Why I left politics

Actually there are many reasons why I left politics.
1. I couldn't continue as 10th District Democratic Chair, manage seminary, and a part-time job.

2. I found it difficult to split my time between a candidates campaign needs and my seminary work.

Peter Schwartz currently
a supervisor in Fauquier

3. I found a part-time church ministry position that better suited my interests.

Nokesville Church of the Brethren

But those are the practical concerns.
I was also realizing it was increasingly hard to hold onto the ideals that I entered politics to maintain. I became so "practical" about what was politically feasible that I missed opportunities to be the person making a stand, making a difference, and working for justice. (I still lament some of my statements and work or lack of work for real justice and equality.)

and then there were the realities...
politicians find it difficult to not lie
politicians find it difficult to keep promises
politicians find themselves caught up in the same quandaries that I did. Deciding between possible, practical and right.
(I know I'm generalizing so I apologize to my political friends who have managed somehow to remain above the fray.. at least for the most part.)

And seriously, when I needed the "influence" I had after managing a campaign for a winning local candidate, he called, apologized and voted against my position. SIGH (and it was a big personal deal at the time). The really sad part was I UNDERSTOOD the POLITICAL REALITY. see? SEE?

Where's justice and right fit into all of that?

SO here's a link to my latest "political" involvement. Not for a party candidate, but for a cause.
http://www.wusa9.com/story/news/local/virginia/2015/06/03/reeves-farm-arlington/28442439/

Reevesland Learning Center is a tremendous resource for urban agriculture, education, and community building. The Center hoped to expand into the renovating farmhouse, keeping the historic property for public use while sharing beyond school children to the many adults interested in learning more about growing food.
The Arlington County Board has voted to sell the property. (3-2) If you are interested in what happens next. Contact me and I'll tell you about an upcoming rally of public support for SAVING the Farmhouse.

Watch the video from Channel 9 news. They did a great job of capturing the moment.

Pentecost, Power, & Prayer

 Mt 6:5-15 /“Pentecost, Power, and Prayer” Pentecost; 5-24-15, ACoB

This is last Sunday's sermon. After Everett sang the Lord's Prayer, I was so touched, I had to stuff down tears to begin the message. Then at the end, when I relayed why I pray, I teared up. Don't think that has EVER happened before.
"The Holy Spirit comes with tears." I have often said!

(As previously, the highlighted orange questions are interactive with the congregation answering.)

ASK: What kind of power did the dis/apostles experience that day of pentecost?

ASK: What do you think they had been praying for?

How can Jesus instruction on prayer inform our need today? (think about your questions, jot them down. I certainly don’t have all the answers but I believe in our ability to hear the scripture speak when we gather around it.)

We begin with the words Matthew’s author has given us.

Text notes - In this part of the sermon on the mount Jesus is giving practical advice and we all like practical advice. He has given his interpretation of the LAW and the ways it is still in force for his followers, therefore for us. (1)

In his practical advice, Jesus illustrates the ways the HEART of the law leads to a new and greater righteousness.” (2) (remember “Greater Righteousness” is the theme)

He chooses for his examples the things that his followers do BECAUSE they are his followers, or CHRISTIANS as we are now called.

ASKWhat things do Christians do because they follow Jesus?  

. . .answers

Now, on a empty place in your bulletin, write down YOUR Christian practices. What do YOU do because you follow Jesus?

• Everyone gets “credit” for being here today! Attendance in worship is one of your Christian practices.

Even tho traditions differ among our many versions of Christianity, some things are common to all followers; 

ASK: What are common Christian practices?

Tom Long names them this way, 

• “1)Prayer, 
• 2)gathering for Fellowship, 
• 3)Studying Scripture, 
• 4)Performing Deeds of Charity” (3)

You can fill out your own report card for this semester, I won’t ask you to evaluate yourself verbally.

The illustrations we focus on today are Jesus words about how to pray.

“When you pray, don’t be like hypocrites. They love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners so that people will see them. I assure you, that’s the only reward they’ll get. 6 But when you pray, go to your room, shut the door, and pray to your Father who is present in that secret place. Your Father who sees what you do in secret will reward you.

Translations differ on “that secret place” - a room, closet, it doesn’t matter because we are not to take this literally. AND because we aren’t to take it literally, it doesn’t mean that public prayer is never appropriate. After all, Jesus prayed in public and among his disciples.

The point, as Tom Long says, is WHO is doing the seeing or hearing. Are we praying for OTHERS to hear & see or praying for God to hear?

There are two ways of performing any of those Christian actions on our report card. 

1. One is called “personal piety” or the ways we act and the things we do when we are alone or at home. Maybe this qualifies as “when in our secret place”. (I asked Donna to share from that secret place today so that we might learn more about a tradition we are not all familiar with, from a sister.)

2. The other falls under, “Letting Our Lights Shine” as we learned about last Sunday sitting out on the grass, from another sister, Debbie. These actions are OUT in the world and on BEHALF of the world. (4) (Tom Long’s ‘deeds of charity’) 

The point of this being that people notice the deeds and give credit to God. . .by the way, it’s not supposed to be about people noticing and giving credit to our church. “What a wonderful church that must be…” which is sometimes what we expect…

Instead, we are to pray the way we speak to our mother, or father.  We speak from a deep relationship with God. This IS our MOST intimate relationship. 

Therefore we can say anything, or simply cry. 

We can scream with anger, or laugh with delight. 

Or merely be silent in God’s presence.

All these expressions are prayer.

As Anne Lamont says in her book I read last week, most of her prayers are simple words, “HELP, THANKS, WOW!”

ASK: Have you prayed those one-word prayers? 

Have you prayed NO-word prayers?

So, We are not to “Pour out a flood of empty words. . .because God knows what we need before we ask.” (6:7-8)

ASK: What do you make of that statement?

God knows what we need before we ask

If God knows everything, —why did Jesus pray that night in the garden? (point to slide)

This image in stained glass is what the people at the Nokesville church are looking at this morning. The stained glass window sits at the front of the sanctuary. (behind it is the baptistry) Our sister, Angela is there and it’s her first Sunday as their pastor.

Angela and I spoke about this text and the relationship to the Holy spirit. Angela said, “when we sing "Holy Spirit Come with Power" we're not soliciting the help of a fragile bubble like depicted on the bulletin cover :)”

Is that why Jesus prayed? To solicit the power he needed?

He instructed his disciples to pray and promised them power would come with the Holy Spirit. But it’s not magic. Prayer is not a formula we control. 

It is linked closely to the Holy Spirit, which makes it so pertinent today. —— How does prayer work?

Some people say “prayer changes us”. 

ASK: What do you think? Is that the point of prayer?

. . .

Does prayer change us?  Does it Change God? 

Can it Change others?

. . .answers

Does our relationship with God thru Christ guarantee us the Holy Spirit? . . .how do you know when you’ve got the spirit?

The apostle Paul wrote in his Romans letter; (8:25-26)

We ourselves who have the Spirit (as the first crop of the harvest) also groan inside as we wait to be adopted and for our bodies to be set free. ..26 In the same way, the Spirit comes to help our weakness. We don’t know what we should pray, but the Spirit himself pleads our case with unexpressed groans. (NRSV: groans too deep for words) 27 The one who searches hearts knows how the Spirit thinks, because he pleads for the saints, consistent with God’s will.

***There is a connection between prayer, our relationship to the Divine and the Divine presence known as the Holy Spirit.***

If Fred Craddock is right when he says, “ The Prayer of Christians is an expression of trust in God.” [then] Our asking is aligning ourselves in trust and acknowledging our need.” (5)

We ask in order to align ourselves with God - in trust. 

We ask in trust and it helps form us into God-like people as we were created to be. 

& We ask to acknowledge our need.

We DON”T have the power to change the world or ourselves - at least not most of the time. 

But the Holy Spirit does.

. . .

conclusion

ASK: So who is changed by prayer?

Us, God, others? - Answer: YES?

We don’t really know how prayer works. But we trust it does.

We recognize that prayer is more than asking, yet we ask.

We we ask for life, for healing, for the end of pain, yet we know that all life ends in death and that people still experience pain.

Some would say, why pray then?

Only you can answer that question. 

***I pray because I’m in love and because I am loved - by something greater than I am, something at the heart of my life.*** 

So I sit in silence, even when my mind tries to wander.

I ask, even when I don’t know how that changes God or me.

and 

I receive - A Peace, A Power, A Presence that is also greater than I am.  

—A holy presence, found only in prayer.

Dove At St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome

1.  Thomas Long Matthew - Westminster Bible Commentary (Louis:WJK, 1997)55

2. ibid 55

3. ibid 55

4. ibid 66

5.  Boring and Craddock People’s NT Commentary (Louis:WJK,2004)25-26

Sermonating - on a rainy day.

I'm so glad I set aside today to do reading and writing. It's been a long time since I had a whole day for this. Last week, thanks to Debbie's creative outdoor worship, I was able to catch up on visiting and much paperwork. This week, I began with a Reevesland Learning Center crisis, as the Arlington County Board of Supervisors voted to sell the historic farmhouse which sits in the midst of the garden beds the Reevesland Learning Center uses to educate children and adults on growing their own food.

see washington post article

Yesterday was an office, appointments, and people at regular evening hours. So today it's Matthew 6 and a return to the Sermon on the Mount in the shadow (or light) of Pentecost. How do we talk about power as in holy spirit, when we live outside of the power center of Washington, D.C.? Now there's a question to consider!

I'm actually enjoying the rain and cool air after the heat of the weekend and Monday. AND getting my wash done since I've been out every night this week. Looking forward to being home, and cooking something for dinner tonight. So that's life for now. 

Pastor's Diary May 2015

____Pastor's Diary____

Hello {FIRST_NAME|friends}, It's been a long time since I did a Pastor's Diary entry. Thank you for the birthday wishes and the song and flowers yesterday. It was a nice quiet day. As some of you know, I was sick most of last week. It seems I can't fight things off lately. But I am better now and will be back to visiting and having apointments on Wednesday. (I'm not sharing my cold) The above picture is from my last haircut. My friend and almost-daughter, Katie is a professional and manager of the PR Partners in Gainesville. It is a joy to see her every 6 weeks for a cut. She and Melody grew up together. Lately Fitz and I have been enjoying some extra time with Melody and James' puppy, Bowser. We call him a 'grand-pup'.   Our dogs have finally gotten used to him and they can play (or more often ignore each other) in the back yard. We were able to walk all three of them at Upton Park yesterday when we returned from the "lunch bunch" after worship. I was reading some devotional material this morning and want to share this message from Reuben Job with you. His writing is always insightful. When I look out my window to the sky and trees each morning, sit in prayer, and read, I find his words touch my spirit. Perhaps they will yours too. "Have you ever been extremely thirsty? If you have, you know how wonderful and refreshing cool water can be. When the Samaritan woman encountered Jesus, she was searching for that which would quench her body's thrist. In the presence of Jesus she recognized a deeper thirst, the thirst for God. (John chapter 4)  The Thirst for God is universal because we have been created with a longing for the Creator. this desire to know and be known by the One who made us and loves us is often ignored, denied, and finally buried under a multitude of pursuits and interests. But then some event in life invites or forces us to pause, and the desire for God comes rushing back to our awareness. We know for certain that we need living water; we need what only God can give if we are really to live. Today Jesus continues to offer living water, a way, and a companionship that can quench our thirst for God. Our part is to recognize the deep need for God within us and to offer hospitality to the One who seeks to fill and satisy that need. Like the psalmist, our souls thirst for God. The good news we share is that through Jesus the Christ our thirst can be satisfied." Rueben P. Job in A Guide to Prayer for All Who Walk with God. (Nashville:Upper Room Books, 2013)194-5 I feel my thirst for God when I slow down enough to realize I've filled life with business, not living water. Those moments in the morning help fill me. What helps quench your thirst for God? Can I help you find a way? This month we will study the Sermon on the Mount under the them of Turning Our Eyes On Jesus. I hope examining the instructions for living the "Jesus' Way" found in his sermon will also prompt us to recall WHY we choose to live his way. With our eyes Turned On Jesus this month, I trust we will drink deeply of living water. Pastor Nancy I try to post these messages on my blog and the church website. Link to my blog If you miss us, you can always catch up here on the web, Link to our website. I also change the pictures on the web and the church facebook page. We do try to post sermons either written or audio and sometimes both.

A Post-Easter Appearance

Here are my notes and questions from Sunday. It was very interactive so may be hard to follow the text. I'll insert what I can in the way of pictures.

SLIDE- 1 Jerusalem

SLIDE -2 & 3 Text on screen. 

READ IT.

Ask: how do you feel after hearing this scripture?

Ask: them to list negatives. 

SLIDE 4 - Write on 2nd page. 

SLIDE 5 - Then list positives.

We can see why we feel scolded.

So what do we do with passages that seem to scold us? Our options:

Ignore

Redact - black marker, or TV scissors..

Look deeper

Guess which we will do?

James takes time in this book to delve into all the ways we humans can fall short. First he outlines his points in the first chapter, then he goes into detail in the chapters that follow.

For instance, READ ch1:17-18 

SLIDE 6 verses on which this passage in chapter is developed.

17 Every good gift, every perfect gift, comes from above. These gifts come down from the Father, the creator of the heavenly lights, in whose character there is no change at all. 18 He chose to give us birth by his true word, and here is the result: we are like the first crop from the harvest of everything he created.

Discuss in pew groups: (turn to neighbor, lean over pew and share)

Let’s crowd source this point before we go back to our text to make sense of James’ list. 

SLIDE 7 - ASK: The good and perfect gift. What is it? What is the good and perfect gift or (if easily identified) how do you know if/when someone has received this gift?

2 minutes

Last Sunday you heard 4 preachers deal with doubt. James is different than the gospels. For James, doubt isn’t intellectual questioning, it’s mixed up loyalty to the world. (1)

James calls it double mindedness.

He says humans are prone to ‘double-talk, double-face, double-vision’.(2) What’s is double-ness? 

• It’s a place where cultural values are seen and taught as religion. 
• Where the true values of God are confused, mis-understood, and co-opted to benefit a few.

(Sound like a world we’ve seen?)

James’ position  Should be clear (thanks to our list). 

There are two ways of living:(3) “See the difference, Know the truth, Make a decision!”

But it isn’t easy for everyone to decide. WHY? 

ASK: Why is it hard for some people to decide for Christ or to make a decision about Christianity?

JAMES we tell you with b&w clarity what the problem is (coming up next in ch. 4) 

What is the source of your disputes? Don’t they come from your cravings that are at war in your own lives? 2 You long for something you don’t have, so you commit murder. 

You are jealous for something you can’t get, so you struggle and fight. 

You don’t have because you don’t ask. 

3 You ask and don’t have because you ask with evil intentions, to waste it on your own cravings.

and …  we feel scolded again.

or 

We can realize that James writes in a time and way that includes paranesis and diatribe. (4)

Paranesis - text that strings together admonitions of general ethical content.

Diatribe - carefully designed argument against an implied opponent

In James we have both - strings of warnings about our conduct and pretty strong arguments against invisible but constant EVIL.

I want to make a case today for hearing this book in a new light - I want us to find it’s wisdom even when it’s deeply imbedded in harsh lists and warnings - 

Let’s take a Step back: Look deeper at this whole book. Scholars have disagreed about who actually wrote it and whether or not it was James, the brother of Jesus. 

SLIDE - 8 (not an actual picture of James)

I read many theories this week. The one that seems to make the most sense has these pieces.

• James, Jesus’ brother, not 1 of 12, but later becomes a leader in Christian church -which is centered in Jerusalem. (and is mostly jewish)
• By the end of the 1st century Before CE, (AD) and again After destruction of temple late 60’s, Jewish population scatters. (see map this slide-(5) (MIGRATIONS CALLED diaspora)
• 
  
• Likely the traditions from the church in Jerusalem; including those that James knew, went out into other countries and became more familiar with Greek language.
• Those early GROUPS had PRE-gospel material. We know about Q (a likely compilation of sayings) and scholars posit a M source which would be the oral collection of stories, parables, teachings found in Matthew.
• ESPECIALLY one particular sermon of Jesus. ASK?
• Sermon on the Mount
• If these scholars are correct, those closest to Jesus; who had listened to James, who had told and retold the stories of Jesus that would later be written into Matthew’s gospel, took these traditions (---JAMES traditions) from Jerusalem - SLIDE 9 - with them. 
• At some point these key points, teachings, are written in the style of the day, as the book of James. (6)
• IN James, We likely have the words of the people who first collected all the sayings and stories that would later make up the gospels.
• 
  
• Behind this book we have the tradition of Jesus’ brother and leadership of the early church, 
• the very first re-telling of key Sermons, and the 
• sayings that will be the gospels - 
• I think we have a VERY special writing in James that comes as close to Jesus’ own words and teaching as one could get.

ASK: If we hear James the way we hear the Sermon on Mount, do we listen differently?

I am saying, that When we read James, WE are experiencing a post easter appearance of Jesus himself!

Even more so - when we are blessed with an encounter with those who have received this gift from above.  

When we ourselves leave double-mindedness behind and walk the Jesus way, each person we encounter, experiences the Risen Lord in us!

Sea.sA

If that seems too optimistic for you , consider this story from Brethren history. 

The wise farmer…

-Wanted to buy a parcel of land.

-Told that neighbor of this parcel had contested the property line so bitterly that the former owner moved.

-Farmer buys land and meets neighbor who immediately comes to tell him that the fence between their properties must to be moved.

Farmer asked, “Where should the line be?” and then insists that the new fence line be set to the neighbor’s advantage.

“The value of the little strip of land was minor compared to good relations with his neighbor.” 

Seeing how fair the farmer was, the disgruntled neighbor said, ‘we’ll leave the fence where it is.”

But that wasn’t the end.

Another day the farmer’s cattle broke into the neighbor’s cornfield and damaged the crop. The neighbor flew into a rage and declared he would sue.

Calmly the farmer explained that this would not be necessary. He was ready to pay in full. To avoid extra court costs, he suggested they engage a 3rd party to settle on a suitable amount.

Seeing the peaceful nature and honesty of the farmer the neighbor asked, “Why choose others to arbitrate? We can settle. There are no damages. “The matter is settled.”

“I never before met a man like you. No on can quarrel with you.” (7)

What wisdom, from above, awaits us - each time we embody the Risen One in the manner of OUR living?

Or what peace from above is visited on the earth when the Risen Christ appears in us?

SLIDE 10

footnotes:

 1)David Young James - Covenant Bible Study (Elgin:Brethren Press, 1992)46

2) Frances Taylor Gench Hebrews & James (Louis:WJK,1996)113

3) ibid

4) John Painter Interpretation Journal - Catholic Epistles Vol 60 Number 3, July 2006, 254

5) http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/maps/jewish.html

6)  John Painter Interpretation Journal - Catholic Epistles Vol 60 Number 3, July 2006, 251

7) David Young James - Covenant Bible Study (Elgin:Brethren Press, 1992)47

Sitting is good.

Sitting with coffee is good. This is a week of "Light Duty". I need to call it that rather than vacation because I didn't go away, I'm still visiting in the hospital, I'm still doing errands regarding church folks, I'm still answering emails, texts, and phone calls. But I'm not going into the office. So I sit with coffee in the morning, for as long as the rest of the day's appointments will allow. Today it's a bit longer as this is the last day of "Light Duty".

I love to walk, and will walk Bowser in a little bit.
I like to visit friends, and have done so several times this week! (Bonus of "light duty"!)
But what I have needed most this week is to do
NOTHING.
There's not been quite enough of that.

It's not easy to explain, but this time alone; just me, coffee and NOTHING, seems to be the best remedy for exhaustion. Not sleep, not anything, just NOTHING. Total veg.

ahhhh, feel it, that lack of priority? ignoring the reminders that keep popping up on my screen and buzzing in my pocket from my phone...the pile of things I really need to catch up on.. the plans for Sunday's community worship, the prayers for worship, the aids for classes at Arl. Forest UMC.. the weddings coming up.. the SCN vote at the end of the month.. finding music for that Sunday when Charlie is coming to visit and our organist is away... yep. . all those things don't go away. Even now my pocket is buzzing about collecting mail for our person in the hospital and finding important papers in her apartment.

but I"m ignoring it all, for 5 more minutes of NOTHING.
This is  post-Easter week.
(Maybe I need another. . .)