My New Year's resolution

I don't make new year's resolutions. Ever. I suck at keeping them anyway, like most of us. Undisciplined as I am, making a resolution is tantamount to making a promise I cannot keep. Why can't I keep simple promises, like to exercise or to pray or to read more or watch less tv, or eat less junk food or make less waste? These are simple things. But I realize that I have not changed my habits in recent years. I am the same I was last year in so many ways. My bad habits have not been replaced by good ones. I have not ben faithful to my good habits. I'm a mess. "The good I want to do I do not do and the evil I do not want to do, I do." Paul had me pegged. Or us pegged. I'm stuck in a way of life that is not consistent with the way of GOD revealed to us by Jesus. I can't do it. I can talk about it. Invite others into it. But I can't practice it with real heart and guts. If God is the potter and I am the clay, God's got some work to do.
It reminds me of how unfair the God of the Old Testament prophets can be. Why didn't God get that he created people who would break covenant with HIM? God may have been relatively clear about His expectations for holiness, i.e., the whole book of the law thing. But I guess God's love for us clouded His ability to understand why we would continue to disappoint. I'm not blaming God for sin and its consequences. That's on us. But why didn't GOD know that we would break promises? If God did know, then God also knew that Jesus was going to redeem us. Jesus was God's rescue plan from the beginning. The entire biblical worldview rests on the claim of the incarnation, then. GOD dwelling in flesh to redeem humanity and save us from sin.
I can live in response to the incarnation. God is dwelling with us, in us, for us.

So, in response I would like to suggest that this blog become a source of connection between us and GOD's incarnate Word. Resolved, that this blog be a sign of God's Word manifest in human flesh.

So I will include several new features in 2009. I weekly reflection. A weekly spiritual reading from ancient texts. A weekly mission guide.

See you in 2009.

Peter's Porch in December

December 20th at 7:30 am we will open our doors again as "Peter's Porch" community center. Our clothing room is full again. Our food room has received a generous gift in order to restock the shelves. Our people are making ready for the simple breakfast.
We are making Chirst known simply by opening our doors and offering free gifts of food, clothing, and personal connection. In the last hour last month, Joanna met a young woman who came to Peter's porch for clothing. We actually took down her name and size information to share with the congregation. People went and bought new clothes for this family!
last month, three young adults of Asian descent came to Peter's Porch. I found out yesterday from Pastor Tom, of Akron Church of the Brethren, that they are refugees from Nepal living across the street! Tom said they need essentials, like linens and towels. And they would like a computer and a guitar.
I'm beginning to feel like Joseph from Genesis; a steward of resources for the mission of the gospel! And so many folks are responding faithfully by giving generously. I hope it continues in February and March. I may suggest that the church calendar and the life of Jesus inspire endless opportunity to give.
If you are interested in partnering with us, donating any gift, we will locate a family who might benefit from it.

McLaren's Narrative reorientation

Mars Hill Which Story Do We Live In Brian Mclaren Pdf

From: markbradford,
3 months ago

Mars Hill Which Story Do We Live In Brian Mclaren Pdf

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Acts 10

Last week I was asked a question I could not answer. I was asked what changes I have resisted. I don't think of myself as a person who is resistant to change. I think of myself as a pretty open and flexible guy. But then I started wondering what changes have taken place in my life in recent weeks, months, and years. Three children in 5 years. The call to Zion. Visiting people in prison. These are significant changes. I think I have adapted, but mainly because they were welcome changes---changes that I embraced and even initiated. It is hard for me to think about a change or trnasition that occurred in my life that I have resisted because I have not faced much change that has forced me out of the comfort of my own embedded way of life. As I write I am beginning to hear an internal voice tell me the truth, though. I have been sent to people in this community who are struggling and i have only scratched the surface of that ministry. I should be in the homes of neighbors every week. And there are weeks that go by that I manage to avoid visiting strangers, visiting prisoners, visiting anyone. I avoid new encounters with people. I put people off in order to do safer things, like plan bible discussions, write sermons, or prepare for worship. These are important things, too, I tell myself. But we have neighbors who are suffering. I know it.
Peter's encounter with Cornelius is one of my favorite stories in the new testament. Cornelius is a soldier and a religious man. He is envisioning an encounter with an angel, perhaps as he recalls to mind a particular biblical story. The angel speaks and he listens and resonds obediently, without question and without full knowledge as to the meaning of the vision.
Peter is reluctant, on the fence, a little reticent about what God has been showing him. He has begun to conect with gentiles and is questioning in his heart whether or not it is safe, culturally and religiously, to be in relationship with them. He is confused. is he a devout Jew, obedient to the law, or is he a lover of all people in the manner of Jesus? His discipleship and his embedded socio-religious culture are in conflict.
Cornelius is a God-fearing gentile, a devout man. And he is open to receiving a word from a man sent by God. He is open to the possibility that God might speak to him through a meeting with a stranger. He is welcoming and eager to hear the words of the prophet apostle.
Peter does not understand the vision he receives that compels him to eat uncooked flesh of creatures he does not consider food. His religious sensibilities and his cultural ethnic sensitivities are challenged by this vision to eat snakes and birds. Three times he rejects this vision of food that is not edible. Three times he denied Jesus on the night of betrayal. Peter is resistant to this vision, even though he has fasted and is hungry. Yuck. Food becomes a great metaphor for things that repulse us that are actually acceptable to others. What is repulsive to me that is an embedded part of someone else's culture and life?
Peter is so on the fence about all of this that he doesn't obey the Spirit and go with the three soldiers sent to collect him. He becomes their host before he will become their prisoner. Now they come in peace, but they are Roman soldiers sent to take him to Caesarea, a Roman base. Peter invites them in partly out of a cultural requirement to provide hospitality, partly in response to the story of Abraham and the three strangers from Genesis 18. But perhaps he invites them in to ingratiate the men. They will be less likely to mistreat him if he has shown them respect and hospitality. He does not trust the word from the Spirit telling him that he is to go with them without hesitation.
When he does go and is received by Cornelius' household, Peter asks why he sent for him? It is not enough that the Spirit sent Peter. Peter wants to know what is in it for Cornelius. Peter tells them that he is breaking his own cultural and religious rules by being there; but he also tells them that God has shown him to call no one profane or unclean. Peter is living in a kind of ambiguity here. Is he a lawful Jew or is he obedient to God? Are the two mutually exclusive at this point? What does it mean to have God challenge your convictions about GOD? Is God contradicting God's law? Is God changing the rules?
What rules do we live by that God might be challenging? What is the "food" I am refusing to ingest,but God is inviting me to eat? Who is profane that God is sending me to meet?

Acts 9

Saul was not a bad man. He was blind. But he was not bad. He was dangerous. He was angry. He was serious. He was threatened. He was defending ancient territory. He was fighting the good fight. He was being faithful to what he knew to be the truth. He was unable to recognize the relationship between the faith-confessions and ministry of this emerging group and his own God-inspired hopes and dreams for the world and His people. He was ready to do whatever it took to shut down this emerging movement of "Christians" who were distorting prophecy and the law. He was eager to partner with other leaders in his religion who held a common interest. he even had orders from the High Priest on this matter.
Then he meets Jesus. Saul sees and hears Him, this crucified "messiah". And the movement,the group, the church he intended to destroy becomes personal. Jesus himself is being persecuted by Saul. There is a human face and voice of suffering attached to the work Saul was doing. Jesus. When people stand in opposition to the Holy Spirit's mysterious work in the lives of people and communities, they stand in opposition to Jesus. When people in the religious institution, seeking to maintain order and control, oppose the powerful and inspired mission of disciples, they oppose Jesus.
Saul is not a bad man. He just didn't see, he just dodn't know what he was doing. He had no idea that he was hurting the ones God loves. He didnt know that he was rejecting the Son of God.
Saul's conversion is a process that happens in people. This process is not prescriptive, but descriptive. And it describes the way to faith in Jesus for those who are religious and resistant. I know some church people who are like this.
1. Faith is a gift that allows one to see GOD for who GOd truly is--- and not as we make, think, or conjure a god of our own choosing and liking. 2. No one is beyond the capacity to receive faithful sight. But the gift of such sight is not something we have to give. We can live it, but not give it. Only Jesus gives the gift of faithful sight. 3. Faithful sight requires an ackowledgment of one's spiritual blindness. One has to recognize one's own blindness in order to receive the gift. Saul was "forced" to face his spiritual blindness by experiencing literal blindness. He was forced to depend on others in order to gain the faith perspective. 4. God's gifts come to us thorugh means--Word, Sacrament, communiion of the saints. For Saul, God sent Ananias to remove his blindness. Ananias trusts God despite his fear and the risk he associated with Saul. His willingness to go was a sign to Saul of this new faith that comes through Jesus. Followers of Jesus take risks in order to share their faith. The result is the bearing of unexpected fruit.
Disciple-making is a process. It is relational and requires self-examiniation, truth-telling, trust-building, and an radical openness to God and the other. Saul was an unlikely missionary, except that he was exactly the one Jesus needed to send to gentiles. More on that next week...

the homeless--

I was at a meeting yesterday with a couple of local clergy talking about expanding the winter emergency shelter program to Ephrata/Akron. The winter shelter program was initiated in the city last year. Churches, in connection with Lancaster Co. council of churches and the drop-in center located at Water St. rescue mission, host as many as forty people in their church building for a week. They provide overnight shelter, cots and blankets, for people who receive a voucher from the drop-in center. Most beds, most weeks are pretty full. But I've never been.
As we think about expanding this program to provcide shelter for unsheltered homeless people, we realized something significant. I don't know who these people are. I don't know any unsheltered homeless people. I know a couple of sheltered homeless---people living in someone else's house or apartment---domestic refugees, without their own home, living in the graces of some friend or family member temporarily. But I don't know any unsheltered homeless people. Where do they sleep? How do they eat? Before I help to initiate a "program" I should know a person. Because isn't homelessness another one of those issues that we treat objectively, rather than relationally? I believe it is so for a couple of reasons. People with homes do not concern themselves with people who do not. We live in different worlds and cultures for the most part. And we culturally isolate the poorest of the poor and the homeless. Also, if some of us knew homeless people, they wouldn't stay homeless. We would have to make room somehow. That is the real issue. Can we make room in our lives for someone who needs food, clothing, shelter, the basics? Can we make room in our hearts for such a one? I'll be accused of being a typical bleeding heart liberal. Home ownership is not a right, I know. This economy has taught us all that lesson. But dwelling in safety, especially in cold months when exposure becomes life threatening, is a human right. Some of us treat our pets better that that. And really the relational piece is about Jesus, isn't it? To know a homeless poor person is to know Jesus face-to-face. So, my next task is to seek out and meet an unsheltered homeless person. I may need some help to do this. I will also spend a night at one of the winter shelter churches in Lancaster city before Christmas. Anyone like to join me?

reading from the sermons of St. John Chrysostom

Do not adorn the temple while scorning your afflicted brothers and sisters.
"Do you want to honor Christ' body? Then do not scorn him naked now, honoring him here in church with silk vestments but neglecting him out there where he is cold and naked. He who said, "This is my body," also said, "You saw me hungry and did not feed me." The deed we do here in church requires a pure heart, not splendid vestments; but the deed we do out there requires great concern and effort.
Let us become wise, then, and honor Christ as he wishes. The sweetest honor for anyone is the honor he really wants, not the honor others may mistakenly choose to give him. Peter thought to honor Christ by refusing to let him wash his feet; yet to Chris the refusal was anything but an honor. Show him, then, the honor his commandment requires by giving your riches to the poor. God does not want gold vessels but gold hearts.
I am not trying to prevent you from using gorgeous vestments but only asking you also, and first, to give alms. The Lord accepts the ornaments, but he is much more eager for the alms. Only the offerer profits by the adornments; both the giver and the receiver profit by the alms.
What use is it for Christ to have golden cups on the table if he is dying of hunger? First fill the hungry person; then adorn the table with what is leftover. Will you provide a cup of gold and not give a cup of water? What good is it to Christ to have a gold tablecloth when he has no clothes by which to be covered? If you see a man hungry and you abandon him in order to deck the altar with gold for his sake, do you expect him to be grateful to you? If you see people freezing in rags and refuse them clothes but erect golden columns in their names what response do you expect/ Will they not think you are making fools of them?
Think, then, how Christ feels as he wanders homeless. You do not give him a roof, but you build a glorious temple for him! Once again, I am not attacking all these adornments; I am only bidding you to put first things first. No one who has failed to adorn churches has ever been accused by the Lord, but hell awaits those who scorn a brother or sister in need. A brother or sister is a far more precious temple that a church."

Obama elected president.

On November 4, the United States elected a new President, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois. His inspiring grassrootscamapign, his thoughtful approach to American politics, and his connection with hurting Americans gave him the white house. This is a major change in American life. It is a signn of the change that has already come and is still coming. We are experiencing a season of revolutionary change in our culture, way of life,politics and economics. A new generation of Americans is coming of age and asking questions and seeking to lead. Does the election indicate that younger Americans are ready to be given a voice of authority in public matters and discourse?
I know some Americans are grieving as a result of this election.Obama's task is going to be to reach out to them and unify Americans with a common mission, a common vision, and some common tasks that will transcend party politics and the old labels of conservative or liberal. I suspect obama has the capacity to do these things, if he surrounds himself with the right people and he continues to cast a vision, to embody a dream or a hope for America.
from the perspective of the church, I believe this is a time in American life when we may be able to open dialogue for change that addresses the serious injustices of our society; everything from war to health care, poverty to environmental stewardship is on the table and part of political life right now. I hope we take the opportunity to advocate boldly and with compassion for those who have suffered and continue to suffer from the injustice of broken systems that oppress and kill the spirit of people. And I hope we as a church take a public stand to unite against the degradation of creation and the inhumane treatment of people, especially children in poverty. I believe that a church of integrity is needed today---one that speaks and acts in ways that are consistent with itself and its textual commitments. We are invited to live the way of Jesus and honor God in word and deed. That consistency has not been present in much of the institution. we talk a good talkbut fail to act. Or we act in accord with the mission but fail to speak or interpret that action vis a vis the reign of God and the presence of the Holy Spirit. We have to name the spiritual work as it is being done in and out of the church and we have to act in concert with those people who are embodying the very mission to which we are called.
Our local elementary school is asking us to increase our capacity to love our neighbors and to embrace local families who are in need of God;s compassionate justice. Will we be that church? or will we fix the roof? can we do both?
These questions transcend our tribaland institutional realities. This is a new day economically, politically, and spiritually in the U.S. I believe President Obama can navigate this unfamiliar terrain with the help of open-minded, postmodern thinkers, who are willing to transcend divisive dualisms to engage at a higher level of discourse on pertinent issuesin order to come to a new consensus and a new strategy for life in America.

Blessed be God
Blessed be God's holy name
Blessed be Jesus Christ true God and true man
Blessed be the name of Jesus
Blessed be his most sacred heart
Blessed be his precious blood
Blessed be Jesus in the most holy sacrament of the altar
Blessed be the Holy Spirit, the consoler
Blessed be Mary the mother of God
Blessed be Joseph her most chaste spouse
Blessed be God in his angels and in his saints
Blessed be God in the hearts of his faithful people
--Anonymous

Jesus wants to save Christians

Jesus Wants to Save Christians is a new book by Rob Bell and Don Golden worth reading, but only if you are willing to be challenged by the biblical narrative in the way that St. Stephen challenged the dominant religious interpreters of that narrative in his day. The link goes to a blog devoted to a virtual reality game connected to the themes of the book. You may also listen to the authors read their book by clicking on the link in my 'links' sidebar.
This book deals with the dominant narrative of empire and power, how Christendom was coppted by this narrative, how we are being called out of that narrative to more fully and deeply embrace the alternative narrative of the God found in the Bible; both old and new testaments. if you've read Walter Brueggeman or N.T. Wright, among other biblical scholars of the late modern, postmodern age you will resonate with the simple scholarship of Jesus Wants to Save Christians.
Warning: if you are satisfied with Christianity as it is, as you've known it in your own personal and corporate faith life, then maybe this book is not for you. Hey, that's okay. I'm not being judgmental or critical of you. I'm protecting you, I think. And if you ar in this camp, you are probabl thinking, "Who is he, I don't need protecting. What harm could this little book cause? besides, I'm not an idiot. I can think for myself." You are right. And if you want to read it, be my guest. But don't say you weren't warned.

Acts 8

The dispersion of the apostles' ministry from Jerusalem to the "ends of the earth" is the result of a persecution against them in the holy city. When they are no longer welcome there, they take their message and their ministry to other places.

The first story about the mission beyond the walls of Jerusalem is the story of Philip in Samaria. Samaria is the location of that ethnic/religious group that had been overrun by Assyrians in the 8th century BC and diversified through inter- marriage. Jews and Samaritans were bitter cousins, who avoided each other. Samaria had its own religious capital and its own sites of worship. They were not Jerusalem temple-goers and so they were despised. Philip finds himself there first. And he finds an eager crowd ready to receive good news, submit to Holy Baptism as a sign of their repentence and conversion, and be healed by the compassionate touch of Jesus. Philip drove out demons and healed the sick, ostensibly carrying out the pre-passion ministry of Jesus. A magician named Simon becomes a baptized believer too.
Next, Peter and John come to Samaria. Imagine their surprise and excitement. If they are rejected by the Jewish establishment in Jerusalem, maybe they are being embraced and welcomed by Samaria. Jesus, after all, told that story about the man who fell among robbers, was robebd ans beaten on the Jericho road. When the Jerusalem pries and temple worker passed by they showed no mercy. But the Samaritan, Jesus said, was the merciful neighbor. In that passage Jesus was shockingly revealing that neighbor love means to cross border and boundaries to embrace the stranger and the enemy. And Jesus had a conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well, offering her living water. And now, Philip will offer them living water too. And they will receive it! The Samaritans were embracing the gospel message.
There is a curious scene in Acts 8 in which we are told that the baptized Samaritans had not yet received the Holy Spirit. So Peter and John are summoned from Jerusalem to confirm this new community of believers. By laying on hands a little pentecost experience occurs in which the power of the Holy Spirit comes to the baptized Samaritans.
What is happening here? Is baptism, as the reception of the whole Christ event into one's own body, and the gift of the Holy Spirit two separate experiences in Acts 8? Is it possible that people may be baptized into Christ, thereby receiving the gift and benefit of his resurrection life, who do not yet have the gift of the Holy Spirit? Or do Peter and John acknowledge for them the presence of the Holy Spirit through laying on of hands. Does the Spirit come to the Samaritans through their apostolic witness? Or are they confirming that the Holy Spirit is already at work in the baptized believers? In a Lutheran understanding, the Holy Spirit is the producer of faith in the hearts of people. Without the Holy Spirit we cannot believe or confess that Jesus the Christ is Lord and Savior. And we beleive that the Holy Spirit comes through the means of grace---God's Word and Sacraments. So hearing the Word, washing in the waters, eating and drinking, these are the sources by which the Holy Spirit comes to us. I affirm this truth. Apart from these means, how can we be assured that the Spirit is Holy? That what is happening in us is of the LORD?
And yet, I read Acts 8 and wonder if we might limit the Holy Spirit's power to come through apostolic blessing. Philip's Christ-like ministry is an incarnational witness to Jesus' divine life flowing in the disicples. He has Jesus' power. He is for them the messenger of the Word. And by hearing it, the Holy Spirit works through Philip's proclamation and ministry to create faith in their hearts. Peter and John, in the laying on of hands, confirm the gift of the Holy Spirit in the Samaritan believers. And this is a powerful moment for the church, because their ministry and community extends beyond the walls of normative Jewish tradition and practice. I'm wondering, to whom are we being sent? I long to become an evangelist like Philip, sharing the good news in word and deed with people who are not yet part of communion with Jesus. I do notice, however, that the initial mission is not to the unaffiliated. These Samaritans, I suspect, are practitioners of the law of Moses and part of the Abrahamic covenant community. Yet they are outcasts. Who are the faithful outcasts? The exiles? The lost sheep of the house of Luther? And how can we connect with them anew? Not to replenish congegation memberships, but to make disciples transformed by the amazing love and grace of Jesus...May I meet someone today in need of the Word and Sacraments. And may I boldly offer them in the name of Jesus.

Servant weekend--gleaning and painting

I love to share what God is doing with us! Its so awesome to see ordinary people become ordinary saints simply by doing God's will and following the example of Jesus. Jesus calls us to a kind of obedience, but only as a response to His obedience to God, revealing God's mercy and love for sinners by dying on a cross for our forgiveness. He has rescued us, setting us free from the shackles of sin and death. And as a result, we are called to a new obedience by faith.

Six of us from Zion joined nearly one hundred others at Sycamore Spring orchard to glean apples for two hours on Saturday. It rained a little, but it was warm enough. We picked apples off the ground---red delicious. It's amazing how many good apples would go to waste had we not been welcomed there to glean. May our efforts bring fresh fruit to many hungry and homeless people in central PA. We had fun as usual. I don;t know how many bushels or pounds of apples we gleaned, but we guessed that each of us had filled between 10 and 15 half bushel bags.
Thanks to David and Janet Chalfant, Jeff and Joanna Neikirk, and Shelly Trupe!

On Sunday night, 6 teens, Jeff and I painted the future "Peter's Porch clothing store" downstairs. We spent two hours and finished the painting. Tonight some guys will come and work on mounting clothing racks on walls. All of this preparation is to launch a simple ministry to open the church to the community. We will serve breakfast and give away stuff. Any stuff---clothes, blankets, household items...we want to be the church in action, serving and blessing our neighbors. I hope to offer a time of healing prayer for anyone who seeks it, too. I am so excited about November 22 and the launch of Peter's Porch. For this ocngregation, a seminal moment in walking the way of Jesus!

By the way, two weeks ago about 10 of us, including my two boys, walked the three mile CROP walk. I don't know how mucgh we raised locally for hunger, but we visibly expressed our Christian witness to walk with those who walk for food and water and shelter. May we find ways to join them, meet them, beffriend them, share with them, and in a sense become them in the servant love of Jesus.

Thank God for the gift of the Holy Spirit working in the lives of people to increase the love of God and the gracious justice of His Kingdom on earth.

Woe Pharisees, Woe! Luke 11:42-44.

"Woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, but you neglect justice and love of God; these eyou ought to have done, without neglecting the others. Woe to you Pharisees! for you love the best seats in the synagogue and salutations in the marketplaces. Woe to you! for you are like graves which are not seen, and men walk over them without knowing it."
Why is Jesus so hard on these guys? I mean, weren't there other bad guys to deal with--- swindlers, murderers, thieves, perpetrators of injustice.At least John the Baptist tried to reform the "bad guys"--- Roman soldiers, tax collectors, Herod. those guys were abusers of power that everyone could point fingers at. So why does Jesus strike out at the members of his own tribe? What was it about the religious elite, the scholars, the righteous exemplars of the faith that Jesus detested? he calls them unmarked graves that men unknowingly walk over. Essentially they are dishonorable dead men to Jesus. Are they, the most respected leaders in Jesus' community, so off the mark that Jesus is compelled to bite off their heads? What would Jesus say about me? I am an ordained Lutheran Pastor, part of the religious establishment. do I exude self-righteousness? I suspect that every religious person ought to repent in some way, because by nature of our being religious we have excluded people who are not. I have rejected people unawares. And I am sorry. I think the whole church needs to repent for the ways we have rejected people, because they do not conform to a religious standard. Strangely our religious standards have not likely been serious or spiritual enough. We've required an annual pledge, but not a commitment of the heart. We have sought a devotion to congregation but not to Christ. Our religious expectations have been too low to inspire anyone.
So, as I hear Jesus today in the gospel reading for Wednesday in pentecost 24, I repent. How can I become less like a Pharisee and more like Jesus?

Acts 7

Stephen's death by stoning is a poignant reminder that faithful proclamation will not always be received with joyful acclamation and acceptance. he is speaking to the synagogue of the freedmen. These are diaspora Jews, more likely non-ethnic Jews. And they were strict adherents to the law. Since they were visiting Jerusalem temple for customary reasons, its not a surprise that Stephen's anti-temple message resonates so sharply. Stephe essentially says that from the time of Abraham, Israel has been a refugee people, an enslaved people, and homeless population in the world. Their God, a refugee God on the road with them to rescue them and deliver them from the evil one. And yet, they always sought the status of other nations---settlement, property, kingly rule, temples, buildings, institutions. And these things are corruptible.
So Stephen uses the temple as an example of their rejection of the God who has been revealed in Jesus the Christ. Temple is not God's dwelling place. God is in Jesus and is found in the spiritual lives of His followers. For a Chirstian every place is sacred, evrey act is holy simply because Christ is present in and through the Holy Spirit who is active in the hearts of people who trust in Jesus as God's Word.
So Stepehen is killed for calling the temple an idol.
What about church has become an idol? The building? The governing structures? The instiutional hierarchy? The office of ministry? The budget? The congregation itself? A liturgy? Being religious can be a form of idolatry when it becomes that to which one is devoted. Christians are not devoted to a worship service or a building or a pastor or a budget. Christians are devoted to the gospel the story of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection.
So, how do Christians get stoned today? (I have some friends who might think that's funny..Christians getting stoned.) Who throws rocks at us? The more I get connected to the way of Jesus, the weirder my life becomes. I want to play video games with the Clark's and visit inmates in prison and find out where homeless people are so that I might hang out with them. I want to seek the one's whom Jesus loves and the one's in whose face Jesus reveals himself. It is not me. in the other, I will see my Lord. As for Stephen, he did see the Lord in the eyes of the one's stoning him, as he looks up he declares that he seess the son of man and the Father in heaven. As he looks up he prays that his executioners might be forgiven. It was in their faces that he saw Jesus. That's love.

MSC and the emerging paradigm

Europe Brings Insight Into Church Planting
Roger Ganzel

"American churches began to lose their connection with society in the late 1950’s. Prior to that society had regarded it “socially in” for one to belong to a church. But as we moved into the sixties there was something much larger occurring on the world scene, something that no one alive at that time had experienced before. We entered the transition from the over five hundred year Modern Age to the new Post-modern Age.

Unlike with the corporate world, this transition went nearly unnoticed in the church, now to our chagrin. Today the vast majority of our congregations are growing older, greyer and smaller. Over the next thirty to forty years the majority of them will likely disappear. For decades before this transition, however, attendance shrinkage was already part of the European church experience. This came about because their state church model had already grown more and more out of touch with society.

Whether churches in America or Europe can do anything to stave off the wolves depends on their ability to “get” and implement a significant reality: churches based on membership will not survive in the Post-modern Age. Both membership and denominations belong to the Modern Age and can no longer produce long range effectiveness. Effective congregations for Christ’s mission in the 21st Century will be organic systems of discipleship, similar to those seen in the 1st Century.

But a new wind is beginning to blow. In the more beleaguered churches of Europe we are now seeing a fresh insight into church planting. We see a new movement emerging that comes in a variety of expressions, congregations or networks made up of mid-sized communities, groups, identified as MSCs. A limited number have named these communities pastorates.

Retaining some similarity to what we in America call small groups, MSCs are larger than our 12+ member small-sized groups referred to in Europe as cells, and smaller than celebrations, where multiple MSCs gather together one or more Sundays per month with over 100 in worship. Not always, but most often MSCs gather weekly, and then sometimes not on the weeks they gather with other MSCs for celebration. Ideal MSC optimum size is 35 with maximum being considered 50. Having once thought 72 was maximum, today MSCs larger than 50 are encouraged to divide so as not to compromise their sense of family, belonging and purpose.

Not all, but the majority of MSCs, describe their purpose as threefold: UP which focuses on their relationship with God, IN which is their relationship with one another and OUT, their relationship with those beyond their community. Diagramed as an equilateral triangle, reality demonstrates most MSCs are stronger in one focus than the others, similar to experience with small groups."


I wonder if the MSC is the model we are suggesting for a new missional church in LSS? Maybe we should go to Europe to learn more...

Gleaning Nertwork

Tomorrow morning at 8:30 about 150 people will gather at Sycamore Spring Orchard in Lebanon, PA to glean apples. Mr. Hess, the orchard owner, has been very generous over the years, inviting us to come and pick his apples and give them to local food banks, kitchens, and shelters. We will pick several hundred bushels of apples in a few hours. This is food that would otherwise go to waste in the field. Following the biblical principle of gleaning that comes from Deuteronomy is a way of creating a sustainable economy in a village culture in which some have more than others. It creates a kind of redistribution of wealth, but through work. The poor are allowed access to food by picking from a reserve area of a field. Food is not wasted, the farmer is not looted or robbed by people who are unjustly treated, and the least are given access to food. It is a win-win situation established by God in the Israelite's post-slavery experience as they evolve from a nomadic, tribal,wilderness refugee experience to a settled, rooted culture in a particular ancestral land. The book of Ruth has an example of gleaning when Boas invites Ruth, a gentile, to pick grains in the field on behalf of her jewish mother-in-law, Naomi. We are, like Ruth, those who pick on behalf of others. It is also a great time, unless it's raining. Then it sucks. but even in the rain, you feel like you're taking part in a new economy, where the abundant harvest is really shared, freely given. It is an economy of grace where justice is tempered bby mercy. Are there other ways we might glean, offering a portion of what we have for others? Is this a new, old way of building a sustainable economy?

Daily text

"But he, desiring to justify himnself, said to Jesus, "But who is my neighbor?"

"In the broad context of human solidarity the exercise of love is realized in transaffectional justice. Real love grasps the hand that need holds out. Needs cry out from millions I will never meet. justice is love operating at a distance. When, for instance, my church tells me that millions of people are starving and that it is m duty to show my love for them through helpful actons, I become aware of the transindividual meaning of love. I cannot feel any immediate affection for two million people. Love becomes a recognition of the neighbor in his or her need, and takes the transpersonal form of distributed food." Joseph Sittler, Gravity and Grace.

Love directed toward the neighbor is the special type of love that Christ calls disciples to offer to this world. It is adoration of a special kind. Not unlike the adoration or awe one might receive from standing on a mountain or at the ocean or watching a beautiful creature embody its creative purposes. because to love the neighbor is to love what GOD has made. To love the neighbor is to love one who is, in the beginning and end, more like me thatn not. We all need the same things. Sleep, food, clothing, homes, family, friends, meaningful work, play time, inspirational beauty, health. And since we are mostly alike, we may experience a type of kinship that draws us into the life circle of the other. Christians are simply more intentional about meeting the other. We are sent. We are those who go and do mercy. Good Samaritan is only good, only sublime, so far as we understand that it was not that the beaten Jew and the Samaritan were too different to comingle. It was that the Samaritan recognized himself in the other. he saw in the beaten man his own bruises, sores, and pain. He experienced the common bond of having been victimized too. Somewhere, injustice had affected him in such a way that he identified with injustice. Perhaps that is the meaning of the cross. God has somehow become the victim by joining the injustice and violence of this world in a crucified Jew. And yet the victim becomes the victor when injustice and violence are overcome by love stronger than death.

Current Reading

"Justice in a Global Economy: Strategies for Home, Community, and World," Pamela Brubaker, Rebecca todd Peters, Laura Stivers, editors. WJK Press, 2006.
I came across this book 2 years ago at a state pastors' conference on globalization and the church. They write in the introduction, "In this book we start form the assumption thateconomic globalization, in its present form, is doing more harm than good...We think this book is unique for two reasons. One, we offer strategies for resisting current model of economic globalization and for rethinking how we can promote just and sustainable communities. Two, we do our rethinking from within a Christian ethical framework for those who connect such resistance to faith and spirituality." This book is filled with incisive and thoughtful essays on everyting from responsible consumption, intentional eating, revitalizing local communities, promoting solidarity with migrants, and reforming global economimc policies. There is the micro and macro approach to confronting the current economic model that has clearly failed at the essentials; sufficient, sustainable livelihoods for all people dwelling in communities whose common goals transcend selfish market-driven consumer interests. This boo kdoes more than ask you to change your spending habits. These folks are challenging the dominant economic paradigm that is running aground, evenas we speak. I may send a copy of this text to the next President. (Obama may have aleady read it. he'd at least be open to its assumptions, I think.)
Admittedly, I'm not through with this book or its not through with me. I'm also rereading Diana Butler Bass' bestseller, "Christianity for the rest of us." Also a must read for mainline clergy facing the fears of failure, survival, decline, etc...

Today's gospel

Jesus prayed, "I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to babes; yea, for such was thy gracious will. All things have been deliverd to me by my Father; and no one knows who the son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the son, and any one ot whom the son chooses to reveal him."

And turning to his discipels, Jesus said privately, "Blessed are the eyes which see what you see! For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see and hear what you hear, and did not hear it."

Jesus' prayer is a little weird. Is he talking to GOD or us or both? It is a simple expression of communion between the Son and the Father, acknowledging their inner relationship. It includes the langage of revelation or uncovering as Jesus embodies, uncovers, and reveals the hidden GOD of heaven and earth. Revelation, uncovering the reality of the divine presence. Seeing and hearing. That is the nature of discipleship. We are they who have seen and heard, by faith.

And his word to the disciples is a word about the gift that they are receiving as his followers. I seek that gift--to see and hear what they saw and heard with my own eyese and ears. I would love to see Jesus and to hear him speak. Just once. I'd love to experience his voice, his face.

today is Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008

I'm going to visit with Melissa and Steve and company this afternoon. We have a laundry list of action steps with them that includes Samaritan counseling services, community action program, TABOR, etc...just getting people connected to available resources is half the battle. And hanging in there with them, following up, holding accountable without lording it over, offering hope in the midst of real despair---that's what it's all about. Eevn as we continue to stay connected with them, another family is brought to my attention at school today. I spend time in a third grade classroom on Wednesdays. I had a small group of five kids in the hall solving math problems...fun. As a result of my presence there, however, I am offered a chance to ocnnect with another family...single mom, couple of kids, daughter in third grade. I will call her and see if there is a time to visit next week.
Last night I resigned from worship and music committee. I think the ensuing conversation opened some windows and identified the big white elephant in the room. Like all good Americans the big hurdle in leadership of any organization is "how is in charge" and how is that authority given, understood, and received? It is hard for people to understand the nature of Christian leadership or disciple leadership or servant leadership embodied by Jesus and the apostles. It is leadership that has surrendered to the will of GOD. It is leadership under authority, under orders, under God's non-threatening, grace-filled message. I have no power, but I am authorized by Christ to forgive sins, preach the Word, administer sacraments, pray for healing, and equip the saints for the work of ministry for the uilding up of the body of Christ. Christ-inspired authority is expressed in two ways---engagement with the other which creates conflict between the will of the other and the will of GOD; and a willingness to lay down one's own life for the sake of the other as a sign of God's love and grace.
Jeff and I picked up paint and hardware for the clothing room. That'll shape up in the next week or so.
Tomorrow night is the beginning of a monthly discipleship conversation. I hope I have time to prepare notes, a take-home sheet, and some other visuals to go with it.
Also picked up the LWR and Fair Trade displays for the next two weekends.
Festivals of Reformation and All Saints! Watch for more info coming later.