We are ONE

Pastor’s Post – October 2011

“We are ONE in the Spirit we are ONE in the Lord…” so goes the chorus by Peter Scholte written in 1966. It is a perfect song for this month which begins with World Communion Sunday on Oct. 2. We will share bread and cup communion knowing that Christians around the world are partaking of bread and cup either in a Love Feast, a worship service, or in the manner of their tradition. This concept of being ‘one’ got me digging around for my white wrist band by One.org they are a grassroots advocacy organization that fights extreme poverty and preventable disease, particularly in Africa, by raising awareness and pressuring political leaders in all countries to support smart and effective policies and programs to save lives. This month you will hear more about organizations that work to make a difference such as

Global Food Crisis Fund – a ministry of the Church of the Brethren that feeds, gives microloans, and works to transform lives.

AFAC – Arlington Food Assistance Center which works locally to feed and sustain families with basic food supplies

Church World Service – who sponsors the CROP walk on Oct. 15 in Arlington and shares the funds raised between their work to feed globally and our local AFAC.

Bread For The World – an advocacy organization working to end hunger in our lifetime.

Fighting Poverty With Faith – the sponsors of this month’s “Food Stamp Challenge”

There are many ways to help transform the world into the ONE people we are created to be. Yet I can’t help but think that my attitude is the place to start. Each time I think of someone I disagree with as one-with-me, I take a step closer to being one in the Spirit with them. Even when I feel strongly opposed to their beliefs, positions and commitments, I am still ONE with them. If they are hungry and I have more than I should eat, how are we ONE? If they are advocating the death penalty and I am protesting it, how are we ONE? It is not as easy to live as ONE as it is to sing the song, and yet we are. – ONE. I think it takes constant reminding of the message of the song, “we are one in the Lord and we pray that all unity may one day be restored. And they’ll know we are Christians by our love.” Perhaps the one band of ONE.org on my wrist will help me remember all month long that we ARE ONE in the Spirit and in the Lord.

Grumpin'

Scripture: Exodus 16 & Matthew 20 (Manna & Day Laborers Year A) 9/18/11 

Mail time is always exciting at our house. . . when we moved into the parsonage, our dogs, Maggie, the hound, and Cole, the minuature schnauzer, had some adjusting to do from life in the country. Maggie has taken up the role of guard dog and is determined to protect us from the evil wiles of the…Mail Man.

   In her first few weeks in the house, she gave her best efforts to eating the fingers of the Mail Man as he dropped our mail thru the slot. Desperately she tried to get her long narrow snout into the mail slot just as he was dropping in the mail. Her determination was something to see!

   Finally, she decided that what the Mail Man drops into the slot must be evil too and we were reading our mail in between teeth marks.

The Stewards approved the installation of an exterior Mail Box, but that has only increased Maggie and now Cole's frustration with the Mail Man's daily visit. They both run from picture window down to the door and back again as soon as they hear his mail truck on the street. They bark and howl and carry on a fierce 2-toned chorus of complaint.

   We have worked hard at the word, “NO” and "No Barking" - to no avail. We've grabbed their collars and made them sit. None of it stops their mission to protect us from the surely evil influence of the Mail Man. .

Melody has especially been working with little Cole, an older dog, because he didn't used to bark at all. She can almost get him to calm down – - against his will & newly found passion, and he sometimes listens to her-

  But he's not quite convinced. After being told 'No' and "quiet down"' Cole, can't quite hold in his objection to the Mail Man and he comes out with a little growl/whine combo just under full howl. – as if he's trying to suppress his own bark and can't quite manage it.

Melody calls it " Grumping'" --- “Stop grumpin, Cole” --- is the standard rebuke in our house.

 I think we have all done our share of grumpin. It's that low human growl-- a moan. It's a not-quite-under-our-breath registration of our dissatisfaction, that if encouraged can grow into a full-blown complaint. - GRUMPIN

Feasting quote: As our scriptures indicate, God's people have been doing it for a very long time. . . We ask the equivalent of, “What was God thinking?” We wonder what kind of God would put an 'evil Mail Man' into our lives or whatever is our current equivalent of Cole and Maggie's nemesis.

Kathryn Blanchard says, “Hard-working, “good” people have always [listened to the stories like that of the day laborers] and asked, “What kind of God would offer the same reward to those who have earned it [by good hard work] as to those who have not?”

Human 'grumping' dates all the way back to the pivotal story for Christians and Jews; the Exodus.

I'm no Cecil B. DeMille, but I still picture the Exodus as a motion picture.

-The rugged terrain, not complete sandy desert, but with so little vegetation that most animals can't survive-

-A huge population of escaped slaves, living in tents and mostly exposed to the elements of sun and wind

-And whenever I picture the scene, I reach for a glass of water because I know it had to be dry.

It's no wonder that the Israelites started grumping.

How quickly the memory of freedom fades when you get hungry. The truth is

other side of fence always looks better even if you hated it when you were there. “present anxiety distorts the memory of the recent past” says Brueggemann, the OT scholar. The oppression in Egypt was forgotten by the hungry Israelites. Slave memories were suppressed by the remembrance of full stomachs.

Another truth is that God's people aren't suffer-free. Salvation, doesn't mean we get everything we want. The Israelites were suffering when they were  enslaved and well-fed and they suffered as free people, with no food. They didn't get EVERYTHING they wanted.

 There is a key lesson woven thru these great biblical stories,

Suffering demands that we live in trust, fully relying on God for each day's needs. This story of God's people in the wilderness is the paradigmatic metaphor for asking God to give us Daily Bread. (the Lord's prayer is an direct reminder of God's people's pivotal experience in the wilderness.)

And what a lesson they learned. The emotion of traversing the distance from complaint to joy is a roller coaster ride. First up: when Moses has Aaron tell the people, “God has heard your grumbling - Go out in the morning God will rain down bread from heaven.”

Then down: the mistrust that caused some to take more manna than others, and

Up again:  the quick discovery that no one had too much – yet everyone had enough.

The sheer  joy, of waking up to have the dew lift and again the white flaky manna is there for the taking. Then the mistrust that has some try to hoard manna for the following day, only to find it full of maggots and rotted. Joy again, as the manna is there the NEXT morning, and even quail, all around the camp, there for the taking. But on the 6th day, they take twice as much manna and cook it all so that no one will labor on the 7ths day. Because even God rests on the 7th day - it's SABBATH and there will be NO BREAD. Yet some go out anyway and are disappointed to find no bread.  How is it that a people, so favored by God, so listened to by God, still can't follow instructions?

. . .

But then, how different are we?

God still wants us to learn dependence - unlike the typical modern parent. Our 'apron strings' to God need to remain strongly tied. Rugged individualism has no place in God's kingdom.

What can we expect when we are entirely dependent on & TRUSTING in God for each day?

We get to trust God to give us what is fair and just ---

No matter what time of day we are asked to go work in God's vineyard.

No matter how few hours we have worked, (even if we only get to work and hour) we

 rest secure knowing and TRUSTING that God will treat us fairly- or better yet,

"UNFAIRLY---

rather than getting what we deserve, -- God gives us UNDESERVED GRACE;

And God intends for everyone to have enough, . . .JUST enough,

just what we need AND no more.

In God's Ideal Kingdom, there's enough to go around each day as it arrives. There's no extra to store and no extra to spoil, & not enough to save, hoard or gather interest, --or insects- but just enough.

. .Until the next day comes around and we must turn back to God in full dependence - and trust. . . . It's a hard lesson to learn, back then in the wilderness and today in a world where some have everything and others have nothing.

We know God's priorities and needn't act like ignorant people wandering in the wilderness. We know what God intends. .and I suspect we can each find a place where we fit into these stories.

We may wake up to find maggots in the manna we've stashed away.

We may head out on the Sabbath to find God has rested that day - and we should have too.

We may be workers standing around, hoping to be hired so we can feed our family a little bit- from the minimum wage we might earn. . .

or -- are we so full of quail and manna that we naturally assume WE were the workers hired early in the morning?

 Do we miss the message that grace is a gift FOR EVERYONE and instead look at all the part=time, hourly workers who got paid the same as we did?

Does our real complaint against God sound like the full-day workers,

      “But you have made THEM equal to US!”?

Perhaps, when we've found ourselves in God's story,

         when we've given thanks for waking each day in God's grace,

               our biggest challenge is to care less about how God is taking care of everyone else. . . and

Stop grumpin.

 ________________________________________

 Kathryn D. Blanchard Feasting On The Word – Year A Theological (Louisville: WJK, 2011) p. 94

 Walter Brueggemann NIB Vol 1 Exodus (Nashville: Abingdon, 1994) p. 812

Strange Stress

Getting ready to leave on vacation right after worship may not be the smartest way to begin vacation. Today has been a stressful day! It was busy anyways, due to a scheduled service project at church where Pro-Shred donates time with their shredding truck and we collect donations for the local food bank in exchange for access to the truck. It is popular and successful. I knew the day would be busy, but found myself pulled in too many directions; all good, but too many. So a meeting (I forgot about), some individual "conferences" that were very full of good ideas and potential, and lots of little things, including a flyer for next month's service project. All this was followed by an interview of the person we hired for our 6-month Project Coordinator. By the time I was left alone at the church, I was tired, but excited to get home with a couple hours before dinner. Then I saw the boxes that had not been broken down. So I spent some time, cutting folding, stacking and cramming boxes. I think it took what little energy I had left. So when I got home, I was starting to 'snap' at people, at least when a simple little exercise of moving cars around turned into a bit more. Funny how things can push you over the edge.

Now I've fixed a simple dinner and we ate. I got my laundry done, my carry-on bag is packed, my hair is half done, and I'm about to check in with Rev. Gals and finish worship. I still don't have a good handle on the children's time, but it won't be the first time that flopped. sigh. Still I'm feeling much better and the large iced herb tea is doing its job of relaxing my weary body.

I used to deal with this kind of stress all the time. I am so grateful that I only have days like this occasionally. Thanks be to God that this one is almost over and vacation does begin later tomorrow. Meanwhile, I pray for a good night's rest and the presence of mind to lead this wonderful congregation in worship tomorrow.

Disappointments and Rain

Daughter and SIL couldn't get into the apartment they wanted. It has been such a traumatic month for them with the flies poring into their newly rented apartment and getting out of that lease. So they are back with us for a while until the right place shows up. Sad for them. NOVA is a tough place to get a start.

The rain has been pouring and pouring down. Unbelievable amounts of rain. I just saw a video on Twitter of Four Mile Run at south George Mason Drive and the run was within a foot or two from the bridge with traffic whizzing by. Normally the sidewalk goes under the bridge but it was all underwater.

Our power returned thankfully and I'm charging everything and leaving the candles out on the tables in case the other band of rain comes through. The ground is so soft that more trees are likely to fall.

I hope this rain doesn't impact Saturday's wedding in Staunton. It's outdoors but there is an indoor backup plan.

Prayers for
Those evacuating or caught in the storm and for husband who just got called out to see if the switch case (sits by the river) is even still there. I don't know how close he can get. Prayers also for the families of the 2 people who were killed when swept away by flood waters tonight.

1.4 million people without power in San Diego down into Mexico. It seems like it Is a tough night all around. (and how are the Packers doing?)

Conversation 3

Conversation 3 - A future based in scripture?

In Changing The Conversation, Anthony Robinson writes,
"Is Scripture a kind of archaeological relic or anthropological artifact, or is it the trustworthy mediation of the living God? Too often it seems that the Bible is treated as decorative or as “great literature” (that we haven’t read and have no intention of reading) rather than the truth about who God is and who we are. To create another vessel of the new heart needed in today's church, theology needs to be deprofessionalized. For a century or more, theology has been limited to professionals, with the consequence that many in mainline Protestant churches are clueless about the core convictions of Christianity and what difference they might make. When lives are transformed by the mercies of God, energy is produced—energy that translates into new forms, mission, and vitality."

How familiar are you with scripture? Do you know the key stories of Jewish and Christian salvation history? Only a few experts can talk about ALL the Bible. Still we hear stories every week and know some of them quite well. What do they mean to you?

Theologians talk about the "person and work of Christ". Are you able and interested in discussing what Jesus accomplished in living, dying, and rising again? What difference does atonement (any of the theories) make for your living? What did Jesus do that matters to how you live today and the plans you make for tomorrow?

Looking toward Sept. (and newsletters)

Relating To The Rock MT 16:13-20

I have some experience with rocks. . In high school my nickname was "Rock." It’s true that the friends who gifted me with the name were not all that familiar with Peter the apostle, they were thinking more about my tendency to balance things on my hips than the strength of my faith. Since I share the same nick-name with Peter, I wonder if the name Jesus gave him Is a compliment?

What was Jesus thinking when he told Simon son of Jonah, he was Stone? 

We know the gospels are written from the perspective of people who already knew Peter as a great leader. By the time Matthew' gospel was written (in 80-90 CE), Peter had served as the first bishop of the church and been martyred for his faith & following of Jesus.

Altho we can't know exactly Jesus was thinking at the moment he called Peter "rock" we do know a little bit about Peter from the gospel's own account. Matthew portrays Peter as a leader with two sources of authority. (see following footnote)

         1- he was with Jesus from the very beginning of J’s ministry; ‘seniority has its privilege’

         2- Peter is the recipient of special revelation over the course of Matthew’s story. 

We remember that,

         - Peter sees Jesus transfigured

         - He was there when Jesus raises Jairus’ daughter from the dead; certainly a revelatory moment.

         - Peter is even the one who walks on water- for a little bit, anyway.

         - He is one of those designated to watch and pray for Jesus.

   Peter seems to be a leader who bridges the world of flesh and spirit.[i] He has the human gifts of a leader and is also given divine opportunity to reach for more.

But Peter isn’t a superhero, He doesn’t always get it right.

In just a few more verses Jesus will respond to Peter’s concern that Jesus not allow himself to suffer & die at the hands of government officials. Jesus says to Peter,  "Get behind me Satan! You are a stumbling block to me. . " it seems a rock can also be tripped over if one isn't careful.

You remember that Peter is also famous for his triple denial following Jesus arrest.

And yet Jesus entrusted him with what  church-folks call the’ keys to the Kingdom’. –  authority to decide what rules of Torah still apply literally and which ones can be obeyed more loosely - as Jesus did.

What convinced Jesus to trust Peter with leadership?

What did he see in this simple or not-so-simple fisherman?

Do you think that Peter showed the qualities of a leader, even as he cleaned his fishing nets?

You know ‘they’ say, some people are born leaders.

Maybe Peter was one of those boys who always led the pack. Whether fishing or sailing, or selling, he was always the best; the one everyone looked up to for answers. Perhaps his very nature made him the perfect choice as the first leader of the early church.

. . .

I'm riding a book about church leadership today.

The author, Jimmy Long[ii], address the lack of leadership in all businesses. He remembers when he was growing up, you could ask his classmates what they wanted to be, and they would answer with leadership jobs

President, Astronaut, Head of their own company, even pastor of a church. .

But today the answers are different.  not many want to be leaders. He says there is a growing, pervasive belief that the world is facing a shortage of leaders who are capable of leading organizations into the future.

         97% of organizations report significant shortages of leadership

         close to 75% report this leadership gap is having a modest to significant negative impact on the company’s productivity.[iii]

The problem is not a lack of people, the problem is one of style.

         Long believes that the leadership we need now is shared leadership yet we are stuck with the style of the larger-than –life charismatic leader.

You know what this looks like. Whether in business, politics or the church, there are those leaders to whom people flock. They develop a following, they grow the organization. Everything is done ‘their way’’ and life is good, …until they leave.

The vacuum left when the executive leader retires never seems to get filled.

Long’s thesis is important for the church.

The way churches have operated in the past will not take us into the future. Centralized power resting in a few officers and the pastor worked for the 19^th and 20^th centuries. But times have changed and new challenges required new methods. We need collaborative leadership that brings everyone’s gifts to the table.

         We need people who are gifted leaders AND people who are gifted with the spirit, like Peter. Today’s church needs a rock, MANY ROCKS on which to build.

Jesus gathered a whole group of disciples around him so that each would learn the “Jesus Way” and be able to lead others. he discovered a truth about Peter’s gifts for leadership in the passage we read today. v.17 "for flesh & blood not revealed it to you but God did."

Whether Peter was born a leader or not, God gives him something extraordinary; a vision that he takes a life-time growing into.

·      Peter will be challenged by Jesus’ crucifixion and challenged by his resurrection.

·      He will be challenged along with other leaders to include believers who are not Jews by birth.

·      He will be challenged by Paul to let go of  “to loose” the regulation of Torah around circumcision and diet as more and more Gentiles flood into the church

Can today’s world-wide church trust that even now, God is finding and calling the leaders the church needs just as God called the unlikely Peter?

And for Arlington Church of the Brethren, what kind of leadership do we need to carry us into 2012 and 2022 and 2050s? (our 100^th anniversary?)

         This is the reason I began an unusual conversation, asking you to comment by email, or journal, or phone. Today’s topic is #2.

(Conversation 2) It’s purpose is to get us thinking beyond today. If we can discern what God is up to in this time & place, we can respond with courage. We can learn to be leaders that heal our world and reach out to heal and serve each other.

I began Conversation #1 by quoting Anthony Robinson[iv]. He reminds us that we don’t control what life brings to us, but we do have some control over how we respond to what life brings.

Many church-people are mourning the loss of “Christendom” – which is merely the time when Christianity ruled supreme. The leaders of the Christian church were also respected as leaders in the world.

It was a time when everyone understood that you went to church on Sunday. Soccer and little League games weren’t scheduled until Sunday afternoon or maybe not at all - on Sunday.

You know the list of what has changed; many of you watched it happen. Maybe you rejoiced when ‘blue laws’ went away and maybe you were sorry to have Sunday fill up with obligations.

But many of today’s church members weren’t alive then. You have to be at least my age to remember the days of dressing up for Sunday School in hats and gloves.

Today, Robinson writes, many of our mainline congregations are [trying to adjust to no longer being at the leaders’ table] Instead, congregations focus on sharing the concept of a loving, welcoming, inclusive God. They recognize, like Peter finally did, that God wants more than just people who look and sound like us. This much is good.

Not all brands of Christianity agree who is in and who is out - hence the debates on conference floors and TV shows. But whether God is loving or judging may not be the question.

The question, for most of us, is whether or not God is powerful enough, vital enough, and capable enough of actually changing life, healing the earth, and delivering us from what can seem like hell – right here and now.

In other words, Does God still lead the Christian church?

Yes, certainly yet we admit we can’t always see it.

Does God still call leaders like Peter? Yes, God still calls leaders, but instead of singling out the Moses’ and Aaron’s and Mary’s, and Peter’s, God calls us ALL to be leaders. No longer can we wait for Silver Knights, great orators, and Lone Ranger ministers to come in and fix it all. It’s up to US.

         It’s why the Church of the Brethren dropped the concept of Church Boards and went to Leadership Teams. It doesn’t matter what we do to the constitution, what matters is how we listen to each other, how much we NEED each other.

And how we use each others' gifts. As Long says, “No one leader has all the gifts required, God chooses to give different leaders - different gifts so no one leader can just depend on him or herself but all have to depend on each other and ultimately depend on God.”[v]

Once again, many of you are ahead of the curve. Many of our committee’s act like leadership teams and task teams, reaching out to each member and inviting them to share and LEAD.

Our challenge is to extend our reach.

1.          How do we invite the gifts of those who aren’t members? (This is an age of non-joining. What does that mean for leadership “REQUIREMENTS”?)
2. How do we call out people we don’t see in church every week? (The average ‘regular’ attender of church makes it to Sunday worship 1-2x/mo.)
3. What new ways of operating and communicating do we need?

This “conversation’ that I’ve invited you to join, is one way of expanding, both our thinking and our ability to communicate. Can we ‘talk’ to each other during the week, by email, chat, and phone? And as the fall season of nominating new leaders arrives, can we design ways of inviting everyone’s gifts to the table?

         These are the questions that we bring to the conversation. We won’t find easy answers, but with God’s spirit whispering and empowering, we will find leaders.

It’s ironic that good old Peter is the example we need –he’s what I need to remember on those days when I'm ready to give up on the broader Christian Church and old-style denominations.

- Peter’s slow eye-opening leadership is our inspiration, when we cant think about the church's problems because our own are too big.

- Peter’s dreams that held the revelation of God, will help us when we find ourselves worrying more about bills and building than spirit and service.

When we wonder if God is still paying enough attention to rescue us and save Christ’s church, we can ask God to give us the gift of Peter – the Rock. . .

--Not perfection but the strength to live & lead & give.

(I look forward to continuing the conversation with you…)

---

[i] Paul J. Achtemeier HarperCollins Bible Dictionary  (San Francisco: Harper, 1985, 96) p. 833

[ii] Jimmy Long The Leadership Jump  (Downers Grove, IL:IVP Books, 2009)

[iii] ibid quoting Ron Carucci in Leadership Divided (San Francisco: Josey Bass, 2006) p. 157

[iv] Anthony Robinson, Nurturing a Third Way for Congregations Alban.com

[v] Long, ibid p. 56