Not With Swords Loud Clashing

Not With Swords Loud Clashing

 As a boy I loved it when the Action episodes from the Bible stories would be told in Church.  The parables about sheep and things growing were fine, but I would sit up and listen when Jesus tore into the moneychangers at the Temple and threw over their tables, or when David walked out with his sling to take on the giant Goliath.  Even in the midst of much confusion in the book of Revelations, I greatly enjoyed the image of the Messiah, on horseback, leading an army back from Heaven to decide this whole Good/Evil thing once and for all.

Given my militaristic tastes, there is a quiet - but important - reminder stuck away in the midst of one of the hymns I have known since I was a kid.  It is a reminder to those of us who identify ourselves as Kingdom People - those who believe that God's Kingdom is not a future paradise in another world, but who believe that it is a current responsibility and a future reality.

The current responsibility is to live like those who are already, by choice (& - to be fair - also by several other things - like culture, birthplace, family, etc.) subjects of the King of Creation.  Some of you may remember an earlier post in which I was promising (or threatening?) to finally print up T-Shirts with a message that would remind us how to live like Kingdom People (as reprinted below):

The Complete Set of Guidelines

for

Living as a Member of the Kingdom of God

1. Remember Jesus is Lord.

2. Don't be a jerk.

(BTW-Still waiting for the flood of orders before I sink all my Retirement Fund into the first printing of those shirts - be patient).

In the midst of one of the hymns filled with militaristic language (which fell into some disfavor in recent years) is a beautiful reminder of how we live out our current responsibilities as the people of the Kingdom while heading towards the day when - to use Lord's Prayer language - God's Kingdom shall become a reality "on earth, as it is in Heaven."  After a first verse filled with 'days of march' and 'conquest' and the 'battle song', the hymn [Lead On, O King Eternal] moves on to this important reminder:

For not with swords loud clashing,

Nor roll of stirring drums,

With deeds of Love and Mercy

The heavenly kingdom comes.

[emphasis added]               

This came to mind while working on a recent sermon on Mark 4:1-9 - the Parable of the Sower.  It's easy to look at that story as a tale about the worst farmer ever.  This is the parable about the seed that lands on the pathway (where the birds eat it up) and on rocky ground (where it sprouts but withers because it can't send down deep roots) and amongst the thorns (which choke it out) before there is any mention that some seed fell on 'good ground' and produced richly.

It turns out, though, that in fact this is a story about covering ALL of the good ground possible - even at the cost of having some of the seed land in the dicey places on the edges.  John Wesley used these words about living out Kingdom responsibilities:

“Do all the good you can.

By all the means you can.

In all the ways you can.

In all the places you can.

At all the times you can.

To all the people you can.

As long as ever you can.”

That can look like an EXHAUSTING job description, but it is worth remembering that even JW (who admittedly could be a little extreme in his expectations for himself and others) put this call in terms of what is possible - 'do all you CAN ... '.

It's unlikely that I will wield the Sword which will cut down Evil for all time and usher in the complete reign of God - but it is highly likely that today - and tomorrow (God-willing), I will have chances to do 'deeds of love and mercy'.

I hear that's how the Kingdom shows up.

Sometimes Real Life Intervenes

Sometimes Real Life Intervenes

This is one of those days.

Normally each week's post goes up by 6:00 p.m. EDT (during Daylight Savings Time, EST the rest of the year).

Granted, that usually means that it appears somewhere between 5:55 p.m. & 6:00 p.m., but that's why God made the last minute - so we would have a time when things actually got done.

This week, Real Life is intervening, and the post will go up after 6:00 p.m.

Try not to panic.

When this week's post is finalized, it will replace this "post", so now you have something to look forward to in life.  Hang in there - God willing we'll be back on track before Midnight.

- Steve

Looking In

“O wad some power the giftie gie us

to see oursels as ithers see us.” 

(O would some power  the gift to give us  

to see ourselves as others see us.) 

- Robert Burns, Poem: “To a Louse” (verse 8)

   

A funny thing happened on the way into Church one Sunday.

 

Picture a sunny Sunday morning anywhere in America.  Now imagine a friendly, nicely-dressed couple going up the stairs of a Church moments before the morning Worship service begins.  They are not the only people in the scene: Kids are finding their families again after Sunday School (or pleading to sit with their friends); Adults of all ages are smiling greetings at one another as they make their way into the Sanctuary; Greeters are holding stacks of bulletins; music is playing in the background - America is going to Church.

 

This scene could have happened - in fact does happen - in thousands of places, with one exception (I hope/pray that it is an exception) .  The difference was what happened when we (yes, the couple was K. & me) sat down and I noticed that K. didn't have a bulletin.

 

It turned out that the Greeter wouldn't give her one. 

 

Through a long set of difficult-to-describe circumstances, the timing at the top of the stairs, just as Worship was ready to begin, caused me to get a bulletin first.  I don't remember how I ended up walking in front of K. (I was raised better than that), but when she reached, smiling, towards the Greeter, he pulled back the stack of bulletins and pointed to me (and, presumably to my bulletin).  She was briefly flabbergasted, but a woman is nothing if not flexible after 35 years of living with and working in Churches, so she chalked it up to some Earth-friendly attempt to save a tree and walked on in to Worship.

 

Now - why tell such a story?

 

[If you've been wondering how I was going to connect the great Scots Poet Robert Burns and his immortal poem "To a Louse" to this, here's where it all comes together] .  

 

For the two of us, this just became a humorous story.  When it comes to going to Church, we are 'professionals' - we can make it through a worship service with just one bulletin - heck, we could do it bare-handed if we needed to - but this provided one more glimpse of Church-life from a different perspective - from the outside looking in.

 

That's the perspective of most new folks at a Church.

 

 I spent many years trying to convince folks that walking into a new Church - or walking into any CHURCH for the first time (for someone who didn't grow up in a Church) - was a task that ranged somewhere between "Hard" and "Terrifying" on the Life Difficulties scale.

 

It doesn't matter that most Churches (including the one we were at that day) are filled with friendly people who love Jesus - if a person can't get through the front door he or she will never get to experience the genuine power of being able to share in fellowship with those folks.  Worse than that, simple embarrassment can become a wall that shuts off a person's ability to hear the Good News - and sharing the Good News is the only defensible reason for maintaining the institution that is the modern Church.

 

For most of the past 2 years, K. & I have had the unusual opportunity of seeing Church life "from the outside".  It is not an opportunity for which we had hoped and prayed - it just happened to us.  It was an opportunity in the same sense that auto accidents, injured and sick kids, flat tires, family emergencies, and blizzards have been "opportunities".  It shows up and you deal with it.

 

For us it has provided a chance, as former Professional Church Folks, to 'see ourselves as others see us' - if "ourselves" means Church - the Body of Christ as it exists at the beginning of the 21st Century.

 

This is not just a story about a Greeter at one Church, or about a humorous snub to one person.  The little story above is just the most benign example of the kind of thing that has made it difficult to connect fully with a Church "home" during the last 2 years.  It is NOT that we doubt that people want us in their churches.  We are fully aware that most congregations would love to "get" us as part of their church life.  How do I know?  Because I had the privilege of working with folks like us for almost 4 decades.  We bring an unusually high level of talents, gifts, and abilities with us (not to mention that I personally am insanely friendly & humble).

This is just a story that serves as a (hopefully) gentle reminder that every Church, every Sunday, has to be on the lookout for fragile human beings.  You will recognize fragile people when you see them - they will be the ones who are breathing.

 

Remember that we worship the One who knew how to approach this world with care: "A bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not extinguish." [Isaiah 42:3].

 

It takes more energy than most of us want to exert after another long week of our own troubles.  Remember Hebrews 13:2, though:  "Do not neglect to show kindness to strangers, for in so doing many have entertained angels without knowing it."  [ ! ]

 

I hope to share more reflections on our temporary sojourn as some of the folks looking at the Church doors from the other side - it is a good feeling to know the riches that reside inside those doors. 

 

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[Editor's note:  It would be a good use of Google to search for "To a Louse" if you are not familiar with the poem.  It is a short poem about Burns' encounter with a louse (as in the singular form of lice).  It was evidently true that this guy could write a poem about anything.  If the version you find seems to be in an unfamiliar language, ask Google for a modern English translation, or better yet find a site that shows both versions together.  Enjoy.] 

 

 

 

 

 

God, Please Bless Patton Oswalt (Whether he wants you to or not)

Although I didn't list him that way, Patton Oswalt would qualify as Artist of the Week - he is a comedian, actor, writer, comic book consultant, and much more - although I will admit that I didn't know his name until this week.  Like last week's Artist of the Week [Mark Lowry?? - how soon they forget] Patton has something to say that is worth hearing.

If he HAD to show up on a blog like this one, though, I suspect that he would be happier to be guesting as Atheist of the Week.  I'll admit that this is not a feature that I had considered before, but if there are more atheists out there who can write like Patton Oswalt, I might have to consider it.

In the wake of the bombing at the finish line of the Boston Marathon on Monday, he wrote something that left thousands of Internet readers moved and encouraged.  I'll refer to part of it below, but if you go to his website - Patton Oswalt - you can get a link to his Facebook page to read the whole thing (you might have to search a bit for it - Facebook is, admittedly, still a bit of a mystery to me).

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After acknowledging that what happened in Boston was [exceedingly] "horrible"   he goes on to say:


". . .  I remember, when 9/11 went down, my reaction was, "Well, I've had it with humanity.  But I was wrong. I don't know what's going to be revealed to be behind all of this mayhem. One human insect or a poisonous mass of broken sociopaths.
But here's what I DO know. If it's one person or a HUNDRED people, that number is not even a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a percent of the population on this planet. You watch the videos of the carnage and there are people running TOWARDS the destruction to help out. . . .This is a giant planet and we're lucky to live on it but there are prices and penalties incurred for the daily miracle of existence. One of them is, every once in awhile, the wiring of a tiny sliver of the species gets snarled and they're pointed towards darkness.
But the vast majority stands against that darkness and, like white blood cells attacking a virus, they dilute and weaken and eventually wash away the evil doers and, more importantly, the damage they wreak. This is beyond religion or creed or nation. We would not be here if humanity were inherently evil. We'd have eaten ourselves alive long ago."

 Although the wording was different, he was echoing another message that went all over the Internet in the wake of the bombing.  This one was from Fred Rogers of Mr. Rogers fame.  Years ago he had written: "When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, 'Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.'"

 
Patton continued: "So when you spot violence, or bigotry, or intolerance or fear or just garden-variety misogyny, hatred or ignorance, just look it in the eye and think, 'The good outnumber you, and we always will.'"

BTW, this is not the time to discuss the differences between Patton Oswalt's world-view and mine.  This is just an opportunity to give thanks for someone who has made good use of language to remind us of something that helped keep some kind of hope alive for a wide and varied audience of people, many of whom were probably also ready to throw in the towel on this whole humanity thing.  Using language well is a gift for everyone involved.  As it says in Proverbs, "A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver."  Good job with the golden apples, Mr. Oswalt.

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 [Editor's note:  For those of you wondering about his name, yes, he is named after General Patton.  His dad is a retired Marine Colonel, who also has some stuff worth reading in an email to his son that was pasted on Mr. Oswalt's Facebook page.]

[Second Editor's note:  For the record, while I'm relatively sure that Patton Oswalt would assume that I do find humanity "inherently evil", that is not the language that I would use to describe a fallen Creation - if I could paraphrase from above, I would say that we live in a state where our wiring gets snarled and points us towards darkness. For those days - and for all the others - that makes me want to celebrate light.]