It has snowed a bunch in the last 24 hours - but I guess that just gives us a great deal in common with wide swaths of the northern part of the country.
I went to Houghton last night to help, as always, with the Explore service at Trinity. This particular service had a bit of extra preparation added to it, as Jim (our bishop) was making a visit to Trinity and staying for Explore. It was snowing and blowing by the time we were all cleaned up, and so I opted to stay the night. Popcorn and "The Constant Gardener" entertained us. It was a very smart choice; we had to get plowed out this am.
The adventure really began on the drive home. To get to the highway, there's a long way and a shortcut. The shortcut was not yet plowed. I didn't think we'd gotten that much snow, so decided to try the shortcut. I was tooling along on this seriously back road doing just fine. Then, a came to a curve, followed by a steep hill. I slowed for the curve, but then didn't have enough momentum to carry myself up the steep hill. OOPS.
So, I backed down and tried again. The upshot - I got well and truly stuck. I tried rocking, scuffing, and cursing, all to no avail. Amazingly, my cell phone had signal, so I called for roadside assistance. I was trying hard to locate myself to the dude who was clearly somewhere NOT in the UP. Atlantic Mine. Covered Drive. Just went past a road that starts with K - do you see that? "Ma'am all the roads I am looking at have numbers on them. Which number are you on?" Uh. Numbers? Dang. At the moment when I was feeling the most desperate about the whole thing, a plow arrived on the scene.
I popped out of my car and waved them down. The lovely plow dudes from the Houghton County road works, pushed me and prodded me out of the road, then plowed out where I was stuck, "backplowed" where I had gone, and then tooled off. [Backplow - the apparently technical term for driving into a narrow place and then dragging the plow while backing up - it really tamps the snow down.] I started out again, got stuck again, and then, through sheer force of will, got out of the rut, and up the hill. HOORAY.
Life lessons learned: Maggie is an awesome car, but perhaps unplowed back roads are too much for her. Carry kitty litter. I'd just told my friend Chris that Kitty Litter was an essential component to a winterized car. I got a bag on the way home.
26 February 2007
24 February 2007
Sermon, Lent 1
I'm feeling very angry about the state of the church. I read the draft of the Covenant for the Anglican Communion and the Communique from the Primates' meeting in Tanzania. You can download them both here.
My response was to write the following sermon for Sunday, based primarily in Luke's gospel, Luke 4:1-13, where Jesus is being tempted in the desert by the devil after his baptism.
Lent 1 ~ Ontonagon, MI
In this morning's reading from Luke's gospel, Jesus is driven into the desert where he is tempted by the devil for 40 days.
How does the devil tempt Jesus? Certainly, he does so by dangling before him things that might be useful to a man who A) has been in the desert without food and water for 40 days and B) wants to bring about radical change in the world.
First, the devil suggests that Jesus turn stones into bread, then he offers him power over all the world, and finally he tells Jesus that if he throws himself off the height of the temple, God will protect him.
It's what happens in that last temptation that I want to focus on this morning. When the devil tempts Jesus to throw himself off the top of the temple, he quotes scripture to bolster his argument. Hear that again: The devil quotes scripture to tempt Jesus.
Popular culture has fed us a host of images of the devil. The devil is nearly cartoon-like, sort of a red dude with horns and a pointy tail. He's got a lear, a goatee, and an evil smile. The devil is the stuff of Halloween costumes.
It's harder and much more frightening to realize that the devil might come amongst us as one of us. Maybe the devil comes to church every Sunday. Sits in our midst. Leads our churches. Has the best intentions in the world. Or not. Either way, the devil may be harder to recognize than we think.
When the devil tempted Jesus, he used some verses from Psalm 91 to suggest that if Jesus were to throw himself from the top of the temple, God would protect him because he is the Son of God. However, a full reading of Psalm 91 shows that the devil is using this scripture passage in a VERY limited way. In Psalm 91, God assures those who find their strength in Him that God will offer protection. God promises to keep safe those who rely on God. There's nothing in Psalm 91 that says that if you act recklessly, God will keep you safe. There's nothing to suggest that in all circumstances God will keep you from harm. What gives you safety in Psalm 91 is loving God.
The devil accomplishes his tempting using a shady technique called proof-texting. He pulls a couple of verses of scripture totally out of context and then uses them to try to persuade.
It happens all the time in the church. We pull out a bit of scripture and hold it up above all others. We fail to check one line against another to see if we are getting the fullest or most accurate meaning.
Or, we fail to pay attention to things like genre. Is the text quoted an allegory? Poetry? History? What setting was the text was written for? Is it addressing a particular issue? Does it have broad application?
In the history of The Church, people have used proof-texting to justify all sorts of bad behaviour - slavery, the ill treatment of women, discrimination against gay and lesbian people, odd dietary choices, war in the Middle East, really the list goes on.
In terms of full disclosure, I have to confess to you that, in case you hadn't noticed, I'm feeling a bit fired up about scriptural interpretation this week. I've been affected by the primate's meeting in Tanzania last week and recent events in our church and communion. I'm watching certain segments of the church level accusations, rework Anglican polity, or leave their dioceses all because of what clearly seems to be bad scriptural interpretation. It's breaking my heart.
It's nearly impossible for me to think of Archbishop Peter Akinola, or Bishop Robert Duncan, and not think that we're back in the desert with Jesus and the devil is quoting scripture to tempt us. In this case, the devil is quoting scripture in our churches.
The men (and some women, as well) who would ask the Episcopal church to limit who is fully welcome in the church, to limit who has access to holy orders, and to decide whose relationships can be blessed by the church are doing just what the devil did when he tempted Jesus. They are looking at small parts of scripture in isolation and then using them to tempt us to behave wrongly.
These devils pull a few verses out of Leviticus or from the letters of Paul. They hold these verses up to bolster their tempting. And because it is scripture and because they speak with authority, many many in the church listen to them.
What is required here, is that we be discerning listeners. We must weigh what we hear using a broad variety of tools. A host of options are available to us. There's the Anglican stool where we use four "legs" to examine things - Scripture, Tradition, History and Reason. Responsible scriptural interpretation also requires us to look at the context of a particular passage. For example: Why was the book of Leviticus written? What situations were being addressed by its authors? Do we give equal weight to all parts of the book? How about the passage in Romans? Is there any connection between what Paul was addressing in that book and the situations we find today?
And finally, here's the really bad news. We are as likely to be the devils as those who disagree with us. Honestly, I am as capable of wrongly interpreting as anyone else. All that we can do is try to be faithful.
The Trappist Monk, Thomas Merton, wrote a wonderful prayer that can help to guide us as we look carefully at questions of faith and interpretation. He said:
MY LORD GOD, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone. AMEN
My response was to write the following sermon for Sunday, based primarily in Luke's gospel, Luke 4:1-13, where Jesus is being tempted in the desert by the devil after his baptism.
Lent 1 ~ Ontonagon, MI
In this morning's reading from Luke's gospel, Jesus is driven into the desert where he is tempted by the devil for 40 days.
How does the devil tempt Jesus? Certainly, he does so by dangling before him things that might be useful to a man who A) has been in the desert without food and water for 40 days and B) wants to bring about radical change in the world.
First, the devil suggests that Jesus turn stones into bread, then he offers him power over all the world, and finally he tells Jesus that if he throws himself off the height of the temple, God will protect him.
It's what happens in that last temptation that I want to focus on this morning. When the devil tempts Jesus to throw himself off the top of the temple, he quotes scripture to bolster his argument. Hear that again: The devil quotes scripture to tempt Jesus.
Popular culture has fed us a host of images of the devil. The devil is nearly cartoon-like, sort of a red dude with horns and a pointy tail. He's got a lear, a goatee, and an evil smile. The devil is the stuff of Halloween costumes.
It's harder and much more frightening to realize that the devil might come amongst us as one of us. Maybe the devil comes to church every Sunday. Sits in our midst. Leads our churches. Has the best intentions in the world. Or not. Either way, the devil may be harder to recognize than we think.
When the devil tempted Jesus, he used some verses from Psalm 91 to suggest that if Jesus were to throw himself from the top of the temple, God would protect him because he is the Son of God. However, a full reading of Psalm 91 shows that the devil is using this scripture passage in a VERY limited way. In Psalm 91, God assures those who find their strength in Him that God will offer protection. God promises to keep safe those who rely on God. There's nothing in Psalm 91 that says that if you act recklessly, God will keep you safe. There's nothing to suggest that in all circumstances God will keep you from harm. What gives you safety in Psalm 91 is loving God.
The devil accomplishes his tempting using a shady technique called proof-texting. He pulls a couple of verses of scripture totally out of context and then uses them to try to persuade.
It happens all the time in the church. We pull out a bit of scripture and hold it up above all others. We fail to check one line against another to see if we are getting the fullest or most accurate meaning.
Or, we fail to pay attention to things like genre. Is the text quoted an allegory? Poetry? History? What setting was the text was written for? Is it addressing a particular issue? Does it have broad application?
In the history of The Church, people have used proof-texting to justify all sorts of bad behaviour - slavery, the ill treatment of women, discrimination against gay and lesbian people, odd dietary choices, war in the Middle East, really the list goes on.
In terms of full disclosure, I have to confess to you that, in case you hadn't noticed, I'm feeling a bit fired up about scriptural interpretation this week. I've been affected by the primate's meeting in Tanzania last week and recent events in our church and communion. I'm watching certain segments of the church level accusations, rework Anglican polity, or leave their dioceses all because of what clearly seems to be bad scriptural interpretation. It's breaking my heart.
It's nearly impossible for me to think of Archbishop Peter Akinola, or Bishop Robert Duncan, and not think that we're back in the desert with Jesus and the devil is quoting scripture to tempt us. In this case, the devil is quoting scripture in our churches.
The men (and some women, as well) who would ask the Episcopal church to limit who is fully welcome in the church, to limit who has access to holy orders, and to decide whose relationships can be blessed by the church are doing just what the devil did when he tempted Jesus. They are looking at small parts of scripture in isolation and then using them to tempt us to behave wrongly.
These devils pull a few verses out of Leviticus or from the letters of Paul. They hold these verses up to bolster their tempting. And because it is scripture and because they speak with authority, many many in the church listen to them.
What is required here, is that we be discerning listeners. We must weigh what we hear using a broad variety of tools. A host of options are available to us. There's the Anglican stool where we use four "legs" to examine things - Scripture, Tradition, History and Reason. Responsible scriptural interpretation also requires us to look at the context of a particular passage. For example: Why was the book of Leviticus written? What situations were being addressed by its authors? Do we give equal weight to all parts of the book? How about the passage in Romans? Is there any connection between what Paul was addressing in that book and the situations we find today?
And finally, here's the really bad news. We are as likely to be the devils as those who disagree with us. Honestly, I am as capable of wrongly interpreting as anyone else. All that we can do is try to be faithful.
The Trappist Monk, Thomas Merton, wrote a wonderful prayer that can help to guide us as we look carefully at questions of faith and interpretation. He said:
MY LORD GOD, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone. AMEN
11 February 2007
Sermon for 6 Epiphany
Epiphany 6 11 February 2007 Ironwood, MI
I can’t really beat around the bush here. Today’s readings are HARD. They contain a difficult message for those of us living in the developed world.
It would be easy for us to read Luke’s version of the beatitudes and simply throw our hands up in the air. After all, Luke tells us that the world is divided into those who are blessed and those who are cursed. The blessed are those who are poor, hungry, weeping, and reviled. And the cursed..... Well, the truth is, they look a lot like us.
I think that it’s a safe bet to say that among those of us here in church this morning, the vast majority of us are rich (at least when we look at things on a global scale), well-fed, happy, and well-respected. It doesn’t look so good for us. Woe to us.
Now, I don’t want to let us off the hook too easily. But, I do want to take a step back from the harshness.
First of all, we must look at this passage in the context of Luke’s whole gospel. Remember that Luke is the gospel writer who writes with the perspective of the underdog always at the forefront. Luke’s community may well have been experiencing persecution. Certainly a number of early Christian communities did.
Luke begins to put forth his vision of overturning oppressive systems as early as the first chapter of his gospel. When Mary bursts forth in her famous hymn of praise, the Magnificat, she says, “He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.”
Just a few weeks back, we heard Luke’s story of Jesus’ return to his own home town of Nazareth to inaugurate his ministry. In his local synagogue, he preached: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.
It’s also helpful to think about these HARD words in the context of the history of church teaching and doctrine. The church has had a history of interpreting scripture and teaching in terms of what the church calls eschatology. That’s a hefty theological word that simply means the end times.
It has been the traditional practice to read this section of Luke “eschatologically.” In other words, seeing the contents of this passage as referring to the future. If you’re life is hard now, you’ll be rewarded in heaven. And if you’re life is full now, then you better watch out later. Woe to you.
But, in reality, eschatologically reading the texts takes some pressure off of everybody. It serves to keep the poor down - because it’s actually better to be poor in this system. And, it absolves those of us who are rich of any responsibility. We’re sort of hopelessly stuck in the cursed column. There’s no need for social change, because the reward for misery now is eternal blessing.
What would happen if we stopped reading these texts with an eschatological eye, and instead began to read them in the here and now. What if the coming of God’s kingdom were not off in the future, but available to us here in the present? What if the hungry were fed NOW? And the poor had enough NOW? What if those whose lives were filled with mourning could find joy NOW? And those who were persecuted found their persecution ending NOW?
I don’t know about you, but I’d rather live in that world than the one we are presently living in.
Desmond Tutu says that when we read texts about justice eschatologically, we are essentially offering hungry people pie-in-the-sky for later. He reminds us that nobody wants post-mortem pies and that hungry people need to be fed now.
Furthermore, if we truly believe that the God we worship is a God of Love, those of us who are fed, prosperous, happy, and well-respected will not automatically be cursed for an accident of our birth.
However, we must face what the words here say. If we are going to stop reading the blessings eschatologically, we must stop reading the curses eschatologically, as well. We risk landing in the woe column based on what we do with what we have in the here and now.
Here are some ways to think about this.
In the passage we hear this morning from Jeremiah, he also talks about blessings and curses - those who put their trust in mortals and flesh and turn away from the LORD will find their lives barren and arid. A contemporary reading might be that those of us who trust in our wealth, our power, our independence, our self-sufficiency will find our lives barren and arid. Woe to us, if we fail to trust in God.
Or, perhaps the source of our woe will be the ways in which we cling to what we have. Every study I’ve read about wealth and poverty says that we have enough resources in the world at present to eliminate poverty and hunger. The problem is not resources but distribution.
Now, I know that none of us here this morning is wealthy in a Rupert Murdoch or Bill & Melinda Gates kind of way. However, we are all wealthier than we think.
There’s a great website - www.globalrichlist.com - where you can plug in your annual salary and find out where you sit in the ranking of the world’s wealth. My yearly salary puts me in the top 11% of the world’s richest people. Or, thought about another way, 89% of the world lives on less than $20,000 a year. Do I share my prosperity, or do I horde what I have? Woe to us, if we fail to share.
Finally, I think about attitude. I’ve talked with you before about some of my African friends. These are people who live daily with poverty, have experienced hunger and deprivation, loss, and criticism for their faith. And yet, despite this, they never stop talking about how God has blessed them. On the other hand, here in the US, we live in a culture that says that we are all just one purchase away from happiness. We look for bigger and better bargains, bigger and better toys of every kind. And, as I look around me, and encounter people, I see a great deal of unhappiness. For many of us, whatever we have, it’s never enough. We are eternally unsatisfied. Woe to us.
The choice, my friends, is ours. Blessing and Woe are not states cast upon us by God. They are not eschatological promises. They are possibilities, to be sure, over which we, who are currently blessed, have some control.
Hear the words of another great prophet, Moses, in the book of Deuteronomy.
I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, loving the LORD your God, obeying God, and holding fast to God; for that means life to you and length of days. AMEN
I can’t really beat around the bush here. Today’s readings are HARD. They contain a difficult message for those of us living in the developed world.
It would be easy for us to read Luke’s version of the beatitudes and simply throw our hands up in the air. After all, Luke tells us that the world is divided into those who are blessed and those who are cursed. The blessed are those who are poor, hungry, weeping, and reviled. And the cursed..... Well, the truth is, they look a lot like us.
I think that it’s a safe bet to say that among those of us here in church this morning, the vast majority of us are rich (at least when we look at things on a global scale), well-fed, happy, and well-respected. It doesn’t look so good for us. Woe to us.
Now, I don’t want to let us off the hook too easily. But, I do want to take a step back from the harshness.
First of all, we must look at this passage in the context of Luke’s whole gospel. Remember that Luke is the gospel writer who writes with the perspective of the underdog always at the forefront. Luke’s community may well have been experiencing persecution. Certainly a number of early Christian communities did.
Luke begins to put forth his vision of overturning oppressive systems as early as the first chapter of his gospel. When Mary bursts forth in her famous hymn of praise, the Magnificat, she says, “He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.”
Just a few weeks back, we heard Luke’s story of Jesus’ return to his own home town of Nazareth to inaugurate his ministry. In his local synagogue, he preached: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.
It’s also helpful to think about these HARD words in the context of the history of church teaching and doctrine. The church has had a history of interpreting scripture and teaching in terms of what the church calls eschatology. That’s a hefty theological word that simply means the end times.
It has been the traditional practice to read this section of Luke “eschatologically.” In other words, seeing the contents of this passage as referring to the future. If you’re life is hard now, you’ll be rewarded in heaven. And if you’re life is full now, then you better watch out later. Woe to you.
But, in reality, eschatologically reading the texts takes some pressure off of everybody. It serves to keep the poor down - because it’s actually better to be poor in this system. And, it absolves those of us who are rich of any responsibility. We’re sort of hopelessly stuck in the cursed column. There’s no need for social change, because the reward for misery now is eternal blessing.
What would happen if we stopped reading these texts with an eschatological eye, and instead began to read them in the here and now. What if the coming of God’s kingdom were not off in the future, but available to us here in the present? What if the hungry were fed NOW? And the poor had enough NOW? What if those whose lives were filled with mourning could find joy NOW? And those who were persecuted found their persecution ending NOW?
I don’t know about you, but I’d rather live in that world than the one we are presently living in.
Desmond Tutu says that when we read texts about justice eschatologically, we are essentially offering hungry people pie-in-the-sky for later. He reminds us that nobody wants post-mortem pies and that hungry people need to be fed now.
Furthermore, if we truly believe that the God we worship is a God of Love, those of us who are fed, prosperous, happy, and well-respected will not automatically be cursed for an accident of our birth.
However, we must face what the words here say. If we are going to stop reading the blessings eschatologically, we must stop reading the curses eschatologically, as well. We risk landing in the woe column based on what we do with what we have in the here and now.
Here are some ways to think about this.
In the passage we hear this morning from Jeremiah, he also talks about blessings and curses - those who put their trust in mortals and flesh and turn away from the LORD will find their lives barren and arid. A contemporary reading might be that those of us who trust in our wealth, our power, our independence, our self-sufficiency will find our lives barren and arid. Woe to us, if we fail to trust in God.
Or, perhaps the source of our woe will be the ways in which we cling to what we have. Every study I’ve read about wealth and poverty says that we have enough resources in the world at present to eliminate poverty and hunger. The problem is not resources but distribution.
Now, I know that none of us here this morning is wealthy in a Rupert Murdoch or Bill & Melinda Gates kind of way. However, we are all wealthier than we think.
There’s a great website - www.globalrichlist.com - where you can plug in your annual salary and find out where you sit in the ranking of the world’s wealth. My yearly salary puts me in the top 11% of the world’s richest people. Or, thought about another way, 89% of the world lives on less than $20,000 a year. Do I share my prosperity, or do I horde what I have? Woe to us, if we fail to share.
Finally, I think about attitude. I’ve talked with you before about some of my African friends. These are people who live daily with poverty, have experienced hunger and deprivation, loss, and criticism for their faith. And yet, despite this, they never stop talking about how God has blessed them. On the other hand, here in the US, we live in a culture that says that we are all just one purchase away from happiness. We look for bigger and better bargains, bigger and better toys of every kind. And, as I look around me, and encounter people, I see a great deal of unhappiness. For many of us, whatever we have, it’s never enough. We are eternally unsatisfied. Woe to us.
The choice, my friends, is ours. Blessing and Woe are not states cast upon us by God. They are not eschatological promises. They are possibilities, to be sure, over which we, who are currently blessed, have some control.
Hear the words of another great prophet, Moses, in the book of Deuteronomy.
I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, loving the LORD your God, obeying God, and holding fast to God; for that means life to you and length of days. AMEN
How Rich are you?
In today's sermon, I talk about global poverty (now, there's a shock!). I referenced the site globalrichlist.com. There, I found that I am in the top 11% of the world's wealthiest people. Here's how you can find out where you rank.
I'm the 669,642,941 richest person on earth! Discover how rich you are! >> |
05 February 2007
Brrr ... Cold and Snowy
Well, we've finally started getting the winter I have to be able to live with if I'm going to stay a while in the UP. For the last couple of days, it's been bitterly cold with a scary windchill factor. It's also been snowing to beat the band. I knew that somehow I'd settled in when I went outside this morning, thought it felt quite warm, and discovered on my car's thermometer that it was 1. That's 1 degree Farenheit, my friends!
I've discovered that when it is this cold the snow does a weird thing on the road. It doesn't settle in for the long haul and it doesn't dissipate. Instead, it hangs about and when cars drive on it, it rises up in clouds that are perfectly capable of totally obscuring one's vision. Translation: one can be driving along the road, meet a car, and be suddenly, totally, and completely blinded. Several times in the last few days, I've had to come to a complete stop in the road and wait for the clouds of snow to settle, because I could see nothing. Nada. Zip. Just another UP driving adventure.
Despite the cold and the clouds o' snow, it's absolutely gorgeous. It looks like a fairy land. The trees appear to be frosted with spun sugar. The falling snow looks like diamond crystals. The snow is light and shovels pretty easily. The beauty makes the discomfort worth it.
I've discovered that when it is this cold the snow does a weird thing on the road. It doesn't settle in for the long haul and it doesn't dissipate. Instead, it hangs about and when cars drive on it, it rises up in clouds that are perfectly capable of totally obscuring one's vision. Translation: one can be driving along the road, meet a car, and be suddenly, totally, and completely blinded. Several times in the last few days, I've had to come to a complete stop in the road and wait for the clouds of snow to settle, because I could see nothing. Nada. Zip. Just another UP driving adventure.
Despite the cold and the clouds o' snow, it's absolutely gorgeous. It looks like a fairy land. The trees appear to be frosted with spun sugar. The falling snow looks like diamond crystals. The snow is light and shovels pretty easily. The beauty makes the discomfort worth it.
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