Two Words: This Sucks!

This sucks!

I have uttered those two words on more than one occasion, and it seems freeing for the listener, almost permission giving to let down a guard of some sort. “Yeah…this does suck”!! Most are almost surprised that a pastor would utter such words. But in a lot of circumstances, especially in times of grief, loss, and trauma, it seems like those two words are a decent way to describe the situation.

Quite honestly, scripture, prayers, words, songs, and useless quips won’t do anything to take away our grief, especially during times of death or emotional turmoil. These aspects and traditions of our faith may help us navigate life during our grief. But they cannot take our grief away.

This sucks! Period.

I thought of this in the context of multiple recent pastoral visits with those who are facing death themselves or helping a loved one care for their dying family member or friend.

If life is a journey of the spirit, as I believe it is, or if life is a process, and with death being an inevitable natural part of life, then death becomes a process and grief becomes a byproduct of the process of life. Grief is a natural way and spiritual process of dealing with death.

Grief is not something we read about, deal with, or really let go of. I still miss my daddy, my grandparents, and other family members and friends that have ended their time in this spiritual place we call earth. Where and when people’s souls go after our time here, I do not know. I can’t begin to answer that question. I have spiritual ideas that hold comfort for me, but no answer that I can find will take my grief away.

I am in that particular time of my grief process that it doesn’t knock me down often or as deep. But when the spirit of my loved ones slips into my consciousness in those thin places of the spiritual plane, that place between the material world and the spiritual realm, I am saddened with both a smile and a tear. A smile that they came to say hello and a tear that I cannot really see them. I can only feel their presence and I am reminded that I truly miss them and the finality of death.

When we do church well the faith community becomes the ones who walk alongside the grieving and the dying. Not to take anything away. But to bring the presence of God to those in need during theirs or their loved one’s transition to the next spiritual place of our soul. Our job, our calling, our vocation as members of a faith community of support, pastor, and church alike, is to help carry the grief so that no one feels alone in the world, especially during those times of transition.

A dear and wise pastor once told me that grief is like a tornado of sorts. It comes around with differing levels of power, but never truly leaves our spirit. We continue to miss those we have lost over the years. This concept was eye opening for me as it helped me realize that on some days, I may be sad or even angry for no apparent reason. With that analogy of grief and that image of coming around every so often I was able to see that I was angry or sad because I was missing someone close to me who is no longer in this material realm of life.

This is commonly known as the different stages of grief. It may help as a reminder that grief is a process that we all go through in multiple ways at multiple times in our life. During the process if we are lucky, we have loved ones, a community of faith, or just a community of friends that can walk alongside us and help us carry our grief. Not to take it away but to help us carry the load.

In some instances, it may help to simply offer spiritual space, a listening ear and someone to help us say…This Sucks!! But I’m here with you and we will walk this process together.

Jesus taught them so that they may teach us, ‘And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’

God is holding us, and we are holding each other.

Faith Is Our Come Along Friend

Very often we want something to take our grief away, our sorrow, our heart aches, and the difficulties of life. It is natural in our human nature to ask in difficult times that whatever we may be dealing with be taken away. In these times many of us turn to our faith and God. All too often we have been taught that prayer or our faith will take away our pain. Believe enough, pray enough, have faith strong enough and all will go away and all will be well.

That sounds fine in some instances. It even may work for a while and it may be what we need to hear. However, it will end up ringing hollow, or false, when sorrow, grief, sadness, and just plain crappy days take over our spirit and our cup overflows with sadness that faith and prayer can’t take away. When we are told that our faith will make everything ok, take away all of our pain and it doesn’t, we blame God and faith withers.

I was reminded of this on a recent pastoral visit to the hospital. All around was the grief of physical trauma to a loved one’s body or the difficulties of dealing with the illness of a family member. All the downtrodden faces behind the masks in the ER. And I thought…

Faith is our come along friend.

That morning I drove past a school just as parents were dropping off their children. One of those parents was a father who carried his little one in his arms and then put the child on the ground and held his hand as they walked to school. With a little hick in my throat, I remembered the peaceful and comforting feeling of my own daddy’s hand holding onto me along with the memory of holding my own child’s tiny hand. Hand holding, especially between parent and child, is both a physical and spiritual connection, a connection of comfort and love.   

Both instances struck me in the spirit as I thought of faith as our come along friend. It seems to me that sometimes we want our faith to be a receptacle where we can put our heart aches, sorrows, grief, and worries of life. If we could only pour ourselves out enough, then we could find a place for all that grief to be taken away. 

Some have been taught that all we need to do is believe enough or pray enough and God will take it all away. That is sometimes what we think of when we think of faith, especially when we think of faith in some traditional understandings of life and God. I have heard this explanation of faith and prayer used as a weapon: You are here because your faith and or prayer were not strong enough. 

It may help to think of faith as our come along friend, much like the parent holding the hand of the child. Then we may begin to see our faith is actually in an all-encompassing, all consuming, eternally present God who will never let us go. A relationship born in love and care. A relationship that can never be taken away. 

A faith that feels like an eternal come along friend who walks with us in the valley of the shadow of death as well as walks with us, hand in hand, heart in heart, love in love, in the warmth of the sunshine as well as that shadow. This is a faith that may sustain us through all our days to come as well as the eternity of the time unknown in our minds, but present deep in our spirit: beyond eternity. 

This idea of holding on creases a smile on my face as I picture God as a friend who is always reaching out to hold onto us with a heart born of empathy and the simple blessing of presence.  

May we all know this faith in our hearts so that our spirit may never forget:

Faith is our come along friend. 

“We’ll be friends forever won’t we, Pooh” Asked Piglet

“Even Longer”, said Pooh.

Stand With Me On The Arc of the Moral Universe

I sat at the table in that old church as we planned the new ministry that would take place on Wednesday evenings. We would gather for a meal, open the church for the community, provide a place for young adults to come and mingle, maybe even play basketball, and a space for adults to talk about life and such things. As the meeting moved along in its planning stages I piped up and said I’ll provide the meal. Weeks later the pastor told me that if I hadn’t step up to cook, we may not have had meals. I remember expressing back to the pastor that I knew I would not be alone in the work of planning and cooking the meals. Just as I expected, the cooks of the church stepped up with me and helped cook most all the meals.

When I think of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. expressing his belief that “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice,” I’m reminded of that feeling that I don’t step into this work alone. That this work of co-creating with God the beloved community is communal work and I stand with all those who are looking out into the world, gazing with an eye towards the spiritual, and feel the need to do something better than what we cannot unsee.

For you see we must take our place on this arc in order that collectively we stand and put our full weight and that we do our part to bend our collective morals towards justice.

Let us read that again: the universe is calling us all to put our full weight and do our part to bend our collective morals towards justice.

We are not talking about vengeful justice or justice that is based on retribution. We are not talking about a justice that begins with anger, punishment, or an economic growth model. We are talking about Divine justice. A way of ordering the universe so that all have a piece and place. So that all have the sustenance to live, and all have the freedom to thrive as fully human. A world that, a God, that is concerned with matters of abundance and enough for everyone instead of a worldview or a theology based on hoarding for our own gain at the expense of others.

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. may not have thought of the moral arc of the universe the way that I am describing it. I do believe that in a spiritual sense, a real-world sense, Martin stood strong and tall on that moral arc and helped bend it towards racial and economic justice.

Much the same way Jesus stood with the full weight of His divinity and His life in order that a new way of ordering the systems of the world would be born. One based on God’s abundance instead of a theology of scarcity that only serves the empire of greed and power.

Jesus may be, I dare proclaim that He is, God’s example of standing on the arc of the universe and bending our collective morals towards justice. We must ask ourselves in our own time and place in history, is the church going to take a stand on this arc so that we do our part to make sure that in our lifetime it bends. Too many times the church has stood idly by as the arc stays flat and anchored in the status quo of scarcity, oppression, and violence. We can think of the German church during the time of Hitler and our own churches in the United States during slavery as two examples of the church standing idly by instead of putting the full weight on the arc to bend our morals towards justice.

I wonder if God is calling each of us, beckoning us all, come, stand with me. Let us break the levy of greed and hoarding so that the rivers of justice flow and nourish the entirety of humanity. I wonder if we, the church, can consider ourselves standing hand in hand with Jesus in order that we bend the collective morals towards God’s justice.

I invite you to come and stand with me on the arc of universe in our time and place in history lest it stay flat, always heading towards the status quo, anchored in the false and sinful idols of economy and self-centeredness. 

Sometimes it may feel tiring, depressing, soul crushing even. But I promise you we are not alone. We are standing on the shoulders of our ancestors of justice, with Jesus, with Martin and others and that there are more of us standing tall and strong to create something better than what we cannot unsee.

When God invites us, we are not alone in this work. God puts people and entities in our path so that when we say here, I am, standing strong, we know that we are not alone. The Divine Presence, in all its images and forms, is not just calling us, it is standing with us to create a more just world for all of humanity. When we decide to step with strength and intentionality, we are deciding to be carpenters and co-creators with the God of this expanding universe. We are doing our part create a more just world for all of God’s children.

Come.

Stand with me on the collective moral arc of the universe as we bend it towards justice for everyone.

Trust me.

The good cooks will show up and help.

Most important: God shows up with us.

Weeping with compassion

In the wake of yet another act of senseless violence, how do we heal and how do we move forward?

I have attended many events on that campus, and I know people who knew two of the victims personally. The tragedy is heart wrenching, too real, and too close as the pastor of a church located only a few miles away and a member of the larger Green n White community of MSU.  

The reality is still settling in for many professors, students, and staff of returning to that splendid campus on the red cedar, only to remember the events of February 14th. The reality of that traumatic and violent evening will be hard for many to forget. I am confident that the staff at MSU will take all precautions and provide the much needed mental health services that many will need.

What of us? The ones who are in charge of caring for our loved ones and community members. What do we do with our emotions: anger, confusion, worry, sadness, and so on. How do we respond?

Jesus began to weep is one of the shortest versus in the Gospel and it may help us discern a way forward for us all.

Lazarus, a good friend of Jesus and a member of His larger community has died.

Jesus weeps.

You see in the thin places of scripture, as well as our own lives, in the spiritual space between and around the words on the page is the treasure of Divine connection and Godly presence.

It may be hard to see, and it may be hard to find. In the midst of great tragedy and senseless violence, where is God’s goodness? In this tiny little verse that is contained in the larger Gospel story of Jesus is one such treasure.

It is said that as Jesus was walking with this community he saw them weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. There it is. Jesus began to weep. (John 11:35)

John doesn’t say it, but if we listen really close to this story, we can hear the compassion of Jesus. Before he weeps, he feels compassion deep in his spirit and is disturbed. A deep compassion for all of humanity is how Jesus walked the earth and it is God’s compassion for us, and our compassion for our neighbors that we now carry in our hearts, into our own time and place in the history of humankind.

Compassion begets tears for the loss of life. We are all disturbed in our spirit and deeply moved with compassion for our loved ones and community members who were affected by yet another act of grotesque violence and loss of life. Soon after the news broke, the events ended as the shooter took his own life, and we began to hear about who it was that had been killed and we began to see the goodness of God in the midst of this tragedy.

We began to hear of the first responders, the medical staff at the area hospitals, and our social feeds began showing pictures of people simply showing up to lay flowers at landmarks around the campus. They gathered in churches, community centers, and on the campus to console and care for one another. The community wept, together and showed us all the goodness that exists during tragedy.

Jesus weeps with compassion for what humanity is doing to one another. (Luke 19:41)

When the tears dry up, if they ever really dry up completely after an event of this nature, our compassion must remain. If we live into this story of Jesus’s compassion for all of humanity, not just his buddy, we may be able to heal our own wounds and care for our entire community, all of Creation, not just today but all of our days.

If we lead with compassion, we can be part of the healing process, instead of playing the unhealthy blame game.

Yes, there is time for action. Yes, we need to fix our violence problem and our gun problem. No, we must not accept this as just another difficult part of life like a snowstorm, which we must endure. There is good work to be done and good trouble to be made.

In the action, in the good work, and in good trouble making, it will be of the utmost importance that we don’t let our anger at the senseless loss of life ruin our compassion or take over our hearts. We must not let the circumstances of the world, no matter how senseless they are at times, ruin our soulful, soul filled spirit of love.

Jesus’s tears did not turn to revenge or violence. His compassion remained. He led with that same compassion all the way to His day on the cross. (Luke 23:34)

In our tiny little verse, we hear of the presence of God’s compassion for all who may be hurting. A compassion we all carry with us.

Let our tears fall.

Let the anger in our hearts turn to voices for change.

Let our energy turn towards building up our communities instead of tearing down one another.

Let our hearts remain compassionate.

Carrying the burdens of life: Together

Matthew ends his Gospel story with a mountain top appearance of Jesus. Typically, we call what Jesus expressed to his disciples as the Great Commission to make disciples of all nations, baptize them in the name of Trinity.  

This final commissioning and reminder, I am with you always, to the end of the age, can help us understand that we are never alone in this life and that the burdens that we endure sometimes are not ours alone to carry. 

I thought about this in the context of people who are in relationship with one another. These relationships can be in marriage, community, or friendship. Many times, I have heard one person lamenting that they don’t want to be a burden on the loved one or friend who is filling the role of caretaker.  

Just like the disciples in their work of bringing all nations into the love of God as made known to them in Christ Jesus, we all face difficult circumstances in our lives. If we are lucky enough to have a loved one caring for us during these times, it may feel like we are helpless, and we don’t want to be a burden on anyone.  

I wonder if we could understand this, I Am with you always as a wonderful piece of wisdom that is contained in Gospel of Matthew.  

The burden is real, and we may want to admit this out loud in situations that become difficult for any number of reasons. If the person being cared for can say I don’t want to be a burden and the caretaker can honestly say, this is a burden, not you, but yes this is a difficult situation we are in. 

If the two people can speak honestly to one another, “this situation is a burden for both of us, but we will navigate it together and I am with you.” 

Then the burden falls on both the one being cared for and the one taking care. The situation becomes the burden that both are carrying together instead of one needing care and one giving care.  

Jesus’s words may help us in these difficult situations. We are with each other until the end of the ages. We are here to care for each other during these burdensome times. We are here to share each other's burdens. The situation may bring us closer to each other, love and our faith. The situations in life may sometimes just simply suck, but we are not alone.  

If we can take the spiritual reality that Jesus speaks of and experience God as the eternal partner in life, then we can mirror that sentiment in all our relationships, “I am with you, we are here for and with each other”.  

Maybe we can even take the words of Jesus, incorporate them into the relationships in our homes, communities, and churches. Maybe our relationships will be healthier. Maybe our society will be healthier for everyone when we realize that the burden that we are all carrying is creating and maintaining a society and culture where everyone has the freedom and means to thrive.

Our relationship with/within God, our churches, our homes, our personal relationships can teach us how to be caretakers of each other.

Paul tells us in his letter to the Galatians that the law (way, life, teachings, wisdom, understanding, spirit) of Christ is to carry the burdens of our neighbors.

We are called to be here for one another until the end.

Church

Church is such a small, single syllable word, but a huge undertaking. Historically churches have been places of great comfort, strength, wisdom, and love. Churches have also been places of great pain, ridicule, division, and difficult conflict. Churches have been places of both selfishness (self-centeredness) along with selflessness (other-centeredness). 

From the time of the ancient church, the first followers of Jesus, the people of the Way, gathered in local homes instead of a central building after the death of Jesus, up until now there has been long discernment about what church is. 

When we think of church in modern times, we may hold onto an image in our minds of Christians gathering in a building that involves some sort of traditional worship service. What is church, how do churches operate in the world, and what value does a church hold for a community are all questions that are as ancient as the first “home churches”. 

What if.

What if “church” isn’t Christian at all? O boy and a little uh oh.

What if churches are simply people gathered in a common faith community, exploring the world in which we all live, following a common deity or spiritual leader. What if churches are places of exploration, spiritual discovery, and transformation, walking hand in hand along this common journey we call life. What if exploration is the key component of being an effective church for the people in the gathered community as well as the community at large. 

What if we don’t come to church. What if we create church together and then take the church out into the world. Not to judge the world with a set of holiness codes in order that we set ourselves apart as better than, but instead to walk with and within the world, as a people of faith. What if our faith is the place we enter into our hearts and the church is the communal invitation, working towards spiritual transformation. 

What if that is the point of any faith community, no matter what we call ourselves, Christian or otherwise.

What if we are all on the same journey of life working to create a place where our commonality of understanding and yearning, not beliefs, brings us together in a certain place in a certain time. 

See, what if church is not Christian at all? Can we imagine a different way of seeing that word lived out in our lives?

What if all faith communities gather for the same exploration reaching towards the same goal of understanding our soulful relationship with the Divine and one another.

O boy!! 

That means that the Divine has no earthly boundaries. The Divine is free to reach out to all who explore this relationship throughout time, place, and space.

Church then becomes a place of welcoming and exploring. A place of openness and invitation. A place of love and acceptance. 

Church becomes a place that Jesus would be welcomed, no matter the location or faith practice. 

I know. That sounds non-Christian. 

Maybe Jesus is bigger than Christianity.

Stubborn Faith

My faith is stubborn.  

When the world is on edge, or systems are teetering, secular or religious, our faith must endure, become stubborn, bullheaded, and insistent on the goodness of God.  

Faith is in hoping and dreaming for a better, more just world, where everyone is treated with love and offered grace. I’m not done dreaming or hoping and my faith is even more stubborn in the belief that God’s goodness cannot be taken out of this world or my heart and soul. I find myself stubborn about this. You can’t tell me that goodness has been taken out of this world and evil is in charge, no matter what the world is telling me or us.  

It has become an important spiritual practice to look for, seek out, and share the goodness of God that is in the world through word and deed.  

In my Christian faith tradition, I hear Jesus asking, dreaming, and praying that we all be one. I hear the dream of God that we may all live as one human family. My faith is stubborn in the belief that God is listening to our collective praying within all faith traditions. I believe further that deep within our soul is the yearning for peace. Unfortunately hate and anger sells and has inundated our news and social feeds.  

Part of what is driving us apart is external yes. However, a larger part of what is driving us apart is the belief that this is how the world is and or supposed to be: divided, angry, hateful, and selfish to a fault. When this is what we hear and see every day it becomes an unconscious belief and way of being in the world.  

Angela Davis says, I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept. 

I no longer accept that the world is run by anger, contrary to all evidence of our current predicament, with a lingering pandemic and political brinkmanship, all for the love of power.  

I am changing my heart, listening to my stubborn faith so that I am the goodness in the world that I need and seek. Maybe we can change a small part of our world by being the goodness our local setting needs.  

I am the goodness in the world that I need and seek. 

My faith is stubborn and bullheaded in a God who stepped into history in the person of Jesus to show the world that the goodness of God and the abundance there in fall on and incarnate within all of creation. The goodness of the God of abundance lies within each heart. The world does all it can to snatch that inherent goodness from the soul of humanity. The world tells us that division must exist, and God is the one who divides between the have and have nots. No!! 

My faith is stubborn, and my spirit is bullheaded. 

Goodness exists and there are more people united and working towards the inherent goodness than we are being told about because nuance and kindness don’t pause our scrolling or encourage us to tune in.  

Gandhi gifted us with the wisdom of being the change in the world that we want to see. 

The more we find and witness that goodness, the more it becomes not just a part of our faith, it becomes who we are in the world.   

May your faith be stubborn: May your spirit be bullheaded

May we all know the goodness of God:

May we all know the goodness of humanity.

May we all seek that goodness.

May we all witness to that goodness through word and deed in our local settings and faith practices.

I am

You are

We are all

The goodness that we seek.

Church

Golden rule or the Golden Truth: All of life, for everyone, is better when we all live into this truth.

Leslie Congregational UCC: TheMightyLCUCC

What kind of church do I want and what kind of church is God calling us to be in our current time and place in history? Do we get those two things mixed up sometimes? Do I yearn for a church of my own making? What kind of church do I want? How can I lead a church towards what I want it to be?

Some may say that as the pastor I’m not supposed to be pondering these two things. I’m supposed to know, beyond a shadow of doubt, how to lead a church, free of worry and my own agenda.

I let you in on a little secret though. Pastors ain’t perfect. We have both internal and external expectations and pressures of near perfection. Both must be addressed to make room for healthy growth for pastor and congregation, together. As such, both pastor and congregation must wrestle with the tension between what kind of church do we want and what kind of church is God calling us to be.

What kind of church do I want: self/inside/ego.

What kind of church is God calling us towards: other/outside/divine.

When we truly understand the spiritual importance of our human vocation, we realize that God has built a church in every heart. If church is the dwelling place of God, and I hope that churches do their best to be that, then church can be thought of as the place of divine presence, a sanctuary for the hurting, lost, lonely, in need of care and grace.  

When we truly understand what “church” means, we are invited to live into the vocation of being love in the world. By golly you don’t even need to believe in God to partake in that holy, universal vocation of all of humanity: to be love in the world.

You see here’s the thing. You don’t have to be a pastor to build and or sustain a church. You don’t have to be a Christian to build a church. You don’t even have to go to church to build a church.

Whichever deity you interact with, or don’t interact with, God is calling all of humanity to the same work of building a more loving, caring, and just world for all people. Not through any faith or any church, or any religion. But through every heart. Sometimes, I hope often, the church reflects this Holy Vocation in word, study, and deed.

The great Mystery, the great Truth, God, Christ, Jesus, Allah, Buddha, nature, are all calling to our hearts through invitation to embark on the work of creating loving communities where every single person is given space and freedom to thrive. That can be done at a family dinner table, the Communion table, or at a board room table. This work can be done in a church building or in any heart.

When grace is given, when forgiveness is offered, when love leads our lives, when wisdom leads us towards that great love, when any community comes together, or any person embarks on a journey to make the world a bit better for having us in it, then “church” is being built and sustained. Building or no building, religion, or no religion.

In essence, in my view, church is a place to awaken ourselves, pastor and congregation, personally and communally, to the presence of Divine Love.

Call it what you want.

For this pastor, that’s church anywhere, everywhere, by and for everyone.

O For a Theology of Relationship

In the opening chapters of Genesis, the origin story of our Christian faith known as the “bible”, we hear the presence of God hovering over a creation in chaos (read “was a formless void”).  

One note to make here is the tension between science and faith, literal truth, and spiritual truth. Marcus Borg says something so simple but so deep, “the truth is in the meaning not their factuality”.  

The truth is in the meaning of the opening chapters of Genesis, not whether it was ever meant, I don’t interpret it that way, to be a scientific book. I understand that our Christian Old and New Testament that make up the Christian “bible” were meant as a narrative about humanities spiritual journey while being in relationship with/within God and one another, and the struggles there within. Our origin story, or as some refer to it, the Sacred text, is one experience of this mystery we call God, but not the only nor final experience of God.  

O for a theology of relationship 

Only a few lines into of the beginning chapters of our spiritual creation narrative we hear God say it is good. We hear about, if we listen with a spiritual ear instead of a literal scientific ear, the beginnings of God’s relationship with and within creation. God says this, this here is good stuff. 

Our origin story is one of relationship: light and dark, land and sea, stars, moon and sun, day and night, roaming creatures, and finally humankind made in the image of the Divine, “Let Us make humankind in Our image, according to Our likeness”. 

All the proceeding stories are stock full of God’s reaction - to humankinds' - reaction to God. We miss that sometimes, or most times, don’t we, living in relationship with one another while being a full part in all of creation and how our faith ancestors interpreted God’s action in history.  

If we can understand the long arc of history that is contained in our “bible” we yearn for what God yearns for, relationship. Sometimes we get our part wrong and we miss the opportunity to see the Presence as relationship. Through it all God yearns to stay close and in relational proximity with humanity. Read the story of the snake, humankind, and the two trees. God is not done.  

In that story we see the problem, or sin, of putting our own ego ahead of God’s presence. We reach for power instead of a healthy relationship with God, self, and one another. God tells us, no you don’t. That is not healthy with yourself or the rest of creation. Eat of the tree of power and your soul will die. When we eat of the tree of ego and selfishness, we are eating the poisonous and ruinous apple of power over instead of relationship with and within. 

We yearn for what God yearns for, don’t we. Don’t we, in the end, truly yearn for a relationship that will help us get through the rough patches of life. Don’t we yearn to know unconditional love forever? I know that I want the peace that I feel in my marriage to last forever. I also know that I have a responsibility to do all that I can to be a healthy part of the relationship so that it does continue to be one of love and mutual respect, for as long as we both shall live. .

What if that is how it is with God. We do our part in this blessed relationship, that began in goodness and blessing, by treating all of God’s family as God treated us, loved each of us into being and breathed life into our souls, continues to walk with us, caring for all of creation.

O for a theology of relationship 

I wonder what that would do to our collective psyche? To know that we were born into a loving, blessed, and eternal relationship instead of imagining a God who is vengeful. A God who sends us away instead of inviting us in.

Maybe instead of us thinking of a God who steps away or sends us away we can think of a God who eternally is by our side and will never leave us.  

If we can expand our theology from one of vengeance to one of relationship, maybe we can begin to treat one another as God treats us. Relationally connected for ever and always.  

O for a relationship that never ceases.  

O for a God of our own heart  

All made in the image of the Divine  

In the image of the Divine, we remain 

An All the Way Journey

An excerpt from Pastor Mike’s Sermon given on September 4th at LCUCC 

Jesus tells us to let go of our possessions. In other words, let go and let God lest we hold on to our worry and our fear instead of knowing that the presence of God is for all of eternity and that the Love of God is eternal as well.  

We are being directed by the living teacher how to live a fully human healthy life, how to become a disciple of the Way by the teachings of Jesus. If we follow the one who shows us not by words or creeds but by life and deeds. Shows us not by vengeance and punishment, but by invitation and grace. Jesus shows us what it is to give up and die, so as to rise and live a fully human experience all the while being carried and cared for by the God of the temple and the God of the lilies, the God of Moses and the God of LCUCC, the God of all time of every place and of every heart of every soul 

But it is an all the way journey instead of a one and done. It is a journey all the way to the cross and the grave of our soul.  

This week I was looking through some books in the office and found one by Barbara Brown Taylor: An altar in the world. In it she shares a story:

Years ago, a wise old priest invited me to come and speak at his church in Alabama. What do you want me to talk about I asked him. Come tell us what is saving your life now he answered. It was as if he swept his arm across a dusty table and brushed all the formal china to the ground. I do not have to try to say correct things that are true for everyone all I had to do was figure out what my life depended on, all I had to do was figure out how I stayed as close to that reality as I could.

This sparked that same question in me as I thought about our sermon today. 

In the gospel of Jesus, we hear a pastoral perspective. We hear about the stories of healing and paying attention, of love and care that Jesus Christ showed by his life. As a matter of fact, Jesus Christ taught more by his life than his words. Follow me could mean follow my example in your life.

We also hear the prophetic voice of Jesus Christ that calls truth to power of that human sin of building an empire of greed and power instead of caring about the entirety of God’s creation. Today we hear that strong prophetic voice, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions 

In an answer to the earlier question that Barbara Brown Taylor brought up; How am I staying close to that reality of the God of all time and of every place and of every heart and of every soul. The very breath that we, that all of creation, breathe. How am I staying close to that God, the one who loved us into creation and breathed us into being. Yes!! That God.  

How am I staying close to that reality which is both out there and within us. That reality that is breath and sustenance. That Spirit of the living God who has been and will be with us as we travel this all the way journey with Jesus Christ towards personal and communal transformation, all the way with the one who calls us give it all up lest we create false idols and a God who only beckons a select few instead of a radical God who invites all of creation to come live within the divine presence and come home to the dwelling place of My grace and strength. 

I want to really zero in on that last statement that Jesus shared, give up your possessions and follow me. Because I stay close to that spiritual reality by looking for the invitation from Jesus to come and live. Sometimes it might be hard to find that invitation in some of the harsh words of Jesus. But in the end Jesus Christ is the universal invitation to a transformational faith journey all the way towards new life.  

What is the possession that is degrading the collective soul. You see that is the deeper spiritual truth that Jesus is getting at. Jesus may be getting at the possessions that we feel are a need instead of a want. 

I may not want to give up what I find important to me. But are these things important to the God of justice and abundance that Jesus speaks of?

Goodness is how I stay close to the reality of the world that we are all connected even though we may not be united. 

It seems to me that finding the goodness in the world is a much-needed spiritual practice that can save us from being drowned in the negative and hateful world. 

We are being inundated with that negativity and a sickening world view that the entire world is divided in two. That the universe is aligned, even set up by God, in some divinely inspired perpetual us versus them. We do, don’t we? Don’t We value that old us versus them world view. That zero-sum way of looking at the world. This may be what possesses our collective soul at times. Jesus is inviting us into a much more radical, different world view. 

In his book Saving God from Religion, A minister's search for faith in a skeptical age, Robin R. Meyers, a UCC pastor serving in Oklahoma City, helps us understand a world view that speaks of our connectedness: You cannot tap the tuning fork of existence anywhere without changing the music of spheres everywhere”.

When speaking of Benedictine Monks teaching lay people about centering prayer, he expresses this center as sounding like a God who is grounded in this world, revealed in human hearts that show compassion and kindness. A God who is both someplace and everyplace.

Jesus is helping us understand this notion today that this isn’t a five-minute trip to a corner store for some Kleenex. This journey towards knowing God revealed in everything and everyone is an all the way journey towards our own selves. It’s a lifetime of death and resurrection: of letting go of our possessions, grappling and grabbing onto another possession and then letting go of that thing we cling to so that instead of lurching from one thing to the next we keep our eye on the one who shows us the way towards being our most fully human selves. With Jesus, the Gospel, as our guide we give up that which holds us back from realizing our own fullness and humanity. We make room for all to realize their own full humanness.

So that we may hear Jesus talking literally about our economy as the possession or the material things of this world that become an idol. For we can certainly make the economy the god and the idol. We can make the nation or the country the idol. We can make our way of life the idol and hoard all the resources for our own gain at the expense of others.  

Again, how do I stay close to the reality of the God? I stay close to that reality by listening to this person of Jesus who teaches me not what to say, but how to be in the world so that the goodness of God is what I put into the world 

I hear the emotional intelligence of Jesus in his talk today as he prepares those who are following him to know that it may cost the giving up of those things that stand in the way of becoming a disciple, or from joining Jesus on this all the way journey towards personal and communal transformation.  

One quick definition Emotional Intelligence: the ability to understand, use, and manage your own emotions in positive ways to relieve stress, communicate effectively, empathize with others, overcome challenges and defuse conflict. 

That's what Jesus Christ may be saying. Is that these things will hold you back from seeing that we are all connected. It is that connectedness which can become counter cultural in a way that will divide families and communities. Possessions, or what possesses us will keep us from spiritual, communal, and personal transformation. This is much deeper than giving up a few cups of coffee.

Possessions can become the things that hold us back from seeing our connectedness to all others. If we are guided by this Gospel story, we will come to understand how possessions can become the idol and draw our attention away from God’s presence and the innate goodness that we are all born into.  

It has become clear that the most destructive aspect of our shared and connected lives is the extreme world view of individualism. This notion that we are all not connected, that our own individualism is the idol, and it is what possesses us to the point of separating us from that reality of God’s presence in everything under creation and everyone within creation.

It is an all the way journey towards personal transformation so that God can transform the world through our involvement in sustaining the beloved community that Marting Luther King Jr. spoke of, that Jesus spoke of as the Kingdom of heaven, Kin-g-dom God, the realm of God, the Essence of God. It can become difficult to see our connectedness in a world that promotes the individual at the expense of everyone. It can become difficult to see the good in the world when everyone is caught up in the individualism of our current time and place in history.  

If the last two years have shown us anything is that we are all connected. A single cell, in a single body, in a small region on the other side of the world spread and brought the entire world to a standstill. All in the matter of a few months the world grinded to a halt and millions of people lost their lives.  

The wildfires a few years ago are another example of how connected we are. Those fires that started about two thousand of miles away affected our climate here in Michigan. Do we remember how the sun had a haze for a few days while the smog from those fires made their way across the continent? 

We are all connected to everything under the sun and within God’s creation.  

I have heard pastors say I’m still in the Gospel story here. We know that sometimes we can get a little bit ahead of ourselves as pastors. Occasionally, we need to remind ourselves and the audience of that by saying, I’m in the Gospel story here. It may be hard to hear but I’m in the Gospel story. Give up your possessions and follow me.  

Give up those things that will hold you back from the all the way journey towards personal and communal transformation. Give up all that holds you back from realizing that we are all connected. All of creation is connected, intertwined to each other. You cannot tap the tuning fork in California without it affecting us here in little old Leslie MI.  

When we want to understand the goodness of God in our lives, we can rely on our connection to one another and all of creation to remind us that God is with us on this all the way journey. We are not left alone in our work or our lives in promoting the Kingdom of Heaven right here, right now. Looking for the goodness of God means looking for the goodness in our lives in this here place, here and now.  

Jesus Christ doesn’t tell us, go and do without me. He says, follow me to the kingdom here and now as well as the Kingdom to come.  

With Jesus as our guide and our teacher who is walking among us, we are being shown the connection between the material, the Bread, and the spiritual, the Cup of our Communion Table. 

With Jesus Christ as our guide on this all the way journey towards transformation we can see the goodness of God in all the times and all the places of our lives.  

Guided by this Gospel that has been laid upon our hearts the goodness of God guides our souls and we are all connected to that goodness.

Give up your possessions and follow the Word of God incarnate

Incarnate in all of creation

Alive in every heart

Give up that which possesses you

Make room in your heart for the goodness of God

Here

Today

Now

Forever more

Amen

If you were touched by this sermon, you may say the Amen out loud in your home, office or wherever you are reading. ;-)

The thing is, it's not about the thing

At Leslie Congregational UCC we are an Open and Affirming congregation. As we say each and every Sunday as our welcome: Welcome to Leslie Congregational UCC. We believe that all humanity is united and declare ourselves to be an open and affirming congregation that welcomes all people into the full communion of our church and our friendship. We strive to demonstrate in all ways that “no matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here!”

Recently we were challenged, by a young adult member of our church, that we may be falling short of that welcome unless we make a bold public statement to the community by way of a pride flag.

Discussion ensued and an appropriate flag was chosen with the understanding that it would be displayed in a prominent place attached to the front of the church. This would be our bold public witness for all who may need an ally to see that we are here, and you are welcome here, in this place.

The discussion turned to a taller flagpole and that conversation turned to talk about an American flag, if we were going to put a pole on church grounds it would make sense that an American flag would be raised.

Is anyone feeling nervous about how this conversation went?

It was beautiful actually and it’s why I appreciate serving in a church that is open and exploring. Not that we all agreed about the particulars of the discussion. This congregation talked about the differing views about the separation of church and state. Most importantly we were all able to listen to one another.

It was not about the flag, pride or otherwise, it was, and is, about how we treat each other. It was, and always will be, about how we are in community, relying on our ability to have a conversation and not belittle each other.

The thing is, it’s not about the thing.

It’s about treating each other with respect, compassion, and care.

It’s not about the flag, the bible, the church, the music, the creeds, the worship, and so on. It’s about building healthier community in our places of worship, in our homes, in our communities, and in our world

The thing is, it’s not about the thing.

In this day and age, it was quite a nice respite from angry, hateful rhetoric, to see a community talk amongst themselves in a healthy way. What actually happened was the discussion turned to how can we expand our outreach to the community in which the church resides. How can we, Christ’s church located in a small town, help those in need: veterans, suicide prevention, food/clothing shortage, people of all ages, and so on.

Instead of dividing the congregation the “flag” thing brought us together in an exploring way, asking ourselves how we can be allies in our community and how can we reach out to those in need?

When the thing creates space for discussion, compassion, and care, the thing becomes the spiritual invitation to healthier community living and healthier living for everyone: the Beloved Community.

If we can realize that every-thing can be a conduit to healthy conversation instead of an opportunity for division then we may be able to witness the inbreaking of God’s presence in all aspects of life and peace, instead of division, anger, and hate, may prevail.

May peace become the thing that draws us together.

We must Say It Loud! One young adult's call towards a bold public statement.

Written by Chelsey Wiltse

As a young adult serving in a local UCC congregation I believe whole heartedly that churches run the risk of failing as open and affirming congregations, unless they decide to make a bold public statement such as a Pride flag or other public display of safety for the LGBTQIA+ community.

It might seem harsh, but it is true. Without the public statement many members in many congregations are asking, what have we done or changed since they voted to become and Open and Affirming congregation? For many the answer becomes, nothing as a whole congregation. Facebook posts are not enough.

Some may live in communities that struggle with the idea of accepting others as they are, but this should not stop any congregation from voicing their support for those who need it with one united voice of support and care.

When I voted, in my local church, to be an Open and Affirming church, I did not do it for myself. This vote and decision were made for those who feel lost and alone. Some may be worried and scared about how their local community will respond, but that fear is 1,000 times worse for the kids in school who are afraid to come out to their friends, the kid who was shamed by their family for finally being their true selves, for the people in the community who feel like they have nowhere to go, for those who feel like they will never be accepted. A churches choice to not make a bold public statement means that all these people are still scared and believe that they have no place of safety to go.

At this point, our choice to not make our decision known and to make a proud public statement feels selfish to me as an ally in my community. It is time for any Open and Affirming church to publicly proclaim themselves as a safe place for those who feel unsafe and ashamed, it is time to be a proud ally and stop allowing worry and fear about what a closed-minded community may think guide any decision, because the only thing that matters is making those who feel lost, found.

I am not 100% sure what a public statement looks like in any community, but a pride flag of some sort would be a great place to start and is the most recognized, straight forward sign for those who are looking for a safe place that will support them.

Spiritual Yearning

Yearning is described as:  a feeling of intense longing for something.

It sure seems to me that God wants, even yearns to be in relationship with all of humanity. As a matter of fact, the overarching narrative of most sacred texts, what we Christians call the ‘bible”, is about God’s relationship with and within humanity and our response to that relationship, our yearning to know that there is a Divine Presence during this journey we call life. Our yearning to know God and to know that there is a Presence in this life and the next life that will never go deaf to our words or blind to our needs. What we find out is that God is yearning for us to know the Presence as we yearn to know and experience that Presence in the here and now of our history.  

What a beautiful concept and story that is: The story of Jesus the Universal Christ. For more on this I encourage you to read the book by that same name from Fr. Richard Rohre.

What we yearn for is yearning for us. How beautiful, how simple but how complicated we have made it. Jesus, as the embodied, incarnated, Cosmic universal Christ, saying to all of creation, I know you and I want you to know Me.

A mutual co-yearning to know each other deeper and better is the order of the universe.

God wants what we want, peaceful living in harmonious relationship between all of creation. Jesus might call this the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God. Some may call it “kingdom”. I tend to call this the place, heart, essence, realm of God. Or simply God.

If I’m attentive, with ears to hear and eyes to see, I can experience that relational knowing. It is in that space of knowing, God moments some may say, that I can realize the true peace of this relational living.

If we were to sit in quiet reflection, I invite you to do just that, we would realize that our deepest spiritual yearning is to be in close relationship with one another. Married couples know this. Mothers and fathers know this and when we reflect on our own childhood, we know this as well. We all experience this as an infant wanting to know and stay close to that touch of relationship. Most of us know how it feels to have that taken away, that close touch of Love, with the death of a loved one, or to be in a relationship where mutual love is absent.

We all know yearning. Hopefully we all know unconditional love as well. When and where that is absent, I imagine Jesus is weeping.

And when that relationship is broken or impeded by systems or individuals, we have the responsibly of mutual freedom and thriving, love God and neighbor as yourself, to help repair what we have broken as well as work to create a more equality driven society and culture: see the Gospel.

In our Christian tradition we can witness the work of God restoring and repairing what humanity has broken by gazing upon the Cross and the Tomb.

Death repaired to life.

Love crucified by humanity, resurrected by God.

A parable of relationship restored.

A metaphor helping us understand God’s yearning to stay in relationship with us, even if we want to crucify the Body of Love incarnated, God will say no, I must remain so that all of creation can live relationally within Me, even as I eternally live in relationship with/within all of creation.

Maybe if we embrace our own yearning to know God, we can realize God’s own yearning to be in close relationship with us.

In our spirit, in our soul, outside of our extreme dualistic mind, we know this to be true.

As we walk through this journey of life may we know we are in good company, always.

An invitation to peaceful living

Painting by Annete Trent

I wonder if we have allowed our collective selves to be taken over by the absolute. I wonder if we have lost touch with the blessing of the unknown, the mystery of God, the Divine YHWH, and the expansive God of the universe. In our losing touch with the Mystery, we have replaced the Christ incarnated in Jesus with an exclusive Jesus as the only and a last name of Christ. We have taken an invitation from God and created an absolute in or out Christianity.

It seems that this may be one of the reasons for the sharp decline in attendance at mainline churches, especially among the young adults and their parents. The world is a mystery, and our young people know it. They have the mystery at their fingertips and may be searching for answers but are more eager to have a person or institution that helps them create space for questioning and exploring. Instead, many have found the absolute believe or else way of understanding the world through an exclusionary Christianity to be empty. There may be some absolutes in our world and in our lives. However, there is much more mystery and paradox then we dare to admit. Maybe we have been helping folks get stuck on the finger instead of gazing upon the mystery of the moon. Maybe we have been providing answers instead of joining in the exploration of it all. Yes, The All includes the expansive and expanding God.

If we can expand our own understanding beyond our need to know exactly with exactitude, we can live in the unknown and appreciate the mystery. If we can appreciate the mystery, then we can release Jesus from the shackles of absolutism and exclusion. And in that releasing we can get to know Jesus as invitation instead of dogma and creed. We can come to know the spiritual flesh under and beyond the words.

Maybe we can become invitational ourselves.

Jesus invites all of humanity into the relationship with and within God; Come to Me all of you who are weary. Sometimes we get stuck on the preceding verse when Jesus says that the way of greed and empire, the Father of the Roman empire, the emperor, or the Lord as the Roman rulers were called, is not the way to a relationship with God. To know God, Jesus says, we must know the Christ within Jesus, we must know this through relationship much more than belief. Only through that knowing of the Christ, the Father/Divine/Sacred/YHWH/Lord, can we know God. Greed and power, the way of empire, are not the way to know the God incarnated in Jesus as the Christ.

Maybe we can become invitational ourselves.

If we see Jesus as the Christian incarnational invitation to know the Divine Christ, the substance and sustenance of God incarnated in Jesus, then we can be that invitation in our own time and place. Then we may be able to step back from the cliff of absolute and begin to create explorers of faith instead of violent warriors for the faith.

Violence is often thought of as carried out with a weapon or physical altercation. But violence can be carried out in damaging ways with words and often to more destructive ends. Ask anyone who is in an emotionally abusive relationship, and they will tell you that words hurt, bruise, cut, and cause lasting trauma to the soul without a single shot or punch.

Invitational language may help us to be healers and sustainers of healthy relationships instead of breaking things apart with violent language; And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in.

One simple way of hearing the difference; You should do it this way! can be more invitational if we asked, how can I help? With that example we may be able to hear the invitation instead of the direction. That might not sound like the difference between violence and love. It does present an idea for a more inviting way of being in the world. After we ask, how can I help, the person my respond with a need for direct advice. But training our voices to be more inviting may help us all realize the power of those words…. Come to Me, each of you that are weary! Come and be in relationship with the Love of God.

We are the invitation with our words and our lives.

When we tap into our own internal need for a relationship with pure Love, God as Paul says, we can realize the calling of Jesus to come to him and know Peace. With invitation we can create space for others to know that pure Love of God.

Jesus again invites us in the Gospel of John, Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you

Did we hear that? My Peace! God’s peace is what Jesus left us with by his life as the example for invitational peaceful living.

I invite you to explore what invitation sounds like for you.

I invite you to explore how you hear God’s invitation into a deeper relationship with that Divine Love.

May the peace of God be with each of us, all of these days, and the days beyond today.

Listening as art

When I was just starting out in ministry and taking my pastoral care classes I realized that sometimes I had a hard time listening. I marveled at other pastors’ ability to be present in conversations. One pastor that I was impressed with had a great ability to do this in group settings. Listening to what was being said, recap the mood and help move the conversation along in a productive way. Helping others to listen to what the group was saying. Not all the time mind you but enough times for me to notice how this pastor listened.

When I began doing pastoral care calls, I realized that there is a rhythmic sound to our voices, almost musical in terms of tones, the ups and downs. So, in a sense, at least in my own spirit, I began to listen to the music in the voices of those who are talking. What this helped me understand, and a tool for pastoral care that I gained, was a way to quiet my mind and truly listen to what was being shared, listening for the spirit of the speaker through the rhythm and tones of their voices.

Matthew 11:15 Whoever has ears, let them hear.

For most of us we are hearing the sounds in a conversation, and we are processing our response instead of truly listening. We are hearing to respond instead of really listening for the other persons heart and soul. This continues to be a challenge for me at times, even to the point of interrupting instead of listening. I work at listening instead of hearing in order to reply.

Listening may feel like a lost art, it is an art form that is sorely needed.

We possess an ability to proclaim, loudly and destructively all too often, instead of listening with curiosity. This causes me to wonder, are we hearing what we want to hear from the people who don’t challenge us to listen deeply. When we listen deeply and with curiosity it may challenge our long-held beliefs. This may be why we can hear without listening. When someone challenges our deep, long-held beliefs, our minds check out and we lose touch with our other ability, our spiritual ability to listen to the music in the voices of our conversation partner.

Instead of talking at one another we may do well to step into every discussion as a spiritual exercise in conversational partnership. If we can approach our discussions from this point of view, then maybe we can stop the destructive pattern of yelling political talking points at each other like tiny little stones that together are ruining our collective spirit.

Imagine sitting in a locked room. Your assignment is to prove your point. But the other person just sits and yells at you, loudly and rudely. Almost to the point of calling you names and insulting you personally simply because they disagree. Calling into question your personhood even. That sounds to me like a very spiritually draining and costly endeavor. Most of us would get up and walk out, wouldn’t we?

Well, it doesn’t take much imagination to see that is how we are treating each other when it comes to solving the problems of this world. We are hearing a lot of noise without listening to the truth in someone else’s story. Engaging in a political talking point debate is a much different approach than really listening with empathy and curiosity.

What this may help us understand is that when two people share, spiritually share, and spiritually listen to one another, the grace of God can be exchanged. With the help of the presence of the Grace of God we may begin to heal and repair what we have broken.

Isn’t that the point after all? To heal from brokenness of the world and ourselves.

The benefit of listening with our spiritual ear is two-fold.

First, we see and hear the divine spark in our conversation partner. We see their humanity and they see ours. When we listen to the truth in someone else’s story and they in turn listen to our truth we are engaging in spiritual dialogue and the Grace of God is invited into the conversation to help in the healing process.

Second, we train ourselves to listen for the presence of God in every moment. We tune our spiritual ear to the vibrations of creation and the sounds of humanity. Through the ebbs of worry and flows of our joys, God continues to reach out to us within the sounds of our lives and our shared humanity. Can we hear it? Can we take time to hear with our spiritual ear so that we can listen to the presence of the Divine in all of us and within all of creation?

For if we are truly tuned into the songs of our lives, listening with our spiritual ear, we can hear the presence of God in everything, even our worries and the difficulties of our world.

For if we are truly tuned into the songs of our lives, we can hear the heartbeat of humanity in everyone and we can witness to the divine in everything.

If we listen for the healing presence of God we may just hear our own heartbeat echoing in our spiritual ear.

If we listen for the healing presence of God we may just hear our own heartbeat echoing in our spiritual ear.

Peaceful Heart Full Of Peace

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We may not be able to change the world, but the world will not change without us. 

The question is….do we want a different world?  Or more to the point of life question, do we want to leave the world a little bit better than when we found it? 

That is my question. Do we want a different world for our communities, our world, and our children? Is the point of our lives, the gift of this life that we have been given, to take all we can while we are here and leave it all scorched to the ground in the meantime? Is the point of life to live selfishly?  Or is the point of life to live self-giving for others?   

If we call ourselves Christian, we have our answer. As Christians, if we are to truly follow and let Jesus be our guide, we have the answers about how to live in the world by following the example of how He lived his life, guided by the Spirit of God’s love.  

He tells us that the greatest indicator of our devotion to God is found in loving as we have been loved by God as made known to us in Him, Jesus.  

In Jesus we see a God who isn’t tinkering around the edges of something new. In Jesus we see a God who is breaking into history, incarnated in Jesus, to bring the world of power, greed, empire, and money to its knees by turning the system of exploitation and oppression upside down. Read the first shall be last, the last shall be first from the Gospel of Matthew. If we don’t hear Jesus’s underlying message about what God is newly creating in that short message, then we truly are listening with our own egotistical ears.  

It really is quite simple if we can allow ourselves to conceive of it, admit it, work for it, allow it to fill us up, allow the wisdom of Jesus to teach us about how to change the world.  

Truly the only way the world can change is through what we put into the world.  

At times it may feel like we are helpless against the tyranny of violence, war and hate. At times it may feel like we can do nothing. That feeling as if we can do nothing can create a sense of loss and maybe even anxiety or sadness. 

It is in these times that we must hold onto this reality that the world will only change by how we are in the world.  

It is very difficult to hang onto our faith when we are given all indications that we are fools for believing in a great something that is ordering our world towards peace. But our faith doesn’t tell us that we are passive participants. Quite the contrary, actually.  

What kind of world do we want to live in?  

Our job is to wrestle with that question, get up and get to work creating that world by being in the world what we most desire.  

So, if you are looking for good in the world…take a selfie or look in a mirror to see the image of God’s goodness in this world.

So, if you are looking for an affirmation that God is up to goodness, take a selfie or find a mirror.

God’s goodness in the world is contained in each one of us.

A peaceful world begins with a peaceful heart.

Pissed Off Pastor

John 19:41

As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, if you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! 

I’m pissed off and angry. It seems that we can’t do anything anymore in our nation. We can’t solve problems. We continue to let ourselves be brainwashed that there is nothing we can accomplish because we are so divided. I say bullshit. We are not divided by some cosmic divine entity that just won’t let us come together to accomplish something for the good of everyone. Every faith practice calls us towards a different way, towards unity and care for all. I proclaim there is a better way, and that way begins with me.

I’m reminded that we teach our children to make good choices. We are choosing to let ourselves be divided. We are choosing to let our anger turn to hate for anyone who disagrees with us. We are choosing to respond to hate with hate, anger with anger and vile speech with vile speech.

There must be a better way and it must begin with me.

I have said for many years now that finding the good in the world is a spiritual exercise, lest our hearts be ruined. It is even more important today to search out those who are putting good into the world.

Yes, they are here.

Even today there are people expressing publicly all our anger and frustration. Imploring the leaders to listen for the good of all. Even today there are people praying publicly. Even today there are people trying to find a way forward. Even today there are churches opening their doors for people to gather. Even today there are people holding space with the victims and doing the most difficult, good work of helping the community in Texas heal. Yes. Even in the midst of this horrific shooting there is love.

There is a time for anger and frustration because of our collective inaction in the wake of senseless and useless death. There is a season for everything, and in every season is a time of rebirth. Within this better way is a decision. Who are we going to be in the world? Healers or haters? Speakers of love or screamers of violence? Angry, forever? Or are we going to sit in this current season of anguish only to rise up stronger in our commitment to being goodness in a hurting world? The better way begins in our own hearts and souls. If we allow it the goodness can infect our spirit just as much as the other aspects of life that are ruinous.

Jesus Weeps!

I’m saddened to know that the trauma will not affect just the families of the 22, the latest count as of this writing, families. It’s hard to calculate how many will be affected by the senseless shooting of children and teachers while at school. But safe to say the real trauma will affect hundreds, even thousands in that community directly. And if we think that all children, families, and schools are not traumatized from this news that is becoming all too familiar in our country, we are not spiritually tuned in.

This latest tragedy touches each and every one of us. Not politically. Spiritually in our souls, collectively.

Some of us may feel lost, or pissed, or angry, or sad, or depressed, or worried, or all the above and more. In these times when our hearts are wrenched open so violently, we can only Lament as a way of releasing the toxins of despair. Lament is the time when our spirit feels as if no one is listening. No one, but God.

We can hear this in the book of Lamentations, ‘My eyes will flow without ceasing, without respite, until the Lord of heaven looks down and sees. 

In the weeping, in the lamenting, God is listening. Even weeping with us at the loss of life.

Maybe the way forward, or the first step, is to care. Maybe that’s the first step towards getting up after our season of lament. Maybe caring for our family and friends is a small way of putting good into the world.

So, share some care today.

Share some love in your family or community

Call someone who you know you can trust and lament together

Listen to each other’s pain

Say thank you a bit more today

Say I love you a few more times today

Write down you anger and let it out

Cry onto the paper of your lament

Get outside if you can and breathe

Care for your own soul

Put the goodness of your soul into the world

So that the world can begin to heal

Find quiet time

Rest

It is OK.

Rest so as to rise in goodness

I need you and you need me

We need each other

Rest so as to rise in goodness, together.

Sight Seeing

Paul says in his second letter to the church in Corinth that we walk by faith not by sight.  

Years ago, I preached two sermons in two different churches where I gave credit for this saying to Walter Payton’s wife. She had written a memoir to her late husband, the greatest running back ever!, and used this quote without giving credit to Paul or scripture. So, I lifted the same quote and gave her credit instead of Paul or mentioning that it comes from scripture, more precisely the Christian New Testament. Luckily no one through me out of the church for what was an embarrassing transgression.

The full verse reads: ‘so we are always confident; even though we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord-for we walk by faith not by sight’.  

Another way of thinking about this may be that while we yearn to know and see God it may feel as if we cannot see or touch God. What if? What if we thought of it another way? What if our faith steps in when it seems we cannot feel, see, touch, experience God? What if our sight, read seeing and touching, is telling us to pay spiritual attention so that we can see the presence of God in all things, even when all things stand in contrast to that knowing?  

My faith, like all faiths, helps me realize that the presence of God is always within. Paul helps us understand this in the later parts of chapter four: we look at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.  

Let us read that passage as understanding instead of or alongside, seeing. We walk by faith not by the fleeting moments of understanding, for understanding is as small as a grain of sand compared to the expanding realm of God.

There are times when we cannot understand God. Often, we cannot begin to see God’s presence, especially during the times of senseless violence, war, hunger, poverty and so on. How can we understand God when God cannot be seen? This is where our faith steps in. This may be where we recite Paul’s short verse; we walk by faith in the eternal presence of God as made known in Christ Jesus, when our sight, or understanding leaves us feeling blind.  

My faith lies in the fact that God is God all the time, especially in those times when I can sense Their Presence least.  

Paul was imploring his followers and the people of the New Way of Jesus to realize their home, their faith home, was found in the God of Jesus. When they could no longer see Jesus, he was encouraging them to have faith in God’s eternal presence, which is ours and their true spiritual home.  

When we feel lost and alone, when we can’t see how God can possibly be present in all the violence, Paul reminds us to have faith that our true home, our true companion is God among us and within us as the eternal Christ incarnated in Jesus, creation, and yes, even you and me.

Maybe seeing the presence of Love in our lives is a way to witness the presence of God.

Maybe we are all sightseeing along this journey of life, continually gazing upon God’s eternal presence. If we can just open the spiritual eye of our faith and realize we don’t move in and out of God, God is in everything. Even our doubt.

Let us all go sightseeing, spiritually gazing upon the God of both this material world along and also of the spiritual realm.

In our seeing

May our soul’s smile.

Is there such a thing?

I hold no special standing to know exactly what to say and when to say it. When I do speak, I hope that my words are shared with dignity and from a place of wisdom sharing.

For sure, I believe, Jesus wrestled with this idea more often than we are led to believe. To explore the humanness of Christ Jesus is to explore our own humanity and the struggles there, within. The Gospel is stock full of stories about the fully human reality in Jesus as he prays, heals, teaches, seeks solitude, weeps, and displays righteous anger towards those who would build walls and erect barriers to keep those deemed unworthy out of the Kindom of God’s Love.  For Jesus, the Kindom of God IS LOVE!! The Unearned, unretractable, eternally within, Love of God. 

No one can give us the love of God. We are all called to openly share the love of God that we experience. Jesus called this Love as you have been Loved.  If someone did not give it then no one can take it away, ever. Not even death. Have we done more than simply ignore this call from Jesus? Have we lost our ability to act in such a way that honors God’s love by honoring that Love in others. If it is inherent in us it is inherent in others.

When we think of the current headlines regarding the supreme court actions about a woman’s right to choose, how can anyone stake a claim in the middle? Especially in the current age of fence building and barrier erecting between differing factions. 

Is there a different way? Is there a different stand to take? Is there a new proclamation other than extreme either/or?

Is there such a thing as pro-choice/pro-life?

I cannot get pregnant. There for it’s not my body, it’s not my choice. So, I am pro-choice.

I am pro, from the womb to the tomb, life. That means that every single person in our nation deserves support and care for themselves so that everyone can live with dignity and freedom to be who they are in the world. Pro-Life means every single child from birth to death is supported and loved. By all of us, regardless of stature or place in societies false hierarchy.

Maybe I can. Maybe there is space to make a new proclamation as a pro-life/pro-choice pastor. 

Not my body, not my choice means for me that I support all woman and every child in the world as they journey through life. I support and will fight for the dignity and freedom of every human being, even a woman who makes the difficult choice to end a pregnancy. 

Yes! There is such a thing! 

We can all work to support every single life as sacred and worthy, while also holding space for a woman’s right to choose. We can all reject this notion that to hold one you must let go of the other. We can all work towards a health care system that supports all stages of life from the womb to the tomb. This is really pro-life.

I am a pro-choice pro-life, a pro-life-choice pastor and I get to define what that means, regardless of what is being said that is meant to tear us apart. 

I declare a different way of holding life as sacred to mean all of life, everyone’s life, the entire span, and stages of life for each and every child of God. 

I declare there is such a thing as a life affirming, choice defending way of being.

If we are lucky

I was in Illinois this last weekend at a memorial service for one of my uncles. As I reflected on his good long life of 89 years, I thought of how not young I am and how the aches of my body remind me that I’m aging.

I thought about this and how old I am compared to the childhood memories that came bubbling up as my brothers and I reminisced while we drove around our old neighborhood. All the people who were in the room were middle aged now, as I am, or older. We shared memories of my uncle all the while sharing smiles of our childhood connection.

We’ve all been there: remember this tree, remember that scratch, this bump, that car, and so on and so on.

If we are lucky.

I think that often we lament how our bodies ache more and more as we get older. Debilitating pain can be a spiritual weight that some must carry. I have been lucky enough to have a body that was able, continues to be able, to do most of what I want physically. I have never had to deal with being inflicted with debilitating pain or total physical hinderance. This is physical privilege even as I deal with the usual aches of aging joints.

Maybe the hair that is much thinner, the waddle that is in our step sometimes, the loss of our loved ones, the aches, pains, and the just the general feeling of getting older could be a reminder of a good long life. Maybe in the re-acquainting with our bodies signs of aging we can thank God for a long enough life that our bodies begin to give out. This may help us move into a heart of gratitude along with lamenting our bodies aging process.  

My hips may hurt but they’ve walked many a mile in my lifetime.

My shoulders may hurt but they’ve carried my children as they grew from toddler to full grown adults.

My knees may creak, but they ran, jumped, leapt, and brought me lots of joy.

My feet may ache, but they carried me over lots of tough bumpy roads.

I may need glasses, but I can read stories that inspire, watch movies that pull at my heart, and gaze upon this awe-inspiring creation of God.

We get older and our bodies begin to change, if we are lucky to have a good long life of physical ability.

We get older

Our bodies change

If we are lucky.