embracing grace

Scot McKnight is one of my favorite teacher/authors. We are going to explore his book "The Jesus Creed", paraclete press, 2001, for Lent in 2009. That book is about the Jewish Shema and Jesus' summation of the torah that includes the addition of "Love your neighbor as yourself" from Leviticus. McKnight fleshes out the way of Jesus as it pertains to this creed, which is how he understands the use of the Shema in Judaism and in Jesus' spirituality and teachings.
I am now reading McKnight's book "Embracing Grace:A Gospel for all of us" for the Sunday disciple group who asked to spend some time and energy talking about grace. he writes this by way of introduction, "This generation wants an authentic gospel, one that is both proclamation and performance, a gospel that deals with the world they live in: a world that is full of images of people dying and starving and being put to death by goons, a world where there is a profusion of tensions, a world where the Christian faith isn't the only faith in town, a world where one particular deonomination doesn't own the market on everything, a world where neighborhoods don't look like the one in the waltons .
A good question to ask is what sort of gospel story do we need, what sort of news is good news? What story is honest enough about who we are and brave enough about who we are not that it shocks our hearts and at the same time invites us into the truth about life, God, the world, everything? Is the story of Jesus that kind of a story? Does it shock and confront us, does it also welcome us? I think Scot McKnight is right that this generation is not satisfied with sentiments about life after death or with a gospel told from the perspective of the rich, the fortunate, the powerful, the secure. Joel Osteen's gospel just doesn't resonate with a world that is akin to suffering, injustice, abuse, and all manner of sin.
Grace is shocking too. Because it is given freely but comes with a great cost to the giver. Relationally, God's grace includes the betrayal, suffering, and death of Jesus-the anointed son. So, God is exceedingly generous. We are recipients. Hopefully grateful, willing, obedient, and honest recipients who may become an offering in response to such grace.

Kindergarten

So my oldest son will be five in March. He has been attending preschool at a local Lutheran church for two school years. That has been good for him, for my wife, and for our second son. He goes three mornings each week.
Last night my wife and I went to our school district's Kindergarten Expo! We learned everything there is to know about kindergarten. We are not unawares. My wife is an elementary school teacher on extended parenting leave. She does not have a permanent position with a district, but will eventually return to full-time teaching. We get it. We know the drill.
And yet, I was a little freaked out. Its hard to adapt to the idea that our firstborn is old enough already for school buses and math and recess and tests and homework and friends and desks and school supplies and peer pressure and science and reading and writing and teacher conferences and gym class...I may be ahead of myself a little, but h's going to be five. I remember five. not four so much,but five. I remember my bus driver for God's sake! And Paul and Amanda and Amy and sidewalk recess on wet spring days and chalk boards and erasers and standing agains the wall at lunch after being accused unjustly. And the Principal's office and the nurse's office and Mrs.Boyer-Yardley the art lady and Mrs. Franklin--my teacher. And If I can remember these things, then he will too someday. More than anything else, the idea that we are now making memories for him is significant. That's not to say that you get a free pass on bad behavior as a parent of kids below the age of 3 or 4. But now the stakes are higher.What will he remember about his childhood? About his school? His teachers? his friends? his first bus ride? Bullies? Math? Books? The reality that he is increasingly aware of his own past is an integral part of the human experience. isn't it? And we take it for granted. Our deep memory potential. And science tells us we only tap the surface of our mental recall capacity.
There have been stories on the news about people whose brains are wired to remember everyhing that ever happened in their lives. Dates, times, days, faces, names, hurts, etc...all available all the time.
I think forgetting is also a gift sometimes. Even as memory holds great power, for within it lies the possibility of real change. To remember may mean to repeat or to reject what was before. Just as to forget is to allow for the possibility of the same.
WhenJeremiah says that God promises to blot out our transgressions and remember our sins no more, this is no small thing. For God to promise to forget how we act is necessary, isn't it? Were it not so, God would be full of regret. Instead, God chooses not to look at the past but to see us in the present and to move us toward His future; a future I believe that holds more promise for us than does our human past of destruction, chaos, cruelty and the rest of the forgettable stuff of humanity's ugliness. God forgets and God forgives. A free gift for both God and us. Without these things we might all be stuck.
I know this: I will not forget the day Jonah gets on that bus. It will be a sad day and a happy one. And it will be an end and a beginning as so many changes are in life. Inherent in it is the gift of public education, the gift of friendships and community so often found there, and the gift of memories to be collected as part of the journey of life. I will remember and so will he.
Do you remember kindergarten?

emergence in our place

Some respected religious scholars are calling the current redefinition of church or ecclesial reformation 'emergence'. It is an opening up, an unfolding or arising of something new within the ancient form of Christian community. A reframing of the church's story that considers the deep rootedness of the kerygma, both in the 1st century church and in 1st century Judaism; as that kerygma addresses the situation we find ourselves in today. It is a recontextualization of the significant matters of our faith through engagement with 21st century postmodern culture. We seek to hear and live this good news, but through the framing narrative of postmodernity. Churches are still trying to embody a gospel for a situation that no longer exists. Its like we're still trying to feed people food high in saturated fats and cholesterol when we know the health risks inherent in such a diet.

As some of us in our synod begin to explore what it means to belong to church in the 21st century, we might seek some inspiration from the above web community. Emergent village has been at this for about a decade. Click on their link to "cohorts" to watch a youtube video about these local, missional/theological conversations being generated around the country by people who are seeking a deeper intentionality about their spiritual formation as people of GOD. I think we are leaning toward this new social, public spiritual conversation as we foster local cluster group formation among Lutheran Christians,our friends, and neighbors. If you are wondering how you might connect with others who are searching for a safe place to talk about God, Jesus, church, ministry and vocation in the world, faith and relationships, etc...then comment on this blog entry. We are trying to get people connected. There is a social networking component to this at a Facebook group called "koinonia 21c."
Church is becoming something other than it has been in the modern,Constantinian, institutional model. It is being redefined and reshaped. And it is sparking interest where interest in these things had lost momentum or priority. Church is shedding its buiding, budgets, and boards business model and realigning with a simpler way---a way characterized primarily by authentic relationships held together by the mystery/presence and story of Jesus the Christ, the Son of GOD.

Baptism of Our Lord

What is Baptism?
She was surprised at first. Almost next expecting what she had been expecting for months when it happened. Water broke! Time to go! Oh my God! grab the bags, wake him up, call someone. Call everyone. Check the...ouch, never mind. Get in the car. And it hits her, like that. As she dries off wet legs (yuck). She was born for this...to be a mom. It was a God-given gift and her calling in life and in less than 24 hours she wuold be living it for the rest of her life. And then another contraction hits.
It surpristed him at first, those words from the doctor. Cold words in the dim hallway outside the busy intensive care unit in the too familiar hospital. "Less than 24 hours now". With her. Afte r59 years in the same house, the same bed. And now it was coming to an end or changing. The first tear rolled down his cheek. It was cold. And then hey came out like an uncontrollable flood---weeping, sadness, pain in the gut, in the heart. And he sat on the floor clutching his 80 year old knees. He wasn't thinking any particular thought. Just her. Flashes of a life. Their wedding day, that trip to California, their first new Buick, the kids, the house, the grandkids, the cancer she beat, her smile, her voice, her hands. And the tears fell. He would live without her for the rest of his life.
It was no surprise and she shouted and laughed and jumped and kicked the couch and grabbed the dog and threw her wet coat on the kitchen floor. The rain had made the envelope damp and her hair dripped from the four minutes she stood holding it at the mailbox with the butterflies dancing in her stomach. Open it. Read it. YES! I'm in! Accepted. Med. School. In 2 months. As water droplets stained the letter that told her future, she sat on the floor and remembered her daddy said, "You can be whatever you want to be, baby, because we love you." She was 9 then. 15 years later , she was on her way to becoming a doctor. Call dad. Now. On this rainy summer night fter a long shift in the restaurant, she is wet and happy and ready to start the one thing she has always wanted to be---a healer of sick people.
As the sun emerged behind gray clouds, he sat alone on the one dry bench under the canopy of green and watched the cars splash through the flooded streets spraying water to his shoeless feet. Will he eat today? Sleep inside? See a friend? Wlll he survive? A storm had passsed but the one he livs in keeps raging in his head. Are the clouds ever going away? How did he let them gather over him, consume him, wash his life away? How did this happen? His disease, job loss, wife leaving, foreclosure. No job, no money, no car. Nothing. No one. Just himself. His better days now were either drunk or in jail. He walks, then. Crosses against the light, bare feet wading through four inches of runoff. he;d sat on the steps of that building before. Never daring to go up, open the door, go in. See. But somethign aboutt he sun peeking under the clouds said, "its time." As he took the first step up, the door opened. A young man sees him and smilies. They are both surprised for a few seconds. And then he says, "Hi I've seen you here before. Is your name Tom? I'm Peter. Come on in. Coffee's hot. Join us. Supper is in 20 minutes, if you like. Welcome to St. Paul's."
Baptism--it happens once and it happens over and over and over again. Moments when God comes ot us, calls to us, inspires us to our next best selves. Rescues us from our worst selves.
Baptism is not fire insurance or a guarantee. It is divine adoption and life vocation rolled into one. I was adopted at the age of two at Our Saviour Lutheran in Rockford, Illinois. And God has called me to this life ever since, the life of the Son, the life of Jesus. The one who teaches us how to live washed and wet and willing to be who God wants Him, needs Him, loves Him to be. Who does God love you to be? What does God love you to do? What makes God say, "This is my boy, this is my girl. I love you so much. Your life pleases me." Jesus' baptism is a sign of his identity and an anointing into a vocation. His life is an authorized mission from God to the world, a single man devoted to live the perfect life, die a humble and sacrificial death,and rise as a sign of the timeless, transcendent, eternal,power of God with us.
My you be drenched in the love of God. May you soak up God's grace and compassion. May you pour it out in holy, gracious, sarificial living and giving. You are baptized.Like him. You are children. Born for God's love and born for God's world. May love be our gift,Jesus our way, and baptism our delight. Amen. ---Sermon for Baptism of Our Lord, 2009