conjectural navel gazing; jesus in lint form

my head hurts

In this country, alcohol is hardly ever seen as a drug problem. Instead, we think of it as more of a driving problem.
- George Carlin

My head hurts. I understand that such experiences are often referred to as "headaches." Inventive. I seldom ever get these and this one is a good one. I've been over-using my brain again. I tried a little caffeine to see if that would help. Nope. No such simple luck.

I am in the office...trying to write a lot of different things and the clock is ticking and my head hurts and now I am distracted by my whining and the increasing length of this sentence. Such is life.

Welcome to ministry.

monday videoblog: britches, bones and abbots

Remember, it takes a moment to post on you tube...

home

We're home. I preached something akin to a sermon this morning. All is well.

No new furniture, sadly. I was hopeful given the great deals in the antique stores this time of year.

Alas.

away away...

Trish and I are off to Michigan for the weekend. It's our anniversary. I am a happy camper. We've had four years of the requisite and exceptional marital nuttiness. I love my wife.

packin' em in

The verdict is in. A growing body of national studies and initiatives all indicate that cultural shifts in society and demographic changes among seminary students demand a reconsideration of how we educate and train people for ecclesial leadership for the third millennium.
- Jeffrey D. Jones

Yesterday's beginning of the Bread for the Journey conference at Seabury went really well. I had the very good fortune of leading the Evensong service. I love that service. It is perhaps my favorite in all of the Anglican lexicon of daily prayer and worship. It was good to get back together with some old classmates and lead the gathering community in worship.

We were a little worried that the conference might be a bust. Only 20 or so had signed up as of last week. Yesterday I heard that we doubled that number. And last night as the Dean and the local Bishop gave their presentation on the future of theological education and Seabury's specific challenges, there had to be 60 or more people in the room. The energy was very creative. People were engaged in conversation with one another and the presenters were able to lay a helpful groundwork as well as respond to some of our own ideas.

Of course, I had to jump in and add my two cents. I just can't keep my mouth shut at these things. I like to talk. What can I say? The Dean spoke of "de-schooling" seminaries. He referenced a book I had never heard of but had apparently been influential and still is in pedagogical circles. The idea is compelling and I spoke of "de-corporationing" the church. It's something I think we all need to do on some level in our ministries especially if we are pastoring congregations that are burdened by their own infrastructure.

Finally, there was an alum meeting. We're going to restructure the alumni/ea association so that it can be more useful to the alum. Who knew such a thing was possible? Amazing.

We'll see. Life is feeling a bit experimental right now. It's exciting and a little daunting, but that's the landscape.

I'll blog again about the conference when I can. Today I am pitching in on the Vespers/Matriculation service. It should be interesting.

retreat...run away...pilgrimage

So that is the story of a little adventure happening to a boy which changed his whole life. Supposing he had just put up with the loss of the jar and milk and gone back to the hut, wailing and complaining? Well, if he had--there would have been no jar, no milk, no friendship with a king, and no story.
- from the life of St. Adamnan of Iona

Some friends of mine are taking a well deserved sabbatical from their ministries. They are traveling quite a bit during this time. I don't know all their destinations, but I do know that they plan on going to Iona. Some who have read this blog for a while know that I am a huge fan of Iona...if one can be a fan of a monastery. I visited once. It's stunning. And I love that it has been reborn countless times over the years.

I receive reminders about the Celtic saints daily from a yahoo site. You can follow the link in the pullquote box for more about the saint for today, St. Adamnan. Adamnan was the ninth abbot of Iona and was famed as a historian and lawmaker. According to his biography, he wrote a law "to protect women, children, and clergy from injury or participation in war ("Cai'n Adomna'n" or "Law of the Innocents" (697))and wrote the "Vita Columbae". The "Cai'n Adomna'n" established legal rights for women for the first time in the British Isles."

The abbey has been a symbol of retreat and pilgrimage for me for a long time...since well before I first visited. I have fantasies of going on retreat there and not simply visiting as a tourist. There is an international community that gathers at various times of the year...ecumenical, monastic...What's not to like?

The retreat for CCW this past weekend, as I said in the videoblog, went very well. Green Lake is a lovely place this time of year. The scenery can't be beat. The lake affords all kinds of possibilities for recreation. Bring you bike and cycle around the local towns. Bring your golf clubs and remind yourself why you are not a golf pro. And pray. There are trails and chapels and small cabins for retreats. We spent our retreat talking about finding God in the midst of activity, in the midst of business. We meditated on icons. We shared our individual reflections and walked together through a shared exercise as a congregation.

Now, not everyone can make the retreat every year. A friend of mine served in the pulpit. I am told she did a very good job and helped everyone feel welcome. She's like that. I wish, though, that we could include everyone in these times away from our usual schedule. It's impossible, but I wish it nonetheless.

in other news: Today is the first day of Bread for the Journey. It's the annual alum gathering and continuing ed opportunity at Seabury. I'm all up to my eyeballs in it this year. Today it begins in earnest and I have a ton to do.

I think I need another retreat.

monday videoblog: golfing, mondays, and other mysteries

be well

I will be in Wisconsin at Green Lake all weekend. I'll see you all on the flip side.

Yaaar!

(Note: Today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day!)

ouch

from Salon.com

Republicans lie so frequently, not because the party just happened to settle upon one serial liar after another to run for high office, but because the form of conservatism to which they all adhere demands that if they are to win they have no choice but to lie.

I'm not sure if it is lying so much as it is selling. Can one be a maverick and a populist? At the same time? Perhaps, but only if the government truly does not represent the people. A two term president (self-proclaimed populist) and a congress with (yet another ) mandate is out of touch with the people they serve? The people elected these folk. How out of touch can they be unless, of course, they "lied" in the first place.

Both parties have to sell themselves. Misrepresentation to attract is a central principal of sales when one is trying to "make everyone happy." Churches wrestle with this as well in their own way. We often believe that we must be all things to all people. And when this goes to far we misrepresent ourselves. Do political parties devise stratagem with this self knowledge? You bet your britches they do. Campaign to the base...even if it ain't what you will truly do in the end. You kiss babies whether or not you like them. You say what the theorized majority of people want to hear. And when you don't...

Obama is damned if he performs his black anger too fiercely -- that would give biased people the impression that he's an "angry black man" or worse, an extremist, and therefore unelectable. But now he has to face criticism from the left because he's not performing his anger -- a specifically black, unreal variety of anger, remember -- in the correct measure.

You have the whole rock/hard place issue to contend with. How do you draw new people in without losing the old guard who paved the way in the first place? Can a minority candidate be a populist? This is the problem Obama faces. He has to represent a specific minority (or those tied to a specific issue) at the same time that he has to attract everyone else. Oy. That's tough. There are real issues at hand (White privilege?). And there need to be public occasions like elections to work this stuff out.

One thing that I think is happening that makes this election so interesting is that our nations' struggles with issues of race and gender are in everyone's face. It's not that they are issues. Now they have names like Palin and Obama. They have faces that are on the T.V. every day and will continue to be for the next several years in one way or another. Now a white man is taking a back seat to a black man in one party...and a white man is riding the celebrity coat tails (a useful political move, as we all know) of a woman in another.

Unreal? It's so enormous as to be unimaginable until one stops to think about it and realize this is how it's been all along. It's just that now we are forced to recognize just how tangled the whole thing is in the first place. We have to face our failures in the success of the people we once kept in the kitchen.

Right...gotta do work now...

another aside

From the Wilmette Life

Wilmette teachers say that "no way" are they paid on a par with other teachers in New Trier township feeder schools, and they're claiming that the District 39 School Board is waging a "misinformation campaign" to mislead the public...

..."Great schools are the reason families move to Wilmette and great schools require great teachers," said union representative Kelly Jackson. "Wilmette must be able to compete for the best teachers by offering compensation packages comparable to those in other nearby districts."

As of today, no negotiating sessions have been scheduled.

link

an aside: aig and god

From CNN...

Larry King: A few months ago, you said on this very show that you would be worried if there was another big government bailout. It's now happening. Should the government be helping AIG?

Suze Orman: Well, in this particular case, I have to tell you they should. Bear Stearns, very different. Lehman, very different. AIG is an international giant that just doesn't have ramifications here in the United States. It is worldwide. They're like in 130 countries. They have 100,000 employees. Everybody has an AIG insurance policy. So in this particular case, my opinion, thank God, they bailed out AIG.

link

alone in church

Yet it is in this loneliness that the deepest activities begin. It is here that you discover act without motion, labor that is profound repose, vision in obscurity, and, beyond all desire, a fulfillment whose limits extend to infinity.
- Thomas "T-bone" Merton

I am not sure God made us to be alone. The stories in Genesis about creation speak to this. In one, Adam gets lonely and so God makes Eve from Adam's rib (Not the same as Adam's Ribs...mmm...ribs.). In another, man and woman are made in the same moment. In either case, community of some kind seems to happen. Today, strangely, I find myself a little lonely in my work. No, I am not depressed. No, I am not sad. I am just a little lonely. I have plenty of work to do...and am doing it (a brief moment to blog not withstanding) rather well. I had a breakfast meeting that went swimmingly. It is, as the say, all good. And yet I seem to be a little lonely today. I am not sure why that is.

Ah well. Jesus is here. And he's not been silent. I have been mumbling with him in my mind most of the day. He's not a chatterbox, that Jesus. No. He just says what he means to say and then moves on. I get to sit in the dirt and mull on it. Do you ever feel that way with God? You know, you ask something (or maybe it comes unbidden) and the next thing you know you are on your butt in some metaphysical puddle pondering what was just said. Do you ever have these moments? I am having one today.

I am thinking about my church and the various things that might happen. I am thinking about Jesus and what I think Jesus may indeed want from us. I am thinking about a future I can only imagine, the present seems far away, and the past, well aside from the fact that it is like very large furniture in a very small room, it too seems insignificant. "Behold, I make all things new."

It occurs to me now that when we hear these words we should rejoice. Today, however, all I can muster is "uh oh."

My office temp is home ill today. Poor guy. He's in my prayers. And without the distraction of his presence, I find myself aware of my alone-ness.

monday videoblog: the return of the medicine ball

big. comfortable. church.

Comfort is the only thing our civilization can give us.
- Oscar Wilde

Jonathan over at Thicket and Throp has posted an interesting bit on the nature of church and what should make us comfortable and uncomfortable. He's riled up.

No! Sed contra, Christ declares to the world as a whole and to each one of us- look at your lives! Look at the sin, the injustice, the violence, the oppression, the self-destruction you’re perpetrating on yourself, on everyone around you! Repent! Is the call to repentance comfortable? Does it make us feel good when someone calls us on our actions? Why do you think they threw Jeremiah in the pit? Why did they- we- crucify- still crucify- Christ?

It's a good post on the nature of the Christian faith journey. One thing I'll suggest, however, is that wealth etc does not equal comfort. And being comfortable and being comforted are not the same thing. Wealth can provide some protection against the most brutal forms of suffering. But all the realities of life do not go away...

And that's part of the point. Jesus never promised that life would be easy if you followed him. That's not the "yoke" that he speaks of. He speaks of division and rancor. Families and communities rent asunder because of the nature of the Gospel. He speaks of crucifixion and being trodden upon by the powers of the world. Yet, the Gospel is Good News. We have to hold on to that as well. Once we realize this, the seemingly impossible and imposing path asked of us by Christ becomes preferred...The Gospel is to be good news for all creation. But the Good News is not Comfortable. It is comforting as it asks us to change...and there's the difference.

why this year?

We are not at peace with others because we are not at peace with ourselves, and we are not at peace with ourselves because we are not at peace with God.
- Thomas Merton

Where were you? I want to know. How did the attacks effect you? Did they? I am listening to the radio right now. They are telling stories of visits to Pennsylvania and the Pentagon. How easy it is for me to forget these places as well. It's the images of the twin towers that haunt me. By the time the images of the Pentagon and the story of the downed plane in Pennsylvania were posted on the television, I was already overwhelmed and could take no more.

Trish and I visited ground zero in New York when we were there earlier this summer. It's still a giant hole in the ground. Nothing is built there...The island tapers to a point.

NPR (Yes, I listen to NPR.) is playing some old interviews...reminding me of that morning. At 8:46 EST the President will lead a moment of silence. Obama and McCain are keeping the campaigning to a low roar appearing together at a public service conference at Columbia University. I will be taking my wife to the train station, grabbing some breakfast at Mrs D's and working through my sermon.

Oh, that reminds me. It seems that I have misplaced the journal I write my sermons in. If you happen to see it, let me know. It's a plain black paper Molskine journal. There are some "to do" lists, one wedding service, and some sermons in there. I would love to have it back. I have no idea where it went. Do you?

Take care of yourselves today. Be kind to your neighbor. Make time for sabbath.

(Note: You can read this challenging piece if you like.)

ooo

an aside

Someone else did this as well...and out of curiosity I looked around to see if I was there too.

I am!

How cool.

musing on anniversaries and stuff

I hate war for its consequences, for the lies it lives on and propagates, for the undying hatreds it arouses, for the dictatorships it puts in the place of democracies, and for the starvation that stalks after it. I hate war, and never again will I sanction or support another.
- Harry Emerson Fosdick

The anniversary of 9-11 approaches. I don't know about you, but I don't have flashbacks to the day very often. I certainly remember where I was at the time. And I remember the horrors and my fear for my friends who were in New York at the time. I remember wondering if my seminary class (We started our schooling that same autumn.) would be "different" some how. I don't, however, use 9-11 as some metric for leadership in this country. The world has not changed since 9-11. We were finally included on a grand scale in the world's problems. That's true. And then we reached out and destroyed a couple of countries. That, perhaps, can be defined as a changed world. But I am not sure one can say 9-11 changed everything.

Yes, I'm trying to take "the sting" out of the anniversary. Absurd. Some people will suffer immeasurably...will always suffer because of the terrorist attacks. Their worlds were destroyed. Changed irrevocably and for the worse. I honestly weep for these people. But does this day have to define us as a nation, change us into a war-mongering or police action happy nation? God, I pray not.

I've been listening to the Presidential candidates talk about the troop reduction Bush has suggested. I have been listening to them talk about national identity and military action. Neither of them has a leg to stand on as far as I am concerned. Neither are peace candidates. Obama (and I've seen those peace symbol signs with the "O" of his name replaced with the symbol) is not a peace candidate. He's ready to take it to Afghanistan. McCain may say "I hate war." I imagine he means it. But his definition of peace includes warfare...the death (both forms of sacrifice here) of some to "insure" the peace for others. Neither of these is peace.

Anniversaries and armies on the march and no one can talk of peace. No one can talk of mercy. We talk of our national strength or strength of character. What kind of character depends upon the death of another for its own peace? This is where I balk at the way our government works.

Flatten the world. Let the economic forces at work in this world "export" democratic ideals. Nothing's perfect. We'll need to protect the poor, to be merciful to them...to live into that blessedness (see: Beatitudes). Economic warfare is as real as tanks or mine fields. So, I'm not sure it's any better. I just don't know.

I read through the Beatitudes (Yes, Matthew's Beatitudes were the Gospel reading from the Sunday at my church.)...and I see no candidate proclaiming any such dream. I see our candidates proclaiming American Dreams and strength...upon strength, upon strength, upon strength. We will muscle our way out of these problems. We will change ourselves. We will be powerful...unstoppable. It's absurd. Luke's Beatitudes remind us of such futility.

But woe to you who are rich,
for you have received your consolation.
Woe to you who are full now,
for you will be hungry.
Woe to you who are laughing now,
for you will mourn and weep.
Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.

I remember a sermon in seminary where we were called to mind the hubris inherent in the statement "the only world super power." I cannot do the sermon justice, but that sermon changed some things for me. I also remember the sermon offered as a reflection upon 9-11 and how justice is not a clear concept...not clear enough for us to dole out our version of justice as if it is the only version of justice...or that we as a nation can escape God's justice. We too, as a nation, may need to live in fear of God.

I imagine that won't make for a good political platform.

Right. I don't know why I woke up with this rant in my mind. Clearly, I have my own problems here. But we hear again and again about our strength as a nation...our ability to control the global market or the politics of other nations. Are these the characteristics that we truly wish to extol as we extol our nation? We have other characteristics I would rather highlight. Where are those paragraphs in the stumps?

tuesday ramblings and a reflected revival

Hillel used to say: If I am not for myself who will be for me? Yet, if I am for myself only, what am I? And if not now, when?

Well, it's been a busy few days. The Revive-All (revival) went swimmingly. Friday night Rev. Dr. Larry Greenfield preached an incredible sermon about how all creation is revived in God's love...and how we have a responsibility to proclaim that revival, to live as examples of that grace. Our church band, The All-Volunteer Jubilee Band, stepped up and brought a cappella gospel, bluegrass, the Kingston Singers and even Johnny Cash to the table. The Sons of Susan really brought it, too. Their sonorous blend of 30's and 40's jazz with that "postmodern flair" proved to be great fun.

Saturday evening, Rev. Dr. Alice Greene spoke of "Hoping in Love." She spoke of her experience as an African-American woman and the small steps that grace makes in our lives...She spoke of Barak Obama and how, no matter what our political leanings may be, his candidacy is a sign of hope that this country can move beyond racism. It was a deeply moving sermon.

Sunday morning I preached about Mercy...The Gravity of Mercy, really. It was fun. I'll find some way to summarize it for you all one day. I think. Maybe.

It was a good weekend. And now the rest of the month calls. There's so much to do.

In other news:

Get Religion has something to say about the Obamagelicals.
AKMA liveblogged Dave (Truth Is Noisy) who also liveblogged AKMA (Biblical copyrights?).
Lucy Courage is stressing about stress and the life of a solo pastor.
Larry Kamphausen is also talking about vulnerability in ministry. This time it's in he pulpit!
Here's an article/post about Sarah Palin's church.

monday videoblog: the carpenters and hair shirts

an aside

Here are a few links for you. Enjoy your Friday.

Brain Squeezings (Better, Amy?) is a happy conservative.
John Selier reminds us that the GOP lies...even to its own.
Here is the GOP platform if your were wondering.
Salon's Mike Madden has this to day.

this is about nothing and everything

It seemed to me that we were going ’round in circles, with a lot of hand wringing and caveats and personal opinions getting in the way of coming to any conclusions.
- Lainie Petersen

Once again the dreams have come. Last weekend I gave the congregation the assignment of paying attention to their dreams and then to share them with the rest of us. We're putting together the budget for the next program year and the process includes some dreaming and visioning. So, I am trying to take my own homework to heart and listen to my dreams.

Last night an old friend and a former professor both appeared in my dream to help me out. The professor agreed to serve on the search committee for our new administrator and was doing a great job in pulling things together. My friend took me to a restaurant to hear some good Irish music. Now, both scenarios had that usual dreamy surreal quality. The Irish musicians were space aliens and the the professor was doing all of this work in my basement. Ah well, you cannot ask for everything.

To Do List:
1. put together three worship bulletins (Our usual worship orders aren't going to make it this week.)
2. help turn the basement into a tent (One must have a tent for a tent meeting.)
3. rehearse the music for this evening again (The banjo is tuned and ready!)
4. pray
5. work on the sermon

In Other News:
Lainie Petersen is blogging about transparency. She's talking about politics...our government's and others. Transparency is more than candor after you have made a mistake. It is the involvement of all in the process...or at the least the open door policy of sharing what the process is and the willingness to enfold an outsider's comments into your own process. Transparency is difficult and frightening. It's about vulnerability.

Pray for Haiti and the families there who have lost loved ones.

Note: The spelling of Lainie Pertersen's name has been corrected. -en...not -on. Thank you! -Ed.

an aside

What is the difference between an executive and an organizer? And how does a servant fit into either?

These are the three models of leadership we will all get to play in over the next several weeks. And they will each receive the veneer of celebrity and heroism.

heroes - liveblogging mccain's acceptance speech

John McCain is standing before the crowd readying himself for the speech of a lifetime. It's a remarkable moment to say the least. I'm entranced by the heroic language they employed. It's not surprising in the least. It's just enthralling. Mama's boy...Hero...and chants of "U.S.A.!" interrupting him.

McCain is bragging on his family. I get that. The division of labor is interesting. His wife is all compassion...adopting The Senator is the warrior and the maverick. McCain is an interesting personality...He's no blowhard. And his patriotism is so very important to him. It seems to go beyond simple rhetoric. He is a Believer (ala Serenity).

"After we've won, we'll reach out our hand to any willing patriot..." There it is again. I don't want to sound critical. I'm not critical, I just don't relate to the term to the degree he wishes me to...How do you understand his use of "patriot?" I'm not sure I understand it how he does. Then again, I have never been in the military or held in a p.o.w. camp. So...

Again..."U.S.A. ... U.S.A."

Am I seeing people being escorted out of the convention center? Huh. Interesting. I'm sure it happened during the DNC as well. CNN just keeps cutting to these little moments.

I was unable to watch Palin's speech last night. Clearly many people found it sensational. "Change is coming..." McCain says. They want to change Washington...to fix the problems there and not leave them for some "unlucky" generation to fix.

"I work for you." This is the foundation to his maverick reputation. This is what makes him so unpredictable to many...according to his own estimation. He's focusing on all the "over-spending" in Washington.

I think that there are two Americas...or at least two loud camps supporting these )currently) very different candidates. McCain is the rugged individualist, the scrapper, the warrior. He's the take no guff sort. This is about personalities more than issues, though the issues come into it somewhat. But the promises are so similar. It's the delivery that differs.

"In the end it matter less that you can fight. What you fight for is the real test. I fight for Americans. I fight for you."

Like the Democratic convention, there is a litany of all the every day people he will fight for. This is the ultimate political move. "We are just like you" they seem to say. He's castigating some Republicans and comparing their corruption to Obama's...lumping them all together.

If you had any doubt if he would play the "Reformer" card, now you know. He's on it. That's his modus.

Fogey...He sounds almost libertarian in his rhetoric. What do you think? Open markets, lower spending, and the right of every American to make their own decisions about their lives. Does this mean he is "pro choice?" Perhaps. His running mate is not, but there you go. Once again we will hear a debate which choices are the ones that Americans should be allowed to make for themselves.

This is all very familiar...from left and right. McCain is playing to the right. Obama played to the left. I wonder how much they will both drift to the center during the campaign itself.

"Education is the civil rights issue of this century. Equal access to public education has been gained, but what is the value of access to a failed school?" He's making similar promises that Obama made. Interesting. Well, accept that whole voucher thing. "I want schools to answer to parents and students."

I'll post a link to the speech when it is available. Here it is!

I do have one question: What is the difference between Obama and McCain's energy program? I'm not sure there is much. They both say there is. But I'm really not convinced.

"I hate war. It is terrible beyond imagination...I will draw upon all my experience...to build the foundations for a stable and enduring peace." The words sound hollow to me after his litany of the threats that besiege our country. Iraq, Russia...etc...He hates war and is quick to use it? I am not sure I get the desired effect of the "I hate war" passage of his speech. I assume he just doesn't want to be seen as a war monger. Laudable.

The story about his imprisonment is moving...Truly. And the lessons he says he's learned are powerful. I will say this, I may not agree with many of his political decisions. But he's sincere. Sure, he'll have to be a little flexible during the campaign. All candidates do. But I think he's been pretty consistent. I admire that about him.

And prison is where he fell in love with his country. This takes me back to the patriotism place. He is his country's man (paraphrase). That is what it means to be a patriot. One life belongs to one's country. Got it.

"Nothing brings greater happiness in life than to serve a couse greater than yourself."

"Stand up. Stand up. Stand up and fight...We never hide from history, we make history."

And he's done. Wow. Brevity.

Okay, I have to say that it was authentic to his image...and how I have understood him through the years. His use of God and religious language is interesting. He knows what he believes. God has blessed him...and has made him a patriot. That's what I think he thinks after hearing this speech.

Okay. There you go. Let's see how it goes.

a quotation

Here's something:

The church ... cannot be content to play the part of a nurse looking after the casualties of the system. It must play an active part both in challenging the present unjust structures and in pioneering alternatives. - Donald Dorr, Catholic missionary priest

How does this speak to the notion of going from wrath to mercy? Hmm...I'm not sure yet, but there's something there.

thursday sermon mumblings

Creation in its entirety is a work of God's love and though it is fractured by every sort of strife, it cannot escape the gravity of mercy.
- John S. Mogabgab

If you have not heard, our revival is this weekend. It's going to be a great time and I hope you can make it. Go to the church website for more information. The Sons of Susan are joining us on Friday night and rumor has it that my mandoguru will be joining them. So, it should be a grand occasion.

People have been very kind. They have been asking my why I'm feeling a little nutty. Well, we've been without an admin for several weeks now at the church. We've all had to step up on some level...and as fate/Jesus/The Great Spaghetti Monster would have it, this week I have had only a modicum of (loyal and kind but) infrequent admin help. So, I am creating three bulletins and doing the other things that need doing around here while I think about the sermon. Please keep me in your prayers. I have no doubts that the weekend will be great. I'm really proud of this church right now. Invite your friends. Have a brownie. Dance to the tunes of the Sons of Susan.

So, somewhere in all this I need a sermon. I'm preaching on Sunday morning to end the weekend. It's a great opportunity and, of course, somewhat stressful. I'm excited.

The quotation I offer you all today is the cornerstone of my sermon. The theme for this Revive-All is "We are revived in God's Justice and God's Mercy." I figured I would allow us to rest in God's mercy at the end of it all. I'm going to offer up the Beatitudes (ala Matthew) and the lectionary passage from Ezekiel.

Ezekiel 33:7-11

33:7 So you, mortal, I have made a sentinel for the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. 33:8 If I say to the wicked, "O wicked ones, you shall surely die," and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from their ways, the wicked shall die in their iniquity, but their blood I will require at your hand. 33:9 But if you warn the wicked to turn from their ways, and they do not turn from their ways, the wicked shall die in their iniquity, but you will have saved your life. 33:10 Now you, mortal, say to the house of Israel, Thus you have said: "Our transgressions and our sins weigh upon us, and we waste away because of them; how then can we live?"

33:11 Say to them, As I live, says the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from their ways and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways; for why will you die, O house of Israel?

Scripture suggests pretty strongly that the work of mercy is both grave and has gravity. Jesus proclaimed a Kingdom founded upon God's mercy, that creation itself is pulling in that direction, that the fruition of all things is to be encompassed in mercy. But as a prophet, he understood exactly what Ezekiel states. One must proclaim mercy. One must set out to set the world aright somehow...as Jesus did...in all gentleness and through selflessness and sacrifice. This is not about empire building but about gravity...

Mercy is a force of nature. We have to enter into it and let others know about it. Though the language of Ezekiel may trouble us, can we not see that the point is to show the responsibility God's people have in engaging and proclaiming God's mercy? It's not simply something God dishes out on a whim, but a force, a work, a craft, an energy, a way of being that we are called into and have responsibility to uphold.

This is the gravity of mercy.

the media...

[The Palins] make Cindy McCain, with her $100m (£56m) fortune and husky eyes rimmed by gothic mascara, look positively extra-terrestrial.
Matt Frei, BBC online

As a distraction, I thought I would share a few political links with you...

Romney to take a swipe at Michelle Obama

America, Meet Sarah Palin

Advice for Palin

Why the Democrats Will Lose in November

insane...

I am very slowly going insane.

I just thought I would let you know...in case you were curious about this kind of thing...That's all.

Enjoy your day.

monday videoblog: lounging on labor day

(Give it a moment...I just posted it. 7:36am - The Editor)