this all there is to it? It doesn’t look all done yet.”

Christmas can be that sort of time in our lives. After the hype and build-up that surrounds us in the commercial world, how could any event possibly live up to our inflated expectations? Is it any wonder that we catch ourselves wondering, after all the food is eaten and the presents opened, “Is this all there is to it? I thought it would make me happier, actually.”

Psychologists and other folks that work with people tell us that the holiday season is often a big time for episodic depression, and suicides. Some of those folks tell me that is the after holiday period that is the hardest part for many people, when they face the reality that for all their preparation and planning, this holiday just didn’t fill the void in their life, fix the troubled family, or what ever else it was supposed to do. The reality becomes to difficult to bear.

What do we Christians bring in the way of expectations this season? How does our hopes and needs compare with what we receive? Like Bill Cosby, we also affirm that we are given a baby. I often wonder of those first birthday guests were tempted to ask, “Is this all there is? This is the Messiah we have been longing for all these years? This shriveled, crying newborn lying in a barn is to be the King that God has sent us? Maybe they also wondered if some mistake had been made and if the baby “wasn’t quite done yet.”

But, according to the Gospel of Luke, those Shepherds did not seem as jaded and cynical as our generation, they looked past the hype and saw hope. With the eyes of faith, they rejoiced in the gift, shared the good news, and trusted in the promise. . They point us to the Christmas faith that in this small, dependant, venerable baby, they were able to accept the promise of God for them and for all people

We may forget that the humble gift and promise of Christmas may seem incomparable to the glitz and excess that we have been trained to come to expect. So before we come to ask, “Is that all there is, again?” perhaps, like the Shepherds we can rejoice in the reality of God’s good news to us in return, “Yes, my child, and he is all you will ever need.”

What Kind of King Does This King Jesus Bring?

2008-11-19T22:47:00.004-09:00

What kind of King does this King Jesus bring,

where goats and sheep are equally blind

to find him?

What kind of King indeed is he:

incognito,

inmate,

inebriate?

Unrecognizable,

unclothed,

underfed, and

unwashed?

How do we honor such a King as this,

who won't keep his place,

or his station,

and stay with his kind.

What kind of Royal We is this that claims all the “we’s” as His?

What kind of King does this King Jesus presume to be?

My King?

Yours?

That one’s too?

Can this possibly be true?

Does He have no shame, this King masquerading so seamlessly among us:

potentate of filthy face and growling belly,

of the broken and disposed,

majesty of the forgotten

—and I believe in all that is,

seen and unseen.

Am I to bow at the feet of such a King?

Am I to feed Him,

tend His infected wounds,

wipe His Malarial fevered brow,

hold his AIDS ravaged body as He dies?

Is this the King that King Jesus gives?

Is it the One who feeds me?

That is not repulsed enough to not embrace

my infection

my hate,

my blithe dispassion at the unseemly state where my King

lives and dies in this world?

And He will come in glory to judge the living and the dead

Oh my God, is THIS my King?

Is this the King that King Jesus brings to me?

To us?

To we?

How do I begin to receive this One who is in you, and her, and the other I do not know.

How do I dare honor this King who claims me and you and them as Himself?

Do this to them--

Do this to me.

That is all it needs to be.

Peace

2008-11-18T10:14:00.000-09:00

Look at the nations, and see! Be astonished! Be astounded! For a work is being done in your days that you would not believe if you were told. - Habakkuk 1:5
Peace is not the product of terror or fear. Peace is not the silence of cemeteries. Peace is not the silent result of violent repression. Peace is the generous, tranquil contribution of all to the good of all. Peace is dynamism. Peace is generosity. It is right and it is duty. - Archbishop Oscar Romero

Veterans’ Day, 2008

2008-11-07T22:25:00.002-09:00

Gracious God, on this Veterans’ Day weekend,

we remember and give thanks

for those who have given their lives

in the service of our country.

When the need was greatest,

they stepped forward and did their duty

to defend the freedoms that we enjoy,

and to win the same for others.

O God, you yourself have taught us

That no love is greater than that

which gives itself for another.

These honored dead gave the most precious gift they had,

life itself,

for loved ones and neighbors,

for comrades and country – and for us.

Help us to honor their memory

by caring for the family members

they have left behind,

by ensuring that their wounded comrades

are properly cared for,

by being watchful caretakers of the freedoms

for which they gave their lives,

and by demanding that no other young men and women

follow them to a soldier’s grave

unless the reason is worthy and the cause is just.

Holy One, help us to remember that freedom is not free.

There are times when its cost is, indeed, dear.

Never let us forget those who paid so terrible a price

to ensure that freedom would be our legacy.

Though their names may fade with the passing of generations,

may we never forget what they have done.

Help us to be worthy of their sacrifice,

O God, help us to be worthy. Amen.

With Gratitude and Honor: Prayers for Memorial Day and Veterans’ Day, 2008, was written by the Rev. John

Gundlach, Minister for Government Chaplaincies, Parish Life and Leadership, UCC.

Faith, Politics, Ethics, and Elections

2008-10-30T17:04:00.006-08:00

You serve yourself best by serving others first.

--Martin Sheen

I was invited to participate today in a press conference with other local clergy members, the subject subject of which was the intersection politics and ethics from a faith-based perspective.

It can be a touchy subject, mixing faith and politics. In fact, I feel it is as easy to lose your ethical compass promoting faith issues into a political campaign or agenda as it is to lose them in any other endeavor, no matter how well meaning the effort. Faith matters are often "heart and mind issues" for people in that they illicit deep feelings as well as profound thought. We humans can get pretty worked up about our faith, no matter the brand. We do a good job about getting excited about our politics as well, from every political stripe. So mixing the two of the three things your were always told never to bring up in mixed company can lead to some very volatile results. Certainly, we can all recognize how religion can be corrupted by politics and visa versa, and we have seen plenty of both over the years. It is easy to cross the line and begin to play on people's beliefs and fears in order to manipulate them into a particular action, to support a specific individual.

So given the caveat, what was I doing this afternoon at a new conference five days before what is proving to be a very emotionally charged election?

I was there because I think and feel that is important for the people of faith to speak up about the big issues that face all of us, to give a (and please note that I said a, not, the) perspective on how to engage and evaluate those issues in our lives. As citizens and as people of faith, we are called to care about issues such as ethics, morality, and justice. We also have a responsibility to call into accountability those we elect and those who seek to be elected, that they maintain the status of public servants in their vocations as representatives of us all. As followers of Jesus, we have a particular calling to stand up for the people in our society that Jesus found important: the least, the lost, and the lonely and to bring their case to those who have power--power that we have entrusted to them for all our interests.

The Bible does not tell us how to vote on every issue. God is neither a Democrat nor a Republican. But through the Bible and particularly through the words and example of our Lord Jesus, we have been given a moral framework with which we engage the world. That moral compass to give us guidance even as we head into the voting both this election season. Christians and other people of faith will never agree completely about what is the "right" way on most any political issue and certainly not any any political candidate. That effort, in fact, belongs to the more dangerous mixing of "correct faith" and "correct politics". No matter right or left, conservative or liberal, that path is simply disastrous.

I don't presume to know, and certainly could never tell someone else, how Jesus would vote. I do have a sense, however, of the things that Jesus felt were important, even essential. I do know the basics of ethical living as expressed in the 1o Commandments (a code to which most faith traditions, and most secular traditions for that matter, have parallel examples). It is those basic things we bring into all our lives, including our political ones.

I hope we all exercise our right and responsibility and vote.

It's Thanksgiving Every Morning

2008-10-29T12:31:00.006-08:00

But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. "The Lord is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will hope in him." The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him. --Lamentations 3:21-25

The Old Testament book of Lamentations may not be the most obvious place to find a text for a Thanksgiving devotion. Even the name of the book suggests that it is likely more a book about complaining than giving thanks. Lamentations is a series of reflections, on both a personal and national level, on disaster that shattered an entire people. Remember the impact of September 11^th, 2001 on us, and how we wondered how such a thing could happen? Now imagine that multiplied as a whole national defeat. That was the reality of the writer of Lamentations faced in about 586 B.C.E. The nation had been invaded, conquered, and destroyed by foreigners. The people had been slaughtered and the survivors made in to slaves in another land. The Temple, the promise and presence of God, was burned to the ground.

That’s the situation the writer faced: the utter demolition of everything he knew and the destruction of all in which he trusted. He has a right lament and complain. His world has been turned inside out. Where was God? Why did this happen? Is there any hope for the future?

But through his tears, the writer does see the promise. “But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

Amid the ruins, the promise of God prevails. In the most uncertain of times, the certainty of God’s promise is unfailing. That is the gospel message in this powerful Old Testament book. We may be unfaithful, but is faithful. We may lose hope, but God is our hope. We may not see God and wonder if God has left us, but God is there each and every morning with new promises and new gifts for us all.

We are not as bad off as the writer of Lamentations, but we do live in interesting, confusing, and often scary times. Some things that we thought we could always count upon have been shaken. Our security from foreign attackers has been questioned, the security of our financial institutions has been rocked, and our personal financial situation seems up for grabs. We may want to lament a little as well, that is understandable. The gospel to which we can cling is that God is stronger that our situation and more certain than our doubt. No matter what happens around us and to us, God will never abandon us.

Can we give thanks after a contentious election, after a Wall Street meltdown, as the world gets warmer, and our borders seem less secure? Is there anything to be thankful for?

Yes. The people of God are the truth tellers to the world around us. Yes, we can and should give thanks this Thanksgiving and each and every day. We have life and breath, we have opportunity and ability, we have love and friends and family—these are the gifts from God given each and every day.

We are never alone. As a community of faith, we gather together to affirm that God makes us a people, that God fills our lives and hearts with love, and that God asks us to find those who are lost and lonely, and hurting and bring them to this place where they too can see the gifts of God and where they too can begin to live a life of Thanksgiving to the One who never leaves us or fails us.

Even when the world seems to be falling apart.

Come, Let Us Worship the Lord

2008-10-28T11:29:00.002-08:00

Worship is a central part of our life together at Joy Lutheran. For many of us, participating in a worship service is the main connection we have with our congregation. Our worship services are also a main way in which new people begin to explore of congregation. Long before we know their names, people may “check us out” by attending a Sunday morning worship. Worship is a time for both “insiders” – those who are part of the congregation and know some or all of the language and traditions of how we do things—as well as a time for “outsiders” -- those who have a little or no knowledge of how we operate, or possible even of the basics of Christian faith.

We are in a process of evaluating, envisioning, and planning how we see God calling us for future mission and ministry. We have had Dessert Groups to begin that conversation, and future opportunities to hear and discern God’s will through God’s people will continue to happen.

It makes sense, therefore, to take some time to begin a process that intentionally focuses on our worship life together. I would like to begin a conversation about how we feel and think about our worship: What works and what enriches us as a community? What new directions, new styles, and new opportunities might we explore?

This conversation is not about merely affirming the status quo; neither is it about change for change’s sake. Rather, I would call us to begin to think and feel prayerfully about what worship means to us as the people of Joy and for us to be open to any new opportunities that may be helpful for both insiders and outsiders alike. These conversations may touch upon the style of worship we use, how many worship opportunities we envision having and at what time and what day of the week we might have them.

Our worship life is a major part of what I want to pray and explore about in my upcoming sabbatical this summer. I invite you to join with me on Thursday, November 13^th at 7:00 p.m. as we begin this conversation. I’ll put on the decaf coffee and hot water, have some snacks available and we’ll gather in the Brause Fellowship Hall. If you are unable to make it on that night, don’t worry. I envision a number of these gatherings as we enter this process.

Pastor Martin

Our Worth Comes from God, Not Money

2008-10-16T11:36:00.002-08:00

by James Hudnut-Beumler

In many congregations, talking about money is taboo. That we don’t talk about money doesn’t mean we don’t worry about it, though. In fact, most Americans worry about it constantly. Are we saving enough? Will Social Security be there for us when we are old? Will the nursing home costs for our aging parents clean us out just in time to prevent us from sending our children to college? And now, how will the mortgage lending crisis and the sharp declines in stock values affect me and my family?

Many people keep such worries to themselves or share them only with their spouses. Sometimes we turn to a coworker for understanding, but rarely to a pastor or to the church and its members.

One of the best ways people can be the church together in a money-dominated age is to break the taboo against discussing money and money worries. If we are concerned with having enough money to care for others or ourselves, or with meeting payments, let’s confess those concerns to our brothers and sisters in a supportive setting. A burden confessed is a burden shared.

If we are going to talk about money in the context of our congregations, we owe something to each other—the discipline of going to the next level in listening. One is tempted, when someone relates a financial problem, to try to help that person find a quick fix. What most of us need is not a quick fix or even a good coping strategy. For most of us, a money-related problem is the tip of the iceberg. Underneath the worry about Social Security is worry about growing old. Will I keep my independence, my friends, my mental capacities? Will I be able to buy the help, if I need it, of people I can trust? Below the issue of how to pay for college is concern for the welfare of one’s children. Will they be happy? Will they choose important and satisfying work? Will they be able to get by without parental protection? What Christians need to do for each other is to engage their brothers and sisters at below-the-surface levels.

The place to begin is with leading people to say what’s in their hearts and then following up the Social Security comment (to cite but one example) with a question related to hopes and fears about aging. The prime American value of autonomy will make us want to deflect such questions. “No,” we will want to say, “I know exactly what to do as long as I’ve got enough money.” The tragedy of this presumption of autonomy is that we cut ourselves off from the very conversations about our hopes and fears and insecurities in the world and before God with which our faith communities are in a position to help us.

Congregations of Christians can do other things to counter the power of money in our lives. The church’s ministry to its members is not merely problem-centered. We also can tell the stories of our lives in less materialistic ways. If we truly believe that life is more than bread and water (and clothing, houses, and cars), then the church must be the institution that validates our nonmaterial values. How? By telling the stories of the generous saints in our midst.

An example: A man’s child is dying of cancer. He takes family leave without pay to tend to the child. The cancer abates for a while, then returns. The man’s employer replaces him at the end of the statutory leave period. The child dies at home one evening. Now, what does the congregation say in public? What do members say in private to the man who lost a job for the child he loved? Too often we just say, “Sorry for your loss.” Privately we may even say to each other, “It’s too bad that cost him his job.”

These weak responses are not adequate to the followers of Jesus Christ. Someone needs to stand up and say in the presence of the congregation: “Henry, we grieve with you, but we are also proud of you, for you gave of yourself to your daughter in her time of greatest need without reserve. You are a witness to us all that people come first. We say that nothing can separate us from the love of God; you showed us all the love of God made real through your steadfast commitment to Sarah. Now, Henry, in the name of Jesus Christ, we promise to stand by you in love as you grieve and as you begin to put your life back together. We’ll help you find a job, and for my part, I’m going to pay your electric bill until you’re back on your feet.”

If this fictional speech seems too personal for your church, it suggests how far we have to go in most congregations to reconcile ourselves to gospel values. The way to encourage generosity is to recognize it publicly and to support those who display its virtues.

The people of God know something that others don’t. They know that their worth comes from God and not from money—not from money earned, hoarded, spent to purchase things, or used to exercise power. Once people see this truth, they can see that they have things going for them, for they are gifted with an abundance of skills and stories, with opportunities for love and service, and with one another. The people of God know that they have things money cannot buy; they know they are rich in things of the soul. The job of the contemporary congregation is, as always, to increase love and understanding of God and love toward the neighbor. Lest money stand in the way of love, congregations must become places where the abundant gifts of God to the people of God become known and celebrated.

_______________________________________

Us, "them" and the judgment of God

2008-10-03T16:18:00.005-08:00

On a preachers' Facebook site (yes, even preachers use Facebook) my friend, John Stevens (formerly pastor at Resurrection in Juneau, now in Idaho) wrote a powerful reflection as we discussed this Sunday's Matthew text about the "Wicked Tenants" and their destruction. (Matthew 21: 33-46). His story about his own experience in Guatemala is extraordinary.

John wrote:

...What will happen to them? We are fascinated by the "Them"... those across the fence. The Jones.

When I was in Guatemala, waiting for our plane to leave, I hear my name over the loud speaker. I walk over the counter, and two armed police officers escort me downstairs. As we are walking down, I look up and see face after face watching me. I could almost read the question in their faces, "What will happen to him?"

We get to the bottom of the stairs, and there is my bag sitting there. And as we get closer, I know why I have been called down there. I had bought a wind up alarm clock for my wife at the time, and well... I had wound it. And you could hear it ticking... LOUDLY in the bag.

I thought then what the crowd probably was thinking, "What will happen to ME?"

God's ways are not my ways. Paul tells us that even his best Resume' won't get him what we think it should.

It all goes back to God, and what Christ accomplishes on the Cross.

What happens to them? What happens to Me? If all my successes are counted as losses, and all my failures do not lead to death...

Christ comes in and makes this life unfair. Thank God.

I responded:

John:

I love your "What will happen to them?" story. As you say, we focus on the "them" in life (and in Jesus' stories) -- maybe a way in which we say, "Whew, at least it's not me!"

Usually Jesus doesn't let us off the hook so easily. What will happen to me? I am as guilty as the wicked tenets in Jesus' tale. I don't trust. I don't share. I focus my life on money and other things as much as those Wall Street "wicked tenets" So what gives? Am I just lucky? Am I better than they are? Or should we, like the Sadducees and Pharisees, come to the uncomfortable realization that he is speaking about us? Are those armed guards coming for us?

One hint/help here comes from Paul, I think. "If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh..." It is all about our insistence on doing it OUR way. It won't work. It leads to death.

The Gospel irony is that our only hope is death--the death of Jesus, and our death and rebirth/resurrection in Jesus. "...I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him..."

"What about them?" What about ME? On my own, the end is not pleasant, and the journey is lonely and filled with fear. In Jesus, I don't need to fear "the guards" nor base my life and worth on things I have and things I have accomplished. I am now set free from that fear and that bondage, given a new perspective (it's all rubbish) and new path on my journey (a heavenly call)--service and thanksgiving (which he gets to in chapter 4) in this life and the next.

A Laughing Jesus

2008-09-26T10:33:00.005-08:00

My internship supervisor once told me that you could tell a lot about a person by the picture of Jesus they have on their wall. I am not certain I would go too far in that claim, but I do want to share with you a picture of Jesus that is very special to me. I first saw the print, A Laughing Jesus years ago at The Grünewald Guild, a faith and art community nestled in the North Cascade Mountains of Washington State. IT was painted by the founder of the Guild, Richard Caemmerer. I was immediately struck by the vibrancy of both the colors and the action of Jesus laughing. It has remained for me a favorite image of Jesus and recently, in honor of my tenth anniversary here at Joy, I purchased a print for the congregation. You can see it hanging in the new “Conference Room” next to my office. So what does a picture of Jesus tell us about Jesus?

In the book, Our Lives Are Not Our Own, authors Harold Eppley and Rochelle Melander, share a story about a time when they dropped off their son for school. After their usual, “Sam, we love you,” Sam stopped, turned around and said, “I know you love me. But are you happy with me?”

That poignant question goes to the right heart of so many of our relationships, including our faith relationship with God. We know that God loves us. Sometimes, however, we may be tempted to think that God’s love for us is one more of obligation that delight. Just as children may wonder, “Well I know my parents love me, but are they happy with me?” we also may wonder if God is happy with us. “Sure, God loves me, that’s his promise. But does God smile when he sees me?”

What I take from A Laughing Jesus is a God who knows delight. This is not just the dutiful Jesus, saving me from my sins, or the pious Jesus, contemplating the will of the Father. This is also the Jesus who knows that the will of the Father and the duty of the Son are also met in the pure joy he find when you and I are in his presence.

How we see Jesus does makes a great deal of difference. There are times when I need to see Jesus as quiet and solemn, especially when my life can feel dark. There are times when I envision Jesus as clean-the-Temple-with-a-whip angry, especially as I imagine he looks upon how we humans often abuse our fellow Children of God, or how we desecrate his Creation. But, so much of the time, I need to know that Jesus laughs—full, belly-shaking laughter—with me, that he truly enjoys me and spending time with me. I am energized by the vision of turning to my Lord and asking, “I know you love me. But are you happy with me?”

Then I see Jesus lifting his head as he fills the room with roaring laughter, “Yes, my child. I AM.”

What Would Micah and Amos Say About the "Wall Street Crisis"?

2008-09-25T11:48:00.004-08:00

It's extraordinary to me that the United States can find $700 billion to save Wall Street and the entire G8 can't find $25 billion dollars to saved 25,000 children who die every day from preventable diseases.

- Bono, rock star and anti-poverty activist.

Jesus said it best, "Where your treasure is, there where your heart be also" (Matthew 6:19-21). I am not so naive to suggest that nothing should be done to assist financially the Wall Street debacle. It is a complicated issue, effecting literally millions of people in their jobs, mortgages, etc.

Something needs to be done. Exactly what the solution is, I cannot say with any specificity. What are we saying, however, to the world and to ourselves, when we as a nation seem to be stumbling over ourselves to "save" Wall Street from itself and its seeming insatiable greed to the tune of 700 BILLION dollars (I have heard estimates that break that down from 2-7 thousand dollars for each US citizen) but we balk about saving the lives of fellow children of God who die each and every day from the most preventable diseases such as malaria, from hunger, from chronic abuse and violence, and from war.

What would the prophets say? Even a cursory read through prophets such as Amos and Micah should make us feel a little uncomfortable, I think. The pronouncements against those who "who are at ease in Zion", those who focus on their own needs and comfort at the expense of the neighbors' needs is pretty straight forward.

Jesus is equally prophetic pointing that our love of money over people is at the heart of our human sin and brokenness before God and with our neighbor.

Who needs saving?

What idols to we proclaim and worship in this whole debacle?

What is the church's role and responsibility to act, to speak out, and to stand with the poor among us?

ASBO Jesus

2008-07-16T12:40:00.003-08:00

I found this on a blog titled. "The Ongoing Adventures of ASBO Jesus" "ASBO stands for "Anti-Social Behavior Order" which is a British legal term for trouble makers

http://asbojesus.wordpress.com/2007/10/09/139/

Following Jesus in Bayou La Batre, Alabama

2008-07-01T15:39:00.005-08:00

After almost a year of planning and raising money, after meetings, dinner, a flamingoes, we final completed our Youth Group’s mission trip to Bayou La Batre, Alabama. It was a great week, a very full week, and I think a very life-changing week for us all. One of the first comments someone said as we returned to Anchorage was, “I think someone left the air-conditioning on here.” Earlier that same day, we were still in the swelter of the Gulf so returning home to Alaska one of the the first things we noticed was how much cooler it was. The weather was the least of the changes we experienced on our trip.

We saw countless homes destroyed and abandoned by the waters of Hurricane Katrina. We saw a fishing/shrimping community in dire economic straights, with many boats still not repaired and in the process of being seized by the banks through foreclosures.

The people of Bayou La Batre have been effected by circumstances generally out of their control and yet they remain to try and rebuild.

While the external things we witnessed touched us, I think we were most changed by the people we were able to meet. We worked in teams with three other youth groups as well as the Youth Works! staff. (Youth Works! is an organization that specializes in setting up youth groups for mission activities and they have many sites throughout the USA and a few internationally. Their staff did a wonderful job organizing and leading us through the week.) All the teams had a chance to work two days on a home in the community, and both the teams that our group was part of worked on painting and preparing for painting. We also worked two days at a Vacation Bible School type event called, “Kid’s Club” where we were able to meet, play and work with a number of children from the community.

After our week at Bayou La Batre, we headed to New Orleans for a couple of days. On the way, we traveled along Gulf Coast Highway, through Biloxi, Gulfport, Mississippi, where we saw even more effects of the powerful storm surge. The church where we stayed in New Orleans, Grace Lutheran, had about 7-8 feet of water throughout their building. Now almost restored, they open their doors to a multitude of groups such as ours that are coming to help (Two other groups were staying thee while we were in addition to a Youth Works! summer program that was beginning that next week). This is a congregation that understands mission and ministry, and lives out the gratitude they have for those that helped the, by making it possible for others to continue to help others.

We are also thankful that we are part of a similar congregation here at Joy. Without the support and prayers of our family here, this week would not have been possible. We hope that our gratitude will flow into continued lives of service for others as we remember those who made it possible to go to the Gulf. We also hope that together, we can seek ways in which we can continue helping those closer to home, in the “air-conditioned” climate of Alaska.

There are a number of photographs of our week available to view on a web gallery:

http://picasaweb.google.com/bygracewithjoy

Pastor Martin

Evening Thanksgiving

2008-05-29T14:15:00.006-08:00

To be honest, I don't have a great track record in the spiritual discipline department. I have struggled with keeping any solid, ongoing practice that feeds me spiritually. That is, except for my night prayer. One of my enduring spiritual disciplines is the habit of
night-time prayer. I generally end the day with a prayer that embraces the day the has transpired, looks forward to day to come, and lifts up loved ones.

I begin with thanks for the day that is ending, and God's power in helping me through another 24 hours. The other night, I was tired and my prayers never seem to get past the first three words. All I could manage was to repeat, "Thank you, Lord, thank you, thank you..." until I drifted to sleep.

This, I believe, is not a bad way in which to end the day.

Thank you.

And Jesus said, "When you do it to the least of these..."

2008-05-27T16:43:00.010-08:00

This disturbing meditation was written by Claudia Mair Burney and is from the book, Justice in the Burbs, by Will and Lisa Samson. Burney is a Christian author. The Samsons work and do ministry in Kentucky.

Meditation

Jesus lives next door. He's an eight-year-old girl and her three-year-old brother. The Son of Man looks like those starving Ethiopian children He only gets breakfast and lunch at school, when he makes it, He mamma is a crack whore. Nobody knows who his daddy is. I heard his mommy lets her "Johns" do things to him.

Poor King of Kings.

Jesus is two houses down and has six children. Now he's pregnant with the seventh. I don't know if he hasn't figured out what birth control is, or what, but how does he expect his husband to feed all those babies on that salary? And you know with all those kids the Lord of Lords can't work. That means hardworking taxpayers' money has to go for Christ's food stamps!

He needs to get fixed.

The Lord is a crazy man--paranoid schizophrenic. If he doesn't take his medication, he walks up and down the street, cussing and spitting on everybody he passes. He's homeless. Nobody knows where his family is--if he's got one. Digs out of the trash cans for food. Somebody ought to get him off the street.

Jesus is nothing but a nuisance.

I 'm starting to see the Son of God everywhere I go. He's always crying or begging or looking pitiful. Why doesn't he pull himself up by his bootstraps? This is America! Makes me mad. He's ruining our neighborhood.

Somebody ought to do something about him.

Somebody.

2008-05-14T11:14:00.004-08:00

I found this prayer in a collection of poems, prayers, and music titled, Turn My Heart: A Sacred Journey from Brokenness to Healing. The book is a collaboration by Rev. Susan Briehl and Marty Haugen. This particular prayer is anonymous, and the unknown writer captures the mystery of grief and healing in a marvelous play on the famous Payer of Saint Francis, "Lord, Make Me an Instrument of Your Peace."

The prayer also captures the deep mystery of God's hand. Our healing comes slowly, from the inside out. While it cannot be rushed, the process often comes to us on a different timetable than our own. It comes so often from without, from the other, from the interruption in my life that irritates and draws me from death back to life.

Lord,

when I am famished,

give me someone who needs food:

when I am thirsty,

send someone who needs water;

when I am cold,

bring me someone to warm;

when I am hurting,

send someone to console;

when my cross becomes heavy,

give me another's cross to share;

when I am poor,

lead someone needy to me;

when I have no time,

give me someone to help for a moment;

when I am humiliated,

give me someone to praise;

when I am discouraged,

send me someone to encourage;

when I need another's understanding,

give me someone who needs mine;

when I need someone to take care of me,

send me someone to care for;

when I dwell upon myself,

turn my heart toward another.

An Evangelical Manifesto

2008-05-07T22:21:00.005-08:00

By Jim Wallis (Sojourners)

The church has a serious image problem. A recent book, unChristian, by Barna pollster David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons reveals much about how Millennials, the emerging generation - both those inside and around the church - view Christianity. The results weren't good. An overwhelming majority of young people view Christians as hypocritical, too judgmental, too focused on the afterlife, and too political in the worst sense of the word. And that image is often particularly true of evangelicals. That's a lot of baggage we're carrying around.

But other studies show that when you ask people what they think about Jesus, you get answers like: compassionate, loving, caring, hung out with sinners and poor people, for peace. We have a serious image problem. People think that we should stand for the same things as Jesus did. So it's time to change the image.

A substantial group of evangelical leaders are trying to do just that. This morning, a new statement, An Evangelical Manifesto: A Declaration of Evangelical Identity and Public Commitment, was released in Washington, D.C. The statement has two purposes - to address the confusion about who evangelicals are and to clarify a view on evangelicals in public life.

On the first point, the manifesto says:

Our first task is to reaffirm who we are. Evangelicals are Christians who define themselves, their faith, and their lives according to the Good News of Jesus of Nazareth. (Evangelical comes from the Greek word for good news, or gospel.) Believing that the Gospel of Jesus is God's good news for the whole world, we affirm with the Apostle Paul that we are "not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation." Contrary to widespread misunderstanding today, we Evangelicals should be defined theologically, and not politically, socially, or culturally.

It then goes on to identify seven "beliefs that we consider to be at the heart of the message of Jesus and therefore foundational for us." They are primarily theological affirmations, including:

We believe that being disciples of Jesus means serving him as Lord in every sphere of our lives, secular as well as spiritual, public as well as private, in deeds as well as words, and in every moment of our days on earth, always reaching out as he did to those who are lost as well as to the poor, the sick, the hungry, the oppressed, the socially despised, and being faithful stewards of creation and our fellow creatures.

On the question of public life, the manifesto recognizes that the political categories of left and right simply don't fit religion, and it is a big mistake to try to fit religion into them. The people I meet across the country are yearning for a moral center to our public life and political discourse, with a fundamental emphasis on the common good. They want to understand better the moral choices and challenges that lie beneath our political debates. More and more people want to see a common-good politics replace the politics of individual gain and special interests.

The manifesto affirms that:

We must find a new understanding of our place in public life. We affirm that to be Evangelical and to carry the name of Christ is to seek to be faithful to the freedom, justice, peace, and well-being that are at the heart of the kingdom of God, to bring these gifts into public life as a service to all, and to work with all who share these ideals and care for the common good. Citizens of the City of God, we are resident aliens in the Earthly City. Called by Jesus to be "in" the world but "not of" the world, we are fully engaged in public affairs, but never completely equated with any party, partisan ideology, economic system, class, tribe, or national identity.

Master Christians

2008-05-06T16:33:00.005-08:00

I have known quite a few musicians in my time, of various kinds and abilities. I have known a much smaller group of musicians that I would classify as "masters" in their art. When you encounter a true master, you seem to know it intuitively. There is a difference in the way in which they encounter the music, and encounter the hearers. They bring an energy that enlivens. I know from first hand experience that they seem to make other, lesser musicians better by being there.

In his book, The Secret Message of Jesus, Brian McLaren relates the life of Christian discipleship in terms of master musicians. His observations highlight the relational part of faith, the imitational part of living it out, and the reproductional call to pass what we have learned on to others. (pg. 77)

To use McLearan's terms, master musicians do three basic things. First, they practice and they continue to practice all their lives. There is never a sense of, "Well, I got that learned." It is a life-long journey of exploration and learning.

Second, they play, they perform, they do the things for which they have trained and practiced: they make music. Practicing over and over again in one's studio may make one a better musician, but eventually, one needs to share the music -- that is for what it is intended and created.

Third, masters pass on what they know. They teach others to do the music, to practice, to share, and to become masters themselves. These students learn by imitating the master's passion and commitment, and learning to become proficient in their own right and in their own style.

Christian discipleship is much they same. First, we start as students and we learn from our Master. He makes us better by his presence in our lives, and we seek to imitate his passions and his actions. Second, disciples, like their Master, practice all their lives. We are never really finished learning what it means to be a Child of God in the Kingdom of God. Each day is a new presents a new adventure and a new opportunity to live out Jesus' teachings in our context. Third, we are called to do the things we have learned: love our neighbor (Jesus' definition of a neighbor, not ours), love our enemies, care for the poor and outcast, and take care of creation and the other things of God that God allows us to use (such as money). Being a Christian only at church makes no more sense that a musician that only practices alone but never plays in public. How is the world made better by either? Both the Christian and the musician are called to share the beauty of the gift they have received for the sake of others. Finally, we are also called to pass it on, just like Jesus did. We have faith largely due to the commitment, passion, and patience of "master Christians" (parents, Sunday School Teachers, Youth Workers, Pastors, friends) who have shared and taught is what they know about the Master. We are asked to do they same.

So, fellow disciples of the Master Musician--let's go make some music!

Walking in the Spirit

2008-05-06T13:02:00.001-08:00

A spiritual life is simply a life in which all that we do comes from the center, where we are all anchored in God: a life soaked through and through by a sense of God's reality and claim, and self-given to the great movement of God's will.

- Evelyn Underhill

Morning Poem

2008-04-26T14:11:00.002-08:00

Every morning

the world

is created.

Under the orange

sticks of the sun

the heaped

ashes of the night

turn into leaves again

and fasten themselves to the high branches--

and the ponds appear

like black cloth

on which are painted islands

of summer lilies.

If it is your nature

to be happy

you will swim away along the soft trails

for hours, your imagination

alighting everywhere.

And if your spirit

carries within it

the thorn

that is heavier than lead--

if it’s all you can do

to keep on trudging--

there is still

somewhere deep within you

a beast shouting that the earth

is exactly what it wanted--

each pond with its blazing lilies

is a prayer heard and answered

lavishly,

each morning,

whether or not

you have ever dared to be happy,

whether or not

you have ever dared to pray.

New and Selected Poems

by Mary Oliver (Beacon: Boston 1992) pg. 106-7

Thanks for Pastor Susan Halvor for sharing this poem with the pastor’s of the Alaska Synod this week, and allowing me to borrow her book so that I can share it here.

I think it fits well with Acts 17 passage for tomorrow.

Forgiveness as a way of Life

2008-04-17T11:12:00.002-08:00

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God--what is good and acceptable and perfect. - Romans 12:2

Forgiveness is not an occasional art,

it is a permanent attitude.

- Martin Luther

Costly Love

2008-04-16T14:23:00.007-08:00

The world is overcome not through destruction, but through reconciliation. Not ideals, nor programs, nor conscience, nor duty, nor responsibility, nor virtue, but only God's perfect love can encounter reality and overcome it. Nor is it some universal idea of love, but rather the love of God in Jesus Christ, a love genuinely lived, that does this.

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Meditations on the Cross

I am once again struck by the simple beauty and power of Bonhoeffer's words. We try so many things that do not work. War does not change much and so often makes matters worse. Social programs do much good, but often do not reach to the root of the problems effecting humanity. Nor do our dogged efforts, personal or institutional, the whole answer. Flailing harder at a problem will not make it go away.

For the Christian, the follower of Jesus, the answer always must be our Lord himself. As his love fills us and transforms us as Paul says, "from glory into glory", we find it easier to live out that love for others. Bonhoeffer often said that Jesus was, "the man for others." If Jesus is the ultimate man for others then we little Christs can be our own incomplete-imperfect-yet-on-the-journey image of Jesus in this world today.

We won't get it perfect. Bonhoeffer himself found the need to stop the madman in charge of his country overruled his personal dedication to non-violence. He participated in a unsuccessful attempt to kill Adolph Hitler, an act for which Bonhoeffer himself was later killed. Many wonder if Bonhoeffer's actions did not negate his words and make him a hypocrite, but I wonder. Without excusing his actions, I see in Pastor Bonhoeffer an imperfect human being trying to deal with his world in his time the best way he knew how. Isn't that how we all try to live?

The plot to kill Hitler may or may not have been the right thing to do given the greater good that may have come from it. I would like to believe that in his own way, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was seeking to live out a love that looked to the welfare of others--including thousands that he did not know-- despite the cost to him personally. His famous quote on the matter seem to point to the "otherness" of his decision, “If I see a madman driving a car into a group of innocent bystanders, then I can’t, as a Christian, simply wait for the catastrophe and then comfort the wounded and bury the dead. I must try to wrestle the steering wheel out of the hands of the driver.”

For Bonhoeffer, I wonder if that did not include the spiritual/eternal cost as well as the physical/mortality one. He may well have been very much aware that, by his standards at least, he was putting his soul as well as his life on the line through his actions. Who can say? But I see more sacrifice than self-promotion in his decision.

What ever the cost, we are called to be disciples of Jesus. We are called to live a love that is as natural as Creation, but unearthly in the way we humans define so often define reality. I know that God weeps at the victims of terrorism--those killed on September 11, 2001 as well as the thousands killed all over the world. I also know that God weeps at the deaths caused by war, intentional and unintentional. Are the lives of those killed by a suicide bomber any less precious to God than those killed by a wayward cruise missile? Or the the lives of those that starve today in Darfur?

God's love teaches us a radical new assessment of the world. It is a holistic love for Creation, for all Creation, including all people. There are no flags, no borders, no nationalities in God's love. As the people of faith are transformed, renewed, and sent out in the name and the power of that love, we will help bring the Kingdom--God's Kingdom--to God's world.

The Power of Forgiveness

2008-04-15T11:49:00.009-08:00

Forgiveness is giving up the right to retaliate. Forgiveness is the willingness to have something happen the way it happened. It's not true that you can't forgive something; it's a matter of the will, and you always have the choice. Forgiveness is never dependent on what the other person does or does not do; it is always under our control.

Forgiveness is giving up the insistence on being understood.... Jesus forgave those who crucified him. This is a radically new way of thinking. For those who accept and practice this discipline, there is a release of energy and a sense of freedom.

- Pixie Koestline Hammond

For Everything There Is a Season

This is, of course, impossible on human power alone. That is where the power of God comes in. I have learned that forgiveness is necessary for me; it is essential for my relationship with God and other people. I have known the stomach burning resentment that keeps one up in the middle of the night, that inability to let go oft he harm, imagined or real, done by someone else. I have learned by necessity that I am not designed to hold such a weight. It is bad for my health: physically, psychologically, and spiritually. I have also learned the hard way that I am not always capable of getting rid of that weight own my own. There is a part of me that delights in holding on, that makes me feel superior somehow as the suffering victim. There are always those that are hardest to forgive. There are wrongs that seem to great to overlook. And they are, by own wisdom or strength alone. I can't be the perfect lover like Jesus, but I can draw upon his grace to fill me where I am most empty.

Thankfully, the power of the Holy Spirit is stronger than my need to hold on, the patient love of God is greater than my selfish insolence, and the healing touch of Jesus more than enough for my deepest wound. God waits. The power to forgive comes as I ask for it. Forgiveness for others comes, sometimes as a slow trickle, sometimes as a mighty flood, but it comes in spite of myself. That is the power of God's grace--not just to forgive me, but to teach me to forgive.

Speaking for the Poor

2008-04-10T11:29:00.006-08:00

Those who have created the evil are those who have made possible the hideous social injustice our people live in. Thus, the poor have shown the church the true way to go. A church that does not join the poor in order to speak out from the side of the poor against the injustices committed against them is not the true church of Jesus Christ.

- Oscar A. Romero
The Violence of Love

A personal faith hero of mine is Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador. Oscar Romero was, until his murder in 1980, the Archbishop of San Salvador, in El Salvador. Considered a theological and political conservative who went along with the oppression of many of the poorest El Salvadorians, Romero's elevation to Archbishop was not welcomed with great enthusiasm among many of the poor in his country. But God has a way of surprising us.

Shocked by the brutality of the government against both the peasants and the priests who dared to speak up for them, Archbishop Romero became an increasingly strong and vocal advocate for the poor, the outcast, and the forgotten. Soon, he became an enemy of the state and, like many who stood against the power of the government of El Salvador at the time, was marked for death. Faced with many death threats, Archbishop Romero once remarked,

"You can tell the people that if they succeed in killing me, that I forgive and bless those who do it. Hopefully, they will realize they are wasting their time. A bishop will die, but the church of God, which is the people, will never perish."

Like Rev. Dr. King, Archbishop Romero was dedicated to standing with the disaffected in society, and like King, he believed that Jesus called him to do so in a powerful, but non-violent way. Despite his position as Archbishop within a predominately Roman Catholic country and despite his non-violent methods, it was only a matter of time when the powers that be found his presence too much of a threat. In March of 1980, while he was in the middle of Presiding at the Mass, Archbishop Romero was gunned down. He literally died at the Altar. His assailant fled in the confusion and was never captured.

The plight of the poor in El Salvador is somewhat better than it was in 1980. The government is less oppressive than the Junta dictatorship that was in power then. There still much poverty, disease, and despair among the peasants of El Salvador, just as there is among a growing number of poor all over the world. Where ever the church and her people take of the cross and reach out to poor--to feed them, clothe them and advocate on their behalf--we will carry the legacy not merely of brothers such as Oscar Romero, but of our Lord Jesus himself.

Judged on and by Love

2008-04-09T11:27:00.001-08:00

We have much to be judged on when [Jesus] comes, slums and battlefields and insane asylums, but these are the symptoms of our illness, and the result of our failures in love. In the evening of life we shall be judged on love, and not one of us is going to come off very well, and were it not for my absolute faith in the loving forgiveness of my Lord I could not call on him to come.

- Madeleine L'Engle

Irrational Season

What Would You Do?

2008-04-08T13:45:00.007-08:00

I am always amazed, but not shocked, that such injustice still goes on all over this planet. It goes on still in Central America, South America, Africa, and, as we see here, in the Philippines (and other Asian countries). Read the story below, which comes from Sojourners magazine.

Imagine you're eating at a shopping mall food court when you suddenly hear shouting and see a group of uniformed men (neither police nor army) drag a young man from his lunch a few tables away. "I'm just an activist! I haven't done anything wrong!" he shouts as they cuff him and take him to a waiting van outside. What would Christ-followers do?

What would you do?

This is the scene that plays in Edita Tronqued Burgos' mind over and over again as she worries about her miss

ing son. On April 28, 2007, Jonas Burgos was eating lunch in a crowded mall in downtown Manila, Philippines, when four to eight unidentified men abducted him. During her presentation at Ecumenical Advocacy Days a few weeks ago, she mused that if the people in that crowded mall had done "the Christian thing," maybe her son wouldn't have disappeared into the ether that weekend.

After one or two strange, groggy phone conversations with his family, all trace of Jonas Burgos disappeared for good. Now Jonas' family tries to act on every lead that comes in, and investigate every rumor and sighting. Edita once traveled hours after receiving word of a bound, heavily tortured corpse found in the countryside. It wasn't him.

Why was Jonas abducted and disappeared like this? What had Jonas done to merit such brutality? The son of activist-journalists persecuted under the Marcos dictatorship, Jonas had gotten a degree in agriculture, then moved to the provinces to teach organic farming techniques to the peasants. Soon after he arrived, he became distraught at how impoverished the farmers were, in part because of the Philippines' economic policies (aimed at hyper-development through corporate foreign investment). He became a volunteer for a farmers' rights organization called Alyansa ng Magsasaka sa Bulacan (Alliance of Farmers at Bulacan). But in the Philippines, advocacy and activism on behalf of poor farmers can draw the ire of the military, which branded Alyansa an "enemy of the state."

Jonas' disappearance is just one of hundreds of cases in which activists, journalists, and artists in the Philippines are kidnapped, tortured, or murdered by unidentified men in uniform. Their deaths are often unrecorded or unverifiable for lack of a body, and the police seldom investigate. This is called an "extrajudicial killing," an execution committed beyond the boundaries of the legal process.

In Jonas' case, as it became clearer that the military was about to be implicated in his disappearance, the Philippines Armed Forces launched a smear campaign claiming that Jonas was a member of the Communist Army of the People of the Philippines. They asserted that Jonas had been caught embezzling money, and the "communist terrorists" killed him to punish him for stealing. This statement released by the national military was a shocking, hurtful lie, as was obvious to anyone who even remotely knew Burgos.

Edita Tronqued Burgos ended her presentation by emphasizing that no one should be beyond the protection of the law. Even if he had been guilty of a crime (rather than of economic advocacy), that would not justify kidnapping and disappearance. In typically outspoken Filipino style, Edita pleaded, "even a child molester caught in the act gets his day in court to defend himself. Why shouldn't my son deserve the same right?"

When Jesus said, "I have not come to bring peace, but the sword" (Matthew 10:34) this is one of the realities to which he referred. As Disciple of Jesus, where ever they live, stand up for what is right, what is true, and what brings justice and love children of God who are most oppressed, the reaction of the powers that be is often violence.

This week we remembered the 40th anniversary of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s murder. He stood up for peace and justice and was brutally murdered for it. Let us never forget that those powers do not rest, that sin is present in our world, and that disciples such as Jonas Burgos and Martin King, such as Oscar Romero (El Salvador) and Steve Biko (South Africa), along with a whole host of witnesses whose names we may never know, take up thethe cross of their Lord. They are witness. It is interesting to note that the Greek word for, "witness" is, "martyr." Many do pay that ultimate price for that witness and give their lives in service to others and in witness to the truth of God's love for all people.

Pray for all witnesses, including yourself. May we be faithful in small and large things. May we pray for each other in our cross-bearing. May we continue to stand up for what is right, no matter the personal cost.

Jesus' Cruciform Embrace

2008-04-03T17:08:00.001-08:00

No abyss of evil can hide from [Jesus] through whom the world is reconciled with God. But the abyss of God's love encompasses even the most abysmal godlessness of the world.

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Meditations on the Cross

I am not certain we can ever plumb the depths of the mystery of Jesus’ participation with our human experience. Try as we might, it is hard to see Jesus in the horrors that so often confront us in our world--both past and present. Try as we might, it is hard to believe that God’s love has anything to do with the wanton destruction of Creation, the willful murder and oppression of our fellow humans, or the despair of those who live with out hope.

The Easter message is more than bunnies and bonnets, it is a radical proclamation that in Jesus as the Christ, God “YES!” is stronger than our feeble “no’s.” It is the audacious belief that our reality -- ALL our reality -- has been, is now, and will be, embraced by the ONe who made us, saves us, and lives with us. This is Luther’s Theology of the Cross at its most primal connection. The New Creation (II Corinthians 5:17) is not a “someday” event, or just a “today” happening--it is both. God’s reconciling in Jesus (II Corinthians 5:21) is not selective, it’s radically inclusive.

In the canyons of the inner cities, Jesus is there.

In the plains of Darfur, Jesus is there.

Whether we recognize it or not, Jesus is there.

The question, “Why doesn’t God do something?” already misses the point when it come to evil in our world. God has done something in Jesus, the Kingdom is already in our midst. We, like the Apostle Paul are supposed to be the messengers of the Reconciliation, the “ambassadors for Christ.” We are called to be the radical ones, revealing God’s presence in God’s world in our words and our deeds.

Holy Week ("Maundy Thursday" Redux)

2008-03-28T11:53:00.002-08:00

Into a world full of words

comes the Word of God to fill the world.

Into a world where words are cheap

and cheapen the most costly things of God,

the Word of God comes to reclaim and redeem the valuable with costly grace.

In a world where divisive words fly to wound and kill,

in stereotypes and great walls,

the Word of God comes to

destroy walls,

dispel stereotypes,

heal broken hearts,

proclaim liberty,

and give birth to one family of God.

Into a world where religion becomes a series of words with no life,

a Babel Tower of rules and recrimination,

reasons and rationales for hate and death,

the Word speaks love; not with words but with life...

and death...

and life reborn.

In the midst of a world of words

the Word of God with towel, basin, and water

kneels and in silent service speaks to us

of love.

____________________

In midday darkness death’s words abound:

condemnation given,

judgement pronounced,

Truth queried yet ignored.

The Word gasps and pleads

for us;

an earthquake of forgiveness rolls

from bloodied lips

and outstretched arms

the Shroud of words is torn in two

and the Word of God exposed.

To all.

For all.

A sermon of life in death’s death rattle;

the promise of life in the Word of God

for us.

Disturbing Words

2008-03-27T11:34:00.004-08:00

As easy as it is for those of us who are white to look back and say, "That's a terrible statement," I grew up in a very segregated South, and I think that you have to cut some slack. And I'm going to be probably the only conservative in America who's going to say something like this, but I'm just telling you: We've got to cut some slack to people who grew up being called names, being told, "You have to sit in the balcony when you go to the movie. You have to go to the back door to go into the restaurant. And you can't sit out there with everyone else. There's a separate waiting room in the doctor's office. Here's where you sit on the bus." And you know what? Sometimes people do have a chip on their shoulder and resentment. And you have to just say, I probably would too. I probably would too. In fact, I may have had ... more of a chip on my shoulder had it been me.

- Mike Huckabee, offering his perspective on the preaching of Rev. Jeremiah Wright. (Source: MSNBC)

I greatly appreciate what the Reverend Governor Huckabee has to say about the recent furor over Senator Obama and, more specifically, what his former pastor Reverend Wright has said in the past. Too often the sling and arrows have come from those who most probably should hold their tongues because they cannot possibly understand the context from which Rev. Wright speaks.

The fact that above piece of wisdom comes from a middle-aged, white, evangelical, conservative, Republican from the South is beyond ironic unless one also keeps in mind the context from which Huckabee speaks. Growing up in the segregated society, where Jim Crow was at least out in the open (a constant criticism of southerns past and present about high minded hypocrisy of white, mostly liberal northerners who "benefited" from an even more segregated society but where far to "polite" to admit it) people from Huckabee's generation have seen both the best and the worst of their southern traditions. They have seen separate washrooms and drinking fountains, and they have also witnessed Afro-Americans hold prominent position of power and responsibility in communities where their fore parents struggled to be treated as human beings. In short, many southerners "get" the transformative power of resurrection, where a new creation springs forth from the dead chrysalis of oppression and sin.

They also know too well that while Jesus' resurrection was an immediate, cosmic event, for humans on this side of the grave such change takes time. The lingering effects of mistrust, prejudice, and hatred take some time to get out of the system. No one understands this better perhaps than those who worked and still work in the trenches of the churches, both white and black.

To be honest, Rev. Wright is correct when he points out the deficiencies in much of our society. "The Dream" that another black pastor from the South envisioned is not here--not yet. We have some work to do before "people will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of the character" as Rev. Dr. King once preached. Oddly enough (at least to some), much, if not most of that lingering work needs to happen in the northern states, not the southern. Politically, for instance, southern white voters seem much more inclined to vote for African American candidates than it appears many northern whites are willing to vote for a black candidate (Obama's numbers among Ohioan and Pennsylvanian white men is one indication of such hesitancy).

Huckabee's pastoral comment is a call to remember the context from which people speak as well as the importance of dialog with them about what they say and what they think. I know some "more experienced" feminists, for instance who also carry chips on their shoulders from battles of yesterday. They have experiences that I cannot possibly completely understand, and they have the scars to show for it. At times, all I can do is listen to their pain. I have spoken to what I would call second and even third generation feminists who are just as mystified by the polemics of their older sisters. They haven't walked the same journey, they haven't seen the same things, they can't fully experience what was past.

So perhaps with such pioneers veterans of the struggles for equality and justice, we can understand that some chips may still remain on their shoulders and spring forth from their speech. In so many ways, we benefit from their courage and sacrifice in ways we cannot fully fathom. They are the Jeremiah's (the Old Testament one) of our society, cranky prophets who have undergone the battles for righteousness and justice. Their words are often hard to hear and they don't often win a lot of friends. But to the people who understand the sting of oppression and injustice, who still feel the inequities of our society each and everyday, their serve as lights in the darkness.

I may not agree with everything that Rev. Wright preaches. Some of it disturbs me. But I am also disturbed by those who dare to suggest, as did Senator Clinton just yesterday, that parishioners bear some responsibility for what their pastors preach (what a scary thought for the people that hear me on a regular basis as well as their pastor!). I do feel that they have a right to be heard since they speak from their experience--a journey that I can only obliquely imagine. We also have a need to heed the prophets, to test what they say with the words Jesus gave us, and to prayerfully consider and prayerfully work towards a soceity that a again Re. Dr. King envisioned, will one day fully live up to the founding creed of our nation that all people are created equal.

Maundy Thursday

2008-03-20T16:19:00.004-08:00

Into a world full of words

comes the Word of God to fill the world.

Into a world where words are cheap

and cheapen the most costly things of God,

the Word of God comes to reclaim and redeem

the valuable with costly grace.

In a world where divisive words strike,wound and kill,

build stereotypes and great walls,

the Word of God comes to

destroy walls,

dispel stereotypes,

heal broken hearts,

proclaim liberty,

and birth one family.

Into a world where religion becomes a series of words with no life,

a Babel Tower of rules and recrimination,

a reason for hate and death,

the Word speaks life--not with words but with life

and death

and life reborn.

In the midst of a world of words

the Word of God takes towel, basin, and water,

kneels and in silent service speaks to the world

of love.

2008-03-06T11:50:00.001-09:00

I think joy and sweetness and affection are a spiritual path. We're here to know God, to love and serve God, and to be blown away by the beauty and miracle of nature. You just have to get rid of so much baggage to be light enough to dance, to sing, to play. You don't have time to carry grudges; you don't have time to cling to the need to be right.

- author Anne Lamott, in a recent interview. (Source:The Washington Times)

Give Me Some Water to Drink (Woman at the Well, pt. II

2008-02-29T11:56:00.008-09:00

Even in this 21st century, in most places in the world women still do most of the heavy lifting. In the vast majority of the cases, they are the primary caregivers and workers in the family system in which they live. One place where women in the United States and their sisters in the so-called “third world” share a common burden is that, despite a generation or two of the “women’s rights” movement, it is still women who after a long day of earning a living outside the home do the majority of the cooking, cleaning, and childcare in the world.

For the woman at the well we meet in John 4, one of her primary duties was the daily back breaking work of hauling water from the well to home. With large, heavy earthenware jars, her task was an essential need in desert life.

According to the United Nations, throughout the world women still accomplish this task in a large part of our planet:

Because of traditional gender roles, in many places in rural Africa and Asia, the task of gathering water for the family is considered women's work. According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), women and female children spend more than 10 million "person-years" carrying water from remote sources each year. With growing water scarcity, women and girls must travel longer distances to obtain water, a chore that often occupies several hours of the day. In some cases, women must leave at dawn traveling miles to the nearest well--returning under the weight of full water containers--in order to bring water home by as late as midnight. In other cases, a woman might have to spend an entire night waiting at distant water pumps among scores of other women for a turn to fill a water container. (http://www.worldhungeryear.org/why_speaks/ws_load.asp?file=49&style=ws_table)

The reality of this work is that for women and girls, educational and economic opportunities are virtually closed to them. They are trapped in a seemingly endless cycle of poverty, ignorance, and despair.

Part of the answer is to assist in efforts in securing safe, reasonably accessible potable water for all people on the planet. Millions of God’s children who happen to live in developing countries, have no access to safe water (or access that

is safe from fear of violence--another danger that is borne mostly by the women in the world). Thousand of God’s children, most of the literally children, die each day because the water they do get is not safe to drink.

The biggest change will happen when the Children of God who live in developed countries cry out, “Enough!” and demand that:

all our sisters and brothers be given the basic human necessity of clean, accessible water, and that,
women be freed from physically and socially crippling burden of hauling water often in areas torn by war, where they personal safety is constantly at risk

Jesus’ request, to the Woman at the Well, “Give me a drink” now becomes the cry of so many through out the world. As people who have been given living water, free of charge, let us do water we can to not only share the spiritual water of Jesus’ grace and forgiveness, but also the physical water needed to bring justice and peace to all God’s children, no matter where they live.