I picked up that title from someone on facebook. The busiest times for pastors are the month before Christmas and the month before Easter... but I suspect that Holy Week tops any other time of the year for busy-ness and to-do lists and sermons to preach. Anyway, I'm living through my first Holy Week as a pastor, and so far it's not so bad... but we'll have services every day/night from now until Sunday... which will be no small feat - especially since I need to give a sermon or reflection at at least 3 of those services.
So, I have sermons to craft and "things" to do (before a week of vacation next week) and people to visit and letters to write and calls to respond to... all of the everyday business of the church. I am sitting in my office with the sun shining brightly through the window, and the flowering bush -- I'd share what kind it is if I had any idea -- reaching out its radient yellow flowers to me, and the grass luscious green in the park, and children's laughter floating toward my ears... and for a moment I wish I were a child again, allowed to experience spring with laughter and freedom instead of to-do lists and obligations. But then I recognize this springtime, this sunshine, this laughter are all rays of God's grace. God isn't suggesting to me that I cannot enjoy spring with laughter and freedom. In fact, I suspect if I found the source of that laughter, God would be among those children laughing too! Jesus wouldn't be spending his time writing his sermons behind a desk, but basking in the sunlight with his friends. I worry that when we focus too much on our jobs, our tasks, our obligations, we forget that God's grace extends to us everywhere and in every place. We miss God's grace. And in the process, we miss also God's very presence in our world, in our lives.
And I think, that's what Holy Week is all about ... remembering God's presence and grace in our world and in our lives...
So I've decided that I'm not going to spend the day indoors, behind my desk. Maybe God created cell phones so we could make our phone calls from a tree we've climbed. Maybe God created laptops so we could craft sermons in the park. Maybe God created me to bring sunshine to those people I visit, to walk outside with them or open their blinds. Maybe God created the whole world so that we might remember God's grace and God's presence in every moment of our lives.
I might stick around and finish this post with something clever, but the playground outside is calling. I hope you find God's grace and presence today too... I'll meet you and God at the swings!
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Church of the Misfits?
I know it's well past Christmas now, but about springtime I always start singing Christmas songs again. Lately I've been thinking about Rudolph & the Island of Misfit Toys. This has come to mind with regard to St. James in an interesting way. As it turns out, a part of our identity seems to be that most of us don't "fit in" with whatever society has told us we are or should be... but at St. James, we are a collection of people who are loved, cared for, and befriended without regard to our 'misfit' status in some other part of the world.
Perhaps I love St. James so much because that is how I identify. Christian society (generally) says that women should not be pastors. Society says people should be nationalistic first and social-justice oriented second (if at all). Society says (even still) that women should be the ones to take care of the home and the children -- work should come second. But I don't identify with the shoulds. I identify with Rudolph and Hermey, who sing that it's OK to be "A Couple of Misfits."
Throughout my life, my best friends have been the people around me with strong identities. People who know who they are and what they stand for -- and yet, are open to hearing and even considering other points of view. That is, open to hearing and considering, but not by giving up their own positions. What is astounding is that these people, by and large, aren't the "popular" folks. Popularity arises when a person of strong personality or charisma manages to find followers who are willing to mold their own ideas to that of the popular opinion... and thus the popular group grows... until it reaches the limit of "us" and "them." In this case, many of the "them" wishes they were "us," and often they try their hardest to become what the popular group would have them to be.
For misfits, it is not so. Misfits retain their identity and require others to do the same. Misfits do not invite followers, but engage partners... i.e. conversation partners or debate partners. Even as misfits seek their identity, they seek it on their own path, in their own ways, with their own words. So then the question arises, does Christianity merely invite followers (even disciples), or can Christianity engage misfit partners as well?
Certainly, Christianity seeks to make disciples of Christ -- that is in fact our "Great Commission" (Matthew 28:16-20). We do indeed seek to follow Jesus' teachings and practices, to walk where Jesus walked. And popular Christianity does just that... to an extent. Popular Christianity shares the good news of Jesus' life and death and (sometimes) resurrection. It shares the good news that Jesus can bring healing to your body, your soul, your life. But I worry about popular Christianity. I worry about religious experiences that are easy, popular, even fun...
...because although Jesus was 'popular' in the sense that he had and has lots of followers - the 12 apostles, plus many disciples, plus the huge crowds that came to see and hear - he wasn't popular with the powerful groups. He wasn't popular with the government. He wasn't popular with the church. In fact, Jesus was killed by a collusion of church and state -- the Powers that Be. What did he do so wrong? Well, I think Jesus was himself a misfit. He spoke respectfully to women. He touched unclean people. He dined with "sinners" and hated tax collectors. He found the misfits in society and spent time with them -- like Zacchaeus the tax collector who was so far outside of the crowd that he had to climb a tree to see Jesus. Jesus saw him, found him, dined with him, and changed his life. Jesus didn't take away Zacchaeus' identity. Jesus didn't tell Zacchaeus what to think and you'd better not ask questions. Jesus wasn't about forming groupies. Rather, in all of Jesus' interactions, he sought partners. Conversation partners. Debate partners. Partners who, in engaging with Christ, might find themselves healed and their lives changed.
It is that to which I think we are called. To follow Jesus not in "what would Jesus do" style - though that's a good start! - but in how might we engage the Christ within us and the Christ within our neighbor that both of our lives might be changed. And that is not easy. Because that requires not just sharing what Jesus did, but doing what Jesus did. Not only feeding the hungry, but asking why there are hungry. Not only healing the sick, but ensuring the sick can get healthcare. Not only putting money toward eradicating homelessness, but working against the injustices in the world that cause it. And those, my friends, are not popular causes. Identifying any of those issues will define you as misfit. But it goes beyond that, even. We remember that Christ died for the healing (salvation) of the world. If we are to follow Jesus, we follow even unto death. Those parts of our own selves that retain selfishness, jealousy, envy, pride, enmity, even power... we must learn to let them die... so that we might rise, clothed with the righteousness, faithfulness, forgiveness, and humility of Christ.
This is the misfit-ness of Christ. The savior who didn't meet the expectations of his people. The God who became like us in order to heal us.
And so, I believe, the Christian church can indeed be a church of misfits. St. James' people come together into loving Christian community, embracing one another in a way that the world does not and perhaps cannot. In a way that even other churches may not. Perhaps that is why I love these people so much. Perhaps that is why I am called to this place in this time. And perhaps we might learn to embrace an identity of Church of the Misfits. With the misfit Christ as our guide.
Perhaps I love St. James so much because that is how I identify. Christian society (generally) says that women should not be pastors. Society says people should be nationalistic first and social-justice oriented second (if at all). Society says (even still) that women should be the ones to take care of the home and the children -- work should come second. But I don't identify with the shoulds. I identify with Rudolph and Hermey, who sing that it's OK to be "A Couple of Misfits."
Throughout my life, my best friends have been the people around me with strong identities. People who know who they are and what they stand for -- and yet, are open to hearing and even considering other points of view. That is, open to hearing and considering, but not by giving up their own positions. What is astounding is that these people, by and large, aren't the "popular" folks. Popularity arises when a person of strong personality or charisma manages to find followers who are willing to mold their own ideas to that of the popular opinion... and thus the popular group grows... until it reaches the limit of "us" and "them." In this case, many of the "them" wishes they were "us," and often they try their hardest to become what the popular group would have them to be.
For misfits, it is not so. Misfits retain their identity and require others to do the same. Misfits do not invite followers, but engage partners... i.e. conversation partners or debate partners. Even as misfits seek their identity, they seek it on their own path, in their own ways, with their own words. So then the question arises, does Christianity merely invite followers (even disciples), or can Christianity engage misfit partners as well?
Certainly, Christianity seeks to make disciples of Christ -- that is in fact our "Great Commission" (Matthew 28:16-20). We do indeed seek to follow Jesus' teachings and practices, to walk where Jesus walked. And popular Christianity does just that... to an extent. Popular Christianity shares the good news of Jesus' life and death and (sometimes) resurrection. It shares the good news that Jesus can bring healing to your body, your soul, your life. But I worry about popular Christianity. I worry about religious experiences that are easy, popular, even fun...
...because although Jesus was 'popular' in the sense that he had and has lots of followers - the 12 apostles, plus many disciples, plus the huge crowds that came to see and hear - he wasn't popular with the powerful groups. He wasn't popular with the government. He wasn't popular with the church. In fact, Jesus was killed by a collusion of church and state -- the Powers that Be. What did he do so wrong? Well, I think Jesus was himself a misfit. He spoke respectfully to women. He touched unclean people. He dined with "sinners" and hated tax collectors. He found the misfits in society and spent time with them -- like Zacchaeus the tax collector who was so far outside of the crowd that he had to climb a tree to see Jesus. Jesus saw him, found him, dined with him, and changed his life. Jesus didn't take away Zacchaeus' identity. Jesus didn't tell Zacchaeus what to think and you'd better not ask questions. Jesus wasn't about forming groupies. Rather, in all of Jesus' interactions, he sought partners. Conversation partners. Debate partners. Partners who, in engaging with Christ, might find themselves healed and their lives changed.
It is that to which I think we are called. To follow Jesus not in "what would Jesus do" style - though that's a good start! - but in how might we engage the Christ within us and the Christ within our neighbor that both of our lives might be changed. And that is not easy. Because that requires not just sharing what Jesus did, but doing what Jesus did. Not only feeding the hungry, but asking why there are hungry. Not only healing the sick, but ensuring the sick can get healthcare. Not only putting money toward eradicating homelessness, but working against the injustices in the world that cause it. And those, my friends, are not popular causes. Identifying any of those issues will define you as misfit. But it goes beyond that, even. We remember that Christ died for the healing (salvation) of the world. If we are to follow Jesus, we follow even unto death. Those parts of our own selves that retain selfishness, jealousy, envy, pride, enmity, even power... we must learn to let them die... so that we might rise, clothed with the righteousness, faithfulness, forgiveness, and humility of Christ.
This is the misfit-ness of Christ. The savior who didn't meet the expectations of his people. The God who became like us in order to heal us.
And so, I believe, the Christian church can indeed be a church of misfits. St. James' people come together into loving Christian community, embracing one another in a way that the world does not and perhaps cannot. In a way that even other churches may not. Perhaps that is why I love these people so much. Perhaps that is why I am called to this place in this time. And perhaps we might learn to embrace an identity of Church of the Misfits. With the misfit Christ as our guide.
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