A New Day Is Waiting In Lent

“The plans of the mind belong to mortals, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord.

All one’s ways may be pure in one’s own eyes, but the Lord weighs the spirit.

Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established.”

(Proverbs 16:1-3 NRSV)

With Presidential Primaries and Caucus’ bearing down upon us in every form of media available, I have become increasingly dismayed by those from whom we have to choose and the manner in which they present themselves. Fear, paranoia, distrust, half-truths, accusations and flat-out pandering to triumphant isolationism have become the hallmarks of far too many of the candidates. It would seem that each works unceasingly to perfect the fine art of lifting oneself up upon the backs of others, all the while convincing those upon whose backs they stand and make their living that it is only with them (that particular candidate) at the helm of the ship that the American people have a chance of negotiating these treacherous seas of domestic and international leadership . . . and the American people are the ones being drowned by their hyperbole. None of them, if elected, can alone deliver what they are promising, nor should they try, yet that does not deter them from making the assertions or catapulting new promises each day. Such is the way of those whose plans are only for themselves and their ego. Such is the way of the human tongue unbound by any Heavenly conscious and maybe that is what is troubling me most: There is little commitment to the way of the Lord outside the boundaries of their own parochial definitions of how ‘being faithful’ is defined. That is scary.

Such is the way we come to fear our neighbor, to be paranoid about who might come into our neighborhood – much less our country, to distrust anyone who looks ‘different’ – whatever that may mean, to spout mean-spirited half-truths about the traditions of others without any critical understanding of either them or their tradition, to accuse others of being ‘violent, blood-thirsty, savage or stupid’ – all the while hiding behind weapons of mass destruction and armies of others who fight our battles for us, while suggesting that if the American people stopped taking care of others we could really take care of ourselves – as if that is something any of these candidates or their vocal supporters have spent a lot of time actually doing, other than in a photo opportunity.  There is, indeed, much about which one can be cynical these days and much which could drive one to despair for our nation and our world. Yet, the word of God calls us to something more . . .

We are called to commit our work to the Lord, allowing the Lord to establish our plans. Hmmmmm.

Such is the reason the St. Paul U.C.C. faith family Lenten Journey is focused on coming to understand our Muslim sisters and brothers utilizing the Living the Questions curriculum, “The Jesus Fatwah: Love Your (Muslim) Neighbor as Yourself”.  It was Jesus who said, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

(Matthew 22:37-40 NRSV)

Jesus’ Fatwah (judgment, legal opinion or imperative) is not just to be exercised in relationship to those with whom we feel comfortable: It is for the person of another color, a different ethnicity, another nationality, differing sexuality, even of another faith. Jesus articulates these commandments as complete in their nature and within the realm of God’s expectation of us to live them. We can either live into them from the basis of understanding and compassion that our Baptismal faith requires or we can do it based on the stereotypes others cast for us in the wilderness of our existence. We can choose to dwell in the waters of blessed new Life or in the desert filled with the scorpions of our own device, yet how we choose is the distinction between committing our work to the Lord or claiming our own judgment and wisdom as the imperative.

I, for one, am tired of the fear-mongering regarding so many others, so it is that this faith family will spend some time dispelling the myths around those whom, increasingly, we are being told to fear. Come and share the journey of understanding regarding those who are our sisters and brothers of the Muslim faith. Come and hear from Islamic and Christian scholars who, both, desire to do the work of the Lord. Come and claim for yourself the choices you have to make, the people to whom you will listen, the manner in which you will live and the faith you will embody. Come and dedicate your work to the Lord . . . all of it, not just the comfortable traditional stuff. Come . . . and walk with way with Jesus and His commandments. Lenten Blessings!

Time to Rethink Christmas

Dare we re-think Christmas? Could it be that the 'Christian understanding' of why God comes to us in Jesus might be flawed? Might a different perspective on the birthing of the Christ help us move in a more positive direction in our care for ourselves and one another?

Such are the questions which have been mulling about in my mind this afternoon. I had just heard the details of the untimely death of a young lady who had been a student of mine when I was Student Teaching back in the early 1980's and that, coupled with ongoing prayers and concerns for the folks in San Bernardino, Paris and Syria . . . and Ferguson, Chicago, Charleston . . . well, suffice it to say, I have been thinking more about the 'why' Jesus comes, than the 'how' Jesus comes. Christmas has to be about more than a star shining in a clear sky over a stable in Bethlehem . . . or Santa is just a generous guy who shows up once a year and takes lots of credit the other 364 days he is hanging around waiting for his big night. The 'why' is critical.

For most of my life, including my professional life as a minister, the language in which I was steeped and by extension have used throughout my ministry is that, 'For a broken, wounded and oppressed world, God sent Jesus that we might find healing, know wholeness and be set free to serve God.' Nearly without fail, I have spoken those words around this time each year, praying they would give some sort of comfort in times of crisis for those most in need, some sort of restoration in peace for those longing for a new day, and some sort of wholeness for those struggling with fragmented living in a missing-puzzle-piece world. 

Then, today, it occurred to me that a functioning theology which requires everything being 'broken' before God is finally driven to act and send the Son is essentially a theology of imperfection with an ongoing expectation of lack and wont. Isn't that the very rationale that expects ISIS to attack, the Middle East to be in eternal conflict, that Republicans and Democrats will never get along, that Russia and the United States must be mortal enemies and Ozzie and Harriet could never really exist in real life? Where, in such an understanding, is the God who looks over creation at the beginning of time and reflects, 'Good'?

What would happen if we look again at the arrival of Jesus, however it is that you want to tell the story of how the Christ-Child arrives, but this time, instead of looking at the 'broken' people around Jesus and focusing on their brokenness as they come to the manger, now see the person needing a walker to move toward the stable as 'Good', just as she is . . . and the beaten spouse as 'Good', just as he is . . . and the soldier as 'Good', just as she is . . . and the man caught in adultery as 'Good', just as he is . . . and the woman with the breast cancer diagnosis as 'Good', just as she is . . . and the shepherds as 'Good', just as they are . . . and the politicians as 'Good', just as they are . . . and the combatants in the Middle East as 'Good', just as they are . . . ? What would happen if we look at the birth scene through the eyes of God, instead of only seeing the ones who are streaming their need towards the 'Deliverer'? What would it mean, if it were even imaginable, that God comes to us in Jesus with a priority for the 'Good' in all of us? That the purpose of the birth of Jesus wasn't so much to 'fix' our problems, but to allow our eyes to see the 'Good' which God sees in us as the very reason God would invest so much of God-self in all of us? What happens to our theology, to Christmas, even to Easter, if we stop for a moment and ponder Christ on the cross for the 'Good' in God's creation, rather than that His blood is only for covering over the evil in our hearts? What would it mean if the celebration of the birth of Jesus were about lifting up the 'Good' which God has envisioned in humanity from the very beginning of time - and now is coming, Face-to-face to underscore what such 'Good' means to God?

Isn't it easier to forgive the one who is 'Good' in your heart, rather than the one who is the dickens? Isn't it easier to live and die for those who, to you, are 'Good' for your soul as family, friends and neighbors, rather than for the stranger whose name you do not know? Isn't there more to be redeemed in the life of one you perceive as essentially 'Good', over the one whom you regard as lost? And if it such things are so with us, how much more with God?

Christmas, the celebration of the birthing of the Son of God into our world, if seen through the eyes of God, rather than through our own visually-impaired souls, is about the 'Good' in God's creation., the 'Good' in you, the 'Good in me. Were that not true, why would God ever dare to say from the very beginning, 'Good'? 

Imagine for a moment the birth narrative scene of the Babe lying in a manger, looking up with those Divine eyes at His parents, the Shepherds and the animals . . . with the angelic song resounding with 'Good'! The One who comes does so for the 'Good' in all creation, including the powerful and rich, the powerless and poor, the ones with tremendous abilities and those who struggle to tie their shoes, the blue collar worker and the white collar executive, the Amish and the Catholic, the Muslim and the Jew, the Christian and the Buddhist, the one who is conceal/carry and the one who would never pull a trigger, the Christian fundamentalist and the Islamic extremist . . . No matter who you are on life's journey, God sees the essential 'Good' in you and comes, in Jesus, to empower the Good . . . over evil, poor choices, lack of discipline, arrogance, anger, hatred, animosity, injustice, inequity, intolerance, poor health, broken bodies, fragile spirits and utter self-loathing. Still, God sees the 'Good' in you and comes to you that you might live fully the 'Good' in your soul. 

What would happen if 'Good' were the basis of Christmas, instead of 'under-repair'?

If we come to accept that God sees us, first and foremost, as 'Good', how much more inclined would we be to see each other as 'Good', first and foremost? And, how would that change the stakes of the political, religious and economic games we are playing at the cost of so many lives around the world? If we can no longer give precedence to being 'sinful' and 'broken' and 'in need of redemption' as the reasons for which Jesus comes - no longer using those images to enslave and punish others because of their imperfections before God, could we become more accepting of differences, more caring for the disadvantaged and more tolerant of the manner in which God expresses and exposes 'Good' in others?

'Good' . . . it's not just for the Genesis story anymore.

In the new Beginning God says, 'Good', again, and does so in tones we can hear as 'Jesus'. 'Good'.

Have you ever wondered why He comes? Jesus comes for the 'Good' in you - and everyone. Live like it. Hopefully, such a faith will make it harder on us all to pull a trigger, detonate a bomb or fire missiles at each other, sacrificing the 'Good' in ourselves in destroying the 'Good' in you.
Maybe it is time to rethink Christmas. 'Good'.

Something to think about on the Advent journey to Bethlehem.

  

Live the Hope - Embody the Joy

"Run, Hide, Fight"

      is what society is reduced to

     when, as a culture, we don't

     live justly, equitable and responsibly

     one-with-the-other.

When you believe you can crucify the Christ

     and you shut Christ in a tomb

     with your privilege, arrogance, and entitlement,

     the Gospel becomes muted and distant

     and others become angry, even ready to lash out.

Blessedly, God is not distant,

     nor will God be muted.

The Son comes to Bethlehem

     and the tomb is empty in Jerusalem.

Stand up with Him and live in faith with others

     as you are birthed to do.

This is not an issue of guns,

     but a lack of value for the Life God intends,

     a break down of cultural and corporate responsibility,

     one-for-the-other.

Live the Hope.

Embody the Joy.

     Lest all you are left with in life is

     "Run, Hide, Fight".

The Bethlehem Star (Shines Only Over the Christian Privileged?)

I saw it again last evening as I drove home. Just North of St. Libory on Route 4, on the South side of the road, a Bethlehem Star shines brightly in the night, each night, announcing the place where Jesus lay (in the hearts of those who welcome Him). How appropriate. It is the Kramper Dairy Farm - and the Star stands high and bright . . . upon the top of their blue Harvestore silo overlooking the large stable of lowing Holsteins below. This singular sacred sight quiets me at the end of a long day.

God is with us, Emmanuel.

God is with us in San Bernardino . . . and in the Siteman Cancer Center . . . in the imprisonments of our body and soul . . . in the shame of being abused by one you love . . . in the wonder of birthing new life . . . in the exultation of doing work you enjoy . . . in the struggle of doing a job you hate . . . in the in-between times of having no work at all . . . in the ongoing construction of our daily lives . . . in the politics and politicians with which we struggle . . . in the animosity of competing religions . . . in the community of sisters and brothers of God . . . in the beauty of a family gathered together around an evening supper table . . . in the loneliness of a singular existence shared with no one else in particular . . . in the messiness of our cow lot existence . . . and in the warmth and safety of His stable birthplace. God is with us, Emmanuel.

Just look at the star shining there along the road . . . which, oddly enough, I am most likely to see and savor when I approach from the East. Hmmmmm, that seems somehow Biblical . . .

I had just been listening to the ongoing reports from the San Bernardino shootings when, turning on the curve of Route 4, and continuing westward towards the Star, the reporter said something which, for the first time, really caught my attention. She said, "The shooters were Muslim." I don't know the reporters name, but I know she wasn't the first one to have said it, nor was it the first time I had heard this particular bit of news, yet hearing it said in just the manner she said it, I wondered, "So, when was it that we began to identify aggressors, terrorists and killers by their religion?"

I thought about it for a while and I think, in my my memory anyway, we probably have to go back to the events in the United States of September 11, 2001. Reporter after reporter, news copy after news copy, politician after politician, average citizen after average citizen was likely to have been found in those days saying something like, 'The terrorists who flew the planes were Muslim' and, ever since, the language has stuck. I wonder why?

Does the Bethlehem Star over the Kramper Dairy Farm, the Light announcing the imminent arrival of Emmanuel, shine only for or over Christians? Is God keeping track of what people are members of what faith tradition as we abuse, terrorize, make war, starve and marginalize others?

Why did the papers not say of the gang member in Chicago who shot the little boy that he was Christian? (I don't know that he was or wasn't.) Why do the newscasts not say of the man who killed so many in the Planned Parenthood Clinic in Colorado Springs that he was Christian? What of the police officer in Chicago? Or Ferguson? Or the shooter in Charleston (who was in a church, after all!)? Why do we not require to know the faith of every perpetrator of every crime? Could it be that Christians are just as inclined to violence as Muslims or Jews? Are we to assume that every crime, if it was not exclusively reported that the aggressor was Muslim, was committed by a Christian? Or Jew? Or Buddhist? Or (your religion du jour)?

As aligned with the current hot topic of 'white privilege', could it be that what is emerging here in this age is 'Christian privilege'? (We won't say anything about your faith background . . . unless you aren't one of 'us', the 'in crowd'.)

I suspect the Star of Bethlehem shining in the ever darkening skies of the nearing Winter of our existence shines there for all and in all. In Emmanuel, God With Us, God isn't calling us to be Christian, God calls us to be faithful, mindful that all people are God's people. Were God to keep 'score' of our religious tradition in relation to our sinfulness, how deeply mired and mucky would the Christian tradition really be? Hmmmmm. 'Christian privilege' . . . the new, yet ancient, way to make the other among us 'the enemy', each according to their faith. Hmmmmm.

There it is shining along the South side of Route 4, just North of St. Libory, the Bethlehem Star. It glimmers and glistens with the soft light of Hope and Love made flesh, Emmanuel, God With Us. God, be with us all in Peace. Please! Oh, and God? Thank you for the using the Kramper's silo to post your Star that we might all see. Help us to see with our hearts what You already know in your Soul and, there, be willing to lay down our assumed privilege that others might find You, too. Amen.

A Perspective on the Shootings in San Bernardino, CA

Take a breath.

In the grist mill of 24/7/365 news outlets and their insatiable need to raise ratings,

In the midst of horrific images being thrust upon the airwaves with increasing urgency that you 'see' and are thirsting to see more,

In the culture of mistrust of those who are perceived as 'different', whether in race, religion, sexuality, ethnicity, or even by vocation,

In the rising wave of political correctness, volatile issues and hot button talking points which command more attention than any attempt at being truly human,

In the fear which is imposed on a community, a state, a nation and our world in acts of brutal savagery that reduce human life and spirit into collateral damage to be counted,

In light of 14 more dead and 17 more injured, not counting the aggressors themselves, in San Bernardino, California,

And with all due respect to events in Paris, the Beirut bombing, the downing of the Russian jet liner, the Turkey peace rally bombing, and the events of war in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan . . .

Take a breath.

Breathe. Turn off the television and radio. Take in the quiet and listen to your heart.

No, this will not make these egregious events go away or any less complicated, but it will give you, your mind, your heart and your soul a chance to process on your own, without the pressing agendas of the politicians seeking support, special interest groups proving their point, media outlets trying hard to sell air time and relevancy, and fear overwhelming your life. Take a breath. Breathe out, breathe in. Pray.

A publication called the Daily News is receiving a great deal of attention this morning for their current headline, "GOD ISN'T FIXING THIS". I haven't read their article or given a moment of time to their intent, yet my first knee jerk response to reading the headline was, 'They are half right.' God isn't fixing this but, as in the life and ministry of Jesus, as in the moment He was betrayed, tried, and beaten, as in the event of Him being paraded down the streets of Jerusalem and crucified on a cross in the midst of a garbage heap . . . God isn't fixing this, but God is in the midst of it with more power, love, grace, mercy and transformative vision than any magazine, newspaper, television or radio reporter or editor might ever imagine. God is at work in this . . . so be careful of that for which you pray.

Breathe. Pray.

When you pray for Peace, do you really expect God to magically make peace occur in the hearts of women and men across the world?

When you pray for Comfort, do you expect God to be the one who makes whole the hearts of the grieving, as though it could suddenly happen?

When you pray for a cessation of war, do you expect God to silence the weapons of humankind and make merciful the hearts of those who have been and are historically oppressed by the privileged?

When you pray the hungry are fed and the thirsty are given drink, is God the one who is supposed to make the sandwiches and fill the glasses with water?

When you pray for everyone to get along, are you expecting God to meld the hands of victims and oppressors together and have them sing in harmony, "Kum Ba Yah"?

When you pray for sanity and understanding to guide the leaders of our nations, are you imploring God to mystically transform the insanity of our decision making processes and shower down goodwill for all people to receive?

God isn't fixing this, but God is in the midst of it . . . in you.

Perhaps legislating greater control over the sale of weapons would help, but the deeper issue is related to self-control, as opposed to entitlement, self-righteousness, and arrogance towards others. No government can legislate honor, respect of others, common sense or appreciation for the greater community. No government can legislate self-respect, self-control, care for the community or desire to guard the common good. No government can do for the common person what the common person must do for themselves in the building and under-girding of family, faith and community.

While we are busily assigning blame and assuring ourselves that someone else will do what we, personally, must be doing, those who would terrorize us do so by stripping away our assurances of safety, while taking credit for doing it and blithely accepting blame for that which most horrifies us. The world community is shot at, executed, bombed, and land-minded, literally, to death by our own unwillingness to accept responsibility for being peaceable, comforting, patient, understanding, gracious, merciful and hospitable with others.

Muslims are not the terrorists, Christians are not the terrorists, even ISIS is not the terrorists. We who pray to God to do what we ourselves are unwilling to do in our own lives and faith are the terrorists. We who expect others to protect and defend our faith (whatever that is) and our nation against those who are different (whatever that means) in the most humane and politically acceptable manner (depending on the day) and will not ourselves lift a finger or make a commitment or offer our own lives in the care and defensive of the defenseless are the terrorists. We who are better at assigning blame, naming the causes, and identifying the issues than we are at standing shoulder-to-shoulder with our sisters and brothers in caring for the widow, orphan and marginalized among us are the terrorists.

As frightening as all of the warring and civilian killing is around the world, the ones who concern me most are the ones who abdicate the fullness of their humanity in relating to our world as a holy community of sisters and brothers for fear of losing their own life, their own position, their own privilege and their own ease as part of the cost they may have to pay in being just, equitable and whole. No gun-control legislation will cure such narcissism, neither will prayers heal the community rooted in such living.

Breathe, Pray.

God is in the midst of the events of our age . . . inviting us to take up our cross and follow Jesus, not at the expense of, or retaliation towards, those who live and believe differently, but in the ongoing witness those who follow Him make in embracing the Realm of God in the present age. God longs to be at work in you - that the events of San Bernardino, Paris, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington D.C., Syria, Beirut, Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan never happen again.

Breathe. Pray. Live.

Live as a people of hope whose confidence in is One whose weapons are exposed at the door of an empty tomb, for there we see Forgiveness, Love and New Life revealed for the first time, all over again, as God wipes away the terror of the night and brings Joy in the dawning of a new day. 

Breathe. Pray. Live.

May God bless the victims, their families and those who tend to them and protect them in San Bernardino . . . and in every age and place . . . as we learn to live together in the Realm of God come near.