The cost - benefit analysis of faith

We are capitalists.  It's in our DNA.  Even when we can't balance our checkbook or figure the rate of return on our investments, we intuitively do a cost-benefit analysis for just about everything.  The cost of used car is not only its lower price, but its shorter life span.  The benefit is no car loan and a more level scale of re-sale value.  See what I mean?

I'd be foolish to think that folks don't apply these same categories to a faith life.  What will it cost me?  (Jesus says, 'Your life')  What benefits will I receive? (Jesus says, 'Your life').  OK, we want something a little more concrete.  We want to know how the person and ministry of Jesus is a benefit to me today, in this life, like, when I get on the school bus?

So if we talk about faith without including how it helps us navigate our daily decisions, then folks who live in the US like us, who are intuitively capitalists, will have a hard time seeing value in it.  The more our faith gives us a framework for making decisions, for considering options, for living in a very complex world, the more value our faith will have.  When our faith fills us with a sense of agency ( 'a call') and importance in the system (Jesus seeks out the 1 in a 100 who is lost) and guidelines for living (even when those guidelines require sacrifice, hard work) we see faith as a living, active, transformative experience.

This may all sound like a fairly odd way to talk about faith, but even Martin Luther said, "To know Christ is to know his benefits."  In our pragmatic culture, that means bringing Christ into the hundreds of decisions we make daily: in raising children, serving customers, playing on a soccer team, filing DMV forms, grocery shopping, managing personnel.

What does your faith teach you about living everyday?  How does your faith help you step out into the world?

Chickens, cafeterias and social ordering

Chickens can be very nasty to their own.  In any flock, the more dominant chickens will peck at the weakest members, leaving bald spots where feathers once grew.  Thus the origin of 'hen pecked.'  No one wants to be at the bottom of the social ladder, not even chickens.

Think about this as school re-opens.  Take your high school cafeteria. There was the 'cool' or 'popular' table.  Then were the techies, the geeks, the nerds, the artistic types, the jocks....and somewhere at the very bottom were the kids who ate their lunch alone, every day.  No one invited them over to share the table.  They were the object of disdain and often nasty pranks and 'jokes.'

Not that it goes away after high school; we all experience social ordering in our lives.  But it is a very difficult maze to master as a child - school bus, sports fields, lunch rooms, birthday invitations and all that.  Our children understand a system where shame is real and impacts all portions of your day.  Before they learn how to read well they understand the honor of being invited to move up to the higher place at the line, or being chosen first on a team.

So, Jesus pictures a banquet where those at the bottom are honored by the host.  You know, those folks who will never be able to invite you back for dinner or do you a favor at the office or even lend you a rake .....those are the folks you honor by inviting them to the banquet.  Our world doesn't work this way.....which is what makes it so God inspired, or we could say, which makes it the kingdom of God.

Come to the table and be fed.

What has you in a twist?

She was crippled, bent over, unable to stand straight. Luke 13.10-17
Life had twisted her in half; her best view was of her own feet.
You know her and so do I.

She's the single mother down the street whose teenager has gone off the rails.
She's the youngster ridiculed and bullied at school.
She's the elderly widow stretching peanut butter and jelly and white bread to last through two weeks because her social security doesn't pay her bills.

And she's not just a woman.  She is every man, woman and child who is bent over by the oppressive forces of this world: economic, cultural, physical, governmental.  On a good day, we find our posture and stand straight and take on the world.  On a bad day, we forget that we are God's beloved, that Jesus has the ultimate victory and the Spirit is moving and shaking and transforming this world.  On a bad day, we are twisted by this world and keep our head down and hope to get through unscathed.

Hear the good news.  No matter what this world throws at you, you are a child of God who loves you beyond all knowing.  Cling to that good news.

Burned to a new beginning

Wild fires are reaping their annual destruction out West; acres of forest and folks' homes in the path of the fire storm are being lost.  In this we see both endings and beginnings.

Fire helps forests regenerate; it contributes to the life cycle of a forest and enables some frail flora to get a new foothold.  That's what the experts tell us.

People, on the other hand, do not consider the complete destruction of all that they own to be a necessary part of anyone's life cycle. They have no desire to test the potential of new beginnings by having everything turned into ash.  I wouldn't eithe,r even though we all know that there will be new beginnings - there simply has to be.  They will re-build their homes and their lives and most will take away some learning from these terrible days of loss.

In the Old Testament, God manifests both power and presence through a pillar of fire which protected, guided and reassured the Israelites on their flight out of Egypt.  That old pillar of fire said God was there, God was powerful, and God knew their plight.  This is exactly the kind of assurance most of us can use when it looks like everything we value is turning to ash.  I wouldn't mind a smaller version of that old pillar of fire when the forces of this world are taking their toll on my life.

However, I cannot forget that God's fire was also pressing Israel forward, into unknown land with unknown outcomes....with just a bunch of promises and a picture of what it was going to be like.  The fire may have protected them from the Egyptians who were following, but it also kept Israel from going back to the land of captivity. It was forward or nothing at all.

That's where we are headed with this God - forward, into the unknown, away from captivity to the forces of this world and onto a place - a promised place - where God is leading us.....even if it often feels like God is simply keeping the heat on our backsides so we don't change our minds.  Scares me sometimes; enthralls me the next.  Let us go forward, then, together.

The Spirit at work. Acts 2 again?

"When the day of Pentecost had come,
they were all together in one place.  Suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.  Divided tongues as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of the.  All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability."  Acts 2.1-4

Yesterday the members of the ELCA when gathered in assembly called the Rev. Elizabeth Eaton to lead us for the next 6 years as Presiding Bishop.  Many are calling it the work of the Spirit....much like the first Pentecost.

Oh, Lord, we pray that it is so....even though we have no idea what it would look like if the Spirit poured out upon this church.  Let's be clear, I don't mean the administration, nor the organization, but on the people, gathered in worship and working together in the world.  I can guess: we would feel the fire of the Spirit in our bones, moving us in our lives to share Jesus' story with others, invite them into a relationship with the source of all life, and caring for others as we see the need.

But I'd also guess that we'll be called to walk in directions and along paths that will create anxiety and often feel like dead ends.  We will be asked to leave behind stuff we consider absolutely essential and to trust that the Lord will provide.  Like that first day of Pentecostal Spirit we will need to radically embrace diversity - encouraging and supporting a wide variety of worship styles, leadership models, music and language.  We might need to give up our dependence on Pastors!

We as the ELCA have traveled along some perilous paths in these last 10 years.....and I pray that Bishop Elizabeth Eaton is open to the Spirit's leading, for that is where we truly want to go: where the Living Lord is leading us....even if we will be 100% uncomfortable with the outcomes.

Welcome Bishop Eaton.  Come, Holy Spirit, come!

Believing in the deep end

It is easy to believe you can swim when you are paddling around in the shallow end of the pool.  In a moment of panic you can put your feet down and touch the solid bottom again.

Deep water requires a very different level of confidence.  You cannot see the bottom in the deep end; you cannot keep your head above water and touch bottom at the same time.  It's one or the other. 

We live our lives in deep water - where much is unclear, outcomes are uncertain and we can either cling to the solid floor of what we know or we can keep our heads above the splashing water.  Neither approach will work for long. 

Eventually we will have to move our arms, paddle our feet and push out into the deep in order to get to the other side.  Water will splash in our face, we'll catch a mouthful or two of water but we will both move forward and be (here's the prize) held up by the water.

A life of faith is much like swimming in deep water: we push against the forces around us which try to pull us down (even though the most perfect swimming stroke does not prevent some water from mouth or eyes). Real effort is required to keep moving toward a safer shore. Pretending the water isn't deep will not make it so nor take the danger away.

We swim in deep waters.  We need a deep water God.  Shallow theology will prove to be ineffective while deep water will challenge us to trust (another way of saying 'believe'). 

The cross is the way Jesus said, "I'm there with you in the deep water" because there is nothing deeper than that moment when you must release this life and lean into the promises of God for the next.   Jesus stepped into the water of the River Jordan to show us he was willing to swim every step of the way with us.  Cling to that Jesus.

Using the poor for our own ends

Wow!  I never thought I'd write that sentence, but I heard the critique and believe there is truth in it.  I believe we (as people of faith) are guilty of using the poor as a symbol of our largesse....and therefore a balm for our conscience.   Our commitment to their welfare is a tiny portion of the energy we put into living each day: some cans for the food pantry; cast off clothes for the needy and a good feeling for us.

How deep does my love for these neighbors go? 

I believe some confession is in order.

A deep water God

We need a deep water God.

This is in contrast to a

.....bandaid God:  apply over wound and wait 5 days for healing

....bless and go God:  drive through a faith practice window [say prayer, reciting scripture, attending worship services] looking for a blessing but not wanting to get stuck in line for too long

....stained glass window God:  ancient, brittle, bright only in the sunlight, static, comforting

....facebook God:  pieced together from the bits and pieces of insight, inspiration and wisdom found (or not) in various facebook postings by friends

....divine Sugar Daddy God: who showers us with all those things we think we need and makes our lives better and better each day

....angry Aunt Sarah God:  who stands on the sidelines and lobs lightning bolts in our direction without any hope or expectation that good will come from it

....sentimental Touched by an Angel God: who flits about, giving a holy glow to everything and resolving life's worst dilemmas in 60 minutes or less.

I could go on.  We don't need one of these gods who are simply projections of our own desires.  We need a God who will be with us when the storms rage, the darkness falls, the shadows appear, the joy turns to weeping and when there are absolutely no answers at all.  A God who would go to the cross.  Jesus.

Bow your head, close your eyes....and shut out the world?

It is how we pray.

But I wonder if it is also a way to shut out the world; to create our own world in our own mind.  I wonder if we bow our heads and close our eyes in order to blot out the reality of the world we live in.

If so, we are not following Jesus - the one who stepped into the muddy water of the Jordan River and then walked out into his world to heal the sick, include the outcast, love the unlovable, free those who were held captive and seek justice for others.

Not just food and shelter and clothes and justice and freedom and a living wage for his own family.  No, Jesus counted every other person as family - and then he worked for the weakest of them.  We are called to do the same.

Joy....where does yours comes from?

laughing...especially with my children
engaging, challenging, energized conversation
playing with my grandson
listening to Dvorak
gospel music in worship
'in the park' home run
10 Tons of Love exhaustion
a long hike in the woods
Holy Communion
singing in harmony
Impressionist paintings

All of these things give me joy.  Some are about beauty.  Some are about the wonder of the moment.  Some make me a part of a greater good, a larger community, a gift for tomorrow.

What does your list look like?

Over the top

"Really, that's more than enough."

The last time I said that someone was dishing creamed spinach onto my plate.  I really don't like creamed spinach.  Really.

But beyond that last episode, when did I last say, with all sincerity, "No, really, that's more than enough."

I worry about my own acquisitiveness; my desire for more without any real insight into what I truly need more of and why I might need more of it.  Do I need more free time?  more exercise?  more retirement savings?  more clothes?  If those blessings fell into my hands today, would I be more content?  A better neighbor?  More able to contribute to the well being of another?

What exactly do I want more for?     Who will that more serve?

Ripe tomatoes and a rich man's barns

It's going to start happening any day now: the tomatoes will begin to turn from pink to red to luscious...and after about a week you will have more tomatoes than you can handle.  It's  a wonderful time of abundance and the best tasting tomatoes you are going to eat for at least another year.  Yet, enough is enough and eventually you will have more tomatoes than you can creatively use.

What are you to do?

The rich man had the same problem: the harvest was so heavy he couldn't fit it all in his barns.  What to do? His solution was to pull down the barns he had and build new, bigger ones.

I wonder if he ever considered throwing a party for all his neighbors (who knew he had more than he could store) and give away a bag of grain to each of them - "Take it with you!  I have more than I can handle already!"

Did he ever think that God had sent this amazing harvest into his hands so he would turn and share it with his neighbors in need?  So he could feed the hungry?  Did he ever consider that he was blessed so that he could bless others?  Not only that, Jesus tells him that this harvest was to be his last.  He would never again get the opportunity to spread the wealth around like this again, because tonight he would die.  The time had run out; there would be no more blessings received nor blessings to give.

What a shame!  What a crying shame.