February 28, 2009
February 25, 2009
lenten disciplines
As some of you know, I'm giving up "connectivity" for Lent. No Facebook. No Myspace. No Twitter and no blogging for Lent. As there are small wee feasties in there, I'll post something on Sundays, The Feast of St Patrick, and Maundy Thursday. I have been informed that the Feast of the Annunciation is also in there (March 25), but that's not really on my radar. Perhaps you'll see me. Perhaps not.
So, in parting, I'll share a little from TickleFest '09 and offer up a prayer. To sum up all my energy frustration etc around the conference I would refer you to this sermon. I shared it with Phyllis Tickle and she said "this is my lecture in sermon form." Indeed? That's good to know. I'm simply a Great Emergence kind of guy. The thing that threw me is that this is simply how I was taught to think of Christianity from the very beginning.
We sat around the room and listened to one another and struggled with whether or not the current institutional forms serve us anymore. We spoke about how this is not generational. The lead up to this current time per Tickle's model has been the last 150 years. So, it's not about my generation. It's about all of us. That was comforting. But it was also clear that some of us are still discovering what's going on, where the disconnect has been, etc.
I am impatient. I am a little confused. I wonder what we are all holding on to and will hold on to until we pass from this life. We often sustain the forms of faith we know and not necessarily the ones to which God calls us.
Stepping away from ideology to incarnation, stepping away from performance to authenticity, moving out of the lecture sermon to a conversation. Power is shared, flattened, communitarian and not individualistic and holding the needs of the individual (their journey) with grace and gentleness so the community does not smother them but welcomes them in their fullness.
When I was in college attempting to be Christian, I really just wanted to belong. The Baptist Student Union, the ministry of the college chaplaincy, choirs and friendships all led to certain behaviors. Some were new (Habitat for Humanity and other charitable work and singing, for example). Some were more familiar (loving my friends). This led to belief. I can credit the seventeenth century Catholic, William Byrd and Rev. Dr. David Burhans with my conversion. I was sung into the Church. I was preached into the Church. The voices of various traditions had their say.
Richmond Hill and Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond took over from there. Monastery and Baptist seminary both joining together to form a Christian and neither thinking it strange to be partnered in the work. Is this not the Church? Perhaps it isn't. But it is my journey to be certain.
I walked into North Shore Baptist Church one Sunday to sub for the bass soloist and found a home. A woman stood in the pulpit in a Geneva gown and preached the Gospel while quoting Henri Nouwen, a renowned Catholic pastor and priest. It smelled Baptist. It certainly looked Baptist and yet...We sang in Latin. We shared a Spiritual with the congregation. I stayed to see if it was for real. Sure enough, it was.
This is Church. We are made of ephemeral stuff. We build edifices and embody cultures to give us each a sense of permanency. Nothing more. And that is good. Still, Godstuff is our home, loose, gentle, demanding, relentless, LOVE. This is LOVE with a voice that speaks out at the Transfiguration. It screams from the cross. It tells the story again and again. It walked the world as Jesus and lives in our hearts as the Holy Spirit.
I am wandering. I apologize. Obviously I was laid wide open by this conference. There's much to pray for this Lent. So with that...from Oremus:
May God uphold you in the coming weeks. May God bless you, your friends and your family as we journey in this Feast of Grace. May the Triune god of LOVE bear with you in the darkness so that you might be a proclaimer of light. Blessings on your journey.Almighty God, you alone are good and holy.
Purify our lives and make us brave disciples.
We do not ask you to keep us safe,
but to keep us loyal,
so we may serve Jesus Christ,
who, tempted in every way as we are,
was faithful to you. Amen.From lack of reverence for truth and beauty;
from a calculating or sentimental mind;
from going along with mean and ugly things:
O God, deliver us.From cowardice that dares not face truth;
laziness content with half-truth;
or arrogance that thinks we know it all:
O God, deliver us.From artificial life and worship;
from all that is hollow or insincere:
O God, deliver us.From trite ideals and cheap pleasures;
from mistaking hard vulgarity for humor:
O God, deliver us.From being dull, pompous, or rude;
from putting down our neighbors:
O God, deliver us.From cynicism about others;
from intolerance or cruel indifference:
O God, deliver us.From being satisfied with things as they are,
in the church or in the world;
from failing to share you indignation about injustice:
O God, deliver us.From selfishness, self-indulgence, or self-pity:
O God, deliver us.From token concern for the poor,
for lonely or loveless people;
from confusing faith with good feeling,
or love with wanting to be loved:
O God, deliver us.For everything in us that may hide your light:
O God, deliver us.
Have mercy on your prodigal children, O God,
and teach us to acknowledge our sinfulness,
so that, in repentance,
we may come to know your forgiveness
which is the fulfilment of our life in your Son,
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Amen.
February 24, 2009
February 23, 2009
February 22, 2009
worship: take two
Ahha! We are off to Sycamore this morning. O, frabjous day! Calloo Callay! We'll see a friend preach and preside. We'll hear him preach. Heck, we'll even take the eucharist. It's an all in one kind of deal. Wondrous. We tried and failed to go last week. I'm very happy we can make it this week.
For what it's worth, here's my results on the retake of an old test. It's not a surprise. Homebrewed Christianity reminded me.
You’re Origen! You do nothing by half-measures. If you’re going to read the Bible, you want to read it in the original languages. If you’re going to teach, you’re going to reach as many souls as possible, through a proliferation of lectures and books. If you’re a guy and you’re going to fight for purity … well, you’d better hide the kitchen shears. Find out which Church Father you are at The Way of the Fathers! |
February 21, 2009
matins
I had no idea that green tea had enough caffeine to wake me up at four in the morning. Then again, it might be something else entirely. I am not one to make "a thing" out of consistently getting up at 4am, but there are days when I wonder what that's all about. If I get up early, insomniac early, it is at three or four in the morning. This morning I was somehow reminded that at the Benedictine monastery I enjoy the Matins service is at 4:00am. Their bell rings and retreatants are welcome to join the brothers in prayer.
This morning I must have heard the bell. The Lord's are the earth and its fulness; come let us adore.
February 20, 2009
ticklefest 09
Seabury Western Theological Seminary is hosting Phyllis Tickle today to discuss her increasingly popular notions about the Church. It should be an interesting way to spend the day. The morning session is a "graduate" session for those who have heard her speak or have some of these ideas rattling around in their brains already. We're going to have the "now what" conversation. I think it should be good. I'll let you know. Here's a video featuring Phyllis from earlier in the year.
NT Wright has something to say about the "shrinking church" as well.
February 19, 2009
fretting and waiting: divine pursuits?
"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. “So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today."
Matthew 6:25-34
There's an entire philosophy out there embodied by such luminaries as Cheech and Chong who would have us disengage from life, to "not worry" in such a fashion as to escape responsibility for one another. When I hear the words "Do not worry for your life..." I immediately have to wrestle with that philosophy. It's insidious. And it's not what Jesus was asking of us.
I've been reading this little book from Bonhoeffer. He quotes Augustine of Hippo. "You have created us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you." The little video I posted yesterday is a reading from the same little reflection. Our rest is in God. So often we mistake distraction for rest. So often we mistake accomplishment for peace. Distractions are not restful. Accomplishment is not peace (Nor is God's peace safety, but that's another post for another day.). And we need not wait to begin to live a life that embodies the passage from Matthew. We need not wait to have enough money, time, influence...or anything else to begin living such a life. We need only wait for God. Thus we sit still. Psalm 62:
For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation.I don't know what it is you might be waiting for. I don't know what it is that has you spinning today. Only you know that. God asks that we learn rest and peace. God asks that we learn to love one another as the first and foremost work of our lives. In the process we also must learn to let go, to take each day as it is. Trends, predictors, prognostications...They don't serve us. They are the fruit of anxiety.
He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall never be shaken.
How long will you assail a person, will you batter your victim, all of you, as you would a leaning wall, a tottering fence?
Their only plan is to bring down a person of prominence. They take pleasure in falsehood; they bless with their mouths, but inwardly they curse.
For God alone my soul waits in silence, for my hope is from him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
On God rests my deliverance and my honor; my mighty rock, my refuge is in God.
Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us.
Those of low estate are but a breath, those of high estate are a delusion; in the balances they go up; they are together lighter than a breath.
Put no confidence in extortion, and set no vain hopes on robbery; if riches increase, do not set your heart on them.
Once God has spoken; twice have I heard this: that power belongs to God,
and steadfast love belongs to you, O Lord. For you repay to all according to their work.
February 18, 2009
the virtue of committees
I have been enjoying the staycation a great deal. Lounging around the parsonage has helped it feel a little more like home for me. I was doing pretty well on that front already, but this has helped, too. Want a place to feel like home? Live in it. It doesn't work every time, but it's not a bad place to start.
I was speaking to a friend about The Message the other day. That's Eugene Petereson's popular translation/interpretation of the Bible. It's not so bad. My friend disagrees. We were discussing this in the office at the church a couple of weeks ago and they suggested that there were some difficulties in the translation that I believe really were about interpretation and the attempts to "contemporize" the language. You see the trouble with The Message is that it is one person's interpretation. Just one. One voice. Not many. Not a community but an individual.
Sometimes Eugene nails it for me. Sometimes he is dead on and I can hear what he's after and I dig itr. Other times it's too much his voice. I'm reading the Gospel According to Eugene. Though not all together a bad thing, it ain't the goal. Well, maybe it was his goal. Eugene, if you read this let me know. Please correct me.
Every now and again I hear someone say something like "How can you trust a book written by committee?" Yeah. That's a problem. I hear you. How can you trust the powers that be to preserve the Truth. They do such a lousy job at it. Though the Bible suffers from this dynamic in some ways, it also enjoys the richness of a multiplicity of voices, the community telling its story. Sometimes it actually takes a committee to bring a single idea to the fore or to tell a single story.
To put it another way: It's like marriage. We get married, someone one said, so that we will always have someone around us to correct our stories. We need multiple voices to tell the stories that matter most to us. One voice, no matter how well intentioned or inspired, is inadequate.
What is true for the Bible (the good and the bad therein) is true for the life of a congregation. One person cannot tell it's story. The story belongs to the community. The community needs to tell the story. Together they must be encouraged to share what is true and Godly about their small iteration of Christ's Church.
Maybe I am a bit crazed here. It's likely so. I'll admit that. But I have been leaning more and more toward communal forms of leadership and visioning and away from singular or hierarchical forms of visioning. The community is essential...and not simply to give a stamp of approval to the leader's vision, but to own and craft the vision.
The Gospel, the scriptures, the Truth is crafted communally. It is communicated communally. A single voice may entertain and even inspire (Again, I dig The Message.) but it is incomplete. It's power lies in community. Form a committee. Discern Truth together. It's imperfect, but it's a great start.
st colman
St. Colman of Lindisfarne & Mayo, Last Columban Abbot of Lindisfarne, Founder of Inishbofin and Mayo
---------------------------------------------------------------
Born in Connaught, Ireland, c. 605; died on Inishbofin, 676 (some chronicles give it as 672, 674, or 675; some parts of Ireland celebrate his feast on August 8.
Saint Colman became a monk at Iona under Saint Columba (f.d. June 9) and c. 661 succeeded Saint Finan (f.d. February 17) as the third abbot-bishop of Lindisfarne, the most important monastery in Northumbria, England, close to the royal castle at Bamburg. At that time the disagreement in Northumbria about the date of Easter, style of tonsure, the role of the bishop, and other Celtic ecclesiastical usages had reached a critical stage, and in 664 a synod met at Whitby Abbeyunder Saint Hilda (f.d. November 17) to settle the matter.
Saint Colman was the chief defender of the Celtic customs; Saints Wilfrid (f.d. October 12) and Agilbert (f.d. April 1) those of Rome. King Oswy of Northumbria came favouring the Irish view, but accepted Wilfrid's argument in favour of adopting the practice of the rest of the known contemporary Church. Thereupon Colman, refusing to accept the king's ruling in a spiritual matter, resigned his bishopric and retired, first to Iona and then (c. 667) to Inishbofin off the Connaught coast.
All his Irish monks and 30 English monks went with him and brought with them some of the relics of Saint Aidan (f.d. August 31).
But the two elements of the community disagreed among themselves because, as Saint Bede (f.d. May 25) reports, the English complained that all the work of the harvest was left to them. Apparently, each summer the Irish monks went off preaching, leaving the Anglo-Saxons to plant and harvest the fields. So, Colman made a separate foundation for the English monks on the mainland called Mayo of the Saxons. The first abbot of Mayo after Colman was an Englishman, Saint Gerald (f.d. March
13), who lived until 732. Bede praises the fact that the abbots of Mayo were elected, rather than following the Celtic custom as a "hereditary" monastery.
Saint Bede (f.d. May 25), who was not in sympathy with the distinctively Celtic practices, gives a glowing account of the church of Lindisfarne under Saint Colman's rule. He emphasises the example of frugality and simplicity of living set by the bishop and the complete devotion of his clergy to their proper business of imparting the word of God and ministering to their people.
Alcuin also praised the monks of the Mayo of the Saxons for leaving their homeland in voluntary exile, where they shone by their learning among a "very barbarous nation" (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney, Farmer, Montague).
Troparion of St Colman tone 4
As an upholder of Orthodox discipline, thou didst show forth in thy life/ the pre-eminence of holy Tradition, O all-praised Hierarch Colman./ With great personal sacrifice, thou wast true to thy teachers,/ wherefore we pray that we may unhesitatingly follow our fathers in the Faith with loyalty and devotion/ and thereby be guided into the way of salvation.
Kontakion of St Colman tone 2
By the mercy of our God,/ thy very life was a sermon, O Father Colman,/ light of the true Faith and example of constancy and piety,/ teaching all by thy selfless devotion./ Praising thee we pray that, withstanding novelty and innovation,/ we may always give glory to Christ our God.
February 16, 2009
sunday not monday videopost
Yesterday evening I spent a very brief time working through a few tunes for the band. We're rehearsing tonight. I would love to get a brief video of us playing one of these Monday evenings. For now you have to suffer through my flailing around with a couple of tunes.
Today is the first day of my second week of staycation. I have a few things planned. Phyllis Tickle will be in town at the end of the week. So, I'm going to SWTS to see how that works out. The Great Emergence is a good primer to begin to understand the history behind our current cultural shifts. If you want to know more about the history, you'll need to read actual historical tomes. Here's a helpful though mixed review for you. Check it out of the library. Let me know what you think.
February 15, 2009
a pastor's sabbath
Would you believe that worship can be difficult for a pastor? Likely it's not true for all. And I am sure someone has penned a doctrine somewhere about how any self-respecting credible pastor worships more than anyone else, but that's just not me. I am home on my staycation and pondering if/where to attend church this morning.
It's cliche, really. As a pastor I rarely manage to worship on Sunday mornings. I am too concerned with the details of the worship service itself to manage to engage it on that level. If worship were actually synonymous with service then that attention to detail would be my worship. Perhaps that is where it resides.
When I find myself pondering this reality of my vocation, I do ask veteran pastors about their own experiences. So many of them speak about the same reality. Some find congregations of their own to attend...in secret, on Saturdays, on Sunday night, or midweek at some eucharist service with local Anglicans. (One of my CCW predecessors did this.) My favorite anecdote was from a Disciples of Christ pastor who says that several "free church" protestant pastors she knows attend mass on Sunday evening at the local Catholic Cathedral. They enjoy the "don't ask don't tell" approach to the Eucharist there and the anonymity of the large congregation. Weekly eucharist, formal liturgies, and the protesting pastors...It's a nice combination, I think.
But then, as someone else pointed out, taking a break from worship has its benefits, too. Simply put, that's not where I am this morning. I need to pray and worship and I need not do so in my own closet as has been suggested. I need a little song and dance this morning. I need to praise God, dig deep, listen to the Holy Spirit and hope for Christ's redemption.
The spouse is off to an audition. I'm hoping she'll be back in time for me (or us?) to go somewhere for worship. I'm going to surf the net to see who is worshiping when.
Be well.
February 14, 2009
from beliefnet: a prayer
Lord Jesus,
grant that I and my spouse may have a true
and understanding love for each other.
Grant that we may both
be filled with faith and trust.
Give us the grace to live
with each other in peace and harmony.
May we always bear with one another's weaknesses
and grow from each other's strengths.
help us to forgive one another's failings
and grant us patience, kindness, cheerfulness
and the spirit of placing the well-being
of one another ahead of self.
May the love that brought us together
grow and mature with each passing year.
Bring us both ever closer to You
through our love for each other.
Let our love grow to perfection.
Amen.
Thanks, beliefnet.
February 13, 2009
anamnesis: the power of memory
Some memories are more powerful than others. This is no great secret. I've been wrestling with memories lately. Again, insomnia...and likely grief. It's like cookies. Well, the smell of cookies, really.
Those who say such things like to say that smell (more than any other sense) is connected to memory. The smell of baking cookies can bring a more powerful emotional response, a remembered emotion, than even the picture of a loved one. Perhaps. I don't know. That's what they say.
I'm surrounded by memories lately...memories of grief. All kinds of grief. Transitions, separations, loss, death...any movement from one place to another where change comes unbidden and the illusion of control is revealed. I don't want to pathologize this. That's one thing that happens when we write, I think. Writing pathologizes. Something about the written word, even the ephemeral virtual word, sets things in stone (an old way to talk about writing). It's an unfair/inexact exaggeration of how I feel right now. Nothing is in stone...
...but these things are connected. If I can put them down somewhere...
late night musing
The clock is ticking. Okay, so it's not that dramatic. It's just hair. I'm getting a hair cut this afternoon. That's all. I may leave it like it is. I may cut it short. We'll see what the "hair whisperer" has to say. I trust the guy who cuts my hair. He also cuts my wife's hair. We're actually going together this time.
I'm awake...woke up after four hours of sleep. That's just a little unsettling. The brain started to spin and that was it. I'm not exactly sure what it is that finally did it. No caffeine. No sugar. Just thoughts. And all kinds of thoughts at that...no one particular strain. I need to finalize some grades for the class I taught in January. I am too aware that this staycation will end. I want to cook something. I want to play a little music. I'm all over the map. I am wrestling with myself.
Have you ever noticed just how bad late night/early morning television really is? It's terrible. I am flipping channels between "Intimate Affairs" (a movie about surrealism and something as yet undefined...to be expected in a film about surrealists, I guess) and "Lost Boys: The Tribe." Wow...now that's a bad film. What is the point of a sequel that occurs twenty years after the original? I really don't know.
Some day I'll write a post about the chaotic use of all things 80's in marketing etc. It's so odd to be targeted right along side the teens. Rehashing, revamping, reusing, and even groceries seem to be at play. Seriously, I go to the grocery store in my suburb and all I hear is Thomas Dolby. What is that about? Is my generation the only one shopping these days? Foes that music keep me happy and thus encourage me to buy more processed foodstuffs? Ah well. These and many other mysteries of the modern marketing cults still elude me.
February 11, 2009
staycation: day three
Karen Armstrong is one of my favorite writers of the modern religious experience. To go from nunnery to pop-icon for the unmoored religious is an interesting journey to witness. The Spiral Staircase is a great book about her journey to and from and back to faith again. I believe her journey is perhaps the most common out there. But that's just me. Here's a video for you to enjoy at your leisure.
I've been enjoying exploring ted.com. There's some loves stuff on the site. At some point today I'll also download some Speaking of Faith pocasts. I caught some of the broadcast Sunday on Darwin. Very cool stuff. I strongly suggest you take the time to listen.
It is raining. It's a perfect day to follow another perfect day. Yesterday was a record breaking day. The highs were in the 60's! There were strappy sandles everywhere! Today we have rain and temperatures in the 40's. So, I'll read and play some mandolin. That's all. Oh, and I'll take a moment or two to (hopefully) reserve a night at a local monastery. Gotta hang with the Benedictines. Caio!
February 10, 2009
staycation: day two
It is day two of the staycation and I am slowly getting into the rhythm of this. I might do several things today. I might not. I might not even get out of my pj's. I have one thing I must do, but that can still be done in pj's. God is good.
To distract you (and me) a little today, go here to read Cathleen Falsani's article about the movie "Jesus Save Us From Your Followers." It's not new, per se, but it is put together well. I might grab a copy and see what it's about.
As long as there have been Christians, there has been something called apologetics -- a veritable cottage industry of writers, thinkers, theologians and other culture shapers who have rallied in defense of the faith.Okay...That's what I have for you.Huge theological tomes have been written, churches have split, wars have been fought and whole peoples persecuted in "defense of the faith."
Recently, a new crop of apologists has added its voice to the mix, producing books with titles such as Jesus Wants to Save Christians: A Manifesto for the Church in Exile, UnChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity ... and Why It Matters, and They Like Jesus but Not the Church: Insights from Emerging Generations.
These mostly young American evangelical Christians are pleading not only for a return to Christianity's true meaning, they're calling for a revolutionary rethinking of the apologetics enterprise.
staycation: day two
It is day two of the staycation and I am slowly getting into the rhythm of this. I might do several things today. I might not. I might not even get out of my pj's. I have one thing I must do, but that can still be done in pj's. God is good.
To distract you (and me) a little today, go here to read Cathleen Falsani's article about the movie "Jesus Save Us From Your Followers." It's not new, per se, but it is put together well. I might grab a copy and see what it's about.
As long as there have been Christians, there has been something called apologetics -- a veritable cottage industry of writers, thinkers, theologians and other culture shapers who have rallied in defense of the faith.Okay...That's what I have for you.Huge theological tomes have been written, churches have split, wars have been fought and whole peoples persecuted in "defense of the faith."
Recently, a new crop of apologists has added its voice to the mix, producing books with titles such as Jesus Wants to Save Christians: A Manifesto for the Church in Exile, UnChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity ... and Why It Matters, and They Like Jesus but Not the Church: Insights from Emerging Generations.
These mostly young American evangelical Christians are pleading not only for a return to Christianity's true meaning, they're calling for a revolutionary rethinking of the apologetics enterprise.
February 09, 2009
February 07, 2009
the converse and fashion wisdom
Well, this makes sense to me.
"Society's accelerated pace and cultural cross-pollination has set off a migration toward the familiar and authentic."Occasionally someone will postulate that churches will see an upsurge in attendance due to the economic crisis we currently face. Some might. It's true but to a smaller degree than some might believe. This quotation from a fashion magazine proves my point. We are assuming that churches are familiar to many and are an authentic response to the kind of need that's out there. We may be assuming too much. I think that there are comparatively fewer of us for whom church is familiar and authentic places of comfort in trouble.
- Phil Russo, Global Creative Director Converse Footwear p. 86, Marie Claire March 2009
boy scout sunday
I think we're ready, but I'm not convinced. Tomorrow is Boy Scout Sunday. We'll have a whole lot of visitors. We'll also be making an Eagle Scout, honoring a kid who has spent a lot of time and energy on being a Boy Scout...on service. Afterward we'll have a reception. God-Talk 101 continues as well at noon.
The Challenge of History: Is the Bible True?It's going to be a full house tomorrow morning.Is it up to each individual to determine what is true? Is it up to the individual to decide what is right and what is wrong? We hear those assertions all the time, and they have venerable origins in the philosophy of the great Immanuel Kant. But if such claims are true in this popular formulation, if they are accurate as they are usually stated, then "truth" has no meaning. Worse yet, it becomes impossible to say that anything is morally wrong. Such "anything-goes" nihilism may be repugnant, but so is totalitarianism--and where does that leave us? Until or unless we can find a way out of this trap, there's no way to say anything meaningful about religion. Or about life. Or about politics or policy or, umm, whether or not to license civil engineers or regulate leverage on Wall Street.
Just to keep everyone hopping we also have our annual meeting tomorrow night. So, I think we're good. Right.
I have a homily for tomorrow morning on the subject of service. Since we're making a Boy Scout during worship, it only makes sense that we talk about service. And though I am tempted to say something like "in times like these" it really should not matter. The purpose of, say, Jesus washing the feet of the disciples is to say that at all times in all places service of others comes first.
So, yeah. That's what I'm doing. Then beginning on Monday I get to enjoy several days of "staycation." Yahoo!
February 05, 2009
February 04, 2009
sangin' for da lord
The first singing gig I landed when I arrived in Chicago was with the choir of Holy Name Cathedral. This morning it is burning. I awoke to this news on the radio. What an incredibly sad piece of news. The building has been undergoing renovations for the last several months (years?) and they think something went kerflooie. I hope that they can save the building.
I sang in the large choir after flubbing my audition for the small schola cantorum. Then I worked my way up to sing with the schola from time to time. I met some amazing people in both groups that eventually led to other gigs like the Schola at St. Peter's in the Loop, Chicago Choral Artists, and North Shore Baptist Church. That last one led to ordained ministry. I'm glad I didn't flub that audition.
May God uphold the congregation of Holy Name Cathedral. May those who fight the fire be safe from all harm. Amen.
February 02, 2009
February 01, 2009
anxiety strikes
You know, life is like an onion...We simply peel away at the layers again and again. We don't live linearly. We live cyclically. Round and round, what goes around comes around. (Didn't White Snake sing that song? Someone help me out there.) I am aware this morning of the layers of life. I am in a place I have been many times before. I've come around this way before. And it's the same but different. I am asking new questions and re-engaging some older ones.
I assume that this is grief. I assume that, like most people, one grief brings up other grief. That seems consistent with what I know and what I have experienced. Sometimes grief is shared...witnessed so closely as to almost be one's own. Sometimes grief is anticipated. All grief is real...even if it is an old grief relived. Memory is powerful stuff. Memories often have a life of their own.
I awoke this morning trying to decipher all the different memories and ideations running in my mind. I evaluated them, I reevaluated them. I shoved some to the side and embraced others. I took a deep breath and got out of bed. In a few minutes I'll go upstairs and take a shower and get ready for church.
I'm a little nervous about church this morning. People will want to talk about our time in Virginia and talking about it is a way to relive it...and I am a little tired of reliving it right now. I feel it's unavoidable this morning, however, and will suck it up and deal. I will preach my sermon and be as candid as I can. I can do nothing else.
It's Communion Sunday. I shall once again invite Jesus into my life. All we can do sometimes is give God the invitation and hope God takes us up on it.