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Bo’s Blog
Bo’s Blog for July 2010
I am enjoying preaching from Paul’s letter to the Galatians. Now, I know some
people have problems
with Paul, especially when he writes about things that reflect the customs of
his times (although some of
those writings were pretty progressive for his time). But the early church
thought that what he had written
about the meaning of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection was so important, that
they included those writings in the New Testament so that generations of
followers could read them.
In this letter, Paul
is dealing with a very basic question—How do we define who is a Christian and
who isn’t? Some Jewish followers of the time believed that anyone who
wanted to be a part of the church had to be Jewish, which meant that
Gentiles had to convert to Judaism, follow the Law and dietary restrictions, and
be circumcised. Paul’s insight, even though he was a Pharisee (a religious
lawyer), was that being a part of God’s covenant community no longer
depended on what we did, but rather on what we believed. If we believe that God
has acted, in Jesus’ death and resurrection, to create a new covenant
relationship with us, then we are a Christian. To be sure, Paul had no
problem with Jewish Christians who wanted to continue to obey the Law and
dietary restrictions which were a part of the old covenant, and to have
their children circumcised, as long as they realized those traditions were
no longer necessary for their relationship with God, and as long as they didn’t
require others to do them. But we human beings seem to have this natural
tendency to want to be in control of things, including our relationship
with God. Time and again, over the last 2000 years, people have turned to
Galatians as a corrective to this behavior, and still do so today.
What this ends up meaning for us is that all of our traditions, doctrines,
rituals, and theology aren’t what make us Christians. It is simply our
faith that does that. And so we can say with Paul that we are no longer Jew nor
Gentile, male nor female, slave nor free—or to put it modern terms we are
not liberal or conservative, Catholic or Protestant (or Orthodox), praise
service or traditional—but are one in Christ Jesus. We may experience God
working in us in different ways. We may bear different fruits as a result
of God’s Spirit at work in us. We may find that different rituals, ways of
praying, or styles of worship are better at helping us to open ourselves up to
God’s Spirit. But we are still one in that Spirit; one in that Lord.
Shalom,
Bo
This is the question that occurred to me at the District Academy in April. Bishop Grant Hagiya was speaking to us about various aspects of church life, particularly on Sunday mornings, and how they fit (or don't fit) the needs/culture of the community, and world, around us. One of the items he mentioned was an analysis of the worship experience put forth over 100 years ago by the Danish philosopher Sören Kierkegaard. Kierkegaard said that the Sunday morning church experience is a lot like a play, with the congregation as the audience, the pastor as the actor/actress up on stage, and God as the off-stage prompter. Kierkegaard went on to say that the roles should be changed, so that the congregation becomes the actors and actresses, the pastor becomes the off-stage prompter, and God becomes the audience.
This led me to thinking about the question, "What is worship?” What is the purpose of our gathering together on Sunday mornings in the church sanctuary?
If it's to be entertained, then we don't have to do anything. We sit in the audience and watch the show. We remain passive. We let others sing our songs and say our lines. But is that worship? Does that experience fulfill our spiritual needs? Does it help us to grow in our relationship with God? Probably not. It may entertain us, but it probably won't lead us into the deeper waters of faith. That journey calls for interaction.
We do a lot of things in our worship service that keeps the congregation actively participating. One of the first things I noticed about worship here at PUMC is that there is a lot of music in it, which I like. Singing hymns brings us together in community. It's not just me singing a song, but all of us together, and that reinforces our feeling of being a church family. It is a time in the service when we are the actors and actresses, and God is our audience. We sing these songs in praise to God. And many of the hymns have some great theology in their lines that can get us thinking about our faith.
Singing is one way we move from Kierkegaard's first set of roles in a worship service to his second.
This summer I'm going to be experimenting with other ways of doing that. I will be out of the pulpit and off the "stage," in an effort to move that stage more toward the pews. I'll be a little less formally dressed than past summers (no shorts though--that would not be good). And I'm planning on experimenting occasionally with making even the homilies interactive. And I want to know what you think about these changes, whether good or bad. Please tell me what you
think, or talk to someone from the Staff-Parish Relations committee (Peggy Edom, Diane Fortune, Carolyn Hart, Linda Key, Camille Klingele, Sierra Klingele, and Jim Raney).
What is worship for you? What are the things that we do on Sunday mornings that are helpful for you in worshipping God? Whether old or new, whether you've done them in other churches or here. Let us join together in being active in our worship of God.
Shalom,
Bo
The Good Samaritan died in New York the other day.
Perhaps you heard about it. A 31-year-old Guatemalan immigrant was walking down
the street early one Sunday morning. Ahead of him were a man and a woman. The
couple started arguing. When the argument turned physical, the Good Samaritan
rushed forward to intervene. He was stabbed for his trouble. The man and woman
ran off in separate directions. The Good Samaritan tried to follow the man, but
soon succumbed to his injury, and fell to the pavement.
Once, the Good Samaritan had been well-off enough to pay for the medical care,
lodging, and food of a beaten Israelite he didn’t know. Now, he was poor and
bleeding on the streets of New York. Who would help him?
The priests and the Levites came by. . .and went on by. During the course of the
next hour seven people walked past the injured man. Some just glanced at him and
hurried on. Some stopped and stared for a while before moving on. One actually
went over and tried to lift him up, exposing the pool of blood collecting
underneath him, before giving up and going on. (This was all recorded on a video
surveillance system.) After more than an hour, someone called 911. When the
paramedics arrived, the Good Samaritan was dead.
Why didn’t they stop and help the man? Or at least call 911? Demographic
statistics would say that the majority of those seven people would call
themselves Christians, and that six of them would say they believed in God. Yet
they didn’t help the Good Samaritan.
We can probably understand why. In a large city; a poor-looking man, lying on
the sidewalk. Probably a homeless drunk. Better to not disturb him — let him
sleep it off. Or maybe there’s the “I don’t want to get involved” factor. But I
think if we’re honest, at the root of it all is fear. Fear of getting hurt
ourselves. Fear of getting drawn into something long and involved that might
take up our day, ruin our plans, or cost us money. Fear that we might have to
change something about ourselves.
I originally wrote a blog for this month’s newsletter about how we are still in
the Easter season, celebrating God’s resurrection of Jesus. But I didn’t think
we should be so busy celebrating God’s redeeming love for us that we forget
about our neighbors. God’s redeeming love is for all. Jesus called his disciples
to “love one another.” Jesus said that the most important thing was to love God
and to love neighbor. And Jesus said we may have to lose our life (or our
agenda, or our security) to be his disciple. One man just did.
We recently sang a song in worship with these words: “Nothing can trouble,
nothing can frighten. God alone fills us.” Easter is not only about celebrating
God’s redeeming love for all. Resurrection also means an end to fear. If “God
alone fills us,” then we have nothing to fear.
There is an opening for the position of Good Samaritan.
Shalom,
Bo
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April
2010
Happy Easter! April 2010
(PDF print version)
One of the fun things about Easter is that it matches what’s happening in the world around us this time of year. Trees are blossoming and new green leaves are busting out of their buds. Daffodils and tulips are in bloom. The air is warming up enough to have windows open some days, and the smell of the fresh air wafting through the house breaks into that months-of-closed-winter-house air. We start to get outside more, work in our yards more, and bring the outside scents of blossoms and flowers in. Sprinklers get cleaned out and tested. Lawn mowers come out of the garage, and the first mowing of the year occurs. It stays light later, and you see more people, and sometimes their dogs, out for walks. Life feels fresh and new.
New life is stirring in Grandview, as the Rev. Lyda Pierce begins work at the lower valley ministry site for the Annual Conference. It’s not yet clear what that life will look like, but there is definite need for United Methodist ministry with life in it for the people of the lower valley. Lyda will spend some time looking at the information that the conference has already gathered, and discerning what ministry is needed. She’ll sniff the air. Look for the green shoots. Listen for the sounds of the community. Get a feel for what God is doing in Grandview.
Easter is about new life. New life is exciting! And new life can be a little hard to figure out at times. The disciples experienced that. They had trouble figuring out what happened to Jesus’ body at the tomb, and what it meant that he was gone. One had trouble believing the others that Jesus was raised from the dead. New life challenges what we think is going on. It contrasts with our comfort in the status quo. Yet we deal with it all the time—and not just in spring. It happens when we are born into our family of origin. It happens when we move out on our own. It happens when we have kids of our own. It happens when we care for an aging parent. Easter hits us again and again throughout our lives. New life begins again and again, right under our noses, and we deal with it, we enjoy it, we thrive on it.
Because it is in new life that we grow. It is through new life in Christ that God works in our lives. And it is with the new life of the resurrection that new ministry will begin in Grandview.
Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!
Shalom,
Bo
March 2010
Bo's March Blog
The Olympics are over. There were some exciting moments this time, and some sad ones too. There were the courageous athletes who competed while hurt. There were experienced athletes who redeemed expectations from long ago. There were those who didn’t meet the expectations of today. And there was the fascinating and baffling sport of curling. The Olympics provided a good sports event to fill the empty space I feel between the end of football at the beginning of February and the first pre baseball games in March (I’ve never been a fan of basketball or hockey). March is the real beginning of baseball. Sure, pitchers and catchers get together in mid-February to throw a ball around, but real baseball starts with the pre-season games. I’m surprised at myself each year at how much I look forward to the start of baseball. I guess part of it is what I wrote about last year that it brings out thoughts of summer, and all the memories and warm feelings that come with it. But I also remember that, about September, I can get pretty bu on baseball. It takes a lot of perseverance for a fan to maintain the same level of interest through to the end, even if your team is doing well. Six months is a long time to watch games, read box scores, keep up on injuries, and monitor slumps, and if you add pre-season and (if you’re lucky) post season, that can go to 8 months. It’s a long-term commitment. But then commitments are meant to be long-term, and are not always easy. We make commitments to our friends to do something, and usually that’s no big deal because we plan for the time or energy or whatever it takes to fulfill that promise. But sometimes it takes more than we planned for, and we struggle to make good on what we said we would do. Many of us have made vows to each other to remain faithful and committed to each other for the rest of our lives. There are many days when that is an easy promise to keep. But there are also times when it is very difficult, because we all have insecurities and make mistakes and fall short of our own or each other’s expectations. And there are times some decide they must let go of that vow in order to survive.
Last month I urged each of us to make a commitment to adding something to our lives that would help us keep God more in the forefront of our lives. Often it’s easy to keep up with this kind of commitment when it’s new and we seem to feel better because of it. Likewise, it’s often easy to set aside our new habit when we stop feeling the freshness of it, or the benefits of it. It takes perseverance to maintain a commitment—to a team, to a friend, to a spouse, and to God.
And just as it is in those mundane, or boring, or joyful, or really, really tough times that our connection to each other is deepened into the fabric of our being, so it is w relationship with God. Our spiritual life takes root, and grows, from our daily feeding.
Go Minnesota!
Shalom
February 2010
Bo’s Blog
This is the time of year when I’ve learned that I have to make a choice. The short daylight hours, the day after day of cold, often overcast, and even rainy, can get a person down. There’s even a diagnosis for it Affective Disorder, or SAD (I’m not making that up). So, if I begin to feel down at this time of year, I’ve realized that I have to make a choice. Do I focus on all the cold and dark o the past weeks and months, or do I look forward to the warm sunny days that are getting closer. It’s kind of like the glass half empty, glass half full choice, only in this case the glass is continually getting more full (or more empty, whichever works better for you). Do I look forward to the positive, or stay stuck in the negative?
Looking forward this month, we begin the season of Lent on Ash Wednesday, February 17
th. Lent has a reputation that’s kind of on the negative, or down, side. For one thing, we often talk about giving something up for Lent, usually something we like that’s bad for our health like chocolate or ice cream. But there’s also another way of looking at Lent. Lent is based on the story of Jesus spending 40 days in the wilderness. That’s why Lent begins 40 days (not including Sundays) before Easter. We often refer to this story as the temptation of Jesus. But what Jesus talks about in his responses to the temptations, is the importance of God in our lives. He takes the negatives of his situation—his hunger and the temptations offered him—and instead responds with the positive of the importance of God in his life. Perhaps this year, instead of giving something up for Lent, we might consider the positive response of adding some to our life, something that helps remind us more of God’s presence in our life. The Upper Room is one way to do that. Reading the brief scripture passage, story, and prayer brings our relationship to God to the forefront of our daily routine for a moment more each day than we may usually experience it. Or if you’re already doing that, try adding a brief prayer or scripture reading to your morning or evening routine each day. The idea is to add something that brings God more to the forefront of your life and your thoughts. Choosing the positive. Looking forward. The daffodils will be coming up soon.Shalom,
Bo
I grew up in a family of story-tellers. I can remember family gatherings and grandparents telling stories about me, my brothers, my parents, aunts and uncles and cousins. Dinner time was also story time: stories about work or friends or our day or the old stories about "when we grew up." Still today, family gatherings are a time of stories, telling and re-telling the stories of family and friends. Telling and re-telling our stories. I remember as a kid being impatient when I'd hear the same story again. I already know this story. I know all the facts. I know what gets said next. Why can't I go play? As an adult, though, I've learned about the great gift I was given in these stories. I didn't just learn the facts about the stories. The stories have helped me learn who I am. Not just the stories about me, but all the ones about cousins and uncles and aunts and grandparents and family friends have told me, taught me, about the people with whom I am and from whom I have come. I have told people that, although I grew up in California, I am culturally Minnesotan. I discovered this by listening to Garrison Keillor and thinking "I know these stories. I know these people. They are my people." I learned my heritage, my culture, by hearing the stories of my Minnesotan relatives again and again. We are approaching the time when families gather and celebrate. We are approaching the holidays--the holy days-- when we will again hear familiar stories of the promised coming, of the time when God draws near. It's easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of shopping and preparations. It's easy to get distracted by the arrangements and logistics. It's easy to think that we already know the facts about the stories we hear in church and don't need to pay attention.
But the repetition of the story is the gift the church gives us. It forms us. It shapes us. It tells us our past, our present, and our future. It tells us who we are in this world, and to whom we belong. It carries our identity. It molds us into family. It reminds us of our foibles and our gifts. It reminds us that we are God's children. As we move through this month, take the time to listen to the stories around you, and to tell, or re-tell, your stories. Listen to the stories of veterans. Listen to the stories of family. Listen to the stories of the approaching God. Hear what they tell you about yourself, about humanity, about your family, and about our faith. Explore who you are and who we are as a church family. Celebrate the heritage of which you are a part. Give thanks for the gift of stories.
Shalom,
Bo
October 2009
I have written that fall feels to me like a time of beginning. School has started. People are back from their summer travels and re-creation. Meetings and events at church become more frequent. The activity level seems to grow each week.
But it is also a time for reflecting; for looking back at where we have been and what we have done, as well as looking forward to what we will be doing and where. Fall is the time when I am evaluated by the Staff-Parish Relations committee. Together the members of the committee and I look back on what I have done well and what I could do better. We look at what has been my focus this past year, and what I might focus on for the coming year. It is important work that they do with me--important for me obviously, but also for the congregation because it affects where we, as a family, go from here. The members of the committee have their own experiences of my work here, and have heard some of the experiences of others. If you would like to contribute some of your own feedback/praise/criticism with them, please contact one of them. The committee's members are Peggy Edom, Chairperson, Scott Cromar, Carolyn Hart, Sierra Klingele, Jim Raney, Bob White, and Dean Smith. We also take time to evaluate the work of the church during this season. We do that mostly through the annual charge conference. We look at what we have been doing this past year--where has our focus been as a congregation? If I were to answer that now, I would say our focus has been on transitions. We have still been working with the pastoral transition, getting used to each other and getting through all the first times of things that happen throughout a year. Transition has continued in our music department as well, going from one staff person to two paid and one volunteer staff. We've transitioned from a water damaged kitchen to a remodeled one. We've gone through transitions with our sanctuary piano and organ. And the biggest transition of the year--going from two congregations to one new congregation. All transitions bring stress and strain. Each of us, and all of us together, must determine how well we have done handling the transitions we have gone through in the past year. And all of us together must decide where we go from here. There are still the tremors and aftershocks of the great upheavals to go through, still the adjustments to be made to our new family and surroundings. What has worked well for us so far, in getting us through this year? What are the things we need to change in order to a better job of being and making disciples of Jesus? You can share your feedback, praise, or criticism with me or with others in our church family, but do engage in the process of helping us evaluate where we are, and where we need to be going in the future. The effective ministry of this church depends on it.
Shalom,
Bo