conjectural navel gazing; jesus in lint form

headshot

The good news is that the local paper may want to do a story on my installation at CCW on September 10. The unexpected news is that they want a headshot. I don't have a current headshot. In fact, I have never had one made. Maybe when Trish gets new ones, I'll show up for a frame or two.

Meanwhile, I was thinking this picture might work. What do you all think?

(Oops...comments are now open.)

surreality and sermon thoughts

Every morning I check my sitemeter account. This is the nifty bit of free plug-in that lets me track who has visited my site and for how long...and from where! That last one is sometimes interesting. I can unearth geographic information as well as the links that were followed. This morning someone came through Google. This happens. And I find it interesting to know what they googled to get me. Today it was "baptism of jesus" "willow creek"...yep, just like that. And of the one hundered and twenty-three sites that pop up if you google that particular combination, mine is the first. How do these things happen?

In sermon news, I have been chatting with and listening to some friends who listen for a living. Two are journalists and one is a lawyer. It is interesting to discover how they understand listening. The purpose of my interviewing them is to unearth a deeper understanding of the passage from James this week. I believe that the idea of being "doers of the Word" is predicated upon being accomplished listeners of/to the word. I wonder if the reason some of us hear the Word but do not act is because for some reason we cannot hear or discern God in the Word of God, whether from holy writ or our life together.

okay...

...I'll admit it. I watch both "Rockstar Supernova" and "Project Runway."

baptist mojo run amok

What do we Baptists mean when we say that scripture or church should be relevant to the lives we lead? I am not entirely certain I understand the notion anymore. Would someone please explain it to me? Perhaps others of you also use this language. What are your thoughts? I ask this because of this post at GetReligion. Some of you may have heard of the woman who was asked to step down from teaching Sunday School after decades. It seems her new pastor has a different interpretation of the scriptures than the congregation has held for many years. So, in light of the "women can't teach men" notion, he asked her to step down. You can read that story here. You can also read the pastor's own words here.

So, perhaps needless to say, the congregation is in quite an uproar. The lines of division that exist are strengthening and pushing one another. In an interview with the pastor, he defended his position in part with this comment: "First Baptist was on a continual decline until two years ago, when we began to see growth," the pastor said. "It’s all about relevancy. That’s what the American Baptist (Churches) wants for its churches — to be relevant in the 21st century."

I am sorely tempted to strike another polemic, but that has never served me. So, I simply want to know what this guy means. As a fellow American Baptist pastor, I especially want to know! I may be missing something.

There are several issues at work in this conflict. One appears to be an issue of power. There are various ways that this manifests itself in ABC polity. This quotation suggests one.

"I can’t even begin to express the frustration of the established members of the church, the people who have been here for a long time and who hired him as the pastor," said Mary F. Lambert, a past church moderator, who chaired the pulpit committee that chose the Rev. Mr. LaBouf.

She and about a dozen other members have compiled a list of grievances, alleging that church items are missing and that their pastor doesn’t follow church procedures. At the core of their displeasure, however, is his conservative approach to Christianity. Mrs. Lambert has hired Watertown attorney Eric T. Swartz to explore their options, which could include an attempt to oust the minister.

An ABC congregation, assuming its constitution reflects this, is totally within its rights to terminate the employment of a pastor who fails to meet or adhere to his or her contractual agreement. But there is a much needed mea culpa from the Search Committee chair and likely the pastor himself. Someone somewhere failed to represent themselves well, or got so desperate to fill the pulpit that they did not notice a serious difference in theology. I say that guessing that those who have come to the church since the new pastor arrived hold to a similar theology that is espoused from the pulpit. But all of this is not the news...well, not the bit that I lifted out for discussion.

The pastor defends himself by saying that we are all called as ABC'ers to relevancy in the 21st Century. I just don't know what he means. Is he suggesting that his "fundamentalist" beliefs offer an alternative that speak to issues of the day and he is thus relevant? Given that the pastor does not make the same gender distinctions about leadership outside the church, this may not be the case.

My belief is that the qualifications for both men and women teaching spiritual matters in a church setting end at the church door, period. Now let me explain my position of the role of women in society especially because that is where many of the discussions have centered and some false accusations have been made that need correction. I believe that a woman can perform any job and fulfill any responsibility that she desires to. Growing up I was primarily educated by the Sisters of Saint Joseph and I like to believe that they did a really good job; at least they did the best they could with the pupil in me they had to work with. I have fond memories of their instructions and they have my genuine and enduring gratitude.

Typically, the argument of relevancy suggests that there should be no distinction. His separation of sacred and secular/spiritual and worldly is an interesting one.

Perhaps he sees the church as a place where spiritual realities hold firm...an escape or alternative community. But in attempt at moderation, he limits his theology to the work of and within the congregation. And, this gets me back to the search process. This may be where the pastor and the committee miscommunicated. They saw moderation in his attitude about the world not knowing that their new pastor would be "immoderate" in his own leadership of the church. Again, this is speculation.

I see relevance as something a little more wide-sweeping. And I think that all followers of Christ struggle with making the connections between the teachings of the church/scripture/tradition and daily life. And as preachers, we have to illustrate and encourage that conversation or struggle. We can advise and direct. If this is "relevancy" than I am all for it.

"what can I say?"

A seminary friend of mine, Fr David Knight, is the priest of St Patrick's Episcopal Church in Long Beach Mississippi. His church was razed to the ground by Katrina. In the process of recovering, almost half of the area residents (David's church included) have moved elsewhere. St. Patrick's has been worshiping in a gym on Sundays. They are trying to figure out how to rebuild. I invite you to visit their website. They have posted photos from the service they had at the site of their old church. The bishop came to celebrate. They celebrated the baptism of two (?) of their children. They offered holy unction. It was quite the day.

David and I did not know one another very well. He was a senior when I was in my first year. But we connected because he was raied Baptist and had made the journey to Canterbury. I on the other hand was baptized in the Episcopal Church and had somehow made my way into the ranks of the Baptist Churches. David was and is a good preacher. I still recall a sermon he preached in seminary about standing in the gap...that we are called as pastors to stand in the gap between the fires of hell and the promises of heaven and show people the way to God. David means business. So, when I found out he quoted me in the sermon for this Sunday, I was honored...more than I can say.

So, go to the website. Listen to David's sermon. They link to the audio file. "What Can I Say?" is the title. He mentions me at the end. I am still stunned. David, I am honored.

Pray for the victims of Katrina.

May the waters of our baptisms roll. And, David, may God uphold you in this ministry. May God grant you bread for the journey, peace, and all good things.

feast day: pelagius (remember your baptism!)

When did the Baptists first arise? This is an interesting question. Historically, we stem from the second wave of the Reformation in Western Europe. As we slowly migrated to the New World, we kinda spread like Kudzu. Everyone needs a hobby, clearly. Ours is ecclesial meiosis.

This morning, I posted an entry about the feast day for St. Augustine. I especially like the "Saint Cards" from AKMA. They are a great study aid. If your church follows the lectionary and honors the saints and theologians of the church, you should collect them all. Your kids may get a kick out of them. But I digress.

This morning, after posting my entry, I opened my daily devotional book from the Northumbria Community. On this day, August 28, they honor Pelagius. They do not honor Augustine. In fact, I cannot find him anywhere in their Celtic Christian (read: How the Irish Saved Civilization) lectionary. I'll keep looking. For Pelagius they offer a couple of pages on the history of his ministry and the famed debate with Augustine. The quotation from below suggests the Augustine may have had several enemies...and history suggests strongly that Pelagius was one. Well, here is the history of Pelagius ala Northumbria:

- c. 350 to 418
- British (of course)
- criticised for lots of things including: teaching women to read scripture, "believing that the image of God is found in every new-born child, and that sex is a God-given aspect of our essential creation. He did not deny the reality of evil or its assault on the human soul, or the habitual nature of sin."
- 415: Augustine tried twice to have him convicted of heresy. On both occasions Augustine failed.
- 416: Augustine and the African bishops convened two diocesan councils to condemn Pelagius and another Celt, Celestius.
- 417: The Bishop of Rome called a meeting to deal with the matter. The result was Pelagius' exoneration. African bishops were urged to "love peace, prize love, and seek after harmony."
- 418: The African bishops made no such efforts and had the state government banish Pelagius from Rome for disturbing the peace. The Church was then compelled to take action to banish and excommunicate Pelagius. No reason was given.

Ah, the joys of Christian love and charity. The prayerbook goes on to mention how history is written by the victors. I won't go as far as the Northumbrian folk have gone, but it is interesting to note how they remember the conflict. Pelagianism is considered a heresy by most of Christianity. Baptists have a strange way of treading the a thin line and usually err on the side of Pelagius by nature of our baptismal practices. We don't baptise babies. So, when pressed about original sin and the state of the souls of our young people (non-baptised), we often get trapped into Pelagianism. Ah well. We originated out of England. What do you want?

So, why does any of this matter? I am not entirely sure, but I am making some inexpressible connection between this debate about baptismal theology, a theology of (original) sin and the water balloon fight that broke out at the church picnic yesterday. No matter how many times I hollered "The pastor has been baptized!" it made no difference. I came home soaked. It is some consolation that so did most of the deacons and one particular created-in-the-image-of-God child. Zoe may never dry out. We should have laid hands on him and called for the Spirit to work right then and there. But alas, it was not to be.

"'Vengance is mine,' sayeth the Lord." How often did this run through my head yesterday as I hurtled baloons across the green? Many. Many. But it was to no avail! I pelted young and old alike. Thus were our baptisms remembered and thus were our young encouraged to take up the cross of Christ.

Baptists are dissenters. It's a habit. Pelagius' story is just one more reason to keep the state out of church business. Pelagius' theology is just one more way of thinking that maybe we should think twice about sin and death and, apparently, before getting wet. And, finally, if I may be allowed a little hyperbole, Pelagius and Augustine would have made great Baptists. And by this logic, we have now traced the Baptists back to the 5th Century. What joy!

Auggie: "Oh yeah!?"
Pell: "Yeah!"
Auggie: "Well I'm calling the cops!"
Pell: "Fine. Say hello to your mother for me. *wink*"
Auggie: "No you didn't."
Pell: "You bet I did!"

Okay, I think I'm done now. I so love church history.

feast day: st augustine

Ye have enemies; for who can live on this earth without them? Take heed to yourselves: love them. In no way can thy enemy so hurt thee by his violence, as thou dost hurt thyself if thou love him not. And let it not seem to you impossible to love him. Believe first that it can be done, and pray that the will of God may be done in you. For what good can thy neighbor's ill do to thee? If he had no ill, he would not even be thine enemy. Wish him well, then, that he may end his ill, and he will be thine enemy no longer. For it is not the human nature in him that is at enmity with thee, but his sin.
... St. Augustine (354-430)

compliments of AKMA

the sermon...holy courage

I must confess that one of the reasons that I chose to tell this story this morning is because my week was very, very short. Thankfully Martin Bell did this work for me. Interestingly, I did not make for less work in terms of the basic synthesis. In fact, it made for more in that particularity than I usually struggle to obtain. So, maybe it was not less work in the long run after all.

I know that it's not Christmas. But every now and again a story comes to mind that won't leave me alone. Today's scripture passages speak about courage. We finally have the end of the discourse that follows the feeding of the five thousand from John's gospel where disciples of Christ's actually leave because folowing gets too hard. We have Paul's redefining a suit of armor...tools of war given over to God and transformed. The type of courage described by both passages is slippery and difficult to define in a straightforward kind of way, so I thought that this story would help.

ONCE upon a time in a large forest there lived a very furry bunny. He had one lop ear, a tiny black nose, and unusually shiny eyes. His name was Barrington.

Barrington was not really a very handsome bunny. He was brown and speckled and his ears didn't stand up right. But he could hop, and he was, as I have said, very furry.

In a way, winter is fun for bunnies. After all, it gives them a opportunity to hop in the snow and then turn around to see where they have hoped. So, in a way, winter was fun for Barrington.

But in another way winter made Barrington sad. For, you see, winter marked the time when all of the animal families got together in their cozy homes to celebrate Christmas. He could hop, and he was very furry. But as far as Barrington knew, he was the only bunny in the forest.

When Christmas Eve finally came, Barrington did not feel like going home all by himself. So he decided that he would hop for a while in the clearing in the center of the forest. Hop. Hop. Hippity-hop. Then he cocked his head and looked back at the wonderful designs he had made.

"Bunnies," he thought to himself, "can hop." And they are very warm, too, because of how furry they are." (But Barrington didn't really know whether or not his was true of all bunnies, since he had never met another bunny.) When it got to dark to see the tracks he was making, Barrington made up his mind to go home. On his way, however, he passed a large oak tree. High in the branches there was a great deal of excited chattering going on. Barrington looked up. It was a squirrel family! What a marvelous time they seemed to be having.

"Hello, up there," called Barrington.

"Hello, down there," came the reply.

"Having a Christmas party?" asked Barrington.

"Oh, yes!" answered the squirrels. "It is Christmas Eve. Everybody is having a Christmas party!"

"may I come to your party?" said Barrington softly.

"Are you a squirrel?"

"No."

"What are you, then?"

"A bunny."

"A bunny?"

"Yes."

"Well, how can you come to the party if you're a bunny? Bunnies can't climb trees."

"That's true," said Barrington thoughtfully. "But I can hop and I'm very furry and warm." "We're sorry," called the squirrels. "We don't know anything about hopping and being furry, but we do know that in order to come to our house you have to be able to climb trees." "Oh, well," said Barrington. "Merry Christmas." "Merry Christmas," chattered the squirrels. And the unfortunate bunny hopped off toward his tiny house.

It was beginning to snow when Barrington reached the river. Near the river bank was wonderfully constructed house of sticks and mud. Inside there was singing.

"It's the beavers," thought Barrington. "Maybe they will let me come to their Party." And so he knocked on the door.

"Who's out there?" called a voice.

"Barrington Bunny," he replied.

There was a long pause and then a shiny beaver head broke the water.

"Hello, Barrington," said the beaver.

"May I come to your Christmas party?" asked Barrington.

The beaver thought for awhile and then he said, "I suppose so. Do you know how to swim?"

"No," said Barrington, "but I can hop and I am very furry and warm."

"Sorry," said the beaver. "I don't know anything about hopping and being furry, but I do know that in order to come to our house you have to be able to swim."

"Oh, well," Barrington muttered, his eyes filling with tears. "I suppose that's true--Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas," called the beaver. And he disappeared beneath the surface of the water. Even being as furry as he was, Barrington was beginning to get cold. And the snow was falling so hard that his tiny, bunny eyes could scarcely see what was ahead of him.

He was almost home, however, when he heard the excited squeaking of field mice beneath the ground.

"It's a party," thought Barrington. And suddenly he blurted out through his tears, "Hello, field mice. This is Barrington Bunny. May I come to your party?" But the wind was howling so loudly and Barrington was sobbing so much that no on heard him.

And when there was no response at all, Barrington just sat down in the snow and began to cry with all his might.

"Bunnies," he thought, "aren't any good to anyone. What good is it to be furry and to be able to hop if you don't have any family on Christmas Eve?"

Barrington cried and cried. When he stopped crying he began to bite on his bunny's foot, but he did not move from where he was sitting in the snow.

Suddenly, Barrington was aware that he was not alone. He looked up and strained his shiny eyes to see who was there.

To his surprise he was a great silver wolf. The wolf was large and strong and his eyes flashed fire. He was the most beautiful animal Barrington had ever seen. For a long time the silver wolf didn't say anything at all. He just stood there and looked at Barrington with those terrible eyes.

Then slowly and deliberately the wolf spoke. "Barrington," he asked in a gentle voice, "Why are you sitting in the snow?"

Barrington replied, "Because it is Christmas Eve and I don't have any family and bunnies aren't any good."

"Bunnies are good," said the wolf. "Bunnies can hop and they are very warm."

"What good is that ?" Barrington sniffed.

"It is very good indeed," the wolf went on, "because it is a gift that bunnies are given, a free gift with no strings attached. And every gift that is given to anyone is given for a reason. Someday you will see why it is good to hop and to be warm and furry."

"But it's Christmas," moaned Barrington, "and I'm all alone. I don't have any family at all."

"Of course you do," replied the great silver wolf. "All of the animals in the forest are your family." And then the wolf disappeared. He simply wasn't there.

Barrington had only blinked his eyes, and when he looked-- the wolf was gone.

"All of the animals in the forest are my family," thought Barrington. "It's good to be a bunny. Bunnies can hop. That's a gift. A free gift."

On into the night Barrington worked. First he found the best sticks that he could. (and that was difficult because of the snow.) Then hop. Hop. Hippity-hop. To beaver's house. He left the sticks just outside the door. With a note on them that read: A free gift. No strings attached. Signed, a member of your family."

"It is a good thing that I can hop," he thought, "because the snow is very deep."

Then Barrington dug and dug. Soon he had gathered together enough dead leaves and grass to make the squirrels nest warmer. Hop. Hop. Hippity-hop. He laid the grass and the leaves just under the large oak tree and attached this message: "A gift. A free gift. From a member of your family."

It was late when Barrington finally started home. And what made things worse was that he knew a blizzard was beginning.

Hop. Hop. Hippity-hop. Soon poor Barrington was lost. The wind howled furiously, and it was very, very cold. "It certainly is cold," he said out loud. "It's a good thing I'm so furry. But if I don't find my way home pretty soon even I might freeze!"

And then he saw it-- a baby field mouse lost in the snow. and the little mouse was crying.

"Hello, little mouse," Barrington called.

"Don't cry. I'll be right there." Hippity-hop, and Barrington was beside the tiny mouse.

"I'm lost,: sobbed the little fellow. "I'll never find my way home, and I know I'm going to freeze."

"You won't freeze," said Barrington. "I'm a bunny and bunnies are very furry and warm. You stay right where you are and I'll cover you up."

Barrington had only two thoughts that long, cold night. First he thought, "It's good to be a bunny. Bunnies are very furry and warm." And then, when he felt the heart of the tiny mouse beneath him beating regularly, he thought, "All of the animals in the forest are my family."

Next morning, the field mice found their little baby, asleep in the snow, warm and snug beneath the furry carcass of a dead bunny. Their relief and excitement was so great that they didn't even think to question where the bunny had come from.

And as for the beavers and the squirrels, they still wonder which member of their family left the little gifts for them that Christmas Eve.

After the field mice had left, Barrington's frozen body simply lay in the snow. There was no sound except that of the howling wind. and no one any where in the forest noticed the great silver wolf who came to stand beside that brown, lop-eared carcass.

But the wolf did come.

And he stood there.

Without moving or saying a word.

All Christmas Day.

Until it was night.

And then he disappeared into the forest.

"This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?" This is the question that those who hear Jesus' sermon and the "Bread of Life" discourse ask when Jesus is done talking. "I'm sorry. Would you repeat that?" In good Jewish fashion, Jesus responds with a question, "Does this offend you?"

The Gospel is difficult. It is by definition hard to articulate and for many, hard to understand. It is hard to live. We have spent the last several weeks stomping around in these words...miracles and generosity, justice as grace and injustice as sin, we have spoken of memories of a day long ago in Japan and perhaps given it a new context in the Kingdom of God. Now Jesus asks us if we can stomach it. Now Jesus wants to know what we are made of. But here it is important to not fall into the trap of assuming that there is some kind of Christian machismo at work.

Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. So Jesus asked the twelve, "Do you also wish to go away?"

Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe that you are the Holy One of God."

Peter's answer is not a courageous answer like we would think of courage...it is simply a proclamation of truth...of a relationship perceived and understood. It is the recognition of a gift. Where else would he go when he found God standing before him?

Paul once again tries to redefine things we know. This is always his great task. This time it is a suit of armor, signs of might and of a warrior's courage. But now that courage is transformed and points somewhere else. It points to truth, righteousness, salvation, the Holy Spirit and the readiness to proclaim a gospel of peace. It is a mystery, Paul says, and it takes a certain boldness to proclaim it. Paul asks the Epesians to pray for him, that he might always be bold enough.

This boldness proclaims what simply is. Like Simon Peter, God stands before Paul and he must proclaim what he knows. Why would he do anything else?

Barrington exhibits the kind of courage of which Peter and Paul speak. He does not think of his death. That is hardly on his mind at all. He simply sees what is before him. There is a cold mouse. Barrington is furry and warm. The mouse is family. The act is a gift...simple, with no strings attached. By simply being who he is, Barrington gives the greatest gift of all. He gives the mouse life.

It is not about what he receives. Barrington is afraid he has nothing to give and discovers that he has much to give...

What fear there is in proclamation, what fear there is in charity, what fear there is in thinking that we are worthless, that we have nothing to give is actually quelled in the giving...in the courage to take action upon our compassion.

This is how we stand before God.
This is how we put on the armor of Christ.

Amen.

for tomorrow's sermon

When I was in seminary (O, so long ago!) I absolutely fell in love with Bonhoeffer. Yes, it's true. I am one of those theological lemmings. What I liked about Bonhoeffer was that he understood Christian Ethics and righteous action to be something different than a glorified purity code. We Christians are oft enticed by purity codes, liturgical, social, institutional, congregational purity codes. We want to be right. Bonhoeffer always pushed the envelope suggesting that Christianity is more complicated than that. It does contain right action. Certainly. There is a thing called purity and a thing called perfection. But he always caged it in terms of "being." This quotation from Meister Eckhart appeared in my e-mail box this morning.

People should think less about what they ought to do and
more about what they ought to be. If only their being were
good, their works would shine forth brightly. Do not imagine
that you can ground your salvation upon actions; it must rest
on what you are. The ground upon which good character rests is
the very same ground from which man's work derives its value,
namely, a mind wholly turned to God. Verily, if you were so
minded, you might tread on a stone and it would be a more
pious work than if you, simply for your own profit, were to
receive the Body of the Lord and were wanting in spiritual
detachment.
... Meister Eckhart (1260?-1327?)

This is a mystic's way of getting at the same theological quandry. I love it. I also see a connection between this and Barrington Bunny's brand of courage. You see, if our will is that of God's, then courage is even something misplaced. Surely, most if not all of us will struggle with this kind of "being" Christian. Even Christ wrestles with his fate. But was it an act of courage to follow through...an effort of Jesus' own will to be crucified? Or, in stead, was it simply a turning over, a submission to God that simply led Jesus to the cross? I am thinking that it was much more the latter. Barrington did not perform some great act of courage like Superman. He did not exert his own will. He simply was. It is a difficult line of thought to tread...and more difficult to articulate. Eckhart does it well, I think. So does Barrington.

freaky friday...

Today will be a busy day. I arrived at the office at 7am. I have to pick up a friend from the airport at 11:30/12:00. I have to visit someone from the church at 3:00. Tonight is social. Tomorrow is very busy with stuff for Reconciler. Sunday I am preaching and supplying the music for an outdoor service at CCW. Then there is the service at Reconciler that night. I am glad I went away. Otherwise I think I would have a meltdown with all that I have to do. Oy veh. Okay, I am going to take out the mail now. My Admin Goddess is away in Peru. I think I'll get a coffee beverage while I am out.

Adieu!

benedict-ing in the woods

My time with the Benedictines at St Gregory's Abbey was tremendous. I am not sure what I can really say about it without going through some long retelling of the whole weekend. But that would bore you all to tears. Well, let me try it this way. The following is the daily schedule I was given:

4:00 a.m. Matins

6:00 Lauds - Breakfast (at any time fater Matins until 7:30)

8:15 Terce, Mass, Chapter, Work Period

11:30 Sext

12:00 p.m. Lunch, Rest Period

2:00 None, Work Period

4:30 Tea

5:00 Vespers and Meditation

6:00 Supper

7:45 Compline

I arrived just at lunch on Monday. I slept through Matins on Tuesday morning. That was a choice. I was sleeping so well and that has been a rare thing for me lately. I heard the bells for prayer and ignored them hoping that the Guest Master would be kind and let me sleep. I did make it the next morning. It is a lovely service, quiet and gracefully asks for the sun to rise on our day and for the Son to rise in our lives.

The campus is huge...well, larger than I expected. There are only eight brothers right now. They have some programs to help[ them grow, but monasticism has suffered some serious lows in Anglicanism...like the crown sacking and pillaging monasteries in England. But that is another stoy.

I spent the work periods working on my thesis. I wrote ten new pages and rearranged some of the other stuff. It was a good use of my time. The brothers have a great library with enought Calvin and more than enough Chrysostom to keep me busy. You know, Calvin really loved that guy.

I pretty much had the place to myself the first day and evening. The next day a retreat group came in...two really, so six new people. It is a small world, that Episcopal Church. The priest that brought her group of retreatants is someone I went to school with and one of her group sold me and Trish an antique on our Honeymoon two years ago. Remarkable! Small world! Serendipity. Wow. It was nice to find these familiar faces. As much as I was enjoying myself, it was feeling quite alien...well, everything but the liturgy.

Chanting the Psalms is something I would like to do every day. I really would. My time in seminary instilled the love for it. The time at St Gregory's only served to remind me how much I love it and need it in my life.

The most moving moment for me was Compline my first night. At the end of the service the abbot reminded us of our Baptismal vows...and God's promise by sprinking water on us. I had forgotten about that part of the service until he pulled out the aspergilium. Lovely. I don't know why exactly, but it literally brought tears to my eyes. Amazing.

Well, that should be enough for now. I need to do more work. I have a week's worth of stuff to do in a day and a half.

Pax!

sermonitic musings

Ephesians 6:10-20
6:10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. 6:11 Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 6:12 For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 6:13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. 6:14 Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. 6:15 As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. 6:16 With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 6:17 Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 6:18 Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints. 6:19 Pray also for me, so that when I speak, a message may be given to me to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, 6:20 for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it boldly, as I must speak.

I am thinking about my sermon for Sunday. I think I will tell a story about Biblical courage. I think I have it on a bookshelf at home. You probably know the story of Barrington Bunny. We are celebrating outside on Sunday and I want to keep everything relaxed somehow and I think a so-called proper sermon may be too heavy handed. I think I might read Barrington Bunny to talk about courage.

Too much? What do you all think?

benedictine mean time...

I am back. The monastery was wonderful. I'll write about it tomorrow sometime. Now I need to unpack and check all those e-mails. I am sure that the Vioxx people have missed me.

a quick turn...

Well, Northern Virginia/DC/Baltimore-ish was loverly. I'll try to fill you in later. Suffice it to say that my friends are hitched, I sat on the plane next to a guy named, get this, Tripp. Yeah. He and I share the nickname. I so love home.

I am off in the morning to the monestary. So, here are a couple of things to get you through until then.

Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the
kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father
who is in heaven.
-- Matthew 7:21 (ESV)

_______________________________________________________________

Quotation:
However important it may be to have a creed that is sound,
or an emotion that is warm, the Christian life according to
the Gospels is primarily determined by the direction of the
will, the fixing of the desire, the habit of obedience, the
faculty of decision. If you are determined in your purpose, if
you have the will to do the Will, then with half a creed and
less than half a pious ecstasy, you are at least in the line
of the purpose of Jesus Christ; and as you will to do His
will, may come some day to know the teaching.
... R. G. Peabody

And for the more monastic among you...

For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices
of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O
God, you will not despise.
-- Psalm 51:16-17 (ESV)

_______________________________________________________________

Quotation:
And now be careful to be found a wise and faithful
servant, and communicate the heavenly bread to your fellow
servants without envy or idleness. Do not take up the vain
excuse of your rawness of inexperience which you may imagine
or assume. For sterile modesty is never pleasing, nor that
humility laudable which passes the bounds of reason. Attend to
your work; drive out bashfulness by a sense of duty, and act
as a master... But I am not sufficient for these things, you
say. As if your offering were not accepted from what you have,
and not from what you have not. Be prepared to answer for the
single talent committed to your charge, and take no thought
for the test... For he that is unjust in the least is unjust
also in much. Give all, as assuredly you shall pay to the
uttermost farthing; but of a truth out of what you have, not
what you have not.
... St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1091-1153)

I'll post the sermons from this weekend when I return. Yesterday went well enough. I thought that tonight's was lots of fun. I preached at Reconciler. But I must hie me to a bed now. Until later...

a prayer

I am going out of town for a while...to Baltimore to marry off some friends. I will return Sunday. Monday I am off to a three day retreat...hangin' with the Benedictines. This would normally be very good news, but things at church have gotten busy...administratively and pastorally. I can very willingly walk from the administrivia for a bit. It can wait. But this is the first time I have been away while there are pastoral needs. Ah, the life of the pastor. Joy, O rapture unforseen!

This is another day, O Lord. I know not what it will bring, but make me ready, Lord, for whatever it may be. If I am to stand up, help me to stand bravely. If I am to sit still, help me to sit quietly. If I am to lie low, help me to do it patiently. And if I am to do nothing, let me do it galantly. Make these words more than words, and give me the Spirit of Jesus. Amen. (p. 461 BCP)

lest we forget...

Not all o fthe SBC was/is conservative.

One of the most outspoken and legendary liberals in Southern Baptist life has died.

William Wallace Finlator "thought the German theologian Karl Barth was right that a preacher should preach with a Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other," his son, Raleigh, N.C., lawyer Wallace Finlator Jr., told the Raleigh News & Observer. "He thought of himself as imitating Jesus, and trying to bring justice to the poor and peace to the world."(link)

This guy was someone my step-grandfather would speak of. And the Barth quotation is magical to me.

Peace and all good things to you, Pastor. May God receive you in Love and uphold your family in their grief.

a poem

Tota Scriptura Est

"sola scriptura"
By scripture alone
    am I to know God.
And yet holy scripture
opens me to the world
    and God writ large.
Would I rather say,
"tota scriptura est!"
Through the Risen Word
was the world made-
    a sacred punctuation,
    holy syntax
A strange essay where
the beginning, the middle
    and the end
are all One...Alpha,
                        Omega,
                            (a cruciform revision)
and a living, breathing thesis.

I wrote this.  I don't know why.

I was speaking with a friend about his poetry and I thought I would try this out. It is not easy and it could use a little revision itself. But here you are. Maybe I'll tinker with it and post again.

missed opportunity

Huh.

June 25th was my "blogiversary." Five years...wow. Anglobaptist.org has only been around since December 1, 2003. That is still respectable in blog years, however, and I don't knock it.

This was my first post:

Monday, June 25, 2001
Dear God, what have we wrought? So, Rich and Sarah have these pages, and being the ecclesiastical lemming, I had to join in. So, what does a guy say? It could be an interesting Ride for the next few years. School should be a blast. Be ye warned! Inane goofiness and general spiritual mayhem abounds.

mando-doxy?

Or is it ortho-lin? My mandolin teacher today made a comparison between his job and mine. "You see," he said, "I assume that you have been trained in interpretation, history, perhaps languages and other disciplines appropriate to your field. Ideally this makes you a patient teacher, prepared to make that slow journey to help someone eliminate bad spiritual habits."

"Um, sure." I responded.

"Well, that is how I understand my job. I am here to teach you mandolin orthodoxy."

A couple of weeks ago he also shook his head after I botched a new picking pattern and said "If the right hand offends..."

Yeah, I am pretty much in heaven right now.

monday linkage and random insomniac musings

Good morning to one and all. It is 5:30am and I have been up since 4:00am. No, I have had no caffeine. Likely it is something else in my diet like sugar. Typically, diet is the reason I cannot sleep. But in the end, the reason only matters a little. I only care that I cannot sleep more than five hours at a shot. *whine* Trish and I are trying to get in a regular workout schedule. It is supposed to be a MWF morning thing. But this morning I went to wake her and she was so tired we agreed to try again tonight. This is a slippery slope to say the least. So, I guess I will nap and prepare something light and easy for dinner tonight. I also have to fix our bikes, practice my mandolin and go to my lesson. Maybe I should go back to sleep.

Okay, so here are some links for you...

Jane Ellen posted her sermon.
Ref+ posted his.
Micah spent some time preaching Elijah.
The Sacristan preached on diet and burgers.
Joel is also experimenting with liturgy. I love it when Baptists liturgize.
I am hoping AKMA will post his sermon today.
Here is a link to Dylan's helpful hints to yesterday's lectionary.
For the philosophical, Geoff is posting on Levinas.
Mike is going to review a new book.
Tim Youmans posted about the myriad reasons not to get ordained.
Amy went to church. It sounds like it has been a while.

www.cartoonchurch.com

I have been seeing the above cartoon online from time to time of late. It is interesting and just a little funny. I wonder if anyone has statistics on this movement from the charismatic to the liturgical in the US context. I ask because I think that there may be just as many people going the other way. But I would not know where to begin to look.

I linked to a couple of sermons above. My sermon went well enough yesterday. I must confess that I thought it could have been better, but the comments were extremely positive both after church and in the comment section of the blog. Thanks, Jorge. Heh. I'll leave the comment as it is...with the requisite PG-13 or R rating. Jorge, I thought of you yesterday...wore our hat. How you been? Fire off an e-mail if you get the chance.

food, glorious food...a sermon

Last night Trish and I had dinner with some old friends. For me there is little better than dinner with old friends. We went out to a local Indian joint that we all love very much. It was a great time to catch up and check in. Susan is very pregnant. She is due in a matter of days. Julian is hanging in there and being supportive. He clearly takes great joy in his wife. He also just returned from England a month or so ago. He has family there. It is fun to get the family gossip from him. That is a colorful bunch. Why is it that other people's families are colorful when our own may simply be annoying? Ah, that is another sermon.

One of the things I like about Julian is his intense interest in what his friends are doing, how their lives are. So, he asked Trish how her life has been with the new job and the new home and the move. He asked me the same. He also asked me about my sermon. So, if you ever get a chance to meet him, you can either thank him or blame him for mornings like this one.
That's unfair. I rarely work on my sermons on my own. I am always distilling my thoughts through conversations with friends and colleagues, with people at church. This is often how I encounter Christ.
...

When I was in seminary I managed to get a job working for a local catering company. The owner, Pat, proved to be one of the more influential people I met during my time at school.

I had some experience working in kitchens. So, the summer after my first year of school I applied for and got the job working with the seminary's doctoral program. The doctoral students come for one month out of the summer for an intensive series. I did everything from making coffee and putting out snacks to preparing breakfast, lunch and dinner for them. Now, I could not have done this alone. A caterer was hired as well. Pat's company supplied a lot of the nuts and bolts of what we ate. And we ended up working hand in hand all summer. By the time the doctoral students were gone for the year she had asked me to help her in her kitchens.

At the time I thought it was because I was a capable kitchen hand. I mean, I am no great chef. You won't see me on the Food Network with Alton Brown...though I still dream about that...but I am useful. In retrospect, however, I now understand that something else motivated Pat. She knew I was in graduate school and could use the work. And as I began to work for her more frequently, I slowly grew to understand how often that kindness motivated why she hired anyone at all.
There was a motley crew of people like me working for Pat who simply needed the work, needed a hand. There was Sammy who seemed to be working three jobs all the time. Mary Ann was recently married and her husband was out of work. She and Kevin both worked for Pat. Karin was also in graduate school. And the list could go on. There were more people hired because they needed some money to keep themselves afloat than I can count. And you would think that this would lead to chaos and poor catering. It did the exact opposite.

It led to loyalty and mutual feelings of love and affection. It meant that most of us worked our tails off to make sure that the business succeeded. After a time, Pat could simply leave us with the menues for six parties. She would simply arrive at the kitchen at a certain time and we would have them ready for her to deliver.

There was always enough work.
She never turned me down when I needed the money.
She never turned me away when I needed the help.
She never sent me home without a little extra tip in my pocket, food in a container and a bottle of wine for my wife.
There was always extra.
There was always more.

During times of unemployment, breaks in school and summer field ed she was always there with hours to work and food to prepare. She was a good caterer and a good boss because she worked under the assumption of generosity. There will always be more than enough work and food to go around. There was always enough love and trust.

John's Gospel this morning is yet one more installment in a series...and there are two more weeks beyond this one. What we have been listening to over the last few weeks (and will continue to study) is a sermon that Jesus gave after feeding the five thousand on the hillside. Thus, it makes some sense then to talk about dinners with friends and working for a caterer. We have spoken over the last couple of weeks about miracles and meaning-making and how the context for our lives and all of the events great and small are within the Gospel itself and not the other way around. And today we again see God's generosity.

God's generosity is to be praised. God's acts of generosity to the world are found in the person of Jesus, the Bread of Life. If there is generosity to be had it is through relationship with Jesus, who is God.
Phil Streeter, an English author and poet calls the feeding of the five thousand to be "Sheer extravagance."

"Sheer extravagance!" It is indeed. There are no words, not really, to describe what John is trying to describe to us. Jesus is more than a nice guy. He is more than a prophet. He is more than the son of Mary and Joseph. Like the people in the Gospel story this morning, we can get hung up in those debates ourselves. But no, Jesus is the Son of God. He is the Bread of Life.

Eating with Christ, feeding on him, overcomes all division.
Eating with Christ, feeding on him is an introduction to God.
Eating with Christ, feeding on him, brings about the end of Death.
This is the context of the Church. This is the backbone of the faith.

Thus, in Ephesians Paul is not simply stating some good ideas around communal responsibility and anger management, though he is. These ideas have a context, a context and an understanding of the nature of a community...perhaps the individual community that was in Ephesus and the nature of the community that is the Church. There are assumed virtues filling in the blanks, the spaces where explanation is needed. Paul's letters don't ever really deliver a systematic theology as much as they illuminate the nature of community. They are letters. They are relational. Paul may be praying for friendship...and writing as if to write to friends he has not seen in months or years.

Paul understands that the church is the Body of Christ. The Church is, once again, that person standing on the hillside having fed the multitudes, the miracle worker. Paul also understands that it is much more complicated than that. We, the church, are both the recipients of the heavenly Bread of Christ and the agents of it. We are the Bread of Heaven because we have received the same grace.

Paul knows this. It is what he knows of God that gives him the will to claim people he has not yet met as brothers and sisters, to challenge them and to admire them.

And this is why we work out our anger in the ways he suggests. We are all of the one Body.
We do not steal because there is really nothing else we need.
We don't hold grudges.
We don't live in bitterness.

Why? Because we have already received grace. We have more than enough. We simply need to give to the world the Love of God which we received through Christ.

This is how I began to understand my time with Pat. Pat closed down her business about a week before you all called me here for the candidating weekend. We all gathered at her place. It was great to be surrounded by these people. The food was fabulous. Pat had me help her in the kitchen. There was beer and wine...and some swanky gormet soda "for the Baptist pastor. We don't want him feeling left out!"
The assumptions that Pat worked under are Gospel assumptions. There is always enough. Scarcity is a lie. Give and you shall receive. And we always have plenty to give.

Last night at dinner, Julian asked me if my sermon was ready. I laughed. Sadly, they are rarely ready on Saturday night. I may mull over them all week, reading and researching, but I tend to get up early on Sunday morning to get it all together. But it was a joy to me that he asked. His willingness to work this stuff through with me is one of the things I treasure about my relationship with him.

I am always amazed when I get together with good friends after some time. You may recognize the phenomenon yourself. You know how it goes. You have not spoken in months. There is that initial joy and awkwardness of getting back on track. Perhaps you wonder if you will still enjoy their company and they yours. But then things slowly come back together. And in a a few moments you are back where you were the last time you saw them. The intervening time is overcome by something...something intangible. You simply know one another well enough to fill in all the blanks. The power of the relationship still carries. It is a joyful and generous thing. You know one anothers foibles and failures, successes and virtues. And this intimacy seems to overcome almost any length of time.

I see this reality in my life as a sign of what Paul and John are trying to express. I see that intimacy as the generosity of Christ, as a manifestation of Heavenly Bread. I see last night's dinner as a continuation of the meal on the hillside. In the mystery of coming back together, of renegotiating our friendship, I find the Bread of Heaven.

So, there we sat, the four of us working on my sermon, processing through ideas and thoughts...
...perhaps enjoying a little Bread with our dinner.

Amen.

more sermon thoughts

So, I read some of Steve Fowl's stuff per AKMA's post. It was helpful. What is interesting is Fowl's idea of interpretation being "word-care." So, if Jesus is the living Word through which the world was spoken into being, then what we say matters more than what we know. But in the middle of the Ephesians passage is this bit about stealing. How does it fit in? Well, economics! Of course! Duh.

Wah!?

No, Jesus. You are by no means economical. Even the picnic on the hill resulted in twelve baskets full of left-overs. It wasn't six bottles of well-water that you turned into wine, but SIX THIRTY-GALLON stone jars full. Once again, sheer extravagance!- Phil Streeter

This is the nature of the church. The moralization that Paul expresses to the believers in Ephasus have more to do with the overarching genrosity of God than it has to do with right behavior for its own sake. Paul is trying to give examples of how that generosity might look in our day-to-day living.

Regarding the stealing, Fowl also reminds us of some of Calvin and Luther's ideas. It is not your basic pursesnatcher who needs rehabilitation. Calvin and Luther use the wider context of the letter to say that the church has to be aware of how it treats itself...its business dealings, the way it understands money and the economy in general. It must always assume God's generosity. Thus stealing of any kind, misdealing, cutthroat practices have no place in the church not just because they may be unkind but because they deny Christ. They are fearful actions. They express a fear of scarcity...when the very promise of the Kingdom is God's own generosity. It may not look like a mansion on Maui, but we may find ourselves cared for in the most extravagant ways...loved in unimaginable ways.

The trick to this for me is remembering that those of us who populate the Body (the world per John's prologue) are both recipients and agents of this same generosity.

satreday glee

Today is a beautiful day. It just is. Friends spent the night. We just finished having breakfast on the back porch. I will finish my sermon this afternoon. And tonight Trish and I will enjoy Indian food with some other friends. Lovely. It is just lovely.

Thank you, God, for such days.

fragmentation

What is it that pulls us apart? What is it that drives a wedge between people. Clearly there are millions of answers to this question. I have been mulling through my sermon fir this Sunday. It is still percolating. Oy. I know a few people have had some success in pulling their thoughts together. AKMA has been hard at work. So too has the Ref+. I keep finding myself clinging to the words of the desert mothers and fathers. My own words do not come.

A brother asked, 'I have found a place where my peace is not disturbed by the brethren; do you advise me to live there?' Abba Poeman replied,'The place for you is where you will not harm the brothers.

This word is interesting to me. We choose how and where we live in terms of how we best serve one another. Our own benefit is either secondary or not in the equation at all.

Abba Anthony said, 'Our life and our death are with our neighbor. If we gain our brother, we have gained our God; but if we scandalize our brother, we have sinned against Christ.

The growth and maintenance of the community is essential. This is no utopian dream, however. We have to remember that. The desert monastics did not necessarily escape the world in search of utopian dreams. They were in search of Christ. They often discovered that Christ is found in the relationships that made up the monestary or the village.

Amma Syncletica said, 'We ought to govern our souls with discression and to remain in the community, neither following our own will nor seeking our own good. We are like exiles: we have been separated from the things of this world and have given ourselves in one faith to the Father. We need nothing of what we have left behind. There we had reputation and plenty to eat; here we have little to eat and little of everything else.

This is a quotation that reminds me of how distrustful of the world some of the monastics were. But that aside, the wisdom in this passage is clear. When we gather together, do we gather in order to secure our station? Are we looking for casual embetterment? Is the Church a rung in the societal ladder? No. Of course it is not. What we are looking for is our salvation. It is not to be social in the sense of establishing station but to be relational. To be one Body in prayer for one another, to worship. We neigher "follow our own will nor seek our own good." This is a radical way of living.

The Reformation did away with the monastery. There was some wisdom in that to many. There still is to many. The congregation and the small parrish village was to be the monestary. Akin to the priesthood of all believers elevating the people and not lowering the priesthood, so too was making the world a monastery. The witness of intentional Christian community can be a fabulous one. But intentionality is the key...and the intention is the salvation of one another. Thus the loss of a brother or sister from the fold due to scandal or strife is that much more tragic.

From Ephesians...4:25 So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors, for we are members of one another. 4:26 Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 4:27 and do not make room for the devil. 4:28 Thieves must give up stealing; rather let them labor and work honestly with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy. 4:29 Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. 4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. 4:31 Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, 4:32 and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.

5:1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children,5:2 and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

working from home

As some of you may recall, I made an executive decision at CCW. It was my first. Very exciting, very heady stuff! The office will be closed on Fridays in August. So far this has been good for the church, I think. I, sadly, have not been able to figure out how to not have to work on Friday. I am home now and am working at the dining room table. The home office is not yet unpacked. I have a sermon to write and many e-mails to answer. Oy, rest is an elusive thing. I find that golf is a great thing...thus yesterdays game...but I need to be more intentional.

That being said, I would encourage you all to go to this post at the RevGalBlogPals. It is about rest and transitions. They have a feature where you can mail in questions to the "Matriarchs." I did last week and they used my question. I wanted to know the following:

I am in my very first senior pastor position. And, amazingly, this is the very first time that I have climbed up a rung in the career of my choice in quite some time. So, now I am somewhat sleepless trying to manage all the new responsibilities.

What day-to-day practices can you suggest to keep the transitional insanity to a minimum? What practical and spiritual disciplines have assisted you in such a transition?

The responses they have are lovely. Several people chimed in. I encourage you to check it out. Now all I need to do is figure out how to incorporate it into my daily life. That is the trick for me. If I can ritualize a thing, I am golden.

How about you?

108

I shot 42 on the front nine and significantly moreso on the back nine. Ah well. What limited game I have falls apart on the back nine. It just does. But golfing with Rev. Doug Harris from North Shore is a great joy. We spent the day talking about stuff...just catching up and using profanity. This is what golf provides: an opportunity to both catch up with an old friend and an opportunity to try out those newly acquired profanities. Lovely!

Sermon preparation continues apace. Ref+ is having some trouble getting inspired. I have the glimmer of inspiration, but it feels tenuous. I am hopeful, however, that I have a sermon worth the vocation.

Jesus did not pretend the past had never happened, but He seemed to find ways of not letting it be the end. - Celtic Daily Prayer

sermon thoughts

When you read the words "I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh." (Jn. 6:51) What do you think about? I have to say that this is likely one of the verses that I instinctively "get" but at the same time have to translate into something I understand. It is not a question of literalism or inerrancy or anything like that. Though I do sometimes encounter these verses and in the back of my mind is some kind of "repent or Die!" slogan from a bad movie about the Spanish Inquisition. Anyway...

What do you hear? Are these words from Jesus meaningful to you at all? I have some ideas of how to play in them that are inspired from the Ephesians 4:25-5:2 reading for this weekend. Both texts are in the lectionary. Strangely I have has a tune from Sting that won't leave me alone when I read it - Brand New Day.

How many of you people out there
Been hurt in some kind of love affair
And how many times do you swear that you'll never love again?

How many lonely, sleepless nights
How many lies, how many fights
And why would you want to put yourself through all that again?

"Love is pain," I hear you say
Love has a cruel and bitter way
Of paying you back for all the faith you ever had in your brain

How could it be that what you need the most
Can leave you feeling just like a ghost?
You never want to feel so sad and lost again

One day you could be looking
Through an old book in rainy weather
You see a picture of her smiling at you
When you were still together
You could be walking down the street
And who should you chance to meet
But that same old smile that you've been thinking of all day

You can turn the clock to zero, honey
I'll sell the stock, we'll spend all the money
We're starting up a brand new day

Turn the clock all the way back
I wonder if she'll take me back
I'm thinking in a brand new way

Turn the clock to zero, sister
You'll never know how much I missed her
Starting up a brand new day

Turn the clock to zero, boss
The river's wide, we'll swim across
Started up a brand new day

It could happen to you - just like it happened to me
There's simply no immunity - there's no guarantee
I say love's such a force - if you find yourself in it
And sometimes no reflection is there

Baby wait a minute, wait a minute
Wait a minute, wait a minute
Wait a minute, wait a minute

Turn the clock to zero, honey
I'll sell the stock, we'll spend all the money
We're starting up a brand new day

Turn the clock to zero, Mac
I'm begging her to take me back
I'm thinking in a brand new way

Turn the clock to zero, boss
The river's wide, we'll swim across
Started up a brand new day

Turn the clock to zero buddy
Don't wanna be no fuddy duddy
Started up a brand new day

I'm the rhythm in your tune
I'm the sun and you're the moon
I'm a bat and you're the cave
You're the beach and I'm the wave
I’m the plow and you’re the land
You're the glove and I'm the hand
I'm the train and you're the station
I'm a flagpole to your nation - yeah

Stand up all you lovers in the world
Stand up and be counted every boy and every girl
Stand up all you lovers in the world
Starting up a brand new day

I'm the present to your future
You're the wound and I’m the suture
You're the magnet to my pole
I'm the devil in your soul
You're the pupil I'm the teacher
You're the church and I'm the preacher
You're the flower I'm the rain
You're the tunnel I'm the train

Stand up all you lovers in the world
Stand up and be counted every boy and every girl
Stand up all you lovers in the world
Starting up a brand new day

You're the crop to my rotation
You're the sum of my equation
I'm the answer to your question
If you follow my suggestion
We can turn this ship around
We'll go up instead of down
You're the pan and I'm the handle
You're the flame and I'm the candle

Stand up all you lovers in the world
Stand up and be counted every boy and every girl
Stand up all you lovers in the world
We're starting up a brand new day

Though Sting's tune is about romance, I am thinking of the love that Christ proclaims by the statement in John. I think it is transformative, as Ephesians suggests. It is relational, thus the participatory nature of the choice inferred by the John passage and the thinly veiled moralism in Paul's epistle. It takes work, it assumes some communal standing, and it assumes that we relate to Jesus in our efforts toward salvation and wholeness.

Well, that's what I'm thinking. You?

a wee update of sorts...

The University would like to welcome its newest faculty member. In the spirit of linking to people with whom we often debate, we welcome John Beeler. He has been appointed to the William S. Burroughs Chair for Catho-peacenik Studies and Beat Poetry. It is an honor to have him in our midst to correct, cajole and confuse! Blessed be.

In honor of his addition to our faculty, we offer this quotation from J. H. Thom.

The real corrupters of society may be, not the corrupt, but those who have held back the righteous leaven, the salt that has lost its savor, the innocent who have not even the moral courage to show what they think of the effontery of impurity, - the serious, who yet timidly succumb before some loud-voiced scoffer, - the heart trembling all over with religious sensibilities that yet suffers itself through false shame to be beaten down into outward and practical acquiescence by some rude and worldly nature.

Thus is the tenor of debate and our hope for the future.

hardly hapless

You don't know it, but this is just what you have been waiting for! It is a cooking podcast! Yes, I know, you cannot believe it. What bliss! What joy! What manna from heaven! Indeed.

So, get ye to Ronnie and Eddie. Download the most recent podcast and hear me and my wife prattle about things. In spite of our appearance, the show turned out really well. The hosts take you through the shopping process, cooking process and then the meal. It is a bit random, but that is the charm. So, check out the podcast.

a baptist anaphora...of a kind

The Eucharist

 

Invitation:

 

[Christ] came among us as a compassionate Shepherd, bringing healing and wholeness into human lives and relationships.  He turned no one away from his ministry, not even those who disagreed with him, and he even shared table fellowship with the outcasts.  He brought people to deeper levels of faith and wholeness within themselves, opened up new possibilities for building community, and led people into new and deeper relationships with their God.  He is the Lamb of God, victorious over the evil forces of chaos.[i]  This is his table.  It does not belong to us.  All who wish to strive with God are invited. 

 

Institution Narrative:

 

1 Cor. 11:23-26

 

Bread: 

 

The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?[ii]

 

As this bread was scattered over the mountains, and when brought together became one, so let your Church be brought together from the ends of the Earth into your kingdom[iii].  

 

Cup:

 

The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ?[iv]

 

We give thanks to you, our [Lord], for the holy vine of your servant David, which you made known to us through your child Jesus; glory to you for evermore[v].

 

Peace:

 

The peace of the Lord be always with you.

Greet one another with a sign of peace.

glitch

There seems to have been a bit of a glitch in the ether. Things are running again at AngloBaptist.org. I'll post something later.

sermon notes and general bemusings: sacred story

Sometimes I wonder if I will always be finishing my sermons at six o'clock in the morning. I certainly hope not. Well, you are welcome to poke around in my musings. I am using the blog this morning as a place to organize my thoughts. Dunno why, but there you have it. I guess it feels more like a conversation. Anyway, have at it. Share your opinions and thoughts.

Lectionary: Exodus 16:2-4, 9-15 and John 6:24-35...I use the NRSV.
References used: New Interpreter's Bible Commentary on John and alos for the Exodus passage. Sacra Pagina: The Gospel of John by Francis J Moloney, S.D.B. This guy is a genius. It is a good read. American Baptist Quarterly 1985, issue four...There is an article by Joseph Cardinal Bernadin on Peace that I find helpful for what I am trying to accomplish today. Finally, since it is Communion Sunday, I thought I would open up Prayers of the Eucharist: Early and Reformed by Jasper and Cuming.

I was listening to NPR earlier this week. There was an interview with a military pundit who was suggesting that the current strife in Iraq, Lebanon, and Afghanistan would best be understood as WWIV. Yep, IV. WWIII, he suggested, was the Cold War. For some reason this proclamation seemed to bring out the idea that there are events that shape us...that shape generations. The Great Depression, WWII, The Kennedy Assassination, or September 11th could be placed in this category. The traumatic marks us. So, I went looking for these events. Lo and behold, this day is the anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima. That event has shaped many in the US.

To meet that end, there are some news articles I have been exploring. But other than the article about Hiroshima (Thanks, Mark J.), I am not entirely sure if I will use the others at all. They are great, but I dunno.

"Send for Shaw, not Shakespeare"

Shaw believed that the only revolutions which would not lead to counter-revolutions, landing us back to approximately where we had begun, were bloodless revolutions, revolutions that arose through changing the mind of a country by its writers, philosophers, thinkers, men and women of imagination. If you are bombed, for heaven’s sake, do not go blindly bombing back – unless you actually want more bombing, more deaths, indiscriminately all over the place. The way to judge people’s motives is to look at the results of their actions: that is the pragmatist’s philosophy. One of the ironies of history is that in most wars both sides eventually come to resemble each other and impose defeat on themselves. Or as Shaw succinctly put it: “A victory for anybody is a victory for war”.

"Hostage to Hezbollah

The Mediterranean vocation of Lebanon as a land of enlightenment and commerce may have had its exaggerations and pretense. But set it against the future offered Lebanon by Syria, and by Tehran's theocrats seeking a diplomatic reprieve for themselves by setting Lebanon on fire, and Lebanon's choice should be easy to see.

There is this great review about the Iliad.

But who would give up the Iliad for the historical record? Evidence suggests the Homeric epic was transcribed after generations of oral transmission. The historical facts came down through the ages fused into blinding bardic revelation.

So, in a very rough outline, this is what I want to do. I want to share the old NY Times article about dropping the bomb on Hiroshima. I want to tell the story as I, two generations removed, understand it. I will share about how my Elementary School in Florida was a fallout shelter and that there was a map in the school library with possible nuclear targets marked and how long a city had to survive after a strike at those targets. Daytona Beach had thirty-five minutes of life left if Cape Canaveral was struck with a nuclear weapon of the time. That was 1981.

Then I will ask the congregation to tell me something about their own recollections of the era. In what way does this story shape them?

After we muse on this a bit, and I do hope they participate (Dunno what I"ll do if they don't.), I will talk very briefly about September 11th and what it was like to enter seminary immediately following. But most of all I will seek to express how in seminary I learned that the Gospel story is the context for all other stories and not the other way around. There is a tendancy to over-contextualize the Gospel. In essense, it is a good thing to try to figure out the historical context of a Biblical work. That makes good sense. But in the end, the Biblical writers are telling us a story of what gives their life context...God.

John's Gospel is the only Gospel without the Last Supper. There is a footwashing, but there is no communion narrative. In stead, the writer of John uses what he knows of the eucharist to give context to the rest of the story of Jesus. So, Jesus' interpretation of the Exodus passage is shared because of how the Gospel writer wishes us to understand how he now understands his own "Jewish-ness." The writer understands the world to be in God's care and not just the nation of Israel. He understands this beacause Jesus, who is the Word of God and the Bread from Heaven (manna) has died and was resurrected. What sustained Israel in the desert now sustains the world. It is a midrash of sorts.

He shares this, I believe, because he wants his reader to make a choice. In terms of this sermon, he wants the readers to choose which story they will follow. In which narrative do they find their lives? He hopes it is in the context of the Gospel to be certain. But the lesson I am learning in this is that all we do, according to the writer of John, is in the context of the Gospel story...and not the other way around.

So, then Hiroshima is in the context of the Gospel. The stories shared, I want to challenge us to do this, are in the context of the Gospel. As we make meaning of the events that shape us, that shape a nation, can we see that their context is in God?

This is what I am after. It should be an interesting sermon. Keep me in your prayers.

no....really...

seventy?!

Read this if you know anything about the Andersonville neighborhood in Chicago.

And I quote: "It’s so frickin’ unfair."

No kiddin'!

spiritual discipline

A moderate discipline is a good thing. But have you ever wondered just where it should fit and if, just perhaps, you are the kind of person to take on too many disciplines too quickly? I know I am this kind of person. I think of the pracitice as putting down roots. You know...I am in a new area so I need to do things that feel good, that make me feel like I belong here...that this is home. Instead I clutter my schedule with too many things and stress myself out. Then I do not feel as if I am home. I only feel as if I have too much to do and too little time in which to do it.

So, in a stroke of what I hope is good health, I am going back to what I know, well, with one possible exception. I have a spiritual director now. This is a very good thing. Of course, she has many fabulous ides about what I should be doing. LOL. Ain't that just the kicker.

Per her suggestion, I am going to St Gregory's Abbey in Three Rivers, MI for a retreat. The more general suggestion is to slow down. So, the secretary at church and I also agreed to close the office on Fridays during August. This is great for her. She gets everything done in three days and goes home. I still have a sermon to write. So, I don't really get the day off. I am actually trying to figure out how I will ever get a day off without leaving to hang with the Benedictines. I know it can be done, but the actual doing of it has proven more difficult than I anticipated.

This is what I mean: I awoke at four this morning. This is early even for me. Heck, in my mind it is not even early. It is late. You know? I stay up this late when the concert is good and the friendships are wild. Anyway, I awoke thinking about my sermon, the air conditioner being installed in the sanctuary, the new stickers for the car that I have yet to purchase, our need for a musician for the 20th, and other things. I assume that I will learn to live with this mental white noise eventually. But in the mean, the insomnia that comes with it is inconvenient to say the least.

The birds are singing now. The sun is coming up through the suburban roofscape. The cats are on the back porch. They love the back porch. It is cool enough that I opened the windows last night. What a relief from the heat!

How have you managed the transition to a new position? Have you stressed as you stretched to fill the new responisbilities of a new job? My previous transitions have always been somewhat more lateral. Your advice, encouragement, mutual befuddlement, would be appreciated.

ecumenism again

Larry has posted a very interesting entry on his blog about his current understanding and engagement with ecumenism. As he and I co-pastor an ecumenical congregation, it makes sense for me to engage it somehow. At the very least, I encourage you to read through it. He is, in one sense, responding to a conversation about the ordination of women (check his comments) (or here for more comments about women's ordination etc) and the liberal/conservative divide. It is an insightful post. I do have some things to add, however, that may also illuminate how Larry and I understand ecumenism (and thusly, the Church) differently.

There are two Baptist documents I have been playing around with over the past few months. First is Oneness in Christ: American Baptists are Ecumenical. It is a tract of sorts with two or three brief essays about voluntary connectionalism and how that relates to ecumenical conversations. Remember, we Baptists are congregationalists. So, to be ecumenical all we need to do is be in cahoots with another Baptist church. One essayist suggests we are thusly always ecumenical. Of course, this demonstrates that we also understand our own ecclesiology as separate Churches and not simply separate congregations in one Church...or that there is a wider Spiritual Church that can, if generously defined, contain everyone from Quakers to Orthodox. It is an ill-defined theology.

The second document is the December 1985 American Baptist Quarterly. It contains several essays about BEM and the World Council of Churches. Joseph Cardinal Bernadin actually wrote one of the articles in this issue entitled "The Challenge of Peace." Who knew? The issue contains several arguments for and against ecumenical dialogue in general and the specifics of BEM and the World Council of Churches.

This takes me to one of Larry's statements.

I do not believe nor do I think I have ever believed that the Reformation recovered or refounded the Church. In a very real sense the Reformation was a failure (I do not believe I have invented this veiw it is how I have read Carl E. Braaten and Robert W. Jenson, espcially Braaten in Mother Church) while at the same time the Reformation had very catholic impulses. It seems to me in his own way though using this point to argue for a return to Rome, Louis Bouyer made a similar point. This paradox has various causes: the nature of the personalities involved on both sides, the state of the papacy and possibly even due to the dominance of nominalism at the time. What ever the reasons the Reformation did not end with a reformation of the church but further schism in/of the church. Schism that has continued down to our own day as Protestantisms continue to multiply and divide Christians

This is a good jumping off point for me.

What is it that we protest, we who are Protestant? Once upon a time in England, Baptists were actually trying to prove their orthodoxy and not making room for their heterodoxy (London Confession, 1644). Now, we live in a world where Baptists disagree with one another about whether orthodoxy or heterodoxy is preferable. The recent struggles, shrouded in polity, over the issue of human sexuality are a great example of how this is playing out in Baptist circles. This ongoing conflict demonstrates that by attempting to protest a specific theological framework four hundred years ago (pedobaptism, 2 ordinances-vs-any number of sacraments) we have perhaps established a culture of protest. We live to disagree. We exist to schism. This particular dynamic troubles me. It is atomizing and hyper-individualist.

E. Glenn Hinson, a Baptist church historian and spiritualist said in a class I took from him that the Baptist people need to begin to slowly walk back upstream ecclesially to rediscover from whom we come. Our close cousins are the Quakers and even Salvationists. Our parents are the Anglicans...and the Calvinists. If there ever was a tool for discovering the confused theological genetics of a tradition, it is that exercise. But in the end, the wisdom of Hinson's statement reveals itself. We are compelled to step out of our individualism and experience the whole of church history in the west...and even eastward if we are willing to go back one thousand years or more. We can travel this stream though the spiritual disciplines practiced by faithful people for centuries.

The goal for Hinson is encounter...not to borrow spiritual ideas or liturgical doodads. Can we, as Baptist Christians, meet others as Christians? Can they inform and infuse our faith. If indeed there are a cloud of winesses and scripture states, then how can we encounter them? Can we encounter Benedict, Ingatious, Teresa of Avilla and even Pachomius? Surely.

Of course, this is met with opposition. We are Baptists after all. There is one true Church. It is First Baptist. That school of thought exists...but I digress (again).

Ecumenism is the spiritual and ecclesial discipline of Hinson's treading back upstream, bringing with us the lessons learned and the gifts of our own tradition(s) while encountering those who can still teach us how to encounter Christ himself. It absolutely is institutional and individual reconciliation. "Borrowing" spiritual disciplines (Several ABC Pastors I know are Benedictine oblates at local Protestant monestaries.) is not a sin but essential to this reintegration into the life of the wider church. Learning to use icons, venturing to Taize, etc is essential.

So too is proclaiming what God has given to us Baptists. I still question the rightness of Papal mojo. Sure, bishops make sense. We have Executive or Regional ministers who serve as de facto bishops. They have pastoral and ecclesial responsibility and power. The specifics may be different, a bit more diffused, but there you go. In this instance, I lean Eastward. I like Pope Benedict. I simply want him to be Rome's bishop and not my own. I have one, thanks.

The individual engagement with the written Word of God is essential. No tradition disputes this. Once upon a time, however, the church struggled with how to educate people in the faith because of illiteracy. Now we struggle on the opposite end of the spectrum. But we Baptists, and other free church traditions, can teach (remind) other traditions how to encourage believers to engage their faith both as individuals and as members of a community. Fear and trembling means responsibility...so too does being the priesthood of all believers. This is not to depreciate the priesthood but to elevate the people.

At Reconciler we tread a fine line. I admit it. Larry will preside one week. I will the other. So too will an Episcopal priest. We give voice to each of our traditions in this worship. This is to make room for that voice to inform, for the particularities to be made known, and to sanctify what would be holy...in the hopes that the Church will bless us in our return.

Okay, that is enough for now. I am interested in what you all think. Larry? Fogey? Todd? Jane Ellen? Others?

sermon on miracles

Follow the extended link for the sermon I preached at Reconciler and at Community Church. It is based off of a very rough outline. So, yeah...It is based on John 6:1-21, the feeding of the five thousand and the wlking on water that Jesus does that so terrifes the disciples.

The Kingdom of Heaven is like a Bike Ride.

One of the things I did for a living before taking the big plunge and returning to seminary was to work for the AIDSRide.  I don't know how many of you are familiar with the AIDSRide, but most simply it was a large fundraiser for local AIDS service organizations.