Meditations on the Mysteries

Encountering God

2012-01-16T01:13:00.002-05:00

Each year, I choose a new devotional book to work through. Last year I enjoyed Henri Nouwen's Bread for the Journey and By Way of the Desert, with daily excerpts from the Desert Fathers. I highly recommend both.

This year I discovered Eugene Peterson's The Message / Remix / Solo: An Uncommon Devotional (also available at NavPress). This devotional book contains an excerpt from Peterson's wonderfully-popular Bible translation, The Message, along with questions and guides for prayer and living out the Scriptures. He uses a modified form of the ancient Christian practice of lectio divina, "holy reading." Each day you are invited read, pray, reflect and live.

What I love about this devotional Bible is its strong emphasis on an encounter and relationship with God. Ideally, this is always the case when reading Scripture. However, in practical terms, sometimes our Bible reading takes the form of information gathering or searching for self-help material, rather than an encounter with the Living God.

Another gift of this devotional Bible is that every seventh day, you are invited simply to pause and reflect on the readings from the previous week.

If you're struggling with regular Scripture reading as a way to begin the New Year, I highly recommend The Message / Remix / Solo.

(While we're on the subject of readable Bible translations, one recent translation that's been getting a lot of buzz is the Common English Bible. Check it out.)

*Note: I do not receive any promotional benefits from any individuals or companies involved with the products named above. I simply have enjoyed them and recommend them.

Prayer as Listening

2011-10-25T16:11:00.001-04:00

Let’s just get a few things on the table. The “listening” part of prayer is sometimes the most difficult part. When we pray to God, we do not always get an answer right back. Sometimes the silence is deafening. Sometimes the silence is frustrating. But for me what is even more frightening is when God does speak back to us: through the Scriptures, through other believers, through situations and events, or through creation.

First, the silence. The silence of God is something that I believe we need to grow increasingly accustomed to. When Elijah is on the mountaintop, running scared from Queen Jezebel, God does not come in the earthquake and wind and fire, but in the sound of sheer silence (1 Kings 19:12). The greatest answer to prayer, the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh, is done quietly, almost silently, as he is born in a manger in a small town: Silent night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright. As Jesus is tried and beaten and sentenced to death, the first Christians looked to Isaiah to describe what has happened: Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth (Isaiah 53:7). And the most deafening silence of God is the silence of God the Son on the cross: the silence following the words It is finished and the silence of tomb. This is all to say that while we may find silence uncomfortable and frustrating, apparently God does not. In fact, silence seems to be one of God’s preferred ways of communicating with us, his creatures.

Second, when God speaks. If the silence of God can be deafening and overwhelming, then when God speaks—watch out! Have you ever had the experience of being deep in prayer and God answering you clearly and concretely through God’s creation, through situations and events, through other believers, or through Scripture? For me, the most humbling is when God speaks to me clearly and directly through his Word. The experience is overwhelming. Author Marva Dawn speaks of it as “God moving the bookmarks” (in our Bibles): God speaking a clear word to us through the Scriptures we read.

This also is a word of challenge to us. Hearing God speak through the Scriptures involves us taking time to read them and pray them and digest them. Eat this scroll, God says to Ezekiel (Ezekiel 3:3). Watch out, though, God often does not say what we want to hear!

Lord, we give you thanks for your silence. Help us to be still and know that You are God. Lord, we give You thanks for Your Word. May we listen when You speak to us through the Scriptures. Lord, we give You thanks for speaking to us through our brothers and sisters in Christ. You are far more generous with us than we deserve. Make us ready to listen and quick to respond to what You ask of us. In the Name of Jesus our Lord. Amen.

[This article will be published in the monthly newsletter of the congregation I serve. Once it published, you can view it through our website.]

A Columbus Day Reflection

2011-10-10T07:40:00.000-04:00

Columbus Day, I imagine, is a non-holiday for most of us. It probably evokes one of three reactions:

1. a vague reference to history: "Oh yeah, that guy who discovered America,"

2. a grieving of his legacy: Columbus as a representative of white colonial imperialism (see this e-card circulating on Facebook and Twitter), or

3. a chance to complain about how bank and postal service employees get the day off while the rest of us have to work. [I'm sure it's not worth the grief they get all day the next day, by the way.]

May I suggest a fourth? Columbus as metaphor: for discovery, for taking risk, for striking out and doing something new--even at great personal cost. Even if the Queen is partially financing it.

I imagine most of us sail along on someone else's boat, someone else's ocean, using a corporate-logo-inlaid compass of someone else's creation. We put the sails up and down day after day and rarely ask, "Where is this thing going anyway?" or "Is this a journey worth spending even a part of my life on?"

So how would I suggest we celebrate Columbus Day? Open your notebook to a blank page or take out a clean legal pad and start to dream, start to plan, start to chart new courses.

And if the current ship you're on (or you own!) is not worthy of your mission, make plans to change (or jump) ship, sooner than later.

Bible Reading

2011-09-18T22:39:00.000-04:00

Just bought and watched one of the new Francis Chan short films, Teaching, on reading the Bible. Well done.

A Blank Legal Pad

2011-09-17T08:17:00.000-04:00

A blank legal pad. This is what I love about Saturdays.

While most of my "to do" lists during the week are done on a calendar / list matrix (I actually created my own paper calendar this year that fits how I do calendar / to do list triage), on Saturdays I begin with a blank legal pad.

And that is actually kind of inviting.

Whatever happened yesterday and this past week is done and now in God's hands, not for me to obsess over except to give it to God in prayer and ask for forgiveness when necessary.

Today is a new day.

The resurrection of our Lord Jesus means a lot of things. One of them is simply this: each new day is really a new day, a day infused with the light of Christ, a day for rising and being born again, a day for believing that whatever has happened in the past is now done.

And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb...

Christ rises before the sun dawns and begins his work before I am even up.

A new day. A new creation. A blank legal pad.

What I should write at the top is this: Christ is risen! So love well, Matt, for it is not you who live, but Christ who lives in you!

Prayer as Waiting

2011-08-25T14:39:00.000-04:00

I hate to wait. So when I begin a newsletter column on prayer as waiting, it is not a topic I am fond of. At the same time, I am struggling to become a more patient person and am convinced that this begins with prayer. So what exactly do I mean by prayer as waiting?

My first thought when it comes to waiting is standing in line for a roller coaster at an amusement park or for concert tickets to an artist I really want to see. But I’m not sure this captures prayer as waiting, because in these examples the waiting is simply the thing we do to pass the time before the main event. The real thing is in the future; the waiting is just the prelude.

But there are many other types of waiting. Consider the nine months of waiting that precede the birth of a child. These are filled with anticipation, preparation, activity, and, of course, hope. Consider waiting for an adult child coming home from college or military deployment overseas. The waiting is filled with nervousness, but is also precious, even holy.

In the Gospel of Luke,* we find two times of waiting that invite us to consider how prayer can be a time of active waiting. The first time of waiting is waiting for God. It is captured in the first several chapters of Luke as Mary waits for the birth of Jesus, as she waits for God to be born in her and through her. The second time of waiting is the waiting of God. It is captured in the last two chapters, as Christ sleeps the sleep of death. This waiting, the waiting of God, invites us to consider God’s first act of rest on the seventh day of creation and the act of waiting, Christ in the tomb, that preceded the day of Resurrection, the first day of the new creation.

Prayer is both of these kinds of waiting: Prayer is waiting for God, in hopeful anticipation of what God promises to do. Prayer is also the waiting of God, who is patient and longsuffering with us.

Almighty God, Your ways are not our ways, nor are Your thoughts our thoughts. Give us patience and perseverance, that all of our waiting may be done in hopeful anticipation of what You are doing within us and among us through Your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. In His name we pray. Amen.

*These insights are from the late Henri Nouwen’s lectures, The Spirituality of Waiting: Being Alert to God’s Presence in Our Lives, which I would highly recommend.
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Leaves for the Table

2011-08-22T12:47:00.000-04:00

We watch our neighbors' children a few days a week during the school year. It is a wonderful arrangement. My wife and I have always joked that when people come to visit, it is just the kick in the pants we need to clean the house. Yesterday evening, the basement got a thorough cleaning for the first time in weeks.

As we were preparing the house of their arrival as our guests this week, I thought to myself, "We'll have to add the leaves in the table." Our dining room table, a gift from my late grandparents, is large without the leaves; when the leaves are added, the table almost doubles in size.

The leaves, for me, became a metaphor for the hospitality we are called to offer to all people, in the name of Jesus. This simple act of literally widening our table, called me to re-examine how I offer hospitality to all guests in our home.

What are your "leaves"? How do you offer hospitality in your home and in your life? How is Jesus calling you to "add leaves"?

The Burden of Preaching

2011-08-18T15:10:00.000-04:00

My spiritual father, also a preacher, is quick to remind me that we preachers do not have to preach... we get to preach. I believe he is true. At a preaching conference two summers ago, Rob Bell spoke of the preacher's dilemma as the difference between "having something to say" and "having to say something." In between these two reflections is the glorious burden of preaching.

I choose the word "glorious" because the Word that we bear is the greatest treasure the world can ever know. The Psalms speak over and over of the delight of the Lord's commandments (Psalm 19:10) and how the Word of God is a lamp and a light to guide us (Psalm 119:103).

And yet preaching is also a burden. Not in the "have to" sense, but in sense that it is an immense weight to bear. It resembles for me the task of moving a huge rock from one place to another. This is heavy stuff, moving this glorious and heavy treasure into the hearts and minds and bodies of God's people.

The Hebrew phrase kavod Adonai (the glory of the Lord) brings these two concepts together. In Hebrew, the glory of God is also something heavy, weighty, substantial. So it is with preaching.

Bonhoeffer and Bell

2011-06-22T00:00:00.000-04:00

Joel Willitts has written a series of blog posts reflecting on Rob Bell's book Love Wins. His latest (and last), #9, compares Bell's book with Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Cost of Discipleship. Having read both, I believe Willitts is spot on in his comparison and critique. Read it yourself here.

Other Blogs

2011-05-25T21:33:00.004-04:00

Below is a sample of some of the blogs I follow. It is my hope that this representative sample will encourage you to read the work of others whom I have found inspiring and insightful.

(I have intentionally chosen to use article summaries instead of blog titles.)

Considering a media fast this summer?

Interested in a comprehensive treatment of eternity that goes beyond Love Wins?

Some reflections on why leaders must guard their heart

Thoughts from a post-modern, post-structuralist philosopher

Reflections on the end of the world... from a marketing perspective

Living Matthew 25 in ways that are humbling to me

Prayer on the Go

2011-05-24T14:15:00.001-04:00

May and early June have got to be the busiest times of the year for many of us. And just as soon as we catch our breath, many of us are off to take much-needed family vacations. In the summer, it seems, everyone is on the go.

So what does prayer “on the go” look like? Here are some suggestions:

1. Make the sign of the cross. In a hurry to get out of town on your family vacation? In a hurry to the ball field? Running a last-minute errand for hot dogs and watermelon? Make the sign of the cross over yourself and pray: In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

2. Make it a car game. Before playing some of the traditional car games on a long trip, challenge each other to indentify things you see on the way and to pray for those people, things or events as a family.

3. Make a pilgrimage. For hundreds of years, Christians have made pilgrimages to places of significance for our faith. While you may not be traveling to Jerusalem this summer, you may want to visit another local church building, a retreat center, or another place of significance, like a cemetery. Find a local congregation that has a labyrinth and make a prayer walk.

4. Pray a map prayer. Find an area of the world that you would like to pray for and keep that place and its people in your prayers throughout the summer. You may want to consider praying for our missionary, John LeMond, in Hong Kong or our companion synod, the Dodoma Diocese of Tanzania in east Africa.

5. Pray a map prayer II. Use a globe or map and, with eyes closed, pick an area of the world to pray for each week of the summer. The Voice of the Martyrs publishes a global prayer map for areas of the world where Christians are persecuted. Pray for the suffering church!

Keep this page in your glove box this summer, especially the prayer below from our hymnal which can be prayed before travel.

O God, our beginning and our end, you kept Abraham and Sarah in safety throughout the days of their pilgrimage, you led the children of Israel through the midst of the sea, and by a star you led the magi to the infant Jesus. Protect and guide us now as we set out to travel. Make our ways safe and our homecomings joyful, and bring us at last to our heavenly home, where you dwell in glory with our Lord Jesus Christ and the life-giving Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. (from Evangelical Lutheran Worship, p. 331)

The Holy Spirit

2011-05-18T08:40:00.002-04:00

On Sunday, May 29 we will begin a three-week series on the Holy Spirit:

May 29: Who is the Holy Spirit?

June 5: What is the work of the Holy Spirit? (I)

June 12 [Pentecost]: What is the work of the Holy Spirit? (II)

I have been reading Francis Chan's Forgotten God as part of my preparation for this series. You might want to take a look at that.

As preparation for hearing the Word, I also invite you to see Chan's videos on God, which will be streaming for free this coming week, beginning on Sunday. You can watch them here. You can also purchase them in a variety of formats at flannel.org, the same good folks who brought us the Nooma series.

A New Commandment

2011-04-21T21:29:00.001-04:00

My friend Phillip has written a reflection for Maundy Thursday. You can read it here.

Kids These Days

2011-04-12T08:42:00.002-04:00

A wise professor of mine once observed that, if the discussion leader is not careful, most Bible studies and adult Sunday school class devolve into hemming and hawing about "kids these days."

I think he is exactly right.

This speaks to the larger sinful tendency we have: pointing out the sins of others before dealing with our own.

What if, instead of discussing "kids these days," we dealt with our own sin and began with questions like, "How does this text invite me to repent?"

Log out of our own eye first... then the speck of sawdust out of our neighbor's, as it were.

[And, yes, I am aware of the irony of this post.]

Facebook Forgiveness

2011-04-05T15:45:00.003-04:00

Ever had to "re-friend" a friend you had "de-friended" on Facebook? It can be awkward at best (not to mention the grammatical conundrums such verbs present).

I confess to having done this. Usually it is because I am simply gleaning my "friends" list and delete a few here and there. Every once in a while, it is because the person posts to much (I am also guilty of this).

In every case, when I want to add them back in as a friend, it involves a good does of humility on my part. What if they are offended? What if they won't take me back? What if....?

But in almost every case, they consent to my friend request and, I presume, they forgive me.

What if that is the kind of forgiveness that we are called to practice?

Scripture by Memory

2011-04-02T22:44:00.002-04:00

I have always thought of memorizing Scripture in mostly positive terms. Even when my own practice was spotty at best, it seemed to me an inherently good thing to do. I have been reading through Scripture by Heart by Joshua Choonmin Kang, who has prompted me to think more deeply about the many benefits of memorizing Scripture. Even when he raises something I've considered before, he does so in a way that deepens or expands my understanding.

However, I have bristled when well-meaning Christians have used their treasure-trove of memorized verses as blunt instruments to proof-text their way to "winning" a theological argument. And I have struggled to break--or at least reshape--a strong resistance to memorization among catechism students. I think Rich Melheim is on the right track by integrating Bible verses, singing and American Sign Language in his Bible Song curriculum.

Recently I have reclaimed Scripture memorization as a family (rather than individual) practice and have found it to be quite delightful. Yes, it has actually been delightful.

On the Sunday of the Transfiguration, we began as a family working together on a verse each week from the Sunday lectionary readings. We carefully choose a verse central to the theme of the day, usually from the Gospel reading. This serves a number of functions:

1) It binds us together as a family under God's word.

2) It binds the rhythms of Monday - Saturday to Sunday worship.

3) It binds our spirits, bodies and God's word together in an organic unity.

What have been your experiences memorizing Scripture? What you have you found helpful?

The Pastor as Turtle

2011-02-12T07:43:00.002-05:00

The other day I was thinking about the importance of a pastor having waxy skin, so that criticism, the attacks of the evil one and the "tyranny of the urgent" can simply roll off, like beads of rainwater on a waterproof jacket. The more I thought about it, however, the image of a turtle surfaced.

1. A pastor needs a tough shell. This probably goes without saying. Pastors are often ego-driven people and we need to set up appropriate checks on that ego to keep both high criticism and high praise in their proper place (see this blog post from Michael Hyatt on this very subject). St. John Chrysostom writes that preachers should learn to disdain both praise and criticism equally. Pastors need a tough shell, to avoid the assaults of the evil one through their own ego.

2. A pastor needs soft skin too. Turtles have tough, protective shells, but turtles also have soft skin--at least skin that is vulnerable. So too with pastors. To me this is an incarnational issue. If the Son of God took upon Himself the fullness of our humanity, we are called to embrace our humanity as well: the pain and the tears, the joy and the elation.

3. A pastor needs to move slowly. This maxim is probably frustration for both pastors and the people they are called to serve and lead. We live in a world in which a text or email message can be around the world in an instant and a book can be downloaded to a portable reading device in under a minute. However, there is a virtue it moving forward slowly and patiently. And, as financial guru Dave Ramsey is fond of saying, "Whenever I read the story, the tortoise wins the race every time."

4. A pastor can move swiftly in the water. Once, when I was doing disaster relief work in the Caribbean, I had the chance to snorkel among sea turtles. I was amazed at how fast they move in the water. So too, pastors can move quickly when they are surrounded by the grace of baptism, and with a congregation of people who deeply embrace that they are all called to be priests in these same life-giving waters.

What do you think about this metaphor? What other images come to mind?

When is the Sermon Done?

2011-01-19T07:54:00.003-05:00

When is the sermon done? This is a question preachers struggle with quite frequently--not only in crafting the sermon, but in delivering it.

When is the sermon done? This is a question jokingly posed by hearers quite regularly--as if the proclamation of the Gospel is something simply to endure.

When is the sermon done? When God is finished winging his word into the hearts of his people and bringing forth fruit for his Kingdom.

Isaiah 55:11: . . . so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

Devotional Books

2011-01-18T08:29:00.007-05:00

Each new year I evaluate the devotional books I use as part of morning prayer. I always keep a few and then switch others out. The list below represents the ones I use on an ideal day, in roughly the order I move through them.

For the order of Scripture readings, I use the St. James Daily Devotional Guide for the Christian Year. This guide moves through the New Testament once a year and the Old Testament every two years, with a good balance between reading systematically through books of the Bible and taking into account major feast days such as Easter and Christmas.

Some others I find helpful are:

+ Eugene Peterson's Praying with the Psalms: I love Eugene Peterson's work. Last year I read through Living the Message. Each day there is an invitation to read a Psalm or part of a Psalm and he has brief meditation and a prayer. Often I pair this with the selected Psalm in Reading the Psalms with Luther.

+ I have always enjoyed reading the wisdom of the Desert Fathers. One way to do this, gem by gem, is through Bernard Bangley's By Way of the Desert.

+ Henri Nouwen's Bread for the Journey contains a brief meditation for each day of the year. Nouwen always has perspicuous insights into the "everyday" of living the Christian faith.

+ For a bit meatier fare, I enjoy J.D. Watson's A Hebrew Word for the Day. He also has a companion Greek volume that I read through last year.

I should probably say that it is not everyday that I get through all of these devotional books. At a bare minimum, I pray the Trisagion Prayers and try to read as many of the daily Scripture readings as I can, beginning with the daily appointed Gospel reading.

For shorter snippets of Scripture throughout the day, I subscribe via email to the Moravian Daily Texts. A friend of mine also gave me a copy of Bread for the Day, with a short Scripture reading each day based on the Revised Common Lectionary.

What devotional books / guides do you find most helpful for daily prayer and Scripture reading?

The Future of my Blog?

2011-01-07T20:25:00.002-05:00

I have not been posting to this blog as regularly as I would like. Chalk it up to a busy fall, especially on the funeral front.

In any case, I am rethinking its purpose and theme and--on a more fundamental note--whether I will continue it at all.

So what do you say, faithful readers? Feel free to email me directly: pastormusteric [at sign] gmail.com with any suggestions. What have you found most helpful? What would you like to see more of? What is the perfect frequency for posting?

In the off-chance that I get few or not responses, that will help me settle the question as well.

Church Growth: An Idea

2010-11-11T08:56:00.004-05:00

Many congregations, especially those of mainline Protestantism, lament the shrinking of the church. "What can we do," I often hear, "to make the church grow again?"

Please see these reflections from a blog entitled Euangelion (Gospel/good news).

The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. -Tertullian

Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will Be Done: The Intersection of Faith and Politics

2010-11-01T10:54:00.002-04:00

Tomorrow we will go to the polls and touch a screen, fill in a bubble or pull a lever to cast our vote. Some Christians will vote for Republicans. Some Christians will vote for Democrats. Still other Christians will vote for one of the other parties.

Since it is the month in which we get to vote as citizens of the United States, I thought it would be appropriate to talk about the tricky and wonderful intersection of faith and politics. And I would like to use the second and third petitions of the Lord’s Prayer as a way of entering into this discussion.

Thy Kingdom come… Thy Will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. We pray these words each time we take the Lord’s Prayer on our lips and in our hearts and minds. And I am quite concerned that—at least most of the time—we have no idea the depth and power of these words as we pray them.

When we pray these words, we are asking for God’s Kingdom, to come among us here and now. Put more bluntly: the Christian faith is not only about getting a ticket punched so that you can go to heaven when you die; it also has a deep, profound and lasting impact on our lives—right here and right now.

When we pray these words, we are asking for this Kingdom of God, which began on this earth in the smallest of ways, in Jesus of Nazareth and in his band of followers, to grow to epic proportions. The Scriptures use the image of a mustard seed growing into an enormous tree and a tiny batch of leaven that leavens a whole loaf of bread (Luke 13:18-21).

When we pray these words, we are acknowledging that as Christians, we always carry a dual citizenship: We are first citizens of the Kingdom of God and second, citizens of the United States of America. We live in a monarchy (Christ is King!) as well as a Democracy (the USA). We have duties both as citizens of God’s Kingdom and citizens of the United States.

So whether you go to the polls and vote “Republican” or “Democrat” or “Libertarian” or “Green Party,” be sure that before, during and after you vote, you pray with every fiber of your being, Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will be Done, on Earth as it is in heaven.

Perhaps the dear Pastor Martin Luther said it best, “The kingdom of God comes indeed without our prayer, of itself. But we pray in this petition that it may come to us also.” (Small Catechism, explanation of the second petition of the Lord’s Prayer)

May the Lord our God, whose Kingdom is indeed coming into this world in Jesus the Messiah, plant that Kingdom firmly in our lives, that we may be his faithful citizens, now and into eternity.

Note: For the main points of this article, I am indebted to N.T. Wright, a noted New Testament scholar, at the lectures he gave at a conference I attended at Duke University in October. You can listen to the full lectures online here.

Christians and Halloween

2010-10-30T12:17:00.002-04:00

I had been meaning to post something on the celebration of Halloween from the perspective of a Christian pastor. But then I came upon this post and, well, I couldn't have said it better myself.

McChurch, McPastor, McChristianity

2010-09-25T08:09:00.003-04:00

The world of religion generates a huge market for meeting all the needs that didn’t get met in the shopping mall. Pastors are conspicuous in this religious marketplace and are expected to come up with the products that give customer satisfaction.
-Eugene Peterson, Living the Message, HarperCollins, 1996, p. 261

Consumerism is the drug that is lulling the church in North America into a deep and dangerous sleep. We encounter it in our own patterns of “church shopping” for a congregation that is a “better fit.” We see it on billboards, slick brochures and Facebook ads. We begin to be troubled by it when we see portrayals of a Jesus dressed up to look, talk and act, well, just like us.

Or maybe we don’t notice it at all. Perhaps we’re so used to Consumer Christianity, so steeped in it, that we barely notice it at all. Slowly and seductively congregations become “audiences” and worship leaders “performers” and the next thing you know the church has to “sell something” to “attract” new members.

Consumer Christianity is a false Christianity and it is literally killing the church.

So what shall we as followers of Jesus and members of His Body the Church do? Eugene Peterson concludes his reflections: But then who is there who will say the name of God in such a way that the community can see him for who he is, our towering Lord and Savior, and not the packaged and priced version that meets our consumer needs?

How do we begin to seek God—and God’s will for his church—and not something packaged as “church the way I like it” and “a god who makes me comfortable”?

First, we pray. And we do so with deep and critical questions: Is this of You, Lord, or is this of the evil one? We reclaim Holy-Spirit-soaked prayer as our first language of faith.

Second, we repent. Literally naming our sins is a crucial step in the journey of repentance, which is our whole life’s journey. The confession of those in AA guides us: “Hi, I’m Matt, and I’m a consumer-holic.” We examine our lives deeply and critically. How does my own participation in the consumer culture shape my views of God and Church?

Third, we seek God not according to our own whims and desires, but in the places that God has promised to reveal himself to us: in the Word (preached, studied, read, prayed) and in the Sacraments (taken regularly, seriously, joyfully).

Fourth, in our actions and words, we speak the truth that our true identity is not as consumers, but as Baptized children of God. We are not demographic groups or income cohorts or even “free” shoppers, but are instead priests by Baptism and servants of Jesus.

May the Lord our God, who cannot be bought or sold, refresh us with the gift of life, that we might be his faithful people and true witnesses in the world.

The Work of Worship

2010-08-30T08:07:00.003-04:00

"The work of worship gathers everything in our common lives that has been dispersed by sin and brings it to attention before God; at the same time it gathers everything in God's revelation that has been forgotten in our distracted hurrying and puts it before us so that we can offer it up in praise and obedience. All of this does not take place merely in a single hour of worship. But, faithfully repeated, week after week, year after year, there is an accumulation to wholeness."

This brief reflection is taken from a devotional book I have been using with my morning Scripture readings: Eugene Peterson's Living the Message, p. 240 (August 30).

Laptop Batteries, Summer and Sabbath Rest

2010-07-19T10:29:00.004-04:00

I do a dumb thing on a regular basis. My laptop gives me a warning that my battery is low and that I need to plug it in and recharge. But I ignore it. Then it gives me a "critical battery" message. I ignore that. Then, if I don't plug it in, it shuts down on me. It takes forever to reboot. I get annoyed. Rinse. Repeat.

You'd think I would have learned my lesson by now. I also think this is how many of us go through life: wait until the batteries are run down to critical and then recharge. Work, work, work like a dog and then finally take that grand summer vacation. But sometimes it's too late and so even the time off becomes toil and we resent how exhausted we are from vacation.

God offers us something different: a regular time to recharge, a sabbath rest. Better: God gives us a rhythm of life perfectly suited to how we are made as his glorious human creatures, a pattern of work and rest. Six days of work and a day of rest. (I suppose there is something to be said for a regular vacation or two after the pattern of the Jubilee Year, but that is a discussion for another day.) Rest. Recharge. Before the "critical battery alarm" goes off.

Another option, of course, is keeping the laptop plugged in all the time. No hassles with plugs or critical battery warnings. But the computer battery experts say: "Don't do it! You'll ruin your battery life. It won't hold a charge after a while." For me, this is analogous to the soul that seeks an "endless vacation" (I actually found a magazine with this title at a relative's house). Many of us have been there too: working only for the next vacation, the next break. T.G.I.F. Dreading Mondays. But this denies the goodness of work. Yes, work is tainted by sin, but it is first God's good gift to us.

There is even more good news. We believe that our Lord Jesus perfectly fulfills all of God's commandments, including the one about sabbath keeping. He is repeatedly confessed in the Scriptures as Lord of the Sabbath and he has more than a few things to say and do about it. He gets into trouble with the religious leaders for "breaking" the sabbath when in fact he is fulfilling it and deepening our understanding of it. And Jesus fulfills it perfectly and completely by resting on that Holy Saturday, the Sabbath of Sabbaths as the Lord of Creation rests in the tomb.

Because Jesus has fulfilled the Sabbath, we don't have to get bent out of shape or nitpick about the details of Sabbath keeping: Jesus has filled full the Sabbath and he invites us to drink deeply of Him. He is the Living Water. He is our Rest. Come to me, you weary ones, He invites us.

As summer seems to go by more and more quickly each year, what might it mean for us to embrace both the goodness of work and the blessedness of sabbath rest...before the critical battery alarm goes off?

Writing a Better Story with My Life

2010-07-17T13:04:00.006-04:00

[Disclaimer: This blog post is part of an entry in a contest to win a chance to attend a workshop by Donald Miller in Portland. But it's probably something I would eventually write about anyway. So there.]

My wife and I often have a conversation about what we would do with several million dollars if we won the lottery. This is always a very theoretical conversation since we don't play the lottery for theological reasons. So perhaps the question should be: What would we do if a box of several million dollars was anonymously dropped at our back door?

My answer has always been that I would open a theological seminary here in NW Ohio. It would have a threefold focus: 1) to allow for post-graduate work for pastors and Bible teachers who want to go deeper in their studies, 2) to allow those considering the ordained ministry to obtain a theological degree as part the process to becoming pastors, and 3) to provide a robust yet accessible series of courses for interested folks of every stripe who want to grow deeper in their Christian faith.

Ideally, there would be a lot more cross-fertilization and conversation between these groups than traditionally happens at a seminary. My other concern is that many seminaries are quickly pricing out many of those who would love to go but cannot afford to. I would want it to be affordable, perhaps even indexing the tuition to income or ability to pay.

For my part, I wouldn't mind doing some of the administrative stuff, but my overall focus would be teaching and getting some world-renowned scholars as visiting professors. Why should the Ivy League schools have a corner on the market for the best and brightest theological minds of our time?

Of course, the real challenge these days for me is: Why should I wait for an anonymous package of several million dollars to arrive before living this story? Don't I believe that God's abundance is far greater than that? Don't I believe that the Holy Spirit is able to move mountains? So I continue to wait, to pray and to begin to live this "better story."

I am hoping that Donald Miller's conference will help me in couple of ways: 1) to help me begin to live a better story and to "live into" the better story that God desires for me and 2) to enliven my preaching and teaching to help those whom I am privileged to serve live better stories with their lives.

Here is a link to the conference web site.

And the video I am supposed to embed:

Living a Better Story Seminar from All Things Converge Podcast on Vimeo.

Overflow

2010-07-09T22:09:00.003-04:00

This was the scene in my kitchen the other morning. I made a pot of coffee and went to the basement to switch the laundry. Not heavy multi-tasking, mind you. When I came up about 10 minutes later, this is what I found. A friend of mine on Facebook said it looked like a murder scene. Death by caffeine?

In my hurried state I had done everything to get the coffee ready (grind the beans, pour the water, turn on the pot)--except that I had forgotten to empty the coffee pot of the previous day's coffee. Result? Overflow. Serious overflow. Now I can sympathize a wee bit with BP.

The day before, in a discussion about preaching, a friend reminded me of the verse that says that out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks (Matthew 12:34, Luke 6:45). I looked at those verses again and the context speaks of good trees producing good fruit and bad trees producing bad fruit. In other words, whatever we are filling up is what is going to come out as overflow.

This whole coffee spill caused me to stop and take stock of a few things:

1. My busy summer. How do I get to a point where I'm doing so much? This photo is the result of multi-tasking that is not working. One thing at a time, I remind myself. Be present in each moment.

2. What am I filling my heart with? In my preaching and in my everyday speech and actions, my "overflow" will come from my heart. So what I am filling my heart with? How can I be more attentive to Christ's love for us so that when I speak, it is out of the overflow of the abundance of Christ's love for us?

3. The power of God to speak in the everyday and the ordinary. I am quick to caution those who come to me wanting a "burning bush" experience or a clear answer from God. When I think of Moses in the wilderness or Isaiah in the Temple or Elijah on the mountaintop, I'm not sure we want to ask for those experiences. A much harder task is being attentive to how God is speaking all the time in the everyday.

I'd love to have you over for coffee, but most of it's on the floor.

Books I'm Reading

2010-06-22T22:41:00.003-04:00

From time to time I like to share books I've read or am reading and a few thoughts on each. I am generally reading about a half dozen books at any given time, so some I'm further along in some than others.

Rob Bell's Drops Like Stars is the book inspired by his recent tour. This coffee-table book is a quick read, but do not be misled: it is also a thoughtful extended meditation on the relationship between suffering, creativity and God. It made me want to see his tour.

Aubrey Malphurs' Developing a Dynamic Mission for Your Ministry is a handy little volume on the importance of a robust and concise mission statement for congregations and parachurch organizations. He helpfully distinguishes between mission statements, vision statements and core values, all the while keeping the Great Commission in the Gospel of Matthew central. It is must-read for pastors and congregations interested in more than floundering.

Niel Cole's Organic Church is a primer on the recent house church movement in the United States. What I liked: his focus on the parable of the Sower and his challenge to "be church" rather than "go to church." What was missing: a robust sacramental theology (which is not surprising given his theological tradition). Worth reading, especially for denominations like mine who struggle in the area of small group ministries.

I am just beginning Beginning to Pray by Anthony Bloom, but heard a summary of it in a recent set of podcasts by Dn. Michael Hyatt. When it comes to prayer, we are all truly beginners, and this set of reflections is filled with depth and challenge.

Andy Stanley's Choosing to Cheat is all about the tough decisions we make each day about our work-life balance. Stanley asks some provocative and thoughtful questions about whom we are cheating and why. A must-read for men especially.

Swimming Lessons and Spiritual Formation

2010-06-21T16:42:00.003-04:00

It is the time of year when many children are taking swimming lessons. Perhaps swimming lessons have much to teach us about the path of growth in faith and spiritual formation. I was reflecting today on the connections between swimming lessons, faith formation and intentional small group / discipleship group ministries.

Here are some thoughts:

1. Coaches support the fledgling swimmers. Good coaches know more than just how to swim; they know how to support others in the right ways to enable them to swim on their own.

2. Coaches know when to let go. For new swimmers to build confidence, it is important that they begin to swim and try new things on their own. Good coaches know when to let go.

3. Coaches can discern the correct combination of 1 and 2 based on the individual swimmer. In other words, there is not a "one size fits all" way to get a swimmer from A to B.

Do you have a mentor or spiritual father that can guide you, sometimes pushing, sometimes supporting? Do you have a group of "swimmers" that you regularly meet with that are on your same level of maturity in faith?

And, perhaps most importantly: Are you ready to jump in?

Prayer Rule

2010-06-13T22:27:00.002-04:00

Do you have a prayer rule?

Summer is a time when many of our schedules are discombobulated. Add to this the frenzy of activity that punctuates this time of year with weddings, graduations and other commitments. So it is not surprising I find that about this time in June I crave the regularity and predictability of a schedule. I am also trying to be more regularly about exercise and writing and so have had to rethink my morning routine and this includes my prayer rule.

What is your prayer rule?

1. One of the first decisions to make is when you will pray each day and where. It is easy to underestimate the importance of a fixed time and location. Regularity in schedule and location actually helps to facilitate prayer.

2. How long will you pray? Be realistic, especially if you have never subscribed to a rule of prayer before. The temptation of all of us who desire to grow in our faith is to take on too much, too quickly. The advice of physical trainers is instructive here: incremental increases over time are far more powerful than trying to run a marathon with no training. You can damage your body through physical overexertion; you can also damage yourself through spiritual overexertion. Take it slowly.

3. What will you pray? Begin with the fixed prayers handed down to the church: the Lord's prayer, the Creeds, the Jesus prayer, the Psalms. These fixed prayers, once they become part of our regular practice, become the bedrock upon which faithful "free prayer" is built.

4. How will you be accountable? Share your prayer rule with your spouse, family member or close friend. Ask them to hold you accountable.

As you seek to develop a regular rule for prayer, may the Holy Spirit guide and direct you.

Johnny Cash Reading the New Testament

2010-06-05T21:44:00.003-04:00

A podcast I enjoying listening to recommended the audio New Testament read by Johnny Cash. This came up in a discussion during our fellowship meal after worship this evening. We were discussing audio Bibles and the importance of the Word as an aural/oral word.

It is available via CD (see link above) or by audiobook download from iTunes or audible.com.

Happy listening!

Summer Series on Acts

2010-05-22T00:00:00.004-04:00

This Sunday we begin a 15-week preaching/teaching series on the book of Acts. I am both excited and intimidated: Excited that the same Holy Spirit that descended on Pentecost will enliven and enlighten and sanctify us.... and intimidated since this is one of the books of the Bible I've spent considerably less time in.

Still... with prayer, patience and a stack of commentaries, I'm as ready as I'll ever be.

Do you know what the last word in the book of Acts is? Unhindered.

Tweeting the Synod Assembly

2010-05-13T12:19:00.004-04:00

I will be tweeting our synod assembly this year. You can following along on my Twitter account. I also have some colleagues who will be Twittering as well. The hashtag to follow along is #nwosa.

In general, I will try to avoid tweeting during worship, though it may make sense to post highlights of the preaching. We shall see.

From Radio to iTunes

2010-05-12T22:12:00.002-04:00

Tomorrow our synod gathers in assembly. As part of this gathering we will elect a Bishop, vote on various items and share in worship, Bible study and fellowship.

I am leading a workshop on technology and faith formation entitled "From Radio to iTunes." The second half of the workshop will be some nuts and bolts stuff on how we moved from literally driving a cassette tape to a nearby radio station to uploading digitized audio of worship services and podcasting sermons (and how easy this can be!). The first half is the substantive part, reflecting on the intersection of technology and (faith) formation. I will draw on some of the work of Marshall McLuhan and Shane Hipps and am looking forward to the discussion.

What are you struggles with new technologies? Faith formation?

Email Better

2010-05-01T09:21:00.003-04:00

One thing I think most churches struggle with is communication. On the institutional end, churches often fail to get information out in a timely way to the people that need it the most. And on the receiving end, members sometimes fail to receive the information once it's put out there. Suffice to say, I've never heard of a church that "overcommunicated" or had an A+ in this area.

One area I am interested in improving in is e-mail [Does anyone still use the dash in e-mail anymore?]. How can we do it better? How can we use it more effectively? And, especially, how can it be used faithfully in service of the Gospel?

One book that I have found very helpful is Send by David Shipley and Will Schwalbe. They do two things in one volume: 1) analyze the pitfalls and common mistakes people make with email and 2) give suggestions for how to email better. Rather than provide a complete review, I'd like to share some insights--at least what I remember--from when I read it several months ago.

1. Use the subject line. Most people seriously underestimate the importance of a good subject line. The key rule: consider the recipient. Just because it makes sense to you doesn't mean it will make sense to them. Consider your relationship with the person receiving the message and the kind of response your are hoping for. Caution: using the words "urgent" or "important," especially when in all caps or with a dozen exclamation marks will generally insure that your message will not be treated as such.

2. One item per message. I confess to transgressing this far too often. The temptation is to include everything you are thinking of, rather than thinking how it will be received. Again, begin with the recipient in mind. Unlike handwritten letters, the beauty of email is that you can send multiple messages (with good subject lines, of course).

3. Keep it brief. I once saw a website that suggested that most email messages can be accomplished in two to five sentences. If you are going on longer than a few sentences, you probably need to either (A) send the information as an attachment or (B) pick up the phone. I'm sure there are exceptions, but I am amazed at how many messages can be only a few sentences long.

4. If your blood pressure rises, wait. I have burned myself on this one too many times. My rule now is this: If If I have even the slightest emotional reaction to a message, I wait at least 24 hours before responding. The more intense my initial reaction, the more likely I will respond with a phone call or a face-to-face conversation. Chances are that you were reading far too much into the sender's intent to begin with.

5. Email is never a substitute for good face-to-face communication. We know this and yet we seldom practice it. Face-to-face conversations take time, but are far better in the long run. So much of what we want to communicate comes through body language and our tone of voice, both of which get missed in e-conversations. This becomes more important the less close you are with the person. Good friends can e-argue with the best of them, but new acquaintances should tread more lightly.

6. Address the sender personally and sign it personally. I cannot overemphasize the importance of "Dear [Name]," and "Sincerely, [Your Name]." It takes just a few seconds. Just do it.

That's what I remember. What frustrations do you have with email--or with communication in general?

The Logic of Easter

2010-04-11T01:03:00.003-04:00

We are now one week into the great Season of Easter, a week of weeks that reaches from Easter Sunday to the Day of Pentecost (May 23 this year). I have always been fascinated by the "logic of the lectionary." What are the deep resonances of the cycle of readings that we share with many Christians for our regular Sunday worship gatherings? What is the internal coherence of the church's rhythms and structures? How does it all fit together? What does it say about Christ, our Hope--and where do we find our lives in Him?

The Easter Season is an extended time for the Church to wrestle faithfully with these questions: What does it mean that this One, Jesus of Nazareth, is risen from the tomb, alive and among us, and making all things new? What does it mean that we who are baptized into Him take the shape of our lives from his risen life? Put more simply: Who is this Jesus and what does he mean for us?

1. The first Sunday of Easter declares the bare fact of Resurrection. Jesus, Son of God and Son of Man, has been raised from the dead. He is not simply an historical figure, a person of legend, but a living, breathing being who encounters us. In Christ, Resurrection--which had been seen as a future reality--has invaded the present. All things are being made new in Him. Thus Resurrection it not simply about "where we go when we die," but touches upon every facet of life here and now and in the age to come.

2. The second Sunday of Easter is also known as "Thomas Sunday," for it features "doubting" Thomas as a central figure. However the true central figure (not surprisingly) is Christ himself: showing up breathing peace, giving the Holy Spirit, sending the disciples, entrusting to them the keys to the kingdom and making himself bodily available to his followers as the Crucified and Risen One. One cannot help but see the connections to the Christian celebration of Holy Communion in which the same Risen Christ makes himself bodily available to us, breathing peace, giving the Holy Spirit, entrusting to us the keys of the kingdom and sending us as his disciples.

3. The third Sunday of Easter is a word about forgiveness and rehabilitation and what these realities look like on Jesus' terms. The verbal tie in John's Gospel centers around the charcoal fire. It is around a charcoal fire that Peter first denies Christ; it is around another charcoal fire that Peter is forgiven, made new, and given a new life ("Feed my sheep...").

4. The fourth Sunday of Easter is "Good Shepherd Sunday," with passages drawn from John 10. This year we hear about Jesus' providential care for us, his sheep. We know Him and are known by Him. It is Sunday of deep intimacy and challenge.

5. The fifth Sunday of Easter revisits part of the Maundy Thursday Gospel text as we contemplate what it means to love one as an expression of Christ's love and precisely as our witness to the world. It is a time for the Church to look internally at how it patterns its life together to reflect the One who gave his life for her.

6. The sixth Sunday of Easter revisits the peace given on Thomas Sunday and speaks another word about the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, that Jesus is giving to his disciples.

Ascension (40 days after Easter Sunday) celebrates that God deeply and irrevocably shares his life with us. For as Jesus returns to the Father, he does so as the One who is God and Man, bringing our flesh, which he has redeemed, into the very life of God.

7. The seventh Sunday of Easter explores again the witness of the Church itself and pushes us to consider the sin of disunity within the Church. The "oneness" to be lived by the power of the Holy Spirit among Jesus' followers is the same "oneness" that is shared among the persons of the Holy Trinity.

Easter blessings as we journey together to the Fires of Pentecost...

IC XC + NIKA

2010-04-04T06:50:00.001-04:00

Christ is risen, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life! He is risen! Indeed, He is risen! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

Good Friday II: Cliff Hanger

2010-04-02T22:31:00.000-04:00

This evening I was talking to my son about the Crucifixion and shared that this Friday is "Good" precisely because we know how the story turns out, that it ends not with the cross but with the Resurrection. He replied, "But sometimes I wish it was a cliff hanger." Indeed.

These photos show the Resurrection window through the lens of the cross, reminding us that the two are never really separate.

"It is finished."

Good Friday I: Thorns and Chi-Rho

2010-04-02T22:21:00.003-04:00

I took this photo to capture the crown of thorns on the cross as a close up. I inadvertently also captured the Chi-Rho on the ceiling of the chancel. So there it is: Jesus' crown of thorns and a word about his title, "Messiah" (Christos in Greek, the first two letters of which form the Chi (X) and the Rho (P)).

Other common inscriptions on crosses are INRI: _J_esus of _N_azareth, _K_ing of the _J_ews (in Latin, of course) and IHS, the first three letters of "Jesus."

My favorite, of course, is the inscription on many stamps used to mark the bread of the Eucharist: IC XC + NIKA. IC: the first and last letters of "Jesus." XC: the first and last letters of Christos, Christ. NIKA: "conquers."

"What I have written, I have written."

Maundy Thursday

2010-04-02T22:15:00.002-04:00

This is the second year we have done the footwashing as part of the Maundy Thursday Eucharist. It is a very humbling and moving part of worship. One of these years I think I'm going to read from Dr. Seuss's "Foot Book," to describe the variety of "feet we meet." The diversity of those whom God calls into his kingdom is always astonishing to me.

In John's Gospel the Cross is Jesus' glorification, so the footwashing, I think, represents the nadir of his descent: doing Gentile slave work, taking the lowest position.

"But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place..."

Triduum

2010-04-02T22:09:00.003-04:00

The church now enters into its longest service of the year: the Triduum--Latin for "Three Days." It is one extended service in three parts, beginning the evening of Maundy Thursday and lasting through Easter evening. This is a photo of the cross on Good Friday morning, the middle of the first day. It captures the heart of the Christian message: the Cross in light of the Resurrection.

"We proclaim Christ crucified..."

Spy Wednesday

2010-04-02T21:57:00.002-04:00

Wednesday of Holy Week is celebrated in many places as "Spy Wednesday," commemorating Judas Iscariot's betrayal of our Lord Jesus. Here is my meditation for this day.

The photo is of a candle that had been burning near this icon of Christ. The candle had melted toward the icon, as if the icon was beckoning it closer, as if the light was drawn to the Light. As I said, sometimes all we need to do is sit back and watch the creation itself preach.

"The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world."

Holy Tuesday III: Shattered

2010-04-02T21:46:00.002-04:00

On the walk from my house to my study at the church building, I was moving my alb from one arm to the other and caught the top of the vessel I use for the chrism oil and it shattered on the driveway. Not good.

This reminded me of a few things. First, Holy Week is a week of shattered expectations. From start to finish Jesus does not do what is "expected" of him... and for this I am deeply grateful. Second, it was a reminder for me to take a deep breath and to walk these days one at a time. As a wise colleague of mine said, "Pace yourself." Third, our Lord takes our shattered lives and begins to put them back together.

"But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us."

Holy Tuesday II: Chrism Mass

2010-04-02T21:39:00.002-04:00

On Holy Tuesday, many Christians gather for a service called the Chrism Mass. Clergy renew their ordination vows and oil is blessed for anointing the sick, the dying, and those preparing for baptism. A priest I know says it is the time each year that he "gets his oil changed and his license renewed." I love that.

This is last year's chrism oil, being poured back into the earth from which it came. New olive oil is added and blessed and then will travel far and wide to anoint the foreheads of all who are in need of our Lord's healing touch.

"Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me"

Holy Tuesday I

2010-04-02T21:34:00.002-04:00

I have great ecumenical colleagues in town. We decided this year to offer morning prayer for Monday - Wednesday of Holy Week, with each us rotating preaching assignments and worship leadership. On Tuesday, Pete and Jim led worship while I assisted at our synod's chrism mass with other clergy in our synod.

This was the beginning of the fog that morning. It got worse as I drove south. This photo shows the dense fog and the sun piercing through it. So goes Holy Week: the dense fog our lives penetrated by the Light of the Son.

Palm Sunday

2010-04-02T21:24:00.003-04:00

This is the first in a short series of photo essays for Holy Week. Even though this is probably the busiest week of the year for me, I find that it is also a week in which I am deeply captivated by the world around me, especially as the whole creation preaches.

This first photo is of the Palm Sunday "trail" that my son put together the evening of Palm Sunday. What it like about it is that it captures the palm branches and the coats that were strewn in the path of Jesus as he makes his triumphal entry into Jerusalem.

"If these were silent, even the stones would shout out."

What to do with Judas? (Spy Wednesday)

2010-03-30T23:40:00.001-04:00

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

For a good part of the church’s history, this Wednesday has been celebrated as “Spy Wednesday,” a commemoration of sorts, of Judas’ negotiated betrayal of Jesus with the chief priests.

It was a few years ago, I think, when we did dramatic “personalities of the Passion” for our Lenten Wednesday series. Drawing on some of the best minds and insightful scholars, I crafted a “Judas” for my monologue who was a zealous zealot, almost in the manner of St. Paul, whose chief motivation for handing Jesus over was because Jesus wasn’t revolutionary enough, or not the kind of Messiah or Revolutionary that he expected. In other words, I painted a very sympathetic Judas, a Judas that was palatable, a Judas we can understand, even “connect” with. But is this the real Judas, the Judas of the Scriptures? I think not. And I repent.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I appreciate the work of biblical scholars and am indebted to many for insights into the biblical text that I would never have seen on my own. But sometimes I think I extend my trust too far. And I also appreciate the art of drama, of acting, both as an art form and as a creative way of engaging the Bible and its people—even the darker ones. But sometimes when over-interpretation meets dramatic flair, sometimes important things—namely the Scriptural witness itself—gets left behind.

Did you hear those few verses from St. Matthew’s Gospel this morning? Then one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, "What will you give me if I betray him to you?" They paid him thirty pieces of silver. And from that moment he began to look for an opportunity to betray him (Matthew 26:14-16). That’s it. Done deal. Thirty pieces of silver.

The Gospel of John echoes this simple motivation of greed by attributing it to Judas as one of his motivations for his protest of Mary of Bethany’s act of devotion when she anoints Jesus with a generous amount of expensive perfume: He [Judas] said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it (John 12:6). Not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief.

A greedy thief. Thirty pieces of silver. Seems so base, so crude, so overly-simplistic. Surely Judas didn’t betray the Lord Christ for simply thirty pieces of silver. Surely he did not hand him over for something as crude as greed. Or did he?

A zealous Judas we can identify with and is a bit more palatable to our modern sensibilities. A disappointed Judas we can nod along with. But a simply greedy Judas? That’s too simplistic. Too much raw evil. Too much exchanging the beauty of truth for the ugly face of selfishness. But there it is: Judas betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver.

And it is on this day, Spy Wednesday, that we realize we could do the same. And it’s not just Judas. For which of the other eleven did not run away? Which of the “big three” didn’t fall asleep in the Garden? Even Peter, Prince of the Apostles, denies the Lord three times. None of us is any better.

And so it is perhaps fitting what we do on this Spy Wednesday: look Judas square in the face and see our own reflection. Look Judas in the face and realize the gravity of our own sin. Look Judas in the face and realize how often we betray our Lord for chump change, for base desires, for selfish reasons.

Yes, perhaps all this Judas stuff is very fitting for Wednesday of Holy Week: for it bring us to our knees, brings us very low, so that the only place to look is up—to a Cross and the One crucified upon it, to a Table laden with bread and wine—and down, to the Son of Man who is the Son of God, kneeling to wash our feet.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Thorns

2010-03-27T01:35:00.002-04:00

I am always amazed at the way in which nature "speaks" a word about the Word, Jesus Christ. The first flowers of spring--which have hidden themselves once again--speak "Resurrection" even before Easter.

Lest we get too far ahead of ourselves, however, this tree of thorns reminds us also of the cost, of the depths to which Christ descended for us.

I recently heard a podcast in which a saint was quoted as meditating on the goal of creation: the goal of all wood is the Cross, the goal of all rock is the empty tomb, etc. It is almost as if creation is built to preach about the One through whom all things were made.

Ooh Ah!

2010-03-23T09:48:00.000-04:00

You might overhear our youngest daughter calling out “Ooh Ah!” from time to time. She is not anticipating fireworks; these are her words for “Alleluia,” and she is specifically asking for a song, All Creatures Worship God Most High (#835 in the hymnal), a hymn I began singing to her at home a month or so ago. She gets even more intense the longer I wait to begin singing: “Ooh Ah! OOH Ah! OOH AH!” And so of course I give in, joyfully, and sing the song she knows best as “Alleluia!”

As I write this, it is still Lent and, in the practice of the Western Church, we keep the “Alleluias” often hidden in worship until the great celebration of the Resurrection on Easter Sunday. This is a practice that has never sat quite right with me, for the bodily Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead is the central and most important reality of our faith. Our whole faith hinges on this event, this reality.

St. Paul’s writes about this in 1 Corinthians 15:12-28. He does a remarkable job of linking our resurrection with Jesus’ resurrection. He doesn’t mince words: If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins… those who have died in Christ have perished…. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ we are of all people most to be pitied. Everything, everything hangs on the Resurrection of Christ. If Christ has not been raised, then the shape of our entire life does not make sense. If Christ has not been raised, then we have wasted a good deal of our lives in worship and praise. If Christ has not been raised, we are lost in our sins and death is the final answer.

But, St.Paul says, in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died. And because Christ is risen from the dead, we are given forgiveness of sins, life and salvation, not just in the world to come, but also right here, right now. Because Christ is risen from the dead, all of creation has been transformed. God’s final word is not one of death but of new life!

This, my brothers and sisters in Christ, is what we celebrate on Easter—and every Sunday, even in Lent. For every Sunday, the first day of the week, the first day of creation, the glorious eighth day of the new creation, is the Lord’s Day, a Day of Resurrection, a celebration of the Lord’s triumphal victory over sin, death and the devil. It is not so much that every Sunday is a little Easter but that every Easter is a HUGE Sunday! (Thanks to Laurence Hull Stookey for this insight in his book Calendar.)

So as Lent leads us into Holy Week and Holy Week into the glorious Season of Easter, perhaps the littlest ones among us understand it best of all. Ooh Ah! Indeed, little Lucy, “Ooh Ah!” “Ooh Ah!” indeed!

DST TLC

2010-03-15T07:46:00.003-04:00

Last March I wrote about how Daylight Saving Time messes with our sleep / waking schedule so much that it's not unusual or surprising that we find ourselves grumpier than normal for a few days (or weeks).

One approach, of course, is to simply give in to this anger: at a spouse, child, or co-worker. Another approach is to use it as an opportunity to confess our sins and shortcomings and, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to begin to cultivate the virtues in our life.

Throughout the long history of the church, seven grievous (or "deadly") sins were identified as being particularly serious or pernicious: pride, greed, lust, anger, gluttony, envy and sloth. How many of these rear their ugly heads the week following the Daylight Saving Time switch?

However, the Church in its wisdom, has "matched" these seven grievous sins with the seven capital virtues: humility, liberality (generosity), chastity, mildness, temperance, happiness and diligence (see also the "fruits of the Spirit" in Galatians 5:22-23).

Our battle with sin is a daily one. Let us all, by God's grace, fight the dark side of DST with some Spirit-filled TLC.

Bright Sadness

2010-03-11T09:27:00.004-05:00

Alexander Schmemann, an Eastern Orthodox Christian theologian, has described Lent as a "bright sadness." I think I understand what he means.

I am still getting settled into my new study here at the church following our renovations. One item on my "to do" list is cleaning the windows.

This morning the sun has been exceptionally bright, which has a twofold effect on me. On the one hand, it cheers me, especially since I've had quite a bit of cabin fever as of late and cannot wait for spring to come in full force. The sun brightens my study and my life. On the other hand, it shows even more clearly how dirty my windows are and how much I need to clean to them, to tend to them.

To me, that is Lent in a nutshell. The Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, brightens our lives--indeed, He brightens the entire world--with his glorious Resurrection. Yet it is this same light that shines from his face that also exposes our dirty windows, our sin, our brokenness, our mess.

Lent and the Christian Life

2010-02-23T21:19:00.001-05:00

There are many popular views of exactly what Lent is. If you grew up Lutheran, you probably remember extra church services on Wednesdays, a somber tone to worship even on Sundays and a focus on the Crucifixion. If you grew up in another Protestant denomination, perhaps you remember a time of preparation for Easter. If you were raised Roman Catholic, perhaps you remember meatless Fridays and fish fries—a tradition the Legion in town continues. Perhaps over the years you have tried giving something up (chocolate, coffee, sweets) or taking something on (extra devotions, Bible reading time, etc.). But have you ever stopped to ask: Why? Why Lent? Why these practices? Why this 40-day focus on things such as giving to the poor, prayer and fasting?

Sometimes I think Lent is seen as something we have to get through so that we can get to the really good thing: the joy of Easter. Lent is also often seen as a time of intense spiritual exercises: giving things up or fasting, giving to the poor and doing works of mercy, praying and reading Scripture. In both of these scenarios, Lent is something that we do for a while (40 days) and then are done. Whew! Thank goodness for Easter!

There is a sense in which Lent is preparation for Easter and there is a sense in which Lent is a time of intense spiritual exercises. But this month I want to focus on Lent itself: its purpose and its power. Lent is a time when we focus intently on two things: 1) Jesus’ passion, suffering and crucifixion and 2) our life of faith. Our worship will invite us to focus on the first; our faith practices of almsgiving/works of mercy, prayer and fasting—together called the Discipline of Lent—will invite us to focus on the second. And here is where the rubber hits the road. Lent is a time to focus intensely on things that are central to what it means to be a Christian all the time.

Lent is time of preparation: not so that we can stop doing “Lenten things” when Easter comes, but as an intense “boot camp” so that we can soldier on as Christians every day of the year. During Lent we focus on Jesus and his suffering on our behalf—and are invited to keep Jesus and his Cross before our eyes every day, in every situation. During Lent we give to the poor and perform works of mercy to all, so that we can begin to do this every day of our lives. During Lent we fast and give things up, so that we can begin every day to renounce not just stuff, but the sin that clings so close to us. During Lent we pray and read Scripture, so that every day our lives can be saturated by and surrounded by prayer and God’s word.

Easter does loom on the horizon. In fact, its joy is present even now. During these days let us continue our Lenten journey, becoming by grace who God has created us to be.

Living Like Jesus

2010-01-15T14:22:00.003-05:00

I am reading The Year of Living Like Jesus by Ed Dobson (no relation to James Dobson as far as I can tell) and have been captivated by it. I am not sure whether or not to recommend the book or not. On the one hand, it is hard to put down and am I captivated by Dobson's authentic struggle to live the new life in Christ. On the other hand, I find myself amazed by how little of the fullness of the Christian faith he seems to have experienced, in terms of other non-evangelical Christian denominations.

A few things worth sharing have struck me so far:

1. The importance of regular, fixed prayers for the life in Christ.

Throughout the book, Dobson tries praying using the Catholic rosary, the Orthodox prayer rope and Episcopal prayer beads. He also finds praying the Scriptures to be a transformational experience. I too have found that fixed prayers have been the bedrock of my prayer life.

2. The link between practicing faith and the desire of faith.

Dobson tries to listen to each of the four Gospels every week on his iPod: a noble venture, to say the least. Every once in a while he comments that he is sick of listening to Scripture and praying and takes a short break. In doing both he shares this profound truth: The more he reads Scripture and prays, the more he wants to read Scripture and pray. On the other hand, the less he reads Scripture and prays, the less he wants to. I would echo this truth he has discovered: that there is a deep link between simply "doing" faith practices and the desire to do those practices. What is fascinating to me is the reality that doing precedes desire and not the other way around.

So if you are in a faith rut, just pray, just read Scripture--and let the desire follow!

3. The difficulty of walking in the Way of Jesus.

Anyone who has ever read the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew, chapters 5-7) realizes how difficult it is to authentically walk in the Way of Jesus. This is the greatest strength of Dobson's book as he wrestles with what it means to live in Christ in every aspect of his life.

In other news...

The Techno-Future? Email or Social Media?

I am not sure how I want to continue to update these posts. I am leaning away from email and more toward social media. You can be come a fan on Facebook, where I will post a link when I write a new piece on this blog. This is also linked to my Twitter account (MattMusteric). And our congregation has its own Facebook page as well. Another easy way to follow along is to subscribe to this blog through and RSS feed reader such as Google Reader. The idea, I suppose, with all of this is to put the information in the hands of those that are looking for it. So if you have not received an email in a while from me, check out new posts here on my blog.

Epiphany is Theophany

2010-01-09T09:27:00.002-05:00

This weekend we will celebrate the Baptism of our Lord. The focus is squarely on Jesus and his baptism in the waters of the Jordan at the hands of John the Baptizer. But something much bigger is going on as Jesus emerges from this full-immersion river baptism.

God in all his fullness is revealed as Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Epiphany is Theophany.

In the most ancient tradition of the Church, Epiphany was celebrated before Christmas; the manifestation of God was celebrated before the birth was put on the Church calendar. In the Christian East, the focus of Epiphany was on the Baptism of our Lord. In the Christian West, Epiphany developed into a three-part celebration: 1) the visit of the wise men, 2) Jesus' baptism in the Jordan and 3) the wedding feast at Cana of Galilee in which Jesus turns the water into wine.

This weekend we celebrate the Baptism of our Lord. The skies are torn open and God is revealed as Holy Trinity. The Father speaks from heaven; the incarnate Son who is fully God and fully man emerges from the water; the Holy Spirit descends in the form of a dove.

In truth all Christian celebrations are celebrations of the Trinity, because this is who God is for all eternity. God was, is and always will be Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Before there was anything, any creation, before there was any "was," God was: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. One God in three persons, existing in himself as perfect community, perfect communion.

What does this have to do with the Baptism of our Lord? With us? In the Baptism of our Lord, the Most Holy Trinity graces the waters of baptism and enfolds us into his life. In our Baptismal washing, we are enfolded into the One Who is Perfect Community and granted, by grace, a share in God's life, the life of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Happy Theophany!

Why We Need Advent

2009-12-18T07:28:00.003-05:00

This reflection was inspired by a comment on a friend's Facebook post. He was reminding us that the 12 days of Christmas begin with Christmas rather than some grand countdown to Christmas. Someone replied that pastors are fighting a losing battle with Advent, especially when it boils down to simply not singing Christmas hymns during Advent. She suggested that we move Advent back to November and celebrate Christmas the whole month of December. I took this to mean, "Since the culture celebrates Christmas from Thanksgiving to Christmas Day, why not take advantage of this?"

Without weighing in on these particular issues, I would like to make a case for keeping Advent. And I would like to approach it from a simple perspective: Even when it comes to Christmas, do we simply want to do what the world around us is doing? When it comes to cheerily singing carols: sure. When it comes to trimming the tree and putting up decorations: sure. But when it comes to the madness of "pre-Christmas"--at least as I observe it--I don't think so.

There is a dark side to celebrating Christmas from Thanksgiving to Christmas Day, and we all know it. It is the hatred that spews forth in a parking lot as we all rush to get those gifts to put under the tree. It is the unkind word spoken from a parent under the weight of too many expectations, impossible to fulfill. It is the mad clamoring after things visible, when the deepest hunger of our souls is for the One who is invisible. It is, at its worst, the sheer emptiness of sin.

Advent is like a splash of cool water to wake us up. It is like the tender glow of a candle to give us true light. Advent refuses to be satisfied with all this pre-Christmas madness. Advent invites us to lift our eyes heavenward: to marvel at the God who has become human and to long for his coming again. Advent strips down all the decorations and busy-ness so we can join the shepherds in the humble manger. Advent prepares us to be a people fit for our King.

Perhaps Advent is best described, ironically, in the words of the Christmas carol which sings: "... and fit us for heaven to live with Thee there."

Happy Advent. And Blessed Christmas (a little early!).

Advent Decluttering

2009-12-01T12:59:00.002-05:00

I don't know about you, but my house is filled with a lot of items I don't need. I suppose I am more aware of this during Advent than any other time of the year. I spend much more time indoors as the weather grows colder. And as I consider the twin purposes of Advent, to prepare for the celebration of Christmas and to ready myself for Christ's second coming, I have a heightened sense of what is necessary and what is not for these two things.

So part of my Advent discipline this year is going to be decluttering, combined with early gifting. Some of my stuff will be donated. Some will make its way to the dumpster. Some will find its way as early, second-hand gifts to others. And, of course, most of it I will keep. And some of it I will hoard.

What I am finding, as I begin this process of giving things away, is how incredibly freeing this all is. And the less I have, the more I have. Such is the logic of the Gospel.

In a few weeks, on the Third Sunday of Advent (December 13), we will be invited to consider the practical dimensions of John the Baptist's preaching as we prepare for the coming of the Messiah. He calls the people to repent and prepare, but they won't let him off the hook. It is almost as if they are saying, "Preacher, help us out here. What does it mean for us to repent and prepare?"

And the crowds asked [John the Baptist], "What then should we do?" In reply he said to them, "Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise." Even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, "Teacher, what should we do?" He said to them, "Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you." Soldiers also asked him, "And we, what should we do?" He said to them, "Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages." (Luke 3:10-14)

Decluttering. Renunciation. Almsgiving. Simplifying. Being content. Not taking more than we need. There seems to be some connection between these things and preparing for our Messiah, who first came in simple circumstances, in a manger, because there was no room for Him.

I don't want to add to your to-do list this time of year. But you may just find that giving things away might just be the way of life we're all called to, the way of the Gospel, the way of Jesus. For this same Messiah who came in a manger and who is coming again in glory, says,

For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it (Luke 9:24).

Blessed Advent to you all!

Time Change

2009-11-03T13:55:00.002-05:00

I don't know about you, but the time change weeks always mess me up. Just when my physiological clock was finally in sync with the rising and setting of the sun, my world gets turned upside down with a crazy thing we do to ourselves called Daylight Saving Time (or Standard Time, or whatever we're on now).

This whole upending of the clocks and the routine have invited me this week to think again about how God sanctifies time, setting it apart for his own purposes.

Christians inherited from the Jews the regular marking of the day with prayer in the morning and in the evening. They also added other "hours," such as the noon hour to mark the remembrance of the Crucifixion.

So, whether you are thrilled for the time change or still adjusting to it, I offer this prayer called "The Dial" by Lancelot Andrewes who lived from 1555-1626. It marks the hours of the day in a way that involves our "regular days" in the context of God's grand plan of salvation. I find it helps me to raise my mind and heart toward the things of God, even as I live on this earth and in this time.

Anyway, here it is. I have updated most of the language in the copy I have (for example the "Thees" and "Thous" to "You", etc.), hopefully to make it more readable/pray-able.

*References to the hours, (example: "the third hour," etc.) can be best understood if you think of "zero hour" as being about 6 a.m. So, the third hour is 9 a.m., the sixth hour is noon, etc.

The Dial by Lancelot Andrewes (1555-1626)

You who have put the times and seasons in Your own power: grant that we make our prayer unto You in a time convenient and when You may be found, and save us.

You who for us and for our salvation was born at dead of night: give us daily to be born again by renewing of the Holy Spirit, till Christ be formed in us unto a perfect person, and save us.

You who very early in the morning while the sun was yet arising did rise from the dead: raise us up daily unto newness of life, suggesting to us ways of repentance which Yourself knows, and save us.

You who did at the third hour* did send down Your Holy Spirit on the apostles: take not away the same Spirit from us, but renew Him daily within us, and save us.

You who at the sixth hour and on the sixth day did nail the sins of the world with Yourself on the Cross: blot out the handwriting of our sins which is against us and taking it out of the way, save us.

You who at the sixth hour did let down a great sheet from heaven to earth, a figure of Your Church: receive us up into it, sinners of the Gentiles, and with it receive us up together into heaven, and save us.

You who at the seventh hour did will that the fever should leave the nobleman's son: if anything abide of fever or sickness in our soul, take it away from us also, and save us.

You who at the ninth hour hour for us sinners and for our sins did taste of death: mortify in us our earthly members and whatsoever is contrary to Your will, and save us.

You who willed the ninth hour to be an hour of prayer: hear us while we pray in the hour of prayer and make us to obtain our prayer and our desires, and save us.

You who at the tenth hour did will Your Apostle, when he found Your Son, to declare with great joy: "We have found the Messiah": make us also in like sort to find the Messiah and when He is found in like sort to rejoice, and save us.

You who at evening did will to be taken down from the cross and buried in a tomb: take away our sins from us and bury them in Your sepulchre, covering with good works whatever we have committed ill, and save us.

You who did grant even at the eleventh hour of the day to send workers into Your vineyard and to fix a wage, notwithstanding they had stood all the day idle: do unto us like favour and, though it be late, as it were about the eleventh hour, accept us graciously when we return to You, and save us.

You who at the hour of supper did will to institute the most sacred mysteries** of Your body and blood: make us mindful of the same and partakers of the same, and that, never unto judgment but unto remission of sin and unto acquiring the gifts of the new covenant, and save us.

You who late in the night did by Your breathing confer on Your Apostles the authority as well to forgive as to retain sins: make us partakers of that authority, yet that it be unto remission, not unto retention, O Lord, and save us.

You who at midnight did awaken David your Prophet and Paul the Apostle to praise You: give us also songs by night and to remember You upon our beds, and save us.

You who with Your own mouth has declared that at midnight the Bridegroom shall come: grant that the cry "The Bridegrooms comes" may sound evermore in our ears, that so we be never unprepared to meet Him, and save us.

You who by the crowing of a cock did admonish Your Apostle and make him return to penitence: grant us also at the same admonition to do the same, to go forth and weep bitterly the things in which we have sinned against You, and save us.

You who has foretold that You will come to judgment in a day when we look not for You and at an hour when we are not aware: make us prepared every day and every hour to be ready for Your advent, and save us.

Amen.

**"Mysteries" was the term used by the early church for the sacraments.

Sin and Human Nature

2009-10-06T11:43:00.004-04:00

In my sermon on Sunday I invited us to consider the central move Jesus makes in the Gospel text (Mark 10:2-16): namely, drawing us back to God's intentions from the beginning. I want to expand upon that a bit in this week's reflection.

I read books on parenting a fairly regular basis. In the one I'm reading now, the author begins with the premise (and here I'm paraphrasing) that children are bad by nature. I bristled at that starting point, not because I have difficulty imagining that children--and adults, let's be honest--behave in disastrously bad ways on a fairly regular basis, but because his account of the relationship between human nature and sin is a best imprecise and at worst, simply wrong.

Are we really bad by nature? And, if not, what is the relationship between human nature and sin? An old order for confession (the Lutheran Service Book and Hymnal) invited us to pray, "We are by nature sinful and unclean" (emphasis mine). Really? By nature sinful and unclean?

The story for us as Christians begins in Genesis 1 and 2. Christians cannot fully and finally say that human nature and sin are one and the same, for God created all things (including human beings) as good. And yet we know on a very practical and intuitive level what we confess from the green Lutheran Book of Worship, that we have sinned "and cannot free ourselves."

[Note: The part of the Order for Confession in the Lutheran Book of Worship about being "in bondage" to sin is yet another topic that was hotly debated as the Lutheran Book of Worship was being assembled... but not a topic that I'm going to address today. I think it can be solved by simply saying, "We confess that we have sinned and cannot free ourselves," with the main point being that we are sinners and we cannot do something about it on our own.]

So we need to say (because God says so) that we are not sinful by nature. Being sinful is not intrinsic to what it means to be human. Our Lord Jesus Christ, fully God and fully human, lived a human life without sin, the life that was intended for us from the start. He is not less than human, not 98% human or something like that. Yet he did not sin. So sin is not a necessary part of what it means to be human.

And yet we find ourselves knee-deep in the muck we call sin, and we cannot free ourselves. Sin so permeates our lives, our relationships, our world that we find ourselves stuck in it, infected by it, surrounded by it. The depth of our immersion in sin calls to mind the movie the Matrix; it is everywhere, in everything. Since the Fall in Genesis 3, there is nothing in creation untouched by sin. It is an infection deeply embedded into the entire fabric of creation. But it is also "not the way it is supposed to be," to borrow a book title.

A classical understanding of sin goes something like this: sin and evil are not realities in and of themselves; they are always "less than" what God has intended. Sin is like the rot on a piece of fruit or the rust on the car in a junkyard. Is like the infection that has made the body sick or the stink of decay. Sin has no life of its own; its ways are parasitic.

So what then are we as Christians to do? How do we take seriously Genesis 3, without letting it be the story and also take seriously Genesis 1 and 2 and Revelation 21 and 22?

I suggest that we take sin very seriously... and take God even more seriously.

Whenever I hear a new philosophical theory or psychological paradigm, my benchmark is the same: "Does this [system/thought] take sin seriously enough? Does it take God even more seriously?"

Taking sin seriously means struggling against it at every turn. Our whole lives as Christians are to be lives of repentance, turning from sin and toward God, allowing the Holy Spirit's burning fire to cleanse us from our sin and warm us with divine grace. Taking sin seriously means an ongoing internal battle against all that keeps us from walking in the Way of Jesus.

Taking God seriously means never believing Satan, because he is the father of all lies. Taking God seriously means clinging to the truth that Christ's victory over sin and death on the cross is the final world, even when evidence in the world around us seems to suggest the opposite. Taking God seriously means knowing the final chapters of the book of Revelation like we know the Lord's Prayer, and trusting in those same promises.

Or, as a wise teacher of mine once said, it goes something like this: "Hi, I'm Matt, a sinner, redeemed by the precious blood of the Lamb." May that be our prayer and conviction today and always.

Technology, T-Metals and the Task of Being a Christian

2009-09-30T14:30:00.002-04:00

I probably write a bit too much on technology. Truth be told, it's always been a mixed bag for me. I love my laptop because it makes my work portable... but I hate that I do a lot of extra work because I can take it with me. I love that my cell phone allows me to make calls whenever and wherever I want... but it makes it harder to truly "be away" for vacation, etc. I love that posting a document online (or sending this to you via email) can save lots of paper... but email spam drives me crazy.

At a conference I attended in July on preaching, one of the groups that did relief work around the world highlighted the impact all our consumption of new technology has upon the lives of those who live in third-world countries. Read about what our hyper-consumption of "T" metals (Tin, Tantalum, Tungsten) used in cell phones is doing in the Democratic Republic of Congo, for example. [*Note: I do not know enough about the organization that wrote this piece to recommend it or not; I am simply sharing it as one example of the problem.] In simple terms, our consumption of new technology is never neutral.

Part of our calling as Christians is a call to renunciation, of saying "No!" to the things the culture around us may unflinchingly embrace. I wonder how a simple act of prayer might inform the way we embrace or decline new technologies. What might it mean to make the sign of the cross or pray together with your spouse or teen or friend before considering whether or not to get that new cell phone, iPod or laptop? [Of course, making the sign of the cross and praying in the cell phone section of Best Buy might catch on and people may wonder when they can get their own jPhone!]

The other part of our calling as Christians is to say a resounding "Yes!" to things that are of God or bring God glory (see the last Psalms, 148-150, where the whole creation is invited into one grand "Hallelujah!"). In this spirit, here are a few ways that we as a congregation are using new technology for the sake of the Kingdom of God:

@ Bethlehem now has a Facebook page. Click "become a fan" to receive updates.

@ Pastor Matt has a public Facebook page [also click "become a fan" to receive updates] and a Twitter account [MattMusteric].

@ Sermons are available now on our website for download in MP3 format. My sermons are also available via podcast on iTunes (search for "Matthew Musteric podcast").

@ Our church newsletter is available online as a PDF file. This may mean future savings of time, resources and money.

@ On the front page of our church website you can look ahead to the readings for Sunday [left column], read news about our denomination [right column], and check the calendar.

@ And finally, these devotional reflections come to you free of charge and are posted on my blog.

Are all these things we should necessarily be embracing? I don't know. But it is our task together to continue to discern that, so that we may build up one another in love.

And if all of this technology makes you dizzy, that's OK too. Remember that even books and newspapers were once "new technology."

If you have suggestions for creative ways to use (or avoid) this technology for the glory of God, send me an email.

Empty Altar Table

2009-09-26T22:43:00.004-04:00

Very recently a group of Lutheran pastors in the area were invited to take a tour of Holy Rosary Cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Toledo. The ecumenical officer of the diocese, Father Jim Peiffer, was our gracious host. I won’t go into all the details of this magnificent building, but I do want to share a moment that moved me at the end of our time there.

We concluded with a short devotional service that mirrored the service pastors take part in as they begin in a new congregation. We began at the baptismal font, moved to the pulpit and finally to the altar. As we gathered around the altar table, a friend of mine read the Words of Institution as recorded by St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 11. It is the first time I have ever heard those words read behind an empty table, a table without the Sacrament, an altar without Holy Communion. Father Jim shared his lament that for a number of reasons we were not able to yet share this table fellowship, the deepest fellowship Christians know.

I was moved deeply too. For I too long for the day when all Christians—not just “some” or “most”—but all Christians gather together and the share the realized, concrete fellowship that our Lord Jesus intended (see John 17 and Acts 2:42).

In 1961, the World Council of Churches issued a statement on Christian unity. My favorite paragraph is this one:

We believe that the unity which is both God’s will and his gift to his Church is being made visible as all in each place who are baptized into Jesus Christ and confess him as Lord and Saviour are brought by the Holy Spirit into one fully committed fellowship, holding the one apostolic faith preaching the one Gospel, breaking the one bread, joining in common prayer, and having a corporate life reaching out in witness and service to all and who at the same time are united with the whole Christian fellowship in all places and all ages in such wise that ministry and members are accepted by all, and that all can act and speak together as occasion requires for the tasks to which God calls his people. It is for such unity that we believe we must pray and work.

This October we celebrate with our Lutheran and Roman Catholic brothers and sisters in Christ the 10th anniversary of the signing of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification. This document was signed by members of Lutheran Churches around the world and the Roman Catholic Church on Reformation Day, 1999. It essentially proclaimed that on this central issue (justification), we are putting down our swords and no longer fighting.

I suppose for me the sound of a sword being dropped makes the sight of an empty altar table a bit less harsh. But I long for the day when the sound of that sword dropping is matched by the sound of wine being poured and bread being broken and all of Jesus’ faithful followers gathering at his Holy Communion feast.

Please join me in working for and praying for the unity of Christ’s whole Church.

Building Up... or Tearing Down?

2009-09-08T13:18:00.003-04:00

As the first of the construction crews arrived this morning to begin putting up walls to prepare for the renovations to our church building, I was reminded that we're going to see a lot of demolition and construction in the next few months.

The "building up of the church" seems to be a pervasive them in the Letter to the Ephesians (see 4:11-16) and is worth reflecting on... if for no other reason than the simple fact that demolition is almost always easier than construction when it comes to buildings. In a similar way, it is far easier to demolish and destroy one another than it is to build up one another.

Instead of my own reflections, this week I offer an essay by Walter Wangerin, Jr. titled "Edification or Demolition." Wangerin reflects on how simple acts, here an encounter at a gas station, can wildly transform us for better or worse.

Pray for the building up of Christ's holy church. May we work toward this edification in all our relationships.

Eat this Book

2009-08-31T09:08:00.000-04:00

In my sermon yesterday, I encouraged all of us to eat the word of God, to digest it daily that it may nourish us. We confess that Jesus is the Word of God (capital "W") who comes to us both through the word of God in the Holy Scriptures and in the Sacraments. Today I'd like to reflect on the regular practice of Christians eating and digesting the Holy Scriptures and allowing the Holy Spirit to nourish us through them.

As little as a year ago, if someone were to ask me how often they should read Scripture, I would have begun the conversation with something like, "Well, how often do you read the Bible now?" and then offered some suggestions for growing. If you are reading the Bible weekly, let's work on moving to daily, and so on. Now I am of a different mind.

If someone were to ask me today how often to read Scripture, I would ask them, "How often do you eat?" and encourage the same frequency for Bible reading as for eating. Every time you eat, every time you snack, match that with an equal time and frequency of reading Scripture. [You may actually want to track, just for one week, how much time you spend preparing and eating meals.]

I know it's daunting, that much Bible reading. But just as I would not encourage you to skip two meals a day, I don't think it is healthy for us when we regularly avoid digesting God's word. This food of Holy Scripture is more important, more dear to us, than even regular bread: one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD (Deuteronomy 8:3, cf. Matthew 4:4 and Luke 4:4).

Here are a few reflections and guidelines to aid in our feasting:

Fourth meal. What if you are an insomniac, like I am occasionally? Taco Bell advertises "Fourth Meal" as that meal between dinner and breakfast. Why not make a late night snack of God's word? Pray the Psalms.

Eat with others. Why not eat with others? Meals are always better with company, so why feast on God's word alone? Find a Bible study group that meets regularly and jump right in. Eat together.

Chew loudly. Try this practice if you have never done it before: read the Scriptures out loud for home devotions. The Word is meant to be heard. And try at worship to put down your bulletin and listen to the Scriptures.

Avoid junk food. All of what passes for devotional material is simply spiritual junk food. There may be a Bible verse but the reflections that follow often have little to do with the depth and breadth of God's word. Try lengthier passages of Scripture first, then good, solid food to supplement.

Snacks on the go. I imagine many of us have more than one Bible. Why not put one in different parts of the house, in the car, at the desk at work or school, etc.? This way God's life-giving food is always available.

Watch out. Daily engagement in the Word of God will transform us... making us over into the image of Christ. This can be a dangerous thing, loving our enemies, praying for those who persecute us...

Invoke the author. One of my favorite theologians suggests that reading Scripture is the second most dangerous thing a Christian can do, for when the Bible is opened the devil is nearby, whispering into our ears, tempting us. So when we read, we should invoke the name of the author, the Holy Spirit, to guide our reading and understanding. You may be wondering, what is the most dangerous thing a Christian can do? Not read the Bible.

Go online. One of the gifts of recent innovations in technology is that there are thousands of Bible reading plans right at our fingertips. Check the back of the Bible you have now; chances are there is a reading plan there.

Eat up, my Brothers and Sisters in Christ!

Other Events Coming Up...

Let's Talk About Sex

There are two opportunities to discuss recent decisions made by our denomination regarding human sexuality and standards for ordained ministers. The first one, with our synod Bishop, is this Tuesday from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm at First Lutheran Church, 109 E. Lincoln St., Findlay, Ohio. The second opportunity is here at Bethlehem, September 16 (Wednesday) from 6:30 pm - 7:30 pm. You are welcome to join us for either, or both.

Church at Cherry's

We received an overwhelming response to our "Church at Cherry's" theological discussions, so we hope to continue those this fall. Tentatively, we will meet once a month (probably the fourth Tuesday: so September 22 @ 7 pm). If you have topic suggestions, please send them. Oh, and BYOB (Bring Your Own Bible).

Ephesians 5: Getting Drunk

2009-08-11T11:15:00.000-04:00

Getting Drunk

In Ephesians 5:18-19 (the text for this coming Sunday) we read:
Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but be filled with the Spirit, as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your heart (NRSV).

Those who have struggled with addiction to alcohol are some of my favorite Christians, because they seem to get grace, repentance and redemption in a very deep way.

The easy part of the text above is the "don't get drunk" part. However, I am concerned that we often read this as simply a word about too much alcohol. I think we need to say more than that. Many of the sins in our culture are sins of excess, sins of gluttony, sins of simply "too much." In other words, even for those who can count on one hand the number of times they had too much alcohol to drink (or perhaps have never had "too much"), most of us regularly "get drunk" on all sorts of things: excessive shopping, too much TV, too much technology... the list is probably endless. As a relative of mine once said: "Everyone has their vice."

What all of this excess leads to, as with alcohol, is a dulling of the senses, a lack of awareness of God and of the world around us. In other words, regardless of the object, "too much" is nearly always spiritually dangerous.

In contrast, Paul encourages the Ephesian Christians (and us!) to drink deeply of the Spirit. The verse above locates this deep drinking of the spirit in the center of the worship life of the Church: in particular in singing: hymns, songs and Psalms. The Psalms are a rich collection of prayers to God that form not just the first hymn book of the people of Israel but also for us as the Church. If you do not already have a weekly or daily practice of praying the Psalms, I would encourage you in that direction.

What are some other ways we drink deeply of the Spirit? Christians throughout space and time have centered on three or four disciplines of faith that put us in the right places and frames of mind to receive the Spirit:
1.) Prayer (daily, or multiple times daily)
2.) Fasting
3.) Works of Mercy/Charity
4.) Scripture Reading

But there is also a sacramental way that we drink deeply of the Spirit. In the Sacrament of Holy Communion we literally drink of the Holy Spirit as we receive the precious Body and Blood of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ. We believe by eating and drinking.

May God the Holy Spirit fill you enfold you this week and always!

A few housekeeping items:

+ The "Church at Cherry's" Theology discussion continues this evening at 7 pm at Cherry's Pub on Front Street. This evening's topic will be: "The Way, the Truth and the Life?" exploring what it means that Jesus is the Way and how Christians relate to other religious traditions.

+ I am a bit behind in posting sermons from the past several weeks due to the New Orleans youth gathering and vacation, so please be patient. I am hoping to post Pastor Jim Miller's sermon from the Community Worship Service this past Sunday, but I have not yet checked the audio quality.

+ I am hoping to at some point consolidate this blog with my other one (revmatt.blogspot.com).

I am Bourbon Street

2009-07-29T09:55:00.000-04:00

Our youth and adults traveling to New Orleans arrived back safe and sound on Monday, after a few glitches with an early morning canceled flight. You can read all about our adventures on this blog and at another unofficial Gathering blog. Thank you for all of your prayers while we were gone.

I am Bourbon Street
I have chosen to title this post-Gathering reflection "I am Bourbon Street." Bourbon Street in the French Quarter is of course famous for many things, most of them revolving around what I would all "excess." Bourbon Street is, of course, almost a parody of itself. Because of so much excess, it is easy for most people, I imagine, to speak of Bourbon Street as some place those people go to do those things. But what if we all admit that deep down we are all Bourbon Street. The interiors of our lives are plagued with sins known and unknown, things done and left undone. It turns out we are all Bourbon Street.

But here is the great news. You see, each morning a full crew of garbage collectors and sanitation workers with soapy, pressurized water descends on the French Quarter to clean things up. They don't ever consider not doing this. It is simply what they do, day in and day out: clean things up. So it is with God's forgiveness of us. Not because it is something that God has to do, but because it is fitting with the very nature of God: It is something God chooses to do and wants to do. God descends upon the Bourbon Streets of our lives in Jesus Christ and cleans us up. Sometimes this cleaning is with gentle scrubbing, sometimes it is with the blast of pressurized water. These sanitation workers presented for me an image of Baptism: the life-giving water that rescues us from sin and cleanses us through daily repentance and forgiveness.

And, grace upon grace, the wonder if all this forgiveness and washing is that it precedes our sin. God's forgiveness is the first act. Jesus Christ is not Plan B. Before the foundations of the world, the Cross stands looming.

I am Bourbon Street, caked in sin. But I am also Bourbon Street, new every day, washed in the waters of Holy Baptism and made new in the blood of the Lamb.

Channel 11 News Feature
Our Church at Cherry's theology discussion made last night's evening news. I want to be clear about a few things. First, neither Pastor Jim Miller nor I nor the bar owner invited the news. It was not done as a publicity stunt. Second, I want to give due credit to where we got the idea: We swiped it from Pastor David Nevergall in Elmore who got it from the Roman Catholic Diocese with their "Theology on Tap" program. And I'm pretty sure that they got the idea from Jesus himself.

While it would have been nice to have a heads up, I am thankful, not for the publicity for our community, our churches or even Cherry's, but rather that the Gospel was spoken publicly.

Baptismal Remembrance and Footwashing

2009-07-26T21:59:00.000-04:00

This evening we read from Romans 6 and John 13. It was raining as we waded into the fountain behind our hotel. [It had been there the whole time and none of us had noticed it before.] We remembered our Baptism with watery crosses on the forehead and then washed one another's feet.

Worship

2009-07-26T08:41:00.000-04:00

In less than two hours we will gather for worship, 38,000 strong. We gather as sinners, desperately in need of healing, of a word of forgiveness, of our Lord's precious and life-giving Body and Blood. We gather as servants of our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, that we might be found worthy to be found in Him, always seeking the very last place. And we gather as saints, not by what we have done (or left undone), but because that is how God, through the life-giving waters of Baptism, chooses to name us and regard us and treat us and call us. And we gather as the hungry, to feast upon the Christ who is our Bread, that by his hand the world might be fed.

Oh, and I was wrong about the number. Turns out there are those around the world in the Church on earth who also Gather this morning to sing praises to our Lord Jesus. And turns out there is a heavenly multitude beyond number, whose ceaseless praise of the Most Holy Trinity is quite deafening. So join us, as we join into worship that is already in progress...

Gathering Worship

2009-07-26T08:32:00.000-04:00

In a few hours we will be off to the last official act of the Gathering, worship at the SuperDome. If you have already worshipped at home, you can also watch the live streaming video feed of the Gathering, beginning at 10:00 am EST (pre-worship music) or 10:30 am (worship). They have been streaming the evening events and I imagine will also stream Sunday morning worship.

From that page you can also find links to a whole host of things: pictures, summaries, etc.

Crazy Hair Day

2009-07-26T03:20:00.000-04:00

I am not sure if this qualifies as a bad hair day or a fantastic hair day. Skyscraper hair maybe.

Ribs

2009-07-26T03:08:00.000-04:00

After a great evening at the SuperDome, a local vendor set up rib shop on Poydras Street. I couldn't resist. Love those ribs!

@ the Dome

2009-07-26T02:56:00.000-04:00

The happy bunch at the Dome on Friday night.

Ninth Ward

2009-07-26T02:48:00.000-04:00

Much has been written about the now famous Ninth Ward, completely submerged and destroyed during Hurricane Katrina. Here are a few photos of some of the "missing houses." It is almost a no man's land. While there are houses here and there, it is largely a series of vacant lots and overgrown yards. Imagine several square city blocks with only a few houses on each.

Plantations

2009-07-26T02:43:00.000-04:00

While some groups were given some hands on (construction or clean-up) service projects and others were given human interest (reading to children) service projects, others were sent on more of what I would call a "learning adventure." We visited two plantations west of New Orleans.

Serving Day

2009-07-26T02:41:00.000-04:00

Friday was our service day. Here we are decked out in our orange serving shirts.

Day 3: Bourbon Street and Forgiveness

2009-07-26T02:33:00.000-04:00

Most people have a good idea of what happens at Bourbon Street in the evenings, but what may not be as well known is that a tireless band of sanitation workers powerwashes a good part of the French Quarter every morning. The picture of these cleaners is at St. Joseph's square. As I walked along these roads and snapped these photos, I couldn't help but think of forgiveness. It may be a longer essay someday, but what struck me is how faithfully and thoroughly these workers work each day to clean and to make things new.

May forgiveness wash over us today!

T-Shirts and Identity

2009-07-26T02:07:00.000-04:00

This year I've seen a remarkable number of t-shirts. I am amazed at the amount of creativity that went into many.

God's Work. Our Hands.

2009-07-26T01:39:00.000-04:00

The ELCA's "theme" this year is "God's work. Our hands." You can see it emblazoned on our servant t-shirts. This theme I think attempts to draw on the rich imagery used in the New Testament that names the Church as the Body of Christ. As the Letter to the Ephesians so richly testifies--and what I have so deeply witnessed here--is the variety of members that make up the Body and the rich variety of gifts that animate the same Body in the power of the Holy Spirit.

I have missed some of the "connective tissue" in the Gathering so far. We have participated in acts of serving in many places throughout New Orleans. And we have heard a lot about justice, serving the poor, etc., but not enough about why and how we do that precisely as members of the Body of Christ, joined to Jesus himself in the mystical waters of Baptism. It is our union with Christ that not only saves us but animates our serving in his Name and as his Body.

Consider adding the letter to the Ephesians to your devotional reading list this week.

SuperDome

2009-07-24T02:10:00.000-04:00

Here's a shot of the SuperDome from the outside. It looks surprisingly like a spacecraft. We will "launch" from here tomorrow for our servant event.

Lost and Found

2009-07-24T02:07:00.000-04:00

Band Lost and Found at the Interaction Center. Check out their song "Give Us Ears," a wonderful summary of the Gospel of Mark at NewSongsforWorship.com.

Fun Hat Dude

2009-07-24T02:05:00.000-04:00

What I love about youth gatherings, among many things, is sheer amount of fun and energy teenagers bring to the table. Props to this guy who had a great hat and graciously allowed me to share this photo.

_________, Justice, Jazz

2009-07-24T01:55:00.000-04:00

When I first had this idea of multiple people blogging (unofficially) the Gathering on the ground a friend of mine asked if he should be nice. What he meant, I think, was how to handle those awkward moments when you need to constructively criticize what is happening. So I guess I'll just jump right in and stick my neck out.

While our three speakers this evening has some great things to say (and one had incredible presence), I found it disturbing that Jesus was not explicitly mentioned until the third speaker. Now don't get me wrong. I'm all for loving acts of service, of Jesus' work being done by whomever and whenever. But I think as Christians we have not only an obligation but a deep desire to ground what we are doing in the One who animates our serving, in the One who gives us new life. And his name is Jesus.

Also, what is up with Lost and Found not headlining this event? Their music is good, their theology is both sound and deep, and they know how to work a crowd. And Jesus appears rather regularly in their work.

Sand Volleyball at the Interaction Center

2009-07-24T01:50:00.000-04:00

Change for Change Brick

2009-07-24T01:45:00.000-04:00

Working on a brick for the offering for World Hunger ("Change for Change").

Tall Guy

2009-07-24T01:41:00.000-04:00

This one guy in the Arts and Culture entrance venue was really tall.

New Orleans - On the Ground

2009-07-24T01:38:00.000-04:00

I had some profound conversations with several people who are native to New Orleans. The woman I met this morning was here from New York for a funeral of a family member. She was able to give me a sense of the devastation of Katrina beyond the news stories and the hype. The security guard I spoke with this afternoon told her story of having been taken in with ten others by a family in Tennessee during Katrina, only to have the same family take the money that the small town had collected as a donation for them. The cook at Mother's restaurant shared his story too.

It is amazing to be honored to be a part of listening to someone else's story. And in the process, we find ourselves transformed.

Interaction Center

2009-07-24T01:35:00.000-04:00

Getting ready for our "Jazz" day the Interaction (convention) center.

Jazz Day

2009-07-24T01:31:00.000-04:00

Today was our "Jazz" day, I think. The Gathering theme is Jesus, Justice, Jazz and each day corresponds to one emphasis. Since we are on the purple track, we got to explore the Interaction Center at the convention center. Think of the interaction center as a venue for exploring creatively arts, music, service, sports and everything else under the sun.

T-Shirt

2009-07-23T02:28:00.000-04:00

Opening Gathering

2009-07-23T02:20:00.000-04:00

The opening gathering went well. We heard from Bishop Hanson and two speakers that spoke of what "faith in action" looked like in their lives.

What struck me most, however, was the evidence of Katrina that remained on the exterior of the Superdome and the adjacent building. Hope penetrating despair and despair penetrating hope.

Jazz

2009-07-23T02:18:00.000-04:00

Jazz is at the heart of New Orleans. What will it mean to improvise a new/old song to/for the Lord?

Called Saints

2009-07-23T02:14:00.000-04:00

The earliest Christian writers (including St. Paul in his letter to the Philippians, a focus text for the Gathering this year), calls Christians "saints" or "holy ones." Rather than a description of pious people, these earliest Christians knew exactly what they were doing: testifying to God's action in "setting apart" (a definition of "holy") a people for God's purposes.

I'm looking forward to being with the Saints from our neck of the woods, seeing some old Saints and meeting some new ones, locally grown and from around the country.

City Bus

2009-07-23T02:09:00.000-04:00

Instead of taking a shuttle from the airport, we took the city bus with a group of 38 from Staples, Minnesota. It was quite a long ride in from the airport (especially when you're sitting on the heater/engine in the back of the bus) but it gave us a chance to see a variety of things, including homes still damaged from Hurricane Katrina. I'm sure it will be overwhelming to hear the stories of those who lived here during the storm.

Ice Crystals

2009-07-23T02:06:00.000-04:00

At first glance this may seem like an odd picture. I think it was taken at about 35,000 feet somewhere between DC and New Orleans. The ice crystals on the window struck me. We must be high in the air, I reasoned, for ice crystals to form on the window.

To think that God is above and beyond us is almost incomprehensible. I wonder how our conceptions of God will be expanded and deepened and changed this week.

Planes, Trains, Automobiles

2009-07-23T02:02:00.000-04:00

This is a shot of our shuttle bus ride from the "outlying area" at the Washington, DC airport where we had our connecting flight. As I hear from friends around the world flying, driving and riding buses from all over the country (and beyond), I am reminded that "Gathering" is not just a noun, it is a verb.

Light

2009-07-23T01:55:00.000-04:00

This was one of those "lucky" shots. Better: one given by grace. The light bursting forth from the stage beneath the large cross gives me pause as I reflect on Christ, the uncreated Light who is in our midst, even as we gather in his name.

Opening Evening at the SuperDome

2009-07-23T01:47:00.000-04:00

Being Present

2009-07-23T01:23:00.000-04:00

This is going to be the most blogged about, Twittered about, techno-fiddled Gathering in history. Heck, I'm even joining the fray. But as I look around and see the youth texting and plugged into iPods and the adults quick to draw their cell phone as soon as they have a free moment, I wonder: What is all this technology doing to us?

Shane Hipps has recently convinced me, in his book Flickering Pixels, that no technology is neutral; all of these things deeply form and shape us. The key is understanding what is happening and then embrace or reject (or both!) each form of technology.

As I look around and ponder these things, here is what I observe: These new technologies are...

1. connecting us, though I imagine in ways that are not entirely neutral (nor always positive). On the positive side, many of those who could not make the trip can be a part of it virtually in a variety of ways. Perhaps all this technology helps to connect us more deeply as local congregations.

However, there is a strange twist to this. Because we are so electronically connected, instead of immersing ourselves in this new place away from home we are connected virtually to a dozen other communities back home. This is related to my next concern...

2. making us less present... to the moment, to those surrounding us. Instead of being right here, right now we are engaged with someone else, often somewhere else.

3. potentially undermining a strong belief in the incarnation. A central confession of the Christian Faith is that the Lord Jesus, fully God and begotten eternally from the Father, is also fully human, born of Mary. Flesh matters. Bodies matter.

And so AT & T was ironically wrong many years ago when the company invited us to "reach out and touch someone." An embrace is not possible virtually. Wiping a tear is not possible virtually.

It's not as if I'm immune from these pressures. But during this I'm going to try to keep my cell phone in my pocket as much as possible [except when I'm Twittering--see how difficult these waters are to navigate?], so I don't miss the God (who is everywhere present and fills all things) right in front of my face. Wait, is that my cell phone?

Philippians 2

2009-07-22T00:11:00.000-04:00

The Gathering theme this year is drawn from Philippians, chapter 2. Verse 5 invites us: "Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus..." and then describes Christ's self-emptying (kenosis) for us and for our salvation. I wonder what it will look like for us to empty ourselves, in the Way of Jesus, during this Gathering.

Jesus, Justice, Jazz UNofficial Blog

2009-07-21T20:26:00.000-04:00

I have set up the UNofficial blog for the New Orleans youth gathering and have invited several "on the ground" authors as contributors. While this page will feature some of our group's adventures, the other blog (http://jjj09.blogspot.com/) will hopefully give a variety of perspectives from authors from around the country.

Blog, Tweet, Pray: New Orleans Youth Gathering

2009-07-19T23:58:00.000-04:00

Our contingent from Bethlehem will be joining about 37,000 other youth and adults from around the nation in New Orleans for the National Lutheran Youth Gathering. The theme this year is Jesus, Justice, Jazz.

You can follow along (virtually) in a couple of different ways:

1. I hope to post at least a few blog posts here on this site (http://7daydevos.blogspot.com/).

2. You can also follow the Twitter stream on Twitter (username: houseofbread) or in the right hand sidebar of the same site (http://7daydevos.blogspot.com/).

3. The Facebook Page (search for Bethlehem Lutheran Church) should also capture these feeds as status updates.

4. No promises, but I might be able to upload pictures or audio.

5. This should really be #1: Please pray for all attending this Gathering, that we all might grow in what it means to walk in the way of Jesus.