Washington birthday column

If I live to 77, we will celebrate the 300th Washington’s Birthday. George Washington has been called the indispensible man. His image is on our money, but the person has receded into mere image. His birthday has been merged into Presidents’ Day, where we do little political reflection but discover an excuse for sales featuring people dressed up in powdered wigs and Continental uniforms. As a public person, he was cognizant that his actions and words would be used as precedent. In our time, Washington is enlisted as an exemplar in our disputes about religion in the political arena.

I’ve been captivated by a new book on the Salem trials, A Storm of Witchcraft. Those were tried only 40 years before Washington was born. He was an exemplar of the generation that could write the First Amendment that seeks to protect free exercise of religion and at the same time create a safe space between religious institutions and governmental action.

On Ash Wednesday, many churches read from the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus says to practice piety away from public scrutiny (Mt. 6: 1-6). In many ways, George Washington followed this example in private and public life. I have no patience for those who try to enlist him into current squabbles about being devout. He was a member of the Episcopalian church board (vestry), but he seemed to attend church, at a variety of services, more when he travelled, than at home. Some sort of dispute with the church or a sermon led him to not receive Communion with any frequency.

Washington does exemplify the standards of the First Amendment establishment clause. He feared that religion can divide a polity as well as unify it. In a letter written during his first term as president he wrote: “Of all the animosities which have existed among mankind, those which are caused by a difference of sentiments in religion appear to be the most inveterate and distressing, and ought to be deprecated. I was in hopes that the enlightened and liberal policy, which has marked the present age, would at least have reconciled Christians of every denomination so far that we should never again see the religious disputes carried to such a pitch as to endanger the peace of society.”

At the same time, he saw religion as a vital support to the democratic experiment.  In his Farewell Address he certainly saw religion as linked to the morality necessary for a republic to function. That should not be read as government support of particular religious institutions. He supported a chaplaincy in the military for its aid to military discipline, but feared that it could be a tool of religious discrimination as well.

He certainly did not subscribe to the notion of being a Christian nation. In a letter to a synagogue in Rhode Island: “For happily the government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens…”

Instead of emphasizing a “personal relationship” with the divine, Washington used the word, Providence, for God’s active involvement in human affairs, even as we struggled mightily to work with it or against it. I should not be surprised that he believed in providence in that he led a revolution against a most powerful foe, escaped death a number of times, and went on to become the first president of that new nation. How did we produce such a crop of remarkable statesman in the Founding Era? I look at the current crop of political leaders and wonder where is Providence directing us now?

Devotions for Week of Feb. 22

Sunday-Ps.25 asks the omniscient God to forget. The one praying does not s wish to be forgotten, but hopes that God forgets sins (v. 7) .At v. 10, the move is toward asserting that all the ways of God are  loving and faithful, so I suppose that would include the overweening mercy desired in v. 7.

Monday-Hope is alive in us. It is not a flashy hope, it is a hope that is present in the little things we do that eventually make a difference. Do not get frustrated because hope does not look like what you expected. Value the little that you do in Christ, because it ultimately makes a big difference.(James Blay) Apply this,please, to your own life this one day, or maybe this week.

Tuesday-"Hell is truth seen too late." (William Sloane Coffin) I like this quote but wonder about it as well. What would be your changed definition of Hell? I recall Woody Allen’s comment that it was eternity with a life insurance salesman.

Wednesday-“The beauty that emerges from woundedness is a beauty infused with feeling; a beauty different from the beauty of landscape and the cold perfect form. This is a beauty that has suffered its way through the ache of desolation until the words or music emerged to equal the hunger and desperation at its heart. It must also be said that not all woundedness succeeds in finding its way through to beauty of form. Most woundedness remains hidden, lost inside forgotten silence. Indeed, in every life there is some wound that continues to weep secretly, even after years of attempted healing. Where woundedness can be refined into beauty a wonderful transfiguration takes place.” ― John O'Donohue

Thursday-“We can see the Divine in each speck of dust, but that doesn't stop us from wiping it away with a wet sponge. The Divine doesn't disappear; it's transformed into the clean surface.” ― Paulo Coelho Work with this a bit. what do you suppose he is getting at? When have you seen the divine transform your perspective of reality?

Friday-"A man ... agitated by evil is troubled with ... suspicions; he is never at peace with himself, nor does permit others to live in peace."  From Imitation of Christ. Now turn this quote around and see its deep promise.

Saturday-Love makes us similar, it creates equality, it breaks down walls and eliminates distances. God did this with us. Indeed, Jesus “worked with human hands, thought with a human mind, acted by human choice and loved with a human heart.Pope Francis

Sermon notes on I Peter 3:18-22, Gen. 9:8-17

Feb.22, Gen. 9:8-17, I Peter 3:18-22

Lent is the longest period of sustained spiritual reflection on our church year. While our reading from Mark is short, the other passages open up a world of spiritual reflection. Noah receives a promise for his little band of survivors and is the representative not only of them but the promise of life for all of the inhabitants of the ark.This is as expansive word about the enironment of life in the entire bible.It also signals that God commits to a fallen diffiuclt world. God makes a promise, an abiding commitment to us without us doing a thing. God comes to grips with change.the rainbow is a constant reminder to god of this promise, of the continuing vitality of this promise.This piece of the Noah story seems to have God turning back from another catastrophe. for christians, jesus Christ is God’s holding on to that drastic change of healing, working with, working from within, not annihilation.

I had a member in Indiana who would not recite the line in the creed that Christ descended into Hell because it was a bad word and he feared that it could mean that punishment was not eternal. Hell is clearly an abode of the dead here. On the other hand, It is fully possible that Jesus could enter into the abode of everlasting punsihment, or everlasting separation of god and split it wide open.by Peter seen less as terrible cleansing event or even a new start but protected within the ark of the church. God notices even a small group. God continues to open a new future.Our ceiling is thought by some to try to give a sense of being in the hold of a ship, not the hold of a ship as slaves but yeas as servants of god, or better immigrants to a new land here and toward Bunyan’s celestial City. the ancient phrase for this passage and allied traditions is the harrowing of hell. Jesus continue sot lead a procession out of the ultimate Hell of fire or non-existence after death Jesus empties out Hell and leaves it to die, a mere husk. It cannot bind the lives of those who have died.and the hells we daily encounter.

Out of love for you and for your descendants I now by my own authority command all who are held in bondage to come forth, all who are in darkness to be enlightened, all who are sleeping to arise.  I order you, O sleeper, to awake.  I did not create you to be held a prisoner in hell.  Rise from the dead, for I am the life of the dead.  Rise up, work of my hands, you who were created in my image.  Rise, let us leave this place, for you are in me and I am in you; together we form only one person and we cannot be separated.

Baptism and repentance/ metanoia-turn around in knowledge/mind/way of living-turn back to our best self-allied with Christ against forces seen and unseen-the baptismal pleas is also calling us to the promises and pledged heard and made in baptism-hear them again-in part baptism is a rite of exorcism of dismissing the evil within us and our world-let’s look at repent-from what to what?

.Harrowing of hell means that God does not give up on us-In the last century Protestants loved otargue if god would save usfrom the torments of Hell.Is God’s love stronger than death. is God’s love stronger than our no to God?In the earliest meaning, Lent had to do with spring in English. Even when the ground is cold, we can plant seeds like lettuce and see them spring into new life. Even in the coldest of souls,God continues to work, to bring life to us, even beyond death itself.

thoughts on Gen. 9:8-17

Presbyterians have long held fast to covenant. Here is a critical one. I find the academic insistence that we read it in light of near eastern treaties to be unfruitful. I do find Terence Fretheim's approach to it as a deep commitment to god's relationship to us to be much more engaging. (see along with God in Creation, his working preacher piece on this text)

The weapon of the gods, the rainbow, here is transformed into a symbol of peace.

Still, it is a symbol for peace after a cosmic catastrophe, the deluge of the waters thought to surround the precious earth.

If one is looking for a great text to pursue Lent and the environment, what could be better?

On the other hand, one may wish to go another route and face fully the catastrophe of this flood account.

Why do you think  flood was present in other Near Easter accounts?

Did you notice that only God speaks here?

God certainly says never again a lot here. Why? What does that show of divine character?

Valentine's column on Gottman Approach

So often, it seems that the church has been so concerned about saying no to sexual intimacy that we have failed in working with relationships that can build toward romantic intimacy. Some time ago, I was stunned to hear that Dr. John Gottman, in analyzing tapes of couples and their interactions, could predict with great accuracy if the relationship would last or not. On this Valentine’s weekend, I thought that I could offer just a hint from his institute’s work to help us bolster relationships. I would encourage folks to get his material from the library, or to work with local therapists familiar with their methods and approach. Maybe churches could offer some workshops for building relationship beyond the good work we often offer in pre-marital preparation.

Valentine’s Day seems to have differing expectations of presents to be purchased by men or women. Too often we have been content to notice differences in male and female patterns of relating, but have given neither gender much help in how to work on or with their patterns to make them more inviting or healthier for the relationship. We went to the Wildey Theater this weekend to see the play, defending the Caveman by Rob Becker. It has had such a long run as it is an affectionate and humorous look at the differences between men and women that links to our origins as gatherers or hunters.

The core of the Gottman approach is quite basic: taking care to be kind and respectful of each other. Gottman notices that we fall into patterns that can be healthy or destructive. For a religious person, I like his description of traits in a relationship as the Four Horsemen. Diane Sawyer relates that she was told that a criticism is a poor substitute for making a request. Relationships grow toxic when criticism becomes a basic mode of communication. After a while, it curdles into contempt or derision for the person whom we love. After a while, we get completely out of balance and give no credit to a partner for positive words and deeds but only subtract for negative words and deeds, until we are in such deep debt that it is extremely difficult to get back to level, let alone positive affect.

All of us have a rough map in our mind of a destination in life, what occupies space in it, and routes to get there. Part of that life map is going it alone or sharing that life. Part of the negotiation of that map is not only figuring out the details of one’s own hopes but learning of the hopes, expectations, or dreams of the partner. Early in the infatuation stage, we rush to get all sorts of information, and we marvel that we both like Heinz ketchup. As time passes, we don’t pay attention to new information or how the map may be changing, or what to do when a dream is fulfilled. The point is that working together helps to cement the relationship and help it to weather the inevitable tough times that mark any period of time together. Partners “make bids” for attention and how we respond to that is a “sliding door” that can be open or closed

The Adam and Eve story shows that human beings are made for relationship. On a Valentine’s weekend, it is my prayer that we prize romantic relationships. May we take the time in prayer to thank God for their presence in our lives. May those who crave a partner find someone to share life together. God is present in the connections a couple creates. God is present where a couple learns to be together, as they respect and act kindly toward one another.

Devotional Pts. Week of Feb. 15

Sunday-Ps.50  fits Transfiguration Sunday.as God shines forth,perfect in beauty. What acts of yours shine forth in such a manner? What attitudes shine forth? What prayers shine forth? in beauty?

Monday- Many of us prefer to be more measured and sedate in our approach to the gospel. Yet here is a hymn that calls forth a response of praise over and over again—twelve times in fact, even if you only sing it through once! This outburst of praise is consistent with what the writer of Psalm 147 observed. Implied in the swirl of praise is the realization that God has created us and all that exists. God Pause Luther Seminary

Tuesday-Auden closes "For the Time Being" with the following beautiful and hopeful lines (please excuse Auden's lack of gender sensitivity):He is the Way.Follow Him through the Land of Unlikeness;You will see rare beasts, and have unique adventures.He is the Truth.Seek Him in the Kingdom of Anxiety;You will come to a great city that has expected your return for years.He is the Life.Love Him in the Word of the Flesh;And at your marriage all its occasions shall dance for joy.

Wednesday-from a poem by Christian Wiman-”even now,my prayer is that a mind blurred by anxiety or despair might find here a trace of peace..

Thursday-We slog through life too much feeling unrecognized and underappreciated. Know that God values us. God respects us. Every time you go to worship you are open to the deep sense of God knowing you, respecting you, cherishing you.

Friday In Gottman therapy, people “make bids” for attention and connection. sometimes we open the door to them, and sometimes we close them. Every day, God makes bids for our attention. Prayer is the open door to that bid.

Saturday-When did we become so quick to take offense? At the same time when did we become so heedless of other people’s feelings? Being polite tries to cast our interactions in a safe zone. On the other hand, we can be free and candid with God.

Transfiguration Notes 2015

Transfiguration 2015 Mk. 9, 2  Kings 2, 2 Cor, 4

I have been near sighted since childhood. I vividly recall being shocked that trees had visible individual leaves when I got glasses at 6. My spiritual insight continues to require much help.

The disciples have an epiphany of the reality of Jesus Christ on that mountain. As Edwin Muir wrote-did they see the unseeable? Indeed did they hear the h unhearable when they heard the voice of the Father.(Here O My Lord)they saw a bit of the very light of god (NYT book on light) and glass)we see beyond sight all the time. We see with sound waves to see the life in the womb. Union with Christ/participating in Christ, the indwelling christ and spirit

Mark makes certain we are crossing boundaries here.  -staying on the mountain of course Peter wants to stay in the presence of this vision-to live in this new way-to experience this all of the time. they carry this vision with them in everyday life in the valley.

out of the cloud comes a voice-it makes clearer the content of  the vision Clouds obscure, just like veils

In this transition-we are still in the midst of the tension between change and continuity in the very person and work of Jesus.Calvin famously spoke of the spectacles of Scripture.let’s go one step further back.Jesus transfigures our sight. Jesus changes our sight. Christ is where we see God in a way we grasp. In our time we can look with the Hubble telescope and see light from the dawn of creation that has travelled light years to reach us, so we peer into the distant past.

veil-blinded by the light-revelation can obscure?  Even with our vaunted technology-how well do we see ourselves? How well do we see others. Who can truly peer into the human heart and soul.As children we are afraid of the dark. “As adults we are afraid of the light. We are afraid of what we see and what we identify.” Carol Howard Merritt

In the Wednesday morning class, we have been going through the gospel of John very slowly. We worked with chapter 7 with its setting on his great feast. shekinah/shakan and the feast of tabernacles and light Not only did they dwell in the wilderness but god resided with them in the tabernacle. building booths  could well be a religious act by Peter, For these early Christians, where was God without the destroyed temple? God is in Christ. As the old hymn sings, veiled in flesh, the Godhead see.

Sunday is a day of transfiguration, as it includes all of these things. this sanctuary has a view of sacred space, of trying to create a new world out of the one we encounter every day. Transfiguration allows us to see our lives with different eyes. I would go so far as to say that we can look at each other through stained-glass lenses, or even begin to see each other as God sees us. Communion is a sacrament of transformation of simple elements into bearing the presence of the living ?christ, as the Spirit carries us into the presence of Christ. How can we possibly see each other the same way when we grab some coffee after church when we have been lifted into the presence of the living Christ this morning? We may even begin to see each other as bearing the life of Jesus Christ, the light of Jesus Christ. This is a view, a vista  from the mountaintop. This is a taste of a better world to come. Once again, heaven breaks open. hear this voice again, This is my beloved in whom I am well-pleased.