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.