friday in the Big Easy

It started with a morning trolley ride and long walk down Decatue to the french Market for Beignets and coffee and the best Eclair I've ever eaten. That part of the city is quite beautiful. We squatted in a lovely old park, where we ran into the youth group from St. John's Center! We've run into many of our neighbors, including the folks from Zion, Leola; Trinity, New Holland; and Christ, Elizabethtown. They are staying in our hotel. We have the same servant project assignment.
It turns out, however, that our servant project is really a learning experience. We are supposd to hear a lecture from a professor who was here during Katrina. And we're supposed to watch an Imax move called "Hurricane on the Bayou." We would not be building homes or helping people. So I have developed an alternative plan for our group tomorrow. We will tell you all about it after we do it. I call it guerrila love service or just the way of Jesus. Jesus didn't sen us to NOLA on a bus for 22 hours to watch an Imax movie. But the Holy Spirit opens doors like you wouldn't believe. I am certain that we are doing what Jesus has sent us to do tomorrow instead! Tune in for the story tomorrow...
We had a good, but brief afternoon in the convention center at the interaction center. The have a sand beach volleyball court in there---built by the ELCA for the gathering! I can't describe what that place is like. We collect change for change that will benefit world hunger and the city of NOLA. Offerings are going to many sources and the goal is over 1 million dollars!
Afternoon was spent in the hotel chillin'. We had an awesome dinner at a really great Mexican restaurant a half a block from our hotel. Great enchiladas.
Then we got to Superdome early for excellent seats. The speakers were bearers of hope through lives of struggle and danger and seemingly tragic obstacles. We appreciate the speakers who have come to share short testimonies and to share the ministries that drive their passion. We've learned about me to we, servant trips for youth.
I am grateful for old friends here, like Anthony briggs who I haven't seen in 13 years. And for new connections, like Jay Jay Williams with lantern hill. Both Charlie roberts and Anthony Briggs are connected to Lantern hill. I think I'll be doing something with them in California and Mexico sometime. Maybe Beach camp/youth servant event 2010? We are already talking about the next mission trip together.
I want to say that I love these young people, all eight of them. I don't even think of us as coming from two congregations, something Gail mentioned in prayer tonight. I sort of think of all of them as disciples.
So that's it from NOLA tonight. The Lord grant us a quiet night and peace at the last. Amen.

"You're the child of my love, you're my choice"

I know we promised pictures and we'll get to it. Maybe tomorrow. Days are long and were exhausted by the time we gather to close the day and I sit to recap.
What an awesome day in New Orleans. We ate Gumbo at Joey K's, shopped in the french Quarter,worshiped in the Superdome again, heard amazing stories from women doing the work of Jesus by bringing justice to women and girls from Senegal and state prisons. We heard good music. David Shearer, aka "Agape" is a hip hop Lutheran. We went to his concert tonight and he was really great. I'm not a big rap or hiup hop fan, but I really dug his stuff. The kids did too.
We took part in various learning workshops and modules to provoke some thinking about our respective roles in massive global problems. Though not particularly inspiring, they were part of this way of life.
And that's just it. This is not an event. This is a way of life. IN some ways we could do this anywhere and should. And in other ways we could only do this in New Orleans. But it is clear that the unplanned surprises are just as important and necessary as the planned events. because this is about love---God's love for us manifest to us not in special events,but in the mundane experiences of daily life. And also,in the love we are seeing and sharing, especially inspiring stories of love we have heard. Love that has brought justice and peace and healing to broken lives.
This morning I got on the trolley to go downtown and sat with a woman who was reading her bible. I said, "Reading psalms,I see.I love Psalm 121." I quoted the psalm and she said that she had been searching for the very one, but couldn't remember it. We talked for the entire trip about her family, the city, katrina, faith in GOD, rebuilding, the ELCA gathering. I won't forget this child of GOD I got to meet on a trolley in New Orleans.
The energy of youth is contagious. And to mobilize them to practice compassionate justice as followers of Jesus is what this is all about.
We went to French Quarter today. That is quite a place. Some of it is rated 'R'. but we did hear a little jazz.
I miss Cherie and my boys today. So I bet the kids are missing their folks and they are missing their kids too. But we are all well. Everyone is happy, getting along really well, enjoying each other, etc...Friendships are emerging.
Tomorrow we will go to cafe du monde for beignets and coffee. We will spend the day in the interactive center, a fun place to play and serve and contribute to the greater good. We are raising a million dollars through our gifts.
And we will go earlier to the Superdome to get good seats. I will catch up with some friends, too. Anthony Briggs, Marissa, and Jay.
The connections and friendships and love in the church always blow me away at a thing like this. Old friends and new ones. Lots of hugs and high fives and shouts of joy as a sign of our unity in faith. I wish church were like this! Loving, joyful, hopeful, living for Jesus. I guess church would be like this if we let this experience shape us as the church where we are. There are 37,000 Lutheran here, most of them under teh age of 40. Baptized children of GOD following Jesus. For all of them I give thanks and pray.

The End of Day One

So, its hot and sticky. We sat by the pool for a while before heading back downtown. Dinner was a disaster. Not many choices in a short time for non-natives who don't know their way around too well. We went to French quarter and hit the Hard Rock Cafe. Service was slow, food bad---typical Hard Rock faire.
Went to the Superdoom. Its huge and it was packed. I stopped to use the rest room.When I came out I was alone in a crowd of 37,000 frickin'Lutherans. none of them from Akron or Mellingers to be found. I spent anhour wandering the halls and weeping to myself. Turns out Nick was on stage performing rap music. (not really--Thank the LORD). We accidentally ran into each other after the event ended. We decided to return to the Hotel for rest instead of mo nighglife tonight. Tomorrow is another day.
We are learning that we are caught up in a movement of God's Spirit here. Whether the 8 youth on this trip realized that they were aboutt o take part in a GOD thing, they are starting to get it now. We are identifiable here. And people are curious about us. They want to know who we are and what we're about. They want to know what we're going to do while we're here. I was invited into a conversation about GOD with a young man who clearly seeks to intellectually disprove the existence of GOD. He, at least, has given up on the possibility that GOD matters or that GOD cares. His mental gymnastics about free will and omniscience and sin and just punishment and hell left me feeling my exhaustion. but it was clear that he wanted to discuss GOD with someone who would "represent". I'm not sure I did GOD justice, but I listened and engaged. It's pretty amazing to be identified publically as the overt Christian witnesses in the city this week. We are the largest assembled body to inhabit NOLA since Katrina. And our presence equals the number of residents who are still displaced or living in FEMA trailers since katrina. We are a very large presence. heard some good speakers in the Superdoom too. Looking forward to more of those big events this week.
Tomorrow am we experience the learning center. We'll share about that tomorrow night.

New Orleans Day ONE

After a very long and tiring bus ride we arrived in New Orleans this morning around 9:00 am. Thanks to Georget Rudisill for transport to the bus launch in Hanover. We let hanover for Rt. 81 a little before 11:00 am yesterday. We made regular pit stops to stretch and use the potty. The bus ride included a teeth-rattling stretch of road in Alabama that woke the sleeping among us. I've never beenon a worse stretch of highway. It was Rt. 59 north east of Birmingham, ALA.
We had dinner at a Shoney's in Virginia. We had breakfast at a McDonald's in Mississippi. Some of the kids slept. Then average sleeper slept about 4 hours.
In a word, uncomfortable. And expected.
We listened to music. I finished a book and started another. Now I'm reading Brian Mclaren's book "Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crises, and the revolution of Hope." Great read so far as I expected.I'll finish it on the way home.
After arriving so early we were able to unload our gear into Gail's room---the only ready room of the four we booked. We then took the trolley downtown and walked the several blocks to convention center to register, get oriented, and pick up supplies. We all get these awesome book bags, a tshirt, and a Lutheran Study Bible retooled for he gathering, including some gathering specific material. nice.
I caught up with Charlie Roberts and Jay Eckman and Newell Embley. There is a palpable buzz in the city about our mega-presence. We've already talked to locals. Its neat to be identified as Lutherans in the city and to be graciously welcomed here. We strolled down to riverwalk---a mall, shopping, dining pavilion on the Mississippi River---nice, like Inner harbor, Baltimore or navy Pier, Chicago. I ae cajun chicken and jambalaya. Nick ate Pizza. Karen and Ariana ate shrimp criole. Wes ate Chinese. Tonight we have opening in the SUperdome and community life activities until 10:45. More after that, including pics...time now for a swim and a nap. Peace out.

This Week---New Orleans

Okay, so I'm sorry that I haven't updated here in a while. Its been a busy summer. Synod assembly morphed into two weeks of confirmation camp, which led to a rapid fire July; all moving toward this week! I will, however, post about the synod assembly, some theological reflections on the rapidly changing picture of ecclesia in the North American context (and the congregational implications), and some conversations/encounters, as well as a post or two on some good books, and a post about Peter's Porch and local mission. I'll try to catch up after the gathering with a week or two of writing. I've not been writing much this summer, just because I've been so active in other ways. But now, I turn our attention to where Jesus is leading us tomorrow. THE BIG EASY! Its my first time...I'm a little excited.
ELCA Youth Gathering, 2009. Jesus, Justice, Jazz,in New Orleans! I will be blogging from NOLA all week, beginning tomorrow as we travel by charter bus from Hanover, PA. We leave at 9:00 am. I am leading a small group of four Sr. High youth---Nick, Ariana, Weston, and Karen. They are amazing people with faith and hearts for service in the way of Jesus. I dare say they shine when they are serving together. I look forward to experiencing their reactions and responses, hearing their stories, and teling them. We will blog together at night and post pics from the day, too. So check in this week to be part of the servant training school ELCA style. I'm sure we'll tell you all about the criole and the cajun cooking too. not to mention some french pastries to die for! And JAZZ! I hope we can hear some real live New orleans Jazz. Two days after we leavenis the Satchmo jazz festival. If I were 20 years old, I'd stay for it.
So, see you in New Orleans!

Earth Ministry Website

The Earth Ministry website is an outstanding ecumenical resource for growing in your desire to care for creation, go green, get eco-friendly, fight global warming and environmental degradation.

Going Green Blog

I will be compiling some resources here on going green in the next day or so in prep for this weekend. The ELCA Advocacy website, found in the links column on this blog, is a good starting point. I ordered a Green Bible yesterday, along with a poverty and justice bible, through Amazon.

The Delaware/Maryland synod has a blog dedicated to going green and has some excellent links and resources. it appears to be a fledgling project with a few contributors. Linda Lovell, a woman I met when I was in seminary and doing some parish field work during my second year, is a contributor to it.
Apparently SePA synod has a Green team, devoted to bringing eco-justice to Southeast PA Lutherans.

I hope and pray that we will initiate a way of encouraging and equipping Lower Susquehanna Synod Lutherans to become more environmentally conscious and green. I am not as green as I should and could be. I hope that we will move together toward a greener future that embodies a sustainable way of life on planet earth.

10,000 acres of graves

This morning on the Today show I heard a story about a man who stumbled on 10,000 acres of graves. Bud Merrit was hiking in Milledgeville, Georgia when he stumbled across the forgotten cemetery. (Read the entire story.)He found one and then uncovered the rest. Numbered stakes connected to the buried dead from a large mental hospital. These were the graves associated with a massive mental hospital that housed 13,000 residents. he has found about 25,000 graves, all numbered withuot names. Some of the graves and names are recorded in a log that begins over 160 years ago. There are over 100,000 graves in the U.S. that are unnamed. How many more are buried without recognition?
This man made it his mission to reclaim the dead, to find out who they were, to tell their stories. One man lost his wife, his kids, and his home in one day. He checked into the mental hospital and died six weeks later a broken hearted man. He was buried with only a number on a stake to mark his earthly presence. His identity has been restored and his body claimed and buried by family.
Restoring and reclaiming the dead, giving them a story and a life, redeeming them from the grave; sounded like good news. The image of these thousands of unmarked, forgotten graves broke into my morning and reminded me of the promise of Christ to come again and take us to be with him. How many unknown, unclaimed, forgotten children of GOD will be claimed and restored to life on the day of resurrection? How many will be freed from the grave?
Death will be swallowed up in victory. I guess I am struck by the possibility that GOD might raise to life all of those unnamed, forgotten victims, all those nameless dead. To us, nameless. But not to GOD. "For I have called you by name, you are mine, says the LORD. Bud Merrit's story is a gospel story. The Kingdom of GOD is like a man who happened upon an old, forgotten grave yard. Upon finding it, he did not abandon the dead, but sought to give them names and stories and to remember them into conscious existence, as if they might speak to us. At the last day, all will be remembered, restored, named, and given life.

how long, O Lord?

I am a Pastor and a Lutheran Christian. Therefore, worship is a significant part of my life. I believe, however, that every act that is pleasing to God and consistent with the way of Jesus, is an act of worship. But for many, worship is a holy hour on Sunday mornings.
Worship. I want to spend a moment addressing an important aspect of worship. Not music. Not art. Not the type or "model" of worship that has been debated in the modern age as part of the culture wars. But another intersection between culture and the worship of GOD. Time.
How long is too long to worship God? The sports gods require anywhere from several hours to several weeks or even months of devotion. You can't play a round of golf in less than three hours. The entertainment gods require no less than 22 minutes (average length of a 30 min. sit com) to as long as several hours for a film, a concert, or a live show. The ad gods can catch your attention in 30 to 60 seconds. Pop culture thrives on fast paced media, in one ear and out the other. Pop songs are not longer than 5 minutes. Somewhere between a sound bite of information and a five hour baseball game, that's how long the gods of our culture expect our devotion. And that's how much we give. More time and money is devoted to these gods than I can mention here. You know. We're all guilty of worshipping these idols.
But what about the worship of GOD, the one who raised Jesus from the dead? The one who commanded us to love one another, who commanded us to make disciples, to baptize and teach, to do this in remembrance of me? How long does it take to worship Jesus in the assembly of believers? An hour? 30 minutes?

From "By Way of the Desert: 365 Daily Readings" I read this on June 8, 2009:
"From new moon to new moon, and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before me, says the LORD." Isaiah 66:23.
Two desert hermits met and cooked some lentils. They decided to worship God before they ate. One of them recited the Psalms; the other read and meditated upon two Major Prophets. When morning came, the visiting hermit departed. They never ate their lentils.

Could it be that asking chronos questions with respect to worship is asking the wrong question? If worship is aligning one's actions to one's hearts deepest devotion and affection, then is not the length of time we spend in worship a foolish question? Might one characterize one's devotion in terms of how long one spends in worship, as opposed to how short? If you are willing to devote four hours to golf every week, but only one hour to worship of the Holy Trinity, what does that say? Cubs fans have stuck with the Cubs for a long time. Years of disappointment and unfulfilled longing. They are the poster children for misplaced devotion, but also in uncharacteristic faithfulness. What might be learned about us from these disparities? We are weak, idolatrous, sinful, and faithless? Yes. Forgiven? Yes. But are we freed from our bondage or do we prefer slavery to the idols of our age, who offer no promises worth trusting.

In the above story from the desert hermits, worship precedes and even supplants eating. And it seems that the center of their devotion was God's Word, not their own stomachs or agendas.
To whom are we most devoted? Is that not the question we might ask? Everything else is merely an idol, the self being the most highly praised idol of all. We are devoted to our own comfort, our own wants, our own expectations.
May we come to see worship of GOD as an act of true devotion that transcends chronos time; and may we come to see our days lived in relationship with Jesus and every action therein as a form of spiritual worship.

Why does Jesus pray?

I'm going through a little prayer crisis. Why do people pray? Some innate desire to communicate beyond ourselves? Some sense that God is listening? Jesus prays. All of the great spiritual leaders have prayed in some form or another. But Jesus is a paradox. Is he human, divine, both? We pray the Lord's prayer every Sunday and hardly think about the implications of such a prayer uttered by the one we call Lord, savior, Son of GOD,and GOD incarnate. Jesus prays. Isn't that weird? Does he have to talk to GOD, if he is God? if he knows what God knows, why does he pray at all? Does he not know the divine response to every human utterance? Maybe this God isn'lt like that. maybe this God is a bit more limited. It makes me wonder something. If prayer is an authentic conversation between God and people, why don't more people claim to have heard God speak? Somedays I feel plugged in and other days completely disconnected. Somedays I doubt that prayer is heard or is effective at all. Other days I need to pray, I need it, like food. I long to hear the voice of God in prayer. I offer meal time and bed time prayers. I am called upon to pray with and for others all the time. I am supposed to be a man who prays. And yet I feel as if prayer is diminished. I want to pray, but don't. I sometimes feel like I don't really know how to pray. I'd love to go hike a mountain and simply pay attention to my own breathing, the the air, the birds, the ground beneath my feel, the plant life. Maybe I need to go away, to retreat in order to pray.
Today's verse of the day on the sidebar intrigues me the most. Jesus prayed to GOD on the mountain, all night. If Jesus is GOD, why does he pray? Why does he spend the entire night in prayer? Why does he go up on the mountain to do so? Why does Jesus pray in solitude? Does GOD pray? What then is prayer?
Christology tells us that Jesus' divinity does not detract from his full humanity. Therefore, under the Pauline Christology of kenosis or self-emptying identity, Jesus is empty of his divine powers. So maybe he is not plugged into the divinity computer so as to be the recipient of the backlog of prayers to which GOD must attend. Think "Bruce Almighty", a movie in which GOD attributes Bruce with his divine powers, including his power to receive prayers.
Does kenosis mean that Jesus must pray in order to maintain a relationship with the GOD? What does it mean then that GOD is somehow divided into persons? Does Jesus' prayer life reflect a social trinitarianism, like a kind of holy community? A oneness that is expressed in the language of prayer.
If we pray like Jesus prays, what do we learn about ourselves? About GOD? Do we need to pray to live? And what about people who never pray at all? I want to become a more prayerful person because I sense that there is a gift that I am not getting.

end of the age?

I read this article on the SOJO blog this am and thought I would share it. The blog is a response to a Newsweek article about the end of American Christianity that appeared over Easter. Its interesting how the powerful tell the story of their loss of power as a universal sign of demise without acknowledging that something else is emerging to replace them. White, wealthy evangelicalism is declining. But a new evangelicalism is emerging, among non-english speakers and amond urbanites. It is also emerging in Gen X and Millenials, who have not been granted authority and credibility by our baby boomer predecessors yet. So as a new way emerges the old way continues to define Christianity by its own terms. And by its own terms, Christianity is dying.
But a new minority Christianity is emerging too. They just refuse to acknowledge it. This is what happens during these great cultural upheavals. There is a sifting out of authorities and a realignment of values and a decline of majoritarian hegemony in favor of looser, more fluid minority cultures that emerge to establish new ways of living. and enacting faith. When the minority opinion becomes truth, the system has moved.
Again, the powerful tell the story of their own demise as if it is the end of the world. Instead, it is part of the cyclical ebb and flow of life. Dying and rising is something Christians should be familiar with. It is our one theological claim that we ascribe to the GOD who created the heavens and the earth. GOD revealed to us in the death and resurrection of Jesus an organic reality that has vast implications on how we understand human community, nations, and struggles for power and control. The church will die. And it will rise anew. How long will the process take before what was will no longer be and what will be will be?

Ascension and Church and Confronting the World

Jesus left. Jesus went away. Both Luke's and John's gospels express this strange reality. The situation we are in as a church is related to Jesus' absence. It is true now that Jesus' presence is a bit more dodgy and a bit more slippery than we might like or need. There are sacramentalists and spiritualists out there who claim to have an understanding of how Jesus continues to operate as an incarnate presence despite His 2000 year absence from the earth. He is in the bread and wine, in the Word and water. He is Spiritually present in the unified fellowship of a body of believers. He is present in one's heart, or in mystical vision, or in prayer. Somehow Jesus is still with us. He promised he would be at the end of Matthew's gospel. The first Christians believed that He would come again, that he would return as a fulfillment of Scripture and divine promises that He himself made. The delayed perusia is the church's current situation, as we live in Advent time all the time. In between the first and next coming.
Jesus goes away "and is seated at the right hand of the father", states the Nicene creed. And it seems that the result of His absence has been the formation of ecclesia:church. Chapter one of Acts and John 17, the high priestly prayer of Jesus, complement each other on the 7th sunday of Easter. In John Jesus prays for the disciples, the believers. He prays for their protection from the evil one and that they might remain in the world as those sent from GOD to bear the truth. Jesus prays, not for their isolation from evil, but that they might endure it with God's help. Interestingly enough, Luke tells us in Acts 1 that the first order of business directed by Peter for the believers and witnesses of the resurrection is to replace Judas Iscariot. Judas, he says, had a place in this ministry and apostleship. He went his own way to his own demise, but the ministry and apostleship in which he was called by Jesus must remain. I wonder about this scene and about Jesus' long absence and about Jesus'prayer. I wonder because I know a lot of American Christians who have isolated themselves from evil, injustice, and sin. I know whole communities of Christians that have created their own cultural enclave of holy and happy Christians. All of their time is spent among other like-minded Christians, reading Christian books,listening to Christian music. I know Christians on perpetual retreat from the suffering of the world. Some have even justified the suffering of others as punishment for immorality. How comforting. Wait for Jesus to come back and wait among friends. Stay clean and safe and avoid the messy world. Withdrawal from the world, however, seems to be inconsistent with Jesus' prayer and with Acts 1. Peter ostensibly says, we need to have room at this table for the 12th man. Even though last month the 12th man betrayed us, was instrumental to Jesus' death, and committed suicide. He's not saying to look for another Judas, but to make room for the bad and the ugly at the table. Even Judas had fellowship with Jesus, and a part in the divine salvation drama. And jesus was known in the gospels as one who came not for the righteousw but for sinners. And he came to seek ands save the lost. And he instructed believers not to resist evil doers, but to go with those who force you to march, to give generously when someone is demanding of you, to offer your shirt to someone who steals your coat. Jesus expects his followers to mix it up, to tarry among the weeds, to eat with unclean hands. And hear we sit. In safety and comfort. In isolation and retreat.
So here's the question: Who have we shut out of our churches in order to remain safe, comfortable, and good? What necessary conflict do we avoid in order to keep the peace and maintain the status quo? What ought we to let in to our lives, into our communities, into our churches, so that we bear the gospel authentically? God so loved the world. Are we not called to do the same by letting the world in?
Some would argue that this is too dangerous. But what is the result of church avoidance of global problems and sysemic evil? What hope do we have to offer a world that is drowning in Sin and death? I suspect many abandoned the church when the church abandoned the world for security and a future.
Jesus left us. And when he did, we defaulted to a place of fear, judgment, and separation. What if we trust that Jesus has prayed for our protection and has sent us like lambs among wolves to bring hope and help where it is needed: to people who have been rejected and isolated; people with illnesses, mental and physical; people in the criminal justice system, people who are homeless, people who are addicted, people who are angry, abusers and their victims. Maybe if we did this we would not be so concerned about Jesus' absence and begin to reflect His presence in our own bodies.

Praying with Jesus, May 18th, by Eugene Peteson

"Traditions are useful. They are useful the way bark on a tree is useful, to protect the life within. They preserve truth, but they are not the truth: all truth must be lived firsthand, from the inner life. Why are traditions dangerous?
Prayer: O God, let me never suppose that because I have inherited a few traditions, I therefore have the living truth. Keep me in touch with the immediate acts of faith that respond to your living word in Christ, so that I am resilient and growing in grace, not stiff and fixed in old ways.Amen.
Jesus reorients people's sense about tradition. Tradition is good when it embodies the truth about GOD's reign. When it doesn't, tradition needs to be reformed or rejected. I suspect that much of what gets churches stuck is this adherence to tradition that has been dislocated from the truth to which it is meant to point or to which it once pointed. Traditions change. That may sound like a contradiction, but isn't it true? I have rejected some past family traditions in favor of new ones that convey meaning in our place and time. Marriages often require that former traditions replaced in order to create a new, lasting, meaningful bond.
To what traditions are we clinging that need replaced? Can buildings become traditonal in a way that becomes dangerous? What happens when a place or a site that was holy in one time or to one people is no longer considered holy? In a sense, the current context assigns meaning to traditions or context constructs traditions out of the fibers of significant meaning that weave the story of a people's identity. Traditions must be personal and cannot be imposed. So, a Lutheran church that continues to sing hymns that tell a story of triumph, strength, and Germanic identity may not be singable in a congregation of African immigrants. Or what about traditions that make claims of authority that no longer ring true? We struggle with this reality with respect to the biblical narrative and the office of ministry. Who interprets? By what criteria? In whose name?
Hence, uniformity is not achievable among Christian groups, even Lutheran groups. Nor is uniformity desirable.
So what does this mean with respect to the observance of Christian traditions, like feasts, saints days, Sunday? These things are powerful conveyers of truth when they form the inner life of a community of people who recognize collectively that those stories are our stories. Stories located in premodern culture seem to convey meaning in postmodern contexts. What traditions are emerging in postmodern context that relay the tuth of the gospel narrative for us? What traditions no longer preserve that truth?

Friends of Justice Blog

"Friends of Justice is a nonprofit organization that works to uphold due process for all Americans. Our goal is to build a public consensus behind equal access to justice and respect for human dignity in our criminal justice system."--from the home page. Click on the title to link to this website/blog and learn more about their ministry of advocacy on behalf of those adversely affected by the criminal justice system; A system in need of reform in the U.S. Brian McLaren's blog linked me to it. I think "Friends of Justice" may become resource or source of inspiration for the Prison Ministry Task Force recently initiated by our synod to connect our churches to the Criminal Justice System. Might we also blog the stories we hear? I'm off to visit at LCP now. May Jesus the savior be with all who are wrongly imprisoned and unjustly treated.

May 16: Easter 6 2009

Acts 10 is the story of Cornelius and Peter. Cornelius is this Roman soldier living in a strategic sea port town, Caesarea. he is part of the occupying foreign military force sent to impose Roman imperial rule on the Jewish and gentile populations of this territory we call the Middle East. We also know that Cornelius had earned the respect of some of his Jewish neighbors as a God-fearing worshiper. He was open to the possibility that a GOD other than Ceasar might reign. As the captain of 100 men he had influence over the lives of these Roman occupiers and their relations among the populace. He was also spiritually aware and open to visionary experience.
In Acts 10 a vision commands him to send men to find Simon Peter in the town of Joppa and escort him back to Caesarea for a meeting. He sends three men.
Meanwhile, Peter is staying with a Simon Tanner. He has healed a paralyic there and raised a woman named Tabitha from the dead. She was known for her textile business. One day Peter is hungry and meditating. You know how that goes: You're supposed ot be focused but your stomach is grumbling. (Mine is right now, its time for lunch). Peter experiences a vision, a picnic of foods he will not eat. They are foods restricted by a kosher diet. He is hungry but will not eat what he sees. Even though what he sees is a gift. The a voice says, "Do not call food dirty and inedible what GOD says is clean and edible."
Simon the Rock is then moved by the Spirit to go with these gentile Roman Soldiers. Is his life in danger? I'd freak out a little if three soldiers came to my house in requested that I go with them. But he goes because they claim they are following orders from their captain, who fears God and had a vision.
Peter goes. Upon meeting Cornelius and hearing from him about his vision, Peter makes a theological assertion that we must recognize as a paradigmatic shift for Peter and the church. He says, "God is impartial."
This revelation of divine impartiality opens a gateway for the message of the gospel to a universal audience. What Peter discovers, Paul will embody in His ministry to Gentiles. Unity in Christ, baptismal identity, will trump all other claikms of ID; racial, ethnic, linguistic, national, imperial, sexual. No other ID claim will be as significant as the one God makes on us at Baptism.
I suspect that this identity assertion is still what strangles most people. I'm an American. I'm a Lutheran. I'm Irish. I'm a man. I speak and read exclusively in English. I'm Cherie's husband; my son's father, my father's son. Think of all the ID claims we make about ourselves and how they limit us relationally. I am who I am and I am not who I am not. And yet, the church in Pentecost and beyond is a church that is freed from the narrowness of our constructed identities to be identified by our primary relationship with GOD the creator through Jesus the Son. And in that relationship we come to experience others in the same way. Diversity, though honored and cherished, does not in any way separate or segregate.
Acts 10 lays the claim on the church that God's Spirit is at work in and thorugh our faithful telling of the story to people who are not yet aware of their identities as God's children. If a people are aware of this identity, then the claims of the gospel can begin to shape that identity in a way that is pleasing to GOD and consistent with God's reign of justice, reconciliation, and life.
What I'm saying is this: The church is the church when we are boundless in our desire to build relationships with people who see themselves beyond the borders of identification with Jesus' followers. We are sent to non-members and not-yet Christians with an openness that includes the possibility that we will be changed in some ways too. Think of the blessings of sharing the gospel with people whose cultures, foods, music, etc are different than our own. Think of the belssing of experiencing their gifts too. Did Peter understand that the implications of his proclamation to Cornelius may have broadly impacted the Roman military in Caesarea? Who knows?

Ruth, accompaniment, and the church's voice

Last Tuesday was Lutheran day at the Capitol in Harrisburg. Its a day when Lutherans from PA gather as advocates for the most vulnerable, most marginalized, and the most suffering neighbors among us. We seek to call attention to those people living in poverty, without health care, with hunger and food insecurity. We seek to invite governing powers to practice biblical justice stewardship by devoting budgeted state monies to broaden the social safety net. This is not bleeding heart liberal politics. This is biblical justice. The God of the Bible is on the side of the oppressed, the poor, the disadavantaged, the refugee, the sick, and the imprisoned. The church bearing witness to this GOD is called to speak out in the face of injustices that cause suffering for so mnay people. And we are called to be generous in our own stewardship as well.
Bishop Kusserow from Southwest PA synod started the morning with a bible study on the Book of Ruth. He said Ruth's decision to accompany her widowed mother-in-law back to Judah, which would make her an undocumented foreigner seeking to sojourn and work in Judah, is an incredible example of the biblical call to compassionate justice. She could have returned to her family of origin and remianed in her own country, a move that would have been supported in that culture. Although she would have created an economic hardship on her own family, which had likely benefited from her marriage. When Ruth's husband died her economic status deteriorated. And then she chooses to honor her mother-in-law and go with her to Bethlehem in Judah.
It is there that she meets Boaz, who also offers a vision of economic justice by welcoming her to glean his fields. He also gives her a significant amount of grain and wine for her and Naomi. His generosity is an example of what it means to care for the immigrant refugee among us.
Lutherans need to tell the stories of how we already accompany people in their poverty and suffering. Lutheran World Relief and Lutheran disaster response are broader global efforts, but many of us practice this kind of accompaniment locally too.
We were able to meet with three members of the general assembly on Tuesday afternoon to practice advocacy. When the issue of stewardship is complicated, as it is at a state level, it is easy to lose a sense of biblical integrity and to write off our capacity to do the right things. I support decision-makers who are willing to wrestle with these difficult funding issues. And I especially laud those people who hear the cries of the most vulnerable among us and are seeking to improve their lives by offering them a better system of public supports. I am of the mind that there are some people in community who are dependent, some who are independent, and the vast majority who are interdependent. We rely on government regulations and government controls of some things to create a culture that is conducive to public health and the common good. Education is one such area. Public health could become another area. And I believe that public financial assistance for the most vulnerable and the unemployed is necessary. The church can offer a particular voice on such complex matters, despite opposition. We are called to speak for the one's who are not being heard, to be voices crying in the wilderness. Exalting and humbling through the call to biblical justice. I am convinced that the church cannot abandon these ministries of advocacy and accompaniment.

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.