Maybe my main job is to nurture passion, or as Jesus called it, “hunger and thirst for goodness”. Passion for God … for life … for healing … for hope … for justice. This is my job.
Now, passion is a dangerous thing if it goes wrong. “Crimes of passion” should include religious wars and judgmental hostilities to those who think different from us. Thus, passion is best when it is pastored, shaped, guided. At my ordination as a pastor I used the image of a controlled burn.
But without the burn, nothing happens. Where there is energy there is heat. When the news of more job layoffs brings you to a painful desiring for those affected to be whole and safe, that is from your deepest passion. Even the anger over the government’s and bankers’ irresponsibility is from that honorable place, though we can take it crazy places.
When you want badly to see a child healed or a war ended, a relationship reconciled or poverty ended, you do that from your passion for God, for life, for healing, for hope and for justice.
When we play the cynic, or pretend that we can prefer detachment or distraction, we lie to our core. We are in love. No amount of work, or television, or computer gaming can really deplete your hunger.
You thirst for the best of reasons. Feel it in your taste buds! Listen to God in your soul. Don’t rush. The hunger doesn’t die. But do stay engaged. This wanting … it’s in your nature!
Friday, June 4, 2010
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Abortion
Rigid extremes are not what a woman dealing with an unplanned pregnancy needs. Neither are words of scorn and judgment helpful when she has to make the maximally difficult decision of what to do about it. While some faith families are sure that a pregnancy is always to be saved, they can be quite tone deaf to the question of protecting the woman carrying that pregnancy. Here are some thoughts from a different perspective that can be helpful for you, or when you deal with others concerned with moms in crisis pregnancies or about the abortion/stem cell debates:
We are taught to take artificial positions on abortion, as if pro-choice isn’t pro-life and vise versa. This is a game of hatred-brewing that damages our ability to hear each other and even hear the Spirit speak. Fund raisers and lobbyists nourish this dichotomy, and if we were further removed from the debate, we would find them and their extreme positions absurd and hilarious.
Everyone wants happy, healthy babies to be born into ready, happy, and healthy families. Don’t you just love kids and smile from the inside out when you see healthy families! While we can disagree on particulars, it is artificial and nonsense to believe that people who view the abortion debate differently than us don’t want that just like we do.
But that Isn’t the Whole Story, Is It? Crisis pregnancies happen in virtually every community in the world every day, and more so in areas where birth control and abortion are hard to access. And a desperate mom does not need theoretical debate or pressure. She needs the same access as any other mom could have to quality medical care!
The religious community is divided into two broad camps, mainline Protestant and Jewish communities on one hand, the Catholic and Fundamentalist Christians on the other. One focuses on compassion to the expectant mother and the other on compassion to the baby she carries. The United Methodist Social Principles speak of the “tragic conflict of life with life” but still insist the decision on abortion is a private one between a woman and a skilled care provider.
The Jewish point of view on the beginning of fully actual human life is that it begins at birth. “God … breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and he became a living being”. In Exodus 21 a forced loss of pregnancy is worked into a legal discussion about when the community of God in the fragile early years of Israel should use capital punishment, since there were no prisons. A hypothetical situation is raised: two men fight, and a pregnant woman steps in to stop them. She is struck and lives, but loses her child. Is this time to pay “life for life”? The clear answer in this text is No. The child was not yet a born, breathing baby. A fine should be paid. It is a real and tragic loss. But it is not fully actual life in the same sense of a born child.
Anti-abortion advocates don’t focus on these Biblical guidelines, perhaps out of fear that this will lead to under valuing life itself, especially that of the vulnerable. Their Biblical inspiration comes from poetic lines in psalms and prayers, like Psalm 139, “You knew me in my mother’s womb”. Also the anti abortion teachings find passion in the Bible’s condemnation of people who “offer their children in the fire” to the god Moloch, a hideous child sacrifice ritual with commonalities in many cultures. But of course, these are born children. Even in the staunchly pro-choice community, you never meet a soul who would not risk their lives to save a born child, so the child sacrifice analogy is irrelevant to the concerns of either side. It is sure hard, though, to find common ground when some view the thoughtful choices of others as murder.
However “pro-life” you may view yourself, unless you believe a mother and a doctor choosing to have or assist an abortion should be tried as murderers, you are functionally on the “pro-choice” side. And you have many friends who have had an abortion. Most of them don’t strike any of us as death row candidates.
Our real tasks are these: First, to work to make birth control options viable for anyone, yes even of young people. Our thoughts about sex among the young should not cloud our commitment to provide for their safety and protection. And in many places, this means confronting an anti-condom culture among men in certain “macho” sub-cultures.
Second, compassion for the living pregnant woman matters a great deal as we ponder the possibilities for the developing embryo. A teenager saw anti abortion leaflets showing a sonogram of an embryo six weeks from conception. His response? “Where is the mother?” he asked. He pointed out that the photo gives no sense of the needs or situation of the mother whose body this embryo was in!
Third, we must say an absolute NO to those who would have us hate each other over our differences. Pro-life and pro-choice people have great swaths of reasoning and purpose in common, and no lobby or demagogue should be allowed to obfuscate that. My position is mother-centric, but in our church we have several members who lean on the anti abortion side. We talk. We challenge each other. But we don’t deny each other the right to work for positions that we each feel compelled to.
And most important, we are called to be agents of healing and grace for those who have tough choices to make. Moms and Dads need a bigger community on their side and laws that support family health. And women in painful conflicts should have as many options as possible available to them so they can choose the best ways to move forward into life making and life sharing. And we need to be there for them and with them.
Now that President Obama has launched the American stem cell sciences again, this issue, too, is more tender for our fundamentalist friends. Stem cells are usually most available from embryonic tissue. This means that we need to be clearer about how we see abortion before we can understand and take reasoned positions on research and curative work with stem cells. Balancing our hopes for healing therapies from stem cell research with our concerns about the unborn will help us see what “pro-life” really means.
Do well
We are taught to take artificial positions on abortion, as if pro-choice isn’t pro-life and vise versa. This is a game of hatred-brewing that damages our ability to hear each other and even hear the Spirit speak. Fund raisers and lobbyists nourish this dichotomy, and if we were further removed from the debate, we would find them and their extreme positions absurd and hilarious.
Everyone wants happy, healthy babies to be born into ready, happy, and healthy families. Don’t you just love kids and smile from the inside out when you see healthy families! While we can disagree on particulars, it is artificial and nonsense to believe that people who view the abortion debate differently than us don’t want that just like we do.
But that Isn’t the Whole Story, Is It? Crisis pregnancies happen in virtually every community in the world every day, and more so in areas where birth control and abortion are hard to access. And a desperate mom does not need theoretical debate or pressure. She needs the same access as any other mom could have to quality medical care!
The religious community is divided into two broad camps, mainline Protestant and Jewish communities on one hand, the Catholic and Fundamentalist Christians on the other. One focuses on compassion to the expectant mother and the other on compassion to the baby she carries. The United Methodist Social Principles speak of the “tragic conflict of life with life” but still insist the decision on abortion is a private one between a woman and a skilled care provider.
The Jewish point of view on the beginning of fully actual human life is that it begins at birth. “God … breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and he became a living being”. In Exodus 21 a forced loss of pregnancy is worked into a legal discussion about when the community of God in the fragile early years of Israel should use capital punishment, since there were no prisons. A hypothetical situation is raised: two men fight, and a pregnant woman steps in to stop them. She is struck and lives, but loses her child. Is this time to pay “life for life”? The clear answer in this text is No. The child was not yet a born, breathing baby. A fine should be paid. It is a real and tragic loss. But it is not fully actual life in the same sense of a born child.
Anti-abortion advocates don’t focus on these Biblical guidelines, perhaps out of fear that this will lead to under valuing life itself, especially that of the vulnerable. Their Biblical inspiration comes from poetic lines in psalms and prayers, like Psalm 139, “You knew me in my mother’s womb”. Also the anti abortion teachings find passion in the Bible’s condemnation of people who “offer their children in the fire” to the god Moloch, a hideous child sacrifice ritual with commonalities in many cultures. But of course, these are born children. Even in the staunchly pro-choice community, you never meet a soul who would not risk their lives to save a born child, so the child sacrifice analogy is irrelevant to the concerns of either side. It is sure hard, though, to find common ground when some view the thoughtful choices of others as murder.
However “pro-life” you may view yourself, unless you believe a mother and a doctor choosing to have or assist an abortion should be tried as murderers, you are functionally on the “pro-choice” side. And you have many friends who have had an abortion. Most of them don’t strike any of us as death row candidates.
Our real tasks are these: First, to work to make birth control options viable for anyone, yes even of young people. Our thoughts about sex among the young should not cloud our commitment to provide for their safety and protection. And in many places, this means confronting an anti-condom culture among men in certain “macho” sub-cultures.
Second, compassion for the living pregnant woman matters a great deal as we ponder the possibilities for the developing embryo. A teenager saw anti abortion leaflets showing a sonogram of an embryo six weeks from conception. His response? “Where is the mother?” he asked. He pointed out that the photo gives no sense of the needs or situation of the mother whose body this embryo was in!
Third, we must say an absolute NO to those who would have us hate each other over our differences. Pro-life and pro-choice people have great swaths of reasoning and purpose in common, and no lobby or demagogue should be allowed to obfuscate that. My position is mother-centric, but in our church we have several members who lean on the anti abortion side. We talk. We challenge each other. But we don’t deny each other the right to work for positions that we each feel compelled to.
And most important, we are called to be agents of healing and grace for those who have tough choices to make. Moms and Dads need a bigger community on their side and laws that support family health. And women in painful conflicts should have as many options as possible available to them so they can choose the best ways to move forward into life making and life sharing. And we need to be there for them and with them.
Now that President Obama has launched the American stem cell sciences again, this issue, too, is more tender for our fundamentalist friends. Stem cells are usually most available from embryonic tissue. This means that we need to be clearer about how we see abortion before we can understand and take reasoned positions on research and curative work with stem cells. Balancing our hopes for healing therapies from stem cell research with our concerns about the unborn will help us see what “pro-life” really means.
Do well
Suicide
There is no laughter here.
What You Might Expect Me to Say about Suicide: If you come from certain religious traditions you might think I would condemn those who commit suicide, or assume they have committed an unforgivable sin and will be judged by God as having done so. Please know that is not the position of most Christians. The United Methodist Social Principles state that “nothing, including suicide, separates us from the love of God”.
But that’s Not the Whole Story, Is It? Almost all the time, suicide is more like leaving a bomb inside the lives of surviving family and friends. Leaving the pain behind in suicide leaves a hundred times the pain in the survivors. I am a survivor. I have had close friends commit suicide. Most days I cannot even approach my own pain over the loss. And I’m a pretty healthy guy emotionally. And those who commit suicide leave their survivors at much greater risk of suicide themselves.
I tell people at church that I thought about it. On a particularly bad day in college, I got as close as I have ever gotten to it. But for me, that was only once. Almost everyone has an id moment at some point, and some people hardly ever have the thought far from their minds. They are choosing to live every day despite that possibility gnawing at them as a pathetic temptation.
Here’s Where I Get In Trouble: The states that have allowed assisted suicide actually become a strong argument for something else. Very few people use that option. Why? Because to do so in those states requires people work through counseling for their depression and anger, and get access to appropriate pain and mood management medication and that they wait through a period that lasts longer than most people’s rage.
Suicide is most often a function of depression (see my blog on depression in the archives) or pain or mood disorders or rage. The few using assisted suicide are the exceptions to much of that, and therefore their situation isn’t much of a useful comparison to the vast number of suicides and the times when you or your friends and family have considered it. It is a solution of impatience. Considering suicide is a cheap, fast food kind of way of avoiding dealing with those other issues. But when you hurt, you are sometimes not sensible.
On the other hand, who among us has never opted for fast food?
Don’t Lie to Yourself: Life has many ups and downs. We all will grieve, and lose, and hurt, and be in funks that defy logic. And we will all have depressions and angers that brew in deep places.
And someone near you will do it. We all suffer when one person commits suicide.
Love your life. And get help when you are struggling. At least have one confidant you would tell if you are not safe with yourself.
And look out for each other. Love their lives enough to ask and care about their answer as to how they are doing in times of stress.
Do well.
What You Might Expect Me to Say about Suicide: If you come from certain religious traditions you might think I would condemn those who commit suicide, or assume they have committed an unforgivable sin and will be judged by God as having done so. Please know that is not the position of most Christians. The United Methodist Social Principles state that “nothing, including suicide, separates us from the love of God”.
But that’s Not the Whole Story, Is It? Almost all the time, suicide is more like leaving a bomb inside the lives of surviving family and friends. Leaving the pain behind in suicide leaves a hundred times the pain in the survivors. I am a survivor. I have had close friends commit suicide. Most days I cannot even approach my own pain over the loss. And I’m a pretty healthy guy emotionally. And those who commit suicide leave their survivors at much greater risk of suicide themselves.
I tell people at church that I thought about it. On a particularly bad day in college, I got as close as I have ever gotten to it. But for me, that was only once. Almost everyone has an id moment at some point, and some people hardly ever have the thought far from their minds. They are choosing to live every day despite that possibility gnawing at them as a pathetic temptation.
Here’s Where I Get In Trouble: The states that have allowed assisted suicide actually become a strong argument for something else. Very few people use that option. Why? Because to do so in those states requires people work through counseling for their depression and anger, and get access to appropriate pain and mood management medication and that they wait through a period that lasts longer than most people’s rage.
Suicide is most often a function of depression (see my blog on depression in the archives) or pain or mood disorders or rage. The few using assisted suicide are the exceptions to much of that, and therefore their situation isn’t much of a useful comparison to the vast number of suicides and the times when you or your friends and family have considered it. It is a solution of impatience. Considering suicide is a cheap, fast food kind of way of avoiding dealing with those other issues. But when you hurt, you are sometimes not sensible.
On the other hand, who among us has never opted for fast food?
Don’t Lie to Yourself: Life has many ups and downs. We all will grieve, and lose, and hurt, and be in funks that defy logic. And we will all have depressions and angers that brew in deep places.
And someone near you will do it. We all suffer when one person commits suicide.
Love your life. And get help when you are struggling. At least have one confidant you would tell if you are not safe with yourself.
And look out for each other. Love their lives enough to ask and care about their answer as to how they are doing in times of stress.
Do well.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Waaaay Different
Okay, I’m going to choose to laugh. We all know that occasionally good people get attacked for doing good. And churches get attacked sometimes just like synagogues and others just for their beliefs and faith families. But once in a while you hear an attack that has to be laughed at. There is no other choice unless you want to mourn and panic to death. This is a topper.
A TV, radio and internet star “news” guy has been
attacking churches for their
advocacy of justice.
You may actually run into friends who ask you whether your church advocates “social justice” or “economic justice”. They may turn pale if you say yes!
If you take the call to justice out of the prophetic books in the Bible, they would be maybe 80% shorter. It is the primary issue in books like Amos, Hosea, Micah, and many more. John the Baptist raises the issue; Jesus indicates it is the primary matter in the separating of the sheep from the goats. And now we have Glenn Beck saying we should only go to churches where everyone wants to be a goat.
We would have a waaaay different Bible and waaaaaaay different message if we took justice out of it. “What does the Lord require of you, but that you do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God”? (Micah 6:8). I’ve been a Republican Christian, and I’ve been a Democrat Christian, but may God never leave me, so I may never be a justice-free Christian! And you too!
Do well
A TV, radio and internet star “news” guy has been
attacking churches for their
advocacy of justice.
You may actually run into friends who ask you whether your church advocates “social justice” or “economic justice”. They may turn pale if you say yes!
If you take the call to justice out of the prophetic books in the Bible, they would be maybe 80% shorter. It is the primary issue in books like Amos, Hosea, Micah, and many more. John the Baptist raises the issue; Jesus indicates it is the primary matter in the separating of the sheep from the goats. And now we have Glenn Beck saying we should only go to churches where everyone wants to be a goat.
We would have a waaaay different Bible and waaaaaaay different message if we took justice out of it. “What does the Lord require of you, but that you do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God”? (Micah 6:8). I’ve been a Republican Christian, and I’ve been a Democrat Christian, but may God never leave me, so I may never be a justice-free Christian! And you too!
Do well
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Something Missing
The season of Lent typically starts after a day of feasting and joy called “Fat Tuesday” or Mardi gras. The day is usually celebrated at the church I pastor by a dessert bash, and a fun, wild night. Where was it this year??
Two months ago the Haiti earthquake happened and saddened the whole world. That occurred after we had ourselves been through an almost two year long recession that nearly became the worst economic event for 80 years.
I miscalculated two months ago. I thought we would still be so pained that we would not be able to do a good job feasting and laughing. So, looking two months ahead, which is how I typically plan, I left off pursuing this event.
Boy was I wrong. Instead of just mourning Haiti, our whole country, and by all means our area, have put their energy into raising money and truly doing fantastic things for Haiti.
We appear to be creeping out of recession.
It is hard to suppress hope. It is the basic orientation of the journey of faith. My bad for thinking we would mope instead of work. My apologies for forgetting the power of a faith family to aim high, do good, and cherish the lives we have been given.
Hope you had a fun preparation. Now, Ash Wednesday comes and the stretching season of Lent. Work it! Stretch into your future, and don’t underestimate the power of hope.
Do well.
Two months ago the Haiti earthquake happened and saddened the whole world. That occurred after we had ourselves been through an almost two year long recession that nearly became the worst economic event for 80 years.
I miscalculated two months ago. I thought we would still be so pained that we would not be able to do a good job feasting and laughing. So, looking two months ahead, which is how I typically plan, I left off pursuing this event.
Boy was I wrong. Instead of just mourning Haiti, our whole country, and by all means our area, have put their energy into raising money and truly doing fantastic things for Haiti.
We appear to be creeping out of recession.
It is hard to suppress hope. It is the basic orientation of the journey of faith. My bad for thinking we would mope instead of work. My apologies for forgetting the power of a faith family to aim high, do good, and cherish the lives we have been given.
Hope you had a fun preparation. Now, Ash Wednesday comes and the stretching season of Lent. Work it! Stretch into your future, and don’t underestimate the power of hope.
Do well.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
When Sin Helps
News Item: A week or so ago the U.S. Supreme Court decided that corporations, under the understanding that they are legal entities like a person is, have every right to contribute as much money as they want into election campaigns (within the “soft money” limits). Many theoreticians think this may be the worst blow dealt democracy in our history, or at least possibly so. I am choosing to believe, or at least passionately hope otherwise, although I am referring my friends to www.movetoamend.org.
The thing that fascinates me though about this is the perspective behind this ruling. Remember the bank bailout? It came from an idea called deregulation, which posits that banks and other corporations will do what is good for us because it is in their self interest. Notice what is missing? Will they fool themselves into doing foolish things? Should someone watch out for their dumbest inclinations if they do? Who should that be (since stockholders typically have no way to influence the corporate system)? An understanding of sin in the ancient meaning is what is missing from this theory.
Now we have corporations buying elections. They won’t ruin democracy since that is not in their self interest. They won’t buy up all the press so you can’t even hear the other side, now will they? They won’t misjudge and self justify their most egregious behavior. Or will they? Or will I if given enough unchecked power? Or will you?
The ancient idea of sin, unlike our modern prurient one, contended wisely that we can all fool ourselves. While having divergent ideas about traditional faith, the early American founders had no doubt about this principle, thus establishing the three branches of government to check each other, and blessing a free press to challenge even them.
We are helped to humility by the ancient view of sin. It reminds us we can be self deceptive, even to the point of self destruction (can I get an “amen” from my twelve step friends!). The newer view of sin is mostly self assault and judging others for personal flaws. That is not what the concept taught originally. It taught we can all misfire. We need checks and balances. We need a system for rigorous self examination or we can lose everything.
News Item: A week or so ago the U.S. Supreme Court decided that corporations, under the understanding that they are legal entities like a person is, have every right to contribute as much money as they want into election campaigns (within the “soft money” limits). Many theoreticians think this may be the worst blow dealt democracy in our history, or at least possibly so. I am choosing to believe, or at least passionately hope otherwise, although I am referring my friends to www.movetoamend.org.
The thing that fascinates me though about this is the perspective behind this ruling. Remember the bank bailout? It came from an idea called deregulation, which posits that banks and other corporations will do what is good for us because it is in their self interest. Notice what is missing? Will they fool themselves into doing foolish things? Should someone watch out for their dumbest inclinations if they do? Who should that be (since stockholders typically have no way to influence the corporate system)? An understanding of sin in the ancient meaning is what is missing from this theory.
Now we have corporations buying elections. They won’t ruin democracy since that is not in their self interest. They won’t buy up all the press so you can’t even hear the other side, now will they? They won’t misjudge and self justify their most egregious behavior. Or will they? Or will I if given enough unchecked power? Or will you?
The ancient idea of sin, unlike our modern prurient one, contended wisely that we can all fool ourselves. While having divergent ideas about traditional faith, the early American founders had no doubt about this principle, thus establishing the three branches of government to check each other, and blessing a free press to challenge even them.
We are helped to humility by the ancient view of sin. It reminds us we can be self deceptive, even to the point of self destruction (can I get an “amen” from my twelve step friends!). The newer view of sin is mostly self assault and judging others for personal flaws. That is not what the concept taught originally. It taught we can all misfire. We need checks and balances. We need a system for rigorous self examination or we can lose everything.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
DISASTER
What irony for us to go through a shakeup with the recent earthquake and to see three days later the most hideous imaginable collapse in Haiti. The way neighbors checked in on each other here is multiplied in thousands there. More than that, it’s multiplied in millions in the way the whole world responds to crises like this one.
Even here, we began a discussion immediately as to whether we should reroute our Mexico trip or send a separate detail to Haiti, although our excellent resource people in the United Methodist Church family are not telling us yet when people going there will be as valuable as our money going there first. That will be the primary question we ask.
Two things to remember: first, for all the existential angst about where God is when horrible things happen, something profoundly spiritual happens in our world when all of us know from our depths that we must get involved with others’ healing and recovery. When most of the nations of the world send Haiti relief, we must note the very hand of God in that act.
Second, the best disaster responses are coordinated ones, and the major agencies of world charity and non profit work are working that ballet as they do with most emergencies (though some organizations work with others better in different situations). Remember, the United Methodist Committee on Relief’s response focuses more on long term recovery. They were the very last relief agency to leave the area after the floods in the Chico/Yuba City that we went through in the mid ‘90s. They will send water and doctors and supplies to Haiti, but they will be there long after the immediate response is over, building buildings and lives.
This commitment to long term relief means UMCOR work goes on for years in some places (yes, they still solicit teams of volunteers for the area hit by hurricane Katrina, and Eureka UMC sends a team there each year even now). May God bless every relief agency and team member, and all the survivors in Haiti. And may we as United Methodists take our role in that blessing by committing to remember the people there for years, not weeks.
Even here, we began a discussion immediately as to whether we should reroute our Mexico trip or send a separate detail to Haiti, although our excellent resource people in the United Methodist Church family are not telling us yet when people going there will be as valuable as our money going there first. That will be the primary question we ask.
Two things to remember: first, for all the existential angst about where God is when horrible things happen, something profoundly spiritual happens in our world when all of us know from our depths that we must get involved with others’ healing and recovery. When most of the nations of the world send Haiti relief, we must note the very hand of God in that act.
Second, the best disaster responses are coordinated ones, and the major agencies of world charity and non profit work are working that ballet as they do with most emergencies (though some organizations work with others better in different situations). Remember, the United Methodist Committee on Relief’s response focuses more on long term recovery. They were the very last relief agency to leave the area after the floods in the Chico/Yuba City that we went through in the mid ‘90s. They will send water and doctors and supplies to Haiti, but they will be there long after the immediate response is over, building buildings and lives.
This commitment to long term relief means UMCOR work goes on for years in some places (yes, they still solicit teams of volunteers for the area hit by hurricane Katrina, and Eureka UMC sends a team there each year even now). May God bless every relief agency and team member, and all the survivors in Haiti. And may we as United Methodists take our role in that blessing by committing to remember the people there for years, not weeks.
Friday, January 1, 2010
SOMETHING BETTER THAN OPTIMISM
Are pessimists disillusioned optimists? Are optimists just people who haven’t been through a critical mass of pain? Is there a better and more realistic approach to life than either one of these?
While studies seem to indicate that optimists have the better time with life, and I would in most senses recommend that point of view, optimism can be rooted in facts that can change. Disappointments can devastate the optimist, sometimes more than is tolerable. I suggest there is an even healthier perspective.
Beyond the optimist’s confidence that good will come and suffering and loss will decrease, and beyond the pessimist’s certain knowledge that the optimist is wrong, and that suffering and loss WILL increase, is a truer wisdom visible in the whole argument of Jewish and Christian scripture. Let me summarize it like this:
Pain and loss will always be with us, and
will increase with years and knowledge,
but life, even at its most wounded,
will always be sacred and beautiful.
We live in a love and grace
bigger than any pain we can ever know.
I have watched many saints transcend constant horrific suffering, receptive to God’s presence, appreciative, keenly aware and attuned to the sacred, transcending situations in a way that I can only term mystical. [I will write another time on finding communion with God’s pain at our suffering.]
In your new year, may you be blessed, healthy, relieved of much stress, financially stable, and satisfyingly engaged and happy! But may you grow deeply and vitally into the love of God that is, to quote the bible, “sufficient for you” in all situations. May you choose always to see God’s sacred presence in all those you meet and in every situation you find yourself in. God does not desire our pain or our suffering, but God is always here. Always. And where God is, there is beauty and mercy.
Do well in the new year.
While studies seem to indicate that optimists have the better time with life, and I would in most senses recommend that point of view, optimism can be rooted in facts that can change. Disappointments can devastate the optimist, sometimes more than is tolerable. I suggest there is an even healthier perspective.
Beyond the optimist’s confidence that good will come and suffering and loss will decrease, and beyond the pessimist’s certain knowledge that the optimist is wrong, and that suffering and loss WILL increase, is a truer wisdom visible in the whole argument of Jewish and Christian scripture. Let me summarize it like this:
Pain and loss will always be with us, and
will increase with years and knowledge,
but life, even at its most wounded,
will always be sacred and beautiful.
We live in a love and grace
bigger than any pain we can ever know.
I have watched many saints transcend constant horrific suffering, receptive to God’s presence, appreciative, keenly aware and attuned to the sacred, transcending situations in a way that I can only term mystical. [I will write another time on finding communion with God’s pain at our suffering.]
In your new year, may you be blessed, healthy, relieved of much stress, financially stable, and satisfyingly engaged and happy! But may you grow deeply and vitally into the love of God that is, to quote the bible, “sufficient for you” in all situations. May you choose always to see God’s sacred presence in all those you meet and in every situation you find yourself in. God does not desire our pain or our suffering, but God is always here. Always. And where God is, there is beauty and mercy.
Do well in the new year.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
HEY, THANKS
Many of you have noted that I have repeatedly said lately, "To turn away from spotting goodness and celebrating - it is the beginning of psychic devastation."I'm serious; I believe that suicidal thinking is rooted in this very act: not intentionally noticing and appreciating the gifts in our lives.
So, I wanted to wait until after the Thanksgiving holiday to note my appreciation for all of you in my life. I don't just celebrate you on holidays. I love the life I have been given, and all of you who share it with me. I am often embarrassed that I have lived this richly in terms of friends, adventures, strengths, and opportunities to do some good in the world.
It seems like I have lived many lifetimes. It is hard to believe all these friends, adventures, strengths, and opportunities can be compacted into one life.
Oh, God, thanks you! And to all of you, thanks a million fold!
May you spend time, real time, today and in the next few days and weeks intentionally noticing all the gifts, friends, stories, strengths, and opportunities to do good that enrich you. May you dance your soul out, and laugh and listen to music. May you care with passion, work with price, and pray with ecstasy and depth.
God looks good in you, as does life itself.
Thanks,
Do well.
So, I wanted to wait until after the Thanksgiving holiday to note my appreciation for all of you in my life. I don't just celebrate you on holidays. I love the life I have been given, and all of you who share it with me. I am often embarrassed that I have lived this richly in terms of friends, adventures, strengths, and opportunities to do some good in the world.
It seems like I have lived many lifetimes. It is hard to believe all these friends, adventures, strengths, and opportunities can be compacted into one life.
Oh, God, thanks you! And to all of you, thanks a million fold!
May you spend time, real time, today and in the next few days and weeks intentionally noticing all the gifts, friends, stories, strengths, and opportunities to do good that enrich you. May you dance your soul out, and laugh and listen to music. May you care with passion, work with price, and pray with ecstasy and depth.
God looks good in you, as does life itself.
Thanks,
Do well.
Friday, December 4, 2009
ONE OF THE LEAST POPULAR IDEAS IN AMERICA
We are a nation with two recently “discovered” problems: First, we don’t like to pay for what we get when we get it, preferring to rely on credit (or fantasy). Second, we optimists tend to ignore the struggles of others, which has led to a bizarre abstraction of lack of interest in the public over our current wars! These two issues as a matrix have revealed a profound imbalance in our lives.
You will probably not be surprised that I am about to argue for an unpopular new idea that has surfaced in the White House, supported by a minority of both parties. Let me share the context first, since many will hate the proposal while missing the brilliance within it.
At the same time the war in Afghanistan began, we heard from our politicians that after the economic stoppage of 9/11, we would be doing our nation a favor if we went shopping and to entertainment and investing again. Economically, this makes sense. But we were sending people to risk their lives, and many to lose them. Not to condemn the politicians for their realistic appeals, but we were being encouraged to ignore the pain and fear and consequence in the commitment. Sound familiar?
Now some scholars on both sides of the aisle suggest we pay for an increase in troops with a tax. We, of course, will be suffocated by politicians and media criticizing the nature and math of the tax, without realizing how wise it is that there be some kind of payment that we will all participate in.
I never want my country to send people to risk their lives without in some way sharing the cost. Yes, I can donate to the United Methodist Chaplain services, and can send items to the soldiers. But in the World Wars, there were far more impacting demands put on the civilians back home that not only helped the soldiers, they spread the cost to every civilian.
I doubt the tax will pass through our phalanx of divisive, self-serving politics. But it is worth contemplating. How much do we want to be the United states? How much will we do together? What would we be willing to do to work as a union for each other’s safety and well being? More than just sending someone else and forgetting about it?
You will probably not be surprised that I am about to argue for an unpopular new idea that has surfaced in the White House, supported by a minority of both parties. Let me share the context first, since many will hate the proposal while missing the brilliance within it.
At the same time the war in Afghanistan began, we heard from our politicians that after the economic stoppage of 9/11, we would be doing our nation a favor if we went shopping and to entertainment and investing again. Economically, this makes sense. But we were sending people to risk their lives, and many to lose them. Not to condemn the politicians for their realistic appeals, but we were being encouraged to ignore the pain and fear and consequence in the commitment. Sound familiar?
Now some scholars on both sides of the aisle suggest we pay for an increase in troops with a tax. We, of course, will be suffocated by politicians and media criticizing the nature and math of the tax, without realizing how wise it is that there be some kind of payment that we will all participate in.
I never want my country to send people to risk their lives without in some way sharing the cost. Yes, I can donate to the United Methodist Chaplain services, and can send items to the soldiers. But in the World Wars, there were far more impacting demands put on the civilians back home that not only helped the soldiers, they spread the cost to every civilian.
I doubt the tax will pass through our phalanx of divisive, self-serving politics. But it is worth contemplating. How much do we want to be the United states? How much will we do together? What would we be willing to do to work as a union for each other’s safety and well being? More than just sending someone else and forgetting about it?
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
ANOTHER WOMAN THING --
It broke my heart today to see the second turn in the anti-woman part of the health care debate. A few weeks ago I heard a representative had objected to reproductive health care in a Health Reform bill, saying that as a man he had no need of that. The official he said that to said something to the order of “Well your mother did”.
Now I hear that there is a concerted effort to make sure no health reform money goes for women’s access to abortion and birth control services. Hmmm … so a woman will have to go to the back alley? That is a reform??? Is that what they are calling pro-life? Won’t that cost much more in the long run?
The problem isn’t just an anti-abortion consideration. It is that the whole definition of a sex, in this case the female sex, is about reproduction issues! To define those out from a health bill is to do something very, very disturbing.
In this blog on March 12, 2009 I gave some information that has been helpful to many of you about the subject of abortion. I’d love you to go there if you haven’t. But this is about more than that. It smacks of the 1920s debate about whether women should be educated about birth control options (which were few then). It smacks of misogyny.
I wrote my congressman and senators today. Maybe you will, too.
For good insight into this crazy turn of events, you can go to rcrc.org for conversation about the issues from a faith perspective. Of course there is good stuff at ppfa.org as well.
Why does history ever wax toward oppression of women? I know that seems like a silly question after all the material we have from the feminist perspective, but it still bugs me and it hurts all of us.
Paul quoted what was apparently a central hymn in the early church in Galatians 3:28 saying that we are no longer viewed as Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for we “are all one in Christ Jesus”. The issue of women’s full place in church leadership was one of the main reasons the early church had its pivotal debate about what amount of Jewish law Christians would have to follow, recounted in Acts chapter 15. That debate is what freed us to come to church even if we don’t eat kosher, aren’t circumcised, or haven’t offered sacrifice at the Temple. The church lost its way on women’s issues for generations. We can’t lose our way again.
Hey, guys, we need to make some noise here. And women, God hears you. I hope congress will, too.
Do Well
Now I hear that there is a concerted effort to make sure no health reform money goes for women’s access to abortion and birth control services. Hmmm … so a woman will have to go to the back alley? That is a reform??? Is that what they are calling pro-life? Won’t that cost much more in the long run?
The problem isn’t just an anti-abortion consideration. It is that the whole definition of a sex, in this case the female sex, is about reproduction issues! To define those out from a health bill is to do something very, very disturbing.
In this blog on March 12, 2009 I gave some information that has been helpful to many of you about the subject of abortion. I’d love you to go there if you haven’t. But this is about more than that. It smacks of the 1920s debate about whether women should be educated about birth control options (which were few then). It smacks of misogyny.
I wrote my congressman and senators today. Maybe you will, too.
For good insight into this crazy turn of events, you can go to rcrc.org for conversation about the issues from a faith perspective. Of course there is good stuff at ppfa.org as well.
Why does history ever wax toward oppression of women? I know that seems like a silly question after all the material we have from the feminist perspective, but it still bugs me and it hurts all of us.
Paul quoted what was apparently a central hymn in the early church in Galatians 3:28 saying that we are no longer viewed as Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for we “are all one in Christ Jesus”. The issue of women’s full place in church leadership was one of the main reasons the early church had its pivotal debate about what amount of Jewish law Christians would have to follow, recounted in Acts chapter 15. That debate is what freed us to come to church even if we don’t eat kosher, aren’t circumcised, or haven’t offered sacrifice at the Temple. The church lost its way on women’s issues for generations. We can’t lose our way again.
Hey, guys, we need to make some noise here. And women, God hears you. I hope congress will, too.
Do Well
Thursday, October 22, 2009
EVOLUTION
Maybe the biggest trouble for the fearful side of the Christian family is the topic of evolution. Those of you who have started the Awed Life curriculum have already read some material on this. Here are some thoughts that might help.
No, evolution is not covered in the Bible text. On the other hand, neither is any scientific field. Why would they be? The Bible is not offering us scientific data, but a life with God! Wouldn’t it be a bit off the subject if suddenly the Bible gave us the Table of Elements or the Laws of Thermodynamics?
The difficulty for the fear-based Christian communities might be most related to a misreading of Genesis 1 and 2. Genesis 1 is a powerful theological argument that the creation is not scattered debris of a war between gods, as was the claim in the common myth of the Middle East in which Genesis was brought forth, called the Eneuma Elish. Genesis contends that the creation is one of extravagant kindness from a single lover that we can respond to without fear that other gods will be jealous and demand similar appreciation. But, fatefully, Genesis uses the scheme of the Eneuma Elish (seven cycles of creation) to tell its story.
The passage uses seven “days.” These are clearly used to argue for an orderly and intentional process, and a complete one, using the sane number seven of the Eneuma Elish, but with a different significance, since the Hebrews used the number seven to express complete and perfect. But did the Bible’s original authors and readers intend these days to be taken as 24-hour periods? In the passage, three of the days are before the creation of the sun, so there would have been no “day” possible in any technical sense at all!
Moreover, the Bible contains other creation stories that have different orders of what gets created, and none of these other passages uses days for a structure of the creation story at all. Examples can be found in Psalm 104, or Proverbs 8:22-31 [about the place of wisdom in the creation story]. In Jewish and historical Protestant and Catholic and Christian Orthodox churches’ intellectual communities, a sizeable majority of biblical scholars do not believe that the Bible teaches anything like a 6-day creation story. Why?
Not only for the reasons listed above, but for the persuasiveness of the emphatic Biblical argument that the creation speaks of the truth and glory of God! The Bible regularly asserts that the creation speaks the truth of Godl. I just looked up ten Psalms that have the point of view that the heavens and the earth speak God’s truth. The point is also made over and over in other books of scripture. When a scientist looks closely at a cell, a supernova, or a fossil, the creation speaks God’s truth.
This is not a point without nuance, since death is everywhere in the creation; God, from Genesis to Revelation is not a fan of death, and it too is a part of the world. But understanding that the creation is wounded, and therefore doesn’t speak with all the clarity we could long for does not negate is voice. The creation sings God’s truth. So evidence for the age of the universe in the stars or of the age of the earth in geology, or of the age and development of the species in anthropology and archaeology are the stuff of faith as well as the Word and reason and church.It is a crime that many people of faith keep their kids from learning science and “dumb down” the people whose faith could provide the most healing and positive influences in the scientific community!
Do not be afraid. The creation sings. So do you. Use you mind and your heart to listen and study the world God has given us.
No, evolution is not covered in the Bible text. On the other hand, neither is any scientific field. Why would they be? The Bible is not offering us scientific data, but a life with God! Wouldn’t it be a bit off the subject if suddenly the Bible gave us the Table of Elements or the Laws of Thermodynamics?
The difficulty for the fear-based Christian communities might be most related to a misreading of Genesis 1 and 2. Genesis 1 is a powerful theological argument that the creation is not scattered debris of a war between gods, as was the claim in the common myth of the Middle East in which Genesis was brought forth, called the Eneuma Elish. Genesis contends that the creation is one of extravagant kindness from a single lover that we can respond to without fear that other gods will be jealous and demand similar appreciation. But, fatefully, Genesis uses the scheme of the Eneuma Elish (seven cycles of creation) to tell its story.
The passage uses seven “days.” These are clearly used to argue for an orderly and intentional process, and a complete one, using the sane number seven of the Eneuma Elish, but with a different significance, since the Hebrews used the number seven to express complete and perfect. But did the Bible’s original authors and readers intend these days to be taken as 24-hour periods? In the passage, three of the days are before the creation of the sun, so there would have been no “day” possible in any technical sense at all!
Moreover, the Bible contains other creation stories that have different orders of what gets created, and none of these other passages uses days for a structure of the creation story at all. Examples can be found in Psalm 104, or Proverbs 8:22-31 [about the place of wisdom in the creation story]. In Jewish and historical Protestant and Catholic and Christian Orthodox churches’ intellectual communities, a sizeable majority of biblical scholars do not believe that the Bible teaches anything like a 6-day creation story. Why?
Not only for the reasons listed above, but for the persuasiveness of the emphatic Biblical argument that the creation speaks of the truth and glory of God! The Bible regularly asserts that the creation speaks the truth of Godl. I just looked up ten Psalms that have the point of view that the heavens and the earth speak God’s truth. The point is also made over and over in other books of scripture. When a scientist looks closely at a cell, a supernova, or a fossil, the creation speaks God’s truth.
This is not a point without nuance, since death is everywhere in the creation; God, from Genesis to Revelation is not a fan of death, and it too is a part of the world. But understanding that the creation is wounded, and therefore doesn’t speak with all the clarity we could long for does not negate is voice. The creation sings God’s truth. So evidence for the age of the universe in the stars or of the age of the earth in geology, or of the age and development of the species in anthropology and archaeology are the stuff of faith as well as the Word and reason and church.It is a crime that many people of faith keep their kids from learning science and “dumb down” the people whose faith could provide the most healing and positive influences in the scientific community!
Do not be afraid. The creation sings. So do you. Use you mind and your heart to listen and study the world God has given us.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
WHAT IF YOU STUMBLE?
What if You Stumble?
When we started the Church of the Joyful Healer, we sang a song two or three times called “What If I Stumble?” Its central question was “will the love continue when my walk becomes a crawl, what if I stumble, what if I fall?”
About five years ago, a close friend of mine did something real stupid and it got in the papers where he lives. Oh, and it was ugly and scandalous. His church family abandoned him and left him isolated and humiliated. I am still angry … not over my friend’s stupid actions, but about a church of Jesus the Healer leaving a wounded one out in the cold.
I appreciate that in United Methodism, there are teams for dealing with a pastor who fails to keep his or her integrity. When someone fails themselves terribly, often that means many are hurt and wounded along with them. They are responsible for much pain. There are always consequences. You know this. When you fail people they hurt. We all do this and we all grieve when we cause others pain and heartbreak.
BUT we are in the business of healing. Our United Methodist Church family has a commitment to be about resolution and restitution. We have the agenda of reconciling and redeeming. We will have times as a local expression of these values when we will feel conflicted and horrified at the behavior of one of our church friends just like we will over our other friends, coworkers, and family.
As much as we can understand the question of responsibility and consequences, we will also be the people on the cusp of the question of redemption. That is our responsibility. We are about a daunting, and sometimes agonizing task: not just to empower the ready, but to welcome the wounded, to heal the broken, and to restore the damaged. Some days that will be you.
May we be as kind to others in their failings as we will want to be to each other in our missteps. I say this today in the luxury of the hypothetical. But today, remember who you are, so that tomorrow, you will be ready to do your work and your call. Christ heals. Sometimes, Christ heals through us.
Do well.
When we started the Church of the Joyful Healer, we sang a song two or three times called “What If I Stumble?” Its central question was “will the love continue when my walk becomes a crawl, what if I stumble, what if I fall?”
About five years ago, a close friend of mine did something real stupid and it got in the papers where he lives. Oh, and it was ugly and scandalous. His church family abandoned him and left him isolated and humiliated. I am still angry … not over my friend’s stupid actions, but about a church of Jesus the Healer leaving a wounded one out in the cold.
I appreciate that in United Methodism, there are teams for dealing with a pastor who fails to keep his or her integrity. When someone fails themselves terribly, often that means many are hurt and wounded along with them. They are responsible for much pain. There are always consequences. You know this. When you fail people they hurt. We all do this and we all grieve when we cause others pain and heartbreak.
BUT we are in the business of healing. Our United Methodist Church family has a commitment to be about resolution and restitution. We have the agenda of reconciling and redeeming. We will have times as a local expression of these values when we will feel conflicted and horrified at the behavior of one of our church friends just like we will over our other friends, coworkers, and family.
As much as we can understand the question of responsibility and consequences, we will also be the people on the cusp of the question of redemption. That is our responsibility. We are about a daunting, and sometimes agonizing task: not just to empower the ready, but to welcome the wounded, to heal the broken, and to restore the damaged. Some days that will be you.
May we be as kind to others in their failings as we will want to be to each other in our missteps. I say this today in the luxury of the hypothetical. But today, remember who you are, so that tomorrow, you will be ready to do your work and your call. Christ heals. Sometimes, Christ heals through us.
Do well.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
MARIJUANA
Living in Humboldt County, USA is a constant reminder of the issues around marijuana use, and the industry behind it. Several of my friends are users, and some of them for no medical reason whatsoever. I know a few who grow and some who sell. And I am a pastor in a United Methodist Church, usually not the best connected to the marijuana community!
There are many questions related to its use that spiritual people are right to ponder:
First, there is a near-universal tendency of the human family to find pharmacological substances in nature and to use them with sometimes wisdom, and sometimes excess. Virtually every ancient culture has discovered and used substances in their environment to alter feelings of emotion, pain, and lethargy. From these we get most of our modern drug therapies and, of course, also the drug problems. This ranges from aspirin and caffeine to coca and opium.
Second, in the Jewish tradition there is a place for an occasional light buzz from alcohol as a tool of celebration, as you can see in my earlier blog on drinking. This can be easily transferred over to marijuana use, or other rather benign substances.
Third, excess in the Jewish Bible is condemned as damaging to life and to others. My big concern for non-medical marijuana use is around this topic. How often have you heard a frequent user brag on the non-addictive properties of marijuana? This is hard to hear from someone using it three times a day, or even three times a week. Deep breathing and exercise and play and reading and so many other things alter us for good without the downsides of drug use, and without requiring drug use. It is hard to admit when we have let ourselves slip into a dependency, and pot is a great one to suck us in.
On the legality issues, I always favor public acknowledgement and public tracking. With cigarettes legal, we can track the trade, tax it, watch for labor and producer abuse, and even use its income to seek to limit its use. With current marijuana law, none of that can happen. Many times you hear pot users compare its use to alcohol favorably. I understand, but those involved in alcohol production can be held to account and contribute to the public good whether they want to or not, and that is a fully appropriate societal demand. Anti marijuana laws have done much harm to individuals, and have produced very little benefit.
As to medical use, pot has some real benefit to those who have digestion problems and need palliative medical care. This seems to be an obvious place for support from the spiritual community at large.
Am I pot user? Nope. Have I ever inhaled? Yes, the last time was 34 years ago. Why not now? I love being alive, in touch with my ups and downs, and I don’t need help except from friendships, family, nature, and physical and mental work.
Do I have any … ANY interest in condemning others for pot use? Not a puff. Oh, forgive me for that. But do I hope my friends can do without, or use it very rarely, or use it in a nation with more sensible legal structures? Yes, and I’m not just puffing smoke.
(Oooh, am I going to get it for the puns)
Do well---
There are many questions related to its use that spiritual people are right to ponder:
First, there is a near-universal tendency of the human family to find pharmacological substances in nature and to use them with sometimes wisdom, and sometimes excess. Virtually every ancient culture has discovered and used substances in their environment to alter feelings of emotion, pain, and lethargy. From these we get most of our modern drug therapies and, of course, also the drug problems. This ranges from aspirin and caffeine to coca and opium.
Second, in the Jewish tradition there is a place for an occasional light buzz from alcohol as a tool of celebration, as you can see in my earlier blog on drinking. This can be easily transferred over to marijuana use, or other rather benign substances.
Third, excess in the Jewish Bible is condemned as damaging to life and to others. My big concern for non-medical marijuana use is around this topic. How often have you heard a frequent user brag on the non-addictive properties of marijuana? This is hard to hear from someone using it three times a day, or even three times a week. Deep breathing and exercise and play and reading and so many other things alter us for good without the downsides of drug use, and without requiring drug use. It is hard to admit when we have let ourselves slip into a dependency, and pot is a great one to suck us in.
On the legality issues, I always favor public acknowledgement and public tracking. With cigarettes legal, we can track the trade, tax it, watch for labor and producer abuse, and even use its income to seek to limit its use. With current marijuana law, none of that can happen. Many times you hear pot users compare its use to alcohol favorably. I understand, but those involved in alcohol production can be held to account and contribute to the public good whether they want to or not, and that is a fully appropriate societal demand. Anti marijuana laws have done much harm to individuals, and have produced very little benefit.
As to medical use, pot has some real benefit to those who have digestion problems and need palliative medical care. This seems to be an obvious place for support from the spiritual community at large.
Am I pot user? Nope. Have I ever inhaled? Yes, the last time was 34 years ago. Why not now? I love being alive, in touch with my ups and downs, and I don’t need help except from friendships, family, nature, and physical and mental work.
Do I have any … ANY interest in condemning others for pot use? Not a puff. Oh, forgive me for that. But do I hope my friends can do without, or use it very rarely, or use it in a nation with more sensible legal structures? Yes, and I’m not just puffing smoke.
(Oooh, am I going to get it for the puns)
Do well---
Monday, August 31, 2009
SHIFT
Watching the wallflower is always painful, even if it is we ourselves. I recently watched a kid refuse to jump into a rambunctious game with friends for obvious fear. Then the friends wound up laughing their guts out and I saw the child who had opted out visibly grieve missing out on the joy.
We have all seen fanatics [remember the definition: someone who redoubles their effort after having forgotten their aim] in faith, and none of us wants to be associated with those people. But we have all also seen the awkward one incapable of jumping all the way in to the deep water, or into the dance, or the sport, you name it, and their over conservative approach keeps them from living fully in the moment.
There is no time like now to shift to a new level of faith living. No time like today to begin the real investment in looking for God in everything and everyone, in prayer, in church, in doing good. Changing gears always means some transition, and with new speeds come new risks, but life with no risks is not life, and faith calls us into a life of risk.
Please make a true Methodist pledge with me, too, on a related item: if you see someone going all out for their job, cause, faith, politics, you name it, please commit yourself to bless them for trying, for risking, for craving to be all in, even if it is not your cause, or perspective, or “thing”. Blessing fanaticism? No, not really--just cherishing that even the fanatic is trying to live out a call to passionate living. That doesn’t mean supporting their cause at all. [I bet you, like me, have even helped a few fanatics get into treatment or get arrested!]. A prayer like ….
“God, I see their desire for you and for living fully the life you gave to them. Help them, like me, aim better, and higher, but thank you for calling them, and me, to live truly alive. Lead me to the same passion for the best of your kingdom”.
Do well.
We have all seen fanatics [remember the definition: someone who redoubles their effort after having forgotten their aim] in faith, and none of us wants to be associated with those people. But we have all also seen the awkward one incapable of jumping all the way in to the deep water, or into the dance, or the sport, you name it, and their over conservative approach keeps them from living fully in the moment.
There is no time like now to shift to a new level of faith living. No time like today to begin the real investment in looking for God in everything and everyone, in prayer, in church, in doing good. Changing gears always means some transition, and with new speeds come new risks, but life with no risks is not life, and faith calls us into a life of risk.
Please make a true Methodist pledge with me, too, on a related item: if you see someone going all out for their job, cause, faith, politics, you name it, please commit yourself to bless them for trying, for risking, for craving to be all in, even if it is not your cause, or perspective, or “thing”. Blessing fanaticism? No, not really--just cherishing that even the fanatic is trying to live out a call to passionate living. That doesn’t mean supporting their cause at all. [I bet you, like me, have even helped a few fanatics get into treatment or get arrested!]. A prayer like ….
“God, I see their desire for you and for living fully the life you gave to them. Help them, like me, aim better, and higher, but thank you for calling them, and me, to live truly alive. Lead me to the same passion for the best of your kingdom”.
Do well.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
HABITS
Habits are more than just our junk food or 12 step-worthy problems; they keep us alive. From eating regularly to brushing our teeth, from calling family each month or birthday, to shopping weekly, basic, committed rhythms are what keep us from meltdowns into unstructured and disordered living.
We all know most of our bad habits by name (although our spending habits are curiously often hidden from ourselves … hmmm).
My first question is Do you know your good habits by name? If you feel like it, would you type a list of your good habits? If you’d like, click comments at the bottom of this blog and we can compare notes, or keep them to yourself. See if you can name 20 habits, and yes, you can use the suggestions in the first paragraph. Many of my readers have begun to keep a Sabbath every week, including recreation, church gatherings, and rest. Don’t forget to put that on your list if you are locking that one down.
Second, do you know how you created those habits? When? Did you do it on purpose? Were others involved in helping you shape a habit or two?
Third, which new or renewed habit would improve your journey now? Which new habit is most realistic to begin building into a routine now? What would it take to lock this in as successfully as you did others in your past?
Last, is there a habit that is destructive that you are ready to be done with? Instead of getting all pumped up to “finish it off” like we get pumped up to take on a new diet, with all the usual two weeks that it takes to lose the whole effort, is there a gentle, simple way of peace you can begin that would help you end it?
In the name of full disclosure, here is a list of 20 of my habits, and it is really hard to get to 20 without dipping into more embarrassing material!
Reading before sleep
Reading in the tub
Reading the Bible in the morning
Reading in the bathroom (yes, it is a habit!)
Reading a news magazine before Sunday morning
Reading a Daily paper at breakfast
Reading the daily news on the computer (usually in the later afternoon)
Checking my favorite team scores at night (in baseball and football seasons)
Working out each day (usually in the late afternoon)
Hugging my family members before bed
Praying when I wake
Praying when I hear a siren
Praying at meals
Listening to the morning news on NPR (Picking only one item to pray about from the news. It is a rule I keep to not be overwhelmed.)
Doing the bills on Saturday
Family meals for dinner (my four family members are all together for this only about four times a week!)
Worship every week
Brushing and flossing
Bathing
Shaving
Have fun with this, but I hope it kicks off a renewal of commitment and an appreciation for wisdom you have received into yourself already. “For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self discipline” II Timothy 1:7.
Do well.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
PIOUS ANYONE?
One word I struggled to understand growing up was pious. It was used as a criticism but could also mean focused on God and spirituality. Now I get it.
When spirituality is used as another way of being self obsessed in a consumer culture, it is one of the ugliest things in the world. Whether it is used this way in the language of fundamentalism, where the world’s only issue is the salvation of my individual soul and maybe that same concern for others, or in more New Agey “the only thing that matters is my sense of personal space and peace”, a spirituality that doesn’t embrace activism and work and community service is just another name for narcissism.
I want so badly for you and me to be alive in the love of God. I want you to be full and free. But I know that will always be a chimera if it is not deeply connected to your giving yourself and your gifts to the world God loves. Let’s build homes for the destitute, feed some hungry people, and get involved in politics and healing projects. Let’s give gifts of craft and love for kids, let’s support people’s health efforts, let’s get people (and ourselves sometimes) into support groups. Let’s pool our money for these and other projects from here to Darfur.
This will be a part of your prayers and your Bible reading, or really Bible living. These will balance and compliment, but also be the very foundation of a love for God and a spiritual life. Let’s do it together and not ignore the social and communal aspects of life in God’s love and spirit.
Do well.
When spirituality is used as another way of being self obsessed in a consumer culture, it is one of the ugliest things in the world. Whether it is used this way in the language of fundamentalism, where the world’s only issue is the salvation of my individual soul and maybe that same concern for others, or in more New Agey “the only thing that matters is my sense of personal space and peace”, a spirituality that doesn’t embrace activism and work and community service is just another name for narcissism.
I want so badly for you and me to be alive in the love of God. I want you to be full and free. But I know that will always be a chimera if it is not deeply connected to your giving yourself and your gifts to the world God loves. Let’s build homes for the destitute, feed some hungry people, and get involved in politics and healing projects. Let’s give gifts of craft and love for kids, let’s support people’s health efforts, let’s get people (and ourselves sometimes) into support groups. Let’s pool our money for these and other projects from here to Darfur.
This will be a part of your prayers and your Bible reading, or really Bible living. These will balance and compliment, but also be the very foundation of a love for God and a spiritual life. Let’s do it together and not ignore the social and communal aspects of life in God’s love and spirit.
Do well.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Re-releasing Christianity 101
When Martin Luther challenged the Catholic Church 500 years back, the hierarchy argued that it had a fixed corpus of data from the early church that justified its interpretations. Luther’s argument became, essentially, that God always does a NEW thing, and the Scriptures themselves call for new openness and new questions for faith. In effect, Luther said
‘Who wants to build a faith on a frozen corpus?
Newness and openness to questions of a new era will constantly change the way we view the words of the Bible’.
All the early, or “mainline” Protestant churches lived Luther’s slogan “semper reformanda” … the church is “always reforming”. So we revisit issues as the Spirit calls, whether of women clergy, or married clergy, or birth control, or the validity of other faiths, and therefore big releases of spiritual energy and wisdom occur.
Now we live in a time of deep historical ignorance. The new “Protestant” evangelical and fundamentalists portray their job as identifying the frozen corpus of Christian Biblical interpretation!! In these churches, for example, women pastors are not allowed, birth control is suspect and abortion is absolutely condemned, and churches attack each other for their beliefs. Sex for pastors will probably head for the chopping block within a century (although that might cause people to reconsider this whole trajectory!).
Now mainline Protestant churches are struggling with new understandings of homosexuality, how to view other religions, and healthy responses to politics of oppression and violence, as well as environmental destruction. Evangelical and fundamentalist preachers attack mainline churches, frantically assail gays and lesbians, condemn followers of other faiths to hell, and seek to force their ideas on governments from the USA to Uganda.
What do you think? I think you can tell where I come out. I am a very happy United Methodist mainline Protestant, trusting God always to surprise us and to give us new insight into how to love and receive and bless everyone we meet. Church history waxes and wanes from healthier to unhealthier to healthier understandings. As to the way to live out Protestant faith, I see the mainline Protestant Christian understanding as hope for the world. I see the other as the way backwards to faiths that war and destroy.
‘Who wants to build a faith on a frozen corpus?
Newness and openness to questions of a new era will constantly change the way we view the words of the Bible’.
All the early, or “mainline” Protestant churches lived Luther’s slogan “semper reformanda” … the church is “always reforming”. So we revisit issues as the Spirit calls, whether of women clergy, or married clergy, or birth control, or the validity of other faiths, and therefore big releases of spiritual energy and wisdom occur.
Now we live in a time of deep historical ignorance. The new “Protestant” evangelical and fundamentalists portray their job as identifying the frozen corpus of Christian Biblical interpretation!! In these churches, for example, women pastors are not allowed, birth control is suspect and abortion is absolutely condemned, and churches attack each other for their beliefs. Sex for pastors will probably head for the chopping block within a century (although that might cause people to reconsider this whole trajectory!).
Now mainline Protestant churches are struggling with new understandings of homosexuality, how to view other religions, and healthy responses to politics of oppression and violence, as well as environmental destruction. Evangelical and fundamentalist preachers attack mainline churches, frantically assail gays and lesbians, condemn followers of other faiths to hell, and seek to force their ideas on governments from the USA to Uganda.
What do you think? I think you can tell where I come out. I am a very happy United Methodist mainline Protestant, trusting God always to surprise us and to give us new insight into how to love and receive and bless everyone we meet. Church history waxes and wanes from healthier to unhealthier to healthier understandings. As to the way to live out Protestant faith, I see the mainline Protestant Christian understanding as hope for the world. I see the other as the way backwards to faiths that war and destroy.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
WHEN THEY DON'T LIKE YOU
Rejection is devastating. From kids being bullied or isolated in school to partners being shattered by separation or divorce, it all hurts. Selection for hostility by workmates or “friends” can empty us. And yet at least every parent is scheduled to experience rejection, at best the leaving home for college, at worst what we often see in adolescence, though we’ve all seen kids who have grown hostile even sooner than their teens. [Of course, not every teen rebels in stereotypically ugly fashion].
Pastors know all kinds of rejection, from church visitors not “getting it”, to people meeting us socially and attacking us for faith itself, to people who have begun the walk of faith drifting away, to people “church hopping” off to greener church pastures. Oh, and some people just don’t like me! But when my children hit the point in their lives when I was not their greatest joy, or when they could only remember my restrictions and not my permissions, it hurt more than any other.
From parents I have talked to, the biggest problem in rejection from their kids seems to be in the surprise and disorientation, yet we all know it’s coming! It would be so cool if it was begun on a certain date, scheduled ahead of time. Maybe this is a serious clue: Our modern romanticized view of life includes the idea that everyone should like us all the time. Jesus promised that wouldn’t be true!!
I summarize my philosophy for parenting my younger kids as giving then an enormous yard for experimentation but with cliffs at the edges. What I mean is I let them grow without much criticism if they stayed within the bounds or appropriate social behavior (some of you would say I define that a bit loosely!). But I was very severe for crossing those lines.
On the other hand, as a youth ages, our control of the consequences goes down … the cliffs can appear as gentle inclines. But life has consequences. So then I become interpreter for life itself when my kids can’t see why they get bit by the snakes in the grass. This is no more fun than being the bringer of the consequences themselves. Sometimes the messenger gets blamed!
The most important thing I know about rejection is that when it is happening for anyone, in any situation, we have to go somewhere healthy to make up for the missing doses of affirmation. The neglected lover doesn’t do well starting an affair, but can do really well joining a group like a Men or Women’s breakfast or a book club. The child needs a club or hobby group or activity where they are not the reject in the group. The parent needs (ideally) to rediscover their partner, but at least the developing of the same networks of love and pleasure that an adult without a child would have. This is maybe a reason we have such great adult attendance in karate class from parents of teens!
And deeper, we must find the voice of God in our souls. From the Bible, from prayer, from the creation,from other spiritual reading and most of all from church, we must hear again the voices of love when others don’t play their part in conveying God’s joy to us.
Take care.”You will be despised and rejected” at times. Gather in the love God sends from other sources. Do not let yourelf remain loveless. Actively seek out where God is intending to send you grace.And give. It is a uniquely spectacular source of affirmation.
If it is your kid rejecting you, don’t blame them for that. They will make enough additional mistakes. (Parents caught in custody blame fights, there are different issues. Talk to me or a counselor on that, will ya?).
Oh, and listen to the truth often: You are loved. Enormously. By a God who sings and dances your name in the heavens.
Do well.
Pastors know all kinds of rejection, from church visitors not “getting it”, to people meeting us socially and attacking us for faith itself, to people who have begun the walk of faith drifting away, to people “church hopping” off to greener church pastures. Oh, and some people just don’t like me! But when my children hit the point in their lives when I was not their greatest joy, or when they could only remember my restrictions and not my permissions, it hurt more than any other.
From parents I have talked to, the biggest problem in rejection from their kids seems to be in the surprise and disorientation, yet we all know it’s coming! It would be so cool if it was begun on a certain date, scheduled ahead of time. Maybe this is a serious clue: Our modern romanticized view of life includes the idea that everyone should like us all the time. Jesus promised that wouldn’t be true!!
I summarize my philosophy for parenting my younger kids as giving then an enormous yard for experimentation but with cliffs at the edges. What I mean is I let them grow without much criticism if they stayed within the bounds or appropriate social behavior (some of you would say I define that a bit loosely!). But I was very severe for crossing those lines.
On the other hand, as a youth ages, our control of the consequences goes down … the cliffs can appear as gentle inclines. But life has consequences. So then I become interpreter for life itself when my kids can’t see why they get bit by the snakes in the grass. This is no more fun than being the bringer of the consequences themselves. Sometimes the messenger gets blamed!
The most important thing I know about rejection is that when it is happening for anyone, in any situation, we have to go somewhere healthy to make up for the missing doses of affirmation. The neglected lover doesn’t do well starting an affair, but can do really well joining a group like a Men or Women’s breakfast or a book club. The child needs a club or hobby group or activity where they are not the reject in the group. The parent needs (ideally) to rediscover their partner, but at least the developing of the same networks of love and pleasure that an adult without a child would have. This is maybe a reason we have such great adult attendance in karate class from parents of teens!
And deeper, we must find the voice of God in our souls. From the Bible, from prayer, from the creation,from other spiritual reading and most of all from church, we must hear again the voices of love when others don’t play their part in conveying God’s joy to us.
Take care.”You will be despised and rejected” at times. Gather in the love God sends from other sources. Do not let yourelf remain loveless. Actively seek out where God is intending to send you grace.And give. It is a uniquely spectacular source of affirmation.
If it is your kid rejecting you, don’t blame them for that. They will make enough additional mistakes. (Parents caught in custody blame fights, there are different issues. Talk to me or a counselor on that, will ya?).
Oh, and listen to the truth often: You are loved. Enormously. By a God who sings and dances your name in the heavens.
Do well.
Monday, June 8, 2009
BROKEN HEART
Broken Heart
Consider these headlines: “Church Leaders Rejoice over Gay Marriage Ban,” “Abortion Doctor Shot in Church”, and “Pastor Condemns Obama’s Efforts to Appease Muslims.”
Whatever your opinion on these issues, don’t you think it is a bit odd that most people in America know the church better for the things it condemns rather than for its message of love? Some people call the anti-abortion efforts of some faith communities as the “Talibanization of American Christianity” because so much of the anti-abortion crusade is from some Christians against others they judge as less correct than themselves. I don’t think throwing slurs against either side does us well, but I do lament when a man being as compassionate as he understands his faith to call him to be can be gunned down in his own church.
People, we can only earn the right to criticize honorably when people know we love them and want them healed. Gay people all over the country hear conservative churches not as working to “protect marriage” but as attacking them rather directly. And killing a man serving his God in church in the name of “pro-life” is bizarre.
We have good news. It is that God loves everyone. Immensely. We will have to live that out loud with kindness that sings above the cruelty for any change to be made in this culture’s image of faith and church. Go ahead. Get in a bit of trouble for doing kindness and genuinely accepting others. Surely it would be better to love a little too much than to be known as judging at all.
Do well.
Consider these headlines: “Church Leaders Rejoice over Gay Marriage Ban,” “Abortion Doctor Shot in Church”, and “Pastor Condemns Obama’s Efforts to Appease Muslims.”
Whatever your opinion on these issues, don’t you think it is a bit odd that most people in America know the church better for the things it condemns rather than for its message of love? Some people call the anti-abortion efforts of some faith communities as the “Talibanization of American Christianity” because so much of the anti-abortion crusade is from some Christians against others they judge as less correct than themselves. I don’t think throwing slurs against either side does us well, but I do lament when a man being as compassionate as he understands his faith to call him to be can be gunned down in his own church.
People, we can only earn the right to criticize honorably when people know we love them and want them healed. Gay people all over the country hear conservative churches not as working to “protect marriage” but as attacking them rather directly. And killing a man serving his God in church in the name of “pro-life” is bizarre.
We have good news. It is that God loves everyone. Immensely. We will have to live that out loud with kindness that sings above the cruelty for any change to be made in this culture’s image of faith and church. Go ahead. Get in a bit of trouble for doing kindness and genuinely accepting others. Surely it would be better to love a little too much than to be known as judging at all.
Do well.
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