If Were Up to Me ...

From a bleak news week, there's a sign of hope from the campaign trail -- usually the last place one looks for such signs. But, in the aftermath of the Blacksburg shootings, Obama gets it right. It's the culture of violence. Still, if were up to me ...

• Maybe it's the bullets, maybe it's the real crooks
• Maybe it's the drugs, maybe it's the parents
• Maybe it's the colors everybody's wearin
• Maybe it's the President, maybe it's the last one
• Maybe it's the one before that, what he done
• Maybe it's the high schools, maybe it's the teachers
• Maybe it's the tattooed children in the bleachers
• Maybe it's the Bible, maybe it's the lack
• Maybe it's the music, maybe it's the crack
• Maybe it's the hairdos, maybe it's the TV
• Maybe it's the cigarettes, maybe it's the family
• Maybe it's the fast food, maybe it's the news
• Maybe it's divorce, maybe it's abuse
• Maybe it's the lawyers, maybe it's the prisons
• Maybe it's the Senators, maybe it's the system
• Maybe it's the fathers, maybe it's the sons
• Maybe it's the sisters, maybe it's the moms
• Maybe it's the radio, maybe it's road rage
• Maybe El Nino, or UV rays
• Maybe it's the army, maybe it's the liquor
• Maybe it's the papers, maybe the militia
• Maybe it's the athletes, maybe it's the ads
• Maybe it's the sports fans, maybe it's a fad
• Maybe it's the magazines, maybe it's the internet
• Maybe it's the lottery, maybe it's the immigrants
• Maybe it's taxes, big business
• Maybe it's the KKK and the skinheads
• Maybe it's the communists, maybe it's the Catholics
• Maybe it's the hippies, maybe it's the addicts
• Maybe it's the art, maybe it's the sex
• Maybe it's the homeless, maybe it's the banks
• Maybe it's the clearcut, maybe it's the ozone
• Maybe it's the chemicals, maybe it's the car phones
• Maybe it's the fertilizer, maybe it's the nose rings
• Maybe it's the end, but I know one thing.
• If it were up to me, I'd take away the guns.
• 
  
• If It Were Up to Me
• Words and Lyrics by:
• Cheryl Wheeler
• (P) October 1, 1997. Penrod And Higgins Music /Amachrist Music. ACF Music Group

A Balm

Six years ago I preached a sermon to a congregation in Pittsburgh two days after one of its members killed five people in one of the worst rampage killings in that area's history. I dug those words up today after reading the Post's stories about the shootings at Virginia Tech this week.

A Balm in Gilead

I have had the feeling several times this weekend that we were reliving Easter weekend – that we were going through Good Friday all over again, all the while longing for this morning to celebrate resurrection. And so, I want to weave a couple of passages of scripture this morning, beginning with these words, from Mark’s gospel:

When it was noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. At three o’clock Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” When some of the bystanders heard it, they said, “Listen, he is calling for Elijah.” And someone ran, filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.” Then Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.”

News like Friday’s spreads quickly. Friday evening my brother-in-law called from Chicago. He’d heard the news. He was, naturally, shocked to hear that the person being held in connection with the shootings is a member of our church. In the conversation, Cheryl asked him, “so, what would Jesus say if a member of his congregation did this?” “Whoops?” said John.

I smiled at his ever-quick wit, but it occurred to me that, in fact, Jesus had such an experience. Judas was a beloved follower and his betrayal led to Jesus’ suffering and death. So, what did Jesus say? As he hung on the cross in agony, he said, “Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they’re doing.”

But what can we say, this morning, that might bring some of the healing that Jesus, even in death, was bringing to the world with his words.

Words. Words. Words. Sometimes they can be enough, but not today – not in the face of this. And yet, words are all we have. We can search the scriptures for words and find some comfort there, but we cannot use them to undo the horrible things that have been done. Indeed, mere words will not prevent such things from happening again.

We were talking with our children Friday evening about the shootings and Martin, our six-year-old, said, “I wish we could just rewind this day and start it over again.”

We held him close and said we wished the same thing. He expressed the wish of everyone in the community, I’m sure. But we can’t go back, so this morning we seek the strength to go forward. And in this moment, many of us seek answers to the simple question, “why?”

The plain and simple truth is, we may never be able to answer that question. In the aftermath of the mass shootings here and in Utah Thursday evening, we are already hearing some of the usual suspects trotted out:

· A media culture saturated in violence. Games, music and so-called entertainment that at the same time glorify and sanitize violence.
· A society awash in guns and state and federal lawmakers too timid and tepid to respond with effective restrictions.
· A culture that stigmatizes mental illness to the extent that families still do not feel comfortable “coming out” and seeking broad-based community support for themselves and their loved ones.

These issues are real and important, but this morning is not the time to speak to them. Today is not the day to say what we stand against, rather, it is time to say what we stand for – to state clearly what we believe about the God we worship this morning.

We believe in the God who created us, who sustains us, and who redeems us.

Such a God is not the author of our pain. God did not will these shootings. Indeed, the first heart broken Friday afternoon was the oft-broken heart of God. The Bible tells us that Jesus wept at the death of a friend. Brothers and sisters, Jesus wept again Friday afternoon. Jesus wept at the Gordon’s home. Jesus wept at the temples. Jesus wept at the Indian grocery store. Jesus wept at the Chinese restaurant. Jesus wept at the karate center. And Jesus wept at the Baumhammers’s home as well.

God reigns over all of history. Yes. God is working still in the world to redeem history. Yes. And we trust that even in the midst of our worst brokenness, God can work again to redeem us and to make us whole.

God created the world and called it “good.” God created human beings and called us “good,” as well. And so you and I, we bear within us the image of God. We are children of God. Richard Baumhammers is a child of God, as well. But he is deeply scarred. And each of us also bears scars. We suffer. We are broken. And in our brokenness, we are capable of horrific acts of terror and evil.

God does not call us to such an end. God does not will us to do such deeds. God does not will our suffering and brokenness. God does not will anyone to suffer a mind so broken that it leads one to lash out in senseless, violent spasms. God did not will Richard Baumhammers to kill five people Friday afternoon.

Where was God, then, in the midst of this violence? In the short story Night, Elie Wiesel’s holocaust memoir, he recounts the hanging of a small child in Auschwitz. The Nazi guards forced the prisoners to line up and watch the execution, and as the child was hanged, one of the prisoners asked, “where is God? Where is God, now?” Wiesel writes, “And I heard a voice within me answer him: ‘Where is He? Here He is – He is hanging here on this gallows.’”

God with us. Emmanuel. That is the name we call the God we worship. Even in the midst of our worst suffering, in the middle of our greatest fear, God is with us. There is a balm in Gilead. God is there, hanging on the gallows.

But the story does not end with God hanging on the gallows. We know that God has created us. We know that God is with us. The prophet Isaiah puts is this way: “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.” We know that God sustains us even as we walk through the valley of the shadow of death.

But the story does not end in the shadows. God redeems us. We are a resurrection people. We are the people of Easter. Hear the word of the Lord from the gospel of Luke:

“But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.”

He is risen. Risen indeed.

Right now, on this second Sunday of Easter, it’s extremely difficult for many families in our community to see the bright sun of Easter in the midst of the darkness of last Friday. But the lesson of that weekend 2,000 years ago is this: God is at work in the world, reconciling the world to God’s self through the love of Jesus Christ. God is at work in the world redeeming history. Out of the darkness of Good Friday, God brought forth the light of Easter Sunday. There is a balm in Gilead.

I do not pretend to know why the events of Friday occurred. And I do not know today what may come in the way of redemption, forgiveness and reconciliation in our community. I do not know how God will work with God’s people here to bring light into this darkness.

But I do know God in Jesus Christ. I know the God who loves us and forgives us. I know the God who created us, who sustains us, and who redeems us. I do know, there is a balm in Gilead.

You Can't Murder Murder

Yesterday I posted a quote from Dr. King on love and justice. I put that up first thing in the morning, having looked it up for the local Network of Spiritual Progressives group that met the evening before.
The mass shootings at Virginia Tech had not taken place when I posted the quote. In light of that eruption of violence, the broader context of King's Where Do We Go from Here? is crucial. In that speech, King said:
I'm concerned about a better world. I'm concerned about justice; I'm concerned about brotherhood; I'm concerned about truth. And when one is concerned about that, he can never advocate violence. For through violence you may murder a murderer, but you can't murder murder. Through violence you may murder a liar, but you can't establish truth. Through violence you may murder a hater, but you can't murder hate through violence. Darkness cannot put out darkness; only light can do that.
The broader context of violence in the age of terror will not be transformed unless and until we take these words to heart.
And we will not open our hearts to these words until we open our minds to the reality of violence in our midst -- the culture of violence, to the myth of redemptive violence, to the icons of violence everywhere in our popular culture, to the violence of American foreign policy, to the money spent and made on weapons both large and small at every level of the culture.
John Nichols posted some compelling words today, with an invitation to watch Bowling for Columbine. If you haven't seen it, it's worth the time -- especially just now. (By the way, anyone locally interested in seeing it, let me know. We own a copy.)

Worth Recalling at this point ...

Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love.
-- MLK

more theocrats

Had an interesting conversation today touching on the dangers of theocracy, and then ran across this from Paul Krugman in today's Times. Some of the most compelling current writing on the dangers of the so-called Christian Right comes from Chris Hedges, whose most recent work, American Fascists, recounts the frightening tale of the the rise and power of the Falwells and Robertsons and the next wave. One might surmise that the message is "be afraid, be very afraid." I'd prefer to think otherwise: be organized, be very organized.
Speaking of which, the Network of Spiritual Progressives in Northern Virginia is meeting at Clarendon this Sunday evening at 7:00. Hope to see you there.

The Theological Declaration of Barmen

With thanks, again, to Peg True!
With the Barmen Declaration we move from Reformation Confessions to Contemporary Declarations in The Book of Confessions. This Declaration was written in 1934 by representatives from eighteen German provincial churches – Lutheran, Reformed, and United (Lutheran and Reformed). They met in the industrial city of Barmen-Wuppertal as the First Confessing Synod of the German Evangelical Church. They were protesting interference in the life of the churches by the Nazi government and the resulting errors they saw in the Nazi-inspired “German Christian” movement. These brave church leaders would not vow their allegiance to Hitler nor would they continue to pastor in churches where Jesus Christ was less important than the current government. So they formed Confessing Churches which kept Christian faith at the center and risked their lives to remain true to their faith.
Authored principally by Karl Barth, the declaration is a clarification or explanation of the meaning of the older confessions and is applied to a concrete evil that threatened Christians in 1934. The action of the delegates at Barmen proved to be so right in their time, and so useful as a warning for Christians at all times, that it is included in our Book of Confessions. Their style of clarifying faith in the face of current problems in church and society served as a model to American Presbyterians in the writing of the Confession of 1967.
Two essential tenets, or beliefs, of the Reformed Faith are discussed in The Barmen Declaration. The first is the sin of idolatry. Reformed Christians believe that every person can know God, for that knowledge is in us. When we choose not to acknowledge God we create idols. In the Barmen Declaration the primary idolatry is giving ultimate loyalty to any idea, person, institution or purpose. Using the litany beginning, “We reject the false doctrine” they name the error of the “German Christians.” They spoke out against the idolatry of “prevailing ideological and political convictions; special leaders vested with ruling powers.
The second belief stated is the Lordship of Jesus Christ, proclaimed to be the “one Word, or revelation, of God, to the church and to the world. They also affirmed that Jesus Christ “is God’s assurance of the forgiveness of all our sins.
One of the most memorable figures in the struggle of the Confessing Church against Hitler was Pastor Martin Niemoeller who spent seven years in concentration camps. (Click to see a photo of his cell.) After the war he shared the guilt of the German people with these famous words:
"In Germany they came first for the communists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t
Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade
unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up because I was a
Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up."
That’s what the Barmen Declaration says to us today! As Christians we must keep Christ at the center of our lives and be an active member of our society assuring that all people can live together in freedom and peace.

Check it out!

Noah Budin. Metaphor.

It’s not often that one gets to witness firsthand an artist come into full flower. Those who have followed the performing and recording career of Noah Budin have experienced this growth and blossom over the decade since the first seeds were sown in his joyous debut CD, Hallelujah Land, in 1997. With the release of Metaphor this spring we hear an artist in full.

If all language about God is metaphorical, all of Metaphor is about God. Indeed, at their best, Budin’s songs sound like a deep correspondence between the divine and the ones imprinted with the divine image. Yet Budin manages this without ever sounding in any way traditionally “religious.” This is, indeed, music for those who are deeply spiritual without necessarily being religious.

The disc opens with the powerful percussion of “Metaphor.” The liner notes suggest that the title track emerged from a song-writing workshop whose participants were asked to develop metaphors for God, and the song weaves them together to powerful effect. But the more I listened to the song, the more I began to imagine it as a love letter from the creator to a creation that has forgotten how to recognize the divine in its midst. “I am that I am that I am and will be,” perhaps God sings to us, “but you are everything to me.”

If “Metaphor” is the creator singing to creation, the conversation continues in “Blessing,” a gentle prayer for grace to cover the generations as their circles dance to the divine music of creation. Full disclosure: I know several of the generations of the artist’s family including the spirit-filled youngest daughter who served, in part, as the spark for “Haruach.” That personal relationship has, if anything, left me a less patient listener longing for the fullness of the music to emerge from the promise of Hallelujah Land. It does so in the rich arrangements of Metaphor, and certainly in this song of spirit that highlights the keyboard work of Edward Ridley, Jr. and a fine sax riff from Norm Tischler.

Budin has surrounded himself with excellent musicians throughout this recording, and they are nowhere more evident than on “Let it Burn,” which must be the rockingest Hanukkah song ever recorded. I’ll confess, that as a Protestant pastor I don’t have a deep knowledge of the range of comparable holiday songs, but as one who grew up with the rock soundtrack of America in the 1970s, I promise you that Sam Getz’s screaming guitar more than holds its own while Budin’s voice rocks out strong and clear in a song that connects the candles with the fires of justice and promises to let it burn.

While many of the images used in the songs come directly from Budin’s Jewish roots, the music never falls into religious cliché. The beautifully turned “Reason to Believe” draws from a range of human relationships and natural wonders to trace the roots of faith: “It’s the lightning in the sky/your perfect smile your Godly eyes.”

The range of musical styles and influences is almost as wide as the range of faith influences. From the traditional folks roots of the raucous “Carry That Rock,” to the gospel sounds of “Take Me Back,” Metaphor displays a musical virtuosity rare in our genre-driven age. You may ask, “What’s a Jewish singer-songwriter doing joining voices with The Prayer Warriors on a gospel song?” Well, this is the same artist who introduced the world to accapella “Jew-wop” on Hallelujah Land, and under the production hand of his older brother, David, the various musical threads weave together seamlessly.

The disc closes with a final weave: the Jewish experience of slavery and exodus hope with the African-American experience. Borrowing from Rabbi Heschel’s memorable insistence that his “feet were praying” as he marched with Dr. King, the last track, “Every Step a Prayer,” reminds us that “it’s holy ground we walk upon/this journey that we share/in every breath, a miracle/and every step a prayer.”

While I leave the judgment of the miraculous to others, every breath of Metaphor is certainly a prayer, and the totality bears repeated listening.

Westminster and Catechisms, 1647

Thanks to the Rev. Peg True for this post: The Westminster Confession of Faith and the Westminster Larger and Shorter Catechisms are the best known of the Reformation era creeds among Presbyterians. For over three centuries they were the sole doctrinal standards of British and American Presbyterianism, until it was included in “The Book of Confessions” that was created in 1967 by American Presbyterians.

The Westminster Assembly, so named since it met at Westminster Abby, was appointed by Parliament to work on a confession that would be agreeable to the many ideologies that existed in England at that time. Members included representatives from the Episcopalians, Congregationalists, Puritans and Presbyterians from Scotland. It was a time of great unrest between the Church of England and the Puritans who were reformed and wanted a representative form of government as described in the Bible. The Confession was passed by parliament and the Larger and Shorter Catechisms were developed to instruct adults and children in what the Westminster Confession taught.

One of the most important beliefs outlined in this confession is the sovereignty of God. In our scientific times we are quick to dismiss the idea that God causes everything that happens but that is not what the Divines were saying. The meaning they gave to the sovereignty of God is that we are created in relationship with the living God. Reformed theology presented here says we glorify God by listening to what God asks of us in Scripture and using the many gifts and talents we are given in creative activity. By living as we are called we are free to be actively engaged in the world as we live out our faith. The first question in the shorter Catechism is, “What is the chief end of humans? And the response is, “The chief end of humans is to glorify God and enjoy God forever.”

Interpretation of Scripture is another part of the Confession that is relevant today. There are seven rules of biblical interpretation given in The Westminster Confession that were used in the Presbyterian Church USA document “Presbyterian Understanding and Use of Holy Scripture” written twenty years ago. This confession continues to influence our lives and define our history as a denomination. While it contains some things we may not choose to believe it gives us a firm foundation for believing we are children of a God who loves us and walks with us through life.

Walking with the Wind

I met someone this week who is working on a documentary film about John Lewis, one of my personal heroes. A few years back, when I read his memoir, I wrote this in response:

Walking With the Wind

We are broken vessels, nothing more than jars of clay

But the light that shines within us, shone from the making day.

Seek the light within you, hold others in it too

Even when they turn their backs, hold on to what is true

It’s a long way to the promised land. We’re gonna walk it hand in hand.

Sing the songs of freedom friend. Stand up tall we will not bend.

We’re gonna keep on walking with the wind.

We’ll walk the road before us; we may stumble, we may fall.

There’s another hand to pick us up when we follow freedom’s call.

The road to freedom winds on down through valleys of despair.

Nashville, Selma, Birmingham: our footsteps echo there.

It’s a long way to the promised land. We’re gonna walk it hand in hand.

Sing the songs of freedom friend. Stand up tall we will not bend.

We’re gonna keep on walking with the wind.

With the steps of kings and framers and the working of their hands

The seeds of freedom have been sown so we can take our stand.

The arc of justice is mighty long, but it bends toward holy ground.

And when we do the work of love, it bends the whole world round.

It’s a long way to the promised land. We’re gonna walk it hand in hand.

Sing the songs of freedom friend. Stand up tall we will not bend.

Keep on walking straight and proud; keep on singing strong and loud.

We’re gonna keep on walking now; we’re gonna keep on talking now.

We’re gonna keep on walking with the wind.

Q & A, part II

Q: What's the Heidelberg Catechism?
A: The 1563 answer to that famous conundrum, "it all depends on what the meaning of is is."
Well, perhaps not exactly. The Heidelberg Catechism developed in the midst of the splintering of the early Protestant movement between its Lutheran, Zwinglian and Calvinist branches. While the breakup of the Protestant movement can be traced along geopolitical lines in the devolution of the Holy Roman Empire, it also divided theologically. Heidelberg reflects that split, particularly over the meaning of the sacrament of communion.
What did Jesus mean when he said, at the Last Supper, "this is my body"? Luther interpreted the words literally and thus argued that Christ is literally present in the bread of communion. Zwingli understood it metaphorically arguing that Jesus could not have meant this bread is literally my body when he was, in fact, bodily present in the room. Calvin took a third tack, arguing that Christ is spiritually present in the elements of communion. That classic Reformed perspective is reflected in the liturgy of our time when the officiant says "set aside these common elements for a sacred purpose."
On such distinctions churches split and empires rise or fall.
In addition to articulating a Reformed sacramental theology, Heidelberg stresses the essential Reformed commitment to stewardship as a way of living. We are saved, the catechism stresses, in order to serve the purposes of God in the world. As such, how we use the resources at our disposal is a reflection of God at work in our lives.
Here's a taste of the catechism, which opens with this question and response:

Q. 1. What is your only comfort, in life and in death?

A. That I belong--body and soul, in life and in death--not to myself but to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ, who at the cost of his own blood has fully paid for all my sins and has completely freed me from the dominion of the devil; that he protects me so well that without the will of my Father in heaven not a hair can fall from my head; indeed, that everything must fit his purpose for my salvation. Therefore, by his Holy Spirit, he also assures me of eternal life, and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.

Q & A, part 1

Q: What's a catechism?
A: Well, according to Answers.com,
cat·e·chism (kăt'ĭ-kĭz'əm)
n.

1. A book giving a brief summary of the basic principles of Christianity in question-and-answer form.
2. A manual giving basic instruction in a subject, usually by rote or repetition.
3. A body of fundamental principles or beliefs, especially when accepted uncritically: “the core of the catechism of the antinuclear left, the notion that the threat to peace is technological, not political” (George F. Will).
4. A close questioning or examination, as of a political figure.

Hope and the News

Last Friday I walked in procession with 3,000 or so folks from 48 states gathered in DC to witness for peace. It was cold, snowy and windy as we walked three miles from the National Cathedral to the White House. As we walked we sang songs -- Amazing Grace, Down by the Riverside, O Beautiful for Spacious Skies.
I was with a friend who remembered verse two:
O beautiful for pilgrim feet, whose stern, impassioned stress
a thoroughfare for freedom beat across the wilderness
America! America! God mend thine every flaw,
confirm thy soul in self control, thy liberty in law.
I don't think they sing that verse in the White House these days, where they acknowledge no flaws yet flout many laws as it suits them.
As is so often that case, the paper of record hereabouts failed in its coverage of the event. Oh, sure, the Post got most of the facts right in its story. But facts are not the same thing as truth.
For the paper to have told the truth, it would have had to report that Jim Wallis spoke truth to power or that the faithful gave a rousing ovation to the offering call or that the pulpit at Ebenezer Baptist in Atlanta is filled by a worthy successor to Dr. King, and continues to be a beacon of hope. Don't believe me; check the video of the service at the Cathedral's web site.
To get it right, at the very least, the Post would need to have published a photo like the one here, from the Cathedral's web site, rather than the scary looking tattooed man who made a striking photo, to be sure, of an easily dismissed peace movement.

Not Alone

The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice. Here's another sign of the bending from recent days.
And here's a kids' anthem to go along with the notion:

Bending the Arc

In my tribe we got lots of different faces

In my tribe people come from different places

In my tribe we got lots of different races

In my tribe we’re bending the arc with love

In my tribe inspiration fills our lungs

In my tribe every banner will be hung

In my tribe we’re singing songs of every tongue

In my tribe we’re bending the arc with love

In my tribe young and old will join the band

In my tribe straight and gay walk hand in hand

In my tribe all the people share the land

In my tribe we’re bending the arc with love

In my tribe we got joy and pain and sorrow

In my tribe we see a vision for tomorrow

In my tribe we’ve got love enough to share and some to borrow

In my tribe we’re bending the arc with love

Scots

The Scots Confession, written in 1560 by John Knox and five other Scots reformers, is the oldest English language Reformation confession. Knox and his friends worked almost literally under the gun, as their work put words to a vision of ecclesiastic and political unity in a Scotland emerging from a long and bloody fight for independence from both the Roman Catholic French and the Protestant monarchy of England.
While the political intrigue of a Europe emerging from the Middle Ages into early modernity was shaped by the particular institutions and individuals of the time, the broad social, political, economic and intellectual tumult bears some striking parallels to our own age. New communications technologies (the printing press), rapidly expanding trade (flowing forth from Columbus' exploration of the New World), an emerging economic order of capitalism, and the first stirrings of democratic political yearnings (though still two centuries away from the American Revolution) marked the age much as the emergence of the internet, global trade, and post-colonial political yearnings continue to mark our age.
So, in the midst of that world-altering change what did the fathers of Presbyterianism choose to focus on? A church marked by right preaching of the word, right observation of the sacraments, and discipline in ecclesiastical order. Is it any wonder that we Presbyterians are "decent and in order in all things"?
The Scots Confession is a clarion call to commitment to the church (the Kirk, the word Knox chose as closest to the New Testament Greek kyriakon), and its passion is captured in what stand as, perhaps, is most well known words:
"The notes of the true Kirk, therefore, we believe, confess, and avow to be: first, the true preaching of the Word of God, in which God has revealed himself to us, as the writings of the prophets and apostles declare; secondly, the right administration of the sacraments of Christ Jesus, with which must be associated the Word and promise of God to seal and confirm them in our hearts; and lastly, ecclesiastical discipline uprightly ministered, as God's Word prescribes, whereby vice is repressed and virtue nourished. Then wherever these notes are seen and continue for any time, be the number complete or not, there, beyond any doubt, is the true Kirk of Christ, who, according to his promise, is in its midst. "
Against the tumult of the age, the Reformers called the faithful to live in fidelity to the true Kirk. In our age, the question is similar: what are the marks of the church today? What does it mean to be authentically the church of Jesus Christ in the post modern world? How do we confess our faith now? What can the Reformers teach us, who would be reformers still?

Lent

"The purpose of Lent is not only expiation, to satisfy the divine justice, but above all a preparation to rejoice in God's love. And this preparation consists in receiving the gift of God's mercy - a gift which we receive in so far as we open our hearts to it, casting out what cannot remain in the same room with mercy.

Now one of the things we must cast out first of all is fear. Fear narrows the little entrance of our heart. It shrinks up our capacity to love. It freezes up our power to give ourselves. If we were terrified of God as an inexorable judge, we would not confidently await God's mercy, or approach God trustfully in prayer. Our peace, our joy in Lent are a guarantee of grace."

- Thomas Merton, in "Seasons of Celebration"

Well, it's a good thing, too, because Lenten commitments are no easier to keep than New Year's resolutions. Thus, having promised myself that I would keep to the practice of this journal/blog daily during Lent I find the entrance to my own heart narrowed by the fear of not getting things done. So, under an increasing pile of "to-dos" the blogging slides by. But this day will get a double dose.

Nicene

The oldest of the Christian creeds, the Nicene, developed over the course of more than 100 years from its beginnings at the Council of Nicaea in 325 to its adoption as a definitive statement of Christian faith by the Council of Chalcedon in 451. It is the most widely ecumenical statement of faith in all of Christianity, being accepted by Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox and much of the Protestant world.
As with many of the creeds and confessions of the church, the Nicene arose from conflict. Constantine had unified an empire but not a church when he called together more than 300 bishops to meet in Nicaea and settle their theological differences.
The church was divided theologically over a fundamental question concerning the nature of God and the divinity of Christ. Current debate in the Presbyterian church over trinitarian language suggests that the debate remains unsettled some 1,700 years on. The prinicple divide in the fourth century concerned the "substance" of God, and reflected a growing fascination with Aristotle's philosophical language of sustance and word, or ousios and logos -- Greek ideas that far outstrip the English translations. The wording of the creed -- Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father -- reflects the controversy of the time, much of which centered on the positions of a priest named Arius -- for whom a heresy was named! My kind of guy.
The creed remains in use. I'm interested in what its language means to you. What is helpful? What creates stumbling blocks?

Enough

We're doing a Lenten series in our house called "Enough." A group of us is coming together once a week to talk about what it means to live with enough. This evening one of the things we did together was imagine a "perfect day." We went around the group sharing aspects of a perfect day. There were common themes: friends, family, creation, good food and naps. Good conversations and good work were common, as well. I noticed some things that no one included: watching TV, shopping, expensive spas. In fact, the perfect day was remarkably free of consumer culture. So: what's in your perfect day?

Ethics and Doctrines

Just as I am preparing to put up the next post on the confessions, I run across this quote:

"I once took a count of what sort of things Jesus thought important enough to confront people about in the gospel of Luke. Nine times Jesus confronted people for not showing love in their actions. Nine times he confronted folks for their greed and hoarding, which get in the way of single-minded service toward God and loving action toward the needy. Nine times Jesus confronted people for having divided loyalties, rather than serving God alone. Eight times he confronted people for showing by their actions that they did not recognize his authority. Eight times he confronted people who were seeking places of honor and reputation, and urged instead the way of servant-like humility.

"Seven times he emphasized that the crucial question is whether we actually do what he teaches, versus the hypocrisy of claiming to be on the side of righteousness while not doing God's will. Seven times he called people explicitly to repent, to take the log out of our own eye, to stop being self-righteously critical of others and insisting on our own way, and instead to be more humble and loving toward him and toward others.

"It is dramatically striking how Jesus' confrontations, and his pronouncing woe, all had to do with ethics. By contrast, he never confronted people about their doctrines. How far some of us have drifted from the way of Jesus!"- Glen H. Stassen, Incarnating Ethics

Discerning?

I’ve been doing a lot of work on discernment lately, right up to and including laying groundwork for creating a discernment center. Then I ran across an article suggesting that discernment is impossible. The author argued that knowing the mind of God is, in principle, not possible for human beings so, therefore, the whole enterprise of discernment is doomed to failure before it ever begins.

Is the great I Am, a God whose very name surrounds the Holy One in sacred mystery, essentially unknowable? Does the truth that Isaiah speaks, that God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, nor are our ways God’s ways (Is. 55:8), mean in principle that we cannot discern the will of God? Can we never know God’s ways, or God’s will for our way?

I believe we can. What’s more, I believe that our primary task is to seek this truth and pursue it with all the energy, imagination and passion we have to give it.

After all, the same Isaiah assures us that God does not speak in secret, in a land of darkness (Is. 45:19). And, while we may not be able to boast with certainty about God’s will with respect to every strategy we pursue, scripture is pretty clear about the directions we ought to follow.

What does the Lord require of us? Micah is pretty confident of his discernment of God’s will around that question: do justice, love kindly, walk humbly with our God.

Micah’s words form our listening tube for the work of discernment, our screen for sifting, our framework for understanding. In other words, do the work of discernment on the basis of doing justice, loving tenderly — as the Jerusalem Bible translates it — and walking humbly with God.

We know, from the witness of scripture and from the history of people of faith like Bonhoeffer and King, that God calls us to the work of justice. So, as we listen for God’s call and claim on the particulars of our own lives — where should I work, where should I spend my money, where should I spend my time — we listen with attention to issues of justice that are before us.

Walter Breuggemann says the Biblical definition of justice amounts to this: sorting out what belongs to whom, and returning it to them. With respect to the question of call, what’s at stake is simply this: our lives belong to God, just discernment is about returning those lives to God.

We Need This

The Christian Peace Witness is drawing closer. March 16. Please come if you can. The congress needs to hear from each of us ... from all of us. We need to hear from each other. We need to know that we are not alone. We need to light candles in the darkness and pray for peace. We need to hold hands and then let go to reach out further. We need peace.