The Sacred Circle: Pi, Communion of Saints and Jesus on the Plain

What a strange universe it would be if we had no circles.  Would it even be creation as we know it if there were no circles?  A drop of water falls and it splashes in a circle. Everything from the planets and the shape of your iris.  A universe with no circles would seem to be, at least I what I know of what we know of the universe, impossible.  Impossible is one of those words that perhaps should only be uttered by God. Circles are symbols of unity and timelessness and potential.  A circle is a never-ending sequence of points, if it is large enough, it can seem like a line from your limited point of view. But instead it just goes around and around, never-ending.  Never-ending is also one of those words that perhaps should only be uttered by God, like every, and full, and forever, and ALL.

Paul writes to the church in Ephesus, ‘God has put all things under Jesus’ feet, made Christ the head of all things, that the fullness of God fills all in all.  In the ancient Greek the letter was written in, this word for all is pas.  Pi alpha sigma.  All begins with PI.  Not the edible one, but the mathematical concept.  The symbol that looks like a shelter.  That never-ending number that is the ratio of the measurement of every circle.  It is in mathematical terms both irrational, as in we don’t understand it, and transcendent, as in it seems to be everywhere.  Every unbroken circle, everywhere we know of.  All in all, there PI is.  Pi is a constant.  It is in the shape of bread as it rises and the rim of the chalice.  Pi is as profound as the most holiest ideas we can hold and as mundane as something we encounter each and every day.

Which is rather like the communion of saints.  That irrational transcendent idea, of how faithful people everywhere,  across time,  dwell together somehow.  We who walk the earth now, those who walked with Jesus, the descendants we can barely imagine, and every lover of God in between.  ALL somehow here in the prayer of the faithful, and the mystery of the sacraments, we are somehow ALL living together in the body of Christ.  Perhaps it is like a SACRED CIRCLE. Shoulder to shoulder, with one constant: the shape of Christ in our lives.  Jesus is clear on this one.  This constant is how we are bread for neighbors, how we pursue clean water for the thirsty, how we listen to the abused.  How we ask hard questions and how we live into hard answers.  Theologian Stanley Hauerwas speaks of this hard-pressed saintliness this way,  “Only by growing into Jesus’ story do I learn how much brokenness I have stored in my soul, a fragmentation which is not about to vanish overnight, but which I must continually work to recognize and lay down.”  

If the constant shape of God is roundedness, then we have to make an effort to grow a square watermelon, or bake square bread.  Those are not wrong per say, but where in your life do you resist holy roundedness, constrain God’s wholeness with a box?  Where do I deny the neighbor who stands by my shoulder?  It is my resistance to God’s way that scrolls past the suffering of the world.  Lately it has been harder and harder to pay attention.  The darkness and chaos seems absurd and terrifying.  But the word from Jesus isn’t to step aside.  It is to tread with the saints, to live through tough times, and strive with whole hearts.

Here in this sermon on the plain, Jesus makes his mission and our shape plain.  God's path and shape and redemptive work will be recognized in its fullness from the underside.  We can spiritualize the beatitudes, we can be poor in spirit, but the more we do spiritualize Jesus demand, the poorer in spirit we become.  We may find ourselves in deep sad darkness, but God demands that we never ignore that we have neighbors whose darkness is as concrete as the circles that fill the universe.  We have promised in baptism to seek and serve Christ in all persons, to strive for human dignity.  Engaging with the suffering of the world is not a new promise, it is the fulfillment of the first one.  There is hardship and bloodshed in the company of the faithful.  Facing our challenges head on is taking our stand within the sacred circle.  

So today we celebrate the feast of All Saints.  We remember the circle of witnesses, the daring superstars and the mundane folks that fill God’s loop.  We are a part of a story that is like PI, both unique and ever repeating.  Our version may be needy and at times unjust, fearful and lost; it may also be hopeful and brave and true.  Yet it is in God’s completeness that we are being drawn back into the HOLY and sacred circle.  Jesus’ direction is ALL: it is inclusiveness and equality, both of which are symbolized a by a circle.

The communion of saints is a sacred circle across the ages, hand and hand or shoulder to shoulder.  It is you and me and stories we can barely imagine. Jesus’ life and teachings they outline possibilities that ARE defined as impossible by human insecurity.  But we are wrong because impossible isn’t our word to use, it is Gods.     Our wholeness, like the story of every saint of every age, it is outlined by the way in which it is filled and stretched to be God’s story in our story. So I offer two questions to ponder: What shall we change so that we can to live into the sacred circle?  And, how shall we make Jesus’ story our ‘pi’?  

http://www.lectionarypage.net/YearC_RCL/HolyDays/AllSaintsC_RCL.htmlAll Saints (transferred)

RCL C

November 6, 2016

St. Paul's Episcopal Church

Walla Walla, Washington

Audio Link!

Echoes of Whoa! Singalong Make Your Own Epiphany Pageant 2016

We look up on a cloudless night and we see the twinkling of glitter strewn across a deep blue firmament.  We do not see the skies as the ancients saw them.  The ancients they saw something different.  A ceiling that is dark but with paintbrush strokes of tiny glimmering and moving lights. 

When you look up at night, do you imagine the ages and ages of time that are pouring down on us? Do you wonder where it is all going? 

It came upon the midnight clear, that glorious song of old, from angels bending near the earth to touch their harps of gold;

Before the beginning began, Christ was with God, he is God.  In him is light and life and the darkness cannot extinguish the bold brilliance of this light.

  God is Love; let heaven adore him; God is Love, let earth rejoice; let creation sing before him and exalt him with one voice.  God who laid the earth’s foundation, God who spread the heavens above, God who breathes through all creation: God is Love, eternal Love.  

In the fullness of time the love of God, the word of God became flesh.  The word of God would become one with his beloved.    Angels came to Joseph, and to Mary, and whispered in their hearts, “he who laid the earth’s foundation…he will be born in love.”  You my friends, will give him shelter and comfort.  You will name him Jesus.  He will be a gift to us, the One for us, and you can be a gift to him.

  Peace on the earth good will to men, from heaven’s all gracious King.  The world in solemn stillness lay to hear the angels sing. 

They were on the road when Christ was born, led to the city of Bethlehem.  This one gracious ruler of all was born to a young woman, this one Love became humble, was made of bone and blood, breath and imagination.  Somehow it did happen that shepherds were summoned to his cradle, and they came close to gaze. 

Who were these strangers? Why did they follow?  What gifts did they bring?  Is there a gift that is truly needed these days?  Take a moment and write it on the star in your program.   In a few moments our angel host will gather these starry gifts together.  What gift would you bring to Christ our King?

 To Thee, great One in Three, the highest praises be, hence evermore; thy sovereign majesty may we in glory see, and to eternity love and adore. 

What happened next is a great mystery.  Regardless of our desire to summon ancient sages to the cradle,  we can only imagine what happened next.  Joseph was from the city of David.  If you heard your cousin was in town with a newborn, what would you do? 

How silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is given! So God imparts to human heats the blessings of his heaven.  No ear may hear his coming, but in this world of sin, where meek souls will receive him still the dear Christ enters in.  

Scripture tells us that they found themselves in a house, in a home.  This young and scared family, Mary, Joseph and Jesus were taken in.  Given the gift of warmth, shelter, food and water.  And yet the strangeness of the Epiphany was set in motion well before that holy night in Bethlehem.  An assortment of wise ones, prophets, sages, maybe even minor kings; they discerned a star at its rising. 

We know not how many wise ones, we know not their status or education or even hometowns.  Did their contemplations occur independently or together?  Did they just meet by chance on the road?  Whoever they were, wherever they came from they knew by a glimmer in the heavens and the writings of prophets that the new reign was to be born. 

Sages, leave your contemplations; brighter visions beam afar; seek the great Desire of nations ye have seen his natal star; come and worship, come and worship, worship Christ the newborn King, 

As logic might suggest, when seeking the new ruler, you might start at the palace.  These sages, these wise ones they went to visit Herod the King.  A man for whom history offers few kind words.  A newborn king was a threat.  He met these visitors with leading questions, and our wise friends knew something was askew.  Quickly the Magi found their way out of Herod’s court, and they continued on their way to the house where the young family stayed. 

So bring him incense, gold and myrrh, come, peasant, king, to own him; the King of kings salvation brings, let loving hearts enthrone him.  This, this is Christ the King, whom shepherds guard and angels sing; haste, haste to bring him laud, the babe, the son of Mary.  

Epiphany could be translated as ‘whoa’!  Have you ever been startled by finding exactly what you were looking for, but it not being anything like what you planned to find?  Being quite wise these friends they learned their lesson, listened to their intuition and having found the young Prince, they did not return to Herod’s court, instead they went home by another way.

  In Christ there is no east or west, in him no south or north, but one great fellowship of love throughout the whole wide earth. 

The story doesn’t end there.  The boy he takes on flesh, he becomes a child and then a teenager and then an adult.  Much of his life isn’t recorded, from which we might gather that it was rather ordinary.  Learning to tie his sandals, testing his boundaries, playing with his family and friends.  Yet beyond the ordinariness of his incarnation, beyond the giftedness of each being, this boy is an astonishing gift.  He is to be an Epiphany,  an echo of God’s first and most amazing gift, creation itself.  He who stretched the heavens is one with us, one for us, and it astonishes us still.  Whoa.

This is your story, the hope and the messiness.  This is your story, you have been called to be one with him.  This is our story, so we had best act like it is the most amazing story ever told.  In him we are the new creation, we are wise ones and sages, in him we are princes of God’s reign. 

A new creation comes to life and grows, as Christ’s new body takes on flesh and blood.  The universe restored and whole will sing: Alleluia!  Amen! 

At St. Paul's we offer a pageant on a Sunday close to the feast of the Epiphany. Anyone can be whatever they want to be, and the whole congregation participates by singing as the pageant crew move around the nave.  

January 2016

Little Books For Momentary Formation

Little books with little readings are like mustard seeds.  They can sprout large homes for multi-dimensional faith.  Here are 4 little books that I find to be a blessing day in and day out.

PRAYING THE PSALMS

It is not surprising that I start my list with a book by this Old Testament scholar, as my fandom of his work is well known.  Many of us encounter the Psalms in weekly liturgy and the daily office, but we may not know much about the Psalms.  We also might desire some guidance in finding our life and our prayer life within this library of ancient prose.

Here is a beloved quote from another book of Dr. Brueggemann, that applies to psalmody as well.

“Here we are, practitioners of memos:     We send e-mail and we receive it,     We copy it and forward it and save it and delete it.     We write to move the data, and                 organize the program,                 and keep people informed—     and know and control and manage.   We write and receive one-dimensional memos,         that are, at best, clear and unambiguous.     And then—in breathtaking ways—you summon us to song.” 
― Walter Brueggemann, Prayers for a Privileged People

A YEAR WITH RUMI

Folks who have been around me for a while also know that I am a fan of these 'a year with' books.  Whether it be L'Engle, C.S. Lewis, Bonhoeffer or Rilke: these brief snippets can feed daily pondering.  If you don't know much about the poet Rumi, he was a 13th century Sufi Muslim, and is widely regarded as a holy mystic.  Within Islam the people of the Hebrew Bible and Christian scriptures remained vital, interacting with Islamic principles in storytelling and poetry.  So while parts of Rumi's world are 'otherwise', many of the images and motifs in his spiritual poetry are familiar.  His works have been translated into many many languages, and he may be one of the most widely read poets of this era.

“Knock, And He'll open the door
Vanish, And He'll make you shine like the sun
Fall, And He'll raise you to the heavens
Become nothing, And He'll turn you into everything.” 
― Jalaluddin Rumi


LIVING WITH CONTRADICTION

These simple and short reflections on the Benedictine way of life can drive right to the heart of our everyday struggles to live a compassionate Christian life.  Esther de Waal is a historical scholar who specializes in interpreting and sharing Benedictine and Celtic practices for everyday use.  In this book she offers insights for living in a fractured world, for encountering dark moments and the grief that is a part of every life on earth.  My experience with this text is that I will pick it up and just choose a page, and almost always discover something I needed to hear at that exact moment.

“There is no once and for all moment when we can say that at last we are whole, the past is buried and over, the hurts forgotten, the wounds healed. Instead we find that it is to be a search that we must expect to continue throughout our lives.” 
― Esther de Waal, Living With Contradiction: An Introduction to Benedictine Spirituality

PERSEVERANCE

This book of single page readings is designed to poke, prod, and nurture a more connected, whole and balanced community and world.  Margaret Wheatley is the leader of the Berkana Institute, which incorporates research with organizational principles and the metaphors of contemporary science.  She is a mentor and consultant for organizations as different as a small town church and the US Army.  PERSEVERANCE is a breath of hope and a challenge of truth in the chaos of our lives.

"Determination, energy, and courage appear spontaneously when we care deeply about something. We take risks that are unimaginable in any other context." 


So what are the little books that give sustenance to your daily formation?

5 Digital Ways to Grow in Your Lifelong Formation

If you are going to reach a little bit further in your lifelong formation you may be wondering how to do so.  There is so much out there and many of us are rather busy.  Here are five simple additions to your lifelong journey that you can make this week.  All of them are available online, free of charge.

• If you like watching a wide array of short videos that are more inspirational than teach-y, it can be hard to wade through all the ridiculous online.  My friend Randall Curtis curates a collection called Videos for Your Soul.  He focuses the work around Ash Wednesday through Easter, however after several years of this collecting, you could watch one everyday for a long long while.  Here is a video from the folks at Soul Pancake, and my favorite sage, Kid President.

• I don't like mornings.  I can barely function until I get some caffeine and some calories.  Thank goodness for the people who offer daily audio morning prayer.  I can pray and not even use much brain power.  Usually I intentionally draw or color while listening, and find myself much more ready for the day at the end.  The first suggestion is Morning Prayer from Garrett County.  A priest named Chip Lee serves a community in Maryland, and has a wonderful digital mission.  It is Morning Prayer II, with the daily Epistle and Gospel readings, and lasts less than 20 minutes.   Any podcast app should be able to find it!  

• Perhaps one of the most amazing contributions to ongoing spiritual exploration is the show you might hear on public radio called 'On Being'.  Krista Tippett interviews a wide array of people who are contributing to our sense of connectedness and meaning in the world.  I try to listen to one of her broadcasts once a week.  Sometimes it is the fresh program, other times I reach into the archives and find new gems.  You can listen to these online, or as a downloadable podcast, or even when it is broadcast.  Most broadcasts are about 40 minutes long.  This year they released a short form of some of her interviews, called Becoming Wise.  

• d365 is a short meditation and reflection program that is available through links online or as a downloadable app for your mobile device.  Simple and thoughtful this is a lovely way to practice prayer daily. 

• As for knowledge building free videos, I love CRASH COURSE.  These are not 'spiritual or religious' videos; but because they are about humanity, religious and spiritual and ethical issues are everpresent.  Originally aimed at young people, these productions are sassy and fast moving, but also insightful and worth your viewing time.  About 15 minutes each, I recommend you start with World History (One) and keep growing from there.  

Aspire to Climb: Zacchaeus Leaps

I once had a job where my most important asset was not my friendliness, or attention to detail.  My most valuable skill was my willingness to climb.  The back room at the toy store was very narrow, and filled with three sets of floor to ceiling industrial shelving.  When a shipment would arrive it would fill the two of the narrow aisles, with 6-foot-high stacks of boxes.  I would climb up the shelves and brace myself in varying configurations, and as quickly as possible relocate all the contents from the boxes to the shelves. 

The gospel reading today tells us that Zacchaeus was a petite fella, and I find nothing unusual at all about his tree climbing strategy.  Even if it is ‘undignified’, now and then.  There are a few things we know about Zacchaeus and volumes that we do not.  We are given his name, and a place: Jericho.  This episode is situated in time and can be found on a map, being one of the last encounters of Jesus on the way to Jerusalem.  Not only do we know his name, we also know he was a wealthy tax collector.  We know that in Jesus’ society wealth would bring respect, but collusion with the occupying empire would not.

We can tell that Zacchaeus was a notorious person, you can see it by the way the crowds do not let him through.  As a tax collector he interacted with all zones of society and was therefore considered unclean, a rich outcast.  It is fair to say that Zacchaeus had heard of Jesus, and the Jesus movement. The Jesus movement is what scholars today sometimes use to name the earliest phases of community and discipleship around Jesus.  I wonder what it was, what sent this derided and privileged man out into the streets, pushed him into a crowd of people who didn’t like him at all.  What part of Jesus’ life, what part of his word and welcome draws anyone out of their comfy home and into the streets, and then, daring to scamper up sticky lumpy tree?  There is something about that climb, that striving to do something, anything, to get a glimpse of this movement that calls to him, there is something unmistakably aspirational about it.  

We don’t know if he had any friends or family, but I assume he had servants.  I imagine him heading out, and telling a household servant something like,  ‘well, I am going to go check this out.  It is important for me to know about people like this Jesus.  I had better go see what all the fuss is about.’ I imagine that because that is my place in this story.  I did something like that once upon a time.  Early in my young adult encounter with this Jesus Movement, soon after I went from open agnosticism to participating in a church community, when it was still new to me, well, I claimed to other people in my life that I was doing sociological research.  ‘Because religion and the Bible are important influences on society and I should know more about them.’  I actually said that, and I might have even believed it.  So I stepped out into my crowded street and I climbed my tree, and sought to see Jesus.  And he saw me in there, and drew me out of the tree, and invited himself into my life. 

What sent you into your ‘tree’ to seek Jesus?  Perhaps you have no idea why you keep climbing these trees or this tree in particular.  What hunger sent Zacchaeus up that sycamore tree?  Was it a desire for wholeness?  Refuge?  Was he seeking a group of outsiders with which he could possibly no longer be an outsider?  Or was it a hollowness that needed to be filled with a more wonder-full way of living?  Zacchaeus had been on a spiritual journey his whole life.  He may not have known it, but he was, just as I believe that everyone is.  We are all on a lifelong journey of faith formation, even in the parts where we say there is no road, or cannot see the forest for the trees.  Somedays we see the vistas and the rainbows and feel the unity of the forest, and sometimes we are just trying to sludge through the inches of decomposing muck on the floor. 

Tree climbing is a lovely metaphor for faith formation.  Trees are symbols of nourishment, refuge, transformation, and holy insight. We have been blessed with a home that has a solid trunk made of living words and a living heritage, with branches that lead us up and into the edges of God’s longing for this world.  The FIG SYCAMORE that Zacchaeus climbs is a specifically a symbol of regeneration and rebirth.  Our tree should be like that tree, a way of continual reawakening, lifelong striving and wondering,  and a practical tool for when we are brought up short. 

I assess formation in my life and the places I serve by the promises of the baptismal covenant. CONTINUE, RETURN, PROCLAIM, SERVE, STRIVE.  Aspirational formation should continue in learning, worship and prayer.  It keeps studying the branches of the tree and wonders where it can climb to next.  It puts up tire swings and helps neighbors to enjoy the ride.  CONTINUE.  When we fall into sin we are a people who return, confess and forgive, like the arms of a tree as welcoming as Jesus’: limbs of understanding seeking wholeness.  How am I returning?  I also look for proclaiming Good news in word and action. Is this a community that SERVES with Jesus, that learns and grows through serving neighbors and seeking the common good? We certainly SERVE, but is it a limited few and could it be more of us?  And I look for striving.  Aspiring from the roots.  roots are there for trees to live and grow.  Their energy is upward and their being is intertwined.  Roots pull in nutrients and send them up for sharing in courage and daring to live for others.  Roots strive to offer strength to breathe God’s dream in our leaves.    How will we STRIVE this year,  and how will we prepare ourselves to always STRIVE?

You climbed a tree, I can tell because you are here.  Jesus is calling to you to examine your place in his movement, this dream, this hope, this way.  How can this gospel today lead you to renew a promise for lifelong formation for all, including yourself? CONTINUE RETURN PROCLAIM SERVE STRIVE.  Remember how Zacchaeus climbs a sycamore tree?  This isn’t an American type of sycamore, like the one that was planted around here and produces those yellowish seed balls that are easily crushed underfoot.  This West Asian sycamore tree is a fig tree, and its name in Hebrew shik-ma seems to be rooted from the same place as words such as restore and regenerate.  When the wind exposes this sycamores roots, this tree will stretch its roots deeper into the earth.  When the sand covers its low-lying branches, they transform into roots, which give rise to new trees.  

The trees we dwell in together are made of strong sycamore wood and can bear our brokenness and support our questions and renew our hearts.  Jesus sees us in this restoration tree.  Maybe you don’t like heights,  yet here we are and God’s people are looking up at us.  Dare we welcome them up into this holy tree?  Aspirational Membership is the heart of our stewardship campaign and one of the pillars is a commitment to lifelong formation.  We are a lifelong tree climbing, baptismal living, wholeness seeking Jesus Movement group of people.  Can we dig deeper, letting branches become roots?  Can we sprout new trees, and absurdly strive for renewal? How will we reach to do this all the way back to the heart of God? Let us sit in that tree for a moment and ponder psalm 46.  Be Still And Know that I am God.

October 30, 2016

St. Paul's Episcopal Church

Walla Walla Washington
RCL C Proper 26 track 1

Link for the audio if the widget doesn't work.

Carnival Church: The Outrageous Steward and our Practice of Being In Tents

Not the german carnival.

Colored lights and striped tents filled the open spaces on a fall evening.  There was that ride like a top, that lifts up with swiftly spinning swings.  There was a contraption with pretend wild animals to ride.  Oh and bumper cars, there were bumper cars.  Neighbors wandered, children begged for a treat.  An open sided carnival, free flowing with the neighborhood, one could come and look and smell and taste, while someone else could ride and play and dare.  

Small carnivals would appear from time to time in our west German neighborhood.  It was an easy walk from our off base duplex, around the corner and up the hill to where the usually barren field would be transformed.  I can still find in my memory scent notes of what is not an American carnival sensation,  a mystical kind of lightly sweet,  mixed with cloves and ginger and maybe a hint of licorice.   Some of the people who wandered there may have felt lost, some may have worried about what tomorrow would bring,  and so they wandered up the hill and let the lights and the music be a balm for a moment.

Jeremiah is no carnival clown.  He can grasp he will be soon be wading in the debris of imperial marches.  His name in recent centuries became a noun: jeremiad.  To speak a jeremiad is to publicly bemoan and lament the conduct of life among your people, your leaders, your neighbors.  “For the hurt of my poor people I am hurt, I mourn, and dismay has taken hold of me.  Is there no balm in Gilead?  Is there no physician there?”  

Perhaps you recall that Jesus’ contemporaries had a hard time placing him in a useful category.  Is he a prophet?  Rabbi? Wonder-worker? Carnival act?  Jesus embodied Gods life and intention for the world.  His proclamation in word and deed is authentic love.  An experience of something wholly different than the everyday plastic existence that makes life dull and fruitless.  Whomever it was that could have possibly written the ancient version of Forbes,  he is long forgotten.  Whatever that person might have advised, it is dust,  having been a flat, plastic and predictable idea of security.  The living word of God is not going to be so flat or conforming.

 

Post harvest wheat fields near Pomeroy, Washington

No one seems to think that Jesus’ words about the good shepherd are an agricultural lecture, so why do we get so bent out of shape about these next words?  I think it is because this subject pokes at our deepest insecurities.  Yet Jesus isn’t really talking about earthly accounting of deutchmarks or denari.  I ask you to take a second and ponder: what is wealth to God?  Hope.  Justice.  Forgiveness.   Grace.  Resurrection.  What is wealth to God?  The prophets say that it is NEVER HAVING TO HEAR THE CRIES of any of God’s beloved creation ever again.  

Looking at the parable,  what are the items of wealth that become free flowing forgiveness?  Oil.  Oil in the ancient world is heat, it is light, it is cooking, it is cleaning, it is healing. Oil is the deliverer of those balms of Gilead, and in a dry land, oil is as precious as water.   And you know about grain.  Grain is nourishment for bellies, and it is straw for mats for burdened bodies.  Wealth for God is measured in love, calculated by free flowing compassion.

If this lesson has advice about any human venture,  it is perhaps about the adventure we call being church.  A carnival knows it is temporary, when the duty is done, the tents come down, rides pack up. There is a thread of query in the Old Testament, wondering if maybe we were better when we were with God in the wilderness, wandering together in our permeable tents.  Building of temples and churches changes us, changes our relationships with each other and with strangers.  Dwelling in tents may have better reminded us of the truth that the past is dust, and the future is always in motion.  The only thing we have to be sure of is we are God’s beloved, right here on this shifting sand, with these strangers and neighbors and friends.

We have spent a month praying through our hopes and fears, resentments and anxieties.  Before we bring it down I want to point out that there are empty clips where unnamed prayers rest.  There are open spaces where the free flowing grace of the Holy Spirit is transforming us as we pray.  As I let the cards rise I read of both sadness’s and gratefulness.  What struck me most clearly was worry about what is to come, and a desire to be more effective proclaimers of Good News.  

I once served with one of the most effective Episcopal congregations in the country, and it was rather like a circus or a carnival.  Like many of the most effective congregations I know of, they have a footprint, but their mission is as unbounded as festival music or pleasant carnival smells.  The good news comes and goes and flows freely.  The second thing I know about effective congregations is that they don’t invest most of their time or energy in 20 years ago or 20 years from now.  They are fixated on the present day, of being incarnate gospel centers for teaching and healing and shelter in their neighborhoods today.  They PRACTICE being CHURCH AS IF WE DWELLED IN CARNIVAL TENTS.

Jesus’ life and ministry offers an un-jeremiad. He laments the way we conduct the business of life.  Our gospel story isn’t about our currency or investments, it is about our generosity and fluidity.  He summons us into stories that jolt like bumper cars, and humor that makes us dizzy.  Jesus makes friends with what seems like crookedness and chaos and fills our flat lines with resurrection.  The number one thing I believe that this Gospel lesson demands is that the Christ figure here today is this outlandish steward!  This example who encourages the better part of us, and discourages anything that makes us smaller and less generous. 

Jeremiah and Jesus may have had deep divine knowledge of what came next,  yet you and I, we have no idea of what the next era will demand.  So we must trust that our longevity will only spring from being a captivating carnival of the good news.  Healing balm over here,  tasty joy over there,  wisdom to the left and new life to the right. 

I have two questions to leave you with.   

What outrageous spin in your life can make the gospel shine brightly today?  

And, what does the Christ carnival look and feel and smell like to you? 

Let us pray.

Gentle us, Holy One,

into an a deep breath, a letting go

of shriveling anxieties

            and dead certainties

so that, surrounded by the light,

            and open to the mystery,

We may be entranced by the simple,

and filled with the joy that is you,

In the name of the Holy Dancing Carnival Like Trinity, One God Forever and Ever. Amen.

September 18, 2016  St. Paul's,Walla Walla
Audio Link if Widget doesn't work

RCL Proper 20 Year C Track 1

Prayer adapted from Ted Loder.

itty bitty green haired reblog

A small piece about PNEUMA.  You should come to this fabulous ecumenical conference for folks who know our call is to shape lives of discipleship.  And it is at the Bishop's Ranch..which is swell.



So ...here is the reblog link.

http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/youthministry/2016/08/12/pneuma-conference-holy-communication/

And for the pool rat memories...http://parliament-pool.com/.  I would post photos from them, but we seemed to never take a photo of my kelp tone hair before cutting it off.  Kelp tone hair might be cool now.  Hmm.