Slumdog Millionaire

Today I spent a couple hours of my life watching a great movie, Slumdog Millionaire. Intense and inspiring are two words that I would describe this movie. I highly recommend it. It is a bit like riding a roller coaster of emotion though, so be prepared. The R designation is one to heed, not because of language, violence, or sexual content. It's simply pretty intense. You can see a trailer of the movie at:

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/slumdogmillionaire/

It got me thinking a lot about the Christmas story. Wondering about the birth of Jesus, born in a barn, to ordinary, economically poor parents. He may well have been considered a slumdog by the Romans. Who would have thought Jesus would have grown up to be the influence he was to the entire world? It was his destiny. Jesus, Lord at his birth, had an inheritance that surpassed any wealth we can dream of. His destiny was to grow up to be a man and then share that 'wealth' with all of us. In his face we see tangible evidence of God's heart and grace.

Hope you take time to see the movie. The story in itself is gripping, but when you consider how it is a metaphor for the life of Jesus Christ, it's powerful.

For those who are anxious...

During these difficult economic times, may you find strength and peace in our Lord. He says, "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine." (Isaiah 43:1)

If you struggle to find words to pray during this time, feel free to use the following:

Almighty and merciful God, our only source of health and healing, who alone can bring calmness and peace: Grant to us your children, a consciousness of your presence and a strong confidence in you. In our pain, our weariness, and our anxiety, surround us with your care, protect us by your loving might, and permit us once more to enjoy health and strength and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Grant me, O Lord,
to know what I ought to know,
to love what I ought to love,
to praise what delights you most,
to value what is precious in your sight,
to hate what is offensive to you.
Do not suffer me to judge according to the sight of my eyes,
nor to pass sentence according to the hearing of the ears of ignorant men;
but to discern with a true judgment between things visible and spiritual,
and above all, always to inquire what is the good pleasure of your will.

--Thomas a Kempis

Religulous

This past Saturday, I saw the movie Religulous. Jeffrey Lions of NBC calls it, "Outrageous! Nothing short of brilliant!" Funny? At times, yes. Bill Maher is a funny guy. Entertaining? Yes. A clear message? Yes. Brilliant? No. That implies that it is intelligent. It isn't intelligent in my estimation. Maher does a points out the flaws within Christianity, Islam, Mormanism, Scientology, and one small sect of Judaism.

As a Christian, I agree with Maher that sometimes Christians bring the ridicule upon ourselves, not for being Christ like, but for just being odd, cheesy, and unable to articulate what we believe and why we believe it without pat Sunday School answers and religious platitudes. I get it and I agree. Some of my Christian brothers and sisters embarrass me (as I may do to them). I compare them to an odd uncle in a family. I might be embarrassed by him and not want to be around him, but they are still family and I'm still called to care for him.

I left the movie, however, very hurt and frustrated. Part of my frustration is that Maher makes very big assertions and conclusions about religion, mostly about Christians, with no ability to debate. That's not brilliant, that's manipulative. He also interviews a number of fringe people within Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and Mormanism instead of interviewing theologians, thinkers, and others. Brilliant? No. Sensational? Yes.

There is another side to the story. I was hurt by a some of the assertions and claims the movie makes. Below I will share the movie's assertion in bold italics, and then make a counter argument to it. I'm only asking you, as your read, to consider the other side of the argument:

• All religion is bad and therefore must be "killed." At the end of the movie Maher says, "All religion must die" because after all, it is the source of all the problems in the world. Is it? Is that a brilliant thing to say? For Maher to say that religion is the problem in the world is like saying El Nino is the cause for every weather phenomenon we face daily. Wow. Wars are caused by religion? What about all of the governments and irreligious leaders who have murdered their own citizens and surpressed religious expression? Mao in China, Stalin in Russia, and Hitler in Germany all exterminated a large, large number of innocent people...and they are not people of faith or religious. What are the origins of many hospitals, orphanages, homeless shelters, etc. around the world? Many began by people of faith who cared about the poor, the sick, the homeless, the orphan in their communities. Many hospitals today, started by people of faith, still serve their communities. And, what is the second largest social service agency in the United States? Lutheran Social Services of America. Catholic Services is close behind. Religion being the source of problems? Give me a break.
  
• People with faith are crazy. Maher at one point interviews very briefly a scientist who has done brain scans on people of faith...and they said that people of faith are crazy. There was not a in depth discussion of the scientist's findings, a picture of brain scans, nor any in depth discussion of this one scientist's findings. Nope...only the conclusion, with a chuckle, "they are crazy." Excuse me? Is that brilliant movie making? Making a broad assertion about a group of people with no basis except one scientist's opinion. Hmmm. The Nazis called the Jews rats and blamed the problems Germany faced on the Jewish people. Hitler and his bunch made the American people, through visual media and marketing, believe that Jews were less human than pure Germans...and thus must be eradicated.
  
• People of faith are childish. Faith in God is the same as belief in Santa Claus. At the end of the movie Maher proclaims, "Grow up..." to people of faith. Last time I checked Santa Claus is a fable, Jesus is historical and what I've experienced with my relationship with God is very real. Unexplainable at times? Yes. But I'm a grown, rational man who has investigated Christian claims historically, theologically, socially...and I find them quite verifiable.
  
• Christians are irrational. Rational people would never believe this. This is quite an old argument and one leveled at one of my professors from Miami University. I know a number of very intelligent, rational, and mature people who affirm faith in God, and in particular Jesus Christ.
  
• Jesus never lived. It's not historical. Maher speaks with one scientist who confesses to be a Christian about this assertion. Maher says that the gospels don't prove he existed. True. But, there are sources outside Christianity that name Jesus of Nazareth as an historical person, such as the 1st Century Jewish historian Josephus. Even if we only have one reference of Jesus of Nazareth outside the gospels, wouldn't that suffice? For example, I have no proof that my great, great, great grandfather Cook lived, except that he's named on a census. One instance, and yet I believe he existed. For Jesus, we have the testimony of many, many people who wrote the gospels. Certainly they don't all agree, but the reality that they are all there says something about the sigificance of Jesus. Why were they written in the first place? Politics? Justice? To get back at the Romans? The gospels were written by common people in the 1st century not to prove Jesus's existence, but to share his message and impact on their lives. The assumption underneath the gospels is that Jesus is an historical person.
  
• The Bible isn't reliable. Maher points out that Jonah couldn't have been swallowed by a big fish. Creation couldn't have happened they way it did, the virgin birth isn't there (it is in the Scriptures), and so on. Therefore, since there are fictional stories within the Bible, the entire Bible must be thrown out because it has no credibility. Today, on the news I heard that in Florida they found a ballot cast for the 2008 election for president under the name Mickey Mouse. Throw the entire election out! The entire lot of early ballots cast are invalid because one ballot is fictional! No. On the contrary. What Maher failed to point out is the reality that the Bible is a combination of various genres of writing: poetry, stories, songs, law, teachings, history, etc. It's diversity is important when considering its credibility and reliablity. There are historical, archeologically verified facts in the Bible.

As Maher spoke with the actor who plays Jesus at Bibleland in Florida, he is taken offended when the actors says that he has a God-shaped hole in his life. "That's judgmental isn't it?" Maher retorts. But, isn't it as judgmental for Maher to call people of faith "crazy"?

Tolerance and open mindedness are two values that many Americans hold. And yet this movie is very intolerant to religious people and not open minded at all. To assert there is no God, that it is fiction not fact, is pretty much closing your mind of to at least the possibility that there is a god some where. At least Christians investigate Biblical claims (the ones I know who Maher wouldn't be interested in interviewing probably) and have their minds open to at least the possibility that God exists and Jesus lived.

If Maher truly wants to know and is a seeker, as he says at the beginning of the movie, and if you, the reader are in the same boat...truly do seek, investigate, converse, read all you can from all points of view...but please don't demonize people of faith or conclude we're crazy. One book to start that can be classified as smart and brilliant, check out Orthodoxy by GK Chesterton. It is a rational and philisophical look at the claims of Christianity by a man who became a Christian later in life and lived in England in the late 19th and early 20th century.

Impact

Yesterday during a lecture Dr. Fretheim, professor of Old Testament at Luther Seminary pointed out that, "On 9/11 nineteen middle eastern men deeply affected our lives [in a negative way]"

My question is this:

Has the middle eastern man, Jesus of Nazareth through his death and resurrection, and have his disciples (whose writings we have recorded) deeply affected our lives in a positive way?

Poor and needy

As I mentioned in my last post, David wrote, "I am poor and needy" (Psalm 86:1) Um, not really David. You're the king so you're not poor. And needy...well, maybe. Poor AND needy? What was he getting at? David lived in depedence on God, displaying a radical trust in God's love for him. Later he writes, "Great is your steadfast love toward me." David was in need of God's grace, of forgiveness, of peace, of assurance, of EVERYTHING. Economically he was rich but poor in other ways. He may not have wanted for anything physical, but stood in great need.

"The moment we acknowledge we are powerless, we enter into the liberating sphere of the risen One and we are freed from anxiety..." --Brennan Manning

Financial Crisis

America is in quite a debacle with our current financial crisis and many are weighing in with solutions. Currently, politicians in Washington wrangle over government response. We wait.

In the meantime, I was encouraged by Paul and David this morning. David writes in Psalm 86, "Hear me, Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy. Guard my life...Bring joy to your servant who trusts in you." Could prayer and trust in God through this crisis be a viable solution? Absolutely. We are all poor and needy literally or figuratively. "Every good and gracious gift is from above," James writes. We ask God and wait for divine assistance.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer recorded his morning prayer while suffering in a German prison at the hands of the Nazis. Maybe his prayer will become your prayer during financial stress, potentially captive to creditors and debt:

O God...help me to pray and to concentrate my thoughts on you; I cannot do this alone...Lord Jesus Christ, you were poor and in distres, a captive and forsaken as I am. You know all man's troubles; you abide with me and when all men fail me; you remember and seek me; It is your will that I should know you and turn to you. Lord, I hear your call and follow. Help me...Restore me to liberty, and enable me so to live now that I may answer before you and before men. Lord, whatever this day may bring, your name be praised. Amen.

Paul's encouragement comes from his letter to Timothy, "Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment" (1 Tim. 6:17-18)

Pray for and do not be bitter or envious of the wealthy in this crisis. Heed Paul's advice to encourage the rich to be generous. Pray for generosity. And for all of us, rich and poor, Paul encourages us like David did to put our trust in God.

Let trust rule the day.

Emmanuel. God is with us.

Meet my daddy?

Yesterday after driving into my neighborhood, I saw my son Ethan playing with a few of his friends. I slowed the car to say 'hi' to him and lowered the passenger side window. I stopped the car and Ethan walks over to talk.

"Hi daddy," he says to me (he's five). Then he looks over at his friends (a few I had not met yet...three kids from the neighborhood just a couple years older than him) and says, "Guys! Do you want to meet my dad? He's really nice."

All of the kids look at Ethan with a blank stare. No one says 'no' and no one says 'yes.' There is no response (which in itself is a response, I know).

I waved and said hi from the car and they all said, "Hi" back but that was it.

"Guys, do you want to talk to my dad?" he asks again, and again, no response.

I said, "That's ok...they don't need to talk to me."

Honestly, I felt touched that Ethan wanted his friends to meet me...that he likes me enough to want to tell others about me. The experience also reminds me of evangelism too. As Christians I think our sharing Christ with others lots of times is like Ethan with his friends. We're met with blank stares...and little if no response to our invitation for people to meet God. "Do want to talk to God? He's really nice." Crickets. Chirp. Chirp. Chirp.

But what if the onus wasn't on us asking the question or the response of the person. After all, if I was one of those kids, I'd think Ethan's request was pretty odd too. "No, I don't want to meet your dad. He's an adult and I'm a kid." There's just too big of a boundary to cross. And with people and God, when we expect people to respond favorably to our question, "Do you want to talk to God?" we're fooling ourselves. People may want to talk to God, but there is just too big of a chasm to cross...after all, God is God and we are humans.

The onus for the relationship lands on the one with the power. In my experience with Ethan, as the adult, I could have gotten out of my car, gone over to the kids and introduced myself. The chasm needs to be crossed by the one with the most power. Isn't that the way God does it too? Jesus says, "You did not choose me, I chose you." All of us come to God because God comes to us first. He bridges the gap between us.

Next time you want to introduce others to Christ, know that the responsibility for the relationship isn't on your shoulders. God is bridging the gap. We may be opening the door (Do you want to meet my dad?), but God is first moving toward our friends and us establishing relationships. We need to pray for our friends that their hearts are open to the movement of the Spirit in their lives.

Time

"Therefore be attentive to time and the way you spend it. Nothing is more precious. This is evident when you recall that in one tiny moment heaven my be gained or lost. God, the master of time, never gives the future. He gives only the present, moment by moment...You will not be able to excuse yourself at the last judgment saying to God, "You overwhelmed me with the future when I was only capable of living in the present."

In love all things are shared and so if you love Jesus, everything of his is yours. As God he is the creator and dispenser of time; as man he consciously mastered time; as God and man he is he rightful judge of you and your use of time. Bind yourself to Jesus, therefore, in faith and love, so that belonging to him you may share all he has and enter the fellowship of those who love him."

--From The Cloud of Unknowing

The Blessing of Morning Prayer

The entire day receives order and discipline when it acquires unity. This unity must be sought and found in morning prayer. It is confirmed in work. The morning prayer determines the day. Squandered time of which we are ashamed, temptations to which we succomb, weaknesses and lack of courage in work, disorganization and lack of discipline in our thoughts and in our conversations, all have their origin most often in the neglect of morning prayer.

Order and distribution of our time become more firm where they originate in prayer. Temptations which accompany the working day will be conquered on the basis of the morning break through to God. Decisions, demanded by work, become easier and simpler where they are made not in the fear of men but only in the sight of God. "Whatever your task, work heartily, as serving the Lord and not men" (Colossians 3:23). Even mechanical work is done in a more patient way if it arises from the recognition of God and his command. The powers of work take hold, therefore, at the place where we have prayed to God. He wants to give us today the power which we need for our work.

--Dietrich Bonhoeffer Psalms: The Prayerbook of the Bible

Lost

Did you read the story today about the parents who forgot their three year old daughter at the airport? Here's the link for the story:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080804/ap_on_re_mi_ea/odd_israel_home_alone;_ylt=AoWvxU5d3EinRfEQISovtLus0NUE

The story reminds me that people don't change, only cultures do. A couple thousand years ago there was an Israeli couple who also lost their child. According to Luke,
"Every year Jesus' parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover. When he was twelve years old, they went to the festival, according to the custom. After the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind...but they were unaware of it. Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends...After three days they found him in the Temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions."

Imagine the panic in Mary and Joseph? They've been entrusted by God with the Messiah and they lose him! Do we panic when we lose faith, when God feels distant to us? If not, why?

The kiss of Jesus

Last week I read a quote about failure. Mother Teresa said that failure is the kiss of Jesus on our lives. They drive us back to God. I like that perspective.

The courage to live

Polio victim dies after lifetime in iron lung

Despite limitations, she wrote a book, earned a degree

Woody Baird, Associated Press

Thursday, May 29, 2008

=05-29) 04:00 PDT Memphis --

A woman who spent nearly six decades of her life in an iron lung after being diagnosed with polio as a child died Wednesday after a power failure shut down the machine that kept her breathing, her family said.

Dianne Odell, 61, had been confined to the 7-foot-long machine since she was stricken by polio at 3 years old.

Family members were unable to get an emergency generator working for the iron lung after the power failure knocked out electricity to the Odell family's residence near Jackson, Tenn., about 80 miles northeast of Memphis, brother-in-law Will Beyer said.

"We did everything we could do, but we couldn't keep her breathing," said Beyer, who was called to the home shortly after the power failed. "Dianne had gotten a lot weaker over the past several months, and she just didn't have the strength to keep going."

Capt. Jerry Elston of the Madison County Sheriff's Department said emergency crews were called to the scene but could do little to help.

Odell was afflicted with "bulbo-spinal" polio three years before a polio vaccine was discovered and largely stopped the spread of the crippling childhood disease.

She spent her life in the iron lung, cared for by her parents and other family members. Though confined inside the 750-pound apparatus, Odell managed to get a high school diploma, take college courses and write a children's book.

The iron lung that she used was a cylindrical chamber with a seal at the neck. She lay on her back in the device with only her head exposed, and made eye contact with visitors using an angled mirror above her head.

The lung worked by producing positive and negative pressure on the lungs that caused them to expand and contract so that she could breathe.

Iron lungs were first used to sustain life in 1928, and were largely replaced by positive-pressure airway ventilators in the late 1950s. A spinal deformity from the polio made it impossible for Odell to wear a more modern, portable breathing apparatus, so she continued to use the older machine.

It is not known how many polio survivors still use iron lungs, but Odell was believed to have used it for longer than most.

Odell was determined to live a full life - she earned a diploma from Jackson High School as a home-bound student and an honorary degree from Freed-Hardeman College.

A voice-activated computer allowed her to write a children's book, "Less Light," about Blinky, a tiny star who dreams of becoming a wishing star.

In a 2001 interview with the Associated Press, she said she wanted to show children, especially those with physical disabilities, that they should never give up.

"It's amazing what you can accomplish if you see someone do the same thing," she said.

This article appeared on page A - 3 of the San Francisco Chronicle

Luther quote

"To speak is not an art, but it is given to only a few to speak aptly. Nobody ought to take anything upon himself unless it has been given to him from on high."

--Martin Luther

From absurdity to obedience

"Absurd comes from the Latin surdus, meaning 'deaf'. Obedience comes from the Latin ob audire, meaning 'to listen to'. Our busy world too often makes us deaf to the voice of God who speaks to us in silence.

Thus it is not surprising that we often wonder, in the midst of our occupied and preoccupied lives, if anything is really happening. Our lives may be filled to overflowing--so many events and commitments that we wonder how we'll get it all done. Yet at the same time, we might feel unfulfilled and wonder if anything is worth living for. Being filled yet unfilled, busy yet bored, involved yet lonely, these are the symptoms of the absurd lifestyle that makes us inattentive to spiritual realities.

I came here [a retreat into silence and solitude] to listen to the Voice whispering in nature, in Word and sacrament, in the people who have crossed my path and touched my life. Today I wandered along a nature trail through a dense redwood forest humming aloud, 'When through the woods and forest glades I wander...' I have a vivid image of myself staring up at one-hundred-fifty-foot redwoods in stillness, feeling tiny and insignificant and whispering, 'How great thou art! O Abba, who is man that you should be mindful of him?' At night I have been staring, shivering, up at the stars. There is a freshness about finding the Milky Way when you haven't seen it for a while. The stars call us out of ourselves."

--Brennan Manning, The Signature of Jesus

Papers, books, ideas...

I've been moving offices this week, moving from the office in the hallway leading toward Pastor Gerber's office to office once occupied by Pastor Zorb. Windows. Sunshine. Space. Three of the blessings that come from the move. For those who hadn't had the pleasure of entering my old office, picture a small windowless room and you're picturing my old office.

As I've moved books, files, and papers...I've been thinking. How much of the information on the pages of the books, files, and papers are stored in my head? Not all of it. I'm not that smart. But what percentage has remained words on a page, and how much of it has become reality? That's the real question it seems. The files and papers represent work done over the past six years being here at All Saints. They hold memories of time passed, people touched, ideas shared and not shared...basically representations of God's work.

If I look at such books, papers, and files (oh my!) as God's activity over the course of six years...could we also look at the Bible as a record of God's activity over the course of thousands of years? I think so.

I think I'll pitch most of the papers...but thankfully we'll never pitch the Bible.

Thanks for reading.

All good things come to an end, except...

There are exceptions to every rule as the saying goes. An easy one is "'i' before 'e' except after 'c'." Or what about the letter 'y'? Sometimes it's a vowel and other times it's a consonant. It all depends.

It is for certain, all things (even good ones, and thankfully bad things) come to an end. The rule is part of life that there are endings to every beginning; except one. There is one rule in life that has an exception, death. Everything dies. It's an unfortunate fact of life. We come to an end. However, because of the resurrection of Jesus, we can be the exception to the rule.

Jesus died and everyone thought, "That's that...he's dead forever." Wrong. Exception of all exceptions, Jesus rose from the dead in three days. "Holy exception Batman!" Because he lives, we live also. Even the rule of death has an exception.

The Christian message is simple. We make it way to complicated. Bottom line, Christianity is about Jesus dying and rising to new life, and the gift given to us. We need to keep it simple and remember we're here because of an exception to a rule.

Where's the prayer?

Nearly 12,000 dead in an earthquake in China, thousands more are still buried under debris, and thousands are left homeless.

There are 1.5 million victims, according to UN estimates of the cyclone that hit Myanmar in the last week, and tens of thousands were killed by the storm.

Meanwhile, we're concerned with rising gas prices among other things.

When the tragedy of 9/11 hit us, the world stopped and kept vigil with us.

When tragedy hits Asia, twice in a week, we mind our own business.

We is me. I'm as guilty as the next person. Stop and pray. Remember those who are suffering in Asia and around the world today.

Declaration of Self-Esteem

I am me

In all the wold there is no one exactly like me.

Everything that comes out of me is authentically mine because I alone choose it...

I own everything about me, my body, my feelings, my mouth, my voice, and all my actions whether they be to others or to myself...I own my fantasies, my dreams, my hopes, my fears...I own all my triumphs and successes, all of my failures and mistakes...because I own all of me. I can become intimately acquainted with me...by so doing, I can love me and be friendly with me in all my parts....

I know there are aspects about myself that puzzle me and other aspects I do not know...but as long as I am friendly and loving to myself, I can courageously and hopefully look for solutions to the puzzles and for ways to find out more about me...

However I look and sound, whatever I say and do, and whatever I think and feel at a given moment in time is authentically me...if later some parts of how I looked, sounded, thought, and felt turn out to be unfitting, I can discard that which is unfitting, keep the rest, and invent something new for that which is I discard...

I can see, hear, feel, think, say and do. I have the tools to survive, to be close to others, to be productive, and to make sense and order out of the world of people and things outside of me...

I am radically loved by God.

I am me and I am okay.

--Virginia Satir

Relax

You are exactly where you need to be.

You are not missing out, falling behind, doing it wrong,
not trying hard enough.

You are doing more than enough.

Whatever opinions you have about it,
however imperfect
This is yours.

Where you are right now.
Sitting here surfing the internet even.
Is perfect.

--anonymous

God loves you the way you are, not as you should be. You'll never be as you should be.

--Brennan Manning

Unity

"How good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity."
Psalm 133:1

Last fall, some guys from All Saints ran the rapids on the Upper Gulley River in West Virginia. As we approached the first class 5 rapid of the day "Insignificant", our guide reminded us to listen to her commands and stay in sync with one another. She warned us that if we fell out, we were to swim to river left.

As we entered the rapids, Eric fell out. Soon after Keith, then me, and then Eric Hershberger. Four men were tossed out of the boat early leaving the raft down by half to get through the rapid safely. As I surfaced after plunging into the chilly water, I could see the boat just ahead of me and I paddled with the current to get to the back of the boat. The guide did her level best to get us back in the boat, but we all had to run the class 5 on our own. Needless to say, it was one of the most harrowing adventures I've had in my life. It wasn't fun. Memorable? Yes. Fun? No. I was glad to be back in the boat once we got through the rapids.

A bit shaken by the experience while sitting in the boat, I realized that we still had four more class fives to run the rest of the day. It wasn't going to be easy, and I determined then and there to stay in the boat. It's safer and a lot more fun in the boat with the other guys!

In these days when All Saints is transitioning through pastoral changes it's important we remain unified around our Savior. We're all in the same boat. We have some rapids on the horizon and have encountered a few already. But, if we remain focused on moving through the rapids together we'll be better off in the end. We need to keep our ear tuned to our guide, Jesus, as he navigates these changes for us. And, we must not toss anyone out of the boat. If someone does get tossed out involuntarily, we need to focus our energies in getting them back in. There are risks in this transition. No doubt. But, together, we'll make it through to calmer waters.

Remember, we're in this together. Let's pray for one another.

Thanks for reading.

Mike

All saints all the time

Joy or sadness, war or peace, love or hate, purity or impurity, charity or greed, all are tremendous realities which are the hinges of our interior life. Everyday things, relationships with other people, daily work, love of our family--all these may breed saints.

Jesus at Nazareth taught us to live every hour of the day as saints. Every hour of the day is useful and may lead to divine inspiration, the will of the Father, the prayer of contemplation--holiness. Every hour of the day is holy. What matters is to live it as Jesus taught us.

And for this one does not have to shut oneself in a monastery or fix strange and inhumane regimes for one's life. It is enough to accept the realities of life. Work is one of these realities; motherhood, the rearing of children, family life with all its obligations are others.

--From Letters from the Desert by Carlo Carretto

Crickets

Laughter is a gift from God

Certainty

"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear..." Psalm 46:1-2

I was struck by the certainty of the last phrase by the psalmist, "Therefore we will not fear..." Duh. Of course...of course we will not fear. It's quite certain. Fear simply has no place in our lives because of the reality of God's protection of us. While the psalm was written thousands of years ago, the psalmist includes us..."we will not fear." God's people for all time are people who share fearless lives governed by faith in God's protection and strength.

And the we means also that God's people as a community are fearless. Together, a fearless faith defines the entire community as well as individuals therein.

What are we scared about as a community?
What are we scared about in our personal lives?

Run to God and trust in him.

From Sacred Space

When Jesus said ‘Let your light shine before all’, did he mean that we should be haranguing people in the street? It would not work. There was a time when street-preaching might have made an impact on people. Nowadays everyone who has a radio or TV is bombarded with messages from another sort of street-preacher, the advertisers. They beguile, hector, amuse and titillate in order to seduce you into buying. As Christians, we are not expected to rival them. We could not. Our Lord’s words are not about coercing other people into religion, but about doing good in a visible way, ‘so that others, seeing your good works, may glorify your father in heaven’. In Recife, Brazil, where great numbers of poor people were illiterate, Bishop Helder Camara used to instruct his catechists, ‘Sisters and brothers, watch how you live. Your lives may be the only gospel your neighbours will ever read.’ We are all witnesses, at every moment of the day. That does not mean shouting the Creed from the rooftops. It means living in such a way that our lives would not make sense if God did not exist.

http://www.liturgy.co.nz/virtualchurch/sacreadspace.html

Something to think about

From Sacred Space...

Something to think and pray about this week

Family meals are at risk. The table can be a place where the preparation of food reflects mother's or father's care, and where parents and children can sit, enjoy, argue, joke, listen, have their voice heard, tease, attack and be attacked, but not walk out. Today couples prize a chance to enjoy a meal with their children. As work or other pressures increase, fast food and TV take over, we find families who never eat together. In some parts of the world the children grab something from the fridge and ‘graze', a can in one hand, junk food in the other, their eyes fixed on a TV screen. One reckoning is that, in the USA, 40% of meals are eaten in cars. It is no accident that Jesus placed a meal - the Eucharist - at the centre of the Christian family. It is around a common table that a family really lives together. Don't let that disappear. Find a time, at least once a week, for slow food, not fast.

If you're looking for a way to pray briefly at your computer, check out sacred space:
http://www.liturgy.co.nz/virtualchurch/sacreadspace.html

Loyalty

Today on NPR's Morning Edition, Steve Inskeep reported that a recent survey shows that number of Americans "swap faiths." (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=19354039)

"According to the study, more than one-quarter of American adults (28 percent) have left the faith in which they were raised in favor of another religion — or no religion at all. If change in affiliation from one type of Protestantism to another is included, 44 percent of adults have either switched religious affiliation, moved from being unaffiliated with any religion to being affiliated with a particular faith, or dropped any connection to a specific religious tradition altogether...Among Americans ages 18 to 29, one-in-four said they are not affiliated with any religion."

This isn't surprising to me, but it is troubling. With so many religious options, freedom of religion in America, and a "do it yourself" society, such findings aren't surprising. But what doesn't show up in the findings is the fact that while people might switch or give-up on religion, there is a desire for "spirituality." A couple of examples: the book The Secret remains on the top ten list of many best-seller lists and Oprah recently promoted "A Course in Miracles," by Marianne Williamson...both examples are new age, not Christian, moves toward spirituality.

In October, the Wall Street Journal ran the story, "Teaching My Son to Respect The Boss." Journalist Steve Stecklow shares his experience sharing his love for Bruce Springsteen with his 14 year old son. When Springsteen showed up in Hartford, Stecklow took his son to pass on, one generation to another, his passion for the Boss' music. Jesse, Stecklow's son got the full experience of a Springsteen concert including beer spilled on his shirt from another concert goer. Much to Stecklow's delight, Jesse purchased a concert t-shirt after the concert and wore it to school the next day. A new generation of Springsteen devotees? Time will tell.

There is something to learn for Christian parents about passing on their passion for our Lord (boss) Jesus Christ (a.k.a...the man upstairs). Instead of leaving Jesse with CDs of Springsteen's career or bombarding him with renditions of "Born to Run" or "Born in the USA," and sharing stories of days gone by why dad likes Springsteen...Stecklow gave Jesse an experience with Springsteen. The experience was the turning point.

For Christians, unless our faith in the living Christ (not religious practice) is real, vibrant, authentic, and grace-filled...and our children experience the blessing of it, our children will continue to walk away from or "swap faiths." The Christian movement is precisely that...a movement propelled forward by the Spirit, grounded in Christ, informed by centuries of theologians to help us keep on the right road and not falling into the ditches.

Bottom line, if you want to teach your children to "respect the Boss" (love and experience Christ), then show don't tell. Take them to the weekly gatherings of Christians in the public space. We don't have t-shirts to sell, but we will have blessings to freely share.

India

I realized that it had been a month since I'd been to this blog. Reason, I was in India for a couple weeks and kept a separate blog with my friend Eric Whitehead. Check out the musings on that blog from our recent trip: aslcinindia.blogspot.com

Mike

History repeats itself

HD DVD players are out, blu-ray is in. I'm glad I didn't buy a HD DVD player in the past few months...whew. It reminds me of the Beta vs VHS battle in the early 80s. Beta was out, VHS was in. Fortunately, we had a VHS player at that time. Then like now we our family didn't lose money on technology. I guess I did learn something from my parents after all, not to jump into trends too quickly. It's not a wait and see attitude based in apprehension and fear of risk. It is more of observation about what will have lasting power, and jumping in, with wisdom, to a trend/movement.

Is this to say those who bought HD DVD players are unwise and those who bought blu-ray are wise? Absolutely not. It would have only been unwise to buy either HD DVD or blu-ray because the "herd" moved us that way, we felt an impulse to do so, or felt like we "had to have it" to keep up with the proverbial "Jones" family. Wisdom gives us patience and allows us to take calculated risks moving into the future.

From Solomon, "To get wisdom is to love oneself; to keep understanding is to prosper." (Proverbs 19:8)

Thanks for reading

Mike

All are welcome, except...

Today's Wall Street Journal offered its readers an article entitled, "Banned From Church." The byline, "Reviving an ancient practice, churches are exposing sinners and shunning those who won't repent." The author shows instances where churches large and small across the U.S. are removing people from their congregations. "Pastors in churches across the country are expelling members for offenses ranging from adultery and theft to gossiping, skipping service, and criticizing church leaders." Yikes.

It raises the question about what is the church, a gathering of the saved and sanctified, a hospital for sinners, or a gathering of people who are in "bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves." As a Lutheran pastor, I'm biased toward the latter. Who among us after all is without sin? Who hasn't criticized a church leader, decided to worship at St. Mattress of the Springs, or found themselves engaged in gossip? Even the most spiritual Christians are prone to sin. Bottom line, we all need Christ and the church is a place where we all come to find hope, unconditional love and acceptance. What changes people after all? Being excluded or unconditional acceptance? How does God act toward us?

I worry that the church will become like the wealthy gated communities in America's suburbs where only certain types of people who can 'play well with others' are welcome. Let's be honest, life is messy and so is the gathering of God's people. The more we try and control the gathering, the more we risk becoming Pharisaical Christians and drift from the heart of God.

Clearly, any church leader will tell you (myself included) that there are dysfunctional people in every congregation and there are dysfunctional pastors and church leaders within the wider church as well. These hurting people hurt people. The question always is how do live faithfully together as a body of Christ, where there are emotionally, spiritually, and mentally healthy and non-healthy among us?

Most of the time we exclude, but don't expel people we don't like in our churches. This is equally as bad, but more polite, than the overt actions taken by churches to expel members. An article written about how we exclude members from our conversations, groups, ministries, sacraments, etc because of personality differences or past offenses needs to follow the WSJ article. As Christians we need to heed the tough words from Jesus as well as the ones that comfort us; words like, "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven."

Is church discipline needed at times? Yes. But I believe just as a healthy human body tends to move toward greater health, so the church as Christ's body will do so. As the church and it's leadership are healthy as a whole, the unhealthy behaviors and activities will be naturally unwelcome without overt expulsion. Do healthy human bodies get sick? Yes. Then, and only then, wise, knowledgeable, and appropriate intervention from outside sources (e.g. a doctor for a human being) is needed. There are times that congregations needed intervention. Every church is imperfect just as our bodies are imperfect, and there are times consultants are brought in to help a congregation work together better.

Bottom line: We're all in this together. Let's pray for one another.

Covered in it

Recently I read an experience with Jesus that made me reflect...

Once, when he was in one of the cities, there was a man covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he bowed with his face to the ground and begged him, "Lord, if you choose, you can make me clean." Then Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him, and said, "I do choose. Be made clean." Immediately the leprosy left him. (Luke 5)

Probably all of us are not stricken with leprosy, thankfully. But today we may find ourselves covered in shame, guilt, worry, fear, failure, and/or a number of negatives. Those feelings tend to isolate us; an isolation imposed by ourselves different than the community isolation that faces lepers and yet isolation none the less and as painful and lonely. We may think, "Who after all wants to be around me and my problems?"

The man with leprosy courageously took a chance on God and asked to be made clean. Jesus compassionately respond with acceptance, grace, and healing. Can we do the same with Jesus, to take a chance on God to cleanse us from all that covers us?

God's care

Last week, my wife had surgery and spent a couple days in the hospital. Everything went well and the recovery while painful has been smooth so far. In the evening of the day of her surgery, after dinner I took Ethan over to the hospital to see his mommy. He was cool and calm going into the hospital and he knew that Jana had surgery. But when we got in the room, he slowed way down. He went over to the side of the bed with a concerned look on his face. Jana was more pale than normal and had an oxygen tube in her nose, but felt fine. He just stood there and stared. We asked if he was ok and he nodded yes. Then he came over and sat in my lap and began to cry a bit. He was concerned. He calmed down and did pretty well after the initial few minutes. But when we were walking to the car, I heard him sniffling.

“I miss mommy.” He said.

We got in the car and as we drove down the road he started crying again.

“She’s going to be ok buddy,” I said to reassure him

“I know.”

“Are you worried?”

“Yes,” he nodded with tears.

“God will be with her. He’s always with her. He cares and can help her.” I said

“The nurse helps her too.” he replied

“You’re right,” I said, “God uses the nurse and others to help mommy.

“I bet God never goes to bed,” Ethan says. I smiled. Out of the mouths of babes comes truth. It reminded me of Psalm 121, “He who keeps you will never slumber nor sleep.” No, I didn’t quote the psalm to him, but it did enter my head. There was nothing more I could say.

Thanks for reading.