A Musing RevoLutheran

Sweet Ohio I am coming home!

2011-05-30T18:58:00.001-05:00

Living in Virginia has been great, and there are many wonderful people here that I'm really I'm going to miss, but right now, this song by a relatively obscure band (who I heard when we both played at a festival at Camp Luther overlooking Lake Erie) is really articulating how I feel as I get ready to move back to OHIO!

Listen to it:

Lyrics for "Ohio" by IDENTITY (from the album "Hope and a Future"):

Well I’m moving to Ohio

To the state I call my home

‘Cause folks back there,

They really care about you

Been all across this nation

From the east coast to the west

And I’m convinced Ohio is the best

Well there ain’t point no trying

To keep me here no more

Cause I feel great

Buckeye state is calling

Hurry road and get me to the place I love to roam

Sweet Ohio I am coming home!

I miss the rolling hillsides

The winding southern plains

I miss the northern coastline of Lake Erie

You may think I’m crazy

But you will never know

And I don’t care

I love it there

And I am going home!

I miss the rolling hillsides

The winding southern plains

I miss the northern coastline of Lake Erie *

You may think I’m crazy

But you will never know

And I don’t care -- I love it there!

And I am going home!

Hurry road and get me to the place I love to roam

Sweet Ohio I am coming home!

I said my sweet Ohio I am coming home!

* I typed it how I hear it, but I think that this line should be "the northern coastline on Lake Erie", as the northern coastline of Lake Erie would be the Canadian shore, eh?

Chameleon or holy recklessness?

2010-02-27T23:48:00.001-05:00

What is the task of the church today? Shall I answer: faith, hope, and love?

Well that sounds beautiful, but I would say that the task of the church today is courage.

Or maybe that isn't even challenging enough to be the whole truth.

Our task today must become a holy recklessness.

For what we Christians lack is not psychology or literature, but we lack a holy rage.

The rage and the recklessness that comes from the knowledge of God and our creation.

The ability to rage when justice lies prostrate on the streets.

And when the lie rages on the face of the earth.

We lack a holy anger about the things that are wrong in the world.

We need to rage against the ravaging of God's earth and the destruction of God's world.

To rage when little children die of hunger when the tables of the rich are sagging with food.

To rage at the senseless killing of so many, and the madness of militaries.

To rage at the that calls the threat of death and the strategy of destruction, "peace".

And to rage against our own complacency.

To restlessly seek the recklessness that will challenge and seek to change human history until it confirms with the norms of the kingdom of God.

And let us remember that the signs of the Christian church have always been the lion, the lamb, the dove, and the fish.

But never, never the chameleon.

AMEN.

This came from the end of an old podcast with Shane Claiborne and others I stumbled upon in from Seattle Pacific University called "The Groaning of Creation", dated 4/27/2006. It was 45 minutes long, but the beginning and end really struck me. I'll share the short story from the beginning later, but the above is the benediction/prayer shared by Shane at the end of the time slot, which he attributed to "a guy who was martyred shortly after he said this" -- so I don't know the identity of the original author.

Read it again -- what strikes you?

I love the phrase "holy recklessness". How would I live with holy recklessness? I imagine it would involve being more generous than might seem otherwise prudent...

...generous in sharing my time with others, being always ready to drop my personal priorities to help a friend?

...willing to give money away even when I'm not sure if I actually have enough to cover my own expenses?

...able to loan out my most prized possessions to a stranger, even if I can't honestly expect that I'll ever see them again?

Basically, really laying down my life for others. It's not too hard for me to process that in the short term, but I admit that I stall out on this when I start thinking about how our society treats our elderly.

Then again, wouldn't a holy recklessness require trusting that God is in control so much that I don't worry about it. Instead, shouldn't I just be worrying about following where God is leading?

It's idealistic -- of course! How else can we honestly be courageous like a lion, gentle as a lamb, peaceful as a dove, and like a fish swimming against the flow.

Just a few quick thoughts, as I try to remember not to be a chameleon.

I am a murderer

2010-02-09T16:35:00.006-05:00

I am a murderer. No, not according to the law of the land. I've never ended the physical life of another human being.

Yet, I am a certainly a murderer by the understanding of the law that Jesus lays out in Matthew 5:21-26 during the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus says that if I am angry with another human being, insult them, or demean them, then I am liable to judgement and hell.

It might sound severe. I mean, we want punishments to fit the crime, right?

Then again, haven't I actually committed murder in some sense? I mean, I've chipped away at the dignity and humanity of another. I've ripped into the soft tissue of the feelings of others. I'm sure there have been many times when I've left a dagger in the heart of another when acting out of anger, frustration, immaturity, ignorance, or revenge. I've wished they weren't around. I've killed relationships.

Sure, there is a legal difference. It is neither reasonable nor practical to prosecute anger. Our legal system is about degrees of offense and shades of gray -- and that makes sense. (Otherwise, we'd probably all be criminals and there wouldn't be anyone qualified to run the system left!)

As far as God is concerned, I'm not sure there are degrees difference. I mean, Jesus says that when I say to another "you fool", I am liable to the fires of hell. To God, I am just as much of a murderer as any serial killer who has ever lived.

Fortunately, that is not the important part of the story! We know that Jesus died under the weight of our sins. It doesn't matter what size we'd like to assign to them to make ourselves feel more worthy, all of our sins sit equally upon our Lord, tortured and suffocating on the cross. Our sins died with Christ, and no longer hold power over us. Now, we live in Christ!

Sure, I still live a less than perfect life. I still commit this murder of the heart more often than I'd like to admit. Every day, I am as much a sinner as I was the day before. The good news is that every day I am also just as forgiven because my sins are completely washed away in the blood of Christ each day!

Through Christ, even I, a murderer, am given abundant life! Now, we have the freedom to take part in God's healing of the world -- we can help restore slaughtered relationships! This is good news indeed!

The miraculous scandal of Christmas!

2009-12-24T23:12:00.002-05:00

As I write this, it is Christmas Eve -- and the Christmas season is about to BEGIN! We've been waiting throughout the weeks of Advent for the coming of Christ. Tomorrow we begin the 12 day celebration of the birth of Jesus the Christ.

Think about it -- God, the creator of everything we see, chose to enter into our world, taking on flesh, blood, skin, and bones. We call this incarnation. It's bizarre, isn't it?

What's more, God didn't choose a noble birth. Mary was no queen. Joseph was not a wealthy man. They were peasants in a rural town -- out in the sticks, so to speak. Worse yet, they were far from home that starry night, and couldn't even get a respectable room. Instead, Mary ended up giving birth in a stable -- where the inn keeper kept his animals. It was likely little more than a rough cave in a rocky hillside with the thick sent of manure in the air.

It's scandalous -- don't you think?

I mean, God could have worked out a system where it wasn't necessary to be so lowly. Yet, God choose humanity. Jesus was a little baby, crying and soiling diapers in a dirty feeding trough! Once we find God in a stable, God could be anywhere!

We can turn our back on God: walking away from the hungry woman; ignoring the homeless man. God put God's-self at our mercy.

Incarnation is messy. It means that God cares about human flesh -- about our bodies. Christianity isn't merely about some heaven we can only imagine. Jesus came to show us how to live in our world - in our time. God has walked the earth, been scolded by parents, spent time starving in a desert, loved people, made friends, been betrayed, been tortured and executed. God doesn't merely sympathize with our daily struggles -- God empathizes, suffering with us, because God understands what it is like to be human.

This is the miracle of Christmas, and it's a scandal. The revolution of hope and love beginning in a no-place with people that were not otherwise notable.

So take heart that God can use anyone -- and wants to use you!

Merry Christmas!

Praying for friends and praying for strangers

2009-06-02T08:30:00.006-05:00

I had a discussion last night about how tragedies in the news are so much harder to digest when someone you know is involved. We've been so desensitized by TV crime shows, violent movies, and the constant media coverage of murders, violence, and fires, that they all start to feel the same, regardless of whether they are real or fictional.

Sometimes it's hard to remember that real people are involved. Each day, people's lives are turned upside down and their reality is shattered as loved one's are lost to violence, as memories burn in home fires, or as something else happens that makes everything else seem inconsequential in comparison .... yet when it show up on TV, we tend to either process it as entertainment, or get bored and change the channel.

Then you see a friend in the news, or a relative of a friend, or a friend of a friend. You recognize the name and it suddenly hits home. You are in shock. You remember once again that these stories are about REAL PEOPLE. You aren't watching another episode of NCIS, Heroes, Bones, Psych, Law & Order, CSI, or whatever fits your fancy. It's your friend fighting to stay composed on TV. It makes me more attuned to the daily tragedies of those I don't know too, as I'm trying in fits and starts to remember to pray for everyone in the news that I hear -- to remember that everything on TV isn't about fictional characters.

This type of thing has happened to me several times this year (too many times). This week, it happened as I saw Pastor Lowell Michelson on the news talking about Dr. George Tiller, an usher that day, being shot inside the church building as worship was beginning on Sunday (text version):

I know Lowell from his days as a traveling musician, and his seminary years when he was involved with the Lutheran Campus Ministry at The Ohio State University. My heart goes out to him at this time, as I pray for the family of George Tiller, the community of Reformation Lutheran in Wichita, and for Lowell and the other leaders there as they share God's grace and peace during this time of tragic upheaval.

The response from leaders in the ELCA.

Echoing their prayers:

Oh God, in this time of tragedy and sorrow we give thanks for your comfort in times of need and loss. We pray for the courage to be peacemakers, rejecting violence as a means of resolving differences. We trust your promise that neither death nor life nor anything in all creation will be able to separate us from your love in Christ Jesus our Lord. We trust in your promises of: forgiveness, hope, love, and new life, even from death. In your promises there is healing and hope for the whole world, in Jesus Christ we pray, AMEN.

Pentecost + Psalm 104 rewrite + Young Adult Ministry Conference

2009-05-30T23:06:00.002-05:00

The worship service we helped plan for the DC Young Adult Ministry Conference went really well. At least, the feedback I got was all positive.

As people entered the sanctuary, fans hung on the walls were blowing, and an industrial fan blew from one corner while a video of flames dancing looped on a projection screen in the another -- reminders of the Spirit's presence as we were about to celebrate Pentecost. The music playing on the sound system cycled among percussive, meditative, experimental, and chants -- all barely audible over the fans and the people gathering. It was the beautiful ambiance of divine chaos!

One of the really cool things was distributing the spoken lines from the service among some 24+ participants, mostly asked if they would be willing to lead a line as we handed them their bulletin. Some read prayers or multiple paragraphs of scripture, while others had wonderfully short lines like "Come, Holy Spirit". The participation was fabulous! Young and old, clergy and laity, those who knew their parts in advance and others who hesitantly accepted the last minute call to help lead worship. We liked how lines spoken from assorted points in the Sanctuary integrated with our understanding of Pentecost.

I kicked us off with a little bit of how the changes in worship that some young adults seem to be jiving on isn't boiled down to styles of music, and isn't necessarily an abandonment of any things Lutherans know and love, like sacrament, symbolism, paradox, or liturgy. (It may favor tearing out the militarized pews for a more flexible seating, but we showed today that you can sit in pews while having worship that is experimental, experiential, and so much more!) What is really on the agenda is the priesthood of all believers rethinking how worship is planned an implemented...about bridging ancient practices with post-modern creativity that looks to the future.

Our reading from Ezekiel was about the dry bones being called to get up and walk, and Ben shared these great thoughts groovin' about how the younger generation sometimes thinks the older "is as likely to change as dry bones", while the older generation sometimes views the younger as being like dry bones by lacking in substance and commitment to a religious community. Then fortunately the Holy Spirit shows up to bring us all together as one body -- the Church -- putting sinews on our bones. Such great stuff!

Sarah led everyone to in one of the big hits of the day, our activity where we each rewrote at least one verse of Psalm 104:24-34,35b while some upbeat meditative music played for a few minutes. Then she asked for 12 volunteers, one volunteer for each verse, and we lined up in the front of the sanctuary, reading through this recreation of the scripture passage through our eyes. It was wonderful to see how the Spirit worked through everyone to give an powerful and insightful vision of how the substance of this Psalm still holds so much meaning for us today -- we really can relate.

A few of us planning worship rewrote the whole thing ahead of time in case there were verses that no one picked, or was willing to volunteer to read. Here's my complete version:

²⁴God, I am in awe of Creation! I am blown away by the diversity and variety of the world that surrounds us – the ever-changing biodiversity astounds me.

²⁵There are oceans, lakes, streams, and ponds teaming with sharks that prowl, fish that blend into the sand, algae that glows at night, and more -- so many creatures that our scientists still have not counted them all!

²⁶Beneath the yachts and trading barges, there are octopi and massive whales at play.

²⁷Generation after generation, your Creation provides them with food to sustain in the rhythms of the seasons;

²⁸they gather your food, bellies are filled; the chain of life continues.

²⁹Without your presence, life unravels; bodies fail, decay, and become nothing but food and fertilizer.

³⁰Yet life continues, seasons of creation when new life springs forth; and the young are weaned and grow – life is renewed again and again.

³¹Oh that your Earth would thrive forever; may you constantly enjoy the handiwork of all that you have made —

³²we see how we harm the Earth and tremble in fear that we might be capable of unraveling all that you have made; yet when we see unblemished portions of your Creation, our jaws drop in wonder and we have hope for the future.

³³I cannot contain myself; I will sing, shout, and dance for joy all of my days; Life continues against all that would destroy it, and every atom in my body shudders and rejoices as I worship you with every fiber of my being.

³⁴May my thoughts and actions be according to your will, as I wish to be your joy as you are mine, for my life is in the Lord.

^35bMay my heart crave what you desire. May I always live for the glory of the Lord!

It's a powerful exercise to do sometime. Pick a Psalm that seems to resonate with you and try rewriting it. One Pastor essentially told me afterwards that this activity was basically worth the price of admission (OK, not in so many words). (Credit to CT for inspiring this with the Psalm 1 rewrites we did a few seasons back.)

The next reading was the spirit descending in Acts 2. Mike talked about the chaos of Pentecost -- how it was downright messy, and how coming upon people are talking across each other in numerous languages where no one is in charge or knows exactly what is happening can make us uncomfortable. He talked about how the things young adults might be inclined to try in worship might feel like chaos, making analogy to Acts 2 that it might feel like they were drunk to come up with their ideas.

Then he started asking questions at the heart of this conference on how congregations might better understand and minister to young adults:

Is there a way to find common ground...ways that we can still have intergenerational worship?
Is there a way to gracefully accept new ideas of spirit-filled young adults experimenting with worship, even when the implementation might be messy and full of "mistakes"?
Can we allow young adults to contribute to our worship services in ways that might sometimes make us uncomfortable...or seem less polished than we would want?
Can we embrace that the Spirit moves in strange and unexpected ways?

Then came the Gospel of John. I asked what responsibility established generations in the Church have to today's young adults, teenagers, and future generations. I've heard that some feel their job is to maintain the status quo, so that they can pass the Church on to succeeding generations "as in" when they go -- I asked if that was really the goal, or if something else was on the agenda. I talked about how Jesus seems to choose to step aside to let change occur, letting others take over. He says the Advocate is coming...and as U2 points out, "she moves in mysterious ways." So how do we enable natural transition and progression in our congregations?

We then had several minutes for people do discuss the questions that Mike and I posed. The responses I heard resonated with me, especially one about how our responsibility is to give future generations opportunities for the same freedom of expression that we have brought to the table. Wow! How spot on the money that is!

We prefaced our time of prayer with Romans 8:26-27, talking about listening to the prayers of each other trusting that the Holy Spirit is moving through both older and younger generations. We then had a time of prayer petitions. After a little hesitation, people started to confidently offer their prayers into the silence in voices that could be heard throughout the sanctuary over top the numerous fans we had blowing to help remind people of the Spirit moving in our midst.

We confessed our faith using a statement from the United Church of Canada, talking about how "We are not alone, we live in God's world. We believe in God .... who works in us and others by the Spirit ... We are called to be the Church ... to seek justice and resist evil ... God is with us. We are not alone..."

It was great to hear everyone claiming these words as their own. We are not alone, God is with us, and we are with each other! Thanks be to God indeed!

After the chaos we created during the bulk of the service, the simplicity of communion was strikingly refreshing. There was no music as the 60+ people in the room filed single file down the aisle to hear that "This is the body of Christ, broken for you" and "This is the blood of Christ, shed for you." Simple words. So powerful...even after years of hearing them.

We closed with one of my favorite prayers. One that I learned at Holden Village:

Lord God, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go, but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

And then, nothing was left by the sending:

Go in peace: love and serve the Lord.
Thanks be to God, and we will!

The last three words, which I learned to add as a camp counselor and as a student involved in campus ministry, are tied up in the second part of the sending. We thank God that we can go in peace; we pledge to love and serve the Lord. It felt like those present noticed the addition, and really got it, as "and we will" thundered off the sanctuary walls and ceiling before U2's "Mysterious Ways" faded up and a video started, juxtaposing the dancing of flames with the dancing of a woman who certainly evoked the sense that she moved in mysterious ways...

Yes, the Spirit moves in mysterious ways, and I'm so glad! This was one of the most complex services I've planned, and it went off without a hitch. I feared that too many of our ideas would seem uncomfortably foreign compared to the traditional Lutheran worship services frequented by most of the participants. Instead the feedback I've heard so far was not about how strange things seemed, but rather about how certain aspects of the service moved people, how well paced things were as we moved quickly and comfortably from element to element, even though most of the lines were being delivered by people who didn't know they would be "leading" until they walked into the sanctuary!

The students who went with me seemed to agree that it was a refreshing afternoon -- the kind that rekindles an electric hope for the future of the Church.

Hassidic Hip-Hop Reggae

2009-03-27T11:34:00.002-05:00

I love this song by Matisyahu, as he expresses views of G-d from his Orthodox Judaism in a way that I think many Christians could really learn from. (I'm using "G-d" in this post to be respectful for his tradition.)

He talks about G-d as water for his soul and the very air that he breathes. He thanks G-d with joy and passion. He expresses how the love he feels out of this relationship is so big that walls cannot contain it -- it will rip a hole in the ceiling! In response, he gives himself to G-d from "the essence of his being" and sings songs of "songs of love and healing".

How beautiful and powerful!

He also talks about our need to strip away our ego and the things that hinder our relationship with G-d. Our pride keeps us from relying on G-d. It's a great reminder at this point more than half-way through Lent that once we've been introspective and identified the ways we wall off G-d, we need to strip them away! We need to release ourselves into G-d's care and allow our joy to overcome us -- to bubble out in song and in loving action towards those around us!

Take a listen:

Lyrics - "King without a Crown" by Matisyahu

You're all that I have and you're all that I need

Each and every day I pray to get to know you please

I want to be close to you, yes I'm so hungry

You're like water for my soul when it gets thirsty

Without you there's no me

You're the air that I breathe

Sometimes the world is dark and I just can't see

With these, demons surround all around to bring me down to negativity

But I believe, yes I believe, I said I believe

I'll stand on my own two feet

Won't be brought down on one knee
Fight with all of my might and get these demons to flee

Hashem's rays fire blaze burn bright and I believe

Out of darkness comes light, twilight unto the heights

Crown Heights burnin' up all through till twilight

Said, thank you to my G-d, now I finally got it right

And I'll fight with all of my heart, and all a' my soul, and all a' my might

[Chorus:] What's this feeling?

My love will rip a hole in the ceiling

Givin' myself to you from the essence of my being

Sing to my G-d all these songs of love and healing

Want Moshiach now so it's time we start revealing

[repeat]

Strip away the layers and reveal your soul

Got to give yourself up and then you become whole

You're a slave to yourself and you don't even know

You want to live the fast life but your brain moves slow

If you're trying to stay high then you're bound to stay low

You want G-d but you can't deflate your ego

If you're already there then there's nowhere to go

If you're cup's already full then its bound to overflow

If you're drowning in the water's and you can't stay afloat

Ask Hashem for mercy and he'll throw you a rope

You're looking for help from G-d you say he couldn't be found

Searching up to the sky and looking beneath the ground

Like a King without his Crown

Yes, you keep fallin' down

You really want to live but can't get rid of your frown

Tried to reach unto the heights and wound bound down on the ground

Given up your pride and then you heard a sound

Out of night comes day and out of day comes light

Nullified to the One like sunlight in a ray,

Makin' room for his love and a fire gone blaze

[Chorus]

So I lift up my eyes where my help comes from

And I seen it circling around from the moutain

Thunder! You feel it in your chest

You keep my mind at ease and my soul at rest

You're not vexed

I look to the sky where my help come from

Seen it circling around from the mountain

Thunder! You feel it in your chest

You keep my mind at ease and my soul at rest

You're not vexed

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-25T00:07:00.002-05:00

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.

God became human.
Yet God didn't just fashion a new body and then strut into town as a powerful and merciful conquerer, fixing all that was wrong.
God didn't choose to be born a prince or to a family of power.

God became weak and powerless...experienced the depths of humanity.
God became flesh as a baby born to unwed peasants far from home alongside animals.
Love became flesh: Jesus.

God did this for you, for me, for all who experience brokenness, for all who have experienced love or joy, for all who feel like the world is crazy, for all of humanity and all of creation...

And now we celebrate this unlikely birth.
Christmas, the celebration of the birth of Jesus the Christ. All praise to God!

Have a very merry and joyful Christmas!

U2charist and Yahweh video

2008-10-25T12:31:00.004-05:00

So I've begun attempt planning a U2charist with some friends. I've been wanting to do this for a while...and some folks have been asking about it lately...

The idea is to pull together a full worship service, complete with communion, using the music of U2. The band has given blanket permission for their songs to be used in the special services so long as the message ties into the Millenium Development Goals (which is pretty easy) and any money collected goes to a charity that is doing something to help the MGDs along (such as Bread for the World, Lutheran World Relief, etc.)

One of the people who originated the idea has a cool U2charist resource blog, if anyone happens to read this and be interested in more information. (There are also resources HERE.)

Anyway, I found this video and wanted to share:

So I now have an interested guitarist and keyboardist...now I need to find a bassist and a drummer (or I suppose I can play kit for it)...

Dear Mr. President

2008-02-18T10:51:00.003-05:00

I just saw a different version of this video on a friend's blog & had to share -- it's just so powerful!

Lyrics - "Dear Mr President" by Pink
Dear Mr. President,
Come take a walk with me.
Let’s pretend we’re just two people and
You’re not better than me.
I’d like to ask you some questions if we can speak honestly.

What do you feel when you see all the homeless on the street?
Who do you pray for at night before you go to sleep?
What do you feel when you look in the mirror?
Are you proud?

How do you sleep while the rest of us cry?
How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye?
How do you walk with your head held high?
Can you even look me in the eye
And tell me why?

Dear Mr. President,
Were you a lonely boy?
Are you a lonely boy?
Are you a lonely boy?
How can you say
No child is left behind?
We’re not dumb and we’re not blind.
They’re all sitting in your cells
While you pave the road to hell.

What kind of father would take his own daughter’s rights away?
And what kind of father might hate his own daughter if she were gay?
I can only imagine what the first lady has to say
You’ve come a long way from whiskey and cocaine.

How do you sleep while the rest of us cry?
How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye?
How do you walk with your head held high?
Can you even look me in the eye?

Let me tell you ’bout hard work
Minimum wage with a baby on the way
Let me tell you ’bout hard work
Rebuilding your house after the bombs took them away
Let me tell you ’bout hard work
Building a bed out of a cardboard box
Let me tell you ’bout hard work
Hard work
Hard work
You don’t know nothing ’bout hard work
Hard work
Hard work
Oh

How do you sleep at night?
How do you walk with your head held high?
Dear Mr. President,
You’d never take a walk with me.
Would you?

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-25T20:34:00.000-05:00

Hello world.
On this overcommercialized-Christianized-pagan winter festival day, take a moment to thank God for all the blessings in your life, such as friends, family, food, shelter, clothing, opportunities, etc. Also, take a moment to pray for those on the margins of society -- the oppressed, hungry, poor, lonely, weird, sick, etc.

As you look forward toward the new year, consider assessing how your priorities are reflected in how you spend your time. Maybe make a resolution about how your can make the world a better place. You could decide to pay attention to people around you that you wouldn't normally notice -- to listen to their stories & pray for them. You could commit to making or finding opporunities to serve people who are less fortunate than yourself. You could resolve to find and support a charitable organization whose values reflect your own.

I wish you a very merry Christmas & a happy new year. May you make the most of it. I pray that you are overwhelmed with a peace & joy that surpasses all of your understanding.

Ordinary Attempts

2007-08-23T20:12:00.000-05:00

So I recently started reading a blog called Ordinary Attempts. (Full disclosure disclaimer, I've recently started reading over 50 blogs, rather then just a couple, but that is mere trivia.)

Anyway, so an Ordinary Attempt (OA) is basically a really non-standard evangelism. They call it "doable evangelism for ordinary people". Examples include:

Praying for people who seem stressed out as you go through your day. (No, they don't need to know...you can "pray behind their backs".)
Free attention giveaways -- actively listening to people and having real conversations. (Isn't it sad that we have to treat this as a new idea?)
Noticing the people around you as you go about your day -- any maybe even actually thinking about them! (Rather than always thinking about yourself, what you need to get done, etc.)
Intentional acts of kindness.
etc.

This reminds me of something that Jacob's Porch (the Lutheran Campus Ministry at The Ohio State University) started doing last year. One of the students there formed "a group of people who are interested in reaching out to others without any ulterior motive. What if as a church we gave away free food and purposefully never let them know where we were from so that this would not be a tool to get them to come to join us or be an advertisement, but simply to tell them someone loves them." Based on the emails I've seen, some of their ideas on ways to seek opportunities to radically show God's grace simply through organized chaos for the sake of love rather than an ultimate agenda or residual reward have included:

Taking pillows to people in the hospital just because they could use them.
Giving out free food without telling people who they are, simply because it's nice to do.
Randomly washing cars in their lot. (God's love is free, so is this carwash...)
Mobile soup kitchen: setting up a table on a busy sidewalk and handing out soup and sandwiches to those who pass by.

I don't know exactly what they have and haven't done, but I'm intrigued. What if Christians and Christian communities everywhere started doing things merely because they were nice things to do? What if people walked down the street handing out clothing just becuase they realized that they've been blessed with more than they need...more than they can really use? What if every Christian community took the locks off their doors to their facilities, leaving them open to the hungry and homeless...with pantries full of food and sanctuaries full of beds? What if congregants dropped in on the way home from work to lend a listening ear to those who were their...letting them know that they are loved?

When another care cuts us off on the road, what if we prayed for peace for the driver, rather than cursing them and blaring our horns? What if we were courteous to the telemarketers who call us during dinner, praying for God's sustaining presence and spirit to be with them, rather than making a rude retort before slamming the phone receiver back on its hook? What if we, as Chrsitians, really truly prayed for our enemies? Heck, what if we actually even spent more time praying for our friends? What if churches spent more time focusing on the world than on their buildings, furniture, and personal happiness? What if Christians spent more time thinking about others than we spend thinking about ourselves?

What if our understanding of evangelism wasn't 100% focused on "when are we going to tell them about Jesus?" (We already are, in everything we do. See my previous post.) What if we took seriously our vocation as members of the body of Christ? What if today, we started trying to live as the hands and feet that carry on the ministry of healing and listening that Jesus started in the Gospels? What would that world look like?

What if this radical revolution, this modern day reformation, this fire, could be kindled by a single person person or a number of small groups? What if it has already begun?

What am I going to do about it? Am I going to join in the movement, or sit on the sidelines? I certainly don't plan to let other people have all the fun, so what will my contribution look like?

What do you think your contribution will look like?

We are ALWAYS telling people about God...

2007-08-14T21:04:00.001-05:00

I recently heard some people express the following statement:

Helping the homeless and hungry is nice and all, but I really feel my
time is better spent preaching the Gospel.

Think about that for a minute. There are several underlying sentiments inherently expressed within that statement, such as:

The lives of the homeless/hungry are worth less than minutes of my time.
God doesn't care about homeless and hungry people!
Helping the homeless/hungry isn't part of the Gospel.
God doesn't call me to help people, just to preach words at them.

However, one of the most prevalent themes in all of scripture is call to care for the poor, oppressed, and downtrodden! Furthermore, such activity IS sharing the Gospel. As Christians, we are always conveying messages about who God is. If we ignore the homeless, hungry, and persecuted, then we are making a statement that God doesn't care about them!

Instead, if we care for the oppressed, homeless, and hungry, then we are implicitly stating that God loves and cares for them. It is a Christian imperitive to care for the needy. Look especially Matthew 25:31-46, which states that whatever we do to the least of humankind, we do to Jesus.

Furthermore, when asked to point out the greatest commandment in the Law (Matthew 22:36-40 & Mark 12:28-34), Jesus tells people that all the Law and the Prophets depend from:

Loving God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength;
Loving your neightbor as yourself.

Author Scott McKnight has identified this as "The Jesus Creed" -- the mantra by which Jesus lived his life. It is Deuteronomy 6:4-9 + Leviticus 19:18.

For those interested in the WWJD question, or more relevantly: "What is Jesus calling me to do?", it seems that the answer is that if we look to Jesus as a role model, we should place incredible importance on loving God, praying, feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, helping the poor and oppressed, showing love to all of humankind and creation as a whole, and answering the questions we are asked. If we do that, isn't evangelism automatic?

It has been said: "Preach the gospel at all times. Use words if necessary." This has been attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, but evidence suggests it was written well after his death, though it does flow from his theology. Regardless, the point is well made that our actions spread our understanding of God, and I believe that God values the poor and oppressed, and I believe God calls me to love all people.

Furthermore, mere human words are to weak to convey this gospel, it requires action. The only way to spread this gospel is to expend the time, energy, and resources to feed the hungry, house the homeless, and care for the oppressed.

What's in a name?

2007-08-02T09:08:00.001-05:00

I've felt the call to blog for a while. I feel like I have things to say. I don't mean this egotistically. I don't know that people need to hear what I have to say. I'm somewhat skeptical about whether people will care. Really, I just know that I have thoughts rattling around in my skull that I need to express, welling up inside me. I need to express myself.

The reason I didn't begin blogging months ago is silly: I couldn't figure out what to call my blog! I wanted a name that fit. I've settled on "A Musing RevoLutheran". I'm not sure it will stick.

I am a Christian who happens to be part of the Lutheran tradition. It is my heritage: the faith of my parents and grandparents ... the faith I grew up in. My doorway to understanding Jesus -- and what it means to be Christian -- is rooted in this tradition. It is something that I am proud of, but not something I find limiting.

I have come to understand the teachings of Jesus to be revolutionary, and I believe they always will be. It seems that Christianity should always be counter-cultural, rather than blindly accepting the ways of the world as "normal". It seems that scripture is meant to be interpreted contextually, not only through the context of the community in which is was written, but also through the context of the community in which it is read -- the community in which we live today.

You may have heard the old joke: "How many Lutherans does it take to change a light bulb?" The response: "CHANGE?!?" (For the non-Lutherans: this reflects the reluctance to change evident in modern Lutheran congregations.) However, it seems to me that this is contrary to our heritage.

Much of what I need to express relates to theology. It is a hobby, an interest, a passion. It isn't that I feel I have the answers -- far from it! It's more about wrestling with the questions. Jesus challenged the accepted scriptural interpretations of his time. Martin Luther questioned the established understandings of his time. Many others have been part of this great tradition. I believe that God is still speaking, and that we can be part of the conversation by interacting with the combination of scripture, community, and the Spirit.

The term "RevoLutheran" reflects both my roots, which I hope never to sever, and my tendency to be a "creature of change" who is open to thinking about my faith in new ways, and in community including people whose heritage is unlike my own. Many times the new ways probably aren't even new...but rather just ideas from the past that are being dusted off, reexamined, and recycled.

These are my thoughts as I enter the fray … the reforming process of contextualizing communal faith, wrestling with questions, emerging from the box of popular culture, and encouraging others to think critically about the things they take for granted. All are welcome to join me on this journey!