Jumping on a Moving Train

That is a little like how it has felt over the past month. Starting the new call at the Lutheran University Center. Getting here, getting situated, getting oriented, getting moved out (of my old office) and moved in (to my new office)... all of it has been a little crazy. Throw in organizing my installation, a grand and lovely event thanks to the efforts of many others, as well as family transition issues... it is no wonder my output on my blog and podcast has dropped. I have even wondered about closing down this blog and starting a new one since I am no longer a pastor of a congregation. But I think I will leave its name alone.

I am hoping that my writing continues and picks up as things reach a steady state, or at least as steady as they can in campus ministry.

Ministry and Incarnation

The past month has been incredibly hectic.  As I wrote a few weeks ago, I am starting a new call.  December was busier as I  tried to get everything in order before I had finished as pastor.  As if getting ready for Christmas wasn't enough, I also was making sure the parish record was in order and all that sort of stuff.  Then there were the people who really wanted me to do one or another pastoral task before I left...

So during December, I had three baptisms and five First Communions... not to mention two memorial services. Granted those folks didn't arrange this task with me when I announced I was leaving... but it was just extra stuff.  At any rate, I do not think I have had such a cramped month in my eight plus years serving St. Paul. 

There was a part of me that wondered if I was doing something wrong by acquiescing to these requests.  After all, there was no need to rush.  A perfectly competent pastor would be serving as an interim after I left.  There was nothing special about me doing it.  Performing the baptisms or instructing the First Communicants did not require me.  There was a part of me that worried about creating inappropriate expectations about pastors. 

But then my last Sunday came.  That Sunday was Christmas day. I was emotional from the get-go.  I climbed into the pulpit to set up my recorder and manuscript.  As I went up the steps, I realized that this day was the last day I would climb into the pulpit as pastor.  During the announcements, when I asked the small crowd to bear with me if I got emotional, I teared up.  Once the liturgy got going I was fine.  While there are many who decry the liturgy, I find great comfort in it.  This day the familiarity acted like a friend walking with me through grief.  I didn't shed one tear as I preached and we sang and prayed together.  Until we came to the Eucharist, of course.  There I saw the families whom I would not commune again as pastor.  I would not stand again behind that rail to proclaim gracious gospel words "The Body of Christ given for you." When it came time for me to commune with the worship assistant and acolytes, tears could not be held back any longer.  I sobbed.

Body and blood met me graciously.  I wanted to do nothing but cling to them as long as I could, knowing the service would all too soon after that meal.  And at some point my mind, in its emotional state, made a connection between the incarnation and ministry. God the Father didn't just use an ephemeral spirit when humanity needed saving.  God sent Jesus to dwell in flesh, to live with us as one of us.  God doesn't use some disembodied persona to serve congregations either.  As imperfect as we are, pastors are flesh and blood creatures who form deep and abiding relationships with the people in our congregations. 

Pastoral ministry is inherently incarnational. The people whom I served wanted me to do those last few pastoral tasks not because I was somehow special. They wanted me to do those tasks, baptizing and communing them because I was a particular embodiment of the gospel for them.  I was the one they had to come to know who spoke the gospel.  It was not mere sentimentality that had them wanting me to do these things before I left.  The pastor builds a relationship with the people over the years of service, and this relationship is rooted in the relationship that Christ forms with us in the incarnation.

While it was a challenge for me, and no service would have been easy as my last, I found that Christmas was an incredibly appropriate day as my last.  I am thankful for my time at St. Paul and the relationships we shared there.  I am also thankful for the relationship begun in and by Christ that is an embodied relationship because he was incarnate.

The Decorated Pastor... like a gingerbread house

Unfortunately I forgot my recorder yesterday so I did not get my sermon recorded, but something else happened.  The leader of the youth group asked if I would come to the meeting since it would be my last opportunity.  I agreed and then she told me to wear something I wouldn't mind getting messy.  I was thinking paint, maybe a pie in the face.  Nope. 

I have heard of people who were decorated.  People of distinction in various arenas.  Now I can say that I too have been decorated.  The youth group decorated me like a big gingerbread house.  As a farewell, I am pretty sure it will be one of, if not the most memorable farewell.  The youth had a blast.  I am sure they will remember it for much of their lives.  After all, it isn't every night when they get to cover their pastor's face in icing. (NOTE: in the event that you think this might be something you'd like to do, a word of caution... After a few minutes, my eyes were starting to be irritated by the icing.  A little burn was developing.  Buy a cheap pair of swim goggles and decorate around/over them.)

Here are a couple of videos that were taken.  In the first one, the youth were trying to erect the gingerbread house on my face. In the second, they had given up and just went to smearing my face and hair with icing and candy decoration.





After I went and cleaned up from this, they also sat down with me to give me a book of photos and comments.  In the end, I cried. A wonderful evening with them.

Smashing Ice with Rob Bell

Back on Nov. 25, I saw Rob Bell in Pittsburgh for his "Fit to Smash Ice" Tour.  I had seen some of his stuff online and on DVD.  I had never read any of his books, although Love Wins is sitting on my shelf in my reading queue.  I went partly to experience him live and continue to feel out what his draw is.  I wanted to see what his delivery was like and what sort of people came out to see him.  I am not a fan per se, but I do think he gets some things brilliantly right even though he gets some things just as wrong.  And here he was in Pittsburgh on the night after Thanksgiving when I would be at my parents' house just north of Pittsburgh.  My wife and I could attend and we would have free babysitting.  So we went.

The crowd was small compared to the hall we were in.  The Carnegie Library Music Hall in Munhall, PA is a medium-size hall, but the crowd only filled about half of the lower level.  Mostly everyone was young and white, although a few older couples were there... older even than my wife and I. It seemed like a church group was in attendance since one couple (coincidentally the only African-American couple, I think) walked in close to the beginning and half of the people in front of us all waved and greeted them.  A group of four young folk in the row in front of me had note paper out.  One young man had even separated his paper into three areas: inspire, offend, confuse.  The young woman next to him just wrote almost constantly during the time.

2nd Sunday of Advent -- Good Beginnings

Reading:

Mark 1:1-8

We read the beginning of Mark's gospel as he sets the stage for the story of Jesus, who is himself the good news. 

An excerpt:

This story is meant from its outset to pull its readers and listeners into it… The story is clearly bigger than itself.  We might mistake the opening verse as nothing more than an introductory verse if we translate it as “The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”  We are so familiar with “gospel” as a literary genre, we might forget that at its heart the word means “good news.”  And we need to get rid of the “about Jesus Christ.”  Those six Greek words require some interpretation… but to pull us into the story, the good news can’t just be “about” Jesus the Messiah.  And one way to interpret and translate those words is to read it “The good news who IS Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”  The good news is precisely Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God is on the scene.  

Read it here. 

Or listen to it. 

    

    
  
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1st Sunday of Advent -- Apocalypse and Revelation

Reading:
Mark 13: 24-37
Advent is a season to ponder Christ's return in glory.  No longer hidden, Christ's glory will be revealed for all to see.

Unfortunately I had no manuscript for this sermon.  I just went off of some notes, so here it is to listen to.

   

   
   
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Scooby-Doo, Monsters and Real Life

A friend of  mine, Ralph Hanson, shared a link on Facebook to an incredibly interesting column over at the Comics Alliance.  In the column, Chris Sims answers questions weekly.  Last Friday he was asked, "Q: On Scooby-Doo, do you prefer the monsters to be real or people in costumes? -- @heythisisbrian"

 Chris' answer is fascinatingly brilliant.  In short, he says that the monsters on Scooby-Doo must be people masquerading as monsters because the world is full of bad people who lie to kids using superstition to scare them.  Scooby Doo teaches them that the best thing to do in the face of fear from superstition is to think. 

Nativity Sets: The good, the bad, the kitschy

Ok... no good ones... but over at Mark Oestreicher's blog, he posted his list of the 27 worst nativity sets he has found.  They are amazingly bad. 

One person's comments showed a Star Wars nativity set... it is fantastic. Wrong but fantastic.

The bacon/sausage one is clearly my favorite.

Thanksgiving Service 2011 -- Praise and Thanksgiving

Reading:
Luke 17:11-19
The story of Jesus healing the ten lepers, but only the Samaritan returning is often used as a morality lesson for giving thanks.  The story though is more about Jesus' identity.  Our praise and thanksgiving is rooted in that identity.

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Christ the King Sunday -- Power and Rulers

The text from Ezekiel 34 has the Lord railing against the leaders of Israel for their selfish outlook.  Jesus echoes the refrain of judgment as he tags the leaders of the nations for their treatment of the "least of these."  

Here is an excerpt:

The bigwigs in Israel are clearly not looking out for the best of all but just themselves.  Now I realize that much of the discussion so far has been of rich and poor, rather than dealing with rulers… and Ezekiel is dealing with rulers… but one of the stark realities that the Occupy movement is attempting to bring to light is precisely the notion that money is power.  The Supreme Court has ruled that campaign contributions are protected free speech.  Today to be rich is to wield power that most of us have no access to.  Ezekiel’s opening of chapter 34 is a brief theological summary of politics.  Those who wield political power is an opportunity to exercise righteousness.  They can be a part of ordering a community that is based on mutual love.  But in the end they reject that opportunity and seek their own good.  And the sheep are then subject to forces that treat them as prey.  The flock scatters. 

Or read it here. 

Or listen to it. 

   

   
   
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22nd Sunday after Pentecost -- The Joy of the Kingdom

I'm a little behind on posting this sermon, I know.  But here it is. 

In telling the parable of the talents, Jesus nears the end of his eschatological discourse.  Here he focuses on judgment and narrow thinking of one servant.  The servant thinks from a scarcity viewpoint.  The life of a disciple is one of joy, Jesus teaches us.  And there is more joy to come. 

An exccerpt from my sermon:

The focal point for Jesus is the perspective the servants have toward the talents.  The third servant is afraid because of the view he has of the Master and the talent. For this servant, the talent could only be lost or used up.  The talent becomes then, not a gift, but a possession.  He views the talent through a lens of scarcity.  The other two servants on the other hand see the talents not as possessions, but as the gifts they were meant to be.  Securing the gifts would be to lose them.  These two servants then use the talents in that spirit… gifts that are meant to be given. 

Read the whole thing here. 

Or listen to it. 

   

   
   
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Final Things: Leaving a Call and Eschatology

So the word is out... I am leaving my call at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Morgantown, WV at the end of this calendar year and will be beginning a new call as the chaplain at the Lutheran University Center in Pittsburgh.  As the calendar goes this year, that means my last Sunday will be Christmas Day.  I begin January 1, 2012 a the campus ministry, although there is no service that day since the campuses around the chapel will not be in session.

I have been struck more by the things that are ending.  I keep running into "final things": the last newsletter, the last calendar review... soon it will be last Thanksgiving service then last midweek Advent service and sooner or later, last service.  I have been surprised by the grief.  While I am excited about the new possibility I am moving through lots of little deaths.  This congregation was my first call.  It was where I was formed as a pastor at least as much as seminary formed me.  This congregation is where my family was started.  My oldest was six months old when I began.  I now have three children, the youngest of which is almost 17 months. 

But I reflected on the upcoming readings for the lectionary... Christ the King and Advent... all eschatological readings that put these in a new context for me.  I wrote these reflections up as my final newsletter article...

Obedience and Scandal: Football, Military, Church

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German pastor and theologian made a connection in the life of faith between believing and obeying.  To believe is to obey. To obey is to believe.  There is an inherent trust in the act of obedience.  The practices and habits of developing the virtue of obedience will also likely tie people very closely to the ideals of the organization but also to the structure of the organization itself.

There are a number of organizations that seek to develop obedience.  This has become clearest unfortunately in the aftermath of scandals.  The church, the military and football programs, most recently and horribly at Penn State University.  These organizations seek to develop obedience because trust or faith are important aspects of the life of these organizations.

The church seeks to develop obedience to God and this can hardly be accomplished without some structure around it.  Whether there is a distinct authoritative structure or a less authoritative structure, as people develop their obedience to God, they become enmeshed in the structure itself.

The military seeks to develop obedience so that the organization may move smoothly even in times of great stress and crisis.

College football programs seek to develop obedience so the players will perform at an incredibly high level.  People I have spoken with who have played top level college football say that in those programs the coach's word is akin to the word of God.

I have pondered the situation at Penn State, and have been surrounded by the sex abuse scandal in churches (when I was serving my internship, I ended up going to court to support a refugee member of the congregation and it happened to be the same day that the John Geoghan was having one of his first hearings in the Cambridge courthouse).  I am convinced that the issue is our understanding of authority.  Clearly the priests who abuse children, as well as Jerry Sandusky allegedly, have misunderstood their authority and taken advantage of it.  But what about Joe Paterno?

I had been placing his failure to do more in the light of hearing allegations from a graduate assistant/former player who said something about a close friend he has known for quite a while.  Joe reported what he needed to and nothing more.  It boggles all of our minds as to why Joe did not do more.  Part of it might be due to his friendship with Sandusky, but I think there is more, but not necessarily with any nefarious intent on Joe's part.

Joe served Penn State for decades in a position where he wielded incredible authority.  If football coaches speak with a god's authority, then Joe has existed in a position where he does not wonder if people will do what needs to be done.  They just do it.  I have heard of tales where Joe was able to bar then President Spanier from the locker room and the board backed him up.  Joe speaks and players, coaches, and just about everybody else listen.

Except of course the administrators who are not part of such an environment where obedience is unquestioned.  They are less worried about obedience and try to cover up any scandal so the school is not tarnished.  Many steps were taken but not proper ones.  The administrators misunderstood their authority to be a subordinate authority to the government and believed they could save the school's reputation.  If they understood their authority properly they would have hopefully done what was required.  They mistook their authority to be greater than what it was and in the end the institution was rocked by a far greater scandal and they are going to pay a price as well.

None of this reflection should be understood as an excuse for the inaction by Joe or the cover-up by the administration, campus police and likely others.  There is surely something to be learned here for organizations that exist with structures of authority and obedience.  Soldiers cannot simply rely on "we were just following orders" anymore.  Football coaches and priests cannot understand their authority outside of the particular relationship each holds with its institution.  And when their institution must interact with others who do not hold such a high view of obedience and authority, they must not take for granted that everyone will share the same perspective.

All in all, the authority of any human being cannot own the obedience of any other when it seeks to thwart justice.  In the end, while many questions have been raised and much needed conversation will take place, not everyone will receive the appropriate human justice.  We can trust that God's authority will eventually be heeded when judgment is executed. 

In the meantime, I will pray for all involved: the Penn State community, the perpetrators and the victims. 

Zombies are Us

I have recently begun watching AMC's series, The Walking Dead on Netflix.   I can only watch it in moderate amounts.  No blasting through episodes one after the other. It is not because they are scary... well, not in the normal sense.  The walking dead are gross and creepy.  What scares me is the surviving community of humans.  They live on the edge of devouring themselves...

I wrote a reflection on the show, "Are You What You Eat?," for Mediation, a blog at The Other Journal.

And I ran across an interesting book on zombies over at Google Books. Zombies are Us: Essays on the Humanity of the Walking Dead by Christopher Moreman and Cory James Rushton.  Interesting looks at humanity and zombies.

All Saints' Sunday -- A Vast Multitude

John the Seer reports his vision of a vast multitude gathered around the throne praising God, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits upon the throne and to the Lamb!"  People from all over, gathered into one body for one purpose. 

An excerpt from my sermon:

John gives us a vision of a crowd, a multitude so big no one could count them all and despite being gathered and praising God and the Lamb, they were from every nation, tribe and people, all speaking different languages.  While the many are gathered into one, one people singing the praise of God, the differences are not seen as competitive or destructive.  Rather, the unity is constructive and mutually reinforcing.  Each person gathered around the throne is freed to be uniquely the person they were made to be.  One biblical scholar has written regarding this passage, “Gathered around the divine throne, the tongues of all creatures are loosed to find their own peculiar parts in the cosmic song.”  

Read the whole thing here. 

Or listen to it: 

   

   
   
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All Saints' Sunday and Revelation

As I prepare for All Saints' Sunday this week, I am focusing on the text of Rev. 7:9-17 as the basis of my sermon.  The gospel text, the Beatitudes, were done in depth earlier this year when the lectionary went through the Sermon on the Mount.  I read those texts in close conversation with Bonhoeffer and Hauerwas. I feel like I have gone over those texts rather fully for my preaching and I am afraid that I might just be repeating myself even with the lesser festival to add a different context. 

Reformation Sunday -- Abiding in the Word

Jesus said to the Jews who believed in him, "If you abide in my Word, you are truly my disciples."  Following Jesus is more than just creating a checklist to be followed or knowing doctrine backward and forward.

An excerpt:

When Jesus says “you shall know the truth and the truth shall you free,” again he is not talking about propositional truths.  He is once again pointing to his own reality.  In chapter 14, Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth and the life…”  Jesus opens a new way of knowing truth, a relational knowing where truth comes and dwells with us.  Jesus encounters people who are inquisitive about him “Where are you dwelling?” they ask him.  “Come and see,” Jesus answers.  He doesn’t ask them if they have it all figured out beforehand.  Jesus doesn’t ask us if we have it all figured out before he claims us.  Jesus claims us hoping that over time as we come to know him, we will work on figuring it out.  Jesus comes to us first.  That is the heart of our transformation.  That is the heart of our being made right with God, the heart of our justification. 

Read the whole thing, here.

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Lead Us Not Into Temptation Facebook

Since Facebook has begun running many ads on users pages and not just the little ones along the side, but in the newsfeed and up on the top, I have been getting seriously concerned.  Routinely I get ads with barely clothed women on them.  They're falling out of their bikinis, tugging off their bottoms. Today I saw one that apparently involved video.  I surely am not clicking on it to find out.

19th Sunday after Pentecost -- Commanded to Love

Reading:

Matthew 22:34-46

Jesus faces his final challenge from religious authorities before his death.  Here Jesus gives his summation of the Law.  Love God and love neighbor.  The whole law and prophets hang on the commandment to love.

An excerpt: 

Humans are far too likely to love God unreservedly if and only if that God is in their image. Sin finds an entry point into this reality when humans desire to put themselves in the place of God.  Humans, according to the Small Catechism, are then unable on their own power to rightly fear, love and trust the God who made them, let alone their neighbor.  We find it far too easy to turn inward.  To let our neighbors starve while we hoard our resources.  We find it far too easy to chase after false images of the true God, trusting in subordinate powers, like the government or the invisible hand of the market or power or money or human reason or even our selves.

Or read it here.

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An Interview with Leymah Gbowee

I ran across an interview with Leymah Gbowee, a recipient of the most recent Nobel Peace Prize and a Lutheran woman.  The whole interview can be read at Reader's Digest.  It is from the October 2011 issue. 

Her peace-making efforts flow out of a sense of what God has done for her. Two responses to Dawn Raffel's questions:

Where do you get your courage?
My faith. I have come to one conclusion: All that I am, all that I aspire to be, all that I was before, is by the grace of God. There are so many women in Africa, and outside Africa, who are more intelligent than I am.

You put yourself in danger too.
Leadership is standing with your people. People say you have to live to fight another day, but sometimes you have to show you are a true leader. If those women were out in the blazing hot sun protesting, I, who put the group together, should be out there, too, instead of sitting in a very boring conference.
Out on the street, we danced! Women parked their cars and joined us. The military could not believe it, because the king sent armored vehicles. But we danced in their faces. Sometimes I do fear death, and I fear for my children. But the one thing I have never been afraid of is standing before important people and speaking my mind. I represent women who may never have the opportunity to go to the UN or meet with a president. I’m never afraid to speak truth to power.

I think I might find her memoir, Mighty Be Our Powers, and give it a read.