A Community that Practices Love

          Dear friends, have you heard about the Law of Hate?

         

         The Law of Hate is like an awful dervish, 
out of which spins all kinds of ills
—betrayal, murder, theft, and greed.

         It is the anvil upon which 
every commandment is broken, 
both tablets smashed to bits.

         It is an anvil upon which 
every link between sin and evil 
is forged for our imprisonment.

         The Law of Hate has but one goal
—dividing neighbor from neighbor, 
transforming each of us 
into unrecognizable enemies.

         It makes no distinction 
between victim and perpetrator, 
sinner and the one sinned against.

         It starts so simply
—any fault you see, 
no matter how small, 
assume the worst, 
respond immediately, 
and with all the bombast you can muster.

         Don’t go to the person whom it concerns 
that might lead to reconciliation
—no, instead publicly humiliate them, 
point out their fault and sin 
to as many people as possible… 
this will breed conflict.

         Whatever you do, 
don’t back down. 
No matter what, don’t stop, 
keep picking at it, 
like your disagreement is an itchy scabbed over wound.

         There will likely be off-ramps offered, 
olive branches extended. 
Just keep your foot on the gas, no matter what! 
Blow by anything that might ameliorate the hurt.

         Push every button, 
do everything to embarrass and escalate, 
until you are both bound to hell, 
until not a single word that you breath to one another is in agreement.

         Truly, if you do these things, 
Christ will never be among us.

         This is the Law of Hate.

 

         It might sound rather stark, 
perhaps even overly dramatic, 
but it is worth spelling out 
the Law of Hate, 
in all its viciousness, 
so it is clear what we’re fighting for, 
it is clear why love matters…

         It can fell like our society’s default 
is the Law of Hate, 
that there are plenty of people and communities 
who regularly practice hate…

         That’s why we need to be 
a community that lives 
by the Law of Love, 
that practices love…

Prayer

         We need to be 
a community that lives 
by the Law of Love, 
that practices love…

         In medieval Japan, 
when a ruler would break a tea pot or bowl 
they would send it back to China for repairs… 
and the vessel would come back 
stapled together with ugly metal staples… 
so eventually the Japanese created their own form of repair
—Kintsugi, 
in which broken vessels were repaired with gold or silver
—so the broken place became the most beautiful portion of the piece.

         So too, communities can mend broken relationships well, or poorly. 
We can practice hate, or love. 
We can embrace vengeance 
or repair breaches so that they 
shine forth with the light of Christ, 
reshaped for the better.

         And the advice Jesus gives us, 
as found in Matthew, 
steers us to a loving practice, 
the golden way that repairs the breach 
and brings us closer to being a community 
that shines forth God’s love.

 

         Firstly, the initial step is one of discretion
—the sin is brought up 
one-on-one. 
Randomly embarrassing your sister or brother in Christ, 
in front of a bunch of people isn’t the point, 
but instead the point is getting them to repent, 
so you can forgive them.

 

         If that fails, 
the second step is to get a few people to help you confront them about the sin
—and this is important
—this 2 or 3 witnesses business, is legal language 
that fellow Rabbis of Jesus’ day would understand, 
the question is, “do they have a case?”

         After all, sometimes a trivial thing can be blown out of proportion 
and it takes a few faithful friends to say, 
“Hey, they didn’t mean that the way you took it.”

         You are not trying to make your brother or sister in Christ 
walk on eggshells around you, 
because you’re too sensitive, 
you’re getting them to repent, 
so you can forgive them.

 

         If that too fails, 
the whole church gets involved
—this is to make sure those two or three you’ve gathered 
were not lackeys
—that you weren’t trying to triangulate this accusation of sin.

         You know what triangulation is, right? 
It’s the worst form of passive aggression
—you remain passive while someone else does the aggression, 
keeping your hands clean.

         Well, if the whole church is involved 
that kind of deceit becomes much less likely, and that’s good, 
because you aren’t trying to sabotage your sibling, 
you are getting them to repent, 
so you can forgive them!

 

         Finally, if all else fails, 
the person who has sinned against you ought to be treated like a tax collector or Gentile
—that is to say, as outside the community, but still welcome
—after all Jesus is constantly shamed 
for welcoming tax collectors and Gentiles into the fold. 
This breaking of community, 
alongside welcoming back to community, 
is done so the sinner might repent and receive forgiveness.

 

         In case you’re not getting the pattern here, 
the point of Matthew’s advice to the Church, 
found on Jesus’ lips, 
is that when someone hurts us, 
we ought to let them know 
in a way that allows them to repent, so we can forgive them.

         That’s what makes the Church, 
this group gathered together glistening golden 
with our breaks and tears, 
so amazing.

         In the face of the Law of Hate, 
practiced so easily, 
we struggle 
to be a community that lives by the Law of Love, 
we yearn, 
and sometimes even succeed to be 
a people that practices love…

A+A

The Emptying of the Church

There was recently an Atlantic article entitled, “The Misunderstood Reason Millions of Americans Stopped going to Church” that was making its rounds. It kind of hit a nerve with folk. At base the article noted that 40 million Americans have dropped out of congregational life in the last 25 years. Some folk stopped attending due to the ongoing scandals of clergy abuse and misconduct. Similarly folk are staying away due to a general sense that the Church is corrupt.

              But, the largest barrier between people and pews is Workism. If you work 60-70 hours a week, your primary drive for life outside of work is finding a little sabbath and alone time, not community and the work of the church. Essentially, modern capitalism has exhausted people to the point that they experience Church as too much for them. And here is the kicker in this article, the Church isn’t seen as offering anything counter to Workism.

Counterintuitively, the Church isn’t asking enough of these exhausted people. If church is just a place you have to commute to on a Sunday and sit in a pew for an hour and then commute home—that’s not compelling (even if it is “easy”). But if it is a place that affirms that you have dignity outside of your hustle, where you are upheld in community, where you find rest for your weary soul, where other people really need you, it might be worth it.

The examples of church working well as a counterforce to Workism that the article cites are Christian Communes and International Living situations. As someone who has been involved in communities like that, I can say they are amazing and lifegiving, even as there have been moments where they’ve been stifling. Also, with very few exceptions, Intentional Christian Communities are a young person’s game. Essentially, we’re out of the house and jazzed about the open possibilities of life, let’s combine our possessions and live together like Jesus or monks, or better yet both!

I have my own assessment of the forces that are shaping the North American Church, namely the 3 D’s, Disestablishment, Decentralization, and Demographic Shift. That said, I do think the article captures something worth lifting up.

1. I’ve seen parishioners plug into ministries they find meaningful, for example: interesting bible studies, small groups that have become something more, food pantry, etc. and there is a draw that goes beyond duty or expectation, they really do experience good news in community.

2. Recapturing the fervor and possibility of 20-something Christians in community is an exciting prospect.

God and Moses

 

         There are few stranger relationships between God and a human, than that between Moses and his God. 
-One gives the commandments, the other smashes them. 
-Their time together transforms Moses so greatly that his face is veiled to mortals. 
-They even have a Snicker’s commercial moment together
—God rushes out to burn up all the Israelites, 
and Moses essentially hand’s God a candy bar to calm God down, 
because God has a tendency to get a little hangry in the books of Moses.

 

         This relationship is on full displace today at their first meeting. 
These verses are structured in such a way that Moses and God swirl around God’s central act in the Exodus story
—I have come down to deliver you, to bring you up out of the land to a good land
—These two reveal themselves to one another
—they act off one another, and we get to know them not only for who they are, but who they shall be.

Prayer

 

         Moses—a rootless man, 
who might know of the God of his ancestors
—but was raised in Pharaoh’s house 
and only knows his people from a distance. 
Even his lips reveal longing and separation
—he isn’t a native speaker of Hebrew, like his brother Aaron, 
who will mediate between him and his people, 
even as Moses will mediate between God and God’s people.

 

         Moses—who has at least one thing going for him—curiosity. 
He turns and sees this sight
—a bush burning but not burnt.

         Some commentators propose that 
this bush had been burning forever, 
up until that time,
but no one before Moses had looked up to notice it. 
Only observant Moses makes the effort to look up and to see… 

         Sometimes God is acting, 
and we just have to look up and see, right!

The mundane is miraculous if you only stop to see
—to take a moment to consider how astonishing every moment is!

 

         Moses! Moses!
—He is called twice, and responds, “Here I am.”
The same words as Abraham, Jacob, Joseph
—those ancestors he longs for,
He is cut from the same cloth, despite it all.

         Called not because he is ready or perfect, 
but because God works 
through roles, responsibilities, and relationships, 
to reach out to the world.

         And make no mistake! 
Callings aren’t something stuck 
between the pages of a bible, like a book mark, 
nor are they for Pastors, Deacons, and Bishops only.
         No. Every one of us is called to be faithful where we are at, 
and also called out into a wider world to be faithful there too!

 

         Moses who wonders, 
“Who am I” to confront Pharaoh? 
Yet, isn’t he the only Israelite 
who has been more than a slave, 
in Pharaoh’s eyes?
Isn’t he uniquely qualified, 
an adopted grandson to the Egyptian court.
         Imagine a person so capable and fortunate, 
stepping back from their responsibility, 
even as God steps in behind him to fill the gap.

 

         Moses, unshod, 
so that he might honor this profound fire he’s seen, 
a fire that points to God
         God—like a fire… 
and like a fire that does not consume. 
Simultaneously Awe inspiring and Awful.

         Hide your face!
Fear the face of God.
         Even as you encounter Holiness
—literally Other than, 
separate from
Strange
Weird
And set apart.

 

         Such a God announces: “I have come down to deliver you, to bring you up out of the land to a good land.”

 

         God who is Holy. 
Who is worthy of worship,
Who these enslaved people find to be good and trustworthy, 
their Liberator.

Different from themselves, and different from the gods of Egypt
Yet in relationship with them.

         Sacred in a way that priests 
will purify themselves in preparation to come before the altar, 
and yet birds will make nests upon that same altar of God.

 

         God who is the I AM. 
         God who is ineffable, like fire.
Who some theologians call the ground of all being, 
creation’s root.
Others call the prime mover or first principle.
Creator not creature
—outside the created order because God ordered creation.

God who has no ancestors, even as God is the God of the ancestors.
God who is beyond history, even as God is the God of history.
God who can say “I Am” and put a period behind it.

 

         God who hears. 
         Hears the cry of Abel’s blood from the ground
—slaughtered by his brother Cain, 
and hears a similar cry out of Egypt… 

         Cries coming out of so many nations 
where violence, oppression, and bloodshed abound
—God hears these cries 
and calls and sends people out, to bring the people in. 
         God calls—accompanies, every individual out doing right
—even when the cost is great.

 

         God who sees… 
who saw Hagar abandoned in the wilderness
—who sees the Egyptians pile misery upon misery.

         Imagine if we believed, in our bones, that God sees.

         I say this, not to pick up that gross trope so many preachers employ, 
“God sees you,” 
and really the preacher is acting like voyeur 
imaging the secret sins of his parish.
—God as a creepy Santa Claus.

         No. Imagine! 
God sees you in those terror inducing moments 
when fight and flight explode in your brain. 
When you’re lost and forgotten. 
When you are in the arena and crushed, and can go no more... 
God sees you, and knows you, and loves you.

 

         God—The God who was, is, and will be, faithful. 
Faithful to Moses’ ancestor, even the ones he does not know
—even the unremembered ones, are remembered by God.
         Faithful too, to those yet to come
—perhaps even to we so lately born, so geographically and culturally different.

 

         God promises to Moses and his people, “I have come down to deliver you, to bring you up out of the land to a good land.”

Amen.

The tasks of the laity

 

              There’s a joke. Two Pastors get together and start describing the congregations they serve. At the end of the description the one pastor says to the other, “It’s a great church, if it wasn’t for the people.”

              And if you’ve been reading my recent blog posts about the church you might think I’m saying the same thing. After all, you might notice I’ve defined church and have taken a few stabs at the Pastoral task, but not the task of the ordinary Christian.

              In my pastoral reflection I did intimate that I see a difference between my ordained vocation and my baptismal vocation. Particularly I named prayer and intentional sacred reading as actions I take as a lay person, not as part of my “job” as Pastor. Well, let’s fill that out a little bit.

 

              Perhaps we start with our baptismal promises, we are to: “...live among God’s faithful people; hear the word of God and share in the Lord’s Supper; proclaim the good news of God in Christ through word and deed; serve all people following the example of Jesus; and strive for justice and peace in all the earth.” That’s a pretty good list: Community, Word and Sacrament, Witness, Service, and Justice Work.

Here is another attempt at it, using the Seven Central Things as a starting point. The work of layfolk is to live what they practice in worship: Gathering, Baptism, Confession and Forgiveness, Word, Thanksgiving, Meal, and Sending. It is in those actions that we are aware of God’s work in the world. We are practicing seeing God, like Moses being aware enough that he can turn and see and be transformed.

 

To put those two lists together, a suitable description of the lay Christian life might be as follows:

Gather in community around Word and Sacraments.

Cultivate hearts of forgiveness, thanksgiving, and generosity.

Go out in Christ’s name to witness, do justice, and serve your neighbor.