living bread and the end of hunger

John 6 is the bread discourse. Jesus says, "I am the bread of life. He who eats of me will never hunger." As a eucharistic community we can over-spiritualize this expression to mean that Jesus is pointing to the gift of the sacrament as the sign of God's never-failing love and grace which forgives our sins and promises us eternal life. But from a divine justice perspective, spoken to a world where physical hunger takes human life everyday, this self-proclamation points beyond the eucharist as an act of corporate and personal forgiveness. Jesus is establishing, not only a community to feed the hungry, but the hopeful vision of a world where there is no hunger anymore. And in so doing, he is creating the capacity within the human heart and within the human community to embody this very hope. Systemic injustice is eradicated by a believing community devoted to agape love. Belief, Brian McLaren says, is the first step in defecting from the dominant narratives in which we live and in which injustice thrives. We tell ourselves that the world is thus when the truth is "thus have we made the world." When we own the problem, we can become the solution with the help of GOD, who promises us life with meaning, purpose, and hope.
I suspect that, like the world, we in church have lost hope in the promise that God will end all hunger and death. We take for granted that people starve. And we give a little to manage global crises. But we need to have a bigger dream. We need to dream of a world where there is enough for all and all have equal access to what they need to live. We need to dream of a world where over-consumption does not cost children their lives. We need to dream of a world where GOD is good,loving, kind, and generous. A generous GOD gives us all what we need, no matter who we are or what we believe. I believe in that generosity because I have been a recipient of it. I also know that many millions of people suffer without bread. So Jesus feeds people and Jesus shows us how to live in community so that no one is hungry, compasionate justice embodied through neighbor love. Economic justice lived out in communities creates the conditions by which all benefit from God's abundance. This is the role of governments and churches: To create the conditions by which abundance is shared justly so that all have "bread". We see the problems with foreign aid often have to do with weak political systems and corrupt governments, who od not have the interests of the people, especially the poor, as a guiding principle. Even the U.S. government needs spiritual guidance in order to abide by an ethical economy that benefits the last and the least. ELCA World hunger recognizes the importance of advocacy, speaking the truth to power in order to create the conditions for justice.

May the ones who hunger receive bread. And may those with bread hunger for divine justice! Amen.

Mark 4:35-41: Jesus calms a storm. A story about fear, faith, and final frontiers.

Why did Jesus cross the sea? To get to the other side. Why did the chickens cross the sea? To follow Jesus. This is a story about Jesus and chickens and getting to the other side. So, the disciples are fishermen familiar with the boat and the fickle Galilee Sea, where fast storms and high winds arise quickly and cause havoc on typically calm waters. It is dangerous to sail this sea and they all know it. So what’s with all the drama?
They are sailing to the other side---to gentile territory as ambassadors of the Kingdom of God announced by Jesus’powerful words and deeds of healing. They are sailing to gentile territory, unsafe, scary, dark, unfamiliar, dangerous territory with dangerous foreign people. There are parts of Lancaster city you will not go into at night. There are certain people you would fear if you met them on the streets there. There is racism in that fear. They had reason to be a little anxious about this trip. But being faithful means following Jesus, following Jesus means crossing personal borders, taking risks, moving from comfortable complacency to bold, life changing action. Peter’s Porch, prison ministry, refugee ministry, community meals, any servant ministry is border crossing ministry.
Jesus is asleep. Like Jonah. Asleep during the storm. But unlike the reluctant prophet, Jesus is going exactly where he is meant to go to do exactly what he’s meant to do.
As disciples we are in this story in the disciples’ responses. First, their response to his sleeping is the question, “Don’t you care that we are perishing?” They misinterpreted his behavior as a sign that he didn’t care. We want others, GOD, to care about our stuff, our issues, our concerns, our worries. I get that. I’m supposed to care. And second that they were awestruck by his power over the waters and the wind, the exercise of his divine creative powers strikes fear and amazement in them. We don’t expect GOD to show up and act. We don’t believe.
So, when they wake Jesus they do not expect him to change the events, to calm the seas, to bring peace and stillness. What do they expect? They expect him to care the way they do. They expect him to get a bucket and bail like mad, they expect him to pray for help, they expect him to cry, to hang on tight, to grab a life jacket, to grab a buddy, to quote the psalms. They expect him to do something! React! Be HUMAN! And he does. HE Sleeps.
You know how one person in a group who is angry, frustrated, upset, worried, and frightened can easily get everyone else to feel and act the same? One person can turn a group against another person, even against a trusted leader. One person’s anxiety increases the level of anxiety in a room of others. Its instinctual, part of group survival. If someone says the sky is falling, the sky is falling. You run for cover! Group panic. Group anger. Group fear. Group rebellion. It happens. Even in church. Often in politics. Some families function this way, one person’s problem becomes everyone’s problem. Usually leads to a form of mental and emotional paralysis. And the group tends to do two things: Blame someone and do whatever is necessary to reduce the emotional tension. Both unhealthy and unchristian responses.
Jesus gets up and speaks to the sea and silences the wind. And there is a dead stillness.
Jesus calms the sea. And Jesus is calm on the sea. His way is opposite and counter intuitive. He will not participate in the group’s fear, anxiety, and futile activity to save themselves. He sleeps. Then he calms the seas. He rests. Then he acts. Why? Because he knows where he’s going and what he’s doing and knows that nothing on earth will prevent that from happening because it is God’s work.
What if we followed Jesus? What two things must we do? Rest in the assurance that we will not perish. This is grace, to trust GOD before we trust ourselves. Chaos happens. Crises will occur. Social problems, evil, death is overwhelming, like the wind and the waves. And having faith trusts that the GOD who created all things is bringing order to the chaos in this world---Jesus is the way GOD is doing that. Followers of Jesus are called and equipped with the Holy Spirit to live like HIM, bringing peace and stillness and calm to every situation. And bringing divine power and blessing to bear on the great overwhelming problems of our times. Followers of Jesus are sent across the seas of change.
So try being a non-anxious presence this week. Actually try resting or even sleeping when the expectation is to do something! We are doers and fixers. Instead, try resting and inviting Jesus’ powers to accomplish what you cannot. And stop fussing and getting your dander up and getting others to join you in your worries and fears. Care like Jesus, enough to stay above the noise. Then join Jesus by offering what GOD has given you to bring mercy, peace, and grace to places and people on the other side. AMEN.

At Home Here?

"Those Christians who feel at home in the United States can do so only because they have buffered themselves from the brutal conditions of poverty, blinded themselves to the realities of racism, and deluded themselves into imagining that the vast military force of this country is the agent of justice. Many such Christians worship the idol of prosperity and have quieted their conscience in return for lives of relative ease and material comfort." Dennis Jacobsen, "Doing Justice: Congregations and Community Organizing, p.2.
The American religious narrative in which so many Christians are entwined fails to recognize the difference between the "gospel" of empire-building through consumer/material wealth and the good news of the Kingdom of GOD. I suggested recently that a subversive and cruciform expression of stewardship might be to give up credit cards because we seek to live Jubilee by remaining debt free and we seek to eliminate indebtedness. We also seek to dismantle the power and privilege dynamics that are expressed economically in our culture. Credit cards are a privilege for the wealthy, even as credit card companies and lenders have taken advantage of or rejected the poor. I wonder if any of us would willfully give up credit cards as a sign of our rejection of over-consumptive habits and a privileged status?
Reading Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John with the hope of finding an alternative vision for life in this world reveals a subversive, non-conformist, irreligious, anti-imperial edge to Jesus and the church that has largely been rejected in favor of a more sanitized and less risky Euro-American, middle-class, suburban country club church. We have inherited a temple cult with its own pantheon, including the gods of war, wealth, eroticism/sexuality, and narcissism.
A church is emerging, however, whose subversive edge includes not only sacrificing but also embracing certain forgotten joys and hopes. This church will embrace the joy of sharing in a community. It will embrace practices of sustainability with an awareness and care for all of creation. It sees people as beautiful and broken creatures, whose sexuality is both mysterious and God-given. This church seeks compassionate justice for the least, the last, and the loser; especially those who have been imprisoned and those who continue to suffer in bondage to poverty. It will embrace non-violent forms of confrontation with powers of injustice. It will worship God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in unity and truth.
This church will not be conformed to this world but will be transformed by the renewing of our minds, so that we might discern what is God's good, acceptable, and perfect will. (Romans 12:2). This church's home is in the believer's heart and mind and transcends nationality, ethnicity, race, and other forms of identity imposed on the modern individual or group. It is a movement called to action by Jesus in order to embody God's dream for the new creation.
Brian McLaren says that we must defect from the narratives in which we currently reside in order to embrace the story of Jesus and the church. Defecting takes courage in the face of an oppressive system that requires conformity/uniformity. Defectors will feel like illegal aliens in this culture and may xpect to be treated as such. More on the defection strategy when I write about McLaren's book, "Everything Must Change."

Offend us, Jesus. And set us free.

Mark 6. Jesus' is rejected in Nazareth.
Jesus offended them. Their religious sensibilities, their cultural heritage, their way of life, their village rules. Jesus broke into their simple routine and threatened to expose their lack of faith. For there were many who were devoted to the synagogue in Nazareth, but they were not so devoted to God’s ways. They were devoted to keeping things the way they liked them, keeping out the sinners, rejecting the foreigners, disregarding the women and children’s poverty and disease. They would rather suffer themselves than trust in God to heal what was wounded and broken inside. They were hiding from the truth behind their religious façade. They were not free.
Jesus offends me. I cannot do what he says. I cannot go where he sends. I cannot simplify my lifestyle. I cannot leave behind what I know to be good; my home, my possessions, my safe, secure, sheltered self-importance. I cannot shake the dust off my feet and move on whenever the gospel is rejected. I cannot heal. He called me to this ministry and I can do nothing. I am not free.
Jesus offends us. Who does he think he is? He was a man, a construction worker, an illegitimate son of a young woman whose reputation was tainted by suspicions of adultery unproven. He is not authorized to speak for GOD, as GOD, and with GOD. We prefer that he does not speak with authority. We want to be our own authorities, with our own voice and vote on matters of church, household, and personal choice. We want Jesus to matter less and me to matter more. We don’t believe that Jesus is alive today or present or real or powerful or worthy of our adoration and praise. If we did, we would fall on our knees and offer our lives to this one who died for us. Instead we offer an hour a week, some prayers, and we try to keep our noses clean and to occasionally do good.
He does not approve of our religion; our tired rituals and our empty prayers, our going through the motions and our insipid old hymns. He does not need us to show up here on Sunday out of obligation or duty or routine. He does not need us to do anything, give anything, make anything. Our opinions on matters of God and faith are irrelevant in the face of His truth telling. He knows we are self-focused, self-consumed and self-motivated. He knows you are thinking about how long it will take me to preach this sermon. He knows you are thinking about lunch and about what’s next in your day. He knows some have chosen cultural and national gods this weekend over divine justice and grace. He knows our national pride this weekend chooses to overlook or ignore our national shortcomings and failures as a people to raise up women, children, the working poor, the person of color, the immigrant, the globally oppressed. He knows we have rejected the Kingdom of GOD in favor of our own private religious kingdoms, our own national identity, and our own cultural values rooted in our love of money and self. We love our church, but we’re not so sure about JESUS yet.
Jesus offends us because the in- breaking reign of GOD is sunlight through dark clouds. It exposes us. He exposed the people of Nazareth, who rejected Him. We reject Him too.
The truth is: Faithful people are not all religious. Religious people are not all faithful. There are plenty of religious people whose devotion and love is misdirected, whose lukewarm expression God spits out. There are plenty of faithful people who trust in GOD with all their hearts, soul, minds, and strength, but they do not participate in any religious community. Who would you rather be? Following Jesus is not safe or easy. And followers of Jesus will offend others with the truth. Some will welcome the truth and others will not. I want to follow Jesus. I want to heal and share the hope that I have and serve people who need a compassionate servant to love them as they are. I am learning to follow Him as I read the gospels and practice His ways. Some of you are being sent out of here today on a mission to follow and practice His ways too. Go lightly. You only need yourself and the Holy Spirit as your guide. Listen. Do what he tells you to do. Speak God’s word. Repeat what you have heard and read in it. Take better care of what God has given you. GO green. Give away what you don’t need. And don’t be tempted to pursue useless things or ideas. Build relationships with others that are mutually beneficial, but seek to serve others unconditionally. Care about others first. IN these ways you will worship HIM. You will be set free. AMEN.

the meaning of it all?

So we arrived back in Pennsylvania on Monday after a 24 hour bus trip that actually included sleep! Sunday worship in the Superdome was inspiring, especially Bishop Hanson's sermon, which I hope to post as a video here in the days ahead.
I also enjoyed the Peter Mayer house band and intend to get some of their music for my library.
On the way home we began to process our experience. I'll begin to share some of these thoughts here tonight. In the days ahead I will also comment on twoexcellent books I read enroute to and from New orleans. The first is, "The Starfish and the Spider," by Ori Bafrom and Rod Beckstrom. This is a book about businesses that have emerged in the last few years who have decentralized their leadership and multiplied thier growth potential as a result. Companies like Napster, Craigslist, and other dot-coms that have transformed the marketplace. I'll write more about the implications for the 21st century church in the days ahead.
I also read "Everything Must Change," by Brian McLaren. McLaren is responding to the questions," What are the most significant crises or problems our world faces today," and "how does the story of the Jesus respond to these crises with hope and salvation?" I'll write more about this book next week.
In new orleans, my group was supposed to experience wealth and poverty. We were going to view an IMax film called "Hurricane in the Bayou." We all wanted to serve people in new Orleans. I know that 37,000 people could not be mobilized to serve in the city in three days. But I discovered something on friday as I pursued the possibility of engaging in direct ministry with people in need. There were some homeless people living under a bridge. So we bought $150.00 worth of groceries to bring to them. We did. We met over 100 people livinvng g under the bridge. We met some working homeless people which surprised the kids. how can people who work everyday be homeless?
After that we stopped at Wendy's for a Frosty before heading back to the hotel. How quickly our default human instincts take over and compel us to judge the ones we served. Were they truly needy or just lazy freeloaders? Were they ungrateful users undeserving of our care? Why did we go under the bridge? clearly we went there not because the people asked us to come there. We went there selfishly, in order to fulfill a need to be useful and helpful. We went there to be generous and to follow Jesus there too. Mixed motives on our part. No one there was expecting us. But when we arrived they shouted, "Help is on the way.Thank you Lord. help is on the way."
The long and short of the story is that we were assigned to learn about wealth and poverty. We experienced the suffering poor under the bridge in the homeless men and women we met there.
Later that night we went for dinner at the red fish grill on Bourbon Street. Five of us in our group ran a total bill of $150.00.
We spent as much on groceries to feed lunch to 150 homeless people as we did for dinner for five of us.
Wealth and poverty experienced in the acquisition of food. The only food the people under the bridge received that day came from our groceries. We had no problem doing what we did, even feeling a bit self-righteous about it. Then we ate shrimp.
We are wealthy.

under the bridge

Saturday night's alright

Tonight we skipped the Superdome to have a nice meal on Bourbon St. at the red fish grill. Superdome has been impressive---powerful music, interesting stories. But it hasn't been deeply impactful. but as I said, it isn't one thing or experience that made this gathering meaningful. It is a hnudred different things. There are really three aspects to this experience: Jesus, as we follow Him in servant ministry; justice, as we address the systemic problems that face an urban population like New Orleans; and jazz, as we celebrate together, enjoy the culture, and have parties in hotels! (Tonight we went to an all '80s music dance! I was the Dancing Queen! (Thanks to a littel Abba). The kids have enjoyed everything. This group has really grown close. We will certainly be together post-New Orleans. We are already talking about the impact of this event on our lives back home. We will continue to reflect on that in the days and weeks ahead.
I think the kids are tired. We have seen and done a lot. When we left this morning we did not know what we were about to do. We did not know that we would join our friends from Christ, Elizabethtown. We did not know that we would buy $150.00 worth of groceries to give to close to 200 homeless people. We did not know.
Karen asked me last night wht we would do if nobody was there today. I told her that we were called by GOD to be faithful and generous and the rest was out of our hands. We were prepared for 30 or 40 people. But God provided. I had prayed this morning for a pickup truck. When we arrived on foot at OC Haley Blvd. a man with a truck was sitting in front of the mission speaking with the men there. He was an advocate and a helper. He transported Pastor Domines and I to Walmart when we ranout of food and water.
we ran into real suffering there. It is tempting to judge the circumstances of those who are poor, toassign blameand responsibility, to assign expectations that are not consistent with their life histories. We cannot judge or impose expectations on others. Not all people have the same childhoodsor the same educations. Not all are privileged. And race is part of this equation.
So we have wrestled with poverty,our own beliefs about people in pvoerty, and our role with respect to them. Tonight we read Matthew 25:31-40 and learned that in the end the way we treat the least among us is the way we serve Jesus. And the way we serve Jesus is the way into God's Kingdom. And we learned that spending our lives feeding the homeless is not enough, even if it is rewarding work. We need to have a more hopeful vision, like a city where there are no more homeless people. We need to envision a world without poverty, hunger, and suffering. We need to keep that big vision and hope alive.
Tomorrow we leave for worship at 8:00 am. We leave for PA at noon and we will arrive back home on Monday morning ready to unpack and sleep. We miss our families and are excited to share what we have seen and heard and done in New orleans---a charming, if not seductive city. The Big Easy is not an easy city to be in as a tourist or a missionary. But I can see why people would not leave her, why we were drawn to her as a church, and why she continues to welcome revelers and jazz lovers and Lutherans to her streets and along the banks of the ol' river.
After a long and busy day, we are ready for rest.

Where is Jesus?

We saw Jesus.
but we weren't in the Superdome.
We weren't in the Imax theatre.
We weren't in the learning center or the interaction center.
These are good places to be; air conditioned, acccess to rest rooms and food, happy places! Its a hot day in New Orleans.

But we were under a bridge next to the new orleans Mission on OC haley BLVD. We went there with cold drinks and some food at lunch time that we bought at a local grocer and, together with our friends from Christ Lutheran, Elizabethtown(PA), we gave them away to over 100 homeless people. Most of them were African American men. But there were white men and women, too. They told us their stories. They drank and ate. We prayed with them and listened to them.

We didn't learn about poverty in a movie or a lecture. We stood with the poor. We held their hands. We gave them water. We listened to their stories.
These people did not deserve us, nor we the privilege of serving them here. We were there because of Jesus, not because of them. Admittedly, our reasons were partly selfish. We wanted to feel good about our works of service. It was rewarding.
But God sent us today and they will be there tomorrow too and we will get on buses and go home. May we not forget that Jesus is found in the forgotten, overlooked, rejected, undeserving, punished, and broken ones under the bridge.
I will write more tonigh with pics and comments from all of the kids, whose fear turned to faith as we served the LORD and saw the face of Jesus today.

finding the cross

I came to the gathering with several motives, not the least of which was to experience the city of New orleans. I also hope to give some wonderful young people an experience of the church that they have not experienced before. We've had that. Its been great so far. French quarter does not disappoint. New Orleans charms you.
But I also realize that I come to New Orleans in search of the cross. The cross is where we find Jesus. It is where God reveals the revolutionary nature of divine power and justice. God, hidden in the midst of our suffering. Humanity in bondage to sin and death, walking in darkness and despair, thirsty and weary and longing. I want my kids to see the cross too. Because so much of what we are about personally and culturally avoids the cross and its power. We are afraid or ashamed or embarassed by it.The church is called, not only to witness the cross, but to bear the cross for the sake of others. So we are called to be cross-bearers in the form of humble servants,having the mind of Christ.
We've heard stories of triumph and hope from people who have experienced tragedy and pain. We've seen pyrotechnics and amazing shows. (I wonder how much that is costing us?) And in the end, the event will wrap up with a tidy mega-Lutheran church worship and farewell on Sunday. The story of this gathering will have a happy ending, if all goes as planned.
But not all stories have happy endings. Not all people get saved. I don't want us to get a false impression that God fixes everything that's broken. Some things remain broken. Some people lose. Sometimes we fail and its tempting to say that God fails too. It looks that way sometimes in this world. That is the cross.
Asa a follower of the crucified one, i want to fail. I want to be with the loser, with the one's who aren't making it or getting better, with the one who is broke and broken, with the forgotten and the ignored. I want to be with the hopeless case because Jesus is there. In the worst case scenerio. I want to stare down suffering and death and say, "Take what you will now. But GOD reigns forever. And GOD is merciful and loving and kind and gracious and GOD is my father and my promised savior." I want to say it through tears and with a shaky faith, in my weakness and in God's strength.
I like empowerment and inspiration and I get that we need it. But resurrection glory must follow crucifixion and death.
So tomorrow, may GOD reveal His love by revealing the cross to us in this place. And may we be too weak to turn away or reject it. May we receive the sign of the cross on our heads, in our senses, and on our hearts.

NOLA Pics

friday in the Big Easy

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

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

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

The End of Day One

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

New Orleans Day ONE

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

This Week---New Orleans

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

Earth Ministry Website

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

Going Green Blog

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

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

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

10,000 acres of graves

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

how long, O Lord?

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

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

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

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

Why does Jesus pray?

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