About two years ago I expressed the following here “for me Lent is not a time to give up, but rather a time to do more. It is a time to grow in my faith, a time to grow my devotional life, and this year also a time to start taking better care of my body, mind, and spirit.” So I challenge myself here and now in front of all of you who read these words, to do just that. I will seek to find time to take Sabbath each week, it may not always be a full day as between work and my ministerial and pastoral duties I don’t always have that option, but I will set aside a bit of each week as Sabbath. I will reenergize my personal mediation, prayer and reflection life. I will be willing to risk, to try new things, to be open and vulnerable to the Holy, others, and myself.

I will start my adventure of lent with full day of Sabbath, the first such day I have had in a very long time. Throughout this period of time I will seek guidance for myself and the future, I will reflect and prepare myself to be open to the Holy for life, for pastoral and ministerial  roles, and for my role as a delegate to the 2010 World Conference.

So I ask of you today, for those who Lent is part of your experience…. How will you do more this Lent? If you are one who gives up things, how will the giving up of something aid you in growing your discipleship? How will it aid you in your response to share the Peace of Christ to all of creation?

Well, I’m off to prepare for the Resurrection that was, is, and yet to be and also my journey to share with the Saints in conference assembled.

Peace,

We come before you as a people called by you.

We lift our voices up to you, with sisters and brothers around the globe. We lift them in praise, we lift them in sorrow.

We see the struggles of fellow creation, we encounter our own, and we pause and pray.

We pray to you here in this place, here in this moment, for your guiding grace.

We pray for peace, but not the peace of this world.

We pray for true peace, for your peace, for the peace that Jesus the Christ taught, lived, proclaimed, died and rose again for. A peace that is not defined as the end of violent conflict, BUT a peace that restores, renews, heals all of your creation. A peace that brings forth true unity in diversity, a peace that truly honours the worth of all.

We pray not just for that peace, but that we may also be the agents of that peace.

We pray that we may allow your peace to empower us to repent, empower us to forgive ourselves for the pain we cause each other, creation, ourselves and you.

We pray that we may truly be empowered, truly be transformed to shine forth your glory, to share your love and peace with all who we encounter, so that all may know true peace. So that the community of peace, which the Living Christ still calls us to, may one day be reality in every place , in every moment, and not just a distant dream that glistens into being in moments here and there.

May we be open to the leadings of your Spirit, to live, to proclaim, to seek and dream of the Peace of your Son in our response to your call to us and all of your creation.

In the Holy Name of the Proclaimer of Peace we come before you,

Amen

For this sermon, I went primarily from the written manuscript as I shared the words with the congregation. It was perhaps one of the longest sermons I have given clocking in at just over 27 minutes. After the service, the usually and customary things took place, you know people going by and saying things to the preacher. However I noticed a few things different this time… One is I feel like I received more hugs from people than I have in a long time. This probably has nothing to do with the sermon but still, it is worth noting.  Then there were things people said. Comments from two people have entered into my thoughts over the past few days. The first was something along the lines of “My mind normally wonders during sermons, but you kept me and I stayed with you… you made me think about my calling” (this is a gross miss representation of the many words this individual said in conversation with me, however it hits the points that stuck with me). The other was along the lines of “You sounded more confident… last time you spoke I felt you were holding back”

The first comment I think meant a lot to me, I wasn’t so sure about the sermon. But if at least one person was able to be captured by the words, caused to reflect and hopefully to continue to as the days go forth, then I know it was a good sermon, at least for that one individual. Perhaps not for all, but at least for one. It also goes to show that a longer can work, though don’t expect me to anytime soon go to the 3 to 4 hour long sermons of old.

The second causes me to wonder as well. Is it true I was more confident, did I hold back before? Is it that my last sermon with this congregation was from notes alone and I do not believe ever made it to manuscript form? Were there environmental factors that impacted what I shared then and what I shared today? Or was it just the impact the message had on this person… or something else, I just don’t know, but it does make me wonder.

Well there was a third comment that should come up as well, someone asked me “where I was” for I mentioned some memories of my time in the DR Congo but forgot to mention that is where I was, I realized it as I spoke, but at the time I did it was a bit awkward to slip it in so I just kept going… and well I was caught on it.

If anyone is interested in providing any constructive comments about the sermon I would more than willing to read them, hear them… so here is the audio of it:

Called to Be Prophetic

Peace be with you,

As I struggle with personal issues at this time my mind has been a bit cloudy and thus a bit harder to open up and reflect, and yet I have tried, and I hope and pray to become more open as time goes on.

As Steve spoke, I at times looked around to try and have some sense of the needs of those physically present with me, and my mind tried reflecting on the words. It was quite a different experience than the last time Steve brought forth counsel to the church. Then I was sitting near some of my brothers and sisters from Africa in a room filled with people from many countries and cultures around the globe. Sunday I was in a room with people I worship and serve with regularly, representing a much smaller spectrum of diversity and cultures, but still diversity and watching the Prophet president on a wall rather than in person. Then I knew not that it was to be counsel shared, this time I did. So perhaps this all could have impacted my sense of being. However, as the meditation took place, and I looked upon another screen, and skimmed through the words, a greater depth came through me. A sense of “truth” came through me as well.

Each time I have gone back to it, I find a sense of truth. Yet I also feel a sense of incompleteness, of something missing, of edges unpolished… When I think of my experiences with the inspired counsel that became Doctrine and Convents 162 and 163, both before and after they were canonized and my experiences with this document, I find myself in a different place. For all three of these documents I find that sense of truth, with 162 and 163 there was and is a sense that they are scripture as a whole, with this, I find myself not there. If World Conference was right now and this was presented to be considered for inclusion into the Doctrine and Covenants today, I think my hand wound not rise in the affirmative. Yet I do feel it is inspired by the same Spirit that inspired 162 and 163. Perhaps as it is, in my encounter so far something more like the counsel brought forth in 1996 by W. Grant McMurry, which was but a part of what would become the document presented in 2000 and included into the Doctrine in Covenants. Perhaps it is inspired counsel to the church, but not counsel that should be embraced as scripture and whatever that may entail. Perhaps as I spend more time with it in prayer and reflection my mind will change to different understandings of what it is and is not.

I wonder if Steve in a desire to present this document to the church with time to reflect on it before World Conference “rushed” the document. If he had waited one more month to present the document would it be the same as we have before us now, or would it be slightly different? If he had more time, would he still have felt the need to include the commentary/introductions, or would it have flowed without the need for as in-depth introductions? Is it good to have this in depth intermixed within the document?  I know that in the hearing of it, this did in part distract me from encountering it as fully as I encountered upon reading it. Or would it be the same?

But as to the document… focusing just on the counsel..

The first three paragraphs, I keep seeing and encountering a sense of the Holy, even though I struggle with 2c and my personal understandings… the truth and Spirit that flows through embraces me.

Paragraph 4, finds truth as well. The liturgical and sacramental theologian within me finds great joy within 4c: “Explore all the ways the Lord’s Supper can spiritually form the church community into a true and living expression of the life, sacrifice, resurrection, and continuing presence of Christ…”  and the possibilities that could come from embracing these words.

It is perhaps paragraphs 5-7, I find truth and comfort with, and yet it is perhaps this portion where I struggle with the most, and find that sense of “not yet ready” popping up. Perhaps it is the flow of words. Perhaps it is at a time when I have seen and felt the World Conference referring more and more to church leadership rather than embracing its responsibility I fear parts of 7 could be interpreted in ways to do so even more so. That some interpretation could lead to placing more distractions upon those called to be out there leading us in sharing the Peace of Christ, and thus hinder the work of the church. 

Will we assume we know who the “proper World church officers” are and in fact assign these tasks to the wrong ones and hinder the mission of the church? Will be be open to the possibility that the “proper” might not always be the same group?  I worry about 7d and the financial situation of the church. How will we fund national and or field conferences? Is there other mission work that the time, energy and other recourses that will be going into these conferences be better used for? Should it be just the principles outlined in the counsel, or harmony with the principles of the counsel and also those found throughout  scripture and…?

In a day and age where people have limited time that they can take away from work, from caring for their families basics needs, will such events truly be able to foster dialogue, understanding and consent of the whole, or just those who are able to spend time and money to participate in these events? For those who now struggle to find ways to attend mission center conferences, and or World Conferences, uncertain how to do so while also keeping food on the table, roof over their families heads, keeping their jobs… Will they feel include. For those who will have to make the choice of being staff at a youth retreat, or volunteering in ways that help build communities of joy, hope, love and peace and recognize the worth of all persons or attending one of these conferences due to limited time they can take off from employment, which choice will they take?  Will such things foster true consent and growth, or will they lead to hindrances of the work of the church, and perhaps a greater sense of separation within the church between those who are able to participate (weather they choose to or not) and those who are not able to?

Then there is  paragraph 8… the introduction makes me wonder “now free to” did he have a sense of this counsel three years ago, but knew it wasn’t the right time? I must also admit when I heard Steve say the words of 8b my mind went to what transpired early in church history after the death the death of the first president of the church… which did not bring comfort to mind. I would be curious to hear what Steve at this time thinks the words might mean for this time a place. 8c, speaks volumes to me, and yet it is one of the smallest parts…

The final portion paragraph 9: It as well speaks tremendous volumes to me as well, and upon re-reading right now as I type these words I am slowly finding the fog that has been blocking my sermon preparation lifting… still not there to work on the sermon for the 31st but slowly getting there. The words here, and the truth and connection I find with my own personal calling, are wonderful…this paragraph speaks deeply to me….

You know, I’m in a different place than I was two hours ago when I started writing this piece… and now I’m not sure what I do if it was presented to be included in the Doctrine and Covenants or not. My concerns for paragraph 7 weigh upon me, but the truth within each paragraph speaks to me, paragraph 9 so greatly… There is much of it I could see as being right for that place, some I am still pondering, and the question of its completeness still lays upon me as well, though it feels a little more complete after this writing and reflection about it.

The question I now ask myself is, am I ready to truly risk, to truly live? I also ask, how do I work out my struggle between a sense of truth in paragraph 2 and my personal understanding of the sacrament of baptism… Perhaps the greatest struggle, even beyond differences it may express between my current understandings and what it professes, is that I feel we as a body need to develop a deeper understanding and theology regarding all of our sacraments… perhaps this is the start for that discussion and formulation?

Peace be with you