Volume II

RevGalBlogPals Friday Five - The A-Ha Moments

2012-01-06T08:33:00.005-05:00

It was my turn over at revgalblogpals to post the Friday Five and what is on my mind are those A-ha moments in our lives that bring clarity.

They can be mundane - a realization that you like/don't like a certain food or that you really look good in that color you never had the guts to try. They can be sacred - a way to better pace your day clicks into place or finally a devotion or meditation practice that really works for you. They can be profound - the moment you realized he/she was the one (or wasn't)or the moment you realized where your deepest passion could meet the world's greatest need.

And so here are a few of mine:

5) There was a distinct moment on a 5th grade playground where I looked up and realized that the only girl playing soccer with the boys was me. This moment could have gone either direction. And in a moment that seemed like courage, but was really well-placed cowardice, I continued to play soccer. Why? Because infiltrating the gossip huddles of girls seemed like a far worse fate than being pegged as a tomboy.

4) It is fun to be funny. I'm not sure what age I was but I'm going to go with upper grade school and the extended family was gathered around a round table at our favorite Chinese food place. My grandfather opened up his fortune cookie which said: You have a magnetic personality; to which I responded by saying, "Ah, that just means your socks have static cling."

My grandmother laughed until she wept.

It felt awesome and powerful.

3) Another a-ha was when I learned that although my sense of humor was a handy weapon to have, it would be better to use it for good instead of evil.

2) After decades of claiming that God is over all and clearly not in the details I had a massive A-HA that proved God is in the very minutia of every detail.

1) I know what I want to be and who I want to be with and finally this past holiday season the path became clearer on how to get there. For this, I am incredibly thankful and hopeful.

RevGalBlogPal Friday Five: Delinquent Edition

2011-12-02T10:21:00.003-05:00

The background of the situation is that a few years ago, Songbird reminded me that I had the Friday Five. I told her - quite adamantly - that I was one she would never have to worry about. I keep close track of such things.

As we were driving from having a beautiful breakfast with my sister, brother-in-law, nephew and brand new niece this morning you can imagine my dismay as Songbird said, "I hope whoever had the Friday Five today remembered to do it."

D'oh.

So for today, if you are still there, the Friday Five is this:
It's a busy season and our minds get caught up in lots of different things (a shiny new baby, in my case). We all know that especially during this time of year we have to be intentional about the things that are important or we can lose them. What are five things you try to be intentional about, whether it be for this season specifically or in general?

1) Sermon writing time - I've been trying to do a better job of setting a specific time for sermon work earlier in the week. It is frustrating how easily something that is SO important gets pushed out of the way for the trivial and mundane.

2) Time off in December - I forget where I picked up this tip, but I take the Friday before Christmas off of work. Totally. Truth be told our Christmas bulletins and most events are done by then and even if a Christmas Eve meditation is not done - it will be. This means that I can get those last second stuffers and post office runs done and my son and I can have an afternoon together before I turn into the Reverend Christmas Zombie.

3) Communication with special people - Facebook is not enough. It took me way too long to figure this out. I am not great at it, but I am trying to do better about intentionally reaching out to my friends with cards and phone calls and yes, even email.

4) Cookie baking - At some point during the season The Boy and I bake cookies.

5) The Ornament - Every year I take The Boy to pick out a Christmas ornament. He can pick whichever one he wants. This year he picked the most expensive one. So next year I will INTENTIONALLY set a price limit.

Love J.T.

2011-07-09T20:59:00.000-04:00

We are Presbyterian!

2011-06-22T13:48:00.002-04:00

I was there when this analogy was 'birthed'. Thanks MaryAnn McKibben Dana!

We Are Presbyterian 2011 -- A New "Diagnosis" for the Church from MaryAnn McKibben Dana on Vimeo.

In the Big Inning

2011-06-19T18:07:00.007-04:00

I Corinthians 12:12-26

Romans 5:1-11

June 19, 2011

Summer Sermon Series: Baseball

Father’s Day

Today is Father’s Day and although I of all people realize that it is important to be wary of stereotypes – not all men like sports, not all women like to cook – I did think when the request came in for a sermon topic of baseball that today would be a fun day to do it.

If you are looking for depth in this morning’s message I am not sure you will find it here, although there is a message. If you are a Trinity Sunday fan and are disappointed that we will not be focusing on the Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer on this day set aside for that purpose, I apologize, but encourage you to keep listening… for like Tinkers to Evers to Chance (considered to be the best double play combination of all time) – the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit will be present and will hopefully hold up the middle.

As many of you I am sure have surmised, the sermon title this morning comes from the old joke asking what was the first sport in the Bible. The answer is of course, baseball: In the ‘big inning’ Eve stole first, Adam stole second, Cain struck out Abel and the Prodigal Son was called safe at home.

Obviously baseball is not actually in the Bible, but it is certainly engrained in our culture.

Whether you like the game or not you have probably heard or spoken a phrase that finds its roots in baseball.

Let me give you a ballpark figure on how may baseball phrases are used in our everyday speech. If I don’t knock it out of the park hopefully I will at least cover all the bases. We’re playing hardball now. This is no bush league sermon, I’ve got to step up to the plate and swing for the fences because our heavy hitter is on deck. So far I’m batting a thousand but it’s still hit or miss how well I will do, after all it ain’t over ‘til it’s over.

Those of us who are into sports – and you know who we are – have issues. We have issues because we will talk ad nauseam about our team and their chances and where we are headed next Sunday afternoon, but we will not talk about where we go on Sunday morning. This sermon is not about lifting sports up onto a pedestal that I know already needs to be lowered. This sermon is about having a little fun and making some analogies…and being reminded of the grace of God.

Trust Your Team

There are some individual aspects to baseball – numbers are a big deal in this game – and a lot of the records that we get excited about are individual records.

Most consecutive games – Cal Ripken Jr. – 2, 632.

Most games in a row with at least one hit – Joe Dimaggio – 56.

Most home runs in a season – the record books will say it’s Barry Bonds, but real baseball fans know that it is Roger Maris – 61.

The individual records are fun, but the teamwork is what makes the game great. If there are men on base then the batter tries to hit the ball to the right side of the field in order to move them over. If a ball gets hit into the outfield, the outfielder throws the ball in to the cut-off man who is then told by the catcher where to throw it next. When run perfectly, the cut off throw is one of the most beautiful plays in baseball.

In baseball even the puniest utility player can have a role that is crucial to the team. In the 2004 American League Championship series the New York Yankees had only three outs between them and yet another World Series appearance. Their opponents were the Boston Red Sox who had famously not won the World Series since 1918. Up by only one run in the ninth the Yankees brought in their Hall of Fame bound closer, Mariano Rivera. When Rivera walked the first batter he faced it was surprising, but no one on the Yankees was really worried. Rivera has one pitch – the cutter – named because it cuts in on the batters’ hands and causes them to hit weak p

op-ups and ground balls often while breaking their bats. The entire goal of the Yankees team is to have the lead in the ninth and then hand the game to Mariano Rivera.

But on this night the Red Sox decided to pinch run for the man who walked to first and they put in Dave Roberts. Now Roberts was a major leaguer, so he had talent. His main gift was speed. He could get to anything in the outfield, but his arm was below average so players could take extra bases on him. He spent one year on the Red Sox team and when he came in to pinch run that night, he had not played in the last ten games. Basically, he was the last guy on the bench.

But on that night… he stole second base making it in ahead of the tag by mere inches. And when the next batter hit a single he was able to score and tie up the game sending the game into extra innings where the Red Sox won it after David Ortiz hit a two run home run. The Red Sox came back in that game, they came back in that series and they won the World Series after 86 years of futility. David Ortiz won the American League Championship Series MVP award, but if it we

ren’t for the speedy pinch runner, he would have never had his chance.

With apologies to the Apostle Paul:

Indeed, the team does not consist of one member but of many. If the catcher were to say, ‘Because I am not a Shortstop, I do not belong to the team’, that would not make it any less a part of the team. And if the leftfielder were to say, ‘Because I am not a pitcher, I do not belong to the team’, that would not make it any less a part of the team. If the entire team were a leftfielder, where would the curveball be? If the whole body were pitching, where would the runs come from?... As it is, there are many members, yet one team. The shortstop cannot say to the catcher, ‘I have no need of you’, nor again the power hitter to the pinch runner, ‘I have no need of you.’ On the contrary, the team members that seem to be weaker are indispensable… if one team member loses, the entire team loses with them; if the team wins, all rejoice together.

The word of baseball… thanks be to Babe Ruth.

If God is keeping score, then Jesus is the closer. Grace.

A good friend of mine from seminary told me about the computer baseball game he had as a kid. Now compared to today’s standards, the game looked like cave drawings but one of

the cool things you could do was name your team and the players on it. Matt, being the cool preacher’s kid that he was, named his team: The God Squad.

His batting line-up began with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. His pitching staff consisted of the Apostle Paul - a crafty veteran who could no longer rely on his blazing fastball due to all the traveling he did in the minor leagues - and a couple of journeyman prophets as his set-up men. The ace of his staff was none other than Jesus himself. His closer: God.

And that is where our argument began because he claimed that God was the closer because no one could possibly get a hit off of God. Fair enough, but I still think his closer should be Jesus. Why? Jesus saves!

When you look at the game of baseball through the lens of our Christian theology it is - at its core - a game about law and grace. The law is the rules of the game, the grace is in how the game is played.

I know everyone here has heard of Jackie Robinson, the first African American player in the major leagues. Jackie wore number 42 – a number now retired in all ballparks – and played for the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1947 until 1957. How many of you have heard of Jackie Robinson? Now how many of you have heard of Larry Doby?

Larry followed Jackie Robinson and was the first African American player in the American League. Doby came up with the Cleveland Indians about 3 months after Jackie first broke the color barrier. In his very first at bat Larry Doby looked terrible. He struck out on three straight pitches that were way outside of the plate. He walked back to the dugout with his head down, sat at the end of the bench all by himself and put his head in his hands.

The next Cleveland batter was Joe ‘Flash’ Gordon, one of the best second baseman of all time. Joe was in the prime of his career and the pitcher Joe was facing was one that he always hit well. But during his turn at bat, right after Larry Doby, he swung and missed three straight times at pitches way outside of the strike zone.

Gordon returned to the dugout, went to the end of the bench, sat right next to Larry Doby and likewise, put his head in his hands. From that moment on and for as long as they played together, every time Larry Doby ran out to his position, he first picked up Joe Gordon’s glove and tossed it to him. Larry Doby went on to become one of baseball’s best home run hitters.

There is grace in this game, just as there is grace for us in this life.

But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life. But more than that, we even boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Final score:

Satan loses.

Love wins.

And Jesus gets the save!

Game over.

In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Beloved Children of God

2011-06-05T20:32:00.003-04:00

A sermon for Easter 7a, June 5, 2011

John 17:1-11

This is our third week sitting around the table of the Lord’s Supper, no wonder my back is a little stiff. The disciples and Jesus are in Jerusalem and the atmosphere is thick with anticipation. The resurrection of Lazarus has already occurred and the religious authorities have placed a price on his head. But the one they really want is the one who brought him back to life, Jesus. The authorities are trying to keep a revolution from happening and in the meantime those who have followed Jesus are anticipating that the time for one has finally come.

Jesus and a small gathering of his closest followers gather in a room to eat together and Jesus surprises them all by washing and drying their feet.

He washes the feet of Peter, who will deny him.

He washes the feet of Judas, who will betray him.

It is the eve of history’s most tragic hour, the last chance that Jesus has before his death to explain the reason for everything and the purpose for the disciples going forward and he focuses not on revenge, not on judgment and not on repentence. Instead his focus is love. A few excerpts:

Do not let your hearts be troubled, Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?
I will not leave you orphaned, I am coming to you… because I live, you also will live.
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world give. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.
As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love.
This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

Last week I took the liberty of breaking down three chapters of a repetitive monologue into 3 clichés:

Cliché #3 - Do not be afraid, we (the Father, the Son and the Spirit) are still with you.
Cliché #2 - Remember my commandment to love.
Cliché #1 - Your Father in heaven and I love you and support you no matter what you do.

And now immediately preceeding their departure to a garden where they will be met by Judas and a detachment of soldiers (John 18:1ff), Jesus closes their time together in prayer:

John 17:1-11

….(Jesus) looked up to heaven and said, ‘Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed.

‘I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.

The Word of the Lord…

‘Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed.

It’s an interesting word, ‘glory’.

I think of politicians who win their election. On that night they are surrounded by those who support them, streamers and confetti flying, music blaring and hundreds or thousands of supporters shouting their name and flashing signs with their name on them. Power! Glory!

I think of CEO’s who present the shareholders with increased earnings. At that meeting they are surrounded by those who benefitted from their decisions. Hugs are shared and backs are slapped and hundreds or thousands of supporters are willing to do anything they are asked. Power! Glory!

I think of the athletes who win their city a championship. On the day of the parade they are surrounded by those who support them, streamers and confetti flying, music blaring and thousands or hundreds of thousands of supporters shouting their name and flashing jerseys with their name on them. Power! Glory!

The thing about glory is we cannot retain it. It’s not ours to keep. And when we try the fall from it is not far behind.

We’ve seen it.

We’ve seen politicians fall from grace when their quest for power undermined their morals.

We’ve seen CEO’s fall from grace when their quest for wealth undermined their values.

We’ve seen athletes fall from grace when their quest for winning undermined the rules of fair play.

We’ve seen it whether it be in the national headlines or closer to home. It’s easy to get confused and hung up on earthly and material glory. Our culture reminds us every chance it gets in every piece of 30 second interval it can find that we deserve the glory and the power and once we get it, we need to protect it and grow it at all costs.

As if it were ours to begin with. The belief that the glory lies in us is the first mistake.

To God be the glory. From God be the glory.

I think of Jesus when so many thought he was going to be their idea of a savior. He came into Jerusalem surrounded by those who had hope in him, palm branches and hosannas flying, hundreds of people lining the way, shouting his name, “King of Israel!” Those in authority said to one another: You see, you can do nothing. Look, the world has gone after him! (John 12:19)

Power! Glory!

But Jesus both fully human and fully divine, knew that it was not his glory.

To God be the glory. From God be the glory.

In Chapter 2 of the Gospel of John, the first miracle at the wedding at Cana and Mary the mother of Jesus says to him, ‘They have no wine.’ And Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.’ (2:4)

And what are the first words of this prayer? Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all people…

Authority over all people. Power! Glory!

Jesus has the chance to cling to the power!

The stage is set for him to take the glory!

In the garden when they come to arrest him there are torches and lanterns and weapons. One of his own strikes first – but that is where it stops. God’s glory is not proven in a final act of power and might. God’s glory is revealed in the ultimate act of mercy, grace and love.

It is in this choice of the cross that an invitation is extended to us to participate in the glory of God; not by clinging to power, but by letting it go. Not by hoarding glory for ourselves, but in reflecting God’s glory back into the world,

To God be the glory. From God be the glory.

At the end of the 14th century, mystic Julian of Norwich wrote:

Would you like to know your Lord's meaning?
Okay, then know it well. The Lord's meaning is love. Love is God's only meaning.
Who shows this to you? Love.
What did God show you? Love.
And why did God show it to you? For love.
Stay in God's love, then, and you'll learn more about its unconditional, unending, joyful nature. And you'll see for yourself, all manner of things will be well.

Do not let your hearts be troubled…

Listen to the final petition in this prayer from Jesus on our behalf:

‘Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me. I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them’ (17:25-26).

To God be the glory. From God be the glory.

Power? Glory?

They are nothing without love.

In the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit - Amen.

RevGalBlogPals Friday Five: Summer Rerun Edition

2011-06-03T19:33:00.004-04:00

From Songbird over at the revgals....
It's that time of year when the only new things on television are music/dance competitions (the 21st century answer to variety shows?). Yes, it's the season of reruns.

This week the clock turned back to last fall and the Glee kids went back to school and still got "slushied," and Michael hired his nephew on The Office, which was not something even he would be likely to repeat.

In honor of this annual Time Warp, please share five things worth a repeat. These could be books, movies, CDs, recipes, vacations, or even TV shows.

5) I remember as a kid reading Trumpet of the Swan a LOT.

4) I watched FRIENDS so much that my friend and I actually taped the repeats. We had taped them pausing on the commercials (pre-kids, can you tell?) so when we sat down to watch a tape, 8 HOURS later we could still be found sitting on the couch, very much having to pee but there were NO commercial breaks to do it in.

3) I have a few songs that remind me of certain people or certain moments and I like to listen to those.

2) Christmas is filled with re-run recipes.

1) We are hoping the beach will be a vacation trip we repeat every summer.

The Advocate (Cliché #1)

2011-05-30T08:06:00.004-04:00

A sermon for Easter 6a, May 29, 2011

John 14:15-21

For a guy who grew up the son of immigrants in Brooklyn, didn’t learn how to drive until he joined the Navy and worked blue collar jobs including being a truck driver for a good portion of his life, my Dad was a softie when it came to his daughters. If not effusive, he was protective, and Mom would work around his obsessive desire to keep us from getting hurt by doing things like telling him we were on the youth ski trip after he looked around and noticed we weren’t there.

As he got older, his verbal skills caught up with what was in his heart and he gained a reputation for sitcom-esque monologues about the ways he loved and was proud of his daughters. When we would come back to visit after we moved out of the house, he would especially and I will admit, embarrassingly, go on and on about his 'two beautiful daughters - one the singer, one the preacher’ - blah, blah, blah until Mom or (my sister) or I would say, "Okay Dad, okay..."

"What? What-did-I-do? I can't tell my two daughters that I love them and support them?"

To which Mom or (my sister) or I would respond, "No."

Once he even tried to encapsulate all of these things onto a cake that he picked up at the grocery story. Now, the man was still frugal so he had found the smallest ice cream cake possible and then watched as they attempted to fit it all in on the cake: To life, love and prosperity.

He meant well, but it finally got to the point where we assigned numbers to his most repetive phrases. Cliché #1 is this: “Your mother and I love you and support you no matter what you do.”

(My sister) and I know we are two of the lucky ones who never had to wonder if our Dad loved and supported us – we get that. But the man sure did know how to drive home a point.

I didn't want to preach on love again. I just didn’t want to do it. How many different ways can the Gospel of John say it? And how much do we really need to hear it? Like a teenager shrugging off a parent's hug - we get it, right? Jesus. God. The Holy Spirit. They love us... now just drop us off at the mall by the far entrance and let us go on with our lives, ok?

I think my Dad may have learned how to belabor a point from Jesus in the Gospel of John.

Do we need to assign Jesus his own cliché numbers?

Cliché #3 - Do not be afraid, we are still with you.

Who’s we?

Well, it’s the Father, it’s the Son and it’s the Advocate – the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, counselor, comforter, helper, mediator and ‘broker’. Parakletos is the Greek word and directly translated it means Advocate, like an advocate to a judge.

But instead of the Advocate going to God on your behalf, she is instead coming to you to plead God’s case: I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.

Some of you may remember from last week that these words were spoken as the disciples shared their last meal with their friend and teacher, Jesus. Judas had already left the room called out for being the one who will betray. Following that Peter was told that he would deny Jesus three times before the cock crows. The very next words from Jesus are, Do not let your hearts be troubled…

Our Scripture today continues that speech where Jesus is trying to assuage their fears. He knows they will feel left behind like orphans. He knows that it will be all the harder for them as they spread the Good News to those who did not see Jesus with their own eyes.

But he also knows that death will not have the final word. And that the love that will abide in them is not about the memory of a historical event, but is about a very present God who they will know through the Spirit. The Spirit, the Advocate, shows God’s love to us and in us.

Cliché #3 – Do not be afraid, we are still with you.

Cliché #2 - Remember my commandments.

What is it about these that we refuse to understand? The commandments are not in our lection passage for today but they are found earlier in this same speech: A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another (13:34-35).

That’s it.

That's the list.

Even if you look to the Synoptic Gospels and add: You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, mind, soul and strength it's still so simple you could fit it on a small cake with just 4 letters: l.o.v.e.

I know it’s crazy and ridiculous – but think for a moment what the world would be like if all of humanity erred on the side of love? Just go there with me for just a little bit – there would be no borders, no greed, no abuse, no hoarding, no gluttony or arrogance or shame. There would be no more thirsting, hungering, imprisoning.

I know, I know, it’s not reality so let’s bring it way down.

What would this community be like if everyone erred on the side of love?

What would this congregation be like?

What would your family be like if everyone erred on the side of love?

Immediate or extended - what would change if a commitment was made by all to err on the side of love. And what about you?

What would change about you if you chose to err on the side of love

Impossible? Or can we do all things through Christ who strengthens us?

Cliché #2 – Remember my commandments.

Cliché #1 - Your Father in heaven and I love you and support you no matter what you do.

It is the eve of history’s most tragic hour and the one who speaks these phrases knows his betrayal, abandonment, torture and death are merely hours away and this is what he says…

Do not let your hearts be troubled, Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?
I will not leave you orphaned, I am coming to you… because I live, you also will live.
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world give. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.
As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love.
This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

If you are a person who prefers actions over words, this entire speech comes after he washes the disciples feet.

He washes the feet of Peter who will deny him.

He washes the feet of Judas who will betray him.

Cliché #1 – Your Father in heaven and I love you and support you no matter what you do.

Why is this so hard for us? Why the push back so hard against a commandment to give and receive love? What are we waiting for?

After my father had been sick for so very long the hard decision was made by him and my Mom that he would no longer be shuttled from the nursing home to the hospital, back to the nursing home, back to the hospital… he wasn’t going to get better. By then (my sister) was in town and we handled it the way each of us handles these things – she went into his room weeping, immediately emotionally available in the moment – something I have long envied.

I tend to be the more practical, stoic one and when I went in I spoke very clearly to him and asked him if he wanted to stop going to the hospital. Yes – he nodded.

“Dad, do you know what this means?”

Again he nodded yes.

I made myself say the words, “It means you’re going to die, do you understand me?”

And I was surprised to hear his voice, “It’s ok.”

He looked up to heaven and pointed and then he looked back at me and lowering his finger he said, “Cliché #1.”

How much more is our heavenly Father's love for us?

Cliché #1.

Amen.

John 14:1, 18, 27, 15:9, 12.

John 13:1-11

Left Behind

2011-05-22T19:14:00.004-04:00

A sermon for Easter 5a, May 22, 2011

I Peter 2:2-10; John 14:1-14

On the eve of his betrayal the disciples and Jesus have dinner together. According to the Gospel of John, Jesus pours water into a basin and washes the disciples' feet and dries them. It is after this ritual that Jesus begins to outline to his disciples what is to happen next and why it is happening. Bible interpreters call it the farewell discourse where Jesus is equipping the disciples with knowledge that will help them understand what has happened in the hopes they can remember it after his crucifixion and resurrection. He is helping to assuage their fears about being... left behind.

After he washes their feet he tells them he is to be betrayed. They all wonder by who and in the Gospel of John, Jesus takes a piece of bread and hands it to Judas saying, "It is the one to whom I give this piece of bread..." (13:26).

Judas takes the bread and immediately leaves.
Jesus continues to speak, Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, 'Where I am going, you cannot come.' (remember that) I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another (13:33-34).

Peter becomes incredulous that he cannot follow Jesus to wherever he is going and swears that he will lay down his life for Jesus to which he responds: Will you lay down your life for me? Very truly, I tell you, before the cock crows, you will have denied me three times.

I wonder how long the shocked silence lingered until Jesus spoke the words in today's Scripture reading, John 14:1-14:

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me.
In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going."

(To which) Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do NOT know where you are going. How can we know the way?"

Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.’

Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.’

Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show us the Father”? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.

The past few days the internet, television, the newspapers (even yesterday’s t-ball fields and scouting event) have been swirling with chatter about the rapture. I wish the plight of those in Vicksburg or Japan or Syria could get nearly as much attention and money.

It would be easier to ridicule if we didn’t have the same heritage – I flinched every time the word “Christian” was used to describe the group and the fear. But there it is and therefore crazy Uncle Harold Camping is considered part of our extended family.

As frustrated as I am by that, I found myself praying last night for those who had made life decisions based on their understanding that at 6:00pm they would no longer be here; their families and friends… left behind.

The cynics, realists, mainstreamers – whatever you want to call them – mocked them mercilessly.
Can’t think of a good rapture joke? Don’t worry, it’s not the end of the world.
Even pastors who should know better couldn’t resist the siren song of our church sign on the busy corner and named their sermon, “Left Behind”.

My own conviction is that even if the rapture calculations were Biblical (which they are not), the message surrounding it was all wrong. Words like repent and judgment are meant to stir up fear and panic. But based on the words of Jesus at the end of the Gospel of John, this is not what God has in mind.

Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid… in my Father’s house there are many dwelling places…

These are words of peace and calm,
grace and mercy,
hospitality and love.

What are the priorities of ones who trumpet doom and judgment and miss out on mercy and love? Even cnn.com lifted up the concern:

If you thought you had less than three perfectly healthy months to live, what would you do? Would you travel? Spend time with loved ones? Appreciate the joy life has given you?

Or would you ditch your kids and grandkids, join strangers in a caravan of RVs and travel the country warning people about the end of the world?

Recognize instead, that on the eve of history’s most tragic hour, Jesus gathers in a room with those he trusts the most with his message. This is his moment, his time to impress upon them what the world HAS to know about… judgment? No.
Fear? No.

He tells them to trust. He tells them to love.
Do not let your hearts be troubled.
Trust me. Love one another. You know me. You know who I am. Trust me.

“Jesus is about to be betrayed, abandoned, handed over, tried, insulted, beaten, and then crucified, nailed to a cross and hung there to die.” And yet his message is not one of punishment that we deserve, nor is he appeasing the anger of a just God nor is he showcasing what real faith looks like. “Jesus goes to the cross for one reason and one reason only: to show us God, to show us God's grace and mercy, to show just how much God loves us and how far God will go to communicate that love to us that we might believe and, believing, have life in his name.” (link)

Do not let your hearts be troubled…
Trust. Love.

A colleague wrote: “You could remove every evidence of Christianity from the world— destroy the churches, burn the Bibles, and silence the ministers; but the event that took place outside the walls of Jerusalem nineteen hundred years ago will abide forever as the sure testimony of God's work of love on man's behalf. It is a clarion call, loud and clear, announcing the vast mercies of God's matchless grace.”*

In I Peter we read:

“…taste that the Lord is good…”
“…like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house…”
“…you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people;
once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Those who have received mercy, are thereby charged to show mercy.
Those who have received God’s grace, are charged to show grace.
Those who have received God’s love, are charged to show love.

Do not let your hearts be troubled…
Trust God.
Love your neighbor.

Look to Jesus, “the one who preached God's mercy and taught God's love, the one who healed the sick, opened the

eyes of the blind, made the lame to walk, and then conquered death so that even the grave can no longer claim us. Because what (we) see in Jesus..., this is what God looks like, this is who and what God is: love, perfect love, for you, for them, for all of us and the whole world.” (link)

Love is what Jesus left behind.

* Ensley, Eugene C. "Eternity is now : a sermon on John 14:1-11." Interpretation 19.3 (1965): 295-298.ATLASerials, Religion Collection. EBSCO. Web. 21 May 2011. P. 297

John 14:1-14 (kzjv)

2011-05-21T09:23:00.003-04:00

John 14:1-14 - kzj version (with apologies to actual scholars)

"Chill.... calm down. Trust God. Trust me. The Eternal Kingdom is HUGE! There's no rush - plenty of room. I'm heading up there in order to assure you will come too. And I'll make sure you can join me. You know where, right?"

Thomas said, "Uh... no! How are we supposed to know that?"

Jesus said, "I'm it. I've got this. You know me, right? So you're in. Your guesses as to who I am are true."

Philip said, "Whatever... prove it. I want to see God."

Jesus responded, "Philip, you know me. You've seen what I've done, you've heard what I've said - you want to see God? You're looking at Him! You want proof? Think about the things you've seen me do. And if you trust me you will do them too - actually you'll do even more because I. am. outta here!"

"Trust me. I've got this. I'm here for you."

Follow the Leader

2011-05-15T19:57:00.004-04:00

A sermon for Easter 4a, May 15, 2011, John 10:1-10; Acts 2:42-47

Occasion: Confirmation Class, Celebration of 50 year and 70 year members, Amendment 10-a

Sheepfold. Gate. Thief and bandit.

Shepherd. Gatekeeper. Sheep.

I’m confused. Is Jesus the shepherd or the gate?

Did the thieves and bandits climb over the fence or just shout?

Is the shepherd ahead of the sheep or with the thieves and the bandits?

Where’s Little Bo Peep?

We in the 21st century like answers not analogies and so we tend to arrive at pasages like this as if we’re part of CSI – Criminal Shepherd Investigators (duh).

How do we avoid the thieves and the bandits?

If even Jesus cannot decide if he is the voice, the shepherd or the gate, what chance do we have?

What are we supposed to hear?

One of my friend’s parishioners told her that she grew up on a farm and they had a pet lamb called “Baa baa”. This is what happens when you allow your 3 year old to name your pet lamb.

Another reason to not allow your 3 year old to name your lamb is because you no longer have the heart to make it dinner and instead it becomes a pet.

They soon moved from the farm and had to leave the sheep with a sheep farmer. When the little girl and her father would go to visit they would be looking out at hundreds of sheep, but her father would calmly call, “Baa, baa” and that one sheep came running to him. Over all of the chaos going on around her, the sheep knew the shepherd’s voice.

This week a rarity in our denomination ocurred in that in addition to all of the other voices clamoring to get our attention the secular media joined in, calling attention to our denomination by name. Was The New York Times trumpeting our disaster assistance teams already in place throughout Tennesse, Louisiana, and other areas hit by massive flooding? No.

Was the Wall Street Journal touting the precentage of expendable income that members of the PCUSA give to non-profits? No.

The Associated Press was reporting on one of today’s hot button issues, namely that the PCUSA has voted to remove the ordination standard that was used to keep those who are in committed, same gender relationships from serving in the ordained positions of deacon, elder and Minister of the Word and Sacrament.

The official language that will be placed in the Book of Order is this:

Standards for ordained service reflect the church’s desire to submit joyfully to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in all aspects of life (G‐1.0000). The governing body responsible for ordination and/or installation (G.14.0240; G‐ 14.0450) shall examine each candidate’s calling, gifts, preparation, and suitability for the responsibilities of office. The examination shall include, but not be limited to, a determination of the candidate’s ability and commitment to fulfill all requirements as expressed in the constitutional questions for ordination and installation (W‐4.4003). Governing bodies shall be guided by Scripture and the confessions in applying standards to individual candidates.

Just hearing those words, it may seem hard to understand what all the noise is about. A lot of it sounds good:

• Submit joyfully to the Lordship of Jesus Christ,

• Examine each candidate’s calling, gifts, preparation and suitabilty for the responsibilities,

• Guided by Scripture and the confessions.

But it is controversial, not for what it says but because of what it doesn’t say. Not included in this new amendment are some very particular words that were approved by the General Assembly in 1996 and then ratified by 55% of the presbyteries, “Those who are called to office in the church are… to live either in fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman (W-4.9001), or chastity in singleness.”

“It made explicit what had been implicit for many years before, that being gay and ordained was not okay1.” There have been a lot of voices heard over it and this cacaphony of grassroots movements for and against has been going on since 1978 – almost my entire lifetime.

That’s a lot of yelling.

If only we could be more like the early church – the one in Acts:

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

Sounds nice and calm and peaceful and… quiet, right?

Except that this is the glossy brochure version of the early church. It’s the picture with the sound turned down because as the Adult Sunday School class knows you don’t have to go too much farther in Acts to see the VH1 Behind the Music version of the early church.

Two of their members, a husband and wife team, Ananias and Sapphira sold property and then lied about how much money they made (5:1-11). That didn’t go well for them. Then food was being distributed unfairly and the office of deacon was created to make sure that didn’t happen again (6:1-7). And the big question that nearly divided the early church was over circumcision as Gentiles wanted to be baptized as Christians but did not want to be circumcised first (10). (You’d better believe the men let their voices be heard on that one!)

So you see, not only is disagreement nothing new, it is downright Biblical.

One of the symbols of the office of Moderator of the PCUSA is a cross. It’s uniqueness is noticeable right away as you realize it is actually three celtic crosses riveted together. The crosses were bought in Iona in 1949 and then given to the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S., the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A and the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in North America. These three branches represented a split over slavery and other issues. The schism those divided voices created took 145 years to heal when in 1983 the three crosses were handed over as one to the 1st Moderator of the Presbyterian Church (USA).

I vaguely remember the celebrations over the reunification of the Presbyterian Church. What I really remember is that it never, ever ocurred to me that I could not be a Minister of the Word and Sacrament. I grew up with numerous associate pastors who were women, some who were men, a youth director who was a woman… the thought that some may have an issue with women in ministry never even entered my head.

But today we celebrate our 50 and 70 year members and they probably remember. They witnessed the angry voices surrounding the 1956 decision to ordain the first woman in the Presbyterian Church as a Minister of the Word and Sacrament; that moment came 124 years from the time an amendment was passed forbidding the leadership of women.

So actually we are a lot like the early church. There’s just more of us, covering a larger span and with over 30,000 Christian denominations we have gotten louder and even more divisive.

So why even try to find what unites us. Why bother?

Listen to the voice of the Shepherd: I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me (John 14:6). There are no disclaimers there. There are no conflicting voices. There are no divisive categories. I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Gay and straight.

Strong and weak.

Sad and joyful.

Faithful and sinful.

Graced and searching.

Young and old.

Married, single, divorced and widowed…

The Voice calls us to what unites us and points us to what will strengthen us if we stop with the yelling… and listen.

My friend and lectionary group colleague Michael Kirby wrote earlier this week:

“A brighter morning dawns on a new day in our little part of the church...and the hungry still need to be fed, the refugees still long for a home, the flood victims are still undone by loss and shock, the lonely and wandering still need to experience love and hospitality, and the oppressed and addicted still long for freedom. So back to it…”

It is our faith in Him that unites us,

work in His kingdom that strengthens us,

and hope in His peace that sustains us.

Listen….

50 year members, 70 year members, confirmation class and members of the congregation:

Who is your Lord and Savior?

Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior.

Trusting in the gracious mercy of God, do you turn from the ways of sin and renounce evil and its power in the world?

I do.

Do you turn to Jesus Christ and accept him as your Lord and Savior, trusting in his grace and love?

I do.

Will you be Christ’s faithful disciple obeying his Word and showing his love?

I will.

It is our faith in Him that unites us,

work in His kingdom that strengthens us,

and hope in His peace that sustains us.

These questions embody the voice of The Shepherd.

These answers embody the unity of the church.

The peace of Christ be with you.

And also with you.

Amen.

1. Anna Pinckney Straight. The Church of Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow. A sermon preached for University Presbyterian Church, Chapel Hill, NC. May 15, 2011.

Duh

2011-04-21T13:25:00.000-04:00

Sorry.
It's Holy Week.

Have a blessed one! :)

RevGalBlogPals Friday Five: Birthday Edition

2011-04-15T08:35:00.004-04:00

Jan over at RevGalBlogPals gave us the following gift: What do you think of birthdays? 1. What are your feelings about celebrating birthdays, especially your own? You know... I'm pretty ambiguous about this. As an adult, I think celebrating my birthday is... well... stupid. I will admit this could be a control issue as I don't like to be the center of attention if I am not controlling it. There, I said it. I have also found them to be overall disappointing, so why bother. I have NO problem celebrating other people's birthdays. In fact, one of my favorite people is having a BIG birthday and I've been enjoying planning some thing for her to enjoy. 2. Do you have any family traditions about birthdays? No. My Mom grew up with an airline pilot for a Dad so that left out any scheduling traditions and has probably led to our own family's 'take-it-or-leave-it' approach to birthdays. 3. Is it easy to remember friends' and family members' birthdays? If so, how do you do it? No. It's not. In fact I have a very small people that I make sure I remember (Mom, sister, son...). If you are an adult, you know it's your birthday. A message from me isn't going to save the day. 4. What was one of your favorite birthdays? (or your unhappiest?) My sophomore year - yep, 16 - I was invited to prom on that same day but wasn't allowed to go (too young?) and then my parents forgot my birthday. And Matthew Schoeffling did not show up to salvage it either. 5. Post anything else you want to share about birthdays, including favorite foods, songs, and/or pictures. I think I've been depressing enough for one post. :)

More than Those Who Watch for the Morning

2011-04-13T16:32:00.006-04:00

I don't know what I was thinking.

My nephew and his father wanted to go on an overnight hiking trip. I had never done this before. Worse yet, they had never done this before. Sure, I'll go.

While still at home I read up as much as I could about the trail we would be on, our start and finish points, and what to pack. I practiced hiking with a heavy pack by walking around Kings Gap with my friend's infant son on my back. I read up on GORP - because what I remembered from my Girl Scout hikes was the trail mix: granola, m&m's, dried fruit and nuts.

On the night before we were going to go, I measured out enough GORP for a week-long trek through the Amazon. This was one overnight, up the Appalachian Trail, then off on a side trail and back again to our starting point.

Instead of packing 10 pound bags of GORP, I should have been doing altitude training because our hike began at the Fontana Dam, right at the edge of the North Carolina and Tennessee border and ascended quickly. In one day we climbed 2,000 brutal, exhausting feet… "Did I volunteer for this torture?"

I was out of shape, but my brother-in-law was hurting. He not only had his backpack,
overloaded with the stuff inexperienced people bring on such treks, but he also had about 50-75lbs of extra body weight he had intended to lose before our little adventure AND the pride he was carrying which was refusing to let him give me anything from his backpack to put in mine.

My nephew was an eager and able 12 year old whose energy knew no bounds nor
understanding of why he kept having to run back and check on the grown-ups. Finally, at a particularly peakid point of our journey, his father acquiesced and let the woman take some of the weight out of his backpack and put it in mine.

Of course, now as we journied on I was the one burdened with not only the added weight in my backpack and the extra pounds of body weight I had meant to lose before our adventure... but also the weight of pride. Because we all know there was NO way I was handing any of that stuff back for him to carry.

As the old phrase goes: Pride goeth before the passing out.

We did manage to make it to the top of our ascent and revelled in our victory. Nephew and I even climbed up a fire tower so we could look out over the vast expanse of mountain sides that surrounded us and all the way down 2,050 feet to Fontana Lake and Dam below.... the terror I felt at that moment will be in a sermon for another day.

As we made the turn down a side trail to make our return to the truck and civilization (read: flushies) we also started to look for the campsite we had reserved… or to be more specific, the clearing that had a painted number on a piece of wood over it.

Here is why it was so important that we find that clearing. At these campsites they had pulley systems set up between two trees so that you could hoist your backpacks into the air in order to keep them away from… the bears.

Seriously, what were we thinking?

Dusk began to descend and unfortunately so did the raindrops. We were just about to camp i the next clearing no matter whether it had a sign on it or not when finally we reached our barren campsite. We managed to grab a bite to eat, change our clothes, set up the tent on seemingly as many roots as possible and haul our edible gear into the trees on their pullies so that the bears didn't get it - just as the rain really started to come down.

We laid down in our cramped tent, my nephew in the middle, and eventually he drifted off to sleep. The two adults in the tent were left to feel every aching part of their body and hear every sound of the forest.

I learned two important things that night about an overnight hike. One, the campfire isn't just for show. It's to ease the body you just abused into a relaxed state so that you can better go to sleep. If the campfire doesn't work then that leads to the second thing I learned - bring Tylenol PM.

As I lay on the ground, feeling every piece of dirt, stone and stick that we had not seen when we put up the tent and wondering if my sleeping bag had been so heavy to carry because of the rocks that seemed to be in its lining, I realized that I was very far away from ever sleeping.

In fact, that night I never slept.

I layed there… and prayed that the rain wouldn’t come in the tent, that at the very least it would keep the bears from looking for lonely pieces of GORP, and that the morning would come so that we could be done with this adventure.

I waited.
And waited.
And waited….

At one desperate point I actually thought to myself, “What if this is the day that the sun doesn’t come up?”

“What if it’s never morning?”

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
And in His word I hope;
My soul waits for the Lord
more than those who watch for the morning,
more than those who watch for the morning.

Sometimes I forget...

2011-04-07T09:12:00.001-04:00

In some ways it seems forever ago since lives were upended and hearts were broken. I have moved on both physically and emotionally and this is a good thing.

But every once in awhile something brings me right back to that place and reminds me of just how far we've come. This time it was notes from the sermon and worship service of three years ago, yes... only three years ago. In those notes from the past I found this preamble to the pastoral prayer:

I want to thank all of you for your love, care and support as P and I have walked through a valley that frankly I never though we would go through. There is no way I would have gotten through the last several months if I did not feel like the church family was behind me.

Throughout this time I have repeatedly asked P if he wanted to come home, if he wanted to work on our marriage and his response has been a consistent, 'no'. So although our bond will continue through the parenting of our son, we are no longer married.

It breaks my heart to say that, yet I can honestly look at you all amd more importantly at myself in the mirror and know there was absoltuely nothing more I could do.

You are wonderful, faithful people, and I know that you will continue to keep me and The Boy and The Boy's father in your prayers. Let us pray...

God bless that woman who had to stand up in front of that congregation Sunday after Sunday and say words like that or at the very least keep her head high and her shoulders back. And God bless each and every one of you who prayed for her to make it.

It's good to be here. And even better to be here with all of you.

Just Reward

2011-04-06T08:45:00.001-04:00

Today I sat at a Lent Prayer Breakfast, start time: 6AM.
They start that early so that people can leave afterwards and get to work, but none of them do that. They are all retired.

It was our church's turn to host so I put together the bulletin/program and gave the meditation. At first I was told by the contact person at our church that the sermon should be about 15-20 minutes. But once I reminded him that I don't preach that long on a Sunday, he relented. And really once we got started, no one was going to complain that it was too short. It ended up being 5 minutes to gather, 20 minutes to eat, 15 minutes of program and then off to conquer the day.

I don't know these folks or their stories. I do think there were a few pastors in the bunch. One introduced himself afterwards, your jovial, over-the-top type. He set off something in my gut of nothing I can prove, but I've learned to trust. He introduced himself, talked about his own sermon that he did once and then I turned to his spouse. I extended my hand to her, introduced myself and she seemed genuinely shocked.

She said, "Oh... I'm the quiet one... umm.... I'm ----." She tentatively shook my hand and began to walk away. Her husband said, "Yes, I took out a rib and here she is!"

ugh.
I didn't even fake laugh.

God bless that woman and may her blessing at the great heavenly banquet be that for every time she has heard that joke she gets to sit 1000 places away from him.

Wow.

2011-04-04T20:31:00.001-04:00

You will not believe why they went to all this trouble...

You can find more information about it here.

And I originally saw it here.

Mud in Your Eye

2011-04-03T14:46:00.005-04:00

(A sermon for Lent 4a, April 3, 2011, John 9:1-41)

What a wonderfully rich and well presented story.

So many theological themes...

So many narrative nuances…

So many characters with so much character…

So it’s particularly sad that I just can’t seem to get over that dirt and saliva combination. When (Jesus) had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes.

I believe the theological term for that is: iwwwww…..

According to John’s narrative the blind man does not even ask for healing. Presumably this man who relies on his begging for a living is doing his thing when he hears some men talking, the sound of someone spitting and then feels granules of sticky dirt on his eyes.

He is told to go and wash his eyes – as if having a stranger’s spit and mud in his eyes didn’t already compel him to do that – and his eyesight is restored.

A little dirt, a little spit, the actions of Jesus towards this man and his transformation has begun. He has begun his movement from darkness to light.

What does Jesus have to do to get our attention?

Lent has been full of stories of coming to an understanding… of eyes being opened… movements from darkness to light.

Jesus in the wilderness – his own eyes having been opened at baptism, it is now the Tempter’s turn to recognize God incarnate.

Nicodemus in the dark – taking just about the entire time of Jesus’ ministry to walk fully into the light, from examiner to disciple.

The woman at the well – blazing, noonday sun and social mores aside she drinks in the word of truth sitting beside her and sets off to quench the thirst of others.

And now the man born in blindness… he doesn’t confront Jesus. He doesn’t ask to be healed. He is merely spotted along the roadway, living his existence as he has since the day he had been born. Potentially flinching as he once again heard the accusation against him and his family – sinners. Once healed he doesn’t exactly shout out the Good News:

“How did this happen?”

“Some guy named Jesus did it.”

“Where is he now?”

“I dunno.”

But next he calls him a prophet and finally, by the end of what must have seemed like a ridiculously long day, the truth becomes clear.

Do you believe in the Son of Man?

Lord, I believe.

What does Jesus have to do to get our attention?

I love theologian Jack Shea's poetic imagination on this passage, Listen to his retell of the story:

Another time

Jesus smeared God like mud
on the eyes of a man born blind
and pushed him toward the pool of Siloam.
The blind man splashed his eyes
and stared into the rippling reflection
of the face he had only felt.
First he did a handstand, then a cartwheel,
and rounded off his joy
with a series of somersaults.
He ran to his neighbors,
singing the news.
They said,
"You look like the blind beggar
but we cannot be sure."

The problem was never

that he was blind
and could not look out
but that they could see
and did not look in.

"I am the one, the seeing blind!"

They seized him in mid cartwheel
and dragged him to the authorities.
"What do you think
of the man who made the mud?"
But the man born blind
was staring at a green vase.
His mouth was open slightly
as if he was being fed by its color.
"He is a sinner," said the priest
who knew what pleased God's eyes.
"Can one who lights candles in the eyes of the night
not have the fire of God in his hands?"
said the man fondling the green vase.
The priests murmured
and sent for his parents
who looked their son
straight in his new eyes
and said,
"Looks like our son.
But he is old enough
to speak for himself."
Off the hook they hurried home.
"All I know," said the man
with the green vase tucked under his robe,
"is that I was blind
and now I see."
But with his new eyes
came a turbulence in his soul
as if the man who calmed one sea
turned another to storm.

So before those who locked knowledge in a small room
and kept the key on a string around their neck
he launched into a theology of sin and salvation.
It was then
that the full horror of the miracle
visited the priests.
"You, steeped in sin, lecture us!"
They tore him from the podium
and threw him into the street
where a man was rubbing mud from his hands.

"How did it go?"

"I talked back."
The man with the new eyes
took in every laughing line
on the face of the Son
who was as happy as a free man
dancing on the far side of the Red Sea.[i]

He once was blind and now can see…

What does Jesus have to do to get our attention?

Those who proclaimed they could see are shown to be more blind than he ever was.

And worse, so much worse… they think they are in the light. They think they can see.

For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light— for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true. Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what such people do secretly; but everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for everything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says:
‘Sleeper, awake!
Rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.’ (Ephesians 5:8-14)

This is what happened to the blind man. He had been sleeping. He had been in darkness and slowly we watch and listen as he moves towards the shining light of the truth of Christ.

He once was blind and now can see…

What does Jesus have to do to get our attention?

In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Charge: When I was in Youth Ministry and was asked to do speaking engagements I would always warn those who were organizing the event that I didn’t have The Story.

“What story?”

“You know, the story that stuns everyone and has them all thankful that God has saved a wretch like me.”

I was brought up with faith, I stayed with faith, I made faith my own, I now proclaim faith to others. If I was never lost, how can I be found? It’s a very boring story.

I never was blind, I could always see.

Some of you are nodding in agreement. “Yes, yes we have always been able to see.”

Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see and those who do see may become blind.”

What does Jesus have to do to get our attention?

[i] John Shea. Stories of Faith. Chicago, Illinois: The Thomas More Press, 1980. Pages 193-194.

RevGalBlogPal Friday Five: Quick Pick Edition

2011-04-01T00:01:00.000-04:00

Greetings all!

We're in the midst of 'it' and I'm hoping that it is not just me who is starting to get a bit overwhelmed. So for today I am asking for five quick picks of things that are good in your life. And as a bonus, 1 pick for a thing you could do without.

If you want to describe them? Great.

If not? That's fine too.

Good in my life:

Tax return
the @BronxZooCobra feed (totally cracked me up)
morning coffee that I wisely did not give up for Lent
Jesus
Peeps

Thing I could do without: love handles (not that I am actively doing anything to be rid of them, but if they would just go away of their own accord, I could be okay with that.)

How about you, what are your quick picks?

Because...

2011-03-28T07:10:00.002-04:00

I try not to use it.

I remember it so well from my own youth.

Gram patiently waits, knowing the answer, but also knowing my internal battle.

Finally, no longer able to keep the barrage of ::why:: at bay,

I open the antiquated shield like a trusty umbrella and say,

"Because I said so."

sigh.

Why is it the Women?

2011-03-25T19:53:00.002-04:00

It's been a few days since Amendment 10-a didn't pass on the floor of our Presbytery. I was an advocate for this amendment and the speech I read can be found here.

If you are not a Presbyterian, the above link will take you to the exact language of the amendment, but suffice to say that the rhetoric is over the removal of the only ordination standard specifically listed which is: "...the requirement to live either in fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman, or chastity in singleness."

Basically, if you're gay you can come to church but you cannot be ordained as a Deacon, Elder or Minister of the Word and Sacrament. Despite the fact that all of us fall short of the glory of God, you - as a GLBT person - are a second class citizen.

I have spent a lot of time the last few days running through a variety of alternative speeches that I could have prepared. None of them would have worked. Folks showed up knowing how they were going to vote, myself included.

As my emotions have moved from blind rage to simmering anger, I've been better able to put my finger on some of the things from our 'debate' that frustrated me so (the failure of the amendment to pass being primary, of course). Of all of the things there is one thing that I cannot seem to process enough to shake.

It's the women who I know for a fact came to our denomination from other denominations that would not let them have a voice in the church and certainly not an ordained voice. The one woman who spoke most vehemently (read:irrationally) about what "bringing in the gays" would do to the church and the denomination was one that I myself welcomed into our fold. At one time she and I talked about the wonderful gift that the PC(USA) is as it holds on firmly to the reformed tradition and is inclusive to women's voices as well. This denomination has been inclusive of women for the past 150+ years (Deacon), 100+ years (Elder) and 50+ years (Minister of the Word and Sacrament).

It is truly a gift to be part of a denomination that even if not at the forefront, does continue to evolve in its inclusiveness. So how DARE she slam that open door in the face of those who would like to step through next?!

I find this unconscionable.

Don't get me wrong, there were women on the 'for' side as well and there were men on both sides. But I find particularly reprehensible the act of suppressing another human being's voice and Call from God by those who once had their own voice and Call kept from them.

Social Media Giant!

2011-03-23T17:12:00.002-04:00

I've been a part of the revgalblogpals community for a long time. Here is an interview on God Complex Radio with one of the founders, Martha Spong. Check it out here.

Yes to Amendment 10-A

2011-03-22T23:51:00.000-04:00

Below are the comments I made at the Presbytery of Carlisle meeting supporting the Amendment known as 10-A. Briefly put, this amendment would replace the language currently in our Book of Order that is mainly used to exclude homosexuals from serving the church as ordained deacons, elders and pastors. In Carlisle Presbytery Amendment 10-A failed, but nationally it may pass.

--------

I have been a Presbyterian since the babyfold room and in all stages of my growing faith – from baptism thru ordination - this debate has raged around me. Ten years ago I stood to be counted in a vote on this Presbytery floor to cease debate rather than hear even one voice for or against. I wanted this question to just go away.

Obviously the question remains and so I’ve asked myself why – forcing myself to engage with it – looking, praying, studying, questioning and praying some more.

What I have found from most is a passion and desire to be, as the Church, who God has called us all to be. To have God look upon us as Jesus did for so many and say, “Your faith has saved you, go in peace.”

Not your rules.

Not your law.

Your faith.

Outsiders and outcasts were who Jesus tended to and who the early church developed into leaders. Our standards of faith and trust in God in the 21st century should not be any less than these.

In the Gospel of Luke we witness a woman enter into the midst of Jesus and the religious leaders, break open her alabaster jar of ointment and cleanse the feet of Jesus and wash them with her hair (7:26-8:3).

This woman clearly does not belong anywhere near him. And yet Jesus receives her and in the process changes all the rules… and that can be hard for a group of his followers who really, really like rules and boundaries and decorum and tradition and quite frankly, for things to be clear. We want to know the rules so that we can get it right and know for a fact when others are getting it wrong.

If we say ‘yes’ to those who are used to hearing ‘no’ – what will our friends think, what will become of The Church? So we leave the door propped open, allowing them to be on the outskirts of the party… find their own way in… if they must. But we are sure to keep our distance.

As they reach for their alabaster jars of Call and service – full of passion for proclaiming the Truth – we keep them from the feet of Jesus deeming them unworthy. “How dare they approach. Don’t worry Jesus, we’ll protect you.”

And so I ask each and every one of us gathered in this room – what is it going to be? Do we languish in the order of the day, carefully marking what looks right and must be wrong?

Or do we dive at the feet of mercy, pouring out our love and trust; bathing in God’s faithfulness and forgiveness, not caring who else may be splashed in the process.

And if the choice is made for love and trust; for faithfulness and forgiveness…

How beautiful the jar…

How sweet the ointment…

How pure the love that will be bestowed upon us as we hear the words….

Your faith has saved you; go in peace.

Please vote yes on Amendment 10-a.

LOST: Mojo

2011-03-22T08:08:00.003-04:00

I remember when I used to be funny. I used to be able to make people laugh so hard that, sides hurting and tears streaming, they would actually beg for mercy.

I'm not that funny any more.

I'm not sure when it happened. I can't really blame the divorce because on the trips I took afterwards, laughter and making other people laugh was a major part of my healing. I can't really blame the new job because the people here laugh with me more than in a previous position. They seem to 'get' my humor.

Maybe it's time. It's been a long time since I have just sat with a group of people and worked up to the kind of laughter I once was great at producing. But I have had those times recently and there was humor, but not like it used to be. There was a glimmer of it just a few weeks ago while hanging out with one of my favorite people. Even she remarked that it had been a long time since she had heard me joke around like that.

Maybe it's the world and my awareness of it. There is so much unfathomable pain, both here in the community and globally. I often feel it weighing down on my shoulders.

Maybe it's the responsibilities of the last 2 years. A new job with a steep learning curve, a son who entered the public school system, the death of my father, learning the dynamics of my mom living with us, continuing to juggle the ex-husband and his wife, trying to hold onto friendships through the strain of everyone's 'busy', negotiating new relationships, attempting to be the traditional Head of Staff that some folks need me to be all while pushing on my own edges of what might be next, working to move this small corner of the pcusa away from its policies of discrimination against those who are LGBT, and in the midst of it all trying to carve out time for rest, exercise and renewal.

Oh.

What Would Nicodemus Do?

2011-03-21T09:45:00.007-04:00

(A sermon for Lent 2A March 20, 2011 Psalm 121, John 3:1-17)

Four years ago I was headed to Kansas to experience my first gathering with the lectionary study group known as The Well. In my bag I had my laptop, the two papers I had written and a folder of articles and other materials we were all supposed to have read before we got there. I climbed into my window seat, dutifully shoved the bag underneath the seat in front of me, clicked my seat belt and began to look through the folder.

I had hoped the seat next to me would remain empty, but as the plane filled that scenario became less and less likely. I hunkered down and tried to plug into the work in my hands. My rare introverted, academic reverie was interrupted by a backpack flung with a bit too much spunk that landed practically in my lap, “Hi! I’m Richard[i],” he declared.

I nodded my head. The less encouragement the better in these cases, right? I also noted that no one was in the aisle seat, yet he was dutifully seated in the middle seat and also seemed to be sitting in my seat as well.

I was stunned that this was to be my fate all the way to KANSAS and then it got worse. He leaned over my shoulder, way too close for comfort, and said, “Tell me… are you born again?”

Here were my blink of an eye thoughts: “oh my gosh I cannot believe that just happened if I were a real Christian I would talk to him but I don’t feel like it and if he finds out I’m a minister I’m going to have to defend that too ugh please make him go away what am I going to do can he see I’m reading

religious stuff maybe I can just say yes but I’ve taken a vow of silence… does this seat have an eject button?”

While I was running through my internal monologue he was pulling something out of his backpack – and here’s where I have to admit I was thinking, “Oh no… a Bible? A tract? No, it was… the same folder of materials I had? A huge grin broke out on his face as he said, “I’m just messing with you, I’m Richard Connors and it looks like we’ve been invited to the same lectionary group.”

And exhale.

It’s an interesting phrase, “Born again.” It sure had Nicodemus totally stumped. And some 2,000 years later I’m not convinced we’ve figured it out yet. It seems like all too often it’s used as a standard to keep people in or out.

Are you born again? = “Are you saved like us?”

Are you born again? = “Are you crazy like them?”

It’s an unhelpful label, coated in stereotypes either way you lean; heavy-laden with cultural baggage. Sometimes I wonder if we can blame a huge portion of our cultural divides when it comes to religion on that guy who had all of the great seats to sporting events, wore a rainbow wig and held up a sign everywhere he went that said, “John 3:16.”

It’s not Scripture’s fault that so much focus has been put on this one verse pulled from all context. I wonder how different the world would be if rainbow wig guy held up a sign that said, “John 5:21.”

Indeed, just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life

to whomever he wishes.

Please hear me when I say that I don’t think Jesus is wrong or the Scripture is wrong, I think that the way some have turned it into a line in the sand as some sort of Book of Life proof-text is wrong.

Faith is an ongoing work of the Spirit. It is a gift from God that informs our actions. It is not a one-time action that guarantees the gift from God.

Faith is not a yes or no answer – it’s a journey.

Our Psalm this morning was most likely written for and recited on journeys to Jerusalem by those who were pilgrimaging there for religious festivals. It also echoes of a journey from darkness to light:

I lift up my eyes to the hills—
from where will my help come?
My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.

The Lord will keep you from all evil;
he will keep your life.
The Lord will keep
your going out and your coming in
from this time on and for evermore.

On this journey the Lord will keep you. There is no ‘if’ the Lord will keep you – love will never let you go. God’s grace is for all – it rains on all, the sun shines on all – will we accept it? Will we accept God’s grace?

Will we accept that God’s grace is for all?

Or will we stick with that line in the sand.

A pole placed in the sand casts a shadow, but as the sun heads to its brightest point in the sky with the most light flooding the earth there is no longer a line to be seen. When light floods in, shadows are cast out - the boundaries and borders disapper - the line is lifted from the sand.

We aren’t forced to join the other side, the battle lines just disappear.

Nicodemus shows up in the dark. He is not just a curious onlooker or poor peasant. He’s a leader of the Pharisees. Unlike so many others who quickly follow Jesus in the Gospels, he takes his time. Of course he does – he has so much more to lose.

Even purposefully cloaked in darkness it is bold of him to go and find Jesus. To make matters worse Nicodemus basically doesn’t understand a single thing he says. Jesus teases him, “You’re a teacher of Israel?”

Outside the Temple weeks later the religious authorities are attempting to have Jesus arrested. Still one of them, but clearly torn, Nicodemus utters a legal technicality on Jesus’ behalf. They turn on him, “What are you, from the same place he is?”

Later still, at the Place of the Skull, Golgotha, the dead man on the cross bleeds. His side is pierced by the soldiers and the body is taken down. Nicodemus steps out of the shadows of his doubt and contemplation and together with another they take his body away. Nicodemus has arrived with 100 pounds of spices – an amount that makes clear to those around that this is not the official act of a leader of the Pharisees, but rather the faithful action of a follower of Jesus.

Nicodemus didn’t join the other side, the battle lines just disappeared.

In his song, Fearless Love, David Wilcox tells the story of a church member encouraged by their pastor to attend a rally in the park. His lyrics sing out:

“That’s where the wicked planned to demonstrate and carry signs to set a spark.”

But while there one of the men you showed up to stand against is hit by a rock thrown from behind you. In front of you he bleeds:

(His) head is cradled in his arms (and) though his blood contains his death And though the lines are drawn in hate, you drop your sign of Bible verse and help the wounded stand up straight.

You didn’t join the other side, the battle lines just disappeared[ii].

The news in chapter 3 of the Gospel of John is Good News. It encapsulates the heart of the Christian message which is: God is love. And God is SO into loving us that he sent his Son to us to be and show us God’s love in this world. And God's love -- surprising, all encompassing, unasked for and undeserved – is given unconditionally. [iii]

God loves us whether we like it or not.

God loves others whether we like it or not.

It’s okay to let the battle lines disappear.

[i] Name changed to protect the guilty.

[ii] David Wilcox. “Fearless Love” East Asheville Hardware, 1996.

[iii] David Lose. http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?tab=4&alt=1

RevGalBlogPal Friday Five: Spring Ahead Edition

2011-03-18T18:59:00.005-04:00

From the RevGalBlogPals:

Whether we liked it or not, we all "sprang forward" with the change to daylight savings time in the USA this past Sunday. There is lightness and brightness slipping in as spring approaches, so let us consider what is springing forth in our lives right now.

Name 5 things that are springing forth, possibly including :

what you hope for - Personally, I hope that God is with me as I plan for a future of joy and love, Nationally I hope for an end to selfishness and greed that has led this country so far astray, Globally I hope for the people of Japan, Bahrain, Libya, etc., etc., etc... peace.
what you dread - That in all three anger and hate will win.
what you observe - People are good and smart and want to love and be loved.
what is concrete - This swipes from Love Actually, but in the airports the hugs are real.
what is intangible - Love. Or is it?

The Love Actually quote about love:

"Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often, it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know, none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaking suspicion... love actually is all around."

Oh My God, Japan...

2011-03-17T07:57:00.005-04:00

Ever since the BE4 and a tremendous presentation by Carol Howard Merritt, I've tried to be more intentional about writing on my blog.

I know, you can't tell.

I have been plugging away daily at 750words, but every few paragraphs of drivel I find myself wanting to scream, "Oh my God, Japan!" This is no tongue-in-cheek statement, this is a cry out to God for mercy on them and ultimately on all of creation.

I cannot even begin to fathom life there right now. I cannot look at the pictures of dazed and stunned survivors. I cannot comprehend it. I don't think any one can.

So I've been going about my days with petty this and semi-important that and suddenly it will hit me again, "Oh my God, Japan!"

I guess this is all we can do - pray, cry out in lament, seek other ways to offer tangible support.

Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayers....

Bread Alone - Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-7; Matthew 4:1-11

2011-03-13T05:40:00.003-04:00

Way back on Tuesday of this week I was going to go with a light introduction into these texts. I had a few different options I was thinking about in my head, I’m not sure which one I was going to use, but something about how we should trust our lives to the God who created us, relying on the gifts God has bestowed upon us.

That seems so long ago now…

In the meantime the violence of Gadhafi against his own Libyan people has not let up and neither have our gas prices.

In the meantime seven young children died in a tragic fire in Perry County and the clan that goes by Westboro Baptist has declared they will come to picket the funeral.

In the meantime… Japan… 8.9 earthquake and aftershocks… tsunami… nuclear meltdown?

In your mercy Lord… hear our prayers.

Also Lord…. Where are you?

I know, I know… I should trust in the Lord and I should obey the Lord and I don’t need to know everything, nor should I act like I do know everything… but God… Father… Creator of us all… where are you?

We’re not the first who clamor to understand, nor will we be the last. Humanity has a history of it, we are legendary for our hunger for knowledge. Just ask the snake… you know the one who now slithers on the ground.

Centuries of art work has depicted it, Adam and Eve jokes abound, and yet I think the Old Testament passage that was read this morning is consistently misunderstood. I don’t think God asks us to choose ignorance and obededience vs. knowledge and disobedience.

I agree with my colleague, Andrew Foster Conners, who in his paper for our lectionary group wrote:

God does not require Adam and Eve to stay stupid. God doesn’t command them to choose ignorance. --Till and keep the garden together in community. --Work alongside God to preserve the garden for the purpose it was created - for life and beauty and love and community. --Till and keep it so that you can enjoy the countless blessings, the fruits, the bounty that is given. There’s no prohibition against learning, against knowledge, against thinking. There’s no prohibition against enjoyment or laughter or deepening one’s mind. There’s one prohibition - a command not to believe that you are so wise, that you are so important, that you are so godlike as to cross boundaries independent of God, boundaries that are there to protect you and the garden that gives you life.

And yet we cross those boundaries again and again. We believe our banks are too big to fail. We believe our bombs are too smart to miss… We believe our nuclear reactors are too secure to melt down.] And death follows just as God warned us that it would. We cross these boundaries so often that I don’t think this text is mostly about describing some historic event that made us into sinful human beings. I don’t think it is mostly about some “original” sin that now taints our life. I think it’s about who we are right now - human beings who have a hard time learning to trust God’s provisions, learning to heed God’s call, learning to live within a few important boundaries that God has set there for our own good.[i]

Trust God’s provisions… I can’t.

Learn to heed God’s call… I won’t.

Learn to live within the boundaries that God has set there for our own good… I don’t understand.

Sovereign God, omniscient God, omnipotent God…. please… fix this.

Thou shalt not put the Lord your God to the test.

Jesus was baptized and annointed for ministry and the Gospel of Matthew immediately sends him out to the wilderness to be tested. For forty days and nights he fasts and at the end of that time he is approached by the Tempter. Three different queries are made, but ultimately there is only one temptation - power.

Show me what you’ve got Jesus, “If you are the Son of God…” show us your power.

If you are the Son of God – command bread out of stones.

If you are the Son of God – command the angels.

If you are the Son of God – command the world to be yours.

Three times the Tempter is rebuked and Matthew’s narrative has the angels tend to Jesus and send him on his way teaching and preaching and healing but really it never lets up. All along the way he is faced with the same temptation – If you are the Son of God… show us your power: Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you... show us a sign from heaven.. reject the suffering that is supposed to befall upon you….[ii]

The final one comes moments before his death: If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.[iii]

And instead of claiming that power, he dies.

His resistance, we cannot understand. It’s beyond our knowledge. And you would think that his death for us would be enough to trust, but an honest look shows us not standing by Jesus, but instead mimicking the one who tempts him.

If you are truly the Son of God – PROVIDE us with more oil and food and wealth!

If you are truly the Son of God - STRIKE down that Westboro Baptist group!

If you are truly the Son of God – STOP the earth from moving in Japan!

Our frustration- just like the Tempter’s – comes in Jesus refusing to be who we want him to be, who we think we know he should be. “Jesus will not turn our stones to bread; he will not prove God to us; he will not turn from God to embrace the kinds of success we would recognize and applaud. He remains infuriatingly himself… he remains steadfastly God’s.”[iv]

And his response to us is simple, “Follow me.”

“Do you believe I am the Son of God?” “Follow me.”

“Do you know that this is the body of Christ, broken for you?” “Follow me.”

“Do you trust that this is the cup of salavation poured out for you?” “Follow me.”

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way

and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,

though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,

the holy place where the Most High dwells.

God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day.

Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts.

The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Come and see what the LORD has done, the desolations he has brought on the earth.

He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth.

He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the shields with fire.

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;

I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. – Psalm 46

It's all we've got.... and it's enough.

In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

[i] Andrew Foster Conners. First Sunday in Lent: Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-7. The Well, Davidson, NC, 2010. (Except for bracketed portion)

[ii] Matthew 12:38, 16:1, 16:21ff,

[iii] Matthew 27:40

[iv] David L. Bartlett & Barbara Brown Taylor, eds. Feasting on the Word. Year A, Volume 2. Patrick J. Willson. Matthew 4:1-11(Homiletical Perspective). p. 49.

The Word

2011-03-12T11:06:00.004-05:00

Like many I'm struggling with how to bring Good News from the pulpit tomorrow. There are too many live videos, twitter feeds and prayer requests out there. I'm feeling more than ever like a speck on a marble of clay and lava that at any moment could be flicked from existence... and yet the task of preaching the Good News is at hand.

And so I am thankful to Pastor Julia, whose face I now know and voice I can hear, for reminding me that sometimes what is needed most to preach the word, is The Word:

God is our refuge and strength,

an ever-present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,

the holy place where the Most High dwells.

God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.
Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts.

The LORD Almighty is with us;

the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Come and see what the LORD has done,

the desolations he has brought on the earth.

He makes wars cease
to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the shields with fire.
He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”

The LORD Almighty is with us;

the God of Jacob is our fortress.

- The Message -

RevGalBlogPals Friday Five: Cars

2011-03-11T08:55:00.004-05:00

SingingOwl at revgalblogpals writes:

Maybe it's just me, but I often remember how long ago someting occured or something about it by recalling the car we had at the time. For today's Friday Five, tell us about the cars in your life. Maybe we can even tempt some of the guys of the ring to join us. Specifically, tell us about:

1. The earliest recollection you have of a family car

I remember we had a station wagon that made a trip to Florida. On the way home, my sister and I both were sick with fevers and were sleeping in the back of the car. The seat was down and we were laying with blankets and pillows as if it were a bed. Seat belts? Not so much.

2. The first car you drove when you could (legally) get behind the wheel yourself.

It was a mini-van, the original Dodge Caravan. Maroon. My friends teased me about it but when everyone wanted to go to the beach it was me that they called.

3. A memorable road trip

Driving home from my college in Florida to my home in New Jersey with a dormmate who was full of book smarts but lacked the street smarts. We were driving north and needed to cut east to get to I-95. Instead, she got off the exit that pointed us west. When I told her that we needed to go the other way she said.... "No, you're just confused because we are in the south." (handslapsforehead)

Thankfully when she saw the sign with the mileage posted for Tallahassee, she turned the car around.

4. The car you drive now. Love it? Hate it?

It's a love/hate. Once again I have a mini-van (gray, 2001 - snore) and there are many utilitarian reasons to love it. But I really want a pick up truck and I miss the one I had.

5. An interesting story that involves you and a vehicle.

Well, it wasn't a vehicle I was actually driving, but when we went to Disney Studios last year The Boy was so excited to see 'Mater and Lightning McQueen that he was nervous to go up and have his picture taken. He also insisted on pulling out his Doc Hudson car to be in the picture too.

It's Not About the Hair

2011-03-09T21:02:00.007-05:00

I remember the picture clearly, if not the year - 5th or 6th grade probably.

I was wearing a white shirt with thin maroon pinstripes and over it a gray, wool sweater. My guess is I was also begrudgingly wearing the maroon corduroy skirt that matched the shirt.

I remember them handing out our packets of pictures to us and my instant reaction at seeing my shoulder-length, wavy hair was like a punch in the gut. My brutal Jr. High assessment of myself? I looked like a dog!

My hair, parted way too close or maybe actually in dead-center middle had created the effect of dog ears. I made durn sure that my next appointment at the hair salon known as (I kid you not) 'Men's Hair by Women' included cutting all of that hair off into a very short cut.

I carried that cut through college and out the other side into my early years in Youth Ministry until the inability to afford hair cuts began my hair's return into a long something or a shaggy something... depending on the year. My hair was never anything except a bane to my existence and I did all I could to keep it straight. No waves please, no dog ears. I spent a lot of time and money and energy on keeping the curl that wanted to come out from making an appearance.

Every once in awhile someone would remark on the wave they could see in my hair. Or they would comment with envy on its thickness. It is thick. And if I bent down I could show them the curl that lay underneath, but I told them it was underneath. The top level won't do that. The times when it was mentioned by a stylist at a cheap hair salon as an 'old perm' I knew
to get up from the chair and walk away. I learned the hard way the first time, I walked away the second time.

I'm low maintenance and the irony is I had made my hair high maintenance. But all of that changed on a boat. After our group picture at BE 4.0, I was lamenting to my roommate my frustration at my 'Gilda Radner' (think Roseanne Roseannadanna) hair-do. I had spent a good hour straightening and waxing only to have the humidity take affect and the hair begin to rise like a pimped out sunrise.

One of the young women with beautiful hair heard my lament and said (approximately), "We need to talk! You have GORGEOUS curly hair, I can tell - why aren't you wearing it that way?"

I was stunned. I came back with my normal response that the top layer wouldn't curl. She wouldn't hear of it.

"No! I'm sure it does, but you have been straightening it into submission. It's so EASY! Come to my room with wet hair in the morning and I'll show you how easy it is!"

On the outside I cast my doubtful look, but on the inside I was pretty excited.

It wasn't just about the hair. It was that another woman (and at my age younger is the equivalent of popular) had seen past my ugly dog ears and past my gruff, tomboy exterior and saw the girl within.

Last Sunday I unveiled the look to the congregation and I type this right now with curls all over my head. It really is simpler than straightening EVER was. It means a new AM shower routine - I can handle that. Wet the hair, towel-dry the hair, put mousse in it, towel it again, dry it with a diffuser. Go.

Seriously, that's it.

It's simple. It's feminine. It's different. And I love it.

Those women who helped me are so adament about their curls, it's practically a ministry in itself. Because to them it's not just about the hair. It's about being who you are and not suppressing the natural beauty that God has given you because society demands something different. The women on the cruise taught me that and for them and the opportunity to learn from them, I am grateful.

Time Warp

2011-03-08T09:46:00.002-05:00

Since I returned home from BE 4.0 The Boy has informed me that:

He no longer needs his blankies,
He will not wear certain pants because they have too many stripes (corduroys),
He does not need me to walk him up to the school door any more.

Was I gone 7 days or years? Tune in for updates on:

His treatise on Barth vs. Calvin,
His preference for the vineyards in Italy over France,
His abilities to make organic cheese.

My Angel Card This Morning

2011-02-24T10:50:00.001-05:00

Change of Scenery

2011-02-22T10:48:00.001-05:00

Counseling Session

2011-01-24T08:32:00.004-05:00

My ex-husband and I coach our son's sports teams together.

I know.

Last spring was tee-ball, now it's instructional basketball. In both cases my preference was to have someone else coach The Boy (age: almost 6). I figure life as a preacher's kid is hard enough so I thought I'd give the kid a break from Mommy in Charge and instead be Mommy on the Bleachers.

For both sports his Dad signed up to be an assistant coach and both times he was told, "what we really need are head coaches." I think as The Boy gets older the pool of kids gets smaller therefore there are less teams to cover AND the folks who really like to coach tend to be in the older age groups. I can't say as I blame them.

So The Boy's Dad gets pushed into being a head coach and part of that is finding your own assistant coaches. He knows no one around here... except me. And I understand the basics of t-ball and basketball.
And there it is.

It can get confusing, but not for us. We've been in one phase or another of our relationship since September of 1995. It's not confusing for The Boy either, with no memory of us together he just sees it as two people who love him very much both coaching his team. It may be confusing for his current wife, but admittedly that registers pretty low on the 'ask-me-if-I-care' scale.

Sometimes it's confusing for parents.
"Coach J?"
"Yes?""And you're Coach J?"
"Yes."
"Oh, you're married..."
"No"
"..............."
"We're (The Boy's) Mom and Dad."

We've always worked together well - him behind the scenes managing the details and me out front directing traffic. The youth retreats we ran together were great. Our wedding was too (insert snide comment about his current wife being able to tell you all about them both here).

As we arrived to the chaos of the first basketball game of the year I noted that we immediately went into our well-rehearsed roles. He pulled the team with him against the back wall, clipboard in hand, having already separated the kids into teams of 3 so that equal playing time was had by all through the entire season. I took to the court and loudly reminded the kids to dribble (rather than run) and high-fived and explained the substitution formula to the parents.
All goes well but it doesn't take much to see the foundational cracks. Rather than make a decision he ignores it, I then over-function and solve the problem my own way giving no regard to where he fits into the picture. I take what the parents are saying personally and get competitive about it. He makes a placating call to me later to calm me down, but won't say anything to his parents... umm, I mean the parents (ahem).

The details of the break up of the marriage are pretty awful. Suffice it to say that by

the time we got into counseling a few years ago, the marriage w

as already over. In hindsight if we had started sooner we maybe could have made it but it would have taken a LOT more counseling...

or the counselor could have just watched us coach a K-1st basketball team.

It Comes Down To This

2011-01-23T08:00:00.002-05:00

For Christ did not send me to baptize but to proclaim the gospel... so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power.

It comes down to this... on the Day of Judgment, as I kneel before God, IF I am going to be wrong one way or the other I want the question to be, "Why did you let people proclaim the Good News?" rather than, "Why wouldn't you let the people I Called proclaim the Good News?"

OMG!

2011-01-22T21:47:00.001-05:00

What's THIS?! Even my DOG is sleeping with another woman?

No worries, it was just for a photo shoot.

Volume I

2011-01-22T09:57:00.004-05:00

I've been hesitant to use this blog. To borrow a phrase from a sister blogger, it's not all of me.

I have another blog that began in 2005 and detailed a lot of who I was and where I was then through right before now. There are reasons - good ones - why I left it behind and made the decision for a little less anonymity rather than being surprised when it was eventually found.

My personality is often 'all or nothing' and so rather than do nothing, I left it all behind. But I think I am going to start to pull in some of the pieces from there and place them into here.

If nothing else, I now have a way to procrastinate from sermon writing for WEEKS (months?) to come.

My apologies if you have a blog reader. :)

36

2011-01-21T09:40:00.005-05:00

I want to be focused.

I really, really do.

But all I can think of thanks to a flurry of emails from those attending the Revgalblogpals BE4 is this:

The Cabinet

2011-01-19T20:35:00.006-05:00

Does anyone remember when the upstairs living space of my then new home looked like this?

It's come a long, long way.

Part of how I got there was by boxing up items that had been out and about in my old home and banishing them to the basement. The idea was that one at a time - and as needed - I would bring them back up. Or live without them and this summer we are going to do a MAJOR basement sort: recycle/rummage/keep.

During this Christmas I found a box that said this:

I was pretty excited because I new it contained one of my favorite pieces, a vase that my Mom bought me years ago. And then I saw the other side of the box which had this on it:

And I just had to smile... because who would put a cabinet in a box?

Actually, I have a group of colleagues and friends who bolstered me through the misery that was the end of Volume I and supported me until I was ready to begin Volume II. Each and every one of them has a life of their own and yet they consistently came to my rescue whether it be helping pick out clothes, painting my new office or drinking coffee and listening. After awhile we began to call them The Cabinet and for my Installation Celebration and the LAST party at the house where I previously lived I presented them all pink t-shirts that had a picture of a pew loaded with purses on the front and this list on the back:

shop

cook

paint

coffee

advise

decorate

organize

We are mostly still in the same area and we stay in touch and meet up as much as we can, but the greatest gift is knowing that if any of us need it, The Cabinet is there.

Who's in your Cabinet?

RevGalBlogPal Friday Five: Trying to get up Edition

2011-01-14T09:20:00.002-05:00

Singing Owl writes: Where I am it is dark, and it is cold, and it is snowing. I really wanted to stay in bed with the electric blanket cranked this morning. Share five things that made getting out of bed worthwhile for you today!

With a groggy-induced headache, massive emails to whittle down and a sermon looming... this is going to be hard.

My dog is in the office.
A reminder that I can get out of bed.
Slowly I am settling the details of the announcement of a staff transition down.
The men's Bible study left coffee cake.
Getting up means that soon I can experience the sweet joy of getting back IN bed.

Hand-Me-Down

2011-01-13T11:25:00.001-05:00

It was started for your sister.
Of course, as you wrap the handmade blanket around you, you don’t know that.
Nor do you know her.

Born too soon to make it in this realm, she was here long enough for plans to be made and projects begun. A gender-neutral tan and white gem took form in the knowing and loving hands of Gram… then sadly, and carefully, put away.

We gave thanks at the news of your ray of hope on the way, Gram returned to the blanket, all of her love poured into it… occasionally allowing herself to exhale as she continued to create.

Others might protect a future heirloom such as this... but when you reach for it for comfort, as you lie feverish on the couch, we smile knowingly to ourselves and sense another presence.

It warms our hearts beyond words to know that what was once begun for her is now a gift of comfort to you.

Yes, You

2011-01-09T09:59:00.004-05:00

A sermon for Baptism of our Lord, Year A - Isaiah 42:1-9, Matthew 3:13-17

Every generation has a few movies that define the era of their adolescence. John Hughes was the director of so many of the ones that spoke to many of my fellow Gen X’ers. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, The Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink all have a place in the majority of our hearts. But the one that I will actually stop to sit down and watch in all of its rerun glory is Sixteen Candles.

In Sixteen Candles Matthew Schoeffling played a gorgeous and popular high school senior while Molly Ringwald – an 80’s movie icon – played the awkward sophomore with a crush on him. Add in a gawky Anthony Michael Hall and hilarity ensued as Matthew’s character slowly began to realize that being cool, fun parties and a beautiful girlfriend were really not what life is all about. At the end of the movie, as Molly is coming out of the church where her sister has just been wed she looks out to see him, leaning against his car and giving her a cool wave.

It is the moment we have been waiting 90 minutes of riveting drama to reach. He waves to her and she… well, she looks behind her and then back at him and says, “Me?”
“Yes, you.”

I dare say we have all had our own ‘yes, you’ moments. Maybe not in teenage romance and maybe without the exaggerated turn of the head… but somewhere in life we have been chosen and experienced the mix of excited yet disbelieving emotion.

Our Old Testament passage this morning is from the prophet Isaiah proclaiming the better things to come. This is not the usual tone of his rhetoric. Usually Isaiah spend his time warning Israel that doom is near and that they need to change the way they do things, or else. They are not worthy of the Lord who has brought them out of Egypt and they had better shape up.

So when we turn to the first of what are historically known as the Servant Songs of Isaiah and he proclaims that the Lord has said:
Here is my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen, in whom my soul delights;

One can easily imagine the formerly berated people of Israel saying, “Who… me?”

Yes, you.

A similar statement is uttered by John the Baptist whose entire ministry is based on pointing towards the one who is greater than him who is yet to come. In the passage that was read this morning, suddenly the one who is to come is standing right before him and asking to be baptized. The Gospel of Matthew tells it like this:
John would have prevented (Jesus), saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”
But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.”

That is NRSV speak for:
“Who, me?”
“Yes, you.”

Important to note that the next line from Matthew is, “Then he consented.”

When you are called by God it is okay to be surprised by it, it is NOT okay to hold back from what God is asking you to do. It is not okay to hold back from being who God is calling you to be.

Yes, you.

Today is a special day both in the life of the church universal and in the life of this specific church; Mechanicsburg Presbyterian. Universally Christians celebrate the sacrament of Baptism today. Many congregations renew their baptismal vows and some even get sprayed with water again. We might do that sometime – not today.

We are not stepping too far out of the lectionary box though because we are ordaining and installing elders and deacons and that in and of itself is a celebration of baptismal vows. These folks have responded to the love of Christ for them by committing themselves as officers of the church. God has called them and they have responded.

Our celebration of them and the liturgy that goes with it includes a reaffirmation of their baptismal vows. When you are baptized in the church you – or your parents – are asked three questions. When you become a member of the church you are asked these same three questions. And when you respond to the call of God in your life to become an officer of the church you are once again asked these three questions:

1) Do you turn to Jesus Christ and accept him as your Lord and Savior, trusting in his grace and love? Do you?
2) Will you be Christ’s faithful disciple, obeying his Word and showing his love? Will you?
3) Trusting in the gracious mercy of God, do you turn from the ways of sin and renounce evil and its power in the world? Do you?

Yesterday I came home from the Officer’s Retreat, grabbed a late lunch and attempted a nap. It wasn’t long before emails started piling in my inbox, causing my iPod to chime, “ping… ping… ping…”
There were so many that I gave up on sleep, grabbed the iPod and started reading.

The emails were tolling for the tragic events in Arizona yesterday.
Representative Giffords, Democratic Congresswoman from Arizona has been shot in the head…
Federal Judge John Roll has been killed…
12 are reported injured, 6 are dead including a nine year old girl…

How do I preach on baptism and not address that the grace and love of Jesus Christ as evident in his shed blood is now intermingled with the blood of an innocent 9 year old girl?

How do I preach on baptism and not address that obeying His Word and showing his love are action verbs, especially in the light of an event that is dangerously close to stunning us into silence and inaction?

How do I preach on baptism and not address that we witnessed the power of evil in this world practically firsthand yesterday - and yet, almost ridiculously, vow to renounce it.

Do you trust in the grace and love of Jesus Christ… do you promise to show Christ’s love… will you turn from the ways of sin and renounce the power of evil in this world?
Yes, you?

Today is not just about the call to ministry of our friends and colleagues. Today is about the call of God on all of our lives. We are all called to live out our faith whether it be as a deacon or as an elder or as a parent or spouse or coworker or caretaker or neighbor or community member.

We are all called to remember our baptism – to trust in the grace and love of Jesus Christ.
Do you?
We are all called to remember our baptism – to be Christ’s faithful disciple, showing his love.
Will you?
We are all called to remember our baptism – to turn from the ways of sin and renounce evil and its power in the world.
Do you?

We are called to reflect God’s light in the midst of unfathomable darkness.
We are called to breathe in God’s Word and breathe out God’s Truth.
We are called to be a beacon for the Good News in the midst of all the bad.

And we are Called to do it with the grace and the love that God has provided.

Madeline L’engle famously wrote:
“We do not draw people to Christ
by loudly discrediting what they believe,
by telling them how wrong they are and how right we are,
but by showing them a light that is so lovely
that they want with all their hearts
to know the source of it .”

Remember your baptism.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age…

Yes. You.

In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Revgalblogpal Friday Five: Holiday Redux Edition

2011-01-07T08:47:00.002-05:00

Not so fast, revgals and pals!!!

Yes, I know it's January and yes, I know some of us are still on a cool sprint after only a brief respite (if that) from Advent and Christmas BUT... before we move too far along into The Next, I wanted to give us a chance to reflect on What Was.

A couple of staff members and I sat down today and wrote down what worked and didn't work during the Advent and Christmas season. There are quite a few things bearing down on us at the moment so it was a discipline to do it, but ten and a half months from now Future Me is going to LOVE that we made the effort.

And so partly to give us all a record and partly to give us all a chance to reflect on the 2010 Holiday Season now that we are out of it, I ask you this:

1) What food item was one of your favorites this year - a definite keeper?
We didn't get to them until post-Christmas but my grandmother's Christmas cookies or Chocolate Chip Merengues (their more official title) are So. Good.

2) Was there a meal or party or a gathering that stands out in your mind from this mose recent holiday season?
Two - the first was that on Christmas day friends invited us to their house. We took them up on their offer and it was a HUGE win. The Boy had a playmate to have a blast with and I had other people to prop me up and offer me food and drink. It was great.

The second was when Songbird and daughter came to town. We celebrated Second Christmas on December 29th without the late night services to go with it. It was so relaxing and so much fun.

3) Were you involved in a jaw-dropper gift? Were you the giver or recipient or an on-looker?
I was unable to give the 'jaw-dropper' this year but I did see the video of my friend's son when he walked in to the room to see his new drum kit. 'Ecstatic' is an understatement.

4) Was there at least one moment where you experienced true worship?
I mentioned in the post below the Longest Night service and once again this was a quiet an meditative service that healed the soul. We are blessed to have an Associate of Music who is beauty on the keyboard and I was smart enough to put plenty of space for music and silence. Gorgeous worship service.

5) What is at least one thing you want to make sure you do next year?
I liked setting apart a few days later for another Christmas celebration where I don't feel like a zombie. I'll have to figure out if it's possible to make that happen without making the rest of my family suffer.

BONUS: What is something you absolutely must remember to do differently... or not at all!

We didn't light the Advent candles well this year. The folks who did it came up during the first hymn, lit them and then went back with their families. It was time-efficient, but not an honor to them or to the symbolism involved.

RevGalBlogPal Friday Five: December Survival Guide Edition

2010-12-03T05:18:00.002-05:00

It was my turn again over at the RevGalBlogPals and this is what I posted:

Whether a RevGal or a Pal most of us in this cyber community have enhanced responsibilities during this time of year. We also have traditions - religious and secular - that mark the season for us in a more personal way.

For this Friday Five please let us know five of the things that mark the season for you.

And the bonus? Tell us one thing that does absolutely nothing for you.

1) Lighting the candles on the Advent wreath. We don't do this every night at home, but when we gather around the dinner table I like to light the candles appropriate to the week. It brings back great memories of childhood and marking down the time to both a special time in church and of course until Santa arrived. :)

This year I am once again balancing the sacred with the secular as each candle indeed marks: hope, peace, joy and love... but also marks the time until special visitors arrive from the north just a few days after Christmas.

2&3) New Traditions: Christmas movie on Thanksgiving Weekend & New Ornament. One of the books on keeping Christmas simple that I have read in the past decade included the idea of marking the beginning of the Christmas season with your children in a ritualistic way so that the stores don't claim it for them on October 15th. We have just a few years under our belt but on Thanksgiving night or the next day we watch a Christmas movie. Lately it's been Elf. Love this movie - it's funny, fairly innocent and family appropriate.

We also head out to the local store and The Boy gets to pick out an ornament. Two years ago we were in the store for over an hour as he struggled with his selection. I look forward to being able to watch his interests change over the years and eventually hand the whole batch over to him for his own Christmas tree.

4) Spiritual Renewal Day. On the Friday closest to Christmas Eve (this year the 17th) I take a day off. I know. It's crazy. And there are many reasons NOT to do it but... there are a few to make sure I do. It makes sure I have my priorities in order. On this day I make sure I spend at least some of it with The Boy. I want his memories of this time of year to be about what's important and never about how Mommy was at the church the whole time. This year I have massage on the agenda and probably some cookie making too. The church work will get done. Baking at Christmas time with my son when he is almost 6 - only happens once.

5) Longest Night Service. Some churches call it Blue Christmas. I prefer the Longest Night. It is a service specifically designed for those who are struggling with the mandatory joy that gets jammed down our throats during this season. Whether it be a death, divorce, illness, or [fill-in-the-blank] folks are invited to this service. The truth is that despite its dark undertones I love the simplicity and genuine heart of this service. The music is from the piano, the Sanctuary is dimly lit, the meditation is spoken from the floor and I usually do it from an outline. It's casual, yet sacred. For me it is a pure time of worship, even as the worship leader, and that is rare and appreciated.

And so what is the thing I could do without? Well there are definitely a couple of songs that could be banished as far as I'm concerned (Feliz Navidad and Christmas Shoes come quickly to mind). Fruitcake? Stereotypical punchline at this point.

Here's one - I could do without the constant stream of mindless treats brought into the office. Let me be clear, I don't mean the treats that folks have specifically made with us in mind. What I could do without are the re-gifts where folks don't want the food they've been gifted on their waistlines so they bring it to the church office instead. Minor complaint, but it adds up and I could do without it.

Do you want to play too? Go for it and let me know! I'd love to read about what marks the holiday for others.

Revgalblogpal Friday Five: It Is Well With My Soul Edition

2010-11-05T06:00:00.001-04:00

As posted on the revgalblogpals website:

We lead privileged lives.

True, some are more privileged than others but the fact that we are communicating right now via technological devices puts us in the privileged category.

There are many perks in my life for which I give thanks and then there are some that make everything right in the world during the moment I am enjoying them. I'm wondering what a few of those things - five to be specific - are for you.

Here are a few of mine...

Coffee in a Mug: Like many of you, I leave the house with a travel mug of coffee. On those mornings when I can actually savor my coffee (or at least drink it without burning my tongue) from a ceramic mug it makes my heart hum. A few of my friends and I have matching mugs so I feel like we are sharing our morning coffee together across the miles.

The Domestic Goddess: For some this is a decadent perk, for me this is life-sustaining and vital to living a sane life. I declare life is too short to clean toilets after the kid has gone to bed! When I walk into our home after she has been there I feel absolute joy and freedom; freedom to spend time with my child and freedom from the burden of carrying around the knowledge that I have to do something I hate - dust, vacuum, scrub.

The RevGalBlogPals Big Events: Admittedly I have only attended when they are on a ship, but it is less about the cruise (I never even know where our ports are) and more about the people, the belly laughs, the respect and the camraderie (and usually we learn a few things too). This is an absolute perk in life in that the the church's budget pays for it since it is a Continuing Education event. This year, because of other commitments, I decided to use vacation to go and my Treasurer came to me with the voucher all ready to be mailed. He just needed my signature and to know the right amounts that were due. In his words, "We like you better when you come back from the cruise."

Pandora: Seriously - it's free and it can play a random mix of music for ANY mood you're in. Trying to write Advent liturgy in July? There's a station for that. Want to mix your eclectic taste for kitchy 50's and country music? Create your own Doris Day/Brad Paisley station. I have it on the ol' iPod (another perk) and also use it through the work computer.

My Bed: Rare are the moments that I get to linger in it, but when I get a morning reprieve or return for a nap or to end the day it is so big and comfy and, well, restful.

It's been good to review a few of the perks that make life good and make my soul well.
What are some of yours?

Revgalblogpal Friday Five: Comfort Media Edition

2010-10-29T05:00:00.005-04:00

Today's RevGalBlogPals Friday Five was written up by me:

I don't get to watch that much tv anymore, but I actually wrote today's Oprah show down on my calendar. Why? Because she is hosting a Sound of Music cast reunion!!! Those of you who know me may be surprised that I would care so much about such a stereotypically girly flick, but I love it (although admittedly fast forward through the Reverend Mother's rendition of Climb Every Mountain). I can watch this movie over and over and over again.

It seems no matter how many new movies, tv shows or books come down the pike I still have my ol' stand by favorites that I can watch/read over and over and when I do they actually bring me comfort - like an old sweatshirt or a favorite food.

Today's Friday Five is an opportunity for you to list five of your favorite 'go-to' movies/tv shows/books. You can use images, links, explanations or netflix.

So... since I have already outed my Sound of Music love, here are a few others in no particular order:

Hope Without Reason

2010-10-03T05:26:00.003-04:00

Hope Without Reason

October 3, 2010 - World Communion Sunday

2 Timothy 1:1-7

Lamentations 1:1-6; 3:19-26

2 Timothy 1:1-7

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, for the sake of the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus,

To Timothy, my beloved child:

Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

I am grateful to God—whom I worship with a clear conscience, as my ancestors did—when I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. Recalling your tears, I long to see you so that I may be filled with joy. I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, lives in you. For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands; for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.

We don’t often hang out in the book of Lamentations, and yet that is what the Lectionary has offered us today. If you’ve ever even dabbled in the Old Testament prophets you know that they are made predominately of warnings to the people of Israel that their behaviors and attitudes were going to result in tragedy and suffering. In Lamentations the suffering has arrived in the form of an exile from their beloved Promised Land to a foreign place, Babylonia, where they are without their land, without their property, and without their Temple.

Lamentations contains five dark poems. Four of the five poems are written as an acrostic, each line beginning with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet, presumably to better express the loss and grief of Israel in its totality from A to Z.[i]

It ain’t pretty.

Indeed the majority of Lamentations sounds like this excerpt from the first chapter, verses 1-6:

Lamentations 1:1-6

How lonely sits the city that once was full of people!
How like a widow she has become, she that was great among the nations!
She that was a princess among the provinces has become a vassal.

She weeps bitterly in the night, with tears on her cheeks;
among all her lovers she has no one to comfort her;

all her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they have become her enemies.

Judah has gone into exile with suffering and hard servitude;

she lives now among the nations, and finds no resting-place;
her pursuers have all overtaken her in the midst of her distress.

The roads to Zion mourn, for no one comes to the festivals;
all her gates are desolate, her priests groan; her young girls grieve, and her lot is bitter.

Her foes have become the masters, her enemies prosper,
because the Lord has made her suffer for the multitude of her transgressions;
her children have gone away, captives before the foe.

From daughter Zion has departed all her majesty.
Her princes have become like stags that find no pasture;

they fled without strength before the pursuer.

These verses and ones similar to it are the dark, heavy framework around today’s reading:

Lamentations 3:19-26

The thought of my affliction and my homelessness is wormwood and gall! My soul continually thinks of it and is bowed down within me.

But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘therefore I will hope in him.’

The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him.
It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.

The word of the Lord…

Where did that come from?

There is no reason for it.

The way these readings have been layered one over another on one Sunday seems to echo our own society’s handling of suffering and sorrow. We don’t like to see sorrow for too long, we want people to pull themselves up by their bootstraps and hope for heaven’s sakes. Depression, sadness – we don’t like those. They make us uncomfortable and so even the best of us can fall i

nto the trap of turning to someone who is suffering and trying to make it better.

It is at those times when it may be best to remember the friends that Job had and how brilliant they were as they sat with him in silence for 7 days and 7 nights – a perfect ministry of presence until they ruined everything… by opening their mouths.

Make no doubt about it, the book of Lamentations is a dark, dark place. There is suffering as community and as individuals – we too know about this darkness.

To live in this earthly kingdom is to at least brush up against some kind of suffering:

whether it be your own disease or someone close to you;

your own loss or someone close to you;

your own depression or someone close to you.

“Maybe our city has not been destroyed, though people from Port-au-Prince to Baghdad might be reading these words in their streets. But we, or someone we love, knows hurt, knows the rejection letter doctor’s phone call marriage in trouble desperate addiction lonely and stuck and have no idea why kind of hurt. Our laments may not sound like these poems, but we lament. We wonder why. We cry out to God as we slam our hand agains the steerimg wheel (while) the tears come.”[ii]

The place of lament is a dark, dark place.

And in the dark there is no reason to hope for God.

In the dark there is no reason to listen for God.

In the book of Lamentations there is no response from God – ever.

We find only lament…

Well, almost…

My soul continually thinks of it and is bowed down within me.

But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:

The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him.
It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.

Where did that come from?

There is no reason for it.

The word for the ‘steadfast love of God’ does not translate clearly from Hebrew into En

glish. The Hebrew word is ‘hesed’ which means the unbelievably intense, no matter what happens to you or what you do over the top love for you by God. Hesed – the steadfast love of God.

I know this word well, so well that in a declaration of Whose I was – I had it tattooed on my ankle. This would not be everyone’s choice and if you are a teen hoping to use the fact that the preacher has a tattoo as a reason why you should get one I would suggest that parents allow it… when you reach the age I was – 37.

In Lamentations, this ‘hesed’, The steadfast love of the Lord… is a startling proclamation in the midst of deep, dark sorrow.

Where did it come from?

There is no reason for it.

And yet there it is – so assured in the midst of nothing that eventually there will be something; that even though unseen and unheard from, God is present.

The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him.
It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.

Even when things are going well we need assurance. It is why we take the time to gather around the table for Communion. It is here that our community asserts our confidence of the ongoing presence of Christ in our midst. Charles Wesley called the bread and the cup the ‘antepast’ of heaven. ‘Antepast’ taken from the same root as ‘antipasto’ – a foretaste of the great meal that is to come.

When things are going well, we can see it, we can taste it.

In the light we are able to claim the hope for what is yet to come.

But when it’s dark…. It is hard to see, taste or know anything but despair.

It is a lonely place to be.

And if you are a Preacher trying to write your Easter Sunday sermon with the darkness of betrayal and hurt and grief sinking in on you – it is an incredibly dark place to be.

I may have been sitting at my kitchen table, but it felt like the cold, dark, dead tomb.

I kept reading and re-reading the anthem the choir was going to sing:

We are resurrection people. Let us sing a resurrection song.

Let us tell the resurrection story of the glory of the Lord.

Let the word of Christ dwell in us as His peace lives within our hearts.

So whatever we do, whatever we claim, let us go in Jesus’ name.

Those words… I could not feel them.

Christ’s peace lives within our hearts? How could he? Mine was broken.

I remember imploring myself, “Come on, Kathryn – just write something. Anything! What is the matter with you? Are you not a Christian? Come ON!”

And then I saw the word that was now a part of me: hesed.

The unbelievably intense, no matter what happens to you or what you do over the top love for you by God. Hesed – the steadfast love of God.

I grabbed it – because though my heart was broken, my strength was sapped and my soul was bruised… my mind knew it to be true.

Where did that come from?

A lamenter prays to a God who is absent or hidden from them, but not to a God who is extinct.

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases…

That… is our reason.

In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

[i] Birch, Brueggemann, Fretheim, Peterson, A Theological Introduction to the Old Testament. (Nashville: Abingdon press, 1999), p. 335.

[ii] Chris Tuttle. 27^th Sunday in Ordinary Time. The Well – 2010, Davidson, NC. p. 6.

RevGalBlogPals Friday Five: Sometimes It's Just a Job Edition

2010-10-01T07:56:00.003-04:00

Greetings Friends!

This week, despite substantial planning, the staff here has been reeling a bit from the wave of fall start-up programming combined with conversations looking towards Advent and Christmas. There is a lot to be excited about (Children's Choir sounded great!), but there are also some things that we just have to suck it up and get through (didn't we just do Officer Training last year?).

So for today's Friday 5 I thought we'd hit on the things that give us energy in ministry and the things that take it away:

1) What are a few of the tasks that you find tedious/energy sucking in your ministry position? Please note I said 'tasks' not people :)

Well I'm the one who wrote up this Friday Five so I will own up to the Officer Training piece. It begins in March when I realize that despite the fact that we have just gotten all of our officers trained, examined, ordained and installed... now the process starts all over again. Another challenge for me is administrative minutiae. My Myers-Briggs 'J' gets very worn out if I have to spend too much time with the drivel of papers in, papers out.

2) Is there anything you could do to make one of them better?

Officer Training just is what it is. I guess I could hand off some more of the responsibilities for it to the staff around me. As for the minutiae I've adapted the 20/5 method of getting stuff done using timers. I work for 20 and then a 5 minute break (no cheating allowed during the 20).

3) What are a few of the tasks that you find energizing in ministry?

Preaching and leading worship - even though on Saturday afternoon I might not agree with that statement. I have found that the Officer Training is paying off and so our Session (board) meetings are actually energy givers as well. And as much as it ADDS stuff to do, I LOVE working with a staff.

4) If given a quarterly spiritual day, how would you want to spend it?

We do get quarterly spiritual days and on paper I spend it sleeping in and then taking the dogs on a hike.

5) If given a quarterly spiritual day, how would you actually spend it?

In reality I take my kid to school, run a few errands, meet a friend for something and then hang out with The Boy.

BONUS: What would your Dream Ministry job include?

Well, I made the sign that is on this post so we'll just go ahead with Pastor of Ice Cream Tasting and Continuing Education Cruise Taking.

How about you?

What Does Your Husband Do?

2010-09-28T14:30:00.003-04:00

I took The Boy to the first birthday party of this Kingergarten class on Sunday afternoon. Parents were encouraged to stay as there was a lot of area to be covered at the farm/orchard where it was held. When the kids were wrangled together it was a time for some of the parents standing on the perimeter to get to know each other.

I struck up a small talk conversation with the woman to the right of me. It was pleasant. They had just moved to the area from a state south of here. Her family actually lived in a place I was familiar with as when I was a Youth Director in a state even farther south I would bring the youth to her area to go skiing. In our back and forth I mentioned those days a couple of times. We spoke about her kids and their move up here for her husband's job. There had been no mention of my current job, which admittedly I was holding my breath a bit for. This may be why it surprised me all the more when after a brief lag in our conversation she asked, "What does your husband do?"

Only a couple of years ago that question would have put me in a free-fall, searching for the closest hole I could jump into to hide from society's judgmental glare. As it is, I simply responded that we are divorced, but The Boy's Dad now works at the 'Marada Hotel' as a desk clerk. I paused and then I said that when we met we both worked in youth ministry. Her next question was then to ask me what I do, but even as she asked it she was backing away, and as I gave her a brief response she walked away mumbling something about having to throw our her cake plate.

I'm not irate.
I don't have Gloria Steinem on speed dial.
I know it is hard to take a quick glance at my hands and determine if I am married or not.
I get that she very well could have been embarrased and that is why she backed away from me even though it looked like she didn't want to catch the Divorce Cooties.

I'm just recognizing the disappointment that we still live in a society where when talking to a woman with no man mentioned or in the vicinity, the first small talk question that came to mind was, "What does your husband do?"

Prayer of Thanksgiving

2010-09-20T13:56:00.003-04:00

The prayer said by The Boy at our dining room table last night:

Dear God.

Thank you for the fire on the grill that made Mommy burn the meat that she says tastes just like hotdog. Because I don't think I like it.

And now I have nuggets. Six of them!

Amen.

God bless him.

A Good Investment

2010-09-19T05:55:00.003-04:00

A Good Investment Luke 16:1-13

"A Good Investment"

September 19, 2010

Luke 14:25-33

Luke 16:1-13

Luke 14:25-33

Now large crowds were travelling with him; and he turned and said to them, ‘Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, saying, “This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.” Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? If he cannot, then, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.

Luke 16:1-13

Then Jesus said to the disciples, ‘There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property. So he summoned him and said to him, “What is this that I hear about you? Give me an account of your management, because you cannot be my manager any longer.” Then the manager said to himself, “What will I do, now that my master is taking the position away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.” So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he asked the first, “How much do you owe my master?” He answered, “A hundred jugs of olive oil.” He said to him, “Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.” Then he asked another, “And how much do you owe?” He replied, “A hundred containers of wheat.” He said to him, “Take your bill and make it eighty.” And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.

‘Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.’

The word of the Lord…

[i]Sometimes I wish Jesus hadn’t spoken in parables.

When the guy at the traffic light tries to catch my eye while holding a cardboard sign that says, “My family is hungry, ” I wish Jesus hadn’t spoken in parables.

When my colleagues write articles on the evils of investing in oil, defense and consumerism and I’m just happy that I can figure out that the number on the mutual fund statement went up and not down, I wish Jesus hadn’t spoken in parables.

When I sit down with my pledge card and try to figure out each year exactly how much God is calling me to give the church – a 10% flat cut?, before taxes or after taxes? 5% to the church/5% to favorite charities?, all of it?, I wish Jesus hadn’t spoken in parables.

“Make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth,” Jesus says, “so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.”

Did Jesus just tell us to be dishonest?

It’s a bit of a consolation to discover that the early church seemed to be as confused as we are. It appears as though they’ve tacked on some verses to this parable to help it make more sense: Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in very much. Now that’s something I can understand. That’s something I can live with.

No slave can serve two masters. . .you cannot serve God and wealth. This one makes me a little more grumpy. I like taking my son on vacations. I ‘need’ an iPad. I don’t always like it, but I can understand “You can’t make money the object of your life.”

The early church adds these conclusions onto this parable hoping to sum up Jesus’ teachings into a consistent maxim that we can live by 100% of the time, hoping to come up with a mission statement that would tell them what to do all the time, hoping to come up with a principle that would never lead them astray.

Bulleted guidelines and moralisms are a lot easier to understand and follow than general concepts and parabolic meanderings…. and the great thing about morality checkpoints is that they make it easier to note when others aren’t abiding by the same rules. Of course, that was actually one of the things Jesus was pretty clear about: Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven, give and it will be given to you… how can you say to your neighbor, ‘Friend, let me take out the speck in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log in your own eye…” (Lk. 6:37-38a, 42).

Whatever Jesus was teaching in today’s parable, it is clear that faith is not moralism. On the contrary, faith - much like life - is messy.

“If you are going to live in the world, with God’s people, with choices that have to be made, you know that those choices are not often as clear as we wish they would be. I know the money that’s building up in my pension isn’t always coming from industries making the world a better place. I know the money that ends up in bank accounts sometimes is built by destroying the environment or taking money from the poor, or increasing the power of people who couldn’t care less about the welfare of their neighbors. I know the money that builds churches, and political campaigns, and nonprofit organizations isn’t always as clean as we wish it would be. Unjust money puts [clothes on our bodies, roofs over our heads and] food on our tables. There’s no way around it.”

“And yet, it takes money to build organizations that help the poor claim what they deserve. It takes money to build relationships with [kids in Honduras and missionaries in Lithuania]. It takes money to keep these doors open for worship that sends us out into the world to do justice, to love kindness, and practice healing in the world. It takes money redirected from the world’s purposes for greed, redirected from injurious power, redirected from abuse of the earth to slowly build a community of grace.”

“Money is a messy business. The early church wasn’t always clear what to do with it. But like the shrewd manager Jesus must have known that the church cannot run from the messiness of money, not while we’re still waiting for the new economy that Jesus has promised. We are caught in between a vision of the coming economy where everyone has their needs fulfilled, and the one we know right here where too often the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.”[ii]

These two passages from Luke this morning ask the hard questions: How do we manage our money? How do we live our lives? Is it Biblical to be shrewd? What would we need to re-prioritize in our lives in order to be Jesus-approved shrewd managers of our resources?

The official Stewardship Campaign is just around the corner and I know that the majority of you do not look at the pledge card and say, “Hmmmm, how little can I give to the church this year?” Most of us want our bank accounts and the checks we write to reflect our priorities and for those of you in this room I believe your greatest priorities are God and family.

But what if you’re already in the credit card debt hole?

What if you’re trying to live on a fixed income that seemingly gets smaller while expenses get bigger?

What if you’re piecing together odd jobs to cover the loss of the one you had?

It’s hard to participate in a new economy when you can’t quite recover from being run over by the old one.

One has to be shrewd if they want to reprioritize and participate in the new economy and as an example Jesus points us to this picked upon middle manager. Shrewdly he “navigates that in-between time by doing what he can to re-direct the money of injustice toward a fairer, grace-filled world. By investing not in the world that is falling away, but in the new world. And we can’t afford to slack off because the world is filled with unjust managers whose object is greed.”[iii]

If you are in credit card debt you know exactly of whom I speak. In 1978 the laws that had kept a cap on interest charges (usury laws that had literally been around as far back as human history can be traced) were removed and the practice of overcharging borrowers took off. Pay day loans can charge up to 300%, the adjustable rate mortgages that contributed to our recent economic meltdown ballooned to up to 14% and credit card companies charge up to 30% and more, although at least now they have to warn you.[iv]

All of that is set up to keep us trapped in the old economy.

If you are caught up in that trap, the first step in re-prioritizing is getting out of that debt. Sell what you can, only buy what you need, pay the higher interest card first. In short, be shrewd!

It is only then that you can focus your energies on the new economy that Christ calls us to.

And how do we participate in this new economy? Simply put? If you want to be shrewd about it, you give back to God. “Stewardship arises from discipleship and in turn forms disciples. The greater the spiritual maturity, the greater the trust in God’s provision and the greater the generosity. As disciples learn to give, they see God at work and so grow even more.”[v]

Are you looking for a shrewd investment over and above your tithe to the church?

The Presbyterian Foundation has wonderful programs for investments in the long term future of the church while at the same time giving benefits to the individual in the earthly kingdom.

Looking beyond our denomination there are other opportunities as well. Oikocredit.org is a worldwide financial institution that promotes global justice by empowering disadvantaged people with credit. [vi]

Another organization that uses microfinancing to make a large difference in the world is kiva.org: Kiva's mission is to connect people, through lending, for the sake of alleviating poverty. [vii]

Those three organizations are listed in your bulletin, and there are many opportunities out there to be shrewd for Jesus. And no matter how small the gesture, it counts.

One of the commentaries I read about this passage listed the names that are sometimes used for the main character of this parable. “Dishonest Manager” and “Shrewd Manager” are two of the more popular, but this commentary also listed "Prudent Treasurer".

I participated in the life of a church where a woman who struggled to keep a roof over her head due to the addictions and mental illness that plagued her would come into the office quite regularly and bring the Treasurer what she called her tithe. One time without them noticing I witnessed him welcome her and accept her wadded up roll of singles in the same way I had seen him welcome the man who came in monthly with a large check for the endowment. After she left, he placed the cash in an envelope marked with her name in his top drawer.

I recognized the envelope because it was the same one the ministers used when she would come back in asking for money for groceries.

Certainly this was not an act that would grab any headlines or shift a greed-driven old economy into the new economy Christ is calling us to, but this small act of microfinancing was one way to make a difference. It was a shrewd way to make a difference.

“It is through small gestures of faithfulness that Christians mark out the contours of a new social vision. When enough of us make such gestures, God’s reign becomes just a bit more visible.”[viii]

It’s true they don’t make ‘Where Would Jesus Invest’ bracelets. It is also true that it’s hard to decipher what Jesus meant when he said some of those parables.

But in other places he is perfectly clear: I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another (Jn 13:34).

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind, and with all your strength… You shall love your neighbor as yourself (Mk. 12:30-31).

The shrewd manager received the master’s commendation when he stopped investing in things (the old economy), and began to invest in people (the new economy). We too are called to make shrewd decisions with our earthly kingdom resources that benefit the heavenly kingdom’s commands.

God.

Love.

Neighbor.

These are a good investment.

In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

[i] Andrew Foster Connors. “25^th Sunday in Ordinary Time” The Well, 2010. As always I am thankful for the scholarship found in the lectionary study group, The Well. The trajectory of this sermon as well as the opening riff on the complexity of parables are credited to the Reverend Foster Connors.

[ii] Foster Conners, p. 7.

[iii] Foster Conners, p. 8.

[iv] www.tenpercentisenough.org

[v] Brad N. Hill. “How Churches Think About Money: Ways of Giving” Christian Century. September 7, 2010, p. 28.

[vi] www.oikocreditusa.org

[vii] www.kiva.org

[viii] Bader-Saye, p. 27.

Sinkhole or Swim

2010-09-14T09:31:00.005-04:00

My church has a sign out front where a member of the congregation puts out the title of our sermons each week. This sign is on a very busy corner and I have found that it creates in me a strong desire to be clever and witty in preferably five words or less because just maybe one day - ONE DAY - someone will walk in and say, "I came to church today because I HAD to hear what that sermon title was all about."

I know, I know... it will never happen. But still, it's there. One of the challenges I have is that the more clever the title is, the harder time I have writing the sermon. I get so caught up in the title, I struggle with the sermon. This was very true for "Snakes on a Plain." (No, I did not use the famous quote in the sermon.)

It was even more true for this past Sunday where I admittedly picked the title to give a nod to the neighbors

that yes, we had a sinkhole and we can be good natured about it. But when you already have coins and sheep, as this past week's passage from Luke did, the greater part of valor may have been to skip the sinkhole reference all together (maybe the sheep and coin were in the sinkhole? No.)

So I managed to shove the sinkhole reference into the sermon, but I need to be a little more careful about picking titles from now on:

I’ve learned some things about circles this past couple of weeks, or to be more specific I’ve learned some things about big holes in the ground. Did you know that in order

to fix a sinkhole, the radius of the hole must be extended out by three feet all around. Basically, the larger the circle, the better the stability.

In these parables Jesus is saying the same thing, the larger we extend the circle, the better the stability of the community, and even beyond that – a reason to rejoice, to celebrate, to dance at the reunion of God’s beloved children.

In these stories what no longer matters is how the lost got lost; what is to be celebrated is that they are now found –
the tax collectors,
the sinners,
the pastor with the strange ideas,
the son or daughter who can’t seem to pull their life together,
the brother or sister who disappoints,
the sheep who wanders off,
the coin that rolls out of sight,
the too small,
the unimportant,
the wretched,
the irredeemable…
and yes, even you…
and yes, even me…
We are all invited to the Celebration of Being Found.
It is this table where we know God has finally and completely found us.
And what we’d better say out loud is, “Thanks be to God… thanks be to God.”

In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Checking In

2010-09-09T05:28:00.003-04:00

I have friends and colleagues who are using their blogs to pontificate on things with deep spiritual meaning. I just want to use mine to check in.

I've been blogging for over five years now, with most of my posts in another place. Some of the stories over there are honest and funny as I journeyed with a congregation that had some real characters in it. They were heavily pseudonymed (Random Thought Woman, anyone) but it was still a dangerous game. My new Call is one of greater responsibility (read: less time to blog) and a far more tech-savvy people, so I do not talk about them here at all. As so many have learned the hard way, it just ain't smart.

But one of the things my Spiritual Director has encouraged me to do is find joy, and for me and my extrovert joy comes in community and relationships. When I was isolated at work and at home it was the blogging community who supported me and through the years and thanks to a big boat I have even met a few of them in real life.

So although the blogging world seems to have shifted to self-promotion (absolutely NOTHING wrong with that) and platforms... I just want to check in with my community, with my friends... and say, "Hi."

How I Know It's Fall

2010-09-07T05:18:00.002-04:00

Pastor's Meeting

Staff Meeting

Presbyterian Women - Circle 1

Presbyterian Women - Circle 2

Presbyterian Women - Circle 3

Mission Lunch

Kid's Choir

Premarital Counseling

Individual staff meetings

Lectionary Bible study

Inquirer's Class

Officer Training

Early Church with Communion

Sunday School

Meet with Confirmation Class Parents

Sunday School Teacher Commissioning

Late Church with Communion

Committee Night

And that's just this week.

Where Philemon Reconciles Me with the Apostle Paul

2010-09-05T07:36:00.002-04:00

It pains me that so many use verses of Paul as a battering ram, pulling them out of their context and swinging them around without care to Paul’s original intent, removed from the lens of the love of Jesus Christ. They use him to hold us back from one another when the truth is that Paul is way beyond any of us. He is way more loving and way more focused on behavior that reflects positively on the new lens through which he sees the world, namely the grace and mercy shown to each and every one of us through the life-altering love of Jesus Christ.

Throughout his letters, including this one, the smallest one of them all, there are three directives:
1) Don’t dominate or be dominated. In God’s eyes we are all equal and beloved children of God.

2) Love God deeply, no matter what. We are to unchain ourselves from our culture’s version of morals and legalism.

3) Let the Holy Spirit in. Leave keeping up with the institutions of this earthly kingdom up to those who think that this earthly kingdom is all they’ve got.

This letter is pure Paul, and the echoes of these three refrains can be found throughout. The beauty of Philemon is that we have every reason to believe that it has made its way through the centuries intact. The earliest manuscripts found match almost exactly with what we have today. The frustration is there is no letter in return. We have no addendum or epilogue. We don’t know what happens next.

Did Philemon accept Onesimus as his brother in Christ?
Did he step out of the chains of the morality and legalities of his culture in order to embrace a brother in Christ and welcome him as a beloved child of God?

It reminds me of the story of the Prodigal Son. There too, we get no ending.
Does the older brother accept the return of his brother?
Does he step out of the chains of the morality and legalties of his culture in order to enter into the celebration that is going on just beyond the doors that he himself has closed?
Does he embrace his brother in Christ and welcome him as a beloved child of God?

And what about us? What will be the end of our story?
What would Paul write to us about? Who is our Onesimus?

What are we so right about that we are no longer open to the thought that we may be wrong?

Who can we not embrace because we are chained by the morals and legalities of our culture, keeping us from stepping out towards our brothers and sisters in Christ?
Who do we refuse to welcome – our brother, our sister - as a beloved child of God?

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit and mine as we discern these things, strive to love God deeply and let the Holy Spirit in

Revgalblogpal Friday Five: Storms of LIfe Edition

2010-09-03T07:47:00.005-04:00

Martha Hoverson over at the revgalblogpals writes:

I'm listening this morning for word of Hurricane Earl. Is he coming to visit, or will he bypass my part of Maine and move further Downeast, or veer toward Nova Scotia? Should I buy those bottles of water, just in case wind brings branches and power lines down? And how many times will the tracking map change today?

Herewith, a Friday Five about the storms of life:

1) What's the most common kind of storm in your neck of the woods?
Wind.... I think. Although I guess it is probably thunder storm but the wind that whips through this valley at times is more than I have dealt with in previous places I have lived.

2) When was the last time you dealt with a significant power outage?
There was an ice storm a couple of years ago that knocked out power where I lived for quite a few days. I remember waving to the electric trucks from Iowa, thanking them for coming out to help.

3) Are you prepared for the next one?
Sort of... we could manage for a couple of days and would then need to seriously regroup. Last time I went to my parent's house for refuge (although their power was out for awhile too). I no longer have that option as my house is their house.

4) What's the weather forecast where you are this weekend?
It is supposed to be cool with the front arriving as one of those wind storms I mentioned earlier.

5) How do you calm your personal storms?

I try to slow everything down and keep things as simple as possible. Of course, that has its drawbacks.

Feel free to jump in and play yourself. If you do, let me know and I'll come check it out!

#6 - Does not complete homework

2010-09-01T08:14:00.003-04:00

My son's Kindergarten class has a fairly intricate disciplinary system. On a wall there is a chart with pockets, every child has a pocket and in every pocket are three cards - green, yellow and red. In the morning when they come in everyone starts on green. If there are any issues throughout the day the child may need to turn their card to yellow or red. In the folder in their backpack that they bring home every day is a calendar and the calendar lets the adults at home know how the day went - green, yellow or red. The latter two are accompanied by an explanation.

The whole system reminded me of the numbers that were put on our quarterly report cards to help communicate with our parents how we were doing socially in the classroom. I remember the three I received the most:
#6 - Does not complete homework.
#7 - Does not follow directions.
#9 - A joy to have in class (or something like that, I didn't get that one as much as the first two)

When I pulled out the calendar report for my son I was HORRIFIED to see that he had received a yellow sticker on the second day of school and a RED sticker on the first day of school. HOW DID THIS SWEET-DIMPLED ANGEL CHILD RECEIVE A RED ON THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL?!?!?!?

Seeing my panic rise, my Mom pointed out that the background color of the square was green. The sticker was a smiley face. At the end of the day if your square is green you get a smiley faced sticker.

All of this I would have known if I had read the letter that was sent home (#6)... and followed the directions (#7).

Declutter

2010-08-30T12:45:00.000-04:00

A previous week's revgalblogpals Friday Five had clutter as its theme. As I answered the questions I found myself applying them not just as they related to physical stuff, but mental stuff as well.

1. What things do you like to hang on to?

Grudges.

2. What is hard to let go of?
Pain. Guilt.

3. What is easy to give away?

Advice I'm not using.

You get the point...

I have what I hope is a problem in common with a lot of the rest of humanity in that my mind can be cluttered with negative thoughts both due to my own inner voices (I'm not doing enough. I'm not all things to all people) and the voices of others (twitter feed, anyone?). Once I recognize the offending voice, I can usually handle it wisely from there.

But what I had already started to recognize, and that Friday Five brought into focus, is that I have decluttered some things a little too much.

Let me explain...

Just a touch over three years ago my life down-shifted into survival mode (DEFCON Level 1) due to the sudden (from my perspective) and very public (from the gossips' delight) implosion of my marriage. I had a two year old, a full time job and a congregation that just wanted all of it to go away.

Out of absolute necessity I went into survival mode. I streamlined everything and not in the ordered, simple-living way that word implies, but rather in the 'throw everything that is not absolutely necessary overboard so that we don't capsize' sort of way. Understandable, but now looking back it seems some of the 'clutter' I removed from my life is friends.

I have (had?) very good friends that I hardly talk to anymore because three years ago I trimmed chatting on the phone out of my life. To be fair to myself, I was also trimming being everyone else's counselor out of my life.

Friends that knew both of us had a lot of their own anger and shock over what had happened and understandably so. But as I found the day to day mandatory involvement with the Boy's father was mandating that I move through and past the tragedy, I also found that I couldn't emotionally handle my friends' needs to process their stuff. It was hard enough to process my own, and quite often when they were at anger I was at acceptance. When they were in the 'why' phase, I was in the 'move on' phase. And it was just too very painful to go back.

Answering the why's and the what if's for them became a load I could no longer bear and so I decluttered those conversations from my life. Sadly that meant that I, for the most part, removed them too.

I'm not sure what happens now. I have tenuous and tentative relationships with those folks and maybe that's okay. People change. Lives change.

What I am more concerned about is how many of those protective filters I still have in place to keep the clutter of relationships out of my life. After experiencing deep hurt, rejection and betrayal from some in my last context I am wary of having such a strong filter in place that I am unable to connect on a deeper level with anyone who is left or new in my life.

As for more personal relationships (meaning outside the church) - who knows. I made a bit of a snarky comment last week about my life's need for staff, but I must also admit that sometimes I think, "Really? This is it?"

And I can be ok with that.

I just don't want to filter anyone out.

Tonight

2010-08-29T05:56:00.004-04:00

Hard to believe, but for this little guy tonight is a school night.

Good luck in Kindergarten. You'll do GREAT!!!

Book Review: The Great Emergence

2010-08-28T09:57:00.002-04:00

The Great Emergence by Phyllis Tickle

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I am admittedly a little late to this book,, but in my defense most reading fell by the wayside during my own great emergence.

At just 165 pages there is no way Phyllis Tickle can take on the fullness of the topic of the Great Emergence, BUT I did find this book very helpful in beginning my own process of understanding what is going on and why and how it has happened before. The mark of a good book may very well be how many other reading suggestions you take from it and my queue of books about the Emergent movement now forms to the left. Next up? Moltmann... but I digress.

I found the time this book takes to restate history is time well spent. Admittedly, no one would confuse me for a scholar, but some of the connections Tickle made were needed to shed light on where we are in the arch of history. I have so many friends and colleagues who define themselves by using the term 'emergent' that it was helpful to know where in the spectrum that falls and how, in a way, this shift in religion and culture is repeating history.

Three other things I found especially helpful:
1)The dichotomy between believe-behave-belong (mainline) vs. belong-behave-believe (emergent). p. 159
2) Resistance to a new movement is actually needed. p. 139
3) When an emergence occurs, the standard bearer (my phrase) improves. p. 17

I am the Head of Staff (old model) of a large, traditional (it's all relative) congregation in the PCUSA (mainline). There are a lot of great things going on at the church, but there is nothing anyone would confuse for 'emergent'. That said, we are mission oriented and a wonderful community and growing! Where do we fit in?

I like where the emergent movement is going as long as it doesn't throw out everything in order to get there. Let's not throw out the baby with the baptismal water. I think Tickle's book and analysis leaves room for both and I greatly appreciated the opportunity to review the facts in the case for the Great Emergence when so much of the rhetoric surrounding it is riddled with post-modern vs. traditionalist angst.

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Revgalblogpals Friday Five: College Dorm Edition

2010-08-27T09:48:00.003-04:00

This week's revgalblogpals Friday Five comes to us from Martha (aka: Songbird)

Yesterday I returned my middle child for his second year of college. He's an experienced dorm resident, having spent two years at a boarding high school. In the lounge at the end of his floor I found a suite of This End Up furniture that took me back to my years in the Theta house at William and Mary. I remember polishing that furniture with my sorority sisters every spring, just before we headed off for Beach Week at Nags Head.

Mindful that many others are heading off to further schooling or delivering their loved ones to the institutions that provide it, here are five questions about dorm life.

1) What was the hardest thing to leave behind when you went away to school for the first time?
You know, if you ask my first roommate I didn't leave all too much at home. I could get philosophical and say my friends, my childhood but really I was READY to go.

My sister really has the funnier story in that when she told her roommate that a new modem was coming in the mail, she groaned and wondered where they were ever going to put that.

2) We live in the era of helicopter parents. How much fuss did your parents make when you first left home?
Please. My Mom had my room converted into a hobby/guest room before I was through Freshman orientation.

3) Share a favorite memory of living with schoolmates, whether in a dorm or other shared housing.
I lived in a dorm all four years and was Resident Advisor with my friends in the dorm my senior year. We just laughed and laughed and laughed and the nicknames and the Saturday Night Live skit reenactments can still make me crack up when I think about them.

4) What absolute necessity of college life in your day would seem hilariously out-of-date now?
A college issued phone plan, complete with the card code we had to put into our phone!

5) What innovation of today do you wish had been part of your life in college?
You know, I was going to say the internet, but I barely graduated on time as it is. :) I was very happy to be one of the few with a personal computer - not just a word processor - in my room. Thanks Mom and Dad!

Bonus question for those whose college days feel like a long time ago: Share a rule or regulation that will seem funny now. Did you really follow it then?
Hmmmmmm...... I am happy to say I don't think I'm old enough for this one. :)

Staffing

2010-08-26T06:30:00.004-04:00

(The Thing I Cannot Say on My FaceBook Wall)

To All Who Are Concerned:

As much as some of you may feel better if I were once again paired with someone, please let me officially announce that I am doing quite well as it is. Additionally, a full review of my life will show that I really don't need a partner or companion as much as I need staff.

This concludes my report.

Traditional or Modern

2010-08-24T06:00:00.001-04:00

While married, The Boy's Dad and I would celebrate anniversaries by checking the lists for what to give on such occasions. There are two lists: traditional and modern. Usually we went with traditional. Our first anniversary (traditional: paper) we bought tickets to a baseball game. Our second anniversary (traditional: cotton) we bought each other a clothing item. Our third anniversary (traditional: leather) we each got belts. I realize those three sound particularly tame, but remember I was in seminary. A new shirt was HUGE! Our fifth anniversary (traditional: wood) we were both out and working and so we bought our first piece of Grown Up furniture, a hutch.

I wouldn't ordinarily remember this type of thing except he meticulously wrote down the gifts in a book that organizes birthdays and cards, and I still have that book.

It's interesting that we did not really dabble in the 'modern' column of gifts as that is exactly what our family has become. It is certainly not traditional. He lives 5 miles away with his wife. I live in a townhome with The Boy and my Mom. Day by day we make it work, some days go better than others. The Boy's entry into Kindergarten has offered a lot of new territory for us to negotiate, with there being far less of The Boy's time to divide up between parents who are both eager to play a significant role in our child's life.

I do wonder when the year will come that I don't remember it's our anniversary. It's today. And it would have been 14. The book says that the traditional gift is ivory. The modern gift is gold jewelry.

But I think I will just go out and buy a new birthday card organizer.

The Screwtape Letters

2010-08-22T20:44:00.000-04:00

The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Many months ago teaching a summer Sunday school class on this seemed like a good idea...

Now that the class is over I would admit that it was an 'okay' idea. CS Lewis is great and varied in his offerings. The Screwtape Letters offers a really good glimpse into the author's ability to use fiction to explain religious doctrine. Although, I hear he wrote a series of novels that do that as well (paging Aslan).

What I appreciated the most about this book was Lewis' sense of humor. His keen intellect and wit are spun perfectly together in this book written in letter format from the the perspective of one bureaucrat to a lesser-ranked bureaucrat whose business just happens to be evil.

It's a relatively quick read with short chapters that offer the reader the opportunity to either keep up the pace, reading for general story and tone, or really dive deep into the beautiful language and prose that CS Lewis uses to tell this story.

If you're looking to dive into a classic or just get to know CS Lewis from a different perspective, I highly recommend this book.

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