Tonight we talked and wondered...

Tonight at church we talked and wondered...

+ Is there a way to make compassion the fruit of our lives together and let the Holy One sort out the rest as the Qu'ran suggests?

+ Can we learn to trust beyond our very real differences and walk towards peace knowing that we all pray to the same God?

+ Will Americans come to grips with the fact that 14 million Arabic speaking sisters and brothers in Christ pray to Allah every day?

+ What do we do in the face of jihadists who are filled with fear and hatred?

Our diverse small group of 14 listened to one another carefully, read our assignments thoroughly and wondered about next steps on the road to compassion.

Two groups working from very different places come to mind in the work of finding common ground in compassion:

+ First is The Common Word, a group of Muslim scholars inviting Christians into greater knowledge and conversation (check it out: http://www.acommonword.com/index.php?lang=en) This is an experiment born of Islam reaching out to Christians and begins to answer the question that many - including some of us tonight - still ask: where are the voices of reason and tolerance amidst the fear and violence?

+ Second is the work of Karen Armstrong's Compassion Project - an interfaith project (check it out: http://charterforcompassion.org/) - that seeks to restore compassion as the core of our faith commitment rather than just intellectual constructs. The Compassion Project recognizes our doctrinal and theological differences - and respects them - but seeks to find common ground in activity that heals rather than wounds.

My old mentor - and homiletics professor, Jim Forbes - left Riverside Church a few years back to devote more time to the work of compassion and interfaith work (and less time to the bullshit of church politics.) One of my favorite portions of scripture puts it like this:

They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid...

I think that is what brother Forbes is getting after as he brings to a close this sermon to young preachers in the Christian tradition - but it cuts across every line or division when he asks: what time is it, y'all?

credit: chris rames @ http://www.chrisranes.com/apocalypse/index.html

Happy birthday Nelson...

Today is Nelson Mandela's 92 birthday: many, many blessings! Today we began work on the Freedom Mass based upon South African freedom/folk songs and over 20 people stayed after worship for practice. Incredible spirit and GREAT sounds - this is going to be fun.

(I had hoped to share this for worship on August 8th but we're going to push it back a few weeks so that we can include more folk.)

Two post-worship thoughts: I am really captivated by Paul's sense that "sin" is breaking covenant as this has so many powerful implications for justice and compassion. Odd how you can read and think and preach a text for decades only to stumble upon a new insight that was there all the time. For me this makes the connections clear: breaking covenant is when we do not love compassion, do justice or walk with humility.

Also, a corrective to Bonhoeffer's somewhat incomplete notion that only that which is hard is of the Lord: as my sweetheart regularly reminds me, "What about joy? If God made me in the holy imagine, than God does not want me to be miserable, right?" That is, living into joy and blessings is also part of the holy will, yes? It is NOT just doing what is hard - that is part of the truth for part of the time - but it is not the whole truth about God's way.

Dig this... for this is the way of the Lord, too.

Two quick thoughts...

When I went to seminary in New York City in the summer of 1979 I was interested in the call to be an agent of radical social change. I picked Union Theological Seminary not only because it was the leading interdenominational center for "liberation theology" at the time, but also because it was in the heart of the beast. No place in the United States exposed the contradictions of life in the industrialized West better than Manhattan - Babylon - a place of incredible wealth and poverty and suffering and hedonism all at the same time.

So I got to study with some of the finest liberation minds of the era: through a sweet luck of the draw my advisor was Cornell West - Phyllis Trible taught our introductory courses to the Old Testament - James Cone held court in realm of systematic theology - and the late James Washington, one of our finest African American historians re: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was the man for church history. I also had the pleasure to study preaching with Jim Forbes before he went on to Riverside Church. I even had the chance to go to the Latin American Bible Seminary in San Jose, Costa Rica - a Protestant evangelical school that was becoming the center for best liberation theologians of the region - and travel to Nicaragua before the one year anniversary of their revolution.

Two thoughts are swimming through my mind this sweltering afternoon:

+ First, many young evangelicals - those influenced more by Bono than Focus on the Family - are saying a LOT of the things we used to celebrate in the early days of liberation theology. For example, this quote from Shane Claiborne sounds a whole lot like Bishop Helder Camera of Brazil or the mystical poet of Solentiname, Ernesto Cardenal: "People do not get crucified for charity. People are crucified for living out a love that disrupts the social order, that calls forth a new world. People are not crucified for helping poor people. People are crucified for joining them."

+ Second, today's radicalized evangelicals are getting a whole lot more done in the world than my class of liberation theologians ever hoped to accomplish. I think of Bono's campaigns in Africa but also the work others are doing to bring water and end malaria to broken lands. Perhaps it has something to do with humility and the ability to discover allies: back in the day we were purists who accepted NO compromise while the young believers changing the world today share love, build bridges and keep moving.

Now I will never regret my time in the academy - I learned so much - and at the same time I think the kids have chosen the better road. Not only are they more passionate but they don't let ideological distractions get in the way of compassion. They not only know how to work all the social networking connections for the sake of Christ's love, but they are bringing a measure of hope into an aching world. They are not afraid to be fools for the sake of God's grace and justice.

This is a beautiful day... and it sounds something like this.

Happy anniversary Jesse and Michael...

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY: July 12th

Happy Anniversary to daughter Jesse and her sweet husband Michael on this their SECOND big celebration. They both bring light and hope into the world and enrich my life beyond imagination. Here's hoping your summer is blessed.

For Hal who brings such unexpected blessings...

As I was driving back from Hartford, CT this afternoon, the NPR newscast shared this story about the fear and hatred that is still running high in NYC in the shadow of Ground Zero. The story involves an Islamic cultural center that fear-mongers are calling a mosque. To be sure, there will be a place for prayer, but there will be so much more, too. As co-founder, Daisy Kahn, observes:

"Our religion has been hijacked by the extremists... this center will create this kind of counter momentum which will amplify the voices of the moderate Muslims. If we have to defeat the extremists, Muslims have to be leading that effort."

Still, Tea-baggers and others are hellbent on not only lying about the nature of the center, but exploiting post September 11th fears and anger. This story grabbed me because we've begun a study of Christianity and Islam this week and our first session highlighted the fears and anger towards Muslims that still seem to dominate popular American culture. (check out the full NPR story at: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128544392&ft=1&f=1016as well as the follow-up story, too, concerning the challenges American Muslims face when trying to build new mosques.)

I know there a a lot of cynics out there - in the churches and synagogues and mosques, too - who say that so much of God's love and compassion is just crazy. They say we should work at being effective and strategic. They say we should use our money and time wisely.

Well, here's the deal for me: the way of Jesus IS crazy. It is NOT effective and probably doesn't make very much practical sense either. But thanks be to God for those who visit the lonely and listen to the wounded. Thanks be to God for those who stand up for the forgotten and NEVER call attention to themselves. Thank God for the quiet peace-makers who don't pay a whole lot of attention to what is practical and efficient. May they will keep on being crazy and compassionate regardless of what shakes out among the politicians.

So at this point in my life I have come to believe that only crazy love and compassion matters any more. And when you are open to finding the light within the darkness, it arrives. Like two days ago when my buddy, Hal, turned me on to this incredible song by John Kay. This song gets it so totally right that there isn't much more to say except I know it doesn't make sense. And God knows it isn't cost effective or even practical. But that's how this thing works out and either you get the upside down community or... it is forever crazy, yes?

So, here's to being crazy and compassionate and upside down... there is just so much that is right on theologically and musically in this little song you just have to hear it.

On the back page of the paper
Next to the ad for mobile homes
I read about my brother's keeper
And the kindness he had shown
To some helpless perfect stranger
Who cried out in his pain
And what the front page had taken from me
Was given back to me again

My thoughts turned to the teachers

And the champions of the weak
The protectors of the creatures
And the saints down on the street
All the helpers, all the healers
Who lay hands on wounded souls
And whose daily acts of mercy
Drive the cynic from my door

Countless times I've seen the wonders
That the gift of hope can bring
To the betrayed and the forgotten
Yet I stood watching in the wings
Too many times I heard the call
And did not answer, to my shame
But I swear from this day on
I will lend a helping hand.

Two more good-byes...

While most of the US headlines are filled with memories and farewells to George Steinbrenner, owner of the NY Yankees, I was saddened to hear that two old rebels that I loved in very different ways also crossed over: the Beat poet and trouble-maker, Tuli Kupferberg, and heart and soul of the post WWII Protestant urban ministry movement, Bill Weber.

+ Tuli became notorious not only for being one of Ginsberg's inspiration for HOWL - he did jump off a NYC bridge and lived to walk away unknown - but also for his anti-war work with the Greenwich Village folk-rock band he shared with Ed Sanders, The Fugs. Their song, "Kill for Peace," his partnership with Abbie Hoffman and others in 1967as they attempted to "exorcise" the Pentagon during the Vietnam War and his relentless satires on the status quo made him a true Bohemian. In fact, as the NY Times obituary noted, "the craziest students living in Paris once came from Bohemia" - and he loved keeping the craziness alive.

I remember listening to his album in an East Village apartment late in the summer of 1967 before going to see the Mothers of Invention play the Garrick Theatre. Were they musical? Hardly! Were they challenging? To be sure! Were they a prototype for punk? Probably - and their Beat humor and dedication to poetry and freedom never died. They were not every one's cup of tea, but they kept the Beat spirit alive and well in the Village. Rest in peace you strange and wonderful soul. For the brave among us, check them out at: www.thefugs.com/

+ An equally rebellious man with a very different impact was the Reverend Dr. George "Bill" Weber who died yesterday at 90. I knew Bill during my New York days - and his reputation preceded him in spades. Born of privilege with a great mind - he graduated magna cum laude from Harvard in history before WWII where he served in the Navy and then went on to get his bachelor of divinity from Union in NYC and his Ph. D. in philosophy of religion from Columbia - Bill sensed a call into ministry. The result was not upwardly mobile but rather the beginning of the Inner City Protestant Parish in East Harlem along with Don Benedict and Archie Hargraves.

He served for a season as the dean of students at Union but left to make the East Harlen Inner City Protestant Parish real - moving his young family into project housing. Later, as the new dean of New York Theological Seminary, he took the lessons of liberation theology seriously and extended graduate education to those without an under-graduate degree. Or working pastors in non-mainstream traditions who had lots of life experience but little formal training. Or those who were incarcerated. He changed the face of theological education in New York City and welcome into the fold many who had been left wounded by the roadside.

He also wrote three books which shaped and changed my life: God's Colony in Man's (sic) World - about the Inner City Protestant Parish of East Harlem - and A Congregation in Mission and Today's Church - about living into the calling of urban ministry. He was gentle and strong, clear-headed and demanding, a vibrant white preacher who spent most of his time committed race and class suicide.

As a very middle class white guy from the NY suburbs, Bill's witness touched me - and still does. I remember hearing him talk about a retreat that once took place in the late 50s with men from his East Harlen church and folks from the wealthy suburbs of Connecticut. An executive leader of the men's retreat began the gathering saying, "Let's introduce ourselves by saying what we do and where we live..." only to be interrupted by one of the urban men who said, "No, no, no! Let's NOT start by defining ourselves by the work we do or the place we live because THAT is of the world - and let's be clear - some of us don't DO anything and we aren't FROM anywhere! No, let's talk about who we are in the love of God made real to us in Jesus Christ." Which caused a huge gasp... and then a REAL sharing of hearts, souls and minds.

I am still with Bill in insisting that we start with how God has touched us - regardless of how we understand that touching - and build on connecting from that place. Rest in peace, dear man, rest in peace.

What's going on with all this SIN talk...

NOTE: Here are my worship/sermon notes for Sunday, July 18, 2010. This is part four of my summer series re: reclaiming the wisdom of St. Paul's words in Romans for the 21st century. They also embrace the gospel lectionary text in Luke 10 about our sisters in faith: Mary and Martha. If you are around at 10:30 am, why not stop in and join us? I am hoping that the newly refashioned band will play a little bit as Sue joins the ranks of Between the Banks - we'll be simple and folkie this week - but fun, too. We'd love to see you.

I have been reading the new biography of Dietrich Bonheoffer by Eric Metaxas called Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy – and it’s pretty good. Does anyone know who Bonheoffer was?

• A German theologian-preacher of privilege who found himself not only moved to follow Jesus in bold new ways through his experiences in the African-American churches of New York City’s Harlem, but also a leading opponent of Hitler and the Nazis, too.

• In fact, because his faith in the Word of Christ becoming flesh was so profound, during the 1930s he collaborated with others to assassinate the Fuehrer – which landed him in prison and eventually the hang man’s gallows.

I found something Bonheoffer wrote in a letter to his brother in 1936 right on the money:

If it is I who determine where God is to be found, then I shall always find a God who corresponds to me in some way – who is obliging – who is connected with my own nature. But if God determines where he is to be found, then it will be in a place which is not immediately pleasing to my nature – and which is not at all congenial to me. This place is the Cross of Christ – and whoever would find Jesus must go to the foot of the Cross as the Sermon on the Mount commands. This is not according to our nature at all; it is entirely contrary to it. But this is the message of the Bible – not only the New – but also the Old Testament. (p. 136)

Now I share this with you today because, in our fourth reflection on St. Paul’s letter to the Romans and Christ’s counter-cultural words to both Mary and Martha, Bonheoffer articulates the challenge clearly: everywhere we look there is sin and confusion right alongside the invitation of grace. Peterson’s reworking of Romans 3 puts it like this:

There's nobody living right, not even one, nobody who knows the score, nobody alert for God. We've all taken the wrong turn; all wandered down blind alleys. No one's living right; I can't find a single one. Our throats are gaping graves, our tongues slick as mudslides. Every word we speak is tinged with poison. We open their mouths and pollute the air. We race for the honor of sinner-of-the-year, litter the land with heartbreak and ruin, don't know the first thing about living with others and never give God the time of day.

Oh man, can my boy Paul cut to the chase, yes? Like Bonheoffer said if it is we who determine where we’ll find the living God, we’ll always go to the easy and simple places – cheap grace – rather than the foot of the Cross. And THAT is why there is all this SIN talk in our lesson – language that has never been easy to grasp – but is all the more perplexing in our fast-paced, market-driven world of quick fixes and non-stop comfort. For St. Paul – and all who seek to follow Jesus passionately in any generation – sin means something very clear and mostly has nothing to do with our garden variety failings, peccadilloes and the like.

• In fact, our obsession with sexual innuendo, petty offenses and sordid gossip is mostly a self-distraction that keeps us from really dealing with sin and the challenge of the Cross.

• So let me try to share three key, inter-related truths with you from our texts about: sin, God’s nature and how it is we renew our connection with God and put sin to rest.

Because, you see, that’s what all this sin talk is all about: helping us find God’s way back into lives that are in balance, harmony and relationship with God and one another. In Paul’s context, sin is what it means to be out of covenant – in broken relationships with God and our community – which means we need to understand covenant before we can really grasp what’s at stake in sin, yes?

So, what do you recall about God’s covenant with Israel? What does it mean? What does it look like?

• A covenant is a sacred contract and promise between God and God’s people, right? And there are always three parts in a covenant – God’s promises, our individual promises and our promises as a community – so there are promises and responsibilities.

• And all of the promises and responsibilities – between the sacred and the ordinary – are intended by God to keep us all in a healthy and holy relationship. The Old Testament uses two words – just and righteous – to describe those who keep and strengthen the covenant while those who break it are… sinners. Ok? Is that clear?

Now there are a number of covenants made between God and God’s people in the Old Testament and each helps us understand something about God’s nature and that is what makes Israel special – or chosen – you know? Through Israel’s history, we see God’s faithfulness over and over again; Israel breaks covenant time and again but God always returns to bring healing and hope to sinners.

Are you still with me? Do you hear what I’m saying? Israel’s unique role as “chosen people” according to St. Paul is that we learn about God’s grace and faithfulness in the midst of failure, breaking covenant and sin.

A quick survey of some of the important covenants make this clear: do you recall the first covenant mentioned in the Bible?

• Genesis 8 and 9 speak about God’s covenant with Noah and his family: the rainbow is the sign that God will never again send a flood to destroy creation and God offers a blessing to everyone – Jews and Gentiles – that we should be fruitful and multiply as we live in harmony with one another.

• Then there is the covenant with Abram in Genesis 17: if Abram follows and trusts God – first in a journey and later in many other challenges – God will make him the father of many nations – particularly a chosen nation of God’s unique people in Israel.

• This covenant is amplified through Abraham’s children – Isaac and Jacob –and then deepened with Moses. Do you recall what was at stake for Moses? This is the foundation of Torah – the Law – the commandments for holy living and right relationship that were created after God liberated the suffering people from slavery in Egypt.

• There is also a covenant made with David – who becomes king – that promise that in return for protecting God’s people in Israel and helping them live according to the Law, David’s family will always be the rightful rulers of the land.

And how did all this covenant keeping go? Do you recall times when God’s people broke the covenant? Hurt one another? Worshipped idols or served other lords? That’s what Paul’s list of Hebrew Scriptures is all about in our reading: mostly taken from the poems and prophets of Israel, Paul uses the Old Testament texts to show how time and again the people of the Covenant broke their promises to God. Here’s what I mean:

• “There's nobody living right, not even one who is righteous,” is a paraphrase from Ecclesiastes 7: 23.

• “There is nobody who knows the score, nobody who is alert for God. They've all taken the wrong turn… and all wandered down blind alleys” comes from Psalm 14: 2-3.

• Their throats are gaping graves and their tongues slick as mudslides” is in Psalm 139: 4. “Every word they speak is tinged with poison for they open their mouths and pollute the air” is in Psalm 10:7.

• “They race for the honor of sinner-of-the-year and litter the land with heartbreak and ruin” is taken from Isaiah 59: 7-8. And “don't know the first thing about living with others? They never even give God the time of day” is from Psalm 35: 2.

Do you see what Paul is doing? He wants everyone to understand that sin is breaking covenant – and everybody does it! Those who have had a unique and special covenant with God – Israel – sin as much as those who have always lived outside the ways of the Lord which leads him to cry out: It should be clear to everyone… that we are ALL sinners – everyone one of us – in the same sinking boat with everyone else! Even our historic and unique relationship with God cannot separate us from the fact of sin.

Let me pause for just a moment to see if we’re still on the same page. I’ve just tried to summarize two key ideas: sin has to do with breaking relationship with God and one another – breaking covenant – and everyone does it. Are there any thoughts or questions here?

So where’s the hope in what Paul teaches? Where is the gospel – the good news – our way back into relationship and covenant with God and one another? Cut to the story of supper at Mary and Martha’s house where Martha works and works and works – all for a good cause – but winds up anxious and exhausted. In fact, her busyness and attention to all the details of hospitality distract her from the very presence of the one she loves – Jesus – and she ends up experiencing none of the joy the feast aches to provide.

• But let’s not compound the problem by scolding Martha, ok? That happens all too often in sermons about this text – Mary is the wiser because she sat at the feet of the Lord blah, blah, blah – but she didn’t pitch which is just unfair and unrealistic.

• And many of the women here today – and some of the men, too – know that you can’t have a feast if everyone just sits around watching football. Or doing Bible study. Or waiting for Jesus.

So my hunch is that this isn’t about scolding Martha, but as Kate Huey of the United Church of Christ suggests this could be part two of the lesson begun last week in the story of the Good Samaritan. In that story the emphasis was upon hearing the Word of God and making it flesh – and that is part of the equation. Today we hear about how it is equally important to wait and listen for the Word of God, too, so that we might truly hear and experience God’s grace.

How does the Hebrew poem go? To everything there is a season…? A time to be born and a time to die? A time for war and a time for peace? A time to plant and a time to reap? So, too, with our covenant relationship with God and one another: there is a time for taking responsibility for our actions – a time to do justice, share compassion and walk in humility – and a time for quiet reflection.

Even a time in the quiet of our hearts to confess: I can’t fix things, Lord. I can’t make myself right, I can’t consistently love others the way you do… I need help. I need forgiveness… I need a fresh start. Do you hear what I’m saying? Does that make sense? Kate Huey goes on to write:

If we don't stop not just sometimes but regularly – and just sit and listen, like Mary at the feet of Jesus – how can the Stillspeaking God get a word in edgewise over the beepers, cell phones, voicemail, text messages and tweets, television and radio messages that bombard us? How can we tend to our internal lives like careful gardeners who spend time nurturing new growth, pulling weeds when necessary, and gently showering the thirsty green plants with refreshing water?

I like to think about what Jesus may have been saying to Mary there in the living room, while Martha banged around in the kitchen, annoyed at her sister not helping her. Maybe he was reciting one of the psalms of his people, our ancestors in faith. John Michael Talbot's translation of Psalm 131 might express something of what Jesus intended for Mary (and Martha!) to hear: "O Lord, my heart is not proud, nor are my eyes fixed on things beyond me; in the quiet, I have stilled my soul like a child at rest on its mother's knee; I have stilled my soul within me. So Israel, come and hope in your Lord; do not set your eyes on things far beyond you; just come to the quiet. Come and still your soul like a child at rest on its daddy's knee; come and still your soul completely."

The wisdom that St. Paul shares – the gospel of God’s grace that he proclaims – is that only when we come to this quiet place of opening ourselves to the Lord and recognizing that we cannot make things right all by ourselves are we set free from the lordship and bondage of sin. When we are humble and quiet – knowing our need and asking for God’s help – then God who is always faithful forgives and renews and heals.

St. Paul would say that in this the covenant is rectified by trust: trust in God’s faithfulness and trust in the grace-filled presence of Christ and his Cross. In this there is both the hearing and the doing of the Word – grace and responsibility – forgiveness and right relations. And wonderfully in the new covenant there is simplicity, too. The Old covenant is not gone – it is honored and abides in Judaism – but the new covenant which we affirm in Jesus is simple – and the last place we would turn all by ourselves.

You see, we like to be in charge – in control – strong and assertive – while the way of Jesus and the Cross will have none of it. “Keep your demands and obsessions and addictions,” Jesus seems to say, “keep them as long as you think they help, but know that you can’t fix the world – your family – or even yourself all by yourself. My way is about letting go – opening your heart so that there is room for God – giving to receive – forgiving to know pardon – and dying to find eternal life.”

And when you are ready – and only when you are ready – I will be there in the still small voice inviting you to pray with me at the foot of the Cross:

Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference. Living one day at a time; enjoying one moment at a time; accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His Will; that I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him Forever in the next. Amen.

That’s the way this works my friends. So, beloved in Christ, let those with ears to hear, hear…

credits:

1) I Am: http://www.emergingcity.com/2006/02/the_cross_and_the_city_i_am.html

2 Jesus of the People: http://uqconnect.net/cjpc/spirit.htm

3) Cross in Fine Art: http://fineartamerica.com/featured/patterns-and-symbols-or--the-cross-joan-dorrill.html

4) Broken Covenant: www.chgs.umn.edu/museum/responses/bak/gallery2.html

5) Covenant Sign: http://www.markmallett.com/blog/?p=88

6) Secret of Passover and Abstract Art:http://godssecret.wordpress.com/2009/04/03/abstract-art/
7) Mirta Benavente: http://en.artoffer.com/Mirta-Benavente-1/Image-Large-View/?imagenr=51552
8) Mary, Martha and Lazarus: http://jameswoodward.wordpress.com/2009/07/29/mary-martha-and-lazarus/
9) Mirroed Tree: http://aflowofvirtue.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!EFDD94E72421D5C1!2404.entry
10) Solitude: http://imagiverse.org/interviews/markvasconcellos/solitude.htm
11) William Coombs: http://art.spirithit.com/11677718.html
12) Symphony of Peace: http://www.lenneastudio.com/5

Christians and Islam redux...

Great first class for the Christians and Islam theme tonight... and we hit upon one of the many challenges that face both traditions: who to be deeply passionate and respectful and tolerant? I think one of the insights we're gleaning already has something to do with:

+ Reclaiming and passionately celebrating our own Christian faith in all its fullness and at the same time - with equal vigor and integrity - honoring the wisdom and tradition of another.

+ Learning to hear - and value - the stories and spiritual truths of the Islamic world with openness and humility; also, finding ways for more people-to-people contact and sharing music, food and acts of compassion.

Three thoughts come to mind:

+ The time has come for a study/travel connection that builds bridges and experience. Check out Rick Steves' @ www.ricksteves.com/tapa_blog/

+ Holding a community study forum using Moyer's 1996 series "Genesis: A Living Conversation" and inviting folk who are already doing this work to share their stories with us. (Check out: www.pbs.org/wnet/genesis/index.html) as well as: Clergy Beyond Borders @ http://clergybeyondborders.org/index.html

+ Praying and taking out own peace-making tradition VERY seriously: all too often progressive Christians have either forgotten their roots, or let them be co-opted by others with a narrow political agenda.

Who knows where this is headed but... this song comes to mind.

Christians and Islam...

Tonight - in less that two hours - we start a summertime study organized by the Sojourners Community called: Christians and Islam. This builds on our Three Cups of Tea and Stones into Schools study groups and the recent "Three Cups of Tea Silent Auction" which raised over $2,000 for Greg Mortenson's ministry of building schools throughout Pakistan and Afghanistan that must be at least 50% girls. These schools must also refuse to use hate literature and emphasize the true core of Islam rather than the extremist Wahabism that inflames fear and violence.

Our series begins with this insight from the discussion guide: For centuries, Christians and Muslims have lived in peace as neighbors. But religious differences are always fertile ground for fanning the fires of political and economic gain - and both Christians and Muslims have waged "holy wars." In our own time, both Muslims and Christians are dealing with extremists in our midst who distort the true character of belief. Significant, intelligent dialogue and the development of authentic friendships across religious lines are key to deepening our mutual faith...

Tonight we will talk about: apocalypticsm, the nuances of history, authentic interfaith cooperation and the legacy of holy wars. (All in 60 minutes!)

Next week we'll look more closely at some of the core theological insights of Islam. And then close the series by considering "The American Face of Islam." I look forward to seeing where the Spirit leads us as we open our hearts and minds... I trust it will include something like these words from Richard Rodriquez as he writes in I Kneel to a Desert God.

After Sept. 11, I suddenly realized that maybe I was being drawn to the desert because I’m a Christian. I’d read so much of my Christian past through Europe. I’m a Roman Catholic; I was raised in an Irish Catholic church; I was schooled in religious controversies that had to do with Geneva, or Zurich, or Zwingli, or Calvin, or Luther. When I went to Union Theological Seminary for two years, it was all European theological drama. It didn’t engage this ecological question, that we are people of the desert. Christianity is a desert religion, a Middle Eastern religion.

This interested me because that’s how we think of Muslims, basically, as a desert people. I had never gone to the desert looking for Christ. I’d never gone to the desert expecting to find Muhammad. And I’d never gone to the desert expecting to hear the voice of God. But that’s precisely what I’m doing now. I have a Palestinian driver who imitates Elvis Presley, and we drive around the Middle East, and I’m enchanted by the desert. I’ve never felt so close to God as I do there.

I’m asking questions about how the desert protected Jesus, protected Muhammad, protected Moses. How they hid themselves in the desert. How the city—Mecca, Jerusalem—was often at odds with these prophets, these holy people, and how the desert took them in, and how God appears in the desert. The drama of mirage and the drama of dryness.

The first story of Abraham that we read in Genesis is a desert story: The desert God has come to a dry old man and told him that he will be fertile, that his wife is going to bear him a son. Overhearing this—I always imagine her as [the actress] Rhea Perlman—she laughs; the whole idea of becoming a mother is ludicrous to her. God says to her, do you think that there are things that God cannot do, that this is impossible for God? And suddenly there is this notion of fertility in the desert, that God will make the dry woman fertile.

And these two children, Isaac and Ishmael, the legitimate son and the illegitimate son: Abraham, who is this George Burns character, casts away his Egyptian servant when Rhea Perlman says “I won’t have her around.” She goes out to the desert and almost dies there with her son, until they are rescued by God, who promises them that they will have a race as numerous as the stars.

So what am I doing in the desert? I’m looking for that God. The God who is promising a world of fertility in this dryness. The desert, by the way, is the fastest growing ecology in the world right now. There are dust storms in Beijing. The desert is the most implacable, most demanding ecology, and it keeps advancing.

You are NOT in control...

Sunday morning worship regularly reminds me that I am NOT in control - which is a good but not always an easy truth to affirm - and it happens in so many ways. Sometimes someone will make a bone-headed announcement full of dreadful theology and unhelpful ideas, other times I will spontaneously find myself going down a side road in my message only to discover too late that I shouldn't have made the turn. From time to time a person will hear something that was never intended - and most likely never said - and then there are the outright interruptions that throw everything in worship up in the air.

+ For example, early in ministry I shared some socio-economic observations about shepherds one Christmas Eve - something about how they were often ritually unclean and considered less than socially desirable because they worked "the third shift" - only to be scolded for picking on people who have to work swing shift to keep their families fed. I thought I was being in solidarity but...

+ Same thing happened in Arizona when talking about Christ's radical inclusion of women: I referenced three women who would be considered outsiders in traditional society but who were celebrated in the ministry of Jesus only to be told that I needed to get over my sexism and honor the important contributions that women make in the church. "Men aren't the ONLY important ones, you know?"

+ And then there was the time one of my early bands was leading a gospel tune and one of the local street people came in - he was about 6'4" and looked (and smelled) like John the Baptist - as he marched down the center aisle before parking himself on the floor in front of the band. We finished the song and he said: "Do you KNOW when Christ is coming again?" Good question, I thought, although I wasn't prepared to talk about it then so I said, "Karl, how about we talk about this after worship?" At which point he jumped up straight up into the air - from the floor -shook his fist at me and screamed: "Sinner, sinner" before storming away. I thought he was going to hit me with one of his huge, ham hock fists... but he just shouted and fled out the back door.

Today was a gift - my friend Bert was a spirit-filled preacher - and together with my musician friends and liturgist they brought great skill and verve to the mix. It was a feast. And when I asked one of the children what she thought a worship stole was all about she paused, smiled and said, "It is a scarf." And when asked how you would wear it, she said, "Like this..." and tossed it jauntily over her shoulder making a true liturgical fashion statement.

So, as another Sabbath comes to a close, and I recall ALL the times I have been reminded that I am not in control, I give thanks to God. Ever so slowly I am learning that my job is to invite folks towards the grace of God's feast. I can do some training and offer lots of prayer, but the rest is not up to me. Like the movie, "Babette's Feast," teaches: we are here to prepare and invite and then trust that God will do the rest. Lord, I believe... help my disbelief, too.

Sharing faith, music and friendship...

Tomorrow my friend and colleague, the Reverend Bert Marshall, will be our guest preacher. I am still in town - my vacation time will come later in August with a trip to Halifax for the International Busker's Festival (can you imagine?) - but wanted the faith community to hear from Bert. He is the regional director of Church World Service,(www.churchworldservice.org/site/PageServer) one of the best and most faithful ecumenical ministries committed to caring for the broken of the world. He has just recently returned from South America with stories of hope and challenge. I can't wait.

Last fall, Bert joined our Thanksgiving Eve ensemble on guitar and vocals - and his loving spirit is infectious. He also shared some of his own tunes, too.

And in addition to his work with CWS, he has put together a ministry of sharing the power of Christ's love through a dramatic presentation of "The Gospel of Mark Alive." (Check it out at: www.gospelofmarkalive.com/reviews.html) It is always a treat to work and hang-out with this man for we share a common faith, a love of God's presence in music and a friendship. How providential is that the lectionary text set for tomorrow is the Good Samaritan?

Just then a religion scholar stood up with a question to test Jesus. "Teacher, what do I need to do to get eternal life?" Jesus answered, "What's written in God's Law? How do you interpret it?" He said, "That you love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and muscle and intelligence—and that you love your neighbor as well as you do yourself." "Good answer!" said Jesus. "Do it and you'll live."

Looking for a loophole, he asked, "And just how would you define 'neighbor'?" So Jesus answered by telling a story. "There was once a man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. On the way he was attacked by robbers. They took his clothes, beat him up, and went off leaving him half-dead. Luckily, a priest was on his way down the same road, but when he saw him he angled across to the other side. Then a Levite religious man showed up; he also avoided the injured man.

"A Samaritan traveling the road came on him. When he saw the man's condition, his heart went out to him. He gave him first aid, disinfecting and bandaging his wounds. Then he lifted him onto his donkey, led him to an inn, and made him comfortable. In the morning he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, 'Take good care of him. If it costs any more, put it on my bill—I'll pay you on my way back.'

"What do you think? Which of the three became a neighbor to the man attacked by robbers?" "The one who treated him kindly," the religion scholar responded. Jesus said, "Go and do the same."

Join us for the feast if you are around...