More than I ask or imagine. . .

A Demonstration against Secularism: The "Natural" Healing of Music

Secularism is "the negation of man as a worshiping being, as homo adorans: the one for whom worship is the essential act which both 'posits' his humanity and fulfills it".  Alexander Schmemann said this in his famous book For the Life of the World.  Every now and then, there are items in the news or on the web that testify to humanity's fundamental desire to worship. 

Below is a video that has been shared on Facebook and Twitter from a documentary about a Music Therapy treatment.  An elderly man with Alzheimer's Disease or Dementia, begins listening to music and he is brought to life.  The doctor says "Henry is restored to himself, he has remembered who is, and reacquired his identity for a while through the power of music".  Although the clip ends with a praise of technology, the real healing was not from drugs or therapy but the "music of the spheres", a gift of God Almighty who sang life into being. 

Oftentimes, I forget that I am a beloved son in Christ.  When I forget this, my anxiety will take over as the fruit of my selfishness.  Through the ages, music calls us out of the selfish abyss and brings us back to ourselves.  We remember who we are.   The Call to Worship every week in Church is a call to die to myself and live as part of a new humanity as the Church.  In myself, I am in exile, and every Sunday is a homecoming.  

Enjoy the video, remember who you are and worshiping the God from whom all blessings flow. 

 

New Clothes for Easter: A Sign and Seal of Something More

I wrote this following article for our Newsletter at Lycoming Centre.  After I told my Mom that I got a new suit for Easter, she and Dad came up for Easter as a surprise, but it just shows how much they taught me through even something like clothing.

I remember my brown suit.  I was 4 or 5 and the pictures show me standing proudly in my Easter suit.  In my early childhood, I can remember wearing new suits every Easter and my sister having a bright and beautiful Spring dress.  My parents always dressed us up for church, but on Easter, that was a game changer. We wore bright-colored new clothes that were only fit for weddings or Christmas if we had not grown out of them by then.

Easter, from my earliest memories was about color and newness. I have no idea about the origin of pastel colors and Easter, but my parents entrusted me with a great worldview by communicating the newness and uniqueness of Easter. The greatest central fact of our faith is the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from Death on the Cross.  The resurrection is his enthronement celebration where God declares before the watching world that- Yes, He is the Son of God! This is not some random coincidence or aberration in history, but the very beginning of a new history.  All things are being made new now in King Jesus' lordship, and his primary means of that work of newness is you and me.  The Church's calling is to be a New People.  Granted, we are sinners, but the Holy Spirit that raised Jesus that first Easter is raising us in Him as well. We are no longer dead in our sin!

In the first few centuries of the Church, new converts were baptized on Saturday night or Early Sunday morning before Easter.  After the baptism, they would be given new white robes to wear for the Easter service. Easter was celebrated for 7 weeks culminating in Pentecost Sunday. So every Sunday, these newly Baptized believers would remind the Church that they are new people and have a new calling.

This Easter, consider where are you called to bring the newness of Jesus' Kingly New Reign. Where is God calling you to die to your selfishness and pride and to live a resurrection life? How can you, your family and this church show our community that Jesus is renewing all things? Let not just your Easter apparel show that something is special about April 8 this year, but let your conduct, your repentance, your generosity, your forgiveness and your newness of heart be a witness to Christ's resurrection!

Holy Saturday Reading: Psalm 88

The modern existential novel holds no thrill for me except on Holy Saturday.  I am thinking of James Joyce's Ulysses or Faulkner's Light in August as epitomes of this genre.  These and other such novels show an angst and an experience that is not driven by narrative but rather what life is like when the narrative is lost.  There is an ebb and flow and a journey but no plot resolution.  For many readers this is simply unsatisfying.  I want a good story, but the novel will end with nothing there to give that satisfaction of the completed story.

For one day a year, that lack of resolution should stick with us.  Psalm 88 is a perfect Pslam for this day, and is used in many lectionaries for today.  Why is Psalm 88 a good one?  Because it does not resolve. It never comes back to "But I will trust in the Lord" or "wait for Him" or "seek refuge in the Lord's Anointed".  It just ends with no resolution, being in need, oppressed, and lonely.

Reading Psalm 88 identifies with our experience as experience long before existential angst was popular in the 20th century. In fact, the nature of faith is a posture that is honest about suffering and longs for God to redeem even when circumstances seem to not be resolving.  The psalm also reminds us that God "remembers our frame, and knows we are dust" (Psalm 103). Ultimately, our stories, our journeys may not be satisfyingly resolved for us, but our story will resolve in the larger great narrative that God is writing. The satisfaction must wait.

As we wait on Holy Saturday, let us remember Psalm 88:

      1 LORD, you are the God who saves me;
         day and night I cry out to you.
      2 May my prayer come before you;
         turn your ear to my cry.

      3 I am overwhelmed with troubles
         and my life draws near to death.
      4 I am counted among those who go down to the pit;
         I am like one without strength.
      5 I am set apart with the dead,
         like the slain who lie in the grave,
         whom you remember no more,
         who are cut off from your care.

      6 You have put me in the lowest pit,
         in the darkest depths.
      7 Your wrath lies heavily on me;
         you have overwhelmed me with all your waves. i
      8 You have taken from me my closest friends
         and have made me repulsive to them.
         I am confined and cannot escape;
         9      my eyes are dim with grief.

         I call to you, LORD, every day;
         I spread out my hands to you.
      10 Do you show your wonders to the dead?
         Do their spirits rise up and praise you?
      11 Is your love declared in the grave,
         your faithfulness in Destruction?
      12 Are your wonders known in the place of darkness,
         or your righteous deeds in the land of oblivion?

      13 But I cry to you for help, LORD;
         in the morning my prayer comes before you.
      14 Why, LORD, do you reject me
         and hide your face from me?

      15 From my youth I have suffered and been close to death;
         I have borne your terrors and am in despair.
      16 Your wrath has swept over me;
         your terrors have destroyed me.
      17 All day long they surround me like a flood;
         they have completely engulfed me.
      18 You have taken from me friend and neighbor—
         darkness is my closest friend.


The New International Version. 2011 (Ps 88:1–18). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

Entering into the Darkness of Love: A Maundy Thursday Reflection

The term Maundy Thursday comes from the Latin for "New Commandment" Mandataum Novum.  It comes from Jesus on that night before he was betrayed and arrested John 13:34 34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another." 

Jesus will demonstrate the full extent of his love in washing the disciple's feet and eating with them.  But his love does not end there. Through this night, Jesus will go through that lonely valley as he anticipates his calling to the Cross beginning with the arrest, the stripping, the flogging, the trials, and the shame.  It is this dark time that Jesus enters into, and that we must enter into as well.

Jesus enters into this new commandment, and this is only a preview of what he is doing by enduring the Cross. The call of Maundy Thursday is not just to cognitively remember but to re-enter the drama of that night.  If you have ever really loved someone, you hate to see them go through pain.  What is even more painful is when they are walking on a path that will eventual pain.  Love in this sense is what Paul alludes to in 1 Corinthians "Love suffers long" (King James). Love must experience this darkness.

We must understand the call of love is always a path to service and suffering.  We must examine our loves. Do we love those God has placed in our life with such a long suffering? Do we understand what we label as love is just infatuation to be terminated when we do not "feel" the same way again?  Have we refused the call of love? Would we rather 'fix' people than walk with them, weep with them, and even be hurt by them?

Behind all of these questions is the example of the Great Shepherd who has gone before us who endured the Cross fully entering into the darkness of love.   The effect of entering into this darkness means that light has dawned.  It is no longer darkness because the light of love has illuminated everything. Our Shepherd is good and calls to us, saying, "Follow Me".

Follow Him, this Maundy Thursday.

What We Really Mean When We Say, "I Know God Forgives Me, but I Just Can't Forgive Myself"

You have done it again.  Last time you swore you would not do this again. It may be a burst of anger, an addiction, a lie spoken in fear, or a hurting of someone you love or yourself.  Immediately the dark thoughts come, "how can there be any fear of God in my eyes?"  You can start beating yourself up making promises to yourself and others about "never again".  After a while the surmounting broken promises to yourself make you think that you are unusually sinful, broken, and lost.   You may even tell a friend, "Yes, I understand God forgives me, but I just can't forgive myself!"

Actually, this quote really shows that you do not understand that God forgives you in Christ.  When you can't forgive yourself, you are really saying, "I can't believe that I have done that!"  It really comes back to you, your performance, and your pride.  Actually, when you are at your worst having blown it and know that there is no good in you, then and only then, are you ready for Grace. 

Grace turns your gaze away from your failures, your broken life, and your pride to look deeply at the Triumphant and Relentless Love of God in Christ.  Psalm 51 and Psalm 103 are great songs of joy in the midst of getting caught or being at the bottom.  Notice in these psalms how the focus is on the "plenteous" grace of God in Psalm 103 and joy in Psalm 51.   Sin promises the world, but only our God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ can really deliever on his promises that we may enter his rest and joy.  So we can boldly claim His promises, we can come, be forgiven, and find joy.  There will be consequences to train you, but they are signs of God's loving discipline as a son or daughter. Those hard times are part of his love because in the end there will be joy.

This Holy Week, know that you are forgiven and be at peace.

The Day before Palm Sunday, Blind Bartimaeus

In my daily reading of Scripture, I came upon the story of Blind Bartimaeus which is such a bridge between Jesus instruction to serve instead of rule to the Triumphal Entry in Jerusalem.   James and John ask to be great, but Jesus asks if they can drink the cup or be baptized with his baptism.  Of course, they have no idea what Jesus is talking about even though he had just predicted his death again.  But Jesus tells them that the path of greatness is through service.  Then shows this to his disciples by asking Bartimaeus what he wants. Service bookends Palm Sunday. Jesus enters Jerusalem as a King, but he serves the people through the Kingly Rule of the Cross.

Service is always a dying to yourself and a giving of life to others.  This can be exhausting if you do this from your own strength, but the power must come from some where else. All my power goes into preserving my life, but that greater power, that weight or burden of glory is being worked in me that I may serve.  Service will always interfere with what others think is important, but greater importance is Christ's call to service healing, teaching, dying and rising.  I am still learning this and have miles to go for sure.  The sure sign of Christ's Spirit is a working of joy in service with patience and self-control.  May it be in us as well.

This is Your Brain on Stories.... Any questions?

 

I remember those "Partnership for a Drug Free America" commercials, about your brain on drugs.  A powerful metaphor for me watching as a kid.  That may be why I became a Waffle House cook in college, hmm...

But a recent article from the NY Times suggests that metaphors, fiction, and imagination are interpreted as real experiences for those who read them.  Here is an except

The brain, it seems, does not make much of a distinction between reading about an experience and encountering it in real life; in each case, the same neurological regions are stimulated. Keith Oatley, an emeritus professor of cognitive psychology at the University of Toronto (and a published novelist), has proposed that reading produces a vivid simulation of reality, one that “runs on minds of readers just as computer simulations run on computers.” Fiction — with its redolent details, imaginative metaphors and attentive descriptions of people and their actions — offers an especially rich replica. Indeed, in one respect novels go beyond simulating reality to give readers an experience unavailable off the page: the opportunity to enter fully into other people’s thoughts and feelings.

This is helpful to show how we are shaped and learn through story.  Metaphor also provides rich texture for our imagination and the shaping and forming us into different people after we have read a story. I have experienced the magical world of Harry Potter and faced evil, so now I can face evil in my own heart with the same bravery.

Several questions and connections rise to the front of my mind, What stories am I giving my sons?  What stories made me who I am? Why are we so rationalistic in our communication of theology instead of imaginative?  Can vast reading help us become more compassionate people? And quickly, this blog could get really really long.

My take away is a question too. A question that I must force upon myself is: Do I teach to encounter people with God's Story?  I hope too. In fact, that is my prayer.  I want sermons and sacraments to not be metaphors for something else, but the real thing, an encounter with Christ.  Sort of like a college student who worked at Waffle House frying eggs as a high because the metaphor got into his bones.

What do you Do? The Calling Question

I am struck by this question every time its asked.  I have a title, Pastor, but I wonder if that communicates what I do.  I think Reverend is not the lingo now, and Rev. still surprises me when it is in front of my name.

I preach on Sundays, so am I a "preacher"? Love that when folks call me that up here, it just fits. But by  a person's bed in the hospital or at coffee, I am not preaching.  I am a messenger.  I like that because I have a message, but I picture a bike messenger with a side bag in trendy clothes.  But I have been entrusted with this message, which I preach, encourage, and form in people by the Spirit's power. 

All those functions of preaching, praying, encouraging, and loving with this message assumes that I make it applicable or draw out implications for living and dying.  So I keep this message as a Steward. Steward, a good word with an old sense, implies that there is someone over me.  I am Steward.  Of what you ask?  The ancient message, no the ancient news....nope, ... the ancient song.  I like that too.  Song communicates rhythms, feeling, and depth.  

Yes, that is it, I am Steward of the Ancient Song.  The song from the beginning of the world till now that declares the beauty and wonder of the Restoration of all that has gone wrong in this World through Jesus Christ.  That's me and that's my calling!

What I Saw in Orlando: The Theology Project #fellowshippres

Below is the Theological Foundation session at the Covenanting conference of the Fellowship of Presbyterians.  I many ways I felt as though I had come home theologically with an emphasis on a Reformed and Sacramental Theology of Mission. The vision of this group is be the church in a new way and committing to foster further theological reflection. They take seriously to be Reformed and always Reforming.  There is also a call to be pastors in a way that takes seriously that endeavor.  The demands of pastoral ministry together with theological reflection and applying it to new frontiers will be draining.  To meet all of these demands, the Church must recover what Eugene Peterson calls the Contemplative Pastor in community.  

I need this type of community to read Scripture deeply and often, to read Historical theology, and to have accountability as we pray for our congregations, traditions, and our families.  This new order is like the orders of old where, like Franciscans, we commit to a way of life to bring renewal to the world-wide body of Presbyterians.  

I hope you get a chance to watch this 40 minute video, but if you cannot please was from minute 30 on to understand this way of life, this new order.

 

Jerry Andrews & Laura Smit: The Theology Project from Fellowship of Presbyterians on Vimeo.

Barth Dogmatics: The Doctrine of God

So if reading Calvin is choclate milk, then reading Barth is drinking Scotch.  Too much is dangerous and it is so powerful you have to stop and go. very. slowly. through the work to even taste the various flavors.

Last year a group of bloggers began reading the Church Dogmatics by Karl Barth.  I would have love to start but I was in between ministry calls, moving and expecting a new baby so that may have been crazy.  The most contraversial part of the Dogmatics is Barth's view of Revelation, but I skipped that.   I am beginning with the other bloggers on the doctrine of God, at the same time reading Calvin.

Section 25 is on The Fulfillment of the Knowledge of God.  The summary probably from Torrence says: The knowledge of God occurs in the fulfilment of the revelation of His Word by the Holy Spirit, and therefore in the reality and with the necessity of faith and its obedience. Its content is the existence of Him whom we must fear above all things because we may love Him above all things; who remains a mystery to us because He Himself has made Himself so clear and certain to us.

This first section was only about the first sentance above.  Barth wants to say that God is the object of our study but that in no way limits him or controls him.  Knowing God is only by the Revelation of the Word of God (Christ). However as we study God, he is studying us as well.  He is not limited by our study, but we must remember that He is outside what we can comprehend.  He also starts to the ground work for how faith are the eyes of understanding through relationship.

All in all a good chapter because with all theology we must understand that God will always be outside of our understanding. We can know him truly but not completely.  At this point, I am reading Barth through Calvin and Van Til, but that could be that I need to come to terms in some senses with Barth.