Who is God? #1

Alanis Morisette and Joan Osborne's song asks about a very human God, one way of understanding Christ's idendity.  How does it challenge your own idea of who God is?

Tempest in the Temple

NY Times 1-1-11, QUOTATION OF THE DAY

 "Whatever your vice is, we're your folks."

TENA ALONZO, director of research at Beatitudes nursing home in Phoenix, which gives Alzheimer's patients whatever they want.

This online/headline caught my eye last month.  The Beatitudes name makes for serious irony. (coincidently the Beatitudes are this week's lectionary gospel passage Matthew 5: 1-2.)  How many church leaders/pastors/employees wear themselves out trying to keep everybody happy instead of challenging each other to please God?

The current edition of Christian Century has a book review of G. Jeffrey MacDonald's "Thieves in the Temple:  The Christian Church and the Selling of the American Soul."  Right in line with last Sunday's message from John 2.  In the review, Lillian Daniels writes, small mainline churches are not immune to the temptation to bend over backward to meet people's desires.  We think if we provide it and they like it, they will come.  Conservatives and liberals share the same consumer orientation and the same temptation to put people pleasing programs about disciplined faithfulness.  

After some years of pastoring, I no longer find the labels "liberal and conservative" very useful.  But that aside, MacDonald and Daniels have put their cooperative fingers right on the point.  Every group I've ever worked with that was "high expectation" thrived.  And I've watched every one that aimed for the lowest common denominator as it bottomed out. 

Our denomination, the United Methodists, have spent quite a bit of energy developing hospitality in the past few years.  I think there's real value in welcoming each visitor as we would welcome Christ.  

But what if Christ came in swinging, as he did in John's account of his visit to the temple?  What do we do with the angry people?  Would we surround Jesus with "simmer downs" so he doesn't disrupt our careful cultivation of the right people and programs? Or would we have the presence of mind (soul?) to look at what sheep, cattle, coins, he was shoving toward the door?

MacDonald takes whacks at the prosperity gospel and "vacationaries," (those who do good to feel good).  But I don't think the rest of us should let ourselves off the hook too quickly.  Are we trying to give people what they think their hearts desire?  Or are we offering the real soul food of a gospel that challenges our hearts, minds and souls to be renewed by the power of a living Lord and the presence of the Holy Spirit?

Jesus Parable

No one has ever seen God. 
It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father's heart, 
who has made him known.


I've been thinking about yesterday's responses in worship, about we're noticing in John.  The one I'm focused on at the moment is Brian's observation that the parables are missing.  Well, maybe not gone missing, becuase they were never there in John's account.  But missing to our minds.  The "synpotic gospels," Matthew, Mark, and Luke, that form the backbone of our usual lectionary based worship ignite our imagination with "ahah" inducing parables.  But John is one conversation after another, held together with movement between Galilee and Jerusalem.  And, to be truthful, Jesus' part in those conversations gets prgressively more lopsidedly long and strange.

Meanwhile his cousin John keeps saying, look at him, look at him.  And Jesus keeps saying essentially, "when you see me you see God." (as Cindy noticed.)

What if instead of telling parables, Jesus IS the parable in John?  What if Jesus is the strange Word of God sent to provoke our "ahahs?"  Afterall, everything he does in this Gospel seems designed to get attention, while at the same time he insists that we turn that attention to God.

When the first would be followers approached Jesus, he asked, "what are you looking for?" (John 1: 35 NRSV) and when they ask where he's staying, he answers, "Come and See."
Jesus' encounter with Nathanael is basically a case of "I see you, can you see me?"

John calls Jesus, "light, "full of grace and truth,""Lamb of God,"
Jesus's signs, the surprising things he does, "reveal his glory" (John 2: 11).

Now here's the rub.  If Jesus is the parable who reveals God to all who come and see, then what are we as we become the Body of Christ?  Are we peculiar enough to be authentic God revealing parables ourselves?  Or are we content being mass produced?

Hmmm....if I were a parable..........

Hurdles

I've finally made time (well okay, the 2 feet of snow in Boston made time) to get into Warren Carter's book, John:  Storyteller, Interpreter, Evangelist.  Its a most helpful companion to our current journey through the conversations in the Gospel According to John. I've heard Warren speak.  He combines just the right amounts of erudite and down to earth insight.

In his discussion of the plot, Warren makes a nice outline of the four major elements previewed in this gospel's prologue. Here's my interpretation of what I'll call the "four hurdles."
Hurdle 1.  Jesus' credibility, which rests on the claim that he is God's original agent. John 1: 1-5
Hurdle 2.  A "behind the scenes" struggle (after their executions) between Jesus and John's respective followers. John 1: 6-8.
Hurdle 3.  The choice readers face of whether to follow Jesus or turn away, particularly in light of how countercultural, even dangerous, Jesus' way can be. John 1: 9-16.  (Verses 1: 10-13 have a nice plot summary)
Hurdle 4. How can Jesus be more important than Moses,  hero of the exodus and bringer of the law?

You may have noticed that the first and last have to do with "who the heck does this guy think he is," and the middle two are "then what should we do about it?"

Luckily, the Gospel encourages us not to puzzle over it alone, like this poor guy.  By creating a "revelatory biography"  (Warren Carter's term) that is a series of action linked conversations, the author shows us that insight comes from holy conferencing (John Welsey's term) or just plain good conversation.

That's the approach we're taking in worship right now, and on the pastor and church blogs.  We're also going to try a "virtual small group" and are eager to enlist participants and ideas about what platforms to try. So, let me know! 

The Host with the Most

The sermon I didn't preach last Sunday was titled, "The Host with the Most." ( I didn't preach it beacuse I rewrote to respond to Saturday's awful shooting in Arizona.)

Here's what I was thinking about John 1: 19-42 (the Message or check out John 1: 19-42 for the King James version-its interesting to put the two translations in conversation with each other).

 This story starts the gospel right off with conflict.  A crowd, seeded with questions by power seeking leaders, challenges John the Baptist (a different John from the one associated with creating this Gospel itself).  "Who are you," they ask, and "what are you doing?"  John replies that none of the names they try to pin on him are right.  He is the one pointing to something, or someone, new.  He doesn't really want to talk about himself at all.  He's all about the greater one who is coming.  But the authorities don't seem to hear (perhaps they're not very good listeners).

There's another sort of conflict in the background. We see it in the Gospel according to Matthew (Matthew 9:14 and chapter 11).  John and his cousin, Jesus, were both emerging as public figures. Many think that Jesus followed and learned from John for awhile.  What does a teacher do when a student starts to outshine them?  Especially when the teacher's other followers start following the upstart cousin....

Whatever bumps and rubs there may have been in the actual ministry situation, by the time this version of the Gospel gets written down, there is no doubt where the light shines brightest.  Its all about Jesus.
In fact, you can almost hear John say, "you idiots," as he tries and tries to say, "not me, him!"

Jesus is the host with the most and John the Baptist is his biggest cheer leader. I wonder how many of us would settle as garcefully into second fiddle.  How did John manage that transition?

It must have helped that they had the same goal-the salvation of their people, re-union with God. There must also have been a healthy helping of reality.  John knew his role.  He probably knew that if he tried to be something he wasn't it would end badly.  But if he went with the flow of gifts God poured into him, it was grace upon grace, not overcome even by his own "bad end" at King Herod's hand. (That's the guy who gave John's head on a platter to his dancing step daughter.)  The story John was part of, Jesus's story, was so much bigger and brighter than anything jealous powers could try to snuff out.  Its note the ratings light of a host that attracts the biggest following. That's resurrection light we see shining. The same resurrection light that meets us when Christ hosts the Lord's Supper or that glistens in drops of Baptism water tossed in the air over the head of the beloved.

Fifth day of Christmas present

Preparing for your  Soul Spa

Set aside one hour.

Receive it as your gift from God to start the New Year. 

*Find a place where you are comfortable.

*find a candle ( a floating candle is especially effective).

*have a lighter or matches at hand.

*Have a pen or pencil at hand.

*Take the telephone off the hook.

*Have a drink of water.

*If it’s helpful, clear your mind by making a to-do list of things you need to remember LATER

    and can set aside for now.

*Make yourself comfortable in a position where it is easy to breathe deeply.

*Turn your attention to the retreat guide.

The Christmas packages have been wrapped, shared, unwrapped, and admired.  Now in the space between the end of one year and the begining of another,  Come away with me…To set our spirits in conversation with God’s spirit:

As it is written,

                  What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,

                  Nor human heart conceived,

                  What God has prepared for those who love him,”

These things God has revealed to us through the Spirit, for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.

For what human being knows what is truly human except the human spirit that is within?  So also no one comprehends what is truly God’s except the Spirit of God.  Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God.  And we speak of these things in words, not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual things to those who are spiritual.           - 1 Corinthians 2:  9-13 

Come away, and receive God’s gifts.

Beginning

*As you pray this opening prayer, hear God speaking to you through its words.  Read through the prayer once.

I am, you anxious one.

Don’t you sense me ready to break

Into being at your touch?

My murmurings surround you like shadowy wings.

Can’t you see me standing before you

Cloaked in stillness?

Hasn’t my longing ripened in you

From the beginning

As fruit ripens on a branch?

I am the dream you are dreaming.

When you want to awaken, I am that wanting.

I grow strong in the beauty you behold.

And with the silence of stars I enfold

Your cities made by time.

      -Rainer Maria Rilke,    Book of Hours, Love Poems to God.

--------------------------------------

*Take a deep breathe,relaxing and slowing your muscles as you receive the air.

*Take 2 more breathes, each a bit deeper and slower than the first.   Become aware of the muscles in your shoulders and next, allowing them to relax with each breathe.

*Read Rilke’s prayer once more, slowly.  Pause when a word or phrase catches your attention.  Roll it around in your mind a bit.  What awareness, insight, or question is God giving you in this word or phrase?

*When you are ready, move on to the next page.

Read the following words written to Timothy by his mentor, Paul.  Fill in the first blank with your own name and the rest as God leads you in prayer.

To _________________, my beloved child:  Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

I am grateful to God…when I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day.  Recalling your tears, I long to see you so that I may be filled with joy.  I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in ______________ and _________ now, I am sure, lives in you.  For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you….for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.  -1 Timothy 1: 2-7

Breathe intentionally as you did before.  With each breathe, lift a name, silently or aloud, and thank God for this person who has been a faith mentor to you.  With one more breathe, lift your own name asking God to give you power, love, and the intentional will to make room for God’s gifts in your life.

Light the candle that you have prepared as a reminder of God’s promised presence.

When you are ready, pray this prayer by Francis Brienen:

God of all time,

Who makes all things new,

We bring before you the year now ending.

For life full and good,

For opportunities recognized and taken,

For love known and shared,

We thank you.

Where we have fallen short,

Forgive us.

When we worry over what is past, free us.

As we begin again

and take our first few steps into the future,

Where nothing is safe and certain,

Except you,

We ask for the courage of the wise men

Who simply went and followed a star.

We ask for their wisdom,

In choosing to pursue the deepest truth,

Not knowing where they would be led.

In the year to come, God of all time,

Be our help and company.

Hold our hands as we journey onwards

And may your dream of shalom,

Where all will be at peace,

Be our guiding star.

If there are things you need to leave behind as you enter a New Year, offer them to God now, asking for God’s help to release them.  You may write them down and use the candle to burn them as a sign of release.

Read the following passage.  Take your time.   Re-read it if you’d like.  Underline the words or phrases that catch your attention and return to them.

Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed….there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God, who activates all of them in everyone.  To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.  To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.  All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses. 

                                      -1 Corinthians 12:  1-11

Breathe intentionally as you did earlier.  Let the rhythm of your breathing take on a deep natural rhythm.  As you breathe in, ask God to lead you toward knowing your spiritual gifts.  Listen to whatever comes, you may be affirmed in a gift that you expect or you may be surprised and challenged to consider a gift you were not aware of. They may or may not be gifts mentioned in the passage we read. As you breathe out, release any surprise, resistance, concerns, and offer to be open to God’s leading.  Be aware of the candles flame as a sign of God’s dynamic presence.

As the conversation between your spirit and God’s Spirit finds its rhythm, Allow it be simplified in one phrase that can be lifted as you breathe in and out.  This breathe prayer is a reminder of God’s gift to you that you may prayer anytime, any where. 

Write this prayer, and any other words that will remind you of insights received in this retreat time, on your bookmark and plan to put it somewhere that you will regularly see it.

Ask God if there is someone you should share your insights with.  Who might help you acknowledge and develop your gifts?

Finish your retreat by giving thanks to God for the time and arranging your next “meeting.”  When and where will you make space dedicated to being fully present to God?

When you are ready to return to your everyday activities, Draw in  a deep breathe inviting God’s Spirit to remain in your awareness before gently blowing the candle out and giving thanks to God once more. 

                                                                                                                          

For now we see in a mirror, dimply,

 but then we will see face to face.

 Now I know only in part;

 then I will know fully,

even as I have been fully known. 

And now faith, hope and love abide,

these three;

and the greatest of these is love.

                                    -I Corinthians 13: 12-13

“Do what you honestly can,

rather than what you probably won’t.”

                        Larry Peacock.

Second Day of Christmas present

"God's gifts are handed out everywhere; but they all originate in God's Spirit.  God's ministries are carried out everywhere; but they all originate in God's Spirit.  God's varous expressions of power are in action everywhere; but God himself is behind it all. Each person is given something to do that shows who God is:  Everyone gets in on it, everyone benefits.  All kinds of things are handed out by the Spirit, and to all kinds of people!  The variety is wonderful...."


from I Corinthians 12, Eugene Petersen's translation, "The Message"

Winter, and very cold,

and the night at 

its deepest.  The politicians,

as usual, double-tongued.

The town chaotic, teeming

with strangers.

And tonight, as often

in winter, in Bethlehem,

snow is falling.

I always love how each flake,

torn from the sky,

arrives separately,

without sound, almost

unnoticed in

a flurry of others. How

each one (on a clear 

night) lies there glittering

on the swelling breast

of snow, crisp

and intact, as wholly itself

as every radiant star

in a sky sparkling

with galaxies.

How many new 

babies tonight

in Judea, coming

like snowflakes?

But plucked,

dazzling, from the 

eternal heavens,

into time,

tonight is born

The One.

-Luci Shaw, Accompanied by Angels:  Poems of the Incarnation

The Kents Hill Vespers ceremony was beautiful this year, not just in the Torsey Sanctuary setting, but in the spirit.  Not one student or staff member complained about the terrible rain storm that swept us in!  I chose "snowflakes" as the focusing image this year, largely because of Jacqueline Briggs's marvelous children's book about the inventor, Snowflake Bentley, illustrated by gifted woodblock artist, Mary Azarian. 

Like people, no two snowflakes are alike.  Yet, like people, snowflakes group together, becoming more than any one can be alone.  Fatih communities and schools are both sticky clusters of unique creatures.  Like the snowflake's individual, fractally patterned arms, the gifts in each of us seek out others for mutual expression.  The variety echoes the wonder of the Creator.