spiristirrer

We are once again staring at total destruction and human suffering. The images make you stop and wonder why? We are overwhelmed, saddened, and lost. We feel powerless and wonder what we can do?

The “talking heads” have begun chanting their analysis and solutions. The world just watches as people like us face the terrorizing reality that has become their life. Those of us who claim to be bearers of good news have much to reflect upon and must be careful guardians of the gospel words. Making sure that these words are communicated in ways that are constructive, hope filled and life giving.

Much of the conversation in religious circles has turned to the nature of suffering. In a recent New York Times Op/Ed, Pooja Bhatia, asks “Why, then, turn to a God who seems to be absent at best and vindictive at worst?”

In one sentence Bhatia asks the question that many are asking. If God is the one responsible, as some so called Christian leaders have already suggested, then we are indeed in deep trouble. If God is absent, somehow oblivious to the situation at hand then we too have much damage control to do.

Jon Sobrino, Latin American theologian & priest, understands this dilemma in the Christian faith. Like many others before him he reminds us that God is present in suffering, he tells us that “God is the God of the victims.” He then focuses our attention on the biggest tragedy in such situations,

The greatest tragedy – in an earthquake or any other situation – is not the material damages it causes, but the destruction of what is human. The greatest solidarity is to help rebuild that humanity. The greatest hope is to keep walking, doing justice, and loving with kindness.

– Jon Sobrino in Where is God?: Earthquake, Terrorism, Barbarity, and Hope

The good news of Jesus, is not going to save us from the struggles and tragedies of life! We as people living in a troubled world will be victims of brokenness, strife, and injustice. Some, like the people of Haiti, have found themselves victimized time and time again by forces outside their control. This is not God’s doing instead it reflects the brokenness of all of life, the brokenness that God came to redeem.

The images return: the rubble of buildings, bodies scattered, loved ones carrying their dead, beloved children of God walking in the destruction: lost, hungry, nowhere to go . . . there is God! Grieving, holding, walking, broken . . . It is because of suffering, pain, and destruction that God came in Jesus.

The challenge is how we as God’s people will respond and how we will show solidarity with these sisters and brothers so far away? How are we going to make the good news of hope, restoration and humanity incarnate to the people that needed most? How are we going to make sure that what we build is not the infrastructure of empire but the infrastructure of communal life?

We will respond by being loving, generous, attentive. We will love those who are unlike us and yet struggle like we would. We will give generously of what we have, reflecting the way that God gives all of God-self for the life of the world. But we will also become more attentive – we will shine the light of oppression, injustice, and alienation – we will become bearers of what is human for those who have experienced its destruction.

Through our imperfect prayers, relief efforts, and dispersed presence we will become the incarnate presence of God to those who this day needed most. Through our offering we show the world that God is indeed present, caring, comforting, guiding and opening the way for new life!

Today we celebrate the birth of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. It is appropriate that we lift up Dr. King’s life and work today, especially after the devastation suffered in Haiti. The relief work has begun, some are being rescued, many are dead. Help is outpouring from all corners of the world. The difficult task of relief will soon become the epic task of rebuilding. We must begin to ask ourselves what role are we going to play as the church and as American people in helping the nation of Haiti not just rebuild but re-imagine, not just buildings, but future.

Dr. King, in “I See the Promised Land,” refers to the parable of the good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37 saying:

And so the first question that the Levite asked was, “If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?” But then the Good Samaritan came by. And he reversed the question: “If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?”

For too long we have asked the wrong question!

For the last week we have seen many document the long struggles of the Haitian people. Newsweek magazine’s Karen Fragala Smith documents in “Haiti: A Historical Perspective” some of the influences that partly explain the long Haitian struggle. Among those “influences” is the history of occupation by France and the United States.

As a child of a colonized country, Puerto Rico, I can speak of the difficulties of such presence in a people. Colonialism is always sold by the colonist as opportunity but it always causes havoc on the colonized. Those robbed of self-determination begin to develop an identity crisis that in the end leaves scars of dependence, objectification, and exile.

Time and time again the U.S has only taken into consideration its own good. It has only asked: What is there for me? Along the way many of these colonized nations have lost their identity, have grown culturally suspicious, and have felt internationally alienated.

As people of faith we must call ourselves to repentance. We must call our own nation to task for the ways that it has used and abused its power in the subjugation of other peoples. We must also call for an end to colonialism in whatever form it presents itself. Repentance means that we as people of faith begin to have new conversations that help reverse the question and through our missional work empower those nations to self-determination, to re-discover their identity, and to re-claim the richness of their culture.

To do anything less is to continue the patterns of oppression and injustice that victimize both the colonizer and the colonized. I would argue that if we are to be the bearers of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness we must begin by engaging all nations with their interest as the primary thrust of engagement.

Rebuilding, with all its opportunity and challenge, provides us with a second chance to build a more just and fair society here and abroad. In the church it provides an opportunity to stop the patterns of religious empire building that have been so prevalent in the Americas, in its place we will take on the task spoken by Archbishop Romero, of “mak[ing] each country’s individual history a history of salvation.”

Being “makers” of salvation means that we live Dr. King’s vision of justice, peace, and equality, spreading its influence on behalf of those that needed most.

There is much work to be done in our own country, there are many who are living the experience of the colonized in our own backyard. Engaging in these conversations and actions will raise awareness, making the question, “If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?” the primary inclination of God’s people in our nation and the world.

The scars of colonialism do not easily heal. It takes a new generation willing to re-claim its true history and rejecting the forces of paternalism. A generation willing to call its own community to task for the patterns of being that continue our victimization and leave us dependent, bound, and lost. I commit myself to the rebuilding of my own colonized community but I also call on my Christian brothers and sisters to join forces in proclaiming the kind of good news that helps rebuild a people.

God will bring us through this. -One of the Americans jailed in Haiti

I’ve watched with interest the story of the imprisoned Americans in Haiti. Little by little the story gets clearer and cloudier. In the midst of all the other chaos now we have a prosecution. Those detained claimed that they were “trying to do the right thing,” they wanted most of all to “help the children.” Making it clear that they are not “child traffickers.” It reminds me of the saying that “the road to hell is paved with good intentions.”

We might never know the true intentions of these people. In other words I do believe that they had good intentions, that they wanted to do the “right” thing. So many times we want to do the right thing but go about it the wrong way. Other times we are so convinced of our sincerity that it clouds our decision making process. In this case it was the lack of needed legal documents, but there are so many other examples of people trying to do the right thing in the wrong way, at the wrong time, with the wrong outcome.

For so long Christians have been participants in this kind of naive doing of God’s work. Jesus himself told us to be “wise as serpents and innocent as doves.” (Matthew 10:16) So many times the history of the American church in the Caribbean and Latin America has been filled with this kind of mentality. With the intention of doing good, many denominations have done much harm and as I said in my last article have perpetuated the pattern of colonialism in the region.

Meaning well does not mean that one is doing well. If you want to help the children of Haiti, collect money, send health kits, make connections with your denominational relief work or with the many international relief organizations that are doing work there. Make sure that you know the language or have a translator. Make sure that you are following the laws of the land that you are serving.

In the end this kind of issue poses another distraction and stresses the already crumbled system. Now the Haitian government has to keep up with prisoners, find a way to set up some kind of investigation, prosecution and trial. In the meantime the eyes of the world are momentarily lifted from the devastation towards a different, and less important, direction.

Well meaning people can end up victimizing those who have been victimized already. False promises, false hope, false salvation has been at times the essence of the gospel for many who claim the name Christian. They have meant well but have not done the deep reflection on how their actions communicate and illustrate the good news of Jesus Christ. In their desperation many of these people have believed the promises made and have seen these “strangers” as the way out of their desperate situation.

As people of God we have a responsibility to live out our discipleship to the highest standard. When we engage in the work of Jesus in the world we must do our homework, prepare, and connect. We are not alone so we must carefully learn the sociocultural situation of those that we are attempting to help. Good intentions can many times lead to a bad witness of the good news to those who are observing.

We continue to pray for the people of Haiti. We also continue to call our own to accountability in the way that we help. As we continue to hear the call may we remember that the gospel calls us to best action not only to best intention!

This post originally appeared on Day1.org

Here it is again . . . it sneaks up on us year after year. After the fanfare and feasting of Mardi Gras comes a season of simplicity and reflection. A season that begins with a mark that makes visible the intention to begin anew.

It comes at the best time, when we have begun to settle in the new year. When the rhythm of life seems to be returning. When nothing seems able to stop us, our hearts are asked to be broken and our masks removed. In some ways we are called to the essence of what it means to be human: life & death, God and each other!

We are also asked to turn from our ways. To stop being so self centered. To cease from our constant need to impress – believing the self deceptive thought that we have arrived. These ways of being cause a rift between us and the world, between the world and its creator. Turning around (repentance), takes an acknowledgement of our brokenness (sin).

It should not surprise us that we are asked to consider our death. Morbose as it might seem, it’s something that all of us need to face. Mortality forces us to recognize our need for something beyond ourselves, beyond this life. Even more important, facing mortality makes us want to live better with more purpose and in communion with each other.

The mark on our foreheads is the mark of acknowledged humanity. We come recognizing ourselves as God’s created people who are given the opportunity to begin again the journey of relationship, the journey of genuine humanness. This journey comes with its own set of relational practices. Prayer, fasting, and giving to the poor are the cornerstones of the Christian vocation. We are called to engage them as we were told to do at our baptism. As we practice them our lives our re-centered on the one who made us and gave us life.

The truth is that we are just beginning once again by recognizing our mortality. Our failure has been our neglect of the life that God promised us and the world. This life is one centered on the restoration of all of creation to the life of God. In this way we become participants of God’s work of making all things holy.

This new beginning allows us to start with a clean slate. It helps us to refocus and give priority to those things that make us the good creation that God made. It also allows us to consider the example of Jesus and his constant call for humanity to be bearers of God’s kingdom here on earth. Our clean slate begins to get filled with the tools needed for redemption. The practices that we take on become the instruments of growing awareness of God’s presence in us and in the world. The stories heard become part of who we are and turn us into story tellers of good news for the world!

Marked we are sent out, the mark cannot be ignored. We are beginning the journey of re-claiming God’s story as our own, for the life of the world.

On a recent road trip I was scanning the radio stations when I landed on a local talk show. They were speaking about politics, specifically about the partisanship that seems to paralyze any movement towards progress. As a response to a caller’s insistence that what was needed was more transformative leadership the host responded saying “transformative leaders require transformative people.”

I think this understanding speaks deeply not just about politics but also about the church. We are in the beginnings of a season of preparation, reflection and transformation. In many of our churches there is constant talk of decline, shrinking budgets, growing needs, and survival. Most of the conversation in my own local church turns on leadership, the lack thereof, the amount of time required, and the bad leadership of the past. Yet little if any time is spent considering how each of us as people of God can become transformative people.

I find this ironic given the fact that we proclaim a transformative faith. Our central story is the primordial example of transformation – death becoming life. Since when have we been about maintenance and ourselves? And when did we stop looking at ourselves as the source of the church’s decline?

Maybe we no longer take this primordial story seriously, we tell ourselves that new life is wanted:

• as long as it does not mean that I need to be reborn.
• as long as it looks like the one I’m living now.
• as long as we do not have to die to self and be about the other.
• as long as we do not have to see the way that God sees!

How long can we continue to ignore this? As a nation we continue to blame other people. Politicians and the so called “Washington establishment” receive most of the blame. In the church it is always the “judicatory,” or “bishops,” or “leaders.” If it wasn’t for these people we would be heading in the right direction, right?

When are we going to recognize that there is really only “us?” That we together are being called to make a difference. That sometimes what we see as important for us is not what is best for the common good. That our call is to love, give, and serve. Somehow in these actions transformation happens.

I guess I’m a little tired. As one of those leaders attempting to be transformational I’m worn out of attempting and not having any followers. I know I sound a little naïve but I’m one who thinks that transformation is possible – that even life from death can happen. No matter how strong, passionate, and how much resolve one has at some point one gets tired of being a transformative agent in the midst of a people that want no such thing.

Change is not easy for anyone and change for change sake is not what we are called to. We are called to a constant re-evaluation of the values that guide our walk as people of God and as members of this society. This constant re-evaluation is at the heart of the Lenten journey. Like the gritty ashes on Ash Wednesday, the process of transformation is edgy, coarse, and at times dry.

May God guide us to recognize our need to be re-reborn. No longer quick to point the fingers and place blame we need to commit ourselves to be agents of the change needed so that God’s kingdom can continue to be evident in the world. May we all become transformational followers of the most transformational leader that ever lived!

He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.

Matthew 16:15-18

The Church was built on proclamation. “Jesus is Lord,” the early Christians would proclaim. Their way of life grew this movement from a small band of disciples to the universal religion that it is today. Sunday after Sunday we gather to proclaim the reality of the Lordship of Christ and to experience it in the braking of the bread.

In the United Methodist ritual for Holy Communion we call the Spirit upon the gifts of bread and wine and upon us so that “we may be for the world the body of Christ redeemed by his blood.” It is this same Spirit that we count on as we leave this gathering “to give ourselves to others.” In these short words that we repeat Sunday after Sunday we remind ourselves of the purpose of the declaration, Jesus is Lord!

A few weeks ago I wrote about no more church growth. It’s provocative title grabbed the attention of many. The comments that followed were passionate on all sides. Some were even troubled by the suggestion that I as a minister of the Gospel was not into church growth. Others expressed their own frustration over the constant pressures and their desire for something different.

Like the Pharisees and Saducees at the time of Jesus many of us find ourselves wanting a sign (Matthew 16:1-4). More people, more programs, more stuff for us. None of these things prove that God is present. None of them are the yeast that will bring about God’s kingdom! In fact in the book of Acts we read that the gathered community focused on learning the story, eating the meal, and lifting up concerns, holding things in common, and helping those in need. When they did this well, “the Lord added to their number.” (Acts 2:47)

The real yeast comes from the proclamation and its power to bind and loose in the world! For me the key to kingdom sharing is that the people of God have the Spirit’s power to loose the bonds of the oppressed, free the captive, and give sight to the blind. Focusing on our growth for our survival means that instead of loosing we are binding, instead of freeing we are oppressing, instead of giving sight we are blinding.

In the end Jesus told his disciples not to tell . . . maybe he wanted them to be the proclamation instead. Maybe he wanted them to pay attention to what he was about to model: self denial, sacrifice, humility.

As we near Holy Week may we take time to reflect on the way of the cross. This way is not popular, it’s counter-cultural, and it demands our whole selves. As we continue to question the purpose of the church in this changing world we might look not just at Matthew 28 (“Go and make disciples . . .”) but at the totality of Jesus’ life and work and ask: Who do we say Jesus is? Who do others say he is? Upon what rock are we building our church?

The Exultet is the traditional hymn of praise of the Easter Vigil. My prayer is that United Methodist will re-discover this important service of the Christian Church.

Rejoice, heavenly powers! Sing, choirs of angels!
Exult, all creation around God’s throne!
Jesus Christ, our King, is risen!
Sound the trumpet of salvation!

Rejoice, O earth, in shining splendor,
radiant in the brightness of your King!
Christ has conquered! Glory fills you!
Darkness vanishes for ever!

Rejoice, O Mother Church! Exult in glory!
The risen Savior shines upon you!
Let this place resound with joy,
echoing the mighty song of all God’s people!

My dearest friends,
standing with me in this holy light,
join me in asking God for mercy,

that he may give his unworthy minister
grace to sing his Easter praises.

The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them up to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give him thanks and praise.

It is truly right
that with full hearts and minds and voices
we should praise the unseen God, the all-powerful Father,
and his only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

For Christ has ransomed us with his blood,
and paid for us the price of Adam’s sin to our eternal Father!

This is our passover feast,
when Christ, the true Lamb, is slain,
whose blood consecrates the homes of all believers.

This is the night
when first you saved our fathers:
you freed the people of Israel from their slavery
and led them dry-shod through the sea.

This is the night
when the pillar of fire destroyed the darkness of sin!

This is the night
when Christians everywhere,
washed clean of sin and freed from all defilement,
are restored to grace and grow together in holiness.

This is the night
when Jesus Christ broke the chains of death
and rose triumphant from the grave.

What good would life have been to us,
had Christ not come happy fault,as our Redeemer?
Father, how wonderful your care for us!
How boundless your merciful love!
To ransom a slave you gave away your Son.

O happy fault,
O necessary sin of Adam,
which gained for us so great a Redeemer!

Most blessed of all nights,
chosen by God to see Christ rising from the dead!

Of this night scripture says:
“The night will be as clear as day:
it will become my light, my joy.”

The power of this holy night dispels all evil,
washes guilt away, restores lost innocence,
brings mourners joy;
it casts out hatred, brings us peace,
and humbles earthly pride.

Night truly blessed when heaven is wedded to earth
and man is reconciled with God!

Therefore, heavenly Father,
in the joy of this night,
receive our evening sacrifice of praise,
your Church’s solemn offering.

Accept this Easter candle,
a flame divided but undimmed,
a pillar of fire that glows to the honor of God.

(For it is fed by the melting wax,
which the mother bee brought forth
to make this precious candle.)

Let it mingle with the lights of heaven
and continue bravely burning
to dispel the darkness of this night!

May the Morning Star which never sets
find this flame still burning:
Christ, that Morning Star,
who came back from the dead,
and shed his peaceful light on all mankind,
your Son, who lives and reigns for ever and ever.
Amen.

In his book Jayber Crow Wendell Berry tells the story of a town barber and his journey towards vocation. After a devastating flood Jayber finds himself waking up in a shelter, safe, dry, and comfortable. After such a night he felt the need to thank someone, he was so overwhelmed by being safe, finding shelter, finding a sort of home on that terrible night that he was “captured by gratitude.”

Once again we will gather around tables, with family and friends, to feast! Feasting is a wonderful way to expresses our comfort and celebrate the ways that we have been blessed in this past year. The stories we share are also important. The stories remind us that we are connected and that in spite of the happenings of the year we have been blessed, we have each other!

As we gather this year I am reminded that there is a difference between being thankful and gratitude. Saying thank you can be an automatic response, a polite way to acknowledge another. We say thank you all of the time, to our children, co-workers, and to the person at the cash register. I believe gratitude is is a state of being. A basic posture of our lives as people. Its the realization and internalization that everything is a gift. The air we breath, the creation that we enjoy, the relationships that we have. This realization helps us recognize our interconnection, our common humanity, our connection to all of creation.

I wonder what it would take for us on this thanksgiving to be “captured by gratitude?” We hear of the continued economic struggles, the high unemployment, the break of cholera in places like Haiti. We also hear about the continued war in Afghanistan, the slow referendum in the Sudan, and the continued partisan wars in our country. All of these things could easily be the rising waters of a flood, where is our shelter?

Just the other day a group from my congregation was frying turkeys to feed a group of college students a thanksgiving feast. We were busy watching turkeys, talking and drinking our coffee. Out of nowhere comes this man asking for “prayer,” this stranger had already been kicked out of a few places and was angry, embarrassed, and defensive. A few of us engaged him in conversation and soon pain and disappointment took the place of the anger and defensiveness. After prayer the real need came to the surface, a need for food and shelter, “just for the night.” When we said that we could help him, that we could feed him a warm meal and put him up for the night, his demeanor changed completely. He could not believe it . . . he was captured and we were captured also.

Time and time again Jesus called us to love each other, to provide for each other, to respect each other. Time and time again he took the little, broke it, blessed it, and gave it and it was enough! In times of difficulty our common humanity provides us with the shelter that we need to weather the storms of life. We lean on each other, sometimes lean on the graciousness of strangers, to help us carry on. Maybe this is what Jesus meant when he said that he would be with us always?

This thanksgiving may we go beyond saying thank you, may we open our eyes to the abundance in our lives and find ways to share this abundance with others. In other words may the people of God become the shelter for the many that are facing the rising waters of life, may we be captured by gratitude as we capture others!

I did not stand on a long line early today. I was in the comfort of my bed resting after a very long thanksgiving day. I am wondering though about this “tradition” of making a line early to beat the crowds for good deals on stuff.

The church struggles to find a voice in the world today. Often in the conversations there is talk about a lack of commitment on the part of young people, “they don’t commit to anything,” I’ve hear it said. Another common reason is how busy young people are today. People do not have the time for another program or responsibility. Yet another relates to the difficulty of religious life, maybe we are asking too much of people?

Then comes “Black Friday” and it blows all our assumptions about people. Today people made plans to be there at very specific times, made rooms in the schedule, and battled early morning, crowds, and financial resources for what they wanted to get. Many even invited people to come along and join them in this exciting time!

I wonder how we can offer Christ in a way that’s compelling to those around us. People are making commitments, making time, and sacrificing for those things that are important. My hunch is that making it less commitment centered, more flexible, and easier to follow is not the answer.

How about the church being where people are? Going (instead of hoping people will come to us) with the deep well of the Christian message and creating ways of being in relationships that call all of us to a deeper relationship with each other and the world. Creating a space that welcomes the questions and where we call each other to accountability for the ways our way of life bring life or take it a way.

Doing this does not guarantee crowds. After all the rich young ruler walked away because Jesus’ teaching was difficult, it demanded surrender. (Luke 18:18-25) What it does assure is our participation in the kingdom work of Jesus in the world. Our engagement in the apostolic work of proclaiming forgiveness and repentance, proclaiming that God loves us too much to allow the world to continue its unloving ways towards self, neighbor and God.

This Sunday begins our Advent journey. We slow down while the world around us speeds up, we hope in a world that at times is hopeless, we wait in a world that at times does not think that waiting matters. Now let us leave our beautiful sanctuaries and stand in the busy lines of life and proclaim that God so loved the world!

This has been an exciting week for the people of Louisiana. The state gathered in front of our televisions Sunday night to watch one of the most exciting things that has happened in the state in a long time. There was a “buzz” all day as commentators spoke time and time again of this unlikely team that had never won much who now found itself  in such a large stage.

Images of four years ago lit the screen. Water everywhere, people on rooftops, the Superdome in shambles. All seemed hopeless . . .

Little by little a team, a city, and a whole state began to rebuild. Now the team had the opportunity to prove how far from the wreckage it had come.

And they won!!!!

Even casual fans, such as myself, could not help but be proud for what this team had accomplished. The last four years have been years of rebuilding not just a team, but a city and a state. The site of people on rooftops fleeing the rising waters now became the site of celebration and joy.

Newspapers all around the state carried headlines of “answered prayers,” “hallelujah,” and “believe dat.” All carried stories of the way that this team provided hope, healing, and inspiration. The headlines spoke in Christian terms and the stories described Christian action. The team had provided much needed good news to the people that they served! They had invested in the city: lived there, set up foundations, helped schools, and became ambassadors for the rebuilding effort. Their “faith” in what their team could do and what each of them could do was put into action.

In the midst of all the celebration and the pride I wondered about the church, had we failed to provide what the city needed most? What the state needed most?

This is not a tirade against a football team. As an adopted son of this state I am proud of this important accomplishment. I was there with all other Louisianians cheering for our team, wearing black and gold, wanting them to win. I believe that sports are important ways of entertainment and competition. They also provide much needed economic impact in the communities they serve.

I guess my real tirade is against the church. We have failed time and time again to inspire, to capture the imagination, to lift up a city and a state from the rubble of destruction and chaos. We have not taken chances: on leadership with passion, on communities of service, on important adjustments at “half time.” In other words we continue to play it safe!

In the meantime people continue to gather. They gather to celebrate a victory, their victory. They also gather to feast and as they feast the hope for the future continues to build, the possibilities seem endless, the embarrassments of the past are put aside. Many were saying that they “believed again.”

I also believe again . . . I believe that the church can live again, serve again, be present again! I believe that we can come out of our apathy, self-centeredness, and lukewarmness to become the people who provide hope, healing, and inspiration to the communities that we serve. People want to believe, they want to be inspired, they want to be part of something that makes a difference. Maybe if we live in such passionate ways, the good news of Jesus that we proclaim will move people who hear it, to “believe again!”

Belief and action opens up the floodgates of renewal, rebuilding, and hope. This is what the church came to proclaim to a broken world. Let the feasting begin!