I went yesterday to a training session on coaching with Thomas R. Hawkins, the author of "Faithful Guides: Coaching Strategies for Church Leaders". While many people are able to say a great deal and teach a very little, Hawkins was succinct and effective. He taught us something about good questions.
Asking someone "why" is not always your best move because in our culture it places people in a defensive posture. They must justify themselves or their actions.
Asking "what" questions is way more helpful because it is open-ended and allows for endless variety of perspectives and metaphorical imaginings. What do you think is happening? What is missing? What is next? What if this whole experience were a journey, where would we be going? What if it were a painting; what would the title be? What would we see if we looked through this window from the other way?
Who, Where, When and How all have their purpose as questions, too. Usually, however, they are best used as servants of the What question, at least in coaching. They help us to nail down what we mean by what we say when we have said "what" we mean.
This is an age made for good questions. Jesus was one for good questions, too. He asked people questions like this, "What do you want me to do for you" (Luke 18:41)?
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Out, Damn Sleet
We were counting on a lot of snow by now. A real snow-storm. Maybe a hundred inches would fall! Paul Douglas, the Weatherman, said so. I was excited.But all day long, it has been nothing but a little sleet or a lot of sleet. I went to the fitness center just now to get my walk in for the day. It was still sleeting.
I am disappointed. It makes me think global warming is mostly about getting disappointing weather all the time. I wanted something better than sleet today.
The Dalai Lama says, "What irritates us in the first place is that our wishes are
not fulfilled. But remaining upset does nothing to fulfill those wishes. So we neither fulfill our wishes, nor regain our cheerfulness!" The Apostle Paul says, "I have learned in whatever state I am to be content."
So, it is sleeting outside. I am not annoyed with sleet. In fact, I am cheerful and content with sleet. This is the way life is today: sleet. Sleeting are the moments. Sleet of foot. Season's sleetings! Please be my sleet valentine! Sleet dreams, darling. Sleet, sleet, sleet.Out, damn sleet.
I am disappointed. It makes me think global warming is mostly about getting disappointing weather all the time. I wanted something better than sleet today.
The Dalai Lama says, "What irritates us in the first place is that our wishes are
not fulfilled. But remaining upset does nothing to fulfill those wishes. So we neither fulfill our wishes, nor regain our cheerfulness!" The Apostle Paul says, "I have learned in whatever state I am to be content."
So, it is sleeting outside. I am not annoyed with sleet. In fact, I am cheerful and content with sleet. This is the way life is today: sleet. Sleeting are the moments. Sleet of foot. Season's sleetings! Please be my sleet valentine! Sleet dreams, darling. Sleet, sleet, sleet.Out, damn sleet.
Friday, February 23, 2007
Spirit Journey Retreat
This is the second "post" for the day; it comes from a blog written by William(Bill) Ostrem, a member of our congregation, and it serves as an overview of a recent "Spirit Journey Retreat", organized by our Northfield United Methodist Church. Beret (mostly Beret!!!) and Ron Griffith, Faye Caskey, Bill Ostrem and I worked together for several months to help organize a "new edition" of the RS1 retreats offered some time ago through the Ecumenical Institute of Chicago and the Institute of Cultural Affairs. John Cock was our leader/teacher.
I'll leave the rest of the story up to Bill. The only thing I disagree with in what Bill reports of others' opinions is the thought that Tillich or Bultmann write "heretical" stuff. In any case, we can all use some intellectual and spiritual challenges from time to time!
Rejuvenating the Spirit
February 23rd, 2007
I haven’t written much about my own faith in this blog. In part that comes from me being respectful of the diversity of readers out there, but it also arises from my own lack of experience and uncomfortability in speaking about my faith and an awkwardness in doing so in our multicultural, largely secular culture. To speak about Christianity is to broach a fraught subject; it also means using a discourse that has often been misused, one that many people cannot listen to without hearing chords of self-righteous judgment and even bigotry.
I grew up in a family that didn’t speak much about faith. We attended a Methodist church, and I was a believer until my teen years, when my intellectual curiosity led me to lose my faith. I did not regain it until my late twenties, and I generally do not speak much about it outside of my church.
Well, I’ll be more open about my faith in this post and write briefly about my experience last weekend, when I attended a retreat that I and other members of the United Methodist Church of Northfield helped to organize. It was led by John P. Cock, a teacher, writer, blogger, and former Methodist minister.
The lead organizers of the retreat had participated in similar retreats or seminars in the past, organized under the Ecumenical Institute, a group associated with the Institute of Cultural Affairs. I remain largely ignorant about the history of these groups, but I gather that from the 1950’s on they were a kind of force for spiritual rejuvenation. They were advocates for examining the faith from new, even “postmodern” perspectives, and they played an important role in many people’s faith journeys.
This postmodern approach to Christian theology was evident in the readings for our weekend - essays from four German writers of the early and mid-twentieth century: Rudolf Bultmann, Paul Tillich, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and H. Richard Niebuhr. I won’t go into detail about the ideas expressed, but I will say that I was particularly appreciative of the ideas on grace expressed by Paul Tillich. We also did a group exercise on grace that forever changed my view of that aspect of God’s promise to us. God’s grace, I saw, is always present, always available, always forgiving, always inviting us to love others and the world. It is, as we wrote in our group, “a profound experience, a time of seeing what is true and accepting the love of God and others; it brings growth and transformation and connects us with something greater.” God’s grace, I also learned, has been with me throughout my life, whether I recognized it or not.
Not everyone in the weekend liked the theology presented to us; some knowledgeable people saw it as unorthodox and even heretical. I respect their views, and I lack the knowledge to really critique either side. However, I don’t feel that the things I’m taking away from this weekend will undermine my faith or dilute it or lead it astray. Instead I feel a calm assurance that the Holy Spirit is working in the world, guiding us as we inquire into the nature of our lives and beliefs.
I also appreciated John Cock’s emphasis on care for the earth. Readers of this blog know that is important to me. One of the symbols displayed over the weekend was a simple picture of planet earth on a blue background. John mentioned his appreciation of Thomas Berry’s ideas on spirituality and the environment, and I hope to learn more about this influential Catholic priest.
Those interested in learning more about John Cock can read his excellent blog, Journey Reflection, which makes remarkable use of pictures. See also his many books.
I'll leave the rest of the story up to Bill. The only thing I disagree with in what Bill reports of others' opinions is the thought that Tillich or Bultmann write "heretical" stuff. In any case, we can all use some intellectual and spiritual challenges from time to time!
Rejuvenating the Spirit
February 23rd, 2007
I haven’t written much about my own faith in this blog. In part that comes from me being respectful of the diversity of readers out there, but it also arises from my own lack of experience and uncomfortability in speaking about my faith and an awkwardness in doing so in our multicultural, largely secular culture. To speak about Christianity is to broach a fraught subject; it also means using a discourse that has often been misused, one that many people cannot listen to without hearing chords of self-righteous judgment and even bigotry.
I grew up in a family that didn’t speak much about faith. We attended a Methodist church, and I was a believer until my teen years, when my intellectual curiosity led me to lose my faith. I did not regain it until my late twenties, and I generally do not speak much about it outside of my church.
Well, I’ll be more open about my faith in this post and write briefly about my experience last weekend, when I attended a retreat that I and other members of the United Methodist Church of Northfield helped to organize. It was led by John P. Cock, a teacher, writer, blogger, and former Methodist minister.
The lead organizers of the retreat had participated in similar retreats or seminars in the past, organized under the Ecumenical Institute, a group associated with the Institute of Cultural Affairs. I remain largely ignorant about the history of these groups, but I gather that from the 1950’s on they were a kind of force for spiritual rejuvenation. They were advocates for examining the faith from new, even “postmodern” perspectives, and they played an important role in many people’s faith journeys.
This postmodern approach to Christian theology was evident in the readings for our weekend - essays from four German writers of the early and mid-twentieth century: Rudolf Bultmann, Paul Tillich, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and H. Richard Niebuhr. I won’t go into detail about the ideas expressed, but I will say that I was particularly appreciative of the ideas on grace expressed by Paul Tillich. We also did a group exercise on grace that forever changed my view of that aspect of God’s promise to us. God’s grace, I saw, is always present, always available, always forgiving, always inviting us to love others and the world. It is, as we wrote in our group, “a profound experience, a time of seeing what is true and accepting the love of God and others; it brings growth and transformation and connects us with something greater.” God’s grace, I also learned, has been with me throughout my life, whether I recognized it or not.
Not everyone in the weekend liked the theology presented to us; some knowledgeable people saw it as unorthodox and even heretical. I respect their views, and I lack the knowledge to really critique either side. However, I don’t feel that the things I’m taking away from this weekend will undermine my faith or dilute it or lead it astray. Instead I feel a calm assurance that the Holy Spirit is working in the world, guiding us as we inquire into the nature of our lives and beliefs.
I also appreciated John Cock’s emphasis on care for the earth. Readers of this blog know that is important to me. One of the symbols displayed over the weekend was a simple picture of planet earth on a blue background. John mentioned his appreciation of Thomas Berry’s ideas on spirituality and the environment, and I hope to learn more about this influential Catholic priest.
Those interested in learning more about John Cock can read his excellent blog, Journey Reflection, which makes remarkable use of pictures. See also his many books.
From an Overlook
from Thoreau's Journal for February 22, 1841
There must be one hour at least which the day did not bring forth,—of ancient parentage and long-established nobility,—which will be a serene and lofty platform overlooking the rest. We should make our notch every day on our characters, as Robinson Crusoe on his stick. We must be at the helm at least once a day; we must feel the tiller-rope in our hands, and know that if we sail, we steer.
Extraordinary words. These days, business and ecclesial executives and consultants speak frequently of the importance of regularly taking time to get above "the dance" of daily work, in order to view the dance from "the balcony". They need to see the overall patterns and movements, to catch sight of trends, or to notice "dead zones" at the ongoing ball of work and ministry and life. Thoreau's observation confirms this contemporary wisdom. Neither the activities of the night, nor those of the day, should completely replace a daily hour of "overlook".
...Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them (Mark 9:2). So we are, in the Spirit, climbing to the place of the deeper self in the wider world. We wish to experience, as frequently as we can, as much of the vista, terrain and the meaning of our times and our lives as we can. So be it.
There must be one hour at least which the day did not bring forth,—of ancient parentage and long-established nobility,—which will be a serene and lofty platform overlooking the rest. We should make our notch every day on our characters, as Robinson Crusoe on his stick. We must be at the helm at least once a day; we must feel the tiller-rope in our hands, and know that if we sail, we steer.
Extraordinary words. These days, business and ecclesial executives and consultants speak frequently of the importance of regularly taking time to get above "the dance" of daily work, in order to view the dance from "the balcony". They need to see the overall patterns and movements, to catch sight of trends, or to notice "dead zones" at the ongoing ball of work and ministry and life. Thoreau's observation confirms this contemporary wisdom. Neither the activities of the night, nor those of the day, should completely replace a daily hour of "overlook".
...Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them (Mark 9:2). So we are, in the Spirit, climbing to the place of the deeper self in the wider world. We wish to experience, as frequently as we can, as much of the vista, terrain and the meaning of our times and our lives as we can. So be it.
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Renew a right spirit within me...
We held Ash Wednesday services at the church last night, and so the long path of Lenten repentance and renewal began again. I still have a little smudge of an ash cross on my forehead. It reminded me, when I first looked in the mirror this morning (I had already forgotten who I am!)that I have much to mourn and regret in ashes, yet also much to hope by way of the cross of Jesus.
Mary Lynn and I went walking an hour or two before services were held. She mentioned that she was not sure what to give up for Lent. I said that I didn't want to give up anything, but to focus on a positive way of living. "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me....Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit" (Psalm 51:10,12). For me, just now, this entails living a particular Rule of life, modeled on Benedictine and Anglican practices, adapted for our times.
Fundamentally, we glorify God. This happens when...
We pray with openness to God(seven times daily?)--praise, confess,thank, seek.
We study the Scriptures and other "texts" closely and personally.
We worship and share the sacramental elements.
We serve others, particularly watching after our poor or vulnerable neighbors.
We seek justice and peace--and we seek the courage to seek justice and peace.
We learn to protect the earth.
We tend to our relationships, and we tend to our own well-being, our health.
We share in spiritual conversations as often as we speak or listen to anyone.
We seek to live within the mind and heart and spirit of Jesus the Christ.
Mary Lynn and I went walking an hour or two before services were held. She mentioned that she was not sure what to give up for Lent. I said that I didn't want to give up anything, but to focus on a positive way of living. "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me....Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit" (Psalm 51:10,12). For me, just now, this entails living a particular Rule of life, modeled on Benedictine and Anglican practices, adapted for our times.
Fundamentally, we glorify God. This happens when...
We pray with openness to God(seven times daily?)--praise, confess,thank, seek.
We study the Scriptures and other "texts" closely and personally.
We worship and share the sacramental elements.
We serve others, particularly watching after our poor or vulnerable neighbors.
We seek justice and peace--and we seek the courage to seek justice and peace.
We learn to protect the earth.
We tend to our relationships, and we tend to our own well-being, our health.
We share in spiritual conversations as often as we speak or listen to anyone.
We seek to live within the mind and heart and spirit of Jesus the Christ.
Monday, February 19, 2007
Seven Times...
Here below is the daily reading from the "Rule of Benedict". I know it's obscure, monastic language about the daily offices and therefore boring and irrelevant to most of us, but stay with me for a minute. We are so hungry and so thirsty to know and to be known by God, but we spend so little time doing this. What if we intentionally and regularly embraced our relationship with God-in-Christ, and Christ-in-God,throughout each day?
Seven times in the day," says the Prophet,
"I have rendered praise to You" (Ps. 118:164).
Now that sacred number of seven will be fulfilled by us
if we perform the Offices of our service
at the time of the Morning Office,
of Prime, of Terce, of Sext, of None,
of Vespers and of Compline,
since it was of these day Hours that he said,
"Seven times in the day I have rendered praise to You."
For as to the Night Office the same Prophet says,
"In the middle of the night I arose to glorify You" (Ps. 118:62).
Let us therefore bring our tribute of praise to our Creator
"for the judgments of His justice" (Ps. 118:164)
at these times:
the Morning Office, Prime, Terce, Sext, None,
Vespers and Compline;
and in the night let us arise to glorify Him.
Let us suppose we are "secular" monastics, and suppose, too, that glorifying God in every way possible is mostly all we are about, no matter what else we are doing. Maybe we are raising children, going to an office, preparing meals, cleaning homes, visiting with our friends. In the middle of all of that, suppose that praising God seven times per day meant something to us, and that every day we practiced the pattern of prayer and devotion proposed by Jane Tomaine in her book "St. Benedict's Toolbox".
Vigils: If you wake in the night, let the darkness teach you to be aware of God's holy presence--and pray.
Lauds: As you wake, give praise to God and pray. Pray over the Scriptures.
Prime: As your working day begins, look over your to-do list for the day, and ask God to be in all you do that day. Perhaps this is a time to open the Book and read.
Terce: At mid-morning, take a break. Breathe in God's Spirit befroe resuming your morning's work.
Sext: At Noon, get your soul off your immediate tasks, and pause to pray for all the earth and all people of the earth, for the completed past and for the open future. They all await our decisions and our works, as well as God's direction.
None: As you leave work and return home, let go of the day's events. Forgive those who have offended and ask for forgiveness.
Vespers/Compline: Close the day with prayer and bedtime reading. Entrust your life to God until you greet the morning again with thanksgiving.
Then we would say, as the Psalmist does, "Seven times in the day I have rendered praise to You."
Seven times in the day," says the Prophet,
"I have rendered praise to You" (Ps. 118:164).
Now that sacred number of seven will be fulfilled by us
if we perform the Offices of our service
at the time of the Morning Office,
of Prime, of Terce, of Sext, of None,
of Vespers and of Compline,
since it was of these day Hours that he said,
"Seven times in the day I have rendered praise to You."
For as to the Night Office the same Prophet says,
"In the middle of the night I arose to glorify You" (Ps. 118:62).
Let us therefore bring our tribute of praise to our Creator
"for the judgments of His justice" (Ps. 118:164)
at these times:
the Morning Office, Prime, Terce, Sext, None,
Vespers and Compline;
and in the night let us arise to glorify Him.
Let us suppose we are "secular" monastics, and suppose, too, that glorifying God in every way possible is mostly all we are about, no matter what else we are doing. Maybe we are raising children, going to an office, preparing meals, cleaning homes, visiting with our friends. In the middle of all of that, suppose that praising God seven times per day meant something to us, and that every day we practiced the pattern of prayer and devotion proposed by Jane Tomaine in her book "St. Benedict's Toolbox".
Vigils: If you wake in the night, let the darkness teach you to be aware of God's holy presence--and pray.
Lauds: As you wake, give praise to God and pray. Pray over the Scriptures.
Prime: As your working day begins, look over your to-do list for the day, and ask God to be in all you do that day. Perhaps this is a time to open the Book and read.
Terce: At mid-morning, take a break. Breathe in God's Spirit befroe resuming your morning's work.
Sext: At Noon, get your soul off your immediate tasks, and pause to pray for all the earth and all people of the earth, for the completed past and for the open future. They all await our decisions and our works, as well as God's direction.
None: As you leave work and return home, let go of the day's events. Forgive those who have offended and ask for forgiveness.
Vespers/Compline: Close the day with prayer and bedtime reading. Entrust your life to God until you greet the morning again with thanksgiving.
Then we would say, as the Psalmist does, "Seven times in the day I have rendered praise to You."
Friday, February 16, 2007
Another Civilization Out There
from Henry David Thoreau's Journal for this date in 1859:What we call wildness is a civilization other than our own. The hen-hawk shuns the farmer, but it seeks the friendly shelter and support of the pine. It will not consent to walk in the barn-yard, but it loves to soar above the clouds. It has its own way and is beautiful, when we would fain subject it to our will.
What strikes me as intriguing about this entry is Thoreau's appreciative notice of
"parallel worlds", of alternative systems of life and order, which did not conform to, and actually avoided, the Western and American civilization in which Thoreau was a critical and reluctant participant. He knew, even then, that our civilization could overwhelm, could rob other orders of their beauty and resources, and was actually competing with the "civilizations" of other creatures and other cultures.
His little observations seem prophetic or at least prescient today. What is our situation in the world now? We are experiencing a world-transforming set of tensions with "civilizations other than our own". Global warming is at one level the onset of a clash of orders, one in which poisoned "wildness" now resentfully creates a new environment which we will need to adapt to, struggle against or die from. Again, from the moment 9/11 occurred, it has been described as a clash of civlizations, a competition, one might say, between competing visions of the way humankind will be.
Where is the human being, like Thoreau, who can be both an appreciative observer of other cultures, and a self-aware and self-critical participant in one's own? Jesus says, Do not judge, so that you may not be judged....Why do you see the speck in your neighbor's eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye....You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor's eye Matthew 7:1-5.
What strikes me as intriguing about this entry is Thoreau's appreciative notice of
"parallel worlds", of alternative systems of life and order, which did not conform to, and actually avoided, the Western and American civilization in which Thoreau was a critical and reluctant participant. He knew, even then, that our civilization could overwhelm, could rob other orders of their beauty and resources, and was actually competing with the "civilizations" of other creatures and other cultures.
His little observations seem prophetic or at least prescient today. What is our situation in the world now? We are experiencing a world-transforming set of tensions with "civilizations other than our own". Global warming is at one level the onset of a clash of orders, one in which poisoned "wildness" now resentfully creates a new environment which we will need to adapt to, struggle against or die from. Again, from the moment 9/11 occurred, it has been described as a clash of civlizations, a competition, one might say, between competing visions of the way humankind will be.
Where is the human being, like Thoreau, who can be both an appreciative observer of other cultures, and a self-aware and self-critical participant in one's own? Jesus says, Do not judge, so that you may not be judged....Why do you see the speck in your neighbor's eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye....You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor's eye Matthew 7:1-5.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Eat, Drink and Love
It is getting on in the evening on Valentine's Day. I have sent the Confirmation youth to prepare food (cookies) and deliver them to some of the church's widows. Once again, as for two millenia, young Christians-in-training, learning to love their God, also remember and go to the homes of the vulnerable neighbor.
I am thinking about love today, as I walk along. Henri Nouwen says somewhere in his works that all most of us are waiting for each day, to make our day good, is for someone to say that they like, appreciate or admire us. I wonder if most of the headaches and heartaches, fears and wounds, we suffer each day occur just because we have not been explicitly told this? Have we been loved by means of someone's hugs or kindly words? And, no matter how "starving" we may still be for this, have we given our nurturing love to those who hunger and thirst for it?
Dietrich Bonhoeffer remarks in "Letters and Papers from Prison" that God wants us to love God eternally with our whole hearts...to provide a kind of "cantus firmus" to which the other melodies of life (our earthly loves) provide the counterpoint. If the "cantus firmus" is set, then the rest of our loves cannot come adrift or get out of tune.
This is love of God, and love of neighbor: intertwining melodies, receiving and giving. Happy Valentine's Day.
I am thinking about love today, as I walk along. Henri Nouwen says somewhere in his works that all most of us are waiting for each day, to make our day good, is for someone to say that they like, appreciate or admire us. I wonder if most of the headaches and heartaches, fears and wounds, we suffer each day occur just because we have not been explicitly told this? Have we been loved by means of someone's hugs or kindly words? And, no matter how "starving" we may still be for this, have we given our nurturing love to those who hunger and thirst for it?
Dietrich Bonhoeffer remarks in "Letters and Papers from Prison" that God wants us to love God eternally with our whole hearts...to provide a kind of "cantus firmus" to which the other melodies of life (our earthly loves) provide the counterpoint. If the "cantus firmus" is set, then the rest of our loves cannot come adrift or get out of tune.
This is love of God, and love of neighbor: intertwining melodies, receiving and giving. Happy Valentine's Day.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
When God Won Our Hearts
In "Life Together" Dietrich Bonhoeffer remarks, "...When God won our hearts by God's own love (revealed in Jesus), our instruction in Christian love began at the same time." That might be one of the shorter versions of the Gospel; grace received by love from God, and grateful response by love to neighbor!
Do you remember when someone finally won your heart? Or when you bonded someone to you by persistently showing them your affection? These are great moments in life!
I remember someone who began as my "enemy" (we got into a food fight together in the junior high cafeteria),yet who for reasons I never understood, reversed course on me, and began to show friendship to me. We became the best of friends for many years, and I still think of that man with respect, appreciation and gratitude. He "won my heart" as a friend when I expected nothing but trouble from him, and intended to be nothing but trouble to him. That unexpected friendship became a grace-note in my life. The root of it was that this friend saw something in me, even beyond our quarrels, that I didn't even see in myself. We had some great adventures together which never would have happened if we hadn't allowed our hearts to open--even to an "enemy".
God's love is like this, pursuing us down all our escape routes and antipathies, seeking to win our hearts. Paul says in Romans 5:6, 8 and 10: While we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for us....God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us....While we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his son.
Won over by love, we are instructed to do the same: Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God (Romans 15:7).
Do you remember when someone finally won your heart? Or when you bonded someone to you by persistently showing them your affection? These are great moments in life!
I remember someone who began as my "enemy" (we got into a food fight together in the junior high cafeteria),yet who for reasons I never understood, reversed course on me, and began to show friendship to me. We became the best of friends for many years, and I still think of that man with respect, appreciation and gratitude. He "won my heart" as a friend when I expected nothing but trouble from him, and intended to be nothing but trouble to him. That unexpected friendship became a grace-note in my life. The root of it was that this friend saw something in me, even beyond our quarrels, that I didn't even see in myself. We had some great adventures together which never would have happened if we hadn't allowed our hearts to open--even to an "enemy".
God's love is like this, pursuing us down all our escape routes and antipathies, seeking to win our hearts. Paul says in Romans 5:6, 8 and 10: While we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for us....God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us....While we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his son.
Won over by love, we are instructed to do the same: Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God (Romans 15:7).
Monday, February 12, 2007
Worse Than Others Thought...
I remember reading in some absurdist novel many, many years ago, an hilarious story of a very solid and upright person, whose life had some "surprising" and secret facets of behavior. At the time, I was young enough to think it was appalling to read; now, I just think the story was truth-full. Every honest and self-aware human being I know can tell you they have something to regret about the way they have lived. They do not need a John Barth novel either to prompt their memories, or to stir up their imagining of possibilities. If we cannot admit old mistakes, then we also cannot admit new spiritual learning!
Thoreau makes this confession, with irony about the judgments others make, in one of his journal entries: I think worse of myself than (others) can possibly think of me, being better acquainted with the man. I put the best face on the matter. I will tell them this secret, if they will not tell it to anybody else. Jesus
teaches something of the same value when he reminds us, "Nothing is hidden that will not be disclosed; nor is anything secret that will not become known and come to light" (Luke 8:17).
Humility is a matter of claiming in our own current awareness that which we have done or said and lived to regret, as well as that which, wisely anticipated, we do not wish to experience in the future.
Thoreau makes this confession, with irony about the judgments others make, in one of his journal entries: I think worse of myself than (others) can possibly think of me, being better acquainted with the man. I put the best face on the matter. I will tell them this secret, if they will not tell it to anybody else. Jesus
teaches something of the same value when he reminds us, "Nothing is hidden that will not be disclosed; nor is anything secret that will not become known and come to light" (Luke 8:17).
Humility is a matter of claiming in our own current awareness that which we have done or said and lived to regret, as well as that which, wisely anticipated, we do not wish to experience in the future.
Friday, February 9, 2007
Frozen Eyeballs
This is Blog #2 for Friday, 2/9. Cold weather "Soul to Sole" walkers, beware!
From qualified medical personnel: Eyeballs can and do freeze if exposed long enough. This happened to a homeless man in Saint Paul this week. When he got to Regions Hospital, his eyes were frozen.... The reason eyeballs don't react to extreme cold as quickly as the rest of our body is that we are continually blinking which keeps our eyes moist and protected.
I cannot think of the sermonic application for this at the moment, but I am sure it will come to me...
From qualified medical personnel: Eyeballs can and do freeze if exposed long enough. This happened to a homeless man in Saint Paul this week. When he got to Regions Hospital, his eyes were frozen.... The reason eyeballs don't react to extreme cold as quickly as the rest of our body is that we are continually blinking which keeps our eyes moist and protected.
I cannot think of the sermonic application for this at the moment, but I am sure it will come to me...
A Letter
No one writes letters these days, and therefore, no one reads letters. It is a loss.
We "message" or "text" one another, but the messages are seldom carefully written or deeply considered. We can call each other by cell phone, but what we say is only useful, not soulful.
I remember very well, as a human being who once existed without e-mail, computers, or cell phones, how important a hand-written note was. Mom or dad would write to me at summer camp. My grandma sent a note (with a gift) at my birthday. When I finished seminary, my dad wrote to me to tell me how proud he was of my studies and my calling. When my wife and I were dating, there were times that our only contact was the exchange of letters--how important every word and every penstroke was! We still have many of the letters we wrote to one another. Each year now, our church gives a packet of notes and letters to our Confirmands from their parents, family and friends. Often, this is a tender times for the youth; they experience something they would not feel so much if it were "texted" to them. The heart of those who care about them becomes palpably known in the hand-written note.
The Scriptures might be seen in that way, felt in that way. Not as something "disposable" and immediate and utilitarian, but as something addressed to one's heart out of the deep feelings and ponderings of an Other heart. When we take up this Book, we hear from our Beloved, who pours affection, yearning, insight and hopeful confessions of love onto each page. Just as I once hoped to catch a little scent of my mother, or my wife, on the pages of their notes, the Scripture pages also bear the incense of God. I read, and I am enveloped in the Presence.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, instructing pastors on how to read the Scriptures in prayer and in public worship, from his book "Life Together": The situation of the one who is reading the Scripture would probably come closest to that in which I read to another person a letter from a friend.
We "message" or "text" one another, but the messages are seldom carefully written or deeply considered. We can call each other by cell phone, but what we say is only useful, not soulful.
I remember very well, as a human being who once existed without e-mail, computers, or cell phones, how important a hand-written note was. Mom or dad would write to me at summer camp. My grandma sent a note (with a gift) at my birthday. When I finished seminary, my dad wrote to me to tell me how proud he was of my studies and my calling. When my wife and I were dating, there were times that our only contact was the exchange of letters--how important every word and every penstroke was! We still have many of the letters we wrote to one another. Each year now, our church gives a packet of notes and letters to our Confirmands from their parents, family and friends. Often, this is a tender times for the youth; they experience something they would not feel so much if it were "texted" to them. The heart of those who care about them becomes palpably known in the hand-written note.
The Scriptures might be seen in that way, felt in that way. Not as something "disposable" and immediate and utilitarian, but as something addressed to one's heart out of the deep feelings and ponderings of an Other heart. When we take up this Book, we hear from our Beloved, who pours affection, yearning, insight and hopeful confessions of love onto each page. Just as I once hoped to catch a little scent of my mother, or my wife, on the pages of their notes, the Scripture pages also bear the incense of God. I read, and I am enveloped in the Presence.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, instructing pastors on how to read the Scriptures in prayer and in public worship, from his book "Life Together": The situation of the one who is reading the Scripture would probably come closest to that in which I read to another person a letter from a friend.
Thursday, February 8, 2007
The Coldest Night
A few days ago, Mary Lynn and I went to the North Shore of Lake Superior for a two-day visit to the waters and woods. Our son, Colin, joined us for a hike on Saturday.
The weather was so cold, the coldest night in three years. In the morning when we rose, the thermometer showed -25 degrees F. So our hike was inhibited by multiple layers of clothing. No skin showed, save our eyes.
I asked Colin why it is that our eyes don't frostbite so easily as the rest of us. I read of a young man who ran around the Super Bowl barefoot on Sunday, and had frostbitten feet by the time he had finished his five-minute lap. Yet we were walking for two hours, our eyes "constantly" exposed, and no damage is done! He didn't know, and I still don't.
We have walked the trails near Lake Caribou and Lake Agnes dozens of times in summer, but the snow made everything look different. We tried new trails and were
"a mite confused" for a time. Still, the sunlight was brilliant, and God's glory and veil were visible around us, seen in gleaming snow and from blue shadows cast from the birch trees.
Thoreaus' Journal from February 7, 1855
The coldest night for a long, long time was last. Sheets froze stiff about the faces. Cat mewed to have the door opened, but was at first disinclined to go out. When she came in at nine she smelt of meadow-hay. We all took her up and smelled of her, it was so fragrant. Had cuddled in some barn. People dreaded to go to bed. The ground cracked in the night as if a powder-mill had blown up, and the timbers of the house also. My pail of water was frozen in the morning so that I could not break it. Must leave many buttons unbuttoned, owing to numb fingers. Iron was like fire in the hands. Thermometer at about 7:30 A.M. gone into the bulb, -19 degrees at least. The cold has stopped the clock. Every bearded man in the street is a graybeard. Bread, meat, milk, cheese, etc., etc., all frozen. See the inside of your cellar door all covered and sparkling with frost like Golconda. Pity the poor who have not a large wood-pile. The latches are white with frost, and every nail-head in entries, etc., has a white cap. The chopper hesitates to go to the woods. Yet I see S.W.—stumping past, three quarters of a mile for his morning dram.
The weather was so cold, the coldest night in three years. In the morning when we rose, the thermometer showed -25 degrees F. So our hike was inhibited by multiple layers of clothing. No skin showed, save our eyes.
I asked Colin why it is that our eyes don't frostbite so easily as the rest of us. I read of a young man who ran around the Super Bowl barefoot on Sunday, and had frostbitten feet by the time he had finished his five-minute lap. Yet we were walking for two hours, our eyes "constantly" exposed, and no damage is done! He didn't know, and I still don't.
We have walked the trails near Lake Caribou and Lake Agnes dozens of times in summer, but the snow made everything look different. We tried new trails and were
"a mite confused" for a time. Still, the sunlight was brilliant, and God's glory and veil were visible around us, seen in gleaming snow and from blue shadows cast from the birch trees.
Thoreaus' Journal from February 7, 1855
The coldest night for a long, long time was last. Sheets froze stiff about the faces. Cat mewed to have the door opened, but was at first disinclined to go out. When she came in at nine she smelt of meadow-hay. We all took her up and smelled of her, it was so fragrant. Had cuddled in some barn. People dreaded to go to bed. The ground cracked in the night as if a powder-mill had blown up, and the timbers of the house also. My pail of water was frozen in the morning so that I could not break it. Must leave many buttons unbuttoned, owing to numb fingers. Iron was like fire in the hands. Thermometer at about 7:30 A.M. gone into the bulb, -19 degrees at least. The cold has stopped the clock. Every bearded man in the street is a graybeard. Bread, meat, milk, cheese, etc., etc., all frozen. See the inside of your cellar door all covered and sparkling with frost like Golconda. Pity the poor who have not a large wood-pile. The latches are white with frost, and every nail-head in entries, etc., has a white cap. The chopper hesitates to go to the woods. Yet I see S.W.—stumping past, three quarters of a mile for his morning dram.
Tuesday, February 6, 2007
You Fool, You Are Invited to Carnival!
You are invited to come in costume on Sunday, February 11, 8:30 and 10:30 worship services to celebrate Carnival/Fools for Christ at the Northfield United Methodist Church, 1401 Maple Street South, Northfield, Minnesota. Bring a friend! There will be costumes, prizes, Fear Factor game, and general rowdiness and topsy-turvey worship, along with some great Mardi Gras style, Dixieland music!
We worship in the style of the Carnival Season. According to one source, "It is a public celebration or parade combining some elements of a circus and public street party in a religious and secular context. Carnival is often a Roman Catholic and, to a lesser extent, Eastern Orthodox celebration.... The Carnival Season is a holiday period during the two weeks before the traditional Christian fasting of Lent. The origin of the name "Carnival" is unclear. The most common theory is that it comes from the Latin words caro (meat) and vale (farewell), hence "farewell to meat" or "farewell to the flesh", letting go of the earthly or bodily self)."
Why are we doing this, you may well ask! It's a great opportunity to let go of your selfish self for a while. Play the role of a Fool-for-Christ!
Here is a spiritual exercise to help you prepare for Sunday, the 11th. It comes from Edward Hay's book, "Holy Fools and Mad Hatters".
The next time you feel caught up in some problem which has you upset or
worried, call in the clowns. Exaggerate the issue as much as you can: "Oh,
God, this is the WORST thing that has EVER happened to me. It's worse than the
San Francisco earthquake....Then you might pound your head in a clown's jest,
weep fake tears, throw yourself on the floor...then have a good laugh. When
you're finished, you may not only feel better, but the issue or problem may
find its proper proportion in you life.
We worship in the style of the Carnival Season. According to one source, "It is a public celebration or parade combining some elements of a circus and public street party in a religious and secular context. Carnival is often a Roman Catholic and, to a lesser extent, Eastern Orthodox celebration.... The Carnival Season is a holiday period during the two weeks before the traditional Christian fasting of Lent. The origin of the name "Carnival" is unclear. The most common theory is that it comes from the Latin words caro (meat) and vale (farewell), hence "farewell to meat" or "farewell to the flesh", letting go of the earthly or bodily self)."
Why are we doing this, you may well ask! It's a great opportunity to let go of your selfish self for a while. Play the role of a Fool-for-Christ!
Here is a spiritual exercise to help you prepare for Sunday, the 11th. It comes from Edward Hay's book, "Holy Fools and Mad Hatters".
The next time you feel caught up in some problem which has you upset or
worried, call in the clowns. Exaggerate the issue as much as you can: "Oh,
God, this is the WORST thing that has EVER happened to me. It's worse than the
San Francisco earthquake....Then you might pound your head in a clown's jest,
weep fake tears, throw yourself on the floor...then have a good laugh. When
you're finished, you may not only feel better, but the issue or problem may
find its proper proportion in you life.
Monday, February 5, 2007
Jesus--and the true, good, humane and just
from "Ethics" by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
"'Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven' (Matthew 5:10). This verse does not speak about the righteousness of God, that is, about persecution for the sake of Jewsus Christ; rather, it calls those blessed who are persecuted for a just cause--and, we may now add, for a cause that is true, good, humane....With this beatitude Jesus thoroughly rejects the false timidity of those Christians who evade any kind of suffering for a just, good and true cause because they supposedly could have a clear conscience only if they were to suffer for the explicit confession of faith in Christ...exactly for the confession of his name...'"
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German theologian who was born just over 101 years ago, and martyred for his resistance to Hitler's Nazism, thought out loud about what his times demanded from persons of faith, and he concluded that often enough the confession of Jesus in his time was rendered by persons who did not say "Jesus", but who suffered, who were persecuted, who resisted evil and who spoke for truth and goodness. He also concluded that there were persons enough who said "Jesus, Lord" often, but who nonetheless had nothing to do with Jesus of Nazareth.
And today? Who in the world does not say "Jesus", but does the right thing? And who does say "Jesus", and goes on to do some wrong thing? Who says "Mohammed" and "Allah" without doing what is right? And who does not say these names, yet confirms the best of what they could mean in our world?
"'Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven' (Matthew 5:10). This verse does not speak about the righteousness of God, that is, about persecution for the sake of Jewsus Christ; rather, it calls those blessed who are persecuted for a just cause--and, we may now add, for a cause that is true, good, humane....With this beatitude Jesus thoroughly rejects the false timidity of those Christians who evade any kind of suffering for a just, good and true cause because they supposedly could have a clear conscience only if they were to suffer for the explicit confession of faith in Christ...exactly for the confession of his name...'"
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German theologian who was born just over 101 years ago, and martyred for his resistance to Hitler's Nazism, thought out loud about what his times demanded from persons of faith, and he concluded that often enough the confession of Jesus in his time was rendered by persons who did not say "Jesus", but who suffered, who were persecuted, who resisted evil and who spoke for truth and goodness. He also concluded that there were persons enough who said "Jesus, Lord" often, but who nonetheless had nothing to do with Jesus of Nazareth.
And today? Who in the world does not say "Jesus", but does the right thing? And who does say "Jesus", and goes on to do some wrong thing? Who says "Mohammed" and "Allah" without doing what is right? And who does not say these names, yet confirms the best of what they could mean in our world?
Thursday, February 1, 2007
Popping Bubbles
from "The Way of Life" by Lao-Tzu
He who feels punctured
Must once have been a bubble,
He who feels unarmed
Must once have carried arms,
He who feels belittled
Must once have been consequential,
He who feels deprived,
Must once have had privilege,
Whereas a man with insight
Knows that to keep under is to endure...
Today, as I walk with you, I think about egos. When Pastor Mary Keen heard the reading above from the Chinese teacher, Lao-Tzu, she chuckled at the first line. I didn't ask her to explain why, but I imagine it had something to do with the shock of recognition it prompted. We all know people who have been pretty large bubbles, and we have ourselves been large bubbles. Then something pops us, bursts our bubble, and we think we are shattered, disrespected, hurt, destroyed, when actually we have only been brought back to the size of our actual selves once again, neither larger nor smaller, better or worse, than we actually are.
Deflation can be a channel of grace. Whether someone does this for us kindly, or with malice aforethought, doesn't matter! We should be grateful when a bubble is lanced. We should be able to laugh and say, "Well, there I was all blown out of proportion again!"
The Apostle Paul cautions against the same thing where he says, we must avoid becoming "puffed up" with conceit or arrogance (in 1 Corinthians, Colossians and elsewhere). He says that in contrast to the forms of puffery which burst things and "blow up" our true selves, the alternative life-style in Christ is the life where "love builds", rather than vanity. Jesus says that people don't really enter into the Kingdom of God (a life and world that show mercy and justice the way God would if God were ruling our choices)unless or until they become as small and inconsequential as children. We are meant to be simpler, kinder, and smaller in our minds than we now are. So, if a bubble or two gets popped in your life, never mind. By the grace of God, it will be alright.
He who feels punctured
Must once have been a bubble,
He who feels unarmed
Must once have carried arms,
He who feels belittled
Must once have been consequential,
He who feels deprived,
Must once have had privilege,
Whereas a man with insight
Knows that to keep under is to endure...
Today, as I walk with you, I think about egos. When Pastor Mary Keen heard the reading above from the Chinese teacher, Lao-Tzu, she chuckled at the first line. I didn't ask her to explain why, but I imagine it had something to do with the shock of recognition it prompted. We all know people who have been pretty large bubbles, and we have ourselves been large bubbles. Then something pops us, bursts our bubble, and we think we are shattered, disrespected, hurt, destroyed, when actually we have only been brought back to the size of our actual selves once again, neither larger nor smaller, better or worse, than we actually are.
Deflation can be a channel of grace. Whether someone does this for us kindly, or with malice aforethought, doesn't matter! We should be grateful when a bubble is lanced. We should be able to laugh and say, "Well, there I was all blown out of proportion again!"
The Apostle Paul cautions against the same thing where he says, we must avoid becoming "puffed up" with conceit or arrogance (in 1 Corinthians, Colossians and elsewhere). He says that in contrast to the forms of puffery which burst things and "blow up" our true selves, the alternative life-style in Christ is the life where "love builds", rather than vanity. Jesus says that people don't really enter into the Kingdom of God (a life and world that show mercy and justice the way God would if God were ruling our choices)unless or until they become as small and inconsequential as children. We are meant to be simpler, kinder, and smaller in our minds than we now are. So, if a bubble or two gets popped in your life, never mind. By the grace of God, it will be alright.
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