Nevertheless, in my studies, I've come across a quote which for me will be great sermon fodder as I think about those who seek God and those whom God seeks. I pray that those who read this are indeed blessed. Here is the meditation:
There are two sets of minds in the Christian life - those who find Christ, and those whom Christ finds. Those who find Christ are active; those who are found by Christ are passive. The one has a hard struggle; the other enters the gates "in peace." There are some whose experience is that of the wise men of the East; they search for the star and discover it after many days. There are others like the keepers of the flock of Bethlehem; they are engaged in their own work, and the star comes to them. The men of the East are men of talent; they plan, and they succeed. But the keepers of the flock are men of genius; they never need to plan; they are illuminated in a moment. In the midst of their daily toil, there is suddenly with them a multitude of the heavenly host singing "Glory." They are like the great masters in music; their work costs them little trouble. They are born to love; they are made to sacrifice; they are bound to say the right thing at the right time. The garment of goodness becomes them, sits gracefully on them. It is a garment, not of heaviness, but of praise.
Source: George Matheson, O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go: Meditations, Prayers and Poems [London: Collins, 1990], 115.
My speculation is that there will be more "Wise Men (and women)" than Shepherds worshiping on Christmas.
May they find Jesus and want him.
Yours for the reign of God,
Ron
“As the medieval church grew very rich, reformers like Francis of Assisi challenged the status quo with a renewed practice of both poverty and serving the poor. But the church did not embrace all reformers as it did Francis. In the late 1100s a loosely connected movement of laywomen, called the Beguines, and a few lay men, the Beghards, emerged in the Low Countries and the Rhineland. These laypeople lived a semi monastic life outside of approved convents. Mostly single, the women were “neither cloistered nuns nor married homemakers”, thus constituting an alternative female religious vocation. They lived together (occasionally women and men occupied the same houses), wore simple habits, practiced the hours, and vowed simplicity and service. The women supported themselves in gender appropriate professions such as weaving, spinning, sewing nursing and teaching. One contemporary historian refers to them as “the first urban base communities” in the new urban environment. In 1215, Pope Honorarius III approved of “pious women” living in such arrangements
Although no single theology linked all the Beguine houses in Europe, the same ethical practice did: charity. At this time most nuns were cloistered and under the authority of male superiors, their economic well being and spiritual practices were essentially out of their own control. With no obligation to stay in a convent – and with no male authority confining them – the Beguines were unrestrained and could do that to which they felt called, and many Beguine houses made good livings. Without families to support, they freely channeled their incomes toward whatever purpose they chose. Most of the Beguines chose to give their property away. They fed the hungry, clothed the poor, visited the sick, educated girls, offered hospitality, established homes for widows, nursed lepers and cared for the dying. The Beguines both took alms and gave them away, thus creating a second economy, a monetary sphere outside the auspices of the institutional church.”
From A People’s History of Christianity by Diana butler Bass Harper-Collins Publishers New York NY 2009 pages 141 - 142
We live in a dying empire that staggers under the weight of three false gods:
1. Greed: Enron and Wall Street are our role models, but many of us Americans have become addicted to a way of life that is self-centered, self serving and self indulgent. Our so called “high standard of living” is not high, not a standard and not living.
2. Violence: Since 9/11/2001 almost 5000 Americans have died in Iraq and Afghanistan. During that same period over 200,000 Americans have been killed by other Americans with handguns and other weapons
3. Lust: Adultery has become a common practice for many celebrities, athletes and politicians. If Presidents, Governors and Senators can do it then why not all of us?
Amidst it all our churches are preoccupied with survival. Consumerism reigns as clergy are expected to “keep everyone happy” or be scapegoated for congregational decline. Church membership rather than discipleship is the norm. Focus is on the institution rather than on Jesus.
There are signs of hope in the Emergent Church. Young adults are forming their own faith communities which have something of the Spirit of the Beguines. Commitment matters… Gratitude matters… Jesus matters… Relationships matter… Mutual accountability matters… Authenticity matters…
A similar vision exists in the “Missional Church” movement which is an effort to incarnate new life in the flagging mainline congregations.
Neither of these movements seem overly anxious about the fate of the empire. Empires rise and fall because empires inevitably end up violating the first and greatest commandment. They try to take God’s place as Lord of history and they fail.
The Christian church is growing rapidly in most parts of the world other than Western Europe and North America. But the adventure of discipleship remains a wonderful challenge here if we can follow the right Leader.
Unfortunately, many people who claim His name have misrepresented Him so grossly that the unchurched often think of Christians as self-righteous, arrogant, bigoted, judgmental and narrow minded. Pastor Robin Meyers has written a book entitled Saving Jesus from The Church.
It’s all about gratitude! How can we be liberated from our anxious self-centered separate lives to discover a God centered life together? How can we celebrate the fact that there is nothing to prove and so much to be grateful for?
I wish I could claim this quote as my own. Alas it is the work of John Updike from his 1960 novel "Rabbit, Run." I love it because it speaks of hot, passionate faith, the kind I believe we as clergy are to bring to the pulpit. As many of you know, Updike was not a "fundamentalist" by any stretch of the imagination (There are some who are confused by his "Seven Stanzas At Easter" and may see him in that camp. Not so, as far as I'm concerned). It should be noted that my intention is not to slam the state of religious education, but rather applaud what the pastor points out: Let the church burn with passionate faith! Such insistence by me may come across as mundane: after all, isn't that what we give them? However, I've encountered way too often sermons that would be better sleep remedies than given as sermons...and we all slip on that slide from time to time (who can be spot on every time?). Ah, but let me get to the meat of the matter!
In the following quote,the Lutheran pastor, Fritz Kruppenbach speaks to another pastor:
“Do you think this is your job, to meddle in these people’s lives? I know what they teach you at seminary now: this psychology and that. But I don’t agree with it. You think now your job is to be an unpaid doctor, to run around and plug up holes and make everything smooth. I don’t think that. I don’t think that’s your job…. I say you don’t know what your role is or you’d be home locked in prayer…. In running back and forth you run away from the duty given you by God, to make your faith powerful…. When on Sunday morning, then, when you go out before their faces, we must walk up not worn out with misery but full of Christ, hot with Christ, on fire: burn them with the force of our belief. This is why they come; why else would they pay us? Anything else we can do and say anyone can do and say. They have doctors and lawyers for that…. Make no mistake. Now I’m serious. Make no mistake. There is nothing but Christ for us. All the rest, all this decency and busyness, is nothing. It is Devil’s work.”
At easy answers, half-truths and superficial relationships,
So that you may live deep within your heart.
May God bless you with anger …
At injustice, oppression and exploitation of people,
So that you may work for justice, freedom and peace.
May God bless you with tears …
To shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation and war,
So that you may reach out your hand to comfort them
And to turn their pain into joy.
May God bless you with foolishness …
To believe that you can make a difference in this world,
So that you can do what others say cannot be done.
Amen.
— A Franciscan benediction for challenging times
In his book The New Realities (New York: Harper & Row, 1989) Peter Drucker asks seven questions of leaders. They are as applicable to church leaders as to managing directors.
1. How well do we know our people? There is no substitute for "management by walking around" -- not just in the church but in the world outside. This puts oneself in the position of ordinary people -- whether in the congregation or outside. Do we give ourselves time to think through methodically each role within the church, evaluate the people who are fulfilling it, see the strains they are under and decide what help they need? At the same time we need to look at people outside the life of the church. Is there anything in the habits of our church which makes it difficult for them to hear and respond to the gospel? Is our personal ministry to them evangelistic? Who is best placed to communicate with them? A prayerful "walkabout" can be immensely significant, either done alone or with a group of other leaders.2. What information do we need to do our job effectively? Are we getting unnecessary information which merely overloads the system? Often churches are awash with the wrong information, e.g., finance, organization, charities and structures and not enough about people and the local community.
3. Which tasks do we do which advance the kingdom -- and which have we merely got used to doing? Cut out the latter: maximize the former.
4. Are we communicative? "Remember, what is obvious to us may not be obvious to others." The management expert, John Humble, said, "If you are an accountant, don't talk to them as though they were also accountants." He might have said that ministers should not talk as though everyone else were ministers, Anglicans as though everyone else were Anglicans, and old-agers as though everyone else had been in church for all their lives.
5. Has what we expected to happen, happened? Check that what you expect to happen has happened. If not, find out why.
6. Are we still learning? Keep learning. Continuing personal development, in spiritual depth and in human maturity, is necessary if we are not to become stale and dull. If one is working in technologically based industry, it is obvious, but no less necessary, for the Christian leader.
7. Are we taking care of ourselves? If we are, we will last a long time. (Peter Drucker is himself a good example of this. New Realities was published when he was 80 and he still keeps up a punishing routine of lecturing and writing.)
--John Finney, Church on the
Move: Leadership for Mission (London: Daybreak, 1992),
122-23, 178.
Don't tell me how God's mercy is as wide as the ocean, as deep as the sea. I already believe it, but that infinite prospect gets farther away the more we mouth it.
I thank you for lamenting his absences--from marriages going mad, from the deaths of your son and mine, from the inescapable terrors of history: Treblinka. Viet Nam. September Eleven. It's hard to celebrate his invisible Presence in the sacrament while seeing his visible absence from the world.
This must be why mystics and poets record the slender incursions of splintered light, echoes, fragments, odd words and phrases like flashes through darkened hallways. These stabs remind me that the proud and portly old church is really only that cut green slip grafted into a tiny nick that merciful God himself slit into the stem of his chosen Judah. The thin and tenuous thread we hang by, so astonishing, is the metaphor I need at the shoreline of all those immeasurable oceans of love.
-Rod Jellema
A billionaire threw a part somewhere on the Eastern seaboard shore. While there were many at the party, two of the guests who struck up a conversation were authors Joseph Heller (of Catch-22 fame) and Kurt Vonnegut (Slaughterhouse Five, etc). Kurt says to Joseph, "You know Joseph, our billionaire friend has earned more money in just one night than all the sales of your book, Catch-22! Heller shook his head and said, "You know, that's probably true." Heller then replied by saying "Ah, but I have one thing that he does not." "Oh," says Vonnegut, "What's that?" "Enough!" says Heller.
I find this story profound.
For years I have heard the rant of the theology of abundance. And I must tell you, I'm sick of it (I never liked it from the beginning and have used it grudgingly). For me, the theology of abundance plays right into the same game that the rest of the world plays: spend more, cause I have more! Or as the Dorritos chip commercial used to say: "We'll make more!" Only in this case, it's not the chip company making more, but rather God is making more.
While it is true that God gives and gives and gives again, what I like better is that God gives enough. Let me explain.
I woke up this morning, and it would have been enough for God to stop at that. I was owed nothing by God to permit me to rise up today, but who-hoo!, here I am and doing fine! Ah, but it would have been enough for God to have stopped there...but God didn't!
It would have been enough for God to not only allow me to rise, but to do so in my right mind (many of you think I'm out of my mind, but that's another subject). God owed me nothing to allow me to rise up and to be in my right mind...but ah, God in God's goodness gave those gifts to me (and even more) but it would have been enough.
A time is coming and in some sense is now here where I have less now than I did in the past: I'm wearing glasses these days, and while the body works wonderfully, it doesn't run like it did in my late teens and early twenties....but it is enough. Indeed, a day is coming when my health will fail, I won't own my house, my children will leave, loss is an inevitable part of the human condition. Ah, but it will be enough because I know that God is consistently loving and kind. No wonder the apostle Paul said (using God's voice) "My grace is sufficient for you..." More than sufficient, it is enough!
Yours for the reign of God,
Ron
The Chambered Nautilus
The nautilus is a living fossil whose close relatives date back hundreds of millions of years into geologic history. There are a few things we know about the life of the nautilus that invite us to think about our own lives. These animals live of course in their shell, but unlike other shelled sea animals they only live in a portion of the shell--one chamber at a time. The next chamber is constantly under construction. Each previous chamber is necessary for the animal to "swim" through the currents of the sea. Amazingly, each chamber is seven percent bigger than the chamber before it. When the animal grows the seven percent, it moves into the next chamber and starts preparing for the next move by building still another chamber. To move through the seas the animal releases gas into its previous homes (chambers) and that adds buoyancy that makes navigation possible. The building of the next chamber never ceases until the animal dies. These animals would seem to have perfected the balance between what has been and what will be.
Now, here's the rub for me...this story speaks to me about the reign of God. It would seem to me that like the nautilus, nothing, neither in our lives nor anything else in the reign of God is wasted. The "old chambers" of our lives are being used by God for buoyancy and navigation. Our old ways of being are not just left behind, but rather, are simply the "old shell" which God uses in our growth. Our whole lives are redeemed, and nothing is wasted in the reign of God. Good news, indeed.
Yours for the reign of God,
Ron
The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work.
Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying the Kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the Church's mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.
This is what we are about.
We plant seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.
This enables us to do something, and do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.
Where there is too much, they reduce.
Where there is too little, they add.
Their people are neither overly busy, nor lazy and idle.
They resist the temptation to control to protect their position.
They do not need to take credit, for they already have all they need.
They do not need to succeed, for they are perfectly themselves already.
