More recently, as I continue to not be presented with a call, and I struggle with the office I am in, I find myself casting off the shackles that constrain me. I’m starting to allow myself to more fully embrace, and be aware of the embrace. One such move was a private act that I did at Bread for the World (will probably be mentioned in Pt3 of those reflections so no spoiling it here). others I have done for some time, particularly when I was serving as a chaplain in a hospital, though there I still limited myself a bit..

Tomorrow, I’ll push a bit, prod a bit. Nothing I will do tomorrow is against any official Community of Christ policy,  it won’t be the first time for most of what takes place, but it may push some comfort boundaries of some, push against some traditions, understandings of some. (Though much of what I will do that will push those I can find in official resources statements saying that it is perfectly fine for me to do these things). Though some of the pushing of boundaries would not be  so if I held the office which reflect my callings, gifts, and talents at this time and place in my life of ministry. Perhaps the largest push in this area will be the prayer that will conclude a sermon, which in and of itself could push (and rightly so) some comfort levels in seeking to propel the community into embracing the sacramental encounter, and the call of discipleship a bit further…

The thing is, I have come to realize law and policy while formed often with good intentions, do not always lead to good results and sometimes hamper needed ministry.. and I must start to embrace my calling and become for fully the disciple and minister I am called to be. Regardless of weather I have been ordained to the office of my current calling.

All are invited to worship with us at Tuality Community of Christ, tomorrow 3 July 2011 at 10:40am PDT. The table is open to all who wish to partake of the sacramental meal. Service planed by my mom. I will be preaching and also presiding over the service.

Peace,

No, the above is not what happened right at the end of the last post, for between then and this I went into another building, met more people and sat through an orientation session, which covered things I already knew by having been involved with Bread, and a little bit of new about the national gathering. But the above sets the stage for several of the experiences of Saturday and Sunday, well except for the food, typically just water, tea, coffee… was there not the cheese and fruit…

In this room with tables draped with many colours, centerpieces with beans upon them, I found myself one of many. I found myself in a few ways transported to the wonderful experiences of my seminary past. For I sat in community at the table, with people of faith, engaging, growing, learning in it. The preacher for our opening worship was Rev.  Dr. Frank Thomas. When I heard his name my mind went “why do I know him” and then I realized, he was the author of one of my seminary texts for one of the homiletics courses I took. They Like to Never Quit Praisin’ God: The Role of Celebration in Preaching still resides within my collection of books. The scripture text for his sermon was Matthew 6:11 “Give us this day our daily bread.” As he proclaimed the good news, as he expounded upon this text, he and the Spirit with him brought forth passion and inspiration, new insight and awareness, along with old.  As he explored the manna, talked of Moses and the people, about today and the needs of this world.  As he talked about the sharing with all and the non hording of food. Talk of the need to ask of the holy, not expect, not demand… many were moved.  As he preached and proclaimed the good news, as he challenged us, as he spoke of being prophetic as speaking truth to those in power AND truth to those denied power. He spoke of how it is US not me, not you not some of us, but all of us… (I wish I wrote this early and thus express more clearly his words than now several weeks out I can). It was a wonderful and powerful experience, as as Rev. Thomas spoke and I quoted him in a tweet saying “Capitalism deserves to be critiqued… [it] will never end poverty” I learned my friend from seminary had arrived as was present in the arena for she tweeted at about the same time: "capitalism will never end poverty" and that the faith community must humanize capitalism.

That’s all for an in-depth reflection I shall give of the services and sessions of Saturday, we had another one where the David Beckman, president of Bread for the World spoke, and also we spent time in regional groups (the reason for the coloured tables). Good things were said, I learned things, but I was also starting to wear down a bit after being up so long with so little sleep… It was after the Opening Worship as I was leaving the area to head out to dinner in another building I encountered my friend in seminary, we shared in conversation, meal often in the next few days… It was good to have a companion at the event that saw with eyes opened from a view similar yet different than my own, to digest and process all that streamed into my head that weekend.

At the close of the final plenary we went to “The tavern” for social time, an odd name for a place on a dry campus, and then with a few young college students we took a risky drive on a golf cart and walked around a Methodist seminary next to the Methodist University we were at. A Lutheran and a Community of Christ person, who had gone to a different Methodist Seminary now here one another one (which I think was not as nice of a campus, and much smaller than the one we had gone to). Then finally after all the explorations, I would find my self back at the dorm, my room, and to my surprise my roommate still not present… he never did show… and sleep finally arrived over 34 hours since I had awaken the morning before…

Till next time…

(sorry for the delay in these, I had meant to reflect on the whole gathering the week I had returned, but life sometimes makes one busy…)

Peace,

Friday was the execution, it didn’t hit me, at least not right away. I mean this great man, this miracle worker, this person who could see through the masks and cloaks I wear and see the real me was executed. You know this man who said hey you, you are of worth, you are loved, now go and love. This man who said that I and you could change the world, this man who preached and expounded the Holy’s love, who lived it, and told of a better day, a day when we would all love one another, a day when our willingness to engage the Holy’s love and each other would bring about much needed healing and restoration to the world that the Holy created and called good, was killed in horrific fashion by the government. We thought he was going to be with us, and now he is dead… except that was nearly 2000 years ago… We know the story of what happens, but this time of year I pause, and go… No I don’t know the story… I let my body flow through the cycle of life that is before us. I allow myself to grieve, to wait… unknowing that which I know. So the execution, this horrific act, sometimes hits me right away, but it didn’t.

It took time, it wasn’t till Saturday evening, as my body ached, and screamed stories of being tired and worn out to me and needing rest that I finally felt that execution. I finally started to morn executed Christ. Part of that morning was about the ways I have stumbled, the ways I have failed to live in response to the message He proclaimed, and I feel called to live. Part of it was the realization of how worn out I feel, how I struggle to engage the Holy when life seems full of stumbling blocks, when I find it hard to find the doorways and pathways, and trails and… that I can engage to help share the love of the one who was just executed, be it many many years ago. In my mind last night I went, “I don’t think I’ll be ready to celebrate the good news in the morning…”  I wonder what the early disciples would have thought had they realized the resurrection that was to come, a resurrection hinted at, but not understood by them. I wonder what they thought, not knowing… I wonder how it is that we find ourselves sometimes executing the Christ representation which we are called to be… you know how we fail to act, how we fail to share, to love, to heal… 

Last night, I went… I’ll go to the tomb, and if I find it empty… I think I’ll just sit there, I don’t think I’ll be able to embrace the realization of the empty tomb, I won’t be able to understand the messengers, or see the reality I encounter as I see the Christ… When I first awoke, the sun yet to rise, I still was in that place, but when I awoke with the rising sun, and as I heard the birds chirping outside, I knew different. Christ has risen, yes indeed.  Still I want to sit and ponder at the empty Tomb, but I am seeing, I am realizing the reality that it points towards, the hope and truth found in that emptiness, and emptiness which is full. Full of love, of peace, of hope, of strength. Strength to go forth and bring healing to a broken world. Hope, that I too can be restored, healed resurrected from the depths of my struggles, into the creation that the Holy formed and called good. Hope that I can find the pathway I need to embrace to be one of many proclaiming the peace of Christ, sharing that peace, sharing the love, and bring forth the peaceable community where all are loved, where creation is known to be sacred, the worth of all is known, respected, and embraced by all, where relationships a whole and healed… you know the community Jesus the  Christ proclaimed, lived taught… the peaceable community, aye even Zion (as my tradition would say).

My mind ahs drifted to 2 Easter’s past. I was serving an internship as a Hospital Chaplain, and was on duty that Sunday Morning. As such I lead the Sunday worship service, gave the Easter message to a group of perhaps 20-30 gathered in the Hospital Chapel. As the service came to an end, the pager on my hip buzzed, and soon afterwards I found myself sharing with a family, and with medical personnel in the last moments of their loved one / patient’s life as they maid the decisions that would bring a form of peace and healing, but also a form of loss. It was not my last visit with them that day. I’m not 100% sure why this memory comes to mind, why I can see the cards taped to the wall, the face of the young D.O., the nurses, the patient.. at this moment in time. What I can say is in this encounter, and in this memory, I find myself saying “What.. The Tomb is Empty ‽ What shall I do, how will I respond? How will my life be different with the awareness of the continuing presence of the Holy, who can I, you, us live out the resurrection of Christ. How can we keep that mission going, How will we Live the mission and hope of Christ this day?”  I find myself as well, knowing a bit more about myself, and the ways I have to serve, and hope that I will find that path, even if at times it is hard to see past the emptiness, and find the fullness that resides within it…

So let us stand from our pondering, and start to live the peace, passion, and mission of  Christ. Let us allow ourselves to be healed, to be “resurrected” and go forth and do help heal, restore “resurrect” all of creation…

Peace be with us all

This sermon was an odd one for me, for I was never able to get completely through it (well a version of it) before I preached. As I wrote, as I spoke in the days before and formed it… itwas in flux, parts didn’t work, I paused I stumbled… and yet I felt assured it was the sermon to give.  It was also a bit weird as  while I was working on this sermon a few images kept coming to mind, images that are within the photos I took while in the DR Congo. In particular images of stained glass windows depicting the life of Jesus the Christ… this lead to me creating a power point presentation to go along with the sermon. Something I usually  despise… I don’t like things restricting me, and I find them a distraction often when I am in the congregation and others use them. But I couldn’t help but feel the need to use it. So I did… I choose though to use it to contain a few things other than the images, to emphasize certain parts of the sermon.

Early on as I started playing with the idea, in part as a response to a 2:30am sermon forming session that my mind decided to have (I had been asleep, woke up and for the next couple of hours found myself working on the sermon as it just flowed through my head), I formed the PowerPoint with a series of slides reflecting what I saw as a basic outline based off the page or so of typed notes I had… essentially blank slides with just basic titles as place holders. it stayed this way for a while. Last night after returning from spending time with friends, I found myself typing up the lectionary passage from Acts and from John so people could read as I read, from the same version translation (The Inclusive Bible), along with a few points from by exploration of some of the struggles of the world – human trafficking, poverty…. This morning I added the photographs to it, and then headed to the church to run through the sermon, set things up, and make final changes to the PowerPoint presentation.

Well, as I went through the sermon I found myself re-arranging the order of the scriptures, then moving the photo’s around.. deleting the never filled in slides, and adding a third passage of scripture, Thursday’s RCL reading from Acts – Acts 1:1-11, which had been added to the sermon at some point, but I had not entered into the presentation.  I never ran through the presentation after I made my final alterations to it… Yet it flowed perfectly with the way the m message came out to be… I found myself expressing things more clearly, and in better ways than any of my failed run-through early that morning in the empty sanctuary. I found myself proclaiming the Good News, I found myself encountering the Holy and truly wanting to be, and hoping to be part of the incarnate body of Christ that was expressed, truly wanting to live and share the Gospel of Christ. I found myself sharing and expressing things in new ways in part directly from my encounters with others in community that morning. The message the same as the sermon prepared, but expressed, thanks to the blessing of the Holy, in much clearer, personal, and profound ways… at least to my ears.

I found also, that I love the Acts of the Apostles and preaching from it. I also found hope, I found a peace. I found a joy. I realized as well, I find myself most alive when I am utilizing my gift, embracing my calling and seeking to be individually the one the Holy calls me to be, and communally the the community we are called to be. Even though afterwards, I found myself fully drained. I found through last week and this as well, truly how much I really am called to be a proclaimer of the Good News. While preparing a sermon is taxing, often difficult, while giving one is draining, and more it is part of my calling, a part I need to engage more. I need to engage more in other ways as well.  But there’s more as well.

I have two class/gathering/bible study things I want to engage the congregation in. One is related to hunger, a six week series… the other on Human trafficking. I hope this week to look into these a bit more. What I would like to see is a home gathering of Young Adults / near young Adults engaging in a study, and perhaps out of it engaging in mission. This morning I also thought perhaps its time for this member of the pastorate to step in and help engage in the adult Sunday school… something I do not want to do, but perhaps is needed.

I expressed in the end of the sermon the question is not  “can we” but “will we?” As I end this  post I hope the answer is “Yes”, I hope we will be the living incarnate body of Christ, to allow the indwelling spirit to guide us, strength us and comfort us as we seek to share God’s love and peace to the ends of the earth, living and being as Christ to bring for the peaceable Community we fondly call Zion. I wish that my friend, the audio guy, hadn’t recorded the musical reflection over my sermon, as I would like to hear and share it, but that is not the case. (perhaps for the best who knows, maybe the Holy Spirit was doing a lot of translating between my lips and my ears…).

Peace be with you…