Today was a blessing - and my hope is that the blessing ripens as we move from Sunday morning worship to Sunday afternoon music party. Two simple thoughts about each gathering:
+ This week I wound up crafting three very different drafts of my reflection. The first was too heady - the second spent too much time on the bad theology of the Numbers reading - while the third discerned a playful and new take on Nicodemus. What I keep discovering in the process is that my preaching is NOT just about sharing Bible facts and insights. Rather, it is opening up the blessings of grace, challenging the parts that are punitive and/or simply wrong, all while reiterating the joy of living into God's love. The story of Nicodemus in St. John 3 invites us to move beyond the baggage of being "born again" to the more inclusive invitation of recognizing when we are "sired from above." Not that born again is bad, it is not; it is just too limited. Yes, some among us have a Damascus Road event - those stunning, awesome inward/outward encounters with forgiveness that change our lives forever - while most of us are awakened and renewed by grace incrementally. One way is NOT better than another for it ALL comes from the holy. Our response to grace is what matters. Born again rhetoric has only been around for about 100 years and offers only a one size fits all description of inner transformation. If today's reaction has legs, a lot of folk are hungry to know that their experiences are holy, too.
+ That's part of why doing this afternoon's music party is so important: it, too, is a way to share beauty, depth, and solidarity as an integral albeit non-traditional path to inner renewal. Like Richard Rohr says: "If we cannot find a way to make our wounds into sacred wounds, we invariably become cynical, negative, or bitter. If we do not transform our pain, we will most assuredly transmit it—usually to those closest to us: our family, our neighbors, our co-workers, and, invariably, the most vulnerable, our children.” We're doing a LOT of quiet and reflective tunes - Fast Cars, Breathe, Times Like These, Lucky Now, Landslide, One Voice, and Find the Cost of Freedom - both because we've created some stunning 3-4 part harmonies and to showcase the band's depth. People KNOW we can rock and roll - now it is time to show the poetry and nuance. This means making music with and for a very mixed gathering is every bit as prayerful as this morning's worship for me - and I hope for those who attend.
My hope is that I'll be able to video some of the music and share it as yet one more way to "rejoice in the Lord always (and all ways, too!)
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