conjectural navel gazing; jesus in lint form

sermon: sent

Here we go...It's time for our annual meeting and this is the sermon. Know that this is written specifically for CCW. Follow the extended link to read the manuscript. Here's a quotation:

We are sent...not to bring people back in to this room,
but sent to proclaim the truth about God,
how God LOVES this world,
how God seeks to RENEW this world,
how God seeks to HEAL this world.

Sermon: The Fourth Sunday After the Epiphany
The Community Church of Wilmette
February 1, 2009

Sent

“What is your vision?” We have heard this question a thousand times in the last year or so. There's nothing like an election season to bring the vision question to the fore. “So, Senator, what is your vision for America?” What a terrible question! And yet there it is. And they have to answer it. Tell us, all three hundred million of us, Senator. It's an impossible task, but it's the only true task they have. And the country needs some kind of answer.

We Christians are not strangers to that question. We've been wrangling with it for the last several decades...likely longer. Name a single conflict in the church and you have named at least two (much likely more) competing visions of what Jesus wants from those who claim to follow him.

The Church in America is presently in the midst of a vision quest.

Attendance is down or shifting. A recent statistic shared in the American Baptist press stated that in the 1950's 7 out of 10 Americans participated on some level in a congregation. Now it is 2 out of 10.
People are leaving the traditions of their childhood (If they have one at all. I did not.) for other traditions or no one tradition...likely a conglomerate of traditions. Individuals combine notions from yoga to Jesus and add a little caffeine for fun. Starbucks is as likely a place for people to create and discover community as a religious institution.

The mainline protestant traditions are all struggling to keep membership at sustainable levels. It appears as if Congregations are reinventing themselves weekly in the attempt to remain relevant...whatever that means anymore. Emergent congregations, seeker sensitive congregations, liturgical renewal congregations, fundamental, progressive, liberal, traditional, independent, multi-ethnic congregations...all of us seeking a vision for the Church in the next phase of the life of the Christian tradition.

And the books...countless books...are on the shelves of stores and libraries asking the same question: What is the future of Christianity in America?

Or more generally, What is the Church's vision of it's future?

Sometimes I wonder if it's all too much. Sometimes I wonder if it's too big a question. Things are so chaotic, so topsy-turvey. We cannot find our way.

Yet the question persists.

What is your vision for the Church?

I am asked this question, too. I am sure many of you wonder. And I am also certain that many of you have been asked the same question. For example, you serve on the Outreach Committee. What is your vision for the church? You are the Moderator. What is your vision for the church?

It's a question we all have to answer...not just one of us. And not just our elected, appointed or ordaind leadership.

But here I stand in the pulpit and the same question keeps echoing in my ears. “What is your vision for the church?” And not just The Church, but this specific congregation. Here I stand in the pulpit.

Let's look at the scripture reading again.

They went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught. They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, "What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God."

But Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be silent, and come out of him!"

And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, "What is this? A new teaching--with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him."

At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.

One of the questions that we struggle with as we talk about vision is that of authority. Christians have given authority to many people and things over the millennia. We given authority to teachers, priests, committees, kings, princes, governments, traditions and even the Bible itself. But we've also undermined each of these over the years.

We've translated and researched the Bible to the point where many of us see it as anachronistic at best. We trust no one but ourselves to be our spiritual or religious authority...and even that, if we are honest, is suspect. We know our own limits too well. Suddenly there is no authority we can trust. Suddenly there is no vision for the future. All we have is the chaos of the moment and the competing voices in our minds and in our world.

We are besieged by demons...unclean spirits.

Corruption
Consumerism
Deception
Individualism
(Today it seems we have moved from the Rugged Individualism to Rock Star Individualism...but there it is.)

the demons that would do away with play and childhood and time alone under the stars with people we treasure...

the demons that would tell us that we are only worth what our 401-K or our stock portfolio declares...

The bubbles have burst, the unclean spirits of our time have been revealed: quick wealth, selfish achievement, and social Darwinism...just to name a few...

My step-mother used to tell a story about her frustration as a child about the four-slice toaster that her family had...and how jealous she and her siblings were that the neighbors up the street had a six-slice toaster. Her Baptist minister father had a lot to say about that.

Keep your mind on your own toaster...and don't worry about what you don't have.“Keeping up with the Joneses” is an unholy pursuit.

Unclean spirits...

These demons know God when they see God. This is why their voices are so loud.

This is why we cannot hear God's voice in this world. The demons are too loud...

Fear, insecurity, greed – chaos. Sometimes it feels like the world is in chaos.

Jesus knew this. This is why I keep returning to the Bible. Jesus' world was in chaos. Jesus met a man who embodied that chaos. And the man recognized him, but in stead of celebrating, the man rejected Jesus. The man was threatened by Jesus and the unclean spirit said as much. "What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God."

You are irrelevant. You will destroy what we hold dear, the means of our survival. We know who you are. But you don't matter anymore. Go away!

Jesus responds by casting out the demon, the unclean spirit, and restoring the man to sanity...Jesus sets things right.

And the Apostles, the “they” of our story, are amazed. They have encountered true authority in the healing of the man, in the setting things right, in the end to chaos.

I wish us to be Amazed Apostles...

My vision for this church is a vision where we are all Amazed Apostles passionately going out. We are Sent...Apostles, those who are sent. That's what the Greek word ἀπόστολος (apostolos) means. Sent. We are apostles...those sent out by God to proclaim that everything has or must change.

It is a vision where we are not concerned about who comes here on a Sunday morning, who contributes or serves on a committee, but where we are all passionate about the world being given an authentic word about God...where we all want to share our amazement.

Where we are not counting heads in the pews wondering where we may have gone wrong
but are seeing the new faces and thanking God for the gift of their presence.

Where we are not wondering who is giving how much and when
except when it motivates and excites us.

Instead we are going out. Our identity is not found only in what happens here. We have to strike a balance. We know who we are: Open Minds, Giving Hearts, and One Community.

We are also Sent. What we do outside these walls, the proclamation of our amazement of the Holy One in our midst, matters just as much.

Jesus never built a building. We did that. Jesus called people to him only so that they could go out...not so they would stay with him. We gather around Christ, at the feet of God to worship, to study and to learn.

Our practices matter:
simplicity and not consumption
charity and not accumulation
worshiping God, fasting and perhaps especially prayer...

But these things do not stay here...our work is in the world. Practices and Liturgy prepare us. Our lives are the liturgy of the world after the liturgy of Sunday morning.

When I am asked what my vision is for the church, I know that often the underlying question really is “How will you fill this sanctuary?” Honestly, I'm not even sure if that's our goal...or a vision worth pursuing.

I have a vision in stead of a Sent People. Everything that happens here is to nurture that vision, to educate and inspire that vision.

We are sent...not to bring people back in to this room,
but sent to proclaim the truth about God,
how God LOVES this world,
how God seeks to RENEW this world,
how God seeks to HEAL this world.

This is why I play with my band in bars in the city. This is why I meet with people in coffee shops. This is why I teach with Carly at Columbia College. This is why I do much of what I'm doing. Perhaps then people will come, but we only hinder ourselves if we focus on getting people here.

We want to know what our vision is?
We want a vision?

I want you to go out and frighten the demons of this world. That's my vision.

Those who were once known as “Sent” have been sitting on the sidelines or in pews or standing behind pulpits preaching to the choir for too long assuming that people would just come to us because we loved one another.

That has to change. We need that change.

We can be a conduit and not a destination.
We can be an academy for the human soul and not a clubhouse.

I want us to be known as the Sent Community...Amazed by what God is doing in the world.

That's my vision.

Amen.

preaching and pepping up

My grandfather had a thing for "pep." He even wrote a book on educational pedagogy about pep. He used pep as an acronym for something. I'll have to look around and see if I can find my copy of the book. Pep. Positive reinforcement and challenge. He was a great believer that you had to have both. Give positive reinforcement and clue students into reality at the same time. I think I tend to follow his example.

The annual meeting approacheth. Next Sunday, the eighth, is CCW's annual meeting. It's also Boy Scout Sunday. We're making an Eagle Scout at the service, so I really don't have the time to preach some big "rah rah" sermon. So, I will preach that sermon this Sunday. It's going to be interesting...it always is.

The sermon is complete...I think. I'll post the manuscript on Saturday evening. I'll also record it for Facebook. My ASL interpreters appreciate an opportunity to take a couple of swings at it before the Sunday service.

You know, I am not convinced that any of my sermons are ever complete. There's more to preaching than writing a mildly pithy manuscript. Speaking, evoking, praying, hearing, embodying...all of these things come into the picture at some point. God works through all of this. And people will hear what that want or are able to hear. There's almost nothing I can do about that dynamic except to enter it faithfully asking the Spirit to reveal itself somehow.

I think I have been wanting to preach this Sunday's sermon for quite some time. It's been eating at me. Does that ever happen to you? It's not a rant, but a thing that needs saying, preaching and praying. That's what this sermon is. This one is not revelatory in the truest sense. But it may very well be saying the obvious thing that needs saying. We'll see. Perhaps that in itself is revelatory.

The reentry continues on it's own pace. Trish and I had lunch with some good friends yesterday. Pastors sometimes make good friends. It's astounding. We told the story of our journey to Virginia again. It wears me out. I cannot imagine how Trish manages it, but she does. I appreciate the friendship.

When we arrived back at the parsonage other friends of ours (friends of Trish's since college) had left food for us. Lasagna, salad, brownies. We'll be eating on it for a while. It's such a great kindness. Again, God moves and people give. That's my take on it at least.

I am going to get ready for work now. I woke up at 4:18 this morning...such a specific time, but I was startled awake by a dream and looked at the clock. The big red digital letters were pretty clear: 4:18. So, I am a little groggy. Still, daylight approaches. There is much to do. I have a ton to write, to catch up on, and to prepare for.

Be well.

Come, let us sing to the Lord;
let us shout for joy to the rock of our salvation.
Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving
and raise a loud shout to him with psalms.
For the Lord is a great God,
and a great king above all gods.
In his hand are the depths of the earth,
and the heights of the hills are his also.
The sea is his, for he made it,
and his hands have moulded the dry land.
Come, let us bow down and bend the knee,
and kneel before the Lord our Maker.
For he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture
and the sheep of his hand.
O that today you would hearken to his voice!
Psalm 95:1-7 (Venite)

slow going

Just in case it was unclear, I want you all to know that we feel loved. Trish and I have appreciated all the kind words and the cards and the cake (three, to be precise) and all the phone calls and e-mails. We have never felt more loved. Thank you.

The easing in period will be slow going, I'm sure. But we'll get there.

Last night I went to a One of the Girls rehearsal. Yes, we are rehearsing. We're working up some tunes (old and new) for St. Patrick's Day. We already have two or three gigs lined up and will likely have more if all goes well. The new tunes cover a wide gamut of musical styles. We have two or three Flogging Molly numbers that are quite nice. We have a new Creedence Clearwater Revival medley. And we're working up Ah-Ha!'s "Take on Me." I get the chorus. Love that thar falsetto. Oy!

When we were leaving DC yesterday the snow was falling. I don't know if DC has received any other snow this winter or not, but this was lovely. When we were in Lynchburg some people mentioned that they would like a little snow. To share some of our snow I made this short video. We have plenty of snow and received a little more last night. I hope you enjoy it.

life in a northern town

We are back. The car had been in the satellite lot at O'Hare for the last ten days or so. I was amazed that it simply started right away. Wondrous. Travel went without a hitch - a huge gift given the reason for our travels.

Life is quickly returning to "normal" for us. Trish is at an audition. She has a class tonight and I have a rehearsal with the band. Truthfully, I am not sure either of us will make it to these things. We'll see.

It's my birthday. So, yeah. That too. We arrived and there was a coconut cake and a lovely new cookbook awaiting me when we returned. Also, someone took the time to take care of our home. We are more grateful than we can express to all of you who have taken such good care of us during this time. Truly.

Thank you.

coming back to the cold

We'll arrive in Chicago on Tuesday. It's been an amazing journey...one I hope not to repeat any time soon.

Pie Jesu
Qui tollis peccata mundi
Dona eis requiem
Agnus dei
Qui tollis peccata mundi
Dona eis requiem
Sempiternam

She's gone. Deborah died last night surrounded by family and friends. She was 41 years old. We don't know the details of the funeral quite yet, but it looks like it'll be on Thursday. We'll see. Our flight is scheduled to return on Saturday, but I doubt we'll make it. We had to fly in to DC and then rent a car to get here. The return flight is at 7:00am or something. Anyway...I will make some phone calls today.

Thank you all for your prayers. Please continue to pray for Deb's family. I cannot shake the deep sadness I feel right now for her husband and children...and for her sister, my wife.

May Deborah find her much needed rest.

yes

Andrew posted a comment on my "one degree" entry. Nice to meet you, Andrew. I took the liberty of visiting your blog. From there I gleaned this quotation:

"When we listen to stories of terrible pain and know we can't do anything about it, we touch our vulnerability. We have heard the scream of pain, but we don't know what to do with it. None of us knows what to do with the deep brokenness of our world. Maybe that realization can bring us back to community. We can do nothing on our own. We need somewhere to be together. (Vanier & Hauerwas,Living Gently in a Violent World p.67)."

People have gathered around. They have been wiping Deb's brow with a cold damp cloth. They have fed her ice chips. They hold one another, bring food, offer prayers, tell old stories and tease. There is frustration, anger, and even some resentment that floats about. God is challenged...and loved. All the possible responses...Anyway. I though the quotation was a good one. It rings true for me.

We can do nothing on our own. We need somewhere to be together. Today we are together in the hospital.

quickly...

We are in Virginia. My wife's sister is dying. We've all gathered around her. I'm not going to blog anymore about it until it's all over...

Grace and peace to all.

funny

I just need to share this: I will be representing the American Baptist Churches of Metro Chicago this Sunday at the 9th Annual Chicago Ecumenical Prayer Service. I serve (though haphazardly) on the local ecumenical council. I have been assigned a role in the service. What role? I am to lead the congregation in the reciting of the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed. Baptist leading the Creed. I love it!

one solitary degree

As some may know, we're having a bit of a hard freeze here in Chicagoland. Right now the temperature is -7 with a windchill of -26(ish). Todays high will be one (1) solitary degree. Tomorrow will be colder. It's a good day to dress in wool. A lot of wool. My friend The Obsquatch went for a walk yesterday and made a little video. Lake Michigan is beautiful this time of year. Give it a gander if you have a moment.

Today is a sermon preparation day. I need to get my stuff together and see what happens. I am interested in taking the call of Nathanael and parsing out what that might look like today, how we have to make a shift somehow, to change our expectations and perspectives if we re going to follow Jesus into the 21st Century. We'll see how it goes.

exceeding expectations

The snow is falling again. It would seem that we have exceeded the expected snowfall for the year once again. We are supposed to see an average of 38 inches and are well beyond that. Over the next day or two the temperatures are supposed to drop below zero. An Alberta Clipper is not a ship. I must remember that.

I'm going to get to grading here in a moment. I'm working through the liturgical evaluations for my ASL in Religious Contexts class. It's proven to be a good exercise for the students and for the teachers. I have to admit that I am enjoying this whole teaching thing. It's a lot of fun. J-Term is exhausting, but that's to be expected I guess.

The sermon is also beginning to percolate a little. I have a title, "Open to Possibilities." We're approaching the annual meeting time and I want to start preaching on some of what we'd like to talk about at the meeting. It should be fun. Well, I think it's fun. We'll see what the congregation says about it. Here are the readings I will use: I Samuel 3:1-20, John 1:43-51. I am intrigued by Nathanael's frankness and Samuel's obedience. I think they are two virtues that make for a good church. Some might see them as somewhat contradictory, but I'm not so sure they are. We'll see how this shapes up.

monday videopost: the barna group reports

Christianity is no longer America's default faith.

sunday afternoon bliss

There is a football game being broadcast from someplace in the nation and I am watching it. Thank God for such gifts. I love football and have been able to watch so little of it this season. Right now the Eagles and Giants are playing. It's an interesting game.

Sunday afternoons are odd for me. I'm never sure what to do with them. I'm still juiced from church and wondering what else needs to be done. It's hard to come down from the morning.

I get up early and review the sermon, check e-mail and other things. I try to be at church by 8:00am. I sometimes wonder how I would feel about an early service on Sunday mornings. I may try it some time at CCW..."golfers' mass" or something. Maybe a weekly communion service would get some traction. I don't know. Anyway, I set up, turn on some lights, and run the sermon a couple of times. Sometimes I'll rehearse with the choir. That's always a blessing. I love singing with them. Today was one of those days. There's the service, coffee hour and then whatever else needs doing.

This morning we had the added excitement of the ASL class attending the service to do a liturgical evaluation. I sat with them after the service to talk about what they saw and any questions they might have. They asked some good questions...some telling questions. And I was home by 1:00. It's not a very long day compared to some other clergy I know, but it's enough for me for now.

So, yeah, some football, a tortilla chip or six, and perhaps a nap. That sounds good.

sermon: how deep is the water?

snowed in on a saturday

I am still working through the sermon. I have some ideas of structure and content. I guess that's a good start. Somehow I got off track this week. I usually have something on paper on Thursday and by Friday I have a full draft. Not this week. I don't know what has distracted me. I mean, we did add a short rite with water and such to the service. Perhaps I've been distracted by that. I don't know. Then there was the Shabbat service last night. Sukkat Shalom, a local synagogue, is using our building for the next several months and last night was the service where I offered words of welcome (I mentioned Bonhoeffer...couldn't help it.) and played the mandolin. One cantor, a guitar, a mandolin, and a sangin' baptist can make for some fun Shabbat. It was a great night. The rabbi's sermon was about sojourning. We all had fun with the idea that our congregations and faith traditions seem to be wrapped up in one another right now.

I guess I'm distracted by that. I find it all incredibly moving. It's more and more common now for synagogues and churches to have relationships. Were not necessarily doing anything new. Yet I am deeply moved by this chance to be with one another, to learn with one another.

We're one, but we're not the same.
We've got to carry each other,
carry each other. One.

How much moody overwrought music can I have running through my head at one time? I don't know, but Bittersweet Symphony (or whatever you call it) is also mingled in there with U2. Wow. Maybe I should take a break.

The future's so bright. I gotta wear shades. I'll finish the sermon, pack up the Christmas decorations, watch some Food Network (Our culture sees food as entertainment...and I am in on it. We'll pay for that one some day.), and maybe even pray a little.

Build a snowman if you can!

water wings

Does anyone have a set of water wings that I can borrow? I'm working through some sermon ideas and I thought it might be fun. You know. Water wings. Baptism. Fear of deep water. Um. Nevermind.

So, I'm working through this idea that is almost too obvious to mention so I am mentioning it. Liturgy is ethics (in this case Christian) performed. Liturgy can be (should be?) as ethical as anything else we do. It can shape us and form us into people who espouse and enact Godly ethics. Yes, I am reading some Hauerwas and he's got me thinking again. Saliers is helpful as well.

I am thinking about the movement from John's baptism (which we retain in some way) to Jesus' baptism of the Holy Spirit. A baptism of personal repentance before God and God's people is a powerful thing. That's for certain. But then Jesus does something different. His Baptism leads to the restoration of Creation. His Baptism leads us from personal repentance (which is important) to expressing solidarity with God who seeks to redeem the world. We too become agents of that divine reconciliation...or something like that.

I don't know what it looks like...this kind of Baptism. I mean, it likely looks like any other, but I am wondering if it will come as surprising to some to make the distinction between John's baptism and Jesus' baptism in the Spirit (and fire). What if your Baptism (I know not all of you have been baptized.) were a symbol of a second chance for all? What if it were an act of solidarity with the world and not simply a way to set aside a people as peculiar, particular, or special. It doesn't save you from the world, it throws you in the deep end of the world to bring about it's reconciliation with itself and God.

praegustatum

Come, let us sing to the Lord;
let us shout for joy to the rock of our salvation.
Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving
and raise a loud shout to him with psalms.
For the Lord is a great God,
and a great king above all gods.
In his hand are the depths of the earth,
and the heights of the hills are his also.
The sea is his, for he made it,
and his hands have moulded the dry land.
Come, let us bow down and bend the knee,
and kneel before the Lord our Maker.
For he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture
and the sheep of his hand.
O that today you would hearken to his voice!
- Psalm 95:1-7, The Venite

I have a song in my head this morning...two really. Michael W. Smith has been singing some damn praise chorus in my head for days now. I'm teaching a class at Columbia College in ASL interpretation in religious contexts and we have the students signing some music as well. "Here I Am to Worship" is one of the tunes. It's relentless. The other song that's been running through my head is "Blessed Assurance."

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine
O, what a foretaste of glory divine

The word foretaste has been a bit of a struggle for some of the students. One unfortunate had the experience of interpreting Mozart's "Ave Verum Corpus." It's slow, graceful, and in Latin. Fun. It's very difficult to interpret and she did a great job. But that word...foretaste.

I think it may appear in my sermon this Sunday. Jesus' baptism and reception of the Holy Spirit are a foretaste (though clearly not literally) of our own. I have been e-mailing with some friends about the scriptures for this Sunday. They are tough. There's a lot that has been said and there is likely more to say. Beginnings, baptismal vows, the suddenness of Jesus' ministry in Mark's gospel as well as how quickly it comes in the church year. Jesus is born and then, whammo!, he's 30 and John is baptizing him. We have the beginning of Paul's ministry in the passage of Acts. And the assigned reading from Genesis is from the very beginning where God speaks out over the Deep. God's breath moves out over the water. Is it a blessing? Perhaps. Is it a foretaste of what is to come? Foretaste and foreshadowing are not the same and yet in our liturgies as Christians we love to enact the hoped for future, the here and not yet of God's Kingdom.

Stephen Hultgren in his commentary on the Gospel reading for this week says,

"Through Jesus' death and resurrection, which his baptism already foreshadows, the new creation is fulfilled. For us,we are baptized into Christ, and we all have the possibility of sharing in the new creation that Christ brings. Through baptism, we have all been reborn. In Christ, and in our daily return to our own baptisms, there is an inexhaustible source for the renewal and new beginnings of our lives (Titus 3:5)."

He sees some of that same promise that I do. Another way to see it is to say that we are all in the process of "becoming God." To imitate Christ is to have a foretaste of godliness. Thus we too are baptized. We too are God's beloved in whom God is well pleased. We too are set on a path to the cross to bring about a new creation, a new world in which peace and love reign. It is the hardest path because it leads to the suffering of the cross before there is resurrection, but there it is. The promise is the same. Now we have to ask ourselves if we're ready for baptism.

Are we ready for that foretaste? I don't know. I pray for grace that I can live into the promises made for me as a child. I pray for all of us who have found ourselves in baptismal waters wondering exactly what it was we were getting into. I sometimes wonder if it was clear to Jesus as he knelt in the Jordan. I just don't know.

organization

A quick thought...

It's not that religion gets organized that's a problem. It's how it's organized that throws people. People will make a religion out of something like yoga and organize the heck out of it. So, organized religion is not the problem. It's how and then what's done with it that turns people off.

oversleeping

Yeah. I overslept. I woke up at eight o'clock. Incredible. But the sky is gray and the snow is still falling only if lightly. I was out at a meeting until ten o'clock and then continued the conversation with a member of church council until almost eleven o'clock. Sleeping in was just what the doctor ordered.

I have several things I need to get done today. I need to think through our worship service for this Sunday. It's the first Sunday of Epiphany. Some call it the "Little Ordinary Time." We have undecorated the sanctuary. Now it's time to sit back a little...except that it's not. Our annual meeting quickly approaches. I'll be turning my homiletical view in that direction over the next few weeks. We'll see how it goes.

I would like to go back to bed, but I can't. It's time to get to work. I have a lot to do before I go to class this afternoon.

An aside: I have been dreaming the same dream over and over again lately. It's an old dream from a couple years ago. What does that mean? Does anyone know?

a quotation

I received several books for Christmas. My family and friends were very generous. Here's a quotation from Liturgy and the Moral Self: Humanity at Full Stretch Before God.

Obedience is perhaps the most misunderstood of all monastic qualities. It is neither unthinking or unreflective. In fact, it is etymologically tied to "listening." This linguistic connection implies that the obedient monk is a listening monk, one who is always prepared for the thoughtful reception of a command from God. Obedience is neither a burden to be borne grudgingly nor a curse upon underlings of the power structure; rather it "comes naturally to those who cherish Christ above all" and are in tune with his will (5.2). It is a "blessing" rather than a curse and is "to be shown by all," even those of higher rank, as a token of familial bonds (71.1). The emphasis here is upon love and upon right relationships to God and to one's fellow monks.

The model for monastic obedience is found in Philippians 2:8.

It's going to be great fun to read.

monday videopost: cussing for jesus

sermon

Sermon: The Second Sunday of Christmas, Year B 2009
January 4, 2009
The Community Church of Wilmette

Last week we heard a little from J.R.R. Tolkien’s book, The Return of the King. We spoke of epic language and what may or may not be evoked through such grandeur…and whether or not the Gospels provide such an epic scope. “Yes and no” appears to be the answer; the great “both/and!” Fantasy fiction leads us from reality to entertainment. The epic of the Gospels leads us to places of vulnerability...away from fantasy and securely into life. They lead us into the world and not away from it. This is the nature of the Gospel Story.

This week I want offer you some of Tolkien’s own theological thinking. It seems that he never abandons the melodrama of the epic even in the daily life of his faith. Here is his musing on Communion. He calls it “the Blessed Sacrament.”

…there you will find romance, glory, honor, fidelity, and the true way of all your loves upon earth, and more than that: death: by the divine paradox, that which ends life, and demands the surrender of all, and yet by the taste (or foretaste) of which alone can what you seek in your earthly relationships (love, faithfulness, joy) be maintained or take on that complexion of reality, of eternal endurance, that [everyone's] heart desires.

Just hear these words: romance, glory, honor, fidelity, love, death, surrender, taste, foretaste, faithfulness, joy, reality and desire. All of this is contained in the simple ritual of communion, the rite that Tolkein called “the Blessed Sacrament.” His theological writing was as wide sweeping as his fiction.

There’s another way of understanding this same idea. It’s in somewhat simpler language. Listen to the words of Alton Brown, celebrity chef and host of “Iron Chef America.”

Remember this: It’s not food until somebody eats it.

Cook all you want. Be as inventive as you want. Be as creative as you want. But until someone comes along and takes it in somehow, what you have made has no meaning.

I love Alton Brown’s directness as much as I love Tolkien’s grandeur. And in a sense, they are both trying to get us to understand something essential about life…and faithful religion. One must choose to participate in it. Life is not a spectator sport. Food and faith have this thing in common. One must participate in it; take it into oneself before it can be truly real to us…before it can be complete or useful. It cannot exist in any true sense when it is simply laid upon some shelf, or stuck in some museum, television studio, or upon a sanctuary dais.

Jesus talks about this problem in terms of lights and bushels and flavorless salt. Faith needs to be ingested. And it needs to be proclaimed.

We must consume it. We must take it into ourselves. Jesus knew this. We must somehow enflesh it, and to allow it to shape us more and more deeply every day. It demands passion and action.

This is the power of story. We have come to the end of the Christmas story and I want us to think once again about the nature of story and why we tell the ones we tell.

On Christmas Eve we cradled Christ in our arms…as the child Jesus who was The Story of God born into the world.

Last Sunday we allowed the Christmas Story to make us vulnerable by entering into it’s epic frame.

This morning we take the same Story into ourselves through Communion; we ingest it to make it real. “My flesh is food indeed. My blood is drink indeed,” says the Lord. Today we are the Story through Communion.

Religion is a thing. That is all. It is no more intrinsically valuable than anything else…though it can be. Religion, though as corruptible as anything else humanity participates in, can be a positive and beautiful thing. It can provide a loving nurturing community and avenues through which we encounter God who is, was, and will be in the center of all things that bring life. The story can be a good one if we let it…a story of divine Revolution…of a God, a Word, a Story made flesh.

Aung San Suu Kyi, a Burmese activist and winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, says:

The quintessential Revolution is that of the spirit…A revolution which aims merely at changing official policies and institutions with a view to an improvement in material conditions has little chance of genuine success.

Can we look at the various world conflicts, our struggles to overcome poverty and disease through the lens of her idea? She continues…

Without a revolution of the spirit, the forces which produced the iniquities of the old order would continue to be operative…It is not enough merely to call for freedom, democracy and human rights. There has to be a united determination to persevere in the struggle, to make sacrifices in the name of enduring truths, to resist the corrupting influence of desire, ill will, ignorance, and fear.

This is the Word, the Story, made flesh. This is the core of the story we tell…The Christian Story. This is the central truth of our Religion…and the reason for our many traditions…our liturgies, our charity. This can be one of the roles of Religion in our world. We can be the vehicle for a revolution of the spirit.

Do we as a congregation have the strength to participate in our own tradition fully and thus proclaim its goodness to the hills? Can we engage our faith as passionately as Tolkien does his? Or are we hiding our light under a bushel? What Alton Brown says, though certainly incomplete, has the grain of truth in it. Religion, if it is spiritual food, is useless unless we participate in it...with passion and joy. Dare we enter the Revolution that Kyi proclaims?

Today we celebrate the rite of Communion. Today we physically take in our faith through symbols of bread and juice. In the beginning was the Word. Through that Word all things were created. The people of the Word, you and me, need not hide their faith or be ashamed of their religion. We certainly may have to apologize and seek the forgiveness of others. That is part of our Story, but we need not be ashamed.

We live in a world in need of hopeful and nurturing faith. We live in a world that needs
alternative communities that proclaim life, that deny violence of all kinds. We need Religious voices that speak words of love.

We need people who will be the Word made Flesh, who will tell the Story.

Thanks be to God.

a sermon draft

canonical obligation

It has been pointed out to me (and others) that there is a canonical obligation for bloggers to post some kind of retrospective piece for the New Year. It would seem that I missed that memo. Three other people, including the "canonical obligation guy" himself, AKMA, have posted their reflections. I commend them to your attention.

AKMA blogs about a lot of music to which he did not listen.
Mae lists the books she read.
Obsquatch is starting over - forcibly.

I am awake because of some mighty fine adobo sauce and the ensuing heartburn. Oi. I make no New Year's resolutions. So, I am sure to make this mistake again. Ah well. Get the Frida burger at the Firehouse Grill in Evanston. It's great.

morning mental noodling

For quite some time now, analysts and pastors and observant Christian laity alike have known and said that church is not a place, nor is it a thing. Historically, church was probably conceived of in the popular imagination as a thing several centuries before that same shared imagination began to think of it as a place. Of those two, the notion of place as definition is probably the more debilitating, but unquestionably it had also come to be the more dominant of the two during the last century. But as a conceptual definition, neither place nor thing alone is strong enough to support much vitality beyond loyalty to itself.
- Phillis Tickle

It may be a bit early for such musings as Tickle inspires, but here I am sipping my coffee and wondering what she's getting at nonetheless. I've also just finished Kathleen Norris' book, Acedia & Me. It was a great read and I do recommend it to all. Both Tickle and Norris are asking the same kind of questions. Norris is speaking in terms of the human soul and how we wrestle with our inner demons, specifically acedia, and Tickle wants us to ponder what/where the church is. Her book, The Great Emergence is also worth your time. I think there may be a group of us who will tackle the book this spring here in Wilmette.

Church has aspects of "thing"...specifically community. But it's a specific kind of community and that's where Tickle wants us to work out our thinking. Starbucks calls itself a community. The Village of Wilmette is a community. What kind of community is a church (or The Church)? And does it need a (debilitating?) sense of place to be that community? That's a challenging notion. Tickle and many others suggest that it is that overwhelming sense of institutional place that is so burdensome to many Christian communities.

new years day