The simple life

I don't own a cell phone or a pager. I just hang around everyone I know, all the time. If someone wants to get a hold of me, they just say 'Mitch,' and I say 'what?' and turn my head slightly.

Mitch Hedberg
American comedian (1968 - 2005)

Life is messy

I finished reading a good book: Forgotten Among the Lilies by a Catholic priest, Ronald Rolheiser (Doubleday, 2005). It contains much wisdom.

Rolheiser refers to the philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty, an atheism, who wrote about the ambiguity of life as a reason to not believe in God. Rolheiser says that the ambiguity of life is actually a good reason to believe in God because it reveals the authenticity of creation.

He quotes the poetic words of Gerard Manley Hopkins:

And all is smeared with trade; bleared, smeared with
toil;
And wears man's smudge and shares man's smell: the
soil...

Rolheiser writes: "We are not angels, free, soaring spirits, unencumbered by the limits of time and flesh. Our souls are born enfleshed in soil, pain, blood and smell. We were never intended to be angels."

I resonate with Rolheiser's viewpoint. The Bible tells us that we see reality "through a glass darkly" -- that is, everything is fuzzy. Religion that tries to make life too clear and neat is a rejection of the Scriptural viewpoint. Life is not neat. It is messy. It is unfair. It is godless as we see it through human eyes.

I wish I had all the answers. But I don't. I don't even know all the questions.

Nevertheless....

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Re-entry

I'm back from Study Leave.
Re-entry is always overwhelming.
Stacks of mail...phone messages...emails...pastoral care needs...the coming Sunday.

I focus on pastoral care needs first.
Made one hospital visit today.

Began looking at Sunday's texts.
Can't get a grip on what the focus should be.
The Burning Bush passage is one of my favorites in Scripture.
When I took CPE decades ago I wrote a whole paper on that passage
which summed up my theological framework.
Exodus 3 gives us Mystery, Vocation, Covenant, Caring, Reverence,
Being, Eternity, etc, etc.
This Sunday's passage from Matt. 16 lets us see Jesus telling of his Passion,
and Peter trying to manage the Messiah.
Resistance to suffering.
Desire for a comfortable gospel.
Jesus calls Peter a name! (Satan -- Enemy)
The Rock becomes a Block -- a stumbling Stone.
That's preachable.

Bucket List

Pat and I saw the movie "The Bucket List." I was expecting a shallow, silly movie. But I was surprised. Very entertaining with funny moments--but also a serious look at the meaning of life. Explicit religious questions were raised. Some profane language; but sacred theme. I recommend it.

A Prayer

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

[photo is a sculpture in front of the Presbyterian House in Chautauqua]

I’m on study leave at the Chautauqua Institute.

In this morning’s worship we used this prayer:

Because the world is beautiful, and beauty is a tender thing, and we are stewards of creation, we need you, God.

Because human knowledge seems endless, and we do not know what we do not know, we need you God.

Because we can live without you, and are free to go against you, and could worship our wisdom alone, we need you, God.

(add your own intercessions here)

Because you came among us, and sat beside us,

and heard us speak and saw us ignore you,

and healed our pain and let us wound you,

and loved us to the end, and triumphed over all our hatred,

we need you, God.

Amen.

comma

The sign says, Don't place a period where God has placed a comma...God is still speaking.
It's on the front of the UCC House at Chautauqua.
The UCC is a denomination that believes that God did not stop speaking to humanity when the Bible was finished being written. The same Holy Spirit who inspired the writing of the Scriptures is the Holy Spirit that keeps interpreting those Scriptures by updating our understanding of them. For example, slavery; and womens' rights; etc.
My denomination (PCUSA) didn't use to ordain women; now we do. Our understanding of the Bible changes over time. We too believe that God still speaks. In our polity, God speaks through the session, the presbytery, the synod, and the General Assembly. And God speaks through preachers of the Word. Of course, either God is contradicting himself through different preachers or some preachers have a hearing problem. I'm sure I couldn't be one of those.
Some denominations believe in the 'comma.' Others are in a coma.

Chautauqua Sunday

The photo is the Sunday morning congregation for worship at Chautauqua Institute in New York. I'm
on study leave here this week. The amphitheater holds 5000 people. It wasn't quite full this morning.
The Rev. Bruce Sanguin is the preacher for the week. He is a pastor in Vancouver, British Columbia.
He gave a fine sermon from Exodus 3.

The theme of this week is ecology and evolution. The preacher reminded us that every time we go to
throw something away we ought to remember that there is no 'away.' Everything stays in our ecological
system. Where is 'away'?

Christians have to fall in love with the earth. Christian stewardship of the environment is just
an idea unless we actually have a relationship with God's creation. The earth doesn't belong to
us; we belong to it.

The largest outdoor pipe organ in the world and a fantastic choir help make worship at
Chautauqua a sacred experience.

ending the day

I keep a hand-written journal; have for years. It's a way for me to take note of what's going on in my life in relation to other people, in relation to God, and in relation to my own psyche. I have found these questions useful at the end of the day:

Where did I experience God today?
For what am I grateful?
What did I learn to day?
What was the most interesting conversation that I had today?
What caused me to smile?
Did I compliment or thank someone?
Did I own my happiness today?
When did I feel most distant from God today?
Was I reactive or responsive?
Did I help someone else smile today?

I don't ask all of these questions every night.
Sometimes when I'm stuck with my journaling I glance at one or two.

For me, journaling is a spiritual practice.
It's an ongoing conversation with God.

At night we can give the day to the Lord,
and trust that his angels will watch over us while we sleep.


[photo taken by me in Birmingham, AL; window in chapel at St. Vincent Hospital]






##

No gas problem for Luther

I love the earthiness of the reformer, Martin Luther. I suppose being German was partly the reason for his earthiness. Luther had a way of explaining the spiritual life that didn't mince words. For example, he gives advice about dealing with the devil. In the spring of 1533 he wrote:

Almost every night when I wake up, the devil is there and wants to dispute with me.I have come to this conclusion: when the argument that the Christian is without the law and above the law doesn't help, I instantly chase the devil away with a fart.

Grays

I read an interview in the Christian Century with the novelist Ron Hanson. In response to a question, Ron had this to say about 'Christian fiction':

Christian fiction sets up a situation that's too pat, with good and evil too diametrically opposed. People are much more complicated than that. The other thing about that kind of fiction is that if you don't have an altar call at the end, people think it has failed. People should carry the thoughts of a book they've read around with them for a while and then move, ever so gradually, toward some new conviction.

Exactly. Life is not B & W. It's complex. When religion tries to over-simplify life, it is bearing false witness.

The Grays of life can be amazing--because they're real. It is real life that Christ calls us to. Not some make-believe. My experience has been that in the messy grays of life is where God comes to me with grace.

Baptism

Last Sunday our granddaughter, Norah, was baptized
at All Saints Episcopal Church in Birmingham.
She was very calm throughout the Sacrament
until the priest took her in his arms to introduce her
to the congregation.
She wailed at the top of her lungs.
But even crying she was cute.

My mother (a Southern Baptist) argued on the way
down to Birmingham that it wouldn't really be a 'baptism,'
just a 'baby dedication.'
Baptists insist that infants can't be baptized because
a person must be mature enough to confess their faith
personally before being baptized.
You can't argue with a Baptist about baptism
any more than you can argue with a Republican about taxes.

The fact is that there is plenty of Biblical and historical evidence
that Christians have practiced both adult and infant baptism
by sprinkling, pouring, and dunking from early on.

Adult baptism emphasizes the human response.
Infant baptism emphasizes the divine initiative.
It's all about grace--God's amazing grace.

Now Norah has been officially sealed by the Holy Spirit
and marked as belonging to Christ forever.

Welcome to God's family, Norah.

Honestly

As I begin this new blog
my purpose is to
share thoughts and reflections
through the lens of my
experience,
my theological perspective,
and my understanding of the
Christian Tradition.

Life is complex.
Growing up in a conservative evangelical church
I was told the truth,
and I was not told the truth.
I found out that life didn't jive
with doctrine.

Everything is not Black-and-White.
It has been in the shadows of the Gray
that I have found grace.