Last night I was unable to get to sleep, and once I did I woke often, and then I had to rise to go and prepare for a priesthood meeting. While at the time I felt awake, it would be for a bit of time.  By the time the meeting was over, and the worship service was over I was zapped. between the meds I was taking, the limited and poor sleep, and the medical issues the meds were for and the drain that was having from that as the meds were not helping much, I was drowsy. I perhaps didn’t realize how much so until I sat down in the car to drive home.

I started the car and I drove home, I could tell my senses were not what they should have been to be behind the wheel, but I need to get home to rest. As I drove I wished my life was at that point in time where I had found her… but not for the normal reasons of desiring life long companionship, a sense of being more whole in and through relationship… but just so I might safely get home without endangering myself or others. For if I had found her, or more likely she had found me, and we were together, she could be the one behind the wheel rather than I. Perhaps then I would have remembered taking my second exit, (from one freeway to the next) and be ready for the third (leaving the freeway system) before I was upon the third and going “when did the change the sign?” thinking I was at the second and the realizing I had already taken that exit and  now was at the point where I would exit the freeway system. Driving drowsy is not safe, and you also miss things. I shouldn’t have been driving, I should have either taken a nap in the car, or gotten someone to drive me home or… but I didn’t, I risked it, I risked the welfare of others to reach my goal. It wasn’t the brightest act I have ever made, I fairly sure it wasn’t the first time I have driven while not fully alert, and while I would like to say it is the last time, I have a feeling I will at some point make the mistake again.

The thing is, this encounter relates a lot to life, and to our discipleship. (For those of us who are disciples… if your reading this and are not a disciple, be it of Christ or of someone/thing else, perhaps some of the basics can still relate to your faith/spiritual path and life). Within Christianity we make a commitment at some point (or points) to embrace and follow Christ, to become disciples. Then we move forward in life, but I think we often fail to live up to the commitment that we made in our act(s) of becoming disciples of the risen, living, Christ. We step onto the path of the Discipleship while drowsy, and not fully aware.

We go through the days without being fully aware of what is going on, of why we do what we do. We go to church, or don’t, but we often don’t pause and think about what is around us, we do things out of habit, and perhaps without even realizing it, just as I made the exit, without recalling making it. We feel called to help all those in need, but we walk by the person sleeping on the sidewalk, and perhaps offer a quick prayer, think “oh that is sad”, but don’t take the time to think “why is he there,” we don’t take the time to engage in the needed process to make long lasting changes so there is no need for her or anyone to be sleeping without adequate shelter. We see the hungry, we hear of the hungry, but we work to just address the immediate need, and not to work toward addressing the larger picture and making sustainable changes to how we do things, individually and as a society to create sustainable changes so no one goes hungry and ensuring that the worth and dignity of each person is honored and recognized.  We go to church and see a national flag in the worship space, in a fellowship hall, outside…, and don’t stop to think “should it be there?” What does it convey to me, to others… what does it say about us by where it is placed, about our relationship with our sisters and brothers in Christ of other lands, or of the land that that Government took over, or… about our priorities.  We choose to use disposable products that can’t be recycled, or that can and we choose not to… without thinking through the actions.  We hear the preacher call us to embrace our discipleship, to proclaim the peace of Christ, and the next time we hear a prayer, say a prayer, think about Christ is a week later when we are sitting in the same pew. Not taking the time to be an intentional reflection of Christ’s peace, of God’s Love… to those around us. Not taking time to see that person cry in the back row as communion is served, and offer a prayer for her and her struggles, not taking time to see how she is doing, when she walks out of the sanctuary at the end of the service. We miss a week or to, and no one calls, no one checks on us, and we complain, without thinking of how many others have missed a week or two and we never called, we never visted, or even noticed they were not amongst us. We go to church and don’t greet a person seeking a new home, thinking someone else has, and never learning he went home feeling alone, unwelcome, unloved and never finds the peace they might have found if we had just taken the time to wake up, to see, to care.

We go through our discipleship drowsy, we miss a lot of opportunities to care… like driving drowsy we can harm others, like driving drowsy we can harm ourselves as well. We can forget to be refilled, we can forget to fully engage, to make the correct turns, to be healed…. We set our eye beyond the horizon at the goal of the peaceable community, but forget to look around, to engage and bring that community into being.

So the question on my mind now is: How do we wake up, reenergize, become alert and aware in our discipleship? Are we willing? What would happen if we were to all stopped being drowsy and became alert?

Unlike driving drowsy, where one should not drive until rested, with discipleship we must keep being disciples, but we need to be intentional, we need to ensure we are getting fed and rested as well as serving… We do need to “stop” but stop to: pause, reflect and engage, which is part of being a disciple. It is the stopping of the busy distractions, so we can hear the still small voice, the stopping of going through the motions and not being aware, the stopping of not fully caring….

It’ll be tough, but I think the Holy is calling us to be awake, to be alert and be faithful, dedicated disciples who truly seek to live out the message and passion of Christ with the wholeness of our beings. We are going to stumble lots, but lets keep getting back up, lets keep waking up, and seek to be the people we are called to be.

Peace,

Lyle II

I was sitting in for their pastor, a friend of mine from seminary who was on vacation. This sermon had slowly been forming for some time. In part it started while listening to Apostle Richard James speak at the Aaronic Mass Meeting at World Conference, but it took a long time to reach the sermon. It floated in my head, I reflected, I pondered, but it refused to form. Then Friday while sitting in the sunshine, reading, reflecting, praying, and looking over the lake before me, the sermon started to take shape, coming to near final form just before the thunder and rain started to erupt.

I tried to write the sermon down as I listened to the thunder outside, but this sermon was not meant to be written fully down, it down right refused to be  written down. Rather bits and pieces of the sermon are written on various pieces of paper and in a few documents here and there, but not the entirety or even close to it in any one spot or collection of. However, I knew the sermon I preached to the lake was missing something, something I knew was part of the sermon, things that had been in earlier reflections, that had been floating through post lake, and in further reflections as well. One of those things was “baptism” and in the final form of the sermon, that spoke today, it was clearly there. It had been in it at various points, and it was a critical aspect of the sermon.

I had various notes for the sermon with me, but the only one’s I looked at where those I had in my hand the whole time: A white sticky note attached to page 238 of the Inclusive New Testament, that I looked at once to ensure I didn’t forget anything important, but realized I wasn’t following the order laid out on it but the message was flowing better than if I ahd followed this medium sized outline, which reads:

• Peace be w/ you
• Greetings
• Connection
• Baptism
• Walk through passage
• 8th grade
• Call to listen to & Respond to
• Go, Share

And the scripture passage for the day on page 239, cordon off by two purple sticky notes, which I read and glanced at a few other times: Acts 16:9-15.

As I proclaimed the Good News to and with his gathered community, as the words escaped my lips were blessed by the Spirit and landed upon my ears, I came to a few realizations about myself and my journey. One of those was how  this Community of Christ minister has been blessed greatly through my encounter with Methodists, or former Methodists. Another, that perhaps did not fully start to appear in my realization until I was driving home was that Doctrine and Covenants Section 164 I think impacted the words I shared with them.

It wasn’t that I used 164, (though it was at times used in my reflection and preparation). It wasn’t that some words in 164 changed my understandings. My participation in the world wide discernment process on conditions of membership, along with with two separate papers I wrote specifically on baptism in Community of Christ (one for Ecumenical Theology while at Seattle U, and one for a worship class at MTSO) had been an exploration and starting point of expressing my understanding of Baptism. However, I am fairly certain the words I used, the way I expressed and related to baptism, could not have happened by me in a pre 164. I can’t be sure, but I am fairly certain that 164 with the blessing of the Holy Spirit, freed me to share more fully the Good News this day, to more fully engage this congregations of my sisters and brothers in the body of Christ, with the good news expressed in Acts 16:9-15, and our common call by the Holy Spirit, and common commitment in our shared baptism in Christ. The words that flowed from my moth as I explored our shared covenant, our callings, the witness found in the testimony of the crafter of Luke-Acts as that crafter steps into the story, and shares of their response to the Holy, to the Response of Lydia, the response of many who I have encountered in life. It was a great blessing. I can’t relate the sermon here, I’ve already drifted a bit from what was shared as I try and explore the insight I encountered as I drove with the cool spring air  flowing around me and the sun shining in  the glorious blue sky.

That insight is in part: The Holy blessed me this day, Doctrine and Covenants 164  along with that blessing has freed me to be more fully engaging the mission of the Living Risen Christ, in and with Community of Christ and with the greater body of Christ to which we as Community of Christ belong and are an important part of, and a part that is needed just as much as all the others for the peace of Christ to truly be proclaimed and the peaceable community to come forth. Let us be open to go where the Spirit calls us, even if its not where (or how) we were planning to go. Let us be willing to embrace our shared covenant through our baptism in Christ, and be like Paul, be like Lydia, be like the crafter of Luke-Acts, be like those who came before us and respond to the moving of the Holy Spirit, allow the Spirit to empower us AND Guide us for the journey ahead.

Peace of Christ I leave with you this day,

In light of Grace I have from God, I urge each of you not to exaggerate your own importance. Each of you must judge yourself soberly by the standard of faith God has forgiven you. Just as each of us has one body with many members— and these members don’t have the same function— so all of us, in union with Christ, form one body. And as members of that one body, we belong to each other.
We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophecy, use it in proportion to your faith. If your gift is ministry, use it for service. If you are a teacher, use your gift for teaching. If you are good at preaching, then preach boldly. If you give to charity, do so generously; if you are a leader, exercise your authority with care, if you help others, do so cheerfully.

Romans 12:4-8 Inclusive Bible

3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgement, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. ⁴For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, ⁵so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. ⁶We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ⁷ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching;⁸the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.

Romans 12:4-8 NRSV

We reflected in our small group about the diversity of gifts, the need for them, the need for “unity in diversity”, about our interconnectedness. We shared what gifts mentioned we felt related to our own gifts and expression.

Later in another small group as we sought to create a brief elevator speech about Bread, and then to respond to a particular response someone might say. The three of us talked about a few things, as we responded to our “response.” We got of track a bit at some point, though related in a way to the task before us, and started sharing and reflecting how wonderful it was to be engaging the issues as an ecumenical voice, and in that conversation reflecting on how each denomination is unique, gifted with its own sets of gifts and talents and calling, and together we represent the body of Christ. Reflecting how as institutions we are interconnected and need one another to be able to live out as the Body of Christ. We also started to reflect on interfaith possibilities as well, but our time ran out and it was time to come back to the group as a whole.

But this has gotten me thinking, and thus as I write this on at the start of the Easter season, I feel the need to share. For it is something that keeps coming to mind, as I encounter additional scriptures, and prepare for World Conference.

Let’s start with one of the scriptures from the World Conference pages:

…let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body.  And be thankful.  Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.

Colossians 3:15-16

Let Christ’s peace reign in your hearts since, as members of one body, you have been called to that peace. Dedicate yourselves to thankfulness. Let the Word of Christ, rich as it is, dwell in you. Instruct and admonish one another wisely. Sing gratefully to God from your hearts in psalms, hymns, and songs of the Spirit

Colossians 3:15-16 Inclusive Bible

And also from Steve’s explanatory remarks  within the Counsel he shared with the church in January:

As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise. Galatians 3:27–29:

All of you who have been baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. In Christ there is no Jew or Greek, slave or citizen, male or female. All are one in Christ Jesus. Furthermore, if you belong to Christ, you are the offspring of Abraham, which means you inherit all that was promised. Galatians 3:27-29 Inclusive Bible

I wonder as I read these about our tendency to reflect upon them as individuals.  The Authors of the original letters were speaking to particular groups of people, and so perhaps it is right that we look upon them as being to the individuals that made up that community. Surely they were addressing some issues that were coming up within the community, but perhaps another layer could be seen as how the different communities relate to one another, even if not the primary aim. I think for us today, both an individual and a communal understanding should be taken. You, and I, and everyone else have been given a series of gifts and talents, we have been entrusted with these gifts, as others have been entrusted with theirs. We are all different, but we are “one” in the One who is Risen, yes Risen Indeed!

At the same time we are not just called into being as individuals, we are called into being as families, and communities. Community of Christ was divinely called into being, but not divinely called into being to be THE Community, just as I was not called into being to be THE human, or THE Christian nor were you, but to be one part of a greater whole.

We individually and communally have been called, we have been blessed with specific gifts and talents, that are DIFFERENT than those of others. Some may be similar to others, but the exact set is DIFFERENT. However without the gifts and talents of everyone else’s, the greater Body does not function, we are all needed to bring about healing and reconciliation. Community of Christ as a people of Temple, a people of sacrament, a people of peace, justice, restoration… as a prophetic people, Must stand with others to lift up that prophetic voice, and with the rest of the Body bring about healing and restoration to all of creation.

I hope that as we step forward this coming week as a body, we will have the strength to be a Body, to truly embrace our diversity, and become the prophetic people we are called to be. part of which mean making sure we ALL are functioning as we are called to be, and part of which means recognizing that this “body” that we make up is but one member of the greater Body of Christ. Together we are ALL one in Christ. Together we live the Resurrection of Christ and share that hope and good news to the World.

This morning (well now I guess yesterday) as I sat and reflected in the Prayer and testimony service, a few images came to me. Two were of my time as a Chaplain at a major Hospital: My experiences last Easter as I preached there and ministered with patients, families, and staff throughout the day, and the other the time I shared with an old catholic man who called me Father, even knowing I was not a Catholic priest. The third though is what I want to dwell on, it was thoughts of Church History, thoughts of the Sacramental meal… remembering how for some early on when they partook of the sacramental meal, they had an understanding of transformation of self. I wondered, what would happen, if we as a global community and family truly took the time to embrace the sacramental meal during conference, and became transformed into the prophetic expression of the Living Risen Christ we are called to be. That from our sharing in bread and wine together this Coming Sunday we become transformed into a prophetic people willing to listen to one another, embrace our diversity, learn our gifts, and truly live out our core values/enduring principles and our divine calling. What if we are transformed into a whole body, that knows its interconnectedness and interdependence on its members, and also in its relationships with other whole bodies that make up the Body of Christ, the Body of Faiths, the Body of Creation….  It would be amazing, I hope at the least we will at least become aware, and take the steps needed to become the Body (that is part of a greater body) that the Holy called us 170 years ago, 150 years ago, 50 years ago, 3 years ago, yesterday, today, tomorrow….  That we will embrace a path that WILL be difficult, that WILL be uncomfortable, but WILL lead to the healing and restoring of all of creation, if we have faith in ourselves, each others, our calling, the Hope and Peace of the Risen Christ, Comfort and Hope of the Breathing Spirit, and Love and Grace of the Holly Creating One.

Well I need some rest now, till next time Peace be with you…

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,