conjectural navel gazing; jesus in lint form

walking

My cell phone rang on my way to church this morning. I was walking from CCW to Wilmette Lutheran for the combined service. A beloved gentleman from our church has been ill...has been so since before I arrived on the scene in '06. He's been in and out of the hospital. Remarried. Moved. He's a vibrant soul. And as I type this, I do not know how he is. The news on the phone not good.

The choir sang this morning...Give me Jesus. "In the morning when I rise...give me Jesus. You can have all this world. Give me Jesus." It is a song of promise and hope. There could be no more wonderful a proclamation of faith...we were blessed to hear it, to sing it.

May God comfort us all.

maybe it's just me

Today is the first Sunday of Advent. It is the first official day of waiting, hoping, remembering, and jockying for the best position next to the Christmas tree. Did anyone else do this as a child? You know, get close to the tree so that you could be the first person to open a gift? Now, I know that some families were not like mine. I know some of you handed out gifts and made sure that everyone else watched that certain someone open their gift slowly. Everyone watched. Everyone ooed and ahed. Gratitude and proclamations of wondrous thoughtfulness were shared. Not us, baby. Well, not often. We dove in. Christmas wrapping flew everywhere.

I need some egg nog.

Gratitude, waiting, memory, and God made flesh...That's what this season is all about. I embeded a video in the pullquote box. I hope you enjoy it. It has been floating around the internet quite a bit as far as can tell. I think it summarizes up Advent pretty well. Let me know what you think. Perhaps it's a little overwrought, but I am the adult version of the kid who dove head first into a pile of Star Wars toys at the age of ten. I am often overwrought. It comes with the territory.

This morning the Community Church of Wilmette will gather with Wilmette Lutheran, St. John's Lutheran, and St. Augustine's Episcopal to celebrate the first Sunday of Advent together. This is the first year that CCW has been invited. I am looking forward to it. I think it will prove to be quite a good time. The service is at 10:30am at Wilmette Lutheran. Y'all come. I'm not preaching, so it should be okay.

This is from Bonhoeffer:

"A prison cell, in which one waits, hopes... and is completely dependent on the fact that the door of freedom has to be opened from the outside, is not a bad picture of Advent. "

May Advent be a blessing in your life. May the door be opened and may you have the courage to walk through it.

thanksgiving in virginia

insomniac in virginia

It’s only a little after four in the morning as I type this. I have already awoken my sister-in-law, a vigilant mother of two small boys who gets up whenever someone is walking around her house at night. It was, of course, unintentional on my part and she’s likely going to fall fast asleep when she returns to bed. I, on the other hand, am totally insomniac. I thought about recording a video like I have for the last three days of the trip to Virginia, but it seems somehow invasive to do so at such an early hour. I’ll give you thirty seconds of something to go with this text. I know. I’m an ass, but I can’t sleep.

My sister-in-law is a breast cancer survivor. I call her The Amazon. In the evenings she won’t try to hide her mastectomy as she sports her pajamas. Single-breasted she settles in and tucks her boys in bed. She’s the kind of woman you would no be surprised to see charging down the hill flinging arrows about. She is truly fierce, and I love her. She will eventually have reconstructive surgery, but I think I am going to miss the image of her Amazonian self.

Arising just before sunrise is wonderful. I like to watch the new day emerge from the night. Yet, there is no time as cold or oppressive in some strange way as the moments just before dawn. There’s no other time when my mind races so violently. I think (Are these only thoughts?) about church and family and whether or not that one hundred year old Martin mandolin is really worth the twelve hundred dollars that Oppelman’s wants for it. I am tempted by the demon Anxiety.

I wonder if I should give such anxiety the honor of getting me out of bed. But such demons would not let me rest tonight. That’s for certain. So, I fool around on the computer. There’s no internet signal out here in Huddleston, no organic free-range wireless moment to pirate. Instead the stars stand in stark relief in the night sky. Frost collects on the roof of my car, and my brother-in-law’s two hunting dogs bark at the deer ranging through the woods that surround the house. This place is one little slice of paradise as far as I am concerned and I share that with no tone of irony.

Mentow Baptist Church is just up the road. Trish and I were married there. It has become a pastor’s worst nightmare lately. It saddens me. There’s been a split in the church…and the group that splintered off has grown to a congregation of four hundred attendees on a Sunday morning within one year. The original congregation is left with thirty or forty on a Sunday morning. The interim has promised them one year. Incredible. What could have caused such a thing? I can only imagine.

I don’t know what they are going to do. The minister who was there four years ago when Trish and I were married is long gone. Some say ousted. Some say burned out. I’ve never known there to be a real difference between the two. I knew him, too. He is my age, bright and creative. It is amazing and sad, but there you have it. Is being church ever clean? I hope he landed on his feet somewhere. No one seems to know.

I shouldn’t waste too much more of your time. Thanks for staying up with me. I’ll post this when we get back to Chicago, but somehow, though time and distance separates us, I am glad that you are here. I’m going to read a little of my book and try to go back to sleep. It is Thanksgiving. The men’s golf outing begins in just a few hours. I should try to rest a little more.

The deep sleep of peace to you all…Happy Thanksgiving.

wednesday in virginia

tuesday in virginia

monday in virginia

sermon: subversive walks of faith

Hey there. Follow the extended link for the sermon. I'm still tweaking it as I post this entry. There are one or two rhetorical turns that I need to smooth out. Still, I think it gets to where I am trying to go. Tithing is sticky business. Preaching two sermons about giving your money to the church over two consecutive weekends is a challenge.

We're off to Virginia. I may get a chance to post once or twice while were there. In case I don't however, be well and have a great Thanksgiving!

Sermon: Christ the King Sunday 2008
Community Church of Wilmette
November 23, 2008

Subversive Walks of Faith

This Sunday is called "Christ the King Sunday." It has been for a while...at least by those traditions who routinely follow the lectionary. Ralph Klein, a Lutheran theologian, reminds us that "Christ the King Sunday first emerged, as I understand it, as an attempt to counter the outlandish claims of some European dictators in the twentieth century. The real ruler of this age is Christ!"

The historical context is really important to recall on days like today. We have to look back to the days of the Great War and then World War II...We have to try to imagine (or remember) what it was like and why prophets might emerge.

In response to such violence as a global conflict we encountered Baptist preachers like Harry Emerson Fodsdick who would proclaim the failure of the Christian nation in Geneva Switzerland at the end of WWII. He will eventually give way to voices like that of William Sloane Coffin who would rail against the powers of violence and Empire, against selfishness and corporatism...Dorothy Day and others from the Catholic Worker Movement would also speak...and act...such preachers are people who proclaim a different ruler of the world and deny any movement to the contrary. Such a proclamation is bold. It gets people in trouble. It's not necessarily popular.

Instead, such a proclamation is subversive. It states the desire to undo what is totalitarian, dictatorial, based in the power of Empire. Commercialism, consumerism, workaholism...anything that places achievement of the self above service to others...These are all the virtues of Empire...of selfishness or fanatical nationalism, of any notion that attempts to usurp God's place in Creation.

Of course there are roots to this kind of difficulty in the world. It's not like the Twentieth Century in America was the only time in history that saw such a struggle. In Christian history we could look a little earlier. We could look all the way back to the Edict of Milan in 313...Christianity was given a legal place in the Roman Empire. It would no longer be subject to the mass purgings of the past. But was it all good news? Professor AKM Adam states “From this time on, the church was a publicly accountable movement. Thus begins the 'bourgeoisification' of Christianity. "

It's both good and bad news. It means the beginning to the end of Christian persecution, and admire the martyrs as you may, knowing that you can practice your faith in freedom is good news. They will even make Constantine a saint...an act of praise to God for ending the oppression.

To some it was even better news. What if this was God's answer to prayer? What if this was the New Jerusalem? What if the Empire could indeed become God's Kingdom on Earth! Now that's good news, no? Perhaps. Perhaps not.

The Church in the fourth century becomes Empire. It adopts the trappings of Empire. To own property, one had to be Christian. To hold public office, one had to be Christian. Can we now safely say that this was not what Jesus was after as he proclaimed God's coming? Is Christian belief or practice to be a prerequisite for someone to be perceived as a full human being?

What was subversive in the message of Jesus is lost in the attempt to proclaim the faith as status quo. It's an interesting and ironic truth to Christianity. Institutionalizing it can kill it. A Christian Empire is an oxymoron. Who knew? We legitimize the powers that be in the process of our own adoption of Empire. Simply put, people confuse their own power for God's.

History, of course, repeats itself. We can count on that.

Perhaps America was attempting the same thing 300 years ago. We were colonized as a city on a hill, a new Jerusalem...176 years after the country's founding the pledge of allegiance was amended to read "One nation. Under God." There's a precarious balance being attempted in coupling this statement with a separation of Church and State. It may be a wise discipline for us to ask again and again “Has the Church in America adopted the pattern of Empire?” Does it assume its own existence? Is there a kind of institutional entitlement at work?

Today, many of our contemporaries say yes. Many say that we have mistaken our own wealth, political clout, and influence for the message of God. We have substituted our own voices for that of Christ's in the world. We have attempted to silence the subversive message of a carpenter from Galilee who asked us to care for the poor, to put ourselves last, and to make room for all of God's children.

And now many point out that the church, specifically the Mainline Protestant Church, as an institution is crumbling.

Think of it like the .com bubble or the mortgage lending crisis. What if what we are seeing in the Church is not actually a loss of faithfulness or a denial of God? As I've said before, plenty of people claim to have faith. Research makes that clear. We can thank the kind people at Gallup for that information. But the institutional church in many parts of the country struggles. What if it's the natural correction of Church as Empire falling apart? Simply put, maybe the bubble has burst. Maybe we have to embrace that reality and rejoin the subversive movement that led many of us into the life of this congregation in the first place.

As painful as this shift may be, perhaps it is for the best. We have to ask hard questions. That's what is happening in this morning's scripture passage. We have some hard questions being asked.

'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?'

As I said last week, this is the culmination of a string of parables that Matthew uses to tell us something about Christ. This week's passage tells us just as much about ourselves. This parable is about how the world will be judged...the nations of the world...will be judged on how they treat the “least of these.” In this case the “least of these” are the followers of Christ...the subversives who live out the beatitudes.

The judgment itself is subversive. It's not founded in an institution. That judgment comes as well. The Church too is judged, but it is not The Judge. God is Judge. Not the Church.

What kind of judgment? Not based on knowing Jesus?
What kind of faith is this asking of “the nations”? Unconscious? Blind?
What kind of walk? One on one and communal at the same time?

It's all subversive.

Jesus' judgment subverts even the institutional structures of the church. It holds the nations, the powers that be, accountable, for their willingness to live lives of mercy, for their ability to step away from oppression and selfishness.

Christian Faith is subversive, denying the legitimacy of anything that claims to have power over or outside of God. Matthew wants us to know this. He believed that Jesus wanted us to know this.

We are encouraged by Matthew to recognize that Jesus is asking us to join in his subversive walk of faith. He's asking the whole world.

Here are some example of the kind of faithfulness that is being asked of us.

Bread for the World is a Christian organization trying to put an end to hunger. Right now there are members of that organization in Managua, Nicaragua. They are sharing their stories on-line, trying to help raise awareness and get help for people who live in incredible poverty. There are children who live at landfills. Some of the young girls there trade sex for recyclable goods. Bread for the World is trying to subvert the systems that would allow for this kind of poverty not simply to exist but to flourish!

Here is another example: The Christian Peacemaker Teams have volunteers stationed all over the globe attempting to teach peaceful non-violent responses to the incredible violence that exists in places like the Middle East or Sudan. They do this in a spirit of reconciliation and in the name of Jesus.

Churches on the South Side of Chicago are organizing in attempt to end gun violence in their neighborhoods.

The Boy Scouts leaders in our own building are attempting to teach the Scouts in their charge the virtues of tolerance, listening, and kindness.

Jesus is present in such places. Jesus calls us to such places. Jesus does not call us to support the status quo. A walk of faith takes us out of the status quo to landfills in Nicaragua...and to the mission field of our own basement.

The world is in need of a Church that assumes God's existence and not its own. This is subversive. This is life giving. This helps us step outside ourselves and into the world...undoing the powers of Empire.

Can we see that The Faith was always subversive? That it was/is designed for it?

Can we make the leap see that tithing, what we call our “Walk of Faith,” is "a way to act outside the economy, the system that runs the world. It frees us and allows us to act out the truth, that we can give because we have first received all things from God—it is an act of worship."

It's a challenge. We still live in the shadow of our own structures, of the structures of Empire. I wear a collar. I dress in robes. We are part of a congregation that came into existence at least in part because there were simply enough Baptists in Wilmette to start their own church. We have to remain realistic.

"[We] are asking you to give away your money to the [Community Church], an institution (however well purposed), that very much needs your money to exist. So, an invitation to give away your money to free yourself and acknowledge God’s gifts—could seem a little, what? Self-interested?"

Indeed. We live in the shadow of the past, but our future is ours to determine.

This is the road we have chosen to travel. The is our walk of faith, it's geography, its history and our best intentions rolled into one. Can we begin to make the change? Let's re-enter a subversive movement. Let's re-purpose the buildings, the trappings, the robes and the collars, the organ and the choir, the whole of who we are.

And let us shed what no longer serves.
Let us walk God's subversive walk.
It is a walk of faith.

During the singing of this hymn I invite you to come forward with your pledge cards. Place them in the basket on the communion table. Thank you for your time, your energy, and your faithfulness.

Thanks be to God.

satreday mornings with jo

The world is in need of a Church that assumes God's existence and not its own.

I have a mug of some kind of Trader Joe Sumatra thing in my possession right now. I am going to drink this slowly as the sun rises over the cul de saqs of this Chicago suburb. We are experiencing the first hard freeze of the season and I feel some guilt for not having prepped the garden a little better. There are a few pots on the back patio that need dumping out and taking in. And there are bulbs to put in the ground. It may be too late now.

My wife is asleep as I write this. She has been working very hard this week. She's teaching three classes and is in a children's show...Hansel and Gretel ala Christmas. In fact, one of the numbers from that show will be featured this evening on national television. Tune in to the festival of lights parade in Chicago. Hopefully, they will show you the performances that are being staged in front of the Wrigley building. Hansel and Gretel are the first number if I understand the order. Trish is the witch. She will be the one in the purple wig. Yes, purple wig.

The sermon is mostly done. I need to tweak the draft some more. I posted one line from the sermon to give you a sense of what I am after. I am preaching the sheep and goats passage with a little 2 Corinthians thrown in there for good measure. It should be an interesting sermon to deliver just before we leave for Virginia.

Okay...With that I bid you adieu. I am gonna work a little.

obsquatch did this

friday is here...but sunday's comin'

The Roots of Violence:
Wealth without work,
Pleasure without conscience,
Knowledge without character,
Commerce without morality,
Science without humanity,
Worship without sacrifice,
Politics without principles.
- Mohandas Gandhi.

What kind of sacrifice? I am on about three thousand hands little e-lists about worship and church and social justice and everything else related. Every so often this quotation from Gandhi appears on my radar and I wonder the same thing every time. What kind of sacrifice?

Now, having some knowledge how he lived and died suggests that he's not talking about the fatted calf. Nor is he talking about tithing...though my mind goes there this time of year. He's talking about total sacrifice. Will you change your life? Will you make changes so that others are no longer oppressed in the name or some disembodied something or other? Maybe that's what he's after.

Anyway...

Trish and I are preparing for the great trek eastward to Virginia. We'll leave on Sunday after church and return on Friday. This year we're driving. It's time consuming but it makes sense for us financially. My little red car gets great gas mileage. Even with an overnight hotel bill, we'll spend less than if we were both to fly. First stop: Doswell. Second stop: Lynchburg. Final destination: Huddleston.

subversive sermon mumblings

Christ the King Sunday first emerged, as I understand it, as an attempt to counter the outlandish claims of some European dictators in the twentieth century. The real ruler of this age is Christ!
- Ralph W. Klein. www.workingpreacher.org

This Sunday is Christ the King Sunday for those who follow the Revised Common Lectionary. I am trying to wrap my little mind and overgrown imagination around it. One of the interesting discoveries I made is found in the quotation. Professor Klein is very helpful this week in that one particular. It's a subversive Sunday. It's not about the church or Jesus being "The Man." It's about supplanting The Man with a vision of an entirely different Kingdom. Dictatorships and Empire will crumble, perhaps necessarily so, as the fullness of God emerges into the world. It's about knowing where to put faith and where true judgment resides. True judgement resides in Christ.

The parables we've been preaching for the last several weeks are in a string of parables that lead to this week's reading from Matthew. The sheep and the goats...what to do with this thing...Harrington's commentary (Sacra Pagina vol. 1 for those who desire to learn more.) on Matthew pushes us to understand that the "least of these" are the disciples. And though we are judged by how we care for the poor (Harrington says that the scriptures make this very clear in many other places.) this parable is explaining how the world is judged by how it treats the messengers of Christ. Or, in a more contemporary fashion, this is how those who don't believe in Jesus are judged in the end. What happens to those who never hear about God? What happens to those who don't buy into the Church? Do they go to Hell? Not necessarily, suggests Harrington. They are judged ala sheep and goats.

Now, I dunno about this commentary. I think Harrington is stretching it a bit. But I do find his line of thinking interesting. If the community of Matthew assumed a very near Judgment, and they were a very small minority in a much larger religious world, a passage about how all the others will be judged by Christ is fitting. And in our time, as we debate through the lenses of a variety of fundamentalisms, giving ourselves a passage that speaks to what this judgment of the non-Christian might look like could prove important.

This Sunday at Community Church is our Walk of Faith. I've explained this already. This passage appeared in the lectionary and I see some good connections. That it is Christ the King (Christ the Judge) Sunday is also interesting. What if giving to the church, pledging, tithing, were a subversive act? What if it were by its very nature a proclamation not of the status quo but the believer's desire for something else (The Kingdom of God) to take hold in this world. If The Church is no longer The Power/Institution in many parts of the country, can we preach that tithing is subversive? It'll be hard as we live in the shadows of our institutional structures.

Okay. That's enough of that. I need to gather my things and get to the office. There are e-mails to respond to and a sermon to pray about. Y'all have a good day.

java jive

This makes me pause for a moment and wonder if church is something we ever do well.

memorized addresses

The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.
- Abraham Lincoln, The Gettysburg Address, November 19, 1863

Did you have to memorize the Gettysburg Address when you studied American History in grade school? I think that somehow I managed to avoid that fate/honor. I have no recollection of having to memorize much of anything. Then again, it is distinctly possible that I have repressed all such memories. Memorization is not a particular strength of mine. I can't sing a single one of those silly Irish pub songs from beginning to end. Ah well.

Today is the anniversary of Lincoln's delivery of the Gettysburg Address. I thought I would post a small line from it for us all. I find the line ironic somehow. An uncle of mine fought at Gettysburg. He was a boy at the time...a standard bearer. Somewhere we have a picture of him and other men who survived the battle . They gathered together at the 50th anniversary. Old men with long white beards hobbled toward one another, lines of North and South divided again. I'm told that they cried and embraced. I'll see if I can't get a copy of that photo made when I go home for Thanksgiving.

I am thinking through the beginnings of the sermon for Sunday. Will it be as brief as the Gettysburg Address? Not likely. But I may take some inspiration from it. "Full measure of devotion" is an incredible turn of phrase. Community Church sets this day aside for a "Walk of Faith." It's time to bring the pledge cards forward. Not that such a day is every as momentous as dedicating a battlefield to the fallen, but such an action is an act of dedication and could bring to mind many other walks of faith.

Here's the lectionary text for the day:

Matthew 25:31-46

"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left.

Then the king will say to those at his right hand, 'Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.'

Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?'

And the king will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.' Then he will say to those at his left hand, 'You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' Then they also will answer, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?'

Then he will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

I find it very interesting that neither the righteous or the unrighteous recognized their Lord. It's not about recognition. Also, just for fun, there's a commentary I read that the "least of these" is actually a phrase Matthew uses to describe the followers of Christ. This is perhaps a parable about how those outside of the community following Christ are judged. They are judged not by their belief or their ability to recognize Jesus, but by their treatment of Christians. Interesting.

Here's the Gettysburg Address.

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Be well today.

monday videopost: groceries

sermon: ...and a building

Follow the extended link to read the entirety of the sermon. It's so very specific to the needs of Community Church it seems almost inappropriate to share it here on the blog. It's intimate and yet somehow still general as sermons often are. We're entering into our budgeting process and today is the "setting the stage" meeting. There's a lot to consider as we do this work together. In the end, I hope that this is what the can take away from the sermon:

We’re going to move to a meeting after the worship service. We’re going to talk about money. I hope we can step back from some of our anxiety and find God’s abundance.

What I learned at Reconciler is that focusing on the stuff produces anxiety. Every church has this struggle in common...It has always had faith in God. The rest of the stuff is just stuff.

When a church can step away from a place of anxiety to a place of proclaiming Christ, of being Christ in the world, a community can grow. Things can shift for the better. We are better able to be God's people and not a group of people anxious about space, or bills, or attendance. A church has to dig out and share again and again.

We have been given grace and not the fuel for anxiety. Can we see this?

I've prayed about this. I have fretted about this. I have pondered these words in my heart. Burying the talent as the third servant does in this morning's parable is an act we have all committed on some level. We have allowed what was meant to be grace to become anxiety. And it has all been our own doing. We have sent ourselves to the outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. Such a state is always, in part, self-created.

Some of the sermon is manuscript. Some of it is outline-ish. Sorry about that.

Sermon Proper 28 (33) Year A 2008
Community Church of Wilmette
November 16, 2008

“...and a building”

“Enter into the joy of your master.”

What a radical notion for the world to hear at this moment in history. It’s something that every economist on the planet may need framed and put on their walls. Perhaps cross-stitched on a pillow?

“Enter into the joy of your master.”

Do you think they’d get it? I don’t know. I wonder if any of us really get it. This parable is so familiar. We have heard it preached a hundred different ways. And I am very aware that some of you could stand up right now and preach about this.

So…

Let's be honest about how we may hear this parable today.
We measure everything.
We measure how we measure things.
We live in a measure-happy culture at a time some call The Information Age.
Measure. Measure. Goals. Measure. Measure. Goals.
We cannot help ourselves.

I wonder if some of us hear this parable in this way: “Ah! We must do more with less! The third servant should have invested. Foolish servant!” I know I have.

But what if...what if the parable were not about investment capital?
What if the parable…
(the favorite of stewardship Sundays everywhere)
…were not actually about making stuff happen with the stuff you have been given?

The parable is about Jesus, his nature, and his “coming in glory”
All the parables in this string of parables will culminate in next week's story...as God separates the sheep from the goats...The “Day of the Lord.”
This parable is about God's “superabundance”
The servants are given a piece of God, a piece of Grace...
We are to “enter into the joy of the master”
usury is illegal, immoral, unscriptural...The parable is not to encourage raising interest rates.
What does the third servant fear...he says he fears his master, but perhaps it is something else? Failure? Participating? What others might think? Is he afraid of sharing?
It is about participating in what we have been given, we have been given grace. We have been given God.
It is about participating in the coming Kingdom of God
It is about putting away fear.
It is about having hope.

For those of you who may not have noticed, it’s time to talk about the church budget again. It’s time to talk about the gifts we have and the gifts we are to one another. It’s stewardship season here at the Community Church. It’s stewardship season in a lot of churches around the country.

There’s one church in particular that I have been following. Calvary Baptist in Washington D.C. Their pastor, Rev. Amy Butler, is a colleague of mine and I like to watch what she’s doing in her ministry. We’re roughly the same age and our churches are in similar situations. So, when their stewardship letter arrived in the mailbox at the parsonage, I opened it with some excitement. And I was right to do so.

Calvary Baptist Church has decided to “redefine abundance.”
They have looked at the world around them and realized some things.
The economy is currently in a shambles.
The Church (the mainline protestant church in the U.S.) is dwindling or people are shifting away from us…to someplace or someone else.
What should The Church’s response be to this?
Fear?
Despair?
Panic?
A fancy new sign with chasing neon lights? A gimmick?
No. Calvary Baptist Church has said: “We must ‘redefine abundance.’”
They have declared, “We have all we need!”
Rev. Amy Butler says, “Our God is a God of abundance and possibility, and, if we're being honest, we have much more than what we need.” And this can be expressed in tangible ways
a week at camp with the kids
include the church in your monthly budget
volunteer at the church or elsewhere in the name of the church one day every six weeks

Our abundance is found in “the joy of the master.” God asks for our participation in the gifts we have and to not live in the fear that those gifts might be taken away or lost somehow. Realize what we have been given. These are gifts from God. Now, participate in those gifts. Relish in them. Frolic in them!

Here’s another way of thinking about it. I am not sure why I did not share this perspective before now. I’m sorry for that. Sometimes I, too, bury what I have been given.

A church planter's perspective
I’ve started a church. I know a little something about this.
Church of Jesus Christ, Reconciler.
Coming to Community Church I perceived incredible abundance!
People
Abundant resources of talent and treasure
A rich history from which to draw lessons and inspiration
This is what we have:
60 people in love with God.
This is the core of a Christian Community’s identity
Affection for one another is great, but the core of who we are is our shared love of God.
This is worship.
This is why we give in charity.
This is why we study together.
An endowment given by those in love with God.
This is the tricky part…
I cannot tell you how many moments I sat there with others from Reconciler and wondered where the money might come from.
I cannot tell you how many times I said, “The money doesn’t matter…but it’d sure be nice…” Anxiety, anxiety, anxiety…
Again and again I had to learn how to step away from this anxiety, from identification with money (or the lack of it), with the measurable, accidentally burying what we had so generously been given by God.
And a building (in need of a little love) paid for by those in love with God
We worshiped in one another’s homes (diners)
We worshiped in a coffee house. (Easter with no heat)
We worshiped in the side chapel of another church

I know some of you might find this amusing somehow. But coming here…I thought “Thank God!” I have 60 people, an endowment, and a building. The lessons from Reconciler have not lost their value. But this is awful nice.

We’re going to move to a meeting after the worship service. We’re going to talk about money. I hope we can step back from some of our anxiety and find God’s abundance.

What I learned at Reconciler is that focusing on the stuff produces anxiety. Every church has this struggle in common...It has always had faith in God. The rest of the stuff is just stuff.

When a church can step away from a place of anxiety to a place of proclaiming Christ, of being Christ in the world, a community can grow. Things can shift for the better. We are better able to be God's people and not a group of people anxious about space, or bills, or attendance. A church has to dig out and share again and again.

We have been given grace and not the fuel for anxiety. Can we see this?

Does Community Church have the courage to dig out and share?
Can we see the abundance of God in what we have?
It's not about being smarter with what we have.
It's not about asset management or venture capital or making more with less.
The parable is not about money.
The parable is about Jesus.
Our entire perspective has to shift.
It has to shift away from what we fear will happen to us…
to what we are called to love:
We are called to love God.
We are called to “enter into the joy of the master.”

We have to begin see that, like those who were in Matthew's community,
all we have,
all we are,
all we do,
is about Christ.

This is a time when, as strange as it may seem to all of us enlightened folk in the room, we need to proclaim a Word about the Day of the Lord. We need to say God is here.

“Right here. Right now. Watching the world wake up from history.” Our history. Our family history, our congregations’ history. We must proclaim joy and peace, love, hope, charity. In short we must proclaim our faith. We must proclaim it in thought, word, and deed.

How many ways do we already have to say this? We have to redefine abundance for the people of the world…at this moment in history especially… we all need such a Word.

We are a people who are about a present and approaching divine reality. It is not about what we accumulate and horde away, but about the super-abundance that we have been given...what we already have. From this point all we need to do is simply participate in God's grace...

60 people are called to enter into the joy of the master.
We have been given an endowment to proclaim the joy of the master in worship and work
...and a building do it in...

Redefine abundance.
Fear nothing.
Proclaim Christ.
“Enter into the joy of your master.”
Nothing more.
Nothing less.

mandolining the sermon

Redefine abundance
Fear nothing.
Proclaim Christ.
Nothing more.
Nothing less.
- the sermon for Sunday

Last night I attended a concert at t he local American Legion post. Some kind people from Community Church invited me to attend and I am glad I did. First the company was lovely. Second, well, the bands were unreal. Mandy and the Bandits were the opening act. They are a local Chicago group making some might fine bluegrass/jazz happiness. Then Carrie Hassler and Hard Rain stood up to play. Damn...just...damn. I commend them to your undivided bluegrassy attention. Listen to the mandolinist in particular. They are all outstanding, but the mandolinist...yeah. Ah well. Perhaps in another life I'll step out of the "hack" column and move into the "player" column. Some day...some other life.

In other news, the sermon continues apace. Though I have mandolins running amok in my brain, I think I may have an actual sermon. Does anyone have a useful definition of the word "sermon"? It's just a question. I'm trying to bring a Word to the people of Community Church. It's the first of several budget meetings. We need a God-centered plan. Right.

The sermoning continues apace. Mandolins dance in my head. God is good...planing the grain of the universe...

prayer from Taize:
God of peace, you love us before we love you; you never want human suffering; you suffer
with those who are undergoing trials.

preadvent...

Here's something for you. You can either read it, or if you know a good 88.88 hymntune (Creator of the Stars of Night is nice), you can sing this. Advent approaches and I am planning some fun, I tell ya! This is fun!

The prophets weave their mounting fugue
"God's own anointed one is near!"
True justice, ever sought on earth,
from tender bud will soon appear.

God comes to birth, in flesh, to heal -
a shepherd seeking out the stray -
to bind our wounds, to life us up,
and ever more keep death at bay.

A second birth we also sing:
Christ knocks and waits for our reply.
He yearns to sit us down and serve
the feast of God's unbounded joy.

O earth, prepare your manger-cave;
you heavens, Glorias rehearse;
our race its Virgin-mother boasts:
prepare, each one, our Savior's birth! Amen.

by Aelred-Seton Shanley
Hymns for Morning and Evening Prayer

feast days

I was reminded that the Orthodox honor St John Chrysostom today. I have a strong affinity to the revered loudmouth. Wondrous. Thanks to Cliff for the reminder. Chrysostom shows up again in the Anglican order on my birthday.

sermon musings: stewardship sermon number one

One of the reasons churches in North America have trouble guiding people about money is that the church’s economy is built on consumerism. If churches see themselves as suppliers of religious goods and services and their congregants as consumers, then offerings are "payment."
- Doug Pagitt

It is that time again. It's time to talk about money in the church. You know, I think that I need to do a better job of spreading this kind of thinking around the other Sundays a bit. I should not shy away from talking about possessions as much as I do.

It is time to talk about the Program of Ministry (POM) which is Community Church's budget. Without divulging too much, it is safe to say that it will be an intense conversation to have over the next several weeks. The economy, the congregations years of declining attendance, and all those other dynamics that make talking of money in a church all stand in relief this year.

The lectionary this week contains Jesus' "Parable of the Talents." This is the one where the slaves are given money (talents) and are judged on how they use the gift. Double its worth? Triple its worth? Bury it in the ground in the hopes of not messing up? The slave who buries the money gets the shaft. It's not a gentle parable.

There are some good reflections out there. Dylan offered this. Gord said this. Working Preacher has this. I think it's going to be important to underscore what motivates the slaves and not on the actions specifically. This is a familiar parable to many. And though I don't feel like I have to come up with something new, I am aware that many conscious interpretive choices have been made in the pews already. I'm entering in to a lively and existing conversation. And when you add money into that mix. Holy cow! They may be sitting in silence, but I would bet that the room is actually quite noisy.

The slave who buries his talent takes a very conservative investment approach. Is this wise? Perhaps not...even when the market is crashing around our ears. I am thinking of encouraging people to think of "risk management" and what upholds the risk-taking. I'm not sure yet. I have plenty of resources about tithing and other such disciplines. We can turn back the pages to Blue Like Jazz. Here's a post about Miller's thinking on tithing.

I am not sure exactly how I'll approach this. Any suggestions would be welcomed. Oh...and there's this:

Saint Theresa's Prayer

May today there be peace within.
May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.
May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith.
May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you.
May you be content knowing you are a child of God.
Let this presence settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing,
Dance, praise and love.
It is there for each and every one of us.

Hmm...

k. norris on self-knowledge

Goody two, goody two
Goody, goody two shoes
Goody two, goody two
Goody, goody two shoes
Don't drink, don't smoke
What do you do
Don't drink, don't smoke
What do you do
Subtle innuends follow
There must be something inside
- Adam Ant

Kathleen Norris is at it again. I've been reading the book Acedia & Me rather slowly. I find the contents so engrossing that I simply don't want the book to end. I want to read it and digest it slowly. And there is much to digest. The current idea presented in the book , however, is rather straightforward. She speaks of self-knowledge and self-consciousness. I'm not sure I agree with the names for the two categories, but I agree that there are two categories.

Self-knowledge, according to Norris, is a way in which we know ourselves (warts and all) that allows for and encourages change and transformation. To learn about the effects of one's childhood traumas or family dynamics is useful...when it leads to change, when these same attributes can be healed in some way or recognized as areas of incompleteness.

Self-consciousness is the awareness of these same attributes (warts and all) without the desire for change. Such knowledge is simply a catalogue of our dysfunctions. We may even hold on to these negative traits with pride, refusing to change. She states that we miss the point of the self-knowledge that a healthy spirituality requires. We refuse to be changed.

Today, to suggest that a change might be in order, starting with a healthy drop in self-absorption, is anathema: its a free country, and don't lay your values on my self-respect. If the early [Christian] monks paid close attention to themselves, it was only because they knew that rigorous self-analysis was an indispensable spiritual practice. Change was the point of the discipline...

It's also important to note that she does not equate such a discipline with the hyper-moralized Protestant list of do's and don'ts. It's not moralism. It's transformation that she's after. So, your faults don't make you a bad person. You aren't "going to hell" because you have certain faults. As Christians we are simply called to transformation.

To people schooled in a religion that has often seemed to define sin as a grocery list of dos and don'ts, these monks can seem, as the Dominican Simon Tugwell explains in Ways of Imperfection, "rather casual about morality." They were not all concerned, he writes, "that people should behave correctly according to the rules, but rather people should see their situation clearly for what it is, and so become free from the distorting perspective which underlies all our sins."

This may be a helpful message to those who are struggling to "recover" from some of the more conservative strains of American Protestantism (and perhaps Catholicism, but I cannot speak to that from experience). So often in such a desire to slough off the moral codes we decide that there is no such thing as sin, no such thing as being out of synch with God. In truth there is sin...but the very notion of it has been so polluted with moralism that we are left with nothing at all. And, to make matters more complicated, we may act "in sin" and call it "authenticity" and the transformation of our selves, our communities and our world will be stuck in place. This is a kind of slavery. Norris closes this section of the book with this quotation by Henri de Lubac:

It is not sincerity, it is Truth which frees us, because it transforms us. It tears us away from our inmost slavery. To seek sincerity above all things is perhaps, at bottom, not to want to be transformed.

As I am frequently reminded, language matters. And there are words ("sin" perhaps chief among them) that have lost their meaning and purpose for many of us. We can spend our lives working through some kind of linguistic archaeology. Can we dig up the original intent of the language and come up with some new word? Can we rescue the old word? It's a struggle to be certain and one with which any two thousand year old spiritual tradition must engage. Norris shares a deep wisdom in this book, an old wisdom that might be helpful to many of us. Authenticity is not permission to go about our lives crafting an altar to ourselves. Authenticity is or can be the admission of imperfection and the stated desire to change. Christianity is at its core about resurrection and transformation for all the world. Some might call this "salvation."

Okay...and with that I think I'll have some more coffee.

sermon: trimmed and burning

Sermon: the 26th Sunday after Pentecost, Year A
The Community Church of Wilmette
November 9, 2008

Trimmed and Burning

Did you ever think that you would see the day?
Did you ever think that you would see the day?
Did you ever think that an African-American man would be elected President of the United States of America in our lifetime?

I am not sure that I truly believed it. I still have images of the intense segregation of my home town, Richmond. I still struggle with the deep divisions and segregation that exists in Chicago. Those wounds run so deep. The struggles and the blight of racism is still so very real...even here in the so-called enlightened north.

I was so disappointed the day that I realized how divided Chicago was. I came here thinking Chicago would show me a different way of living in a multi-racial community.

I never thought I would ever see an African-American elected to the highest office in our country. Never.

Maybe that makes me a cynic. I was hopeful but unbelieving. Does this make sense? I hoped I was wrong. I hoped that our nation would find some way to work around our own cultural divides. But I am not sure I ever truly believed that we would.

You have to understand...I knew Pearl. Maybe some of you know what I'm talking about. Pearl was the “girl” who cleaned my grandfather's house. She was the African-American woman who my grandfather hired as a maid. She was his peer. Yet, she was “that girl” to many people in my grandfather's generation...and think what you will, these were not mean people. They were church-going generous loving people. They loved Pearl, too.

That she changed my diapers and loved me...and all of us deeply and that we loved her deeply in return, however, never led to a change in anyone's social status. That she would, in the end, change my grandfather's diapers never changed that reality either. It's heartbreaking for me to remember.

So much of that kind of social geography seemed fixed to me...concrete, immovable. No matter how liberal, progressive, evolved, open-minded, active, loving, Christian, merciful, caring, or just I was...society seemed immovable.

That was until Tuesday night. I have been paying a lot of attention to Barak Obama ever since he emerged on the national scene five years ago with his speech at the Democratic National Convention. I watched out of curiosity more than affinity for his politics. And though I was there in Grant Park...watching people dance, embracing one another, or weeping openly, I am not sure the reality has quite sunk in for me yet...But there it is. It's undeniable now. Good grief, the man even has a “President Elect” website called change.gov...It's on the internet. It has to be real!

Certainly now I have to adjust my thinking. That's very clear. Many of us do...even some of our most hopeful leaders have to readjust their thinking. Did you see Jesse Jackson's tears?

An African American has been elected president.
The first generation immigrant's son has been elected president.
A man of mixed race has been elected president.

What was once immovable...unchangeable...

None of these things are supposed to happen. No matter what we claim as the American Ideal, our society is not really designed for this...

...then again, I've been wrong before.

“But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” proclaimed the Hebrew prophet, Amos. These words should sound familiar to us...The translation is lacking perhaps. The image is intended to be one of a torrent, like an enormous dam that has been broken apart. The waters of justice and righteousness crash down upon God's people...their force is crushing. It's not a gentle mountain stream that refreshes. Such justice and righteousness as Amos proclaims overturns everything. It's punishing. Literally.

“Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour” reminds Matthew. He too knows that God's presence is not necessarily good news like a larger than expected tax return or a surprise visit from your best friend. It's still good news, but it is earth shattering good news. It is relentless good news.

Relentless...unyielding.

During his acceptance speech President Elect Obama used the phrase “unyielding hope.” Someone pointed that out to me. I missed it. I was still watching people cry.

What kind of hope is “unyielding?”

It is the kind of hope that keeps awake. It “knows neither the day nor the hour.” It does not know how it will circumvent a culture. It does not know the details of how it will overcome adversity. It does not know how it will awaken us...

...but awaken us it will!

It does not back down.
It hopes beyond hope.
It waits for the Lord.
That's what this kind of hope does.

Such hope is the oil in the lamps of the women in our Gospel passage this morning.
Such hope is the promise witnessed in the tears of African-American men and women in Grant Park Tuesday night.

Such hope says...”I know you didn't see me coming even when I was staring you in the face.”
Do you remember Rev. Dr. Alice Greene's sermon at our Revival? Step by step. Slowly and in love. A change is gonna come. Unyielding Hope.
Unyielding hope has a companion, of course. Amos is happy to remind us of this. Rigorous honesty must exist if there is to be room for unyielding hope.

“But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” The rigorous honesty that this demands is beyond comprehension for many of us. It may even seem cruel at times...like a God who says to those who gather in praise and prayer, “I hate, I despise your festivals, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.”

It comes to us with the force of a rushing torrent. It does not simply ask us to change. It plainly declares “Things are different now. Life is not what you thought. Repent for the day of the Lord is at hand.”

I don't know if the election of an African-American man is the Day of the Lord.
I don't know if it was “God's will” in some bizarre version of predestination.

But I have no doubt that God is present in such hopefulness and in such honesty. For America...whose self-inflicted wounds of racism and bigotry run so deeply...such a moment in history begs us to have unyielding hope. It asks us struggle with one another in rigorous honesty...for me to be rigorously honest with myself. I never saw the dam break. I never heard the floodwaters. And I was watching, too. It seems my lamp had gone out.

Children don't get weary
Children don't get weary
Children don't get weary
Till your work is done....

Keep your lamps trimmed and burning...The time is drawing nigh...

I think of Pearl...I think of Rev Dr Alice Greene. And I repent of my hardness of heart. I never expected this...never.

Suddenly now, though, everything is different. I have been crushed. Healing has come.

Unyielding Hope is not an illusion or a fantasy. It is about preparing for the immediate and expected presence of God. Rigorous Honesty is an expression of the presence of God. It is truth telling, soothsaying, faith sharing, and mutual dependency. Such a life cannot be lived alone.

Have Unyielding Hope.
Offer...Receive...Rigorous Honesty.

I have never been so glad to be so wrong.

Thanks be to God.

satredey, pre-caffeine

I would rather live in a world where my life is surrounded by mystery than live in a world so small that my mind could comprehend it.
- Harry Emerson Fosdick, preacher

I have not been as attentive to the blog this week as I would usually. It's been a very full week and I just cannot get it all into words...well, not words that I can share here. The rally at Grant Park was amazing. Mae posted about our time there. Give it a read. It was followed by a marathon church council meeting on Wednesday that meant arriving at home close to midnight. There have been meetings and gatherings and phone calls. Oh, and I have been preparing to present at a conference today with a friend. We're talking about liturgy and American Sign Language Interpretation today. I'll try to have something to say about that soon enough.

It's been a very full week. Fortunately, I was able to pretty much complete the sermon yesterday. I don't want to say that it's done. I want to take another crack at it tomorrow morning before the worship service. I'll post it tomorrow. I had to write a manuscript this week.

This has also been the first week for our new full time church administrator. It's been great to have so much help.

Well, that's what I have for you this morning...no deep musings, just the vague facts of the week. Be well!

under pressure

Take some time to read these today...

Obama and the dawn of the Fourth Republic
An Open Letter to Barak Obama
Prayers for our new president

Peace and all good things...

hardly working and sermon mumblings

Life be in my speech
Truth in what I say.
The love Christ Jesus gave
Be filling every heart for me.
The love Christ Jesus gave
Be filling me for everyone.

Somedays its just hard to get out of bed. Tuesday morning I awoke very early (4:00am). Then we were at Grant Park and did not get home until very early on Wednesday. Wednesday we had our Council Meeting and as we were talking about the budget, the meeting was a marathon. I did not get to bed until almost 1:00am. So, yeah, it was a little hard to get out of bed this morning.

I am working through the sermon. It's a good day to do that. The sky is overcast and I'm feeling somewhat introspective. I am playing with the phrases "unyielding hope" and "rigorous honesty" in the light of the scripture for Sunday...Matthew is about hope. Amos is about honesty. Or perhaps it's the other way around. They are both about hope and honesty...hope is not an illusion or a fantasy. It is about preparing for the extant and expected presence of God. Honesty is an expression of the presence of God. It is truth telling, soothsaying, faith sharing, and mutual dependency.

everyone is irish

so much

One is changed by what one loves.
- Joseph Brodsky

I really don't know what to say here on the blog. Yesterday's election was historic. No doubt about that. I don't know about you all, but I am deeply moved that an African-American has been elected President of the United States of America. Whether you like his politics or not, it's a significant and positive step. Perhaps this will help us move forward so that we can simply discuss the policy issues. That would be a grand thing.

We just elected "3/5 a person." Do you think the founders mind? Well, certainly some of them would not have, but others...perhaps.

Things that also astounded me: Virgina, Ohio, Florida...McCain's concession speech (a class act!), Jesse Jackson's tears, the crowds in Grant Park, Kenya

That's all I have right now. Be well.

voting today?

Alright guys, I want to get out there and vote...And not because it's cool, because it's not. You know what is cool? Smoking. Smoke while you vote.
- Jon Stewart

I'm up this morning folding laundry. I woke up a little earlier than usual due to a couple of low grade anxiety dreams and some heartburn. How many pastors have this experience? Many, I imagine. My church building is a polling place and suddenly I'm concerned about making sure that the volunteers are taken care of. Who knew?

It's going to be an interesting day. That's for certain. The political talking heads are already trying to make predictions. They say that the polls now have no meaning "but...if the following variables align..." It's like astrology without the predictability. Our electoral process is based on Kabbalah...or Zoroastrian epics...or something like that.

I don't know what I'll spend my day doing. We have an important council meeting tomorrow evening that needs my attention. I have a doctor's appointment at noon. There's enough to do, I think. I'm just distracted by the election. That's all.

Right. Distracted.

Have a great day. All you Libertarians and Anarchists out there (You know who you are!) take care of yourselves. Go to a coffee shop. Pray for the rest of us.

a quick thought or two

The idea of the Sabbath as a queen or a bride is not a personification of the Sabbath but an exemplification of a divine attribute, an illustration of God's need for human love; it does not represent a substance but the presence of God, God's relationship to humanity.
- Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Sabbath

Thursday evenings this month I am teaching with two other clergy in town, Rabbi Sam Gordon of Congregation Sukkat Shalom and Rev. Stephanie Perdew of the First Congregational Church. We're reading through The Sabbath with people from all three congregations, sharing the distinctions and similarities that exist between Jewish and (congregationalist protestant) understandings of Sabbath. It's going to be a blast. If you are around, come on by. The book is short. You can get your copy today and be ready to roll by Thursday. Join us at 7:30pm at 1125 Wilmette Ave. You'll be glad you did.

I'm headed into the office. Our new church administrator begins her tenure with us today. It's a very big day in the life of our little church and I'm excited. See you all around.

nigh unto monday videoblog: singing for the sudan

sermon: god knows...

Here's the sermon for All Saints. Follow the extended link.

What makes someone a saint?

I have been troubled by this question
for a long time.
I remember talking to my grandmother about it

(My grandmother’s house in Arlington
was one of my favorite places.)
It was a God-filled place for me.

We called my grandmother "Hig."

"Hig, what makes someone a saint?"

I only remember asking the question.
I don’t remember the answer.
(Sometimes I wonder if it’s simply a question without an answer.)

Since then, however, I’ve learned all kinds of answers.
The church makes saints.
Saints are heroes.
Faithfulness makes saints.
Beatified.
Sanctified.
Hard work makes a saint.

All of these answers and not one of them

So, now...now I wonder if any of these answers work at all.
They are text book answers, beurocratic answers.

My grandmother was not someone you would call a saint.
She wasn’t always nice.
She wasn’t always consistent.
She drank gin.
She was a dancer at the State Fair when she met my grandfather...and a seamstress.

She was no saint. You know?

And yet there was something of the saintly about her.
Mysterious. Lively.

From the dark earth.
Being with her was a little like getting away with
something your mother wouldn’t approve of.

David Musgrave...
(He’s the priest at St. Augustine’s up the street.)
David says that a saint is someone "commandeered by God."
They willingly Go where God Leads.
There is no special merit...no heroic virtue.
That’s all.

A saint is someone commandeered by God.

That works too.
Someone Commandeered by God...
Someone like Jesus,

It’s hard to know...to put our finger on it...
"Hig, what makes someone a saint?"

Hig died when I was 24. She had been sick for a very long time. Years.
She went to live in the convalescence center when I was 13.
I did not see her again until just before she died.
I don’t know why. It’s complicated.

When I saw her,
just before she died,
She was a shell of her former self...unable to talk.
But it was still there.

(Perhaps only in the way that grandchildren can see their grandparents...)

Mysterious. Lively.
From the dark earth.
Something your mother wouldn’t approve of.

"Hig, what makes someone a saint?"

God knows.

"Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed."

God knows.

Thanks be to God.