The Ecosystem of God

While researching my sermon for this week, I came across a reference to the Kingdom of God as the, "culture of God."  This must have been working in the back of my mind, and as I read the description in Ezekiel of the Noble Cedar (a symbol for the Messiah), it occured to me, maybe the Kingdom of God is like an ecosystem, "Under [the noble cedar] every kind of bird will live; in the shade of its branches will nest winged creatures of every kind. (Ezekiel 17:23)."

Ecosystems are delicately balanced cultures of living creatures, animals and plants, that depend on each other and hold each other in check.  The introduction of a foreign species or the removal of a native species can cause an ecosystem to lose balance and begin denigrating.

This got me to thinking about God's coming reign as an ecosystem.  We might think of creation--the Garden of Eden--as a the perfect ecosystem in which humans, plants, and animals all lived in harmony with one another and in proper relationship to God.  This continues until an outside species--something foreign to God's perfect ecosystem is introduced--sin enters in, and the ecosystem spins out of control--death and destruction.

Suddenly, the world is in need of a new creation--a restored ecosystem.  In order to restore balance to the creation, something must change.  This was my read on the new and noble cedar.  A sprig is removed from the old cedar, and a new tree--a new ecosystem where every kind of bird will nest in the shade.

And so we, along with all of creation are indeed waiting for a new creation; a new ecosystem with restored balance and restored relationship with God.  For now, that ecosystem is but a sprig on a lofty mountain, but it will grow into the noble cedar such that all the trees of the field will know that Yahweh is God.

Let me know if any of you have thoughts on what it might mean to think of God's Kingdom as an Ecosystem that has lost balance and the balance is being restored. 

The Death of a Mentor

This week, I learned that in December of 2008, Dr. William Placher, professor of Religion and Philosophy at Wabash College in Crawfordsville, IN died.  

In some ways, I am glad I did not learn about his death until the week following Easter.  Bill Placher was a man of unsurpassed intelligence, unsurpassed wisdom, unsurpassed ability to communicate complex things in simple ways, and unsurpassed moral centeredness and humility--all these great attributes in a single person.  At Wabash, Dr. Placher was and I imagine will forever be a legend.

As a young student, I figured such a legendary professor would be unapproachable and I shied away from initiating a relationship with him.  But during the summer before my senior year, Dr. Placher reached out to me, inviting me to lunch that we might get to know each other better and so he could help give me direction regarding what graduate programs I should apply to.  His ability to listen to me as a student and help clarify my own thoughts and even God's calling on my life are an important part of who I am today.

And so I am glad to have only learned of his passing in light of our recent celebration of Easter--resurrection is so real to me.  Bill Placher's love, righteousness, and firm grasp on who God is live on in many ways despite his passing.  Who he was as a scholar and teacher were so intertwined with who he is because of Christ that even in his death he seems still very much alive--certainly he is alive in my memory, in who I am today, and in who I long to become.

Wipe the Ashes From Your Face Before Pointing to the Ashes on Your Neighbor

My wife made a great observation after this evening's service.  She said that after receiving the ashes you don't really know that you have ashes on your forehead.  You know you have them, because you saw the pastor apply them, but you can't really see or feel them.  But then you see someone else, and the ashes on their head are quite obvious--hey! that person has ashes on their forehead.  Sometimes it can be easy to forget our own ashes while the ashes of others are quite obvious.

Stethoscope

A member of my church emailed this too me--pretty cool.  I wonder if the same tune plays inside all of us, or if we might hear different music.  What are other potential bible verses to use at the end of this video and what corresponding song would play?

When is it Appropriate to Break The Law in the Name of Christ?

Following the discussion on marrying couples without notifying the state, I thought an interesting question was raised.  When is it appropriate to follow the laws of the land even though we disagree, and when is it important to practice civil disobedience or holy mayhem, as I believe Shane Claiborne calls it?

Married in the Eyes of the Lord

A couple recently asked me if I would perform a wedding ceremony without a marriage certificate. They wanted to be "married in the eyes of the Lord." One of the persons wanting to be married was a widow and receiving her diseased husbands social security. Essentially they could move-in together and live as if they are married without conssequence, but out of Christian commitment, they wanted to be married before moving in together and did not think their marital status should be the state's concern. After looking up the state statute and penalty for breking it, I informed the couple I could not perform the ceremony, but I was conflicted.

Especially for older couples without significant income, it seems that our laws encourage cohabitation rather than marriage. Unless there is a law that a person cohabiting cannot receive a deceased spouce's social security, there truly is a "marriage penalty" particularly for the elderly who are widow(er)s and may be financially fragile. Has anyone else experienced this? What are your thoughts?

New Web-Empowered Church Website

I finally got up the courage to try creating a new website for our church! At first it was a headache, but after getting a little bit of a handle on how to use vinehosting.com and the web empowered church software things began moving quickly. The work in progress is at www.somerspointumc.org. With this development, along with internet being installed at our church next week, I really do intend to begin blogging again--but that was the case two posts and three months ago!

Children Do Listen!

This past week my sermon dealt with the Canaanite woman seeking healing for her daughter and the exchange she had with Jesus. Jesus tells her that it is not right to give the children's food to the dogs, and the woman's faithful response is, "yes, but dogs do receive the scraps from the master's table." In relaying the message, I used the phrase, "It is not right to give the children's food to the dogs" multiple times.

What my not quite 2 year old daughter heard was, "The dogs do not get food." She was very distraught by this and sadly repeated--"The dogs don't get food!" She then began trying to remedy the situation by making sure our dog got food. She spent a significant portion of the day grabbing handfuls of dog food laying it on the floor in front of the dog and waiting until the food was gone, then grabbing another handful.

I think I am glad that the idea of not feeding the dog bothered her, and am a little proud that she took it upon herself to make sure the dog got fed.

The Collision of the Cross

My wife and I have been reading Chesterton's Orthodoxy. It has been a slow go as we fight for time together when our daughter is sleeping--but we have made it through the second chapter, and it has already been a worthwhile journey.

In setting up his explanation for how he came to an orthodox faith in God, Chesterton describes the materialist who relies ultimately on logic as a mad person. One example is that a mad person might claim to be God--and the way one would work with such a person is not to deny that they are God but to point out that if they are indeed the creator of the universe, then what a small and insignificant universe it must be. Similarly, a non Christian who is worried that all truth claims meet the rule of logic limit truth possibilities to a small circle. The basic argument, which is too complicated for me to work out in a blog, is something along the lines that Christianity is more creative, less limited, and therefore more sane than materialistic rationality.

Spiritual doctrines do not actually limit the mind as do materialistic denials. Even if I believe in immortality I need not think about it. But if I disbelieve in immortality I must not think about it. In the first case the road is open and I can go as far as I like, but in the second, the road is shut.

Chesterton's argument is not that the rational skeptic is not rational--rather rational skepticism is infinitely rational, it just happens to be a small and limited infinity. "Their position is quite reasonable, nay, it is infinitely reasonable, just as a threepenny is infinitely circular... [it is] a base and slavish eternity."
All this is to set up what I believe to be the best use of the image of the cross that I have ever encountered.

For the circle is perfect and infinite in its nature; but it is fixed forever in its size; it can never be larger or smaller. But the cross, though it has at its heart a collision and a contradiction, can extend its four arms forever without altering its shape. Because it has a paradox at its center, it can grow without changing.

This image of the cross having a collision and paradox at its center is why we can know things to be true that may not fit our limited reason. Like, "The one who loses their life for my sake will find it." This is not a rational statement, but in the cross it makes sense. Which is true that God is sovereign over all and knows everything before it happens or that God has given humans free will--they are both true. Sure it is paradoxical but it can be the case in the cross. Do we seek righteousness or surround ourselves with sinners--both, are we holy or imperfect--both are true, that is the shape of the cross.
"The morbid logician seeks to make everything lucid, and succeeds in making everything mysterious. The mystic allows one thing to be mysterious, and everything becomes lucid." I love this image.

I'm back!

Sorry I have been away for so long. I knew transitioning appointments would take a lot out of me, but never did I expect it would take me as far away from blogging as it has. But with renewed commitment to my blog I am back. I have been waiting for the opportunity to write a particular blog, but time and energy to do so have evaded me--until now.

Why The Sower Sows Indiscriminately

I found this video on while considering the parable of the sower. Check out this tree that has defied all odd and grown out of a rock. Perhaps sowing seeds in unlikely places is a chance worth taking.

Putting Sand Back in the Ocean

I haven't blogged in a while as my family has been in the middle of our move to Somers Point. This weekend, though, we took a break from packing/unpacking, and visited the now nearby shore. Our daughter decided that there was too much water in the ocean and what it really needed was more sand to be put back in it. She would say "too wet" then grab sand, run to the edge, wait for a wave to come to her, then she would throw the sand back in. After this was completed, she would repeat the process until distracted, only to come back to her work later. She seemed undaunted by the amount of work that lies ahead of her.

I suppose once you decide the right thing to do, it doesn't much matter how impossible it is, you just continue doing it, convinced that it is simply the right thing.

My Daughter's Father's Day Present

Contemporary Communion

I came across this song for the first time today. I like some of these more contemporary approaches to traditional practices that I am beginning to see.

Prayer Habits

Will recently confessed using the word "continue" too often in pastoral prayers while making visits. I agree with a comment he received noting that "continue" is an appropriate word in prayer as it acknowledges God's work before we've vocalized the prayer.

However, like anything that is repeated, Will is right that any recycled word or phrase begins to make unwanted impressions. I notice in the news media certain words that become trends. During the 2006 political cycle, it seemed that someone was always being "slammed" by one person or another. As we head into another intense cycle, I will be looking for new verbs and adjectives that come up. One I have heard talked about already is the phrase "thrown under the bus."

It has occurred to me that in addition to the potential wear a repeated word may cause, it is equally possible that the same form of prayer may become a bad habit.

For instance, I don't like long prayers, so I typically get right to the point--for grace before a meal, I might say, "Thank you God." That is all we really mean to say at a mealtime grace, isn't it? I am cautious that if I say more, particularly in a formal setting, I may be praying in such a way that I will be heard by others rather than speaking a prayer to God. The problem is, ever since seminary, I have somehow become the designated grace-sayer at almost every meal I eat. How many times can you pray "Thanks, amen." before some come to believe that you are insincere in your prayer?

Perhaps the real question for me is whether or not being the spiritual leader of a community requires a change in prayer style. I have always been fairly informal in my prayer habits, and yet it seems my role calls for times of more formal prayer. My fear is that if I, an informal prayer, work to hard at offering more formal prayers, do I sound disingenuous, or worse, become disingenuous?

Kissing Bugs

In the last few months, my 21 month old daughter began giving kisses. Both my wife and I have fond memories about those first few kisses. I have written before about my kiss goodbye ritual with my daughter and how it was a special thing that when shared with grandma caused a bit of envy to rise up in me. But today it got a whole lot worse! We spent the morning at the playground, where we saw a small millipede dangling from one of the metal bars. My daughter noticed it with glee, exclaiming "bug!" This is behavior we encourage as we want her to appreciate nature. But then she began blowing kisses to the bug! Kissing a bug?!?!

I thing it is great that she is so compassionate, but how am I supposed to feel special when she kisses me if the kiss is something that she also freely gives to bugs?

Perhaps this the one of the maddening things about grace. God's love is special, and it is wonderful to know that God loves you. But it can be hard to remember that one of the reason God loves us is that God loves even the bugs--the most annoying apparently useless creatures (both bugs and humans) are loved by God; and perhaps that makes us feel less special. But perhaps it is also comforting that in our most honest times of self-reflection, when we see all that would make us unloveable, we can know that God even loves the bugs.

Freedom Vs. Equality

Last night as my wife and I began packing boxes, we caught a little of Stephen Colbert's interview with conservative George Will. In a more serious moment, George Will succinctly described what he sees as the difference between political conservatives and liberals.

The competing values are freedom and equality at all times. Conservatives tend to favor freedom and are willing to accept inequalities of outcome from a free market. Liberals tend to favor equality of outcome and are willing to sacrifice and circumscribe freedom in order to get it.

i think this accurately describes the nature of the debate in our country, but the problem is it assumes that freedom and inequality can coexist or that vice versa, freedom and equality cannot coexist.

All of this ultimately depends on how we define freedom. American independence (freedom) is at its roots freedom from british rule, also perhaps freedom from being ruled by any other nation-state. However, when we occupy Iraq at least in part to "spread freedom" it doesn't occur to us that people living in Iraq may not want to feel as though they are being ruled by us. Nor, in our commitment to free-market economy, do we consider that we are bound to and limited by our need to endlessly grow the economy. And perhaps most troublesome is in our freedom, how often is inequality the result of not being free from sin, the cruelest master of all. Regardless of policy, sin is often what stands in the way. Trickle down economics may make sense academically, but it will never work if the people at the top believe their freedom is to keep as much as they want, making the trickle a very slow drip. Likewise many social programs are in good heart, but may be abused by some who believe their freedom entitles them to work the system rather than use it to get their life together.

For me the question is not a balance between freedom and equality, but one about the source and nature of freedom.

Being the Church in Postmodern Times

On Saturday Morning of the Greater New Jersey Annual Conference, the guest preacher, Rev. Dr. Janet Forbes preached an eloquent, enjoyable, and thought provoking sermon on the need for the church to adapt to the changing cultural landscape. Describing herself as a "postmodern" she went on to describe postmodernity as the current era in which we live--a response to "modernity" leading to a new era which she estimated would begin around 2020 (she named this era, but I don't recall it).

Through a series of effective illustrations, she showed modernity to be a struggle between conservative and liberal, both of which rested on a core precept of modernity--that right belief is important and truth can be known. Likewise she showed postmodernity to be a cultural phenomenon in which authority is questioned, and truth is obscure and unimportant. In postmodernity, there is much access to knowledge and many claims to truth, but what is important is right actions. (I am sure I am not doing justice to her sermon, but this was the gist of a small portion of the sermon).

The call in the end was for the church to become postmodern in its ways -- a speaking the language of the new culture; a kind of modern (or postmodern?) pentecost.

As I reflected on the sermon, a few things struck me. The first was that Christianity is ultimately a claim to a particular truth. What would it mean to preach the gospel (the truth that Jesus came to die that we might have life and have it abundantly) in a postmodern way? The second was that by the time the church could effectively make such a conversion, we will be into the beginning of the next era and we will be trying to shed our postmodern ways. A final reflection was that projecting postmodernity as a path the church needed to travel runs against the postmodern assertion that there are many claims to truth none of which may be valid. The claim for a need to become postmodern is in itself a truth-claim that should be questioned by a true postmodern.

It seams to me that the least desirable moments in church history have been times that we have too closely reflected the cultural moves of the day. We can explain dark and gory depictions of Christianity with the mid-ages. The corruption of church leadership that led to a need for reformation was a time the church too closely resembled the feudal system in Europe. During the early/mid 20th century in America, Christianity became so entwined with American patriotism that it has become difficult for some to distinguish between the two. In short, perhaps the church is at its best when it simply is the church and doesn't worry about adapting to the ebb and flow of the surrounding culture. That isn't to say that the church doesn't engage culture, or that there is no overlap. Only that I don't know that we should be constantly trying to "catch up" only to find ourselves always behind a changing world and increasingly confused about our own identity.

Perhaps postmoderns are disillusioned by the church's claim to truth in part because we have become cloudy about what that claim is as we have tried to keep up with previous shifts in culture. The enduring 2000 year old story never ceases to be relevant unless we make it irrelevant by devaluing it every time there is a sociocultural shift.


(These are not researched thoughts, only my first reflections. Please feel free to correct me on the details of postmodernity or point out flaws in my rough thoughts on history).

Finding our Rest

Tonight as I put my daughter to bed, I realized again how wonderfully peaceful and holy it is to hold her while she sleeps. No matter how difficult a day we might have; no matter how frustrating it might be when she resists falling asleep, once she is at full rest, slumbering in my arms, there is an overwhelming sense of serenity. I find myself wishing she would hurry up and fall asleep but then being in no hurry to lay her down once she is asleep.

Tonight as I experienced this phenomenon, I recalled St. Augustine's reflection, "Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you, O God". I have always thought of this image as a general reference to our need for God--the creature in need of union with its Creator. I have not considered the image in terms of sanctification or holiness. But tonight as I watched my daughter sleep in my arms, she was not only at peace, but she was also, if only temporarily, completely holy. She was not being selfish, she was not testing rules or her parents authority. She was deeply resting in the arms of one whom she trusted.

So often I have considered Christian growth in terms of increasing participation in justice ministries, turning from past sins, and going deeper in prayer and bible study. All of these things are clearly part of Christian growth, but they are all action based ways of thinking. I wonder if we are at times called simply to "sleep" in the arms of God--to "find our rest" in the one who created us.

A couple of years ago, I presided at a funeral of a parishioner. As I met with the family, one of the stories they told me was how his daughter always liked falling asleep in her father's arms. I retold the story at the beginning of the funeral, noting that there are few better places to be than resting in the arms of a loving father. At the end of the service, I referenced the story commenting that the deceased is "now resting in the arms of a Loving Father--and there is no better place to be."

As I reflect now on the holiness of my daughter sleeping in my arms, I wonder if resting in God's loving arms is a sanctifying moment. A moment where all of our sins melt away and God's love wells up for us as we lay limp and docile, fully trusting that the one who holds us will keep us from falling.

Giving In

I am preaching at my church this memorial day weekend--a challenge, which I readily accept. It is a challenge, because, while I very much enjoy patriotic music, I do not think the church is the best place for it. Patriotic music is written very much in praise of our country or the people who have served it so sacrificially and it is very powerful music. So powerful, in fact, that it can override our praise of Christ.

I plan to reference memorial day in a very positive fashion this Sunday, but I decided against patriotic hymns. I received a note from the choir director this morning reminding me that it was Memorial day and I might want to include patriotic music; though the choice was mine to make. I looked at the bulletin and noticed that each of the prelude pieces were patriotic, as was the introit, the anthem, and the recessional. I figured we were covered and sent a note back that we would keep the hymns as I had originally chosen. This evening at choir practice, this became a big issue. So this evening, I received a call from my Senior Pastor pleading with me, "after you leave, I still need to have a relationship with my choir." After some conversation, I decided to honor his request--"America the Beautiful" it is. For the sake of the flow of worship, it will be the first hymn--that's right, for fellow liturgy followers, that is the place we typically sing a hymn in praise of Christ. I began looking at the words for America the Beautiful to review what exactly we will be singing. The first half of each verse is a praise of something American, the people who serve America, etc. The second half is a brief prayer to God on behalf of America. I can appreciate the second half of each verse, but I remain troubled that in the place where we typically sing praise to Christ, we instead sing praise to America. Nothing against America--I love this place in many many ways--It just isn't Christ.

In a sense, I feel like I am giving in--compromising. But I hope I am doing so without compromising my integrity.