Drink Upstream

Congratulations! Now get to work.

I gathered last night with good friends to watch election returns.  It was a good time.  And I believe we saw the best in both candidates.

Certainly, Obama's victory is historic.  McCain's speech was laudable.  And in that speech, we saw the John McCain that I could have considered supporting (and, indeed, at one point did.)  Last night we didn't see the McCain that had been taken over by the Republic Presidential Election Team.  We saw someone with much more valor, honor, reason, and humility - and I believe that to be the real John McCain.

This morning, the alarm went off, and I went to work at a place where the current economic conditions are hurting us.  There's lots of work to do and resources are tighter than they have been at any point in our small company's history.

At some point today, Barak Obama and John McCain will get out of bed.  And there will be lots of work to do, and resources are tighter than they have been - probably in my lifetime.

May the battle cry not turn from "Yes, we can!" to "Yes, we did!" quite yet.  May we all be about the work of making creation more like it ought to be.

Election Day Humor

Go vote!!

And laugh.

From the Onion: Bush: 'Can I Stop Being President Now?'

the Onion Candidate Profiles: Sen. McCain, Sen. Obama, Sen. Biden, Gov. Palin

From YouTube: Les Misbarack and A thank you to the campaign - (Obama)

Bible Verse of the Day: Ecclesiastes 10:2 (Thanks, Mom!)

And on a more serious note (from Matt): Why I Didn't Vote for Obama

Sermon Crafting, Ordinary 32

Once again, the pulpit beckons. November 9, the 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, I will be in front of the congregation of Old Pine, preaching, proclaiming, heralding and calling. The road from here to there, though, is long and crowded. I thought I should get a head start.

I invite our regular and irregular readers to join me on this journey again. The texts for this sermon are:

• Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25
• I Thessalonians 4:13-18
• Matthew 25:1-13

Read 'em. Pray 'em. Think about 'em. Get back to me. Comment, email or Facebook message your thoughts (you can phone it in, too, if you need another option).

I will ask the standard questions. What stands out to you? What do you see and hear in these words of Scripture? And what are the implications for the Church (capitalized or not, however you understand it) in this time and this nation/world?

Let me add also two bits of context. First, Old Pine is currently between pastors. The Pastor/Head of Staff recently left and no interim has been selected (though the search committee is hard at work finding one). Second, that Sunday will be Stewardship Commitment Sunday. People will come forward for the offering and deliver enveloped pledges for their weekly offering next year. There is a theme to this year's stewardship campaign, and I believe it is "Thankfulness", but I am not certain.

Ok, that's it. Thank you to all who take the time to walk this journey with me.

Update: The stewardship campaign uses the metaphor of music to express thankfulness. Here is a line from the congregational letter: "The melodies of thanksgiving and praise remind us of the certainty of God's steadfast love for us, and drown out those ghosts of fear and doubt." May that add a new harmonic theme to your thoughtful reflection.

Broad Street Geneva

Rather than dwelling in ever expanding comments, I thought I would keep our recent discussion going by creating a new post. However, Bill (G or #2, however we should refer to you), Bruce, and Jared please consider this post a response to your insightful words.

My respect for the work of newborn communities such as Broad Street Ministry and Mission Bay Community Church cannot be measured. They are places where the Gospel is rightly preached, heard, and practiced, I'm sure of it, though I've never worshiped at either place. Why be so sure? Because people who have been on the margins of church for too long are participating in leadership. They who climbed a tree to see or raised a roof to hear the Gospel have seen and heard and responded. I need no other proof.

Such communities are the exemplars of the teaching that filled the classrooms of Columbia Seminary. Carlos Cardoz-Orlandi talked about a vision of the church where the center heard the Gospel from the periphery. Chuck Campbell spoke about the foolish Word overthrowing the destructiveness of principalities and powers. Kathleen O'Conner urged us to stop shielding ourselves from the power of Bible texts. BSM, MBCC and a host of others are bringing this conversation to real, tangible fruition, and I do not want to denigrate their work, their journeys, their life together.

That said, I yearn for a new conversation. The next conversation. The one that stops asking if the Church or denomination can survive, stops showing us what a new Church and new communities would look like, and instead starts an earnest reformation in every church community.

a plane crash and some pastoral care

Last week I was blessed with an opportunity to catch up with an old friend.  Unfortunately, the conversation line was opened with an email including questions like, "Why are people telling me that I need to have faith that it was a miracle?"

The weekend before, this friend was watching a college football game at his father-in-law's land.  In the middle of the game, a crop-duster thought he was going to make it safely under some power lines and ended up in a heap in the father-in-law's land.  My friend, his wife and the father-in-law all raced out to the plane to see what they could do.

They were able to pull the pilot out of the wreckage and get him to the hospital in somewhat stable condition despite him having ruptured every organ in his body besides his heart.  At first I thought my friend's main concern was his second thoughts about whether he and his family members (including his pregnant wife) should have entered a wreck site like that because of the possible negative after-effects.  Soon, the conversation (over G-chat) ventured into the heart of the problem... theology.

He was not yet able to wrap his head around seeing the family of the pilot gather around the hospital bed and constantly saying, "I throw God's hands around him."  To which his response is, "Why would they say that?  They better hope a good surgeon's hands are around him."  It also bothered him that they could not stop thanking God, while only the wife of the pilot could call later to thank him and his family for what they did.

The frustration continued at work where his co-workers insisted that it was a miracle from God, again ignoring the work of his wife (certified trained nurse) and the sacrifices his family went through to help the guy.  The most irksome to him was his co-worker's insistence that it was the devil that caused the crash and God who came to pick up the pieces.

About that time, I was confirmed in my assumption that what my friend really needed was someone to vent to.  That fact that I was also a "churchy-type" and still agreed with many of his concerns helped, but was only secondary.

Now it has left me with some discussion topics.  What do we define as a "miracle."  Does highly improbable by default equal a miracle?  Do we actually dishonor God by directing all thanks to God and neglecting our neighbors (who very well may be agents of God's "miracle").   Are God's hands and a surgeon's hands mutually exclusive?

(we'll see if I get back on this blog-ball thing)

Sermoning

For those not in the know, I had the opportunity to preach a sermon at Preston Hollow PC on Sunday morning as a part of a 'Layity Sunday'. 

I have to tell you, it was a blast.

The whole process, studying, praying, thinking, writing, refining, and preaching....I really enjoyed the opportunity.

For those that are interested, here's a copy.

Simply Abundant

Please note that I've made a post hoc change to the sermon.  One little line has been added based on a solid piece of constructive criticism that I got from Jared.  It's funny how ten words really can make a major impact.  Also note that I didn't include the very last line.  It's more of a symbolic/protest kind of thing.

Enjoy!

Weighing in...

A nice conversation is happening in the comments to Bill's previous post.  Here's where I weigh in (I wanted to do it in comments, but typepad kept puking on me, presumably because I typed too much...)

First:  Who knew anyone who didn't live in Sherman between 1996 and 2003 would ever read this?

Second:  To all involved in this conversation: thanks for having it.

Third:

Broad Street Moderator

Tuesday night, dinner and discussion.

Place: Broad Street Ministry, a not quite church, not quite non-profit, not quite compartmentalizable... [I don't have a noun for the description, so we'll call it a...] ministry in Center City Philadelphia.

The discussion featured a panel with the Revs. Bruce Reyes-Chow (PCUSA Moderator), Byron Wade (PCUSA Vice-Moderator), Bill Golderer (Broad Street Convening Minister), and Erika Funk (Broad Street Youth Initiative Minister). A powerhouse of a panel.

But the discussion was not powerhouse. There was much talk about "living into a new way of church" and "new ways of being community". There were some good lines. "People don't expect much from us [--the church--] anymore." "We are in a posture of yearning, and there is the chance that we will wander into oblivion." (These aren't exact quotes, but phrases that rang true with me.) However, if ever there was a lost cul-de-sac in the neighborhood of theological, ecclesial, or even pastoral insight, this was it.

Measured and Articulate

There is no question that we live in a pretty divisive time.  Every time I turn on the TV or hit up the old interwebs, I find folks trying to:

(a)  Cram everyone and every opinion into a convenient little package.
(b)  Set those groups in some kind of diametrically oppositional framework.

Then it seems like the folks that buy into the us/them ideology start screaming at the other side. 

'Heretic'

'Apostate'

'Terrorist'

'Nazi'

'Fascist'

'Racist'

All words hurled at the "other guy" in an attempt to knock her down a peg.  It's become frustratingly prevalent....even to the point where I'm pleasantly surprised to find something like this.  It makes me proud to be a part of a denomination where one of our leaders is this measured and articulate when dealing with folks he/she doesn't necessarily agree with. 

Jared's Clip of the Week

I distinctly remember sitting in the north west corner of the balcony of Sid Richardson gym and listening intently (for those who haven't been in Sid Rich, or don't have internal compasses, the north west corner is the severe nosebleed seats.)  I distinctly remember the silence in the room as he spoke.  I distinctly remember the energy in the room as he finished.  I distinctly remember the rhetoric: an America that delivers on it's promises - not just for those who could afford to buy them, but especially for those that couldn't.  I remember the stories of his family.  And most of all, I remember the hope.

Colin Powell came to campus and dropped off hope.

At least two ardent Republicans that I interact with regularly have changed their voting intentions this week, after hearing him talk.  Colin Powell peddles in hope.  And this week, he said this:

So, when I look at all of this and I think back to my Army career, we've got two individuals, either one of them could be a good president.  But which is the president that we need now?  Which is the individual that serves the needs of the nation for the next period of time?  And I come to the conclusion that because of his ability to inspire, because of the inclusive nature of his campaign, because he is reaching out all across America, because of who he is and his rhetorical abilities--and we have to take that into account--as well as his substance--he has both style and substance--he has met the standard of being a successful president, being an exceptional president.  I think he is a transformational figure.  He is a new generation coming into the world--onto the world stage, onto the American stage, and for that reason I'll be voting for Senator Barack Obama.