I met a dozen people today. A few clergy people. And several priests or ministers who live out their vocations in non-ordained or non-rostered lives. We were brought together by a common passion for prison ministry to form a "prison ministry task force" for this synod. The initiator of the group is a woman who is passionately called to prison ministry, is seeking financial and institutional support to more fully engage in it as a newly ordained pastor. (I am suggesting that some of her motives are selfish ones, but her heart is planted in the liberating justice/mercy of GOD.) As for me and my prison visits, I can hardly call my weekly venture a passion. I am devoted to it. I enjoy going. I feel a sense of calling to it. But passionate? I'd rather not have a calling to go to prison every week to be honest. I'd rather not feel compassion for these guys and their families. I'd rather not feel compelled to go and tell them the good news. I'd like to be that guy I was last year. Dad. Husband. Pastor. Trying to survive parish ministry. Thinking about mission development, synodical transformation, etc...but not prison ministry. Missional, incarnational, cruciform ministry is harder to practice. And it is counter cultural and counter to the institutional church. I now spend more time engaging non-members than members. I wonder what the members think of this? Whose Pastor am I? I guess that is a question that needs to be asked by me, this congregation, the ELCA. The vocational ministry of the ordained clergy has been narrowly practiced. GK Chesterton said, "The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried." Is the pastor's ministry exclusively congregationalist? To preach and teach, to pray and serve the congregation to whom he is called? Or is the pastor the leader of a movement of spiritually formed missionaries sent to bear witness to the transforming grace of the gospel in the neighborhood/world? Is there a balance to strike? Is it possible to serve two masters---the ones who pay our salaries and the ones who don't? I lean toward the latter and seek not to strike a balance but to increasingly engage in gospel ministry outside of congregational life. To whom are we called and sent? I am not being questioned about my weekday ministry. And I am relatively transparent about it, too. I share on Sunday what God is doing Monday-Saturday. All this is to say that I have undregone a spiritual/vocational transformation in the past two years that has been profound, ground-shifting. And it is hard to embody this transformation weekly because I am being called to dark and complicated places where there is brokenness, pain, fear, grief, anxiety, shame, and a lack of spiritual maturity. I see two men every week and I should see at least two others. but I don't want to take on another two guys' stories and struggles and spiritual needs.
Because there is also more local family ministry calling me. I met two families this week. Both facing their own challenges. Economic, social, spiritual, relational. And I wondered in both circumstances, as I wonder when I go to prison. Am I what or who they need? What can I possibly offer them that will seriousl make a dent in their daily lives? I'm broken too. A "cracked eikon" to borrow Scot McKnight's language (in his book "Embracing Grace", cracked eikons refers to the broken state of sin and death we are in, even though we are icons of God, made in His image and called to reflect His grace and glory as children and heirs and followers of the Christ). So what can I bring them? I met Gary and Deanna and their three kids. I met Sierra and her three kids, too. I know that this is a privilege to be invited into their lives. Even when there are challenges, struggles, and truth to be told in love. Even when we can't solve the promblem ,can't erase the debt, fix the cracks, etc...Maybe all we do is trust GOD. Let the rest go. Hope for the Kingdom. Pray for peace and reconciliation. And stay out of the way. I am reminded of how little of the daily work of ministry is about me and my intellect or generosity of spirit. God does it all. We just showed up for it.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
why i like mondays
I like Mondays. It's one of my favorite workdays anymore. On Sundays I share the gospel with people and I often wonder if what we heard and saw changed anyone. Not so on Mondays. Monday afternoons have become significant. I find that one of my favorite things to be is their guest. Not in a selfish sort of way, seeking the hospitaity and good graces of another, but in the sense that I like to be on other people's turf. I like to be in the unfamilarity of a new place that is not my own. Befriending prisoners was not part of my sense of call until last winter. They are why I like Mondays.
I have had the amazing opportunity for the past few months to visit with people in county prison. I see two guys every week now and will likely add another guy to my weekly visitations soon. I love going there and being their friend. It started when I started visiting a couple of folks connected to my congregation, but quickly evolved into a calling to go and share good news with strangers. Strangers who sometimes become friends. Like Dan. I found out yesterday that Dan's celly is the brother of another guy I had been visiting a few months ago. Small world. I guess I've visited 6 people in the past year. I tend to keep my circle small so I can devote attention to them over the course of their time inside. I have only been able to stay connected to two people after their release. But I expect that will change.
What is it like in there? I don't really know. But I know it's home for too many young men and women. The recidivism rate is like 50%---that's the percentage of incarcerated who return to prison with 3 years of release. Justice and mercy is an organization devoted to systemic reform. Visit their site to learn more. I also know that prison does not correct or reform, because most prisoners do not take advantage of the few opportunities offered to them. And the programs that are offered are just that; institutional programs. They are not transformational. So much of what our culture does with people is superficial and impersonal, programmatic and routine. Jesus' ministry building relationships by crossing boundaries. Going to the prisons. Jesus quoted Isaiah and said that he was proclaiming release to the captives. He also declared that visiting prisoners was tantamount to visiting the Christ.
When we visit, we talk about life inside and outside. We talk about next steps, fears and hopes. We have been been able to talk about Jesus, to pray together, to dream and hope together, to suffer together, to tell the truth to each other, and to sit in silence. I like to prescribe a spiritual practice for the guys. Read this psalm everyday. I had prescribed psalm 13 and the Sermon on the Mount for Justin. This week he shared how he was being shaped by those words. He shared the words of jesus thatstood out to him,moved him, struck him, challenged him. Few congregation members have shared such insight and excitement about Jesus'words. Perhaps they are too familiar.
When I leave now I have a little guilt. Being free is not something to take for granted, especially if you begin to identify with prisoners. Am I so different that they are? Why I am out here? The law is a tricky thing. We all break the law. We've simply weighted the law in such a way that certain breaches are penalized and others are not. Nevertheless I always look forward to Monday.
I have had the amazing opportunity for the past few months to visit with people in county prison. I see two guys every week now and will likely add another guy to my weekly visitations soon. I love going there and being their friend. It started when I started visiting a couple of folks connected to my congregation, but quickly evolved into a calling to go and share good news with strangers. Strangers who sometimes become friends. Like Dan. I found out yesterday that Dan's celly is the brother of another guy I had been visiting a few months ago. Small world. I guess I've visited 6 people in the past year. I tend to keep my circle small so I can devote attention to them over the course of their time inside. I have only been able to stay connected to two people after their release. But I expect that will change.
What is it like in there? I don't really know. But I know it's home for too many young men and women. The recidivism rate is like 50%---that's the percentage of incarcerated who return to prison with 3 years of release. Justice and mercy is an organization devoted to systemic reform. Visit their site to learn more. I also know that prison does not correct or reform, because most prisoners do not take advantage of the few opportunities offered to them. And the programs that are offered are just that; institutional programs. They are not transformational. So much of what our culture does with people is superficial and impersonal, programmatic and routine. Jesus' ministry building relationships by crossing boundaries. Going to the prisons. Jesus quoted Isaiah and said that he was proclaiming release to the captives. He also declared that visiting prisoners was tantamount to visiting the Christ.
When we visit, we talk about life inside and outside. We talk about next steps, fears and hopes. We have been been able to talk about Jesus, to pray together, to dream and hope together, to suffer together, to tell the truth to each other, and to sit in silence. I like to prescribe a spiritual practice for the guys. Read this psalm everyday. I had prescribed psalm 13 and the Sermon on the Mount for Justin. This week he shared how he was being shaped by those words. He shared the words of jesus thatstood out to him,moved him, struck him, challenged him. Few congregation members have shared such insight and excitement about Jesus'words. Perhaps they are too familiar.
When I leave now I have a little guilt. Being free is not something to take for granted, especially if you begin to identify with prisoners. Am I so different that they are? Why I am out here? The law is a tricky thing. We all break the law. We've simply weighted the law in such a way that certain breaches are penalized and others are not. Nevertheless I always look forward to Monday.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Carefully Taught
After the November election or maybe before it, someone in the black community said, “Rosa sat so Martin could walk. Martin walked so Barack could run. Barack ran so our children could fly.” Tracing the election of the first biracial President to the civil rights movement. I don’t care what any of you think about the election results, the President-elect, or democratic politics. We must acknowledge as a people that the ability of a nation to elect a leader whose racial profile situates him within a community whose history includes slavery and oppressive poverty, segregation, and disenfranchisement is a revolutionary act. And an act that could not have been accomplished had it not been for the sacrifice of many leaders who demonstrated for Barack Obama and the black community that they are human, divinely made, and worthy of equality, respect, and the best of what this nation, this world, and our GOD have to offer. Demonstrated by Rosa Parks, by those in Alabama who participated in the bus boycott, by Dr. King and those who marched on Washington, by Jesse Owens and Jackie Robinson and Hiram Revels the first African American US senator. How can we name all of those people, historical public figures and personal relationships who demonstrated for the world how to exercise compassionate justice toward all people. Being human is demonstrated to us, behaviors are learned and acquired through relationships with other humans. We are socially and relationally taught to behave in ways consistent with those around us. In the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific, a musical about race relations, my favorite song is You’ve got to be carefully taught the lyrics are poignant for us today.
You've got to be taught
To hate and fear,
You've got to be taught
From year to year,
It's got to be drummed
In your dear little ear
You've got to be carefully taught.
You've got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a diff'rent shade,
You've got to be carefully taught.
You've got to be taught before it's too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate,
You've got to be carefully taught!
As for race, so with faith. Faith is demonstrated to us through the lives of faithful others. We come to know, see, hear, recognize GOD in the ordinariness of daily life only in so much as others have demonstrated their own belief and trust in that GOD’s presence. The story of the call of Samuel the prophet is a fine example of many call stores in the bible. Samuel did not know the LORD, did not hear God’s voice or see God’s glory before. He was an unconverted child of religion. He was being trained by a priest, Eli. And then the LORD spoke to Him. His ability to understand, recognize, and respond to GOD was contingent on Eli’s realization that God was speaking. Eli’s faith directed Samuel to listen. It makes one think, does God speak to us in ways that we are unable to hear because we have not paid attention to other faithful listeners who demonstrate for us how to hear GOD?
And then in the gospel, we hear the call of Philip to Nathaniel to come and see. IN John’s gospel Jesus’ divinity is demonstrated through signs or miracles and ultimately in His willingness to suffer and die for his disciples, for the world. Nathaniel is invited to come and see, but his ability to recognize in Jesus of Nazareth the very image of God is contingent on Jesus’ demonstration of his identity and on Philip’s capacity to share what He believes. Without Philip’s testimony, Nathaniel does not come, does not see, does not believe. Without Philip Nazareth remains the town out of which come uneducated bandits, prostitutes---salt of the earth, not light of the world. Our faith is contingent on the demonstration of others who in word and deed show us the way. Christ is indeed revealed to the world in the behaviors of the church, in our corporate witness, in our actions and speech. People learn about Jesus through our demonstration of the His way of life. We have to stop thinking about Christian education as something that you attend in Sunday school, a program of the church. Christian education is what we do that demonstrates to others that we are in relationship with the God who raised Jesus from the dead. We have to be careful about what we are teaching others in our silence toward injustice, in our own prejudices unresolved, in our unforgiving attitudes. Do our homes, our checkbooks, our relationships, our work and leisure lives reflect the gospel? Are we teaching others how to love God and the world, and our neigbors as ourselves? Are we grateful for having received it ourselves?
Who first demonstrated for you what it means to follow Jesus, to be a disciple, to live in the presence of God. Who carefully taught you how to love others, including people who are not like you? Who taught you how to give generously, how to care for creation, how to pray? Who taught you how to worship? Who taught you how to serve others? And who are you teaching? Who is your Samuel? Who is your Nathaniel? All of us have been Samuel and Nathaniel—coming to know and grow in faith toward this GOD who speaks and calls us and commands us and forgives us and leads us and suffers with us. All of us have been carefully taught. Some us are still learning. Some of us are also teaching. May you learn and teach the way of Jesus as if the world depended on it, because maybe it does. Amen.
You've got to be taught
To hate and fear,
You've got to be taught
From year to year,
It's got to be drummed
In your dear little ear
You've got to be carefully taught.
You've got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a diff'rent shade,
You've got to be carefully taught.
You've got to be taught before it's too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate,
You've got to be carefully taught!
As for race, so with faith. Faith is demonstrated to us through the lives of faithful others. We come to know, see, hear, recognize GOD in the ordinariness of daily life only in so much as others have demonstrated their own belief and trust in that GOD’s presence. The story of the call of Samuel the prophet is a fine example of many call stores in the bible. Samuel did not know the LORD, did not hear God’s voice or see God’s glory before. He was an unconverted child of religion. He was being trained by a priest, Eli. And then the LORD spoke to Him. His ability to understand, recognize, and respond to GOD was contingent on Eli’s realization that God was speaking. Eli’s faith directed Samuel to listen. It makes one think, does God speak to us in ways that we are unable to hear because we have not paid attention to other faithful listeners who demonstrate for us how to hear GOD?
And then in the gospel, we hear the call of Philip to Nathaniel to come and see. IN John’s gospel Jesus’ divinity is demonstrated through signs or miracles and ultimately in His willingness to suffer and die for his disciples, for the world. Nathaniel is invited to come and see, but his ability to recognize in Jesus of Nazareth the very image of God is contingent on Jesus’ demonstration of his identity and on Philip’s capacity to share what He believes. Without Philip’s testimony, Nathaniel does not come, does not see, does not believe. Without Philip Nazareth remains the town out of which come uneducated bandits, prostitutes---salt of the earth, not light of the world. Our faith is contingent on the demonstration of others who in word and deed show us the way. Christ is indeed revealed to the world in the behaviors of the church, in our corporate witness, in our actions and speech. People learn about Jesus through our demonstration of the His way of life. We have to stop thinking about Christian education as something that you attend in Sunday school, a program of the church. Christian education is what we do that demonstrates to others that we are in relationship with the God who raised Jesus from the dead. We have to be careful about what we are teaching others in our silence toward injustice, in our own prejudices unresolved, in our unforgiving attitudes. Do our homes, our checkbooks, our relationships, our work and leisure lives reflect the gospel? Are we teaching others how to love God and the world, and our neigbors as ourselves? Are we grateful for having received it ourselves?
Who first demonstrated for you what it means to follow Jesus, to be a disciple, to live in the presence of God. Who carefully taught you how to love others, including people who are not like you? Who taught you how to give generously, how to care for creation, how to pray? Who taught you how to worship? Who taught you how to serve others? And who are you teaching? Who is your Samuel? Who is your Nathaniel? All of us have been Samuel and Nathaniel—coming to know and grow in faith toward this GOD who speaks and calls us and commands us and forgives us and leads us and suffers with us. All of us have been carefully taught. Some us are still learning. Some of us are also teaching. May you learn and teach the way of Jesus as if the world depended on it, because maybe it does. Amen.
Kingdom of GOD
It was inspiring, moving, and unprecedented in the course of human events. It would mean something, a promise fulfilled, a hope realized, a dream come true. To some, it was just another speech, another spiel, another stump. To others it was life-affirming, and life-changing. It was so compelling that people came. A few at first, then a lot. Millions over time. The first ones who caught the spirit of change and the winds of revolution were not the educated or intelligent, not the wealthy or the politically savvy, not the strategist or the leaders, not the innovators or the worldly. The first were everyday folk, hard workers, struggling to survive, a little angry at the way things were, a little helpless and hopeless in the face of systemic oppression. People ready for change.
The implications of the bold words he spoke would have resonated with the lowest of the low and the highest and mightiest. His words were politically charged, not just rhetoric to gain approval or attention or support. Real words with real weight. Words that could be and would be refuted and rejected by many, even as so many others believed in them, devoted themselves to them, saw them lived out and embodied in the man’s actions.
And it was the actions, as much as the words that truly inspired. He crossed boundaries, broke rules, rejected old divisions, animosities, and grudges. He refused to play by the cultural, social, ethnic rules. He invited local politicians and local law-breakers to one table. No party politics. He was neither conservative, nor liberal. He was not an elitist, but he could rival any educated teacher with an authoritative voice. He reached out to communities that had been written off, rejected, isolated, and devalued. He offered an alternative way, another system, a different take on the notion of progress and the project of civility. He was willing to sacrifice his own life so that others might be embraced by someone lovely and good. He came among his own and they rejected him.
When Jesus announced that the Kingdom of God was at hand, he announced that an eternal reality was being revealed and opened to the world. He announced that the rules and rulers of this world would no longer control and oppress the truth about life. He announced that the deceptions and false assumptions people had made about God, about the earth, about themselves, and others were being fully disclosed and uncovered. He announced that the world’s story was about to be retold from a new perspective. He announced an end to captivity, a deliverance, a renewal, a healing, an emergence of new life, a light in darkness, a way through suffering and death to a forever life and a more perfect home. He announced that the cosmic forces for evil were being crushed, bound, gagged, cut off at the knees, imprisoned, overcome. And they were being overcome by goodness and peace and mercy and compassion and grace and love and beauty and freedom. All powers we will possess as he does, when we are possessed by GOD’s Spirit and will.
The implications of this announcement often go unrecognized and undetected. Largely because we are dust, weak, children. And we are living in deceit, denial, and dehumanizing systems impoverished by the depths of human history. For 2,000 years people have been arguing and killing over the meaning of this phrase, kingdom of GOD. But he came with no military force, no economic stimulus package, no bailout monies, no debt free future solutions, no 50% off sales, no simple solution to lose weight in 30 days. He didn’t immediately put an end to all strife. He didn’t reduce carbon emissions or nuclear warheads. He didn’t slow the aging process or promise your best life now. He didn’t teach us how to make millions or how to win the praises of friend and enemy alike.
He taught us how to live and how to die. He gave us a way to follow and the necessary forgiveness and healing to keep on following in spite of the danger one will face when one tries. He taught us to turn the other cheek and to reject retribution and revenge as an option. He taught us to be content with what we are given and to give away what we have. He showed us that suffering and sorrow that come from entering the life of another human being and offering to serve is beautiful and worthy of praise. He gives us hope that dying, surrendering, freely offering yourself is to live a life that is redeemable and will be resurrected.
If you are impressed with the life you have made for yourself or you are content with the world as it is, if you believe that humanity is a flawed project at best and at worst just a cosmic accident with no better future. If you believe that the only end to come is death or annihilation of the species or the planet as a whole, then the message announced by and lived fully by Jesus is going to be a hard message to swallow.
But if you are ready for change, renewal, hope, a reevaluation of life’s meaning, and a way forward that will change everything on this planet from the way you shop to the way you relate to your neighbors then it is time to begin. Following this way has never been easy. It is demanding and requiring of you. Its symbol is a cross, after all. The hangman's noose. So let me announce this to you as plainly as I can: Repent, turn around, change your mind, reorient your life, for the Kingdom of GOD, God’s life and power and rule and hope and dream and will and way in this world is at hand, in front of your face, within you, around you, over you, and visibly here. If you are wondering wghere or how or when or why...why you, why now, why us, why, then...See Jesus for details. Amen.
The implications of the bold words he spoke would have resonated with the lowest of the low and the highest and mightiest. His words were politically charged, not just rhetoric to gain approval or attention or support. Real words with real weight. Words that could be and would be refuted and rejected by many, even as so many others believed in them, devoted themselves to them, saw them lived out and embodied in the man’s actions.
And it was the actions, as much as the words that truly inspired. He crossed boundaries, broke rules, rejected old divisions, animosities, and grudges. He refused to play by the cultural, social, ethnic rules. He invited local politicians and local law-breakers to one table. No party politics. He was neither conservative, nor liberal. He was not an elitist, but he could rival any educated teacher with an authoritative voice. He reached out to communities that had been written off, rejected, isolated, and devalued. He offered an alternative way, another system, a different take on the notion of progress and the project of civility. He was willing to sacrifice his own life so that others might be embraced by someone lovely and good. He came among his own and they rejected him.
When Jesus announced that the Kingdom of God was at hand, he announced that an eternal reality was being revealed and opened to the world. He announced that the rules and rulers of this world would no longer control and oppress the truth about life. He announced that the deceptions and false assumptions people had made about God, about the earth, about themselves, and others were being fully disclosed and uncovered. He announced that the world’s story was about to be retold from a new perspective. He announced an end to captivity, a deliverance, a renewal, a healing, an emergence of new life, a light in darkness, a way through suffering and death to a forever life and a more perfect home. He announced that the cosmic forces for evil were being crushed, bound, gagged, cut off at the knees, imprisoned, overcome. And they were being overcome by goodness and peace and mercy and compassion and grace and love and beauty and freedom. All powers we will possess as he does, when we are possessed by GOD’s Spirit and will.
The implications of this announcement often go unrecognized and undetected. Largely because we are dust, weak, children. And we are living in deceit, denial, and dehumanizing systems impoverished by the depths of human history. For 2,000 years people have been arguing and killing over the meaning of this phrase, kingdom of GOD. But he came with no military force, no economic stimulus package, no bailout monies, no debt free future solutions, no 50% off sales, no simple solution to lose weight in 30 days. He didn’t immediately put an end to all strife. He didn’t reduce carbon emissions or nuclear warheads. He didn’t slow the aging process or promise your best life now. He didn’t teach us how to make millions or how to win the praises of friend and enemy alike.
He taught us how to live and how to die. He gave us a way to follow and the necessary forgiveness and healing to keep on following in spite of the danger one will face when one tries. He taught us to turn the other cheek and to reject retribution and revenge as an option. He taught us to be content with what we are given and to give away what we have. He showed us that suffering and sorrow that come from entering the life of another human being and offering to serve is beautiful and worthy of praise. He gives us hope that dying, surrendering, freely offering yourself is to live a life that is redeemable and will be resurrected.
If you are impressed with the life you have made for yourself or you are content with the world as it is, if you believe that humanity is a flawed project at best and at worst just a cosmic accident with no better future. If you believe that the only end to come is death or annihilation of the species or the planet as a whole, then the message announced by and lived fully by Jesus is going to be a hard message to swallow.
But if you are ready for change, renewal, hope, a reevaluation of life’s meaning, and a way forward that will change everything on this planet from the way you shop to the way you relate to your neighbors then it is time to begin. Following this way has never been easy. It is demanding and requiring of you. Its symbol is a cross, after all. The hangman's noose. So let me announce this to you as plainly as I can: Repent, turn around, change your mind, reorient your life, for the Kingdom of GOD, God’s life and power and rule and hope and dream and will and way in this world is at hand, in front of your face, within you, around you, over you, and visibly here. If you are wondering wghere or how or when or why...why you, why now, why us, why, then...See Jesus for details. Amen.
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