This week

This is a big week. Jonah "graduates" from preschool. I didn't want to asociate the "G" word with my kids for at least another 13 years. It is a milestone to enter Kindergarten, though. He has assessments for Kindergarten on Thursday. Cherie is attending Music Together Directors weekend in Princeton, NJ this weekend. I am taking the three boys to the zoo on Saturday. Thank God for Grammy!

This afternoon I will be meeting with Rodney and two young adult Christians who are interested in more intentional networking, learning, and encouragement among peers. I think initially we are exploring the development of an unaffiliated small group or a coffee house church. I also hope to develop a pub church in the Fall/Winter of 2009-2010. I believe there is real interest for real conversation and real community among some of my gen x peers who are refugees from mainline churches. I wonder who else we might invite or encourage. I know some yuonger people who are home from college. I wonder if Jay might get connected to this group too. I sense that these smaller movements among smaller peer groups is the future of missional, apostolic ministry. It will take time to bring these smaller groups together to form a congregation. House churches will likely develop first. This would be a different way of congregational development for Lutherans. That is, if we were developing something uniquely Lutheran. But I might suggest that any organic development of a missional community would seek to embrace a variety of Christian denominational attributes without necessarily conforming to one particular tribe. We know that tribal groups, especially mainliners, continue to decline in adherents. Perhaps its time for us to find ways to concede to that spiritual movement and go with it, to the affect that Lutheran Christian ID needs to be a part of something new but not an exclusive aspect of who we are. What I mean is, if being Lutheran is an obstacle or deterrent to creating Christ-centered missional community than we need to reorient our identities to change that. At a micro level, spiritual formation with peers is an important aspect of apostolic ministry that occurs outside of traditional modes like Sunday School. Conversational formation through informal interaction seems to work. So we'll see.

Tonight I will be in Harrisburg for the quarterly LAMPA policy council meeting. I am a member of the council since January. If you want to read about LAMPa and what it means for Lutherans to advocate for justice, go to the LAMPA website or click on the link the ELCA Advovacy on the links sidebar.

Tomorrow is Lutheran Day at the Capital in Harrisburg. It is an annual day in which PA Lutherans engage in advocacy with members of the general assembly. We want to make our collective voices heard as we seek to encourage laws and legislation and budgets that reflect values consistent with biblical justice. Again, the ELCA's Advocacy website is a great place to start. Another place to start is the National Council of churches justice website.

On Thursday, I hope to meet with two of the newly connected families at Zion to talk about belonging, baptism, believing and becoming. What DNA are we hoping to replicate? Not old member church DNA that makes it easy for people to come and go and do as they please wth respect to their faith expression. We want to create an inclusive, open access community of hospitality and welcome that invites people to a process of spiritual formation and faithful practice toward maturity as followers of Jesus. Church growth begins with maturation and leads to multiplication. Maturation is an action/reflection process. You see others in the community practicing their faith. You seek to belong by becoming part of that movemement. You learn by becoming an obedient hearer of the Word. You pray. You get reoriented as a Kingdom person. You become a doer of the Word and not just a hearer of it. You begin to recognize the spiritual gifts God has given you and you begin to use them to serve others. You practice. You take small steps. You try. You experiment.
By joining a learning group, rooted in God's Word and in prayer, you begin to let God reshape your heart and mind. We need to create more small group opportunities at Zion for formation and fellowship. Sunday morning is not enough. I think we need household-based share groups. But they need to develop organically as a natural expression of who we are becoming. That means that Cherie and I need to initiate a share group in our house. Maybe we could initiate one and see where it leads.
So that's the week. Not to mention the full schedule of evening meetings, none of which I will participat in for the entire time. Our household requires my attention at bedtime, especially this week in prep for Cherie's weekend absense.

History Maker by Delirious

Martin Smith played this in worship at the Mobilization event.

ELCA News wrap-up to M2EP:Bishop Hanson and I are quoted

Below is the summary ELCA news report on the Mobilization, at which ELCA Bishop Mark Hanson was a panelist. He spoke about becoming a church fluent in the first language of faith, the bible. Rooted in the Word of God and in baptismal identity/vocation, we make Christ known to a world that longs for hope and compassionate justice. And he spoke about the need for communities of faith to become prayerfully discerning centers of accountability and encouragement, so that we can exercise a bold public witness. The Bishop told me that communities of faith must be places where people can engage in conversations about significant matters of faith and justice.

ELCA NEWS SERVICE
May 5, 2009

ELCA Presiding Bishop Speaks to Antipoverty Activists
09-104-JD


WASHINGTON (ELCA) - The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), spoke to more than 1,200 faith-based and antipoverty activists here at the Mobilization to End Poverty event, April 26-29. He called on participants to "hold each other accountable" for the work they are doing to end poverty. The event was held to engage participants in making antipoverty work a political priority.
Hanson was one of six speakers at the "Church Leaders Roundtable -- Uniting and Mobilizing the Church in the Fight Against Poverty" plenary session at the event. Other organizations represented on the panel were the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Convoy of Hope, Reformed Church in America, Micah Challenge and Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good. The Rev. Brian D. McLaren, author and speaker, moderated.
During the plenary panelists were asked a series of questions regarding obstacles to overcoming poverty, pastors' reluctance to engage in advocacy, congregational members' accountability and ways to continue the work to end poverty back home.
Hanson said if he were serving in a parish he would have adults engage in a "community mutual accountability and discernment" hour. "We would hold each other accountable to publicly live out the mandate of serving the poor or spreading the justice of peace," he said.
"We would confess it didn't go as well as God intended," Hanson said. "Then we would become a community of moral discernment, not splitting conservatives and liberals, but engaging the Word in the world as this community of faith in this context."
Participants also visited members of Congress and advocated for cutting domestic poverty in half in 10 years.
The Rev. Matthew Lenahan, pastor of Zion Lutheran Church, Akron, Pa., explained that the mobilization was an "equipping" event.
"We are called to initially go back and ask that one question, 'What is God calling me to do and be now as a result of this mobilization?'" he said. "I have great hope after my day on the (Capitol) Hill that things can actually change when people of faith care enough to step out of their comfortable place and confront systems of injustice with a word of Scripture and a word of hope."
Hosted by Sojourners, a progressive Christian network, the Mobilization to End Poverty was supported by 23 denominations, religious societies and groups. The ELCA was a financial sponsor of the event.
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The Mobilization to End Poverty blog is at http://blog.sojo.net/ on the Web.
Information about the Mobilization to End Poverty is at http://www.sojo.net/mobilization on the Web.

Small, shrinking, less: on being the alternative, upside-down church

"American churchgoers love programs. The more the better, especially for children. Smaller churches can offer a deeper sense of community, but that is not valued as much in our culture. Many good and well-meaning churches simply cannot compete with large churches that have numerous professional ministers and a vast array of programs and activities. Some become dysfunctional and focused on themselves as their numbers shrink and anxieties rise. For many it is simply their time to die. There may have been a day when they met real needs in the world, but that day has passed. They disappear, leaving behind empty buildings that are taken by younger churches or are converted into retail space.." So wrote Pastor Gordon Atkinson. I follow his blog at Real Live Preacher. Gordon is a truth-teller and a story-teller and I enjoy both of those people. He is writing stories about Covenant, the baptist congregation he serves. He is writing about a time when things were especially difficult at the church---when people were leaving. Even as new people joined, long-time members and friends were moving on. "They stayed as long as they could, but one-by-one they came to me and told me the bad news. As much as they hated to, they just weren’t getting what they needed. They felt that they must leave for the good of their families. It seemed like every time a new family found our church, one of the old families would leave. And every time it happened the grief was tremendous for me. I loved these people. Now I wouldn’t be seeing them on Sundays. We would no longer celebrate Advent together or Easter. These were very painful years for Jeanene and I. Painful and frightening. If the church fell apart I would feel like a failure. And I would be out of a job."
He wrote about the time when his little girl was the only one in her Sunday school class anymore. And what a gift that was! Just as so many families had burned out and moved on to bigger churches wih programs to plug into, Gordon saw Ben, an elder and teacher in the churh, sit on a bench with his little girl and read/discuss the bible together. It was a gaceful moment in a stressful time when it seemed like fewer and fewer people were supporitng the church. ben loved his daughter by sharing his faith and his time with her one-on-one. Sunday School was not a class, it was a relationship of spiritual formation. Gordon said, "I’ve never since let myself be seduced by numbers or money or power or any other measuring stick of our culture. I saw then that Covenant was not easy, but it was good. Even if our church was unable to continue, I knew that we had experienced real love and community. And whatever else happened, my daughter was loved and known by Ben." If every small relationship-nurturing church (ZION,AKRON), struggling to make it in a culture that supports bigger, better, easier, and faster programs would receive the same grace and the same peace, then maybe we could cut the anxiety and be the church God's Spirit is calling us to be. We are trapped in the need to succeed by worldly standards of success. What if Jesus offers an alternative measurement---mustard seeds, leaven in dough, servant greatness, last and the least are the first and the best? Its a scandal to follow that man who died on the cross and was raised from the dead, because he sees the world upside-down and sets it right-side-up. But right-side-up looks upside-down to us. Poor is rich. Enemy is friend. Outsider is welcome. Crazy stuff. Maybe we should be so crazy too. So I'm with Gordon. No more anxiety about who isn't coming anymore. It is sad that people leave our churches. But we can't help it. We can only be faithful to Jesus, which involves putting to death our need to keep up with the Joneses. And suffer a little for it. And also live. I prefer to be upside-down, or right-side-up. Even if it means losing, shrinking, becoming less significant. The mission is to die with Christ in order to be raised with him. Dying may mean giving all of what we have away. I'd love to see a church so willing...

The Two Futures Project; Who would Jesus Bomb?

Shane Claiborne and other younger evangelicals are making the connection between the gospel and peace. Check out the article he posted on God's Politics Blog. When the dominant empire defines and interprets the gospel to theologically justify militancy at the cost of civillian lives and the oppressive use of power to maintain economic and cultural dominance, the gospel ceases to be gospel and becomes something terrifying. How Jesus can be used to justify violence is beyond me. I am not a pacifist, but I believe in nonviolent resistance to oppressive, unjust imperial rules. I believe we are called to speak the truth to power in ways that will inspire repentance. I also believe that Christians must embody the will of the Lord Jesus. And when Jesus calls us to "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you," he likely did not intend for Christians to kill them. I often wonder who the enemy is anymore. Now I have not been to war or to a war zone. I am no political expert. But I trust that Jesus, who knew what it was like to live under the rule of a vast empire who used military force to maintain power, had some sense of what t meant to live in opposition to that rule. And he proclaimed an alternative reign, the reign of GOD, had come near in His activities and words.
I suspect that Claiborne and others have grown weary of evangelical collusion with imperial rulers who reject the way of Jesus in favor of world power. What is it to gain the world and lose your souls? Some of us are longing for the soul of America to be saved. And some Christians realize that we need to dismantle atomic bombs as the first sign. Come Lord Jesus!

missional ecclesia: moving from fear-induced silence to bold speech

"One night the LORD said to Paul in a vision, "Do not be afraid, but speak and do not be silent, for I am with you, and no one will lay a hand on you to harm you, for there are many in this city who are my people." Acts 18:9.

How does fear choke out our eagerness to share our faith in Jesus?
How has Christian silence in the face of injustice, tyranny, and oppression affected the world's view of the church?
What matter of life and faith are you silent about that GOD is calling you to speak out about?
What are you afraid to say to others about your beliefs?
What is God's promise to Paul?
What "secret" does God reveal to Paul in this vision about the Corinthian mission? What does it mean that God has many people there?
Does God's work in the lives and hearts of others precede the missionary work of the church?
If God is working in the lives of others before we share the faith story in Jesus, then what might we expect when we do speak out?
In Athens, as in other places in Acts, the response to Paul is threefold---some believe, some reject, and some seek more knowledge.
If we are to expect similar responses then what prevents us from telling others the story of God's saving grace?

Corinth and Acts 18 and New Orleans and us

"As the largest central market and capital of Achaia, the intellectual and cultural heartland of Greece, Corinth had an immense cultural as well as economic influence on both the surrounding territories and the Greek-speaking provinces of the eastern part of the Roman Empire. Paul's establishment of Christianity there offered opportunities for diffusion of the gospel no other city could provide."
In Acts 18, Paul travels alone from Athens to Corinth. He meets a Christian couple from Rome, who had left under the edict of Claudius in and around 50 ce. that expelled Christian Jews from that city. Paul is a tentmaker. He contributes to the local economy and lives self-sufficiently as such. It may also be that he found it culturally more acceptable to participate in the local business economy, rather than to accept the hospitality of believers for sustainability. he will not remain a tentmaker for the entire mission in Corinth. Once he is rejoined by Timothy and Silas and has established a bonified house church of both Jews and Gentiles, Paul devotes himself to gospel proclamation. He is there for 18 months.
During his time in Athens, he creates a dispute in the synagogue over Jesus' Messiahship. He leaves the synagogue and continues a Gentile-focused mission. He will be accused of breaking the law. The proconsul Gallio (Mayor of Corinth?) will hear the charges and dismiss Paul. He doesn't find him innocent, so much as Gallio chooses to remain impartial and indifferent on the religious matters in dispute. Paul is not afforded the protections of Roman citizenship here as he was in Philippi. It seems that the Empire has chosen to remain neutral with respect to the emerging dispute between the established Jews and the emerging Christians.

What we learn as ecclesia:
1. Cultural context dictates the way we engage in evangelical mission. Location is important. Exegeting the cultural context is critical. Paul was an outstanding cultural exegete. he could both retain his distinctive identity as an apostle of the Lord Jesus and live visibily and respectably as a member of the local, majority culture. In some ways, embracing the culture builds bridges, creating points of contact and access that won't happen in a "Christian bubble". Perhaps the reason why the Jerusalem community fails to thrive is that they were wedded to a particular cultured way of being Christian, mainly a Jewish way of being Christian, that would not allow for the Gentilization of Christianity. Paul allowed for the gentilization of Christianity, so that it could become viral, diffuse, and global. What cultural adaptations are necessary today for the church to maintain contact? Music? Technology? It seems that, at least, the web is a frontier for communication we must use to the best of our ability. We must be adept in the language of this internet culture.
2. I also wonder: How soon in post-Christendom will bivocational living be required of apostolic evangelists? Now? At present, traditional congregational life creates a kind of bivocation for some missional pastors. We serve congregations who pay our salaries and afford us opportunity to exercise apostolic gifts. Hence, I spend a lot of time connecting to folks outside of the congregation. Even though I am preaching every Sunday in church and continue to stay connected to members, I also have opportunity to share ths gospel beyond the pastor's study, pew, and pulpit. I do see, however, that bivocational ministry affords the opportunity to connect with people outside of church through one's "tentmaking". And a Christian community can actually emerge out of one's contact with others through work. And yet, Paul will return to dedicated ministry once a church is established.
3. Post-Christendom does not afford us the kind of authority, protection, and respect from the Empire that we once enjoyed under Constantinianism. When the Empire is a democracy, this change in our place is seen most obviously in the loss of authority over public matters of dispute. The church's "opinion" is just that; one opinion among many valued opinions. It may be that the church's opinion is even discredited in the eyes of many people as a result of the abuses of power associated with the Constantinian church. And since the church does not speak in unity of opinion, our collective voices are even more easily dismissed. Since everyone has a vote and an opinion that is equally valid, even the church itself is subject to the non-spiritual whims of less mature religious folk. If a congregation votes not to celebrate weekly Eucharist, aren't they being ruled by a democratic process rather than a prayerful discernment of Jesus' way?
Where are we? What is our culture telling us? What does this context seek, long to hear, need, hope for, require, demand, and expect? How do we listen as ecclesia in order to respond?
Corinth is the New Orleans of the ancient world. Sea-faring town. Trade route. Multicultural center. Diverse population. Rebuilt. Known for its wild side and its licentiousness. When 37,000 Lutherans descend on NOLA in July will we be able to exegete the culture and live missionally within it there?

Good Shepherds Confront Wolves

You know all of those pictures and images of Jesus the Good Shepherd? How gentle and meek he appears? What if those pictures do not depict the image that Jesus was really getting at? What if Jesus’ self-identity as the good shepherd was not so pastoral, so walk-in-the-meadow, beside the rolling brook? What if Jesus meant to reveal his role in he conflict between good and evil? How does Jesus confront the wolves? If we are going to identify with this gospel passage, then we are going to have to identify with our own vulnerabilities and weaknesses. Like sheep. We don’t like to hear that we are sheep or at least that the gospel requires that we acknowledge our own vulnerabilities and weaknesses. We like to live strong and to depend on no one. We like to believe that we are in power and in control. We are not victims. Americans don’t like to see the poor, the sickly, the dying, wandering aimlessly into the snares of predators. But we hear about such things, the elderly being preyed upon by various money-making schemes. Children being preyed on for sex. I’m not saying that this is a dangerous world in which we need to beware and from which Christians ought to withdraw because we already live in a culture of fear and anxiety that is often misplaced, itself becoming a danger. Fear becomes dangerous when it causes deep mistrust of others and an unwillingness to connect. Fear of cities keeps a lot of people with resources from entering into the lives of needy urban dwellers. We are not called to live in a protective bubble with fellow Christians, huddled together in fear waiting for Jesus to come and give us the “all clear”. Quite the opposite. Jesus allows us to be vulnerable, but also to pay attention to the ways we expose others weaknesses, to the ways we impoverish others, to the ways we allow other sheep to be devoured. 40 million Americans are being devoured by poverty, 13 million of them are children. But what if you are or have been a victim? What if you’ve been robbed or raped or lied to or cheated on? What if you’ve been neglected or abused? What if you’ve been swindled out of money? What if you are sick or struggling in a relationship or struggling financially in the recession? I think of people who have been victimized by a broken health care system that bankrupts working class families who lack adequate health coverage and accrue medical debt. I think about working families who live at or below poverty, getting laid off and wondering how they’ll buy food, pay rent, pay off debts. I think about people who have been victims of identity theft or other forms of fraud. I think of men and women, ex-offenders, who paid for their crimes in jail and prison, in shame and in fines but continue to pay for them as unwelcomed, unloved, sub-members of society. I think of millions of African children who are robbed of fathers and mothers because of HIV/AIDS. I think of 26,000 children who will die today of hunger related, preventable diseases. There are sheep among us and wolves too. Jesus says hired hands will not protect the sheep. I thihnk of all of the agencies, institutions, and governments we entrust with protection of the innocent. But we are not trustworthy keepers of the sheep, he says. No one, not the government, not the church, not any human institution will walk with the sheep when the wolves are near. Our lack of enthusiasm over the sufferings of others around this world attests to that. We, with our wealth and power, do little to nothing to help the Mexican families with no water who want to wash their hands to prevent flu. We are unaware of the ways we let the wolves in. This world needs some protection, some help, some shelter from the wolves, the predators, the injustices and systemic evils that plague us. Whether we are sheep, the most vulnerable--- or the hired hands---we need the good shepherd to save us from the prowling wolves. This is no benign, gentle savior as the pictures show. This shepherd, like all shepherds, is prepared to defend the flock. We need a shepherd who will run interference, who will distract the wolves, who will overcome them with His own ferociously protective powers.
Jesus confronts them, but not with military might or with imperial wealth. He confronts them in a much more revolutionary way. Jesus’ power is not that of the White House or the Congress or the pentagon. Its not the power of capitalism or the free market. Its not the power of celebrity success by the world’s standards. Jesus’ power is His own body and His willingness to use His body as a shield and as a target. His power is in His capacity to lay down His life in order to take it up again. Jesus recognized that, like moths to the flame, his brilliant life in the world would draw out the wolves to attack Him. And so they did by nailing Him to the cross. But he also knew that in his divinity, his was not limited to the confines of grave. The grave is where the wolves want him to be. The grave is where the devil and his predatory minions hoped he would stay. But oh no. Not this one. Alleluia, he is risen. He could assume all of the pain and suffering of the world in His body and then, rise to a life beyond the reach of injustice, evil, suffering and death. And in so doing, he would show the world the way to live as God’s holy, just, peaceful and merciful people.
We know there are vulnerable people in our midst, people suffering from illness, poverty, hunger, addictions, fears, secret sins. We know because we are some of them. Maybe you have been poor or sick or abused. And maybe as a result, you’ve abandoned the sick, the suffering, and the abused. Its hard to help someone get up out of the pit when you are sittin’ in the bottom too. How do you free someone from inside your own prison cell? How can you save others when you can’t save yourself? They said it to Jesus. You can’t save yourself, how can you save others? But this shepherd has a secret. And he teaches us the way out. He gives us the keys. He shows us the door. He unbars the gates. He breaks down the dividing walls. He lifts us out of the pit. He unlocks the prison cell. If you cannot identify with the suffering in this world, you will not identify with Jesus and His saving act of mercy. Let me say that again. If you cannot identify with suffering, discomfort, and some form of poverty you will not understand Jesus’ life-giving death and its implications for us. Jesus gives himself to the wolves. He lets the wolves eat his body and drink his blood. And in so doing, he makes them human. So we don’t bite one another, so we don’t victimize any more, so we see everyone as an equally valued creature of GOD. So we recognize the vulnerability and weakness, not to exploit, but to serve and offer mercy.
But if you do get it. If you understand or see how your life is part of the cycle and cause of suffering in this world, how your indifference and mine to the cries of the most vulnerable among us, is a cause for lament and repentence; if you recognize that our prosperity and comfort and the world’s needs invite a generous response from each one of us, then you have heard the Bible’s and our God’s call to share the good news.
No other statement in all of Scripture is more binding on our actions as Christian followers of Jesus than the one we hear from First John 3:17. “How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses to help? Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.” Where we have been indifferent to the worlds’ suffering, where we have been afraid to confront the wolves let us repent. And let us put our lives in the hands of the good shepherd, so that we might offer ourselves to His service as merciful caregivers of all the ones that he loves. Amen.

'Hole in our Gospel"

Read an interview with Richard Stearns about his book "The Hole In Our Gospel" to hear about his personal journey from indifference to faithful participation in God's work of justice around the world, embodied in his life as head of World Vision. Stearns gave a powerfully motivating keynote at the MObilization to a End Poverty on Monday.

Ways to get in the way of injustice

+ Pray for God's justice to reign among nations, in families and communities, and in the lives of those who face hunger, disease, racism, and thirst as a result of Sin.
+ Call your elected officials.
+ Sign up for advocacy alerts and updates at the ELCA advocacy website.
+ Sponsor a child with World Vision
+ Find out what your church, denomination, or faith community believes and does about hunger, poverty, health care, etc...
+ Find out what other local community non-profits do to end poverty and partner with them as a volunteer.

Mobilized to end poverty

Why do we want to end poverty? It seems like an impossible goal, maybe an unattainable ideal by pie-in-the-sky liberals. We live in a time when the disparity between the rich and the poor is growing. I heard a story on the news today about the swine flu pandemic in Mexico, how sanitation is a problem in many places, because of a lack of clean water. Some parts of Mexico City go two weeks at a time without water service. Is this not unacceptable? We who have access to clean water, bottled water, bath water, swimming pool water, and car wash water are partly responsible for the lack of water in other places. We are because we are indifferent. Indifference is the Sin of the rich. If we were using wealth and means to serve the least among us that would be one thing, but we aren't. If we were Mexican children could wash their hands.
Why do we want to end poverty? Aren't some people poor because the population is unsustainable? Isn't because poverty breeds poverty? Isn't because some people don't want to work for a living? We hear a lot of excuses and interpretations of the problem of poverty, none of which address the problem with viable solutions. In fact, the excuses are ment to avoid viable, sustainable solutions, to avoid guiilt and responsibility. Its more comfortable to be blind to suffering than to see it and have to do something about it. People have the capacity to care, to show compassion. And the capacity to remain indifferent to the cries of the billions of people without enough food, water, clothing, shelter, medicines, and education.
Why do we want to end poverty? Because of Jesus. Jesus reveals that the heart of God's Torah,the heartbeat of the living God, is this concern for the suffering. And this concern transcends cultural and ethnic boundaries. GOD is impartial in his compassion toward the creation. God is interested in setting to rights a broken, wrong-doing, long-suffering world. We want to end poverty because it is cruel, and because our hearts break over the things that break God's heart. 26,000 children die everyday from hunger-related disease. No program or project or organization alone will end poverty. It will take a broad-based movement of activists, servant-leaders, and compassionate humanitarians in government and in communities of faith/goodwill.
Sojourners is a movement of Christians who are called by GOD to eliminate injustice. Jim Wallis and many others have been prophetic voices, speaking the truth to power people for many years. They align themselves with Isaiah, Amos, Joseph, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, John the Baptist, Mary, Jesus, William Wilberforce, Sojourner Truth, Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King, Jr., and so many other prophets who have faced injustice and said, "It it time to get in the way."
It is time to trouble the waters in a way that only people of faith can, in a way that is oriented to a biblical worldview and to the way of Jesus.
Rep. John Lewis embodies that call to justice because he does what he says. He told us on Sunday that he was going to protest on Monday and be arrested. And he did. He did what he said. He protested at the Sudanese Embassy because their government kicked out many foreign humanitarian aid groups to make a political statement. Rep. Lewis is no stranger to insjutice or to protest. He marched to Selma.
I left there wondering what I have done to get in the way of injustice? What risk have I taken, whose voice have I uplifted, to whom have I given hope? Indifference is inexcusable. The church has been indifferent, caught up in culture wars, politicking for votes on behalf of a narrow agenda--like abortion or creationism. The church has announced a weak and narrow gospel that equates salvation with the after-life and heaven, while avoiding the call to save dying children in Africa or haiti. Salvation that is not holistic, that does not announce that Jesus saves people now and in the hour of death, is an incomplete and therefore useless evrsion of salvation. Either salvation is everything, every hope for deliverance and rescue, or it is nothing. I don't want a GOD who saves me when I die, but does nothing to save us while we live. The GOD I love embodied salvation in the work of Jesus. That salvation announcement includes his teachings, his healings, and his dying and rising. IN the teachings and healings, we see a GOD who is deeply concerned for the suffering, sin-sick, broken world. This GOD is concerned for the poor, for women and children, for people overburdened in labor to an imperial system that creates conditions of slavery and poverty for many, even as it creates wealth and freedom for a few. I want a GOD, a man, Jesus, who is concerned for how we treat the earth and all it inhabitants. I want a GOD who is concerned about how we live as communities, as families, as nations. When Jesus is connected to the Torah and the Prophets, the Jesus you meet is rooted in a tradition that is most concerned about those things. And we couple that concern with an eschatological/apocalyptic worldview to get a Jesus who is also concerned for how it will all turn out in the end for us. A Jesus who is also preparing a liberation from the ultimate power of death. Personal, corporate, and national salvation ought to be interrelated aspects of Christian life.
As for the nation. I learned this week that our nation is in crisis. No one political leader will solve it. Not President Obama or any member of congress. But if people motivated by love influence people motivated by the law to enact laws to protect the most vulnerable, we are on the way together. The government has an important role to play in national salvation, mainly by creating the conditions by which the majority and especially the poorest among us can live sustainable and healthy lives. Together with churches and mosques and synagogues and people of good will we can create a common life that is more just than unjust.
I was convinced this week that things can change, politicians can change, oppressive systems can change. It is possible, if we live locally and speak globally to change the world. It was impressed on me this week that people of faith are called to exercise both an advocacy ministry and a servant ministry. And both of these things are tended and nourished by prayer and Scripture. Like three legs of a stool, we need to have a micro-,macro-, and inner spirit-life. Love for God and love for neighbor are embodied in prayer, in helping/serving, and by speaking/acting on behalf of the poor and unjustly treated. I have been mobilized to end poverty by serving the needs of local people in poverty and by addressing systems of oppression and economic injustice as a leader in this church called to public profession of faith in Jesus.

Tuesday at the hill or how I ended up on CNN

So here's the big story for today. This was advocacy day on the hill. We were going as a Pennsylvania cohort on behalf of the domestic and global poor to ask our two PA senators and Congressman Pitts to make poverty history by committing more U.S. budget dollars to foreign aid, up to $51 billionin 2010, as a sign of our commitment to the UN Millenium development goals. We want to marshall all of our collective influence and resources to eliminate extreme poverty, combat epidemics like HIV/AIDS, provide education and opportunity for women, etc...We also sought to encourage them to provide leadership in the health care reform debate. And we want them to sign on to legislation echoing President Obama's desire to reduce domestic poverty levels by 50% in 10 years. So we go as a group to the hill to meet with Senate staffers. Our first meeting with Senator Casey's staff went very smoothly and we know we have an ally in Senator Casey who tracks with much of the social justice agenda. I wonder how much of his Catholic background informs or shapes his willingness to fight for the lower class and the most vulnerable. The Senator was not present, but we did see him in the building.
Here's the big news: As we approach Senator Specter's office, we run into him. We walk behind him until he takes a phone call from "Joe". He passes through our group as we gather outside his office door. Some time goes by as we wait to meet with him.We are all encouraged by news that he may sit in with us on our meeting. Then we are informed that he will appear to announce his decision to change parties and become a Democrat! The above video occurred in our presence as he emerged to go do the announcement with VP Joe Biden. I assume he was speaking with the Vice President "Joe" in the hall! Apparently President Obama received word at 10:25 am and we received word shortly after noon and just before the rest of the world! Talk about being at the right place at the right time. Party defection has occurred 13 times since 1913. It is rare. In this case it changes some dynamics in the Senate, potentially giving the Democrats fillibuster insurance. Now republicans will not be able to block a vote that will move the senate to take action on legislation. They will have to find creative ways to cross party lines to get things done.
So, we were in the room as Senator Specter made history today. We met with his staff and find a lot of common ground on issues of poverty and health care. Altogether an inspring and empowering day in Washington.
I will post pictures after I get home.
What I find so interesting about this event is the ecumenical character of the church coming together to get in the way of social injustice-both global and domestic. Folks from various traditions understand the complexity of these issues, the biblical call of discipleship which compels us to act justly and with compassion, and the rich integration of personal salvation gospel and liberation/redemption/justice gospel. It is a spiritual movement that is occurring, whereby people of faith across various theological spectrum come together as an artistic depiction, an icon of grace. There were two artists who painted during worship time. Their paintings are beautiful and depict the church's call to boldly declare the reign of GOD revealed in the death and resurrection of Jesus. Jesus without justice is love without a real human embrace. Loving God, loving the neighbor entails micro-service on the grassroots local level, in which we care deeply for the hurts of our neighbors, especially the poor and suffering. And it entails macro-mission, where we embody and broad and sweeping vision for global healing and transformation. If we do not retain the vision of a world without poverty and hunger, we will not maintain the will to serve the kids in Akron elementary school or the folks who come to Peter's porch for food and clothes or the people in prison who want to know they are not abandoned to a system that enslaves young, uneducated, black men. (And whites and Latinos, too).
And we need to believe that with God all things are possible and that this is God's Work and our hands. We are called in the gospel of suffering and grace to give up our lives for the life of others, to give up our wealth so the poor are poor no more, give up our bread so others may receive the bread of life.
I have been nspired and transformed in my Spirit by this experience to know that it is my calling to invite other people of faith to act boldly, to learn selflessly, and to grow spiritually so that we can be the church sent to the darkness and despair with lght and hope. See you tomorrow. PM

do the right thing

The gospel text appointed in the daily readings was Luke 4,when Jesus quotes Isaiah:"The pirit f the Lord is upon me to preach good news to the poor, release to the captives, sight to the blind, and to proclaim the year of God's jubilee." Jesus claims that his speech embodied in ministry fulfills this divine prophecyof one who is sent and anointed for this work of justice. All day long we heard from people who seek to embody this same mission of justice byt challenging the status quo systems that oppress and reject movements of the Spirit to promote the common good.
Jim Wallis says that we have the will of those in places of influence to drastically reduce poverty and hunger. But Nancy Pelosi says getting anything done politically requires influence from inside Washington and mobilization outside.
Today we heard from Jim Wallis. Budgets are moral documents that seek to embody what we believe. He believes that we currently have an administration that wil do more than give acess to the white house, but will listen in unprecedented ways to the faith community with ressect to the governments partnership in caring for the least among us. We are called to challenge the gov't to step up and protect women and children, minorities and the poor. major reform is needed though and we need the courage to stand in our convictions before our leaders and compel them to listen and change.
Richard Stearns, head of World Vision, told us to take the log out of our own eyes before we shift responsibility and blameto government or anyone else. Self-criticism is important. What am I, are we doing as church, to address the poor and systems that perpetuate a culture of poverty? Stearns believes that this is a major turning point in history; likened to 1776, 1860, 1963, and 1989. just a that year saw the collapse of the berlin wall and the economic ideology of communism, so 2009 sees the collapse of unrestrained capitolism. He gave us a picture of our possibility only after revealing our moral failure as people of GOD. Whyar 30 million kids dying from hunger related disease? Stearns was changed when he met three orphaned boys living in subsistence in Ughanda. I was admittedly moved by his conecton of our shameful neglect of these children with Matthew 25. "I was a stranger and you deported me, in prison and you said I was getting what i deserved; hungry and you bought fast food, thirsty and you drank bottled water; naked and you bought more clothes for yourself." He told us that Americans give 2.5% of income to global causes. 98% of faith-generated income is for local use; buildings and staff. 0.6 cents a day for the world's poor. He left us with a vision of what could be by 2020 if the church ook the gospel seriously enough to live it by giving generously. A full tithe from all of us would contribute 168 billion dollars to the global poor. He shared a vision of a revolution of giving that would change the world economy elevating the vast maority out of extreme poverty and disease.

A break: we had free lunch with the Lutherans and free dinner with the mennonites. nice. ecumenism as real table fellowship extended.
We heard great preaching calling us to live counter culturally as liberators and courageously compassionate advocates.
Tomorrow is capitol hill day. We will meet with staffers in the US senators' offices and in Rep. Pitts office. There is also a prayer vigil on the hill.
President Obama has promised to imlement a strategy to end childhood hunger by 2015.Shouldn't we agree and help him to accomplish this goal?
More tomorrow...pray for us as we go to the hill to speak the truth to power.

day 2 in the morning

We are staying in a bed and breakfast called Adams Inn in a seemingly Latino neighborhood called Woodley park. Tree-lined streets, churches, and Mexican restaurants beautify the landscape here. We walk to the subway. This is a neighborhood devoted also to civic causes. we see youth centers and other intitutions devoted to helping the disabled, helping chilren, helping people in poverty. I wonder how we might be church in this place? What can we exegete from the culture around us here that might help our mission? Might we find time to talk with some local folks? I don't know. But I always hope to meet local residents and listen to them tell their stories.Just don't know if there'll be time.
Our room has three beds and we share a public bathroom, but we are about to go for formal breakfast at 8:00. This place is nice, except for the large cockroach we encountered last night.
This morning Richard Stearns from World Vision is going to talk about the goal of half in ten, reducing domesticc poverty by 50% in 10 years, something that President Obama is committed to.There is legislation on the hill that would theoretically create the culture to do this.
At 10:30 we are slated to hear from President Obama and this afternoon we will undergo some advocacy training for our day on capitol hill tomorrow.
last night's prayer by Clement of rome (C. 96)says:
"Lord, we beseech you to help and defend us. Deliver the oppressed, pity the poor, uplift those who have fallen, be the portion of those in need, return to yor care those who have gone astray, feed the hungry, strengthen the weak, and break the chains of the prisoners. May al people come to know thatou only are God, that Jesus Christ is your child, and that we are your people and the sheep of your pasture. Amen."

Getting in the Way

day one: Mobilization to end Poverty. Already beginning to experience this as more than an event or a conference. This is what it means to join a movement, to take part in a rally, a march, a campaign. This is what rep. John Lewis meant when he said, "Its time for people of faith to get in the way." This mobilization is how people of faith come together to speak with one voice to those who will listen that we will not passively allow injustice to continue. Tonight we met for worship at Shiloh Baptist. We were treated to the best of Baptist liturgy, with powerful testimony delivered by a minister of the Word from NY. He spoke about his Harlem childhood, his imprisonment and walk away from the LORD. He spoke about his return to the LORD in Sing-Sing prison and his completion of the only MDiv program offered to people in prison. When he was released, he stepped into his new life with power and conviction, developing ministries with youth. His testimony showed the power of GOD to raise up a poor black child in Harlem to become a blessing to other children. Difficult to capture the evocative language and emotional strength of this voice. The cadence and character of Black Baptit preaching is hard to describe and requires that one actually experience it first hand to feel its authenticity in the delivery.
We heard the Howard University Andrew Rankin memorial chapel choir. They were amazing, inspiring, and brought movement to the movement. It's hard to characterize or capture the music in a way that does them justice. Soloists sang descant parts. Choir sang harmony on some powerfully moving spirituals and gospel songs. They had the entire congregation clapping and singing on "Let it rise."
We heard Jim Wallis of Sojourners introduce Rep. Lewis by reading a persuasive essay written by his ten-year-old son Luke about his hero-Lewis. Lewis was the son of sharecroppers in Alabama. He participated in freedom rides, bus boycotts, lunch counter sit-ins, the march on Washington, the Selma march over the Edmond Pettis bridge. He is a civil rights legend, who went to congress in 1986 as a rep. from Georgia's 5th district. He sits on the house ways and means committee. he is a trouble maker and a baptist preacher. After a fine introduction by Wallis, himself a prophet and champion of the poor as an advocate speaking the truth to power, Rep. Lewis spoke. He said, "What does it profit a great nation to gain the whole world and lose its soul?" he believes this movement is to enliven the soul of this nation to act with compassion and justice for the least who suffer the most. He is hopeful that we will pass more universal health care. He said, "War is obsolete and must not be used as a tool of foreign policy." He suggested that this movement is related in its heart to the civil rights movement. Dr. King and rep. Lewis believed that racial equality and economic justice are related as sisters. They are inextricably linked. I wonder how this event might relate to post-mobilization ministry at home. What is God calling me to do as a result of this experience and how will it impact local mission and a rethinking of economics on the home front. What story needs to be told to build the will to change habits, hearts, and minds in order to organize to eliminate poverty?
We have a 20 minute walk from Adams Inn to the metro train ad a five minute ride to the convention center. Tomorrow morning President Obama is slated to give a major address on poverty and his intentions with respect to the Millenium development goals and the half in ten pledge to reduce domestic poverty by 50% in 10 years. We will be prepping tomorrow for Tuesday on Capitol Hill with both PA Senators and Congressman Pitts. Tomorrow noon is a Lutheran luncheon. And tomorrow night is Cafe Koinonia with "Blue Like Jazz" author Donald Miller. I'll post more tomorrow night.

Resurrection and Release

Alleluia! Christ is Risen! I am rejoicing today because of the opportunity the LORD is giving me to minister to young men in prison. As you know, I regularly visit Justin Thompson and Eric Singley. I also visit a young man named Dan Wickenheiser, referred to me by Ron and Justin. David Linn has recently referred me to a young man known to his family. I will see him next week. And Marika Ramirez, who connected to us through Peter's Porch and has worshipped with us a few times, has a husband in state prison and a brother who will enter LCP next week. I will see her brother on Monday and again after he enters LCP. That means I will soon be visiting with five young men in their walk through the criminal justice system. God has called and sent me to them. And by extension, God is calling this congregation to embrace them as well. We are challenged by this Word from the gospel of Matthew to see the Lord Jesus in the prisoner. We can exercise great mercy and compassion and grace by reaching out to them, many of whom are struggling with various forms of abuse, pain, or mental illness. The stygma attached to one who is part of the criminal justice system doesn't go away. They are social outcasts, deviants, who will have a harder time re-integrating as a result of their criminal behavior and subsequent detention. 1 in 31 adults in the US is in prison or under some management by the CJS. That's five times higher than any other country in the world. Over half of those who enter the system will return to incarceration within three years of their release.

We are a people whose goal is reconciliation through forgiveness, which leads to repentance and the amendment of life. As we know repentance is not a once-and-done formula for successful avoidance of sinful behavior. We are called to repent, to reorient our lives around the ways of Jesus everyday. Some of us are more actively involved in the spiritual process of repentance and renewal. Some of us haven't connected the depth of our sinfulness with a need to be changed. None of us are yet imitating Christ. But we are called to seek His ways. Baptism is God's promise of resurrection and release from Sin that opens the way for repentance and reformation to occur in our lives. My prayer is that each of these young men will be lead by the Holy Spirit to repentance and to reconciliation with God that leads to new life. What they have taught me is that I am also a sinner in need of God's mercy and grace who seeks to be part of a community of believers who trust that Jesus offers us the forgiveness we need, and don't deserve, in order to live lives that are pleasing to God the Father. They have also shown me how judgmental and dismissive the church has been toward troubled or prodigal souls. We are as guilty as they are when we turn our backs on them, handing them over to a system that will not assure them a chance at amendment or reconciliation or reformation. I am a firm beleiver that the criminal justice system is necesary and important and that some people need to be held accountable to it. I also believe that we cannot abandon anyone to that system. We are invited by Jesus to take part in it and to bring to it the gifts of faith, hope, and love.

We must also begin to count them as part of this community of faith. They are not "members" but they belong to us. We have been given stewardship of their souls by the Holy Spirit. So I may suggest that we begin to count our weekly "attendance" differently. Whose spiritual needs did we attend to this week? In worship. in visitation of homebound, prison bound people. At Peter's Porch. In this gathering or that service. I think we would do well to observe the care of souls in these ways.

an american passion

This slideshow on the NPR site is beautiful and nicely narrated by the artist. Check it out.

resurrection and reconciliation

I don't like the feeling I get when I know that I have offended someone. I am an anxious person, I guess. I do not have tough enough skin for this calling. I take it personally. So when I am accused of some form of wrongdoing or injustice, I seek to make amends and to clear the air. I want to set it right and restore a clear conscience. I am aware that I have shortcomings that may offend or anger others. I am not neat. I am scattered. I lose things. I don't pick up. I don't always follow through. Sometimes I don't do what I say. This is the most regrettable offense. Do what you say you're going to do. I have learned the hard way that people take me at my word, which makes me the breaker of promises.
I am not passive aggressive, either. I like to talk through conflict and to resolve anger peaceably. When I discover that someone has been harboring ill feelings toward me for several weeks, months, or even years it grieves me. I cherish the power of forgiveness because of this. Being set free from the need to punish others also releases the victim from the violence. And isn't all sin, great or small, violent? Does sin not violate our sense of goodness, rightness, health, balance, etc...? Forgiveness is the first step in reconciliation, which Jeuss teaches as a central claim about God and the kingdom. Being reconciled to GOD begins with release from punishment for sin. It is advanced through an ongoing way of reconciliation, as we begin to live together for the healing of one another and for the building up of relationships toward harmony, compassion, and love.
Interject the problem: On Easter Sunday, I was threatened with a small claims law suit because I hadn't returned a meaningful item to a person in my congregation. He had offered it to me 3years ago. I had failed to return it, despite at least one prior attempt to retrieve it from me. I was a little embarassed and also anxious to find what he sought, in order to return it promptly and avoid more conflict. I was able to return it the next day. For me, resurrection is not only a future post-death reality. Resurrection is life in a perpetual state of grace characterized by a spirit of reconciliation and loving service. What I mean is: Easter is a way of life now. The church is the body of Chirst, daily dying to sin and rising as a foretaste of the new creation. We embody the risen Jesus in our relationships, in our sharing of spiritual gifts, and in our humble gratitude that fosters worship.
Back to the problem: People give me stuff. Sometimes as gift or offering or "payment" for some service. I realize we live in a transactional culture where people beleive they must pay for service. What I freely received, however, I am called to freely give.
People give me stuff as a function of the priestly office in which I reluctantly serve. People want to be approved, blessed, and endorsed. People want to be heard, they want to count, to be numbered among those in "the Lord's book of life." People need to matter and they expect their priest to mediate that need before GOD. So they give me stuff. In many forms. Books. Tapes. CDs. Movies. Ideas. Religious Kitch. Notes. Stuff. Sometimes its gift. Sometimes its not. Often its task. I am supposed to do something with or about it. Bless, affirm, acknowledge, embrace. I am not good at this. I think it is because I am not a priest. I am a prophet in priest's clothing. I am a missionary working as a manager/minister. Square peg/round hole. Only the peg is under the microscope too with expectations to fit in. People want me to be round. I am not. I can exercise priestly functions, as can all baptized Christians, called to offer service and prayer to those in need. But i am not the priest. I am not the head, the administrator, or the one who blesses. I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the LORD.
What would it mean for me to experience resurrection and reconciliation? I think about the healing of broken relationships. And I think about the need to live authentically as a follower of Jesus called to church vocation. What would it mean to cease being the Priest and live publically as the Prophet in this place? I resonate with Michael Frost's intent to recover the lost expressions of apostle, prophet, and evangelist as integral to the organic ministry of body-building for the church's maturity---as described by the writer of Ephesians 4. His chapter in "The Shaping of things to come" on the five fold leadership structure of the early community has affirmed much of my own vocational journey. Living as an apostle/evangelist in a denomination that has not affirmed or endorsed such ministry is challenging. But it is necessary in the post-Christian, postmodern U.S. So how will apostle/prophets/evangelists live out their vocations authentically and sustainably? We shall see. In the meantime, Jesus is risen and we are reconciled. May we rise to reconcile with all of creation, in its wounded, broken, lostness.

Maundy Thursday prayer and reflection

Holy God, source of all love,
on the night of his betrayal,
Jesus gave us a new commandment,
to love one another as he loves us.
Write this commandment in our hearts,
and give us the will to serve others
as he was the servant of all,
your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever.
Amen.

I love infomercials. They are so addicting to watch. I enjoy the naivete of the host or hostess as they “learn” about the product along with the viewers. You know, the one with all the oversimplified questions, “ This vacuum doesn’t really pick up a bowling ball does it? These knives won’t cut through metal, right? That machine cooks chicken that fast? Are you kidding? That machine won’t really get that dirty rug clean, now will it? How many times will it take before that floor shines like new? If I use this everyday, I’ll have a body like his or hers? I love the sappy false skepticism and the fake surprise when everything goes just as the demonstrator said it would. I also like to go to home shows and see demonstrators with new products. Secretly, however, I would love to see a demonstration go south, get all fouled up, and the product break or turn the carpet puke green or make his hair fall out or her skin turn bright orange. My wife hosted a pampered chef cooking show a month or so ago. I wish I could’ve been there, but it was clearly not for me. I was not invited. As much as watching a demonstration can be interesting, I prefer a more hands-on approach to products. Of course that’s the idea of the informercial, to place a product in the hands of an amateur and see how easily they begin to use it effectively. Products are always safe, easy to use, and effective.
Jesus is not selling anything to his disciples, but he is inviting them to embrace a way of life that is new and improved. He is inviting them to accept a truth that is very difficult; Only his death will rescue them from the sin of the world. He must suffer and die at their expense in order that they might realize the intensity of God’s love. He relinquishes, what to them, was a promising political and religious future as Messiah and King, to be crucified. On Maundy Thursday, we recall how Jesus demonstrated his way of life, his way of love. He invites his disciples who are reclining with him for the meal, to receive a gift of hospitality from their master. Rather than typical self-service or rather than expecting a slave to perform the task of cleaning their dirty, scabby feet, Jesus kneels down with a basin and towel and washes them all one by one. He does so without prior commentary or ceremony. It is no ritual. This is not a repeatable act commanded by Jesus to be done in remembrance of him in every time and place. He will break bread and offer the cup for that. The ancient Passover meal is forever changed by Jesus into a remembrance of His body and blood, his dying and rising. And so we share the meal every week as a sign of Jesus’ life-giving presence. But tonight, we see a demonstration of Jesus’ love for his disciples. A love manifest in the washing of their feet. Maybe today, Jesus would wash our cars. We could sing, “Shine Jesus Shine, while he polishes our hoods. Actually, what Jesus does is he washes away the tired, dirty, achiness of a lifetime on the road. And he prepares them to walk on. He readies them to walk in his footsteps, to invite others to follow theirs, and to keep on going.
Jesus offers all of us that same love; cleansing us of our sin so that we can start anew. And that love and forgiveness is meant to be demonstrated for us as we exercise compassion for each other in the church. In the ways you encourage each other, hold each others’ hands, weep with one another, pray for one another, and just show up. Jesus’ demonstration is not possible if the disciples are not willing participants. Because Jesus’ love is physical! Bodies are required! The same is true now. Jesus’ love is demonstrated to us in and through the church’s mission. We cannot demonstrate love for each other, if we are not present with and for each other. When someone is absent from our life of discipleship, call them, invite them, encourage them. Speak the truth to them. How can we love you if you won’t let us? How can you love us, if you’re not with us? When Peter refuses to accept Jesus’ humility and love as a demonstration to be embodied in his own life, Jesus rebukes Peter. Sit down, take off your sandals, and stick your stinking feet in the basin Peter. If you don’t, you don’t get me, my mission, my way of life, and you won’t get my gifts either. Love is the mutual expression of humble self-giving service. Who was Jesus to you this week? Who served you? Who are you going to serve? In obedience to His command, you are invited to demonstrate His kind of love to someone. Because followers of Jesus, who love him, who have been washed by him, are also obedient to Him. Love that is authentic is like this: it cares for the hurts, struggles, aches, and pains of the other. Love washes off the dirt and provides respite from the road. Love is gentle and gracious. And it applies equal value and worth to everybody, regardless of who they are or what they’ve done or where they’ve walked. The one’s who need washed are the one’s who are the most dirty. Love is not love unless it is demonstrated in an intentional act of mercy. Disciples of Jesus don’t talk about love, they embody it in real ways. In their way of life as neighbors, strangers, coworkers, students, parents, husbands, wives, friends, enemies.. May you love Jesus. May you see Jesus’ love for you. May you believe it. And may you love someone with a real, intentional, caring, physical Jesus kind of love.

Easter hams and other strange cultural phenomenon

This is Maundy Thursday and I've been invited by our local state Senator to receive two Easter Hams in thanksgiving for the ministry we offer to the hungry in our community. I intend, of course, to give them away.
Ham is not kosher. Why do Christians eat hams on Easter? is it a snub, in-your-face, gesture to our Jewish cousins? Do we intend to offend, to break kosher laws as a sign that we are not Jews. We'd do better to eat lamb. But we will eat ham. I am not a ham lover, although I have become a huge fan of ham loaf---a delicacy native to Lancaster county, I guess. I'd never had ham loaf gromwing up, never even heard of it. Sort of like pig stomach, scrapple, whoopie pies, shoofly pie, chicken pot pie, and chicken and waffles. Waffles are breakfast food where I come from, topped with butter and syrup. Not chicken. I have learned to adapt to this culture, where horse drawn buggies travel on busy highways. But it hasn't been easy. There is a sense here that an outsider is always an outsider. I think this is changing generationally. Especially as this homogeneous community is infiltrated by people of other races and ethnicities. Nevertheless, I am not native to Lancaster County. Muy children are, though. I wonder what that may mean as they grow up, if we remain here during their childhood years. Will they adopt some of the ways of thinking inherent in the culture here? Or will they adopt the cultural ways that we bring? I realize that second generation immigrants often speak the language of the surrounding culture as fluently as their native language. But their parents are rarely as ocnversant in the adopted culture. Will the same be true of my kids? Some of you might think that we have moved from the U.S. to Tanzania, with all of this talk about cross-cultural immersion. But such is the case for us. Even though my wife is native to central PA and I have lived in central PA for around 12 years, we feel like strangers in a strange land. We feel like sojourners, nomads, refugees sometimes. On certain matters we realize we must defer to local folk ways.
There is much to love about Lititz. The beautiful park, downtown, the neighborhoods, easy access to everything and evreywhere. We're less than five hours from five major east coast cities! But I wonder, are we settlers or pilgrims? Are we farmers or shepherds? Are we owners or renters?
In Holy Week, I am thinking about the brevity of life. And about place with respect to that. I am here. here I am. I am not in Chicago or NY or London or Baghdad or Jerusalem. I am here. Now. What am I called to here and now? or maybe to whom am I called? Jesus and I are about the same age now, I guess. If he is risen and continues to live a crucified/resurected life with GOD, does Jesus have an age? Or does he now transcend the limits of how we mark time? That's speculative thought. But I am pondering this week what it means to fulfill one's purposes in life. In his mid-thirties, Jesus was crucified. And that death someone sets to rights, justifies the world's What does it mean to die? And what does it mean to submit one's life to the will of God by faith? God used me to give away two Easter hams, making two families happy this holiday. For that reason, I am here. Today. But tomorrow is unknown. And tonight is a night of remembering and doing what is most difficult with one's life. Loving others by serving and suffering without regard for one's self. Whether we are wasking each other's piggy toes, as Jesus demonstrates, or giving away Easter hams, the thought is the same: What we have, who we are, where we live, all of this is the work of GOD. Given that reality, why aren't we more content?

this hymn that I love

"Lord, who the night you were betrayed did pray that all your church might be forever one: Help us at every Eucharist to say with willing heart and soul, "Your will be done." Tht we may all one bread, one body be, through this your sacrament of unity.
For all your church on earth we intercede; Lord, make all our sad divisions soon to cease; draw us all closer, each to each, we plead, by drawing all to you, O prince of peace; so may we all one bread, one body be, through this blest sacrament of unity.
And hear our prayer for wand'rers from your fold; restore them too, good shepherd of the sheep. Back to the faith your saints confessed of old, and to the church still pledged that faith to keep. Soon may we all one bread, one body be, through this blest sacrament of unity.
So, Lord, at length when sacraments shall cease, may we be one with all your church above---one with your saints in one unbroken peace, one as your bride in one unbounded love; more blessed sill in peace and love to be one with the Trinnity in unity." William Turton, 1856-1938.

Sacraments. That the sacred is found in certain practices or rituals, to many, is a rejection of the spontanaeity of the Holy Spirit at work in peoples' lives. Especially as the sacraments were coopted by Christendom to centralize spiritual authority and power in the papacy and in an exclusive priesthood. Luther and the reformers sought to correct medieval abuses of the sacraments, but the result has been a Protestant rejection of them. maybe rejectin is too strong a word, but clearly a departure from their centrality. The result has been deep fragmentation of the body of Christ, without a center to unite us. We can't even share! When were you taught to share? As a child, right? The church's lack of devotion to sacramental unity has been responsible, in part, for the spirtual infancy of most Western Christians.
Sadly, the sacraments divide us into our personal theologies and kingdoms where we avoid the other or judge them unworthy to be called brother or sister. Often people seek peace and unity in their own terms and with conditions. Conditional grace is not grace. This Easter, when we gather for ecumenical easter dawn worship in the park I will lament that we are not gathered around the sacramental presence of Christ in the Eucharist. I will lament that the visible, edible expression of Christ's love for us and our love for one another will not be offered. I respect the theological assertions of other Christian traditions and don't seek to impose a way of understanding the gospels, Jesus, or the church on anyone. But the mystey of the meal as the locus of His presence among us, inviting us and nourishing us, is a significant part of my faith and an aspect of the way of Jesus we simply cannot avoid or ignore any longer.
Some friends of anabaptist roots and I gather monthly for eucharistic fellowship. We believe we are transcending sad divisions by living into a table fellowship that is strengthened by ecclesial diversity. May others join us in this endeavor to be an open and hospitable table, where Christ is revealed at the center, in a culture that is decentered, unhinged, and spiritually fragmented.

open plea

April 21st is the date before the judge. Eric will plead guilty and will sit for a summer in county jail awaiting sentencing. He could get 20 to 40 years, given what the DA is requesting. He could go to trial, get destroyed, and spend the rest of his life in prison. He could plead guilty, take the DA's deal and go to prison for 20 years and a few more. Or he can make an open plea, take his chances with the judge for a lesser sentence. He says he's throwing himself on the mercy of the court, given that his priors and his past are non-violent, drug related. I am amazed at his kind of surrender to that. I'm not sure I could do that. I'd want a lawyer to get me less time. Instead he puts his future in the hands of one judge. Will he show mercy?
Eric wants a chance to tell his story. He's even writing a book in prison about his life. It's cathartic, real, and inspired by his sobriety. He's written 180 pages. Of course, he lives in jail where productivity is measured by how few fights broke out in a given week. Eric has made some bad choices in his life. Why? Why do people do what they do? Why did Eric, knowing what he knew about his own siuation and his own weaknesses, exercise such horrible judgment 18 months ago? The reasonable thing to do would have been to call his parole officer, connect with someone who cared, and stay clean enough to stay rational enough to not steal a car, rob some stores, and shoot enough heroine and cocaine in his arm to kill anyone else. He was not reasonable. He went the other way, the path of destruction.
We asked ourselves two questions; why do people commit crimes? And why is Eric still alive? He's been in hell. he's hit the bottom, the pit of self-despair, self-loathing, and selfish pleasure seeking? He has been hopelessly hurting and helplessly waiting for deliverance for a long time. So we read Ephesians 2, "You were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once lived, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient. All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desire of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else. but God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ---by grace you have been saved---and raised us up with him..." Wow, Paul. You nailed it. Dead, but made alive with Jesus. A cleaned-up mess. A disaster that has experienced relief. Living in that new knowledge of how God has rescued us from our own hells, he canmake an open plea for mercy.
So the book he intends to write and publish is meant to reveal a raw truth about the human condition. It is that all of us are broken, flawed, hurting, hungry, and capable of destructive behaviors. And that we need to be saved or we perish. Salvation becomes real when you're in hell, when you need help, when you are in pain, when you are depressed, alone, imprisoned in your own body and mind.
I asked Eric about the big risk he is taking in an open plea. What if the judge gives him more time than the DA is asking? What if his risk is a fool's errand that will reap a fool's reward? What if he won't leave prison? His son will be five in August. He will grow up with a father in prison. What will be the implications of that for Eric's son? It is complicated. All you can do is surrender to it. If he could control the outcome, predict it, or avoid it, he would. But he can't. So he goes before the judge with an open plea. Don't we all? We face GOD everyday with an open plea. I wake up. I'm alive today. I'm given another chance. I deserve wrath. I'm disobedient. I'm not living a life consistent with the way of Jesus. And yet, I believe that GOD is rich in mercy and imputes onto me the love God has for a son. By grace. freely given, no strings. because of who God is and how God chooses to be toward me. Not because of what i've done, what improvements I've made. And God does the same for Eric, in or out of prison. Will God rescue Eric from the criminal justice system? Can we pray for his release? Eric is doubtful of prayer's affect on his sentencing. Can God persuade the judge? Or is God's work saving Eric, even while he is serving out his sentencce, more important than whether God miraculously gets Eric released earlier? What is salvation? May God be gracious with Eric, with his family, and with all of us. May we make our open plea everyday trusting in God's unending mercy given through Jesus. He took the place of a criminal named barabbas, in order that a criminal might be set free. Barabbas means "sonof a father". Aren't we all children of a parent? Is Barabbas "everyman"? Is Jesus judged in our place? Is not his execution, meant for us? What if we lived in that knowledge, within the beauty of that grace?

Holy Week contemplations 2009

Lent is coming to an end this week. And although I am grateful to celebrate the resurrection on Sunday, I will miss it. Lent feels more natural to me than other pars of the church year. I think its because I am at home with a theological anthropology that is Augustinian or maybe a bit Calvinist. I believe people suck. We are not good. We are in a mess that we have made. We are responsible for the unholy crap that occurs everyday. So lent allows me to feel the depth of my moral depravity, to wallow in my personal muck, and to be truthful about my weaknesses.

Yesterday we observed Palm/Passion Sunday. We used Eoc-friendly Palms from Lutheran World relief---meaning that theydid not contribute to deforestation, while we did contribute to the sustainable economy of a Mexican Palm tree farmer. That was a good thing. It always amazes me that the gospel narrative for Sunday holds together this schizophrenic nature of people; one minute the crowds are following Jesus the Messiah King into Jerusalem shoutin "Hosanna". A week later they are accusing him of treason and shouting "crucify". Fickle, aren't we Jesus? Thing is, I doubt any of us would be in that crowd, so passionate and bold. Not us, not the privileged. We couldn't follow Jesus on the grounds that he would turn our safe and happy worlds upside-down. We maybe required to give up our lives in order to declare allegiance to him. Better to back Rome and the powers- that-be. been I think we would have abandoned Jesus well before the Passover march on Temple jerusalem. And by the time the crucifixion occurs, we would have been back to work. Its amazing that his followers interpreted the cross as the divine salvation event considering how many crucifixions they would have witnessed already. I propose that the truth about Jesus' life and death would have escaped us as it did Roman history and the annals of antiquity for the most part. Were it not for those who beleived in his resurrection, we would not have a single story about Jesus life and death.

Lent offers forty days of spiritual formation and continuing education for those of us whose lives are caught up in the story of Jesus. Prayer, fasting, giving, and studying become hallmarks of the season. I fast from coffee for the season because coffee is a sign of my dependence on earthly things, rather than on the things of GOD. (Not saying that coffee is not a gift from GOD, because it is. Its just that I take it for granted and I depend on it as daily bread.) I also try to reada good book or two. This lent has been challenging though. I have been doing the work of an evangelist and the inefficiency of that kind of ministry takes its toll on my time. I continue to visit people in prison and have made hopeful connections with three men there. I'm also involved in a prison ministry task force, the church in society committee of our synod and our advocacy council. We have been making innovative plans to infiltrate our annual synodical assembly this June. I will be wearing a prison-issue orange jump suit with stats on incarceration in PA and the U.S. I hope we raise awareness that inspires mission to the prison population.

We explored "The Jesus Creed" by Scot McKnight this Lent. I recommend it for anyone who has read "The Purpose Driven life" by Rik Warren, because I think the former is a smarter alternative to the self-help guidebook that Warren wrote. "The Jesus Creed" asks about spiritual formation in the time of Jesus. His suggestion is that Jesus was spiritually formed by the Shemaand by the Levitical command to the love the neighbor. These two commandments from the Torah shaped Jesus' messianic/rabbinical ministry. What I'm learning again is that my assumptions about Jesus ought never to become rigid and unchangeable. McKnight offers another way in which we might look at Jesus, come to know him, follow him, and love him.
In the Easter season I will blog. We will be exploring what it means to care for creation and its renewal.

Bread for the World

Bread for the World's offering of Letters is a way in which we can speak on behalf of the global poor and hungry to those with power and money and means to change the global economic landscape so that a billion people can eat. Because of the rise in gobal food prices 115 million more people are experiencing hunger in 2008-2009. And the U.S. continues to have one ofthe highest rates of poverty among developed nations and one of the lowest percentages of GDP devoted to poverty relief. This will only change when people with the will and the heart to change it, speak together. "What does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your GOD." Click on the link above to connect with the resources and education you need to turn the world around. Are we not stewards and partners with GOD in the ongoing work of the kingdom? Are we not called to be a sign of the in-breaking reign of GOD revealed and announced in the life, death,and resurrection of Jesus? Are we a city on a hill or a lamp under a bushel basket? Send a letter today that inspires leaders to devote more time and more resources toward compassion for the most vulnerable in the world. And find a way to give a meal, a room, a coat, a hand to someone else.

Loving Lent

Loving Lent
I love Lent. I need a time of intentional self-reflection, a reality check, and a time to refocus my spiritual life by committing anew to the basics: prayer and fasting, reading God’s Word, worship, and serving others. And this Lent, we are on a journey together toward a deeper love for God and our neighbors.
“Is not this the fast I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?” Isaiah the prophet declares that God is in the liberation business. God liberates us from isolation from others, especially those in need. God liberates us from our need to secure our own lives, to sustain ourselves while our neighbors suffer without. God frees us from selfish pursuits and a lack of concern for the family next door. This is LENT: a time when GOD prepares us for death and resurrection. Dying and rising, daily renewal, daily cleansing, daily rebirth is the way of Jesus. In Lent we will hear gospel stories of how Jesus overcomes the powers of evil, injustice, corruption, deceit, and suffering in order to bring goodness, justice, light, and hope. He is tested, as we are, to deny GOD by denying others access to the life we have received. Will Jesus retreat from the world to live a pure and blameless life before GOD? Or will Jesus commit to love this world with a divine and holy love that serves all people according to their needs by giving his life away? And will we commit to this same sacrificial service through acts of prayer and generosity?
This Lent we are exploring “The Jesus Creed” by Scot McKnight. We are asking, “what does it mean to love God with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strength; and to love our neighbors as ourselves?” How do we express this kind of love everyday as a community of faith? Does our worship service reflect our love and devotion for GOD? Does it invite an out-pouring of love that is personal and joyful? Does worship direct you to give every thought, every moment, every physical action, every emotion and affection to GOD? Scot McKnight wrote, “I can think of no better illustration of what genuine Christian worship is all about: Worship happens when I comprehend (1) who I really am before God---a love-violating sinner, (2) how faithful and gracious God is to his sacred commitment of love for me, and (3) how incredibly good God is to open the floodgates of that love to me.” This Lent, consider how your worship life reflects your affection and gratitude toward God the Father. Consider what it means to forego or avoid worship, what it means to worship only when it suits your own schedule or plans. Its sort of like skipping Thanksgiving dinner or the family reunion or the weekly phone call to “that one you love”, isn’t it? Worship is an act of love, no less significant that your wedding anniversary or your child’s birthday. At least it’s that significant to GOD. Isaiah and the Psalmist and even Jesus would agree, however, that how you worship is less important than that you worship GOD. For the worship of GOD includes loving our neighbors, loosing the bonds of injustice, and feeding the hungry poor. This Lent, may you become faithfully devoted to Jesus’ creed to love God and love others.

NoiseTrade Widget

Ministry to Prisoners

Ministering to those in Lancaster Co. Prison
This ministry of visitation to which I have been called has shown me that the Lord Jesus can be found there, in the broken lives of young people. I’ve seen and heard stories of pain, anger, and grief. These are people who have broken the law, are facing the consequences, and also need to be shown love and compassion. There is little reform and rehab available for them. Shouldn’t people come out of prison better than when they went in? Shouldn’t that be a social goal? Repentance and transformation of life is characteristic of the Christian life before GOD.
I invite you to become an encourager and spiritual friend by sending mail to one of the men I have been visiting. The mail cannot include items such as, cash, newspaper clippings or photo copies. All mail is searched for unauthorized items prior to the inmate receiving it. You may not drop off any correspondence to inmates, it must go through the mail. Please sign only with your first name. If you wish to receive a response, please use the church’s address for a return address and we will forward responses to you. Thank you for sharing your faith in GOD with these children of GOD, who need the compassionate justice of Christ in their lives.

Address mail to inmates as follows:

Daniel Wickenheiser, pin #07-5617
Lancaster County Prison
Drawer C
625 East King Street
Lancaster, Pennsylvania, 17602-3199

Justin Thompson, pin #08-5274
Lancaster County Prison
Drawer C
625 East King Street
Lancaster, Pennsylvania, 17602-3199

Eric Singley, Pin # 07-4196
Lancaster County Prison
Drawer C
625 East King Street
Lancaster, Pennsylvania, 17602-3199

Evan Gardner, Pin #08-5689
Lancaster County Prison
Drawer C
625 East King Street
Lancaster, Pennsylvania, 17602-3199

On Lepers and Bodies and Walls that divide us

Who are lepers? It is not fair to say that a leper is anyone we exclude, either deliberately or unintentionally. It is also not fair to say that a leper is one particular group of alienated peoples relative to our own day and age. So, to say that lepers are black people or gay people or ugly people or “you fill in-your own personal outcast” people is not fair. Lepers were cast out in Jesus’ day because they were considered physically diseased. The sores on their bodies were sometimes open sores, oozing blood or fluid. This was forbidden in God’s law. I suspect as an early form of quarantine for the sake of public health. The assumption was that people with this kind of disease were contagious. Blood diseases were particularly frightening and dangerous. Women were basically excommunicated monthly because of cyclical bleeding. And such was the concern for lepers. Because the law stated that these people were to be cast out for a period of time to be determined by the priests. Timing was important. If you leave someone back into the community too son, others may become sick too. If you wait too long the outcast may die or become so estranged as to have not economic place in a household or village.
Religion does become a purity cult sometimes, excluding others to propagate ones own identity and value. So it is troubling when religious communities exclude or reject people based on a consensus about what is good or normal or safe. And it is always a good experiment to look around and see who is in our communities and neighborhoods but is not in our religious community. Lutherans have struggled with race matters. Less than 10 % of the ELCA is non-white. The problem is not that we exclude people of color overtly based on some prejudice or opposition to the presence of non-white people in our churches or communities. Although that may be the case in some places. I should hope that many of us are beyond that in this day. But the issue is a cultural one. Racial issues are cross-cultural issues and require that we learn and accept a different cultural heritage, a different historical viewpoint, and a different language.
In college chapel people from the state mental hospital came to worship with us. They were noisy and required a lot of attention, sometimes distracting, but participatory in their own way. You know how sometimes a children’s sermon gets out of hand? Imagine that happening randomly throughout worship. And then there was Eric, mentally ill and very faithful. He sat in the front row, a characteristically unlutheran move. There was a desire on the part of some to quell his enthusiasm, to silence his mannerisms, to move him to the back of the nave. He insisted on being part of our pre-worship prayer in the sacristy and insisted on a pastoral hug, too.
I wonder what it will be like when Dan and Justin start coming to worship and showing up for things after they are released from prison? Will people feel unsafe enough to leave this congregation?
Jesus chooses to declare someone clean before his time is up. He pardons him early, releases him from his imprisonment to a disease or ailment he did not choose not could he control. The results of his leprosy must have been cruel because he begs Jesus to heal him. He was ready to resume life on the inside of the community, to be part of a living and sustainable economy with food and family and friend and faith. Things the “clean” take for granted. Clean and unclean is not a thing of history. It is a way people perceive people, how we organize ourselves as communities, how we live. Hospitals, nursing homes, prisons, group homes…But Jesus touches him, making himself potentially unclean. He is saying something here: GOD is unclean. GOD is not in favor of any rules written or unwritten that render some people normal and others abnormal. GOD is not in favor of rules that remove those who are different from the benefits of community life. GOD embraces us all. To the chagrine of the clean among us and to the absolute joy of the unclean. Privilege is a wonderful thing that provides security, essential resources, and the viewpoint from above that requires keeping the underprivileged or the less fortunate at arms length. If we let them in, what will happen to us?
Jesus doesn’t care. He lets them in. he loves them all. And he expects them same of us. Jesus was not religious, no purist. But he demanded a new kind of religion that was just and hospitable and inclusive and compassionate toward the very least and most vulnerable and he knew that laws that did not embody that same spirit were meant to be broken. No wonder they crucified him. His love was broader and stronger than their dividing walls. Whatever separates, whatever breaks down, whatever dismantles and destroys relationships—these are powers Jesus came to abolish. 21 centuries later, Jesus Christ has overcome time and distance and human failings to come to us, to welcome us in ,to make us God’s own children. May the walls in our hearts be torn down. May we meet the leper and welcome him by joining him wherever he is and may we create a community that looks like the Kingdom announced by Jesus, the one who reaches out for us and chooses us. Amen.