What does it look like to give to Caesar what is Caesar's and give to God what is God's?
Great question! It was raised in our lectionary discussion group this morning, and we had a great 30 minutes seminary-type, 2nd glass of bourbon conversation around "doing" and "being" and "community" and "free-will" and all sorts of stuff that would leave our imaginary parishioner googling "church, foley, al".
What does it look like to give to God what is God's? What does it look like to wear the wedding garment every day; to be kingdom focused consistently and constantly? What are the practical, hands on things I can do to give to God what is God's?
Practical?
Hands on?
Oh dear, I gave up practical and hand's on for seminary.
What about voting? How can I vote and give God what is God's?
What about working? How do I give God what is God's at work?
What about my family? How do give God what is God's in my family relationships?
It seems to come to this.
1) What is Caesar's is that which bears his image
2) We were made in the image of God
3) What is God's is that which bears His image
4) Give God your life back. Work excellently for the glory of God. Vote your conscience as it discerns the will of God for this country and the whole world. Interact with your spouse, your kids, your parents, your loved ones with respect, honor, and a spirit of forgiveness for God's glory. Be kingdom oriented - that is to say - "let the whole world know that things which were cast down are being raised up, and things what had grown old are being made new, and that all things are being brought to their perfection by him through whom all things were make."
Give Caesar back his face, and let seek the glory of God's face (his countenance) in all that you do.
October 14, 2008
October 13, 2008
Stewardship... heck ya!
Thank God for the lectionary! Without it I might not know when stewardship season was. And despite the fact that this is probably the worst time for a non-profit since 1929, next Sunday, come hell or high water, according to the lectionary, is the time to remind our parishioners to "render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's and render unto God that which is God's."
Stewardship... heck ya!
You know what? As I read the story of the ever heated interaction between Jesus and his opponents during holy week, I'm fairly certain that these famous words from Jesus have nothing to do with stewardship - at least as it has come to be known as the season to ask for pledges for the upcoming budgeting process.
What really belongs to Caesar?
What, then, really belongs to God?
Give Caesar back his name and his ungodly image - give God the rest. Not 1%. Not 5%. Not 10%. Give God 100%. It is a repeat of the wedding banquet parable from last week. If you wanna party, you've gotta give up the rest of the stuff you carry around with you; you've gotta put on the clothing of the kingdom and let the world have what belongs to it.
I am preaching this Sunday, and I need to come up with a way to preach NOT stewardship that doesn't sound condescending toward those do preach this text during stewardship campaigns. Any ideas?
Stewardship... heck ya!
You know what? As I read the story of the ever heated interaction between Jesus and his opponents during holy week, I'm fairly certain that these famous words from Jesus have nothing to do with stewardship - at least as it has come to be known as the season to ask for pledges for the upcoming budgeting process.
What really belongs to Caesar?
What, then, really belongs to God?
Give Caesar back his name and his ungodly image - give God the rest. Not 1%. Not 5%. Not 10%. Give God 100%. It is a repeat of the wedding banquet parable from last week. If you wanna party, you've gotta give up the rest of the stuff you carry around with you; you've gotta put on the clothing of the kingdom and let the world have what belongs to it.
I am preaching this Sunday, and I need to come up with a way to preach NOT stewardship that doesn't sound condescending toward those do preach this text during stewardship campaigns. Any ideas?
2021 "talk" on the economy
I ran into a friend of mine in the coffee shop on Wednesday morning. We exchanged the usual pleasantries and I asked him how he was doing. His answer surprised me. "You know," he said, "I've been in a fog for the past few weeks. I think this situation with the economy has really been weighing on me. I've got a friend who after the whole challenger explosion thing wasn't right for more than a month. I think that's happening to me."
I left the coffee shop and returned to my office where my google desktop updated the news every 15 minutes, but it never really changed. "Fed, central banks cut rates to stem meltdown." "Market slides despite rate cut." "McCain and Obama disagree on use of $700b in bailout money." And I got to thinking. What is the role of faith communities in all of this.
I left the coffee shop and returned to my office where my google desktop updated the news every 15 minutes, but it never really changed. "Fed, central banks cut rates to stem meltdown." "Market slides despite rate cut." "McCain and Obama disagree on use of $700b in bailout money." And I got to thinking. What is the role of faith communities in all of this.
Part of me wants to say, "people seek out faith communities to avoid all of this. It is the job of the body of Christ to talk about kingdom oriented stuff and forget about all the sloppy stuff that happens in this world." But most of me knows that that part of me is full of it. People who are in debt up to their eyeballs need somebody to give them hope. People who have watched their 401k dwindle to half of what it was last year need somebody to give them hope. We all need somebody to give us hope. There is no way to really separate this world from the stuff of the kingdom. To say it another way, the separation of the kingdom of God from this world is how we ended up in this mess in the first place.
Dishonest lenders gave out loans to people who they knew couldn't afford them in order to make a buck. Dishonest home buyers lied on applications to buy homes they couldn't afford to keep up with the Jones'. The cycle of distrust, greed, and envy perpetuated itself to the point that subprime - a nice way of saying less than ideal - loans were given to subprime - a nice way of saying less than qualified - candidates in every income bracket of every race, color, and creed. The subprime mortgage meltdown has nothing to do with the prime interest rate, as the name might suggest, and everything to with poor decision making on the part of millions of people costing the world's economies trillions of dollars.
Tonight, I want to give us the opportunity to be creative about economics, even and especially if we have no idea how the invisible hand works or where Wall Street is located. I want us to think about economics in the context of two pieces of Scripture. The first is Genesis 1.31. It is the sixth day of Creation and God has just wrapped up making humankind, male and female, and "God looked over everything he had made; it was so good, so very good!" Contrary to the way I learned the story, God didn't look at Adam and Eve and see that they were very good, God looked at everything he had made, everything that he had spoken into existence, everything that he had just set into order - into relationship one with another - he saw those perfect relationships and saw THAT as "so good, so very good!"
If the subprime lending meltdown teaches us anything, it is that somewhere between day six and today those relationships became royally screwed up. Relationships between people and God. Relationships between people and people. Relationships between people and animals, plants, rocks. Every relationship that God looked upon and saw as so very good, has, at one point or another, been busted up, battered, and bruised.
?????So what does economics, which comes from the Greek words for the rules of the household, look like when the relationships within the household are restored to their perfect condition? Is it possible to even dream of it? Is the system so broken that we can't even fathom that "very good" sixth day?
Hold that in your mind, as we move to explore what God the Son had to say about economics. Did you know that second only to the Kingdom of God, Jesus spent most of his time talking about money? In the sixth chapter of Matthew he talks quite frankly about money, in terms that seem to have a lot to say to us in 2008. Beginning in verse 19,
"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
Let me be clear and say that I am not arguing against, nor do I think Jesus was arguing against, prudent financial planning. I don't think he was banning ownership of possessions. I don't think he was telling us not to "save for a rainy day" or buy life insurance policies. And as I mentioned before, I don't think he was calling us to despise the good gifts which the God of Creation has offered us.
What I do think he is banning explicitly, and I draw heavily on mission theologian John Stott for this, is "
1.the selfish accumulation of goods (do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth";
2. extravagant and luxurious living;
3. the hardheartedness which does not feel the colossal need of the world's underprivileged people;
4. the foolish fantasy that a person's life consists in the abundance of his possessions;
5. and the materialism which ties our hearts to this earth."
In the days of Jesus nothing was safe; moths ate clothing; mice ate stored grain; worms ate anything else; and thieves stole what was left. Today we can protect a lot with insecticides, mouse-traps, rustproof paints, and alarm systems, but as we know all too well we can still "lose it all" through inflation or devaluation or recession.
Our "treasure in heaven" on the other hand, is incorruptible. Practically speaking, our treasure in heaven are the things we do whose effects last for eternity. Things like: the development of a Christlike character; the increase of faith, hope, and charity; growth in the knowledge of Jesus who we will one day see face to face; the active endeavor by prayer and witness to introduce others to Christ; the constant work of restoring relationships; and the use of our money for the Kingdom of God, which is the only investment whose dividends are everlasting.
This all assumes that the kingdom of God, the restoration of all of God's created relationships, is "not some getaway vacation after our death", but it is a real possibility in the here and now. By focusing our attention on God's dream for today instead of our hope for tomorrow we become open for God to use us in the restoration work that keeps the kingdom wheels in motion. Working with God to return the systems of the world to their so very good starting point will help us avoid future crises like the one that stares us in the face today. Store up your treasure in heaven by bringing heaven to earth today.
?????
What are the "treasure in heaven" practices that you can do? Where do you feel God's hand leading you in the restoration of relationships? How does moving heaven from up there to down here change the way you interact with your neighbor? with God? with creation? How do we remove the tethers of materialism and instead place our treasure in heaven?
October 8, 2008
think about these things
Last night at draughting theology we talked about fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) as it relates to faith that calls for "trust without reservation." The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that FUD is the status quo of 21st century America. Even before 9/11 the tech bubble was popping, and economists were feeding us worry.
As I struggle with the parable of the wedding banquet, I think that perhaps nothing is new. The invited guests who "made light" of the kings invitation went back to their fields and to their businesses. They were worried about their livlihoods over and above the ability to enjoy the festivities of the weeklong party. Those who did end up at the party chose to enjoy the promised revelry of the king's party, except for one guy.
One guy didn't show up in the celebratory clothing. I'm guessing he showed up in his coveralls worried that he might have to run out to the field to fix a busted hydrolic line or maybe he was still in his suit expecting his iphone to blow up any minute about a meeting with high level bank executives. Whatever the story, I wonder if he was worried about the outside world rather than invested fully in the party that was at hand.
When Paul calls his friends in Philippi to think about "whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, any excellence and anything worthy of praise." He is asking for them to stop worrying about the other stuff and put on the garment of celebration.
In our world full of worry, is it possible to do such a thing?
As I struggle with the parable of the wedding banquet, I think that perhaps nothing is new. The invited guests who "made light" of the kings invitation went back to their fields and to their businesses. They were worried about their livlihoods over and above the ability to enjoy the festivities of the weeklong party. Those who did end up at the party chose to enjoy the promised revelry of the king's party, except for one guy.
One guy didn't show up in the celebratory clothing. I'm guessing he showed up in his coveralls worried that he might have to run out to the field to fix a busted hydrolic line or maybe he was still in his suit expecting his iphone to blow up any minute about a meeting with high level bank executives. Whatever the story, I wonder if he was worried about the outside world rather than invested fully in the party that was at hand.
When Paul calls his friends in Philippi to think about "whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, any excellence and anything worthy of praise." He is asking for them to stop worrying about the other stuff and put on the garment of celebration.
In our world full of worry, is it possible to do such a thing?
October 7, 2008
what i forgot to say
In my sermon for last week I admitted that in my life I have really only kept 2 of the 10 commandments. I'm safe on the murder and adultery ones, but the rest, well, I've been less than pure. I listed some of my sins; stealing penny candy, bearing false witness against my sister, and coveting my neighbor's i-phone, but I forgot the most important one.
I create false idols.
As I read the Exodus lesson for this Sunday, that great story of Aaron caving under pressure from the masses and helping them create the golden calf, it hit me, I didn't admit my propensity to bow down to other gods.
Read the history of this blog and you'll see that my number one other god is my to-do list. In the last few years, however, I have found that money, or perhaps the lack there of, has become a god clamoring for my attention. Why I can't trust the one true God on issues related to money is still beyond me. I mean I see his hand at work, but I quickly forget to worship him and not my monthly mortgage bill or credit card statement.
When we moved here, thanks to Alabama's stellar hygiene laws, SHW was unable to work for 9 months. We bought a house and furnishing for said house, on the assumption that she would be off work for, oh, 9 days maybe. So we carried a lot of credit card debt around for quite a while. Until we decided to bit the bullet and cash in her little nest-egg to give us some breathing room. Today, we are essentially consumer debt free! If we had not done that, we would not be, and the nest-egg wouldn't be enough to pay the transaction fees to free it from Wall Street.
I can thank God for his work there, and yet, knowing that we will soon face another extended period of time when SHW will not be working, I can feel the golden calf coming again.
I can't imagine I'm the only one with a weakness for golden hamburgers. I can't imagine that I'm the only one who sees it, and tries hard to trust the LORD instead, but falls short. Thanks be to God for his grace, the grace that caused the Lord to change his mind about destroying his people in the golden calf story.
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight." Prov 3.5-6
I create false idols.
As I read the Exodus lesson for this Sunday, that great story of Aaron caving under pressure from the masses and helping them create the golden calf, it hit me, I didn't admit my propensity to bow down to other gods.
Read the history of this blog and you'll see that my number one other god is my to-do list. In the last few years, however, I have found that money, or perhaps the lack there of, has become a god clamoring for my attention. Why I can't trust the one true God on issues related to money is still beyond me. I mean I see his hand at work, but I quickly forget to worship him and not my monthly mortgage bill or credit card statement.
When we moved here, thanks to Alabama's stellar hygiene laws, SHW was unable to work for 9 months. We bought a house and furnishing for said house, on the assumption that she would be off work for, oh, 9 days maybe. So we carried a lot of credit card debt around for quite a while. Until we decided to bit the bullet and cash in her little nest-egg to give us some breathing room. Today, we are essentially consumer debt free! If we had not done that, we would not be, and the nest-egg wouldn't be enough to pay the transaction fees to free it from Wall Street.
I can thank God for his work there, and yet, knowing that we will soon face another extended period of time when SHW will not be working, I can feel the golden calf coming again.
I can't imagine I'm the only one with a weakness for golden hamburgers. I can't imagine that I'm the only one who sees it, and tries hard to trust the LORD instead, but falls short. Thanks be to God for his grace, the grace that caused the Lord to change his mind about destroying his people in the golden calf story.
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight." Prov 3.5-6
October 6, 2008
sermon for proper 22, year a
The last time I heard the 10 Commandments preached was at my field education parish in Potomac, Maryland. The Rector preached that Sunday, and I remember it well. She recounted the last time she heard the 10 Commandments preached. The preacher stood up and said, "I have a confession to make. I fail to keep one of the 10 Commandments on a regular basis." After a long pregnant pause, he continued, "I do not remember the Sabbath." We all got a good chuckle out of this opening as the rat race DC lifestyle made certain that no one was able to keep the Sabbath. Twenty-four hours of rest to honor God's work in Creation? Nice pipe dream God, but we've got a nation, a business, a church, a household to run.
I remember it well because St. James' Episcopal Church in Potomac, Maryland has as its immediate neighbor the Beth Shalom Congregation, an Orthodox Jewish Congregation that held at its core a deep respect for and heartfelt attempt to live out all of the Torah and especially the 10 Commandments, even the call to remember the Sabbath. The neighborhood surrounding St. James' and Beth Shalom was filled with Orthodox Jews who needed to live within walking distance of the Synagogue because they were forbidden to start their cars on the Sabbath. The Congregation's website updates weekly, just before the Sabbath, the status of their Eruv, a series of naturally occurring and man made land features that act as the walls of their city inside which, according to tradition, the rule against "carrying outside of the home" may be expanded; one may "carry" within the boundaries of the Eruv. Even the local appliance stores carry, in stock, stoves by KitchenAid and Whirlpool that had Sabbath settings on them so that observant Jews might be able to heat up a meal without violating the rule forbidding lighting a flame.
Their strict adherence got me thinking that perhaps there is something to this Sabbath thing. Maybe God's dream isn't so crazy after all. Certainly the members of Beth Shalom think so. The intricacy of their rules might be hard to understand, but the underlying desire to honor God in every aspect of one's life is to be commended and modeled.
Even beyond that tough Sabbath commandment, the vast majority of the list of ten can be difficult to live up to. In my lifetime I'm fairly certain I've only really kept two of the ten as they are traditionally understood in the Episcopal Church. I rarely am able to keep Sabbath; days off mean mowing the yard, washing love bugs off the car, and grocery shopping. I have, though less and less as I mature, made wrongful use of the name of the Lord. There were times when I did not honor my father and my mother. I stole some penny candy and smashed a pumpkin or two as an adolescent. I most certainly brought false witness against my sister when it meant saving myself from being grounded or losing the car for the weekend. And just Thursday I found myself coveting my neighbor's i-phone. As one who routinely falls short, I realize that the dream of God articulated in the ten commandments is a difficult calling. And yet, it is a life that seems worthy of the effort as I strive to live into the covenant that God has made with us.
Whenever someone mentions a covenant these days, it is almost universally assumed to be a list of can't do's; he "Covenants - Conditions - and Restrictions" form many of us had to sign when purchasing a home. You can't park a boat in your driveway. You can't paint your house pink. You can't have a pet pig. Covenants are seen as narrowing, as drawing strong lines, as keeping us penned in.
I think the underlying cause of our apathy toward the 10 commandments is that we often read the 10 Commandments as the covenants - conditions - and restrictions of our lives, our faith, and even our worship. There are many churches that to this day have 10 commandment style architecture; standing tall as huge white boxes with clear windows so as not to disobey the commandment against making idols.
Seeing the Commandments this way makes them ugly things; top down initiatives; the stuff that boomers, gen xers, gen yers, and millennial children have spent the last 50 years breaking for the sport of it. Even the name, the 10 Commandments set it up with a negative feel. Almost all of us dislike commandments. We don't like being told what to do and how to live our lives, thank you very much. Which brings me back to the Beth Shalom Congregation in Potomac, Maryland because for them the text of Exodus 20 is not the 10 Commandments but they are the 10 Words which God spoke to his chosen people; the only words spoken directly to the people at large by their God. They aren't the CCR's of their lives but the establishment of a relationship. For them, the first word or commandment is not, "you shall have no other god's before me", but it is "I am the Lord your God, who brought you our of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery." Typically, "commands and laws have the imperative form." Thou shalts and Thou Shalt Nots... "But “I am your God” is not an imperative; there is no rule to keep or action to do. It is an announcement: good news for a people desperate to hear it. This reorients the [whole of the passage from 10 Commandments to 10 Words because it means that the one who keeps the first commandment—on which all the other commandments rest—is Yahweh, the faithful One of Israel. The other nine commands for Jews —all imperative in form, call for Israel’s active response to God's initiative— they simply shape a life of gratitude, a life poured out in grateful response to the gospel announcement that precedes: I am your God." (1) Looking at the 10 Commandments this way they become a lot easier for us to buy into. We understand lifestyle changes for the sake of a relationship.
Look at our baptismal covenant. We articulate first our belief in, our trust in, our relationship with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, and in light of that relationship we promise to live our lives a certain way; we will continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers. We will persevere in resisting evil, and, whenever we fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord. We will proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ. We will seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbor as ourselves. We will strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being. Like the Hebrews at Mount Sinai, in light of our new found relationship with God we make promises about how we will live our lives.
The service of holy matrimony follows a similar pattern; first the bride and groom are asked if they will take the other as a spouse within the covenant of marriage; that is to say, do you desire to be in relationship with this person? If so, then this is the set of rules in which that relationship will flourish; Will you love him, comfort him, honor and keep him, in sickness and in health; and, forsaking all others, be faithful to him as long as you both shall live? Again, a set of promised behaviors which promise the health of the hoped for relationship. (I used this image at 10a)
It is easy to get bogged down by a commandment oriented faith, but if we reorient ourselves from the stuff we can and can't do and instead seek the full relationship with God promised in his first word we quickly begin to see what a blessing the rest of the words from God can be. May God's promise to be the Lord our God motivate each us toward living a life worthy of God's dream. May we take seriously the words he spoke to the Hebrew's at Sinai. May our lives always be pointed toward him in thanksgiving for the relationship that he initiated. Amen.
I remember it well because St. James' Episcopal Church in Potomac, Maryland has as its immediate neighbor the Beth Shalom Congregation, an Orthodox Jewish Congregation that held at its core a deep respect for and heartfelt attempt to live out all of the Torah and especially the 10 Commandments, even the call to remember the Sabbath. The neighborhood surrounding St. James' and Beth Shalom was filled with Orthodox Jews who needed to live within walking distance of the Synagogue because they were forbidden to start their cars on the Sabbath. The Congregation's website updates weekly, just before the Sabbath, the status of their Eruv, a series of naturally occurring and man made land features that act as the walls of their city inside which, according to tradition, the rule against "carrying outside of the home" may be expanded; one may "carry" within the boundaries of the Eruv. Even the local appliance stores carry, in stock, stoves by KitchenAid and Whirlpool that had Sabbath settings on them so that observant Jews might be able to heat up a meal without violating the rule forbidding lighting a flame.
Their strict adherence got me thinking that perhaps there is something to this Sabbath thing. Maybe God's dream isn't so crazy after all. Certainly the members of Beth Shalom think so. The intricacy of their rules might be hard to understand, but the underlying desire to honor God in every aspect of one's life is to be commended and modeled.
Even beyond that tough Sabbath commandment, the vast majority of the list of ten can be difficult to live up to. In my lifetime I'm fairly certain I've only really kept two of the ten as they are traditionally understood in the Episcopal Church. I rarely am able to keep Sabbath; days off mean mowing the yard, washing love bugs off the car, and grocery shopping. I have, though less and less as I mature, made wrongful use of the name of the Lord. There were times when I did not honor my father and my mother. I stole some penny candy and smashed a pumpkin or two as an adolescent. I most certainly brought false witness against my sister when it meant saving myself from being grounded or losing the car for the weekend. And just Thursday I found myself coveting my neighbor's i-phone. As one who routinely falls short, I realize that the dream of God articulated in the ten commandments is a difficult calling. And yet, it is a life that seems worthy of the effort as I strive to live into the covenant that God has made with us.
Whenever someone mentions a covenant these days, it is almost universally assumed to be a list of can't do's; he "Covenants - Conditions - and Restrictions" form many of us had to sign when purchasing a home. You can't park a boat in your driveway. You can't paint your house pink. You can't have a pet pig. Covenants are seen as narrowing, as drawing strong lines, as keeping us penned in.
I think the underlying cause of our apathy toward the 10 commandments is that we often read the 10 Commandments as the covenants - conditions - and restrictions of our lives, our faith, and even our worship. There are many churches that to this day have 10 commandment style architecture; standing tall as huge white boxes with clear windows so as not to disobey the commandment against making idols.
Seeing the Commandments this way makes them ugly things; top down initiatives; the stuff that boomers, gen xers, gen yers, and millennial children have spent the last 50 years breaking for the sport of it. Even the name, the 10 Commandments set it up with a negative feel. Almost all of us dislike commandments. We don't like being told what to do and how to live our lives, thank you very much. Which brings me back to the Beth Shalom Congregation in Potomac, Maryland because for them the text of Exodus 20 is not the 10 Commandments but they are the 10 Words which God spoke to his chosen people; the only words spoken directly to the people at large by their God. They aren't the CCR's of their lives but the establishment of a relationship. For them, the first word or commandment is not, "you shall have no other god's before me", but it is "I am the Lord your God, who brought you our of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery." Typically, "commands and laws have the imperative form." Thou shalts and Thou Shalt Nots... "But “I am your God” is not an imperative; there is no rule to keep or action to do. It is an announcement: good news for a people desperate to hear it. This reorients the [whole of the passage from 10 Commandments to 10 Words because it means that the one who keeps the first commandment—on which all the other commandments rest—is Yahweh, the faithful One of Israel. The other nine commands for Jews —all imperative in form, call for Israel’s active response to God's initiative— they simply shape a life of gratitude, a life poured out in grateful response to the gospel announcement that precedes: I am your God." (1) Looking at the 10 Commandments this way they become a lot easier for us to buy into. We understand lifestyle changes for the sake of a relationship.
Look at our baptismal covenant. We articulate first our belief in, our trust in, our relationship with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, and in light of that relationship we promise to live our lives a certain way; we will continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers. We will persevere in resisting evil, and, whenever we fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord. We will proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ. We will seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbor as ourselves. We will strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being. Like the Hebrews at Mount Sinai, in light of our new found relationship with God we make promises about how we will live our lives.
It is easy to get bogged down by a commandment oriented faith, but if we reorient ourselves from the stuff we can and can't do and instead seek the full relationship with God promised in his first word we quickly begin to see what a blessing the rest of the words from God can be. May God's promise to be the Lord our God motivate each us toward living a life worthy of God's dream. May we take seriously the words he spoke to the Hebrew's at Sinai. May our lives always be pointed toward him in thanksgiving for the relationship that he initiated. Amen.
rejoice
As we continue to slog through the season after Pentecost eavesdropping on Jesus telling parable after parable against the Scribes and the Pharisees and having slipped into the Holy Week narrative without so much as a context clue these Sundays can feel a lot more ordinary than they do Pentecost-y. It becomes increasingly hard to find good news in the words of Jesus as the weeks press on. He seems angry, bitter, on edge. Last week, though I didn't post, I did preach, and decided to go with an exposition on the 10 Commandments from Exodus 20. I'll post that in just a few minutes, but it felt good; it was nice to take a different look from a different book.
This week, I am not preaching, but I am still looking for good news. I would still like to ignore the looming worldwide economic meltdown. I don't want the Ron Paul supporter/conspiracy theorist guy at the coffee shop to have more evidence for the "new world order." I want big purple dinosaur faith this week.
And thanks be to God, we get it in Paul's letter to the Philippians. That great blessing from the 4th chapter; the end of which is still the only one I have memorized for liturgical use.
"Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
Ignoring completely the fact that Paul's letters are often used to beat us up and tie rules around our necks, this simple yet beautiful paragraph is why I love Paul (and, incidentally, think he gets a bad wrap).
I wonder if the church in Philippi was in the same spot I am; sorta tired, sorta poor, sorta stressed out, loosing close fantasy football game after close fantasy football game, etc. I wonder if that was the exact word they needed to hear, "rejoice!"
God's blessings are so great that even in the midst of fantasy football hell, or whatever hell you might find yourself in, we can still find a reason to rejoice!
May the peace of God which surpasses all understaing guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus!
This week, I am not preaching, but I am still looking for good news. I would still like to ignore the looming worldwide economic meltdown. I don't want the Ron Paul supporter/conspiracy theorist guy at the coffee shop to have more evidence for the "new world order." I want big purple dinosaur faith this week.
And thanks be to God, we get it in Paul's letter to the Philippians. That great blessing from the 4th chapter; the end of which is still the only one I have memorized for liturgical use.
"Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
Ignoring completely the fact that Paul's letters are often used to beat us up and tie rules around our necks, this simple yet beautiful paragraph is why I love Paul (and, incidentally, think he gets a bad wrap).
I wonder if the church in Philippi was in the same spot I am; sorta tired, sorta poor, sorta stressed out, loosing close fantasy football game after close fantasy football game, etc. I wonder if that was the exact word they needed to hear, "rejoice!"
God's blessings are so great that even in the midst of fantasy football hell, or whatever hell you might find yourself in, we can still find a reason to rejoice!
May the peace of God which surpasses all understaing guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus!
September 25, 2008
extreme poverty
Living, or perhaps better said, struggling to survive on less than $1 a day is the status quo for more than one billion people in this world. 1/7th of the population of the planet lives in "extreme poverty." Truth be told, the amount of people who fall into the "struggling to survive" category is much larger yet, which is why the United Nations saw the new millennium as an opportunity to motivate change in the systems and powers that make the rich, richer and the poor, poorer. The 8 goals are aimed at changing the world - a huge task no doubt - and have a goal of 2015 for their completion. You can read the list of goals and their measurables here.
At the UN in New York today global leaders of all types; political, religious, humanitarian, etc. are gathering for talks on the progress (or lack their of) and the bishops of the Anglican Communion have asked all Anglicans to committ to prayer and fasting this day. Additionally, Mike Kinman over at EGR asked that bloggers unite to flood the blog-o-sphere with information on the MDGs. This is my contribution to that cause.
I spent a week in the San Jose, Costa Rica in the summer of 2006 working with a group called the Abraham Project. They are building and running group homes for orphaned children in the outskirts of San Jose. On Wednesday of that week we joined the staff of AP on their monthly pilgrimage to Christ for the City's feeding ministry. We loaded into vans with coolers full of rice, beans, meat, and kool-aid to offer what would most likely be the only hot meal these families would recieve all week.
It is impossible to be prepared for such an event. Thinking about... theologizing about... praying about extreme poverty is one thing. Seeing it face to face is entirely another. It is a heartbreaking thing to see children who walk streets filled with human waste and live in homes made from broken down road signs and corroguated metal. It is even worse when you know, full well, that their parents would do anything to change things, but the first rung of the ladder is out of reach unless they join the illegal drug industry. The system is broken and the victims are without power to change it; without even voice to make enough noise that someone might here.
Swiss theologian Emil Brunner wrote, "The Church exists by mission, just as a fire exists by burning. Where there is no mission, there is no Church." Today the Church yells with full voice "WE EXIST!" which means that mission is happening. Today I stand in solidarity with people across political, theological, and socio-economic lines to say, "The systems of oppression must change, and we can do something about it." Today I pray for those in power that God might impress upon their hearts his compassion for the poor and his hope for his Creation. Today I give thanks that the Kingdom of God has been inaugurated by Jesus Christ's life, death, and resurrection and recommit my life to its continued inbreaking into the stiffnecked, hard hearted world.
Let your hearts be broken friends. Let your eyes be opened. Let your hears hear. And then let your lips and your blogs and your pens and your wallets speak that the Kingdom of God is near.
At the UN in New York today global leaders of all types; political, religious, humanitarian, etc. are gathering for talks on the progress (or lack their of) and the bishops of the Anglican Communion have asked all Anglicans to committ to prayer and fasting this day. Additionally, Mike Kinman over at EGR asked that bloggers unite to flood the blog-o-sphere with information on the MDGs. This is my contribution to that cause.
I spent a week in the San Jose, Costa Rica in the summer of 2006 working with a group called the Abraham Project. They are building and running group homes for orphaned children in the outskirts of San Jose. On Wednesday of that week we joined the staff of AP on their monthly pilgrimage to Christ for the City's feeding ministry. We loaded into vans with coolers full of rice, beans, meat, and kool-aid to offer what would most likely be the only hot meal these families would recieve all week.
It is impossible to be prepared for such an event. Thinking about... theologizing about... praying about extreme poverty is one thing. Seeing it face to face is entirely another. It is a heartbreaking thing to see children who walk streets filled with human waste and live in homes made from broken down road signs and corroguated metal. It is even worse when you know, full well, that their parents would do anything to change things, but the first rung of the ladder is out of reach unless they join the illegal drug industry. The system is broken and the victims are without power to change it; without even voice to make enough noise that someone might here.
Swiss theologian Emil Brunner wrote, "The Church exists by mission, just as a fire exists by burning. Where there is no mission, there is no Church." Today the Church yells with full voice "WE EXIST!" which means that mission is happening. Today I stand in solidarity with people across political, theological, and socio-economic lines to say, "The systems of oppression must change, and we can do something about it." Today I pray for those in power that God might impress upon their hearts his compassion for the poor and his hope for his Creation. Today I give thanks that the Kingdom of God has been inaugurated by Jesus Christ's life, death, and resurrection and recommit my life to its continued inbreaking into the stiffnecked, hard hearted world.
Let your hearts be broken friends. Let your eyes be opened. Let your hears hear. And then let your lips and your blogs and your pens and your wallets speak that the Kingdom of God is near.
www.sept25.org
Today is September 25th, the day which was set aside by the Bishops of the Anglican Communion as a day of prayer and fasting for the Millennium Development Goals especially as they each relate to the root cause of extreme poverty (those 1 billion plus people living on less than $1 a day).I will be blogging more on the topic later today as I reflect on my one and only experience with extreme poverty in the slums of San Jose, Costa Rica.
In the meantime, I ask that you join me in the prayer of Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation.
Most loving God, as your desire for mercy for the poor is unrelenting, may we be unrelenting in our pursuit of mercy for all; as your compassion for the suffering of the poor knows no limit, may our hearts overflow with compassion for all; as you long for justice for the poor, may we strive for justice for all. Open our eyes to the structures of oppression from which we benefit, and give us courage to accept our responsibility, wisdom to chart a sound course amid complexity, and perseverance to continue our work until it is finished. Breathe your life-giving Spirit afresh into your Church to free us from apathy and indifference; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
September 23, 2008
the last week
We are making that awkward church year transition from "ordinary time" i.e. the season of the work of the Church. We do this by having a mini-holy week as we prepare ourselves for the schizophrenic season of Advent which begins the new church year.
I am, and have been for a while now, somewhat obsessed with the events of Jesus' last week as the incarnated Son of God. While it is strange to have these last week stories in the midst of ordinary time, I am grateful to have to deal with them, and their wide reaching ramifications yet again.
Authority seems to be the issue at hand in Matthew 21.23-32, but if one peels just the skin off the onion it seems that authority is not the real issue, but instead follow through. Are you claiming authority that isn't yours or using authority that has been given you? Are you saying "yes, yes!" but doing nothing for the kingdom or are you saying, "whoo. God, nope, not me!" but doing the work anyway as Moses exampled so wonderfully in his life?
If you are saying yes for the sake of appearances, Jesus wants you to know that the end of appearances has come and you better get your ass in gear lest the kingdom leave you behind.
Good stuff in this last week. Jesus gets offensive, for a while, and in our offense we can gain a lot.
I am, and have been for a while now, somewhat obsessed with the events of Jesus' last week as the incarnated Son of God. While it is strange to have these last week stories in the midst of ordinary time, I am grateful to have to deal with them, and their wide reaching ramifications yet again.
Authority seems to be the issue at hand in Matthew 21.23-32, but if one peels just the skin off the onion it seems that authority is not the real issue, but instead follow through. Are you claiming authority that isn't yours or using authority that has been given you? Are you saying "yes, yes!" but doing nothing for the kingdom or are you saying, "whoo. God, nope, not me!" but doing the work anyway as Moses exampled so wonderfully in his life?
If you are saying yes for the sake of appearances, Jesus wants you to know that the end of appearances has come and you better get your ass in gear lest the kingdom leave you behind.
Good stuff in this last week. Jesus gets offensive, for a while, and in our offense we can gain a lot.
September 18, 2008
on the collect
Grant us, Lord, not to be anxious about earthly things, but to love things heavenly; and even now, while we are placed among things that are passing away, to hold fast to those that shall endure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
I'm sitting in front of our home computer, i.e. Cass' computer at 6:45a with a to-do list a mile long running through my head. Today will be my 4th 12+ hour day in a row, and I still don't have a sermon. I know I got to this point later than many of my classmates, and I love that I'm not sitting in my office doing bulletins and organizing calendars, but still, I'd love to have a sermon done by now.
As I prayed the Collect for the Proper 20 (above) I realized how easy it is to place things in the wrong category. Sermons, no matter how deep and profound, are still earthly. Sunday School lesson plans, no matter how spiritually enlightening, are still earthly. Sitting in a back bedroom while a woman dying with cancer shares her life story, no matter how much other crap might need to be done, is a heavenly thing.
We all have weeks like I'm having this week. We get slammed with dinners and youth group meetings. We get bombarded by family visitors and major deadlines. We sit at our E-Trade account trying desperately to stay ahead of market volatility. Earthly things rise up to bite us and we invariable get anxious. It is good to have a prayer that puts things into perspective for us. It is a heavenly thing to discern what is earthly and what it heavenly. Then, the task is remembering which is which and holding fast only to those things that are eternal.
I'll pray for you if you pray for me.
I'm sitting in front of our home computer, i.e. Cass' computer at 6:45a with a to-do list a mile long running through my head. Today will be my 4th 12+ hour day in a row, and I still don't have a sermon. I know I got to this point later than many of my classmates, and I love that I'm not sitting in my office doing bulletins and organizing calendars, but still, I'd love to have a sermon done by now.
As I prayed the Collect for the Proper 20 (above) I realized how easy it is to place things in the wrong category. Sermons, no matter how deep and profound, are still earthly. Sunday School lesson plans, no matter how spiritually enlightening, are still earthly. Sitting in a back bedroom while a woman dying with cancer shares her life story, no matter how much other crap might need to be done, is a heavenly thing.
We all have weeks like I'm having this week. We get slammed with dinners and youth group meetings. We get bombarded by family visitors and major deadlines. We sit at our E-Trade account trying desperately to stay ahead of market volatility. Earthly things rise up to bite us and we invariable get anxious. It is good to have a prayer that puts things into perspective for us. It is a heavenly thing to discern what is earthly and what it heavenly. Then, the task is remembering which is which and holding fast only to those things that are eternal.
I'll pray for you if you pray for me.
does God not have Email?
One of my favorite movies of all-time is Mike Judge's classic, Office Space. It begins with the main character, Peter, getting railed by his boss(es) for "not getting the memo" on the new cover sheets for the TPS reports. Since this 1999 cult classic "not getting the memo" has become "not getting the Email" and I find myself wondering sometimes if God even has Email. If he does, there must be so much spam in his inbox that he often "doesn't get the Email."
Take the case of Jonah and Nineveh, for instance. God told Jonah to preach doom to this most evil city (think Vegas with Michael Vick as Mayor), and he did. So Jonah sat back and waited for the doom to take place. So he waited... and waited... and waited. Apparently God didn't get the Email that Jonah had, in fact, completed his task. Maybe God thought Jonah was still walking around Nineveh preaching.
As we know, God did "get the Email", but he got several others as well; all sorts of Emails from the people of Nineveh apologizing for their sinfulness and asking for a second chance to live out the rest of their days for the Lord. Weighing all the options, having read all the Emails, God chose to give Nineveh just that chance.
I guess what I'm saying, in a very round-about way, is that when I think God hasn't gotten my Email I need to remember that he has gotten millions of others, and he has carefully weighed all the options and decided on the path that is best for his plan for his creation, and unlike Jonah, I need to be happy with it. It isn't always easy, and I often wonder if God might have labeled me as spam, but I know that in his perfect will all things are done for good.
Take the case of Jonah and Nineveh, for instance. God told Jonah to preach doom to this most evil city (think Vegas with Michael Vick as Mayor), and he did. So Jonah sat back and waited for the doom to take place. So he waited... and waited... and waited. Apparently God didn't get the Email that Jonah had, in fact, completed his task. Maybe God thought Jonah was still walking around Nineveh preaching.
As we know, God did "get the Email", but he got several others as well; all sorts of Emails from the people of Nineveh apologizing for their sinfulness and asking for a second chance to live out the rest of their days for the Lord. Weighing all the options, having read all the Emails, God chose to give Nineveh just that chance.
I guess what I'm saying, in a very round-about way, is that when I think God hasn't gotten my Email I need to remember that he has gotten millions of others, and he has carefully weighed all the options and decided on the path that is best for his plan for his creation, and unlike Jonah, I need to be happy with it. It isn't always easy, and I often wonder if God might have labeled me as spam, but I know that in his perfect will all things are done for good.
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