conjectural navel gazing; jesus in lint form

just some thoughts on something

"Christians are supposed not merely to endure change, nor even to profit by it, but to cause it.”

- Harry Emerson Fosdick

The Young Fogey published some comments on the failure of liberal Christianity and asked me to chime in. I have not had time to do so for a while, but I've wanted to say something. I think it is a worthwhile conversation. Oh, YF links here as well. Take a gander at the long list in this guy's post. All very cool.

Well, YF, where do I begin? I have no idea. But I'll start with the Modernist controversies and go from there. Heh. What's a hundred years between friends? I know that people want to undo the entire Enlightenment in many American theological circles. I get it. Really I do. But I think that is too large a chunk of theophilosophizing in the American context. Unlike Europe or the East, Amerca showed up after or even as a result of the Enlightenment. Our Constitution and even secular (Let's not debate the use of that word for this post...) values reflect that we come from out of the Enlightenment. It has been good and bad for us. 'Nuff said.

But things come to a head in the early 20th century. What do we do when science seems to outrun faith in the public sphere. It's not as if athiesm was new in 1911. Not at all. See: Ben Franklin. And American Protestant Chiristianity has always been heavily socially driven. Thus the Prohibition Era. That was the fruition of a hundred years of politicing by the churches. Slavery was an issue that caused some very strange ecclesial unions on both sides of the issue. So, when you speak of liberal Christianity being a failure, I think you may not be speaking about liberal Christianity at all.

If the Abolitionist movement is "liberal Christianity" then did it fail? Did the Civil Rights Movement? I dunno if I am being clear.

Bonhoeffer studied at Union in New York. He served at a church in Hell's Kitchen when he was here. One of the things he was struck by in his class work was how little dogma the students studied or engaged, but how much more passion, feeling and societal influence faith held for these people. He brought this back with him when he returned to Germans. Much of his work that followed incorporated that experience into the theophilosophical maelstrom of German study and politics. Thus he spoke out. Thus he stood up. Thus a community was born. Now, I don't want to make too much of this, but I think that the church acting was a foreign thing to him until he came to the US. Really.

The American form of Christianity, liberal or conservative, has always been moralist and action oriented. From the Puritans to Harry Emerson Fosdick, this has been so. Currently, Falwell and Forbes are our moralists. They both pick and choose doctrine that undergirds their specific understanding of Christian ethics. Welcome to America. Pick what you like. And, as you suggest, the RCC and OCA have both picked up on this cultural particular in the US. That cannot be a surprise.

So, respectfully, I think that we have to expand the conversation beyond liberalism in American Christianity. It is a greater conversation than that. Remember, the NCC is based out of an American evangelical organization...one sent to rescue "the heathen" in Africa from their own culture. American/Western culture, which assumed Christianity, was espoused.

I know, I wanted to keep it simple, smaller than the Enlightenment. And I still think that. Let's talk about the Modernist controversies again. Let's see what went wrong there...and then follow the stream back.

If you are on to something at all, it is that American Christianity is the child of the Reformation, a movement that assumed Christianity to be the highest form of Western culture by the time America was founded. Liberalism and conservativism (fundamentalism etc) all assume Christianity within the cultural milieu. England taught us that. Heck, the West taught us that. So, if Christianity is assumed, doctrinal chatter and musings become unimportant. Doctrine is assumed. So, has the cultural assumption changed? Do we no longer assume Christianity within the culture? Is that what we are seeing? Doctrinal Christianity itself has been watered down to the point where it has vanished? I doubt that, but maybe what we are seeing is a change in the posture of the American Church of one era struggling with the inherited posture from another.

Blah. I am blathering now. Have I said anything worthwhile? Let me know.

Peace!

pray without ceasing: sabbath 11

The desire is thy prayers; and if thy desire is without ceasing, thy prayer will also be without ceasing. The continuance of your longing is the continuance of your prayer.

- Saint Augustine

This week's reading from Muller's book is about taking time to pray. Well, as short as it is, it's about several things. But it is interesting to me that the exercise he gives is about prayer when the beginning of the chapter is about sundown or our addiction to finishing or something else.

Finishing, says Muller, is a myth. We never really finish. There is always one more thing to file, one more meeting to attend, one more project. So, waiting to rest may be foolish. The wisdom of the "ancient" Sabbath is that it begins when sundown begins. If that is 4:30 in January, then you stop working then. It does not begin when you are done getting up hay. Nope. So, you plan ahead for the Sabbath, you prepare for it. Well, that is my take anyway.

Later he quotes Nouwen. I love Nouwen. Nouwen takes a little riff off of the words "absurd" and "obedient" According to Nouwen, the Latin root for absurd, surdus, means "deaf" and the root for obedient, audire, means "to listen." Listen to God, says Nouwen, or your life becomes absurd. I could pick nits, but I like this notion.

This brings us to the end of the chapter and the exercies on prayer. I am thinking that I need to re-encounter noon prayers. Richmond Hill has noon prayer servcies. I loved 'em. Seabury had a noon eucharist, and though it was sometimes a bit much for me, stopping in the middle of the day to pray was always a good thing. No matter where I was in my work, I had to stop and pray.

Usually duing these services I would remember something I had forgotten in my haste to get other things done. So, in that way, it made sense. But Nouwen's thinking holds true as well. My life tends to get absurd if I don't listen. I am out every night doing something. I am not able to remember what that was two days later. I rush and rush and rush. It is absurd because I can get to a point where I cannot even tell you how I am spending my time. But if I listen, am "obedient" with its new meaning, then my life begins to take shape, begins to be somthing I can manage, that does not manage me (See: AA First Step). I can pay attention to my needs, my friend's needs...and, of course, God's desires for me.

This is true enough that I am finally going to begin a noon prayer service at Community Church at least two days a week. This is mostly for me. My administrative guru may join from time to time if she wishes. So too may anyone who cares to. But, yeah, mostly it is about Sabbath for the office.

Now, go ye therefore to Megan's blog and talk about self-employment.
Get thee to Cristopher's blog to talk about daily prayers.

sermon: what did you say?

Sermon: Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany
Community Church of Wilmette
January 28, 2007

What Did You Say?

1:9 Then the LORD put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the LORD said to me, "Now I have put my words in your mouth.

1:10 See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant."

What did you say?
Do you remember?

The sun was streaming through the windows. The morning disk jockey suggested avoiding the highway. It appeared to have won a popularity contest and everyone else in the metro area was taking it to get to work.

The cats were underfoot. The dog needed a walk. The kids wouldn’t get up to go to school.

The coffee maker was brewing and you were impatient for that first cup. Or is it tea in your house?

It was just another morning...not so very different from the rest. The Blackhawks lost. The Bulls were still on the road (How is it that they always seem to be on the road?).

Do you ever catch yourself wondering if your next door neighbor would actually notice if you “borrowed” the newspaper? I haven’t gotten up the courage to find out…not yet. There is simply nowhere to run in a cul-de-sac!

There’s just nowhere to run…not from this place or this time.

Sometimes God just seems to sneak up on a person. There you are, drinking your coffee and the next thing you know, God is touching your mouth. It’s such an intimate gesture. God is peering through you, straight into your soul and asking you to do something like give voice to what God wants by putting the very words in your mouth.

What do you say when God wants you to be a prophet?

It’s not as if you went looking for this. It is not as if you went on-line and filled out some job description or uploaded your resume on www.godsprophets.com. No. The morning that God called you was just like any other morning. All the same people were there. There were all the same troubles; the same kids; the same house; the same job.

So, what did you say? Did you say something to get yourself in trouble? Did you try to say anything that might get God to take it all back? “Sorry God. I’m just too young for this.” Because, you know, that’s been tried before.

And it’s not as if Jeremiah went looking for it either. So you are not alone. Sure, his father was a priest. But there are a lot of people who have been a preacher’s kid who may not have been called by God in this way. And there have been many priests who are not remembered as prophets.

Maybe he was just like you…not given a specific word, at least not right away. Instead Jeremiah tried to remind God of his youth. But God already knows Jeremiah. God knows better than Jeremiah knew himself. But sometimes, when we encounter Truth, we’ll say most anything to avoid it. The consequences are too great. The implications are too real.

Jeremiah knew that much of what he would say would not be heeded. People would not hear. He wanted to avoid the coming trouble.

And it is okay to feel that way. God understands. And God won’t leave you comfortless. God promised Jeremiah that he would not be alone. The same God who knew him in his mother’s womb would surely continue to know him in times of trouble. God holds the same promise for all of us. At least, that what I heard when I sat there with my morning coffee.

“I know you.” said God. “I have always known you. And I love you, too. You will never be alone in this work that I will give you.”

I was reassured and I wasn’t reassured all at the same time. I just wanted to sit back and enjoy my coffee. I was planning my escape route in case my neighbor saw me borrow the newspaper. Contrary to how I boast, I was really not that interested in getting into trouble. And I sensed trouble coming. I had heard some of the stories of what happens when God comes calling. When God gives you a word, you can’t even go home to share it with those who raised you…with your friends and family. Because when you try you only make them angry.

Now, Jesus, on the other hand, he made a career of getting in trouble. He actually seemed to make a ministry from saying or doing things that would anger a lot of people. I tried to remind myself that even Jesus tried to get out of what God was asking of him.

He told his mother, “My hour has not yet come.” That didn’t work at all. That was at the beginning. At the end he prayed and wept for anything but the cross. He pleaded with God. He begged even when he already knew the answer.

Sometimes I think that Jesus was the bravest person ever.

So, I followed Jesus’ first example. I suggested that God wished to speak to my neighbor. God had gotten the wrong address. I suggested that I had not believed long enough or well enough. It was not my time.

I said, “I’m too young.”
Then I said, “I’m too old.”
“Too tired.”
“Too broken.”
“I simply don’t know enough about you.”

God’s laughter sounds like snowfall. You are not sure that you really hear it, but the effects of it are all around you.

And God said, “I know. But I need you.”

I’m sorry. I’m talking too much about myself. One of the primary rules in preaching is never to talk about yourself…preach to yourself, not about yourself. So, what did you say?

Were you like Jeremiah? Were you like Jesus? Or did you say something else? Did you stand up and say, “Here I am, Lord. Send me.” Or did you go to work and apply for a transfer to another city that very same day? I am really curious about what you said when God told you that you would never be alone in the work of giving voice…of proclaiming God’s Truth in the world.

Did it feel like love to you? And was it gentle or did it turn everything upside down?

God says that there is a whole world out there that needs to know about the promises that were made when all things were still new…when Adam and Eve had residency in the Garden. What did you say?

God says that there are people and kingdoms and nations that have forgotten how to listen to God, forgotten who made them in the first place. What did you say?

God says that there are poor people with no food for their tables and rich people who have no hope. What did you say?

Did you write your congresswoman? Did you join the public debate on health care? Did you tell the truth about the world that day? Or was it much simpler than that? Did you simply tell your friends how much you love them and how much you know God loves them?

And when you said those things, did you feel God’s hands on your mouth, or God’s hand protectively upon your shoulder as you gave breath to Truth?

I hope you did. I hope that is what it was like for you. Sometimes people don’t like to hear that God loves them. Sometimes they don’t like to hear that God loves poor people and rich people all at the same time. They get angry. At least that’s what they say happened to Jesus. They also say that God saved him that day.

4:29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff.

4:30 But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.

This is what I know about God. And though it is not much more than I knew when God first called upon me to stand before God’s people, I want to share it with you. This is what I said.

God loves you...warts and all. God knows all there is to know about you, every little hair on your head. God made you and you are sacred.

You cannot hide yourself from God, pretending to be something you are not. You may try. And God understands that. But in the end, God will see your truth and proclaim it to you.

God sees all the world in the same light…in that light spoken into existence on the first day. God hopes that we too will learn to see the world in the same way…and that we’ll live accordingly.

God wants us to take care of the weak among us knowing that some day each of us will be weak.

God asks us to give and give and give.

And, though not all of us have been called (We have different gifts.), God wants those of us who have been called to stand in the gap and to speak…to do just that. God wants you to speak.

So, there it is. It’s not particularly complicated.

Peace and all good things to you this morning. May God bless you and keep you always in Love and Truth.

Amen.

mandodoxy: loss of self

Play the music, not the instrument.

~Author Unknown

Thursday at my mandolin lesson, my mandoguru said something really interesting. You see, I am learning to play a jig. One may think that this is no big deal. But somehow it has become one. Even the mandoguru suggested that this was the proverbial "big deal."

It's like this. Anything in four is played in an alternating picking pattern...well, sort of. Okay, in a 4/4, anything on the beat is played with a downstroke. Anything off the beat is played with an upstroke. A string of sixteenth notes would be played with an alternating picking pattern. Down, up, down, up...you get the idea. I find it very natural to play in this way. The pattern naturally gives stress to the expected beats. No big deal. And, this is cool, you can even kind of get away with playing in this pattern in a 3/4. But not so with the jig.

A jig is in 6/8 (A slip jig is in 9/8, but that is another post.). And since it's stresses land in different places, not just on 1 and 4, you have to change the picking pattern. An alternating picking pattern just won't cut it. Nope.

Down.
Up.
Down.
Down.
Up.
Down.

That would be one measure. Say it. Think of a jig and sing those words on the pitches. It gets really complicated if there are dotted rhythms or sixteenth notes. Yeah. Anyway, I am having trouble making the switch from the 4/4 alternating pattern into the "duddud" of the jig. And this takes me to the lesson on Thursday.

My first jig is the Irish Washer Woman. Trust me. You know this one. It is the archetyal Irish jig (mp3 on hammered dulcimer). It is a good jig for the beginning "jigger." But the pattern is difficult, almost counter-intuitive. As I was struggling through it, the mandoguru said "You know. I can tell that once you start thinking about the tune you mess up the pattern. Don't think. You have to lose yourself to play this music."

So, the mandodoxy connection with my spiritual life is pretty clear this week. Loss of self. Right. There it is again. I have to get out of the way.

have a good day

St. Natalis, Abbot in Ireland
--------------------------------------------------
6th century. Natalis founded monasticism in northern Ireland and was a
fellow-worker with Saint Columba (f.d. June 9). He ruled the abbeys of
Cill, Naile, and Daunhinis. His holy well is still a place ofpilgrimage
(Benedictines).

Troparion of St Natalis tone 2
With Columba as thy guide/ thou didst learn the monastic disciplines, 0
Father Natalis,/ and by this example/ thou dost teach us the necessity
of accepting spiritual direction,/ that pleasing God by our obedience/
we may be found worthy of great mercy.

Kontakion of St Natalis tone 5
Having submitted thyself to a master/ in pious humility, 0 Father
Natalis and being renowned for the sanctity of thy life,/ thou wast
deemed worthy to guide others into the way of Salvation./ Pray that we
who hymn thee may be given grace/ to submit ourselves to direction, as
Christ wills,/ that we may please Him in all things.

Sources:
=====

Benedictine Monks of St. Augustine Abbey, Ramsgate.
(1966). The Book of Saints. NY: Thomas Y. Crowell.

friday...

By popular demand, Caged Dames returns to the Bailiwick Repertory Theatre for a limited engagement - 12 shows only! It's leaner and meaner, with a new song! Call now for tickets!
Opens: Friday, January 26, 7:00PM
Runs: Fridays at 7:00 PM, Saturdays at 10:00PM
Closes: Saturday, March 3, 10:00PM
Admission: $20.00

At Bailiwick Repertory Theatre, 1229 W. Belmont Avenue.
For reservations, call the Bailiwick Repertory Theatre box office at (773) 883-1090 or visit www.ticketmaster.com.

"Highly Recommended" - Chicago Reader

"Caged Dames has a lock on camp!" - Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune

"If you miss Caged Dames, it'll be a crime!" - Gay Chicago

"When it's good, it's very good, when it's BAD, it's better!" - TimeOut Chicago

I have a thousand things to do today...most of them fun. But it is a full day. I have a sermon entitled "What Did You Say?" to tinker with. You can go here for the lectionary text. I am focusing on the Jeremiah passage and the Gospel. The hope is to get it done today so that I can take it a little easier tomorrow. Tomorrow is my birthday. I have one meeting scheduled...a last minute planning meeting for the annual meeting at Community Church. Otherwise I can kick back a little.

Trish's show opens tonight. Handbag is remounting Caged Dames. I cannot make the opening night show as I will be at a banquet hosted by another theater group, Quest Ensemble. Theater everywhere! Tomorrow evening I will house manage for Caged Dames. Y'all should come!

The other thing I have to do is finish my planning for Sunday's adult Bible study. We have been exploring a broad-brush history of the creation of the canon The Canon of Scripture: How? Why? Why not?. The conversation has been lively. Last week we explored the first three centuries of the church, gnosticism and the like. I am curious about how the persecutions, the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem etc encouraged the rapid deliniation of the canon. This week we'll look at the Constantinian and "post-Constantinian" era...about 1000 years or so until the Reformation. Heh. No big deal. ACK! It should be fun.

Well, there you go. Enjoy the weekend.
I will likely not post on-line.

Oh, please forgive me for not saying this earlier. Thank you all for your well-wishing and commiseration over the theft. I hope that the bank will have everything back to us soon. Your kindness, however, was much appreciated.

Peace and all good things to you!

bass entries

Diana Butler Bass is at it again...well, I am getting caught up. Here are some links for you.

Leadership in Congregations
Thawing the "Frozen Chosen"
Some protestant churches feeling "main line" again
Living the Story

Regarding the "main line," I have heard this song a lot lately sung by Ry Cooder, Johnny Cash, and now, Aerosmith!

Jesus is on the main line, tell him what you want
Jesus is on the main line, tell him what you want
Hey Jesus is on the main line, tell him what you want
Ooh Call him up and tell him what you want Yeah

He will come in a hurry, just tell him what you want
I said he will come in a hurry, just tell him what you want
Oh he will come in a hurry, just tell him what you want
Ooh call call him up and tell him what you want

Jesus is on the main line, tell him what you want
Ooh Jesus is on the main line, tell him what you want
and Jesus is on the main line, just tell him what you want
Ooh call him up and tell him what you want, yeah

If your sick and you cant get well, just tell him what you want
yeah if your sick and you cant get well, just tell him what you want
yeah if your sick and you cant get well, just tell him what you want
Ooooh call him up and tell him what you want

PEOPLE Jesus is on the main line, tell him what you want
Yeah Jesus is on the main line, just tell him what you want
Sing it baby!
Jesus is on the main line, just tell him what you want
Ooh call him up and tell him what you want.

I think it is an amazing song and, well, Aerosmith may just put it away...but then there is the Man in Black. Wow.

could it be...dracula?!

Istanbul was Constantinople
Now it's Istanbul, not Constantinople
Been a long time gone, Constantinople
Now it's Turkish delight on a moonlit night

Every gal in Constantinople
Lives in Istanbul, not Constantinople
So if you've a date in Constantinople
She'll be waiting in Istanbul

Even old New York was once New Amsterdam
Why they changed it I can't say
People just liked it better that way

So take me back to Constantinople
No, you can't go back to Constantinople
Been a long time gone, Constantinople
Why did Constantinople get the works
That's nobody's business but the Turks

Istanbul (Istanbul)
Istanbul (Istanbul)

Even old New York was once New Amsterdam
Why they changed it I can't say
People just liked it better that way

Istanbul was Constantinople
Now it's Istanbul, not Constantinople
Been a long time gone, Constantinople
Why did Constantinople get the works
That's nobody's business but the Turks

So take me back to Constantinople
No, you can't go back to Constantinople
Been a long time gone, Constantinople
Why did Constantinople get the works
That's nobody's business but the Turks

Istanbul

Well it happened again. Yep. Someone got hold of my card number. Mine. All of our money is gone. The bank will, we hope, likely refund us. This is what their insurance is all about. I will go down to the bank this afternoon to fill out the requisite paperwork. Shit.

So, where was the money spent? Istanbul. Not Constantinople, but Istanbul. Yay us. I have never been, but I hear it is a remarkable city.

It's really quite mysterious. I just finished reading The Historian. It is yet another interesting book about Dracula. This one spends more time delving into the historical along side the mysterious. A lot happens in Istanbul (not Constantinople) in the book. So, maybe Dracula is into our funds. Who can say.

Anyway, pray for us, for Istanbul, and whatever putz took our money. Pray that we get it all back. Shit.

&%#@@#$!!!!!!

cleaning the office

I cleaned my desk. Yeah. It needed it. Follow the extended link for the pictures. I'm a dork and I worked a lot yesterday. Punchiness prevails.

It's a nice office.

But the desk is a mess.

So, I cleaned it. I made new files and everything!

Current reading and Bible study stuff...

I hope everyone has a nice day!

more on that...

Here is an article about the Baptist Gathering...

MACON, Ga. (ABP) -- An ambitious plan to unite Baptists in North America around the compassionate message of the gospel is not secretly a plan to get Baptists to elect Hillary Clinton as president, one of the plan's leaders said Jan. 23.

Bill Underwood, a co-organizer of the effort with former President Jimmy Carter, said former President Bill Clinton's offer to lend his star power to the upcoming Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant is not a covert political move.

"This has not been something that Bill Clinton has organized or worked towards or even been involved in," said Underwood, president of Mercer University. (link)

And this is more than a little disturbing...

Inappropriate behavior by clergy cuts across all denominational ties and theological positions, ethicist Joe Trull said. But he says a case can be made that “nondenominational churches and Baptist churches who have autonomous church government are more vulnerable and susceptible” to instances of sexual abuse. (link)

on the radio...an e-mail

I just e-mailed this out. I'm pretty excited!

Hey there, you Girl Lovin' People!

One of the Girls, that band of mine, will be on the radio tonight! Go to 90.9 on your radio dial or to www.wdcb.org and listen in from 7 to 9.

" Join hosts George Brown and Lili Kuzma for an entertaining blend of music in the folk tradition, including old time to classic folk and live performance interviews with local and regional artists."

That would be us..."local and regional artists." In speaking with Lily, we think our tune will be on at about 8:30, but who knows for certain. Listen to the whole show. You'll love it!

Your'n,

Tripp Hudgins
mandolin
general good attitude
One of the Girls
www.oneofthegirls.net

Tune in!

tuesday internet gleanings...

"The world is waiting ... for new saints, ecstatic men and women who are so deeply rooted in the love of God that they are free to imagine a new international order."

-Henri Nouwen

Today some will honor Phillips Brooks. It is the Commemoration of Phillips Brooks, Bishop of Massachusetts, preacher and spiritual writer, (1893). According to this daily e-mail I receive, he once wrote "Orthodoxy is, in the Church, very much what prejudice is in the single mind. It is the premature conceit of certainty. It is the treatment of the imperfect as if it were the perfect." I would love to know the context for that quotation. Brooks was a pretty "orthodox" guy.

In other news, the Young Fogey pointed out this little article: "US Plans Broad Attack on Iran."

The Young Fogey also posted on the death of ecumenism. Prior Peter (an actual monk in Chicago), and Jorge had a lot to say. I feel as though my sermon from Sunday pretty much covered the bases of my perspective on this. But I will add that as long as there are people in the church there will be division. We have always struggled with one another in this endeavor called "Christianity." In the light of Brook's words above, very few of us have ever been 100% orthodox in the first place. It is not that we are not all called to "love the Lord with all our hearts, minds, and bodies." But, skippy, the failure rate is quite high. Lord, have mercy.

sabbath 10: the one who dies with the most toys wins

"Anybody can observe the Sabbath, but making it holy surely takes the rest of the week."

-Alice Walker

Sunday evening at Reconciler, Larry preached a sermon about the Sabbath. It dovetails with this chapter of Muller's book really well. Larry spoke about how Sunday is called, at least in earlier traditions of the church, the eighth day. This is why Christianity celebrates the resurrection of the Lord (Mass, Sunday services) the day after the Sabbath. You would go to Mass before you went to work.

No, there arent eight days in the week. But it is symbolic. This is the end times. The fulness of the Resurrection is a present reality. This, as Muller suggests, is the end of all things. Right now is the eschaton.

Larry's elaboration on the Nehemiah passage, the year of jubilee, comes into play here as well. I am hoping that he'll post the sermon. Keeping the sabbath is an act of justice. Who knew? The Jubilee, the year of the Lord, is when debts are releived, slaves and prisoners are released. This is the eighth year (yes?) and the fiftieth year and not the seventh or the forty-ninth. Again, the idea is that God comes in the end of all things. And the end of all things, or, the year of the Lord, is now. And that means justice...justice for all.

Now, I have a confession to make here. I have already read Megan and Cristopher's blogs. So their responses are running through my mind as well. So, when Muller riffs on the sins of "progress" and Megan wants to call him on it, I understand where they are both coming from. You see, for some people, justice has not yet come. That eighth day is just some vague promise. So sitting around and "doing nothing" is inappropriate to say the least.

But if the Sabbath is the end time, is the proclamation of justice, then works of justice are part and parcel of a sabbath discipline.

That being said...I like where Cristopher takes it as well. Progress, if it is only "achievement" or "having more and more," is no longer life-giving. It consumes and causes debt and slavery and imprisons us all. It is the opposite of the Jubilee.

Alice Walker's quotation gives voice to just that for me. We can take a day off, but if the rest of the week does not echo the justice that the Sabbath brings, then the Sabbath will never be more than a day off. The Sabbath will only be a day when we go out and play with our toys. It will never be more than a time when we wait to start "achieving" again.

I am a great fan of penecillin (Not sure if I can spell it, but I am glad its around.), women's suffrage, and lots of other things that are signs of progress. Progress can be positive. But the bigger house, that extra car, the bigger this and the faster that are not necessarily progress. Thomas Merton said “What can we gain by sailing to the moon if we are not able to cross the abyss that separates us from ourselves? This is the most important of all voyages of discovery, and without it, all the rest are not only useless, but disastrous...” And that is what I think Muller is getting at.

But we cannot forget what Martin Luther King, Jr. said "It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can stop him from lynching me, and I think that's pretty important." King is seeking progress as well...justice, the advent of the eschaton in this world.

Eh, I am rambling now. Go and read Megan and Cristopher's posts. They are cool.

hillary is running...

quick photo post

I awoke this morning to a shoveled driveway. I do not know who did this. It is a generous thing, really. Perhaps some snow removal company got the address wrong. Perhaps petite Ouilmettian elves scurried over in the wee hours and, without waking me, shoveled the drive. I should put out a bowl of milk for them. Thank you, petite Ouilmettian elves!

da bears and da saints: who dat?

Well, here we go. The game is about to start. Some people say that this is just another football game. But it ain't. The New Orleans Saints have had an amazing season. And their city has risen and fallen with them. Since Katrina, many say, the Saints have been the heart and soul of the still devistated Gulf Coast. If they win and go to the Super Bowl, New Orleans will be out of control.

The Bears have not had this kind of shot in twenty years. And they know it. The city won't let them forget it. It should be an amazing games.

The Saints are favored. Grossman is too erratic and there are too many injuries on the Bears' defense. But you never know. Urlacher? Hester? And then there is the weather...it is cold and wet. Anthing can happen when the field and the ball get slick.

sermon: stand in the place where you live

Sermon: The Third Sunday after the Epiphany
Nehemiah 8:1-10
Luke 4:14-21

Stand in the Place Where You Live

Grace and peace to you in the name of our Lord, Jesus the Christ…

Hear the words of an Orthodox monk, Father Lev. He speaks of the rich spiritual tradition that is shared between Rome and the East.

The whole teaching of the Latin Fathers may be found in the East, just as the whole teaching of the Greek Fathers may be found in the West. Rome has given St Jerome to Palestine. The East has given Cassian to the West and holds in special veneration that Roman of the Romans, Pope St Gregory the Great.

St Basil would have acknowledged St Benedict of Nursia as his brother and heir. St Macrina would have found her sister in St Scholastica. St Alexis ‘the man of God’, the ‘poor man under the stairs’, has been succeeded by the wandering beggar St Benedict Joseph Labré. St Nicholas would have felt as very near to him the burning charity of St Francis of Assisi and St Vincent de Paul. St Seraphim of Sarov would have seen the desert blossoming under Father Charles de Foucauld’s feet, and would have called St Thérèse of Lisieux ‘my joy’.

- Fr Lev (Gillet), ‘A Monk of the Eastern Church’

For many of us, I imagine, these names are unfamiliar unless we come from the Roman Catholic, the Orthodox, or a more liturgical tradition than is expressed here at Community Church. But these names are the names of great saints in the Church. Benedict of Nursia, it is said, brought monasticism to the West. The Benedictine Order may be the genesis of much of the prayer life of even Protestant congregations. Baptist theology, as I understand it, enfolds much of the monastic ideal into the life of the congregation. This is one of many reasons why congregational life and solidarity are so important to us. But that is another sermon.

St Macrina was a theologian and monastic during the fourth century. She is famed for being the brightest star of her age…which included such luminaries as St John Chrysostom, and her biological brothers, St Basil and St Gregory of Nyssa. She was their teacher, the founder of a double monastery (a monastery for men and women), and a tireless worker for the poor and infirm.

I could muse all day about the work of these people and their seemingly tireless natures when it came to proclaiming the Kingdom of God. But that is not what I share Father Lev’s words with you today.

Lately, I have been paying special attention to the conversation between the Roman Catholics and the Eastern Orthodox. It has been an interesting conversation to follow. Not all the words have been kind, but most have been. The division is one thousand years old. There are national divisions, cultural divisions at work. As much as some of us on the sidelines might want to say that their differences are minute, they are actually quite significant. The division is real. But in spite of these differences, they stand in one another’s presence and speak truth to one another. They ask for forgiveness from wrongs committed. They seek to enlighten one another. I find it to be beautiful. And, occasionally a particular voice will arise out of the cacophony. Such is the voice of Father Lev.

I believe that he is asking those on both sides to look to one another’s example of proclaiming the gospel. This is more than simply looking on the bright side of the theo-political divide. He is actually saying, “Look! I see God there.” And he is asking others to have the same humility and charity.

Glen Hinson, a Baptist minister and a professor of Christian History and Spirituality, suggests that Baptists too should have such humility and charity, that we too should tread back up the stream of our own tradition in to the wider rivers of Christian faith. In this way, as strange as it may sound to us, in this way we will deepen our own faith, our own understanding of our tradition. We will find that our ecclesial close-cousins are the Quakers. We will find our mothers and fathers in the Anglican communion, and our brothers and sisters in the Methodist tradition.

We will come to value God all that much more, suggests Hinson, by encountering the lives and work of the saints and mystics that have come before us. Hinson suggests that it would not be wise for us to toss the historical baby out with the bath water…that there is richness in traditions outside of our own that will deepen our relationships with God and one another. It will make us better Baptists. And, likely, no matter what our tradition, this rule will hold true.

I believe that this kind of thinking is worthy of fostering across denominational lines. This kind of proclamation is necessary if we are going to heal any of the wounds that divide us. If we are going to engage in serious dialogue such as that which occurs within the World Council of Churches or more locally in our own region, the American Baptist Churches, Metro-Chicago. In this spirit we are able to hear one another as we muster the courage to speak the truth God has given to us. In humility and charity we are called to speak what God has given us and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor wherever and whenever we find it. “Look!” we say “I see God there.”

Our scripture texts this morning are about such proclamation. They are about preaching.

The people of Israel call Ezra the priest to read the word of God before the whole assembly. And the individuals mentioned in those lovely lists of names provided interpretation for the people.

In our Gospel passage, Jesus stands in the midst of his hometown synagogue and reads aloud the words of the prophet Isaiah. After he reads these words he gives perhaps one of the shortest sermons on record. "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." And he sits down.

Preaching, as I understand it, is essentially the proclamation of God’s word. It can be simple reiteration as Ezra demonstrates. It can be interpretation like the other priests and prophets provide in the same story. It can be the prophetic word that we have in the Gospel…a word that will shatter and reorder the way we live and love.

A sermon is usually delivered within the context of the worship life of specific communities of faith. But it can be delivered almost anywhere…a board room, the secretary pool, in front of the Capital Building in Washington, DC.

It takes courage to receive the word and to proclaim it. Trust me. Every Saturday evening I have a minor nervous breakdown where I convince myself that I will have nothing to say to you all on Sunday morning…that I will not be able to hear the Word that God has placed upon my heart for us all. Preaching is a spiritual work.

Preaching is also a craft. There are varying styles and lengths. The voice of the individual preacher is enshrouded in the Voice of God. Preaching is a moment where we stand in God’s place and proclaim the Year of the Lord’s favor. It is no small thing. But it is our responsibility and honor to proclaim such a word. And, as a Baptist, I want to say that it is a responsibility that rests upon all believers. I want to push the theology of "priesthood of all believers" in that direction. This is a certain particularity of Baptist tradition that I think may be a gift we can offer the Church Universal.

It is also true to say that a sermon may not have words. A life well lived can be a sermon. Preaching the Gospel can be found in the way we live and work. Often, the best preaching is. “Preach the Gospel at all times. When necessary, use words.” said St. Francis of Assisi. His love of God shown through his life and his ministry. Though famed for his sermons as well as his monastic zeal, this is the quotation that I gravitate toward. It is not always enough to be eloquent. Our lives must show forth God.

If we preach, but our lives reflect nothing of the love of God, of the Word fulfilled in our hearing, then our sermons are nothing but empty noise. But by the same token, if we are silent and do not proclaim Christ to the world in the spoken word then, as Jesus said, even the rocks would shout out. Public proclamation and the life well-lived are of a piece.

Do we have the courage to stand in the place where we live and do such a thing?

This is the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. We are to stand where we live and proclaim our perspective, to teach and preach from our tradition. But the end desire of God, the telos, is Unity. We can stand in the midst of difference, of distinctions and enjoy the strengths of each tradition and how they bring us together instead of driving us apart. I want to know if we can, as Father Lev does so gracefully, stand in the place where we live, show forth God and proclaim where we see God in other communities and places.

By standing in the Great Congregation and proclaiming God's love and intention for the world, we can find Unity. We will discover our fathers and mothers, our brothers and sisters in the midst of the myriad traditions within the Church Universal. We will find the courage to stand with Christ and say:

4:18 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, 4:19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

May these words be fulfilled in our hearing. May we always proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

In honor of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, will you join me in prayer? This comes from the Benedictine breviary, the prayer book for the Benedictine order.

Let us pray that Christians everywhere may heed God’s call to become one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church, as we say: Lord make us one.

• Lord, bless our brothers and sisters in the Church of Rome; may their preservation of the Catholic substance of the faith, their commitment to the historical continuity of the Church, and their love for the Eucharist enrich and challenge all Christians.
• Lord, bless our brothers and sisters in the Churches of the East; may they continue to enrich your Church by their faith in the Holy Spirit, their love for the divine liturgy, and their respect for ecclesiastical tradition.
• Look especially on our brothers and sisters in the Armenian Apostolic Church; may their suffering bear witness to the forgiving love which you have shown us in Christ Jesus.
• Bless our brothers and sisters of the Anglican communion; may their respect for diversity and individual conscience challenge the whole Church, and their treasures of language and music never cease to magnify your name.
• Bless our Lutheran brothers and sisters; may their love for the Scriptures and their faith in your all-sufficient grace help us all to receive your salvation as purest gift.
• Bless our brothers and sisters of the Reformed Tradition; may they continue to edify the Church with their preaching and inspire us all by their dedicated work for your kingdom.
• Bless our brothers and sisters of the Free Church Tradition; may their warmth and enthusiasm bring new life to the work and prayer of your church.
• Bless us and all Christians; may we come to that perfect oneness which you have with your Son in the unifying love of the Holy Spirit.

Let us pray the prayer given by Jesus to all who believe in him: Our Father . . .

Let us pray: Gracious Father, we pray for your holy catholic Church. Fill it with all truth and peace. Where it is corrupt, purify it; where it is in error, direct it; where in anything it is amiss, reform it; where it is right, strengthen it; where it is in need, provide for it; where it is divided, reunite it; for the sake of Jesus Christ your Son our Lord.
Amen.

a meme

Via Beth

Go to your music player of choice and put it on shuffle. Say the following questions aloud, and press play. Use the song title as the answer to the question. NO CHEATING

How does the world see you?
"Coconut" Harry Nilsson (A drinking song!?!?!)

Will I have a happy life?
"Shoot to Thrill" AC/DC (Um...wow.)

What do my friends really think of me?
"I'm Willing to Run All the Way" - Ollabelle (Wow. Thanks guys.)

How can I make myself happy?
"High 5 (Rock the Catskills)" - Beck

What should I do with my life?
"If I had a $1,000,000" - Barenaked Ladies (Clearly, I have chosen the wrong career path.)

Will I ever have children?
"Jumpin' Jack" - Big Bad Voodoo Daddy (Um...it's all about dancing.)

What is some good advice for me?
"So Whatcha Want" - Beastie Boys

How will I be remembered?
"Fool For Love" - Sandy Rogers (Kewl.)

What is my signature dancing song?
"Times Like This" Edie Brickel and The New Bohemians ('Splain it to me.)

What do I think my current theme song is?
"I Will Not Go To Bed till I Suld Die" - The Baltimore Consort (Nice!!)

What does everyone else think my current theme song is?
"Emily" - The Hot Club of Cowtown (A lovely ditty of a lovesong.)

What song will play at my funeral?
"Wild Honey" - U2 (I'll take that as a yes...another song about love and foolishness. Fabulous.)

What is my day going to be like?
"You Can't Catch Me" - Chuck Berry. (A little mania goes a long way.)

and one more question from Beth:
Should I publish this meme?
"Where It's At" - Beck (Absofrigginlutely!)

sermon thinking: a title

It's an interesting exercise. I think I have said this before, but choosing a title for the sermon is always tricky for me. I am sure it has a lot to do with the fact that I finally sit down and do real writing on Saturday...and have to come up with a sermon title on Thursday. Now, sometimes the title provides a certain, shall we say, structure to my composition. That's a good thing. But sometimes I find God asking me to say something else come Saturday, that the fresher reading of the scripture challenges my earlier interpretations.

My title for tomorrow's sermon is "Stand in the Place Where You Live." Thank you REM. The lectionary is here. I am focusing on the Nehemiah passage and the Gospel passage. What i am struck by is the preaching moment...that moment when God's word is proclaimed. In Nehemiah, the people ask for the proclaimation. In the second, Jesus is the returning son, the one who made good and who, I imagine, was asked to teach in his home town. It takes courage to do such a thing. It takes courage to receive the word and to proclaim it. And, as a Baptist, I want to say that it is a responsibility that rests upon all believers. I want to push the "priesthood of all believers" in that direction.

This Sunday we also observe the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. There is a connection for me between the scriptures and my take on it and what the the Week is all about. We are to stand where we live and proclaim our perspective, to teach and preach from our tradition. But the end desire, the telos, is Unity. We can stand in the midst of difference, of disctinctions and enjoy the strengths of each tradition and how they bring us together instead of driving us apart.

But this is a rare posture. Nevertheless, I think it is the one to which we are called.

The Young Fogey posted this on his blog.

The whole teaching of the Latin Fathers may be found in the East, just as the whole teaching of the Greek Fathers may be found in the West. Rome has given St Jerome to Palestine. The East has given Cassian to the West and holds in special veneration that Roman of the Romans, Pope St Gregory the Great.

St Basil would have acknowledged St Benedict of Nursia as his brother and heir. St Macrina would have found her sister in St Scholastica. St Alexis ‘the man of God’, the ‘poor man under the stairs’, has been succeeded by the wandering beggar St Benedict Joseph Labré. St Nicholas would have felt as very near to him the burning charity of St Francis of Assisi and St Vincent de Paul. St Seraphim of Sarov would have seen the desert blossoming under Father Charles de Foucauld’s feet, and would have called St Thérèse of Lisieux ‘my joy’.

- Fr Lev (Gillet), ‘A Monk of the Eastern Church’

I think it gets to the point I am trying to address. By standing in the Great Congregation and proclaiming God's love and intention for the world, we will find Unity. We will discover our brothers and sisters in the midst of the myriad traditions within the Christian milieu.

Thus the title.

yeah...wow...

I weep...I titter...I laugh!

friday silliness

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: His Eminence the Very Lord George the Appropriate of Buzzcock Lepshire Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

...or...

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: His Most Noble Lord Tripp the Weird of Chalmondley Chumleyton Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

a reflection

Follow the extended link for a brief reflection I shared last night at a meeting.

John 21:15-22

Sometimes, when I hear this verse I wonder if Peter and the “Beloved Disciple” didn't get along so well. You know, they were both favored in their own ways. Peter was given the keys to the Kingdom, but the “Beloved Disciple” is, well, beloved.

So, there's Peter wondering what will happen to that annoying Beloved Disciple and so he asks Jesus...And Jesus tells him not to think about it. Peter had just been given enough to do...When i read this passage I often find myself getting caught up in my imagined intrigue. But when I reflect just a little further, I wonder if what Peter was really feeling was fear. Peter had just been told that he was to “Feed [God's] sheep.” This is no small career change for a fisherman. He must have been just a little overwhelmed. “So, um, Jesus, what about him?”

And Jesus responds gently “Never you mind. Just follow me!”

Fear often plagues us...so too do its close cousins of disappointment and anger. What troubles us, what brings these feelings to the fore will likely always be in our midst. But, like Peter, I think we are simply asked to follow God. That is all. It is not that we ignore the obstacles of life, but we give them their proper context.

These things are in the gentle hands of God as we are. We are not ignoring what troubles us. We are putting ourselves and our troubles in God's hands. These are the hands that fashioned the heavens. These are the hands that formed life out of clay. These are a mother's hands, a father's hands...they are creative hands, fashioning life out of chaos, redemption out of pain.

This is a place of intimacy, of supreme community and love. It is where compassion resides. Peter is there, as is the Beloved Disciple. You are there...and I am there.

Henri Nouwen, in his book Lifesigns speaks to this place, this place of intimacy by recounting to us an experience with Jean Vanier, the founder of the L'Arche community.

When Jean Vanier speaks about the intimate place, he often stretches out his arm and cups his hands as if it holds a small wounded bird. He asks: “What will happen if I open my hand fully?” We say: “The bird will try to flutter its wings, and it will fall and die.” Then he asks again: “But what will happen if I close my hand?” We say: “The bird will be crushed and die.” Then he smiles and says: “An intimate place is liked my cupped hand, neither totally open nor totally closed. It is the space where growth can take place.

These the hands of God for us this night in our work for our village, neighborhoods, our county. These places are so that growth can take place.

So, what do we do? Knowing that God is with us in this way we practice the virtue of steadfastness.

This is not aggression.
This is not stubbornness.
It is the simple response to the call “Follow me!”

Together we can be steadfast, we can respond to this call and hold one another in cupped hands.
Amen.

octave

"Christ came not just to teach us but to bring us into communion with God. He says to each person: you are close to God, and this is true for ever. Even if we have very little faith, even if we have the impression that there are strong doubts in us, God never stops looking for our friendship.

There is an icon here that expresses that, the icon of friendship. It comes from Egypt; it is from the sixth century. We see Christ with his hand on the shoulder of his friend to walk with him, to accompany him..."

-Bro. Alois

Huw posted about the beginning of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. An octave, in this case, has nothing to do with music. You can go here to read Huw's brief post. I will include something in this Sunday's service order to remind us that this Sunday is the formal observance. CCW is, technically, an ecumenical congregation...affiliated with the ABC-USA. Maybe next year we will do more with this aspect of our identity when this week rolls around.

In the mean, at the Taizé website, you can read about the meeting in Zagreb. I commend it to your attention. Here is the link to the interview with Mgr. Vlado Košić, auxiliary bishop of Zagreb. I was encouraged by this quotation.

This meeting will be ecumenical. How is the preparation going as far as our Catholic community is concerned? Is there collaboration with the other Christian churches in Zagreb and Croatia?

Yes, they will participate in their own way, with the other Christians of Zagreb and Croatia. Only we Catholics are the most numerous and therefore chiefly responsible regarding this meeting. It can help us better to understand the necessity of a communion and a collaboration with the other Christians—I think especially of Orthodox and Protestant Christians. We all live by Christ and the Gospel, and a quest for the unity of Christians ought to be one of the priorities of our faith. When you see with what love and faith other Christians unite themselves with Christ, that makes you want to become a better Catholic. To be ‘catholic’ means being open to all, since the Church is ‘katholikê’ and that means ‘universal, global.’ Jesus did not come just for a few, for this or that group of people, but for all, for every human person. Meetings such as this can help widen horizons by direct experience. It is especially important for young Christians for they are confronted today with many challenges. The ecumenical dimension is essential to our Catholic identity. It opens us to others, to those who are different but who believe in the same Lord Jesus Christ. How to be, not exclusive but on the contrary open to all, how to show love of neighbor in acts, how to welcome differences, that is what this meeting can teach us. Just imagine two or three young people from Sweden, from Poland, Hungary, Germany or Montenegro arriving in your apartment. Being a good host is not just a matter of opening the door to the house or apartment, but also opening the door of one’s heart.

I like the approach that the brothers of Taizé have in regards to evangelism and discipleship. In both cases, approaches are based on prayer and the virtues of love and hospitality. Why this should be innovative, I really cannot say. Perhaps the Monsigneur is right...that we have spent at least one thousand years spreading the gospel bitterly. I will join him in the hope that this third one thousand years can be different.

Oh! I passed the 90,000 visitor mark! Wahoo!

good to know...

Some of this I knew...but it is good to know that the ABC is taking part.

ATLANTA, GA (ABNS 01/11/07)—Two former Presidents of the United States helped announce an unprecedented gathering of diverse Baptist groups set for Jan. 30-Feb.1, 2008 in Atlanta. That news came out of a Jan. 9 meeting at the Atlanta-based Carter Center with representatives from some 30 Baptist organizations in Canada and the U.S. affiliated with the North American Baptist Fellowship (NABF) under the Baptist World Alliance (BWA).

“For the past several years,” said Rev. Dr. A. Roy Medley, general secretary of the American Baptist Churches USA, “Baptist leaders in the North American Baptist Fellowship of the BWA have been earnestly praying for greater missional unity and cooperation among us. Many of us have already taken concrete steps in that direction. President Carter's call has provided an even broader and richer forum to accelerate common gospel efforts.”

Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, both Baptists, told the media following the meeting that they are eager to see members of their denominational family cross racial and convention lines to worship and work together.

“This … may turn out to be one of the most historic events, at least in the history of Baptists in this country, and perhaps Christianity,” said Carter, a longtime Baptist Sunday school teacher who will be the keynote speaker at the New Baptist Covenant Celebration next year.

Clinton, who sang in the choir at Little Rock’s Immanuel Baptist Church while serving as governor of Arkansas, has also been asked to speak. He is a “cheerleader” for the effort, he said, and hopes the celebration will be followed by concrete ministry efforts by the various groups claiming combined memberships of over 20 million.

Organizers say the larger gathering will be “prophetic, but not partisan,” and focus on Jesus’ reading of the prophet Isaiah as recorded in Luke 4:18-19, calling for preaching the gospel to the poor, healing the brokenhearted and giving liberty to captives.

“This event will provide a wonderful opportunity for Baptists in North America to work together on the basis of Jesus' inaugural sermon in Nazareth,” said Medley. “We will gather together from across this continent to network, share best practices and lift up those historic principles which have made the Baptist movement so dynamic.”

Carter and Mercer University President Bill Underwood called a meeting last spring that resulted in Baptist leaders signing a North America Baptist Covenant expressing a willingness to cooperate in ministry. They said Southern Baptists would be invited to share in the 2008 celebration even though the group pulled out of the NABF and BWA in 2004.

NABF members include: American Baptist Churches USA, Baptist General Association of Virginia, Baptist General Conference, Baptist General Convention of Missouri, Baptist General Convention of Texas, Canadian Baptist Ministries, Canadian Convention of Southern Baptists, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, General Association of General Baptists, Lott Carey Baptist Foreign Mission Convention USA, National Baptist Convention of America, National Baptist Convention USA Inc., National Missionary Baptist Convention of America, North American Baptist Conference, Seventh Day Baptist General Conference, and Progressive National Baptist Convention Inc.

Maybe I should try to go.

I have been tagged.

Huw tagged me. It seems that there are some clergy who have some questions (seven) to answer!

The Seven Things Meme

1. Name a book that you want to share so much that you keep giving away copies:
Last Night's Fun: In and Out of Time with Irish Music
by Ciaran Carson

2. Name a piece of music that changed the way you listen to music:
Wow. That one is good. I guess it would havce to be a genre...polyphony, you know, that wacked 15th and 16th century stuff...The way the vocal parts tug and pull at one another is compelling and forced me to learn to sing my part in relation to others and not simply blindly. All we do when we sing together is in concert, in community. I know. "Beat that drum, Tripp!"

3. Name a film you can watch again and again without fatigue:
There are many. But, yeah I will regret this, Sense and Sensibility is my go to film when I am home alone.

4. Name a performer for whom you suspend all disbelief:
See above. No? Okay. Emma Thompson or Allan Rickman (I even have his autograph.).

5. Name a work of art you’d like to live with:
Well, um, I don't know for certain. I think anything by Picasso would be fun, or Dali. Yeah. I could live with Dali's stuff in my livingroom.

6. Name a work of fiction which has penetrated your real life:
The Count of Monte Cristo by A. Dumas...wow.

7. Name a punch line that always makes you laugh:
There really isn't one in particularly...I think Eddie Izzard is wondrously funny. Robin Williams always makes me laugh...always.

here we are...

I wrote him a letter yesterday. It will be an interesting race to be certain. I am very curious about who the Republicans and the Greenies will bring to the fore. YF, do you know who the Libertarian candidate will likely be?

Interesting times, indeed.

a book review

Okay, let's try not to let it turn into a bash, but this is a very interesting review of Barbara Brown Taylor's book Leaving Church. I like Barbara Brown Taylor. I like her preaching and much of her writing. But I find The Winged Man's critique to resonate true with my experience.

entraining the sabbath...sabbath no. 9

"Think of entrainment as being "in sync." When your head and heart, thoughts and feelings, are working harmoniously together, you have more clarity and inner balance–and you feel better."

-HeartMath's Freeze-Framer

Megan is right. This chapter lacks a little something. It really is a very simply message. Take time to breathe. And thus, there may be little else to say than Muller did. But when you title the chapter "Inner Music" I prepare myself for something else. Ah well. Moving on.

Now that I have gotten over my disillusionment, I have to say that I like the entrainment piece best of all. Muller speaks of entrainment, finding a partiular rhythm, a natural rhythm as essential to life. We as creatures will entrain to a new environment...up to a point. If the day were, as Muller suggests, 26 hours and not 24, we would simply compensate. It's kind of interesting to think about.

But I want to take it in another direction. I wrote about entrainment when I was working in the hospital. Music therapists use this idea a great deal in their work. The therapist gets "in sync" with the patient. Songs are played to the rhythm of the patient's breathing. The pacing is never forced. And, at least in my very limited experience (as confirmed by the therapist I worked with) even my experience of time shifted as my breathing did. My intuition about what questions to ask, how to perceive the Holy etc all shifted a bit. Sometimes it seems that we have to actively participate in entrainment. It is not always a natural sort of shifting. It may actually be an activity.

This is why Muller's breathing exercises work so well. Call it Zen. Think of it as Merton's "contemplative prayer." Breathe in God. Breathe out sin. Do what you will with it. But do take time to breathe. I like to stop in the morning and smell the coffee brewing.

What is interesting to note, however, is that the breathing may cause one to weep. Not everyone. But sometimes I find that when I have been flying around trying to get everything done, the moment I stop...take that breath...the tears flow. Gratitude. Sadness. Exhaustion. I have never really figured out why. But I saw this often in the retreat center in others as well. So many people would come to Richmond Hill and take that breath Muller speaks of in the prayer service...and then they would weep. These would be quiet tears, not sobs. From time to time I would sit with these people and they would tell me about their tears. They would recount something that happened (It would be good or bad, no rule to this.) to them in the past week or month. And in sitting still they would finally feel the effects, finally feel what had happened. And they would weep.

Breathe on me, breath of God,
Fill me with life anew,
That I may love what Thou dost love,
And do what Thou wouldst do.

Breathe on me, breath of God,
Until my heart is pure,
Until with Thee I will one will,
To do and to endure.

Breathe on me, breath of God,
Blend all my soul with Thine,
Until this earthly part of me
Glows with Thy fire divine.

Breathe on me, breath of God,
So shall I never die,
But live with Thee the perfect life
Of Thine eternity.

the rhythm is gonna get ya...sabbath no. 8

"All shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well."

-Julian of Norwich

I found my book. I have been participating in a blogging group. Megan, Cristopher and I have been reading Sabbath by Wayne Muller. I put it "somewhere safe" and have payed the price. But all is well now. It has been a good read thus far and the postings have been helpful as well. This is the seventh installment. I think I may have missed one in there with the strep, but that may only be fitting given the content of this chapter on rest. Here Muller is speaking about his time recovering from a debilitating illness. And in his recovery he rediscovers a rhythm to life.

I resonated with this and not because I had strep. An illness can slow me down and remind me how good it is to slow down, but where I really resonated is with the idea of a rhythm to life in general. When I lived at Richmond Hill I participated in a daily rhythm of prayer. We prayed morning, noon and evening. That rhythm was annoying at first, an obligation in the least generous sense of the word. But eventually, I found for myself solace in that rhythm. Taking a moment at noon to pray slowed me down, provided regular sabbath rest. It gave structure to my day. I am not a particularly structured person, so sometimes external structure is helpful for me.

I find the same rest in public transportation. I know. Clearly I have gone off the deep end here. But I like the rhythm. Arrive at the plat form. I wait. I get on the train. I ride. The conductor (usually automated) announces the station. "Exit on your left at Granville. Thank you for riding the CTA. Bryn Mawyr is next."...And so on. It is relaxing. I read on the train. It takes me where I need to go. I get off at my stop. I walk the rest of the way. Simple, rhythmic. No, it is not as "reliable" as monastic hours, but it has its own regularity and it feeds my soul somehow. I ride the train infrequently living where I do now. And, honestly, I miss that.

Part of my long transition into life as the full-time religious person has been about creating a rhythm for myself. That has been very difficult. But these lessons from Muller, Richmond Hill and the CTA are proving helpful. I'll let you know what I do to create that rhythm in my life.

spiritual food

I had lunch today with a colleague in ministry. It was tremendous. Not only was the sushi especially yummy, but the company was outstanding. I need to maintain the anonymity of this person because I did not ask her permission to blog about lunch and she is in the middle of a search process. I don't want the Google-happy people to find her on my site.

Anyway, as much as she called so that she could share the goings on with her search process, she was more so a minister to me today. We laughed. We shared ideas and our sense of vocation. Sometimes it feeds the soul to meet with someone and discover God's hand in the midst of things. Shared discernment is a beautiful thing.

May God bless her this day and all days.

silence...

"Silence promotes the presence of God, prevents many harsh and proud words, and suppresses many dangers in the way of ridiculing or harshly judging our neighbors... If you are faithful in keeping silence when it is not necessary to speak, God will preserve you from evil when it is right for you to talk."

-Francois Fenelon (1651-1715)

"Happy those who can make this prayer their own: Christ, you see who I am. For me, not to hide anything in my heart from you is a necessity. You were a human being, too. And when my inner self seems to be pulled in a thousand different directions, my thirsting heart reaches the point of praying: 'Enable me to live a life rooted in you, Jesus the Christ; unify my desire and my thirst.'"

-Brother Roger of Taize

We finally managed a little time to take the tree and other decorations down and put them away. Until next Christmas, fun decorations. So now I can enjoy the "music room" again, free from the presense of that large artificial evergreen. Don't get me wrong. Eight feet of fake tree is a great thing. I love it. But now there is simply less clutter and that makes me happy as well.

So, why is it that I talk so much about silence? I find myself doing this a lot lately. It is oxymoronic. It is also necessary. I am trying to refocus my mind. Megan and Cristopher and I have been blogging about Wayne Muller's book, Sabbath. It has been a good exercise for me to take the time to write and reflect on the Sabbath and to reacquaint myself with it. I'm behind in my posting because I got creative at some point during the holidays and put the book some plae"where I am certain to remember it." Ah well. I'll get there. Keep on keeping on!

One of the things I did in my first three months at Community Church is go to the Benedictine monastery in Three Rivers, Michigan. I needed a little time to reflect on being a pastor and husband...to take time to enrich my own prayer life...my own sense of worship. Being a pastor, I find, is tricky in this regard. You see, I find it very dificult to worship on Sunday mornings. I am responsible for the service, and need to keep my eyes open for what is going on for other people. I am thinking about the sermon, doing last minute edits in my mind as I preach it. I'm evaluating the choice of hymns etc. I often take notes in the bulletin for next year at the same time...just a reminder of what I experienced. So, somehow I have lost worship. I am told by many clergy that they experience the same thing. Ah well. Such is the life. I am willing to make some sacrifice in this way, otherwise I would not have said "yes." But I miss some of what worship brings to my life. And what I miss most is the silence.

Silence for me is the cornerstone of worship. Silences in worship are like rests in music. All is improved by well-placed silence. My heart is uplifted, my mind stilled. And then, for me, something wells up in me. I'd like to think that it is the Holy Spirit at work. I find myself finally able to breathe and feel a love. I gain clarity in silence. I finally have the courage to ask God the questions that are on my heart. And if I have the courage to hear, often the answers are there for me as well, or at least the beginnings of answers. Silence is prayer for me. Meditation, contemplation are particular silences, but for me all silences are prayer.

I miss sitting with God. And I need to regain that part of my own faith life. I cannot lead a church if I too do not pray, do not worship, do not take time for silence. Sabbath is a glorious thing. By reminding myself of its importance I find myself noticing the lack of other spiritual essentials in my life. This is good news.

Come, let us sing to the Lord;*
let us shout for joy to the rock of our salvation.
Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving*
and raise a loud shout to him with psalms.
For the Lord is a great God,*
and a great king above all gods.
In his hand are the depths of the earth,*
and the heights of the hills are his also.
The sea is his, for he made it,*
and his hands have moulded the dry land.
Come, let us bow down and bend the knee,*
and kneel before the Lord our Maker.
For he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture
and the sheep of his hand.*
O that today you would hearken to his voice!

Y'all have a good day. I'll see you around the ether!

in the preaching

"Humanity must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.

-Martin Luther King Jr.

As I said yesterday, sometimes my sermons get edited on the fly. So, fortunately I cought some rather silly grammar and syntax on the fly. One of the other things that happened was a little riff on the I Have a Dream speech...I spoke in the sermon about how I was standing in the pulpit as someone born after Martin Luther King died. The riff was about being one of those children...those little white children who played with little black children. I have never seen a segregated bathroom (unless High School cliques count). It was all of 25 seconds worth of riff. I always try to stop myself when I am tempted to do this. My trouble in preaching is not making the conncections. My trouble is in sticking with one idea. So, I limit myself right now. Some day I hope to be able to allow myself to riff more...well, at all.

So, this is something I did not say. My grandfather the Baptist minister, when he was a young man, preached in black pulpits and would have black ministers preach in his pulpit. This would have been in the 1950's. He had great hope for the work of the Gospel and tremendous courage to enable such a ministry in Orange, VA and Charleston, WV. It is his legacy I share in. It is this kind of hope that emboldened me to go into the ministry. When I think of that as pastoring, as ministry, then I have an alternative to thinking of ministry as the morality police...keeping the purity lines in check.

Being a pastor is about being professionally hopeful.

Anyway...that was something that did not get said. And though I may have been unclear even here, I needed to say it.

Speaking of Legacy, go here for one story on legacy, and here for another. And The Winged Man is speaking about not feeling Lutheran.

Finally, I wanted to share this hymn with you. Lift Every Voice and Sing is one of my favorites (Note: an early typo read "Lift Every Vice and Sing." Nice.). It is often called "The Black National Anthem." I assume there was not great caucus to elect it as such, but that is the word on the streets. The second verse is the greatest indictment against the US in hymnody, I think. We sang it as the opening hymn yesterday. I think I may preach on it next week. We'll see what the lectionary allows...or if I play the Baptist card.

Lift every voice and sing, till earth and Heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise, high as the listening skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on till victory is won.

Stony the road we trod, bitter the chastening rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a steady beat, have not our weary feet,
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered,
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered;
Out from the gloomy past, till now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.

God of our weary years, God of our silent tears,
Thou Who hast brought us thus far on the way;
Thou Who hast by Thy might, led us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee.
Lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee.
Shadowed beneath Thy hand, may we forever stand,
True to our God, true to our native land.

“They cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage.” Exodus 2:23

sermon: the hour has come

Follow the extended link for the sermon. It's mostly done. I always seem to change it a little in the pulpit.

Here is the lectionary for the day.
1 Corinthians 12:1-11
John 2:1-11