FLAME

Family
Life
As
Mission
Education

God has a mission. To reach every family on earth with the message of the Gospel and to invite them to participate in the new life that is offered in it.
The Gospel is about love for God and neighbor that is put into action through words and deeds that build up, benefit, and beautify community. JESUS shows us how to love unconditionally, sacrificially, and completely.
Christians are called by the Spiirt to love others, by following the way of JESUS, who empowers us and inspires us to follow. Everyday we can make the world better for someone else. When we do, we participate in the ongoing creative healing of creation. GOD's justice/love is the disciples' calling.

A Christian life is learned and shared by adults and children in daily activity. We are made disciples as we learn the way of Jesus and practice it at home, work, school, in in neighborhoods.

You are invited to a new community of families devoting themselves to his way of life together. Together we will explore worship, learning and equipping, family mission opportuniites, and spiritual practices for daily family life. Our goal is to find common ways to practice our faith together.

Join us for a family lunch on February 18th at Zion Lutheran, Akron. 12:30 pm. RSVP at 859-2100 or pastormattl@dejazzd.com

Disaster in Fla.

Central Florida was hit by several tornadoes this weekend, killing as many as 20 people, and destroying a lot of property. To assist in the recovery and restoration efforts go to www.ldr.org. Lutheran Disaster response is on the ground and will be for a long time. Anyone want to go help?

weddings?

Say you're 20 something and you haven't gone to your traditional family church in a couple of years---you've been a Christmas/Easter person. Your parents don't get you. You were raised as a "churchgoer" in a church going family. Your parents go religiously. You have never been given a relevant alternative in which to be faithful. Its always been 'church' or nothing. In or out. After so long, being out wasn't so bad. And you were busy enough living life. But something was missing.
But then, a crisis! You want to get married. In church. You believe in GOD. Maybe even in Jesus. You pray. You want to live a life that is meaningful, spiritual, and hopeful. You want to help people in your community. You have no church affiliation, but you want to be married before God and faithful Christian witnesses. You call around. You pick the Lutherans because they're sort of catholic protestants. Fewer rules, but still sacramental and generously biblical. Yet not pretentious or judgmental like some bible churches might be. But every Lutheran church, every Catholic, everyone you call gives you the old church rule: Non-members cannot be married here! Membership gives one access to a Christian practice you expected. What do you do? Do you dance and "join" in order to meet the requirements? Or do you go to the justice of the peace and get legal without the blessing of God's Word, community prayers, and the unity of the Sacrament? What do you do? Membership has its privileges. Non-membership can have painful, unexpected consequences.
Gen xers are facing this reality. Some are feeling it more seriously than others. They want to be in, but they're not connected. They are prodigal, lost. And it ain't all their fault. maybe if the church found a way to really welcome them. maybe if the church wasn;t so concerned about worship attendance and membership. Maybe if the church was concerned about daily spiritual Christian formation---how to follow Jesus on the ground, in your home and work place. maybe if an alternative community was born for these people.
What if gen xers just revolted and formed a community of believers outside of 'church', who can become church for each other. A new fellowship of believers with all of the gifts and dreams of GOD within.
I, for one, do not reject anyone who calls seeking to be married in the church. I know that it's code word, sometimes, for people of faith living outside of Christian community, seeking a way in. Sometimes its not. Sometimes its people who just want to get married with no strings. But often its people who want the strings, the community, the spirit-filled life, the hope and love of God, the Word, the sacrament, the meaningful missional life to care for the world. When it is, I want to help them be faithful!

Missional acts

Become a big brother or big sister.
Help a neighbor. Paint, cook, clean, etc...
Babysit.
Share your stuff.
Swing a hammer with habitat for humanity.
Make a meal for someone who is sick.
Listen to someone's sad story.
Visit elderly folks at a nursing home.
Give time at a homeless shelter or soup kitchen.
become a compeer friend (Lancster Co. organization dedicated to mentoring people with mental illness).
serve at a youth center.
pray for people.
buy fairly traded goods.
sponsor a World Vision child. (www.worldvision.org)
collect school supplies, health supplies for World relief. (www.lwr.org)
Make a quilt for LWR.
Give a blanket or a coat to someone who is cold.

Whatever you do, do it in the name of Jesus.

worship and mission

i made a kind of discovery reading the gospel this past week. i believe that the church (ecclesiology) is not the church apart from mission (missiology). Its not really a discovery so much as a reminder or a revision of thought. Here's what that means:
We've been taught that the way people come to know Jesus or to be made part of the church is through/in worship. Getting people to "come to church" and "go to church" is the entry way to Christian life. We talk about inviting people to worship. I've been guilty of this way of thinking too---that worship is the Christian life. There is no church without worship. Worship has been the central, and sometimes exclusive, practice of the church. Chruch is defined by us as what we do in worship. We exaggerate the place of worship/liturgy within the Christian believer's life. So we say, Where does one find church? In that building on sunday morning where people are sitting or standing in pews worshiping God.
But what if that assumption about worship being primary is false? What if Jesus and His followers were not primarily worshipers, but primarily missionaries? Jesus calls and sends His disciples before anything remotely like worship occurs in the gospels. And Pentecost? When the Holy Spirit comes, are they driven together to worship? No! Actually, they are scattered by various tongues and languages to share the gospel news. When the church is persecuted, do they huddle together for worship? No. They are scattered outside of the city as witnesses. When Jesus sends the 12 or the 72, does he equip them to be worshipers or worship leaders? No. He equips them to bring peace, hope, healing, justice, food---for people. The early church was primarily a church in mission---A church in action on behalf of the poor, the outcast, the least, the marginalized.

Worship was a result of mission! They gathered for worship to refuel, to rebuild,to revive, for the gifts of faith, hope, and love found in the koinonia--the shared fellowship of believers. Worship doesn't beget mission; Mission begets worship.

Here's the thing. The big machine of Christendom taught us that worship is the heart of what Christians do. Mission is a result of what happens in worship. We think worship comes first for people. Then we are sent out. but what if the Christian life were primarily missional and, out of necessity, worshipful? Its no wonder the early church pieced together worship practice from synagogue practices; Baptism and Eucharist deriving from Jesus' own missional life of cleansing rebirth and sarificial eating and drinking. The church didn;t have time to be overtly creative. They were too busy living out the gospel.
Implications: What if we were called to invite people to live differently first? To live counterculturally, generously, sacrificially, spiritually, marginally? And as a result of it, we are drawn together to worship the GOD who called us and sent us to live in these ways? What if worship is necesary for the Christian who is out there living it because mission-living is spiritually hard? We are drawn together for spiritual food, in order to endure. Word/Sacrament becomes food for missionaries.

a new community?

Tonight we begin a new community. I'm not wholly convinced that anything is going to happen. I have a lot of public communication to do. But, I do think GOD is up to something here. At least I hope so. I'm tired of feeling like a hamster on a wheel. I do believe that I have been sent here to lead something different with church. I'm not quite sure how. In fact, I'm fairly certain that I have no clue about what i'm doing half the time. But I've heard stories like this before. I'm just trying to figure out how to work within the current context of congregational renewal and redevelopment, while also engaging in this external evangelism bit. I don't know. There are some good things happening at ZION. but a radical shift is needed. Kelly fryer identifies it in her book "Reclaiming the 'C' Word: daring to be church again." I think all congregation leaders need to read this book to understand what has happened and what needs to happen now. I commend that book to anyone attempting to lead the church into a missional future and anyone who doesn't know what that means.
In a nutshell, the way things were isn;t the way things are and we need to start operating with new assumptionsnd expectations. More on that later...

Postmodern Questions, Ancient answers

Javáteas coffee house presents:
X’s and Why’s? PostModern Questions for GOD

Are you a post-Christian gen- xer? You believe in God, maybe even Jesus, but you don’t attend church?

You would like to experience the benefit of a spiritually meaningful life, but you’re not sure how?

How can you integrate postmodern culture with ancient Christian spirituality?
Can you be a Christian who is not a religious church-goer?

Is GOD available? Are you available?

Join the conversation, enjoy the coffee and the new community!

Wednesdays at 6:00pm

Everyone always says that school doesn't train you for the real world. School,at best, teaches you how to think in a way that may prepare you for the real world. To some extent. But it doesn't train you to be creative, innovative, or courageous as a leader. The same is said about seminary training for ordained Lutheran ministry. Sure, the biblical, theological, and therapeutic aspects of ministry are taught and studied. But they never trained me to do mission development, to restart a congregation, or to evangelize within and outside a congregation. And that is what I am doing. This is more like mission work, more like starting from scratch. It's a lot like starting a new congregation. Except that the old congregation has not gone away. Everyday now, I find more and more that I am doing mission development or redevelopment work for which I was not well equipped.
Now, I don't think the congregation really hired/called me to do that either. I suspect they hired me to lead worship, visit them, and care for them in times of need. I think they hoped I would naturally bring some enthusiasm to worship and maybe bring in a few young families to fill pews and plates. But redevelopment? Not so much. Which is precisely why it is a redevelopment ministry.
Here's an example. Lent. In Lent, Christians gather more intentionally to practice a spiritual life in community. It usually includes a simple meal, bible study, and prayer. Three practices that Lutheran Christians have perfected---especially the potluck supper!
I have recently been told that we can't offer a dinner this year because no committee planned it and Lent is only five weeks away. What? Lent is not a new thing. We do this every year, or so I thought. So how is it that we are not able to pull this together? And secondly, when I gave them a plan to consider regarding the week night spiritual practice fo meal, bible study, prayer I was told that it would take too long, that no one would come, that we can'tpull it off so quickly. When offered as a cooperative event with two other Lutheran congregations I was told that we don't want shared ministry.
How do I continue to lead here?

the basics

Daily bible reading, prayer, fasting (abstaining from something), and giving to others. These are the basics. By practicing these ancient Christian spiritual practices, one receives GOD's gifts. And the gifts God gives are that some would be apostles, some evangelists, some preachers and teachers to equip the saints for the building up of the body. Practicing these things gifts us our Christian identity, or vocation, our calling. We discover who we are as Jesus' followers by doing these things. We fool ourselves if we think we can be a Christian and not practice these basics.

the next move

I'll say more about what I've been reading later. Suffice it to say that I am deeply committed to what I am calling the third way or the emerging paradigm. I can't say that it's right, but only that it feels good. My next move is to connect with the people at the coffee shop and get them on board. It will serve as an initial meeting place. I am looking for a weekly Wednesday thing and a monthly Sunday thing. I am open to other weekdays, too. or mornings. whatever. part of this wil be decided by the group who connects to it.Mike Linn is interested, but the question is when can he participate? So today I will meet with Ashley to talk turkey. Each step is key in aligning with God's vision. Last week I met with Dave Fisher and with Katie Sollenberger. Both visits were extremely fruiful. I have registered for this Creative Transformational Ministry gathering in two weeks, too. I hope it bears fruit too. And I'm reading like a fiend.
Step 3a: I will begin to invite others to the conversation. I intend to begin with post-Lutheran Christians, as well as a few others who are floating around in limbo. I believe there are many people who would like to spiritually connect with GOD and a community of friends, but have not found it. Mainline and megachruch have their approaches, their methods, their answers, their practices and doctrines. I suspect that there are some who have disconected from both of those scenes for one reason or another. They are Post--whatever they were. They retain some residue or baggage from those paradigms, but have serious gaps in thier own lives of faith not being addressed. can something like this address them? It's happening in other places. maybe here now too. What might emerge is a new paradigm, a new way of being church or following Jesus in missional living. I wonder what might come of this. I am trusting GOD to provide whatever is needed. I am only trying to plant and water seeds.
I hope to provide a venue for intimate night worship outside of Zion. We will likely do it at Zion once a month too. because there are a few Zion folk who appreciate it or seek it. John is on board musically. The five ancient worship practices are fully experienced: singing, listening, praying, sharing, and sending.We employ familiar, new, and ancient texts in song. We encourage open experiment in prayer. We are sacramental---confessional and communal. We are missional---desiring to commit ourselves to daily intentional practice in following Jesus. I wish i could find my copy of Brian McLaren's "The Secret Messge of Jesus". I lost it when i was half finished with it.
BTW, almost finished with Donald Miller's book "Blue Like jazz". Good stuff.

Waitin on the world to change

I've been rocking out for about a month or so to John Mayer's new CD "Continuum". He finally melds his creative musical genius with some incredibly profound lyrics to make a near rock masterpiece. I pan to share some of it at our next youth group meeting. We've invited our youth to bring thier music to share and to discuss its meaning, how it shapes our thoughts and emotions. Its should be an interesting discussion. I'm not sure which song I'll share. I could share a Beatles song too. I would likely share "Here comes the sun", one of the best songs ever written.

"Waiting on the Word to Change", John's first single from "Continuum", is a protest song about Gen X's longing for a better world, a world with peace and justice. I hope we can live up to his insight that one day our generation will rule the population. may we do so with wisdom and with mercy and love.
My favorite song is called "The Heart of Life". The chorus is "Pain throws your heart to the ground; love turns the whole thing around; know it won't all go the way it should, but I know the heart of life is good." I feel like he's singing Jesus' song to the brokenhearted. The second verse is, "You know there's nothin new, bad news never had good timing; then the circle of your friends will defend the silver lining." Isn't that what happens when people go through a crisis? Friends try to make you feel better, see the silver lining. Maybe its better to recognize that the pain is real, that love alone can heal, that the world is still broken, but the heart of life (GOD) is good!
There is a song called "Belief" that struggles with how religious ideology, fundamentalism, can destroy. "Everyone believes," he sings. One's beliefs govern one's actions.
The deepest, soul searchign song is called "Stop this train". Using the metaphor of a constantly fast-moving train, JOhn strugles with the pace of mortality, aging, etc...he reflects on the fear of losing his parents and his longing to remain youthful."Don't know how else to say it, don't want to see my parents go; one generations length away from fighting life out on my own." Amazingly its a conversation with his dad that helps himn understand that life is a continuum, a constant movement. At some point on the continuum, you don't want to stop the train or go back. You simply accept the course of life as it has been.
Its not often that a new CD, a newer artist, catches my mind. John did it. he renewed my hope for the future of rock music. Thanks, JOhn Mayer.

post-christmas almost

we took down the tree. the douglas fir that invaded our family room for two plus weeks is gone. so are the lights and the gifts piled beneath it. we've packed it in for 2006. my 33 month old son tearily asked us why we took it down. "why is Christmas done?" he asked. sadly, I was ready for it to be done. i had holiday burnout. i was ready to return to the office and to normalcy. but i bet GOD knows my son is right.
christmas is not done. so long as the efects of the incarnation continue to play themselves out in the world, christmas is not done. its not done with any of us because Jesus is not done with us. GOD keeps breaking in to our lives and reminding us who we are, who we are not, and who GOD is. GOD keeps coming, keeps invading our family rooms.

At the Movies

"The Nativity Story" is the new cinematic depiction of the birth of Jesus, as recounted in both Matthew and Luke. All of the characters make an appearance: a teenage Mary and a 20 something Joseph are well-cast and play nicely together as betrothed strangers drawn together for a divine mission to bear the Son of God for the world. In one scene they ponder together the mystery of the unborn child's divine identity. Joseph wonders if he'll be able to teach him anything at all. And mary wonders when they will know, what sign will they see indicative of His transcendence. Interesting speculative writing cohesive with the pondering that Luke's Mary is prone to do.

I found two flaws in this film. First, the Angel Gabriel was neither mysterious nor awe-inspiring in any way. It's the angel of the Lord for God's sake. And there is no heavenly host singing "Gloria in excelsis" to the shepherds. I sought more from hollywood with regard to the appearance of the angel. (He does appear several times; to Mary, Joseph, shepherds...) I was waiting for, at least, a blinding light to engulf the screen for ten seconds. But, nothing. Too andropomorphic for any real sense of "angel Gabriel" to make the grade. He looked like Barry Gibb in 1978.

And second I waited for King herod to be more ruthless, mad, manic in his jealous struggle to cling to "power". In Zifforelli's "Jesus of Nazareth" the great Peter Ustinov nails King Herod as a tyrannical villain with an insanity defense. In his order to slaughter the innocent boyso of Bethlehem Ustinov shouts, "Kill them. Kill them all," as he runs through the palace. In "nativity Story" the role is played with a subtle suspicion and a less vulnerable sense of royal challenge. he doesn;t take Messianic fulfillment seriously. He is capable of doing away with any future challenge to his throne, threatening even his son and heir Antipas. Its more like the Godfather than a fearful lunatic here. I longed for the lunatic!

He is, however, cast niceley against the comic relief team of the three stooges, known better as the Magi. Their sort of spirited and hopeful quest to find the star that shines on the baby King is characterized by a light and fun engagement. They don't take themselves too seriously. Its the baby who gains their religious respect and worshipful devotion. Contrast that with Herod's fear and jealousy. If only Herod had been played more charismatically.

That, in a nutshell, was the missing piece for me. Charisma. From the entire cast. Mary and Joseph were played with the proper emotions of two young people caught between human law/social customs and God's radical transcendence of them. if there had been some more charisma, some awe, transcdendence, deep emotions stirred, then we could have called this a masterpiece. Not to say that I wasn't moved. If yo love Jesus and the story of His birth, you will love this film.

In the end, realism is the intent of the film. People of all faiths can enjoy this film. Mike Rich and Catherine Hardwicke did not set out to evangelize through fil-making. They sought out to tell this story in its simple dramatic power. I think they understate the drama with a purpose. Jesus was after all born to two peasants from a tiny, unimportant village in a small, impoverished colony of the great and powerful Roman Empire. Jesus was born in the shadows, in the dark, behind the scenes, hidden from the mighty and powerful. This movie allows for His incarnation to come as it did, in weakness, humility, and silence.

PS--the sountrack is lovely.

to pray

"To pray is to ask that the laws of the universe be annulled in behalf of a single petitioner confessedly unworthy." Ambrose Bierce.
How true. But there is another truth to it. God indeed will temporarily unnull the laws of the universe for the sake of HIS beloved child, made in God's image, and made worthy through the heart of Jesus. And so Jesus taught us to pray:
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed by thy name...

Messiah

Do you pray? Do you pray to Jesus? How do you address Him? We know that Jesus, since the time of His incarnate ministry, was known as Jesus Christ. The latter is the Greek Word for Messiah. Whenever we pray or confess or sing we call Him the Messiah. In Advent, the four weeks preceding Christmas, we devote ouselves to the expectation of HIS coming again. We hope for His coming as merciful judge and inaugurator of the new age. And we call him "Messiah". So what does it mean to do so? We take a Jewish notion of God's activity for granted, don't we? I mena have you ever stopped to think about Jesus Christ? Half of the time we say it without any thought at all, sometimes in disdain or anger as a kind of curse. But what does it mean to give this title to that man named Jesus?

Today, with my talk about Messiah, bible study was challenging. But this is a good time to think about what we say and believe about Jesus the Christ---the Messiah, the anointed one. It is no small leap to say that Jesus was the Messiah of Israel, rejected by His own. Its an even bigger leap to say that said Messiah was also GOD in the flesh. Adonai, the LORD. Emmanuel, God-with-us. This was, in Judaism, a blasphemous claim of self-idolatry. It leads to His execution.
Although a Messianic eschatology, a belief in a redeemr King ushering in a new age of peace and joy, unity and prosperity for God's people, was a widespread belief, Jesus did not fit the criteria for this Messiah. Many Rabbis in the time of Jesus taught that Messiah would come to rescue them from the hands of the Roman occupiers. Messiah would usher in a golden age, a return to the days of King David, the ideal King. messiah would embody the ideal and His reign would not end. Messiah was also a priestly or prophetic character who would stand between God and Israel forever as their chief defender and seeker of mercy. he wuold also be judge of the nations, the gentiles, and the unrighteous Jew. His judgment would be harsh and weed out the bad seeds.
There were multiple strands of thought in Judaism about Messiah at the time of Jesus. The gospel writers claimed that Jesus, in many ways, embodied the Messiah foretold in the prophets. But students of the hebrew Scriptures would disagree or at least struggle with agreement.
I have been doing a little basic study of Judaism's messianic thought. I have discovered that the claim of Jesus' Messiahship and the subsequent eschatology of the church are tied into Judaism more integrally than I knew. One cannot understand the title or Jesus' expression of it, nor know how to live as those who follow this Messiah, without understanding Judaism better. Our future hope is not unlike Jewish eschatology. We believe in an ultimate time of divine promissory fulfillment. God will vindicate, bring justice, healing, peace, a new rule and a new life. This is a shared hope of Jews and Christians. We, however, come at it from two different points of theological departure. Christians begin and end with the Christ event---the life,death, and resurrection of Jesus. Jews come at it from their understanding of the Torah and the Prophets.
Anyway, what I have come to believe is that Jesus was the Messiah of Israel and the savior of the world (a title that also shows opposition to the dominant powers of Rome). I have come to believe this and I understand that Jesus and His storytellers were influenced by Jewish Messianic thought. He is portrayed in such a way as to bolster these titular claims. And yet, something compelled the story to take life in the lives of so many others. Even though Jesus was not the kind of Messiah they thought they were watching for. Not the kind of savior they thought they needed. I think it is clear evidence in favor of His resurrection from the dead. What else would have prompted the radical leaps of faith His followers took to identify Him as Messiah, savior, Son of God. God in the flesh.

a genuine Christmas

No one can celebrate a genuine Christmas without being truly poor. The self-sufficient, the proud, those who, because they have everything, look down on others, those who have no need even of God---for them there wil be no Christmas. Only the poor, the hungry, those who need someone to come on their behalf will have that someone. That someone is God. Emmanuel. God-with-us. Without poverty of Spirit there can be no abundance of God. ---Oscar Romero

What is the Gospel? It has taken on so many secondary meanings that it has become a word lost to Christians and the world. It may mean a certain type of music. "For some it means the invitation to an individual to accept the forgiveness of sins, so to preach the gospel, to evangelize, is to spread the message oof this invitaiton. For others, it means correct teaching about the work of Christ, so that "evangelicals" are those who hold to traditional doctrines. Elsewhere 'evangelical' is the current word for protestant." John Howard Yoder.

But Yoder believes that Gospel is a word best understood in the language of revolution. Yoder says, "Gospel is the good news having seriously to do with the people's welfare." It is news that changes a community's fate, its status, its life. Gospel is when the Iranians set free the hostages in 1980. Its when the Berlin wall collpased. Its when nazi death camps were liberated. Gospel is when the fate of a community is changed from despair to hope., from tragedy to fortune.

For a long time, and for many Christians, gospel is the promise of eternal life---heaven. For others it is the forgiveness of sin, the expiation of guilt, the death of anxiety. These personal ways of understanding the gospel's purpose are true, but only partial visions of its far reaching consequences. When we understand gospel in the language of revolution we begin to see how transformative Jesus intended to be, indeed is for those who believe in Him.

"The priority agenda for Jesus, and for many of us, is not mortality or anxiety, but unrighteousness and injustice. The need is not for consolation or acceptance but for a new order in which [humanity] may live together in love. In his time, therefore, as in ours, the question of revolution, the judgment of God upon the present order and the imminent promise of another one, is the language in which the gospel must speak. What most people mean by revolution,the answer they want, is not the gospel; but the gospel, if it be authentic, must so speak as to answer the question of revolution. This Jesus did." ---Joihn Howard Yoder, theologian.

Luke's Christmas story is the story of this quiet revolution. Hidden in the babe of Bethlehem is the revolutionary, liberating, GOD.To take on that particular flesh was to take on the very weakness and vulnerability of an oppressed, backwater, impoverished "royal" family. Mary and Joseph embody all who are in need of rescue from the present world order. Without God's intervention and their trust in God, their story is impossible. It opposes every power and perception of this world. from the imperial might of Augustus to the tyrannical reign of Herod, Jesus is a a revolution waiting to happen.

Are we revolutionaries?

Mary's Word

"What business have we of reversing the priorities of Mary's Magnificat, filling the rich with good things and sending the poor empty away? There's nothing in any sacred scripture anywhere that says that the whims of the rick should best the rights of the poor. How, Sunday by Sunday, can Christians pray "forgive us our debts" and not think of third world countries, some of whom are spending three to five as much paying off foreign debts as they do on basic services to their own people?" ---William Sloane Coffin.

:A friend who had spent a sabbatical working with refugees in Southeasa Asia once sent me a homemade Christmas card...a black-and-white snapshot of a Cambodian mother holding her infant in her arms...In silence, the photgraph spoke powerfully about Mary as a presence in our world, a constant reminder that in the incarnation the omnipotent God chose to take on human vulnerability...a child born not to wealth and power but to an impoverished peasant woman and her uneasy husband in the rural backwater of a small, troubled, colonized country."---Kathleen Norris.

Today is Pearl Harbor Day and the end of U.S. global isolationism in the face of militant fascism. It was a surprise attack that alerted every American to the global threat overwhelming Europe and Asia---a threat that finally reached outr own shores. We could no longer stand by. We were compelled to act.
In my estimation Pearl Harbor and the 9/11 attacks tell us somethig about American life. Americans are not particularly watchful or vigilant. We don't know what hits us until it does. Nor are we particularly visionary in our estimation of global politics and economics. We don't know our place in the world, our collective responsibilities as members of the global national community. Why not? What is in our collective unconscious, our national story,that prevents us from being more aware? Why are we mind-numbingly slow to recognize our place in the scheme of things; and that our place of honor among the nations requires of us a great deal of humility and sacrifice?
Today we honor men and women who's lives were lost in the 1941 attack, and those whose lives were lost in the resultant war effort.

"Prince of peace, we pray for our enemies and those who have waged war against us. We pray for our fellow countrymen who have given their lives in battle. We pray for those who continue to follow orders to protect us from the ravages of war. But we also pray that you might awaken us to the poverty and pain around us. Alert us to the ways in which we cause global strife, warfare, and injustice. Make us attentive to the struggles of our neighbors and show us how to serve them. In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

Compassion's Money

What if the U.S. chose to spend the money we spend at war to rebuild war torn nations? What if we risked our own national security in order to actually serve the needs of the desperately poor around the world? Imagine using that money and our highly educated human resources to improve the lives of people suffering from AIDS in Africa or suffering from genocide and oppression in Israel/Palestine. President Bush had an opportunity five years ago to stand as a world leader who understood empathy and compassion, rather than retaliation and destruction. He could have called 9/11 a global tragedy, carried out by a few Saudi terrorists fueled by a radical interpretation of Islam and by the injustice perpetrated by American imperial dominance of the global financial market. American consumerism, entitlement, and faithlessness to the God of the Bible ignites that religious fuel. The God of the bible is clearly a God who defends the poor, the widow, the orphan, the foreigner, the refugee, the woman, the child, the castoffs, the cutoffs, the left outs, the persecuted and oppressed. God is a God of justice which is guidedn by compassion.

And yet, we cause daily, hourly, weekly, annual struggle. And we are numb to it. We are isolated from it. But look at your clothing. Where was it made? Who made it? How much were they paid to make your clothes? How much did you pay for them? Who benefited the most from the money yuo spent on your clothes? Was it the Chinese woman who stitched your shirt together or the businessman who sold them to JC Penneys? You thoughtless generation. No wonder we are at war and you are not changing your habits. In ten years, you will have spent a lot of money paying for a war effort you did not necessarily believe in. But since you are satisfied with your place in the global food chain, you don't see a reason to change. You don't know how to change it. What of the American Spirit that dsought independence from tyranny, not for freedom's sake alone, but in order to make a more just society where more people had opportunity to live good lives. Where is our boldness? Compassion is a bold political move because compassion requirs that you are not nub to the pain of others. It requirs that you embrace the pain of the other in an effort to accompany them, console them, offer them a communnity of hope. And our neighbors are dying from hunger. Nobody should live on less than $2.00 a day.
What are you going to do about it today?