X’s and Why’s? the quest to question GOD

Coming Soon: Watch for posting about date, place, and time

WHAT?---A Gathering of peers with questions to ask. ““To be on a quest is nothing more or less than to become an asker of questions.” Sam Keen, religious philosopher.

WHO?---- I am a person of faith and a follower of JESUS. I am 32 years old. They have labeled us GENeration X. If you are between the ages of 18 and 35, you’re in it. I seek to gather others for conversation, coffee, and cake. (deep in the conversation, dark on the coffee, chocolate on the cake).

WHY?---- To engage my peers in the quest for a better world. To identify and encounter GOD in the mysteries and questions of life. To NOT have all the answers. To be a faithful follower of JESUS. To make community. To find what’s missing.

With conversation topics: Is it possible to experience God? What is religion good for? Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha, Moses, and me? Sacred text? Am i spiritual and what is spirituality? Why is there nothing on TV? Bono vs. Bush, and compassionate politics? Are we a lost generation? What is faith? How can we be hopeful in a big way? Why we need Dr. Phil and why we don’t need Dr. Phil.

What I believe about Christian Worship, pt. 3

It is catholic and apostolic---We who are invited and gathered are sent to share the good news and feed the hungry. Our apostolic mission is universal. It excludes no one. No one is outside the possibility of GOD”S saving grace. No one is outside the possibility of becoming part of CHRIST’s body. Worship is catholic when its scope is universal. That is, when it does not cater to the preferences of a homogeneous group, but is cast in broader strokes. Catholic worship is expressed through variety and embraces new and old, familiar and unfamiliar, ancient and modern, music and silence. Worship that is not catholic is narrowly defined in its language and practice. It is characterized by a dull uniformity to the likes/expressions of the few, rather than expansive worship expressions of the many.
Apostolic worship is missional and inspires a lifestyle outside of the four walls of the church building and the 1 ½ hours of weekly worship. Worship that is not apostolic only satisfies the inner needs of the self, without inspiring service.

What I believe about Christian Worship, pt. 2

It is sacramental---That is it mediates the spiritual presence of God by actual physical means. We believe that GOD is truly present in the crucified yet living, resurrected body of JESUS made visible and edible in the sacrament. We remember Jesus when we eat the bread that is HIS body and drink the wine that is HIS blood. We are washed, drowned, revived, refreshed in the waters of Baptism. The sacramental character of worship is personal---it is expressed in daily living. Every day we are renewed, remade by GOD. Every day GOD nourishes us. Faith tells us this is true. Worship reflects this truth.
Sacrament is invitational---we are invited to the table freely and openly because JESUS welcomes us to meet HIM there. We are invited to the waters of Baptism because JESUS commissions us to “Go, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the FATHER, and of the SON, and of the HOLY SPIRIT…”. That GPD chooses to invite is historically obvious. Why and who and when GOD chooses to invite is a mystery. So too the presence of GOD in sacrament is a mystery we cannot fathom by reason, but only by faith—a blind trust in HIS promise recorded in Scripture. When the table includes everybody and the baptismal life is offered to those who do not know GOD, we are sacramental.

What I believe about Christian Worship, pt. 1

It is evangelical---the core of it is the message of the gospel, the good news proclaimed by JESUS. Contained in this message is hope, love, peace, joy, new life, forgiveness, freedom, justice, rescue. This message is radically inclusive. No one is excluded. Everyone is invited to hear, see, believe and live. Mark’s JESUS embraces Jew and Gentile. Matthew’s JESUS embraces the nations. Luke’s JESUS is the savior of the world who inspires witnesses from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth. And John’s JESUS is the savior of the cosmos. It comes to us as a promise from GOD for all humanity. It comes with a commission to its hearers and believers---to share this message with all humanity. Evangelical worship inspires evangelical living. We are called to bear Jesus’ message in the world for the sake of all people. Worship must reflect this radically inclusive gospel. This inclusivity is expressed in hospitality. We invite and welcome all by what we do together in worship. If we do not welcome and invite all, we are not evangelical.

Apples and Community

On Saturday, nine of us joined 180 other people in an apple orchard in Lebanon County. For over two hours we picked fallen apples off the ground and bagged them up to be taken to the central PA food bank, among other places where the needy are not forgotten. Several church youth groups, adult volunteers and teens, spent their Saturday morning on a crisp fall day serving hungry people they would never see. The event coordinator invited me to address the group and pray before we began gleaning. I reminded the group that the agricultural practice of gleaning is biblical, found in Deuteronomy. The LORD commanded the farmers to leave a portion of their produce for the poor, the widows, and the orphans so that they might not be neglected in the harvest. The first fruits that the farmer picked, a tenth or tithe, was also dedicated to God for the priests to eat. So the LORD got the firsts and the poor got the required leftovers. I prayed for the orchard-owners who generously shared their bounty. I blessed God for abundantly providing. I commended the poor and hungry into the hands of the compassionate God who feeds us all. After that, we started gleaning on hands-and-knees. Some picked faster than others. A veteran harvester like me could pick six or seven times faster than some of the teens. In the end, we all participated. I met some people there. On the back of an old ford pickup truck, I met two teenage girls who attend Trinity Lutheran in Lebanon. One of them is a student at Cedar Crest middle school, where my wife taught before our boys were born. My wife taught her older sister. I made sure to get their names to tell my wife that I met the sister of a former student. It’s fun to make connections.
After we picked apples and loaded them onto trucks and wagons, we stopped by the farmer’s store for some apple cider and cookies. Then we drove to camp Kirchenwald for a picnic lunch and a hike to a favorite spot. It was a beautiful fall day. We picnicked under the pavilion. Then we hiked out to Buzzard’s rocks, a place like Devil’s den in Gettysburg, where large boulders make for fun climbing. Along the way there we missed a turn and bumped into two hunters. We tracked back to the left turn and finally made our way to the rocks. The kids climbed. We watched. I sat down atop one of the large boulders. As I sat there, about a mile from camp I gazed down at the rock to see a name etched in it. It was the name of the girl I met at the orchard followed by ’06. There were 186 gleaners. I knew one new name, the name of the sister of one of my wife’s former students. She is a 7th grade Lutheran. At some point in the past, she had climbed that rock with a youth group, a church group, a summer camp cabin group, a family, and written her name. When had she been there? Why is it that I met her and found her name at Buzzard’s rock? What forces are at work to create such a coincidence? The church, the people of God who serve and live in the name of Jesus, is a family. We travel along the same pathway. We journey together. We seek the same God, the same justice, the same grace. We work in the same valley and climb the same rocks. We share the same bread and cup, hear the same Word. And every once-in-awhile we are reminded how good it feels to be in relationship with these people who belong to Jesus and share His dream of a new creation. With love, Pastor Matt