Padre Complex

How do you get at the idea of providence in a post-911 world?

1 I look up to the mountains; does my strength come from mountains? 2 No, my strength comes from God, who made heaven, and earth, and mountains. 3 He won’t let you stumble, your Guardian God won’t fall asleep. 4 Not on your life! Israel’s Guardian will never doze or sleep. 5 God’s your Guardian, right at your side to protect you - 6 Shielding you from sunstroke, sheltering you from moonstroke. 7 God guards you from every evil, he guards your very life. 8 He guards you when you leave and when you return, he guards you now, he guards you always. (The Message)

Eugene Peterson writes in “A long obedience in the same direction” about the Christian life and discipleship. He begins his chapter on providence this way.

The moment we say no to the world and yes to God, all our problems are solved, all our questions answered, all our troubles over. Nothing can disturb the tranquility of the soul at peace with God. Nothing can interfere with the blessed assurance that all is well between me and my savior. Nothing and no one can upset the enjoyable relationship that has been established by faith in Jesus Christ. We Christians are among that privileged company of persons who don’t have accidents, who don’t have arguments with our spouses, who aren’t misunderstood by our peers, whose children do not disobey us.

If any `of these things should happen – a crushing doubt, a squall of anger, a desperate loneliness, an accident that puts us in the hospital, an argument that puts us in the dog house, a rebellion that puts us on the defensive, a misunderstanding that us in the wrong – it is a sign that something is wrong with our relationship with God. We have, consciously or unconsciously, retracted our yes to God; and God, impatient with our fickle faith, has gone off to take care of someone more deserving of his attention.

Is that what you believe? If it is – I have some incredibly good news. You are wrong.

If we believe once we become a believer our life goes on to easy street – then any mistake is proof against us — it is proof that God must not think we are Christians — surely someone with difficult issues can’t be a Christian.

Light Exegesis
Our scripture today is a Psalm. Psalms you do remember are the hymns of the Israelites. They were sung as songs and prayers in worship and in festivals, and in preparation for worship.

Psalm 121 – our psalm for this morning – is taken from a section entitled ‘Songs of Ascent.’ Scholars believe that the songs of ascent were those songs that were sung as the Israelites journeyed up to Jerusalem. These Psalms recreated for the Israelites the experience of coming up to the holy city and meeting God there.

For the Israelites – faith was viewed as a journey – a trip – a pilgrimage. In the Jewish religion there were a couple of festivals that required believers to journey to the Temple in Jerusalem for the event – sometimes lasting a couple of days. So unlike our day and time – when anyone who wants to celebrate Christmas can go to any number of churches in their hometown to celebrate the same holiday – in that day – you had to travel to the Temple in Jerusalem. Sort of like – if you want to see real country music – you have to go to Nashville to hear it.

In this psalm we get a picture of what it must have been like to travel in the days of the Israelites. The psalmist writes about the towering hills, the dangers of falling, the heat of the sun, and the threat of night. Throughout the whole song the name of God is praised and lifted up – as a creator, a protector and a companion.

This psalm is regularly quoted as a way of understanding providence. Providence is that fancy theological word that describes the ways in which God acts in our lives.

The psalm alludes to the fact that to get to Jerusalem the Israelites would have had to walk up the mountains. Mountains were a fearful place for travelers – the opportunity to fall was greater, the mountains sometimes hid wild animals, or robbers. And for the Israelites the mountains were where pagans would worship their Gods.

Notice that the kind of care that God gives is one that is always there. The psalmist even writes that God does not slumber or sleep. Other faiths that were active in the days of the Israelites were not as confident about their Gods. Scholars tell us that pagans thought that their Gods would rest during winter time and wake in the spring. Followers of Baal – which were the people that the Israelites chased out of what would become the Promised land were often said to have to make a lot of noise to wake up their God who was known to party, get drunk, and pass out. If you remember the story of Elijah and Elisha and the prophets of Baal - where Elijah was going to have a contest with the prophets of Baal. When the prophets of Baal were unable to invoke the power of their God to light the bonfire Elijah asks first if their God is sleeping – and then asks if there God is stuck someplace else using a euphemism for an outhouse.

But not only is our God not stuck in the toilet – he is a God that does more than just think nice thoughts about us – he shades us in the sun, lights our way at night – and walks with us as a companion on our way.

Sources for exegetical work:
Peterson, Eugene. (2000) A Long Obedience in the Same Direction. Inter Varsity Press.
Creach, Jerome F D. (1996) “Psalm 121.” Interpretation. Vol. 50:1 Jan 1996, p 47-51.
Barker, David , (1995) “The Lord Watches over You” : A Pilgrimage Reading of Psalm 121. Bibliotheca sacra, 152 Ap-Je 1995, p 163-181.

Life Application
So – if the scriptures say that God protects us so well – then why do bad things happen to good people? If God is so ever present to shield us from the sun and guide our way at night – why do we have hurricanes, fires, tornados and death?

If God is so good why do we ever have to attend the funeral of a child or a grandchild?

Our experience is different from what this scripture says.

In the days of the psalmist – it was common practice to consult the Gods and the temples before traveling anywhere. You would visit the priest of the sun god for protection from heat – and you would visit the moon temple for protection from the evil of the dark. You would go to another soothsayer for an amulet against the evil demons that might make you slip or fall. Then having consulted all of the powers that be – you would embark on your way – hoping that you had said everything right, done everything right and paid the right amounts to each temple.

But you and I both know there is something empty in that. Whether you are buying trip insurance for your vacation, the ‘club’™ to protect your car from neighbors or one of those fancy combination tools that will cut your seat belt and smash the window of your car if you were to drive your car off a bridge and into a lake – those things are just things – and they might or might not save us.

Our scripture refers to God by his personal name three times. And it calls God Guardian eight times in as many verses. The God that we serve is not an impersonal executive giving an order from on high – and he is not a con artist selling snake oil to unsuspecting tourists. Our God is a companion, a friend. We don’t need to go see the sun god, the moon god, or get an amulet of protection – because we serve a God who created the sun, the moon, and the rocks that we walk on.

If becoming a Christian meant that we wouldn’t suffer – then the Bible would be a boring, boring book. But the truth of the matter is that the Bible tells some of the harshest stories about the lives of believers. Paul alone was shipwrecked, chased out of town, put in jail, and starved. And of course Jesus – the author and perfecter of our faith was hung on a cross to die.

But the way we tell the story of our faith is not to tell the trials and tribulations that we have endured for God. But rather we tell the story of our faith by naming the God who preserves us, accompanies and rules us.

Eugene Peterson writes this about providence:

All the water in all the oceans cannot sink a ship unless it gets inside. Nor can all the trouble in the world harm us unless it gets within us. That is the promise of Psalm 121. “God guards you from every evil.” Not the demons in the rocks, not the attack of the sun God, nor the fear of the dark from the moon goddess can separate us from the call and purpose of God. None of the things that happen to us, none of the troubles we encounter have any power to get between us and God, it cannot dilute his grace in us, it cannot divert his will from our lives.

The only serious mistake we can make when illness comes, when anxiety threatens, when conflict disturbs our relationships with others is to conclude that God has gotten bored looking after us and has shifted his attention to a more exciting Christian, or that God has become disgusted with our meander obedience and decided to let us fend for ourselves for a while, or that God has gotten too busy fulfilling prophesy in the Middle East to take time now to sort out the complicated mess we have gotten ourselves into. That is the only serious mistake we can make. And it is a mistake that Psalm 121 warns us of – the mistake of supposing that God’s interest waxes and wanes in us in response to our spiritual temperature.

Faith is not a magic shield – faith is a journey. It is a journey to God. And on that journey we travel the same ground that everyone else walks on, breathe the same air drink the same water, shop in the same stores, read the same newspapers, are citizens under the same governments, pay the same process for groceries and gasoline, fear the same dangers, are subject to the same pressures, get the same distresses and are buried in the same ground.

The difference is that we walk with God, are preserved by God, ruled by God, and therefore no matter what might happen – we are guarded by God. Guarded from not the shipwrecks and the persecution – but guarded from the evil in the shipwrecks and persecutions.

And providence… it isn’t a magical decoder ring — but the evidence of God protecting us from the evil in the world (Romans 8:38-9).

This scripture story could be about what to do when you get lost.

14 “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: 15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm–neither hot nor cold–I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. 19 Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. 20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. 21 To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

Repentance is the first word in a sort of ’spiritual GPS system.’ It is the first step of faith. It is the first step of how to go home.

The story of Laodicea illustrates how we might understand the word repentance.

For many the letters in Revelation are scary stuff. They point out our inability to be faithful and they cast doubt on our relationship with God. And of course in the last ten years Tim LaHaye has made a fortune scaring people to Jesus with the Left Behind books.

But closer reading of the Bible reveals that the book of Revelation is less about using a scary story to frighten people to Jesus – and rather more like a book of comfort for the remnant of the church trying to be faithful in a growing secular world.

But what do you make of Jesus’ discussion of hot and cold water, and spitting out lukewarm water? We’ve always associated a hot faith with someone spiritually alive – and a cold faith with someone in danger of losing their salvation. And so it appears to some that Jesus is telling the Laodiceans – and us – to get off the fence – be hot or be cold – but quit wasting my time with being in the middle. Some scholars even talk about area hot springs and cold springs that were refreshing – and the fact that the Laodiceans got their water from an aqueduct that allowed the water to become lukewarm.

A better interpretation that fits with the whole passage is one of refreshment. The Romans of Jesus’ day believed that civilized people enjoyed refreshing drinks. And the drinks that were refreshing usually were hot or cold. If it is the winter you want hot chocolate and if it is the summer you want an ice cold – er – lemonade.

Or to put it differently a cold beverage or a hot beverage – regardless – is a contrast to its environment. It is distinctive and recognizable. And it performs a job. It refreshes. But a lukewarm beverage does not do any of that. It is not distinctive it is not a contrast to its environment and conversely it does not refresh.

Maybe what Jesus is talking about isn’t a strange conception of being on fire for God – or not on fire for God. But rather maybe the issue is that Jesus wants their faith to be refreshing. And while we’re here lets talk about this translation of ‘spit out’. The Greek word here really is translated vomit- not spit out. The image here is not a dainty spitting of bad wine into a cistern – but the rejection of something foul, bad or distasteful. Think more of ‘hugging the porcelain throne with a stomach bug’ than a ‘high society wine tasting.’

In Jesus’ time it was a sign of friendship if you dined with someone. In fact Jesus got in trouble for who he dined with – he dined with those who no one interested in working the room and climbing the ladder would dine with … He dined with prostitutes, and tax collectors, men and women who were not cool, who were not considered dignified or moral. I imagine we might say that Jesus dines with the least, the last and the lost. Seems like after the last week – Jesus might sit down to the table with Kevin Federline, Britney Spears, and Anna Nicole Smith..

But to have someone into your home in Jesus’ day was both an honor and a responsibility – you were required to cater to their needs to show them the greatest hospitality. You had someone wash their feet, bring out refreshing drink and you cooked a meal that made them comfortable and cherished.

How does the scripture end? It ends with Jesus saying I stand at the door and knock – and if you will open the door I will come in and sit with you (some translations say and eat with you).

This passage is a call to repentance. It is a reminder to the Laodiceans that faith is about being refreshing – refreshing to each other, to the stranger and to God. When our faith sours – when we stop taking care of our spiritual lives – when we stop reading the Bible, stop praying, stop loving our neighbors as we love ourselves – we are no longer refreshing. We then become so distasteful and repulsive that the creator of the universe – the king of Glory – the God whose love is so deep and so wide as to rescue and welcome any repentant sinner – can’t stand the taste of us – and finds himself hovering over the toilet sick to his stomach.

Repentance is the act of stopping, turning around and heading home. It is the act of stopping and taking a whiff of our own faith – and deciding that we have gone long enough without bathing, or taking care of ourselves. Repentance is the recognition that we can’t do it on our own – and it is time to go home to God – to be refreshed so that we might be refreshing to others.

Repentance is a fancy word for ‘do over.’ Repentance is taking responsibility for how lost we’ve become. Repentance is the first step in the right direction, the first step home, the first step towards the God who loves us, cares for us and wants to be in relationship with us.

It isn’t the result of fire and brimstone preaching, it isn’t the result of high pressure evangelism – it isn’t the result of emotional or spiritual black mail.

Instead it is the result of someone who has reached the end of their rope – a person who doesn’t want to go it alone any more – a person who looks around and realizes they’ve been refusing God’s help for so long – having reached the bottom of the rope – they tie a knot – and ask for a lift.

(Source for exegetical material - Koester, Craig R. (2003). “The message to Laodicea and the problem of its local context: A study of the imagery in Rev 3.14-22″ New Testament Studies Vol 49 pp 407-424.)

Ok..

In the past I’ve developed elaborate plans for Lenten disciplines. I have given up chocolate, eaten rice for lunch one day a week, given up TV (except Duke Basketball games), and other attempts at Lenten centering. I even had a plan to give up using my car when I lived in Houston. I figured using the bus would be a great way to conserve fuel - but also create time for prayer. But in the end the fasts never created the synergy that I was hoping for in my lenten disciplines. Being borderline ADD it takes a lot to hold my attention and one dimensional fasts weren’t working.

I also have come to resent some of the ‘fasting’ ideas. Jesus dies on the cross for our sins - and we give up chocolate. Jesus is whipped, stripped and hung between two themes and we give up Grey’s Anatomy for 6-7 weeks. It just seems kind of gilded and paltry.

It rings of cheap grace, or easy discipleship.

So this year — in an attempt to continue to grow in discipline, and accountability — I am trying Ship of Fools - 40 days of Lent. Included in the 40 different activities are a media diet, scripture readings about Lent, recycling, and poem reading - and that is only the first week!

I think the variety, and the depth will help me remember what Lenten Disciplines are really about.

So — what are you doing for Lent — ?

One of the wise-est people I know is Bill Kerley. He is a pastor and therapist in Houston. Bill teaches a weekly Sunday School Class at St. Paul’s UMC and the lesson is podcasted each week. I am a little behind on my listenning. But this image struck me from the October 29, 2006 lesson Catching the Vision. In it Bill tries to clarify what the class will be trying to do he offers this:

I’m sure I’ll be making some references to our trip from time to time in the weeks ahead. We spent three weeks traveling in Portugal, Spain and France. It was a wonderful trip.

The most challenging part of it was the driving. I have concluded that the drivers in some of the European countries are better than American drivers. They have to be! What was challenging for us was finding hotels where we had made reservations in some of the cities we visited - like Bilboa, Spain and Lourdes, France. We like to stay in the heart of the cities and towns where we go and it is these parts of those places that were built somewhere in the 14th century and the very narrow streets were laid out on cow paths. Not knowing the language we couldn’t read most of the street signs and even though I had a GPS that worked in Europe, sometimes it was a real challenge - especially because of the high density of the traffic.

The way we like to travel is to have a reservation at someplace the first few days we travel and then, after that, to wing it. This has pluses and minuses. The plus side is that of spontaneity. You can do what you want to do when you want to do it. The minus side is that some of what you might want to do is not available. We wanted, for example, to go to Salamanca, Spain but they were having some huge convention when we wanted to go and there was not a place to be found anywhere in the city or close by.

So, we changed our minds and decided to go to Lourdes, France instead.

You no doubt have heard of this place. It is a place of alleged miracles. The story goes that on the 11th February 1858 Bernadette Soubirous a young girl of 14 years left the hovel where she and her family lived in poverty to go and collect firewood. As she went into the woods she heard the sound of wind and then saw a light which lit up the silhouette of a young girl “as young and small as herself” the story has it. The girl smiled at her and said, “Would you do me the favor of coming here for two weeks?” Bernadette said,” Yes.”

In the next two weeks there followed a series of visions and if you look this up on the Internet, it sounds very bizarre to our so- called modern ears but what it has resulted in is the place becoming a Mecca for people all over the world who want to experience healing. When I say it is a Mecca for people what I mean is that over 5,500,000 a year go there. But we had no idea of this. As we drove off the toll road onto the series of small roads that would take us there, there was virtually no traffic. No tour busses. Nothing at all to indicate what we were about to get into.

We pulled up on the edge of town to check a map and set the GPS to take us to the Visitor’s Information place. As we drove into the place, I began to experience a crowd of people like I have never experienced. I have never in my life seen so many infirm people of all kinds in one place. We managed to park the car and got help in finding a hotel. We set out by car to find it. No luck. Eventually we stopped and Sherry went to ask at a shop for directions. This was like some of those scenes you see in movies of crowded cities in China or India - people walking in the streets oblivious of cars. After two or three attempts and stopping to ask for directions a couple of more times and driving on streets that were almost as narrow as the car - I am not making that up, we hit on an idea. I pulled up behind a cab, Sherry got out and jumped into it and told the driver where she wanted to go and I followed them. We got to our destination.

I don’t think that is a very bad metaphor for what we are doing here. I’m going to be your cab driver and you are here to find a way home. It is a limited metaphor. I know that. There may have been many different routes the cab could have taken from where we encountered it to the place where he led us. But it got us where we wanted to go. I hope you experience that by being here.

If you wanted to get at the GenX take on spirituality — this is getting close. It is less about authority, entertainment, or education. But rather it is about finding your way in a world filled with pain. It is like one beggar telling another beggar where to find food.

One of our Advent traditions is to share a family Advent Calendar. My wife saw a wonderful idea a few years ago that was perfect for young children. The idea is to take and decorate boxes (little to medium) and write Advent oriented scripture references and place them inside. Each day of Advent has a box and a scripture. Then each day the family gathers, lights a candle, reads a scripture and prays together. Our family added (due to the presence of a cute three year old) a couple of M&Ms to each box.

We were very surprised when our duaghter really got into this — she would get the box, eat the candy while listenning to the scripture and then remind us to pray. My daughter is used to the call and response prayer of her bed time and the Children’s Moments on Sundays at church.

My wife asked her - do you want to lead the prayer. Grace said - Yes! The prayer that she led us in follows.

Dear God (standard beginning for her world)
Help us to not get frustrated (apparently her father does often)
Help us to listen (a usual reason for going to timeout)
Help us to forgive (part of our timeout procedures)
And give us chocolate. (self explanatory)
In Jesus name, Amen.

Yep.. a little child shall lead them.

Shalom Alekum tells a delightful story about an old man standing on a crowded bus. The young man standing next to him asked, “What time is it?”

The old man refused to reply. The young man moved on.

The old man’s friends, sensing something was wrong, asked, “Why were you so discourteous to that young man who was asking for the time?”

The old man answered, “If I’d given him the time of day, next he’d want to know where I’m going; then we might talk about our interests. If we did that he might invite himself to my house for dinner. If he did, he’d meet my lovely daughter. If he met her they would both fall in love. I don’t want my daughter marrying somebody who can’t afford a watch!”

—–Jerry Neff, “The Good Samaritan,” August 26, 2001, A & M United Methodist Church Web Site, Am-umc.org/sermons/sermon010826.htm.

REST IN PEACE
by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

I am a World Trade Center tower, standing tall in the clear blue sky, feeling a violent blow in my side, and
I am a towering inferno of pain and suffering imploding upon myself and collapsing to the ground.
May I rest in peace.

I am a terrified passenger on a hijacked airplane not knowing where we are going or that I am riding on fuel tanks that will be instruments of death, and
I am a worker arriving at my office not knowing that in just a moment my future will be obliterated.
May I rest in peace.

I am a pigeon in the plaza between the two towers eating crumbs from someone’s breakfast when fire rains down on me from the skies, and
I am a bed of flowers admired daily by thousands of tourists now buried under five stories of rubble.
May I rest in peace.

I am a firefighter sent into dark corridors of smoke and debris on a mission of mercy only to have it collapse around me, and
I am a rescue worker risking my life to save lives who is very aware that I may not make it out alive.
May I rest in peace.

I am a survivor who has fled down the stairs and out of the building to safety who knows that nothing will ever be the same in my soul again, and
I am a doctor in a hospital treating patients burned from head to toe who knows that these horrible images will remain in my mind forever.
May I know peace.

I am a tourist in Times Square looking up at the giant TV screens thinking I’m seeing a disaster movie as I watch the Twin Towers crash to the ground, and
I am a New York woman sending e-mails to friends and family letting them know that I am safe.
May I know peace.

I am a piece of paper that was on someone’s desk this morning and now I’m debris scattered by the wind across lower Manhattan, and
I am a stone in the graveyard at Trinity Church covered with soot from the buildings that once stood proudly above me, death meeting death.
May I rest in peace.

I am a dog sniffing in the rubble for signs of life, doing my best to be of service, and
I am a blood donor waiting in line to make a simple but very needed contribution for the victims.
May I know peace.

I am a resident in an apartment in downtown New York who has been forced to evacuate my home, and
I am a resident in an apartment uptown who has walked 100 blocks home in a stream of other refugees.
May I know peace.

I am a family member who has just learned that someone I love has died, and
I am a pastor who must comfort someone who has suffered a heart-breaking loss.
May I know peace.

I am a loyal American who feels violated and vows to stand behind any military action it takes to wipe terrorists off the face of the earth, and
I am a loyal American who feels violated and worries that people who look and sound like me are all going to be blamed for this tragedy.
May I know peace.

I am a frightened city dweller who wonders whether I’ll ever feel safe in a skyscraper again, and
I am a pilot who wonders whether there will ever be a way to make the skies truly safe.
May I know peace.

I am the owner of a small store with five employees that has been put out of business by this tragedy, and
I am an executive in a multinational corporation who is concerned about the cost of doing business in a terrorized world.
May I know peace.

I am a visitor to New York City who purchases postcards of the World Trade Center Twin Towers that are no more, and
I am a television reporter trying to put into words the terrible things I have seen.
May I know peace.

I am a boy in New Jersey waiting for a father who will never come home, and
I am a boy in a faraway country rejoicing in the streets of my village because someone has hurt the hated Americans.
May I know peace.

I am a general talking into the microphones about how we must stop the terrorist cowards who have perpetrated this heinous crime, and
I am an intelligence officer trying to discern how such a thing could have happened on American soil, and
I am a city official trying to find ways to alleviate the suffering of my people.
May I know peace.

I am a terrorist whose hatred for America knows no limit and I am willing to die to prove it, and
I am a terrorist sympathizer standing with all the enemies of American capitalism and imperialism, and
I am a master strategist for a terrorist group who planned this abomination.
My heart is not yet capable of openness, tolerance, and loving.
May I know peace.

I am a citizen of the world glued to my television set, fighting back my rage and despair at these horrible events, and
I am a person of faith struggling to forgive the unforgivable, praying for the consolation of those who have lost loved ones, calling upon the merciful beneficence of God/Lord/Allah/Spirit/Higher Power.
May I know peace.

I am a child of God who believes that we are all children of God and we are all part of one another.
May we all know peace.

Last year I wrote a paper for my DMin program looking at reading the Bible contextually for the purpose of mission and ministry. I found Paul’s letter to Philemon to be an interesting discussion of welcoming a brother with a different social class in the church. Sadly many of our churches are bound by particular social and economic classes. It is still true to say today that Sunday morning is the most segregated hour of the week. It is also true to think about economic issues. I have often heard the joke “What’s the difference between the Methodist church and the Episcopalian church?” A Mercedes, a Jaguar and two Beamers.

So what are affluent, white, church goers supposed to think and do regarding immigration? Maybe a coherent answer is - read Philemon.

The paper is long. I have broken it into segments and posted them as pages outside of the weblog chronology.

1. Looking at the Text: Immigration and Philemon
2. Context of Immigration and Oppression
3. What’s globalism got to do with it?
4. Migration as a Journey
5. Lo Cotidiano
6. An answer to the Question

Feel free to make comments here. And feel free to email me at Peter_Cammarano@hotmail.com

For those of you like me — here are a few excerpts …

Although globalism continues to be promoted in the West as a ’savior for economic markets,’ across the world the reality is that it has commodified the lives of third world laborers and left them at a disadvantage. Hispanics experience the paradox of globalism where they find that their money is permitted to go places they would never be allowed to travel to or to live. Globalism is an Orwellian term that has begun to stand for the opposite of what it means. Instead of uniting the world and creating a better world for all — globalism has erected barriers to separate the rich from the poor. Nestor Miguez notes that “while the capitalist world rejoiced with the falling of the Berlin Wall, and claimed it as a sign of the triumph of liberty and democracy, it is building other walls not only symbolic but physical as well along the borders of rich and poor countries.” We would be remiss if we did not note the stepped up border patrols of both the government and citizens along the U.S. Mexico border and the further separation and alienation that is being instituted.

or…

How do we bring the text and the context to bear on one another? The persuasive words of Paul in his letter to Philemon speak of ‘family’ and his ‘heart’ being a part of the born again slave Onesimus. He alludes in an ambiguous way about Onesimus becoming more than a slave – a beloved brother. How do we read that text within our context of a segregated church in South Central Texas. The United Methodist church admits to doing a poor job of creating Hispanic churches or forming Hispanic pastors. Their efforts have borne little fruit and leave the church in a peculiar stance of resembling Philemon. A man who has lost a slave and now needs to understand a new relationship in the faith family.

As I have shown through the statistics of the U.S. Census Bureau, Mexican Americans are not enjoying an equal status in the life of the faith family. They are not just absent from the table – but most likely they are serving, cleaning up, and washing dishes for those of us sitting at the table – while we eat bland Americanized versions of their dishes marketed by major restaurant corporations for large profit margins. It is hard to learn about your lost brother if you and he move in separate circles. An invisible brother is no brother at all. Harold Recinos reminds us that “American Methodism must give up its privileged life for the sake of the crucified through whom it gains life.” He reminds us also that the poor were the grass roots communities that nourished “the evangelical drive of Wesley and the early Methodist movement.” To borrow from Revelation – we have lost our first love. To paraphrase from Paul in his letter to Philemon – we have not refreshed the hearts of all the saints. Until we identify with Paul’s careful consideration of status and family from his letter to Philemon we will find ourselves isolated from our Hispanic brothers and sisters in Christ.

Can I get a Witness?
Luke 24:36-48

Authentication by way of anointing?
Salvation is not geographically based but theologically grounded.

“Some wish to live within the sound of church or chapel bell; I want to run a rescue shop, within a yard of hell.”
–Preserved in the biography of British cricket star, missionary pioneer, and founder of the Worldwide Evangelism Crusade, C. T. Studd. See Norman P. Grubb, C. T. Studd: Cricketeer and Pioneer (London: Religious Tract Society, 1937), 166. (Found at Homiletics magazine).

We are not saved because we are within sight of the church house, nor are we saved because we have heard the bells from the church tower. We are saved because we are able to see the risen Jesus – others are saved because we are willing to set up a rescue station where the story of our testimonies will be told.

But more than that – we are able to tell the story because the Holy Spirit not only authenticates our witness, not only seconds our motion, but has anointed us with the Good News so that it might be proclaimed.

If anything – Jesus’ ministry here on earth was about making real the kingdom, witnessing the love of God to 12 clueless men. In the same way our ministry to the world should be making real the Jesus who lived, died and suffered on the cross to set us free.

The way to do that is to not treat Jesus like he is some strange ghost. We walk around talking about Jesus as if we had a good luck rabbit foot in our pocket, or a special ‘siamese twin’ relationship with him. Or the ‘Bit’o’Jesus’ faith – like people who only need a small candy bar experience of Jesus – to much might give us a stomach ache. Jesus isn’t a ghost lept int he living room. You know in the living room on the sofa that is covered in plastic. Jesus isn’t a savior you take out when company is over. He doesn’t show up for entertainment purposes only and then kindly exscuses himself.

We embarrass ourselves by picking and choosing what we think others should know about our Jesus.

+Christians carry ‘God hates Fags’ signs but then turn around and forget that Jesus calls us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.
+Christians complain about prayer in school – or the lack thereof but then drive large gas guzzling SUVs to pick there children up and drop them off at school.
+We preach forgiveness but demand the death penalty.
+We argue against the death of an unborn child and ignore the thousands of homeless and orphans in Africa due to the AIDS epidemic.
+We feel strongly about so many things – and are oblivious to so many other things.
+We create by our words and actions a Jesus who might as well be a Ghost.

Somedays people have to squint so hard to see Jesus in us that it might as well be a cheap parlor trick that we are doing. Now you see him, now you don’t.

Friends – Jesus gave you a story to tell. If we don’t tell it – then we might as well close the doors of the church – and quit wasting God’s time.

God is calling you… can you hear the call?

“Let us conclude with a few lines recalled from George Bernard Shaw’s play, Saint Joan. The play is about Joan of Arc, an uneducated, seventeen-year-old peasant girl in France. She lived in the middle of the fifteenth century, when the English occupied a part of France. In he r prayer, Saint Joan heard voices that told her to place Charles VII on the French throne and to win back France from the English. Faithful to her prayer, the voices told her how to wage the war against the English. Historians call this illiterate seventeen-year-old girl a military genius! In Shaw’s play, the king, a weak man, is upset because he does not hear the voices. He says to Joan, ‘Why do I not hear your voices? Am I not the king? Should they not be speaking to me instead of to you, a simple peasant girl?’ And Saint Joan answers, ‘My Leige, you too can hear them, but you must learn to listen. Listen after the trilling of the angelus bells. In the stillness, after the bells have ceased, listen, and then, my Leige, you too will hear the voices.’ ” (From a review of ‘Joan of Arcadia’, by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, found on Spirituality And Practice)

If you can’t hear Jesus calling for us to be his witnesses – then maybe it is time – like the King in the play to learn how to listen.

In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit…

What role should dialogue have in our lives as Christians? PM Pilgrim discusses the tensions that should be held together for the sake of community.

All of a sudden we find ourselves in slippery places of uncomfortable opinions and disconcerting feelings. Better to put up the walls, keep the defenses strong, and just be plain obnoxious. I guess what makes me “laid-back” is that I try (with some moments of success) to keep these things in perspective. I am willing to admit that I do not have all the answers and that I can learn great things from all kinds of people, even those with whom I have strong disagreements.

I learn from fundamentalists to keep the Bible central in my faith.
I learn from evangelicals to never forget that we are to live as witnesses to the Gospel.
I learn from mainline, moderates the value of roots and tradition and keeping balanced.
I learn from charismatics the joy of passionate involvement with the Holy Spirit.
I learn from liberals the challenge of living the faith in social justice and openness to people.
I learn from Roman Catholics that we are all branches of a very old, and richly watered tree of faith.
I learn from traditional worship the beauty of liturgy as a means of experiencing grace.
I learn from contemporary worship the need to speak in the language that people understand.
I learn from the emergent church that we must engage the culture.
I learn from my Orthodox brothers and sisters that “western” culture isn’t the only way and hasn’t ever been.
I learn from Christians in persecuted countries the true costs that following Jesus can bring.

If I lose sight of any of that, I will be poorer for it. I will lose connections with brothers and sisters who, while having new (or old) and different opinions from mine, are still brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ. The church, The Church, is what we are. Jesus is who we are about. There is only one confession of faith:

Jesus is Lord!

All else is commentary.

Amen.