On this Memorial Day......'Good Morning'

In Remembrance

This Memorial Day, we remember and honor with heartfelt gratitude each and every man and woman in Service, here and abroad, past and present. Still we know at the same time many people are living midst losses and tragedy caused by natural disasters and human hands. In this resourceful country, we have so much to be thankful for. Still, we also bare the wounds of towns destroyed by tornadoes, lives senselessly lost or taken, unemployment, and struggling families. 

Yet it is in the midst of these paradoxes that God, our Creator, speaks to us saying, 'Come to Me, just as You are and I will help make you whole.  Come together….Join hands……Come together in peace, as you work, as you pray.  Hear your heart beat…...Strengthen your faith…..Learn…. and Listen. I am with you and I will help make you whole.'  

This Memorial Day weekend, as you honor all who have and do serve the freedoms we so enjoy, you are encouraged to spend some time with the God of Mercy, the One who walks with you and I, 365 days a year, who lives in the midst of victories and tragedies……who calls to us saying, 'Come to Me, and I will help make you whole.'  

You’re encouraged to read and reflect on the words of this beloved poem, below, by Maya Angelou. Aside from her being one of my favorite artists, she has witnessed meeting God time and again within the paradoxes of her own life. 

Today, as I give thanks for all who have and do put their lives on the line for ‘just freedom and safety’, I pray that the wounds within our own country and around the globe will be healed by our coming together, in peace, in faith, with compassionate hands, in the heart of the merciful God who lives in the midst of our very presence. And with true Hope, I say to you, 'Good Morning.'  

Shalom, Susan

On The Pulse Of The Morning

by Maya Angelou.

A Rock, a River, a Tree
Hosts to species long since departed, marked the mastodon.

The dinosaur, who left dry tokens of their sojourn here
Any broad alarm of their hastening doom
Is lost in the gloom of dust and ages.

But today, the Rock cries out to us, clearly, forcefully,
Come, you may stand upon my back and face your distant destiny,
But seek no haven in my shadow.

I will give you no hiding place down here.

You, created only a little lower than the angels, have crouched too long in
The bruising darkness, have lain too long face down in ignorance.

Your mouths spilling words armed for slaughter.

The Rock cries out to us today, You may stand upon me,
But do not hide your face.

Across the wall of the world, a River sings a beautiful song,
It says, come rest here by my side.

Each of you a bordered country, delicate and strangely made proud,
Yet thrusting perpetually under siege.

Your armed struggles for profit have left collars of waste upon
My shore, currents of debris upon my breast.

Yet, today I call you to my riverside, if you will study war no more.

Come, clad in peace and I will sing the songs the Creator gave to me when I and the
Tree and the Rock were one before cynicism was a bloody sear across your brow

And when you yet knew you still knew nothing.

The River sang and sings on.

There is a true yearning to respond to the singing River and the wise Rock.

So say the Asian, the Hispanic, the Jew. the African, the Native American, the Sioux,
The Catholic, the Muslim, the French, the Greek, the Irish, the Rabbi, the Priest,
The Gay, the Straight, the Preacher, the privileged, the homeless, the Teacher.
They all hear the speaking of the Tree.

They hear the first and last of every Tree speak to humankind today.
Come to me, here, beside the River. Plant yourself beside the River.
Each of you, descendant of some passed on traveler, has been paid for.

You, who gave me my first name, you Pawnee, Apache, Seneca, you
Cherokee Nation, who rested with me, then forced on bloody feet,
Left me to the employment of other seekers -- desperate for gain,
Starving for gold.

You, the Turk, the Arab, the Swede, the German, the Eskimo, the Scot,
You the Ashanti, the Yoruba, the Kru, bought, sold, stolen, arriving on a nightmare
Praying for a dream.                                                                                                                     

Here, root yourselves beside me.

I am that Tree planted by the River, which will not be moved.

I, the Rock, I the River, I the Tree
I am yours -- your Passages have been paid.

Lift up your faces, you have a piercing need for this bright morning dawning for you.

History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced
With courage, need not be lived again.

Lift up your eyes upon This Day breaking for you.

Give birth again to the Dream.

Women, children, men, Take it into the palms of your hands.

Mold it into the shape of your most Private need.
Sculpt it into the image of your most public self.
Lift up your hearts.

Each new hour holds new chances for new beginnings.

Do not be wedded forever to fear, yoked eternally to brutishness.
The horizon leans forward,
Offering you space to place new steps of change.
Here, on the pulse of this fine dayYou may have the courage

To look up and out and upon me, the Rock, the River, the Tree, your country.

No less to Midas than the mendicant.
No less to you now than the mastodon then.

Here on the pulse of this new day
You may have the grace to look up and out
And into your sister's eyes, and into your brother's face, your country
And say simply
Very simply
With hope
Good morning.

Generous Lives, Generous Love

Our Synod’s theme these past two years has been and is ‘Generous Lives, Generous Love”. This simply worded statement covers a lot of ground, on many levels, and can lead to many questions, which it does. The most obvious one asks ‘Does what we give depend on what we have?” Many Christians might say “No, we give because it is the right thing to do”.

While I am often in awe of what people give of their time and treasures; and respectfully admire folks who seek to do “the right thing”, I believe there is more to the concept of ‘generous lives and love’ than doing the right thing. In my reflections, four traits or gifts come to mind: perspective, gratitude, humbleness, and grace …four traits which are separate, yet intertwined. 

In the Gospel stories, when Jesus accepted the Pharisee Simon’s invite to dine at his house, Simon never expected an uninvited guest, a poor woman with little financial or communal means, to daringly approach Jesus and wash or anoint his feet…..nor would he ever think Jesus would respond by accepting her presence. I suspect this ‘low cast’ woman knew she would be scorned by others. As a woman with sins and of no means, she would not have been seen as living a ‘generous life’.  What then would prompt her to so boldly (in the midst of her possible fears and shame) give so generously? 

I am drawn to this story; to her perspective, humility, and faith as she ventured to act in response to her gratitude for healing and renewed life in Jesus. This bold, spontaneous act did not count the cost of probable rejection or recognition from her community. She just gave generously out of love.

As this woman gave so freely; so begs the question. “What does it mean to live a Generous Life?”  Is it as simple as being mindful and grateful for ‘life itself’….for God’s love and creation every day. This is no cliché. Today, in the midst of our progressive busy lives, where technology enables us to move about with little time for reflection, my experience has been many people often regret not taking the time each day to be mindfully thankful.     

The poor, peasant woman, who approached Jesus before his sacrifice on the Cross, seemed to know about being thankful, and about God’s forgiveness. Her expression of thanksgiving understood God’s grace and generous love. 

How then do you and I define generous love amongst ourselves?  Do we love and/or give from ourselves or through God’s generousity?  One of the most challenging lessons I’ve learned about giving came about by allowing another person to walk alongside me. I will say straight out that writing about this is humbling.  Much of my life had been lived independently, thankful to God for my life, yet caught up in relying on myself.  Sound at all familiar to you? 

Several years ago, following a car accident, a respected pastor recruited someone to walk alongside me during my recovery. Admittedly, I was not a happy camper about this, and in the beginning resisted receiving outside help. Yet, as I allowed another to freely give to me, I learned about being humble, and about giving by receiving as I experienced God's Spirit in our encounters. In my healing, I learned a deeper sense of life within God’s community, and how the Holy Spirit works when we get out of our own way. 

Being ‘humble’ and recognizing ‘God’s grace and generosity’ is a good thing….it is what enables and empowers us to live generous lives and love generously, within whatever community we encounter.  I pray your days are colored with seeing God's generosity in your life and that your giving comes from this very same Grace.

Generous Love in Christ

Shalom,

Susan  

Easter....A Resurrected Life

This Easter, here at English and in places of Worship around the world, we sang, prayed and worshiped: Jesus is Risen, He is Risen Indeed, Alleluia!

As we experience the afterwards of our Worship, it is my hope, and perhaps yours too; that the Resurrected Christ breathes life in each of us long after this day turns into night......that the words we heard and prayed, and the chords we sang resonate in our hearts and in our spirits.

I was reflecting earlier today on a song I heard some time ago sung by musician David Phelps. It struck a chord in me and has come to mind several time lately. The words to ‘No More Night” speak of our living in a new world with Christ where all is well; where there is no more pain or sorrow….no more war or discord. In reflection, one might infer the imagery portrayed as signs of heaven or of Christ’s return.  

Still, I like to think of this song in the present, where you and I are alive in Christ; resurrected in how we live our faith throughout our life journey.  As if our being forgiven makes a difference in how we live and walk in the heart of God’s Grace.  

I know myself this is not always an easy walk to take. I know what it means to fall and get up again, to be betrayed or feel hurt and still forgive, because I too have been forgiven. Yet the peace and joy that does surpass all understanding…..even in the midst of loss, natural disasters and pain…is so worth the commitment. 

I find it hard to journey into and through Holy Week, culminating with our celebration of the Easter Vigil and/or Resurrection, and not come face to face with the deep abiding depth of God’s love for you and me.

I encourage you to listen to these two music pieces, as they speak of God's love for us, and of what it means to walk in faith as forgiven people alive in God’s Grace.

No More Night

I Then Shall Live

May the Resurrected Life and Love God gave and gives to you and me, live within and through us, day by day. Jesus is Risen, He is Risen Indeed, Alleluia! 

Shalom, 

Susan

Terrible Beauty

Whenever I question whether the Spirit can work in anyone, I need only be reminded of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, the 17^th century painter. What we know of his life comes primarily from police records (violent altercations, weapons offenses, and likely murder) yet he painted some of the most profoundly moving images of the life of Christ.

This painting, the Deposition (circa 1600) is typical of Caravaggio’s style. There is a heightened realism, almost theatrical quality to his paintings. Surrounded by shadow (tenebroso), the characters are illuminated almost as if by a flash of lightning or a spotlight creating the dramatic effect of capturing a specific moment of time.  Caravaggio’s work is also palpable – you can almost feel the weight of the body on the bearers; you feel as though the body is being lowered into a space that is directly between the characters in the painting and the viewer, and the people are not some idealized characters but people with all their flaws and disfigurements exposed.  There are no haloes, no pristine robes. We are invited in to participate in the terrible beauty of the story.

Most people respond to Caravaggio’s work viscerally. There is an “Ewww” factor when you see dirt on the feet, the hand touching the wound in the side of Jesus. Even in Caravaggio’s time there was the all-to-human propensity to sanitize the violence and the brutality out of the Passion Story.

The painting had the same effect on Caravaggio’s audience in the same way many people responded to the violent, brutal images in the movie “ The Passion of the Christ”. We turn away from the horrifying images because we want to deny that we are capable of that. We lie to ourselves and say “That was a long time ago and we are more civilized now” ignoring the images on the nightly news (which frequently sanitizes itself).

We emerge from our own tenebroso, captured by the light of the truth of Good Friday in which we all are participants in brutal acts against God and the children of God. We lash out with words that cut and scar as deeply as any whip would; we betray, deny, pass judgment on and sleep through times of need as well as the disciples, Judas, Peter or Pilate ever did. Each Good Friday confronts us with our flaws and disfigurements and challenges us to do better.  We are challenged to see the Spirit at work in the unlikeliest of places and people, to face our own complicity in the tension of the world, our communities and even our own workplaces.

Lord, paint on our hearts the message of Good Friday, in all its terrible beauty.

Amen.

Paul S.

Come To The Table

Come Just As You Are

You are invited to “Come to the Table”!  This is not a ‘lukewarm invite’, a come if you can, if you can find time in your day or you are in the mood.  No.  This is God’s invitation to You!  It is an invite that has been offered to you since the beginning of time.  

If you're asking how or why, turn to John 1:1-4. “ In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God......"  For the moment, travel back in time to the Genesis stories...to the Word of God's creation of life and humankind.  Now journey forward into the time of Christ, and see how the Word became flesh. 

Come, today, to the table. Jesus is inviting you. The Holy Spirit is waiting for you, and God is hoping you will come.  'Can you hear My voice calling out to you, you are My beloved child.  There is an empty seat waiting for you. Come and be bathed in My love as you drink from this cup and share this bread.'

Are you distracted?  Has it been a strange week with news of wars, natural disasters and front page headlines?  Or perhaps your own week has been overcrowded with things to do and life’s knots to iron out?

Can you recall from long ago how God commanded the Hebrews to set aside this week and prepare a Remembrance Feast, and how God freed them from the bonds of Egyptian slavery? In those days leading to this Passover meal, the Hebrews were to clean their houses, slaughter a lamb, bake unleavened bread, make wine, and invite into their home anyone unable to prepare their own table. The week's focus then was on this feast. This was God’s command and invitation for the Hebrews to 'come to the table' and dine with God....and to invite other community members to do the same. This was/is the Passover Feast. 

During the week following what is now called Palm Sunday, folks throughout Jerusalem and elsewhere were busy preparing for this Passover Feast. This was the meal which would become Jesus' Last Supper. Yet, it was during those same days that Jesus overturned the money changing tables at the Temple, because people had lost sight of God calling out to them. Today, what might you and I ‘turn over’? What keeps us from preparing our own selves for God’s invitation to sit at the table with Jesus?

As they sat in the Upper Room, Jesus invited his disciples to break and eat the bread, to drink from this cup of wine in remembrance of Him. On this very day, you and I can sit at the table with Jesus and partake of this meal.  This is no casual invite.  It’s not a ‘come for as long as you want’ until you’re ready to go home.  It is an invitation to ‘come just as you are’…..and bring others with you if you can.

Come to the table, leaving all distractions, expectations, and diversions at the door. Allow the Spirit to help you break the bread and drink from the cup. Sit at the table with Jesus as you dine with your brothers and sisters. During the next two days, as you journey once again (or for the first time) remembering the Life that was shed for you so long ago, you are invited to enter into this everlasting Gift of God's Grace. It will change your life.....forever.

Come to the table and see

Shalom,

Susan

Woot! Hosanna! And What Happened M-W?

Things change. Words change meaning, crowds change allegiance, what we thought we knew becomes something else.

Would Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem be greeted with WOOT’s these days? Want One Of Those became quickly a shorthand for “wow” or “Hurrah”. Hosanna is generally thought of as an exclamation of exuberance as well, but its roots are a Hebrew verb that means  “save” or “salvation” and if I remember my Biblical Studies prof correctly it was in the imperative form – so the people were saying SAVE US, PLEASE!!

We don’t know what was going through the minds of the people who thronged out the gates of Jerusalem with leafy branches, but I’d wager their idea of salvation was not what Jesus had in mind.

The story of Judas Maccabeus took place some years before Jesus, but it’s likely that event was in some of the minds of those who were there that day. Judas Maccabeus and his brothers re-took Jerusalem and the Temple from the occupying army of Antiochus Epiphanes around 165 BCE. Jerusalem, now under Roman occupation, understandably looked for another conquering hero to “save” them.  A musical sidenote here -- In 1746 Handel wrote his oratorio    Judas Maccabeus for the celebrations surrounding the victory of the English army over the Scottish Jacobite uprising. The oratorio’s most famous chorus “See, the conqu’ring hero comes” has come down to us as the tune for our Easter hymn “ Thine is The Glory”.

I remember asking my Sunday School teacher at some point “ What happened between Sunday and Thursday?” – trying figure out why the joyous, triumphant entry into Jerusalem turned so horribly wrong. The Gospel narratives give us some clues: Jesus “cleanses” the temple, and denounces the scribes and the Pharisees saying they don’t practice what they preach. So crowds of people re-enacting the Maccabean victory probably set the Romans on edge and Jesus speaking truth to the power of the leaders of his own community [and calling them liars and thieves !] goes a long way to explaining how “Hosanna!” became “Crucify Him!” in a few short days.

My own faith journey is like a little Passion Week. It starts out with false expectations –coming to the city gate with agendas in hand, valuing things that are of the world. Then finding that the things of the world are not as they seem. There are no answers in nationalism, consumerism, or political movements – those things all die. The answer is found in the sacrifice of the self, in “attuning” my life to God, dying to my own ego, wants and desires to be resurrected in a new life. Being human, I have to undergo this regularly it seems.

Lord, lead us through this Passion Week, so that we enter this Passion Week shouting “ Save Me Please!” and come out singing “Thine is the Glory”.

Amen.

Paul S.

What the Atheist Taught Me About Evangelism

We’re getting close to wrapping up our Unbinding the Heart series. We’ve prayed individually and collectively, we’ve talked about our faith and individual spiritual journey’s, we’ve become passionate about not having barriers for people who encounter our community.  In direct and indirect ways, we have talked about evangelization.

The problem with the “e-word” [e-bomb?] is, of course, that it’s heard as a synonym for “hectoring, finger wagging and a holier than thou attitude” as Chris Stedman, the author of Faithiest: How an Atheist Found Common Ground with the Religious.

But wait!, we say. That’s not who we are. We’re learning that it is really just telling our story -- telling how being a follower of Jesus has changed our life.  As Pastor Mark noted in his sermon last Sunday, we cannot force anyone to become Christian – and that’s not even our job. That’s the job of the Spirit working within them. Our job is just to talk with them – broken human to broken human. By doing that, the Spirit can use our words to touch their heart.

I often read blogs by atheist writers because I’ve found they hold some good insights. This past week, Chris Stedman had one of his blogs on the HuffPost. In it he gives "6 Tips for Christians on Talking to Non-Christians". I might add, these are good tips for talking to other Christians as well. They quickly fall into line with what we’ve been discovering in our prayer and readings over the past few weeks, so I wanted to relate them here with a few thoughts of my own.

    1)   Don’t Stereotype. Tired of Christians being stereotyped as judgmental? We are quick to see the “sins” of someone else and not to see our own. As humans, we are also prone to believing that whatever we believe is “Better” than what anyone else believes. As the blog states “ it’s important to be patient and compassionate… and allow people to speak for and define themselves”

    2)   Don’t try to “win” the argument.  An argument never accomplishes anything because it’s about a matter of belief [see #1]. Beliefs only change when it comes from within.

    3)   Speak for yourself. AKA be authentic. Speak the truth as it helps you live your life. Don’t pretend to speak for all Christians.

   4)   Highlight the diversity among Christians. Not all Christians believe the same way about political or social issues. Christianity is the ultimate “big tent” under which we can all abide – and that’s a GOOD thing. See #1, again. A little humility about our own beliefs is a good thing.  A lot of humility about them is better. We’re all learning how to try to be the best conduit of God’s grace we can be.

  5)   Don’t try to force others to live by a certain moral code. Your moral code works for you at this point in your spiritual journey. I’ll bet your moral code has changed over time – mine has. Everyone hears the Spirit talking in different ways and at different times.

     6)   Talk – and listen – to people about more than just their salvation status. As Chris notes, “what if evangelization is itself a mutually enriching dialogue in which the promises of the Church (that is, of Christ) are put forward as proposals, as encounters, not as edicts?” Wow. That could be right out of our readings.

There’s a certain irony here in being told how to be an effective evangelist by an atheist. The Spirit speaks in many ways, in many languages, and in the words and actions of many people.

Lord let your Spirit speak through our words, our actions and in the quiet of our hearts.

Paul S.

Unbinding Data

[Tune in]

Heart-Un-Bound                       Sculpture by Michael Young

One of the exercises in the Unbinding Series is to interview someone who does not attend church to find out their attitudes toward church, being invited to church, and whether or not they’ve had experiences they would self describe as spiritual. I took a larger sample from my Facebook friends list to see if there were any trends that could be teased out and how we might respond to those trends.

  

  Question 1 asks about what a person’s first thoughts are when they hear the word church. Half hold negative or highly negative views of “Church”. The common responses were: judgmental, hypocritical, narrow-minded, intolerant. About a third held neutral views seeing value in the building, the role of non-profits and ritual. About half also held some positive views as well – community, family, singing/music, cookies. Interesting to note was that a significant portion held negative and positive views simultaneously.

    Question 2 asked about invitations to church. Virtually everyone had been invited at some point in their lives. Over 90% reported that the invitation was a positive experience even though they may not have availed themselves of the opportunity. They felt included, liked, honored by the invitation even though they may have been wary. Sadly, of those that went only 1 in 5 had a “good experience”. 80% reported being turned off by either the people at the church or by the message which upheld their negative views.

   Question 3 asked if they had ever had a sense of the divine /God communicating with them. 75% or more were unequivocal in “Yes!” Of these, people were split almost equally as reporting that the experience was internal ( connecting with the “God Within”) or external ( nature, energy field, etc).

    Question 4 asked if there was one question you could ask God and be assured of an answer, what would it be. About a quarter had a personal question about heaven/afterlife, about a quarter wanted to know what religion was “right”, 30% wanted to know why bad things happened or why there are bad people.

    Question 5 asked if there was something they would like prayed for and the answers were evenly split between: No, Global betterment of some kind, personal request for themselves or someone close to them.

This was by no means a scientific sample and the fact that these were all friends of mine may be a skewing factor.  ;)

But there were some things I gleaned from the answers and the experience.

1)   We are a community of people. We don’t have it all together any more than any other group. If we are to invite people into our community we need to make sure we aren’t pretending to be something we’re not and let our armor down so we can welcome, strengthen and support everyone who walks in our doors. We need to pray that we see each and every person is worthy of love and respect no matter where they are in their own journey.

2)   We need to keep asking people to come. They like it! Then we need to follow through and show them that we have the courage to imperfect, that we have compassion for them and others, that we are open, vulnerable and authentic. That we love one another just as we are.

3)   We need to tell them our story, not just listen to theirs. We have experiences of God that are mysteries to us too. The Middle English root for conversation means to abide with or dwell with. When we are open and share, they will too.

4)   We need to let them know that we all have questions we don’t have answers for. That this is a place where we can search together, where we can grow in faith, where we enjoy the process of searching and learning. To quote Brene’ Brown, one of my favorite writers “ …cultivating a whole-hearted life is not like trying to reach a destination. It’s like walking toward a star in the sky. We never really arrive, but we certainly know we’re heading in the right direction.”

5)   We need to share how prayer has worked and hasn’t worked the way we wanted it to. That there is no one right way to pray. That prayer is still a mystery to us. That prayer changes us. That we just do it.

      Lord, Listen to your children praying. Send your Spirit in this place. Send us Love, send us power, send us grace. 

     Amen.

      Paul S