Once again, thanks Eugene...

When I was a feisty young man testing ALL the limits I could think of, there was a song by Pink Floyd - "Be Careful with That Ax, Eugene" - that would crop up from time to time when the spirit of Dionysus was rampant.  Do you know it...?

Today, however, it is likely to be Eugene Peterson who grabs my attention.  He is such an advocate for the unique, misunderstood, quiet, sweet but demanding vocation of a pastor.  In one observation he notes that it is so easy to get "trapped in the trappings" (as my mentor, Ray Swartzback used to say) of ministry.  People want us to be "spiritual cruise directors" who are always available to soothe their wounds, hold their hands and listen to their complaints - often in their most self-absorbed states.  And contemporary pastors, "before we realize what has happened, find that the mystery and love and majesty of God has been obliterated by the noise and frenzy of the religious marketplace."

Well, I made a commitment to avoid that dead-end - again. "Been there, done that" and I came to the Berkshires to be a pastor in the fullness of that word. And mostly I've found that what I think others want from me is often the hardest dragon to slay; sure, there are those who want to over-organize my time.  But mostly, it is me who is my worst enemy - so I find that I need to spend regular time in quiet reflection and study in order to stay grounded in my pastoral calling. I give thanks to Eugene over and again for all the ways he helps me stand up to my own shadows in love as well as counter the sometimes self-absorbed and frivolous demands of others.:

...who is there who will say the name of GOD in such a way that the community can see him for who he is, our towering Lord and Savior, not the packaged and priced version that meets our consumer needs? And who is there with the time to stand with men and women, adults and children in the places of confusion and blessing, darkness and light, hurt and healing long enough to discern the glory and salvation being worked out behind the scenes, under the surface. If we all get caught up in running the store, who will be the pastor?

How I have changed my mind...

NOTE: Here are my worship notes for Sunday, September 25, 2011. This week we will consider a simple but moving call to humbly become an Open and Affirming congregation in the United Church of Christ.  These are my pastoral reflections before we move into a congregational meeting. If have decided to simply share my written text and one of the songs we will use this week in the spirit of simplicity. If you are in town, please join us at 10:30 am.


Most mornings I find myself starting the day with a human/holy ritual: it is very earthy – but also celestial – in that it includes brewing a pot of tea, opening my computer to an Ignatian English prayer site and then reading a devotional word from the Eugene Peterson and/or Fredrick Buechner catalogue. Today, Peterson’s words touched my heart:

We who are made in the “image” of God have, as a consequence, imag-ination. Imagination is the capacity to make connections between the visible and the invisible, between heaven and earth, between present and past, between present and future. For Christians, whose largest invest is in the invisible, the imagination in indispensable, for it is only by means of the imagination that we can see reality whole and in context.

Today I’m go to ask you to use your head and your heart imaginatively – to consider the very image of the Lord our God made flesh within and among us in Jesus Christ – while I share with you something personal and theological: how I came to change my mind about homosexuality. As you may know, we will be discussing a simply crafted Open and Affirming statement for our congregation after worship this morning – something I fully endorse – so it seemed wise to share with you my take on this commitment. After all, the working definition of a “pastor” is clear: one who directs the spiritual care and nurture of a congregation through preaching, teaching and healing.

So this morning, in a quiet and careful way, I want to share with you something faithfully imaginative in my message. Something born of tradition, prayer, study and experience in the 21st century that encourages us to “make a connection between the visible and invisible” grace of God and move closer to the promise of the Lord’s extravagant welcome for everyone. In that spirit, let me ask your prayers as we begin:

Dear Father always near us: may your name be treasured and loved, may your rule be completed in us- may your will be done here on earth in just the way it is done in heaven. Give us today the things we need today, and forgive us our sins and impositions on you as we are forgiving all who in any way offend us. Please don’t put us through trials, but deliver us from everything bad. Because you are the one is charge, you have all the power, and the glory too is all yours-forever- which is just the way we want it! Dallas Willard

Over the years, our worship tradition has come up with periodic slogans that attempt to synthesize the essence of our spiritual practices in relationship to God’s love made flesh in Jesus Christ:

• Five hundred years ago, in the early days of Luther and Calvin, the rallying cry was – ecclesia semper reformans, semper reformanda – meaning the Church was always being reformed and always reforming. We were never to let the Word of God in scripture, practice or tradition become calcified, but rather we were called to seek the ever shining light of Christ in new ways. As one Congregational hymn writer put it: time makes ancient truth uncouth – hence “always reformed and always reforming.”

• In the early 1800s, another important Reformed slogan was: “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, diversity; and in all things, charity.” What humble and revolutionary wisdom – even for our generation – are found in those old words, yes? Unity, diversity and charity – simply brilliant.

Mission statements are slogans, too: a type of theological product branding, if you will, that tries to give distinct shape and form to God’s presence within and among a congregation in a sea of competing information. Nearly 250 years ago, we did this when we called this place FIRST Church; not only was this a statement of historical fact, it was also a way of telling the world how we understood our mission.

• Later, in the 1950s, when the United Church of Christ was born, our slogan became: THAT THEY MAY ALL BE ONE. Here were the ancient words of Jesus found in the gospel of St. John applied to the modern reality of post WWII America and our quest for building a world of ecumenism, cooperation and peace.

• And in the late 1990s, our slogan – and mission statement – in the United Church changed again to better capture the reality of our world: NO MATTER WHO YOU ARE – OR WHERE YOU ARE – ON LIFE’S JOURNEY, YOU ARE WELCOME HERE.

Do you see what I’m trying to say? The way we speak and think about doing church changes – imaginatively – over time. Today we’re being asked to add another clarifying layer of wisdom and truth to our identity by choosing to become an Open and Affirming congregation within the United Church of Christ. And what that means is simultaneously simple and profound:

• To the larger the public we are saying that we consciously seek to welcome ALL of God’s children into the life and ministry of this faith community – especially those who have historically been pushed away, shunned or denied the blessings of God’s grace in community.

• To ourselves we are saying that not only do we want to practice radical Christian hospitality for all people – especially welcoming those in the gay and lesbian world who have often been locked out of God’s love – but also that we want to do a better job at embracing all those who have been marginalized, forgotten or neglected by the status quo.

• And to the Lord our God we are saying that we shall continue to be reformed as we learn more and more about your grace, forgiveness and promise made flesh to us in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

To become an Open and Affirming congregation, therefore, is a confession of humility and hope not something trendy or politically correct. It is a way of making flesh in our generation our commitment to unity in essentials, diversity in non-essentials and in all things charity. And that brings me to a consideration of what the Scriptures really say about homosexuality – so let me share a precise summary – because the Bible is something we look to as an essential.

But let’s be clear, however, that what I am going to share is only a summary, ok? Last fall, we spent 7 weeks in study on this theme – and over the past 10 years you have explored it in a variety of ways, too – so I won’t be offering an exhaustive, graduate level discussion of what the Bible tells us about homosexuality. If you need that, I can provide for you bibliographies and suggestions as well as a host of other helpful resources and interpretive material. 

Today I’m simply going to cut to the chase as I understand it – and here is how I will proceed: First, some biblical texts that have been used in the past that are simply irrelevant and ambiguous, so I’ll say a few words about them. Second, I will look at three key scriptures that are fiercely unambiguous. And third carefully tell you what I have come to do with all of this.

The irrelevant and ambiguous Biblical references are as follows:

• Genesis 19: 1-29 which tells the story of the “attempted gang rape of Sodom… (Where) ostensibly heterosexual males were intent on humiliating strangers by treating them ‘like women’ and emasculating them by rape.” This, of course, has nothing to do with love as expressed by “consenting adults of the same sex” and is all about the horrors of war, fear, sin and the corruption of power and greed. (Walter Wink, Homosexuality and the Bible, p. 1)

• In fact, the Sodom and Gomorrah story is much more about the unwillingness to welcome God’s messengers into community – a look at the consequences of greed and hospitality denied – than anything else. So let’s let this straw man go, ok?

• Scholar Walter Wink of Auburn Theological Seminary in NYC also suggests that the story of a “heterosexual prostitute involved in Canaanite fertility rites in Deuteronomy 23: 17-18 – and inaccurately referred to as a sodomite in the King James Version of the Bible” – is as unhelpful to this conversation as are the words of the apostle Paul in I Corinthians 6:9 and I Timothy 1:10 for what they condemn are the actions of strong male prostitutes preying upon the weak and inexperienced.

These texts do not advance our understanding of homosexuality and only muddy the water, so let them go. There are, however, three clear and unambiguous references in our Bible to same sex relationships; and we should not only be clear about them, but also consider what they mean within the totality of God’s revelation to us in Scripture. They are as follows:

• Leviticus 18: 22: A man shall not lie with a male as with a woman – it is an abomination.

• Leviticus 20: 13 adds clarity concerning the punishment for such an abomination against the Lord: they shall be put to death.

Not a lot of ambiguity here, is there? But what is missing from a simple literalism is a grasp of context:

The Hebrew prescientific understanding (operative here) was that male semen alone contained the whole of nascent life. With no knowledge of eggs and ovulation, it was assumed that the woman provided only the incubating space; hence the spilling of semen for any non-creative purpose – coitus interuptus, masturbation, etc – were ALL considered tantamount to abortion or murder in the ancient world of the Hebrew people… What’s more, in a world of honor, male dignity and power was compromised if a man acted like a woman. (Wink, p. 2)

These two biblical texts are unambiguous: homosexual activity is not only an affront to the Lord, it is to be punished with execution. Now add this, the one unambiguous New Testament teaching about homosexuality, from Romans 1: 22-27.

Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever… For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.

If you read this passage with childlike simplicity, there is no ambiguity and Paul clearly condemns same sex activity. On one level, this rings true. But if you read this passage with some imagination and wisdom – if, as St. Paul himself once said that when I was a child I thought and saw as a child, but now that I have matured I have put childish things away – then… then something more nuanced emerges.

• Namely, that St. Paul believed everyone was straight – with no knowledge of modern sexual orientation to say nothing of the breadth of gender realities – so he saw heterosexual people being caught up in drunkenness and lust.

• What’s more, he observed that often drunkenness and lust can cause some to behave like animals – not homosexuality and affection between consenting adults as we know it – but rather a downward spiral of bestial lust.

And that, beloved, is a careful and honest summary of what our scriptures unambiguously teach about homosexuality: it is slim pickin’ – and Jesus says nothing at all on the matter.
Yes, there are two ancient Hebrew texts and one from the New Testament that “take a negative view of homosexual activity” (Wink) but let’s not stop here, because there is more clarity to be brought to light by recalling the bigger picture, ok? For example, the Bible is filled with prohibitions of all types – not simply sexual prohibitions – but a host of forbidden activities that 21st century people no longer embrace nor consider normative. Let me offer this far from exhaustive list for your consideration:

• The ancient punishment for adultery was death by stoning. What’s more, adultery was defined as a violation of a man’s property – his wife or bride – so that men could not be convicted of adultery unless they had sexual intercourse with another man’s wife.

• Sexual intercourse during the seven days of the menstrual cycle was strictly prohibited. Polygamy, however, was practiced and encouraged – as was concubinage (women living with men to whom they were not married) and neither are explicitly condemned in the New Testament.

There are also a host of conflicting insights when it comes to incest, rape and prostitution in the Old Testament that arise mostly because women were considered to be the property of men. Prostitution, for example, was considered normal “as a safeguard to the virginity of the unmarried and the property rights of husbands.” What’s more, a man who went to a prostitute committed no sin, but the woman was labeled a whore.

You see what I’m getting at here, right? Time makes ancient truth not only uncouth, as the hymnist wrote, but also oppressive and morally offensive. If we live under the Old Covenant, St. Paul taught, then we don’t get to pick and choose: this is an all or nothing ethic and by virtue of our baptism, we have clearly chosen another path. Most of us favor the path Paul described in Philippians:

Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others…. And work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

That is, seek what is healing and holy with imagination and faithfulness to Jesus. And it is just that, dear people of God, seeking out faithfulness to Jesus with imagination that has changed my heart and mind about what the Bible really teaches about homosexuality – and here’s my take:

First, I no longer see any consistent Biblical ethic about sex in our Scriptures. I do see sexual mores conditioned by culture and context. I also see sexual practices that make sense in one world but not in another, sexual acts that are morally repugnant to me and some things that are just bewildering. But I don’t see anything that even vaguely resembles a consistent sexual ethic in the Bible.

Second, I do see an ever-evolving movement towards compassion in the Bible: Once the rule was an eye for an eye; then it became love your neighbor but stand firm against your enemy; and now we are wrestling with what it might look like to try to love our enemies and neighbors as ourselves.

And third, I sense that these two truths call for us to make a choice between a love ethic and a preference for the status quo: both the Old and the New Testaments speak of both realities, but it seems to me that we have a choice to make. Are we children of the Exodus or slavery? Do we render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and God what is God’s or do we try and serve two masters? Do we say we follow the Lord but shut out grace or do we seek compassion in all things?

I have come to cast my lot with grace and joy, compassion and liberation as well as the love ethic of the Bible. This wasn’t always the case, you know? There were two times in my life – as a young believer and later when I tried to live into a more fundamentalist spirituality – when I looked at life in black and white terms. It was the whole Bible – or the Bible in holes – the letter of the law rather than the sloppy agape of moral relativism and all the rest: it is very appealing, you know, to have all the rules and hold other people accountable?

But… I know longer see that way as bringing me closer to the Lord. I no longer see a condemnation of homosexuality as a litmus test of Biblical integrity nor do I believe that any loving same-sex relationship is an abomination. Why? Partially because my study of the Word has gone deeper as I’ve tried to summarize that for you today.

But also because there have been a few times in my life – personally and professionally – when I ached for grace and only found the judgment of God’s people. I was hungry – and wouldn’t be fed; I was alone – and was shut out of community myself – I was afraid and there was no one to comfort me.

And this changed me – it opened my heart by breaking it. So since that time, I’ve explored the road less travelled: a way that challenges the judgment system of my faith with the more tender and satisfying grace of Christ Jesus – and try always to err on the side of grace. A few years ago, I heard former UN Ambassador, Andy Young, who is a United Church of Christ minster put it something like this:

• He was talking to a gathering of the United Church in Atlanta about his early days in ministry. He was a bright and articulate young Black preacher who was angry: angry about racism, angry about poverty, angry about war and discrimination.

• And before he worked with Dr. King, he worked with the National Council of Churches in NYC. And at the National Council he came into contact with a lot of gay clergy who were still in the closet – they were afraid – and very, very careful. But they befriended Andy and told him: “Man, you have to chill – let go of some of that anger – and let it move you towards loving and hope or else it will kill you.”

• They said, “Let us take some of the heat for you in the fight for equal and civil rights because if you go up against the Man with all that anger, he will beat you black and blue.” So they did – they went to the lunch counters and the sit-ins, they went to the demonstrations and all the rest and helped Andy Young live into his dream of equal rights.

And when he was moving on to do bigger and better things, these gay clergy folk – who were still in the closet – said: Thank you for listening and thank you for letting some of your anger be transformed – and thank you, too for letting us do some of your lifting. Just, please remember: there will come a time when we’re going to need you to do some lifting for us, ok? Please, remember…

That time is today for me: so let those have ears to hear, hear.

First day back...

Today was my first day back at worship/church after being away on vacation: it was a joy. Our new music director started today - and played like a jazz angel!  Our band worked in the songs we were going to do but couldn't because of the hurricane in August - and they rocked!  Three women's voices singing a capella jazz/chant harmonies on Bobby McFerrin's "23rd Psalm" setting was heavenly. 

We even had a chance at some blues/gospel improvisation for "Soon and Very Soon" as well as some beautiful traditional organ hymns, too. It was profoundly moving for me to be back in communion with my people: I used to think that was a paternalistic expression, but now I affirm it as a part of the tender connection shared between pastor and the congregation - mostly because it rings true. I have come to love them more and more.

+ Today we dedicated our teaching ministry to God's care this morning - and started a new year of Sunday School. It was a delight to see our children gathered after a summer a part.

+ A young couple celebrated their one year anniversary with us today, too.  I was blessed to officiate their ceremony last autumn and they came back to mark the day by joining us for worship.

+ Next week the new choir begins a season of bringing beauty to worship - and the band regroups, too.

+ I received email updates today from our two young seminarians - one beginning her third year and the other his first - and in their very different ways, they are signs of hope and integrity as they move into their own unique ministries.  I look to visit them both as the fall ripens.

+ And we'll consider and discuss the simple but moving Open and Affirming statement crafted for our congregation after worship next Sunday.  (NOTE: my message will be part biblical reflection and part personal testimonial concerning the way the Holy Spirit has helped changed my heart and mind on this matter.  As St. Paul once wrote:  when I was a child I thought as a child... but now that I have grown I have put childish things away.) I look forward to this small but loving step towards greater compassion and hospitality.

So, as the day closes, I found myself reading a brief reflection by Eugene Peterson.  He says that "in every visit, in every church meeting I attend, every appointment I keep, I have been anticipated. The risen Christ got there ahead of me. The risen Christ is in that room already. What is he doing? What is he saying?  What is going on?"

Peterson closes his encouragement for pastors to regularly remind themselves that Christ has already entered a room, a home, a meeting before us with this:

We are always coming in on something that is already going on. Sometimes we clarify a word or feeling, sometimes we identify an overlooked relationship, sometimes we help recover an essential piece of memory - but always we are dealing with what the risen Christ has already set in motion and brought into being.  Remember: the angel spoke to the women at the tomb: "There is nothing for you to fear here. I know you are look for for Jesus, the One they nailed to the cross, but he is not here."

There is always stupid shit at church that can be a hassle - and this congregation is no different in that respect - and the stupid shit is always a drag.  But blessings abound... and tonight I am grateful.

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…

Inspector Gamache saves the day...

Do you know the Inspector Armand Gamache murder mystery series set in the Eastern Townships of Quebec?  They are a TON of fun, for those of you who like that stuff, and sweet popular culture character studies, too.  My sweetie turned me on to them - she discovered them two years ago in anticipation of a trip to Montreal - and I've been reading them during our travels. (Check out Louise Penny's website @ http://www.louisepenny.com/)

There are three things that really grab my attention:

+ First, author Louise Penny is good at what she does: she can tell a story, make you care about her characters and knows how to share insights about Quebec, art and psychology in ways that are engaging and informative.  This isn't graduate level study, mind you; but her writing is fun and insightful - and at the end of a long day there is something to be said for good writing that doesn't exhaust a soul, yes?  I think of it like watching "Inspector Morse" or "Inspector Lewis" on PBS Mystery.  Not as gritty or gut wrenching as "Prime Suspect" but well beyond "Miss Marple," too.

+ Second, the characters in the Three Pines series are complex - and grow more nuanced as the stories unfold.  I am fascinated at the way the artist couple in this series both love and hate one an other's professional success. I have been intrigued by the way the Francophone and Anglophone citizens are shown caring for and challenging one another on a variety of levels, too. Penny includes tough speaking old drunks who are never romanticized, gay characters who are not stereotypical "lovable" side kicks and inter-office rivalries that smack of real life.

+ And third, these are humble stories about humble people. I find I don't have much interest in the grand intrigue of Dan Brown's hyperbole. And I'm not much for the "been there, done that" cookie cutter airport novels of John Grisham et al. In every year, there are serious works of fiction to be explored as well as important theological insights and nonfiction essays.  So, when I want to relax, I don't want bullshit - or poor writing - or thrillers that work too hard at keeping my attention. I don't want the pablum of Jan Karon's platitudes either but find my mind isn't always up to Dostoevsky or Joan Didion at the end of a hard day. 

So... I am grateful to find something fun and engaging and good.  Thank you, Louise Penny. (NOTE:  as you must know, I am in LOVE with Quebec, so that has to be figured into all of this, too, ok?  Nevertheless, they are great fun.)

(Arcade Fire - one of the GREAT Montreal bands...)

I believe evil grows from a lack of imagination...redux

Poet Linda Pastan...

I have always believed that the act of reading a poem could change a person—could exercise his or her imagination as if it were like any other muscle—even the job of understanding a metaphor can be work. Since evil, I believe, grows from a lack of imagination (do lawmakers cutting poverty programs know what it feels like to be hungry?) poetry can become political in the most basic sense.

One of the many signs of spiritual death in the contemporary North American realm  is our collective loss of imagination.  We have become such a "bottom line" people - just the facts, ma'am - and all the other market metaphors for human interaction that speak of people unable and unwilling to slow down long enough to listen, watch and feel - let alone love.  25 years ago we began to abandon the arts in our public schools because they were too costly - and now we are trying to abandon public education.  We view creativity outside of the market place as both incidental to living and a waste of public resources only to wonder why children act like zombies and adults like robots.

A few years back the artist and theologian, Mako Fujimura, put it like this in an essay concerning the birth of Christ:

What a strange beginning to what many have called “The Greatest Story Ever Told.” A teenage girl engaged to a carpenter gets pregnant. She claims that an Angel appeared to her to say that she would have a virgin birth. Her fiancé is hesitant to believe her. They cannot make it back home when she is ready to give birth, and they cannot find an Inn in which to stay. So she gives birth in a stable.

The people who come to visit are not the in-laws or other family members, but shepherds—the most humble people of the time, like today’s garbage collectors. A few weeks later, Magicians from the East come with their gifts. They are fortune tellers, not religious leaders, and the stars are their scriptures.

The themes of the Greatest Story are not of power, wealth, and worldly notions of success; it is rather the story of people in the margins, people under suspicion, people who have been humbled—people like artists. When I meet someone on a plane and I tell them I am an artist, I almost always have to go into “explaining mode” to answer the same common questions: “What kind of art do you make?” “Why do you do it?” “Can you make a living?”

If I said I was an electrical engineer, explaining would not be necessary. But tell people, particularly Christians, that I am an artist and I am immediately regarded with suspicion and thoughtless dismissal: “You don’t paint nudes, do you?” “I don’t understand modern art.” “You make that weird stuff that my kids could paint and then call it ‘art,’ don’t you?” No wonder artist types sit in the back of the church and leave as soon as the music ends, if they come to church at all. Church is for successful people, for respectable folks with real jobs.

He closes his essay with a call for more of us in the church to not only embrace the way of mystery, but to do so with imagination:

A journey with Jesus is more like being an artist than working a predictable 9-to-5 job. It’s unpredictable, risky, and often strange. It’s an adventure for which you need faith. You don’t need to be a “respectable Christian” to walk with Jesus: in fact, it’s best if you are not. You’ll be better able to wrestle with the deeper realities of your journey, to confront your brokenness. You’ll be able to let your life’s experience become the materials for your craft, articulating that deep mystery within you rather than trying to explain it away.

The church needs artists, because, like Jesus, they ask questions that are at the same time enigmatic and clear, encouraging and challenging. But, unlike Jesus, they are far from perfect. And that’s okay because none of Jesus closest followers were respectable, well put-together people either. Jesus still gave them “authority” because they were chosen, broken creatures in need of a Savior who learned of their dependence on God. He gave them “author-rity” to write the story of the Kingdom and the mystery of redemption. He made them into artists.

We are all chosen, broken creatures and Jesus has made us all into artists, whether we use a brush or simply ride on a garbage truck. Our stories are living stories of the Kingdom that we write every day. Infused with the mystery of the Great Artist’s spirit, our stories can become a wide open adventure—part of the Greatest Story Ever Told.

As I watch the US Presidential candidates "debate" via Canadian TV I see what our collective loss of imagination and soul looks like in a very ugly way:  we have become a people of faith speaking harsh words filled with evil and that we think sound clever. But they wound and denigrate and confusion in a mean-spirited way.

And so I come back to the way Jesus put it?  "What does it profit a man (or woman) to gain the whole world but lose his soul?"  Our economy has been upended by greed, our education system has been dismantled from within and the moral content of our souls has been infected with the values of the market place.  We no longer even think about goodness, truth or beauty and spend most of our days in either busyness or distractions. 

I think the poet is speaking truth to power here: evil is alive and well - that is a simple theological fact in our broken world - but it is being encouraged at the highest level when we cultivate a lack of imagination.

A quest for truth, goodness and beauty...



Our sojourn into Quebecois Montreal has been part of our annual summer retreat for renewal:  it is one of the ways we both live into the quest for truth, goodness and beauty. It is a calling to discern the sacred within the secular - it is incarnational theology at its most ordinary - and most profound,too.  And as the artist, Makoto Fujimura, recently reflected on the 10th anniversary of September 11th, the search for the transcendent beauty of God's presence within the pain and horror of life as we know it is one of the ways people of faith can join God in the redemption of a broken world.

So here are a variety of my favorite vacation photographs coupled with random quotes about beauty.  They are, to be sure, just a hint of the blessing we experience.  But as Joan Chittister once observed, a mystic is the one who can see the eagle within the egg, yes? Most of these pix come from Dianne's incredible eye as we walked the city and include subway stops, markets and whatever else grabbed her heart and attention.  A few come from my observations but mostly from the pro...

Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old:  Franz Kafka

As we grow old, the beauty steals inward: Ralph Waldo Emerson

Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul: John Muir

Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it: Confucius

People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within. The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen: Elizabeth Kubler Ross

Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not. To the attentive eye, each moment of the year has its own beauty, and in the same field, it beholds, every hour, a picture which was never seen before, and which shall never be seen again: Ralph Waldo Emerson

Theologically, the whole of earth is “Ground Zero.” We live in the fallen world in which every good, true, and beautiful reality is quickly idolized to something selfish, greedy and destructive. Christians believe that Christ came to redeem this path to self-destruction by taking on all of our “pride of the flesh” on the Cross.“Ground Zero,” in Christ, can also mean a cancellation point, a new beginning where we can stand on the ashes of the Wasteland we see and still seek renewal and “genesis moments.”  Mako Fujimura 

So look, but you wont see it
Listen, and you wont hear it
Reach out, and you wont hold it
You cant know it, but you can free it
You cant name it, but could feel it
I've been waiting for the lies to end
Holding for the bad to go
I've been hanging for the ugliness to change
Waiting for a world too true
Holding for a world too good
Hanging for a world too beautiful... (The Cure)

Dostoyevsky once let drop the enigmatic phrase: “Beauty will save the world.” What does this mean? For a long time it used to seem to me that this was a mere phrase. Just how could such a thing be possible? When had it ever happened in the bloodthirsty course of history that beauty had saved anyone from anything? Beauty had provided embellishment certainly, given uplift—but whom had it ever saved?

However, there is a special quality in the essence of beauty, a special quality in the status of art: the conviction carried by a genuine work of art is absolutely indisputable and tames even the strongly opposed heart. One can construct a political speech, an assertive journalistic polemic, a program for organizing society, a philosophical system, so that in appearance it is smooth, well structured, and yet it is built upon a mistake, a lie; and the hidden element, the distortion, will not immediately become visible. And a speech, or a journalistic essay, or a program in rebuttal, or a different philosophical structure can be counterposed to the first—and it will seem just as well constructed and as smooth, and everything will seem to fit. And therefore one has faith in them—yet one has no faith.

It is vain to affirm that which the heart does not confirm. In contrast, a work of art bears within itself its own confirmation: concepts which are manufactured out of whole cloth or overstrained will not stand up to being tested in images, will somehow fall apart and turn out to be sickly and pallid and convincing to no one. Works steeped in truth and presenting it to us vividly alive will take hold of us, will attract us to themselves with great power- and no one, ever, even in a later age, will presume to negate them.

And so perhaps that old trinity of Truth and Good and Beauty is not just the formal outworn formula it used to seem to us during our heady, materialistic youth. If the crests of these three trees join together, as the investigators and explorers used to affirm, and if the too obvious, too straight branches of Truth and Good are crushed or amputated and cannot reach the light—yet perhaps the whimsical, unpredictable, unexpected branches of Beauty will make their way through and soar up to that very place and in this way perform the work of all three. 

And in that case it was not a slip of the tongue for Dostoyevsky to say that “Beauty will save the world,” but a prophecy. After all, he was given the gift of seeing much, he was extraordinarily illumined.  And consequently perhaps art, literature, can in actual fact help the world of today:  Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn