Thoughts from a son in the Autumn of the year

It's All Saints Day this Sunday -- that hallowed day that follows the frightening night of the souls of saints known and unknown who can laugh in the "face of death" and ask, "O death, where is thy sting?" On All Saints day, I'm leaving for Eden Seminary where my late father received his Master of Divinity. There will be a special service that day -- that day when my father and others will be remembered for their faithful service within the Church of Jesus Christ.

Eden is that mythological garden of new beginnings -- how fitting that I should return to this place of new beginnings. I was born in that garden -- that place of new beginnings. It was there that my father held me as a newborn -- where the arms of my mother received me on my birthing day. And now, I return to this place of beginnings to remember my father. When he held me in the dormitory all those years ago, I can't imagine that he thought about his dying day. As I celebrated my first birthday in mythical garden of Eden, was he thinking about the day he would die? It was January of his Senior year when my younger sister was born in this garden of new beginnings. On that day was he thinking about the day he would leave this earthly garden to his heavenly home? This place of new beginnings -- to where I am returning -- is where I go to remember an ending -- or is it a new beginning?

It's late October now and as I look into the beauty of Autumn, I am reminded of the cycle of the natural world. In this garden -- this place called earth, the leaves are floating gently to the ground, finding their rest upon the forest floor -- leaf upon leaf. The beautiful gold, yellow, red and orange leaves find their resting place and there they wait -- wait until the cold and damp of winter settles upon their once spirited and beautiful journey -- a place they never imagined they would be just 6 months earlier. But even in winter's blustery cold, the leaves that were floating by just minutes ago, will soon find their peace upon the forest floor and there they will remain. Is it an ending or a beginning?

In the mythological garden of new beginnings, there are many trees. The trees are beautiful, they are full, they are healthy, and they have grown. This is true because of the golden leaves now lying on the forest floor that have fed and nurtured, protected and loved the trunks and branches so that might live to praise their creator. Leaves, once green and filled with life, lay lifeless on the ground, yet their memory nurtures the roots that will birth new life in this mythological garden of new beginnings.

The trees that lie dormant through a season have the life they have because of the leaves that have fallen on this Autumn day. I am going to Eden to remember my father, the one who has given me life. The leaves that have fallen become fertile soil for new life in the spring. Likewise, a father's love, a father's memory never dies. It keeps on giving and, in an end, is a new beginning. And so, I babble on -- remembering with gratitude all the Saints who give us life.

Spirit God changing the faces of faith

The conference of Christianity 21 has ended and now I return to my community with an experience that others will not fully understand. Twenty-one speakers, each speaking for 21 minutes on topics ranging from the meaning of confession to embracing pluralism, from religious struggles with evangelical passion to an openness to diversity, from easy answers to complex arguments of the history and future of "church", organized religion or how God's Spirit continues to do a new thing in the midst of the church's history that range from the ordinary to the extraordinary, from the ancient to the new, and everything in between.

What can be said? I am loyal to "denominationalism" especially the United Church of Christ. I have not had negative experiences with churches and denominations that many of the speakers identified as their reasons for finding their way into this Holy Spirit experiment we now call "emergence". Could it be that I am fortunate? Privileged? Naive or lucky? Or could it be that the Christians that shaped my faith allowed me to discover my own path? Perhaps it is all of these things and a healthy dose of God's spirit working in my life and the life of those who touched me in ways that shaped my loyalty, my faith, and my unyielding identity as a child of God.

Although some may have had a more traumatic faith journey than I, and although some may be more skeptical and more cynical of religion and/or organized Christian faith than I am. I will leave this weekend with an affirmation and a deeper understanding that God will achieve God's end no matter what and that is the eternal quest of God -- to use whatever human structures, human beings, or creative energy God can use to continue to close the mythological schism between God and God's beloved creation. As Dorthy Bulter Bass said, "The God who is, is the God who exists beyond all time and the God of history will be the God of our present and our future" and in the "in-between" time, Spirit God will never cease to change the face of faith. Maybe this is the hope for tomorrow's generation of believers. And so the cycle of faith continues, God does not rest and today's experience will become tomorrow's history and so for now, I'll rest in this peace, but tomorrow I'll babble on.

An honor and a challenge

I was puzzled, yet thrilled at the news that President Barak Obama was selected for the Nobel Peace Prize. Probably no one was more surprised than our President. After celebrating this surprising announcement with Carly, I began to think of the context in which this prize was given.

I certainly believe there were many more people who certainly were worthy of such an honor as the Nobel Prize and knew that many would criticize, belittle and judge the Nobel Prize Committee as short-sighted and perhaps being political. Although maybe one could argue that this could be true, I think this is a time not to question the committee or private rejoicing, but it is a time to rejoice for the world and for America.

Their reasons for selecting Barak Obama may elude us, but for now we need to view this as a means for rejoicing and a challenge to keep the course of peace and justice for all and accept the challenge as shared by Barak Obama when he spoke to our nation about his surprising win. He said, " This award -- and the call to action that comes with it -- does not belong simply to me or my administration; it belongs to all people around the world who have fought for justice and for peace. And most of all, it belongs to you, the men and women of America, who have dared to hope and have worked so hard to make our world a little better.

Thrilled yes! Challenged? Yes! So let us who follow the course of peace and justice. This, I believe is the message we need to hear today in light of the surprising and thrilling selection of President Barak Obama as the 2009 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. And so I babble on until next time.