The start of a new liturgical year begins today. So, Happy New Year. Advent is that season of repentance, reflection and anticipation in preparation for God’s coming. My hope is that I will enter into this time alert and attentive; looking and listening with greater awareness of God’s working among us.
On this first Sunday of Advent we remember: As our nights grow longer and our days grow short, we look on these earthly signs–light and green branches–and remember God’s promise to our world: Christ, our Light and our Hope, will come.
Listen to the words of Isaiah the prophet:
The people that walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those who lived in a land as dark as death
a light has dawned.
You have increased their joy
and given them gladness;
They rejoice in your presence
as those who rejoice at harvest,
as warriors exult when dividing spoil. [Is. 9.1-2]
So we pray:
O God, rejoicing,
we remember the promise of your Son.
As the light from this candle,
may the blessing of Christ come upon us,
brightening our way
and guiding us by his truth.
May Christ our Savior bring life
into the darkness of our world,
and to us, as we wait for his coming.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen
Our weekly wisdom brings us to one of our Desert Mothers (Syncletica - one of the few women who has contributions in “The Sayings of the Fathers”). She provides us with some helpful wisdom that resonates with me in the cold days of November; and challenges me when I complain, “why is this so hard.”
“Abess Syncletica of Holy Memory said: ‘There is labour and great struggle for the impious who are converted to God, but after that comes inexpressible joy. A man (sic) who wants to light a fire first is plagued by smoke, and the smoke drives him to tears, yet finally he gets the fire that he wants. So also it is written: Our God is a consuming fire. Hence we ought to light the divine fire in ourselves with labour and with tears.’” (Thomas Merton, The Wisdom of the Desert p. 55)
I often remind myself as I serve in youth ministry that what seems ordinary and mundane (a simple prayer; a routine Bible study; a retreat; another gathering) is the very thing that God can use as a burning bush in someone’s life. I read a story this past weekend that once again encouraged and reminded me again - “with God any old shrub will do.” God doesn’t need intricate programming or precise and perfected presentations - God uses regular, routine and upright efforts to bring life altering change. Listen to this story:
It begins with a teenager going to a Christian camp to hang out with his girlfriend and “horse around” for a week. Sound like anyone you know? I am sure a few kids come to mind - kids you may have wished you had the foresight to leave at home! Keeping the motives of this young man in mind - listen to the rest of the story in his own words:
“But one morning, we were asked by our cabin leader to go spend a little time in prayer before breakfast. So I wandered out of our cabin, down a hill, alongside a basketball court, and through an open field, and then I walked over to the campfire area, climbed a short incline, and finally sat next to a tree, and prayed what my cabin leader told us to pray: “Lord, fill me with your Holy Spirit.” I wasn’t particularly open to spiritual things, but for some reason I said that prayer as our counselor advised. The Lord to whom I prayed that prayer caught me off guard. To quote the words of John Wesley, ‘My heart was strangely warmed.’ I don’t remember what I expected to happen (probably nothing), but what happened was surprising. That prayer, or should I say the answer to that prayer, changed my life. I didn’t speak in tongues, I didn’t ’see Jesus,’ and I didn’t ‘hear God.’ My eyes didn’t twitter, and I didn’t become catatonic. When I prayed, something powerful happened, and I went to breakfast a new person. Within hours I knew what I wanted to do for my life.”
The author goes on to explain his journey from being a regular kid attracted to girls and sports and “enjoying life” to becoming a young man with a voracious appetite to read, study and understand the Bible. This “hunger” to understand the Bible didn’t wane and prompted the author to dedicate his whole life to this pursuit. He is now considered a leading scholar in the area of the Synopic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) and is becoming a popular author. The subject of the story is Dr. (Yo) Scot McKnight, and he recounts this story in his new book, The Blue Parakeet: Rethinking How You Read the Bible.
Youth ministry is important work. It is God’s work. Yet, maybe it is not as “hard” or as “complex” as we make it? Let’s help others engage with God using ordinary (even simple) words and leave the extraordinary results up to God.
Today’s wisdom comes from Thomas Merton’s The Wisdom of the Desert. Two thoughts that seem to be rightly connected as they follow one another in Merton’s anthology.
Abbot Ammonas said that he had spent fourteen years in Scete praying to God day and night to be delivered from anger. (pg. 33)
Abbot Pastor said: The virtue of a monk is made manifest by temptations. (pg. 34)
Have you ever been asked, “What time is it?” Stupid question or maybe I meant it as a rhetorical question. Of course, we have all have been asked, “What time is it?” Lately I have been tempted to respond, “The time is now.” Not to be a “smart-alec” or a “wise guy” but to make a person pause and think.
Round my parts we have traded in the rakes of fall for the shovels of snow fall; and last night as I walked up from the barn crunching the new fallen snow and watching a light flurry in the moon light - well time didn’t matter. It was one of those “time standing still” moments; when the past is forgotten and the future stays distant and now absorbs the whole person (mind, will, emotions and spirit). Unfortunately this is an all to rare experience. We are often so absorbed with “time” (in a chronological sense) that we never enter the now (When is “now,” if we are always responding to the past or preparing for the future?).
During one of my earliest New Testament Greek lessons I discovered the two primary Greek words that convey the idea for time: Chronos and Kairos. The former conveys as you can probably tell the idea of chronological time (which we desire to measure with preciseness with watches and clocks that can click off hours, minutes, seconds and nano seconds); the latter conveys another type of time - time as opportunity.
Kairos, is the “fullness of time,” time beyond deadlines and “time is money” embracing instead each moment as an opportunity to enter into NOW. Now is where we can be. Now is where we are present to God’s activity; the words of another; the beauty or tragedy of the created order and where we live “to the full” (in our senses, our divinely created purpose and to our potential as human). It has been observed that Heaven will be an “eternal now.”
My desire is to be able to enter more fully in to the time that is now. For it is only in the present that one can be (in the past I was and in the future I may be…).
Today no ancient wisdom; but nonetheless it is wisdom as old as the earth. The wisdom comes from an unlikely place and yet that is often the place where we find true wisdom (I Corinthians 3.18, “Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a “fool” so that he may become wise.”) So today we turn to find wisdom in a little known Christian Alternative band. I uncovered this little gem while working in a church as an associate pastor and it was the music of these artists that I often turned to in times of pain, feeling misunderstood and finding myself amidst the pressure and the glass house of expectations that can accompany public ministry.
I often led our youth in worship singing this song. At first the teenagers enjoyed the novelty and the intrigue of the verses of this particular song - it felt out of place to be singing many of the words as part of our “worship” in church. Yet, over time the song became one that led us to some of our most deep and transcendent experiences of worship. More than one time the song ended and a holy hush filled the room; time stood still and we were one with our Maker.
I think of this song often - each time I turn on Skype and see that message about “breathe deep” and many times the refrain of this chorus fills me up as I walk amidst God’s creation.
So may this universal message of God’s wide mercy and extravagant grace remind us of our privilege to know and encounter God and our need to be His agents of restoration to all people.
Breathe Deep (the Breath of God)
from The Lost Dog’s debut album “Scenic Routes”
Music and lyrics by Terry Taylor
Politicians, morticians, Philistines, homophobes;
Skinheads, Dead heads, tax evaders, street kids;
Alcoholics, workaholics, wise guys, dim wits;
Blue collars, white collars, war mongers, peace nicks.
(chorus)
Breathe deep,
Breathe deep the Breath of God;
Breathe deep,
Breathe deep the Breath of God.
Suicidals, rock idols, shut-ins, drop outs;
Friendless, homeless, penniless and depressed;
Presidents, residents, foreigners and aliens;
Dissidents, feminists, xenophobes and chauvinists
(repeat chorus)
Evolutionists, creationists, perverts, slum lords;
Dead-beats, athletes, Protestants and Catholics;
Housewives, neophytes, pro-choice, pro-life;
Misogynists, monogamists, philanthropists, blacks and whites.
(repeat chorus)
Police, obese, lawyers, and government;
Sex offenders, tax collectors, war vets, rejects;
Atheists, Scientists, racists, sadists;
Photographers, biographers, artists, pornographers.
(repeat chorus)
Gays and lesbians, demagogues and thespians;
The disabled, preachers, doctors and teachers;
Meat eaters, wife beaters, judges and juries;
Long hair, no hair, everybody everywhere!
(repeat chorus)
The Lost Dogs performing “Breathe Deep” on Cornerstone Mainstage 2008 (Bushnell, IL)
I am sure this is making the rounds out there - but honestly haven’t seen it except here. I imagine this prayer penned by Shane Claiborne is one he imagined President-elect Obama reciting. It is a prayer I resonate with - and maybe you will too.
I will join in praying:
God of Abraham, Miriam, Hannah, Rizpah, and David…
God of Elijah, Amos, Ruth, Isaiah, Deborah…
God of Mary, John the Baptizer, Peter, Paul, Philemon and Onesimus…
God of Anthony, Ambrose, Dirk Willems, Teresa of Avila, and Francis of
Assisi,
God of Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King, Mother Teresa, William
Wilberforce, and Oscar Romero
and God of love, grace, and hope…
Thank you for creating a perfect world.
Forgive us for the mess we have made of it.
Thank you for creating Jubilee, gleaning, and Sabbath as patterns to
ensure that the poor are cared for, the earth rests, and inequality is
dismantled.
Forgive us for choosing the patterns of empire.
Thank you for using the weak things to shame the strong and the
foolish things to confound the wise.
Protect us from becoming too strong or too wise.
Protect us from ourselves.
Forgive us…
for the groaning of creation
for the millions who die of hunger and curable diseases
for warehousing people in prisons and using them for labor
for the scandal of billions wasted in war
for worrying about tomorrow and storing up more than this day our
daily bread
for an economy that mirrors the seven deadly sins
for our Caesars and our Herods
for the violence and greed in our own hearts
Save us from ourselves.
Deliver us…
from the arrogance of power
from the myth of redemptive violence
from the tyranny of greed
from the ugliness of racism
from false hope and counterfeit change
from the cancer of hatred
from the seduction of wealth
from the idolatry of nationalism
from the paralysis of cynicism
from the ghettoes of poverty
from the ghettoes of wealth
from the blood-stained pages of history
and from the legacy of slavery.
Deliver us oh God.
Give us the courage…
to bless the poor in a world that blesses the middle class.
to bless the meek in a world that admires aggression.
to bless the hungry in a world that feeds the already fed.
to bless the merciful in a world that shows no mercy on evildoers.
to bless the pure in heart in a world of clutter and noise.
to bless the peacemakers in a world that baptizes bombs.
Give us imagination…
that we might not conform to the patterns of this world.
that we might shatter indifference and interrupt injustice with grace
that we might choose the cross over the sword
that we might be as shrewd as serpents and as innocent as doves
that we might consider the lillies and sparrows as they shame Wall
Street’s splendor
that we might choose the dream of God over the dreams of nations
that we might cling to the God that so loved the world, not just America
that we might allow our Jesus to change America rather than America to
change our Jesus.
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
It is that time of year, Fall. Yeah, lots of stuff falling. Which means someone better pick it up, eh? Yesterday my bride and I spent a good while raking and hauling leaves. It provided a bit of time to think about the process and some of my past failures in the maintaining of my yard. In early October I am often heard saying, “Man, I love this time of year! The colors are so vibrant and beautiful. It is a great time to be alive.”
In early November, “Man, these leaves are such a drag.”
I have learned a lesson though - if you fail to rake the leaves you are going to hate your yard come Spring and if you continue to neglect it - you are going to have no grass and be knee deep in mud when the rain comes! My first home we rented had a beautiful back yard - but I failed to clean up the needles and leafs and just a year later that “beautiful yard” was a patch of old leaves, thatch and dirt. The command to “have dominion on the Earth” is an invitation to join with the Creator in nurturing and maintaining the wonder and beauty of our world.
Raking leaves and picking up the stuff that falls is hard work that we feel the next day; but being able to continue to enjoy beauty and order comes at a cost (month by month and year by year consistent maintenance). Make it fun though - you got to jump in at least one of those piles of leaves!!
I often say my “leaf-raking” prayer at this time of year as I clear my yard of leaves inviting God to do the same in me. I pray, “More of You, less of me.”
Wisdom today is from The Wisdom of the Desert compiled and paraphrased by Thomas Merton.
An Elder was asked: What does it mean, this word we read in the Bible, that the way is straight and narrow? And the elder replied: This is the straight and narrow way: that a man should do violence to his judgements and cut off, for the love of God, the desires of his own will. This is what was written of the Apostles: Behold we have left all things and have followed Thee. (Page 45)
I was at a youth meeting recently at a local church and leaned over to a good friends and whispered, “Prayer as a crowd control.” He happened to be a veteran youth worker, and a huge grin formed over his face as he nodded repeatedly.
Have you ever done this? I know in years past I was “guilty as charged.” You just hear the phrase and you know of what I am speaking, right?
You walk up in front of a crowd of students (or other audience) to welcome or to introduce someone or the next item on the agenda - and no one seems to be listening. You try again, repeatedly attempting to get folks attention (seconds of failure turn into a minute) and people start shushing and saying, “quiet down.” Then it happens. You raise your voice just a bit and utter the magic words, “Let’s pray.” You pause and bow your head. Just like that - shuffling stops, voices diminish and a stillness sets over the crowd.
Prayer as crowd control…
Prayer isn’t about controlling others. Prayer isn’t about pushing our agenda or a technique to acquire what we want - but too often we use it in such a fashion.
Let’s make a resolution - no more prayer as crowd control - instead let’s work harder at gaining the attention of our audience with other techniques. Let’s leave prayer as a means to give God our full attention and to align our lives to His will.
On earth, as it is in Heaven.
peace.
Perigrinatio - “The word itself is almost untranslatable, but its essence is caught in the ninth-century story of three Irishmen drifting over the sea from Ireland for seven days, in coracles without oars, coming ashore in Cornwall and then being brought to the court of King Alfred. When he asked them where they had come from and where they were going they answered that they, ‘stole away because we wanted for the love of God to be on pilgrimage, we cared not where.’”
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As our nights grow longer and our days grow short, we look on these earthly signs–light and green branches–and remember God’s promise to our world: Christ, our Light and our Hope, will come.
