- Bach, Well Tempered Clavier, Fugue in C# Major, Daniel Barenboim Piano
- What a Friend in Jesus, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Funeral For a Friend Album
- Adam Raised a Cain, Bruce Springsteen, Greetings from Asbury Park
- Bach, Well Tempered Clavier, Prelude in E Minor, Daniel Barenboim Piano
- Beautiful Day, U2, All that you can't leave behind.
- Carnival Time, All Johnson, A Celebration of New Orleans
- Beethoven, Symphony #3, Finale, Berlin Philharmonic
- Beautiful Savior, St. Olaf Choir, Hallelujah, We Sing Your Praises!
- Bach, Well Tempered Clavier, Prelude in F# Minor, Daniel Barenboim Piano
- Cuttin' Out, Professor Longhair, A Celebration of New Orleans.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
IPOD Shuffle
Another installment in the Ipod shuffle game I picked up from Bob G+, though I believe he picked it up from someone else.
A confession
With a title like, "A Confession" for this blog entry, I bet you were hoping for something juicy. Well...I'm not sure how juicy this post is; so you might be disappointed. What follows is a confession I wrote for our "Wednesday night laid back Eucharist" We have been using it during Lent, and last night was the last night. We'll probably pull it out again next year. However, our of my own egotism, I wanted to give it a little longer life. So, here it is...
Gracious God, who creates all there is and loves all there is; you command us to love as you love. We failed, we fail, and we are failing. Too many of your children, our neighbors, went hungry and died today; too many of your children, our neighbors, were oppressed today; too many of us counted our wealth in material possessions instead of your love today for us to call ourselves successful Christians, successful God Lovers. Please forgive us. For Christ’s sake have mercy on us. Give us yet another chance to love ourselves, our neighbors, and you as you want us to. Amen!
God's Peace,
Jason+
Gracious God, who creates all there is and loves all there is; you command us to love as you love. We failed, we fail, and we are failing. Too many of your children, our neighbors, went hungry and died today; too many of your children, our neighbors, were oppressed today; too many of us counted our wealth in material possessions instead of your love today for us to call ourselves successful Christians, successful God Lovers. Please forgive us. For Christ’s sake have mercy on us. Give us yet another chance to love ourselves, our neighbors, and you as you want us to. Amen!
God's Peace,
Jason+
Thursday, March 15, 2007
of moses and fig trees
This is my sermon from last Sunday. Not my best. Not my worst. But it is like I tell my congregation...I don't take credit for the good ones, and I don't take blame for the bad ones.
“I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you…you shall worship God on this mountain.”
May only God’s word be spoken, and only God’s word be heard, Amen!
Today is a special day. Not only is the Sun due to peek its head out this afternoon; not only, with the advancement of the clocks this morning, do we have a clear sign that spring is about to be sprung; not only do we get to freely gather here in this house of God and experience the mystery of communion when we come to this table and receive the ultimate gift of God’s grace in the mundane gifts of bread and wine; not only do we get to sing and pray, but we also get to witness the birth of a community.
Just a few minutes ago, we read the calling of Moses, also known as the story of the burning bush. Now we usually get caught up in Moses when we hear this story. We talk about how he is drawn up the mountain, how he is commanded to remove his shoes because he was on holy ground, and how he baulks at the prospect of leading his people because he doesn’t know God’s name. We get so caught up in the figure head of Moses that we forget what God is doing for all the people called Israel.
See, it’s like this: (yall know I’m a recovering camp counselor, right?) When I was working camps, I was on leadership staff. One of my jobs was to motivate the other counselors to do their jobs. Now this was rarely needed, for indeed most of the counselors I worked with are some of the most dedicated, hard working, self-starting people I know. But, after three or four weeks of mainly 20 hour days, hot sun, the occasionally challenging camper, and always having to be up and energetic, a modicum of exhaustion and self-pity is to be expected. Expected or not, it still must be overcome; therefore, us leadership staff folks had a little saying for when the whining began. We would tell the wayward counselor to “Suck it up, your working for God!”
Now, the staff that were able to actually hear that phrase, my self included, gained the most from the camp counseling experience. We, that is to say I learned what it was to be committed to a community, that my actions always effect someone else, and if I fail someone else suffers with me. In short I learned on a deep level that there is no I in Team.
So, yes, God calls Moses. God calls a person to lead God’s people, a person for God to act through. However, who God called is not nearly as important as to what end Moses was called. Moses was called for God to act through for the creation of a community, a society, indeed a nation founded on the Grace and freedom of God. Now, our story today is barely the beginning of the story of the Exodus, but we get a glimpse of what this community is to be when we hear God say, “I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you…you shall worship God on this mountain.” Now, that might not sound like much to us. That might not sound like a big deal, but to the slaves in Egypt, and even more so their masters, it is a huge deal. The statement that they would worship the God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob, is crazy; at least to Pharaoh. The God that we call God, that Jesus called father, the I AM, the one whose name is so Holy that the ancients simply said “the Lord” because they did not want the Lord’s name defamed by their unholy lips, pharaoh did not know this God. The ruler of Egypt had not given sanction to the worship of this God. How could Pharaoh be sure this God would tell the people what Pharaoh wanted said to them. What if this God commanded something of these people that undermined his rule. Well, that just isn’t done, that can’t be. We can’t have free Gods running around graciously acting upon the people, calling their allegiance, there devotion, indeed their love and worship away from the State, away from the king, away from pharaoh. But indeed that is what God’s says will happen. Furthermore, not only will they worship God, they will do it on God’s mountain. They will worship God where God says to worship God not where Pharaoh says.
Our reading from exodus this morning is not the beginning of the story nor is it the end. The people are liberated from pharaoh they do indeed journey to the mountain of God and worship God, but it doesn’t stop there either. They build a society, a nation based on a covenant, not with a king or a bureaucracy, but with God and on God’s commandments. And what a weird society it is, a society that is do what God did in liberating the slaves from Egypt. See, in the exodus we learn that God prefers, not pharaoh who had won many battles and much material wealth, but the slaves, the lowly, the ones Jesus called the least.
We see evidence of this preferential option for the poor in the law given to Moses on the holy mountain. The edges of fields are not to be harvested so that the poor and landless can harvest them and have food. A cloak, taken as collateral from a poor person, is to be returned at night; so that he or she won’t freeze. Every fifty years is to be a year of Jubilee where all debts are forgiven and land taken as payment of debts is to be returned to ancestral owners. The care and protection of the alien, the widow, and the orphan—all metaphors for the poor—are the responsibility of the entire community. In short the “good and broad land…land flowing with milk and honey” is to be organized, worked, and used to the benefit of all. The resources available to the community are not to be exploited for individual gain, but managed for the good of all.
So, what does all this have to do with fig trees? I confess I’ve been banging head against this Gospel reading all week. Deacon Bob Henrichsen, had to deal with me repeatedly coming out of my office this week and lamenting my lack of knowledge of the rearing of fig trees. Indeed, to my knowledge no one in the office this week, staff or congregant that happened to drop by, has ever owned a fig tree.
So, where’s the good news in Jesus’ parable about the fig tree. As far as I can tell, where the fig tree is located, is as important as the fact that it isn’t blooming. See, the fig tree is in the desert, resources are scant. For this farmer, if the tree is going to take up water and fertilizer, it had best produce fruit. It can’t take up the resources and time of the community without contributing to the community.
Now, yall, I love you but we’re the fig tree. Jesus is calling us to remember that our actions affect everyone. Jesus is calling us to remember, that we must use the resources of the community for the good of all, not just ourselves. Whether it is in our neighborhoods, our schools, our city, state, nation, or world, we are called to produce the fruit of God for the community. We are called to live in the covenant of God which commands we most serve the poor. Indeed, Jesus says in Matthew chapter 25 verse 40, it is by how we treat the least of society that we will be judged. Not whether we make a lot of money, not whether we win a lot of wars, not whether we wear the latest clothes, drive the coolest car, or live in the right neighborhood, the right house, with the right friends, but by how we as a community of the faithful live for the least, how we as a team, as a people, a congregation, community, society and state suck it up, ‘cause we working for God. Amen!
“I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you…you shall worship God on this mountain.”
May only God’s word be spoken, and only God’s word be heard, Amen!
Today is a special day. Not only is the Sun due to peek its head out this afternoon; not only, with the advancement of the clocks this morning, do we have a clear sign that spring is about to be sprung; not only do we get to freely gather here in this house of God and experience the mystery of communion when we come to this table and receive the ultimate gift of God’s grace in the mundane gifts of bread and wine; not only do we get to sing and pray, but we also get to witness the birth of a community.
Just a few minutes ago, we read the calling of Moses, also known as the story of the burning bush. Now we usually get caught up in Moses when we hear this story. We talk about how he is drawn up the mountain, how he is commanded to remove his shoes because he was on holy ground, and how he baulks at the prospect of leading his people because he doesn’t know God’s name. We get so caught up in the figure head of Moses that we forget what God is doing for all the people called Israel.
See, it’s like this: (yall know I’m a recovering camp counselor, right?) When I was working camps, I was on leadership staff. One of my jobs was to motivate the other counselors to do their jobs. Now this was rarely needed, for indeed most of the counselors I worked with are some of the most dedicated, hard working, self-starting people I know. But, after three or four weeks of mainly 20 hour days, hot sun, the occasionally challenging camper, and always having to be up and energetic, a modicum of exhaustion and self-pity is to be expected. Expected or not, it still must be overcome; therefore, us leadership staff folks had a little saying for when the whining began. We would tell the wayward counselor to “Suck it up, your working for God!”
Now, the staff that were able to actually hear that phrase, my self included, gained the most from the camp counseling experience. We, that is to say I learned what it was to be committed to a community, that my actions always effect someone else, and if I fail someone else suffers with me. In short I learned on a deep level that there is no I in Team.
So, yes, God calls Moses. God calls a person to lead God’s people, a person for God to act through. However, who God called is not nearly as important as to what end Moses was called. Moses was called for God to act through for the creation of a community, a society, indeed a nation founded on the Grace and freedom of God. Now, our story today is barely the beginning of the story of the Exodus, but we get a glimpse of what this community is to be when we hear God say, “I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you…you shall worship God on this mountain.” Now, that might not sound like much to us. That might not sound like a big deal, but to the slaves in Egypt, and even more so their masters, it is a huge deal. The statement that they would worship the God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob, is crazy; at least to Pharaoh. The God that we call God, that Jesus called father, the I AM, the one whose name is so Holy that the ancients simply said “the Lord” because they did not want the Lord’s name defamed by their unholy lips, pharaoh did not know this God. The ruler of Egypt had not given sanction to the worship of this God. How could Pharaoh be sure this God would tell the people what Pharaoh wanted said to them. What if this God commanded something of these people that undermined his rule. Well, that just isn’t done, that can’t be. We can’t have free Gods running around graciously acting upon the people, calling their allegiance, there devotion, indeed their love and worship away from the State, away from the king, away from pharaoh. But indeed that is what God’s says will happen. Furthermore, not only will they worship God, they will do it on God’s mountain. They will worship God where God says to worship God not where Pharaoh says.
Our reading from exodus this morning is not the beginning of the story nor is it the end. The people are liberated from pharaoh they do indeed journey to the mountain of God and worship God, but it doesn’t stop there either. They build a society, a nation based on a covenant, not with a king or a bureaucracy, but with God and on God’s commandments. And what a weird society it is, a society that is do what God did in liberating the slaves from Egypt. See, in the exodus we learn that God prefers, not pharaoh who had won many battles and much material wealth, but the slaves, the lowly, the ones Jesus called the least.
We see evidence of this preferential option for the poor in the law given to Moses on the holy mountain. The edges of fields are not to be harvested so that the poor and landless can harvest them and have food. A cloak, taken as collateral from a poor person, is to be returned at night; so that he or she won’t freeze. Every fifty years is to be a year of Jubilee where all debts are forgiven and land taken as payment of debts is to be returned to ancestral owners. The care and protection of the alien, the widow, and the orphan—all metaphors for the poor—are the responsibility of the entire community. In short the “good and broad land…land flowing with milk and honey” is to be organized, worked, and used to the benefit of all. The resources available to the community are not to be exploited for individual gain, but managed for the good of all.
So, what does all this have to do with fig trees? I confess I’ve been banging head against this Gospel reading all week. Deacon Bob Henrichsen, had to deal with me repeatedly coming out of my office this week and lamenting my lack of knowledge of the rearing of fig trees. Indeed, to my knowledge no one in the office this week, staff or congregant that happened to drop by, has ever owned a fig tree.
So, where’s the good news in Jesus’ parable about the fig tree. As far as I can tell, where the fig tree is located, is as important as the fact that it isn’t blooming. See, the fig tree is in the desert, resources are scant. For this farmer, if the tree is going to take up water and fertilizer, it had best produce fruit. It can’t take up the resources and time of the community without contributing to the community.
Now, yall, I love you but we’re the fig tree. Jesus is calling us to remember that our actions affect everyone. Jesus is calling us to remember, that we must use the resources of the community for the good of all, not just ourselves. Whether it is in our neighborhoods, our schools, our city, state, nation, or world, we are called to produce the fruit of God for the community. We are called to live in the covenant of God which commands we most serve the poor. Indeed, Jesus says in Matthew chapter 25 verse 40, it is by how we treat the least of society that we will be judged. Not whether we make a lot of money, not whether we win a lot of wars, not whether we wear the latest clothes, drive the coolest car, or live in the right neighborhood, the right house, with the right friends, but by how we as a community of the faithful live for the least, how we as a team, as a people, a congregation, community, society and state suck it up, ‘cause we working for God. Amen!
Monday, March 12, 2007
Bono Quote
Don't know if this is real or not, but it is a great quote:
Christians are hard
to tolerate; I don't know
how Jesus does it.
— Bono
to tolerate; I don't know
how Jesus does it.
— Bono
Friday, March 09, 2007
Job Opening at my Church
Greetings,
My church is looking to hire a full time youth and young adult minister. If you are interested please send a resume, cover letter, and 3 references to:
fatherjason@allsaintsomaha.com
or
Father Jason Emerson
All Saints Episcopal Church
9302 Blondo
Omaha, NE 68134
The job description follows:
YOUTH AND YOUNG ADULT MINISTER
ALL SAINTS EPISCOPAL CHURCH
ACCOUNTABLE TO: Rector and Associate Rector
PURPOSE: To serve the church by overseeing and coordinating all youth and young adult ministries, providing for the Christian Formation of Teenagers, their families, and young adults (ages 18-30), and providing leadership to and supervision of volunteers involved in the ministry.
PRIMARY DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
1. Grow in faith and knowledge of Jesus Christ through worship, personal devotion, and education.
2. Actively participate in the worship life of the congregation through attendance, worship planning, and execution.
YOUTH PROGRAM AREA
3. Work closely alongside Director of Christian Formation
4. Oversee recruitment, training and spiritual growth of leaders for various classes/ministries/groups within the youth ministry, including sexual misconduct prevention training.
5. Support a youth ministry steering committee in the ongoing visioning and development of the youth program.
6. Plan and coordinate High School and Middle School Youth Groups, Journey to Adulthood program, and confirmation; work collegially with other staff to develop, support and grow a Youth Choir and Youth Bell Choir.
7. Maintain communication with youth and parents involved with All Saints through, but not limited to, the writing, editing, and publication of a regular youth newsletter.
8. Manage the youth ministries calendar and involve our youth in diocesan events, coordinating with the parish calendar.
9. Oversee planning of special events, mission trips and retreats including administrative details such as permission slips, medical releases and insurance issues.
10. Attend weekly staff meetings, and other meetings and retreats with program staff.
11. Attend vestry meetings as a resource as requested by the Associate Rector or Rector. Submit a monthly report of youth attendance and activities.
YOUNG ADULT PROGRAM AREA
12. Initiate, Develop, and Oversee the young adult ministry focusing on the ages of, but not limited to, 18-30.
13. Coordinate fellowship programs for young adults to grow young adult membership in the parish.
14. Assist in the discipleship development of young adults through discerning spiritual gifts of young adults and networking them to other ministries in the church such as, but not limited to, Choir, Lay Reading, Adult Forums, Outreach and Social Justice Ministries, etc.
15. All other duties as assigned.
CHARACTER TRAITS, EXPERIENCES, AND SKILLS (candidates should exhibit the majority of these.)
16. A Bachelors Degree with specialized training in youth or educational ministries is required to qualify for this position.
17. Candidate exhibits strong Christian character that demonstrates a close relationship with God through personal devotional, worship, and prayer life.
18. Candidate realizes that God is always working, seeks to join God in God’s work, and is willing to make life adjustments to join God in what God is doing.
19. Candidate seeks to minister to the whole family.
20. Candidate can demonstrate ability to recognize and develop leadership potential.
21. Candidate has Christ like attitude that is accepting and inclusive of all the diverse parts of the body of Christ.
22. Candidate has conceptual skills and can develop an idea into an active ministry.
23. Candidate is Enthusiastic, High energy, Self-starter; Encourager; Visionary, and a People Person who enjoys entering into, building, and maintaining relationships with people.
24. Candidate has demonstrated success at various levels of development.
25. Candidate has been involved in organizations or groups as a leader.
26. Candidate is comfortable sharing the Christian faith from Episcopal perspective with both Christian and pre-Christian people. Candidate is not required to be an Episcopalian.
27. Candidate must be computer literate.
INTERESTED CANDIDATES SHOULD SEND
1. Cover Letter
2. Resume
3. 3 References (including contact information)
To: Father Jason Emerson, fatherjason@allsaintsomaha.com
All Saints Episcopal Church
9302 Blondo
Omaha, NE 68134
My church is looking to hire a full time youth and young adult minister. If you are interested please send a resume, cover letter, and 3 references to:
fatherjason@allsaintsomaha.com
or
Father Jason Emerson
All Saints Episcopal Church
9302 Blondo
Omaha, NE 68134
The job description follows:
YOUTH AND YOUNG ADULT MINISTER
ALL SAINTS EPISCOPAL CHURCH
ACCOUNTABLE TO: Rector and Associate Rector
PURPOSE: To serve the church by overseeing and coordinating all youth and young adult ministries, providing for the Christian Formation of Teenagers, their families, and young adults (ages 18-30), and providing leadership to and supervision of volunteers involved in the ministry.
PRIMARY DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
1. Grow in faith and knowledge of Jesus Christ through worship, personal devotion, and education.
2. Actively participate in the worship life of the congregation through attendance, worship planning, and execution.
YOUTH PROGRAM AREA
3. Work closely alongside Director of Christian Formation
4. Oversee recruitment, training and spiritual growth of leaders for various classes/ministries/groups within the youth ministry, including sexual misconduct prevention training.
5. Support a youth ministry steering committee in the ongoing visioning and development of the youth program.
6. Plan and coordinate High School and Middle School Youth Groups, Journey to Adulthood program, and confirmation; work collegially with other staff to develop, support and grow a Youth Choir and Youth Bell Choir.
7. Maintain communication with youth and parents involved with All Saints through, but not limited to, the writing, editing, and publication of a regular youth newsletter.
8. Manage the youth ministries calendar and involve our youth in diocesan events, coordinating with the parish calendar.
9. Oversee planning of special events, mission trips and retreats including administrative details such as permission slips, medical releases and insurance issues.
10. Attend weekly staff meetings, and other meetings and retreats with program staff.
11. Attend vestry meetings as a resource as requested by the Associate Rector or Rector. Submit a monthly report of youth attendance and activities.
YOUNG ADULT PROGRAM AREA
12. Initiate, Develop, and Oversee the young adult ministry focusing on the ages of, but not limited to, 18-30.
13. Coordinate fellowship programs for young adults to grow young adult membership in the parish.
14. Assist in the discipleship development of young adults through discerning spiritual gifts of young adults and networking them to other ministries in the church such as, but not limited to, Choir, Lay Reading, Adult Forums, Outreach and Social Justice Ministries, etc.
15. All other duties as assigned.
CHARACTER TRAITS, EXPERIENCES, AND SKILLS (candidates should exhibit the majority of these.)
16. A Bachelors Degree with specialized training in youth or educational ministries is required to qualify for this position.
17. Candidate exhibits strong Christian character that demonstrates a close relationship with God through personal devotional, worship, and prayer life.
18. Candidate realizes that God is always working, seeks to join God in God’s work, and is willing to make life adjustments to join God in what God is doing.
19. Candidate seeks to minister to the whole family.
20. Candidate can demonstrate ability to recognize and develop leadership potential.
21. Candidate has Christ like attitude that is accepting and inclusive of all the diverse parts of the body of Christ.
22. Candidate has conceptual skills and can develop an idea into an active ministry.
23. Candidate is Enthusiastic, High energy, Self-starter; Encourager; Visionary, and a People Person who enjoys entering into, building, and maintaining relationships with people.
24. Candidate has demonstrated success at various levels of development.
25. Candidate has been involved in organizations or groups as a leader.
26. Candidate is comfortable sharing the Christian faith from Episcopal perspective with both Christian and pre-Christian people. Candidate is not required to be an Episcopalian.
27. Candidate must be computer literate.
INTERESTED CANDIDATES SHOULD SEND
1. Cover Letter
2. Resume
3. 3 References (including contact information)
To: Father Jason Emerson, fatherjason@allsaintsomaha.com
All Saints Episcopal Church
9302 Blondo
Omaha, NE 68134
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Lent I Year C
“For he shall give his angels charge over you, to keep you in all ways. They shall bear you in their hands, lest you dash your foot against a stone.”
I speak with you today in the Name of the righteous life giving one. Amen!
As I have been meditating with our readings this week, I have been thinking a lot about righteousness. What does that word righteous mean? What does it mean to be righteous? What does it mean to possess the quality of righteousness?
Now, as any of y’all who have seen my office know I Love books. My wife and I are house shopping right now, and it drives her nuts that I ask how far it is to the nearest bookstore from every house that we consider. So, I figured I would put these books to some use, and I went searching for answers to my questions about righteousness. As near as I can tell, and I am probably over simplifying here, but righteous, or being righteous, or having righteousness, is the ability to keep promises. Specifically, in the realm of God stuff, God is the righteous one. God is the one who can and always keeps the promises God makes. Even more specifically, God promises to give life. God promises to Abraham that he and Sarah will have a son, their lives will extend through their offspring. That they will have land, that is to say they will have the means to sustain their life, and they will foster a great nation. God has not only the power to deliver on these promises, God has the will. God is righteous. Righteousness so permeates our relationship with God we can even say: the essence of God’s Godness is God’s righteousness. That is to say God promises life and God delivers. God has the power to give life and does so—not merely a functional, heart beating, lungs breathing, mechanical life, but a conscious, empowered, freedom toting life; the life Jesus called the life more abundant.
At times in human history we mark God’s righteousness. Our reading from Deuteronomy is a story of such a marking. The people of Israel have made it from the death sentence of slavery in Egypt to the God given life of the Promised Land. They are called to remember God’s righteousness by their offerings and saying, “The LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with a terrifying display of power, and with signs and wonders; and he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.” The people of Israel are to say this, not to remind God of God’s righteous acts, but to remind themselves of God’s righteous acts. In this remembrance God hopes the people of Israel will in turn pass on God’s righteous life giving acts to others. This pattern of delivered promise, remembrance, and charge to pay it forward, if you will, continues on through history to us today. We are to be righteous like God is righteous.
That was an appropriately "churchy" thing to say. I say things like that all the time. Love as God loves, forgive as we are forgiven, do justice because God is just. We say things like this with such frequency; that I have to ask what’s the catch? Well here it is: We don’t get to control God’s righteousness. We can and should be righteous like God. We can give life. We can set the oppressed free, we can remove the shackles of poverty and ignorance. We can alleviate the burdens of injustice and inequality. But we do not however get to control God’s Righteousness. We don't get to control who God wishes to give the abundant life to. We don't even get to control what the nature of the life God wishes to give us. But boy we are tempted to. Boy, I am tempted to.
In our Gospel today, we hear of Jesus being tempted after forty days in the desert. In the last temptation Jesus is asked to test God’s righteousness, God’s Promise. The devil whisks Jesus up to the pinnacle of the temple, and challenges him to hurl himself to the ground. He issues the challenge using psalm 91 which we also read today, “For he shall give his angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways. They shall bear you in their hands, lest you dash your foot against a stone.” Jesus is tempted to test God’s righteous instead of having faith, tempted to take God’s promise and control it himself. As one commentator put it, “The temptation was to take the promised protection of God into the control of his own will and act. That would have shifted the power of the promise from the free sovereignty of God to individual willfulness.”
Now y’all, I might be over simplifying again, but if Jesus doesn’t get to control God’s righteousness, we certainly are not allowed to. Admittedly, none of us is going to be whisked in an instant to the top of the temple by the devil and challenged to jump, especially since, as our confirmands should know the temple was destroyed in 70 A.D. However, what about our prayer lives? How many times do we pray trying to get what we want instead of what God wants? How many times do we pray trying to control God’s righteousness, trying to control the life God wants to give us?
We have entered the season of Lent, and many of us have taken on Lenten disciplines as part of our devotional practices. But I ask today, did we take on these disciplines for our reasons or for Gods. Did we give up chocolate because we want to lose a few pounds? Did we receive the imposition of ashes this past Wednesday so we can walk around town with smudged foreheads letting everyone know we are in the Christ crowd? Did we decide to try and live the Golden rule with our families hoping it will improve our relationships? Did we give up shopping because we want to save a little money? Deciding to do these things is not bad in and of itself, but the fault comes when we try to control the outcome. All these acts of devotion are prayerful actions, basically they are prayers. But as a mentor of mine, and son of this parish, Fr. Scott Barker recently wrote on his blog, “…praying is not about getting what we want. Praying is about getting what God wants.” So this lent I invite you, even challenge you to take on a prayerful discipline, but not with a desired outcome. I challenge you to enter into a journey with Christ not knowing where it will take you. I challenge you to let God be God, to let God be free to be righteous, to give you the God intended life God wants to give you. This Lent do not pray for what you want, do not pray for what I want or Father Tom wants or anybody else. This Lent pray for what God wants. Amen!
I speak with you today in the Name of the righteous life giving one. Amen!
As I have been meditating with our readings this week, I have been thinking a lot about righteousness. What does that word righteous mean? What does it mean to be righteous? What does it mean to possess the quality of righteousness?
Now, as any of y’all who have seen my office know I Love books. My wife and I are house shopping right now, and it drives her nuts that I ask how far it is to the nearest bookstore from every house that we consider. So, I figured I would put these books to some use, and I went searching for answers to my questions about righteousness. As near as I can tell, and I am probably over simplifying here, but righteous, or being righteous, or having righteousness, is the ability to keep promises. Specifically, in the realm of God stuff, God is the righteous one. God is the one who can and always keeps the promises God makes. Even more specifically, God promises to give life. God promises to Abraham that he and Sarah will have a son, their lives will extend through their offspring. That they will have land, that is to say they will have the means to sustain their life, and they will foster a great nation. God has not only the power to deliver on these promises, God has the will. God is righteous. Righteousness so permeates our relationship with God we can even say: the essence of God’s Godness is God’s righteousness. That is to say God promises life and God delivers. God has the power to give life and does so—not merely a functional, heart beating, lungs breathing, mechanical life, but a conscious, empowered, freedom toting life; the life Jesus called the life more abundant.
At times in human history we mark God’s righteousness. Our reading from Deuteronomy is a story of such a marking. The people of Israel have made it from the death sentence of slavery in Egypt to the God given life of the Promised Land. They are called to remember God’s righteousness by their offerings and saying, “The LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with a terrifying display of power, and with signs and wonders; and he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.” The people of Israel are to say this, not to remind God of God’s righteous acts, but to remind themselves of God’s righteous acts. In this remembrance God hopes the people of Israel will in turn pass on God’s righteous life giving acts to others. This pattern of delivered promise, remembrance, and charge to pay it forward, if you will, continues on through history to us today. We are to be righteous like God is righteous.
That was an appropriately "churchy" thing to say. I say things like that all the time. Love as God loves, forgive as we are forgiven, do justice because God is just. We say things like this with such frequency; that I have to ask what’s the catch? Well here it is: We don’t get to control God’s righteousness. We can and should be righteous like God. We can give life. We can set the oppressed free, we can remove the shackles of poverty and ignorance. We can alleviate the burdens of injustice and inequality. But we do not however get to control God’s Righteousness. We don't get to control who God wishes to give the abundant life to. We don't even get to control what the nature of the life God wishes to give us. But boy we are tempted to. Boy, I am tempted to.
In our Gospel today, we hear of Jesus being tempted after forty days in the desert. In the last temptation Jesus is asked to test God’s righteousness, God’s Promise. The devil whisks Jesus up to the pinnacle of the temple, and challenges him to hurl himself to the ground. He issues the challenge using psalm 91 which we also read today, “For he shall give his angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways. They shall bear you in their hands, lest you dash your foot against a stone.” Jesus is tempted to test God’s righteous instead of having faith, tempted to take God’s promise and control it himself. As one commentator put it, “The temptation was to take the promised protection of God into the control of his own will and act. That would have shifted the power of the promise from the free sovereignty of God to individual willfulness.”
Now y’all, I might be over simplifying again, but if Jesus doesn’t get to control God’s righteousness, we certainly are not allowed to. Admittedly, none of us is going to be whisked in an instant to the top of the temple by the devil and challenged to jump, especially since, as our confirmands should know the temple was destroyed in 70 A.D. However, what about our prayer lives? How many times do we pray trying to get what we want instead of what God wants? How many times do we pray trying to control God’s righteousness, trying to control the life God wants to give us?
We have entered the season of Lent, and many of us have taken on Lenten disciplines as part of our devotional practices. But I ask today, did we take on these disciplines for our reasons or for Gods. Did we give up chocolate because we want to lose a few pounds? Did we receive the imposition of ashes this past Wednesday so we can walk around town with smudged foreheads letting everyone know we are in the Christ crowd? Did we decide to try and live the Golden rule with our families hoping it will improve our relationships? Did we give up shopping because we want to save a little money? Deciding to do these things is not bad in and of itself, but the fault comes when we try to control the outcome. All these acts of devotion are prayerful actions, basically they are prayers. But as a mentor of mine, and son of this parish, Fr. Scott Barker recently wrote on his blog, “…praying is not about getting what we want. Praying is about getting what God wants.” So this lent I invite you, even challenge you to take on a prayerful discipline, but not with a desired outcome. I challenge you to enter into a journey with Christ not knowing where it will take you. I challenge you to let God be God, to let God be free to be righteous, to give you the God intended life God wants to give you. This Lent do not pray for what you want, do not pray for what I want or Father Tom wants or anybody else. This Lent pray for what God wants. Amen!
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Testimony before Nebraska Legislative Committee
This past Monday I was blessed with the opportunity to testify in front of the Transportation and Telecommunications Committee regarding a bill that will help make Nebraska Roads safer and will face the honest reality of our current immigration situation. The text follows:
Greetings:
My name is Father Jason Emerson, Associate Rector of All Saints Episcopal Church. Thank you for your time and hearing today. I wish to speak in favor of LB 266. I support this proposed policy simply because it is good for me, good for the people of my parish, and good for all people residing in Nebraska.
Moving LB 266 out of committee, where it will hopefully be passed on the floor of the unicameral, is in my interests because I drive a car in Nebraska. Both my work and my leisure consist of driving not only the streets of Omaha, but the entire state as well. Licensed insured drivers are safer then those without either. Passing this legislation will increase the percentage of licensed and insured drivers; therefore my safety is increased, and when accidents do happen my health and property are insured. Passing this legislation will mean increased safety for both my wife and me.
For similar reasons this bill is good for the people of my congregation. Whether they themselves are drivers, or they have children or others that they drive to church, I want them to be able to arrive at church for worship, Christian formation, and other events safely. Once again they will be helped by this bill because of the raised level of public safety it will provide.
Finally, I hope for the passing of LB266 because it is good policy for all people of the state of Nebraska. Not only could it decrease the amount of uninsured motorist and therefore the amount of uninsured accident claims, making it fiscally sound, it is also morally sound. I am an Episcopalian. We take an oath at our baptism, which we repeat at least five times a year because it is central to our practice of faith. The last question of that oath asks, “Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?” The proscribed answer is, “I will with God’s help.” I believe that respecting the dignity of every human being, that is to say every child of God, involves giving every child of God the opportunity to obey the law. There are many children of God in the state of Nebraska that would like to obey our driving laws. They would like to be licensed and insured drivers, but are not currently allowed.
Today an opportunity is before you. Rarely do we get to help large quantities of people with simple actions, but today you can take a step towards not only improving my safety, not only the safety of my parishioners, but also the moral fabric of our state. I urge you to deeply consider what you have heard here today, and to vote to send LB266 to the floor of the legislature. I urge you further, once the bill is on the floor to speak in favor of its passing. Once again, thank you for your time and hearing of this matter, and may God help us all!
Greetings:
My name is Father Jason Emerson, Associate Rector of All Saints Episcopal Church. Thank you for your time and hearing today. I wish to speak in favor of LB 266. I support this proposed policy simply because it is good for me, good for the people of my parish, and good for all people residing in Nebraska.
Moving LB 266 out of committee, where it will hopefully be passed on the floor of the unicameral, is in my interests because I drive a car in Nebraska. Both my work and my leisure consist of driving not only the streets of Omaha, but the entire state as well. Licensed insured drivers are safer then those without either. Passing this legislation will increase the percentage of licensed and insured drivers; therefore my safety is increased, and when accidents do happen my health and property are insured. Passing this legislation will mean increased safety for both my wife and me.
For similar reasons this bill is good for the people of my congregation. Whether they themselves are drivers, or they have children or others that they drive to church, I want them to be able to arrive at church for worship, Christian formation, and other events safely. Once again they will be helped by this bill because of the raised level of public safety it will provide.
Finally, I hope for the passing of LB266 because it is good policy for all people of the state of Nebraska. Not only could it decrease the amount of uninsured motorist and therefore the amount of uninsured accident claims, making it fiscally sound, it is also morally sound. I am an Episcopalian. We take an oath at our baptism, which we repeat at least five times a year because it is central to our practice of faith. The last question of that oath asks, “Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?” The proscribed answer is, “I will with God’s help.” I believe that respecting the dignity of every human being, that is to say every child of God, involves giving every child of God the opportunity to obey the law. There are many children of God in the state of Nebraska that would like to obey our driving laws. They would like to be licensed and insured drivers, but are not currently allowed.
Today an opportunity is before you. Rarely do we get to help large quantities of people with simple actions, but today you can take a step towards not only improving my safety, not only the safety of my parishioners, but also the moral fabric of our state. I urge you to deeply consider what you have heard here today, and to vote to send LB266 to the floor of the legislature. I urge you further, once the bill is on the floor to speak in favor of its passing. Once again, thank you for your time and hearing of this matter, and may God help us all!
Friday, February 02, 2007
Keep it real!
Keep it real! is a slang term these days with a host meanings determined mainly by context. It can be both compliment and exhortation, critique and confirmation. However, at its core is the truth that pretense is a bad idea. We should be grounded in reality, not in what we would like reality to be or what think reality might be. I am an Episcopal priest and one of the things I love about the Episcopal tradition is its willingness to shed pretense in favor of reality. Now, most of us in the Episcopal church would read my last sentence and at least scoff but more likely outright laugh in disbelief. Truly, one of the things that bother me about the Episcopal tradition, or more correctly Christian congregations in general is our stupendous ability to be pretentious. Indeed, the practice of 'putting on airs' may have literally begun in American churches. I certainly would not be surprised if it did.
However, if we look closely is that really what is happening at church? Are we really pretending to be something we aren't, pretending to be better then we are? In some sense, yes we are. We are at church to practice being the loving creature God intends us to be. Just as God is love we are fated to love divinely. The problem comes in when we believe or pretend to believe that we are somehow better then other folks. We aren't! Everyone is just as intended, just as fated for love as we are. But we need practice at being what God has made us for, and we need reminding of what that is, and we need correction when are not becoming that. So in actuality we aren't pretending to be someone we aren't, we are pretending to be what we are becoming and what we already are. (I realize that sounds like a contradiction, and I promise to post an explanation later...wait for it!) For now, there is another problem. We, to often in our congregations, act like everything is perfect, that there is never discord or strife, and if you just follow the rules your life will never have any pain or suffering. This is when we are no longer Keeping it real. Indeed the scriptures tell us a different story. The scriptures both Hebrew and Christian tell us that the path to being what God has intended is through the wilderness, through the rough, torn, disorienting landscape that is the desert. We can not avoid pain and suffering, and when our worship denies that reality then we are definitely not keeping it real, and we are no longer relevant to any experience anyone might have on this planet. We see this most often in our church music, especially a lot of Contemporary Christian Music (CCM). To often in a CCM worship song life is just a little too perfect a little too wonderful to be real. Walter Brueggemann in his book The Spirituality of the Psalms put it like this:
This is where the season of lent functions as a corrective for our natural tendency to white wash things. Lent invites us, for a time, to strip away all pretense, to ask who exactly we are, to be brutally honest with ourselves and to "keep it real" not so that we keep things the way they are, but in order for us to move through the wilderness to the promised land. Moving from pretending to be the body of Christ to actually being the body of Christ in the world.
However, if we look closely is that really what is happening at church? Are we really pretending to be something we aren't, pretending to be better then we are? In some sense, yes we are. We are at church to practice being the loving creature God intends us to be. Just as God is love we are fated to love divinely. The problem comes in when we believe or pretend to believe that we are somehow better then other folks. We aren't! Everyone is just as intended, just as fated for love as we are. But we need practice at being what God has made us for, and we need reminding of what that is, and we need correction when are not becoming that. So in actuality we aren't pretending to be someone we aren't, we are pretending to be what we are becoming and what we already are. (I realize that sounds like a contradiction, and I promise to post an explanation later...wait for it!) For now, there is another problem. We, to often in our congregations, act like everything is perfect, that there is never discord or strife, and if you just follow the rules your life will never have any pain or suffering. This is when we are no longer Keeping it real. Indeed the scriptures tell us a different story. The scriptures both Hebrew and Christian tell us that the path to being what God has intended is through the wilderness, through the rough, torn, disorienting landscape that is the desert. We can not avoid pain and suffering, and when our worship denies that reality then we are definitely not keeping it real, and we are no longer relevant to any experience anyone might have on this planet. We see this most often in our church music, especially a lot of Contemporary Christian Music (CCM). To often in a CCM worship song life is just a little too perfect a little too wonderful to be real. Walter Brueggemann in his book The Spirituality of the Psalms put it like this:
The problem with a hymnody that focuses on equilibrium, coherence, and symmetry...is that it may deceive and cover over. Life is not like that. Life is also savagely marked by incoherence, a loss of balance, and unrelieved asymmetry."
This is where the season of lent functions as a corrective for our natural tendency to white wash things. Lent invites us, for a time, to strip away all pretense, to ask who exactly we are, to be brutally honest with ourselves and to "keep it real" not so that we keep things the way they are, but in order for us to move through the wilderness to the promised land. Moving from pretending to be the body of Christ to actually being the body of Christ in the world.
Gracious Morning
Greetings,
So, I have been at my new gig for about two weeks. Yesterday I was blessed with a God moment, manna in the desert if you will. I was walking from the bathroom to my office(where else would God speak but in the middle of the mundane!) and I had an epiphany that I was called here to All Saints to be myself. This wasn't arrogance or self admoration, merely a grace filled notion that God put me here not to be something else, but that I had spent the last decade of my life becoming what God wanted me to be and that is a good thing. Now God will use that good thing in ways that I probably can't imagine, but the good will come from God. And when I stray from that good direction, when I part from the path of righteousness, when my acceptance of my gifts as tools good enough for God's purpose truly does become arrogant and self-aggrandizing, I am blessed to have beautiful people around me to burst that bubble. Gracious folks that love me and respect me enough to call me to repentance yet again, not for any gain of there own, but because there is work to be done and my baggage doesn't need to be in the way. Thanks God for the moment, keep 'em coming.
God's Peace,
Jason+
So, I have been at my new gig for about two weeks. Yesterday I was blessed with a God moment, manna in the desert if you will. I was walking from the bathroom to my office(where else would God speak but in the middle of the mundane!) and I had an epiphany that I was called here to All Saints to be myself. This wasn't arrogance or self admoration, merely a grace filled notion that God put me here not to be something else, but that I had spent the last decade of my life becoming what God wanted me to be and that is a good thing. Now God will use that good thing in ways that I probably can't imagine, but the good will come from God. And when I stray from that good direction, when I part from the path of righteousness, when my acceptance of my gifts as tools good enough for God's purpose truly does become arrogant and self-aggrandizing, I am blessed to have beautiful people around me to burst that bubble. Gracious folks that love me and respect me enough to call me to repentance yet again, not for any gain of there own, but because there is work to be done and my baggage doesn't need to be in the way. Thanks God for the moment, keep 'em coming.
God's Peace,
Jason+
Friday, January 26, 2007
Sermon for Third Sunday after Epiphany Year C, first at All Saints delivered on Anniversary of my ordination
“If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.”
I speak with you today in the name of the ever present God. Amen!
In the spring of 1996, I made an important phone call to my father. Now, let me give you a little history as to why this phone call is important. My father is a retired Southern Baptist pastor, which means I have been in church since 9 months before I was born. The spring of 96 found me wrapping up my second year of college at Middle Tennessee State University in Murphreesboro, Tennessee. Since leaving my parents house and my home town two years prior I had maintained a very consistent church attendance practice. I consistently didn’t go! In my first year and a half or so, I think I might have been in a church maybe once, and it definitely was not a Baptist church. I called my father that day to tell him I had started going to church.
At first my father was very excited. He had been praying for me to find my own church home literally everyday since I had moved out. However, his excitement was tempered by the news that I wasn’t attending a Baptist church. It I turns out, I had been going to St. Paul’s Episcopal Church and attending their campus ministry for about a month and a half. My father was still happy with this news but a little dubious since he had extremely little knowledge about the Episcopal Church, it practices, and its beliefs. He immediately wanted to know what was different about St. Paul’s. I told him, “Well, pop (pop is a southern expression for father not for a flavored soda drink) they serve communion every week.” He replied, “Every week? Doesn’t it lose its special-ness having it every week?” I said, “No, it’s the most important part of the service instead of the sermon.” Now, my father is an old school preacher. He can bring it from the pulpit week in and week out, and is very studious and dedicated to the craft of preaching. So, I think I got a snort in response to that statement.
Now, you need a little bit more background, a little bit more information about my father to understand the next part of our conversation. See, my father is not just a Baptist; he is not just a Southern Baptist; nor is he just a Southern Baptist Pastor. He is a Tea-totaling Southern Baptist Pastor. He comes from a tradition in the Baptist church extending from the temperance movement that considers all alcohol consumption, no matter how small an amount, to be a grave sin—not merely a sin, and definitely not a minor infraction, but a grave sin. So, yall can probably guess what the next difference of Episcopal practice I had to report. I told my father, “Now pop, they use real wine in the communion.” There was a long pause on the other end of the line. A weighted pause—if you will—that made me wonder if I was still part of the Emerson family. Finally, my father replied, “Well, maybe that little bit won’t hurt you.” And we moved on to other conversations.
Over the years both of my parents have come to appreciate and maybe even love the Episcopal worship service, and I am proud that both my parents not only attended my ordination and received communion, but my mother was one of my presenters and my father was one of the clergy that laid hands on me this weekend just one year ago.
I have told the humorous story of this phone call many, many times. However, the important part is not its entertainment value. The important part is at the beginning. I had returned to church. More importantly, I had returned to trying to live a life of faith. See, I had left thinking there were greener pastures and more harrowing adventures outside the church. But something called me back. There were things both internally and externally that compelled me to return to the faith.
In our reading from the Hebrew Scriptures today, the people of Israel are culminating a return of their own. They had been in exile, the city of Jerusalem in ruins and their existence as a race and culture in danger of extinction. Our reading today is a culmination of the near century long restoration of the temple, the Law of Moses, and the walls of Jerusalem that occurred after a 50 year exile. But their time away from God preceded their physical removal. See, the history of the kingdom of Israel from Solomon on is a time when the people had forgotten the graciousness of God. The times were marked with a widening gap between the rich and the poor, conscripted military and public service, burdensome tax laws, and no respect or provision for the alien, the widow, or the orphan. All these things were against the Law of God given to Moses, against the society that God had called for and created in the Exodus.
Our reading from Nehemiah today is the culmination of their return to the community, to the societal structure, the urban planning, to the political constitution that God intended. And what did they do to mark their return? What did they do to guide their return back to God, to make sure they headed back in the proper direction? They read the scriptures, the holy story; the account of God’s graciousness that, not only created them as individuals, but also created their community. God says, “Here Oh, Israel. I am your Lord, the one who brought you out of Egypt and made you a great nation.” They are returning to their story, to their God, to who they were intended to be.
We all experience times in our live when we go astray; times when we individually, as congregation, as a community, society, and world head in a “non-God-ward” direction; times when we are not becoming what God has intended us to be. We know this. We can feel it “deep in our bones” as they say that something just isn’t right. This ingrained notion is also the roots of our longing for God. We instinctively look for the source of who we are to make things right. Somewhere within us we long for justice and that justice comes from God. The prominent English Bishop, scholar, and author, N.T. Wright in his book Simply Christian, argues that longing for Justice is the root of the Christian faith.
Our Gospel reading today, backs up the good Bishop. Jesus is returning as well. He has spent forty days in desert resisting temptation and discerning his ministry and has returned to his childhood region and begun to preach and teach in the synagogues. Our Gospel today is his first sermon back in his home town of Nazareth where he lays out his mission statement for his ministry, where he tells them what has happened, what is happening, and what will happen now that he is in the game. Jesus unrolls the scroll of the Prophet Isaiah and reads,
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Then Jesus does the craziest thing. Jesus has the gumption to sit in that room with the people who taught him how to read, with the people who probably caught him skipping his chores to go fishing when he was a kid, and say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” The year of the Lord’s Favor, the year of jubilee when all debts are forgiven, land is returned to ancestral owners, when wealth is redistributed and everyone is given a clean slate, Jesus proclaims that day has come.
Now we don’t have to look a newspaper for very long at all to think Jesus is crazy when he says this. We the human race still fight for food, energy, resources, and sometimes just plain power. But while I can empathize with the other people in the synagogue who might have been thinking Jesus had spent a little too much time in the Sun, I’m going to err on the side of Jesus. I don’t know about you, but I think when Jesus says he is here to “bring good news to the poor” to “let the oppressed go free”, and to “proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” he means it.
So, how come we still have all this pain and suffering in the world? And when I say all, I mean all. From our internal demons be they alcoholism, drug addiction, anger, depression, selfishness and greed, to our external family struggles and physical illness; from our battles over education to violence in the streets; from wars, famine, and oppression, to hurricanes, tsunami’s and ice storms; I want to know, “How long oh Lord, how long?”
Now, yall, you will never hear me claim to have all the answers. However, if I may be so bold, I think the apostle Paul offers us some insight today. Paul writes that we are all part of the body of Christ. We are the physical manifestation of Christ in the world.
Paul goes on to write that we each have a role, a function within the body of Christ. We have been given spiritual gifts for ministry in the world. Paul lifts up three of these gifts as goals that each and everyone of us can strive for: apostle, prophet, and teacher. As I meditated with these scriptures this week I realized that all these gifts are outward focused. Apostle means sent out to tell the good news; a prophet is one who cries out against injustice; and a teacher guides the way for others. Each of these ministries can be lived out in a myriad of ways by anyone. They have nothing to do with ordinations or professions. Paul writes that we are all to strive to live out these greater gifts regardless of our age, our career, our gender, our race, or our status. Just as Christ, God in human flesh, took the sufferings of the world upon his shoulders, we are called to bring joy where there is pain, forgiveness where there is guilt, light where there is darkness. These are not merely descriptive metaphors but calls to concrete action.
So what are we to do, and how are we to do it? One of the best parts of my job is that I get to meet and know new people. I been getting to know a few people here at All Saints and I have many, many more to get to know. But I can tell you this, in the few people I have met so far, the Spirit of Baptism, the force that empowers us as the Body of Christ is alive in All Saints Episcopal church. Gifts for ministry are being discovered and applied. I have heard stories of love and compassion, growth and grace over and over again. I am excited to get to know more of you, but I suspect there are more movings of the spirit occurring within us that will be carried to this world. The potential for good from All Saints is unlimited for indeed we can do all things through Christ who strengthens. Moreover, we not only can do good, we must. For as the Apostle Paul writes, “If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.”
But we must journey in a God-ward direction. To do that we must stay connected to that divine story salvation. We must come here to this house of God, hear the word of God, pray for ourselves and others, confess our sins, and most importantly we must come this table. We must come to this table and receive the bread and wine. We must receive the spiritual food of the most precious Body and Blood broken and poured out for us. We must receive the body of Christ so that we can then go and be the body of Christ in the world. Amen!
I speak with you today in the name of the ever present God. Amen!
In the spring of 1996, I made an important phone call to my father. Now, let me give you a little history as to why this phone call is important. My father is a retired Southern Baptist pastor, which means I have been in church since 9 months before I was born. The spring of 96 found me wrapping up my second year of college at Middle Tennessee State University in Murphreesboro, Tennessee. Since leaving my parents house and my home town two years prior I had maintained a very consistent church attendance practice. I consistently didn’t go! In my first year and a half or so, I think I might have been in a church maybe once, and it definitely was not a Baptist church. I called my father that day to tell him I had started going to church.
At first my father was very excited. He had been praying for me to find my own church home literally everyday since I had moved out. However, his excitement was tempered by the news that I wasn’t attending a Baptist church. It I turns out, I had been going to St. Paul’s Episcopal Church and attending their campus ministry for about a month and a half. My father was still happy with this news but a little dubious since he had extremely little knowledge about the Episcopal Church, it practices, and its beliefs. He immediately wanted to know what was different about St. Paul’s. I told him, “Well, pop (pop is a southern expression for father not for a flavored soda drink) they serve communion every week.” He replied, “Every week? Doesn’t it lose its special-ness having it every week?” I said, “No, it’s the most important part of the service instead of the sermon.” Now, my father is an old school preacher. He can bring it from the pulpit week in and week out, and is very studious and dedicated to the craft of preaching. So, I think I got a snort in response to that statement.
Now, you need a little bit more background, a little bit more information about my father to understand the next part of our conversation. See, my father is not just a Baptist; he is not just a Southern Baptist; nor is he just a Southern Baptist Pastor. He is a Tea-totaling Southern Baptist Pastor. He comes from a tradition in the Baptist church extending from the temperance movement that considers all alcohol consumption, no matter how small an amount, to be a grave sin—not merely a sin, and definitely not a minor infraction, but a grave sin. So, yall can probably guess what the next difference of Episcopal practice I had to report. I told my father, “Now pop, they use real wine in the communion.” There was a long pause on the other end of the line. A weighted pause—if you will—that made me wonder if I was still part of the Emerson family. Finally, my father replied, “Well, maybe that little bit won’t hurt you.” And we moved on to other conversations.
Over the years both of my parents have come to appreciate and maybe even love the Episcopal worship service, and I am proud that both my parents not only attended my ordination and received communion, but my mother was one of my presenters and my father was one of the clergy that laid hands on me this weekend just one year ago.
I have told the humorous story of this phone call many, many times. However, the important part is not its entertainment value. The important part is at the beginning. I had returned to church. More importantly, I had returned to trying to live a life of faith. See, I had left thinking there were greener pastures and more harrowing adventures outside the church. But something called me back. There were things both internally and externally that compelled me to return to the faith.
In our reading from the Hebrew Scriptures today, the people of Israel are culminating a return of their own. They had been in exile, the city of Jerusalem in ruins and their existence as a race and culture in danger of extinction. Our reading today is a culmination of the near century long restoration of the temple, the Law of Moses, and the walls of Jerusalem that occurred after a 50 year exile. But their time away from God preceded their physical removal. See, the history of the kingdom of Israel from Solomon on is a time when the people had forgotten the graciousness of God. The times were marked with a widening gap between the rich and the poor, conscripted military and public service, burdensome tax laws, and no respect or provision for the alien, the widow, or the orphan. All these things were against the Law of God given to Moses, against the society that God had called for and created in the Exodus.
Our reading from Nehemiah today is the culmination of their return to the community, to the societal structure, the urban planning, to the political constitution that God intended. And what did they do to mark their return? What did they do to guide their return back to God, to make sure they headed back in the proper direction? They read the scriptures, the holy story; the account of God’s graciousness that, not only created them as individuals, but also created their community. God says, “Here Oh, Israel. I am your Lord, the one who brought you out of Egypt and made you a great nation.” They are returning to their story, to their God, to who they were intended to be.
We all experience times in our live when we go astray; times when we individually, as congregation, as a community, society, and world head in a “non-God-ward” direction; times when we are not becoming what God has intended us to be. We know this. We can feel it “deep in our bones” as they say that something just isn’t right. This ingrained notion is also the roots of our longing for God. We instinctively look for the source of who we are to make things right. Somewhere within us we long for justice and that justice comes from God. The prominent English Bishop, scholar, and author, N.T. Wright in his book Simply Christian, argues that longing for Justice is the root of the Christian faith.
Our Gospel reading today, backs up the good Bishop. Jesus is returning as well. He has spent forty days in desert resisting temptation and discerning his ministry and has returned to his childhood region and begun to preach and teach in the synagogues. Our Gospel today is his first sermon back in his home town of Nazareth where he lays out his mission statement for his ministry, where he tells them what has happened, what is happening, and what will happen now that he is in the game. Jesus unrolls the scroll of the Prophet Isaiah and reads,
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Then Jesus does the craziest thing. Jesus has the gumption to sit in that room with the people who taught him how to read, with the people who probably caught him skipping his chores to go fishing when he was a kid, and say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” The year of the Lord’s Favor, the year of jubilee when all debts are forgiven, land is returned to ancestral owners, when wealth is redistributed and everyone is given a clean slate, Jesus proclaims that day has come.
Now we don’t have to look a newspaper for very long at all to think Jesus is crazy when he says this. We the human race still fight for food, energy, resources, and sometimes just plain power. But while I can empathize with the other people in the synagogue who might have been thinking Jesus had spent a little too much time in the Sun, I’m going to err on the side of Jesus. I don’t know about you, but I think when Jesus says he is here to “bring good news to the poor” to “let the oppressed go free”, and to “proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” he means it.
So, how come we still have all this pain and suffering in the world? And when I say all, I mean all. From our internal demons be they alcoholism, drug addiction, anger, depression, selfishness and greed, to our external family struggles and physical illness; from our battles over education to violence in the streets; from wars, famine, and oppression, to hurricanes, tsunami’s and ice storms; I want to know, “How long oh Lord, how long?”
Now, yall, you will never hear me claim to have all the answers. However, if I may be so bold, I think the apostle Paul offers us some insight today. Paul writes that we are all part of the body of Christ. We are the physical manifestation of Christ in the world.
Paul goes on to write that we each have a role, a function within the body of Christ. We have been given spiritual gifts for ministry in the world. Paul lifts up three of these gifts as goals that each and everyone of us can strive for: apostle, prophet, and teacher. As I meditated with these scriptures this week I realized that all these gifts are outward focused. Apostle means sent out to tell the good news; a prophet is one who cries out against injustice; and a teacher guides the way for others. Each of these ministries can be lived out in a myriad of ways by anyone. They have nothing to do with ordinations or professions. Paul writes that we are all to strive to live out these greater gifts regardless of our age, our career, our gender, our race, or our status. Just as Christ, God in human flesh, took the sufferings of the world upon his shoulders, we are called to bring joy where there is pain, forgiveness where there is guilt, light where there is darkness. These are not merely descriptive metaphors but calls to concrete action.
So what are we to do, and how are we to do it? One of the best parts of my job is that I get to meet and know new people. I been getting to know a few people here at All Saints and I have many, many more to get to know. But I can tell you this, in the few people I have met so far, the Spirit of Baptism, the force that empowers us as the Body of Christ is alive in All Saints Episcopal church. Gifts for ministry are being discovered and applied. I have heard stories of love and compassion, growth and grace over and over again. I am excited to get to know more of you, but I suspect there are more movings of the spirit occurring within us that will be carried to this world. The potential for good from All Saints is unlimited for indeed we can do all things through Christ who strengthens. Moreover, we not only can do good, we must. For as the Apostle Paul writes, “If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.”
But we must journey in a God-ward direction. To do that we must stay connected to that divine story salvation. We must come here to this house of God, hear the word of God, pray for ourselves and others, confess our sins, and most importantly we must come this table. We must come to this table and receive the bread and wine. We must receive the spiritual food of the most precious Body and Blood broken and poured out for us. We must receive the body of Christ so that we can then go and be the body of Christ in the world. Amen!
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Early, and I do mean EARLY, morning thoughts
Greetings,
It is 2:00 in the morning. That's right...2 in the a.m. Back in the day it would not be strange for me to be up at 2 a.m. or maybe getting home about now. These days, I don't see two a.m. much. Early to bed and early to rise are much more common realities for me now, but not this early.
I have awoken because tomorrow is my first day at my new church All Saint Episcopal. I am excited and a little nervous. There is much work to be done. First, there are a lot of people, each with a story, and each needing to know God's love. Second, there is a rebirth going on in the parish which is exciting, but they need guidance and a bit of agitation to move them from "maintainence to mission"(as my new boss would say). So far, everyone I have met has been extremely devoted to Christ and very talented. It will be a matter of getting them point in the right direction and motivated to use their respective talents, their spiritual gifts, for the glory of Christ.
Well what I think would help me the most at this moment would be some sleep! Maybe there are a few more winks to be caught.
It is 2:00 in the morning. That's right...2 in the a.m. Back in the day it would not be strange for me to be up at 2 a.m. or maybe getting home about now. These days, I don't see two a.m. much. Early to bed and early to rise are much more common realities for me now, but not this early.
I have awoken because tomorrow is my first day at my new church All Saint Episcopal. I am excited and a little nervous. There is much work to be done. First, there are a lot of people, each with a story, and each needing to know God's love. Second, there is a rebirth going on in the parish which is exciting, but they need guidance and a bit of agitation to move them from "maintainence to mission"(as my new boss would say). So far, everyone I have met has been extremely devoted to Christ and very talented. It will be a matter of getting them point in the right direction and motivated to use their respective talents, their spiritual gifts, for the glory of Christ.
Well what I think would help me the most at this moment would be some sleep! Maybe there are a few more winks to be caught.
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Chalcedon Compliant
Well, I'm actually a little miffed that I'm not more of a heretic.
You scored as Chalcedon compliant. You are Chalcedon compliant. Congratulations, you're not a heretic. You believe that Jesus is truly God and truly man and like us in every respect, apart from sin. Officially approved in 451.
Are you a heretic? created with QuizFarm.com |
Sunday, December 31, 2006
New Orleans
I'm in New Orleans, LA (NOLA)for Celebrate V the Ecumenical Gathering of Christian College Students. The conference is great, but the city is the real experience. I was in NOLA for a Lutheran Student Movement gathering new year's 2000-2001; so I can not help but do a pre/post Katrina comparison. The difference is felt before it is seen. There isn't the same bustling hustling energy here anymore. In fact, for any urban area it seems sedate. It is estimated that NOLA is about 40% of pre-Katrina population. In most cities, infrastructure supports people. Here, now, the people are not present to support the infrastructure, thus slowing the rebuilding process.
In fact, if you get out of the French Quarter, it looks like the hurricane happened last month not last year. The Lower Ninth ward is heart breaking. The whole city was hit, and all are hurting. However, in most areas recovery, though slow, is happening. In the Lower Ninth, that isn't the case. With extremely few exceptions, the people of the Lower Ninth just don't have the resources to rebuild. It is enough to make one feel hopeless.
However, there is hope in NOLA! It comes from the music. That, of course, sounds cheesy, but allow me to elaborate. The music of New Orleans is not prepackaged snack food music like most sounds you here on MTV or the radio today. The music here is instrinsicly related to the expresion of deep emotions that prose just can't support, sometimes even words can not support. At the very least it takes a poem, but more likely it takes a jazz solo, a dance, or a combination. In NOLA they have a tradition called a Second Line. It is a funeral procession where a brass band leads the coffin and a host of folks to and from the burial site. On the journey toward the resting place a dirge, slow mornful music, is played. The people cry, mourn, wail, and grieve publicly. However, on the way back, the music is joyful and the dancing begins. In the Second Line, both reality and hope are publicly processed. It is the strong symbol of the Second Line that will allow the people of New Orleans to grieve and to hope, to suffer and heal.
Unfortunately most of our culture is being reduced to snack food. We are better at denial then grief. We lack the strong symbols to publily process pain and therefore make space for hope. Not so in NOLA. Here they lay it out for all to see, and we would do well to watch.
In fact, if you get out of the French Quarter, it looks like the hurricane happened last month not last year. The Lower Ninth ward is heart breaking. The whole city was hit, and all are hurting. However, in most areas recovery, though slow, is happening. In the Lower Ninth, that isn't the case. With extremely few exceptions, the people of the Lower Ninth just don't have the resources to rebuild. It is enough to make one feel hopeless.
However, there is hope in NOLA! It comes from the music. That, of course, sounds cheesy, but allow me to elaborate. The music of New Orleans is not prepackaged snack food music like most sounds you here on MTV or the radio today. The music here is instrinsicly related to the expresion of deep emotions that prose just can't support, sometimes even words can not support. At the very least it takes a poem, but more likely it takes a jazz solo, a dance, or a combination. In NOLA they have a tradition called a Second Line. It is a funeral procession where a brass band leads the coffin and a host of folks to and from the burial site. On the journey toward the resting place a dirge, slow mornful music, is played. The people cry, mourn, wail, and grieve publicly. However, on the way back, the music is joyful and the dancing begins. In the Second Line, both reality and hope are publicly processed. It is the strong symbol of the Second Line that will allow the people of New Orleans to grieve and to hope, to suffer and heal.
Unfortunately most of our culture is being reduced to snack food. We are better at denial then grief. We lack the strong symbols to publily process pain and therefore make space for hope. Not so in NOLA. Here they lay it out for all to see, and we would do well to watch.
Friday, December 22, 2006
Ipod Shuffle 9:18 a.m. cst
What follows is the most recent suffling of the library:
- Bubblehouse -- Meddeski Martin and Wood
- Prelude in B Dur -- Bach Well Tempered Clavier
- Jeremiah Blues -- Pt. 1
- Fugue in G Dur -- Bach Well Tempered Clavier
- The Deser Shall Bloom -- Landon Whittsett
- Your Our God -- Landon Whittsett
- Nature Boy -- Miles Davis
- Fugue in G Moll -- Bach Well Tempered Clavier
- Second Line Medley -- Irma Thomas
- Siboney, Pts. 1&2 -- Diz and Getz
The rules, for bloggers who want to play:
Get your ipod or media-player of choice, select your whole music collection, set the thing to shuffle (i.e., randomized playback), then post the first ten songs that come out. No cheating, no matter how stupid it makes you feel!
Idea originally from Fr. Jim Tucker of Dappled Things
Yesterday
Yesterday was a great day for me. As some of you have probably heard, there were immigration raids out here in Nebraska on Dec. 12th. About 250 people were detained from a plant in Grand Island, NE about a 150 miles west of Omaha. They were taken to a facility in Des Moines, IA, 120 East of Omaha. After some time, 80 people were released for a variety of reasons. However, they were simply escorted out the door of the facility and told to have a nice day. Now they were 270 miles away from family, home, and jobs with no transportation! This does not even get into the fact that all those families were separated and the other atrocities that occured. Yesterday some grassroots organizers that I work with put together a press conference to respond to the raids and call for a moratorium on raids until comprehensive immigration reform. I was able to talk my bishop into attendeding and speaking. I am actually proud that it did not take much persuasion on my part at all. He was quite willing. His remarks were excellent and even made it on the news!!!!
Later I had lunch with a new clergy person here in town who I really think is talented and will be an asset to the Episcopal church here in Omaha. Then in the afternoon I worked with another organizer on a christian education curriculum on Exdus, Prophetic Ministry, and the insights of Theologian Walter Brueggemann. Jodie and I capped off the evening with dinner at one our favorite resturants! It was a great day. Social action, one on one for lunch, bible study, and dinner with my wife. I don't think I could have had a better day!
Later I had lunch with a new clergy person here in town who I really think is talented and will be an asset to the Episcopal church here in Omaha. Then in the afternoon I worked with another organizer on a christian education curriculum on Exdus, Prophetic Ministry, and the insights of Theologian Walter Brueggemann. Jodie and I capped off the evening with dinner at one our favorite resturants! It was a great day. Social action, one on one for lunch, bible study, and dinner with my wife. I don't think I could have had a better day!
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
oi'
So I'm in my last diocesan staff meeting. I have accepted a call at All Saints Episcopal Church here in Omaha; so, I'm leaving the diocesan staff in January. I'm trying to pay attention, but it is really hard. Well...I'm at this point failing to pay attention since I'm blogging. I'm not much of a multi-tasker.
It is actually a bit of an ironic day. We are buying new software, updating an internal calendar stored on the network, enrolling in direct deposit, and instituting a reimbursement form stored on the web page. The diocesan administrative life is finally coming into this century and now I'm leaving. Oh well, I'm sure there is technology at All Saints.
It is actually a bit of an ironic day. We are buying new software, updating an internal calendar stored on the network, enrolling in direct deposit, and instituting a reimbursement form stored on the web page. The diocesan administrative life is finally coming into this century and now I'm leaving. Oh well, I'm sure there is technology at All Saints.
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Existentialist, Prophetic, Muppets
I have been thinking a lot lately about prophetic ministry. As I was ruminating a bit last week, a line from the humblist of 20th century Existentialist philosophers, Kermit the Frog, emerged from my subconscious.
Biblical scholar Walter Brueggemann writes in his book The Prophetic Imagination"The task of prophetic ministry is to nuture, nourish, and evoke a consciousness and perception alternative to the consciousness and perception of the dominant culture around us." It was upon this idea that Kermit emerged in my head. To do this, to evoke an alternative community it requires love, dreams, and me.
It requires a love that emerges from love of self and the realization that the best way to love one's self is to love God. Furthermore the best way to love God is to love one's neighbor.
It requires dreams because if we aren't free to imagine, if we can not visualize within ourselves the new creation then we can never begin to articulate it to others.
It requires me, that is to say action. We must act within the world, within history. We can not wait for the "pie in the sky, by and by". We must engage the powers that be through love to shape a community that works for all.
Thanks Kermit
Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connectionWhen those of us from the Abrahamic faiths think of rainbows we often think of the Flood Epic from Genesis. Noah himself is rarely considered a prophet, but it is a story of God creating a new alternative community from that which existed. The rainbow is a particular reminder that God will never recreate the community that way again. From that point on in scripture, God always recreates the community in and through people not through divine war upon creation. It is the task of the prophet to articulate this new community.
the lovers, the dreamers, and me
Biblical scholar Walter Brueggemann writes in his book The Prophetic Imagination"The task of prophetic ministry is to nuture, nourish, and evoke a consciousness and perception alternative to the consciousness and perception of the dominant culture around us." It was upon this idea that Kermit emerged in my head. To do this, to evoke an alternative community it requires love, dreams, and me.
It requires a love that emerges from love of self and the realization that the best way to love one's self is to love God. Furthermore the best way to love God is to love one's neighbor.
It requires dreams because if we aren't free to imagine, if we can not visualize within ourselves the new creation then we can never begin to articulate it to others.
It requires me, that is to say action. We must act within the world, within history. We can not wait for the "pie in the sky, by and by". We must engage the powers that be through love to shape a community that works for all.
Thanks Kermit
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Isaiah 2:1-11
Greetings,
In the fall of 2002, which feels both like a blink of eye and ages ago, I moved to New York City to attend The General Theological Seminary of The Episcopal Church. (Episcopalians are fond of the definite article. Can't you tell?) Anyway, soon after my arrival in the biggest of apples, I made the pilgrmidge to the Statue of Liberty. As I stood looking up at this icon of freedom, a mother and daughter stood behind me, and I overheard there conversation. It went something like this, "Do you see my daughter? That is the Statue of Liberty and it reminds us of the revolutionary war where we won our freedom." Now forget the fact that the statue was built long after the revolutionary war, the really interesting thing was that this woman and daughter were from India, or at least of Indian descent.
Now, in my less than brightest moment, I got really offended by what she was telling her child. I thought silently, "This isn't your country lady, and that war was not fought for your freedom. It was for mine!" I then I heard my thoughts. Oh, Lord please have mercy! How could I have such a racist thought, me then a soon to be seminary student. I realized in that moment that I still have a lot of confessing and repentance to do. Confession is when we admit our sins. Repentance is when we turn from them towards God and live differently. It takes both the actions of confession and repentance to grow in faith. Lord forgive me! Lord transform me!
Many people through the years have thought of the U.S.A. as that city on a hill foretold by both Isaiah and Jesus. It is a good goal, but we have a lot of work to do to reach it. The labor begins with guys like me being self aware, repenting, and taking action privately and publically to be better. Hopefully, someday it shall be as the prophet foretells,
Lord forgive me! Lord transform me!
God's Peace,
FJ+
All scriptures quotes are from the NRSV found on bible.oremus.org
"2 In days to come
the mountain of the Lord’s house
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
and shall be raised above the hills;
all the nations shall stream to it.
3 Many peoples shall come and say,
‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob;
that he may teach us his ways
and that we may walk in his paths.’"
In the fall of 2002, which feels both like a blink of eye and ages ago, I moved to New York City to attend The General Theological Seminary of The Episcopal Church. (Episcopalians are fond of the definite article. Can't you tell?) Anyway, soon after my arrival in the biggest of apples, I made the pilgrmidge to the Statue of Liberty. As I stood looking up at this icon of freedom, a mother and daughter stood behind me, and I overheard there conversation. It went something like this, "Do you see my daughter? That is the Statue of Liberty and it reminds us of the revolutionary war where we won our freedom." Now forget the fact that the statue was built long after the revolutionary war, the really interesting thing was that this woman and daughter were from India, or at least of Indian descent.
Now, in my less than brightest moment, I got really offended by what she was telling her child. I thought silently, "This isn't your country lady, and that war was not fought for your freedom. It was for mine!" I then I heard my thoughts. Oh, Lord please have mercy! How could I have such a racist thought, me then a soon to be seminary student. I realized in that moment that I still have a lot of confessing and repentance to do. Confession is when we admit our sins. Repentance is when we turn from them towards God and live differently. It takes both the actions of confession and repentance to grow in faith. Lord forgive me! Lord transform me!
Many people through the years have thought of the U.S.A. as that city on a hill foretold by both Isaiah and Jesus. It is a good goal, but we have a lot of work to do to reach it. The labor begins with guys like me being self aware, repenting, and taking action privately and publically to be better. Hopefully, someday it shall be as the prophet foretells,
4 He [God] shall judge between the nations,
and shall arbitrate for many peoples;
they shall beat their swords into ploughshares,
and their spears into pruning-hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war any more.
Lord forgive me! Lord transform me!
God's Peace,
FJ+
All scriptures quotes are from the NRSV found on bible.oremus.org
Monday, December 04, 2006
It was bound to happen...
Greetings,
So I preached a crapy sermon yesterday. I know some of you may be surprised. Jason Emerson preach a bad sermon? No...Never! Well, yes! I just couldn't spot the good news in the text for yesterday, couldn't come up with personal illustrations to highlight that elusive good news, and, most assurdly, I did not bring the funny!
I don't feel arrogant when I say that I am a good preacher. It is one of the gifts God has given me for ministry no different then a nursing friend of mine whose particularly good at giving shots without bruising. I have worked hard to develop this gift in response to God's graciousness in my life. Having experienced the love of God in life changing, intense ways, the particular way that I can best share that love is through preaching.
Even Roger Clemens pitches a bad game every now and again, and like an athelete in a slump my instinct is to work harder, redouble my efforts and put more time and energy into my preparation. However, I wondering if that is the right answer. Possibly, increasing the number of commentaries referenced will not make the sermons better. Possibly, the answer is to breath more, to wallow in the love of God more, to listen more, and hopefully reconnect with that good news. You can't spot the good news in the text if you aren't aware of it in your daily experiences.
So, I think I'll chalk yesterday up to a humbling experience, keep my head in the game, and listen with my heart more. Hopefully, I'll get my swing back. I think that is enough sports metaphors for now.
God's Peace,
FJ+
So I preached a crapy sermon yesterday. I know some of you may be surprised. Jason Emerson preach a bad sermon? No...Never! Well, yes! I just couldn't spot the good news in the text for yesterday, couldn't come up with personal illustrations to highlight that elusive good news, and, most assurdly, I did not bring the funny!
I don't feel arrogant when I say that I am a good preacher. It is one of the gifts God has given me for ministry no different then a nursing friend of mine whose particularly good at giving shots without bruising. I have worked hard to develop this gift in response to God's graciousness in my life. Having experienced the love of God in life changing, intense ways, the particular way that I can best share that love is through preaching.
Even Roger Clemens pitches a bad game every now and again, and like an athelete in a slump my instinct is to work harder, redouble my efforts and put more time and energy into my preparation. However, I wondering if that is the right answer. Possibly, increasing the number of commentaries referenced will not make the sermons better. Possibly, the answer is to breath more, to wallow in the love of God more, to listen more, and hopefully reconnect with that good news. You can't spot the good news in the text if you aren't aware of it in your daily experiences.
So, I think I'll chalk yesterday up to a humbling experience, keep my head in the game, and listen with my heart more. Hopefully, I'll get my swing back. I think that is enough sports metaphors for now.
God's Peace,
FJ+
Scripture
I found a great quote by Walter Brueggemann today on what scripture is:
“The Bible is essentially an open, artistic, imaginative narrative of God’s staggering care for the world, a narrative that will feed and nurture into obedience that builds community precisely by respect for the liberty of the Christian man or woman.” --Walter Brueggemann
“The Bible is essentially an open, artistic, imaginative narrative of God’s staggering care for the world, a narrative that will feed and nurture into obedience that builds community precisely by respect for the liberty of the Christian man or woman.” --Walter Brueggemann
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Newsletter Reflection
This reflection was prompted by a posting on hypersync by my buddie Bob G+
“The American Catholic writer Flannery O’Connor was once invited to a
The previous paragraph was first published in The Catholic Herald as the preamble to an interview with Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams regarding the meaning of the Eucharist. The Archbishop when asked affirms O’Connor’s sentiment if not her language.
I am often asked what happens in the Eucharist. Does the bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Christ? And if it does, isn’t that kind of gross? The cheap cop-out answer is of course, “The Eucharist is a mystery which we will never completely understand.” This answer is true if not very helpful.
So, what do I believe the Eucharist is, or what do I believe happens in the Eucharist? First, I believe that relative to God human beings are pretty dim. Consequently God has to overcome our relative lack of comprehension in order to communicate God’s love for us. We see an overarching story of God trying to get through to us the extent to which God wants to be in relationship with us. From Abraham to Moses to David, from Sarah to Deborah to Esther and to Mary, the Scriptures tell of God’s desires to be in so deep a relationship with us that we would be one. The climax of this story is of course Jesus—the word of God made flesh. Looking at Jesus’ story, he even had trouble getting across the message; so finally he says look, “I am the word of God made flesh. I and God are One. I want you and I to be One as God and I are One. So, I’ll become bread and wine. You eat the bread, drink the wine and then you and I’ll will be one. Get it?” The disciple’s reply probably something along the lines, “Not really, but whatever you say boss.”
I do not really “get” the Eucharist in a completely definable way, in the way say St. Thomas of Aquinas explained it. I do however know that God loves me and wants me to encounter that love. God has infinite ways of communicating that love, some I am aware of and some I’m not. One that I am acutely aware of is the Eucharist. In the bread and wine, in the body and blood of Christ, we encounter the risen Christ. The same Christ the disciples encountered, and all the faithful have encountered. As the Archbishop of Canterbury says in the same interview, “The Eucharist is not a visual aid and it’s not a jog to memory. It’s an event, an encounter. And if it is not an event in which some utterly earth-shaking change occurs, if it is not an encounter with the risen Christ, well, indeed, to hell with it.”
Ipod Shuffle 8:45 am cst
Here's this mornings output:
Via Bob G+ of hypersync
- Sparks, Wynton Marsalis, Live Itunes Session
- I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart, Dizzy Gillespie and Chet Baker
- We Have Been Make One Landon Whittsett
- I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, U2
- Oh, Happy Day, soundtrack of Sister Act 2
- New York City, Norah Jones with the Peter Malick Group, The Remix
- Alone Together, Miles Davis, Blue Moods
- God Help the Outcasts
- I Get Lifted, Theryl De Clouet, A Celebration of new Orleans
- Pro Defunctus, Chet BakerEnsemble, Chet Baker Ensemble (Remastered)
Via Bob G+ of hypersync
Via:
Fr. Jim Tucker of Dappled Things:
The rules, for bloggers who want to play:
Get your ipod or media-player of choice, select your whole music collection, set the thing to shuffle (i.e., randomized playback), then post the first ten songs that come out. No cheating, no matter how stupid it makes you feel!
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Presiding Bishop writes Bishop Schofield
Greetings,
Below is a pastoral letter that the Presiding Bishop wrote to the bishop of San Joaquin. As a personal editorial comment, I would say that we have a strong leader, who presents cogent analysis of the way things are and points us to how things ought to be. I am proud of our Primate!
God's Peace,
Jason+
Via ENS
Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori — concerned by current affairs in the Fresno-based Diocese of San Joaquin, California — has written to its bishop, the Rt. Rev. John-David Schofield. The diocese, which is scheduled to meet in convention December 1-2, includes an estimated 10,000 Episcopalians in some 48 congregations. The text of Jefferts Schori’s November 20 letter follows.
November 20, 2006
The Rt. Rev. John-David Schofield
Diocese of San Joaquin
4159 E. Dakota Avenue
Fresno, California 93726
My dear brother:
I have seen reports of your letter to parishes in the Diocese of San Joaquin, which apparently urges delegates to your upcoming Diocesan Convention to take action to leave the Episcopal Church. I would ask you to confirm the accuracy of those reports. If true, you must be aware that such action would likely be seen as a violation of your ordination vows to “uphold the doctrine, discipline, and worship of Christ as this Church has received them.” I must strongly urge you to consider the consequences of such action, not only for yourself but especially for all of the Episcopalians under your pastoral charge and care.
I certainly understand that you personally disagree with decisions by General Conventions over the past 30 and more years. You have, however, taken vows three times over that period to uphold the “doctrine, discipline, and worship of the Episcopal Church.” If you now feel that you can no longer do so, the more honorable course would be to renounce your orders in this Church and seek a home elsewhere. Your public assertion that your duty is to violate those vows puts many, many people at hazard of profound spiritual violence. I urge you, as a pastor, to consider that hazard with the utmost gravity.
As you contemplate this action I would also remind you of the trust which you and I both hold for those who have come before and those who will come after us. None of us has received the property held by the Church today to use as we will. We have received it as stewards, for those who enjoy it today and those who will be blessed by the ministry its use will permit in the future. Our forebears did not build churches or give memorials with the intent that they be removed from the Episcopal Church. Nor did our forebears give liberally to fund endowments with the intent that they be consumed by litigation.
The Church will endure whatever decision you make in San Joaquin. The people who are its members, however, will suffer in the midst of this conflict, and probably suffer unnecessarily. Jesus calls us to take up our crosses daily, but not in the service of division and antagonism. He calls us to take up our crosses in his service of reconciling the world to God. Would that you might lead the people of San Joaquin toward decisions that build up the Body, that bring abundant life to those within and beyond our Church, that restore us to oneness.
I stand ready for conversation and reconciliation. May God bless your deliberation.
I remain
Your servant in Christ,
+Katharine
The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori
Presiding Bishop and Primate
Below is a pastoral letter that the Presiding Bishop wrote to the bishop of San Joaquin. As a personal editorial comment, I would say that we have a strong leader, who presents cogent analysis of the way things are and points us to how things ought to be. I am proud of our Primate!
God's Peace,
Jason+
Via ENS
Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori — concerned by current affairs in the Fresno-based Diocese of San Joaquin, California — has written to its bishop, the Rt. Rev. John-David Schofield. The diocese, which is scheduled to meet in convention December 1-2, includes an estimated 10,000 Episcopalians in some 48 congregations. The text of Jefferts Schori’s November 20 letter follows.
November 20, 2006
The Rt. Rev. John-David Schofield
Diocese of San Joaquin
4159 E. Dakota Avenue
Fresno, California 93726
My dear brother:
I have seen reports of your letter to parishes in the Diocese of San Joaquin, which apparently urges delegates to your upcoming Diocesan Convention to take action to leave the Episcopal Church. I would ask you to confirm the accuracy of those reports. If true, you must be aware that such action would likely be seen as a violation of your ordination vows to “uphold the doctrine, discipline, and worship of Christ as this Church has received them.” I must strongly urge you to consider the consequences of such action, not only for yourself but especially for all of the Episcopalians under your pastoral charge and care.
I certainly understand that you personally disagree with decisions by General Conventions over the past 30 and more years. You have, however, taken vows three times over that period to uphold the “doctrine, discipline, and worship of the Episcopal Church.” If you now feel that you can no longer do so, the more honorable course would be to renounce your orders in this Church and seek a home elsewhere. Your public assertion that your duty is to violate those vows puts many, many people at hazard of profound spiritual violence. I urge you, as a pastor, to consider that hazard with the utmost gravity.
As you contemplate this action I would also remind you of the trust which you and I both hold for those who have come before and those who will come after us. None of us has received the property held by the Church today to use as we will. We have received it as stewards, for those who enjoy it today and those who will be blessed by the ministry its use will permit in the future. Our forebears did not build churches or give memorials with the intent that they be removed from the Episcopal Church. Nor did our forebears give liberally to fund endowments with the intent that they be consumed by litigation.
The Church will endure whatever decision you make in San Joaquin. The people who are its members, however, will suffer in the midst of this conflict, and probably suffer unnecessarily. Jesus calls us to take up our crosses daily, but not in the service of division and antagonism. He calls us to take up our crosses in his service of reconciling the world to God. Would that you might lead the people of San Joaquin toward decisions that build up the Body, that bring abundant life to those within and beyond our Church, that restore us to oneness.
I stand ready for conversation and reconciliation. May God bless your deliberation.
I remain
Your servant in Christ,
+Katharine
The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori
Presiding Bishop and Primate
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Even more conversations about power
Greetings,
The IEF training in community organizing continues to go well. So far it has mostly been theory, but I have been assured that today we will get to practice some of the techniques they have been alluding to.
The thing that I think that I am starting to understand is that I have to claim the power of my office. Whether I like it or not, whether I am suppicious of having power or not, the fact remains that clergy have power. The more important question is how will I wield the power of my position. To deny it is simply to waste it. To be autocratic is inefficient and anti-biblical. Therefore, what the trainers called informed judgements and relational power, are keys to wielding power with integrity to the values I wish to hold. People are changed by relationships not by readings or sermons. Therefore, producing informed judgements in people is done by building relationships with people. This will in turn allow you to exercise relational power the power of broad based group that wants a change. This helps reduce the temptive forces that seduce a powerful person to curruption. To bring this into Christian language, it is to be a servant leader or spiritual leader instead of an autocratic leader.
The IEF training in community organizing continues to go well. So far it has mostly been theory, but I have been assured that today we will get to practice some of the techniques they have been alluding to.
The thing that I think that I am starting to understand is that I have to claim the power of my office. Whether I like it or not, whether I am suppicious of having power or not, the fact remains that clergy have power. The more important question is how will I wield the power of my position. To deny it is simply to waste it. To be autocratic is inefficient and anti-biblical. Therefore, what the trainers called informed judgements and relational power, are keys to wielding power with integrity to the values I wish to hold. People are changed by relationships not by readings or sermons. Therefore, producing informed judgements in people is done by building relationships with people. This will in turn allow you to exercise relational power the power of broad based group that wants a change. This helps reduce the temptive forces that seduce a powerful person to curruption. To bring this into Christian language, it is to be a servant leader or spiritual leader instead of an autocratic leader.
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
More conversations about power
The two questions for today's training are 1) how can we operate with power in the real world, and 2) how can we operate with power and maintain our integrity? Our session this morning began with a closer examination of the Athenian/Melian debate. We examined how both parties acted for behaviors we could imulate and those we should avoid. Most of the desirable behaviors emerged from the Athenians. They:
It should be noted, however, that while the Athenians desired to act in moderation from there stance of dominate power, eventually they crushed the Melians. They excercised there dominate power in a destructive way which was against one of their own rules. That is to say they lost thier integrity. This eventually cost the Athenians the war of which the Melian debate was small part. So how do we act in a way that is from power but does not compormise our integrity?
As we dove into this we learned that the ethics of power emerge from how power is gained. We were given four methods of gaining power:
- Controled the debate.
- Want to talk to the many not the few
- Speech is blount and direct
- analyize the power dynamics
- Sought a compromise of mutual self interest
- Have a specific agenda! Do not go to meet on a fishing exhibition. Know exactly what topic you want to discuss. Know what you want to say and stick to the script. Also, start the meeting and lay out the ground rules. Be diciplined about keeping yourself on topic and make the other side stay on topic as well.
- Work within reality! Organizing is about knowing not about hoping. Know what you have specifically, not an estimate and deal from that place--niether overstate not understate your position. For example if you know you can organize 10,000 people then that is what you say. Even if you have more people show interest in your topic you only have the 10,000 that you can organize. That is your power base and you should be clear about that.
- They are passive. They consent to the agenda and methods of the Athenians.
- They speak in vague terms appealing to hope and to "blood" (the assumed relationship they have with the spartans).
- They do not involve as many people as possible.
- Only concieve of two options. They want the Athenians to leave and do not accept any other terms despite the overwhelming force.
It should be noted, however, that while the Athenians desired to act in moderation from there stance of dominate power, eventually they crushed the Melians. They excercised there dominate power in a destructive way which was against one of their own rules. That is to say they lost thier integrity. This eventually cost the Athenians the war of which the Melian debate was small part. So how do we act in a way that is from power but does not compormise our integrity?
As we dove into this we learned that the ethics of power emerge from how power is gained. We were given four methods of gaining power:
- Threat of force. This takes the most effort and is the weakest because it must be constantly maintained. Once the threat is removed or the threatened grow tired of the opression your power is negated.
- Controlled or slanted information.
- Habit or apathy (posses biggest problem for organizers. People will actually think you are making stuff up when you inform them of problems because it takes less energy then believing you.
- Mystery, Magic, Ritual, Custom (especially difficult for me since whether i want it or not power is often given to clergy).
- Informed Judgement: this is the strongest becuase it involves positive relationships. People come together to analize a situation and come to a decision about an issue or event. Hard to bring about because it easier to have an opinion than an informed judgement.
Community Organizing Training Day One
Greetings,
I have journeyed to Kansas City to participate in Community Organizing training. Church of the Resurrection where I work is a member of Omaha Together One Community (OTOC)and this is the model of organizing that OTOC uses. I will be blogging this week about what I learn about myself in the experience and the techniques and materials they present to us.
We gathered for out initial session yesterday at 3:00 p.m. Our first activity was to tell a story of a time when we acted to make something happen. By an incidental utterance, I ended up going first and spoke of working as a team coordinator for Lutheran Outdoor Ministries of Ohio running day camps for elementary kids in various towns in Ohio. Everybody else proceeded to tell stories about engaging school boards, city councils, businesses, government agencies, and leaders. Now, Jodie reminded me that this isn't a competition and I agree with her. My story is important for me in that I began to hear my call to ministry. However, I often preached that what we experience in worship should be connected with what we do outside the church building. I am excited by what I can learn from the other participants, because they are actively trying to make the world a better place, not merely preaching about it.
Our second activity involved us "re-enacting" a dialogue of the Athenian overtake of the island of Melos. (I don't know what book this is from but the title of the portion given us is "Chapter 7: Sixteenth Year of War. The Melian Debate".) Now the rule during the role play was that the facilitator could interrupt. This was the only rule. It was emphasised to us that this was the ONLY rule. We proceeded with the role play, and after about three minutes the facilitator kicked me out of the room. I went outside and realized that the point was not to act out the reading but I had just given the facilitator more power then he really had. He was allowed to interrupt, but not to tell us what to do. Now, while I was sitting in the hall like a disobedient middle school student I could have patted myself on the back for figuring this out, but when I went back into the room and we went through three more groups doing the role play, I didn't say anything. Never did I confront his excessive use of power. I say excessive because the limit established was that he could interrupt, and he was over that limit. I didn't speak up for myself and I didn't speak up for other people when they were kicked out.
Second, during part of the role play I got to be on the side of the Athenians. The Athenians possessed far greater resources, especially military, over the Melians. I suggested to my small group of Athenians that we should go "off script" and be compassionate with the Melians. We agreed to try this and were making progress. However, I started to be more and more unyielding, less willing to compromise. I knew that we had the dominate military and that we could annihilate the Melians; so I was unwilling to concede anything. Why should I concede when I could dominate. The fictional power of this little exercise was able to seduce me to do things that I don't believe in. Power is certainly seductive and I must, must, be aware of my weakness to its wiles. I wanted to be a nice guy, but, as the facilitator put it, I didn't want it enough.
I am eager to find out what we will do today; more exploration of power, or how to engage with people in power, or how to organize a power base? We'll see.
God's Peace,
Jason+
I have journeyed to Kansas City to participate in Community Organizing training. Church of the Resurrection where I work is a member of Omaha Together One Community (OTOC)and this is the model of organizing that OTOC uses. I will be blogging this week about what I learn about myself in the experience and the techniques and materials they present to us.
We gathered for out initial session yesterday at 3:00 p.m. Our first activity was to tell a story of a time when we acted to make something happen. By an incidental utterance, I ended up going first and spoke of working as a team coordinator for Lutheran Outdoor Ministries of Ohio running day camps for elementary kids in various towns in Ohio. Everybody else proceeded to tell stories about engaging school boards, city councils, businesses, government agencies, and leaders. Now, Jodie reminded me that this isn't a competition and I agree with her. My story is important for me in that I began to hear my call to ministry. However, I often preached that what we experience in worship should be connected with what we do outside the church building. I am excited by what I can learn from the other participants, because they are actively trying to make the world a better place, not merely preaching about it.
Our second activity involved us "re-enacting" a dialogue of the Athenian overtake of the island of Melos. (I don't know what book this is from but the title of the portion given us is "Chapter 7: Sixteenth Year of War. The Melian Debate".) Now the rule during the role play was that the facilitator could interrupt. This was the only rule. It was emphasised to us that this was the ONLY rule. We proceeded with the role play, and after about three minutes the facilitator kicked me out of the room. I went outside and realized that the point was not to act out the reading but I had just given the facilitator more power then he really had. He was allowed to interrupt, but not to tell us what to do. Now, while I was sitting in the hall like a disobedient middle school student I could have patted myself on the back for figuring this out, but when I went back into the room and we went through three more groups doing the role play, I didn't say anything. Never did I confront his excessive use of power. I say excessive because the limit established was that he could interrupt, and he was over that limit. I didn't speak up for myself and I didn't speak up for other people when they were kicked out.
Second, during part of the role play I got to be on the side of the Athenians. The Athenians possessed far greater resources, especially military, over the Melians. I suggested to my small group of Athenians that we should go "off script" and be compassionate with the Melians. We agreed to try this and were making progress. However, I started to be more and more unyielding, less willing to compromise. I knew that we had the dominate military and that we could annihilate the Melians; so I was unwilling to concede anything. Why should I concede when I could dominate. The fictional power of this little exercise was able to seduce me to do things that I don't believe in. Power is certainly seductive and I must, must, be aware of my weakness to its wiles. I wanted to be a nice guy, but, as the facilitator put it, I didn't want it enough.
I am eager to find out what we will do today; more exploration of power, or how to engage with people in power, or how to organize a power base? We'll see.
God's Peace,
Jason+
Thursday, November 09, 2006
Hope meet Realism, Realism meet Hope
Greetings,
In November of 2004, my wife Jodie and I stood in Rockefeller Center in the middle of NBC's election coverage holding a sign that read "We believe in Ohio Democrats". It appears that our hope in Ohio Democrats specifically and Democrats in general was not misplaced rather the realization of that hope took a couple more years.
I am always very nervous of power. Therefore, I am glad that we no longer have a single ruling power; no more rubber stamps, blank checks, or tacit approvals. Now we have debate and contention. There no better check or balance of power than equal opposition.
All this being said, we are in need of a bit of realism here. First, if we think the Democrats will get to pass whatever they want at this point, we are stupid. President George H.W. Bush--I think--holds the record for vetoes in one term of office. That could very well be a lesson that President George W. Bush learned well.
Second, looking at the Democrats that won and the issues that people said were important in exit polls, I believe people often times were voting against Republicans instead of for Democrats.
What we did learn, or were reminded at least, is that in this country we have the option of changing our leaders frequently. It is a power that we should claim and exercise. Therefore, We, that is to say the faith community, have a whole lot of work to do. We have a whole lot of work to do to change public opinion and belief so that we can build a society that is equal. America may be first society in history to have this goal, but we are a long way from attaining it. Furthermore, in the Episcopal tradition we are specifically called to "respect the dignity of every human being." This includes striving to form our society in a way that is Just.
There is hope in this election, but we cannot rest, we cannot gloat, and we cannot deride. We must get to work both in the public and private sector making this world a better place as Christ Commands us to do.
In November of 2004, my wife Jodie and I stood in Rockefeller Center in the middle of NBC's election coverage holding a sign that read "We believe in Ohio Democrats". It appears that our hope in Ohio Democrats specifically and Democrats in general was not misplaced rather the realization of that hope took a couple more years.
I am always very nervous of power. Therefore, I am glad that we no longer have a single ruling power; no more rubber stamps, blank checks, or tacit approvals. Now we have debate and contention. There no better check or balance of power than equal opposition.
All this being said, we are in need of a bit of realism here. First, if we think the Democrats will get to pass whatever they want at this point, we are stupid. President George H.W. Bush--I think--holds the record for vetoes in one term of office. That could very well be a lesson that President George W. Bush learned well.
Second, looking at the Democrats that won and the issues that people said were important in exit polls, I believe people often times were voting against Republicans instead of for Democrats.
What we did learn, or were reminded at least, is that in this country we have the option of changing our leaders frequently. It is a power that we should claim and exercise. Therefore, We, that is to say the faith community, have a whole lot of work to do. We have a whole lot of work to do to change public opinion and belief so that we can build a society that is equal. America may be first society in history to have this goal, but we are a long way from attaining it. Furthermore, in the Episcopal tradition we are specifically called to "respect the dignity of every human being." This includes striving to form our society in a way that is Just.
There is hope in this election, but we cannot rest, we cannot gloat, and we cannot deride. We must get to work both in the public and private sector making this world a better place as Christ Commands us to do.
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Hope
Greetings,
The middle 20th century mystic and Trappist monk, Thomas Merton, once prayed:
But if we can never be sure to an absolute about the will God, how are we to know whether we are following God’s will even if that is our heart’s true desire? Merton goes on to pray:
God’s Peace,
FJ+
The middle 20th century mystic and Trappist monk, Thomas Merton, once prayed:
My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following Your will does not actually mean that I am doing so.I believe this prayer resonates with us more then we admit. It is said to me often that events and actions must be God’s will, but in our heart of hearts are we really sure…100%, beyond question, absolutely sure? Indeed, how can we be sure? When we claim that we are sure of the will of God then we claim to know the mind of the ultimate being of the universe. Quite frankly, to suggest that we mere mortals—a species that can barely survive its own violence against itself—might know the mind of God is more than a bit presumptuous.
But if we can never be sure to an absolute about the will God, how are we to know whether we are following God’s will even if that is our heart’s true desire? Merton goes on to pray:
But I believe that the desire to please You does in fact please You. And I hope I have that desire for all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this, You will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it.More and more I believe the purpose of a human is to hope more than to know. We are to hope that we are doing things solely for the glory of God. We are to hope that our world may be blessed by God through our actions. We are to hope that grace abounds and we may revel in it. And when the darkest night descends upon us—the shadow of death as the scriptures call it—we can live in the hope of the coming dawn because by the cross we know that God is with us. I do not know what roads we will travel nor what lies up around the bend, but I hope to please God on the journey, and I hope you desire to do so too.
God’s Peace,
FJ+
Monday, October 30, 2006
Ipod shuffle 9:00 CST
Here's is my latest installment in the Ipod shuffle game (we need a better name for it).
- Beethoven Symphony No. 3 2nd Movement, Herbert von Karajan conducting.
- Bach, Well Tempered Clavier Book 1: Prelude in C-moll
- Second Line Medley, Irma Thomas from A Celebration of New Orleans
- Good To Be Home, Harry Connick, Jr. from A Celebration of New Orleans
- Impromtu, Dizzy Gillespie and Stan Getz, Diz and Getz
- Bach, Well Tempered Clavier Book 1: Fugue in C-Moll
- Bach, Well Tempered Clavier Book 1: Fugue in Fis-Moll
- Parranda, Gloria Estefan
- Pro Defunctus By Chet Baker
- Bubblehouse by Medeski, Martin and Wood
Ipod game rules Via:
Fr. Jim Tucker of Dappled Things:
The rules, for bloggers who want to play:Get your ipod or media-player of choice, select your whole music collection, set the thing to shuffle (i.e., randomized playback), then post the first ten songs that come out. No cheating, no matter how stupid it makes you feel!
College Football Rant
Greetings,
I've never been a big fan of the BCS, but as usual I've been giving it the benefit of the doubt over the years. However, Tennessee is not in the top ten of the BCS standings at the moment even though they should be!!!! Therefore benefit rescinded, the BCS is horrible.
Of course if Tennessee winds up in the national championship game by some quark of BCS math, I will amend my opinion.
I've never been a big fan of the BCS, but as usual I've been giving it the benefit of the doubt over the years. However, Tennessee is not in the top ten of the BCS standings at the moment even though they should be!!!! Therefore benefit rescinded, the BCS is horrible.
Of course if Tennessee winds up in the national championship game by some quark of BCS math, I will amend my opinion.
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Cheers to a Friend
Greetings,
My friend Bob, or Bob G+ as he signs his blog posts, is a brave soul. He is a much more avid blogger than I, and he has of recent days been involved in a lengthy debate with opposition forces on the conservative blog titusonenine.net .
I give him "much props" for his consistent call to a higher moral standard of debate. I was talking recently with a group of priests about conflict and we all agreed that as a group people in the U.S. generally aren't good at conflict. We witness so much name calling and denouncement in our public debates--be they from political candidates, news casters, or sports commentators--that we just don't know how to have a respectful, engaging, productive debate.
I give credit to my friend Bob because the tenor of the posts on that thread change after he begins to post. There was less attacking and more disagreement. The thread turned from a pep rally of a few people in agreement with each other to a discussion of opposing views. Now, there is still room for growth evidenced by a tendency to reduce peoples arguments to a few phrases and applying mountains of supposition to those phrases to derive at the most negative interpretation of those arguments. BUT, I take hope in the small changes that did occur.
Keep it up Bob G+
God's Peace,
Jason+
My friend Bob, or Bob G+ as he signs his blog posts, is a brave soul. He is a much more avid blogger than I, and he has of recent days been involved in a lengthy debate with opposition forces on the conservative blog titusonenine.net .
I give him "much props" for his consistent call to a higher moral standard of debate. I was talking recently with a group of priests about conflict and we all agreed that as a group people in the U.S. generally aren't good at conflict. We witness so much name calling and denouncement in our public debates--be they from political candidates, news casters, or sports commentators--that we just don't know how to have a respectful, engaging, productive debate.
I give credit to my friend Bob because the tenor of the posts on that thread change after he begins to post. There was less attacking and more disagreement. The thread turned from a pep rally of a few people in agreement with each other to a discussion of opposing views. Now, there is still room for growth evidenced by a tendency to reduce peoples arguments to a few phrases and applying mountains of supposition to those phrases to derive at the most negative interpretation of those arguments. BUT, I take hope in the small changes that did occur.
Keep it up Bob G+
God's Peace,
Jason+
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Ipod Shuffle 3:00 o.m. cdt
My friend Bob at hypersync.net turned me on to this game, and he got it from someone else. Set your Ipod to shuffle and then list first ten songs it pulls up.
Here's mine from 3:00 p.m. cdt today:
Enjoy!
Here's mine from 3:00 p.m. cdt today:
- Bach's Das Wohltempierte Klavier, Book 1:Prelude in Fis Dur, Daniel Barenboim Piano.
- U2 -- I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For.
- Do Watcha Wanna, Pt. 3, Rebirth Brass Band from A Celebration for New Orleans.
- Bach's Das Wohltempierte Klavier, Book 1:Prelude in B Dur, Daniel Barenboim Piano.
- Bartok Piano Concerto No. 1 Movt. III
- Bach's Das Wohltempierte Klavier, Book 1:Prelude in A Dur, Daniel Barenboim Piano.
- B's Paris Blues, Branford Marsalis Quintet, A Celebration of New Orleans.
- Bach's Das Wohltempierte Klavier, Book 1:Prelude in Es Moll, Daniel Barenboim Piano.
- Alone Together, Miles Davis, Blue Moods.
- Whoopin' Blues, Nicholas Payton, Gumbo Nouveau.
Enjoy!
Thursday, October 05, 2006
Walter Wink Quote
I have been thinking a lot about how faith should be lived out in politics. Here is an interesting quote from biblical scholar Walter Wink.
To 'hold together all three' may seem impossible. But we somehow manage to hold the trinity together; so, we have had some practice.
"The simultaneity of creation, fall, and redemption means that God at one and the same time upholds a given political or economic system, since some such system is required to support human life; condemns that system insofar as it is destructive of full human actualization; and presses for its transformation into a more humane order. Conservatives stress the first, revolutionaries the second, reformers the third. The Christian is expected to hold together all three.Engaging the Powers p. 67, Walter Wink
To 'hold together all three' may seem impossible. But we somehow manage to hold the trinity together; so, we have had some practice.
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Soreness in arms and soul
I am a bit sore this morning. Last night Jodie and I went to our weight lifting class at the YMCA. With pulsing dance re-mixes of current pop tunes blaring from the speakers and the instructor barking commands, I duly squatted, pressed, curled, and crunched. Now, yall know I am not an athlete, and I do not exercise because of my vanity. A shredded physique is not necessary to my sense of worth. I workout on occasion because a gym membership is cheaper than a heart attack.
Therefore, given my low aptitude for exercise and my less than competitive attitude, I am not always sure how much I get out of my YMCA dues. This is especially true if I simply go to the gym but do not take a class. For some reason, whether I am on an elliptical machine (a medieval torture device that simulates running) or lifting weights in the gym on my own its just too easy to say, “I’m tired. I’m going home.”
On the other hand, taking the class is better. I do not know if it is the instructor’s motivational ability, the guy behind me who is twice my age and lifting three time the weight I am, or that I do not want to look like a wimp in front of my wife, but I work harder in the classes. I am pushed and challenged more than I can be motivated left to my own devices. Consequently, I get more out of the experience.
If we think about it, this is a lot like church. Admittedly, we can and should pray on our own, daily in fact. Private devotions are an important part of a healthy spirituality. But being part of a community, that is coming to worship God with other people is necessary too. It is in communal worship, when we have to confess, praise, and thank God, that we get stretched to the max. It is when we are with other people that we are challenged to give up ourselves, to repent of the selfishness and envy that can only lead to chaos and strife. Furthermore it is in the giving that we receive the life more abundant that Jesus came to give us.
We all know we should go to church, but some Sunday mornings the snooze button is just too tempting, or the kid’s soccer games just too early, or the recliner and football call our names too loudly. However, I implore you to come join us every time you possibly can. Come join us! Come immerse yourself in God’s love emanating from this place and these people. Come learn. Come grow. Come serve. Come and receive life.
Therefore, given my low aptitude for exercise and my less than competitive attitude, I am not always sure how much I get out of my YMCA dues. This is especially true if I simply go to the gym but do not take a class. For some reason, whether I am on an elliptical machine (a medieval torture device that simulates running) or lifting weights in the gym on my own its just too easy to say, “I’m tired. I’m going home.”
On the other hand, taking the class is better. I do not know if it is the instructor’s motivational ability, the guy behind me who is twice my age and lifting three time the weight I am, or that I do not want to look like a wimp in front of my wife, but I work harder in the classes. I am pushed and challenged more than I can be motivated left to my own devices. Consequently, I get more out of the experience.
If we think about it, this is a lot like church. Admittedly, we can and should pray on our own, daily in fact. Private devotions are an important part of a healthy spirituality. But being part of a community, that is coming to worship God with other people is necessary too. It is in communal worship, when we have to confess, praise, and thank God, that we get stretched to the max. It is when we are with other people that we are challenged to give up ourselves, to repent of the selfishness and envy that can only lead to chaos and strife. Furthermore it is in the giving that we receive the life more abundant that Jesus came to give us.
We all know we should go to church, but some Sunday mornings the snooze button is just too tempting, or the kid’s soccer games just too early, or the recliner and football call our names too loudly. However, I implore you to come join us every time you possibly can. Come join us! Come immerse yourself in God’s love emanating from this place and these people. Come learn. Come grow. Come serve. Come and receive life.
Monday, September 11, 2006
Sermon for 27 August 2006
“Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God."
I speak with you in the name of the crucified, risen, and living God, Amen!
Ephesians chapter 5 is not my favorite chapter of the bible. It ranks right up there with parts of the book of Ezekiel that I just simply wish weren’t in the bible. The part of Ephesians 5 we read today is attached to a haunting lingering memory of one my early Episcopal experiences. I was in college in 1996 when a friend of mine drug me to the campus ministry of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Murfreesboro, TN. After six months or so of my sporadic attendance I was asked to be a reader as part of Campus Ministry Sunday. Now, I was still new to this liturgy thing. I grew up Baptist, and though we at times had a complex order of worship, I still hadn’t figured out this Episco-aerobics, shift to the left, shift to right, stand up, sit down, pray, pray, pray type worship service; so, I was a little nervous about being a reader. But I figured, “Hey, I did six years of bible drill as a preacher’s kid. I should be able to stand up and read the bible in public…Right?” So, I agreed.
I learned several lessons that day, the first is always read though the reading before you get to the podium. They had handed me a bible reference, but I hadn’t taken time read through it. So, I get up there…start reading and get to verse 22, “Women obey your husbands…” Now what went through my mind at this point is related to the second thing I learned. See, the pews in St. Paul’s chapel went from the center isle all the way to the wall. I learned that day when you are reading Ephesians 5:22, don’t sit next to the wall at the end of a row of eight strong minded, extremely talented, vocally expressive, Episcopal campus women.
Now, I know I completed the reading, and I know I read all of what the head of the lay readers told me to read. But in my memory the reading stopped with the wives part. It didn’t go on with the husband’s part like we did today. The lectionary does indeed call for verses 21-33, so I must have read the husband’s part that infamous Sunday, but I don’t remember doing it. Furthermore it doesn’t really matter if I did. My female friends from the Campus ministry stopped listening after verse 22. For the next three years they proceeded to remind me often of that reading even though I didn’t write it, and I didn’t even preach on it that day.
Fast forward a few years, to my time as a Resurrection House intern, and this passage of scripture reared its head again. Now, I was in the house in the class of 2001-2002 with two strong minded, vocally expressive Episcopal women. We did not always get along; in fact we worked hard and long that year to see the light of Christ in each other. One particular day, when we were in a not happy place to say the least, it was my turn to plan the house worship for the evening. I opened up my trusty Book of Common Prayer and found the daily lectionary reading to be Ephesians 5:21-33. My heart sank. The acid in my stomach doubled, and that bitter adrenaline taste of fear filled my mouth. I must confess, I changed the reading that night. I didn’t even tell my housemates what I did. I just wasn’t gonna go there.
Ten years ago, I wasn’t the preacher, and five years ago in Resurrection house, discretion was the better part of valor, but today the elephant is in the room and it must be dealt with. Now, let me state the obvious for a moment. My wife Jodie is female. Mother Judi is female. Our Deacons, Juanita and Mary are female. Our warden, Janice Seldon…also female. Indeed most of our leadership here at Resurrection is female and here to today, and I am sure they are all curious how I’m going to deal with this passage. Furthermore, I imagine that every husband in the room is hoping I give him an out before he has to go home with his wife today. So, I guess I should stop stalling and get to it.
Part of my nervousness about preaching on this passage comes from the way it has been used through out history. Often these verses have been used to defend laws that denied women the right to own property or vote. They have also been used to defend laws that said that a woman had no rights to how her body was used for either labor or sex by her husband. Finally, and most atrocious of all, this verse has been used by clergy to send women back into homes and “marriages” (though I use that word loosely) where they were being beaten, and their children abused. These things and other attitudes and policies that deny the humanity of women are flat wrong. Jesus would not support them, and I don’t think Paul would either.
Some people have tried to say that Paul did not mean for women to obey their husbands. I think that is a stretch, given the legal and cultural make up of families in that time and place I think Paul did mean obey. (before yall start warming up the tar and feathers, note that I said Paul thought this, not that I believe women should obey, or that Jesus believed that.) I think Paul is speaking, at least in regards to wives, fairly in line with the culture and laws of the day. All husbands had a large amount of legal and cultural power over their spouses, and even more so if they were the head of the household—the oldest male in line. The head of the household held power to the point of life and death over all descendents and their spouses. It was possible to kill a spouse or child without consequence with little or no reason at all, if you were the head of the house.
With this taken into account, Paul is being out of line with the culture of the first century Roman Empire when he speaks to husbands. Paul tells husbands to love their wives as “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,…” Paul is doing two things in that statement. First, he is reversing the gender roles of a marriage. Instead of the women giving up her life—body, mind, and soul—Paul calls for the husband to give up his life as Jesus did. It is revolutionary in his day and age to even suggest that men should sacrifice for the women in their lives; much less sacrifice to the level of Christ. The second thing that Paul does in verse 25, and indeed throughout all of Ephesians chapter 5, is to set up Christ as the model for all our relationships, friend to friend, child to parent, neighbor to acquaintance, and yes spouse to spouse.
If we look to Christ we see a high standard of relationship. Christ says to treat all as him. Christ says in Matthew 25, that whatever we do to whomever we meet, especially the least among us, we do to Christ himself. Furthermore, Christ says in our Gospel today, for the third week in a row, I am the bread of life whoever eats this bread and drinks this wine have Christ in them.
This is truly a high standard, if we are to assume that everyone we meet has Christ within them.
It is a high standard indeed, if when we greet someone we are to greet the Christ within them.
It is the highest standard in fact, if we are called in every action, in every deed, to treat the person next to us—be they spouse, child, friend, neighbor, or even enemy—as we would treat Christ himself.
Carl Jung once said that it takes a thousand years for an idea to catch on. I think Paul was trying to understand this radical Gospel, this drastic good news of Christ, and for his time, he was pushing the envelope. Paul calls us to be subject to each other, as Christ, the holy one of God, humbled himself and was subject to us. Paul did what he could with what he understood of Christ and God at the time. But, it is Jesus that has the words of eternal life, not Paul.
We have only just begun to understand the equality that Jesus calls for. We have only just begun to learn what it is to be subject to each other. We have only just begun to understand that we cannot lift ourselves above others because of their gender, their age, their race, their marital status, or their sexual preference. We have only just begun to understand what it means to be in the kingdom of God.
Brothers and Sisters, we are called today…called by Christ to his high standard. We are called to pattern our lives in the way of his sacrificial love. We are called to structure our homes, our neighborhoods, cities, towns, states, nations and world in ways that honor the Christ within all.
Amen!
I speak with you in the name of the crucified, risen, and living God, Amen!
Ephesians chapter 5 is not my favorite chapter of the bible. It ranks right up there with parts of the book of Ezekiel that I just simply wish weren’t in the bible. The part of Ephesians 5 we read today is attached to a haunting lingering memory of one my early Episcopal experiences. I was in college in 1996 when a friend of mine drug me to the campus ministry of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Murfreesboro, TN. After six months or so of my sporadic attendance I was asked to be a reader as part of Campus Ministry Sunday. Now, I was still new to this liturgy thing. I grew up Baptist, and though we at times had a complex order of worship, I still hadn’t figured out this Episco-aerobics, shift to the left, shift to right, stand up, sit down, pray, pray, pray type worship service; so, I was a little nervous about being a reader. But I figured, “Hey, I did six years of bible drill as a preacher’s kid. I should be able to stand up and read the bible in public…Right?” So, I agreed.
I learned several lessons that day, the first is always read though the reading before you get to the podium. They had handed me a bible reference, but I hadn’t taken time read through it. So, I get up there…start reading and get to verse 22, “Women obey your husbands…” Now what went through my mind at this point is related to the second thing I learned. See, the pews in St. Paul’s chapel went from the center isle all the way to the wall. I learned that day when you are reading Ephesians 5:22, don’t sit next to the wall at the end of a row of eight strong minded, extremely talented, vocally expressive, Episcopal campus women.
Now, I know I completed the reading, and I know I read all of what the head of the lay readers told me to read. But in my memory the reading stopped with the wives part. It didn’t go on with the husband’s part like we did today. The lectionary does indeed call for verses 21-33, so I must have read the husband’s part that infamous Sunday, but I don’t remember doing it. Furthermore it doesn’t really matter if I did. My female friends from the Campus ministry stopped listening after verse 22. For the next three years they proceeded to remind me often of that reading even though I didn’t write it, and I didn’t even preach on it that day.
Fast forward a few years, to my time as a Resurrection House intern, and this passage of scripture reared its head again. Now, I was in the house in the class of 2001-2002 with two strong minded, vocally expressive Episcopal women. We did not always get along; in fact we worked hard and long that year to see the light of Christ in each other. One particular day, when we were in a not happy place to say the least, it was my turn to plan the house worship for the evening. I opened up my trusty Book of Common Prayer and found the daily lectionary reading to be Ephesians 5:21-33. My heart sank. The acid in my stomach doubled, and that bitter adrenaline taste of fear filled my mouth. I must confess, I changed the reading that night. I didn’t even tell my housemates what I did. I just wasn’t gonna go there.
Ten years ago, I wasn’t the preacher, and five years ago in Resurrection house, discretion was the better part of valor, but today the elephant is in the room and it must be dealt with. Now, let me state the obvious for a moment. My wife Jodie is female. Mother Judi is female. Our Deacons, Juanita and Mary are female. Our warden, Janice Seldon…also female. Indeed most of our leadership here at Resurrection is female and here to today, and I am sure they are all curious how I’m going to deal with this passage. Furthermore, I imagine that every husband in the room is hoping I give him an out before he has to go home with his wife today. So, I guess I should stop stalling and get to it.
Part of my nervousness about preaching on this passage comes from the way it has been used through out history. Often these verses have been used to defend laws that denied women the right to own property or vote. They have also been used to defend laws that said that a woman had no rights to how her body was used for either labor or sex by her husband. Finally, and most atrocious of all, this verse has been used by clergy to send women back into homes and “marriages” (though I use that word loosely) where they were being beaten, and their children abused. These things and other attitudes and policies that deny the humanity of women are flat wrong. Jesus would not support them, and I don’t think Paul would either.
Some people have tried to say that Paul did not mean for women to obey their husbands. I think that is a stretch, given the legal and cultural make up of families in that time and place I think Paul did mean obey. (before yall start warming up the tar and feathers, note that I said Paul thought this, not that I believe women should obey, or that Jesus believed that.) I think Paul is speaking, at least in regards to wives, fairly in line with the culture and laws of the day. All husbands had a large amount of legal and cultural power over their spouses, and even more so if they were the head of the household—the oldest male in line. The head of the household held power to the point of life and death over all descendents and their spouses. It was possible to kill a spouse or child without consequence with little or no reason at all, if you were the head of the house.
With this taken into account, Paul is being out of line with the culture of the first century Roman Empire when he speaks to husbands. Paul tells husbands to love their wives as “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,…” Paul is doing two things in that statement. First, he is reversing the gender roles of a marriage. Instead of the women giving up her life—body, mind, and soul—Paul calls for the husband to give up his life as Jesus did. It is revolutionary in his day and age to even suggest that men should sacrifice for the women in their lives; much less sacrifice to the level of Christ. The second thing that Paul does in verse 25, and indeed throughout all of Ephesians chapter 5, is to set up Christ as the model for all our relationships, friend to friend, child to parent, neighbor to acquaintance, and yes spouse to spouse.
If we look to Christ we see a high standard of relationship. Christ says to treat all as him. Christ says in Matthew 25, that whatever we do to whomever we meet, especially the least among us, we do to Christ himself. Furthermore, Christ says in our Gospel today, for the third week in a row, I am the bread of life whoever eats this bread and drinks this wine have Christ in them.
This is truly a high standard, if we are to assume that everyone we meet has Christ within them.
It is a high standard indeed, if when we greet someone we are to greet the Christ within them.
It is the highest standard in fact, if we are called in every action, in every deed, to treat the person next to us—be they spouse, child, friend, neighbor, or even enemy—as we would treat Christ himself.
Carl Jung once said that it takes a thousand years for an idea to catch on. I think Paul was trying to understand this radical Gospel, this drastic good news of Christ, and for his time, he was pushing the envelope. Paul calls us to be subject to each other, as Christ, the holy one of God, humbled himself and was subject to us. Paul did what he could with what he understood of Christ and God at the time. But, it is Jesus that has the words of eternal life, not Paul.
We have only just begun to understand the equality that Jesus calls for. We have only just begun to learn what it is to be subject to each other. We have only just begun to understand that we cannot lift ourselves above others because of their gender, their age, their race, their marital status, or their sexual preference. We have only just begun to understand what it means to be in the kingdom of God.
Brothers and Sisters, we are called today…called by Christ to his high standard. We are called to pattern our lives in the way of his sacrificial love. We are called to structure our homes, our neighborhoods, cities, towns, states, nations and world in ways that honor the Christ within all.
Amen!
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