Through Stained Glass: A Mid-Week Reflection-Essentially

This morning over a cup of coffee I’ve thought a lot about life.

Not necessarily “What is life’s meaning?” but more

What does it mean to live a life of meaning?

I have read a lot of Rilke lately. And Parker Palmer.

Today they spoke to each other:

“Our lives participate in the myth of eternal return:  we circle around and spiral down, never finally answering the questions “Who am I?” and “Whose am I?” but, in the words of Rilke, “living the questions” throughout our lives.”

I like this.

This idea that our lives are like the eternal cycle of the seasons does not deny the struggle or the joy, the loss or the gain, the darkness or the light, but encourages us to embrace it all—and to find in all of it opportunities for growth.

If we are to live our lives fully and well, we must learn to embrace these opportunities, to embrace the opposites of life:  to live in a creative tension between our limits and our potentials.

Essentially, we must honor our limitations in ways that do not distort our true selves, and we must trust and use our gifts in ways that fulfill the potentials God gave us.

Interesting, yea?

Doors open.

Doors close.

Perhaps when a door closes, what we need to do is, rather than pounding on the door in frustration and bitterness, we turn around and begin again. In doing, as Parker Palmer says, we welcome the largeness of life that now lies open to our souls.

The door that closed kept us from entering a room, but what now lies before us is the rest of reality.

Saying ‘yes’ to this reality is where a meaningful life is lived, I think.

Maybe then, where we need to begin, is exactly where we are.

Our lives will gain meaning once we engage life with our whole selves.  We need to embrace this journey toward the discovery of our true selves—the journey towards God.

Remember, we are here not only to transform the world but also to be transformed. We are participants in a vast communion of being, and if we open ourselves to the cycles, rhythms, and seasons of life, we can learn anew how to live in this great and gracious community of love!

Slow down today. Engage a different rhythm. Be at peace in the world. Be at peace with yourself. 

Through Stained Glass: A Mid-Week Reflection-Street Celebration

Street Celebration

My dad loves to tell stories.

Now granted, most of them require a LOT of creativity.

Like the one about how he invented snowboarding…

In downtown Peoria…

On Marquette Street…

In the 60’s…

Oh, when you have time, ask him about his decade long reign as the checkers king of Marquette Street.

Whether or not he intends to be, my dad is a master storyteller.

As a boy I always loved it when he told stories about the block parties his neighborhood threw. While I can’t remember exactly what he said, I remember the pictures that were painted in my head. Actually, what I am probably imagining is the 4^th of July scene from the 3^rd greatest movie of all time, The Sandlot.

What I remember picturing in my head was children playing in the streets—whiffle ball or that game y’all refer to as kick-the-can (and I’m certain if you ask my dad if he played those games, he’d tell you yes and how he was the champ of those as well…)—while their parents sit in their aluminum lawn chairs catching up on the latest gossip or exchanging their best casserole recipes.

Folks would stand with Lucky Strikes hanging from their mouths and cool beverages clamped in their sweaty hands. The heat from the setting summer sun causing condensation to form on the cans. The streets would be filled with celebration and laughter, community and love. You wouldn’t be able to hear the hum from the streetlights because there was so much playing going on.

In my head, I understand why people refer to them as “the good ole days…”

This past Saturday, the stories I was told as a boy came to life as we at First Presbyterian Church had a block party of sorts. Now, despite the unexpected thunderstorms that rolled across Logan County late Saturday afternoon, the party went on and a great time was had by all. Friends and strangers, children and adults, Presbyterians and Lutherans, among so many others, gathered around tables, including the picnic kind, and shared life.

What was the reason? Why did we spend money to do something like this? What mission organization will benefit from this?

Well, we had a party because we wanted to.

And we had hotdogs and games, art and music.

And it was a great time!

What a joy it was to see people gather together for the sake of gathering and breaking bread on a day that wasn’t Sunday.

As a community, we have something good happening among us.

Our space, it is a warm and inviting one.

You know something, though? What we did Saturday night wasn’t new. The church has been doing this for quite some time. In chapters 14 & 15 of the Gospel of Luke we see how many party scenarios there are: 

• Lessons at a dinner party - 14:1-14
• Parable of the party - 14:15-24
• Party over finding one lost sheep - 15:1-7
• Party for finding one lost coin - 15:8-10
• Party for the return of a son - 15:11-32

Jesus went to parties. Jesus talked about parties. Jesus loved to party!

Celebrating and being neighbors for the sake of being neighborly is important for the development of community. It is necessary for the love of God to manifest here and now. By celebrating in parking lots and in the pews, in the streets and in sanctuaries, we are reclaiming a lost art, the art of life together.

Not only as a church but also as a neighborhood.

You never know, we might invent a new game. Or at least be known on the block as having the best neighborhood block parties!

And that’ll be a story to tell!

Party on church!

But do so responsibly!

Through Stained Glass: A Mid-Week Reflection-stronger

stronger

It was a simple statement.

Because of its simplicity, I stop sipping my coffee and read it again.

Here’s the statement:

Gospel: The crowd tries to stop Jesus from healing the girl then mocks him. Don't let anyone prevent you from loving.

February is culturally known as the month of love. Amidst those tasty, staled, delightfully colored candy hearts and Hallmark cards, there we don’t want to forget:

Love—isn’t only a feeling.

Then what else is it?

Love—is a verb.

God is love.

Out of God’s love God created. That is the good news. God didn’t have to but God did. And thus, we are.

7 Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God... ⁸Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love… ¹¹Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. ¹²No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.

It really isn’t that easy? Or is it?

Jesus loved radically. Radical love, is a love so extreme that it dissolves our existing boundaries, whether they are boundaries that separate us from other people, that separate us from preconceived notions we my have about each other, or that separate us from God.

 ⁹Whoever says, ‘I am in the light’, while hating

a brother or sister, is still in the darkness.

¹⁰Whoever loves a brother or sister lives in the

light, and in such a person there is no cause for

stumbling. ¹¹But whoever hates another believer 

is in the darkness, walks in the darkness, and does

not know the way to go, because the darkness

has brought on blindness. ~1 John 2

Despite the warnings and threats from the community, Jesus compassionately cared for those on the margins in his community. But also, Jesus cared selflessly for those he called disciples.

Here in lies a potential problem:  it is easy to spot the outsider but do we know who is an outsider on the inside?

Not sure what this means?

Here is an example our own denomination faced and still faces at times:

To be an outsider on the inside looks like a woman pastor not being treated in the same way as the stereotypical male pastor.

Essentially, in God’s sight, no one is a misfit. There is no set protocol for God’s community. It is our call as God’s people not to cast judgment or the first stones but to join God in love the world and everything in it.

Often the crowed tried to stop Jesus from loving. But he didn’t listen. Selflessly he gave of himself until there was nothing else to give.

In turn, those he loved, well, they lived.

Love, friends.

Will you prevent it or perpetuate it?

“Love your neighbor; she/he is like you.”

Martin Buber’s translation of the biblical command is rhythmically stronger than what we are used to. The pause in the middle of the sentence makes us think.

How so?

Love of self and love of others are not compared in this translation. Working on a deeper level, this translation points to their common root, which is equality.

Our love assumes likeness in others, even if we cannot see the likeness.

Love is perhaps the deepest need that people have; learning to give and to receive, their our greatest task.

Don’t let anyone prevent you from loving.

Through Stained Glass: Advent Word[s] of the Day-Whirlwind & Wonderfully

Day 14:  whirlwind

God answered Job out of the whirlwind…[Job 38.1]

 To say these last 48 hours have been a whirlwind would be a major understatement.

My Sunday morning began at 4:30am when I woke up wide-awake. I tossed and turned until 5:00am but then finally overcame my bodies desire to get up and did just that.

I made coffee. Sat down at my writing desk. Finished my sermon. Updated the baptism liturgy. And had a moment with the 2 golden dogs.

That was the last bit of peace I experienced that day.

Now, this isn’t to say Sunday was bad. Actually, it was opposite of that. Sunday,

December 14^th was one of the most beautiful days I’ve experienced lately. As mentioned above, our church baptized one of our own, little 3-year-old girl who has the most beautiful smile and an energy to her that is contagious.

I’ll chalk-up my inability to sleep to my excitement about this most joyful occasion in the life of the church!

There is nothing I love more than being able to declare God’s promise to someone in the waters of baptism. There is nothing more life affirming than to look the child in those sweet big eyes and say “You are a beloved child of God. You are beautiful. You are good. God loves you more than you will ever know. We have been here, we are here, and we will always be here. We are making this promise to you, little one. We love you!”

In the name of the Triune God of love, the waters swirled and ran down her head, neck, and shoulders, she was baptized and reminded that God is as close to her as her own breath.

My heart was delighted. The eyes of the congregation were swollen from the tears of joy elicited by the beautiful hymn I was There to Hear Your Borning Cry. There was such good, positive energy pulsating through the pews.

The whirlwind continued as I went from church to Sunday school, from Sunday school to lunch, from lunch to a birthday party. Surrounded by a half dozen Elsa’s and a giant Olaf balloon, I found myself smack dabbed between 12 or so 3,4,5,6, & 7 year olds helping my little niece celebrate her 5^th birthday. I loved hearing their high shrilled screams as they played hide and seek; my nieces smile at each of her Frozen gift brought a smile to my face; and hearing the little boys laugh as they played dodge ball warmed my heart.

But then, that is when the whirlwind of a good day ended with a sad tone.

The birthday party was at a church. Not in town. Not anywhere around here.

As the kids were running and hiding, screaming and playing, I ventured into the sanctuary to gain some ideas. I love visiting other churches to see how they set up sacred space.

Like most churches who are not from the mainline tradition and want to be sensitive to seekers, this space had screens and no crosses, a iMac and no pews, drums, guitars and no organ.

Knowing the Mac computer is where the pastor’s sermon was probably controlled, the slide show and what not, I went to see if I could find a bulletin. Instead of the bulletin I found the pastor’s sermon.

I was hesitant to read it. If for no other reason than I don’t like when others read mine.

I wish I didn’t read it.

In fact, I wish I didn’t snoop at all.

What I found was a sermon using scripture to declare our differences as sin and not to celebrate our diversity as something beautiful.

Instead of some of God’s children being “fearfully and wonderfully” made [day 15’s word] they were portrayed as less than, seen not as a human being but by the prejudices ascribed to them.

My heart was broken.

I wanted to cry.

How could a place be so hurtful, so unwelcoming, so mean—especially a week after a 12-year-old boy took his life because of bullying he endured for being on the cheerleading team?

How quickly we forget the Hebrew teaching about caring for the stranger.

How quickly we forget the Hebrew concept of sanctuary is rooted in the tradition of the cities of refuge.

How quickly we have forgotten Jesus’ greatest commandment because of our number driven obsession and mis-interpretation of the great commission.

How quickly we forget God is not the god of hatred and bigotry, but of radical love.

Advent is a time reminding us we are all in need of healing. But it is also a time when we contemplate and celebrate God taking on flesh.

God in the person Jesus speaks to how every human being is a dwelling of God—man or woman or child, Christian or Jewish or Buddhist or Muslim, addict or honor roll student. As Elie Wiesel reminds us, in his article The Refuge, “Any person, by virtue of being a son or daughter is a living sanctuary whom nobody has the right to invade.”

For the real “real reason for the season” to take hold of our communities, we must become a community that practices God’s Welcome and hospitality by boldly proclaiming and celebrating the inherent goodness, that divine spark, all peoples posses.

As people come to our churches on the 24^th, let us remember that God’s hospitality in a world of difference and danger is the source of our life, and it’s not an optional action for us or our churches. After all, as Letty M. Russel notes, “the table[s] we gather around is a symbol of God’s hospitality in welcoming the strangers, persons who are on the margins of our churches and cultures.”

I was reminded over the last 48 hours that in the whirlwind waters of baptism, we are claimed and named by God, and am God’s beloved who is fearfully and wonderfully made…

Day 15:  wonderfully

I am fearfully and wonderfully made… [Psalm 139.14]

Not only was Olaf at the birthday party, but he was front
and center at the baptism as well!