Yuck theology

Luke 16: 19-31

I think this is the yuckiest of Jesus’ parables. It starts out plain gross – a rich man with no mercy whose table spills abundance, and poor, humble, starving, infested & festering Lazarus who dies outside the gates of the rich man’s house. Yuck! Just to be sure we are fully appalled, Luke reminds us that the dogs lick Lazarus’s sores.

I was once led a youth summer missions program that helped build and maintain an orphanage in tiny, forgotten little La

Gloria, Mexico, a town south of Tijuana. When I think of random dogs licking things, I think of La Gloria, where stray dogs roam freely and bountifully. Many of the strays lack legs or tails, and they eat whatever they find, wherever they find it; these are the dogs that licked Lazarus. Yuck!

Lazarus dies and the angels take him to be with Abraham. Yuck again! We don’t let oozing fester wretches into heaven, do we? Lazarus is taken “into the bosom” of Abraham- this exact phrase describes Jesus’ locale with the Father prior to being begotten in John 1:18. Lazarus gets way into Heaven.

So to be clear, Lazarus- dressed, bathed and primped all wrong for the occasion lands right in Abraham’s lap, who seems to have been expecting him; and the rich man of privilege, connection, class and pedigree tumbles into the chasm, permanently.

Are we nervous yet?

Are we more shocked that Lazarus gets into heaven, or that the rich man is rejected?

Lazarus doesn’t do anything to earn his way into heaven, and the rich man doesn’t do anything to earn his way to hell. Maybe there’s a lesson here about “do nothing” divine economics.

What are you doing- particularly with the festering losers on your threshold?
What are you doing – (or not) to leverage your way into heaven?
What are you doing? Make it yucky.

-PC

Debt Relief

Today’s parable of the dishonest manager in Luke 16 is deeply troubling. Many of us read it with serious ethically motivated consternation as we hear Jesus apparently praising the household manager for cheating in order to protect his own interests. “Is this,” we may ask, “..what Christians are called to act like? Surely not!”

Yet Luke tells the story with boldness, and two thousand years of Christian scribes and theologians have let the story stand. Worse yet, we get another story in a few weeks with similarly confusing ethical themes – about the “unjust judge” – so whatever Luke is trying to say, he brings it up (as if it’s important) again! God’s will may apparently engage unrighteous wealth and unjust judges who really dwell among you and me. Hmmmmmmmmm.

This is just radical and maddening enough to be the real voice of Christ! After all we are reading the gospel of Luke, and this particular gospel begins by calling attention to God’s propensity for turning upside down and inside out all human social ordering and political posturing - to describe and to create the Kingdom of God among us. So why not invert and frustrate economic justice along with the rest of the kingdom?

Can a household manager cheat and be blessed by Christ? If so, how about you? Are you supposed to relieve the burden of debtors? Are you supposed to reduce their debt so they can live – and in so doing, incrimentally impoverish the master you serve from collecting what is rightfully due?

Is this a story about God and you, and your call to forgive and restore hope and life to the indebted and oppressed on behalf of the rich master whom we cannot see at the moment?

Could this be a second chapter to the story immediately preceding it (the lost son) about extending mercy and welcome to the undeserving little brother – and in so doing, upsetting the entire household economy and sense of justice?

Yes. Luke tells these stories side by side, as if they belong together, singing variations on reconciliation, forgiveness, justice, injustice and welcome in a sonata of scripture.

So how about you, faithful one? Do you dare to offer forgiveness in Jesus’ name, knowing that your debting brother or sister is making out like a bandit in the deal? Do you dare give away the kingdom of God at half price to undeserving debtors?

Will you offer welcome and reconciliation to the visitor whose lifestyle the church has never before accepted? Will you place sacraments in hands you are quite certain haven’t received them before? Will you subvert your sense of divine justice for the sake of the Kingdom of God?

Jesus does, for your sake.

How about you; do you dare?

-PC

Leaving the light on for you

"This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.” (Luke 15:2)

When I was a boy growing up in Seattle, I listened to the radio. Nowadays we don’t do that so much, but in times prior to the ipod, teenagers listened to the radio; and the radio had personalities that everyone knew; some were announcers and somewere advertisers. Everyone in Seattle knew “Tom Shane” and “The Shane Company,” who always had a direct-diamond-imported deal for you… and everyone knew Motel 6, where Tom Bodett promised he’d leave the light on for you when you were out travelling. Do you remember Tom Bodett? I suppose Tom was busy leaving the light on for you all the way across America!

Leaving the light on anticipates the visitor; it’s a form of proactive welcome.

My sleepy little town suffers a lack of safe places for youth to ride skateboards. Our congregation, who like most churches had a long history of chasing skaters away, discerned three years ago that posting a subtle welcome sign, adding a drinking fountain, and building relationships with these kids was better public policy than chasing them off.

So we posted a sign, plumbed in the water fountain and started visiting.

Now we have a reputation around town and a slow but steady stream of new families who visit to see what a church who welcomes skaters is like . . and stay to join us.

“This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

The Pharisees and Scribes grumble at Jesus for exhibiting prosdekomai- Greek for “premeditated welcome” to sinners; and for eating with them.

Jesus habitually leaves the light on for sinners.

Which all means that he leaves the light on for you and me, skater dudes- with our antisocial appearances, our funny clothes, our piercings, our strange vocabulary and our genuine need for reconciliation and loving relationship – dudes- you and me... And he sits on the steps with you and me as we don’t quite land our kick-flips and he shares our Doritos.

Pharisees won’t ever like it, but Jesus won’t change. He loves you too much to be frugal with his chips, his sidewalks, his power bill, his reputation, or his life.

Lights are on! Your turn, dude.

-PC

UPDATE:

One year later - The Dalles now has a new skatepark, and skateboard traffic at Zion is much lighter. We miss them, but are proud to be a part of creating something better on their behalf...Hooray for progress!

On Freedom of Religion, Sept 11 style

My Bishop sent this letter for wide reading. It speaks for itself, for sustainability, and sanity.

-PC

Beyond Park 51: Religious Leaders Denounce Anti-Muslim Bigotry and Call for Respect for America’s Tradition of Religious Liberty

As religious leaders in this great country, we have come together in our nation’s capital to denounce categorically the derision, misinformation and outright bigotry being directed against America’s Muslim community. We bear a sacred responsibility to honor America’s varied faith traditions and to promote a culture of mutual respect and the assurance of religious freedom for all. In advance of the ninth anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, we announce a new era of interfaith cooperation.

As Jews, Christians, and Muslims, we are grateful to live in this democracy whose Constitution guarantees religious liberty for all. Our freedom to worship in congregations of our own choosing, to give witness to our moral convictions in the public square, and to maintain institutions that carry out our respective missions—all of these are bedrock American freedoms that must be vigorously guarded and defended lest they be placed at peril. The United States of America has been a beacon to the world in defending the rights of religious minorities, yet it is also sadly true that at times in our history particular groups have been singled out for unjust discrimination and have been made the object of scorn and animosity by those who have either misconstrued or intentionally distorted the vision of our founders.

In recent weeks, we have become alarmed by the anti-Muslim frenzy that has been generated over the plans to build an Islamic community center and mosque at the Park 51 site near Ground Zero in New York City. We recognize that the vicinity around the former World Trade Center, where

2,752 innocent lives were cruelly murdered on 9/11, remains an open wound in our country, especially for those who lost loved ones. Persons of conscience have taken different positions on the wisdom of the location of this project, even if the legal right to build on the site appears to be unassailable. Our concern here is not to debate the Park

51 project anew, but rather to respond to the atmosphere of fear and contempt for fellow Americans of the Muslim faith that the controversy has generated.

We are profoundly distressed and deeply saddened by the incidents of violence committed against Muslims in our community, and by the desecration of Islamic houses of worship. We stand by the principle that to attack any religion in the United States is to do violence to the religious freedom of all Americans. The threatened burning of copies of the Holy Qu’ran this Saturday is a particularly egregious offense that demands the strongest possible condemnation by all who value civility in public life and seek to honor the sacred memory of those who lost their lives on September 11. As religious leaders, we are appalled by such disrespect for a sacred text that for centuries has shaped many of the great cultures of our world, and that continues to give spiritual comfort to more than a billion Muslims today.

We are committed to building a future in which religious differences no longer lead to hostility or division between communities. Rather, we believe that such diversity can serve to enrich our public discourse about the great moral challenges that face our nation and our planet. On the basis of our shared reflection, we insist that no religion should be judged on the words or actions of those who seek to pervert it through acts of violence; that politicians and members of the media are never justified in exploiting religious differences as a wedge to advance political agendas or ideologies; that bearing false witness against the neighbor—something condemned by all three of our religious traditions—is inflicting particular harm on the followers of Islam, a world religion that has lately been mischaracterized by some as a “cult.”

We call for a new day in America when speaking the truth about one another will embrace a renewed commitment to mutual learning among religions. Leaders of local congregations have a special responsibility to teach with accuracy, fairness and respect about other faith traditions. The partnerships that have developed in recent years between synagogues and churches, mosques and synagogues, and churches and mosques should provide a foundation for new forms of collaboration in interfaith education, inter-congregational visitations, and service programs that redress social ills like homelessness and drug abuse. What we can accomplish together is, in very many instances, far more than we can achieve working in isolation from one another. The good results of a more extensive collaboration between religious congregations and national agencies will undoubtedly help to heal our culture, which continues to suffer from the open wound of 9/11.

We work together on the basis of deeply held and widely shared values, each supported by the sacred texts of our respective traditions. We acknowledge with gratitude the dialogues between our scholars and religious authorities that have helped us to identify a common understanding of the divine command to love one’s neighbor. Judaism, Christianity and Islam all see an intimate link between faithfulness to God and love of neighbor; a neighbor who in many instances is the stranger in our midst. We are united in our conviction that by witnessing together in celebration of human dignity and religious freedom; by working together for interfaith understanding across communities and generations; and by cooperating with each other in works of justice and mercy for the benefit of society, all of us will demonstrate our faithfulness to our deepest spiritual commitments.

We are convinced that spiritual leaders representing the various faiths in the United States have a moral responsibility to stand together and to denounce categorically derision, misinformation or outright bigotry directed against any religious group in this country. Silence is not an option. Only by taking this stand, can spiritual leaders fulfill the highest calling of our respective faiths, and thereby help to create a safer and stronger America for all of our people.

(Signed by a massive and noble list of Christian & Islamic leaders & theologians.)

and me. -PC

“Are we rowing for shirts, coach?”

As a sophomore in College, I decided to try my hand at rowing on crew, and quickly discovered that this was more than a total body experience.

Rowing begins with understanding that the lightweight, narrow rowing shell will easily flip- if the team does not work together, and that if you do not row cleanly, your oar may pluck you out of the boat! So by beginning with using only arms, rowers learn to move the shell by adding more and more muscle groups to pulling the oar- until they approach mastery of full pressure, slide seat competitive rowing.

But rowing is not an individual experience, and strength and skill alone will not win races, for all eight oars must catch, pull, release, feather and recover in one graceful and balanced yet powerful motion for the shell to gain sufficient speed to win. The rower loses oneself as he or she synchronizes every thought and sinew with the other seven rowers; and kinesthetic poetry whooshes across still water.

“Are we rowing for shirts, Coach?”

There is a cost. When I was rowing, confident men’s teams would bet their jerseys on their races, so a victory on the water gained each of us as many as five opposing team’s shirts, a loss cost us our shirts.

Coach always had the same answer to our question: “Are you kidding? Of course you’re racing for shirts!”

When you just might literally lose your shirt, it changes motivation and calls all manner of questions into play – Have I prepared for this? Do I really have what it takes? Are my teammates committed too? Can we endure the suffering we all know will come? Will victory justify the sacrifices?

Jesus challenges us in this week’s lesson (Luke 14: 25-33) to consider how much this discipleship race will cost us. How committed are we to this following Jesus event? Why are we on this team to begin with? Are we allured by the handsome company, the calm and misty waters of dawn workouts, the adrenaline rush of divine presence, the beauty of worship and the cool feeling we get among Christian friends? Do we want to be part of a team at all? . . .

. . or is there more: are we on this team to win shirts?

Winning shirts takes total commitment and stunning focus. Winning rowers fix their eyes on the neck of the rower seated before them, breathe deeply and pull; they do not allow their eyes out of the boat once the race is on, even for a moment. What has distracted your faith, your leadership, your mission, your church? Maybe it’s time to let it go. Then Focus! Breathe! Pull!

Jesus asks us this week for an attitude check. “Are you with me?” he asks. “I’m going to lose my skin and win the world in this race.”

Carrying this cross of discipleship behind Jesus costs everything; and wins more.

Peace, perseverance and divine focus be with you this week!

-PC

Note: This posting was originally composed for the Oregon Synod Book of Faith website. Go visit for other great devotions!

Luke 12:49 fire

I rejoice!

I rejoice in the hard work of the the christian* church this week as we feel the fire of grace, mercy and forgiveness burn and divide!

I rejoice with those whom we no longer circumcise before we call them "Brother" or "Sister" or "Sibling" in Christ.

I rejoice with those whom we have learned foreign cultures and sub-cultures to hug.

I rejoice with scholars who think and wonder and caution and dare!

I rejoice with pray-ers who pray and parents who weep!

I rejoice with those whom proud and wealthy institutions have called "unclean" and sent missionary teams to "help.." but whom we have now learned to cherish as equally God's work, then

I rejoice with those who scratch their (our) collective theological minds to deal with our own digestion issues.

I rejoice that the gospel burns, terrifies and divides, then reconciles even you and me!

I rejoice with those learning to un-circle wagons and roll new places with courage and cost.

I rejoice!

I rejoice with God who is huge and absolutely sufficient!

I rejoice!

Sing, Good-News christians* around the world, sing and dance!

*intentionally neither capitalized or capitolized...

Taking flak

“Well Pastor, you don’t take flak unless you are over the target.”

“I’m excited!” my young parishioner continued, reminiscing about his previous Air Force training. “It means we’re doing something here!”

Sunday morning we had visitors in our Adult Sunday School class. Now this isn’t so unusual, as we’ve had visitors of various sorts all summer long at 9:00 on Sunday mornings. It isn’t that we are advertising anything fancy or novel, we simply read the second lesson from the Lectionary and reflect on it. But it’s also God’s word we give audience to, and God’s word creates, re-orders, and sets the oppressed free to live. Not everyone wants people free.

So we are regulary a forum of the aging faithful, the young developmentally disabled, the substance abuse recovering homeless, the mentall ill, and you and me. (Perhaps that is a redundant sentence?) But on Sunday we had unusual visitors. They came in slightly late and they came in silently and angrily. We welcomed them to the table that welcomes everyone, offered them coffee and continued reading Colossians.

They had no names and wanted no coffee. They didn’t open the Bibles we offered, but steely waited for our reading to interface with their script, then took off into Moses and Holiness and Perfection! The one who spoke had eyes that burned through me and she trembled as she seethed. The second time she commanded our open conversation I let her run- for maybe eight minutes or more.

After all, at our table, you can rant. You can seeth, you can say whatever you like. And, if you are interested, you can ask any question – because we so deeply believe that it’s the work of the Holy Spirit to create faith- faith that usually has lots of questions and emotions. We believe that God’s word opens the process, and your experience matters deeply. She didn’t ask any questions; She wanted to fight.

We decided to love, and I’m not sure how she took it. Eventually she ran out of things to say and fell silent while we waited for her.. ten, fifteen, twenty, thirty seconds. She never reached her crescendo.. “shall we continue reading the lesson?” I asked after it was good and clear that she had emptied herself and the silence was thick..

We did, and Colossians answered the thread of perfection, practice and holiness she had woven her quilt together with. “No,” God gently spoke, “it’s Jesus, just Jesus.” We read slowly, so as not to miss a word that wrapped us in the arms of Jesus; and she had nothing left. We prayed and went upstairs to worship.. (they fled.)

What, we wondered, has just happened?

Love did not visit us on Sunday morning at 9:00. No, Love was waiting for visitors. Perhaps this is what invited the attack. God is love, and we follow Jesus, the great lover of the worst kind of sinners. And our reputation is growing – we’re the church where everyone is welcome and anyone who wants Jesus gets Communion. We’re the church where teenagers skate on the steps by the front door. We’re the church with the Bible studies that don’t flinch from deep questions. We’re the church that initiated a new cooperative ministry that brought a non-white, non-traditional, non-male Methodist pastor with corn-rows into our leadership. That’s us.. Love, and hope and total expectation that God moves among us in beautiful new and old ways..

But God is not alone, and Jesus’ work is opposed even now. When we go public with God’s shameless execution of the law on the cross as he opens his arms to us, we too unravel fear and all the institutions based on fear.

But they don’t unravel peacefully – for they aren’t made of peace, but violence; violence that instills fear – fear that enslaves, clones, and intimidates. Fear is the only tool Evil brings. And fear wanted a fight she could dominate! Sorry. We take the cross.

So we had fearful visitors. Direct hit! I kinda hope they bring friends next time… but then again, ministry is easier and more peaceful if they stay away.

Nah…!

But hold the press.. The discussion can't stay stuck here, in them and us. No, not if we're serious about us, and about Jesus. Because if we were so fine, Jesus wouldn't have needed to tread our earth, and we wouldn't have seen him crucified and risen.. but he did, and we did.

Them- in all their misunderstood motivations and meanings, in their frustration and anger, in their ranting.. has to be us too. They are no less beloved of God than we, no less sinful, no less welcome into forgiveness, no less precious in God's eyes than pastorman, there leading the good little welcoming Lutheran Bible study. No they are us, and their anger is ours (God forgive and bless us all!) Unless we start seeing things that way, we aren't ever welcoming, aren't family, aren't truly the Body of Christ that fully winces when our fingers get pinched.

We visited and were visited on Sunday; we who try to understand and follow. Now what?

Peace be with you and on your house!

Too near the cross for comfort

Mamma said there'd be days like this..

The Shirelles sang well.

This month I spent three weeks traversing Eastern Washington and Oregon visiting my mother in intensive care after a surprise late night diabetic reaction nearly claimed her life, and then just as nearly claimed her personality. While she was unresponsive for several days, I made a quick round trip back home to bury a woman just her age, then a week later unplugged life support on a rowdy, fun loving three year old who's body lost a quick bloody knuckles game with E-Coli.. then a few days later his great grandpa lost the same game, and we buried them on Thursday and Friday, bippity, boppity boop. June.

Mamma said there'd be days like this, there'd be days like this my mamma said...

Tears will be close for months, I think. These things make me tender in a way no movie can match. And they make me feisty. I have real questions for God about justice and mercy, when cute little three year old boys die. I have questions that wail with the bereaved mother at 2AM in the hallway of Doernbecher's Children's Hospital as the doctors, hospital administrator and counselors wish to gather us for a family meeting, and they are so relieved to see me, the calm pastor in his soothing clerical collar present to ease the scene, as Mamma wails, "I can't go in there, I know what they're going to say; nooooooooo!" And I feel anything but calm and soothed inside with my breaking heart pounding with love for this family and also desperately aware of my own child, sleeping at home an hour and a half away... Questions, God.. Questions.

Don't let them start, for they spiral - one on top of another, growing, racing, connecting, accusing, into a vortex of dissatisfaction.

Or maybe let them go - for they spiral - one on top of another, growing, racing connecting, accusing, into a cruciform paradox.

"Hey," says the voice at the other end of my lament.

"I lost my son too; Hurts doesn't it?"

God showed Job all of creation, and he told him he was right to complain about losing his whole family.

Job's friends were wrong to blame the victim. They get rebuked.

Job gets eyes to see, and his mind can't take it.

God shows me the cross and lets me wail with the women.

My eyes see Jesus, dying with Dominic, and my mind can't take it. "He's mine," says the Lord, pulling him through the cross into eternity, "you said as much when you baptized him."

But he was ours too, and we're not done with him! . . . And maybe when you get close enough to the cross to wail with the women, it's gonna be hard to see beyond the pain.

Tonight I believe that it's easier to be a theologian than a disciple. Theologians get vexed by paradox- and while this can be a very maddening experience, it is still sterile and remote. Theologians see God in words and concepts, in books and diagrams. Disciples get biotoxins, uncleanness and bodily fluids on their hands- experiences that are neither sterile nor remote. Disciples see God in three year olds with tubes draining (and supplying) normal and improvised orifices. Disciples touch, wipe tears, hold, hug and smell. And we discover that God weeps too.

Maybe I wouldn't trade June away. I liked being that near the cross, even if it left me tender. Something holy happened there...

And maybe tenderness is desirable?

Mamma said there'd be days like this, there'd be days like this my mamma said.

Peace.

Denial is the first stage

Sometimes God speaks outside of scripture; sometimes God laments in newsprint.

The local paper tells me that that our local district will work with 1.2 million less dollars this next year, as our student population gently grows. Did your paper say something similar?

In response to Oregon’s state budget curse, local schools are cutting 11 jobs in a heroic effort to reduce their budget by 3.5%. Last year our impoverished district made big cuts. Now we are cutting more.

3.5% cuts equals 3.5% less teaching capacity. When you fire janitors, teachers must do the mopping. When you fire administrators, teachers must do the administration. To be very clear: we’re looking at 3.5% less teaching next year.

We can try to appease ourselves by asserting that the fat is simply being trimmed and that our schools and teachers will be more highly motivated next year.. with 3.5% less.

We can try to appease ourselves.

People who are not familiar with educating today’s American youth make these appeasing claims;
People who want to believe that all students come to school equally ready to learn from safe, comfortable, balanced homes like their own make these claims;
People who try valiantly to expose the waste in the system and who don’t want to waste any of their hard earned money on schools make these claims.
People who don’t want to waste their money on kids make these claims.

Kids.

People who don’t know make these claims.

Denial is the first stage of grief, then comes anger, then bargaining, then depression, then acceptance.

The local paper tells me that the school board voted unanimously to cut these eleven jobs in the fall. I know these people on the school board – and I know that many of them have kids in these schools that will now have 3.5% less teaching capacity. What a wretched choice we have forced them into! How long will they volunteer to serve?

These schoolboard members need our praise, our prayers and our support. They also need to hear our contrition (that means feeling sorry for what we have done.) We’ve pickled them with our public policy and hung them out for public abuse with a no-win forced play. Shame on us.

3.5% less for our kids, and nearly every household in town has two or more cell phones, two or more cars, cable TV, internet, green lawns, and a pantry full of expensive, pre-packaged junkfood- And no money to spare for education. 3.5% less for our kids. . . and the list can easily go on!.

3.5% less. Denial is the first stage of grief, then comes anger, then bargaining, then depression, then acceptance.

Maybe we’re at acceptance, but I hope not- I’m (edited)!

Okay, okay. Does God speak, as I began the post, in newsprint- and if so, how?

God (of scripture) has an unashamed love affair with the children, the weak, the alien who recently moved to town, the unhealed, and the powerless. God (of scripture) twice crashed the kingdoms of God's people when they didn't share God's love with these groups because God (of scripture) can't stand having God's name being associated with societal injustice. (Check Luke 2:46-55 for a quick synopsis of Isaiah and the prophets)

God (of scripture) may not be who many voters know; it's been true for thousands of years.

When the children suffer because the parents are intoxicated with wealth and power, clouds often gather in Heaven.

Denial is the first stage.

No handlebars

"I can ride a bike no handlebars.. no handlebars.."

I met two a new bands this weekend; bands I really liked. The suggestion came from the back seat on the way home from a youth retreat, where two Sophomores were splitting an ipod. "Hey Pastor, I think you'll really like this one. Why don't you tune the stereo to our ipodradiostation?" I complied with the request and they were instantly surprised by the bose subwoofer behind them. "Woah.. cool!"

"I can ride a bike no handlebars.. no handlebars."

The band is Flobot, they sing rap and hip/hop. I usually hate rap and hip/hop! But this band uses violins & trumpets & accordions & ska. And, well . . they hand it over!

"No handlebars" is all ethics. What if you take arrogant male juvenile stupidity all the way to the White House and put it in charge? What if?

If?

"Flobot" - and my other new favorite band, "Cage the Elephant."

Leave it to the latest pagan bands to ask the really tough Christian questions.

Go boys!

Recipes

I just returned from a most exhilarating weekend with two hundred high school students at 3500 feet in the North Cascades, three hours from civilization. What happens when you take six busloads of hormonally alive teens to a very remote place in the mountains, mix in thirty youth directors, parents, pastors and planners, add a truly gifted Lutheran hip-hop/rap artist, (I know, that sounds like an oxymoron!) a pool hall, bowling alley, sauna, great food, ice cream, God’s Word, Sacrament and the Holy Spirit?

Good question, really.

That’s why we went, and that’s why we will go again. Because if faith development was scripted we could just print and mail out books; and we would. But it isn’t, so we go. . .

What happens on a retreat? Which part is the most important? Is it the worship times? The “prayer around the cross?” Sharing Holy Communion with kids from all around the Northwest? Is it small groups? Servant events? Mealtime? Bedtime devotions, song sessions with other churches? Is it deep faith conversations with youth leaders? Is it the guest speaker, or the pristine setting? Is it new friendships? Is it Rustyburgers, or adding wild complication to the timeless classic roadtrip game, “Slug Bug?” Is it narrowly avoiding adding fresh deer hides to the Pastor’s bumper on the way home?

More good questions. I imagine the answers will be different for each of us. That’s why we went, and that’s why we will go again. Because if faith development was scripted we could just print and mail out books; and we would. But it isn’t, so we go. . .

Faith development is so much like good parenting: The doctrine, philosophy, teaching and strategy are all important, but the real fruit of both faith development and parenting is borne in the unscripted times together: in the car, after the meal, before the session, passing firewood, passing gas, during free time . . . in the still and quiet moments and in the ruckus, as long as we are together! And like good parenting, the whole investment is done in love and hope; for there is no guaranteed outcome to our work- only irresistable odds!

That’s why we went, and that’s why we will go again.

I’m convinced that this is why Jesus was not an author, but a friend; not a lawyer but a lover. (Though he was divinely quotable and wonderfully competent in local law!) Jesus went on retreat with the crowds and savored the travel time, taking questions and conversations from the back seat as they came. He sang, laughed, relaxed, ate, cried, worked, “redirected” and rejoiced us through our wonderings into faith. No doubt, Jesus knew the playlist on Peter’s ipod.

That’s why we went, and that’s why we will go again. Want to come along?

Pickles and Morons..

In June of 2007, supported by the United States Government, Palestinians held elections in Gaza to determine which group would govern them – Hamas, a globally famous organization, infamous among Western governments for it’s militant opposition to all things Israeli, or Fatah, the favorite of Western governments. In the name of freedom and democracy, elections were held, (celebrated by the American president!) elections were monitored, and votes were counted.

Then, to the great dismay of all governments Western, results determined that free people in Gaza had freely elected Hamas to be their governors.

Hamas! What shall the freedom-advocating global civilization do? We insured their ability to make the free choice we so prize! And they chose what we did not. Do we honor the process we created on their behalf and the choice they made within the process, or do we force an outcome we prefer? What a pickle!

Closer to home, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has made much news since August of 2009, when (among many things) it voted by significant margins to approve non-heterosexual humans who happen to also be committed into same-gender, lifelong, publicly accountable relationships to become clergy in parishes who wished to “call” such individuals. (Churchspeak translation: The ELCA let some practicing gays preach.)

What does the election of Hamas in 2007 and the National Assembly of the ELCA in August 2009 share? Three things: Freedom and voting, two prized American values. – and they share the same pickle.

What happens when you let people vote?
Well, you personally release control of the outcome into the hands of everyone else who joins you at the polls. To allow a vote is to occasionally allow an antithetical option to the one you prefer! We Americans allow the dangerous option because we believe that the society we share together is resilient due to our ability to grant disharmony voice and (if elected) authority. Freedom and elections enable the risk taking and dissonance necessary for long-term systemic adaptive change- and this capacity for change fuels our nation, our culture and our economy.

Of course, your fellow citizens may be morons who don’t deserve to vote. What then? Perhaps they should be prevented from frequenting the polls. We might do well to consider who ought to make the decisions for us! The ancient Greeks had a working system: only male landowners of significant financial means had a voice in politics. All others were disposable.

The Greek empire was overthrown.

Our system allows disposable morons like me and you to vote.

We should not vote, and should not call ourselves freedom-loving if we cannot release the outcomes of our votes. If the voting cannot go your way without jumping to conspiracy theories, you may not really have much interest in freedom and democracy at all. Mull that over.

Our American civilization is losing it’s freedom- but not due to the work of one or another political party- we’re losing our freedom to disenfranchised conspiracy theorists who will not allow voting to be voting. When we cannot trust freedom and voting any longer, and we won’t live peacefully with outcomes we dislike, we have violence as our future. Hamas is the Old-Testament word for violence- Look it up.

Back to the ELCA as I wind down:
A noisy minority within the ELCA are “disenchanted” now with the churchwide organization. As I listen closely, I hear conspiracy theory lurking underneath a significant body of the disenchantment. Rather than believing that the cumulative free votes of the church-wide assemblies over the last decades have led the Evangelical Lutheran Church into systemic adaptive change that differs from their personal preferences, many dissenters believe that the churchwide office in Chicago has manipulated votes to drive a liberal agenda; then they withhold funding to "punish" the institution.

Withheld funding cripples local mission-start congregations, disaster relief, seminary funding, mission-redevelopment internship sites, and many other vulnerable growing edges of the faith. Withheld funding "punishes" mission and misses the real target: voting.

Should the church allow regularly scheduled representative votes and elections, or should the Evangelical Lutheran Church realign with the Papacy? Should the ELCA become a separate Papacy? Is participatory, accountable, systemic adaptive change part of the resilient long term health and story of the Christian faith- and if so, should it continue? Is voting a church function?

Should the people in Gaza, Afghanistan, Iraq, Congo, Sudan, Pakistan, California, Oregon. Iowa, Delaware. . . be allowed regularly scheduled representative votes and elections, or . . mmmmmm. . . ???

Pickles!!

Children of God in jeopardy

“Listen closely, my children. Unless you are baptized, you are not counted one of the children of God, and you will not see the Kingdom of Heaven.”

The Pastor is very, very earnest, for his faith, his career, his theological foundations, his very existence are tied up in these words. “Unless.” He is ordained to hold and turn the keys to the Kingdom in water, word, and sacrament.

The earnest pastor preaches to a room full of children. They come from a variety of faiths, many of them “none”, and others from the churches that choose to baptize around the age of full maturity, near the Sophomore year in High School, when they get their driver’s licenses. . .

I wonder what enters the hearts of the children who know they are not baptized, when the very official and serious preacher tells them they are not children of God, and will not see the kingdom of Heaven? Do they meet a God of love and mercy at these moments? Do they long for a relationship with a God who knows the number of hairs on their heads? Or do they begin to fear, and fear deeply?

For it is their parents who make these choices for them. Their parents put them in “unless” jeopardy. And the kids sit, trapped before a preacher, knowing that they cannot become children of God. Oh dear!

At times like these I hope the children are daydreaming; and I begin wondering what became of the criminal on the cross next to Jesus, when he was told, “Today you will be with me in paradise.” This man was not baptized. Did Jesus lie to placate the poor condemned soul? The man made no formal confession of faith, attended no membership classes, tithed not, received no saving sacrament or baptism, yet to him who believed was salvation promised! And what of the household of Cornelius in the book of Acts – who believe and receive the fruits of the spirit prior to baptism? Goodness, and doesn’t the formal church hustle to cover this grievous procedural error on God’s part? Peter, aware that his formula for salvation has been divinely subverted, stammers:

“Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” So he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. (Acts 10:47)

"Children of God" is Romans 8:15 language. Paul writes that we did not receive a spirit of bondage but a spirit of adoption, wherein the Holy Spirit testifies that we are children of God; children, by faith. Those who believe are children, as Paul continues. “ . . it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are reckoned as descendants.” (Romans 9.8)

Hmmm. Believing faith saves, and belief ultimately desires baptism. But is it baptism that saves?

What, exactly determines whether or not one is a child of God? Is that our designation to make? And how, exactly, does one enter the Kingdom of Heaven? Is there a formula to follow and a gatekeeping scorekeeper?

Or is it up to Jesus?

We know Jesus’ heart. They crucified him for not keeping score, for welcoming thieves and dining with outcasts, for healing without copays and feeding without lunch tickets. And we know how he describes the Kingdom of Heaven – near, within us, and like Luke 15, shamelessly in love with the missing sheep and unworthy children. We know that it is children (unbaptized, certainly) that he holds in a his arms when he tells the disciples, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for it is to such as these the kingdom belongs.” (Luke 18, Matthew 19)

Are the children in Jeopardy? Certainly not, at least not those who believe and love and wonder; not those who want to come close, for theirs is the kingdom.

Yours is the kingdom, child.

Ours.