Inviting to Community without Distinction

I recently read an article by the leader of a evangelically minded group within the ELCA. (I would hope that we are all evangelically minded.) I am so glad this group exists and is getting positive attention from the wider church. I consider myself a partner with them in raising up the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the world beyond the church. However, there are a couple of terms used by groups like this one that I can't seem to buy into: "unchurched" and "dechurched".

I will admit, I have used these terms myself, but the more I think about it, this is yet one more church word that creates "us vs. them" distinctions that divide and shame instead of invite and encourage. These words assume a superiority of class in being "churched" or a member of a church. I have observed that for many of people of faith, and in particular, the upper Midwest (as this is really the only Christian culture I know) we are much more comfortable and conversant in the language of "church" than we are in the language of "faith". It is easier to answer the question, "What's your church doing for your life and in your community?" than it is to answer "What's God doing in your life and in your community?" This is a critique, but one that I make with care and concern for the life of the church, the people.

There are great benefits to being "churched" like having a caring community around you, being prayed for, having a group of people to share in the joys and disappointments in life, being encouraged in one's walk of faith, having a place to ask hard questions, and connecting with God in community, among others. But, I urge those of us in the church to celebrate these things in such a way that we honor and respect those who have yet to experience the benefits and blessings of the living Go.

I haven't heard Jesus calling out those outside of the faith to be indoctrinated, I hear Jesus calling the world to find its uniqueness in the Risen Savior. I would argue that Jesus' hope for the world is not that we all join a church, but that we be the church in everything that we do. I hear Jesus invite those outside of faith to consider the ways of God and to follow them.

We have all been created in God's image whether we are "churched", "unchurched" or "dechurched", therefore are we not all brothers and sisters trying to find our way in the world and in the community of God?

A Mindless Day

Friday is typically the day I take off. Today, I took a mental holiday that would rival any other's. I vegged out so much that I hardly came into the day. Mindlessness and pure emptiness, with interspersed episodes of good intentions to do things, but really never developing was the rhythm of the day. I should feel guilty...nah. Sometimes I think that I can be washed over with the desire for rest to the point that I am numb, paralyzed even. That is kind of how today was. Every once in a while, I think it's ok to be paralyzed by nothingness. It was rest and I will be ready for new experiences tomorrow.

Lent - A Season of Reflection

Lent is the the 40 days before Easter when Christians have historically taken spiritual inventory of their lives and repented for sins. Sin isn't a four-letter word, it is simply an honest statement about being human. We sin.

As a kid, I loved Lent. I remember how we "put away" the Alleluia, sometimes even physically in a box. The thing I remember most is the way the music changed. Christmas and Epiphany were filled with melodies that let you know everything was right with the world, Jesus was here and we knew that he was the one God had chosen to bring salvation to all the world. But, Lent was something wholly other. Because Jesus was the one who had come to bring the world freedom, there had to be a season of struggle, a journey that was more difficult than Immanuel, "God is with us". The music made a dramatic change into minor keys, darker tones and unresolved chords. The music itself anticipated Easter, but would not go there until the resurrection. Then on Easter morning the trumpet would sound...oh wait, we're not there yet. I'll come back to it at Easter. It's worth the wait.

Journeying from past to the future

The other night, I decided to stop into a Bible Study that is led by Pr. Gary. We were talking about the Last Supper, it's Jewish roots and the way that it has been celebrated throughout the centuries in the church.

When Jesus celebrated the Lord's Supper, it was really a celebration. Passover was a commemoration of God's deliverance of the Jews from slavery in Egypt. There was wine and food, and ritual, and good conversation. The wine was there, so was the flat bread and the sacrificial Lamb. When Jesus picked up the bread and said, "this is my body" everything changed. The ritual was broken and something new was begining the past was becoming the future for those that followed Jesus.

One of the components of Passover was the empty seat at the table that was reserved for Elijah, who it was said would come to usher in the time of the messiah. It was the cup reserved for Elijah that Jesus picked up after supper and who said, "this cup is the new covenant in my blood, shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of sins." Jesus claim was that the messiah had come, in spite of Elijah's absence from the Passover.

Yet, there was a time that Elijah came, with Moses, who led the people out of Egypt. They met Jesus and a few of his disciples on the mountain at the transfiguration. In that event, God was drawing together the past, present and future into a single scene. God's blessing was on Jesus to bring the past and the future together.

The people of Israel celebrated their deliverance at the time of Jesus, in spite of the fact that they again were occupied and again were under another power's political authority. This is a miracle of faith.

We have much to learn from the Jewish people, when we reflect on our own lives and our hearts are heavy. There is strength in weakness, there is light in darkness.

The other night I was talking with some people and a question arose about where people get their hope. What came out of that conversation was an incredible witness to the power of hope when things are very discouraging, dark and when weakness is all one can feel. Stories flowed freely and the depth of pain expressed was almost tangible. At the end of each story emerged an inexpressible sense of hope. It was against logic and reason, but it was real. God was in the middle of all of it. It was as though God's own hand carried us through these stories into hope and light.

I felt so alive, so connected to everything. I only pray that I may have the courage to go to those places with others so that new hope may emerge. It is in confronting and confessing the darkness of our past that the future may show hope and promise, as God showed to us in the night in which the Lord was betrayed.

Peace to your house.

We are the Eucharist: Isn't She Beautiful Part II

In the opening session of the conference, Rob Bell made the claim that as the body of Christ, we are the Eucharist. We have our bodies and our lives broken or given and our blood poured out for the sake of the world. This is a defining experience and activity of the Church. Paul explains this phenomenon in 2 Corinthians 4:10-12. As followers of Jesus, we give our life over to death for Jesus' sake, so that others may have life. In this way, the Eucharist, the good gift or the thanksgiving is not only a gift that benefits the Church, but it is made visible to the world through Christ's work in those who participate in the Eucharist. If this is indeed the case, then we are joined to Christ's suffering, we are commissioned by God through the elements to respond and join ourselves to the suffering of the world.

Martin Luther takes this notion of joining Christ one step further in his treatise "The Blessed Sacrament of the Holy and True Body of Christ, and the Brotherhoods". "The significance or effect of this sacrament is fellowship of all the saints...To recieve this sacrament in bread and wine, then, is nothing else than to receive a sure sign of the fellowship and incorporation with Christ and all the saints...This fellowship consists in athis, that all the spiritual possessions of Christ and his saints (all those who believe in Christ) are shared with and become the common property of [the one] who receives this sacrament. Again all the sufferings and sins also become common property of [the one] who receives this sacrament."

We are incorporated in a mystical way into communion with Christ and all believers and are mutually included in the blessings, sufferings and sins of those who participate in this with us. In light of the fact that Luther was arguing for the proper understanding of the worldview of Christendom and today we are most certainly living in a world that has rejected the notion of Christendom, I would argue that our participation in the Eucharist places us in communion with the suffering, sins and blessings of the world which God desires to reclaim, reconcile and re-create anew.

So what does this mean? It means that in a very practical way, the Church is not fully participating in the Eucharist, and perhaps not even being faithful to Christ unless the members of the Church are in communion with those in our world that are suffering, poor, oppressed, rejected, neglected, abused, disempowered, discriminated against, etc. God uses the Church to bring hope, peace joy, love and wholeness to all the world because she is the body of Christ who has already experienced the power of the Gospel. The way that any of this happens is through the Church, the people of God.

More to come tomorrow.