"What about us? A Modern Day Lament"

“What about us? A Modern Day Lament”

Gathering Words (Psalm 22:1-2)

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
    Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning?
² O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer;
    and by night, but find no rest.

Lamenting in the Language of Today                                  “What about us” by P!nk

What about us?

What about all the times you said you had the answers?

What about us?

What about all the broken happy ever afters?

What about us?

What about all the plans that ended in disaster?

What about love? What about trust?

What about us?

Responsive Corporate Lament

What about us, Verse 1

We are search lights we can see in the dark

We are rockets, pointed up to the stars

We are billions of beautiful hearts

And you sold us down the river too far…What about us?

Psalm 8:3-4

³ When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
    the moon and the stars that you have established;
⁴ what are human beings that you are mindful of them,
    mortals that you care for them?

What about us, verse 2

We are problems that want to be solved

We are children that need to be loved

We were willin’, we came when you called

But man, you fooled us, enough is enough, oh…What about us?

Psalm 13:1-3a

How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?
    How long will you hide your face from me?
² How long must I bear pain in my soul,
    and have sorrow in my heart all day long?
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

³ Consider and answer me, O Lord my God!

What about us, Bridge

Sticks and stones they may break these bones

But then I’ll be ready, are you ready?

It’s the start of us, waking up come on

Are you ready? I’ll be ready

I don’t want control, I want to let go

Are you ready? I’ll be ready

‘Cause now it’s time to let them know

We are ready…

Parting Promise and Blessing:  Hebrew 12:1-3

12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely,and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, ² looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of^[b] the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. ³ Consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners, so that you may not grow weary or lose heart.

We are ready… Amen

Now, more than Ever

 Now, more than ever, I believe that the world needs  progressive and inclusive religious voices that honor, respect, celebrate, and even encourages differences. Now, more than ever, I believe that as a Christian, we need to be an alternative vision that rejoices in the wonder of the colors of the rainbow in God’s ever changing world.Now, more than ever, the world needs to know that their are Christians who believe that different is beautiful, diversity is welcome, and we leave judgment to God. 

After God created the day and the night, the water and the land, creeping things, plants, trees, and birds, God blessed each one and said it was good. One only needs to make a visit to the zoo, visit a botanical garden, or hike through the wilderness  to see how God gets carried away with the beautiful diversity of shape, form, color, or ability. When God completed each detail of God’s creation, God blessed it and called it good.Now, more than ever we need to see the blessings and call it good. 

In the midst of creation, God created male and female and put them in the garden – a metaphor for all the world – to care for it. Many of my friends on Facebook travel around the world. They post pictures of  so many people. The picture of the people I see are beautiful and uniquely  gifted by God’s grace and love. I see photographs of light skinned people with straight black hair, fair-skinned children with red hair. I walk through my neighborhood and see the beautiful tones of brown and black. In stores, restaurants, hotels and gas stations, I pay my bill to those who have come to America from such places as India, Pakistan, Turkey, Afghanistan, Iraq, Morocco, and countless other nations. In the gym, I exercise with Native Americans that are working hard to find their way through a nation that has been oppressive, has broken treaties and promises,  and taken away so much of their beautiful culture. In all of these, I can look into the eyes of each one and see the face of God. In the same way, I believe God looks into their spirits and reaffirms, everyday, ‘…you are good!’ Now more than ever we need to see the same beauty that God sees in us us and know that all are good. 

In the current religious culture of the United States there is a divide between mainline Christian congregations and more conservative congregations. The mainline congregations such as the Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, American Baptist, the United Church of Christ and others believe that God created all that is in the world and all of us have a sacred honor and trust as Christians to have the best interest of all the world, its people, life, culture and other religions at the center of our understanding of Christian stewardship. In contrast there are the more conservative, evangelical congregations like the Southern Baptist, various Wesleyan traditions, the Nazarene tradition, Church of Christ, and countless other independent congregations  that truly believe in the apocalyptic notion that God will destroy the earth, initiating the Second coming of Christ, and inaugurating the fullness of the ‘Kingdom of God’. They are a passive people that are quick to make judgments, decide what is good and evil, what is of God and what is not, and their faith is more about a personal relationship with Jesus and less communal in understanding. Now, more than ever we need to give life to our fragile earth home and our theology needs to be less about taking life from our earth home and more about giving to our earth home. 

In his farewell to 17 years of serving as a church bureaucrat in the United Church of Christ, the Rev. Dr. Ben Guess, most recently Vice President of Council for Health and Human Services Ministries, (CHHSM) has been called to serve as the Executive Director of the ACLU in Ohio. In his farewell to the United Church of Christ he spoke of the many changes he had seen in 17 years, but he made a comment that has captured my imagination and reminds me what it is to be progressive voice in a time when such a voice is not heard in politics and business of our days. Dr. Guess reminds us that even in significant changes in our life together, the United Church of Christ has ‘…insisted that the gospel is always global and communal, not just local and personal.’

Now, more than ever, we need to remember that God created the Church, in all of its strengths and all of it vulnerabilities, to be the voice of a radically inclusive God that will not be silenced. From the beginning of time, God created all that we know as good and the gospel of Jesus Christ is more than local and personal expressions piety and faith. The gospel is always global and communal. So we will be light in the wilderness. We will show the way to God’s inclusive love, and we will not be silenced. Now, more than ever, this must be our message, our purpose, and our promise. God is good! All the time! 

Great and Wonderful Aliens: A Lenten Reflection

"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me; I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" Emma Lazarus

             So it isn’t located on an island mid-way between New Jersey and New York. It wasn’t a gift by a nation that longed for and admired the freedom of the United States. There is not a ‘lamp beside the golden door’, but there are ‘yearning hearts longing to be free from the wretched conditions of their former land.’ In Genesis, the land of Goshen was the destination of a ‘tired, poor majority yearning to be free.’ Here is a homeless family tempest tossed’ seeking to be free. The goodwill of their land had dried up and their families and their livestock were seeking shelter from a ‘wretched’ condition and so they found their way to a better land – a golden door that invited them to live freely in an alien land. The wretched refuse found their way to Goshen and sought entrance into the land, “We have come to reside as aliens in the land; for there is no pasture for your servants’ flocks because the famine is severe in the land of Canaan.” Genesis 47:4.

            This family, Joseph’s family, found their way to Goshen and the only vetting process was a simple question: “What is your occupation?” The response was, “Your servants are shepherds, as our ancestors were.” Genesis 47:3. The Pharaoh did not sign an executive order restricting their travel. There were no armed guards to meet them at the entrance and no wall to keep the alien – the foreigners from the ‘golden door’, the land of Goshen. Instead of mandates, limitations, and rules, the Pharaoh said only this: “Your father and your brothers have come to you. The land of Egypt is before you; settle your father and your brothers in the best part of the land; let them live in the land of Goshen; and if you know that there are capable men among them, put them in charge of my livestock.” Genesis 47:6. “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…” Proverbs reminds us: “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.” Proverbs 31:8-9 Great and wonderful aliens are we.

            It was no place for widow whose only male children had died in the midst of a famine. Upon the death of their husbands a mother and daughter-in-law set out to return to another country. Naomi, the mother, and Ruth the daughter-in-law were in ‘wretched way’. Their future in the land of their husbands looked more frightening every day. Together they set out to a land where they were welcomed – ‘send these the homeless, tempest-tossed to me…’ Naomi would set out to a place in the country of Moab where the ‘Lord considered his people and gave them food.’ Ruth 1:6

            When they arrived in the land of Moab there was a man named Boaz who said to the hungry, lonely women, traveling in a foreign land, “Come here, and eat some this bread, and dip your morsel in the sour wine.” The scripture goes on to say, “…They ate until they were satisfied and there was even some left over.” Ruth 2:14 Then Boaz instructed his employees, “Let her glean even among the standing sheaves, and do not reproach her. You must also pull out some handfuls for her from the bundles, and leave them for her to glean, and do not rebuke her…” Ruth 2:15-16. Do not ask questions to determine her immigration status and do not revoke her ‘green card’. Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the right of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.” Great and wonderful aliens are we.

            It happened. He issued his mandate to his soldiers and  officers, “…kill the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who are two years old and under…” Matthew 2:16. “Give me your tired, poor and your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…” The scripture says, “When the magi had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. ‘Get up!’, take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search the child and kill him. He got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt…” Matthew 2:13-14a. Egypt received the holy family like the lamp beside the golden door…” at one timed received the ‘alien, the foreigner, and the stranger.’ Great and wonderful aliens are we.

            As Christians, we find ourselves at a critical crossroad. A crossroad that demands of us resolve, strength, and courage to stand with the ‘foreigner, the stranger, and the alien.’ The scriptures make it clear what we are to do with the stranger among us. In fact our own Savior and his family were once refugees in search of food, shelter, and security. Our call is clear. We must stand in solidarity with ‘the tired, the poor, and the huddled masses yearning to breathe free…”   We stand as ones whose own families were, at one time, refugees or immigrants to these shores. Today, we must stand with the ‘homeless and the tempest tossed’ to be what we have always been, a lamp beside the golden door – a place where there are no strangers, no aliens, no immigrant, or refugee. Instead, let us stand as one people to welcome all who yearn to be free. For we do not know when the 'lamp may go out for us.'

            

Flickering lamp beside the golden door

Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,

Send these, the homeless, tempest tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door.

These words challenge me in these days. As I reflect upon such beautiful poetry, I am drawn to the prophet Isaiah and his words used by Jesus in his first sermon. It was a sermon he preached in his home-temple shortly after his return from his wilderness. While he was in the wilderness, he witnessed first-hand the deceptive power of Satan. With words and the stroke of pen, Satan could compromise the human condition and our relationship with the God of peace and justice – the God of grace and righteousness. Remember with me the words from Jesus’ first sermon.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

Because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives

And recovery of sight to blind,

To let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the

Lord’s favor. Luke 4:18-21

As I read and reflect on this significant sermon in the history and tradition of our faith, I can begin to understand that our faith is not one of words, but of action. As I read these words, I am reminded of the value and importance of each person along our ‘teeming shores.’ When I read and re-read these words, I am reminded of a more recent prophet, Martin Luther King, Jr. who said, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about the things that matter.” The things that Jesus spoke about in his opening sermon are consistent throughout his life and his ministry. He took to heart one of the fundamental tenants of Jewish faith, “For the Lord your God is awesome…the Lord that is great and mighty executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and loves the strangers, providing them food and clothing. Therefore, you shall also love the stranger for you were strangers in the land of Egypt” Deuteronomy 10:18, 19.Jesus preached about the things that matter. He, like Martin Luther King, Jr. understood the interconnection of our human family and the ‘tie that binds’ us to the God who created us, loves us, and longs for us to see the ‘huddled masses, yearning to be free.’ Jesus spoke about the wretched, the sick, the alien and the stranger and welcomed them. Jesus invited the prisoner and the captive to share in the beauty and gifts of the world that his Father/Mother created for all to enjoy. This mattered to Jesus.

This poem is a gift to America from Emma Lazarus.   These words are inscribed on the pedestal of Lady Liberty, a light in the darkness, given to America by France. I don’t know much about the poet, but her words are words of welcome to the alien, the stranger, the wretched, the poor, and the tired, and those who long to be free. At one time, the world believed that there was something fundamentally beautiful and inviting about our ‘teeming shores’. However, in recent days there has been a flurry of activity that betrays our greatest values as a nation. In recent days, our faith convictions are being challenged and ‘the lamp beside the golden door’ is barely flickering and the promise of Lady Liberty to all the world have become empty words – a nice poem with no conviction -- another broken promise of the ages.

 Martin Luther King, Jr. once wrote, “We must learn to live together as brothers [and sisters] or perish together as fools.” Today, Lady Liberty stands as a ‘fool’ in the harbor of New York. If we believe that what has come to past to be normal and acceptable then we are the ones whom Jesus is speaking about when he angrily cries out, “…You snakes, you brood of vipers! How can you escape being sentenced to hell?” Matthew 23:33. Jesus says, “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid.” Are we hiding our light as a nation and a people under a bushel? Are we letting ‘few in numbers’ to blow out our flame? Have we become so complacent that we cannot shine nor will we speak? Is this what we have become?  Today, the ‘lamp beside the golden door’ is barely burning, and I wonder who will speak to the pending darkness.

 

Light Convergence

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” John 1:5. This passage from John ends many Christmas Eve services as we light our candles in the darkness and the lights of many candles breaks through the gathering darkness, and with amazing detail, we see faces and colors that moments ago were blurred by the gray and black shadows of a deep Christmas Eve night. 

Just days before Christmas Eve Candlelight Services, the pagans, druids, northern lands, and other secular people commemorated nature’s ‘longest night’, the Winter Solstice. It is that time of year when the sun completes its longest journey south and begins its steady climb to the north lands where  the long dark days welcome the lengthening of the days north of the equator.

When Christians around the world celebrate the birth Jesus Christ – ‘the light that shines in our darkness…’ the annual Jewish Festival of Hanukah also begins.  This is the first time since 1978 that this Jewish festival overlaps with the Christian celebration of Christmas. It won't happen again until 2027. Just as we talk about baby Jesus – the light of the world born on Christmas Eve night, the Jewish faith  celebrates the gift, the miracle, and the beauty of ‘light’. 

Like a moth, we too are drawn to light. For some moths, unlike our humanity, light can be a fatal attraction. Where some moths will exhaust themselves fluttering around the light, light gives the human spirit, encouragement, vision, and hope. Light energizes us. We are people who love and deeply enjoy the miracle of light. The longer the daylight, the happier we are.  Some of us may know people who are affected by ‘seasonal depression’.  At this time of year those who are affected by this illness begin their mornings with ‘light therapy’. Such therapy requires the person to spend time under a special light that simulates the sunshine so that they can function as healthier, happier individuals throughout the day. We love light.

In the midst of the longest, darkest nights of the year, the people of the North celebrate light. As Christians we have a season we call Epiphany.Epiphany begins with the coming of the three Kings on January 6^th and continues through the long, dark days of January and February. For the Church this is a time of revelation, manifestation of God in Jesus Christ. It is a time of ‘illumination’ when we discover who Jesus is because of God’s intervention in our darkness. 

Illumination, epiphany, is one of the central aspects of our faith in which Christians see truth. Paul writes, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no may boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9. He says in Ephesians 1:18 ‘…to open the eyes of our hearts…”   As Christians in the more progressive sense of the Christian faith, the ‘truth that is revealed’ and it is a season that promises that even in dark times we can see something different, something even brighter, something more powerful than the illusion of greatness that defines our nation and our our understanding of what is 'great.' 

As I reflect upon darkness and light, I am recalling so many wonderful Advent, Christmas carols and special songs that are sung in the season of Epiphany that celebrate light as a metaphor for Jesus our Savior. Although Savior language has had a strong tradition in the Christian faith and so often sounds cliche, I look at this time of year as a reminder of my role as a twenty-first century Christian. It isn't about me being saved for that promise is already manifest in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. For me today,  savior language is not what our world needs to hear. What the world needs to hear is the 'hope' that manifests itself in the action of believers who follow the way of Christ. 

In the midst of our political turmoil, our anxiety about a Trump presidency, and a Cabinet that has no good news for the very people who cast their vote for Trump, the Church must birth the light of Christ -- the light of Hanukah -- the gathering light of the Winter Solstice and be 'hope' in real, tangible, relevant and meaningful ways for a desperate and despairing people. I am not sure what that means or what that looks like, but I am confident that God will make known to my heart and the hearts of thousands, perhaps millions of people when it is time to act. I believe the Spirit will inform us when our greatest intentions and our greatest aspirations must become the 'now!' The absence of light in this time of year compels us to grow the light of peace and justice, love and hope, and to believe that the impossible is possible. This is the convergence of light. 

 As the song-writer, Edmund H. Sears wrote so beautifully in his poem, “It Came upon the Midnight Clear”. He writes: “For lo! The days are hastening on, by prophet bards foretold, when with the ever circling years comes round the age of gold, when peace shall over all the earth its ancient splendors fling, and the whole world give back the song which now the angels sing.” May our spirits be equally inclined to join in the message of prophets and bards and believe that peace is possible even in these dark days. May the light of this season converge upon the world and may we  be that light!

Election Day Lamet

A week ago I was awakened by red and blue fireworks outside my bedroom window. There was music in the streets and cars zoomed by my home, honking their horns. The Chicago Cubs had won the World Series. I remember my eyes burning with tears of joy, disbelief, and I remembered my father’s loyal chant, “…there’s always next year.” It was a game for the generations and one that will long be remembered by the long-suffering fans of the Chicago Cubs. My tears were for the many who faithfully longed for this incredible day.

Tonight, I am still awake in the early hours of the day and my eyes still burn with tears, but they are not  tears of joy tonight, but tears of despair. Tonight America sold its soul to the devil, and we elected a man who was running as President to stroke his sick ego. We voted for a man who has no respect for minorities, women, or any religion. We voted for a man who represents everything I dislike, perhaps despise, about America and whose personal behavior is contrary to the values of the Christian faith that I have given my life and service for nearly 30 years. My heart is broken, my hope dashed, and my good-will challenged. In the wee hours of Wednesday morning, I am awake seeking to understand what has happened and what this means for me, the people I love, and a nation that has sold out to snake oil , empty promises, blustery noise, and insipid behavior that has no place in a nation called to be a light to the world. Tonight we are an embarrassment to the world.

Words cannot express what I am feeling this night. My heart longs for a way out of this national nightmare that betrays my spirit. I grieve for myself and I grieve for our once energized young people who believed in Bernie Sanders, and in the spirit of unity followed Bernie’s lead and gave their best support to Hillary. I grieve for the many women in our country who were looking forward to a bright, capable, and reasonable woman to be our president of the United States. I grieve for the Muslims and the Hispanics who will live their lives fear of deportation, abuse, and unfair treatment. I grieve for our earth home that is suffering under the weight of incredible climate change and needs, more than any time before, the steady hand of leaders who cares deeply about our fragile home. I care about the hard working laborers who blindly believe that Trump will champion their cause. I grieve for the men and women who fought hard for justice and now live in a very real fear that their rights will be taken away with the stroke of a pen. Tonight is a night I never in my wildest dreams expected to live to write about.

I know, deep in my heart, that the result of this election is a clarion call for the Church to be Church. I know what Jesus would do. He would not allow the darkness of this night to change his message of justice for all, unconditional love and grace, and the importance of forgiveness, and he would find a way through the gathering storm. I know deep in my heart that my tears of anguish that I shed this night must be released into deeds and words of actions that defy the evil that has taken place this night. Deep in my heart, I believe that the progressive Church must not recoil from the task before us, but stand together with people of all faiths, nationalities, and cultures to resist the evil of this time. Deep in my heart, I know that I must lead, but for now I must shed the tears of despair and figure out the best way to live as an alien in a strange land. Christ, in your mercy, hear my prayer. 

Holy Space, Holy Family: La Segarde Familia Basilica

We had been traveling throughout Spain for nearly seven days. The tour was glorious, we saw so much beauty, so much history, and so much of the human spirit that was captured in art, architecture, cuisine, and monuments of this proud country. We had visited cities like Toledo, Cordoba, and Seville,  and we saw  ancient cathedrals, churches, basilicas and synagogues that bridged the chasm between the human and the divine. We saw the flamboyance, rhythm,  and ease of Flamenco dancers, and we were taken to heights unknown as we listened to, and appreciated the talent and serenity of Spanish guitar players. There were many joyful and holy moments that endeared us to the land rich in history, rich in culture. 

We arrived in Barcelona and our tour guide took us through the streets of Barcelona talking about how history defined their culture and how the Catholic faith defined their traditions and their belief system. He talked about an architect named Antoni Gaudi who shaped the streets of Barcelona with his unique, and sometimes very strange idea of beauty. As we walked and listened to our guide talk about the life and art of Gaudi,  we soon found our way to La Segarde Familia Basilica -- the Basilica of the Holy Family. We were not going into the building, but he talked to us about the amazing sculptures, windows, and high Gothic spires that represented the gospels, apostles and other significant religious people that have defined the Christian faith.

By now, we were all getting a little weary of yet another church. Certainly in the states and in other places throughout the world, there are any number of Holy Family Basilicas, churches, and cathedrals. There would be paintings, drawing and sculptures depicting the the Holy Family, Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus. Maybe they would be in cave, a stable or an open creche. Perhaps there would be shepherds, kings, or angels, but the focus would be on the Holy Family. Did I really want to see this? How would it be different than other buildings dedicated to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ? Instead of being a place inclusive of all families, it would be a Holy place for only Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus. This is what I imagined as we walked around this amazing architectural wonder that was started in 1882 and is not scheduled to be completed before the year 2026. It is still a structure in process and becoming what Gaudi imagined decades earlier. 

The next day after the local tour, I paid the fees to tour inside of the basilica. When I entered the structure,  I was drawn by the beauty of the sunlight shining through the carefully planned and crafted stain glass windows. It was as if the colors of the sunrise or sunset were breaking through a dark wood, encircling our spirits and drawing us into God's grandeur and splendor. The pillars like the trees of the forest would protect us from harm. Surprisingly, the altar, the worship fixtures, and decorations within the sanctuary were not grandiose or ostentatious, but simple and inviting. No matter where you stood within the confines of the building, you felt as though you belonged. It was more than a sacred space for Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus, it is a place for all people even those who are not particularly religious. This feeling of unity and belonging would be reinforced with the carving  of the Lord's Prayer  rendered in 52 languages on what would be the main door that would welcome the seeker into this holy place. This door would invite all God's people to  enter and find one's own way to praise the living and creating God.It is a sacred place for God's holy family.