tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90692002024-03-06T23:31:46.843-05:00A Pastor in the ParishA Lutheran pastor seeks to reclaim the role of pastor as theologian. Excerpts and reflections meant to generate discussion and devotion are posted.GeekChurchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13734017463840940541noreply@blogger.comBlogger305125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9069200.post-34485804291840257392015-09-20T21:46:00.001-04:002015-09-20T21:46:04.793-04:00Sermon from Sunday Sep. 20Moving to a new worship space made recording my sermons a bit challenging... but I think I have it figured out. So<a href="https://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=%22http://intheparish.podbean.com/mf/web/25hmud/Sermon2015-09-20Mark9.mp3%22%3EDownload%20this%20episode%20(right%20click%20and%20save)%3C/a%3E"> here is my sermon from Sunday Sep. 20</a>, "God Loves {insert_name} More".<br />
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<iframe data-link="http://www.podbean.com/media/player/n8jv6-58d74f?from=wp" data-name="pb-iframe-player" frameborder="0" height="100" id="audio_iframe" scrolling="no" src="http://www.podbean.com/media/player/n8jv6-58d74f?from=wp" width="100%"></iframe>GeekChurchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13734017463840940541noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9069200.post-15978197008632275382015-09-15T17:42:00.000-04:002015-09-15T21:23:20.808-04:00Gentile Lepers and Religious FreedomThe Kim Davis issue seems to be dying down. Kim is out of jail. The same-sex couple has their wedding license. The media is slowly pulling away from the story. So I guess it's time for me to weigh in.<br />
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Sure, I've been weighing in on friends' meme posts who don't seem to be getting things technically correct (and getting little jabs here and there since they just thought something was funny). I am not a quick thinker and sometimes I fall behind in an instant media world. But I have thought a bit about the situation... a government official refusing to do something that is part of her job because of religious commitments... and I am somewhat surprised that I have not seen anything regarding Naaman, the gentile general who suffered from leprosy.<br />
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Why Naaman? It has less to do with Naaman being healed than his response following the healing. Naaman confesses the God of Elisha to be his only God.<br />
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So he went down and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean. Then he returned to the man of God, he and all his company; he came and stood before him and said, "Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel; please accept a present from your servant." But he said, "As the LORD lives, whom I serve, I will accept nothing!" He urged him to accept, but he refused. (2Kings 5:14-16 NRSV)</blockquote>
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Naaman is converted by the experience of God's healing power in the mere act of washing. The healing required practically nothing of Naaman, no heroic tasks or sacrificial endeavors, just the simple task of trusting that what was told him would happen (not that this was necessarily a small task, it was almost harder for Naaman to undertake than the difficult task).<br />
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And after his confession, and Elisha's refusal to take the present of gold, Naaman then requests to take loads of dirt home so that he might always worship God on the land in which God dwells. Naaman also vows to never offer sacrifice to any other god. But here is the rub... there is always a rub. He begs one concession:<br />
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But may the LORD pardon your servant on one count: when my master goes into the house of Rimmon to worship there, leaning on my arm, and I bow down in the house of Rimmon, when I do bow down in the house of Rimmon, may the LORD pardon your servant on this one count." (2Kings 5:18 NRSV)</blockquote>
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Naaman knows his official duties in the government of Aram will include assisting the king in an official capacity during the king's worship. Religion and worship were far more intertwined. Naaman would have to do so. And in this case, given his high position, resignation was exceedingly unlikely. He lives a life of divided loyalties.<br />
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In his commentary on First and Second Kings, Rich Nelson writes,<br />
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Does his new faith automatically mean his death, either as a result of the jealous rage of Yahweh or at the hand of an outraged king? Naaman is a man threatened by his faith....<br />
Which compromises are possible, which are betrayals of the faith by which we live? Every faithful person who does not simply abandon the world is confronted by the wrenching issue of divided loyalties. There is no easy answer that works every time</blockquote>
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The situation is only complex because Elisha... ELISHA... does not castigate Naaman for his certain albeit future idolatry. He simply replies "Go in peace." It is certainly not an unshakable pardon but it is not a damnation either. Elisha's response allows space for a grace toward those living in the midst of divided loyalties. But that is daily life for all of us. The brokenness of the world infects every part of our lives. Most of the divisions we either ignore or explain away. Only every once in a while some issue comes along that humans want to exclude and divide, continuing the brokenness of the world.<br />
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Kim Davis and her supporters have created exactly one of those moments. They have created a vision of the Christian life that leaves no space for dealing with divided loyalties. Everything must be black or white. Gray does not exist... at least for their understanding of the one issue.<br />
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In the Lutheran confessional document, The Smalcald Articles, there is a section dealing being justified and good works. Luther and the other signers were clear that good works follow faith. And there is an interesting phrase written in that article... The article states "<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And what there is still sinful or imperfect also in them (<i>that is the good works</i>) shall not be accounted as sin or defect, even [and that, too] for Christ's sake; but the entire man, both as to his person and his works, is to be called and to be righteous and holy from pure grace and mercy, shed upon us [unfolded] and spread over us in Christ." (my parenthetical gloss) So while we are certainly called in our following of Jesus to be righteous and holy, it flows from grace. None of our works will be perfect. They will always be imperfect. No matter how deeply we desire to follow Jesus without fault or blemish, we will have the righteous with the unrighteous. </span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">The entirety of the law is not ours to keep. Christ has fulfilled the law. </span><br />
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Should we be engaged as an arm of the state, we must keep in mind the purpose of the law given to us. The first use of the law, that is what God grants to all nations and communities regardless of their faith, is to maintain order. God gives authority to all governments so that the people might be kept safe through the the creation, enforcement and judging of laws. As a Christian in the government, there must be a reminder of what their primary role and duty is. As long as order is being kept, they are fulfilling their duty.<br />
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This line of thought does not mean that anything goes. We will always have roles where we must discern what is meet, right and salutary. The Christian who serves in a role of civil authority, an agent of the state, lives very clearly in a place where loyalties are easily divided. In fact, I might argue that no Christian can exist in such a role free of any divisions.<br />
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There are always options. We have heard two major options lifted up as perhaps the only options. Kim Davis either holds on to her position or resigns. Other Christians might think that we have only those options. Resignation sounds admirable, and in some issues, it might be. If resignation were the only option though, the state could purge (with great difficulty, I'm sure) all Christians of a certain tendency from the ranks by enacting laws that the state knows is objectionable.<br />
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Governments are so vast and byzantine, there will always be obstacles that need to be navigated, but following the story of Naaman, it appears that there is some grace for maneuvering, where extreme actions might be avoided while order is kept and peace and justice remain.<br />
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<br />GeekChurchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13734017463840940541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9069200.post-13261828034337846822015-05-07T11:55:00.000-04:002015-05-07T12:17:59.079-04:00The Sacraments and Sacra-Mentality<span style="font-family: inherit;">A friend of mine, Keith Anderson, published a <a href="http://www.thebtscenter.org/coming-clean/">blog post</a> today reflecting on some of the response following Rachel Held Evans' new book and her entrance into the Episcopal church. Much has been made that she, a former evangelical, has found value in the sacraments (for her and some in the Episcopal church, they number seven: Baptism, Eucharist, Confirmation, Confession, Ordination, Marriage, Extreme Unction (anointing and laying on hands for the sick), ... for others they number only two, Baptism and Eucharist... but that is an old debate that need not be rehashed here.) Keith rightly points out that many mainline churches are "<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;">breathing deep sighs of relief, patting themselves on the back, and smiling in self-congratulation." </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;">Keith criticizes those who think if they just keep doing what they are doing, the young adults disaffected by the rock music, or coffee bars, or light shows, or anything else that tries to make church "cool" will find their way back to their pews with the liturgical tradition that has remained largely unchanged for decades. Keith writes: </span></span><br />
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Judging from the comments I’ve seen in the days since Held Evans’s article was posted, I’m afraid that her assertion has had the unintended consequence of reinforcing the tendency toward inertia exhibited by some Mainline ministry leaders. “See, we’re fine. We don’t need to change,” I can hear them saying. “We can keep doing what we’re doing. Let’s put on some coffee, order some new communion wafers, and wait for the young evangelicals to come pouring in.”<br />
Good luck with that.<br />
Such interpretations of Held Evans’s post are problematic because they reinforce our maddening fixation on matters of worship, to the detriment of extending ministry beyond our church buildings, deepening faith formation, serving the poor, and helping our neighbors.</blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;">One of the issues that this brings to mind for me is that for those of us who are sacramental, liturgical traditions, we often confuse the notions of sacrament and liturgy. Liturgy is important and I find great value in the traditional liturgy, and yes, the locus of sacramental life is within the regular liturgical of the community. But there are plenty of places out there where the liturgical life, well-executed and following the rubrics with precision, is as much a show as some of the so-called "entertainment evangelism" services. The sacraments are located within the liturgy but are not necessarily dependent upon it. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;">Many communities that look to the liturgical tradition, particularly the "high" tradition with organ and incense and acolytes and crucifers holding their implements in just the right way, are often seeking to cultivate some sort of emotional response. And I get that. Despite coming from a tradition that is generally (and rightfully, I believe) wary of religious experiences that manifest themselves primarily emotionally, I have been brought to tears by some of these high worship experiences. The preaching or the music or even just a moment of sheer sublime artistic beauty, like when in Munich, I stepped into a Catholic church at just the moment the body was singing Schubert's "Zum Sanctus" from his Deutsche Messe while the altar was being censed during the eucharistic liturgy. I stood there holding my nearly one-year old son while the smoke drifted up into the lofty sanctuary while the full pews (really, a church in Germany that was quite full for this moment), and the beauty overwhelmed me. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;">But one thing I have discovered from a lifetime in the church, and over a decade as a pastor, that experience is fleeting and impossible to replicate on a predictable basis. Yes, there are wonderful ecstatic experiences within it, but the point is not generate experiences. The point is to proclaim the gospel in a conrete and real way. Enter the sacraments. And to be honest, when I look back over religious experiences with the sacraments, they come precisely because of their connection with the very physical realities of my life. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;">You see, the sacraments (baptism and eucharist) and other sacramental acts (the other five practices listed above, although there might be others... Augustine after all held that there were twenty-six sacraments) are not about some vague spiritual experience, but about God's presence in the nitty gritty details of our daily life and being communicators of grace there. I wept and was profoundly moved on the day of my wedding, when my wife and I pledged vows to one another in the presence of God and loved ones. On the day of my ordination, in my home church, surrounded again by people who loved me... the makeshift choir even took the time to learn the hymn version of tricky <i>Veni, Sancti Spiritus</i> to sing as we approached the laying on of hands. I was moved on the day I baptized my youngest child, and the moment I communed each of my children for the first time. I have felt God's presence as I sat at the bedside of a number of parishioners as they lay dying and we prayed through the commendation of the dying. I wept and was deeply moved on Christmas day 2011 as I presided at my last Eucharist in the congregation I served before moving to a new call in campus ministry. </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;">The power of the sacraments and the experiences they evoke are not in the details of the liturgy, but in the details of the everyday life in which they are embodied. Sacraments are not about some disembodied experience, but the very opposite, an embodied experience. The sacraments give us something physical to hang onto. They declare a holiness to our lives. They provide us with a Sacra-mentality, an idea that our lives and the world around us is a sacred wonder. They declare God's love for us all creation because God has promised to be present in particular ways through the very material things of creation and not in a slippery spiritual existence. God gives us concrete things to attach love and grace to... water, bread, wine... and loved ones and the lives we share. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;">Which brings us back to Keith and Rachel. The place for sacraments is that it should provide us with that Sacra-mentality, a desire and drive to engage the world, this imperfect and incomplete world that is aching to hear that it is loved. The sacraments should drive us into the world to carry God's presence. Here with this way of seeing our life, we need not argue over worship styles. Can we recognize a sacred mode of existence where people who have experienced God's presence in very real ways can pour out their lives for others sanctifying and blessing them, creating an awareness of how God loves them. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;">Keith is right... this is not a time for sacramental traditions to pat backs and relax, but to re-engage what the sacraments mean and point to. This renewed Sacra-mentality will help us then re-engage the world anew. This isn't just what young adults are looking for... it is what almost everyone is looking for. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span>GeekChurchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13734017463840940541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9069200.post-81910376402028384902015-04-20T12:17:00.002-04:002015-04-20T12:22:39.543-04:00The End is Near! Final Judgment is Upon Us!Not THAT final judgment... those on college campuses know what I mean.<br />
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Here is a message I shared with my students this week in the weekly update for the campus ministry. I share it here as well for everyone feeling burdened by exams, papers, grades and the like...<br />
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<strong style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.7999992370605px;">Finals are upon us... a time of focus and exams and stress and work and stress and... yeah. Finals are important to be sure. There is some need to gauge how well (or not) we have comprehended the material set before us over the course of the semester. Sometimes the exams and papers seem unfair. Sometimes they are ridiculously easy. And we prepare, hopefully diligently. We do our best and place ourselves at the mercy of the faculty and others grading us.<br /><br />It is important to remember though that our ultimate worth is not determined by our GPA, or the grades we earn. We make our lives more difficult when we allow ourselves to become immersed in the messages that "EVERYTHING DEPENDS ON THIS GRADE!" Our grades are necessary and can help us reflect on our courses of study and the direction for our lives.<br /><br />But at the end of the day, they are partial pictures of our lives and our identity as human beings. We are loved and deemed worthy by a God who came and dwelt with us as one of us. God's love for us shows us our worth and our value.<br /><br />You are a precious child of God. period. Please never forget that... and if you think you are forgetting that during this time of judgment... call me. email me. text me. Let me remind you.</strong>GeekChurchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13734017463840940541noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9069200.post-83648129671419594492015-03-25T15:12:00.000-04:002015-03-25T15:12:07.304-04:00Goblins, Chupacabras, Moral Atheists and Immoral Christians<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Many of the books I read, include mythical or fantastical creatures. Orcs, ents, elves, dwarfs, Martians, Vulcans, and the like. Most people likely believe these creatures are imaginary. Possibly people believe they exist as cryptids, a creature for which there is mere suggestion and little proof of existence... like Sasquatch or the Loch Ness Monster or the Pittsburgh Tunnel Monster, which feeds upon faster moving traffic which explains why everyone in the 'Burgh slows down immediately before entering one of our tunnels making the traffic jam cascade behind them.<br /><br />In a recent spewing,<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/25/phil-robertson-atheist-rape_n_6936662.html"> Phil Robertson opined </a>on an imaginary violent encounter with an atheist in which the atheist's wife and daughter were raped and murdered, followed by the castration of the atheist. Throughout this foul reflection, Robertson follows the old motif that the atheist cannot oppose such activity because he, being an atheist, has no basis for any moral judgment. The perpetrators of the evil against the atheist say in the midst of their attack, "<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Century, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">But you’re the one who says there is no God, there’s no right, there’s no wrong, so we’re just having fun."</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Century, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">I realize Robertson is not necessarily advocating for such treatment, but he is propagating a horrible myth that thinks horrible things of some of our neigbors, not to mention horrible theology. Of course, Robertson was preaching to the choir. He was speaking before a gathering of Christians in Florida. Given his general theological proclivities, there were likely few in the crowd who disagreed with him. It is a popular tale that all atheists are immoral. A few years ago there was a story of a ministry in South Carolina that refused to allow atheists to participate because of similar thinking. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Century, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">In this theological thought experiment gone awry, Robertson points out that if there is no fear of judgment, no one can be moral, as if it is only the threat of punishment that keeps people on the straight and narrow. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Century, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">First off, he's wrong. There are atheists who have a moral compass and can speak of right and wrong very profoundly. I say this because I know some. Second, he's wrong. If Christians follow Jesus because they are seeking to avoid punishment, this is a deformation of faith and love. It is in this case fear that motivates. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Century, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Let us begin in reverse order. There is far too much Christian preaching that lays the entire moment of salvation upon the decision the person makes toward their eternal fate, "How will you spend eternity? Smoking or non-smoking?" as the old highway billboard asks. The portrayal of our eternal fate hanging upon this one moment can be very effective in getting people to sign up and commit. After all when asked if you died tonight, would you be seeing your dear departed grandmother at the pearly gates or would you be banished from her presence forever, subjected instead to the eternal punishment of hell, who would not rather have the eternal wonderfulness of your grandmother... ok, maybe not your grandmother, but certainly mine... pick your own departed loved one.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Century, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Fear is a potent motivation. Fear can get us to go along with any number of things, like inordinate amounts of paperwork on mortgage loans or carrying only three ounce bottles of liquid in our carry-on luggage because... terrorists. Fear can be cultivated in communities so that we can just go along with stuff because we at least feel safer. When it comes to religion, I get it. Much of the fear language stems from American theology and the likes of Jonathan Edwards' <a href="http://www.ccel.org/ccel/edwards/sermons.sinners.html">"Sinners In The Hand of an Angry God."</a> This time in America was a direct correction to the seemingly over-theologized religion, which used too much head and not enough heart. People sought some direct experience that they could point to as the moment they were saved rather than some forgotten moment as an infant that they could not remember. And fear brought about great reactions. Judgment and fear were utilized immensely and they made sense. And soon everyone got into the act because why not? It became expected because people really responded. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Century, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Atheists on the other hand refuse the two options entirely, believing in neither eternal seating section. Yet they can live out incredibly moral lives and perform acts of mercy right alongside Christians. They can feed the hungry and clothe the naked and give water to the thirsty. Why because they are human beings who have compassion for others. Some will argue that their entering into these acts are truer than Christians who fear divine judgment. If I am compelled to do something, do I get any credit for the act? If I do something for someone because I think I will get some other reward for the act, am I really being selfless? Atheists act on behalf of others neither for fear of punishment or hope of reward. They simply act. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Century, Times, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Atheists can also see right and wrong. Right and wrong is not just a gift granted to Christians. All humanity can engage in the debate for the common good. That is how much God loves humanity. Among the three uses of the law, the first use of the law is for civil order. God creates a world where morality can be comprehended by all, not just some chosen people. Especially since those chosen people actually screw it up themselves far too often. In the first chapter of Paul's letter to the Romans points out that all, both atheist and godly, have some natural sense of what is right. More importantly, the second chapter points out that the godly also get things wrong and will not avoid judgment. Nonetheless, to say that an atheist has no sense that it would be wrong to break into another's house, rape and murder the women in the house and then castrate the husband, is simply ludicrous. Of course, since many men who call themselves Christian continue to engage in violence against women, believing it in some way to be the natural order of things, maybe it is understandable to see Robertson's confusion. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Century, Times, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">In all, Robertson fails to understand that the transformation of one's life is not brought about by fear but by grace and God's good news. The good news is not rooted in the hope that we will go to heaven when we die but that God is about redeeming this world from the power of sin. Sin is what divides us from God and one another. And no one, not even Christians are untouched by the power of sin. We fail to understand the good that should be done and fly to the wrong like so many moths to a flame. Nonetheless there is hope, not hope based on what we decide but on the decision Jesus makes to go to the cross for all of humanity. That act is for all. Christ pours himself out for every single person. And I lack the wisdom and knowledge to say who will be excluded. I will leave it to God's mercy, which is far wider than mine. I will simply proclaim that God acts in Christ Jesus to redeem the world, gathering a people together through the waters of baptism. This promise is not based on fear. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Century, Times, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">And now I know that moral atheists are not mythical. And immoral Christians, well, those I know all too well, most clearly when I look in the mirror... and if those are real, I will be checking under the bed at night and whistling in the dark in case those others are real as well. </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Century, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span>GeekChurchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13734017463840940541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9069200.post-83240241610711148532014-11-05T11:48:00.000-05:002014-11-05T11:48:38.153-05:00The View From Here: My Daughter and My Phone During WorshipA couple of weeks ago, I brought my children with me to worship. My wife was playing organ at one church. I was leading worship at Heinz Chapel for the campus ministry. How to get the kids to the zoo for the Zoo Boo that afternoon? Yes, come with me, because I was closer. No problem, although being a campus ministry service, there is no nursery available for young children, like my four-year old daughter.<br />
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So I was leading worship, but not preaching. That task fell to my Episcopalian counterpart that morning. My daughter and eight-year old son sat with me in the front pew. My oldest child, the eleven-year old boy, found a seat several rows back, behind a pillar where he could remain apart from us. And of course my daughter got antsy. So like many parents, I handed her my phone. She played a few games, but ultimately went on to her favorite activity, taking pictures. I did not count how many pictures she took, but it was quite a few. A couple of days later, I sat there deleting them. For about half an hour. At some point during the deletion marathon, I paused and realized that these photos, bad as they were, were recording the view from my daughter's perspective. Given her perch, what exactly was there to grab her attention. It appears that several things piqued her curiosity... some of them were actually service-related... but how long could anyone expect to sit still if there wasn't something to grab... and hold... his or her attention.<br />
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Countless shots of her feet and/or the floor</div>
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The pew, my jacket and the stained glass </div>
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Her foot again... but somehow turned it into an animated gif. How did she do that? </div>
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Me reading along with the lector</div>
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Brother... who appears put off by the close up </div>
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The lector... again. </div>
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Brother would not do well with paparazzi </div>
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Worship selfie</div>
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Something caught brother's attention </div>
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Sermon time </div>
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Hymnal racks</div>
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Woodwork of Heinz Chapel, pulpit, chancel and altar</div>
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Some things clearly caught her eye. Things that were going on during the service or in the space around her. The most often snapped pictures though were of her feet and the immediate space around her.<br />
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Maybe we should set more youngsters, heck why not everyone, loose with cameras during worship to see what they are seeing. What holds their attention? Are there obstacles, both literal and figurative, in their way? Of course some of these things are natural for a four-year old. Not everything will be overcome. And we would hope that as they age they begin to participate more fully. We cannot make worship appeal only to four-year olds. We do not need a lowest common denominator worship. But it cannot hurt to ponder occasionally how everyone perceives our worship... Four-year olds included.<br />
<br />GeekChurchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13734017463840940541noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9069200.post-54658151804550146452014-10-14T13:49:00.000-04:002014-10-14T13:49:49.168-04:00Holy Ground at 35,000 feetA couple of weeks ago I had a meeting in California for campus ministry that demanded a great deal of focus and attention, which of course, between that and the travel with short turn around, let me drained. So I was looking forward to the return trip where I could become anonymous and delve into the page of notes I had made for my upcoming sermon.<br />
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Because of the demands of the meeting, I had failed to check-in online exactly twenty-four hours to the flight so I was dealt a lousy boarding number. While I had managed to score a window seat on the flight out, I knew I wouldn't even get an aisle seat. I was going to be stuck in the middle.<br />
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My strategy then was simply to grab the first available center seat I came upon on on the side of the plane that would be facing north during the flight, since the north side would not have the sun shining on it. That side of the plane is cooler, at least in my mind. As I walked back the aisle, I saw my target, dropped my laptop bag in it so I could work, and stowed my shoulder bag. And then I discovered to my horror, that the guy I would be sitting next was a guy who had been loudly talking with another guy at the gate about their Italian heritage. Everyone can recognize an evangelist, whether religious or not. This guy was an Italian evangelist. His identity was thoroughly steeped in the history and culture of Italy and he was happy to talk to anyone about it. And I dreaded this.<br />
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Then a miracle happened. The woman in the woman seat offered to take the middle seat. The two of them had been in conversation and she wanted to continue. I don't know what they had been talking about, and at that moment, I did not really care. Salvation was at hand. We jockeyed our seats around and I was happily against the window. I pulled my tablet out to write my sermon and just blend into the background for the next three hours or so.<br />
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The joy of my situation was short-lived. The Italian Evangelist had a very robust voice and when talking with the woman who swapped seats, he was speaking in my direction. His voice cut through all other background noise. I had a hard time shaking it. He was constantly in my head. I couldn't escape their conversation, no matter how hard I tried to focus on the words on my screen. So I began to stare out my window until hopefully they would tire and settle into a more normal flight silence.<br />
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That silence never happened. We weren't even twenty minutes into the flight when he asked the woman the following question about she and her husband, "So are you and your husband in spiritual agreement?" The woman and her husband had recently gotten married and the Italian Evangelist was asking if they shared a similar religious background, which is a good question, although a little private for me, but hey, whatever. Her response was that they were both Roman Catholic. And with that answer, my flight was irrevocably changed.<br />
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If you were to place a bet on whether or not Italian Evangelist would be also be Roman Catholic, the safe money would be to go with that he was. I would go with that. I can't imagine an odds maker in Las Vegas giving anything but a long shot that he would not be. But long shots do occasionally place. On this flight, the long shot took the jackpot.<br />
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No sooner had the woman responded about she and her husband being Roman Catholic, the Italian Evangelist began spinning a tale that would have anyone else breaking out the tin foil hats. He spoke of conversations that he had had with people high up in the Roman Catholic while on flights who admitted that essentially to gathering all people regardless of belief in order to create nothing less than the dreaded one-world government. His claim was that these various officials all admitted caring nothing about the gospel. They said people could believe whatever they wanted. The Roman Catholic church would let people believe whatever they wanted: Hindu, Buddhist, Satanist... the only point was to get people under the umbrella so to speak.<br />
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To recount the entire path this gentleman went down would be nearly impossible, but he got to the point where he had made some connection between the Roman Catholic church and genetic experimentation upon humans that were helping to create super soldier-type beings with thick lizard type skin.<br />
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For about forty-five minutes I sat there staring out the window, unable to work on the sermon because my mind was barely able to comprehend the connections this man was making. I was torn between inserting myself into the conversation and holding my peace. There had been plenty of news stories about people getting into scuffles during flights. I did not want to be next. The lack of wifi on this flight probably kept the conversation from being live tweeted. But after somewhere between forty-five minutes and an hour, I decided to enter the conversation.<br />
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Why? Why butt in? Was I likely to change this guy's mind? No probably not. But I stepped in for the sake of the woman sitting there being fed the story line of Dan Brown's next novel. I wasn't getting work done on the sermon anyway. I was too busy making mental notes about what he was saying. So I finally decided to interrupt and enter the conversation. I just said, "I'm sorry. I really don't mean to interrupt, but I just feel like I need to say something. I'm a Lutheran pastor and it might seem odd, but I think I need to speak up for the Roman Catholic church." The remaining two-plus hours went by peacefully as we all engaged in conversation. I only got frustrated after we landed and were taxiing to the gate and our conspiracy enthusiast had moved on to how the speed of light isn't constant because there was a time when the speed of light was measured significantly slower than is generally reported. I still don't understand what his point was on that other than somehow trying to support a creationist view of Genesis.<br />
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All in all, I am pleased that I was able to join the conversation so the woman was not left to hear the onslaught of science-fictional political theologizing. There were moments when she had agreed with him about some particular point that I was a little surprised anyone would have said "Oh yeah, I totally get that." But I found that I was able to speak the good news to them in ways that seemed new to them both. If I had plugged up my ears and tried to ignore him, I wonder what good that would have served.<br />
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After that conversation my mind has turned again and again to the verse about being Christians being turned over to persecutors and that we should not fear because the Holy Spirit will give us the defense that is necessary. I certainly was not turned over to persecutors but that row of seats felt like holy ground where the Holy Spirit was clearly present, in our conversation and not letting me just sit back to remain silent.<br />
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<br />GeekChurchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13734017463840940541noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9069200.post-3483564626286309832014-09-02T09:42:00.004-04:002014-09-02T09:42:30.101-04:00Campus Ministry... Why I Do It...<div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.31999969482422px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
Sometimes in campus ministry, just like in regular ministry, we don't see the effect on people's lives. With campus ministry it is a little more exacerbated, since we usually only have a person around for four years or less. But every once in a while, God's presence shoots across your field of vision so that you want to take off your shoes because you know you are on holy ground, and you are humbled because you were part of it.</div>
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One of our alums, Kelsey, is in Madagascar for a year of Young Adults in Global Mission. She has begun a blog to let folks know of her experiences... the<a href="http://kkresse.wordpress.com/2014/08/31/tea-cups-and-stories/"> blog post that I am sharing</a> might be the best way to explain why I love campus ministry and the type of work that goes on there.</div>
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GeekChurchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13734017463840940541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9069200.post-67409883066738066232014-02-06T00:29:00.002-05:002014-02-06T07:40:32.921-05:00Ham on Nye: Sandwiching Evolution and Creationism Together<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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How do you get creationists and scientists together in the same room? Bring leading spokespeople from each camp for a debate. Last night, as many know, Bill Nye, the appropriately named "Science Guy" and Ken Ham, the founder of the Creation Museum in Northern Kentucky squared off in a debate of sorts, to argue their case for creationism or evolution. (The debate can be watched <a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/02/04/271648691/watch-the-creationism-vs-evolution-debate-bill-nye-and-ken-ham">here</a>)<br />
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To be honest, the event felt less like a debate and more like two ships passing in the night, like two parts of a sandwich that wouldn't come together no matter how much one chewed them. Not much of a surprise, I guess. Debates work best when the conversation takes place between people who share a common matrix of beliefs, even while they hold disagreements, even significant ones at that. Ham and Nye don't have disagreements, they are in fundamentally different universes. How each viewed science was at issue. Nye clearly supported the scientific process as it is taught and practiced in research. Ham looked at science as only a crutch for finding support of his own view. If anything supported the standard scientific model over the creationist model, Ham found ways to dismiss or discount the finding rather than question his own model.<br />
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In many ways, this left Nye on an incredibly uneven playing field. Nye mentioned several times that the two participants had agreed to debate the science. Nonetheless, Ham's position was inherently theological. All of his evidence was used to point to his belief in the bible as the Word of God. Nye was hamstrung. No matter how much science Nye discussed, Ham was always able to return to his position that the world came into being precisely as described in the opening chapters of the biblical book of Genesis.<br />
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Nye appeared to refuse to engage the reality of the debate. While Nye stuck with scientific rhetoric, Ham peppered his pseudo-scientific language with biblical language. Nye refused to ask questions made Ham explain the ramifications of his theological beliefs. Sadly, Nye cannot ask these questions since he does not have a religious worldview.Were Nye to have a grasp of theological issues, he could questions Ham's assumptions of his biblical interpretation, just as Ham questioned the assumptions of science. For instance, Nye doesn't question Ham's literalism. He merely mentions that other religious folk have no problem with evolution science. Nye doesn't ask about what Ham's views claim about God. If God gives human beings the ability to reason, why does the prevailing evidence from science diverge? Is God testing the faith of humans? If so, why does God test our faith more by our adherence to our understanding of a few chapters of Genesis versus the way we treat our neighbor?<br />
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All in all, few minds if any were changed. People who already believed evolution to be true thought Nye won. Those who believed creationism to be true, thought Ham won. What is needed is a theologically sophisticated voice who is also familiar with the science and is able to challenge the theological assumptions that Ham holds. There is the common ground that is necessary for a true debate to happen.GeekChurchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13734017463840940541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9069200.post-53144073780489033972014-01-13T12:54:00.001-05:002014-01-13T12:54:41.680-05:00Pastor Dad: Questions in the Dark<div dir="ltr">
<u>My</u> wife and I have from very early on with our kids created a rather involved bedtime ritual. All of our prayers are sung, and with the exception of the first, a variation of "Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep" sung to "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", based on elements of the compline liturgy. This bedtime liturgy evolved out of a first child who would not stay in a toddler bed alone. Many nights I would lie on the floor with my head resting on his mattress until he would fall asleep. In that time, he seemed to soothe easiest if I sang. I had lots of tunes that I would use, but I fell into the habit of singing parts of compline because I was praying it fairly regularly. The traditional tune of "All Praise to Thee My God This Night" fit the moment. And the verse which precedes the <i>nunc</i><i> </i><i>dimitis</i>, "Guide us waking, O Lord, and guard us sleeping..." even though sung to Gregorian chant was perfect before we eventually said the Lord's Prayer.</div>
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This routine has remained for nearly ten years. Even now, with three kids, we all gather in a bedroom and sing our prayers. I do not know if this ritual makes bedtime a natural place to reflect theologically, but I know I have come to many realizations about faith in the song or the silence of bedtime. But it has often happened that, as I have spent a moment or two with each child tucking them in and saying good night after the prayers, that questions around God and life surface. The other night was no exception when our second oldest child opened up with questions like a dam bursting. </div>
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Just as I was preparing to leave his room, he asked, "Whose life matters more, our life or God's life?" I had no idea what he was asking, so I asked some more questions to figure out what he meant. It is hard to explain what he answered, but what he really meant, what he was really getting at were questions about God and faith and life as a seven-year old thinks about them. Once we got to that questions they just came rapid fire one after another. I did my best not to give him the "right" answer but what I believed (and I think he really wanted to know what I believed because he knows what I do; a few years ago as we were walking out of church one day he said, "Dad, I know what you do. You're the bible teller" that is I tell people the stories from the bible and help them make sense out of it), but I also tried to give him space to think and question. As I have looked back on my own life, I have always felt that I was blessed to have pastors who were never threatened when I asked questions. While I know there are some other traditions that ask questions freely and safely, and that there are plenty of Lutherans, clergy and lay alike, who want to force some things out of bounds, I have always felt that Lutheranism opens life up for questions and we needn't fear any punishment for asking about anything. </div>
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So I sat there with my son, in the dim light cast from the hall, and I listened and talked. "What if God didn't make the world but the myth gods did?" He of course means gods like the gods of Greek myth, whom he knows through his older brother's reading and interest in stories such as those of Percy Jackson. I pointed to our story and mentioned that in so many of the myths of other gods, those gods had to have some material through which the world was made. Our God, I told him, needed nothing and simply spoke the universe into being. "How?" he replied. There I could resolutely say, "I dunno. That's what makes him God, I think." He kept on by wondering aloud, "Why did God cause sickness?" Well, he didn't I said. Humans brought that about when we acted differently than how God wanted us to. And he ran into that stark reality that we cannot always live the way we think God wants us to. "But I try to control my anger!" And soon he brought up heaven and hell. </div>
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Tears were coming now in slow drips from his eyes. I could tell where this was going. This was fear. In some ways all of his questions and doubts were fearful, but this question brought something up that was deeper. This question got to more of a "How much does God love me?" sort of way. After all, why worry about all of these questions about who created things or what matters, if this God was only going to dump me. So I looked at him, and I said, "This is what I know. That on a Sunday morning one August, your mother and I stood holding you, surrounded by people who love us, at a font filled with water. And there you were baptized and God said, "You are mine. I will love you forever and ever, even if you mess up. No matter what." God promises that nothing will keep us apart. This proclamation was good news for him. And perhaps it was no coincidence that he quieted down shortly thereafter. </div>
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Perhaps this interchange would lead some to wonder about why I would even continue to have this sort of bedtime ritual. Would these sort of interchanges freak some people out? Make them fear what might come out of their children's mouths? I lean the other way. Having such a time set aside when we engage in prayer and conversation is a moment of incredible privilege. I long for those sorts of moments with the college students I serve. Why would I not want the same thing with my kids? I suppose there are some parents who would feel incompetent dealing with their children's questions about faith and life. But parents need not fear. Be honest and open. Don't be afraid of the phrase "I don't know." And when all else fails, tell the good news. </div>
GeekChurchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13734017463840940541noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9069200.post-45597186662186734132014-01-11T01:46:00.001-05:002014-01-11T01:46:13.425-05:00Church of the Geek Another project I have been working on for the past six months or so... The Church of the Geek Podcast, with the Rev. David Hansen.<br />
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Our sixth episode went up tonight. "The Ascendancy of the Geek" What happens when the outsider moves to the inside? You can find our reflection <a href="http://geekchurch.blogspot.com/2014/01/Episode6.html">here.</a><br />
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<br />GeekChurchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13734017463840940541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9069200.post-43672501267432605862014-01-06T12:03:00.000-05:002014-01-06T12:03:34.459-05:00Advice for Atheist Churches<span style="font-family: inherit;">A friend pointed out an article over at the CNN Religion Blog about<a href="http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2014/01/04/after-a-schism-a-question-can-atheist-churches-last/?hpt=hp_t3" target="_blank"> Atheist Churches</a>... and of course, their almost immediate fracture after seeking to spread. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">A brief excerpt from the article: </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">In October, three former members of Sunday Assembly NYC announced the formation of a breakaway group called Godless Revival.<br />“The Sunday Assembly,” wrote Godless Revival founder Lee Moore in a scathing blog post, “has a problem with atheism.”<br />Moore alleges that, among other things, Jones advised the NYC group to “boycott the word atheism” and “not to have speakers from the atheist community.” It also wanted the New York branch to host Assembly services in a churchlike setting, instead of the Manhattan dive bar where it was launched.<br />Jones denies ordering the NYC chapter to do away with the word “atheism,” but acknowledges telling the group “not to cater solely to atheists.” He also said he advised them to leave the dive bar “where women wore bikinis,” in favor of a more family-friendly venue.<br />The squabbles led to a tiff and finally a schism between two factions within Sunday Assembly NYC. Jones reportedly told Moore that his faction was no longer welcome in the Sunday Assembly movement.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The split seems to be fueled by a fundamental disagreement in organization and purpose. The emergence of atheism into a more accepted existence has shown that Atheism is not in fact monolithic. With even fewer doctrinal guardians than American mainline protestants, these atheist assemblies now have to figure out who they are when engaging the larger community. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">In the midst of this discussion, I cannot help but see similarities from the early church. One of the questions Engelhart asks in the blog is if disbelief is enough to hold the Atheist Churches together. I say "No." Why? Because belief was not enough to keep the Christian Church together. I suppose it is more accurate to say that "Belief in belief" is not enough, borrowing from Stanley Hauerwas' comments that American religion is about belief in belief. (See this <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2010/oct/16/faith-america-secular-britain" target="_blank">2010 article</a> in the Guardian as an example) While the early church lived in the Roman Empire, an illegal religion sometimes persecuted harshly, the early church could live with any profession of "Jesus is Lord!" Once they were legitimized by Constantine, the cracks in the belief began to show. Belief was not enough to hold them together. Schism and heresy began to split the Christian Church apart as leaders began to hash out what they believed about this Jesus guy and why he mattered. Throughout the history of the Christian Church, the followers of Jesus have shown with increasingly regularity that we are far more comfortable perpetrating the brokenness, sometimes over substantial matters like fundamental questions of who Jesus is, and more often over irrelevant questions like the color of the carpet in the sanctuary. What ultimately keeps the Christian Church together is Jesus, that resurrected God-Man who still shows up in our gatherings, even when we get him all wrong. He shows up in Word and Sacrament and in our life together so we can practice the grace he gives us. Belief alone leaves us Christians fractured still. It is no small miracle that any Christian Church has survived for two millennia. In the same way, I do not believe disbelief (or maybe disbelief in belief?) will hold the Atheist Church together. they will need something more.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">But a bigger issue came to mind as I read the article. The Atheist Church is copying the model of the Christian Church, a model many Christian Church leaders are wrestling with because it seems outdated. The gathering to listen to people talk about stuff might be interesting (might not since not every sermon in a Christian Church is necessarily interesting to everyone), but one of the things that the Christian Church is facing, is how to engage people in those moments. And many religious leaders are altering the way the Christian Church deals with that time. We no longer live in a period where people will sit for the "Tell me" but are looking for "Show me." Don't just talk about praying. Pray. That time is being opened up for something more participatory and experiential. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The Atheist Church needs to discern questions of identity, meaning and purpose. And they should not just duplicate the model of the Christian Church. Be true to what you believe and live into that. Make your gatherings reflect that. Even Engelhart recognizes something is amiss in this new Atheist Church movement. She wrote: </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Instead of a thoughtful sermon, I got a five-minute Wikipedia-esque lecture on the history of particle physics.<br />Instead of receiving self-improvement nudges or engaging in conversation with strangers, I watched the founders fret (a lot) over technical glitches with the web streaming, talk about how hard they had worked to pull the service off, and try to sell me Sunday Assembly swag.<br />What’s more, instead of just hop, skipping and jumping over to a local venue, as I once did, I now had to brave the tube and traverse the city.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Perhaps something was lost. in the move to a larger, organized effort. At a time when people are decrying organized religion, perhaps organized atheism is not any better. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Why do I care though? Why am I bothering to offer advice to atheists? Most likely because I believe the God I follow in Jesus is not the sort who observes boundaries. He doesn't just stick with his own people. He is out there. And if the Atheist Church has anything good to offer the world, it will be because Jesus is there since nothing good can come apart from him. And maybe, we in the Christian Church might learn something more about what Jesus is up to in the process. </span></div>
GeekChurchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13734017463840940541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9069200.post-90986397001617017562014-01-03T14:20:00.005-05:002014-01-03T14:20:56.472-05:00Church-geeking out over 2013Here is a blog post I did for the Church of the Geek podcast page, where I look over 2013 geek/church events... and even manage to invent a new word.<br /><br />Read it <a href="http://geekchurch.blogspot.com/2014/01/2013s-chuchiest-geek-stuff-orgeekiest.html" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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Happy New Year everyone!GeekChurchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13734017463840940541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9069200.post-87074379632244151942013-11-11T10:41:00.000-05:002013-11-11T10:41:00.384-05:00The Lord's Prayer: Tipping PointA colleague over on that Book of Faces shared an article about a waitress who received an evangelical tract instead of a tip. It had been cleverly designed to appear like a ten dollar bill, but the waitress quickly realized that what she had was not money at all. (<a href="http://dailyoftheday.com/no-this-is-not-an-okay-tip-to-leave/" target="_blank">see the pictures here</a>)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Several things strike me as wrong about this. </div>
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First, it is incredibly presumptuous to leave a tract that basically says you know the spiritual condition of a person you interacted with for mere minutes. Evidently, being saved gives one super powers to determine this. Or not.</div>
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Second, it is a poor witness. Reducing Christianity to a pie-in-the-sky vision of eternal life leaves no way to discuss the love God has for this person right now. This person needs to put food on the table and has various needs that are now not fulfilled. Sure, as the tract says, "Some things are better than money." But few waitresses I have worked with are doing that job because the money is so damn good. </div>
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Third, it is injustice. For whatever reason, our society perpetuates the myth that tipping is something people give as an extra... a bonus for good or bad service. What we must realize of course is that the servers' wages are almost exclusively tips. The minimum wage for such workers is abysmally low, and hasn't kept up with federal minimum wage law very much at all. Don't muzzle the ox as it treads grain, and tip your waitstaff twenty percent at least. Every worker deserves to be paid. </div>
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The tipping point for me in this discussion (yes, pun most definitely intended) is the Lord's Prayer. I realize few Lutherans would ever pull such a crappy move, because we don't generally hand out tracts (The ability to share one's faith might also be called into question... but tract leaving is definitely not about sharing one's faith). But there is also a place to turn to consider our restaurant manners in the light of our faith, the Lord's Prayer. More specifically, "Give us this day our daily bread." </div>
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When we consider all that must happen for us to receive that meal, we cannot consider the waitress a dispensable link in the chain. To faithfully pray as our savior taught us, we are to give thanks for everything required to bring us our daily bread. And just as we would not expect the supermarket to take a "Get Saved" tract in exchange for our groceries, neither should we leave it for a person seeking to live off of that job. Being thankful is not just a state of mind, but an active response. If you feel it necessary to leave a tract, make sure you also tip well. If you cannot afford to tip, you cannot afford to eat out. </div>
GeekChurchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13734017463840940541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9069200.post-22421742616228876322013-11-02T09:09:00.001-04:002013-11-02T09:09:23.534-04:00New Project: Church of the GeekFor the past few months, David Hansen and I have been creating a new podcast: The Church of the Geek, where we talk about things in the Geek-iverse and (usually) how it intersects with the life of faith. <div>
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After getting a few shows in the queue, we have officially launched Episode 1! (have no fear, there will be no Jar Jar Binks in THIS Episode 1)</div>
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In a few days it will be listed on iTunes. Until then you can listen to the podcast over at our site: <a href="http://geekchurch.blogspot.com/">http://geekchurch.blogspot.com/</a></div>
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Listening on a non-iTunes podcast platform? <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/ChurchOfTheGeek" target="_blank">This is our RSS Feed.</a></div>
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Find us on Twitter @GeekChurch</div>
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And on Facebook:<a href="http://www.facebook.com/GeekChurch" target="_blank"> http://www.facebook.com/GeekChurch</a> </div>
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We hope you enjoy listening!</div>
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GeekChurchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13734017463840940541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9069200.post-53993922026844084962013-10-24T13:01:00.000-04:002013-10-24T13:01:16.213-04:00Apart from ChristIt is hard to imagine a soup kitchen turning anyone away from helping in the ministry. But I was rather shocked to read in the <a href="http://www.religionnews.com/2013/10/24/george-baptized-driscoll-chastised-macleod-evangelized-thursdays-religion-news-roundup/?utm_content=buffer657c8&utm_source=buffer&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Buffer" target="_blank">RNS Religion News Roundup</a> today that a soup kitchen in Spartanburg, SC turned away volunteers. Why? Because they were atheists. (<a href="http://www.goupstate.com/article/20131023/ARTICLES/131029846/1083/ARTICLES?p=1&tc=pg&tc=ar" target="_blank">Whole story here</a>)<br />
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In the story above, the director of the kitchen holds stereotypical beliefs regarding atheists... She mentions the devil being with them as they hand out care packages across the street. It seems she holds a very narrow understanding of the John 15 paraphrase, "Nothing good can be done apart from Christ." There are those who believe that if people are not Christian, even if they are doing the exact same charitable work that Christians engage in, it is not a good work.<br />
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This type of thinking leads directly, in my mind, to an inwardly focused, type of mission where the only good work that can be done is by Christians, and then done only within the church. The church becomes the guardian of Christ, keeping him in our little boxes.<br />
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However, the reality is far greater. It is Christ who is out and about, working in places where we might not be aware. If we see something that certainly looks good, then Christians should go investigate what Christ is doing. Maybe the people who are doing the good aren't aware that Christ is in their midst.<br />
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The soup kitchen is missing a prime opportunity to allow people who disavow God's existence to participate in Christ's mission, perhaps causing one of them to experience a hint of God's presence. Instead, they are faced with rejection and spite, further reinforcing the notion of Christians as hypocrites. It makes me wonder at times who is further apart from Christ.GeekChurchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13734017463840940541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9069200.post-71865587658443336112013-09-30T21:50:00.002-04:002013-09-30T21:50:35.797-04:00We Are Family: Baseball, Exile and the Communion of Saints<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I had a great Great Aunt. She was like a third grandmother to me. She supported me in many ways. She helped me get to Germany as an exchange student after my freshman year of high school. She sent me money each month during college along with a note to "Have fun!" Evidently, she was worried I would be far too serious and engaged in my studies to do anything fun... no worries there. She was so important in my life, that my daughter is named after her (as well as my wife's grandmother, who also shares the same name).<br />
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But what I remember probably most of all is baseball. She loved the Pittsburgh Pirates. And she instilled that in me as well. She got me a membership to the Dave Parker Fan Club. She gave me an autographed baseball that she was given, with almost the entire team on it. She also would take my brother and I, along with her friend and her nephew to Sunday afternoon baseball games. I remember the first time she asked me to go. I went to Sunday school but skipped out on worship, so we could make it to the game on time. It was an amazing time whenever we went. Those trips remain storied adventures.<br />
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Her friend's nephew often was brought along to walk around Three Rivers Stadium with us younger ones when the game got too slow or we just wanted to move around. We got to go off and sit in the nosebleed seats eating peanuts with the shells cracking under our feet, laughing and joking and feeling free from adult oversight, even though the older nephew was clearly in charge.<br />
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Afterwards we would often stop and eat at the Wagon Wheel restaurant, a western decor restaurant that sat on Pennsylvania Route 65 and is no longer there. But I still remember the burgers and steak fries I had. It seemed a perfect end to a day at the ball park.<br />
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There was also the time when us youngsters had gotten to that last nerve of our aunt's and were jumping up and down on it. She stopped the car at the gate of the old Belmont psychiatric hospital threatening to admit us if we didn't quiet down. She proceeded to get out of the car and go talk into the pipe that was swung across the entrance and served as the gate, as if she was talking to the people inside.. Yeah... we quieted down. We still laugh and wonder what passers-by thought was going on there.<br />
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My aunt took us to see games but in reality my family loved the Pirates. I remember sitting in my maternal grandparents' house (the grandmother who was sister to my great aunt) and watching the 1979 World Series as the Pirates beat the Baltimore Orioles. We sat and listened to many games on the radio throughout the years. So much so that I still rather prefer listening to the game on the radio over watching it on television. Many evenings were spent watching fireflies glow while Lanny Frattare's voice called the game, ending every win with "There was no doubt about it!" Baseball connected us all in many ways. It was always something that we could talk about especially when things were going well. Especially as they were in the 1990s.<br />
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The loss in the 1992 playoffs was heartbreaking, but we were ever the optimists. Yes things looked bleak in terms of free agents, but there was always next year. Little did we know. But in reality, my aunt would never know the pain that was about to settle upon Pirate baseball. Before the end of the 1993 season, the summer following my college graduation, she and her friend, the same friend who was with us at the ball park, were in a horrible car accident. My aunt's friend survived. My aunt did not. She died shortly after impact, able to utter a few brief words to a person on the scene.<br />
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Twenty years... twenty years of losing baseball seasons, seemingly kicked off by the tragic loss of my aunt. Season after season after horrible season without her. Even a new ballpark was little condolence. PNC Park was opened in March of 2001 and before the end of the Pirates 100-loss season, my grandmother died, and then by the time the playoffs ended, my grandfather also passed.<br />
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And now, the Pirates sit on the best season since that last winning season in 1992. And it is hard. So many times over the course of this season, I have thought a great deal about the great baseball and the loss of those loved ones with whom I had such a great connection through baseball. I longed to sit on the porch with my grandparents on those beautiful summer evenings listening to Greg Brown shout "Raise the Jolly Roger!" I wanted to be at the park with my aunt and my kids enjoying the view, and the stellar pitching, and the flashes of brilliance shown by the players. But in the midst of a phenomenal season, those who were such a part of my life are not there.<br />
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It is funny how and when grief cycles back around when least expected. Two decades of baseball exile. Two decades of familial exile without my aunt, and over a decade without my grandparents. Should I be over it? Alas no. Losing those whose lives are so closely entwined with ours and depart, can disrupt our lives as we circle back around to familiar places, rippling and disturbing what we thought was far behind us.<br />
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Would I, I wonder, care so much about this great season without their influence so long ago? Would I find such passion in this race if I had not sat at their side cheering on the great Pirates of the 70's and the unfulfilled Pirates of the 90's? Their mark, as I see it, is indelible. I do not, as many might claim, have them looking down on me, nor are they somehow mystically present in the great church of baseball. But their influence is so strong, so well-formed within me, that their passion has become mine. The love they had, has formed to me love in like manner.<br />
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So it is in this way at least, I believe we can understand those saints with whom we are mystically united through Christ in the waters of baptism. Their passion for Christ forms us, serves as an example for us, and the love which formed them, continues to form me. One day, just as this baseball exile is ending, an end to our exile in a broken and incomplete world will be brought about. Then there will be much rejoicing.<br />
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<br />GeekChurchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13734017463840940541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9069200.post-19868148814214776802013-04-25T21:10:00.002-04:002013-04-25T21:10:53.954-04:00Hearing Voices -- Sermon from the 4th Sunday of EasterJesus says his sheep hear his voice. In the midst of voices that try to separate us from God and neighbor, Jesus continues to call to us because he knows and loves.<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">An excerpt: </span><br />
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<b id="docs-internal-guid-420adaa2-43e2-7053-923d-d81d3480a401" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This is not to say that it is impossible to understand Jesus’ voice. We are indeed gifted with the ability to hear his gracious words. But they must be set among his whole teaching of God’s Reign and grace. And we must ask and not assume that everything that sounds good and pious is in fact. Jumping in and accepting those voices without discernment is perilous, but Jesus promises that he will be in our midst helping us discern his words from others... </span></span></b></blockquote>
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Read the whole thing <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1E6xvP4WvCB1_WtXPrZR_W59r6gh0O8qBJPywy8bOLUM/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank">here</a>. </span></span></b><br />
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Or listen to it. </span></span></b><br />
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GeekChurchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13734017463840940541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9069200.post-51843803978371570482013-04-17T17:01:00.001-04:002013-04-17T20:26:01.841-04:00Must We Protect God's Sovereignty?Spurred on by events in Boston, but also through interaction with others throughout the years, often at the death of loved ones, I have been pondering the people who feel the need to lift up God's sovereignty. These are the "It was God's will" voices. Everything that happens they refuse to question, going to great lengths in some circumstances to protect God's sovereignty… and sound ludicrous in the process. They reduce all causes in the world down to one and only one, God's will, as if there were no other agents at work in the world. But there are. The rebellious principalities and powers just to name two. <br />
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I turned to David Bentley Hart's <i>The Doors of the Sea</i> today and read it in its entirety. It is a short work from 2005 in response the tsunamis of Christmas day 2004. While inspired by that disaster, his work is not applicable to that event alone. Hart seeks to deal with tragedy in the world, set alongside God's omnipotence and goodness. <br />
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Throughout Hart seeks to answer both atheistic objections as well as refute Christian voices who seem to give life to a false image of God, particularly those who say God will evil. Hart absolutely refuses to allow this image. In the latter half of the book, he speaks of divine providence. He writes,<br />
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What then, one might well ask,<i> is</i> divine providence? Certainly all Christians must affirm God's transcendent governance of everything, even fallen history and fallen nature, and must believe that by that governance he will defeat evil and bring the final good of all things out of the darkness of "this age." It makes a considerable difference, however --nothing less than our understanding of the natureof God is at stake -- whether one says that God has eternally willed the history of sin ad death, and all that comes to pass therein, as the proper or necessary means of achieving his ends, or whether one says instead that God has willed his good in creation from eternity and will bring it to pass, despite their rebelion, by so ordering all things toward his goodness that even evil (which he does not cause) becomes an occasion of the operations of grace. And it is only the latter view that can accurately be called a doctrine of "providence" in the properly theological sense; the former view is mere determinism. (Hart, p. 82)</blockquote>
GeekChurchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13734017463840940541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9069200.post-81427914250383065272013-04-15T11:06:00.000-04:002013-04-15T11:06:25.534-04:00The Song of the Lamb -- 3rd Sunday of Easter<span style="font-family: inherit;">Reading: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #010000; line-height: 22.390625px;">Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels surrounding the throne and the living creatures and the elders; they numbered myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #010000; line-height: 22.390625px;">singing with full voice, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slaughtered to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #010000; line-height: 22.390625px;">Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, singing, “To the one seated on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!” </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #010000; line-height: 22.390625px;">And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” And the elders fell down and worshiped. (Rev. 5:11-14)</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #010000; line-height: 22.390625px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The book of Revelation can be read in many different ways, one of which is to read it as a liturgical manual. The angels begin the song of the Lamb and invite us to join in. </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #010000; line-height: 22.390625px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">There is no manuscript this week. </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #010000; line-height: 22.390625px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">You can listen to the whole thing. </span></span><br />
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GeekChurchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13734017463840940541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9069200.post-41780567505066489222013-04-11T13:41:00.001-04:002013-04-11T13:41:52.993-04:00Vices Deadly and Glittering<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Honestly, I do not know what the fascination is all about, but there is something about the seven deadly sins that grabs people's attention. The Seven garner such attention that they have begun to be used in ads in direct opposition to their original intent. Searching on Amazon.com for books on the seven deadly sins will provide topics beyond the theological. One finds titles about Lance Armstrong, and and books on topics where you want to avoid particular behavior. My favorite title on such a search was on dressage. Yes, the seven deadly sins of dressage. Maybe the seven deadly sins have become so pervasive they have lost all of their power. They have become reduced to caricatures of themselves.<br />
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Nonetheless, it is surprising that young adults catch wind of them, and ask about them. One of the students at the campus ministry was asked by his non-Christian roommates about these seven deadly sins. He, then came to me during our GodTalk time which led to a number of times that the topic kept coming up. And over Lent this year, spent time discussing each of the sins, what they were and what they weren't.<br />
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In order to lead the conversation, and I really wanted it to be a conversation, not just me lecturing, I looked for some trustworthy sources to help me along. I came across William Willimon's <i>Sinning Like a Christian</i>, and Rebecca Konyndynk DeYoung's <i>Glittering Vices</i>. Willimon's book was useful but somewhat dated. DeYoung's work was less so and simply flowed better. It was clear that DeYoung has used Willimon's book, so if you had to buy just one, buy DeYoung's.<br />
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From the title, DeYoung is clear that she is going to help people get on the right track of understanding by placing these sins in their original frame of reference, vices. We routinely treat sins and vices as interchangeable, but vices belong in the same category as virtues, that is, vices are habits and practices that we undertake. Practices and habits will form us and our desires. Constructively, in the case of virtues. Destructively, in the case of vices. The talk of the Seven Deadlies then begins with a realization that merely stumbling into a transgression does not necessarily make one guilty of a Deadly Sin. Vices become more rooted in our life and work against the character that God desires to see in us.<br />
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DeYoung does a nice job of stripping away the caricatures of the vices, as they are, say, portrayed in the movie <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114369/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1" target="_blank">Seven</a></i>, starring Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman. Or thinking that Gluttony, Lust and Sloth are symbolized by lying around in one's underwear on the couch, gorging on Cheetos while watching porn. None of these are particularly wholesome, healthy or faithful, but we kid ourselves if we use this image as the standard of what the vices entail.<br />
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The vices are far more insidious, as DeYoung points out. She begins each chapter, detailing what a vice is and is not. In the chapter "Envy," she delineates envy from jealousy and covetousness. She writes,<br />
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Envy, on the other hand, is typically more concerned with who we <i>are</i>. Envy targets the internal qualities of another person, qualities that give a person worth, honor, standing, or status. If the envious do desire an external thing, it is because that object symbolizes or signifies its owner's high position or greatness. There is a difference for example, between wanting a BMW because we are car aficionados and love the driving performance of a particular model, and wanting a a BMW because it will make us feel superior to our neighbor, who just bought a new Camry. Anything but to be the only ones in the neighborhood still driving a Taurus! But it's not the car that makes us green with envy, so much as what being the owner of such a car says about who we are, the personal respect and admiration that we command when we drive up in it. Not to have the car is to not just to lack that thing, but to be less of a person, to be deficient or defective. His or her lack makes the envier feel less loveable, less admirable, less worthy as a person. (DeYoung, <i>Glittering Vices </i>[Kindle], doi:710)</blockquote>
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DeYoung consistently peels back the layers of reduction and caricature until we see our own lives reflected in the vices. Here is the power in <i>Glittering Vices</i>, the ability to have us examine our own lives. When we begin to grasp the breadth of the vices and what they really mean, it is not hard to see the vices springing up in our lives. In short most of the vices arise when we love ourselves more than ourselves. Lust enters the scene when we want to replace physical and spiritual intimacy in sexual intercourse with the mere pursuit of our own pleasure. Sloth is not about laziness, but about lack of care for one's commitment to religious identity and vocation. Sloth was not considered a carnal (physical) vice but a spiritual one. Gluttony, a carnal vice, is not about how much food we eat, but how much pleasure we take in eating and why.<br />
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A real strength though in <i>Glittering Vices</i> is the way DeYoung also brings up countering virtues. In the "Avarice" chapter, she points out that avarice is both an overzealous desire for material goods and an inability to value those things as they are, using the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15 as an example. She continues lifting up the virtues of liberality and justice as the counter to avarice. She points out that practices that entail extravagance in love and justice that restores relationships is key to countering the twisted desire for more things.<br />
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<i>Glittering Vices</i> is a very accessible book regarding the Seven Deadlies, that could be good fodder for a pastor looking for handy sermon references and a way to speak the Law as the mirror of our existence, shedding new light onto the ways that our lives are broken by the power of sin. This book could be a good conversation starter for groups who wished for some thoughtful reflection on our lives and the way we might live in faith. While sin is clearly dealt with, DeYoung consistently writes in a way that brings the gospel to the forefront.GeekChurchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13734017463840940541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9069200.post-55497046368160187112013-04-09T12:23:00.003-04:002013-04-09T12:23:39.416-04:00Theologian, Yes. Pastor, Yes. Martyr., ehhh...I cannot help it. I get a little bent out of shape every April ninth. Bonhoeffer quotes get passed around on the date of his death, which is great, because there are a lot of really powerful quotes from Bonhoeffer. In fact, just this morning I retweeted and included in a weekly update email his quote,<span style="font-family: inherit;"> <span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">“God does not give us everything we want, but he does fulfill all his promises.” In a culture that sees God as a great wish-granter, Bonhoeffer speaks about God's greater reality, to provide what has been promised, not what we think we want. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">However, it is common to attribute to Bonhoeffer the status of martyr. Across ecumenical lines Bonhoeffer is frequently called a martyr. A number of his biographies, including the recent Metaxas bio, use "martyr" in the title. The prevalence of the title does make me realize I am in the minority opinion here, but I do not believe Bonhoeffer is a martyr. Both the <i>Lutheran Book of Worship</i> and <i>Evangelical Lutheran Worship </i>omit "martyr" from the their attribution. The former calling Bonhoeffer "teacher," the latter "theologian." But many others use "martyr."
Throughout Christian history there are in fact martyrs, people who have been killed because they simply are Christian, or because being Christian prohibited them from worshiping other gods. The early church is rife with martyrs. Every once in a while, even now, there are people who are killed for their faith. But Bonhoeffer is not one those. </span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">As I read Bonhoeffer's story, I understand that he is killed because he got wrapped up in a plot assassinate Hitler. When he was arrested, it was not because he was a Christian. He was arrested because the plot failed and the authorities treated him the way any government would have treated an insurgent. </span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Do not get me wrong. I respect Bohoeffer's theological acumen, routinely referencing them. One year when the lectionary led us through the Sermon on the Mount, I used Bonhoeffer's section of <i>The Cost of Discipleship</i> that walked through this passage of scripture. But his response to Hitler is more of despair than faith it seems. Bonhoeffer knew the plot was wrong, but he decided he would rather be wrong than do nothing. The reality was, of course, that he was not "doing nothing." He had been living out his call as a pastor and a theologian in the church by participating in the Confessing Church movement when German church became corrupted and controlled by Nazi ideals. He helped raise other faithful clergy in the secret seminary that was the seedbed out of which <i>Life Together</i> came. But rather than keep up with those activities, he got wrapped up in the assassination plot. The strength of the Christian witness is that some who seem to be passively resisting with means such as prayer, fasting, and right worship, are not passive at all. They need not be on the front lines meeting deadly force with force. I am no pacifist. There are some who are called to fight and oppose aggression with aggression. There are however others also called to provide another response that is just as powerful. </span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">I am not one to speculate much about how I would respond in such a time. Thankfully, I did not live during that time and did not need to make that decision. Nor do I damn Bonhoeffer for his decision to participate in the plot. In my view he might have made a bad choice, and it does not take away from his work as pastor, theologian and teacher of the church. As I said, I realize I am in the minority. I am willing to be considered wrong. Maybe the term has shifted in meaning. But I worry that we so badly desire to hold someone up as a martyr, that we risk confusing the heart of what it means to be a martyr. </span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Almighty God, your Holy Spirit gives to one the word of wisdom, and to another the word of knowledge, and to another the word of faith. We praise you for the gifts of grace imparted to your servant Dietrich, and we pray that by his teaching we may be led to a fuller knowledge of the truth which we seen in your Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. </i></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>GeekChurchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13734017463840940541noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9069200.post-41203814383109534122013-04-07T22:34:00.000-04:002013-04-07T22:34:41.176-04:00I Eat, Therefore I Believe -- 2nd Sunday of Easter<b><u>Reading:</u></b><br />
<a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=John+20:19-31&vnum=yes&version=nrsv" target="_blank">John 20:19-31</a><br />
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An excerpt from the sermon:<br /><b id="internal-source-marker_0.2250810011755675" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We are not left on our own however. Just because we do not see Christ and the marks of his crucifixion in his body, we should not think that our faith is somehow our own doing. That unlike Thomas we are able to wrangle faith out of nothing. Or dig deep and pull it out of our own being. If God is not involved, we will be unable to know anything. But the witness of scripture consistently points to God coming to us. We are not left on our own. The good news is always that God comes to us. We are not saved by our righteousness, but in the waters of baptism, Christ comes and gives us HIS righteousness. We say that this is an alien righteousness. It is not our own. </span></b><br />
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Read the whole thing <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zGdyVT8SPkd-a6xWynNSFjDjONGn4kQ3WyhF2TI2w-4/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank">here</a>. </span></b><br />
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Or listen to it: </span></b><br />
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GeekChurchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13734017463840940541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9069200.post-36611137773068804972013-03-27T14:38:00.001-04:002013-03-27T14:38:45.980-04:00Talking About Talking About GodTo talk about God, many would think, would be easy. The reality however, is that God is not necessarily a concept about which everyone shares the same assumptions. Rob Bell, in his most recent book <i>What We Talk About When We Talk About God</i>, sets out to clarify the baseline assumptions, thereby mapping out the conversation space for the Christian notion of who God is.<br />
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Reading Bell, I feel almost guilty. His work is not the sort of intellectually stimulating piece that I try to usually read (with varying degrees of success and failure). To be honest, this is in fact the first book by Bell that I have ever read. I have used his Nooma videos. I have used his "The Gods Aren't Angry" video. I have even seen him in person on his <i>Smashing Ice</i> tour (my thoughts about that<a href="http://intheparish.blogspot.com/2011/12/smashing-ice-with-rob-bell_07.html" target="_blank"> here</a>). I bought <i>Love Wins</i> at a closing Border's store over a year ago, but have never read it. And I own <i>Jesus Wants to Save Christians, </i>but this book, <i>What We Talk About When We Talk About God, </i>is the truly first of his that I have read from beginning to end. His conversational tone pulled me in and made it hard for me to put the book down, which is something because the most common time for me to be reading this book was as I laid in bed. This book was not something that I had to ponder and wrestle with, but engaged me.<br />
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Part of my engagement was how similar his message was to how I understand what Lutherans have been saying for quite some time now. I felt like the choir member calling out the "AMEN!", although I had to do so quietly since my wife was often asleep beside me. Part of my engagement, though, to be honest, was annoyance. I wanted to say "That's what we've been saying all along!" When I finished the book, I tweeted:<br /><br />
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Just finished What We Talk About When We Talk About God. Great quick read. Spoke grace that made me think he might be Lutheran.<br />
— Brian Bennett (@brian_o_bennett) <a href="https://twitter.com/brian_o_bennett/status/314879474661470209">March 21, 2013</a></blockquote>
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His core message is rooted in God's character, since what we talk about when we talk about God, is to make claims about who God is and what God is up to. In his rather simplistic style, Bell used three words to unpack what Christianity says about God, and devoted a chapter to each word. Bell used<b> With</b>, <b>For</b>, and <b>Ahead</b>. Bell wants to put God's <i>with</i>ness, his word, out in the forefront, because too often we believe is elsewhere, doing other God things, and only showing up now and again for us. Bell sees God completely wrapped up in our lives and ubiquitous in our existence. Then Bell enters into the radical nature of God's <i>for</i>ness. While some might talk about a God who is angry unless we do the right thing or say the right prayer or just waiting to smite us if we do something displeasing, Bell wants to be clear about a God who stands with us, even in lives that are a complete mess, which he believes is the heart of the proclamation Jesus brings with his life, death and resurrection. Finally Bell says God is ahead of us, not behind us, dragging us back into archaic, anti-scientific thinking, but ahead of us, urging us, not necessarily into a temporally future-oriented existence, but an eschatological future where our lives and creation finds its full meaning. God is, for Bell, always pulling humanity into greater peace, justice, love, compassion and joy.<br />
<br />Bell also warmed readers up using <b>Open</b>, and <b>Both</b>, and then closed with a <b>so</b>. The warm-ups are about getting people ready to read something that might be foreign to them. Bell wants them to lay aside there pre-conceived notions and assumptions that they might already have and prepare them for thinking about things in a new way. And <b>both </b>tries to express the blessing and challenge that language presents in trying to describe a God who cannot fit in any neat box. <b>So </b>moves people to ponder what a God who is radically <b>with</b>, <b>for</b> and <b>ahead</b> of us might for us in our lives.<br />
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Bell is at heart a storyteller. He weaves some great stories into his material with a mastery that makes it clear these stories are part of God's great story. Bell tells stories from science, from his life, and even from his experience as a pastor to help clarify and shed light on these concepts and God's story.<br />
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I also find this book to be the perfect opening salvo to ready many of his tribe, American Evangelicals, for his backing of same-sex marriage. I was not surprised to read this and then hear that he believes marriage should be extended to same-sex couples. His chapter dealing with <b>Ahead, </b>while it never mentioned same-sex marriage, led perfectly into his public support of same-sex marriage.<br />
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<i>What We Talk About When We Talk About God </i>is an incredibly accessible account of the good news of who God is and what God is up to in Jesus. Bell isn't really saying anything new or groundbreaking, but he is helping correct some abuses of the way God has been talked about over the recent past, the move to make God more opponent than defender, more judge than adovcate, more concerned with you behaving right before stepping than being with you all the time.<br />
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In the end, Bell's book might help spur some thoughtful reflection and conversation from Christians and non-Christians alike. Certainly Christians could use a look at a discussion of God that encompasses a grace-filled space that is open to a God who exists beyond the image made in people's own ones... even us Lutherans who think we already own what Bell is saying.<br />
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And as to my feelings of guilt with Bell not being so intellectually heavy and dense... I am reminded of the old hymn "I Love to Tell the Story." And the last verse is the one that always gets me, because I hear me in that verse... a lifelong Christian who longs to hear the story told to me.<br /><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: serif;"><i>I love to tell the story, for those who know it best</i></span></div>
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Seem hungering and thirsting to hear it like the rest.</div>
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And when, in scenes of glory, I sing the new, new song,</div>
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’Twill be the old, old story that I have loved so long.</div>
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As Bell weaves stories into God's story, he wraps up my story in there as well, because I know that I haven't gotten everything together. That I am often not with it. That I do not live up to the calling that God has given me. That life is not always smooth sailing. It is good to know that God is with, for and ahead of me.GeekChurchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13734017463840940541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9069200.post-18139123068621331612013-03-23T09:00:00.000-04:002013-03-23T09:33:08.055-04:00The Limit of IdentityYesterday I had the opportunity, as a member of the Multi-Faith Council at Chatham University, to sponsor a panel of women from different faiths. The panel members were invited to attend and speak on "Journey... Gender... Job: the intersection of spirituality, womanhood, and vocation." The speakers represented Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. They were all different women with different career paths and different faiths, and yet the storied they told had incredible resonance with each other.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisMrYgxAENoUIqLz55XhR7nsmC9TihUQw8X9dhXLBqUZMn0WMvYbkmwlKJQHkMqvvO-oyVt9O1djXE8Mvyrp3hCn_nT7u4YDuftJMIcxwrfQi_jb9r5DICvjANiyDjwUXh-HNtBQ/s1600/Chatham+Journeys+Panel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="124" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisMrYgxAENoUIqLz55XhR7nsmC9TihUQw8X9dhXLBqUZMn0WMvYbkmwlKJQHkMqvvO-oyVt9O1djXE8Mvyrp3hCn_nT7u4YDuftJMIcxwrfQi_jb9r5DICvjANiyDjwUXh-HNtBQ/s320/Chatham+Journeys+Panel.jpg" width="320" /></a>They each spoke of discerning their career paths while remaining true to their faith and the identity they understood to flow from their faith. The woman from Judaism spoke about becoming an actor while moving into a distinct understanding of her place within Hasidic Judaism, which posed some problems as a woman performing in front of audiences, usually on the Sabbath. The young Muslim woman also faced challenges to her faith. From wearing the hajib while in high school in Turkey, where it was banned for high school students, to her career in finance where she couldn't work for a bank since taking interest is forbidden by the Qur'an. The Christian woman was a physician who works part time for a Christian health clinic that serves everyone but notably the under-served. </div>
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What I found interesting was that even as a man, I found their stories particularly illuminating. While these women ran into limits that their faith imposed upon them, they accepted those limits in faith. I felt like many men who are pursuing something like a career, meet such limits with an equal determination, meeting the opposition with an equal or slightly greater than equal reaction, so we can get what we want. Listening to the women though the acceptance of the limits still allowed them to further what they understood the vocation they were being called to while still in keeping with the tenets of their faith. They saw the limits as an extension of their identity, who they were in connection to their understanding of God, while I believe many men would see the limits in opposition to their identity. </div>
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I do not want to discount the very real limits placed upon women particularly by traditional faiths. However it was also something to hear these women speak about their trust that even among risks and challenges they followed where they believed God was calling them and how they believed that their life was better for it. Too often we believe that following God take something away from our lives. These women's discussion showed very clearly that God's presence and activity in our lives can be richer than we could imagine. </div>
GeekChurchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13734017463840940541noreply@blogger.com0