Poem

This poem below was part of my sermon this past Sunday. I was processing the Sunday readings, thinking.. thinking...

The first reading had God listening to the people... calling a prophet from among them, one from within the people.

Then in the Gospel reading, Jesus comes and speaks as one with authority! I'm thinking about all this... about what we think prophets are today - people who predict future events - mostly doom and gloom events.

When in actuality that's NOT what they were in the day. They were people who were good at, and called to... speak the obvious. Listen y'all... if you keep living off credit, sooner or later, you're gonna crash!

That's not "predicting" events so much as having a clear(er) eye on what certain behaviors and choices will bring.

So I'm processing this stuff... and I read an article in one of my journals from a pastor who writes that another image of ministry is the image of the "poet". The author mentions "Poets see the despair and heartahce as well as the beauty and miracle that lie just beneath the thin veneer of the ordinary, and they describe this in ways that are recognized not only in the mind, but more profoundly in the soul." (M. Craig Barnes, Christian Century, Feb 10. 2009)

He says pastors are called to do the same thing. He says all who are called to do this ministry have this "poetic vision". WOW! This hit me like a ton of brinck... in fact I had to put the article down and stop reading for a day.

So... Poets!?!?! We're called to speak of the obvious, to the souls of the congregation! What about the prophet?

Well, most of our religious gatherings are centered more often than not around the left-brain. This led me to want to center this past Sunday morning around the Right -brain. So... I wrote a poem to "speak" for me...And... here goes:

Does the Prophet still live?
In the ancient Hebrew world, the prohpet lived
As recorded, he spoke -Thus says the Lord!
He was told to speak what he heard
unrefined,
unaltered mouth-piece,
a direct messenger
"Tell my people - Thus says the Lord!"

The meaning revealed - through words
Thus says the Lord!

Ages ago, the prophet lived
Revealing the word
Bringing the word
Lifting the word
Making it clear - clearer
to the people

One from among them
a familiar voice
speaking a familiar word
a divine word reminded

In ages past...

Does the prophet still live?

Doe we miss you, Oh prophet?

Gentle or agitated, speak!
Do you reveal that word today?
Reveal the face of God?
Lift the pre-existent light from within?

Do we miss you, prohpet?

Prophet... today a mis-shapen title
twisted with anger
bent on distruction
Doom - The fires of hell so close to us...

Prophet indeed!


Speak today, Oh prophet of God!
Where are you today?
What are you today?
An artist revealing a painting...
reflecting from your heart
a painting already there

Look at the world, prophet of God...
What do you see there
that no-one else sees?
Reveal that sacred art, prophet
A familiar voice, no doubt...
Reminding me - have I seen this piece before?
--What is that?
--Oh that... that's just life
Boring
Mundane
Predictable

Life?
The blessedness of the routine
The sacredness of the ordinary

--Do you see it, people of God?
Listen...
closer...
Can you hear the music of the spheres?
Repair those doors of perception
and you will know!

Take an hour to pray one word...
Take an eternal moment to listen for the response...

--Whose face did you see across from you when you last ate?
--Oh, them? That was just...

Just?

Oh blessed prophet, where are you?
Help me part that stubborn veil
remind me again of those forgotten things...
remove these cataracts of the heart...
the ordinary blindness of the comfortable

Where is that voice of God, Oh prophet?
Drop me into the thick of it - and pop my ears open!
Distil for me the voice of God from the noise...
...I hear something

Call me to sift the sights my eyes see...
guide me to the vision
speak those familiar words, Oh prophet,
those holy wordsSpeak - "Thus says the Lord!"
I know that...
I knew that...


Does the prophet still live?

BIBLE 101

"I don't know much about the bible."

"I'd participate more, but I feel like they know a lot more than I do."

"I'd feel a little weird going to a bible -Everyone would know WAY more than me!"

Well, here's your shot! I'd like to start a bible study for beginners! Call it Bible Study for Dummies... Beginners Bible Study... Bible 101... or whatever... It's for people who might be interested in this, except they don't think they know enough to be in a group.

When: First class - Sunday Feb 8th
Where: Oakland Mills Interfaith Center 5885Robert Oliver Place, Columbia, MD 21045
Time: 7:00PM to 8:30 PM

Here's the thing... the bible is the Sacred Document for both the Jewish and Christian traditions. (We'll talk about that more in class) And in recent surveys, most American claim to claim belonging in a particular flavor of religion (that claims the bible as it's sacred Scripture. Yet ALSO - most Americans claim to know very little about the bible.

What IS the bible? Good question! We'll talk about this.
Is the bible TRUE? Yet another good question... that we'll talk about

Here's the thing - the bible has, for about 3 thousand years (the Hebrew scriptures have been around for a little longer) has been motivating, empowering, leading, healing, guiding (and more) people for a long time.

The bible has lots of stories... stories of people, and God, and the interactions between the human and the divine. I believe one reason these stories are still around after so long is because they speak to the human condition, whether 3 thousand years ago, or now.

Anyway - YOU are invited!

But I need you to let me know if you plan to come. Please call the church office 410-730-1970 and let us know you're coming. This way I can plan for an appropriate room.

Thanks

Bringin' it home #4

It was interesting to see how, during this financial crisis, the first reaction of some of the leaders and pundits out there was to tell us to spend money. My first reaction would have been to tell people to pray... 'course in the line of work I'm in, well, it kinda goes with the territory.

I know public figures are reluctant to get people praying. But this to me sounds very much like times the Old Testament prophets would have lived in and spoken about.

One thing people misinterpret about OT prophets is the notion that they "predicted" the future. More often than not, they were just astute observers of their time and environment. They "saw" possible outcomes of their people's follies kind of like the outcomes a parent might see if they saw their kids do something not-so-smart. "Son, you're gonna hurt yourself if you ride your bike on the ice!""People of God - if you keep living this way... 'X' will happen" -- but they put it in "God-language"... "God won't be happy with this!"

Now, today, it doesn't take much smarts to figure out that if you base a financial system more and more on greed, then something is bound to throw the whole system out of whack. Truth is, for our capitalistic/financial system, a certain amount of greed keeps the system running... but too much can... well... cause what's happening now.

Now, if we have a system based on greed ("a little is good"), and yet we teach our children not to be greedy, is there an inconsistency there? Thou shall not covet. Is this realistic? Not in the system we have. If none of us were greedy - at all - from this point forward for about one year... our financial system would collapse! And we'd have to reinvent ourselves.When the price of gas went up to $3.+ a gallon and oil was at almost $150 per barrel, we thought - Oh no! We have to change our ways! We must not be dependent on oil! So we changed our habits. We started driving less. We made a mad scramble for renewable resources.

Now... that oil is around $50 or less a barrel, and gas prices have come down... are we going to stop moving towards renewable energy? Is the urgency any less now?Well, what about our spiritual lives? Many people feel a spiritual emptiness, and we long for a means to satiate that thirst. "Where is God?" "How can I experience God in my life?" "I'm looking for something, I just can't quite put my finger on what." We buy the books, go to the workshops and conferences, talk with our friends about spiritual stuff, we search on line for this stuff.

I go back to some of those cultures where the people are surrounded by God-stuff. They believe they are in some way living right smack in the middle of the Sacred. And we tend to romanticize this. We idealize the American Indians for this, not knowing the reality is close, but not exactly what we're idealizing.

The point is - because we miss this - this sense of the sacred in our lives - we seek it! We're starved for it, we're thirsting for it. And I don't think our capitalistic system (which I have to say is as dominant in our lives today as the church used to be in the lives of the medieval European villagers) helps us satisfy this urge.

I can see an economist say (or a tax preparer), "Our financial/capitalist system is not designed to fulfill spiritual needs... that's what religious institutions are for!" And that's true. But when this system dominates almost all other systems, when other systems in our society are based on a system like this... I'm not surprised we have so many people that are so spiritually hungry!I don't want to sound like a biblical prophet - repent, God is not happy-. I believe God loves us no matter what. I'm not so much worried about God as I am about us! We can't sustain such a spiritually empty system indefinitely without paying some price for it. And for many of us, that price is a hungering , a longing for something Sacred.

Maybe this Advent season, this time of expectant waiting... is the perfect time for us to readjust our own lives. What can we, each of us in our own lives, do to seek and be open to the sacred? First step - ask God what we need to do. Second step - be open to the answer. If you get a message to pray more, do that. If you get a message to travel somewhere, go. If you get a message to go on some pilgrimage, go... a vision quest... meditate more... find a communityof like-minded people... whatever... start there I say.

There is Hope

Here's an e-mail I got from a friend of mine who is a Lutheran Pastor in Minnesota. He's done a lot of mission trips to El Salvador and Haiti, and has been pastor at the Chippewa-Cree reservation in Montana and the inner city in Philadelphia, PA.

Here's his Advent Message - better than I could have said it!



Faith Matters

Pastor Joey Bailey
St. Paul's Lutheran Church of Alango

Of Elections and Wars and Poverty and One More Thing...

Grace and Peace!
What an election year. We've just come through nearly two years of name-calling, half-truths, and outright lies. At times the negativity hovered over our American community like a rain cloud that just would not leave. It was more than apparent in our own state of Minnesota where we saw U.S. Senate Candidates from all sides throw insults and hate-filled speech at one another. The rest of the country wondered, as it looked into our midst, "Where's the "Minnesota nice?" And a recount that invites more silliness. Many wonder where God is.

Two wars ongoing. Soldiers and sailors and marines and aircrews: all away from Turkey and cranberry sauce and carols and stockings and "Ho! Ho! Ho!" Those folks ache to be with their families and the people they love. Bombs burst and bullets fly. Bodies are wrecked. Spirits are challenged. The children of Iraq and Afghanistan are growing up to know all-too-well the cruel and brutal realities of war. It all hit home for me a couple of months ago when my dear friend, Ronald Phillips, called me and through a voice shaken by weeping, told me that his son, Sergeant Ronald Phillips, Jr. had been killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq, leaving two little children behind. It made me wonder where God is.

Back to the election. I kept hearing about the middle class. It is true that the great middle is squeezed and is hurting. I kept waiting to hear of those who live in poverty-not just those here in the United States but all around the world. Poverty kills. It wounds deeply. As the folks who no longer have jobs at Ainsworth know, poverty can suffocate. To be a mom or dad and sit at a kitchen table piled high with unpaid bills can bring tears to any eye. Where were the people talking about people who are poor, living on the brink, living in cars, living in shelters, kids without coats, the elderly without prescriptions? Where is the voice that speaks for them?

Elections. Wars. Poverty. And one more thing... It is Advent. We now wait in this season for the coming of Christmas and the hope of the world. Advent inspires hope. It invites me to walk wet, dripping with the water of baptism. From the dry world of brokenness, Advent gives me that one more thing: hope. This is a hope that speaks into the midst of election cruelty the fact that, no matter our politics, we can rejoice as a people that a black man and his family will, on January 20, 2009, enter the White House as the First Family. Fifty years ago the only way for such folks to find themselves in the White House was as servants. There is hope.

One more thing...hope. I spoke with my friend Ronald Phillips, and he spoke through falling tears once again. But this time the tears were for love of God and a wonderful family and great friends. He is not alone. From the loss of a son has come radical love in action, and Ronald and his wife revel in that love, even as they grieve and hurt. Wars rage, but God will have the final say. No question. And the final words will be peace and love. There is hope.

One more thing...hope. There are people in our community without heating oil and coats and food and shelter and medical care. Friends in places like El Salvador and Haiti march through lives of poverty that strangles and oppresses. Recently, all the churches of the Cook Community gathered to give thanks. Canned goods and boxes of food and money were offered in thanksgiving. That's hope. Neighbors reach out to touch one another's lives that's hope. In Haiti and El Salvador, children will smile today, even as their bellies are distended. That is hope. May their smile be an invitation for all of us to do better. That is hope. There is hope.

As we wait through Advent, the broken world shows itself. But we also see it for what it really is. Yes, it is broken. But is is full of hope. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness just can't overcome it. The brokenness shows forth, but the people of the world will be defined by hope. Walk wet, dripping with the promise of baptism. Walk wet, in defiance of what the world hurls our way. Walk in hope. As we walk, we shout forth for all the world: "There is HOPE!!!"

Bringin' it home -- Forgiveness

What is "forgiveness"? Well, that's simple - letting someone off the hook that did something "bad".

I think this is one of the most mis-used, misunderstood and abused ideas in faith. It can lead to a whole array of destructive stuff... ironic huh? The very thing that is supposed to lead us to peace and reconciliation can actually be a tool for tremendous harm.

How does forgiveness work? What does forgiveness do? Who can forgive? Are there some things people should not forgive? Are there some people that should not be forgiven?

It struck me as I was doing prison ministry how many people struggle with forgiveness; not just the act of forgiving (meaning should they or shouldn't they) but what it even means in their situation. "If I forgive, does it mean what they did is okay? I can't agree to that!" So what is forgiveness? And why is it such a big deal to people of faith?

Remember when that crazy gunman went to the Amish school and shot some of the children there? I've told people if I had been a cop and had been called to that place and had a clear shot of the gunman... I don't think I would have had a hard time putting a bullet in the guy's head. Things happening to kids gets to me more than others. I was angry when I heard this guy did this.

Then the families of the children forgave the gunman. That threw me for a while! I just couldn't get that. I understand it in theory - forgiveness in it's clearest form allows us to move on without anger and resentment and all that... it gives us a "clean slate" so to speak. I get that - in theory. But I guess it would take me a lot longer to get to the point the families did.

I just came across a prayer of forgiveness today... it was written by an unknown prisoner in Ravensbruck concentration camp and left by the body of a dead child:

O Lord, remember not only the men and women of good-will, but also those of ill-will. Do not remember all the suffering they have inflicted on us; remember the fruits we have bought, thanks to this suffering - our comradeship, our loyalty, our humility, our courage, our generosity, the greatness of heart which has grown of all this, and when they come to judgement, let all the fruits which we have borne be their forgiveness.

What a Grace-filled act! Grace that changes not only one person... but the world! Amen!


Rubber meets the road: What are your your experiences with forgiveness? what is your definition, was it hard to do for you, etc.

Bringin' in home again

In the last post on this blog I shared about my Advent focus... about wanting to make the faith more real and daily in our lives. Well, I ask myself the question, how can this "head and heart stuff" show up in my life... and how can I help people walk their own path with more integrity and intentionality?
Well, I first have to practice this myself.
My faith journey has changed over the years. It's not the same as it was 10 or so years ago for sure. I would say I was more interested in things overtly spiritual back then - meditation, that kind of thing. Now I have to say I'm not so much drawn to that as much. But I still do have a strong sense of what I have called the Sacred Mystery - the deep knowing that God is present in my life and journey... and here's the other thing -- I really do have a sense that this life is a Sacred Journey. But more about that later on...

I've heard about those indigenous cultures that surround themselves with the sacred. From getting up in the morning to going to bed at night, they seem to be enveloped by the mystery of God.
Now maybe I'm idealizing these cultures too much... they also have their problems for sure. But the idea I'm getting at is that we may not have that same tendency of seeing God in everything we see and do... in what happens to us, in how the world comes to us.
There is a religious order out there... I think it's called The Order of Saints Martin and Teresa, out of Mercer Island, in Washington State... that calls the people in the group to three daily disciplines. One is to take a daily walk, more like a stroll -- this connects the person with nature, a daily time to slow down, to decompress, time to be reminded of God. Another discipline is to wear a paper clip somewhere on their clothes every day -- something as ubiquitous as a paperclip, but used as a means to remind the person of God's presence. The other discipline I can't remember. But these two I've remembered for a few years.
This group is actually a Lutheran group, started with Dan Erlander, the popular theologian and artist that has written and illustrated a number of great books on various Lutheran themes.
Maybe wearing something symbolic of your faith might work. Some people will offer a prayer as they put on this object in the morning - something around their necks, or a ring, or something else... like a paperclip. And seeing it during the day reminds them of what this object symbolises to them.
And I like the idea of a daily walk... to help us remember that God walks with us.
Many of us have some practice like that. Please share with us what yours are.
Here is another practice some people do -- check out this website

http://www.loyolapress.com/prayerfully-reviewing-your-day-daily-examen.htm

It focuses on a practice made popular by Ignatius of Loyola - this involves taking time during the day to "examine" your own day, your path, what you've been doing, and how you've been doing it...

Do some of you do this? How does it work for you?

Bringin' it HOME

Bringin' it home...

Well, folks... it's Advent... that time of year we pretty much think we're at Christmas already.

Actually Advent is that time BEFORE Christmas. And it's the beginning of the church liturgical year. Now why would the church year start with Advent, and not Christmas, or something big like that? Advent isn't one of those flash/pizazz times of year... so... why this?

Advent in general is a time of anticipation, of waiting, of getting ready for... something. If we're waiting with such anticipation, getting ready and all that... it's usually something BIG.

This year I've been moved to prepare myself for refocusing ministry to the "ground" level - where the rubber meets the road. I've noticed that we're just so busy, so involved with many... many things that we just don't have a lot of time left over to focus on our faith lives. hey, I know... this is just as true for the clergy people as well - ironically.

Anyway, what ends up happening is, although we do practice our faith on a daily basis, we may not necessarily have a lot of time to grow it, if you know what I mean. We really have to make time to read the bible, pray in a quiet place, pray with our families, or even take a walk. We have to take time to stay sane.

But the thing is we really need to do this! Have you felt a hollow-ness in you... is there something inside you that prompts you to seek the Spirit? I've felt this. There is an un-ease within me that causes me to reflect on things like this. Maybe it's my time of life - you know, mid-life crisis and all - but I really do feel like there is a part of me that needs to seek not material things, but things of the spirit.

Maybe that's part of the problem. We are surrounded by so much stuff and so many things to do... busy schedules and all that - stuff that pulls us from the God-stuff. I am talking about the Spiritual, but not necessarily in the "I'm on the mountain-top and it's just me and God" kind of spirituality (I'm not much into sitting on the floor and staring at my belly-button (I have to add that I'm not knocking this if it works for you - it just doesn't work for me). But I do feel like there has to be some practical things we can do (or think) that will help us stay connected to the divine. There has to be a way to counter-act the tendencies of this part of our culture.

Living in the US isn't on the whole bad. It's actually quite good. We don't lack for much. Let me re-phrase that... we don't lack for much by way of material things. Generally speaking we're not starving, we're able to access great medical care, we can get a hold of pretty much any material thing we may need to keep our homes and cars and computers going.

But there are things we do lack... we are indeed starving in the soul. We do lack there. But we seem bound by our life situations to do anything about it. Sure there's the occasional story of the people that leave the city/suburban life, and run-off to the country or something... and our reactions to this run from "They're crazy", to "They are unrealistic", to "Man, I wish I could do that".

But what can we do to feed our souls, to stay connected with the Spirit in our regular busy-work-week lives? I've got good news and bad news; First the good news - Yes folks, there is hope... we CAN do something about it! Here's the bad news - it won't come easy. Until it becomes second-nature to us, we're going to have to work at it at first.


So, let's bring it home!
Here's a practical thing. I remember hearing a long time ago that in the Jewish tradition, it was a "sin" to eat standing up. The reason, if I remember right was that if we believed God was giving us a gift the food we're about to eat, then we ought to sit and enjoy it... as God intended it for us! So I practiced that, and it really meant a lot to me. Sitting down to eat became a kind of prayer-full moment. I remembered why I was sitting to eat, and the whole act of eating became an act of prayer as well. Not in the sense of "Dear God, help my family...". Not that kind of a prayer, but a prayer in the sense that I was mindful of God while I was eating.

I found out later that the Jewish tradition is very varied and wide, and the Rabbi I talked with about this said he'd never heard of this practice, but that it sounded like a good thing. So, oh well. It worked for me.


What helps you remember God during your day?

Please share with us the things that work for you.