Some churches call their worship space a meeting room or auditorium while other churches have a sanctuary. A sanctuary represents the realm of God ... a place where heaven and earth meet and mingle and where the people of God encounter the Holy.
One thing our medieval ancestors got right was placing the cathedral at the center or high point of the community. A cathedral took generations to complete but that did not matter since it was to the glory of God.
I have only lately come to really appreciate the promise of a new heaven and a new earth that runs through the scriptures. A deepening edge of my faith is that every act of compassion, mercy and justice; every time we speak the truth with love; every sacrifice made in the name of our friend and savior, Jesus Christ, will live all the way into God's new creation.
I realize all too well that we confuse today's organizational agenda with those eternal kingdom purposes. I understand that many are oppressed and wounded when the church forgets to work for kingdom purposes and the glory of God.
Yet, as I once heard Bishop Willimon affirm: Church is what Christ does!
Lord, may our worship this morning become a sacred meeting and celebration of your love. Amen.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Monday, April 5, 2010
Holding Hands with Suffering and Joy
This morning I am working on next Sunday's message about the resurrection appearances of Jesus while also preparing to care for a family and congregation in the midst of a tragic death.
I take comfort from these words of Tilda Norberg's book, Ashes TRANSFORMED: As you heal more and more deeply, God invites you to be present to both crucifixion and resurrection. ... When you are passionately willing to hold hands with both suffering and joy, entering into the depths of crucifixion and resurrection, you may discover a new and astonishing truth: There is a place of contemplative rest and profound healing between the two. When crucifixion and resurrection mingle in a human heart, it is a sign of God making all things new. Resting here, you do not need to hold onto awareness; rather it holds onto you. You do not need to form words of explanation about what is happening -- indeed you cannot -- but you can allow God to penetrate your being with mystery. In this holy place, you begin to see the whole truth, both tragedy and its transformation. Suffering, seen through the lens of resurrection, is a birthing place of faith; in this crucible, suffering often turns into gift. Here you discover the peace that passes all understanding. here you know that God provides healing, not just for your individual comfort, as important as that is, but that God also reaches out in love to care for all humanity. From here you are sent, imperfect as you are, to become intoxicated with love for the world, reflecting the Christ you follow. And you will return to this place -- between cross and resurrection -- again and again to be healed.
Abide in me as I abide in you. John 15:4
I take comfort from these words of Tilda Norberg's book, Ashes TRANSFORMED: As you heal more and more deeply, God invites you to be present to both crucifixion and resurrection. ... When you are passionately willing to hold hands with both suffering and joy, entering into the depths of crucifixion and resurrection, you may discover a new and astonishing truth: There is a place of contemplative rest and profound healing between the two. When crucifixion and resurrection mingle in a human heart, it is a sign of God making all things new. Resting here, you do not need to hold onto awareness; rather it holds onto you. You do not need to form words of explanation about what is happening -- indeed you cannot -- but you can allow God to penetrate your being with mystery. In this holy place, you begin to see the whole truth, both tragedy and its transformation. Suffering, seen through the lens of resurrection, is a birthing place of faith; in this crucible, suffering often turns into gift. Here you discover the peace that passes all understanding. here you know that God provides healing, not just for your individual comfort, as important as that is, but that God also reaches out in love to care for all humanity. From here you are sent, imperfect as you are, to become intoxicated with love for the world, reflecting the Christ you follow. And you will return to this place -- between cross and resurrection -- again and again to be healed.
Abide in me as I abide in you. John 15:4
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Pony Express
The current Smithsonian Magazine reflects upon the inaugural run of the Pony Express on April 3, 1860. The network of riders began in St. Joseph, Missouri, carrying a pouch with 49 letters and 5 telegrams to San Fransisco. The trip took 11 days, 75 horses and 20 riders ... which was 10 days faster than stagecoach.
The Pony Express lingers in our imagination but lasted only 18 months (when telegraph service linked the east and west coasts).
For everything there is a season ... a time for birth and another for death, a time to plant and another to harvest, a time to hold on and a time to let go.
What's hard are the in-between times ... what William Bridges calls the "neutral zone": Since a life transition is a kind of buried rite of passage to begin with, a person's life will take on, willy-nilly, symbolic overtones at such times. The value of reflecting on the symbolism and making up little private rituals is not for the sake of ceremony but simply to become more aware of the shape of the natural transition process. Dying, the neutral zone, and rebirth are not ideas that we bring to life; they are phenomena that we find in life. The only trick is to see them -- by looking beyond the reflected light of the familiar surface of things and seeing what is really there, working in the depths. (Transitions)
Lord, on this Holy Saturday, as we remember you within the tomb (between the cross and resurrection) help us to abide and endure our own transitions with hope and faith. Amen.
The Pony Express lingers in our imagination but lasted only 18 months (when telegraph service linked the east and west coasts).
For everything there is a season ... a time for birth and another for death, a time to plant and another to harvest, a time to hold on and a time to let go.
What's hard are the in-between times ... what William Bridges calls the "neutral zone": Since a life transition is a kind of buried rite of passage to begin with, a person's life will take on, willy-nilly, symbolic overtones at such times. The value of reflecting on the symbolism and making up little private rituals is not for the sake of ceremony but simply to become more aware of the shape of the natural transition process. Dying, the neutral zone, and rebirth are not ideas that we bring to life; they are phenomena that we find in life. The only trick is to see them -- by looking beyond the reflected light of the familiar surface of things and seeing what is really there, working in the depths. (Transitions)
Lord, on this Holy Saturday, as we remember you within the tomb (between the cross and resurrection) help us to abide and endure our own transitions with hope and faith. Amen.
Friday, April 2, 2010
Suffering Love
How can any good come from this? Certainly a question (more an exclamation!) from the disciples on the day of Jesus crucifixion. Little matter that in Mark's Gospel Jesus told them (at least 3 times) what was coming and what to expect. Little matter that John's Gospel relates the pains that Jesus took to assure them that all would be well.
The empire, the system, the boss, the bishop (whomever) seems to crush us and we forget the heart of the Gospel. Something happens that hurts us; disappoints us; challenges us ... and we cry out: How can any good come from this?
Walter Brueggemann reminds us: Friday, in Christian reckoning, is a null-point wherein the power of God is defeated by the empire of force. But the church has found in that Friday shut-down the transformative work of God, because this God works in and through weakness and vulnerability as the door to new life. It is a Friday truth that suffering love has transformative power that the "executioners" never suspect. (Soujourners, April, 2010)
The old, old story is true. The Lord takes our hurt, our disappointment and even death (in all its manifestations) and transforms them into the new life.
Lord, open doors to new life and refresh our faith on this Good Friday. Amen.
The empire, the system, the boss, the bishop (whomever) seems to crush us and we forget the heart of the Gospel. Something happens that hurts us; disappoints us; challenges us ... and we cry out: How can any good come from this?
Walter Brueggemann reminds us: Friday, in Christian reckoning, is a null-point wherein the power of God is defeated by the empire of force. But the church has found in that Friday shut-down the transformative work of God, because this God works in and through weakness and vulnerability as the door to new life. It is a Friday truth that suffering love has transformative power that the "executioners" never suspect. (Soujourners, April, 2010)
The old, old story is true. The Lord takes our hurt, our disappointment and even death (in all its manifestations) and transforms them into the new life.
Lord, open doors to new life and refresh our faith on this Good Friday. Amen.
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