Resurrection and Release

Alleluia! Christ is Risen! I am rejoicing today because of the opportunity the LORD is giving me to minister to young men in prison. As you know, I regularly visit Justin Thompson and Eric Singley. I also visit a young man named Dan Wickenheiser, referred to me by Ron and Justin. David Linn has recently referred me to a young man known to his family. I will see him next week. And Marika Ramirez, who connected to us through Peter's Porch and has worshipped with us a few times, has a husband in state prison and a brother who will enter LCP next week. I will see her brother on Monday and again after he enters LCP. That means I will soon be visiting with five young men in their walk through the criminal justice system. God has called and sent me to them. And by extension, God is calling this congregation to embrace them as well. We are challenged by this Word from the gospel of Matthew to see the Lord Jesus in the prisoner. We can exercise great mercy and compassion and grace by reaching out to them, many of whom are struggling with various forms of abuse, pain, or mental illness. The stygma attached to one who is part of the criminal justice system doesn't go away. They are social outcasts, deviants, who will have a harder time re-integrating as a result of their criminal behavior and subsequent detention. 1 in 31 adults in the US is in prison or under some management by the CJS. That's five times higher than any other country in the world. Over half of those who enter the system will return to incarceration within three years of their release.

We are a people whose goal is reconciliation through forgiveness, which leads to repentance and the amendment of life. As we know repentance is not a once-and-done formula for successful avoidance of sinful behavior. We are called to repent, to reorient our lives around the ways of Jesus everyday. Some of us are more actively involved in the spiritual process of repentance and renewal. Some of us haven't connected the depth of our sinfulness with a need to be changed. None of us are yet imitating Christ. But we are called to seek His ways. Baptism is God's promise of resurrection and release from Sin that opens the way for repentance and reformation to occur in our lives. My prayer is that each of these young men will be lead by the Holy Spirit to repentance and to reconciliation with God that leads to new life. What they have taught me is that I am also a sinner in need of God's mercy and grace who seeks to be part of a community of believers who trust that Jesus offers us the forgiveness we need, and don't deserve, in order to live lives that are pleasing to God the Father. They have also shown me how judgmental and dismissive the church has been toward troubled or prodigal souls. We are as guilty as they are when we turn our backs on them, handing them over to a system that will not assure them a chance at amendment or reconciliation or reformation. I am a firm beleiver that the criminal justice system is necesary and important and that some people need to be held accountable to it. I also believe that we cannot abandon anyone to that system. We are invited by Jesus to take part in it and to bring to it the gifts of faith, hope, and love.

We must also begin to count them as part of this community of faith. They are not "members" but they belong to us. We have been given stewardship of their souls by the Holy Spirit. So I may suggest that we begin to count our weekly "attendance" differently. Whose spiritual needs did we attend to this week? In worship. in visitation of homebound, prison bound people. At Peter's Porch. In this gathering or that service. I think we would do well to observe the care of souls in these ways.

an american passion

This slideshow on the NPR site is beautiful and nicely narrated by the artist. Check it out.

resurrection and reconciliation

I don't like the feeling I get when I know that I have offended someone. I am an anxious person, I guess. I do not have tough enough skin for this calling. I take it personally. So when I am accused of some form of wrongdoing or injustice, I seek to make amends and to clear the air. I want to set it right and restore a clear conscience. I am aware that I have shortcomings that may offend or anger others. I am not neat. I am scattered. I lose things. I don't pick up. I don't always follow through. Sometimes I don't do what I say. This is the most regrettable offense. Do what you say you're going to do. I have learned the hard way that people take me at my word, which makes me the breaker of promises.
I am not passive aggressive, either. I like to talk through conflict and to resolve anger peaceably. When I discover that someone has been harboring ill feelings toward me for several weeks, months, or even years it grieves me. I cherish the power of forgiveness because of this. Being set free from the need to punish others also releases the victim from the violence. And isn't all sin, great or small, violent? Does sin not violate our sense of goodness, rightness, health, balance, etc...? Forgiveness is the first step in reconciliation, which Jeuss teaches as a central claim about God and the kingdom. Being reconciled to GOD begins with release from punishment for sin. It is advanced through an ongoing way of reconciliation, as we begin to live together for the healing of one another and for the building up of relationships toward harmony, compassion, and love.
Interject the problem: On Easter Sunday, I was threatened with a small claims law suit because I hadn't returned a meaningful item to a person in my congregation. He had offered it to me 3years ago. I had failed to return it, despite at least one prior attempt to retrieve it from me. I was a little embarassed and also anxious to find what he sought, in order to return it promptly and avoid more conflict. I was able to return it the next day. For me, resurrection is not only a future post-death reality. Resurrection is life in a perpetual state of grace characterized by a spirit of reconciliation and loving service. What I mean is: Easter is a way of life now. The church is the body of Chirst, daily dying to sin and rising as a foretaste of the new creation. We embody the risen Jesus in our relationships, in our sharing of spiritual gifts, and in our humble gratitude that fosters worship.
Back to the problem: People give me stuff. Sometimes as gift or offering or "payment" for some service. I realize we live in a transactional culture where people beleive they must pay for service. What I freely received, however, I am called to freely give.
People give me stuff as a function of the priestly office in which I reluctantly serve. People want to be approved, blessed, and endorsed. People want to be heard, they want to count, to be numbered among those in "the Lord's book of life." People need to matter and they expect their priest to mediate that need before GOD. So they give me stuff. In many forms. Books. Tapes. CDs. Movies. Ideas. Religious Kitch. Notes. Stuff. Sometimes its gift. Sometimes its not. Often its task. I am supposed to do something with or about it. Bless, affirm, acknowledge, embrace. I am not good at this. I think it is because I am not a priest. I am a prophet in priest's clothing. I am a missionary working as a manager/minister. Square peg/round hole. Only the peg is under the microscope too with expectations to fit in. People want me to be round. I am not. I can exercise priestly functions, as can all baptized Christians, called to offer service and prayer to those in need. But i am not the priest. I am not the head, the administrator, or the one who blesses. I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the LORD.
What would it mean for me to experience resurrection and reconciliation? I think about the healing of broken relationships. And I think about the need to live authentically as a follower of Jesus called to church vocation. What would it mean to cease being the Priest and live publically as the Prophet in this place? I resonate with Michael Frost's intent to recover the lost expressions of apostle, prophet, and evangelist as integral to the organic ministry of body-building for the church's maturity---as described by the writer of Ephesians 4. His chapter in "The Shaping of things to come" on the five fold leadership structure of the early community has affirmed much of my own vocational journey. Living as an apostle/evangelist in a denomination that has not affirmed or endorsed such ministry is challenging. But it is necessary in the post-Christian, postmodern U.S. So how will apostle/prophets/evangelists live out their vocations authentically and sustainably? We shall see. In the meantime, Jesus is risen and we are reconciled. May we rise to reconcile with all of creation, in its wounded, broken, lostness.