I'm done a little early with my sermon draft today because it is closing night for Aida. So I have to get ready and go soon and won't be home until late. I'm also hoping to take a picture of my in my costume tonight to post on the blog. And I know I have been lax in posting lately, but don't give up on me, I'm sure I still have a lot to say, i'm just going through a bit of a dry spell and a particularly busy time. I know you don't believe me on the busy part but it is true. Anyway here is the draft of tomorrow's sermon. I gave it a title with I don't normally do. It is called Chotchkes or Cairns. Enjoy.
Think for a moment about the vacations you have taken in your life, the places you have gone. Places you have visited with family, friends, or even just by yourself. The locations might be far off and exotic or close and familiar. You may have traveled to another state to spend time with relatives or you may have traveled to another country to experience something beautiful or historic. As you think about these trips think about a souvenir that you bought or picked up while you were traveling. You may have paid a lot for it or you may have gotten it for free. It may be a piece of furniture or a postcard, an item of clothing or a collectable, a book or a baseball. (Moment to think.) Now I’d invite anyone to share what that souvenir is.
We bring back souvenirs to remember our travels, to remember these special vacations. They serve as reminders of these moments in our lives. I love being a tourist. I love to travel. I haven’t done nearly enough of it, but I love visiting new places. Trying new things. And I want to see it all. I remember a Designing Women episode where Julia and Suzanne were going to Japan because Suzanne was going to buy a car. And on the airplane Julia remarked that she wanted to see the real Japan. To which Suzanne responded, “As for seeing the “Real Japan”, I’ve noticed that whenever people start talking about seeing the “real” anything, what they’re talking about basically, is hanging around with poor people. Now I say, I don’t hang around with poor people at home, why should I do it on vacation?” I am with Julia essentially, that I want to experience the “real” wherever I am going. I don’t need to take a bus tour or walk up to the top of the statue of liberty. But I do want to have a pint in a British pub or eat a slice in a pizza parlor that only the locals know about. I also want to somewhat blend in. That mean’s no fanny packs or I “heart” new york t-shirts, no garish American university sweatshirts in the middle of Paris, and no loud boisterous talking. I essentially want to be a tourist without looking like a tourist.
And one of the things I really love doing is visiting old churches, cathedrals and the like. Drop me in the middle of Westminster Abbey or St. Paul’s Cathedral and I will be happy as a clam. Diana Butler Bass, the author of Christianity for the Rest of Us, the book that you all read during my Sabbatical, writes this in one of her early books, From Nomads to Pilgrims, “Not long ago, I was at Trinity Church, Wall Street, one of the oldest churches in the United States, and the church that sits right on the edge of the site of the World Trade Center. Since 2001 the congregation has seen more than two million visitors a year pass through its historic doors. The clergy and I were talking about the spiritual tourists… “I’ve got tourists galore,” sighed the Reverend Dr. Jim Cooper, Trinity’s senior clergyperson. “They come in droves. But I don’t want them to leave as tourists. I want them to become pilgrims. I want them to connect, to know that there is something more.”
I’ve been thinking about this idea of pilgrims and more specifically pilgrimage a lot lately. Specifically since I returned from my Sabbatical and my trip to Iona. I haven’t been able to get the idea out of my head. The past three weeks I’ve been preaching on the ideas that you all had for names for our congregation. Today I want to add another phrase to our ideas—not because we need yet another name to decide between, but instead because I think it adds to what I believe is as the very heart of our purpose as a congregation. This idea of pilgrims and pilgrimage.
It is very easy to come to church and to worship as tourists. I’d say this is the way most people show up every day. The idea is that I’ll step out of my routine and see something different. I may take pictures. I may engage in some of the activities of the locals. I may eat some of the local cuisine, eat their bread and drink their wine. But I won’t engage fully. And my intention is to leave much the same as I began. Yes I’d like to hear good music and nice words, but I don’t want to be changed in any way.
But pilgrimage is something different. The intention of the pilgrimage is to be changed. To leave different than you came. And pilgrims connect. Tourists don’t connect with fellow tourists. Often, like me, tourists don’t even want to see other tourists. My friend Tracy who lived in England for a year tells a story about being homesick and getting excited when she would meet a fellow resident of the United States. But the feeling was not always mutual. Usually the person who she met was a little disappointed and put out—they did not fly all the way across the ocean to meet someone from New Jersey. But pilgrims connect with the other pilgrims. Pilgrimage is by its very nature connectional, and not just connecting with the pilgrims that are on the present journey with you, but all the pilgrims who have traveled that way before. Millions of people have made the haj, the pilgrimage to Mecca, and will continue to make the haj. Thousands upon thousands have made the Iona pilgrimage that I made. Millions of people over the centuries have traveled to Iona on pilgrimage. They have come “seeking healing, inspiration, and new beginnings (Iona Abbey Worship Book, 2001).” Iona has long been considered a thin place where little separates the sacred from the earthly. And for many years every Tuesday pilgrims have met to journey across the Island of Iona, seeking to connect and to be changed. And as I traveled along the 7 miles around the Island there was a sense that this way had been traveled before. One just has to take a few steps to realize that the path has been worn by many pilgrims. A friend talks about walking the labyrinth at Chartre Cathedral, another famous place of pilgrimage, in France and so many people have walked the labyrinth that there are grooves in the stone floor of the cathedral. Then at one point the Iona pilgrimage brought us to Columba’s bay. Columba was the person who is believed to have first set up a monastery on Iona. He traveled from Ireland in a small leather boat, and supposedly landed at this particular bay. It was beautiful. A large grassy area that ends on a beach of stones. Supposedly Columba and the monks who came with him to Iona climbed up a hill in order to confirm that they could no longer see Ireland from Iona and when it was confirmed it also clearly marked their leaving behind of Ireland and embarking on a new beginning. We were invited to pick up two rocks one that we would leave behind symbolizing something that we wanted to leave behind and one that we would take with us symbolizing a new beginning. Many chose to toss their rock in the ocean and many chose to leave it in one of many piles or cairns that had been established already on the beach. Cairns are just that piles of rocks. But they are more than that. Cairns may have originated as burial mounds marking the end of a life. But they have also been used as path markers pointing other travelers on their way. And they reflect a long line of pilgrims as more and more pilgrims add stones to them. Pilgrimage is not about taking away a souvenir, it is about leaving something behind and embarking on a new beginning or continuing on a chosen path. It is about marking a path for future pilgrims, guiding them on their way.
The Bible is full of people on pilgrimage. The greatest story of pilgrimage we heard a part of today. The Isrealites were leaving behind the oppression of Egypt in search of a new beginning, a promised land. And in this section of the story we read today we see that they are traveling on a path that has been traveled before as well. God says to Moses to go ahead of the people with some of the other elders and that God would be waiting there for them. God was saying lead the way for the pilgrims that will come behind you. And out in front of them waiting on them was God. Through all the trials of their pilgrimage, God would be there waiting. Their pilgrimage was not easy and it lasted longer than they expected and it certainly wasn’t what they expected—but throughout it all God was there waiting.
Pilgrims go seeking to have an experience with the divine. They go seeking God. And by God’s grace they return changed. They return as new people—seeking to live life differently. My pilgrimage to Iona left me with a desire to live life differently. I felt a connection to the earth and creation like I have never felt before. We took a day trip to an Island where we were able to see puffins—puffins up very close as close to or closer than I am to all of you. And what we learned was that we were their protectors. Most often they stay in the water to protect themselves from their natural enemy, the seagull. But when humans are on the Island they are able to come up on land because we are there to keep the seagulls away. Most of the time I see humans as destroyers of creation instead of protectors but in this instance I saw how we fit into the web of creation. And that gave me the ability to see a trip to the beach in a different way. I decided on our last day on Iona that I wanted to go swimming—many others in our group had already been in but I hadn’t—so I took a hike out to what I had heard was a beautiful place to swim. I hiked out over the vast patch of grass passed cows and into this rock passage down to the beach. As I was walking through the passage I noticed a baby lamb had died. It didn’t look like it had been attacked but instead had just gone to die. When I got to the beach I was laying on my towel and a mother sheep and her lamb came up and were on the beach with me. And I wondered were they like me. Were they mourning the loss of the lamb I had passed, a son and a brother? Were we both experiencing a similar loss? Were they grieving the loss of a brother like I was grieving the loss of mine? Were they feeling as lost and unmoored as I was? In that moment we were all connected. We were no longer nomads but pilgrims. And I have come away with a desire to care even more for the world in which we live. To be more of its protector.
Pilgrimage calls us to live life differently. We don’t come back with souvenirs. If anything we leave something there. This is the purpose of church, of worship. At our best we invite people to come in, put down their cameras, learn the language, engage in our rituals, to leave behind that which is holding them down, that which causes them pain and suffering, that which causes them grief. We invite people to travel a path that has been traveled for thousands of years before and will be traveled with all hope for thousands of years to come. We invite people to connect with their fellow pilgrims. And to know that whatever occurs on our pilgrimage, whatever hurdle we face, God will be there going before us, traveling with us, and waiting on us. Let us invite people to not be tourists but pilgrims. Let us all leave here changed. Amen.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Tomorrow's sermon: REVISED
Here is tomorrow's sermon, although by the time you read it it may be today's sermon or yesterday's sermon. This the draft version that I'll revise tomorrow morning. And I'll revise it here before I preach it at 11 Pacific time. As is often the case it feels a little disjointed tonight, but hopefully it will come together tomorrow morning. Enjoy.
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. Those are the lines to probably the most famous of all Christian hymns. Most people are familiar with it whether they are Christians or not. And grace is probably the most important theological term for Protestant Christians. So it is not all that surprising that this is one of the three phrases you all chose when you thought about new names for the congregation. I could probably preach 100 different sermons on grace—as a matter of fact I probably have preached a 100 different sermons on grace in some shape or form, it being so much a part of our understanding of God’s relationship to the world.
Earlier this summer I had you all participate in an exercise. I asked you to think of a story that fit one of three difference situations. I don’t remember what the three situations were but I remember one was tell a story about a time when you got something you didn’t deserve. Gini told a story basically about cheating on a test or in a class and then getting an a or getting by—I don’t exactly remember the exact nature of the story. Gini do you remember what I am talking about, could you retell that story? Now Gini did exactly what I asked of her and of all of you. She told me a story about getting something she did not deserve. And when I asked that question in my mind I was thinking about the concept of grace. I was thinking about the amazing grace that saved a wretch like me. And that is a general notion of what grace is—getting something you didn’t deserve.
But here is the thing, as I’ve been thinking about grace this week, I’ve realized I have a real problem with that idea. I was talking with someone about grace and saying just that. And she said well alright what do you understand grace to be and I told her well what I’ve always thought is that we get God’s love and salvation in spite of ourselves simply by believing in and becoming a follower of Christ. Basically that we are wretched souls undeserving of God’s love but that God gives us love and salvation anyway.
And as I said, I have a real problem with this concept. For a few reasons. First lets take the wretched part. I can’t hold the idea that we are wretched, horrible fallen individuals along side the idea that I talked about two weeks ago that we are God’s beloved beautiful creation. We may do some pretty awful things but calling ourselves a wretch seems a little too much. It seems like we are a world of Eyeores. You know Eyeore from the Winnie the Pooh books and cartoons. Eyeore is the classic woe is me, don’t worry about me, I’m a nothing character. I’m unlovable but God loves me anyway. But I believe over and over throughout the Bible God is saying you are lovable, you are loved. And I believe that I have felt that overly abundant love throughout my life.
The second part I have a problem with is the there is nothing we can do to earn God’s grace. That is true, but as I said last week that has all too often been fudged a little bit. Remember, I talked about the fact that I was always told that there was nothing I had to do except accept Jesus as my savior, but then I was also given a list of dos and don’ts to keep me from going to hell. And in the end I think what I have a problem with is not the concept but instead the language. I don’t think we can use the word “earn” or “deserve.” And the reason I say that is that our whole western society is set up on this get what you earn ethic. The pull yourself up by your bootstrap mentality. We get what we work for. We love the stories of the self made millionaire or in our national election we love the former beauty queen become governor become vice presidential running mate or community organizer who was raised in a single family home in Chicago now presidential candidate. We love those stories because they say that anything is possible with enough effort and drive and ambition. Or there are the stories of people who don’t get what they deserve, they just get lucky. The person who wins the lottery, or the executive who sleeps his or her way to the top, or in Gini’s case the person who got a passing grade by cheating. They just got lucky. But the assumption with all of these cases is that something was done or not done to get what you want or something could have been done. We don’t earn God’s grace, we just get God’s grace. There are no winners or losers.
And I say that but in reality I think we do have to do something. I think we have to accept the gift of God’s grace, we have to choose to live in Grace. What do I mean by that? Well let’s go back to the wretched part. It is all I can do to remind myself that I am God’s beloved. As Stuart Smalley used to say on Saturday Night Live that I am good enough, smart enough and doggone it people like me. I have a much easier time believing that I am wretched and undeserving of God’s love. But the very nature of Grace is that we are deserving of God’s love, we are lovable. We just have to choose to live in that knowledge and that love. And we really have to choose grace, it is a choice. We have two options when we pull up our lives to the soul campground. We have two options of where to set up camp. We can pitch our tents in grace or in judgment. And all too often we set up camp in judgment. And the longer we stay in that camp, the more difficult it is to see grace.
The field hands had the choice of where to live. They all received the same wage. Those who worked all day got the same amount that those who worked only an hour got. Now we know how those who had worked all day responded. They were none too pleased. One moment they were grateful to have earned a days wage and the next moment they resented the landowner and felt that they had been jilted. They worked longer and harder they deserved more. They could have lived in the place of giftedness and grace, seeing the radical generosity of the landowner, paying those who had been chosen last the same as those who had been chosen first. But that is not the way the system worked. That is not the way our system works.
But what about the ones who had only worked a short period of time, how did they respond. I would suspect that they were not necessarily overjoyed either. I’m guessing they felt a little guilt and a little shame. It is difficult for most people to accept grace or generosity. Most people if paid a compliment will say “oh it was nothing.” Did the workers try and give the money back because they didn’t think they were worthy or deserving? We don’t really know. We also don’t know what happened the next day. I like to imagine that feeling this overwhelming gratitude they were the first to the fields the next day ready to put in a full days work and more.
But we don’t know do we. And in the end we don’t really understand grace, because it is so inexplicable. It is so unfair in terms of what we know in this world. We can’t earn it, we can’t lose it, we just get it. And when we live out of it, out of the place of grace, out of the place of giftedness, out of the place of generosity it makes us do some crazy things as well.
John Claypool, a famous preacher, who I think Cecil has known in a past Baptist life, tells this story:
“There is an old rabbinic parable about a farmer that had two sons. As soon as they were old enough to walk, he took them to the fields and he taught them everything that he knew about growing crops and raising animals. When he got too old to work, the two boys took over the chores of the farm and when the father died, they had found their working together so meaningful that they decided to keep their partnership. So each brother contributed what he could and during every harvest season, they would divide equally what they had corporately produced. Across the years the elder brother never married, stayed an old bachelor. The younger brother did marry and had eight wonderful children. Some years later when they were having a wonderful harvest, the old bachelor brother thought to himself one night, "My brother has ten mouths to feed. I only have one. He really needs more of his harvest than I do, but I know he is much too fair to renegotiate. I know what I'll do. In the dead of the night when he is already asleep, I'll take some of what I have put in my barn and I'll slip it over into his barn to help him feed his children.
At the very time he was thinking down that line, the younger brother was thinking to himself, "God has given me these wonderful children. My brother hasn't been so fortunate. He really needs more of this harvest for his old age than I do, but I know him. He's much too fair. He'll never renegotiate. I know what I'll do. In the dead of the night when he's asleep, I'll take some of what I've put in my barn and slip it over into his barn." And so one night when the moon was full, those two brothers came face to face, each on a mission of generosity. The old rabbi said that though there wasn't a cloud in the sky, a gentle rain began to fall. God was weeping for joy because two of his children had gotten the point. Two of his children had come to realize that generosity is the deepest characteristic of the holy and because we are made in God's image, our being generous is the secret to our joy as well. Life is not fair, thank God! It's not fair because it's rooted in grace.”
As the hymn we just sang says, there is a wideness in God’s mercy, but it would also be appropriate to sing there is a wildness to God’s mercy. It is wild that a father would go out searching for the one son like we saw in Gilead. It is wild that a shepherd would leave 99 sheep to look for one. It is wild that those who work one hour would receive the same wages as the ones who worked all day. It is wild that whether we love ourselves or not God loves us. But in the end that is God’s love, that is God’s gift to us, that is God’s grace.
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. Those are the lines to probably the most famous of all Christian hymns. Most people are familiar with it whether they are Christians or not. And grace is probably the most important theological term for Protestant Christians. So it is not all that surprising that this is one of the three phrases you all chose when you thought about new names for the congregation. I could probably preach 100 different sermons on grace—as a matter of fact I probably have preached a 100 different sermons on grace in some shape or form, it being so much a part of our understanding of God’s relationship to the world.
Earlier this summer I had you all participate in an exercise. I asked you to think of a story that fit one of three difference situations. I don’t remember what the three situations were but I remember one was tell a story about a time when you got something you didn’t deserve. Gini told a story basically about cheating on a test or in a class and then getting an a or getting by—I don’t exactly remember the exact nature of the story. Gini do you remember what I am talking about, could you retell that story? Now Gini did exactly what I asked of her and of all of you. She told me a story about getting something she did not deserve. And when I asked that question in my mind I was thinking about the concept of grace. I was thinking about the amazing grace that saved a wretch like me. And that is a general notion of what grace is—getting something you didn’t deserve.
But here is the thing, as I’ve been thinking about grace this week, I’ve realized I have a real problem with that idea. I was talking with someone about grace and saying just that. And she said well alright what do you understand grace to be and I told her well what I’ve always thought is that we get God’s love and salvation in spite of ourselves simply by believing in and becoming a follower of Christ. Basically that we are wretched souls undeserving of God’s love but that God gives us love and salvation anyway.
And as I said, I have a real problem with this concept. For a few reasons. First lets take the wretched part. I can’t hold the idea that we are wretched, horrible fallen individuals along side the idea that I talked about two weeks ago that we are God’s beloved beautiful creation. We may do some pretty awful things but calling ourselves a wretch seems a little too much. It seems like we are a world of Eyeores. You know Eyeore from the Winnie the Pooh books and cartoons. Eyeore is the classic woe is me, don’t worry about me, I’m a nothing character. I’m unlovable but God loves me anyway. But I believe over and over throughout the Bible God is saying you are lovable, you are loved. And I believe that I have felt that overly abundant love throughout my life.
The second part I have a problem with is the there is nothing we can do to earn God’s grace. That is true, but as I said last week that has all too often been fudged a little bit. Remember, I talked about the fact that I was always told that there was nothing I had to do except accept Jesus as my savior, but then I was also given a list of dos and don’ts to keep me from going to hell. And in the end I think what I have a problem with is not the concept but instead the language. I don’t think we can use the word “earn” or “deserve.” And the reason I say that is that our whole western society is set up on this get what you earn ethic. The pull yourself up by your bootstrap mentality. We get what we work for. We love the stories of the self made millionaire or in our national election we love the former beauty queen become governor become vice presidential running mate or community organizer who was raised in a single family home in Chicago now presidential candidate. We love those stories because they say that anything is possible with enough effort and drive and ambition. Or there are the stories of people who don’t get what they deserve, they just get lucky. The person who wins the lottery, or the executive who sleeps his or her way to the top, or in Gini’s case the person who got a passing grade by cheating. They just got lucky. But the assumption with all of these cases is that something was done or not done to get what you want or something could have been done. We don’t earn God’s grace, we just get God’s grace. There are no winners or losers.
And I say that but in reality I think we do have to do something. I think we have to accept the gift of God’s grace, we have to choose to live in Grace. What do I mean by that? Well let’s go back to the wretched part. It is all I can do to remind myself that I am God’s beloved. As Stuart Smalley used to say on Saturday Night Live that I am good enough, smart enough and doggone it people like me. I have a much easier time believing that I am wretched and undeserving of God’s love. But the very nature of Grace is that we are deserving of God’s love, we are lovable. We just have to choose to live in that knowledge and that love. And we really have to choose grace, it is a choice. We have two options when we pull up our lives to the soul campground. We have two options of where to set up camp. We can pitch our tents in grace or in judgment. And all too often we set up camp in judgment. And the longer we stay in that camp, the more difficult it is to see grace.
The field hands had the choice of where to live. They all received the same wage. Those who worked all day got the same amount that those who worked only an hour got. Now we know how those who had worked all day responded. They were none too pleased. One moment they were grateful to have earned a days wage and the next moment they resented the landowner and felt that they had been jilted. They worked longer and harder they deserved more. They could have lived in the place of giftedness and grace, seeing the radical generosity of the landowner, paying those who had been chosen last the same as those who had been chosen first. But that is not the way the system worked. That is not the way our system works.
But what about the ones who had only worked a short period of time, how did they respond. I would suspect that they were not necessarily overjoyed either. I’m guessing they felt a little guilt and a little shame. It is difficult for most people to accept grace or generosity. Most people if paid a compliment will say “oh it was nothing.” Did the workers try and give the money back because they didn’t think they were worthy or deserving? We don’t really know. We also don’t know what happened the next day. I like to imagine that feeling this overwhelming gratitude they were the first to the fields the next day ready to put in a full days work and more.
But we don’t know do we. And in the end we don’t really understand grace, because it is so inexplicable. It is so unfair in terms of what we know in this world. We can’t earn it, we can’t lose it, we just get it. And when we live out of it, out of the place of grace, out of the place of giftedness, out of the place of generosity it makes us do some crazy things as well.
John Claypool, a famous preacher, who I think Cecil has known in a past Baptist life, tells this story:
“There is an old rabbinic parable about a farmer that had two sons. As soon as they were old enough to walk, he took them to the fields and he taught them everything that he knew about growing crops and raising animals. When he got too old to work, the two boys took over the chores of the farm and when the father died, they had found their working together so meaningful that they decided to keep their partnership. So each brother contributed what he could and during every harvest season, they would divide equally what they had corporately produced. Across the years the elder brother never married, stayed an old bachelor. The younger brother did marry and had eight wonderful children. Some years later when they were having a wonderful harvest, the old bachelor brother thought to himself one night, "My brother has ten mouths to feed. I only have one. He really needs more of his harvest than I do, but I know he is much too fair to renegotiate. I know what I'll do. In the dead of the night when he is already asleep, I'll take some of what I have put in my barn and I'll slip it over into his barn to help him feed his children.
At the very time he was thinking down that line, the younger brother was thinking to himself, "God has given me these wonderful children. My brother hasn't been so fortunate. He really needs more of this harvest for his old age than I do, but I know him. He's much too fair. He'll never renegotiate. I know what I'll do. In the dead of the night when he's asleep, I'll take some of what I've put in my barn and slip it over into his barn." And so one night when the moon was full, those two brothers came face to face, each on a mission of generosity. The old rabbi said that though there wasn't a cloud in the sky, a gentle rain began to fall. God was weeping for joy because two of his children had gotten the point. Two of his children had come to realize that generosity is the deepest characteristic of the holy and because we are made in God's image, our being generous is the secret to our joy as well. Life is not fair, thank God! It's not fair because it's rooted in grace.”
As the hymn we just sang says, there is a wideness in God’s mercy, but it would also be appropriate to sing there is a wildness to God’s mercy. It is wild that a father would go out searching for the one son like we saw in Gilead. It is wild that a shepherd would leave 99 sheep to look for one. It is wild that those who work one hour would receive the same wages as the ones who worked all day. It is wild that whether we love ourselves or not God loves us. But in the end that is God’s love, that is God’s gift to us, that is God’s grace.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Ear Candles
So today is a talky blog. It is actually show and tell. You'll have to watch to find out what I'm talking about. Notice how obsessed I am with setting my house and my head on fire. Also notice that I keep slipping into this ridiculous southern accent. Not a real southern accent--it is what my friend Blythe calls my joke accent. I hope you enjoy.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Last Week's Sermon
Here is last week's sermon, September 7, 2008.
A few weeks ago we talked about the three phrases that you all had come up with while discussing the possibility of a new name for our congregation. And I asked you to tell me what was underneath, or what was the story that lay behind those three names. Why did you hold those up as exemplars of our life together? But I didn't say specifically what those potential names say to me. So for the next three weeks I want to do that. Next week I'll talk about spiritual journey and then the following week about grace. But today I want to give you my thoughts on the phrase "beloved community."
I don't think it was in regard to this phrase but one comment was "well you use that phrase a lot." I think it was the spiritual journey phrase. And that is true. I do say that a lot. I say it every week as a matter of fact at the beginning of our worship service. I, however, don't use the phrase beloved community all that often. Instead it is a concept that I think embodies more what I believe about myself and community than the specific language I use.
Martin Luther King Jr talked about the beloved community. He was speaking about the integration of blacks into society. You'll notice that I didn't say desegregation. I specifically said integration because that is what King saw as the end goal. Desegregation was merely a change in laws. It allowed blacks the ability to go to a school close to them instead of being bussed miles away. Desegregation allowed blacks to drink from the same water fountains as whites, sit in the same sections of the theater as whites, and ride in the front of the bus just like whites. But in the end it was a set of laws. It didn't always adjust attitudes. Integration was something different.
Integration didn't happen as a result in the change of laws but as a result in the change of heart. It was a realization that blacks were not only entitled to the same privileges as whites but that they were equal to whites. And for King that was not just a matter of citizenship but a matter of humanity. When he talked about integration he talked about the beloved community. A community where all were accepted because they were equal not just in the sight of the law but in the sight of God. A community where all were not just equal but all were human. A place where blacks were treated not as commodities, as hired hands, as pieces of property, but as humans. A place where all of humanity was valued and respected, not for what it could do but for who it was. The beloved community was a place where all were he's and she's not its. A community that recognized, as Paul said, all were created from one ancestor.
I talk about the beloved community because I believe it speaks to the welcoming and affirming movement just as it did to the other civil rights movements before it. Gays and lesbians have been told that they are less than, that they are not equal, that they are not created in God's image. The image of a deviant, a pedophile, an alcoholic, but certainly not an image of God. And we have been working for many years now in the welcoming and affirming movements to get that idea changed in the church. I was supposed to be in New Orleans this past week to talk about how we can continue to affect change in our denomination.
And I believe that is an important work. Just as I believe the work done to change the laws of desegregation were important. However, I have to say I'm not all that interested in the work for myself. I'm glad there are people who are called to that work-the work of changing denominational laws and rules. But I am called to something else. I am called to helping people change hearts. Because for me I am done asking someone to tell me that I am beloved. I don't need another person or institution to give me my sense of worth. Because I have a sense of worth that comes from somewhere else. A belovedness that was granted to me by God. I have received blessings from other humans but in my heart I know that I received a blessing from the Creator of my being. And I believe all of us have received that same blessing. We are all beloved whether the world believes it or not. And honestly whether we believe it or not.
I have a new favorite musical. It is called Title of Show. It just opened on Broadway this summer. It is about two guys trying to write a musical about two guys trying to write a musical. Got that? Anyway through out the show they are talking about the creative process. And there is one song called Die Vampire Die. The song talks about these vampires who try to suck the life out of the creative process, who try and tell us we aren't creative, we can't draw or we can't sing or we can't act or we can't whatever it is that we most love to do. But then there is this verse about the "mother of all vampires the vampire of despair. The vampire who will wake you up at 4 AM to say things like.
Who do you think you are kidding?
You look like a fool.
No matter how hard you try you'll never be good enough.
Why is it that if some dude walked up to me on the subway platform and said these things to me I'd think he was a mentally ill asshole but if the vampire inside my head says it it is the voice of reason."
I think the voice that all too often is the loudest in telling us we are not God's beloved is the one that is inside our head. Not the one inside our heart, because I think the one in our heart is the voice of God. No it is the voice in our head that is telling us we are worthless and that we really shouldn't be around children. That we aren't quite right.
But it is also the voice that is speaking to all people everywhere telling them that there isn't enough of God's love to go around. It is the voice that pits me against them. It is the voice that leads to hatred, to violence, to war. It is the voice that leads us away from the beloved community rather than towards it.
Martin Luther King didn't just think the beloved community would be ushered in when blacks were integrated into society. That would be a sign of movement towards it, but it would only be a sign. MLK was talking about a global beloved community. A community where all people are created equal. We are all created from one ancestor. And we are all loved equally by that same creator. When we live out of that knowledge that we are all loved then it is more difficult to point a gun at someone. It is more difficult to pass the homeless person on the street. It is more difficult to not provide aid to those in need. The beloved community is not just a place where all races are welcome, but instead a place where all are welcome. A place where tax money is spent on books instead of bombs; hospitals instead of prisons; spreading love instead of democracy. A place where community organizers aren't ridiculed but are seen as agents of change working to bring about the beloved community.
When you live out of your belovedness you know that there is enough love to go around. If there is enough love to go around then we can fulfill the great commandment to love one another.
Becoming the beloved community is difficult at best. I'm not sure MLK would have ever said that it was even fully possible in our broken world, but it was and is our eternal goal and God's eternal desire. It doesn't take much to recognize that it is a dangerous calling. King gave his life for it. However, in the end he said it was worth it. Because he had been to the mountaintop and he knew that while he might not get to the promised land of the beloved community one day we would get there. In his last sermon delivered the night before he was shot. He said this: "...I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord." Not even death could take away his deep sense that the work of love was the greatest work. And that not even death could take away the blessing that he had received, the blessing that said to him that he too was the beloved.
If we are to be the beloved community it is not enough to love ourselves. It is not enough to say that God loves us too, because we are black, or brown, or gay or straight. We must give love to the rest of the world as well. We must speak up for all people everywhere. We must remind our world and ourselves that we do not hold proprietary rights to God's love and blessing. We must make sure that that mother of all vampires does not have the last word. Amen.
A few weeks ago we talked about the three phrases that you all had come up with while discussing the possibility of a new name for our congregation. And I asked you to tell me what was underneath, or what was the story that lay behind those three names. Why did you hold those up as exemplars of our life together? But I didn't say specifically what those potential names say to me. So for the next three weeks I want to do that. Next week I'll talk about spiritual journey and then the following week about grace. But today I want to give you my thoughts on the phrase "beloved community."
I don't think it was in regard to this phrase but one comment was "well you use that phrase a lot." I think it was the spiritual journey phrase. And that is true. I do say that a lot. I say it every week as a matter of fact at the beginning of our worship service. I, however, don't use the phrase beloved community all that often. Instead it is a concept that I think embodies more what I believe about myself and community than the specific language I use.
Martin Luther King Jr talked about the beloved community. He was speaking about the integration of blacks into society. You'll notice that I didn't say desegregation. I specifically said integration because that is what King saw as the end goal. Desegregation was merely a change in laws. It allowed blacks the ability to go to a school close to them instead of being bussed miles away. Desegregation allowed blacks to drink from the same water fountains as whites, sit in the same sections of the theater as whites, and ride in the front of the bus just like whites. But in the end it was a set of laws. It didn't always adjust attitudes. Integration was something different.
Integration didn't happen as a result in the change of laws but as a result in the change of heart. It was a realization that blacks were not only entitled to the same privileges as whites but that they were equal to whites. And for King that was not just a matter of citizenship but a matter of humanity. When he talked about integration he talked about the beloved community. A community where all were accepted because they were equal not just in the sight of the law but in the sight of God. A community where all were not just equal but all were human. A place where blacks were treated not as commodities, as hired hands, as pieces of property, but as humans. A place where all of humanity was valued and respected, not for what it could do but for who it was. The beloved community was a place where all were he's and she's not its. A community that recognized, as Paul said, all were created from one ancestor.
I talk about the beloved community because I believe it speaks to the welcoming and affirming movement just as it did to the other civil rights movements before it. Gays and lesbians have been told that they are less than, that they are not equal, that they are not created in God's image. The image of a deviant, a pedophile, an alcoholic, but certainly not an image of God. And we have been working for many years now in the welcoming and affirming movements to get that idea changed in the church. I was supposed to be in New Orleans this past week to talk about how we can continue to affect change in our denomination.
And I believe that is an important work. Just as I believe the work done to change the laws of desegregation were important. However, I have to say I'm not all that interested in the work for myself. I'm glad there are people who are called to that work-the work of changing denominational laws and rules. But I am called to something else. I am called to helping people change hearts. Because for me I am done asking someone to tell me that I am beloved. I don't need another person or institution to give me my sense of worth. Because I have a sense of worth that comes from somewhere else. A belovedness that was granted to me by God. I have received blessings from other humans but in my heart I know that I received a blessing from the Creator of my being. And I believe all of us have received that same blessing. We are all beloved whether the world believes it or not. And honestly whether we believe it or not.
I have a new favorite musical. It is called Title of Show. It just opened on Broadway this summer. It is about two guys trying to write a musical about two guys trying to write a musical. Got that? Anyway through out the show they are talking about the creative process. And there is one song called Die Vampire Die. The song talks about these vampires who try to suck the life out of the creative process, who try and tell us we aren't creative, we can't draw or we can't sing or we can't act or we can't whatever it is that we most love to do. But then there is this verse about the "mother of all vampires the vampire of despair. The vampire who will wake you up at 4 AM to say things like.
Who do you think you are kidding?
You look like a fool.
No matter how hard you try you'll never be good enough.
Why is it that if some dude walked up to me on the subway platform and said these things to me I'd think he was a mentally ill asshole but if the vampire inside my head says it it is the voice of reason."
I think the voice that all too often is the loudest in telling us we are not God's beloved is the one that is inside our head. Not the one inside our heart, because I think the one in our heart is the voice of God. No it is the voice in our head that is telling us we are worthless and that we really shouldn't be around children. That we aren't quite right.
But it is also the voice that is speaking to all people everywhere telling them that there isn't enough of God's love to go around. It is the voice that pits me against them. It is the voice that leads to hatred, to violence, to war. It is the voice that leads us away from the beloved community rather than towards it.
Martin Luther King didn't just think the beloved community would be ushered in when blacks were integrated into society. That would be a sign of movement towards it, but it would only be a sign. MLK was talking about a global beloved community. A community where all people are created equal. We are all created from one ancestor. And we are all loved equally by that same creator. When we live out of that knowledge that we are all loved then it is more difficult to point a gun at someone. It is more difficult to pass the homeless person on the street. It is more difficult to not provide aid to those in need. The beloved community is not just a place where all races are welcome, but instead a place where all are welcome. A place where tax money is spent on books instead of bombs; hospitals instead of prisons; spreading love instead of democracy. A place where community organizers aren't ridiculed but are seen as agents of change working to bring about the beloved community.
When you live out of your belovedness you know that there is enough love to go around. If there is enough love to go around then we can fulfill the great commandment to love one another.
Becoming the beloved community is difficult at best. I'm not sure MLK would have ever said that it was even fully possible in our broken world, but it was and is our eternal goal and God's eternal desire. It doesn't take much to recognize that it is a dangerous calling. King gave his life for it. However, in the end he said it was worth it. Because he had been to the mountaintop and he knew that while he might not get to the promised land of the beloved community one day we would get there. In his last sermon delivered the night before he was shot. He said this: "...I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord." Not even death could take away his deep sense that the work of love was the greatest work. And that not even death could take away the blessing that he had received, the blessing that said to him that he too was the beloved.
If we are to be the beloved community it is not enough to love ourselves. It is not enough to say that God loves us too, because we are black, or brown, or gay or straight. We must give love to the rest of the world as well. We must speak up for all people everywhere. We must remind our world and ourselves that we do not hold proprietary rights to God's love and blessing. We must make sure that that mother of all vampires does not have the last word. Amen.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Tomorrow's sermon: REVISED
Here is the draft of tomorrow's sermon. While I was on sabbatical I asked the congregation to talk about potential new names for the congregation. They haven't been on Dolores Street for 15 years so it feels like time to not be called Dolores Street Baptist Church. They came up with three names: Beloved Community, Spiritual Journey, and Grace. I don't really like any of them. But I'm taking three weeks to preach on each one. I'll post tomorrow the one from last week. This is the second in the series. It is a draft. I'll finish it up tomorrow morning. I think I might alter the last bit. The phrase is so vague or broad that it feels like I could go in many different directions. And I'm not sure I am as focused as I would like to be. But enjoy (REVISED: I have now posted the final draft. I think I improved it and that it ties together better now.)
We continue our exploration of the phrases that you all arrived at when thinking about potential names for the congregation. Last week we talked about the beloved community and this week we turn our attention to the spiritual journey. This is a phrase that I use every week at the beginning of our service. I say “wherever you are on your spiritual journey I hope you will find here fellow pilgrims for your way.” I want everyone who is here to know that we don’t expect them to be any particular place on their spiritual journey in order to be a participant in this community.
And I’ll tell you what I think about the spiritual journey, but first I have to tell you how my understanding has changed. When I was young the phrase spiritual journey wasn’t really used very much. To be honest the “spiritual journey” would have probably sounded too new-agey. But that doesn’t mean that travel language wasn’t used. As a young person we were simply told stories from the Bible. Usually they were told with the use of the flannel graph. (A flannel graph was a board covered with flannel on an easel. Then paper figures of various biblical characters with flannel on the back was positioned on the board to illustrate the story.) And even though there may not have been an explicit evangelical emphasis there was an implicit one. The idea was that we were learning these Bible stories to get us ready. And then as I aged it became more explicit. What all those Bible stories and all that time spent in church was preparing me for was salvation. The people in my church were preparing me to accept Jesus as my personal savior. For me that happened at about age 12. I know for others it happened much later and for many it happened much earlier. My friend Mary Sue was 5.
So what happened after that? It meant that I would pray a prayer asking Jesus into my heart. Then I would be baptized. And then I would begin my daily walk with Jesus. Until I died and went to heaven. And that was my basic understanding of the spiritual journey. It was that daily walk with Jesus. That included a lot of things that I really should do. I should have a quiet time every day. Quiet time was time spent reading the Bible and praying. This was intercessory prayer—praying for others and praying for myself. I should also be evangelizing, telling others about Jesus and leading them to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Of course going to church regularly was expected. And then there were the various rules about what not to do—drinking, having sex, cussing. For others it might have been not dancing or not chewing tobacco. My grandmother and my mother talk about not being allowed to wear pants to church or not being allowed to play cards or any board game that might have dice because that would be considered gambling. Or at least a gateway to gambling. That’s right there were the things you couldn’t do and then there were the things that might lead to doing something. It’s like the joke: Why don’t Baptists have sex standing up? Because people might think they are dancing.
And when you did any of these things, or even thought about doing any of these things then you had something to repent for. We’ll talk more about the failure aspect next week. But the idea was that regardless of being told that I had done all it would take to get me into heaven I still needed to not do all of these things in order to get in. It was always a well you don’t have to do anything but accept Jesus as your personal savior, buuuuuutttttt…. It felt a little like bait and switch. And what it meant as a teenager was that I was constantly worried that I was doing something that could prevent me from getting into heaven. This lead to a constant rededication of my life. Which was essentially a series of times when I was reaccepting Jesus as my savior. It was a constant attempt to keep myself from going to hell.
That really was the point of this whole thing, getting into heaven. I remember my mother calling (I’ve told this story before.) her cousin Helen once after a revival asking her to accept Jesus because my mother wanted Helen to be in heaven when she died. Even my brother as he was dying, said once “well he wanted to live but if he died at least he knew that he would be in heaven.” The point was never the walk with Jesus it was always the destination. In the end all that really mattered was that you got to heaven when you died and avoided the other place. It was never about a journey at all.
Nor is what I see as somewhat of the opposite extreme. And I’m not really sure I want to use the word extreme, because that seems to place value on both and that is not my intent. But the other end of the spectrum, if the one I just talked about is all focused on the afterlife, is the one that focuses almost completelyon the human life. This is what I found when I first moved to Atlanta. It was all about reaching out to those in need. The point of the Christian life was not to get to heaven, no instead it was to live here on earth and bring reconciliation and healing to a hurting world. Christianity was a faith based social service agency. It aimed to reach out to the homeless and the addict. It focused on restoring the environment as being good stewards of the earth. It focused on telling the truth about what God thought about racism and sexism and homophobia. It was all about changing our world. And to be sure those are all really important things that I believe are of God.
But I think that was really more about the destination too. If we can just get equality for all people. If we can just clean up the environment. If we can just bring about peace to the middle east or wherever there is conflict. Then our work will be done. That is what God desires. We just have to do what God desires. And again we’ll talk about this more next week when we talk about grace, but in the end it was doing whatever God wants us to do to get in good with the Divine. And probably if we are honest it is about stacking up so that we’ll get to heaven. It is a different way of doing things that are right and not doing things that are wrong.
Now that is not to say that the spiritual journey will not lead us to do any or all of those things. No that may be the result of our attending to our spiritual journey, but instead I think the spiritual journey is about something else. I believe that we begin on a spiritual journey from the day we are born. Our entire life is about looking for and moving towards God. Whether we know it or not. Now there are lots of different ways of naming the path. For me and I think for all of us we have chosen the Christian way. It is the story that makes the most sense for us. While we may value other paths and occasionally even glean some insight from other paths--for us the way of Christ is our way. Some of us chose to follow that path at 5 or 12 and some of us decide much later in life. Some of us are still choosing that path. But from our very birth God is calling us to Godself. That is what makes our entire life a spiritual journey.
So if we are on a spiritual journey from birth until death then to what do we have to attend? Here is the way I would describe it. Have you ever been driving down the road or walking down the road and realize you have no idea how you got to where you are? You aren’t lost. You just have no idea how you got from the last place you remember to the place you currently are. Attending to one’s spiritual journey is at its best simply noticing. It is a waking up. It is about seeing where God is present. As we said in one of the prayers early on today, God is always present. And yet we spend most of our lives failing to notice. We go from one place to the other and have no idea how we got there or where God was along the way. The spiritual journey is at its heart a way of life.
A writer and speaker, Brian McLaren tells this story. He was speaking at a gathering of Christian pastors. He thought he was supposed to introduce a famous speaker, Dr Stenge, but when he arrived he realized he was supposed to interview Dr. Stenge—two very different tasks. Without a lot of notice he wasn’t able to come up with the greatest list of questions. So the first thing he asked was “…I imagine this is a different kind of crowd than you normally address. What would you like to say to a group of five hundred Christian ministers?” So Dr. Stenge was very gracious and answered that he had been thinking about that very question because it was a different crowd than he was used to speaking to. So earlier in the week Stenge went into a bookstore and asked what were the most popular books being bought. The most popular books were books about how to get rich which didn’t surprise him very much. The second were books about spirituality specifically about Buddhism. And so he asked them why they thought books on Buddhism were more popular than books on Christianity. Now of course as I mentioned McLaren was not at all prepared. So he did what all people do when they are trying to avoid the question they turn it around on the other person. Brian said “what do you you make of that?” To which Dr. Stenge said “I think it’s because Buddhism presents itself as a way of life, and Christianity presents itself as a system of beliefs.”
The spiritual journey is a way of life. Specifically Christianity is a way of life—it is not a dogma. Jesus did not invite disciples to follow a system of beliefs but instead to follow him. Jesus invited them to take notice—to wake up. As we read in Galatians to live by the spirit and as Mary Oliver said to pay attention. Let us embark on that same journey. Let us wake up and take notice of God’s presence in our lives and our world. Let us be followers of the way, the path, the Christ. Amen.
We continue our exploration of the phrases that you all arrived at when thinking about potential names for the congregation. Last week we talked about the beloved community and this week we turn our attention to the spiritual journey. This is a phrase that I use every week at the beginning of our service. I say “wherever you are on your spiritual journey I hope you will find here fellow pilgrims for your way.” I want everyone who is here to know that we don’t expect them to be any particular place on their spiritual journey in order to be a participant in this community.
And I’ll tell you what I think about the spiritual journey, but first I have to tell you how my understanding has changed. When I was young the phrase spiritual journey wasn’t really used very much. To be honest the “spiritual journey” would have probably sounded too new-agey. But that doesn’t mean that travel language wasn’t used. As a young person we were simply told stories from the Bible. Usually they were told with the use of the flannel graph. (A flannel graph was a board covered with flannel on an easel. Then paper figures of various biblical characters with flannel on the back was positioned on the board to illustrate the story.) And even though there may not have been an explicit evangelical emphasis there was an implicit one. The idea was that we were learning these Bible stories to get us ready. And then as I aged it became more explicit. What all those Bible stories and all that time spent in church was preparing me for was salvation. The people in my church were preparing me to accept Jesus as my personal savior. For me that happened at about age 12. I know for others it happened much later and for many it happened much earlier. My friend Mary Sue was 5.
So what happened after that? It meant that I would pray a prayer asking Jesus into my heart. Then I would be baptized. And then I would begin my daily walk with Jesus. Until I died and went to heaven. And that was my basic understanding of the spiritual journey. It was that daily walk with Jesus. That included a lot of things that I really should do. I should have a quiet time every day. Quiet time was time spent reading the Bible and praying. This was intercessory prayer—praying for others and praying for myself. I should also be evangelizing, telling others about Jesus and leading them to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Of course going to church regularly was expected. And then there were the various rules about what not to do—drinking, having sex, cussing. For others it might have been not dancing or not chewing tobacco. My grandmother and my mother talk about not being allowed to wear pants to church or not being allowed to play cards or any board game that might have dice because that would be considered gambling. Or at least a gateway to gambling. That’s right there were the things you couldn’t do and then there were the things that might lead to doing something. It’s like the joke: Why don’t Baptists have sex standing up? Because people might think they are dancing.
And when you did any of these things, or even thought about doing any of these things then you had something to repent for. We’ll talk more about the failure aspect next week. But the idea was that regardless of being told that I had done all it would take to get me into heaven I still needed to not do all of these things in order to get in. It was always a well you don’t have to do anything but accept Jesus as your personal savior, buuuuuutttttt…. It felt a little like bait and switch. And what it meant as a teenager was that I was constantly worried that I was doing something that could prevent me from getting into heaven. This lead to a constant rededication of my life. Which was essentially a series of times when I was reaccepting Jesus as my savior. It was a constant attempt to keep myself from going to hell.
That really was the point of this whole thing, getting into heaven. I remember my mother calling (I’ve told this story before.) her cousin Helen once after a revival asking her to accept Jesus because my mother wanted Helen to be in heaven when she died. Even my brother as he was dying, said once “well he wanted to live but if he died at least he knew that he would be in heaven.” The point was never the walk with Jesus it was always the destination. In the end all that really mattered was that you got to heaven when you died and avoided the other place. It was never about a journey at all.
Nor is what I see as somewhat of the opposite extreme. And I’m not really sure I want to use the word extreme, because that seems to place value on both and that is not my intent. But the other end of the spectrum, if the one I just talked about is all focused on the afterlife, is the one that focuses almost completelyon the human life. This is what I found when I first moved to Atlanta. It was all about reaching out to those in need. The point of the Christian life was not to get to heaven, no instead it was to live here on earth and bring reconciliation and healing to a hurting world. Christianity was a faith based social service agency. It aimed to reach out to the homeless and the addict. It focused on restoring the environment as being good stewards of the earth. It focused on telling the truth about what God thought about racism and sexism and homophobia. It was all about changing our world. And to be sure those are all really important things that I believe are of God.
But I think that was really more about the destination too. If we can just get equality for all people. If we can just clean up the environment. If we can just bring about peace to the middle east or wherever there is conflict. Then our work will be done. That is what God desires. We just have to do what God desires. And again we’ll talk about this more next week when we talk about grace, but in the end it was doing whatever God wants us to do to get in good with the Divine. And probably if we are honest it is about stacking up so that we’ll get to heaven. It is a different way of doing things that are right and not doing things that are wrong.
Now that is not to say that the spiritual journey will not lead us to do any or all of those things. No that may be the result of our attending to our spiritual journey, but instead I think the spiritual journey is about something else. I believe that we begin on a spiritual journey from the day we are born. Our entire life is about looking for and moving towards God. Whether we know it or not. Now there are lots of different ways of naming the path. For me and I think for all of us we have chosen the Christian way. It is the story that makes the most sense for us. While we may value other paths and occasionally even glean some insight from other paths--for us the way of Christ is our way. Some of us chose to follow that path at 5 or 12 and some of us decide much later in life. Some of us are still choosing that path. But from our very birth God is calling us to Godself. That is what makes our entire life a spiritual journey.
So if we are on a spiritual journey from birth until death then to what do we have to attend? Here is the way I would describe it. Have you ever been driving down the road or walking down the road and realize you have no idea how you got to where you are? You aren’t lost. You just have no idea how you got from the last place you remember to the place you currently are. Attending to one’s spiritual journey is at its best simply noticing. It is a waking up. It is about seeing where God is present. As we said in one of the prayers early on today, God is always present. And yet we spend most of our lives failing to notice. We go from one place to the other and have no idea how we got there or where God was along the way. The spiritual journey is at its heart a way of life.
A writer and speaker, Brian McLaren tells this story. He was speaking at a gathering of Christian pastors. He thought he was supposed to introduce a famous speaker, Dr Stenge, but when he arrived he realized he was supposed to interview Dr. Stenge—two very different tasks. Without a lot of notice he wasn’t able to come up with the greatest list of questions. So the first thing he asked was “…I imagine this is a different kind of crowd than you normally address. What would you like to say to a group of five hundred Christian ministers?” So Dr. Stenge was very gracious and answered that he had been thinking about that very question because it was a different crowd than he was used to speaking to. So earlier in the week Stenge went into a bookstore and asked what were the most popular books being bought. The most popular books were books about how to get rich which didn’t surprise him very much. The second were books about spirituality specifically about Buddhism. And so he asked them why they thought books on Buddhism were more popular than books on Christianity. Now of course as I mentioned McLaren was not at all prepared. So he did what all people do when they are trying to avoid the question they turn it around on the other person. Brian said “what do you you make of that?” To which Dr. Stenge said “I think it’s because Buddhism presents itself as a way of life, and Christianity presents itself as a system of beliefs.”
The spiritual journey is a way of life. Specifically Christianity is a way of life—it is not a dogma. Jesus did not invite disciples to follow a system of beliefs but instead to follow him. Jesus invited them to take notice—to wake up. As we read in Galatians to live by the spirit and as Mary Oliver said to pay attention. Let us embark on that same journey. Let us wake up and take notice of God’s presence in our lives and our world. Let us be followers of the way, the path, the Christ. Amen.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Back in the saddle
I know, I know it has been a week since my last post. I've just been kind of sluggish all week. I also had two opera rehearsals this week. This week I have two opera rehearsals. I'm going to the opera with my friend Alan. I'm hanging out at my friend Laine's house tomorrow night as it is her husbands first night back teaching since they had their second child. So all in all it is going to be a busy week. Then next week is production week for the Opera. So it is opera every night except for Thursday. Holy Crap!!!
Today was my first day back preaching since before my sabbatical. I had the four months off and then the last two months I've had different members of the congregation sharing. So today was the first day back. I personally thought the sermon was not very good. But as is often the case I got a lot of "very moving sermon;" "that was really what I needed to hear." I want to say that I am my own worst critic and that it probably was a better sermon than I thought it was--but in reality, I know that is only slightly the case. It probably was better than I thought, but I also know that it wasn't very good. But I also know that quality of sermon doesn't always matter when it comes to what people hear. So I'm grateful that something greater than me was at work today.
I will say the best part was that I got to quote from my favorite new musical, Title of Show. The song in the show is Die Vampire Die and it is about all the voices that try and squelch the creative process. Here is the quote:
...mother of all vampires the vampire of despair. The vampire who will wake you up at 4 am to say things like.
Who do you think you are kidding?
You look like a fool.
No matter how hard you try you’ll never be good enough.
Why is it that if some dude walked up to me on the subway platform and said these things to me I’d think he was a mentally ill asshole but if the vampire inside my head says it it is the voice of reason.
I love that quote. I also got in a bit of a political jab, saying that in the beloved community community organizers wouldn't be ridiculed but instead would be seen as agents of change helping to usher in God's kingdom. It probably didn't fit all that well in the sermon, but I couldn't help it. And it wasn't a lie.
Alright, well I have to eat dinner--don't have any idea what that will be though.
Today was my first day back preaching since before my sabbatical. I had the four months off and then the last two months I've had different members of the congregation sharing. So today was the first day back. I personally thought the sermon was not very good. But as is often the case I got a lot of "very moving sermon;" "that was really what I needed to hear." I want to say that I am my own worst critic and that it probably was a better sermon than I thought it was--but in reality, I know that is only slightly the case. It probably was better than I thought, but I also know that it wasn't very good. But I also know that quality of sermon doesn't always matter when it comes to what people hear. So I'm grateful that something greater than me was at work today.
I will say the best part was that I got to quote from my favorite new musical, Title of Show. The song in the show is Die Vampire Die and it is about all the voices that try and squelch the creative process. Here is the quote:
...mother of all vampires the vampire of despair. The vampire who will wake you up at 4 am to say things like.
Who do you think you are kidding?
You look like a fool.
No matter how hard you try you’ll never be good enough.
Why is it that if some dude walked up to me on the subway platform and said these things to me I’d think he was a mentally ill asshole but if the vampire inside my head says it it is the voice of reason.
I love that quote. I also got in a bit of a political jab, saying that in the beloved community community organizers wouldn't be ridiculed but instead would be seen as agents of change helping to usher in God's kingdom. It probably didn't fit all that well in the sermon, but I couldn't help it. And it wasn't a lie.
Alright, well I have to eat dinner--don't have any idea what that will be though.
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