Easter Day, April 24, 2011 Matthew 28: 8-10
It was probably the greatest understatement of all time. Jesus greeted those women on the road, not with some exalted phrase of overpowering majesty, Hail or Stand back, but with the very common greeting which people used all the time, which means rejoice, but in its usage had more the the flavor of a “hi.” Yet it is just right. Given its setting, it is like a small daub of bright color, in an otherwise dark canvas of great purportions. But with all the dark colors, it doesn’t have to be large or overpowering to stand out, our eye cannot help but see and rejoice in it.
Of course for us to appreciate this greeting, we have to be aware of the immense and forboding darkness which preceded it. We might go back to the last word which had come from the mouth of Jesus. It was essentially, “Why?” “My God, my God why have you forsaken me?’ Jesus spoke those words from the cross in the moments before he died; in those moments when darkness colored everything and the earth trembled at what was happening. Those words echo all the other whys that well up from human history into a mighty roar which seems to shout down any statement of faith. From David who composed the Psalm that Jesus was quoting down through the history of all those who suffer in concentration and refugee camps, courts of law, medical centers and houses that now stand empty. Each of us probably has a darkness which we battle and from which comes that cry of confusion and agony, “Why, God?” Why does my child suffer, why does nobody call or ask about me, why is it so hard to find happiness, to just get by, why does evil flourish and the good suffer? There is no answer in that moment, and he breathes his last.
Then on the third day, at the first hint of light, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary come to the tomb, the earth trembles again, perhaps an aftershock of what happened on Friday, but then an angel, then the stone rolled away, and the angel sits on it. In bright light of majesty and power the soldiers who guarded the dead man become themselves like dead men in fear. Then the angel addresses the women and given what they have just seen they can only hear it in majestic tones. “Now don’t you be afraid, you seek Jesus, the man crucified, he is not here he has risen, just as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Now go quickly, tell his disciples, “he has been raised from the dead and look he is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there. Look I have told you.” They run in fear and joy. That is what we wish the experience of Easter to be. Power, that outshouts the roar of evil and death. The louder the better, the more people the more real.
But then they meet Jesus and the trappings of power are nowhere to be seen; just Jesus as they had known him, just Jesus saying “Hi” or literally “rejoice.” It is the understatement of all time. But it has great power because in the face of all that had gone wrong, in the face of the torture and death, life goes on, Jesus is there, with a friendly greeting. I think of those understated moments from our lives. A coach barks at his players to get into their practice, because they are all huddled around a player who had been seriously injured and is tenderly back among them. After they all scatter to do their workout the coach says, “Good to have you back.” Or a mother takes comfort in that her sick child has begun to eat again without being coaxed. Or two workers at odds with each other begin to go over a spread sheet, when one asks the other if he would mind looking at the numbers. Or a wife simply reaches out and takes her husbands hand. . To people who have experienced the darkness, the understatement holds great power.
When you stop to think about it, God communicate more by understatement than by overstatement. The life of Jesus is the greatest of all understatements, coming as an ordinary man, who can be thrown to the ground, nailed to the cross and die. His simply being alive says all that needs to be said. Similarly our sacraments are understatements with their simplicity yet profound meaning. Sometimes we want to dress them up to make them more “spiritual” but Jesus gave a simple command to baptize and to eat and drink in remembrance of him. There is power there because Jesus is there.
A part of that understatement is the fact that Jesus tells the women, “Go and tell my brothers.” Not “disciples” as the angel said, but brothers. Oh, how that one word, carries a message of forgiveness and grace. I can’t help but think that as those who had betrayed him, fled from him, failed him heard that word, it spoke volumes of grace. Yet it was just one word, an ordinary, every-day word, a word like “Hi” but in that word they were forgiven and began to live again.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Sermon Lent 5
Lent 5, April 10, 2011 John 11:
Courtney Strain died of brain cancer last summer at the age of 25. In the months before she died she met weekly with a hospice worker Suzanne Doyle. In those meetings she revealed one constant frustration, feeling like an outcast. People didn’t know what to say, so they said nothing at all. “You know I’m thinking Courtney, that you can be a teacher,” Suzanne said, “ You know what dying people need and I’m wondering if we can’t come up with some sort of a teaching tool. The tool they came up with was a simple guide they called, “What you Can Do When a Friend (Like Me) Faces the End of Life.” Some things Courtney wrote. “Hallmark doesn’t fix it all or say it best.. Write a letter or send an e-mail. Talk to me when I’m strong enough to sit and laugh or cry with you. Don’t pretend everything is going to be OK . Don’t abandon me at my most vulnerable times. Sit and pray with me. Don’t just pray for me. Instead of asking, “What can I do for you? Offer some concrete suggestions- Like bringing a meal or a treat, Just because I’m dying doesn’t mean I’m any less capable of being your friend.”
The story of the raising of Lazarus is really a story about friendship. As Cortuney implied when death comes around it has a way of sucking the life out of friendships. It is in viewing this story in terms of friendship, that I find ways to connect to it and apply it. A friend who is there in our need, is a friend indeed. The friendship is between Jesus and Martha, Mary and Lazarus. It is plain to hear in the message the sisters send to Jesus. “Lord he whom you love is ill.” Notice the order of the words. It doesn’t begin with a frantic call such as we might phrase some of our prayers. Lord, we’re in a heap of trouble here, Lord we’re really needing your help, Lord Lazarus is ill. The need gets first place. Instead what we hear is that the friendship is first in their minds. “Lord the one whom you love…” So front and center is this friendship, that the Gospel writer feels compelled to add the comment that Jesus really did love Martha, May and Lazarus, and his delay should not be seen in any other way that in that love.
We see that friendship in Martha’s going out to meet Jesus on the road before he even reaches Bethany. In her remorse, that if only Jesus had been there. In her slightly hopeful “But even now I know God will give you whatever you ask.” But then she begins to lose her focus when Jesus says, your brother will live again. She shifts from Jesus a true friend, to some general principle or belief that there is life after death. Jesus keeps drawing her back to the bond of friendship to himself. “I am the resurrection and the life. Who ever believes in me even though they die they shall live.” Martha isn’t alone in loosing her focus on Jesus. especially in the face of death. It is one of the great challenges of the faith. Listen to what people say when a loved one has died. They talk about life after death as some inevitable certainty, much like gravity or the law of thermodynamics. They talk about the person who has died and what that person meant to them. What I find strangely absent, is any mention of Jesus. Can they also say, “Lord the one whom you love…” Do they live in a friendship with Jesus?
That friendship is underlined in the story by Jesus’ tears at the tomb. So much so that the bystanders comment, “See how much he loved him.” At a minimum we should remember, and if we don’t our friends should remind us by being present with us, “he carries our sorrows,…. He weeps with those who weep.” This is our point of application, that we be the embodiment of Christ for those who live with the stench of death. It may be as Courtney longed for, faithful friends for the dying. It may be faithful friends when I’m unemployed, or when I’m at loose ends as to what my life is for, or when life is becoming unraveled because of broken marriage, or friendship. All those times when we don’t know what to say, and so we withdraw. In withdrawing we imply that our Christian faith is cowered into hiding in the face of life’s struggles. If nothing else, Jesus is a faithful friend who shows up.
How often have you not found as I have in my ministry that showing up in those challenging places, actually blesses me. As I face with them these challenges, my stammering words draw us back to Jesus, where our focus should be. The wonder is that often I have the privilege of witnessing their power in giving faith and life to the person in the bed. I leave having come to a new appreciation of believing in the resurrection from the dead.
But more than that, he who opened the eyes of the blind, does more than prevent this man from dying, he opens the tomb of the dead. This goes beyond what friends can do, but it shows that with Jesus it’s not only showing up but bringing to life. This bond of friendship will not be broken, not because I cling to him so firmly, but because he clings to me. So strong is his friendship that even death cannot break it. That is a friend indeed!
Courtney Strain died of brain cancer last summer at the age of 25. In the months before she died she met weekly with a hospice worker Suzanne Doyle. In those meetings she revealed one constant frustration, feeling like an outcast. People didn’t know what to say, so they said nothing at all. “You know I’m thinking Courtney, that you can be a teacher,” Suzanne said, “ You know what dying people need and I’m wondering if we can’t come up with some sort of a teaching tool. The tool they came up with was a simple guide they called, “What you Can Do When a Friend (Like Me) Faces the End of Life.” Some things Courtney wrote. “Hallmark doesn’t fix it all or say it best.. Write a letter or send an e-mail. Talk to me when I’m strong enough to sit and laugh or cry with you. Don’t pretend everything is going to be OK . Don’t abandon me at my most vulnerable times. Sit and pray with me. Don’t just pray for me. Instead of asking, “What can I do for you? Offer some concrete suggestions- Like bringing a meal or a treat, Just because I’m dying doesn’t mean I’m any less capable of being your friend.”
The story of the raising of Lazarus is really a story about friendship. As Cortuney implied when death comes around it has a way of sucking the life out of friendships. It is in viewing this story in terms of friendship, that I find ways to connect to it and apply it. A friend who is there in our need, is a friend indeed. The friendship is between Jesus and Martha, Mary and Lazarus. It is plain to hear in the message the sisters send to Jesus. “Lord he whom you love is ill.” Notice the order of the words. It doesn’t begin with a frantic call such as we might phrase some of our prayers. Lord, we’re in a heap of trouble here, Lord we’re really needing your help, Lord Lazarus is ill. The need gets first place. Instead what we hear is that the friendship is first in their minds. “Lord the one whom you love…” So front and center is this friendship, that the Gospel writer feels compelled to add the comment that Jesus really did love Martha, May and Lazarus, and his delay should not be seen in any other way that in that love.
We see that friendship in Martha’s going out to meet Jesus on the road before he even reaches Bethany. In her remorse, that if only Jesus had been there. In her slightly hopeful “But even now I know God will give you whatever you ask.” But then she begins to lose her focus when Jesus says, your brother will live again. She shifts from Jesus a true friend, to some general principle or belief that there is life after death. Jesus keeps drawing her back to the bond of friendship to himself. “I am the resurrection and the life. Who ever believes in me even though they die they shall live.” Martha isn’t alone in loosing her focus on Jesus. especially in the face of death. It is one of the great challenges of the faith. Listen to what people say when a loved one has died. They talk about life after death as some inevitable certainty, much like gravity or the law of thermodynamics. They talk about the person who has died and what that person meant to them. What I find strangely absent, is any mention of Jesus. Can they also say, “Lord the one whom you love…” Do they live in a friendship with Jesus?
That friendship is underlined in the story by Jesus’ tears at the tomb. So much so that the bystanders comment, “See how much he loved him.” At a minimum we should remember, and if we don’t our friends should remind us by being present with us, “he carries our sorrows,…. He weeps with those who weep.” This is our point of application, that we be the embodiment of Christ for those who live with the stench of death. It may be as Courtney longed for, faithful friends for the dying. It may be faithful friends when I’m unemployed, or when I’m at loose ends as to what my life is for, or when life is becoming unraveled because of broken marriage, or friendship. All those times when we don’t know what to say, and so we withdraw. In withdrawing we imply that our Christian faith is cowered into hiding in the face of life’s struggles. If nothing else, Jesus is a faithful friend who shows up.
How often have you not found as I have in my ministry that showing up in those challenging places, actually blesses me. As I face with them these challenges, my stammering words draw us back to Jesus, where our focus should be. The wonder is that often I have the privilege of witnessing their power in giving faith and life to the person in the bed. I leave having come to a new appreciation of believing in the resurrection from the dead.
But more than that, he who opened the eyes of the blind, does more than prevent this man from dying, he opens the tomb of the dead. This goes beyond what friends can do, but it shows that with Jesus it’s not only showing up but bringing to life. This bond of friendship will not be broken, not because I cling to him so firmly, but because he clings to me. So strong is his friendship that even death cannot break it. That is a friend indeed!
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Message for Feb.
Epiphany 5, February 6, 2011, Matthew 5: 13-15
When Jesus says, “You are the salt of the earth…the light of the world…” a person can hear the distant thunder of creation, when God declared , “let there be” and it was. A person can certainly hear the authority of that one who declared, “I am the Light of the world, I am the Good Shepherd” who could also declare to many a troubled sinner, “Go in peace, your sins are forgiven.”
There is something about a pronouncement that gets our attention. Even if it should come from a child, who knows little and has only a small amount of power, the words, “You are stupid” can get our attention and for another child can wound them deeply. Words of a pronouncement are so strong that we certainly to listen to them and half believe them even before we examine them. Pity the child on the playground that not heard other pronouncements that formed their identity such as “You are smart, “You are precious to me, You do things so well,” so that they are able to believe something other about themselves than what their playmate pronounces them to be. Later they will understand that what the teacher says about them, and especially what their mom and dad say is much more the truth, because they know more. The power of a pronouncement is depends upon the power of the one speaking it. If the words of people, people who have such limited power, knowledge and influence can have such a powerful effect on us, how much more should we be effected by the words of the One who knows and makes us. These words echo creation’s thunder and baptism’s blessing.
We should also note the position of these words in the Sermon on the Mount. These words along with the Beatitudes which we read last Sunday, come at the beginning of the sermon instead of the end. This position reminds us of some other words. The words of God’s covenant promises made to people like Abraham and Sarah and their descendants in the children of Israel. The position is the same, First God declares that they are his people, and only then tells them how to live. It is not the other way around, that if they strive hard and obey the commands that they might become God’s people. That is a strong indicator that these words are God’s, God pronounces first and then instructs. We call this Gospel. Jesus first telling the woman, that she is his daughter, and that he does not condemn her, and only then following it up with the words, go and sin no more. The Christian ethic is “Become who you are.” The ethic of the world is “Become what you should be.”
One of the things about such a pronouncement, is that you either believe it or you dismiss it as a lovely thought, but really only fanciful thinking. If you believe the words, they can have a strong influence on how you see yourself and live out your life. Let me tell you a story from Donald Miller’s book “A Million Miles in a Thousand Years.” It’s the story of Jason, who was concerned about his 13 year old daughter, because they had found pot hidden in her closet. She was also dating a guy, who smelled like smoke and would only answer questions with single words, like “Yeah,” “No” “whatever” and “Why.” Miller, the writer, happened to say to Jason that it sounded like his daughter was living out a terrible story. This got Jason thinking. He realized that he hadn’t provided a better role for his daughter. He hadn’t mapped out a story for his family, and so his daughter had chosen another story, a story in which she was wanted, even if she was only being used. “She’s not a bad girl,” he said, “She was just choosing the best story available to her.” Jason decided to provide a better story to invite her into. He remembered that story involves a character who wants something and overcomes conflict to get it. He searched the internet and read about an organization that build orphanges in third world countries for 25,000 apiece. So even though they didn’t have the money, and had a second mortgage on their house, he told his wife and daughter about the orphange and the terrible things that could happen if the kids didn’t have such a place, and that he had agreed to build it.
They were shocked and looked at him as though he had lost his mind. Neither his wife nor daughter talked with him but went to their rooms. That night he explained the whole thing to his wife as they lay in bed. He explained the whole story thing, about how they weren’t taking risks and helping anybody and how their daughter was losing interest. “If the salt has lost its tang, how can its saltiness be restored.”
The next morning his wife came up to him, put her arms around him and said, that she was proud of him. But more than that, after a couple of days, their daughter came into their bedroom and asked if they could go to Mexico. Jason and his wife looked at her and didn’t know what to say. But then she crawled into their bed between them like she had done when she was little and told them about how she could use her website to tell people about it and maybe they would help. Later she also told them she had broken up with her boyfriend. She told them he had told her she was too fat. “No girl who plays the role of a hero dates a guy who uses her. She knows who she is. Even if she forgot for a little while.”
When Jesus says, “You are the salt of the earth…the light of the world…” a person can hear the distant thunder of creation, when God declared , “let there be” and it was. A person can certainly hear the authority of that one who declared, “I am the Light of the world, I am the Good Shepherd” who could also declare to many a troubled sinner, “Go in peace, your sins are forgiven.”
There is something about a pronouncement that gets our attention. Even if it should come from a child, who knows little and has only a small amount of power, the words, “You are stupid” can get our attention and for another child can wound them deeply. Words of a pronouncement are so strong that we certainly to listen to them and half believe them even before we examine them. Pity the child on the playground that not heard other pronouncements that formed their identity such as “You are smart, “You are precious to me, You do things so well,” so that they are able to believe something other about themselves than what their playmate pronounces them to be. Later they will understand that what the teacher says about them, and especially what their mom and dad say is much more the truth, because they know more. The power of a pronouncement is depends upon the power of the one speaking it. If the words of people, people who have such limited power, knowledge and influence can have such a powerful effect on us, how much more should we be effected by the words of the One who knows and makes us. These words echo creation’s thunder and baptism’s blessing.
We should also note the position of these words in the Sermon on the Mount. These words along with the Beatitudes which we read last Sunday, come at the beginning of the sermon instead of the end. This position reminds us of some other words. The words of God’s covenant promises made to people like Abraham and Sarah and their descendants in the children of Israel. The position is the same, First God declares that they are his people, and only then tells them how to live. It is not the other way around, that if they strive hard and obey the commands that they might become God’s people. That is a strong indicator that these words are God’s, God pronounces first and then instructs. We call this Gospel. Jesus first telling the woman, that she is his daughter, and that he does not condemn her, and only then following it up with the words, go and sin no more. The Christian ethic is “Become who you are.” The ethic of the world is “Become what you should be.”
One of the things about such a pronouncement, is that you either believe it or you dismiss it as a lovely thought, but really only fanciful thinking. If you believe the words, they can have a strong influence on how you see yourself and live out your life. Let me tell you a story from Donald Miller’s book “A Million Miles in a Thousand Years.” It’s the story of Jason, who was concerned about his 13 year old daughter, because they had found pot hidden in her closet. She was also dating a guy, who smelled like smoke and would only answer questions with single words, like “Yeah,” “No” “whatever” and “Why.” Miller, the writer, happened to say to Jason that it sounded like his daughter was living out a terrible story. This got Jason thinking. He realized that he hadn’t provided a better role for his daughter. He hadn’t mapped out a story for his family, and so his daughter had chosen another story, a story in which she was wanted, even if she was only being used. “She’s not a bad girl,” he said, “She was just choosing the best story available to her.” Jason decided to provide a better story to invite her into. He remembered that story involves a character who wants something and overcomes conflict to get it. He searched the internet and read about an organization that build orphanges in third world countries for 25,000 apiece. So even though they didn’t have the money, and had a second mortgage on their house, he told his wife and daughter about the orphange and the terrible things that could happen if the kids didn’t have such a place, and that he had agreed to build it.
They were shocked and looked at him as though he had lost his mind. Neither his wife nor daughter talked with him but went to their rooms. That night he explained the whole thing to his wife as they lay in bed. He explained the whole story thing, about how they weren’t taking risks and helping anybody and how their daughter was losing interest. “If the salt has lost its tang, how can its saltiness be restored.”
The next morning his wife came up to him, put her arms around him and said, that she was proud of him. But more than that, after a couple of days, their daughter came into their bedroom and asked if they could go to Mexico. Jason and his wife looked at her and didn’t know what to say. But then she crawled into their bed between them like she had done when she was little and told them about how she could use her website to tell people about it and maybe they would help. Later she also told them she had broken up with her boyfriend. She told them he had told her she was too fat. “No girl who plays the role of a hero dates a guy who uses her. She knows who she is. Even if she forgot for a little while.”
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
This past Sunday afternoon, we had the Total Experience Gospel Choir in concert at Hope. Any of you who know Pat Wright the director and inspiration of that group, know how professional yet free-wheeling she is. There was a piece she warned us in advance might raise some eyebrows, but that it was part of their praise of the Lord. What she thought we might raise our eyebrows over was the movement of the choir in a type of dance that only a Gospel choir could do. When she brought me up at the end of the program to say a few words I said something to the effect that no forgiveness necessary for that number. It had been done with a joyful exuberance of praise. The next day I thought of something else I might have said. " We who dance the liturgy every Sunday morning appreciate bodily movement, gesture and their meanings in service of the Lord's praise. "
It's good for me to think about liturgy as a form of dance. We get so used to it, that we forget that our bodies are moving and giving a meaning in that movement. Standing up is more than a stimulant to keep people alert, it is showing respect for that part of the service. Kneeling at the altar rail and receiving the sacrament or praying is a posture full of the meaning of reverence, because Christ is truly there and the way we conduct ourselves reminds us of that fact. Another gesture full of meaning is the greeting of peace, which is tied to that ancient gesture of a handshake, which shows an openness and trust with another. Not only do we show there is no weapon in our hand, but we say the "Peace of the Lord," which becomes present in the very gesture. Yes we know a thing or two about body movment and gesture.
Another thing from Sunday was having the Hopes School Choir sing in the second service. Everybody very much appreciates their adding their music to our service. Sometimes people will clap, but this Sunday people did not. It had nothing to do with lack of appreciation, it probably had more to do with the fact that no one started it. And the reason no one started clapping was the question of whether it is appropriate. I have wondered that as well in many a service when people spontaneously break out in applause.
"What could be wrong with that?" I ask myself. The children need to know they are appreciated. I would not disagree, but is applause following a choral piece in the middle of a worship service the best time to do that? Would not a personal word to the director and some of the choir members following the service, saying how it added to your worship experience also be an expression of thanks.
Clapping in the service for a musical anthem meant as an offering to God, who is after all the focus of the worship service, shifts the focus to those doing the singing as though it is a performance piece for the enjoyment of the audience. It could actually be considered to be disrespectful of the children themselves who intended it for God; as well as the rest of the congregation who tries to maintain their focus on God.
That's probably coming across heavier than I need to, since applause as a body action can be a worshipful act. But once in a while, it's good for us to be reminded where we are and what is happening, and to realize that worship is a counter-cultural action in our day. We are saying that God, and God only is the one worthy of our praise. And for that matter silence in God's presence is more often than not, quite appropriate.
It's good for me to think about liturgy as a form of dance. We get so used to it, that we forget that our bodies are moving and giving a meaning in that movement. Standing up is more than a stimulant to keep people alert, it is showing respect for that part of the service. Kneeling at the altar rail and receiving the sacrament or praying is a posture full of the meaning of reverence, because Christ is truly there and the way we conduct ourselves reminds us of that fact. Another gesture full of meaning is the greeting of peace, which is tied to that ancient gesture of a handshake, which shows an openness and trust with another. Not only do we show there is no weapon in our hand, but we say the "Peace of the Lord," which becomes present in the very gesture. Yes we know a thing or two about body movment and gesture.
Another thing from Sunday was having the Hopes School Choir sing in the second service. Everybody very much appreciates their adding their music to our service. Sometimes people will clap, but this Sunday people did not. It had nothing to do with lack of appreciation, it probably had more to do with the fact that no one started it. And the reason no one started clapping was the question of whether it is appropriate. I have wondered that as well in many a service when people spontaneously break out in applause.
"What could be wrong with that?" I ask myself. The children need to know they are appreciated. I would not disagree, but is applause following a choral piece in the middle of a worship service the best time to do that? Would not a personal word to the director and some of the choir members following the service, saying how it added to your worship experience also be an expression of thanks.
Clapping in the service for a musical anthem meant as an offering to God, who is after all the focus of the worship service, shifts the focus to those doing the singing as though it is a performance piece for the enjoyment of the audience. It could actually be considered to be disrespectful of the children themselves who intended it for God; as well as the rest of the congregation who tries to maintain their focus on God.
That's probably coming across heavier than I need to, since applause as a body action can be a worshipful act. But once in a while, it's good for us to be reminded where we are and what is happening, and to realize that worship is a counter-cultural action in our day. We are saying that God, and God only is the one worthy of our praise. And for that matter silence in God's presence is more often than not, quite appropriate.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Sign of the Times
Don Browning, a pastoral counselor, and trainer of such counselors, writes of a change in culture he has noticed. Years ago he write that pastors were trained to suspend moral judgment as pastoral caregivers. The assumption was that when people came for counsel there was a common moral understanding. "I know what I am supposed to do in life, but I have gotten to the place that I cannot do it."
But now the culture has changed, observes Browning. When people come to pastors today, their cry is often not "I know what I am supposed to do; I just can't do it," but "I do not know what I am supposed to do."
Browning says that because people are unsure about what constitutes the shape of a life that matters and what it means to live a life that has moral substance, that pastors have to be willing to speak of these matters. "This does not mean that the church and its pastors should become hectoriing and judgmental moral exhorters, but instead that pastors should call morre freely upon those swaths of scripture that appeal to the wisdom and ethical traditions o0f the faith and should seek to help people discern what the total acceptance and grface of the gospel looks like on the moral ground."
But now the culture has changed, observes Browning. When people come to pastors today, their cry is often not "I know what I am supposed to do; I just can't do it," but "I do not know what I am supposed to do."
Browning says that because people are unsure about what constitutes the shape of a life that matters and what it means to live a life that has moral substance, that pastors have to be willing to speak of these matters. "This does not mean that the church and its pastors should become hectoriing and judgmental moral exhorters, but instead that pastors should call morre freely upon those swaths of scripture that appeal to the wisdom and ethical traditions o0f the faith and should seek to help people discern what the total acceptance and grface of the gospel looks like on the moral ground."
Friends in church make a difference
Here's something significant picked up on Martin Marty's Context
Scholars say their studies found that religious American are three to four times more likely to be involved in their kcommunity than are nonreligious Americans. They are more apt to work on community projects, belong to voluntary associations, attend public meetings, vote in local elections attend political rallies and dontate time and money to causes.
However the increase in civic engagement has nothing to do with ideas of divine judgment or with trying to secure a place in heaven. Rather it's the relationships people make in their churches, that draw them into comm unity activism.
The theory is: if someone from your "moral community" asks you to volunteer for a casue, its really hard to say no. Being asked to do something by a member of your congregation is different from being asked to do something by a member of bowling league. The effect is so strong, that peoploe whoattend religious services regularly but don't have any friends there look more like secularists than fellow believers when it comes to civic participation. It's not faith that accounts for this, its faith communities.
Scholars say their studies found that religious American are three to four times more likely to be involved in their kcommunity than are nonreligious Americans. They are more apt to work on community projects, belong to voluntary associations, attend public meetings, vote in local elections attend political rallies and dontate time and money to causes.
However the increase in civic engagement has nothing to do with ideas of divine judgment or with trying to secure a place in heaven. Rather it's the relationships people make in their churches, that draw them into comm unity activism.
The theory is: if someone from your "moral community" asks you to volunteer for a casue, its really hard to say no. Being asked to do something by a member of your congregation is different from being asked to do something by a member of bowling league. The effect is so strong, that peoploe whoattend religious services regularly but don't have any friends there look more like secularists than fellow believers when it comes to civic participation. It's not faith that accounts for this, its faith communities.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
First thoughts about Sunday
Following our fall emphasis of 7 Doors to Spiritual Growth, we open the door on prayer.
Again it is not a mere topic, it is a world; and only 20 minutes is allowed to say something of significance. Thank God for the generosity of Spirit which is given to people who come.
After reading John Kieschnick's chapter, I was actually encouraged by his frustration after reading many books on prayer. He attributes it to his personality of being a person who wants to get things done. He thinks that most books on prayer are written by people with a different personality type; more reflective. His frustration is that he cannot easily relate to their practices. Then I happen to look at Richard Foster's Prayer which begins with "Simple Prayer" which is prayer right where you are. It is "to believe that God can reach us and bless us in the ordinary junctures of daily life." This seems to be in line with Kieschnick's chapter and will probably be the direction I head.
Any thoughts for the pastor on prayer?
Again it is not a mere topic, it is a world; and only 20 minutes is allowed to say something of significance. Thank God for the generosity of Spirit which is given to people who come.
After reading John Kieschnick's chapter, I was actually encouraged by his frustration after reading many books on prayer. He attributes it to his personality of being a person who wants to get things done. He thinks that most books on prayer are written by people with a different personality type; more reflective. His frustration is that he cannot easily relate to their practices. Then I happen to look at Richard Foster's Prayer which begins with "Simple Prayer" which is prayer right where you are. It is "to believe that God can reach us and bless us in the ordinary junctures of daily life." This seems to be in line with Kieschnick's chapter and will probably be the direction I head.
Any thoughts for the pastor on prayer?
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