For the life of me I can't understand some people. I try and try, but still don't have a clue. Take for example a man who said of the newest incident of air terrorism that we should just profile people. Yes, that is what he said, profile people. If you have an Islamic last name and come from a country that is known for Islamic extremism, then you will have to go through a lot more security than say an elderly woman from Fargo.
I understand his outrage at an elderly woman from Fargo going through so much security to go visit her grandchildren in Minneapolis, but how do we tell every Muslim that they will have to go through more trouble at airports than a white Scandinavian from the upper Midwest? How do we say, "sorry, you will have to be detained for several hours while we look up your history, but Mrs. Svenningson you can just walk on through?"
Our problem is that everything we do is reactionary. We don't do anything to stop the hatred that some people feel toward our country. We continue to drop bombs thinking that will solve all our problems. We continue to set up governments that are not only illegal, but also corrupt. We continue to not see the problem is not other people, it is in ALL people, including us.
We still think that violence will answer all our problems when Jesus said non violent love is the answer. We still think that the country with the most expensive military toys and the biggest budget for their military will be the winner, but fail to see that in the end, that country loses. It loses in the eyes of other countries who have no money even for food. It looses in the eyes of its own citizens being thought of as materialist devils. It looses in the eyes of God who cries when we spend $5000 for a hammer or $1,ooo,000 for a missile when 20,000 children die every day from starvation related illnesses.
For the life of me, I don't understand our priorities.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Christmas
Have you ever wondered about why so many people go to church on Christmas? I used to be cynical about it thinking that people just needed their annual dose of God on Christmas, but my mind has been wandering lately. I ate lunch with my good friend this past week and we talked about it. His comments opened my eyes a little deeper to the mystery that is Christmas.
Do you realize that all people sing the same hymns on Christmas? Whether a person is a radical right wing conservative, a socialist left wing progressive, or a ordinary, run of the mill middle of the road Lutheran, we all sing the same hymns during the season of Christmas. That is the key stone to why so many people come to church and worship on Christmas.
The one thing that all of us celebrate without a lot of fighting and controversy is the birth of Jesus. Conservatives, Liberals, middle of the roaders all worship the same thing on that one day. A baby was born and changed the world. God became human in Jesus and we celebrate that day together. It is not like Easter where people can debate and argue about what the resurrection was, Christmas is not argued about. Jesus was born. Period.
Sure wish it was like Christmas more often in the church, don't you?
Do you realize that all people sing the same hymns on Christmas? Whether a person is a radical right wing conservative, a socialist left wing progressive, or a ordinary, run of the mill middle of the road Lutheran, we all sing the same hymns during the season of Christmas. That is the key stone to why so many people come to church and worship on Christmas.
The one thing that all of us celebrate without a lot of fighting and controversy is the birth of Jesus. Conservatives, Liberals, middle of the roaders all worship the same thing on that one day. A baby was born and changed the world. God became human in Jesus and we celebrate that day together. It is not like Easter where people can debate and argue about what the resurrection was, Christmas is not argued about. Jesus was born. Period.
Sure wish it was like Christmas more often in the church, don't you?
Friday, December 4, 2009
Peace, Love, and Ceasar or Jesus
I am a curious type. I often get myself in trouble because I probe and probe things until I anger people with the unending questioning! But I think life is nothing but one big question. Life is not about finding answers but figuring out how to live with the questions.
With that, I am also fascinated with Saint Paul--how he lived, what he said, the Gospel he preached. There is a new book out written by John Dominic Crossan and Marcus Borg about the Real Paul. They talk about how the real Paul has been neutered by the church throughout the ages, especially when people first wrote in his name in some of the letters included in the Bible. In their words, Paul, and for that matter, Jesus was radical, and I tend to believe them.
One of the concepts that I found fascinating included the contrast I found between the peace of Caesar or the peace of Jesus. This is something that hit me. I am not sure if the book puts this concept forward as I am, but if they did, I credit them. If it is just my constant questioning, then please forgive me.
What Paul and Jesus did was help people see the difference between the peace that is offered by Rome and that which is offered by God in Jesus. Do we follow and believe in the Lord and the justice and the righteousness found in the world view of Rome, which is achieved through violence and war, or is there another, better Lord? Can the world be a better place if justice and righteousness came from radical, egalitarian, non-violent, and wasteful love given in Jesus?
Paul would say that humanity has missed the mark, sinned, by thinking humans can ever achieve peace through war and violence. We still have this dichotomy. Do we believe in the peace that comes after armed conflict, through the dropping of bombs or the shelling of neighborhoods, which is only short lived, or can we find another, saner, holier way?
With that, I am also fascinated with Saint Paul--how he lived, what he said, the Gospel he preached. There is a new book out written by John Dominic Crossan and Marcus Borg about the Real Paul. They talk about how the real Paul has been neutered by the church throughout the ages, especially when people first wrote in his name in some of the letters included in the Bible. In their words, Paul, and for that matter, Jesus was radical, and I tend to believe them.
One of the concepts that I found fascinating included the contrast I found between the peace of Caesar or the peace of Jesus. This is something that hit me. I am not sure if the book puts this concept forward as I am, but if they did, I credit them. If it is just my constant questioning, then please forgive me.
What Paul and Jesus did was help people see the difference between the peace that is offered by Rome and that which is offered by God in Jesus. Do we follow and believe in the Lord and the justice and the righteousness found in the world view of Rome, which is achieved through violence and war, or is there another, better Lord? Can the world be a better place if justice and righteousness came from radical, egalitarian, non-violent, and wasteful love given in Jesus?
Paul would say that humanity has missed the mark, sinned, by thinking humans can ever achieve peace through war and violence. We still have this dichotomy. Do we believe in the peace that comes after armed conflict, through the dropping of bombs or the shelling of neighborhoods, which is only short lived, or can we find another, saner, holier way?
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Food For Thought
I love working in a rural area. The rhythms of the year, the smell of the harvest, and the look of the fields as they grow touch my inner need for earth! I try to grow things in my garden, but often all I can get are weeds and tomatoes. If you cannot grow tomatoes, then there is something really wrong with you!
Farming is the base of existence. If we did not have grain and corn and beans and well, you know, there would be no people. The people I serve are the proverbial salt of the earth. One young person I know is so eager to become a farmer he even wears his farming gear to school. He is the coolest little kid I have ever known!
But here is the thing, we are losing farmers every day. The corporate farm is becoming the norm here on the plains. Now some people will say that a corporate farm is one that farms more than a 1000 acres, but here in the Northern Great Plains, a family farm is not less than a 1000 acres. A family needs that to survive even with other work off the farm! Even with that, family farms are almost a bygone and this is hurting our nation and our way of life. Every year since the mid 1900's more and more farmers pack it in and give up, and the farms keep getting bigger,the population of farmers keeps getting smaller, and large corporations take over more and more land. These formers tillers of the earth move to the densely populated urban area and become factory workers or greeters at Wal-Mart or contract laborers in the housing industry or something else, never to return to the land that is their root of existence.
These urban areas are getting larger and larger with all kinds of ethnicities grouping themselves together--the proverbial Melting Pot of America. The Latinos on one street, the Norwegians on another cul-de-sac, the Italians down this road, the Filipinos in this housing project, and on and on with no end in sight. The problem for our country is this is not new. It has happened before. The Roman Empire had the same thing happen right before it collapsed. The farms got larger with former keepers of the land moving to urban ghettos of similar ethnicities with strife and death and murder the norm.
Will we become another bygone empire? Or do we as a people of God have another choice? Food for thought.
Farming is the base of existence. If we did not have grain and corn and beans and well, you know, there would be no people. The people I serve are the proverbial salt of the earth. One young person I know is so eager to become a farmer he even wears his farming gear to school. He is the coolest little kid I have ever known!
But here is the thing, we are losing farmers every day. The corporate farm is becoming the norm here on the plains. Now some people will say that a corporate farm is one that farms more than a 1000 acres, but here in the Northern Great Plains, a family farm is not less than a 1000 acres. A family needs that to survive even with other work off the farm! Even with that, family farms are almost a bygone and this is hurting our nation and our way of life. Every year since the mid 1900's more and more farmers pack it in and give up, and the farms keep getting bigger,the population of farmers keeps getting smaller, and large corporations take over more and more land. These formers tillers of the earth move to the densely populated urban area and become factory workers or greeters at Wal-Mart or contract laborers in the housing industry or something else, never to return to the land that is their root of existence.
These urban areas are getting larger and larger with all kinds of ethnicities grouping themselves together--the proverbial Melting Pot of America. The Latinos on one street, the Norwegians on another cul-de-sac, the Italians down this road, the Filipinos in this housing project, and on and on with no end in sight. The problem for our country is this is not new. It has happened before. The Roman Empire had the same thing happen right before it collapsed. The farms got larger with former keepers of the land moving to urban ghettos of similar ethnicities with strife and death and murder the norm.
Will we become another bygone empire? Or do we as a people of God have another choice? Food for thought.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
The Coming
It is Advent. A time in the church when we prepare, we wait, we expect something amazing. I find this funny because I am always expecting something amazing from God. Everything that God does amazes me. Bringing hope from despair, bringing laughter from tears, loving a dirtbag like me, and the most amazing thing, bringing life from death! Everything God does is amazing! But being so close to Christmas, everyone wants to sing Christmas carols. "We want to get into the Christmas spirit now instead of during the season of Christmas," is what I hear. The season of Christmas in the church is the time between Christmas and Epiphany. Those 12 days between December 25th and January 6th. That is when the church says to sing all those favorite hymns. Advent is a time to prepare for the coming. The coming of Jesus as God in the flesh, Immanuel, Mighty God! But, I guess I am no different, so in my churches, I sing a few Christmas hymns to help people get in the mood.
The first week of Advent we are asked to reflect on the coming of Jesus at the end of time, when the parousia happens. Have you ever noticed that fundamentalist evangelical Christianity talks about the second coming as a two fold return. First, Jesus comes and "raptures" the believers and then comes again after the "great tribulation" for the "Great White Throne Judgement." But here is a surprise for most people, the words "second coming" never occur in the entire bible! What fundamentalists desire, the Second Coming, is never spoken in the scriptures! It is simply the coming, the parousia! And it is to the Earth that the coming happens! Holy Cow!!
The coming is spoken of, and we get to see and know, we get to look and know. That is what Luke states. We Look and Know the kingdom of God is at hand. The kingdom is not far off, it is here and now. The kingdom is a participatory event! We get to participate in it most surely when we feed that hungry child at our "poor shelter" in town, when we give our clothes to the Salvation Army second hand store, when the hooker and the pious people sit at the same table, when God's ways become the way the people of the world live by instead of war and capitalism and rich getting more and poor getting less, when we sacrifice our desires for the ways of God! The veil between our world and God's kingdom becomes transparent during these times and when we pray,and when we worship, and when we eat and drink at the table of God!
The Kingdom is not too far off. The coming is at hand! Look and Know!
The first week of Advent we are asked to reflect on the coming of Jesus at the end of time, when the parousia happens. Have you ever noticed that fundamentalist evangelical Christianity talks about the second coming as a two fold return. First, Jesus comes and "raptures" the believers and then comes again after the "great tribulation" for the "Great White Throne Judgement." But here is a surprise for most people, the words "second coming" never occur in the entire bible! What fundamentalists desire, the Second Coming, is never spoken in the scriptures! It is simply the coming, the parousia! And it is to the Earth that the coming happens! Holy Cow!!
The coming is spoken of, and we get to see and know, we get to look and know. That is what Luke states. We Look and Know the kingdom of God is at hand. The kingdom is not far off, it is here and now. The kingdom is a participatory event! We get to participate in it most surely when we feed that hungry child at our "poor shelter" in town, when we give our clothes to the Salvation Army second hand store, when the hooker and the pious people sit at the same table, when God's ways become the way the people of the world live by instead of war and capitalism and rich getting more and poor getting less, when we sacrifice our desires for the ways of God! The veil between our world and God's kingdom becomes transparent during these times and when we pray,and when we worship, and when we eat and drink at the table of God!
The Kingdom is not too far off. The coming is at hand! Look and Know!
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Enough
I just returned from my Thanksgiving Eve service. I am ever thankful for the vocation I am blessed to be in!
The text that I preached on was from Matthew. Jesus is in the middle of his sermon on the mount. He is the new Moses and has given a new Decalogue, but then he says something amazing. He says don't worry about what you will eat or drink or wear, Seek first the kingdom of God. Jesus can say this because he is living in the here and now kingdom where he and his followers are sharing and living and loving. Those in his movement don't need to worry about food because they share. Those in his movement don't need to worry about clothing because they share. Those in his movement don't need to worry, period.
We claim to be in his movement today and yet we worry. We worry because even though we claim to be followers of Jesus, we don't live in the kingdom he started. We live in the world, but we could live in the kingdom. We could live in the kingdom that is hear and also in the future by saying enough!
We in the USA have enough, and yet others don't. We in the USA spend $1.14 trillion a year on war and military endeavors and yet 20,000 people will die today from hunger related diseases. I think that is enough! We in the USA have clothes to spare, and yet some in the world don't have shoes to keep the diseases from their feet. I say that is Enough!
What would happen if we all said ENOUGH?
The text that I preached on was from Matthew. Jesus is in the middle of his sermon on the mount. He is the new Moses and has given a new Decalogue, but then he says something amazing. He says don't worry about what you will eat or drink or wear, Seek first the kingdom of God. Jesus can say this because he is living in the here and now kingdom where he and his followers are sharing and living and loving. Those in his movement don't need to worry about food because they share. Those in his movement don't need to worry about clothing because they share. Those in his movement don't need to worry, period.
We claim to be in his movement today and yet we worry. We worry because even though we claim to be followers of Jesus, we don't live in the kingdom he started. We live in the world, but we could live in the kingdom. We could live in the kingdom that is hear and also in the future by saying enough!
We in the USA have enough, and yet others don't. We in the USA spend $1.14 trillion a year on war and military endeavors and yet 20,000 people will die today from hunger related diseases. I think that is enough! We in the USA have clothes to spare, and yet some in the world don't have shoes to keep the diseases from their feet. I say that is Enough!
What would happen if we all said ENOUGH?
Monday, November 23, 2009
Lutheran CORE
Change is good. Change can make one grow. Change can even buy a soda pop! Change in the church is inevitable because the church is a group of people coming together to see what God is up to in the world that we live in and a place to gain strength for facing the changes in the world.
Some people will say that the ELCA has left the church catholic by the changes it is making concerning the rostering of publicaly accountable, life long monogomous, same gendered people, but I say hog wash. The Reverend Dr. Gil Waldkoenig from the Lutehran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg recently said "Lutheranism is a reforming movement within the church catholic, a generation of scholars tried to teach us (for one example, Jenson and Gritsch in their book Lutheranism). Now CORE is giving visible witness AGAINST that thesis, by drawing a smaller circle to stand inside and proclaim 'we are true, you are false.'" I agree whole heartedly.
The church must change or it will die. We, as a people of God, must reinterpret how God is acting in the world. We, as a people of God, must always move in the direction of justice because God is a God of justice. God is a God of life and anything that does not foster life is not of God. Therefore, keeping people who are in a publicly accountable, life long monogmous, same gender relationship from fulfilling their calling in the church is not of God. Those scriptures that say homosexual sexual activity is an abomination DO NOT come from God but from people who wanted the nation of Israel to be different from the nations around them.
The ELCA must endeavor to be a reforming church. The ELCA must never draw a circle around itself for the sake of unity. The ELCA can simply say "good bye" to those people who want to consistently tell us the world is flat, and watch them sail off into the sunset of history because their movement will never survive becaue it is not relavent to people living in a post flat world. Good bye CORE, good bye!
Some people will say that the ELCA has left the church catholic by the changes it is making concerning the rostering of publicaly accountable, life long monogomous, same gendered people, but I say hog wash. The Reverend Dr. Gil Waldkoenig from the Lutehran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg recently said "Lutheranism is a reforming movement within the church catholic, a generation of scholars tried to teach us (for one example, Jenson and Gritsch in their book Lutheranism). Now CORE is giving visible witness AGAINST that thesis, by drawing a smaller circle to stand inside and proclaim 'we are true, you are false.'" I agree whole heartedly.
The church must change or it will die. We, as a people of God, must reinterpret how God is acting in the world. We, as a people of God, must always move in the direction of justice because God is a God of justice. God is a God of life and anything that does not foster life is not of God. Therefore, keeping people who are in a publicly accountable, life long monogmous, same gender relationship from fulfilling their calling in the church is not of God. Those scriptures that say homosexual sexual activity is an abomination DO NOT come from God but from people who wanted the nation of Israel to be different from the nations around them.
The ELCA must endeavor to be a reforming church. The ELCA must never draw a circle around itself for the sake of unity. The ELCA can simply say "good bye" to those people who want to consistently tell us the world is flat, and watch them sail off into the sunset of history because their movement will never survive becaue it is not relavent to people living in a post flat world. Good bye CORE, good bye!
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Christ the King
Today is Christ the King Sunday. My friend loves this day. I am not too sure. I wonder what it means for me living in 2009 in North Dakota to say that Jesus is King? I have often talked about primary identity. What is my primary identity? Am I an American who happens to be a Christian, or am I a Christian that happens to live in America. I lean towards the latter, but most people in my parish would lean towards the former.
I argue quite often with my older brother about theology. He is a conservative fundamentalist and I am a flaming progressive. He would say that he is an American Christian, and I love him for that. But saying that Jesus is King is making a political statement just like the first followers of Jesus made when they said that Jesus is Lord and Caesar is not. But do we mean Jesus is King always when we say it or does it matter what is happening in our lives?
I think many people think of Jesus and God only during times of great stress and trial. God is the escape hatch in the troubles of life, and I find this difficult to come to terms with. I would like to see more people taking their religion a lot more serious. Not like the pious people of the past, but like people who want to change the world for the better with the love of God.
Christ is King, not just of heaven, but of earth too. Does that make a difference to us?
I argue quite often with my older brother about theology. He is a conservative fundamentalist and I am a flaming progressive. He would say that he is an American Christian, and I love him for that. But saying that Jesus is King is making a political statement just like the first followers of Jesus made when they said that Jesus is Lord and Caesar is not. But do we mean Jesus is King always when we say it or does it matter what is happening in our lives?
I think many people think of Jesus and God only during times of great stress and trial. God is the escape hatch in the troubles of life, and I find this difficult to come to terms with. I would like to see more people taking their religion a lot more serious. Not like the pious people of the past, but like people who want to change the world for the better with the love of God.
Christ is King, not just of heaven, but of earth too. Does that make a difference to us?
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