saints and sinners- St John of the Cross

Arrogance

The weight of arrogance is such
that no bird can fly
carrying it.

And the man who feels superior
to others, that man cannot dance,

the real dance when the soul takes God
into its arms and you both fall
onto your knees in
gratitude,

a blessed gratitude
for life.

saints and sinners- St John of the Cross

The Essence of Desire

I did not
have to ask my heart what it wanted,
because of all the desires I have ever known just one did I cling to
for it was the essence
of all desire:

to hold beauty in
my soul's
arm.

saints and sinners- St John of the Cross

Spanish mystic poet (1542-1591) who was forcibly converted to Christianity as a child and would eventually become Carmelite friar and reformer. More history.

“In the evening of life, we will be judged on love alone.”

heading home, leaving home, and thankfully praying the journey would be both.

Every house where love abides
And friendship is a guest,
Is surely home, and home sweet home
For there the heart can rest.

Henry Van Dyke

Cain, Abel, the beginning and the end

I appreciate the public proclamation of theology and scripture immensely as it is expressed on the side of this building in the lower ninth ward in New Orleans. And the image above captures a pain that is unknowable for someone who has not lived in one of the most violent cities in the United States. But in fairness to the scripture, it needs to be noted that there are two chapters of Genesis that proceed the story of Cain and Abel. Two chapters of scripture that tell us that what God created was 'good' and 'very good' before the distrusting actions of Adam and Eve in chapter 3 and the murder over religion that we find in chapter 4.

And on the last page of most Bibles, just before we reach the final 'amen' at the conclusion of the the book of Revelation, we are again brought back to a garden-like vision of goodness and light where a river of life flows clear and clean and the leaves on the tree of life are for the healing of the peoples.

In a world living in the now and the not yet, where killing over religion, ethnicity, and disrespect seems to be out of control; in a world where the waters rage killing hundreds of thousands through a single tsunami, millions through its dirtiness that brings disease, and hundreds via breeched levees...

we keep our eyes on the beginning and the end

and we live our lives as those shaped by the one who calls us to action

in the middle

of

it

all

choosing our better history

" Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many.

They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America - they will be met. On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.

We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted - for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things - some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom."

Every generation has its shared defining moments in history that we personally tag and remember where we were and what we were doing as particular monumental events unfolded. My parents talk about remembering where they were when they heard about Pearl Harbor being bombed and the assassination of JFK. I remember where I was when I heard about the space shuttle Challenger disaster and the tragic events of 9/11.

As I heard the words above spoken by new president Barack Obama as part of his inauguration speech, I was sitting in a 15 passenger van with a handful of folks preparing to get to work in the lower ninth ward of New Orleans 40 months post Katrina.

The degree of devastation that remains here is almost beyond belief.

But the hope... it will not die among those who live and labor here.

Out of suffering, an enduring spirit continues to choose hope over fear and walk a long and rugged path that defines us as a nation.

words of wisdom for the wayfaring

Thought I would share a poem that a friend wrote recently that I found to be inpsiring as we move into the new year.

anger aggravates, accommodates, advocates abuse.
authenticity awakens action.
beatitudes bear burdens with bold, brave, beautiful belief.
condemnation consumes, confines, confuses, cancels, quenches.
charity cheerfully choses changeless truthful chance.
desolate isolation destructs, depresses, represses.
darkness doubts and disguises.
dissatisfaction deters, destroys, defiles, defies, denies.
Daddy's divine detox and definite decisions define- directing daily dancing destiny.
eternally expressive encouragement enables courage.
foolishness and fraud ferment & fester, fool, fail & frustrate.
forgiven fearless freedom flows from firmaments' faithful, founding Father.
faith followers find friendship, family and favor.
humanity hoards and harbors hate, humiliating humility.
hurting, hungry hearts hide.
holy happiness harbors holistically healthy harmony.
ill, illegitimate, irreverent, irrelevant impermanence interrupts.
eternal, ingenious, insightful, innovative intelligence inspires.
jubilance joins justice, joyfully judging junk jurisdiction.
kindred kindness kindles and cultivates compassionate community.
love listens and laments.
life liberates.
mankind misunderstands and miscommunicates.
miracles & mercy mend mistakes.
neighborliness nurtures.
honest opportunity overrules ostracizing oppression.
plentiful plans pervade, persuade personal pursuits.
Prince of permanent peace paves, preserves, prepares, protects, provides perfect paths.
purity portrays passionate potential.
patience perseveres.
quiet confidence confides, communicating candidly.
rage ravages with revengeful rampant regret.
real, righteous wisdom refreshes, reflects, respects, requests right, relevant routes.
spiritual sickness soils saliva.
stubborn, stained sentiments send sharp shattering signals.
sweet, simple, soulful sincerity shares.
tongues torture.
truth trusts.
understanding observes.
wise warmth restores, redirects waywardness, reawakening wild, refreshing, reflective wonder.


Thanks Arli for a beautiful bit of bold purposeful prose!

waiting... for the One who brings a new song

I waited patiently for the LORD;
he inclined to me and heard my cry.

He drew me up from the pit of destruction,
out of the miry bog,
and set my feet upon a rock,
making my steps secure.

He put a new song in my mouth,
a song of praise to our God.

psalm 40:1-3

*waiting...to become child-like

Jesus associates child-like eyes with our ability to see the kingdom of God in our lives and the world around us. On Saturday I invited the kids at ROJ to make Christmas cards to go with the gifts that we are giving to residents of a local teen homeless shelter. I told the ROJ kids that these children will not be spending this Christmas with their moms and dads.

The card below reflects child-like kingdom vision, where the only reason that a child would not be with their parent(s) on Christmas is because they were somehow lost and unable to find their way home.




The hope we share in Christmas is that a lost and broken world, rife with the troubles of tattered personal relationships, shattered dreams, financial worries, disease, death and despair; would find rest and peace in finding her way home through a baby who lies in a manger.

waiting...on the world to change

I think John Mayer has humanity pegged in identifying our inability to change the world on our own. You can be an armchair critic, a passionate and zealous advocate, or and indifferent clod. None of these will change the world.

The good news for the world is that we don't have to change the world because Christ already has! This is why we celebrate Christmas, because the light that causes darkness to hide has entered the world for the sake of the world.

Our challenge as those who have heard this news is one of faith: to believe this God-directed change is underway and that Christ is in charge, to identify where this brightening of the world is happening, and participate as we live into this changing of the world.

Such a life of faith ushers in peace and joy as we join in a conspiracy of change that gives life and hope to a waiting world.

waiting... with the voice of the homeless

I gave away my first glovebox bundle last night as we headed downtown to a concert. Three things about sharing this gift are stuck in my mind. First, the man’s voice saying over and over again “thank you, thank you, thank you” as we pulled away from the curb. It is a voice that will stick with me for a long time. Second, what seemed like a scene in slow motion as I was watching him in the side view mirror as he intently examined the bag and then looked up in wonder as we were driving away. And third, how the Christmas music seemed to touch me in a deeper part of my being.

Kinda weird huh?

Click here to visit the Love in the Glovebox website and see how you can share love one stoplight at a time.

*better days through forgiveness?

What do you want for Christmas this year?

"Boxes wrapped in strings and empty things?" Or something more? Something bigger? Something more meaningful and deeper?

Can we have a better Christmas through the gift of "faith, and trust, and peace" as we strive to live a life where the world begins anew with the "one poor child who saved the world?"

And you asked me what I want this year
and I try to make this kind and clear
just a chance that maybe we'll find better days
'cause I don't need boxes wrapped in strings
and designer love and empty things
just a chance that maybe we'll find better days

So take these words and sing out loud
'cause everyone is forgiven now
'cause tonight's the night the world begins again

I need some place simple where we could live
and something only you can give
and that's faith and trust and peace while we're alive
and the one poor child who saved this world
and there's ten million more who probably could
if we all just stopped and said a prayer for them

So take these words and sing out loud
'cause everyone is forgiven now
'cause tonight's the night the world begins again

I wish everyone was loved tonight
and somehow stop this endless fight
just a chance that maybe we'll find better days

So take these words and sing out loud
'cause everyone is forgiven now
'cause tonight's the night the world begins again

'cause tonight's the night the world begins again

join the conspiracy

This Advent, River of Joy will be perpetuating a conspiracy of love and peace that began with a newborn child with no place to stay- embraced by his mother and laid to rest among the farm animals. Care to join us? Click here for more information about how to get involved.

*kingdom dwellers

Kingdom's have citizens.

citizen
1: an inhabitant of a city or town ; especially : one entitled to the rights and privileges of a freeman
2 a: a member of a state b: a native or naturalized person who owes allegiance to a government and is entitled to protection from it
3: a civilian as distinguished from a specialized servant of the state

Click here to see who these citizens are and notice that they are ALWAYS refered to in the plural and NEVER in the singular.

They are known in their nature as a community, a communion of saints, a rag tag army of forgiven, enabled, and energized people.

*kingdom talk

What does this kingdom of God that Jesus talks about look like?

Take a peek in scripture here.

playgrounds and the kingdom of God

“The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him he's always doing both.”

James Michener

And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.

Mark 10:13-14



Yesterday the faith community I lead, River of Joy Lutheran Church, gathered for a community meal and a service project. We were putting together care packages to carry in our gloveboxes in order to be prepared for the next time we see someone homeless on a street corner. Click here for more on this new missional initiative.

Anyway, before we began the service project a bunch of the kids (ages 2-7) were outside playing as the adults were setting up inside. One of the mom’s who was outside supervising came in and excitedly told us that some of the children were outside on the playground car giving care packages to one another; role playing the sharing of the care packages before we had even constructed them or officially “told” them about the project. Apparently, the tagging along as the gloves, hats, socks, and granola bars were purchased and the conversations around these purchases had sunk into their precious beings before the care packages were even constructed.

Now you might think this is a cute story, and it is. But it is more than cute. Because how children play is deeply rooted and highly significant in their development. “Play is freely chosen, intrinsically motivated and personally directed. Playing has been long recognized as a critical aspect of Child development.” I am no childhood development expert, but it would seem to me that to have our children engaging in play where “human behavior is structured by very different rules” sounds a lot like living in the kingdom of God, where the rule of love expressed by Christ is markedly different than the governing rule of our world.

So let’s play!!! Let's play as communities of faith that are called to live by different rules in this world. Let's play, as children of God who have been marked by the cross and set free for goodness, life, and light. May Christ’s spirit continue to inspire us and lead us as we create environments for our children to live out a life of playful, world changing creativity.

*which link are we called to be?

The one that is closed and bound. Tempered together and unable to break free?




Or the one that is easily clicked open by Christ and reconnected to others for the sake of building up and supporting one another in the traversing of life?

Check out the end of this post (sept 6) which was sent to me today. It is a great story of the spirit of Christ clicking people together for the sake of building up and encouragement.


"So they went out of the prison and visited Lydia. And when they had seen the brothers, they encouraged them and departed."

Acts 16:40

*why do we gather?

Paul writes to his friends in Corinth, “What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.”

Can it be that simple? We come together to build each other up. In Christ. With Christ. And through Christ?

Each bringing his/her unique life story and giftedness?

provisions- God's work. Our hands.

As part of our fall worship series, God’s work. Our hands., we are journeying together with provisions; reading some of the same books, listening to some of the same music, and watching some of the same movies.





Here are the things we are traveling with this fall:

The Big Sort- examines the ‘self sorting’ of American culture and the negative impact that this practice has in a more and more diverse world.

Freedom of a Christian- is Martin Luther’s examination of our paradoxical life as those who are completely free through Christ while at the same time bound to serve others.

A Generous Orthodoxy- challenges us to a life that is Christ-centered in practice, looking beyond us/them and embracing the mystery of we.

Jim and Casper Go to Church- is a a collection of conversations between a church consultant and an atheist as they visit churches and speak with Christians.

Everything is Spiritual- is a filmed teaching of Rob Bell, a pastor who is tremendously gifted at raising awareness of the nature of things spiritual.

Pleasantville- is a film that captures the rub of modern life (and world view) with postmodern life (and worldview).

Ben Harper- is the musical artist we are listening to with a recommendation of the CD Diamonds on the Inside. Take a listen to our journey theme song above.

Grab a book or movie at worship. Give it a chance and see what you think. Don’t like it, bring it back and try another.

dancin' shoes

One of the images that really resonates with me these days is the notion of our relationship with God being like a dance. Perhaps like the first dance of a newly married couple or the dance of bride with her father, or the joyful dance of a people in worship, or a tribal dance handed down, preserved, and stylized from generation to generation.

Dancing with God to the rhythms of life. Not alone, but together. Click the photos below to see God dancing!

A few months ago, ROJ joined a family dancing with God and on their way to India. The Borde’s (Jon, Swati, and Neil) quickly became friends, co-missionaries, and dance partners. Jon and Jodie Skyberg hosted a concert in their home to lift them up and we sent them on their way with our blessing and prayers and some money to purchase shoes for kids in our global neighborhood. The shoes worn by children in India pictured above are the fruit of a concert on a backyard patio in Lakeville! Dancin' shoes indeed!

I posted about our story with the Bordes a couple of times and one of the posts was reworked into an article for a congregational newsletter and a synod publication (July).

Our transglobal dance with Jon, Swati, and Neil continues as we support them in prayer and presence from halfway around the world. Our God is an amazing dance partner who meets us and invites us to dance: in a park in Prior Lake, around a swimming pool, at picnics in north Mpls, in the creating of art and community, with children’s hands in a garden, and in the lives of children living in orphanages in India.

Big arms. A gentle lead. Graceful steps.

Feel the rhythm.

Follow the lead.

Dance-

Your

Way

Home.