in advent an exile

Waiting in a line of traffic on a cloudy and late november afternoon when the air outside is crisp and damp,
listening to the din of public radio talk or the crooning of Nat or Bing singing "Chestnuts roasting..." or "I'm dreaming...", I find myself dreaming, but not of  a white Christmas.  For what do I dream?  The car creeps forward and stops, and creeps, stops, creeps...the short distance lengthened by the slow motion of my leaders.  For what do I dream as I wait in the car alone among so many others who drive alone toward a familiar or unfamiliar place?  About whom do I dream?  What longings are within me now?  What promised land do I strive to enter?  What holy place to I hope to inhabit? 

a letter to the church. Do the work of an evangelist

Dear friends,
"May Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord." I wish to keep you aware of the ministry to which I am called as a servant of the Lord Jesus because we are partners in this ministry. Besides worship, the ministry of Word and Sacrament, prayer and visitation of the sick and homebound, and teaching, I am also doing the work of an evangelist. I want you to know that I could and likely should be doing evangelism work full time. (For one thing, to grow a small congregation the pastor mst be an evangelist, meeting new people all the time.) So here is the work of an evangelist:

I received a call today from  the Akron elementary school guidance counselor. She told me the stories of two single parents and their kids. These families are isolated from and do not belong to any intentional communities. They are open to going to church. But is church open to them? They are not connected to any people of faith and love, who believe it is their mission to reach out to the lonely, lost, and least among them. I believe we are called to that mission for those people in Akron. We are called to be a spiritual home and a faith family for these folks. We are being called to welcome and encourage and bless them. I intend to call them, visit them, invite them, offer what I can to them. I intend to follow up with all of the households who received food at the last Peter's Porch, too--some 62 households. In a rare and faithful expression of discipleship, I intend to go to them, rather than wait for them to come to us. What would our world be like if Christian disciples initiated relationships with non-Christians and non-practicing Christians, with the intent to serve them?

We are not a bank. I do not go to offer bailout money or other forms of financial assistance. We are quick to jump to that conclusion, that all people need and want is money for bills and stuff. But I have so much more to offer them than money. I can offer Jesus and His beloved community-- the church. We are the people who love others, when they are struggling, with a love that reveals Christ's promise to make all things new. We are light in darkness, hope in despair. There is a lot of darkness, fear, and isolation going on around us. What people need is the alternative story of the gospel, the good news of God's grace. People are starving and we have food! I intend to share it with them. Do you see that Peter's Porch is a sign to us that people need Jesus and His people? Peter's Porch is not an outreach of the congregation. It is God's mission. We are either faithful to it or not. Jesus said, "The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few."

I am also visiting four inmates at LCP this week. I believe the fruit of at least two of these visits is the salvation of their souls---not that I saved them by visiting, but that our Lord has rescued them by giving them faith, hope, and love. One of them will be baptized and another will be welcomed to us when he is released on Easter Sunday!

And also, we will witness two Baptisms on Sunday, December 6 at 10:20 worship. I am also working on preparation for Baptism with another family. They will be baptized in the Season after Epiphany. So, you see the spirit's work among us as we serve our neighbors, welcome them into the church, and offer them God's grace? May we continue in this ministry as long as we are able with the help of God.
in peace,

Pastor Matt

Be our primary Disease: A prayer by Walter Brueggemann

Be our primary disease,
and infect us with your justice;
Be our night visitor,
and haunt us with your peace;
Be our moth that consumes,
and eat away at our unfreedom.
Be our primary disease, our night visitor, our moth
infect, haunt, eat away...
Until we are toward you and with you and for you,
away from our injustices,
our anti-peace,
our unfreedom.
More like you and less like your resistance.
In the name of the one most like you,
most with you,
most for you...even Jesus. Amen .

All will be thrown down

It will all fall apart. Do you sometimes feel like this? That things are just coming apart at the seams and you can’t do a thing to stop it from happening? Do you look around and think, things are just a mess. What a mess we’re in. Do you feel occasionally sick at what you see happening around you? The lack of civility, the lack of compassion, people’s indifference to others, illnesses, sufferings, depravity, the careless waste of good things…Do you think, how can people live like that? Sometimes it’s easier to bury our heads in the sand or to blame others. We are usually better at judging and commenting than at acting and doing. Of course, everyone is entitled to their opinion, unless they begin to take action to confront the situation we are in. Some of you are thinking, what situation? I mean the one in which everything is falling apart. The situation in which things are not how they used to be. The situation in which what was once whole is now broken, what once had life is in decay, what once worked no longer works. You’re a soldier in training on an army base on Texas and one of your own officers opens fire in a classroom and kills 13 soldiers and wounds over a dozen others. This person’s act is linked to some extremist Muslim views, allegedly. And the implications for other Muslims in the armed services is…now the army is a diverse operation, perhaps one of the most diverse institutions we have. But we are in a war with Muslim extremists. Welcome to Chaos. Do you recall Japanese Americans being interred in camps during WWII? Diversity is risky. But sameness creates the façade of tranquility. Chaos is when the forces are at work to disrupt, dismantle, and destroy any semblance of created order. The earth was formed out of chaos, according to Genesis. And yet chaos ensues and disrupts in so many ways, personally, corporately, systemically; threatening to overwhelm us. We are living in a chaotic time. Change is happening at an exponential pace as technologies and advances in communications make it possible to take action on everything from locating friends to buying stocks from the comfort of your computer or handheld device. And yet we feel more alienated, depressed, lost. We are living in a time of great transition and flux, a time of chaos.

Attractional church

So much of what churches are about these days is driven by consumer marketing instincts.   Let's call it consumer evangelism.  Using marketing and advertising techniques, churches intend to get more people to connect to their congregations.  A flashy sign or website, postcard mass mailers and special events to attract the masses.  These all appear to be consistent with the culture in which we live.  Bigger and flashier is better.  And often these events are effective, meaning that they achieve their purpose.  What is the purpose?  To attract a crowd?  To sell something or someone?  To appeal to a broad share of the market, labeled "the unchurched"? This form of Church growth resembles the expansion of businesses, like walmart and target.  The goal is to get the biggest share of consumers, putting smaller churches "out of business."  The indepedent churches who have expertly adopted consumer marketing strategies for growth are clearly competitors, all but telling the masses that their goods and services are better, more relevant, new and improved--compared to the old-line churches and their archaic ways. 

Feast of All Saints

This is All Saints Sunday--an ancient festival commemorating faithful Christians who have died.  This morning a dissonance is created as this group of children goes downstairs for children’s church. We see the future before us, even as we bear witness to our past. These candles on the altar are symbols and reminders of our loved ones, those saints who have died. We see the past and the future intertwined in this space, our confined mortality stretching out in both directions.

B. McLaren's prayer for the earth

Brian McLaren

Rest is NOT a four-letter word

I'm exhausted this week. Our oldest started Kindergarten and we are all up and running by 6:30 am. We need to adjust. It'll take awhile. And then, just as we bein to setle into the pace, we will leave town for a week of retreat/vacation in the Adirondacks. We are so fortunate to have been led to Silver bay, a YMCA facility on Lake George in Upstate NY that offers special hospitality and respte for pastors and their families. We will spend a week. Its an 8-hour drive, but it takes four hours just to realize we're heading for rest. It takes a couple of days before we sink into the rhythm of rest. And its clear that in order for us to really rest, we have to go away. Far away, into isolation, off the grid, unplugged. “The apostles gathered around Jesus and told him all that they had done ands taught. He said to them, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest awhile.” Mark 6:30-31.
I don’t vacation very often. We took no summer break this year. The last time I took a week off was in the winter. Jesus, Justice, Jazz New Orleans was pastoral ministry with its own kind of service and responsibilities. I’m also not an office-bound parish administrator. I spend my time meeting people, planning for mission with various partners, learning and teaching, helping and praying. I have at least four meetings a month in Harrisburg. I am invited to teach and lead groups in various locations around the synod. Toss in Peter’s Porch, prison visits, various committee meetings, and sermon/teaching preparation each week and I have an active schedule. Most nights I work on the computer and read from 8:00 until 10:00 pm. And that is taking into consideration that my first vocation is to be a husband and a father. The rhythm of my week always begins with Sunday worship. But every week has its own character, experiences, opportunities, and challenges. Sometimes I feel more like a human doing than a human being. You know what I mean? I think this is a dangerously unhealthy aspect of American culture. Our value and our livelihood is based on how productive we are. Isn’t there something flawed in our obsession with work and production? What if there is a better way to be human found in the life of Jesus? What if we are called by grace to rest, to God's time that is not urgent and harried, but slow and gentle.
We leave for the Adirondack mountains on September 25 and return October 5. We love this special time of family retreat. We canoe on the lake, take hikes, go on leaf hunts, make apple sauce, visit friends in Vermont, and rest! As a child my congregation offered annual winter retreats to the Lutheran Camp. These were special weekends with out church family that blended worship, fellowship, play, and rest. I still feel that we need an occasional reality check and a spiritual recalibration by way of retreat.
Dr. Marva Dawn wrote a book called, “Keeping the Sabbath Wholly.” It is a book Cherie and I have read and cherished. Though we often forget the gracious implications of the chapters found in it, the book is a reminder to us of our need to cease, rest, embrace, and feast. Dawn wrote, “One of the ugliest things about our culture is that we usually assess a person’s worth on the basis of his or her productivity and accomplishments. One of the first questions we ask when meeting a stranger is, “What do you do?” She continues, “The need to accomplish also leads to a terrible frenzy about time. The criterion for everything in our society has become efficiency.” Sunday mornings are like races for me anymore. The tyranny of getting it done on time has detracted from my desire to worship. I know that I need a break.
Is Sunday a Sabbath for you? How does that time become holy, connecting you to the endless and eternal God? How much of retirement do you spend doing things to stay busy? Does Jesus invite us into a healthier rhythm of life by seeking solitude and rest in the grace of GOD? May we listen to Jesus, who gives rest to our souls. Amen.

Mark 7:24-31
In last week’s gospel story (Mark 7:1-23) Jesus terminates purity religion. Keeping yourself clean to keep the offensive out would not be part of his kingdom message or way. This is not a sectarian holiness movement, like the Essenes, who were keeping themselves undefiled out in the desert. Jesus is not forming an exclusive group of “holier than thou” religious purists, self-righteous in their good works. Jesus has declared kosher laws dead and cleanliness rituals obsolete. Because the kingdom of GOD is not about purity laws that exclude. It is about pure hearts that bless and include and serve the weak and the poor.
But Jesus is put to the test in our gospel for today. Will he embody the new rules of the kingdom he is establishing as he goes along teaching and healing and walking to the cross? He is on a mission to reorient the Jewish community to love God by loving the neighbor; even the sin-sick, poor, wretched Gentile. But he is met by a woman, a stranger, a foreigner, a syro-phoenician woman---a Gentile. Whose daughter is possessed by demons! A single mom at her whits end—her daughter is using drugs, hanging out with this awful boy doing God knows what. Her only little girl curses at her almost every time she sees her. And now she is in real trouble. 16 years old. Sick. In danger. After a night of drinking and who knows what else, she comes home and calls for her mom, “mommy help me” she hears her say softly. Her daughter is lying on the floor convulsing. When she comes downstairs she finds her unresponsive, tremoring, vomiting. She calls 911 and the ambulance comes. She hears the medics begin CPR; she isn’t breathing. Oh my God. She says. Oh my God. No. As the ambulance speeds away, she falls on her knees in the front yard crying and she prays, “Lord, help me, I beg you. Save her. Please. I’ll do anything. Don’t let her die tonight.” No answer. And then the overwhelming self-doubt. Its my own fault. Her mind is racing. She thinks of her divorce and her alcoholic ex-husband’s abusive temper and how long her daughter had endured him. And she thinks of her own sins, her own missteps, her own sicknesses. She curses the damn cigarettes and the weight she has gained since the divorce. She curses the house in disrepair and the money she has spent on herself. She curses the second shift nursing job that prevents her from seeing her daughter in the evenings. She curses her distance from her sisters, who seem to have it together, and clearly judge her a failure. She is a failure. She curses her loneliness in the world. She is so angry with herself. She does not deserve God’s help. Would God even listen? Had God not turned his back on her, after all she had turned her back on GOD. She hadn’t been to church in 20 years. Her daughter had never been. And now she is on her knees begging for her daughter’s life. She dared to beg God. Why should God care about her or her messed up daughter? She clutched her stomach and sobbed and sobbed in the grass. This was it.
Why should God care? A purity religion might say, God doesn’t. God takes care of those who take care of themselves. Or God blesses those who are worthy, God-fearing, religious, faithful, etc…A sign of God’s blessing is prosperity, health, harmony. She is obviously cursed. Punished. God does not work on behalf of the ungrateful, on behalf of the sinful or the wicked. God does not care for those who reject God’s commands and laws. They are left to their own devises. They get what they deserve.
Jesus was in no way obligated to speak to this woman, in no way obligated to help. He could have ignored her. Jewish custom and religious habit, actually obeying God’s commandments, would require that he ignore her. She has three strikes against her: the wrong gender, the wrong race, and the wrong religion. Jesus was supposed to let this one go.
So why does Jesus help her? Is it not love? Not his, but hers. She loves her daughter enough to face rejection and humiliation, scorn, prejudice, misogyny, abuse. She could’ve been hurt or killed. And then where would her daughter be? She takes a bold risk in fear and trembling because she loves her daughter. Like all of us. She loves. Love is boundless. Ask anyone, who do you love? And they will tell you.
Jesus recognizes this maternal love. It is how he understands God the Father. Love. It is why he has come to teach and to suffer for sinners. Love.
The Kingdom of GOD has been opened for all who will hear this message of grace and tell its wonders. When have you begged God? When have you felt unworthy and yet somehow blessed? How has God saved your life or the life of one you love? This woman is out there. I met her. She is a neighbor. And God loves her too much to let her suffer alone. Jesus knows its safer and easier to hide, to ignore her, to walk away. There’s only so much I can do. Her story is overwhelming and her needs are too great. She is offensive to me and undeserving. God’s work. Our hands. Amen.

do you wish to go away?

John 6:56-69. “Do you also wish to go away?”

Jesus ministry resulted in a spiritual crisis in 1st century Judaism. This crisis was deep and wide and divided Jew against Jew. In Matthew, Mark, and Luke the crisis was between the average lay person who seemed to gravitate toward Jesus, and the religious leaders who seemed to oppose his mission. In John’s gospel, it is this very chapter we’ve been reading from that creates a spiritual crisis among the hearers. All of this eating of his flesh and blood to receive the eternal life of fellowship with GOD was too much for them to endure. How can Jesus, a man, give us his body and blood? And how would this eating and drinking affect a change in the covenant relationship with GOD, a covenant broken in Sin? According to John, many turned away and stopped following him. Jesus’ ministry divided his own people. In Matthew Jesus tells the crowds he came not to bring peace but a sword to divide the generations in the one household of the Jewish faith. And so Jesus’ mission brings a crisis because God’s presence on earth is a crisis. Our sinfulness is a crisis. Death is a crisis. Hunger is a crisis. Fear that leads to violence is a crisis. Malaria is a crisis. War is a crisis. Global climate change and the affects it is having on food shortages in sub-Saharan Africa is a crisis. We need not look far to see the crises of this world unfolding. It doesn’t get better or worse; it just is what it is. And we have a part in it all. Because we have been given this one life, this one moment, and this one planet on which to live and move and have our being. So, the crisis for us is a spiritual one! How will we live given our limitations and mortality? How will we treat ourselves and others? How will we understand the nature of life?
For us, the creed we recite is a response to the spiritual crises we face. Because the creed is about GOD. Creator, savior, giver of life. And not about us.
We must not take for granted that we profess a theological existence. First, there is GOD. Then us. Then the power of Sin. Then Jesus, the forgiver and savior. Then the Holy Spirit, who gathers, sanctifies, and advocates. Then there is church, ecclesia. People of GOD, forgiven, restored, made alive with Christ.
The ELCA is a church divided. But this is not news. Churches all over this planet are divided about GOD, Jesus, how we treat others. Have been for as long as there has been church, starting in Jesus’ own lifetime. We need not fear division in the church. Some will use it as a weapon to control and force conformity. Some will say that unity is more important than divisive change. Some will say that the church's witness is being coopted by a liberal society. Some will say that the church's openness is about political correctness in our culture, rather than biblical faithfulness. But the good ol' days weren't always good. They may have been good for some people, but always at the expense of others. So where is the justice in that? God's justice insists on a better way than we can muster ourselves.
We are a divided church. After nearly 20 years of study, prayer, and conversation the ELCA churchwide assembly adopted a social statement on Human Sexuality last week. And we adopted four policy recommendations. These recommendations allow for the public recognition and affirmation of people living in lifelong, monogamous same-gendered relationships—gay couples. And it allows for the rostering of leaders who are engaged in such relationships. Gay people can be ordained pastors, Bishops, etc…in this church. Over a third of this church, I suspect believes this is inconsistent with the teachings of Scripture. Some individuals, some congregations, and maybe even entire synods will defect from the ELCA and form a traditionalist synod currently called Lutheran CORE. They are assembling in Indianapolis next month. They will invite congregations to discern their consciences in this matter and decide if they want to support an ELCA that, they believe, has departed from scripture in this matter.
This for many is a crisis in this church. I believe it is. And I believe that the Holy Spirit has called us in the gospel to a engage this crisis. I also believe that this is not entirely about sexuality. Sexuality is the cultural war in which an ecclesial issue is being hammered through. The real issue is: Who does GOD call and send in gospel ministry? Who are the called? Who are the chosen ones? Who are the elected officials of this religion? Who does this GOD assign? Who is valued, gifted, eligible for holy office? I am a baptized child of GOD and a sinner. Jesus has saved me and promised me real, authentic, good and eternal life with GOD. I have been called and sent by God as an apostle and teacher in this church. I believe that every baptized believer is a sinner and is gifted and called by the Spirit for service in Jesus’ name. I believe that if God can call and send me, God can call and send anyone: male or female, gay or straight. Fifty years ago divorce was the dividing wall for clergy. Thirty years ago, gender. Now I have divorced female colleagues in ministry, who half a century ago would not have dreamed of serving a call as a rostered leader. Are they to be denounced, defrocked, maligned, ignored? Will God's calling be mocked? This is not a liberal, “the times they are a changin’” speech. Because these decisions have been spiritually discerned in a community of the whole---an exercise in humility lost in so many American Christians whose biblical interpretation is more about their personal political ideologies and personal feelings than about GOD. ONe does not submit to a whole or a community, but is bound to a free conscience and a personal choice. So again, the bigger issue is not sexuality, but how do we read and understand Scripture as God’s inspired Word for us in this place and time. How do we bridge the cultural distance between us and the world in which Scripture was written? How do we bridge the cultural distance between the context of antiquity and the 21st century context? How do we prayerfully discern God’s Word for us without getting in the way?
I know that there are folks who believe the ELCA is abandoning Scripture and tradition. I am sorry that this spiritual crisis is wounding them and breaking relationships. Jesus was crucified because the religious authorities in his day refused to recognize that he was the anointed son of GOD and the Messiah of the Jewish people. Their faithful adherence to the law became a stumbling block to the spirit of truth found in the unlikely form of Jesus of Nazareth. Who ought not to be called by GOD? An illegitimate carpenter’s son. Fishermen. A tax collector. A prostitute. A Samaritan. A man born blind. A Pharisee and persecutor of “the way of Jesus”. The biblical witness is full of witnesses whose witness is disqualified, rejected, unauthorized. From Moses and the Prophets to Jesus and Paul; the damned and the condemned are the priests of this God. Inviting the outcast to share the good news is biblical. Because God is gracious, reconciling our broken sinful souls with Christ. Finally, It is at the cross where sinful divisions are finally healed. Jesus himself offers us forgiveness in the midst of this crisis. We trust in Him.
Many turned back and stopped following him, John says. Many will indeed walk away. A choice is offered. To follow Jesus to the cross, or to go another way. May Jesus question to his disciples cause a spiritual crisis in us all: Do you wish to go away also? Let our answer be Peter’s: Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Amen.

in one body through the cross

Today the ELCA in assembly voted to allow gay and lesbian people in faithful, monogamous, lifelong relationships to serve on the roster of this church. Many people are opposed to this policy change as a sign of our departure from Scriptural and traditional norms with respect to homosexuality and marriage. This could not be further from the truth. It is possible to believe the homosexuality is a sin, is antithetical to biblical teaching or to created intentions for men and women and at the same time believe that the gifts and calling of these people into rostered leadership in the church is consistent with the work of the Holy Spirit and the will of GOD. That is about where I am. If I were not there, I could not serve as a rostered leader. Why?
Because my sin is just as contemptible as anyone elses. Who am I to serve the Lord as a proclaimer of His Word and as n ambassador of His grace? If me, why not them? If not them, why me? That's been my thinking all along. The nature of sin makes us equal, even as the nature of grace reconciles sinners to GOD.
So, I affirm the assemblies action and rejoice in the work of the Spirit there. I hope and pray that this church will find ways to live together in respect for bound consciences that have discerned another way of understanding this issue.
All of this is really about a new ecclesiology that is emerging. This ecclesial expression seeks to engage the culture we find ourselves in as gracious guests in a host culture that has become resistant to the dominant churchianity of the past, a dominance that ended forty years ago and the church is only now realizing. Part of our engagement in the culture is to realize how complex sexuality has become here. To ignore this nuanced approach to sexuality is to live in the past!
So we'll see what happens in the weeks and months ahead. I believe that this is a minor issue compared to the real theological earthquake that is occurring globally.

Lutheran Yacht Club

Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson of the ELCA rides bumper boats in new orleans. I stole this pic from another blogger, who stole it from Facebook. So kudos to the photographer and original post-er. ELCA Bishops clad in clerical attire are the funnest Bishops I know!

the Spirit gives life

How do we know what GOD is doing? How do we know what God is about in our place and time? How do we know when we are living in obedience to this GOD?
Most Christians would say that all three of these questions are answered by Holy Scripture. And thanks to the modern mind, interpretation of Holy Scripture is inconsistently applied. Literalism and truth must somehow dance together. What is truth, Pilate's question before Jesus, is essentially the question we must ask Scripture? If it is indeed Word of GOD, than we must ask God what God means to say when God says we God says in the Good book. Does God mean to tell us that creation was a six-day orderly, miracle of divine organization and design? Or does God mean to tell us more than that? For there is more in that creation poem of Genesis chapter ONe than a simple literal, historical reading renders.
Some might say that Scripture, reason, tradition, and experience together shape our understanding of God's work. It is often unclear whether we are interpreting Scripture or Scripture is interpreting us. In our search for clarity, do we not sometimes deny mystery and the unknown?
For example, my Father told a story at my wedding that I had not acknowledged as pertinent to the day. He said that on account of two Lutheran neighbors in Rockford, Illinois inviting my parents to worship, Cherie and I would not be together. My parents were Roman Catholic and nominally United methodist. They sought to become more faithful together. They found no home aong either of their respective traditions. The Istad's invited them to Our Saviour Lutheran in Rockford. They attended and became connected. I was baptized at the age of two. We retained a Lutheran identity, even after moving from Illinois to upstate New York. On account of a clergy family who joined our congregation in the late 80s I was introduced to Susquehanna University, a school I had never heard of before Kristen attended there. They convinced me to check it out.
I met Cherie at SU in 1994. Fifteen years later we have three boys, I am a Lutheran Pastor, and we serve together in Lancaster, PA. How did I get here? How did I come this far? From farming in Upstate New York to preaching in central Pennsylvania, how did I arrive here? Why me? Why Cherie? Why Lutheran? Why three boys? Why do I believe what I believe, knowing that others believe something quite different than I and have a convincing story to tell. If God is responsible for all of this, then God must be devoted at a very personal level. Or else all is random coincidence, environmental conditioning, and biology. I suspect that God is at work in, with and under those things. Genetics, environmental conditions, happenstance---perhaps God is present in all of these ways. God's ways are mysterious. "Its alright, its alright, alright, she moves in mysterious ways," sings Bono. Does he sing of the Holy Spirit?
Today I heard testimony, very clear testimony from scripture and from tradition, that both affirms and denies the blessing and calling into rostered leadership in this church (ELCA) of people in same-gender relationships. Should gay poeple living in confirmed monogamous relationships be allowed to seve as rostered leaders? Should their calling to the ministry of Word and Sacrament be endorsed and recognized by this church? Can we affirm the gifts and not the call of GOD? In denying the call, do we deny the gifts? What does Jesus show us about God's grace and its implication in the human community? In affirming the gifts and call, what will the witness of this church be in the world, both among fellow Christians, other faith traditions, and non-adherents or unbelievers? In the book "UNChristian" by David Kinnaman, research by the Barna group shows that the number one perception of Christians by nonChristian people under the age of 30 is that Christians are anti-homosexual (91% of those polled), and that they view this as inconsistent with what might be considered good news.
So here's where I am today. I am not sure exactly why I am a heterosexual man, living in Lancaster, Pennsylvania with a house, a wife, and three kids whom I adore. I don't know why I have enough. I don't know why I have not died yet. I don't know why I know who I know and meet who I meet and think how I think. The complexities behind such matters are far to vast for me to articulate and understand. I also know that right now somehwere someone's being born, someone is dying, someone is falling asleep, someone is firing a weapon, someone is buying fast food, someone is walking a long way to get food for her family, someone is having sex, someone is crying, someone is playing golf, someone is writing a blog. If we are somehow open to the nowness of life as it is happening to others, then we will see beyond ourselves a world formed and re-forming, organic and changing, evolving and yet ever the same.
My dad saw some connections on my wedding day that I had not put together. Maybe its in relationships with others that we see more clearly. All I know is that I don't know. Will we (ELCA) be damed if we affirm policy recommendations 1 thru 4 in Minneapolis this week? Will the church split, fail, die, fall, incur God's wrath?
..."Yet I trust in your unfailing love, my heart shall rejoice in your salvation."---Psalm 13.
Life with Jesus means taking bold actions into unchartered territory with a limited but realistic knowledge of the risks and costs in so doing. It also means leaning on God's mercy and grace every step of the way. If you are not making choices that require Jesus, what kind of choices are you making? Easy ones? Comfortable ones?
If you do what you always did you'll get what you always got. I think the message of the cross is absurd because it means being right requirs that you know you are wrong. Surrender to the wind, to the flood, to the heat, to the fire, to the death approaching us all. IN there somewhere is life complete and whole.

which side are you on?

Have you noticed how narrowly this culture defines people and ideas? Its amazing how dualistic Americans have become. You're either conservative or liberal, republican or democrat, pro-reform or anti-reform, pro-government or anti-government, pro choice or anti-abortion (the label pro-life is too broad, because who among us is anti-life?). These narrowly defined labels create thoughtless, baseless debate between parties who refuse to seek clarity somewhere outside their own interests. There is no boundary crossing here, no consensus, no unity. Only fences and walls, divisions and departures.

I confess to you all now: I have defected from this old, tired dualistic debate born in the age of modernity. try to define me. label me. go ahead. i am already labeled. i know. but i am not who you think i am.
What is so enlightening about categorical imperatives? The biblical narrative is messier than the kind of simple truth so many people apply to it. Defining right and wrong is not the essential character of the biblical narrative, though some would argue for the bible's use as such a tool. They might argue that the Bible is a simple answer book for every human problem, no matter how complex. But is that true? The center of the biblical narrative is not humanity, is it? Where does GOD's intent get clarified in the bible narrative? Exclusely in Genesis and the creation story? in the ten commandments? In the Levitical or deuteronomical law codes? is not God's intent expressed in a variety of ways by a variety of voices through a vast expanse of time? Prophetic books, historical books, gospels, letters, poems, songs, laments, wisdom sayings---all these things convey the will or intent or hope of the GOD whose people are responsible for and responsive to this sacred writing. Special self-interests tend to operate out of a monotonic expression of the bible, self-selecting passages, books, or rules that fit their personal criteria. One can argue in favor of war and in favor of non-violence against the enemy. So which is right? Is that the bible's purpose? To guide us into the right answer?
Take the health care debate raging throughout the U.S. right now. Ultimately, the debate is not about health or healing at all. Its about power and privilege. Does power and privilege reside in the free will of every enlightened individual or does it reside in the emperor or the king or the elected official? In our system power does not reside in the hands of the biblical GOD. At best, a god exists from which all powers came into existence. But this god no longer exercises dominion over humanity or the earth because free will and the power born in the individual has superceded divine right. See Thomas Jefferson and many of the framers of the declaration and the U.S. constitution. Freedom of religion is a central tenet of the bill of rights because the framers sought to reject the tyranny they associated with theocentric beliefs. The separation clause is meant to protect the enlightened democracy from the tyranny of belief in a single religious,moral philosophy. So the god we follow is not the biblical one. It is the self-appointed god, the electorate, the enlightened dissenter, the free individual is god here!
The point is that the arguments we are having today are a direct result of the framers' determination to elevate the powers of an enlightened people exercising their free will over and above any sense of submission to a divine power or authority. To reject centralized powers of kingship is a post-Christendom, enlightenment assertion that developed the modern secular state we know as the United States. To claim that the U.S. is not a modern secular state is absurd. At best those who seek to claim a role for Christianity in our national identity must align themselves with medieval Christendom, colonialization, and the crusades. The last administration embodied this perspective to the enth degree. Is not the Iraq war, justification for torture, and the long-term presence of American military outposts in the Middle East a modern replication of the medieval papal state? Bush was a Christian who believed that he was God's warrior king.

We are, however, experiencing something like a Copernicun revolution in our culture. That's why some people have defected from the narrow definitions of the culture wars to take a nuanced or alternative position. What is a nuanced position on government? Empires will be empires and the powers and privileges inherent in the imperial dominance narrative benefits those who prosper by it. But in that narrative, poverty and powerlessness embodied in the most vulnerable parts of the population are ignored, marginalized, and rejected as superstition by the powerful narrators. What does this mean. We live under imperial rule, but the empire is democratic so that the emperor is the majority. And the majority is represented by the oppressor, the powerful and the privileged. The voices from the margins are rejected, villified, demonized.
So what is truth? I have defected from this flawed narrative of dominance. Jesus is LORD. not me or you or obama or congress. And Jesus' lordship is characterized by a radical reorientation of justice in community that lifts up the oppressed and humbles the powerful. Jesus inflates the weak and deflates the strong. He raises the dead and calls the living to die. No narrow self-interests, but rather an other focus that begins with worship of GOD, the creator. What do I say to the health care debate? You're debating the wrong issue. The question is who is your god and who is your neighbor? Where does power reside and how does the use of that power affect others. I would suggest that the current system of transactional benefit and consumer-spending capacity severely limits the way necessary goods and services are offered and received. if you can't afford it, you can't get it. if you can't afford it, you don't deserve it. If you can't afford it, you cannot access it. Wealth defines health. power resides in the hands of those with wealth of resources. And they decide who lives and who dies. All the time.

So how do you defect? Ask these questions. How does your belief about individual freedom and choice relate to your beliefs about GOD, the world, your friends and enemies? Who does Jesus heal? Where does power reside in the gospel narrative? How does Jesus embody an alternative power dynamic in his world? What might a community who embodies those power dynamics look, talk, and act like? How would we think about health care as a result? "My first allegiance is not to a flag, a country or a man. My first allegiance is not to democracy or blood. Its to a king and a kingdom."---Derek Webb, "A King and a Kingdom", from the album 'Mockingbird'.

making a joyful noise

"Sing Psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in yuor hearts, giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ." Ephesians 5:19-20. Marva Dawn once commented about music in worship, interpreting Ephesians 5:18 and 19 in light of life in the post-Pentecost Christian community. She said that Paul's allusion to the spiritual singing of Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs was an indication of the kind of musical life they ought to have. Had they been arguing about what songs or music was befitting worship? Had they been arguing about the use of language in music, the use of scripture in music? Had they been gathering in reverent silence and thereby cooling the joyous spirit that had warmed their hearts? Had they reduced their musical expression to a few familiar hymns, which became the exclusive expression of the Ephesus congregation? Familiarity breeds contempt, because it naturally excludes anyone who is unfamiliar.
Marva Dawn says that Psalms were the old chestnuts, the old songs that everyone knew. Ancient texts, ancient carols, Chants. Hymns were those songs found in the New testament, like the Magnificat and the Kenosis hymn from Philippians 2. And spiritual songs were indigenous to the contemporary gathered community. Marva suggested that Paul suggested music in worship that was both ancient and familiar and traditional; and also new and ocntemporary. Of course the primary goal was to tell the story of salvation through music. The bible was their songbook, but so was their experience in life. Someone might have a song to share on their hearts that glorifies the Lord. And that kind of spontaneous expression ought to be welcomed in the context of the Word being proclaimed.
The implications of this for the gathered community today are many: Worship music ought to be rooted in Scripture, tell the story of salvation, talk about GOD and talk to GOD, and it ought to reveal the joyful hearts of those present. Worship is about the heart open to God's heart, the mind open to the mind of Christ, the spirit inspired by the Holy Spirit.
I so often leave traditional Lutheran liturgy wondering where the awe, the mystery, the love, and the joy are. And although much of the liturgy is biblical in its language, the musical medium by which this language is carried does not connect. So often, classical and organ-based music seems so out of touch with the world in which we live that I scarcely can listen. Its not fun anymore. Fun ought not to characterize every worship experience, but as fun is connected to joy, shouldn't orship sometimes be fun? Fun is a strange word here. I mean the kind of fun that can be had together in the company of others; like a wedding party with dancing and merriment.
I love music. I am somewhat of a musician. And I love many genres of music; from reggae to rock, jazz to folk. I even appreciate some rap and some country music. But church music is not connecting me to GOD the way it can and should. Does it convey the gospel? If its singable. And when is it singable? When its melody and rhythm grab us. When it is beautiful, lovely, poignant, real.
At the ELCA Youth gathering in New Orleans we gathered in the Superdome for worship and inspiration every evening and Sunday morning. The house band was led by Peter Mayer, the lead guitarist for Jimmy Buffett. I enjoyed their music. And the crowd sang together. But I was even more struck by something else that happened musically. At the end of each night's gathering, as we exited, a song was cued up and played in the dome. It is the song, "i'm yours" by Jason Mraz, a simple four chord tune with a reggae beat. Lyrics about love and belonging to one another. "Open up your mind and see like me, open up your plans and then your free, look into your heart and you'll find love, love, love. Listen to the moment come and sing with me, we're just one big family, and its our God forsaken right to be loved, loved, loved, loved loved." Everyone sang this song as we exited the superdome. People gathered in small circles to sing it. Its a popular song, has been for a year or so, I bet. And it moved them. It seemed to connect and set a mood of love, joy, friendship, kindness. I was as moved by the response to this pop song as I was to any music we heard in worship that week.
Music in worship can convey adoration for God and for creation. It can inspire us to mission and call us to discipleship. It can help us to cry out in the face of injustice, poverty, and sin. It can unite and build community. And worship music can be sacred and secular; is there really a division in God's world? All of it is God's isn't it? Even the crap. What if worship and the music of our souls was all about GOD and not about me or us? What if it really was about the message, remembering that the medium, the art, the lyric must contextualize that good news for listeners/musicians/singers.
"We do not think about worship so much in terms of what we do. Worship is fundamentally about what God is doing and our response to God's action. Worship is an encounter with God, who saves us through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus." This thinking is contrary to consumerist worship, where the important question is, "What did I get out of it?" Worship does indeed feed the soul because God feeds us there. But GOD is the one being worshipped. Not me. Not the band or the singer or the organ or the hymnal or the pew or the ritual act. We worship GOD. So, as emerging Christian people seek to worship the trinity, may we be centered on God's Word and the Eucharist as the point of contact with Jesus' forgivng love. And may we sing our guts out.

and they shouted, "crucify him"

Jesus was no stranger to highly charged political/religious rallies. Passover amounted to a giant political uprising, with riots and police brutality, and government crackdowns and public executions. Jesus himself is victim to Passover revolution, traditionalist power/privilege ideology, and imperial controls. The crucifixion was largely the result of political/religious fervor, threat of revolution, and the use of violence to quell potential violence. Jesus, on the other hand, is determined to suffer on the cross and die becaus ehe is determined to overthrow the rulers of this world by not participating in their game. he is silent before accusers. He is willingly handed over. He believes God has sent him to die. He forgives. He commits his spirit to GOD. This is cross. Self-emptying, vulnerable, powerless, speechless, weak, dead to this world.

So I went to a rally in Lebanon this morning where U.S. Senator Arlen Specter was holding a town hall meeting about the proposed bill to reform health care. I arrived to find a large crowd had gathered on the sidewalk in front of the college building in which the meeting was being held. That's understated. I found a mob. Hundreds of people. I found some friends, including anotehr Pastor and his wife, and stood with them in the midst of the rally/protest. At first, it seemed like a two-sided rally. Some are for government intervention and reform, many were not. I stood among opposers to the current congressional bill. I had a sticker on my clerical shirt that said, "Health Care Reform Now." The ElCA advocates a position on health care that we need reform and that the government has an important role to play in creating an environment in which quality health care options are available and affordable for all Americans; especially the underprivileged, the unemployed, children, and the 47 million uninsured Americans. Health care costs need to be regulated so that private insurance businesses don't continue to ration health care to those who can afford the rising premiums. A public option, essentially broadening medicare/medicaid by offering a lower cost government insurance policy, would provide competition and drive down costs. other measures of regulation wuold reduce health care inflation, which has risen three times higher than wages. Go to
the PA health Access Network website to learn more.
As I stood silently with my friend, the crown behind me began to shout at me. A woman began to shout invectives toward me, "May God judge you harshly for supporting this bill that supports abortion and euthansia." As soon as I turned to address her, I found myself surrounded by anti-abortion protesters. For the next forty minutes I became their whipping boy or punching bag. I was the perfect straw man: a religious figure who does not share their opinion about health care reform. I made it clear to them that I am not pro-abortion. But they would not understand a nuanced, theological truth about abortion and life that I and the Lutheran church embrace. Instead of thoughtful conversation, they are justified in their right opinion without hearing testimony from me or anyone else. They put me in a box labeled "the foolish, lost enemy" and started kicking. I believe that we see through a glass dimly, especially on matters concerning life, conception, sexuality--things we cannot fully understand. But, because this was not a venue for reasonable conversation or a place for constructive theological debate or spirtual discernment of God's Word, I was simply an easy target. People screamed at me. "Do you have children? Do you love them? Which one of your boys would you choose to abort?" And, "You are supporting murder. God will judge your wickedness. You have to live with yourself." And "You preach the social gospel but you forgot the gospel."
I could go on. But let's just say that these comments are a verbatim assortment of the kinds of things spoken against me. I have not felt so uncomfortable in public in a long time. Ironically, I am always a target among church people, fellow Christians. Its not non-believers who are destroying church, its the church destroying itself and taking others down with us. Mind you I asserted only a handful of claims. One, that I am a Lutheran Christian. Two, that I believe in the God who raised Jesus from the dead and who forgives sinners. Three, that I support the governments role in helping to provide a broader safety net of affordable access to quality health care, since the current system is severely broken and unsustainable.
I also asserted that I am not in favor of abortions. I believe women who become pregnant in untenable circumstances will choose abortion as an option and I hope we might provide a safe medical alternative to unregulated, illegal, black market abortions that put women in danger. We just watched "Revolutionary Road", a story of how a destructive marriage in the 1950s ends in the untimely death of a wife and mother who performs an abortion on herself. I also hope that abortion ends, that genocide ends, that homicide ends, that hunger ends, that war ends. And to embody the kingdom of GOD is to long for the fulfillment of these hopes and to work with God in ending injustice and the power of sin.
What was interesting about the experience for me was this: I went there to listen to Senator Specter, to engage in the process, to listen and to learn. I did not go there to fight, to argue, to condemn or malign anyone. I was not ready to be condemned or maligned either. But I was. I became the center of a hateful circle of "righteous Christians" who used the bible to condemn and reject. I should have sung, "Jesus loves me." I should have said, "Father forgive them for the know not what they are doing." I should have said, "Therefore now there is no condemntation for those who are in in Christ Jesus." And "Love one another as I have loved you." I saw Christians attacking a Christian because of a single politicized issue that is culturally bigger than Roe v. Wade or the constitution or the health care reform bill. There are broader implications. Who loves the child born in poverty and abuse? Who loves the girl who is afraid of what her father will do to her if she tells him she is pregnant? Who loves the rape victim? Who loves the women who do not have prenatal care or go into debt in order to have a child? Incidentally, if our children had been born under our current insurance, we would have gone into medical debt.
Cross-bearing comes when we publically live the sign of our baptismal identity in the face of injustice. I did not go there to bear witness to the cross, but I believe I did. I could not speak. I could not defend myself. I could not diffuse their anger. I could not rationalize with them. I could not avoid them either. Could I have walked away? Eventually, I did. But first I was subject to a biblical tirade and a personal attack. Jesus calls us to stand with the suffering, the abused, the poor, and the uninsured. Whenever we do, we will bear the cross. May tomorrow be a day of resurrection joy!

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.