Memorial day 2016 column

Recently we went to see Rogers and Nienhaus at the Veterans Park in Pontoon Beach.It is new, so it lists out more recent wars than one often sees in public monuments. Well over a million soldiers have perished in the long succession of wars. We have at least 28 Revolutionary War veterans buried in Madison County.Memorial Day honored the graves of the fallen in the terrible carnage of the Civil War by decorating their graves.It honors that sad fact that in the midst of killing, some of our virtues shine: courage, comradeship, self-sacrifice.

Of course, Alton has deep and abiding traditions for what became Memorial Day. This week I went to the National Cemetery on Pearl Street. I parked with  the familiar Alton sound of crushed liquor bottles along the curb. It is a well-kept patch of land, as opposed to some of the adjoining cemetery. While not large, it has three sections of burial plots; some names date from the Mexican War.  It started as a civil War burial ground. An Alton native,Lt. E.F. Fletcher, was concerned for his life the night before a battle in Buena Vista. Tomorrow we expect to have an engagement with a superior Mexican force, and on the eve of the affair, ...the object nearest my heart is the welfare of my little child; . ...Should I fall, I leave her entirely with you and your wife; but I have written to my brother, requesting him to throw his brotherly protection over her; and he should receive her as his own child and protect her... I wish that she should receive as good an education as the little means left her will afford: and above all things, teach her that truth and virtue are to woman, what the soul is to the body - the life of its life. Teach her that to be just to all - -in thought - in word - in deed, is the true - the great aim of a good mind; and those who strive to accomplish that purpose, seldom fail to live at peace with the world, and accomplish the "Great Destiny" for which they are created. I would say a thousand things more about her, and my wishes for her...In death as in life,

It has a fine speaker's rostrum at the entrance, built toward the end of the Works Progress Administration's great work. As one enters, the entire Gettysburg Address is posted on a plaque.It is a fitting reminder tha tlincoln’s words were to consecrate the huge cemetery in the Pennsylvania countryside.

Too many graves of the fallen dot our country’s cemeteries.Regard words from a letter in WWI.”Shells were landing all around us. Machine guns were shooting at us and everything else. It was there that another Alton boy got hurt. Charles Kuhn got hit with a piece of shrapnel, and our commanding officer got killed with a shell. I was about 20 feet from him when a shell landed right under his head and blowed the top of it off. I won't try to tell you all that happened, but will say that Sherman was right. There were shells bursting all around us and a few of our men got knocked off and a bunch got wounded. I have never figured out yet how any of us got back alive “( From .DEGERLIA, THOMAS S.: Alton Evening Telegraph, November 18, 1918 )

No parade, no flowers can make amends for the widowed spouses and orphaned children from war. No festive atmosphere can erase the horrors of war. May we pray and work for a peace that will have memorial Day recall only deaths from a distant past.

May 29 sermon Notes-Lk. 7:1-10

May 29 Lk. 7:1-10

A centurion would be the last person most would seek faithful expression-servant/child/slave/” close-sort of an NCO/lieutenant,went second hand-emissaries-centurion”  as one under authority-Centurions had a middling role in the hierarchy of the Roman army,.by this time they looked to be promoted in the ranks-usually excellent soldiers of skill-had a rod of authority -somewhat our captain in the army or maybe better a boatswain on the ship-this is the face of being under Rome’s thumb, the ones who took from you, made you carry their packs who roughed up your relative.

What faith is being praised by Jesus-trust in his power it seems to be able to heal at a distance. centurions in Luke get good press as one demonstrates faith in healing and one says truly this was the son of god at the cross.. I don;t care if he is a good guy; he is not one of us, not on our side.Stories of occupation-under the thumb-recipients of charity-why his servant and not mine, why not me.Jesus does speak the word. He does not go to the centurion’s home. He does not touch the slave. The amazing element of this story if that Jesus is the one who is amazed -- not the centurion, not the various groups that go to speak with Jesus, but Jesus himself. Jesus is astounded at the faith of this “enemy”, this gentile. This man’s faith engenders a “long-distance” healing, a sign of enormous divine connection. .

The centurion recognized who Jesus was -- did the elders do approach Jesus as requested Jesus does love his enemy. Jesus heals the slave of the centurion because of his owner’s faith. Are we willing to approach Jesus, for ourselves, for our friends, for our enemies? How does this story help us begin to answer the question, “who then is this?”(J. Brown-WP)  Why? Why does the centurion of Capernaum not beg Jesus himself as he does in Matthew and in John (on behalf of his son in this account)? Is he being savvy, using his network to make sure the right person "does the ask" as it is said in fundraising circles? Is it a matter of knowing a guy who knows a guy in order to get the favor, the event tickets, the bill passed, the meeting set up?Centurion truly recognizes that, powerful as he is, he is unworthy to ask for help from the One with far greater authority than he. Powerful as he is, he is powerless in this circumstance..  Jesus holds ultimate power and has ultimate authority. Not once but twice, the centurion sends others to intercede for him. First the Jewish leaders, second his friends. This centurion knows his place in relationship to Jesus. Despite the religious leaders calling the centurion "worthy" and one who loves "our people" (the word is agape, by the way), the centurion says of himself, "I am not worthy" and "I do not presume to come to you." This man is not limping along with two different opinions, as Elijah made fun of the priests. . He is clear about who is Lord and acts accordingly.As Calvin said we tend to worship the gifts and not the giver. Centurion probably believe din Roman gods especially Roman God of healing Asclepius-healing had its own shrines-linked to  Hippocrates-.caduceus. For the Romans they referred to the divine benefits of a god as salvation, as healing, as the giving of new life. Recall that frequently when jesus heals, it is the same word as save.Healing comes in many forms.Admission of humility, of dependence-entrusting one to another’s care-Old Catholic communion prayer-

Pts for week of May 29

Sunday-Ps.96 is part of a section of praise material.How would you write it in 2016? I like the end where the wordless creation erupts in praise in vv12-13. What would that sound like to you?

Monday-Martin Luther puts it this way in the third article of the creed in his Small Catechism: "I believe that I cannot by my own understanding or strength believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to him, but instead the Holy Spirit has called me through the gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, made me holy, and kept me in the true faith, just as he calls, gathers, enlightens, and makes holy the whole Christian church on earth and keeps it united with Jesus Christ in the one common, true faith . . . This is most certainly true."

Tuesday- father promised his son a pony for his birthday. The big day arrived and the son went out to the barn and opened the barn door. All he could see was a pile of manure, so he began to shovel. "There's a pony in here! There's a pony in here from my father!" he said to himself. "My father promised me and he does not lie." Amid the "manure" of life, our Father provides a gift. When I told this Sufi story to my primary care physician, he shared a Buddhist saying, "No mud, no lotus."In today's reading (Rom 5:1-5), Paul writes that suffering (manure, mud) leads to hope (pony, lotus), and "hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit." David Kupka

Wednesday-This Is My father’s World  was written by Maltbie Davenport Babcock, a minister, would often go for long walks by Niagara Falls and Lake Huron where he enjoyed the panoramic views. It was here that he was inspired to write the poem that is the basis of this hymn. The hymn reminds me of a large painting called "Serenity." The artist portrayed a huge, roaring, roiling waterfall that fills most of painting. In the foreground there is a birch tree with a bird's nest where a mother robin perches.For me the waterfall represents the chaos, fear, and terror of life today. In the midst of this tumult sits the robin on her nest. That image for me represents the "peace that passes all understanding." As the hymn puts it, "though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet." No matter what happens this is still God's world!

Thursday-a core wound, often from childhood, amy haunt us. These wounds distort the reality of who we are and lead us to compulsive acts. They need to be tended and healed which is challenging because they connect us to our deepest vulnerability." (Abbey of the Arts)

Friday-While the "balm of Gilead" has its roots in Jeremiah, the lyrics of this spiritual link this image to the New Testament message of salvation through Christ.In the New Testament, the word for "healing" is the same word as for "saving." This means that the One who heals us through the doctors, nurses, drugs and medicines, also restores us to health and wholeness. Just as he heals our bodies, he also heals our "sin-sick" souls and saves us for eternity.

Saturday-G.K. Chesterton,  "the soul survives its adventures."

Week of May 22 Pts

Sunday-The Apollo 11 moon mission in 1969 delivered messages from the heads of state engraved on a silicon disk about the size of a fifty-cent piece. As the political head of the Vatican, Pope Paul VI sent along the text of Psalm 8. Psalm 8 is a stargazer psalm. Gazing at the night sky has a way of raising all the big questions:  I like the way Leslie F. Brandt paraphrases these verses in Psalms Now: "When I gaze into star-studded skies and attempt to comprehend the vast distances, contemplate in utter amazement my Creator's concern for me, I am dumbfounded that You should care personally about me." David Kupka Monday-Quote from Dag Hammarskjold, second Secretary-General of the United Nations, : "For all that has been, thank! For all that will be, yes!" Tuesday-"I love the way nature was a profound teacher and wisdom guide for [Thomas] Merton. He experienced all of creation as pointing the way toward our true selves, which is who we were created to be at heart by the divine creative force, and not who we imagine ourselves to be with all of our agendas, goals, and strivings. He saw the lakes, the sea, the mountains, trees and animals as saints because they are so intrinsically themselves. To be a saint means to be fully oneself. These elements of creation do not spin stories that take them away from their true nature." --- Christine Valters Paintner, PhD Wednesday-God Pause-Do you hear Lady Wisdom calling? Today Lady Wisdom comes in many forms and speaks through many different people. One of those through whom she speaks today is my primary care physician, Dr. Gabriel Weiss. Besides being a physician, he was also a musician who wrote and arranged music. In one of his pieces, he shares this bit of wisdom about a man who prayed:"Every day above ground is a very good day.Every day above ground gives me reason to say,Every day above ground: wipe the tears away..."See Prov. 8 Thursday-Ponder the rhythms of your life: times when you expand and step forward (God in Creation)... times when you're emptied and step back (Christ's emptying*)... and times when life becomes a dance back and forth (Holy Spirit)... I call this the "trinity of experience"--beyond theological doctrine, now as existential movements in you lived life. It's the Way of receiving live, dying to self-deceit, and giving back. And for me it's the only Way worth living. (Kent Ira Groff) Friday-"Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity." --Simone Weil Saturday-Prov. 8:31-31 maintains that Wisdom delights in the human race. Indeed to find joy in others, not to seek to control the other nor expect the other to be like me, but to truly delight in the other, as other, that is wisdom.

trinity sunday notes-Prov. 8 Ps. 8

May 22 Trinity sunday Ps. 8, Prov. 8, Jn 16, Rom. 5

Trinity Sunday reminds us that we worship a complex God. We attempt to make sense of the ways God is presented to us in the bible, and  we name god as Trinity this Sunday.this year let’s take a look at Prov. 8 for a neglected part of speaking of God, the Wisdom inherent in creation.The final two verses of the passage are the most crucial for understanding not only the relationship between God and Wisdom, but also that between God and that which God creates, especially human beings. In verse 30, Wisdom describes herself as beside God at creation, either, depending on the translation, “like a master worker” or “like a little child.” The former translation is in keeping with a depiction of Wisdom as God’s partner in creation, a craftsperson who assists God in the formation of the world.  Wisdom is the formative power of God’s delight. As Elizabeth A. Johnson writes of this text, Wisdom “is a beneficent, right-ordering power in whom God delights and by whom God creates; her constant effort is to lure human beings into life.” Wisdom is the creative power of God that is embedded in the world; each created thing, and the creation as a whole, speaks of the Wisdom of God.

That Wisdom is God’s very delight. It is by the power of delight that God brought forth the world. Proverbs 8 tells us that God delights  in us. God’s delight is the power that drives God to create, forming all that is through the ordering power of divine delight.  Wisdom draws human beings into delighted relationship with the divine.Webb-Amy Erickson Through Woman Wisdom, God expresses the enthusiasm of a Powerball winner for humanity. In inviting all humans to join her in her dance of delight, Wisdom invites humanity to engage in a joyful search for God's dynamic presence through and in the world. God willing, the process of seeking the divine in the world and in each other just might drive out some of the darkness.

When I was young, I wanted to be an astronomer, until I took high school physics and never grasped much. I still love looking at pictures of the cosmos and stories of it. Recently, the Kepler telescope found around 1200 new planets and nine of them are in the goldilocks zone of being just right for life as we know it.Ps. 8 what does creation and newer science tells us about God?see william brown,  McGrath book the universe is capable to be studied as it reflects a divine order, even as it contains a raft of random elements-supreme harmony of all as Jonathan Edwards said includes the very character and actions of God.

rom. 5 God’s love poured into our hearts-

God is not limited in time or space or circumstance in the spirit of John 16-The future is open. It requires our discernment, our listening, watching for, and trusting that God will continue to reveal Godself through the Spirit of Truth. Jesus has shown us is the God still at work for our illumination and strength to persist. We  acknowledge that there may still be truths that we are not able to bear, and that God accompanies us along the way Ages ago some churches called themselves more light churches, as well as in our recent history., all of which we cannot see, but all of which we dare to trust is Trinity is at work for us, revealing light here and preparing a place suitable for each and all of us in the fullness of God's reign.(Heinrich)

Devotional thoughts for week of May 15

Ps.104 is a hymn to the spirit of Creation.It links the spirit as breath of lfie to all living things. It sees God as a giver of many gifts for life, in its many forms, to exist. The Kepler telescope has discovered a number of planets where life could exist. They too share in the praise of god.Sunday-

Monday-"There is much emphasis on silence and listening closely, on only speaking when we have something to say, rather than trying to fill the quiet. Benedict knew we can hear things in the silence that otherwise gets drowned out with the daily hum. This was an issue even back in the sixth century long before our endless connectivity online."

Tuesday-To stand in, feel, and hold the tension of our opposites is the practice of becoming one. The oppositions within us will teach us and show us the way if we will let them. That means facing up to ourselves. It is a lifelong process. Wholeness is a practice not a completion. Every time we hold the opposites in tension we are offering God all that we are and all that we have. We give God something to work with. To the degree we eliminate the opposition within us we withhold ourselves from God. We deny God our life. Michael Marsh

Wednesday-Love does not consist of gazing at each other, but in looking together in the same direction.  ~Antoine de Saint-Exupery

thursday-"The kingdom of God is found not in some other world beyond but in our midst. It seeks our obedience despite contradictory appearances, and then it constantly seeks, through our obedience, the miracle, like lightening allowed to flash from the perfect, blessed world of the final promise. On Earth, God seeks to be honored by us in the other, and nowhere else. God plants his kingdom in the cursed ground. We must open our eyes, become sober, obey God here."***Bonhoeffer

Friday-Fear challenges our faith. It constantly makes us uneasy and takes away our inward peace.   What have we to fear? Jesus is about freedom, about being unstuck and set free in a world that would like us to crawl into a shell. Luther often spoke of the fear of the wrath of God. What a gracious word that we are "children of God." Do not be afraid! Take away, O God, our slavery to fear and mistrust. Renew us with your Spirit to trust and hope in the promise that we are adopted and safe as your children. Amen.Ken Knutson

Saturday- Many pretend to know more about God than God knows about God. It has always been difficult for me to discuss God with someone who is so certain about God. Jesus shows us who God is. God is love and "Jesus loves me" is our simple but profound mantra. God accepts the whole world and Jesus accepts you and me. God is a compassionate God and in Jesus we see that compassion for the poor and the outcast, the unloved and the unaccepted. The challenge for us is to ask a lot of questions of ourselves and have deep discussions in community about Jesus and the work he was about. We don't always get the answers we want. Ken Knutson

Sermon Notes, Babel, Technology, and Pentecost

John 14:8-17, 27 Ps. 104, Gen. 11 Rom 8:14

   The story of Babel is simultaneously one of the power of technology and a confusion resulting from its use. The ancients tried to reach the very gate of God with their tower, with the sense that God was upstairs in a 3 story cosmos ( as in the russian cosmonaut sneering that he did not see god in space). In our time, I think that one of the reasons we see religion is dire straits is technology becoming a religion in itself and it has pushed God to the margins. Technology has attributes we applied to God: ubiquity, enormous power. The great ancient story tells  of the desire to reach the very gates of heaven. God confuses balal language so Babel/Babylon’s quest falls into confusion. In our time technology and the march of science may feel the same way.The many languages lead to confusion and misunderstanding. The primeval  prologue of Genesis starts with creation and moves to eden and ends up with a dispersed confused wandering humanity.Pentecost offers a reversal of Babel. Pentecost signals a new community, not divided by language, aiming toward a goal not wandering aimlessly.The tongues  as of fire, allow them to speak in their language but to be heard and understood by others in their own. -

   Late technology technological optimism, priesthood, imperative.For many of us technology threats to make a us more machine like and less human. some of us feel that technology drains life out of the world as it soaks up power, time, and attention. (see sweet piece on new book on cyber world) We carry around cell phones like wireless umbilical cords. People having a romantic dinner have their faces planted on the little screen stealing the light from the eyes of the loved one across the table.People talk about facebook friends having more reality and importance than flesh and blood. Jacques Ellul famously said that we were so concerned about doing things quickly and efficiently, so concerned about standard operating procedure, the operating system in computer terms, but we lack resources for what we are to do. I would say that we can find spirit driven technology v. engines of death-It is not all clear to me that technolog is neutral, as a gun’s purpose is to kill.Technology is blamed for a lot of this loneliness, since the loneliness is certainly associated with the newer technological devices—TV, jets, freeways and so on—but Ray Kurzweil CAT scans Hounsfield,  and MRI.Raymond Damadian-invention is often a collaborative process and the spirit resides there as well.Spirit resides in inspiration and creativity.Spirit v. ;letter of the law-

I don't wish to speak of the spirit as anti-technology, but perhaps as giving life, giving purpose to our inventions and use of them.spirit of understanding each in own language Joel’s words come to life years later the Spirit goes to all ages and conditions without regard for using twitter accounts.After all peace is fruit of the spirit.Ellul says, "The innermost being of one person has reached the innermost of another through the mediation and ambassadorship of this language go-between." That's the miracle of Pentecost. It isn't about "ourselves." It is about recognizing the other, seeing and hearing them, being seen and heard, through the power of the Holy Spirit.We can use the machine as an analogy to the operation of our bodies and even minds. Yet, the more technology advances, the more we realize the depths of human nature and relationships. When we plumb those depths, we are in the realm of the spirit.

column on technology and the spiritual

Sometimes clergy get to be inspectors for cultural trends. One of the readings for churches this sunday recalls the story of the tower of Babel. The thought was to build a ramp to the very living space of god.Technology  would be the gateway to the knowledge of the fruit in the garden of Eden. The great ancient story tells  of the desire to reach the very gates of heaven.  God confuses language so Babel/Babylon’s quest falls into confusion. In our time technology and the march of science may feel the same way.The many languages lead to confusion and misunderstanding. The primeval  prologue of Genesis starts with creation and moves to eden and ends up with a dispersed confused wandering humanity.Pentecost offers a reversal of Babel. Pentecost signals a new community, not divided by language, aiming toward a goal,  not wandering aimlessly.. As a religious person, I wonder if technology is not replacing the role of God in a number of areas, or at a lesser level, occupying territory formerly held in the divine realm.

Our younger daughter call me a late adapter to any technology. When she makes a presentation on the cyber world, her first question is: would Dad understand any of this?For many of us technology threats to make a us more machine like and less human. some of us feel that technology drains life out of the world as it soaks up power, time, and attention. (see sweet piece on new book on cyber world) We carry around cell phones like wireless umbilical cords. People having a romantic dinner have their faces planted on the little screen stealing the light from the eyes of the loved one across the table.People talk about facebook friends having more reality and importance than flesh and blood.

Jacques Ellul, the French writer, looked at technology with a practiced eye. Ellul saw technology as the driving force in modern life. He famously said that we were so concerned about doing things quickly and efficiently, so concerned about standard operating procedure, the operating system in computer terms but we lack resources for what we are to do. Mathematical standards of efficiency start to dominate;  the process of technical advances multiply at a growing and build on each other, while the number of technicians also increases. Technology is imperialistic, as it seeks to expand to a global scale and gobbles up other methods in its path.  Technology has created a “priesthood”-it sometimes   seems as strange to us as magical incantations and esoteric rites of a secret society. It seems understood only by an elite chosen few.We are so optimistic about it, as it will be the savior for many ills in society, without considering if it causes ills or losses for us. Technology can become closed, “a reality in itself ... with its special laws and its own determinations (think virtual reality).” Its  autonomy implies that much of what goes on in  society is dominated by technique, whether we know it or not, and we lack the resources to judge it well. To go a  step further, technical mastery raises  morality and spiritual issues. Technique tolerates no judgment from without and accepts no limitation.  

 

I do not wish to come off as anti-technology. It has changed our world for the better; it offers a richer fuller life for many. We could speak of  spirit- driven technology v. engines of death- I think of  Ray Kurzweil and giving sight to the blind with reading devices.I wonder why we don’t immediately know the names  Hounsfield and CAT scans,  and Hounsfield and Raymond Damadian and MRI devices that peer into our bodies without exploratory surgery..Invention is often a collaborative process and the spirit resides there as well in inspiration.Is the world fading into the sahow of the machine, or we capable of harnessing technical prowess for moral ends and development of humanity?

Mother's Day Prayer 2016

Mother’s Day 2016

God of all, we acknowledge that mothers are near and dear to your heart. Why else would Scripture use maternal images to try to even approach the heights and depths of your love for us? As the givers of life, as those charged with the upbringing of children, they are central to our lives.   In deep ways, we carry the image of motherly love into our conception of divine love. “The love of a mother is the veil of a softer light between the heart and the heavenly Father.” (Samuel Taylor Coleridge).

Mother’s Day arrives with expectation and trepidation.  May the former be met and the latter unrealized. May mothers feel recognized, applauded, and appreciated.No mother can be perfect, but mothers certainly aspire toward perfection.

Mothers carry too many burdens. Some are imposed by social role demands. Some are self-imposed.Guilt emerges when we sense we have broken a rule. Where is the rule book for parents?Shame has a sense of being unworthy, of wanting to hide from the inspecting eyes of others. May those feelings be washed away when they intrude on living freely and fully.

Mothers worry. If they raise an infant, or a teenager, or are grandparents themselves,

Mothers worry.Mothers care beyond their own needs and pour themselves into their children. Sometimes that worry turns toxic into being controlling. Sometimes that worry stays within and harms their healthy perspectives. May their worries be eased, and may their worries be few.

When to say yes and no continues to bedevil mothers. They have particular difficulty in saying no. It doesn't seem to matter if the child is a newborn or an adult.The boundary between self and offspring is too porous.May mothers be given the discernment on when to say yes or no. May they have the strength to carry out that decision.

Forgive us for the expectations we place on mothers that cannot be attained.

Help us to forgive our own mothers for the resentments we may still hold.

In so doing, may mothers and their offspring come to acceptance of each other.

We measure our lives with a maternal yardstick. May we realize that mothers, at their best, do love unconditionally. “A mother's happiness is like a beacon, lighting up the future but reflected also on the past in the guise of fond memories.” (Honore de Balzac)

Sermon Notes May 8 John 17, Rev. 22

May 8 Acts 16, John 17, Rev. 22

Campaign season is full or perhaps should be of visions of the future.I was  surprised by the downbeat tone of the Republican primary candidates.we are a long way from Reagan’s morning in America. Their vision for the future is bleak unless we see the radical changes many proposed.When I was young Star Trek painted a vision of an united earth exploring the universe. Now instead of the hope for utopia, dystopian visions and images of the living dead such as zombies predominate in popular culture.I fear that life is too big a burden for many of us. We project a bleak perspective on the present on to the future. too many of us merely exist; one could dare to call it a living death.Prayer gives us a vision of a better future.

Recall that Revelation is a worship, prayerful vision;.In Revelation we come to its conclusion.Some of its striking images are pulled into use one more time. Its urgency sounds misplaced as 2000 years have passed without a climax or conclusion or proper ending to God’s working with humanity It seems to me to be a new Eden, with a crucial difference. the Edenic paradise could be marred by evil. .The horizon seems as distant now as it must have then, maybe farther off.The forces of evil are kept out or disappear like the power of Sauron in the end of Lord of the Rings,or a  black hole beyond the event horizon It is an expansive vision of continual morning and the symbols of evil and night no longer there-Alpha and omega pt-morning star, the bright star of morning- water of life and thirst-coming soon-don’t seal it, but we do it by ignoring it or by twisting it to some rigid design as in Left behind-It concludes with this vision of wonder not the Armageddon focus of so many American Christians. On the other hand, how we yearn for the world to look the way God envisions it. Especially when we feel ineffective or impotent we yearn for divine aid.

Jesus has an unanswered prayer at the end of the his long goodbye to the disciples. In John’s gospel, Jesus is in unity with the Sending One, the Father,. That unity si demonstrated in prayer.In the closing prayer Jesus has a focus on unity as a sign of the new age in the church itself. the visions are not competing as one follows another but one is more intimate and Revelations soars into a universal view of a new and better future.not uniformity but Acts is not story of pluralism is it? Here Jesus breaks the narrative enclosure and moves to speak directly to us as those in the future. He prays that the close relation of Jesus and the Father would be ours as well.this is our community being brought into the scripture.“To clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world.”  “Jesus does not give recipes that show the way to God as other teachers of religion do. He is Himself the way”  Barth-  “What you are is God's gift to you, what you become is your gift to God.”the most we can do through genuine prayer, is to make as much room as possible, in ourselves and in the world, for the kingdom of God, .” t“firstly, prayer is a conversation between God and the soul, and secondly, a particular language is spoken: God’s language. Prayer is dialogue, not man’s monologue before God.” ― Hans Urs von Balthasar, Prayer

Mother's Day Column '16

Mother’s Day poses some challenges in the church service. Some folks expect that the entire service should be designated for mothers. For some of us, this undercuts the focus of the worship service: God. Some on the religious left use the occasion to speak about maternal imagery for God as In Is. 66. Some of us are sensitive about emphasizing the role of mothers for those who have lost children to death or who have not delivered children into the world.I usually try to write a prayer poem and distribute it. Perhaps one of our earliest intimations of the divine is seeing the face of the mother when we are infants. After all, “the love of a mother is the veil of a softer light between the heart and the heavenly Father.” (Samuel Taylor Coleridge).

I had a church member who left the congregation due to a Mother’s Day prayer. His parents had  sent him to an orphanage, and he could not find the capacity for forgiveness. I have heard a number of people dislike the day, as their own mothers were not adequate to the task of being a parent, as their mental illness left them ill-equipped to try to raise a child. A few men have told me that they dislike m the holiday as they feel that their marital life deteriorated after bringing children into the world.A number of people avoided church that day as it reminded them of the passing of their own mother or grandmother.

Family relations forge the crucible of our lives. It’s been said that we carry around 25,000 hours of family tapes in our memories. I think that the soundtrack of the memory is often of a mother’s admonition and advice. Take a moment and I bet you can hear her voice. When we become parents we have a choice:what to continue form our family pattern, or what to alter a bit, or what to bury, not to see the light of day again.My mother was always either vaguely or openly disappointed with her Mother’s Day present. She poured her life, even her identity, into raising children. No present could ever hope to touch such a complete offering of self. So, she also felt unrecognized and underappreciated. Sometimes, a card would hit her well, especially ones that spoke of all of the variety of work and roles a mother shouldered.

Even if mothers are critical, we usually have the sense that they think the world of us. So, our sense of self-worth emerges from the cocoon of regard that they create. “A mother's happiness is like a beacon, lighting up the future but reflected also on the past in the guise of fond memories.” (Honore de Balzac)

No one is fully prepared to be a parent. Since mothers are often the emotional center of households, the pressure on them is enormous. In a recent study, around ⅔ of new mothers are miserable as they face the astounding amount of demands a child places upon them.I’ve said before that  being a parent is like living in a time tunnel. Simultaneously, we see a grown child and an infant blur together in memory. Mothers may have good boundaries, but they find it difficult to say t no to children, even as adults. So mothers continue to be on call for their chidlren as grandmothers, babysitting, doing errands, handing out cash grants.At some level this constant attention emerges from a fear of failure, of a looming sense of guilt or shame for not having the capacity or skills to be perfect, an unattainable goal for anyone.

May God bless mothers fully this and every day. May they allow themselves to celebrate and to be celebrated this Mother’s day.

Thoughts for Week of May 8

Sunday-Ps.97. Mother’s Day is a day of praise for those who bore us, those who helped to raise us. Today’s psalm is one of exultant praise to God for the heavens and for God’s help for those in right relation with god. When your thoughts and prayers turn to praise-what aspects of the Divine One come to mind?

Monday-If healing includes the ability to let go and forgive and have our relationships restored and all the brokenness mended--if healing is really about wholeness--then if we were asked if we wanted to be healed, we would have to say, "well, not quite yet." Do we want to be healed? Do we want to forgive everyone who has hurt us? Are we ready to humble ourselves and admit our own faults and ask for forgiveness from others? Are we ready to be healed in this way too? And if not, what do we still want to hang on to and what's our excuse?

Tuesday-It’s taken me years to realize that God loves us stones. Us stones, whom others ignore because we aren’t happy Christians on high holy days. Us stones, who judge ourselves harshly for not being who and what we wish we could be but can’t. Us stones, who still feed the children and get up and go to work even when we feel worthless. Us stones, who neglect the things we love and need. Us stones, who render cries of anguish rather than shouts of joy. Us stones, who survive sleepless nights and suicidal depths.Jesus saw the rocks that others ignored. In those times when I can’t move, when I am a stone, God is the earth upon which I rest. I believe that Jesus sees my immobile, non-palm-waving, stone life as a testimony.

Wednesday-"David was a multi-faceted character. Unlike the hagiographies of saints that tend to leave out the darker aspects of their personalities, the Hebrew scriptures offer us a wide array of figures with their shadows and struggles, as well as triumphs and victories. I appreciate reading about the full spectrum of human experience in these scripture stories." --- Christine Valters Paintner, PhD How does it make you feel when you realize that many, if not all, scriptural figures, along with the saints and mystics, together form a communion of saints and sinners, each one a human being just like you and me?

Thursday-“The church is constituted as a new people who have been gathered from the nations to remind the world that we are in fact one people. Gathering, therefore, is an eschatological act as it is the foretaste of the unity of the communion of the saints.” ― Stanley Hauerwas,

Friday-“I am old, Gandalf. I don't look it, but I am beginning to feel it in my heart of hearts. Well-preserved indeed! Why, I feel all thin, sort of stretched, if you know what I mean: like butter that has been scraped over too much bread. That can't be right. I need a change, or something.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien

Saturday-Ultima Thule! Utmost Isle!Here in thy harbors for a while/ We lower our sails; a while we rest/ From the unending, endless quest.” ― Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Devotional Pts for Week of May 1

Sunday-Ps. 67-Last week we read a psalm of praise form all of creation. This week, we read of all the nations praising god  for the resources of the earth itself. Then and now, it is a bold prayer for god to be praised when we do not have one religion. It makes universal part of the Aaronic blessing. It shows a god always at work for justice and guidance toward it. Where have we achieved justice? where do we fall short?

Monday-"God does not call us to one particular path that we scrutinize and discover. God calls us to the fullness of living which can be manifested in a multitude of ways."
--- Christine Valters Paintner,

Tuesday-The act of praise is the antidote to the poison of that lie which infects every aspect of life. Praise, at least for a few moments, is the act of putting our true relationship with God back in place. It is rejecting the big lie. We put ourselves aside and stand before the great unknowable mystery of existence and acknowledge that God is God and we're not. It's not an easy thing to do because our ego still so easily gets in the way again as we congratulate ourselves on our lovely praising. True praise is an act of pure humility--of letting go of our self-centered narcissism and turning wholeheartedly to God. Perhaps in those rare moments of true praise we also discover "God's saving power among all nations"--when we turn from the big lie that we ourselves are God and instead acknowledge and revel in the good news that God is God and the source of our life with its grace and blessings. 

Wednesday-the doing is always more complicated than it first appears. Are there things we're not supposed to do, or do we just not feel like it? Is it too intimidating or boring or "beneath us?" Even after the vision, Paul still had to "conclude"--that is, figure out--what exactly he was supposed to do. So what might God be forbidding us to do or undertake today? Who should we NOT talk to? What should we NOT do so we are ready for the very thing that God has in mind for us down the road? And how do we know. Lord, open our eyes, minds and hearts to hear both the dos and the don'ts that you speak to us, and give us the wisdom to come to the intended conclusions. Amen. Tim Kellgren

Thursday-so you have a life that you are living only now, now and now and now, gone before you can speak of it, and you must be thankful for living day by day, moment by moment, in this presence.But you have a life too that you remember. It stays with you. You have lived a life in the breath and pulse and living light of the present, and your memories of it, remembered now, are of a different life in a different world and time. When you remember the past, you are not remembering it as it was. You are remembering it as it is. It is a vision or a dream, present with you in the present, alive with you in the only time you are alive.”Hannah Coulter

Friday-“There is not one blade of grass, there is no color in this world that is not intended to make us rejoice.” ― John Calvin

Saturday- As we age, we are not losing days to the past; the future comes to us every day as a new gift. Mirolsav Volf

Sermon Notes Rev. 21, 22, John 5

May 1 Rev. 21, 22, John 5  Acts 16

Water pervades our stories. For ages water has been a symbol in religious rites and sites. .Act 16:9 water good for the process of using dye and Lycus was the river-charmed not to flood-symbol of fertility. So a woman is leading a group here in those far away days.road to wellville-the spa waters- dead sea and cosmetic-Lourdes agents of healing of body mind and soul.

John 5 features healing waters.do you want to be made well?-that haunting question hovered over the waters as much as the alleged stirring of the waters by the wings of a passing angel (see TT article on water in John)Sometimes the answer is no. I think marital therapy is obstructed by this question and its answer. Some folks only know disharmony. Some folks  don't want harmony-they want control-some folks want to complain about a loved one. This is a good set of pictures for a guided meditation.No one gets me there in time. Jesus in giving him mobility gives him agency.All of us are caught between individual responsibility and social forces. Social forces are a powerful deterrent to claiming even a share of responsibility for one’s own life. At the same time, everybody needs a helping hand at one time or another.

Healings may happen, but we are still mortal. So,  Rev. 21-22:5 In part this is a vision of cosmic healing.For a vision we consider heavenly, it is certainly rooted in a transformation of this world. it is an emblem of salvation as security in the presence of God.this is safe space, open space, with the gates open, for what is left to fear, to be protected from? I never would have imagined that americans would be herded like cattle for security profiles to get on an airplane.

As the end of the book of Zechariah John  sees a world where the secular and the sacred are merged, and all is holy. It is the same idea as this city being transfigured into a giant temple Our old sights of heaven with Pearly gates and jeweled foundation walls are in our reading but they are drawn from the tabernacle and temple imagery. Again, its picture of heaven is being connected to the presence of God. How does one describe  the furniture for the divine, the ambience of divinity.It takes images from the Old testament and expands them, builds on them. the new Jerusalem is a giant temple. It dwarfs the restored temple and city of Ezekiel.Here we are reintroduced to the great sacred river of life.In the second creation account in Gen. 2 the sacred river is the source of all the waters in the area.Joel and Zech refer to sacred waters as well. For us with the Mississippi flowing below, this should be easy.Father Marquette and the river-Daniel  Boone crossed this river- Abraham Lincoln travelled on it. Mark Twain (worked with Captain Klinefelter-ch. 19 life on the Mississippi) worked on a steamboat-Nations built around rivers considered them as sacred. In Ezekiel the river’s tree lined banks heal Israel, but here they heal the nations. It imagines God’s new world as a place of healing. It is a place of healing not only for individual but collective wounds. (It is  a world made sacred for all.There the memories of war could be healed, of assassination of our nation’s leaders, of 9/11 and the pain we have inflicted on others as well.salvation includes safe space, elbow room, expansiveness-larger than similar material in the Dead Sea Scrolls and the new city/temple is 1000 times larger than Ezekiel’s already expansive vision.-In god’s world we have plenty of room, plenty of peace, plenty of God.