Thursday Musings

Been working at home last couple days. The wife is away, so me and the youngest offspring are spending a lot of time together while her sister is at school.

I think I could get used to working this way. I'm more relaxed. I'm getting a TON of work done (both church and school), and I can work in my underwear if I so desire (there's an image that'll haunt your dreams).

Maybe I can reconfigure my work schedule to get more days like this!

On a different note: Frank Viola tries his hand at call-in talk radio. I think he does a great job. But you have to listen through to the end to hear his first (and only) call. Not sure if it's a joke. If not, it's disturbingly funny. Click here.

Sermon: Pentecost 2 - Year B

It’s called “Q” like the letter “Q.” It’s “[quote] a rare gathering of cultural and church leaders from all over the world [unquote].”

If you go on their website, you’ll see that all the big names are there from the church world. Well, at least the big names from the biggest churches. The most published authors and the most celebrated Christian speakers. World famous speakers telling us how to build world famous churches.

The problem is, it’s by invitation only. You have to be either a best selling author or pastor of a mega-church to attend. They want Big Name Christians talking to Big Name Christians. No small church folks allowed.

Or they make it so expensive that most, everyday church folks can’t afford it. Only the rich and successful need apply to this Christian gathering.

Once upon a time such an event would have made me drool on my shirt. After all, I had read TONS of books exploring the cultural landscape that the church is called to inhabit, if not imbibe. After all, they say, how can a church impact the culture for Christ if it doesn’t know what is happening IN the culture?

But lately, when advertisements for such events cross my desk they most often end up in the blue box rather than my inbox.

And it’s not because they’re a bunch of snake-oil salespeople peddling easy answers to life’s toughest questions. Nor is it because they pontificate about a future that God only knows about.

It’s because these types of events, and the life they’re offering, is so...(whole thing here)

God's Mustard Seed Challenge

I haven't finished (or started) my Sunday sermon, yet. But I've been thinking about the whole mustard seed thing that Jesus talks about in the gospel for this weekend.

“With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”

Lutherans should LOVE this image. Mainly because it has Luther's Theology of the Cross painted all over it. The smallest becoming the biggest...shrub (Not tree. Not bush. Shrub). God's upside down, subversive, kingdom sprouting unseen until it quietly provides sustenance and shelter to those who need it.

I'm thinking of this passage in light of our up-coming National Convention and some of the issues being raised. Yes, homosexuality and same-sex blessings will be debated, again. And it needs to be.

But we also have a motion regarding Israel and Palestine. And I'm sure other motions calling (demanding?) the government to intervene in some social crisis or another.

And while I do believe that government plays a role in solving social problems, I also wonder if our mustard seed theology gets ignored when we Christians ask the government to solve these problems, as if government is where the REAL power is.

And yes, in democratic Canada, the government is US. The people. The government (supposedly) represents those in their ridings. But I don't think we see it that way. The way most media talk about government is as a game of zero-sum power. Where the grand gestures of history begin. Where the chief aim is to land a good portfolio and work to keep it, whether or not you think isotopes are sexy.

But I think Jesus' mustard seed message tells us that REAL power happens AWAY from the spotlight. Mustard seed power happens imperceptibly. When nobody's looking. We don't know it's there until a magpie lands on its branch and eats its lunch. Mustard seed power doesn't attract attention to itself. It only serves, whether someone is looking or not. That's its only job.

Jesus seems to be saying that mustard seed power is REAL power. I wonder what that means for the Church and how we make decisions, how we decide to act (or not act) in the world. We say we believe in a theology of the cross, but we act as if we believe in a theology of glory, affirming power in human institutions and forgetting the mustard seed kingdom.

I've been around politics and politicians long enough to know that once we get in the political game we play by THEIR rules; the competing interests, the compromises, the deal-making. I'm not sure that this is what God has in mind for us. I'm not saying it's NOT. I'm just saying I'm not sure.

Maybe Jesus is asking us to bear witness to s different reality. A mustard seed reality. The reality of servanthood over self-interest, of humility over arrogant pride, of doing God's work whether or not anyone's watching.

Perhaps that's God's mustard seed challenge for us as Church.

Your Choice or God's?

At night, to calm my mind, I've been reading through some of Luther's works (I know, a Lutheran pastor reading Luther, stop the presses. But hey, there's a reason why I'm in the job I am. Or at least why God put me here)

The other night I was flipping through Bondage of the Will (which HEAVILY influenced yesterday's sermon) and was struck by a few things:

1.Luther is a SARCASTIC jerk. I think he's being that way on purpose. He's feeling attacked and is striking back the best way he knows how – by calling people names and writing in vigorous defense of his understanding of the bible.

2.Luther is no systematic thinker. Not by a long shot. He doesn't even try to be. He rambles. At times he's incoherent. He contradicts himself. So, I guess I'm in good company.

3.Luther doesn't seem to care about laying down an air-tight argument. He seems more interested in talking about what God is doing, has done, and will do.

4.Luther was responding to a pastoral crisis in the Church - free will vs human bondage to sin – and made me wonder how much we see as “core doctrine” really grew out of a specific set of historical circumstances, circumstances we don't really acknowledge (probably ALL of it).

5.Bondage of the Will is freakishly relevant for today. Instead of responding to Erasmus, he could be writing to Rick Warren or Joel Osteen, whose consumer Christianity is based on “freedom of choice,” especially the freedom to “choose” salvation. Where Luther (and Paul or Jesus, for that matter) insists that salvation is not something that human beings can “choose.” God “chooses” us.

Consumer Christianity puts US in the driver's seat of our's and the world's salvation rather than placing God at the wheel. So, salvation then becomes some WE do rather than something GOD does.

I once heard a bonehead preacher say that the “Greatest gift that God gave man [sic] was the gift of free will.”

No mention of Jesus. Nothing said about the gift of life and creation. But God has given us free will as the climax of God's love.

I remember sitting there thinking, “Look how we use our so-called 'free will.' We hurt each in other to puff ourselves up. We murder each other. We go to war. We ignore poverty. We destroy the planet because we don't want to give up our creature comforts. If that's what free will means, then maybe it's not such a gift after all.

And what about those people I met downtown, who've been beaten up by life so badly that “choosing God” is way out of the realm of reality. What about those who intellectually CAN'T make choices for themselves?”

If God and salvation is something we can choose, then God becomes another stop on the way to Wal-Mart. And church exists to meet “my needs” rather than being a gathering of God's people.

For me, I'm GLAD that God is the primary actor in my salvation. If it were left up to me I would have walked away years ago, because I don't have the strength to carry that load for myself. I'm glad that Jesus carries it for me.

And because he has, I love and serve him. With God's help.

Updated and Related: R.C Sproul on the Pelagian Captivity of the Church (can you believe I'm quoting RC Sproul?) for all you theology nerds like me (and who ISN'T a theology nerd?).

Sermon: Trinity Sunday - Year B

Update: Turns out some of my facts were wrong. A reliable source (my wife) says of the fellow's cancer: "He got his pesticide related prostate cancer from spraying a rough equivalent of agent orange - that is, a defoliant - around CFB Halifax. He was working for the navy.

There have been other instances of this occurring and a settlement was recently reached with CFB Halifax navy members.

I think it's important to realize how our military has not checked everything out. Too many guinea pigs" (just like Suffield).

Maybe its my adult-onset-ADD, but I like to fidget. But my fidgeting usually involves my iPod and the Solitaire game on it. I noticed the other day that I've clocked over 35 hours of solitaire playing that game over the past year or so.

It's incredible how quickly the time gets eaten up. A few moments standing in line at the grocery store while the guy in front tries to haggle with the cashier. A couple games while waiting for supper to cook. A series of games before bedtime to quiet my mind.

Moment by moment. Game by game. If I'm not careful, my life's summation will be a series of card games that offer little or nothing to the world.

Don't worry. This isn't a sermon about making the most of what we have with the time we've been given. While such would be a worthy message, this isn't really the time nor the place for that since we have the perspective of eternity. Our lives may tick-tick-tick away, but God's life doesn't. As believers we know that we'll have eternity with God.

But does that mean that we can fritter our lives away on something as frivolous as a silly computer game?

Maybe. After all, isn't that what freedom means? To decide for ourselves how we're going to live, whether it's solving world hunger or sitting in front of a TV; creating world peace or playing computer games? Isn't that called “Freedom of choice”? The foundation of our economy and culture?

I can see the parents trying to flag me down, “Shut! Up! We have enough trouble wrestling the joysticks out of their hands as it is, we don't need the pastor giving them ammunition!”

And it's true. Parents have a lot of trouble teaching their children to make good decisions, how to use freedom wisely. Being a parent can be a fearful thing because we know that our actions NOW affect our children into adulthood – and beyond.

Rebekah did a funeral for a fellow in Halifax who died of...(whole thing here)

June Pastoral Letter

Good Shepherd is in transition. Elli is leaving us after a year of faithful service, to get married and attend school in Vancouver. While we wish Elli and David a wonderful life together and send them off with God’s blessing, we still have a hole to fill.

Our council has been exploring alternative staffing arrangements that meet the spiritual needs of our whole congregation. On the one hand, we have a wonderful opportunity to re-think the effectiveness of our ministry and explore creative ways of meeting today’s challenges. On the other hand, those challenges remain daunting.

Please pray for your church, that God will give us wisdom and guidance as we move forward in mission.

In Jesus’ Name,

Pastor Kevin

Sermon: Easter 6 - Year B

I wasn’t going to answer the door. I should have ignored it.

My sermon is usually put to bed by Saturday night, but this particular week I was lazy, so I was in my office banging away on the computer when I should have been watching Hockey Night in Canada.

Maybe I was being punished for my sloth.

I answered the door.

“We want to talk about God,” they said. Two young men. One dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. The other in what I can only describe as a long, dress-like, shirt with matching beige coloured pants and sandals.

“Boy, the fish are jumping right in the boat,” I thought to myself.

I invited them to my office and they sat down. They got right to the point.

“What do you believe about God?” one of them asked, demandingly.

I was taken aback. I stammered a bit. How does one sum up Christianity in a few sentences?

“We believe that God, revealed in the person of Jesus Christ, died on the cross and rose again three days later. And that we are joined to Christ’s life, death, and resurrection through what we call ‘Holy Baptism.’ And because of this we our sins have been forgiven, and God has promised us new and everlasting life.”

A quick answer. They were unimpressed.

“You also believe in the Holy Spirit?” he asked.

“Yes,” I replied. “We believe the Holy Spirit is the power of the Risen Jesus alive in us and in the world.”

I mentally patted myself on the back for such a succinct answer. But it was clear that they weren’t buying it.

“So, you believe in three gods?” he asked.

“No, we believe in One God, three Persons.”

“What’s the difference?” he asked, his voice rising.

“Think of H20, it is liquid, steam, and ice. Three different expressions of the same substance,” I said, knowing how oversimplified my answer was.

He rose from his chair and yelled with his index finger pointing heavenward, “There is not three gods, there is only one God, and his name is Allah, and Mohammed is his prophet. The Koran is God’s Holy revelation to mankind!”

Whoa! You guys didn’t tell me you were Muslims (although I suspected as much).

“You do not have the authority to forgive sins!,” he blasted, “You do not need priests to mediate between God and man…!”

“How about between God and women?” I thought to myself, “And who said anything about priests? This is a LUTHERAN church. Do your homework, buddy, if you’re going to come in here and start accusing me of things.”

“You don’t need phony rituals like baptism and communion! All you need is to get down on your knees and BEG Allah for forgiveness and turn your life towards him!”

Phony rituals? Baptism and communion? He obviously came with a prepared speech.

His sidekick chimed in. He had a softer tone, clearly the good cop to his friend’s bad cop. “It’s not that we’re trying to convert you,” he said, “We just want to have a conversation.”

Really.

“This 'conversation' is over,” I said ushering them to the door. And as they were leaving, the loud one turned to me and said, “You’ve been given Allah’s message from not ONE, but TWO Muslims. You need to turn your life over to the true God NOW, before it’s too late. You could die tonight on the way home, and if you don't repent, you will find yourself in damnation.”

Was that a threat?

“Please leave,” I said...(whole thing here)

Sermon: Easter 5 - Year B

“I don’t need to go to church,” I was told. “I just worship God in my own way.” Another way I hear this is “I don’t believe in organized religion.”


To that I always want to reply, “Organized religion? Have you SEEN my desk lately? There’s nothing ‘organized’ about it!”

You’ve probably heard that sort of thing before. I hear it all the time. And it used to irk me when I heard it. It doesn't anymore.

I had all sorts of ready-made answers for folks who would say that sort of thing. Good biblical and theological answers as to why you need to go to church to worship God and not just do your own thing.

I would point to the book of Acts where the Holy Spirit gathered all sorts of people together in an intimate community, and say “There! There’s where it says that you need to go to church.”

I would suggest that the early churches assembled in each other’s houses because that’s the way God wanted them to worship. If God didn’t want people to be in church then why does the New Testament spend so much time in helping churches get along with each other?

I would tell them that people need each other in order to grow, that left on our own we’d simply repeat the same old patterns of thought and wouldn’t be challenged in any way. Learning and growth happen best when in conversation with other people.

Then I’d get all theological and say that our God is a church - the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, communing with each other in an intimacy so deep that we confess them to be One God. Three persons, co-equal, co-eternal, circle dancing through the cosmos, calling all who are baptized in that name to join in their everlasting ballet.

Sounds good, doesn’t it? At least I think it does. But my arguments always met glazed eyes because I think...(whole sermon here)

Sheep? Who you calling a sheep?

Last week’s sheep image in John’s gospel makes me want to pummel my pillow. Not the way Jesus uses the image, but the way people interpret it. Or maybe I should say, “misinterpret” it. We focus on sheep being dumb animals, and say that we’re dumb like sheep and that we need God for everything.

I don’t think that’s what Jesus is saying. In fact, I think such talk is against what God has made in us, and is doing in us. God given us brains with which to think. To say that we’re “dumb like sheep” lets us off the hook too easily. It’s saying that we can dump our grey matter in the garbage and let God do everything for us.

I think Jesus used the image of the sheep and shepherd was because his followers were frightened. They knew they were far from God and didn’t know how to get back. There weren’t getting enough help from the religious leaders, many of whom seemed to care more about their houses in the ‘burbs than in sharing God’s love with scared and hurting people.

So Jesus called himself the GOOD shepherd, meaning that he gently leads those under his care, rather than beating them into submission, like the BAD shepherds - the hired hands (religious leaders?) - who failed to protect the sheep.

He is the shepherd who guides. Who lovingly corrects. Who leads by love rather than force. Who talks words of kindness to the sheep that they know who speaks to them.

I think, us shepherds in the church, those who take on leadership roles (and really, who in the church ISN’T a leader?) forget Jesus’ kindness and gentleness when leading God’s people. We often focus on manipulating process rather than listening, preaching rather than praying, forcing rather than guiding.

At least that’s true for me. There are times when I get so caught up in trying to make things happen that I forget that it’s flesh and blood humanity that God really cares about.

So, if there’s a take way for me from this passage, it’s to remember my own need for a shepherd and to minister out of that need, to remember that we’re all in this together, that we all need loving guidance, love, compassion, and grace.

Healthy Eating Update

Went bike riding today. And for a walk. My knees are killing me. But at least my back hurts.

However, I think I have that being hungry all the time thing figured out: eat a MASSIVE breakfast, then nibble all day. Not being the breakfast type, this was a revelation to me.

So far today I’ve eaten:

2 cups Red River cereal with almond milk and a squirt of agave nectar for sweetening (apparently it’s healthy. Same stuff they make tequila out of, so how bad can it be?).
3 cups of coffee
1 grapefruit
1 banana
1 cup minestrone
1 yogurt and blueberry smoothie (about 2 cups worth)
1 nutrition supplement

So far, so good.

Weight Update

Started a new nutrition/exercise program last week. As I’ve mentioned earlier, I’ve decided to NOT have a disincentive this time because people seem to focus more on that than on the positive changes in my lifestyle. So I just have a few goals. The main one I’m not making public. But will become clear to anyone when I meet it.

Also, I lost the weight I needed to keep my money out of the CPC’s bank account, but then it came back - and more so. So, the disincentive thing wasn’t working for me. At least not for the long term.

So far, I’ve learned a few things:

1. I’m disgustingly out of shape. Embarrassingly so. Went for a bike ride yesterday and my legs are still screaming at me. 


2. Diet books suck. Even the ones that proclaim “THIS IS NOT A DIET BOOK.” This is why they suck: I follow their advice and I get hungry. REALLY hungry. I follow the advice on what to do when hunger smacks me (i.e., snack on an apple, eat a bowl of soup, pop a handful of nuts in my mouth, fill up in fibrous food, etc) and I STILL can’t calm the rumble in my belly. At least junk food kept me satiated because it sits in my gut like Rachel Ray’s cold stone, heart.


3. My will power sucks (well. duh!). But getting better.

I’m charting my progress and will keep you updated.

Sermon: Easter 4 - Year B

How long do you think a sermon should be? How long is too long? How short is too short?

Most Sunday mornings, I know I’ve gone on too long when Neil Horvey holds up his watch and starts pointing at it. Or when the yawns from the youth in the back row begin to drown out my mountain top wisdom.

But its funny. I’ve never been told a sermon is too short. I never hear, “I’m sorry pastor, but you were just getting revved up when you hit the breaks.” I’m sure you’re just being polite.

Some preaching wag once muttered “sermonettes create Christianettes.” As if long sermons in themselves produce strong followers of Jesus. And short-sermoned preachers are being lax or lazy in their efforts.

But when I’m preparing each week, I’m challenged by some of the great words of history and our faith, words that we still remember.

Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address was only 272 words and it helped shape a country on the brink of falling apart.

Shakespeare’s St. Crispin Day speech from his play Henry V, one of the most riveting ever written, is only 407 words.

The Ten Commandments has roughly 313 words (depending of which version you read. Some version have as little 170 words), and created a body of law that continues to nurture faithful people 5000 years after it was written.

So, do I think too highly of myself with a 1183 word sermon, like this one?

The cynical part of me thinks that some preachers...(whole thing here)