Past Blogs

The early Christian Community experienced something incredible in Jesus, an astounding abundance that alleviated their personal hunger pangs of fear, nourished them beyond their pervasive sense of inadequacy, and propelled them into the world to be bold and daring disciples for Jesus.

This morning we gather around the banquet table of God and re-enact elements of these great feeding stories. Once again Jesus is handing out bread that he has blessed: “The body of Christ.” The blessed bread is placed into our hands by one of his disciples, and we take it into our bodies – the whole ritual becoming a powerful living metaphor that points to the gospel truth that God will not allow us to stay trapped in our fear and confined by our sense of inadequacy, but empowers us out of his amazing abundance with grace and compassion to be his body in the world – on fire with is love – equipped with his compassion – taking the abundance we’ve experienced in Jesus out to feed a hungry and needy world.

The real miracle then ends up being not the multiplication of loaves and fishes so long ago, but multiplication of love in your soul and mine and in this community that turns us inside out, away from ourselves and toward others.

MUSINGS OF THE WOMAN CAUGHT IN ADULTERY
OR ANY OTHER ILL-TREATED SOUL
(John 8:1-11)

Who or what makes you deserving to judge me - criticize me - persecute me?
Please tell me. I want to know.

   Do you know what it is like to be me?
                Have you walked in my shoes?
                Have you lived inside my skin?
                Have you experienced my experiences?
                Have you seen through my eyes?

Are you acquainted with my grief?
Have you bore my burdens, or felt my pain, or suffered my wounds?
Have you dreamed my dreams? Are you familiar with my aspirations?
Do you know my loneliness?

Is your life so completely together? Are you so perfectly righteous?
Do you possess such comprehensive knowledge?

Why do you speak what you do - critically - condescendingly?
Do you speak out of insecurity and inadequacy? Do you wield your darts from angry grief?
What personal needs are being met in your accusatory thoughts and actions? Is it that your punitive and vindictive God needs an object?

Who or what makes you deserving to judge me - criticize me - persecute me?
Please tell me. I want to know.

Perhaps a word for you might be, "The one who has never sinned cast the first stone."

Perhaps a word for me might be, "Forgive them, for they know not what they do."

Perhaps what we all need is grace, for grace is life-giving and anything else is life-diminishing.

But also for those early Christians, who found themselves at the mercy of the dominant political authority, the way of the cross was political. Jesus didn’t merely die any death. He wasn’t pushed off a cliff or stoned to death, but he was crucified. Crucifixion was Roman punishment and Roman persecution. For those early Christians to “take up the cross” meant to adopt Jesus’ way of living that inevitably led to confrontation with the Roman domination system with all of its injustice and violence. Jesus passion was the kingdom of God, that is, what life would be like on earth if God were king and the rulers of this world were not. To “take up the cross” was to take up the dream and vision of the prophets – a world of distributive justice in which everybody has enough; in which war is no more; in which the poorest are lifted up; where the hungry are filled; the last and least are put first and foremost; those in bondage are set free; and nobody need live in fear of prejudicial repression.

This was God’s dream and the passion of Jesus, and they were so grounded in Jesus and his passion that they were willing to follow him on the same path that took him to a cross. So what we are reading today is Paul writing to those brave souls who lived in constant uncertainty and jeopardy, telling them that “nothing can separate (them) from the love of God in Christ Jesus.” For those early Christian his words were marching orders and a call to courage and action in the face of a powerful political domination system that would just as soon have seen them dead.

Tonight I was thinking over the last ten years of my life and those who have been my mentors during this time. I have shared stretches of the ministry journey with three extraordinary young women, all of whom have blessed my life beyond words. All three have allowed me to look at life and ministry through their eyes and what a sight it has been! Julielu, Julie Kay and Kendra I salute you for you have each enhanced my life and have helped shape me into a better person and better pastor.

Julielu, I thank you for teaching me that one person can make a huge difference in the lives of others both near and far away - that no challenge is too big and no person too small. Thank you for challenging me to think in new ways about doing ministry with younger people, and that I am never too old.

Julie Kay, I thank you for demonstrating the beauty that can be found in details, not only of things, but especially in people. Thank you modeling the power of a joyous spirit and a loving and sensitive heart. You helped me tap into latent creativity I never knew I had. Thank you for teaching me about the courage to try new things and not worry about failing.

Kendra, I thank you for encouraging me to think outside the box – the box that entombs the vitality of faith and the presence of the living Jesus. That you for helping me see that God lives in the unconventional - in the places and people I would never look or expect using merely my own eyes. You have the eyes of Jesus.

Thank you three for being such committed partners in this shared journey of ministry. Could I have made it without you? Yes, but I would be less than the person I am now if we had not shared the same path.

Forgiveness is pure gift. Not even asking for it makes you deserving of it. In fact, what makes forgiveness so amazing is that it is given even if you don't ask for it, or want it, or even think you need it. Our confessions don't soften the heart of God for God's rebellious children. God's heart is crazy with love and forgiveness for his children no matter what.

Today marked Day 8 since my shoulder surgery. All I can say is "miraculous." I have almost no pain, and I started physical therapy today. Actually I only needed to take a few pain pills the second night after my surgery. The doctor expects a full recovery with total use of my shoulder. How blessed we are to live in a time when these serious orthopedic ailments can be surgically repaired and our lives given back. What a miraculous gift!

Tomorrow, Tuesday July 8th, I undergo major shoulder surgery - total joint replacement. What I pray for more than anything else is what all the mystics of every religion have known and experienced is that enlightenment is the end of all suffering and fear. In some ways I really believe I am a bit of a mystic in the Christian tradition, open to the moving of the surprises of the Spirit, expecting God to be manifest on the wings of the unexpected, inviting and beckoning to look and move beyond where I am into new and profound experiences of grace. Tomorrow, I pray, that I will rest back in the buoyancy of God's grace and know the peace that passes all understanding. I will go into surgery with the lyrics of this great hymn on my mind and imprinted in my soul.

My life goes on in endless song
Above earth's lamentations,
I hear the real, though far-off hymn
That hails a new creation.

Through all the tumult and the strife
I hear it's music ringing,
It sounds an echo in my soul.
How can I keep from singing?

While though the tempest loudly roars,
I hear the truth, it liveth.
And though the darkness 'round me close,
Songs in the night it giveth.

No storm can shake my inmost calm,
While to that rock I'm clinging.
Since love is lord of heaven and earth
How can I keep from singing?

When tyrants tremble in their fear
And hear their death knell ringing,
When friends rejoice both far and near
How can I keep from singing?

In prison cell and dungeon vile
Our thoughts to them are winging,
When friends by shame are undefiled
How can I keep from singing?

Personally, I believe when used as any kind of a rallying cry, military, political, social or otherwise, “God is with us” borders upon blasphemy. I say that because with the mind-set “God is with us” the “us” is still the focus. “God is with me!” “God is with us!” Really, are we sure? Are you sure? Am I sure? Could we stand before the throne of the God of the universe and so confidently declare, without doubt, without duplicity? If I live only within the narrow parameters of “God is with me” there is then no recognized need for objective self-reflection because, after all, “God is with me.” There is no need or room for honest recognition of the duplicity that might lurk within me because, after all, “God is with me.”

It’s always been fascinating to me how we take some of these, what seem to me to be, rather dark and disturbing stories and turn them into cute children stories. Perhaps it’s the only way we as adults have found to deal with their darkness and disturbance by softening them and making them into palatable stories for young children. If we look at them for what they really are, perhaps they would be too threatening, too raw, too cutting and too overwhelming for us to handle.

Slavery, in a broad sense, is a state of living your life under the control and influence of forces that would rob you of your identity and force upon you an identity of the oppressor’s choosing.

The beatitudes are paradox and the paradox is no more evident than here. If you have ever experienced grief you know how gut-wrenching and despairing it is. How does the promised blessing work in the throes of grief? The most dangerous temptation when grieving is to isolate oneself and withdraw. But there is little healing and empowerment in withdrawal, even though the pressure to do so is enormous and understandable. The greatest source of healing lies in the people around us; people who love us and people who perhaps have had a similar experience. As we open up and share the pain with those who care, or in the context of a grief support group, or with a trusted friend, the healing power of love has a chance to begin work. It takes time and patience for sure. We live in a death denying culture that expects us to "get over it" quickly and alone. How absurd! The blessing lies somewhere deep in the mystery of sharing the pain with trusted others and allowing their love and concern to lift us. It is in those relationships of caring that the "blessing" may come - the realization that we are not as alone as we thought.

Kendra, our Parish Associate, and I were interviewed by Rich Thompson, retired Presbyterian Pastor from Austin, TX, who is also the host of Interfaith Dialogue on Community Radio in Fort Collins - KRFC, 88.9. We talked about the Lutheran tradition in general and how it is manifested in our local congregation, Shepherd of the Hills. Not the best photo, but it was a cell phone shot. That's me in the middle looking a little stunned by the whole thing!

We live on the east side of Fort Collins about a mile from the CSU Environmental Learning Center. This is a beautiful place that is off limits to everything but foot traffic. It is a laboratory in nature's wonders. Enjoy the photos. Click on photo to ENLARGE.

Sunday through Wednesday we were at our place in the mountains for some R & R. One day we went to Cascade Falls, about 8 miles east of St Elmo to check out the falls. We saw some Big Horn Sheep on the way and a snow-capped Mt Yale. Click on photos to enlarge.

How do we turn off the background music of worry? Can we? Is it even possible? We all know only too well the futility of trying hard not to worry. It’s impossible. But you know, I don’t think it is so much a matter of turning off worry. I think it is more a matter of turning something else on!

As I drove out of our village last Monday these two characters were by the gate to greet me.

Colorado weather can only be described as fickle, especially this time of year. On Sunday I drove out to our house in the mountains and worked there all day Monday doing outside projects. It was a beautiful sunny day with a high around 70 degrees, a nice breeze and dry conditions. It got overcast in the late afternoon, but was otherwise perfect.

I woke up Tuesday morning to 4 inches of snow and it was still piling up when I left - fickle!

I must confess somewhere along the line I lost my nerve for spinning carnival rides. It began years ago when my son David and I went to Elitch Gardens in Denver. We rode some spinning contraption, right after I had eaten a polish sausage and chocolate shake! You can guess what happened next. Yes, I got sick, and it was then I believe, I began to lose my nerve! I grew up! I became a conservative, careful, cautious, responsible, reasonable, guarded, level-headed, safety-minded, logical adult. What a shame! Now carnival contraptions of centrifugal force terrify me and I now avoid them. I lost my nerve. What a tragedy!

As I stood before my mother’s casket the sense of being orphaned never dawned. I thought of the indelible imprint that her love had left on my heart, how it had changed me, transformed me, sustained me, saved me, nurtured me, empowered me, and that the imprint of her love is still in here as latent energy just waiting for an opportunity to get out and be expressed.

I got up and did my usual routine in the morning before leaving the house - well almost. I got to church, and I felt something sort of clanking on my left wrist. I looked at my wrist and saw I was wearing two watches! You know you are preoccupied and distracted when you put on two watches and are not aware of it until later in the day!

Like the rich young man we too invest ourselves in the broader road of the cultural conventions of appearance, achievement and affluence. What are the questions and issues that occupy our consciousness? Do I have enough? Am I good enough, popular enough, cool enough, and secure enough? Am I attractive enough, rich enough, smart enough, strong enough, and clever enough? These are the questions that motivate us to be the people we are But also like the rich young man we can find ourselves lacking, unsatisfied and not at peace inside our skins and longing for something more.

I experienced a most unexpected blessing today. It happened about 25,000 feet above Colorado. I was flying from Denver to Phoenix to attend a conference. It was a beautiful, clear, blue-skied day. I was sitting on the right side of the plane and had a window seat. Our route took us SSW out of Denver. A few minutes after we took off, I looked out the window and there below me, about 30 miles or so to the northwest, was a panoramic view of the upper Arkansas River Valley including Buena Vista, the Mosquito Range, the Sawatch Range, the Arkansas River, Mt Princeton, Mt Yale, Mt Harvard, Mt Columbia, Mt Antero and more. We have owned a home in Buena Vista for ten years, but our history in that area began as teenagers where Marcia and I attended summer camp. We honeymooned in that valley. We have vacationed more times than I can remember in that valley. We have hiked the trails, climbed the mountains, jeeped the back roads, rafted the river, picnicked near the lakes and creeks - laid down a lifetime of warm and rich memories in the mountains and valleys of Chaffee County, Colorado.

I was given the gift of at least ten minutes of a spectacular overview of the most sacred "place" on this earth to Marcia and me. But in those few minutes I was seeing with more than my physical eyes. My mind's eye transported me through a kaleidoscope of precious memories. My physical eyes welled up with tears of profound gratitude for the life and love we have known and shared in that sacred place. My heart opened up in the realization of how blessed I am.

I can hardly wait to get my feet back on that sacred ground and lay down more memories. Today I had an special opportunity to look down on my life and give thanks for the grace that has been lavished upon me.

This passage from Acts 2 is one of the most ignored passages in the New Testament. I believed is it intentionally ignored because it poses a dangerous threat to our core cultural values.

^“44All who believed were together and had all things in common; ⁴⁵they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds^* to all, as any had need. ⁴⁶Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home^* and ate their food with glad and generous^* hearts, ⁴⁷praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.”

This passage calls our attention to the radical change that occurred in that community because of Jesus. These disciples changed from frightened, confused, fragmented individuals who fled in fear when Jesus was arrested, into a dynamic and radical community centered on prayer, fellowship, worship and perhaps the most revealing sign of their transformation was that they were prepared to sell everything they owned to support those in need. Their response to the news of Jesus’ resurrection was to bond together as a community to the point of even practicing common ownership of material possessions. All the issues that had fragmented them melted away, and they emerged as a new transformed community. It was a profound and comprehensive transformation for there is nothing more difficult than to separate ourselves from our possessions and to not live territorially and possessively. Even in the church we stake out our territory, claim it as our own and dig in to defend it, whether it be a room, or a certain activity, or a particular worship service, or a level of influence, whatever. Instead of emphasizing community values above all else, we are tempted to venerate individual preferences and in the process foster conflicts not only with each other that undermine a sense of community, but ultimately find ourselves in conflict with the values of the kingdom of God.

All the sports teams I normally cheer for usually lose. Growing up near Chicago I have been a life-long Cub fan. Need I say more? We lived in Kansas City area for a number of years and needless to say the Chiefs and Royals have not exactly lit things up in recent years. We now live in the Front Range of Colorado, but I have never warmed up to the Broncos and the Rockies. The one consistent bright spot has been the KU Jayhawks. We lived near Lawrence, Kansas in 1988 when KU won their last national championship in basketball and have been loyal KU fans ever since. All I can say about the game Monday night is "Wow!" 2008 National champions!

Emmaus is a bottle of cheap wine, expensive whiskey or a six-pack of beer. Emmaus is smoking too many cigarettes or going on a shopping spree. Emmaus is sitting home alone stewing in a pot of paralyzing self-pity. Emmaus is going to a cocktail party for the sake of the cocktails. Emmaus is meaningless sex, going to lousy movie, or living in a state of unfocused anger. Emmaus is where we go when we lose whatever it is that is tenuously holding the fragile fragments of our lives together. Emmaus is futilely trying to insulate ourselves from life’s burning, frigid winds. I doubt that I have to tell you much more about Emmaus because like me, you too have been there. Emmaus is where these two disciples were headed to try and forget about Jesus and the great disappointment of his life. They had invested all their hopes in him. He was the fulfillment of their deepest longings. They had great expectations for him, but now he was dead - as dead as anyone has ever been dead. There was nothing left to do but get out of town and go to Emmaus.

David James Duncan in his book God Laughs and Plays tells a profound little parable. I'll share the parable and let you apply it.

If you were basking in bright sunlight, and hugely thankful for it, and a man a quarter mile away suddenly shouted, "Hey you! I can see the sun from over here! Stop what you are doing and come over to where I am! Hurry! You've got to come here! I see the SUN! Come out of your darkness, sinner! Get over to where I am!" Is there any reason to obey him? On the contrary, if you obey, you indulge the shouter's peace-shattering belief that the sun is so limited that it can only be seen from where he is standing, and you reinforce his false assumption that everyone but he is a fool living in darkness.

"Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe." - John 20:29

This Sunday's gospel is about Thomas needing tangible proof before he would believe that Jesus was alive - really alive. "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe," declared Thomas incredulously. There is no doubt at that point Thomas was overwhelmed with doubt. (excuse the pun-ful construct) Unfortunately Thomas has taken a lot of criticism for his doubt over the centuries, even to the point of being branded with the disparaging identity "Doubting Thomas." With that dubbing Thomas comes off as seriously deficient in one of the essential ingredients in the Christian recipe, faith.

But is that fair? I would suggests that it is only a certain kind of faith that cannot tolerate doubt and sees doubt as a deficiency. Since the Reformation, faith has largely come to mean head belief; belief in the right things; assent to "correct" doctrines; subscribing to the "right" set of claims. Faith is largely understood as what you do when the empirical evidence is contrary to a set of claims about God things.

For example, I had a person ask me ("confront" would be a better word) if I believed that that the world was created in six calendar days and is about 5000 years old. I responded that I not only doubted that assertion, but I disbelieved it (disbelief is doubt carried to the extreme). I argued that there is overwhelming, reliable, empirical evidence that points to the contrary. However, I went on to share with my challenger that even though I did not believe in a literal interpretation of Genesis 1, I really do believe in the deeper truths of the story of Creation, things like: God as Creator; God's intention that all things be in right relationship; that God has power to bring order out of chaos; that we are given a holy purpose to fulfill in God's creation, just to name a few. That was not good enough for my friend. He could not make that distinction. We departed with him asserting that my faith was seriously deficient. As far as he was concerned doubt meant deficiency.

If faith is narrowly defined as primarily a "head matter" of believing a certain set of specific claims and literal factuality (the "right" things) about God then there is no room for doubt. By that definition doubt is deficiency, and unbelief becomes the ultimate expression of doubt.

But faith is so much more than merely a head matter of believing a correct set of literal claims. Faith is also a heart matter, and I would say essentially a heart matter. Marcus Borg, in his book The Heart of Christianity, argues that faith is much more than head stuff and is primarily heart stuff. Faith is trusting in God's love and grace (fiducia). Faith is being true to our relationship with God (fidelitas). Faith is living according to the vision of the Kingdom of God as Jesus articulated it in word and deed (visio) and seeing that truth can be conveyed metaphorically.

Doubt is only seen as a deficiency when faith is defined narrowly as belief in a specific set of "correct" claims. When we understand faith more broadly as also a matter of the heart (fiducia, fidelitas, and visio), then doubt is not the enemy of faith, but actually becomes its ally. For example, it is my doubt in the literalness of Genesis 1 that pushes me deeper into the metaphorical truths of Genesis that I have experienced as life transforming and "really" true. For me there is a difference between "literally" true and "really" true.

Thomas was fortunate that Jesus showed up and let him empirically see for himself that he was truly risen. But you and I most likely won't have that luxury. The chances of Jesus showing up in the flesh and letting us touch his wounds are slim to none. You may even find yourself doubting in the factual details of the Easter stories. Does this mean you have no faith or that you have to pretend to purge your life of doubt in order to have faith? My answer is an emphatic "no." Notice that Jesus went on to say to those very same disciples, "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe." What I take him to mean is that from that point on faith was going to be about something other than seeing merely with the eyes, which we could call "head-belief," and faith was now going to be about matters of the heart, like trusting that God has the power to raise dead things and life's crucifixions and dead-ends to new life; living committed to the truth that Jesus is not found among the dead but among the living; orienting and basing one's life on the vision of the kingdom of God that Jesus articulated in word and deed.

The truth of the Easter stories cannot be solely based on our experience of touching the physical wounds of Jesus which for us is the doubtless belief in certain literal facts about the resurrection. The truth of Easter is grounded in the ongoing, present experience of Jesus in the lives of others, in his love as it's shared, in living by his vision of the kingdom, and with commitment to his kind of life. It's in my present experience of Jesus I come to "believe" (fiducia, fidelitas and visio) that the resurrection is "really" true.

I may doubt a lot of things in the Biblical stories are "literally" true, but I do believe they are "really" true, especially when I begin experience them as my story - right now - transforming me and bringing new life!

There is a biblical role for the state, just as there is for the church, and they are not the same. According to Romans 13, the state is supposed to protect the innocent and punish the guilty, and to uphold the rule of law; 1 Timothy 2 adds the function of keeping the “peace.” When the state fulfills its role properly, it allows the church to do its work in the world. The church must become “bilingual” in speaking the evangelistic message of the kingdom of God to all that will hear while also speaking to the state about its role and responsibilities. Justice, equity, and fairness become concerns for the Christian community and standards to which the government is held to account.

One could say that people of faith should endorse a “limited” view of government. This is not the old conservative proposal for small government, sometimes cynically argued in order to reduce the public sector’s ability to counter the power of the wealthy and ensure more fairness and balance in a society. But neither is it an argument for big government that usurps more and more control in a society and puts in jeopardy both individual rights and countervailing powers to the state. Clearly, the answer to the endless left-right debate is neither small government nor big government, but rather effective, smart, and good government.

All three sectors of a society need to be functioning well for its health and well-being—the private (market) sector, the public sector, and the civil society (nongovernmental and nonprofit organizations, of which faith communities are a part). It is indeed like a three-legged stool. When one leg is too long (or too powerful) and the others too short (or too weak), the stool loses its balance and is in danger of falling over. Each sector has crucial roles to play, and each should do what only it can do and not replace what the others can do better. A society works when each sector does its share and does what it does best.

After Hurricane Katrina struck, religious communities were the first on the scene to give practical assistance to the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, and they did so far better and faster than every level of government. The religious communities showed both more compassion and greater effectiveness than many governmental agencies, which were exposed for their incompetence. Many pointed out these facts to bolster their arguments against the role of government generally. But while churches can bring relief, they can’t rebuild levees. And if you could add up the complete budgets of all our religious congregations and put the total amount at the service of poverty relief, it would still fall far short of the need—both at home and around the world. Churches cannot provide health care for 47 million Americans who don’t have it, or ensure enough affordable housing to working families, or provide social security for the elderly or a social safety net for children. Only governments, often working with the civil society, can do that. Nor can the churches provide jobs with a living family income for parents with dependent children. Only the private sector and the labor movement can assure adequate and fair employment, with justice in the workplace. And contrary to the antigovernment rhetoric of the Religious Right, many religious and charitable groups helped prompt the New Deal by calling for the government to take a more active role in relieving poverty and ensuring fairness in American society.

Here I am on the deck of our Buena Vista Home a couple of days after Easter. Ah, the warm sun feels so good and there's a hint of Spring is in the air, even at 9000 feet with lots of snow still laying around. I found one of those flat green weeds growing on the path - the first sign of Spring. I also saw a ground squirrel and a robin at the bird-bath. New life after a long, cold, windy snowy winter. Below is the photo of two of the neighborhood residents who stopped by to visit. Click on photo to make larger.

Today is not an optimism festival but a celebration of the good news that God didn’t allow the worst Friday in history to write the final chapter of Jesus’ life – or your life - or the life of this world. It may in fact be Friday all week long for you and for our teetering world, and you may even end up on some kind of cross for Christ's sake, but in Christ God has gutted the absolute power of Friday's death-dealing agenda and given us a new reality, a new orientation, a new center from which to draw strength and live – the risen Lord Jesus Christ – who promises to lead us into a world of Friday’s empowered by a Resurrection Day hope that death no longer has the last word; that God’s love is ultimately stronger than hatred; that God’s kingdom of justice for the oppressed is alive; that reconciliation with God, neighbor and self is God’s highest intention for this teetering world; that forgiveness of sin and grace rules. Now that is something to live for – and die for! He is risen!

A good deal of attention has been devoted to the Evangelical wing of the church. Evangelicals, it would seem, are everywhere, not only preaching on street corners and in bus terminals, but also making their appearance on the covers of national news magazines, when they are not spilling out of our television sets. Reformed sinner Charles Colson can be seen standing side by side with reformed sinner Eldridge Cleaver, as together they intone a hymn. Evangelical churches flourish while mainline churches decline. A poor but honest millionaire peanut farmer named Jimmy Carter, who feels such a personal relationship with us all, tells a press conference how he formed "a very close, personal relationship" with Jesus Christ. And not long ago I walked through a reception line at a wedding only to be greeted by a middle-aged woman dressed in an impeccable suit bearing what seemed to be a diamond-studded pin on her lapel forming in capital letters, for all the world to see, the words "born again"—a term which is fast replacing "superstar" as the great honorific appellation of our time. No doubt this lady was one of the millions of reclaimed people in this country who like to read what Gore Vidal has called "those first-person confessions by washed-up celebrities who have found God."

Now Evangelicals, at least in this setting, present an easy target. With their concentration which amounts to a fixation on personal piety and conversion experiences, their idolatrizing of the Bible, and their general inability to distinguish Jesus Christ from the American flag (although in some quarters this is changing), they represent much which could be criticized, and much which has been criticized. There is one point, however, which has usually been overlooked. Although I respectfully believe that Evangelicals have much to teach us about the disciplines of our faith, I also believe that they often display in an especially dramatic way a classic form of heresy. Paul faced this heresy at Corinth. It is the heresy of those who believe that the resurrection has already happened, that the life of the redeemed is one of unrelieved blessedness which removes them from the sufferings of the world. Evangelicals typically represent a variant of this heresy, but it is one which is widespread throughout the church, not just the Evangelical wing. For who would not prefer a theology of glory to a theology of the cross? Who would not rather have a theology of success than a theology of brokenness? Who would not like to hang onto the promise but to forget about the shadow which attends it?

"After this, when Jesus knew that all was now finished, he said (in order to fulfill the scripture), 'I am thirsty.' A jar full of sour wine was standing there. So they put a sponge full of wine on a branch of hyssop and held it to his mouth." (John 19:28-29)

The Gnostics of John's time came to certain conclusions about God, and one of them was that God, who is pure spirit, would never humiliate himself and take the form of flesh or a body. They believed that God could not be directly involved in human experience.

Therefore, they taught that Jesus could not have had a real body. They said that Jesus only had a phantom of a body, the illusion of a body. They said that when Jesus walked his feet left no footprints. They went on to argue that God cannot suffer, so Jesus really didn't suffer, and he went through the cross without any real pain!

Well, in the face of all of that thinking, John wants his readers to know that Jesus' experience on the cross was real... agonizingly real... excruciatingly real. This wasn't play-acting, or magic, or illusory, but this was real love. This was authentic suffering love! It was love that came with a very high price.

"I am thirsty." said Jesus. He was dying of exposure and loss of blood, his mouth was dry and desired a momentary physical comfort.

What about our thirst? What about your thirst and my thirst? What about the thirst of our neighbors? This is a word that reminds us that to be human is to be thirsty. There are many on this planet who do not have the luxury of clean water, or enough to eat. Are we willing to invest is acts and attitudes of love and justice that will cost us something but will help quench the thirst and hunger pangs of our neighbors?

Or, will we be 21^st century Gnostics and say that God is not really concerned about the physical thirst and suffering in the world; only the spiritual matters?

How are we going to respond to the millions of voices we hear every day, if we only stop and listen, voices who say “I am thirsty?”

My friends, take off your shoes and see the face of the homeless man as holy; see the face of the woman who stopped by the church yesterday and was out of food and resources as holy; see the faces of the ten million HIV/AID’s orphans in sub-Sahara Africa as holy; see the face of the teenager with tattoos, pink hair and body piercings as holy; see the face of the person who thinks different, looks different and lives different from you in just about every way you can measure it as holy; see the face of the lonely soul in the nursing home as holy; see the face of the person in the hospice for whom the clock of mortality is ticking loudly as holy; see the face of undocumented worker as holy; see the face of the gay or lesbian as holy; see the millions of faces of the world’s refugees and displaced from Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan, Kenya, and many other countries as holy. Look into the mirror and see the face that is looking back at you as holy. See the pain racked face of the dim figure who is dying again on that cross for you and the whole broken world as holy – and take off your shoes – for you are standing on Holy Ground.

Luke 19:41

I see you drawing near the city. I see you standing on a hill looking into the soul of teeming humanity below. I see the grieved expression on your face and the single tear appearing in the corner of your eye ... then another ... and another ... and then a flood of tears.. 6 billion tears? I see the awesome depth of your grief manifested in your shaking body, and I see you weeping on a hill that overlooks a city — a city in which I live, too! I wonder if one of your tears is for me.

Such deep emotion and intense pathos I have never seen. Why did you insanely and courageously go to your cross when you could have lived out your life quietly unnoticed? You knew, didn't you, that the only hope for the healing for the world was a love that would not evaporate in the crucible of humanity's pain and cruelty?

I am overwhelmed by the infinite depth of your love - taking love as far as love can be taken. I now understand that when LOVE loves unto death, it cannot stay in a tomb but only rise again. Rise again for me. Rise again in me! Rise and embrace the whole bloody world!

As I stood there in a cold wind on that gray, damp late autumn afternoon, the loneliness I felt for one I never knew became so intense it frightened me! I was on the verge of a panic attack. What was I feeling? Was I feeling, in some mystical way, the despair that perhaps this man had known in his life? I didn’t know. I searched for solace in Jesus’ words, “Not one sparrow falls to the ground without the knowledge of the Father. Do not be afraid for you are of more value than many sparrows.” (Matthew 10:31) At that moment, Jesus’ words and even His presence seemed so far away; so unreal; so without consolation. Even so, I clung to those words, for not to would have spelled surrender to total despair.

Tertullian, an early church theologian living around 200 A.D., wrote that every culture creates a set of illusions, a set of grand ideas that appear to be absolutely true looking at them from inside the culture, but in the end they are false, full of death; lies and delusions. His words have stunning relevance. Certainly the most prevalent illusion of our culture is the illusion that affluence however defined: status, power, money or materialism can meet the deepest needs of our souls. But can it?

This season of Lent, we are truly living "in darkness and in the shadow of death" as we mark, on March 19, 2008, the fifth anniversary of the war with Iraq. It is a war that is being waged by our country, financed by our taxes, and fought by our sisters and brothers. As U.S. Christians, we issue a call to the American church to lament and repent of the sin of this war.

A Prayer for Government and Justice

Give the government justice, O God, and give righteousness and mercy to those who represent us.

Help us to work steadfastly for political systems that care for the least among us.

Help us to seek peace and pursue it with all our hearts, minds, and resources.

O God, give us the conviction to elect a government that prioritizes the "least of these."

http://www.writespirit.net/inspirational_talks/political/martin_luther_king_talks/

I was listening to the radio today and was instantly thrust 40 years back in time when my car was filled with the haunting, yet melodious, strains of the song "Abraham, Martin and John" sung by Dion. I was caught by surprise when I felt a sense of intense melancholy grip me. The song touched a vulnerable place deep in my soul and extracted ancient grief.

The 60's were the years of my coming of age graduating from high school in 1966 and college in 1970. The 60's were a most tumultuous political and cultural time in our nation's history. It was an incredible time to grow up and come of age. I think of all the changes that were taking place simultaneously and the conflicts brought on by each phenomenon: rock music, the Vietnam War, civil rights, the Cold War, the race to the moon, the drug scene, flower children, generational conflicts, the Cuban Missile Crises, and so much more.

As the song continued my heart became heavier yet. It was not nostalgia for the good old days that I was feeling. Believe it or not I was feeling grief - after so many years - still grieving. How can this be?

I began to reflect. I remembered, like it was yesterday, how John and Bobby and Martin stirred our souls with their glorious oratory. I remember how they called forth from each of us the very best that was in us. They challenged us to emancipate our hearts and souls from fear, prejudice and self-indulgence and look to a higher justice and common good that would free the oppressed and liberate us all.

I remembered how they had the power to instill hope in my soul. It seemed that no matter how difficult things became or how intense the conflicts, they held up a vision for a better day that many of us believed really could be realized.

I grieved today not only because they were snuffed out way before their time, but because their visions of a more just country and better world were also fatally wounded with the assassins' bullets of fear, indifference and hatred.

I grieved today because no national leader, politician or statesman since has been able to stir my heart and soul with hope and passion like John, Bobby and Martin.

I grieved today because my generation, the Boomers, who so were so on fire with a selfless vision of a better world, have largely betrayed the vision and slipped into the numbed existence of self-indulgence and narcissism. Perhaps it's the inevitable consequence of disillusionment.

I grieved today for a better and more just world that is so slow in coming.
"Some day soon, and it's a-gonna be one day ..."

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I think too often we mistake following Jesus for bringing Jesus into our world. What can happen is we domesticate him. We end up making him look more like us that we look like him. We make and mold Jesus into a champion of our causes. We turn him into an advocate for our personal politics making Jesus a card carrying Republican or Democrat or whatever. We make Jesus a champion of specific social and moral issues and beat other people up with him. We dull the sharp edge of his radical call to love with our excuses and rationalizations, especially to love the undesirables, those on the margins and even our adversaries and enemies. We water down and distort his teachings and warnings about the seductive lure of power, money and materialism so they become palatable to us, scarcely resembling what Jesus really said and taught. Before you know it, the Jesus we are following is a Jesus of our own making - tame, domesticated, respectable, docile - not the radical Jesus of the New Testament who with every breath he took was on a mission of sweeping reconciliation and sacrificial love!

I got to spend the weekend with a group of youth at our middle school synod youth gathering. It was held in Colorado Springs at the Crown Plaza Hotel. There were nine of us from Shepherd of the Hills but 1100 total at the gathering from 4 states! Needless to say there was enormous energy all over the place. It was exciting and exhilarating!

The theme was "All About We." We took the weekend to explore what it means to be the Body of Christ, not only with each other but in service to our neighbors in the community. On Saturday all 1100 of us journeyed out into the community and were involved in a wide assortment of service projects.

We bonded, worshipped, served, laughed, had fun, learned, discussed and much more. It is pretty cool to have a job where I get to spend time with young people. They invigorate me!

What ultimately caused these learned ones of the East to travel so far to such a remote and rather unremarkable place to visit, what turned out to be, poor peasants and their young child. Perhaps for them, and even for us, it has a lot to do with a built in "homing mechanism" that's inside of everyone of us; a "homing mechanism" that will not rest until it finds its one specific and authentic destination; a "homing mechanism" that God put there in the first place, and that only God can fill. Perhaps, in the final analysis, this was the reason these Magi climbed on their camels and risked the long, dangerous journey - compelled by a "homing mechanism" that would not rest until it found it's destination, the object of its desire.

The Magi were on that quest. They were restless, and they were looking for that person, place or that experience that could calm their restlessness once and for all. How do I know they were restless? I know because I am restless so much of the time, and I believe you are as well. My soul longs for that place where I know I belong; that place that calms my hidden fears and quiet desperation; that place where I have enough courage to even face and accept myself, for you see, sometimes I experience myself and I don't like what I see; don't like what I feel; don't like the person that perhaps I was today in a certain situation. You know what I mean? I reacted too harshly, or I lost my cool, or I was as cold as ice, and when it was over I wondered what came over me, hardly recognizing myself, but nevertheless knowing that it was me; knowing I am restless.

I am restless. I am restless for the experience of being loved unconditionally, loved for no other reason than that I am; not for what I can do, or have done, or will do, but for who I am! I'm restless for that experience and I believe so are you; restless to be loved in such a way.

I am restless. I am restless for a purpose that means something. The self-indulgence and narcissism of our times simply doesn't satisfy the desperate cravings of my soul to know why I am here on this earth in the first place. I am restless for a purpose that's so much more than superficial and self-indulgent. I will be restless until I find it. It's a part of me. It's built into me. It's that "homing mechanism" imbedded in my soul.

That restlessness, you see, is a part of the "homing mechanism" built into our very beings that caused these mysterious Magi to travel so far looking for that balm that would soothe their souls; the same restlessness that causes you and I to travel the roads we travel sometimes to false in inauthentic destinations that deal more in death than in life.

I'm sure that the Magi were totally shocked and surprised that the star that guided their journey eventually brought them to the home of peasants in a undistinguished village. They perhaps had been expecting to be led to the temple of Jerusalem or the royal palace of the governor, which is where they went first. But it was there in that most unlikely of places, they finally found that for which they had been looking. And it says, "They knelt down and paid him homage... they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh." The "homing mechanism" within finally brought them to its authentic destination.

It's the new year - 2008 is here. I suppose this is the time to make my new year resolutions. I must confess I have never been very successful at keeping my resolutions. In fact, the only new year resolution I ever remember keeping was to not eat a single Peanut M & M one year, I think it was 1989. I was coming off a year of eating way too many! I wanted to lower my annual average.

2008 is an election year, and I believe this is really an important election. The country and the world is in a frightful mess. In fact, in my lifetime I think things are more fearful now than ever. The only other time I remember things being so frightful was the Cuban Missile Crises of 1962 when many of us really believed we were in for a nuclear war with the Soviet Union.

So, if there is a resolution to be made, I suppose it is along the lines of casting my vote for the candidates that offer a vision and plan: for peace and long-suffering diplomacy; for justice and fairness for the poor and oppressed; for the responsible care of the environment; for more comprehensive and affordable health care; for someone who will take on the multi-nationals that are concerned primarily about their own self-indulgence and quest for power; for working toward a creative and aggressive energy policy that focuses on alternative energy and many more.

I am still waiting to hear one candidate who has the guts to ask for a sacrifice on the part of the people, especially the rich, secure and comfortable among us.

Maybe the person I am looking for doesn't exist, but I will be looking, listening, watching and finally voting. It is my resolution.

The power of God and the power of Humanity - two realities forever in conflict. Today we see the power of humanity expressed in its worst way in the Slaughter of Innocents. We also see the power of God at work in all its mysterious and wondrous glory in the life of the child of Bethlehem until His dying breath pumping love, forgiveness, grace and reconciliation into a world of conflict, hatred, estrangement and violence.

On our way out to Buena Vista from Fort Collins we ran across this small herd of Big Horn Sheep right next to the road just a few miles east of Kenosha Pass on 285.

Technology has and will continue to have huge impact in the way we live and the way we communicate. However, I have to wonder if our information technology has actually prevented us from knowing each other better; prevented us from getting closer; actually increased the distance between us in some important ways. From the comfort of my home or office, information about the world can be opened up to me, but can I really get to know the flesh and blood people of the world? Can I look into their eyes? Can I hear their voices? Can I shake their hands, or give them a hug?

"The one thing that can put up an almost impenetrable barrier keeping God's life-giving Spirit out and from flowing into our lives is FEAR! Fear has that kind of awesome power! Fear has the power to stifle a human life - your life! Fear has the negative energy to keep you from living fully in the present. Fear has the power to lock you up within yourself!"

But this is the audacious Illogicality of the Christian message. It does not make any logical sense. But, of course passionate, fervent, consuming love never does!

"Dear friends, it is Advent and that means it's getting late. There is one who is coming, and if John is right, coming with fire! And there is a message of judgment here, and the judgment is that, nobody avoids the fire. We are powerless to escape it! The coming one won't tolerate our self-righteousness... self-indulgence... thirst for control... prejudice... hedonism... indifference to the poor and oppressed… exploitation of creation… when we leverage our faith against others; whatever chaff it is in which we've placed our trust. The coming one promises to burn it away with an unquenchable fire.

But we need not despair. We need not be terrified for there is also a message of grace. The one who comes doesn't come to destroy us, but comes to remake us and transform us. John expected the messiah to come with an unquenchable fire – and he did, but it was the unexpected unquenchable fire of forgiveness that flows from the blood of his cross. That’s how the chaff is burned away. The winnowing fork is the cross; the unquenchable fire is the unquenchable fire of forgiveness.

By that grace God wishes to rebuild us authentically from the inside out with love as our core motive, not fear of divine reprisal; as persons who invest in knowing him first, before anyone else, and in so knowing him receive the love and courage we need to relate to everyone else from our spouses, to our friends, to our neighbors, to even, yes, our enemies!"

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Awake! Salvation is Near!

"Awake from your slumber!" I think of my own transformation, my death, and of the world's transformation, the coming "kingdom" of God, the end of life as we know it.

We live in neighborhoods where death comes quickly, unannounced in a spray of bullets. We know each time we say goodbye may be the last. We live our usual lives, yet in the background is always the thought that death may come before nightfall.

In our neighborhoods we see the decay and disintegration of our economic and political systems. At Mary's House here in Birmingham, I watch people search frantically for minimum wage jobs, to find that there is no public transport to take them to the jobs once found. Collapse may come at any moment.

Time of decay, of transition, of hope and despair, death and birth. The Advent readings call us to see the birth usually buried under decay: No one knows the day or the hour, so watch! We teeter on the edge of a new year; if we live these days in God's Spirit, perhaps we will be able to see the coming of the kingdom at last.

I no longer part easily from a friend if our friendship is marred; this may be the only time left to repair those bonds. I no longer take life's necessities for granted; this may be the end of the system that brings them to my neighborhood. Then what? After my death I'm still in God's hands. My world is in God's hands too, but God claims my hands to uncover God's new work.

"The really uncomfortable part for the administration, aside from the embarrassment, is the policy implication. The dirty secret is the administration has never put on the table an offer to negotiate with Iran the issues that would really matter: their own security, the legitimacy of the Islamic republic, and Iran’s place in the regional order."

- Flynt Leverett, Middle East expert at the New America Foundation, who served on President Bush's National Security Council, describing how the White House has consistently ruled out any real diplomacy with Iran that could resolve the conflict over its nuclear program. (Source: The New York Times)

Marcia and I spent the weekend at Rainbow Trail Lutheran Camp at their annual AdventFest, a time for individuals and households to gather at this beautiful retreat center in the mountains for worship, crafts, fellowship and fun. We did them all with gusto. It was great fun. I met new people and made some new friends which is always the best part of a thing like this. Click on the photos below for a larger look at the weekend.

Luke 14:12 "He said also to the one who had invited him, ‘When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. ¹³But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. ¹⁴And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.’"

The above are introductory verses from the Parable of the Great Banquet. In my mind there is no section of the New Testament that more clearly sets side by side the operative values of the kingdom of the world and the kingdom of God. It's a miracle the page doesn't split from the extreme tension between them!

The disciple of the kingdom of the world is ultimately only concerned only about self and could give a damn about anything or anyone else. The disciple of the kingdom of the world is idolatrous about networks, influence, power, status, connections, advantage, leverage, manipulation and whatever it takes to cultivate security and gain for self and one's inner circle. The disciple of the kingdom of the world lives as if, "Mine (ours) is the kingdom, the power and the glory for as long as I (we) can keep it."

The disciple of the kingdom of God is the total servant, concerned not about anything but the welfare of the powerless, the poor, the disenfranchised, the weak, the suffering, the lonely, the lost, the hungry, the rejected, the oppressed, the forgotten, the victims of power abuse and any soul on this planet dehumanized and stripped of human dignity. The disciple of the kingdom of God knows, "Thine is the kingdom, the glory, and the power, forever and ever."

If the church is not a servant church in the sense and manner that Jesus served the humanity he encountered, then the church is qualitatively no different than any other institution of the kingdom of the world. For the church to be legitimate and authentic in a world of materialism and greed, power and influence, it must shed these trappings and assume the servant posture of Jesus Christ.

The disciple of the kingdom of the world lives life to 'get ahead.' Of course in 'ge

A Prayer for Government and Justice

****************** Awake! Salvation is Near!

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Awake! Salvation is Near!