empty rockers and full calendars

The rocking chair is not an image for daily ministry, is it? I wish it were. Silver bay in the Adirondacks has become a sacred place for me and my family because there are empty rocking chairs. They beckon us to stop and sit awhile. To enjoy the day and the hour without a schedule book, a watch, an appointment calendar. It is necessary. Because Martha needs Mary's example.
Ministry is so haphazard. A routine is nearly impossible. Flexibility and availability are critical. I am constantly overscheduled. Between visiting people(both insiders and outsiders), tending to necessary chores (chaplaincy stuff), disciple-making, and community organizing I am full. I rarely have a day to regroup. And tonight a meeting is cancelled. We will have a meeting on Thursday night that I am looking forward to. Add on that the "beyond the local context" ministry I am involved in--I call it Apostolic ministry (building up and serving the body of Christ in its broader expression) and my life in ministry is stretched pretty thin these days. Much of it is good, healthy, inspiring stuff. I love that Steve is calling me, because in so doing he is calling to GOD. I have become thier priest, their pastor, their servant friend. But I also feel responsible.
I guess I have the post-family retreat reality blues. Because Silver bay was sooooo wonderful for us. I have rarely looked forward to something happening again. Not since college. A sacred place for us used to be Mountain Dale Farms, where Cherie and I got engaged. Where we first "met", where we first talked. I guess you can say where we fell in love. Sounds romantic or maybe a bit cheesy, but its true.
I am excited about the missional group meeting tomorrow and the opportunity to share in the various ways that God's Spirit is working among us. I am deeply encouraged by the eucharistic fellowship group meeting weekly in the city. I am excited about conversations with exiled young people seeking Christian fellowship. I am excited about LAMPa. All of these things are gifts of God and tasks of discipleship.

But, despite all that, it is the empty rocking chair that is calling me and Cherie... "Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy burdened and I will give you rest..." I love Jesus as much for that promise as any other in Scripture.

Brian McLaren at lambeth

Lambeth

From: brianmclaren, 1 month ago

Lambeth

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: brian mclaren)

Brian McLaren gave a plenary session at Lambeth in July 2008.


SlideShare Link

next Sunday...

Matthew 22:15-22---Who has the best tax plan? Who is your emperor? Who rules your life, your money, your choices, your heart?

Matthew 22. Sunday's Word. On rejecting divine invitations.

Tupper ware. When I was a kid, my mom was invited to tupper ware parties all the time. I remember that she would go sometimes, but rarely. Usually she thought of an excuse not to go. She hated the concept of being sold through friendship, it cheapened the relationship she thought, to feel obligated to go and buy something.
And there are also weddings, right? And other parties? Events of varying degrees. They can impose on our lives and schedules. We can get invited to things that we don’t want to attend, but feel obligated to do so. Not all events are like this of course. Many times we are invited to things we expect to attend and enjoy, and sometimes we get invited to something that surprises us, to which we expected no invitation, but were honored to participate in. I’ve been honored once or twice to participate in various weddings. There are invitations we accept. And those we reject. There are invitations we accept out of obligation or necessity. The boss’ daughters’ wedding shower. The birthday party. That wedding. It happens.
Interestingly enough. Jesus used an illustration like this to teach. But it is twisted a little. It raises questions, doesn’t it? Who treats the King’s slaves in such a scornful way? Had they no fear of the King? What sort of King was not powerful enough to coerce his subject to do his bidding? Is not that the right of kings? Could he not have forced them to come? Why then did he send an army and destroy them? Were not these his invited guests? With friends like them, who needs enemies? I sort of wonder if they weren’t his enemies. Was this wedding meant also to be a truce, a treaty, a cease fire, a unifying event? I suspect maybe. Maybe this King saw the opportunity of his sons wedding as a place where he could deal graciously with his enemies. But they rejected this scheme. They would not be his puppets. They would not go. And they would send a message back through the slaves, that they were not going to let the King boss them around. They were probably martyrs for their anti-King cause on the day after the troops descended on their village.
Then Jesus tells us that the wedding hall was filled with anyone’s. So the guest list went from the King’s enemies to Joe Six pack and the Hockey Mom next door. Did any of these people really know the King or his son. Were these guests family, friends, or merely subjects?
And then there is the part about the wedding robe and the speechless guest who is tossed into chaos and darkness. Into the dungeon of despair.
For many are called but few are chosen.

How do we unpack this? In Jesus’ day, you were either chosen or not. You were invited to the heavenly banquet or not. And people argued about who was in and who was not, within Judaism. Jews were chosen. But within the Abrahamic family there were arguments about who was really in God’s good graces. Law-abiding Pharisees? Or sinners who cry out to God for mercy? The poor widows? Or those who have been blessed with wealth? Those who believe in the resurrection or those who believe in the gift of this life. And Jesus tells them that they’re all missing the point. Because their pedigrees don’t determine their fate with God. Their actions do. How are they responding in their lives to the reality of God’s reign? If GOD is in charge, if GOD is like a King who invites people into the banquet, then are you available or not? The language of this parable is messianic banquet language found in Isaiah and the Psalms---it was a familiar way to talk about the anticipated reign of GOD.They knew what Jesus was saying. And they knew who he was talking about. So the questions tumble out of it: What actions reveal that you have surrendered your will to that of the King? How do you respond to the King’s requests? Because Sometimes we’re satisfied being on the guest list and decide that we don’t have to go, that we don’t want to go, that we can decide. That’s the real rub. Is life self-determined? Are we really capable of making good decisions, the right decisions? Or are we meant to hand ourselves over to GOD, trusting Him to know what is good and right and true for us? That is the meaning of Thy Will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Jesus saw people who were so comfortable in their election, in their circumcision, in their membership as Jews that they were refusing to live a life consistent with the will of the God who chose them. He claims that God wants more than our occasional acknowledgement. God wants our love, our devotion, our hearts, souls and minds. God wants every piece of us. And he demands it. He is GOD. Who are we to decide how and when God gets to speak to us? Are we gods?
And as for that one who gets tossed out? He didn’t understand why he was there or for whom. He was, perhaps, a wedding crasher---There for the food, the women, and wine, but not for the King’s son. Showing up is not enough. Its not enough to receive the benefits of membership. Its like joining a club but never working out. It matters that you take part in the event. And the event is nothing less that the wedding feast of the King’s Son. What the Jewish leaders in Jesus’ day were rejecting when they rejected Jesus is the divine feast for the Son who had come to take His bride. Jesus’ bride is the church. His beloved. This is about divine love, a sacred romance that captures us. Think of the most wonderful wedding you ever had the privilege to attend. That is what we are called to be part of on Sundays. This is the feast and celebration. This is the wedding banquet of the Son of God. And it is not enough that you showed up. Its better than deciding that you have better things to do. When did it become an option to choose GOD? Its not. Never has been. God chooses us. The thing is, God is not the kind of King who destroys people for rejecting His invitation. Instead, he sends out his servants to find others. Today he found you.
When we are here, we are invited to adore Christ and His bride. We are invited to witness the beauty and power and love and glory of GOD and to surrender ourselves to it. That is ultimately the claim of any disciple of Jesus. I have surrendered my will to God. I have no power anymore save what God gives me. I become a slave. But a slave who loves His master because His master is so good. GOD does not coerce or threaten. God invites. On behalf of my LORD I invite all of you to this feast of love. It happens every week. Amen.

Acts 6

Last Wednesday we read Acts 6. This is what we heard. The apostles faced an administrative problem in the daily table service. Some of the Greek widows were being "overlooked" or neglected by the Hebrews. (There is ethnic division in the community that is effecting service for the poor ad vulnerable.) The apostles respond to this neglect by identifying another problem. They are neglecting the Word of GOD in order to serve tables. in a sense they have abandoned God's Word to serve the poor. Interesting how there is already a division occurring within gospel ministry---service of the Word and service of the people. Incarnational mission in the community leads to neglect of God's Word. And so they respond. They could have decided to divide the labor between the 12. 6 of us will serve the Hebrews and 6 of us will serve the Greeks. But they don't. They make a bolder move. They step out of the daily table service ministry and hand it over to seven others, known in the community for their Spirit and wisdom. Philip and Stephen are part of this group of emerging, indigenous servant-leaders. The apostles actually give up, surrender their public role as "soup kitchen volunteers". And they devote themselves to the service of the Word and to prayer. Now, this was not the first monastic community, either. They were not spearating social ministry from prayer. That is a later construct and one that impoverishes the church. But we can learn a lesson here. Both the administrative business of the church and the sacred business are equally important. We ought not to neglect either. As a result of the apostolic decision to serve the Word and prayer (a priestly function) "many priests became obedient to the faith." What happens when a church council decides, for example to eliminat bible study from meetings? I think it diminishes our capacity to hear God speak to us regarding the other business at hand. We like to keep God out of our "secular business decisions", don't we? Bible study is fine, so long as it doesn't interfere with our priorities.
One of the questions the story asks us is "who or what is being neglected in the church?" Is God's Word and prayer being neglected, left out, abandoned? Is daily service rendered to the vulnerable and the least being neglected? I find it interesting that ther eis little more said about this daily table service. How did it emerge? What was it about? Acts is ambiguous about this for a reason. t is enough, I think, to hear that the community was serving the poorest and most vulnerable every day somehow. And the result was a good problem to have. They were serving a growing number of people, both Jews and Greeks. They were becoming multicultural. And they were struggling. The response was that the apostles empowered others in the community and gave away that ministry so that they could devote themselves to God's Word and prayer. And the selected men met a certain criteria or lithmus test: people who are well-regarded, full of the Spirit and wisdom. They were passionate about Christ and the mission, and they were thoughtful about how to engage in it. The apostles literally laid hands on them, thereby publically acknowledging their empowerment and authorization.
Amazingly enough, in this congregation there are people who do not acknowledge that the church has empowered and authorized me by ordination to this ministry, to call this flock to discipleship that includes attention to God's Word and prayer, and attention to the needs of the local/global community. But it is not surprising. When Stephen, one of the seven, speaks truth about Jesus to people in authority he is stoned to death. I know what its like to have stones cast at you. Funny thing is, they don't hurt me anymore. I suspect they didnt hurt Stephen either.
May God be glorified.