conjectural navel gazing; jesus in lint form

today's quotations

Oh...this is fun!

Dynamic and erratic, spontaneous and radical, audacious and immature, committed if not all together coherent, ecumenically open and often experimental, visible here and there, now and then, but unsettled institutionally. Almost monastic in nature but most of all...enacting a fearful hope for human life in society. - William Stringfellow

And then there's Bonhoeffer. What's not to love?

The renewal of the church will come from a new type of monasticism, which has only in common with the old an uncompromising allegiance to the Sermon on the Mount. It is high time men and women banded together to do this.

I am off to play Irish music with thoughts of the monastic running around my mind. Be ye warned therefore. Green hoods may abound!

letting go: making room for God

Some of us think holding on makes us strong, but sometimes it is letting go.
— Herman Hesse

Did you notice. It's Lent. It's the season that reminds us about the truth of letting go. Jesus is preparing to let it all go...all the control, all the demands. He's going to step out in faith and rest in the promise of resurrection. It's the highest form of spiritual calculus. Do we know where we begin and end? Do we know where God is? And can we let go of our own insistent demands so that God can move in and make the changes that need to be made?

Easily said, but not so easily done...and suddenly I have the lyrics of "Closer to Fine" running through my head. It is simple. We can talk about it and debate it. We've invented religious systems to institutionalize it and yet all of these things are as likely to serve as distractions from the real work rather than encouraging us to let go.

Let go and let God, the saying goes. There is, of course, an implied "You first!" Maybe that's why I struggle. I want someone else to step back from the precipice that we're all on and do it first. But maybe that's just not going to happen. Maybe I have to be the first to let go.

too much

I thought I would be able to take a few days and breathe. Well, it might come. I don't know yet. Thankfully I have a Sunday off coming up...well, off from preaching. My stalwart seminary intern is scheduled to preach. Pastors, if you don't have one of these, I encourage you to get one. Go to your local (or not so local) seminary and see what you can work out. Lovely!

Anyway, I am trying to relax a bit, but there are these things that are creeping up on me. I'll make a phone call or two today and see if I can ease the load a bit for myself.

This weekend was our Big Annual Leadership Retreat. Great turnout. Great work. Great fellowship. People seem ready to try something new...to take a step forward. It's good news. This Wednesday evening is our Council meeting. Now that we have some marching orders, I am hopeful that the Council will step up.

It's all good, but I am tired. I need a couple of days off. I think, though, that I will simply have to wait until after Easter. A friend and I are off to Austin for several days. It's a road trip we're calling "Mancation 2010!" Lovely stuff!

sermon: a steadfast covenant

We’re still talking about covenants. A week ago we played in some different language about covenants. We looked for some synonyms and some alternatives. One of the words that I often find myself working with in my own journey is “trust.” Isaiah uses the word “steadfast.” God is steadfast. Trustworthy.

A covenant is a kind of trust. It is something of great value that we establish for the present moment and in hope for the future. It is also the emotional state of trust. Can we entrust ourselves to one another? Can you trust me? Can I trust you? Can we trust God? These questions are more alive for me now than ever.

We live in a world that in many ways holds a tremendous distrust of religion…of any spiritual institution or community really. And we have good reason as a society. Religion appears to be at the center of many global and local conflicts…and people notice. Somehow instead of being seen as agents of peace and transformation, of solace and comfort, of healing and reconciliation…We’re seen as something else.

Life is fragile…fleeting. People have deep and profound questions about life and seek guidance about how best to live it. I have no doubt that Christianity has much to offer to help people live meaningful lives. But can they trust us?

This is the question that the people are asking Jesus this morning. They ask that age old question “Why do bad things happen to good people?” They’ve heard that perhaps when bad things happen God is punishing people somehow. They’ve heard that maybe these people weren’t so good after all. So Jesus challenges them. He asks them if the people who perished in these horrible tragedies were worse people than anyone else? The implication here is “No.” Their goodness had nothing to do with it.

[Jesus] told this parable: "A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. So he said to the gardener, 'See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?' He replied, 'Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.'"

The nature of God’s judgment is described in this parable. God is the gardener. The world is the man who owns the vineyard. God is never done with us. God is a gardener at work with his Beloved. The world seeks results and measures everything by some “bottom line.” God is patient. God is kind…

But like the time of Jesus, religion has bad press. Religious institutions seem to have lost the reputation for being compassionate and understanding. And it just seems to be getting worse. People assume that God is out to get them somehow. Is it really such a different time from our own? The people are simply asking, “Jesus, can we really trust you?”

Jesus says, “Yes.” And he adds, “but if you wish to follow God, you need to be ready to move. Life is fragile. People are in need. There is never time to waste.”

So, if there is any work before us, it is to find ways to rebuild that trust, to demonstrate that God is faithful and to be trusted and we too, as a faith community, can be trusted with the work of our loving and generous God. The passage from Isaiah suggests that God’s trustworthiness, God’s steadfastness, is what will draw the world to Israel. Can we embody this trust? I believe so. I believe in many ways we already do.

We’re not alone in this struggle, of course. There are many communities that have sought to demonstrate God’s steadfastness. And one of the best examples we have is the community of Taize whose worship style we borrow this morning.

The story goes something like this. Brother Roger left Switzerland at the age of twenty-five to begin an intentional Christian community near the boundary of France and Germany. The year was 1940 and he was convinced that he should come to the aid of the refugees crossing the border. He gave shelter to anyone who needed it. This response to the flight of people escaping the war and the death camps was the only ethical Christian response that made sense to him. There was little food or shelter available to him and his other companions. Life was very simple…and dangerous. At one point Roger and his companions did have to flee the area in fear of their lives.

By 1945, however, the small community and its buildings served as a residence for war orphans and welcomed German prisoners of war on Sundays for services. From the very beginning, Roger seized opportunities to serve God. The way he prayed and worshiped, the way he cared for the stranger and sought mercy and justice for everyone all serve this same end. He sought to proclaim the steadfastness of the Lord. God is trustworthy.

See, you shall call nations that you do not know, and nations that do not know you shall run to you, because of the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you.

Today Taize welcomes tens of thousands of pilgrims to their community every year. The brothers of Taize represent several Christian traditions. Their worship practices have been emulated across the globe. They are trusted by Christians and non-Christians alike. And they are no strangers to the fragility of life. “Brother Roger died on 16 August 2005, at the age of 90, killed during the evening prayer. Since then, Brother Alois, whom Brother Roger chose as his successor many years ago, has been the prior of the Community.”

God is steadfast and promises much to us. God may ask us to do challenging things, difficult things, things that may even put us in harms way at times like Brother Roger. But in the end, God is simply asking us to be ready to move when asked. God is tending us, waiting for us to seize the opportunities set before us. All we must do is choose, for God is faithful.

annual retreat and video

Jesus was not crucified for saying or doing what made sense to everyone.
~ from Resident Aliens by Willimon and Hauerwas

We are entering a critical time in the life of CCW. We will gather and make decisions that directly effect our shared future. We will laud one another and bicker a bit, too. We do this every year...the annual leadership retreat. Yes, if you have agreed to serve on a committee, this is the retreat for you! Also, this year, we are encouraging all to attend. It looks like we'll have a pretty good turn out.

I will candidly admit that these things always make me a little nervous. I set my expectations too high, I'm sure. Ah well. Such is life in my brain. Below is a quick video of what I'm thinking about for the sermon to follow. It will be adjusted to reflect what we come up with at the retreat, of course. Keep us in your prayers.