church

I wonder what people see when they see "the church", and by that I mean our building and the few people who come here on Sunday mornings. Do they see a dead tree? A wintered tree? A tree without leaves? And how might we become leafy to our neighbors? How might we soak up the sun/son and emit the breath of life like tree leaves do? Is that not our task and calling as church? To abide with Jesus in such a way that we can't avoid the light,the water, the wind. To let those things cause in us the emergent growth of spring and to provide shade for the weary and breathable air for all. I suspect that the challenge is to get people connected with Jesus as the source of their life first. We need to create a space for hospitality to take hold and welcome people. And we need to create space for holy conversation, prayer, and listening to occur. We need to create space where people can encounter the holy, sacred, otherness of GOD present to us in the ways God promises to be. "I am the vine, you are the branches." This weekend I hope to call our attention to that John text as a source of our spiritual nourishment.May those Words of Christ bear muchfruit in our hearts, minds, and lives.

help

What do we do with a family of six who are not making enough money to pay their bills? They have a 910.00 electric bill and a 62.00 truancy fine for unexcused school absenses. We've already given them Christmas, a new stove, a way out of a bad storage contract, gas heat, food. I don't regret doing any of these things. but how far do we go? We don't want to create a relationship of dependence, but we don't want the children to suffer either. Electric shut off is in 15 days, by which time 600.00 is due or else. Thet can't pay that bill. Without us, they will have no electricity. have they been irresponsible? And what if they have been? When did it start? High School? When they bought this place? And how can we get at the root of the matter? I think its time to talk with them about Jesus, sin, death, and the way of life. I'm not sure how open they will be, but I think the turnaround only happens when they face the truth in light. I hope to speak the truth to them in love. And I hope my invitation to live is received.
And I hope this congregation continues to pour themselves out to people like them, undeserved and a little lost. It is in a generous out-pouring, an unexpected and surprising, unreasonable outpouring of himself that Jesus rescues us all. May we love as he loves us.

Signs of the holy

I'm working my way through Tony Jones' book "The Sacred Way" in preparation for this weekend. I find myself, as usual, attempting to intellectualize and package spiritual disciplines in order to give a presentation or an education to a group of people. This comes from my own sense of inadequacy abuot this. I am asked to offer contemplative prayer. They went to become immersed in a spiritual experience. What I hope to do is to create a space whereby people can gather and share an experience of God's presence through the contemplative arts.
I think we will cultivate silence, lectio divina, and some centering prayer. We may talk about Luther's way to pray the catechism and I'll show them the Lutheran Rosary we do.
One of the things I've noticed is that my preparations for this weekend have forced me to be alone in the office all week. prep for worship and workshops is time consuming. I feel largely cut off from others. I suspect that effective spiritual direction has always required that one balance the solitary with the communal. Bonhoeffer's book "life Together" attests to that very balance of life in community and life apart. They are complimentary and are needed in equal doses. It may be that my solitude this week is partly so that I can be very present to those in attendance at this retreat. Even though this is a continuing education event for youth workers, I'm treating it as a spiritual/vocational retreat whereby those present will be renewed for their journeys.
Tomorrow Rodney and I will begin a new step in the apostolic journey, as we begin a time of prayer coupled with a time of engagement with some new neighbors. "The Sacred Earth" is a new gift shop in our town. We wonder if it has neo-pagan roots. We are interested in the place and the people there. So we'll go there after we pray to see what we see and to introduce ourselves. May the LORD be with us.

new website

Zion Akron has a new website! It's under construction but will be in good shape by the end of next week. I'm excited about it. I think we are beginning to emerge. Now I pray that God sends others to us to continue the journey with us. Church emerges slowly from the ashes of the institutional malaise. But if we are faithful and spiritually rooted in the Vine of Christ, life will be ours.
Check out the site in the next week or so. And let me know what you think.

April Fools' Day

I thought today would be a good day to return to the blogger universe, it being the first of April.
5 weeks ago my wife gave birth to our third son, a svelt 6 pounder named Elijah Peter. He is a serious chap with a set of vocal chords that Sarah Brightman would covet. Unfortunately, instead of Pucchini or Wagner at the Met, he belts out shrill, glass-shattering, ear-piercing screams. He does not discriminate between day or night. And he also has some serious gas. I've never heard a baby with so much gas. He sounds like four beers and a plate of baked beans and a chili dog after the seventh inning stretch---nasty.
We hope that within the next month he begins to act more like a human being than some small beast in the wild. He tends to cling to his parents much like Koala bears or orangutans do, especially at night to sleep. So I "sleep", and I use that term loosely, on the la-z-boy recliner couch in the family room with Elijah snuggled on my chest/stomach listening to my heart and lungs for comfort. Someday he will not want me around at 1:00 am. Someday he will not need to be held by his dad. So in the meantime, I intend to enjoy what I can of this. I'm no fan of sleep deprivation. I see why it is used for torture or interrogation (as our current government calls it). Sleep loss is akin to over- exercising, under-eating, and excessive drinking. The affects play havoc with your ability to think and feel reasonably. Last night I got into my own bed at 4:00 am and practically wept because of exhaustion. Ah, the memories we're making...

This weekend I am the chaplain/workshop presenter at a spiritual retreat called "Gathering in the East" for youth workers. I am supposed to provide spiritual worship, prayer, a workshop on the via contemplativa, and a workshop on a narrative approach to the use of Scripture. Admittedly, I'm feeling a bit behin the eight ball. Five weeks ago, I sort of got off a moving train, got on another moving train, and am now trying to somehow get back on the other track, while still in motion. I need a Sabbath. Unfortunately my wife won't have one now. She needs rest too. I have some guilt about the event, but it was planned before we were pregnant. And it is good for me to offer my gifts there too.
In planning I picked up Tony Jones' new book "The Sacred Way", in which he explores the history, theology, and practice of Christian spirituality in its various forms. Its a good read. Simple, not exhaustive, and interesting. He tells about his journey into these disciplines and uses the words of the desert fathers to guide his pilgrim path. I can appreciate his quest. I think it is a Christian disciples' journey into the mind of Christ and the very heart of God. Silence, devotional reading of Scripture, prayer, interior reflection, fasting, and giving/serving have been key pieces of the monastic life for centuries. Today, our culture cries out for monastics to lead us into the depth of divine truth, into spiritual union with Jesus. I was always a fan of the medieval mystics.
So I am preparing to lead, to listen, to make space for the holiness of God to dwell among us. I have to remember that much of what is needed is for me to get out of the way and encounter God in the midst.

Sicko provokes questions

Michael Moore, controversial documentary film maker, has done it again. His newest film,"Sicko" is about health care and insurance. He raises some pretty serious questions about the nature of US health care versus socialized medicine found in countries like Canada, France, Great Britain, and Cuba. The question he asks is, "if these countries can provide universal government sponsored health care, then why can't we? Anyone can walk into a health care facility in those countries and be treated with no charge, no id cards, nothing. Americans have moved to these places for their health care and child care services. He talks about insured Americans who have struggled to pay their enormous medical bills. He doesn't even talk about the 50 million uninsured Americans. While insurance companies call the medical shots and raise the costs of medical care here, so that middle class americans are becoming impoverished by their medical debts, other countries provide for their citizens medical needs as if their governments have a moral obligation to provide for everyone. Sounds democratic to me. I frankly think I like democratic socialism better than the broken system we have here. And Moore makes the point that many systems of American life are socialized---i.e., public schools. Why not health care? If we believe that everyone over the age of 5 should be able to go to school, then why shouldn't everyone receive health care? Not just basic puiblic health,but total universal care? Hillary Clinton would have movede us toward that during President Clinton's tenure, but she was shut down by the conservative republicans using anti-socialist rhetoric to scare Americans away. Their argument being that government should not be able to choose your doctor. So why do we allow HMO's to choose for us? (He reminds us that the history of the HMO program comes from the Nixon administration). I would prefer that I have to go to a government-approved doctor, if I knew that my poor neighbor could receive the same health care as I do. There is a moral obligation that Americans do not realize, because the god of our culture is 'mammon'. Someone once said that the love of money is the root of all evil. Our idols have distracted us from our obligations to the poor and the needy in our midst. Won't someone heed the words of the prophets? Won't someone listen to Jesus,"When you did these things to the least of these, you did them unto me." When we serve the poor, we serve the living GOD. We serve Jesus by caring for the poor. Mother Theresa said, "Each one of them is Jesus in disguise."
Sicko provokes strong feelings--the main one being, what is and from where do we collectively receive our sense of moral obligation to provide for the neighbor's needs? Who is my neighbor? And how do we level the playing field so that all are offered a sufficient, sustainable livelihood? Watch "Sicko" and tell me what you think...Do we have an obligation to see to it that all people have access to quality health care ands that non one is turned away becaus they can't pay? Whose in charge? Insurance companies, HMO's, big businesses? or are we, the people in charge? What about big oil? And green energy? Why don't we demand that big oil use its record profits to develop greener energy now? And why don't we demand cleaner fuels now? If we know that the US has fallen below the Kyoto agreement and that we have a global climate crisis directly related to our consumption of carbons, why don't we demand another way? What if the Christian movement is meant to resist, reject these corrupt ways of living in order to promote global harmony and peace? How might Christians unite under certain moral criteria? hat we are all equally under sin. That God loves the world. That Jesus' death and resurrection reveals God's saving intentions for everyone? That participating with Jesus in the healing and redemption of the world is a faith-initiated task that leads to alternative ways of life? That Christians have the responsibility to steward counter- culturally. That the church's mission is for the poor to be made rich, the hungry to be filled, and the captive released? We are Jubilee workers, kingdom builders, mustard seed planters.God requires our participation in the global enterprise to renew the face of the earth, because love requires a lover and a beloved in a living union of purpose. We are in covenant with God. And it is with God's grace and power that we are free to love by our actions. We have a moral calling to love and heal the world, to provide for the least, and to share what God has given. And we must advocate. We must speak the truth to power. So, thanks Michael Moore for doing what Christians are called to do.

Patrick's poem from my daily prayer book

"I sing as I arise today!
I call on my creator's might;
the will of God to be my guide,
the eye of God to be my sight,
the Word of God to be my speech,
the hand of God to be my stay,
the shield of God to be my strength,
the path of God to be my way. Amen." ---St. Patrick

daily desert

I received a new devotional book in the mail. It's a compilation of wisdom from the desert fathers, monastics and ascetics from the early centuries of the church. I think the reading for today is appropriate given the last post from this morning:

Proverbs 25:6-7: "Do not put yourself forward in the king's preence or stand in th place of the great; for it is better to be told, "Come up here," than to be put lower in the presence of a noble."

"A brother asked Poemen, "How should I conduct myself in the place where I live?" Poemen answered, "Be as careful as a stranger, and wherever you are, do not expect the things you say to be taken seriously. Do this and you will discover peace."

I was a stranger and you welcomed me.

I am not comfortable entering an unfamiliar place and explaining myself. Yesterday, I stopped in to the pottery shop down the street to introduce myself. I felt like a fish out of water, like I wasn't wearing clothes. And all I wanted to do was meet them. Its hard to meet people, to face them with nothing to sell or buy. People want a good reason for you to come.
I did ask a couple of good questions. She and her family have lived in Akron for 40 years. She teaches ceramics, works with kids,and is open to working with small groups. I'd love to get more involved with throwing pottery. Actually, I'd love to commission a communion set---a chalice and small bread plate, maybe a pitcher too. Nice to use indigenous materials, local artists.
Apparently there is not much art happening locally. I wonder about plugging into her work as an event for young adults...
Often when we read that Jesus was a stranger that we welcomed, we are thinking about our hospitality toward others. But what if we, Jesus' sent ones, were meant to embody the way of the stranger. What I mean is, what if we are called to place ourselves in the position of the stranger in search of hospitality? What if we are supposed to be the one who feel uncomfortable in our own skin? Being incarnational means becoming a stranger. Only by becoming a stranger can you become a friend or a messenger or a servant. Missional life is initiated by our willingness to be a stranger in a strange land, a foreigner, a resident alien (as Stanley Hauerwas said). I hope to actively engage in this mission to be the stranger in the room. What might come of it? I believe there is great potential in doing so, in engaging people where they are. It is the stranger whose intent is love that reveals the resurrected Jesus. So, go and be a stranger somewhere. but be a stranger with compassion or with joy or with peace or with grace in your heart and speech and actions. See what that feels like and how God is present to you through it.

Derek Webb and "One Zero"

I bought a CD the other day at a Christian bookstore. I rarely go in there. And I hardly ever listen to "Christian" music. I prefer to listen to excellent music and, if the people making it happen to be influenced by their faith in Jesus, even better. Nonetheless, I bought "One Zero" an acoustic set by Derek Webb of the band "Caedmon's call". I love his blend of chords and thoughtful lyrics.
"Take to the World" strikes me as the perfect missional anthem. These are the lyrics:

"Go in peace to love and to serve
And let your ears ring long with what you have heard
And may the bread on your tongue leave a trail of crumbs
To lead the hungry back to the place that you are from

And take to the world this love, this hope and faith
Take to the world this rare relentless grace
And like the three in one
Know you must become what you want to save
'Cause that's still the way
He takes to the world

Go and go far take light deep in the dark
Believe what's true use it as all, even you
May the bread on your tongue leave a trail of crumbs
To lead the hungry back to the place you are from

missio dei

What is God up to? I believe its a bigger project than keeping small, self-serving congregations afloat. Call it the in-breaking of the Kingdom, or the righteousness of God received by faith, or the dream/vision of a new creation--God has begun a global project to reach humanity and invite us to participate with Jesus in the reclamation of all that belongs to God. Big project. Likely not through one denomination or expression of Christianity. Likely carried out in subtle, hidden, incarnational expressions of love. Like a man starting a neigbor's lawnmower because her husband is gone and she can't start it. Like an hour on the phone with a woman sobbing because of the nastiness of the custody hearing. Like an hour with 3rd graders doing math and a half-day moving a friend from the old house to the new one. Like a simple gift brought to the new young family, less than 24-hours after the baby is born.
The missio dei is a way of life. It is how we live together, how we respond to God's love and grace and how we show that same love and grace to our neighbors. It is forgiveness, praying for enemies, non-violent truth-telling, patient endurance in suffering, rejoicing and mourning, comforting and encouraging. It is to have a deep hope in the God who raised Jesus from the dead--that life is eternal, and God's love is stronger than death.
I hear and read alot about the mission of God. But I wonder how many of us are trying to practice living in it, being a part of it.
May God's ways consume you and become your ways. May you have the mind of Christ. May you live with Jesus and become like Him in his death and resurrection. May you declare in word and deed that the Kingdom of God is at hand!

ONE Campaign

On Sunday, Nov. 11 at 9:15 we will watch a presentation on the ONE campaign and the Millenium deveopment goals. We will write an offering of letters to send to our U.S. senators. We will sign the declaration and distribute wrist bands. For more information on the ONE campaign to make poverty history, click on the link to the right.

theology

"Theology is the study of God and his ways. For all we know, dung beetles may study man and his ways and call it humanology. If so, we would probably be more touched and amused than irritated. One hopes that God feels likewise." --Frederick Buechner

3 year-old questions

How can we hear Jesus? Where is God? How is Jesus God? Is David good or bad? Why does he hurt people? Why do wolves eat sheep? can I have a yogurt drink? Why not? But I didn't have one today. Can I have a yogurt drink? Why not? What time is it? Is this the last meal of the day? Why? Why is it getting dark so soon? Why is the moon only a sliver moon tonight? Can I stay up late and watch a movie? can I watch Diego? Can I play Geo Trax? Can I have a yogurt drink? Can I have a snack? is it a bath night? Is it a hair night? can I watch a show? Are we going somewhere today? Can we go to the park? is this breakfast or...? Can we snuggle in your bed? Can I just play with my friends in my room? can we go see Andrew? Why not? Can we go see if Katrina and Amy can play? Can I have a yogurt drink? Or a drink of water? Can I have PB & J? can I have a yogurt drink?

Apple gleaning and CROP walk

Saturday is Apple gleaning day. We leave Zion at 8:00 am for Sycamore Spring orchard in Lebanon. We pick apples for a few hours, which are donated to local food banks. Join us by showing up at Zion by 7:45 am.
Sunday at 1:15 pm we will enjoy the annual CROP walk. We leave from Ephrata Church of the brethren. It's a 3 mile walk around Ephrata neighborhoods. Join us by emailing me. Bring donations to add to the team envelope.

God's Word in Worship October 21, 2007

These are the four Scripture passages for Pentecost 21 2007:
Genesis 32:22-31; "You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel for you have strive with God and with humand and have prevailed." God's people struggle to be faithful.

Psalm 121: "My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth."

2 timothy 3:14-4:5 We bear God's message, even when that message is unpopular.

Gospel: Luke 18:1-8 Being faithful means to persist in our quest for justice on behalf of those without a voice. Prayer is our cry to God for justice and mercy. We are called to pray without ceasing, to pray constantly. What happens when we pray? Whose will is changed? How does God hear and respond? Does prayer change God?

Joel

Joel Osteen is the leader of Lakewood church, the largest megachurch in the country. he became "pastor" 8 years ago when his father died. He has no seminary training, no theological education outside of his own internal learning, mainly from his father. He writes and sells books. He spends four days a week preparing his message for the weekend. He does 20 or so large venue speaking engagements in a year. He is on television weekly reaching a huge audience. He makes people feel good about themselves. He teaches people that God is good and is on their side, desiring for them the best life has to offer--prosperity, joy, health. His wife is co-pastor and the rest of his family also benefit from the 70 million dollars in income the church receives annually, not to mention his book royalties. But since his book sales have gone so well, he has not taken his $170,000 annual salary from Lakewood. Wow. I wonder how his annual salary stacks up to that of an average parishioner? Is he a celebrity? Absolutely. He is a religious celebrity who confirms the great American sins of wealth,pride, and self-focus.

Joel: "If Jesus were here today, he wouldn't be riding around on a donkey. He'd be taking a plane, he'd be using the media."

My Response: One: Jesus is here today. Unless you don't accept the word of Jesus, "I am with you always, to the close of the age," from Matthew 28 as somehow true. Jesus is present in the Word and Sacraments. For 2,000 years Christians have believed and affirmed this spiritual reality. Why can megachurch leaders reject this claim and get away with it? Two: Wasn't Jesus poor? Wasn't His life that of a servant who suffers? How do poor, back country folk get to "use the media?" Jesus told stories to poor 1st century, oppressed Jews and gentiles.

Joel: "You may make some mistakes-but that doesn't make you a sinner. You've got the very nature of God on the inside of you."

My response: Didn't St. Paul deal with this self-righteous talk that denied sin? "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." (Romans 3) If we are unable to call a thing what it is, to be straight about the hunman condition, then we are not following Jesus. The full affect of Jesus' death on the cross cannot be received by self-righteous people who need no forgiveness. To deny sin is to deny the power of the cross. "At the right time Christ died for the ungodly." According to Joel, no one is ungodly enough to need Jesus. You have what you need to be the kind of eprson God made you to be is a denial of the basic tenets of biblical faith. We are not God. We think we are. Original sin is not 'making mistakes". It is a rejection of the one true GOD in favor of the god of the self or self-made gods--like wealth or personal happiness. To rejec the power of sin is to deny the power of the cross. To do so is not Christian. It is anti-Christian and heresy. But in our culture it isn't fair to judge the "good guys", is it?

Joel: "To me, we're marketing hope."
My response: Ah, yes. I agree that people need a true sense of hope in which to cling. "My hope comes from the Lord,the maker of heaven and earth," says the psalmist. Joel's hope comes from some shiny happy place in which you convince yourself everyday that today is better than yesterday. His hope is an internal mechanism that we need to access or turn on like a light switch. He sas that our words, our declarations have the power of move God. Again, making God in our own image with outr own thoughts. Is that hope or a private wish? Real Hope comes from outside ourselves. It comes from the Lord of the resurrection.
But he is marketing something. He is selling himself! Shouldn't he give it to people for free? Shouldn't his books be free? Shouldn't his speaking engagements be free? he's marketing himself in a free market that loves to buy crap
.
Joel:"I think Bible principles are principles for life."
My response: The Bible is not a how-to book for living a better life. How do evangelical fundamentalists get this wrong? The bible is not about me or you and how to behave. The bible is God's self revelation, in which we discover: 1. God is real. 2. we cannot live God's way. 3. Jesus lives God's way. 4. We join Jesus through Baptism into a community of faith. 5. We receive, by the power of the Holy Spirit, faith. 6. Faith invites us to live the way of Jesus. 7. This way is sacrificial, weak, and focused on the needs of the other. It is self-less. This way is the way of humility and poverty, not glory and riches. The Bible is about GOD, not about you. We depend on God for life, for rescue from ourselves, for faith, for strength, for the gifts to make the world better.
Joel: "God wants us to prosper financially, to have plenty of money, to fulfill the destiny He has laid out for us."
My response: "Woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation." Blessed are you poor, for yours is the Kingdom of heaven."--Jesus Christ. Luke 4: 24 and 20. God's justice regards the poor and the hungry as worthy. Rather than obtaining more for myself, God wants all people to have enough. We ought not to rest in our comforts until all are fed, clothed, housed, properly medicated, educated, treated fairly, etc... Again, if its all about you, how can you serve in God's kingdom to bring justice to bear for all God's children?

Joel Osteen has a large cult following. His is, like many megachurch cultures, a personality cult. It is all about Joel. Joel's message, Joel's book, Joel's smily charisma. Joel's charm.
A professor at Westminster seminary said that his messages basically are: "God is nice. You are nice. Be nice." The media has been interviewing him again this week in anticipation of his next book, "Becoming a better you." A follow-up to his bestseller, "Your best life now," it will be filled with more of the same simple platitudes for being a good person with a good attitude in life.
He can't respond to pain, suffering, crisis because he doesn't know Jesus.
You know, I'm tired of these evangelical preachers and their cult followings offering up a message that is NOT Christocentric. The theology of the self fits perfect in our self-focused culture. It reinforces the "me drive" that guides our culture. His books are self-help books,in the vain of Dr. Phil or any other self-help guru. (I prefer Dr. Phil. At least he's not selling his life-coaching as the Christian gospel).
I know that the theology of the cross, in which Jesus is the center of our knowing God and the lense by which we see ourselves, is unpopular in our culture. "The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing." To perish is to be so self-focused on your own life today that you see little beyond yourself. To perish is to expect that God is working for you, that God is on your side. Shouldn't we be on God's side? What if you hear that God is on your side, God is for you (Joel's message), and then you commit evil? Is God for evil, then?
Joel Osteen is teaching "good" news because the news he teaches is the news people want to hear. It sounds good, because we want our lives to be confirmed, justified, blessed by God. We don't want to have to change. We want to be content as we are. I'm okay, you're okay. Right?
What about: God is God. I am not. What I am not, Jesus is. What Jesus is, I am by faith. It is a gift of God that I am what I am. In response to this gift, I am set free to love the neigbor. I can only do this in a community of others living by faith. Therefore, the "I" of faith must become the "we" of church in order to live the way of the cross. This way is love. Love is always for the other. Love is the fulfillment of law. Perfect love casts out fear. Jesus affirmed these commands: Love God, love your neighbor as yourself. Love one another as Christ has loved you. Love your enemies. This love is sacrificial and involves humbly serving, laying down your life. That is the way of the cross. The way of the cross demonstrates God's love for the world. Undeservedly, God loves us. Why? Because love is the best way.

I long to get this message out. But I don't have a book deal or a multimedia center or a tv show. I have this blog and a few dozen people on Sundays in a little community in Akron, PA. And that will likely be all for me. I need to become content with that. I will not be on 20/20 or Larry king or some other show. I will not wear a nice suit and smile in front of 30,000 adoring fans. I will follow Jesus. Which means that I will figure less. "He must increase, I must decrease," said the first witness in the Gospel of John, John the Baptist. That is also the way of the cross. To point to Jesus is to point away from yourself. To direct others to Jesus' way is to send, not accumulate. To give, not receive. To serve, not to be served.

the grass

This is an excerpt from a book I'm reading about Benedictine monks and hospitality. The book is by Homan and Pratt, called "Radical Hospitality: Benedict's way of love." This kind of hospitality is exemplified in the story I want to share.

"Father Noel and Father Dan were taking a walk on the monastery grounds one day. It was the kind of day made for a walk with a friend. A group of eleven- and twelve-year olds from an institution for troubled children were on a tour of the monastery. They had arrived by hay wagon, pulled by horses with a couple of young drivers, probably in their late teens. Acres of rolling grass invite you to stretch out on a sultry summer day and enjoy the soft grass and warm earth. The monastery grounds are well groomed, but the place doesn't feel like an institution...The two monks were enjoying one of those warm days of late summer. Guests were not as common in those days, but when they showed up they were welcome. Occupied in conversation, Father Dan did not notice the hay wagon drivers until they came within a few yards. "I was stopped in my tracks," he remembers. "Right there on the yard in front of us, the two wagon drivers were passing a joint back and forth, looking completely at home, as if this was the most natural thing to do at a monastery. In case you're wondering, it isn't." Father Noel, born in Italy and a monk all of his adult life, had never seen marijuana. he was not a naive or stupid man; such a thing simply was not part of his experience. Father Dan was a street-smart kid raised in Detroit. Before he could demand an explanation, Father Noel spoke up.
"Young men," he exclaimed with wide-armed relish, "we are so glad that you are with us today to enjoy the grass."
What if Christian communities were like that? Can it not be transformative to receive grace, when you know full well you are doing something wrong? What the world needs is more grace. More grace. A generous welcome. An outstretched hand. Radical hospitality that crosses barriers. Grass.

its a boy, again

Yesterday, Cherie and I went to the Dr. for an ultrasound to determine, among other things, the sex of baby #3. We were hoping for a girl this time.
On my way to pick Cherie up I thought about changing my shirt, makng my id as pastor less conspicuous. I was wearing a black clerical shirt. Sometimes wearing it to the hospital makes you the local chaplain on call.
We arrived on time for the appointment. On the way in I was stopped by a woman in tears who asked me if I was a minister and if I could come immediately and pray with her daughter and son-in-law, who received bad news. In an ultrasound at 16 weeks, they were told the fetus died. They were devastated. They were there to find out the sex of the baby.
I told her that I was there with my wife for the same reasonand would find them after we were done.
When we came out, they were gone. For us, the perspective quickly evolved from caring about the sex of the baby to the health and vitality of our baby.
I don't know why encounters happen when and how they do. It was not a foregone conclusion that I would be called upon just because I was in uniform, but I was.
I took their names. I can pray for them, maybe I can find them...Are they believers? And what consolation can be offered parents of such a loss? We lost a baby at 16 weeks once. It was hard. Should I have left Cherie to minister to them? What if that experience opened them for a Word from God that they hadn't been open to before? What if I had missed our ultrasound to minister to them? Will God reach them, comfort them, love them in some other way? I have good guilt about this. It will motivate me to seek them out. How many others are facing this kind of crisis without a community of hope, faith, and love surrounding them? I suspect many.
We're having another boy.

via vita/way of life

What is the via vita? For the Christian it consists in a devotion to the ways of Jesus and His disciples. Christians are called to live a new life, a way of life consistent with the life of Jesus and His Spirit-filled followers. What does that life look like?
The Acts community, as it emerged in the 1st century, was a community of Baptized believers. They were converted by the gospel message through the bold proclamation of the Apostles.
The emergent community devoted themselves to the apostles' teachign and fellowship, the breaking of bread, and prayers.
Today, in postmodernity, in a post-Christian or non-Christian context, how do we get apostolic? And how do we encourage devotion to these four spiritual habits?
We eat together, sharing what we have. We pray and listen.
Taking a benedictine approach to these habits, we will begin lectio continua. We will also pray a psalm, the Lord's prayer, and intercessory prayer. But the center of the fellowship will be a meal. Potluck. Or eat out.
The life of Jesus, as embodied by the community, is an inclusive, compassionate, mission-driven life focused on meeting the complete needs of the other. Healing, forgiving, walking with, loving, laughing with, sharing, inviting, encouraging, and giving are consistent with the ministry of Jesus. So is rebuking and rejecting evil, speaking truth to power, advocating for the child and the widow.
A Christian community seeks to embody this via vita in the midst of a host community largely unfamiliar with this way. It is often counter cultural, even as it understands and speaks the language of the culture.
How does one engage a community in the via vita? Personal invitation.
On that note, I have to go.