discipline

It's hard, sometimes, to be the church. Those in leadership seem to find themselves up against the problem that folks want to receive the benefits that come from being part of a faith community without doing the work that it takes to maintain that community. Of course, there's the obvious ~ folks want the pastor to be available to visit the sick, to perform funerals and baptisms, to have a place to show up at Christmas and Easter. Many folks even want a place to show up every week on Sunday morning in order to get their spiritual tank filled up, so that they're ready for the week ahead.

Every person, every household, and every community goes through different seasons in life. Sometimes it's appropriate for a person or household to only consume faith ~ to be rejuvenated without giving back. For many people, though, this is as far as it goes. They never get to the place where they return what they have received. They never get to experience the freedom that comes from giving themselves away.

And that, it seems, is one of the hardest things to convince people of when they haven't experienced this truth themselves. Considering nothing but money, logically, if a person gives some of what they have away, then they have less money ... which means less freedom to do what they want to do with their money. But in fact the (illogical) opposite is true. If a person gives their money away, they are no longer slave to their money. But it's virtually impossible to convince people of this, especially using logic.

Which is where faith (in this case, known as trust) comes in. When a person hears enough times, from enough people they trust, that there is freedom in giving ourselves away (money, and otherwise), we will start to believe that maybe there's some merit to this. The trouble is that those of us who have experienced this freedom are reluctant to share, because (maybe) we're scared of frightening people away by promoting commitment or obligation or discipline.

For myself, though, discipline is necessary. Of course, I don't mean the 'punish the children because they did something wrong' kind, but rather the kind where we compel ourselves toward regular and faithful practices of discipleship.

The discipline of giving, of showing up, of committing to relationship, of actually working for something seems antithetical to our cultural standards these days ~ our cultural standards which tend more toward the lottery mindset (a little investment on my part just might pay off big-time). But I think the stereotypical old protestants ~ you know, the ones with the work ethic ~ knew something about finding freedom in discipline, and I think they knew something that we've all but lost these days.

Unfortunately, it won't be easy to regain that ... it'll probably take discipline on the part of those who have discovered the freedom found in giving ourselves away. And it'll probably continue to be hard to be the church ~ but if it wasn't hard, then I'd worry we were missing something significant about our faith.

$0.02

incomplete thoughts on Scripture

I don't think I've ever really believed that the bible is intended to be a factual and encyclopedic collection. I might have, at one time, if pressed, been willing to say that, but I don't think I ever really believed it.

Since the ELCA has been encouraging its members and congregations to study scripture more closely, we in the congregation I'm part of have been recently looking at what exactly the bible is ~ where it came from, who wrote it, what it means that it's the word of G-d, etc.

I'm coming to believe more and more that it's a much more serious and significant endeavor to not view scripture as inerrant. To take the bible as inerrant, a reference text to look at simply for problem-solving, is too simplistic for my needs. To take the bible as the stories and witness of people who, in many different contexts and times and places have met and been impacted by the living G-d of the universe is more meaningful to my own faith journey.

Of course, I am not willing to say that one group of Christians takes scripture more seriously than any other. I do wonder, though, how those who see scripture as a divine reference manual don't relegate G-d's activity to past history. "G-d did this, G-d did that, it's all recorded here in the Bible." That's all well and good, but the question I struggle with recently is, 'What's G-d up to these days? The Bible doesn't give me today's history."

Which leads to the question, if G-d is still as active today as G-d ever was, then is it possible for someone today to have a Bible-worthy experience? And this can't help but to make me wonder, whose story would you say might be scriptural?

$0.02

Sabbath

I have a crackberry mobile computing device. I just received a text message, and have been checking my e-mail all day. I downloaded directions to someone's house, and looked up the definition of a word before updating my twitter status. I keep phone numbers and addresses, plus lists of things I need to remember (groceries). I even, from time to time, use the thing to talk to people.

It's pretty rare that I don't have my crackberry with me, either in my pocket or on the dashboard of the car, on the counter or in my bag. I don't take it with me when I go running or to the gym, and I only take it on bike rides if I'll be gone for three hours or more ~ but besides that, it's almost always available to me ... which means that I'm almost always available to you (or whomever).

Besides the crackberry, I also use a laptop computer, which I carry most places I go. I didn't take it when I went to dinner with the kids tonight, but it goes with me to and from the office almost every day. As I write this, I'm sitting in my living room, on the couch, with the laptop on (of all places) my lap. With a laptop and a cell phone, I could work almost anywhere. In a couple weeks, I'll be on a trip for work. I'll be able to check e-mail and make phone calls, work on lesson plans and a sermon, connect with folks about vacation bible school and touch base with someone whose wife is in the hospital the whole time I'm there.

And I'm not alone in this. I see lots of people around the city working from wherever they are, at all hours of the day and night. It seems like since we have the capability to work all the time, we feel like we are required to work all the time. In fact, I think it goes beyond feeling like we're required to work all the time. I believe that we've tied busy-ness together with worth. The more I work, the better I am. And it's been taken to an unfortunate extreme, which is 'the more hectic and stressed and overextended I am, the more I'm worth and the better I am. It becomes a contest to see who's the busiest.

And we've forgotten Sabbath.

We've forgotten Sabbath, we've forgotten how to Sabbath (yes, I just verbized that word), we've forgotten even what Sabbath is.

I have a vague memory from when I was young of learning that Sabbath is the time when we rest from our labors. Hearing that, I assumed that the point of Sabbath is to rest and recover in order that we're ready to continue our labors when it's time to do so. The trouble, though, is that if rest and recovery is the point of Sabbath, then Sabbath is still about work.

Instead, what if we worked to recover the essence of Sabbath, which is to remind ourselves that the world will continue just fine even without our input. If we put down our phones, closed the laptops, didn't bother composing 140 character updates, things would still be OK. And if we did those things, maybe we could take that opportunity to really see each other, without all the distractions. Maybe we could read a book, or write a book; create art or make music with friends; enjoy the company of children, or anything else that connects us with the life-giving heart of G-d.

And maybe that one day of recognizing that there's someone else who is actually in charge of the universe (despite our actions and apparent presuppositions) would spill over into humility in the other days as we go about our business (busy-ness).

The issue of how to get there is for another post.

$0.02

spending

when we spend,
we don't spend time
or money
or energy

these are distractions
these things we use
to remove our minds
to remove our thought
to remove our attention
from truth

the truth that whatever we spend
on whatever
whether we
spend money
spend time
spend energy
whatever we spend on everything
we don't spend that

we spend ourselves

do we spend so that we can receive?
or do we realize that when we give our selves
away
away
away
toward those things that give life

we receive life without asking
and almost without realizing

Rain in April

i remember the rain in November -
cold, cutting through layers of
jackets, sweaters, hats, wool socks
that were just down from the closet

but rain after months of sun
cuts more than the vernal downpour
we got today ~ in November,
what do you expect but the onset
of cold - its own blessing, to be sure -

April rain delivers the promise of red
tomatoes and watermelon, frisbees
in the park thrown through the smell of
roasting meat, and the incessant off-key
jingle announcing overpriced ice cream


~ shoulder season storms create liminal
spaces, when the future gets washed over us
in brief glimpses, like abundant grace
in baptismal waters - and we can
wander nursery aisles, pondering new life
and promises; a long way from November

Worship / Sabbath

The gift of worship, if nothing else, is that we have space and time opened up where we are not at the center; where we set the self aside for the sake of the neighbor, a friend, the other, our community. The gift of worship is that we get to set aside our narcissism for a period of time.

The gift of sabbath (rest is not the gift, because if the sabbath were only or primarily about rest, then the focus of sabbath would still be work ... to prepare for work) is that we come to know deep within ourselves that we are not at the center of the universe - that the world will continue, even without our input or energy. And when we see the world continuing, we begin to start to understand that (as much as we might like to be) we are not in charge.

The gift of worship, the gift of sabbath, is that we are forced into the counter-cultural realization that it's not all about me - that even if it's not about the other, then at least God is at the center.

$0.02

Everyone Writes About Spring

everyone writes about spring
budding branches and tomato
starts, tulips breaking through from
winter's hibernation - but I

refuse to notice cherry
blossoms, or those harley riders
rumbling through warm sun, cool breeze,
surprising nice families on a

pleasant drive through springtime -
days are longer, birds are calling,
but i won't listen to them,
or to the children playing in parks

again, for the first time in
months - the grass greening from winter
snows soaking the ground in spring;
which some write about, but not me