This week has been a full and creative one - and I give thanks to God. My sweetheart has been busting her butt at work - they are remodeling her store - and two weeks into a three week overhaul. So tomorrow, our Sabbath, will be quiet and gentle and we'll stop by to celebrate a dear woman's 90th birthday, too.
In addition to all the regular pastoral stuff- study and prayer, sermon writing and administrative details as well as pre-marital conversations and home visits -three unique things happened. First, I had a serious conversation with a young man about exploring ordained ministry. One of the things I have come to value over my years of doing this gig is that I have been able to journey with 5 different young people in their discernment for ministry. I can't recall who said it to me, but it stuck: if a church isn't inspiring, encouraging and equipping young adults with a hunger for ministry, something is wrong. I don't want to be doctrinaire or judgmental about this, ok? And yet I have come to see how important it is to open some hearts and minds to what the Spirit may be saying. So, we're going to be working on this more this summer and as the year unfolds.
Second, band practice was tons of fun. A new vocalist has joined the fold - our old buddy Eva having headed to Vegas - and she is wonderful with a GREATear for harmonies and rhythm. It is exciting to see where her new energy leads us as we start shaping things up for the fall. There is a unique and curious dynamic in a band, you know, that is all about poetry and spiritual support in addition to talent and intuition. Sometimes highly skilled players can come together and the result is mush - or shit - or just a drag. And sometimes modest players who work well together can bring out the best in one another, too. And sometimes when creative folk who fit together discover their groove... it is one of the finest blessings ever to be shared by our Creator.
And third an ever growing circle of friends are making connections: two blogging-buddies from Canada are coming for a visit in early August, a colleague from Arizona is coming here to preach a trial sermon for another local church, two lay-folk from Tucson just made a special stop today on their way to Niagara Falls and two more dear souls will be joining us in September. A colleague from another town took me to lunch yesterday to share some deep thoughts about how we might journey deeper into the Spirit together. We'll be doing a "music and spirituality" workshop in early October for yet another local church. So it feels like things are really coming together. (To be sure, there are always carpers and those who always try to make you feel broken and exhausted - that goes with the territory - but mostly they are a distinct minority.)
Made me think of this little sequence from the music geek documentary, "It Might Get Loud," wherein Jimmy Page talks about - and then plays - the opening riff to "Whole Lotta Love." Dig how both the Edge and Jack White look on in reverence, support and joy - their faces just shine in very unique ways and for very unique reasons.
It is such a sweet, sweet privilege to be able to share love and music and prayer and compassion with those who are open and receptive. It is an honor to study the scriptures and try to discern with this faith community where God's love may be calling us. And on a beautiful Berkshire day like this, it is all worthwhile.
Wendell Berry gets it exactly right in "The Hidden Singer..."
The gods are less for their love of praise. Above and below them all is a spirit that needs nothing but its own wholeness, its health and ours. It has made all things by dividing itself. It will be whole again. To its joy we come together—the seer and the seen, the eater and the eaten, the lover and the loved. In our joining it knows itself. It is with us then, not as the gods whose names crest in unearthly fire, but as a little bird hidden in the leaves who sings quietly and waits and sings.
NOTE: Here are my worship notes for Sunday, July 25, 2010. They are grounded in both our on-going considerations of Paul's insights in Romans for 21st century people of faith as well as my own conviction that being a "fool for the sake of God's love" is essential. It isn't any MOREimportant than at other times - think of St. Francis or the prophet's of Israel or Rumi - but it has certainly taken on an urgency for me. To be sure, my guiding theological text has long been Harvey Cox's The Feast of Fools - and the Godspell music it inspired (along with my doctoral work) - but living into this alternative to the wisdom of this world rings more and more true to me these days. If you are in town, please join us at 10:30 am for worship.
There is something radical, offensive and even crazy about following Jesus – something morally scandalous and intellectually challenging, too. When the disciples ask for signs of security, Jesus tells them to pray only for daily bread because this is a one day at a time operation.
• When they ask him the best way to know the will of the Lord, he says first imagine what the earth would be like if God were king and Cesar was not – thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven – and take it from there.
• And when they question him about the content of God’s heart he says there is only one word you need to remember: generosity. Everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.
Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? If you then, who are broken know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?
See what I mean? This is an upside down kingdom that upsets most of our traditional ways of thinking about the sacred, morality and what is important in life. Jesus is clear that his way is about being awake right now so that we can savor our daily bread – it’s about right relations among all people and creation so that God’s will is realized here on earth as it is already being done in heaven – and it’s about social, spiritual, political, ethical and moral generosity – or grace. I love this quote – and have shared it with you before – that Douglas John Hall uses to open his systematic theology:
Jesus says that in his society there is a new way for us to live: you show wisdom by trusting, you handle leadership by serving, you handle offenders by forgiving and money by sharing and enemies by loving; and you handle violence by suffering… In all things you have a new attitude toward everything and everybody… because in a Jesus society you repent not by feeling bad, but by thinking and acting different!
And it is precisely these radical, offensive and crazy notions about faith that St. Paul asks us to embrace in today’s text from Romans. Much to his surprise, Paul has discovered that faith has more to do with living into the powerful discontinuities of Christ than intellectual clarity or assent to doctrinal truth. In a word, faith is about trusting and following God even when the ambiguities are stronger than the certainties. In Peterson’s translation of Romans 4 he puts it like this:
Look, people, we are those who call Abraham the "father” of our faith not because he got God's attention by living like a saint, but because God made something out of Abraham when he was a nobody. Abraham was first named "father" and then became a father because he dared to trust God to do what only God could do: raise the dead to life, with a word make something out of nothing. When everything was hopeless, Abraham believed anyway, deciding to live not on the basis of what he saw he couldn't do but on what God said he would do. And so he was made father of a multitude of peoples. God said to him, "You're going to have a big family, Abraham!"
And Abraham didn't focus on his own impotence and say, "It's hopeless. This hundred-year-old body could never father a child." Nor did he survey Sarah's decades of infertility and give up. He didn't tiptoe around God's promise asking cautiously skeptical questions. He plunged into the promise and came up strong, ready for God, sure that God would make good on what the Lord has promised.
Which makes it essential for us to know the highlights of the story of both Abraham and Sarah, because as Paul suggests, they are the key to unlocking the mystery of faith: in fact, Abraham and Sarah show us what it looks like to live the Lord’s Prayer. So let’s do a quick survey of some of their highlights – something like those TV shows that say, “Previously on… Lost or The Good Wife or Rescue Me” – so that we, too, can hallow God’s name with our lives, ok?
Now the story of Abraham and Sarah is rich – and our survey will only scratch the surface of a complicated journey by faith – and yet I think if we are careful, we can lift up four key elements that will be helpful in naming what true faith looks like for those who seek to follow Jesus as Christ.
First is the call of Abram found in Genesis 12:The Lord said to Abram “You are to go and leave your country and your kindred and your father’s house and move into a land that I will show you. If you leave behind what you know, I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing to others… So Abram went.” What do you notice about faith in this story?
What does it look like or mean to you based upon what’s going on? There is nothing doctrinal – or overly intellectual – right? God invites Abram to set off on a journey – whose destination, we should note, has not yet been revealed – which suggests an element of trust and mystery. And the only assurance Abram has about the journey is that God will be with him – Abram will not be alone – for God will be his guide into the mystery. He doesn’t know how and he doesn’t really know why; all that is clear is that God is calling him to set out and trust.
And then we read these fascinating and simultaneously frightening words: so Abram went. The Quaker spiritual teacher, Richard Foster, writes that the essence of faith, “… is a journey where God calls and we go forth without a map, never quite sure where we are going but trusting in God’s promised presence.” Invitation, trust, mystery and journey are our first clues about authentic faith in our tradition, yes?
The second essential story of Abram happens in Genesis 15 where the old, wandering not yet Jew starts to really worry and question the Lord: “How am I going to become the father of a great nation when my wife is as ancient and worn out as I am – and I seem impotent to boot! To which God replies: Look toward heaven and count the stars… so shall be your descendants… so Abram trust and God considered him righteous by this faith.”
So what do you find taking place here that tells you something about faith? Sometimes we have more questions than certainty, yes? More fear and doubt rather than courage and clarity – so it must be ok not to have it all figured out – so that our confusion and hesitation can teach us something about God’s love.
In the world of spiritual direction this is called the via negativa – the dark or obscure way into God’s grace – that honors the questions and hard times as much as the bounty and blessings. Perhaps this poem by Rumi, the great Sufi mystical poet of Islam, will help:
One night a man was crying Allah! Allah!
His lips grew sweet with praising,
until a cynic said, “So!
I’ve 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 our 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.
What does that tell us about faith…? So, faith has something to do with mystery and questions, invitation and trust, an unclear journey where the darkness is just as honored as the light.
There are two more stories in an abbreviated form: God promises Abraham and Sarah a son in Genesis 18 and God considers Abraham and Sarah to be a sign of creation’s fresh start in Psalm 32. Genesis 18 is a funny and fantastic story about three angels of the Lord visiting the tent of a wizened old Abraham. As is the Bedouin custom, the travelers are welcomed into his protection and offered the gift of hospitality, food and shelter.
And during the course of their meal, they tell Abraham that despite all the odds, God will honor the sacred promise and bring fertility to both he and Sarah in the form of a son. At which point Sarah, who is hidden away from the male guests, bursts out laughing at the absurdity of this promise. “Why did Sarah laugh and question my promise,” said the Lord. “Is anything too wonderful for the Lord?”
In time, it comes to pass that they indeed do have a son – the fulfillment of the sacred promise – and what is his name?
• Isaac, because…? Genesis 21: Sarah said, “The Lord has brought laughter to me and everyone who hears of this child will laugh with me… so we will call him Isaac which means laughter.
• Do you see how this story is shaping up and what it tells us about faith? Abraham and Sarah listen and respond to God’s invitation – they embrace a life of pilgrimage rather than clarity – they ask questions and doubt knowing that even their anxiety will reveal something of God’s grace to them and the world…
And they laugh – and sometimes cry – and live life fully trusting that God is in control so that they don’t have to be. Psalm 32 puts it poetically saying:
Count yourself lucky, how happy and blessed you must be— you get a fresh start and your slate's wiped clean. Count yourself lucky—the LORD holds nothing against you and you're holding nothing back from God. When I kept it all inside, my bones turned to powder and my words became daylong groans. The pressure never let up; all the juices of my life dried up. (Sound like anybody we’ve been considering?) But then I let it all out and said, "I'll make a clean breast of my failures to GOD." And suddenly the pressure was gone—my guilt dissolved, my sin disappeared.
Now let me pause to see if you have any questions so far: Have I been clear in distinguishing how our tradition defines faith? How it is more about the journey than the destination? Our questions as well as our clarity? Invitation and listening and mystery – and joy? Anything you want to say so far?
I love the way Paul pulls it together in Romans 4: That is why it is said, "Abraham was declared fit before God – he trusted God to set him right." But it's not just Abraham; it's also us! The same thing gets said about us when we embrace and believe the One who brought Jesus to life when the conditions were equally hopeless. The sacrificed Jesus made us fit for God, set us right with God.
He’s saying: Just as Abraham and Sarah trusted God’s promise in their time, so, we trust God’s promises now through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. We are not asked to fully comprehend this faith: how could we ever get our minds around a love that can raise the dead into new life or offer forgiveness and grace when we ourselves are so often spiteful, petty and violent?
No, comprehension is not faith – now we see as through a glass darkly – only later shall we see face to face. Faith is about trust and starting the journey without knowing anything more about the conclusion than that God will not abandon us regardless of what we think, feel or know. Like Jesus instructed his disciples:
• We walk by faith asking for daily bread – not a full freezer of goodies. We walk by faith seeking right relations with other wounded people even when we are in the shadow of the valley of death.
• We walk by faith trusting that our often small and unnoticed acts of generosity set in motion a whole network of tiny ripples that bring healing and mercy to creation far beyond our abilities or our comprehension.
Which, as I said at the outset, is a radical, offensive and even crazy way to live for those who don’t walk by faith, don’t you think? Paul said as much in I Corinthians reacting to the philosophers and sophisticated cultural critics of his day: “The Message that points to Christ on the Cross seems like sheer silliness to those hell-bent on destruction, but for those on the walking the way of faith it makes perfect sense. For this is the way God works… I'll turn conventional wisdom on its head and I'll expose so-called experts as crackpots.” (I Corinthians 1:23-27)
When Jesus gathered together people who were hungry for faith and hope and love on the mountain, he said much the same thing: You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope because with less of you there is more of God and God’s presence. You're blessed when you feel you've lost what is most dear to you because only then can you be embraced by the One who holds you most dear. You're blessed when you're content with just who you are—no more, no less – for that's the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can't be bought.This is craziness – absurd, offensive foolishness – to those who don’t walk by faith.
A true story about Mother Teresa and a famous ethicist perhaps brings it all home: It seems a learned soul came to work at Mother Teresa’s house for the dying in Calcutta “at a time when he was seeking a clear answer about how best to spend the rest of his life.”
She asked him what she could do for him and he asked her to pray for him. “And what do you want me to pray for?" she asked. And he said, "Pray that I have clarity." To which she replied, "No, I will not do that – clarity is the last thing you are clinging to – and must let go of." The ethicist said that Mother Teresa always seemed to have the clarity he longed for which just made her laugh out loud: "I have never had clarity,” she said, “what I have always had is trust. So I will pray that you come to trust God." (Kate Huey, Sermon Seeds)
+ Is there a way to make compassion the fruit of our lives together and let the Holy One sort out the rest as the Qu'ran suggests?
+ Can we learn to trust beyond our very real differences and walk towards peace knowing that we all pray to the same God?
+ Will Americans come to grips with the fact that 14 million Arabic speaking sisters and brothers in Christ pray to Allah every day?
+ What do we do in the face of jihadists who are filled with fear and hatred?
Our diverse small group of 14 listened to one another carefully, read our assignments thoroughly and wondered about next steps on the road to compassion.
Two groups working from very different places come to mind in the work of finding common ground in compassion:
+ First is The Common Word, a group of Muslim scholars inviting Christians into greater knowledge and conversation (check it out: http://www.acommonword.com/index.php?lang=en) This is an experiment born of Islam reaching out to Christians and begins to answer the question that many - including some of us tonight - still ask: where are the voices of reason and tolerance amidst the fear and violence?
+ Second is the work of Karen Armstrong's Compassion Project- an interfaith project (check it out: http://charterforcompassion.org/) - that seeks to restore compassion as the core of our faith commitment rather than just intellectual constructs. The Compassion Project recognizes our doctrinal and theological differences - and respects them - but seeks to find common ground in activity that heals rather than wounds.
My old mentor - and homiletics professor, Jim Forbes - left Riverside Church a few years back to devote more time to the work of compassion and interfaith work (and less time to the bullshit of church politics.) One of my favorite portions of scripture puts it like this:
They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid...
I think that is what brother Forbes is getting after as he brings to a close this sermon to young preachers in the Christian tradition - but it cuts across every line or division when he asks: what time is it, y'all?
Today is Nelson Mandela's 92 birthday: many, many blessings! Today we began work on the Freedom Mass based upon South African freedom/folk songs and over 20 people stayed after worship for practice. Incredible spirit and GREAT sounds - this is going to be fun.
(I had hoped to share this for worship on August 8th but we're going to push it back a few weeks so that we can include more folk.)
Two post-worship thoughts: I am really captivated by Paul's sense that "sin" is breaking covenant as this has so many powerful implications for justice and compassion. Odd how you can read and think and preach a text for decades only to stumble upon a new insight that was there all the time. For me this makes the connections clear: breaking covenant is when we do not love compassion, do justice or walk with humility.
Also, a corrective to Bonhoeffer's somewhat incomplete notion that only that which is hard is of the Lord: as my sweetheart regularly reminds me, "What about joy? If God made me in the holy imagine, than God does not want me to be miserable, right?" That is, living into joy and blessings is also part of the holy will, yes? It is NOT just doing what is hard - that is part of the truth for part of the time - but it is not the whole truth about God's way.
When I went to seminary in New York City in the summer of 1979 I was interested in the call to be an agent of radical social change. I picked Union Theological Seminary not only because it was the leading interdenominational center for "liberation theology" at the time, but also because it was in the heart of the beast. No place in the United States exposed the contradictions of life in the industrialized West better than Manhattan - Babylon - a place of incredible wealth and poverty and suffering and hedonism all at the same time.
So I got to study with some of the finest liberation minds of the era: through a sweet luck of the draw my advisor was Cornell West - Phyllis Trible taught our introductory courses to the Old Testament - James Cone held court in realm of systematic theology - and the late James Washington, one of our finest African American historians re: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was the man for church history. I also had the pleasure to study preaching with Jim Forbes before he went on to Riverside Church. I even had the chance to go to the Latin American Bible Seminary in San Jose, Costa Rica - a Protestant evangelical school that was becoming the center for best liberation theologians of the region - and travel to Nicaragua before the one year anniversary of their revolution.
Two thoughts are swimming through my mind this sweltering afternoon:
+ First, many young evangelicals - those influenced more by Bono than Focus on the Family - are saying a LOT of the things we used to celebrate in the early days of liberation theology. For example, this quote from Shane Claiborne sounds a whole lot like Bishop Helder Camera of Brazil or the mystical poet of Solentiname, Ernesto Cardenal: "People do not get crucified for charity. People are crucified for living out a love that disrupts the social order, that calls forth a new world. People are not crucified for helping poor people. People are crucified for joining them."
+ Second, today's radicalized evangelicals are getting a whole lot more done in the world than my class of liberation theologians ever hoped to accomplish. I think of Bono's campaigns in Africa but also the work others are doing to bring water and end malaria to broken lands. Perhaps it has something to do with humility and the ability to discover allies: back in the day we were purists who accepted NO compromise while the young believers changing the world today share love, build bridges and keep moving.
Now I will never regret my time in the academy - I learned so much - and at the same time I think the kids have chosen the better road. Not only are they more passionate but they don't let ideological distractions get in the way of compassion. They not only know how to work all the social networking connections for the sake of Christ's love, but they are bringing a measure of hope into an aching world. They are not afraid to be fools for the sake of God's grace and justice. This is a beautiful day... and it sounds something like this.
Happy Anniversary to daughter Jesse and her sweet husband Michael on this their SECONDbig celebration. They both bring light and hope into the world and enrich my life beyond imagination. Here's hoping your summer is blessed.
As I was driving back from Hartford, CT this afternoon, the NPR newscast shared this story about the fear and hatred that is still running high in NYC in the shadow of Ground Zero. The story involves an Islamic cultural center that fear-mongers are calling a mosque. To be sure, there will be a place for prayer, but there will be so much more, too. As co-founder, Daisy Kahn, observes:
"Our religion has been hijacked by the extremists... this center will create this kind of counter momentum which will amplify the voices of the moderate Muslims. If we have to defeat the extremists, Muslims have to be leading that effort."
Still, Tea-baggers and others are hellbent on not only lying about the nature of the center, but exploiting post September 11th fears and anger. This story grabbed me because we've begun a study of Christianity and Islam this week and our first session highlighted the fears and anger towards Muslims that still seem to dominate popular American culture. (check out the full NPR story at: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128544392&ft=1&f=1016as well as the follow-up story, too, concerning the challenges American Muslims face when trying to build new mosques.)
I know there a a lot of cynics out there - in the churches and synagogues and mosques, too - who say that so much of God's love and compassion is just crazy. They say we should work at being effective and strategic. They say we should use our money and time wisely.
Well, here's the deal for me: the way of Jesus IS crazy. It is NOTeffective and probably doesn't make very much practical sense either. But thanks be to God for those who visit the lonely and listen to the wounded. Thanks be to God for those who stand up for the forgotten and NEVER call attention to themselves. Thank God for the quiet peace-makers who don't pay a whole lot of attention to what is practical and efficient. May they will keep on being crazy and compassionate regardless of what shakes out among the politicians.
So at this point in my life I have come to believe that only crazy love and compassion matters any more. And when you are open to finding the light within the darkness, it arrives. Like two days ago when my buddy, Hal, turned me on to this incredible song by John Kay. This song gets it so totally right that there isn't much more to say except I know it doesn't make sense. And God knows it isn't cost effective or even practical. But that's how this thing works out and either you get the upside down community or... it is forever crazy, yes?
So, here's to being crazy and compassionate and upside down... there is just so much that is right on theologically and musically in this little song you just have to hear it.
On the back page of the paper Next to the ad for mobile homes I read about my brother's keeper And the kindness he had shown To some helpless perfect stranger Who cried out in his pain And what the front page had taken from me Was given back to me again
My thoughts turned to the teachers
And the champions of the weak The protectors of the creatures And the saints down on the street All the helpers, all the healers Who lay hands on wounded souls And whose daily acts of mercy Drive the cynic from my door
Countless times I've seen the wonders That the gift of hope can bring To the betrayed and the forgotten Yet I stood watching in the wings Too many times I heard the call And did not answer, to my shame But I swear from this day on I will lend a helping hand.
While most of the US headlines are filled with memories and farewells to George Steinbrenner, owner of the NY Yankees, I was saddened to hear that two old rebels that I loved in very different ways also crossed over: the Beat poet and trouble-maker, Tuli Kupferberg, and heart and soul of the post WWII Protestant urban ministry movement, Bill Weber.
+ Tuli became notorious not only for being one of Ginsberg's inspiration for HOWL - he did jump off a NYC bridge and lived to walk away unknown - but also for his anti-war work with the Greenwich Village folk-rock band he shared with Ed Sanders, The Fugs. Their song, "Kill for Peace," his partnership with Abbie Hoffman and others in 1967as they attempted to "exorcise" the Pentagon during the Vietnam War and his relentless satires on the status quo made him a true Bohemian. In fact, as the NY Times obituary noted, "the craziest students living in Paris once came from Bohemia" - and he loved keeping the craziness alive.
I remember listening to his album in an East Village apartment late in the summer of 1967 before going to see the Mothers of Invention play the Garrick Theatre. Were they musical? Hardly! Were they challenging? To be sure! Were they a prototype for punk? Probably - and their Beat humor and dedication to poetry and freedom never died. They were not every one's cup of tea, but they kept the Beat spirit alive and well in the Village. Rest in peace you strange and wonderful soul. For the brave among us, check them out at: www.thefugs.com/
+ An equally rebellious man with a very different impact was the Reverend Dr. George "Bill" Weber who died yesterday at 90. I knew Bill during my New York days - and his reputation preceded him in spades. Born of privilege with a great mind - he graduated magna cum laude from Harvard in history before WWII where he served in the Navy and then went on to get his bachelor of divinity from Union in NYC and his Ph. D. in philosophy of religion from Columbia - Bill sensed a call into ministry. The result was not upwardly mobile but rather the beginning of the Inner City Protestant Parish in East Harlem along with Don Benedict and Archie Hargraves.
He served for a season as the dean of students at Union but left to make the East Harlen Inner City Protestant Parish real - moving his young family into project housing. Later, as the new dean of New York Theological Seminary, he took the lessons of liberation theology seriously and extended graduate education to those without an under-graduate degree. Or working pastors in non-mainstream traditions who had lots of life experience but little formal training. Or those who were incarcerated. He changed the face of theological education in New York City and welcome into the fold many who had been left wounded by the roadside.
He also wrote three books which shaped and changed my life: God's Colony in Man's (sic) World - about the Inner City Protestant Parish of East Harlem - and A Congregation in Mission and Today's Church - about living into the calling of urban ministry. He was gentle and strong, clear-headed and demanding, a vibrant white preacher who spent most of his time committed race and class suicide.
As a very middle class white guy from the NY suburbs, Bill's witness touched me - and still does. I remember hearing him talk about a retreat that once took place in the late 50s with men from his East Harlen church and folks from the wealthy suburbs of Connecticut. An executive leader of the men's retreat began the gathering saying, "Let's introduce ourselves by saying what we do and where we live..." only to be interrupted by one of the urban men who said, "No, no, no! Let's NOTstart by defining ourselves by the work we do or the place we live because THAT is of the world - and let's be clear - some of us don't DO anything and we aren't FROM anywhere! No, let's talk about who we are in the love of God made real to us in Jesus Christ." Which caused a huge gasp... and then a REAL sharing of hearts, souls and minds.
I am still with Bill in insisting that we start with how God has touched us - regardless of how we understand that touching - and build on connecting from that place. Rest in peace, dear man, rest in peace.
NOTE:Here are my worship/sermon notes for Sunday, July 18, 2010. This is part four of my summer series re: reclaiming the wisdom of St. Paul's words in Romans for the 21st century. They also embrace the gospel lectionary text in Luke 10 about our sisters in faith: Mary and Martha. If you are around at 10:30 am, why not stop in and join us? I am hoping that the newly refashioned band will play a little bit as Sue joins the ranks of Between the Banks - we'll be simple and folkie this week - but fun, too. We'd love to see you.
I have been reading the new biography of Dietrich Bonheoffer by Eric Metaxas called Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy – and it’s pretty good. Does anyone know who Bonheoffer was?
• A German theologian-preacher of privilege who found himself not only moved to follow Jesus in bold new ways through his experiences in the African-American churches of New York City’s Harlem, but also a leading opponent of Hitler and the Nazis, too.
• In fact, because his faith in the Word of Christ becoming flesh was so profound, during the 1930s he collaborated with others to assassinate the Fuehrer – which landed him in prison and eventually the hang man’s gallows.
I found something Bonheoffer wrote in a letter to his brother in 1936 right on the money:
If it is I who determine where God is to be found, then I shall always find a God who corresponds to me in some way – who is obliging – who is connected with my own nature. But if God determines where he is to be found, then it will be in a place which is not immediately pleasing to my nature – and which is not at all congenial to me. This place is the Cross of Christ – and whoever would find Jesus must go to the foot of the Cross as the Sermon on the Mount commands. This is not according to our nature at all; it is entirely contrary to it. But this is the message of the Bible – not only the New – but also the Old Testament. (p. 136)
Now I share this with you today because, in our fourth reflection on St. Paul’s letter to the Romans and Christ’s counter-cultural words to both Mary and Martha, Bonheoffer articulates the challenge clearly: everywhere we look there is sin and confusion right alongside the invitation of grace. Peterson’s reworking of Romans 3 puts it like this:
There's nobody living right, not even one, nobody who knows the score, nobody alert for God. We've all taken the wrong turn; all wandered down blind alleys. No one's living right; I can't find a single one. Our throats are gaping graves, our tongues slick as mudslides. Every word we speak is tinged with poison. We open their mouths and pollute the air. We race for the honor of sinner-of-the-year, litter the land with heartbreak and ruin, don't know the first thing about living with others and never give God the time of day.
Oh man, can my boy Paul cut to the chase, yes? Like Bonheoffer said if it is we who determine where we’ll find the living God, we’ll always go to the easy and simple places – cheap grace – rather than the foot of the Cross. And THAT is why there is all this SIN talk in our lesson – language that has never been easy to grasp – but is all the more perplexing in our fast-paced, market-driven world of quick fixes and non-stop comfort. For St. Paul – and all who seek to follow Jesus passionately in any generation – sin means something very clear and mostly has nothing to do with our garden variety failings, peccadilloes and the like.
• In fact, our obsession with sexual innuendo, petty offenses and sordid gossip is mostly a self-distraction that keeps us from really dealing with sin and the challenge of the Cross.
• So let me try to share three key, inter-related truths with you from our texts about: sin, God’s nature and how it is we renew our connection with God and put sin to rest.
Because, you see, that’s what all this sin talk is all about: helping us find God’s way back into lives that are in balance, harmony and relationship with God and one another. In Paul’s context, sin is what it means to be out of covenant – in broken relationships with God and our community – which means we need to understand covenant before we can really grasp what’s at stake in sin, yes?
So, what do you recall about God’s covenant with Israel? What does it mean? What does it look like?
• A covenant is a sacred contract and promise between God and God’s people, right? And there are always three parts in a covenant – God’s promises, our individual promises and our promises as a community – so there are promises and responsibilities.
• And all of the promises and responsibilities – between the sacred and the ordinary – are intended by God to keep us all in a healthy and holy relationship. The Old Testament uses two words – just and righteous – to describe those who keep and strengthen the covenant while those who break it are… sinners. Ok? Is that clear?
Now there are a number of covenants made between God and God’s people in the Old Testament and each helps us understand something about God’s nature and that is what makes Israel special – or chosen – you know? Through Israel’s history, we see God’s faithfulness over and over again; Israel breaks covenant time and again but God always returns to bring healing and hope to sinners.
Are you still with me? Do you hear what I’m saying? Israel’s unique role as “chosen people” according to St. Paul is that we learn about God’s grace and faithfulness in the midst of failure, breaking covenant and sin.
A quick survey of some of the important covenants make this clear: do you recall the first covenant mentioned in the Bible?
• Genesis 8 and 9 speak about God’s covenant with Noah and his family: the rainbow is the sign that God will never again send a flood to destroy creation and God offers a blessing to everyone – Jews and Gentiles – that we should be fruitful and multiply as we live in harmony with one another.
• Then there is the covenant with Abram in Genesis 17: if Abram follows and trusts God – first in a journey and later in many other challenges – God will make him the father of many nations – particularly a chosen nation of God’s unique people in Israel.
• This covenant is amplified through Abraham’s children – Isaac and Jacob –and then deepened with Moses. Do you recall what was at stake for Moses? This is the foundation of Torah – the Law – the commandments for holy living and right relationship that were created after God liberated the suffering people from slavery in Egypt.
• There is also a covenant made with David – who becomes king – that promise that in return for protecting God’s people in Israel and helping them live according to the Law, David’s family will always be the rightful rulers of the land.
And how did all this covenant keeping go? Do you recall times when God’s people broke the covenant? Hurt one another? Worshipped idols or served other lords? That’s what Paul’s list of Hebrew Scriptures is all about in our reading: mostly taken from the poems and prophets of Israel, Paul uses the Old Testament texts to show how time and again the people of the Covenant broke their promises to God. Here’s what I mean:
• “There's nobody living right, not even one who is righteous,” is a paraphrase from Ecclesiastes 7: 23. • “There is nobody who knows the score, nobody who is alert for God. They've all taken the wrong turn… and all wandered down blind alleys” comes from Psalm 14: 2-3.
• Their throats are gaping graves and their tongues slick as mudslides” is in Psalm 139: 4. “Every word they speak is tinged with poison for they open their mouths and pollute the air” is in Psalm 10:7.
• “They race for the honor of sinner-of-the-year and litter the land with heartbreak and ruin” is taken from Isaiah 59: 7-8. And “don't know the first thing about living with others? They never even give God the time of day” is from Psalm 35: 2.
Do you see what Paul is doing? He wants everyone to understand that sin is breaking covenant – and everybody does it! Those who have had a unique and special covenant with God – Israel – sin as much as those who have always lived outside the ways of the Lord which leads him to cry out: It should be clear to everyone… that we are ALL sinners – everyone one of us – in the same sinking boat with everyone else! Even our historic and unique relationship with God cannot separate us from the fact of sin.
Let me pause for just a moment to see if we’re still on the same page. I’ve just tried to summarize two key ideas: sin has to do with breaking relationship with God and one another – breaking covenant – and everyone does it. Are there any thoughts or questions here?
So where’s the hope in what Paul teaches? Where is the gospel – the good news – our way back into relationship and covenant with God and one another? Cut to the story of supper at Mary and Martha’s house where Martha works and works and works – all for a good cause – but winds up anxious and exhausted. In fact, her busyness and attention to all the details of hospitality distract her from the very presence of the one she loves – Jesus – and she ends up experiencing none of the joy the feast aches to provide.
• But let’s not compound the problem by scolding Martha, ok? That happens all too often in sermons about this text – Mary is the wiser because she sat at the feet of the Lord blah, blah, blah – but she didn’t pitch which is just unfair and unrealistic.
• And many of the women here today – and some of the men, too – know that you can’t have a feast if everyone just sits around watching football. Or doing Bible study. Or waiting for Jesus.
So my hunch is that this isn’t about scolding Martha, but as Kate Huey of the United Church of Christ suggests this could be part two of the lesson begun last week in the story of the Good Samaritan. In that story the emphasis was upon hearing the Word of God and making it flesh – and that is part of the equation. Today we hear about how it is equally important to wait and listen for the Word of God, too, so that we might truly hear and experience God’s grace.
How does the Hebrew poem go?To everything there is a season…? A time to be born and a time to die? A time for war and a time for peace? A time to plant and a time to reap? So, too, with our covenant relationship with God and one another: there is a time for taking responsibility for our actions – a time to do justice, share compassion and walk in humility – and a time for quiet reflection.
Even a time in the quiet of our hearts to confess: I can’t fix things, Lord. I can’t make myself right, I can’t consistently love others the way you do… I need help. I need forgiveness… I need a fresh start. Do you hear what I’m saying? Does that make sense? Kate Huey goes on to write:
If we don't stop not just sometimes but regularly – and just sit and listen, like Mary at the feet of Jesus – how can the Stillspeaking God get a word in edgewise over the beepers, cell phones, voicemail, text messages and tweets, television and radio messages that bombard us? How can we tend to our internal lives like careful gardeners who spend time nurturing new growth, pulling weeds when necessary, and gently showering the thirsty green plants with refreshing water?
I like to think about what Jesus may have been saying to Mary there in the living room, while Martha banged around in the kitchen, annoyed at her sister not helping her. Maybe he was reciting one of the psalms of his people, our ancestors in faith. John Michael Talbot's translation of Psalm 131 might express something of what Jesus intended for Mary (and Martha!) to hear: "O Lord, my heart is not proud, nor are my eyes fixed on things beyond me; in the quiet, I have stilled my soul like a child at rest on its mother's knee; I have stilled my soul within me. So Israel, come and hope in your Lord; do not set your eyes on things far beyond you; just come to the quiet. Come and still your soul like a child at rest on its daddy's knee; come and still your soul completely."
The wisdom that St. Paul shares – the gospel of God’s grace that he proclaims – is that only when we come to this quiet place of opening ourselves to the Lord and recognizing that we cannot make things right all by ourselves are we set free from the lordship and bondage of sin. When we are humble and quiet – knowing our need and asking for God’s help – then God who is always faithful forgives and renews and heals.
St. Paul would say that in this the covenant is rectified by trust: trust in God’s faithfulness and trust in the grace-filled presence of Christ and his Cross. In this there is both the hearing and the doing of the Word – grace and responsibility – forgiveness and right relations. And wonderfully in the new covenant there is simplicity, too. The Old covenant is not gone – it is honored and abides in Judaism – but the new covenant which we affirm in Jesus is simple – and the last place we would turn all by ourselves.
You see, we like to be in charge – in control – strong and assertive – while the way of Jesus and the Cross will have none of it. “Keep your demands and obsessions and addictions,” Jesus seems to say, “keep them as long as you think they help, but know that you can’t fix the world – your family – or even yourself all by yourself. My way is about letting go – opening your heart so that there is room for God – giving to receive – forgiving to know pardon – and dying to find eternal life.”
And when you are ready – and only when you are ready – I will be there in the still small voice inviting you to pray with me at the foot of the Cross:
Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference. Living one day at a time; enjoying one moment at a time; accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His Will; that I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him Forever in the next. Amen.
That’s the way this works my friends. So, beloved in Christ, let those with ears to hear, hear…
Great first class for the Christians and Islam theme tonight... and we hit upon one of the many challenges that face both traditions: who to be deeply passionate and respectful and tolerant? I think one of the insights we're gleaning already has something to do with:
+ Reclaiming and passionately celebrating our own Christian faith in all its fullness and at the same time - with equal vigor and integrity - honoring the wisdom and tradition of another.
+ Learning to hear - and value - the stories and spiritual truths of the Islamic world with openness and humility; also, finding ways for more people-to-people contact and sharing music, food and acts of compassion.
Three thoughts come to mind:
+ The time has come for a study/travel connection that builds bridges and experience. Check out Rick Steves' @ www.ricksteves.com/tapa_blog/
+ Praying and taking out own peace-making tradition VERY seriously: all too often progressive Christians have either forgotten their roots, or let them be co-opted by others with a narrow political agenda.
Who knows where this is headed but... this song comes to mind.
Tonight - in less that two hours - we start a summertime study organized by the Sojourners Community called: Christians and Islam. This builds on our Three Cups of Teaand Stones into Schools study groups and the recent "Three Cups of Tea Silent Auction" which raised over $2,000 for Greg Mortenson's ministry of building schools throughout Pakistan and Afghanistan that must be at least 50% girls. These schools must also refuse to use hate literature and emphasize the true core of Islam rather than the extremist Wahabism that inflames fear and violence.
Our series begins with this insight from the discussion guide: For centuries, Christians and Muslims have lived in peace as neighbors. But religious differences are always fertile ground for fanning the fires of political and economic gain - and both Christians and Muslims have waged "holy wars." In our own time, both Muslims and Christians are dealing with extremists in our midst who distort the true character of belief. Significant, intelligent dialogue and the development of authentic friendships across religious lines are key to deepening our mutual faith...
Tonight we will talk about: apocalypticsm, the nuances of history, authentic interfaith cooperation and the legacy of holy wars. (All in 60 minutes!)
Next week we'll look more closely at some of the core theological insights of Islam. And then close the series by considering "The American Face of Islam." I look forward to seeing where the Spirit leads us as we open our hearts and minds... I trust it will include something like these words from Richard Rodriquez as he writes in I Kneel to a Desert God.
After Sept. 11, I suddenly realized that maybe I was being drawn to the desert because I’m a Christian. I’d read so much of my Christian past through Europe. I’m a Roman Catholic; I was raised in an Irish Catholic church; I was schooled in religious controversies that had to do with Geneva, or Zurich, or Zwingli, or Calvin, or Luther. When I went to Union Theological Seminary for two years, it was all European theological drama. It didn’t engage this ecological question, that we are people of the desert. Christianity is a desert religion, a Middle Eastern religion.
This interested me because that’s how we think of Muslims, basically, as a desert people. I had never gone to the desert looking for Christ. I’d never gone to the desert expecting to find Muhammad. And I’d never gone to the desert expecting to hear the voice of God. But that’s precisely what I’m doing now. I have a Palestinian driver who imitates Elvis Presley, and we drive around the Middle East, and I’m enchanted by the desert. I’ve never felt so close to God as I do there.
I’m asking questions about how the desert protected Jesus, protected Muhammad, protected Moses. How they hid themselves in the desert. How the city—Mecca, Jerusalem—was often at odds with these prophets, these holy people, and how the desert took them in, and how God appears in the desert. The drama of mirage and the drama of dryness.
The first story of Abraham that we read in Genesis is a desert story: The desert God has come to a dry old man and told him that he will be fertile, that his wife is going to bear him a son. Overhearing this—I always imagine her as [the actress] Rhea Perlman—she laughs; the whole idea of becoming a mother is ludicrous to her. God says to her, do you think that there are things that God cannot do, that this is impossible for God? And suddenly there is this notion of fertility in the desert, that God will make the dry woman fertile.
And these two children, Isaac and Ishmael, the legitimate son and the illegitimate son: Abraham, who is this George Burns character, casts away his Egyptian servant when Rhea Perlman says “I won’t have her around.” She goes out to the desert and almost dies there with her son, until they are rescued by God, who promises them that they will have a race as numerous as the stars.
So what am I doing in the desert? I’m looking for that God. The God who is promising a world of fertility in this dryness. The desert, by the way, is the fastest growing ecology in the world right now. There are dust storms in Beijing. The desert is the most implacable, most demanding ecology, and it keeps advancing.
been busting her butt at work - they are remodeling her store - and two weeks into a three week overhaul. So tomorrow, our Sabbath, will be quiet and gentle and we'll stop by to celebrate a dear woman's 90th birthday, too.
o talent and intuition. Sometimes highly skilled players can come together and the result is mush - or shit - or just a drag. And sometimes modest players who work well together can bring out the best in one another, too. And sometimes when creative folk who fit together discover their groove... it is one of the finest blessings ever to be shared by our Creator.
