Waiting and watching

If you have a household of children, there is probably very little waiting and watching going on in your house, unless, of course, we count watching the clock and waiting for their bedtime so you can get a little peace.

But, wait!  There is a great deal of watching as you watch your little one learn to walk and that first grader conquer the art of reading.  There is watching your children interact and become each others advocates and best friends.

For the parents of teenagers there is the waiting time: waiting for them to get home with the car, waiting for college acceptance letters, waiting for a budding romance to burn out or blossom (another whole set of watching and waiting there).

What are we watching and waiting for?  That really is a good question.
Does our day to day watching keep us from enjoying the fullness of each day's gift?
Does our waiting for some milestone marker keep us from simply being with each other today, right now?

God's future is coming to us and the birth of Jesus is the first installment.  Tomorrow we begin our watching and waiting.

Prayer: when only dancing will do.

King David couldn't help himself.  Micah, his wife, couldn't forgive him for it.  David danced in the sight of the whole nation wearing just a linen ephod and from Micah's point of view, looking like a fool.

It all starts with the Ark of the Covenant, a gilded 'box' in which rested the original tablets of the Ten Commandments.*  More than just Israel's most precious artifact, the Ark had a particular relationship with the LORD.  On its top was the Mercy Seat, where it was believed the LORD dwelt.  It was so holy that touching it could prove fatal.

The Ark had a long history, but at this moment, David was bringing it into the city of Jerusalem to give it a proper home.  It was a joyous time.  Thirty thousand people lined the streets to watch as the ark was carefully carried to its new home.

And David just couldn't help himself.  He stripped down to his linen ephod and with 'all the house of Israel' danced before the LORD with all his might, with songs, lyres, harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals.   He offered up burnt offerings along the way until he finally enters the city with shouting and the sound of the trumpet.  2 Samuel 6.5,14-16.

It's not completely clear if Micah was more disturbed by David's virtual nakedness or his wild behavior.  However, David gives the rest of us leave to dance and sing and perhaps in what looks like great foolishness express our thanks to God, our awe at being counted among God's children, or our sheer delight at being asked to be God's servant.

Take your pick.  They are all good reasons to break out in song, to pray with voice and body and movement.  Although if you choose the naked part of the story, please do this in the confines of your own home.

*Raiders of the Lost Ark is a fictionalized movie about this very box.

Prayer when words fail us

There are specific names for different kinds of prayers.  I knew them all once but not anymore.
It doesn't really matter because we can figure out the different kinds of prayers ourselves, and give them our own labels if we want to.

"Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words."  Romans8.26

This is the kind of prayer that begins and ends in the heart because we cannot give shape or name or voice to our experience.  We moan with deep sorrow, overwhelming joy, unutterable fear or love that fills our very being.  These are the prayers of the extremes; they go beyond our feeble vocabulary or require an energy we no longer possess.  Sometimes the situation is so dire, so impossible, we have no idea what could or should be asked of our Lord.  So the Spirit prays for us.

Soon after my husband's death, when the stress and grief were overwhelming, I took a walk along the tree lined roads of the Gettysburg battlefield.  I walked there often but on this day I made it clear to God that I simply could not go on, it was all too much for me, I couldn't even pray.  God said to me (yes, I know how odd that sentence is, but the message was a clear as a voice speaking aloud) "Fear not.  Even the trees are praying for you."  And they must have been for I was comforted and strengthened.

"And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God."  Romans 8.27

There is powerful comfort in those words.

Generations, holidays, family and God

Much will be written about this time of frenzied activity between Thanksgiving and Christmas aka 'the Holidays'.  I'm sure I will be guilty of adding to the din.

And yet, it is a time of generations, probably the most cross generational events in our current culture.  It is a time of getting together - with extended family or with your extended family of friends.  It never goes completely right.  Someone has a meltdown.  Someone spills juice on the rug.  At least one dish is over or under cooked.

And yet, we gather together.  Even those of us with seriously unfriendly families try again to find a place where wisdom can be shared and each person can find a place where they truly belong. We seek again a place where we can plant our feet, feel solid ground under us, find safety in an increasingly unsafe world.  Even if we don't experience any of those things, we will try again next year, lamenting this year's failure to provide the sustenance we need.

The Bible was very concerned about generations (all those begats).  Part of it was to show lineage, but the other part was to demonstrate, with names and dates, that life is passed from one to the other.  God generates again and again in God's world.

So, how are we a part of these acts of generations?  If we think about belonging, having solid ground, feeling safe.....how do we live out our faith during these next 5 weeks of holiday craziness?  How do we grow spiritually....and help others to grow as well?

Growing spiritually: worship and devotion

She's the woman who anoints Jesus, to prepare him for his burial.

She purchases an alabaster jar of expensive perfumed ointment, and pours it onto Jesus, filling the room with the fragrance of her gift.

The men in the room become angry; perhaps because she embarrasses them with this intimate act played out in public. Perhaps because they were all wishing that they had thought of it first.

They all have a solution to this 'waste of good money'....and their reaction tells us they cannot see what this woman is doing as an act of worship and devotion.  Jesus commends her and promises that wherever this story is told it will be done in remembrance of her.  

 She never says anything.       We never learn her name.

We will need to put aside our notion of worship as a 'service' that we attend and embrace, instead, a notion of worship as action in order to see the potential for spiritual growth in this story.  Without words, and in a hostile environment (this was an all men's dinner) she simply acted: extravagantly, generously, with nothing held back.  Focused on the service she could do for her Lord, she acted and then she slips away from the story forever.

I've always wondered if Jesus could still smell the wonder of that ointment in the days ahead....when they arrested him and crucified him.  Could the fragrance that filled that room have given him the assurance (as slight as it may have been) of this one woman's devotion?  Did it help him remember the one who loved him when the whole world was busy crushing him?

How do we grow to be the one who knows how to honor her God and does so without regard for the hostile glares around her and the emptying of her purse?  How does emptying out that alabaster jar fill her with God?

#2 The Bible clearly says...............

There is very little that falls into the category of "the Bible clearly says."

Let's start at the very beginning.   'In the beginning when God created..."  Gen 1.1.  Hebrew scholars will tell you that "when God began creating....." is a better translation.

Students of the Bible might ask, Which beginning?  The beginning of this particular round of creating?  In the beginning of this solar system?  Or could 'in the beginning' mean "a long time ago, before any of us were around"?

Christian readers of the Old Testament might do well to read the Jewish commentaries since these are their scriptures as well and they have been thinking and praying and talking about them for much longer than we.  Did you know that when some Jewish scholars speak about creation they talk of God 'bounding the chaos' - that is, taking the chaos which God found and confining it to set boundaries?  The heavens above, the water under the earth, the earth separate from the dry land....you see?  They will then speak of natural disaster or even human disaster as 'the chaos breaking in.'  I think that perfectly describes some of my life experiences.

Besides, the Bible's words are weighed to a culture, a particular time and place. We are sentient, thinking beings who are intended to engage the God who is revealed through the Bible stories, not memorize words without thought. In our thinking, meaning is revealed.

Let us approach God's Word with humility, adventure, discovery and longing.  When you take that approach there is so much depth and lots of connections to the world as we know it.  It works more like a mirror than a textbook.

What a joy to discover God speaking to our lives through a story that is thousands of years old.
Now, come and see.  Come and discuss.  Come.....and invite a friend.

"#1 God will never give you more than you can handle..."

Really?  This deserves a full scale 'eye roll.'

You hear the sub-text, right?  Underneath this 'too easy to roll off the tongue' phrase is the implication that if you are falling apart, can't cope right at this moment, are thinking about tearing your hair out,or possibly taking your own life,  then your faith is defective....not enough.....too weak....add your own phrase.

Even young people understand the weight of 'too much.'  Even young people look at others and wonder how they continue to remain upright and moving forward with all the baggage they are being asked to pull along with them.

As you age, you become more and more aware of the imbalance of the universe.  Some folks are asked to carry weights that you shutter to imagine.....like the family whose 19 year old committed suicide only to have the father killed in an auto accident 4 days later and the granddfather die of natural causes to round out the week.  3 funerals in one week.  That isn't too much?

Furthermore, this implies that seeking help: from a doctor, a counselor, a pastor, a friend is a sign of weakness (the greatest sin in American culture).  Is that really the message that we, sinners all, who fall at the feet of a benevolent God seeking mercy, want to spread?

Of course not.  There are times, however, when we have no idea what to say to that friend or co-worker whose life is out of control.  So here are a few suggestions

 "I can't imagine how hard it is."

"I will pray for you each day."

"Is there anything I can do to make today easier?"

"I would be frightened about the future and angry."

Then pray for them every day.  Touch base regularly, not expecting updates or long conversations, just to let them know you continue to think about them.  Invite them out to lunch.  Walk with them knowing you will have to walk in darkness and with fear.

Don't take the easy road out.  Don't spread around platitudes and meaningless phrases.  Don't chicken out.  Stand with them as they face their cross, and know that Jesus will be standing next to you both.

#3 God works in mysterious ways................

God is in control....has a plan.....works in mysterious ways.
Come on, when you don't know the answer, be honest.  Say, "I don't know."

When your life has taken a nose dive, this is the last thing you want to hear.  Even though you probably believe this is true, what good does it do when you say it?  It only proves what the listener suspected in the first place, you haven't got a clue.  So admit it.

The problem is not that we have described God inaccurately.  God does work in mysterious ways.

Take the story of Lazarus, a friend of Jesus and brother to Mary and Martha.  Lazarus is very sick.  Jesus is informed and dawdles so much that Lazarus is dead 4 days when Jesus arrives.  Lazarus is already in the tomb (a cave not a grave).  Jesus, with the grieving Mary and Martha trailing along, goes to the tomb and Jesus weeps. (John11.35)  Then in just 11 verses, Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead.

How mysterious is that?  Jesus weeps even knowing that in a few moments he will give Lazarus back his life.  [Why Jesus weeps has been the source of much rich conversation over the ages.]

It doesn't do any good to tell folks God has a plan.  Right now, this moment, they are grieving, afraid, lost, angry, betrayed.....and a thousand other things.  People are drawn to the Jesus who touches the lepers and heals the demon possessed and sits down with the outcast woman at the well.  Be Jesus to them.  Sit, listen.

We are not required to answer for God.  Say you don't know why .....only that Jesus was there with lots of folks who were on the receiving end of some rotten stuff.  Then do what you can do: be with them,  pray with them and for them, regularly.

#4 The unchurched are............"

Boy do I hate that term "unchurched."  At least my Lutheran brothers and sisters are less prone to use the other terms "unbelievers" or "backsliders" in this attempt to quantify faith.  When we use a word like 'unchurched' we imply that there is a cosmic obligation to speak about the faith the way that those inside the church do.   We announce that the church is the litmus test of the presence of faith.

Jesus never, never, never, never called his disciples to 'church' the people.  Jesus did not come to 'church' the world.  Jesus was not interested in whether you had taken membership classes. He works with disciples of 'little faith' throughout the entire gospel of Matthew.

Jesus wanted to know if you could see the injustice that this world sanctifies and wanted to do something about it.  Jesus wanted to know if you could recognize a blessing when it fell into your hands, and then make use of it for the sake of others.  Jesus wanted to know if your heart was filled with compassion or critique, because that is the kind of kingdom Jesus was establishing: a place of justice, mercy, compassion and blessing.

These are not strictly Christian or church concepts.  But these are the concepts at the center of Jesus' desire for this creation.  Certainly Jesus spoke of judgment, yet in these terms:  when God's kingdom is all in all, those who have chosen injustice over justice will find themselves outside the gate.  It was their choice from the beginning and they have condemned themselves.

We are not called to seek the unchurched....or label them or call them names.  We are to do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with our God. (Micah 6.8)  When we are busy doing that, we can talk with others who are on the same journey about the God who has shown us the way and called us to action.

We can invite them to know this God whom we know.  Sort of how Jesus did it.

4 really dumb things Christians have been caught saying..........

So, I read this article about the dumbest, most annoying things that the Church has been caught saying and how they are really irritating, aggravating, almost infuriating to many....especially the under 30 crowd.

It was a good article.  I also gave we Lutherans a star for not being guilty of all the sins described.  We have our own particular ways of sinning, but not these.  However, these are an insight into how we are heard by the world we are called to love and serve, and just might help us interact more effectively.

Here's the list:  (kind of like David Letterman's nightly 10 Ten List....only we have only 4 for now)

#4  "The unchurched, (insert: unbelievers as another option) are....."

#3  "God is in control....has a plan....works in mysterious ways..."

#2   "The Bible clearly says........."

#1 "God will never give you more than you can handle"

Have you ever heard some one say just that?  Has there ever been a time that you were the recipient of such 'wisdom' and it was not only useless to you, it actually made you angry at the speaker?  Have you found yourself using these exact same words.....meaning well, but stumbling all over yourself?

Keep an eye on the blog because I'm going to look at each one in turn.  Maybe we will find a way to talk with others about this faith which we hold dear.....because our Lord Jesus holds us dear and calls us beloved.

The preaching life...a spiritual journey

Now, this may be of absolutely no interest to you, but if we are going to be talking about spiritual growth then perhaps it has some pertinence.  Many folks will ask, "How do you do what you do?"  and generally they mean 'stand in front of a lot of people and talk.'

But the larger, and to me more important question, is how to tap into the Spirit's guiding, how to find a message in ancient stories about the faith and help folks see the connection to the conundrums of present day faith. And that gets at the spiritual life of the preacher.


A recent quote posted on facebook got me to thinking about this when contemplating the parable of the Tax Collector and Pharisee (Luke 18). The Pharisee was arrogant, self-serving and self-congratulating when presenting himself before God.  The tax collector couldn't even look up to the heavens and begged "Lord have mercy on me, a poor sinner."  We all know that the Tax Collector gets it and the Pharisee doesn't.  We know there is a tendency among people of faith to ground our relationship with God in 'right behavior' instead of in God's mercy and grace.  The preacher's job is to re-align folks and to do that, the preacher must put away her own self-serving and self-dependent ways first.  Some thoughts..........

It is called the parable of the Tax Collector and the Pharisee.  It’s at the very least a parable about prayer, but of course, there is much more at stake here than prayer.  It’s one of those scenarios where the words spoken reveal so much more than was intended.

Jesus sets it up for us with a point by point polarization between these two men, standing their ground in the temple. In the end it is the humble outcast tax collector who is standing in the light of God, for he went home justified.  My fear is that I am the Pharisee.  How do I become the tax collector?

How do I strip away my alb, stole and collar….my fancy prayers and professional liturgy and advanced education…How do I strip away my place at center stage and an office of my own so I can get all the way down to my underwear…and stand in humility before God?

Because humility is not the place I regularly inhabit.  It seems so easy to get lost, to lose track of the radicalness of following Jesus – the emptying and filling that comes by God’s hand.  I am not overwhelmed with my need for reconciliation with God....and I’m not talking about the large betrayals that are truth in my life, but those hidden moments of quiet despair: when I must face the fact that my skills, and gifts and experience are not enough for the task before me…..and they will never be enough. 

Not enough to serve as I’d hoped to serve – both the people of God and the good news of Jesus Christ. Or perhaps more truthfully, not enough to perform the way I had hoped to perform.  And with that I fall into the great chasm of right behavior and religious sensibilities, losing hold on the kingdom of the cross…. and I am no good to myself or God’s people.

Joel Green in his commentary says that the Pharisee is a man who depends on himself, stands before God without need of God’s mercy and who uses his holiness to exclude others who he disdains.  This is a man whose life is set in opposition to the Kingdom of God. I do not want to be that man.

Yet I know that somehow I want to be the one who in humility receives compassion and restoration from God while retaining all the prerogatives of station and office. So I know that these are the very things that need to be stripped away – these are the things that stand in my way, that keep me from the God I seek to serve. 

To have any kind of integrity, this is the truth I must carry into the pulpit and into the world….along with these words

“Lord, I am not worthy to receive, but only say the word and I shall be healed.”

And for a moment, I can step into the pulpit, to pass on – as one broken person to another - the words of grace I have first received, and the healing I have found in the one called Jesus.

For this and all mercies you grant us O Lord, we give thanks.  Amen

Suffering, Christ, you, me and the world

How does the struggle and pain and loss and suffering of our day to day lives intersect with our spiritual lives?  Does our spiritual life support us in those times?  Give us some framework of meaning?  Is our spiritual life a source of strength.....and if so, how?

Of the many questions that come to me as a pastor, questions about suffering - the pain that comes from physical hurts, or relationship betrayals or social rejection...are the most challenging for both the one who is asking and for me.  They are the questions and answers that count in the final analysis.

Yes, some folks get all exercised over whether Noah was a real person living at some time long ago.  Some folks draw the line at Jesus walking on water or 7 days of creation.  But the real kicker, the one that really counts is suffering.  Why?  Why me?  Where is God?  When someone cannot find a their way through the haze that suffering creates; when the anger and fear overwhelm them, their grasp of God and God's good will slips away.

One might say that at the cross - the cross that we will all encounter in our lives - our faith is tested almost beyond bearing.  At our cross, the simple almost glib explanations of faith fall away; the discussions about female clergy or gay bishops becomes inconsequential; the Sunday School stories of Abraham or Peter or King David look too much like fairy tales.  

So what do we reach down and cling to when everything else has been stripped away?  
That's the question.  What has worked for you?  What message or practice or image or ritual was the source of strength for you?

For it is in suffering that we are truly challenged to walk with one another.  Perhaps our experience can help us strengthen the spiritual lives of others for that moment when there cross comes into their lives.

Are you growing spiritually?

The media has made a great deal about recent polls where folks define themselves as 'spiritual' rather than 'religious'.  Which for me raises the question, What do they mean by spiritual?  [and of course, it's twin, what do they mean by 'religious'?]

As people who look to the Holy Spirit as a comforter, encourager, prayer partner and source of power, I would expect that believing Christians are spiritual.  By that I mean, are open to the Spirit's movement in this world, in their lives and in themselves.  There is some expectation that this movement of the Spirit would  challenge us to move in unexpected directions.  It would push us towards generosity ....and compassion....and righteous indignation over injustice.  All of these are characteristics of our Lord Jesus, and so the Spirit works to transform us into the person God has always known we can be.

But what do you think?  

"Jesus, I've got a question for you."

It was a game just about everyone wanted to play with Jesus.  Those who asked questions fell into two categories:  friendlies and hostiles. [Many confirmation classes like to play this game as well.  It's called 'stump the Pastor.']

This Sunday we get the hostiles.  They are really only out to make Jesus look ridiculous. What a silly question about 7 brothers, one wife and no sons. Yes, Israel did practice what is known as Leverite marraige where a brother will 'raise up' sons for a dead brother.  But really, these folks are just being provocative.

What they get from Jesus is the promise of a resurrection that is completely different from the reality they now know.  Women will not be given and taken in marriage.  Women won't be the pawns of a patriarchal society whose focus is male children so their line would be continued and their name remembered.   Men won't be the pawns of a patriarchal society where being the second born was never a good position to be in.   It will all be different.

Only those who are not sitting on the top of the world hear this as good news.  Only those who are being left behind, hungry, homeless, unwanted and /or crushed will look with longing for a time when God rights the world and justice prevails. Justice for the whole of creation.  A new order.
......where people are not owned but loved.  
That's what Jesus is talking about.  see Luke 20.27-40

Not those saints.....

Just finished reading an article in today's Washington Post on Pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber, author of a NY Times bestseller Pastrix: the Cranky, Beautiful Faith of a Sinner & Saint. go to sinner and saint, ***


Nadia, as she is affectionately called by thousands of followers, is an unusual representative of the clergy and at first will strike many as terribly 'out there'.  In fact, she is about as 'in here' as one can get: a solid explicator of both Jesus and Luther's perspective on the faith.  I think it's the tattoos and possibly her "vocabulary" that throw folks off.

Which leads me to the title of this short reflection.  There are many who believe that the grace of Jesus is open only to those who, once having found Jesus, start to look like the rest of us.  We want to protect Jesus from those saints if in fact anyone would call them saints.

I suspect that middle class white church members maintain an underlying desire for those folks to clean up their act and be useful to the church.  In truth, just like you and me, they are being called by Jesus to be a part of God's mission on the earth.  We are called to be on God's mission team: a mission of grace and forgiveness and resurrection for the entire creation.  I would pray that this is our congregation's mission as well - to bring resurrection and radical love into the lives of others.

***BTW we are gathering folks who would like to read Nadia's book Pastrix and talk about it over coffee, etc.  Interested?  Let the office know at 458-1481.