Faithful formation, creative contemplation and generous orthodoxy...

NOTE:  Here are my worship notes for Sunday, September 18th, 2011. If you are in town, it would be sweet to see you at 10:30 AM.  As you will see, I am not going to post visuals at this hour - maybe I'll update tomorrow - so here is just the text. I am deeply grateful for the wisdom and insights Eugene Peterson has shared in his book, The Contemplative Pastor, from which all the quotes are taken.

Today I want to speak with you in a careful and clear way about what God may have in store for us as a community of faith in the coming year. You will notice that I say careful because it is always best to be cautious when claiming to speak for the creator of heaven and earth.

• Too often we confuse our fears or passions for the word of the Lord and orchestrate more chaos than real, salvific community.

• In just a moment I will clarify this further, but for now let’s say that care and caution are in order when talking about the will of the Lord, ok?

As is clarity: Christians have a unique opportunity in times such as these to not only live more deeply into our own calling, but also to join together as a congregation to share a measure of God’s healing presence with those who are wounded.

• For while we cannot fix what is broken – that is clearly up to the Lord – we can be a part of Christ’s subversive movement of grace in our generation.

• A movement, to paraphrase Pastor Eugene Peterson, which undermines the kingdom of self in service to the kingdom of God.

And that, beloved, is what I sense God calling us into more deeply: the subversive work of undermining the kingdom of self in service to the kingdom of God.

Now over the past two weeks, I’ve been wandering a lot – that’s one of the ways I listen for the Word of the Lord – wandering and waiting and watching. And while on this wandering vacation through Quebecois Montreal with my sweetheart, we did a lot of walking – and I mean a LOT of walking – every day: into churches and shops, along the St. Lawrence River and into galleries, into jazz clubs, bistros and parks as well as the great Metro subway system of Montreal and a variety of outdoor markets.

So I’ve had time to think – reflect – and listen to what our still speaking God might be saying to us as a community of faith, ok? And while I don’t pretend to have a monopoly upon God’s wisdom – and mistrust anyone who claims otherwise – I do believe I’ve discerned a few clues about where we are being called to share our attention and energy and resources for the next few years. So let me test them out with you right now to see whether or not they resonate with you, too. Because, you see, sharing and listening for resonance in the heart of the community is yet one more way to listen to the voice of our Living God.

For at least the next year – and perhaps longer – a three-fold challenge confronts the mission and ministry of First Church born of this moment in history. This challenge speaks to us about faithful formation, creative contemplation and a generous orthodoxy. Given the enormous greed and fear that dominates our land, this historic challenge asks us to take yet another conscious step towards undermining the kingdom of self on behalf of the kingdom of God – and suggests that the best way of incarnating this commitment has something to do with the three time-tested practices of faithful formation, creative contemplation and generous orthodoxy.

You see, at the core of our faith is a presence and a promise: God has promised to be with us in life and death – in life beyond death – in trial and rejoicing – in hope and despair – in the light as well as the darkness. 

• Do you remember how Jesus put it at the conclusion of Matthew’s gospel? All authority in heaven and earth have been given to me… so go forward into the world knowing that I am with you always – even unto the end of the age. (Matthew 28: 19-20)

• What about St. Paul’s affirmation from Romans 8? God knew what he was doing from the very beginning and decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son… So what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn't hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn't gladly and freely do for us. I'm absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.

From the opening words of Genesis – in the beginning God created and brought order out of chaos – to the closing words of Revelation – behold I saw a new heaven and a new earth… where the Lord God was with his beloved people and wiped away every tear from their eyes – God comes to us as a presence and a promise. In this the Lord has promised to be within and among us whether we’re up or down – on the Cross – in the tomb – in life, death, or life beyond death: Yea, I will be with you always!

• This is NOT something guaranteed by the federal government – or the market place or Wall Street; it does not come from the Democrats or the Republicans or the Tea Party or the Greens – it is a promise from the Lord our God.

• How does the Psalm for today put it? The LORD is my shepherd, right? And if the LORD is my shepherd… then what? I shall not want! At the core of our faith is a presence and a promise.

Now it is important to affirm that the presence and promise of the Lord is a gift. We can’t earn it, we can’t buy it, we don’t deserve it and we can’t own it: THOU preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies, right? THOU art with me when I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, yes? For THY rod and THY staff comfort and protect me.

• Do you hear what I’m saying? We’re talking about the presence and promise of God’s grace, beloved. A gift and a blessing that can never be purchased.

• And given the utterly counter-cultural and counter-intuitive nature of this gift for Americans at this moment in time, I have come to believe that we are being called to dramatically deepen and intensify our commitment to faithful Christian formation at First Church.

When I watched the news from America last week on Canadian television, I had a troubling revelation: I saw a whole army of politicians running around claiming to follow Jesus while spewing lies and hatred wherever they went. I heard so-called faithful men and women talk about hating the poor and blaming the victim because they have come to believe their own public relations machine so intensely that they have now confused their clever sound bites with God’s eternal wisdom and truth.  Again, the words of Eugene Peterson are instructive when he writes:

(Sometimes) it is useful to listen to people outside of our culture and pay attention to what they see. And in my experience, they don’t see us as a Christian land. If you listen to Solzhenitsyn or Bishop Tutu – or some of the university students from Africa or South America – what they says is that they don’t see a Christian land either. Rather they see almost the reverse… They see a lot of greed and arrogance. They see a Christian community that has almost none of the virtues of the biblical Christian community which have to do with sacrificial life and conspicuous love. Rather they see indulgence in feelings and emotions and an avaricious quest for gratification… (That is the polar opposite of Jesus Christ.)

In the time-tested words of scripture, they see idolatry, sin and arrogance masquerading as faith – and they see it is killing us. That’s what the Bible teaches at its deepest level in the Adam and Eve story: whenever we invert our relationship to God and put ourselves in the center of the universe – whenever we sin – we bring death and suffering to ourselves and everyone else. 

This is something we need to be sharing with others. Dr. Walter Brueggeman in last year’s Lenten lectures put it like this: the market place isn’t going to speak to us about the wages of sin – neither is Hollywood – or Washington, DC. That’s our department – that is part of the wisdom God has given the church to tend as faithful stewards – and in a time like this it REALLY needs to be heard. 

That’s part of what faithful formation is all about – educating and training disciples and apprentices in the values of Jesus – and we need it for our children, we need it for ourselves and we need to be sharing it with the wider community as part of our mission and ministry of healing and hope. This is one way we can strengthen the subversive movement of Jesus and undermine our addiction to the kingdom of self with the blessings of the kingdom of God: faithful Christian formation.

Another way to advance the cause grows out of what I call creative contemplation: do you know what contemplation is? Sometimes people speak of contemplation as prayer – and that is part of it – and sometimes people call it meditation – and that is true, too. Most often our culture defines contemplation as a discipline of quiet inner reflection and that has its place. But the best and most helpful way of thinking about contemplation is this: contemplation is taking a long, loving look at reality. Not a rush to judgment – not a first impression – and never an impulsive reaction to anything. Rather than letting people or events or attitudes or our wounds push our buttons, contemplation offers us a way of being in the world that is grounded in a long, loving look at what is real.

Think about that: a long look – a careful consideration – a quiet attentiveness before the Lord. “Rather than be overtaken by what poet John Oman named the twin perils of ministry – flurry and worry – Jesus offers us a way that emphasizes the single, the small and the quiet things of life… like salt, leaven and seeds.” (Peterson) He asks us to take a long look at what is real – a long and loving look, too: not one of judgment or disdain – pity or contempt – superiority or anything else that would separate us from our common humanity – but a loving look.

In a way, creative contemplation is like musical improvisation: it is born of practice – lots of practice – as well as sharing and living completely in the moment. When you improvise you practice denying yourself for a time – losing yourself for the sake of the greater whole – and then when it feels right giving it your shot of creativity and beauty. And this seems to be true whether you’re talking about musicians or actors, comedy or theatre, poetry slams or mixed media performance art. Pastor Donna Schaper recently wrote that:

The secret to improvisation is to go only as far as you have to and not a step or second more. Your goal is to make everyone else look good while carefully listening to what the first chord told the second chord to say… so good improvisation chooses who it will listen to—and takes the next step.

It is a commitment to living in community in such a way that we practice – and hold one another accountable to – taking a long, loving look at what is real. Not life as we might fantasize it – or even long for – but life as it really as is – for reality is where the Word becomes Flesh. And when we practice creative contemplation in community, some beautiful things can happen if we are willing to do our part and leave the rest to the Lord. Let me show you what I’m talking about as I ask my musical buddies to help me out with a new/old gospel song.

(James starts to play “Soon and Very Soon” as a solo)

Now with one person playing, I can do whatever I want, right? And if you like this type of music, doing it solo has its own beauty.But if you add some other voices – in harmony – and some other rhythms then… well then it becomes something different. 

(Sing verse one as a group)

And, if your players have done their own practicing, you might be able to start improvising and have some fun with the totality of the song in a way that is attentive and respectful and creative all at the same time… for improvisation takes things to a whole new place.

(Play the tune with Carlton and others taking some breaks before an a capella close!)

A commitment to exploring creative contemplation in community invites us to take a long, loving look at what is real and bring it all to the Lord: the pain and injustice all around us, the sin that clings so close to our hearts and minds as well as our addiction to flurry and worry rather that trust and grace. If we are to undermine the kingdom of self with the kingdom of God, then creative contemplation in community is a must.

So first, faithful formation; second, creative contemplation in community; and third a generous orthodoxy: Not a harsh or fear-based religion, nor a spirituality of “I’m OK, you’re OK” feelings and moral relativity. Not a wishy-washy liberalism or an unforgiving conservatism, but a generous orthodoxy that takes the path of Christ and his Cross seriously.

The term comes from the ministry of Brian McLaren who defines it like this: A generous orthodoxy means that I am a missional, evangelical,
postprotestant,liberal/conservative,mystical/poetic,biblical,charismaticcontemplative fundamentalist/calvinist,anabaptist/anglican,methodist catholic, green, incarnational, depressed-yet-hopeful, emergent and totally unfinished Christian. And while he may have left something out, but I think he’s on to something.

He’s saying that to practice the healing way of Jesus in the 21st century means we look to both wisdom and doubt, light and darkness, being and doing, male and female, gay and straight, rich and poor, compassion and justice. It means that the old German church was right when they told us to live in unity in the essentials, diversity in non-essentials and charity in all things. We are a body – a living, breathing, evolving body – born of Christ and his Spirit.

And if you look at the spirit Jesus embodies in today’s parable, it is very generous – and subversive. First, Jesus takes the ordinary things of everyday life in first century Palestine – farmers and fields and wages – and turns them into the stuff of holiness. That’s what a parable does, right? The actual term comes from two Greek words – para, meaning alongside, and bole, meaning to throw – so you might say that Jesus threw together a story about farming and work in order to show us something of God’s amazing grace.

Second, he reminds us that most of us are like the complainers in the story: we want our wages – we want our respect – and we resent it when others get paid the same as ourselves without doing the same work. That just isn’t fair, we cry! And, of course, that is the third truth: God’s grace isn’t fair – and NONE of us get what we deserve from the Lord – so we should start singing songs of joy and quit the carping forever.

A generous orthodoxy grows out of gratitude and grace made flesh by Jesus and the Holy Spirit. And maybe there’s one thing more: gratitude born of grace rarely matures overnight. Like the fruit of the Holy Spirit, it takes a life time to ripen within and among us.

• That’s one of the reasons Jesus used parables: he wanted to show how God can take the ordinary things of our lives and without “imposing his reality from without, can grow flowers and fruit from within.” (Peterson)

• A generous orthodoxy has NOTHING to do with being bullied into a “paternalistic classroom where we get sacred things explained and diagrammed so that we can all march to the same moral goose step.” (Peterson) 

No, a generous orthodoxy gives each and all of us time to bear fruit that nourishes others. It advances the kingdom of God rather than the kingdom of self. And it is born of grace. We live in a time that cries out for a bold and generous alternative to what all too often passes for the way of Jesus to say nothing of what the status quo of fear and greed have to offer. Jesus calls us to undermine the kingdom of self and become allies of Christ in the kingdom of God – and to me this call sounds something like this…