My newsletter article changed after talking with a couple of people
affected by the events in Roanoke VA today. A word about being church.
This is not the only words that need to be said right now about how to
be counter-cultural (speaking about violence and how we carry it out
should also be forefront, as well as how to help heal a world isolated
and divided) but it is A word that God has given me to speak.
There have been other words in this space, but the events of this
morning, August 26, have caused me to change the words to fit something
that has hit home once again today.
The world we live in often
feels on the edge of chaos. Some events seem to make no sense, and we as
a culture are often afraid that this chaos will one day affect us even
more directly. Some people even feel so overwhelmed by this that they
do things that seem to make no sense to us in attempts to feel in
control themselves. This is core it seems to our culture, "I must gain
control over the things that are important to me and protect them."
There is value in being smart and measured with the things that matter
to you, but when it comes to being a community of faith, the people of
God, a church there is a different call. As I've talked with a
few friends this morning who are ministers in the Roanoke, VA area, our
conversations about the shock in their community and resources that may
help to talking about the events here in Charleston back in June. All
of these conversations have included some form of "I get the impression
that they've truly forgiven and are moving forward and aren't changing
the open door policy that allowed this to happen. I'm not sure we'd
trust outsiders so much if it was us."
Interestingly though, a
couple of the conversations moved to talking about a crossover point of
these two horrible events and church life. What do we do inside the
church that helps people see that trying to maintain power and control
isn't getting us anywhere near God's intent for us? How do we present
the alternative to "protect this house," "seize what's mine," "I/we have
to win," etc?
The big question that hit time and again was
"What does a community of people who feel they have nothing to protect,
but just everything to give, really look like, and how do we help
churches become that?" I've never been in a church where everyone was
like that, and we pondered if it was possible or if human nature meant
that the systemic issues would always just keep coming around and
"people being people" would always keep us from ever realizing what it's
like to truly be church doing what Jesus asks of us and what Acts says
the first church did.
Since then I've been thinking and praying
around Jesus' teachings in Luke 6:27-36 and Matthew 5:38-47. In this
time, I came to ponder if really requires everyone to create what church
is meant to be, or if part of the issue is that thought itself. What
if we each tried to be a person who feels (s)he has nothing to protect,
just everything to give? What if each of us lived out these teachings
and let the chips fall where they may? What if like Abraham, we risked
sacrificing everything we love to God, knowing God and trusting God to
be Love and to provide perfectly? We may never do it always or
perfectly, but what if we tried?
We claim to worship a God who's
actions throughout our scripture are based in Manna and Mercy. Can we as
the church be the place where those things live? Can we risk our own
desires and our own place, so that the Spirit can move freely? Can we
be what our culture is not, a place and a people who do not seek
vengeance, who do not seek recognition, who do not seek power or
control, but exemplify what it means to freely give as God asks?
We're all in this together
"A"
Showing posts with label Church. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Church. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 26, 2015
Sunday, May 31, 2015
Choice of Purpose
Okay, I admit it, I thought I was done with this subject a couple weeks ago, like most blog posts that make the rounds with my friends the various "Let/Don't Let Your Kids Choose To Not Go To Church" posts came in a bunch and then we'd move on to whatever else someone thought was killing the church. But NO, another round of "Get your kids into Sunday worship" posts are showing up.
So, I've made my points on choice previously, but my issue with these are that they tie into everything I'm struggling with regarding this whole "church survival" culture. There are lots of points where this culture goes astray, but this recent series of articles hits two main ones. 1) Church = Sunday Morning Worship (or at least that large corporate worship is central to the idea of Church). 2) The objective of Church is to survive, and that means indoctrinating kids into the culture so that (maybe, hopefully) they'll find it essential to their adult lives.
So let's talk about this: The church built around a large corporate worship as the only, best, or even "right" way to do church is dying. Not for every congregation or context, but as a whole it is. This is NOT what church is or what church needs to be in the new paradigm. Worship will happen, but it's quite probable that it will happen in smaller groups, or at special times of the year, or both, or connected to mission and other parts of "Church," or who knows exactly, it should based on the new paradigm be contextual, organic, and relational. And to be quite honest, for most churches, large corporate worship is not, and quite probably can not be that sustainably.
So why then is this the drum that so many beat when it comes to the ideal of "helping our children be Godly?" Probably in large part because it's what they know. For many, Sundays at church was the norm, but it also was rarely (and most of the posts I've seen state this) the only way faith, religion, and/or spirituality interacted with their life. The problem is that having spent most of our life in the Postmodern Transition, we create a false duality and over emphasize the roles of institutions which support our "truth." This is not where we are today, and certainly for kids who have spent most of their life in the new paradigm is actually completely illogical. Not saying that all kids who go to a Sunday large service of worship will turn against it, but coming to that will NOT keep anyone involved in the church or with their faith by itself.
If anything, for those who have spent most their lives in this relational paradigm of convergence, the separation of the world at the "worship hour" is going to present large issues with finding purpose unless it is supported by a connection to the rest of the world around us. At some time in the near future there will be a tipping point where this struggle to maintain and survive will be the very thing that brings about an inevitable ending.
It is though the fear of this ending that I think causes us to write so many of the posts, to spend so much time reflecting on how to survive. Yet, it seems too often rather than being willing to risk letting things that we've always known and make us feel safe and connected to our ideas of "God," we think that we just need to focus on making others think the same way we do. This is especially risky (in my opinion, as if everything we right isn't based on our opinions) when it comes to our children. I struggle a lot with parenting, the ideas we ask our children to accept just because we hold them close to ourselves aren't always ones we should impose on our kids. I started struggling with this with sports. So often I see babies dressed in school or team colours, told to cheer on "our team" just because it's "mom's team" or "dad's team."
The thing is we don't stop with sports (and even if we did, I'd have lots to say, but that's a different post), we basically tell our children for years who God is, what God thinks, and sometimes go as far as to turn God into the global boogie man without meaning to. We want our kids to think like we do, and we do it to the point of indoctrination. That's a problem, I see it time and again at confirmation age. There are kids who have never asked questions, they come to church because they're told to, they answer questions with certainty because they've been told what the right answer is, but when faced with realities that conflict with these answers, they don't know how to doubt, they don't know HOW to make a CHOICE!
We've created a world filled with anxiety because these children have never existed within a world where there was a "right" path to a "single" truth. Their world is relational and every thing that happens adds to the book they are doodling in (see previous blog posts for more on this) creating new understandings. But we want faith not to be in THAT book, we want faith to be already written. We want them to memorize the text book and never deviate from or question it.
Have you looked at a GOOD children's educational book recently? Many have more questions than answers. Most new one's I've seen aim to put kids into the world their studying and then leave them room to go find more about the questions that matter to them. We just finished our first youth literary circle here, they read the BFG by Dahl and they had so many different thoughts on the BIG stuff (Fear, Hope, Pain, Life, Ethics) that came from the reading it was hard to keep track of who asked what and who answered what and what all that lead to.
We cannot indoctrinate our kids and expect them to survive in a world where the constant stream of information means that their reality is ALWAYS changing. They need room to figure it out. The things church provides are useful and important in that formation, but the idea that the other things of life are somehow less important, or even unequivocally less Godly than that Sunday morning thing is very misplaced.
So let's sum this up before the few people who have made it this far move on:
Going to church as a kid WILL NOT mean that they'll come to church as an adult. This NEVER should have been our intent. I've seen in a number of posts the idea that when we have kids, people come back to church. There were once statistics to support this, but that was mostly part of a modern way of thinking that became paramount in the postmodern transition to the idea that our truth was a truth based on a singular path. The fact though is: if we're not going to be the kind of place that an individual thinks is important to THEIR OWN LIFE at any certain time, there was never anywhere to go but down, because as we are more able to see the complexities of the world, we look for places to engage our passions, and those places and people become most important. The church CAN be that place, but we have to make it that place. We have to let go of the idea that getting people in the door is our purpose, we have to let go of the things that make us comfortable, we have to stop trying to survive and become whatever it is our context needs most. If we allow ourselves to be moved by the Spirit that envelops all things, WE will find our passions, our children can find their passions, and God's reign will move ever closer.
<End Rant>
So, I've made my points on choice previously, but my issue with these are that they tie into everything I'm struggling with regarding this whole "church survival" culture. There are lots of points where this culture goes astray, but this recent series of articles hits two main ones. 1) Church = Sunday Morning Worship (or at least that large corporate worship is central to the idea of Church). 2) The objective of Church is to survive, and that means indoctrinating kids into the culture so that (maybe, hopefully) they'll find it essential to their adult lives.
So let's talk about this: The church built around a large corporate worship as the only, best, or even "right" way to do church is dying. Not for every congregation or context, but as a whole it is. This is NOT what church is or what church needs to be in the new paradigm. Worship will happen, but it's quite probable that it will happen in smaller groups, or at special times of the year, or both, or connected to mission and other parts of "Church," or who knows exactly, it should based on the new paradigm be contextual, organic, and relational. And to be quite honest, for most churches, large corporate worship is not, and quite probably can not be that sustainably.
So why then is this the drum that so many beat when it comes to the ideal of "helping our children be Godly?" Probably in large part because it's what they know. For many, Sundays at church was the norm, but it also was rarely (and most of the posts I've seen state this) the only way faith, religion, and/or spirituality interacted with their life. The problem is that having spent most of our life in the Postmodern Transition, we create a false duality and over emphasize the roles of institutions which support our "truth." This is not where we are today, and certainly for kids who have spent most of their life in the new paradigm is actually completely illogical. Not saying that all kids who go to a Sunday large service of worship will turn against it, but coming to that will NOT keep anyone involved in the church or with their faith by itself.
If anything, for those who have spent most their lives in this relational paradigm of convergence, the separation of the world at the "worship hour" is going to present large issues with finding purpose unless it is supported by a connection to the rest of the world around us. At some time in the near future there will be a tipping point where this struggle to maintain and survive will be the very thing that brings about an inevitable ending.
It is though the fear of this ending that I think causes us to write so many of the posts, to spend so much time reflecting on how to survive. Yet, it seems too often rather than being willing to risk letting things that we've always known and make us feel safe and connected to our ideas of "God," we think that we just need to focus on making others think the same way we do. This is especially risky (in my opinion, as if everything we right isn't based on our opinions) when it comes to our children. I struggle a lot with parenting, the ideas we ask our children to accept just because we hold them close to ourselves aren't always ones we should impose on our kids. I started struggling with this with sports. So often I see babies dressed in school or team colours, told to cheer on "our team" just because it's "mom's team" or "dad's team."
The thing is we don't stop with sports (and even if we did, I'd have lots to say, but that's a different post), we basically tell our children for years who God is, what God thinks, and sometimes go as far as to turn God into the global boogie man without meaning to. We want our kids to think like we do, and we do it to the point of indoctrination. That's a problem, I see it time and again at confirmation age. There are kids who have never asked questions, they come to church because they're told to, they answer questions with certainty because they've been told what the right answer is, but when faced with realities that conflict with these answers, they don't know how to doubt, they don't know HOW to make a CHOICE!
We've created a world filled with anxiety because these children have never existed within a world where there was a "right" path to a "single" truth. Their world is relational and every thing that happens adds to the book they are doodling in (see previous blog posts for more on this) creating new understandings. But we want faith not to be in THAT book, we want faith to be already written. We want them to memorize the text book and never deviate from or question it.
Have you looked at a GOOD children's educational book recently? Many have more questions than answers. Most new one's I've seen aim to put kids into the world their studying and then leave them room to go find more about the questions that matter to them. We just finished our first youth literary circle here, they read the BFG by Dahl and they had so many different thoughts on the BIG stuff (Fear, Hope, Pain, Life, Ethics) that came from the reading it was hard to keep track of who asked what and who answered what and what all that lead to.
We cannot indoctrinate our kids and expect them to survive in a world where the constant stream of information means that their reality is ALWAYS changing. They need room to figure it out. The things church provides are useful and important in that formation, but the idea that the other things of life are somehow less important, or even unequivocally less Godly than that Sunday morning thing is very misplaced.
So let's sum this up before the few people who have made it this far move on:
Going to church as a kid WILL NOT mean that they'll come to church as an adult. This NEVER should have been our intent. I've seen in a number of posts the idea that when we have kids, people come back to church. There were once statistics to support this, but that was mostly part of a modern way of thinking that became paramount in the postmodern transition to the idea that our truth was a truth based on a singular path. The fact though is: if we're not going to be the kind of place that an individual thinks is important to THEIR OWN LIFE at any certain time, there was never anywhere to go but down, because as we are more able to see the complexities of the world, we look for places to engage our passions, and those places and people become most important. The church CAN be that place, but we have to make it that place. We have to let go of the idea that getting people in the door is our purpose, we have to let go of the things that make us comfortable, we have to stop trying to survive and become whatever it is our context needs most. If we allow ourselves to be moved by the Spirit that envelops all things, WE will find our passions, our children can find their passions, and God's reign will move ever closer.
<End Rant>
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
"Rules" for School
There is a blog floating around talking about a seemingly college age female who is giving some high school freshmen a list of rules (suggestions) for life in high school based on her experience. I really struggle with it, in large part because the parent writing the blog refers to them as rules, and in part because much of it feels like the church rules we put in place because we want to protect "ours" from "that" culture. So instead here are my suggestions ("Rules") for students (in the school of life):
- Surround yourself with people who you can trust and who want the best for you.
- Think before you act, every actions has consequences
- Don't let anyone make you feel damaged, you are in the image of God
- Set boundaries you are comfortable with, and make others stick to them no matter what.
- Always have a person who you can tell EVERYTHING to
- Be careful how you let someone into your life, but make sure to risk yourself when you feel it could be worth it.
- If you think someone may be putting you at risk in any way, step away from them.
- If someone hurts another person, go out of your way to take care of them and show them love
- Communicate with God, do this via words, art, music, whatever. And listen for responses in the world.
- Take time away from all of the distractions of the world, it will help you hear truth.
- Be nice to those who seem concerned about you. Listen to them, and sometimes trust them even when you disagree.
- If you find yourself lying to those in #1 or #11, you may be in a place you really don't want to be. Step away.
- Say No when in doubt. If your Yes can't be enthusiastic, take time to think about what's really going on before moving forward.
- Don't stop just because you feel like you failed or are stuck, keep swimming, stuff happens, figure out what you're going to do next and do it.
- Write. Tell you story and put it down in words or art regularly. We are not just in a moment, we are our stories.
- Find community. Not just like minded people, not just people your age, gender, race, orientation, politics, etc. Find diverse people you can trust and who will push you to change.
- If it doesn't build up others, don't do it.
- Don't think you have all the answers or the right way to do something. When you feel this way you can devalue and judge others, and make it easier for others to do that too.
- Wait, think, dialogue before forming opinions. Your immediate reaction may be right, but the emotions involved in that moment may cause more problems
- Think before you post. Nothing is private, all we do is shared, see #2. Also not everyone may understand context they are distant from.
As I wrote these, I realized how defensive the initial list seemed to me. Some of these are still a bit more defensive than I'd like them to be, but I hope they read more proactive and connected to the wholeness of who we are as humans created in the image of Love.
Friday, April 18, 2014
A Good Friday Sermon Unpreached
Today I am posting various artwork to create an online stations of the cross for my church. There are many interesting images that I found as I googled the various stations, great images pointing to racism, sexism, discrimination, but done in ways that so often offered chances at redemption, showing a God whose humanity was bigger than any way we can divide ourselves. Yet, there was one that stood out and hit me hard.
When looking for something for Station 9: Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem, I googled images based on the words Jesus do not weep for me and found something striking: a number of pictures of Miley Cyrus on the first page. What does this have to do with Jesus and the women of Jerusalem?
Luke 23 includes the text for this station:
A great number of the people followed him, and among them were women who were beating their breasts and wailing for him. But Jesus turned to them and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For the days are surely coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.’Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us’; and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ For if they do this when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?”
I can't say exactly why Miley Cyrus ended up connected to this or even if the connection is direct. It could as easily just be someone who is upset by what they think she has become as some connection to the scripture. Either way though the idea of Jesus weeping for or because of Miley Cyrus seems a bit off.
Yet, this is often the stuff we weep over, things that happen within the culture where we assume we have the answers for another. We claim we weep for the future, for our children who are growing up in a land of lawlessness and sexualization, yet we don't trust God to be in control, we want to make the decisions on what Jesus should cry over.
"Jesus, do not weep for me, but for those who see something good in this celebrity..."
"Jesus, do not weep for me, but for those who follow this type of politics..."
"Jesus, do not weep for me, but for those who hear your voice saying something I don't..."
"Jesus, do not weep for me, but for those who live differently..."
Yet, when we do this we become those who decide for Jesus, and thus for others, who they are, what they should be, and how they should live. Jesus chooses to continue his journey to death in this story. He does not ask for mourning, instead warning us that if those close to Jesus could not see what God was all about, how could those who do not have Jesus as a reference to God living in the world.
Those who could not see who Jesus was were afraid of him, afraid that his choices would damage their place in the world. They believed that a world without Jesus was one they could control, but we have seen time and again that God is the one in control. We cannot choose who Jesus weeps for, because Jesus weeps for all whom God loves that are not with Jesus and for those who will not discern what God is doing in their own lives and in the world. Jesus doesn't weep because he's worried about others, but because of pain in his heart.
We cannot know the heart of another, just those women could not understand why Jesus was at peace with the path he was walking. We so often want Jesus to weep over the choices of another so that we can feel that Jesus is patting us on the back for not being like them. Yet, we see time and again that God's way is one of surprising love and grace for those who society, even religious society (often especially religious society), outcasts and despises. Not just those weak due to station in life, but also those weak due to their own choices, those who seem far from God are often closer than we'd like to think.
So let us go forth this Good Friday, not seeing ourselves as those who are right, or with the answers, but as those who do not live as Jesus did. Those who weep due to worry, not do to pain. Those who want control, and in wanting control have let the wood become dry, falling short of being the church that gave all, short of the God who gave all, short of the call we received upon creation. May we weep for ourselves, but then may we remember that this weeping is not forever, for we are the ones called to join Jesus in bringing about this new world. A world of love, a world of diverse ways coming together as God brings us together in Christ's image, not as we make others into our image.
When looking for something for Station 9: Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem, I googled images based on the words Jesus do not weep for me and found something striking: a number of pictures of Miley Cyrus on the first page. What does this have to do with Jesus and the women of Jerusalem?
Luke 23 includes the text for this station:
A great number of the people followed him, and among them were women who were beating their breasts and wailing for him. But Jesus turned to them and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For the days are surely coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.’Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us’; and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ For if they do this when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?”
I can't say exactly why Miley Cyrus ended up connected to this or even if the connection is direct. It could as easily just be someone who is upset by what they think she has become as some connection to the scripture. Either way though the idea of Jesus weeping for or because of Miley Cyrus seems a bit off.
Yet, this is often the stuff we weep over, things that happen within the culture where we assume we have the answers for another. We claim we weep for the future, for our children who are growing up in a land of lawlessness and sexualization, yet we don't trust God to be in control, we want to make the decisions on what Jesus should cry over.
"Jesus, do not weep for me, but for those who see something good in this celebrity..."
"Jesus, do not weep for me, but for those who follow this type of politics..."
"Jesus, do not weep for me, but for those who hear your voice saying something I don't..."
"Jesus, do not weep for me, but for those who live differently..."
Yet, when we do this we become those who decide for Jesus, and thus for others, who they are, what they should be, and how they should live. Jesus chooses to continue his journey to death in this story. He does not ask for mourning, instead warning us that if those close to Jesus could not see what God was all about, how could those who do not have Jesus as a reference to God living in the world.
Those who could not see who Jesus was were afraid of him, afraid that his choices would damage their place in the world. They believed that a world without Jesus was one they could control, but we have seen time and again that God is the one in control. We cannot choose who Jesus weeps for, because Jesus weeps for all whom God loves that are not with Jesus and for those who will not discern what God is doing in their own lives and in the world. Jesus doesn't weep because he's worried about others, but because of pain in his heart.
We cannot know the heart of another, just those women could not understand why Jesus was at peace with the path he was walking. We so often want Jesus to weep over the choices of another so that we can feel that Jesus is patting us on the back for not being like them. Yet, we see time and again that God's way is one of surprising love and grace for those who society, even religious society (often especially religious society), outcasts and despises. Not just those weak due to station in life, but also those weak due to their own choices, those who seem far from God are often closer than we'd like to think.
So let us go forth this Good Friday, not seeing ourselves as those who are right, or with the answers, but as those who do not live as Jesus did. Those who weep due to worry, not do to pain. Those who want control, and in wanting control have let the wood become dry, falling short of being the church that gave all, short of the God who gave all, short of the call we received upon creation. May we weep for ourselves, but then may we remember that this weeping is not forever, for we are the ones called to join Jesus in bringing about this new world. A world of love, a world of diverse ways coming together as God brings us together in Christ's image, not as we make others into our image.
Sunday, March 16, 2014
Youth Sunday Service
The following is the service they youth I work with created and led this week. It began with the theme of "God is There, Listening" and I think was a very moving and powerful service worth sharing:
PROCESSIONAL
(iPod Plays Below My Feet, pitchers brought forward and poured into aquariums)
PSALM OF THE DAY
I put all my hope in the Lord
He leaned down to me;
he listened to my cry for help.
He lifted me out of the pit of death,
out of the mud and filth,
and set my feet on solid rock.
He steadied my legs.
He put a new song in my mouth,
a song of praise for our God.
Many people will learn of this and be amazed;
they will trust the Lord.
Those who put their trust in the Lord
who pay no attention to the proud
or to those who follow lies,
are truly happy!
You, Lord my God!
You’ve done so many things—
your wonderful deeds and your plans for us—
no one can compare with you!
If I were to proclaim and talk about all of them,
they would be too numerous to count!
You don’t relish sacrifices or offerings;
you don’t require entirely burned offerings or compensation offerings—
but you have given me ears!
THE WELCOME
Leader: O praise the Lord with me,
People: Let us exalt God’s name together.
Right Hand of Fellowship
As we begin our worship this morning, let us take a moment to great one another sharing the peace of Christ.
Leader: The peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
All: And also with you
Call to Worship
Leader: Eternal God, we say good morning to you.
People: Hallowed be your name
Leader: Early in the morning, before we begin our days,
People: We praise your glory.
Leader: Renew our bodies as fresh as morning flowers,
People: Open our eyes, as the sun casts new light on the darkness
Leader: Deliver us from all captivity
People: Give us wings of freedom like the birds in the sky to begin a new journey.
Leader: Restore justice and freedom, as a mighty stream running continuously as day follows day
All: We thank you for the gift of this morning, a another new day to work with you.
Songs of Praise
Days of Elijah
Firm Foundation
Prayer of Confession
Leader: When we feel we cannot go any farther, he picks us up and tells us he knows.
People: When I feel I cannot sink any lower, he pulls me out and tells me he sees.
Leader: When we feel that the pain can't get any worse, he takes it away and shows us he cares
People: When I feel that I cannot open my heart, he reaches in and and show me he can.
Leader: When we think our lives cannot get any harder
All: I turn to him. He's always there.
Prayer of Illumination
God, Give us seeing eyes, hearing ears, and understanding hearts. May your word be like fire, and a hammer that breaks the hardest rock into pieces. May we experience it's world changing power. AMEN
Genesis 21 verses 8-21
The boy grew and stopped nursing. On the day he stopped nursing, Abraham prepared a huge banquet. Sarah saw Hagar’s son laughing, the one Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham. So she said to Abraham, “Send this servant away with her son! This servant’s son won’t share the inheritance with my son Isaac.”
This upset Abraham terribly because the boy was his son. God said to Abraham, “Don’t be upset about the boy and your servant. Do everything Sarah tells you to do because your descendants will be traced through Isaac. But I will make of your servant’s son a great nation too, because he is also your descendant.” Abraham got up early in the morning, took some bread and a flask of water, and gave it to Hagar. He put the boy in her shoulder sling and sent her away.
She left and wandered through the desert near Beer-sheba. Finally the water in the flask ran out, and she put the boy down under one of the desert shrubs. She walked away from him about as far as a bow shot and sat down, telling herself, I can’t bear to see the boy die. She sat at a distance, cried out in grief, and wept.
God heard the boy’s cries, and God’s messenger called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “Hagar! What’s wrong? Don’t be afraid. God has heard the boy’s cries over there. Get up, pick up the boy, and take him by the hand because I will make of him a great nation.” Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well. She went over, filled the water flask, and gave the boy a drink. God remained with the boy; he grew up, lived in the desert, and became an expert archer. He lived in the Paran desert, and his mother found him an Egyptian wife.
Leader: The Word of The Lord
All: Thanks be to God.
Anthem
"Who Am I"
Mark 4 verses 35-41
On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”
Leader: The Gospel of God.
All: We Praise You, Lord Jesus
Children’s Message
Read Mark text from Spark Story Bible. Acted out. Congregation behind kids make storm sounds as led along with story.
Prayer:
God who knows when we're afraid,
You are always with us.
Help us to always remember
the hope we have in you.
Amen
Romans 8 verses 22-27
We know that the whole creation is groaning together and suffering labor pains up until now. And it’s not only the creation. We ourselves who have the Spirit as the first crop of the harvest also groan inside as we wait to be adopted and for our bodies to be set free. We were saved in hope. If we see what we hope for, that isn’t hope. Who hopes for what they already see? But if we hope for what we don’t see, we wait for it with patience.
In the same way, the Spirit comes to help our weakness. We don’t know what we should pray, but the Spirit himself pleads our case with unexpressed groans. The one who searches hearts knows how the Spirit thinks, because he pleads for the saints, consistent with God’s will.
Leader: Thy word is a lamp unto my feet.
All: And a light unto my path
Hymn
Leaning on the Everlasting Arms
Sermon
“God In Our Storms”
(There will be a progressive storm created in the aquarium on the chancel as the sermon occurs)
Devon:
Everyone faces struggles in their lives. As life continues storms show up. It either comes out of nowhere or gradually builds until everything blows up. Storms are different for everyone. Whether they are illness that creep up and then affect a family or a failure that comes out of nowhere, every storm brings its problems but there is always a light at the end of the storm, something to continue your faith. Each of the scriptures talked about today, shows how the peoples faith was tested and the storms came but God and Jesus brought the light and the end of the storms.(Make clouds with shaving cream)
One can generally tell when a storm is coming. The skies start to darken and the wind starts to pick up and you know that something is coming. You can tell the storm is coming in the first scripture because Sara again is upset with Ismael and Hagar. This shows one-way a storm comes up on someone, giving you time to prepare. It allows them to prepare for the upcoming issue that may impact your life. I can relate to this because as we get closer to the end of the year, finals and the impending doom of a month full of exams are right around the corner. The storm is approaching but because I know it is coming I have time to prepare and study for them.
But life does not always give you a warning before the storm pops up. This is evident in the second scripture, when the storm pops up while the disciples are in the boat and Jesus is asleep. There is no warning for the storm and their faith is tested. They are scared and have to call on Jesus to help them. This is very much like when someone suddenly gets diagnosed with an illness. It takes you by surprise and can change your life and those lives around you. Storms affect us all in one way or another but faith and hope found in God help us get through, and keep us from being defeated.
Alex:
Everyone goes through a time in their life, wether it is a day, a week, a month, or even longer where it seems as though everything in your life is awful. This is when the storm hits. (Make rain with food coloring) When the rain is pouring so hard, that you cant see three feet a head of you when driving. This is when you have to pull over and let the storm pass. However, when dealing with intangible things, that you cant actually put in a box and lock away, this is not always so easy.
In Genesis, after Hagar is kicked out of her house with her child, she eventually reaches a point where she breaks down and leaves her child, knowing she cant do anything else. However, God hears her cries without her even directing them to him. He sends someone to help her and save her child, to continue her life. God understood what she needed, even when she did not know how to express her fears.
Romans also shows that even when we do not share our worries with god willingly he hears our groaning and is there for us to lean on and for him to help. When we think we are so deep down in a hole that no one can hear us, God can and will always listen for us.
Sometimes, as in Mark, when the disciples begin to even blame God and wonder if he cares that they are all about to drown, we begin to feel as if he will not be there to hear us. Maybe that he has others to take care of and who need him more. We may be in a rain storm, but somewhere else there are those who are dealing with a hurricane. But as soon as the disciples called Jesus’s name, he awoke and came to help them. He was listening the whole time, even though they didn’t realize.
There are times, when the storm that is happening all around us, that we can barley hear ourselves! Personally, my storm hit two weeks ago. Now I am playing lacrosse with games and practices everyday on a team that I am wholeheartedly committed to, I am also acting in Fort Johnson’s show Hello Dolly, as my fourteenth show, and trying to finish out my senior year at Academic Magnet strong. Two weeks ago, lacrosse and play started to come together and on top of that I had a lot of drama with the people in my life that I love and the schoolwork began to pile up. Then I got to take the SAT on saturday for the third time trying for a scholarship, because a five hour test is the simplest way to de-stress after a long week right? During this time I remember thinking I wish I could just open the bible and hear God speak to me about how to move past the pain, the hurt, and the tiredness that was surrounding me, but I didn’t know where to look. But I don’t have to just look to the bible, I can look to him and pray to him to help me through the storm. In this case it was both literal and figurative because it poured rain all that week, however when the sun finally came out on saturday, after taking the SAT it was gorgeous and I knew that I had made it through (Turn on light behind aquarium) and I had faith that everything would work out the way it was supposed.
Sometimes it is hard to find that rock to stand on, when out of no where it has been swept out from under us. God will be there though, standing with you and holding you steady through your storm, making sure you make it out and holding your faith and hope with you.
Brooke:
Kaos is enevitable. Pain is enevitable. Loneliness is—well I have gone to church here my entire life, ive listened to many a sermon and we all know how it is the messages start to blend together but bits and peices stick out, one piece that will always stick out to me is the day Philip said he was never lonley because god was always with him. Well , I thought, what god is he talking to because I have certianly felt lonley before. I only wish someone would have told me sooner that god is always there he is always listening and that loneliness could be a myth if we let it become one.
There is a poem by Dana Gioia that goes like this, “The world does not need words. It articulates itslef in sunlight, leaves and shadows. The sunlight needs no praise peircing the rainclouds, painting the rocks and leaves with light, then dissolving each lucent droplet back into the clouds that engendered it. The daylight needs no praise and so we praise it always greater than ourselves and all the airy words we summon.” Once adrian asked us to go around and each tell him in our own words what we thought the holy spirit was. I had never even thought about this before but managed to stammer out— The holy spirit is like a glowstick that is inside of everyone all the time and all we have to do is shake our glowstick to feel gods love a love so thick that words cannot bind it. A love we carry with us through our lives to give us hope to give us the courage to face any storm that comes our way.
God has a plan for each and everyone one of us, we may not know what that is but god stands by us leading us to figure out the path he has laid for us. Through his son Jesus Christ or a well, or maybe even the rainbow that appears after a storm God’s light is inside of our hearts beyond our sins beyond our storms and beyond our words.
Prayers of the People
We invite each of you to now take a moment and use the markers and thin translucent materials found on the ends of your pews to write down a word or two that describes a storm in your life or the life of someone you love. For our prayers of the people we ask you to bring them forward and place them in the water that was brought in to start our worship found in front of each rows of pews. The paper will melt away and the words slowly fade. This is us giving our storms to God, knowing the hope promised by our God who listens to our every prayer.
(People come forward to U2s '40' Live Version)
Lord, we bring all of this and even more things we cannot even bare to share to you. We give it all over to you, asking those things that you taught your disciples to pray saying:
Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors;
and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom
and the power
and the glory, forever.
Amen
Profession of Faith
Apostles Creed
Offering
"From This Valley"
Prayer of Thanksgiving
Giver of all gifts, attender to all prayers, help us to live as we pray. Through these gifts and our rededication to your purpose, may our lives be answers to prayer to those seeking some sign of your presence in this world. Make us a blessing, that through our acts of love, generosity, courage, and service your Spirit blesses the world. Amen.
Sending Song
"Our God"
Benediction
Go and know that the Lord goes with you: Let God lead you each day into the quiet place of your heart where he will speak to you. Know that God loves you and watches over you, listening to you with gentle understanding and is with you always, wherever you are and however you feel, may the blessings of God – Father, Son, and Spirit – be yours forever. Amen
PROCESSIONAL
(iPod Plays Below My Feet, pitchers brought forward and poured into aquariums)
PSALM OF THE DAY
I put all my hope in the Lord
He leaned down to me;
he listened to my cry for help.
He lifted me out of the pit of death,
out of the mud and filth,
and set my feet on solid rock.
He steadied my legs.
He put a new song in my mouth,
a song of praise for our God.
Many people will learn of this and be amazed;
they will trust the Lord.
Those who put their trust in the Lord
who pay no attention to the proud
or to those who follow lies,
are truly happy!
You, Lord my God!
You’ve done so many things—
your wonderful deeds and your plans for us—
no one can compare with you!
If I were to proclaim and talk about all of them,
they would be too numerous to count!
You don’t relish sacrifices or offerings;
you don’t require entirely burned offerings or compensation offerings—
but you have given me ears!
THE WELCOME
Leader: O praise the Lord with me,
People: Let us exalt God’s name together.
Right Hand of Fellowship
As we begin our worship this morning, let us take a moment to great one another sharing the peace of Christ.
Leader: The peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
All: And also with you
Call to Worship
Leader: Eternal God, we say good morning to you.
People: Hallowed be your name
Leader: Early in the morning, before we begin our days,
People: We praise your glory.
Leader: Renew our bodies as fresh as morning flowers,
People: Open our eyes, as the sun casts new light on the darkness
Leader: Deliver us from all captivity
People: Give us wings of freedom like the birds in the sky to begin a new journey.
Leader: Restore justice and freedom, as a mighty stream running continuously as day follows day
All: We thank you for the gift of this morning, a another new day to work with you.
Songs of Praise
Days of Elijah
Firm Foundation
Prayer of Confession
Leader: When we feel we cannot go any farther, he picks us up and tells us he knows.
People: When I feel I cannot sink any lower, he pulls me out and tells me he sees.
Leader: When we feel that the pain can't get any worse, he takes it away and shows us he cares
People: When I feel that I cannot open my heart, he reaches in and and show me he can.
Leader: When we think our lives cannot get any harder
All: I turn to him. He's always there.
Prayer of Illumination
God, Give us seeing eyes, hearing ears, and understanding hearts. May your word be like fire, and a hammer that breaks the hardest rock into pieces. May we experience it's world changing power. AMEN
Genesis 21 verses 8-21
The boy grew and stopped nursing. On the day he stopped nursing, Abraham prepared a huge banquet. Sarah saw Hagar’s son laughing, the one Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham. So she said to Abraham, “Send this servant away with her son! This servant’s son won’t share the inheritance with my son Isaac.”
This upset Abraham terribly because the boy was his son. God said to Abraham, “Don’t be upset about the boy and your servant. Do everything Sarah tells you to do because your descendants will be traced through Isaac. But I will make of your servant’s son a great nation too, because he is also your descendant.” Abraham got up early in the morning, took some bread and a flask of water, and gave it to Hagar. He put the boy in her shoulder sling and sent her away.
She left and wandered through the desert near Beer-sheba. Finally the water in the flask ran out, and she put the boy down under one of the desert shrubs. She walked away from him about as far as a bow shot and sat down, telling herself, I can’t bear to see the boy die. She sat at a distance, cried out in grief, and wept.
God heard the boy’s cries, and God’s messenger called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “Hagar! What’s wrong? Don’t be afraid. God has heard the boy’s cries over there. Get up, pick up the boy, and take him by the hand because I will make of him a great nation.” Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well. She went over, filled the water flask, and gave the boy a drink. God remained with the boy; he grew up, lived in the desert, and became an expert archer. He lived in the Paran desert, and his mother found him an Egyptian wife.
Leader: The Word of The Lord
All: Thanks be to God.
Anthem
"Who Am I"
Mark 4 verses 35-41
On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”
Leader: The Gospel of God.
All: We Praise You, Lord Jesus
Children’s Message
Read Mark text from Spark Story Bible. Acted out. Congregation behind kids make storm sounds as led along with story.
Prayer:
God who knows when we're afraid,
You are always with us.
Help us to always remember
the hope we have in you.
Amen
Romans 8 verses 22-27
We know that the whole creation is groaning together and suffering labor pains up until now. And it’s not only the creation. We ourselves who have the Spirit as the first crop of the harvest also groan inside as we wait to be adopted and for our bodies to be set free. We were saved in hope. If we see what we hope for, that isn’t hope. Who hopes for what they already see? But if we hope for what we don’t see, we wait for it with patience.
In the same way, the Spirit comes to help our weakness. We don’t know what we should pray, but the Spirit himself pleads our case with unexpressed groans. The one who searches hearts knows how the Spirit thinks, because he pleads for the saints, consistent with God’s will.
Leader: Thy word is a lamp unto my feet.
All: And a light unto my path
Hymn
Leaning on the Everlasting Arms
Sermon
“God In Our Storms”
(There will be a progressive storm created in the aquarium on the chancel as the sermon occurs)
Devon:
Everyone faces struggles in their lives. As life continues storms show up. It either comes out of nowhere or gradually builds until everything blows up. Storms are different for everyone. Whether they are illness that creep up and then affect a family or a failure that comes out of nowhere, every storm brings its problems but there is always a light at the end of the storm, something to continue your faith. Each of the scriptures talked about today, shows how the peoples faith was tested and the storms came but God and Jesus brought the light and the end of the storms.(Make clouds with shaving cream)
One can generally tell when a storm is coming. The skies start to darken and the wind starts to pick up and you know that something is coming. You can tell the storm is coming in the first scripture because Sara again is upset with Ismael and Hagar. This shows one-way a storm comes up on someone, giving you time to prepare. It allows them to prepare for the upcoming issue that may impact your life. I can relate to this because as we get closer to the end of the year, finals and the impending doom of a month full of exams are right around the corner. The storm is approaching but because I know it is coming I have time to prepare and study for them.
But life does not always give you a warning before the storm pops up. This is evident in the second scripture, when the storm pops up while the disciples are in the boat and Jesus is asleep. There is no warning for the storm and their faith is tested. They are scared and have to call on Jesus to help them. This is very much like when someone suddenly gets diagnosed with an illness. It takes you by surprise and can change your life and those lives around you. Storms affect us all in one way or another but faith and hope found in God help us get through, and keep us from being defeated.
Alex:
Everyone goes through a time in their life, wether it is a day, a week, a month, or even longer where it seems as though everything in your life is awful. This is when the storm hits. (Make rain with food coloring) When the rain is pouring so hard, that you cant see three feet a head of you when driving. This is when you have to pull over and let the storm pass. However, when dealing with intangible things, that you cant actually put in a box and lock away, this is not always so easy.
In Genesis, after Hagar is kicked out of her house with her child, she eventually reaches a point where she breaks down and leaves her child, knowing she cant do anything else. However, God hears her cries without her even directing them to him. He sends someone to help her and save her child, to continue her life. God understood what she needed, even when she did not know how to express her fears.
Romans also shows that even when we do not share our worries with god willingly he hears our groaning and is there for us to lean on and for him to help. When we think we are so deep down in a hole that no one can hear us, God can and will always listen for us.
Sometimes, as in Mark, when the disciples begin to even blame God and wonder if he cares that they are all about to drown, we begin to feel as if he will not be there to hear us. Maybe that he has others to take care of and who need him more. We may be in a rain storm, but somewhere else there are those who are dealing with a hurricane. But as soon as the disciples called Jesus’s name, he awoke and came to help them. He was listening the whole time, even though they didn’t realize.
There are times, when the storm that is happening all around us, that we can barley hear ourselves! Personally, my storm hit two weeks ago. Now I am playing lacrosse with games and practices everyday on a team that I am wholeheartedly committed to, I am also acting in Fort Johnson’s show Hello Dolly, as my fourteenth show, and trying to finish out my senior year at Academic Magnet strong. Two weeks ago, lacrosse and play started to come together and on top of that I had a lot of drama with the people in my life that I love and the schoolwork began to pile up. Then I got to take the SAT on saturday for the third time trying for a scholarship, because a five hour test is the simplest way to de-stress after a long week right? During this time I remember thinking I wish I could just open the bible and hear God speak to me about how to move past the pain, the hurt, and the tiredness that was surrounding me, but I didn’t know where to look. But I don’t have to just look to the bible, I can look to him and pray to him to help me through the storm. In this case it was both literal and figurative because it poured rain all that week, however when the sun finally came out on saturday, after taking the SAT it was gorgeous and I knew that I had made it through (Turn on light behind aquarium) and I had faith that everything would work out the way it was supposed.
Sometimes it is hard to find that rock to stand on, when out of no where it has been swept out from under us. God will be there though, standing with you and holding you steady through your storm, making sure you make it out and holding your faith and hope with you.
Brooke:
Kaos is enevitable. Pain is enevitable. Loneliness is—well I have gone to church here my entire life, ive listened to many a sermon and we all know how it is the messages start to blend together but bits and peices stick out, one piece that will always stick out to me is the day Philip said he was never lonley because god was always with him. Well , I thought, what god is he talking to because I have certianly felt lonley before. I only wish someone would have told me sooner that god is always there he is always listening and that loneliness could be a myth if we let it become one.
There is a poem by Dana Gioia that goes like this, “The world does not need words. It articulates itslef in sunlight, leaves and shadows. The sunlight needs no praise peircing the rainclouds, painting the rocks and leaves with light, then dissolving each lucent droplet back into the clouds that engendered it. The daylight needs no praise and so we praise it always greater than ourselves and all the airy words we summon.” Once adrian asked us to go around and each tell him in our own words what we thought the holy spirit was. I had never even thought about this before but managed to stammer out— The holy spirit is like a glowstick that is inside of everyone all the time and all we have to do is shake our glowstick to feel gods love a love so thick that words cannot bind it. A love we carry with us through our lives to give us hope to give us the courage to face any storm that comes our way.
God has a plan for each and everyone one of us, we may not know what that is but god stands by us leading us to figure out the path he has laid for us. Through his son Jesus Christ or a well, or maybe even the rainbow that appears after a storm God’s light is inside of our hearts beyond our sins beyond our storms and beyond our words.
Prayers of the People
We invite each of you to now take a moment and use the markers and thin translucent materials found on the ends of your pews to write down a word or two that describes a storm in your life or the life of someone you love. For our prayers of the people we ask you to bring them forward and place them in the water that was brought in to start our worship found in front of each rows of pews. The paper will melt away and the words slowly fade. This is us giving our storms to God, knowing the hope promised by our God who listens to our every prayer.
(People come forward to U2s '40' Live Version)
Lord, we bring all of this and even more things we cannot even bare to share to you. We give it all over to you, asking those things that you taught your disciples to pray saying:
Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors;
and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom
and the power
and the glory, forever.
Amen
Profession of Faith
Apostles Creed
Offering
"From This Valley"
Prayer of Thanksgiving
Giver of all gifts, attender to all prayers, help us to live as we pray. Through these gifts and our rededication to your purpose, may our lives be answers to prayer to those seeking some sign of your presence in this world. Make us a blessing, that through our acts of love, generosity, courage, and service your Spirit blesses the world. Amen.
Sending Song
"Our God"
Benediction
Go and know that the Lord goes with you: Let God lead you each day into the quiet place of your heart where he will speak to you. Know that God loves you and watches over you, listening to you with gentle understanding and is with you always, wherever you are and however you feel, may the blessings of God – Father, Son, and Spirit – be yours forever. Amen
Saturday, December 28, 2013
NEW
Happy New Year! It is time for a new start. Of course that start is built on everything that has happened before and as much as we'd like a reset button, there just isn't one on life. So we start anew mentally, but in reality we're continuing on a path that has been moving forward since well before we ever were part of this physical existence.
Yet, all things are becoming new. That is where the path takes us, towards something new, something God intends that we have yet to fully be able to understand. So we peak at the things we see that may speak to what God is up to. We look at a world that is changing rapidly around us and we remember that our God tells us time and again "Do not fear" even as we wonder what all these new things mean for us. We are told this because God does have a plan, which will happen regardless of our willingness to go with it.
Yet we're reminded that faith(fulness) is all about discerning and acting along with the ways of God. So that means placing others before ourselves, looking out for all in need, and pursuing justice in God's name. It means being part of our community, not just the community of faith, but part of the world that is God's community of faith, God's world made up of all of these different people, all of whom are as much in God's image as you or me.
Many of you heard me talk about the "new" paradigm. This is a place where God's relational relevance needs to be at the forefront of who we are. We are to be people who are making all things new. Who are moving forward in the ways of God. We don't know exactly what the end looks like and we cannot assume to be able to understand that end, but we can act as we are able in the here and now trusting that God knows what "New" really looks like.
May we make the New Year not a beginning or an end, but a commitment to doing things that make the world and ourselves new everyday. We're all in this together.
Yet, all things are becoming new. That is where the path takes us, towards something new, something God intends that we have yet to fully be able to understand. So we peak at the things we see that may speak to what God is up to. We look at a world that is changing rapidly around us and we remember that our God tells us time and again "Do not fear" even as we wonder what all these new things mean for us. We are told this because God does have a plan, which will happen regardless of our willingness to go with it.
Yet we're reminded that faith(fulness) is all about discerning and acting along with the ways of God. So that means placing others before ourselves, looking out for all in need, and pursuing justice in God's name. It means being part of our community, not just the community of faith, but part of the world that is God's community of faith, God's world made up of all of these different people, all of whom are as much in God's image as you or me.
Many of you heard me talk about the "new" paradigm. This is a place where God's relational relevance needs to be at the forefront of who we are. We are to be people who are making all things new. Who are moving forward in the ways of God. We don't know exactly what the end looks like and we cannot assume to be able to understand that end, but we can act as we are able in the here and now trusting that God knows what "New" really looks like.
May we make the New Year not a beginning or an end, but a commitment to doing things that make the world and ourselves new everyday. We're all in this together.
Sunday, December 15, 2013
12/15 sermon base.
The actual sermon took more twists and turns but this is the basic outline.
Scriptures:
Isaiah 61:1-3
Matthew 9:35-10:11, 40-42
Today there are a few “different words” that I will use in this sermon: Paradigm, Apostle, and Advent. So let's define them a bit before we really get started.
We are currently in Advent, during a new paradigm, and we're called to be apostles. That is what we hear in scripture and what we're going to talk about today.
I have a real passion when it comes to the long view of things. Some of you may have noticed the time-line that had been on the bulletin board in the main hallway throughout the fall. One of the main things I loved about it was how it made it visually clear how things we feel are ancient history aren't really all that long ago. For example the birth-date of a 75 year old is closer in time to the date of Abraham Lincoln's death than it is to today. Paradigms are interesting to me because they look at norms that continue for even longer periods of time than that, things that change (not all at once mind you) every 500 years or so. This is important because many of those who study these things feel that we have reached a point where the previous paradigm and the transitional period (known currently as Modernity and the Post-Modern transition) have given way to this new paradigm that has taken shape around us. So that's where we are in the big picture. Phillis Tickle when discussing churches during changing paradigms refers to them as rummage sales, times that churches end up having to put everything out and let go of all that's not utterly important, just holding on to the parts that are essential to the new norms of the time and place. This often comes across as Rodger Nikiosia says in forms that are full of fear of loss and death, but each time throughout history that it has happened, the church comes out stronger. We see this fear on social media regularly when what people post is created in such a way to cause defensive, fearful reactions from those who disagree or are on another side. This divides us and we give up control to outside sources instead of trusting a God who has always been working through the long view of things. So instead of being afraid, or worried, or beaten down and discouraged, what should we be doing? Well I think if we take these texts we read today (as well as many others that I didn't include today because I didn't want to make worship last for hours on end) and look at them in the context of the pillars of the new paradigm, I think we'll find a handful of things that are essential to being church (and doing it well) as we go forward.
Jesus sends out the 12 to do the work that needed to be done. In Mark this sending comes right after Jesus reads the Isiah text we also read this morning. That promise that came to life in Jesus was central to the work Jesus sends them out to do. Likewise it is central to the work we're called to do. We are called to take care of those in need, and that is at the end of the day everyone. To not do this for anything we can receive from doing so, but because it is what shows God's glory and intent for creation. We are to connect to all who are part of our lives, and reach out to all who have need. We are called to be apostles. To Go Out, To Go Connect and Bond with those outside our faith community here, To go hear the stories of others and share the fulness of our own stories, to go be church taking no more than what is essential, To go together and serve with those outside our walls. The church in the world today has to be a church that Goes, even as we wait. If we embrace this call, we are answering the call of God, and doing that which we were made to do. For waiting is never passive, the prophets remind us of that time and again, it is always about going, going to the world right around us and being church, not for them, but being church with them, so that they may understand who this God is on which we wait. We must Go and do what it is we were made to do. Love and Serve the world. AMEN.
Isaiah 61:1-3
Matthew 9:35-10:11, 40-42
Today there are a few “different words” that I will use in this sermon: Paradigm, Apostle, and Advent. So let's define them a bit before we really get started.
- Advent – A time of waiting on what an expected coming.
- Apostle – One sent out
- Paradigm - “the norm” of how/why things work in a particular time/place.
We are currently in Advent, during a new paradigm, and we're called to be apostles. That is what we hear in scripture and what we're going to talk about today.
I have a real passion when it comes to the long view of things. Some of you may have noticed the time-line that had been on the bulletin board in the main hallway throughout the fall. One of the main things I loved about it was how it made it visually clear how things we feel are ancient history aren't really all that long ago. For example the birth-date of a 75 year old is closer in time to the date of Abraham Lincoln's death than it is to today. Paradigms are interesting to me because they look at norms that continue for even longer periods of time than that, things that change (not all at once mind you) every 500 years or so. This is important because many of those who study these things feel that we have reached a point where the previous paradigm and the transitional period (known currently as Modernity and the Post-Modern transition) have given way to this new paradigm that has taken shape around us. So that's where we are in the big picture. Phillis Tickle when discussing churches during changing paradigms refers to them as rummage sales, times that churches end up having to put everything out and let go of all that's not utterly important, just holding on to the parts that are essential to the new norms of the time and place. This often comes across as Rodger Nikiosia says in forms that are full of fear of loss and death, but each time throughout history that it has happened, the church comes out stronger. We see this fear on social media regularly when what people post is created in such a way to cause defensive, fearful reactions from those who disagree or are on another side. This divides us and we give up control to outside sources instead of trusting a God who has always been working through the long view of things. So instead of being afraid, or worried, or beaten down and discouraged, what should we be doing? Well I think if we take these texts we read today (as well as many others that I didn't include today because I didn't want to make worship last for hours on end) and look at them in the context of the pillars of the new paradigm, I think we'll find a handful of things that are essential to being church (and doing it well) as we go forward.
- We must focus on building authentic relationships outside the church doors. This is pretty simple. We've got to Engage people where they are. We cannot be a closed door community waiting for people to come to us, or even expecting that others will find value in an invitation to join us. We've got to go and be with people, getting our hands dirty along side of them. This begins with those we see everyday. The new paradigm is built on a relational life. A life where connections and trust are built one on one in the everyday parts of life. This echos Jesus's sending of the 12. They go to where people already are and just join in that life.
- Part of joining in the life of others is the sharing of stories. We live in a world where very few spend their entire life in one place and this transient nature of life means that we all have had very different experiences that have taught us often very different things about life. Thus it is that we must share stories of our experiences with one another while listening and validating the experiences we hear from others. Many people, if not most of us, connect to those descriptors we read in Isiah. We feel beaten down, we feel hurt, we feel damaged, but all of these experiences come from our very different paths and different reactions to those experiences. We need to remember that none of us have all the answers, and those with different experiences are not wrong, misguided, or lost. We all are seeking after mystery, those things that scripture tells us that we can only see dimly through the looking glass, as we all seek, knock, and look for answers about ourselves, our world, and God. This comes to the forefront in our new paradigm because people are more okay with not knowing all the specifics than ever before because there really is so little we really know. To share our stories and listen to those of others help all of us see a bit more clearly what God may be up to in both our personal lives and the big picture.
- There is though one thing that God is always about, and it's one place the church should be always at the forefront of: Placing others before ourselves and understanding what is “ours” is really to be shared freely. This is hard, because even with a change in paradigm, it is still very counter cultural. Wanting to not be in need, to not hurt, to feel safe and secure and in control are very much the cultural norm. Yet the open source movement and how it has moved toward more general acceptance in recent years is an example that the world is looking for the freedom that comes from this (very biblical) freely giving. Open source is when someone creates something, and instead of copyrighting it, they aim to share it and allow others to use it as desired. Things like this and the crowd sourcing of projects (when small donations are all that make up the funding for major things like movies, music, art, education, etc.) show me a world looking for a different kind of life, and in doing so I think point towards a central tenet of Jesus's life. Jesus takes on fear, division, and control by taking the idea of sharing and giving to the extreme, giving his entire life for us. Thus likewise we need to remember Jesus's reminder that nothing is truly ours, but everything belongs to God with the intent that it point to God's glory, to bring Good news as both Isaiah and the end of Matthew (and Micah, and Amos, and on and on) state which is the core of what God's glory looks like.
- So far this seems pretty normal for most of us, and I hope this does to, but the initial statement may sound a bit shocking: Don't aim to bring them to church. Instead go be church with them, and let the connections to the community of faith come naturally. Also along these lines, help the leadership of the church provide the opportunities for those who you are being church for that they need. This is apostleship at its core, not going and saying “come see Jesus” like the angels did for the shepherds, but taking Jesus, and the church out in all we do. The disciples are now apostles in Matthew because they are sent out, going out to take the work of faith to others. And those who can do this work of faith or even talk about faith are not limited to those of us who preach, teach, or have other leadership positions here in this place, but every single person in every single pew here is a leader in faith. I say this with confidence because we have entered a paradigm where my title doesn't make me an expert, my position doesn't make me an expert, the only thing that helps people feel I know what I'm talking about is their experiences with me. What you do speaks to others louder and more clearly to those you have relationships with about who God is than anything I can ever say. So whatever we do, be it eat, drink, work, play, whatever, let us do it with an honest effort to doing so in a way that we each discern brings glory to God. By doing this in our everyday life, we expand the reach of the church far beyond the programs and experiences we have here.
- This though has to connect to the last thing that Church in the new paradigm must be doing: We must make time together serving, sharing, making memories, and creating mementos of togetherness with one another as a community of faith. I hear lots of rants, some from my own mouth, about how technology has divided us, how it keeps us from really interacting. Yet, let us not forget how connected people of the past paradigm could be connected to the visual or the audible word. Yes, things are changing. Yes, it has been shown time and again that for many social media and smart-phones increase feelings of loneliness and increase the competitiveness and comparativeness between lives. But no, it's not bringing an end to the physical connection or to deep communication. Rather, history shows us that when technology increases so does the desire for the physical. We want things that make us feel connected to one another and to those special moments in time. High tech leads to High touch. We long for ways to fill the prison of aloneness, and we pick all kinds of physical things to try to fill that void. Yet the only physical that really helps fill those holes is the touch of another, be it person to person or the physical things that bring us close to a time and place where that person to person closeness happened. I have a number of things that connect me to those I care most about, things that when I see them I reach out and I feel good about life and my place in it, I feel loved. These are things made by those I love, or created in times where we were most connected. This means the church should be a place focused on moments of togetherness, but also creating physical things that remind us of our connection to one another and the depth of love shared in these moments. So we must be about creating time together where we serve, where we share, where we make memories with one another where one cannot separate the moment from the people.
Jesus sends out the 12 to do the work that needed to be done. In Mark this sending comes right after Jesus reads the Isiah text we also read this morning. That promise that came to life in Jesus was central to the work Jesus sends them out to do. Likewise it is central to the work we're called to do. We are called to take care of those in need, and that is at the end of the day everyone. To not do this for anything we can receive from doing so, but because it is what shows God's glory and intent for creation. We are to connect to all who are part of our lives, and reach out to all who have need. We are called to be apostles. To Go Out, To Go Connect and Bond with those outside our faith community here, To go hear the stories of others and share the fulness of our own stories, to go be church taking no more than what is essential, To go together and serve with those outside our walls. The church in the world today has to be a church that Goes, even as we wait. If we embrace this call, we are answering the call of God, and doing that which we were made to do. For waiting is never passive, the prophets remind us of that time and again, it is always about going, going to the world right around us and being church, not for them, but being church with them, so that they may understand who this God is on which we wait. We must Go and do what it is we were made to do. Love and Serve the world. AMEN.
Thursday, October 31, 2013
Is **Fill In The Blank** Killing the Church?
I read an article this morning. It's main point was that when churches isolate/segregate certain demographics within the church through programs, or when certain demographics have programs that isolate/segregate them from the larger church, it becomes harder to actually be the church and build real community.
The problem is that it was titled "Is __________ killing the Church." That was not the main point being made, it was a sensationalist headline and one that turned at least half of the responses to it against it completely. Suddenly what is basically a singular story from an individual's moment of reconsidering the effects of a style of ministry was seen as another "Us vs Them" ideological issue to get up in arms about.
Seriously, the article wasn't all that deep in the first place, it didn't go beyond that one individual's "oh, hmmmm" moment. It didn't offer suggestions for integrating developmental needs with community life, and it didn't point to any of the things that cause certain parts of any ministry to be isolating/segregating, and it NEVER said that the church was dying.
So my rebuttal is as follows:
1. The Church is not dying. It just is not. What church is and how it functions is, like most other things, adjusting to a new paradigm. If you feel like something is hitting the church hard foundationally, it's just because new paradigms shake down old power structures and reform them. It'll be just fine, God's work has survived and thrived through paradigm shifts before. The people and the process just had to change. We can do that together. Which brings me to point 2.
2. The point of the actual text of the article is kind of a "well duh" for me, read the first paragraph I wrote here again and it should seem kind of obvious. We need to be able to be a diverse community where all are "in this together" regardless of differences. Yet, this was not a "well duh" for the author, this is still authentic experience, and that is important to respect.
3. "Us vs Them" and sensationalism kills that respect that is essential for dialogue, and thus for community. We're not in this together when we're turning someone's experience into an ideological viewpoint.
4. With that said, I would love to talk with the person who wrote the headline, so I can understand the choice they made and the experiences that lead them to that choice. Because nothing is cut and dry when it comes to what we do, there isn't this single "always right for everyone" way to do things. What is the "right way" is discerned in community, and will be different in some ways for just about every situation.
5. That's actually the value in not having much of how the "change these things" or any "these are the things that cause this" lists. Those lists will be slightly different for everyone who reads it, the blanket "how to" does not work. Yet, sometimes starting points are helpful. Which is why I just filled up facebook with this post.
6. We do need to think about what things in our church contribute to any group not interacting as fully as they could. We do need to see that from both the perspective of the community(church) and the perspective of the group that is "less connected." We need to be intentional about helping the whole community(church) see why what is may not be "best" and help everyone move forward together. This is slow discerning work, it changes and molds over time. What works right off the bat may not continue to work as even short periods of time pass, that though is the nature of community, the nature of church, the nature of God's work. And that what we're all up to, and we are "all in this together."
(This post was initially posted on FB without a link to the original article (which is from 2010 and why it's making the rounds today I'll never know), as though it was inspiration for this post, credit should be given. The original article can be found at http://www.christiancentury.org/blogs/archive/2010-02/youth-ministry-killing-church)
The problem is that it was titled "Is __________ killing the Church." That was not the main point being made, it was a sensationalist headline and one that turned at least half of the responses to it against it completely. Suddenly what is basically a singular story from an individual's moment of reconsidering the effects of a style of ministry was seen as another "Us vs Them" ideological issue to get up in arms about.
Seriously, the article wasn't all that deep in the first place, it didn't go beyond that one individual's "oh, hmmmm" moment. It didn't offer suggestions for integrating developmental needs with community life, and it didn't point to any of the things that cause certain parts of any ministry to be isolating/segregating, and it NEVER said that the church was dying.
So my rebuttal is as follows:
1. The Church is not dying. It just is not. What church is and how it functions is, like most other things, adjusting to a new paradigm. If you feel like something is hitting the church hard foundationally, it's just because new paradigms shake down old power structures and reform them. It'll be just fine, God's work has survived and thrived through paradigm shifts before. The people and the process just had to change. We can do that together. Which brings me to point 2.
2. The point of the actual text of the article is kind of a "well duh" for me, read the first paragraph I wrote here again and it should seem kind of obvious. We need to be able to be a diverse community where all are "in this together" regardless of differences. Yet, this was not a "well duh" for the author, this is still authentic experience, and that is important to respect.
3. "Us vs Them" and sensationalism kills that respect that is essential for dialogue, and thus for community. We're not in this together when we're turning someone's experience into an ideological viewpoint.
4. With that said, I would love to talk with the person who wrote the headline, so I can understand the choice they made and the experiences that lead them to that choice. Because nothing is cut and dry when it comes to what we do, there isn't this single "always right for everyone" way to do things. What is the "right way" is discerned in community, and will be different in some ways for just about every situation.
5. That's actually the value in not having much of how the "change these things" or any "these are the things that cause this" lists. Those lists will be slightly different for everyone who reads it, the blanket "how to" does not work. Yet, sometimes starting points are helpful. Which is why I just filled up facebook with this post.
6. We do need to think about what things in our church contribute to any group not interacting as fully as they could. We do need to see that from both the perspective of the community(church) and the perspective of the group that is "less connected." We need to be intentional about helping the whole community(church) see why what is may not be "best" and help everyone move forward together. This is slow discerning work, it changes and molds over time. What works right off the bat may not continue to work as even short periods of time pass, that though is the nature of community, the nature of church, the nature of God's work. And that what we're all up to, and we are "all in this together."
(This post was initially posted on FB without a link to the original article (which is from 2010 and why it's making the rounds today I'll never know), as though it was inspiration for this post, credit should be given. The original article can be found at http://www.christiancentury.org/blogs/archive/2010-02/youth-ministry-killing-church)
Friday, May 31, 2013
A Poem Against the Powers of Control and Division
A Poem Against the Powers of Control and Division
- I could have set this to a tune, but I think it's more in need of a Dr. Seuss style artist than music.
©2013 A Williams
We like it when things we can cleanly
divide
For all things to sit on only one side
That which is evil versus that which is
good
As we have determined, just as You
“would”
For you've told each of us the other to
love
And of laws handed on down from above
So this person should go on, be with
like minds
They're not connected to our tie that
binds
But this one would be better off
joining us
Since they think this way, they won't
make a fuss
They're better than them you can see it
so clear
Bring them on over to be with us here
We are God's real church, as it's been
throughout time
We've figured out every reason and
rhyme
So come on over and try some of our
wine
It's so much finer than on what they
dine
For Obviously we're in God's image here
Just look at us, we are right, it's so
clear
All can see, God has made it plain as
clear day
We are the winners, there's no other
way
The fruits of the spirit, so fine and
so true
You'll find them in us, all bad we
eschew
The fruits of the flesh? You are
kidding me right?
We're not divisive, not here for a
fight.
Maybe if we'd all just look a little
bit deeper
And stop picking sides, playing grim
reaper
Maybe we'd see we're full of fruits of
the flesh
Not of the spirit who will still
refresh
Step out of the places of power,
control
Give up all safety to love's single
soul
Risk all that we have to find God's
unity
Admit we need “them” for community
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Some thoughts on the Church Going Forward (Are we the primary home of spiritual nourishment?)
The Church is a bit like the family farm that is now surrounded by subdivisions. We may still serve the "family" well, but we're now disconnected from the community around us. Those outside see value in what we have, but more often they just pass by wondering about the old family that seems out of place, or maybe complaining about the old broken down tractors (programs) that they see in our front yard. We keep going along living life the way we do because it seems to work “for us” but with a call to the world as well as each other, we have to realize that our neighbors, who we used to chase cows with or who provided the fire wood that we now have to cut ourselves in exchange for veggies aren't there anymore. The community of the world we are part of has changed and we have to change as well.
Think if you will of when your neighbors move, the new neighbors still fill the same “position” but they most likely serve in different roles within the community. As such, the community changes, if the person who mowed the lawns moves away and the new neighbor doesn't own a lawnmower, someone steps into that role, or everyone has to figure out a way to accomplish what the need. You don't have to be the person to mow lawns, but at minimum you have to now mow your own or hire someone else.
So how does this apply back to the church? Well let's go back to the farm analogy: If we as the church began as a place that supplied the local community with a needed service, but have as time has changed become disconnected from the changing needs of our community, we need to consider what the community currently sees us as. If we are the now “family farm” taking care of itself mainly and seen a place filled with things from a time gone by, we're no longer doing what we originally aimed to do. We have stopped being part of the community, so how can we take what we have and better be what our communities now need?
I think of farms in the area where I grew up, some fenced themselves off more in order to avoid having people complain about escaping cows and will live as long as the family does and then certainly die out (if not before). They aim to maintain for themselves. This is certainly not our call as the church. Some others have sold off much of their land, using profits to try to become something new, or just living out their lives still separate from the community that has grown around them. Also, does not line up with the churches call. But there is one other way I've seen that seems to maybe have lessons we as the church can learn from.
Some of these farms have found themselves just like the one I started this article with: A family farm with rusted tractors and old barns surrounded by subdivisions and planned communities. They heard the mumbling of the neighbors, they saw that they weren't connected, and they looked for ways to be part of the world surrounding them. This meant getting rid of some tractors, cleaning up some barns, and repurposing themselves to continue to serve the community that they were now part of. Some became homes to farmer markets and auction houses. Some found their space to be in great demand for community carnivals, concerts, and other entertainment and slowly repurposed buildings and land to be more and more formal entertainment space. In both these cases there's still some working family farm land attached, but the family is also connected to the community through the other things it does, and in doing so the community for the family has increased. We as the church have many things a community needs, but we must first take the time to look and hear what our specific context needs and try to fill in that void IF we can. Regardless, the process of being neighbor begins by our willingness to go out, be aware of need, and offer help.
We are not just here to take care of ourselves or those who come to us, and we are not a business selling God. We are a neighbor helping here to help and serve. A neighbor who needs to get back out and see that needs have changed and stand in those places of need just like we each were created to do from the beginning. The world sees us as behind, but we don't have to catch up, we just have to reconnect.
Think if you will of when your neighbors move, the new neighbors still fill the same “position” but they most likely serve in different roles within the community. As such, the community changes, if the person who mowed the lawns moves away and the new neighbor doesn't own a lawnmower, someone steps into that role, or everyone has to figure out a way to accomplish what the need. You don't have to be the person to mow lawns, but at minimum you have to now mow your own or hire someone else.
So how does this apply back to the church? Well let's go back to the farm analogy: If we as the church began as a place that supplied the local community with a needed service, but have as time has changed become disconnected from the changing needs of our community, we need to consider what the community currently sees us as. If we are the now “family farm” taking care of itself mainly and seen a place filled with things from a time gone by, we're no longer doing what we originally aimed to do. We have stopped being part of the community, so how can we take what we have and better be what our communities now need?
I think of farms in the area where I grew up, some fenced themselves off more in order to avoid having people complain about escaping cows and will live as long as the family does and then certainly die out (if not before). They aim to maintain for themselves. This is certainly not our call as the church. Some others have sold off much of their land, using profits to try to become something new, or just living out their lives still separate from the community that has grown around them. Also, does not line up with the churches call. But there is one other way I've seen that seems to maybe have lessons we as the church can learn from.
Some of these farms have found themselves just like the one I started this article with: A family farm with rusted tractors and old barns surrounded by subdivisions and planned communities. They heard the mumbling of the neighbors, they saw that they weren't connected, and they looked for ways to be part of the world surrounding them. This meant getting rid of some tractors, cleaning up some barns, and repurposing themselves to continue to serve the community that they were now part of. Some became homes to farmer markets and auction houses. Some found their space to be in great demand for community carnivals, concerts, and other entertainment and slowly repurposed buildings and land to be more and more formal entertainment space. In both these cases there's still some working family farm land attached, but the family is also connected to the community through the other things it does, and in doing so the community for the family has increased. We as the church have many things a community needs, but we must first take the time to look and hear what our specific context needs and try to fill in that void IF we can. Regardless, the process of being neighbor begins by our willingness to go out, be aware of need, and offer help.
We are not just here to take care of ourselves or those who come to us, and we are not a business selling God. We are a neighbor helping here to help and serve. A neighbor who needs to get back out and see that needs have changed and stand in those places of need just like we each were created to do from the beginning. The world sees us as behind, but we don't have to catch up, we just have to reconnect.
Friday, January 18, 2013
Theological Rant - Guns
I'm not one to say much about political stuff, but with all the gun related news, brings me back to an issue that I don't find political as much as it is theological. What are guns used for has become a forefront discussion piece among many I hear talking about this issue and it seems to fall into 3 main categories.
1. Hunting
2. Sport
3. Self-Defense
Guns used for hunting, especially hunting for food, are mostly weapons that are large, limited shot, and mostly owed by those who do actually hunt for food in my experience. These don't tend to be the weapons used in the majority "gun violence" as far as I can tell. Yes, they can injure and kill, but I am not discussing these within the remainder of this post.
Guns used for sport I don't fully get, some of these are hunting weapons not used for food acquisition, and that is a minor issue for me, but most of these weapons are handguns or high powered, multi-round weapons which make NO logical sense to me, and will be covered in the Self-Defense category. But I feel like this gun use in general doesn't need to exist, the guns risk is higher to the community than the value of an individual's enjoyment.
So now the big piece, I hear lots of arguments right now that we need guns for self defense. The issue I have here is solely theological. I can't understand how a faith where we're commanded not to kill can so easily defend the existence of something created to harm another and put their life in danger. Now I know many will say that "we wouldn't shoot to kill, just to protect" but what are we protecting? Something more valuable than the life and health of one created equal to us in God's image?
Taking this to the next level, many now point towards the argument that we need guns in case we ever "lose our freedom" and end up with a government/world that does atrocities that would harm even more people. The problem with this argument is that it says that we must keep whatever power and control we can over the unknown. We fear others and fear and hate are as close to one another as hate and killing are in Jesus's teachings. So if we're not supposed to hate or kill, why are we okay with having things that are mostly created to inflict harm, and honestly to kill. Maybe not as many die today because of medical advancements, but it doesn't take a perfect shot to kill someone, and any shot could. And why would we want to kill anyone? Why would we want to harm anyone? How is harming another showing any form of love to them? We go out of our way to put up fences around things like Lust, but when it comes to this thing that we supposedly hold so highly, human life, we're okay with potentially taking it from one another just because ours is worth more than theirs. THERE IS A PROBLEM WITH THAT. Either we're all equal, all created in God's image, all making mistakes, and all in this together, or there is no God. Christians, pay attention, Guns do nothing to help us live in the way God commands. They do nothing to make this life any better, nothing to improve the world and bring the kingdom of God closer. I wish they were all gone, but since that won't happen, please at least let's dialogue about this from a place that does not make any individual more important than another, and let's see not the possibility of a future as something to fear, but as something that can be more like the Kingdom of God if we first love more like God ourselves.
Taking this to the next level, many now point towards the argument that we need guns in case we ever "lose our freedom" and end up with a government/world that does atrocities that would harm even more people. The problem with this argument is that it says that we must keep whatever power and control we can over the unknown. We fear others and fear and hate are as close to one another as hate and killing are in Jesus's teachings. So if we're not supposed to hate or kill, why are we okay with having things that are mostly created to inflict harm, and honestly to kill. Maybe not as many die today because of medical advancements, but it doesn't take a perfect shot to kill someone, and any shot could. And why would we want to kill anyone? Why would we want to harm anyone? How is harming another showing any form of love to them? We go out of our way to put up fences around things like Lust, but when it comes to this thing that we supposedly hold so highly, human life, we're okay with potentially taking it from one another just because ours is worth more than theirs. THERE IS A PROBLEM WITH THAT. Either we're all equal, all created in God's image, all making mistakes, and all in this together, or there is no God. Christians, pay attention, Guns do nothing to help us live in the way God commands. They do nothing to make this life any better, nothing to improve the world and bring the kingdom of God closer. I wish they were all gone, but since that won't happen, please at least let's dialogue about this from a place that does not make any individual more important than another, and let's see not the possibility of a future as something to fear, but as something that can be more like the Kingdom of God if we first love more like God ourselves.
Friday, January 4, 2013
Minister Survey
If you have read my early blogs or know me from other media or in person you may be aware that I am an odd bird in the ministerial world. I am a Director of Educational Ministries in the PC(USA), but I also have my Master of Divinity. This is not a "typical" combination in the PC(USA) and leaves me in an odd place as far as respect, power, and place within the denomination. I came out of a evangelical tradition mainly because it's where I went to seminary, never having been well taught that my beliefs did not line up with the Baptist beliefs or many other evangelical traditions. So in my Intro to New Testament class when I mentioned that I thought the idea that believers baptism and profession of faith were far less than essential.
Thus it is through the study of my theology I came to the PC(USA) where I theologically fit nearly perfectly, but am an outsider in most other forms. As I continue to listen to others discuss and make decisions about the future of the church, it seems that many seem to think both denominations and the position of educator has no place in the future. With that in mind I wonder if I made the right decision coming where I am, but I wonder more about how others deal with the diverse factors we have to balance in the changing context of Church.
So how would you rank the following in order of their importance to where you feel you are able to serve (and/or are serving currently):
Major Theological Issues (i.e. Sacraments, Meaning of Life, Understanding of Redemption)
Social Issues (i.e. Equality, Issues of Life and Death, Politics)
Denominational Respect (i.e. Ordination Policies, Openness to New Forms of Ministry)
Position Issues (i.e. Location, Specializations)
History (i.e. What You Grew Up As, Where You Know Others)
Other Issues (Specify)
For me obviously the major one was Theological, but Denominational Respect and Social Issues also play into things. But I would like to know more about how others think, so please comment here, or send me a tweet at @KeepSetting or as KeepSetting on Facebook. How we see and work through the differences we may have in many of these areas is something we need to consider as we look at the potential of a post-denominational church, and I would like to see what others are thinking today about where they are and could maybe go.
Thank You!
Thus it is through the study of my theology I came to the PC(USA) where I theologically fit nearly perfectly, but am an outsider in most other forms. As I continue to listen to others discuss and make decisions about the future of the church, it seems that many seem to think both denominations and the position of educator has no place in the future. With that in mind I wonder if I made the right decision coming where I am, but I wonder more about how others deal with the diverse factors we have to balance in the changing context of Church.
So how would you rank the following in order of their importance to where you feel you are able to serve (and/or are serving currently):
Major Theological Issues (i.e. Sacraments, Meaning of Life, Understanding of Redemption)
Social Issues (i.e. Equality, Issues of Life and Death, Politics)
Denominational Respect (i.e. Ordination Policies, Openness to New Forms of Ministry)
Position Issues (i.e. Location, Specializations)
History (i.e. What You Grew Up As, Where You Know Others)
Other Issues (Specify)
For me obviously the major one was Theological, but Denominational Respect and Social Issues also play into things. But I would like to know more about how others think, so please comment here, or send me a tweet at @KeepSetting or as KeepSetting on Facebook. How we see and work through the differences we may have in many of these areas is something we need to consider as we look at the potential of a post-denominational church, and I would like to see what others are thinking today about where they are and could maybe go.
Thank You!
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Love is Logical
When I look back over my life there are some key things that most every girl I ever liked had in common. On the other hand I can also look back and see some great people who really liked me that I wouldn't even give the time of day. What was it that kept me from being attracted to these girls? In reality, I just wasn't, I had a very specific type of personality and physical look that would keep my attention and moved me romantically. I couldn't then, and can't now logic being attracted to others in that way. Of course at one time that inability to logic attraction made me wonder how ANYONE could be attracted to those who I wasn't. As I though came to a greater understanding of how we communicate and began to better see the world through others eyes, I saw that everyone had things that they were attracted to, but they weren't always the same things.
I now feel this is THE most reasonable argument for why same sex attraction is normal. It's not that everyone should be, but that some just ARE. It is what they are romantically interested in, just as I have only certain people who attract me, they do too. There is no difference. So if you are to tell someone not to be attracted to those of the same sex, you are also saying that you shouldn't limit who you're attracted to by anything other than a set of external rules. I'm not even sure how we could determine these external rules. It's just illogical to think that we should all only be attracted to the exact same people. I have never seen anything that makes that seem realistic.
Why do I use this as my core argument? Because it is all the same love. Beyond the complexities of Gender Identity, Roles, Physical Sex, and all of that, who we're attracted to is just that, a short list of people that is different for every person. It is just how we all do it, regardless of where we may fall on a spectrum. I can argue with you from a theological standpoint, from a justice standpoint, from a legal standpoint, from any number of other standpoints, but this simple idea to me seems the most universal to all. Even if you're not attracted to anyone at all, you know what you don't feel. Why can we not understand that this just is what it is, and we can't really just go change it?
I tried after my divorce to date a few people different than my ex, mostly physically different but also personality. My wife now is physically similar, and in some core places is almost the same, same with her personality, there are differences, but there are some key similarities. I know for some these core attractions do adjust over time, but we all I think can find some patterns either throughout life or within a season of life.
I don't care what you think about people's actions, there is a serious issue with judging who a person is attracted to, regardless of if that judgement is based on gender or personality or a person's look. It is like judging another for other differences in thought, such as if you were to judge me because I'm an aspie and can't think the same way as "most" or judging me for what I choose to eat because I am a diabetic. I do not fit simply into either of these boxes, and to simply use your experience with others who are labeled with these labels to define me is unfair and judgmental These are both complex situations I find myself in that I have to work with. But they are more than illnesses or disorders, they are part of me, part of a full me, a core me, a real me that is as real and complete as any other.
Equality is not as simple as the rights to do what others get to do. To allow all legal rights does not make us equal. What makes us equal is seeing all people as complete people and treating all that way. That means there is no one set of rules that will always make everyone fit, that is actually the core of a relational theology. God is three and God is one in relationship. All three are different, but they are all fully God. It is the same for us, we are each individual, but it is in our relationships with others who are different but still fully human that we ourselves can be fully human ourselves.
Let people be who they are. No law is going to change us, we have to change us. We have to see people as fully equal to us if we want to move forward and bring the kingdom. Time to get rid of the fear and embrace the same love one for another that we have been given since creation when we were made in the image of Love.
Friday, July 27, 2012
Aspie Faith and Ministry
The following is in response to some friends and cohorts asking for my reaction to: Church Stories: Embracing Faith as an Aspie (by Erin Thomas) as found on Rachel Held Evans' blog.
When I awoke this morning I had a plan:
I have Aspergers' syndrome, I like my plans. I need them to keep my stress level in check some days. But this morning, like many mornings, things didn't go as planned. As soon as I got downstairs and on my computer there were a number of people asking what I thought about this blog. Suddenly the TV was loud, my clothes were uncomfortable (tags, I hate them sometimes) and my focus was shot. I was off of the plan, but because I was asked for an opinion, I needed to respond. So here we go:
A little background into my own experience as an Aspie in the church. I was in some ways lucky, I was introduced to the faith at 4 at a random baptist VBS that I went to for just one night. I heard the closing speaker talk about having a real friend in Jesus and that's what got me. I'm an extrovert, an EXTREME extrovert who is always seeking interactions with others, of course as an Aspie, I don't adhere to social norms well at all and take everything too too literally, so friends are not something I make at all easily. But the idea of a friend who would never leave you hooked me. They then dunked me and gave me a bible, telling me it was all about Jesus and this relationship. I went home and read the whole thing over the next few days. The bible is gibberish to a 4 yr old, but I did scribble down lots of questions to ask.
I got into church after that, I needed some place where people could answer my questions. Many Aspies tend to have obsessions, things they get stuck on and love to talk about. I certainly do. I love theology, quantum physics and human communication theory. My desire to make the bible make sense is key to my faith because of this. It should be noted that I was not diagnosed until I was an adult, I didn't know for much of my childhood what I was doing was weird, or that you weren't supposed to question certain things. I was obsessed with making the Bible and later this whole Christianity thing make sense. This continues today, even as I am now out of Seminary and in the ministry.
Back to the blog response.
Point 1: STOP SCARING KIDS! I have a number of kids in my church on the spectrum (Autistic, Aspie, etc.), one of whom asked me "how does the devil get you?" I remember thinking about that sort of thing due to pop and Christian culture. This child thought the devil was going to grab him and pull him underground to hell when he had done too many bad things. This sort of cheap theology is junk, and does nothing more than what Erin says in her post. It leads to people who cannot get around fear and worry and that can continue an entire lifetime. Every time we tell a kid something, some are going to believe it completely as the one and only truth, which leads to
Point 2: The church needs to leave space for people to think and form their own viewpoints, not give a set of rules and standards. One of my earliest struggles was between a God who is Love and a God who punishes. I didn't get it. I played so much by the rules that told to stay somewhere when my parents had to rush to the hospital, our neighbors had to cover me in blankets for the night because I wouldn't go in with them. "Mom told me to stay here." So the punishment never scared me as such, I just did it because I was told to. But I didn't GET punishment, and couldn't picture a God who wanted to create also wanting to destroy. Even those of us who tend to preach and teach a fully God is Love gospel often define what that love is to look like in no uncertain terms "Boycott this, listen to them, fight against that teaching." For those of us who are extremely logical and for many others this is nonsensical. We have got to work on helping people be faithful to the things they feel called to and not making so many universal statements on contextual things.
Point 3: STOP THE GAME! This is a hard one, but win-lose Christianity is bull, and we need to get away from it. We don't know what happens after this world, and the world here has enough games of its own without us adding one about heaven and hell on top of it all. Yes, there is some peace in knowing of a loving God beyond death, but we are called to act here justly and to change the rules of the world's games. To add the salvation game on top of things not only leads most Aspies to worry and stress, but I see it happening in so many NTs as well.
Point 4: The relational aspect of Christianity needs to be addressed better. My obsession with Human Communication Theory and my extroversion make this a hard one for me. Relational Christianity is an issue for Aspies, myself included. Most also are introverts, and as Erin says playing the social extroverts game and forcing ourselves to meet those social norms will basically make us all want to go hide and recover. In some ways it's even harder as an Aspie Extrovert, I NEED that interaction and connection, but pretty much fail to find it because I'm so socially uncomfortable, and even when I start getting close, I may just melt down from the exhaustion of trying to meet social norms. Yes, I do believe that we are relational creatures, but there is in the church a power imbalance that favors extroverts and NTs and that needs to be changed. We need to look at ways to connect to the entire spectrum of humanity and do more to bring balance to our faith.
Point 5: We need to do more to help people understand that we're all different and that's okay. Not only is it okay, it needs to be EMBRACED by the church. It's not enough to say "Sammy is autistic so it's okay that he doesn't sit through the service." But we need to find better ways to embrace our differences and do more to allow all to be fully part of church and a shared faith. I'm not going to remember your name, but I can probably engage with you on certain topics very well. That is okay and encouraged. I think by turning Christianity into a social extrovert's game we've actually done a real disservice to what it means to be in relationship. I am very capable of sharing your burden, very capable of emphasizing with you, very capable of walking with you, allow me to do that. How we form relationships is not one size fits all, and that is good.
Point 6: Not just for Aspies, but for most all, we need to realize that some parts of church are actually hurtful. To ask one to be social, vulnerable, connected, loved, touched, joyful, open, and other things means potentially asking someone to not just be uncomfortable and pushed to grow, but often to open up hurts to a point where love and trust fail. We are quick to judge. I have worked hard to make eye contact, but it is exhausting, but because I can I'm judged as "not acting like an Aspie". I have a youth who if they haven't found comfort in EXACTLY what's going to happen at an event will only be found under a blanket in a ball in her car. Her mom told me once that if she did it again she'd be punished, I responded that we needed to get better about meeting her needs because it seemed if she was punished enough by being asked to come. This needs to change. We need to adjust and meet people, not expect others to go where it hurts.
Point 7: We need to change soon. Too many people are hurt by the church, not because we intentionally do things to harm them, but because we are busy playing our games and think everyone should play along. We miss how what we do can create anxiety, confusion, depression, fear, and guilt. We need to hear the voices of those who can see where teachings have gone haywire, those like Erin who stay with the faith even when so much of it seems like it was crazy. God did not create any of us to be distanced from God. I found a friend in God because of my Aspie-ness, it was the logic that brought me to a loving God, one who called us to be faithful in our attempts at acting in this world. Reading Erin, I realize how easy it would have been to have needed to find this in spite of my Aspie-ness. That's scary my friends, we're pushing away more and more people by playing these games. We need to change, we need to hear these voices, we need to stop the games that look a lot like those the world plays, and create something new that looks completely different where all of our complexities are truly welcome, and not just (at best) "understood". That's our call, let's stop playing around.
Thank you Erin for sharing your journey and thoughts. Her blog is The Underground Railroad.
Now off to test and take my meds. :)
When I awoke this morning I had a plan:
- Get up
- Get ready
- Go see Wife and Mother in Law downstairs
- Check email and social media
- Test and take medicine (diabetic)
- Get to work on polishing my sermon for Sunday
I have Aspergers' syndrome, I like my plans. I need them to keep my stress level in check some days. But this morning, like many mornings, things didn't go as planned. As soon as I got downstairs and on my computer there were a number of people asking what I thought about this blog. Suddenly the TV was loud, my clothes were uncomfortable (tags, I hate them sometimes) and my focus was shot. I was off of the plan, but because I was asked for an opinion, I needed to respond. So here we go:
A little background into my own experience as an Aspie in the church. I was in some ways lucky, I was introduced to the faith at 4 at a random baptist VBS that I went to for just one night. I heard the closing speaker talk about having a real friend in Jesus and that's what got me. I'm an extrovert, an EXTREME extrovert who is always seeking interactions with others, of course as an Aspie, I don't adhere to social norms well at all and take everything too too literally, so friends are not something I make at all easily. But the idea of a friend who would never leave you hooked me. They then dunked me and gave me a bible, telling me it was all about Jesus and this relationship. I went home and read the whole thing over the next few days. The bible is gibberish to a 4 yr old, but I did scribble down lots of questions to ask.
I got into church after that, I needed some place where people could answer my questions. Many Aspies tend to have obsessions, things they get stuck on and love to talk about. I certainly do. I love theology, quantum physics and human communication theory. My desire to make the bible make sense is key to my faith because of this. It should be noted that I was not diagnosed until I was an adult, I didn't know for much of my childhood what I was doing was weird, or that you weren't supposed to question certain things. I was obsessed with making the Bible and later this whole Christianity thing make sense. This continues today, even as I am now out of Seminary and in the ministry.
Back to the blog response.
Point 1: STOP SCARING KIDS! I have a number of kids in my church on the spectrum (Autistic, Aspie, etc.), one of whom asked me "how does the devil get you?" I remember thinking about that sort of thing due to pop and Christian culture. This child thought the devil was going to grab him and pull him underground to hell when he had done too many bad things. This sort of cheap theology is junk, and does nothing more than what Erin says in her post. It leads to people who cannot get around fear and worry and that can continue an entire lifetime. Every time we tell a kid something, some are going to believe it completely as the one and only truth, which leads to
Point 2: The church needs to leave space for people to think and form their own viewpoints, not give a set of rules and standards. One of my earliest struggles was between a God who is Love and a God who punishes. I didn't get it. I played so much by the rules that told to stay somewhere when my parents had to rush to the hospital, our neighbors had to cover me in blankets for the night because I wouldn't go in with them. "Mom told me to stay here." So the punishment never scared me as such, I just did it because I was told to. But I didn't GET punishment, and couldn't picture a God who wanted to create also wanting to destroy. Even those of us who tend to preach and teach a fully God is Love gospel often define what that love is to look like in no uncertain terms "Boycott this, listen to them, fight against that teaching." For those of us who are extremely logical and for many others this is nonsensical. We have got to work on helping people be faithful to the things they feel called to and not making so many universal statements on contextual things.
Point 3: STOP THE GAME! This is a hard one, but win-lose Christianity is bull, and we need to get away from it. We don't know what happens after this world, and the world here has enough games of its own without us adding one about heaven and hell on top of it all. Yes, there is some peace in knowing of a loving God beyond death, but we are called to act here justly and to change the rules of the world's games. To add the salvation game on top of things not only leads most Aspies to worry and stress, but I see it happening in so many NTs as well.
Point 4: The relational aspect of Christianity needs to be addressed better. My obsession with Human Communication Theory and my extroversion make this a hard one for me. Relational Christianity is an issue for Aspies, myself included. Most also are introverts, and as Erin says playing the social extroverts game and forcing ourselves to meet those social norms will basically make us all want to go hide and recover. In some ways it's even harder as an Aspie Extrovert, I NEED that interaction and connection, but pretty much fail to find it because I'm so socially uncomfortable, and even when I start getting close, I may just melt down from the exhaustion of trying to meet social norms. Yes, I do believe that we are relational creatures, but there is in the church a power imbalance that favors extroverts and NTs and that needs to be changed. We need to look at ways to connect to the entire spectrum of humanity and do more to bring balance to our faith.
Point 5: We need to do more to help people understand that we're all different and that's okay. Not only is it okay, it needs to be EMBRACED by the church. It's not enough to say "Sammy is autistic so it's okay that he doesn't sit through the service." But we need to find better ways to embrace our differences and do more to allow all to be fully part of church and a shared faith. I'm not going to remember your name, but I can probably engage with you on certain topics very well. That is okay and encouraged. I think by turning Christianity into a social extrovert's game we've actually done a real disservice to what it means to be in relationship. I am very capable of sharing your burden, very capable of emphasizing with you, very capable of walking with you, allow me to do that. How we form relationships is not one size fits all, and that is good.
Point 6: Not just for Aspies, but for most all, we need to realize that some parts of church are actually hurtful. To ask one to be social, vulnerable, connected, loved, touched, joyful, open, and other things means potentially asking someone to not just be uncomfortable and pushed to grow, but often to open up hurts to a point where love and trust fail. We are quick to judge. I have worked hard to make eye contact, but it is exhausting, but because I can I'm judged as "not acting like an Aspie". I have a youth who if they haven't found comfort in EXACTLY what's going to happen at an event will only be found under a blanket in a ball in her car. Her mom told me once that if she did it again she'd be punished, I responded that we needed to get better about meeting her needs because it seemed if she was punished enough by being asked to come. This needs to change. We need to adjust and meet people, not expect others to go where it hurts.
Point 7: We need to change soon. Too many people are hurt by the church, not because we intentionally do things to harm them, but because we are busy playing our games and think everyone should play along. We miss how what we do can create anxiety, confusion, depression, fear, and guilt. We need to hear the voices of those who can see where teachings have gone haywire, those like Erin who stay with the faith even when so much of it seems like it was crazy. God did not create any of us to be distanced from God. I found a friend in God because of my Aspie-ness, it was the logic that brought me to a loving God, one who called us to be faithful in our attempts at acting in this world. Reading Erin, I realize how easy it would have been to have needed to find this in spite of my Aspie-ness. That's scary my friends, we're pushing away more and more people by playing these games. We need to change, we need to hear these voices, we need to stop the games that look a lot like those the world plays, and create something new that looks completely different where all of our complexities are truly welcome, and not just (at best) "understood". That's our call, let's stop playing around.
Thank you Erin for sharing your journey and thoughts. Her blog is The Underground Railroad.
Now off to test and take my meds. :)
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