ELCA News wrap-up to M2EP:Bishop Hanson and I are quoted

Below is the summary ELCA news report on the Mobilization, at which ELCA Bishop Mark Hanson was a panelist. He spoke about becoming a church fluent in the first language of faith, the bible. Rooted in the Word of God and in baptismal identity/vocation, we make Christ known to a world that longs for hope and compassionate justice. And he spoke about the need for communities of faith to become prayerfully discerning centers of accountability and encouragement, so that we can exercise a bold public witness. The Bishop told me that communities of faith must be places where people can engage in conversations about significant matters of faith and justice.

ELCA NEWS SERVICE
May 5, 2009

ELCA Presiding Bishop Speaks to Antipoverty Activists
09-104-JD


WASHINGTON (ELCA) - The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), spoke to more than 1,200 faith-based and antipoverty activists here at the Mobilization to End Poverty event, April 26-29. He called on participants to "hold each other accountable" for the work they are doing to end poverty. The event was held to engage participants in making antipoverty work a political priority.
Hanson was one of six speakers at the "Church Leaders Roundtable -- Uniting and Mobilizing the Church in the Fight Against Poverty" plenary session at the event. Other organizations represented on the panel were the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Convoy of Hope, Reformed Church in America, Micah Challenge and Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good. The Rev. Brian D. McLaren, author and speaker, moderated.
During the plenary panelists were asked a series of questions regarding obstacles to overcoming poverty, pastors' reluctance to engage in advocacy, congregational members' accountability and ways to continue the work to end poverty back home.
Hanson said if he were serving in a parish he would have adults engage in a "community mutual accountability and discernment" hour. "We would hold each other accountable to publicly live out the mandate of serving the poor or spreading the justice of peace," he said.
"We would confess it didn't go as well as God intended," Hanson said. "Then we would become a community of moral discernment, not splitting conservatives and liberals, but engaging the Word in the world as this community of faith in this context."
Participants also visited members of Congress and advocated for cutting domestic poverty in half in 10 years.
The Rev. Matthew Lenahan, pastor of Zion Lutheran Church, Akron, Pa., explained that the mobilization was an "equipping" event.
"We are called to initially go back and ask that one question, 'What is God calling me to do and be now as a result of this mobilization?'" he said. "I have great hope after my day on the (Capitol) Hill that things can actually change when people of faith care enough to step out of their comfortable place and confront systems of injustice with a word of Scripture and a word of hope."
Hosted by Sojourners, a progressive Christian network, the Mobilization to End Poverty was supported by 23 denominations, religious societies and groups. The ELCA was a financial sponsor of the event.
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The Mobilization to End Poverty blog is at http://blog.sojo.net/ on the Web.
Information about the Mobilization to End Poverty is at http://www.sojo.net/mobilization on the Web.

Small, shrinking, less: on being the alternative, upside-down church

"American churchgoers love programs. The more the better, especially for children. Smaller churches can offer a deeper sense of community, but that is not valued as much in our culture. Many good and well-meaning churches simply cannot compete with large churches that have numerous professional ministers and a vast array of programs and activities. Some become dysfunctional and focused on themselves as their numbers shrink and anxieties rise. For many it is simply their time to die. There may have been a day when they met real needs in the world, but that day has passed. They disappear, leaving behind empty buildings that are taken by younger churches or are converted into retail space.." So wrote Pastor Gordon Atkinson. I follow his blog at Real Live Preacher. Gordon is a truth-teller and a story-teller and I enjoy both of those people. He is writing stories about Covenant, the baptist congregation he serves. He is writing about a time when things were especially difficult at the church---when people were leaving. Even as new people joined, long-time members and friends were moving on. "They stayed as long as they could, but one-by-one they came to me and told me the bad news. As much as they hated to, they just weren’t getting what they needed. They felt that they must leave for the good of their families. It seemed like every time a new family found our church, one of the old families would leave. And every time it happened the grief was tremendous for me. I loved these people. Now I wouldn’t be seeing them on Sundays. We would no longer celebrate Advent together or Easter. These were very painful years for Jeanene and I. Painful and frightening. If the church fell apart I would feel like a failure. And I would be out of a job."
He wrote about the time when his little girl was the only one in her Sunday school class anymore. And what a gift that was! Just as so many families had burned out and moved on to bigger churches wih programs to plug into, Gordon saw Ben, an elder and teacher in the churh, sit on a bench with his little girl and read/discuss the bible together. It was a gaceful moment in a stressful time when it seemed like fewer and fewer people were supporitng the church. ben loved his daughter by sharing his faith and his time with her one-on-one. Sunday School was not a class, it was a relationship of spiritual formation. Gordon said, "I’ve never since let myself be seduced by numbers or money or power or any other measuring stick of our culture. I saw then that Covenant was not easy, but it was good. Even if our church was unable to continue, I knew that we had experienced real love and community. And whatever else happened, my daughter was loved and known by Ben." If every small relationship-nurturing church (ZION,AKRON), struggling to make it in a culture that supports bigger, better, easier, and faster programs would receive the same grace and the same peace, then maybe we could cut the anxiety and be the church God's Spirit is calling us to be. We are trapped in the need to succeed by worldly standards of success. What if Jesus offers an alternative measurement---mustard seeds, leaven in dough, servant greatness, last and the least are the first and the best? Its a scandal to follow that man who died on the cross and was raised from the dead, because he sees the world upside-down and sets it right-side-up. But right-side-up looks upside-down to us. Poor is rich. Enemy is friend. Outsider is welcome. Crazy stuff. Maybe we should be so crazy too. So I'm with Gordon. No more anxiety about who isn't coming anymore. It is sad that people leave our churches. But we can't help it. We can only be faithful to Jesus, which involves putting to death our need to keep up with the Joneses. And suffer a little for it. And also live. I prefer to be upside-down, or right-side-up. Even if it means losing, shrinking, becoming less significant. The mission is to die with Christ in order to be raised with him. Dying may mean giving all of what we have away. I'd love to see a church so willing...

The Two Futures Project; Who would Jesus Bomb?

Shane Claiborne and other younger evangelicals are making the connection between the gospel and peace. Check out the article he posted on God's Politics Blog. When the dominant empire defines and interprets the gospel to theologically justify militancy at the cost of civillian lives and the oppressive use of power to maintain economic and cultural dominance, the gospel ceases to be gospel and becomes something terrifying. How Jesus can be used to justify violence is beyond me. I am not a pacifist, but I believe in nonviolent resistance to oppressive, unjust imperial rules. I believe we are called to speak the truth to power in ways that will inspire repentance. I also believe that Christians must embody the will of the Lord Jesus. And when Jesus calls us to "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you," he likely did not intend for Christians to kill them. I often wonder who the enemy is anymore. Now I have not been to war or to a war zone. I am no political expert. But I trust that Jesus, who knew what it was like to live under the rule of a vast empire who used military force to maintain power, had some sense of what t meant to live in opposition to that rule. And he proclaimed an alternative reign, the reign of GOD, had come near in His activities and words.
I suspect that Claiborne and others have grown weary of evangelical collusion with imperial rulers who reject the way of Jesus in favor of world power. What is it to gain the world and lose your souls? Some of us are longing for the soul of America to be saved. And some Christians realize that we need to dismantle atomic bombs as the first sign. Come Lord Jesus!

missional ecclesia: moving from fear-induced silence to bold speech

"One night the LORD said to Paul in a vision, "Do not be afraid, but speak and do not be silent, for I am with you, and no one will lay a hand on you to harm you, for there are many in this city who are my people." Acts 18:9.

How does fear choke out our eagerness to share our faith in Jesus?
How has Christian silence in the face of injustice, tyranny, and oppression affected the world's view of the church?
What matter of life and faith are you silent about that GOD is calling you to speak out about?
What are you afraid to say to others about your beliefs?
What is God's promise to Paul?
What "secret" does God reveal to Paul in this vision about the Corinthian mission? What does it mean that God has many people there?
Does God's work in the lives and hearts of others precede the missionary work of the church?
If God is working in the lives of others before we share the faith story in Jesus, then what might we expect when we do speak out?
In Athens, as in other places in Acts, the response to Paul is threefold---some believe, some reject, and some seek more knowledge.
If we are to expect similar responses then what prevents us from telling others the story of God's saving grace?

Corinth and Acts 18 and New Orleans and us

"As the largest central market and capital of Achaia, the intellectual and cultural heartland of Greece, Corinth had an immense cultural as well as economic influence on both the surrounding territories and the Greek-speaking provinces of the eastern part of the Roman Empire. Paul's establishment of Christianity there offered opportunities for diffusion of the gospel no other city could provide."
In Acts 18, Paul travels alone from Athens to Corinth. He meets a Christian couple from Rome, who had left under the edict of Claudius in and around 50 ce. that expelled Christian Jews from that city. Paul is a tentmaker. He contributes to the local economy and lives self-sufficiently as such. It may also be that he found it culturally more acceptable to participate in the local business economy, rather than to accept the hospitality of believers for sustainability. he will not remain a tentmaker for the entire mission in Corinth. Once he is rejoined by Timothy and Silas and has established a bonified house church of both Jews and Gentiles, Paul devotes himself to gospel proclamation. He is there for 18 months.
During his time in Athens, he creates a dispute in the synagogue over Jesus' Messiahship. He leaves the synagogue and continues a Gentile-focused mission. He will be accused of breaking the law. The proconsul Gallio (Mayor of Corinth?) will hear the charges and dismiss Paul. He doesn't find him innocent, so much as Gallio chooses to remain impartial and indifferent on the religious matters in dispute. Paul is not afforded the protections of Roman citizenship here as he was in Philippi. It seems that the Empire has chosen to remain neutral with respect to the emerging dispute between the established Jews and the emerging Christians.

What we learn as ecclesia:
1. Cultural context dictates the way we engage in evangelical mission. Location is important. Exegeting the cultural context is critical. Paul was an outstanding cultural exegete. he could both retain his distinctive identity as an apostle of the Lord Jesus and live visibily and respectably as a member of the local, majority culture. In some ways, embracing the culture builds bridges, creating points of contact and access that won't happen in a "Christian bubble". Perhaps the reason why the Jerusalem community fails to thrive is that they were wedded to a particular cultured way of being Christian, mainly a Jewish way of being Christian, that would not allow for the Gentilization of Christianity. Paul allowed for the gentilization of Christianity, so that it could become viral, diffuse, and global. What cultural adaptations are necessary today for the church to maintain contact? Music? Technology? It seems that, at least, the web is a frontier for communication we must use to the best of our ability. We must be adept in the language of this internet culture.
2. I also wonder: How soon in post-Christendom will bivocational living be required of apostolic evangelists? Now? At present, traditional congregational life creates a kind of bivocation for some missional pastors. We serve congregations who pay our salaries and afford us opportunity to exercise apostolic gifts. Hence, I spend a lot of time connecting to folks outside of the congregation. Even though I am preaching every Sunday in church and continue to stay connected to members, I also have opportunity to share ths gospel beyond the pastor's study, pew, and pulpit. I do see, however, that bivocational ministry affords the opportunity to connect with people outside of church through one's "tentmaking". And a Christian community can actually emerge out of one's contact with others through work. And yet, Paul will return to dedicated ministry once a church is established.
3. Post-Christendom does not afford us the kind of authority, protection, and respect from the Empire that we once enjoyed under Constantinianism. When the Empire is a democracy, this change in our place is seen most obviously in the loss of authority over public matters of dispute. The church's "opinion" is just that; one opinion among many valued opinions. It may be that the church's opinion is even discredited in the eyes of many people as a result of the abuses of power associated with the Constantinian church. And since the church does not speak in unity of opinion, our collective voices are even more easily dismissed. Since everyone has a vote and an opinion that is equally valid, even the church itself is subject to the non-spiritual whims of less mature religious folk. If a congregation votes not to celebrate weekly Eucharist, aren't they being ruled by a democratic process rather than a prayerful discernment of Jesus' way?
Where are we? What is our culture telling us? What does this context seek, long to hear, need, hope for, require, demand, and expect? How do we listen as ecclesia in order to respond?
Corinth is the New Orleans of the ancient world. Sea-faring town. Trade route. Multicultural center. Diverse population. Rebuilt. Known for its wild side and its licentiousness. When 37,000 Lutherans descend on NOLA in July will we be able to exegete the culture and live missionally within it there?

Good Shepherds Confront Wolves

You know all of those pictures and images of Jesus the Good Shepherd? How gentle and meek he appears? What if those pictures do not depict the image that Jesus was really getting at? What if Jesus’ self-identity as the good shepherd was not so pastoral, so walk-in-the-meadow, beside the rolling brook? What if Jesus meant to reveal his role in he conflict between good and evil? How does Jesus confront the wolves? If we are going to identify with this gospel passage, then we are going to have to identify with our own vulnerabilities and weaknesses. Like sheep. We don’t like to hear that we are sheep or at least that the gospel requires that we acknowledge our own vulnerabilities and weaknesses. We like to live strong and to depend on no one. We like to believe that we are in power and in control. We are not victims. Americans don’t like to see the poor, the sickly, the dying, wandering aimlessly into the snares of predators. But we hear about such things, the elderly being preyed upon by various money-making schemes. Children being preyed on for sex. I’m not saying that this is a dangerous world in which we need to beware and from which Christians ought to withdraw because we already live in a culture of fear and anxiety that is often misplaced, itself becoming a danger. Fear becomes dangerous when it causes deep mistrust of others and an unwillingness to connect. Fear of cities keeps a lot of people with resources from entering into the lives of needy urban dwellers. We are not called to live in a protective bubble with fellow Christians, huddled together in fear waiting for Jesus to come and give us the “all clear”. Quite the opposite. Jesus allows us to be vulnerable, but also to pay attention to the ways we expose others weaknesses, to the ways we impoverish others, to the ways we allow other sheep to be devoured. 40 million Americans are being devoured by poverty, 13 million of them are children. But what if you are or have been a victim? What if you’ve been robbed or raped or lied to or cheated on? What if you’ve been neglected or abused? What if you’ve been swindled out of money? What if you are sick or struggling in a relationship or struggling financially in the recession? I think of people who have been victimized by a broken health care system that bankrupts working class families who lack adequate health coverage and accrue medical debt. I think about working families who live at or below poverty, getting laid off and wondering how they’ll buy food, pay rent, pay off debts. I think about people who have been victims of identity theft or other forms of fraud. I think of men and women, ex-offenders, who paid for their crimes in jail and prison, in shame and in fines but continue to pay for them as unwelcomed, unloved, sub-members of society. I think of millions of African children who are robbed of fathers and mothers because of HIV/AIDS. I think of 26,000 children who will die today of hunger related, preventable diseases. There are sheep among us and wolves too. Jesus says hired hands will not protect the sheep. I thihnk of all of the agencies, institutions, and governments we entrust with protection of the innocent. But we are not trustworthy keepers of the sheep, he says. No one, not the government, not the church, not any human institution will walk with the sheep when the wolves are near. Our lack of enthusiasm over the sufferings of others around this world attests to that. We, with our wealth and power, do little to nothing to help the Mexican families with no water who want to wash their hands to prevent flu. We are unaware of the ways we let the wolves in. This world needs some protection, some help, some shelter from the wolves, the predators, the injustices and systemic evils that plague us. Whether we are sheep, the most vulnerable--- or the hired hands---we need the good shepherd to save us from the prowling wolves. This is no benign, gentle savior as the pictures show. This shepherd, like all shepherds, is prepared to defend the flock. We need a shepherd who will run interference, who will distract the wolves, who will overcome them with His own ferociously protective powers.
Jesus confronts them, but not with military might or with imperial wealth. He confronts them in a much more revolutionary way. Jesus’ power is not that of the White House or the Congress or the pentagon. Its not the power of capitalism or the free market. Its not the power of celebrity success by the world’s standards. Jesus’ power is His own body and His willingness to use His body as a shield and as a target. His power is in His capacity to lay down His life in order to take it up again. Jesus recognized that, like moths to the flame, his brilliant life in the world would draw out the wolves to attack Him. And so they did by nailing Him to the cross. But he also knew that in his divinity, his was not limited to the confines of grave. The grave is where the wolves want him to be. The grave is where the devil and his predatory minions hoped he would stay. But oh no. Not this one. Alleluia, he is risen. He could assume all of the pain and suffering of the world in His body and then, rise to a life beyond the reach of injustice, evil, suffering and death. And in so doing, he would show the world the way to live as God’s holy, just, peaceful and merciful people.
We know there are vulnerable people in our midst, people suffering from illness, poverty, hunger, addictions, fears, secret sins. We know because we are some of them. Maybe you have been poor or sick or abused. And maybe as a result, you’ve abandoned the sick, the suffering, and the abused. Its hard to help someone get up out of the pit when you are sittin’ in the bottom too. How do you free someone from inside your own prison cell? How can you save others when you can’t save yourself? They said it to Jesus. You can’t save yourself, how can you save others? But this shepherd has a secret. And he teaches us the way out. He gives us the keys. He shows us the door. He unbars the gates. He breaks down the dividing walls. He lifts us out of the pit. He unlocks the prison cell. If you cannot identify with the suffering in this world, you will not identify with Jesus and His saving act of mercy. Let me say that again. If you cannot identify with suffering, discomfort, and some form of poverty you will not understand Jesus’ life-giving death and its implications for us. Jesus gives himself to the wolves. He lets the wolves eat his body and drink his blood. And in so doing, he makes them human. So we don’t bite one another, so we don’t victimize any more, so we see everyone as an equally valued creature of GOD. So we recognize the vulnerability and weakness, not to exploit, but to serve and offer mercy.
But if you do get it. If you understand or see how your life is part of the cycle and cause of suffering in this world, how your indifference and mine to the cries of the most vulnerable among us, is a cause for lament and repentence; if you recognize that our prosperity and comfort and the world’s needs invite a generous response from each one of us, then you have heard the Bible’s and our God’s call to share the good news.
No other statement in all of Scripture is more binding on our actions as Christian followers of Jesus than the one we hear from First John 3:17. “How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses to help? Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.” Where we have been indifferent to the worlds’ suffering, where we have been afraid to confront the wolves let us repent. And let us put our lives in the hands of the good shepherd, so that we might offer ourselves to His service as merciful caregivers of all the ones that he loves. Amen.