Advent-Day-Six: AWAKE

This is what I wake up to for almost every day of the past 5 years.  Equipped by the Good Lord with some kind of feline sense of time, she invariably jumps on the bed, marches across my body in repose, peering into my face about 10 minutes before my alarm goes off.  Almost every day.  Doesn't matter when my alarm is set.  She will best it by 10 minutes.

A sweet, purry and cuddly reminder that there is at least one being in the world who depends on me (the kibble bowl don't fill itself, lady.) Invariably, as she settles in and works up her rusty purr, I am reminded that there will be others like her today.  Their demands may not be so obvious, not quite so in-your-face, they may not be so innocent or, to my mind, necessary.  But there is a great deal of good to be done in the world.  First we must be AWAKE, then we can do our part.

Are you AWAKE?

As long as you're awake I thought I'd remind you of two things:

1) I'm adorable.

2) Feed me.

Advent Word-a-Day: FLOOD

I love the FLOOD of Christmas cards that fall through my mail shoot this time of year.  The trickle began today.  Anticipating the deluge as I try to hold off opening them all until Christmas Eve!

Advent Day 3: PEACE

There is a Dutch word -- (c)husselick (this is my best attempt a phonetic spelling.)  I'm told it can't be properly translated into English with one simple equivalent.  (C)husselick means: comfortable, cozy, homey, that all-is-right-with-the-world feeling, or, possibly, PEACE.

Advent Day 2: BOUND

Monday is typically my day off or, said more properly, my Sabbath.  My practice of Sabbath fluctuates -- sometimes through good, new ideas and sometimes through lazy attrition.  Ideally, what it means to practice Sabbath is to honor Ireneus' saying from the 4th century:

"The glory of God is the human person fully alive"

To ask, in what ways has this past week detracted from life in all it's fullness.  Where am I depleted and in need of God's rest, joy and peace?
The answer is sometimes (almost always) to sleep a little later, to pray a little more deeply, to honor my body through exercise and good food and to do something that engages my curiosity and creativity. Thankfully, in Washington DC, the latter is not hard to come by.

All of this is a very long preamble to the point. Today Sabbath meant going to see a movie:

12 Years a Slave is the story of freeman, Solomon Northup, who was kidnapped and forced to live as a slave on plantations in the American South.  The story is heart-wrenching and the acting does it justice.  

The Advent-Word-of-the-Day is BOUND, which made this movie quite obviously relevant.  There is a scene near to the end of the movie -- a close up of Solomon's face as he waits in hope that finally, finally someone who owes him nothing will take the side of justice and common humanity.  This one shot of his face is, without words, the very heartbeat of Advent.  

(spoiler alert) May we too find that our waiting in hope is fulfilled by one who owes us nothing, one who is divinely just and shares our humanity, one who is our friend. 

He comes the prisoners to release,

In Satan’s bondage held;

The gates of brass before Him burst,

The iron fetters yield.

Advent Day 1: GO

The brave things in the old tales and songs, Mr. Frodo, adventures, as I used to call them. I used to think that they were things the wonderful folk of the stories went out and looked for, because they wanted them, because they were exciting and life was a bit dull, a kind of a sport, as you might say. But that’s not the way of it with the tales that really mattered, or the ones that stay in the mind. Folk seem to have been just landed in them, usually their paths were laid that way, as you put it. But I expect they had lots of chances, like us, of turning back, only they didn’t. And if they had, we shouldn’t know, because they’d have been forgotten. “

(Samwise Gamgee)

GO!!

Advent-ing It Up.

During the holidays, we rush.

During Advent, we stand still.

During the holidays, we do.

During Advent, we wait.

During the holidays, we give gifts.

During Advent, we give attention.

The holiday season with it's hustle and bustle, it's festive merriment and fa-la-la-la-la is upon us.
But so to is the season of Advent, where we wait again with baited breath for the celebration of the Christ-Child.
It is easy to get swept away in the holiday tide.  It takes discipline to stop, to focus and to pay attention to the coming Christmastide.

This year, (BEGINNING SUNDAY) I am using this photo-a-day guide to focus my attention and center my thoughts on something beyond the immediate, pressing concerns of "the holiday season".  This year I want to feast my eyes and my camera lens (ok, the camera function on my iPhone) on images that whisper or shout out this greatest  of truths: "Immanuel! God is with us!"

I'll be posting to this blog, twitter and facebook and I encourage you to do the same!

When the Minister's Away ...

Earlier this week, I participated in a retreat of pastor colleagues in our Classis.  6 of us met together at Richmond Hill Retreat Center.

The first thing that needs to be said is that this retreat center is amazing.  A pre-Civil War mansion, turned Roman Catholic Convent, turned ecumenical prayer center and retreat facility.  The folks who live here are prayerful and hospitable.  The opportunities for prayer -- 3 services a day, bi-weekly Eucharist, centering prayer groups, Taize worship several times a month, an art room, a labyrinth -- are varied.  The life of prayer evidenced in this congregation is deeply tied to their sense of place and mission in the city of Richmond.  They follow a weekly rhythm of prayer for the city -- they pray by name for public officials, non-profit agencies, school teachers and first responders. From this I learned that being on retreat is, in fact, a way of engaging our world deeply.  This place is only 2 hours away from DC and, if you couldn't already tell, I highly recommend it.

The second important piece of this retreat was the opportunity to share with colleagues on retreat.  I must confess to hardly knowing these guys before the retreat and, as a young clergy-woman, was uncertain how the dynamics would work.  It was nice to know that, while our demographic details might be widely varied in this group (okay ... truthfully, that MY demographics would be quite different from the rest of the group) we hold a shared calling.  And that similarity -- not to mention our kinship in Christ -- was certainly enough to adhere us together for the work of sharing our lives and prayer.  Note: if you are a pastor in the Christian Reformed Church, there is grant money available for you to try something similar in your setting.  Check THIS out.

Third and finally, while there are many oddities attendant to the calling to vocational ministry, surely this is, well, one of them: I am to pray like it's my job ... because it is.  I have trouble justifying this sometimes.  It can be easier to settle into doing things -- actual, concrete tasks that produce a sermon or a pastoral visit or a proposal to Council.  Prayer -- beyond a daily time spent in the word and a list of intercessions for congregation members -- can feel like a luxury. And, indeed, if I were to catalog the things I did on retreat, you might well agree with that assessment.

What do you do on retreat?
Take naps
Read poetry
Corporate worship (in which I do NOT take the lead)
Prayer with friends.
Prayer in silence.
Devour good prose
Walk the labyrinth
Reflect on the Psalms
Draw
Write
Go slowly.  

But friends, ask me why.

WHY do you do these things?
To remember God
To remember self
To clear out the cobwebs on my soul.
To make space.
To rest and to wake up.
To die and to come alive.

In all of this, I was reminded of a wonderful quotation from Catholic priest & theologian, Henri Nouwen:

"If I could have a gentle 'interiority' -- 

a heart of flesh and not of stone,

a room with spots on which one might walk barefooted --

then God and my fellow human beings could meet each other there."

Perhaps therein lies the best possible answer to the question "why".  Boiled down, the job of a pastor is to be the space where God and human beings can meet each other.  In our sermons, in our intercessions, in our visits, in our hospitality, in our being we provide this space.  But, to be or to provide that space takes work.  If my life is to be a place where I invite you to "walk barefooted," as it were, I must first be gentled (no small feat in my case), reminded that I am of more use to God and to you when I am human and vulnerable instead of invincible and alien. That is why.

Gravity of The Law

Last night I saw the much touted new movie Gravity, starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney.  Deserving of every accolade.  From a technical standpoint, awe-inspiring.  The writing and the acting were both exceptional.  Truly worth more than a few Oscar nods. As testament to how well done it was, I hated it.

Without giving away too much, the scenes where Sandra Bullock and George Clooney are floating in space, un-moored, un-tethered?  I found them un-nerving and un-settling. I actually felt panicked and helpless as I watched them careening, spinning and looping.

All of the basics I know for living, breathing, moving from point A to point B, none of it holds true in space.  Everything that keeps me moored and tethered, with nerves in place and a settled feeling in my gut and in my spirit begins with the law of gravity. One little law.  Things fall down. Objects have weight. I can re-orient myself out of a tailspin.  The law of gravity.

As I prepare Sunday's sermon, I'm holding the Law of Gravity up against the Gravity of God's Law. When the Psalmists praised the virtue of "Thy Word", they must surely have meant the 5 books of Moses, the books of the Law.

Without God's Law am I, in a similar sense, un-moored, un-tethered, un-nerved and un-settled in the world?
- "Prone to wander, Lord I feel it."

With God's Law am I at last able to stand -- bruised and on shaky legs -- but safely moored to my foundation, tethered to what gives me meaning, bolsters my nerves and settles my spirit in the end?
-  "But those who look intently into the perfect law that gives freedom and continue in it -- not forgetting what they have heard but doing it -- they will be blessed in what they do."

New Song

Hey all,

We are introducing a new song this Sunday.  It works perfectly with our focus on The Word, using Psalm 19. It has been one of my favorites for a while so I'm excited to introduce it.  OH! AND it has motions.  So ... awesome, right?

Please listen & learn.

A Preacher's Conviction

(alternately titled: why there were no cheesy potatoes at the potluck)

On Saturday night I made a giant pan of cheesy potatoes. I've been experimenting with a bbq-flavor variety. They were in the fridge, ready to be baked and served piping hot at our after-service potluck on Sunday.

I finished the sermon on Psalm 28, focusing on the importance of intercessory prayer ... and a little bit about those pesky imprecatory portions of the Psalms.  Meh. It was what it was.  I went to bed.

I woke up in the morning, reviewed the sermon.  I got excited for the strong case God was making: "The work of the people of God begins in our prayer together."  Yeah!  Awesome!  Game on!

I went to the kitchen, pulled out my tray of potatoes, looked at the recipe again and did the reverse math:  On table time 12:30pm  -  45 minutes (bake time) = 11:45am

Well, perfect!  The sermon should be done by then.  And we'll just be doing the morning prayer.  Certainly, "with every head bowed and every eye closed," it won't be a problem for me to sneak downstairs, preheat the oven and get those potatoes started.

And then God was all like, "Are you even listening to me?"
And I was all like, "Oh, right."

So the cheesy potatoes didn't get made. The trade off was that "every head bowed and every eye closed" included my own. And I'm glad we prayed together. That moment in worship was more important than cheesy potatoes after all.  And that's saying a lot.  Because I love cheesy potatoes.

(In a related note: I will be preparing cold salads or crock-pot dishes for potlucks from now on.)

Intercessory Prayer: What it is NOT

In Kevin Adam's book on the Psalms, 150, he shares about a certain theme in Seinfeld ... well, here.  Take a look.

Aside from being a hilarious diversion on a Wednesday morning, this clip demonstrates the way many people unwittingly use the Psalms.  As a mantra, a way of pretending everything is fine when, in fact, the Psalms themselves are rife with lyrics to the contrary.

So, while we do come to worship in order to remember our sense of being oriented toward God, we also have to grapple honestly -- FAR more honestly than "serenity now" -- with the difficulties of our world and our lives.

Although I will be the first to confess I don't always do this well, I do believe that the morning prayer in worship, the prayers of intercession or the prayers of the people -- whatever you call it -- may be the most important battle field of the 75 minutes we spend together.  But we can't really take up arms against sin & evil until we have first put down the pretense that "everything's just fine."

Sometimes I write for other outlets than this blog.  For my thoughts on the recent partial government shut-down, see:

http://the12.squarespace.com/jessica-bratt/2013/10/7/you-told-us-it-mattered.html

It is probably important to note, as I did on facebook, that this article is directed at a specific demographic of Reformed?Kuyperian academics & those of us blessed enough to have been trained in their churches and institutions of higher learning.  It's likely that if you are not familiar with that school of thought, the frustration I evidence here will make very little sense to you.

Recap: Confession

On Sunday, we learned from Pope Francis' example that to start at the very beginning is to acknowledge oneself as a sinner.  We ruefully acknowledged that society isn't set up in such a way as to encourage this kind of self-disclosure.  In fact, most of society and culture is built on protecting and preserving the pretensions that we are practically perfect.

That is why Pope Francis' admission of sinfulness (and he hadn't even done anything wrong yet that would require a carefully worded (spun) apology) was a shock to many outside the church and should serve as a refresher for those of us inside the church.

This morning I was reminded of three more examples of what it means, what it could look like, to live as assured and confessing people.

1) There is a great story about the famous novelist and lay Catholic theologian, G.K. Chesterton who, in response to an inquiry from The Times of London posing the question, “What’s wrong with the world today?” Chesterton responded with two words:

Dear Sirs,

I am.

Yours, G.K. Chesterton.

2) Donald Miller tells a story in his memoir, Blue Like Jazz, about the time the Christian ministry at notoriously liberal Reed College set up a "Confession Booth" right in the middle of campus.  And right in the middle of the craziest, party-laced week of the year.  One drunken undergraduate stumbled in ready for a fight.  "You want me to tell you what's so wrong with me?"  The response?  "No, we're glad you are here.  We'd like to tell you what's wrong with us." The student volunteer went on to list a series of historical tragedies either propagated or ignored by the Christian Church.  The student volunteer went on to apologize for any experience this student might have had with the church or any individual Christians that were hurtful and condemnatory instead of gracious and truthful.  The poor fellow was befuddled.  Could have been the booze.  Could have been that he heard the Gospel of Grace for once.  Both are strangely similar phenomena.  But he left the confession booth and told all his friends, "Man, you've got to go in there."

3) This past week, a dear friend of mine celebrated 10 continuous years of sobriety.  I couldn't be prouder!  Thinking about his experience and my own visit -- as a seminary student -- to an open narcotics anonymous meeting, I realize that if you want to know what it looks like to lead with humility, to start from the foundation of shared brokenness, I WISH the church were 1/2 as good at this as your local meeting.  Each person who speaks begins, "Hi, my name is _______, and I'm an alcoholic."  Then the speaker is warmly greeted and encouraged to continue speaking if he/she wishes.  How great would it be if that's how it was in church.  Each week, "Hi, my name is Meg.  I am a sinner."  So on and so forth around the room.  And together -- as those who are equally sinful and equally redeemed -- we enter the throneroom of God to receive grace again and to offer the praise and thanksgiving that such forgiveness requires.

One sermon can't do it all.  Those are the illustrations I left out. But they might work as you consider the outworking of sin, forgiveness, grace and gratitude in your life this week.  

October Psalm Challenge: 5 a Day

We are about to enter month two of our three month series in the Psalms.  In the month of October, I am challenging church family (both those present with us in worship and those who we think of fondly as members in absentia.)

October Psalm Challenge

5 a Day

It is what it sounds like.  If you read 5 Psalms a day through the month of October, you will have read the entire Psalter with one day to spare (in case you need to do any make-up reading.)  Praying regularly through the Psalms is a practice used to center the devotional lives of  Christians around the world from Eastern Orthodox priests to Billy Graham.  It is something I have been doing for about 4 months although, I confess, I have tended to read them all at once. If you are already making a habit of reading the Psalms, I invite you to join me in "upping the ante" and trying to read them at regular intervals throughout the day, like "praying the hours," according to some Catholic or Anglican traditions.  One when we wake up and one every 3 hours until we go to bed.

There are many ways of doing keeping on track.  A calendar is going to be published in the newsletter.  You can also set up a reading plan on the YouVersion app on your iPhone.  If you prefer, you can listen to the Psalms being read to you, using some internet sites or smartphone apps.

Please consider joining me for the 

October Psalm Challenge

5 a Day

Praise: the postlude

It never fails that I think of what I should have said in the sermon right about 3:30 on a Sunday afternoon.

Last Sunday, we talked about Praise -- how it is something that can either become or can be perceived as simplistic or naive.  That sometimes, saying the truth about who God is comes from the overflow of our hearts and sometimes it comes forced through gritted teeth.

It kind of reminds me of this:

"I love you."

Man! There are so many ways of saying those words, aren't there?  

- Sometimes they come from the overflow of our hearts, bubbling up, maybe even saying it before the logic behind those words has even settled in our minds. 

- Sometimes we say it from the force of habit, when leaving the house or hanging up the phone.

- Sometimes we say it in order to learn how to mean it.

- Sometimes we want to shout it.  Sometimes we whisper it almost in desperation.  

- Sometimes we say it in pride or in amusement or in amazement.

Maybe the most simple way of understanding the act of praising God is that we are saying those words, "I love you."  Just as there are numerous ways of saying it and meaning it in human relationships, the same holds true when we are talking with God.

- "Spread Your protection over them, that those who love Your name may rejoice in You."

- "But I trust in Your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation."

- "Show me the wonders of Your great love,"

- "I love you, Lord, my strength."

- "For I have always been mindful of your unfailing love and have lived in reliance on your faithfulness."

- "Lord, I love the house where you live, the place where your glory dwells."

- "I will maintain my love to him forever, and my covenant with him will never fail."

- “Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.

- "I love the LORD, he heard my cry."

- "Save us and help us with your right hand, that those you love may be delivered."

Airing Our Dirty Laundry

This week: 

Confession 

The back story
David stays home from battle #poorchoice
David sees Bathsheba in the bath and shrugs  #YOLO
#poorchoice
Bathsheba ends up pregnant #whosawthatcoming?
David retrieves Bathsheba's husband from the battlefield #what? #noreason
Bathsheba's husband won't enjoy R&R while his troops are still at war #respect
#thisdoesnotlookgood
David sends Bathsheba's husband under direct military attack #notcool #poorchoice
Bathsheba's husband dies #whosawthatcoming?
David marries Bathsheba #whatamess
David figgers he got away with it. #notsofast
Nathan #prophetofGod shows up. #uhoh
Nathan #prophetofGod tells the story of a selfish rich man stealing a poor shepherd's only lamb. #poorshepherdproblems #notcool
David gets mad & takes the poor shepherd's side. Nathan #prophetofGod says #youtheman
#boomwhatsup
#dropthemike

Psalm 51
"Have mercy on me, O God
     According to your unfailing love;
     According to your great compassion

Blot out my transgressions.
Wash away all my iniquity
And cleanse me from my sin."

David thought he had gotten away with it.  He thought he'd shoved those poor choices so far in the back corner of the closet that no one would ever find them.  He was ready to move forward.  Then Nathan shows up, unearths the wrinkled, mildewed and stained mess.  And, in public, he airs the King's dirty laundry.

Get out the tide stick, the bleach and Heloise handy tips for stain removal.
God is about to muck about in our dirty laundry.

God doesn't show up with cellophane & starched new clothes.
God the washer woman gets to work.
Taking what is old and soiled and wrinkled and torn.
God mends and soaks, scrubs and irons us back to life.

Our secret addictions.
That ancient mistake so carefully hidden.
Pieces of ourselves crammed in a closet corner.

Maybe, like David, we think we are in the clear.
Maybe, like David, God sends us someone -- a friend, a therapist, a spouse -- some modern day prophet to air our dirty laundry.

Not to be unkind.
Not to shame or ridicule

But because God the washer woman won't work in the back corner of closets.
God the washerwoman uses soap and fresh air.
Taking what is old and soiled and wrinkled and torn.
God mends and scrubs and hangs us on the line.
Not dirty laundry
Rather refreshed, remade, redeemed,
Pure hearts flapping in a strong summer breeze
Steadfast spirits soaking sunshine

"Restore to me the joy of your salvation."

Praise Preview

This week we move from God's Call to Worship in Psalm 95 to our response of Praise in Psalm 8.

The high school Sunday School class will be leading our time of confession & assurance of pardon, using this song by Matt Redman.  Listen, learn, prepare to sing but, mostly, remember that -- even in weeks like this one -- there are reasons yet to Praise.

Call to Worship: Recap

Last Sunday we focused on Psalm 95 as a song intended to call us to worship.  The "Call to Worship" is a formal part of our church's liturgy but it's importance extends beyond formality to ethics.  What kind of people do we become when we recognize that we are called to worship God by God?  Where in the creation, where in our daily lives, in other words where beyond Sunday morning do we hear this call?

I'd love to read some comments. Places where you have felt God calling you to worship this past week.  Below I will share two of mine:

1) A friend posted this on Facebook:

http://www.faithit.com/what-happens-when-worship-leaders-from-around-the-world-take-the-stage-with-chris-tomlin-just-watch/#.UjTAZTKirbE.facebook

2) Another friend wrote this on her blog:

http://www.calliefeyen.com/?p=1972

Enjoy!

Weird

It used to be -- or at least a nostalgic portrait of Norman Rockwell's 1950s would have us believe -- that everyone went to church.  10am Sunday morning, you knew where your neighbors were going to be. You knew where you were supposed to be.  The only "Call to Worship" needed was societal expectation.

Not so the Millennial!  But this is NOT yet another long-winded, hand-wringing polemic about why "our young people are leaving the church in apocalyptic proportions!!!"  This is NOT yet another strategy-session, try-it-this-way infomercial for the coolest (maybe, in a fit of hipster irony, not coolest) way of doing church.

This is a recognition of the fact that what we do in corporate worship is -- and always has been -- profoundly weird.  It has always creeped me out a bit that the nostalgic portrait of Norman Rockwell's 1950s seems oblivious to the fact that they are doing a profoundly weird thing.

Church is weird, y'all!  If you exchange more that a "Christ be with you" with the person next to you in the pew, you would realize the church is full of weird people -- beginning with you.  And the things we do are weird.  We sing out loud. Together. With exception of baseball's 7th inning stretch, where else do we do that?  We let someone yammer at us for 20 minutes (without commercial interruption.) That's weird.  But the weirdest thing of all:

We talk to God.
And we listen believing that God talks to us.
Weird.

Pastor and theologian Eugene Peterson reminds us that the Psalms teach us to pray, to talk and listen, by turn, to God. In worship, then, "We decide to leave an ego-centered world and enter a God-centered world."  

Everything about our daily lives points us in the direction of ego-centrism.  Everything about worship points us in the direction of God-centrism.  We are acclimated to the former, and alien to the latter.  Maybe that is why the Psalms are filled with "Calls to Worship."  Because if we truly understand what we are doing, it might well take some cajoling to get us to do it.

"Sing to the LORD a new song."
"Shout for joy to God, all the earth."
"Praise the LORD."

The "Call to Worship" that begins a service of Christian Worship is not formality.  It is not simply a greeting, like a handshake.  The "Call to Worship" is an invitation to subversion. It is a coaxing to patterns, behaviors, ways of thinking, believing and feeling that are not immediately comfortable to people shaped by an ego-centered world.  It is a drawing back of the curtain to reveal the possibility of a God-centered world.  A "Call to Worship" is a call to be weird. Thanks be to God.

Call to Worship

Why do we do what we do in worship? It is a good and fair question. One that we are allowing the Psalms to help us answer. This week, we focus on what it means to be a people "Called to Worship."

Below is a quotation to center your thoughts and a new song we will be introducing into the liturgy on Sunday morning. Take a listen (or 12) as we all prayerfully prepare for the work of worship.

When we come together to worship we do so in response to God’s call.  In the gathering, we acknowledge that God has invited us to meet with him through his Son, Jesus Christ.  God takes the initiative to invite us to worship and we respond with great joy.  We say a hearty “Yes!” to the invitation and prepare to celebrate the greatness of the God who desires to be in fellowship with us.  A dialogue has begun.  God calls us to worship; to this invitation we joyfully respond.

- Constance Cherry “The Worship Architect”

Make Time for the Psalms

If you have 5 minutes a day …

Read 2 psalms everyday (you’ll make it through the Psalter by December)

If you have 15 minutes a day …
Read 5 psalms everyday (you’ll make it through the Psalter in a month.  Then do it again!)

If you have ½ hour a week …
Read a chapter of C.S. Lewis’ Reflections on the Psalms

Read a chapter of Eugene Peterson’s Answering God

Read a chapter of Kevin Adams’ 150

If you have 1 hour a week …

Join a Sunday School class on prayer or on the psalms (10am Sundays)

If you have 1 hour a month …

Join us for Psalm Writing Workshops Sept 22, Oct. 20 and Nov. 17 at 10am

If you have 1 hour all season …

Read Bonhoeffer’s Psalms: The Prayer Book of the Bible

Use Your (Worship) Words

(Today we have a very special guest post from our Minister of Music & Worship, Katie Roelofs.  Thanks, Katie!)

My worship professor and academic advisor at Calvin often began his lectures on worship talking about his children.  He would tell everyone that he has a 4 year old and 2 year old triplets at home and people would nod empathetically when he said life could be somewhat hectic and chaotic trying to keep the peace and raise them successfully.  With 4 kids under 4 years of age, he said one of the most challenging, but also most rewarding parts of parenting was helping his children to develop good speech habits.  It doesn’t come naturally to toddlers to say “please”, “I’m sorry”, “thank you.”  Now that I am in the trenches of raising young children as well, I can testify to the fact that learning healthy speech patterns takes time, attention and lots of practice.  Basic conversational skills need constant reinforcement.  These words are the building blocks of healthy relationships – with parents and siblings, friends, colleagues, spouses.

Healthy speech patterns are central to our Christian lives as well.  Of course we are called to love and care for those around us which includes healthy dialogue and conversation but we also need to practice good communication skills with God.  We need to be able to come before him and say “thank you,” “I need help,” “please forgive me,” “I’m listening.”  When we gather together for worship on Sunday morning, we are entering into conversation with God along with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.  Conversations are not one-sided, and neither is worship.  We talk to God but he also speaks to us.  If you look at our order of worship on any given Sunday, you can trace the dialogic nature of our worship.  

Call to Worship -----“Thank you for inviting us and meeting us.  We are here.”

Songs of Praise----- “We love you.  You are awesome and wonderful.”

Confession------ “I’m sorry.”

Lament----- “Why?”

Assurance of pardon------ “I forgive you.”

Greeting--- “Bless you.”

Guide to Grateful Living---- “What can I do?”

Prayer------“Help”

Prayer for Illumination/the Word----- “We are listening.”

Offering----“Thank you.  I will share.”

Benediction----“It’s time to go and serve”

This fall, we are starting a 12 week series on the Psalms.  While we are gathered under one roof on Sunday mornings, we might very well be in different places.  Some of us come to worship wanting to say “Thank You, Lord!”  Others come wanting to cry out to God “Please help me!” or “Why is this happening?”  Each of the 150 Psalms gives us a piece of conversation – praise, lament, thanksgiving, etc.  They give voice to the deepest feelings and emotions in our souls.  For 12 weeks, we will walk through these worship words using the Psalms as our guide.  We will practice our conversational skills with God and work on the words that don’t come naturally.  Dive into these next 12 weeks of being a toddler once again and take the opportunity to practice your speech habits as they express who we are and form who we are becoming.  

Fall Psalm Series

New Preaching Series

This Fall, we are engaging the Old Testament hymnbook of the people of God – the Psalms.  150 lyrical poems that exalt and lament, that scold and delight.  So many different moods but, in all of them, God speaks and God’s people listen and then, remarkably, God’s people speak and God listens!  A conversation for the ages.

Learning the Psalms in Pew

By absorbing the various moods of the Psalms, we better learn the character of God who invites us into this open dialogue, this covenant relationship.  By learning the various moods of the Psalms, we better learn what it is to be human and to stand in solidarity with those who grieve and those who rejoice.  And then we might ask: 

By singing these songs on Sunday, what sort of people will we become Monday through Saturday?  

What does hearing the conversation between God and God’s people teach us about the mission of God for the world?

Learning the Psalms Beyond the Pew

But hearing something for 20 minutes on Sunday morning is not enough to let it sink deep into our bones. It is not enough to enable us to change our lives. That is why I am challenging you choose ONE way of learning the Psalms beyond the pew.  Here are a few options:

·         Sunday School

-          2 Adult classes -- one studying Prayer, the other the Psalms (beginning September 8.)

-          Each children’s class will have at least one opportunity to creatively engage the Psalms.

·         At Home

-          Memorize a Psalm

-          Rewrite a Psalm each week.

-          Using an old hymnbook, learn a Psalm-song on your instrument of choice.

-          Paint a picture, create a sculpture or a collage or a banner with one Psalm in mind.

-          Follow along with weekly readings provided in the bulletin and online.

-          Listen to sermons on the Psalms (located at www.cep.calvinseminary.edu, click “Audio Sermons.”)

-          Read through the book of Psalms during the month of October (5 Psalms a day x 30 days = 150 Psalms + 1 day to spare)

·         At Church

-          Opportunities to learn a little more during our Fall monthly potlucks.

-          A few “writer’s workshops” for those interested in learning how to write a psalm or would like to share their writing with others.

-          Let me help you start a new small group! There are a lot of great materials on the Psalms out there.

Psalm-Fest

The culmination of our series in the Psalms will be a Psalm Fest on November 24.  This will be a chance to share our learning with one another and celebrate the conversation between God and God’s people that occurs each week in worship. Consider whether you’d like to contribute a drama, a reading, an art piece, special music, a video or powerpoint presentation!

For Further Reflection

I read this article earlier this week and wondered about it for the life & ministry of this congregation.  Would be worth reading and commenting on.

Loving Our Neighbors

A church blog isn't the place to get political.  But it is a place for us to do the work of reflecting on Scripture and our world together.  Although, to be honest, in a ven diagram, there is some level of overlap between theological reflection and "getting political."

Yesterday, I wrote this as my facebook status:

I can't shake the feeling that if, on February 26, 2012, everyone had just remembered "love your neighbor as yourself," then maybe the names Trayvon Martin & George Zimmerman would mean nothing to us today. That's what I wish.

This morning I read A Humble Suggestion on How Not to Shoot Our Neighbors which resonated deeply with me having moved into a neighborhood where I am the racial minority.  Where I am confronting in myself, in my community and in the world at large a sense that we are not yet as we ought to be in relationship to one another.  I am wondering about the work of reconciliation that still needs to be done in our church building, in our community and in our world.  Considering our BBQ after church yesterday, our plans of partnering with another local church to host a block party later this summer, this seems like a pretty good place to start.

And then I saw this news and thought THIS looks more like the neighborhood and the neighbors that I am coming to know and to love than all that other nonsense and rhetoric and reporting going on.  THIS is what I want for us!

Raw Ingredients

Sometimes it's fun to see all the ingredients for a recipe laid out in front of you.  And you can think about how the flavors enhance each other or be surprised that two seemingly distinct tastes do, in fact, blend well together. You might wonder about the proportion of certain ingredient against another and wonder whether a pinch is greater than a dash and how much spice the whole thing is going to require.

Sometimes, it can be like that with a sermon. So, here are some raw ingredients for Sunday:

Colossians 2:16-23

16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. 17 These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. 18 Do not let anyone who delights in false humilityand the worship of angels disqualify you. Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind. 19 They have lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.

20 Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules: 21 “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”?22 These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings. 23 Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.

Quotes from Eugene Peterson's Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places

"We humans, with our deep-seated pretensions to being gods, are endlessly preoccupied with worrying and tinkering with matters of salvation as if we were in charge of it.  But we are no. God carries out the work of salvation; not, to be sure, without our participation, but it is Gods work done in God's way." (153)

"Otherwise, salvation becomes our 'thing,' a strategy or program for doing something that will make us and the world around us fit for heaven pretty much on our own terms.  But salvation is never our thing. it is God's work in history in 'ways past finding out.'" (170)

A list of church practices:

Head coverings. Speaking in tongues. Praise music. Organs. Raising hands in worship. Sitting in reverent silence. Choirs that read music. Choirs that sway and clap. Preachers who read manuscripts. Preachers who preach from iPads. Kids dismissed from worship. Kids running around in worship. Dressing up for church. Dressing down for church. Rules for keeping the Sabbath. Using videos in church. Singing from hymnals.

A clip from the TV show 30 Rock:

A thought-provoking blog post:

Click here!

 ... On the other hand, maybe sermons are like sausage.  No one wants to see how they are made.

The Parable of Henry

Last Sunday the focus of the service and the sermon was on the necessity of the Body of Christ  -- his physical body in our salvation and his corporate body (the church) in the outworking of that salvation.

We need the community of Christ's people surrounding us. We need the body of the church to enfold us.  We need the people of God if we are ever going to do the work of God.

In preaching class we are taught: "show, don't tell."  While I was busy "telling" last Sunday, God had a different plan in mind.  God was busy "showing."

Most readers of this blog, who are also members of our church, know the faithfulness of our brother, Henry, in worship.  Although he needs a ride every Sunday, he is always there.  Although he won't ask you about your week, he is careful to greet everyone in his own way.  When the songs are being sung, Henry has his hymnal open to the right page. He'll ask you for help if it isn't.  Same with his Bible,

Except last Sunday.  Last Sunday, Henry was out-of-sorts.  The usual helps of having someone help him with his hymnal and having someone to sit with him wouldn't calm his agitation.  Then we learned that Henry couldn't find his Bible. We asked everyone to look under their seats and around them, which they willingly did.  And I think Henry noticed that we wanted to help because, even though we didn't find it, he calmed down markedly.

So then I got up and did my 20 minute spiel about community and the church and the people of God doing the work of God.  I told you all about it.

Meanwhile, our sister Mary was scouring the church high and low for that Bible.  She told me she decided to "think like Henry" and see what she could do.  And, in that action, God showed.  Mary found the Bible, returned it to the owner and we saw -- rather than were told -- that God does the work of the Kingdom through all of us together.

More "Liturgical"?

So, you may have noticed we are doing some things differently this summer.  We are trying out new things like:

- drama to help set the historical context of the letter of Colossians
- video greetings from members of our congregation "out in the world" to remind us that "Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places."
- added elements of interaction in the sermons
- visuals in the sanctuary intended to remind us of the themes we are engaging throughout the summer.

As with anything, some of this feels like a slam-dunk for some folks in the congregation and, for others, it feels more like a face-palm.  So it's probably a good idea to tell you that there is a method to the madness.
What we are doing this summer is not, necessarily forever.  It is taking advantage of three unique and particular elements of the season:

1) Summer means that there is no Sunday School, which means that the 9 o'clock hour is the only chance we have to learn all of us together.  As a result, our obligation changes somewhat.  We need to be "feeding" a wide swath of the population.  This means that not everyone is going to like every dish that is offered.  That's a reality I don't apologize for -- part of what we learn by worshiping together is making room for the needs of our brothers and sisters, as well as our own.
Now, if you leave a service thinking, "Absolutely NOTHING that happened in there has any relevance to my life," would you do me a favor? Would you make an appointment with me to talk about that?  But if your overall response is more along the lines of "Not EVERYTHING we did today is my favorite way of doing things," then I encourage you to take a moment to look around the sanctuary and wonder about the brothers and sisters for whom creative elements, participation and a variety of voices matter.

2) It's summer!  For some reason, that makes me think we should have the opportunity to be playful together and to try some new things, recognizing that not all of them will work and that none of it is, necessarily, forever.

3) I have been growing a lot as a preacher this summer.  This is the first chance I've had to preach straight through an Epistle text.  I am, more regularly, a narrative-style preacher.  When preaching narrative, the text contains the drama. It contains the imagery.  The whole thing holds together as a story.  My job is to add insight and implications.  An epistle, however, is replete with insights and implications.  What is is "missing" (if I may speak so boldly about Scripture) is the imagery, the thread that ties it into our lives. What I've found as I've been studying through the week is that the text is a wonderful tapestry of marvelous threads.  Looking at each thread doesn't help me to understand. But I can't see it as it was intended until it's been hung up.  The sermon, then, needs to serve as the hooks.  At least that's what I've been learning so far ...

What I have appreciated most in our worship this summer is that we have managed to be far more liturgical.  High church purists won't understand what I've said there.  We haven't had more responsive readings, more hymns or even more organ.  Aren't those elements what we mean by "liturgy"?

Liturgy comes from the Latin root and it means "the work of the people."  As we've invited more participation in the service, as we've been creative together, I think that we have managed to draw in the work of more people, thus we have become more liturgical!

Preparing for Sunday

Colossians 2:6-15

Many scholars point to Colossians 2:6-7 as the thesis statement for the whole letter.  

Therefore,  just as you  received the Lord Jesus Christ,

                                    walk in Him --

                                                       Rooted

                                                       and Built Up in Christ

                                                       and Strengthened in faith (just as you were taught)

                                     Abounding in thanksgiving.

The most important words in the Biblical text are, often, the verbs.  In this case:

Received -- a specific vocabulary work in the Greek, intended to connote receiving as an inheritance or an heirloom.  Receiving as though something is being handed down.

Walk -- This is the only imperative/command verb in the text.  The idea is to continue, to live, behavior or conduct one's life. Because of what has been received, we have an opportunity to participate.

Rooted, Built Up and Strengthened -- these are all passive verbs, meaning they are something that happens to us rather than something we do for ourselves.  As we follow Christ, God is:

Rooting us, as a tree in need of vital nutrients.

Building us up, as a building on a solid foundation

and Strengthened, meaning confirmed and secure, like a  legal document.

In response to the working of God in our lives, then, we are to overflow with thankfulness. 

***

But, what interests me especially, are verses 9 & 15

All the completeness (fullness, fulfillment) of deity dwells (inhabits, resides, settles) bodily in Christ.

And, in Christ, 

                       who is the head (superior) 

                            of all the powers (beginning, ruler, governor, supernatural 

                            power, authority, truth) 

                            and authorities (power to act, jurisdiction, ruler, judges, sphere 

                            of authority)

             You are complete.

Disarming (stripping, undressing) the powers (beginning, ruler, governor, supernatural power, authority, truth) and authorities (power to act, jurisdiction, ruler, judges, sphere of authority) 

He confidently (boldly, courageously, frankly) and publicly shamed (exposed, made a show or spectacle of) them

                He triumphed over them by the cross.

I am curious about these powers and authorities.  

And I am amazed at the sacrificial love of God, that Christ would subject himself to these powers and authorities.  That he would allow them to do their worst -- shaming him, causing him to suffer, death on a cross.  And that he would, ultimately triumph over them.

On the continuation of these thoughts (and probably others)

Tune in this Sunday at 11am 

What We Stand to Gain by Losing DOMA

Last Thursday, my Twitter feed, Facebook page and life seemed to blow up with opinions about the Supreme Court's rulings regarding same-sex marriage, particularly California's Prop. 8 and the defeat of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).

Because I live in the cross-hairs of evangelical and mainline Protestantism, I saw everything from pictures of friends proudly posing with their partners to desperate pleas to pray against the degradation of our Christian nation.  In an unrecognizable move on my part, I said nothing.  In fact, I wasn't sure what to say.  I couldn't put my finger on the pulse.

I had dinner with a friend on Friday night, an openly gay United Church of Christ pastor and, I'll be honest, I expected more jubilation from him, something along the lines of a playground winner's taunt.  My expectation was unfair and his compassionate response brought a pulse under my fingertips again.

For a couple years, I've been both disheartened and frustrated by the conversation the church hasn't been having.

The evangelical church hasn't been having a conversation about what it means to be whole persons created in the image of God.
-About how sexuality factors into our personhood and isn't something you can amputate without damaging the whole person.
-About sexuality as more than particular acts and "thou shalt not"s.  

Meanwhile, the mainline church hasn't been having a conversation about the responsibilities and sacrifices attendant to a distinctly Christian life.
-About the fact that discipleship is not a private matter that ends where the bedroom door shuts.
-About how the Sermon on the Mount point us toward sacrifice -- not rights -- as the counter-intuitive beginning of human flourishing.

In a prophetic word, Neal Plantinga writes in Not the Way It's Supposed to Be:

"The same tradition that held pride to be a sin and humility a virtue has often been dominated by whites who have preached humility to blacks, by men who have preached submissiveness to women, by rigid and unimaginative persons who have regarded every creative impulse, every struggle for personal dignity as a shameful show of arrogance.  In the eyes of such persons, anyone who wanted mere self-respect was cheeky." (Evangelicals 'fess up.)

AND

"In one of the tragic ironies of sin, the humbled sometimes reply by usurping the very pride they hated.  They reach for proper self-respect but end up overreaching...in sin as on ice, people coming out of a skid tend to oversteer." (Mainliners pay attention.)

Because, you see, this is the conversation I hope we can gain by losing DOMA.

I want us to talk about sexuality
-As a part of what allows us to carry the image of God and a part of what's been broken by sin.
-Without resorting to binary categories (homosexuality = bad; heterosexuality = good)
-As the whole spectrum of delight we receive from being embodied creatures, not simply what we do with our genitals and who we do it with.
-Therefore in terms of stewardship not eradication.
- By recognizing intimacy, not sexual activity, as the non-negotiable in human flourishing

And I want us to talk about discipleship
-As a part of a community committed to Christ and accountable to one another.
-With a recognition that Jesus' most famous sermon had more to say about responsibilities than rights.
-As though Jesus actually has something to say about our bedrooms (and our bank accounts, while we're at it.)
-Therefore in terms of integrity not selfishness.
-By recognizing obedience, not personal gain, as the non-negotiable in human flourishing

Because here's what I believe we stand to gain by losing DOMA:
Partnership in the Gospel as we work together to craft winsome, compelling lives of delightful embodiment and sacrificial discipleship.

As I Was Saying

Last week's text was a doozy!  It was all over the map, as I attested to here.

It needed a centralizing theme or narrative.  As I studied, I was reminded of a favorite article written by Lillian Daniel.  You can find the full text here.

The thread holding it all together -- at least in my mind -- was the EMBODIMENT of the Gospel.  This is in distinction to the Gnostic privileging of souls to bodies.  This is intended to counter a religion that is "spiritual but not religious."  We need the physical body of Christ -- incarnation, suffering, death and resurrection -- just like we continue to need the corporate Body of Christ -- the church on earth and in heaven, local and global.

Christ in All Y'all

The Hope of Glory.

Holding It Together

This Sunday's text is a doozy.  Suffice to say, I've had some less than pleasant words for the Apostle Paul's abysmal grammatical failings in my research & study of this text, quoted below:

21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— 23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

24 Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. 25 I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness— 26 the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. 27 To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

28 He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. 29 To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.

2 I want you to know how hard I am contending for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally. 2 My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.4 I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments. 5 For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how disciplined you are and how firm your faith in Christ is.

Doesn't it feel like a slap-dash of everything thrown together all at once? What is a preacher to do? What is a student of the Biblical text (i.e. YOU) to do?  How would you hold together:

* alienation from God
* reconciliation through the physical body of Christ
* the continuance of faith as pre-condition for eternal salvation?
* rejoicing in suffering without being a loony or in denial.
* What in the world does Paul mean that something was lacking in Christ's affliction?
* What in the world is Paul thinking that he can somehow fill in the gaps? Has he never read Romans 1-3?
* What is all this mystery-talk/mumbo-jumbo?
* Why does Paul talk about himself so much.
* Paul states his goal but it hardly seems stream-lined.  What is he really trying to accomplish here?
* What fine-sounding arguments is Paul referring to?

So -- hypothetically -- if someone were tasked with answering all those questions in 20 minutes, how might she or he accomplish such a thing? What is the strand that holds it all together?