Recently, I worshiped at Journey Place and the presenter (Jason McCord) shared his own spiritual journey and used the metaphor of a familiar forest to talk about his journey. He challenged us to think about the metaphor that would best describe our personal understanding of our spiritual journey. Mine would be an open field or meadow.
Why would I compare my spiritual journey to an open field or meadow? When I think of an open field, I think of four things, predictability, beauty, warmth, and diversity and such reflects my spiritual journey. Let me explain.
Growing up in the home of a pastor, my year and my week was predictable. So much of my life and the life of my family revolved around the predictable calendar of the church. Such is why I have chosen a field to define my spiritual journey. Human experience knows what a field looks like. It is usually overgrown with tall grass, low-lying shrubs (perhaps raspberry or blue berry bushes) , and a number of wildflowers are seen. In addition, one can see across the field perhaps to another field, a stream, or the edge of a woods and this is what makes a field predictable. In almost any field, I can see to the other side and I will not get lost. My spiritual life is shaped liked that. I can stand at the beginning of the church year and find my way through the seasons and by participating in its life, if find comfort and joy. In the midst of the church year, I enter and re-enter the God's presence and experience again the newness of God's salvation -- a re-creation of a new day.
In the predictability of my spiritual journey, there has also been beauty. Along the way, from town to town, from congregation to congregation, there are beautiful people, beautiful traditions, and beautiful expressions of the personal and corporate faith. Like the wildflowers in an open field, we are distracted by their beauty, only to discover that God's paint brush is still painting and still creating. Each new day, each new opportunity is yet another day for me to discover God's handiwork in my life. Like the flowers of an open field, each experience is different and each one an inspiration that keeps pushing me along through the field of God's grace.
Because a field is open and on a sunny day, we can feel the warmth of sun beating down upon the open field. Although it is not always the case, most of the time, I have found warmth in the people of the church. I would define this warmth as community. Although, I enjoy my alone time, as a Christian I have also understand the importance of community. In the context of the community, we share a common experience, participate in Holy Communion, and together we do the hard work of sharing the love of Christ Jesus with all the world -- always working toward the fulfillment of the great commission -- "go and make disciples of all nations." It is in this context that I have been encouraged, affirmed, and challenged. It is the warmth of the community that is not limited to that "warm, fuzzy feeling", but it is the one that speaks the truth in love. As the sun shines down upon an open field -- its wonderful creation is held accountable to its destination -- to be fruitful and multiply and along the way, we give our life to God's service just as Jesus gave his life for us.
Finally, my spiritual journey has been blessed with a diversity of experiences that I will covet as long as I have memory. In an open field, there is diversity. Amid the gently blowing grass is the safe hiding place of a rabbit, a chipmunk, or a wild cat. In a meadow there is the annoying buzz of a mosquito or the beautiful song of a lark. The flowers show off their colorful clothes and the sweet surprise of a raspberry bush scratches the skin of an unsuspecting human finding his way to the other side of the meadow. All of this is God's wonder and beauty which opens my eyes to a global community that is more than the borders of nations or the religious and cultural differences that define a nation and its people. My faith is personal and global, seeking and growing, and all of it sustained by the promise of resurrection hope. This is my spiritual journey -- a journey that is predictable and beautiful, warm and diverse and that feels right to me and so I babble on with my thoughts as I make my way through this winding, amazing, field of grace.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
Where are we going?
In 1976, Diana Ross sang and popularized the song, Theme from Mahogany. In my High School it was a tradition for the graduating class to select their class song and the chosen selection was performed by our choir. The Theme from Mahogany was the song selected by my graduating class.When you look at the lyrics from this popular song, you will understand why my Senior class selected this song:
Do you know where you're going to?
Do you like the things that life is showing you
Where are you going to?
Do you know...?
Such is the theme for Journey Place this week. Where are we going? This is more than a question for Journey Place, it is a question that each one of us need to ask of ourselves time and time again. The future trajectory Journey Place takes will depend upon the needs of the gathered community and the movement of the Holy Spirit. What I think would be more interesting is to reflect upon our own personal and spiritual journey -- the one we hope Journey Place can be an important part.
In High School we believe we are invincible, we are filled with pride and with a sense of personal accomplishment, and we believe there is a world of opportunities just waiting for us to discover, but we quickly learn that we're really not ready for the world. Instead of asking the tough question, 'do you know where you are going...', we settle for an unhealthy attachment to our High School and to our teen-age years. When we were in High School, the times were simpler and we felt safer because we were protected by our parents and we lived our lives chasing fantasies that hardly resemble the world of an adult. In addition, we have been brainwashed by our culture to live for the moment and we don't give enough time to think about tomorrow because we believe as our culture has taught us that tomorrow may never come.
Once we were standing still in time
Chasing the fantasies
That filled our minds
You knew how i loved you
But my spirit was free
Laughin' at the questions
That you once asked of me
I believe that our "stuck-ness", our penchant to mark time is because we haven't asked the spiritual questions -- the questions that can make a the difference between coping with life or living in despair, between the acceptance of our mortality or our unhealthy attachment to our past, or to answer the question, "Why am I here?" At the risk of over-using a well worn metaphor, I would like to suggest that a healthy person is like a three-legged stool: Our physical, emotional, and spiritual being must be in perfect balance. If one leg is missing the whole person falls and it is my belief that the reason there is so much sickness, so much despair, so many "adult children", so much greed and distorted egos, and so much loneliness in our world today is because our western society has neglected the spiritual leg of the human stool for three generations or more.
Do you know where you're going? Are you happy with what life is showing you? Do you know? And so I babble on with my thoughts on the question, 'where are we going?' For Journey Place that will unfold in due time, but what about you? Is your stool balanced? I wonder.
Do you know where you're going to?
Do you like the things that life is showing you
Where are you going to?
Do you know...?
Such is the theme for Journey Place this week. Where are we going? This is more than a question for Journey Place, it is a question that each one of us need to ask of ourselves time and time again. The future trajectory Journey Place takes will depend upon the needs of the gathered community and the movement of the Holy Spirit. What I think would be more interesting is to reflect upon our own personal and spiritual journey -- the one we hope Journey Place can be an important part.
In High School we believe we are invincible, we are filled with pride and with a sense of personal accomplishment, and we believe there is a world of opportunities just waiting for us to discover, but we quickly learn that we're really not ready for the world. Instead of asking the tough question, 'do you know where you are going...', we settle for an unhealthy attachment to our High School and to our teen-age years. When we were in High School, the times were simpler and we felt safer because we were protected by our parents and we lived our lives chasing fantasies that hardly resemble the world of an adult. In addition, we have been brainwashed by our culture to live for the moment and we don't give enough time to think about tomorrow because we believe as our culture has taught us that tomorrow may never come.
Once we were standing still in time
Chasing the fantasies
That filled our minds
You knew how i loved you
But my spirit was free
Laughin' at the questions
That you once asked of me
I believe that our "stuck-ness", our penchant to mark time is because we haven't asked the spiritual questions -- the questions that can make a the difference between coping with life or living in despair, between the acceptance of our mortality or our unhealthy attachment to our past, or to answer the question, "Why am I here?" At the risk of over-using a well worn metaphor, I would like to suggest that a healthy person is like a three-legged stool: Our physical, emotional, and spiritual being must be in perfect balance. If one leg is missing the whole person falls and it is my belief that the reason there is so much sickness, so much despair, so many "adult children", so much greed and distorted egos, and so much loneliness in our world today is because our western society has neglected the spiritual leg of the human stool for three generations or more.
Do you know where you're going? Are you happy with what life is showing you? Do you know? And so I babble on with my thoughts on the question, 'where are we going?' For Journey Place that will unfold in due time, but what about you? Is your stool balanced? I wonder.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
A day with others
Community is the act of bringing together our diversity into a common purpose where each one works to his or her best ability to promote the well being of all who make up our community. So then, community is made up of more than one person and therefore requires certain sacrifices -- such is a day with others.
In addition, community "works toward a common end". From morning to noontime and afternoon to evening, work must be done. I remember spending time at Koinonia a long time ago. A group of us spent our spring break from college, visiting Koinonia. I remember that the morning began with prayer and praise -- looking forward to the new day, a new beginning. Each individual worshiped in their own way the new day, but that was just the beginning. Work assignments were given out and some of us worked in the kitchen preparing meals for the community, some of us worked in the chocolate factory making candy to be sold, some of us worked in the gardens and still others of us worked in the Pecan Groves, picking up pecans, trimming the dead branches and gathering the produce in such a way that the pecans would find their way into the chocolate.
The familiar hymn, "Work for the Night is Coming" reminds us of the importance of work each and every day. Here is the final verse of this familiar and beloved hymn:
Bonhoeffer suggests that the work of the world can be done only where a person forgets himself, where he loses himself in a cause, in reality, the task of work. Paul writes, "Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus." (Colossians 3:17) Whether working or praying, whether eating or fellowshiping, we are people that need a reason to work, a reason to pray, a reason to be with one another. This is community -- a day with others. So, I babble on, thinking about each day, each day that invites me into fellowship, calls me into community and to do all to the glory of God. This is the journey and the promise of life together.
In addition, community "works toward a common end". From morning to noontime and afternoon to evening, work must be done. I remember spending time at Koinonia a long time ago. A group of us spent our spring break from college, visiting Koinonia. I remember that the morning began with prayer and praise -- looking forward to the new day, a new beginning. Each individual worshiped in their own way the new day, but that was just the beginning. Work assignments were given out and some of us worked in the kitchen preparing meals for the community, some of us worked in the chocolate factory making candy to be sold, some of us worked in the gardens and still others of us worked in the Pecan Groves, picking up pecans, trimming the dead branches and gathering the produce in such a way that the pecans would find their way into the chocolate.
The familiar hymn, "Work for the Night is Coming" reminds us of the importance of work each and every day. Here is the final verse of this familiar and beloved hymn:
Work, for the night is coming,
Under the sunset skies;
While their bright tints are glowing,
Work, for daylight flies.
Work till the last beam fadeth,
Fadeth to shine no more;
Work, while the night is darkening,
When man’s work is o’er.
Under the sunset skies;
While their bright tints are glowing,
Work, for daylight flies.
Work till the last beam fadeth,
Fadeth to shine no more;
Work, while the night is darkening,
When man’s work is o’er.
The day's beginning and endings at the Koinonia Community reminds me of the sacred rhythm of daily living. There doesn't seem to be much glamor in the daily grind of work, but God created us to work and challenges us to find the rhythm of life in the sacred act of work. For most of us working is not done alone. O yes, there are times when we have to cut the grass, trim the bushes, wash the dishes, type a letter or any other number of jobs that really only one person can do, but even if we are the only ones doing it, we are not doing this for ourselves, we are doing it for others. We cut the grass, so bugs and other undesirable critters might not become too comfortable with our yard. We wash the dishes so that the dishes can be used again to feed our family. Letters are written for a purpose -- most likely to provide information to make our life and the lives of others more gratifying and pleasing. In the end, even when we find ourselves working alone, we do so believing that we are making the world a better place not just for us, but for all who work and pray together. Work is sacred and a part of our day with others.
Bonhoeffer suggests that the work of the world can be done only where a person forgets himself, where he loses himself in a cause, in reality, the task of work. Paul writes, "Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus." (Colossians 3:17) Whether working or praying, whether eating or fellowshiping, we are people that need a reason to work, a reason to pray, a reason to be with one another. This is community -- a day with others. So, I babble on, thinking about each day, each day that invites me into fellowship, calls me into community and to do all to the glory of God. This is the journey and the promise of life together.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Journey Place Community
What is community? This is the question that is on my mind as we plan Journey Place, a community of spiritual seekers on a journey to personal growth and community. Growing up I lived in what we might call "mid-America". For the most part I grew up in what we might imagine a town to be. There were homes of every size. The homes and the yards were carefully attended. Not much was out of place. The roofs were replaced when they needed to be. If the house needed painting, this was done too. The yards were not chemically treated in those days, but the folks kept the grass cut, the limbs picked up and the gardens were given the attention they needed to fit the picture of "mid-America." Not far from the residential area, there was the community park, the local Post Office, the corner store, the stone church that came to life every Sunday morning, and the sacred halls of the school that educated the town. Everything looked neat and tidy. Everyone interacted in apparent harmony, helping where needed and everyone played their roles with perfection. Is this community? Perhaps.
Growing up, I was known as the Preacher's Kid (PK). Although I saw myself as just another kid in the community, struggling through awkward childhood, playing crack the whip or red light, green light with my neighborhood buds, I was still treated differently by the community because I was the Preacher's Kid. This was particularly apparent when in the sixth grade, I rolled pieces of paper to make cigarettes and would pretend to smoke them. I remember this incident because my teacher embarrassed me in front of my class. She said, "Daniel, that is inappropriate for the son of a preacher. What would your father say?" I hung my head, realizing for the first time that being a PK required a different set of community expectations.
As a PK, I had my share of awkward moments, there was something charming about my life. You see, no matter where in "mid-America" my father moved, I knew what my role would be in the new community in which my father served. When I entered the new congregation my father was called to lead, I had an instant community, an instant family. I had more siblings than I could imagine, so many grandpas and grandmas and neat opportunities I wouldn't have experienced had I not been the son of a preacher. Could this be community? Is this the kind of community for Journey Place? Perhaps.
In his book, Life Together, Bonhoeffer reflects upon another notion of community -- one that is not so easily embraced. Bonhoeffer writes, "Every human wish dream that is injected into the Christian community is a hindrance to genuine community and must be banished if genuine community is to survive." Bonhoeffer seems to suggest in this context that "community" based upon human emotions and imagination is not a Christ-centered community. It would seem that my notion of community and what I know of community does not reflect God's notion of community. The houses, the parks, the public school, the community green are ideas formulated by human imagination. How we structure the social order, the family unit may not be of God. It would seem that genuine community seeks to understand God's truth above all other truths; It seeks to walk in the light of Jesus Christ and to live only to serve one another. This kind of love is called agape love -- love that sacrifices not just for family or friends, but a love that sacrifices for one another because our motivation is above all else is love and serve one another. This is a Christ-centered community.
This is a different notion of community that calls upon us to ask the hard questions of life, why am I here? What is my purpose? Why should Journey Place exist? All of these questions may find its answer in the journey to be the community that lives for a far greater calling to be a different kind of community where agape love is the value of the day. And so, I babel on -- not to find answers, but to explore the questions of life and perhaps find it in Journey Place, a different kind of community.
Growing up, I was known as the Preacher's Kid (PK). Although I saw myself as just another kid in the community, struggling through awkward childhood, playing crack the whip or red light, green light with my neighborhood buds, I was still treated differently by the community because I was the Preacher's Kid. This was particularly apparent when in the sixth grade, I rolled pieces of paper to make cigarettes and would pretend to smoke them. I remember this incident because my teacher embarrassed me in front of my class. She said, "Daniel, that is inappropriate for the son of a preacher. What would your father say?" I hung my head, realizing for the first time that being a PK required a different set of community expectations.
As a PK, I had my share of awkward moments, there was something charming about my life. You see, no matter where in "mid-America" my father moved, I knew what my role would be in the new community in which my father served. When I entered the new congregation my father was called to lead, I had an instant community, an instant family. I had more siblings than I could imagine, so many grandpas and grandmas and neat opportunities I wouldn't have experienced had I not been the son of a preacher. Could this be community? Is this the kind of community for Journey Place? Perhaps.
In his book, Life Together, Bonhoeffer reflects upon another notion of community -- one that is not so easily embraced. Bonhoeffer writes, "Every human wish dream that is injected into the Christian community is a hindrance to genuine community and must be banished if genuine community is to survive." Bonhoeffer seems to suggest in this context that "community" based upon human emotions and imagination is not a Christ-centered community. It would seem that my notion of community and what I know of community does not reflect God's notion of community. The houses, the parks, the public school, the community green are ideas formulated by human imagination. How we structure the social order, the family unit may not be of God. It would seem that genuine community seeks to understand God's truth above all other truths; It seeks to walk in the light of Jesus Christ and to live only to serve one another. This kind of love is called agape love -- love that sacrifices not just for family or friends, but a love that sacrifices for one another because our motivation is above all else is love and serve one another. This is a Christ-centered community.
This is a different notion of community that calls upon us to ask the hard questions of life, why am I here? What is my purpose? Why should Journey Place exist? All of these questions may find its answer in the journey to be the community that lives for a far greater calling to be a different kind of community where agape love is the value of the day. And so, I babel on -- not to find answers, but to explore the questions of life and perhaps find it in Journey Place, a different kind of community.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Interfaith Leaders call for affordable and accessible health care for All Americans
Throughout the course of human history, there are times when a nation and its people must speak to moral imperatives -- to speak clearly to what is faithful to our American ideals, what is compassionate toward our people, and what is right for our country. As spiritual leaders of diverse religious background and with one voice, we the undersigned appeal to our Senators, our Congressmen, our President, and the State of Indiana to provide affordable and accessible health care for all Americans.
In our infancy as a nation we experienced the heavy hand of an oppressive government and the struggle for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The founding fathers and mothers of our young nation probably didn't imagine accessible health care as a right in the way we may perceive health care as a right today, but they did advocate for life as a right of all Americans. The dictionary defines life "... as the condition that distinguishes organisms from inorganic objects and dead organisms, being manifested by growth through metabolism, reproduction, and the power of adaptation to environment through changes originating internally." The use of phrases such as "growth through metabolism", "growth through reproduction" and "adaption through changes originating internally" are words and phrases that are associated with accessible health care for all.
In addition to our struggle for life, our founding mothers and fathers also perceived that the citizens of this new nation would have the freedom and the right to pursue some level or form of happiness. Not unrelated to our happiness is affordable health care. Among the dreams of the generations is that our children will be happy and healthy. In part, we have associated the pursuit of happiness with healthy children. In order for our children to be healthy and happy for generations not yet born, we have a moral responsibility to provide affordable and accessible health care for all. As spiritual leaders we believe that affordable and accessible health care is faithful to our American ideals.
As spiritual leaders we are convicted by our various traditions to be people of compassion. Compassion is a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering of the other. Although our various traditions differ in our rules, our doctrines, or our forms of spiritual discipline, we remain united in compassion for God's people. In some form or another each of our traditions honor, the Golden Rule -- never do to others what you would not like them to do to you." Whether we find our direction in the Qu'ran, the Torah, the Gospels of Jesus Christ, or in the spiritual disciplines of Buddha or guidance from the Hindu Holy Scripture, Vedas, compassion is the common thread that each of our traditions and our beliefs hold near and dear to our faith. Therefore, we believe that health care for all is a matter of compassion, it is a matter of social conscious, and it is consistent with the Golden Rule that defines our various expressions of faith. As spiritual leaders, we believe that accessible and affordable health care for all Americans is compassionate and it embodies our best religious intentions.
As spiritual leaders we seek to do what is right for the citizens of the United States. We know it to be true that the average life expectancy in the world is 82 years from birth. The average life expectancy within the United States is 77.85 years from birth, ranking the the United States the 47th in life expectancy in the world. In a Satisfaction Survey done in 2001 with fifteen European Countries, the U.S. and Canada by the World Health Organization (WHO), the United States ranked 14 out out of 17 of citizens satisfied with their health care. The citizens of Italy, Greece and Portugal rated their satisfaction lower than the citizens of the U.S. The infant mortality rate ranks the U.S. 22nd in the world with 7 deaths per 1000 babies born, placing the U.S. behind New Zealand and Canada. Where the U.S. unquestionably leads in health care, it is on what our nation spends on it. Japan, whose population is considerably older than the U.S. spends $3000.00 per person on while in the U.S., we spend $7000.00 per person on health care. In addition 46 million Americans are currently uninsured with many more under-insured.
Such statistics betray our fundamental human values, offend our religious sensibilities, and dishonor the American people and the ideals of our founding fathers and mothers who believed in an undying loyalty to our right for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Therefore, we believe that accessible and affordable health care for all Americans is right for our country, it is faithful to the American ideals of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, it is compassionate and faithful to our religious practices. It is in this context that we affirm our unity and request that our political leaders and public servants in our nation and in the State of Indiana, urgently address health care reform for all Americans.
In our infancy as a nation we experienced the heavy hand of an oppressive government and the struggle for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The founding fathers and mothers of our young nation probably didn't imagine accessible health care as a right in the way we may perceive health care as a right today, but they did advocate for life as a right of all Americans. The dictionary defines life "... as the condition that distinguishes organisms from inorganic objects and dead organisms, being manifested by growth through metabolism, reproduction, and the power of adaptation to environment through changes originating internally." The use of phrases such as "growth through metabolism", "growth through reproduction" and "adaption through changes originating internally" are words and phrases that are associated with accessible health care for all.
In addition to our struggle for life, our founding mothers and fathers also perceived that the citizens of this new nation would have the freedom and the right to pursue some level or form of happiness. Not unrelated to our happiness is affordable health care. Among the dreams of the generations is that our children will be happy and healthy. In part, we have associated the pursuit of happiness with healthy children. In order for our children to be healthy and happy for generations not yet born, we have a moral responsibility to provide affordable and accessible health care for all. As spiritual leaders we believe that affordable and accessible health care is faithful to our American ideals.
As spiritual leaders we are convicted by our various traditions to be people of compassion. Compassion is a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering of the other. Although our various traditions differ in our rules, our doctrines, or our forms of spiritual discipline, we remain united in compassion for God's people. In some form or another each of our traditions honor, the Golden Rule -- never do to others what you would not like them to do to you." Whether we find our direction in the Qu'ran, the Torah, the Gospels of Jesus Christ, or in the spiritual disciplines of Buddha or guidance from the Hindu Holy Scripture, Vedas, compassion is the common thread that each of our traditions and our beliefs hold near and dear to our faith. Therefore, we believe that health care for all is a matter of compassion, it is a matter of social conscious, and it is consistent with the Golden Rule that defines our various expressions of faith. As spiritual leaders, we believe that accessible and affordable health care for all Americans is compassionate and it embodies our best religious intentions.
As spiritual leaders we seek to do what is right for the citizens of the United States. We know it to be true that the average life expectancy in the world is 82 years from birth. The average life expectancy within the United States is 77.85 years from birth, ranking the the United States the 47th in life expectancy in the world. In a Satisfaction Survey done in 2001 with fifteen European Countries, the U.S. and Canada by the World Health Organization (WHO), the United States ranked 14 out out of 17 of citizens satisfied with their health care. The citizens of Italy, Greece and Portugal rated their satisfaction lower than the citizens of the U.S. The infant mortality rate ranks the U.S. 22nd in the world with 7 deaths per 1000 babies born, placing the U.S. behind New Zealand and Canada. Where the U.S. unquestionably leads in health care, it is on what our nation spends on it. Japan, whose population is considerably older than the U.S. spends $3000.00 per person on while in the U.S., we spend $7000.00 per person on health care. In addition 46 million Americans are currently uninsured with many more under-insured.
Such statistics betray our fundamental human values, offend our religious sensibilities, and dishonor the American people and the ideals of our founding fathers and mothers who believed in an undying loyalty to our right for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Therefore, we believe that accessible and affordable health care for all Americans is right for our country, it is faithful to the American ideals of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, it is compassionate and faithful to our religious practices. It is in this context that we affirm our unity and request that our political leaders and public servants in our nation and in the State of Indiana, urgently address health care reform for all Americans.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
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.
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.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
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.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)