Quakers believe that the Spirit of God is present within every person. Each person has, therefore, a fragment of God’s wisdom which should be listened to and respected. The fullness of the Spirit’s guidance is discerned when everyone’s wisdom blends together. — Frank Rogers Jr.
I was pleasantly surprised the other day when I ran across some articles of the mega-church Willow Creek welcoming LGBT community to church. My top picks are two articles from the Chicago Tribune : Gay Christians meet the Rev. Bill and Willow Creek Welcomes Gay Advocates and a blog post from Celebrating Diversity called Willow Creek Soulforce and Me.
One of my pet-peeves is how some Christians can treat other people. The last time I read the parable of the good Samaritan and countless other teachings of Jesus, we are supposed to treat everyone with love regardless! We’ve politicized things in society to such an extent that many good (for the most part) and faithful Christians can’t ask the question how to treat a person as Christ would; they automatically treat them the way they’ve been programmed. I live in the the Bible-belt and have heard countless preachers that are homophobic and spout hate. It is not enough for them to say, “hate the sin love the sinner” they actually give license to abuse. I’d love to say this doesn’t go on in the denomination to which I belong, but our General Conference recently met and we actually had people voting against a resolution to oppose homophobia. Let me get this right. It is good to fear homosexuals? Get real. The Christian response, outside of our relationship with God, is that there is nothing and I do mean NOTHING we should fear!
There is a strange truth of homosexuality in the Bible-belt, which I’ve experienced. In every congreagtion that I’ve served, there has been at least one homosexual who is a member of that church. About 75% of the congregations know who they are no matter how much they try to hide it. The interesting thing is that they are accepting of them;however, all other homosexuals (those they don’t know) are NOT accepted at all. This has always baffled the hell out of me. The hidden truth is that they say we accept the ones we know but not the ones we don’t. Go figure. Xenophbia grows and xenophilia withers.
The bottom line of hope for me is that churches are now starting to view their role to invite all people regardless and that is good news and a change of pace.
peace and biscuits,
Rev. Slick
It is no good trying to “be myself” without [Christ]. The more I resist Him and try to live on my own, the more I become dominated by my own heredity and upbringing and surroundings and natural desires. —C.S. Lewis
after you had gone,
after all
the words were said that bound
our lives together for the space
of understanding,
I found
my room a larger place.
the wall
windowed to a view
upon another’s need, and all
the silence filled with sound
of others’ living, the new
(read-me, read-me) books seemed old
as yesterday, and my door somehow
would not tightly close.
so cataclysmic just your word?
how should it be
my friend, if every day
i listened with the heart
to what until you came
i merely overheard?
Mary Catherine Vukmanic
“Quit living as if the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death.
Set God-sized goals. Pursue God-ordained passions. Go after a dream
that is destined to fail without Divine intervention. Stop pointing
out problems and become part of the solution. Stop criticizing and
start creating. Stop playing it safe and start taking risks. Expand
your horizons. Accumulate experiences. Enjoy the journey. Find every
excuse you can to celebrate everything you can. Don’t let what’s wrong
with you keep you from worshiping what’s right with God. Burn sinful
bridges. Blaze new trails. Keep making mistakes. Worry less about what
people think and more about what God thinks. Don’t try to be who
you’re not. Be yourself. Laugh at yourself. Quit holding out. Quit
holding back. Quit running away. And remember: If God is for us, who
can be against us.”
Every now and then I’m given some very painful reminders of what the church is called to be about. This usually happens on a daily basis; however, some linger with me for days. {I could spend an infinite amount of time of defining and unpacking what the church is called to be about, but that would detract from the story and bore both you and me. For now, let’s simply say the Church is to be Jesus to the world.}
A few months ago we had a wonderful couple visit our church. Immediately leaders and pastors of the church recognized that we needed them there at the church. They were great models of what Christian faith and family looks like in word and action. They were also cool and stylish while maintaining a humble and comforting personality. In simple words, they came across as authentic Christians. After several months they decided to look elsewhere for a church home. The talk and tenure of conversation around the church was like Lebron James suddenly deciding Cleveland was no longer a fit. Angst was high over what we could do or should have done to keep them because like I said we all recognized they would be strong leaders and a great addition to the life of the church.
Over the past few months we’ve also had some adults, who have never been baptized or attended church more than a handful of times, join the church. The Lead Pastor at the church posed a question yesterday. “Would our church be as upset if these new Christians were to depart?” Ouch!
In the grand scheme of things I think the strong-faithed couple will be OK. They’ve most likely, according to someone in the church, found another church home and will continue in their pilgrimage of faith. Would the new Christians have fared as well? Probably not. The church [universal] is called to be the Body of Christ, or to say it even simpler it is to be Jesus. How many times have we gone after the mature Christian and not seen those that don’t even know who Jesus’ is. Maybe all they know about Jesus is a cuss word, crazed propaganda used as a means to control, or who knows. If the church is to be Jesus we’ve got to be seen eating and drinking with both the rich and poor, liberal and conservative, leaders and followers, gay and straight, cultured and uncultured, the famous and forgotten, and all ethnicities.
I’ve always been a fringe person. I’ve never fit into one group or another and because of that have felt at times ostracized by all groups. Because of this, I’ve felt I’ve had a better grasp on speaking to those in many categories and no categories, but feelings can easily suck us into fantasy. As soon as my Lead Pastor posed the question, I felt an immediate need to repent and ask for forgiveness – not just from Jesus but those that I’ve ignored, intentionally or not, all in the name of running after the popular. I thought I had a better grasp on reaching out to all, but my fantasy just allowed be to pick and choose instead of being open to whomever is in front of me.
Forgive me and help me be more accountable to being Jesus to all.
Peace,
Revslick
Nicholas Wolterstorff in an interview in the March 25, 2008 issue of Christian Century has the following question and response:
How would you evaluate the way that religious views and identities have entered into electoral politics in the US in recent years?
“I think the fundamental considerations that we ought to employ in debating political issues are justice and the common good: what does justice and the common good require? But I find, to my dismay, that when politicians do seem genuinely motivated by their religion, often their goal is not to secure justice and promote the common good but to secure power for their party. They try to use the levers of power for their own advantage. And in the process of doing so, they often heap abuse on those whose positions they disagree with, treating them with profound disrespect. That’s wrong.
So I defend the right of Christians and other believers to use religious reasons in deciding and debating political issues. But there are right ways and wrong ways, good ways and bad ways, of employing those reasons. And we have seen a lot of wrong and bad ways in recent years.”
Wow!! What a concept. Christians using the public sphere not as an arena from a position of destructive power (negative and atrocious power at that) but from a position of power for good. I think this is what makes the name Christian have such a bad taste in many people’s mouths. From televangelists to the so-called Religious Right they have used their Christianity as a weapon to freely condemn and judge while offering little to nothing wholesome to the agenda.
Here is a framework that not only contributes to the good, but also doesn’t hold non-Christians to a Christian standard that they haven’t even made their own. What are the things that lead to justice and does it contribute to the common good? At least this would give a surface boat to which we can then dive deeper and deeper into the complexities of the issues of justice and common good.
Are these adequate considerations to employ in debating public issues? If not, what should they employ? Are there others?
peace,
RevSlick
Barbara Wendland’s Connections has an interesting comment on what the one thing pastors should do well for Sunday worship. In the article she quotes a bishop that quotes Harry Emerson Fosdick.
“If for some awful reason you onle have time to prepare one thing well for Sunday worship, work on the pastoral prayer.”
Barbara disagrees and says if a pastor only has time to prepare one thing well for Sunday it should be the sermon. I agree 75% with Barbara on this one; however 25% leans toward crafting the liturgy for the service as well. As a pastor, I’ve the seen and heard fabulous sermons fall flat because the rest of the service doesn’t jive with the sermon. I’ve also seen mediocre sermons shoot the moon because it fit with the whole of the service. Now I’m starting to wonder if the mix should be 60/40 or 50/50.
What’s your opinion? If your pastor only had time to prepare one thing well for Sunday, what would it be? Would you prefer it to be the sermon, prayer, liturgy, communion, children’s message, songs, etc.
Peace,
Rev. slick
Happy Easter!!
I pray you had a blessed Easter. If not, read further…
This past week’s Easter service was strangely disconnected for me. It hit home further when Monday I read the change therapy blog. As I struggle with why, let me pose a question. What should an Easter service look like? When you approach the Easter service are there parts of the service you expect a certain way? What expectations do you have? What is your ideal Easter service? Be free to describe the hymns/songs, scripture, sermon, prayer, and more.
