Art and Soul Update
May/15/2008 08:19 AM | Permalink
Speaking of my favorite podcasts, I haven't mentioned
"Art and Soul" lately. This is really a shame, since
many of the guests the past year have been close
friends.
If you haven't heard of "Art and Soul of North Texas," it's a podcast created by my friend, Shelly Niedbuhr --quite an accomplished artist herself-- that explores the intersections of creativity and spirituality.
And, as I mentioned, many of the recent guests are among my best friends.
Bill Nash was Shelly's February guest, and he talks at length about his music, his illness and his songwriting process. Despite all I know of Bill, I still learned something new....about his formal music training during college.. It's a great interview, found here.
Charles Geilich was Shelly's January guest (right about the time the blog crashed!). Charles, as you may remember, is a good friend and a fine writer. (He actually interviewed me once on his now defunct radio show...and we continue to threaten starting our own podcast together...)
He's finished two books, and he and Shelly have a great conversation about writing and inspiration. Listen here.
I've known Kelly Brown and her family since we were all back in high school and her Dad was my 10th Grace Sunday School teacher. (Yep. That's a looong time ago...) Kelly's quite a ball of energy and an incredible artist/musician who is highly supportive of other artists in the area. She was Shelly's guest back in December, and you won't want to miss their conversation.
Last July, Vicki Caroline Cheatwood was Shelly's guest. Besides being an acclaimed playwright, Vicki and her family are also members of our church. She and Shelly had a great conversation about writing and life.
My dear friend, Annie Benjamin, is, literally, of my longest-running (see how I avoid saying "oldest'?) musician friends. She and Shelly have a great conversation about music and life here.
Cornell Kinderknecht is an acclaimed woodwinds player, and also a member of our band, Connections, and he was one of Shelly's very first guests.
Finally, old friend, Marsha Webb, was Shelly's very first guest. And Marsha's deep insights into spirituality and music are things I lap up any chance I get.
It's a great podcast, and I highly recommend it to everyone. You can subscribe to the podcast and get them on y hour iPod. Or, you can just listen online at the links in this post.
You might even want to check out this episode, with a preacher/musician you know.
If you haven't heard of "Art and Soul of North Texas," it's a podcast created by my friend, Shelly Niedbuhr --quite an accomplished artist herself-- that explores the intersections of creativity and spirituality.
And, as I mentioned, many of the recent guests are among my best friends.
Bill Nash was Shelly's February guest, and he talks at length about his music, his illness and his songwriting process. Despite all I know of Bill, I still learned something new....about his formal music training during college.. It's a great interview, found here.
Charles Geilich was Shelly's January guest (right about the time the blog crashed!). Charles, as you may remember, is a good friend and a fine writer. (He actually interviewed me once on his now defunct radio show...and we continue to threaten starting our own podcast together...)
He's finished two books, and he and Shelly have a great conversation about writing and inspiration. Listen here.
I've known Kelly Brown and her family since we were all back in high school and her Dad was my 10th Grace Sunday School teacher. (Yep. That's a looong time ago...) Kelly's quite a ball of energy and an incredible artist/musician who is highly supportive of other artists in the area. She was Shelly's guest back in December, and you won't want to miss their conversation.
Last July, Vicki Caroline Cheatwood was Shelly's guest. Besides being an acclaimed playwright, Vicki and her family are also members of our church. She and Shelly had a great conversation about writing and life.
My dear friend, Annie Benjamin, is, literally, of my longest-running (see how I avoid saying "oldest'?) musician friends. She and Shelly have a great conversation about music and life here.
Cornell Kinderknecht is an acclaimed woodwinds player, and also a member of our band, Connections, and he was one of Shelly's very first guests.
Finally, old friend, Marsha Webb, was Shelly's very first guest. And Marsha's deep insights into spirituality and music are things I lap up any chance I get.
It's a great podcast, and I highly recommend it to everyone. You can subscribe to the podcast and get them on y hour iPod. Or, you can just listen online at the links in this post.
You might even want to check out this episode, with a preacher/musician you know.
|
Strangers Bring Us Closer to God
May/14/2008 07:18 AM | Permalink
"This I Believe" was a marvelous radio feature
created decades ago by legendary radio man, Edward R.
Murrow. In the modern era,
it's been revived by NPR and
independent producer, Jay
Allison.
I listen to it faithfully, via podcast, and I
highly recommend the series to you. Basically,
"ordinary people from all walks of life" submit
short essays on their "beliefs" and the best of
those are chosen for broadcast.
The one below is a recent submission that moved me because it speaks to my own sense of Christian faith, calling, and social understanding. Her own website says this about author Sara Miles:
"Raised as an atheist, Sara Miles lived an enthusiastically secular life as a restaurant cook and writer. Then early one morning, for no earthly reason, she wandered into a church. “I was certainly not interested in becoming a Christian,” she writes. “Or, as I thought of it rather less politely, a religious nut.”
But she ate a piece of bread, took a sip of wine, and found herself radically transformed...."
Below is the text of Sara's essay, titled "Strangers Bring Us Closer to God." As I said, a lot of my own theology is embedded in this beautiful essay. I have added emphasis here and there, just because.
Listen to it on iTunes here. Read it below.
Strangers Bring Us Closer to God
by Sara Miles
All Things Considered, May 5, 2008 · Until recently, I thought being a Christian was all about belief. I didn't know any Christians, but I considered them people who believed in the virgin birth, for example, the way I believed in photosynthesis or germs.
But then, in an experience I still can't logically explain, I walked into a church and a stranger handed me a chunk of bread. Suddenly, I knew that it was made out of real flour and water and yeast — yet I also knew that God, named Jesus, was alive and in my mouth.
That first communion knocked me upside-down. Faith turned out not to be abstract at all, but material and physical. I'd thought Christianity meant angels and trinities and being good. Instead, I discovered a religion rooted in the most ordinary yet subversive practice: a dinner table where everyone is welcome, where the despised and outcasts are honored.
I came to believe that God is revealed not only in bread and wine during church services, but whenever we share food with others — particularly strangers. I came to believe that the fruits of creation are for everyone, without exception — not something to be doled out to insiders or the "deserving."
So, over the objections of some of my fellow parishioners, I started a food pantry right in the church sanctuary, giving away literally tons of oranges and potatoes and Cheerios around the very same altar where I'd eaten the body of Christ. We gave food to anyone who showed up. I met thieves, child abusers, millionaires, day laborers, politicians, schizophrenics, gangsters, bishops — all blown into my life through the restless power of a call to feed people.
At the pantry, serving over 500 strangers a week, I confronted the same issues that had kept me from religion in the first place. Like church, the food pantry asked me to leave certainty behind, tangled me up with people I didn't particularly want to know and scared me with its demand for more faith than I was ready to give.
Because my new vocation didn't turn out to be as simple as going to church on Sundays and declaring myself "saved." I had to trudge in the rain through housing projects, sit on the curb wiping the runny nose of a psychotic man, take the firing pin out of a battered woman's Magnum and then stick the gun in a cookie tin in the trunk of my car. I had to struggle with my atheist family, my doubting friends, and the prejudices and traditions of my newfound church.
But I learned that hunger can lead to more life — that by sharing real food, I'd find communion with the most unlikely people; that by eating a piece of bread, I'd experience myself as part of one body. This I believe: that by opening ourselves to strangers, we will taste God.
Independently produced for All Things Considered by Jay Allison and Dan Gediman with John Gregory and Viki Merrick.
The one below is a recent submission that moved me because it speaks to my own sense of Christian faith, calling, and social understanding. Her own website says this about author Sara Miles:
"Raised as an atheist, Sara Miles lived an enthusiastically secular life as a restaurant cook and writer. Then early one morning, for no earthly reason, she wandered into a church. “I was certainly not interested in becoming a Christian,” she writes. “Or, as I thought of it rather less politely, a religious nut.”
But she ate a piece of bread, took a sip of wine, and found herself radically transformed...."
Below is the text of Sara's essay, titled "Strangers Bring Us Closer to God." As I said, a lot of my own theology is embedded in this beautiful essay. I have added emphasis here and there, just because.
Listen to it on iTunes here. Read it below.
Strangers Bring Us Closer to God
by Sara Miles
All Things Considered, May 5, 2008 · Until recently, I thought being a Christian was all about belief. I didn't know any Christians, but I considered them people who believed in the virgin birth, for example, the way I believed in photosynthesis or germs.
But then, in an experience I still can't logically explain, I walked into a church and a stranger handed me a chunk of bread. Suddenly, I knew that it was made out of real flour and water and yeast — yet I also knew that God, named Jesus, was alive and in my mouth.
That first communion knocked me upside-down. Faith turned out not to be abstract at all, but material and physical. I'd thought Christianity meant angels and trinities and being good. Instead, I discovered a religion rooted in the most ordinary yet subversive practice: a dinner table where everyone is welcome, where the despised and outcasts are honored.
I came to believe that God is revealed not only in bread and wine during church services, but whenever we share food with others — particularly strangers. I came to believe that the fruits of creation are for everyone, without exception — not something to be doled out to insiders or the "deserving."
So, over the objections of some of my fellow parishioners, I started a food pantry right in the church sanctuary, giving away literally tons of oranges and potatoes and Cheerios around the very same altar where I'd eaten the body of Christ. We gave food to anyone who showed up. I met thieves, child abusers, millionaires, day laborers, politicians, schizophrenics, gangsters, bishops — all blown into my life through the restless power of a call to feed people.
At the pantry, serving over 500 strangers a week, I confronted the same issues that had kept me from religion in the first place. Like church, the food pantry asked me to leave certainty behind, tangled me up with people I didn't particularly want to know and scared me with its demand for more faith than I was ready to give.
Because my new vocation didn't turn out to be as simple as going to church on Sundays and declaring myself "saved." I had to trudge in the rain through housing projects, sit on the curb wiping the runny nose of a psychotic man, take the firing pin out of a battered woman's Magnum and then stick the gun in a cookie tin in the trunk of my car. I had to struggle with my atheist family, my doubting friends, and the prejudices and traditions of my newfound church.
But I learned that hunger can lead to more life — that by sharing real food, I'd find communion with the most unlikely people; that by eating a piece of bread, I'd experience myself as part of one body. This I believe: that by opening ourselves to strangers, we will taste God.
Independently produced for All Things Considered by Jay Allison and Dan Gediman with John Gregory and Viki Merrick.
Non-Violent "action" at General Conference
May/03/2008 08:39 PM | Permalink
As I
alluded to briefly,
earlier this week the General Conference of the
United Methodist Church has been meeting in Fort
Worth for the past two weeks. I've been there almost
every day of those two weeks, primarily supporting a
cause near and dear to the heart of many in our
church: full inclusion of GLBT persons in our
denomination.
I have never written much about these issues on this blog, and there is no specific reason for this, other than that I've written about it extensively in sermons and on our church blog.
Sufficed to say, it was a difficult week. Two votes that were seen as crucial to advancing the cause for GLBT persons went down to defeat. In other years, votes like this have ended in defeat as well. But for some reason, this year feels different.
In part, because the Reconciling Ministries Network had worked very hard among the American UMC to build bridges with delegates, and tell the story of GLBT persons in the church. There were extremely positive signs that allowed us to hope that the church had heard this positive word of inclusion, and that perhaps this time would be different.
New, and beautifully crafted language, was voted out of committee by a truly diverse group of conservatives, moderates, and progressives. As one member of that committee told me this week, "the old language we have used for 30-years simply does not work...it's time to say something new." Read it here.
This language was a golden opportunity to strike a new, almost "third way" path beyond the old divisions.
But in a move that shocked many --not just Reconciling UMs-- this language was defeated in favor of language slightly worse than the status quo.
There is a truth in this loss that I will unpack fully in the coming weeks: that if only the votes of the American delegates were counted, it is very likely that the two crucial votes I refer to would have gone in a positive direction by a wide margin.
The new truth is this: the American United Methodist Church is ready to create the kind of "big tent" that would allow for full inclusion of gay and lesbians in the life of the church. That is a huge shift.
Unfortunately, what we also had confirmed this week is something we had feared for years: that ultra-conservatives have cornered international delegates --now 25 percent of the voting population-- in an alliance that virtually assures the defeat of progressive ideals.
This is a shocking, eye-opening, development. I blogged about it earlier this week, in an entry that, I am sure, probably confused many who don't know the inside story. Some who read this blog entry might wonder, "why the big fuss over the gift of some cell phones?"
The truth is, that's not a big deal on its own. But, giving 150 international delegates cell phones, and a list of candidates to vote for, IS a big deal. It confirms our worst fears about this new alliance. And it should deeply concern not just progressives, but moderates and conservatives alike. There will be much more to say about this truth later.
For now, I want to share the video below. The day after the two negative votes, the supporters of GLBT issues engaged in a non-violent protest on the floor of the General Conference. It was a negotiated interruption of conference business, at the invitation of the Bishops. Almost 400 persons took place.
I was honored to be one of the many from our church who took part. When it's no longer possible to work through the normal legislative process, the teachings of MLK, Ghandi, and others, remind us that such non-violent resistance is called for.
And, in fact, we've heard from many delegates that they deeply appreciated the tone of this "action."
The whole video is below. You'll see glimpses of 20-25 of us from Northaven Church, here and there. You'll see the other 400 persons who engaged in the "witness." And, I hope you will note the many actual delegates who stood with us, who came forward from their seats to place black cloth on the communion table. What you cannot see in the camera angle is that 2-300 more people were standing with us in the balcony, all around the arena.
Here the whole action:
Witness on the Plenary Floor from Reconciling Ministries Network on Vimeo.
It was wonderful, powerful, witness.
But it is not enough.
There is much more to say later.
I have never written much about these issues on this blog, and there is no specific reason for this, other than that I've written about it extensively in sermons and on our church blog.
Sufficed to say, it was a difficult week. Two votes that were seen as crucial to advancing the cause for GLBT persons went down to defeat. In other years, votes like this have ended in defeat as well. But for some reason, this year feels different.
In part, because the Reconciling Ministries Network had worked very hard among the American UMC to build bridges with delegates, and tell the story of GLBT persons in the church. There were extremely positive signs that allowed us to hope that the church had heard this positive word of inclusion, and that perhaps this time would be different.
New, and beautifully crafted language, was voted out of committee by a truly diverse group of conservatives, moderates, and progressives. As one member of that committee told me this week, "the old language we have used for 30-years simply does not work...it's time to say something new." Read it here.
This language was a golden opportunity to strike a new, almost "third way" path beyond the old divisions.
But in a move that shocked many --not just Reconciling UMs-- this language was defeated in favor of language slightly worse than the status quo.
There is a truth in this loss that I will unpack fully in the coming weeks: that if only the votes of the American delegates were counted, it is very likely that the two crucial votes I refer to would have gone in a positive direction by a wide margin.
The new truth is this: the American United Methodist Church is ready to create the kind of "big tent" that would allow for full inclusion of gay and lesbians in the life of the church. That is a huge shift.
Unfortunately, what we also had confirmed this week is something we had feared for years: that ultra-conservatives have cornered international delegates --now 25 percent of the voting population-- in an alliance that virtually assures the defeat of progressive ideals.
This is a shocking, eye-opening, development. I blogged about it earlier this week, in an entry that, I am sure, probably confused many who don't know the inside story. Some who read this blog entry might wonder, "why the big fuss over the gift of some cell phones?"
The truth is, that's not a big deal on its own. But, giving 150 international delegates cell phones, and a list of candidates to vote for, IS a big deal. It confirms our worst fears about this new alliance. And it should deeply concern not just progressives, but moderates and conservatives alike. There will be much more to say about this truth later.
For now, I want to share the video below. The day after the two negative votes, the supporters of GLBT issues engaged in a non-violent protest on the floor of the General Conference. It was a negotiated interruption of conference business, at the invitation of the Bishops. Almost 400 persons took place.
I was honored to be one of the many from our church who took part. When it's no longer possible to work through the normal legislative process, the teachings of MLK, Ghandi, and others, remind us that such non-violent resistance is called for.
And, in fact, we've heard from many delegates that they deeply appreciated the tone of this "action."
The whole video is below. You'll see glimpses of 20-25 of us from Northaven Church, here and there. You'll see the other 400 persons who engaged in the "witness." And, I hope you will note the many actual delegates who stood with us, who came forward from their seats to place black cloth on the communion table. What you cannot see in the camera angle is that 2-300 more people were standing with us in the balcony, all around the arena.
Here the whole action:
Witness on the Plenary Floor from Reconciling Ministries Network on Vimeo.
It was wonderful, powerful, witness.
But it is not enough.
There is much more to say later.
The Cell Phone Debacle and What it Should Tell Us
Apr/28/2008 08:43 AM | Permalink
Over the weekend, news broke of conservative elements
within the United Methodist Church attempting to sway
votes at the General Conference by providing cell
phones to international delegates from Africa and
elsewhere.
On the one hand, this move might be passed off as simply the kind of politics that goes on during a conference like this. But I believe United Methodist moderates and progressives learned something else, more deeply disturbing: We got confirmation that, despite their public claims to be seeking unity, these conservative elements are seeking to control the church, and force an agenda that might well split our denomination.
First, here is an quote from a news story from United Methodist News Service:
The story goes on to describe how information distributed with the phones contained specific information on candidates for Judicial Council who clearly come from a theologically conservative position. As I understand it, this issue has been now forwarded to the Rules Committee of the General Conference.
You can read the entire UMIS story here.
UM Action Executive Director, Mark Tooley, obviously caught red-handed, offered these very defensive responses:
Tooley's comments are intended to throw the casual observer off the scent. This incident reveals little about international delegates. But! It reveals a great deal about groups like UMAction, Good News, and the IRD within the United Methodist Church.
It reveals a clear intend to divide the church along lines that would not be acceptable to either moderates or progressives within the American Church.
The real questions for delegates to the General Conference are:
What does this incident reveal about the agenda of the radical right within the United Methodist Church?
Why --at a time when all delegates are calling for unity and a new sense of common purpose-- do they choose this form of secret caucusing, clearing meant to divide and destroy?
If these conservative leaders are so sure their views are within the mainstream of American Methodism, then why are they not simply caucusing with American progressives and moderates? Why go to such lengths to secretly sway the international vote?
Given this current debacle, and the shocking and divisive call for "split" that conservative leaders launched at the end of the last General Conference, how can conservative leaders assure us they are not actively working to undercut the effort by moderates and progressives to keep the church together?
Let me be clear: caucusing, using modern technologies like cell phones, is done by people in all sides of all issues within the UMC. It's not the use of cell phones that is the issue, it's the clear intent to sway a whole block of votes that is.
Tooley is actually right on one thing, thanks be to God: International delegates can think for themselves, even when they are treated paternalistically with cell phones and lists of "acceptable" candidates.
But the real story here not about those delegates. It's about a truth many of us have feared for some time: that elements of the radical right in the Methodist Church have an agenda to keep control of the church by aligning themselves with international delegates.
Their leaders do not apparently wish to caucus in good faith on the issues before the Conference, but instead they seek to manipulate the vote through crass political means.
Let me be clear: I am not seeking to paint all, or even a majority, of conservatives at General Conference with this brush. Many are seeking to reach out and form coalitions with moderates and progressives. I have personally witnessed some powerful dialogue taking place between United Methodists on conviction. I am grateful and inspired by such things.
But the goals of the leaders of these radical right groups should be deeply troubling to all mainstream United Methodists.
So I issue this last plea to delegates to the Conference:
I urge you to see this as sign of the desperate need for real restructuring in the United Methodist Church. What is clearly needed is a restructuring that assures the conservative wing of our church cannot control our future life together. What is needed is a restructuring that gives real voice to the beauty of United Methodism's cultural distinctiveness in every part of the world, including the United States.
I pray that moderates and progressives alike to use prayerful discernment on the issue of restructuring, so that the American church is not forever compromised by this radically conservative interest group.
On the one hand, this move might be passed off as simply the kind of politics that goes on during a conference like this. But I believe United Methodist moderates and progressives learned something else, more deeply disturbing: We got confirmation that, despite their public claims to be seeking unity, these conservative elements are seeking to control the church, and force an agenda that might well split our denomination.
First, here is an quote from a news story from United Methodist News Service:
“The Renewal and Reform Coalition created myriad conversations among delegates, church leaders and visitors after they learned that the Confessing Movement, Good News/Renew, Transforming Congregations and UMAction provided free cell phones to more than 150 African delegates to use during the General Conference. Some delegates and officials expressed concern that the coalition is trying to sway the votes of African delegates who are typically more conservative than their U.S. counterparts. They fear the coalition might use the phones to offer suggestions on how to vote on particular issues.”
The story goes on to describe how information distributed with the phones contained specific information on candidates for Judicial Council who clearly come from a theologically conservative position. As I understand it, this issue has been now forwarded to the Rules Committee of the General Conference.
You can read the entire UMIS story here.
UM Action Executive Director, Mark Tooley, obviously caught red-handed, offered these very defensive responses:
"Why are liberal church elites in the U.S. so intimidated by the empowerment of African and other international delegates? What are they so afraid of?
"When Africans speak their Biblical convictions, threatened liberal church bureaucrats call that 'manipulation'.
"Patronizingly, United Methodist bureaucrats assume that African and Filipino delegates can be bought with a cell phone.
"These clueless church elites don't understand the obvious. America evangelicals and Global South evangelicals support each other because of their common faith."
Tooley's comments are intended to throw the casual observer off the scent. This incident reveals little about international delegates. But! It reveals a great deal about groups like UMAction, Good News, and the IRD within the United Methodist Church.
It reveals a clear intend to divide the church along lines that would not be acceptable to either moderates or progressives within the American Church.
The real questions for delegates to the General Conference are:
What does this incident reveal about the agenda of the radical right within the United Methodist Church?
Why --at a time when all delegates are calling for unity and a new sense of common purpose-- do they choose this form of secret caucusing, clearing meant to divide and destroy?
If these conservative leaders are so sure their views are within the mainstream of American Methodism, then why are they not simply caucusing with American progressives and moderates? Why go to such lengths to secretly sway the international vote?
Given this current debacle, and the shocking and divisive call for "split" that conservative leaders launched at the end of the last General Conference, how can conservative leaders assure us they are not actively working to undercut the effort by moderates and progressives to keep the church together?
Let me be clear: caucusing, using modern technologies like cell phones, is done by people in all sides of all issues within the UMC. It's not the use of cell phones that is the issue, it's the clear intent to sway a whole block of votes that is.
Tooley is actually right on one thing, thanks be to God: International delegates can think for themselves, even when they are treated paternalistically with cell phones and lists of "acceptable" candidates.
But the real story here not about those delegates. It's about a truth many of us have feared for some time: that elements of the radical right in the Methodist Church have an agenda to keep control of the church by aligning themselves with international delegates.
Their leaders do not apparently wish to caucus in good faith on the issues before the Conference, but instead they seek to manipulate the vote through crass political means.
Let me be clear: I am not seeking to paint all, or even a majority, of conservatives at General Conference with this brush. Many are seeking to reach out and form coalitions with moderates and progressives. I have personally witnessed some powerful dialogue taking place between United Methodists on conviction. I am grateful and inspired by such things.
But the goals of the leaders of these radical right groups should be deeply troubling to all mainstream United Methodists.
So I issue this last plea to delegates to the Conference:
I urge you to see this as sign of the desperate need for real restructuring in the United Methodist Church. What is clearly needed is a restructuring that assures the conservative wing of our church cannot control our future life together. What is needed is a restructuring that gives real voice to the beauty of United Methodism's cultural distinctiveness in every part of the world, including the United States.
I pray that moderates and progressives alike to use prayerful discernment on the issue of restructuring, so that the American church is not forever compromised by this radically conservative interest group.
Consider the Bluebonnets: An Earth Day Meditation
Apr/26/2008 07:30 PM | Permalink
(Note: as "Earth Week" draws to a close, I offer this
edited sermon text from two weeks ago. You can
actually hear the slightly modified spoken version by
clicking
here.)
I thought the appropriate way to start this essay on the environment is to tell you about the first time I had a full-blown anxiety attack. Doesn’t that sound like the right way to start?
(Yeah...I thought so....)
The first time I ever had full blown anxiety attack, I was living in the small town of Mason, Texas in the Texas Hill Country. I had just moved to Mason from Dallas, straight from the campus of Perkins, to begin a year-long internship among the fine people there.
I really loved my time in Mason. Folks there are are very provincial in many ways. They are insular in many ways. But they are among the kindest people I've ever known, and they taught me a lot.
Mason is precisely 100 miles from Austin, 100 miles from San Angelo, and 100 miles from San Antonio. So yes, crassly, it’s 100 miles from anywhere. Those distances have allowed it to avoid many of the changes that have come upon the rest of the Texas Hill Country. Unlike Fredericksburg ---the next town due south-- it’s too North and too far West to have yet been invaded by the city folks who buy up the main street shops, hoping to live out a “Green Acres” episode.
Mason is 43 miles from the nearest real hospital and 70 miles from the nearest major medical center. And it was perhaps these last facts that contributed to my first real anxiety attack. For you see, one night, very early in my stay there, I found myself unable to sleep. I found myself completely awake, heart racing, and breath quick. I could not settle down.
I got up, I looked through the screen door into the black abyss of night, and that just made it worse. And I had an anxiety attack. Because I suddenly realized that I WAS 100 miles from anywhere.
I suddenly realized --perhaps for the first time in my life-- that the vast majority of God’s green earth was, well, GREEN. It wasn’t made of concrete. It wasn’t made of streets. The grass wasn’t contained in little small square containers. The trees weren’t manicured and maintained by landscaper.
As I stared off into the darkness of that night, realizing that I was surrounded --for hundreds of miles in any direction-- by nothing but cattle, cactus, armadillos and rattlesnakes. And I freaked.
My anxiety did not go away overnight. As I look back on it now, it only gradually went away as I came to know and appreciate those people and their land.
They invited me to their ranches, and we would walk the pastures. I saw amazing sights there; like the day 40-50 white tail deer leaped over a barbedwire fence with the synchronized elegance and grace of a ballet company.
On my days off, I often drove the 30-some-miles over to Enchanted Rock, and sat on the top of that big boulder, reading Thomas Merton, feeling the wind on my face, watching hawks circle lazily above my head like long-lost friends. Folks from Mason invited me to see the marvel of an actual ”bat cave” at dusk; where thousands of bats trail out of the cave, and into the night sky, like a long strand of twirling DNA.
I learned that if I found myself getting anxious late at night, I could drive about a quarter mile out of town, park my truck on the side of the road, and stare up at the stars....an incredible carpet of stars that stretched out before me. Seemingly infinite. Every single night out there, I saw no less that five shooting stars.
Eventually, I learned to appreciate the vastness of the great outdoors. To listen to it. To learn from it.
The people of Mason taught me about it too. One of my first Friday nights in town, there was, of course, a high school football game. EVERYBODY in town went to the high school football game. So, I did too.
The Mason “Punchers” (short for “cowpunchers") were playing some 2-A rival from somewhere. There was a storm forecast for that night, and it had apparently been a while since it had rained. Somewhere around halftime, I got bored and decided to walk around the stadium. I was just getting to the visitor’s side, when I heard the biggest yell of the night come up from the crowd, as if some kid had just broken off a 90-yard run.
But, no. The crowd rose to it’s feet, cheering and yelling, as rain swept in silently across the field. A POURING rain moved across the stadium lights, like a theater curtain drawing back. And as it progressed across the field, the cheers got louder and louder; such that, at the end, as the entire stadium stood in the midst of a drenching gulleywasher, I saw an amazing sight: the crowd giving the rain a standing ovation.
I had never in my life seen people happy to be in the midst of a rainstorm. But they knew that their fortunes, and the fortunes of their land, were tied up with getting rain. It was not a nuesance to make them ten minutes late in a traffic. It was a necessity of life, lived off the land.
So, the people of Mason taught me something. The land taught me something.
What they taught me is that the earth itself is a SPIRITUAL teacher.
(Mason County bluebonnets)
Earth Day is about remembering the earth, and remembering what we have done, or can do, to save the planet. I've always been especially proud of our church, and the things we've been able to do to become environmentally sensitive.
Our church's Church and Society Commission has crafted a very simple and direct position statement on the environment during the Fall of 2006.
Citing the scripture “The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it,” it calls on each member to:
Conserve and protect our Earth's natural resources,
Promote the sustained use and development of renewable energy sources, and
Persuade our elected representatives to implement public environmental policies that respect and support our world.
Just as God calls us to the action of loving our neighbor, so too God calls us to action in loving our planet. In a very literally sense, environmentalism is a stewardship issues. Stewardship means managing the resources that we have been given, and managing those in a appropriate ways. And one of the most visible ways God calls us to stewardship is through our care of the natural world.
So, our church has not just put out a statement, we've put our money where our mouth is. Every year, for the past four years, on the Sunday we celebrate Earth Day, we have the "Northaven Car Show." That sounds counter-intuitive, perhaps, on Earth Day.
But, see, a Northaven Car show is a Hybrid car show. We ask our Hybrid owners to park their Hybrids around the circular drive in front of the church, pop the hoods, and allow others to peruse the technology.
The first year, we had five or six Hybrids. The next year, we maybe had ten. I think we had twelve last year.
Two weeks ago, the 2008 Northaven Car Show featured NINETEEN Hybrids and high-mileage vehicles. (Including one Vespa scooter, which tops out at 100 mpg!!!)
We have documented at least 20 households that own Hybrids, which means that more than five percent of our member-households drive them!!! That's really exciting.
Northaven is also one of the only churches in the entire State of Texas to use 100 percent renewable energy. Last year, when our Board of Trustees entered into a new three-year energy contract, they decided that for a very small premium of a few percent more, they would provide our church with 100 percent renewable energy.
A few months back, a reporter called to ask me about this. He started by reminding me that the North Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church had chosen to require it’s electricity provider to include 10 percent renewable energy to all its member churches.
So, a DMN calls and says, “So, I hear Methodist Churches also have the choice to buy 100 percent green energy, and I wondered if you all had done that.”
And I said, “Yes, we have.”
And he said, “Yeah, I figured you all would...”
Then, he told me that he could only find three churches in the entire state that had committed to 100 percent green energy!!!
But I want to also commend what our annual conference did. Many times, we at Northaven find ourselves at odds with the greater United Methodist Church on a variety of social issues. But on the environment, I hope we can rejoice with them. Because the reporter also told me that he could find no other judicatory, no parish...no annual conference, no diocese, in any denomination, that had collectively bargained for a renewable energy requirement in an electricity contract. (Some might argue that 10 percent is not enough. Well, the contract’s up in three years. I trust it will be more next time...)
That kind of collective bargaining and organizing, on this issue of renewable energy, shows how churches can put their values into action, challenging the society to change.
Moving away from the practical, however, I want to get back to the theological and the spiritual. Because I want to suggest that there is a deep-level spiritual reason to save the planet.
Sure, there are scientific reasons. But there are also spiritual ones too. Saving our planet is also about saving our spirituality.
The truth is that the WORLD itself speaks the WORD to us, if only we will listen. Listen to this, from an early Christian saint:
Many people wrongly believe that Christianity is a religion that condones the domination of the world. And, in one sense, some of historical Christian theology HAS done this. And we should repent of that. Some people mistakenly read the passage Genesis story as not only a beautiful hymn of the creation of the world, but also as free reign for Christians to use up the world’s resources.
Add to this, Christian fundamentalists, who often believe that the end of the world is very near, and question the whole assumption of Global Warming. (If the world's about to end, why bother?)
Ironically, there are also scientific fundamentalists in our world today, who believe it’s their duty to save the world from fundamentalist Christians!!!They see the battle of "saving the world" as one that pits modern science and “enlightenment” against ignorant and harmful religion. You know, "enlightened science," don't you? You know, the folks that brought us the gas engine, every smelter in Midloathian, every styrofoam cup you've ever used, and every nuclear reactor every built.
Yep, these were not invented by theologians, but by the most enlightened science of the time. The truth is, our science has rarely been much more enlightened than our theology. And, ignoring their own technological sins --just as much as Christian fundamentalist often ignore their theological ones-- modern scientists and Christian fundamentalist engage in a "yin/yang" battle over so-called "creationism."
But what if we looked at it differently? What if we said to ourselves that modern science can give us the scientific reasons for why we should fight global warming --the beautiful story of evolution and how creatures work together in an amazing harmony and unity, and the search for a science that respects this-- but Christianity can give us a moral and spiritual compass? Spirituality can remind us that God moves in and through all creation. In fact, as the beautiful poem from the first chapters of Genesis suggests that God moves in and through the very ACT of creation. And it stands as a marvelous hymn to creation, not a replacement of scientific evolution.
The fact is that the early story of Christianity is tied to the natural world, not an enemy of it. Jesus spent most of his ministry in a rural setting, preaching on the tops of mountains, by rivers, and by the lakeshore.
Jesus told story after story that used the environment as a backdrop for making a spiritual point:
“The Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed...”
“I am the Good Shepherd...”
Jesus told parables of workers in the field, not workers in a factory. And unless you realize just how difficult it is to spend all day sweltering in the hot sun, you likely cannot understand just how unfair it seemed when everybody got paid the same.
Many of Jesus’ stories and teaching used the metaphors of the earth; trusting that his audience would understand the Gospel message because they too were connected to, and understood, the earth.
“Consider the lilies of the field,” Jesus says.
“Consider the ravens of the air,” Jesus says.
And in this, I truly believe Jesus didn’t just mean, “hypothetically, conjure up the image of a bird in your brain.”
No, I think he more likely meant:
“Get yourself outside and watch the hawks circle Enchanted Rock. Watch their lazy paths, back and forth across the sky...and allow them to speak to you.”
Jesus would say, “Get yourself down to Ennis and “consider" the bluebonnets...notice how the redtailed hawks and the bluebonnets do not spin nor toil...yet God takes care of them. And if God takes care of them, will not God take care of YOU?"
You see, what I finally learned in Mason, Texas is that the natural world --cause of that initial attack of anxiety-- would also be the very think to lead me away from worry!!!
I learned I could watch the clouds move across the night sky --unilluminated by light pollution, moving in still silence-- and I learned to trust that God was caring for the world through the rain that could come from them. I learned to listen to the hawks, and "consider" the bats, and trust that the shooting starts were messages about how, as Indiana poet Max Erhman once said, "the universe is unfolding as it should."
But here's the paradox: If we do not take care of the earth, we not only LOSE the earth as a natural resource, we lose the earth as a SPIRITUAL TEACHER!
You see, this is the final, terrible irony. God tells us to consider the ravens of the air as a way to learn not to worry. God DOES care for the natural world. God is working in and through our ecosystems and evolutionary processes to create an amazing message of the Gospel.
But we human beings have the power to destroy those ravens...the only creature with the power to ruin the metaphor is US!!! And, as we lose our natural world, we paradoxically lose that opportunity to calm our worries by considering the lilies!!
“Consider the lilies of the field” is not just a call to save an ecosytem. It’s also a call to honor the earth as a spiritual teacher. We must save the earth not out of some dull and dry scientific duty to avoid greenhouse gases, but because our spiritual destiny is tied up with the Earth’s destiny. As Luther said: God speaks the Gospel through the birds, and the trees and the stars.
So, let us save the Earth, not just for the Earth’s sake, not just for the sake of our physical health, but also for the sake of our own souls too.
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? If then you are not able to do so small a thing as that, why do you worry about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith!" -- Jesus of Nazareth
I thought the appropriate way to start this essay on the environment is to tell you about the first time I had a full-blown anxiety attack. Doesn’t that sound like the right way to start?
(Yeah...I thought so....)
The first time I ever had full blown anxiety attack, I was living in the small town of Mason, Texas in the Texas Hill Country. I had just moved to Mason from Dallas, straight from the campus of Perkins, to begin a year-long internship among the fine people there.
I really loved my time in Mason. Folks there are are very provincial in many ways. They are insular in many ways. But they are among the kindest people I've ever known, and they taught me a lot.
Mason is precisely 100 miles from Austin, 100 miles from San Angelo, and 100 miles from San Antonio. So yes, crassly, it’s 100 miles from anywhere. Those distances have allowed it to avoid many of the changes that have come upon the rest of the Texas Hill Country. Unlike Fredericksburg ---the next town due south-- it’s too North and too far West to have yet been invaded by the city folks who buy up the main street shops, hoping to live out a “Green Acres” episode.
Mason is 43 miles from the nearest real hospital and 70 miles from the nearest major medical center. And it was perhaps these last facts that contributed to my first real anxiety attack. For you see, one night, very early in my stay there, I found myself unable to sleep. I found myself completely awake, heart racing, and breath quick. I could not settle down.
I got up, I looked through the screen door into the black abyss of night, and that just made it worse. And I had an anxiety attack. Because I suddenly realized that I WAS 100 miles from anywhere.
I suddenly realized --perhaps for the first time in my life-- that the vast majority of God’s green earth was, well, GREEN. It wasn’t made of concrete. It wasn’t made of streets. The grass wasn’t contained in little small square containers. The trees weren’t manicured and maintained by landscaper.
As I stared off into the darkness of that night, realizing that I was surrounded --for hundreds of miles in any direction-- by nothing but cattle, cactus, armadillos and rattlesnakes. And I freaked.
My anxiety did not go away overnight. As I look back on it now, it only gradually went away as I came to know and appreciate those people and their land.
They invited me to their ranches, and we would walk the pastures. I saw amazing sights there; like the day 40-50 white tail deer leaped over a barbedwire fence with the synchronized elegance and grace of a ballet company.
On my days off, I often drove the 30-some-miles over to Enchanted Rock, and sat on the top of that big boulder, reading Thomas Merton, feeling the wind on my face, watching hawks circle lazily above my head like long-lost friends. Folks from Mason invited me to see the marvel of an actual ”bat cave” at dusk; where thousands of bats trail out of the cave, and into the night sky, like a long strand of twirling DNA.
I learned that if I found myself getting anxious late at night, I could drive about a quarter mile out of town, park my truck on the side of the road, and stare up at the stars....an incredible carpet of stars that stretched out before me. Seemingly infinite. Every single night out there, I saw no less that five shooting stars.
Eventually, I learned to appreciate the vastness of the great outdoors. To listen to it. To learn from it.
The people of Mason taught me about it too. One of my first Friday nights in town, there was, of course, a high school football game. EVERYBODY in town went to the high school football game. So, I did too.
The Mason “Punchers” (short for “cowpunchers") were playing some 2-A rival from somewhere. There was a storm forecast for that night, and it had apparently been a while since it had rained. Somewhere around halftime, I got bored and decided to walk around the stadium. I was just getting to the visitor’s side, when I heard the biggest yell of the night come up from the crowd, as if some kid had just broken off a 90-yard run.
But, no. The crowd rose to it’s feet, cheering and yelling, as rain swept in silently across the field. A POURING rain moved across the stadium lights, like a theater curtain drawing back. And as it progressed across the field, the cheers got louder and louder; such that, at the end, as the entire stadium stood in the midst of a drenching gulleywasher, I saw an amazing sight: the crowd giving the rain a standing ovation.
I had never in my life seen people happy to be in the midst of a rainstorm. But they knew that their fortunes, and the fortunes of their land, were tied up with getting rain. It was not a nuesance to make them ten minutes late in a traffic. It was a necessity of life, lived off the land.
So, the people of Mason taught me something. The land taught me something.
What they taught me is that the earth itself is a SPIRITUAL teacher.
(Mason County bluebonnets)
Earth Day is about remembering the earth, and remembering what we have done, or can do, to save the planet. I've always been especially proud of our church, and the things we've been able to do to become environmentally sensitive.
Our church's Church and Society Commission has crafted a very simple and direct position statement on the environment during the Fall of 2006.
Citing the scripture “The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it,” it calls on each member to:
Conserve and protect our Earth's natural resources,
Promote the sustained use and development of renewable energy sources, and
Persuade our elected representatives to implement public environmental policies that respect and support our world.
Just as God calls us to the action of loving our neighbor, so too God calls us to action in loving our planet. In a very literally sense, environmentalism is a stewardship issues. Stewardship means managing the resources that we have been given, and managing those in a appropriate ways. And one of the most visible ways God calls us to stewardship is through our care of the natural world.
So, our church has not just put out a statement, we've put our money where our mouth is. Every year, for the past four years, on the Sunday we celebrate Earth Day, we have the "Northaven Car Show." That sounds counter-intuitive, perhaps, on Earth Day.
But, see, a Northaven Car show is a Hybrid car show. We ask our Hybrid owners to park their Hybrids around the circular drive in front of the church, pop the hoods, and allow others to peruse the technology.
The first year, we had five or six Hybrids. The next year, we maybe had ten. I think we had twelve last year.
Two weeks ago, the 2008 Northaven Car Show featured NINETEEN Hybrids and high-mileage vehicles. (Including one Vespa scooter, which tops out at 100 mpg!!!)
We have documented at least 20 households that own Hybrids, which means that more than five percent of our member-households drive them!!! That's really exciting.
Northaven is also one of the only churches in the entire State of Texas to use 100 percent renewable energy. Last year, when our Board of Trustees entered into a new three-year energy contract, they decided that for a very small premium of a few percent more, they would provide our church with 100 percent renewable energy.
A few months back, a reporter called to ask me about this. He started by reminding me that the North Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church had chosen to require it’s electricity provider to include 10 percent renewable energy to all its member churches.
So, a DMN calls and says, “So, I hear Methodist Churches also have the choice to buy 100 percent green energy, and I wondered if you all had done that.”
And I said, “Yes, we have.”
And he said, “Yeah, I figured you all would...”
Then, he told me that he could only find three churches in the entire state that had committed to 100 percent green energy!!!
But I want to also commend what our annual conference did. Many times, we at Northaven find ourselves at odds with the greater United Methodist Church on a variety of social issues. But on the environment, I hope we can rejoice with them. Because the reporter also told me that he could find no other judicatory, no parish...no annual conference, no diocese, in any denomination, that had collectively bargained for a renewable energy requirement in an electricity contract. (Some might argue that 10 percent is not enough. Well, the contract’s up in three years. I trust it will be more next time...)
That kind of collective bargaining and organizing, on this issue of renewable energy, shows how churches can put their values into action, challenging the society to change.
Moving away from the practical, however, I want to get back to the theological and the spiritual. Because I want to suggest that there is a deep-level spiritual reason to save the planet.
Sure, there are scientific reasons. But there are also spiritual ones too. Saving our planet is also about saving our spirituality.
The truth is that the WORLD itself speaks the WORD to us, if only we will listen. Listen to this, from an early Christian saint:
“Some people, in order to discover God, read books. But there is a great book: the very appearance of created things. Look above you! Look below you! Read it. God, whom you want to discover, never wrote that book with ink. Instead (God) set before your eyes the things that (God) had made. Can you ask for a louder voice than that?” -- St. Augustine
Many people wrongly believe that Christianity is a religion that condones the domination of the world. And, in one sense, some of historical Christian theology HAS done this. And we should repent of that. Some people mistakenly read the passage Genesis story as not only a beautiful hymn of the creation of the world, but also as free reign for Christians to use up the world’s resources.
Add to this, Christian fundamentalists, who often believe that the end of the world is very near, and question the whole assumption of Global Warming. (If the world's about to end, why bother?)
Ironically, there are also scientific fundamentalists in our world today, who believe it’s their duty to save the world from fundamentalist Christians!!!They see the battle of "saving the world" as one that pits modern science and “enlightenment” against ignorant and harmful religion. You know, "enlightened science," don't you? You know, the folks that brought us the gas engine, every smelter in Midloathian, every styrofoam cup you've ever used, and every nuclear reactor every built.
Yep, these were not invented by theologians, but by the most enlightened science of the time. The truth is, our science has rarely been much more enlightened than our theology. And, ignoring their own technological sins --just as much as Christian fundamentalist often ignore their theological ones-- modern scientists and Christian fundamentalist engage in a "yin/yang" battle over so-called "creationism."
But what if we looked at it differently? What if we said to ourselves that modern science can give us the scientific reasons for why we should fight global warming --the beautiful story of evolution and how creatures work together in an amazing harmony and unity, and the search for a science that respects this-- but Christianity can give us a moral and spiritual compass? Spirituality can remind us that God moves in and through all creation. In fact, as the beautiful poem from the first chapters of Genesis suggests that God moves in and through the very ACT of creation. And it stands as a marvelous hymn to creation, not a replacement of scientific evolution.
“God writes the Gospel, not in the bible alone, but also on trees, and in the flowers and clouds and stars.” -- Martin Luther
The fact is that the early story of Christianity is tied to the natural world, not an enemy of it. Jesus spent most of his ministry in a rural setting, preaching on the tops of mountains, by rivers, and by the lakeshore.
Jesus told story after story that used the environment as a backdrop for making a spiritual point:
“The Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed...”
“I am the Good Shepherd...”
Jesus told parables of workers in the field, not workers in a factory. And unless you realize just how difficult it is to spend all day sweltering in the hot sun, you likely cannot understand just how unfair it seemed when everybody got paid the same.
Many of Jesus’ stories and teaching used the metaphors of the earth; trusting that his audience would understand the Gospel message because they too were connected to, and understood, the earth.
“Consider the lilies of the field,” Jesus says.
“Consider the ravens of the air,” Jesus says.
And in this, I truly believe Jesus didn’t just mean, “hypothetically, conjure up the image of a bird in your brain.”
No, I think he more likely meant:
“Get yourself outside and watch the hawks circle Enchanted Rock. Watch their lazy paths, back and forth across the sky...and allow them to speak to you.”
Jesus would say, “Get yourself down to Ennis and “consider" the bluebonnets...notice how the redtailed hawks and the bluebonnets do not spin nor toil...yet God takes care of them. And if God takes care of them, will not God take care of YOU?"
You see, what I finally learned in Mason, Texas is that the natural world --cause of that initial attack of anxiety-- would also be the very think to lead me away from worry!!!
I learned I could watch the clouds move across the night sky --unilluminated by light pollution, moving in still silence-- and I learned to trust that God was caring for the world through the rain that could come from them. I learned to listen to the hawks, and "consider" the bats, and trust that the shooting starts were messages about how, as Indiana poet Max Erhman once said, "the universe is unfolding as it should."
But here's the paradox: If we do not take care of the earth, we not only LOSE the earth as a natural resource, we lose the earth as a SPIRITUAL TEACHER!
You see, this is the final, terrible irony. God tells us to consider the ravens of the air as a way to learn not to worry. God DOES care for the natural world. God is working in and through our ecosystems and evolutionary processes to create an amazing message of the Gospel.
But we human beings have the power to destroy those ravens...the only creature with the power to ruin the metaphor is US!!! And, as we lose our natural world, we paradoxically lose that opportunity to calm our worries by considering the lilies!!
“Consider the lilies of the field” is not just a call to save an ecosytem. It’s also a call to honor the earth as a spiritual teacher. We must save the earth not out of some dull and dry scientific duty to avoid greenhouse gases, but because our spiritual destiny is tied up with the Earth’s destiny. As Luther said: God speaks the Gospel through the birds, and the trees and the stars.
So, let us save the Earth, not just for the Earth’s sake, not just for the sake of our physical health, but also for the sake of our own souls too.
The Holy Family: A Meditation
Jan/05/2008 05:16 PM | Permalink
A quick trip to Starbucks this morning reminded me
that --for all most of the world knows-- the
Christmas season is over. They've taken down most of
their holiday displays. "Christmas Blend" is in the
sale rack.
Know what's funny, though? Technically, we're still in the Christmas season. Yes, despite what you've been told, the Christmas season does not begin the day after Thanksgiving and end December 26th. That's the Corporate Christmas. If you're a fan of big corporations and conspicuous consumption, this is the season for you. (I've actually seen decorations in stores on my birthday: September 21st, the Fall Equinox!!!)
The actual Christmas season --at least the way it was originally celebrated-- ran through January 6th; a day known as "Epiphany." That's the day dedicated to celebrating the coming of the Wise Men. The days between Christmas Day and Epiphany are precisely twelve in number.
Yep. That's where the song comes from. (Didn't you always wonder?)
During these last days of the Christmas season, I usually break out WH Auden's "For The Time Being." Re-reading it is one of my favorite holiday traditions. In my view, it's one of the most beautiful Christmas writings ever created. Written in another dark time of war, it's been read ever since by many, as a Christmas/Winter tradition. I strongly recommend it to everyone. Here's a great review by an ethics professor from Loyola. It's inspired many since it was first written over 50-years-ago; including the title of a CD title you may have heard of.
Every year, something new strikes me in this intelligent, thoughtful, and moving work. And this year, I have been drawn to the character of Joseph.
As you may remember, Joseph begins the story engaged to Mary. They are both nothing more than kids. The marriage is probably arranged. But then, the rumors start...rumors that she's already pregnant, and that he isn't the father. As the Bible tells it, an angel comes to Joseph in a dream to tell him to take Mary as his bride. The Bible never tells us Joseph's state of mind. In fact, it doesn't give him one single line of dialogue.
But WH Auden gives him plenty. At first, Joseph appears as an eager fiancee, ready to meet his intended. But the rumors whispered by the "Chorus" are already ringing in his ears:
"Joseph
My shoes were shined, my pants were cleaned and pressed,
And I was hurrying to meet
My own true Love ...
Chorus
Joseph, you have heard
What Mary says occurred;
Yes, it may be so.
Is it likely? No."
So, Joseph is left with this doubts. And while impressed with "Gabriel's" visit, he asks for a little "proof" he can hang his hat on:
"Joseph:
All I ask is one
Important and elegant proof
That what my Love had done
Was really at your will
And that your will is Love.
Gabriel:
No, you must believe;
Be silent, and sit still."
Turns out, the way the Bible tells it, events unfold exactly as the angel says they will. So, Joseph takes Mary as his wife, and they become a family together. They become what the culture has know for two thousand years as the Holy Family.
Joseph has three more dreams, for a grand total of four. And in addition to thinking about Joseph, I've been thinking about these four dreams, and what they teach us about the Holy Family.
Here are the thoughts in my head today:
Who is the Holy Family in our world?
Where do WE see the Holy Family in our day?
What would they look like?
How can we welcome them into our world?
Let's look at each dream, and what it tell us...
Dream One: The Holy Family was a Family of Choice
"But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit."
Joseph is encouraged to take Mary as his wife and form a family of love, even if there is no family of biology. That's the first clue about the Holy Family in our world today. Perhaps in our world today, the Holy Family is one where people come together out of choice --out of love-- and out of commitment to each other, whether or not they are related to each other by blood.
Our church is about 35-40 percent gay and lesbian. (We've actually never done a "count." It's a guess...) So, we know something about "families of choice." Those of us who are gay and lesbian form families of choice and infuse their homes with love. Those of who are traditional "blended families" do the same. Still more care for elderly relatives and in-laws; sometimes even people not related to us by blood. Families of choice come in all varieties these days.
In a sense, the original Holy Family was also a "family of choice." As the Bible tells it, Mary was chosen to give birth to Jesus and she accepted that role. Joseph made the choice to be a father to Jesus, despite knowing he wasn't part of creating the child. The story is clear that he treated Jesus as a son. The three of them together formed a beautiful bond as a family of choice.
So, perhaps one of the things we can do to welcome the Holy Family into our world is to celebrate and support all who form circles of love and families of choice, whether or not they are related by blood.
Dream Two: The Holy Family was a Migrant Family
"Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod."
The second dream warns Joseph to get out of Dodge as quick as he can. King Herod is about to search for Jesus by moving house-to-house and killing every male child under age two. It's a horrible story of empire-gone-wrong, of the hubris and fear of leaders who feel trapped in a corner, worried that their power is waning.
The only good option for the Holy Family seems to be to flee to Egypt. They apparently stay there in Egypt until King Herod has died. Quite literally, then, the Holy Family was an immigrant family.
The issue of immigration continues to be an incredible "hot button" issue in our world today. Last week, the Dallas Morning News named "the Illegal Immigrant" as their "Texan of the Year."
I don't know what all the political considerations were in Jesus' time. I don't know if the Holy Family was part of a greater migration. If there was social instability in Israel -- if Herod really did try to kill all the boys under two -- then it's likely the Holy Family was not alone in its desire to flee.
But it does seem clear that they were welcomed into Egypt as temporary guests. Who knows if they were welcomed with gusto or grudgingly? With compassion or suspicion? Who knows what opportunities were there for them? The Bible doesn't say. It just says they spent some time as immigrants in the land of Egypt.
If you look around the globe today, you find that migration is taking place on an almost unprecedented scale. My friend Laura Trent is a preacher in Vienna, Austria. She emailed recently about the phenomenon of migrants from former communist bloc countries coming into Western Europe in search of a better life. Migrants from the Middle East and Africa are also flooding there too. Migrants have been pouring across the borders of Iraq into Iran and Syria. Migrants from one part of Asia are pouring into other parts of Asia. And, as you know, migrants from Mexico and Central America are coming across our border in record numbers.
I don't have all the answers. But I can tell you that this Bible text challenges me. It challenges me to remember that the Holy Family was a migrant family. And it challenges me to ask this: what if God is calling all of us, all over our planet, to see migrant families as "holy" too?
Dreams Three and Four: The Holy Family was a Refugee Family
"When Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, 20“Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead.”
"But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And after being warned in a dream, he went away to the district of Galilee."
Joseph's third dream tells him it's safe to travel back to Israel. Once they have returned, the fourth dream tells Joseph that it's best not to return to Judea, but to go to Galilee instead . It would be safer there. After all, Herod has been succeeded by a king who is just as cruel and violent.
The third says, "Yes, come back to Israel," but the fourth says, "But be careful not to come to Judah."
Even when they returned to their country, they would not be allowed to return to their homeland. And perhaps the message of these dreams is to help us recall that many families in our world still live under social repression and fear. Many of the world's migrant families are not formed because of simple economics -- though some certainly are -- but some are the result of social unrest, religious prejudice, civil wars, famines, genocides.
Whether it's civil war in Iraq and Kenya, or genocide in Darfur, many millions of families are currently, right now, living as refugees and unable to return to their homelands.
So it challenges me to ask: what if we could see refugee families as "holy" too?
Closing Thoughts
The Christmas message is the message of God incarnate in our world. It's about God coming to earth in human form. It's a message that God does not leave this world alone, and that this world is not godless and soul-less, as it sometimes may feel. In fact, the good news of great joy is that the Messiah is born IN to the world. God loved the world enough to live IN the world ... to "dwell among us."
At the same time, we live with the tension that our world's in a hell of a mess. Wars. Famines. Social injustice. Evil in the name of religion itself. The juxtaposition of the Christmas message of hope and the broken, hell-ish, modern world, is a deep chasm to bridge. But if we are to believe the Christmas message at all, then surely it must mean God come to earth, even in the midst of the worst of the world's conditions.
So, maybe it's truer than we could imagine to suggest that "Holy Families" of today are:
-- Families of choice
-- Migrant families
-- Refugee families
And just maybe our calling is to do what we can to welcome these families into our world --and not see them a nuisance on TV we wish would just go away-- but the heart of God's presence among us.
The Bible challenges us to see the original family in this story as "holy." But Mary and Joseph were probably not more than teenagers. They probably didn't have what we would consider a "high school" education. They had few financial resources. And yet, our Christmas story tells of a child born into a humble stable, to humble parents.
The message not to be missed is that God comes into every part of this world. God is a God for all people. God is a God who loves all the world.
One of my favorite modern Christmas hymns is called "Star Child." The chorus is a very simple restatement of the Christmas Hope that we might one day see all the world's children as holy and blessed...that we might world for a world where every kind of family is seen as "holy."
The chorus says:
"This year, this year, let the day arrive when Christmas comes for everyone...
Everyone alive."
Let it be so.
Know what's funny, though? Technically, we're still in the Christmas season. Yes, despite what you've been told, the Christmas season does not begin the day after Thanksgiving and end December 26th. That's the Corporate Christmas. If you're a fan of big corporations and conspicuous consumption, this is the season for you. (I've actually seen decorations in stores on my birthday: September 21st, the Fall Equinox!!!)
The actual Christmas season --at least the way it was originally celebrated-- ran through January 6th; a day known as "Epiphany." That's the day dedicated to celebrating the coming of the Wise Men. The days between Christmas Day and Epiphany are precisely twelve in number.
Yep. That's where the song comes from. (Didn't you always wonder?)
During these last days of the Christmas season, I usually break out WH Auden's "For The Time Being." Re-reading it is one of my favorite holiday traditions. In my view, it's one of the most beautiful Christmas writings ever created. Written in another dark time of war, it's been read ever since by many, as a Christmas/Winter tradition. I strongly recommend it to everyone. Here's a great review by an ethics professor from Loyola. It's inspired many since it was first written over 50-years-ago; including the title of a CD title you may have heard of.
Every year, something new strikes me in this intelligent, thoughtful, and moving work. And this year, I have been drawn to the character of Joseph.
As you may remember, Joseph begins the story engaged to Mary. They are both nothing more than kids. The marriage is probably arranged. But then, the rumors start...rumors that she's already pregnant, and that he isn't the father. As the Bible tells it, an angel comes to Joseph in a dream to tell him to take Mary as his bride. The Bible never tells us Joseph's state of mind. In fact, it doesn't give him one single line of dialogue.
But WH Auden gives him plenty. At first, Joseph appears as an eager fiancee, ready to meet his intended. But the rumors whispered by the "Chorus" are already ringing in his ears:
"Joseph
My shoes were shined, my pants were cleaned and pressed,
And I was hurrying to meet
My own true Love ...
Chorus
Joseph, you have heard
What Mary says occurred;
Yes, it may be so.
Is it likely? No."
So, Joseph is left with this doubts. And while impressed with "Gabriel's" visit, he asks for a little "proof" he can hang his hat on:
"Joseph:
All I ask is one
Important and elegant proof
That what my Love had done
Was really at your will
And that your will is Love.
Gabriel:
No, you must believe;
Be silent, and sit still."
Turns out, the way the Bible tells it, events unfold exactly as the angel says they will. So, Joseph takes Mary as his wife, and they become a family together. They become what the culture has know for two thousand years as the Holy Family.
Joseph has three more dreams, for a grand total of four. And in addition to thinking about Joseph, I've been thinking about these four dreams, and what they teach us about the Holy Family.
Here are the thoughts in my head today:
Who is the Holy Family in our world?
Where do WE see the Holy Family in our day?
What would they look like?
How can we welcome them into our world?
Let's look at each dream, and what it tell us...
Dream One: The Holy Family was a Family of Choice
"But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit."
Joseph is encouraged to take Mary as his wife and form a family of love, even if there is no family of biology. That's the first clue about the Holy Family in our world today. Perhaps in our world today, the Holy Family is one where people come together out of choice --out of love-- and out of commitment to each other, whether or not they are related to each other by blood.
Our church is about 35-40 percent gay and lesbian. (We've actually never done a "count." It's a guess...) So, we know something about "families of choice." Those of us who are gay and lesbian form families of choice and infuse their homes with love. Those of who are traditional "blended families" do the same. Still more care for elderly relatives and in-laws; sometimes even people not related to us by blood. Families of choice come in all varieties these days.
In a sense, the original Holy Family was also a "family of choice." As the Bible tells it, Mary was chosen to give birth to Jesus and she accepted that role. Joseph made the choice to be a father to Jesus, despite knowing he wasn't part of creating the child. The story is clear that he treated Jesus as a son. The three of them together formed a beautiful bond as a family of choice.
So, perhaps one of the things we can do to welcome the Holy Family into our world is to celebrate and support all who form circles of love and families of choice, whether or not they are related by blood.
Dream Two: The Holy Family was a Migrant Family
"Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod."
The second dream warns Joseph to get out of Dodge as quick as he can. King Herod is about to search for Jesus by moving house-to-house and killing every male child under age two. It's a horrible story of empire-gone-wrong, of the hubris and fear of leaders who feel trapped in a corner, worried that their power is waning.
The only good option for the Holy Family seems to be to flee to Egypt. They apparently stay there in Egypt until King Herod has died. Quite literally, then, the Holy Family was an immigrant family.
The issue of immigration continues to be an incredible "hot button" issue in our world today. Last week, the Dallas Morning News named "the Illegal Immigrant" as their "Texan of the Year."
I don't know what all the political considerations were in Jesus' time. I don't know if the Holy Family was part of a greater migration. If there was social instability in Israel -- if Herod really did try to kill all the boys under two -- then it's likely the Holy Family was not alone in its desire to flee.
But it does seem clear that they were welcomed into Egypt as temporary guests. Who knows if they were welcomed with gusto or grudgingly? With compassion or suspicion? Who knows what opportunities were there for them? The Bible doesn't say. It just says they spent some time as immigrants in the land of Egypt.
If you look around the globe today, you find that migration is taking place on an almost unprecedented scale. My friend Laura Trent is a preacher in Vienna, Austria. She emailed recently about the phenomenon of migrants from former communist bloc countries coming into Western Europe in search of a better life. Migrants from the Middle East and Africa are also flooding there too. Migrants have been pouring across the borders of Iraq into Iran and Syria. Migrants from one part of Asia are pouring into other parts of Asia. And, as you know, migrants from Mexico and Central America are coming across our border in record numbers.
I don't have all the answers. But I can tell you that this Bible text challenges me. It challenges me to remember that the Holy Family was a migrant family. And it challenges me to ask this: what if God is calling all of us, all over our planet, to see migrant families as "holy" too?
Dreams Three and Four: The Holy Family was a Refugee Family
"When Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, 20“Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead.”
"But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And after being warned in a dream, he went away to the district of Galilee."
Joseph's third dream tells him it's safe to travel back to Israel. Once they have returned, the fourth dream tells Joseph that it's best not to return to Judea, but to go to Galilee instead . It would be safer there. After all, Herod has been succeeded by a king who is just as cruel and violent.
The third says, "Yes, come back to Israel," but the fourth says, "But be careful not to come to Judah."
Even when they returned to their country, they would not be allowed to return to their homeland. And perhaps the message of these dreams is to help us recall that many families in our world still live under social repression and fear. Many of the world's migrant families are not formed because of simple economics -- though some certainly are -- but some are the result of social unrest, religious prejudice, civil wars, famines, genocides.
Whether it's civil war in Iraq and Kenya, or genocide in Darfur, many millions of families are currently, right now, living as refugees and unable to return to their homelands.
So it challenges me to ask: what if we could see refugee families as "holy" too?
Closing Thoughts
The Christmas message is the message of God incarnate in our world. It's about God coming to earth in human form. It's a message that God does not leave this world alone, and that this world is not godless and soul-less, as it sometimes may feel. In fact, the good news of great joy is that the Messiah is born IN to the world. God loved the world enough to live IN the world ... to "dwell among us."
At the same time, we live with the tension that our world's in a hell of a mess. Wars. Famines. Social injustice. Evil in the name of religion itself. The juxtaposition of the Christmas message of hope and the broken, hell-ish, modern world, is a deep chasm to bridge. But if we are to believe the Christmas message at all, then surely it must mean God come to earth, even in the midst of the worst of the world's conditions.
So, maybe it's truer than we could imagine to suggest that "Holy Families" of today are:
-- Families of choice
-- Migrant families
-- Refugee families
And just maybe our calling is to do what we can to welcome these families into our world --and not see them a nuisance on TV we wish would just go away-- but the heart of God's presence among us.
The Bible challenges us to see the original family in this story as "holy." But Mary and Joseph were probably not more than teenagers. They probably didn't have what we would consider a "high school" education. They had few financial resources. And yet, our Christmas story tells of a child born into a humble stable, to humble parents.
The message not to be missed is that God comes into every part of this world. God is a God for all people. God is a God who loves all the world.
One of my favorite modern Christmas hymns is called "Star Child." The chorus is a very simple restatement of the Christmas Hope that we might one day see all the world's children as holy and blessed...that we might world for a world where every kind of family is seen as "holy."
The chorus says:
"This year, this year, let the day arrive when Christmas comes for everyone...
Everyone alive."
Let it be so.