Chubbles
A couple weeks ago it was my intention to get back into the blogging. It had been since before Christmas that I had last gotten into the rhythm of it. After Christmas, we had family, kids were home, and the home was active. I took advantage of the time together and didn't really feel like writing.Then we got back into the swing of things. But then, my son's cat got sick.
Chubbles was a beautiful cat. His deep black fur lightened into shades of grey as you dragged your fingers more deeply into the downy fur under his coat. He was a mixed breed, but included a strong line of Maine Coon, a species of cat that can grow up to 25 pounds. Chubbles was 19 pounds, and still growing. When he placed himself in your lap, you knew it! As a Maine Coon, he also had the ability to play catch. It was as if he had an opposable thumb and could grab at toys like a human hand. And like all cats, he had a slightly domineering nature that, at least on the outside, communicated nobility, independence, and self-reliance. On the inside, however, he loved to be close, especially to Nathan.
We are grateful to God that such a simple beast could be in our lives, and especially our son's life to teach about love and acceptance.
Initially, my intention was to use this blogging space as a place to contemplate on the shared realities of life. Realities we share regardless of our politics, our religious convictions, and our status in life. Issues of driving on icy roads, having to figure out who to vote for, the appearance of snow, life lessons from sports, etc. All those things we share by virtue of humanity.
I wasn't ready to reflect on teaching my son about death.
Last week we took our cat, Chubbles, to the vet for a strangely swollen ear. While the procedure was simple, we didn't plan on doing to then. It was expensive, and we just didn't have the money. Then, over the weekend, Chubbles was sick at his stomach. Then he became listless. By Monday, it was apparent that this was not a simple stomach problem. When we got Chubbles into the vet, he was treated as an emergency. This was not a stomach problem, nor an infection related to his ear. He had a blockage in his bladder and his kidneys were in danger of shutting down. Over the next two days, Chubbles was loved and cared for by our vet and his team. Nathan was able to visit in the animal hospital. But then on the second night, Chubbles died.
Chubbles was a loveable cat. He had the habit of landing in your lap, crawling up your chest, and then placing a paw on each side of your neck. He would in that way give a gentle hug. He, of course, did the cat kinds of things, like clawing at the carpet, trying to tear at wall paper, and sometimes, just getting under foot. But more than anything he did, he kept teaching our son about the reality of love and acceptance.
Every night, as it was time for my son to go to sleep, he'd call our old dog, 14 years old, and his young cat, just 3 1/2 years old, into his room. When the lights went out, Chubbles would cuddle with Nathan and purr. Now for the past few nights, Nathan has deeply missed his friend, Chubbles.
Even our dog, Neenah, seems to look around, standing still in the living room, turning her sad brown eyes (her eyes always look melancholy) around looking for Chubbles. On Wednesday afternoon we found a place in the garden for Chubble's body to be buried. We had a simple funeral service for him. After it was completed, Neenah was eager to come outside. I thought she needed to come out, but instead, she just wanted to. Neenah came to the place when Chubbles was buried and just sat there. She sniffed the ground a bit and just sat there. I don't know how, but she knew that Chubbles was there, and that Chubbles would stay there.
Now we are teaching Nathan how to grieve. He's never deeply done this before. He is learning that there is a hole in his life that will never be filled. The contemplation is taking hold that life is filled with good-byes that come way too soon. Good-byes over which we have no control. Nathan is also learning that in grief, not only are we overcome by the loss, but we are reminded of the loss over and over. The torn wall paper, the clawed at carpet, and the lack of a warm body purring each night makes each day end with some tears.
The hardest part for us, as parents, is watching our son grieve. We know that he needs to, and that he needs to participate in the processing of his own grief. So we will work together to put away the cat-toys, put away the food dish, and set aside the litter-box. Over the weekend, we'll get more photos of Nathan and Chubbles and find a way for Nathan to display them. Then in some "fullness of time" we'll look for another kitten for him to care for. But not as a replacement for Chubbles and the hole he's left in Nathan's life, but simply as a creature in need of care who will give its own brand of love back.
Thank you to our friends who have shared their condolences with Nathan. While he's learned a great deal about loss and love from Chubbles, he's also learned about care and compassion from people.
Time for Prayer for Barak Obama
This prayer was written and shared throughout the Northwest Yearly Meeting of Friends over the past month. Arthur Robert, the patriarchal prophet and pastor for the Yearly Meeting penned this prayer.
Prayer for President Obama
Lord God, we pray for President Barack Obama. We praise you for the gifts you have nurtured in him: to think clearly, to speak eloquently, to interact effectively. Guide him, God, to use these skills both wisely and well as he leads our nation and serves our world. Thank you for his bright summons to audacious hope.
May we citizens bracket that vision with faith and love, so that civility and justice mark our nation's journey into an unknown and somewhat scary future.
May the glare of publicity never blind him to truth. May political power never dull empathy with ordinary people. May pride of position never corrode his conscience. Warn him, Lord, when evils, disguised as good, tempt him to stray from what is right and true. Teach him to backtrack from wrong turns amiably, but to follow right roads tenaciously.
Strengthen his commitment to servant leadership. May neither acclaim nor criticism tarnish his congeniality. Show him patterns of patience that tarry but do not dawdle. When he is tired and stressed, refresh him, Lord, in his body, in his mind, in his spirit. When alone he wrestles over difficult ethical and policy issues may this follower of Jesus heed his Master's guiding voice.
Oh, and Lord, in busy times remind President Obama of his heart-felt pledge and studied practice: to be an attentive and loving husband and father.
Amen!
Rick Warren Can Pray, Right?
Before too many people begin to wonder what on earth Obama is thinking by inviting Rev. Rick Warren to the inauguration, please read The Audacity of Hope, Chapter 6 entitled, "Faith."In this chapter, a relational theology is set out. One in which the longing for a divine relationship that is eternal and present is set out. In seeking a faith to deal with the existential reality of loneliness, Obama speaks frankly about his mother's spirituality, and his search that led him to faith.
In speaking about his Christian faith, Obama sounds like some of the classic Baptist leaders of the past, especially Roger Williams (I mean the long ago past!), and not much like contemporary liberal or conservative Christian leaders. In fact, he comes out as a bit of an oddball. An oddball that would be too liberal for conservatives and too conservative for liberals. It not just politacal pragmatism, it is a stance that finds much of the certainties and the abiguities of faith too profound to be limited to one "camp" or another.
I think Rick Warren, especially because of his commitment to end poverty, provide HIV care to those in need, and his growing awareness to the validity of a truly social gospel makes Rev. Warren an excellent, albeit initially surprising, choice.
A Birthday Card
"Try a thought experiment. For your next birthday, how would you
feel about getting a birthday card with my photo on it? "Happy Birthday!
It's a photo of me!"
Read the essay yourself at: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=97854252
By the way, if this is a product of the liberal media elite, I think we could all use more of this....
Care & Feeding of Spiritual Leaders, Part 3
There are dilemmas we face in spiritual leadership. Sometimes we are unaware of where we are, our sense of place. Then we look around and wonder, "how did we get here?" Is this where my vocation has led? Or, has there been a current into which I have stepped, unreflectively, and just gone along with the flow?
I remember a dreadful realization during my seminary education. One of my jobs during seminary was to sit up all night and make sure that the seminary was safe. On the hour, I would walk the halls of the seminary classrooms and dorms to make sure that the doors leading outside were all closed and locked. It was a great job for a student. I ended up doing most all of my studying on my night shift.
Now I am not against the supportive care of pastoral ministry and the deep abiding value of sharing good news with those who have already committed themselves to the reign of God and to a personal relationship with Jesus. But there was a leash of sorts in my training and in my pastorate that either led me to fulfill certain expectations, or, kept me close to home. The leash can lead, or the leash can restrain. Crossing boundaries becomes problematic in this kind of life. The ever-moving plan in the Acts of the Apostles kept frustrating me.
As we speak of developing missionally formed spiritual leaders, there is a need to take time to consider the borders we are, or want to be, crossing. For some, crossing another border can become an outlet to get away from too narrow a horizon for ministry. For these, crossing the border may have more to do with a need to get away, rather than a need to engage. Sometimes leaving behind to flee that which is painful is necessary, but it can also become a temporary escape. When a broken person seeks escape, rather than dealing with the issues that are causing pain, there is a possibility that crossing borders is not the intention at all. If there is enough brokenness it may be healthy boundaries that have been broken and crossed.
As we speak of developing spiritual leaders, there has to be an awareness of the leader’s ability to find an awareness of her or his part in the missional church. It may be in quiet friendships with neighbors, or in larger, “public chaplain” activities. But the degree to which a spiritual leader can do this has ramifications on the expectations of the local congregation being served as pastorate. A lively polarity needs to be addressed: the tension between the local church being served, and the spiritual leader finding ways to engage the community beyond the congregation, “within” versus “beyond”.
Care & Feeding of Spiritual Leaders, Part 2
Need for Spiritual Practices
Authors Willimon and Hauerwas wrote:
"pastoral ministry is too adventuresome and demanding to be sustained by trivial, psychological self-improvement advice. What pastors, as well as the laity they serve, need is a theological rationale for ministry which is so cosmic, so eschatological and therefore counter cultural, that they are enabled to keep at Christian ministry in a world determined to live as if God were dead. Anything less misreads both the scandal of the gospel and the corruption of our culture, (pg 144)."
Immersion in a counter-cultural narrative requests from us a determination to live into another story.
The basic practices of lectio divina, contemplation, and varieties of prayer are affirmations of another narrative taking root. At times feeling synthetic and forced, these practices in time emerge as lively and dynamic. This loss of this basic reality of Christian spiritual practice can be seen in the rejection that some church-leavers express. Alan Jameison identifies frustrated leaders creating frustrated followers. Jameison notes that those who leave church at a high percentage are frequently its lay leaders. These leaders have experienced poor pastoral ministry, limiting administration, or unaddressed conflict. At the heart of their search, however, is spiritual vitality. As these leaders leave church, intending to never go back, they often create fellowships of spiritual and relationtional integrity. It was not church these people were rejecting; it was the spiritually dislocatedness of the churches they had known from which they were separating themselves. Spiritual leaders need spiritual practices in their own lives, but also, these practices are necessary for the sake of the leaders and congregational participants in the process of being mentored and formed.
One of the pressing needs for spiritual leaders is the opportunity to carefully view issues relating to boundaries. Each of us has internal pressures seeking relief from a variety of pressures. Some are basic, others more complex. Many boundaries can become confused. Desires for rest, intimacy, challenge, and prosperity can become skewed, resulting in a variety of disasters. Spiritual leaders falling victim to various sins may be falling victim to natural hopes and desires unidentified and unattended; or, falling victim to misplaced desires while seeking to console one pain through the expense of another aspect of their own identity. For instance, unethical sexual relationships for spiritual leaders frequently occur as the result of misplaced desires for a new identity, or a desire to be admired, a need for friendship, etc. Being unaware of the broken and wounded areas of our own lives makes us easy prey for these destructive tendencies. At this level, spiritual practices are vital not only for spiritual leadership, but being a spiritual human person. Spiritual practices lived by leaders in the congregation remain vital for the health of the congregation. The griefs, loss, anguish, and confusion in congregations arising from the ethical violations of their pastors, ministers, and spiritual leaders is extensive and long-lasting. Spiritual practices become a vital piece in helping spiritual leaders from engaging in sexual violations, abuse of laity, financial scandals, substance abuse, workaholic lifestyle, and many others.
Protecting Boundaries While Crossing Borders
The issues relating to broken boundaries have been discussed widely and at length in many church systems, denominations and fellowships. Yet a few crucial aspects may be missing from these conversations. First, we are in a missional era for the church. The missional era requires new skills, new narratives, and new practices from spiritual leaders. Many of the practices and attitudes of Christendom will not add the vitality needed to pursue the vocation God is granting. Second, this new world of missional leadership is filled with opportunities for rabbit trails, side-paths, and unfamiliar mazes.
As missional spiritual leaders we need narratives that make sense of our dissonance with much of contemporary culture, but keep us in relationship with it. While in fear, we may be defensive about the protection of certain boundaries, we need also to cross over some defensive walls that get in the way of a missional life-style.
In more than one of my pastorates, I was expected to help retain the separation of the faith and the social and cultural reality of the neighborhood and larger community. This was done in small and simple ways. For the most part my job description was to care for and serve the congregation. Any reach beyond that would face scrutiny. For the attempts to reach out in relationship to the wider community, when that is not valued in practice by a local congregation, requires a variety of leadership skills. But it also requires more foundationally, spiritual discernment and practices which clarify and strengthen missional identity. For instance, a bishop I know explained that he was trying to insert into his portfolio of expected tasks a mission way of life. Realizing that all of his time was spend caring for the congregations of his synod, he had no time to engage his neighbors or his local community. Furthermore, it could be the case that he didn't even have a local community because the expansive territory he had to cover, geographically. After prayer and conversation, he was able to develop a percentage of his ministry time to engaging in his local community in a missional way. But that development took time.
As pastors move from Christendom/maintenance churches toward missional churches keeping personal boundaries will be all the more crucial. As the role-defined boundaries give way from a maintenance mode to a missional one, the temporary loss of a proscribed identity can be disturbing for some. To understand a God-given self-definition in the midst of this change is vital. To know who we are in God's eyes as we serve and relate in a new "parish" (i.e. our expanded awareness of our wider communities to which we have been called to serve) is the only way in which we can serve to demonstrate the reality of the kingdom of redemption, healing, and hope that we are proclaiming.
While there are boundaries to protect, there are borders to cross over. Knowing the difference between the two also calls forth the need for other types of fellowship, accountability, and prayer.
How have you experienced the balance between protecting boundaries and crossing borders?
Hot Topics
Yesterday it was about the prices dropping in the housing market. There were some well-to-do retirees there who worried about their retirement investments and there were a couple middle-aged folks concerned about their equity. One guy, though, mentioned the destabilization in the neighborhoods due to foreclosures. At first some got drawn into that conversation because any drain on the neighborhood, was a strain on their property investments. But then an amazing thing happened. People began to talk about how neighborhoods needed to share in more meaningful community, people getting to know their neighbors and caring about each other. The conversation skipped the politic (which in Idaho usually means blaming the Democrats) and went to straight to the values we share in common.
One of the books I am going through now is Barak Obama's The Audacity of Hope. In the opening chapter, he makes the point that we really want to be able to talk to each other outside the ideological positions. In fact, until can get out of the red-state/blue-state mentality we will not be capable of any real reform in government.
When the sauna conversation skipped politics and went straight to shared values and hopes, we skipped the ideological/political stage. It's been only a few weeks since the election, but are we rally beginning to take seriously the idea of listening to each other? I hope this becomes a habit.
Care and Feeding of Spiritual Leaders, Part 1
While there are varieties of administrative, managerial, and programmatic skills needed for effective spiritual leadership, there is also a need to reclaim the role and position of a spiritual leader. Perhaps "spirituality" in the old modern age existed as ethereal and detached. Positive models of spirituality were then unnoticed, not discussed, or disregarded as unnecessary to leadership. With the advent of a new generation of business management books this level of disregard began to be questioned (Senge, Drucker, Wheatley, Covey, etc).
Interesting to note is how the church as an institution can innovate, but haltingly. Sometimes, in trying to be effective stewards of the resources at its disposal, we seek to be efficient. We struggle to define that efficiency and still find ourselves seeking to practice leadership
Other schools of management thought have taken root in the church. My intention here is not to cite them all, but to acknowledge that we have overridden the spiritual purposes of the church and its leadership to the detriment of all involved. An efficient process - robbed of a spirit of meaning and value and purpose becomes an alienating and draining process - becomes a dead-end.
This level of alienation is common among ministering leaders. In 1989, authors Willimon and Hauerwas wrote:
Cynicism, self-doubt, and loneliness seem to be part of a pastor's job description…All of our talk about what a great adventure it is to be in the church seems to crumble when placer alongside the lives of many of the pastors we know. Recently, when asked about the problem of depression among clergy, a pastoral counselor who spends much of his day counseling clergy remarked, 'What's the problem? Depression is the normal state of clergy.' (Resident Aliens, 112).
The alienation and depression does not end with the clergy, but the other leaders they shape within the congregation. As our inner life becomes more and more distanced from the public life of our leadership positions, the greater the tendency to go searching for answers in a piece-meal fashion. For church growth we read demographics, for ministry leadership we seek management advice, and for inner care and growth we often fall prey to faddish self-help in a guise of spiritual nurture. Spiritual leaders need to consolidate and integrate practices of spiritual nurture that speak to the whole of their being, not just the separate lines of their job description – their "doings." Without an integrated spiritual care, self-definition becomes the domain of the other external roles and relationships. Integrity (i.e. being integrated) becomes more difficult due to the lack of an over arching God-centered self-understanding.
I remember as a young pastor hoping for my day off. Not so that I could rest and relax with my family. I wasn't looking forward to running errands or house work, or other day-off kinds of things. I was looking forward to being myself apart for the roles that I thought my church wanted me to fulfill. In that congregation, I learned the painful result of burnout through a long and difficult stress-induced illness. After my recovery, I made conscious choices about integrating my identity with the roles I carried. I chose to let go of certain expectations of my role and seek a definition of myself shaped by God through careful engagement in classic spiritual disciplines. Since I lived through that experience of alienation from God's vocation for and definition of my identity, I have tried to counsel other spiritual leaders on how to navigate the world of expectations and role definition crafted by even the most well-meaning congregations.
What have been your experiences in spiritual practices and nurture as a pastor, elder, minister, spiritual leader, rector, bishop, conference minister, etc.?
Care and Feeding of Spiritual Leaders, Preface
Over the next week or so, I will be diverting from the normal conversation I've tried to develop on this blog. I am continually aware that while there are profound issues as well as mundane issues filling the blogosphere, there's not a lot out there about ministers, pastors, spiritual leaders, and judicatory officials that seeks to address care and nurture of the spiritual aspect of the vocation. Thus over the next few days or weeks, I'll be posting ideas and stories from my perspective. I look forward to your input.
The Philippines
I arrived late, the rest of the team preceded me by two days. I was speaking at a Singles Retreat and didn't feel I could cancel. Since our arrival we have been working hard, playing hard, and basking in the grace of God.
We have visited a swatter camp that makes you feel inadequate. Fifteen, fourteen, and eighteen year old young people are sharing the gospel and training seminary students how to do it. They are growing the church in the midst of squalor and the joy of the Lord is evident on every face. Last night Ann and I went to their Sunday night service. it was something. They sang, gave testimonies, and asked us to speak. Wow, what an experience.
Sunday Morning Pastor Daryl and two thirds of the team went to New Hope, a 3 year old church plant. And Ann and I and Fern and Ron Hutter went to Living Water church. I preached on Esther. the pastor was a man of God that looked a lot like Moses coming off of the mountain. His face literally glowed with the grace and love of the Lord.
I have been working on installing baseboard in the main office area. APNTS (Asia Pacific Nazarene Theological Seminary) is celebrating 25 years next week and we are sprucing the place up.
Two days ago we had the privilege of being taken by canoe through an amazing canyon to a gigantic waterfall. Several of us rode a raft under the falls, the pressure was intense, but oh what an experience.
We have eaten at several wonderful restaurants in Manila, visited three malls and spent Christmas money.
But the highlight has been the people we have met. Always when I return from such a trip I am always humbled by how the third world lives and maintains a gracious, loving, and graceful spirit. I will write more later.
Blessings,
Gary
A Black Eye to Racism
Right before falling asleep last night, I remembered my sister's fight against racism when we were small children. Her friend, Phylis was crying. When my sister asked why, Phylis explained that a boy (who has become rather (in)famous nowadays, so shall remain nameless) had called her a name. I think my sister was about 7 or 8 years old. The word that made Phylis cry was the "n-word". Up to that point, we never really thought of Phylis or her little brother as African-American, they were just neighbors and playmates.
Though I wasn't there, the report was basically that my sister went up to Nameless Boy and socked him in the eye. He had a black eye.
Racism has always been a black eye on America. Last night, I thought something was beginning to change. Maybe we are finally growing up enough to see beyond the color of someone's skin. Maybe we are actually entering a new era. I am proud of my sister being a part of a long line of people beating down racism, she was a part of the process that found fruition in yesterday's election.
Way to go Sis!
Community Formation
We speak of our "Sidewinder Family" and our "Gold Rush" family. But we never really looked into the dynamics of those "families." These families are composed of at least one boy about the age of 11 years and one or more parents. The Sidewinders is a traveling baseball team that's been together for over two years. The Gold Rush is a football team that's been together for three years. There are several families that overlap both of these groups.
So three days ago, one of the father's of a Gold Rush football team member was completing an assignment for a college composition class. The assignment was to interviews members of a community to find out what forms that community and what value it adds to life. Together with one other father, we discussed our values and how this experience for our boys affected us and made us want to be a part of each other's lives.
What I have realized is that we are a part of this community that is pulled together by youth sports. While youth sports can at times challenge family time, commitment to church activities, and challenge the budget, there is an opportunity to form meaningful shared bonds. We together express a desire to help our kids, and each other's kids to be good people, that is the main focus. But beyond that, we really enjoy one another's company.
Now that football is done, we have a bit of a lull. It will be interesting to see how this community will re-gather itself without or children's activities to pull us together. Will we keep up with each other, or will the tug and fragmentation of modern life keep us apart until next August when the pads and helmets start crunching and crashing again? I hope we keep in touch.
Community Formation
We speak of our "Sidewinder Family" and our "Gold Rush" family. But we never really looked into the dynamics of those "families." These families are composed of at least one boy about the age of 11 years and one or more parents. The Sidewinders is a traveling baseball team that's been together for over two years. The Gold Rush is a football team that's been together for three years. There are several families that overlap both of these groups.
So three days ago, one of the father's of a Gold Rush football team member was completing an assignment for a college composition class. The assignment was to interviews members of a community to find out what forms that community and what value it adds to life. Together with one other father, we discussed our values and how this experience for our boys affected us and made us want to be a part of each other's lives.
What I have realized is that we are a part of this community that is pulled together by youth sports. While youth sports can at times challenge family time, commitment to church activities, and challenge the budget, there is an opportunity to form meaningful shared bonds. We together express a desire to help our kids, and each other's kids to be good people, that is the main focus. But beyond that, we really enjoy one another's company.
Now that football is done, we have a bit of a lull. It will be interesting to see how this community will re-gather itself without or children's activities to pull us together. Will we keep up with each other, or will the tug and fragmentation of modern life keep us apart until next August when the pads and helmets start crunching and crashing again? I hope we keep in touch.
NT Wright
Secondly, Wright emphases that Paul's basic mission was to the pagans of his world, not to the Jews, and therefore he might have something to say to contemporary paganism. (22) Paul's message of Jesus as the true God in the midst of a polytheistic, syncretistic world is his main theme. In this vein Wright offers a different understanding and interpretation of "gospel." In the Christian religious world of today, particularly in Evangelical circles, there is a major emphasis upon personal salvation as the true meaning of gospel. Wright says that he doesn't deny the value of the "order of salvation" (41) but he says he doesn't believe that is what Paul means by the term. For Paul the idea of "gospel" or "good news" is kingdom language. It relates to the message that the long-awaited release from captivity is at hand, because the King is here. The emphasis upon Jesus as the author and King of this kingdom is powerful. Therefore, gospel is the announcement of the present and coming king. For Paul this was amazing because to "announce that YHWH was king was to announce that Caesar is not. This was the 'good news' that Isaiah's heral was called upon to proclaim." (44)
Therefore the gospel is a true story about a human life, death, and resurrecton through which the living God becomes king of the world. It is not a system of how peole get saved. The announcemtn of the gospel results in people being saved, but "the gospel" itself, strictly speaking, is the narrative proclamation of King Jesus. (45)
Chew on that for a while. More to come later.
Gary
$700,000,000,000.00
we live. Lives, of "quiet desperation" may soon give way to a vocal cynicism.I'm awaiting my friend over at http://jointheclasswar.blogspot.com/ to pick up on this topic. Code Pink has already gotten folks ready with "No Cash for Trash" campaign.
Maybe all of us with mortgages should march on Wall Street banks and burn our mortgage. I don't suppose that would do much. With their bailout around the corner, they'd have the funds to chase us back home in time for their well orchestrated sheriffs' sales.
The other use for $700,000,000,000.00 – split it up among the middle-class on down. "Middle-class" I hear McCain defines that as $250,000 on down. Not in my neighborhood. If you've got only five digits in your annual income, then maybe you can join us in the middle class (unless you have to live in Manhattan or Sun Valley, you'll need more to get by there). Maybe use it as seed money for down payments on homes for the poor so there can be stabilization in neighborhoods. Maybe some of that could go to healthcare for the poor and under-insured, which would boost domestic productivity. I could think of plenty of ways to divide $700,000,000,000.00 other than providing first aid so that some CEO doesn't have to face the crisis: which to sell, the 90ft yacht or their Bombardier Lear 60XR. Oh times might be tough for them when there's a Wall Street sidewalk sale.
Are we feeling better yet?
Listening to Strangers: An Experiment
What if we (okay, I) were to walk up to a stranger, a neighbor, and a friend, as ask an open ended question about a biblical text? Asking questions like "what do hear in this passage?" or "what words or images come to mind when you hear this...?" What would be the types of responses? Maybe a text like, "the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof;" or, "love your enemies;" or the "children of God... shining like stars."I'll let you know if I do it. If you do it first, let me know.
Zwingli's and Luther's Kids
As this class began to study the Apostles Creed, I was invited to speak on the first article from a Mennonite perspective.Mennonites, after all, are perceived to be connected to the land. My years in Kansas affirmed that assumption. The emerald green waves of winter wheat draw your sight to ground, then to the horizon, and eventually to the big wide open sky. The earth, its sky and soils are a providential act of unconditional love.
I tried to explain a little of the Mennonite history of baptism upon confession and how it was interpreted as a protest against a state run church; how refraining from infant baptism was an act of treason against the state (a form of tax evasion); how Anabaptist folk were driven to the wilderness and countryside through harsh persecution. Persecution made all the more harsh by the wedded powers of the church and the state. Eventually transitioning to a rural and agrarian culture. It was hard to keep this moving forward for a bunch of 12 and 13 year olds. So I tried not to dwell on too much history.
We talked a little about the historic experience of Mennonites in Europe, fleeing to Russia. While not trying to slight the Swiss Mennonites, we spoke only briefly of the 13 families that came to Pennsylvania by invitation of William Penn. But manly, we spoke of the Dutch/Low German Mennonites who journeyed to Russian, becoming, at Catherine the Great's pronouncement, the "quiet in the land". These Mennonites quietly came to America beginning in the 1870s to the Great Plains, leading to the growth of Mennonite farming and the affected the world-wide production of wheat. A historical event that we still experience with every bite of bread.But most interesting was the open conversation around the question of similarities and differences. What is the difference between Lutherans, Presbyterians, and Mennonites. When confronted by this question in front of kids in seventh and eighth grade, sophisticated answers don't cut it. While we have different interpretations of the Bible and the creeds, we had one moment in which we three pastors made clear to the kids that we read from the same text. And that that same text, the Bible, we all agreed was a document given by God to people.
The idea of a "normalizing norm," is just this kind of conversation. A conversation, not among esoterica and theological sophisticates, but with kids seeking to mature in faith - in this conversation we had to come to the norm we all hold in common and common esteem. It's not the differences we begin with, but our shared value of the Bible. Then, from a common text in which we can dwell we can begin to talk about the different histories and reflections that have shaped our theological imaginations and cultures.
It's not a big thing. This was a casual, relaxed encounter among three Christian traditions. The lasting power of the content of the evening will wane - quickly, most likely. However, if these young people in Christian formation can get a glimpse of the fact that we are all held together in the same body of Christ, then the lasting lesson is probably the best.
My New Journey into Substitute Teaching
Ah, the carefree days of kindergarten.... only when you're a kid.
My kindergarten day was today. In fact, it wasn't even a day, it was an hour. It felt like a day. The teacher for whom I was subbing had three educational goals outlined for his young students. They were to learn the fundamentals of "fleeing, chasing, and dodging." I never heard these described a educational goals, but they are legitimate enough, especially if you are planning to grow up either to be an athlete, a criminal, or a crime fighter. Time will tell.
Lunch is over, time now for Health class. We're talking about manners. Ugh, another subject I know nothing about. But then comes kickball. I'm ready for that. But I guess it's just more of the same, "fleeing, chasing, and dodging," but now with kicking and catching included.