The Poverty of Christmas

Advent brings into focus the first chapter of John and the Word becoming flesh and the Light coming into the world, into the midst of darkness and still shining. Jesus does not shun the darkness or hide from it. Wherever there is darkness, Jesus is. The Jesus Way can be seen in the darkness and followed. That is good to remember in days of darkness and deception. The One who is Light does not avoid those days or dark places. You can bet on Jesus being there. I also like to read the account of the birth of Jesus in Luke and Matthew. The poverty of the manger scene with the work animals and the lowly shepherds surrounding the young parents who barely had enough to live and were bringing a new life to share in their poverty. Jesus could have been born anywhere. He could have been born to royalty, or in a nice home owned by a successful businessman. Or maybe he couldn't have? This choice of birthplace was not random. It was a chosen place just as the parents were chosen. This was who God is. The God who came among the poor because that is only way this God comes. God is among the poor today. You can bet on that, too. Thomas Merton reflecting on the poverty of Christmas wrote, "I am certain when the Lord sees the small point of poverty and extenuation and helplessness to which the monk is reduced, the solitary and man of tears, must come down and be born there in this anguish and make it constantly a point of infinite joy, a seed of peace in the world" Merton was writing of his own vow of poverty but I take it to refer to anyone who is helpless and caught in "extenuating circumstances".  When we sweep the homeless from our urban streets, or keep the migrants on the other side of our walls or let world's homeless live in refugee camps indefinitely is it because we don't recognize the face of Jesus?

My maternal grandparents were Jehovah's Witnesses.  When I was young I had no idea what that meant only that they didn't believe in celebrating Christmas. At least, in principle that was supposed to be true. But Grandma, who married into the faith at the young age of 14, had her own ideas. She loved celebrating Christmas and kept her tree up til Easter. She celebrated birthdays and Christmas with lots of gifts. I guess Grandpa couldn't see the point of trying to stop her. When we visited them on Christmas there were lots of gifts under the tree. For us and her other grands of which there were many, remember, married at 14! When I met her she seemed really old and tiny. She had a little yippy dog and her youngest son lived with them although he was old, too, by then. Grandpa was severe and didn't say much. He was the true believer and next to his armchair were piles of Witness literature and his Bible. I guessed Christmas was all Grandma's thing. I figured the JW stuff came with the territory, how much about religion do you know at 14? I don't think she ever bought into it. She never proselytized and I never saw her reading any JW literature. I didn't hear of her going door to door like she was supposed to either. My mother filled us in on the major ideas of the religion but she broke away before she married my dad in her early twenties. It caused a lot of tension in the family. Her older brother was a strict follower. He lived with his wife in a cabin in the Adirondacks and didn't celebrate anything. He was never at the Christmas gatherings. I gathered there must have been some hurts in my mom's life from the decision she made to marry my father and take on his Methodism. Her dad was a baker and the family never had much money. All the kids had jobs to contribute to the family budget. Her father was a strict parent and she told me one time she was locked in a closet as a punishment for some misdeed. Otherwise, she seemed indifferent to being raised as a JW. If their strange beliefs (to me and later in life to her) ever had a hold on her I never knew it. Like she tossed off their belief that only 144,000 would be saved scornfully letting me know that the only reason they went door to door was to bulk up their chances to be one of them. She would say they don't really care about you! When Grandpa died first I learned JW's don't believe in funerals either. Although, Grandpa had one at the local funeral home and the local JW congregation attended, my parents and some of my mom's siblings had to come up with the money to pay for it. Seems JW's don't believe in life insurance either. When I became a pastor it was an uncomfortable topic around the extended family. JW's don't think too highly of pastors or of the churches that do. Pastors have a bad habit of fleecing their congregations and tend toward immorality, according to JW gossip. When I was young, my grandma told me I was her favorite perhaps because I was her first grandchild. She loved me still even after I became a pastor. I guess she didn't believe what JW's said about pastors either. I think of Grandma every Christmas and the way love can triumph over religion.

Homeless people

Sunday morning at Hyperion Brewery in Jacksonville, FL our church hosted a panel discussing the topic of Everyday Advocacy. Good turnout of 75 or so many of whom I did not know. Five panelists who had experience with homelessness everyday. Three of them had been homeless at one time. As one of them said, each one of us is only one bad day away from being on the street. There were many questions from the crowd. What about shelters? There is space in shelters so why don't more people take advantage of them? One panelist told us that shelters are not safe at least as perceived by the homeless. Their stuff gets stolen and sometimes they get beat up. There is paperwork, showers, shaving, and their clothes are irradiated to prevent bedbugs. Often on the street they sleep in pods taking turns keeping an eye out for trouble. Or they don't sleep whether they are at a shelter or on the street. Maybe that's why I see people napping in the public library or against a wall on the street.

The panelists talked about the difference between charity and advocacy. Both are needed but too often the charity givers are interested in giving what they want to give and not always what is needed. Don't we give because it makes us feel good. Yes, to that one. And I had not thought about the fact that there is a vested interest in keeping shelters going rather than ending homelessness. People will give to shelters. Politicians support shelters. They get money and provide jobs. Shelters perpetuate the problem if they are seen as a solution to it.

There is a new development planned for the river bank in the city, hotels, restaurants, entertainment facilities. We heard the development potentially will displace thousands of people who currently reside in the development area. With an affordable housing shortage as it is, where will those displaced people be going? Good question but who will be assigned to answer it, will anyone?

Homelessness is a problem in our city we are continually reminded. I take a trip downtown to the park near the library and there are lots of people hanging out. I stand by the library doors with over one hundred people waiting to get into a safe, air conditioned place off the street. While waiting for the doors to open I hear shreds of conversation. One man is worried about the new administration's policies about ending the program that has allowed Haitians to remain in the US since a hurricane displaced them. He is Haitian. Every one is polite and holds the doors open for others waiting for them to enter. They carry black trash bags with their stuff. I can see some food in one or two clear bags. They are there for the day. Inside people find their places. Surprisingly many are already reading books when I get in. Surprising? Do homeless people read too?

Yes, and they can converse and they care about their families and they face everyday problems just like me. They have to eat and stay hydrated in the Florida heat. They are not just in the library to hang out. They like to read, play chess, do art projects and talk to the staff and each other. One woman who goes to the church without walls, a church of the homeless in the city, talked about getting to know people on the street. Talk, touch, share a meal or coffee. Go to church in the parking lot downtown and sing, pray, hear the sermon and celebrate at the Lord's Table together. The homeless are not a problem, they are people.

The Sacrament of Footwashing

I had my feet washed today at noon in downtown Jacksonville. It was the annual Maundy Thursday foot washing service sponsored by the Church Without Walls. It was in a parking lot off a busy East-West artery. There was no shade and it was a hot and sunny Spring day. Several pairs of chairs were set up on a blue tarp. Young people ran back and forth with clean water. Towels, soaps and lotion were available at each station. After the foot washing a clean pair of socks were offered. Whether anyone wanted to get their feet washed or not there was a bag lunch, coffee and bottled water on hand. The foot traffic was constant over the lunch time hours. I had come to help out. Do you want your feet washed, she asked me. No, No, I'm good, I said, an image of my unsightly toe nails flashing through my mind. Soon, I was caught up in what was going on. The feet of the homeless were washed and their hands washed other feet. Several women who I guessed were older than I were busy washing and massaging people's feet. Massaging - with love and great care, and with prayer. Some praying during the washing but always after - hand in hand with the ones who came to be washed. Suddenly, I was aware of a woman beckoning to me to sit down at her station. Inviting but not asking, she had a look of don't go refusing this. You need it. I did but I didn't know it yet. Remember, I came to minister but not to get too close like some of us ministers do. This saint took hold of my feet as I mildly protested their less than perfect appearance. She smiled, want to see mine, she said showing me with her hands how hopelessly gnarled her toes were. She washed, she dried, she lotioned, and then she held my hands and prayed for me by name. A blessing upon me of God's unconditional love.

I was reminded of Peter's protest when Jesus bowed to wash his feet. Jesus told him a big part of knowing the presence of Jesus was to have his feet washed by Jesus. I went there to serve others. Jesus loved and served me through his body and the sacrament of foot washing.

Merry Christmas

I attended another children's Christmas pageant this month. I've lost count of how many I have seen. This one was pretty standard fare. The best part of it was our three grand kids who were in it. One an angel, one a cow (a cow?) and one wielding an axe (axe?).  When it comes to Christmas plays we can use just about anything. The three main scenes were the manger attended by the cow, a miracle with a fisherman casting, casting, casting while Jesus slept in the boat rocked by a storm, and a simple cross which we all knew represented the death of Jesus. Jesus did not make an appearance. Neither did any mention of his Jewish background. No resurrection. No sermon on the mount. Nothing about the kingdom of God. Perhaps, I was looking for too much. But, what do we want children to know of Christmas.

Christmas is not mentioned in the early church. There are only a couple of mentions of the birth of Jesus in the whole New Testament. Paul and Peter do not refer to the family background of Jesus nor do they speak of the need to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Only Luke and Matthew begin their gospels with the birth of Jesus. And they don't agree on a whole lot. Yet, we have taken their stories and mashed them into one and added some other stuff over the years such as cows.

I was raised in a Christian family but I don't remember much about church on Christmas. I know we did not go on Christmas unless it fell on Sunday. We did not make anything of advent or Christmas eve. Christmas day was a pandemonium of presents, one by one as my father handed them out and we four kids waited for each gift to be opened, proper surprise registered and then on until there were no more gifts under the tree. Usually, the best gift was saved by my Dad until last and my mother's last gift was the Biggest Surprise of all. "Oh, Larry, she said, you shouldn't have!"

Christmas is a big deal in our culture. It's Huge. At Thanksgiving we are thankful for all we have and then we wait until Christmas for more.

Now that we live in the South, our Christmas service will be a gathering outside with the Church Without Walls, a church for the homeless. There will be a traditional liturgy and our pastor will preach. There won't be any gifts unless someone brings some snacks and coffee, but we will be receiving. Like the first Christmas which was run by angels, visions and the Holy Spirit, we will be looking for Emmanuel, God with us. Hoping.

Barth flaws and all

I have read Barth (Karl, Swiss theologian, writer of the Barmen Confession of German Christians opposed to Hitler, mentor to Bonhoeffer, and massive thinker of theology). Eugene Peterson said every one needs a theologian. Barth was mine. His Church Dogmatics, so many thousand of pages, I could read him for the rest of my life. In time, as I read more about Barth's life I found out about Charlotte. She was a secretary, then assistant, then collaborator on Barth's dogmatics. Then she moved into his home and had a room off his study. She became part of the family, if awkwardly. She traveled with Barth and his entourage. She was affectionately known as Aunt Lolo by his children. Of course, there were rumors and gossip about the relationship between the theologian and his assistant. But, no proof. Then, a theologian reported some new letters had come to light. The Barth family had them and released them in order to set to rest some of the wilder gossip. The letters purported to be love letters ( I have not read them) showing a new level of affection between the two. Some Christian critics called Barth an adulterer and questioned his whole theological enterprise. Even if the adultery was emotional only - for I am guessing that there is still no proof of physical adultery. It is hard for some to believe there was not. So the question is what we do with Barth's theology.

Charlotte remained in Barth's household with his wife and children until she got dementia and was institutionalized. The Barth family including Barth's wife, Nelly visited her at the institution until she died. It was an unconventional relationship. One no one really knows or understands. There are the letters of such a personal nature it almost seems shameful to peer into them.

It is a relationship only the Barth family understood. What we have is the evidence of Barth's life, his stand against the Nazis, his amazing theology. Then there are the letters and the questions.

It's like Luther the great reformer and his anti-Semitism. It's like Calvin the great theologian of the Reformation and his approval of sending heretics to the stake. It's like the Reformers purge of Anabaptism, many Anabaptists drowned, for their different views of baptism. It's like the founding fathers who found a nation on freedom while enslaving men and women. It's like many of our great presidents who failed as husbands and fathers. It's like all of us, capable of great and good things yet greatly flawed.

There are those blind spots. Jeremiah warned the human heart is deceitful and humans are the last to know sometimes. Jesus had those words about seeing the speck in someone's eye and missing the log in our own. Jesus said, do not judge. He said, the one without sin can throw the first stone. That's why we are careful not to assign glory to human beings, or put them high up on a pedestal above us, or claim greatness for those adams among us  (born of the dirt). Our fellow human beings are capable of  great theology, heroic acts of sacrifice, healing works of mercy but we are all a mix of saint and sinner. Judge lightly, forgive greatly, and respond to failure with grace and humility. There but for the grace of God, go we.

Reading civil war history

Trump's chief of staff, John Kelly, made a comment to an interviewer recently calling Robert E. Lee an honorable man and suggesting the Civil War could have been avoided by a greater willingness to compromise. To those who disagreed he advised taking a history course. No doubt there are history courses that prop up Kelly's beliefs. The general history that is believed down south where I live now is one of confederate pride shown by flying the flag and making monuments to nearly every confederate military man. There is a battlefield near me that does a re-enactment of the battle every year honoring the confederate dead. There is no mention of who they fought or that dozens of black soldiers were slaughtered even as they lay wounded on that same battlefield. I have been reading up on the history of slavery and race relations in the south since moving here. I have some suggestions for reading material for John Kelly. One is The Half Has Never Been Told : slavery and the making of American capitalism. It's by Edward Baptist, history professor at Cornell, who grew up in Durham, NC. In his thoroughly researched book he left no doubt in my mind that the aspirations of the southern politician/slaveholders was to advance their slave holding culture throughout the United States. The labor slaves provided was so lucrative it is not too much to say that it was the economic engine driving the whole country. Cotton was King. Slavery was designed to get the most labor out of slaves to derive ever increasing profits. Cotton picking was brutal work and slaves were driven workers. As states were added to the Union pressure increased to keep the new states open to slavery. There is no doubt the southern political machine desired to expand slavery into all the land of the United States. The war between the states was already in the works when Lincoln was elected. The Civil War was the response to his election. Secession was an afterthought. The south believed it had no choice for it's agenda to be accomplished. Here in the south there is still talk about the great "lost cause" and the war for states rights and the honorable generals like Lee who fought for their principles. Principles that were based on the brutal subjugation of the black race whose lives were stolen from Africa, and continued to be stolen at every slave auction. Hardly, an honorable enterprise.

Another mass shooting

There was a Time when you could die for any reason. Thirty was old age and if you lived til forty you were blessed. There were plagues that wiped out villages. Famines that lasted years and years. Cruel Landowners busted up heads just for. Childbirth was iffy and children born didn't have much to look forward to. Most people went to Church although they didn't read and understand much. What they did know was death. Death was all around them. Images of skulls and the scales of judgment on their buildings reminded them to keep death in their plans. Mento Mori they were called: Be Mindful Today Might Be The Day You Die. Christian teachers like Thomas A'Kempis taught people to order every day and thought as if it might be their last day. Tragedies were more or less expected. Suffering was part of life. Live like it.

Today we don't live with much of an awareness of death until it comes in a mass shooting. Then we are reminded of death, unpredictable, irrational, deadly. We watch scenes of crying and candle lighting. Police search for a motive to explain the inexplicable. We feel vulnerable in public places for awhile. We upgrade security systems. We call for more gun controls. The NRA lobbies for no change. Nothing happens. Until the next one and then the cycle repeats.

In the background are the shouted threats of nuclear missile exchanges. Guam is a target, Alaska and some day New York City. Trump thunders and South Korea and Japan shake. A Government report  -in a government that can't say climate change - says that climate change is placing our planet in critical danger.  Ecological catastrophes are forecast. Future wastelands are envisioned.

How is it that we have so little fear of death? It seems like it ought to change our plans and re-order our priorities, at least. We might want to give a thought to how we will spend the day. What we will say to people, especially our loved ones. The good we can do we can do. Acts of mercy and love are not to be put off and joy is not to be denied.

Ordinary saints

Dorothy Day is the best example of a saint we have today. She lived during most of the 1900s. She founded the Catholic Worker, a social justice movement that served the poor, social misfits, and all sorts of damaged people, including broken and alcoholic priests. She became a Catholic not because she had to to do her work but so she could survive it. At age 79, and still doing the work, she said, I feel like an utter failure... the older I get the more I feel that faithfulness and perseverance are the greatest virtues." The Catholic Worker fed, clothed and housed the poor in New York City through the depression and after in tenements and on a couple of farms in the country. Day was constantly in motion writing for the Catholic Worker newspaper, raising funds for the work and speaking. Take as many steps as you can, she said. Bear witness, stand fast, huddle together in faith and community and Dream of a better world. And she said work on your spiritual life - it can take up to three hours a day. Dorothy was an activist but she was something of a mystic too. She took her coffee with a side of the Psalms every day. She followed the teachings of Jesus. Some criticized her for being too spiritual, others for not being Christian enough. She was called a Communist for her support of striking longshoremen, a troublemaker for her civil disobedience which earned her jail time even at age 79! Few called her a saint til after her life. She said don't call me a saint it's just a way of dismissing me. She was a layperson who put her faith to work every day. Three things it was said of Dorothy that fueled her drive: prayer, the sacraments (she was at mass daily), and works of mercy.

She took a vow of voluntary poverty so she could live like the people she served. She lived in the same tenements, used the same outhouses, suffered through hot summers and cold winters. Eating what was at hand, wearing a few clothes, having no need for modern conveniences she allowed herself a record player to listen to opera and she needed coffee. She loved the ocean and the land with its flowers but she was able to find beauty wherever she was. She was happy, content. Christ understands us when we fail, she said and God understands us when we try to love.

Dorothy broke up plenty of fights in the soup and bread lines and in the shelters. Hurt people can  carry a lot of anger. She lived in the midst of people who were frustrated and demanding ready to lash out at any time. She didn't talk about love much but she tried to love by listening, giving space to work out issues, and meeting basic needs.

Dorothy didn't start a church and she was not a pastor or priest. Simply she lived and practiced a faithful life following the way of Jesus. It is a good example for the church today.

Nashville manifesto

A few weeks ago some 150 Evangelical leaders posted their Manifesto on Human Sexuality. While it got a little press, as a news item, its importance faded pretty quickly. After all, what they said was pretty much what you would expect that group to say. Also, their timing was a tad off coming as it did during a major hurricane and North Korea firing off missiles, and Neo - Nazi groups marching in our streets.  They affirmed their opposition to same sex marriages and transgender folk. No surprises there. I noted the usual cast of characters signed the document along with one of our local pastors at First Baptist Jacksonville.

Of interest to me was Article 5 which "denies that physical anomalies or psychological conditions nullify the God appointed link between biological sex and self conception as male or female." There are two choices, folks. You are either Adam or Eve and it is simple as that. I don't imagine the Evangelical Leaders have had a chance to talk to anyone with  "Anomalies" or persons with "Psychological Conditions"relating to their sexuality. (I have a met a few who have dealt with such psychological  conditions related to their homosexuality and in several cases their psychological condition was caused by the treatment they received from Evangelical Leaders.) It is just too bad for them. God didn't mess up but they sure are in a mess when it comes to Evangelical Leaders. To be fair, the Evangelical Leaders do affirm "that those born with physical disorders of sexual development are created in the image of God and have dignity and worth equal to all other image bearers." It's just that as the Manifesto says later, "we deny that sexual attraction for the same sex is part of the natural goodness of God's original creation." And that, it is a sin to approve of homosexual immorality or transgenderism and it is even a matter about which faithful Christians should NOT agree to disagree (article 10). Sound a bit harsh? Find out what that believer thinks about homosexuality before you invite him, or her to the church potluck!

James Bryan Smith in his book, The Magnificent Story, writes, "instead of starting with original sin, we ought to start with our original goodness." God created and then saw everything was very good. Smith points out that we are essentially beautiful, good and true. The original image of God cannot be distorted or marred or vandalized by our sin. Sin however separates us from God, from others, and from ourselves. Some Evangelicals see sin as an abnormality, or abnormal psychological condition some people need to get over before they can be accepted by God or God's people. I have seen sin as the reaction some people created in the image of God have experienced in the abusive ways they have been treated by Christian leaders and other church people. If they are not normal like Adam and Eve, they have called abominations to the Lord, coerced to change their sexual attraction, forced to leave churches unless they change. I have met many persons who have wandered from church to church looking for a church home that welcomes them until they have given up.

I attend a church where we all have different kinds of "anomalies" and we have a healthy mix of all sorts of psychological conditions. Some of the people in my church have been "lost sheep" like the ones excluded from the synagogues in Jesus day whom he reached out to, especially. Funny thing though is each and every one is created in God's image and while we take seriously the damaging effects of sin, we also take seriously that  Jesus dwells within us by faith and that Jesus is our hope of glory as Paul says, and that our life is already hidden with Christ in God. Ray Anderson wrote some years ago, "this means there is something of us already abiding in the very presence of God through Christ."

I have learned a lot from this church. Most importantly, as humhan beings we all have abnormalities and are beset from time to time with a wide variety of psychological conditions. What we need is the Gospel, the Good News of God in Jesus Christ. We don't need more bad news that only leads us further into despair.

James Torrance said. "Christ does not heal us by standing over us against us, diagnosing our sickness, prescribing medicine for us to take, and then going away, to leave us to get better by obeying his instructions, - No, he becomes the patient. He assumes the very humanity which is in need of redemption, ...and by his life, death and resurrection, our humanity is healed in him. We are not healed through Christ, because of the work of Christ, but in and through Christ."

Jesus has opened up to us a life of selfless love. That's a tough one but it's what we all need and if we are going to follow Jesus, that is where the journey leads.

Hurricane Irma

Hurricanes are major life disrupters. We just had one which scored pretty much a direct hit on Florida. That's right - on the whole state. The Keys were wiped out along with both the southern east and west coasts. Then the eye came over the center of the state so most inland areas felt the effects of Irma, as well. Jacksonville in the far northeast corner of the state experienced devastating winds and flooding from rain and storm surge. Where I live, about 25 miles west of Jacksonville, in a rural county, it was a mess of downed trees and power lines. We were without power for about a week. Although we saw lots of water our house did not flood like some others near us did. We spent a few days camping out at home and then moved over to our son's house only a few miles away where there was power.

The first couple of days were ok and my wife and I felt like survivalists living off the grid. Then, it got hot and we were sweaty, stinky survivalists and the pride we had taken in surviving was wearing off. We have a septic system so we had to stop flushing too or risk a backup. More stink. While I could relieve myself out in the wilds my wife was not going to use a cup inside. So by the third day, we were making daily treks to our son's house and then just moved in.

Hurricanes disrupt as I said. The routines of life are out the window and mostly what you do is figure out the next meal, the night's sleep, and where the nearest bathroom is. There are no lights so you make do with a flashlight and you make coffee with a camp stove. We had those and the power company was working hard to get people up and running. Many people down south of us and in the Caribbean Islands were really suffering with much less.

I was going to write about lessons learned but I did not learn much. What I experienced was the helpfulness of neighbors, the concern of family, and the community of church. Getting through this monster storm and its aftermath reminded me of what really matters and helped me make connections with people who cared. I saw the storm bring out the best and worst in people. At times, I felt my best and my worst.

One of the best descriptions of a Florida hurricane I've read comes from Zora Neale Hurston's, Their Eyes Were Watching God. Here is a small portion of it.

"The wind came back with triple fury, and put out the light for the last time. They sat in company with the others in other shanties, their eyes straining against crude walls and their souls asking if He meant to measure their puny might against His. They seemed to be staring at the dark, but their eyes were watching God."

If I learned anything, that might be it.

One little word

Eugene Peterson was a Presbyterian pastor for many years. Then, he taught Spiritual Formation at  Regent University in Vancouver, B.C. He has written numerous books on the Bible, Spiritual Formation and Pastoral Ministry.  I have read most of them. I use The Message, Peterson's translation of the Bible, for personal reading and for Scripture reading in public worship.  Eugene Peterson has been more than a helpful guide to the practice of Christian ministry, for me, he has been close to indispensable. I don't know if I would have survived as a pastor for 37 years without his writings. I know other pastors who would say the same.

So how did it happen that one little word called his entire body of work into question? One word and a Christian bookstore chain (Lifeway) was ready to pull all his books including The Message. One word and countless Christian bloggers were throwing him under the bus. One word and some Christian publications were calling for a re-evaluation of his life work. How did that happen? The little word was yes. Peterson said yes to the question of an interviewer who asked him if he would marry a same sex couple who asked him to do the ceremony. He said that over the years he had gotten to know several gay people who were also Christians and he admired their Christian commitment and service. So, he had changed his mind.

He did not change his mind about Jesus Christ. He did not change his mind about the Bible. He had not changed his theology. But, for some Christians he said a word that called into question for them everything he had ever said or written.

A day later it was reported that Peterson retracted his one little word. His critics breathed a sigh of relief and felt better about reading his other words.

Peterson is 84 years old. He has never been in the publishing game for fame or glory. He does not own a tv nor does he use the internet. He is clueless about the current state of our nasty social media culture. He is more at home in a medieval monastery in the wilderness than in a coffee house using wifi.

I believe he changed his mind. I believe he said yes and meant it. I believe he was blindsided by the blowback from the evangelical world. I believe someone retracted the statement. I believe he did not know what he was stepping into when he spoke his mind to the interviewer. Now he knows. I doubt whether he will have any more words to say to us.

Trinity Sunday, Why?

Last Sunday was called Trinity Sunday in the church year. It fell to me to preach on this Sunday. Not the most exciting topic to preach on, I was thinking. What will make it preach? I looked around at some other ideas, texts but no luck. I was drawn back to the texts for the day: Psalm 8, Genesis 1-2:4 and the very trinitarian verse at the end of 2 Corinthians.  Psalm 8 it was. Psalm 8 is a great Psalm of creation and praise to God, the creator. It calls us to humility - puny human beings, v4. Yet, created in the image of God, we are given a care taking responsibility over creation. There is not much that suggests the trinity, however. For that, the Genesis account of creation and the 2 Corinthians text are supportive. It also demonstrates why the Trinity is such a tough topic. It is not really spelled out in Scripture. It is more inferred. It took the early church leaders hundreds of years to iron out what the Scripure taught about the Trinity. What is the essence of God? Is God one or three? Are there three distinct persons, modes of being, or essentially one, three in one. There were years of debates leading to finer tuning.

Today, among Christians, the Trinity is accepted even if not understood. It is not as important as Pentecost Sunday the week before and is no where near as popular as Easter or Christmas. We might wonder why (or not, but if not we might wonder why not). The big emphasis in more recent theology is to see in the Trinity an image of God relating. The Trinity is about relationship. God is a community of love. Love is not an attribute of a static God but Love is who God is. God lives in this circle of love which God desires to share with us. We are created in Love to be loved by God and to share God's love with others.

Creation is not a statement of what God needs but what God gives. God does not need us or anything God created. God has no religious expectations of us and surely is not waiting to see if we merit God's love. God's overflowing Trinitarian love is wholly gratuitous.

If we start from the Trinity we won't get the wrong idea that we are here to please God, or help God out, or save the world! God is not waiting for us to buck up and get it right or God will let everything go to hell. It's not up to us, nothing is. God chooses, God loves in Christ and God has already done the heavy lifting. We need to receive the gospel and live it.

Our world needs God and the gospel of God's love. And we share it by living it. It's tough going though. Unfortunately, the general perception is that Christians are rule oriented, and performance obsessed and we have a certain type in mind of what a Christian really is - and others must measure up or they are not accepted. Love is not what most people think of when they think of Christians. Most Christians need to go back to square one which is the Trinity.

Why are you mindful of us, Psalm 8, asks. We who are of the ground (humans -adamah in Hebrew). So insignificant in the universe. So uncomprehending of the person and ways of God. So flawed and failed. Not given a great mission or great task that God needs us to do or else the world goes up in flames. Simply love people and take care of what God has given to us. The Trinity: Local, Organic, Good for you and others.

The Poor.... well you know

So there have been some things said in support of Trumps' budget proposal to cut programs that help the poor. His budget chief has said they are after quality not quantity and will put the money where it will do the most good. The Bible has been put to use as it often is in ways that buttress one's point of view. The poor you will always have with you is one of those verses or partial verses that Jesus purportedly said. The part of a verse is not given any context as if Jesus one day was handing out aphorisms. The other verse that has been popular among the politicians is a wise saying from somewhere in the Bible (it has to say it, right) about how cutting taxes to the rich will help the poor. There are lots of verses about the rich in the Bible but I cannot find this one. Then, there is the cabinet member who is in charge of housing for the poor, among other things, who stated that poverty is a state of mind. Gosh, I thought it had to do with childcare, putting food on the table and paying the rent.

It seems I have heard these things all my life. I've lived my life around Christians, mostly, as a pastor. Christians are giving people: toys at Christmas, canned goods for the food pantry, sponsoring children, and giving to missions. But, they draw the line often at giving handouts to the poor. They will say it makes them dependent on the government instead of taking responsibility for their own lives. If you are poor and broke in America, the evangelical financial guru Dave Ramsey says, it is because you need to make better choices so you can get better results. The poor will always be with us because some people make poor choices. Just look at what is in their grocery carts.

Two days before Jesus died he was in Bethany (means House of the Poor) in the home of Simon the leper (read outcast). Simon was probably poor but he did have a home to share with Jesus and some of his friends. During dinner, a woman entered with an alabaster jar (equals expensive) full of very costly oil, a luxury item even if you were rich. Although Matthew (ch 26) does not tell us it was rumored she was a prostitute who had used her earnings to buy the oil, or perhaps she was simply poor and somehow got her hands on some good stuff. She was out of place, poor and her presence outraged the disciples (see Mark 14 where it says they were angry and scolded her). She broke open the expensive jar and poured the oil extravagantly on Jesus. It was a years worth of wages wasted when it could have been spent on the poor (at least, if not on a vacation in Joppa for the disciples). Think of how many could have been fed? If she donated it to the Memorial Fund she could have had a plaque in her honor. Except, we don't know her name. Her acts will be remembered, Jesus said, but not with a brass plate on the Fellowship hall door.

Jesus says, chill out. She has done a good thing.... for the poor you will always have with you.

Jesus was poor, really poor. Most of the people around him were poor, outcast, and socially disabled. When Jesus talked about bringing good news to the poor he was not referring to a state of mind. He was talking about people like him. Who he knew. Who he lived with. When he said, Blessed are the poor he was not talking down to them. No, they were standing all around him. When he prayed, give us today our daily bread, he did not mean meet me for coffee and a scone.

Jesus was poor. He knew what he was talking about. He knew what he was bringing to the poor and it was not charity, a goodwill box at Christmas or a toy for a tot.

It was good news, the same good news the woman in the story had heard and proclaimed.

She undercut luxury.
She undermined money.
She understood the limits of charity and the system that kept it in place.

She underwent the transformation of the kingdom of God. She got it. Jesus was King. He was not taking over but turning over the kingdoms of this world.

It was a New Kingdom. It was a New Ethic.

Oil - what is that? What does it do for you? Why does it matter? Gold? Diamonds? So what, just stuff. You have Jesus. You follow Jesus the King. See Matthew 5.

Money runs out. Buys a few meals but it is no lasting solution to the poor. Community is, the community of the King.

She came out as poor in a poor man's home, in the village of the poor. They celebrated: yes we are poor and Jesus, our King, is poor and there always will be poor among us but we trust God now and for everlasting.

What is a eunuch doing in church?

What is a eunuch doing in the church? What is a eunuch anyway? Eunuchs were common enough in the ancient world. Jesus was confident that his hearers knew what a eunuch was (read Matthew 19:12). In Acts 8, the disciple Philip encounters a eunuch reading a passage of Scripture in Isaiah and explains it to him and then at his request baptizes him into the church of Jesus Christ! In her fascinating book, Sex Differences in Christian Theology, Megan DiFranza includes a study of eunuchs in the Bible and the culture of the time. Eunuchs could serve in some types of official positions but they were routinely despised. They were seen as "not normal", inferior males. Due to their lack of sexual organs, either naturally or involuntarily castrated, they were the "epitome of other". To Jews their identity as other, or outsider, prohibited Temple worship. Jesus, however, turned this thinking upside down with his (a Jewish teacher!) positive evaluation of them in the context of his teaching on marriage. This group of people who were commonly seen as sexually different, not really male or female, and morally suspect were given a new identity by Jesus and welcomed into the church by Philip who was led by the Holy Spirit!

This was at a time when the power structures of the ancient world were built on a chain of gendered being. As DiFranza says elite men were at the top, women were at the bottom and eunuchs and effeminate men were somewhere in the middle. Jesus challenged this powerful system when he said that those who renounced marriage for the sake of the kingdom would no longer be defined by traditional gender markers. Their primary identity would be a non gendered one (DiFranza, p105). "In calling his disciples to learn from eunuchs Jesus was calling them to learn from those whose gender identity was not secure, to learn that gender identity is not the central value in the kingdom of heaven." (DiFranza, 105)

As our congregations are roiled by questions of sexual identity and gender issues today, DiFranza's book deserves a close reading.

Is the Old Testament Dead

The Old Testament is dying if not dead is the theme of Brent Strawn's new book, The Old Testament is Dying: A Diagnosis and Recommended Treatment.  Strawn does not mean the OT is really dead  but that it is practically dead in the sense that it is mostly forgotten. There is a long history of the neglect and at times purposeful ignorance of the OT. Recall Marcion in the early church and the attempts by the German state church to erase all OT references to Christianity during Hitler's reign of terror. The attempt to undermine the OT has always been there. Today we are reaping what we have sowed or not sowed. When I arrived at one of my first churches I was stunned to read in our confession of faith that we were a church founded on the New Testament. In my travels I see "New Testament" churches proudly proclaimed on their signage. Strawn does a good job documenting the decline of the OT in churches today. It is not read, or preached from, or taught or sung as the Psalms invite us to do. Instead, Strawn calls what remains of the OT a kind of "Pidgin" language. We can talk about the OT in dumbed down ways and we still tell the stories with their morals to children but the OT is not the meat that we eat. That would be the New Testament which is preferred over the OT. It is about Jesus after all and we are not so sure about that God of the OT. If we have to choose what we are going to read with our limited time it might as well be the NT (although Strawn cites surveys that show Christians don't read that much either). Even those churches following the lectionary readings every Sunday never hit on great chunks of the OT. Most Christians believe that the NT has subsumed the Old. Whatever is important has been taken up in the New. There is even an animosity toward the Old that is signified by saying things like, "well that was in the OT but Jesus said this." We are followers of Jesus but not the OT.

Well, Jesus followed the OT. He prayed from the OT, and studied the OT, quoted the OT at the great turning points of his life. Like Psalm 22 from the cross! OT books like Deuteronomy are frequently referenced in the NT. The OT was the only Scripture the early church had. The NT writings were added to the OT and apocrypha which was the whole Bible then. (The apocrypha was part of the Scripture until the Reformation which made those works non-Scripture for Protestants). The OT is the revelation of God just like the NT is.

Wherever the OT has been dismissed or ignored anti-Semitism has been close by. Why do we choose to call it the Old Testament or the Hebrew Bible. Why do we produce Bibles that are really only the New Testament. Why is it so difficult to find Christian worship songs that come out of the Old Testament.

Strawn has recommendations for the treatment of this problem. Mostly, they have to do with reading it so that it becomes a vital part of our faith and life again. We can pray the Psalms as Jesus and Paul did. We can sing them too with the help of modern groups like the Sons of Korah. We can study the OT for what it shows about God who is the only God of the Bible. I am not optimistic that Srawn's recommendations will do the trick. The OT may be too far gone. As in Josiah's day we need a miracle  of rediscovery.

Bible reading and fishing

I have tried to get into Joy Williams book, 99 Stories About God, several times. And I've given up. I was attracted by the title and I have liked others of William's short stories. This little book of the shortest of short stories proved nearly unknowable to me. I could read them but they seemed so obtuse I had no idea what they meant. After many attempts to get what she was saying I realized I was reading them wrong. I was reading them too fast, expecting them to give up their meaning in the time I had allotted to them. I was looking for information, a smart turn of phrase, instant wisdom. Something  profound communicated in 144 characters or less. Something I could smile over - that was good. A good use of my time invested in reading. In further -now slower readings, I have found associations I had missed. I saw things I passed over quickly since they did not give up their sense easily.

It's much like we read the Bible or don't. Recent surveys state an alarming drop in Bible reading among people who identify as Christians. Is that because we know what it says? Or, is it because it's too hard to get what the Bible is saying. We would rather have someone tell us what it means (we think we cannot get it if we have not had the proper training). The popular Christian view of God is One who reveals all God has to reveal in simple ways we can understand. Even though the disciples did not understand Jesus and no one else did either when he spoke in parables, and we still don't although we have lots of scholars to help us. There are lots of other stories in the Bible that are Williams - like. Jonah, for instance, a man swallowed by a big fish, or Adam and Eve, a couple that listens to a talking snake. The book of Proverbs is all short stories - parables - that are meant to be taken and "chewed over".  Meditated upon is what the early wisdom teachers said. Who has time to meditate any more? So much easier to take our news on Facebook.

Joy Williams stories are intended for meditation. Slow reading and thinking. Her stories like most of the Bible do not give up their meaning easily. The reader has to work on them, has to think, imagine, sit with them awhile. Enjoy them?

She has one story that baffled me. A noted humanist scholar was invited to give a talk on whether or not there was life on other planets. The humanist thought it was possible but believed a world devoid of human beings was not worth imagining.  Humans have the ability to appreciate beauty. After the talk, at lunch at a small, fine restaurant, he was served a speckled trout beautifully presented. From his plate he heard beautiful music faintly playing. Horrified, he jumped up, ran into the kitchen and attacked his waiter and the chef. Later, after he was taken to the psychiatric facility for observation he discovered no one appreciated his story of the beautiful singing trout. Williams concludes, "His ravings about the trout being no more appreciated than the ravings of any of the other lunatics there."

Perhaps, the reader of the Bible needs to appreciate the ways God chooses for revelation. Once Jesus got a lesson out of a fish's mouth. It can take some time to appreciate such things, however.

Whats good about Good Friday?

Today, Good Friday, I went into Jacksonville to meet with a small group of friends for coffee. Afterward,  I wandered through downtown waiting for a used bookstore to open. In that part of downtown near the bookstore is a plaza where a good number of our homeless population hang out. It's a nice park, clean and one of the best spots to host events downtown. Daytime food trucks and music groups make an inviting environment to enjoy coffee or lunch at a table or on a bench.  Some people complain that the homeless people detract from the central park ambience and efforts have been made to clear the park of the so-called undesirables but I think the mix of people works fine. Yesterday on Maundy Thursday some people from local churches showed up to hand out bag lunches and wash feet. Homeless people were invited to have their feet washed and to wash others including the ones who had come to serve in this way. It was awkward, and uncomfortable for all and beautiful in other ways is how one of my friends who was there described it. Church people in the South don't seem to celebrate Maundy Thursday or Good Friday much. Easter productions are the big thing. Certainly, a foot washing in the central park is uncommon.

More common was crucifixion in Roman occupied territories at the time of Jesus. It was not unusual at all to witness a person being crucified. That's the way Rome dealt with their political prisoners. Someone crucified outside the city of Jerusalem probably deserved it. It was no place for a religious leader to wind up. No one stood up for Jesus that first Good Friday. The gospel writers give us the details: Jesus was spit at, beaten, mocked, forced to wear a crown of thorns and carry his cross to Golgotha, the place of the the skull. This was no successful messiah. This was a man who was going to die for his delusions. His supporters had deserted him. Who could blame them?

Jesus was about as welcome as a homeless person in a downtown park. No one washed his feet or even gave him something to quench his thirst. Nothing was done to diminish his suffering.

Since that day Christian thinkers have come up with all kinds of theories of why Jesus died on that cross, how his death worked for our benefit. Most Christians have come to believe that somehow, some way, that death worked out for the good, for our salvation. So, we have Good Friday. While the theories are elaborate - how to explain something like this - the result seems simple: Jesus died for my sins.

A few hours before Jesus was crucified he hosted a dinner for some of his friends. During the dinner, he washed his friends feet. This act, if it was done at all, was ordinarily done by a servant. It was out of place for the leader of the group to assume the servant's role. As out of place as God on a cross or people some homeless, some not, washing each other's feet in a public park at lunchtime.

Lent drags on

Lent is dragging on. For weeks at church we have been reading the words of Jesus in the sermon on the mount. If you have read it you know it can drag you down. There is a lot in there about what we are not doing very well. Praying too piously, giving too proudly (this past week as I dropped a big bill into the offering plate I hoped others would notice it on top of all the smaller ones) and not making peace very easily. Reminders of what a drag we are. When I was a kid my church told me not to worry about that Jesus sermon because it was meant for the life of heaven when we will be perfect. That was good because it would take a perfect person to live that way. All we had to do, I was told. was ask Jesus to forgive our sins since he had already died for them and we were in the clear with a few right words being said. As I got older and read some other interpretations of Jesus' sermon I was bothered to learn that some people believed Jesus was talking about the life of the kingdom the way it is to be lived now. A few words do not save us rather it takes a life of dying to self and cross bearing. Lent reminds me how much I don't like death and how heavy the cross can be.

I long for Easter. In the East, among Christians, Easter is a much bigger deal than Christmas. For us, in the West, it's the reverse. Easter is mostly a time for Spring Break and more of us are on beaches than in churches. I think that's because Lent is not a drag. It is the time of anticipation for Spring that is coming to end our winters that have been a drag.

In the East, among Christians there is a stronger sense of celebration at Easter. Maybe it is because their lives have been more deprived of material goods and their lives more precarious and less peacable. They have had to bear more crosses. Life is harder, they read the Beattitudes more hopefully. For us, in the West, who have accepted Jesus as our Savior the issue of eternal life has been taken care of with a few rightly chosen words. Christ suffered and died for us on a cross. The cross was born by his back. So, we get to go to the beach.

I just read a book about the gospel and what a person had to believe to be saved. There was nothing about the sermon on the mount in there. You had to believe in the preexistence of Christ, and the virgin birth, and the deity of Christ and the crucifixion and the resurrection and a few other things but not the drag of Lent. Not the shared suffering and cross bearing. Not the dying to self.

Lent drags on until Easter. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians that as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ (15:20-22). Sharing the suffering and cross bearing leads to sharing the Life of Christ. Stanley Hauerwas says all we need to know about resurrection is what we are privileged to witness in Jesus' victory over death. There God subjected all things that gain their power from death to the Son making it possible (for us) to share in that subjection through the gift of the Holy Spirit. All we need to know about the resurrection we have been given through the sharing of the body and blood of Jesus.

Lent drags on but it doesn't last forever.

The Word on the hill

Like many cities in our county the homeless are part of daily life. They are a  presence on the street, sitting in outdoor cafes and congregating in the large park across from the downtown library. The city would like to reclaim the park as a pleasant downtown meeting place. There is a park committee that plans events in the park like concerts and food festivals. Mostly what people are aware of though are the homeless with their backpacks or strollers piled high with their earthly goods. They hang out, some sleep through the hottest time of the day, while others walk talking to themselves or a companion. If you go downtown, it's a fact of life that you will see, hear, smell or otherwise be engaged by someone who is lives on the street. I've heard people say they do not go downtown just for this fact.

The Church Without Walls gathers every Sunday a few blocks from the downtown park. People come for a traditional Episcopal service served outside in a parking lot surrounded by a hill and a few trees. The priest, Mother Beth, welcomes all, preaches the Word of God and serves up the body and blood of Christ. All are welcome including those who don't have to live on the street or in downtown shelters. Folks from my church, The Well, were there this past Sunday. Together we sat on the hill or stood under a shady tree. It was already near summer time hot. Bottles of water were available in coolers around the parking lot. We sang, prayed, and read the days lectionary texts led by members of the Church Without Walls. We passed the peace and ate the bread and drank the cup together. Then it was getting late and people were hungry and thirsty. It was time for us to go to our homes and the others to go back to the street. Wait, Jesus said, don't go away before you have something to eat. Eat? Some of us did not have any food with us to share. Some of us depended on the generosity of others to eat most days. Give what you have and you will have enough, Jesus said. So, some of us went to cars and brought out crock pots of soup, and bags of sandwiches and fruit. A table was set and very soon a line formed filling cups with soup. Ten crock pots were quickly emptied. Everyone left full and there were some leftovers. The Word on the hill, the body and blood, even the leftovers - we had heard of this miracle and now we had experienced it.