It’s the beginning of a new year! (well, almost!) As we begin 2009, I’d like us to have a fresh start and fresh vision of our relationship with God and our habits in worship. I’m asking that we be found dependable in the eyes of one another and of God. Think of it this way: Do you apply the same standards of faithfulness to your worship of God that you expect from other areas of your life?
Consider the following: If your car starts once every three tries, is it reliable?
If your news carrier skips delivery every Monday and Thursday, is that person trustworthy?
If you don’t go to work once or twice a month, are you a loyal employee?
If your refrigerator stops working for a day or two every now and then, do you say, “Oh well, it works most of the time?”
If your water heater provides an icy-cold shower every now and then, is it dependable?
If you miss a couple of loan payments every year, does the bank say, “Ten out of twelve isn’t bad”?
You see, we expect faithfulness and reliability from the things we own and we expect it from other people. Does not God expect the same from us? The problem is that in our religious activities we see ourselves as volunteers rather than duty bound (1 Corinthians 9). For a volunteer, almost anything seems acceptable. For a person who is duty bound, faithfulness is expected.
Reliable faith...let's make that the name of the game in 2009!
Yours for the reign of God,
Fr. Ron
As the old year turns my thoughts a fellow parent also turn towards my children. I often wonder about the decision I have made to guide, nurture and direct them, and how the decisions my wife and I make enable our childern to grow into adulthood. My feelings are reflective of this age of instant gratification (I want to know our work will will stick...and I want to know it now!) and it seems to me that those good things we plant in our children (or those we love for that matter) do not always bear immediate fruit.
Leo Tolstoy and Reinhold Niebuhr remind us that our most important acts require not only that we wait, but that we must have faith that they will bear fruit. Indeed, we may never fully see what will come to pass, but we must place our comfort in the One who is the source of all our good aspirations. The following quotes come from those two soul giants. I pray you treasure them in your heart as you wait for those good things you have nurtured in your children and in those whom you love.
“The most important acts, both for the one who accomplishes them and for his fellow creatures, are those that have remote consequences.” –Leo Tolstoy
“Nothing that is worth doing
can be achieved in our lifetime; therefore we must be saved by hope. Nothing which is true and beautiful or good
makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore we must be
saved by faith. Nothing we do, however
virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore we are saved by love. No virtuous act is quite as virtuous from the
standpoint of our friend or foe as it is from our standpoint; therefore we must
be saved by the final form of love which is forgiveness.” Reinhold Niebuhr The Irony of American History, 1952
Yours for the reign of God,
Ron
To my amazement and I hope to the amazement of the American people, GM printed an apology letter to the nation. Here is an excerpt from what they said:
“While we’re still the U.S. sales leader, we acknowledge we have disappointed you. At times we violated your trust by letting our quality fall below industry standards and our designs become lackluster. We proliferated our brands and dealer network to the point where we lost adequate focus on our core U.S. market. We also biased our product mix toward pickup trucks and SUVs. And we made commitments to compensation plans that have proven to be unsustainable in today’s globally competitive industry. We have paid dearly for these decisions, learned from them and are working hard to correct them by restructuring our U.S. business to be viable for the long-term.”
GM essentially failed in its mission…and it seeks to make amends.
Do you know what the mission of the church is? Simply this: to reconcile the world to God. Our mission, our ministry, our work in the world is about being in relationship: with each other, with our neighbors (near and far away) and with God. And the failure of the auto industry reminds us of how very broken indeed our relationships are. Jim Wallace of Sojourners Magazine puts it like this:
“Part of what scares us when we see a company like GM collapsing is that we can see our own vices writ large against the sky. When we hear that these companies have been producing not the best that they could, but only what would just get by, we think of our own failings. When credit freezes up and lenders do not trust borrowers or borrowers trust their lenders, we think of all the times that we have refused trust to others and the times that we’ve broken the trust that has been extended to us. When we watch the bubble burst, we see the futility of our own greed and our inability to say that enough is enough.”
How do we move beyond brokenness to something new and right? It begins with forgiveness. There are some things that cannot be fixed by angry indignation. Sometimes we need to begin anew, clear the books, start out the new year with a freshness found only in new beginnings. Indeed, that’s what the year of jubilee was about…clearing away old debts and old grudges to make things right…because, just like car companies, just like governments, just like churches, and families, and individuals, we all lose our way. I believe the best gift you can give yourself this year is not so much a new gym membership, but rather forgiving all those in your debt. It’s all about being in relationship.
Yours for the reign of God,
Ron
Whose radiance was, at times, a comfort,
other times, it seemed a mocking challenge,
endless burden, a lure that led us on toward despair,
destruction, dreary death;
this celestial beam of light that "came to rest"--
no other way to put it--
where the golden god-child lay,
has never since departed.
It's burning,
after flaming forth at last about the feed box,
has now moved within,
and lit a blaze deep in these creaking bones
will not burn out until all darkness kneels and wonders.
By J. Barrie Shepherd
In 1999 I had the privileged to meet Dr. Marion Wright Edelman, President and founder of The Children’s Defense Fund. A wise and discerning leader, Edelman make very salient points about what we as parents can do to guide and nurture our children in becoming strong, healthy, and well informed adults.
Believe it or not, much of what she has to say is more directed at how we conduct ourselves rather than how are children behave. She says “The first thing all adults and parents can do [in helping our children become strong, health, and well informed adults] is be accountable—to conduct a personal audit.” What’s in the audit? While she list a whole host of ideas, too many for this article, some of her points are too good not to print. Consider the following:
- If we are not supporting a child we brought into the world as a father or as a mother with attention, time, love, discipline, money, and teaching of values [and I would add giving them a foundation of faith to build on] then we are part of the problem rather than the solution.
- If we are abusing tobacco, alcohol, cocaine, or other drugs while telling our children not to, then we are part of the problem rather than the solution.
- If we are spending more time worrying about our children’s clothes than about their character, about the kinds of cars they are driving than about where and with whom they are driving, then we are part of the problem rather than the solution.
- If we send rather than take our child to Sunday school and worship services, and believe that the Sermon on the Mount…pertain only to one day worship but not to Monday through Sunday home, professional, and political life, then we are a part of the problem rather than the solution.
- If we think we have ours and don’t owe any time or money or effort to help those left behind, then we are a part of the problem rather than the solution.
I could go on, but I’m limited by space. As we stand at the rim of beginning a new year, please join me in taking a personal assessment of how we are doing on these and other issues. The response matters not only to ourselves, but to the health and wellbeing of our children.
Christmas can be a painful time for some of us. It may be the first Christmas without loved family members who have recently died; it may be a time that has always been difficult or remind us of our estranged relationships.
The constant refrain on the radio, on the television, in the shopping malls and even in church, call us to be happy during this season, and call us to gather with family and friends. It reminds many people of what they have lost or never had. The anguish of broken relationships, the insecurity of unemployment, the weariness of ill health, the pain of isolation—all these can make us feel very alone in the midst of celebrating and spending.
We need the space and the time to acknowledge our sadness and concern. We need to know that we are not alone, that the pain we experience is not only real, but that there is hope for us. For some of us, our spirits sink as the days grow shorter. We feel the darkness growing deeper around us. We need encouragement to live the days ahead.
For those reasons St. Clare's Episcopal Church offers a special service during the Advent called “The Longest Night” on December 21, 2008 at 7PM. Join us in hearing prayers, Scripture, music, meditations and the acknowledgement that God is present to those who mourn, for those who struggle, and that God’s word comes to shine a light into the darkness—even our own darkness.
Worshippers are invited to bring pictures and mementoes of loved ones, and flowers to honor those who have died.
Dear Friends of God,
One Black Friday in Orlando, Florida, several years ago, customers in a national discount chain store got into a brawl over laptop computers. The story made it to the national TV news: two men tackling another man and pulling him to the ground, because he had cut ahead of them in line. “It was absolute pandemonium in there,” said one observer. “They were throwing these laptops 20 feet into the air, and people were collapsing on each other to grab them.”
What would Jesus make of that scene? Imagine him standing off to one side, in his robe and sandals. What sort of expression would he have on his face, knowing that all that brawling was set off by his birthday? That why those shoppers were doing it, wasn’t it — because they wanted to be first in line to honor Jesus’ birth?
Of course it wasn’t! Sadly, the sort of holiday that issues in department-store riots has long since lost any resemblance to the celebration of the Messiah’s birth. Not only has the commercialized Christmas lost touch with its roots; from what we can see on CNN of the laptop wars, it’s even become demonic. How easy it is to get caught up in the rush, and end up, as Paul says, “doing the very thing we hate”!
As I think about the congregation of St. Clare’s (and for that matter, you too dear reader) my heart’s desire is that with Advent just around the corner (November 30) that we would take the action of joining the Advent Conspiracy. The Advent Conspiracy is an international, inter-church movement that is “restoring the scandal of Christmas (and in our case Thanksgiving) by substituting compassion for consumption.” The idea is to combine first-century Advent orthodoxy with 21st-century Advent orthopraxy. The movement encourages partnering churches to embrace four themes during the Advent season:
• Worship More — Worshiping Christ can become the greatest and most enjoyed focus of the season.
• Give More — God gave his Son as a relational gift; Christians can try to give more meaningful, relational and experiential gifts instead of just expensive ones.
• Spend Less — Decrease the volume of purchasing and receiving costly Christmas gifts.
• Love All — In the Advent, Jesus enters our poverty so we will no longer be poor. With the money saved by giving relationally and resisting consumerism, people can redistribute that money to the “least of these” in their communities and the world.
Let’s practice sobriety in these difficult and tumultuous times. Let’s recapture hope, joy, and love that no difficulty can take away.
Yours for the reign of God,
Ron
In these uncertain times may we strive to be rich in love. May we do the following:
Care more than some think is wise.
Risk more than some think is safe.
Dream more than some think is practical.
Expect more than some think is possible.
Ok, I'll admit it...I'm crazy...just plain nuts! I have this dream in my craw that just won't go away. And you know how it it is with dreams...you need money to fund them and all I have is a pocket full of lint. Now that you know what's in my pocket I can go on and tell you about the dream.
It all begain with reading about dining establishments that don't charge their patrons. A number of them are out their but the one I've zeroed in on is called "The SAME Cafe." SAME as you might have guessed is an acronym which stands for "So ALL May Eat." Here' what they have to say about themselves:
"It is the intent of SAME Cafe to build a healthy community by providing a basic need of food in a respectful and dignified manner to anyone who walks through the door.
SAME Cafe is unique in the lack of a set menu as well as set prices. Daily selections are made using fresh, organic ingredients, and funded by the donations of patrons. Instead of a cash register, a donation box is available for one to pay what they felt their meal was worth, or to leave a little more and help out someone less fortunate. If a diner does not have sufficient money to leave, they are encouraged to exchange an hour of service. Our philosophy is that everyone, regardless of economic status, deserves the chance to eat healthy food while being treated with dignity."
You can find them at www.soallmayeat.org
Now, before you write these guys off as money losers, hear me out. Most people who eat there pay in one way or another...and those who don't get confronted on the matter. In otherwords, it's not really a problem.
For me, the SAME Cafe follows the model of how I understand the circular movement of God's grace. It goes like this: Grace begats gratitude and gratituted begats generosity and generosity begats grace. The folks at this and other cafe's like it have had individuals do more than give money: the give time, talent, service, all the things the church has long said are important.
But here is where my lunacy takes shape: I want to do the "same" in downtown Pleasanton!
For those of you who don't know anything about Pleasanton you should note that it is the wealthiest city of its size in America. Downtown is the heart of the city and it is full of cozy shops and cafe's, perfect for walking, and absolutely prime property. Something like this would probably be never wanted in this town, but I think it is exactly what the city needs. You see, I've lived in a few other suburban cities and the one thing that many of them have in common is this: "We have no hungry people!" Serving as a priest in this community I can tell you that we do indeed have hungry people. A cafe of this sort is not only countercultural, but ethical, and would send a message to all that the larger community has a heart. I'm not sure how I'd build such a place with a pocket full of lint, but God has worked with less.
Finally, this dream has been stirred by stories. Homoletics Magazine wrote about a pastor named Betty Meadows. It goes like this:
"A pastor by the name of Betty Meadows, describes a summer sabbatical that transformed her life. She left her churchy world behind and went “under cover” for three months, working as a Waffle House hostess. To her surprise, as she put it, “the risen Christ showed up every day.”
A van broke down in the parking lot, on the Fourth of July, carrying a family from Alabama. No garage or mechanic could be found. A waitress heard of their plight and called her boyfriend. He arrived 15 minutes later and fixed their van, for the price of a cup of coffee.
“The risen Christ in the mechanic and the waitress,” writes Betty.
A lawyer set up shop in the Waffle House, offering legal help to the needy of the community, for what they could pay — or for no payment at all, if they couldn’t afford it.
“Day after day,” writes Betty, “this lawyer sat at a table, smoking his cigar, meeting client after client, turning down no one. The risen Christ in the lawyer.”
A woman hobbled into the restaurant, a cast on one leg, but displaying signs of other medical difficulties. The police had just arrested her boyfriend for drunken driving and had impounded his truck. She was turned out on the street, with nowhere to go. The restaurant was so busy, none of the staff could give her a ride to the bus station, but she called her landlord, who lived an hour and a half away. He dropped everything, and drove right over to pick her up.
“When the landlord arrived,” writes Betty, “I said to him, ‘How kind of you to drive so far for one of your tenants, for this woman.’
“The man looked puzzled. And then he said, ‘Why wouldn’t I?’
“The risen Christ in the landlord.”
Man oh, man! The Risen Christ showing up every day at St. Clare's SAME Cafe! I don't know how and I don't know when, but I feel it coming!
Yours for the reign of God,
Ron
“Live your life in such a way that when your feet hit the floor in the morning Satan cries: “Oh, no! He’s awake!”
Vacation this year was exactly as I had written earlier: one for the books! It was more splendid than anyone in my family could possibly imagine. The vast array of beauty: mountains, wildlife, and people not only refreshed my soul, but reminded me of the fragility of this world.
Whether you believe in Global Warming or think it is a hoax one thing remains true: Human beings have the capacity to ruin their environment for themselves and others. Don’t believe me? Then I invite you to spend a week in Los Angeles where the skies are gunmetal grey and where the breathing is difficult. It doesn’t take a degree in science to note that our lifestyles impact our health. It wasn’t just this trip that brought me to this gestalt, it was what I read this summer that had equally profound impact. Most notably, Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, Tracy Kidder’s Mountains Beyond Mountains, and Kurt Hoelting’s blog “The Inside Passage” (www.insidepassages.com). The latter reading hit me on the head like a bolt of lightning: “More than about Global Warming, this is about stewardship, dummy! Yes, stewardship… and personal transformation.
The July 29, edition of Christian Century crystallizes the point:
“Last December Kurt Hoelting decided to live car-free for one year. Restricting himself primarily by foot, bicycle or kayak will keep him within a 100-kilometer radius of his home on Whidbey Island in Puget Sound. Inspired by Al Gore’s documentary An Inconvenient Truth, Hoetling believes this lifestyle change is one that everyone will need to make…He admits he doesn’t know what he will do after the year is over, since his work usually demands quite a bit of travel and he likes traveling to distant places. Hoelting, who has a degree from Harvard Divinity School, differs in some way with Gore: it is not enough to change light bulbs, laws and technologies, Hoelting says; personal transformation is necessary.”
Personal transformation…there is the rub! The gospel not only calls us but demands things from us and not just for our own benefit but for the benefit of our neighbors whom God loves as deeply as ourselves. Indeed, it is not enough to “change light bulbs, laws and technologies,” precisely because the thoughts and attitudes that helped us get to where we are remain unchanged: not only does the environment suffer, but my children and my neighbor suffers. To follow Jesus more deeply cost something of you and me and it is when we are the most comfortable, when we like things just fine, that Jesus’ words of good news feel like bad news. Christ came to do more than save my soul; he came to make the whole creation new.
The question lingers: How do we move from a place of comfort to a place in deeper relationship with God and neighbor? The answer as I see it is to take an “unfreezing move” towards personal transformation. Read a few good books; get out of the house and see with your own eyes what’s happening in the world around you; spend a day at a CSA Farm (Community Supported Agriculture) and learn how food really grows; Learn about the slow food movement and why it matters; do something rather than being content with the status quo and invite God the Holy Spirit to engage you at all levels. Small steps lead to personal transformation.
Yours for the reign of God,
Ron
