The Visitor

Well, I sure hate to pat ourselves on the back too much. I am a Mid-west raised Lutheran, after all. But the review of Central by church visitor Chris Thompson in an Anchorage Daily news blog is too good not to share. Bottom line: Lutherans can be warm and fuzzy. Who knew?

Read here:
http://community.adn.com/adn/node/145236

Suffering, if one dares to speak of it

I'm slightly shocked to find myself writing, blogging and musing on the texts for this coming Sunday...especially since it's only Tuesday. Truly, I'm more of a write-the-sermon-during-Garrison-Keillor kind of girl, but somehow this week I'm early.

And, as is the case lately, another tough, challenging passage from Mark (10:35-45) that reminds me that, like those early disciples, sometimes I just don't get it.

Or maybe I DO get it and that's the hard part. The last few weeks have included heart-warming texts like "poke out your eye if it causes you to sin" and "sell all you have, give the money to the poor" and don't forget "those who would be great must be servant of all." Let me tell you, this stuff does not sell.

This week's text from Mark is the one where James and John argue, with no little irony, about who would sit at Jesus' right and left hand in his glory. I guess they missed the point that Jesus glory was his cross and those spots ended up in the hands of thieves. It reminds me of a joke I heard where a sick priest in DC asked to see two prominent politicians on his death bed (insert politicians of your choice here). When they arrive and held his hands, one asked why those two were summoned. The priest responded he wanted to emulate his Lord Jesus Christ in every way, even dying between two lying theives.

Anyway, turns out what I'm really thinking about isn't theives or the cross or even the Mark text. I'm actually thinking about the Hebrews reading for this week, Hebrews 5:1-10.

This is the one about Jesus being a super-great high priest, even better than Melchizdek (whoever he was) and that Jesus, as high priest, suffered and became our eternal salvation.

Verse 8 has caught my attenion: "Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered."

A Bible commentator I read somewhere said there's a Greek word play here that's lost in translation. Learned is "emathen" and suffered is "epathen" and in the Greek they're closer together in the sentence.

It made me wonder what is learned through suffering. For Jesus, obedience, but what of us? We may learn submission to God, but I'd suggest we also learn. A lot. And then our suffering becomes available for empathy (from epathen), literally, "suffer with." I've noticed I'm often better suited to accompany a hurting person if I've actually been through a similar situation.

What do we learn from suffering?

Is all suffering redemptive?

If not, is it just pointless, empty, meaningless pain? (And why would God permit that anyway?)

And, to carry it further, do those who live as middle class residents of this country even understand what it means to suffer? Suffering is not a plunge in your 401 (k) or noticing that your cable TV line has gone out.

Well, this might be beyond the scope of this post. Others have written volumes on these sorts of theodicy questions.

And I'm still working on my sermon.

So for now, I'll note that at least Jesus' suffering was redemptive. He did learn something. Maybe it was obedience (another loaded word in our time) or maybe it was about the freedom that comes when there's no where else to turn and we are welcomed into the arms of mystery.

Diplomacy

I heard a public radio story about Madeleine Albright, former SU Secretary of State, the other day. NPR fans may have heard it, too. The inteview highlighted her new book, Read My Pins and discussed how Albright used pins to suggest her mood or make small talk with foreign diplomats.

Though the stories of pins were interesting, there were two other comments that struck me most.

Albright said that a US president, in foreign relations, must be confident, not certain. Now, to be fair, she was comparing the past US president to the current officeholder. Regardless of your poliitical persuasion, the contrast between confidence and certainty is interesting.

I'd like to use her contrast to think about faith or even the role of a disciple of Christ. I think it does take a certain amount of confidence to be a follower of Jesus in a world (and state like Alaska) that is pretty foreign -- and skeptical -- of religion. Confidence works, certainty tanks. It's too arrogant, doesn't make way for doubt and leaves others behind.

So I'm considering how to live as a confident follower of Jesus, not a certain one.

Albright's second point perhaps needs no explanation. She was discussin relgion and said it's like a knife. You can use it to stab someone in the back or use it to cut bread.

The choice, of course, is yours.

Humility and greatness

I was thinking about humility all last week.

The word didn't directly appear in the lectionary, but came twice near the passage from James. Now I'm not really the kind of girl who quotes James, but I am interested in this idea of humility. Here's what James says in 4:6 “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble," verse 10 continues: "humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you.”

The rest of the James passage in the lectionary asks the question of true wisdom verses the wisdom of the world. I keep thinking about what it means to really be humble. Am I humble? Do I know someone who is? Do you?

I don't think God asks us to be a doormat. But I also don't think we ought to work so hard on our humility that we're proud of it.

I read someone else's blog last week that said humility means you have enough self-worth that you don't have to put others down. I like that.

It seems we're lacking this virture in the public realm lately: Joe Wilson's outburst at a joint session of congress, Serena Williams cussing out a line judge and Kanye West grabbing the mic way from another award winner at an MTV awards show. I used these examples in my sermon last Sunday and then added: I can't believe I just said "Kanye West" from the pulpit.

Anyway, I feel like we're losing something as a culture, whether it be humility or just simple human decency. Why is it so hard to be kind?

I tied this talk of humility into Jesus message in last week's gospel (Mark 9:30-37) about the question of who is the greatest. The disicples argue about it, then get emabarrased when Jesus asks about thier conversation.

Jesus doesn't reprimand them, just grabs a little child (a person of no status in Jesus' time) places it on his lap and says, "welcome this one and you welcome me." And of course the reverse is true. Jesus words are about radical hospitality, not some pastoral image of Jesus loving the little children.

I was thinking of all the people Jesus would put on his lap today to make us see what it means to welcome people of low status. Anyone we think beneath us sits securely in Jesus' arms.

The good news, of course, is that we rest there too.

ELCA Assembly, better late than never

I'm referring to my comments on the subject, not on the assembly itself. Anyone who reads this blog likely already knows that the ELCA in August voted to allow congregations who choose to bless and publicly acknowledge same-gender, monogamous, publicly-accountable relationships and to call similar clergy if they so choose.

There have been many wonderful, creative, inspiring things written on the subject, as well as comments motivated by fear, malice and just some pure stupidity. I'll hope to err closer to the former. Here's my sermon at Central, preached the Sunday after the assembly vote. The sermon, from August 23, 2009, is based on the lectionary from that week, John 6:56-69, where Jesus says some hard words about eating his flesh and drinking his blood. Some turn away from following him; the road is just too hard. Jesus asks if others want to leave. Peter responds, in words we know from liturgy: "Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."

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In our text today, those who hear Jesus speak of eating his flesh and drinking his blood have difficulty with his teaching. This is a continuation of last week’s text. Remember? These phrases of flesh eating and blood drinking were particularly offensive to the Jews and, since they lived before the days of Holy Communion, they were not just offended but downright confused. Our text today tell us, a la Paul Harvey, The Rest of the Story.

After Jesus finishes his disturbing sermon, those assembled grumble and say: “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?” The Greek here is skleros logos, a hard word, who can akouo, hear, it? A hard word. Jesus speaks a hard word. Or, perhaps, using the beginning of John’s Gospel (the Word was God and the Word was with God), maybe Jesus is the hard word. Either way, we disciples are left to deal with a hard word.

We are not strangers to hard words. Jesus has quite a few. Sell all you have and give it to the poor, pray for those who persecute you, love your enemies, forgive, follow me and, perhaps the hardest: love one another.

We are not strangers to hard words in our lives as well. Some represent life’s challenges (I’m going to issue a citation, you didn’t make the team, I think you’re an alcoholic) and some are very bad news (the cancer has returned, we’re getting a divorce, he died.) For some this week, the bad news was: It’s time for school!

I also want to address a couple of news items that were, for some, a hard word. Sometimes, a hard word for one might be good word for another. For example, Mayor Dan Sullivan vetoed an anti-discrimination act for the municipality of Anchorage. In the same week, our ELCA Churchwide Assembly met in Minneapolis and took the first steps toward recognizing same-gender, committed, life-long, publicly accountable relationships. Hard words? I want to note that no matter what side of the debate you find yourself, these words are still hard because as Christians we are mandated to love our brothers and sisters in Christ, no matter how wrong we think they are. More on that later.

Back to Jesus and our gospel story. Note what happens after Jesus speaks these hard words to those gathered at the synagogue in Capernaum. Some grumble. Jesus acknowledges that not all believe and that one will betray him. And then it happens: many disciples turned back and did not follow him any longer.

Why did they turn back? They had seen many signs, miracles like the feeding of the 5000, Jesus walking on water and the healing of the sick. Did Jesus words get too tough for them? Was he asking for too much of a commitment? Were those disciples just bored? Was it too inconvenient for them? Why did they turn back?

Notice Jesus’ reaction to their departure. He does not condemn them for leaving. He does not beg those remaining to stay steadfast. He does not back down from a hard word. He simply asks if anyone else would like to go away. Peter speaks up first. I can almost hear him singing the words: “Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” Peter adds: “We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”

It’s another example of the upside-down, topsy-turvy nature of the Gospel, like the last becoming first and a king who gets crucified. The hard word is the word of eternal life.

But for some it’s too much. The word is too hard, the cost is too high. And for us? Do we shy from the hard words of Jesus? Would we prefer a Jesus of lambs and rainbows instead of one that asks us to risk loving the stranger or give of our time, talents and possessions? Do we sometimes turn away from the tough parts of Christianity, rather than remaining by Jesus’ side?

Yes. But, of course, our shortcomings are never the end of the story. It’s not our story anyway. It’s God’s, of course.

And God’s story, when we can muster it, looks something like this (point to the altar). God’s story has something to do about coming to the table (at Holy Communion) and then staying at the table with each other, even while hard words are spoken and even when we don’t agree. God’s story also has something to do with wrapping us in boundless love and mercy as we struggle love each other.

Earlier I mentioned the words spoken and decisions made at the ELCA Churchwide Assembly regarding same-sex monogamous relationships. I want to be clear. You are all welcome to agree or disagree with anything the Churchwide office says. It is not the core of what we believe. The message of Jesus Christ, born, crucified and dead will always be the most important Word. So, you can still stay at the table, even if the word is hard. You need not turn away.

I want to be clear on this point, too. There is life in hard words. There is life in staying in relationship and conversation with each other. There is life in loving your neighbor even if you don’t agree with him. There is always life in choosing love over hatred or judgment or fear of something that is different from you.

I want to end not with Churchwide business but with you. Where is the hard word for you? What is the hard word for Central? Who is God inviting us to love? How is Jesus asking us to follow? May we hear the words, remain close to Jesus and stay at the table with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Amen.

Victory! (Bible camp)

I confess: I post on Facebook far more than I blog here. Is it the ease of the single line post? Maybe I should Twitter (or Tweet) too? That said, there is something to say for the longer written word. As one trained in journalism, I should know this!

I'm writing from Victory Bible Camp, Mile 95 of the Glenn Highway toward Glennallen. We're somewhere north of Sutton, in a place where I get decent Internet connections but poor cellular service. Ah, technology.

It's the annual Lutheran Summer Camp week here at Victory. We rent out the camp and the staff support us during the week. Our cookie plates at our tables in the cafeteria even say "Lutherans" on them. It's a nice touch.

Victory is nestled in valley. If you hike up, like I did today, you can see sweeping views of both sides of the valley and the Matanuska Glacier in the distance. The trails are shadowed by aspen and spruce and I picked blueberries and raspberries as I hiked.

The camp is divided by age groups: grades 3-6 are called "Alpine" and 7-9 "Koinonia." We share meals in common, as well as opening worship and evening campfire. Attendance is lower this year; we have barely 50 campers, I think fewer. But we have at least 20 high-school-aged counselors. About half of them are youth from Central's Drop-in-Center.

I can't remember if I've blogged on this before but it is incredible to see those young men at work. They've not been confirmed, I think most are unbaptized. But they've grown up at Central's neighborhood Drop-in-Center, then came to camp on scholarship, then as counselors. I would never expect those punk-looking kids in black hoodies to answer my questions about where to see God (in other people, one announced today) or help kids open up Bibles and encourage them during worship. And they do all the hand motions to the camp songs! It's a testament to all the people at Central who have nurtured these kids over the years. I'm really proud of them.

It's early evening now. The younger kids are doing Bible study, the older ones are playing Capture the Flag. There's a light breeze blowing across the lake. It's almost time for campfire.

Our theme this week is "Love to Serve," and today's theme was "Called to Serve." We talked this morning in worship about how camp is a holy, set away place. I wonder how God will speak to these kids this week. God must be saying something. They keep coming back, year after year. I pray they will hear God this week. I pray we all will.

After the flood

I just have a few minutes to reflect on our youth trip to New Orleans for the National Lutheran Youth Gathering. We're here July 22-26. There are 37,000 Lutherans here, the biggest convention to come to the city since Hurricane Katrina.

Of course it's hot and humid but there are more important things to say. So, a few highlights so far.

The gathering folks divided kids into three major groups (gold, green and purple, Mardi Gras-style). Each group takes one day at each of three activities. The first day we did a servant project, day two we visited the learning centers and day three the interaction center.

For the servant project, we all donned orange T-shirts and went throughout the city doing good, or as best we could. Some visited schools, some built homes, others did yard work or weeding. I cannot imagine the logistics it takes to coordinate 12,000 volunteers each day. And they gave us lunch!

We volunteered at a traditionally African-American cemetary where graves are dug by hand just four feet deep and bodies are buried atop each other. The plot was covered in weeds and stones all akimbo. We spent about four hours yanking up weeds, bagging them, and setting headstones right again. Each stone is a life story, a web of relationships and it was powerful to brush off the dirt and place it right again. We hoped someone would keep working to beautify the plot long after we left it.

More later; it's time to get back to "my kids" as I call them and onto the next event...