no pithy preaching today as I prepare for our morning service... just some deep breathing, with deep gratitude for many blessings as well as humble thanksgiving that God is God.
“Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7)
Thursday, November 28, 2013
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Nov 19, 1863: Lincoln delivers Gettysburg Address
worth reading again today on the 150th anniversary of its original delivery by President Abraham Lincoln at the dedication of a military cemetery at Gettysburg, PA during the American Civil War...
http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/gettysburg.htm
______________________________________
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Abraham Lincoln
November 19, 1863
http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/gettysburg.htm
______________________________________
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Abraham Lincoln
November 19, 1863
Sunday, November 17, 2013
All that glitters now is not golden forever...
Distracted or discouraged? Hold fast your faith and hope. We have ample opportunities to testify. All that glitters now is not golden forever. Prosperity and abundance are promised... but not on our timeline nor according or our sense of entitlement. Indeed, much of what we are dazzled by now will fall into ruin before our heavenly host calls to the eternal feast. How we labor in the meantime will be considered when we’re ultimately fed.
Sunday, November 10, 2013
Semper fidelis
Monday, November 4, 2013
Christian theology on the run this morning over breakfast...
(from a response I just wrote to a family member of a friend of mine who has been struggling with her faith and religious identity)
...it sounds like you're struggling to claim a sense of identity and belonging (likely 'Christian,' but maybe not) among a bunch of religious garbage that's been put in your way. Time to throw out the mess, without tossing out Jesus by mistake.
God loves you... love us... loves people who are not like us (even people we don't particularly like or agree with) more than we can imagine.
Yes, it's pretty clear in what we're told that Jesus said that there will be some 'judgement' by God about people's fitness and readiness for God's ultimate plan... and, we're also told it's not our role to presume we know how all this is going to work out or when it's going to happen. There's plenty of stuff right here and right now for us to focus one... mainly, are we denying God's providence and hurting each other, or honoring God and taking care of each other?
I don't recall that Jesus worried about what 'religion' people were as much as he wanted us to keep our minds and hearts focused on God and to love each other in extraordinary ways well beyond social pretenses and contrived conventions that tend to separate and demoralize people for the sake of elevation of a few rather than uniting all sorts of people for the better.
Jesus likely weeps that institutions and people waving Christ's name as some sort of war-banner have caused you harm, made it more difficult for you to build a loving relationship with God and other people of faith, and have failed to affirm you as a beloved and sacred child of God.
The good news is that Jesus' very earthly ministry was about holding people accountable for self-righteous hypocrisy and misuse of religious authority while also looking out for those in need of help and healing, calling them back into communities of hope and charitable love, testifying to God's unreasonably generous mercy and grace, and challenging his followers to do the same back then... and still today!
If you're interested in finding a Christian faith community that will respect your dignity, celebrate and encourage your good/faithful way of approaching life, and embrace your appropriately critical thinking and questions, they're out there.
E.g., The Episcopal Church has become my denominational community of Christian faith. Though not every parish in our denomination might be equally embracing or supportive of you in ways that are most helpful to you (given your own history and frustrations about 'church'), our denomination as a whole supports the balancing of time-tested traditions, continual reflection on and study of holy scriptures, and our use of critical reasoning in our discernment and decisions in our faithful discipleship. Earlier in my own journey I appreciated a church friend saying to me, "Joining with us in searching for God doesn't mean you have to lose you mind." A sign we used keep on the front of my church in Santa Monica read, "Visitors are not just welcome here... we're expecting you" and we'd say at each church service, "No matter where you are on your journey of faith, you are welcome here... it's Jesus Christ who calls us all to this community."
...it sounds like you're struggling to claim a sense of identity and belonging (likely 'Christian,' but maybe not) among a bunch of religious garbage that's been put in your way. Time to throw out the mess, without tossing out Jesus by mistake.
God loves you... love us... loves people who are not like us (even people we don't particularly like or agree with) more than we can imagine.
Yes, it's pretty clear in what we're told that Jesus said that there will be some 'judgement' by God about people's fitness and readiness for God's ultimate plan... and, we're also told it's not our role to presume we know how all this is going to work out or when it's going to happen. There's plenty of stuff right here and right now for us to focus one... mainly, are we denying God's providence and hurting each other, or honoring God and taking care of each other?
I don't recall that Jesus worried about what 'religion' people were as much as he wanted us to keep our minds and hearts focused on God and to love each other in extraordinary ways well beyond social pretenses and contrived conventions that tend to separate and demoralize people for the sake of elevation of a few rather than uniting all sorts of people for the better.
Jesus likely weeps that institutions and people waving Christ's name as some sort of war-banner have caused you harm, made it more difficult for you to build a loving relationship with God and other people of faith, and have failed to affirm you as a beloved and sacred child of God.
The good news is that Jesus' very earthly ministry was about holding people accountable for self-righteous hypocrisy and misuse of religious authority while also looking out for those in need of help and healing, calling them back into communities of hope and charitable love, testifying to God's unreasonably generous mercy and grace, and challenging his followers to do the same back then... and still today!
If you're interested in finding a Christian faith community that will respect your dignity, celebrate and encourage your good/faithful way of approaching life, and embrace your appropriately critical thinking and questions, they're out there.
E.g., The Episcopal Church has become my denominational community of Christian faith. Though not every parish in our denomination might be equally embracing or supportive of you in ways that are most helpful to you (given your own history and frustrations about 'church'), our denomination as a whole supports the balancing of time-tested traditions, continual reflection on and study of holy scriptures, and our use of critical reasoning in our discernment and decisions in our faithful discipleship. Earlier in my own journey I appreciated a church friend saying to me, "Joining with us in searching for God doesn't mean you have to lose you mind." A sign we used keep on the front of my church in Santa Monica read, "Visitors are not just welcome here... we're expecting you" and we'd say at each church service, "No matter where you are on your journey of faith, you are welcome here... it's Jesus Christ who calls us all to this community."
Sunday, November 3, 2013
feasting on faith and hope... charged with demonstrating charitable love
comforted remembering all Saints and saints,
and celebrating their ever-presence in the cloud of witnesses that cheer us on...
and challenged reminding ourselves that
beyond the passive resistance of offering our other cheek,
Jesus says that saintly behavior is
actively loving our enemies,
praying for and blessing those who seek to do us harm,
and to taking the initiative to demonstrate prodigious compassion, charity, and mercy even when (especially when) others seem undeserving.
and celebrating their ever-presence in the cloud of witnesses that cheer us on...
and challenged reminding ourselves that
beyond the passive resistance of offering our other cheek,
Jesus says that saintly behavior is
actively loving our enemies,
praying for and blessing those who seek to do us harm,
and to taking the initiative to demonstrate prodigious compassion, charity, and mercy even when (especially when) others seem undeserving.
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