Life in the meddle

I've been drawn this week to the Acts 17 passage from last week (6th sunday of Easter.) Why?? may have something to do with me being out of the pulpit last sunday and not having the opportunity to wrestle with it, or some simple nudging of the Spirit, or (insert 3rd rail here.)

Whatever the reason, it's found its way into the liturgy and as a call to worship/proclaimation leading us into the worship service. Not sure how it will function that way - but we'll just have to see now, won't we.

As I glanced through the various section Feasting on the Word has to offer on this particular pericope, I settled into the 'Pastoral Perspective' in hopes of gleaning some insights into this narrative of Paul addressing the people of Athens.

Rick Mixon (the author of this section) lifted up some words and perspectives from William Willimon that applauds Paul's ability, willingness to address this audience at the place where they reside, in all their uncertainty and anxiety.

Willimon writes: "The church, rather than standing back from pagan religiosity, pointing our fingers in righteous indignation, should, like Paul in Athens, minister to their searching."

It struck me that if the church, rather than stepping back from the polarized religiosity, pointing our fingers in self-righteous indignation - what if we were able to (what if I were willing to) reach out to those - to engage the "them" in their search for what is true, what is honorable, what is just. Maybe if we (I) were able to do as Paul did for those who are a part of what we define as 'The Body of Christ' - maybe there'd be a greater prophetic witness to those who yet find themself apart from the Body of Christ.

Peace,

Small Steps - - HUGE Successes

What are the congregational sages of the day saying about the hopes and possibilities for churches in this 21^st Century? Don’t know about all of them, but Anthony Robinson, a minister in the United Church of Christ, preacher, teacher, and nationally renowned church consultant has words of hope for what the church, the body of Christ can do – and be in these changing and challenging times.

This past weekend I travelled to First Presbyterian Church of Vancouver, WA for this year’s Cascades Presbytery Leadership Fair. I attended to offer perspective on the Community Kitchen being housed bi-monthly within the walls of 1^st PC Phoenix. As part of a 3 person panel (one of which has been working with a church’s community kitchen for the past 5 years, another who began serving meals as part of the hospitality their congregation offers nightly as a warming center for homeless families) I was able to, not only share some thoughts, but to hear some perspectives on not only the ‘Why’ questions, but the ‘what’ the ‘how’ and entertain some ‘what if’ questions.

We did not have as many participants in our workshop as we’d had signed up – but that’s okay, as I’m sure those who skipped out, did so to attend the workshop offered by the event’s keynote speaker, Tony Robinson. (I’d thought myself that I’d like to sit in on his presentation – but in the morning I’d signed up for a discussion on the issues/dynamics in Israel/Palestine. Very thought provoking in its own right.)

But I did get to hear the keynote speaker offer challenging, yet hope-filled, words of encouragement. Challenging – in some of the anecdotes he shared about travels around these United States congregations. In one locale (Minnesota), he told of a conversation that came out of a series of interviews with both longtime members and members new to the faith. One of the new believers shared something of a concern she felt. When she started attending, she heard about prayer, and having experienced and encountered God – but when she asked one of the longtime members about his faith/prayer life, she said, ‘you’d have thought I’d asked him about his sex life’ (to paraphrase). One of the struggles, in which mainline churches may have become entangled, is the misperception that ‘faith’ is private; it may be personal, but far from private. This misperception has lead to a growing inability to speak of the deeply spiritual in ways that allow their faith, their sense of the divine to pass to the next generation of believer.

The good news is that God is sovereign and is working, even though it may not be how we envision. He shared this reflection on his website:

I was in Vancouver, Washington last weekend speaking at a Presbyterian event. I spent some time with people from a struggling and aging congregation in Portland, Oregon. The congregation had put on a block party for the neighborhood. But they felt it was a failure because it did not result in anyone coming from the neighborhood to their worship services. I told them that simply getting out of their building, getting to know the new neighbors, and having people come to the block party was a huge success--not at all a failure. Small steps.

Small steps, but HUGE successes – Successes we of 1^st PC Phoenix are joyfully stepping into.

Life in a fishbowl

Growing up as a preacher's kid, I was aware of the subtle differences between myself and my friends. It wasn't that I saw myself better than them; I did not see my family as somehow special because of who Dad was; the subtle difference was that my dad in his particular vocation had a platform from which comical, humorous, slightly embarrassing anecdotes of my childhood might find their way to anywhere from 75-125 pairs of ears (+or-). These 'sharings' were not a regular part of the Sunday morning proclamation, and there was never anything overly 'awkward' - (the most was when I heard how I got dizzy when I closed my eyes while praying). For the most part, no biggie - I'm not in therapy as a result of my life in the fishbowl of the pastor's family (although I may be abnormal in this fact.)

As scarred as I'm not from this, I am at least sympathetic to the dynamic possibilities of abusive over-sharing - that now as a preacher myself, I've (on occasion) come and apologized to my kids for some momentarily lapse of reason that might view the kids as simply one extended sermon illustration.

With that set-up, let me delve into the heart of my question: Having perused many blogs, websites, lurked on social media sites, read folks postings about their work, their hobbies, I've observed that an all too recurrent theme is one of 'family' - primarily the kids. Now, don't get me wrong; I'm all for sharing about the kids, the fun things they do and great people they are (and the better people they try to become); however, many (a majority?) of the writings, blogs, informative offerings recount less-than-flattering anecdotes about behavior, attitudes, temper-tantrums, potty training, etc.

My curiosity wonders what's the potential when, 5, 10, 15, 2 years from now, while 'googling' their name, a child (no particular child in mind) happens across the blog, the writing, the online diary of their life (though not of their making), and realizes that it's been shared with (not 75-125) millions dare I project billions of people, and that what's been shared is not simply the 'good stuff', the flattering, affirming, fun stuff - but the less than flattering anecdotes about behavior, attitudes, temper-tantrums, potty training etc. - How will the upcoming generation respond to this? Will they see it as an invasion of their privacy? Will they come back to us as parents and exclaim, "How could you?!" Will they subtly decide that the uber-connectivity their parents observed is not gonna work for them? Will they feel betrayed? Or will they be so accustomed to this newly minted social-media world that it won't faze them in the least?

I don't know; I can only speculate based on my own limited experience of life in a fishbowl?

What do you think?

The Blank Slate

New Year’s Eve, for much of American society (it seems), provides an opportunity, the venue (dare I say an excuse?) to take one particular aspect of their life – and commit to making a change for the better. It may be a physical change such as exercising, dieting, or being better attentive to one’s health conditions. Maybe it’s an attitudinal change that one seeks, and so we see the commitments to be nicer, to love more, to embody thankfulness and appreciation. There are innumerable New Year’s Resolutions that people take on each year.

Why do we choose the coming new year to embark on these life changing endeavors? There is something of a mystique to the coming of January 1, beyond that sense of pride when we correctly write the new year’s date on our checks. There’s something about the newness, the freshness, that sense of a clean slate on which we might write anew some small aspect of our lives. What newness, what fresh outlooks will you write in; what old habits, what outdated attitudes will you write out of this coming year?

But by saying ‘small aspect’ I certainly do not impart any lack of significance. For simply recognizing the gift this opportunity is (to be and do better) carries great significance. It signifies that the ‘who’ we have been does not define the ‘who’ we are to become. Upon that blank slate, upon which you may write in that new sense of who you are – who are you becoming? What criteria will we utilize in determining who we should become?

Whatever the rational for the desired change, whatever the criteria for who the ‘new me’ should be, the coming New Year provides both the motive and the opportunity, and there is safety in numbers to set out and try something new: ‘everybody’s doing it.’ But no sooner do we get started in fulfilling these ‘New Year Resolutions’ that the stark realities set in: as ‘everyone’ was beginning them – so ‘everyone’ is breaking them – and feeling resigned to live out the rest of the year thinking “Next year, I’ll do better.”

But, that attitude does not accurately reflect life in the Body of Christ, the Church. Because, we need not wait until a change of the calendar to step back into that mode of living for the New Life, we need not put off until the next major date change to consider how Life could be better, and we certainly don’t need to live the next 11 months with the burden of what we were incapable of completing.

We live, moment to moment, 24/7/365 trusting the grace of God to pick us up from our mis-steps, dust us off, and send us back out to live into Life – with the simple admonition – ‘Be faithful with what you’ve been given.’ So, what will you do with the blank slate you’ve been blessed with in this new year? In this new month? In this new moment? What acts and attitudes of faithfulness will you inscribe into this New Life God is creating you for?

Blessings and Peace be yours in all this gift of New Life affords for you.

Rev. Mike

Feelin' a bit Grinchie?

So, on way home from dropping somebody off at bus station - feeling like the Grinch. Twice in one day now, I've opted to take the low road and say 'no' to seemingly innocuous, innocent requests for assistance. One was for baby formula (this the 3rd time in as many months that this request has been made-much more going on in this situation)- the other was this one request made by a gentleman on way from POrtland to N. Calif. This gentleman had some speech difficulties, but seemingly no cognitive issues. He knew what he needed to know - and it worked well for him. He explained his predicament, seemed to get a bit testy as I asked questions, more frustrated with a system or persons that would drop somebody off in the middle of our little town with nary a plausible extrication route. but he explained his situation - I told him I'd make some phone calls and check what could happen. By the time I got off the phone he'd called back saying the folks at the restaurant had given the necessary fare and now just needed a ride to the transit station - which I agreed to provide.

He explained how he'd been given enough to make the first leg of his trip, but when he arrived at that destination he'd need to work in order to fund the remaining portion of his trip. I'm thinking to myself - as bad as I felt/ frustrated as I was with a system/person who'd dropped him off in a seemingly dead-end location such as this - - - now here I was doing the same thing. 'You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch." I hadn't brought a wallet - - didn't have access to cash - - just dropped him off and said fair-well.

When I got back to office, I listened to a phone message from the owner of the restaurant he'd been helped at - - I called back and thanked him for being willing to help - as much as he was able - He explained how the patrons of the restaurant had chipped in and given him the full amount he claimed he needed to complete his journey - with some left over for coffee and a bite to eat.

Wow - - God bless that guy - he knew how to work the system: he got what he needed, and then pushed a little bit more to get just that bit extra. I didn't tell the restaurant owner how he continued asking for more of what he'd already been given. Didn't figure he needed that rain on his parade.

Probably don't need to- shouldn't post this even. This is more for my own cathartic sense of dumping, but I most likely will anyway.

Oh, and an addendum - just had someone drop off $1000 worth of toys and books and stuffed animals and such - - - Wow - may the blessings find their mark.

“Let’s put Christ back in X-mas” “Remember the ‘Reason for the Season’”

Two of the more common statements heard in various locations, various homes, radio, restaurant, church social halls. The sentiment behind these two particular affirmations definitely hold some validity. What with the commercial nature (the huge explosive commercialized nature) of this particular holiday season, it’s easy to see how folks who have not grown up in the church could get the wrong idea about what this Christmas is really about.

I’m not one to typically hop on the bandwagon with rhetorical slogans and such, but I will agree that seemingly over these past few, several, many years, the truer meaning of the birth of a Savior has been buried in all the sales and gift receipts, lost amongst the parties and family gatherings, calendared over with the busyness of the seasons. I’d like to ponder what it might mean to have a nice Christmas celebration.

But I have to admit, when I think of a ‘nice Christmas’ what immediately comes to mind is a tree trimmed with 20+ years of ornaments, lights and candy-canes, an angel on the tip-top, with the base engulfed in brightly wrapped packages, presents, and gifts. Then as the individual presents are distributed, I become a miniature of that tree with my feet ensconced in my gifts. Then, one by one, we open a gift, hoping to be the last person with gifts left to open. Somehow, I’m thinking this image of a ‘nice Christmas’ (the current economic crisis not withstanding) misses the truer meaning that seems to have been set aside some time past.

IN search of a deeper, truer meaning of the incarnation of our God, I’m not even going to address the lists I make of what I’d like – just not going there. So let's start with the gift-lists we compose for those people we’d like to bless; it is the season of giving, after all. We make lists of what to give, what we need to buy, and count the cost to see if we can afford what it is we want to give. The gift list becomes a symbol of what we can afford to give, rather than what we'd like to give. (Maybe this happens simultaneously with the listing process).

But here’s a real necessity for amending process; who wants to wake up in January with a financial hangover from overindulging at the checkout counters (or online carts) leading up to December 25^th. Who wants to wake up in the New Year realizing that one can no longer afford food, rent, or utilities (let alone the credit card payments) for all the indulgent gift giving. Sticking within a budget is the most prudent and safest way of making it through the holiday shopping without buyer’s remorse, come January 2.

But this safe/prudent mentality fails to capture the fuller nature and truth inherent within God’s incarnation in human flesh. It was not safe.; the incarnation was risky; the end result, if not the cross was certainly death by some means. The Incarnation is an all-in, no holds barred gambit on God’s part. In Christ, God stepped into human history, into the flesh and blood and all the messiness associated with the human condition (temptation and all – with the exception of sin). In Christ, in the giving of God’s own self, the barriers separating God from humanity were removed, the chasm of ‘otherness’ that humanity could not traverse was bridged, and God and humanity were able, once again, to walk together – almost like it had been in the Garden.

The gift God gives in the Incarnation of the Christ Child, is far deeper and more foundational than peace, hope, love, and joy; the gift God gives is being fully present to the needs of a people walking in darkness, fully open to the hurts and frustrations of a people who are feeling the weight of oppression; package God delivers in this season is one that is not wrapped up, but one that is open, fully visible, fully available –in the Christ Child.

This Christmas holiday season, rather than focusing on what presents we’re going to give (more to the point, how much we’re going to spend) I invite us all to imagine what it would be like for us to embody the gift of the presence our God (Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer) – what would it mean for us to give ourselves fully, intentionally, without barrier to our friends and family around us, to the world in which we reside, to the stranger flying a sign by the freeway onramp, to the mindset walking in darkness in search of a little Good News.

I wish you a truly merry and fully present Christmas this year.

Rev. Mike

'What and Why'

The story’s been told – I’m sure at some have heard this:

A Mother and young daughter were busy in the kitchen preparing the food for the holiday meal. The mother asked the daughter to get the ham out of the refrigerator and the knife from the drawer. The mother cut the end off the ham, placed it in the roasting pan, and then, as she opened the oven door to begin the cooking, the young girl gave her mother a quizzical look and asked, “Why did you cut the end off the ham like that?” The mother replied, “for as long as I can remember, I saw that your grandma cut the end off the ham; I guess I never really thought about it. But, I don’t know. Let me call you grandma and find out.”

She made the phone call to her mom, explaining the situation and the question ‘Why do we cut the end off the ham before it goes in the roasting pan?’ To which the mom (grandma) replied, “Uh, I don’t know why. As far back as I can remember I’ve helped my mother prepare the ham and she always cut the end off, but I guess I never really knew why.”

As the family gathered for their holiday meal, the opportunity to ask the great grandmother the unanswered question, “Why do we cut the end off the ham before putting it in to be roasted?” to which she responded – “I don’t know why you do it, but I cut the end off the ham so it would fit in my roasting pan.”

A humorous look at a dynamic of passing along family traditions, from one generation to the next – and a realization that in addition to question of ‘what’ (what traditions, rituals, where do we spend the summers, where do we vacation, how do we pay bills) it’s also important, if we are to pass on a fuller sense of the family tradition, the question of ‘why’ must be entertained for sure.

And so is the function of a well-put together Christian Education program in any church: entertaining both the ‘What’ and the ‘Why’ questions. Christian Education – in passing our Christian traditions, ritual (our faith) along to the coming generations – engages the question of ‘What.’ What do we believe? What are the stories in the Bible? What does God expect of humanity? What happened 2000years ago that changed how we understand the nature of power? What happened when God Spoke? (What happens when God Speaks?) These, and more, are all questions that some people have entertained in Sunday school as they were growing up? Others, as they have come to the Christian faith have learned to answer these question. As we meet for Bible study – sometimes it’s the ‘What’ questions that we stop to ponder.

And so addressing ‘What’ the Bible says – we learn within these sacred texts history, and poetry; we hear God saying ‘Thou shalt not’ and we hear God also saying ‘Thou Shall Do;” we hear the Word of God indicting humanity for a prideful arrogance and see that arrogance played out in the course of the history of the people; we read of the people’s humble reliance upon their (our) redeemer and note the restful shalom the people are invited to enjoy.

The ‘What’ questions are integral questions that help give shape to a community, but in many ways the ‘What’ questions relegate the story to the past. It’s in asking the ‘Why’ questions that we engage the story and allow it to find a fuller meaning in our lives in the here and now; ‘why’ did God create light on the first day, but it was Day 4 that the sun, moon, and stars were created? Why did God give us these specific 10 commandments? Why is God so concerned with the widows, orphans, resident aliens? Why was Christ born in such a slowly state? (Should be noted that another way of phrasing the ‘Why’ questions is by asking ‘what is the significance of {or meaning of} or even by asking ‘Why is this important?) However we ask the ‘Why’ questions – it’s in the asking of them that we are able to enter into the historical events, the parable teachings, the poetic meditations.

The ‘What’ questions seem to be less difficult that they ‘Why’; more often than not, it’s in asking ‘why’ that we find ourselves wrestling with the answers, grappling with what we think the meaning should be, yet finding significance we’d not previously observed. As Jacob wrestled with God and (in addition to his bum hip) he received blessing of newly revealed name and purpose in his life. Maybe the hip thing was a small price to pay; but then again, ???

As we endeavor to find ways of bringing depth of knowledge, meaning and participation through our Christian Education program, I invite your prayers, your encouragement, your participating questions of ‘What’ and ‘Why.’ As we take seriously the challenge before us to better understand the ‘what’ and ‘why’ of God’s claim upon our lives, generations following in our footsteps will be lead and encouraged to do likewise: take seriously God’s calling to be stewards of the God’s gift of creation, to be disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ, and embody power perfected through servant leadership. As we wrestle with our faith, may God bless you.