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.
Monday, March 27, 2017
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.
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.
Wednesday, March 1, 2017
Ash Wednesday
As far as I could tell I was the only person in the grocery store sporting an ashen cross on his or her forehead. I was coming from a morning Ash Wednesday service where our pastor, not known for her subtlety, had taken her thumb dipped in olive oil and then dark ashes and tattooed my forehead with a big cross. Though there were other tattoos and piercings in full view at this hip natural foods store, I felt self conscious. Sitting in the car before entering the store, I was debating whether to wash it off or not. Is it a matter of displaying my piety before the world? Or, was I washing off my witness ashamed of the gospel as St Paul said he was not. I decided my discomfort wearing the ashen cross was worthy of some kind of Lenten sacrifice. I had not considered giving up anything for Lent this year. Last year I didn't buy any books during Lent and that was hard enough. What habits, actions or behaviors did I want to be intentional about fasting from over these next 40 days my Lenten program guide asked. None sprang to mind. Not that I would not benefit from some sacrifice and not that none were needed, I may have been simply distracted. I had other things to do after I left this service. That's the way it usually is. Thinking about what's next instead of being in the moment. I'm not good at that. I was listening to a podcast on the way to the church and it was about finding God in the ordinary. We are afraid of silence the author being interviewed said and that is why we fill potential silences with screens. I could give up screens I thought for a second. I do have trouble finding God in the ordinary stuff of life. The author said it was more like making space for God to find us. God is not hiding from us, she said, it only seems that way because we are not paying attention. True. I could meditate more, I could take 15 minutes a day for silent meditation. Sounded good but I knew I wouldn't. Even my prayer times are mostly me talking. I must be a hard person for God to find.
The verse from Psalm 51:10 was read at the service. "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a right spirit in me." I have read about cleansing diets, and I just finished cleaning our car after a week at the beach so what would a clean heart feel like? Whatever it is I can't do it. Create in me, the Psalmist wrote, so it is God's work. I could ask.
The ashes are imposed. Interesting word. We are not supposed to impose our values or beliefs on someone. Our presence can be imposed, sorry to impose upon you, we might say. Ashes like the repentance they symbolize need to be imposed. It's not really something I am looking for. Imposed ashes make me self conscious. I have ashes on my face but that does not mean I have repented. If it's a witness, it's a false one. I have been to an Ash Wednesday service but that does not make me any holier than you other shoppers.
I was aware of a catch in my throat when the pastor imposing ashes said, "Remember you are dust, and to dust you will return." Nearing my full social security retirement age, I am more in touch with my mortality than ever. Ashes are not the only sign of mortality I am sporting as I stroll through the store. It is easy to see that I am no longer a youth. The clerk at least used to take a long second look at me when she checked out the bottle of wine I was purchasing. What she is checking for has become obvious.
Turns out the ashes are a good reminder to be grateful. For this moment. For what God has given to me. For the heart God keeps cleaning. Truly, God does find us when we make a little space.
The verse from Psalm 51:10 was read at the service. "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a right spirit in me." I have read about cleansing diets, and I just finished cleaning our car after a week at the beach so what would a clean heart feel like? Whatever it is I can't do it. Create in me, the Psalmist wrote, so it is God's work. I could ask.
The ashes are imposed. Interesting word. We are not supposed to impose our values or beliefs on someone. Our presence can be imposed, sorry to impose upon you, we might say. Ashes like the repentance they symbolize need to be imposed. It's not really something I am looking for. Imposed ashes make me self conscious. I have ashes on my face but that does not mean I have repented. If it's a witness, it's a false one. I have been to an Ash Wednesday service but that does not make me any holier than you other shoppers.
I was aware of a catch in my throat when the pastor imposing ashes said, "Remember you are dust, and to dust you will return." Nearing my full social security retirement age, I am more in touch with my mortality than ever. Ashes are not the only sign of mortality I am sporting as I stroll through the store. It is easy to see that I am no longer a youth. The clerk at least used to take a long second look at me when she checked out the bottle of wine I was purchasing. What she is checking for has become obvious.
Turns out the ashes are a good reminder to be grateful. For this moment. For what God has given to me. For the heart God keeps cleaning. Truly, God does find us when we make a little space.
Tuesday, February 28, 2017
Oscars and the ordinary
Watching the Oscars slowly, bit by bit, throughout the week, I was struck by the powerful acceptance speech by Viola Davis who won the supporting actress oscar for her performance in Fences. She said the best stories are found in graveyards, the stories of ordinary people who no one knows. Her story, Fences, which I have not seen yet is such a story about ordinary people. Davis plays the long- suffering wife to Denzel Washington's role as her trash collector husband. In her acceptance speech Davis emotionally thanked the ordinary people in her life and God who allowed her to play the ordinary roles she has played so well. In this week when Lent begins we need this emphasis on the ordinary. As we look toward the cross we remind ourselves of its foolishness. God chose the weak things to reveal his power and love. He chose the simple to show his wisdom. He chose a violent act to demonstrate his love. It looks for all the world like it made no sense. Paul says, God chose ordinary people to do some things ordinary people do when they are infused by God's Spirit.
When ordinary people enthuse about God rather than themselves, with their insights, powers, positions and prestige, people respond extraordinarily, John Goldingay says. These days we are more reminded of the so-called need for power, money, security and the need to keep those who threaten these things out. Spend our nations's wealth on walls and military weapons not ordinary people. The gospel is counter - intuitive, the powerful people have a hard time getting to it. "Right at the heart of God's revelation is a man being executed", Goldingay writes. Something so simple, it seems silly, unnecessary, trivial. Especially to people for whom greatness is the goal.
When ordinary people enthuse about God rather than themselves, with their insights, powers, positions and prestige, people respond extraordinarily, John Goldingay says. These days we are more reminded of the so-called need for power, money, security and the need to keep those who threaten these things out. Spend our nations's wealth on walls and military weapons not ordinary people. The gospel is counter - intuitive, the powerful people have a hard time getting to it. "Right at the heart of God's revelation is a man being executed", Goldingay writes. Something so simple, it seems silly, unnecessary, trivial. Especially to people for whom greatness is the goal.
Wednesday, February 15, 2017
The Sermon
I enjoy the Sermon on the Mount. The one by Jesus Matthew put down in his gospel. It is endlessly puzzling and interesting to me. Maybe enjoyment is not the right word for what I feel about it. I find it challenging and way too relevant. It was easier when I was a kid and the churches I went to categorized it as future. It was obviously unrealistic for us now so it must be speaking of life in heaven when we will be perfect! That was called dispensationalism but I didn't know that term for a long time. I simply thought it was the way all Christians thought about it.
Then I went for awhile not thinking about the Sermon much at all. Life intervened and I missed the point that that was the Sermon was about. I lived life preaching my own sermon and it was not nearly as good.
Then I met some Christians for whom the Sermon was the greatest, most central reality of the Christian life. They and I figured most Christians didn't follow it in the here and now because it was too hard. And so far from the way most of us lived. Who fasted? Who prayed like that? Who did not worry about money and stuff? Can we really expect to eat like a bird? Well, this group of Christians surely tried hard enough. Trouble was it felt like we were failing. The bar was set too high yet we gave it a good effort. I have to say that.
Then I discovered the gospel in the Sermon. It was not given to us to talk about a time in the future when we will be perfect nor was it meant to be a standard we could never reach. The Sermon begins with Blessed are you....These words are a blessing; they are an invitation to a life in community that is shaped by their words. Sam Wells says that the Sermon is about abundance not scarcity. God has given us too much not just enough. Our imaginations, he says, are simply not large enough to take it all in. It is possible to live in joyful recognition that God has given us more than we need (Hauerwas in Matthew).
Now when I read the Sermon, I read it more slowly, enjoyably. Prayerfully, because it is a Sermon of Disruption, the disruption of the Kingdom of God (Hauerwas's words). It is meant to be read and prayed in the community that wants to live it out day to day. I read it with a mindfulness made possible by "the compelling reality and beauty of participation in his time, a time that cannot be lost (or wasted I might add) because it is God's time" (Hauerwas, Matthew).
Then I went for awhile not thinking about the Sermon much at all. Life intervened and I missed the point that that was the Sermon was about. I lived life preaching my own sermon and it was not nearly as good.
Then I met some Christians for whom the Sermon was the greatest, most central reality of the Christian life. They and I figured most Christians didn't follow it in the here and now because it was too hard. And so far from the way most of us lived. Who fasted? Who prayed like that? Who did not worry about money and stuff? Can we really expect to eat like a bird? Well, this group of Christians surely tried hard enough. Trouble was it felt like we were failing. The bar was set too high yet we gave it a good effort. I have to say that.
Then I discovered the gospel in the Sermon. It was not given to us to talk about a time in the future when we will be perfect nor was it meant to be a standard we could never reach. The Sermon begins with Blessed are you....These words are a blessing; they are an invitation to a life in community that is shaped by their words. Sam Wells says that the Sermon is about abundance not scarcity. God has given us too much not just enough. Our imaginations, he says, are simply not large enough to take it all in. It is possible to live in joyful recognition that God has given us more than we need (Hauerwas in Matthew).
Now when I read the Sermon, I read it more slowly, enjoyably. Prayerfully, because it is a Sermon of Disruption, the disruption of the Kingdom of God (Hauerwas's words). It is meant to be read and prayed in the community that wants to live it out day to day. I read it with a mindfulness made possible by "the compelling reality and beauty of participation in his time, a time that cannot be lost (or wasted I might add) because it is God's time" (Hauerwas, Matthew).
Beggin at Dunkin
She was standing near the Walmart parking lot at the entrance to Dunkin Donuts. It was a perfect spot because there was a stop sign. You had to stop and look at her and she was looking straight into your eyes. Some drivers stared ahead while others sped through the stop sign as fast as they could. I looked at her and a small child seated next to her. Holding a sign that said, I LOST MY JOB I HAVE TWO KIDS I NEED HELP PLEASE GOD BLESS, she looked desperate. Was she? I thought about her as I went in for coffee. Maybe she was scamming us using her son as bait. Or perhaps someone else set her up for this and he or she will pocket the money. My wife does this, imagining the possible back stories of people we encounter. I was doing it now. Could be she was just who she presented herself to be. Down on her luck with no one to watch her son as she begged. Her job was gone and she had no one to look out for her. Why else would she be out at Walmart looking for help? And that poor kid - I thought of him telling his story years later about how Mom dragged him to entrance ramps trying to get some money for food. With coffee in hand I drove back to the stop sign. She looked right at me while her son looked down at the ground. When I rolled down my window she sprang forward hopeful. I handed her some money. Oh thank you sir, God bless you; she spoke with a foreign accent I couldn't quite place. I mumbled God bless you too wondering at the same time what that meant. I drove off so I didn't hold up traffic. Others crept up to the sign. She was looking straight at them. Would any one stop? What back story did they come up with?
Saturday, January 28, 2017
Muslim and Christian
He sat across from me. His son was doing graduate work at the university. He came to the United States to visit his son and he wanted to talk to me. His son was actively involved in our church even though he did not give up his Muslim faith. He was interested in learning about Christianity. He was well liked and respected in our church and the wider community. His father wanted to meet me because his son had talked so much about our church. His father brought me a book of poetry from a famous poet in his country. We talked about religion, God, and religious freedom. This he did not have in his country so even though he was interested in Christianity he was not able to investigate it. As we talked, I was aware that both of us had very similar religious hopes and convictions. We were both seeking the same will of God for our lives, it seemed. Our religious desires were one. We shared a common faith and belief in God. He was a Muslim and I was a Christian. Yet, it was clear that we shared a common religious bond.
I know that if we got down to discussing particulars there would have been many differences. I know that some Christians believe Muslims pray to a different God than they do. I know Muslims and Christians share a history of violence in many parts of the world. I know all of this and more. Yet, that one afternoon I remember thinking we are two individuals seeking after God. There is more that unites us than divides us and God can figure that out.
Today he would not be able to visit me in my office. His son is worried about being deported as he continues his studies here in America. Our president has said no more refugees from his country are permitted to come to America. Temporarily, visas needed to come to America are being held up, too. It is not supposed to be permanent but we all know how these things go.
I am very fortunate to have had these few hours with a man my age who had children and a wife he loved and was seeking after God as I was. As he prays for me, I will pray for him and his family.
I know that if we got down to discussing particulars there would have been many differences. I know that some Christians believe Muslims pray to a different God than they do. I know Muslims and Christians share a history of violence in many parts of the world. I know all of this and more. Yet, that one afternoon I remember thinking we are two individuals seeking after God. There is more that unites us than divides us and God can figure that out.
Today he would not be able to visit me in my office. His son is worried about being deported as he continues his studies here in America. Our president has said no more refugees from his country are permitted to come to America. Temporarily, visas needed to come to America are being held up, too. It is not supposed to be permanent but we all know how these things go.
I am very fortunate to have had these few hours with a man my age who had children and a wife he loved and was seeking after God as I was. As he prays for me, I will pray for him and his family.
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