Another take on the "its foreign" comment. What we know is that when we practice rightly and regularly, God somehow works through that to grow our faith, grow our trust, grow our spirit. (What "rightly" is is for another column.)
What we grow into, however, is foreign to our culture, our times, even sometimes, our friends. What we grow into is a lifestyle that says we will pause in our gift buying/giving/opening, our family time, our parties and traditions, we will pause to worship.
Christmas Eve worship at our church is a service of lessons and carols, reading texts that reflect God's saving work on our behalf through the ages...culminating with the birth of Jesus which holds the ultimate promise of salvation and redemption for us. By salvation and redemption I am not talking about fire insurance to keep us out of whatever "hell" we think we might end up in...but the salvation and redemption that Jesus modeled when he brought people together, shared wealth and opportunity, ended judgment and condemnation by humans toward humans, showed who God is and what God wants of us--namely to "do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with our God."(Micah 6:8, Matthew 23:23 for same idea)
But these are foreign languages, foreign ideas to a culture that seeks personal fulfillment and happiness as its highest power with power, status, and money--especially money--as means to this end. What-works-for-me drives our very beings. To understand the texts of the lessons and carols requires some familiarity with the biblical story. Many people sit quietly through the first readings, waiting for the "good stuff" --i.e., the nativity story that has remained in the public eye through political fights over nativities in government locales, movies, and ubiquitous nativity sets available for purchase...(and to prove how ridiculous that has become, check these out.)
But the meaning of the nativity story has been shadowed as well. The scandal of the nativity was not that a child was born "who was to be called Son of the Most High." That happened all the time in the first century. The scandal was that the child was dirt poor, laid in an animal's feeding stall, born to an unwed mother. The idea that the power to change the world started (and ended, for that matter) in the most powerless position imaginable took people's aback. How is that possible? And even today, we wind up ascribing magical powers and unimaginative powerful status to a poor, itinerant prophet/preacher whose message of radical equality and full humanity inspired the powerless and enraged the powerful. Ever seen a nativity full of fleas, animal poop, half eaten hay, and a scratch-and-sniff that evacuates the room?
The fundamental message of the nativity is foreign. It's message that requires a lifestyle that is foreign. It demands not our happiness, but our submission to God, God's Way as seen in the life of Jesus. (Interestingly, happiness is often a by-product, but not always.)
And that leads to one more opinion (hey, it's my blog, after all...). I think many churches have co-opted the "Way" of Jesus into the way of the culture. Joel Osteen comes immediately to mind...all those churches that feed into the stereotypes of those outside our doors--judgmental, narrow-minded, self-centered--and they do seem to be the ones in the public eye. I often ask "Have they read the gospels?" Perhaps I should ask "Have they studied the gospels? Because, especially if you understand the stories in the 1st century context in which they originate, you see the radical, demanding message that Jesus actually brings--a message that is completely opposite the stereotype.
There are so many churches out there, of all denominations, that understand this radical, demanding message. Some are large, some medium, some small. None of us get it exactly right...the human tendency toward judgment, narrow-mindedness, and self-centeredness is really strong. We all get sucked in sometimes. But that why we worship. It taps the power of the community working to interpret and follow the Way. We keep each other accountable; we support each other in the effort to follow. We focus our lives and our time and our resources on the Source of our life.
And really, this is a new move to an old "Way" for many of us. We shouldn't have lost our way, but the growth and subsequent power of the church in America helped us forget. As we live in a downturn, we look carefully at what and who we are called to be and do. We, with God's help, right our course.
Want to take a trip to a "foreign" country without leaving home? Maybe a faith journey is on your horizon for 2012. Visit churches. Listen carefully to what you hear. Spend time in the education classes and Bible studies. Ask hard questions and if you don't get answers that are challenging and, perhaps, disturbing, move on and keep asking. Go churches you've not thought to visit. When you find the hardest message of grace you've ever heard...stay and practice. If not, try another. God will bring you to a community that needs your gifts and will nurture your soul while calling you to nurture others.
Think you have no interest in "church" as you think it is now? Think its a great idea if only it was what it should be. Then join us in this foreign practice, this foreign life. Come in and find out what the Way is and help make the church community what it is called to be by the poor, powerless, itinerant preacher whose message and lifestyle changed the world.
Friday, December 30, 2011
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
It's Practice...
A comment heard during the Christmas Eve service at my husband's church...
"This is feeling more comfortable, but at the same time, more foreign..."
This from a person who doesn't regularly attend worship, and didn't attend any services for a long time...though born into the tradition and raised in the practice.
Right. The more you do something, the more comfortable it is. And, Right. As you enter or re-enter something, especially on an occasional basis, it becomes more foreign.
Worship isn't magic, it's practice. Any practice can be discussed in these terms. One day I was visiting a church during the week and heard this strange shrieking sound coming out of one of the classrooms. Many voices. Shrill sounds. All together. Well, of course, it was children's choir practice. They were warming up their vocal chords with this activity that, to the uninitiated, sounded strange at best and, with great imagination, much like a torture chamber. Foreign...until you need to hit those high notes and understand the shrilling will get you to your goal.
Sports are the same way. Writing--ditto. When I taught middle school English and we taught writing, we did weird stuff. We looked at pictures. We listened to music. We wrote nonsense.
"I don't have anything to say."
"Well, write that."
"Really?"
"Yep." And in a few sentences, sometimes a page of repeated sentences that read, "I don't have anything to say," the kid with nothing to say would launch into something different. They did have something to say. They were writers.
People who watch a football game once or twice a year (yeah, guilty), find the experience a bit foreign. What is there to get so passionate about? Why are so many people interested? But I do know if you connect with a team, follow that team, participate with other fans and do it all regularly, it makes sense. It is even fun. It might become a passion.
So all you folks who do the Christmas/Easter church thing and leave feeling like it is all foreign and you will never fully understand it...All you folks who don't know why anyone would worship weekly or spend time with others in Bible study...All you folks who assume if you don't have a completely awesome experience when you do occasionally come...Maybe, just maybe, you need some regular practice.
The carols, the candles, the clothes of Christmas are familiar. But the meaning, the connection with life, the significance of the event will be foreign...unless we regularly practice.
"This is feeling more comfortable, but at the same time, more foreign..."
This from a person who doesn't regularly attend worship, and didn't attend any services for a long time...though born into the tradition and raised in the practice.
Right. The more you do something, the more comfortable it is. And, Right. As you enter or re-enter something, especially on an occasional basis, it becomes more foreign.
Worship isn't magic, it's practice. Any practice can be discussed in these terms. One day I was visiting a church during the week and heard this strange shrieking sound coming out of one of the classrooms. Many voices. Shrill sounds. All together. Well, of course, it was children's choir practice. They were warming up their vocal chords with this activity that, to the uninitiated, sounded strange at best and, with great imagination, much like a torture chamber. Foreign...until you need to hit those high notes and understand the shrilling will get you to your goal.
Sports are the same way. Writing--ditto. When I taught middle school English and we taught writing, we did weird stuff. We looked at pictures. We listened to music. We wrote nonsense.
"I don't have anything to say."
"Well, write that."
"Really?"
"Yep." And in a few sentences, sometimes a page of repeated sentences that read, "I don't have anything to say," the kid with nothing to say would launch into something different. They did have something to say. They were writers.
People who watch a football game once or twice a year (yeah, guilty), find the experience a bit foreign. What is there to get so passionate about? Why are so many people interested? But I do know if you connect with a team, follow that team, participate with other fans and do it all regularly, it makes sense. It is even fun. It might become a passion.
So all you folks who do the Christmas/Easter church thing and leave feeling like it is all foreign and you will never fully understand it...All you folks who don't know why anyone would worship weekly or spend time with others in Bible study...All you folks who assume if you don't have a completely awesome experience when you do occasionally come...Maybe, just maybe, you need some regular practice.
The carols, the candles, the clothes of Christmas are familiar. But the meaning, the connection with life, the significance of the event will be foreign...unless we regularly practice.
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Merry Christmas...
I wish I could say I had written this...but I share with you a poem written by a friend, Trish Holland titled "On Being Good--or Being Loved."
"I must have really been good
last year," our five year-old-mused,
"Santa brought me things
I didn't even ask for."
"He must have loved you a lot,"
responded her mother.
"He makes a list of all the good children
and all the bad children.
I must have really been good!
Doesn't he make a list, Mother?"
"That's what the song says,"
her mother agrees
preserving the myth,
but adding:
"He must have loved you a lot,"
gently preparing her
for the greater truth.
Pharisees of every age boast:
"I must have really been good!"
A child of the Living God confesses:
"He must have loved me a lot."
The true gift of Christmas is realizing how much we are loved.
Thank you Trish...and Merry Christmas everyone!
"I must have really been good
last year," our five year-old-mused,
"Santa brought me things
I didn't even ask for."
"He must have loved you a lot,"
responded her mother.
"He makes a list of all the good children
and all the bad children.
I must have really been good!
Doesn't he make a list, Mother?"
"That's what the song says,"
her mother agrees
preserving the myth,
but adding:
"He must have loved you a lot,"
gently preparing her
for the greater truth.
Pharisees of every age boast:
"I must have really been good!"
A child of the Living God confesses:
"He must have loved me a lot."
The true gift of Christmas is realizing how much we are loved.
Thank you Trish...and Merry Christmas everyone!
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Amazingly...
I wonder what Jesus did that elicited the same response in his mother. Really? This kid will change the world? Amazing...
Truth is, every "hero" in the Bible could well have a busted ball on his or her head. Amazingly, God works consistently through the ridiculously human. So, thanks be to God, I'm putting a busted ball on my head, mounting my rusty tricycle, and waiting for orders.
(And, I have extra balls if any of you want to join me!)
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Lessons...
You wonder sometimes, don't you, if God is really in control? I know in my head the sovereignty of God, but my gut gets knotted up sometimes. Not as much as it used to. Early in our lives together, Carl expressed frustration with his job by telling me he was quitting. No more ministry. Too hard. Too frustrating. Can't do it. I'm going to do something else. I quit. I would then panic and start trying to figure out how I could go to work...you know...insurance and all that kind of stuff. Couldn't nurse those babies forever. At some point we had to put food on the table.
But then, the next day, he loved his job, and my guts would unravel and we would go about our business for a bit, until he quit again. I was not a quick learner. It took me almost a year to figure this one out. I said, certainly to myself and perhaps to Carl, I'll panic when he shows me the pink slip.
I'm much better about trusting God. Jesus instruction "Do not worry" is one I do pretty well. Some things you can control and some things you cannot. But I still forget. I can still periodically waste a whole day fretting about people or actions that might happen/shouldn't happen, and I get all knotted up inside and I wonder why God hasn't fixed everything and...well you get the picture. I beat God up and I beat myself up.
So it happened this week. No really good reason. No particularly significant threat. But the knots began to multiply and the frustration bubbled up and a whole day was spent angsting over the apparent lack of God's sovereignty in the world.
And all throughout the day, God taught me lessons. Faith and contentment oozed out of the people I saw and talked to, people who really had reason to be knotted up. And then, nothing I was worried about happened. Nothing.
It could have happened. And if it had, I would have still been blessed. But it didn't. And I wasted a whole day living in fear and anger.
While waiting for the Messiah, the world's situation was grim. God certainly could have come in and wiped enemies with a blood bath. There could have been a list of winners and losers. We could have celebrated in the streets, knowing our enemies would suffer, knowing we had triumphed! But there would still be losers, still be tears, still be someone with knots in their gut.
Instead, God came as an infant. God grew into a man who reached out to enemies. God died at the hands of those whose guts were so knotted they thought that crucifixion was their only option. God spoke a resounding NO to death and sin through the life of a man who knew how to trust God with no knots.
I think the great gift of Christmas is the moment of love that washes over us when we experience the Baby. For a moment, all of us, on whatever side, in whatever circumstance, celebrate the birth of a baby. And there's nothing that unknots your gut like holding a newborn. Period.
I have been reminded, again, that God is sovereign. God is at work and no human brokenness will ultimately prevail. We will still live in mess for awhile. Unfortunately, God is still shaping us and we, the world of humanity, are not yet shaped as we need to be.
But I listened. And I pledge to work (with God's help) for that world in which we respond to each other the same way we respond to the infant Christ by living in ways that respond to people in the same way I would respond to that baby. It won't always work. I won't always succeed. It may cost me. It cost Jesus his life. But ultimately, God is and will be at work.
And that is where and how I choose to live.
But then, the next day, he loved his job, and my guts would unravel and we would go about our business for a bit, until he quit again. I was not a quick learner. It took me almost a year to figure this one out. I said, certainly to myself and perhaps to Carl, I'll panic when he shows me the pink slip.
I'm much better about trusting God. Jesus instruction "Do not worry" is one I do pretty well. Some things you can control and some things you cannot. But I still forget. I can still periodically waste a whole day fretting about people or actions that might happen/shouldn't happen, and I get all knotted up inside and I wonder why God hasn't fixed everything and...well you get the picture. I beat God up and I beat myself up.
So it happened this week. No really good reason. No particularly significant threat. But the knots began to multiply and the frustration bubbled up and a whole day was spent angsting over the apparent lack of God's sovereignty in the world.
And all throughout the day, God taught me lessons. Faith and contentment oozed out of the people I saw and talked to, people who really had reason to be knotted up. And then, nothing I was worried about happened. Nothing.
It could have happened. And if it had, I would have still been blessed. But it didn't. And I wasted a whole day living in fear and anger.
While waiting for the Messiah, the world's situation was grim. God certainly could have come in and wiped enemies with a blood bath. There could have been a list of winners and losers. We could have celebrated in the streets, knowing our enemies would suffer, knowing we had triumphed! But there would still be losers, still be tears, still be someone with knots in their gut.
Instead, God came as an infant. God grew into a man who reached out to enemies. God died at the hands of those whose guts were so knotted they thought that crucifixion was their only option. God spoke a resounding NO to death and sin through the life of a man who knew how to trust God with no knots.
I think the great gift of Christmas is the moment of love that washes over us when we experience the Baby. For a moment, all of us, on whatever side, in whatever circumstance, celebrate the birth of a baby. And there's nothing that unknots your gut like holding a newborn. Period.
I have been reminded, again, that God is sovereign. God is at work and no human brokenness will ultimately prevail. We will still live in mess for awhile. Unfortunately, God is still shaping us and we, the world of humanity, are not yet shaped as we need to be.
But I listened. And I pledge to work (with God's help) for that world in which we respond to each other the same way we respond to the infant Christ by living in ways that respond to people in the same way I would respond to that baby. It won't always work. I won't always succeed. It may cost me. It cost Jesus his life. But ultimately, God is and will be at work.
And that is where and how I choose to live.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Wonderings...
I wonder if we had told people at this time...several days before the birth of Jesus...that God was about to change the world, would they have listened?
I wonder if we had told them that God's salvation would come through a carpenter's son nobody, would they have rejoiced?
I wonder if we had told them that the willingness to be with all people--pure or unclean, Jewish or Gentile, saint or sinner--to offer all the presence of God's love, would they have accepted?
I wonder if we had told them that everything would change, that even their most revered institutions would have a new face and a new focus, that the only thing that would hold steady through all time would be the love of God for God's people, would they have let go?
God wants to change our world. God will come to work through powerless, unexpected people, God will include everyone, especially those we don't expect should be included. God will restructure and refocus, revamp and remake all our institutions. Will we go with God?
I wonder...
I wonder if we had told them that God's salvation would come through a carpenter's son nobody, would they have rejoiced?
I wonder if we had told them that the willingness to be with all people--pure or unclean, Jewish or Gentile, saint or sinner--to offer all the presence of God's love, would they have accepted?
I wonder if we had told them that everything would change, that even their most revered institutions would have a new face and a new focus, that the only thing that would hold steady through all time would be the love of God for God's people, would they have let go?
God wants to change our world. God will come to work through powerless, unexpected people, God will include everyone, especially those we don't expect should be included. God will restructure and refocus, revamp and remake all our institutions. Will we go with God?
I wonder...
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Chaos to Charming...
We rehearsed the Christmas program this morning for our Jan. 8 performance. We've invited some adults to help us out. I supposed some might question their status as adults...including themselves...but officially, they are.
Chaos ensued. I think they got most of the instructions. I know the youth and children did. I think we will be good to go. I used to really worry about whether these things would come off, but they always do. When it comes time for the actual performance, all will pay attention and not talk unless they are supposed to.
I wonder if God feels the same way. Perhaps these "between times" are simply God trying to run the rehearsal and us not paying attention, talking instead of listening, and having more fun than is humanly imaginable while not getting things accomplished. Perhaps God is shaking God's head in private and hoping that everything will come together when it matters.
I pray to God to get it done. I wonder who God prays to...
Chaos ensued. I think they got most of the instructions. I know the youth and children did. I think we will be good to go. I used to really worry about whether these things would come off, but they always do. When it comes time for the actual performance, all will pay attention and not talk unless they are supposed to.
I wonder if God feels the same way. Perhaps these "between times" are simply God trying to run the rehearsal and us not paying attention, talking instead of listening, and having more fun than is humanly imaginable while not getting things accomplished. Perhaps God is shaking God's head in private and hoping that everything will come together when it matters.
I pray to God to get it done. I wonder who God prays to...
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Transitions...
Finally...empty nest. At least technically. Hannah bought a house. Claire moved in with her. So they are moved in...but not moved out.
It's a weird time. The chaos of the move...mess and belongings tucked everywhere call out to be found and transferred. The creation of new routines and revamping relationships have begun but only barely. It will take a while to create this new world of empty nest. Blessings are to be found in the creation of new life. And old ways will have to die for new ways to take hold.
It is, perhaps, appropriate that this coincides with the last days of Advent. Because the comfort of Advent is we are waiting in the old life. We wait impatiently, but at least we wait in the comfort of what we know. When God comes, both then and now, a new life starts. Things are not the same. Things can never be the same in the starlight that illuminates the redemption of humankind.
Its a weird time, and about to get weirder if we really let go and follow God into this new way of life. Watch that star...it's getting closer...
It's a weird time. The chaos of the move...mess and belongings tucked everywhere call out to be found and transferred. The creation of new routines and revamping relationships have begun but only barely. It will take a while to create this new world of empty nest. Blessings are to be found in the creation of new life. And old ways will have to die for new ways to take hold.
It is, perhaps, appropriate that this coincides with the last days of Advent. Because the comfort of Advent is we are waiting in the old life. We wait impatiently, but at least we wait in the comfort of what we know. When God comes, both then and now, a new life starts. Things are not the same. Things can never be the same in the starlight that illuminates the redemption of humankind.
Its a weird time, and about to get weirder if we really let go and follow God into this new way of life. Watch that star...it's getting closer...
Friday, December 16, 2011
See and Hear...
Crazy days...long, crazy days. Ridiculous schedule Ridiculous life. Not that it's not fun, but a couple of "those days" that you don't even breathe.
Working with seniors midweek on their youth Sunday sermons, we read Isaiah 40:21...
Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The people of Israel, coming back from exile (a whole bunch of "those days") are reminded by the prophet that God is in control and God is and has been working on their behalf. Are you paying attention? says the prophet...you've known in the past...you've heard this all your lives. So what are you doing? What are you thinking?
For the people of Israel, exile was ridiculous...long, crazy days...sometimes they couldn't imagine where God was or what God was doing. I bet, some days, they didn't even think about God.
It's the very craziest days, though, that we need to be reminded, "Have you not known? Have you not heard?" We know that God is at work. We know how God is at work. We have heard the stories.
One more week of craziness before the celebration of the coming of God to us...to our crazy world. Have you not known? Have you not heard?
Working with seniors midweek on their youth Sunday sermons, we read Isaiah 40:21...
Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The people of Israel, coming back from exile (a whole bunch of "those days") are reminded by the prophet that God is in control and God is and has been working on their behalf. Are you paying attention? says the prophet...you've known in the past...you've heard this all your lives. So what are you doing? What are you thinking?
For the people of Israel, exile was ridiculous...long, crazy days...sometimes they couldn't imagine where God was or what God was doing. I bet, some days, they didn't even think about God.
It's the very craziest days, though, that we need to be reminded, "Have you not known? Have you not heard?" We know that God is at work. We know how God is at work. We have heard the stories.
One more week of craziness before the celebration of the coming of God to us...to our crazy world. Have you not known? Have you not heard?
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Toast...
Sign on the church I have to drive past every morning on my way to church:
"If you don't have the Bread of Life, you are TOAST..."Sign I want on my church:
"The love and grace of God has already insured your salvation. Come on in and celebrate with us!"Do I hear an AMEN?!
Monday, December 12, 2011
Eugene Peterson, Earth and Altar
Solitude in prayer is not privacy. The differences between privacy and solitude are profound. Privacy is our attempt to insulate the self from interference, solitude leaves the company of others for a time in order to listen to them more deeply, be aware of them, serve them. Privacy is getting away from others so that I don't have to be bothered with them; solitude is getting away form the crowd so that I can be instructed by the still, small voice of God, who is enthroned on the praises of the multitudes. Private prayers are selfish and thin; prayer in solitude enrolls in a multivoiced, century-layered community: with angels and archangels in all the company of heaven we sing, "holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty."I wish for you, some moments of solitude this week. May we all be nurtured and blessed by God's presence so we might re-emerge ready to stand in relationship with God and with each other.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
A Debate with Eric Weiner...
Eric Weiner is the author, most recently, of Man Seeks God: My Flirtations with the Divine. I heard him on NPR and asked for his book for Christmas. I wanted to read the book because I would like to understand why some Americans are "nones" (his language--as in "Religion? None"). His article today in the New York Times raises some of his issues. Since I am never likely to be invited into a conversation with Mr. Weiner, I will pretend I have been. So here are his comments and my replies.
Nones don’t get hung up on whether a religion is “true” or not, and instead subscribe to William James’s maxim that “truth is what works.” If a certain spiritual practice makes us better people — more loving, less angry — then it is necessarily good, and by extension “true.” (We believe that G. K. Chesterton got it right when he said: “It is the test of a good religion whether you can joke about it.”)
So, do we. Many of us believe less in "belief" and more in the "practice" of a way of life. For me, this is Christianity based because that's where my foundations are. It could be Jewish. It could be Muslim. But the practice must be based on others over self, on loving God and loving neighbor. Nones don't get hung up here...neither do most in my faith community.
By that measure, there is very little “good religion” out there. Put bluntly: God is not a lot of fun these days. Many of us don’t view religion so generously. All we see is an angry God. He is constantly judging and smiting, and so are his followers. No wonder so many Americans are enamored of the Dalai Lama. He laughs, often and well.
We are more religiously polarized than ever. In my secular, urban and urbane world, God is rarely spoken of, except in mocking, derisive tones. It is acceptable to cite the latest academic study on, say, happiness or, even better, whip out a brain scan, but God? He is for suckers, and Republicans.
Agreed that we are more and more polarized and that God is "rarely spoken of except in mocking, derisive tones," especially in your "secular, urban, and urbane world." I, too, live in a secular, urban, and urbane world, but participate in a faith community who speaks of God in completely different tones. I hear about God's faithfulness from a 93 year old African-American woman who was an educated professional in a time of extreme discrimination for her color and her gender. Her stories inspire me to seek faith. I hear young adults speak of God who challenges them to get outside their own skin...to live first for others, to seek justice and practice compassion. I hear folks who seek and grow in faith, excitedly experiencing God's active presence in their lives. I participate in a faith community made up of Republicans, Democrats, Independents, and perhaps a few more...but a community that attempts to put God as the primary focus of their lives and livings, not their political stripes. I can assure you the people in my faith community aren't "suckers," though the secular world focused on themselves and their own welfare often thinks "loving your neighbor at the risk of your own life and happiness" is foolish.
Agreed that we are more and more polarized and that God is "rarely spoken of except in mocking, derisive tones," especially in your "secular, urban, and urbane world." I, too, live in a secular, urban, and urbane world, but participate in a faith community who speaks of God in completely different tones. I hear about God's faithfulness from a 93 year old African-American woman who was an educated professional in a time of extreme discrimination for her color and her gender. Her stories inspire me to seek faith. I hear young adults speak of God who challenges them to get outside their own skin...to live first for others, to seek justice and practice compassion. I hear folks who seek and grow in faith, excitedly experiencing God's active presence in their lives. I participate in a faith community made up of Republicans, Democrats, Independents, and perhaps a few more...but a community that attempts to put God as the primary focus of their lives and livings, not their political stripes. I can assure you the people in my faith community aren't "suckers," though the secular world focused on themselves and their own welfare often thinks "loving your neighbor at the risk of your own life and happiness" is foolish.
I used to be that way, too, until a health scare and the onset of middle age created a crisis of faith, and I ventured to the other side. I quickly discovered that I didn’t fit there, either. I am not a True Believer. I am a rationalist. I believe the Enlightenment was a very good thing, and don’t wish to return to an age of raw superstition.
Nothing about my faith practice is "raw superstition." I read a text of a people and their encounter with God. I participate in faith practices that have, over time, shown their power to bring me as human into an encounter with God. Some days, I wonder if there is a God. Shortly thereafter, God overwhelms me with God's presence and I doubt no more--until I do. Some days I hate organized religion--it is, after all, a human institution. Most days, I am humbled and honored that God chooses to do God's work with and through us. God doesn't benefit from my/our participation, but I/we surely do.
If I want to play sports, I cannot spend time bouncing around different sports finding the best "fit." I will never be successful. Instead, I find the place I want to start and I commit to practice every day, small skill by small skill, until I begin to succeed. Religion is not God. The responsible practice of a religion is a gift from God that helps us open ourselves to a God who is always there waiting for us. (The irresponsible practice no doubt can be harmful...but so can the irresponsible practice of science.)
We Nones may not believe in God, but we hope to one day. We have a dog in this hunt.
We Nones may not believe in God, but we hope to one day. We have a dog in this hunt.
I am glad you hope to. But it usually takes more than hope. Believe me. I've hoped to be tall and skinny for 53 years. I've got the tall part...but only "hoping" doesn't accomplish a hill of beans.
Nones don’t get hung up on whether a religion is “true” or not, and instead subscribe to William James’s maxim that “truth is what works.” If a certain spiritual practice makes us better people — more loving, less angry — then it is necessarily good, and by extension “true.” (We believe that G. K. Chesterton got it right when he said: “It is the test of a good religion whether you can joke about it.”)
So, do we. Many of us believe less in "belief" and more in the "practice" of a way of life. For me, this is Christianity based because that's where my foundations are. It could be Jewish. It could be Muslim. But the practice must be based on others over self, on loving God and loving neighbor. Nones don't get hung up here...neither do most in my faith community.
By that measure, there is very little “good religion” out there. Put bluntly: God is not a lot of fun these days. Many of us don’t view religion so generously. All we see is an angry God. He is constantly judging and smiting, and so are his followers. No wonder so many Americans are enamored of the Dalai Lama. He laughs, often and well.
My question...where are you looking to see this God? Media depictions? Politicians? One or two churches? TV preachers? Keep looking. We laugh, and laugh hard. We cry with each other when we suffer. We know who God is because we study...and I mean study scripture...wrestling with the passages we hate...loving the ones we love...but listening and not choosing "what kind of God we want." God often laughs. God often cries. God also judges and cleanses and occasionally smites. When God does smite, humans usually deserve it. I'll jump on your bandwagon with both feet on God's followers judging and smiting. Not our job. Ever. But many of us know that and fight against our very human propensity to do so. But I need a God who is more than just "fun."
Precious few of our religious leaders laugh. They shout. God is not an exclamation point, though. He is, at his best, a semicolon, connecting people, and generating what Aldous Huxley called “human grace.” Somewhere along the way, we’ve lost sight of this.
Precious few of our religious leaders laugh. They shout. God is not an exclamation point, though. He is, at his best, a semicolon, connecting people, and generating what Aldous Huxley called “human grace.” Somewhere along the way, we’ve lost sight of this.
Not all of us. Not all of us.
Religion and politics, though often spoken about in the same breath, are, of course, fundamentally different. Politics is, by definition, a public activity. Though religion contains large public components, it is at core a personal affair. It is the relationship we have with ourselves or, as the British philosopher Alfred North Whitehead said, “What the individual does with his solitariness.” There lies the problem: how to talk about the private nature of religion publicly.
Religion and politics, though often spoken about in the same breath, are, of course, fundamentally different. Politics is, by definition, a public activity. Though religion contains large public components, it is at core a personal affair. It is the relationship we have with ourselves or, as the British philosopher Alfred North Whitehead said, “What the individual does with his solitariness.” There lies the problem: how to talk about the private nature of religion publicly.
Religion is always personal...never private. We can't learn to talk about it with each other if we mistakenly assume it is a private matter. We practice talking. Sometimes we get it right...sometimes we don't. But we don't stop talking in faith community because when we talk it out there, we can speak God's love in the world. But you are right that religion and politics are fundamentally different. If we really used our politics to shape the world as God wants it shaped in the bibilcal text, we would live in heaven on earth--and so would every other person.
What is the solution? The answer, I think, lies in the sort of entrepreneurial spirit that has long defined America, including religious America.
We need a Steve Jobs of religion. Someone (or ones) who can invent not a new religion but, rather, a new way of being religious. Like Mr. Jobs’s creations, this new way would be straightforward and unencumbered and absolutely intuitive. Most important, it would be highly interactive. I imagine a religious space that celebrates doubt, encourages experimentation and allows one to utter the word God without embarrassment. A religious operating system for the Nones among us. And for all of us.
What is the solution? The answer, I think, lies in the sort of entrepreneurial spirit that has long defined America, including religious America.
We need a Steve Jobs of religion. Someone (or ones) who can invent not a new religion but, rather, a new way of being religious. Like Mr. Jobs’s creations, this new way would be straightforward and unencumbered and absolutely intuitive. Most important, it would be highly interactive. I imagine a religious space that celebrates doubt, encourages experimentation and allows one to utter the word God without embarrassment. A religious operating system for the Nones among us. And for all of us.
Not all religious communities can live in this straightforward, unencumbered, intuitive, and interactive way. Many do. Our community often celebrates doubt...faith that is absolutely certain is not faith at all. We are always experimenting..."reformed and always reforming." Sometimes we really screw up. Sometimes, when our actions reflect God's purposes, we change the world. So keep looking. Bring your vision and your energy to those communities open to these ideas. But also remember that any religion based solely on our personal needs and desires becomes instantly idolatrous--serving to reinforce a worship of ourselves and our preferences instead of a worship of the Other who keeps us focused on gracious, generous, and compassionate service.
I have a new I-phone...and while it's mostly intuitive, I can't figure everything out. Today, I had a lesson from a friend on how to find a contact. Duh..but I needed the guidance on what I couldn't do for myself. And if you'll remember, Steve Jobs did a whole bunch of judging and some degree of smiting to refine his ideas into products that changed the world.
So, Mr. Weiner, I look forward to reading your book...even though I think you are going to piss me off. And I hope you will think about all those PC users, those "Apple Nones," or even more sad, all those who refuse to ever use a computer at all, who will never experience the joy of the new, the better, the connection, the (fill-in-the-blank). I hope you will think about your frustration with those people who decide before they experience the possibilties, who refuse to participate because they've already decided what it will be like.
And, Mr. Weiner, I invite you to become part of one of those religious communities who are very much exactly as you dream. We are never perfect. We never will be. But your practice, and that of your fellow "nones" just might get us closer. Come up the drive; meet us out serving the world. We promise not to paint you all with the same brush...will you do the same?
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Letting go...
Today, a friend who I greatly admire had to take a sick day from work. It was a last minute thing...but he managed somehow to leave instructions for every last possibility. Leave nothing to chance or other people. It's all important. Be sure it's covered.
This morning, we heard a remarkable sermon. I mean, take-your-breath-away-remarkable...a sermon that ushers you into the presence of the Almighty God whose salvation is for us and the entire world. That God whose works are so extraordinary that the floods and the hills cry out for joy was palpably real in this sermon. We thought perhaps worship was available, so we took a break after this sermon to see if everyone on campus could hear it...we wanted this Word proclaimed...this Encounter shared.
It was covered. Better not change it. And it wasn't bad, but it wasn't take-your-breath-away-remarkable.
Today, I am reminded that God is God. That when I over-function, God's plans might be slowed. I am grateful for my encounter with the Holy. May I never get in the way of an encounter for someone else.
This morning, we heard a remarkable sermon. I mean, take-your-breath-away-remarkable...a sermon that ushers you into the presence of the Almighty God whose salvation is for us and the entire world. That God whose works are so extraordinary that the floods and the hills cry out for joy was palpably real in this sermon. We thought perhaps worship was available, so we took a break after this sermon to see if everyone on campus could hear it...we wanted this Word proclaimed...this Encounter shared.
It was covered. Better not change it. And it wasn't bad, but it wasn't take-your-breath-away-remarkable.
Today, I am reminded that God is God. That when I over-function, God's plans might be slowed. I am grateful for my encounter with the Holy. May I never get in the way of an encounter for someone else.
Friday, December 9, 2011
...when we venture into prayer, every word may, at any moment, come to mean just what it means and involve us with a holy God who wills our holiness. All we had counted on was some religious small talk, a little numinous gossip, and we are suddenly involved, without intending it and without having calculated the consequences, in something eternal...
We want life on our conditions, not on God's conditions. Praying puts us at risk of getting involved in God's conditions. Be slow to pray. Praying most often doesn't get us what we want but what God wants, something quite at variance with what we conceive to be in our best interests. And when we realize what is going on, it is often too late to go back. Be slow to pray. (Eugene Peterson, Working the Angles)Advent...purported to be a season of prayer, preparation, and waiting. I hope you are avoiding prayer with your busy schedule. I am trying to. Being involved in something eternal...getting us to what God wants...do we really want to go there this Advent season?
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Quiet Times...
Not much to say today. I've listened and read, keeping in mind I need a blog post. Nothing. Usually it's pretty easy to find a focus if you are listening, but not today.
As I sat down this morning, I heard a word. Maybe preparation means being quiet sometimes. Maybe today I need to listen instead of worrying about what to say...
The end.
As I sat down this morning, I heard a word. Maybe preparation means being quiet sometimes. Maybe today I need to listen instead of worrying about what to say...
The end.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Details...
I have a child buying her first house. Aside from feeling really old to have a child buying a house, it is entertaining to watch her struggle with the minutiae involved in securing a loan. First they tell her one thing, then another...and every change holds the potential to slow the process or push back the closing.
Welcome to the real world, huh...
I remember as a young teen beginning to understand that the world was difficult. It happened first at church for me. When I was 12 we got a new "preacher." He was pretty entertaining, but he began to preach a message opposite everything I had heard. "Once saved, always saved" became "Yes but, if you aren't doing these things or believing these things, then you weren't really saved the first time." "For God so loved the world" became "God loves those who love HIM (only a male God, of course), and everyone else will suffer eternal judgment and punishment." "Trusting in God's grace" became "working to earn God's love." I just didn't buy it...at all. That just wasn't the God I saw in scripture... then or now. And that doesn't even get to the hours and hours we spent examining the end times in the Revelation of John. Didn't buy that one either. (Though when the church remodeled the sanctuary and huge holes were carved out of the ceiling for lighting, the joke that the church was creating holes to heaven to give themselves a head start when the rapture came...that was funny.)
I love Christmas...and Easter...and Pentecost...and birthdays. But we don't get to a birthday without living in the messy minutiae of the other 364 days in the year. So even more, I love Advent, Lent, Ordinary Time. That is where God meets me in the difficulty. And that's when I need the promise of God's coming...new life...resurrection.
God in the real world...that's the God I need.
Welcome to the real world, huh...
I remember as a young teen beginning to understand that the world was difficult. It happened first at church for me. When I was 12 we got a new "preacher." He was pretty entertaining, but he began to preach a message opposite everything I had heard. "Once saved, always saved" became "Yes but, if you aren't doing these things or believing these things, then you weren't really saved the first time." "For God so loved the world" became "God loves those who love HIM (only a male God, of course), and everyone else will suffer eternal judgment and punishment." "Trusting in God's grace" became "working to earn God's love." I just didn't buy it...at all. That just wasn't the God I saw in scripture... then or now. And that doesn't even get to the hours and hours we spent examining the end times in the Revelation of John. Didn't buy that one either. (Though when the church remodeled the sanctuary and huge holes were carved out of the ceiling for lighting, the joke that the church was creating holes to heaven to give themselves a head start when the rapture came...that was funny.)
I love Christmas...and Easter...and Pentecost...and birthdays. But we don't get to a birthday without living in the messy minutiae of the other 364 days in the year. So even more, I love Advent, Lent, Ordinary Time. That is where God meets me in the difficulty. And that's when I need the promise of God's coming...new life...resurrection.
God in the real world...that's the God I need.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Advent Lessons in Cleaning...
I've been doing a lot of cleaning lately, and I'm reminded of some lessons I've learned over the years:
- You cannot make time stand still. All those cute little school projects I saved for my children are unwanted and unneeded. They have moved on. As much as I would love to preserve those ahwwww moments, I cannot. The macaroni self-portrait Claire made when she was 4 with straight spaghetti on one side and curly noodles on the other (reflecting her unique hair) cannot hold up, attracts bugs, and is completely unwanted by the artist. Instead, it's a story to be told that shapes our present and future. Celebrate the moment, then throw the paper away. Another moment is coming.
- Too much stuff is as difficult as too little. If there is nowhere to put something away, 1) you don't need it or 2) you need to get rid of something else.
- Identify the present task and stick. to. it. Attention Deficit Cleaning Disorder is deadly. (If you clean, you know what I'm talking about. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you better help your spouse/parents clean more!)
- It never ends. Something always needs to be cleaned out, straightened up, made right.
The temptation of Advent is to hurry it up. Most churches can't follow a straight Advent celebration. The temptation to jump to Christmas is strong...too strong. We know the good news is coming, why shouldn't we just skip the preparation stuff and celebrate. Wouldn't that be what God wants us to do?
Christmas doesn't make time stand still. God "moving into the neighborhood" (as Peterson puts it in his paraphrase of John 1) happens again and again. It is not a cute little project. It is a story told that shapes our present and future. It is a story that comes and goes and comes again, completely beyond our control. Don't hang onto the past moments. Celebrate and look for the next one.
Christmas can't come if there is too much other stuff going on. Advent is the preparation work for the good news. If our lives and hearts are stuffed full already, God has no place to come into. Advent does the hard work of clearing out...of making room. If Christmas comes too early, there is no place for it to stay.
We need to stay focused. It is incredibly hard not to worry about the "what's next" while we ignore the needs of now.
We need to stay focused. It is incredibly hard not to worry about the "what's next" while we ignore the needs of now.
We are human. Until the ultimate coming of God's Kingdom we must always be preparing. We always hang onto the past. We always collect too much stuff. We always to be cleaned out, straightened up, made right.
So while we are cleaning up in preparation for our Christmas festivities, let's not forget the importance of our Advent cleaning. So Advent during Advent. Christmas during Christmas. Both will be better.
So while we are cleaning up in preparation for our Christmas festivities, let's not forget the importance of our Advent cleaning. So Advent during Advent. Christmas during Christmas. Both will be better.
Monday, December 5, 2011
For Now...
Stealing one from my daughter. She babysat recently for a cute seven-year-old who was more than slightly obsessed with the world of spies. "Stand over there," he commanded, conspiratorially, of course. "Stand over there and act normal." So, she did...as best she could. Later, she sidled back up to him and said, "How was that? Pretty normal, huh?!"
"Yeah," he replied.
"'Cause I am normal...really...just normal," she says.
He looked up at her, as only a seven-year-old spy could. Pause....
"For now."
That's the season of Advent, isn't it? Our life...for now...waiting for the in-breaking of the Kingdom of God. Come quickly, O God...come quickly.
And we will wait...for now...
"Yeah," he replied.
"'Cause I am normal...really...just normal," she says.
He looked up at her, as only a seven-year-old spy could. Pause....
"For now."
That's the season of Advent, isn't it? Our life...for now...waiting for the in-breaking of the Kingdom of God. Come quickly, O God...come quickly.
And we will wait...for now...
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Missed a day...
My goal is to post every day during Advent. Notice I didn't make that public. And yesterday, I missed a day.
Already.
Day 6.
Saturday.
I mean, come on. Saturday? Of all days you would think there would be time to post a blog....Saturday?!
So now it is Sunday and I am preparing for Sunday school with children and youth who are working on a Christmas program....and some unsuspecting adults who will be tapped. I am preparing for worship...each Sunday a walk through death and resurrection...each Sunday an opportunity to claim, live into, and practice new life. And then we are going to dedicate the "white house"...another opportunity in this community for healing and new life. It looks great...I'll try to post a picture tomorrow and you can compare the before and after.
My point in all this is...well I don't really know. What I do know is today and every day I have a promise of new life. I live in a forgiven state...for the things I do and the things I have left undone as they would say in most Presbyterian Churches...
And it is still Advent.
Already.
Day 6.
Saturday.
I mean, come on. Saturday? Of all days you would think there would be time to post a blog....Saturday?!
So now it is Sunday and I am preparing for Sunday school with children and youth who are working on a Christmas program....and some unsuspecting adults who will be tapped. I am preparing for worship...each Sunday a walk through death and resurrection...each Sunday an opportunity to claim, live into, and practice new life. And then we are going to dedicate the "white house"...another opportunity in this community for healing and new life. It looks great...I'll try to post a picture tomorrow and you can compare the before and after.
My point in all this is...well I don't really know. What I do know is today and every day I have a promise of new life. I live in a forgiven state...for the things I do and the things I have left undone as they would say in most Presbyterian Churches...
And it is still Advent.
Friday, December 2, 2011
Open Season...
At a worship service deep in the south...really deep. The service focused on the text from Matthew 19 where Jesus suggests that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. The sermon was okay, the music was pretty good, but the lay commentary from a wealthy member who loves to hunt was the best interpretation of this text.
"It's not open season on the rich, it's open season on people who don't use their time and talents." Money is a gift that some people have. All of us have financial resources and a call to give generously in gratitude to God. Statistics show that the wealthiest American Christians give only .2% more of their income to charitable causes than the poorest American Christians...those who make up to 12,499 a year give 5.5% of their income (average) and those making $90,000+ give 5.7%. Everyone in between gives even less.
This wealthy member sees wealth as a responsibility and a gift. His perspective is that with great wealth comes great responsibility. That man is putting camels through needle eyes--and example for all of us.
"It's not open season on the rich, it's open season on people who don't use their time and talents." Money is a gift that some people have. All of us have financial resources and a call to give generously in gratitude to God. Statistics show that the wealthiest American Christians give only .2% more of their income to charitable causes than the poorest American Christians...those who make up to 12,499 a year give 5.5% of their income (average) and those making $90,000+ give 5.7%. Everyone in between gives even less.
This wealthy member sees wealth as a responsibility and a gift. His perspective is that with great wealth comes great responsibility. That man is putting camels through needle eyes--and example for all of us.
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Accomplishments...
As you prepare for a party, you tend to make lists and check off accomplishments. As I am up at the crack of dawn with a dog who must go outside and several chores to be done, I am watching Newt Gingrich list a multitude of accomplishments...many of which are being discounted by the press. It is almost comical to watch any politician try to find just the right action which will appeal to the voters and transform them into the super-politician that can sweep us off our feet and solve all our problems (ha!). Whether it is fighting the cold war or inventing the internet, images of a five-year-old waving an art piece in your face for ultimate approval emerge.
At the end of the day--yep, party day--I will wait for guests to arrive with a list in my head. Reasonably clean, check. Decent food, check. Pretty tables, check. Pants zipped, check. And whether I want to or not, this will be the list I am waving in my very human effort to earn my keep, to get "their" approval.
During Advent, are we waiting with our lists clutched in our hands , looking at our checkmarks to see if we will be primary in the coming Kingdom? or do we wait with open hearts for the work of God to become visible to our eyes when we raise them from what we have done to what God is doing...
At the end of the day--yep, party day--I will wait for guests to arrive with a list in my head. Reasonably clean, check. Decent food, check. Pretty tables, check. Pants zipped, check. And whether I want to or not, this will be the list I am waving in my very human effort to earn my keep, to get "their" approval.
During Advent, are we waiting with our lists clutched in our hands , looking at our checkmarks to see if we will be primary in the coming Kingdom? or do we wait with open hearts for the work of God to become visible to our eyes when we raise them from what we have done to what God is doing...
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Wait a Minute...
I went to a meeting last night. It was one in a series. Most of the meetings up to this point have been energetic, passionate. These meetings have revolved around problems/issues, or perhaps a conflict in vision between groups.
Last night's meeting was slated for solutions...and the energy seemed to dissolve. We put some ideas on the table--or on the white board--but nothing captured the intensity and the passion of the previous discussion. I was disappointed. I wanted the focus to be as intense on problem-solving as on problem-speaking. I wanted creative interaction with each other. I wanted connection with each other, the issues, the solutions, and the God that calls us to serve.
But, I think we needed to get home for dinner. I think we were tired from the intensity of what has gone before. I think solutions are much harder than problems.
So in this Advent season, I wondered what lesson was to be learned. And I am brought back to waiting. Looking at the biblical story, we, the people of God, spend most of our time waiting. Moments of clarity and insight exist...and those are the stories we tend to know. Moses and the burning bush inspires us with a clear, purposeful call story. King David and the interaction with the prophet, Nathan, teaches us that even the most powerful make major mistakes and are held accountable. But in the betweens, in the part we don't usually read because it's not exciting, the people of God wait.
What is also true, regardless of the energy level or the available clarity, is that God is working. When he finally did encounter the burning bush, Moses had been a shepherd for a while, prepared by God through moments of great danger, great privilege, murderous intensity, and desert wanderings. But outside of those few memorable moments, mostly there was waiting.
So we will continue to work, and wait. And we will claim the promise of the Advent season in all times ...in the waiting we can know that God is at work bringing salvation to us and to our world.
Last night's meeting was slated for solutions...and the energy seemed to dissolve. We put some ideas on the table--or on the white board--but nothing captured the intensity and the passion of the previous discussion. I was disappointed. I wanted the focus to be as intense on problem-solving as on problem-speaking. I wanted creative interaction with each other. I wanted connection with each other, the issues, the solutions, and the God that calls us to serve.
But, I think we needed to get home for dinner. I think we were tired from the intensity of what has gone before. I think solutions are much harder than problems.
So in this Advent season, I wondered what lesson was to be learned. And I am brought back to waiting. Looking at the biblical story, we, the people of God, spend most of our time waiting. Moments of clarity and insight exist...and those are the stories we tend to know. Moses and the burning bush inspires us with a clear, purposeful call story. King David and the interaction with the prophet, Nathan, teaches us that even the most powerful make major mistakes and are held accountable. But in the betweens, in the part we don't usually read because it's not exciting, the people of God wait.
What is also true, regardless of the energy level or the available clarity, is that God is working. When he finally did encounter the burning bush, Moses had been a shepherd for a while, prepared by God through moments of great danger, great privilege, murderous intensity, and desert wanderings. But outside of those few memorable moments, mostly there was waiting.
So we will continue to work, and wait. And we will claim the promise of the Advent season in all times ...in the waiting we can know that God is at work bringing salvation to us and to our world.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Hospitality...
There's a party planned. T minus three days and counting. 32 women, a number of dead chickens, vegetables because we are women and try to be healthy...mix with a little wine...whoopee! Party!
I really thought this would be a good idea two months ago when we all sat in a very noisy restaurant trying to talk to each other. Seemed pretty easy. Everyone is pitching in for the cost of the food. Simple...easy.
But preparing for a party, especially one for Presbyterian Women, especially one for many women who have never been to your home can be a bit nerve wracking. I want to practice hospitality. I fight against practicing perfectionism.
Like my house is anywhere near perfect anyway...not a chance. There is always a project brewing--a direct result of not enough time or money to just do/get everything you want. Something is always out of place, especially now with two adult children home with all there stuff...especially now with carefully placed furnishings pushed up against the walls to make room for tables.
In this Advent season, we are asked to prepare for the coming of God's Kingdom...for the inbreaking of God into our real lives...our messy, nowhere near perfect lives. I've spent a lot of energy today creating some beauty to enjoy together, some space in which we can eat and visit and get to know each other a bit better.
I guess we could wait for perfection and then have the PW to our homes....like never. Or we could open ourselves to the hospitality of being together...of relationship building...of breaking bread and becoming family. (Which, by the way, is the goal I keep reminding myself of!!!)
Perhaps the coming of the Kingdom is tied to risking our imperfection with each other...opening up to each other and risking exposing our messy, nowhere near perfect lives to other people. Perhaps the coming of the Kingdom is opening our messy, nowhere near perfect lives to God.
I really thought this would be a good idea two months ago when we all sat in a very noisy restaurant trying to talk to each other. Seemed pretty easy. Everyone is pitching in for the cost of the food. Simple...easy.
But preparing for a party, especially one for Presbyterian Women, especially one for many women who have never been to your home can be a bit nerve wracking. I want to practice hospitality. I fight against practicing perfectionism.
Like my house is anywhere near perfect anyway...not a chance. There is always a project brewing--a direct result of not enough time or money to just do/get everything you want. Something is always out of place, especially now with two adult children home with all there stuff...especially now with carefully placed furnishings pushed up against the walls to make room for tables.
In this Advent season, we are asked to prepare for the coming of God's Kingdom...for the inbreaking of God into our real lives...our messy, nowhere near perfect lives. I've spent a lot of energy today creating some beauty to enjoy together, some space in which we can eat and visit and get to know each other a bit better.
I guess we could wait for perfection and then have the PW to our homes....like never. Or we could open ourselves to the hospitality of being together...of relationship building...of breaking bread and becoming family. (Which, by the way, is the goal I keep reminding myself of!!!)
Perhaps the coming of the Kingdom is tied to risking our imperfection with each other...opening up to each other and risking exposing our messy, nowhere near perfect lives to other people. Perhaps the coming of the Kingdom is opening our messy, nowhere near perfect lives to God.
Monday, November 28, 2011
Two Moons in Advent...
David Brooks, in a column titles "The Two Moons" laid out an interesting theory.
Churches apparently fear a "[loss of] identity and cohesion if their members compromise with the larger world" so scientific understandings of why people are gay are ignored and condemnation practiced for their "choice" of lifestyle...then attempts to exclude them from church...then, exclusion of anyone who doesn't exclude them...and so on....This also holds for ordination of women, literal interpretation of the Bible, and other issues.
Fear leads to erecting clear and rigid boundaries separating themselves from their enemies...their perceived enemies...all those they decide are their enemies. The fellowship group...the churches moving to other denominations...ones perceived to be on the "right side" of the issue. Conservative churches, progressive churches, white churches, black churches...we choose our side and dig in our heels.
If a church doesn't leave the denomination as their attempt to define boundaries, they get really concerned about "rules and pledges and become hypervigilant about deviationism." One church I know gives their inquirers a list of questions that they must answer correctly before they can be approved. Most of those questions aren't studied until our second year of seminary. Many focused on controversial issues that if answered "wrong" would disqualify a person from approval. All this for what is supposed to be a process of "beginning to explore a call to ministry." Fear insists that no one who "deviates" in the slightest from what the church has determined "orthodoxy" can be allowed to serve as a minister of Word and Sacrament.
Churches more interested in protecting their special interests than converting outsiders? That speaks for itself. Encased in an epistemic cocoon? Totally concerned about what they think...what is "right and wrong"...a tightly wrapped enclosure of correct beliefs and thoughts...determined completely by the organization. What would Jesus do? I think do is the operative word. Jesus might stick around to challenge the status quo. He might ask us if we are feeding hungry, clothing naked, bring the Kingdom of God into our here and now. Or he might just shake the dust off his sandals and leave the American church to its own insanity.
As a child, I was taught that we "Christians" didn't shine our own light, we reflected the light of God. We did a lot of Bible study to understand who God was, especially God in Jesus, so that we could know who we were supposed to be...so that we could reflect God's light in the world. And if we are looking at Jesus to understand who God is and how we are expected to live, we see loving our neighbor as ourselves as our highest priority...and no exclusions apply. We don't get to love only the straight, the conservative, the progressive, the nice. We are invited into the difficulty of being and living together, seeking the path that invites people into the Kingdom. That requires Bible study together. That requires patience and struggle. Most of all, that requires us to let go of fear...to let God be God.
As we begin the Advent season, we cry out to God to fix us. Things have to be better. Things used to be better. So we are looking forward to this little baby to come. We love Christmas. That little baby fits neatly into our lives...sweet, cuddly, not threatening, not demanding. We are so desperate for help that we hurry Christmas...singing a token Advent hymn but including Christmas music so we don't have to stay in the dark places.
Perhaps the gift of Advent--the search for hope in despair, life in death--is the practice of not giving in to the fear that inevitably arises when we pause in the darkness. But as much as we would like the baby Jesus to be our Sun, it's the adult Jesus that teaches us what we need to do to reflect the light of God. We can't lay around and look cute and expect people to come in and commit. We have to live in a different way...a difficult way that requires everything of us.
The world needs a sun. The world needs a Son.
In 1951, Samuel Lubell invented the concept of the political solar system. At any moment, he wrote, there is a Sun Party (the majority party, which drives the agenda) and a Moon Party (the minority party, which shines by reflecting the solar rays).Brooks goes on to theorize that we don't have a "Sun Party" today. Both political parties are equal.
In these circumstances, both parties have developed minority mentalities. The Republicans feel oppressed by the cultural establishment, and Democrats feel oppressed by the corporate establishment. They embrace the mental habits that have always been adopted by those who feel themselves resisting the onslaught of a dominant culture.
Their main fear is that they will lose their identity and cohesion if their members compromise with the larger world. They erect clear and rigid boundaries separating themselves from their enemies. In a hostile world, they erect rules and pledges and become hypervigilant about deviationism. They are more interested in protecting their special interests than converting outsiders. They slowly encase themselves in an epistemic cocoon.Sometimes we take a path in life and then we watch our behaviors change. Other times we look at behaviors and recognize we have changed paths. I am looking at the behaviors of the church of Jesus Christ, and what I see is a path reflecting two moons. I am not sure what the moons are, but I'm thinking churches are caught up in reflecting each other.
Churches apparently fear a "[loss of] identity and cohesion if their members compromise with the larger world" so scientific understandings of why people are gay are ignored and condemnation practiced for their "choice" of lifestyle...then attempts to exclude them from church...then, exclusion of anyone who doesn't exclude them...and so on....This also holds for ordination of women, literal interpretation of the Bible, and other issues.
Fear leads to erecting clear and rigid boundaries separating themselves from their enemies...their perceived enemies...all those they decide are their enemies. The fellowship group...the churches moving to other denominations...ones perceived to be on the "right side" of the issue. Conservative churches, progressive churches, white churches, black churches...we choose our side and dig in our heels.
If a church doesn't leave the denomination as their attempt to define boundaries, they get really concerned about "rules and pledges and become hypervigilant about deviationism." One church I know gives their inquirers a list of questions that they must answer correctly before they can be approved. Most of those questions aren't studied until our second year of seminary. Many focused on controversial issues that if answered "wrong" would disqualify a person from approval. All this for what is supposed to be a process of "beginning to explore a call to ministry." Fear insists that no one who "deviates" in the slightest from what the church has determined "orthodoxy" can be allowed to serve as a minister of Word and Sacrament.
Churches more interested in protecting their special interests than converting outsiders? That speaks for itself. Encased in an epistemic cocoon? Totally concerned about what they think...what is "right and wrong"...a tightly wrapped enclosure of correct beliefs and thoughts...determined completely by the organization. What would Jesus do? I think do is the operative word. Jesus might stick around to challenge the status quo. He might ask us if we are feeding hungry, clothing naked, bring the Kingdom of God into our here and now. Or he might just shake the dust off his sandals and leave the American church to its own insanity.
As a child, I was taught that we "Christians" didn't shine our own light, we reflected the light of God. We did a lot of Bible study to understand who God was, especially God in Jesus, so that we could know who we were supposed to be...so that we could reflect God's light in the world. And if we are looking at Jesus to understand who God is and how we are expected to live, we see loving our neighbor as ourselves as our highest priority...and no exclusions apply. We don't get to love only the straight, the conservative, the progressive, the nice. We are invited into the difficulty of being and living together, seeking the path that invites people into the Kingdom. That requires Bible study together. That requires patience and struggle. Most of all, that requires us to let go of fear...to let God be God.
As we begin the Advent season, we cry out to God to fix us. Things have to be better. Things used to be better. So we are looking forward to this little baby to come. We love Christmas. That little baby fits neatly into our lives...sweet, cuddly, not threatening, not demanding. We are so desperate for help that we hurry Christmas...singing a token Advent hymn but including Christmas music so we don't have to stay in the dark places.
Perhaps the gift of Advent--the search for hope in despair, life in death--is the practice of not giving in to the fear that inevitably arises when we pause in the darkness. But as much as we would like the baby Jesus to be our Sun, it's the adult Jesus that teaches us what we need to do to reflect the light of God. We can't lay around and look cute and expect people to come in and commit. We have to live in a different way...a difficult way that requires everything of us.
The world needs a sun. The world needs a Son.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Self-made?
An advertisement in Time magazine caught my eye. There sits Richard Branson, million/billionaire, in his private jet, handsomely coiffed, getting ready to fly a paper airplane. Caption reads..."Self-made Man."
I call BS...and I bet his mother does, too. Did he feed himself and wipe his own bottom those first two years? Does he single-handedly make, fly, repair, advertise, and clean his fleet at Virgin Airlines? Does he grow the food he eats? Spin the yarn he wears? Cut his own beautiful gray hair? Did he build his abode? Construct his car? Refine his gas?
In this season of encouraging gratitude, maybe we all need to step back and take a good look at how very interconnected we are. None, not one, of us is self-made. We all should be saying "thank you" to all those around us. We are only "me" because we are "us."
I call BS...and I bet his mother does, too. Did he feed himself and wipe his own bottom those first two years? Does he single-handedly make, fly, repair, advertise, and clean his fleet at Virgin Airlines? Does he grow the food he eats? Spin the yarn he wears? Cut his own beautiful gray hair? Did he build his abode? Construct his car? Refine his gas?
In this season of encouraging gratitude, maybe we all need to step back and take a good look at how very interconnected we are. None, not one, of us is self-made. We all should be saying "thank you" to all those around us. We are only "me" because we are "us."
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Being a "Christian" in the 21st century is an interesting endeavor. Seems like mostly it is about how we feel...loved, comforted, supported, challenged (perhaps), peaceful. (Because that is what we mostly talk with each other about.) We act like it is mostly about what we think...virgin birth, how we practice baptism, Lord's Supper practices, who can serve as ordained clergy. (Because that is what we spend our energy fighting about.)
So what do we actually do with our faith? With our identity as "Christian."
Shirley Guthrie (Christian Doctrine) shares an interesting comment (p. 272):
Maybe instead of Amazing Grace, our new theme song could be the the Dwarves song from Snow White...Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's Off to Work we Go!
So what do we actually do with our faith? With our identity as "Christian."
Shirley Guthrie (Christian Doctrine) shares an interesting comment (p. 272):
To be a Christian is not just to expect the presence of God in the depths of our own and others' suffering; it is to expect the active work of God in our individual lives, in the church, and in the world to create a new humanity in a new world in which the life, justice, and peace of the kingdom of God will finally triumph over the powers of sin, evil, suffering, injustice, and death.How, if we expected "work" and not a feeling or a belief, would our participation in this practice we call Christianity change? And the specific "work" is the creation of a new humanity...
Maybe instead of Amazing Grace, our new theme song could be the the Dwarves song from Snow White...Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's Off to Work we Go!
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Assumptions...
Caught the end of a news story about a school district somewhere which is feeding their students lunch mid-morning (10:30 ish). The interview included a few administrators explaining that most of their kids are on the bus between 5:45 and 6:30 a.m and many might not have breakfast, so they decided this was a good thing to do. Mostly, though, we heard the dissatisfied folks from the district, and then a spewing of condemnation from the talking heads on the news.
Now perhaps we could discuss why students need to be on a school bus at 5:45 in the morning, but here is the question I am left asking...
Do people really think the school administration and powers that be got together and said:
Answers would be welcomed!
Now perhaps we could discuss why students need to be on a school bus at 5:45 in the morning, but here is the question I am left asking...
Do people really think the school administration and powers that be got together and said:
OK...I know how we can really screw up these children. Let's force them to eat lunch at 10:30. That will totally mess up their systems and their families and send everyone to therapy for the psychological damage and to physicians for the physical damage. YES! LET'S DO IT!!!How do we live together, trusting that we are trying to do our best? How do we deal with the few instances of people who shouldn't be trusted without refusing to trust everyone? How do we learn to listen again to each other so we understand at the deepest levels what the other needs? How does our faith fit into these questions, does it provide us a way forward or does it become yet another destructive force?
Answers would be welcomed!
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
The New Normal...
TV talking heads this morning are speculating whether or not Americans will have to accept this economy/unemployment/inertia as the "new normal." They quoted someone who was asking the question as it related to American productivity. Fewer workers can do more with technology...therefore, never again as many jobs. It was mighty early, so I don't remember the guy...but I'm not sure he coined the phrase. When I Googled it, it showed up everywhere in all kinds of contexts.
If 90% of "committed Christian" households (people who attend at least 2 times a month, give something to their churches, and say their faith is important to them) gave 10% of their income through their churches, American Christians would have $85.5 billion dollars a year to spend changing the world. (Passing the Plate)We wouldn't have to grieve the closing of food pantries. Families who lose jobs wouldn't have to lose homes. We could stop childhood deaths from malaria, bad water, and starvation. We could hire all kinds of workers to educate children, to tutor, to mentor, to guide--and stop the cycles of poverty and violence in our communities.
So, is the new normal grousing about 10% unemployment and how pathetic the government response is and how we wish someone would DO something! Or is the new normal the people of God stepping out in faith, taking a risk that in living and sharing the way God asks we can create a new normal that will change our world--God's people doing something. Now that would be something to talk about in the morning.
The argument from the bean-counters...even those who are committed Christians...is that people won't give in bad times. They hold on to their money to take care of themselves. And we should understand that, they say. It's only human. It may be only human, but it's not fully human. If Jesus shows us what it means to be fully human, then we need to give up our fear about saving ourselves. I can tell you this. In 53 years of life I have never heard someone committed to tithing complain that they didn't have enough money. I've heard many say they expected to not have enough. I've heard many say they don't understand why they have what they need. I've heard many speculations...perhaps I'm more careful with the rest...perhaps I don't spend without thinking. But what I have experienced and what I hear from others is that the expected deprivation is not the actual experience.
We may be in a new normal in America. If so, the new normal, just like the old normal, will be banging into our faith practice. In good times, we didn't do very well. When actual incomes were going up exponentially, actual giving dollars were declining. I wonder what the church history books will say about the American Christian church in the 21st century. Will it be that our faith couldn't hold up under the weight of economic strain...that the American church just faded out? Or will it be the remarkable faith journey ignited by a people who gave so generously that they changed the world?
What will be our "new normal?"
If 90% of "committed Christian" households (people who attend at least 2 times a month, give something to their churches, and say their faith is important to them) gave 10% of their income through their churches, American Christians would have $85.5 billion dollars a year to spend changing the world. (Passing the Plate)We wouldn't have to grieve the closing of food pantries. Families who lose jobs wouldn't have to lose homes. We could stop childhood deaths from malaria, bad water, and starvation. We could hire all kinds of workers to educate children, to tutor, to mentor, to guide--and stop the cycles of poverty and violence in our communities.
So, is the new normal grousing about 10% unemployment and how pathetic the government response is and how we wish someone would DO something! Or is the new normal the people of God stepping out in faith, taking a risk that in living and sharing the way God asks we can create a new normal that will change our world--God's people doing something. Now that would be something to talk about in the morning.
The argument from the bean-counters...even those who are committed Christians...is that people won't give in bad times. They hold on to their money to take care of themselves. And we should understand that, they say. It's only human. It may be only human, but it's not fully human. If Jesus shows us what it means to be fully human, then we need to give up our fear about saving ourselves. I can tell you this. In 53 years of life I have never heard someone committed to tithing complain that they didn't have enough money. I've heard many say they expected to not have enough. I've heard many say they don't understand why they have what they need. I've heard many speculations...perhaps I'm more careful with the rest...perhaps I don't spend without thinking. But what I have experienced and what I hear from others is that the expected deprivation is not the actual experience.
We may be in a new normal in America. If so, the new normal, just like the old normal, will be banging into our faith practice. In good times, we didn't do very well. When actual incomes were going up exponentially, actual giving dollars were declining. I wonder what the church history books will say about the American Christian church in the 21st century. Will it be that our faith couldn't hold up under the weight of economic strain...that the American church just faded out? Or will it be the remarkable faith journey ignited by a people who gave so generously that they changed the world?
What will be our "new normal?"
Monday, October 17, 2011
Just Let Me Say This...
We learn language by being surrounded by language, completely and totally. Eugene Peterson reminds us that, in our Christian practice, everything we say is a response to God speaking to us first. Every prayer, every testimony, every Amen is in response to the "previousness of God's speech." Think about it. Even when we are sitting quietly by ourselves, we think with words. Words wash over us every minute of every day.
And yet...
We were sitting together this weekend in a stewardship workshop and the inevitable comment came up. No, we probably shouldn't recognize generous givers because we don't want to "talk" about it. We just want to give what we want to give, but we cannot talk about growing in our giving. People don't want to talk about it...keep it private. (We weren't even discussing sharing actual amounts...just percentages.) Money, how we handle it, how we give it, what God calls us to do with it...no words allowed.
Imagine trying to teach your child to talk with no words. Ride a bike...no words. Do math...no words. Make their bed...hit a baseball...tackle a running back...deal with a bully...no words. Possible? In a word...no.
Faith and practice...including the handling of money...is no different. Use your words. Here's what I choose. Here's why. Here are my problems. Where are yours? How can we solve them? Why do those problems exist? What about your promise? What about mine?
Where did we get this idea that we don't talk about our faith? that is is only between "me and God"? that using words to communicate with either negate our faith, make it "less than," or embarrasses us or another person. I think--as real human beings--we either talk about it, or it ceases to exist.
Speak up...
And yet...
We were sitting together this weekend in a stewardship workshop and the inevitable comment came up. No, we probably shouldn't recognize generous givers because we don't want to "talk" about it. We just want to give what we want to give, but we cannot talk about growing in our giving. People don't want to talk about it...keep it private. (We weren't even discussing sharing actual amounts...just percentages.) Money, how we handle it, how we give it, what God calls us to do with it...no words allowed.
Imagine trying to teach your child to talk with no words. Ride a bike...no words. Do math...no words. Make their bed...hit a baseball...tackle a running back...deal with a bully...no words. Possible? In a word...no.
Faith and practice...including the handling of money...is no different. Use your words. Here's what I choose. Here's why. Here are my problems. Where are yours? How can we solve them? Why do those problems exist? What about your promise? What about mine?
Where did we get this idea that we don't talk about our faith? that is is only between "me and God"? that using words to communicate with either negate our faith, make it "less than," or embarrasses us or another person. I think--as real human beings--we either talk about it, or it ceases to exist.
Speak up...
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Centerpoint...
From Working the Angles:
A passage from C.S. Lewis's The Screwtape Letters teaches the young Wormwood that when you can't fight against a concept because its strength is too great, you can redefine the concept to make it something completely different and through that eliminate its power. What is "worship" for us? An hour to be inspired? excited? strengthened? motivated? educated? And if we are not any of those things, then we don't attend? We find a book to read which accomplishes one or all of the above? take a walk in nature or on the golf course? or just dismiss it all together as a waste of time because it doesn't "meet our needs."
What would worship accomplish if we "gathered to join our prayers in the act of worship" without concern to our own needs? Is worship supposed to "accomplish" something? Why is a community "gathered to join their prayers in an act of worship" both dramatic and basic? Would we agree that on Sunday our corporate prayers were "the most important things we did"?
I think we count first the sermon...does the preacher connect with us and meet some felt need we have--and do we agree with his/her "opinion" about the text? Then, perhaps we would count the music...do we know the songs? like them? connect with them? Does the musician add to our experience of worship with the music or does his/her skill distract? Then, perhaps the visuals in worship... power points, liturgical art, drama, etc. Do we like that? Connect with it? Does it stir us emotionally?
And I bet, not one of us, would evaluate prayer in our list of what we liked/disliked on a given Sunday--either the prayer of the worship leaders or our own prayerful participation. In fact, I wonder if we have even participated in prayer during Sunday worship, or do we simply wait until the "prayer" is over and we get back to the real work of worship?
What would our churches, our worship and our lives be like if we "gathered to join our prayers" with the idea that they were "the most important thing" we would do in our worship time?
I don't know. But I know that reading this passage tugs at a part of me that feels real and true and hungry. I think I would like to try a worship that was seen as a people gathered to join their prayers together and not a people that have come to get their needs met (me included).
Peterson says, comparing Greek stories and Hebrew prayers:
...the role of the community at prayer was formative in everything else that took place. When the people gathered to join their prayers in the act of worship this act was neither haphazard nor peripheral; it was dramatic and basic...The prayers of the people were the most important things that they did.Where in our lives do we live into this? "The people gathered to join their prayers in the act of worship..."
A passage from C.S. Lewis's The Screwtape Letters teaches the young Wormwood that when you can't fight against a concept because its strength is too great, you can redefine the concept to make it something completely different and through that eliminate its power. What is "worship" for us? An hour to be inspired? excited? strengthened? motivated? educated? And if we are not any of those things, then we don't attend? We find a book to read which accomplishes one or all of the above? take a walk in nature or on the golf course? or just dismiss it all together as a waste of time because it doesn't "meet our needs."
What would worship accomplish if we "gathered to join our prayers in the act of worship" without concern to our own needs? Is worship supposed to "accomplish" something? Why is a community "gathered to join their prayers in an act of worship" both dramatic and basic? Would we agree that on Sunday our corporate prayers were "the most important things we did"?
I think we count first the sermon...does the preacher connect with us and meet some felt need we have--and do we agree with his/her "opinion" about the text? Then, perhaps we would count the music...do we know the songs? like them? connect with them? Does the musician add to our experience of worship with the music or does his/her skill distract? Then, perhaps the visuals in worship... power points, liturgical art, drama, etc. Do we like that? Connect with it? Does it stir us emotionally?
And I bet, not one of us, would evaluate prayer in our list of what we liked/disliked on a given Sunday--either the prayer of the worship leaders or our own prayerful participation. In fact, I wonder if we have even participated in prayer during Sunday worship, or do we simply wait until the "prayer" is over and we get back to the real work of worship?
What would our churches, our worship and our lives be like if we "gathered to join our prayers" with the idea that they were "the most important thing" we would do in our worship time?
I don't know. But I know that reading this passage tugs at a part of me that feels real and true and hungry. I think I would like to try a worship that was seen as a people gathered to join their prayers together and not a people that have come to get their needs met (me included).
Peterson says, comparing Greek stories and Hebrew prayers:
The Greeks were experts on understanding existence from a human point of view; the Hebrews were experts in setting human existence in response to God. Whereas the Greeks had a story for every occasions, the Hebrews had a prayer for every occasion. For pastors [or really, all God's people], the Greek stories are useful, but the Hebrew prayers are essential. Prayer means that we deal first with God and then with the world. Or, that we experience the world first not as a problem to be solved but as a reality in which God is acting.Let us pray...
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Denial of Life...
Troy Davis was denied clemency "despite overwhelming evidence indicating that his conviction for murder is unreliable." For a long time, I resisted Calvin's understanding of "total depravity." I was a pretty nice person (and still am), and while not perfect (well, occasionally), certainly nowhere near total depravity.
But here I sit at my desk, unable to make a difference to what seems to be the very definition of injustice. What harm would occur if we stayed the execution at the least? Should we not be certain before the certainty of death overrules the possibility to error? But should we even be putting someone to death? How does that fit in "love God and love your neighbor," in "forgive 70 times 7?"
And while Troy Davis has the world's attention today, to whom have we also denied clemency in more subtle ways? Do the people who cannot find work die a little every day as they stand at the bus stop and watch us sit in our cars at the Starbucks drive-through? Do the children whose parents are never home because they must work two and three minimum wage jobs to keep a roof over their head and food on the table die a little every day when they can't get help with their homework or talk about their day with a parent who has energy to hear and advise? Do those oppressed by the economy die a little every morning when they hear the latest pontifications by both sides of the fully employed, fully insured political spectrum? Do those serving our country at home and abroad die a little when they are notified of their third, or fourth, or fifth tour of duty away from their families?
Join a church, people say. Be part of a supportive community that helps you through difficult times and supports you when you are hurting. And that is gift beyond measure. But commit to discipleship, and you will die a little every day. The pain in the world overwhelms. The brokenness stuns with its depth and resistance to change. The human condition is, in fact, total depravity. Never, it seems, can we solve all the problems that clamor for our attention.
Commit to discipleship, then you need that community of disciples--the community which holds up God's constant and abiding presence and work in the world, the community which recognizes and shares new life and new hope, and, most importantly, the community which joins together to follow Jesus' way, God's way.
The powers in the state of Georgia say Davis is guilty...or maybe they say "the powers can't be wrong." The system is more important than the individual. The right is more important than the truth. The power is more important than the person. Perhaps those are comfortable choices for those of us living in total depravity. But the twist is that Calvin's total depravity is immediately followed by unconditional grace.
Jesus challenged the system at every level. And it got him killed. But it didn't stop God's work in the world. My personal stake in total depravity may well reside in the fact that I never can challenge the system at every level. I forget. I have too much homework. I am distracted. I am overwhelmed. I am human. God's grace reminds me that as part of the "body of Christ," my efforts will be graced. The Kingdom will eventually come.
I am totally helpless to fix the Troy Davis situation. But I know why we love our neighbors as ourselves...why we should be willing to put our own lives on the line for Troy Davis and every other human on the planet. Because Jesus did. And I today I will pray with tears in my eyes for forgiveness for my part in this pain. And tomorrow I will get up and start again in my human limitation--trusting God's promise that unconditional grace will overcome total depravity.
But here I sit at my desk, unable to make a difference to what seems to be the very definition of injustice. What harm would occur if we stayed the execution at the least? Should we not be certain before the certainty of death overrules the possibility to error? But should we even be putting someone to death? How does that fit in "love God and love your neighbor," in "forgive 70 times 7?"
And while Troy Davis has the world's attention today, to whom have we also denied clemency in more subtle ways? Do the people who cannot find work die a little every day as they stand at the bus stop and watch us sit in our cars at the Starbucks drive-through? Do the children whose parents are never home because they must work two and three minimum wage jobs to keep a roof over their head and food on the table die a little every day when they can't get help with their homework or talk about their day with a parent who has energy to hear and advise? Do those oppressed by the economy die a little every morning when they hear the latest pontifications by both sides of the fully employed, fully insured political spectrum? Do those serving our country at home and abroad die a little when they are notified of their third, or fourth, or fifth tour of duty away from their families?
Join a church, people say. Be part of a supportive community that helps you through difficult times and supports you when you are hurting. And that is gift beyond measure. But commit to discipleship, and you will die a little every day. The pain in the world overwhelms. The brokenness stuns with its depth and resistance to change. The human condition is, in fact, total depravity. Never, it seems, can we solve all the problems that clamor for our attention.
Commit to discipleship, then you need that community of disciples--the community which holds up God's constant and abiding presence and work in the world, the community which recognizes and shares new life and new hope, and, most importantly, the community which joins together to follow Jesus' way, God's way.
The powers in the state of Georgia say Davis is guilty...or maybe they say "the powers can't be wrong." The system is more important than the individual. The right is more important than the truth. The power is more important than the person. Perhaps those are comfortable choices for those of us living in total depravity. But the twist is that Calvin's total depravity is immediately followed by unconditional grace.
Jesus challenged the system at every level. And it got him killed. But it didn't stop God's work in the world. My personal stake in total depravity may well reside in the fact that I never can challenge the system at every level. I forget. I have too much homework. I am distracted. I am overwhelmed. I am human. God's grace reminds me that as part of the "body of Christ," my efforts will be graced. The Kingdom will eventually come.
I am totally helpless to fix the Troy Davis situation. But I know why we love our neighbors as ourselves...why we should be willing to put our own lives on the line for Troy Davis and every other human on the planet. Because Jesus did. And I today I will pray with tears in my eyes for forgiveness for my part in this pain. And tomorrow I will get up and start again in my human limitation--trusting God's promise that unconditional grace will overcome total depravity.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Prayer...
Hugh Prather wrote the following prayer in his book The Quiet Answer.
I release you from my hurt feelings. I free you from my reading of your motives. I withdraw my 'justified' outrage and leave you clean and happy in my mind. In place of censure, I offer you all of God's deep contentment and peace. I will perceive you singing, with a soft smile of freedom and a glow of rich satisfaction. I bless you...You are a shining member of the Family of God, and I will wait patiently for this truthful vision to come honestly to my mind.I find it helpful and have used it often in the week I have had it. I actually printed it on a yellow card so I can find it quickly. My favorite line, however, is the second half of the last line...I will wait patiently for this truthful vision to come honestly to my mind. I am waiting.
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Jesus Daily...
I don't even know where I found this, but I wound up on a Facebook site called Jesus Daily. Someone told me it was quite the popular site and I was curious what a Jesus Daily FB page might look like. You can go there every day for a spiritual fix.
Not really.
I looked at about 50 days worth of posts and they were either us cheering for Jesus, Jesus cheering for us, or some kind of quiz to take. Really? The Jesus who commanded "take up your cross and follow me..." The Jesus who said "love your enemies," "do this to the least of these," "blessed are those who mourn"?
Jesus doesn't need a cheerleader. Maybe we do. I guarantee some days I would like one. But I don't need a cheerleader for checking Facebook or reading a quiz. I need a cheerleader for figuring out how to stay in relationship with people who make me crazy, for patience when change comes too slow, for persistence in serving when it feels like I don't have time or energy, for not letting busy-ness stop me from living as a disciple. I didn't find any of that on Jesus Daily.
"I love Jesus" on Jesus Daily seems to mean that Jesus has my excited, passionate approval. I think what Jesus wants is our excited, passionate commitment to his way of life. That might be a Jesus Daily that changes the world...but I bet it doesn't get many hits on Facebook.
Not really.
I looked at about 50 days worth of posts and they were either us cheering for Jesus, Jesus cheering for us, or some kind of quiz to take. Really? The Jesus who commanded "take up your cross and follow me..." The Jesus who said "love your enemies," "do this to the least of these," "blessed are those who mourn"?
Jesus doesn't need a cheerleader. Maybe we do. I guarantee some days I would like one. But I don't need a cheerleader for checking Facebook or reading a quiz. I need a cheerleader for figuring out how to stay in relationship with people who make me crazy, for patience when change comes too slow, for persistence in serving when it feels like I don't have time or energy, for not letting busy-ness stop me from living as a disciple. I didn't find any of that on Jesus Daily.
"I love Jesus" on Jesus Daily seems to mean that Jesus has my excited, passionate approval. I think what Jesus wants is our excited, passionate commitment to his way of life. That might be a Jesus Daily that changes the world...but I bet it doesn't get many hits on Facebook.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Life-as-we-know-it
My husband is at a conference thrown by a bunch of Presbyterians who think the church is "deathly ill." Perhaps. Many people are saying that denominations as we know them are dead. Duh...
Truth is, today's denomination is nothing like the presbyterian church of the 1950's or the 1900's or--pick a year. We expect life-as-we-know-it. And when we don't get life-as-we-know-it, we are distressed.
I'm not sure where this life-as-we-know-it comes from. OK...fall in love and get married? Is that life as we know it? Not in my house. Married just led to day after day of wait-this-isn't-what-I-expected. Perhaps it was job, moving, honey-I'm-pregnant, going back to school, who is supposed to empty the dishwasher or take out trash. Perhaps it was look, I cooked dinner (ok, it wasn't), or bought you roses, or spread your mulch, or absorbed your tears and snot. Whatever it was, it was never "life as we know it."
What is this need to define and then live only life-as-we-know-it? It only frustrates us. Because inevitably, trying to define life-as-we-know-it is most significantly a reflection of self...a definition of the world in all the ways we think would make us happy.
Challenge to self this week...stop defining life-as-we-know-it and grieving when it isn't life-as-we-know-it. Start looking at life-as-it-is and celebrating the gifts we are being given...even when those gifts don't look like what we expect or think we want. Life-as-it-is may be exactly what we need.
Truth is, today's denomination is nothing like the presbyterian church of the 1950's or the 1900's or--pick a year. We expect life-as-we-know-it. And when we don't get life-as-we-know-it, we are distressed.
I'm not sure where this life-as-we-know-it comes from. OK...fall in love and get married? Is that life as we know it? Not in my house. Married just led to day after day of wait-this-isn't-what-I-expected. Perhaps it was job, moving, honey-I'm-pregnant, going back to school, who is supposed to empty the dishwasher or take out trash. Perhaps it was look, I cooked dinner (ok, it wasn't), or bought you roses, or spread your mulch, or absorbed your tears and snot. Whatever it was, it was never "life as we know it."
What is this need to define and then live only life-as-we-know-it? It only frustrates us. Because inevitably, trying to define life-as-we-know-it is most significantly a reflection of self...a definition of the world in all the ways we think would make us happy.
Challenge to self this week...stop defining life-as-we-know-it and grieving when it isn't life-as-we-know-it. Start looking at life-as-it-is and celebrating the gifts we are being given...even when those gifts don't look like what we expect or think we want. Life-as-it-is may be exactly what we need.
Monday, August 22, 2011
And Another Pet Peeve...
For those of you that listen to the national Fox News station (can't speak for the local stations so much), here's my opinion. And, for that matter, MSNBC and any other 24 hour news station.
Regardless of what you think, your mother should have taught you to say it better. Your tonalities are rude and judgmental. They insinuate evil and conspiracy, incompetence and stupidity. My mother never let me talk that way to anyone, even if they were the most evil, incompetent, stupid person on the face of the earth. They still were human beings, children of God, and as such were to be treated with respect.
Watch something else for awhile...or watch nothing. Give it enough time to make a difference. Read your news for a month and then check your level of irritation with the world. It might improve. Language and tonalities make a difference. We can be better than this.
Stepping off the soapbox and going back to work now...
Regardless of what you think, your mother should have taught you to say it better. Your tonalities are rude and judgmental. They insinuate evil and conspiracy, incompetence and stupidity. My mother never let me talk that way to anyone, even if they were the most evil, incompetent, stupid person on the face of the earth. They still were human beings, children of God, and as such were to be treated with respect.
Watch something else for awhile...or watch nothing. Give it enough time to make a difference. Read your news for a month and then check your level of irritation with the world. It might improve. Language and tonalities make a difference. We can be better than this.
Stepping off the soapbox and going back to work now...
Blessed are the Poor?...
John Stewart committed a whole show to Warren Buffet's op ed on taxing the super-rich. I guess I should have expected the vitriolic response, but it still surprises me--especially in our "Christian" nation. One response... "The top 1% already pay 40% of the taxes and the bottom 52% pay nothing. Talk about fair?? If Buffet wants to pay more taxes he can write a check anytime he wants. The heck with distributing the money from the rich to the lazy do-nothings that wouldn’t work in a pie shop if you gave them a piece of each pie!!! "
My son used to feel that way...until he tried to support himself (and only himself) on a minimum wage job. It was all he could get, and he actually made a little over minimum wage. He worked as a dishwasher/delivery guy/cook/and do whatever needs to be done at a little restaurant in downtown High Point. Six months into working harder than he had ever imagined, he gave it up and moved back home. There was no way to make it all work. A roof over his head and a little food, gas money, and that was about it. No insurance. No savings. No security. He met a bunch of people much like himself. Hard-working, long hours, do it every day...
My son used to feel that way...until he tried to support himself (and only himself) on a minimum wage job. It was all he could get, and he actually made a little over minimum wage. He worked as a dishwasher/delivery guy/cook/and do whatever needs to be done at a little restaurant in downtown High Point. Six months into working harder than he had ever imagined, he gave it up and moved back home. There was no way to make it all work. A roof over his head and a little food, gas money, and that was about it. No insurance. No savings. No security. He met a bunch of people much like himself. Hard-working, long hours, do it every day...
My son was lucky enough to have a scholarship to college and the ability to use that education to hopefully, some day, get a job that provided stability and security. But his parents were lucky enough to have an education and a job that provided security and stability
. We spent a lot of time with him and his siblings, reading and coaching and teaching. Partly, we were able to do that because Carl's one job paid enough for me to stay home. We lived on a very tight budget in those early years, but it was a living wage and provided health insurance and retirement benefits. After my son's excursion into the world of minimum wage work, he-who-espoused-the-poor-are-moochers-sentiment decided he had been wrong. The assumption that poor equals lazy is not accurate. Rich people are hard working and productive. Poor people are hard working and productive. Rich people can be lazy and worthless. So can poor. Money is not the determining factor...neither is assistance--government or otherwise.
. We spent a lot of time with him and his siblings, reading and coaching and teaching. Partly, we were able to do that because Carl's one job paid enough for me to stay home. We lived on a very tight budget in those early years, but it was a living wage and provided health insurance and retirement benefits. After my son's excursion into the world of minimum wage work, he-who-espoused-the-poor-are-moochers-sentiment decided he had been wrong. The assumption that poor equals lazy is not accurate. Rich people are hard working and productive. Poor people are hard working and productive. Rich people can be lazy and worthless. So can poor. Money is not the determining factor...neither is assistance--government or otherwise.
I read plenty of biblical passages commanding us to care for the poor...challenging us to serve them, provide for them, insure justice for them (and justice means the ability to provide a secure life for themselves and their families.) Nowhere do I read a "criteria" for which poor we are supposed to serve. Jesus didn't determine a set of criteria for those "worthy" of God's grace. He served all; he didn't even require them to change before he helped them. Change, if suggested or challenged, came after the grace.
Watch this Stewart episode. Why is it outrageous that "poor" people have refrigerators, microwaves, air conditioning? Why would we expect that they wouldn't have a phone? Some have cable...but we don't know who or how...and again, if they can pay for cable for some relaxation and enjoyment (cause I bet they don't spend much time going out to eat or to movies) why is that bad? (And it's not like stopping a $60 cable bill will enable them to buy insurance for their family...) Laura Ingram calls people on welfare "animals." I'm not sure that super-rich who argue they can't raise salaries because their companies "can't afford it" while they live on as much as 1 billion dollars a year salary are not the animals. After listening to these privileged folks rant, we looked at a NYT article on families that spend $30-200,000 on playhouses for their children. Guess what...the little girl's playhouse had running water and...a refrigerator. (Explain that one to Haitians living under plastic in this hurricane season...or the family in Mississippi that still doesn't have running water.)
OK...I've probably offended everyone now. But is this the society we are called to embrace? A society that assume rich means good and poor means bad? A society that gives every break to those who already have every break--and removes all help from those who struggle to get a break, assigning them fault for being born into disadvantaged circumstances. Have we forgotten that God came as the poorest of the poor? being born into the most insignificant and powerless position possible?
Sunday, we stuffed backpacks for school children who cannot afford school supplies. But we won't have done the job we are called to do until we live in a society that doesn't have school children who can't afford supplies. When everyone has a job that pays enough to support a family, meeting basic needs and providing enough to have some savings, retirement, and insurance...then we might live in the kingdom of God...
We will always give a hand to someone who doesn't appreciate it, who doesn't take advantage of it, who, perhaps, doesn't deserve it. But isn't that the very definition of self-sacrifice? And if serving a few undeserving means we live in a world where all have the opportunity to be secure, line them up at the pie shop and give them pie. Our job is to answer God's call to care for the poor, the alien, the widow and the orphan...all those who cannot care for themselves. And, when we respond to that call...God changes the world.
We will always give a hand to someone who doesn't appreciate it, who doesn't take advantage of it, who, perhaps, doesn't deserve it. But isn't that the very definition of self-sacrifice? And if serving a few undeserving means we live in a world where all have the opportunity to be secure, line them up at the pie shop and give them pie. Our job is to answer God's call to care for the poor, the alien, the widow and the orphan...all those who cannot care for themselves. And, when we respond to that call...God changes the world.
Sunday, August 14, 2011
It Can Only Be Found Here...
So, I'm thinking it has been perhaps 3 or 4 days since my last post...what happens to the time. Maybe that's why I'm so old...I only spend 3 days and 6 go by!
I heard a comment this morning that a particular kind of nurturing community could only happen at "our church." And, while I'll tell anyone that Forest Hills Presbyterian in High Point, NC is one of the strongest environments for the spiritual nurture of children and youth that I have ever experienced, the possibility for nurture is never limited to one place. God self-limited in Jesus to a particular time and place, but then after Jesus died, God at work in the Holy Spirit calls and enables all Christians to work as Jesus did. We don't often do it as well, but that is the miracle of God's work. Somehow, through our limitation and weakness, God's work happens.
But my thought as our young people are moving to college this week and next, or moving into the working world, or into mission service, is that what they describe as our "particular kind of nurturing" is now moving out into the world. Each of them, each of us, has benefitted from the spiritual nurture and the community support of our congregations. And each of us is called from that community back into a world that is hungry for that nurture.
Instead of lamenting that we wish everyone would come in and experience nurture, we are called to take that nurture out into the world. That often requires more of us than we want to give...and it removes that "special status" that we so enjoy. Each Christian community has particular gifts and strengths. No Christian community is the sole proprietor of any aspect of God's grace.
So, we give thanks for the gifts we have been given. But we better know we are given those gifts to go out and share. The only thing that makes us different and special from the rest of the world is that we have a job to do.
I heard a comment this morning that a particular kind of nurturing community could only happen at "our church." And, while I'll tell anyone that Forest Hills Presbyterian in High Point, NC is one of the strongest environments for the spiritual nurture of children and youth that I have ever experienced, the possibility for nurture is never limited to one place. God self-limited in Jesus to a particular time and place, but then after Jesus died, God at work in the Holy Spirit calls and enables all Christians to work as Jesus did. We don't often do it as well, but that is the miracle of God's work. Somehow, through our limitation and weakness, God's work happens.
But my thought as our young people are moving to college this week and next, or moving into the working world, or into mission service, is that what they describe as our "particular kind of nurturing" is now moving out into the world. Each of them, each of us, has benefitted from the spiritual nurture and the community support of our congregations. And each of us is called from that community back into a world that is hungry for that nurture.
Instead of lamenting that we wish everyone would come in and experience nurture, we are called to take that nurture out into the world. That often requires more of us than we want to give...and it removes that "special status" that we so enjoy. Each Christian community has particular gifts and strengths. No Christian community is the sole proprietor of any aspect of God's grace.
So, we give thanks for the gifts we have been given. But we better know we are given those gifts to go out and share. The only thing that makes us different and special from the rest of the world is that we have a job to do.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Hoh...
Today, I have mostly recovered from my week at "church camp." Something about my age and no sleep requires a few days of less than stellar thinking before I return to what some might argue is less than stellar thinking. On this trip, my friend Tom told me about a trip he took to the Hoh rainforest in Oregon. Trees grow in straight lines in this forest...a direct result of death.
You see, a tree falls in the forest (insert old joke here...). Then the tree begins to rot. Seedlings sprout in the decaying trunk and begin to grow on the top of the old tree. The roots of the massive trees spread over the trunk, which then finishes decaying, all the time fertilizing the young trees and helping them grow strong and straight. Mature trees have an odd look, however...the roots start well above ground and have clear space under the trees. (Click here for a great picture of this.)
You always wonder if you are making a difference in the world, especially when you work with children and youth. You certainly can't always see the impact you have. But when I think back on those saints who nurtured me, they have most certainly shaped who I am. I have roots that grow in a Mrs. Parker shape, in a Mrs. Diehl shape, in grandmother and grandaddy shapes. I have roots that grow in bus ministry shapes and youth trip shapes. None of those people or things still exist in my life, but they have shaped who I am.
I think the Hoh rainforest is going to be on my bucket list--a place where all people can actually see the impact of generations which have gone before...
You always wonder if you are making a difference in the world, especially when you work with children and youth. You certainly can't always see the impact you have. But when I think back on those saints who nurtured me, they have most certainly shaped who I am. I have roots that grow in a Mrs. Parker shape, in a Mrs. Diehl shape, in grandmother and grandaddy shapes. I have roots that grow in bus ministry shapes and youth trip shapes. None of those people or things still exist in my life, but they have shaped who I am.
I think the Hoh rainforest is going to be on my bucket list--a place where all people can actually see the impact of generations which have gone before...
Saturday, July 30, 2011
I Don't Even Know What to Call This...
We are attending the 2011 Montreat Youth Conference, week V. It's a youth conference. Like any good Presbyterians, youth like their conferences done basically the same way. Let's not get too far from our comfort zone...we like to know what to expect, at least in the big things.
The keynoter, David Ealy, has begun each day with an interesting exercise. Every day, a word. Every day, a request for definition. This is not a rhetorical request. Walk up and down the aisle. Stick the mike in people's faces. Ask for the definition.
And the daily words are significant, foundational to our faith. These words represent cornerstones of who God is and who we are in relationship to God. Incarnation. Temptation. Discernment. Community. Salvation. The words beg the question of whether or not we can even be disciples of Jesus if we don't understand or can't define them. (Note, I said "disciples," not children of God. All people are children of God, regardless of what we understand. God creates, loves, and works to redeem us all whether we are aware of it or not.)
But we are called out...into the body of Christ. We are set apart to work for God in the world. We are God's people charged with making disciples, sharing the good news of the Gospel, living as Jesus taught--in ways that reveal to the world who God is.
We choose, are called, to spend a week away from our jobs, our friends, our school, our families growing our discipleship...and when asked by David to define these words...We. literally. don't. know.
Most kids asked could find some understanding of temptation and community. Not surprising given the importance of peers to adolescents and the importance of friends to adults. But Incarnation yielded--silence...I don't know...a flower (in-carnation). Temptation...doing something we shouldn't. Discernment...not a clue. Salvation...being saved by God. OK, that's partly true. But when we can't even understand salvation well enough to define it without circling around to the original word, how are we going to share the good news of God's saving work in the world.
We have failed to teach our children. Perhaps, someone has failed to teach us. Is that an explanation? an excuse? Is the decline of interest in church membership due to something far more significant and far more frightening than disagreements over contemporary/traditional worship or whether we wear shorts or suits and ties to worship? Might it be that we just don't know why we are there? A nebulous "feeling" that we ought to be there...or an undefinable "good feeling" is not compelling to those who are not in the church...and only slightly more compelling to many in the church.
Our faith is a practice, a way of life...not fire insurance. Our call is to obey God and help save the world...redeem it from selfishness, greed, hatred, loneliness, isolation, injustice...not insure it believes some correct doctrine that will earn streets of gold and a nice crown.
After the first day, the first question, "What is the incarnation?" I kept saying to my youth...please tell me you know what the incarnation is. Please. Surely you know. (They do now...)
I don't know where we go from here. I don't even know what to call this. I know I am going to be more deliberate about knowing and teaching clear, repeatable definitions--hopefully to folks who see a need to learn and speak those definitions to others. So, for your edification:
The keynoter, David Ealy, has begun each day with an interesting exercise. Every day, a word. Every day, a request for definition. This is not a rhetorical request. Walk up and down the aisle. Stick the mike in people's faces. Ask for the definition.
And the daily words are significant, foundational to our faith. These words represent cornerstones of who God is and who we are in relationship to God. Incarnation. Temptation. Discernment. Community. Salvation. The words beg the question of whether or not we can even be disciples of Jesus if we don't understand or can't define them. (Note, I said "disciples," not children of God. All people are children of God, regardless of what we understand. God creates, loves, and works to redeem us all whether we are aware of it or not.)
But we are called out...into the body of Christ. We are set apart to work for God in the world. We are God's people charged with making disciples, sharing the good news of the Gospel, living as Jesus taught--in ways that reveal to the world who God is.
We choose, are called, to spend a week away from our jobs, our friends, our school, our families growing our discipleship...and when asked by David to define these words...We. literally. don't. know.
Most kids asked could find some understanding of temptation and community. Not surprising given the importance of peers to adolescents and the importance of friends to adults. But Incarnation yielded--silence...I don't know...a flower (in-carnation). Temptation...doing something we shouldn't. Discernment...not a clue. Salvation...being saved by God. OK, that's partly true. But when we can't even understand salvation well enough to define it without circling around to the original word, how are we going to share the good news of God's saving work in the world.
We have failed to teach our children. Perhaps, someone has failed to teach us. Is that an explanation? an excuse? Is the decline of interest in church membership due to something far more significant and far more frightening than disagreements over contemporary/traditional worship or whether we wear shorts or suits and ties to worship? Might it be that we just don't know why we are there? A nebulous "feeling" that we ought to be there...or an undefinable "good feeling" is not compelling to those who are not in the church...and only slightly more compelling to many in the church.
Our faith is a practice, a way of life...not fire insurance. Our call is to obey God and help save the world...redeem it from selfishness, greed, hatred, loneliness, isolation, injustice...not insure it believes some correct doctrine that will earn streets of gold and a nice crown.
After the first day, the first question, "What is the incarnation?" I kept saying to my youth...please tell me you know what the incarnation is. Please. Surely you know. (They do now...)
I don't know where we go from here. I don't even know what to call this. I know I am going to be more deliberate about knowing and teaching clear, repeatable definitions--hopefully to folks who see a need to learn and speak those definitions to others. So, for your edification:
- Incarnation: God in the flesh. God comes to be with us, so we can see, feel, touch, hear, know what/who God really is in Jesus and what kind of life God expects us to lead.
- Temptation: the desire to do something...Ealy says we can be tempted to do good or bad. I'm thinking about that one.
- Discernment: consideration of action...specifically, for disciples, a practice of prayer, study, conversation with other disciples, and trial actions to figure out what God wants us to do.
- Community: people in relationship with each other. The disciples' community has a particular character that includes everyone and practices unconditional love and radical egalitarianism while serving God.
- Salvation: God's work on our behalf to restore our relationships with God and with each other. Shirley Guthrie suggests that when we are "saved" it is our recognition of God's work. God's work happens with our knowledge or without.
Monday, July 25, 2011
Change Has Already Come...
Barbara Kingsolver said in a 2008 commencement address, “The arc of history is longer than human vision. It bends. We abolished slavery, we granted universal suffrage. We have done hard things before. And every time it took a terrible fight between people who could not imagine changing the rules, and those who said, ‘We already did. We have made the world new.’”
I've never looked at conflict from that perspective--we're not fighting to change, we're fighting because change has already happened. That certainly holds true in church conflict. I am wondering about the current political impasse--have we remade out world in such ideological hard-line stances on both sides that we can no longer govern effectively? Or have we remade the world with 24 hour news cycles in a way that grinds the ability of our legislators to be friends and work together to nothing--allowing no space for conversation or relationship, only political position and sound bites.
I think I want "we have made the world new" to only be a good thing. A new world should be more positive...work better. A new world should bring life and health to all. A new world should welcome people in. But I think the reality of "we have made the world new" in everyday life (as opposed to eons or ages) is that much of our new is not good. Is it good that our national debt is so high? Is it good that jobs are cut during the tenuous effort to rebuild an economy? Is it good that so much of our country's wealth is located in the hands of so few? Is it good that fewer and fewer people are interested in and connected to faith? I'm understanding that we can't even really make the decisions on those issues--good or bad. The change has already come...now we're talking about it. Now we're fighting about it.
The arc of history is what I place in God's hand. I have to know that somehow, with God's work through us, that we are moving in the right direction. I do see that really long-term progress. But I wonder how our decision-making might be affected if we understand that the "new world" is already here. It's always hard to vision a new thing. If we are not trying to stop change that has, in fact, already happened, might we vision better? If we understand that change has already come, is here right now, can we stop our fighting?
I've never looked at conflict from that perspective--we're not fighting to change, we're fighting because change has already happened. That certainly holds true in church conflict. I am wondering about the current political impasse--have we remade out world in such ideological hard-line stances on both sides that we can no longer govern effectively? Or have we remade the world with 24 hour news cycles in a way that grinds the ability of our legislators to be friends and work together to nothing--allowing no space for conversation or relationship, only political position and sound bites.
I think I want "we have made the world new" to only be a good thing. A new world should be more positive...work better. A new world should bring life and health to all. A new world should welcome people in. But I think the reality of "we have made the world new" in everyday life (as opposed to eons or ages) is that much of our new is not good. Is it good that our national debt is so high? Is it good that jobs are cut during the tenuous effort to rebuild an economy? Is it good that so much of our country's wealth is located in the hands of so few? Is it good that fewer and fewer people are interested in and connected to faith? I'm understanding that we can't even really make the decisions on those issues--good or bad. The change has already come...now we're talking about it. Now we're fighting about it.
The arc of history is what I place in God's hand. I have to know that somehow, with God's work through us, that we are moving in the right direction. I do see that really long-term progress. But I wonder how our decision-making might be affected if we understand that the "new world" is already here. It's always hard to vision a new thing. If we are not trying to stop change that has, in fact, already happened, might we vision better? If we understand that change has already come, is here right now, can we stop our fighting?
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Outside the Box...
I have green toenails. They are weird. Uncomfortable. My daughter says she likes them. But I have never had green toenails. No one in my generation has had green toenails. Well, perhaps some people did, but they weren't supposed to...that was reason to go to the doctor.
I thought perhaps on my way to a youth conference with teenagers that I might stretch and do something a little fun. And now, I have green toenails. Nothing significant has changed in the world. Politicians are still being stupid about the debt ceiling. Homework is still to be done, books beg to be read, dreams inspire, and frustrations divert energy from important concerns. But my toenails are green and not all is right with the world.
I even had her paint one and let me decide. She painted on of the small nails...and that looked OK. But then when green went on the big toe, well all I can say is I have green toenails.
Toenails will be green for a few weeks. We'll see if the world ends or the brain explodes. Maybe it will open up a whole new world of creative thought and new perspectives. Or maybe my toenails will just be green. The worst thing is that my reputation is ruined. You see, one of my youth asked me a question last weekend and after my answer she asked her friend if I was right. The answer, "Beth's always right."
Not any more...
I thought perhaps on my way to a youth conference with teenagers that I might stretch and do something a little fun. And now, I have green toenails. Nothing significant has changed in the world. Politicians are still being stupid about the debt ceiling. Homework is still to be done, books beg to be read, dreams inspire, and frustrations divert energy from important concerns. But my toenails are green and not all is right with the world.
I even had her paint one and let me decide. She painted on of the small nails...and that looked OK. But then when green went on the big toe, well all I can say is I have green toenails.
Toenails will be green for a few weeks. We'll see if the world ends or the brain explodes. Maybe it will open up a whole new world of creative thought and new perspectives. Or maybe my toenails will just be green. The worst thing is that my reputation is ruined. You see, one of my youth asked me a question last weekend and after my answer she asked her friend if I was right. The answer, "Beth's always right."
Not any more...
Thursday, July 14, 2011
How Long...
Sometimes I wish I had something to hold over God's head. Perhaps the threat of not giving any more money to the church...but then it was God saying "do not worry about what you will wear or eat...God will provide." Guess that won't work.
A few weeks ago, God's approval ratings were in the tank...33%. Seems like that would have rated a miraculous intervention--or at the very least, an appearance on a piece of toast. Seems God either doesn't read ratings or doesn't care. Guess that won't work either.
Two year olds seem to think temper tantrums work. Perhaps. I'm not sure I could get up once I threw myself down on the floor, however. And as the adult, the tantrum doesn't really work anyway.
So I guess I'm just still in the God is God mode--waiting and wondering what will happen next...and how long it will take to see progress.
A few weeks ago, God's approval ratings were in the tank...33%. Seems like that would have rated a miraculous intervention--or at the very least, an appearance on a piece of toast. Seems God either doesn't read ratings or doesn't care. Guess that won't work either.
Two year olds seem to think temper tantrums work. Perhaps. I'm not sure I could get up once I threw myself down on the floor, however. And as the adult, the tantrum doesn't really work anyway.
So I guess I'm just still in the God is God mode--waiting and wondering what will happen next...and how long it will take to see progress.
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