Picking Sides

Watching people at town hall meetings yell at their representatives, each other, and well anyone else they disagree with has been disheartening. But this is the way we as human beings tend to be wired. We have no time for the details. We really don't want all the facts. What we seem to be interested in is the side or position we should take. I can't speak for everyone, but personally I am tired of it. I think it is good (and normal) that people think different about the world, politics, religion. What is not good is that we have no time to listen or to understand what is going on. I mean do any of us really understand the intricate details of bill that will radically change the way we do health care in our country?
The problem is that most of us don't have the time or energy to understand it. We only want to know if it is good or bad. When often the truth is somewhere in between. All we want to know is do we agree or disagree. I think there is a whole space in between. There is a land of information that we are missing because we are too busy yelling at one another. I know that I sometimes fall into this trap. I pray that I can have the patience and humility to remember to listen and try and understand.
I feel this way about worship. It seems that we are trying to pigeon hole people into two camps. On the one side we have "contemporary" on the other we have "traditional". I am neither of these camps. Rather I am for worshipping Jesus Christ. For Lutherans (of which I am) this takes two specific forms. Word (hearing God's love and forgiveness for us) and Sacrament (God being present with us in concrete forms). This is worship it is what is Biblical and historical. Around this I don't care all that much about the window dressing. Except that the window dressings serves the Word and sacrament. (Also, like most people I have likes and dislikes. But this is not about worship it is about my preferences) You see this is the discussion I want to have. What is God doing to us in worship? Not, what I am getting out of it? The same could be said for health care. I don't want to hear about Canada, England, or what you dislike about Obama. I want to hear people with solutions. I want to know how we are going to keep my family from going bankrupt as we try and pay our medical bills? How are we going to keep the church from going bankrupt from paying insurance for pastors?
You see it is not about sides it is about what serves people best. It is not about what side of the worship debate are you on. It is about how the people of God are going to hear the Gospel. It is not about what political side of the spectrum you sit, it is about what is the best health care system for our children. Of course, in reality we love sides, and we love to take them up. This is why we need Jesus. We need Jesus to free us from ourselves. We need Jesus to help us see our neighbors need, and free us from our self love, our hatred, and our love for picking sides.

The Spirit Needs a Body

By all accounts the church is dead. Both numerically and anecdotal this is true. I can't tell you how many people I have met who say, "I'm spiritual, but not religious." It is interesting that this is usually told to me by children who are burying their mother/father. It seems that we do need religion. In fact, I often wonder if it is possible to be spiritual and not religious. I suppose one could stay home and pray, read the Bible, and come into contact with God. I would guess that not many people do this. We need a place to go. We need a community that prays with us, studies the Bible with us, and we can only worship in community. How are we going to be spiritual without religion?

Don't get me wrong I am no church apologist. I have struggled in my own life with the institutional church. Too often the church cares about the wrong things. Too often it is about money, buildings, instead of people and faith. However, I have come over time to the conclusion that without the church I am adrift in my own spiritual life.

There was a year of my life I did not go to Church. I like to think of it as my lost weekend. (kinda like John Lennon's lost weekend. When he left Yoko Ono and went on a bender for a year.) Anyway, I can honestly say that during that year I was lost. It wasn't that God did not love and care for me. It was that I was not closely connect to God. Sure, I prayed to God. But something was always missing. It was the discipline of living in a faith community. It was the ritual of partaking of the body and blood of Christ. It was the intentional hour that I spend in worship. At Holy Communion something happens to me. I start to think about my week. Which leads me to think about my sin, and if always overwhelms me. Then I start to think about what Jesus did for me. I feel a sense of relief, of comfort, of love. I never get that anywhere else but at the table of our Lord.

There is no spiritual life without religion. I would agree that sometimes there is religion with no spirit, but even so this is no reason to reject the institution of the church. The Church exists to keep us connect to the body of Christ. To remind us of the power of the Gospel to save! We don't get that anywhere else in this world. So, I will see you in Church.

The way we think

I was watching the Sotomayor hearings this week. What struck me was that the argument going on between the two parties over the now famous "Wise Latina" comment. It is the same arguments we have in the church over scripture. I suspect that when we vote on bishops and pastors we want to know these same kind of things. How will they interrupt scripture? What will be the basis for their conclusions? In the post Modern world our background and history is not insignificant. It has been argued in certain Biblical circles that we can not read the text without interjecting our own prejudices, life stories, and experiences. I grew up as rather middle of the road white guy from New Hampshire. That influences my reading of the text. However, I have been blessed in life to be around people with different experiences then me. In seminary I was blessed to serve in a Latino congregation and an African American congregation. My first, call was to a church surrounded and filled with diversity. I met Haitians, Dominicans, Asians, Indians, African Americans, Pakistanis, and just about any other nationality one could think of. It was interesting to hear their interpretations of the text. It was interesting to see how their life stories influenced what they thought the Bible meant.
Don't misunderstand me I think the Bible does have a message. In fact, it is a very clear message that must be heard. However, I know that this message comes to us in different ways. It is always filtered through our particular experiences. We are only human there is no other way we can experience the living word of God. But this is the point not everyone sees it that way. Many good religious people would disagree with what I just said. They would argue for a reading of the Bible that has no bearing on our human perceptions. They would argue God's word came from God and therefore it does not matter what culture or background you come from there is only one way to understand, translate, and interpret the text. I would say that the Bible itself argues against such a reading. The church and the people of God have always saw God through there very human understanding. Think about the disciples even with Jesus right in front of them they do not understand what he is saying. The early church saw Jesus only through there own Jewish heritage rejecting the inclusion of the Gentiles. It is only through revelation that they eventually come to see that a Gentile understanding of Jesus Christ is just as good as a Jewish. This movement did something astonishing. It changed the church. It made it into a growing living institution. I would argue that when we allow others to speak their truths we are better able to hear the living word of God. We are better able to see Christ working in and through others. Of course, I have a post modern mind. I guess I would never be confirmed as a supreme court judge. I will have to settle for being a pastor who has the privilege and honor to preach and teach the living word of God.

More in Death

"You can't win Darth. If you strike me down I will become more powerful then you can possibly imagine" Obi-Wan Kenobi says these words to Darth Vader on their fateful lightsaber fight on the death star. He is making a profound statement about death. We become more in our death then we did in our life. Our good and bad become magnified as we die and people remember us. It is true with Michael Jackson. All the good and bad that was in his life has now in death become something even greater then it was in his life. Since, his death I have been listening again to Michael's music. What comes over me is a mixture of emotions. I remember the first time seeing the video for Billie Jean, the time at the skating rink everyone stopped and starred as they played the video for Thriller. the time I danced, or sang along with a Michael Jackson song. For everyone my age we remember the day when there was no bigger or greater entertainer on the planet then Michael Jackson. What he became was a conclusion to a life that was complex. We will never know the truth about Michael Jackson as a person, because it has to be filtered to us through media, and fame. What we will always remember were the moments of joy he brought us through his music and his dance.
Recently Rep. Peter King called Michael Jackson was a "low life" and a "child molester". My problem with Peter King is that he is guilty of breaking the eighth commandment. He is guilty of making innuendo and rumor into truth. He can say "All Michael Jackson did was sing and dance." But what he can not take away is that Michael Jackson was part of our lives. He touched people with his music. That is something powerful and his death reminds of his brilliance and power. As well as his failures and short comings. The truth is that Michael was like all of us because he was human, and every human life is complex. We are all filled with good and bad, brilliance and failure. It is easy to say, "stop with a psychological babble." It is a lot harder to live in the real world with complicated people. I suppose it would be more comfortable for Peter King if everyone fit into the same mold, acted as he would like. However, this is not the way the world works. If Michael had broken the law then he would have rightly been in jail. The truth is that he was never convicted. So anything one might say about his involvement with children is simply guessing. We can say that he was a complicated person. He had things that were not so great about him. But we can say that about everybody including Rep. Peter King. I wish as a public figure he would choose his words more carefully, and not just spout off to get headlines. Because what he forgets to realize is that in death we become much stronger then we were in real life for good and for bad.

So last week I turned 36. It was a great birthday. I got a new IPod (my old one had broken). I had this great wine tasting party with fifteen friends. It was just awesome way to celebrate the day. For me it was a time to realize what a blessed life I have. It seems that we always celebrate birthdays with a certain disdain. We are upset because we are getting older, or we realize that life is not forever. However, birthdays should be a celebration of the life God has given unto us. My grandmother always calls birthdays creation days. It is true this is a celebration that God created us in the first place. And we invite others who care about us to celebrate our life as well. It is not about a death march to horrible place called old age. It is a journey of being alive.



I was telling my friends that my goal in life is not to have a mid-life crisis. (although I kinda had one when I was 24, but that is a different story.) I want to enjoy every phase of my life. There were some great things about being a kid. I loved the freedom, the ability to simply play and enjoy the day. There were some things I did not like. Having to go to bed at a certain time, having to eat the food my parents bought. There was some great things about being a teenager, about being twenty, and now there are good and bad things about being 36. But whatever the age it is all life. It is all about what God has given to us, and that each day is a gift. Each day is an opportunity to love others, to have joy in our work, and to celebrate the small but significant moments. That is my goal to live each day as a gift, and to celebrate each day as a wonderful part of the journey.

I was taking one of the youth from New Hope Lutheran Church to an event on Saturday we were talking about her going to seminary someday. She asked me about my experience at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. I told her how much I loved seminary especially in that setting. She was explaining that a few other people she talked to had negative experiences at Philadelphia. The issue was that racial tension was created on campus by anti racism training that teaches that racism is about power and prejudice. Therefore black people can not be racist because they don't have power. It is always interesting to me the reaction this gets from young people. They view race through a whole different prism. For full disclosure, I happen to agree with the view that was being taught. I think that white people in this country have been able to subtly use racism to keep blacks down and out of power. (There was a great Simpson's moment when Homer and Marge go shopping at newly renovated pier in Springfield. There was a sign that read "Our prices discriminate so we don't have to." This sums up the problem in one brilliant stroke of genius. The Simpsons do it again.) It got me thinking about the approach of the radicals of the 60's.

I want to start by saying how much I admire those who fought, struggled, and in some cases even died for civil rights in the 60's. I don't think that the white power structure of the south would have voluntarily given up control without direct confrontation. Basically, our country was shamed into doing the right thing. Since that time however much has changed. I wonder if the boomers could ever get over themselves long enough to realize the change. Is radical politics even the answer our young people respect anymore? It seems the answers they seek are more whole in approach and tone. They are much more comfortable with ambiguity, and complexity. The boomers and the world war two generation share this sense that there is a definitive right and wrong. The struggle in my view is over a matter of perspective.

More then this I want to question where the combative politics of the 60's got us. Did we get a more progressive political agenda? In that time since LBJ we have elected Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, George Bush Sr. and George Bush Jr. This is not exactly a record of peace, love, and understanding. We had moments with Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, but if we are honest both men where essentially conservatives wrapped in liberal clothing. Upon more examination the two presidents elected from the boomer generation (Clinton and Bush Jr.) failed to live up to the high standards of personal responsibility. They both (in different ways) acted for their best interest instead of the countries. Is this the legacy of the boomer generation?

It is interesting how every generation thinks they did it best. The boomers are no different they romanticize about the good old days of protests and blowing stuff up, but do they realize that in our world today the things they believed in and fought for are being lived out in a very real way. (A little tangent. I was at a protest against the Iraq war back in 2001. A couple of people had handcuffed themselves to a Marines recruitment center in downtown Philadelphia. The man next to me said, "These kids don't know what they are doing. In my day we would have blown this place up." True story.)

The supposed counter culture was always just that it was counter to the culture. The majority of Americans believed in law and order, stability, and peace, not reactionary revolution. Today it just doesn't play that well with the kids. They are much to busy actually creating the world that in the 60's people rallied and yelled for. We are now much more multicultural, diverse, understanding. The young people (when we take time to actually talk to them) are really very tolerant of others. (Look at the statistics for those who support Gay Marriage) The call to the churches from these young people is to be less politically involved. By that I think they mean less involved in partisan politics. More involved in service and living out the values we preach about. The old days of "with me or against me" are fading away. I for one am glad for the change it makes us all able to listen to one another and search together for a new way forward.

It also makes us able to serve and love as Christ did for us. Maybe at times direct confrontation is needed. But thanks be to God that our youth are learning it is not what we shout at the world that matters, but how we walk with God and others in that world.

Me and my family.

This is me and my family. They are my greatest blessing. The loves of my life. My wife Vicki (Everyone says she looks like Anne Hathaway. I think she is much more beautiful then that.), my son Charlie (Likes to call himself Batman), and my daughter Phoebe (A true Princess).