It's not just about the camel dance

Ain't No Mountain High Enough

2011-05-15T00:44:00.000-04:00

Texts: Isaiah 56:1-8; Acts 2:42-47

Walking this weekend I came across the outdoor labyrinth at Trinity Episcopal Church for the first. I’ve meant to get over there before, walk the small brick path, but hadn’t until now. I was struck by the symbol in the center of the labyrinth – a fish. At least at first glance it’s a fish. The tail on this fish is split so that if you turn your head and look at it from another angle, you see a head with horns. Depending on how you look at it, this symbol can go from one of the earliest symbols of Christianity to the image of a devil.

This little moment on my walk was a good reminder that many things depend on how you look at them. Duck or rabbit in that popular optical illusion; glass half empty, half full; half way there or half way to go. How we encounter the world – from symbols to attitudes – oft depends on how we choose to look at that world.

This truth has been on my mind quite a bit lately. If you’ve been paying attention to church chatter in the last week, month, year, years, you know that there are a variety of issues that people of faith disagree on. While the news media may cover (sometimes better than others) the issues that our national level church faces, those certainly aren’t the only things we disagree on. While I wasn’t here for this time, I have been told that the most contentious decision here at Covenant was what color the sanctuary carpet should be. I can’t speak to the truth of that story but it is a truth universally acknowledged (at least among many ministers) that the worst disagreements in churches are almost always about those little things.

Whether it’s the small things like carpet or the big things like how we interpret scripture, the differences between us, between people of faith, are hard for many of us to accept. In fact, I feel a little strange just mentioning it on a Sunday morning. We are of one body and one Spirit, just as we are called to the one hope of our calling. Shouldn’t we too be of one mind in all things? Shouldn’t the church be that place where we all come together, sing the same hymns, pray the same prayers, worship the same God... by which we mean, worship a God we all understand in similar – if not in the exact same – ways?

There’s something that says to us “we should be of one mind, united in all things.” Wishful thinking? No, but perhaps that’s one of those things that will come to pass when God’s kingdom comes to pass fully. Because God’s people have always been good at dividing ourselves. Cain and Able weren’t just brothers nor the first murderer-victim pair. They were the first to find themselves divided based on their jobs and what they valued. Harvesting versus husbandry. The farmer and the cowboy should be friends, but in the beginning of our story with God, they aren’t.

Division in this story ends in death. Perhaps our fear of differences goes as far back as that. But this fear is not necessary. Not even a little bit.

Why? Look at the church in Acts. The very first community of faith united by Christ, one that has reached out into the Jewish population in Jerusalem, and come together as believers who pray together, eat together, serve together, worship together, laugh and grieve together. Miracles and wonders are being done, all are taken care of, and day by day more people come to this flock, this family.

It might be tempting to look at this very first expansion of Jesus’ followers, the formation of the first community of faith that did not walk and talk with Jesus, and think “how perfect” and wonder who this extra-holy people must have been. But we shouldn’t romanticize the past. This first community of faith was filled not with saints but with sinners – just like you and me. And this community of faith, the body of Christ, was made up of people who from the very beginning saw things – important things like how to interpret scripture and how to live a holy life – very differently.

The Jewish people that Jesus lived among, taught and healed, were a divided people. There was the difference between those who followed Hillel (a first century B.C. rabbi who taught more moderate interpretation of the law and tradition) and those who followed Shammai (Hillel’s contemporary who taught a much stricter interpretation). There was also a division between those Jews who had conformed to the Hellenistic (aka the Greco-Roman) culture – including translating the sacred scriptures from Hebrew the Greek – and those who held tightly to their Hebrew ways and would not conform to the prevailing culture.

When Peter preached that Pentecost sermon, when the Spirit came and people from all over the Roman empire heard the Good News in their own language, it was the Jewish people gathered for a Jewish festival that became the first converts. And these first converts, the members of the first community of faith that had the Risen Christ as their Lord, brought with them their differences. That which could have divided them. As later passages in Acts tell us, this community was indeed composed of people with staunch disagreements on religious matters.

And yet, look at them. Different as they may have been, they created a beautiful, faithful family that worshiped Jesus Christ as Lord. They were the church family, the body of Christ, as we too hope to be.

The church of Acts gathered around the Good News and in doing so, found unity where others might have found division. They wouldn’t always be so faithful, so one in Spirit, but they’d come back to their oneness in Christ.

The first church serves as sort of a prototype for the church throughout history. Over and over people with all kinds of differences – some obvious, some that take a little digging and time to discover – people gather together to worship, to serve, to care for and in the name of Christ. From time to time, the family of faith resembles those first days of the church. And from time to time, we let our differences get the best of us.

Whether we find ourselves bound together in love or sorrowfully divided, the fact that there are differences among us does not change. The difference, perhaps, is sometimes we let our differences divide us and sometimes we live as though Christ is the Lord of all and calls us all together. Sometimes we live as though we truly believe that God’s house is a house of prayer for all peoples… even the ones we don’t agree with.

Our differences, whether you wanted blue instead of red carpet or whether you read all the stories of the Bible literally or not, our differences matter. They are not insignificant details. They are also not, thanks to Christ, insurmountable. For in Christ all things are possible. In Christ, there ain’t no mountain high enough, ain’t no river wide enough, ain’t no division strong enough to keep God from calling us together. To keep us from being one loving family of faith.

We can look at the differences among us and wonder “how can we ever serve God if we can’t agree on everything?” Or we can look at our differences and marvel that we can worship and service God together. We can stand in awe of the One who calls us together.

Praise and glory be to that One, this day and all days. Amen.

and the news is...

2011-05-02T00:43:00.000-04:00

If you haven’t been able to get to church this week you may have missed out on my big news—I’m getting married! Easter Monday my boyfriend David Fetterman asked me to marry him and I had the good sense to say “Yes!”

Dave and I met last year and hit it off immediately; I knew a man who can talk physics as well tell puns was worth spending time with! He was born in Waynesboro, the eldest of four siblings, and has lived in this area for most of his life. David works for Augusta County schools in the IT department. I’m quite blessed to have found a man who can help my with my computer – as well as cook, garden, make me laugh. As a newly engaged woman, I could certainly go on!

We plan on getting married in Richmond in a small family wedding after Christmas. During the next eight months, Dave and I will be acclimating to life as an engaged couple as Dave also gets to acclimate to life as a pastor’s partner. My Covenant family has been beyond wonderful in embracing me as both a pastor and a friend. You have already begun to make him feel welcome and I know you will continue to do so. Let’s pray he doesn’t get too overwhelmed by all the love!

Thank you for all your well-wishes and prayers.

Relay for Life and then some

2011-03-19T23:05:00.000-04:00

I’m sitting in the middle of a group o high schoolers as I type this. We’ve gathered in the cool evening to walk around in circles. Yup, Relay for Life has come to Mary Baldwin and the Covenant youth are showing their support.

As we’re gathered, eating pizza and talking over deep thoughts from “why do tootsie pop wrappers have stars” to “what was before God” I ask them a question.

“Why are you here?” The answers: I have a friend, a friend’s parent, a grandparent, an uncle who has cancer. We are here because we know and love people who have faced cancer. We’re here because it’s personal.

“How about the people in Japan?” I ask. “You don’t know them. You probably don’t know anyone who’s been hurt by a tsunami. Do care about them?”

Of course we care, they say.

“Why?”

The answers: Because… because they’re people. They’re God’s children. We have to care. We have to help them. We have to.

Listening to the passion and the compassion from our teenagers moves me. And it convicts me. When and where we can, we have to help. That’s what they say and I’ve seen them walk the walk (literally tonight) just as well as they talk it. How we help can may not seem much – it may just be donating a few dollars and walking around in a circle to raise awareness – but we have to help.

Why do we have to help? As one of the youth said: “If I know about it and I don’t do anything, I’m failing myself as a person.” As we’d say in seminary, “that’ll preach.”

What can you do? If you’re interesting in helping with the situation in Japan, check out the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance website. If you’re interesting in raising money and awareness for cancer research, join the Covenant Relay for Life team in May. If there’s another cause you’d like to help with but don’t know where to start, talk to the Outreach team or John and me.

Not all of us can do everything but together with God’s help we can sure do a lot. Looking around at our teenagers I leaves me no doubt that we will.

Lent, the season of being really confused

2011-03-07T12:59:00.003-05:00

Today at the morning Bible study - that space and time where the minister who'll be preaching this upcoming Sunday delves into the texts - we spent about 5 minutes on the Bible and 55 on running theological circles.

Atonement, what sin is, what death is, the unknowable nature of God - yup, all of these made an appearance this morning. Because Lent - this season we're about to enter into - makes us stop and wonder about the tough stuff... at least if we take it seriously.

How can you prepare for the journey into Jerusalem, to the cross, without wondering who it is Jesus died, wondering what our sin we say he died for really is? I can't. I can't take in the costly grace without spending time reflecting on who God is and why God choose to love me, and you, and the people I can't imagine anyone loving.

This is why Lent - along with being that time of preparation - is a time where the big questions are on my mind... and causing some mass confusion. But that's one of the things I love about Lent. I love that I spend time pondering, wondering, imagining all these things about the Divine and ultimately coming to the conclusion that I don't really know anything but that God is God and I am not God. I find myself enjoying Job's whirlwind, marveling at it, even if I'm left with unanswered questions.

Brave New World

2010-11-13T22:47:00.000-05:00

You know those old adages, “nothing worth having comes easy or free” or “anything worth having is worth working for?” I have a very distinct memory of the first time I actually came face to face with the reality of those sayings. It was third grade and I was sitting at the dining room table doing my homework—math to be specific. And I was struggling. Struggling was a new concept for me – things just came to me, English, social studies, science, even math – just made sense and so it didn’t take any work at all to get what I wanted – As. And then I met long division.

If it had been left completely up to me, I would have thrown my hands up in the air and left it at “I just can’t do math; it’s too hard” – which I believe were the words I exclaimed to my father. But my father, knowing me, knowing what would inspire me to actually work hard for something for the first time, said “that’s okay, Amy. Girls just can’t do math.”

You better believe I figured out that homework and brought home As in math throughout my academic career.

Facing off with long division was the first time I had to really work for something I wanted – but it certainly wasn’t the last. Talk about a good life lesson. You can’t just luck your way into things – if they really matter, then yup, you really have to work at them. I learned that with something relatively trivial – a math grade but that lesson has proved true from grades to relationships to things the heart is passionate about. You can’t have a long lasting friendship or marriage without working at it. There are going to be ups and downs and sometimes you’re going to have to fight for the relationship even though you it may seem like you just fight.

You can’t just have a healthy, functioning child - you have to spend days and nights taking care of your child, making sure he or she knows they’re loved, provided for safe. You even have to be the bad guy on occasion or know just how to push your kid’s buttons to get her to apply herself at math.

Family, friends, marriages, careers, kids – all of these require hard work and they are worth it.

And then there’s the kingdom of God.

The kingdom of God—where God’s will is done, where peace reigns, where love is the law and all obey, where the greatest commandment and the one like it are followed—this is what we, the church, the body of Christ, are called to work for.

If anyone told couples who are getting married “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven…” I have to wonder how many couples might rethink making the commitment. It might feel from time to time like there are earthquakes, famines, plagues, but there usually aren’t.

And that’s not even the hardest part.

The hardest part, I believe, in being a part of the kingdom of God, in working for it, toward it, is the part about persecution. Betrayal. As Jesus is in his final days and sees his own betrayal on the horizon, he warns us that in following him, the ones we love – even our parents, our friends, our nearest and dearest. That’s got to be the hardest part.

Working for the kingdom - it's harder than anything else. We participate in moments where we see God at work here and now, we’re looking for that day when God’s will is done here on earth as it is in heaven. But before God's reign is total, before we know an image like the one of new Jerusalem from Isaiah, we aren't promised easy street. We're told of famines and plagues and earthquakes and wars and utter destruction. We're told of friends and family and loved ones turning us in. We’re told of death.

No wonder at certain times in our history people have looked around and said "the end is near" as friends turned against friend, brother against brother.

It’s all rather depressing. I don’t know about you, but I’d much rather start humming the classic Joy to the World a bit early than sing to myself “Joy to the world, the Lord is come, but the earth didn't receive her king. Before he comes in glory, there will plagues and earthquakes, and some famine and some death, and you will be persecuted for your faith.”

While I love knowing the Jesus loves me as much as the next person, the hard truth of our faith is that Jesus may love us but the world does not. Not if we’re truly pursuing the kingdom, not if we’re challenging the status quo when it sustains injustice and oppression on micro and macro levels, not if we’re standing up for what’s right and not what’s popular.

While we have in our news tragic stories of Iraqi Christians being targeted because of their faith, you don’t have to go across the world to know that when you follow Christ, suffering will ensue. Maybe not physical death, but suffering, yes. Ask anyone of our youth – how popular does it make you when you have the guts to tell your friends to stop gossiping or to stop teasing another kid?

Jesus does not hide that truth from us. If you were hoping being a follower of Christ meant prosperity and abundance and success as the world defines it – sorry, you’re out of luck.

Because what we are promised is something else. We may be persecuted, we may suffer, we may go through incredibly hard times – but in those moments, God will be with us and we will have a chance to witness to God’s glory in word and in deed. We’ll have a chance to take those moments that are meant to crush us and use them to spread the good news.

We are also told that some of us will die – we might die too young or too forgotten or too poor because of our faith but we will not perish. We will die, yes, but even death – that great tool of intimidation – cannot silence us. We will not perish, not be utterly destroyed. Because in the end of his time in Jerusalem, Jesus died, and showed us that wasn't the end after all.

We may die but we will not perish and so we are encouraged to work for the kingdom, fight for the kingdom, take up pens and petitions for the kingdom, to sacrifice for the kingdom.
As I was thinking about this text, thinking about how, well, again how depressing this can come across, I asked one of the young adults I know through my coffee shop time what he thought. This young man looks around our world, sees the injustices and does want to find a way to take part in the birthing of the kingdom even here, even now. I wanted to know what gives him hope, what inspired him and encouraged him as he worked for God.

He looked at me a little funny – usually we chat about the latest band or something – and then took a moment before his thoughtful reply. When he answered he spoke to me about endurance – how in enduring and making through the hard times we can come to know God even better and come to our better selves. Words that echoed nicely Jesus’ own. He also spoke of those who had gone before, the disciples, the apostles, those who had known just how hard working for God’s kingdom can be but they did it anyway. Those who saw what happened to Jesus and knew that death would come but that it wasn’t the end. It wasn’t easy, but they persevered. They endured. And their stories inspired him to be a part of that greater story.

In his response, I hear the good news. Yes, the kingdom of God is a wonderful vision and no it’s not here yet. Yes working for the kingdom is hard work, it can mean not just a little inconvenience but genuine suffering. But it’s worth it. Being part of what God is doing, bringing in the kingdom, is worth it. Even if we suffer. Even if we, like the disciples, won’t get to see the new heavens and new earth before we die.

Being part of the kingdom is hard. But it’s worth it and it’s worthy of our efforts, our energy, our endurance. God is doing a new thing, here and now, and we are called to participate in it. So let’s keep our eyes, our ears, our hearts open to what God is doing and may we never tell ourselves “it’s just too hard.” Amen.

So close to home, yet so far away

2010-07-31T23:55:00.001-04:00

Today’s adventure was – to be frank – rather dull. We got up and out of the Twin Cities church around 7am and got on the road… and stayed on the road until about 10pm. Of course, that includes a switch from CST to EST – something we didn’t remember until we hit Indiana. We did get to see quite a bit of the Iowan countryside and small towns. America really does have quite a few beautiful small towns – Staunton (of course) being one of them.

During the trip my car listened to a rather depressing book on cd while the other van sang silly songs and had a contest that, well, let’s just say the beans at Taco Bell probably helped. I think even with the depressing book I had the better driving deal.

We did get some good prep work done for Mission Sunday, though. There’s a lot to share and we have some idea now of how we might go about sharing it.

We have arrived safe and sound in Indianapolis and are staying at Second Presbyterian Church here.

Tomorrow means home and while I’ve had a marvelous time, it will be nice to sleep on something other than an air mattress.

Day Five AND Day Six – Thursday and Friday (the beginning and the end)

2010-07-31T01:14:00.001-04:00

Sorry for no update last night. For those of you who have not experience a YouthWorks trip before (and I’m assuming that’s most) Thursday evening’s worship ends with a very powerful and very emotionally draining piece of worship. Sleep had to take the priority for this woman.

Thursday was an all around grace-filled day.

We had our last day of work at our ministry sites.

We played and talked with kids

and finished painting a house!

In the evening we took a field trip to

went for a walk and heard a very interesting legend about the place we were visiting.

And, being us, we had a rocking good time in the van as we traveled there and back.

Of course, we also took time to take in the beautiful landscape around us.

When we got back we were treated to a dramatic performance by a few of our very own church members; it was so funny that several other church folks said they didn’t just almost pee their pants. I can’t tell you what exactly happened, but I will post this picture of Shelby rehearsing and let your imagination take over from there.

The evening closed with that worship where the Holy Spirit was present so powerfully. It was wonderful and sacred and will stay with me for years to come. Our youth are truly beloved children of God.

The next day (Friday!) we woke up early, packed the vans, helped clean up the building, and said good-bye to the friends we had made.

The staff we worked with were beyond phenomenal and a true blessings to all of us. Thank you Eric, Gina, David, and Calvin.

Today’s road trip was pretty tame. We made a special stop in Alexandria, MN for me. I would go to a lake about 20 or so minutes from there every summer for the Minette family reunion. It was quite special for me to be able to stop in this old familiar town and share a bit of my childhood with our kids. And that had to mean we met Big Ole.

When we got to the Twin Cities, it was a quick drop off of our stuff at the church we are staying at and on to the Mall of America.

Very serious theological reflection happened here, as you can see.

Tomorrow is an early day as we drive to Indiana which means I’m off to bed!

Day Four – Wednesday

2010-07-29T01:26:00.001-04:00

Maybe it was the weather – the high was around 77 with bright blue skies. Maybe it was that we all got to experience new works sites. Maybe it was that our work groups have really gelled and we’ve made friends out of strangers.

Maybe. But the more likely reason for this being such a good day – I think – is that it was Erin P’s birthday.

The birthday girl came back from devotionals to find her room… er, her space in the room decorated.

But even though it was her birthday – it was straight to work for this girl – and the rest of us.

Several of our guys who had been working at houses the past couple days now got to try their hands at Kids Club.

They helped with games

and the scripture lesson and reading time.

The other group that switched from painting to Kids Club… well, I can’t talk about them. It’s just too painful. Some how Daniel, Emma S, and Lucy lucked out and headed to a lake for the day with kids. Yup, swimming, playing games on the beach, and even a little sunbathing. Isn’t mission so challenging?

The middler girls spent their day blitz painting a house – and doing an amazing job. If you ever need any help with some painting at home, I can recommend a few now qualified painters.

And enthusiastic ones too.

Not everyone did a lot of painting – as there were kids to play with!

In the evening – after glorious showers where poor Emma H had to scrub out some paint in her hair thanks to a certain adult leader (not me!) dripping some on her while up high on a ladder – we had dinner at the local park.

This dinner is the community dinner – where friends we’ve worked with and served come and enjoying hamburgers and hotdogs (or veggie burgers) and fellowship with the YouthWorks crew. By now all of us had worked with Kids Club so we had some friends to see again.

But, as great fun as all that was, it really was the birthday girl’s celebrations that topped everything off.

There were presents,

cake,

and lots and lots of laughter.

What a blessing!

Day Three - Tuesday

2010-07-28T00:27:00.001-04:00

Well, other than the collection of bugs we’re accumulating in the girls’ room and the continued heat in the boys room, today was another wonderful day here in Sisseton.

We began our day with breakfast and devotionals.

Then we worked! The way our week is organized, half of us have been painting and doing other projects at people’s houses while the other half have been leading what’s called Kids Club. We do both for two days and then switch – so that everyone gets to serve in both ministries. So today was our second – and last – day at our first ministry sites.

For those of us who are kids clubbers, we spent the morning either at a daycare or a assisted living home.

Everyone had a wonderful time – and everyone it seemed played some games.

The kids at the daycare, of course:

and even the residents at the home. Indoor volleyball – who knew it could be so fun (or dangerous… all Covenant folks may have hit some very nice retired Scandinavian farmers in the head with the beach ball more than once… of course, we go hit too!).

The afternoon was full of more kids club – which in 95 degree weather can be pretty tiring, even in the shade. But everyone had wonderful energy and lots of love to share. We even made some excellent crafts.

The painting crew did some wonderful work – and I’m sorry I don’t have pictures of that (but I’m relying on the other adult leaders’ cameras and one of our groups is adult leader camera less!). One group finished a house that they just started yesterday and built a great relationship (and heard some great stories – and more than a few tall tales) with the home owner. Our other group got to paint AND play with puppies who kept stealing their painting masks!

The evening was low key; the weather prevented us from nature walking so we had skit night here. It will not surprise you to learn that the group with two of our senior theater kids took home the prize for best skit.

Tomorrow marks the half way point in our adventure – and Erin P’s birthday – so wish us luck and her well.

Day Two

2010-07-27T00:49:00.001-04:00

And then the giggles set in.

We woke up and enjoyed a wonderful breakfast – prepped by several of our very own. Thank you breakfast team.

We had devotional time – reading some passages where folks but God ahead of their own fears. Then it was time to split into our teams for our work sites.

The senior high half headed off to help paint people’s houses.

And of course made some friends as we did.

The middle school group got to plan and lead something called kid’s club – a VBS like time in a park with about 20 or so local kids. Of course, before we could play with kids, we had to get energized ourselves. Hence, the Camel Dance energizer. Now some Baptists in Minnesota know the joy of dancing to Istanbul.

Meeting the the kids was great – we did walking pick ups of some and others were already at the park when we arrived. We played games, taught a bible story, did crafts, read books, and just spent good time being their buddies.

After a good day’s work (and truly, let me just say that it was beautiful watching our kids interact with the little ones), we showered and then came back to base camp. Dinner – Taco Night! – and then a treat – Powwow dancing.

We got to try a little bit too – just some basic stepping so no one got injured.

We had Club and church time and my friends, there was massive amounts of silliness.

We laughed so hard, many of us were crying at the end of the evening!

Another blessed day from God!

We’ve Arrived!!!

2010-07-26T00:38:00.001-04:00

We may have wondered if it would ever happen – especially while driving through our “favorite” state that starts with an M and ends with a “issouri” – but it did. WE HAVE ARRIVED IN SOUTH DAKOTA.

Clearly that statement needed to be in all caps.

But before we arrived, we had a whole morning and afternoon to fill our time. We began this morning with worship in the small chapel at West Hills Presbyterian Church. They usually have an 8:15 service we were going to attend but have cancelled that service for the next few weeks (summer low attendance.)

So it was seminarian Marie to the rescue. We whipped out some fun energizers and songs and then she came up with – basically on the fly – a wonderful sermon on the text we’d be reading tonight at our “club” time. Go Marie!

Following worship we headed out and began our last leg of the journey here. Today’s drive consisted of what have become the basics:

A stop for coffee and other drinks,

lunch with a chance to run around a nice rest area, getting some feeling back in our legs and rears,

the occasional touristy photo,

and of course, napping.

And then it happened… we pulled up to a parking lot and stopped for more than just an hour and got out more than just the stuff we needed for the night. We were greeted immediately by the YouthWorks stuff: Tina, Gina, Calvin (go head, Presbys, snicker now), and David. They are WONDERFUL. They helped us get settled and showed us to our room.

We played some games,

made some new friends,

and even did a little work.

We had orientation and some God time where we talked about what we needed to leave behind in order to let God in.

Because that’s why we’re here – finally. To be like Jesus.

Day Two

2010-07-25T01:27:00.001-04:00

Oh Omaha, how we love you!

Missouri, on the other hand…

Our day began with some saying goodbye to the wonderful people who hosted us last night.

The good folks at First United Presbyterian Church housed us, feed us, and even let some of us go kayaking! We’re so glad to have new friends – friends we will definitely stay with again if we come this way.

We said goodbye to our friends and then HELLO to the Arch.

I’ve driven by quite a few times but never gone in. Well, now we all have! Some of us were pretty impressed with the ride…

Or the view…

Or the gift shop…

But all in all – even if it didn’t dance and sing – it’s nice to have had the experience.

Following our visit to the gateway to the West – how could we not go dip our toes in the Mississippi?

We said goodbye to St. Louis and headed West and North to our final stop for the day – Omaha, Nebraska. Of course, to get to Omaha, we had to pass through Missouri… and more Missouri… and more Misseri.

All that Missouri sort of got to us:

Finally, we made it, ate some pizza, played some games, devoted, and crashed.

Tomorrow we finally arrive in South Dakota and our YouthWorks adventure begins. Keep us in your prayers!

On the Way to South Dakota

2010-07-23T22:49:00.001-04:00

Bright and early this morning – wait, scratch that – dark and early this morning, parents and grandparents said so long to 14 youth and their 5 brave adult leaders as they began the long trek to South Dakota.

Hello West Virginia – Goodbye West Virginia. Hello Kentucky – Goodbye Kentucky. Hello Indiana – Goodbye Indiana. Hello Illinois – wait, we get stop here. St Louis is within sight (we spotted the arch on our way in) but we have paused our journey (after 13 1/2 hours of travel) for the night. The First United Presbyterian Church of Belleville is our host this evening – and boy – is it a great treat! We have been divided up into five groups (an adult and 2-3 kids per group) and are snoozing at church member’s houses. I can’t speak for others yet but our hosts: offered us cookies, chips and salsa, limeaid, games, good conversation, FAB showers, comfy beds, internet access, tea, and exceptional warmth. And of course, tomorrow morning, there will be coffee.

Along the way today we played games, listened to a book on tape, learned about various historical events and significance of places we passed, slept, and talked. We have been VERY grateful for the wonderful snacks and other goodies our church family provided us.

Thank you all so much for your prayers. We’ll try and keep you updated as internet access allows!

Virtues and Vices in Proverbs: Love and Hate

2010-06-13T00:50:00.001-04:00

Texts: Proverbs 10:12; Matthew 12:1-14

Thinking about love and hate this past week, I was reminded of one of my favorite scenes from the movie “10 Things I Hate About You.” The Valley girl-esque character Bianca and her best friend Chastity are discussing such deep thoughts as: “I know you can be overwhelmed and you can be overwhelmed but can you ever just be whelmed?” The answer: “I think you can in Europe.”

These deep conversations eventually turn to understanding love. “There’s a difference between like and love,” Bianca informs, “because I like my sketchers but I love my Prada backpack.”

“But I love my sketchers,” her friend replies.

“That’s because you don’t have a Prada backpack.”

“Ooohhh.”

While that analogy may not work for some/most of us, it does remind that defining and understanding even such basic virtues as love is a bit more challenging than it may appear at first glance. If you crack open the Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, you’ll find about 14 pages (with rather small font) dedicated to the definition of love. I’m pretty sure in my 5 years here, I’ve preached several sermons trying to define this virtue and I’m not sure I’ve got it yet – maybe this will be the one!

What we can say about love with relative comfort and confidence is that love is active; it’s more than a fuzzy feeling you have for a place, a loved one or yes, even your Prada backpack. Love is active – as God is active. God, who is love, is a living God, constantly at work in the world. So, too, is love. It is patient and kind and it is also on the go.

What about hate, then?

It gets less than a page in that Interpreter’s Dictionary and I don’t think I’ve ever heard a sermon about it. It’s bad, sure, and not something we should avoid, but what else do we know about this vice that stirs up strife, that seems to be stirring up quite a bit of strife in our world.

Biblically – hate is something that God subscribes false festivals, meaningless worship. One of the psalms suggests that perfect hate is reserved for enemies of God, but not for our brothers or sisters, our neighbors, or, as Jesus extends, our enemies. Hate is the source of evil, a sign of life before Christ, and as complicated as love.[1]

We know too that—like love—hate is active. It’s more than just feelings of abhorrence, it’s something you do or think or say… or in some cases refrain from doing, thinking, or saying.

When we think about hate, here and now, here in our world, it may be tempting to think about the extremes. And with good reason. We read and see and hear stories about what hate has brought down upon people near and far. We may have even lived these stories ourselves. We know about bin Laden and about Hitler, we know about the Klan and about hate crimes. But the extremes aren’t the extent of hatred.

Because hate, like love, is not simple to identify, let alone avoid.

To live in love and turn away from hate, we have to be able to see and know what love and hate are. We have to be able to encounter a moment and know that an action or thought would be considered the loving OR hateful thing.

And that can be hard: in part because our culture has watered down the meanings of both words so that one can indeed love OR hate a Prada backpack or a new movie or getting up in the morning; in part because knowing what is loving or hateful requires diligence on our parts – diligence the writers of Proverbs ask of their students.

In diligence, we can note that both love and hate as described in Proverbs also make an appearance in our Gospel lesson this morning – though neither word is mentioned.

Jesus is challenged by the Pharisees for working on the Sabbath—first picking grain in order that people might eat and then for healing…

We don’t know anything about the man Jesus heals– about his past, his purpose, his faith – anything. Jesus enters the synagogue and the narrator let’s us know there is a man with a withered hand there. Before the narration suggests Jesus has approached this man, the Pharisees are asking questions about healing on the Sabbath. Spotting this man and his hand, they take the opportunistic moment to try and trap Jesus.

Jesus, however, does not allow himself to be caught in the midst of one-upmanship or legalism or whatever else the Pharisees were hoping to achieve. Rather, he offers this:

“Suppose one of you has only one sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath; will you not lay hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable is a human being than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”

The actions of the love and the actions of hate may seem simple enough to spot in this story. Jesus offers love when he heals the man. The Pharisees offer hate when they try and trap Jesus, when they conspire against him in order to destroy him.

Love heals; hate destroys.

Simple and true.

But there’s more in this story.

The Pharisees are using the man with the withered hand’s for their own means – they are using him as one might an animal.

But Jesus does not let this man be used. He heals him, yes, but he also speaks of his value, his worth.

In love, Jesus values this man. In hate, the Pharisees do not.

Love builds up, makes whole, heals.

Hate tears down, breaks, harms.

In love, we recognize the image of God in another person…

In hate, we dehumanize another person... we deny that he or she is God’s creation.

Moments of love and hate, actions where we offer either—they can be big or they can be small. Either way, they matter.

When you’ve had a bad day, when you’ve been made to feel small and inadequate, the person holding the door open for you as you go into a store, or the one who offers you a smile as you pass by on the street—these strangers with their little acts can offer healing on your wounds. They are moments that remind us that yes, we are human, and someone, and worth the time it takes to say hello. Love is impactful.

And so is hate. Hatred stirs up strife – even a small moment where we deny another human being his or her value can cause strife—in you, in them, in others… Think, for example, about something as simple and prolific as yelling or rolling your eyes at the person going 5 miles below the speed limit in front of you. It may not be racism or xenophobia, but it’s still a moment of hate. And even if the other person doesn’t catch on, it’s still destructive to the image of God in you.

Love and hate are easy enough words to throw around, but to know what they mean, what they are, that takes a little more effort. And to seek one and avoid the other, that takes diligence.

May the Lord who calls us out of hate and into love, out of the darkness and into the light, strengthen us in our diligence, in our wisdom, in our love. Amen.

[1] See: Isaiah 1:14; Psalm 139:19-22; Deut 19:11; 2 Sam 13:15; Luke 6:27; John 3:20; Titus 3:3; Luke 14:26

In the Flesh

2010-05-30T00:50:00.001-04:00

Texts: Proverbs 8:1-6, 22-31; John 12:44-46

According to our liturgical calendar today is Trinity Sunday, the day in which ministers all over the country exhaust their mental capacities trying to figure out how to explain in 15 minutes or less the great mystery that is the Holy Trinity. Father, Son, Holy Spirit, all unique and all one. Over time we’ve developed many ways to explain the divine mystery of the Trinity – some good, some not so good.

If you’ve ever gone through elder training here at Covenant, you’ve probably been exposed to John’s use of geometry to illuminate the subject. Or if you’ve gone through a confirmation class with me, you would have had the excitement of learning about the Trinity through the hands-on metaphor of Aquafresh toothpaste… give that one awhile to sink in.

However we try to explain our God – the Holy One – the One who is Community, we come up short. Human words to explain the divine are never going to be adequate let alone complete. A colleague of mine suggested to me yesterday that Trinity Sunday is the day God laughs the most, as we try and explain the mystery of three in one, try and wrap our finite minds around our infinite deity.

It is good to make God laugh. And we humans have been doing it for eons. Even before the mathematical confusion of three being one, even before we were given the metaphor of the Trinity as a way to understand God, finding ways to speak about our God has been a challenge, and one we have taken up. God is an eagle, a rock, a mother hen. God is strong, steadfast, compassionate. We search for ways to speak about God, to comprehend the divine, in part to understand our creator but also in part to understand the created – to understand ourselves.

If we know who God is more fully, than we may know who God calls us to be, more fully. If we know more about the one in whose image we are created in, we will know more about ourselves.

The figure of Wisdom – Lady Wisdom, Wisdom Woman – seen in the book of Proverbs and other wisdom literature in our scriptures is one way our ancestors in faith tried to understand and explain who God is and who we are to be in response.

Wisdom appears most prominently in Proverbs – a book we’ll get to know well throughout the summer, a book which is a series of collections of wise sayings and thoughts, with a broad purpose of instructing the young. It compares the good with the bad and the wise with the foolish, enticing the young (and all of us who might be called simple) to follow in the ways of the righteous

Those who seek to be righteous, those who would seek to follow God’s law, to be in relationship with God, they would do well to follow Wisdom’s path. “Happy are those who keep my ways,” Wisdom says a little further in Proverbs, “For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the Lord; but those who miss me injure themselves; all who hate me love death.”[1]

Wisdom is more than just a guidepost to good living, as her speech this morning reminds us. She is—as the first of God’s creation, a master worker of creation, and a delighter in creation—the one who calls us to righteousness. It is by her words that we might know what is right.

“She is” as Old Testament scholar Kathleen O’Connor puts, “another way to look at God, another metaphor to speak of the beauty, power, and attraction that God holds out to human beings.” [2]

In the Wisdom Woman, an attribute of God has been personified in order that we human beings might know God a little more clearly. When it comes to God, we’re like little children – we want to see and touch. We want tangible things – not abstract images and metaphors. We turn to other gods we can see in our midst, can understand concretely, because our God’s mystery can seem too much. We join in with Moses who must have been quite moved by the majesty and mystery of “I AM” revealed as God’s name but probably would have been a little bit happier if God had said something like “my name is Bob.”

But in Wisdom, we get just a little bit of the concrete, of the tangible. By engaging the tradition of Wisdom Woman, a reader may encounter an aspect of God and might understand God’s ways just a little bit better.

Around the time of the birth of Christ, another book of wisdom sayings was written in a Jewish community in Alexandria. This community had continued with the wisdom traditions of their ancestors and seen the figure of the Wisdom Woman as a way to live with and for God. In the Wisdom of Solomon, this community images King Solomon – David’s son and reportedly the wisest of all the Israelite kings – as praying for wisdom. This is what he says:

“For she is a breath of the power of God, and a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty; therefore nothing defiled gains entrance into her. For she is a reflection of eternal light, a spotless mirror of the working of God, and an image of God’s goodness.” [3]

In Wisdom, this community of faith imagines they may see a glimpse of who God is. In Wisdom we may see a drop of the glory of the Almighty, know at least a breath of God’s power. She offers yet another way to look at God—at least an aspect of God.

The Wisdom Woman is a helpful metaphor but a limited one. Yes, Wisdom may, as the writers of Wisdom of Solomon say, be a reflection of eternal light, but she’s only a reflection. She may help us to comprehend an aspect of God, and therefore an aspect of who we are to be, but she can go no further than that.

The fullness of God – the fullness of who God asks us to be – cannot be found in the figure of Wisdom, nor in any other metaphor we human beings have developed to try and speak of and comprehend our God. No Trinitarian eggs or toothpaste or anything else we so cleverly devise can begin to express God’s glory in full. Even the Trinity itself – three persons in one being – is a limited metaphor to express the totality of God.

After Wisdom, after the Trinity, after every other metaphor and expression, we are still left with our question: Who is God?

God is beyond words I can say, any words the most learned scholars and theologians may say, but God is not beyond the Word – for it is in the Word Incarnate that we may know all aspects of God, all of who God is. In Jesus the Christ, we have Word Incarnate, Wisdom Incarnate, Love Incarnate, God Incarnate. God—not in some bush, not through some messenger—but in the flesh. The fullness of God is revealed in the carpenter from Nazareth, in the cosmic Christ who defeated sin and death. We can never create the perfect expression or doctrine or analogy or metaphor to communicate and know the fullness of God. But God can – and did – choose to reveal God’s self perfectly, fully, totally, in the person of Jesus Christ. All of who God is – God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit – is there in Christ. Even if we never fully understand.

We may not every fully understand God but in Christ, we can begin to dare to answer the question: who is God?

Who is God? God is the one who chooses servanthood over power, love over hate, inclusion over exclusion.

Who is God? God is the one who risks safety and security for what is right.

Who is God? God is the one who refuses to let our sin have the last word over us, refuses to let our past dictate our future.

Who are we to be? As Paul says, we are to be imitators of Christ.

We are to be followers of the God revealed fully in Jesus Christ.

We are to seek after the way of Christ as the ancient Israelites sought after the way of Wisdom.

In the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, Holy Community, Three in One, Amen.

[1] Proverbs 8:32, 34-36

[2] Kathleen M. O’Connor. The Wisdom Literature. Message of Biblical Spirituality. v5. Michael Glazier: Wilmington, DE, 1988. 83

[3] Wisdom of Solomon 7:25-26

A Senior Moment

2010-05-25T10:36:00.001-04:00

For those of you who were away this past Sunday, amid the new members, baptisms, and elder installations, we recognized our four graduating high school seniors: Isabel, Cassie, Courtney and Suzanne. These four young women were eighth graders when they took part in the very first confirmation class I taught here at Covenant. I remember getting to know these four lovely girls, marveling at their thoughts and questions, and looking forward to how they would grow during their high school years.

High school is coming to a close for them now. Each of these young women have been a joy to watch grow and I can’t wait to see what God has in store for them. Seeing them reach this milestone has also made me stop and think. Once we get passed our school years, there aren’t as many built in opportunities to stop and notice how far we have come or how surprising our journey may have been or anything like that. We also lack the built in time to look forward and wonder where God will keep leading us.

I try to practice a daily examine—a spiritual practice in which you look back at the day, notice where God was, where you may have succeeded or missed being a light to someone else. I think adding a more long-term examine, perhaps yearly, perhaps every several years, would be a helpful practice. I invite you to try this practice with me, to stop and reflect on your life over a longer period of time and God’s hand in it. Being intentional about noticing the greater movement of God in our lives, that has to be a good thing. In fact, as soon as I finish writing this, I think I’ll do just that. Maybe as soon as you finish reading this, you can too.

Friday Five

2010-04-30T18:03:00.001-04:00

What? She’s updating? I know, I know, I’ve been terrible and then some. Apparently having low levels of Vit D really takes the energy out of you and so blogging has not been on my to-do list. But – large exclamation here – now that I’ve come back from the RevGalBlogPal conference, I think it’s only right that I do so. Plus, thanks to my $500 blood tests I know about the D thing and have been taking pills and my energy is back, baby!

Thus in honor of that, here’s the Friday Five from the RevGals.

1) Do you remember your first best friend? What did you do together? Are they still in your life?
My first best friend as a classmate named Nikki. We were in kindergarten together and had sleepovers and other such fun. I have a strong memory of watching a movie with cheesy dinosaurs and humans fighting them. Nikki disappeared from my life some time that year, after giving me a teddy bear I still have, also named Nikki. She and her family moved away, I think, but to my young self it was like she just disappeared into thin air.

2) Did you ever have to move away or have your best friend move away from you?

Er, see above? And sure, since then I have often moved and thus said goodbye to several good friends.

3) Are there people in your life now that you can call 'friend'?

Yes, thank goodness! Lots, actually.

4) What are some of your favorite things to do with your friends?

Travel!!! Oh, yes, also I love to cook with them, watch movies, laugh, drink wine, walk, laugh, tell stories, laugh.

5) What is a gift friendship has given you?

I’m going to go with everything!

If they could see me now…

2010-01-15T23:41:00.001-05:00

Given my open and extroverted nature, it may come as a surprise to learn that I really don’t like being singled out – at least not like I was today. Church, no problem. Conferences, done deal. Newspaper articles on the other hand… But when I asked to talk about the Taize services at church, I had to say yes. The following is the article that came out in today’s News Leader. Quoted relatively correctly, I’m glad to see the coverage even if I still feel a bit awkward about the whole thing.

Taize Article

The Reverends

2010-01-01T23:12:00.001-05:00

As of Sunday, not only do Mom and I share the same smile…

but we also share the same title: The Reverend.

So it begins

2009-12-26T12:15:00.004-05:00

After something of an adventure I have arrived safe and sound in The Woodlands. My family all arrived before me and so when I got to the house where we are staying, they were already in full Summers-Minette swing. Raucous laughter, heated political debates, and (of course) delicious food were all waiting for me. I do love my family.

Today we are celebrating Christmas and my father’s birthday (both of which were actually yesterday) and then Sunday is Mom’s ordination. Hmm, I suppose that means I ought to finish both wrapping presents and writing a sermon.

The Great Snow of Saturday

2009-12-19T18:30:00.001-05:00

Praise the Lord for good friends! I hope all of you are nice and toasty with loved ones this evening. For the second night in a row, I am camped out at my friend Cassy’s house where we have entertained ourselves with reading, Doctor Who, and lots and lots of snow shoveling.

Don’t believe me about the last part? Here’s proof!

Yes, I am in fact wearing plastic bags on my feet. Though I have been warned more than once that the previous winters I’ve experience here were mild in comparison, I never believed quite enough to go out and buy snow boots. Thank goodness for ingenuity. And for a friend who keeps those bags for her dog’s, uh, constitutionals.

After some (read: tons!) of shoveling, we tried to play in the snow.

I fell down.

A lot.

A lot a lot.

Did you know snow could be too deep for sledding? Cassy and I found out the fun way!

As much fun as a snow day with a great friend is, we are both more than a little sad to miss out on another friend’s big day. Our dear friend J is getting married tonight. Actually, as I’m writing this, he should already be married! Lots of his guests and even his officiant were trapped by the snow – including us. Being two strong willed independent women, we weren’t going to let a little snow stop us from celebrating with our friend.

What, snow you say? I laugh in the face of snow!

Cheers to J and Amanda. We love you!

And sound, safe night to all of you!

Prepare Ye the Way

2009-12-06T00:54:00.001-05:00

Texts: Malachi 3:1-4; Luke 1:68-79

This past week I got something very exciting in the mail – the invitation to my mother’s ordination. My sister had been put in charge of making them and sending them out and managed to not be too stressed when she realized about 30 seconds after she put them in the mail that there was a mistake. I’ve been told correction postcards are already on their way out.

A little over a month ago I received an invitation for a friend’s wedding. I was apparently one of the lucky ones; many of the invitations got lost in the mail and others came worse for the wear. He and his fiancée ended up using Facebook to get the information out.

Thinking about the way I’ve received information that some big event is coming up, I’m not surprised that God chooses not to use the mail system when delivering the big news of impending divine movement. Angels, stars, dreams and – as we are reminded this morning – chosen messengers.

Personal messengers make good sense. Not only is it harder to lose messengers than invitations but I’m rather certain that the refiner’s fire would qualify as something too hazardous to even be sent through the mail. Because when God is coming we get more than a “save the date” card. We get action, purification, repentance, justice. When God is coming, a messenger is called up not just to spread the word that the Lord is coming but to prepare the way. In the book of Malachi we are given a glimpse of just how this messenger will prepare the way of the Lord.

During the reign of the Persian Empire, the Israelites have gathered back in the Promised Land and rebuilt the Temple of the Lord. And like their ancestors in faith, the people in this prophet’s time have strayed. Corruption and faithlessness run rampant and the people have wearied God. And so God is sending to them a messenger – “my messenger, the messenger of the covenant” – and this messenger will not only announce the coming of the Lord, but like fuller’s soap he will make fresh and clean the priests – those who run the Temple and make sacrifices on behalf of the people – he will refine them like gold and silver.

God has tired of those oppress others and do not fear the Lord and this messenger is being sent to purify the priests – those who serve as go-between God and the people – in order that the people might return to God. And thus comes the refiner’s fire. As someone not particularly familiar with the process of refining gold or silver, I recently heard a story told that helped me to better understand what the prophet means:

Several years ago, a group of women had gathered in study around the passage from Malachi we just read. “He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver” (Malachi 3:3). They wondered—perhaps like you and I know like me—what this might mean beyond a simple answer of “to purify.” Such a rich image surely had richer meaning and so one of them decided to find out about the process of refining and purifying silver, promising to report back to the women in the Bible Study at their next meeting.
That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn’t mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver.
As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities…
She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined. The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed. The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, “How do you know when the silver is fully refined?” He smiled at her and answered, “Oh, that’s easy—when I see my image in it.”

God—through the messenger of the covenant—calls us to the divine image we were made in. We are called to burn away all impurities that are not of or for God so that we may indeed return to God as God returns to us.

How right, then, that the one who was sent as the messenger to prepare the way for God Incarnate, God With Us, God’s Perfect Image too calls us to return to God, to repent and believer. When we who are made in the image of God waited for the one both fully human and fully divine, we were called to purity, to repentance, to the Holy by John the Baptist. John, whose father Zechariah prayed “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has looked favorably on his people and redeemed them,” the one who looked at his infant son and said “And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the forgiveness of their sins.”

John would indeed prepare the way of the Lord – he would go out into the wilderness, drawing great crowds to him, calling people to repentance, and telling them to wait and watch for the one coming who was greater than he.

Before the light of the world shone for all to see, a messenger prepared the way. Before God returned to the people, a messenger prepared the way. In the waiting for the Lord, there have been those who have worked toward the Kingdom they wish to see come.

That was then and this is now. And now, in this time, in this place, as we still wait for the advent of Christ here and now, for the coming of the Lord in his glory and the Kingdom of God to fully come, who is the messenger? Who is the one to give knowledge of salvation, to call all people to the image they have been made in, to speak and live out God’s grace to the world?

Look around.

We are.

As the body of Christ, the community of faith, we are the messengers that have been charged with preparing the way for the Lord. We have been empowered by the Holy Spirit to speak the truth, to act in love, to live out the kingdom. As children of the covenant made through Jesus Christ, we are the ones who will proclaim the Good News that is our mystery of faith: Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.

Like John the Baptist, we reach out to share forgiveness and relationship with God. We do so by offering hospitality to the stranger, seeking justice for the oppressed, and loving God with all we are and ever will be. We do this all the while pointing to the one from whom we find our strength, the one for whom we wait.

To be a messenger of God, to prepare the way of the Lord, may sound like a big task because it is. It requires us to be honest with God, to confess our own sins and strive to love and serve better each day, each minute, each second. It requires us to love the unlovable and to forgive the unforgivable. It requires us to risk our comfort and our complacency for the radical and wondrous kingdom of God.

Being a messenger of God is a grand and sometimes scary calling – remembering the fate of John the Baptist invokes the phrase Shakespeare made famous – “don’t shoot the messenger.” It is not without risk nor is it without reward. We are not on our own in our preparation – we don’t have to worry about what happens if we make an error or get lost – God’s kingdom will come. We cannot stop it. But we do get to participate in it. How exciting to be among those who have heard the good news – that God so loved the world that God gave the only Son – to have this amazing joy to share. What a great gift to be charged—sisters and brothers bound together in the Spirit—with sharing the love of God with the world. Amen.

You Do Not Know Where It Blows

2009-11-24T16:28:00.003-05:00

The moderator of the PC(USA) just posted this link on his facebook page. Very theologically worthwhile.... or something. :)

Storytelling

2009-11-24T16:26:00.001-05:00

As you read this I’m enjoying so rest and relaxation with family and friends in Chicago and Madison, WI (or at least when I wrote this and originally sent it out in the newsletter, I was!). While I’m sure my vacation will be filled with lots of good food, fellowship, and reading, I also have a feeling that my attention to what I experienced Tuesday night with Brian McLaren. If you didn’t get a chance to attend, I encourage you to seek out those who did and ask them what they thought.

Brian had many helpful insights to share but the one that is playing about in my mind is one about our framing story. He suggested that there were several key crisis going on in our world right now – the crises of the planet, poverty, and peace. But perhaps the most profound crisis is that of our purpose.

Somewhere along the way, people of faith have forgotten the Good News. We buy into the stories dominance (we’ll only be safe unless we’re in control), accumulation (we’ll only be safe if we have more and more), purification (we’ll only be safe if that certain group is ‘taken care of’), and others. Brian pointed out that in his life and teachings, Jesus refuted all these stories that we’ve bought into – giving us a new framing story, giving us the Good News of the Kingdom of God: a kingdom that is at hand today.

In this story, instead of domination we know service and love; instead of accumulation we know about self-giving and sacrifice; instead of purification we know about embracing and including the outcast. Jesus shows us another way to live. He shows us The Way.

Brian suggests that many of our world’s crises would be best met by a story other than the one many of us seem to be telling through both our words and our actions. Stories of dominance, accumulation, and the like have not served us well. But we have another story to tell. The story of the Good News is one for the whole world – and one we Christians need to reclaim and start living fully.

As you go about your daily living this next week, I encourage you to join with me in wondering: what story am I telling? At work, at school, at the grocery store, what story do our words and actions tell? Is it the Good News or is it something else?

Witness

2009-10-23T17:00:00.001-04:00

I’m sitting in CotC (surprise, surprise) working on stuff for this weekend and listening to Sarah McLachlan. I’ve put one song in particular on repeat - “Witness.” Here are the lyrics

Make me a witness/take me out/out of darkness/out of doubt

I won't weigh you down/with good intention/won't make fire out of clay/or other inventions

will we burn in heaven/like we do down here/will the change come/while we're waiting/everyone is waiting

and when we're done/soul searching/as we carried the weight/and died for the cause

is misery/made beautiful/right before our eyes/will mercy be revealed/or blind us where we stand

will we burn in heaven/like we do down here/will the change come/while we're waiting/everyone is waiting

This song for some reason is really speaking to me today. I’ve had the album it’s on – Afterglow – for years but something about today and something about this song just clicks.

In our Wed night bible study class, one of the things that has come up is how scripture can speak a new word to us each day thanks to the Holy Spirit. I’m also convinced that this same Spirit speaks through other familiar words/images/people anew each day. We just have to be looking and listening.

Re-form

2009-10-20T17:40:00.001-04:00

This Sunday on the Presbyterian Church calendar is Reformation Sunday – a Sunday that in some churches means dressing up in tartans and playing the bagpipes. While we here at Covenant will welcome the brave soul that wears a kilt, it certainly isn’t the required dress code. No, instead we’ll mark Reformation Sunday with the beginning of a new short-term series Sunday school class.

This Sunday John and I will begin our class “The Church: Where On Earth Has It Been And Where In Heaven Is It Going?” As church historians and scholars have noted, about every 500 years the church goes through some sort of upheaval—and the word “great” seems to associate with these changes. There was the time of Gregory the Great, the Great Schism, and of course, the Great Reformation. These same historians and scholars – as well as ministers and laypeople – have noted that right now we’re at the 500 year mark. And yes, the times, they are a-changin’.

During the next five weeks, we’ll explore our history as the church – look back at the “Greats” as we look toward the future. We’ll look at the contemporary cultural upheaval and what that upheaval means for the church now. Is the internet our printing press? Are folks like Brian McLaren and Phyllis Tickle our Luther and Calvin? How does a modern church navigate a post-modern world? What might our church (both universal and particular) look like in 50 years?

Come join in this exciting discussion as we find gain strength and insight from our history and ponder hopefully about our future.

All That We Let In

2009-09-27T00:30:00.001-04:00

Text: Mark 9:38-50

There are times when reading the gospel stories that I just want to grab hold of the disciples, give them a big hug and say “thank you.” Thank you for being so human, for being so slow to catch on. Thank you for failing at following Jesus perfectly because if you – who had him physically in your midst – couldn’t manage to be a perfect follower, then I’m not going to feel so bad about my own missteps.

This morning’s gospel story is one of those times.

After seeing Jesus eat with those who were outcasts, heal people no one would want to touch let alone help, and quite frankly, call them as his followers, they haven’t quite caught on that their teacher isn’t one for exclusive circles. And yet they treat being his follower as just that –limited circle.

Having just coming off a tour of ministry with the Gentiles, the disciples and Jesus come back to Galilee where they hear tale of a man – who, by the way, is not one of them – is casting out demons. In Jesus’ name! This man – who, ahem, is not one of them – has the audacity to call on the power of Jesus. He dares to cast out demons when the disciples – Jesus’ inner circle, the cream of the crop, failed at this same task not very long ago.

When the disciples via John bring this concern to Jesus, that this man –a man who hasn’t clocked in the field time with Jesus, hasn’t listened (and been confused by) his parables nightly by the fireside, hasn’t traveled with Jesus and seen all the amazing things him can do – this man is daring to act as though he has some place, some relationship, some sort of connection with Christ and is using it to caste out demons.

And what does Jesus have to say? Nothing the disciples are going to like – don’t try and stop him, even someone offering water to a person in my name is blessed, “Whoever is not against us is for us.”

That was probably a little more inclusive than they were hoping. I can imagine one of the disciples even piping up saying, “um, Jesus, don’t you mean whoever isn’t for us is against us?” But no, Jesus is firm – have salt, goodness, in yourself and be at peace with one another.

The disciples are treating being a follower of Jesus like being a member of some club: a club that has its own logo, its own pledge, its own uniform. I remember joining a sorority in college and being told, when I asked why we had to memorize the founding members names, “you’re doing this because I did this and that’s what makes you “one of us.”

I know I’m not the only one with such an experience. I would imagine we’ve all run into groups we want to be a part of – be it social groups or perhaps the group called the bar association or certified teachers or real estate license holders – where we’ve had to prove that we’ve done the time, put in the effort, can say the oath of loyalty with the best, pass the exam even after we’ve gotten the degree, and then be considered in. There are markers to be met and handshakes to be learned.

The church has a history of making its membership something like a club. Remember a time when we used to excommunicate people for being different, or make people catechisms not as a way of teaching theology but as a test to see who was in and who was out? Or how about how when the church would bar people from membership for something like being divorced (which, by the way, some churches still do), or tell people they can’t serve because they happen to be girls (again, still happens). This is our history but my guess is if Jesus came down now to our present, he’d be able to point out a few ways we’re still excluding people, still making this a club to get into. Let’s just say I know I’m not the only one who has a “Jesus loves you but I’m his favorite” mouse pad.

But being a follower of Christ isn’t about being in a club or any one’s favorite – it’s about being a part of a family. Even if we fall into the temptation of looking down on others who we know a lot about this kind of family. This family isn’t about where you were born or who are your parents or what traditions you celebrate – this isn’t about flesh and blood, it’s about Spirit. Christ’s Spirit.

If you’ve seen my family here at Christmas time you might have noticed that two of my three foster sisters – for lack of a better term – don’t quite look like the rest of us. My sisters Neli and Nymbezi are from Zambia. The story of how they came to be a part of our family is one that confirms for me this understanding of family being above and beyond flesh and blood.

About ten years ago I went over to Zambia as part of a mission trip with my church. There, at Justo Mali Theological College, I met the Moyo family and bonded rather instantly with the several teenage sisters – including Neli and Nyembi. A year later I heard that my church would be sponsoring Neli to come over to the States for college. Families would take turns hosting her for different holidays and we’d all make sure she felt welcome and looked after.

Well, Neli happened matriculate at the school where I was a senior and so it just made sense that the first free weekend we had at school, she’d come home with me. I remember driving the four hours to get home – trying to prepare her for my quirky family. We hit it off but we were relatively close in age and had similar tastes in music and tv.

My family, of course, welcomed her with open – though potentially overwhelming arms. Everyone was so excited to meet this girl I had talked about for a year – this girl grew up in another hemisphere! I remember everyone greeting her, helping her to her room, making her feel at home – and then, I remember the conversation started. It began with all of us, my brother and sister Beth, my mom and dad, Neli and me, but it quickly turned to world economics and just as quickly became a conversation between my dad and Neli only. The rest of us escaped from the living room to the family room and waited… and waited… and after a good while someone piped up that one of us really ought to go and rescue Neli from an intense conversation with our father.

I think it was my sister who volunteered, went into the other room, and then came back laughing saying, “I think Dad’s the one who needs rescuing!”

My wonderful, quirky family had a new member – just like that. That very first night it was clear that Neli was a part of our family. Over the years, while interesting differences in experiences have come up, it’s only been made more and more clear - this young woman is a Summers-Minette, even though her last name is Moyo and we all still laugh that she’s clearly our father’s daughter. Neli never did make it to those other families for the holidays and when Nymebi came over for school, she eventually found herself part of the Summers-Minette clan too. While Nymebi and Dawn – my other foster sister – are family without a doubt, nothing was quite so powerful as that first night with Neli – where we just knew – she’s family. She just is.

That moment with Neli, that’s what I think of when I think of God’s family. We just are. It’s not about where we grew up or what languages we speak or our experiences. It’s not about our education or our income or our politics. We know this – it’s why we knit prayer shawls and deliver meals, offer rides and send cards—not because we’re all so alike but because we’re family. It’s why we ask each other for prayers, why we ask each other for help. Because we’re family – family made by God.

We travel the road of faith together, even though we may not agree on things, even when we might look at the passage being discussed in a bible study, listen to our neighbor’s understanding of said passage and wonder “are you reading what I’m reading?”

There’s this great quote attributed to Rudyard Kipling – the author who brought us the great story of Mowgli and his family the wolves, Baloo the bear, and Bagheera the panther in The Jungle Book. It says, “A family shares things like dreams, hopes, possessions, memories, smiles, frowns, and gladness... A family is a clan held together with the glue of love and the cement of mutual respect. A family is shelter from the storm, a friendly port when the waves of life become too wild. No person is ever alone who is a member of a family.”

This is the church family. This is who Christ has called us to be with one another and to glorify God. We’re to serve one another as we would serve Christ – offering each other glasses of water, companionship, and grace. We’re to respect one another – even if our ways and understandings differ. We’re to be family.

I really like that quote. Of course, I edited it in my first reading. Before talking about family sharing things, Kipling says “all of us are we—and everyone else is they.” Us against the world, us against them – as tempting as it might be to see family that way, we can’t. Not the family of God. This thought – one the disciples had, one many of us have – is what Jesus is encouraging us to get rid off – chop off as it were.

Being a part of the family of Christ means that there is no “they” – no us versus them. No Presbyterians versus Baptists or old hymn lovers versus new hymn lovers. And perhaps even no Christians versus non-believers - for all people are God’s children and Christ died for the whole world. Whether or not people are a part of our community of faith, they are part of God’s family and as such are to be treated with respect and love.

Jesus asks us to worry not about those people who are doing good in his name – or good even just to those who bear his name. Not to worry whether or not they’re “like us” because the “us” includes all. Worry about your own salt, your own goodness, and be at peace with one another.

You know, maybe that Kipling quote is right after all. All of us are we—and everyone else is they. Except there is no everyone else; there’s only us. For we are all a part of God’s family. Thanks be to this generous and loving God. Amen.

It Don't Mean A Thing

2009-09-12T22:57:00.003-04:00

Text: Mark 8:27-38

If you’ve been watching television over the past several years, you are probably familiar with those successful Mac vs PC commercials. The ones where two actors stand in as “Mac” and “PC.” The PC—a middle aged man dressed in a suit—tries to be hip, the computer that all the cool kids want to have, and yet it can’t. The laid-back Mac—the twenty-something jeans and a t-shirt guy—doesn’t have to try to be the best computer, he just is. Because, no matter what the PC may say, the Mac just performs better (or so claim the commercials).

Not long after these commercials began airing a parody was made by a church where instead of the PC vs Mac you had a Christian vs a Christ-follower. In this parody, the Christian – the middle aged man dressed in his Sunday best – is carrying lots of books—rule books, ethics books, morality plays, and his “trusty sword” as he calls the bible—an incredible Christian bumper stickers collection, and works hard to exhibit all these outer signs and symbols of his faith. The Christ-follower, on the other hand, is in his casual jeans an a t-shirt, doesn’t worry about bumper stickers or outward marks. When the Christian asks the Christ-follower, “so, what do you do to display your Christianity,” the Christ-follower responds “nothing, I guess, I just try to follow Christ with the way I live my life.”

The first time I saw this parody was not too long after I graduated from seminary – where I got to study rule books and theology books and Hebrew and Greek so I could understand the “trusty sword” in its original languages. Let’s just say, it hit a little too close to home.

Those of us who come from “mainline” traditions like Presbyterian or Methodist, Episcopalian or Lutheran – we are reasonably comfortable with the Sunday best, the rule books, the bible study. We know when to stand up and sit down in a church service, we can recite the Apostles’ Creed, we rules and we like to follow them decently and in order.

And this parody is suggesting that those signs, those creeds, those habits – they don’t make you a follower of Christ.

It’s a little like our gospel lesson this morning.

Out of all the people – the crowds, the disciples – Peter seems to get “it.” He gets that Jesus isn’t some old prophet come back from the great beyond, he gets that this guy they’ve been following is the one – the Messiah. A bunch of other may claim to be the Messiah, but they aren’t – Jesus of Nazareth is.

Peter has clued into the Messianic secret – he understands what those demons Jesus cast out of people seemed to already know – this is the one everyone’s been waiting for. The Messiah.

What a wonderful moment of faith for Peter. He can smile and take pride that out of all of Jesus’ followers, he’s the real deal just like Jesus is – because he’s the one that makes the first confession of faith. “You are the Messiah.”

And moments later, he’s the one that gets rebuked.

We don’t know what exactly Peter rebuked Jesus for when he turned to the crowd and spoke to them of death and resurrection. Perhaps it was because the Son of Man- the Messiah – couldn’t die. That wasn’t how isn’t how things were supposed to go. Or perhaps it was because Jesus was sharing this with all. Perhaps Peter thought this Messiah was for only those in the know. After all, Jesus has just told him to keep quiet about the whole Messiah thing – why is he now speaking so openly about the Son of Man?

Whether he didn’t like what Jesus was saying or didn’t like that Jesus was letting all hear his words, Peter rebukes Jesus. And Jesus, in turn, rebukes Peter. Peter—who just moments before seemed to have “gotten” it—is rebuked in front of his fellow disciples and then hears Jesus speak to the whole crowd how to follow him.

“Deny yourself. Take up your cross. Follow me.”

Jesus doesn’t command confession – he commands action. It is one thing to say, Lord, Lord, and another to live as though Jesus is your Lord.

Jesus isn’t as concerned about the right words as he is about the right way to live. He doesn’t condemn those who call him Elijah or another prophet nor does he reward Peter who knows him as Messiah. The confessions are important but not complete. Not without the life that seeks to answer Jesus’ question. We—who will stand up and affirm our faith in Jesus Christ God’s only son, our Lord—too called not to say the right words, but to live the right way.

And we, like the crowd, like Peter, we don’t. We may say the right words but we don’t live as Jesus tells us to. Here and now, we fit right into the gospel story.

“Who do people say that I am?”

Oh, say the disciples, well, Jesus, these other people, they call you Elijah and John the Baptist, Jeremiah, or one of the other prophets. They see you as someone who has come before. An ancient prophet that has arisen. Someone they already know.

This is what the crowds confess, the crowds that will celebrate his triumphant entry into Jerusalem and then shout crucify him less than a week later.

“Who do you say that I am?”

The disciples remain quiet. All, except Peter. “You are the Messiah,” he says, “son of the living God.”

This is what Peter confesses, Peter who will soon rebuke and be rebuked by Jesus, Peter who will deny him three times.

“Who do you say that I am?”

Oh, say we. Who do we say that you are? Okay, we say you are Son of God. And Lamb of God. Oh, and Word of God. And Emmanuel, Rabbi, Beloved, Bread of Life. King of Kings and Lord of Lords and Prince of Peace. Alpha and Omega. Savior, Messiah.

This is what we say, what we confess, and yet we will walk past those who are hunger, we will keep polluting the waters and not worry that some have nothing to drink, we will have nothing to do with the stranger for they are just too different, we will think it’s a pity that some have no protection against the elements but not offer our cloak and our other garments too, we will wish all could have health care but let the difficulty of solutions distract us from actually caring for the sick, we will stay away from the prisons for we will not believe that those who have strayed can truly be rehabilitated.

We, like Peter, can confess the right thing, make the appropriate statement of faith, and then leave it to that – words and only words. We, like Peter, can turn against Jesus when he asks us to believe something we don’t want to, when he asks us to follow him where we don’t want to go, when he asks us to live and die – for him, through him, and in him.

Being a Christian, a follower of Christ, really is a lot harder than reading your bible or knowing the right words. As a friend of mine recently reminded me, wearing a cross is not the same thing is taking up the cross.

We, like the crowd, like Peter, we don’t get it. We don’t always walk the walk, we don’t always confess Christ with our lives as well as our lips.

And yet, we, like the crowd, like Peter, we keep trying. And we, like the crowd, like the disciples, like Peter, we have seen and believed that Christ forgives us and works with us and through us and yeah, in spite of us. We may deny him, may crucify him, but we come back, we want to follow him. We may stray, but we know he’ll lead us back. And he does. Jesus always has and always will bring us back and with willing and open hearts, we will follow him into some scary, and wonderful, places. And in moments that may last seconds or years, we do feed the hungry, give water to thirsty, welcome the stranger. We do build houses for those without shelter, serve at the food pantry, offer compassion and justice for those who are in need, visit and have relationship with those whom society would rather forget.

Even if we don’t quite understand who Jesus is, even if we don’t always live as Jesus commands, our Messiah does not give up on us. The proof of God’s amazing love us this: while we were sinners, Christ died for us. And it is we sinners Christ calls out to, speaking of love and forgiveness, telling us to take up our cross and follow him. And it is we sinners who long to answer, who can answer, with our lives as well as our lips: yes, Lord, yes Savior, yes Son of God, yes Messiah, yes. Amen.

By the Numbers: Four Horsemen

2009-08-09T09:48:00.001-04:00

Texts: Isaiah 64:1-4; Revelation 6:1-8

In honor of our teachers and students heading back to school soon, I have a little pop quiz. Which one of the following is a true statement?
A) Revelation is the book the New Testament folks dropped in to make God sound a little more like the wrathful God of the Old Testament
B) Revelation is a dream John had after eating something he shouldn’t before going to bed.
C) Revelation is a book a hope.

If you’re scratching your head and wondering if this is a trick question, you’re probably not alone. The answer is C) Revelation is a book of hope but don’t worry if you didn’t get it. Most of us hear the word Revelation and think fire and brimstone, cryptic messages from the past that some people interpret as a blueprint for the future, doom and gloom for the world with a hint of new creation at the end.

And the scripture this morning is just one of the many reasons why we think that. The four horsemen of the Apocalypse do not appear to be bringing tidings of good news of great joy. Hardly. Instead we have war, bloodshed, hunger, death. We have the sword, famine, pestilence, and wild animals bringing civilization into chaos.

Who are these four horsemen? Well, that’s a tough question to answer. Perhaps one of the reasons understanding Revelation is so challenging is because it’s like trying to read a political cartoon from 2000 years ago. We may get the overall gist but we aren’t going to get the jokes or the jabs.

Borrowing heavily from Old Testament imagery, John is speaking to people living in an unjust empire. The writer of Revelation is speaking truth to power through a specific literary genre – apocalyptic—a form that is used to unveil or reveal things we do not see. He is watching his friends, his family, his fellow Christians being persecuted by the great power of Rome and he is writing to them in encouragement. In hope. Yes, this book with its beasts and women of Babylon was written to give hope to those who were being persecuted.

Even our section on the four horsemen.

The four horsemen have been imagined in literature, art, television and movies probably since John of Patmos first took pen to paper, or whatever the 1st century stuck in a cave on an island equivalent is. We imagine these horsemen in different ways because the writer of John wants us to. Apocalyptic literature requires imagination in the reading. There are symbols, colors, names, numbers and everything is a part of the mysterious unveiling. Everything has meaning – sometimes this meaning is more obvious than others.

Each rider comes from the Lamb, each rider is summoned by one of the living creatures near the Lamb’s throne, each comes out in terror and power. The first rider carries a bow (the favored weapon of a neighboring people known for their war-making) and is wearing what we read as a crown, but could more accurately be translated as a wreath. A wreath of victory like the ones placed on the great conquering generals’ heads. The first rider out of the gate, so to speak, is a Conqueror.

The rider that follows is on a bright red horse, red like the blood this rider insists people to spill. The rider has been given power to take peace, to stir up anger and hostility, hatred and violence among the peoples of the earth.

The third rider, the rider on the black horse, comes in with scales in hand. This rider is not justice, rather injustice, as the rider is instructed to charge outrageous prices for food staples—though leaving olive oil and wine alone. A denarius – an average day’s wages – normally had the buying power of anywhere from eight to sixteen times more than this. The third rider charges in leaving economic injustice, poverty and hunger in his wake.

The rider that comes in last could be understood as the natural conclusion of the three previous riders – conquering, bloodshed, hunger. Death comes in on a pale green horse with Hades – the ruler of the dead – at his side. And with these two comes the result of war – swords, famine, disease, and finally, what was once homes, communities, civilization, is now abandoned, over run by wild animals.

Four horsemen – War, Bloodshed, Hunger, and Death – come into our world and bring misfortune with them.

And somehow this is hopeful? For John of Patmos it was. For us, may it also be so. These four riders have wretched power. War, Bloodshed, Hunger and Death – swords, famine, disease, destruction – all of these terrible things are the tools used by the empire to keep the weak down. These are what Rome uses to rule the world, to oppress those who are less powerful – like the Christians. The four horsemen use the tactics of the oppressors.

And where did they get their weapons – these weapons of Rome, of empire, of oppressors? From God. God is the one who grants them power, God is the one who grants them dominion. They have no power of their own – all power comes from God. While the contemporary reader may see God’s giving of power to these forces as a suggestion that God is wrathful, John is using this image to bring his readers attention to the one with ultimate authority and power. For John, it is not about why bad things happen to good people or anything like that – the focus is on the one who will reign forever and ever.

Even though an empire may seem like it has total power, total control, total authority over all those in its dominion, it does not. God does. God alone has ultimate power and authority over everything under heaven and on earth. God is the one who makes mountains quake and nations tremble. Any power that Rome or any other empire may think it has comes from God and is thus bound, restricted, limited by God. Rome is not the ultimate power, God is.

The four horsemen begin the section of Revelation that imagines what the future tribulation will be like and it can be simply summed up as this: Life is hard, will continue to be hard, but the powers will not win; God will. What wondrous hope we may find in this. What needed hope.

The empire will not win nor does it have ultimate power over your life, no matter how it often seems like it does. In John’s time, the empire was the Romans, those that persecuted Christians, denied them the opportunity to worship freely, threw them to the dogs, used them as human torches, among other less than pleasant things. John spoke to them of hope through this vision, helped them to stay strong and faithful in the midst of persecution.

For you and I today, the empire looks a little different. While some of our brothers and sisters live in fear of religious persecution, we live in a nation that ensures freedom of religion. Our empire doesn’t look like room. Instead, it comes in the form of prejudice and phobia, disadvantages and doubt, temptation and trial. The empire appears in the forces of destruction, the ones that make you believe you will never see sunshine again, that the darkness will win.

The empire you face may be one like Rome but maybe it’s more like something you call stress. Stress over getting everything you need to do done; stress over providing for your family in tough economic times; stress over figuring out who it is you’re supposed to be and what you’re supposed to do.

Perhaps it’s what you call cancer. We have statistics and screenings but you never know if you’re going to get it or if you do, what’s going to happen. And the most insidious thing about this disease is that it’s not out there lurking, it’s in here. Sometimes it seems to have a power over you that no one can promise will not win.

Maybe your empire is something like depression. That sorrow and heaviness you just can’t shake off. That little voice inside that speaks lies, telling you that joy will not come with the morning.

Whatever the empire you face is called, John reminds us of the gospel truth – an earthly empire –stress, cancer, depression, bigotry, intolerance, materialism, sin, death—will not reign forever nor is its power over us complete. All of those things we deal with, we suffer through, are there – the empire is there as neither John nor we could deny—but these powers have nothing in comparison to the Lamb. God is the one with the true power – not Rome or anything or one else. God is the one who reigns and in the end all creation will sing of God’s glory forever and ever.

The four horsemen of the Apocalypse do not create an easily understood image. But the image they present is one of hope, one we can turn to when we fear that these earthly powers have won. War, Bloodshed, Famine, Death – these frightening forces may seem to have total dominion but they don’t. Neither do the empires that choose to weld them. These empires will never win – they can’t! God is the one who established the heavens and the earth and God is the one who created the power these empires abuse. No matter how terrible it may seem, God is the one who will win ultimately and save us eternally. God will win and we will be with God.

What could be more hopeful than that? Amen.

Smell-o-vision

2009-06-29T13:56:00.001-04:00

As you may know, the first two weeks of June I was blessed with continuing education experiences at Montreat. The first week I was there we were treated to a keynote and sermon from Otis Moss III – an African-American UCC pastor from Chicago. This man can proclaim the Word of God! I still get chills thinking about his sermon (and brought back a CD of it for anyone who’d like to take a listen).

Otis also led a workshop which I took part in and in this workshop I was treated with a wonderful reminder about the Bible. Otis walked us through the story of Jesus and the Gerasene demon in Mark 5. As Jesus steps out of the boat, a man (who cannot be bound by chains) comes running up to him from his home in the nearby tombs. Otis asked us “what do you notice?” A couple “churchy” responses rang out – “how he’s seeking out Jesus,” and “he’s in need of healing.” Otis shook his head and said, “what’s the first thing you notice?” Finally, someone shouted out “he smells!”

We all laughed but it was true – this man who lived in the tombs and was possessed by demons probably hadn’t had a bath lately. As we walked through the rest of the text, we paid attention to the sights, the sounds, and the smells. The story came alive – became real – for us in a way it hadn’t before.

It’s so easy to forget that these stories aren’t just texts for us to glean spiritual truths from – they’re real, visceral, and apparently (on occasion) smelly. As you come to the Bible in your personal devotions, I encourage you to try on Otis’ exercise. Imagine what your senses might pick up if you were there and don’t get too bogged down in “churchy” answers!

Shimmer and Shine

2009-05-30T23:43:00.002-04:00

Text: Acts 2:1-21

You may not fall victim to this, but I know when I read the Pentecost story, I get swept away in the supernatural elements. The winds, the flame, the astounding gift of tongues. And then to hear about the last days where there will be portents of blood, fire, and smoky mist, when the sun will be darkness and the moon turned to blood. Moon to blood - it’s hard not to get distracted by that!

With all these signs, it’s easy to miss the really amazing part of the story – a part that’s not even in the lectionary section for today - that on that very day three thousand people were baptized. Because of what they had heard – the good news in their own language.

This is the beginning of the church - the community of faith. Not just that the Holy Spirit came or that the disciples went from the room they were hiding in into the world, but that people who did not believe came to believe. It is from this moment that the church – our church – our family in Christ will continue to grow, to spread beyond the city of Jerusalem, to cross mountains and oceans and last longer than even the most powerful empires of the earth.

The church grew because along the way, followers of Christ continued to speak the Good News in new languages. And these languages aren’t just Greek or Hebrew, Spanish or English. The disciples could and did speak languages of different cultures and communities. That’s one of the reasons our four gospels sound different from one another. Not only did the writers have different perspectives, but they were writing to different communities – communities that might hear the good news in the language of Jewish prophecy fulfilled as was the case with Matthew or in the language of Greek rhetoric as was the case with John.

Empowered by the Holy Spirit, Christians have been able to reach out to people from different communities and nations and share the good news. The Holy Spirit has gifted those who would seek to share the Gospel with the ability to speak with people with different languages – languages made of words and languages made of culture.

The Holy Spirit has gifted and continues to gift the body of Christ with the languages we need to reach out and share the good news. The Holy Spirit continues to empower us to birth the family of faith in new communities and grow abundantly.

Then why are we dying?

Why does the church in our nation continue to hemorrhage members? Why does it seem people are more comfortable saying they are “spiritual” than to claim a community of faith? Oh, yes, individual churches may be growing but overall the church attendance in the United States is down just as the number of those who say they don’t believe in God is up.

There are certainly many reasons we can say why the church seems to be dying – division, moral relativism, the natural and historic growth patterns of the church that mean we shrink while new places like Africa or Latin America grow.

Maybe.

Or maybe there’s something else. The Holy Spirit has gifted us with the languages and ability to reach peoples of all ages, races, creeds, and contexts. And yet we don’t seem to be doing the best job of that. It’s not as though the Holy Spirit has stopped working or just isn’t around anymore. But something is different than it was on the first day of the church. And what’s different is us.

We have the gift of languages. Even if we can’t speak Swahili or Portuguese or anything like that, we can speak to people who would hear the good news in a different way than we do. Through the Holy Spirit that comes as fire and wind, we can speak as many languages as there are peoples.

But we aren’t. We aren’t speaking new languages – not loudly, not boldly. Instead of acting like we’re on fire with passion for the Gospel, we often act like the disciples before Pentecost, scared and silent, stuck up in the safety of our room, our comfort zone, with no one to worry about but ourselves.

But that’s not who we are called to be. We are called to run out of the safety and security of our walls, to speak loudly of God’s love, and to do so in ways that may be unfamiliar to us, in the hopes that the language we speak resonates with others.

When God sent the Spirit, began the church, the Holy One didn’t demand that all peoples hear the good news in the one true language of Aramaic, Greek, or Hebrew. No - the good news came to the people in their language. As children of the reformation, we can appreciate that God’s living word is one that is meant to be spoken in the language of the people - whatever that language may be.

We are called to speak new languages - not to demand that others learn ours.

The Good News is multicultural and multi-generational. So too must we be. While we - Covenant Presbyterian Church - cannot speak all the languages out there, we can learn a few more. We can learn to understand that brothers and sisters like those in our confirmation class hear and live out the Gospel in new ways and new words - though the Gospel is the same as it was in my generation or yours or yours. While we appreciate our way of worship or our way of education, our partnership with the Bedele congregation in Ethiopia reminds us that different practices and different priorities can still reflect the same faith.

I was talking with an acquaintance of mine the other night about not really being a morning person but managing to pretend reasonably well on Sunday mornings. He looked at me and said, “Yeah, what’s up with that? Why does church have to be in the morning?”

You know, I couldn’t think of a good answer.

That’s in part what I mean by speaking new languages. Maybe church doesn’t have to speak in the words of a morning service – other churches have services in the evenings, on different days. Maybe if we worshipped on Sunday evening this young adult would be more inclined to come since he didn’t have to get out of bed at an hour that in his language he would call too early. Or maybe if we learned to speak through mission instead of just hoping people will come to hear our speech in worship, or maybe if we were just bold enough to say “I love Jesus!,” without any shame, we would connect to those for whom our current language is just babble.

I don’t know. And we won’t know - we won’t know if these are the words we need to speak until we at least try some out. We won’t know if something is the language the Holy Spirit has gifted us with until we try to speak.

We have been hesitant to speak and live the Gospel in new ways in part because our old ways are really comfortable. We know what to expect and know we won’t be ridiculed for them. We know that if we go out into this world, alive and bright and burning with the power of God and the love of Christ, that when we shimmer and shine with the Holy Spirit, we’re gonna stand out. Like with the first disciples, people may look at us and think we’re crazy, foolish, or want to know what we’re on.

But we - like the disciples - need to risk appearing a bit foolish. Need to risk doing something that won’t work or stretches us past our comfort zones, knowing and trusting that the Advocate is still at work among us and within us.

We need to speak new languages so that those who do not hear the Good News in the words we speak now, will. So that they may come to know of God’s love and come to know a community of faith where they can be both nurtured and sent out into the world to share God’s grace with others.

Hate On Me

2009-05-24T00:23:00.001-04:00

Text: John 17:6-19

“I’ll pray for you.”

These words are ones that – I hope – we all have heard. A comforting offer in the midst of suffering, an empathetic gesture from a loved one when you’re in dire straits, even when you know that they are spoken because they’re the only thing someone can think to say. These words are appreciated and even needed.

Of course, there are times we may have heard these words that they were not quite so appreciated. Times and ways that you know they aren’t spoken in pure love and empathy. Ever hear something like: “Oh honey, I’ll pray for you,” as though you’ve gotten yourself in situation so bad only divine intervention will get you out. That kind of prayer, most of us can do with out.

But mostly, when someone reaches out and offers to think about you in their conversations with God, that gesture touches you deep. It’s thoughtful, moving, and reminds you that you’re not alone in your struggles. You have both God and the community of brothers and sisters in Christ.

As moving as it may be to have a friend, family member, even stranger, offer prayer on your behalf, think how powerful it is that Jesus – Son of God, Savior of All, the one who has been betrayed and—when we meet him in our text this morning—is soon to be crucified by the world and abandoned by most of his followers – Jesus prays for his disciples. He prays for us.

Jesus has been with his followers since the moment he called them – he has watched over them, taught them, empowered them. On the eve of his arrest, he takes time to offer prayer on their behalf. The prayer he offers is beautiful: “protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.” Protect them – God – for I have watched over them and now they are leaving my immediate care and all they have is each other. This prayer is one that I imagine many parents who have seen or will soon be seeing their children go off to college can identify with.

What the disciples will face—however—goes way beyond the tyranny of choice and temptations that can be found on college campuses. Jesus’ followers – the ones he called in person and the ones he continues to personally call – will be faced with a world that hates them.

Hates.

Not strongly dislikes or doesn’t really enjoy being around – hates.

The world Christ talks about is not a specific people or even all those people who do not know Christ. The world—this cosmos—is the powers and principalities, that interlocking web of laws, nations, cultures, values that we human beings contribute to yet which is beyond any one humans control or influence. This world is one full of those isms (racism and sexism), one that supports the theory of survival of the fittest, and one that hates those who follow Christ just as it hated him. Why? Because those who follow Christ do not follow the ways of the world – they don’t – we don’t – belong to the world. Which means that this world does not have the final word for us nor hold our ultimate allegiance.

And that makes Christ’s followers dangerous. And worthy of hate.

Hate… you know, love is so much nicer to talk about. Jesus loves the little children, God is love, love is all you need. While we are called to love – love God and love one another – it doesn’t mean that hate shouldn’t be or won’t be part of our conversations. For though God so loved the world that God sent the only Son, the world hated him and hates those who follow him.

Being hated is probably not something many of us are all that comfortable with. It’s much nicer to be loved, adored, respected. The parting gift at beauty pageants is Miss Congeniality, not Miss Contentious, after all.

I—for one—don’t want to be hated. I don’t want to know that because of my religion I may be mocked, derided, even despised. I don’t want to think that I may be called to follow in the footsteps of those who fled to these shores in search of freedom from religious persecution. I don’t want to believe that by believing in and working toward the kingdom of God, the kingdoms of this world will hate me or any of my brothers and sisters.

But being a follower of Christ means we are to love and know that we will be hated for that love. The world’s hate is not by itself a marker of whether or not we are following Christ fully – hardly. Hate unfortunately comes in too many packages for that. But it can be a telling sign of just how faithful we follow.

Looking at our history, those who followed Christ – who didn’t buy what the world said – who rejected the idea that the status quo was just fine – who spoke out for those who have been oppressed by the systems of dominance – have been met with the hatred of the world – and sometimes lost their lives to it. Martin Luther King, Jr, Oscar Romero, Dorothy Kazel and her fellow Ursuline sisters are just some of the names that stand out from the last 50 years.

Christ knows this is what will happen to those who follow him – knows when his disciples challenge the idea that certain people deserve to live in poverty or that violence is the only way to peace, that they will know derision and even death.

Knowing this, Christ—on the night before he himself is crucified for daring to speak against the world’s ways—offers prayers for those who follow him. He prays for many things but one thing he doesn’t pray for is that Christ’s followers would be sheltered from the world. No, indeed, those who follow Christ are called to be in the world.

It would be so much nicer if we could just stay out of the way. Do our thing and let the world revolve without any word of objection from us. Maybe build some walls to keep the world’s ways out and us safe. It may be easier, but if we follow Christ, it’s not an option.

We are sent into this world in Jesus’ name to live and love as he did – regardless of the consequences. Those who follow Christ are vulnerable in this world. We risk everything—yes, even our very lives—for the kingdom. But we are with God, are God’s, and that should bring us comfort and strength. In this season of Easter we should especially be aware that in Christ, through the power of the resurrection, that which seems the end isn’t. So when we risk our very lives, our standing, our popularity for the sake of the gospel – even that which seems the end (failure, hate, death) isn’t.

Christ prays for our unity with God and with one another because he knows—and has lived—the hard path his followers will travel. He knows that without a doubt, those who follow Christ will be hated.

So the question I have this morning is this: are we?

Are we hated? Do the systems of dominance and oppression of this world look at the church and tremble? Do they look at our church—our individual congregations, our Presbyterian community, the church universal—and see one challenge to the worldly reign after another? Do they see our worship, our outreach, our education as a threat to the forces that keep some people down while holding a select few up, that encourage blind eyes and deaf ears, that prop up idols of wealth, status, and power.

Or does the world that hates the followers of Christ, those who preserve the truth, look at us and see nothing to worry about? Nothing to hate?

This question won’t be answered by me this morning. I dare say it can’t be answered from any pulpit alone. Rather, we will find the answers (or at the very least more good questions) when we gather together around the word Christ has given us, in conversation, in action, in prayer.

As we gather together, we may dare to ask one another whether or not we’re too comfortable, whether or not we are taking risks, are putting ourselves out there for the sake of the Gospel. If yes, then we may find comfort in Christ’s prayer for us. If no, then perhaps we will find a challenge as well as compassion.

Christ is no longer in this world. But we are. And it is through us that God will be glorified, through us that the world will know of Christ’s love – even if this world hates us…. Amen.

Where is the Love?

2009-05-09T23:58:00.001-04:00

Texts: 1 John 4:7-21; John 15:1-4

There’s good news for the economy – an upswing in spending has taken place this past week. And we can thank mothers for that. The National Retail Federation estimates that we Americans will spend an average of $124 this Mother's Day. In looking for ways to show Mom our love, nearly 67 percent of us will go the tried and true route – flowers – and thus pump the floral industry with about $2 billion dollars. Others of us will buy jewelry, gift cards, chocolate, and spa packages (these gifts, incidentally, work well for Pastors’ Appreciation day too). 50% of us will take Mom out to lunch and most of us are sending cards – all adding up to about $14 billion dollars spent to tell Mom we love her.[1]

Not to get on the bad side of all the moms who enjoy the flowers and the chocolates, but it seems to me that there might better ways to show Mom we love her than spending money on stuff.

The Mother of Mother’s Day had similar thoughts. Inspired by her own mother, Anna Jarvis spent almost a decade campaigning to get a day set aside to honor moms. Staunton’s own Woodrow Wilson made it official in 1914. We celebrate Mother’s Day on the second Sunday of the month because it coincides with the anniversary of Anna’s mother’s death. She wanted a holy day – not a holiday – set aside to honor the dedication and sacrifice of each individual mother with – at best – a single white carnation and a handwritten letter given as tokens of affection.

Over the years, white carnation have some how transformed into white diamond pendants the commercials tell us will really let Mom know we care. It broke Anna’s heart – among other things[2] – when Mother’s Day began to be the commercial holiday we know today. She wanted this day to be about love, not profit. And as far as all those Hallmark cards go, they are – according to her – “a poor excuse for the letter you are too lazy to write.”

As a daughter who is hoping a phone call to her mom will be enough this year, those words of Anna’s strike a chord. Quite frankly, I don’t know of many moms who would rather have a box of chocolates over something heartfelt and time-consuming—like a hand-written letter, or your amateur painting, or (one of my mom’s favorites) a list of chores she does around the house that you’re taking over for awhile.

Those thoughtful things often get left behind on the “good idea” shelf while we take the easier option. Enter the diamond pendants and $2 billion spent on flowers. Showing someone you love them – whether that someone is your mother, father, sibling, partner, friend – can be a challenge. Especially when we’ve been taught that showing someone you love them means getting that perfect gift – that perfect thing. We’ve been taught this and many of us have come to believe it to be true, even though I doubt many of us would be able to say “I knew my husband loved me when he bought me a new car,” or “I knew my friend really cared when she bought me an iPod case.”

We can say “I love you, I love you, I love you,” but our actions need to match our words—after all, they speak louder. And that’s not as simple as treating Mom to dinner once a year. Showing those we love that we love them takes time, energy, and effort. The hand-written letter versus the greeting card. Love isn’t easy.

When it comes to the one who is Mother and Father to us all – it certainly doesn’t get any easier. Oh, some things are easier. We don’t have to wonder if sending God a card or a flower is a good enough way to show our love. Taking God out to dinner isn’t an option neither is that diamond pendant. We don’t have to guess about the ways in which God knows that we really care.

Our epistle lesson this morning tells us plainly, “those who say, ‘I love God,’ and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or a sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.”

How do we show God our love? By loving one another. Not just a passive love – but an active one. Right before his crucifixion, Jesus tells us that those who show kindness to the least among us, offering food, water, shelter, clothes, compassion, are the ones who show our love to him. Right before his ascension, Jesus reinforces our ways of expressing love to God for when he asks Peter if he loves him, and the Rock replies “you know I do,” what does Jesus say back? “Then feed and tend my sheep.”

We show God’s love to the world – and our love to God – when we love one another.

No worries about the perfect present, no doubts about if God will understand what we’re trying to say when we mow the lawn or do the dishes without being asked – we know how to express our love. But just because we know how doesn’t mean it’s easy to do. It would be so much simpler to be able to love God by coming to church every Sunday, putting money in the offering plate, and leave it at that. While worshipping God and stewardship of resources are certainly part of loving God – they aren’t the totality.

God asks us to love the unlovable. I’m talking about those mean, nasty people that make you cry, make you angry, make you so frustrated. God asks us to take care of those who are in need – even if we may wonder just how they got themselves in such dire circumstances in the first place. God asks us to share the good news of the gospel in word and deed with all – not just our children here in the safety of our church walls - but all God’s children, just outside these walls and far beyond.

We do not do these things in order to earn God’s love – that would be impossible. For the only way we can love is because God first loved us. No, we do these things in response to God’s love – to show God our own love back.

It would be some much easier just to send God a greeting card. I don’t have to tell you how tough it is to love people you just don’t give you any reason to love them – in fact, give you every worldly reason to not. Nor how against the grain it can feel to go out of your way to help someone you’re not quite sure deserves to be helped. Nor how uncomfortable it can be to tell people about the love of God when you’re pretty sure they don’t want to hear it.

Yep, a greeting card or one of those edible fruit bouquets would be so much easier.

But love isn’t easy. Not even when it comes to the One who is love.

It’s not easy, but it’s not impossible.

Hardly.

“If we love one another, God lives in us, and God’s love is perfected in us.”

Our epistle lesson reminds us that when do all of these things – love our enemies, take care of the poor, proclaim the good news and so much more – we do so with the aid of the One who loves us first. When we love, it is God’s love we are sharing and showing. When we love one another, we know God and are empowered by God to love back.

“God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God and God abides in them.”

Abide – not just stopping by for a cup of tea. But staying, dwelling, sinking in deep. When we let love dwell in us, God is there. God is in our heartbeat, our breath, our hands and our souls. As Jesus tells his disciples – we can only bear good fruit if we abide in him as he abides in us. And we can. We can show God our love by loving one another because God is in us, empowering us, strengthening us, perfecting love within us.

Loving God – expressing that love in true and faithful ways – is not an easy task. Much more challenging than any hand-written note. But it is so worth the time, effort, and energy. God’s love is so powerful it created the world, redeemed the world through the Son, and renews the world every single day. The love that flung the stars into the heavens, brought forth the rules of physics and beauty of music, gave creatures breath and imagination, is the same love that abides in us. This love can do anything – God can do anything – and do anything through us.

When we find it hard to love as God would have us love, we can remember how much we are loved and find strength in that. Turn to the perfect love in which we cannot fear. Draw on the source of love in order to bear good fruit of peace, justice, compassion, and mercy.

Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God – and love is for God. God is love. May we abide in the One who is love and may God abide in us. Amen.

[1] Mother’s Day Gifts. 5/9/099. < http://www.nbc-2.com/Articles/readarticle.asp?articleid=29351&z=3>

[2] Anna went broke with lawsuit after lawsuit, trying to bring Mother’s Day back to her original conception. She died penniless in a Pennsylvania mental institution.

Doubting Thomas

2009-04-19T00:33:00.004-04:00

Texts: 1 John 1:1-2:2, John 20:19-31
Our Gospel story this morning is one many of us are very familiar – it’s one of the few stories we have about the risen Christ and so it gets told fairly frequently. We may be familiar with this story but we aren’t as familiar with this man. Who he was, what drove him to follow Jesus, why he was so focused on the tangible “proof” of this great mystery called the resurrection.

Maybe he struggled with being left out or forgotten; maybe he was from one of those Jewish schools of thought that just didn’t believe in the resurrection at all; maybe he was just confused about everything he was hearing about a risen Christ because the story was getting a little muddled second hand. Or maybe not.

We don’t know much about Thomas the disciple I think because we don’t need to. Because doubting Thomas could easily be doubting Amy or doubting Tom, doubting Janey or doubting Bob. When we read the story of Thomas, we can see ourselves standing in his place – just as the writer of John wanted us to.

We all doubt. We all have doubts about God’s presence or about the nature of God or about even the very existence of God. It’s unfortunate that somewhere along the way, many of us have gotten it into our heads that these doubts we have are a bad thing, an ungodly thing, a sinful thing. Doubt isn’t wrong. Look at the story of our doubting Thomas. Jesus doesn’t condemn the disciple – rather meets him where he is. Thomas is just as scared as the other disciples were—hiding behind that locked door—and not quite ready to accept their news – and such news. Sure, some Jews believed in the resurrection, but on the last day – not 3 days after you’ve died. This walking, talking, self-same body today resurrection cannot be true.

Jesus gets it. He gets that Thomas needs to see him just as the other disciples did. And when Thomas does, does see the risen Christ, he professes his faith.

Thomas does not believe in the risen Christ – in his Lord and God – until he sees him. And that’s not so different from any of us. Jesus says that those who do not see and yet believe are blessed. And so it is. Those past the first generation do not get to see Jesus of Nazareth raised from the dead but many believe.

We believe because Jesus offers us too his hand—his presence—though not in the physical sense. We believe when we hear the stories of faith—stories from the Bible and stories from disciples of ages past and ages present who tell us of their encounters with the risen Christ. We believe because we have known and felt Christ’s presence in our lives.

But there are times in all of our lives—days, seasons, and even years—when these stories and memories don’t sustain us. And that’s okay. There is room for doubt in faith. One of the things we tell the confirmation class is that we can never know about God beyond a doubt – we can feel, we can believe – but scientific, testable, human controllable understanding – nope. We don’t get to touch Jesus’ side or put our hands in the holes in his hands.

And so sometimes—especially in a world that demands “proof” for so many things—the stories don’t get us through. Jesus understands this and doesn’t condemn doubt. Doubt in itself isn’t a bad thing. Fredrick Buchener calls it the ants in the pants of faith. It can keep your faith awake, moving, growing. When we doubt, we have an opportunity to wonder and spend more time seeking out God, and in spending time seeking—and finding God’s presence—we can grow in our faith.

Doubt isn’t something to condemn but to understand and live through. The problem with doubt comes when we just sit down in the middle of it and refuse to get up. When you doubt and just stay in the midst of that, not doing any work or soul-searching or anything to move beyond.

We all doubt God and we all need to acknowledge/honor our doubt, and move beyond it.

That’s easier said than done. We can’t just think or wish or work our way into faith. Faith, as the Paul reminds us, is a gift from God. But we can broaden our awareness of God’s presence, be on the active lookout, seek God out in order that we may see, hear, touch, feel and believe. Like Thomas we often need to see for ourselves. Hearing other people’s stories about how God has touched their lives doesn’t always cut it. We need to feel God or see God too. And so in order to deal with our doubt, we have to engage the world around us with this desire to know God firmly in place. Thomas didn’t believe the words of his friends but he didn’t just give up. He said “I need to see for myself.” Sure, he comes off sounding a bit stubborn about it but his willingness to be available to God was there.

When we doubt, we too need to be available to God. We need to open our eyes and our hearts to what God may show us – from the big moments to the mundane, from the sacred to the secular. Because the presence of God is out there – and it may just surprise you where you find it.

This past weekend I was at our Presbytery's women's conference preaching and leading worship. Something many of us had seen either on the news or on youtube came up in conversation. A moment that made us pause in surprise. I invite you to see this moment yourself.

In this beautiful moment in Susan Boyle's life, we saw God’s presence. Saw God in this woman's confidence and in the way the audience allowed themselves to be carried away by the power of her voice.

Our lives can be filled with so many of those moments—but we have to look. We can’t shut our eyes and stop our ears to God. When Jesus tells Thomas “blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe,” I think he meant that quite literally. Blessed are those who hadn’t seen the risen Christ before them and yet believe. We don’t have the risen Christ – we can’t point him out to our friends and say “see, I told you he was real.” But we do have those small moments of God’s presence that we can see and name for what they are. We don’t have the risen Christ but we do have the Spirit of Christ. For all the ways he stands for us in the story of Jesus’ followers, Thomas perhaps had it a bit easier than we do. He got to see and touch and know Christ in a physical, tangible, provable way. We don’t. Instead we get this glimpses of God’s presence in the world around us, if we keep our eyes open.

So blessed are those who do not see the risen Christ standing before them and yet believe. Blessed are those who see the small signs of God’s presence and recognize them for what they are. May we each be so blessed as to see God’s presence in our midst and believe. Amen.

Small Group Seder

2009-03-31T23:26:00.001-04:00

This last Monday the Young Adult small group met for the last time in our normal location. The 6 week gathering will meet once more to celebrate Passover Seder together – exploring the spiritual practice of ritual.

I’ll post the other spiritual practices when I’m at my work computer and can pull up the file, but for now I wanted to reflect on the Seder. For the last 4 years some young adult friends (many from the church) and I have gathered in someone’s house to observe the meal that Jesus celebrated the night of his arrest. I love this tradition. I love getting to break out my Hebrew skills (which, sadly for those involved, were always much stronger in the translating than the pronouncing). I love remembering what God has done in the life of God’s people. I love explore such an ancient rite with those from a generation that is known for its lack of religious affiliation.

If you’ve never observed a Seder, consider looking into it. The church has several great resources (include the 30-Minute Seder for you busy families) and we’d be happy to loan them out. Remembering that God has always been a God of wonderful impossibilities, a God who seeks life and freedom for God’s people, is a great way to spend an evening during Holy Week.

The Temple

2009-03-14T20:09:00.001-04:00

Texts: Micah 5:7-15; John 2:13-22

The courtyard is hardly a calm scene when he enters. Oxen, sheep, and birds of all kinds of feathers are making their barnyard noises – and their barnyard smells. The noise of construction echoes off the walls of the courtyard. Of the hundreds of thousands of people that may travel to the Temple during this holy time, perhaps several thousands are there now. Roman soldiers trying to keep the peace, pilgrims from across the lands—Jews and even God-fearing Gentiles speaking in all kinds of different tongues, merchants and moneychangers crying out “come see my goods, I’ve got the lowest prices, get it now while stocks still last.”

Into this already chaotic space, Jesus enters and manages to stir up even greater pandemonium. He’s flinging over tables, chucking money around, MacGyvering a whip to chase the animals out. Even those who do not understand his language understand the gesture of his actions. He is does not approve of what Jewish historian Josephus calls the “bazaar of the high-priest.”

“Stop,” he cries out. “Stop making my father’s house a market-place.”

The Jesus that enters the courtyard surrounding the Temple is not-too-pleased with what he sees; he’s down right angry. What exactly has set him off, we can’t be sure. Perhaps he’s angry that pilgrims will have to pay good chunks of their hard-earned wages for an animal to sacrifice. Perhaps the merchants and money-lenders are exploiting the needs of the people—an unblemished animal—and the limited availability of places to purchase those needs (kind of like the exorbitant cost of a coke at an amusement park).

Or perhaps Jesus is angry with the system itself. Angry that faithful people have been told they need to pay money just to be near God – after all, the Temple is understood to be the house of God and no one can get to the Temple without paying the temple tax.

Whatever is making Jesus’ angry, we know that this angry display is Jesus’ first public act in the Gospel according to John. He has visited with John the Baptist, quietly turned water into wine, and now this. By placing this story at the beginning of his gospel, the writer of John lets us know from the get-go that this Jesus isn’t just about healing, teaching, and changing water into wine. This Jesus is here to make waves, cause a stir, re-order how things work around here.

This Jesus is one we don’t talk about all that much. We’re much more comfortable with the “let the little children come to me” Jesus, the “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing” Jesus. This dramatic outburst is seemingly uncharacteristic of the Jesus who heals and teaches and has continuing patience with his followers – the “get behind me Satan” exchange we heard about last Sunday notwithstanding.

But if Jesus is indeed the full self-revelation of God, the fullness of God come among us—as we confess—then of course he gets angry. There’s a formula we here over and over in the Old Testament (and in fact we heard as part of our declaration of pardon last Sunday) – “the Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.”

This statement of faith repeated throughout our sacred texts is beautiful in its simple truth. God is all of those things – including slow to anger. But though it may take awhile, God does still get angry. Our scripture from Micah reminds us of that.

What makes God angry? The prophet Micah saw nothing but violence, deceit, worshiping of false Gods – from both the people of Judah and the other nations and spoke of God’s anger. While each indecent of God’s anger has a specific cause - it basically boils down to this: God becomes angry when people do not love God as we should – whether with our worship, our words, our actions.

Practice injustices against the poor and the oppressed – God’s gonna get angry; Worship idols (Ba’al, a golden calf, success, money) over God – God’s gonna get angry; Sit idly by when people need to be fed, sheltered, loved – God’s gonna get angry.

I would certainly understand if right now you’re shifting uncomfortably in your seats. Many of us contemporary Christians are uneasy with thinking about an angry God. Perhaps it’s because we’ve heard too many people speak about that angry God in such a way that it cannot be reconciled with the loving God we are comfortable with. A God who is forever angry at the people, a God who is so close to bringing down wrath, fire, and brimstone.

Perhaps we’re so uncomfortable with anger and God because we’ve seen so many unhealthy and distorted examples of anger. This past week alone in the news we’ve had too many stories of people taking out their anger in the worst ways - they pick up guns and end innocent lives with no thought beyond their own pain, their own desire to inflict wrath or punishment on the world.

That selfish, uncontrolled anger is not God’s anger. No matter how dire God’s anger may seem, it is not constant anger nor is it the anger of uncontrolled rage. God’s anger is just one aspect of the divine – an aspect that is infused with grace, mercy, and love. This anger is an anger that comes from love—that steadfast love we so easily speak about—not hate or pain. God’s anger is always righteous anger: anger that is not reactionary but stems from people being repetitively unfaithful. Anger that may bring about punishment—yes—but always leaves a remnant; always leaves hope; always leaves a chance to grow, change, repent. Anger that in this season of Lent we may particularly appreciate calls us to turn back to God and God’s ways.

God’s anger as we see in Jesus Christ is not about pain or getting even: it’s about righteous change. In Jesus we see that God’s anger is about clearing out the unjust ways to make a path for justice.

It’s important to appreciate and understand this aspect of God not just so we understand God more fully, but so we understand ourselves and our own call. We are made in the image of God. Anger is a part of us even as it is a part of God. Of course, in our sinful states, we often misuse that anger for selfish purposes; let pain guide our anger instead of love. But just as we strive to love as God would love, speak as God would speak, serve as God would serve, we can strive to be angry as God would be angry. We can strive be informed by that anger and answer the call to turn over a few tables ourselves.

There is certainly danger here – danger in become self-righteous instead of righteous; danger in appropriating the things that upset us and make them the things that upset God. In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul tells us to go ahead and be angry, but not to sin . That balance can be hard to achieve.

This is why we have one another, why we have the scriptures, why we have the guidance of the Holy Spirit. If we as the body of Christ strive to known only God’s anger, then this anger will: take time to build, stem from love and not hate, be one that acknowledges our own faults, seek to cleanse not condemn, and ultimately strive to bring about justice for all God’s people. Anger can be a dangerous thing but it can also be a very useful thing. Anger keeps us from being complacent. It is a spark that helps us know something isn’t right and we have to act.

There are some things I dare say we at Covenant are already feeling angry about. It’s not just out of charity that we work at food banks, service in soup kitchens, plant and harvest potatoes for those in need. We do these things because something stirs us to action; because we see the injustice of a world where some people have more than their fill while others starve, we see this and we want to turn over some tables.

This spark of anger towards injustice can drive us to do even more. When Jesus enters the Temple, he clears out individual money-lenders and merchants, but he isn’t here for just these particular individuals. Jesus is concerned with the whole Temple system. When he speaks about the Temple, those around him believe he is speaking about the building they see. Instead, Jesus is speaking about his body, a new Temple and with it a new way of thinking about God, a new way of worshiping: a new, more just way. Jesus’ righteous anger leads him to speak and act out against both the symptoms—the merchants and moneychangers—and the cause of injustice—a religious institution that demands money and costly sacrifices for access to God’s presence. At the very beginning of his ministry, Jesus is letting all know—even if they don’t yet understand—that his kingdom is coming.

This spark of anger towards injustice drives us to serve; it also drives us to speak out and stand out. Speak out against the policies and politics that keep some fed and others hungry; speak out against the consumption of the few to the detriment of the many; stand out as those trouble makers who just can’t leave well enough alone because we know a world in which each day, over 26,000 children under the age of 5 die from preventable diseases, with malnutrition contributing to at least half of those deaths, that this world is not “well” at all.

As the body of Christ we strive to look at the world through the God’s eyes. See beauty in what the world calls ugly. See hope where the world proclaims only despair. See someone worthy of love in one the world says to hate. We also see injustice where the world proclaims fairness. See chains where the world assures us all are free. We see tables that need to be overturned where the world sees a chance to profit.

As the body of Christ, we speak out when others won’t, stand up when others can’t, stop denying the things that make God angry and answer when we are called by God to act. We write letters, we call our congresspersons, we reorient our own choices toward God’s justice. Stirred by God’s righteous anger, we reach out to this broken world, offering new ways of living and being, offering new hope and possibility, offering the love of the God we know in Christ, the God who is gracious and merciful, is slow to anger and is abounding in steadfast love. Amen.

More Spiritual Practices

2009-03-10T21:35:00.003-04:00

This last gathering of the young adult small group, we talked about spiritual practices that involve your body. If you'd like to play along at home, here are some suggestions for ways to engage the Divine.

Exercise – not only is it good for your health, it’s good for your soul. When you engage in your favorite exercise, try incorporating a piece of scripture or concentrate on a sacred image. With exercise that requires a lot of concentration (i.e. punching) try to stay focused on your holy thought. With exercise where you can let your mind wander (i.e. yoga, walking) start with a sacred thought and just let that mind go. Try and pay attention to how your body feels, what it may be saying to you (not just “Ouch – no more” but maybe something a little deeper).

Fasting – There are lots of ways to fast. You can fast from food for a whole day (sunrise to sunset); you can choose to eat only certain foods for a set period of time; you can opt out of one type of food in particular (like chocolate – ahahah!!!).

You may also consider fasting from something else connected to the body – a negative body image. Have something you don’t like about your body, stop picking on yourself. Instead, try looking at whatever you don’t like through God’s eyes – you’re beautiful!

Moderation – you don’t always need to go to the extremes; pick something that maybe you don’t allow yourself anything of (carbs, salt, etc) and have a little. Pick something you overindulge in and take a step back.

Indulgence – We often think of spiritual practices of the body equaling denial and/or abuse of the body. God gave us this great creation and doesn’t want us to ignore it – the occasional indulgence is a good thing! Try getting a pedicure, a massage, take a bath – whatever you indulge in do so in thanksgiving to God for this body that can enjoy such indulgences.

Prayer Postures – You can pray any time and any place, standing up or sitting down. Sometimes, however, changing your physical stance can help to make the time sacredly set apart. Try praying while kneeling, laying down; however you normally pray, do something different with your body. Be intentional about it.

Dancing – And here’s where we may step outside our comfort zone. Put on some music, close the blinds if you need to, and just let your body move. You’re following in the great tradition of folks like Miriam and David. Move that body – let the Spirit move ya – and just enjoy the sensations. Open yourself up to what you feel as you move.

Some Spiritual Practice Ideas

2009-03-03T20:43:00.002-05:00

The Young Adult Lenten Small Group met for the first time last night. We had great discussion and reflection. At the end of the evening, I passed out a sheet with suggestions for spiritual practices to try during the week - all centered around scripture. I thought I'd share those practices here.

Daily Reading: Sounds simple enough. Every day read a bit of the Bible. You can start at the very beginning (Genesis) and read until you get tired then pick up where you left off the next day; you can read a Psalm a day; read a chapter of a Gospel a day; read an epistle a day – however you want to organize your reading, just read!

Lectio Divina: check out this website for information on this practice

Acting Out: Pick a scripture (probably an action story – there are some good bloody ones in the OT) and act it out. Include costumes, props, sound effects – whatever you think will enhance your fun/focus

Illustrating: Pick a verse of scripture and write it out on a piece of paper. Just start doodling around the scripture, add flourish to the letters, feel what the scripture may be inspiring you to draw.

Getting in the Scene: Find a story in the Bible you enjoy (perhaps one that is very familiar to you) and imagine you’re a character in that story (mentioned in the Bible or not). Reflect on the story from your character’s perspective.

Walk Down This Mountain

2009-02-22T10:17:00.002-05:00

Texts: Psalm 50:1-6; Mark 9:2-9

I don’t know if it’s true but I have heard that our Gospel story this morning is where we get the phrase “mountain top experience.” It certainly seems like it could be true – because this wonderful, cinemascope moment we have with Jesus and the three disciples, encapsulates what we mean when we talk about “mountain top” moments.

Those moments when you feel and see and believe that God is here, bright with love, as amazing as we have been told in Sunday school classes and as glorious as we sing about in our worship, when you feel just a little bit closer to God – these are our mountain top experiences. Some of us actually have them on mountain tops – when we look out at the vista below and marvel at the hand of the Creator who formed all this; if not on a mountain, some of us have them while enjoying other parts of God’s or perhaps when we are with our family and friends.

And some of us may not have experienced a transcendent moment where God reveals Godself to us in a clear, bright way. We can’t talk about our own personal experience but we listen to the stories of others and wonder what that would feel like.

Wherever we may have known God’s bright clear presence, or whether or not we have personally known such a moment – we all can, I think, imagine that the disciples’ mountain top experience is probably as overwhelming as anything we have experienced or heard about. While we may have experiences where we feel God so close, I wonder how many of us seen the dead come back to chit chat with God.

Peter, James, and John – the inner circle of the disciples as some describe them – go up to high place with Jesus. It is six days after Jesus has told all his disciples about his death and resurrection, days after Peter has proclaimed Jesus as Messiah, and now Jesus is going to share with these faithful few a theophany – an encounter with God and an epiphany – a making known of some Good News.

This moment is unlike any other in the disciples’ journey – at least before Jesus’ death and resurrection. Oh they’ve seen things - healings and exorcisms, miracles including people being raised from the dead, but this moment goes beyond all of that. On this mountain top, the disciples get a glimpse of the fullness of who Christ is – beyond the earthly Messiah to the heavenly Son. They see clothes so bright they cannot be of this world and then... well if Jesus’ razzle dazzle clothes weren’t enough to convince his disciples something else was afoot – the return of Moses and Elijah probably confirmed Jesus this was not the average day in the life of a disciple.

Now before we continue with the story, it’s probably a good idea to stop and acknowledge that this tale sometimes seems a bit of a whale. Even though this moment is mentioned in all 3 of the synoptic Gospels, it doesn’t get a lot of coverage in our conversations – rarely is it mentioned in people’s top ten Bible stories. Perhaps it’s because this encounter leaves us with so many questions that we have a hard time wrapping our minds around what is going on.

Was Jesus actually transformed – or was this one moment where the disciples saw who he truly was, saw beyond their earthly perceptions and preconceptions to the fullness of God’s glory revealed in Christ?

We too might wonder why Moses and Elijah came to speak with Jesus? And how the disciples even know it was Moses and Elijah? Were they wearing “Hello My Name Is...” nametags or is that part of the whole life after death thing – we’ll just know one another?

Whatever the answer to these questions, we know that they point to Jesus’ identity. The scene itself may seem like a brilliant blockbuster moment, but it has more meaning than just show. We know that in speaking with Moses and Elijah, Jesus is showing the disciples that he is the fulfillment of the law and the prophets. In speaking with Elijah in particular, we are reminded of the Hebrew prophecies that say when Elijah returns, the kingdom of God is at hand. And in speaking with those who have gone before, Jesus shows us that in him there is promise of life beyond death.

We learn so much about Jesus in the glimpse of this encounter. And even though we don’t hear the words these three holy figures exchange, we do hear what God would say. In a scene that echoes Jesus’ baptism, a voice from the sky breaks through and announces: “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him.”

And just as soon as it began – not but 6 verses later – this transcendent moment is over. The disciples don’t build any dwellings or shrines up on that high place, instead they walk back down the mountain. And as they walk, Jesus tells them to keep quite about all they have seen, heard, and learned until later.
Surely that sounds strange to our ears. We hear over and over again that we are to share the Good News; go forth and make disciples of all nations; speak of Christ in all we do and say. So why, then, does Christ tell the disciples with him to keep quiet? Why not share this amazing story that confirms Christ’s power and glory to all?

It is poor Peter—the one who sometimes gets it so right and sometimes gets it so wrong—that helps us understand why Jesus told his disciples to remain silent instead of bear witness.

Peter’s response to seeing Jesus speaking with Moses and Elijah is almost comical. He doesn’t know what to say so he just babbles the first thought that pops into his head. “Let’s build something – a booth, a house, a permanent place. Perhaps Moses would enjoy a small bungalow and Elijah a nice split-level.” Peter wants to set a marker down for the whole world to see – or at least for the inner circle to come back to – that says “here was where we saw God.”

What Peter wanted to build would have been a perfectly good and traditional expression of something that transcended what he knew before. Before, people built booths, permanent dwellings for their Gods, a place to mark and be able to come back to and say “God was here!” Before, people—like Moses and Elijah—went to mountain tops to seek out God. Before, it was thought that on the high places you could come closest to God.

But this was all before Jesus. Before the full story of God Jesus came to tell. And Peter’s reaction to the transfiguration shows Jesus and us that the disciples – even though they knew he was Messiah, knew he was God’s own – that they didn’t understand the full story Jesus was trying to tell.

Jesus instructs them to remain silent about what they had seen until after he has risen from the dead because then and only then can they understand what this mountain top experience means in the fullness of God’s story.

It is not until after the resurrection that the disciples – then and now – can comprehend that this moment isn’t just about light shining, Elijah and Moses appearing, and God’s voice coming through the clouds. Only until the death and resurrection of Christ can we come to know in our hearts that the God we see on that mountain—the one who is full of light, the one who is the fulfillment of all promises and prophecies—is the same God who walks down the mountain, the same God who continues to teach and heal, the same God who suffers, dies, and is risen from the dead.

Peter, James, and John are terrified of what they witness; in their fear and trembling, they don’t appreciate who the God revealed in Jesus is, that God is with them – not just on mountain tops or mountaintop experiences, but in the mundane and even in the miserable. God in glory they get; but God in the darkness, in the grave – that will be so much harder. They don’t understand that God doesn’t need a permanent place because God is in every place – the bright, shining spots as well as the dark and cold corners.

It’s hard for the disciples – even this inner circle – to fully understand that God is with them—in everything. It can be hard for us too.

Hard to hear the news that this little spot the doctor’s found is that dreaded thing called cancer – hear that and be completely sure and assured that God is with you. Hard to be in the middle of a painful break-up that tears apart your self-confidence and believe that God is there, loving you and promising you that you are worthy of love. Hard to find out that the security you thought you had – the job, the retirement savings, the house – isn’t as secure as you thought and trust that God is with you in those moments. Hard – but not impossible.

Jesus transforms our understanding of God. Through his life, death, and resurrection, we know that God isn’t just on a mountain, isn’t just in those mountain top experiences: God’s in the hospital room when the doctor give you the bad news; God’s sitting next to you, hand on your shoulder as you cry your eyes out after a new heartbreak; God’s standing in the unemployment assistance line with you when you swallow your pride and ask for help.

Jesus doesn’t just show off his power, his authority, his glory and then leave the disciples alone. He walks down the mountain with them, continues to teach and heal, and then faces the cross – takes upon himself the sins of the world.

When the disciples do get to tell the story about Jesus on the mountain top, they tell it with the fuller understanding that Jesus isn’t just about power and glory, isn’t just about amazing feats and a who's who of biblical proportions. The story Peter, James, and John tell is one about a God who loved us all so much as to come among us, die for us, and defeat death for us. A God who is no ordinary God, no mountaintop God. Rather, they tell and we'll tell about a God who is a God who is with us everywhere and in everything. We may know God more clearly on a mountain top, but God knows us fully and is with us forever. Praise be to God. Amen.

I Survived

2009-02-17T14:35:00.003-05:00

Well, it came and went and no great walls came crashing down.

I am now 29 years old.

I realize that for many of you that's still a babe in the woods and while I'm actually looking forward to my thirties, this 29 thing - on the edge but not quite there - has seemed a little weird to me. But, as I said on Sunday, it's been pretty great so far - so great in fact I may have another 29th birthday and year (or two).

For my birthday I headed out to Chicago to spend time with one of my dearest friends. On the big day we ate yummy so bad for you food, bowled, played laser tag (I'd never done that before - it was a blast!), laughed with friends, and of course, had cake.

All in all, one of the best birthdays I've had in the past few years. So thank you again, for the cards, the wishes, the understanding and patience when I've whined about turning 29. Let's do it again next year!

And because some of you asked...

2009-01-29T15:43:00.004-05:00

Here's a pic of Cassy and I in our ballgowns. I know, who knew we could clean up so nice?

Now Cassy normally doesn't make that face, but we were dancing and our friend just snapped a pic... and this was the only photo of us at the ball where you can see our dresses... and let's just hope she doesn't kill me for posting this pic!

Waving Shyly

2009-01-26T17:40:00.002-05:00

So, yes, it has been awhile since I've updated this blog. Something about Advent and Christmas maybe. But enough with the excuses - on to the witty and brilliant insights.

*chirp, chirp*

Okay, well, I seem to be insightless today but I can share with you some excitement.

Some friends and I went to the Inauguration last week and I'm still all aglow. I wanted to go for the history of the moment - something to tell my kids/nieces and nephews about - but got something I didn't expect. I had no idea that with 2+ million people gathering, there would be such love expressed among strangers. All those people, all that stressful crowding and traveling at a crawl down streets, and everyone was so kind to one another. Sometimes you see the worst in humanity but I have to say, I think I saw some of the simplest best.

Wishin' and Hopin'

2008-11-29T21:36:00.001-05:00

Texts: Isaiah 64:1-9; 1 Corinthians 1:3-9

Though we haven’t hung the greens in the church yet and we’re all still digesting our Thanksgiving feast, our church calendar has kept rolling along, a new year has begun and the season of Advent has arrived! We will have 25 days to prepare for the coming of Christ—25 days to remember past celebrations and 25 days to make new memories to share for years to come. 25 days to enjoy our favorite aspects of the Advent and Christmas seasons—things we will enjoy sharing with our family and our friends.

We all have favorite parts of Advent and Christmas—and but we also all have least favorite aspects. Maybe it’s the commercial nature Christmas seems to have taken in our culture or maybe it’s the fruitcake that gets passed around your friend circle and never gets eaten.

If you’re a kid – I can probably guess what your least favorite part of Advent and Christmas is: waiting. Waiting for school to get out, waiting for your family to arrive or for your plane to take off, and worst of all—waiting to open your presents. I can still remember lying in bed early Christmas morning wondering: Is it time yet? Has Santa come? Can I get up now and open presents or is it only 2am? When will Mom and Dad be awake?

There’s almost nothing worse... Except for one thing: waiting with all that anticipation and then being disappointed when what you’ve been waiting for doesn’t meet your expectations. Perhaps you were hoping for the new Wii game and got a tube of socks instead; or maybe you got what you wanted and then found out it wasn’t as great as you had been led to believe.

However, wherever, whyever – wishing, hoping, and then waiting and waiting and waiting for something... and then that something doesn’t happen like you expected or even at all—this is tough situation to swallow and is often followed by emotions like regret, anger, frustration.

This particular period of disappointment and frustration is where we find the Israelites the prophet speaks to in our Isaiah passage this morning. This passage is taken from what’s known as Third Isaiah. First Isaiah—where we get those lovely passages like a tree shall shoot up from the stump of Jessie—proclaims the future fall of the people and was written around the 8th century B.C.E. Second Isaiah—which begins with the beautiful passage of hope—comfort, comfort ye my people—was written during the fall—during the Babylonian exile. Within this time and in this section of the book of Isaiah, we have bright hopes for a new day, a new creation, a new exodus! Yes—the people messed up as and as the prophet of First Isaiah warned, their nation fell. But—have hope! For God will deliver those in bondage and all will be glorious!

A bright new dawn and new creation was what the people wished for, hoped for, waited for. And then it happened—Babylon fell and the people were brought back from exile. And this new day was all they had hoped for—right?

Well, no, it wasn’t. During the time of the passages of Third Isaiah, several decades after the fall of Babylon and the return from exile, things are actually dark in Jerusalem. The people aren’t as righteous or religious as the prophet would hope for such a recently delivered people. Worship and morale aren’t all that high. Everything should be great—they’re back in their land, the temple is being rebuilt, and they have the freedom to worship as they wish. Everything should be great, but it’s not and the prophet is experiencing some serious disappointment and frustration.

So the prophet raises his voice and shouts aloud:
“O that you would tear open the heavens and come down,
so that the mountains would quake at your presence—
as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil—
to make your name known to your adversaries,
so that the nations might tremble at your presence!”

Come on – God – show your awesome presence so the people will get it and all will be as it should be!

While we haven’t been a people in exile nor have we experienced the destruction of our temple and way of worship—we know something about waiting with anticipation too. Every Advent we spend weeks doing just that—waiting. Waiting for our favorite Christmas carols to finally be played at church, waiting for the candle-light Christmas Eve service to make us feel as though Christ’s light truly does shine, waiting for the day we celebrate that Christ who is Lord is born!

We observe waiting most profoundly and profusely during the season of Advent, but it’s not the only time we wait. Every single day we wait. We wait for our prayers to be answered, we wait for the kingdom to come, we wait for Christ to return. We wait and we wait and we wait. And nothing seems to happen. Christ hasn’t returned and when we look around the world, the kingdom doesn’t seem to be reigning.

Do you ever look around and wonder—is this what I’ve been wishing, hoping, and waiting for? It can’t be, can it? It isn’t what I thought my life, the church’s life, the community’s life would be. This isn’t the reflection of the kingdom.

It isn’t the kingdom—it’s disappointment. Things aren’t how we hoped they would be. We know that as a community just as we know it as individuals. And just as the prophet of Third Isaiah did, we turn to God. Christ come in glory! May you tear open the heavens and come down! May the corporations tremble at your presence; make your name known among the nations that think they are God and not you. Come on, God—show us all why you are God and we are not!

So we pray, we turn to God, and we wait.... and we keep waiting. But we don’t wait passively. Not the church, the body of Christ. Oh, it may be tempting to just sit and wait. It may seem easier to turn to God with the prayers of our hearts and voices and then just sit and wait for God to do something. Even the prophet of Third Isaiah does something like this. He notes that the people—this sinful people who don’t act as they should, who haven’t realized the beauty of God’s new creation—are really just reacting to God’s actions. God hid the divine face—and so the people sinned. God got angry—and so the people transgressed. All people are just the work of God’s hands—what power do they have over their own actions? The beautiful passage about us being the clay and God the potter is—in its original context—a bit manipulative. God, you’re the one who formed us, and everything we are comes from you, so if we sinned, then you do something about it. You reform us.

There certainly is some truth to that understanding. We are God’s creation and we do react to God’s action in our lives. God does form and reform us. But we aren’t passive in this at all. We do have responsibility for our actions. The prophet calls out for God’s help and lays everything on God’s shoulders. Another prophet and apostle years later wrote a letter to a community that was not living as this follower of God thought they should. In the letter to the Corinthians, the Apostle Paul looks and says – we need God’s help and God HAS helped us out. God is faithful and has reformed you—in the person of Jesus Christ. In Christ, through the power of the Spirit of God, we have all we need to turn away from sin, all we need as we wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The prophet may have cried out to God for a show of power and then waited and waited, but not us, not the body of Christ. We wish, we hope, we wait, and we prepare. There’s a great magnet you can purchase at Celebrate (one that someone gave me for my fridge) that says: Jesus is coming – look busy. Jesus is coming—and we need to be busy, not just look busy. We need to be busy preparing for the kingdom, working with God to usher it in. We need to labor for the kingdom, seek it in our daily living.

When we look around and think, this isn’t how I hoped things would be, this isn’t what I thought my life, the church’s life, the community’s life would be, we raise our prayer to God and then we seek to be the vessels God uses to answer prayer. We collect canned goods for the food pantry, we take on a concern of social justice by writing letters or participating in peaceful demonstrations, we forgive that person who doesn’t seem to even want to be forgiven for the way he or she has treated us. We seek justice and right relationship with neighbor, self, and God.

We seek God’s kingdom in our lives – find ways to interact with one another, ways to learn to accept ourselves. We seek to change systems and situations that are not of God or for God. We know that with God’s help we may indeed proclaim the gospel, we may shelter and nurture the children of God, we may promote justice and righteousness. We can exhibit the Kingdom of Heaven to the world.

We are all the work of God’s hands—and with the power of the Holy Spirit, the hope found in Jesus Christ—we can also be God’s hands, feet, and heart to the world. There’s much work to do and we have been gifted to do it. No time to wait. Amen.

Torn

2008-11-12T12:24:00.002-05:00

I have said it before and I'll say it again - this church is my family. I love all my wonderful brothers and sisters, love being with you in the good times and the hard, working with you for God's kingdom. I have been so excited about the upcoming 50th anniversary - I'm a sucker for big anniversaries like that, the history and the future they represent. I've been looking forward to meeting all these people I've heard about over my time here, those that will be coming back for the celebration.

And then a wrench got thrown in all those plans. My sister - the opera singer - is graduating from San Fransisco Conservatory this year which means her big recital is in the spring. This recital as best as I understand it is something akin to my ordination - the big moment that is the culmination of all your effort over the years. And this recital is the evening before the church's anniversary Sunday.

Two places I want to be, two events I want to celebrate, and not even a red-eye flight option to help me be at both. It pains me that I can't be at both and I've been trying to think of some solution that will allow me to do the impossible - be two places at once. After speaking with several members, all my co-workers, and the family, I know what I'm going to do. I'll be in California, celebrating with my baby sister, and missing all of you. It's easy to say family comes first, but so hard when both events I want to be at involve my family. But, as one of the members of the 50th Anniversary Team said - the church will still be here, going strong and serving God; Beth's event is truly once in a lifetime.

Come April I'm sure I'll be even more sadden by the unfortunate timing of everything but I'm pretty bummed right now. Still, I know that we'll be celebrating more than just one day and while I'll miss the big Sunday, I won't miss the 50th year nor the years to come. That's a comfort and a blessing. And maybe, just maybe, someone will save me some cake! :)

The End Is Near

2008-11-01T14:56:00.001-04:00

As I’m typing these words I am profoundly aware that when you read these words something big will have happened in our world: the next president of this nation will have been elected. After months and months (and months) of ads, hype, polls, debates, rallies, signs, and more, all the pre-election events and talk will be over and we’ll be on our way to a new era for our nation. What will that look like? I don’t think anyone really knows but I’m sure we’ll be hearing a lot about the inauguration, the first 100 days, and then mid-term elections... and then reelection. While I know many of us are looking forward to Nov 4th and the end of this long election season it represents, I’m also reminded that all the news and hype are never really over.

Along with an election, this week is bringing another big event: Youth Sunday. This Sunday at both services, our Senior High Youth will lead us in worship. The scripture they have been working with is one many of us are familiar with – Amos 5:18-24. They have spent the last two months talking about this passage, about how we often live in worldly ways instead of Godly ones, and what we can do to live more as God would have us live.

Worldly ways verses Godly ways seems to be an appropriate theme right now. No matter who has won the election there will be those who are ecstatic and those who are crushed. It would be very easy to find yourself gloating or griping, continuing the “us versus them” mentality of an election season. But that would be the worldly way. Instead of continuing to focus on division, we—Democrats, Republicans, Independents—should join together for the good of our community and country. We can continue to serve those in need, offer compassion to those who suffer, and listen for where and how God is calling us to help and heal our world. What’s more, and perhaps for some of us what may be harder, we can pray for our next president. No matter our politics, we can all ask God’s guidance, wisdom, courage, and strength for the person we have elected as president.

new ways

2008-10-27T14:57:00.004-04:00

As some of you know, I've been working on a book for the past several months. A good friend of mine and I are combining our brilliance to produce a book on spiritual practices for young adults. It has been so much fun developing this book - she lets me do all the academic research! Yeah, I realize the fact that my excitement over that makes me a dork. I'm cool with that.

What I've really loved, though, is practicing the practices. We can't very well write intelligently on these things we're suggesting to others unless we do them ourselves, so each week we take on a new chapter's worth of material. I thought I was a pretty well-rounded practicing person, but there are some new things I'm adding to my spiritual repatoire.

I love drawing a text. Reading scripture and picking a verse that stands out and then writing the words while doodling (way better than taking notes in school, I promise). Really helps me stop, reflect, consider and live in each word and explore - with doodle - what that word, verse, moment means to me.

I also love considering sleep and even dreams a spiritual practice. We all know I enjoy my sleep, but I never really thought about considering sleep as a way to connect with God.

They say that when you teach something, you really learn the material. Well, I'd say the same for writing a book about something! Very enriching.

One Bread, One Body

2008-10-04T18:45:00.004-04:00

Texts: Exodus 20:1-20, Ephesians 4:4-5

If you have ever been to a Passover meal, you may have heard this prayer: “Baruch atah, Adonai, eloheynu melech ha’olam, kidshanu b’mitzvotav.”

“Blessed are you, Adoni our God, Ruler of the Universe, who makes us holy with your commandments.”

This joyful festival of remembrance begins with prayers thanking God who has given the people commandments and that may not be familiar prayer to us. Perhaps some of you do, but I know I rarely – if ever – give thanks to God for these rules to live by. Giving thanks for boundaries and structure by which we live probably isn’t all that common in any of our relationships – let alone our relationship with God. Parents, do your children often thank you for telling them they can’t stay out past 11 or that they have to do their homework before they can play? Doctors, do your patients thank you when you tell them they can no longer eat their favorite foods, even if it will help save their lives? Yes, these rules are good for us, but it’s not just toddlers who don’t like to be told “no.”

If we think of the 10 commandments as just rules, blessing God who makes us holy with them may never roll off our tongues with authenticity. But the 10 commandments are not just about the rules – what to do and what not to do. They are more than the laws we must follow lest we be tried in God’s court.

To have a fuller appreciation of these commandments, it’s important to remind ourselves when these commandments were given. The people of Israel have just escaped slavery in Egypt. They have fled the land of oppression and are now in unfamiliar territory, wondering where they are fleeing to. Things are chaotic—they’ve already had a clash with some of the locals—and in the midst of uncertainty, the people who God as called out from the land of death are already looking back at this land with nostalgia. Sure, they were slaves and things were rough, but at least they knew their role and knew where they belonged.

In response to this uncertainty, God offers these commandments. The commandments begin with where all things begin – God. “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me.” The first commandment and all the following do more than just provide a good way of living, they orient these directionless people – ordering the people away from things of death to the things of life and the Lord of life. Instead of saying “I am the Lord your God, the Creator of the Universe, the Beginning and the End,” God is much more personal, reminding the people what God has done for them.

The ten commandments make the people holy—as the Passover prayer says—in that they connect the people to the Holy One. Kathleen Norris suggests that these commandments help us find our way home. In the wilderness, in the uncertainty and the unknown, the people have a home, a way of relating with one another, a purpose – all bound up in their relationship with God which these commandments solidify.

Wherever the people would go, their commandments would go with them – literally and figuratively. The stone tablets Moses held were placed in the ark of the covenant – the place the people understood God to be. This ark, the God it represented and the tablets it contained, went everywhere – into battle, into their new land, into the new kingdom. This community was called to a new life by God and bound together in God.

We no longer have the ark, no longer have the stone tablets Moses held, but we still have the ten commandments – and we still have the relationship with God and with one another that these commandments helped to form. Certain Christian traditions would recite the Decalogue in worship every Sunday. We may not celebrate these commandments with our worship each week, but we do honor the relationship with God and one another they represent. And we have our own markers and makers of community we celebrate in our worship.

Together we gather in prayer, in word, song, and silence. Together we confess our sins, together we listen to God’s word and for God’s word, together we go out filled with the Spirit longing to serve the Lord. Together too we celebrate the Lord’s Supper.

The first Lord’s Supper was Jesus’ Last Supper – the Passover meal. As Jesus gathered with his community, thanking God for the laws, remembering what God has done, and celebrating God’s work in the life of the people, he was creating a new feast of remembrance and celebration, a new way to form and observe community.

As the people of Israel were reminded when they were wandering in the wilderness, in God we all have a home. In God we have a family. God is the source of our unity. And we are called to this table to be one people. As one, we celebrate the life of our one Lord. At this table we are filled with the one Spirit and sent to live into our calling together.

No matter where you are, if you go to another church or another country, you can find home here at the table. All are welcome to share in the bread and drink from the cup. All are encouraged to find sustenance in this gathering and in our God. How wonderful to know that even when you’re in an unfamiliar town, even if you don’t know the people sitting next to you in the pew, you are at home in God.

Diana Butler Bass shares this story in her book Christanity for the Rest of Us: On the first Sunday his congregation was worshipping in their new sanctuary Jesus Reyes, minister at Iglesia Santa Maria in Falls Church, preached a sermon welcoming people—many of whom are Spanish-speaking immigrants—home. “Think of the joy of going home to the house you grew up in,” he said, “with the smell of mother’s cooking in the kitchen, the tastes of food, the sounds of family. Here, like your mother’s table, the Lord’s table welcomes you home. Here we are an extended family in the Spirit through communion. You are members of God’s house.”

Butler Bass noted that several people in the congregation wiped tears away at those words. Many members of this congregation would never return home to their mother’s table or their mother country. “They must make a new home in God.”

All of us are members of God’s house – wherever we worship and in whatever language we worship in. At this table we have a home, because in God we have a home. Right now, with heartbreaking stories of families losing their homes, we all can appreciate how dear having a home – a spiritual place of comfort and shelter – truly is. With the uncertainty the chaos our economy is in creates, we can appreciate how important it is to find rest and renewal in the grace of God.

Through the commandments, through the Word, through this meal we call the Eucharist, we are nourished and nurtured. Through these gifts of God’s grace, we rest the temptations to turn against the laws and the community God gave us. We can say no to the idols of greed or pride, no to overworking ourselves, no to longing for things that are not authentic to who God has created us to be. We can say yes to one another, yes to the image of God within us, and yes to the God who calls us together.

In our gathering together for worship—particularly at the table—we honor God’s vision of one body partaking from this one bread. As we share our bread and the cup, we remember and celebrate that no matter the type of bread, the shape of the cup, the place of worship—when we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, we are one in Christ. We are home in God.

Blessed is Adoni our God, Ruler of the Universe, who makes us holy with the commandments and brings us home to the table. Amen.

Never Is Enough

2008-09-20T19:58:00.001-04:00

Texts: Exodus 16:2-15; Matthew 20:1-16

A lovely Methodist woman after a great and long life died and went up to heaven. Outside the pearly gates, St. Peter met with her, greeted her warmly, and gave her welcoming instructions. “You’ll be staying at the 4th house on the right. We hope you have a pleasant stay,” he said, “and, oh, please be very quiet as you pass the second house on the left.” The woman smiled and headed toward her new home, being careful to be follow St. Peter’s instructions.

Not long after the Methodist woman left, a Catholic man arrived at the gates. St. Peter greeted him with a smile and told him where he’d be staying – the 177th house on the left. He also gave this man the same instructions as he had given the Methodist woman – be very quiet as you pass the second house on the left.”

Not long after the Catholic man had made his way to his new house, a Pentecostal man arrived for instructions. After being told where to go and to be quiet when walking past that particular house, the Pentecostal paused and gave St. Peter a curious look.

“Now, I know you’re the Rock and everything, and you’ve been doing this forever, but I don’t quite get it. What’s with that house? Shouldn’t we be laughing and singing and praising God everywhere in heaven? Who’s there?”

St. Peter sighed—those Pentecostals always had to ask. “That house happens to be where we keep the Presbyterians and you have to be quiet because they think they’re the only ones up here.”

Now perhaps you’ve heard that one before; it’s an old joke that still has something to say about our understanding of how this salvation thing works. We Presbyterians are known by others for our doctrine of predestination – even if we Presbyterians don’t talk about it much anymore. While we may jokingly refer to ourselves as the “Frozen Chosen,” we usually focus on the frozen—not the chosen—part. Being chosen, being one of the elect, being saved by the grace of God and that grace only, is not something we go on and on about.

Perhaps because we don’t talk about it, this doctrine often gets confused with the concept of predetermination or fate; the idea that things that happen in your daily life were meant to happen by some higher power. Ever hear someone jokingly—or not so jokingly—say “You were predestined to get that job, to miss that bus, to make friends with that person.”? People hear “predestination” and think you mean that the trivial and momentous events in our life are planned out by God from the beginning of time and we but follow this plan.

But that’s not what predestination is about. This doctrine—in it’s true form—does not deny free will like this common misunderstanding would suggest; when we talk about predestination, we aren’t talking about jobs or friends or what you chose to eat for breakfast this morning: the only thing we’re talking about is salvation.

Predestination is the understanding that the God who is sovereign has chosen out of love to redeem human beings, to “save” them. God chooses and we respond. God is the first and foremost actor, not us. If we are able to love God and choose to live for God, it is because God first loved and chose us.

While predestination is suppose to be good news, suppose to help those of us who have come to love God be assured about our everlasting destiny, it doesn’t always reach a favorable audience. Even though this way of thinking about is more palatable to our free will loving selves than the predetermination, it still often rubs us the wrong way—which is perhaps why we don’t talk about it all that much. What if God doesn’t choose to love someone, to save someone? Does that mean nothing they can do or believe will help them?

Different people have responded to this question in different ways over the years. Some folks have been comfortable saying that yes, God in God’s wisdom for God’s glory has chosen some to be saved and some not. Others have said that no, in fact God has chosen all to be saved and none to be left behind. Still, others have said that God has set it so that all who come to know Jesus as Lord will be saved—and that is how God chooses to save.

Each of these understandings of predestination has strengths and weaknesses and while we could discuss and debate the merits of each, let us instead focus on what they have in common. Each interpretation of predestination begins and ends with the one who is the Alpha and Omega. God—as revealed in the person of Christ Jesus—is the beginning of our salvation. God is the first actor, the originator, the chooser

As my seminary classmate Patrick Marshall says, when we talk about predestination we shouldn’t be focused on “who is saved and who is not.” That’s not what predestination is about. It’s about “who does the saving.”

While our focus should be on God, we often instead focus on who’s in and who’s out. We’re a bit like the field workers in Matthew’s parable. The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who calls workers at different times of the day to come and work in the fields. At the end of the day, all those who worked receive the same wage—the going rate for a day’s worth of work. Those who worked a full day complain about this treatment—whine that even though they received the wage they had agreed to, it’s unfair. But in this parable—in the kingdom of heaven—you aren’t doled out your wage or grace based on how many hours you put in. The parable of the generous landowner reminds us that it is not what we do that earns God’s grace—what we do never is enough for to “earn” the love of the creator of the cosmos.

The parable also reminds us not to try and limit God as the first workers try to limit the landowner. When the landowner gives all workers the same wage, they are most upset. Perhaps they, like the Israelites in the wilderness, are not sure they will be provided for. That if the landowner gives so much today, tomorrow he won’t be able to call anyone to work for him. Perhaps they think there really never is enough to go around and so they need to make sure they get as much as possible before the money, the manna, the grace is all gone.

Whatever the reason, the field workers are chastised for trying to limit the generosity of the landowner. We too would be chastised for trying to limit the grace of God. Cannot the landowner give what the landowner chooses to give to those to whom he chooses to give? Cannot God choose who to grace? Isn’t that God’s business? Why should we worry if God is generous? If God chooses to grace those who come to God on their deathbeds after a lifetime of depravity, who are we to complain? If God should choose to save those who live well but never call Christ Lord, who are we to question God’s grace? If God should choose to work beyond our understanding, to shake up the world we think we know so that the first shall be last and the last first, who are we to doubt God’s wisdom?

Calvin, the theologian to whom we Presbyterians owe much of our heritage, said that this doctrine of predestination meant we shouldn’t worry. We shouldn’t worry if we’d done enough, or loved God enough, or confessed Christ enough, to be saved. Our salvation is God’s business, under God’s care, and we should not worry for the God who is our judge is the same God who came so that the world might be saved, the same God who died on the cross for our sins.

We should not worry, brothers and sisters, that there may not be enough grace to go around. We should not worry about our eternal fate. We should live, honor, glorify God not to earn some sort of spot in the heavenly kingdom, but to bring the kingdom of heaven here on earth out of thanksgiving to God.

Just as we should not worry about our salvation, we must not worry about whether or not other people are saved, sit around judging them. That is God’s business. It certainly doesn’t mean we keep quiet about the Good News – we’re chosen not for our own sake’s but to live as witnesses to God’s saving power. We proclaim with great fervor that Jesus Christ is the only Savior and Lord at the same time that we do not presume to limit the sovereign freedom of God. “Grace, love, and communion belong to God, and are not ours to determine.”

Grace belongs to God, not to us: this is what we mean when we talk about predestination—this is wonderful, not worrisome news. This is news that brings us hope, hope for you, hope for me, hope for all. For the God who hands out our wages at the end of the day is the same God who asks “Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?” Let us not be envious, brothers and sisters, but let us rejoice that we serve and love a generous God. Amen.

Kings and Queens of the Bible: Jesus

2008-08-31T15:45:00.000-04:00

Texts: I Samuel 8:10-22a; John 18:33-37

Signs are up in yards, ads are airing, and it’s not just the Girl Scouts going door to door trying to sell you something. Election season is upon us.

While it may have seemed like we’ve been about to have an election the last year and a half or so, now is truly the time for you to go out and register to vote – if you haven’t already – and to spend some quality time educating yourself on the issues and where each candidate stands.

You can pretty much guarantee not another day will pass without someone talking to you about November 4th. Our two candidates will be spending the next sixty or so days explaining to us why he is the answer to our problems, why he is the strong and wise leader we want to follow, why he deserves our backing, our allegiance, and our vote.

We have spent the summer learning about and learning from kings and queens of the bible. While these kings and queens and their stories can’t tell us who to vote for, they certainly can and do whisper to us wisdom and guidance we can take not just to the polls – but to every moment and every decision we encounter.

The royalty we have came from various backgrounds and had different paths to follow and fates to meet, but it is a truth universally acknowledged (in our biblical text, at least) that the kings and queens are most successful when they place God first and foremost. When God’s word, God’s glory, God’s kingdom are the epicenter of will and work, leaders are more likely to see peace, justice, and righteousness.

How fitting it is, then, that the last king in our series is the king of kings, the lord of lords, the alpha and the omega.

Jesus is unlike any of the kings and queens we have heard about thus far; he is unlike any king or queen we will ever hear about. When we say Jesus is king, we know – unlike poor Pilate – that we aren’t talking about someone who sits on a literal throne, or someone who delicately waves to devoted subjects from a balcony, or even someone who is concerned about the welfare and power of one particular nation. We know that when we use this human construct to explain the divine, some things will be clearer than others.

What is clear about Christ as king is that Christ is what we all would want for our earthly leader – and the opposite of what Samuel tells the Israelites that they are in for if they get themselves a king. While Samuel’s king will think only of his own power, his own needs, Christ as king looks to his glory and our good. While Samuel’s king takes your sons and daughters that he wants, Christ as king calls us to him, calls us to be his people rather than forcibly enlist us. While Samuel’s king tried to build up the kingdom in order that all may remember his name across the ages, Christ as king points not to himself, but to his kingdom.

When Pilate questions Jesus about being a king, Jesus does not speak about his power or his might – instead he speaks of his kingdom. “For this I was born,” Christ says “and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth.” Christ’s kingdom is one where all listen to his truth and live that truth. Christ’s kingship is about making God known to the world in word and in deed.

Jesus makes it clear – his kingdom is not of this world – for God is not of this world. But as God is in this world, so too is Christ’s kingdom.

Jesus’ power and kingdom are not symbolized by thrones or scepters; he has no huge convention of jubilant followers shouting out his name as he is crowned our new heir apparent; he does not have the world power or influence one might expect of a man called king.

Jesus the king is the innocent man sentenced to the death penalty, left hanging on a cross on the outskirts of town. That is our king, our ruler, our Lord. The one who slowly suffocating to death, mourned by only a few of those who once shouted his name in praise.

To proclaim Jesus as king is to pledge allegiance above all else – all other gods, all other human leaders – to this man on a cross. To proclaim Jesus as king is to proclaim God in word and deed even if it leads you to your own cross of sorts.

Some of our kings and queens of the Bible understood this. Though they had worldly kingdoms to lead, and though many of them came before Christ, some of this kings and queens knew that they first and foremost had to proclaim God’s word and live as God’s truth directed. Though she may have never mentioned God, Esther understood this. Though he may have strayed a time or two, David understood this. Though he was younger than even our youngest leadership candidates, Josiah understood this.

You and I aren’t destined to be royalty, but we are called to be a part of Christ’s kingdom. We are called by Jesus the king to live for his glory and our good – to live as though his kingdom had come here and now.

Jesus’ kingdom is one in which we look out at the broken world and do not shrug and say, “well, that’s how it is.” We dare to risk to challenge the status quo, to shout aloud the promise of justice for all, to offer ourselves vulnerable for righteousness sake. We may not be powerful kings and queens, but in Christ’s truth, we can move mountains as the members of the kingdom have done the long years past.

We have examples of kings and queens of the Bible to inspire us, but we also have the lives of those saints across the ages have fought for Christ’s kingdom, have dared to believe.

Those saints of ages past have looked at the world and saw not what was, but what could be. They lived with an institutional prejudice against people of African decent, bore the wounds of small humiliations and the larger injustices inflicted upon God’s children because of the color of their skin. They witnessed and experienced the burdens of this false kingdom, and yet dreamed of another way of living. They rose up and spoke out and marched together in peace so that years later an African-American man might stand and accept a major party’s nomination for President.

Those saints saw women limited not by their abilities or their interests, but by their forced position in life. Those saints gathered petitions, rallied together, and even “acted up” so that women could have the right to vote, to own property, and the right to pursue whatever career they felt called to – from doctor to chemist to homemaker to entrepreneur to a vice-presidential nominee.

Those saints watched children dying from curable diseases, from the lack of safe water, and the absence of food and swore that such things need not be. They donated money, offered their talents as medical personal and agricultural experts, wrote their congress men and women, started groups like the Presbyterian Hunger Program, Bread for the World, and more. They dared to believe and they keep daring to hope that we can indeed feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, and clothe the naked.

Jesus tells Pilate that if he were a king like the ones the Roman had known before, his followers would fight to keep him here. But he is not. He is a king whose kingdom is like nothing Pilate has known, like nothing we might know apart from the grace of God. And as his followers, we do not fight to keep him physically in this world, but we do fight to bring his kingdom to this world. We are the saints today – with many wrongs to set right and many places where God’s light needs to shine. Through the Spirit of the Living God, we fight injustice, work hard, pray fervently, so that Christ’s kingdom of glory and good will be here, where we live and worship.

We have a momentous event coming up in our own nation. This election has gathered more interest and excitement and hope than any many of us have ever seen. Who our next president will be is a question we’ll be asking and debating until November 4th. While we may become passionate about one candidate or another, in one way, perhaps it does not matter who will win. For no matter who wins, we have a leader beyond polls and elections, beyond terms and human failings. We know where our true guidance lies, we know where our true hope and help comes from, and we know who is first and foremost in our hearts and minds. It is Jesus Christ, our rock, our shepherd, our king. Amen.

Scotland - in review

2008-08-05T13:27:00.015-04:00

Wow! What a wonderful two weeks I had! So many of you have asked to see pictures and hear stories, so I thought it only appropriate to do a little of both here on my blog.

I truly had an amazing time, spending one week in Iona and another exploring Edinburgh and Glasgow. My traveling companions were dear friends Teri and Elsa, fabulous young clergy women who provided a lot of laughs and good conversation. While I can't afford to go back anytime soon (oy vey, the dollar is hurting!), I would go back in a heartbeat if I could!

Week One - Iona

The first week we spent on Iona at the Abbey. To get to the island you take a train from Glasgow, catch a ferry in Oban to Mull, drive across Mull in a chartered bus, and then catch a ferry from the other side of Mull to Iona. Quite a long way out! It's hard to believe that Christianity on the British Isles originated from this tiny, remote place.

In this picture you can see the Abbey on the right.

We arrived at the Abbey just in time for dinner! The food was stellar all week long (and they always had yummy veggie options for me, Teri, and the other vegetarians!). Staying at the Abbey that week were about 50 people - including 14 folks from the Twin Cities (I got to practise my Minnesotan accent) and a handful of people who had come for a blessing ceremony later that week. We made several lovely friends that week - including a future Presbyterian minister who's a senior at William and Mary!

During the week we ate together, bunked together, worshipped together, and did chores together. Yes, chores. Part of the Iona Abbey experience is creating intentional Christian community and scrubbing toilets or chopping vegetables is an intrinsic part of that process - or so they tried to tell us. :)

It was almost surreal living at the Abbey - how easily it felt like home, and how odd it was for these tourists to be coming and poking around our home during the day!

Here's a picture of me (the gal in the blue) outside the Abbey with some tourists!

One of my favorite experiences of the week was the pilgrimage we took on Tuesday. In the rain and fog (it was a typical Scottish day for our journey) we walked all around the island - about 7 miles - stopping at certain significant spots like the hill where legend says St. Columba communed with the angels and of course, the bay where St. Columba landed after fleeing from Ireland those many years ago. We prayed, sang songs, carried lobster traps (that one was not a planned part of the trip!), meditated on scripture, and more. It was cold and wet and wonderful.

Not everything on the island was holy, holy, holy. Teri, Elsa, and our new friend Ginna, and I indulged in cream tea and cards, danced traditional dances, and participated in a "guest concert" - at least I did. I was recruited by a darling man to be the princess in a comedic Greek tragedy.

Here's the cast in action!

It was ridiculous and fun and a great way to break down any sort of walls I might put up (I know, I'm not really a wall woman, but still) and make new friends.

While I loved the people and the Abbey, I think perhaps my favorite thing about Iona is the isle itself. The sights, the sounds, everything. It really does just get under your skin.

Week Two - Edinburgh and Glasgow

After a moving and marvelous week at Iona, Teri, Elsa and I headed off for the big city - quite a change. We stayed right off the Royal Mile and enjoyed all the touristy things to do. Of course, all the touristy things that clergy women might do!

When we went to the Castle one of our favorite things was a wedding taking place at St. Margaret's Chapel. We took a picture with the bagpiper and then - gasp - saw the Scottish minister complete with Geneva tabs! And lo and behold, we took a picture with him!

We ate fantastic food - and it's a good thing we walked several miles a day because all those pastries were dangerously good. One of the places we had breakfast we were amused to find advertised itself as the "birthplace" of Harry Potter. So of course, we had to take our picture. Now, I have to confess, I was the one who asked our photographer to take our picture, and I did it by asking this woman walking by if she had a few seconds... she looked very nervous and when I asked if she could take our picture, she relaxed, smiled, and said "I thought you were about to proselytize." Hee. I couldn't resist telling her, "no, but we three do happen to be clergy!" She had a good laugh too.

One day we went to St. Andrews, yes, golf mecca, but didn't hit the fairway. We say ruins of the castle and the cathedral.

This is me, guarding the castle!

The cathedral may be my favorite place outside of Iona. It's in ruins and truly beautiful, eerie, and inspiring.

In Glasgow we did much of the same in Edinburgh - food and walking around looking at the sites. Of course, looking at the sites often consisted of "oooh, that looks like a church. Let's go check it out." You can take the preacher out of church but not the church out of the preacher!

An amazing two weeks - filled to the brim with memories. I'm so blessed to have been able to go and thankful to have just as wonderful a place to come home to!

Off to Scotland!

2008-07-13T22:08:00.001-04:00

This Friday will see me leaving on a jet plane for the homeland. For two weeks I will be traveling, studying, and playing (yes, maybe some golf) across Scotland with two good friends (who also happen to be Associate Pastors!). The first week of my trip is the one I am perhaps the most excited about. I will be staying at the Iona Abbey – a place George MacLeod (the founder of the Iona Community) described as “thin" – where only a tissue paper separating the material from the spiritual.

As I prepare to head off to this exciting place and experience, I want to share some of what I know about this place and this pilgrimage. Iona is a tiny and island off the west coast of Scotland and is considered the cradle of Christianity in Scotland. In 563AD the Irish monk Columba established a monastic settlement that evangelized large parts of Scotland and the north of England. Over the centuries, this “thin place” has attracted many spiritual pilgrims.

The Abbey is now under the care of Historic Scotland and the Iona Community – an international network who live by common Rule and share common interests – is the worshipful presence there. Year round workshops, pilgrimages, and retreat weeks are offered.

Some of you may be familiar with the Iona Abbey and Community because of the worship materials that come from there. We have sung songs and prayed prayers published by Wild Goose Publications, the Community’s publishing company. Part of why I am so excited about this experience is due to the opportunity to be where such beautiful worship materials have been inspired.

As I travel to this beautiful place, our church family will be much on my mind and I hope I will be on yours. I do not know what this week at the Abbey will hold for me, but I do know whatever I glean from this “thin place,” I will look forward greatly to sharing with my family in Christ.

What Happened in The Place You May or May Not Know the Way To

2008-06-29T16:23:00.002-04:00

This past week was quite an eventful one in the life of the church. Here at Covenant we had a successful VBS program with over 60 kids and tons of adult and teenaged volunteers. In San Jose, California, the 218th General Assembly met to discern God’s will for the church. The secular press has picked up on one of the issues discussed – the proposed removal of G-6.0106b (the “fidelity and chastity” amendment) and replace it with a new Amendment B, one which ties ordination decisions more closely to assent to the ordination vows currently in the church’s Book of Order without singling out a sexual conduct standard.

While that proposal will certainly be discussed, debated, and hopefully God’s will discerned in the coming weeks and months, the one hot topic issue the press picked up is certainly not the only thing that happened at G.A. Here are a few highlights. The Assembly:
• Along with the new moderator, Bruce Reyes-Chow, elected a new Stated Clerk, Gradye Parsons (the previous associate stated clerk)
• Initiated a process to revise the Heidelberg Catechism (one of the confessions which is a part of our constitution) based on concerns about translation mistakes
• Received a report that the ‘Mission Initiative: Joining Hearts and Hands’ (an initiative to renew the church for mission) had raised over $33 million of the $40 million goal
• Rejected an overture (which originated from Shenandoah Presbytery) to create a fifth special offering to fund mission personnel
If you’re interested in learning more, check out the denomination’s website, www.pcusa.org/ga218.

Just as we have been grateful for the hard work of those who made our own week at church a success, let us be thankful for the efforts, time, and faith offered by the commissioners and advisory delegates.

Amy
http://revamy.blogspot.com

brc4mod

2008-06-23T13:25:00.002-04:00

As I mentioned in worship yesterday, our General Assembly has elected a new moderator - Bruce Reyes-Chow. I for one am thrilled that he has been elected and I can't wait to see what the next two years bring.

If you're interested in learning more about him, in following his journey, you can! Check out his blog.

As the kids say, woot!

an awesome amusement park adventure

2008-06-14T13:35:00.002-04:00

This past Thursday 13 youth, 3 parents, and 1 me gathered at 7am in the church parking lot and headed over the mountain and kept going East until we arrived at Busch Gardens in Williamsburg. We spent the whole day there, getting back to Staunton a little before 10pm. Quite a busy, crazy day.

And quite a wonderful day. I'm not one for riding the rides (my motion sickness really puts a damper on that) but I loved being around this great group of young people who were great with each other and with the old folks (that includes me) who were hangers on.

I've said before that the youth of our church inspire me and warm my heart and it's true. It's not just the big moments but little ones like those I experienced on Thursday. The kids laughing with each other, making sure no one gets left behind, even offering to carry bags for those adult-types.

Yes, the trip was long, yes, I got a little sunburn on my nose, and yes, I spent most of the day sitting, waiting for everyone else while they rode the rides. But you know, I wouldn't trade that day for much of anything.

Kings and Queens of the Bible: Saul

2008-05-31T22:12:00.002-04:00

Text: I Samuel 10:17-24, Romans 13:1-7

There have been some good ones; there have been some bad ones; there have been some downright ugly ones. The kings and queens who sprinkle our holy scriptures with stories of pomp and circumstance and brilliant moments which become the source for national pride are the same people who color the Bible with tales of betrayal, murder, adultery, and more. For almost five hundred years, Israel and then Israel and Judah when the one kingdom became two, was ruled by kings and queens who had some high points but also had quite a few low moments.

This summer John and I will explore with you some of the rich history and powerful personalities of royalty in the Bible. Today we begin a sermon series entitled “King and Queens of the Bible: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.” This morning we start at the very beginning – which as I’ve heard tell is a very good place to start.

The first king who ruled over the kingdom of Israel was a man named Saul. Before Saul became king, Israel wasn’t so much a kingdom as it was a tribal confederacy (getting together for the occasional potluck or to fight off a new enemy). When the people needed a leader to fight battles or solve some problem, God would raise up a person called a judge. These judges came and went and no leadership roles were passed down by birth; all were chosen particularly by God.

This system seemed to work pretty well but something happened during the time of Samuel – the prophet, judge, and priest who had been dedicated to God at an early age by his mother Hannah. The people of Israel came up to Samuel and demanded a king. They looked around the nations around them, saw what they deemed security in the dynasty of a king, and wanted that. They wanted what these other nations had – a king to govern them, to fight for them. They coveted their neighbors’ government.

They coveted, and even though Samuel warned them – that a king would take their harvest, their property, and even their children, that they would cry out to God for relief from the bitterness the king would bring, that they really ought to be careful what they wish for – the people cried out for a king.

And God gave them one. Ready or not, here he comes.

The first king of Israel is a king appointed by God – yes – but a king who is the embodied symbol of the people’s rejection of God. Saul is king because God appointed him king and yet God sees Godself as rejected by the people through this appointment of a king. The people would rather have someone they can see sitting on a throne than this eternal, mysterious, all-knowing deity as their one unifying and constant leader. How do we understand this beginning? Are kings and queens true servants of God or are they the people God finds Godself stuck working with? The scriptures never give us a straight answer on these questions; they have us live in the tension.

The tension can be felt in Saul’s own call story. Before the story we read this morning, Saul has met Samuel. Saul had gone and lost his father’s donkeys. He searched high and he searched low, but could not find them. So, he had the bright idea to seek out a seer who could help him locate the precious livestock lest he feel the wrath of daddy. This seer was Samuel. Samuel had been told by the Lord that a man would come to him from the land of Benjamin and this man was the one Samuel would anoint as king. When Saul approached Samuel’s gate, the Lord made it clear that this man was the one. With just the two men—Saul who would be king and Samuel who never wanted to see a king over Israel—the prophet anointed the Benjaminite as ruler over the people Israel.

A noble enough beginning for the monarchy in Israel. Much more noble than the story we read. Much more noble than the future king of Israel hiding from his fate behind a bunch of luggage. When Samuel solidifies God’s choosing of Saul via the old-fashioned and very public method of lots, this future king, who stands head and shoulders above everyone else, is nowhere to be seen.

It’s almost as if God is saying, “You wanted a king, Israel? Well here he is – he looks very kingly, if you can get a look at him, if he’s not too busy hiding.”

The story of Saul’s rule continues to reflect the tension between understanding the monarchy as a good thing or a bad thing or even, perhaps, an ugly thing. Saul indeed does what the people wanted him to do. He fights their enemies and he is triumphant. This man who we met hiding behind baggage is brave enough to face down armies of his people’s enemies, risk life and limb for a newly founded kingdom.

But this man who shows his worth on the battlefield is perhaps a little too interested in his own worth. Twice Saul rejects the commandment of the Lord not out of lust or fear or doubt – but out of desire to solidify his own political glory.

At one point, right before a big battle, Saul uses the ritual of offering prayers and sacrifices to God not out of love for God, but out of concern that the people who were getting antsy for the proper priest—Samuel—to show up would slip away. Very politically savvy, this Saul, using important ritual and meaning to keep his constitutions interest. Very savvy but not very faithful.

The second offense of Saul’s was the one that sealed his unfortunate fate. Saul was told by God to completely defeat the Amalekites, which meant no one or thing would be left. No women or children, no elderly, no young men, no kings. A harsh command to our ears, but Saul’s instructions nonetheless. Saul defeats this people, destroys them completely – except for their king and the best of their livestock and property. He didn’t save women or children – those were considered to be useless to him. But anything that Saul might be able to use for his own glory was kept.

Saul disobeyed God not out of concern for the Amalekites but out of concern for his political status. Holding the king of a defeated peoples meant he held a pretty good card up his sleeve. Some leverage or political weight he could throw around with other enemies or perhaps the allies of the Amalekites. By keeping the king of the Amalekites, Saul did a smart political thing. But again, he did not do the faithful thing. Saul focused on his glory and not on the Glory of Israel – not on God.

This is the last straw for God who pulls support from Saul – God’s own anointed king – and promises to back another for king.

Saul’s rule never runs smoothly again. He begins to grow restless, mad one might say, and once David, the young harp-playing, slingshot wielding shepherd boy enters the scene, it’s all over. Everyone, from Saul’s own children to God, likes David better.

Saul’s reign as king and his life end twenty years after he was found hiding among the baggage. Saul is defeated in battle and rather than face capture—rather than be in a position like the Amalekite king he had captured years ago—he commits suicide.

Saul’s reign is the inauspicious beginning of the Israelite monarchy. A monarchy that can never seem to decide if it’s a system that will work with God and for God or against God and for itself.

The Romans text we read this morning can be read as suggesting that all government—including Saul’s—is put in place by God and works for the good of the people. What a wonderful thought – that the authorities who are in place truly are God’s servants for our good. Yet you and I know that governments and leaders are not always looking out for the people and not always serving the goodness of God. So when a government brings about ill instead of good, should we really just sit back and say “one must be subject?” Is that what God would really want?

No matter how good a person may be when they enter office, he or she is still a human being and still subject to the flaws of humanity. Saul was chosen by God to be king and still proved himself to be a sinful man.

Perhaps one of God’s concerns about kings and queens versus judges was that they were permanent, and traditionally passing the power down the bloodlines. And power, as we have heard and as we have seen in Saul, corrupts. No matter how well-meaning, no matter how seemingly ideal, every authority on earth is still of this earth, still fallible.

The story of the first king over Israel is a reminder to all of us that no leader is as true and good as God. God is the constant, not us. God is eternally good and faithful, not us. While yes, we can bring good, and yes authorities, kings and queens, leaders, can indeed be servants of the people, they are not God. They are not the ones we pledge eternal devotion to, the ones we swear our ultimate allegiance to. For even those called by God – like Saul – can turn away from God’s desires, from God’s glory and to their own.

In this time as much as any other, we need to be aware that no matter what leader may catch our fancy, no matter how fervently we support a candidate for office, it is not a human being who should hold our ultimate support – but God. The stories of the kings and queens of the Bible are exceptionally varied. Some are what we would call good, some bad, and some perfectly unpleasant. God can work through all—that’s what God does—but none are above God or beyond God, no matter what some of them, and some of us, may think.

It is perfectly appropriate to look to an earthly leader to guide us, to defend us, to serve the greater good. We should find leaders that inspire us, who we want to share our dreams and hopes with. We should become excited by those who seem to stand head and shoulders above us all. We should not, however, look for that earthly leader to be anything more than that – of this earth. We have a ruler in heaven, a king of kings, one is our alpha and omega, one who will always seek good things for us, always watch over us, always be true to us. Praise be to our God, our ruler, our guide, our guard. Long live this king. Amen.

the ties that bind

2008-05-25T17:32:00.002-04:00

I was listening to NPR today (while working on a new pasttime, Sudoku) and heard a piece about a mother and son who had been torn apart be the war in Iraq. The son serves in the special forces in the Army and the mother has been and still is an activist for peace. Their relationship became strained over politics and worldview, both struggling to understand the other.

And then poetry brought them back together. The mom had written poetry reflective of her concerns for her son, her love for her son, her concern for the world. In reading her poetry and in sharing that poetry with her son, the two came to understand one another, became close once again.

Reconcilation can happen if we take the time to really understand one another, why we think the way we think, feel the way we feel. This family found reconcilation through poetry and vulnerablity.

One of Francis Richey's poems.
"Kill School."

That was the summer he rappelled
down mountains on rope
that from a distance looked thin
as the dragline of a spider,
barely visible, the tension
he descended
into the made-up
state of Pineland
with soldiers from his class.
They started with a rabbit,
and since my son was the only one
who'd never hunted,
he went first. He described it:
moonlight, the softness
of fur, another pulse
against his chest.
The trainer showed him
how to rock the rabbit
like a baby in his arms,
faster and faster,
until every sinew surrendered
and he smashed its head into a tree.
They make a little squeaking sound,
he said. They cry.
He drove as he told me:
You said you wanted to know.
I didn't ask how he felt.
Maybe I should have,
but I was biting
off the skin from my lips,
looking out
beyond the glittering line
of traffic flying
past us in the dark.

Truth Is

2008-04-28T15:00:00.002-04:00

Texts: Acts 8:5-8, 14-17; John 14:15-21

When I was a child, my mother and I would have “big girl outings” where we would leave my pesky younger siblings behind and do things—just the two of us. Usually these outings were chores in disguise, but I didn’t mind. One of our best (and most frequent) outings was to the grocery store. We’d get a big cart and I’d help pile in food. The best part of our trip was when we were checking out. I’d bug my mom about letting me have a candy bar or some other treat the grocery store managers has brilliantly put on display for all the little kids to bother their parents about.

During the really long lines, when I’d gotten tired of whining to my mother, I would read the headlines on the magazines and newspapers that sat next to the longed-for candy. With the exception of the occasional “Nevada Woman Gives Birth to Alien Baby” I believed what these headlines had to say. I took them as truth. Because that’s where you could find truth – in the headlines of newspapers and magazines at your local grocery store check out line. Nothing you read – alien baby aside – was false. It certainly wasn’t just gossip or an interpretation of facts – it was true.

As we get older, we start to question whether or not these sources of information really are true. We question, we doubt, we wonder what is truth?

Do a basic Google search on truth and you’ll come up with several websites devoted to the truth about different things: the truth about Splenda, the truth about hybrid cars, the truth about Mohammad, the truth about the Da Vinci Code, the truth about the church... Usually theses truths are sensational, damaging, and in your face.

Truth is something we throw around rather easily. In this post-modern age when we look at the world in vibrant colors, not just a simple black and white, the concept of truth has been challenged. With so many claims on truth, so many interpretations on what it may be, if there even is such a thing as truth, we are often left wondering like Pilate - what is truth?

Many have wondered about truth, from Aristotle and Augustine to Frank Zappa and Bob Dylan. Romantic poet Lord Bryon is well-known for saying “Truth is always strange — stranger than fiction.”

The truth about truth is that there is no single term or definition on which your average group of philosophers would agree upon.

While philosophers may not be able to agree and our pop culture may confuse us about what it is, you and I can gather together and proclaim what truth is.

I am the truth, says Jesus. The one who gathered his disciples in the upper room and spoke those words we heard this morning, this Christ is the truth. We people of faith can look to the Pilates of our world and say “Word Incarnate is Truth Incarnate.” God is truth.

God as truth does not mean that God has been reduced to “facts.” There is no empirical evidence for God. No indisputable facts we can point to and say “see, there is a God and this God is the one we proclaim.” The etymology of the word truth is based in older words that mean “faithfulness, belief.” Though there are no empirical facts, we believe God is. God is and God is truth.

God is truth is not just a claim we Christians make. Other traditions and faiths have made this claim as well. What is unique about what we claim is that this God who is truth is not only Creator, but also known as the Son and the Spirit. The God we have known in the person of Jesus Christ is the God who moves in and through us in the person of the Spirit.

God—Creator, Christ, Spirit—is truth. This is what the Gospels proclaim and this is what we—the body of Christ—proclaim.

In proclaiming the divine and believing in God as truth, the question of what is truth transforms into what does it mean to be in the truth?

Theologian Paul Tillich addresses this question. “How do we reach this truth?” he asks. “’By doing it,’ is the answer of the Fourth Gospel... Doing the truth means living out of the reality which is He who is the truth, making His being the being of ourselves and of our world.”

In other words, how do we live in the truth? We live in God and welcome God to abide in us.

God, like truth, is revealed in the living and doing. In love, in our love for Christ and Christ’s love for us, we know God more. This love is not just a feeling – though such feeling is important. It is a feeling which is lived out in the following of Christ’s commandments, in loving God and one another.

Christ addresses this way of living in his words to his disciples in the upper room, when his public ministry has come to a close and now, as the end is upon him, he imparts words of challenge and hope.

Out of love for Christ, we are to obey his commandments. We are to love God and one another and we will not be alone as we do so. The Spirit – the Spirit of truth – will be with us, within us. This Spirit is our Paroclete, our Advocate, our Helper. This Spirit is the one who has been called by Christ to come alongside and help.

The Spirit enables us to be in and of the truth. Though Christ is not with us in the physical person, the Spirit of truth is the one that lights the fires of holiness in our hearts.

Followers of Christ, those who live in the Spirit, know that the path we are called to walk is not an easy one. God’s truth is not the world’s truth for though God made the world, God is not of the world. The world does not want to hear God’s truth, the world does not want to hear God.

Truth is a powerful tool against the darkness. In living in God, living in truth, we live so the light of God’s righteousness and justice shines in and through us.

Truth goes beyond not telling falsehoods or half-truths. Truth is speaking the silenced reality. Truth is pointing out injustice everyone else turns a blind eye to.

Truth is speaking in love to the friend you worry may have an addiction, or is in an unhealthy relationship, or is making other harmful choices.

Truth is signing up to give a pint of blood, even if it makes you nervous, because the benefit to others means more than your fear. Truth is that goodness means more than fear.

Truth is staying silent when the words you want to speak are unnecessarily harmful or hurtful.

Truth is that breath of fresh air when you have been suffocating for something that speaks to you.

Truth is the voice which tells you a different story than the world. When you are told “no, you can’t dream,” “no, you can’t reach for the stars,” “no, you can’t be who you were made to be,” the voice of the truth says, “yes. Yes, yes, yes!!!”

Truth is powerful. It is not meek or mild. When you hear truth spoken after eons of falsehoods, it screams out at you.

Truth is not for everyone – yes, everyone should live truth, speak truth, seek truth, but they do not. There are truths that some in our world are not ready for, close their ears, eyes, and hearts to.

Truth is what those who follow the risen Christ are called to proclaim in word and deed – regardless of the cost.

Truth is what we carry with us when we go with God, when we know and receive the Holy One.

We know what truth is. We know how to live in the truth. Now the question becomes, will we? Amen.

Memories

2008-04-19T09:27:00.000-04:00

One of my earliest memories of church is watching my father process down the aisle of our church, the Bible held over his head. He would walk up to the chancel and place the Bible in its place. Later he would read in a big, serious voice the scripture for that Sunday. During Mass (I grew up half-Catholic, remember!) he would assist the priest with serving. The memory of my father participating in worship carries with it feelings of pride in my father and also yearning to be like him. As a child I watched him participate in worship and wanted to do the same.

Now it’s true, I was a special child (one telling her parents she wanted to be a priest at the age of six – I didn’t quite get the rules of Catholicism yet) but it is not only children who will one day grow up to be ministers who long to participate in worship. I have had requests from those as young as seven to help lead worship on Sunday mornings. What joy this yearning brings to my heart! And what joy does this upcoming Sunday bring to so many!

This Sunday is our second Children’s Sunday where our kids as young as pre-K lead us in worship. With the Middle Schoolers assisting in reading scripture and some of the prayers, there will be quite an age range represented. I love that this congregation is such a welcoming place that we not only encourage children to be in worship, we encourage and rejoice with them as they lead worship.

Participating in the life of the church is essential for all Christians and worship is a huge part of our life together. Our children do not have to look at their parents or adult friends leading worship and yearn for the day they can too. Here and now we welcome them as full brothers and sisters in Christ.

Distracting Fun!

2008-03-24T16:28:00.001-04:00

Your Biblical Name Is...

Yavonna Abira

You will live to see the end of times.

What's Your Biblical Name?

Sound of Your Voice

2008-03-09T19:26:00.001-04:00

Texts: Ezekiel 37:1-14; John 11:17-27

If God were to take you by the hand and lead you somewhere – I doubt Ezekiel’s destination would be where you’d want or even expect to go. Perhaps you’d expect to gaze upon a stunning mountain range or take in a beautiful meadow filled with wildflowers and babbling brooks. Any valley we might see would be a green and growing valley, a valley of life. We would be led by the hand of God into a paradise.

Ezekiel’s experience of being touched by the hand of God is not what we might imagine. Ezekiel—one of the Judeans exiled by Babylon and a priest turned prophet—is led in a vision to a place the psalmist could have been thinking of when writing “yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.” Ezekiel is brought to the remnants of a great battle – a battle where the dead where not giving the honor of burial but remained in an open field. He has been brought to a place where a rebellious and covenant breaking Judah had experienced ultimate defeat, humiliation, and anguish and been left to rot.

Just as with the story of Jesus and Lazarus, there is no chance the dead of this valley are not dead yet, that perhaps they’ll soon be feeling better. Not just four days have passed as with Lazarus – enough time has passed there are no intact bodies, only scattered parts. In this valley there is no life – there is nothing but bare bones. Bare-dry-bones.

In the midst of such a desolate place, God asks Ezekiel can these bones live? Can these bones live? Bones that are nothing but pieces of what presumably once were people?

Ezekiel doesn’t know if these dry bones can ever be anything other than dry bones. He doesn’t know whether or not there can ever be life in the midst of all these overwhelming – and seemingly final – death. But what he does know is much like Martha—who answers Jesus’ question of resurrection after her brother’s death—knows. Ezekiel knows that the divine is where the answer to this question – and where life – lies.

The prophet responds in this faith and is in turn instructed to proclaim a promise of life.

Even though these bones presumably have no ears to hear, something happens. There is a sound, a rattling, and suddenly the impossible is happening – bone to bone. God – who knit each one of us in our mother’s wombs – knits these bones, these bodies, these people back together.

Then, after instructing Ezekiel to call out to the ruach – which is the word for both breath and spirit in Hebrew – God’s ruach, God’s spirit comes into the once dry bones and they live.

After this vision God does not make Ezekiel or us sit and wonder what these dry bones knitting back together, becoming whole and being filled with life might mean. God declares that those who once cried out that their bones are dried and hope lost will be brought up from their graves, out from their despair, into life and the land.

For Ezekiel’s original hearers, this vision promised hope after their country had been destroyed and after they had been exiled from their land.

For those of us who hear Ezekiel’s words today, we have no trouble reimaging Ezekiel’s dry bones. We have each known what it is to feel torn apart, to be left behind in a valley of despair. We have experienced disappointment after disappointment; we have been at a loss for who we are and whose we are; we have fallen so low that we wonder if we can every climb out of our hole.

We have felt brittle and dry and longed to be refreshed and whole.

We have each experience our own valleys. Many of us have also experienced a rebuilding and a renewing brought on by the Spirit. We have fallen into valleys of death and been raised by God into life. In small groups, bible studies, around tables at dinner, we have shared stories of how God has breathed the spirit of life into us.

This is good news – news which will carry us through our hard times. In the valleys of our lives, God speaks and moves and brings life. This is good news for us but it is not the only word for us to hear.

In this vision of Ezekiel’s, we can see ourselves as the dry bones. And there are times when we are those dry bones. But there are also times when we are – at least we should be – Ezekiel.

God speaks words of life in the face of death. God speaks these words not through an angel or a burning bush or a talking donkey, but through a mortal, a person, just like you, just like me, a human.

God chooses to use those created in the divine image to proclaim the divine truth – that in God life is possible even after death, even after all hope seems lost.

This Friday I attended a production of Numbers the Stars, a play based on the Lois Lowry book about the Danish resistance during World War II, how the Danish people hid and protected their Jewish friends and neighbors from the horrible fate of so many other European Jews.

After the play, a man by the name of Mark Strauss spoke to the audience. Mark is a Holocaust survivor. After being forced into a ghetto – Jews in a cage as he called it – friends of his grandparents, an elderly Catholic couple, took Mark in and hid him in a first floor apartment.

For 22 months he lived in a 10 by 7 room, a room with a cot, a window, and a door. Lest the neighbors grow suspicious by the appearance of a curtain in the window or a glimpse of what looked like a little boy’s face at the elderly couple’s house, he spent the time living on the cot or the floor.

Mark survived – unlike 85% of the Jewish people from his town – but his time of survival wasn’t pleasant. It was filled with fear, filth, hunger, and moments of which he would not speak. During this time, he experienced not only German hatred toward Jews, but Ukrainian hatred toward the Polish. Surrounded by threat upon threat, Mark survived.

In the midst of death, Mark was an example of life. What’s more, after he was liberated and after he came to the United States, he did not bring the forces of death with him. The hatred of a people – hatred he witnessed and experienced embodied in atrocious ways – this hatred he left behind. Of the five things Mark wants those who hear his story to understand, to take away with them, the fifth was most profound for this listener. He doesn’t hate. Rather than be filled with hate toward the Germans or the Ukrainians, he chooses to value each person based on their own merits – not their ethnicity. Mark has chosen the path of life over death, and what’s more, he speaks about it.

As the body of Christ, are we called to do any less?

Words of life, words that bring together the scattered pieces of a people, words that are inspired by and speak to the breath of life which comes from God – these are words that you and I are charged with. As the body of Christ – the one who is the resurrection and the life – we are the ones who must speak to this resurrection and this life. We are the ones who are called to look out at a valley and say “O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.”

“O dry bones…” These are words we are to proclaim but do we? How many times have we looked out at these valleys and stayed silent instead of speaking out God’s good news? How often have we looked at despair and doubted that anything can be done to change the situation?

The problem is too complicated – nothing that you or I can say or do will ensure all people have access to adequate health care. The hatred is too deep, too entrenched in people – no efforts we make will stem the tide of violence. This is the way things have always been – the poor will be with us always.

We get lost and are made mute by doubting what good we can do. What good letter writing or phone calls will do. What good speaking out when we hear or experience hatred or injustice will do.

What good will it do? When we speak to life as the spirit of God moves within us, we testify to the breath of life which comes from God. This breath which brought the dry bones together, bone to bone, then sinew to sinew, flesh to flesh. This breath which filled Lazarus with life, this breath which flows from the resurrection and the life.

Mark Strauss witnessed a valley of dry bones and now spends his time witnessing to both the death that has been and the promise of life that will be. You and I who are bound together in the one baptism, the one faith, the one Lord, are called to witness to the Lord, to the one who died and rose again. We are called to witness to the impossible. We are called to speak life for the one who is the life.

We have to be the ones to speak for a world full of dry bones, a world that needs the sound of our voice. This world is crying out for someone to speak daring words, scary words, unwelcome words; to proclaim life in the midst of death; to witness to hope in the abyss of despair.

This world is crying out so let us find the words given to us even as we have been filled with the Spirit – the ruach – the breath of life. Let us speak, proclaim, we witness not because we know whether or not the bones will live, not because we know that the words we speak will definitely bring an end to poverty or bring about justice. Let us speak because God knows, speak because God has chosen to work through us. Praise be to God. Amen.

the way they held each other

2008-03-03T15:23:00.002-05:00

I'm sitting at the coffee shop working on worship and came across this lovely poem I just had to share. It's by Indian poet Mira (1498-1550) and taken from the book Love Poems from God: Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West, translated by Daniel Ladinsky.

the way they held each other

A woman and her young daughter were destitute
and traveling to another country
where they hoped to find
a new life.

Three men stole them while they were camping.

They were brought to a city
and sold as slaves; each to a different
owner.

They were given one minute more together,
before their fates became unknown.

My soul clings to God like that,
the way they held
each other.

Don't Forget to Turn Ahead Your Clocks!

2008-03-01T21:06:00.000-05:00

“Don’t forget to change your clocks!”

The moment I saw that sentence pop up on my computer this past Saturday night, I panicked. Daylight Savings time – already?!? I had just spent the last 14 hours traveling back to Staunton from Chicago and the last thing I expected to see when I turned on my computer to check e-mail was this announcement.

Luckily for me – and all of you who would have had to witness me deprived of a precious hour of sleep following a long and tiring day of travel – this reminder was a week early. We won’t spring forward until this Saturday evening. Once I realized the actual date, my heart rate dropped back down but this time thing was still on my mind. I had just spent a week of vacation doing nothing but relax – I read, watched movies, spent time with good friends, went to the spa (thanks to the aforementioned good friends’ generosity), and cooked. It was a perfect vacation – one where I could spend a lot of quality time resting in God. And then, the moment I get back, time – and how we’re losing it – slams right into my face. Thwack!

This Lent I have chosen to take up the practice up spending at least ten minutes a day intentionally listening for God. Most days I do pretty well with this practice, though not all. This recent bout with TIME! has reinforced how important such practices are for me – and not just during Lent. During my week away, I just was and most of the time, I was with God in a very aware way. During my weeks running around church and town, always go-go-going, I’m not as aware of my being with God. I’m not as aware of God’s being with me.

Lent is already half-way over which means my Lenten observance will not be around much longer. I’m thinking about doing something a little different this year. I’d like to pick up an Easter observance, and a Pentecost observance, and even an Ordinary Time observance! I’d like to keep being intentional about listening for God every single day. And I’d like to invite you to join me. Maybe you won’t spend 10 minutes each day listening – maybe just a few, maybe a whole hour – but I hope you take time out of each day to really stop and listen. God may have something exciting to say – it’s true – but even if God doesn’t, each minute you spend just listening for God, just being with God, is a minute of time well spent.

Reading and Relaxing

2008-02-27T23:13:00.002-05:00

A brief update from vacation land:

I've spent the last several days doing nothing but reading, relaxing, cooking, and spending quality time with dear friends. What a perfect vacation! I had a special treat on Sunday when I went to worship with several friends of mine. I have been hearing about this new minister at the church they all attend, "Carla this and Carla that," "Carla's the most amazing person ever," "I just adore Carla" and so on. Of course I was excited to meet and be led in worship by this woman held in such dear esteem by my friends. The worship service at this particular church begins and ends with the passing of the peace (a lovely way to bookend the service I must say). At the first passing of the peace I looked up to where the minister was and lo and behold, it was \my Carla! The Carla my friends have been raving about is the same Carla I worked with as an intern in Atlanta, the same Carla who inspired me and from whom I've borrowed a few worship ideas. I ran up to pass the peace and we were both delighted at the unexpected reunion.

It's a small world and sometimes I just love that!

leaving on a jet plane

2008-02-21T23:14:00.002-05:00

I'll soon be heading out for a fabulous week of vacation in warm, sunny, tropical Chicago. Yes, yes, I know, Chicago in the winter is a brilliant vacation choice! While Chi-town has more snow and brisk wind I'd want in a vacation spot, it also holds one of my dearest friends. While sunny beaches might be more glamorous, nothing beats the company of a good friend.

I'll see you all when I get back! Have a wonderful week all and think of poor, freezing, me!

You Gotta Have Faith

2008-02-16T18:35:00.003-05:00

Texts: Genesis 12:1-4
Romans 4:1-5, 13-17

Perhaps like a lawyer remembers the first time she brought a case to court, or a teacher the first time he assigned (and then had to grade) 10 page essays, this preacher remembers the first time she was told to proclaim the word of God.

I don’t remember how it felt to stand up in front of my peers and preach, or how I picked the text or if I felt good about the sermon after I had preached it. What stands out the most in that memory is how I – and quite a few of my classmates – had longed for a form to follow and how our preaching professors wouldn’t give it to us.

Nice people, these professors of ours, but they refused to do the simplest thing to help us prepare. We wanted a list, a “all good sermons must include these things” kind of list, to know that if we followed this list, or this model, this outline, we would be guaranteed to have a decent sermon. And they said, no. Pick a text and preach the Word. That was our list.

Our professors wanted us to have faith in ourselves and more importantly, in the way God would work in and through our voices. We wanted a checklist, a form to follow, a way to guarantee we would get it “right.”

Whether we be seminary students learning to preach or not, we all often want a list – these are the things we need to do in order to get things “right.” Get our work right, our relationships right, our life right. Sometimes it seems like it would be so much easier, so much nicer, if we just had a list of things to do or not do, and as long as we followed that list, all would be well. We’d be the perfect preacher or lawyer, we’d be the perfect parent, we’d live a good, healthy, and fulfilling life – guaranteed.

Many of us struggle with accepting that we don’t have to be perfect. That we can indeed mess up at our jobs, at it can still be okay. That we can forget a birthday (here and there) or say the wrong thing and the people we are in relationship with will still love us. That we can make wrong decisions in our lives, go down the wrong path for awhile, and still, we can recover and live beautiful, fruitful lives.

When it comes to our faith, that desire to have a list, the need to be perfect, the longing to have a guarantee that we’re doing it “right,” often doesn’t go away. We want some sort of faith check-list in order to know we’re right with God.

I’m okay with God because I’ve done a pilgrimage or because I’ve fasted every holy season just like I’m supposed to or because I’ve gone to church every Sunday. I’m okay with God because I’ve been given this list and followed it to the T. I’m okay with God because of what I’ve done.

Those of us who long for some sort of list, some sort of guarantee, some way of being able to measure our rightness with God, aren’t alone. In his letter to the Romans, Paul addresses the issue of being right with God. For many people, being right with God was proven by the works you did. The law – the list of rules and regulations passed down from generation to generation – was viewed as a way to measure your righteousness. The more perfectly you followed the law, the more right you were with God. If you have the law and can obey the law, then you KNOW that you are righteous. You can look back at your successes and prove it.

Paul challenges this assumption with lovely rhetoric and usage of the ultimate model of faith for the Hebrew people. Abraham was seen in first century Judaism as the model of obedience to God. And Abraham, it was commonly understood, was a follower of the law (even though it had yet to be given) and it was by the law that Abraham was in right relationship with God.

While the Bible does not give us much background on Abram before he becomes Abraham, Jewish midrash and extracanonical literature filled in the blanks by imagining a man faithful to the one true God long before he was called by this God. Abram of the extra-biblical traditions some how obtains knowledge of the true God (some texts say as early as the age of three), tries to convert his whole family to the true faith, destroys idols of the false Gods, and is taught Hebrew by an angel of the Lord. He is a true, good, faithful follower of the law – long God initiates any covenant with him.

These extra-biblical traditions were developed to answer a question burning on the law-abiding minds of faithful Hebrew people. Why did God choose Abram? What things had he done, what laws had he obeyed, what were his works that made him worthy, that made him righteous?

The truth is, as Paul tells us, Abraham did nothing. Abraham wasn’t made righteous, wasn’t made right with God, by what he did or didn’t do. He wasn’t chosen because of some great deeds or holiness we don’t read about in the Bible. God choose Abram because God wanted to. And Abram, in response to this call, didn’t go around smashing idols or building temples or converting his whole village – he just believed. Abram is righteous – is in right relationship with God – simply because God said go and Abram went. Abram had faith and that faith, that gift from God, is where the right relationship with God lies.

While people in Paul’s world wanted to point at the law, prove their righteousness by their deeds, Paul contends that no one is righteous by what they do. If we were made righteous by the law, we’d all fall short and none of us would be in right relationship with God. We are right with God because of God’s grace and because of this gift of faith.

The truth is: there is no checklist. No matter how hard we try to follow the law, we will never be perfect. No matter how hard we work in any of our relationships – even our relationship with God – we will never be perfect. And yet God loves us still. God loves us despite our imperfections. And in response to that love, we are to believe. Believe in God, believe in God’s love for us.

Just believe; sounds simple but it’s not that easy. Maybe it’s because we’ve been hurt too many times by the world around us, but for many of us, it’s hard to believe that someone – anyone, let alone the Creator of the Universe – will love us no matter what. It’s hard to accept that our righteousness is not determined by how many good works we do, how many good deeds we can store up, how much we can prove we want to be right with God, but simply by our faith, our own yearning to be in relationship with God. We are in right relationship with God as long as we yearn to be in relationship with God.

That’s not to say we can’t grow in our relationship with God; as Paul tells us later in Romans, Abraham grew in his own faith even as he offered glory to God. We can grow in our relationship with God, grow in our faith. But the things we do, the words of praise we offer – none of these make us worthy of God’s love or gain us some sort of perfect faith. They come as a response to that love and out of the faith we already have.

None of us will ever have a perfect faith. None of us will ever follow the law perfectly. None of us will ever be able to prove our love for God by what we do. But all of us can accept the love God has given us. All of us can yearn to be in relationship with this loving God. All of us can strive to respond in love. All of us can seek to follow the model of Abraham. He accepted God’s blessing, God’s favor, God’s love and let his faith grow from there. May we do the same. Amen.

Undecided

2008-02-06T15:58:00.001-05:00

As some of you may know, Lent is my favorite season of the year. The 40 days we spend preparing for Holy Week can be an intense and invaluable time set apart. Each year I take up a Lenten discipline to help me keep Lent on the forefront of my mind.

Here's my problem. It's Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, and I don't know what I'm going to do. Last year I gave something up so this year I really wanted to take something on. But what? I can't decide! Any thoughts, suggestions, would be appreciated!

Collecting Hugs

2008-02-04T11:46:00.000-05:00

Sitting in my second office (Coffee on the Corner for those who may not know) I had a delightful encounter. A young soft-spoken Mary Baldwin student - who I have seen around town before - came up to me and said "I'm collecting hugs and I was wondering if I could have one of yours." How odd a thing to hear. I - of course - said yes and gave her one of my hugs. And it was wonderful! Hugging a virtual stranger may sound like it would be uncomfortable but it wasn't. It felt right.

After our hug, she collected hugs from other patrons and went to eating her sandwich. I like to think I offer God's love to all I meet yet I doubt I could ever gather the nerve to do what she did. That hug - unexpected to say the least - was a lovely reminder that we shouldn't be afraid to express care and genuine affection - even to strangers.

elmer gantry

2008-01-26T20:28:00.000-05:00

Just finished a book I've been working on for a couple weeks, Elmer Gantry by Sinclair Lewis. It's about a man who rises from less than stellar beginnings to become a well-respected minister and morality leader. Except it's not as feel good as perhaps that brief description makes it sound. I really enjoyed the book - it had some brilliant commentary on hypocrisy in the church as well as some great laugh-out-loud moments.

Particular favorite quote: “Because the Baptists and the Methodists have all the numbskulls—except those that belong to the Catholic Church and the henhouse sects—and so even you can get away with being a prophet. There are some intelligent people in the Episcopal and Congregational Churches… Of course all Presbyterians are half-wits, too, but they have a standard doctrine and they can trap you into a heresy trial.”

That’s us, half-wits with a keen eye for heresy!

If you’re interested on reading a classic piece of American lit that was quite controversial in its days and is still rather dead-on in this day, I recommend it!

Preaching the Word

2008-01-21T09:57:00.000-05:00

One of the greatest joys of my ministry is the time I spend with our youth. Full of energy and laughter, our youth inspire and challenge me. Listening to their thoughts, ideas, passions and beliefs I find my own faith renewed in our time together. This Sunday the senior high will be leading us in worship. As they’ve been preparing and planning for this worship service, it’s been a delight to hear how the scripture for Sunday touches their lives. I look forward to sharing in worship with them and you this Sunday and seeing how their words touch all of us.

Along with hearing the voices of our youth, Youth Sunday excites me because it affirms what we as a Reformed people believe – God can and does speak to all of us. John and I have years of training and experience, yes, but that’s not what allows us to stand up in the pulpit and proclaim the Word of God. The Spirit is what empowers us – all of us: John, me, you, our youth. The Spirit is what moves us and gives us the words to speak. Every one of us can proclaim the Word of God.

Covenant affirms that truth in a variety of ways – from Youth Sunday and Children’s Sunday (this year on April 27th) to the Word proclaimed in October by lay leaders. We know it’s not just Ministers of Word and Sacrament to whom the Spirit speaks. The Word is also proclaimed on other days than Sunday and other places than the pulpit. Listening to and participating in conversations about God in Bible studies, at dinner on Wednesdays, around the kitchen table when I’ve been invited over for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, I have heard the Word proclaimed. Sorting cans with you for the Salvation Army, repairing homes with you in Mississippi, seeing money donated to Heifer International instead of buying more stuff for loved ones, I have witnessed the Word proclaimed.

It’s quite a privilege to hear such powerful proclamations. Keep on proclaiming the Word with your words and your lives. As I’ve said to the youth, let me say to all of you: preach it, preacher!

I'm dreaming of a white thursday

2008-01-18T13:53:00.000-05:00

I love snow days!

Didn't really have them much as a kid - in Texas school got cancelled for floods much more often than it did for odd white stuff falling from the sky. Yesterday I got up planning on driving to Harrisonburg for a CPM meeting only to discover I wouldn't be driving my car anywhere that day! A snow day for me is a lovely unexpected gift; instead of sitting in an all day meeting (which has its own merits, to be sure), I got to run about and enjoy the wonder of a blanket of snow.

I've spoken to several friends and run into a few church members today. It seems many of us ran outside, made snowmen and women, went sledding, made snow angels, sipped hot cocoa, got together with friends – just enjoyed the day. We rush about so often and miss things like rays of the sun glistening on freshly fallen snow – I’m as guilty of that as anyone. It’s rather nice when the sky opens up and forces us to slow down, stop even, and just appreciate what’s before us.

a monday afternoon

2008-01-07T15:34:00.000-05:00

I adore living in Staunton and I most particularly appreciate the wonderful opportunities this town gives me to meet and make new friends. Now, yes, I happen to be an extra-amiable woman, but I do think there’s something about this town that makes it easy to strike up conversations with people at, say, your local coffee shop and by the end of the conversation, make plans for lunch!

This afternoon as I’ve forced myself to finish the youth calendar (I have trouble committing to dates for certain activities) I also made a new friend – another minister in the area (Lutheran). How wonderful that it’s not strange here (at least I hope not) for me to just go up and introduce myself upon overhearing her career.

I love the museums, the ballet, the many areas of exploration big cities offer but nothing can beat moments like the one I had this afternoon.

The Angels Hung Around

2007-12-30T13:20:00.000-05:00

Texts: Isaiah 63:7-9
Matthew 2:13-23

I hope all of you had blessed and love filled Christmas day and are enjoying both leftovers and loved ones in the days that have followed.

Watching Christmas movies with my family, I’ve heard a lot of “this is what Christmas is about” from the characters on screen. Christmas is about truth, about love, about taking a chance, about family. I’ve enjoyed listening to all these statements about what the season is supposed to be, what it’s supposed to inspire in us, because I think they all are speaking to this feeling many of us have, this feeling deep down that Christmas is special and during this season all wonderful things are possible.

We long for Christmas tide to be full of nothing but joy and warmth, moments we can capture on film that we can look back upon when times are challenging and remember the glow of Christmas.

Sometimes we do get Christmases full of glow and love and nothing else. Sometimes we don’t. And even when we have the perfect Christmas, a gentle fresh snow on the ground, all our loved ones together without any of that pesky squabbling, the perfect Christmas ham or turkey or veggie platter that everyone salivates over… Even when we do have this perfect Christmas, you and I know that the feelings of warmth and love don’t last as long as the fruit cake and good tidings don’t ring in our ears all year long.

What happens? The world happens. Too much family togetherness brings up old grudges; those who have trouble feeling close to others are reminded of their isolation during the season that emphasizes kinship; violence erupts even as we worship the Prince of Peace.

The Christmases we experience which turn toward the harshness of the world follows in the unfortunate tradition set by the very first Christmas. Even the first Christmas, accompanied by proclamations from angels, did not usher in an eon of warmth and happiness. The shepherds came and went, as did the wise men, and this child whose birth was lauded by the heavenly chorus finds his life threatened.

Jesus is still a babe who is learning to sit up, eat solid foods, talk, and already the establishment is terrified of him. Herod—determined no king other than him should reign—sends out the troops under his command to eliminate any threat.

Eliminate any threat. As though a child who can’t yet speak is a threat to anything other than a good night’s sleep.

An angel of the Lord sends a message to Joseph to escape. The Holy Family bundles up and get out of Israel and headed toward Egypt. Jesus escaped but there were so many children who did not.

Just like the child Moses who escaped the wrath of Pharaoh when so many other Hebrew children did not, Jesus slips into the night with his mother and father and finds himself in Egypt, the land from which the adult Moses led his people. Just as we celebrate Moses’ journey down the river Nile in a basket, we celebrate Jesus’ escape from Herod’s wrath. How can we, though? How can we celebrate Jesus’ good fortune when so many others suffered?

This is the question we deal with every day. How do we praise God when the little children in this world are suffering? How do we rejoice that some are saved when others are lost?

We celebrate the birth of one child even as we look around and see children facing death – death from hunger, violence, need beyond anything we can comprehend. We see children of God of all ages fighting against the darkness of loneliness, self-doubt, loss of direction, anger, and so much more. Just like in the village of Bethlehem, the Herods of our world are seeking out the innocents for destruction.

This is the hard reality of Christmas, one many of us face in different ways. We want to first find the joy and warmth the season is supposed to bring and then remain in this sacredly serene feeling for the rest of the year. But it never happens that way. We want to praise God for all the good God has done and not be challenged with our praise of the Lord with the truth of evil in this world. But it never happens that way.

Instead of eternal bliss, rather than uncomplicated praise of a god who guarantees only good things to his or her followers, we have this messy and mysterious God who, when we follow, promises something else entirely.

Our Christmas story has been filled with visions and visits from angels. After the Christ-child has been born, the angels hung around, watched after him and his family. We could celebrate this part of the story – the presence of angels – but that isn’t what our text is about, that isn’t what Christmas is about, isn’t what our God is about.

God’s promises are more complicated than visions from angels or perfect happiness – and yet in some ways so much more simple. Isaiah reminds the people of his time and the ages to follow what it is to follow this God, what it is to trust in God’s promises, what and how it is we celebrate Christmas.

“he became their savior in all their distress. It was no messenger or angel but his presence that saved them; in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.”

It was no messenger or angel but God’s presence that saved them.

This—this is what Christmas is about, this is what we celebrate in the midst of the dark of our world.

The story of the massacre of the infants, of the innocents, isn’t just a story of a miraculous escape for Jesus and his family. Jesus escaped death here, yes, but we know what awaits him 30 or so years down the road. This story proclaims to us from the beginning what we will come to know so well throughout his life – Jesus is with us. He is subject to the pain and injustice of this world, he is victim of hatred and prejudice, and through him God is with us in all our suffering, in all things.

It is because of the God we know in the person of Jesus Christ that we can dare to say that even though the infant Jesus was not in Bethlehem when Herod’s soldiers came God was.

Jesus is God with us, Jesus is our salvation, our saving story. Through the person of Christ, God loves us, pities us, redeems us, and lifts us up into to the divine presence.

Through the person of Jesus Christ we know that though the world is not full of bliss, though the glow of Christmas fades and our troubles may seem here to stay, though something as horrific as the murder of these children is proof of the darkness, through Jesus we know our saving story.

Being a follower of Christ isn’t about escaping the clutches of evil… I wish it was. Following Christ can be about that- Jesus wants us to be free from evil, murder, but it’s more complicated.

The promise we have as a Christ follower comes in God’s presence among us – a presence we have known in the person of Jesus Christ and the life-giving and moving Spirit.

Even when our family squabbles, even when we can’t find any more Christmas cheer to light our days and nights, even when the worst we could imagine – beyond what we could imagine – happens, we can take comfort, find our cheer, find our hope in the knowledge that God is with us.

God’s presence gives us hope—hope that things can improve, may improve, will improve, slowly, too slowly to be sure. Hope in something greater than us, hope that what we know and see here and now is not all there is, is not God’s full kingdom, not yet. Hope that once we have departed from this place there is togetherness with God, our salvation, our hope, a togetherness that banishes all tears, all death, all pain.

The Christmas story is full of amazing signs and visions, the glory of God shone through the heavenly chorus singing “Glory to God in the highest!” and the story of Christ’s first days ends in brutality for so many of God’s innocents.

But above all the angels and beyond all the brutality lies the good news - “It was no messenger or angel but his presence that saved them; in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.”

Rejoice in cheer, rejoice in sorrow, rejoice that wherever you are, God is with you. Amen.

heard on Sunday morning

2007-12-30T10:03:00.000-05:00

- coffee, coffee, I need coffee... (me)
- you talk too fast for me to understand you (a 7 year old visitor who I was greeting)
- that started to be quite the downer of a sermon, but I'm glad you got to the good stuff (a member at the 8:30 service)
- you sound kinda British (another member)
- Glory to God in the highest and ah, crap (my 10:30 liturgist practicing).

Sermon Prep

2007-12-27T17:18:00.000-05:00

I'm sitting at home staring at my father who's reading one of my favorite books - Good Omens - wishing I could do the same. Instead, I'm trying to figure out what exactly God wants to say through me this Sunday. My brow is currently on the "scrunchy" setting.

Thought I'd take a quick break and answer a question I know has been just burning on so many minds.

I often am asked "hey, Amy, how'd you come up with that" in reference to my sermons.

Well, let's see. I study the scripture, occasionally break out the Hebrew and/or Greek, enjoy the conversations held during our Monday morning Bible study class, take it with me wherever I go (not literally, though sometimes I do carry around a printed version of the text), and of course this:

Coffee is an essential component of my sermon writing process. I think the Holy Spirit is infused in the coffee beans or something. Really.

On that note, I think I need to go see if I've got any coffee left!

Peace.

And the Angel Said: "I Bring You Tidings of Great Joy..."

2007-12-24T10:56:00.000-05:00

Texts: Isaiah 7:10-16
Luke 2:8-14

Christmas time is here – bringing with it joy for many and sorrow for some, business for shops and carols in the street. For me, Christmas time brings in my family – the whole large, loud lot of them. Parents, grandparents, and this Christmas 4 out of my 5 siblings.

My family, as you may know, is not your traditional family. I have two biological siblings and 3 sisters who are adopted – though not in the legal sense. It can get confusing, I know. My blonde sprite of an adopted sister Dawn doesn’t raise too many eyebrows but I’ve gotten quite used to the puzzled looks that come when I introduce Neli and Nyembe – who happen to be from Zambia – as my sisters. Sometimes people understand right away what I mean; sometimes it takes a bit of explaining that even though we don’t share genes, these amazing women are my sisters.

I mention my family in part to warn you that the Summers-Minette clan has indeed descended upon poor Staunton town, but also because of what being a part of this family has taught me about our scriptures. It is in great thanks to my family that I understand what it means for a child to be born into one particular family but to be born for more than just that family.

In many communities, including the one where my sisters Neli and Nyembe grew up, your family wasn’t just your mom, dad, and siblings. Everyone, unfortunately for you as Neli says, is your parent. People you aren’t related to by blood look out for you, correct you, care for you.

The community Jesus was born into was more like my sisters’ community of origin than ours. When a child was born, he or she wasn’t just born for the particular parents, but for the whole community. The whole community would have a hand in raising this child, guiding this child, loving this child.

Jesus’ Palestinian-Jewish community also had a long tradition of understanding that children may be born with a purpose – they may themselves be a sign. The prophet Hosea had children whose birth and names told of the people’s unfaithfulness to God and the punishment that would come. Even before Samuel – he who is from God - was born, he had been dedicated to God and had been marked as the one who would preside as prophet under Eli.

And then there is the child Immanuel. During the Advent season we remember the child Isaiah spoke of, one who would be born as a reminder to the king of the time that God is with us. King Ahaz was faced with two powerful nations who had united to bring him and Judah down and was looking to align his and his nation’s fate with the current world power – Assyria. The child Immanuel – God-with-us – was born to remind the king that it is God and God alone who Judah needed to rely on for protection—for salvation.

It is no wonder the Gospel writers looked to this child hundreds of years later when Jesus was born. If this child Immanuel was a reminder that God is with us then Jesus is the ultimate reminder, the ultimate fulfillment of that prophecy. For in Jesus, God is with us in a most profound and unprecedented way.

In Jesus too a child has been born for more than just his mother and father – much, much more. Jesus is not just a sign or a reminder, not just one dedicated to God. In Jesus the idea that a child may be born for a people, for a purpose, is realized most fully.

“I am bringing you tidings of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is the Messiah, the Lord.”

When the angel speaks to the shepherds of a Savior being born for them – that a child has been born for them – these men in the field understand that this child can indeed – even though he is newborn – that he can already been known as Savior, as something greater for them. If Jeremiah can be called prophet while still in the womb, if Samson can be dedicated as a Nazirite before his birth, then surely at his birth, this child whose name the shepherds do not yet even know can be called Savior.

The world in which the angel brings tidings of great joy is a world where some, like the shepherds, can indeed look upon a child and see the Messiah. They may not yet understand what confessing Jesus as Messiah means, but this child born of Mary is indeed their Savior.

It is because of this child whose birth the angel announces that we are all bound together, regardless of our family, our age, even our location. We too, I hope, can understand how a child born into one family can be born for all of us. It is because of this one who was found wrapped in swaddling clothing that we call the person next to us brother or sister and know that we are theirs. Because of this child, we recognize each person as a child of God.

In the sacrament of baptism we welcome each child of God – whatever their age – as part of our family. We welcome each child of God and promise “to share in worship and ministry through our prayers and gifts, our study and service, and so fulfill our common calling to be disciples of Jesus Christ.” In baptism we proclaim through our ritual and our words that we are connected and that together we will strive to be faithful disciples of Christ.

Writer and poet James Agee said that “in every child who is born, the potentiality of the human race is born again.” We can say that in every child welcomed into the family of the church, the potentiality of the body of Christ is welcomed again. In every child we welcome, in every one of us, the potential for being the true and faithful church is here.

In every child we welcome and in every one of us, we may find both the comfort and the challenge that Christ, who is the head of our body, brought to his disciples.

Being a follower of Jesus is not just about rejoicing in the birth of the Savior. We don’t know what became of the child Immanuel that Isaiah spoke of, but we certainly know what happened to Jesus. Even in the birth story, the writer of Luke does not let us forget what will become of this child. The child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger foreshadows the man wrapped in linen cloth and laid in a rock-hewn tomb.

The babe whom the shepherds welcomed, who was raised by his mother and earthly father as well as his community in Nazareth, was rejected by those who once welcomed him. Jesus did not just care for the sick or the poor; Jesus challenged those who would be unjust and unrighteous. Jesus was welcomed as long as he was a sweet child, but when he became the revolutionary – a peaceful one mind – he was rejected with “isn’t this Joseph’s kid?” and run out of town.

Each child of God we welcome through the sacrament of baptism brings with him or her the full potential of being a faithful disciple. When we welcome this child, when we welcome one another, we don’t just welcome with hugs and prayers – we welcome what this child might say, what he or she might do, what he or she might move us toward. God works in and through each of us and as a child of God, each of us has the potential to continue God’s revolutionary work.

Being the church, the true church, is not a simple task and requires us to be open in ways that are quite painful. Your neighbor next to you may be the sister or brother who brings you a meal when you are ill, he or she may be the one who sits with you at Together on Wednesday, may be the person who teaches your Sunday school class or offers insights in class. This sister may also be the one who makes you uncomfortable because she suggest that we should first give to the church and then to ourselves. This brother in Christ may make you squirm when he asks why he hasn’t seen you in church lately. This child of God may make you question your values and priorities and you may be the child of God who – in love – helps to question others’.

Together as children of God we are called to grow as Christians. Together we are called love one another and confront one another. Together we are called to hear the words of comfort we long for and the words of challenge we need.

I bring you tidings of great joy for all people – to you has been born a Savior and to you has been born brothers and sisters who will help you follow that Savior. This Christmas I pray that we welcome both our Savior and our brothers and sisters in Christ. Amen.

Ringing the Bell!

2007-12-17T12:23:00.000-05:00

Two Saturdays ago I participated in Covenant’s bell ringing for the Salvation Army. Between singing carols with other Covenant members (badly on my part), trying to ring some sort of melody with the bells, and greeting people as they walked by, I really got into the Advent spirit. One story in particular I’d like to share.

My fellow bell ringer had stepped aside to help two women with their questions, leaving me to my enthusiastic ringing and (because it’s me) dancing to the carols I was trying to ring out. Several cars slowed down as they drove by me, all drivers smiling and waving.

Several minutes later, after my partner had come back to ringing and we were trying to remember all the words to 12 Days of Christmas, a woman burst out of the mall doors. She came over to me and said “this is all your fault.” My brain raced; who was she? What was my fault? With a smile she put several dollars in the kettle and handed me an item. It was a heart keychain with the words “the pure of heart will see God” engraved on it. Surprised that this woman would be giving me something, I didn’t hear the rest of her words. According to my fellow bell ringer, she said “I haven’t stopped by one of these things in years but on seeing your joy, I just had to.” She left me with another smile as I wondered at her kindness.

I share this not to confirm that being joyous puts people in a giving spirit (though I certainly think it does) but to share this moment in front of the mall when Christ appeared, with almost twenty days until Christmas remaining. In my joy, this woman saw the face of Christ in me. In her generous spirit, in her sharing of herself, and in her affirmation of what I had to give (that joy she recognized), I saw the face of Christ in her.

Christ came as a baby over two thousand years ago and Christ will come again. And – as this woman reminded me – Christ comes in the here and now, in moments like I experienced while ringing bells, in moments of generosity and joy, in so many different ways and places, Christ comes. Rejoice, believers, rejoice!

okay, not quite

2007-11-29T16:20:00.000-05:00

Well December 1 is approaching and if you look to the little image on the right on this page, you'll see I'm no where near the 50,000 word mark for my novel. And yet, I'm not at all discouraged!

I had so much fun and plan on continuing the fun - my new goal is to finish before Christmas. I'm also going to keep up the NaNoWriMo model of not editing, though I certainly am making notes about ideas I have for that process.

a little down time

2007-11-10T00:51:00.000-05:00

I've been on vacation this week - what a nice treat! - and spent most of it reading or with friends or writing. Yep, writing. Not sermons, not lesson plans, but good ole fashion fiction. I've always been a writer and this month several friends of mine have signed up for National Novel Writing Month - NaNoWriMo - where we are challenged to write a 50,000 word novel in a the month of Novemeber. They've gotten me to sign up to.

At first, I was fairly intimidated. 50,000 is a lot to write in 30 days and other than this vacation, I don't have a whole lot of free time on my hands. Plus while I enjoy writing, I always hit a spot where I run out of ideas or energy or something.

The great thing about this project, however, is that you aren't trying to write something brilliant. You're just trying to get to 50,000 words. So that means I don't have to spend time weighing different options in direction or going back and meticulously editing what I've written. I write and then I write somemore, no matter how good or bad I think my prose is. And I'm seeing results. Not only in my word count, but in my desire. I want to write. Today I didn't because I didn't have time (truly) and I could tell I missed it. I'd even go so far as to say that while driving home from visiting a friend, I craved writing and was frustrated I couldn't get out my pen and paper. And just think, a week or so ago it wouldn't have even crossed my mind.

Will I have a brilliant novel by the end of the month? Probably not. But I hope to have a novel of at least 50,000 words. And I know I'll have the memories and effects of this process.

A Success!

2007-10-21T12:12:00.001-04:00

This weekend 9 senior high youth joined together to fight hunger. We played games, prayed for people, did a can drive scavenger hunt for the food pantry, reflected a lot, and didn't eat a darn thing for 30 hours. We talked about the people we were trying to help - sat in a circle of light until candle after candle was blown out, representing all those who day each day from hunger.

I don't know if I can convey with words how proud I am of these amazing young people or how honored am I to work with them.

Below are a few of their reflections on the experience.

Reflections from the Famine

2007-10-21T10:11:00.001-04:00

I’ve never been seriously hungry for a long length of time and I cannot even begin to imagine what it would be like without it. Participating in this famine has helped me see how rough some children have it. Thinking about the United States and the abundance of food we have compared to those which have very little makes me think that there is a lot we can do for them. This is why I am supporting the 30 Hour Famine; it’s just a small step to helping those who go hungry everyday.

- Courtney K

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Other than the famine, I have never been hungry for a long span of time. For those who are starving, I am very sorry for. I feel as though they’re not getting a true chance to live. This weekend makes me feel like the abundance in food we have in the United States is almost a waste; especially when now the U.S. is considered obese. While those in other countries are starving, we are overeating. I think there is hope for those in extreme poverty, however. Watching 200 candles being blown out was heartbreak. I felt as if I was watching the breath of hunger take away the lives of 200 children. I didn’t want to blow out anymore candles after the thought came to my mind. However, some candles were almost “fighting” for their chance of survival; others gave out without any sign of resurrection.

- Christian D

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All my life I have never been hungry for this long, not even when I was sick. But now that I am saving a child's life for almost a year, I can feel good about being hungry. I realize that the way that I feel now probably cannot even come close to the hunger those children and families must live. Amy told all of us that about 10 million children die from hunger or poverty. To hear that is just awful, and is something no one would ever want to hear. The 30 Hour Famine has been a lot of fun and I can't wait to do it again next year.

- Michael S

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It's pretty upsetting to think that so many children die of hunger. While Americans take in and consume almost enough for a person for an entire week, those living in poverty take in a considerable amount of suffering. I myself have never gone without food for a long peiod of time and I can't even imagine what the other kids go through. The U.S. has an opportunity to help these people just by making a donation or contributing to any food pantry. The question is whether or not we will step up and do so. I know that I have taken in so much from this experience. Next time before you eat just think about all the poverty in the world.

- Daniel O

It Begins!

2007-10-19T17:52:00.000-04:00

All the food is locked up, all the activities are ready to go, and in just 30 minutes, 8 of our youth will be joining me here at church as we continue to fast. So far we've been fasting for a little over 5 hours and of course, it's not so hard. But I suspect that as dinner time comes and goes we'll start to notice our lack of food a little bit more.

I've been running around this afternoon getting together the last few items we need (mainly food for tomorrow's break-fast). As I was surrounded by food I couldn't eat I thought about just how easily available food is. I could have picked up an apple or a candy bar or a roll from so many places around town. And that's the thing with hunger - food actually is readily available. It's just that folks suffering from issues of poverty can't access what is abundant. By tomorrow evening, in just a little over 24 hours, I'll be back to being able to pick up that apple when ever I want. 30 hours. Not a week or a month or a really bad year. Not a lifetime.

Counting my blessings and thinking how I can share those blessings as I wait for our youth to arrive.

Hunger Around the World and at Home

2007-10-15T15:49:00.000-04:00

This weekend our youth are doing amazing things to fight hunger. Our Senior High is going to starve hunger by participating in the 30 Hour Famine Friday and Saturday. Our Middle School is going to stamp out hunger by participating in the Crop Walk on Sunday. As our youth prepare to work towards alleviating issues of poverty and hunger, I invite you to join them in prayer and increasing awareness on these issues.

Here are some facts about hunger from Bread for the World:

Globally
More than 852 million people in the world are malnourished - 799 million of them are from the developing world. More than 153 million of them are under the age of 5.
In the last 50 years, 400 million people worldwide have died from hunger and poor sanitation. That's three times the number of people killed in all wars fought in the entire 20th century.
Of the 6.39 billion people in today's world, 1.2 billion live on less than $1 per day.

Nationally
36.3 million people - including 13 million children - live in households that experience hunger or the risk of hunger. This represents approximately one in ten households in the United States.

Our youth are doing something to help stop this easily preventable problem – hunger. Along with donating to these two wonderful causes and offering prayers for our youth, as we continue our stewardship season, I’d like to invite the Covenant family to think about if and how we are called to join the battle to fight hunger.

dreams do come true!

2007-09-24T15:28:00.000-04:00

Friday night saw the fulfillment of a dream of mine. I—along with thousands of others, including members of Covenant—had the opportunity to see and hear Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu. He was at JMU to receive the Mahatma Gandhi Global Nonviolence Award.

I was expecting powerful words (and they were there). I was expecting kindness and humility (and they were there). But a delightful sense of humor and good comic timing? Who knew Desmond Tutu was just darn funny?!? What a blessed surprise.

Another blessing was his message, one he has been all around this world proclaiming. “Goodness is stronger than evil, love stronger than hate.” Someone from Covenant said to me “the most profound messages are always the simplest.” How true. We know that goodness is stronger than evil—it’s what we say every time we confess Jesus Christ Lord and Savior, the one who died and was resurrected. But sometimes we need to be reminded of that, need to be renewed in our faith and hope.

Perhaps the statement that will be running around in my head for the longest is one His Grace said to all of us, but to young people in particular. To young people, to those who aren’t afraid to dare and do, to those who enact change, he said “Dream your dreams; they are God’s dreams.” What a wonderful message for all of us—young and not-so-young alike. We can get caught up in the reasons why something will never be—why there will never be peace in the Middle East, why poverty will never be eradicated, why diseases will continue to ravage the world. We can forget that indeed goodness is stronger than evil, that with God all things are possible. This isn’t just some fairy tale – this is God’s dream, God’s promise.

As the Archbishop reminded us, many people swore South Africa would go up in flames after apartheid ended—there was just too much hate, too much resentment, too much gone by for anything but violence. But it didn’t. Desmond Tutu and people like him dreamed a dream of reconciliation—they dreamed God’s dream—and saw that dream come to life.

I had one dream of mine fulfilled this Friday when I saw Desmond Tutu speak. I’m going to see if I can’t dream a little bit bigger and help that dream come true too. And maybe we can dream a little (or not so little) dream together.

Sunday Night Live!!!

2007-09-06T13:51:00.000-04:00

I'm getting kinda jittery again.

No, it's not the coffee (though I'm certain my drink of choice doesn't help).

I'm just really excited about this Sunday. During the Sunday School hour we're rolling out our new options for Christian education - always fun - and then in the evening the middle schoolers and senior high are getting together for dinner, fun, and good God-talk, something we're oh-so-creatively calling "Sunday Night Live."

I'm really excited about this evening activity for a couple reasons. First, well, let's be honest - the food. Who doesn't love a good meal they don't have to make for themselves. And my momma didn't raise no fool - I have asked folks who I know can make a mean meal. So there's food. But there's also our youth. It's no secret that I love our youth (I mean, really, I can never play poker and I know it). And now we're all going to gather together for games but also for good discussion. If you haven't had a chance to spend time with our youth you may not know what I know - they're pretty stellar thinkers and questioners. Seriously. You senior high and middlers, you really provide this getting-older-by-the-minute preacher good convo that fills her spirit. Thanks!

We've got quite a few wonderful adults who are going to be spending time with us on these Sundays. If you'd like to be one of them -- and really, everyone should -- let me know. I'd be glad to invite you to the party!

here we go again

2007-08-22T09:27:00.000-04:00

As I drove into work this morning (from my new house!) I noticed in the midst of the fog all these cars parked at Robert E. Lee. Ah, yes. School's back in session. Which of course means that our own fall is about to start.

We've been preparing for this fall for, well, months and months. Our Sunday School hour is going to look a little different, as is our Together on Wednesday education offerings. Our youth have all new leaders and even more fun stuff planned for them this year. The kids have an exciting and creativity filled year ahead of them. It's going to be good.

It's also going to be different. Not hugely different, but still. I hope we can all make the adjustments without too many aches and pains. Of course, every year brings a few adjustments. Think about those kids starting school today. If they've been to Lee before, it's the same building, the same classmates, but different teachers and different classes, different seniors and different freshman. Same idea - school - but different enough that I know I got first day jitters each year of high school.

Maybe that's what I'm feeling now (or maybe it's just the massive amount of coffee I've had this morning). It's exciting, a new year, with new classes, new teachers, and even new friends. But anything exciting often causes a little bit of nervousness. So with a combination of excitement and a few jittery nerves, I'm looking forward to our own start of the fall. At least I know I won't have any homework.

a long way gone

2007-08-15T14:15:00.001-04:00

I love to read, loved it since I was a little girl. Other kids would want to watch tv or a movie, I'd want to read. Other teenagers got in trouble staying up late at night talking to their friends on the phone; I got in trouble for reading until 3am when I had school the next day.

But at this moment in time, I'm finding it very hard to read. A few friends recommended a book to me, one they used with their youth. So several days ago I picked the book up and began to read. I've only gotten to page 50. This is very unusual for me (I read the whole last Harry Potter book in something like 7 hours). But this book... this book is making it very difficult for me to read.

The book is "a long way gone: memories of a boy soldier" by Ishmael Beah, a young man my age who grow up in Sierra Leone. When he was just 13, he was conscripted into the rebel army and forced to do horrible, horrible things. As an older teenager, he was rescued and brought to the United States where he lives and works now.

His writing is beautiful, and haunting, and very, very painful. I'm reading along and I feel physical pain in my stomach. What this young man has experienced, has had to see, had to do... it shouldn't even be humanly possible. After each chapter, and sometimes after just a passage, I have to put the book down and pray. Pray for the people in this world who remember, who survived. Pray for the people in this world who are living through such atrocities right now. Pray for the people in this world who are inflicting such violence on their sisters and brothers.

I'm have a really hard time reading. But I keep trying. I need to get through this book - can't put my head under the covers or pick up a happier novel. Even if I really, really want to.

Mission Sunday

2007-08-13T11:06:00.000-04:00

This Sunday’s service – Mission Sunday – is quickly become a favorite of mine. On the 19th we will be celebrating God’s call to service and the way we have and will continue to answer it. We will offer God our praise as we hear from those who have represented our family of faith to the Gulf Coast, Baja, and the Appalachia. We will also offer God our praise through our celebration of all the local outreach opportunities we have met.

As we prepare for this upcoming Sunday, I’m going to be reflecting on what I’ve done to serve God in God’s world and what I haven’t done. I encourage you to do the same. Covenant is not lacking in our outreach efforts. We have volunteers who serve in soup kitchens, food pantries, nursing homes, and so much more. We take our giving seriously and make a strong effort to balance our local, national, and international giving. God has called and I truly believe this community has answered.

And yet that doesn’t mean we can just sit back and rest on our laurels. We have listened for God’s call and answered it as best we could. Though we have done and continue to do much, I doubt that God is done with us. God will continue to move in and through us, continue to help us grow in our service to God’s world. So we have to continue to listen and discern.

This Sunday as we join together in worship (and a potluck lunch after!) let us not only celebrate how we have answered God’s call; let us listen for where God may be calling us next.

home is where the paint is

2007-07-29T18:52:00.001-04:00

For the past two weeks, instead of going home to a nice cup of tea or curling up with a good book after all my work for the day is done, I have been scraping. And priming. And painting. Two weeks ago I entered the world of homeownership, with all of its excitements and its headaches.

As I tore off old wall paper (the previous tenants seemed to enjoy putting wallpaper over wallpaper and then several coats of paint on top of that), I kept thinking that I should be having more profound thoughts than “this is disgusting” and “wallpaper should be illegal.” Alas my brain was firmly in the moment, in what needed to be done now and what needed to be done right after that.

Sunday afternoon I finished my process. No more painting and no more scraping – now the moving fun begins. But before that begins I have a moment. A moment to take a deep breath and look around. I have a house with fresh coats of paint, with my personal touch on it. And I have this house because of friends. Friends who found the house for me, guided me through the process, came to fix my gutters and paint my walls. Friends who wished me well and offered me helpful suggestions and loving thoughts. Friends who I call brothers and sisters in Christ, friends who are all members of Covenant.

Here’s where the profound thought enters in. This house is like everything else in life, stressful at times and joyful at times, but made so much better by the presence of a faith community. My life is so enriched because of this faith community – not just because some of you can paint walls or bake delicious pies for the working crew – and now my home will forever serve as a reminder of that blessing.

Coming Home

2007-07-14T01:03:00.000-04:00

It's the last night here at Montreat. The kiddos are staying up late, playing card games, writing notes to our senior, enjoying one another's company... I'm all snuggled in bed, seeing as how I'm one of the drivers tomorrow.

It has been a truly blessed week. The worship has been phenomenal - many of us wept more than once during services. I'm coming away with a lot of things but one thing that's ringing in my head right now is something we heard in tonight's sermon. We are the ones we have been waiting for. It began as a Hopi saying and was most recently the title of a book by Alice Walker... what a great thought. It's not someone else who will bring the changes we long for, who will guide us to God's righteousness... it's us. We are the ones we have been waiting for. We are the ones who are called to live for and through God. Not other people. Us.

I know our youth have really been touched this week - I've seen the Spirit moving among and within them. I am so proud and honored to have spent this week with this bunch. Our church is so blessed and I don't think we can say that enough.

Montreat Update

2007-07-10T00:41:00.001-04:00

Hey friends!

I've managed to swing some wireless access here in the mountains and thought I'd take a moment to let you all know Covenant has arrived safe and sound at Montreat and we're already having a blast!

The theme this year is "Turning the Page," about how our life is a story, one that is connected to both God and God's people. The leadership is great -- a friend and former prof of mine is preaching and really bringing the Word.

Our house is filled with lots of laughter and games, great food, and great discussions. The Holy Spirit is definitely present among us. This is going to be a wonderful week!

an anniversary

2007-07-02T09:45:00.000-04:00

From Amy’s Ethiopia Journal, July 2, 2006: A final thought—this was a mountain top experience (literally sometimes). I have been to Africa before, I have seen generosity and poverty before, but I have never experienced anything like Ethiopia and her people. God is doing wonderful things across the ocean. I’m honored and excited that our church gets to be a part of that.

A year ago today Jeff and Jennifer Ryman, Liz Dahmus, and I left Addis Ababa to return home to the States. We had such great hopes for our congregation’s relationship with the gracious people we met and the inspiring ministry we witnessed. I am both proud and humbled by the way this congregation has embraced the Bedele Congregation and our other brothers and sisters in Ethiopia.

When we went to Ethiopia our team truly saw ourselves as representatives of this congregation, of each of you. I am moved that when we returned, this congregation affirmed that view. I am moved by seeing so many of you moved by the stories the Ethiopian Partnership team brought back

We have truly committed ourselves to our partnership. I appreciate the way we pray for Bedele every Sunday, but also the way I know Bedele is in many of your personal prayers. I love that we committed to helping the congregation finish their building even as we added on to ours. I marvel that our Ethiopian partnership has become such a part of our church life that Ethiopian coffee is a best seller amid our Free-Trade coffee!

It has been a year and already we have embraced this relationship with such fervor. I can’t wait to see what another year brings.

Wa-Hoo!

2007-06-27T14:28:00.001-04:00

Oh my aching bones.

You may think I kid, but I promise, I don't. After three nights of being "Rowdy" and, yes, living up to the character's name, my back and knees may just about give out on me. I think I'll be giving this Sunday's sermon from a hospital bed we'll just have to roll up onto the chancel! Running around, jumping about, dancing like a crazy person -- all in the name of good ole VBS fun. It has been quite fun, I must admit, even with the aching bones. These kids, somewhere around 60 or so, have been shouting and singing and dancing and then actually calming down and sharing parts of their faith with one another. Beautiful, it really is.

And I suppose if my achy breaky back is one of the prices I have to pay to be a witness to such a joyous thing, I'll just keep on anteing up.

Revelation

2007-06-05T10:56:00.000-04:00

Confession time. Up until my last year of seminary when I finally took the intro course to New Testament (I like to do things a little out of order!) I had not read all of the Bible. Why? Because I had skipped heavily sections of Revelation. I'd read the beginning and the end, but the middle with all that apocalyptic imagery was not for me.

And then my friend Teri and I read the book together, out loud, with sound effects. That was the beginning of something for me. I've come, over the last two years, to really enjoy this book. Yes, some of the imagery is not my general cup of tea (beasts and whores of babylon and all that), but I have been able to read in and through that imagery to see God's glory shining. This book is full of beautiful confessions of faith, statements about who God is, visions of what the kingdom of God come will be like... And while I'm not inclined to like the battle imagery, it is true, for the kingdom of God to come here on earth will take a lot of sweat, tears, and perhaps even blood. We've seen it all ready - in those small moments where the kingdom breaks through. And in Revelation you have this wonderful promise that yes there will be battles (figurative or literal) and it will see like it lasts forever, but God and God's kingdom will win out. What a lovely, lovely narrative to live into.

it's here!

2007-06-04T14:13:00.000-04:00

Last August Bev R. asked me to contribute a chapter to a book she and Peter were editting on Angels and Demons... well, months later, the book is now in my hands.

It's a fun feeling, reading what you wrote in print. It's also interesting because as I read I think "oh, I would switch that word order" or "hee, that's a funny line." Nothing like being frustrated and humored by your own work which you can't change a single word or puncuation mark too any more.

If some of you are so inclined, you can check out the book at InterVaristy Press's site. Don't think you can order it from amazon yet.

Just wanted to share a little excitement with all of you. Blessings!