Christ is proclaimed!

Philippians 1:15-18New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

Some proclaim Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from goodwill. These proclaim Christ out of love, knowing that I have been put here for the defense of the gospel; the others proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but intending to increase my suffering in my imprisonment. What does it matter? Just this, that Christ is proclaimed in every way, whether out of false motives or true; and in that I rejoice.

How would you define Christianity today?  Who is the official spokesperson now that Jesus isn't walking around?

Pope Francis?

Archbishop Desmond Tutu?

Billy Graham?

Westboro Baptist Church?

Bishop Elizabeth Eaton of the ELCA?

Cornel West?

Nadia Bolz-Weber?

Rob Bell?

Sister Simone Campbell and the Nuns on the Bus?

Mark Driscoll?

Brian McLaren?

Ted Haggard?

Walter Bruggemann?

Rick Warren?

Michele Bachmann?

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby?

Pat Robertson?

Tony Campolo?

Rachel Held Evans?

TD Jakes?

Bishop Katherine Jefferts-Shori of the Episcopal Church USA?

My guess is that like me you are more familiar with some of those names than you are with others.  If there are ones you don't know, look them up!  Because these are the names of folks who have a lot to say about not only Christian life and theology, but the place of Christianity in the public and private sectors.  

And the thing about them all is, some of them we agree with.  

And some of them we disagree with.  

Sometimes vehemently in each case. And sometimes we're right to agree, and sometimes we're right to disagree. And sometimes, we all miss the bus completely!

In some way, shape, or form these people represent Christianity to the rest of the world.  In some cases, rightly.  And in some cases, wrongly. 

Now, the list is certainly not exhaustive.  I've left lots of names off of it - yours and mine for one.

Because like them, we represent Christianity to the rest of the world too, whether it is overtly or quietly.

And like the above folks, we probably don't agree on every aspect of our faith.  Some of us are more conservative, some more liberal.  Some might call ourselves evangelical, and some might call ourselves progressive.

Yet the one thing that binds us all, as Paul reminds us, is when Christ is proclaimed in every way.

When someone I don't agree with theologically proclaims Christ, I can still rejoice.  I might not agree with the small details.  I might not even agree with some BIG details.

But I agree Christ is Lord.

And from that point, the door is open to see where it is we can go from there.

God of all humanity, remind us that we aren't always in agreement with our sisters and brother in Christ, and then remind us that it is the "in Christ" part that we are bound to them nonetheless.  Amen.

The art of remembering

Philippians 1:3 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

I thank my God every time I remember you.

Have you ever gotten a letter that started with such a astounding opening line?  We don't write letters much anymore, and in fact, I've often wished that somewhere along the way, someone had taught me the fine art of letter writing.

Because it is an art.  And for me, writing a good letter, just as with some other artistic forms, hasn't been something I've ever felt I was able to master. I can write other things, but I admit I can't recall ever writing a good letter.

But I've gotten them. And I've gotten them even with such lovingly cherished, soul-baring openings as this.  Friends I've made in Tanzania really know the art of writing a letter. "I thank my God every time I remember you."

I thank my God.

Every time.

Every time.

Although it's an art form, what makes the letters I've received from these friends so meaningful is that in truth they are artless - natural, simple, earnest, seemingly effortless.  Spirit driven.

What would it feel like to have someone tell you that they thank their God - your God - every time a thought of you even comes into their head?  And to have them tell you that with disarming sincerity?

What would it feel like to say that to someone and to really mean it from the bottom of your soul?

Paul meant it to the Philippians.  My friends in Tanzania meant it.

We don't have to know the art of letter writing even to mean it.  We can say it - speak it - from our hearts.

Gratitude to God filling us up at the idea that such a person - such people - get to be in our lives.

If there is someone like that for you, maybe you could tell them so.

Gracious God, I am overwhelmed at the generosity you have shown by putting dear ones in my life.  Help me to always let them know how important they are to me! Amen

The odd couple

Isaiah 41:6-7New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

Each one helps the other,
    saying to one another, “Take courage!”
The artisan encourages the goldsmith,
    and the one who smooths with the hammer encourages the one who strikes the anvil,
saying of the soldering, “It is good”;

and they fasten it with nails so that it cannot be moved.

One of my favorite things in "buddy" movies or TV shows is when two unlikely heroes - men or women who are completely different - join together to solve the problem at hand.  When their two different types of gifts work in concert to bring about change or hope or justice.  My all time favorites are Mulder and Scully from the X-Files, he, a believer in the power of the supernatural, and she, a scientific sceptic.  

But there are others: Murtaugh and Riggs in the Lethal Weapon films; Oscar and Felix in the Odd Couple; Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson; Kirk and Spock...I'm sure you have your own favorites.

The trope of the odd couple is successful I think because we see in it a completion.  We know that on their own, the individuals probably wouldn't succeed as well as they would together; that somehow, their disparate partner makes something new possible.  It is more than opposites attract.  It is opposites working together to make something whole.

Wholeness is God's intent for creation, and here, in one of Isaiah's encouraging words of God's promise for God's people, we see that creation is made complete when we are somehow working with those who think differently than we do.

Who work differently than we do.

Who act differently than we do.

An artist and a laborer together can make gold into something more beautiful together than apart.  There is a time for the hammer, and there is a time for the soldering iron.

We live in a world where most people tend to flock more with those like themselves than those who are different.  We tend to be drawn more to ideas and beliefs that we already have than new ideas that might challenge or alarm us into a new way of thinking or being.

God however has a more complete view of creation.  God sees the whole and invites us - challenges us, calls us - to see more of creation than is in our own small world as well.

That might mean trying something new.  Listening to an idea you find challenging or threatening.  Being part of a different group or confronting yourself with a new reality.

When you do, you can be sure that God is there, ready to hold you and comfort you and prepare you for what might come of it.

God of ALL creation, help us to seek wholeness in all things, even when it means challenging ourselves to new ideas and meeting new people who may be very different from ourselves.  Amen.

Stairway to Heaven

Genesis 28:10-17New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Haran. He came to a certain place and stayed there for the night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place. And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And the Lord stood beside him and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring; and your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your offspring. Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place—and I did not know it!” And he was afraid, and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”

I'm not going to lead in to this with a Led Zeppelin video, but their image of a "Stairway to Heaven" is actually a bit closer to what Jacob is seeing in this dream rather than a ladder.

This story happens after Jacob has tricked Isaac into giving him his brother Esau's birthright.  He is literally on the run for his life now, knowing that Esau is not going to be happy with him.  

So far, nothing about Jacob seems to indicate he's a stand-up guy.  He's a liar and a trickster.  

And here God blesses him.

Here God chooses him.

In fairness, both Jacob's father, Isaac, and grandfather, Abraham, weren't perfect either and had been known to stretch the truth when they thought they needed to.  So, Jacob comes by his imperfection honestly, so to speak.

However, regardless of Jacob's imperfections there is one person in the story who remains truthful.

God.

God has made a promise to this family of Jacob.  God has promised blessing to this family.  

Despite their imperfections.  

God has chosen Jacob to be including in this blessing despite who Jacob is and what Jacob's done.

God keeps God's promises.

For Abraham, for Isaac, for Jacob, for you and for me.  

We don't need a ladder or Stairway to Heaven anymore.  God's promise comes to us now fully realized in a cross.  

The promise remains.  We have inherited a blessing that has been passed down for thousands of years.

And we are meant to be a blessing to others because of that promise.

Thank you Lord for your expansive love and promise of freedom and blessing.  Help us to spread that blessing to your world.  Amen.

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?

Matthew 9:10-13New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

And as (Jesus) sat at dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” But when he heard this, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.”

(clip of film) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXzT7od_aiI

The film, "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" caused a stir perhaps mostly in late 1960s America because of its portrayal of interracial marriage in a positive light, at a time when interracial marriage was still illegal in more than a few states in the US - at least for a short time more.  Someone in one of those states watching the film in 1967 very likely would have been outraged, scandalized, and offended by the subject matter.  Sitting down at the table over dinner with someone of a different race was scandalous enough.  But marriage?

Dining habits hadn't changed much then perhaps from first-century Jerusalem, where the Pharisees were outraged, scandalized, and offended by Jesus' own dinner companions.  

It would be pleasant to imagine that that kind of outrage, scandal and offense were a thing of the past.  Yet, while perhaps there is more of a veneer of togetherness in 21st century Western civilization, I imagine we can still be scandalized at the idea of sitting down with the other over dinner.

Or outraged at the notion of dining with the enemy.

Maybe it takes more pondering.

I think it is worth both individual and communal pondering.  Can you name anyone that it would outrage, scandalize or offend you to see sitting down at the table with your family?  With your congregation?

Who are those who are the most outside our communities today?  Who is it that still manages to shock us?

No easy answers.  And no assumptions on my part either.  But it's a question I ask myself every time I read this passage from Matthew.

Is there anyone that it would shock me today to see Jesus sitting at a table with?

God of awe, shock us into an everlasting love of our neighbors, even if those neighbors are the other.  Amen.

Faith by Buechner

A little bit of a cheat today as a full weekend with my visiting daughter and full morning left me no time to write.

Instead, a "guest" blog quote today from one who gives me inspiration each day:  Frederick Buechner.  For more from Buechner, visit website to sign up for daily devotionals here: http://www.frederickbuechner.com/qod-setup

Faith

When God told Abraham, who was a hundred at the time, that at the age of ninety his wife, Sarah, was finally going to have a baby, Abraham came close to knocking himself out—"fell on his face and laughed," as Genesis puts it (17:17). In another version of the story (18:8ff.), Sarah is hiding behind the door eavesdropping, and here it's Sarah herself who nearly splits a gut—although when God asks her about it afterward, she denies it. "No, but you did laugh," God says, thus having the last word as well as the first. God doesn't seem to hold their outbursts against them, however. On the contrary, God tells them the baby's going to be a boy and they are to name him Isaac. Isaac in Hebrew means "laughter."

Why did the two old crocks laugh? They laughed because they knew only a fool would believe that a woman with one foot in the grave was soon going to have her other foot in the maternity ward. They laughed because God expected them to believe it anyway. They laughed because God seemed to believe it. They laughed because they half believed it themselves. They laughed because laughing felt better than crying. They laughed because if by some crazy chance it just happened to come true, they would really have something to laugh about, and in the meanwhile it helped keep them going.

Faith is "the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen," says the Letter to the Hebrews (11:1). Faith is laughter at the promise of a child called Laughter.

Faith is better understood as a verb than as a noun, as a process than as a possession. It is on-again-off-again rather than once-and-for-all. Faith is not being sure where you're going, but going anyway. A journey without maps. Paul Tillich said that doubt isn't the opposite of faith; it is an element of faith.

I have faith that my friend is my friend. It is possible that all his motives are ulterior. It is possible that what he is secretly drawn to is not me, but my wife or my money. But there's something about the way I feel when he's around, about the way he looks me in the eye, about the way we can talk to each other without pretense and be silent together without embarrassment, that makes me willing to put my life in his hands, as I do each time I call him friend.

I can't prove the friendship of my friend. When I experience it, I don't need to prove it. When I don't experience it, no proof will do. If I tried to put his friendship to the test somehow, the test itself would queer the friendship I was testing. So it is with the Godness of God.

The five so-called proofs for the existence of God will never prove to unfaith that God exists. They are merely five ways of describing the existence of the God you have faith in already.

Almost nothing that makes any real difference can be proved. I can prove the law of gravity by dropping a shoe out the window. I can prove that the world is round if I'm clever at that sort of thing—that the radio works, that light travels faster than sound. I cannot prove that life is better than death or love better than hate. I cannot prove the greatness of the great or the beauty of the beautiful. I cannot even prove my own free will; maybe my most heroic act, my truest love, my deepest thought are all just subtler versions of what happens when the doctor taps my knee with his little rubber hammer and my foot jumps.

Faith can't prove a damned thing. Or a blessed thing either.

~originally published in Wishful Thinking and later in Beyond Words

I Will Wait

Nahum 1:15New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

Look! On the mountains the feet of one
    who brings good tidings,
    who proclaims peace!
Celebrate your festivals, O Judah,
    fulfill your vows,
for never again shall the wicked invade you;

  they are utterly cut off.

I have to confess that I don't remember reading the Book of Nahum before this.  Possibly I did in Seminary, but I can't really remember.  It's a short little book, only three chapters long.  But its themes are those that resonate throughout many of the prophetic texts of the Old Testament.  Loss, good news, bad news, being cut off from God, being brought back to God.

Waiting for God.

The image of the feet of the one who brings good tidings is one of my favorites from scripture.  It's a personified promise.  It's thanksgiving in action.  It's hope come home.

It's worth waiting for.

The song that springs to my mind whenever I read any of promises of God to the waiting people of Israel is by one of my favorite bands, Mumford and Sons.  "I Will Wait" captures the spirit of a return to God's favor better than many I know.  Here is the feeling of moving from a prison to a refuge.  Of moving from fear to hope.  Of being set free from bondage.

Of days of dust blowing away with this new sun.

Nahum like Mumford and Sons gives hint to the glory of the promise revealed.  The exultation from the swelling of the music and lyrics of the song parallel the exultation felt by an exile looking forward to the promise of home.

It's something worth waiting for.

Here's the video (link here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSrlOQu8bPY) and the lyrics down below.

"Well I came home
Like a stone
And I fell heavy into your arms
These days of dust
Which we've known
Will blow away with this new sun

But I'll kneel down
Wait for now
And I'll kneel down
Know my ground

And I will wait, I will wait for you
And I will wait, I will wait for you"

Everyday people

Romans 14:1-6New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

Welcome those who are weak in faith, but not for the purpose of quarreling over opinions. Some believe in eating anything, while the weak eat only vegetables. Those who eat must not despise those who abstain, and those who abstain must not pass judgment on those who eat; for God has welcomed them. Who are you to pass judgment on servants of another? It is before their own lord that they stand or fall. And they will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make them stand.

Some judge one day to be better than another, while others judge all days to be alike. Let all be fully convinced in their own minds. Those who observe the day, observe it in honor of the Lord. Also those who eat, eat in honor of the Lord, since they give thanks to God; while those who abstain, abstain in honor of the Lord and give thanks to God.

Going a little bit off text today.  The ELCA reading was a different version of Jesus and the fig tree: Mark's today, after having Matthew's last week.

So instead, I'm revisiting the epistle reading from this past Sunday.  It was one that caught my eye over the weekend, as judgment just seems to be one of those long standing issues that I can't quite seem to eliminate from my repertoire of bad behaviors!

And to keep with the popular music theme of the week, here's are little advice on judging others from Sly and the Family Stone: (video found here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUUhDoCx8zc)

"Sometimes I'm right, and I can be wrong

My own beliefs are in my song

The butcher, the banker, the drummer and then

Makes no difference what group I'm in

I am everyday people, yeah, yeah

There is a blue one

Who can't accept the green one

For living with a fat one

Trying to be a skinny one

Different strokes 

For different folks

And so on and so on..."

In some ways, Paul isn't saying something so very different to the Romans.  Different strokes for different folks.  You don't eat meat?  You do?  Different strokes.  

If only it were that easy.

I think that really of every command ever written in scripture - of everything from the Hebrew Bible as well as everything Jesus or any of the Apostles ever said, this is the biggie.  Do not judge.

Big because it's important.

Big also because it's impossible.

Impossible.

Can you remember a day of your life where you didn't do it at least once?  And probably, if you're like me, closer to 100 times.

Judging can be big.  We don't always quibble when we judge murderers and violent criminals.

But everyday people like me also judge in everyday ways.  Everyday little ways.  What someone eats.  What they wear.  What they believe.  How they vote.  Who they love.  How they look.  Where they are from.  What college they went to. How they drive.  Whether they are married or not.  Whether they agree with me or not.  Or like the same things I like.  

What church they go to.

What church they don't go to.

The truth is, Paul seems to know here that we're going to judge.  We do it.  As much as we are told not to do it, we do it.  

Even though with every fiber of our being we usually know we shouldn't.

And yet, Paul says, whatever it is we do, do it to honor God.  Even if our actions are judged by others.

We aren't all going to believe the same things.  We aren't all going to look the same or vote the same or eat the same or be the same.

And yet the same God is who we are to honor.  Whoever we are, however we believe, is it God whom we are honoring with our heart?  With our actions?  With our life?

God of all, help us to honor you with our words and deeds, and help us to remember that you alone are the one true judge.  Amen.

One Vision

Psalm 133 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

A Song of Ascents.

How very good and pleasant it is
    when kindred live together in unity!
It is like the precious oil on the head,
    running down upon the beard,
on the beard of Aaron,
    running down over the collar of his robes.
It is like the dew of Hermon,
    which falls on the mountains of Zion.
For there the Lord ordained his blessing,
    life forevermore.

This week I'm having some fun figuring out what popular songs come to mind when I read the daily lectionary text.  Yesterday the Beatles' popped into my head, and today - with apologies to some I imagine, the first thing that popped into my head was "We are the World..."

But despite believing it was a song that was for a worthy cause at the time (and having The Boss as part of it!) - instead I'm going with the second song that popped into my head.  "One Vision," by Queen.  Simply because I like it better! :-)

"I had a dream when I was young
A dream of sweet illusion
A glimpse of hope and unity
And visions of one sweet union..."

If you can't see the video here, I highly suggest going here to view this entertaining video of Queen performing this live at the old Wembley Stadium:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIqnNPfULVI

One of the influences for this song was Martin Luther King, Jr. who certainly unified this country in ways that the great divisions created by race can't ultimately legitimately stand up to - even when King was assassinated and even if King's dream isn't fully realized yet.

And Queen wrote this song not long after one of the greatest unifying concerts the world had ever seen: Live Aid in 1985.

So unity is something we give at least give a fair amount of lip service to.  And claim to want and need and desire.

Yet, perhaps Freddie Mercury and band are onto something when they say it is a "dream of sweet illusion" - at least as far as things seem to be going.  We cling to it in moments of passion and energy, yet...

...Yet, we sure seem far away from it, don't we?  One look in the daily news reminds us of that.

For the Psalmist however, that dream isn't illusory.  Unity is tangible: it's like precious oil.  It's real, like dew on the mountaintop. 

And it is ordained by God.

We might sometimes have moments of clarity where we see unity as the reality God wants for us.  We might cling to it and sometimes even think we can bring it about.  Music might help us to latch onto it, but then, when our illusions seem to fail us, God reminds us that it isn't a dream and that it is God who will bring unity about.

God wants it.  God wills it and the dream is part of God's plan for creation.  When the concert ends, and the choir of people cease singing in unison, God continues the melody and plays on.

Lord, help us to see your vision for your world with clarity and purpose.  Help us to sing on in a chorus of unity and love for your world.  Amen.

The Fool on the Hill

1 Corinthians 1:18-19New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
    and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”

As a kid, I remember watching the (apparently much maligned) cartoon movie of the Beatles' "Magical Mystery Tour."  My favorite song when I saw the movie was Paul McCartney's "The Fool on the Hill.   Although later I became more of a John Lennon fan, that song has always had a special place in my heart:

Day after day, along on the hill

The man with the foolish grin is keeping perfectly still

But nobody wants to know him

They can see that he's just a fool

And he never gives an answer...

But the fool on the hill

Sees the sun going down

And the eyes in his head

See the world spinning round."

From that moment on, the word fool never meant to me what it seems like it was supposed to mean to everybody else.  Paul McCartney would say that the fool was "a solitary figure who is not understood by others, but is actually wise."  That was the sense I got when I heard the song.

And perhaps, even without realizing it, Paul was latching onto that other Paul and what he had to say about foolishness.  Perhaps something in him caught onto God's foolishness confounding our wisdom.

Jesus died with most of the people around him - the great, the worldly, the powerful - believing he was a fool.  Pilate certainly must have thought he was a fool.  Only a fool would not take every chance he was given to free himself from such a horrible death.

Only a fool would allow himself to be put on a cross - on a hill above the garbage heap in town - to die an excruciating death.

But our fool on the hill showed that God's wisdom is life in the midst of suffering.  That the cross on that hill was the power of God.  That whatever we choose to throw out, throw away, destroy, God can bring to new life.

That God's foolishness trumps our wisdom - our proverbs, our pithy sayings, our homespun homilies, our self help suggestions, our adages, advice, and aphorisms. 

The cross on the hill showed us God's wisdom, and while we may in many ways still be trying to answer the questions: 'why' and 'how,' in the midst of it all, God says simply "you cannot know me by your wisdom, but only by faith."

God of all, help me to see the wisdom of the cross in the midst of my own foolishness, and thank you for the life it points to.  Amen.