Sermon: Pentecost 11 - Year A

I think Jesus came to show us that God cannot be packaged; God cannot be confined to simple categories. That God is not about placing boundaries around lives as much as God is interested in loving us lavishly. That there’s something built right in to the nature of God, it would seem, that tends towards extravagance, bounty, and abundance.

But we need to be careful about the kind of abundance that Jesus was talking about. God couldn’t care less about wealth, status, power, or fame. God doesn’t care of Robin Williams was seen buying coffee at Safeway. God isn’t interested in the air-conditioned dog houses of some TV evangelists who peddle the gospel like its some sort of get-rich-quick scheme. God isn’t interested in our upwardly mobile lives with a two car garage in the ‘burbs and satellite TV. Those things aren’t even on God’s radar screen.

God is interested in...(the rest here)

Children's Message: Pentecost 11 - Year A

Today I’d like to tell you a story about a boy named Roger. One Friday night, neither Roger’s mom nor dad felt like cooking dinner, so they...(the rest here)

Communion of Saints?

Blogging has been light lately. Sorry. But there’s been so much going on at the church that I didn’t have time to blog.

Right now I should be working on my sermon. But my brain seems to be sleeping, at least when it comes to exegeting the Feeding of the 5000 for my sermon tomorrow.

But instead I’m blogging.

In Other News…

Apparently Robin Williams is in town filming a movie. The radio has been having regular “Robin Williams sighting reports.”

I just can’t get excited about celebrities. I find real life more interesting.

Of course, there are people I admire, read about, wish I could more like, but the whole celebrity thing is lost on me.

Some theologians believe that celebrities have taken the place of saints in western culture. I think they’re right. We look for people to ennoble us, to challenge us, to inspire us, but we’re given celebrities to fill that gap.

Some folks point to the grief poured out when Princess Diana died. The flowers, messages, and gifts left at Buckingham Palace. The hysterical weeping on the streets. The clamour for sainthood. This is stuff that was reserved for the esteemed, the beloved, the holy.

In Canada, the closest outpouring of grief that rivaled Princess Diana was when former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau passed away. Love him or hate him, he had an impact. The pictures of the mourning were incredible: his sons riding the rails with their dad’s coffin on their way from Ottawa to Montreal; the gathering at Parliament Hill where Maggie walking away from insensitive questions from a reporter about Michel’s death; the speech Justin gave at the funeral watched by more than half of Canada. It was a country in grief over the death of the man who, for better or worse, shaped the country as we know it.

But in-between the deaths of great people, we follow the vacuous lives of celebs. I don’t know why. Is it spiritual laziness?

But still, I just can’t get into this whole Robin Williams excitement.

Hope Blooms in a Weary World

The network at the Internet café was down all week, except for a 2 hour window that I snuck through to offer an update on the goings-on of the convention.

But now the ELCIC Tenth Biennial Convention is over and I’m back in my office.

It was a good convention. Draining. No, exhausting. I didn’t realize just how worn out I was until I arrived at church this morning with VBS getting into full swing. I don’t have much energy for ANYTHING, but I have a stack of stuff waiting for me.

But now that the convention is over, it feels like a pressure valve has opened and now we can get back to our lives. The same-sex blessing issue was taking WAY too much of our time. I’m glad it’s over.

For me, the best part of the week was the re-connecting with folks. Hearing what they’ve been up to the past 2 or 3 years. People doing well; weddings. Ordinations. Babies.

People doing not so well. Divorce. Illness. Loneliness. Death.

Human stuff.

I came home filled with gratitude, gratitude because I have so many good friends, the opportunity to be part of their lives, and have them be part of mine. I have friends who strongly opposed the ssb resolution and friends that passionately supported it. But, still, friends.

It is clear that the ELCIC is a house divided; as the ssb resolution vote certainly confirms. It was like the two sides were speaking two different languages, two different understandings of gospel, two different ways of living faithfully.

I don't know if this issue can be resolved. The divide is too great.

The final night, I was feeling disconnected from the Church. I wasn’t planning to go to the hymn sing. But I decided I needed to re-connect, to feel like, despite our differences, differences deeper than what anyone imagined, we are still – somehow – one family, one body, one people. I don’t know how we are going to get over our differences or what such unity looks like in the midst of great disparity.

So, I sat at the back of the church, sung hymns through a constricted throat while reading music through tear-filled eyes. We have some great hymns in our church. Wonderful words of deep faith and songs of profound hope. I wondered how we could live up to the declarations we were making through song. I wondered if we ever could be the people we confess we are – loving, compassionate, faithful.

But then I thought that - maybe - being a Christian, following Jesus in the way of the cross, is not just something that we are, but also something we become through the refining fire of the Holy Spirit. Our job is to listen to the Spirit and to the world. To not run away when the fire starts to burn. To know that the way of the cross is also the path that leads to freedom and new life. The cross leads to resurrection.

So I left the convention hopeful for our church. That, somehow, our divisions will heal. That we will be united in our proclamation and our mission.

I don’t know how all this will happen. But I trust God’s promises to bring hope to a weary world.

Motion defeated - but the house is divided

183 voted Yes
220 voted No.

That's roughly 45% Yes and 55% No. Wow. Almost right down the middle.

Two thirds majority not achieved. Life resumes.

Update From Winterpeg....

Right now the convention is going through the financial report and the budget, so I thought I'd jump out and check my email and fill you in on what has been going on.

So far, so good. Folks are behaving themselves. It's been a good time of re-connecting with friends from all over Canada. I've drunk some beer, bought some books, ate good food. Typical convention stuff.

Tomorrow is the Same-sex blessing resolution. It's going to be awful. Strong feelings on both sides. I'm not looking forward to it.

If it passes, the ELCIC will collapse. No question. But a new church will rise. That I'm confident of.

If the resolution DOESN't pass, then some liberals will force the issue from within their own congregations. They will either perform "illegal" blessings (can a blessing ever be "illegal"?) and suffer the consequences of church discipline, or they will turn in their licences to perform marriages as sanctioned by our synod and ask their congregation to independantly endorse them with the provincial government.

The question I ask is: why don't folks who want to perform ssb or ssm simply do first what they are threatening to do as a consequence of a "no" vote - turn in their licences to get their congregations to apply for a separate licence. This, it seems to me, is a good compromise. It won't change church policy, it won't anger the conservatives, and we'll continue business as usual.

Maybe tonight, I'll chat with some leaders in the "pro-gay" camp and see if this is a real option, or if they just want to beat up on conservatives.

But tonight is about beer and prayer. For this crowd, the two are the same. At least we can agree on that.

Off to convention...

I'm going to be away until next Monday and probably won't get to blog. I'll be in Edmonton until Thursday, then I'm flying to Winnipeg for our Nat'l Convention. This should be interesting...

I'll see you when I get back!

Sermon: Pentecost 9 - Year A

After all the recent rain, the tiny weeds in our yard have grown into super-sized pests. The other day I went out with our weed puller and did my best to annihilate those wretches from the backyard. After a half hour I hardly put a dent in the weeds. There were too many of them. But I left dozens of small holes in the grass, so my backyard looks like pockmarked face with a bad beard-trim.

When I was a kid I pulled a lot of weeds. Weeds in the garden. Weeds in the driveway. Weeds in the flower bed. Sometimes my mom would come out of the house yelling, “Not those! Those are radishes!”

Weeds. No one likes them. The first impulse is to yank them out by their roots. To get rid of them before they cause more to grow. But while that may be good gardening advice, Jesus tells us to let them grow. To let them flourish. Because if we are too hasty in getting rid of the weeds we might take out some of the good plants as well.

But, if that’s true, the question is how to live with the weeds. Maybe what’s harder to take in this parable is that Jesus says we’re...(the rest here)

An Hour a week job

The classic accusation is that pastors only work one hour a week. Ask my wife if that’s true. Most pastors work their fingers to the bone trying to do “the Lord’s work” as if we clergy have cornered the market on that particular job.

Also, every pastor wonders the same thing: Am I actually DOING anything here? And if I am how would I know?

I like to see results. Stats, baby. How much money we rake in this week? How ‘bout attendance? Is it up this week? No? Gotta work harder to get them in the door. More visits. More phone calls. Bigger, better programs. Higher community profile.

Yeah, I play that game. I’m not proud of it. But how else have we been taught to quantify success?

But maybe the deeper question is: Am I doing anything that couldn’t be done by a cadre of well-trained, well-intentioned, hard-working disciples of Jesus? Do I play this game to justify my own existence?

So what do I do all week?

I preach. But the lay-preachers here do a great job when I’m away.

I prepare and lead worship. But the deacons also do this.

I attend meetings. Lots and lots of meetings.

I visit the sick, shut-in, lonely, anyone. So do our Stephen Ministers and other members.

I represent the congregation in the community; but I usually bring a few folks with me.

I teach confirmation; but we have many teachers who are probably better at it and more qualified than I.

I find leaders and put them in leadership positions. So does our council.

So, I ask again, am I am doing anything here that anyone else couldn’t do just as well if not better than I?

But as I thumb through the church directory and scan the peoples’ faces, I think about their lives, the unexpected tragedies, their unintended graces, the shape their life together has taken as they converge each week hungry for the bread of life to be shared among people they love.

Maybe it’s my job to provide that place. I am the host at Jesus’ banquet. I make sure all are served and well-fed.

Maybe it’s my job to provide a resting place for the weary, a sanctuary from life’s pressures and sorrows.

Maybe it’s my job to pray, because people don’t have time to pray and it makes them feel better that SOMEONE is talking to God on theirs’ and the world’s behalf. Like the monastery over looking the village, people might be glad that I’m hunkered down in my prayer closet, pleading on behalf of a broken and battered world, that God might actually get INVOLVED in human affairs.

A well placed lightening bolt would be nice. Or an end to war and hunger, poverty and disease? Whad’ya say, God?

Maybe it’s my job to remind people who God is and what God wants for us.

Pastor means “shepherd.” I am a shepherd. It’s my job to love the sheep. All of them. I’m supposed to love them when they listen and I’m supposed to love them when they bite. When one runs away, I’m supposed to drop everything and run after it. The rest can find safety in the flock.

The bible says that I’m supposed to “model the godly life.” At first I thought this meant that I had to be more moral than others. But now I wonder if it means I’m supposed to show forgiveness when people forget what forgiveness looks like. Maybe it means I’m supposed to show them what suffering, self-giving love looks like when peoples’ hearts grow calloused. Maybe it means I’m supposed to show them how God wants people to live as people of God.

Maybe it means I’m just supposed to stand at the front of the church and point at the cross.

That’s quite the job description, don’t you think?

But again, anyone can do that. We have a lot of people who can do it just as well and for a lot less money. It doesn’t take a master’s degree to do this job. Just a strong arm and a lot of patience.

However, these people have asked ME to do this. And for that, I am grateful.

What's your ecological footprint?

If everyone lived like me we'd need three planets, according to this quiz prepared by the folks at earthday.net. I'm certainly aware that our family needs to do more to protect the earth.

How do you score? Thanks to Maggie.

Bad gardening advice

I’ve been musing privately, with my friends and colleagues that, the resolution on blessing same-sex unions before our National Convention may compel some of the more extremist elements within our denomination to leave.

But I wonder if many good people of conscience on both sides of this issue would also feel obliged to leave – no matter the outcome.

The classic conundrum that Jesus outlined in this weeks gospel reading – the parable of the wheat and the tares. Jesus, the crappy gardener tells us to let the weeds and the wheat grow together because you might pull out some good plants while trying to get rid of those pesky weeds.

“Stick to carpentry, Jesus,” they must have thought, “you don’t know squat about gardening.”

Terrible gardening advice. Wise words when dealing with people.

So how do we live with the weeds that threaten to take over and compromise the purity of the soil? In our circumstance, how do we deal with divisions?

Some of our bishops have asked us to focus on the things that unite us – our common faith in Jesus as the saviour of the world – and to not let our divisions define who we are.

But those on the left say the issue at stake is social justice. For those on the right, it’s biblical authority.

I don’t want to get into which side is right and which side is wrong. They’re both right. They’re both wrong.

Because for me, that’s not the core issue.

The question is: how do we allow wheat and weeds to live together – even flourish – and be okay with that?

How do we live with those who speak a totally different language? How do we allow each other to flourish, knowing that none of us are pure weed and none are pure wheat?

Said another way, “none are righteous, not one. (Rom 3:10)”

Unity is hard work. And it should be. We should be expending as much if not more energy keeping our family of faith together than finding ways to suspend fellowship, seek other church homes, name call, and fight. Unity is not a frill.

Could you imagine what a witness to the world it would be if we Lutherans stayed united in love for each other, love for the gospel, and love of God, even though we have disagreements that run to the very core of who we are as people of God?

That doesn't mean that our disagreements don't matter. They do. A lot.

Jesus died for the ungodly, the impure, the sinner, the enemy. The least we can do is live with each other.

Thanks, everyone...

Thanks, everyone, for your kind comments and emails. Zooey’s death was a bigger blow than I anticipated, and it will take time for the wounds to heal. But it wouldn’t hurt so much if there wasn’t real love involved, right?

So, thanks, folks, for your comforting words.

Now For Something Completely Different...

You are dependable, popular, and observant. Deep and thoughtful, you are prone to moodiness. In fact, your emotions tend to influence everything you do. You are unique, creative, and expressive. You don't mind waving your freak flag every once and a while. And lucky for you, most people find your weird ways charming!

The World's Shortest Personality Test

Here I am, "waving my freak flag!" Check it out! Thanks to Steve for pointing this out!