September 15

Today’s readings: (Psalm 32 & 38; Ezekiel 23:1-21; Luke 10:25-37; and Revelation 19:11-21)
I want to thank you for being patient with my entry from yesterday. I thought for a moment that perhaps I should clean it up and put a more positive spin on things, but then I realized one of my passionate commitments in my ministry is to be real with folks; hence, my openness in yesterday’s reflection. With that said, I was glad to return to my devotions and find one of my favorite stories – “The Prodigal Son” – as part of today’s assigned readings. The story is a favorite for many reasons. First, I love the passage leading up to it (Luke 10:27) that contains the greatest summary of the life we are called to lead: “Jesus answered: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with al your strength and with all your mind’, and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”). It simply doesn’t get better – or clearer – than that! I also love Jesus’ expansive use of language to make his point. In culminating the parable, Jesus could have asked a pointed question like “Who was the better person of faith?” or “Whose life best embodied the teachings of our tradition?” – which might have skewed things toward either the priest or Levite. Instead, he intentionally asked, “Which of these do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” – thereby putting the Samaritan on a level playing field with the others. Of course the Samaritan’s actions didn’t leave the playing field level for long J My favorite dimension of the story, however, is an often unexplored angle on the parable. It has to do with the question, “What prevented the priest and the Levite from stopping?” Most folks read the parable and conclude it was a generic sort of thing that prevented them from stopping (i.e. they were in a hurry; they didn’t want to get involved; etc). But what if it was something else that prevented them from stopping? What if it was the practice of their very religion that prevented them from stopping? The priest and Levite would have obviously been familiar with the holiness codes that forbid them from coming into contact with blood and body fluids. How ironic would it be if their religious understandings was the very thing that prevented them from extending God’s love and care to the Samaritan! Of course I see that a lot today. Folks in religious communities feeling entirely justified for denying ministry and care to folks who they consider to be an affront to their religious beliefs – people such as Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered persons, people such as illegal immigrants, people, such as those who have committed a criminal offense, someone of a different theological/political orientation, etc. It’s amazing how many times the story of the Prodigal Son gets replayed these days. Today I’ll be spending some time exploring my own faith to see if there are any ways this happens in my life. I would invite you to consider the same thing for yourself. Til next time…

September 14

Given the hectic pace of my schedule the last couple of days, I had a difficult time initially connecting with today’s lectionary passages (Psalms 136 & 129; Ezekiel 16:53-63; Luke 10:17-24; Revelation 19:1-10). What I had particularly been wrestling with was a brutal reality check about the challenges of living out one’s faith in peaceful and joy-filled ways in community. You see during my 3 month sabbatical I was able to consistently live in a place of peace and thanksgiving – so much so that at times I practically forgot there were other ways to live. Over the last couple weeks, however, I’ve been reminded there are indeed other ways to live. At times in my interactions with others, I’ve allowed myself to surrender my feelings of peace for feelings of fear by buying into other people’s issues. At others moments, my experience of thanksgiving has been drowned out by voices of demand. So what do I do with these initial frustrations? Well, several hours after first reading the lectionary passages, I came back to the readings and the answer emerged from Psalm 136. In that Psalm which spends a good deal of time recounting the experiences of the Israelites, there is a constant refrain that is drummed into our heads at the end of each and every line: “[God’s] love endures forever”. Twenty-four times in all is that simple phrase repeated. I guess that’s a huge piece of our calls to ministry. In the face of competing demands, agendas, ultimatums, and dis-ease, comes the call to embody that essential truth: “God’s love endures forever”. May we go forth today with a renewed commitment to maintain our focus on that transformative truth as our lives become anchored in that love – no matter what! Til next time…

September 13

There were at least two streams that were prominently featured in today’s readings (Psalm 27 & 52; Ezekiel 16:35-52; Luke 10:1-16; and Revelation 18:15-24). The first theme involved the promiscuous women of the prostitute featured in Ezekiel and the feminized image of Babylon in Revelation. Of course I struggle with this theme because of the way it equates sexual expression/infidelity with unfaithfulness (it’s no wonder individuals like St Augustine picked up this and ran with it in subsequent centuries). I also struggle with the use of the feminine to embody the sins of (or become a scapegoat for) their respective communities. Those subjects, however, would be enough to pursue in a separate blog of its own. Instead, I want to focus on a second theme that was woven through Ezekiel and Luke. The second theme had to do with the sins of Sodom. One of my biggest beefs as a pastor is how ignorant most folks are about the Bible. Through their lack of knowledge, they allow other readers of the Bible (who often approach the Bible with a very specific agenda in mind) to twist the scriptures and have their actions go unchallenged. For the last few decades, for instance, we have heard many use the story of Sodom and Gomorrah used as if it contained one – and only one – purpose: to condemn gay, lesbian, and bisexual people. And yet this morning’s reading from Ezekiel has another take on the sins of Sodom: “Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me” (Ezekiel 16:49-50). Of course my own progressive tendencies want to immediately unpack the phrase "detestable things", but I'll fight those tendencies for now. Instead, I'll take my time and energy and imagine if religious extremists invested the same amount of energy using the story of Sodom to attack arrogance, or apathy, or a lack of commitment to the poor that they used to condemn gay, lesbian, bisexual, and Transgendered people. What a thought! My insight today is to hear God’s challenge to enter God’s story in its entirety – rather than to sit back and pick and choose those parts (or those conclusions) that jive with my personal agenda: in other words, to hear and acknowledge the fullness and the richness of the text. A richness and fullness that far exceeds anything I’m capable of fully grasping. Instead of arrogantly or haughtily resting in my conclusions (see the above mentioned sins of Sodom), my time of devotion today has renewed my call to continue on the journey. Til next time…

September 12

Today’s readings (Psalm 53 & 81; Ezekiel 16:1-22; Luke 9:51-62; and Revelation 18:9-14) raise two issues for me as it pertains to our individual and collective ministries. First, one of the passages reminded of the importance of never taking your blessings/your ministry for granted. In the sixteenth chapter of Ezekiel, the prophet has God using words that compares the Israelites’ experience to that of a child growing up. In verse 22, after noting the exciting, giddy moments of newness in their live together: God laments that unfortunately, as you grew, “you did not remember the days of your youth.” That line reminded me of some of the conversations early in my ministry that I had with seasoned clergy colleagues who were clearly burned out and bitter. As someone who was almost denied the path to ordination, I remember wondering, “How could anyone lose sight of the awesome joy and privilege of one’s ministry and let it become overwhelmed with cynicism?” Five years later, I guess, I can see how the demands might pull some folks down that path. It’s important for all of us – lay and clergy alike – to remember those exciting, formative days of our “youth” and keep a sense of perspective about ourselves and our ministries. Second, Luke’s ninth chapter reminded me of one of what Eugene Peterson said in his book The Contemplative Pastor was one of the three qualities of an effective pastor. His third quality of an effective pastor was apocalyptic – meaning the pastor has a sense of urgency or importance about his or her ministry. This is exactly what Jesus is saying in verses 59-62 of the ninth chapter where he chastises those who want to first bury their dead and second say goodbye to their loved ones before departing on the path of discipleship. That dramatic teaching about discipleship grounds us in the importance of who we are called to be and what we are called to do. Needless to say, my time of devotion today has helped encourage me to keep a sense of perspective regarding my life and ministry – a sense of perspective that is nothing less than awe-inspiring and breathtaking. Now I just have to live into that perspective J Til next time…

September 11

In this morning’s readings (Psalm 137, Ezekiel 11:14-25, Revelation 18:1-8, and Luke 9:37-50), there were several passages that caught my eye. That was because several seemed particularly appropriate for today as we mark the sixth anniversary of the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. Several of them (the Psalm, Ezekiel, and Revelation) dealt with issues of dislocation and/or disorientation. The Psalmist definitely captured the sense of bitterness and rage that was felt in the days immediately following the attacks (Psalm 137:8 “O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy is he who repays you for what you have done to us...”). The passage from Revelation presented a sort of transitional awareness as we move from a state of the old (Babylon) to the new (the New City). My hope and prayer is that as more time passes, the world will be able to look back on the acts of desperation and pick up the spirit captured in the passage from Ezekiel that reads in part: “I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them. I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 11;19 – NIV). May we find new ways of opening ourselves to the softening of our hearts so that we might first acknowledge the pain in our lives and then turn to the One who can bring healing and reconciliation – to our lives and our world. Til next time…

September 10

My day started with a burst of energy as I spent some time reviewing accounts of the Houston Texan’s win yesterday and The Advocate newsmagazine’s recounting of the tremendous progress that has been made on the human rights front over the last 40 years. Needless to say, I was feeling pretty good by the time I sat down for my time of daily devotion. And then it hit. First I read Ezekiel’s account of the coming of the end (7:10-27), and then I read the author’s vision of the woman and the beast with seven horns and ten heads contained in the book of Revelation 17:6-18. Before I knew it I found myself a bit overwhelmed. At first, I thought I would fall prey to my first instinct (my head) and try to answer the question that drives me most days: how do I make sense of this? After sitting with that question for awhile in relation to the texts from Ezekiel and Revelation, I eventually found my way to this morning’s Gospel passage (Luke 9:28-36) and I found an answer that helped me. Not a head answer, but a heart and spirit answer. The passage is the account of Jesus’ Transfiguration. What struck me was the Peter’s response to the holy moment. His first response was almost exactly like mine: how do I make sense of this. He couldn’t; so he immediately tried to fake it by offering to build three shelters – a response that was so bizarre that the author(s) of the text couldn’t help but comment in verse 33: “[Peter] did not know what he was saying.” I guess the lesson for me in today’s lectionary is to quit trying to force responses to things in ways that don’t make sense. It’s okay to sit with those holy moments and experience them on their own terms, not mine. Til next time…

September 9

My thoughts today won’t be on the daily lectionary passages. I covered those in today’s services. Instead, I think I’ll reflect on my experience of starting the new emergent inspired worship gathering. The first thing that jumped out at me was how nervous I was about the first worship gathering. All summer long I had been remarkably calm as I anticipated the start of the new service. Yesterday, however, my anxiety kicked into high gear as the reality of balancing the needs of two services became very real. As a result, I had a hard time sleeping last night and was up by 5:00 AM. Nevertheless, let me make a few observations about the experience. Let me begin by saying I was thrilled for the most part with the way the service came together. The 14 folks who attended came with an amazingly open spirit and really entered the experience fully. The theme of the gathering was “Discipleship” and the focus scripture was Luke 14:25-33. Let me list a few things that I think went well in particular. First, I thought the music piece of the service went well. Unlike some communities that organize their service entirely around new music, I sought to create music that was familiar and would invite folks into the experience. This worked well. The longer the worshipping community is together, perhaps the more adventurous the group might become. We’ll see. My goal with the music, however, isn’t to be innovative just for the sake of innovating: rather, my goal is to offer music that best enhances the worship experience for participants. Second, I was pleased with the participatory nature of the experience. Folks really got involved in the activity that served as the “sermon” and digested the Scripture in exciting new ways. Third, I liked the physical arrangement of the sanctuary. We are truly blessed to have such flexibility in our worship space (i.e. chairs rather then pews). The space was particularly helpful in facilitating the use of stations for communion, a prayer table, and an area for the offering. So what fell short of my hopes? My primary concern was that I did the bulk of the work for the service. I had hoped to involve more people in the process. The lack of participation by others was due to two factors: (1) my recent return from sabbatical 8 days ago, and (2) the fact that my first week back fell around the Labor Day holiday so others weren’t available to help out. My greatest fear is that the worship facilitators who follow me will copy my process and do the bulk of the service themselves. I should note at this point that we have a leadership team of five working on the early/non-traditional/emergent service, and for the next month, the other team members will be rotating as primary worship facilitators. I am excited to see how this goes as we move beyond the traditional assumption that it is the pastor’s job to do 95% of the work in organizing a worship experience. Now that I’ve begun to integrate Pagitt’s “progressional dialogue” model for preaching, and now that we have had our first emergent-themed gathering, I can say it feels GREAT to have finally begun living into our emergent experience. There is much hope and possibility that lies ahead. We’ll see if this hope and possibility is realized. Tomorrow I’ll get back to my daily lectionary reflection. Thanks for humoring me today and allowing me to reflect on my recent emergent experiences. Til next time…