Shalom Now, Shalom Here, Shalom Within, Shalom Among

 

The more things change, the more trouble I have staying the same.

As the new year begins, I was fascinated by this list of statistics for 1915. Only one hundred plus a few years ago.
I’m not sure how accurate this numbers are, but they do represent the amount of change over the last century.

Continue reading “Shalom Now, Shalom Here, Shalom Within, Shalom Among”

New Year’s Resolution – What Would Jesus Have Me Do?

Here is a wonderfully creative take on that popular question, “What Would Jesus Do?” by an artist better known for his movies like Dumb and Dumber, but he’s no shabby guitar player and these lyrics are not only, not stupid, they are quite wise…

As you’re thinking about New Year’s Resolutions, or avoiding making any resolutions at all, I challenge you to take this question a bit further. “What would Jesus do?” is a challenge, especially since we have no record of Jesus stuck in a traffic jam or trying to help their child with calculus or chemistry. So, a more helpful and more applicable question is, “What would Jesus have me do?”

You are the only you. You are a character like you in all of God’s story throughout history. Jesus was one in a billion, Messiah, Christ, Emmanuel, but so are you. You are also one in a billion. No one else has been you in all of history. How you live out your story has some particular challenges that you must face. “What would Jesus have me do?” is a better compass. If we all gave that question a little more consideration, not only would 2016 be a better year, but the world would be a better place for all God’s children to develop their characters in God’s story.

Amazing Peace

Even as a professional Christian for three decades, I still find it difficult to feel spiritual on demand – especially at Christmas.  I find it just as difficult to feel tidings of comfort and joy in December even if it is the hap-happiest season of all. Perhaps my heart just won’t settle for tinsel when I need something more along the lines of silver, or even better, gold, frankincense, or myrrh. Fortunately, God seems to work not because of me but in spite of me (or sometimes even to spite me). For my reorientation, God sends the wise ones to point beyond my melancholy to the holy. When the carols won’t cut it, and even the prophets fall shy, I look to the poets. Maya Angelou reorients my heart for a greater peace on earth than a simple silent night. Continue reading “Amazing Peace”

The Parable of The Joy Handle

You can’t buy love or joy. You’ve got to bring it.
Instead of trying to buy the right gift to bring joy, bring joy as the right gift then any object can be a joy handle.

Galatians 5: 22 By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things.

Audience of One

In the theater to the right, where would you place the following?

sanctuaryPreacher
Choir or Singers and Musicians
Congregation
God

The common response is to place the preacher, choir, and musicians on stage, the congregation in the audience, and God everywhere. We discuss worship as in any theater. Soren Kierkegaard challenged our thinking of worship and said that we have the audience wrong. The congregation is not the audience. God is the audience. Those who gather for worship are on stage. The preacher, singers, and musicians are all backstage prompting the congregation. It is not our pleasure which is the final judge but God’s. It is not whether or not we consider a service meaningful but whether God finds meaning in our service, in church and out, on holy days and every days. God is our audience of One. Continue reading “Audience of One”

Put Down the Phone or Remote and Pick Up a Book!

read more1In the Bible, words, especially God’s words have power. God speaks and the worlds are created,

Genesis 1: 3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good…

Psalm 33: 6 By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all their host by the breath of his mouth. 9 For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.

The gospel writer of John refers to Jesus as The Word or expression of God.

John 1: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Continue reading “Put Down the Phone or Remote and Pick Up a Book!”

Orthoducksy or Orthopraxis?

The knowledge of God is very far from the love of God. Pascal

   Orthodoxy and Orthopraxis are two distinct approaches to faith, life, and love. One is more popular and the other far more productive. Like all good paradigms, each has its own fancy Latin word.

  • Orthodoxy, or right thought, assumes that thinking comes before action, and if you think the right thoughts, accept the correct precepts, then you’ll make the right choices and do what is right. The application within the church is – believe in Christ and you’ll act like Christ.
  • Orthopraxis, or right practice, asserts that action precedes thinking, and if you do the right actions then you will think the right thoughts, and what’s more, you’ll become who you are trying to become. The application in the church is – act like Christ and not only will you believe, you will become Christ-like. Continue reading “Orthoducksy or Orthopraxis?”

Where the Wild Things Are

where-the-wild-things-are-2-1In Genesis chapter one, God creates both/ands
God makes both light and dark and calls them “Day.” Each day has both bright and night.
God makes both land and sea as the earth.
God makes animals that are both wild and tame.
This world of both/ands, God calls, “Good.” God doesn’t say “perfect” though, in this balance there is a perfect unity of both/ands.
In this world of the tame and wild, there is a peace that can only be found outside of the walls we surround ourselves in for protection, beyond control and into the naturally ordered chaos, where the Wild Things Are.
Here are two poems that capture the essence of this wide wild world as good, among the wild things…


The Peace of Wild Things

by Wendell Berry

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.

I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

Wild Geese
by Mary Oliver

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

World Communion

Image result for communitySunday, October 7, is World Communion Sunday when we envision a table and the world that is beyond our divisions and walls that separate us as expressed by poet Jan Richardson.

AND THE TABLE WILL BE WIDE
And the table
will be wide.
And the welcome
will be wide.
And the arms
will open wide
to gather us in.
And our hearts
will open wide
to receive.
And we will come
as children who trust
there is enough.
And we will come
unhindered and free.
And our aching
will be met
with bread.
And our sorrow
will be met
with wine.
And we will open our hands
to the feast
without shame.
And we will turn
toward each other
without fear.
And we will give up
our appetite
for despair.
And we will taste
and know
of delight.
And we will become bread
for a hungering world.
And we will become drink
for those who thirst.
And the blessed
will become the blessing.
And everywhere
will be the feast.

 

 

Bible, Then or Now?

Is the Bible history? If we read the Bible with a linear sense of time past, time present, and time future, if we read the Bible looking only for words God spoke and deeds God did once upon another time, then we may miss God speaking and God acting through the scriptures today.  When we read the Bible and place it in the past alone, we may try to trap God between the covers, seeking a simple check-your-brain-at-the-door morality with definitive interpretations and implications. We may even profess, “God said it. I believe it. That settles it.”  Instead of saying like Mary and Isaiah, “Here I am,” and like Samuel, “Speak Lord, your servant is listening.” Continue reading “Bible, Then or Now?”

Live Your Moments: Attend The Important Details


To live your life fully requires paying attention to the important details. Many details are distractions, but quite a few are crucial. What’s an important detail? It’s one that affects your life and your ability to participate fully in your practices and the significant moments of each day. Perhaps no one expressed that better than Basketball Coach John Wooden of UCLA who won ten national championships.

As a successful coach, Wooden was able to recruit some of the most talented basketball players from high schools across the country, though, when they came to their first practice, the lesson they learned was not some great secret to the Wooden Program, but a simple detail to make sure they covered before stepping onto the court. Don Yaeger relates,

Continue reading “Live Your Moments: Attend The Important Details”