One More Easter Thought

The joy and hope known through the celebration of Easter linger in my thoughts. I have especially wondered about the Easter only people who came searching for something special this past week. Do they realize that they can know that Christianity celebrates the resurrection of Jesus each Sunday? Do they know Jesus in their everyday? Are they still looking for Jesus the Christ?

The faithful women went to the tomb to prepare Jesus’ body and to bury him properly, but found strangers appearing out of nowhere to tell them that Jesus was not there any longer. “Why do you look for the living among the dead?” Here is the real question. These men in white remind the women of Jesus’ own words to them, that he would rise on the third day. They were looking where he said he would not be. This seems to be the experience of many even today. We look where Jesus is not. We look for the living among the dead. We look to our own intellect and strength. We look to the comforts of this world for inspiration and comfort. Yet all we need is to remember, like the women at the tomb, what Jesus has told us.

We find Jesus where he told us to look: in the community of believers. Jesus has been raised and it is in this gathered community of the church where we will find him. In all living things the promise of renewal is found, and that is where we are called to service. We are called to look for Jesus among the living, among those who need to be served and in those who are serving them. We look for the Living One among all those to whom he has promised life. Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed!

The TED Prize

The TED prize is awarded annually to three exceptional individuals who each receive $100,000 and the granting of “One Wish to Change the World.” One of this year’s winners is Karen Armstrong, the writer of more than 20 books around the ideas of what Islam, Judaism and Christianity have in common. In recent years I have found her book, The History of God, to be a valuable resource for my own teaching. It traces the history of how humanity has perceived and experienced God from the time of Abraham to the present through these three strands of monotheism. So, it was with great interest when I heard her accept her award and present her wish: The Charter for Compassion. I invite you to watch and listen to this most fascinating challenge. (approx. 20 minutes)

P.S. I have also found her latest book, The Bible: A Biography, to be a very important addition to my library.

A Good Read

For months, The Year of Magical Thinking, has been on my bedside table waiting to be read. I find it most interesting that I finally chose to read it during Holy Week for it is a story of living after a loved one’s death. Well-known writer, Joan Didion, explores her experiences and thoughts during the year following the death of her husband. This is not an overwrought widow’s sentimental account that will evoke great emotion on the part of the reader, Neither is this written with the voice of one on a spiritual journey, but rather as a wife’s honest struggle to make sense out of her time of grief by reconciling what was in her marriage to her new state of being.

Didion’s matter-of-fact writing style with engaging use of language immediately captured my attention. She reflects on the difficulty of change and letting-go as she copes with her grief as the result of her husband’s death. During this same time period her daughter, their only child, was critically ill. Sometimes she seems to so detach herself from these events through this exploration of her mental state that I was left wondering how she is healing her heart. She did indicate that she sought answers through literature and uses brief quotes from some of the authors. Didion also references her Episcopalian background. However, we really are given little insight to her inward journey during this time.

In her year of mourning, Didion does seem to arrive at some state of acceptance of what she understandably has been resisting. Throughout the book, her italicized refrain is
Life changes fast.
Life changes in the instant.
You sit down to dinner and life as
you know it ends.

In her suffering she realizes that she has never been very amenable to change and finally surrenders her illusion of control. Her husband's words keep repeating to her:
Why do you always have to be right.
Why do you always have to have the last word.
For once in your life just let it go.

I found this psychological adjustment based on pragmatic reflection to be exemplary of much of the contemporary experience of grief and I can maybe too easily say that I have what I think to be a well-grounded faith that offers comfort and hope. For as Didion says, “Grief turns out to be a place none of us know until we reach it.” Therefore, I recommend this to be well worth reading and would like to know what other readers think about it.

Easter 2008

Shannon and Dan with sons, William and Ethan

and two happy grandparents

O God, we give you thanks for filling our hearts with joy, our minds with hope, and for leading us along as an Easter people. Amen.

The Shack

As a result of conversation with several persons, I have just read The Shack by William P. Young. I wasn’t sure that I wanted to take the time to read it as it didn’t seem as though it was the type of book that usually interests me. Several times during the first sixty or so pages I was ready to quit. Yet, the twists and turns in the story line began to capture my interest and theological insights were emerging in most interesting ways. The author uses this fictional account of a father in the midst of “Great Sadness” following the murder of his young daughter to explain a lot of things about God as revealed in the Trinity. The wrestling with some of the timeless theological questions that most of us face at some time or another leads the reader into important reflection and that is the value of this book.

Each one of us finds God in different places and ways. Sometimes it is in fictional writing. However, because of the limitations of this genre it is difficult to really know what the author means by what he says. The author cannot always adequately offer explanations or provide footnotes to scripture. Also, the emotional impact of reading fiction can become manipulative and thwart our ability to discern what is true and what is not. So, proceed with caution and discernment if you choose to read this book.

Soul Music

Yesterday, Tim, First Church’s choir director, sang one of my favorite hymns at our Seagull and Snowbird gathering. As usual, It is Well with My Soul took me beyond knowledge to insight. It released the part of me that needed to be in tune with God.

Lately, I have been struggling with some the challenges of ministry. Because I am the one who is often thought to have the answers, I forget to ask the questions that help maintain a healthy perspective on what is happening in my life and I cannot truthfully say that it has been “well with my soul.” I often feel an urgency to answer God’s call in my life and become impatient, overbearing and abrupt when events aren’t unfolding as I think they should. I forget that God’s time, kairos, is different than that linear process that directs so much of my thinking. “When sorrows like sea billows roll” I need to refocus and know that “my sin…is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more.”

Music is the one thing which I cannot hide from my soul. It touches my pain, my hope and my faith. It gives me something that I need for the journey, God’s justifying grace. Then, “it is well with my soul.”

General Conference 2008

In my world, the buzz concerns the upcoming General Conference and legislative actions that might impact not only the UMC in general, but also our local churches. Since this happens only every four years, good refresher information may be found at this website. Delegates from the South Carolina Conference are busy preparing for this event. Let's be in prayer for and with them as they take on this most important work.

The Legacy of Friendship

In a recent NY Times op-ed column, David Brooks wrote that “William F. Buckley Jr.’s greatest talent was friendship. He showered affection on his friends, and he had an endless stream of them, old and young. ” This led me once more to consider the matters of friendships. Although there has been much discussion about people in the United States having fewer close friends than in years past, we also are told the value of friendship and its importance to our well-being. As a result of so many strained families, friends have become surrogate family and the primary source of support and affection. “Faithful friends are a sturdy shelter: whoever finds one has found a treasure” ( Sirach 6:14) To be a friend and to have a friend supports the understanding that we are social and relational, not solitary and autonomous. There is a special kind of grace expressed in friendship for a friend is someone who makes us feel more like our true selves, one who recognizes the person we were meant to be. Buckley seemed to understand that this is the way we are called into fullness of life. I am coming to realize that I haven’t spent enough time and energy in recent years nurturing such relationships.

Jury Duty

Just when I thought that I couldn’t do one more thing, I was summoned for jury duty this week. Trying to maintain the proper attitude about this rite of citizenship, I ventured forth each morning muttering something about my civic duty and I was sure it certainly would be the last day of this adventure. Finally, by noon on Thursday, I was headed to my office and ready to resume my usual routine without having to pass judgment on anyone; i.e., in any official sort of way. However, I have made these observations:

During the seemingly endless time of waiting, Horry County residents upheld the Southern tradition of making personal connections by asking – Where do you live? Who do you know? What church do you attend? Even two guys from New York played the game and discovered they knew someone in common in their home state.

The court officials were very courteous, reminded us frequently how important our service was and explained the events of the day with clarity. The new courthouse means that the needs of all are accommodated comfortably. This was definitely my best jury duty experience from this standpoint.

This part of South Carolina is becoming quite diverse as evidenced by those of us in the jury pool room, but folks here still haven’t learned to do it right like they do it back home in New York or New Jersey. (So, why did you move here?)

Even with the distraction of doing some serious people watching, I got to read much of an interesting book, The Shack by William Young. Comments about this will probably appear in another post.

The consensus of my new friends is that the latest Grand Strand traffic nightmare will be the area around the Hard Rock Park and that Stuart Axelroad puts on quite a show in the courtroom.

And, trial lawyers don’t seem to be interested in having clergy serve on juries. Thank you, Lord!

Pew Research Study

Headlines of the past week about the changing religious landscape in America are generating conversation in a variety of ways. This is the result of the most recent Pew Research Study. Of course, many claim this information as affirmation of what they perceive to be wrong with their denomination or organized faith affiliation and I am sure that this will be freely quoted at our upcoming General Conference. So, it is interesting to read Larry Hollen’s thoughts about how we might interpret this new information in a constructive way. He says, "These figures lay out a landscape for significant ministry if we listen with sensitivity and reach out compassionately.

Everyday Blessings

Material and mundane matters seem to have been filling my thoughts lately and borrowing from Shakespeare and Steinbeck, I have been experiencing a winter of discontent. I have failed to see the interesting and profound in my days and as a result the blog postings have been sparse. In retrospect, this makes me very sad as I feel that everything in life is a potential blessing. It only depends on how we view it and what we do with it. There are elements of the sacred that underlie all facets of life. So once more I need to listen with my heart as I journey through Lent. The daffodils and tulips that we planted last fall offer a good place to begin as I seek a "thin place." (An early Celtic Christian metaphor for those times or places when the boundary between the sacred and the everyday feels “thin,” when God’s presence is more strongly felt.)

Each time I see their blooms they become moments of joy and these beautiful, simple words come to mind:

All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful,
The Lord God made them all.

Thanks to Ron, another blessing in my life, and Pixel Pics for the photo.