After the Workshop

Julie's comments were very helpful, which is what workshop is for.... so here is the poem again, as improved (I hope) by Julie's comments.

A Mid-Summer’s Night

I saw a snake

Climb a tree

His flicking tongue

Searching for prey

I could not see

Among the leaves

Devouring sunlight

Deepening the roots

Supporting the branch

Cradling the nest

Nurturing the eggs

warmed by the robin

swallowed by the snake

dangling above

soil enriching

Tomorrow’s worms

Strengthening robins

Gathering twigs

mending their nests.

Two days later

That same snake

Was cleaved in two

With a hoe

By a neighbor

Who hates snakes

Poetry Workshop

Good Day All,

As you may know from previous entries, I recently completed a masters degree in creative writing, poetry to be exact. When I started the program I had no idea that I would write poetry. It is still somewhat of a surprise to me that I do, although I am getting used to it.

When one is studying poetry, one has the benefit of the poetry workshop. Workshop is a process by which writers present works in progress to the larger group for feedback and response. It is not simply a matter of "I like this" or "This stinks". Workshop comments are intended to draw out what is working in the piece, what is not working in the piece, or some other remark designed to help the writer take a more objective look at the work.

Now I know that many readers are poets or appreciate poetry. No doubt other readers who remain anonymous are familiar with poetry as well. So I thought... why not have poetry workshop? I have a piece that is still young, still developing. I don't know if there is anything to it or not. I know what I am trying to get at, but am I getting close at all? These are the questions one brings to poetry workshop.

If this idea works, then I would invite any of my readers to offer poetry for workshop as well, if you like. Maybe Friday could be poetry workshop day.

And if the idea doesn't work, well, come Monday back to the routine.

So here is my work in progress..... any traction?

A Mid-Summer’s Night

I saw a snake

Climb a tree

His flicking tongue

Searching for prey

I could not see

Amidst green leaves

Providing life to the tree

Which cradled the nest

That nurtured the eggs

warmed by the robin

frantically flapping

flying and striking

The snake reaching

His evening meal

the robin soared

swooping over

Grasses concealing

Tomorrow’s worms

Strength for the robin

Gathering twigs

for her nest.

Two days later

That same snake

Was cleaved in two

With a hoe

By a neighbor

Who doesn’t like snakes

Why It Is So Hard to Read The Bible

I have been reading a book by Barbara Herrnstein Smith entitled “Natural Reflections: Human Cognition at the Nexus of Science and Religion”. This book has helped me answer one of the great riddles of ministry—why is it so hard for church people to read the Bible?

I am not talking about folks who won’t read the Bible. I am talking about folks that truly want to read the Bible but read right over or through what is there. For example. I held a study once where the goal was to read the Gospel of Mark straight through as a singular work. In other words, rather than drawing out verses from here or there or skipping across the Bible looking for themes and topics, the people would read Mark like they would read John Grisham or John Updike. Because the gospel is a literary work—a narrative with its own internal logic, plot, and characters, it should be easy to do so, even if the narrative world of the gospel is anchored in a time and place separated from us by two millennia.

The experiment yielded an interesting result. They all struggled through it. Oh, they could read the words. They were all literate. But they could not piece together the story Mark was telling because the readers—all of whom had a background in a church—could not stop inserting details that were not there.

Angels kept appearing where there are no angels. Wise Men tried to crash the party. The prodigal son made a cameo. The Trinity must have been the reason for one thing or another. Don’t misunderstand. My readers did not actually read about these people in Mark. But they tried to understand Mark’s story by bringing them into their interpretation. So although their understandings could be classified surely as “Christian”, even interesting, their understandings were not what Mark himself was trying to convey in his own, unique story.

So back to my question—why is it so hard for church people to read the Bible? Smith argues that it is a basic trait of human nature to practice what she terms “cognitive conservatism”. Smith argues that the “tendency to retain one’s beliefs in the face of what strikes other people as clear disconfirmation appears to be a very general phenomenon.” Once we form an explanation of some aspect of reality, we all tend to be most alert to what confirms it and quite resistant to evidence to the contrary which we will treat as “irritants”.

A great many adults in the church were also children in the church. And the churches within which they were children vary widely. In many church traditions children are taught doctrinal truth or made to memorize bible verses. Perhaps they memorize a catechism which provides a summary of Christian doctrine. Quite a few traditions discourage independent thinking, believing that the trained clergy are uniquely suited to inform the faithful what the scriptures say.

And because this instruction happens to the young, who are not yet capable of reading and understanding the Bible on its own terms, they grow into their “cognitive conservatism” around Christian faith. But this belief system is built upon dogmatic truth propositions and not the richly multifarious nature of the Biblical literature, particularly the Gospels. And since children are dressed as wise men and shepherds for the church Christmas special and told to gather around the manger, is it any wonder as adults they cannot see that it might be important to understanding Mark’s purpose that he doesn’t have an infancy narrative.

I don’t have an immediate solution to this problem, although continued practice and encouragement helps. Perhaps we need to think about the nature of Christian Education for children. We should never teach children things that one day will need to be untaught. We need to prepare them, not indoctrinate them, to grow into curious, responsible people of faith. We need to help all people broaden their realities so as to see people of different faiths and orientations less as “irritants” and more as opportunities to expand awareness. This is how Barbara Smith concludes her essay:

Scientists share cognitive tendencies, achievements, and limits with nonscientists; religious believers share them with nonbelievers. Although each may put the world together and conduct his or her life in ways that are at odds with or opaque to the other, the cosmology and way of life of each deserves minimally respectful acknowledgement from the other. Such acknowledgement would not mean accepting ideas one finds fantastic or claims one knows are false. And of course it would not mean approving practices that one knows are confining, maiming, or murderous to oneself or to others. What it would mean is recognizing, as parallel to one’s own, the processes by which those cosmologies and ways of life come to be formed.

Not me, says the self-vaunting evangelical atheist. Tu quo que—you too says the defensive, resentful theist. Et ego—I, too, says the reflexive, reflective naturalist.

And Et ego says the blogger. What do you say?

Reference: “Natural Reflections: Human Cognition at the Nexus of Science and Religion”, Barbara Herrnstein Smith. Yale University Press. 2009

A Great Poem

I can title this post as I did because the poem in question is not mine. This is a poem I first encountered in the 1990's while serving a church in New York. It was the poem that, for me, opened up the way in which poetic language can convey powerful truth. It was the first poem I have read that I wish I had written. It is by the late R.S. Thomas, who was an Anglican clergyman in Wales. The poem is entitled "I was Vicar of Large Things"

I was vicar of large things

in a small parish. Small-minded

I will not say, there were depths

in some of them I shrank back

from, wells that the word "God"

fell into and died away,

and for all I know is still

falling. Who goes for water

to such must prepare for a long

wait. Their eyes looked at me

and were the remains of flowers

on an old grave. I was there,

I felt, to blow on ashes

that were too long cold. Often,

when I thought they were about

to unbar to me, the draught

out of their empty places

came whistling so that I wrapped

myself in the heavier clothing

of my calling, speaking of light and love

in the thickening shadows of their kitchens.

Reality Television

Some years ago NBC had a television program about an Episcopal Priest. It was called The Book of Daniel. NBC canceled the program after three weeks amidst considerable protest, although the network denied the controversy played a role in their decision.

I watched the two hour premiere, in which we were introduced to Daniel Webster, Episcopal priest. There was an awful lot packed into that premiere. One of Daniel's sons was gay, another adopted with an Asian background. The adopted son had romantic designs on the daughter of a powerful church member. Daniel's daughter was arrested for selling marijuana, the profits of which she used to support her computer animation ambitions. Daniel was trying to build a school for the church but his brother-in-law ran off with the money and ended up dead. Turns out the mob was involved and there seemed to be a relationship between the mob and the Catholic priest in town. The dead man's wife takes up with another woman, and Daniel needs painkillers to get through the day. We also learned that Daniel's father is the Bishop and his mother has Alzheimer's. That explained why Daniel's father is seeing another Church bureaucrat (female if I remember) on the side. Oh, and Daniel talked to Jesus. Jesus sat right next to him in period dress.

Personally I found it all a bit too much to keep straight. But I am not surprised that the American Family Association, among other groups, protested the program. They labeled the program an example of "anti-Christian bigotry" and said it made a mockery of the Christian faith. The point was driven home by an email campaign directed at NBC affiliates. At the time I checked with the station manager of our local NBC affiliate and he reported receiving a few emails, one of which stated that the program "trampled all over the basic sensibilities of anyone who holds the Christian faith as something sacred and dear to them."

I watched the program (and am consulting notes made at that time) and I don't remember seeing the Christian faith, as such, playing a big role. I saw dysfunctional human beings playing out life's drama. What may have fueled the Christian indignation more than anything was the fact that the show's creator and writer is gay, and one of the minister's children was gay.

My point is this: the church is full of dysfunctional people. The ministry is full of dysfunctional people. Whether developing this truth on television is "anti-Christian bigotry" depends upon one's tolerance for human frailty and the depth of one's own self-awareness. I have known ministers whose children have been addicted, gay, and adopted, although I must confess having never known one with all three. I know ministers who struggle with their own weaknesses and vulnerabilities. There are addicted ministers and ministers on pain meds and ministers on anti-depressants. I have no doubt there are ministers who lose their temper, wonder if it is all worth it, and wish they could sit with Jesus as Daniel Webster does.

It is equally true that our churches are full of members who struggle with these same issues. The fact that we are all imperfect does not excuse inappropriate behavior. But to suggest that a program is "anti-Christian" simply because its characters mirror back to us our broken selves belies a fundamental lack of understanding concerning grace and the human condition. People are complex and their motives are complex and, in spite of obvious flaws, The Book of Daniel was trying to explore that point. To those who condemned the program on the basis of its characterizations might want to reacquaint themselves with the story Luke tells about Jesus, the Pharisee, and the sinful woman (Luke 7:36-50). With reference to that text theologian Paul Tillich observed that each of us would be more Christian if more were forgiven us, if we loved more and were better able to resist the temptation to present ourselves as acceptable to God by our own righteousness.

Ministers are not perfect. Church people are not perfect. It may not be on television anymore, but it is reality.

Campus Ministry

I was just another guy in class, older than most, grayer than most. I wrote poems about poems, or poems about death, or poems for my children. There was nothing about me that said "minister". I wanted it that way. I wanted to be just another student. Just a grad in the writing program. I wanted to be something other than "that minister on TV".

Then one night I was "outed" by a woman student, a faculty member in journalism. She had suffered from a concussion recently and was trying to learn poetry again. She was loud and awkward. She believed everyone in the room wanted to hear her story every week. I was chatting with another student when she stated quite loudly, "You're the minister, aren't you?" Heads turned. Eyebrows raised.

"Yes," I replied. What else could I say? It was true. She preceded to tell me something about her "crackpot brother-in-law who was some kind of Pentacostalist" somewhere. Doreen, with whom I was conversing, turned to me. "Is that true?" Yes it was. I downplayed it. I thought if people knew I was a minister they would put me in a box, talk in strange whispers around me. I would be dismissed along with all the other religious figures they had already rejected for being irrelevant to meaningful discourse. Far better, I reasoned, that they see me as one of the crowd, one like them, one not burdened by the requirements of right belief and doctrine. Like Doreen, for example, who was no longer part of any church. She believed it too divorced from the environment, the natural world, too interested in power and domination.

I don't recall whether Kevin was in the room that night or not. I do recall that on the last night of class, at a local coffee shop, we read poetry to each other and to the one or two patrons who sat around small round tables. Kevin approached me. He was wearing his kilt, his hair in a ponytail. "Is it true that you went to the G.T.U.?" The Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. I earned my graduate degree in Theology there. "Yes," I responded. He sat down.

"I am thinking about applying to P.L.T.S. in the fall. What do you think?" P.L.T.S. is the Lutheran seminary at the G.T.U.

"Its great," I said. We talked about Berkeley. We talked about call. I wished him well.

A couple of weeks later at the end of Multicultural Studies a classmate approached me. "I understand you know everything about the Bible." She was having trouble with the story of Laban, Jacob, Leah, and Rachel. She wanted a resource. A week after that I rode with Doreen north to Litchfeild, Nebraska to judge a high school poetry contest. On the way we talked about school. On the way back we talked about whether religion could be relevant to her life.

You're the minister, aren't you? I guess so.

Here's to the Weekend

More snow. Sick of snow.

Here is a poem for Friday and then the weekend off. Have a good weekend and thanks for reading my blog. It must be working, I have not yet gone crazy. (I think)

Becoming

If you will stay close to nature,

to its simplicity, to the small things hardly

noticeable, those things can unexpectedly

become great and immeasurable. Rainer Rilke

See

the suckling bee

caressing, seducing

trumpet blossoms.

Feel

wounds

raw, moist,

scraped upon

a child's twisted cheek

pressed against the breast.

Capturing

The Truth

requires more net

than we can carry.

Become

the crippled cricket

strumming his truth

within quivers of grass.

Lenten Quiz- Wilderness Edition

As we begin the journey of Lent we feature a quiz designed to test your knowledge of the Biblical wilderness.

Which of the following is a biblical account of a wilderness experience?

A Abraham goes to Wal-Mart for milk and when he is at the milk case he remembers the cat food.

B After Moses receives the ten commandments he and the Israelites spend years in the wilderness.

C Noah’s basement floods and he has to spend six weeks with his in-laws

D Bugs Bunny wanders for years after making a wrong turn at Albuquerque.

Following his baptism, Jesus goes to the wilderness where he is tempted by

A advertisements for the snuggie airing at 2 a.m.

B a double cheeseburger on the dollar menu

C Satan

D All of the above

While in the wilderness, the people sin by crafting a

A Golden Calf

B Golden Thigh

C one act play about Moses which makes him look like a dictator

D eleventh commandment entitling corporations to make unlimited donations in prophet elections.

Which of the following is not a temptation Jesus endured in the wilderness

A To turn stone into bread

B To cast himself down from the temple

C To rule an earthly kingdom

D To sleep in on Sundays

Which of the following is a complaint lodged by the people while in the wilderness

A it was too hot/cold in the wilderness

B The color of the sand did not match the color of the rocks

C There was someone sitting on their rock

D They were hungry and thirsty.

Answers: B, C, A, D, D

Are You Saved?

Our local paper ran a story last Saturday about a Presbyterian Survey indicating that a goodly number of Presbyterians do not believe Jesus is the only path to salvation. It was a wire story and, although I have been in this town at a Presbyterian Church for more than a decade, no one at the newspaper thought to call up and get a local angle. No matter. That’s what blogs are for.

When I taught freshman English I tried to impress upon the young students that our world was full of concepts. That meant their world was full of concepts. A concept is an idea, a word that is largely empty until we pour meaning into it. Words like “patriotism”, “freedom”, and “beauty”. Beauty, they say, is in the eye of the beholder. But so is patriotism, freedom, and, for our purposes here, salvation.

What does it mean to be “saved”? Does salvation mean going to heaven when we die? Does salvation mean having a certain quality of life here and now? Both? Neither?

Salvation is a concept. Its definition varies according to the interpretation given it by any interested party. Certain churches have an interest in telling others that only a belief in Jesus will lead to salvation. In this case it is heaven or hell. Other churches have an interest in telling others that there are many ways to God. There is pretty much everything in between.

A Christian understanding of salvation, if it is to avoid the arena of pure speculation, must be grounded in some Biblical understanding. Churches intent on building a high fence around Jesus turn to texts like John 14:6 “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one come to the Father, but by me.” Or Peter’s confession from the Acts of the Apostles wherein he states that there is “no other name by which people can be saved.”

But there are other witnesses. Consider Luke’s story of Jesus and Zacchaeus. After Jesus goes to Zacchaeus’ house Zacky announces that he will give half of his wealth to the poor and pay back four fold anyone he has defrauded. Jesus announces “salvation has come to this house.”

Now, because scripture can mean pretty much whatever we want, one can argue that Jesus was announcing that Zacchaeus had accepted Jesus as his savior and would go to heaven when he died. But it seems more in keeping with the events of the text to suggest that Zacchaeus’ salvation happened in the moment for the moment and beyond. In other words, Zacchaeus adopted a different lifestyle, one keeping with the principles of the Kingdom of God. As such, he has begun living a different, “saved”, life now. His salvation is a quality of life rooted in justice, not the promise of an eternal heaven.

And there are the many who are healed of disease and affliction to whom Jesus says, “your faith has made you well (whole).” Or, “your faith has saved you.” Does this mean that when they die they go to heaven? Sure, why not. But doesn’t it also mean they are saved now, in that they are whole, well, complete?

But, again, these two things do not have to be mutually exclusive. The Bible is very clear that the saints live eternally with God. But the Bible also makes it clear that God is very interested in the quality of life we have now, and that this quality of life not only encompasses our salvation, but contributes to the furtherance of the Kingdom of God Jesus came to proclaim.

So back to our original point—are there other paths to salvation? If salvation is understood as a trip to heaven by faith in Christ, then no, by definition there can be only one answer. But if salvation is understood as a quality of life in the present which represents the principles of the Kingdom of God, well that is a little more complicated.

I once rode from Albany, New York to Rochester, New York with a Muslim Iman. We were both on the board of directors for a community development credit union we were trying to start in a depressed area of Albany. During the four hour drive we talked about our faiths, what we had in common and what we had as differences. We shared a common concern for the poor and we held each other in equal respect. At the end of the journey we agreed that we did not know about the other’s final disposition, but that when we got to where we were going we would put in a good word for each other.

Which brings me to my final point. What, in the end, is our motivation for talking about salvation? What is it that is finally important? It seems to me that what is finally important is the quality of human relationships. People are more important than concepts. If exclusive Christian ideas of salvation are used as a wedge to drive people apart, I cannot see them as consistent with Jesus ministry in the Kingdom of God. If exclusive claims of Christian salvation are only motivated by one’s own fear and insecurity, then such claims need to be freed by the grace and love of God.

Do I believe there are other paths to salvation? I honestly do not know. I do know that my salvation is secured in the love of God in Jesus Christ, and that salvation means my life now is a joyous celebration and my purpose is witnessing to the Kingdom of God. Does that mean only Christians can live and work in ways consistent with Jesus’ ministry? By mere observation, obviously not. Are these non-Christians living such lives saved? God alone knows. By the standard of Zacchaeus they certainly seem that way. Am I obligated to share my faith with them? Yes, if it is relevant. Am I to love them regardless? Of course. Am I one of these spurious Presbyterians who think “there are other paths to salvation?” I wonder......

PC(USA) - Presbyterian News Service - Food for thought

PC(USA) - Presbyterian News Service - Food for thought

Should We Fear God?

Each of us is afraid of something. I am afraid of heights. A few summers ago we roofed our old house and I was unable to go up and help. Maybe its more a fear of ladders. Or, maybe I am just afraid of hard work. In any event, it was very useful to have this fear a few summers ago.

Fear can be very helpful. The zebra who is not afraid of the lion is called lunch. Fear is entirely normal. It is perfectly understandable to experience fear between the medical tests and learning the results of medical tests. It is a scary world, to be sure. There seems to be a lot these days to be afraid of.

But should we be afraid of God? This is the question I have been pondering after driving by one of our local churches whose sign exclaimed “those who fear God do not have to fear anything else.” Now I am certain that this expression was meant as a comfort and with the best intentions and I am not quarrelling with the church. But the statement raises an interesting theological question and, I think, an important one. Should we fear God? Does God expect us to fear him? If so, what are the consequences of not fearing God? If we are not to fear God, what are the alternatives?

As always, the place to take such questions is the Bible. And not just bits of the bible, but as much of the Bible as we can manage. There are an abundance of choices for this subject from the Old Testament but I was drawn to a very familiar statement which is really at the heart of Old Testament wisdom literature. Proverbs 1: the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

What does the proverb mean by “fear the Lord”? In the Old Testament this word, like many words, can mean one thing in one place and something different in another place. But by and large when the Old Testament talks about fear of the Lord—and nearly four-fifths of all references to fear in the Old Testament have God as the object—it means a combination of fear and awe, or reverence. To the Hebrew mind, God is awesome, mysterious. One cannot look upon God and live. The God of Isaac is referred to in various places as “the fear of Isaac”.

Which is not to say that the common understanding of fear is not also present. There are many references which mean pretty much to be afraid. The psalms are full of references to the this fear of the Lord as being a very healthy response.

And certainly in the Old Testament there is a lot to fear. Adam and Eve were fearful of God after they disobeyed and they had reason to, as they were cast out of paradise and saddled with painful punishments. God was angered by the behavior of human beings and sent a flood to wipe them out. Moses feared God after discovering that the people had molded a golden calf and the result of that episode was a great plague which God sent to the people on account of their sin. Throughout the narratives of Israel first in the time of the Judges through the story of the Kings God is constantly delivering Israel into the hands of their enemies because of this or that transgression. No wonder wisdom says to begin with fear of the Lord.

And clearly these ideas are still with us to this day. Whenever tragedy strikes, like the earthquake in Haiti, there will be people like Pat Robertson who see the vengeful hand of God. Robertson and the late Jerry Falwell raised a stir after 9/11 calling in God’s judgment on America. Behind such statements is clearly the theology that says that God is ever ready to do us harm if we are not doing exactly what God demands we do.

But how can this view be contemplated by anyone who has the Gospel implanted in his/her heart? And to be fair to the Old Testament, there are abundant passages of grace. God forgives, redeems, comforts, even regrets. It is in that light that the New Testament illumines the Old, or, that the Old Testament emerges into the New. But the place to start in the New Testament is, or course, with Jesus.

Or just before Jesus. Luke begins his nativity story with John the Baptist’s dad Zechariah. When Zechariah first heard that he and Elizabeth were going to have a son he was afraid. When Mary was visited by the angel she was perplexed. When the shepherds encountered the angels they were sore afraid. And in each instance the message was the same. Do not be afraid.

Throughout the Gospel narratives there are people in fear. There is the woman with the flow of blood who touches Jesus’ hem and is healed. She is afraid of Jesus but Jesus tells her that her faith has healed her. The leader of the synagogue whose child is dying is told “Do not fear, only believe” and his daughter is healed. The disciples see Jesus walking across the water and they are afraid and Jesus says, “Do not be afraid, it is I”.

Now there is one passage where Jesus says “I will warn you who to fear: fear him who has the authority to cast into hell.” (Luke 12:4-34) From this it would appear that Jesus is advocating a healthy fear of God. And yet when we look more closely at the context, Jesus is really contrasting this fear with the present earthly fear of authorities who have the power to kill indiscriminately. Further, Jesus says only two lines later: “Do not be afraid, you are of more value than many sparrows.”

In other words, Jesus is speaking rhetorically. Rather than fearing human authority, if you are going to fear someone, fear God, because only God is in control of your eternal destiny. Why waste your time being afraid of anything lesser than God? And here is where the church sign cozies up to the scripture. But Jesus quickly adds something which changes the complexion of this idea completely. If we fear anything it should be God, but we should not fear God because God places a great value on us. Jesus then goes on to caution against worry, talks about the ravens and the lilies of the field and culminates with the passage: Fear not little flock, for it is your father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

So we return to the question with which we began: Are we meant to fear God? Well certainly if “fear” is understood as a reverential awe, as an acknowledgement of the mystery and autonomy that is God, then surely this is a good disposition to hold. Yet I knew a man once who, thankfully, had no children, who gave me some parenting advice. He looked at me at said, “Pastor, you and I both know what it takes to be a parent—you have to give ‘em fear!” Apparently he was disturbed by the fact that the kids next door were a bit exuberant and he thought if they carried with them the fear of a good beating they might be less annoying.

Now if this is how we are to understand the fear of God then I think the New Testament witness discourages this. Now I don’t want to get sidetracked into debates about parenting and punishment and consequences etc because that is not really my point. My point is that Jesus exclusively tells people that God is not to be feared as the deliverer of punishment, he is to be loved and followed for he has in his grace given us the Kingdom of God.

The earliest New Testament witness to this is the Apostle Paul who writes frequently about this, especially in the letter to the Romans. Although Paul, being a human being, is not entirely consistent in his theology, he does amplify the point that in Christ we have been set free from the judgment of the law by the grace of God. And, being free from the burden of perfection under the law, we are free to respond in grace to the needs of the world. Can he put it more eloquently than he does in Romans 8 when he writes “nothing in life or in death can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”?

That seems pretty comprehensive—nothing in life or in death. And yet how often do we hear of the conditional love of God, which is why this topic is important.

Fear, properly understood, has its place. It protects the Zebra from being lunch and it protects us from wandering into a busy street without paying attention. Fear, properly understood, puts us in a good orientation to God as one who is majestic and awesome and yet personal to us in Christ. Fear, not properly used or managed, is a bad thing when it is used as a tool of manipulation by governments or churches or any other organization.

So fear not, little flock, for it is the Father’s good pleasure to give us the kingdom. It is for this reason, and not out of fear, that when something goes wrong in the kingdom we rush to aid and support as we did in Haiti or we did in the gulf coast when hurricanes strike, or anywhere else locally or globally where people are in distress. This is our Father’s world and we are meant to tend it, build it, maintain justice within it. We do this not out of fear of condemnation but out of the joy of life in Jesus Christ. Remember, God sent his only son not to condemn the world, but so the world might be saved through him. Fear not.

Now, having said that, I am still not going up on the roof.

Confession

So the other day I posted this very self-righteous post about how I wasn't going to do any sermon prep for Sunday because "if I can't talk about the love of God for ten minutes without writing it down I should open a bookstore in Vermont and grow a long beard"

But I am a writer and I cannot help myself. So I admit it. I wrote it down. And here it is. I hope you enjoy it. Now excuse me while I pack for Vermont and, no, I don't need my razor.

Love, Gospel Style

John 21, 1 John

Paul said that Faith, Hope, and Love abide, these three. He wasn’t speaking specifically about the Bible but he might well have been. His words are a very good summary of the Bible. The Bible speaks throughout of faith, hope and love but clearly the greatest of these is love.

Love permeates the pages of the text. Yes, I know, you can find a healthy dose of violence and betrayal and dysfunction as well. For what, ultimately, is profound about the love of God if not the sin it overcomes? From the dawn of creation to the promise of the New Jerusalem, the love of God directs the reader from death into life.

The psalms are full of love. The Song of Solomon is full of love but we can’t read any of that until after 8 at night. Proverbs speak of love. Isaiah and Jeremiah talk of the love God has for the people even after they have broken the covenant and of how that love will re-establish a newer, better covenant.

And, of course, that newer covenant is the covenant we speak of as being sealed in Jesus’ blood. The New Covenant we also call the New Testament. Paul is all over love as we have mentioned already. Jesus obviously speaks of love. But there is no writer in the New Testament who prioritizes love as much as the one we know of as John. John’s gospel---and the three letters which bear his name---make love the center of all things. For John, clearly, the greatest of things is love.

And when speaking of John’s use of love it is always important to remind ourselves what he means by this. The word, as you have heard in many places and ways, is agape. Agape is a special kind of love. Agape is a love that prioritizes the well being of the Other. It is not a feeling, although it may generate feelings. It is not private, like love two people would hold exclusively for each other. It is a way of life. It is the way that Jesus is when he says he is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. His way is love because God’s way is love and Jesus is, after all, according to John, the love of God incarnate.

God is love, John says, and those who abide in God abide in love. But John places the emphasis of this love, not in word or speech but in action. Jesus, being the prime example, demonstrated love by his laying down of his life for the world. Agape is this kind of active love. As the writer Fred Buechner pointed out, to love someone in this way does not mean you have to like them. It means you have what is best for them at heart in what you do and say.

This is the new commandment of which Jesus speaks to his community on the eve of his execution. A new commandment I give you. That you love one another. In this way the world will know that you are my disciples, that you love one another as I have loved you. This commandment is not about affection. It is about attitude. To love one another in the community is to set the needs and desires of others along side our own. To love one another in the community is to understand that we are different and have different interests and tastes. To love one another in the community is to be aware of the ways in which we can honor one another and demonstrate the value we have for one another rather than simply taking what we can get for ourselves.

John’s Gospel ends twice. The first ending comes at the end of chapter 20. Chapter 21 comes later and is added on to bring John’s understanding of love into a new awareness. Whereas the original Gospel centered around the immediate community of Jesus, as distinct from the forms of Judaism which rejected that community, chapter 21 draws our attention to the needs of leadership in the community as it continues to develop. The back and forth with Jesus and Peter suggests to us that the community may have become a bit too much inward looking. The first step is learning to love each other in the community of Jesus. But John 21 wants us to know that this is not the end… it is the means to a larger end. To feed Jesus’ sheep. And who are Jesus’ sheep? All who hear his voice, whether they are part of “our” crowd or not.

So John presents us with a total picture of Love, Gospel style. First, God is love. God’s love for us is first and it is unconditional. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son. As God loved us, we should love one another. The community that bears Jesus’ name must show the world that God’s love is real by the way in which they love one another. How crucial this is—that we learn how to value and respect each other and are willing to place another’s needs ahead of our own. What an inviting community that would be to those burdened and disgusted with the “me first” society. And finally, after having received God’s love and shared it within the community, we take it out to the world and share it with the sheep of Jesus’ fold. Feed my sheep, Jesus told Peter, if you love me.

On Valentine’s day it is customary to give some sign of one’s affection—a card, flowers, candy. Do we dare think of this table in that way? A sacrament is a visible sign of grace. At the table we share with Jesus and with one another that covenant of agape love which is the basis of the community. Does it cheapen the moment to think of this table as God’s "valentine"-- love made visible, tangible? For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son. Jesus so loved his own that he gave his own life. We so love one another that we give the body and blood of Jesus to one another in remembrance not only of him, but of his love. Amen.

Special Guest Post- Morbid Society

I received the following eloquent response to my earlier post "Should I Be Worried?" and wanted to be sure it was seen. So I have received permission from its author, Shirley in California, to post it here.

I'm in a somewhat advanced state of chronological enhancement. I have no children (who don't have four feet and fur) much less grandchildren (the "children" mentioned above are all "fixed"). Also, I was never really a child, proceeding directly from infancy to adulthood, or so it seems to my current memory.

My point? I am so far out of the loop I can’t claim any hands-on knowledge of why morbidity is so attractive to the young. However, I have a supposition or two of what might spawn such an attraction. For instance, it could be for its exotic pseudo-romanticism and its shock value to adults. When I think in this context of the effect on young men who read Goethe's "Werther" when it was first published, I am a bit frightened. In trying to find the connection between my own early fantasy life (escape from dull powerlessness under parental authority into adventurous autonomy) and the current vogue, I find a more distinct difference in method of than in desire for escape.

Example: I play at collecting dolls. I think it is a good indicator of the temper of the times that there are dolls out there such as "Agnes Dreary", her brother "Viktor Dreary" and the older "Sister Dreary", one model of which is called “Watching the Garden Die”; there is a whole group of strange and violent looking dolls in "The Sinister Circus"(16"-18") line; a goth couple, but named Romeo & Juliet, with respectively a bottle of poison and a dagger in their hands; and there are the very glamorous Fashion Zombies. This sort of doll is relatively expensive running between $125-$250 costumed so they are for adults, I think. Why is violence so popular?

Example: Several young people in the San Jose area have committed suicide in this last year by various methods, including walking in front of light rail commuter trains.

Questions: Could the truly grotesque state of world affairs have something to do with this attraction to morbidity? Are we in some sort of vortex pulling us down toward the worst that’s in us? I do think the use of the words “The Fall” is not accidental. Every terrible thing that happens is immediately broadcast through an amazing diversity of media for us to see, hear and know. Young people are already by virtue of innocence rampant on a field of hormones in the throes of some exaggerated emotion or other all the time. With a depressive reality out there how does that affect them and how does morbidity make it better? Is it making fun of evil? If they laugh it can’t hurt them? Are they jaded or fatalistic? With the way things are, I often have real trouble keeping upbeat even with a strong faith that no matter how it looks, God is handling things. How must it be to be young now?

To tell it truly, I’m grateful that I am at this end of my life. I find myself not at all upset with the idea that though it appears the bad guys will be way ahead when the final quarter starts, I won't be on the bench much less the field, having been sent to the showers long since, and probably will watch the last of the game from the comfort of the skybox.

Conclusion: Being basically a worrywart, I do think there is reason to worry…about the young, especially—yes, but in deed about all of us in this off-the-rails country. Where do we as Christians stand on all this? Isn’t the message of morbidity that death is great and death wins? Do we believe that? There’s so much noise about pro-life on the one-track abortion issue. Where is pro-life when we are bombing the crap out of so many people in so many places? Jesus was so pro-life he let them kill him to save the lives of everyone forever. Where are we Christians on that?

Valentine's Poem

It isn't exactly traditional, but here is a poem for Valentine's Day (more or less)

Does A Love Poem Need to Be About Love?

Or dusty smells

of ruptured leaves

The crackling

of thin tinder

Or salty mist

clashing with froth

Sand infernos

drawn back to their home

Or air trimmed thin

by the glacier's edge

Lichen surviving

in a range of centuries

Or the baby's cry

echoing through adolescence

Mirrored in a father's face

fading from importance.

And the Answer is.....

Recently I posted a piece about discovering Morbid Outlook Magazine and whether such a thing was a cause for concern. It was admittedly one of my more spontaneous pieces and I wasn't sure it had any traction so I asked readers to comment about whether I was making a mountain out of a goth mole hill.

I had one respondent tell me it was really all good fun and that was it.

So I can conclude that no, I should not worry about this.

Although, just to be sure, I think I will ask Witch Hazel.

Sermon Prep

This Sunday is Transfiguration Sunday. This Sunday, the one before the beginning of Lent, is set aside to read from the Gospel story of Jesus on the mountain top appearing with Moses and Elijah and appearing to the disciples in translucent white.

I, however, have sold out to popular culture and am preaching about love for Valentine’s Day. I realize that I risk alienating my congregants who eagerly look forward to the annual reflection on Transfiguration, but I am willing to take that risk.

This is partly due to a tradition we have had for a number of years to supply Mylar balloons for Valentine’s Day as a fund-raiser for the North Platte Rape and Domestic Violence prevention program. It is not that often that Valentine’s Day lands on a Sunday so it seemed that it would be a good convergence.

But what I am thinking about this morning is what we religious professionals call “Sermon Preparation”. I seem to remember back in seminary we were told that a good preacher will spend 35 hours a week in prep, or three hours for every minute preached, or something like that. Now this makes sense when you have just graduated from seminary and feel compelled to include everything you ever learned into your first sermon. I have re-read some of my sermons from the early days and they are heavy enough to hold down a tarp on a windy day.

And preparation is still important, especially when dealing with complicated areas either biblically or worldly. I am not disrespecting prep as such.

But this week I have a new approach to sermon prep. I am not doing any. None. Nothing. Why so daring? Because my topic is the Love of God. 1 John to be specific, with a little John 21 thrown in for good measure. And, frankly, if, after nearly 20 years in ministry, I cannot talk to someone about the Love of God for ten minutes without writing something down I might as well open a used bookstore in Vermont and grow a really long beard.

And when I say none, of course I mean a little. But the point is that we preachers can risk being so intent on looking up what everyone else thinks about a text that we fail to truly discover what we think of it. Truthfully the best sermon prep, from the perspective of 20 years of preaching, is simply to be fully alive to both the world around and the world within and bring that aliveness to the scripture. Over the years the preacher learns to trust that the questions, doubts, fears, and affirmations of his/her own journey are the richest vein to mine. Hopefully all of that study over the years should pay off at some point.

The temptation to divert the responsibility of authentic scriptural encounter is shared equally by preacher and listener. The preacher may lean too heavily upon the commentaries but the listener leans too heavily on the preacher. There are those who express their frustration that I do not “tell them what to believe”. But they do not really mean this. What they are really saying is “please validate my existing world view so I do not have to go through the difficult process of integrating ambiguity and mystery into my engagement with the world”. Perhaps more people would come to worship if I did rain down upon them the appropriate mix of judgment and confirmation, making it easy for them to sit there and passively receive. But that is not my calling.

So this Sunday no carefully poured over manuscript. Still, just to be safe, I think I will write one or two talking points on my hand.

How Worried Should I Be?

So I'm in the bookstore looking at fiction for pre-teen, early teen girls and there is this large assortment of vampire offerings. Ok, nothing new. Until I see this particular book with a certain critical blurb on the cover which catches my eye....

"with a heroine any goth girl can identify with"

Morbid Outlook Magazine

Morbid Outlook Magazine? Really?

They have a website, although it appears to be on haitus. Still, lots of information.....

My issue is not "the Goth lifestyle" as such. Or even the interesting "Ask Witch Hazel" segment. I understand that there are many means of self-expression. My issue is the word morbid. Morbid is defined by the OED as principally related to disease and lack of health. But the second definition needs to be seriously considered. "of mental conditions, ideas, unwholesome, sickly, chiefly applied to unreasonable feelings of gloom, apprehension, or suspicion. Hence of persons: Addicted to morbid feelings or fancies"

As the parent of a nearly teen girl, I am not sure I want such an outlook represented as an endorsement to read a book. Or buy a book. Or do anything at all. I try to be openminded, but would prefer we not actively market unreasonable gloom and mental unwholesomeness to our young people. I will concede that there are many paths to wholeness. Morbidity, I feel, does not qualify. It is not a path. It is a dead end.

What do you think?

Report from the Me First Aid Party Convention

Daytona Beach, FL (AP)--Inspired by both the debate on health care and the emergence of the Tea Party movement, a group of independent Americans have gathered here in Daytona in advance of Sunday's running of the Daytona 500.

Calling themselves the "Me First Aid Party", organizers and participants have come from throughout the country to signal the beginning of what organizers are calling "a stand against medically trained doctors and the medical schools that produce them."

"The time has come," said spokesperson Billy Bahoo, "to declare to the medically trained elitists that we are not accepting anymore their pompous claims of superiority. We reject the notion that their so-called "education" gives them the right to Lord over us with their medical "knowledge". It is time for the common citizen to feel empowered to diagnose their own illnesses and, moreover, be free to treat them as WE SEE FIT!"

The Me First Aid movement first came to light as a response to the rising cost of health care and gained traction with other populist movements such as the Tea Party and the lesser known groups Citizens for Higher Education without Education and Ignorance is a First Amendment Right.

The Me First Aid platform, announced last Saturday at a gala Bar-B-Que, insists on acknowledging that education, specialization, and training are unnecessary tools of the ruling elite designed to hinder the advance of ordinary citizens. In his keynote address, Bahoo repeatedly charged those in attendance to "flaunt your ignorance in the streets! Treat open wounds, perform surgical procedures, and diagnose long standing illnesses while possessing absolutely no medical knowledge! Only then can we take back health care and this great country!

The convention is scheduled to conclude Sunday

Romance, Love, and Sex in Micro organisms

Just in time for Valentine's Day... a story so touching I defy you to read it without a box of tissue. It is the profound story of the ciliates and of how sexual relations changes them... forever. It is a lesson mammals would do well to learn.

Here is the story

While doing a bit of research on Valentine's Day I discovered something I had not previously known. Apparently the skull of St. Valentine is available for public viewing in the church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin in Rome. Is it "be my valentine" or "trick or treat"? How do we know this is really Valentine's skull? Why its labeled, silly.

Winter's Carol

Christ is born!

His small body

wrapped in linen

old newspaper

laid in the tomb

under the stairs

Reading Recommendation

If you haven't read "The Sneetches" by Dr. Seuss lately I would recommend it. It is a powerful parable of our times.

McMonkey McBean is alive and well and might even run for president.

55 word story

My friend 5th sister's blog spoke of a challenge to produce a 55 word story. Although I cannot claim to match the lyrical quality of her offering, I thought it might be fun to try. So here is my effort, admittedly written without a lot of effort.

The steam from my mocha rose like incense as I stared into her eyes. They were moist, like the underside of a rock on a mossy plain. I knew what was behind those rocky, wet, eyes. She had come to say no. No to my future. No to my happiness. No to my encyclopedia set.

Lazarus

I cried,

Jesus!

If you had been here

my church would not have died.

Jesus cried,

Lazarus!

Unbind them

and let them go.

To Be Fair....

My article on Men's Advent Breakfast has generated a certain buzz. Mostly the response has been that the piece was both funny and sad. When I wrote it I was going for the funny, but I did feel the sadness that spiritual events don't seem to take off in my church--be it the breakfast or Labyrinth walks and the like. Perhaps that says as much about my leadership as anything.

But in fairness the First Church of North Platte is engaged in very significant ministries. For many years we have operated a food pantry and at the last year end report we had 85 volunteers working for the pantry including a sizable number from other churches and organizations in the community. North Platte's homeless organization has been trying to raise money for a new shelter and the FPCNP'ers contributed in excess of ten-thousand dollars. The congregation is always very generous in supporting Presbyterian Disaster Assistance and Church World Service.

Many individual members volunteer for organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, the Red Cross, and other services for the poor.

Overall they are a generous bunch who do try to work for the children of God.

They just don't seem to be interested in breakfast.

Mission- No doubt due to my wife's leadership. Perhaps she should do the cooking too.

Just a Question

The well has run dry a bit (or is it the tank after flushing? Not sure...) Anyway, can't really think of anything bloggable but I do have a question prompted by a conversation last night at a church social gathering. It is about Avatar

Now Avatar is not worth writing about. I have seen it, and it appears to be one dimensional characters on a freight train toward an inevitable ending. Not exactly the stuff of literature. It is, however, a technological marvel.

It has been written about, protested... I lose track and don't really care. My question is a lot more specific, and maybe even my question is not worthy of thought.

Last night someone told me that "a minister in Lincoln says to not watch it!" What??? Let me get this straight. Fictional aliens living on a fictional world in a fictional part of the universe in 3D aren't Christians? And we are supposed to have a problem with this? If I told my flock not to see the film because they would be led away by druid nature worship I should resign immediately because obviously I am not providing any substance by which they could withstand such an onslaught of propaganda.

Good heavens. Read what you want--watch what you want-- I guess all I ask is that you think about what you watch.

Feel free to advise me on this.....

About the Poetry

I am posting poems now and again and to date they are all mine. Many of them come from a graduate degree thesis I completed last year. Some of them are newer than that. I really haven't mastered the art of the happy poem yet, but there are some that are pretty silly. The following is a very poor sonnet from a technical standpoint but I enjoy the text because it is pretty much true.

Haunted By Sonnets

I wake up at night counting syllables.

The rational mind resists the prompts of

a neglected heart. If I am able

I arise to the siren's call of love.

Sir Phillip Sydney, Sir Walter Raleigh

mock me across centuries of verse.

As the dawn breaks through the trees I rally

to fine a voice more lilting, less a curse.

Perhaps those lips that love's own hand did make

No wait! It's not stealing, just to borrow...

One short line! I need the help for God's sake!

Capped pen, blackened page, hope in tomorrow.

For try as I might, using every trick

The lines I create are not iambic.