The affirmation of foolishness...

This week as part three of my series "Fools for Christ" I am going to take a look at my own call to discipleship born of the encouragement of "Feast of Fools." The gospel text for this week comes from Mark 1:

Jesus went to Galilee preaching the Message of God: “Time’s up! God’s kingdom is here. Change your life and believe the Message.” Passing along the beach of Lake Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew net-fishing. Fishing was their regular work. Jesus said to them, “Come with me. I’ll make a new kind of fisherman out of you. I’ll show you how to catch men and women instead of perch and bass.” They didn’t ask questions. They dropped their nets and followed.

Now I don't know about you, but I can remember feeling something like Simon or Andrew when I first saw "Godspell.," It was as if my take on the JOY of Christ's was REAL. It was not only AUTHENTIC but something that demanded a FOOLISH response And when "Day by Day" became a pop hit, I don't exactly know what to liken this to - I was never a hard core Jesus Freak - but it was such an affirmation that the blessings of grace and the experience of joy were greater than all the sin and shame talk, that I knew I wasn't full of shit. Well, ok, I may still be full of shit, but when I heard that song on the radio, I knew that God's love was a whole lot greater than my brokenness. Later, in my doctoral program, when I reread Feast of Fools by Harvey Cox, and spent time thinking/reading through the foolishness of the gospel, my love for Godspell grew profoundly.

So, this week we'll start worship with Cartlon's brilliant reworking of a Confucian chant, include one more blast of Christmas carols and then affirm our faith by singing "Day by Day" as rendered sacred by my band mates. We'll see how my take on festivity and fantasy shake out  tomorrow when I finally get to writing. Like the Psalm for Sunday says, "I am only at rest and quiet when I am moving toward God." (Psalm 62)