Faithful Pathways: Timing

Mark reports a leader of the synagogue coming to Jesus and begging him repeatedly to heal his daughter who is dying. Jesus sets off, but is interrupted.

A different woman in need of healing touches Jesus's robe, resulting in a pause on the way to heal Jairus's daughter. Jairus is frantic. We know what his time table is, what his priority is. Other things intervened.

God's timing is a funny thing. Utterly uncontrollable by us, God does things a different way. Our priorities are not always God's priorities.

At the end of the stories, we have a woman free to return to society and a child raised from the dead. Who would have thought?

It''s always at the end of the stories that we see the purpose and pattern of God. I think we would prefer if we knew what was happening as it happened. But we don't...so that leaves us to wait for God's timing as we journey on faithful pathways.

Faithful Pathways: Fear

Yesterday we received the challenge from Mark to be not afraid. We don't know what happened with the disciples, but we know what happened next. Across the sea, in the land of the Gerasenes, we meet a crazy man. Nothing can restrain him. He sits and yowls among the tombs outside of the town. There is so much wrong here...tombs, outside of town, crazy.

Jesus "calls the demon" out of him. When the town people come back, they find the man normal, sitting with Jesus, having a meal. Before...maybe they were curious? appalled? embarrassed? But when the man is "normal," they are afraid.

This week at a conference we were challenged to look squarely in the face of racism, caused by the need to preserve white supremacy. Ugly thoughts, that a historical emphasis on white supremacy continues today, but as I see it, it does.

As long as people of color are apart, keeping their "crazy" to themselves, we might be curious, appalled or embarrassed. But when they become part of us...really part of us...sitting with the Lord we worship having a meal...are we afraid?

Maybe because we lose our place...maybe because we just don't know how to sit with them and be normal...maybe because we don't what what normal is if they are not apart from us.

We are afraid to lose our place when others join the kingdom.

I wish we weren't. I wish we could sit down and feast together.

Faithful Pathways: No Fear

My dad would hate this entry. My mother lived by the command, "don't be afraid." He thought she was crazy. The disciples in Mark 4 thought Jesus was crazy as he slept in the boat that was being swamped by storm water. When they finally roused him, his question was "why are you afraid?"

Humans are wired for fear. It kept us alive when we needed to hunt for food when other animals were hunting us. Not so much today. Fear is a business that sells stuff, it is a motivator to get people to do what you want them to do, it is an attractor to your programming and your message...which gets people to buy stuff and do what you want them to do.

Churches are not immune to its power.

We don't easily forget our fear. We easily forget the positive messages and happenings. Proven scientific fact. (Interesting article here.) Jesus wasn't upset that the disciples thought they might die, or that they needed his help. He questioned their fear.

Why are we afraid? And what might we accomplish if we lived each moment of each day in the sure trust that in life and in death we belonged to God.

It might save us some money at the very least....

No fear.

Faithful Pathways: Discovery

In Mark 4, Jesus explains the "kingdom of God" to the disciples. You'd think he, of all people, would have the answer, the definitive explanation of what, exactly, the kingdom of God is.

But he gives a series of examples, parables, little stories. A lamp is meant to be on the lampstand, not under the bed, getting and giving...and who has what, scattering seed on the ground and harvesting, mustard seed.

The text says he "explained everything in private to his disciples," but I don't really see them getting or grasping a definitive explanation of what exactly the kingdom is--especially in Mark where the disciples are described as pretty dense.

At times, I long for the definitive. Other times, I am glad things are so murky. We humans certainly tend to plant a flag on any truth we can define and protect with the biggest guns. Kingdom of God may be better for us as a discovery. The simple elusiveness keeps us from naming ourselves keepers of the kingdom.

The discovery, not the answer, is the gift...

Faithful Pathways: Wrong Way

The church at Corinth is under Paul's skin. His letter has gone from beautiful "body of Christ" images to this passage where he is furious at the behavior of a group that is holds the name "Christian" and ought to be acing like it. Apparently, though, they practice sexual immorality (of types that "pagans" don't even do) and are suing each other in civil court.

Paul judges. Gasp. We're not supposed to judge. He suggests that those outside the church are not to be judged, but those inside the church are.

This is a tough passage. Paul comes down hard. "Drive out the wicked person from among you."

My skin crawls. Where is forgiveness, reconciliation, transformation? I don't know what to do with this. I do know that humans turned loose on each other in environments that are supposed to be "above" the "regular world" can become vicious in their judgment.

"You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God," Paul says. You are held to a higher standard.

The people of God are called to live differently. How do we help each other do that without becoming what we hate?

Recently, there was a great Facebook meme that said "I always thought quicksand would be a bigger part of my adult life." For those of us raised in a certain generation of movie going...it's true.

Perhaps the metaphorical quicksand is our danger. The path is a hard one to navigate today.

Faithful Pathways: Family

Mark 3:31-35 surprises Jesus's listeners. The family was the primary unit in the first century. Your economic well-being, your social well-being, your physical well-being came from the family. It was the focus of ultimate loyalty.

And while families made connections with other people, they did so with an eye, and ear, and a mind to preserving their honor and avoiding any suggestion of "shame" that might literally ruin their ability to eat and be housed. This honor/shame equation was a matter of life and death.

Jesus turns that on its head. He ignores his biological family who has come to rescue him from himself. Remember, he's been in consistent trouble for eating with the wrong people, for being around disease, for forgiving sins (usurping God's power), for putting the welfare of the people above the temple law. And if Jesus is in trouble, so is his family.

Jesus response redefines the family. "Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother."

One of the gifts of the institutional church for me and for others is the "family" called together by God. You couldn't put those people together if you tried. Oh, people would be polite to each other, like you are in the grocery store, but worship together? serve together? stay together when you don't agree? learn to respect and love each other? practice forgiveness and reconciliation?

Too easy to leave...go somewhere else where you like people...not go be with those people at all.

But together, the weak and the strong, the black and white, the gay and straight, the funny and serious, the old and the young, rich and poor, progressive and conservative...our differences go on forever...together we are family.

But this is our "new community"--before the "church" had doctrine and rules, high or low liturgy, even orders of worship, we had a new community. All were welcome. All were considered as gift from God.

Easy gift? Not always. Perhaps like those Ikea items...we have to figure how all the parts fit together to do our job. But they do...they will...

We're family.

Faithful Pathways: How-to

So yesterday we learn that we are not slaves to sin. We are back to the church in Corinth today and Paul is talking to folks who are pretty successful.

Paul warns them about the arrogance that may come from their wealth and position. The are wise and strong, but should be careful.

And then the nuggets in this passage: How are we "not slaves to sin"...whether things are going well or not so well...

When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we speak kindly.

That is the way of life, the way of transformation.

Yeah...I just said "how to's." I didn't say easy.

Faithful Pathways: Freedom

"We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin." Outside of the fact that Paul desperately needs an editor to remind him short sentences are usually better, the book of Romans offers some interesting discipleship nuggets. I read Paul like I read Karl Barth. Yada, yada, yada, yada, yada...nugget...yada, yada, yada. You can't give up...you just have bring your mining tools.

The narrative is one most of us know, but to try to explain it coherently to people who don't know the narrative...that's a whole other can of worms.

The nugget today is this idea that our "old self" dies with Jesus so that "the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin."

In real words, in real life, in this hopeless mess of a world we live in...we can change things. We can live in ways that make a difference. The concept of shalom, all people living in well-being, is actually a possibility.

We are not "enslaved" to sin. We don't give up. We don't give in. We continue to push ourselves and others toward reconciliation, transformation, because we are not slaves to the way things are.

We are free to change the world.

Faithful Pathways: Blessing

Another Jesus story in Mark. Jesus  doing his thing...the Pharisees out to get him. The classic line, "They watched him...so that they might accuse him."

The companion piece from 1 Corinthians reminds the church at Corinth not to judge, to be grateful. All they have, they have "received," so don't brag...be thankful.

I had a friend once who had great difficulty "conversing." She simply listened to find something that she could talk about, that she had done, that she could use to take the conversation back. She "listened" so that she might "talk." And too often, we watch others, so we might judge. If they are the "other" political party, we watch so we might accuse. If they practice another "religion," we watch so we might accuse. If they have eyes on our best friend or our boyfriend, we watch so we might accuse. The list goes on.

What if we watched each other so we might bless, so we might be grateful for the gifts of others, so that we might learn from them? Could the Pharisees have learned something about God from Jesus? I'd like to think so. What a challenging discipline to listen to politicians and attempt to find one blessing somewhere deep in the fertilizer. That would make the challenge to do the same in all our other relationships so much easier.

We watched each other...so that we might find blessing.

Faithful Pathways: New Skins

Jesus is driving the religious establishment crazy. He doesn't follow the rules. In this Mark passage he calls a tax collector into his group, he doesn't fast like he's supposed to, and he eats with the wrong kind of people. The laws he breaks are purity laws...doesn't sound like a big deal to us, but it's a pretty big deal.

Frankly, as big a deal as replacing the carpet in a sanctuary. Doesn't sound like a big deal to the rest of the world, but we assure you, it's a big deal. Or...doing just about anything else new or different in any size organization from the family to GE. Our natural position is habit. Do something long enough, and our habits harden us in ways seen and unseen.

Many recent conversations have focused around people who can't/won't change or even entertain the idea of change. Crusty. Curmudgeon. Cranky. It's hard to imagine any of us starting out in life planning to become the crusty, cranky, curmudgeon. But there are plenty of us out there by the time we move past mid-life. And, I think we're all crusty about something, even when we are young. Christmas traditions, perhaps?

This text is under my skin today. Breaking the habit...growing new skin is a fervent Lenten prayer for me. Just keep me soft inside. Open to the new fermentation of the Spirit. Surprised by things I never imagined. Delighted by the taste of new wine, even when I love the old.

Faithful Pathways: Irony

I love Jesus's snark. You miss it unless you look closely. But there it is. Fully human...you bet.

So this story in Mark 2 is friends "making it happen" for their paralyzed friend. They stop at nothing to get their friend to Jesus. They tear through the roof, lower the man on his mat and expect Jesus to heal him. Jesus is impressed.

He says to the paralytic, "Your sins are forgiven." OK...not what we expected, but if you trust Jesus enough to tear the roof off to get to him, you will take what is offered.

Not the scribes...they "question in their hearts." Perhaps they are the first political advisors...thinking constantly how to tear into the other guys message and discredit him. "Why does Jesus say that? Who can forgive sins but God alone?" Perhaps a point...but we also forgive each other, do we not?

And instead of trying to reason with them, confront them, or some other expected response, Jesus snipes, "Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Stand up and take your mat and walk'?"

Now, as difficult as forgiving each other is...still easier than healing a paralytic, no? And the guy gets up, rolls up his mat, and walks away.

Can we live like Jesus asks--loving God and neighbor as ourselves? Not worrying about what we will wear? Loving our enemies, not just our friends? living generously? Most people say no. Not possible. Can't be done. Crazy to think about it.

But wouldn't it be the ultimate, delicious irony to do just that? OK...not easy. But I really like the challenge and the joy of living out the irony...

Faithful Pathways: Confession

I said that I thought unity might be the hardest thing we are asked to do. I changed my mind. Today's Psalm, Psalm 51, is a confession.

It doesn't contain qualifiers...I'm a sinner, but not really, because I do my best and that's really all you can ask of me. I'm a sinner and dealing with the consequences of sin...but if you were really a loving God, you would make my life good despite my sin. A broken spirit is not really a healthy way of being in the world...God, you would expect something else...something more positive.

Confessing our sin. Maybe that's the hardest thing. We are taught to point fingers in blame, to look toward the other when things go wrong. We judge others shortcomings and excuse our own. Or we just don't go there. We assume that our "sin" is not that bad and can't have truly significant consequences.

Can we be humble if we cannot recognize and admit our own sin? Can we identify the sin that we simply cannot escape...therefore being "born into sin from our mother's wombs?"

I wonder what might happen if the majority of us took our own sin more seriously than the sins of others, spent time confession that sin, and then trusted that God was at work cleansing us. What might happen if we were actually vulnerable enough to God and each other to show broken and contrite hearts?

There's a path to follow. There won't be much traffic.

Faithful Pathways: Community

We lost something in the heyday of American church. We enjoyed power and status. Everyone was involved somewhere. People who "didn't do" church were not nice people.

We would like to go back there...that's what we pine for, yearn for. try to hire the preacher who can get us back there.

That's not the community that reflects who God is. "...not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God." (from today's reading, (1 Corinthians 1:20-31)

Maybe being unpopular is the best thing that could happen to us. I know it's really making me think about why I practice faith, why I think God exists and what God I think exists, and how to have that conversation with people.

I have to boast in the Lord only...so far, I'm not very good at this new job of recruiting. But there may be something to the community that encompasses all, where the weak and the foolish and the despised are included, not because of who they are...but because of who God is.

Yeah...this story is definitely on my list of thing to talk about...

Faithful Pathways: Unity

This seems the hardest path today. In every corner of our lives, we are told that those who disagree with us should not be part of us. Failing to convince "them," "we" must leave. The irony, of course, is we are all still here in our towns or in our country...and sometimes in our churches. And we look at each other, and we hate each other--for leaving or for staying or for refusing to think-like-us.

Paul offers a different path in his first letter to the Corinthians (I Cor. 1:1-19). I'm not sure I'm comforted by the fact that the church at Corinth was fighting among themselves about who was "right," which "party" they belonged to.

Paul's eloquent reminder starts with the reality that God calls us together "so that we are not lacking in any spiritual gift." We are not called together because we agree, we are together because our gifts are needed in community. Given that foundation, we are to be united in the same mind--trust in Jesus Christ and the same purpose--this transformation of the world that Jesus works to accomplish.

We have never been asked to think the same. We are asked to live in reconciled community, serving God and neighbor together and working toward the reconciliation of all creation.

I can see why leaving is easier...

Guess we have to ask ourselves if we want easy or if we want Kingdom of God.

Faithful Pathways: Generosity

Up and preparing for worship at the crack of dawn. Today's Lenten theme is the faithful pathway of "generosity." So let me introduce you to (or remind you of) the generous God who you may not have heard about in a while, if ever. The press God gets is pretty ridiculous.  From Psalm 100:

Make a joyful noise to the LORD,all the earth.Worship the LORD with gladness;come into God's presence with singing. 

Know that the LORD is God.It is he that made us, and we are his;we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture 

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise.Give thanks to God, bless his name. 

For the LORD is good;his steadfast love endures forever,and his faithfulness to all generations.

Today, may we try to "out-generous" God. Won't work...we can't. But it will make this world a better place.

Faithful Pathways: Hope

A huge majority of the American population doesn't know much of the Bible or its stories. I wonder if the not knowing means we live with no hope. We don't think any treaty can work. We don't trust that any enemy can change. We don't see that any progress can be made. We spend most of our time perfecting our division, not healing our differences.

Even the most calamitous stories of God's anger end in hope. Because God never stays angry. God only wants reconciliation and relationship with God's people. If we knew those stories, would we live differently?

Then they shall know that I am the LORD their God because I sent them into exile among the nations, and then gathered them into their own land. I will leave none of them behind; and I will never again hide my face form them, when I pour out my spirit upon the ouse of Israel, says the Lord GOD. 

If we believe God is drawing all people back to God and leaving none of them behind, would we treat each other differently?

What does it mean to live in hope? What action does it require on our part? On what pathway does it demand we walk?

Because there is hope. The Lord GOD says so. Try arguing with that.

Faithful Pathways: Perspective

Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. (Phil. 4:8)

Imagine our political world centering its focus on this verse. Deafening silence. I can't even remember a report of some politician or wanna-be-politician speaking positively about anything.

Do any of us speak positively about anything?

My mother hated negativity, and every time we complained about anything, she would make us say something positive to balance it.  I don't remember it stopping us from complaining, but we always had at least one good thing to say so we could complain. I have to admit, it kept things in perspective.

How would our understanding of the world change if we gave up complaining for Lent and tried to live into the Philippians challenge?

Simple thought...simple blog post. Nothing particularly creative or memorable...

But very possibly world-changing, if we really did it.

Faithful Pathways: Knowing the Before

Habakkuk…spelling it alone is a challenge. I can think of one sermon from the book of Habakkuk, and it was a week my husband was out of town and the small congregation he served asked me to read a sermon so they didn’t have to pay a fill-in preacher.

Carl had given me an extensive script and everything was on it. I had been through it again and again…all the assigned parts were on the left hand side. EXCEPT…I missed his mistake. He had put the OT scripture reading in the “center” of the page. Sitting in worship, I saw the disaster looming. Not only did I have an OT reading, but I needed a Bible AND I was going to have to find the book of Habakkuk. The stuff of nightmares.

Habakkuk struggles with the stuff of nightmares…our nightmares. His theme, like all Old Testament prophets, is the lack of justice in the world. The conversation H has with God could have been written last week.

Conversation, part one: Habakkuk (see, I’m really good at spelling this…) complains to God that the people of Israel are unjust in their actions and demands that God do something to correct the situation.

Conversation, part two: God says, “I will. I’m going to bring a conquering army in and wipe Israel off the face of the earth. That’ll teach um.”

Conversation part three (and here’s where it gets interesting IMHO): Habakkuk points an accusing finger at God. “The armies you are bringing in are just as unjust as the ones you defeated. Nothing has changed. The unjust are still in power. What’s up with that?”

Commercial break: A collection of sayings is inserted into chapter 2 that pokes at the unjust conquerors. They don’t really advance the story or answer Habakkuk’s question, but maybe they are just fun? Maybe they make Habakkuk feel better about the continuation of the unjust behaviors if he can taunt the unjust with their own demise? Who knows….

The book doesn’t end with an answer, it ends with a prayer. That, too, could be our situation today. Injustice seems to be the strongest force out there. People actually take pride in preserving the practices that keep all people from reaching their full potential. What else do you do but do your little part and pray, pray, pray?

Habakkuk's prayer. The first part of it rehearses the great things we know about who God is and what God has done. The end asserts a deep and abiding trust that God’s justice will be accomplished.

Though the fig tree does not blossom,
and no fruit is on the vines;
though the produce of the olive fails,
and the fields yield no food;
though the flock is cut off from the fold,
and there is no herd in the stalls,

yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
I will exult in the God of my salvation.
God, the Lord, is my strength;
he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
and makes me tread upon the heights.

H had to know the before to know the after. Perhaps that is the path to take this Lenten season. Perhaps we should learn the before so we, too, can pray and act with such extraordinary trust.

Faithful Pathways: Ashes

We are dying. If we are alive, we are wending our way toward death. It has never happened any other way.

Great pretenders that we are, we don't think it will happen. We can't imagine living without those we love. Our medical system teaches us to preserve life at all cost--like in the preservation we can somehow cheat the death that will surely come.

Our pretense costs us wasted days when we could have been "together." It costs us reconciliation when we convince ourselves there is always one more day, so today we will hold tightly to the grudge we have held so long that the indention of the pain is deep in the carpet of our lives. Our pretense costs us the opportunity to say "good-bye," "I love you," "thank-you."

Great pretenders that we are, we think we control our life, our death, and our destiny.

Walk into a church today and hear the words, "You are dust, and to dust you shall return." (Genesis 3:19) God's words to us come at the end of our first denial of our mortality. God reminds us that we are not forever people.

The imposition of ashes is a small ritual. It only happens once a year...on a Wednesday...in the evening. Is it really so significant?

A friend was recently diagnosed with ALS. Her prayer was that God would help her know who she was as she lived with the disease. She was looking for significance and meaning in light of a clear reminder of her mortality. I thought it was a beautiful prayer and a gift to those of us who had forgotten we, too, are dying.

From dust we all come...and to dust we shall return. Is death a gift from God to remind us to live lives worthy of our true humanity...practicing generosity, forgiveness, trust, curiosity? Is our mortality an invitation to live and die knowing that we are loved by God and that nothing can separate us from that love?

The gift of ashes...

Evangelism....again: "Belief"

I'm reading a book called Belief Without Borders: Inside the Minds of the Spiritual but not Religious. Caveat...I just started the book. But in the beginning there is much written about the "beliefs" of religion. Apparently the "nones" are taking "a decidedly anti-dogmagtic stance against religious belief in general...they insist they do not need to believe in anything in particular to grow spiritually and that it really does not matter what your believe."

I call bu........ Well, I won't. My mother reads this blog. One definition of "belief" is that someone thinks something to be the case (thank you Wikipedia). Another is an opinion or conviction (Dictionary.com). Another (with gratitude to Merriam-Webster) is a state or habit of mind in which trust or confidence is placed in some person or thing. I suppose religion/spirituality is somehow wrapped up in all these things. But I think we have created an awfully shallow definition of religion/spirituality if they are based simply on opinion or thinking something might be the case.

Habit comes closer...but not just habit of mind. My faith is habit of being...mind, body, soul. And it is not for personal well-being, something to check off an accomplishment list to  create a well-rounded person. Truth is, it matters very much what you put your trust in. Are people fundamentally good or bad? Do you live in fear or hope? What is the purpose of your living?

As I read the gospel, Christian faith practice is a way of living in the world that results in transformation, both individually and corporately. Sometimes I wish I could practice the militant, self-focused Christianity where I see myself to be "saved" from hell (whatever that is), have a set list of things to think and do, and the ability to sit in judgment of others who don't do what I do or think what I think...and then, gleefully, condemn them to hell.

Alas...I cannot (and I am grateful...the comment above was pure snark). What I see in the biblical text, especially as Jesus reveals who God is, is a faith practice that is constantly reaching across barriers, constantly communicating to God, constantly looking for where God is at work before us, constantly reconciling and transforming brokenness with community and acceptance, constantly working for the good of others.

What are my other choices? Power? Violence? Strength? Consumerism? Knowledge? Popularity? Do I have to invent the wheel on my own every day, trying to find and decide what I will trust in and build my life on?

Believe me, I don't agree with what seems to be the majority "Christian" practice out there...at least the practice that gets the press. If that is my choice, I, too will proudly check "none." I "believe"...my conviction based on reading and studying the gospel in community that following Jesus is, for me in this time and place, the best habit of being.

It holds the promise to change me for the better, to change us for the better...and thus change the world. That's the best I can do. I'll leave the rest to God.