conjectural navel gazing; jesus in lint form

sermon mumblings on a snowy eve

They are saying we could see a foot of snow by morning. I think that is outstanding news. I so want to stay home in the snow. We'll see what really happens. There's still a church bulletin to put together for Sunday and a Chinese New Year inspired brunch for Saturday morning to set up for. Still, maybe I'll find some way to enjoy the time to myself at the house at some point. I have a sermon to finish.

The scripture for Sunday is about the Transfiguration. The Greek might be better translated as "transformation." But the English translation is from the Latin in this case. I have a sermon title and that's a start: The Politics of Transformation. A group at CCW has spent the last three weeks reading through Jim Wallis' God's Politics. Some good stuff came out of our conversations. I am hoping to fold a little of that into the sermon. We'll see.

Y'all enjoy your evening. I'll be here only from time to time through February. Perhaps you'll get to read a little of the thesis from time to time. I'll still post my sermons and the Monday videoblog.

page 123 tag

Thanks, Cliff.

The Rules:-
Pick up the nearest book of 123 pages or more. (No cheating!)
Find Page 123.
Find the first 5 sentences.
Post the next 3 sentences.
Tag 5 people.

And here is what I found.

I'd worn the same hairstyle since six, when
a phonebook boosted my face onto the mirror,

a few inches off Julio's effort to bend.
Every month he asked me what I wanted

and I said the same thing
my father next in turn for the chair

that had cradled him for thirty years.
At nine I memorized Julio's story

of exile, the whisper of sissors
slicing the air as he paced around me

On Havana nights, he was a tenor.
Barber by day.

And there you have it. Julio, El Barbero by Kevin A. Gonzalez from Crab Orchard Review Vol. 9 No. 2 It's an interesting exercise. Keeping with the sentences rule, we get only one half of the line of poetry at the end. Lovely. Here are my five: Jorge, Megan, Scott, Amy Stewart, Todd

one more day

My thesis is due on March 1st...well a completed rough draft at any rate. If I am wise, I will put my writing energy there and not on the blog. So, I think...I hope, that tomorrow will be my last post for a while. I know me. I'll pop on with something from time to time, but I need to focus on the thesis. February is thesis writing month at Chateau Ouilmette.

wednesday linkage: again, startlingly cold

What is it about Wednesdays that can be so distracting? I've already done a ton of work this morning. In part this is because I seem to be in a dozen conversations via e-mail. And, as fate would have it, the church secretary is ill today. She's at home nursing a fever (Get some rest, Jenn!). So, I am answering the doors for the groups coming in and out of the church this morning. We have a mom and tots group and a writers group that use the church on Wednesday mornings. It's nice to have the building be bustling. Anyway, let's get on with the linkage!

A seminary mate has made the ECUSA press. This is a nice little article about what it's like to really downsize as a church. She's doing great work. It's a difficult time in the life of a church to say the least, but this is the right attitude! Resurrection.

The Young Fogey and I have been talking about this theological reflection. Are we who are on the left teetering on a ledge? It's a good question. We don't want to repeat the sins of the religious right. But we want to hold the government to some kind of standard. YF would suggest voting Libertarian, but I just cannot seem to go there.

Larry has posted on sentimentality, apathia and the place of solitude. Yes, he connects them all. Really.

IdaSusan linked to this article in the comments of another post. It's an interesting rant against POMO language and the emergent church from one of its own. It is a good critique of many of us.


The Google generation is illiterate? Well, now we know! Thanks, Joho Dave. I think that this is always the case of any new technology. I know nothing about how to repair phones. But I use them all the time.

Well, that should keep us all busy today. Take care. Try to get some work done!

helmets in worship

Beth Newman has not said anything new here. But she has said something I think is tremendously important for us to remember about worship...Why is there spiritual stagnation in places like Willow Creek and other "quick growth" churches?

There are, I’m sure, an almost limitless supply of sociological, cultural and economic explanations of why this is happening. I want to suggest at least one theological one: We have a serious misunderstanding of the purpose and nature of worship. And this impoverished understanding of worship has serious implications for the formation necessary for long-term obedience and discipleship.

This misunderstanding is reflected in the language we use. A small example is the replacement of the term “sanctuary” with “worship center.” As with other aspects of contemporary reflection on the church, there is a supposed method to this madness -- the archaic “church” language puts off potential seekers. The difficulty, however, is that “sanctuary” has a long biblical history, a meaning that is completely absent from a worship center, which evokes the connotation of a “service center” where I might take my purchase to be exchanged or my car to be lubed.

You can go here for the rest of the column. She wants us to remember the word "worship" in our understanding of worshiping communities.

an embrace

I saw the snares that the enemy spreads out over the world and I said groaning, "What can get through from such snares?" Then I heard a voice saying to me, "Humility."

St. Anthony the Great

Once upon a time, actually until a couple of years ago, I did not like to celebrate my birthday. I have never figured out why. And something in me tells me that it has always been so. I just recoiled at the idea of celebrating my birthday. And, honestly, it's still uncomfortable in some ways. But this year things seem to have improved. My birthday was Sunday. And it was a great day!

The church was so kind. There was an amazing cake German chocolate cake with that coconut icing. Wow. There were smiles and hugs, jokes and poorly veiled attempts to discover my age (I'm 38 now). It was a lovely day. And, since it was also the occasion of the church's annual finance meeting, that's saying something! But that's only the beginning of the day. My spouse, too, was wonderful.

Being married to someone as unpredictable (read: moody) as I am takes some serious work. And, historically, birthdays have been tough. Trish celebrates well. It's genetic. Her family simply knows how to play. It's great. That I found celebrating my birthday difficult has been a point of confusion...to say the least. Trish was so wonderful this year. Veggie lasagna. Time to nap. Movies of my choosing (We joked about an imagined title, 1,900 Warriors Under the Shadow of a Vampire. I am the guy who rents such a movie. It cannot be helped.). A wonderful birthday gift. It was a great day.

Community can, from time to time, embrace us in these celebrations. They can draw us in, celebrating the very simple fact that God created us. It is, on some level, a celebration of a miracle. Each of us, crafted in God's own image, are to be honored. The church and my wife both do this so well.

And slowly, slowly, I am learning the humility and obedience that it takes to receive such an embrace...from family, friends, and the church.

monday videoblog: nicotine, caffeine, amphetamine

monday videoblog: nicotine, caffeine, amphetamine



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sermon: gather in the desert

Sermon: The Third Sunday After the Epiphany
Community Church of Wilmette
January 27, 2007
The Feast of St. John, Chrysostom

Gather in the Desert

I think I have discovered my favorite north shore coffee shop. This is good news. It’s taken me most of my 18 months here, but I think I have finally found it. Now I don’t have to drive all the way into Andersonville for my coffee shop experience. I still love Kopi, my favorite place down there, but it’s a bit of a haul for a latte. And when I buy beans I go to Alchemy over by the Linden L station. No question. Get some!

The Brothers K, however, is the perfect coffee shop for me. There’s plenty of room to spread out and read. The guys who run the place are friendly. The customers are friendly, too. They smile and nod at one another. They chat about the weather or the news. There are counters around the perimeter of the space so you can sit in a high chair and look out the windows at the bustling streets. The coffee is great. The food is tasty. And best of all…and this is the perfect selling point for me…it has free (FREE!) wireless internet access. Yes, I can take the computer to the coffee shop and log on to check my email or research the ever-delinquent master’s thesis. It’s perfect. It’s lovely. It’s caffeinated community.

But I’ve noticed something kind of curious. Something else happens when I go to the coffee shop. Something happens when I log on to the internet in this friendly and warm place. I begin to feel isolated. I begin to sense myself as cut off somehow from the people around me. Yes, I e-mail my friends who are all across the globe. I instant-message other pastors about the upcoming Sunday’s scripture readings. Yes, I will even post a picture of the coffee shop on my facebook page. I’m a dork. It cannot be helped.

And yet, yet I feel isolation creep in as I spend time online in the coffee shop. In spite of the technology’s intention to connect me with the world around me, an intention I unhesitatingly embrace I might add, I find that it can just as easily isolate me from the world. I sit in the middle of a warm, gracious community of fellow coffee drinkers and I isolate myself from them. I isolate myself! It just makes no sense to me at all. But there it is. I cannot deny it.

The last couple of weeks I have been preaching about the nature of the Christian spiritual journey. We’ve talked about how it begins, what fuels it, and a possible purpose for such a journey in justice and mercy. Last week we spoke about Dr. King as an example of where a Christian spiritual journey might lead us. It can transform us. It can transform the world around us. There is one aspect to the Christian spiritual journey that we have yet to discuss, however, and that is the desert.

The desert (or the wilderness) is an archetypical reality of the Christian spiritual journey. Entire Christian movements owe their identification to the desert. For centuries, men and women mystics guided the spiritual life of the church from the deserts of Africa and the Middle East. Jesus himself will journey into the desert, the wilderness, to find solitude and the presence of God. Hear these words from Matthew’s gospel.

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. 3The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4But he answered, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” 5Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’” 7Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 8Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; 9and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’” 11Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.

Christ’s retreat into the wilderness comes just after he is baptized and just before our reading from Matthew this morning where he proclaims that the Kingdom of God has come near and he calls Peter, Andrew, James and John. Somehow the desert gets skipped in the assigned readings. It gets put off until Lent where we often “pretty up” the desert somehow, making it pleasant. We want our spiritual journeys to be pleasant and warm. Of course we do. I know I do. But this omitted moment of Jesus’ life suggests that sometimes, sometimes our journeys simply aren’t easy. Sometimes we simply struggle and the voice of God goes silent. And the omission is an admission that we do not know what to do when the wilderness calls.

Jesus goes out into the desert to fast and pray for 40 days. He meets the Devil there. And the Devil offers up a variety of temptations. I can see isolation in each of these temptations. Isolation can drive us insane. Isolation causes us to forget our true purpose, our true nature, and the intention that God has placed upon each of our souls. So much can isolate us. So much can serve the purpose of the desert for us. So much can be the place of temptation in our lives.

I could list a bunch of -ism's here. Consumerism can be a desert. Capitalism is a desert. Racism, sexism, oppression of any kind can be a desert. I could say that our success-driven lives can be deserts. Addictions are signs of the desert as well. We isolate ourselves in these deserts. The desert is a dry place where little grows. The wilderness is the dry place of the spirit where God’s voice seems silent and all the alternatives to grace call to us.

Jesus fasts and prays in the desert. He went looking for solitude. What he found, however, was a mix of solitude and isolation. He found temptation and the restorative presence of God. The desert mystics also speak of the difficulties of solitude, the reality of the devils of our imaginations, our hearts, and the presence of the Holy Spirit. There is always a mix of both. It is unavoidable. So we have to choose. We have to choose between isolation and solitude.

The suburbs can be isolating places. "Bedroom communities" are barely communities at all and isolation is rampant. Suburban sprawl spreads us too thinly. And our technological solutions to such isolation can become traps. There I sit in a coffee shop, a place designed for community and yet I slip into isolation. I turn my back on the people around me and turn my eyes to a computer screen.

We always seem to slip into some way of forgetting one another and ourselves, of isolating ourselves from one another. Churches can help alleviate that difficulty by providing community. Certainly. Churches can provide fellowship, and they should. It's a wonderful ministry. And once we learn fellowship in the church, we can begin to create it on our own as well. Phone calls to and dinners with our friends can help break cycles of isolation.

Is it also possible that churches can teach solitude? Can churches teach us healthy ways of being alone so that we might begin to recognize when we have fallen into isolation? Because, honestly, I am not sure I can always tell the difference. Henri Nouwen writes:

I believe you can look at solitude, community, and ministry as three disciplines by which we create space for God. If we create space in which God can act and speak, something surprising will happen. You and I are called to these disciplines if we want to be disciples.

Solitude and isolation are two sides to the same coin. Isolation is akin to abandonment and rejection. Sometimes we choose it. Sometimes it is foisted upon us. Solitude, however, is an opportunity to recognize that we are, each of us, God’s own creation, beloved and free. Solitude, as Nouwen states, teaches us how to create space in our own lives for God.

It may be that when we try to find quiet times of solitude it’s simply inevitable that we slip into isolation. But why? Perhaps the answer is loneliness. Perhaps, we simply don’t know what to do with our own loneliness.

Loneliness is painful. It’s that simple. And we want to avoid pain. So we have choices. Like Christ in the desert we are given choices to alleviate our loneliness. We are offered quick fixes to our loneliness. We wall ourselves off in gated communities hoping this will alleviate the loneliness. We segregate ourselves. We separate ourselves crafting ghettos and enclaves, cliques and even facebook group pages all in the attempt to stave off the loneliness and in the process we create simply more isolation. Loneliness comes, brothers and sisters, but it does not have to drive us into isolation.

Most of the great spiritual witnesses within the Christian tradition speak of incredible loneliness. Once again, Mother Teresa comes to mind. We cannot deny the place of the desert in our spiritual journeys. And we cannot deny the power of loneliness. But if solitude teaches us anything, it teaches us to make room for God. Isolation does not make room for God. Isolation insists that we fill our lives with things, spiritual and physical detritus, junk, stuff or mess that does not allow for God to move in. Some how, some way, we have to move from isolation into solitude. Solitude teaches us about God. And from solitude we can proclaim the presence of God in the world. We can move into the world from the wilderness as Christ does, calling those who would serve God.

Glenn Hinson writes, “Loneliness is a crucible for grace.” Through loneliness we learn compassion. We learn what it means to be outcast. We can experience the solidarity of Christ who begs on the cross “My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me?” We can hear the lonely voice of God who says in the words of the psalmist “O that my people would heed me, that Israel would walk in my ways!” (Ps. 80:14) God’s love is spurned. And Christ cries in anguish. Loneliness comes. But we cannot begin to understand this reality of the presence of God in loneliness until we understand the difference between solitude and isolation.

Cannot the church be a place, a community, where we learn about the grace that comes in the loneliness of solitude? This can be the root of compassion in places like a sprawling suburb. This kind of compassion can speak out against divisive competition, and an economics that teaches us how to sacrifice one another. The churches once spoke out against white flight, that movement of racial isolation. Now we have to speak out against the other forces that isolate us.

Christ comes out of the desert to meet us where we are. He calls us to cry out with him, “God is here!” We are a gathering, a community in the desert. Together we can proclaim the Kingdom of heaven, a way out of isolation, and a way that makes room in our lives for God.

Amen.

distractions and such

I'm trying to finish the sermon. It's coming slowly. Your prayers would be appreciated. I have too many ideas in my brain. No news there.

I want to finish the sermon so that I can enjoy tonights' roller derby bout with no distractions. Heh. Some friends and I are gathering in celebration of my 38th birthday. It should be a good time.

sermon mumblings and a full day

I believe you can look at solitude, community, and ministry as three disciplines by which we create space for God. If we create space in which God can act and speak, something surprising will happen. You and I are called to these disciplines if we want to be disciples.

--Henri J. M. Nouwen

The last couple of weeks I have been preaching about the nature of the Christian spiritual journey. I've talked about how it begins, what fuels it, a possible purpose for such a journey. I have talked about Dr. King as an example of where a Christian spiritual journey might lead us. I have talked about the Magi, and even Jesus himself upon occasion. I'm a rebel. What can I say? This Sunday I am going to talk about the desert. The desert (or the wilderness) is also an archetypical aspect to the Christian spiritual journey. Entire Christian movements owe their identification to the desert. I'm wondering how the desert reveals itself in suburban America.

I could list a bunch of -ism's here. Consumerism is a desert. Capitalism is a desert. Or I could say that our success driven lives are deserts as well. Addictions are signs of the desert. But I think that this week I'll look at loneliness as a desert. Is it possible that our loneliness (perhaps a result of -ism's etc) is a desert that can transform and be transformed? Jesus goes out into the desert to fast and pray for 40 days. He meets the Devil there. And the Devil offers up a variety of temptations. I can see loneliness in each of these temptations. Loneliness can drive us insane. But what about solitude? Solitude may be defined as sanctified loneliness.

Jesus fasts and prays in the desert. One might say that he went looking for solitude. What he found, however, was a mix of solitude and loneliness. He found temptation and the restorative presence of God. The desert monastics also speak of the difficulties of solitude, the reality of the devils of our imaginations, our hearts, and the presence of the Holy Spirit.

The suburbs are isolating places. "Bedroom communities" are barely communities at all and loneliness is rampant. Churches can help alleviate that difficulty by providing community. Certainly. Churches can provide fellowship, and they should. It's a wonderful ministry. Is it also possible that churches can teach solitude? Merton said that one learns to be with others by learning to be alone and vice versa. Nouwen had his own ideas about solitude. Most of the great spiritual witnesses within the Christian tradition speak of incredible loneliness. Once again, Mother Teresa comes to mind. We cannot deny the place of the desert in our spiritual journeys.

Christ experiences incredible loneliness in the wilderness. He experiences it at Gethsemane when his friends fall asleep. No one would or could stay awake with him. Loneliness. "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Isolation...total, soul-crushing isolation will come. The church must find a way to speak about such isolation, to be able to distinguish between isolation and solitude, to be a safe harbor, an oasis, for someone who is walking through the wilderness. Perhaps then isolation, loneliness, can become solitude.

Of course, Resurrection comes. But first, there is the desert. And that's where we need to stay for one Sunday. A church can be an oasis in the desert, and a gathering of solitaries.

Hmmm...

Solitude and Isolation...and loneliness is part and parcel of each. Now that's a challenging morsel.

blue like jazz

Here's an article that may be worth your time.

Some experts say Miller and authors like him are in sync with a generation of young adults who very much believes in God, Jesus and the basics of Christianity, but are struggling to balance their conservative Christian upbringings with a culture that embraces a go-along-to get-along philosophy.

Read on...

What I like about Miller is that he does not toss Christianity out with his rhetoric. He's into (re)claiming Christianity. Absolutely. He simply believes that it is a faith founded on the love of God and of neighbor. That's all. It can be complicated in it's application because that kind of love gets complicated. You know, when you can't bar the gates of your little enclave because of love, then things are free to get complicated. Hat tip to Micah.

love your sump pump

It has been a week since the Moderator, Vice Moderator and I had to deal with the flooding basement and a failing sump pump. Let me tell you, a sump pump is a terrible thing to waste. Take care of your sump pump! We have made jokes about the church needing an ark. Now that's a capital campaign for you. I have been at the church earlier than usual most mornings to meet plumbers and electricians. I have poked around and explored the basement of the church in all kinds of new and interesting ways...all in an effort to discern the level of sump pump failure.

Today, once again, I will go to church early and meet electricians and suburban dive crews (They replace floats on the big in-ground systems. You need a drop cage for something like that. I had no idea we had sharks in the sump basin. I thought that they were only in the pews. Live and learn!) as they valiantly try to repair our sump pump. I pray to God that this is the last time they have to come out. Let it be done today.

Once that sump pump is finished I am going to hold a special worship service to bless the sump pump and to ask for God's protection. We'll get a rainbow sticker or something for it. Never again shall the Lord destroy the earth by flood. Nope. The sump pump is a godly instrument, indeed!

wednesday linkage: the frigid edition

Once again conjectural navel gazers offers you many links for your procrastinating pleasure. And today is especially worth your time. Yes, it's so very cold outside. And I know that you are wishing you were anywhere but in the office or wherever it is you work. Frigid temperatures in the Chicagoland area are causing all kinds of havoc. It's wondrous. I've been in the office since seven this morning with an electrician who is trying to fix our sump pumps. Anyway, on to the linkage...

Have you seen this? Bill Clinton was a little sleepy in church. Heh.
Oh, it seems that Christians are finally answering a call to social action. This is just a little embarrassing. "Finally!?"
Here's another video for you: dolphin rings. Go here for more information.
Whose job is it anyway? Who should care for the poor? Church or state?
This one got me thinking: The Lost Art of Cooperation.
My wife was cast in this show yesterday! Huzzah!

I'm reading through this poem as I prepare for my sermon.

What Solitude Teaches by Marilyn Chandler McEntyre

The difference between alone and lonely
The delights of inner dialogue
Where to find your angle of repose
How to listen into silence
And hear the Spirit speak
A quiet kind of courage
The joy of uninterrupted reading
Or using up all the hot water
The pleasures of puttering
The comforts of quietness
The shape of our own desires
The pleasure of not performing
Trust in God's Presence
when it looks like absence

p.44 Weavings Volume XX, Number 2 March/April 2005

Well, that should help you somewhat in your procrastinating today. It's a perfect day for it. Truly. Give it a shot. I'm going to e-mail Boy Scouts and stuff before I procrastinate. But I'll be joining you shortly.

snow on office windows

We awoke this morning to a lovely snowfall. It's just enough to make you want to stay in and enjoy some cocoa, but not enough to actually close down the office. Just lovely.

I posted this photo on Flickr with one other from this morning and a couple of images I took at the Rally and Federal Plaza in Chicago. It was very dark, so the pictures aren't great, but there you go.

This week is a full one. I have appointments lined up for coffee, conversation and general misbehavior all week. I'm looking forward to it. Our Annual Finance meeting is this Sunday. That too will prove to be an adventure. I actually look forward to these gatherings. Who knew?

Be well. Have a good day.

monday videoblog: wandering around the house

monday videoblog: wandering around the house



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40

I wish I could have found a way to fit this in to my sermon.

sermon: the jesus we know

Sermon: The Second Sunday After the Epiphany, Year A
January 20, 2008
Martin Luther King Sunday
Community Church of Wilmette

The Jesus We Know

Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world grant us your peace.

One of the prayer habits I have is to stop what I am doing, whatever that is, and praying those words.

Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world have mercy on me.

Sometimes I change the pronoun to the singular so I’m just praying for mercy for myself. You know, sometimes you just have a rough day and you need to know that God is as focused on you as upon anyone else.

Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world have mercy on me.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world grant me your peace.

Our story from John’s Gospel this morning presents a great many subjects to preach upon, but I would like us to focus on just one aspect of the story; the many names for Jesus. And here they are:

Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (v. 29)
Son of God (v. 34)
Rabbi (which translated means Teacher) (v. 38)
Messiah (which translated means Anointed) (vs. 41)

All these names for Jesus…

John is trying to get across exactly who he understands Jesus to be…
…Jesus is all of these things…
…And he’s made some interesting choices.

He equates Jesus with a sacrificial Lamb (the Passover Lamb perhaps) who is the mark of salvation and freedom from slavery. John actually gives us the Hebrew words “Rabbi” and “Messiah” instead of the Greek translations of the terms. Perhaps he was trying to identify Jesus in the words of Jesus’ own followers. John wanted us to know who they thought Jesus was as well.

So, I started to ask myself, “Who do I understand Jesus to be?” That’s when this prayer came to mind again.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world have mercy on us.

I use it all the time. It comes from a Eucharistic prayer…a holy refrain in praise of God’s presence in the ritual meal. But, do I really think that this is who Jesus is? This is John’s challenge to me. He’s naming God as he sees God in Jesus. What if I were to do the same? What would it sound like? How would I name Jesus?

Maybe it would sound like a prayer…like that prayer from the communion rite. Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world…

Jesus is the merciful Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world so that we might have peace. Now there’s a job description for you. That’s one heck of a name. And I thought my job description was challenging.

Mercy. Taking away sin. Granting peace.

Sometimes I wonder if Jesus ever longed to ask the first century equivalent of “do you want fries with that?” Something a little easier than Savior of the Universe.

Mercy. Taking away sin. Granting peace. This is how I understand Jesus.

His name is Mercy: It is a quality of God to have mercy. This is God’s promise to us. And I await mercy. This is the fruition of God’s judgment. Mercy. It is sweetness to me. Gentle. Compassionate. Mercy is a soft bed to lie in at the end of a hard day. Jesus brings such mercy. He brings healing. He brings compassion. He proclaims God’s presence in such a way that offers mercy to all.

One Who Takes Away Sin: Now this is where it gets interesting. This is where I wrestle with regrets. And, yes, I have regrets. Regrets come with any life, I think, those little places where we just miss the mark or say the things that we wish we had never said. They come. But they are as forgivable as anything else. It’s just that somehow I keep holding on to them. Regret is like that.

This is where I also wrestle with shame. Shame and sin are not necessarily the same thing. There are different ways to understand shame. You all know this…
“Ah. That’s a shame” is another way of saying that something is sad. But to shame someone, to point that finger and wag it around like a weapon. Well, that can be deadly. Shame and sin…not always the same thing.

Our sins are not those things that some odd morality may foist upon us, or some abusive word may try to level upon us. Systems of shaming are not the same thing as ways of understanding and showing us our sins. There’s always the possibility of forgiveness when we speak of sins. Systems of shaming, on the other hand, need us to be burdened. Always. Such systems purposefully keep us from forgiveness. That’s their goal. They want us burdened…in bondage to their own will and not free in the merciful will of God.

By meditating upon my sins and not some odd shame, by understanding that God takes away those sins, I actually begin to see the difference between real wrongs that I have committed and the false shame with which the world attempts to burden me. And I begin to understand forgiveness, which is the taking away of sin as an act of mercy. And that action brings about peace.

One who Grants Peace: The Lamb of God brings peace. This peace is personal and communal. This peace is faithful and political. This is the peace we mean when we say “peace in the middle east.” This is the peace that comes when I sing “Peaceful Easy Feeling” by the Eagles.

Through Jesus’ taking away my sins, I discover peace. By navigating the difference between true and false guilt, I find a road to peace. I see that God is merciful and desires us to live in peace. This is God’s continuing creative work among us. And, I believe, it is my job to undertake the journey to do the same kind of work in the world as Jesus has done in my life. Yes, brothers and sisters, this is another sermon on journey.

This is how I understand Jesus. All of what I just said is who I understand Jesus to be. Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Jesus grants peace. And, like the disciples in our story this morning, I must follow the Christ I Know: The Lamb of God.

As Christians, once we come to understand the identity of Christ, our relationship with Jesus of Nazareth, we can better understand our own journey. Martin Luther King serves as an example of this. How Dr. King understood Jesus, his ministry, his divinity, and the promises he made, was a cornerstone to the Civil Rights movement.

John’s Gospel gives us several ways to understand Jesus this morning. How do you think Martin Luther King understood Jesus? Who did he understand Jesus to be?

Martin Luther King undertook his journey of faith because he understood Jesus to be a peace maker, a gentle man of justice for all. Jesus’ vision of God’s will was something that guided Dr. King’s journey. Dr. King’s Jesus wants to liberate people from systems of shame…systems of oppression.

The African American population was shamed…3/5 a person…no room for forgiveness…subhuman…No room for grace, no room for mercy, no room in the front of the bus…This is what Martin Luther King was fighting against. It was this kind of system that he challenged. Throughout his ministry we heard the words again and again…justice, mercy, peace, love, people dwelling together in unity…This is the forgiveness of sin. The sin of racism, when forgiven leads to justice, mercy, peace, and love for all. Systems of shaming have no such end. They perpetuate themselves. Hatred breeds more hatred. Violence breeds more violence.

In his letter from Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King wrote, “’Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, pray for those that despitefully use you’… Jesus was an extremist for love, truth and goodness.” This is the core of Dr. King’s journey. This is the center of his faith. How he understood Jesus, the person he met in Jesus, defined his own call and hid sense of purpose in this world.

Jesus has a similar call upon each of us. Each of us are asked to grapple with who we encounter in Jesus; a teacher, the anointed, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, the Son of God, or all of the above…and then we are called to follow that Jesus.

Jesus says,

“I will meet you where your needs are greatest.
I will uphold you and heal you.
And you, in turn, will name me.
What will you name me?
Healer, friend, priest, advocate, guide…?
Name me and I will ask you to follow me,
as an offering of what I have given you to the whole world.”

Thanks be to God.

for your friday

sermon thinking

I am going to try to work through the sermon today. We'll see how that goes. Tonight I am going to go to see Requiem for a Heavyweight. A good friend is the lead. Then it's off to a party. I was told to bring the mandolin. So, I will! Ah...shall the craic appear? We shall see. We shall see.

The sermon for Sunday is entitled "Hit the Road, Jack." Once again I am thinking about the idea of journey, following Christ, and what that means. It is our celebration of the life and ministry of Dr. King. So, it's not too hard to get a sense of where that might lead me. One of the sidelines that is distracting me is the notion of "opinion or fact." I think MLK followed a third way; Faith.

in other news...

...The basement at church has taken on some water.

I'm going home now...More plumbing tomorrow.

sigh...muslims and rumors of muslims

This is laughable. But welcome to America.

WASHINGTON (ABP) -- Churchgoing Congregationalist Barack Obama is being forced once again to explain that he is not secretly a Muslim bent on furthering an international Islamic conspiracy by winning the presidency.

Jewish and other religious leaders have joined him in denouncing an e-mail campaign that has resurfaced in primary states in recent weeks. Various versions of the messages have spread since at least January of 2007, when the conservative online magazine Insight published an article that falsely asserted Obama attended a madrassa, or Islamic religious school, while he lived in Indonesia.

During a debate between Democratic presidential hopefuls Jan. 15 in Las Vegas, the Illinois senator was asked about the whisper-campaign rumors. The debate moderator, NBC Nightly News host Brian Williams, referred specifically to an e-mail NBC News had received. It said Obama had sworn his congressional oath of office on a Koran and that he refused to recite the Pledge of Allegiance or respect the United States flag.

well...

As a friend said, maybe I should do a little more thinking.
85% John Edwards
82% Hillary Clinton
82% Barack Obama
79% Joe Biden
77% Dennis Kucinich
77% Chris Dodd
76% Mike Gravel
71% Bill Richardson
43% Rudy Giuliani
36% John McCain
29% Mitt Romney
27% Mike Huckabee
23% Tom Tancredo
14% Fred Thompson
12% Ron Paul

2008 Presidential Candidate Matching Quiz

can you get some satisfaction?

I can't get no satisfaction...but I try.
-The Rolling Stones

Class yesterday was excellent. We worked through Kennon Callahan's book Twelve Keys to an Effective Church and The Anxious Organization. Both, in short, speak to the issue of satisfaction or happiness in human institutions. Fascinating stuff. The class could have very easily become a theoretical chop shop for swingin' idaes on growing your youth group, but thankfully did not. The instructor also brought in some tools of community organizing (one-on-ones) to breathe life into some of these notions. It surprisingly easy to forget that there are people involved in these organizations. People! In church! Who knew?

I just wanted to share some of the Callahan book with you. The twelve keys he lists are as follows:

1. A Concrete Mission
Discover what your church is called to do; find a hurt and meet it. A church needs a focus; it can't be all things to all people. Callahan suggests churches identify no more than three major mission objectives. Don't adopt a negatively stated mission such as simply surviving. Like a sports team, Callahan says, "Don't play to avoid losing, play to win."

2. Effective Shepherding
Callahan believes that visitation by both pastor and laity with members, newcomers, the sick, shut-ins, and the unchurched is essential for a church to be healthy.

3. Dynamic Worship
Sermons that are easily followed, provide humor and drama, and share something hopeful and helpful are key. There needs to be connected movement in the service that strings together one theme. Quality music by a gifted volunteer or staff person is essential for good worship.

4. Good Group Ministry
People are looking for a place to belong. They want to be in community, not on a committee, Callahan states. People, not programs, need to be the focus of a church, and this largely happens through groups.

5. Strong Leadership
Effective leaders are not simply enablers, responding to the congregation's wishes. Instead, leaders must be proactive, visionary, and willing to lead the congregation forward.

6. An Effective Decision Making Process
Streamlined organizational structure keeps leaders from wasting time in too many committee meetings. The congregation should perceive the decision-making process as reasonable in length and effective at reaching decisions and achieving established goals.

7. Several Excellent Programs
Too many programs exhaust a church. Choose a few (two or three, and Christian Ed counts) in which the church can be competent.

8. Open Accessibility
This includes location accessibility-is the church easy to find? Are there sufficient green space and visible parking? It also includes ministry accessibility-is there ministry that attracts people and draws them in?

9. High Visibility
Can the church facility be easily seen? Are the pastor, people, and ministries visible to the community? Is there a good church sign? In the final analysis, however, it's people who attract people.

10. Adequate Parking
There should be a parking space, Callahan says, for every 1.75 people. Twenty percent of the parking should be empty, an invitation for seekers to stop in. A full parking lot communicates "there's no room for you." Obviously suburban and urban congregations will find a work around.

11 Adequate Facilities
There should be a balance between size and usage. The condition of the church property communicates what the congregation thinks of itself.

12. Generous Giving
Income goes up in relation to increased participation in ministries. It's also important to remember that money follows mission. A great ministry inspires greater giving.

The first six are relational characteristics, while the second six are functional characteristics. Yes, programs are functional and not relational. And, if one were to rate them in importance, the relational would hopelfully always be ranked higher. This is not to say that one should ignore the leaky roof, it's just that though good to fix the leak, doing so does not grow your church. It simply prevents it from getting worse. A helpful act to be sure. But the difference is significant. We're talking about satisfaction.

In short, relational strengths increase satisfaction while functional strengths decrease dissatisfaction. And, what's more, the two are not related. Fixing the roof does not increase satisfaction. It keeps people from complaining and the building from falling apart. Dissatisfaction decreases. Wondrous! But people are not necessarily happier. Well, unless you can turn the functional strengths into relational somehow...like, holding a Fiddler on the Roof look alike contest as you fix your roof. Then it's no longer about the roof anyway, and you have a relational function. But that's another post.

A couple other things to keep in mind about these functions. First, even the best church only does six or eight of these very well. Did you get that? So, let go of the idea that all twelve are essential. Get six...maybe eight...and that'll take years. Breathe. Let go.

And second,they are "strengths" or "functions." When Callahan speaks of keys, I get a little lost in "silver bullet" thinking. You know, if we just do these three things, then everyone will come! Yahoo! Um, no. These are functions. These are the things that make up the geography of a church to some degree. And these are strengths. We follow our strengths. Do not jump on the things we do wrong and try to fix them. Follow the strengths. What are your congregation's strengths? Work from there. Anything else will simply frustrate you and make everyone else miserable. Now that's a ministry to be proud of...institutionalized misery. Perhaps needless to say, I loved that little bit.

Well, that's what I have for today. I hope you all enjoy your day. I have one more session left and then it's off to do more things for the church. This has been a great class. I'm sure to make some poor lay leader in the church read Callahan's book. But that's for another day.

an aside

"Government and ­co-­operation are in all things the laws of life; anarchy and competition the laws of ­death." - John Ruskin, Unto This Last (1862)

the class: expressing anxiety

Evangelism: n. People being invited to tell their story and other people sitting down long enough to listen and see God’s holy hand in another individual’s life. Stories are the rock upon which Christianity is founded. Evangelism is as much about listening as it is about preaching. The Word became flesh not to dictate creedal statements but to listen…to ask and answer the question “Where is God?”

To some, I imagine, the definition of evangelism to the right will seem fluffy. Some may prefer the more traditional notions of "preaching 'em into the Kingdom." I don't know if any of you who read this blog are those people. But if you are, take a breath and see what's actually at work in this definition of evangelism.

The Word does become flesh. This is a traditional Johannine (In the beginning was the Word...) statement of the reality of Christ Jesus. It is also a personal statement. People are encouraged to speak of faith, of their lives, and the person listening, when the other is done telling their story, is then encouraged to interpret/proclaim the presence of God in the story that was shared. There is no judgment, no moralizing, but simply saying "I see God there."

I think this is an excellent mirror of how Christ called many. This is a way to "meet people where they are." This is a way to proclaim God in the world. This is a way to speak of all the things that make Christianity Christianity. That being said, this is also non-threatening, invitational, and gracious.

It is founded on listening. We are encouraged to allow the stories of others to speak within our own community of faith if we begin to understand evangelism as this kind of invitation. So often, I fear, we think of evangelism as coercive, "getting people to think like us." Or as defensive, some kind of litmus test, "Do they think like us?" This definition of evangelism, however, is relational.

This is only one of the things that we spoke of yesterday in our first day of class. I'm taking a class on leading congregational change. It's interesting...challenging. The theme for the day, intended or not, was about listening, about crafting relationships in congregations. This is not the same as "inviting people into our community." Entering into relationship, listening to stories, proclaiming God, changes everyone in the process. The community is never a possession of the present when listening to the stories of others and finding God there is the principle goal. Such a community is in a state of constant growth and change. And it invites those changes.

The challenge for leadership then is to assist in navigating those changes, bringing some kind of coherence to the relationships without falling into the trap of stagnation. So often, in our attempts to create community, we created stagnant cliques. Small groups, prayer circles, and even the Vestry/Church Council can become cliques if we are not careful. We can cease listening to one another, to visitors. We can fail to create opportunities for people to enter new relationships with one another.

This is only one of the ideas we engaged yesterday. It's a good class and discusses pastoral leadership in ways I can understand. This is rare. So often leadership studies are so theoretical as to be useless to me. This is much more practical (You have six months to get a new person into relationship with those in the congregation, for example. Arbitrary? Maybe. But it's a start.). Of course this also means that I am constantly comparing my own performance with the ideal. And that makes me nuts. Some day I may learn how to avoid that pitfall. Yesterday was not that day. We'll see what happens today. I'll let you know.

From Taize: O Christ, however fragile our human condition may be, you call each of us to start out afresh on a way of the Gospel; even if we know you very little.

monday videoblog: the leadership moment

monday videoblog: the leadership moment



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sermon: get wet

Follow the extended link for the sermon. I was also going to share my thoughts on Sweeny Todd with you...at length. But I cannot. Suffice it to say that it is a well made, well performed movie that I hope never to see the likes of again. I am still angry, disturbed and generally put out. Ah well. Depp and the gang are genius...but I'm still totally flummoxed.

Here's the sermon. I used a lot of outline in the composition of the manuscript this time. So, it may not be properly called a manuscript, but, well, you'll figure it out.

Sermon: The Baptism of the Lord, Year A 2008
Community Church of Wilmette
January 13, 2008

Getting Wet

Last week we spoke of journeys. We spoke of the nature of the Christian journey…It is like being set afloat at sea with nothing but the current to guide you. To the world we will seem lost and unmoored. But what guides us in our journey is the love of God's own Spirit. We heard the story of the Magi and how their journey serves as a paradigm for our journey. Sometimes we simply cannot return by the way we came. And a Christian Spiritual journey brings about an end to tyranny, oppression, violence and cruelty.

This morning I want us to look to Christ as our paradigm. That should be a pretty straightforward concept for most of us. Right? Well, we'll see.

Matthew 3:13-17

There is a history of using the passage from Matthew to inform us about our own baptismal practice. We get baptized because Jesus was baptized, some of us say. But really, there is a two-fold meaning at work. And to jump straight to our own baptismal practice is perhaps a mistake. Why? Well, the first thing that we need to realize, the first thing that we need to know is that Matthew is trying to tell us something about Jesus first and foremost. This passage is not about us.

1. What this tells us about Jesus

   1. This is the primary focus

      1. All four gospels have the story

      2. This is an essential identifier of "The Anointed One."

      3. "Scandal of baptism"

         1. John baptized Jesus. Why does Jesus need baptizing?

            1. He's "perfect"

            2. He's the Messiah

         2. This question assumes some kind of pre-existing meaning to John's baptism.

         3. no clear historical precedent for "John's Baptism"

            1. perhaps Essene?

               1. Qumran community

               2. Dead Sea Scrolls

            2. Perhaps simply a purification rite

            3. Perhaps an initiation rite for Jewish converts

               1. Very rare

            4. NO ONE KNOWS for certain

   2. Jesus' relationship with John the Baptist

      1. What do we know about John?

         1. Locusts, honey, camel's hair, lives in the wilderness

         2. Jesus' cousin, the child of Elizabeth

         3. Jesus' mentor?

      2. A topic of great interest in the first century

         1. Family? This is National Inquirer stuff!

            1. The Spears Family

         2. "Embarrassment?"

         3. Who comes first? Who is greater?

            1. Matthew tackles this head-on.

            2. The dialogue between Jesus and John

               1. John would have prevented him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" But Jesus answered him, "Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness." Then he consented.

         4. What separates them?

            1. John – ministry of proclamation

               1. He's a dangerous man

               2. He's imprisoned because he gets people riled up.

               3. "Prepare ye the way of the Lord is not a politically safe message."

      3. For Matthew Jesus' ministry changes course from proclamation to acts of healing, compassion, and teaching

         1. John's question from the prison cell

            1. "Are people being healed?"

            2. Are the poor being cared for?

            3. Are the prisoners being set free?

         2. Proof of messiah-ship

   3. Jesus' relationship with prophesy

      1. Isaiah

         1. Servant Song

         2. Gentleness always and for all

            1. Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations. He will not cry or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; a bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice.

         3. This is echoed in Matthew's narrative

            1. "This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased."

   4. Jesus' relationship with God

      1. God's own Spirit

      2. God's own voice

      3. Parallel with God speaking out over chaos

         1. Historical/Cosmological Sea Change

            1. A change in trajectory for Jesus and his ministry

            2. A change in trajectory for all of creation

Jesus' journey takes a turn. This is a road-marker on the way. At his Baptism something has changed. He has chosen obedience to God. He has fulfilled all righteousness. And God announces that Jesus is the Anointed one, the Christ, God's own Son.

Matthew wants us to know all these things about Jesus. This is why he shares the story. This is his input to the discussion about John and Jesus and Baptism in the Jordan.

But what about us? Now we have to ask that question. If everything is changed, then what about us?

2. What this tells us about our baptism

   1. This is the secondary focus

   2. Matthew may or may not have intended that this Baptism should be a paradigm of our own. But it's not a hard stretch to make.

      1. The first followers of Jesus baptized.

      2. Christ's own followers baptized and were baptized.

      3. Thousands are baptized on Pentecost.

         1. Baptism in the Spirit

         2. Baptism in water

      4. The Book of Acts includes several stories about baptism…but there are always two elements at work

         1. A mark of conversion

         2. A mark of inclusion in the community

         3. Always both.

   3. Our Own Historical/Cosmological Sea Change

      1. If we are set adrift at sea to follow the currents of God's Holy Spirit, then baptism is the great sea change…

Baptism is the beginning to a journey. It is the fork in the road. It is the equivalent to the Magi's "returning home by another road." We choose to go about life differently, to be in relationship with one another and all of creation differently. Through our baptism, become instruments of gentleness, compassion, and healing. We become teachers. We are to teach people by word and action of the work of God in the world…of God's intention for all…We are to teach people about hope, love, joy and peace.

Part of a community? Yes? But a community of the compassionate, of the gentle, of healers…of those who are called upon to teach all the world about the God of Love. When we invite people to church, that is what we invite them into. As we teach our children, as we pray, and gather, and sing, as we fellowship with one another, as we stand in solidarity with the poor…We are inviting people into Baptism.

Baptism is the front door to the Church. Our baptismal pool is the front door to the life of this community. It is here that God moves…where God moves over the water….

This is the God who breathed out over the deep at the beginning of all things. And this same God breathes out over the water of our baptisms, over the chaos of each one of our lives…

Behold, he says. This is my son…this is my daughter… with whom I am well pleased.

I come to bring compassion.
I come in to bring gentleness and mercy.
I come to bring peace.
I come to teach these ways to the world…to all who would listen.
And in the waters of Baptism I make you like Jesus of Nazareth.

Behold.
Amen.

in closing...

I am getting ready to go, but I could not help but enjoy this little bit of selfishness...

1. When is your birthday? Does anyone else (famous and/or in your own life) share it?

My Birthday is January 27th. Mozart and I have the same birthday!

2. Do you prefer a big party or an intimate celebration for the chosen few?

I prefer flying to another country to be all alone. Well, almost. Intimacy is nice.

3. Describe your most memorable birthday(s)--good, bad, or both.

I fled to San Francisco for my 30th Birthday. That was pretty cool. Otherwise there's no single story that comes to mind. I like spending time with my wife on my birthdays.

4. What is your favorite cake and ice cream? (Bonus points if you share the cake recipe). Or would you rather have a different treat altogether?

I love coconut cake...My mother has a three-day cake recipe that my wife duplicated. I'll share that recipe when I can. Mmm.

5. Surprise parties: love 'em or hate 'em?

Oh, please don't.

Bonus: Describe your ideal birthday--the sky's the limit.

I would go on a musical tour of the world. Yeah, the BirthDAY may have to take a year, but that's okay with me.

I'll see you all at the protest. If I get arrested, I'll be sure to blog about it.

here we go

I am off to make some noise this afternoon. I am wearing orange...and my collar...today. I'm participating in this protest. Come on downtown to Daly Plaza and join me if you like. It'll be good to see you there.

huh

This is interesting:

WSJ: Why did Villanova decide to create a master's degree in church management?

Dr. Zech: We find that business managers at both the parish and diocesan level often have social work, theology or education backgrounds and lack management skills. While pastors aren't expected to know all the nitty-gritty of running a small business, they at least need enough training in administration to supervise their business managers. Before starting the degree, we ran some seminars in 2006 and 2007 as a trial balloon to see if folks were interested enough to pay for management education. The seminars proved to be quite popular, drawing people from all over the country, including high-level officials from both Catholic dioceses and religious orders.

Read the rest at Yahoo!

a diversion

A Friend+ sent this my way...enjoy...

a concert

This is great news. My old choir, Chicago Choral Artists, has need of another Bass2. So, they sent an e-mail my way and it looks like I can fit in enough rehearsals to warrant my presence in the choir. Huzzah!

Here's the program:

C.V. Stanford: Beati Quorum Via
William Byrd: O Salutaris Hostia
Henry Purcell: Hear my Prayer, O Lord
Thomas Tallis: Salvator Mundi
C.V. Stanford: 8 Partsongs, Op. 119 –The blue bird
Benjamin Britten: 5 Flower Songs, Op. 47 –The Evening Primrose
Gustav Holst: Choral Folk Songs Op. 36B –I Love my Love
Edward Bairstow: I Sat Down under His Shadow
Vaughan Williams: Loch Lomond
Herbert Howells: Coventry Antiphon
Edgar Bainton: And I Saw a New Heaven
Vaughan Williams: Valiant-for-Truth
Benjamin Britten: Festival Te Deum, op 32

Ah...I love it.

starbucks be warned!

Who has been keeping up with the Starbucks drama? I am interested in what all the hubub is. There are five Starbucks within five minutes of the parsonage. Each has been overhauled in the last year. Two are brand new. So, at least here in the north shore of Chicagoland, Starbucks is doing just fine.

I don't know if it is competition that has been the frustrating factor for the Starbucks crew. Perhaps so. And it makes sense that another Monster Corp like McDonalds would be their potential competition. And the news about a baristas union is fascinating!

One of the things I know about Starbucks, at least among some ministry circles, is that their benefits even for part-time employees are remarkable. Stocks? Health Insurance? Well...that's great...and rare in the food service industry. So, some part time ministers work at Starbucks for the benefits. Some would think that would be an interesting combination. I don't. Coffee and church have been companions for a good long while here in the U.S. Heh. So...why the need for a baristas union? Someone explain it to me.

more mublings about politics

I think there is an enormous danger for public figures to rationalize their actions by claiming God's mandate.
- Barack Obama, professional hope-ster

According to Cathleen Falsani's book, The God Factor, Barack Hussein Obama, Jr walked down the aisle at Trinity UCC to formally accept Christ and join the church the same year I graduated High School, 1988. That was a year for walking down aisles and such, let me tell you!

You see, he walked down the aisle at Trinity UCC and I walked across the stage at The Mosque (The edifice is now called something else entirely. People found the name troubling. Strange. It looks kinda like a mosque. I refer to it as The Building Formerly Known as the Mosque. It's called The Landmark Theater now.) for graduation. Our High School did not have a place large enough for the potential crowd. My memories of that evening are sketchy at best. I was sober at my graduation (shock and awe). So, I am still unsure why I have repressed so much of that occasion. Ah well. Life goes on.

Back to Falsani and Obama...

Barack speaks of the difficulty of the politician who is called upon to speak of their faith. They really don't stand a chance. The very nature of their job is to find ways to attract people to them so that their ideas and goals for themselves and the country come to fruition. Thus, they spend time trying to make people happy. That's what they do. "Like me." is the creed of the politician. It has to be. I get it. I have no problem with it. Like Obama said, however, that creates certain challenges when speaking of something as intimate as one's faith. And I think that is what is so troublesome for me in the recent election coverage. Politicians are somehow compelled to speak about things that almost always seem insincere no matter how honest they are being.

Perhaps Hillary has found her voice. Heck. I hope she has! That would be great. But that the news centered around her statements about finding her voice, or around Obama's sense of hope and the total "ga-ga" response of many in Iowa and New Hampshire still stumps me. Why? I am still puzzling through that. It's a good question.

I have wondered about this off and on today. I know I am a skeptic where our political process is concerned. But I also know that, as one who is to vocationally called upon to exemplify a certain faithful/hopeful posture, I need to work that stuff out. Cynicism is not always healthy. Skepticism is not always healthy. Pharaoh had a hard heart, if you recall. Bitterness, skepticism, and cynicism are both symptomatic and causes of a hard hart. I would rather my heart be pliable and open to all...not hard and incapable of receiving God's messengers when they arrive. That is how I try to pastor my church. That is how I hope to engage my country's political system. But it is difficult.

I want to be hopeful. I want to be excited that two of the most viable candidates for President of the United States represent people who were not even allowed a vote a century ago. 3/5th a person? Holy cow! Yeah. This is a cool time in our history. I resonate with Barack. He's only nine years my senior. Even Romney is a change of sorts. Huckabee (HuckabeeHuckabeeHuckabee) is not a rabid fundamentalist. He's an orator and political conservative. I can even dig him somewhat.

And yet...the system is so clouded, so muddled. The media coverage is so sensationalist, hyped up, and "entertaining." I'm just divided. Maybe I'm disillusioned somehow. I just don't know. I just wanna reach into the TV set and shake all those talking heads until they start making sense.

Feh.

I am rambling now. I'll keep working through this mess off-line and come back later.

scott and trish at new year

This is a great picture of two of my favorite people. Ah, it was a great night. Go here for the rest.

mom sets a nice table

Finally the Christmas photos are up. I'll post the New Year's Eve photos as well. Take a moment and check 'em out! And you can view the set here.

can you hear the people sing...singing the songs of...um...

I want, especially, to thank New Hampshire. Over the last week, I listened to you and in the process I found my own voice. I felt like we all spoke from our hearts and I am so gratified that you responded. Now together, let's give America the kind of comeback that New Hampshire has just given me.
- Hilary C., Friend of the American People (ala Reuters)

Billary won. No. Wait. Can we reverse that now? We have to put Hilary's name first. Hiliam? Sorry. I am just cynical here. I hope that she is sincere in her newly found "voice." Truly I do.

I have heard so many politicians speak about hope, change and such. And all that is good. But the races have quickly become a personality contest. At least that is what the media is selling. Barak is hopeful. Hilary has found her voice and is no longer the ice princess. Romney is a silver medal winner. Huckabee has a name that is fun to say (HuckabeeHuckabeeHuckabee!). We've stopped talking about policy. We've stopped talking about faith.

The people are speaking. The people are speaking through their votes. They are speaking through the media machine. Yes, the media is as much the voice of the people as the government is. The media knows what we are interested in (HuckabeeHuckabeeHuckabee) once the political election ball gets rolling. We want to feel connected to the politicians as people and not purvey-ers of political policy.

I am really interested in how all of this is going to unfold and not just because we're electing a President. I am interested in how this whole process expresses how Americans think of themselves. How do we, the people, understand who we are and what we truly hold dear (HuckabeeHuckabeeHuckabee)? We want a symbol. Hope. Earth Mother (Yes, a New Hampshire voter said this about Hilary yesterday). Comeback Kid. It's who we are collectively. And I'm still wondering about that.

monday videoblog: sycamore, il

monday videoblog: sycamore, il



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sermon: get lost

Sermon: Epiphany Sunday
Community Church of Wilmette
January 6, 2008

Get Lost

Journey.
Pilgrimage.
Quest.
Odyssey.

This is the archetypical language of human myth.

The quest for the Holy Grail…or the sorcerer’s stone or the Golden Fleece…or following a star.

On Epiphany we once again encounter this truth within our own tradition. If there is nothing else you take from today’s service please understand that our faith is about the journey to Christ. Like the Magi from long ago, we are all following a star to a manger where we encounter God enshrouded in humanity and humanity enshrouded in God.

That’s all.
And this is the central truth to all Christian discipleship:

It is by its very nature a journey.

The journey to Christ encompasses the entirety of our existence. It involves all who we are. It is mysictal. It is practical. It is political. This is what the journey story of the three Magi teaches us.

Three men have embarked on a quest. They are following a Star. They are unsure exactly what the Star may be leading them to, but they are men who make a habit of listening to dreams, and even paying attention to strange astrological events in the night sky (Have you read your horoscope today?). They pack up their things and search out where this strange star has settled.

They meet with Herod and ask him what he knows about what has been happening in his own skies. I am always taken aback when I read this story that Herod is oblivious until the wise men point out what is happening in his own land. He is surprised! How is that even possible? But then, maybe this is Herod’s own spiritual blindness at work. We really don’t know. All we can do is speculate.

So, Herod goes to his own advisors. And they confirm what the men from the East have said. He learns what he can from the Magi and sends them off to find out what they can…and then they are to return to him and tell him everything.

Herod’s predicament is tenuous at best. Strangers are telling him that his political power may have come to an end. His own advisors are telling him that the Strangers are right. Can you imagine what kind of day Herod is having? The very stars are aligned against him. Everyone agrees. He is frightened and all of Jerusalem with him.

And this is when things get interesting. The Magi actually find what they have come looking for. They find a child. They offer gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. They came prepared with kingly gifts. And in finding the Christ Child, their quest ends. Or has it?

How many times has any one of us embarked on a journey with what we believe to be a clear goal, a clear end, only to find that what we thought was the ending was really just the beginning? It’s almost cliché. We reach our goal only to discover that it is the first of what will likely be many, many steps in a much longer journey. This is what happens to the Magi.

They encounter the Child promised in prophesy.
But they are warned in a dream of Herod’s treachery.
They return home by another way. The very nature of their journey has changed.

In her book, The Celtic Way of Prayer, Esther de Waal offers her own meditations on the nature of the Christian spiritual journey. Within the Celtic tradition, she says, is a unique understanding of the nature of the spiritual pilgrimage. The spiritual quest is more than marching out to reach a destination, the performance of some great superhuman feat, or even naming a simple goal to achieve. The whole understanding of Christian journey is much more freeform than that. It is like being set adrift on the sea. The word used to name those who journey is “peregrinatio.” Peregrinatio means “Pilgrims on a journey for the Love of God.”

The entire impulse of the Christian spiritual quest is Love, the love of God in Christ, the love of oneself, and the love of our neighbors.

The quest is the desire of God, the encounter with God, and the transformation that is our response. This is the defining quality of the Magi’s journey. This is what makes their journey such an excellent example for us to try to understand and even emulate. The Magi set out to follow a star…an absurd thing to do by most standards. The Magi encounter Love en-fleshed. They encounter Christ and their lives are irrevocably changed. They are compelled to return home by another road. The way they arrived is now closed to them. The former route, the former way of life, has become dangerous, spiritually and physically dangerous. The entire landscape is now changed.

This is the wisdom available to us in this story. The spiritual journey is not some isolated pastime in the life of the believer. The quest for God has real consequences. It engages our lives on every level. We ignore this truth at our own peril. And the story we have been given this morning is only the tip of the beginning.

The rest of the story goes something like this:

Joseph is told in a dream to take his family into Egypt to protect them from Herod. Since the Magi do not return to Herod to report on what they find, Herod is enraged. His political standing is threatened and he plays his own hand. Hs only recourse, it seems, is violence.

When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men,* he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men.* Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah:

‘A voice was heard in Ramah,
wailing and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.’

Once again prophesy and violence intersect. Once again, a political leader is unable to see the shifting landscape and admit to the truth: The God of Love is real and is present in the world. Any other power, in the end, is false and unfounded. Why is it that the response of the powerful to the presence of God so often is violent? Is their fear that great?

True power, so the Magi would have us know, lies in the journey, lies in a manger, sits in the lap of his mother, and is innocent and free. Leaders like Herod know this. Deep down inside they know this. This is why they fear. They can sense their end. They can sense the fruitlessness of their own endeavors. This is why their actions are so desperate. What does a man in command of armies have to fear from small children? And yet Herod fears. All Jerusalem fears, in fact. They know, as do all tyrants and those who are subject to them, that the encounter with God changes everything. And in their fear they won’t even begin the journey.

Such things as tyranny, violence, rage, poverty and oppression must come to an end when we encounter God. How we live and interact with the world must change. Even in his desperation, Herod seems to know this. But Herod is unwilling to be changed. He is unwilling to give up his place of power and allow God to rule, to allow God to set the terms, and for Love to take it’s rightful place in the world. He will not even begin the journey to find the star. He sends the Magi in his place. And when they do not return to him, when they do not return and express their loyalty to him, he lashes out.

In the dreams recorded in Matthew’s gospel, Joseph is told to wait until Herod has died to return to Israel. All that is left for Herod is violence and death. That is his power. That is all he will ever have. In the end, Love will overcome such power.

The ancients knew this truth. They wrote about it and handed it down to us in the prophetic words of Isaiah and Jeremiah. They proclaimed it in the Gospel story found in Matthew. They wanted us to know this truth. Love overcomes Death and violence. This is the truth of our journey.

We are called on a journey. Many in the world will count it as foolishness. Those who speak from violence and rage are on a different journey. They will think we are lost, adrift at sea. As it should be.

God bless those lost in the Love of God.

Amen.

charming

Last night Trish and I went to dinner with my cousin and his wife. I am not entirely sure (We discussed these things at length.), but I think we had never met before. We may have met very briefly once in 1984, but we cannot be certain. Anyway, my mother has been reconnecting with cousins and the like and discovered that one of our cousins is here in Chicago. The Cousin is a very cool guy. It was fantastic to meet him and his wife. So, now we have to figure out when/how to meet again. Truly charming.

Ethiopian food and family...not a bad combination!

friday five

Here are the questions:

Well it had to be didn't it, love them or hate them I bet you've been asked about New Year resolutions. So with no more fuss here is this weeks Friday Five;

1. Do you make New Year resolutions?

Nope. I quit doing that several years ago. I never kept the ones I did make. So, let's not kid ourselves. You know?

2. Is this something you take seriously, or is it a bit of fun?

Not making them? Oh, very seriously. I now go out of my way to be as irresolute as possible each and every new year.

3. Share one goal for 2008.

Aren't goals kind of like resolutions? But since I decided to fill out this little meme: My goal is to stay out of God's way. That's all. Easy as pie. Oh, that and finish my thesis by March 1.

4. Money is no barrier, share one wild/ impossible dream for 2008.

I want to travel to England and Ireland with the spouse and my mandolin in tow. I wanna find the craic.

5. Someone wants to publish a story of your year in 2008, what will the title of that book be?

What the Hell Was He Thinking: A Guide to Pastoral Ministry or (equally as evocative), The White Reverend Al Green. Yeah, that should cover it. Take me to the river, baby.

still thinking

I am still working up the third post from the trip home. I want to post the photos on Flickr first. We went to Doswell (Ashland and Richmond) for the last few days of the journey. It was a good time.

In the mean I am working through the e-mails for work. There were also a couple of missives to write. The church newsletter is due. The church's annual meeting(s) is coming up. That is going to take some thought and preparation. We meet twice. Finance and program. The article for the newsletter was about the meetings. This time of year can be the most exciting time of year for a church. Leadership changes over. We get to think and pray collectively about the nuts and bolts of our life together. This is when I turn to Acts. It's not so much as a guide in the practical sense, but a reminder of what is actually at stake and at work: The Body of Christ. And that reality deserves our practical attention and devotion.

Well, that is what has been on my mind today. You?

oh, right

We're back. We arrived at O'Hare at about 7pm last night. The house was in wondrous shape when we arrived at home. But we were missing a cat...and Lily at that. Usually Mike is the escape artist, but somehow Lily had gone missing. So we looked high and low and, horrified, found her stuck in some old furnace pipe in the boiler room. She had crawled in and could not get out. It did not take long to extricate her from her predicament, but she was quite frightened. So were we. We found an old cover to the hole and will patch it up post haste. It was quite a homecoming.