Repentance as Challenging the Status Quo

The blessed season of Passover will come to pass this weekend for our Jewish sisters and brothers - and as the Christian community wrestles with Eastertide I am drawn to a consideration of what are the marks of true discipleship in the 21st century?

There is a story the mystics of Islam – the Sufis – like to tell about a group of believers “whose hearts were set on pilgrimage.” No matter what their spiritual elder told them, these folk were certain that they would experience a change of heart by visiting the sacred places of tradition. So as they were preparing to leave, their sage told them to “take this bitter gourd along with you. Make sure you dip it into the holy rivers and bring it into all the holy shrines.” When they returned, the bitter gourd was cooked and served to the pilgrims. “Strange,” the elder said slyly after they had all tasted it, “the holy water and the shrines have failed to sweeten it.”

“All the prayer in the world,” Joan Chittister writes, “is fruitless and futile if it does not translate into a life of human community made richer and sweeter by a change of heart.” It would seem that both prayer and community – the inward and outward life of the spirit – are necessary for an authentic spiritual life and we may not neglect either. (Chittister, The Rule of Benedict, p. 127) It has something to do with the “Word becoming Flesh” and not abstract. No wonder the gospel of Mark tells us that when Jesus began his public ministry after his baptism, he said: “The time is up! God’s kingdom is here. Change the direction of your life and trust the Message.”

And that commitment to repentance as a way of life – that disciplined choice to challenge the status quo within and among ourselves as well as in our society – is what I want to talk about with you this morning. I’m going to call it the first mark of discipleship, not in a hierarchical way, but simply to claim a starting point so that we might organize our thinking about living as disciples of Christ. You see, the whole point of the spiritual life is to nourish sweetness and strengthen within so that we can share it beyond ourselves and bring hope and healing to a broken world.

That’s what the gospel for today suggests in Mark 1: 9-14 – and if you remembered to bring you Bibles or want to use the pew Bible – you can follow along with me in the story of our Lord’s baptism and preaching ministry. And let me just add before we really get going that the reason I am urging you to bring your Bibles to church – and use them with me – is not to turn you into a bunch of Bible-thumpers. We’ve already got too many of those sisters and brothers throughout the world. No, what I want you to do is both become familiar with the essential scriptures concerning discipleship, and, have a visual learning tool to work with, ok?

Let’s start with the story of Christ’s baptism in Mark 1. First, it tells us that the Lord’s baptism came only after Jesus was trained and encouraged by John the Baptist. John was a Jewish holy man like Elijah and Elisha (I Kings 17/II Kings 13). And holy men in this tradition were given visions by the Lord and practiced a type of mysticism that helped them find God’s presence in ordinary experience. They were simultaneously prophetic and practical; that is they both spoke about love and justice and helped everyday people find physical and spiritual healing in their lives. So let’s be clear: the ministry of Jesus did not falleth from out the sky without a context nor did it pop up into first century Palestine without roots. And the scripture tries to help us understand this by the very placement of today’s story: Jesus begins his ministry only after we hear from John the Baptist, right?

And what does the Baptist tell us? Another is coming who will be a greater holy man than himself. (vs. 7) This holy man of Israel will be called God’s beloved. (Vs. 11) And Jesus’ ministry will start where John’s left off as he shows us what God’s kingdom and repentance look like. (vs. 15) John spoke and taught about repentance – and so does Jesus. John made it clear that repentance is about changing the direction of our lives so that they reflect and embrace the kingdom of God – and so does Jesus. And John lived as a practical and prophetic holy man in Israel – and so does Jesus. What I am trying to say is that choosing to challenge the status quo within and among us is less about feeling badly – which is how some understand repentance – and more about changing the direction of our lives so that they reflect God’s kingdom.

Now I want to share with you three examples from scripture of what it looks like and means to choose to challenge the status quo with the values of God’s kingdom. I want to consider a public, a personal and a spiritual insight as we go deeper into wrestling with repentance, ok? A good example of changing direction in public can be found in the story of Zacchaeus in Luke 19: do you know that story? Now the scripture tells us that Zacchaeus was the chief toll collector in the region who had become very, very rich by this work which means that to most people – who were poverty stricken – he would have been “stereotyped as a greedy, dishonest” collaborator with Rome with no local credibility.

Jesus turns this stereotype on its head by breaking bread with Zacchaeus, doesn’t he? Here is a Jewish holy man sharing table fellowship with a public sinner – what does it say in Luke 19: 7? The very example of Jesus points to one of the truths about challenging the status quo: stereotypes and first impressions – even a person’s social history – are not the whole story and living only on such surface knowledge is often ugly and mean spirited.

So Jesus challenges the social status quo and eats with this so-called sinner – and what happens? We don’t really know, do we? The story doesn’t tell us what took place at dinner. We can guess – Jesus talked with Zack about how it felt to be so hated and lonely and asked him why he thought he was so isolated – I suspect that as a good rabbi Jesus also taught Zack about compassion and justice and suggested ways to reconnect with the wider community. But we don’t really know: all we can say for certain is that when the supper was done, what does Zacchaeus tell the crowd in verse 8? He will give away half of his possessions to care for the poor – and – if he has hurt anyone in a financial deal he will pay him back four fold.

The story ends with Jesus proclaiming that Zacchaeus has been healed – he is now truly a son of Abraham – an authentic member of the tribe who should be welcomed back into community for now true kingdom living is taking place. Repentance in public, it would seem, is all about justice and compassion – restoring right relations – and strengthening the public good.

What do you think about this way of challenging the status quo? It reminds me of Bill Gates and his father William Henry Gates. Young Bill is quick to remind us that it was his father and wife who helped him see the light and create the Gates Foundation. Left to himself he would have kept all that money – but his father, a strong and active Methodist layman and his wife, an authentic woman of justice – convinced him that justice and compassion could be better served by sharing than hording – and now $38 billion is endowed for acts of healing and hope throughout the world. What’s more, the encouragement of Poppa Gates has helped push Warren Buffet into the mix who has anted up another nearly $3 billion to the kitty.

So challenging the status quo with kingdom values has a public face; it also has a private one: do you know the story of the woman at the well in John 4? There are three key insights that happen in this story. The first is what we are told about the woman: she is a Samaritan – which makes her an outcast to the Jews – she is at the well at 12 noon – the hottest time of day which means she is an outcast to her own community – and she is a woman – which makes her an outcast for a Jewish holy man.

Let’s talk about each of these: Why was a Samaritan an outcast to a Jew? Historically, the Samaritans were thought to have emerged from the poor and lower classes of Israel who inter-married with non Jews after Assyria carted into exile the best and the brightest in 721 BCE. When the Jews return to Israel in 531 BCE they found people of mixed race and theology claiming to be God’s chosen. These so-called “mongrels” were eventually pushed out of Jerusalem, shunned and relegated to and the margins. So first there is racial and religious antagonism taking place here.

What does the fact that this woman was at the well at 12 noon tell us? Well, apparently she wasn’t allowed to go to the well with the other women at the break of morning when it was cooler. The story says she was there all by herself because she is being shunned at the hottest moment of the day. Scholars tell us this has to do with her promiscuity so there is a moral reality taking place, too.

And we know that a woman could render a Jewish man ritually unclean and impure – especially a woman who was a stranger to him – yes? But once again if you follow the rhythm and movement of the story you can sense how challenging the status quo creates a safe place for personal repentance. Jesus greets this outcast – treats her like a real person. He speaks to her of deep things and doesn’t patronize or marginalize her. And when she feels safe, he invites her to get her life in order. It is a beautiful and gentle story of how hospitality paves the way for moral change – and I would almost like to say that radical hospitality is the necessary pre-condition for repentance.

And please pay careful attention to what Jesus asks of her: not to quit sleeping around or go to confession; Jesus simply speaks the truth to her in love after already welcoming her as a full person of integrity. He recognized her wound, spoke truth to her in loved and then invited her to change direction. And this woman was so overcome that all she could do was talk about the goodness of God to those who had once cast her away. This is another healing story – a moral healing, a community healing and a healing of integrity – that is a delight to behold. Does that make sense?

Repentance has precious little to do with lecturing or shaming people – telling them what we dislike about their words, ideas or deeds – for that is self-righteousness – and self-righteousness is always empty and hurtful. Rather, true righteousness born of repentance is much more about challenging the status quo that categorizes people – that is extending radical hospitality beyond race, class and gender – so that the wounded can taste God’s grace and then share what has nourished them. You can’t give what you don’t have…

So, there is public and there is personal repentance. There is also spiritual repentance – and for this let’s look at the words of another Jewish holy man: the prophet Micah in 6: 8. Here is one of the key Bible verses for understanding the spiritual, prophetic and practical roots of repentance: what does the Lord require but to do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with your God.

In Hebrew that is mishpat – justice – restoring dignity, hope and integrity to the wounded and forgotten. It is all about right relations between people in the community. It is also loving kindness –or sharing mercy as some translations put it – which in Hebrew is hesed – or more accurately compassion – which is living in solidarity with those who are hurting so that they never feel alone. And there is walk humbly with the Lord – in Hebrew tsana – which might be described as modesty or the awareness that we don’t really understand all that much about God.
In terms of a spirituality of repentance – the real life practice of challenging the status quo with the values and habits of God’s kingdom – we discover that it has its roots in righting wrongs with compassion and clarity, welcoming and embracing the outsider tenderly all the while being aware that we might not know the whole story – or at the very least trusting that there is still more to be revealed in God’s justice, compassion and humility.

This is a repentance that heals the world – tikun olam in the Hebrew holy man tradition of Micah and Jesus – it joins with God in restoring dignity and health to the broken: It lives and breathes the Biblical truth that human unity is not something we are called to create, only to recognize. And it celebrates and honors the life altering nature of changing directions and challenging the status quo.

Old William Sloan Coffin at Riverside Church in NYC used to say about this type of repentance:

Most churches get nervous when you start talking about a repentance that can change the world because most church boats don’t like to be rocked; they prefer to lie at anchor rather than go places in the stormy seas. But that’s because we Christians view the Church as the object of or our love instead of the subject and instrument of God’s. Faith cannot be passive; it has to go forth – to assault the conscience and excite the imagination. Faith fans the flames of creativity altogether as much as it banks the fires of sins… so let’s go! Let’s let faith and real repentance kick us in the pants lest we domesticate God’s word so much that we… evade the big problems by becoming mesmerized by the little ones.

Jesus was clear: times up! If you are going to follow me… you have to change direction and challenge the status quo with the Kingdom of God.

(For a kick, check out Tracy Chapman's musical version of this sermon: Change)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lLqeL-1WNk&feature=related

Choosing to Challenge the Status Quo

We know that the book of Acts is, in some important ways, a critical foundation for Christian history. Eugene Peterson writes, “Because the story of Jesus is so impressive – God among us and speaking a language we can understand, God within us healing and helping and saving us – there is always the danger that we will be impressed but only be impressed with the love of God in Christ… we could easily become enthusiastic spectators – admirers of Jesus… instead of disciples.” So Acts speaks to us of discipleship. (Eugene Peterson, The Message) Clarence Jordan makes the point that the Acts of the Apostles is really part two of the gospel of Luke: the miracle that began in Mary’s body by faith and the Holy Spirit is born again into the world only this time it is through the flesh of the young church. “You will note a very close similarity between these two biographies,” Jordan writes.

Both give birth narratives: in the first volume, Mary is his mother. In the second volume, the Church takes the place of Mary so that God implants the Holy Spirit into the Church to bring forth a new kind of Son of God on the face of the earth… So the book of Acts is going to tells us all about Jesus who has been raised from the dead, who is alive and still up to his old works, but now he’s not working through one body – Jesus of Nazareth – now he’s working through many bodies – his Church – which we call the Body of Christ. (Jordan, The Substance of Faith)

But in addition to these truths, the Acts of the Apostles is also a fascinating example of first century spin control for the early believers had to make peace with a brutal occupation army from Rome: using the loftiest terms possible, Acts describes the birth of the Jesus Movement as if it were a combination of the dawning of the Age of Aquarius, Christmas morning and the movie, “Godspell” all rolled into one.

All the believers lived in a wonderful harmony, holding everything in common. They sold whatever they owned and pooled their resources so that each person's need was met… and their numbers grew daily.

OH COME ON: we’ve read St. Paul – those early Christians were just as cranky, ornery, afraid and confused as… you and me, right? We’ve read other parts of the Bible, too: think of the fights that took place between James and Paul - or James and Peter - or the zealot disciples and the tax collectors! Do you recall the story of Ananias and Sapphira? It’s a great one for Stewardship Sunday – it comes from Acts 5 and tells what happened when two of those early pillars of the church decided NOT to throw all their resources into the common kitty and hold everything in common.

But a man named Ananias—his wife, Sapphira, conniving in this with him—sold a piece of land, secretly kept part of the price for himself, and then brought the rest to the apostles and made an offering of it. Peter said, "Ananias, how did Satan get you to lie to the Holy Spirit and secretly keep back part of the price of the field? Before you sold it, it was all yours, and after you sold it, the money was yours to do with as you wished. So what got into you to pull a trick like this? You didn't lie to men but to God." Ananias, when he heard those words, fell down dead. That put the fear of God into everyone who heard of it. The younger men went right to work and wrapped him up, then carried him out and buried him. Not more than three hours later, his wife, knowing nothing of what had happened, came in. Peter said, "Tell me, were you given this price for your field?" "Yes," she said, "that price." Peter responded, "What's going on here that you connived to conspire against the Spirit of the Master? The men who buried your husband are at the door, and you're next." No sooner were the words out of his mouth than she also fell down, dead. When the young men returned they found her body. They carried her out and buried her beside her husband. By this time the whole church and, in fact, everyone who heard of these things had a healthy respect for God. They knew God was not to be trifled with! Acts 5 (The Message)

So what’s going on just below the surface of this morning’s lesson? What is the point of telling us that all the believers were together living into the teaching of the apostles, the breaking of the bread and prayer? What is the Bible trying to teach us? The obvious answer, of course, has to do with the teaching of the apostles, the breaking and sharing of the bread and the cultivation of an inner spiritual life: these are marks of what it means to be Christian people of faith. But that presupposes that modern people know what the apostles’ teachings are… to say nothing of what it means to break the bread of Christ together and deepen our spiritual lives in prayer.

And there is empirical evidence, my friends, that American Christians of every stripe and hew – in every age group and denomination – really don’t know what it means to practice authentic Christianity in this generation. In their ground-breaking National Study of Youth and Religion funded by the Lilly Endowment… sociologists Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton of the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill) document that teenagers overwhelmingly admire their parents as the single greatest influence in their lives, and gladly imitate their religious beliefs. Further, their study showed that teenagers actually like church. The conventional wisdom of teenage alienation from parents and hostility toward religion is an entrenched but erroneous stereotype, they argue. (Dan Clendenin, Apostolic Devotion, Journey to Jesus, 4/11/05)

That’s the good news – but there is also bad news for when these same sociologists asked these same teenagers to describe the particulars of their religious faith: they were "incredibly inarticulate" about even the most basic tenets of their beliefs and practices. Rather, the vast majority of kids were abysmally ignorant of the religion they espoused… For example, one 15-year-old who attends church four or five times a week, said this when asked to articulate her faith: [Pause] I don't really know how to answer that. ['Are there any beliefs at all that are important to you? Really generally.'] [Pause] I don't know. ['Take your time if you want.'] I think that you should just, if you're gonna do something wrong then you should always ask for forgiveness and he's gonna forgive you no matter what, cause he gave up his only Son to take all the sins for you, so...

From their scientific survey of 3,290 teenagers (ages 13-17) and parents – and 267 personal interviews conducted across four years (2001–2005) – Smith and Denton conclude that most "Christian" kids really operate with a vague sort of Moral Therapeutic Deism: be nice, don't do bad, for a remote deity wants you to be happy and feel good about yourself. In other words, says Smith, "we can say here that we have come with some confidence to believe that a significant part of 'Christianity' in the U.S. is actually only tenuously Christian in any sense that is seriously connected to the actual historical Christian tradition.

http://www.journeywithjesus.net/BookNotes/Smith_and_Denton_Soul_Searching.shtml

And… this “epidemic of ignorance” has its roots… where? With mom and dad and extended families and congregations all across American that no longer really know what it means to be a disciple of Christ anymore. Now some people want to ascribe blame – and spend a lot of time and energy pointing fingers at straw men and women – but the simple truth is the genie is already out of the bottle. The PCBs are already in the river – and we can’t go backwards, right? So rather than make a lot of noise, I think we need to embrace what the old German mystic, Miester Eckhart said: reality is the will of God – it can always be better – but we must start with what is real.

And what is real in 21st century America is that fewer and fewer folk in our churches and families know what it means to follow the teachings of the apostle, almost all of us are confused about what communion is all about and many of us don’t really know how to pray. And I say this not to blame or point fingers or waste your time: it is just a simple fact, Jack which means that part of our work and ministry together is to reclaim what has been forgotten or lost or even discarded so that we train disciples of Christ rather than mere admirers.

Take the statement: the teaching of the apostles – what does that really mean – any ideas? At its heart, the teachings of the Apostles has to do with knowledge of the Bible – but not as a collection of factoids or as a series of random moral pronouncements: to follow the teaching of the apostles as articulated in the Scriptures means cultivating a life that makes Jesus visible in our generation.

St. Paul put it like this in Romans 12: So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what God wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. I'm speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it's important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what God does for us, not by what we are and what we do for the Lord.

Are you with me on this? The teaching and lifestyle of the apostles has to do with disciple-making – bringing the heart of Christ into our ordinary lives – because disciples are made not born. Do you know that? Another way of saying it is that the Church is always just one generation away from extinction because you can’t inherit faith – you have to choose it.

The sociologists I mentioned earlier said that without training and practicing the Jesus life it should come as no surprise: That our profound ignorance about Christian specifics results in life-styles that are barely distinguishable from those of non-believing people. Social-scientific surveys document that evangelical Christians divorce as often as the general population, if not more. When a Gallup poll asked people if they would object if a black neighbor moved in next door, fundamentalists and Southern Baptists gave the most racist responses. Physical and sexual abuse in conservative Christian homes mirrors that of the general population. (Smith/Denton in Clendenin, op. cit.)

So what does it look like to be committed to the teaching of the apostles? Minds greater than mine have suggested that there are 6 key elements:

1. Repentance
2. The study and application of Scripture
3. Fellowship – Koinonia
4. Holy Communion/feeding those in need
5. Bringing joy, beauty and hope to the world
6. And prayer – cultivating and interior life

One scholar put it like this: “It began to dawn on those first disciples in the early days of the Church, and it should dawn on all of us who stand on their shoulders, that "apostolic devotion” to Jesus entailed a commitment to a holistic way of living and thinking, what today we might call faith and practice, or in fancier parlance the development of a distinctively and comprehensive Christian world view…. a Christian style of living that prizes intellectual vibrancy, economic generosity, and communal caring does not happen casually or automatically. It requires intentionality, effort, and choice, or what the apostle Paul called "working out your salvation" (Philippians 2:12).” (Clendenin)

The time has come for us to really start going deeper – to develop a distinctively and comprehensive Christian world view for this generations – so that we can claim the mission of First Church clearly and live into it boldly as spiritually alive disciples of Christ. Jesus put it like this in this morning’s gospel lesson: “Let me set this before you as plainly as I can… I have come so you can have real and eternal life, more and better life than you ever dreamed of.” So for the next four weeks – during worship and afterwards – I’m going to talk with you about the six marks of the Jesus Movement:

+ Choosing to challenge the status quo
+ Making the Bible real for our generation
+ Embracing the horizontal commitments of Christian community
+ Celebrating the presence of Jesus in Holy Communion

+ Sharing joy, beauty and hope – creativity/compassion and commitment – in the world
+ Nourishing the inner life

And let me be clear about why a distinctively and comprehensive Christian world view matters: when I was in Tucson we hired a music director – a talented, fun and creative man – who unbeknownst to us at the time was beginning to experience the early onset of Alzheimer’s disease. It was slow in its development but it was troublesome and most of us believed that he was just an “airhead and a flake.” It was exasperating to work with him but we loved him and wanted the best. After about 5 years of this crazy making, however, it got to the point where there was no short term memory and he was unable to do his job.

So I met with him and after carefully and tenderly discussing the problem told him that as a condition of continued employment with us he needed to see a specialist – and because I knew he had no health insurance I added that the congregation was committed to carrying the cost of this examine and most likely treatment. He burst into tears: this big bear of a gay man – who was all by himself – wrapped his arms around me and wept like a baby because he was terrified. He knew full well that things weren’t going well, he understood that something was wrong and he had nobody to turn to for help. (NOTE: some of the hard nosed business types wanted to fire his ass - the "sloppy agape" types wanted us to just carry him and let others pick up the slack - none of which was fair to our friend or the Body of Christ. What we needed was a way of being creative and compassionate as well as accountable.)

So… we worked with him – kept him as our music director for another 2 years, got him treatment and help - and found ways to grow together. And when he was no longer able to do his job we also made arrangements for his long term care and then celebrated his ministry as a gift from God – not just for his music which was brilliant - but also because he gave us the chance to become our best selves as the body of Christ and we found a way to become people of compassion, creativity and commitment.

When a congregation puts on the full mind of Christ and lives as Jesus to the world, others notice. Healing starts to spread – and joy and hope begins to replace fear and doubt. That is the promise I believe God is offering to us: Let’s pray together in song:

Jesus, Jesus, let me tell you what I know,
You have given us your Spirit, we love you.

Things I Never Learned in Seminary

NOTE: A few weeks ago, one of my favorite professors in the doctoral program at San Francisco Theological Seminary, Gregory Love, asked me to put some thoughts together for this year's graduating seminarians. The subject: what's the real deal in ministry and what did I need to know that I had to figure out on my own. What follows are some of my reflections. Thanks, Greg!

I went to seminary in the late 70s and took my first church shortly before I turned 30; I was married, had two young daughters, had organized for the farm workers and worked retail: all of these things were important and helpful to me. I went to Union Theological Seminary in NYC and loved the intellectual climate: I studied with Cornell West, James Washington, Dorothee Soelle, James Forbes and James Cone. Ray Brown was there as were a host of other great folk – and I was Senior Class co-chair – so I was totally involved. I was awarded the Maxwell Fellowship for Pastoral Ministry Excellence, too, and worked in churches all three years of seminary. That said, when I got out of school, I didn’t really know how to be a minister.

It may sound foolish, but the first thing I did after leaving seminary was to REALLY learn the scriptures. I learned exegesis at Union in NYC – and I was grateful for the tools – only to discover that I didn’t really know the Bible. And that totally pissed me off for the first 5 years; so I read and studied and memorized lots and lots of scripture. If you are going into the local church, I can’t emphasize learning scripture enough.

Second, I needed to learn a spiritual discipline for myself: you can’t give what you don’t have, right? And so I read lots of books on prayer – Richard Foster’s spiritual disciplines book was good, Dallas Willard, too along with Kathleen Norris, Howard Thurman, Henri Nouwen, Edward Hays, Frederick Beuchner and Walter Breuggemann – and I explored spiritual direction and personal retreats. I eventually found having a spiritual director was essential to keep me honest, on track and in touch with my shadow. Thomas Keating’s work on centering prayer was very important to me for a long time; and I also worked with an ecumenical group dedicated to the spirituality of Charles de Foucauld. And beyond a doubt: learning the rhythm of Taize worship, music and silence helped me stay grounded. A personal prayer life with accountability is a God send.

Knowing how to conduct a wedding rehearsal was vital – so if you haven’t practiced and gone through this with a pro, you should. Same with funerals and memorial services; I had never seen a dead body until my internship so…. Having prayer books and manuals is good, but working with someone who can walk you through these life-cycle events is really valuable. I also realized that in the Reformed tradition I knew nothing about what is called “liturgics” in some traditions – the beauty, mechanics and art – of worship. So often we low church folk butcher holy communion and have no sense of grace or poetry; so there are some good manuals that I practiced with – even using a mirror to get the hand positions right – and I went to lots of Anglican worship, too, to get a feel. Then I made it my own but this will make such a difference to a congregation if the pastor is artful, yes?

Ok, knowing how to talk to others about your call – and the ways God has been at work in your life – in other words, your testimony – is vital. Maybe that isn’t an issue with you guys, but we overly intellectual types at Union couldn’t share an honest testimony if it bit us in the ass – so I had to learn – and people in my church have benefited from my comfort. Indeed, it has given them permission to learn how to talk about their faith, too. Closely related to this, in an odd way, was learning that my relationships at church were public relationships – neither friends nor therapy – and when those lines get mixed there is always trouble. Church based community organizing a la Alinsky really helped me on this but others know how to teach this; and it is more than boundary training/awareness. Lots of church people never get it, but don’t make your friendship circle your congregation. More positively stated, get friends outside the church: it will keep you sane.

Warren Lee at San Francisco Theological Seminary was right in telling his D. Min folk that every pastor needs to know how to talk about suffering – your class, Greg, was the BEST single class I ever took in ALL my work as M. Div. or D. Min. Without exception! And Warren hit the nail on the head when he said: you have to discover what gaps you can live with when it comes to God and human suffering. Gregg Love was also very helpful: no one way works for modern folk, but it is clear as Yancey states that the old Calvinist model no longer cuts it! So, good luck, but take the time to really work this out clearly because there is more pain and anguish out there than we can ever comprehend.

An excellent book that helped give me tools to laugh at myself and embrace both suffering and failure in my own life was A Spirituality of Imperfection; it is grounded in the 12 Step AA process and is really good. Indeed, wrestling through the first 5 steps in the AA process might be better than CPE – it sure was for me! In fact, this one book, and my work with AA folk was more important in the trenches than all the liberation theology I ever studied – and I loved my theoretical work – but we need to know that we aren’t in charge, how to let go and really, really trust God who is God! (Leonard Cohen put it like this in a wonderful song I used recently at my installation as pastor: "there is a crack, a crack in everything... its how the light gets in!" Check out this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dIv2MXU7_4

Let me share two or three other essentials: never, ever fight with your Sr. Pastor publicly – it makes you dirty and you can never win. It is rare to work with a good Senior Pastor as so many of us are so insecure; so, if you do have conflict, NEVER EVER make it public: it wounds churches and individuals and is always a mess. I learned, by making the same stupid mistakes over and over, that I couldn’t see my own blind spots: duh!?!! So find 2-3 solid, wise people who can keep confidence and check in with them every 3-4 month – especially if you are considering something risky – they will help you see what you can’t on your own and also help you strategize how to protect your backside. If you fail to do this, you’ll keep shooting yourself in the foot with your own ego.

Keep a Sabbath – and honor it – for you, God and your family. An old monk said, if you fall asleep when you pray then God is answering your prayers: you need sleep cuz you are too tired. A well rested clergyperson is a blessing – and we know the alternatives all too well. Take vacations – and study leave. We are never essential – helpful, to be sure – but churches can and will get along without us. Besides, time away keeps us all refreshed. Get good tax advice – if you don’t it will really whack you!

If you have children, give them space for your undivided time or they will resent you and the church and the Lord. I had to fight with Senior Ministers, church councils and others to go to my girls’ dances, plays, etc. but they were/are a priority – and they are both still active in the church. (Check with other clergy to see how rare this is…. I’m telling you: give them – and your loved ones – real time!)

And maybe lastly, learn to laugh at yourself: nothing is worse than a minister who thinks they know it all. I took myself waaaaaaaay too seriously for waay too long – divorce, workaholism and a potential affair had to happen and knock me on my ass before I was low enough to really trust God. And the only thing I could do with God’s grace is laugh at myself – and then work to heal relationships I had broken. But laughter – and humility – are so important and I can’t emphasize this enough

Love Dogs and Fire

Two poems continue to tug at my heart this week: call it post Lenten blues but "Love Dogs" by Rumi and "Fire" by Judy Sorum Brown speak to my heart.

One night a man was crying,

Allah! Allah!

His lips grew sweet with the praising,

until a cynic said,

"So! I have heard you

calling out, but have you ever

gotten any response?"

The man had no answer to that.

He quit praying and fell into a confused sleep.

He dreamed he saw Khidr, the guide of souls,

in a thick, green foliage.

"Why did you stop praising?"

"Because I've never heard anything back."

"This longing

you express is the return message."

The grief you cry out from

draws you toward union.

Your pure sadness

that wants help

is the secret cup.

Listen to the moan of a dog for its master.

That whining is the connection.

There are love dogs

no one knows the names of.

Give your life

to be one of them.

Oh my God: the whining is the connection... give your life to be one of the love dogs of creation. Thank God for Coleman Barks and his commitment to make Rumi real to the 21st century. Then there is the sweet "Fire" of Judy Brown...

What makes a fire burn

is space between the logs,

a breathing space.

Too much of a good thing,

too many logs

packed too tight

can douse the flames

almost as surely

as a pail of water could.

So building fires

requires attention

to the spaces in between,

as much as to the wood.

When we are able to build

open spaces

in the same way

we have learned

to pile on the logs,

then we can come to see how

it is fuel, and absence of the fuel

together, that makes the fire possible.

We only need to lay a log

lightly from time to time.

A fire

grows

simply because the space is there,

with openings

in which the flame

that knows just how it wants to burn

can find its way.

So sweet and true and hard to put into practice. If you need solace in your whining, your emptiness or your fire making, take a listen/watch to dear Glen and Marketa sharing one of the sweetest prayers to ever be recorded: "Falling Slowly." Blessings.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoSL_qayMCc

Slip Slidin' Away: Listening to the Melody of Our Lives

The older I get the more I try to laugh at myself: my gifts as well as my wounds, the blessings right alongside the anxieties and all the rest. I’m not all that good at it yet, but at least once a day I try to get over myself with a good story that makes me laugh. Not long ago, I came across one about a preacher and his young daughter; she noticed that just before he preached, her dad closed his eyes, bowed his head and was quiet for a few moments. “Why do you do that, daddy?” she asked. “Well, I’m asking God to help me preach a good sermon” he told her. And after a little thought, she asked, “Well, daddy, why doesn’t God do it?”

For me I have found that gentle, self-deprecating humor is one of the ways that God opens my eyes and that’s what I want to talk about with you this morning. Our text from Luke’s gospel says: Jesus sat down at the table with his two disciples. Taking the bread, he blessed and broke it and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened and they recognized him…then he vanished from their sight. (Luke 24: 30-31)

So let’s consider how it comes to pass that we have had our eyes opened to the Lord – how we have been awakened and illumined by Christ’s light – and learned how to be more authentic disciples. How does the song from Godspell put it? “To see thee more clearly, love thee more dearly, follow thee more nearly day by day.” That great New England story-teller and thinker, Frederick Buechner, has observed that: At its heart, most theology, like most fiction, is essentially autobiography. Aquinas, Calvin, Barth, Tillich, working out their systems in their own ways and in their own language, are telling us the stories of their lives, and if you press them far enough, even at their most cerebral and forbidding, you find an experience of flesh and blood, a human face smiling or frowning or weeping or covering its eyes before something that happened once… (so that ) I cannot talk about God or sin or grace, for example, without at the same time talking about those parts of my own experience where these ideas became compelling and real. (Listening to Your Life, pp. 79-89)

And then he writes this and I want you to listen very carefully:

You get married, a child is born or not born, in the middle of the night there is a knocking at the door, on the way home through the park you see a man feeding pigeons, all the tests come back negative and the doctor gives you back your life again: incident follows incident helter-skelter leading apparently nowhere, but then once in a while there is the suggestion of purpose, meaning, direction, the suggestion of plot, the suggestion that, however clumsily, your life is trying to tell you something, take you somewhere… and for just a moment there is the hint of a melody. (Buechner, p. 82)

Are you with me? What does that say to you about how our eyes are opened? Sometimes it is totally mysterious – mystical – pure gift, right? Beyond our control, deeper than our awareness we find… the hint of a melody. Oh man, I love those words: the hint of a melody! Not a full blown symphony, not a complete opera, just the hint of a melody… and our eyes may be opened. (That’s why we included Paul Simon’s song at the start of worship; it is all about real life and trying to discern God’s melody amidst the hard times.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuPJzzcV6jA

Well, if old Poppa Buechner is right, and I suspect that he is, most of our discovery and insight seems to happen not at church but during our ordinary, walking around earthy lives, yes? This doesn’t diminish church but reminds us of where real epiphanies and insights take place. Last summer, as Dianne and I stood in the Tate Modern Art museum in London, gazing upon the 10 larger than life painted meditations by Mark Rothko… my eyes were opened to the complexity of God’s grace. When my babies were born and I had the privilege of catching them as they moved into this realm from out of the womb… my eyes were opened. When I saw Dianne standing radiantly in all her hippie-chick finery on our wedding day… my eyes were opened with love.

When I saw Springsteen for the first time – and U2 – my eyes were opened again. Because, to use Buechner’s words, my life was telling me something… and there was the hint of a melody. Once in a bar in Tucson, Dianne and I were in dancing and sharing spirits when the sax player of the local blues band asked his young bass player to share a song – and this kid let loose with an old R n B classic by Isaac Scott called “Feast Going On” – and we both had to stopped dancing in awe because right there in the middle of that smoke filled dive… the gospel was being shared and we were in church! It was incredible! He was singing the Easter message in a bar with real conviction and commitment: “Come on everybody, there’s a feast going on… we’re drinking from the fountain that never will run dry… there’s a feast going on!” Right there – on the dance floor – shaking our booties – was the breaking of the bread… and our eyes were opened. (NOTE: I just found a copy of the very band we saw in Tucson: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pix4GYED6M4&feature=related - and just for kicks, here's the very club with our old friends The Rowdies: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ge4Fd7UTxg - I just LOVE technology!)

Biblical scholars want us to know that studying the Scriptures and Sunday School has its place – after all, during the first part of the story we are told that Jesus did what as he walked along the way with the disciples? He started at the beginning, with the books of Moses, and went on through the Prophets, pointing out everything in the Scriptures that referred to him as Messiah. (Luke 24: 27) There is an important chronology in Luke’s gospel concerning Jesus, the disciples, feasting and being opened: a) in Luke 9:18 (the story of the loaves, fish and 5,000 being fed) Jesus blesses and breaks the loaves, gave them to the disciples… and everyone was filled; b) in Luke 22: 19 (the story of the last supper) the same action takes place: Jesus blesses and breaks the loaves and shares with the disciples; and now in Luke 24: 30 the same blessing, breaking and sharing takes place. You might even say that as Jesus opened the scriptures for his friends – unpacked and interpreted God’s word – they were made ready for the later opening of their eyes at the breaking open of the bread. I know that sometimes it is only after a whole lot of time has gone by that suddenly an idea or word of Scripture makes sense to me and opens my eyes.

But these same scholars are also quick to point out that “proper understanding” – that is, right knowledge of doctrine and tradition – is not necessary to sit down at Christ’s table. These old boys didn’t have to get it or understand what was going on before Jesus broke bread with them. Table fellowship with the Lord, you see, is not based upon our wisdom, insight, social standing or ability: it comes from the heart of God who is leading us to the feast that is going on. In fact, it was only after the feast started and the bread broken that the disciples got it!

That’s one of the reasons why we proclaim Christ’s radically open table: Jesus didn’t put restrictions on who could or should come to the feast of God’s grace, so we don’t either. Anyway, when we try to come up with a guest list of those who are acceptable, more often than not we get it all wrong. I’ll never forget serving Holy Communion at my first solo gig as a pastor in urban Cleveland, Ohio. It was a great, run down old church in the inner city that I was blessed to serve for nearly 13 years. But on my first Sunday, as I shared the sacrament of bread and cup, I gave it away freely – to everyone – children and adults, members and guests.

Well, the stuff really hit the fan after worship because the tradition of that old place – which had never been discussed – was only to give communion to baptized and confirmed adults! What did I think I was doing giving the elements to children? They don’t and can’t understand what’s going on? What kind of minister was I? This is what we call a “teaching moment” in the church – what others call “conflict” can become a chance to have our eyes opened if you can let go of your anxiety and insecurity long enough.

So we explored what communion meant in scripture and tradition – understanding and appreciating that there are a variety of totally acceptable ways to share the bread and cup with one another that are simultaneously different but equally viable – and we all had our eyes opened a little about the Lord’s Supper. But, being the good Germans that they were – and loving rules and order almost as much as the Gospel – they insisted that only baptized folk be allowed at the table. Applying Popeye’s principle that “sometimes youse wins and sometimes youse loose” we split the difference in order to welcome children to the table. And then the funniest, most ironic thing happened. We were getting ready for Easter – and I had about 13 baptisms to do that day with the street gang in the neighborhood – when little old Leonard – about 83 years old and in charge of setting up communion every time it was shared – came to me and said: “James, I don’t know how to say this but… I don’t think I was ever baptized!”

The chief gate-keeper – man in charge of the sacred elements at that wonderful, mixed-up blessed church for probably 40 years – had never been baptized. So…. on Easter Sunday, along with 13 tough little street dudes – a few of whom were wearing razor blade earrings for the occasion – we also baptized Leonard. It was a great sight: one skinny old white guy kneeling next to the Puerto Rican and Black kids.

Man, there was a feast going on that day! If we are watching – if we are listening – and sometimes purely beyond all our wisdom, reason and intent – our lives will tell us something… and there will be the hint of a melody and our eyes will be opened.

Rock on, United Church of Christ

I LOVE the fact that my United Church of Christ has been so much in the news with the Obama /Trinity UCC thing - and that my boys are rising to the occasion with a NYTimes ad in tomorrow's paper. What a grat opportunity to take it to the streets and deepen the conversation. Rock on... Here is the text:

Much has been said about the United Church of Christ in
recent weeks, much of it hurtful for many in our country,
including members of Trinity UCC in Chicago. That is
why we are eager to share the broad and diverse story of
the United Church of Christ, one that we celebrate.
With all Christians, we rest in God’s amazing grace and
hear God’s voice in the words of Scripture.

Yet, the UCC is unique to some because we do not require uniformity
of belief. We are a church of open ideas, extravagant
welcome and evangelical courage. Our passion for
democracy extends to both government and church, where decision-making rests within each congregation. We support liberty in our pulpits, just as we affirm the individual conscience of our 1.2-million members to agree, disagree and wrestle with life’s biggest questions in a spirit of love.

Our story is this nation’s story. We are the people of the Mayflower. More than 600 of our 5,700 congregations were formed before 1776. Eleven signers of the Declaration of Independence were members of UCC predecessor bodies. As early abolitionists, we came to the aid of the Amistad captives and founded hundreds of schools across the South after the Civil War. We were the first mainline church to ordain an African-American (1785), a woman (1853) and an openly gay pastor (1972). We were also the first to form a foreign mission
society (1810). Our multi-ethnic membership includes persons from every immigrant group, as well as native peoples and descendants of freed slaves.

Our unity is not dependent upon uniform agreement, but in our shared allegiance to Jesus Christ. Ours is a risk-taking church, because ours is a risk-taking God.

God bless you, Paul Simon!

Tonight our local PBS station showed a program honoring one of my heroes: Paul Simon. I wept and cheered,"went to church" and boogied in New Orleans as the breadth and depth of his music washed over me. What a treat and what a blessing. Brother Simon continues to celebrate the best of my generation's hopes and dreams by bringing together the races and the cultures and the classes in a way that points out what is best and combats what is broken. To see Paul shake his ass with Ladysmith Black Mambazo - to see Lyle Lovett share with Buckwheat Zydeco - and to watch Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon and the Dixie Hummingbirds rock the house with "Love me Like a Rock" was an answer to prayer in these crazy, divided, hope filled and frustrating times. God bless you, Paul Simon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OafqYNCzq5U&feature=related

what if god was one of us?

There is a great old country and western song by Montgomery Gentry that tells the story of a Vietnam Vet and a hot yuppie lawyer – two people as different from one another as night is from day – he’s got a gold tooth and ratty old Levi’s while she wears Gucci shoes and a tattoo on her derrière. But the only place they can find peace and acceptance in their busy but empty lives is… a bar. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_e44zTRl22A

He works way too much for way too little
He drinks way too early till way too late
He hasn't had a raise since New Year’s Day in eighty-eight gets trampled on by everyone 'cept when he comes in here

All my adult life that reality has struck me as fundamentally upside down and backwards – not the drinking or carrying on – but the fact that so often a sleazy old run down bar is a better example of Christ’s hospitality than his living body on earth we call the church. Yes, bars are filled with self-destructive and dissolute behavior, yes they often deepen a person’s wound rather than heal it, and yes, yes, yes bars can be unsafe, uncouth and unhealthy. But here’s a stone cold fact that the contemporary church of Jesus Christ has yet to learn: a good bar never judges you before it gets to know you. Remember the theme song from “Cheers?”

Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name

And they're always glad you came.
You wanna be where you can see our troubles are all the same: You wanna be where everybody knows your name.

So Jesus stood among his terrified, broken, confused and troubled disciples a week after his resurrection and whispered, “Peace be with you.” One writer in Sojourner’s Magazine wrote:

Whenever I am in a worship gathering, but especially in street churches, before we share the peace I say: “When Jesus appeared to his disciples, they were hiding upstairs in a locked room – the friends’ who knew him best, who had betrayed him, who pretended they didn’t know him – who had run away when he was dying and hid when he was arrested and where frightened and ashamed. To these friends Jesus appeared and greeted them. He didn’t say, “What the hell happened? Where were you? You screwed up and hurt me!” No, he greeted them saying, “Peace.” So no matter who you are, no matter what you’ve done or think you’ve done, whoever you have betrayed or let down, no matter how far you have gone from God, from Jesus, Jesus doesn’t say to you: where were you? You screwed up? Jesus greets you saying: peace. You are not accused in, you are invited.

Her reflection concludes: whatever it is that churches are saying to people today, what poor and marginalized folk hear from us is: you are not good enough, you are not welcome, the food bank is down the street or around back in the basement. But Jesus says: Peace be with you – you are not accused, you are invited – and accepted no matter where you are on life’s journey.

I want to talk with you about Christ’s peace today and what it might mean for us as we try to deepen our walk with the Lord in this place and time. You see, there was a time when the community of faith was not only an alternative to the sick culture all around it, but it was an attractive refuge of healing, too. That’s what the first reading from Acts is trying to tell us: preaching on Pentecost, Peter told the crowds that the inspiration of the disciples was not from wine or booze – it was not alcoholic spirits that gave life to the community of faith – it was the living Spirit and presence of Jesus within and among them that set true life into motion:

Listen carefully and get this story straight, Peter told them. These people aren't drunk as some of you suspect. They haven't had time to get drunk—it's only nine o'clock in the morning – what is going on here is what the prophet Joel announced would happen: "In the Last Days," God says "I will pour out my Spirit on every kind of people: Your sons will prophesy also your daughters; your young men will see visions, your old men dream dreams. When the time comes, I'll pour out my Spirit on those who serve me, men and women both, and they'll prophesy. I'll set wonders in the sky above and signs on the earth below… Eventually the crowd cried: Cut to the quick… what do we do?" Peter said, "Change your life. Turn to God and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, so your sins are forgiven. Receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is targeted to you and your children, but also to all who are far away—whomever, in fact, our Master God invites…. Get out while you can; get out of this sick and stupid culture!" And that day about three thousand took him at his word, were baptized and signed up. They committed themselves to the teaching of the apostles, the life together, the common meal, and the prayers.

It is Jesus – the Word of God made flesh for our time – that attracts, heals and transforms: not the sanctuary, not the organ, not our guitars, nor our music, not the preacher nor the teacher, not the children or the building – it is Jesus and Jesus only. Do you know that great Bible story from Matthew 17 we call the transfiguration?

Jesus needs time for prayer and discernment so he gets Peter and James to go with him up Mount Hermon near Caesarea Philippi. It is over 9,000 feet high – and what do elevated places suggest in the Bible? Something holy and sacred is going to take place, right. And what happens? Jesus has a mystical encounter with Moses and Elijah – the essence of the Law and the Prophets – meet him on Mt. Hermon to strengthen and encourage him. Which is a pretty cool thing to have happen – I would love it if one day in my prayers I was surrounded by God’s blinding light and given the chance to talk things over with Moses and Elijah – but that isn’t the whole point of the story. No, because what happens next? Peter and James get caught up in the moment and want to stay on the mountain top; it is totally human and they just want to keep having this magical mystery tour when out of nowhere comes the voice of God saying: THIS IS MY SON, THE BELOVED… LISTEN TO HIM. And when they looked up… they saw no one except Jesus alone.

They saw no one except Jesus alone – so let’s be clear about this from the get go – it is Jesus and Jesus only – his living spirit within and among us – that is going to attract others into the community of faith. So, based on this truth, what really fascinates me is trying to figure out how we make Jesus real and visible and alive for our time. How do we – in 2008 – show Christ’s living spirit to Pittsfield?

It is not coincidental that the gospel reading always assigned to the first Sunday after Easter is the one we’ve read today – and I think there are some important clues in it for us – so let’s look at it carefully. First, there are Christ’s words, “Peace be to you.” Most of the time we treat these words as a personal blessing for inner tranquility, but scholars are clear that the peace Jesus offers – eireneuo— refers to the social relations between the people of his community. When this word, peace, is used in Romans 12: 18 it has to do with cooperation among different types of people: Do not repay anyone evil for evil; but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. And if it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves… do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Same is true in II Corinthians 13: Sisters and brothers, Paul says, put things in order, listen to my appeal and learn to agree with one another and live in peace… greet one another with a holy grace and the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ… will be with you always.

So Christ’s peace has to do with social cooperation and acceptance of diversity; it also has to do with love: this is the love gospel we’re talking about where St. John gives us these clear words from the Lord: “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. For by this love everyone will know you are my disciples if you have love for one another.” (John 13: 34-35) And you know this love Jesus is talking about isn’t a sweet feeling of abstract, universal peace or Rodney King “why can’t we all get along” fuzziness, right? Not at all – listen to how old St. Paul put it in I Corinthians 13:

Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn't want what it doesn't have. Love doesn't strut, doesn't have a swelled head, doesn't force itself on others, isn't always "me first," doesn't fly off the handle, doesn't keep score of the sins of others, doesn't revel when others grovel, takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, puts up with anything, trusts God always, always looks for the best, never looks back, but keeps going to the end.

And we can’t forget that Christ’s peace also has to do with shalom – right and just relationships between people – for that is at the heart of Jesus’ message of the kingdom of God: I have come to proclaim good news to the poor, release to the captives, recovery of sight for the blind and the start of the year of the Lord’s favor so that debts are forgiven, dignity restored and hope blossoms throughout creation. Walter Brueggemann likes to say that shalom means finding out what belongs to another and giving it back.

Acceptance, diversity and welcome – disciplined and tender love – and social justice – radical hospitality, compassion and shalom – that’s what Jesus was sharing when he breathed and spoke words of peace upon his disciples. And I am convinced this is the right reading of the text for our day, too, by the way the majority treats Thomas – so let’s spend a little time with the so-called doubting disciple. John Sanford, one of the leading Jungian Christian theologians of our generation, suggests that Thomas is probably a person like most others – a sensate who is “strongly oriented to outer, physical reality and facts… in contrast to intuitive types who perceive what is real through an inner process.” (Mystical Christianity, p. 323)

Most people – in fact, the majority – are sensate types who, like Jack Webb on Dragnet, “just want the facts, ma’am.” Research has shown that clearly 70+ per cent of all people fall into this category, while 90+ percent of all clergy and spiritual leaders… are the opposite! We’re intuitives talking about inner things to Thomas who wants to see the wounds and feel the brokenness with his own hands. No wonder clergy and laity so often misunderstand one another! Now here’s what is even more important: it is likely that the other disciples – certainly John and probably others – don’t get Thomas. Every day since Christ’s death and resurrection, the early church has been meeting for prayer and encouragement – and every day Thomas demands proof! “We have seen the Lord” they tell him to which he can only reply: “Show me – I don’t believe you.”

And he didn’t just doubt the words on a page, he called into question the spiritual experiences of his dearest friends. Now think about this: how do you keep harmony in the community – how do you give space for vastly different realities in a family – when one doesn’t trust the other? That’s the challenge the Bible presents to us – how do we practice and embody radical hospitality, compassion and shalom – how do we share the living presence of Christ in our flesh with those who do not trust us?

Well, we aren’t given a road map but it is clearly suggested that whatever else the other disciples did to Thomas it did not include kicking him out, making him feel unwanted or diminished in any way, shape or form. In time, Thomas had his own encounter with Jesus and faith began to make sense to him – but it could have been harmed without the love, trust and safety the community created in the very spirit of Jesus, right? Did you know that there is no word in the Bible for doubt: it is either pistos or apistos – trust or the absence of trust.

Which tells me that one of the most important ways we can show those who don’t trust us that the spirit of Jesus is alive and well within and among us is by what we welcome and include in our worship on Sunday mornings: if real, live untrusting Thomas’ come into this Sanctuary and only hear sounds that seem to them elite, undecipherable or filled with judgment… what do you think will happen? Will they come back? Will trust grow? Will they sense that Christ’s spirit – not that of a sick culture – rules our hearts? Probably not… so it is vital – for me and all of us – to make certain that when people come through our doors on Sunday morning not only are they greeted and given space to be themselves, but that they hear sounds that makes sense to their lives – and in 2008 that includes rock and country and pop as well as all the standards of the faith we have come know and love.

I’m not kidding about this: when only 1% of Americans say they like and listen to organ music while 40% of a community at any point in time is curious about spiritual matters but afraid of the church… well let’s just say that it isn’t any wonder why bars seem more welcoming than the body of Christ.

Please don’t misunderstand or misinterpret: I am not speaking value here – one style of music or worship in NOT better than another – I am simply speaking about trust and hospitality. Faith cannot grow and mature without trust, beloved. Christian educator, John Westerhoff, puts it like this: there is a faith that is received – as young children it is passed on and experienced by imitating our loved ones; later it has to do with sharing in the group. After adolescence, if faith is to mature it then moves into a time of questioning and searching – so we must be certain to leave space for all types of doubt and fear. Because it is only after lots of searching and questions and mistrust that an adult can affirm her or his true faith and say like Thomas: My Lord and my God.

The community of faith – the living body of Christ at First Church – has been charged with welcoming and nourishing the questions and faith of Thomas and all his sisters and brothers. May we be bold enough, compassionate, creative and hospitable enough to make trust palpable in this place by the love of Jesus. For only when Christ becomes flesh in our time can his spirit be shared. So let those who have ears to hear, hear.

The NY Times columnist, Nicholas Kristof, put it like this: The Iraq war is now going better than expected, for a change. Most critics of the war, myself included, blew it: we didn’t anticipate the improvements in security that are partly the result of last year’s “surge.” The improvement is real but fragile and limited. Here’s what it amounts to: We’ve cut our casualty rates to the unacceptable levels that plagued us back in 2005, and we still don’t have any exit plan for years to come — all for a bill that is accumulating at the rate of almost $5,000 every second!

More important, while casualties in Baghdad are down, we’re beginning to take losses in Florida and California. The United States seems to have slipped into recession; Americans are losing their homes, jobs and health insurance; banks are struggling — and the Iraq war appears to have aggravated all these domestic woes.“The present economic mess is very much related to the Iraq war,” says Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel Prize-winning economist. “It was at least partially responsible for soaring oil prices. ...Moreover, money spent on Iraq did not stimulate the economy as much as the same dollars spent at home would have done. To cover up these weaknesses in the American economy, the Fed let forth a flood of liquidity; that, together with lax regulations, led to a housing bubble and a consumption boom.”

And now comes the sobering headline that we've reached 4,000 American dead in addition to the 1,191,216 Iraqi deaths related to the war. Kristof continues: But if you believe that staying in Iraq does more good than harm, you must answer the next question: Is that presence so valuable that it is worth undermining our economy? Granted, the cost estimates are squishy and controversial, partly because the $12.5 billion a month that we’re now paying for Iraq is only a down payment. We’ll still be making disability payments to Iraq war veterans 50 years from now. Professor Stiglitz calculates in a new book, written with Linda Bilmes of Harvard University, that the total costs, including the long-term bills we’re incurring, amount to about $25 billion a month. That’s $330 a month for a family of four.

A Congressional study by the Joint Economic Committee found that the sums spent on the Iraq war each day could enroll an additional 58,000 children in Head Start or give Pell Grants to 153,000 students to attend college. Or if we’re sure we want to invest in security, then a day’s Iraq spending would finance another 11,000 border patrol agents or 9,000 police officers.

Imagine the possibilities. We could hire more police and border patrol agents, expand Head Start and rehabilitate America’s image in the world by underwriting a global drive to slash maternal mortality, eradicate malaria and deworm every child in Africa. All that would consume less than one month’s spending on the Iraq war.

As people of the resurrection - those who are allied with God's enormous "YES" over all the "No's" of the world - Christ calls us into acts of compassion and justice. As a pastor who has now had to love and support soldiers from my church who have been sent into this hate-filled tragedy, I continue to hold them close to my hearts even as I commit myself to a renewed effort to oppose and end this war. It is clearly a paradox of this calling - to love our warriors who would rather not make war - while urging our civilians to become more active citizens for peace. And it is so important to try to do this without stridency or self-righteousness... which is easier said than done.

And so the Prayer of St. Francis returns: Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.

Thanks be to God...

Easter has come and gone - and blessings abound! On Thursday we gathered for a somber Tenebrae gathering of lights, readings and darkness. On Friday more than 80 joined us for a contemporary expression of Good Friday using new music, wild visual images and ancient scripture. What a joy! And then Easter Sunday - the Feast of the Resurrection - was a smorgasbord of traditional music and new songs, exuberant preaching and Eucharist. Perfect in this new place with new friends struggling for new life. I give thanks to God for the chance to be pastor of this church at this time as we find new/old ways of being faithful, fun and connected to God's spirit in this place. There were children and old folk, new people to the tradition and old stalwarts all embracing one another together. Thanks be to God: he is risen!