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In This Moment
Remembering Rosa Parks
Rosa Parks died last night at her home in Detroit,Michigan. At 92, Mrs. Parks passed on just shy of celebrating with us the fiftieth anniversary of her small act of defiance that literally changed the world. On December 1, 1955, Parks refused to give up her seat on that bus in Montgomery, Alabama, after a long day of work as a seamstress. Jim Crow laws, in place since Reconstruction after the end f the Civil War almost one hundred years earlier, dictated that she give up her seat if a white person wanted it. But on that day, Rosa Parks said no. Contrary to some histories that say her feet were hurting her and she didn't know why she refused to stand up when she was told, she was very clear about her actions. "But the real reason of my not standing up was I felt that I had a right to be treated as any other passenger. We had endured that kind of treatment for too long" Arrested, fingerprinted and fined, Mrs. Parks changed the world, but her own life was disrupted first. Encouraged by her husband, Raymond, she was already an active member of the NAACP, which was a dangerous thing to be in that time and place. This, coupled with termination from her job, an inability to find new work, and threats made against her, sent her and Raymond north in 1957 to Detroit to begin a new life.
But before she left Alabama, Parks participated in the 381 day Montgomery bus boycott, which only ended on December 26, 1956 when the Supreme Court ruled that segregated seating was unconstitutional. This was the action, organized by a then unknown preacher by the name of Martin Luther King, Jr., the action that initiated the modern civil rights movement. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 followed. Although Rev. King, Malcolm X, Medgar Evers and many others did not live to see the changes their efforts created, she did. She was also concerned that young people today, having ignored or brushed aside the historical battles waged to bring civil rights to its present point, take for granted what others paid a dear price to provide for their future. The woman known as the "mother of the civil rights movement" had good reason to call all of us to task, inclusive of all ethnic origin and race in the United states, to take stock of our expectations of ourselves and each other as people in the process of continuing to create a country with liberty and justice for all people.
Mrs. Parks, although rightfully known as the mother of the civil rights movement, was also aunt to thirteen nieces and nephews. "She wasn't the mother of the civil rights movement to me," Susan McCauley, one of her nieces, said las year. "She was the woman I wanted to become." Of all the tributes that are already pouring in, and the many more to come, I like this one best. Ms. McCauley holds dear the relational intimacy of family, of knowing and being loved by another in such a way as to embody this bond in one's own future growth and development. Those boundaries of their relationship are maintained, respected and cherished. But Ms. McCauley also reflects back the success of her goal to emulate her beloved aunt, and challenges us to do the same. We did not know Rosa Parks personally, but we did know her public courage, and there is a lot to consider that we can carry with us, and carry on in her name. In her one small act of defiance, Rosa Parks embodied these words from the prophet Isaiah, that we may also receive them: "Is this not the fast that I choose, to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?" (Isaiah 58:6)
Our legacy from Rosa Parks will only be measurable in our own small acts of defiance against the remaining political, social and economic structures that continue to divide and conquer humanity by criteria defined by ignorance, hatred and anything else disconnected from God's love for all of us. Later in life Mrs. Parks work focused on teaching the next generations how to use their history to create responsible leadership choices, which, all in all, are equally powerful acts of defiance, a clear statement against the way things were, and a step forward into making things how they can be.
The Montgomery, Alabama, city bus on which Rosa Parks said no, is now on display at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. For those of us who remember television coverage of civil rights demonstrators being hosed down by police, it is a touchstone, a sacred place, of a turning point in time. For those of you who do not remember those times, the mother of the civil rights movement is reminding you, one more time, to look at this bus and never forget what was, and what can be.
Until next time, God's blessings.
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In This Moment
The Mutuality of the Gospel
The CBS Evening News ran a regular segment years ago called "On The Road With Charles Kuralt." The late Mr. Kuralt and his motor coach traveled back and forth across the United States, gathering newsworthy human interest stories, and tremendous respect for Kuralt, who always treated the subjects of his stories like national treasures he had been privileged to spend time with, if only for a moment in time. He connected with these people, from brick makers to homemakers, as if they were long-lost relatives welcoming him back to the family after far too long an absence. As it turned out, they were national treasures, and so was Kuralt. You see, Mr. Kuralt learned an important lesson bumping his way across the highway, in that when we are away from home we must trust others to provide the resources of home for us.
I am sure that Jesus and Charles Kuralt could have shared a few conversations about the kindness of strangers in their travels. Although Jesus' travels didn't extend across the vastness of the North American continent, he did travel on foot, according to Luke's gospel, "through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with him as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out; and Joanna, the wife of Herod's steward, Choza; and Susanna; and many others, who provided for them out of their resources (Luke 8:1-3)."
Has it ever crossed your mind, in practical, day to day terms, how Jesus managed these preaching assignments and public speaking events that left him no time to create a paid living for himself? Jesus' culture, although not as reliant on cold, hard cash as ours, still required people to provide physically for themselves and their families, maintain their homes and pay their taxes. Being on the road on a regular basis, Jesus was still responsible for caring for himself and paying his taxes, which does deserve some awareness on our part as to how he made that work.
Luke's words are an indication that Jesus' followers were well aware that in giving to them in his work, Jesus also needed the resources they had to offer back to him. We can assume that these tangible resources included food, shelter, clothing, and money if necessary. The less tangible were most likely also evident. Hospitality, the peace of a settled home at the end of a long, hard day, the warm rhythm of family life that surely reminded Jesus of his own brothers and sisters and their families at home in Nazareth. These are the true treasures of home that people we meet while traveling can grant us without even knowing the blessing they have bestowed. Each of these people Jesus met on his journeys clearly felt stirred by his presence with them, but Jesus also received the grace of kindness which strengthened him on the difficult days, and lightened his spirit on the easier ones.
We have opportunities to give and receive these "traveling graces" today too. Have you ever relocated to a new neighborhood, city, state or country? I have, more than once. Having given and received this kindness as a new pastor, and as someone welcoming a new pastor to my home congregation, I thank God for my friend and her family, two houses down, who has helped me in more ways than she knows. Because of her I know how to get to the mall by the back route, my cats are cared for with loving attention when I go on vacation and I have a place to go when I just need a place to be myself. She is a blessing in so many ways I cannot even name them. Modern day pastors in particular share these bonds of travelers kindnesses. Freed by congregational support to minister full time, we bring along families with whom we must protect and nurture the boundaries of a home left behind, and open ourselves to the resources of the kindness of strangers each time we begin a new ministry. Fresh starts are tantalizing, but not when you need a haircut, and are not sure whom to trust, or when your cat falls ill, and your vet is three hundred miles away.
These are the times when a new travel companion's worth cannot be measured in anything even as wonderfully tangible as a good haircut and a healthy, happy cat. Blessings from God, given and received, are package deals. They bless the giver and the receiver.
Until next time, God's blessings.
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In This Moment
Bigfoot Evangelism
The Texas Bigfoot Conference, hosted last weekend by Jefferson, Texas, welcomed four hundred firm believers to discussions of sightings and tracking techniques, as well as souvenir tables that offered a T shirt which said, "Bigfoot: Often Imitated, Never Invalidated." It impresses me when people are willing to devote their weekend to something they feel strongly about, and who proudly wear their faith across their chest in a succinct statement. But according to Daryl C. Colyer, a Lorena businessman who has investigated hundreds of reported bigfoot sightings in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana, "It's not a matter of believing, like faith, when you believe in something you can't see. It's a flesh and blood animal that just hasn't been discovered yet. And I think we're getting closer and closer and closer," Colyer said.
Interesting stuff. But I think Mr. Colyer may have it all wrong, not about bigfoot, but about faith and how we live it. The only Bigfoot I personally met was a sweet, loving cat, aptly named, being the only cat in history to make noise as he walked across a carpeted floor. I have, however, bumped up against enough moments of faith in action to recognize them as flesh and blood animals just waiting to be discovered.
The author of the book of Hebrews knew about this bigfoot style of faith, and documented it quite clearly in chapter eleven. Beginning with, :"Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen, the author goes on to list countless examples of the unseen becoming embodied by some of the biggest and brightest names in our faith history. Sarah, Jacob, Abel, Moses, all made a flesh and blood discoveries of their faith in completely unexpected ways, to say the least. I think that if Sarah had had a moment between contractions giving birth to Isaac, she might have mentioned God's sense of humor, and the reality of her labor pains. There are many more historical figures, from the disciples to the early church leaders, from fifteenth and sixteenth church reformers to eighteenth century missionaries, from believers who helped settle the Western United States to believers who died helping to settle the questions of the Civil Rights movement, all of these women and men, known and unknown, understood the meaning of what embodied, flesh and blood faith was all about, and what it could sometimes cost.
Embodied faith, having a sense of purpose that can be translated back to an articulated belief in God, is the major issue of the Christian community today. There is no such thing as preaching to the converted if the converted don't understand that faith is more than a moment in time in which they knew that God existed and loved them. How does my faith inform my life? is the question we should each be regularly asking ourselves. As its companion should be our ready response to live by what we believe.
The Texas Bigfoot Conference has come to a close, and the faithful seekers of the undiscovered , yet clearly evident creature, have moved back into their work of sighting, tracking and documenting. These bigfoot enthusiasts could teach us something about sighting, tracking documenting and embodying our beliefs. If nothing more, adopting their mantra, that the discovery of bigfoot is getting closer and closer and closer, would do a lot for our sense of urgency and depth of commitment to following through on the details of the everyday, ordinary life in which God resides. Every choice we make, every action we take with God as our guide in the discovery process creates a foot path of faithful living. We are called to the discovery of the experience of resurrection in our own lives, and that is what faith is all about.
Until next time, God's blessings.
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New Article From Creating Women Ministries
Journaling Demystified
Have you been considering journaling, but have questions about how to get started? Journaling is a wonderful way to explore your faith through prayer, reflection and personal narrative. Shared here are some of the popular questions about journaling, and the opportunity to formulate your own answers to see if journaling fits for you and your journey.
Why do people journal?
Journaling is a simple process of putting writing instrument to paper to express a thought, and idea, a belief, as it relates to your own life. Journaling can also be about creating order in one's mind, clearing out the cobwebs of a stressful time, assigning categories for life experiences worked through and shelved away from a time long past. Journaling creates a process by which we can integrate our faith with our life process, and include God in the dialogue. People journal for all kinds of reasons, including all of the above, as well as to mark an occasion they hope never to forget, a vacation of a lifetime and a lifetime well-lived. Individuals journal to connect with their souls, to enrich their conscious experience and to document the details which can slip away so easily. Mostly, people journal because they want to, and they love to.
Who journals?
Anybody who wants to journal and makes the time to do so can. Author Virginia Woolf, women journeying to settle the West in the nineteenth century, Mary Chestnut, Civil War-era Southern woman, war veterans from Revolutionary times to the present, and Anne frank, teenager killed in a World War II German concentration camp, all wrote journals which survived their writers to tell of their lives. Most of us have no intention of publishing what we write, in this lifetime or the next, so this is not a point of perfectionism or a belief that journaling is only for those who consider themselves good writers. Journaling is for anybody who wants to write, feels compelled to write, especially if only for themselves. As people in our culture become more comfortable with expressing their feelings, journaling has increased in popularity. Today you will discover journaling crossing gender and generational lines, as well as being a self-discovery /cheap therapy for many people to work through personal issues, family crisis and as part of the process of grieving. Frequently used situationally, journaling is also a life-path sounding board for those who consider doing journaling as important as their morning coffee.
What do people use to journal?
Partly, those who don't journal want to know what to write about, but they are also asking what can possible be so important as to spend money on bound books of blank pages and fancy expensive pens with your name engraved on them. What you write about are considered personal tools, while what you write with are considered practical tools. Personal tools are abundant because they are what life is made of: thoughts, feelings, ideas, experiences, everyday issues, world events, community situations, faith issues and relationships among all of these, are personal tools with which to establish, nurture and continue your journaling process. If you are happy using the cheapest pens and paper you can find, have at it. If you like pretty, bound books, fountain pens and colored markers to create companion illustrations, you will have a great time journaling too. I personally have one foot in both camps. I use bound, unlined books purchased en masse at clearance sales, and any pen that feels good moving across the paper. I am, however, not opposed to leather bound books and elegant pens if I have the financial resources and the luck to find them.
How do people journal?
Unless you already journal regularly, it is difficult to imagine squeezing one more task into your day, especially one that can feel quite daunting in its newness. Journaling is a habit like any other activity you do on a regular basis. And, like any other addition to our lives, we make the time if we are serious about wanting to do it. Frequency, length of your journaling sessions and the amount of pages you would like to journal are all up to you. Each writer is on her/his own path, and has the luxurious responsibility of choosing these ways of framing their journaling experience to create the results they want.
When do people journal?
Whenever they can. There is no right time of day to journal, although there are times that are better for you than others, perhaps different times on different days. What i believe is most important is to commit to the journaling itself, then map out when you will journal, so you don't pretend with yourself that you will get to it when time comes available. It doesn't, and you and I both know that. Be honest with yourself, look at your schedule and figure out the ways you can carve out time for yourself to do this. Maybe you are a morning person and you would do well getting up thirty minutes earlier to write a few days a week. Or perhaps your children nap at a fairly regular time and you would enjoy that as some adult time for yourself. Perhaps in the evening, when your home is settled in, is a peaceful, reflective time that suits you. Journals can also be brought on vacation to record your experiences, special events and these events as they relate to your everyday life.
Where do people journal?
Most people who ask this question cannot conceive of making space in their lives, let alone space in their homes, to create a journaling experience. Sometimes knowing the writing location helps ground a journaler, connects her/him to the place and the process. The three guiding principles here are privacy, intention and comfort. You may have plenty of desks and tables in your home, but you will need to scope out which spaces provide you with quiet and no interruptions. Choosing that spot and making it your own, perhaps with a storage space for your practical tools, will help you keep connected to this new adventure in your life. Making the space, comfortable, even if it is in a corner of the least used room in the house, with a simple chair, table, a seat cushion and a pretty candle, can give you a great boost to creating this experience for yourself. It can also be fun to take your journal to a favorite coffee shop or park to change your surroundings and to stimulate your senses.
The great gift of journaling is two fold. In creating a journaling life for yourself, you sow the abundance of life and reap its benefits for yourself ten times over. A conscious life, well-lived, is also a blessing of immeasurable worth to those around you. You simply cannot lose when you give yourself the gift of journaling.
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In This Moment
My Back-To-School Prayer
Our neighborhood school bus just deposited its cargo at the corner down the block from my house. It's taken me awhile to settle back into the routine of not nearing playful screams and giggles outside, seeing bicycles dart up and down the street and waiting to have the winner declared for the twilight street hockey games. Children bring vitality and a lively rhythm to the neighborhood, and I missed that most when the first bus comes, collecting and containing all that energy and exuberance on its journey to be educated and shaped for the future. I suppose it is timely then, that I am beginning to receive requests to add my name to others that support formalized prayer as part of the school day, petitions that ask me to tell President Bush to reinstate school prayer.
Although I appreciate and respect the expression of faith represented in these requests, I do not believe that this gift from God can or should be placed in the hands of our political leaders or our educators for distribution to our children. Implied in petitions of this sort is that prayer can only happen in school if President Bush signs a law into being and tells us it is required. Do we really believe that our elected officials hold such power, and if we do, is that power greater than the relational capacity of God's grace to work through us and among us?
Over coffee a few days ago, my friend claimed her right and responsibility as a parent and a person of faith to teach her children about prayer. That includes when they can pray, where they can pray, and helping them develop their relationship with the God to whom they pray. I respected her passionate commitment to give her children a firm foundation from which to launch themselves into the world, and her recognition that when we choose legalized prayer in schools we are one step closer to a state-sponsored religion that excludes many other religions. That crossed a line for both of us into the waters of unconstitutionality. While we both believe we must live our faith as a consistently integrated part of our lives, we do not believe that dictating a specific religious agenda, especially as basic as communicating with one's Creator, is what a living faith exemplifies.
For myself, I am at a loss as to why some people believe that not having a school prayer law keeps people from praying at school. How can a law determine anyone's words from their heart and soul to their God, or from their God to them? Implicit in all discussion raised in the debate for school prayer laws is the belief that an exterior social structure can limit or deny human access to God, and that God has no say in the matter at all. Prayer being a communicative act between human beings and God, my understanding is that God has a full voice in the matter. The Bible is clear that nothing separates us from God or God's love for us. I would add that nothing can keep us from communicating with God, talking and listening, except our own free will.
As much as our citizenship in the United States informs our lives, it does not exist to abdicate to our government our personal authority in our children's lives or to limit someone else's faith by seemingly expanding and making us feel more comfortable with our own. Prayer already exists in schools. How else do teachers make it through the day and return to their jobs the next? What can increase prayer in schools on the part of the students is not a government-mandated rule to pray, but parents teaching their children about prayer, and how they can use available time at school to pray in a way that makes sense for them.
Prayer is a gift from God to steward wisely as an instrument of faith, not a weapon of politics or a theology of control. My back-to-school prayer is that those who choose to pray will have been taught how, and will know that it is their choice, as people of faith, to pray whenever they can, wherever they can.
Until next time, God's blessings.
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In This Moment
The Last Supper
Food commercials fascinate me. Some nudge at our need to present a healthy platter of fruits, vegetables, grains, and joy in caring for ourselves properly. Others encourage us to indulge in clandestine pursuits of rich decadence that no one can really fault us for, if we are discovered. Still others imply our supreme intelligence if we choose right, and choose theirs.
My favorites are the advertisers that use food products as magic amulets to draw families away from mesmerizing activities like talking on the phone or playing video games, to tantalizing adventures such as take out chicken, specialty pizza, and homemade casseroles from prepackaged ingredients that tempt with fragrant aromas like grandma's cooking used to welcome us. Apparently this is big, very big, that their products are such a force of nature that they can bring the family unit back to the table as a group to do what families are meant to do: interact with each other. Eating together has become a premium commodity worthy of the marketing agendas of major companies. Perhaps it is time to set aside our anguish over school prayer and focus on this phenomenon for a moment.
If we are to believe the commercials, we've stopped breaking bread together because the bread wasn't worth the effort. I don't believe that. If quality of meals were the issue, we would have discovered cave drawings telling that sad tale years ago. My guess is that we don't eat together as families as much these days because we have found something we consider more important to do between five and seven every evening. Having trained ourselves to believe that activity means productivity, and productivity equals a better, i.e., more affluent life, we have allowed the dinner hour, a prime family-based community time, to be usurped in the name of initiating increasingly consumption-driven lives for our children. Simultaneously, we bemoan the disintegration of the family unit as defined by decades-old situation comedies. What have we traded off for second jobs at the mall that leverage our spending power and limit our personal relationships to good night kisses on a slumbering cheeks? What do our children learn about creativity and choices when their after-school activities, lessons and practices disconnect them from conversations with their parents, brothers and sisters, and leave them so exhausted they cannot enjoy what little free time they may have? What do we lose as a culture when we disown the value of relational intimacy and mutual respect born of shared time together, communication, and appreciation of who and what each of us brings to the table?
Was the Last Super really the last supper? Although abruptly interrupted that evening by Judas' leave-taking, the Passover meal Jesus shared with his disciples was not a rushed affair, and they all showed up. They ate, drank, argued, complained and told stories. Participating in a a ritual rooted in historical tradition, loving collegiality and deep faith, the disciples only began to really see what was happening to them and their leader at the close of the evening. What would have happened if a few of them had decided they couldn't make it because they had to go to their second jobs at the market? They would have missed an important meal, and all its personal significance to them and their faith journey.
Sharing meals with our families and loved ones is, in its way, not unlike our shared table with our family of faith in communion. In both we recognize our unity of purpose as the body of Christ, we renew our faith and nurture our souls, and we reaffirm our belief that we are not in this alone. God created us to be together. Connecting to each other as people of faith in communities, from families to churches, doesn't just happen. We must carve out the time, create the opportunity and open ourselves to each other with intentionality and deep love.
Until next time, God's blessings.
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In This Moment
Trusting the Unknown
What is your first reaction when you sense a change about to occur in your life? Do you panic, run through a list of things in your head that could go wrong or have in the past? Do you lose sleep, wonder how you will cope, and when the situation will sort itself out? Who will you go to for the answers?
All these very human responses probably crossed the minds of the disciples while traveling with Jesus as they initiated their ministries. There were no rules or guides for them, other than their faith in God and their belief that Jesus was the awaited Messiah. How could their hearts not be troubled? Can you imagine coming home to your spouse to share the news? It probably would be exhilarating, at first, to be heading home after spending time with Jesus, feeling the joy of his message deep in your soul, knowing who you had met, and aligning your work with his. But then, you catch a glimpse of a Roman soldier in the distance, and a chill goes down your spine. What were you thinking? Your new-found friend and colleague, and all he stood for, could at least get you and your family booted from the Temple. Or knowing him could get you killed. Further down that road, months further, it would become very clear that Jesus would be killed, no matter how well the disciples maintained their hope, and their denial. No one challenged the structures of the Roman empire without fearing or facing retribution.
Jesus understood their fears, and frequently spoke directly to those fears. John recalls Jesus' words in the fourteenth chapter of his gospel: "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me." Jesus loved and trusted the disciples, and encouraged them to take another step into trusting him by relying on their known relationship with God. It being easier to trust the messenger if you are acquainted with the One who sent him, Jesus opened a way for the disciples to be able to trust themselves and their faith more easily.
We have learned step by step about God, our faith and Jesus as well. What was the first lesson you learned about God? Perhaps it was simply that God loved you. Not a bad place to start, and, indeed, a solid foundation from which to work. Other lessons followed, lessons of faith, hope, grace and more of God's great love. The more you learned, the longer and more steady the bridge into the unknown became, so that when fears and doubts struck, as they are want to do, you could steady yourself, check you footing, and take another step forward.
The disciples had the great misfortune to have their faith missteps and fears documented for all time. We have somewhat more opportunity for privacy, and the luxury of learning from their raw courage. Anyone is courageous who walks by faith into the unknown.
Until next time, God's blessings.
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In This Moment
Church Growth
A weekly newsletter I receive regarding ministerial matters arrived via email right on schedule this morning. While its contents varies from issue to issue, I find it enriching to consider the topic presented and the comments emailed in by other readers. When I feel compelled to do so I also add my thoughts to the discussion.
The topic raised today concerned church growth in general and seeker-sensitive congregations specifically. Church growth was clearly defined as increasing the number of people attending worship services and programing opportunities. Seeker-sensitive congregations are those that employ innovative measures to make church growth happen, including music, language and social programming that is accessible to people who may never have been part of a church community before.
While the intent makes sense to me, there is something familiar and uncomfortable about the method. Perhaps it most closely resembles a clearance sale at Wal-Mart: they aren't really clearing everything out, but are hoping you will be interested enough to come in and peruse the full price merchandise. The term "false advertising" comes to mind. However we present our churches, we need to consider what we are really offering to people as the body of Christ. Who are we, as people of faith, showing ourselves to be as we place out the welcome mat to come love and serve the God of Abraham, Isaac and Sarah? More than anything, how do we perceive God as directing us to service in creating fellowships that exemplify God's word in action?
Blessed with three fine pastors growing up in the Midwestern United States, the words of one of these ministers came forward in my mind as I pondered these questions. While accepting an award a number of years ago, he summed up for the gathering before him part of what he had learned in forty years of ministry. First, we are to be about a servant leadership, not just as clergy, but as leaders in our faith. He was quick to point out that servant did not equate with slave, because service to God and God's community are a choice. One who serves gives of the gifts they have been given. While many more people talk of a service orientation today, my pastor spoke of living with purpose and faith throughout his ministry.
Second, he pointed out the necessity of recognizing how much community matters. Having moved among congregations as a parish minister, then a church administrator and finally as a bishop of the church, he saw that coming into a new congregation with the intent of shaking things up with no purpose was disrespectful to the relationships that had created the very fiber of the community. How congregational members interact with each other represents the historical and present faith of its being. That's an incredible resource for a new minister, and a new parishioner, if s/he recognizes the gift laid out before them. It isn't a matter of fitting in, but a matter of knowing you are the next piece of the ever expanding puzzle.
Third, and I think most importantly, what we do in the church must have a theological basis. While music, language and programming choices are crucial to ministering to people where they are at, the simple fact is that the church is not a social club, a baseball team or a part time restaurant. The church functions in these capacities at times, but we are not organized around the central theme of entertainment for all age groups. We are the church, a body specifically created to bind the faithful together in loving purpose and faithful praise of God who called us into being before the beginning of time. If we lose that sense of direction in our efforts at initial translation to those seeking faith as their journey, we have not served God, honored our community or lived by what we believe. If we translate faithfully, who and what we are will become clearly apparent, and the sojourners will know that they are home.
When we are talking about church growth it is not solely a numbers game. If all we are interested in doing is drawing in the masses to a well-orchestrated clearance sale, we will surely have a temporary surge of warm bodies and excitement. But that is all. Church growth is about more than numbers. It is about service, community and an embodied, articulated faith, nurtured and attended to, and shared with those who have questions, and who want to know more.
Until next time, God's blessings.
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In This Moment
Gifts, Service and Working
We talk a lot about gifts these days. Not the concrete, boxed version, but about gifts as a manifestation of the unexpected, but greatly appreciated and valued. Time to relax, a visit from a loved one, a simple sunset, all gifts to enrich lives overspent or undernourished. Implied, but not always labeled as such, these are all gifts from God that carry the imprint of the Giver's love and grace.
Spiritual gifts are another topic of conversation altogether. As people of faith we move through our spiritual journeys in different stages, continuing to develop and learn as we grow in our beliefs. Each time we bump up against our desire to understand our purpose, we open ourselves to exploring the gifts God gave us to work that purpose out as part of God's creative process here on earth. Just as a Christmas present left in the box serves no purpose, a gift from God left ignored or unused leaves us stagnated, stuck in a moment in our lives meant to be a stepping stone, not an eternal resting place. Paul's first letter to the Corinthians gives us a framework to understand how to appreciate the gifts we are given as a part of how the whole body of Christ works as a community: "Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of working, but it is the same God who inspires them all in every one. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good." (I Corinthians 12:4-7)
The Bible talks about the varieties of gifts Paul mentions, and he goes on to talk about wisdom, knowledge and a host of other gifts God shares with us. Backing up a moment, it is important we are each clear about the definition of a gift. A gift is something we are given, even something viewed as a natural talent. Although gifts given between human beings sometimes come with unseen expectations, God's gifts do not. God's gifts to us are always given with no strings attached, no expectations of how we will use them, or whether we will use them at all. It's our choice to squander them, hold onto them for our own use, or share them in ways that follow God's intent for purpose and service in the world. If we didn't have that choice, free will would be a farce. But a gift left unopened or unused leaves us stuck, defying the opportunity to know and understand purpose more fully. As a child I desperately wanted a pair of soft blue shoes for my birthday, never expecting to receive them. When I opened the box that contained them, I couldn't believe my eyes. But, so afraid to scuff them, I never knew the joy of wearing them before my feet moved on to the next size.
Varieties of service, giving back what we have been given, takes some discernment, as well as some clarity regarding on Whose behalf we are applying our gifts. Many talk shows discuss service to the community and the world very easily these days, particularly following the devastating hurricanes the United States has suffered this fall. The dialogue is timely. We are not all Oprah Winfrey, creating a culture-shaping forum. This is one woman's way of service that has changed lives for the better. Service isn't only about volunteering your time, and I believe that people frequently assume that that is the case. Service is about returning what you have been given, by way of gift from God, back to God's people. Ms. Winfrey has certainly done that in her work. Dr. Wayne Dyer talks about living the song that is inside ourselves, about not dying with our music still in us. Our purpose, our service, is that song. And we sing this song back to God.
The classifieds concur with Paul, in that there are indeed many varieties of work. God sees work as valuable, a contribution to building and growing communities of faith and the body of Christ as a whole. Some work is more interesting and creative than other types, but those are values we place on tasks we may find more pleasurable than basic chores or necessary tasks in which we al must share. Each piece of work, however small, boring, mundane or downright nasty, has a purpose in creation, and is connected to our purpose as part of the body of Christ. I do my best to remember this whenever I change cat litter. Somehow this is part of my service package.
There is something rather mysterious and exciting about unwrapping these gifts over time, through years of practice in understanding and using them in all kinds of life events and circumstances. My personal experience has taught me to always wear the shoes right out of the box, appreciate that Oprah has a different way of service than me and that changing cat litter comes with the territory of loving cats. God's gifts are given freely, but not without purpose or ways to work out that purpose in full, meaningful ways. Perhaps the sunsets, loving relationships and time to enjoy them are reminders of the Source of all gifts.
Until next time, God's blessings.
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In This Moment
Looking for Love
Online dating services have solidly planted themselves into our culture as one way to meet a variety of people from which to choose a mate. Say what you will about the old fashioned way of handling things, but many people are freely admitting to meeting their one and only via the internet. What ever your opinion of this new method of meet and greet, it does have its roots in the inherent desire of human beings to connect with one another, to create emotional intimacy and full, rich lives. Locating love isn't so much the difficulty as recognizing what love looks like before you begin the search.
For some powerfully descriptive terms of love we need look no further than I Corinthians 13:4-8a: "Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends;" While popular, memorable and frequently quoted, it is important to remember that these are words related to a congregation pitted against itself in working through what it meant to create a community of faith during a time in which there were no precedents on which to rely. That is what makes these words so powerful, their unlimited application in any human interaction, any human relationship in which true growth and development is desired. Whether nurturing a new church or a new relationship, it is a great skill to recognize what love looks like, what loving behavior truly is, in another person, and even more so, in ourselves.
Love is patient, kind and rejoices when things go right. Think about the relationships in your life and those you observe as you move through your daily routines. Do you see people taking time to help someone with their packages or listen to a request without tapping a foot or looking at their watch every few seconds? Do you notice couples sharing words, but coming to a peaceful, cooperative decision? Those are loving behaviors. Love also bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things and endures all things, and never ends. That is not to say that love is foolish or blind, but that love recognizes the truth, the faith in another person as paramount to the relationship shared. When loving behaviors build the foundation of a life, those behaviors extend out like branches from a tree reaching for the sun, and nurture everyone and everything with whom they come in contact. The patience, kindness and joy in the world going the right way isn't clutched only for themselves, but is shared openly. Love becomes the lifestyle choice, that choice from which all other choices are made.
While some Biblical passages can take some time to understand, to set into historical context to be able to grasp their meaning, what love isn't is very clear. It isn't loving to be jealous or boastful, arrogant or rude. Loving behaviors are not defined by irritability or resentment, and clearly not by rejoicing when something goes wrong. Again, take a moment to consider these behaviors and when you may have noticed them in other people's relationships, or your own. Have you seen someone shout down a sales clerk until they got what they wanted? Have you witnessed spouses snapping at one another, or believing a crowning achievement was to show their partner as wrong in a disagreement? Not particularly attractive, and rather uncomfortable to be around, isn't it? When you stop to consider this, would love defined by God's terms in any relationship be uncomfortable to be around or in?
What Paul wrote to the church at Corinth about interacting with each other in a loving fashion is also relevant today in how we choose to present ourselves as loving people in any type or relationship. It is usually easier to find loving people when we recognize loving behaviors, in other people, and in ourselves.
Until next time, God's blessings.
