A Thought for August 13

August 13, 1727, Berthelsdorf, Germany, the Renewed Moravian Church was born. The Spirit descended in the midst of Holy Communion and they were changed. The people responded at the end of the day,

"We learned to love!" 



The Moravian motto has been

In essentials, unity;
In non-essentials, liberty;
In all things, love.

 Perhaps then, LOVE is the #1 essential? After all, God IS love and we remember that God so LOVED the world... Yet, too often, we hate and divide. We judge, blame, point fingers, seek to build ourselves at the expense of others.

How then, in an age of division, can we again learn what it means to love? Ah, but love attracts less attention than attacking. No one gets hurt, no great headlines can be written, no "Film at 11:00!" because love is much deeper. Everyone gets hurt when we hate- and it makes for good ratings.

How do we love when all around us there are calls to yell, get angry, shake the hateful fist, retaliate?

How do we stand for the work of the Holy Spirit when the Spirit and the Word have been undermined by a culture of division where those who are different are an enemy?

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created. And You shall renew the face of the earth.

O, God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy His consolations, Through Christ Our Lord, Amen.

Lenten Journey- Holy Week Monday- Illumination

Judging others makes us blind, whereas love is illuminating. By judging others we blind ourselves to our own evil and to the grace which others are just as entitled to as we are.
― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship

Love is illumination. Light.

To be loved by God is to allow light to grow within me.

To see, I need light. Blindness keeps the light from getting through.

But blindness can be self-inflicted by judging others and ignoring my own shortcomings.

As I get ready for the life- and world-shattering events of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, I am reminded today to be honest and open - with myself; to refrain from judgement and instead see an honest picture of who I am.

I must allow the light of the Spirit to shine on me and in me so I can see and grow.

Again I ask the question:

• How do I participate in the evil and injustice I see around me?

And then I must ask:

• How does that evil and injustice keep me from being the spiritual follower God wants me to be?

Lord, I believe.
Help my unbelief.

Lenten Journey- Maundy Thursday- Obedience

One act of obedience is worth a hundred sermons.
 -Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Do this!
Wash each others’ feet.

Do this!
Break the bread and share it.

Do this!
Drink from the same cup as Jesus.

Do this!
Remember Jesus.

Just do it!
It makes quite a witness.

Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me from your presence or
take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation and
grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

2nd Sunday of Easter

The Spirit Catcher

Sitting here watching people fly kites on the beach the other day, the question arose, "Why do people like flying kites?" After all, once you get the kite up in the air, there's nothing to do but hold on and watch. Well, at least try to hold on and watch.

Some people even tie a number of kites along the string with the big one at the end going higher with the others floating along behind.

Yes, and we observers become entranced by it also. It is almost hypnotizing to sit on my balcony or even on the beach and watch the kites. I keep trying to get good pictures and even video of them flying. Others stand and watch as well.

It is not just on a beach, either. Sure there may be more breeze or wind there, but find a large enough park area anywhere and you will, on a windy day, often see kites.

A couple things come to mind. First is the desire to harness the power of the wind. There is a sense of accomplishment when that kite is up there with the wind moving it, holding it aloft. We humans want to harness whatever energy, whatever source of power we can find. Letting the kite catch it for us is a good substitute.

Second, to catch the wind is to do the impossible. The 60s song by Donovan laments that he might as well try and catch the wind as have his love fulfilled.

When rain has hung the leaves with tears
I want you near to kill my fears
To help me to leave all my blues behind

For standin' in your heart
Is where I want to be and long to be
Ah, but I may as well try and catch the wind

So there, in the air at the other end of that string- we have done the impossible. Maybe, just maybe the other impossible things of life could happen, too!

Third, perhaps Dylan captures the paradox, the ambiguity, of the wind in those haunting lyrics of his:

How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
How many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?

How many times must the cannonballs fly
Before they're forever banned?
The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind
The answer is blowing in the wind

In typical Dylanesque fashion you can read that in at least two ways. One would be the same as Donovan's words- the answer is not to be found. It is out there in the wind and only time will tell. There can be a fatalistic turn in those words. Why bother? Why even try? We are doomed.

Or, and the one my generation heard in Dylan's prophetic voice was one of hope. There is an answer. It is out there. Listen. Pay attention. The answer is blowing in the wind.

Back in the early 70s I was a counselor at a church summer camp for the first time. One of our leaders had brought kites to use as part of the program. He built on the background in both Hebrew and Greek for the words we translate in the Bible into Spirit. They are the words for breath, and wind. In Genesis the "wind" of the "breath" of God moved across the deep and creation began. The holy "breath," "Spirit" of God came down and landed on Jesus, anointing him as the Messiah.

Ever since then I never see a kite flying without remembering the connection between wind, breath, and spirit. The kite becomes a spirit catcher, picked up by the movement of the air and carried to new heights. It has a tether to the earth, otherwise it is lost and has no possible rhyme or reason.

I continue to choose the hopeful, prophetic words of Bob Dylan. They echo what I read in Scripture. They affirm what I have
personally experienced countless times in my own life. You cannot see the Spirit or the wind. But you can connect with them. You can allow yourself to be captured by the movement that is there, while remaining connected to others, to community and family, and to the presence of the Holy, what we may often call God, in our midst.

The answer is blowing in the wind.

Listen.

A Quote For Our Days

Pentecost (50): Like Tongues of Fire

Toward Pentecost (49): From on High

Lent Picture A Day (44): Breath

Third Sunday in Advent: Believing While Waiting and Not Knowing You're Waiting

In a discussion about faith, religion, spirituality and the like the other evening a moment of insight came to me.

I have never been an agnostic.

Even when I didn't know what I believed, or how it all fit together; even when I was unchurched, semi-churched, irreligious or non-religious, I never doubted the existence of "God." My understanding of "God" has undergone more than my share of transitions, revisions, revolutions and revelations. The breadth and depth of my understanding of God has changed drastically over the years and I know far, far, FAR less about God today than when I was younger. At the same time I am far, far, FAR more convinced of God's presence, grace, love and all those other words I have been posting daily in my picture devotional.

What I came to think about in that discussion on Friday evening was "waiting," which is what Advent is all about. Waiting- and being accepting of where I am at in any given moment of my faith journey. Pilgrimage is how I name it- my movement through my days seeking, in each day, the signs and grace of God. Waiting is not "inaction," which is how we often think of it. Waiting is actively moving forward in the direction of grace. Waiting is knowing that if I am honest I can admit that I don't know all that I need to know.

Waiting is finally realizing that if I ever get to the point where I really, totally, completely understand and can explain God- I have gone off the path- or I have died. Even then I have a hunch that I won't know it all or have all the answers- they just won't  matter any more.

So perhaps I should stop worrying about finding "the answers" now and instead learn to live in the presence and the grace. Yes, we are in the Advent season when waiting is uplifted. But in the waiting, we are still active in God's world. The pictures I have been posting at times have attempted to illustrate that.

The Holy Spirit is still hovering over the depths of the earth whether those are the depths of the oceans or the depths of our human souls. The Holy Spirit continues to inform our waiting and perhaps even illuminate us more deeply.

It was in God's time (Greek- kairos) that Jesus came. It is always in God's kairos, far different from our chronological time, that God gives us the next part of our understanding.

So let's wait and watch and live what we already know.

Grace.

Why I Still Use "Jesus Language"

This thought came to mind while I sat in worship the other week:

Why does the "Jesus language" of the Church still move me like it does?

It may sound like a strange question to raise while sitting in a Christian worship service, especially a highly liturgical Episcopal Church, many light-years distant from my original Christian home of an independent fundamentalist-type Baptist Church. But I am no longer that almost 16-year old who was baptized 50 years ago. I no longer have the narrow vision of "getting to heaven" as the goal of the Christian life nor the understanding that only people like "me" will get in. My understanding of the love and GRACE of God has brought me to a whole different place as to what I think church and God and faith are all about.

I could go even further and ask:

Why does Christian iconography, Eucharistic liturgy and many hymns still make chills run up my spine and even tears form gently at the edge of my eyes?

I have over the years discovered depth of spirituality in many ways, times and places far beyond the Christian "way." Yoga, Tai Chi, Buddhist meditation, the presence of the Spirit in many places (and people.) Saying the great Jewish affirmation in Hebrew:

Shema Yisrael, Adonai elohenu, Adonai echad

moves me as much as the Lord's Prayer though in different ways. Singing a "Kyrie" in Latin touches places in my soul that the the English (which connects with my cognitive brain) cannot. The Doxology or the Gloria in English come forth with a sense of transcendence that words don't convey.

Today I believe more firmly in the existence of an eternal and infinite God, Creator of all, who I believe is named in many more ways than we humans are even capable of imagining. Hence every time I think I have come to a good understanding of God- that all is figured out- I catch myself and step back. If little old me in the 21st Century can understand God's infinite ways, that is not God. Time to move on- and keep it simple. God is God- I am not. Nothing else says it nearly as clearly as that.

So I ask the above questions. They come to mind because the Jesus language of the church has so often been used as exclusiveness instead of openness. It has been used to badger, harass and even kill people "in Jesus' Name." Some might ask, if I am not as narrow in my understanding, why do I keep using the language?

Well, the first answer to my questions is relatively easy. It's a hard-wired part of my brain and soul. After 50 years as a practicing Christian, it touches my life and soul and spirit because it accesses deep portions of my unconscious. These places were planted in those formative years of middle-adolescence and young adulthood. The neurochemicals of my brain respond when these external rituals and actions occur. I also know that these "Christian" ceremonies and endeavors on my part connect with something beyond me- a power greater than myself.

Even as I know that these are not the only ways to make those same connections, they have been part of my spiritual life for 50 years. Yes, then, they DO provide a foundation that in many ways still works, doing what I have needed it to do all these years.

There are, of course things that don't work in the same ways. They were important, but today aren't as effective. I think that comes simply from changes in time, place and age. I have learned to go deeper. For me that has been essential. For that I am also grateful.

The second answer to my question builds on the first. Being secure in the foundation allows me to continue to grow and explore the infinite ways God works. That means some of the words I use today have a different meaning to me today than they used to. Call it "syncretism" but the other ways to God have changed the idea behind the words. Some of that is made more real by seeing the similarities as well as the differences between the paths to, from, and with God. Which ones work for me and my personality? Which don't- but certainly can for others?

This has been one of the more difficult areas. Having originally become Christian in a more exclusive, narrow understanding of Christianity's place in the world (the ONLY way!) I still wrestle from time to time with the inevitable "What if it IS the only way?" question. As I have delved more deeply into spirituality, though, I have found that many spiritual practices are universal. Others are more culturally-based. Others are even based on political/ideological understandings. Therefore, I listen to the spirit as the Spirit has been mediated to humanity in the infinite ways throughout history. I find I am in good company.

The third answer to my questions is, believe it or not, the Church itself. Not any particular church but the Church Historic, the Church Universal, and the Church Triumphant. The Church today is in no way shape or form anything like the Church of my youth, let alone of the 16th or 1st Centuries. Much of what we now believe is THE way to interpret Scripture and History, has not been so for most of Church history. The Church, as a human institution, is continuing to evolve and grow- mature.

In fact over the past few years the "progressive" side of Christianity has certainly moved many ways away from what would even have been "liberal" those 50 years ago. Questions are being asked in new ways, theology is being worked on from new perspectives.  Churches are taking healthier stances on issues, being more inclusive and compassionate in new ways.

Continuing to be part of that movement is exciting. As I have gotten older, I have found comfort in things old AND new. It would be very sad if the church (or The Church) of 2014 was just the same as the one of 1948 or 1727, Luther or Hus, Augustine or Paul. If it were, I am not sure I would be able to be there. Sure, some of the rituals and language are similar to other periods. But in these familiar words and actions is where we, the Church, and the Holy Spirit together see the Scripture come alive:

Behold, I am making all things new.

A Sunday for Theology

Trinity Sunday

The day set aside to discuss Christian doctrine.

Jesus Christ, God's Son, Savior.

Yet the Trinity is one of those doctrines that resists explanation. The use of Celtic knots does a far better job. There's the triangle knot, in this case also looking like three fish intertwined. The fish (Ichthus) symbol being one of those ancient symbols of the faith. - Ichthus. As always the circle of the completeness of God holding it all together in one.

As does an M. C. Escher-ish triangle. No end, no beginning, no one side or the other. Just when you think you have it figured out, you look again and it doesn't quite meet our expectations. Just like God. Every time I think I have God figured out, everything shifts. Up is down, right is left, what I thought was light is dark and darkness is overcome.

This one also says it well for me. Another Celtic knot-type design with the triangle interweaving with itself, winding around and around in a way that is unsolvable. Holding it all in one is the circle, the completeness of God.


But you don't have to understand it. You don't have to be a theologian with advanced degrees. We experience God in these three-

Father
Son
Holy Spirit

Creator

Redeemer

Sustainer

God.

One God.

Forever and ever.

What more is there?

Pentecost 2014

An icon of the Christian Pentecost, in the Greek Orthodox tradition. This is the Icon of the Descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles. At the bottom is an allegorical figure, called Kosmos, which symbolizes the world.
-Wikipedia

Pre-Pentecost Thought

In Hebrew and Greek the word for Spirit is also the word for wind and breath. 

I have always considered this a song for Pentecost- the gift of prophecy- telling it like God sees it. 

Getting ready for Pentecost Sunday again.

Pentecost Sunday 2012

Breath in me, O Holy Spirit, that my thoughts may all be holy.

Act in me, O Holy Spirit, that my work, too, may be holy.

Draw my heart, O Holy Spirit, that I love but what is holy.

Strengthen me, O Holy Spirit, to defend all that is holy.

Guard me, then, O Holy Spirit, that I always may be holy.

--St. Augustine

Agree? or Not?

Mad Priest is one of those blogs that is worth following for gems like this one:

MADPRIEST'S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
Scripture is a living being which,
whilst it still breathes,
has been embalmed by the Church.

One year I worked on and off on reading the Bible in Spanish which I was working on learning. It was a parallel English-Spanish version (NIV). It brought a number of interesting insights to my reading of the English. I have worked a little on the more traditional Spanish version, Reina-Valera, equivalent to our English King James Version. When you read a passage you thought you knew so well, the nuances and changes of view from a non-English perspective can sure make a difference.

It is difficult, but worth the challenge, to seek the living, breathing Spirit of the Scriptures. You may be surprised that it doesn't say what you thought it said- or want it to say.

Is The Spirit Still Here?

By Hildegard of Bingen
It is the day after Pentecost. is the Holy Spirit still available? Do you feel the Spirit's presence in you and around you? Let the Word grow.

Holy Spirit,
giving life to all life,
moving all creatures,
root of all things,
washing them clean,
wiping out their mistakes,
healing their wounds,
you are our true life,
luminous, wonderful,
awakening the heart
from its ancient sleep.

Source: translated by Stephen Mitchell

Resurrection, Ascension, or Just the One That Got Away

Last Sunday at church was the celebration of the groundbreaking for a new education and fellowship addition to our church. Our Pastor (my wife) put together a fun service of joy and hope. We had some helium balloons to use to add color and fun.

But there's always one that gets away.

As I stared at this picture I realized that there's a lot of symbolism in it.

• For us as Moravians it is the cemetery. That is where we go to celebrate the Resurrection on Easter Sunday morning. We sing and play our trumpets and trombones and remind ourselves that death has lost its sting. the disciples stood among the dead- and they were told they wouldn't find Jesus there. He was among the living.

• It is also the Ascension. Again the disciples stood around looking into the air- blank, thin air. Again they were asked why they were just standing around staring into the heavens. He has gone. Now wait for the Spirit.

For many of us it may be the lost balloon, a treasure to the young child, or a lost dream, or just The One That Got Away. Like so much of life. But while we are looking at where our balloon or life or dream is going, all we need to do is turn around and there, waiting for us, behind us, are more balloons, dreams, life.

Today we celebrate Pentecost, the birthday of the church. Turn around. Look around. Go another direction. We do not look ahead to a glorious past or an enriching history. We must look to where the Spirit is leading. For you, your church, your family, your friends, your extended faith community- look. Listen. Be ready.

To Be Idealistic

If you believe in people just as they are, you condemn them. If you are idealistic and aim higher, you will help them become what they are made to be. So says the legendary psychiatrist Viktor Frankl in a clip recently added to TED:Best of the Web.

Isn't that what Jesus tells us- Be perfect as your father in heaven is perfect.Or this one on this week before Pentecost:

May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. "Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. "Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them."

Talk about aiming high. Talk about meaning and purpose. Talk about making humans what they were meant to be- the image of God.

A Weekly Pentecost

Sunday in church was of course Pentecost, the celebration of the coming of the Holy Spirit and the birthday of the church. There was a baptism of an infant on Sunday as well. My first thought was how crazy the service would be since we also had Holy Communion. But as I sat in the pew worshiping, all kinds of things happened.

Not necessarily in order, the ones I know about were:

Baptism: Great-grandpa had a bottle with water he brought back from the River Jordan that the family wanted to use. No problem. Even better- the pastor had great-grandpa come up and pour it into the baptismal. Wow!

Sermon: Great quote! I don't know where she found it, but the pastor quoted a line:

You realize you've caught up to what you've been chasing.

That's what happens when we stop long enough in our quest to realize that the Spirit may be at work. As I sat there I pondered the idea that we may get so caught up in getting to a destination that we may move right by it without seeing it. Or it may creep up on us from the other direction when we were looking away. That's what the Spirit can do- make us aware by being like a breath of wind getting our attention.

Sermon, again: Balloons as us. She used balloons with the children to show what air can do- and when let go- the power behind it. The balloon can float when given a push and filled with air- breath- Spirit. Otherwise it is flat and dull. It's the air...

Sermon: Air, the rush of wind, can be amazing. But it came home to me as the pastor started to blow up a balloon- allowing air to rush in- right next to her lapel mike. The sound of the rushing air- wind- Spirit coming over the speakers was exhilarating.

The Whole Time: Noise and activity. Not just the rush of air but people, children. Yes, noise and activity- just like on the first Pentecost. Not the reserved, hush and be quiet of your average Sunday worship. Noise. People. Children. There was life in that sanctuary. I felt the shiver of the Spirit's presence as we sang and prayed even when things never got quiet. I knew the power of the Spirit was there when the pastor said our traditional Moravian words of charge at the end of the Baptism:

Now, live.
Yet, not you alone but Christ live in you
And the life which you now live
live by faith in the Son of God
who loved you
and gave himself for you.

And that continued from one end of the service to the other as we shared the bread and cup of Holy Communion.

I don't know about anyone else for sure, but I doubt I was the only one.

Yes, as I sat in the pew worshiped on Sunday, all kinds of things happened.

I think we call those things the coming of the Holy Spirit.