Surprised by Surprise: Grace, Hope and Karaoke

A large box arrived a few days before my birthday.  Taking the box back to my dorm room it seemed to swamp the space before I even opened it.  Inside were an assortment of birthday things; however most of the box contained an Eeyore pillow pal.  If you don't recall these things they were bed pillow sized renditions of various creatures in polar fleece.

This grey and pink darling donkey, I could not #abide it's place in my tiny dorm room.  Yet being a donkey, he would have a place at my church office.  I thought he would be hauled out from time to time when a donkey was appropriate.  I thought the little children would like him.  Yet within days this Eeyore pillow pal was being hauled around the church by the teenagers.  They carried him around until even they couldn't abide his adolescent odor.

I was completely surprised and completely surprised that I was surprised.  There is a piece of adolescence that is trying to hold on to childhood, and another piece that is attached to the joy of the ridiculous.  A pillow pal mascot was a gift that could help them surrender to these forces and let it still be an act of love, #hope and comfort.  Still, there was something counter-intuitive about the gift of that donkey.

A few weeks ago a friend and elder parishioner asked if my ministry would like his karaoke machine.  Truth be told I have never been an enthusiast and I couldn't imagine our teenagers would be very interested.  If they want to do such things there are Wii disks or the multitude of offerings on youtube (death metal karoke with the sing along bouncing ball!)  However, I thought I might find a use for it and accepted the gift.  It sat in my crowded office for a few weeks.  We giggled at the song compilations on the disks: who puts Madonna and Mr. Rogers on the same collection!  Yet there it sat, a bit in the way and gathering dust.

Eventually, one evening when the original plan fell through, I decided to invite some of my more technically inclined teens to figure the contraption out.  Generous and cooperative they went to work, and it took longer than I expected.  I also expected that they would get it working and walk away to the youth room video games or a group game of Zombies.  However, that didn't happen at all.  Much to my surprise I had to chase the darlings off of the machine long after 'youth group' had ended.

If we can offer space for authenticity even the strangest and random notions can open doorways for young people to find themselves. The #grace of pillow-pals and karaoke machines are not in any youth ministry bag of tricks.  What made them a gift to the community was the community that was already there, ready and waiting to be more in union with one another in Christ.  All of this is a mystery and I can never be sure ahead of time what will rise and what will fall flat.  More than gimmicks however is the commitment to food, fellowship and welcome for all teens.

What we are all searching for is Someone to surrender to, something we can prefer to life itself. Well here is the wonderful surprise: God is the only one we can surrender to without losing ourselves. The irony is that we find ourselves, and now in a whole new field of meaning. This happens on a lesser level in every great love in our lifetime, but it is always a leap of faith ahead of time. We are never sure it will be true beforehand. It is surely counter-intuitive, but it is the promise that came into the world on this Christmas Day, “full of grace and of truth.” Jesus is the gift totally given, free for the taking, once and for all, to everybody and all of creation.  
Richard Rohr: Preparing for Christmas: Daily Meditations for Advent

Imagine, Beware and Give: Can We Conceive How Much We Squander?

Beware of squandering our gifts.  

We do this in so many ways: we squander time, we waste materials, and we consume the lives of our children.  We live in a world of unbelievable abundance and unconscionable squandering.  You gave your people water in greater abundance than they could possibly #imagine. (Wisdom of Solomon 11.7)  The volume of this statement is staggering: we have been given so much that it is more than we can possibly #imagine.  

This unbounded waste...we will be held to account.  Can we imagine that?  As we await the birth of Christ we must examine the world into which we welcome him.  Do we imagine it to be as precious as he is?  Advent isn't just hitting the breaks before the fra la la la; it is paying deep and holy attention to the world we have been given.  

To beware is to practice weariness.  It is to step cautiously, eye carefully.  It is to study, to pause, to consider.  We have so much to be weary of: how can an Advent of beware enliven our souls and connect our communities?   Perhaps we can begin by considering the ways in which “squandering our gifts brings distress to our lives. As it turns out, it’s not merely benign or “too bad” if we don’t use the gifts that we’ve been given; we pay for it with our emotional and physical well-being. When we don’t use our talents to cultivate meaningful work, we struggle. We feel disconnected and weighed down by feelings of emptiness, frustration, resentment, shame, disappointment, fear, and even grief.” (Brown, 2010)   

At first this #episcopaladvent word #beware seemed out of place.  The sugar plum fairy dust has gotten in my eyes and ears and wonders why this doesn’t say ‘be not afraid’ instead.  Beware is the opposite of being not afraid; the being not afraid is a blessing, it is a holy faith.  However it has a time and a place.  And we should be very much afraid of the squandering that we do everyday.  We should ‘beware’, we should practice a weary attentiveness when it comes to the distress that our sleepwalking through life causes.  We should beware, at all times in Jesus name, angels appearing or not.   Yet inside these two, this #beware and this be not afraid is an Advent call to pay attention.  

#Beware  #Imagine  #Give.  

(Three different # Advent word calendars are feeding into my imagination this Advent.  From the Society of St. John the Evangelist (ssje.org) is #adventword a world wide gathering of images each day.  I love watching the time zones cross over, as at this moment it is both the 2nd and the 3rd of December).  From my pal's at St. Michaels and All Angels, Dallas, comes #radvent2014.  And last but not least from the Episcopal Church Center we have #episcopaladvent.)   

Advent in the Outfield

Not a Rockies game.  

Already, but also, not yet.

I was a baseball fan and so I was signed up to play tball.  Already a fan, but also, not athletic.

I was most frequently placed in the outfield.  A small girl in a big field of grass.

In true baseball the outfield requires lots of waiting,  punctuated by bursts of running and death defying catches.

In tball the outfield meant you waited through each inning.  I would eventually sit in the grass.  Pluck dandelions.

Advent is a bit like playing the outfield.

Many years later I was in the front row of the upper deck of Coors Field.  Perched high above homeplate on a windy summers night, we were offered two shows.

There was the one we paid for, the one on the field. The one with bats and bases and innings and plans and 'no crying'.

From our seats we could also see the Rocky Mountains to the west.  And across the front range of the mountains rolled a marvelous lightening storm.  Much to far away to cause a delay of a game, but close enough to offer the second show.  The crowd was ooing and ahhing for both games.

However the men on the field couldn't see the second show.  They had no idea that just beyond them was a creative light display.  You could see the outfielders looking around confused.  When the crowd oohs and ahhs and nothing just happened on the field, it would cause you to turn your head around too.

There are two shows right now.  One of the sugar plum fairy type and one of the stand in the outfield and wait type.  Advent is the second show and it is one of patience and remembering; one of staying awake and standing at rest.

It is strange how much work it can take to just stand still for a while.  To pay attention to the game and to let the other shows remain beyond your field of vision.  Or to find a way to experience both without denying the other.  I choose  muted sugar plum, always struggling to not be a 'but we are here to watch the ball game' fundamentalist.  Which is hard.  Folks who read newspapers at games irk me; folks who hang up their holiday stuff before St. Nicholas Tag make me shiver.  But like lightening that makes me jump, I have to recall that it is far away.  It is a choice, and I can think the lightening is beautiful and watch the game at the same time.

Advent.  Come Lord Jesus.

Friends or Fiends: Ezekiel, David, Jesus and the duties of a Shepherd

Somewhere in the English Lake Country near Keswick

In the first year of mail-in balloting in a neighboring state, the one where you cannot pump your own gas, I worked on a Senate campaign.  I was a part-time grunt, stuffing envelopes and editing spreadsheets.  On an early fall day I was handed a small mailing to fold, stuff and stamp.  Being an interested advocate I chose to read this particular letter.  Let us suppose that my team is the ‘Blue Devils’ and the opposing team are the 'Red Raiders'.  This letter was addressed from the Blue Devils to prominent boosters for the Red Raiders, because apparently some people just like to see a good game and are known to boost both teams. (Who knew!)  The letter was polite and avoided all possible hot topics, mentioning only apple pie and the common good.  In the third paragraph I stopped reading.  I pushed back my seat and headed upstairs to find the ‘special teams’ coach who wrote the letter.  ‘Done already?’ he queried.  I smiled and I handed him the letter.  ‘Read the third paragraph,’ I said.  He read quietly at first and then he leapt to his feet and exclaimed ‘but I used spell check!’  To which I replied ‘it isn’t misspelled!’

The letter should have said ‘inviting our Red Raider friends’, It said ‘inviting our Red Raider fiends.’  One letter…tremendous meaning: friends or fiends.   I will seek out the lost, bring back the strays, bind up the wounded, and strengthen the weak.  But the fat and the strong I will destroy, because I will tend my sheep with justice.  (Ezekiel 34.16)  A sentence of comfort and a sentence of woe.  It might make you squirm in your seat, or push back your chair.  The fat and the strong I will destroy is the majority translation.  However, in two ancient texts it reads differently.  It reads ‘the fat and the strong I will watch’.  This could be a repeated accident, the word formation is only slightly different.  However, in the context of this prophecy in the middle of Ezekiel’s extended metaphor of a divine shepherd who seeks all the sheep, I will destroy versus I will watch invites a curious wonder. 

I myself will search for my flock and seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out the flock when some in the flock have been scattered, so will I seek out my flock. (Ezekiel 34.11)  Referring to a king or leader as a shepherd is common in the ancient Near East.  Whether he or she is an independent monarch or a proxy vassal you are to watch over and care for your flock. Poetically imagining the divine as a shepherd is also commonplace in Ezekiel’s day and age. The expectation that a god will do whatever it takes to care for his (or her) devotees isn’t novel.  This is your vocation: to shepherd the people.  This section of Ezekiel hides references to David, who was their own shepherd and king.  Matthew reaches into Ezekiel to portray Jesus as this type of Good Shepherd, and Ezekiel reaches back into the Davidic core.  All of which leads us to see this Jesus, this Good Shepherd, this Lord and King as one with those ancient roots.  Ezekiel 34 reaches back to David’s shepherding days, to the young man who gained his skill with a sling shot defending his flock against wild animals. 

Now in these times the word of the Lord through Ezekiel is that the ancient leaders of Jerusalem have utterly and completely failed to care for their flocks.  All of the fat and strong, whether they be religious leaders or governors or the wealthy, they have tended themselves and not God’s flock.  Make no mistake, this is Ezekiel’s team.  It is his team that are the he-goats who trample the grass and muddy the water.  Yet he does not waver from God’s scathing indictment.  Convicted of self-centeredness, the idolatry, the murder and oppression and the failure to care for stranger and neighbor.  The fat and the strong have proven themselves more fiend than friend.

A real life successful shepherd isn’t as cute and cozy as the Epiphany pageant might lead you to believe.  A good shepherd will respond to provocation, with violence if necessary.  The God who speaks these words is resolute, but perhaps a weary and even grieved Shepherd.  I filled you with good things and the needy you send empty away.   I called you to comfort the lost and you locked your doors.  I asked you to heal the wounded and you headed for the hills.  If you are looking for a God who is distant and non-judgmental this is not your day, and not the Lord we follow.  Ezekiel paints for us a vivid portrait of a God who is active in the world, who is active in history, and will hold us to account for our things done and left undone. Many of us in this room, we are the fat and the strong by the scales of the known universe.  Even when it doesn’t feel that way at all, many of us are well fed and enjoy considerable privileges. The good shepherd will watch and he will defend and decide. Friend or fiend?

You may have noticed that the world is gearing up for sugar plum fairies, while the church pushes back its chair and says ‘wait’.  Like a good shepherd we should use this upcoming Advent to watch and examine closely.  We are called to prepare the highway for a Lord and King who will arrive in humility, who will be born ‘one of the least of these’.  Today is the Stewardship Ingathering and the last Sunday of the Church year, and the celebration of Christ the King.  I am glad to say that when our Lord and Master, Friend and Shepherd joins us we will find St. Paul’s striving for his kingdom. We are feeding his sheep, nurturing his people and offering healing to our neighborhoods.  These pledges, these tithes we offer, they are not a bill, or a toll, or a tribute. Our pledge of financial support go hand in hand with our pledge of fidelity to God and his call to love and care for the whole creation.  This stewardship campaign is about giving thanks for our blessings, and it is also about keeping the lights on and ministries supported and growing.  However, we commit to all of this not for our own gain but so that we might follow our one Lord and shepherd. 

We may be 125 years old, but we have only just begun to begin to seek and gather and bind and strengthen.  It is not our call to sit back and wait for someone else to do it; it is not our call to romanticize the past. It is our call to follow the shepherd, to practice fully in the now with a restless sense of movement which leads the neighborhood into Christ’s reign.  God’s question through Ezekiel comes down to this: will we be fiends or will we be friends of Christ’s kingdom?  Come practice Christ’s kingdom with time and talent and treasure, right here in this pasture.  We will seek, we will bring back, we will bind up, we will nurture: Neighbor, stranger, friend and forgiven fiend.  For we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand.

Amen.

The Reign of Christ, Year A

23 November 2014

St. Paul's Episcopal Church

Walla Walla, Washington

Unbounded Boxes, Bunnies and Golden Books

Finn River Farm and Cidery on the Olympic Peninsula 

We called him Herr McGregor.  Herr McGregor was always telling us to stop climbing on his fence. He would shoo us away with a frustrated exasperation.  We were American children of service men and women, living off-base in Southern Germany.  He was our neighbor across the fence, an older man with an expansive garden that went all the way around his house.  

In our young and witty brains this man who was always in his garden and always shooing us away, well, we named him Herr McGregor.  The German title attached to the dedicated gardener of Peter Rabbit.  We told stories about how he thought we were like Peter, an interloper who would steal his carrots.  We thought he thought we were little rabbits who needed to be chased away.  We told stories about how he had put snapping turtles in the garden to attack us if we made it in.  

You see there was a short wall below the fence and we would shimmy along, holding on to his fence till we could turn around and jump over to the clothesline pole and slide down, firefighter style.  So over and over again when he would tell us to get down,  we would jump down from the wall and yell 'Ya' and 'es tut mir leid'.  We would move along, but we would return when he left his garden.  

Todays parable is short and simple and in some ways unremarkable.  It is a story where there may not be a whole lot to turn you on your head.   It is children’s Golden Book material.  Peter Rabbit and the PokeyPuppy say one thing and do the opposite.  They go to the forbidden garden and do not come home on time.  Meanwhile, the siblings who do what they were told get dessert for supper. We know this story because we live this story.  It is our experience with our children, it was our experience as children.  Saying one thing and doing another. 

As simple as the parable might seem it has two 'power markers': the Temple and the Vineyard.  A vineyard in biblical imagery is a sign of blessing and prosperity.  In the prophets and in the Psalms a vineyard that is healthy is a mark of peace and concord.  And the natural processes of fermentation were associated with divine blessing.  I cannot claim I ever thought much about wine and vineyards before moving to Walla Walla.  One of the things I have learned is that vineyards require year round precision, care and love.  Everything matters in the vineyard from the balance of rain and sun to the daily temperatures and the chemistry skills of the cellar staff.  It is intensive work,  an art where doing the work you said you would do is crucial to a successful harvest.  

The Gospels are community documents.  They make choices on what they say and what they don't say based on what the authors believe the community needs to hear.  We don't tell our children all our stories.  We tell them the ones that we hope will inspire and motivate them toward a healthy adulthood.  This parable of two sons whose words and actions do not match: it could be a simple allegory.  The one son represents all those God serving people with disreputable employment.  Political operatives, corporate executives and 'Hollywood'.  They may seem like they are thumbing their nose at Gods invitation, but in reality they are humble and faithful servants of his way.  In a simple allegory the other son becomes every self righteous soap box loudspeaker who does absolutely nothing to repair the world.  The judgment is obvious. Isn't it?  

The foundation of the readings today is that trusting in God, trusting in Jesus' lordship

matters more than anything else.  Trusting in God’s desire for reconciliation is so unbounded that it always spills out beyond our little boxes of what is holy and what is necessary.  Jesus’ otherness is upsetting to any little boxes and his otherness is the source of dangerous game that is being played in the Temple this morning.  Like John the Baptist his authority comes from beyond the fences.  They are wild yeast in a controlled cellar. Jesus' power to transform decay into harvest is beyond their control.  What might have troubled an early community that this parable, this interlude was repeated and written down?  What life giving lessons do the children of God continue to find in this unique parable in a vineyard?

What if both sons are both right and wrong?  Just like most of us, they are sons and daughters of passion and commitments and a dearth of things left undone.  Saying yes..you are the Christ, the vineyard is yours, and then finding other things to do.  Or saying uh, well, hmm, I don't know...but charging forth and doing what he asks anyways.  I have done both in the span of five minutes.  However, both the son who does nothing and the one who says nothing affirmative, they both live in the bounty of God's grace and in his judgement.  They are both accountable for not saying or not doing the work we are given to do.  Jesus' authority is what is in question here.  The authority of the church is the topic here. Not our authority of power but our authority as faithful witnesses of the risen Lord.  We tell a story about people who embody resurrection, hope and new life.  Do we have to be perfect stewards of the vineyard to tell that story...or are we beloved, forgiven, and always welcome home?

What we think and say and do in response to Jesus is entirely bound to whatever it is that we think we as church are doing and what we as church are hoping for.  Archbishop Rowan Williams once stated that the parables judge effectively because they are about relationships.  We don't have the parable of the rock and the tree.  The mystery of reflection and metaphor work together to draw us in and in this parable to bring us up short.  We live in the divine vineyard, in his metaphorical and true to life garden.  We have all been the first son and the second son, and many us have been the parent or gardener.  We who have bound our path to Christ, we are first and foremost bound to the forgiveness of his path.  We are imperfect people who get up and try again.  

Our setting is a consistent cycle of reversal and renewal, of compost and fresh sprouts, of surprising, devastating changes and of outrageous surprises.  I am not a gardener, but many of my favorite people are.  There are moments of self confidence that make it look easy and simple. Yet as many of you might know more than I, it is anything but.   Among the muck and the complexity of our little boxes God is bringing forth unexpected life.  The life of God is outside my expectations, my rules and my categories.  If I am honest I will admit that I think one son is lazy and the other is commendable.  However, in the light of the whole story Jesus life, death and resurrection I wonder if those are my boxes, and not God's.  

The work of formation is much like a garden.  It is about digging in the dirt and a commitment to resurrection.  It is about eternal things like forgiveness and freedom and the abundance of God's creation.  It is also about the immediate time, about playing and serving and growing right now.  Most of our harvests are immediate.  We eat what you grow.  You fill the garden with diverse offerings for the nutrition and fiber and joy they will provide.  We hope they will nourish deep roots and a future of abundant faith.  However, we cannot guarantee that.  We practice healing and learning in union with Christ because people of all ages need food now.  And if we put all our energy into old little boxes or judge our product by an unknowable future, then we will stand in judgement ourselves. 

One day I was walking home and Frau McGregor invited me into their home.  I had a 'free range' lifestyle in our neighborhood and had already visited most of our neighbors.  I was fearful and curious at the same time.   Hansel and Gretel must have entered my mind.  Despite the stories we told, I went in. Herr and Frau and I sat in their kitchen with good treats and conversation.  We broke bread.  I remember leaving transformed, knowing they were kind and sweet and desiring to share their treasures.  They didn't think we were naughty little rabbits.  I still didn't understand why he wanted us to get down from that wall.  That took ages.  So let us not jump to conclusions about saying and doing because my beloved, God is at work in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Jane Alice Gober

St. James Episcopal Church

Pullman, Washington

September 28, 2014

RCL A Proper 21

River of Life: EYE 14 (Post 2)

Our opening Eucharist was blessed by the preaching of Stephanie Spellers, and it was a sermon graced by the spiritual hymn 'I've Got a River of Life'.    I have a river of life, with it the lame can walk and the blind can see.  She told us of how for her when she was young the church wasn't something she percieved as focused on mission or healing.  However the church that we are practicing at EYE14 is focused on nothing else.  The mission of proclomation, justice and healing is the river that flows through out of our life together.
Philadelphia is a city that is defined by a river.   It goes without saying that Philadelphia is along way from eastern Washington and Northern Idaho, yet our diocese is also strongly defined by its rivers.  The rivers that flow out of our home fill breadbaskets and fruit baskets far and wide.
One of the most obvious differences is that in the Episcopal diocese of Spokane, 125 years is super old.  Here that isn't very old at all.  Buildings of old stone evoke awe and wonder.  The weather is also quite different, if also good for this place in July.  I have been told that I am the only one of our team who thinks the weather is lovely (my hands look less like raisins!).    Some of our crew are finding the humidity difficult, declaring that their skin is sticking to itself and hovering inside while a malfunctioning security alarm sounds.   I have refrained from suggesting that this is nothing compared to DC or Mississippi.

On Wednesday we made our way from the Germantown neighborhood over to EYE and Villanova with a few minor glitches.  To begin our day we woke up a bit late, but certainly not on a Pacific schedule.  This was more of a challenge given our late late night arrival.  For our first night we rested in triple Decker brand new bunks at the Episcopal Mission Center which is housed at St. Luke's in Germantown.  I cannot offer enough praise for the fine welcome and amazing work they do at the Episcopal Mission Center.  Based on the recommendations of a friend we headed out for the Little Jimmies that appeared on our smart phone.  We walked quite a ways in the morning ing he s t before we found it.  Part of the reason for the morning ing breakfast trek was to help acclimate our crew to the local weather.  It was a long walk and we filled Little Jimmies with our fourteen bodies.  We pushed the capacity so far th as t the shopkeeper called for reinforcements.  Who then told us that there was a s another larger location much closer to our digs.  Oops.

Refreshed by our meal we walked back with more energy, and headed out toward the train.  The region had experienced huge storms the day we arrived (hence part of our delay).  Widespread damage and power outages were confusing systems.  And a power line had fallen over a train track.  Leading to no trains.  Which we learned after climbing the stairs with our luggage.  Eventually we were able to arrange for three cabs to come and get us and take us to the EYE14 site.  Now if only they had all known how to get to Villanova!

We did make it to our destination and we were right on time for the start of check in.  Since then we have been going almost non stop (except for sleep).  We are in a dorm with folks from the dioceses of Hawaii, Maryland, San Diego, California and Rio Grande to name a few.  Participants are spending lots of time exchanging trinkets and playing frisbee between our sessions.  Last night includes big games on a field and a Frozen song along in the on campus theatre.  Then was evening worship and snacks.  Today we celebrated a fantastic Eucharist, took a group photo and have now begin our workshops.  There in an excellent article on The Episcopal Digital Network with more about what we are doing.

One of my favorite things about facebook is the river of life, the river of my life, that flows along on my 'wall'.  The lives of school friends and 'grown kids' mix with colleagues and family.  I find it to be a beautiful babbling brook of who I am and where I have been.  However, this is much better than my fb wall.  EYE so far has been a river of living life, of hugs and high fives in person with the folks who usually only pass by.  To hug my goddaughter, to be lifted high by an old friend, to hear my name shouted..OMG Jane!  It is a blessing of its own.  This is a river of life...where shall we take it from here?

Philadelphia freedom via Vegas....EYE14

Southwest airlines can be occasionally silly and generally high energy,  all of which can make it seem like the youth group of the airlines.   This observation is particularly evident with the icebreaker style boarding process.  If you have not been on a Southwest flight recently this might need an explanation.  Every passenger is given a boarding group letter, and a number.  Each letter group has to line up in numerical order, which demands that passengers TALK to one another.  It requires a civility, attentiveness and connectivity not unlike our life together in Christ.
Once on board you then get to choose from any open seat, also like church life, and a real benefit to flying with a fourteen person group of young people and chaperones to the Episcopal Youth Event.   The plane was nearly full as we soared through the first leg toward Vegas on our way to Philadelphia.  One of our eleven teens had never flown before.  After gleeful loud expressions during takeoff she declared that she "loves flying"!  Some slept, some read and most caught up or made new friends.  Our youth crew includes folks from Cleelum, Walla Walla, Richland, Coeur d Alene and Spokane.  One young woman, Berkeley, was with the last EYE group in 2011, and most of our crew have been active at Camp Cross and our diocesan youth programs like New Beginnings and TEC.  Our adult chaperones are from Richland, Spokane and Walla Walla.  Patrick attended a previous EYE as a teen, Jane has served with the Official Youth Presence at General Convention, while Theresa is new to church wide youth events.  We are flying east the day before EYE begins because as many of us know it takes all day to get from here to there.  We are spending our first night at the Episcopal Mission Center in the Germantown neighborhood of Philadelphia.  Or at least that is the plan, flight delays may put gum in our plans.  Then on Wednesday morning we will use mass transit to journey out to Villanova University, where EYE 14 is being held.
More for y'all when we have new adventures to share.
#eye14
#Episcopal
#spokanediocese
#superexcited