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.

"You're the child of my love, you're my choice"

I know we promised pictures and we'll get to it. Maybe tomorrow. Days are long and were exhausted by the time we gather to close the day and I sit to recap.
What an awesome day in New Orleans. We ate Gumbo at Joey K's, shopped in the french Quarter,worshiped in the Superdome again, heard amazing stories from women doing the work of Jesus by bringing justice to women and girls from Senegal and state prisons. We heard good music. David Shearer, aka "Agape" is a hip hop Lutheran. We went to his concert tonight and he was really great. I'm not a big rap or hiup hop fan, but I really dug his stuff. The kids did too.
We took part in various learning workshops and modules to provoke some thinking about our respective roles in massive global problems. Though not particularly inspiring, they were part of this way of life.
And that's just it. This is not an event. This is a way of life. IN some ways we could do this anywhere and should. And in other ways we could only do this in New Orleans. But it is clear that the unplanned surprises are just as important and necessary as the planned events. because this is about love---God's love for us manifest to us not in special events,but in the mundane experiences of daily life. And also,in the love we are seeing and sharing, especially inspiring stories of love we have heard. Love that has brought justice and peace and healing to broken lives.
This morning I got on the trolley to go downtown and sat with a woman who was reading her bible. I said, "Reading psalms,I see.I love Psalm 121." I quoted the psalm and she said that she had been searching for the very one, but couldn't remember it. We talked for the entire trip about her family, the city, katrina, faith in GOD, rebuilding, the ELCA gathering. I won't forget this child of GOD I got to meet on a trolley in New Orleans.
The energy of youth is contagious. And to mobilize them to practice compassionate justice as followers of Jesus is what this is all about.
We went to French Quarter today. That is quite a place. Some of it is rated 'R'. but we did hear a little jazz.
I miss Cherie and my boys today. So I bet the kids are missing their folks and they are missing their kids too. But we are all well. Everyone is happy, getting along really well, enjoying each other, etc...Friendships are emerging.
Tomorrow we will go to cafe du monde for beignets and coffee. We will spend the day in the interactive center, a fun place to play and serve and contribute to the greater good. We are raising a million dollars through our gifts.
And we will go earlier to the Superdome to get good seats. I will catch up with some friends, too. Anthony Briggs, Marissa, and Jay.
The connections and friendships and love in the church always blow me away at a thing like this. Old friends and new ones. Lots of hugs and high fives and shouts of joy as a sign of our unity in faith. I wish church were like this! Loving, joyful, hopeful, living for Jesus. I guess church would be like this if we let this experience shape us as the church where we are. There are 37,000 Lutheran here, most of them under teh age of 40. Baptized children of GOD following Jesus. For all of them I give thanks and pray.

The End of Day One

So, its hot and sticky. We sat by the pool for a while before heading back downtown. Dinner was a disaster. Not many choices in a short time for non-natives who don't know their way around too well. We went to French quarter and hit the Hard Rock Cafe. Service was slow, food bad---typical Hard Rock faire.
Went to the Superdoom. Its huge and it was packed. I stopped to use the rest room.When I came out I was alone in a crowd of 37,000 frickin'Lutherans. none of them from Akron or Mellingers to be found. I spent anhour wandering the halls and weeping to myself. Turns out Nick was on stage performing rap music. (not really--Thank the LORD). We accidentally ran into each other after the event ended. We decided to return to the Hotel for rest instead of mo nighglife tonight. Tomorrow is another day.
We are learning that we are caught up in a movement of God's Spirit here. Whether the 8 youth on this trip realized that they were aboutt o take part in a GOD thing, they are starting to get it now. We are identifiable here. And people are curious about us. They want to know who we are and what we're about. They want to know what we're going to do while we're here. I was invited into a conversation about GOD with a young man who clearly seeks to intellectually disprove the existence of GOD. He, at least, has given up on the possibility that GOD matters or that GOD cares. His mental gymnastics about free will and omniscience and sin and just punishment and hell left me feeling my exhaustion. but it was clear that he wanted to discuss GOD with someone who would "represent". I'm not sure I did GOD justice, but I listened and engaged. It's pretty amazing to be identified publically as the overt Christian witnesses in the city this week. We are the largest assembled body to inhabit NOLA since Katrina. And our presence equals the number of residents who are still displaced or living in FEMA trailers since katrina. We are a very large presence. heard some good speakers in the Superdoom too. Looking forward to more of those big events this week.
Tomorrow am we experience the learning center. We'll share about that tomorrow night.

New Orleans Day ONE

After a very long and tiring bus ride we arrived in New Orleans this morning around 9:00 am. Thanks to Georget Rudisill for transport to the bus launch in Hanover. We let hanover for Rt. 81 a little before 11:00 am yesterday. We made regular pit stops to stretch and use the potty. The bus ride included a teeth-rattling stretch of road in Alabama that woke the sleeping among us. I've never beenon a worse stretch of highway. It was Rt. 59 north east of Birmingham, ALA.
We had dinner at a Shoney's in Virginia. We had breakfast at a McDonald's in Mississippi. Some of the kids slept. Then average sleeper slept about 4 hours.
In a word, uncomfortable. And expected.
We listened to music. I finished a book and started another. Now I'm reading Brian Mclaren's book "Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crises, and the revolution of Hope." Great read so far as I expected.I'll finish it on the way home.
After arriving so early we were able to unload our gear into Gail's room---the only ready room of the four we booked. We then took the trolley downtown and walked the several blocks to convention center to register, get oriented, and pick up supplies. We all get these awesome book bags, a tshirt, and a Lutheran Study Bible retooled for he gathering, including some gathering specific material. nice.
I caught up with Charlie Roberts and Jay Eckman and Newell Embley. There is a palpable buzz in the city about our mega-presence. We've already talked to locals. Its neat to be identified as Lutherans in the city and to be graciously welcomed here. We strolled down to riverwalk---a mall, shopping, dining pavilion on the Mississippi River---nice, like Inner harbor, Baltimore or navy Pier, Chicago. I ae cajun chicken and jambalaya. Nick ate Pizza. Karen and Ariana ate shrimp criole. Wes ate Chinese. Tonight we have opening in the SUperdome and community life activities until 10:45. More after that, including pics...time now for a swim and a nap. Peace out.

This Week---New Orleans

Okay, so I'm sorry that I haven't updated here in a while. Its been a busy summer. Synod assembly morphed into two weeks of confirmation camp, which led to a rapid fire July; all moving toward this week! I will, however, post about the synod assembly, some theological reflections on the rapidly changing picture of ecclesia in the North American context (and the congregational implications), and some conversations/encounters, as well as a post or two on some good books, and a post about Peter's Porch and local mission. I'll try to catch up after the gathering with a week or two of writing. I've not been writing much this summer, just because I've been so active in other ways. But now, I turn our attention to where Jesus is leading us tomorrow. THE BIG EASY! Its my first time...I'm a little excited.
ELCA Youth Gathering, 2009. Jesus, Justice, Jazz,in New Orleans! I will be blogging from NOLA all week, beginning tomorrow as we travel by charter bus from Hanover, PA. We leave at 9:00 am. I am leading a small group of four Sr. High youth---Nick, Ariana, Weston, and Karen. They are amazing people with faith and hearts for service in the way of Jesus. I dare say they shine when they are serving together. I look forward to experiencing their reactions and responses, hearing their stories, and teling them. We will blog together at night and post pics from the day, too. So check in this week to be part of the servant training school ELCA style. I'm sure we'll tell you all about the criole and the cajun cooking too. not to mention some french pastries to die for! And JAZZ! I hope we can hear some real live New orleans Jazz. Two days after we leavenis the Satchmo jazz festival. If I were 20 years old, I'd stay for it.
So, see you in New Orleans!

Earth Ministry Website

The Earth Ministry website is an outstanding ecumenical resource for growing in your desire to care for creation, go green, get eco-friendly, fight global warming and environmental degradation.

Going Green Blog

I will be compiling some resources here on going green in the next day or so in prep for this weekend. The ELCA Advocacy website, found in the links column on this blog, is a good starting point. I ordered a Green Bible yesterday, along with a poverty and justice bible, through Amazon.

The Delaware/Maryland synod has a blog dedicated to going green and has some excellent links and resources. it appears to be a fledgling project with a few contributors. Linda Lovell, a woman I met when I was in seminary and doing some parish field work during my second year, is a contributor to it.
Apparently SePA synod has a Green team, devoted to bringing eco-justice to Southeast PA Lutherans.

I hope and pray that we will initiate a way of encouraging and equipping Lower Susquehanna Synod Lutherans to become more environmentally conscious and green. I am not as green as I should and could be. I hope that we will move together toward a greener future that embodies a sustainable way of life on planet earth.

10,000 acres of graves

This morning on the Today show I heard a story about a man who stumbled on 10,000 acres of graves. Bud Merrit was hiking in Milledgeville, Georgia when he stumbled across the forgotten cemetery. (Read the entire story.)He found one and then uncovered the rest. Numbered stakes connected to the buried dead from a large mental hospital. These were the graves associated with a massive mental hospital that housed 13,000 residents. he has found about 25,000 graves, all numbered withuot names. Some of the graves and names are recorded in a log that begins over 160 years ago. There are over 100,000 graves in the U.S. that are unnamed. How many more are buried without recognition?
This man made it his mission to reclaim the dead, to find out who they were, to tell their stories. One man lost his wife, his kids, and his home in one day. He checked into the mental hospital and died six weeks later a broken hearted man. He was buried with only a number on a stake to mark his earthly presence. His identity has been restored and his body claimed and buried by family.
Restoring and reclaiming the dead, giving them a story and a life, redeeming them from the grave; sounded like good news. The image of these thousands of unmarked, forgotten graves broke into my morning and reminded me of the promise of Christ to come again and take us to be with him. How many unknown, unclaimed, forgotten children of GOD will be claimed and restored to life on the day of resurrection? How many will be freed from the grave?
Death will be swallowed up in victory. I guess I am struck by the possibility that GOD might raise to life all of those unnamed, forgotten victims, all those nameless dead. To us, nameless. But not to GOD. "For I have called you by name, you are mine, says the LORD. Bud Merrit's story is a gospel story. The Kingdom of GOD is like a man who happened upon an old, forgotten grave yard. Upon finding it, he did not abandon the dead, but sought to give them names and stories and to remember them into conscious existence, as if they might speak to us. At the last day, all will be remembered, restored, named, and given life.

how long, O Lord?

I am a Pastor and a Lutheran Christian. Therefore, worship is a significant part of my life. I believe, however, that every act that is pleasing to God and consistent with the way of Jesus, is an act of worship. But for many, worship is a holy hour on Sunday mornings.
Worship. I want to spend a moment addressing an important aspect of worship. Not music. Not art. Not the type or "model" of worship that has been debated in the modern age as part of the culture wars. But another intersection between culture and the worship of GOD. Time.
How long is too long to worship God? The sports gods require anywhere from several hours to several weeks or even months of devotion. You can't play a round of golf in less than three hours. The entertainment gods require no less than 22 minutes (average length of a 30 min. sit com) to as long as several hours for a film, a concert, or a live show. The ad gods can catch your attention in 30 to 60 seconds. Pop culture thrives on fast paced media, in one ear and out the other. Pop songs are not longer than 5 minutes. Somewhere between a sound bite of information and a five hour baseball game, that's how long the gods of our culture expect our devotion. And that's how much we give. More time and money is devoted to these gods than I can mention here. You know. We're all guilty of worshipping these idols.
But what about the worship of GOD, the one who raised Jesus from the dead? The one who commanded us to love one another, who commanded us to make disciples, to baptize and teach, to do this in remembrance of me? How long does it take to worship Jesus in the assembly of believers? An hour? 30 minutes?

From "By Way of the Desert: 365 Daily Readings" I read this on June 8, 2009:
"From new moon to new moon, and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before me, says the LORD." Isaiah 66:23.
Two desert hermits met and cooked some lentils. They decided to worship God before they ate. One of them recited the Psalms; the other read and meditated upon two Major Prophets. When morning came, the visiting hermit departed. They never ate their lentils.

Could it be that asking chronos questions with respect to worship is asking the wrong question? If worship is aligning one's actions to one's hearts deepest devotion and affection, then is not the length of time we spend in worship a foolish question? Might one characterize one's devotion in terms of how long one spends in worship, as opposed to how short? If you are willing to devote four hours to golf every week, but only one hour to worship of the Holy Trinity, what does that say? Cubs fans have stuck with the Cubs for a long time. Years of disappointment and unfulfilled longing. They are the poster children for misplaced devotion, but also in uncharacteristic faithfulness. What might be learned about us from these disparities? We are weak, idolatrous, sinful, and faithless? Yes. Forgiven? Yes. But are we freed from our bondage or do we prefer slavery to the idols of our age, who offer no promises worth trusting.

In the above story from the desert hermits, worship precedes and even supplants eating. And it seems that the center of their devotion was God's Word, not their own stomachs or agendas.
To whom are we most devoted? Is that not the question we might ask? Everything else is merely an idol, the self being the most highly praised idol of all. We are devoted to our own comfort, our own wants, our own expectations.
May we come to see worship of GOD as an act of true devotion that transcends chronos time; and may we come to see our days lived in relationship with Jesus and every action therein as a form of spiritual worship.

Why does Jesus pray?

I'm going through a little prayer crisis. Why do people pray? Some innate desire to communicate beyond ourselves? Some sense that God is listening? Jesus prays. All of the great spiritual leaders have prayed in some form or another. But Jesus is a paradox. Is he human, divine, both? We pray the Lord's prayer every Sunday and hardly think about the implications of such a prayer uttered by the one we call Lord, savior, Son of GOD,and GOD incarnate. Jesus prays. Isn't that weird? Does he have to talk to GOD, if he is God? if he knows what God knows, why does he pray at all? Does he not know the divine response to every human utterance? Maybe this God isn'lt like that. maybe this God is a bit more limited. It makes me wonder something. If prayer is an authentic conversation between God and people, why don't more people claim to have heard God speak? Somedays I feel plugged in and other days completely disconnected. Somedays I doubt that prayer is heard or is effective at all. Other days I need to pray, I need it, like food. I long to hear the voice of God in prayer. I offer meal time and bed time prayers. I am called upon to pray with and for others all the time. I am supposed to be a man who prays. And yet I feel as if prayer is diminished. I want to pray, but don't. I sometimes feel like I don't really know how to pray. I'd love to go hike a mountain and simply pay attention to my own breathing, the the air, the birds, the ground beneath my feel, the plant life. Maybe I need to go away, to retreat in order to pray.
Today's verse of the day on the sidebar intrigues me the most. Jesus prayed to GOD on the mountain, all night. If Jesus is GOD, why does he pray? Why does he spend the entire night in prayer? Why does he go up on the mountain to do so? Why does Jesus pray in solitude? Does GOD pray? What then is prayer?
Christology tells us that Jesus' divinity does not detract from his full humanity. Therefore, under the Pauline Christology of kenosis or self-emptying identity, Jesus is empty of his divine powers. So maybe he is not plugged into the divinity computer so as to be the recipient of the backlog of prayers to which GOD must attend. Think "Bruce Almighty", a movie in which GOD attributes Bruce with his divine powers, including his power to receive prayers.
Does kenosis mean that Jesus must pray in order to maintain a relationship with the GOD? What does it mean then that GOD is somehow divided into persons? Does Jesus' prayer life reflect a social trinitarianism, like a kind of holy community? A oneness that is expressed in the language of prayer.
If we pray like Jesus prays, what do we learn about ourselves? About GOD? Do we need to pray to live? And what about people who never pray at all? I want to become a more prayerful person because I sense that there is a gift that I am not getting.

end of the age?

I read this article on the SOJO blog this am and thought I would share it. The blog is a response to a Newsweek article about the end of American Christianity that appeared over Easter. Its interesting how the powerful tell the story of their loss of power as a universal sign of demise without acknowledging that something else is emerging to replace them. White, wealthy evangelicalism is declining. But a new evangelicalism is emerging, among non-english speakers and amond urbanites. It is also emerging in Gen X and Millenials, who have not been granted authority and credibility by our baby boomer predecessors yet. So as a new way emerges the old way continues to define Christianity by its own terms. And by its own terms, Christianity is dying.
But a new minority Christianity is emerging too. They just refuse to acknowledge it. This is what happens during these great cultural upheavals. There is a sifting out of authorities and a realignment of values and a decline of majoritarian hegemony in favor of looser, more fluid minority cultures that emerge to establish new ways of living. and enacting faith. When the minority opinion becomes truth, the system has moved.
Again, the powerful tell the story of their own demise as if it is the end of the world. Instead, it is part of the cyclical ebb and flow of life. Dying and rising is something Christians should be familiar with. It is our one theological claim that we ascribe to the GOD who created the heavens and the earth. GOD revealed to us in the death and resurrection of Jesus an organic reality that has vast implications on how we understand human community, nations, and struggles for power and control. The church will die. And it will rise anew. How long will the process take before what was will no longer be and what will be will be?

Ascension and Church and Confronting the World

Jesus left. Jesus went away. Both Luke's and John's gospels express this strange reality. The situation we are in as a church is related to Jesus' absence. It is true now that Jesus' presence is a bit more dodgy and a bit more slippery than we might like or need. There are sacramentalists and spiritualists out there who claim to have an understanding of how Jesus continues to operate as an incarnate presence despite His 2000 year absence from the earth. He is in the bread and wine, in the Word and water. He is Spiritually present in the unified fellowship of a body of believers. He is present in one's heart, or in mystical vision, or in prayer. Somehow Jesus is still with us. He promised he would be at the end of Matthew's gospel. The first Christians believed that He would come again, that he would return as a fulfillment of Scripture and divine promises that He himself made. The delayed perusia is the church's current situation, as we live in Advent time all the time. In between the first and next coming.
Jesus goes away "and is seated at the right hand of the father", states the Nicene creed. And it seems that the result of His absence has been the formation of ecclesia:church. Chapter one of Acts and John 17, the high priestly prayer of Jesus, complement each other on the 7th sunday of Easter. In John Jesus prays for the disciples, the believers. He prays for their protection from the evil one and that they might remain in the world as those sent from GOD to bear the truth. Jesus prays, not for their isolation from evil, but that they might endure it with God's help. Interestingly enough, Luke tells us in Acts 1 that the first order of business directed by Peter for the believers and witnesses of the resurrection is to replace Judas Iscariot. Judas, he says, had a place in this ministry and apostleship. He went his own way to his own demise, but the ministry and apostleship in which he was called by Jesus must remain. I wonder about this scene and about Jesus' long absence and about Jesus'prayer. I wonder because I know a lot of American Christians who have isolated themselves from evil, injustice, and sin. I know whole communities of Christians that have created their own cultural enclave of holy and happy Christians. All of their time is spent among other like-minded Christians, reading Christian books,listening to Christian music. I know Christians on perpetual retreat from the suffering of the world. Some have even justified the suffering of others as punishment for immorality. How comforting. Wait for Jesus to come back and wait among friends. Stay clean and safe and avoid the messy world. Withdrawal from the world, however, seems to be inconsistent with Jesus' prayer and with Acts 1. Peter ostensibly says, we need to have room at this table for the 12th man. Even though last month the 12th man betrayed us, was instrumental to Jesus' death, and committed suicide. He's not saying to look for another Judas, but to make room for the bad and the ugly at the table. Even Judas had fellowship with Jesus, and a part in the divine salvation drama. And jesus was known in the gospels as one who came not for the righteousw but for sinners. And he came to seek ands save the lost. And he instructed believers not to resist evil doers, but to go with those who force you to march, to give generously when someone is demanding of you, to offer your shirt to someone who steals your coat. Jesus expects his followers to mix it up, to tarry among the weeds, to eat with unclean hands. And hear we sit. In safety and comfort. In isolation and retreat.
So here's the question: Who have we shut out of our churches in order to remain safe, comfortable, and good? What necessary conflict do we avoid in order to keep the peace and maintain the status quo? What ought we to let in to our lives, into our communities, into our churches, so that we bear the gospel authentically? God so loved the world. Are we not called to do the same by letting the world in?
Some would argue that this is too dangerous. But what is the result of church avoidance of global problems and sysemic evil? What hope do we have to offer a world that is drowning in Sin and death? I suspect many abandoned the church when the church abandoned the world for security and a future.
Jesus left us. And when he did, we defaulted to a place of fear, judgment, and separation. What if we trust that Jesus has prayed for our protection and has sent us like lambs among wolves to bring hope and help where it is needed: to people who have been rejected and isolated; people with illnesses, mental and physical; people in the criminal justice system, people who are homeless, people who are addicted, people who are angry, abusers and their victims. Maybe if we did this we would not be so concerned about Jesus' absence and begin to reflect His presence in our own bodies.

Praying with Jesus, May 18th, by Eugene Peteson

"Traditions are useful. They are useful the way bark on a tree is useful, to protect the life within. They preserve truth, but they are not the truth: all truth must be lived firsthand, from the inner life. Why are traditions dangerous?
Prayer: O God, let me never suppose that because I have inherited a few traditions, I therefore have the living truth. Keep me in touch with the immediate acts of faith that respond to your living word in Christ, so that I am resilient and growing in grace, not stiff and fixed in old ways.Amen.
Jesus reorients people's sense about tradition. Tradition is good when it embodies the truth about GOD's reign. When it doesn't, tradition needs to be reformed or rejected. I suspect that much of what gets churches stuck is this adherence to tradition that has been dislocated from the truth to which it is meant to point or to which it once pointed. Traditions change. That may sound like a contradiction, but isn't it true? I have rejected some past family traditions in favor of new ones that convey meaning in our place and time. Marriages often require that former traditions replaced in order to create a new, lasting, meaningful bond.
To what traditions are we clinging that need replaced? Can buildings become traditonal in a way that becomes dangerous? What happens when a place or a site that was holy in one time or to one people is no longer considered holy? In a sense, the current context assigns meaning to traditions or context constructs traditions out of the fibers of significant meaning that weave the story of a people's identity. Traditions must be personal and cannot be imposed. So, a Lutheran church that continues to sing hymns that tell a story of triumph, strength, and Germanic identity may not be singable in a congregation of African immigrants. Or what about traditions that make claims of authority that no longer ring true? We struggle with this reality with respect to the biblical narrative and the office of ministry. Who interprets? By what criteria? In whose name?
Hence, uniformity is not achievable among Christian groups, even Lutheran groups. Nor is uniformity desirable.
So what does this mean with respect to the observance of Christian traditions, like feasts, saints days, Sunday? These things are powerful conveyers of truth when they form the inner life of a community of people who recognize collectively that those stories are our stories. Stories located in premodern culture seem to convey meaning in postmodern contexts. What traditions are emerging in postmodern context that relay the tuth of the gospel narrative for us? What traditions no longer preserve that truth?

Friends of Justice Blog

"Friends of Justice is a nonprofit organization that works to uphold due process for all Americans. Our goal is to build a public consensus behind equal access to justice and respect for human dignity in our criminal justice system."--from the home page. Click on the title to link to this website/blog and learn more about their ministry of advocacy on behalf of those adversely affected by the criminal justice system; A system in need of reform in the U.S. Brian McLaren's blog linked me to it. I think "Friends of Justice" may become resource or source of inspiration for the Prison Ministry Task Force recently initiated by our synod to connect our churches to the Criminal Justice System. Might we also blog the stories we hear? I'm off to visit at LCP now. May Jesus the savior be with all who are wrongly imprisoned and unjustly treated.

May 16: Easter 6 2009

Acts 10 is the story of Cornelius and Peter. Cornelius is this Roman soldier living in a strategic sea port town, Caesarea. he is part of the occupying foreign military force sent to impose Roman imperial rule on the Jewish and gentile populations of this territory we call the Middle East. We also know that Cornelius had earned the respect of some of his Jewish neighbors as a God-fearing worshiper. He was open to the possibility that a GOD other than Ceasar might reign. As the captain of 100 men he had influence over the lives of these Roman occupiers and their relations among the populace. He was also spiritually aware and open to visionary experience.
In Acts 10 a vision commands him to send men to find Simon Peter in the town of Joppa and escort him back to Caesarea for a meeting. He sends three men.
Meanwhile, Peter is staying with a Simon Tanner. He has healed a paralyic there and raised a woman named Tabitha from the dead. She was known for her textile business. One day Peter is hungry and meditating. You know how that goes: You're supposed ot be focused but your stomach is grumbling. (Mine is right now, its time for lunch). Peter experiences a vision, a picnic of foods he will not eat. They are foods restricted by a kosher diet. He is hungry but will not eat what he sees. Even though what he sees is a gift. The a voice says, "Do not call food dirty and inedible what GOD says is clean and edible."
Simon the Rock is then moved by the Spirit to go with these gentile Roman Soldiers. Is his life in danger? I'd freak out a little if three soldiers came to my house in requested that I go with them. But he goes because they claim they are following orders from their captain, who fears God and had a vision.
Peter goes. Upon meeting Cornelius and hearing from him about his vision, Peter makes a theological assertion that we must recognize as a paradigmatic shift for Peter and the church. He says, "God is impartial."
This revelation of divine impartiality opens a gateway for the message of the gospel to a universal audience. What Peter discovers, Paul will embody in His ministry to Gentiles. Unity in Christ, baptismal identity, will trump all other claikms of ID; racial, ethnic, linguistic, national, imperial, sexual. No other ID claim will be as significant as the one God makes on us at Baptism.
I suspect that this identity assertion is still what strangles most people. I'm an American. I'm a Lutheran. I'm Irish. I'm a man. I speak and read exclusively in English. I'm Cherie's husband; my son's father, my father's son. Think of all the ID claims we make about ourselves and how they limit us relationally. I am who I am and I am not who I am not. And yet, the church in Pentecost and beyond is a church that is freed from the narrowness of our constructed identities to be identified by our primary relationship with GOD the creator through Jesus the Son. And in that relationship we come to experience others in the same way. Diversity, though honored and cherished, does not in any way separate or segregate.
Acts 10 lays the claim on the church that God's Spirit is at work in and thorugh our faithful telling of the story to people who are not yet aware of their identities as God's children. If a people are aware of this identity, then the claims of the gospel can begin to shape that identity in a way that is pleasing to GOD and consistent with God's reign of justice, reconciliation, and life.
What I'm saying is this: The church is the church when we are boundless in our desire to build relationships with people who see themselves beyond the borders of identification with Jesus' followers. We are sent to non-members and not-yet Christians with an openness that includes the possibility that we will be changed in some ways too. Think of the blessings of sharing the gospel with people whose cultures, foods, music, etc are different than our own. Think of the belssing of experiencing their gifts too. Did Peter understand that the implications of his proclamation to Cornelius may have broadly impacted the Roman military in Caesarea? Who knows?

Ruth, accompaniment, and the church's voice

Last Tuesday was Lutheran day at the Capitol in Harrisburg. Its a day when Lutherans from PA gather as advocates for the most vulnerable, most marginalized, and the most suffering neighbors among us. We seek to call attention to those people living in poverty, without health care, with hunger and food insecurity. We seek to invite governing powers to practice biblical justice stewardship by devoting budgeted state monies to broaden the social safety net. This is not bleeding heart liberal politics. This is biblical justice. The God of the Bible is on the side of the oppressed, the poor, the disadavantaged, the refugee, the sick, and the imprisoned. The church bearing witness to this GOD is called to speak out in the face of injustices that cause suffering for so mnay people. And we are called to be generous in our own stewardship as well.
Bishop Kusserow from Southwest PA synod started the morning with a bible study on the Book of Ruth. He said Ruth's decision to accompany her widowed mother-in-law back to Judah, which would make her an undocumented foreigner seeking to sojourn and work in Judah, is an incredible example of the biblical call to compassionate justice. She could have returned to her family of origin and remianed in her own country, a move that would have been supported in that culture. Although she would have created an economic hardship on her own family, which had likely benefited from her marriage. When Ruth's husband died her economic status deteriorated. And then she chooses to honor her mother-in-law and go with her to Bethlehem in Judah.
It is there that she meets Boaz, who also offers a vision of economic justice by welcoming her to glean his fields. He also gives her a significant amount of grain and wine for her and Naomi. His generosity is an example of what it means to care for the immigrant refugee among us.
Lutherans need to tell the stories of how we already accompany people in their poverty and suffering. Lutheran World Relief and Lutheran disaster response are broader global efforts, but many of us practice this kind of accompaniment locally too.
We were able to meet with three members of the general assembly on Tuesday afternoon to practice advocacy. When the issue of stewardship is complicated, as it is at a state level, it is easy to lose a sense of biblical integrity and to write off our capacity to do the right things. I support decision-makers who are willing to wrestle with these difficult funding issues. And I especially laud those people who hear the cries of the most vulnerable among us and are seeking to improve their lives by offering them a better system of public supports. I am of the mind that there are some people in community who are dependent, some who are independent, and the vast majority who are interdependent. We rely on government regulations and government controls of some things to create a culture that is conducive to public health and the common good. Education is one such area. Public health could become another area. And I believe that public financial assistance for the most vulnerable and the unemployed is necessary. The church can offer a particular voice on such complex matters, despite opposition. We are called to speak for the one's who are not being heard, to be voices crying in the wilderness. Exalting and humbling through the call to biblical justice. I am convinced that the church cannot abandon these ministries of advocacy and accompaniment.

This week

This is a big week. Jonah "graduates" from preschool. I didn't want to asociate the "G" word with my kids for at least another 13 years. It is a milestone to enter Kindergarten, though. He has assessments for Kindergarten on Thursday. Cherie is attending Music Together Directors weekend in Princeton, NJ this weekend. I am taking the three boys to the zoo on Saturday. Thank God for Grammy!

This afternoon I will be meeting with Rodney and two young adult Christians who are interested in more intentional networking, learning, and encouragement among peers. I think initially we are exploring the development of an unaffiliated small group or a coffee house church. I also hope to develop a pub church in the Fall/Winter of 2009-2010. I believe there is real interest for real conversation and real community among some of my gen x peers who are refugees from mainline churches. I wonder who else we might invite or encourage. I know some yuonger people who are home from college. I wonder if Jay might get connected to this group too. I sense that these smaller movements among smaller peer groups is the future of missional, apostolic ministry. It will take time to bring these smaller groups together to form a congregation. House churches will likely develop first. This would be a different way of congregational development for Lutherans. That is, if we were developing something uniquely Lutheran. But I might suggest that any organic development of a missional community would seek to embrace a variety of Christian denominational attributes without necessarily conforming to one particular tribe. We know that tribal groups, especially mainliners, continue to decline in adherents. Perhaps its time for us to find ways to concede to that spiritual movement and go with it, to the affect that Lutheran Christian ID needs to be a part of something new but not an exclusive aspect of who we are. What I mean is, if being Lutheran is an obstacle or deterrent to creating Christ-centered missional community than we need to reorient our identities to change that. At a micro level, spiritual formation with peers is an important aspect of apostolic ministry that occurs outside of traditional modes like Sunday School. Conversational formation through informal interaction seems to work. So we'll see.

Tonight I will be in Harrisburg for the quarterly LAMPA policy council meeting. I am a member of the council since January. If you want to read about LAMPa and what it means for Lutherans to advocate for justice, go to the LAMPA website or click on the link the ELCA Advovacy on the links sidebar.

Tomorrow is Lutheran Day at the Capital in Harrisburg. It is an annual day in which PA Lutherans engage in advocacy with members of the general assembly. We want to make our collective voices heard as we seek to encourage laws and legislation and budgets that reflect values consistent with biblical justice. Again, the ELCA's Advocacy website is a great place to start. Another place to start is the National Council of churches justice website.

On Thursday, I hope to meet with two of the newly connected families at Zion to talk about belonging, baptism, believing and becoming. What DNA are we hoping to replicate? Not old member church DNA that makes it easy for people to come and go and do as they please wth respect to their faith expression. We want to create an inclusive, open access community of hospitality and welcome that invites people to a process of spiritual formation and faithful practice toward maturity as followers of Jesus. Church growth begins with maturation and leads to multiplication. Maturation is an action/reflection process. You see others in the community practicing their faith. You seek to belong by becoming part of that movemement. You learn by becoming an obedient hearer of the Word. You pray. You get reoriented as a Kingdom person. You become a doer of the Word and not just a hearer of it. You begin to recognize the spiritual gifts God has given you and you begin to use them to serve others. You practice. You take small steps. You try. You experiment.
By joining a learning group, rooted in God's Word and in prayer, you begin to let God reshape your heart and mind. We need to create more small group opportunities at Zion for formation and fellowship. Sunday morning is not enough. I think we need household-based share groups. But they need to develop organically as a natural expression of who we are becoming. That means that Cherie and I need to initiate a share group in our house. Maybe we could initiate one and see where it leads.
So that's the week. Not to mention the full schedule of evening meetings, none of which I will participat in for the entire time. Our household requires my attention at bedtime, especially this week in prep for Cherie's weekend absense.

History Maker by Delirious

Martin Smith played this in worship at the Mobilization event.