20 February 2006
Gentle Warning
If any of you out there in webland ever see this man, give him a hug. he is a great guy and likes hugs.
Town 4 Me 0
Last week's Noreaster was great, lots of snow, no church and great drifts. However, the mail box, once again didnt make it. On of the town's plows knocked it right off. In a rush I ran outside to tape it up - it was below 0 with windchill; in fact I thought I had frostbite on a couple of fingers.
While at the hardware store the other day I saw a mailbox brace. hmmm. I bought one and put it up, the hardware about drove me crazy with its holes and bendy metal and the wind again. oh well. i put it up. but will it last? lemme know your prediction.
While at the hardware store the other day I saw a mailbox brace. hmmm. I bought one and put it up, the hardware about drove me crazy with its holes and bendy metal and the wind again. oh well. i put it up. but will it last? lemme know your prediction.
A Report of a Pistol
What a day - when one can commerate America's only ordained president and remember a Johnny Cash song. How? Easy, look to none other than James A. Garfield, the 20th president of this great nation.
Garfield was a Disciple of Christ pastor and the only ordained president, that I know of; subsequently he was also the second president assinated.
Johnny Cash commerated the assination in a fantastic song: Mr. Garfield of
the Johnny Cash Sings Ballads of the True West LP. It is a fun song but one that will stick in your head for days on end, not as bad at the Toe Jam Puppet Band.
Mr Garfield been shot down shot down shot down Mr Garfield been shot down low
Me and my brother was down close to the depot when I heard the report of a pistol
My brother run out and come back in all excited
And I said what was it and he said it was the report of a pistol and then he said
Mr Garfield been shot down shot down shot down Mr Garfield been shot down low
Lord I knew the President was supposed to be at the depot that day
And we just would't believe that he's shot
But we'd run over there and there was so many folks around
That we couldn't see him but some lady was standin' there cryin'
And I said m'am what was it that happened m'am and she said
Mr Garfield been shot down shot down shot down Mr Garfield been shot down low
Well everybody drifted off toward home finally
And they looked like they felt about as bad as I did
But in a few weeks I heard that the President was still alive
And I told my brother I said let's get on that train and go to where he's laid up hurt
Well when we got to his big house up there I asked the fellow
I said who was it that did it who was it that shoot the President
And he said it was Charlie Guiteau that shoot Mr Garfield and I said
Charlie Guiteau done shot down a good man good man
Charlie Guiteau done shot down a good man low
I heard some fellow there that had been in the house to see the President
And I sidled up him to listen to what he was tellin' and he said
Mrs Lucretia Garfield was always at his side
In the heat of the day fannin' him when he was hot
He said that just that day the President said to Mrs Lucretia
He said Crete honey (he called her Crete)
Said if somethin' worse happens to me after awhile you get yourself a good man
And Mrs Lucretia said James (she called him James)
She said I won't hear to that now she said I love you too much but he said
You'll make some good man a good wife good wife
You'll make some man a good good good wife
(Don't pull in single harness all your life good gal
Don't pull in single harness all your life)
That's what he said don't pull in single harness all your life
Well a few days later I come back to where the President was restin'
And it seems everybody was cryin'
The flag was hangin' halfway up to the flagpole in front of the house
And everybody looked so sad and I asked a soldier boy there
And I said is is is Mr Garfield and he said yeah he's gone
Gonna lay him in that cold lonesome ground down low
Gonna lay him in that cold lonesome ground
Well they laid the President by that long cold branch Mr Garfield's been laid down low
Mr Garfield has been shot dow Mr Garfield's been shot
(Mr Garfield been shot down shot down shot down Mr Garfield been shot down low)
Garfield was a Disciple of Christ pastor and the only ordained president, that I know of; subsequently he was also the second president assinated.
Johnny Cash commerated the assination in a fantastic song: Mr. Garfield of
the Johnny Cash Sings Ballads of the True West LP. It is a fun song but one that will stick in your head for days on end, not as bad at the Toe Jam Puppet Band.Mr Garfield been shot down shot down shot down Mr Garfield been shot down low
Me and my brother was down close to the depot when I heard the report of a pistol
My brother run out and come back in all excited
And I said what was it and he said it was the report of a pistol and then he said
Mr Garfield been shot down shot down shot down Mr Garfield been shot down low
Lord I knew the President was supposed to be at the depot that day
And we just would't believe that he's shot
But we'd run over there and there was so many folks around
That we couldn't see him but some lady was standin' there cryin'
And I said m'am what was it that happened m'am and she said
Mr Garfield been shot down shot down shot down Mr Garfield been shot down low
Well everybody drifted off toward home finally
And they looked like they felt about as bad as I did
But in a few weeks I heard that the President was still alive
And I told my brother I said let's get on that train and go to where he's laid up hurt
Well when we got to his big house up there I asked the fellow
I said who was it that did it who was it that shoot the President
And he said it was Charlie Guiteau that shoot Mr Garfield and I said
Charlie Guiteau done shot down a good man good man
Charlie Guiteau done shot down a good man low
I heard some fellow there that had been in the house to see the President
And I sidled up him to listen to what he was tellin' and he said
Mrs Lucretia Garfield was always at his side
In the heat of the day fannin' him when he was hot
He said that just that day the President said to Mrs Lucretia
He said Crete honey (he called her Crete)
Said if somethin' worse happens to me after awhile you get yourself a good man
And Mrs Lucretia said James (she called him James)
She said I won't hear to that now she said I love you too much but he said
You'll make some good man a good wife good wife
You'll make some man a good good good wife
(Don't pull in single harness all your life good gal
Don't pull in single harness all your life)
That's what he said don't pull in single harness all your life
Well a few days later I come back to where the President was restin'
And it seems everybody was cryin'
The flag was hangin' halfway up to the flagpole in front of the house
And everybody looked so sad and I asked a soldier boy there
And I said is is is Mr Garfield and he said yeah he's gone
Gonna lay him in that cold lonesome ground down low
Gonna lay him in that cold lonesome ground
Well they laid the President by that long cold branch Mr Garfield's been laid down low
Mr Garfield has been shot dow Mr Garfield's been shot
(Mr Garfield been shot down shot down shot down Mr Garfield been shot down low)
19 February 2006
Sermon Feb. 19, 2006
This morning the communication between the ibook and the printer didnt work. I preached my sermon from memory. I was all thrown off from the confusion. Anyway here is the sermon I wrote for this morning:
Within the Bounds of Worship
Seventh Sunday after the Epiphany
Exodus 6:1-6; Psalm 4; Mark 5:24b-34
text: “…Be gracious to me and hear my prayer”(Psalm 4:1)
Our worship on Sundays offers us the once-a-week opportunity to place our hearts on the altar, to put our faith on the line, to plead for God’s mercy, to let God have it, and to get down to the business of authentic religious living. We aint got time to waste; there is no room here for empty promises, meaningless platitudes and dusty words. We are here to connect with God, with each other and our true selves.
Everything about our time together should be completely different than anything we do throughout the week. We mark this time differently, it isn’t just February 19, 2006 it is the Seventh Sunday after the Epiphany; it isn’t just a Sunday, it is the Lord’s Day. By demarcating this day and time we hope that together we will get a foretaste of the glory divine, we hope that we will catch a glimpse of kingdom living that will challenge and inspire us, we hope that our hearts will be changed and mended.
To accomplish this we have to change our attitude, surroundings and expectations. That is why we have an order of service. This order can be rearranged and changed in whatever order, but we have to have a beginning, an invocation, and an ending, a benediction. What happens within those bounds the local worshipping community determines due to local customs and tastes. The order is present to guide and direct us to a real and authentic religious experience. What happens within the bounds of worship should cover the complete spectrum of human emotion; we should laugh and cry, praise and lament, forgive and be forgiven, sing and be silent, bless and curse. Worship is not a preconceived, preplanned, or tame event; it is an open, wild and unpredictable spirit-filled experience.
Our primary objective when we gather is to hear, sing, and pray the good news of God in Jesus Christ. We all long to do this or we wouldn’t be here, yet we have such barriers and obstacles to cross before we experience the good news. Christians have labeled the barriers and obstacles as sin, which causes our vision of God who delivers, proclaims and is good news, to be greatly distorted. The bushes may all be burning around us, the smoke from them may fill the air but we are held back. God breaks through the distortion and numbness on occasion to get our attention.
One day while watching sheep in the field God called to Moses from the bush, but Moses failed to perceive exactly what was going on. All God asked Moses to do was to take off his shoes to mark his experience as holy and different. Look at Moses’ response he doesn’t shout for joy that God has spoken to him; instead he hides his face for he was afraid to look. But God never asked Moses to hide his face, God only asked him to honor the experience by taking off his shoes. As soon as Moses hides his face God doesn’t say “Aha finally a human being who gets it.” God said, “I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt.” God has a message of good news; God has a message of liberation to share. God aint got time for Moses to wallow in self-pity; God’s got some good news to release. In worship we are here to be reminded that God is communicating, stretching out to us to redeem us not condemn us. God still has plenty of good news to share; we are still in need of good news. We cannot afford to let sin define who we are. We are sinners yes, but we are so much more than that, we are redeemed – we have been bought with a price on Calvary.
Sin, however, keeps us from truly living like folk who have some good news to share. So once a week we gather and confess our sins. By praying our confession of sins we are coming to terms with our own sin as we willingly and unwillingly sin. No one, I repeat no one, want to think and label himself or herself as a sinner, but we can’t ignore that we sin. I am not here to call you out as a sinner or name your sins for you. We all know that we sin and we all know that our sinful actions we commit cause us to feel suffocated, alienated and estranged from God, our neighbors and ourselves.
As we take the time to confess in prayer both outwardly and inwardly we are not hiding our face from God but are being honest and open in preparation to receive and deliver good news. We cant have sin holding this mission back; there is no room here to lie, kid ourselves or keep secrets, all of which are pathological and destroy all relationships. By praying and confessing we are naming our sins and releasing sin’s power over us. By praying and confessing we are going dealing directly with God who can and does do something about our sin.
Taylor Branch in Parting the Waters: America during the King Years 1954-1963 describes a scene in the life of the young pastor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. after eight weeks of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. After a negotiating meeting with the town council Dr. King left feeling that all was lost, that the eight weeks were null and void. The whites in Montgomery could and would not budge an inch on the issue and he questioned his own leadership. “King buried his face in his hands at the kitchen table. He admitted to himself that he was afraid, that he had nothing left, that the people would falter if they looked to him for strength. Then he said as much out loud. He spoke no name of deity, but his doubts spilled out as a prayer, ending, ‘I’ve come to the point where I can’t face it alone.’ As he spoke these words, the fears suddenly began to melt away. He became intensely aware of what he called an ‘inner voice’ telling him to do what he thought was right. Such simplicity worked miracles, bringing a shudder of relief and the courage to face anything.”
A prayer of confession pushes to the point where we admit and confess that we can’t do it alone. King’s experience is a possibility for all of us if we will take the religious courage to openly confess and seek God’s marvelous grace.
When we reach the point that we cant change ourselves all by ourselves, when we come to terms with our own sin. When we start calling our waywardness, wrongful actions and reliance on the tricks up our sleeves as sin we have intiated the great change towards new life. Barbara Brown Taylor, an Episcopal priest in Georgia, in her book Speaking of Sin says that when we engage in this process,” We have admitted that something is wrong…that we are sick and tired of being sick and tired, that we cant live with this suffocating ache one moment longer, that we are as ready as we will ever be for a whole new self.”
This new self is what the Bible is all about; it is what Christianity is all about. Contrary to what folk say we were not created to be miserable. We were created to be in full communion with God, to be bearers and recipients of good news.
Not every person in the Bible that was ill was healed. Not every person that came to Jesus was healed. There simply wasn’t enough time for Jesus to touch and heal everyone. One person understood this more than any other person: an unnamed woman who had bled for twelve years. She knew that if she could only touch the hem of Jesus’ garment enough love would emanate from it to heal her. And she was right. Jesus instantly could sense that someone had touched him. When the unnamed woman came forward he simply said, “Daughter your faith has made you well, go in peace, and be healed of your disease.” The healing of the unnamed woman is what we are all seeking here in worship and in the Christian walk. We want our deep wounds healed, our sense of meaninglessness taken away and our loneliness replaced with the presence of a loving Savior. Brothers and Sisters these and much more do happen – everyday!
Burning bushes, the small inner voice of God, and healings of diseases can and do happen each day. We gather on Sundays in worship to remind ourselves, to re-create ourselves, and hone our souls to discern this kingdom reality in our everyday lives.
Within the Bounds of Worship
Seventh Sunday after the Epiphany
Exodus 6:1-6; Psalm 4; Mark 5:24b-34
text: “…Be gracious to me and hear my prayer”(Psalm 4:1)
Our worship on Sundays offers us the once-a-week opportunity to place our hearts on the altar, to put our faith on the line, to plead for God’s mercy, to let God have it, and to get down to the business of authentic religious living. We aint got time to waste; there is no room here for empty promises, meaningless platitudes and dusty words. We are here to connect with God, with each other and our true selves.
Everything about our time together should be completely different than anything we do throughout the week. We mark this time differently, it isn’t just February 19, 2006 it is the Seventh Sunday after the Epiphany; it isn’t just a Sunday, it is the Lord’s Day. By demarcating this day and time we hope that together we will get a foretaste of the glory divine, we hope that we will catch a glimpse of kingdom living that will challenge and inspire us, we hope that our hearts will be changed and mended.
To accomplish this we have to change our attitude, surroundings and expectations. That is why we have an order of service. This order can be rearranged and changed in whatever order, but we have to have a beginning, an invocation, and an ending, a benediction. What happens within those bounds the local worshipping community determines due to local customs and tastes. The order is present to guide and direct us to a real and authentic religious experience. What happens within the bounds of worship should cover the complete spectrum of human emotion; we should laugh and cry, praise and lament, forgive and be forgiven, sing and be silent, bless and curse. Worship is not a preconceived, preplanned, or tame event; it is an open, wild and unpredictable spirit-filled experience.
Our primary objective when we gather is to hear, sing, and pray the good news of God in Jesus Christ. We all long to do this or we wouldn’t be here, yet we have such barriers and obstacles to cross before we experience the good news. Christians have labeled the barriers and obstacles as sin, which causes our vision of God who delivers, proclaims and is good news, to be greatly distorted. The bushes may all be burning around us, the smoke from them may fill the air but we are held back. God breaks through the distortion and numbness on occasion to get our attention.
One day while watching sheep in the field God called to Moses from the bush, but Moses failed to perceive exactly what was going on. All God asked Moses to do was to take off his shoes to mark his experience as holy and different. Look at Moses’ response he doesn’t shout for joy that God has spoken to him; instead he hides his face for he was afraid to look. But God never asked Moses to hide his face, God only asked him to honor the experience by taking off his shoes. As soon as Moses hides his face God doesn’t say “Aha finally a human being who gets it.” God said, “I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt.” God has a message of good news; God has a message of liberation to share. God aint got time for Moses to wallow in self-pity; God’s got some good news to release. In worship we are here to be reminded that God is communicating, stretching out to us to redeem us not condemn us. God still has plenty of good news to share; we are still in need of good news. We cannot afford to let sin define who we are. We are sinners yes, but we are so much more than that, we are redeemed – we have been bought with a price on Calvary.
Sin, however, keeps us from truly living like folk who have some good news to share. So once a week we gather and confess our sins. By praying our confession of sins we are coming to terms with our own sin as we willingly and unwillingly sin. No one, I repeat no one, want to think and label himself or herself as a sinner, but we can’t ignore that we sin. I am not here to call you out as a sinner or name your sins for you. We all know that we sin and we all know that our sinful actions we commit cause us to feel suffocated, alienated and estranged from God, our neighbors and ourselves.
As we take the time to confess in prayer both outwardly and inwardly we are not hiding our face from God but are being honest and open in preparation to receive and deliver good news. We cant have sin holding this mission back; there is no room here to lie, kid ourselves or keep secrets, all of which are pathological and destroy all relationships. By praying and confessing we are naming our sins and releasing sin’s power over us. By praying and confessing we are going dealing directly with God who can and does do something about our sin.
Taylor Branch in Parting the Waters: America during the King Years 1954-1963 describes a scene in the life of the young pastor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. after eight weeks of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. After a negotiating meeting with the town council Dr. King left feeling that all was lost, that the eight weeks were null and void. The whites in Montgomery could and would not budge an inch on the issue and he questioned his own leadership. “King buried his face in his hands at the kitchen table. He admitted to himself that he was afraid, that he had nothing left, that the people would falter if they looked to him for strength. Then he said as much out loud. He spoke no name of deity, but his doubts spilled out as a prayer, ending, ‘I’ve come to the point where I can’t face it alone.’ As he spoke these words, the fears suddenly began to melt away. He became intensely aware of what he called an ‘inner voice’ telling him to do what he thought was right. Such simplicity worked miracles, bringing a shudder of relief and the courage to face anything.”
A prayer of confession pushes to the point where we admit and confess that we can’t do it alone. King’s experience is a possibility for all of us if we will take the religious courage to openly confess and seek God’s marvelous grace.
When we reach the point that we cant change ourselves all by ourselves, when we come to terms with our own sin. When we start calling our waywardness, wrongful actions and reliance on the tricks up our sleeves as sin we have intiated the great change towards new life. Barbara Brown Taylor, an Episcopal priest in Georgia, in her book Speaking of Sin says that when we engage in this process,” We have admitted that something is wrong…that we are sick and tired of being sick and tired, that we cant live with this suffocating ache one moment longer, that we are as ready as we will ever be for a whole new self.”
This new self is what the Bible is all about; it is what Christianity is all about. Contrary to what folk say we were not created to be miserable. We were created to be in full communion with God, to be bearers and recipients of good news.
Not every person in the Bible that was ill was healed. Not every person that came to Jesus was healed. There simply wasn’t enough time for Jesus to touch and heal everyone. One person understood this more than any other person: an unnamed woman who had bled for twelve years. She knew that if she could only touch the hem of Jesus’ garment enough love would emanate from it to heal her. And she was right. Jesus instantly could sense that someone had touched him. When the unnamed woman came forward he simply said, “Daughter your faith has made you well, go in peace, and be healed of your disease.” The healing of the unnamed woman is what we are all seeking here in worship and in the Christian walk. We want our deep wounds healed, our sense of meaninglessness taken away and our loneliness replaced with the presence of a loving Savior. Brothers and Sisters these and much more do happen – everyday!
Burning bushes, the small inner voice of God, and healings of diseases can and do happen each day. We gather on Sundays in worship to remind ourselves, to re-create ourselves, and hone our souls to discern this kingdom reality in our everyday lives.
18 February 2006
Toddler Hemorrhoids
THe usual morning routine around goes something like this: breakfast, play then kids on the toilet. I am bit worried about the boy, he loves to sit on the pot and sing and read books for hours on end. He has no signs of irritation but I am sure if this continues that for his next checkup the doctor is going to say that he is the first case of toddler hemorrhoids she has diagnosed in her time as a physician.
17 February 2006
Americans Bad at Math?
Apparently the executives at CBS think that Americans are terrible at mathematics. For seven seasons of Survivor the host Jeff something reads the scores of tribal council as if those watching are complete idiots who cannot keep track votes. Last night after two votes the host read One vote ____ One vote ____. That has always bugged me.
16 February 2006
Sermon Series
Dont tell the Lectionary Police but I am venturing off the lectionary for Lent and doing a sermon series on the Lord's Prayer. Out of seminary I thought the lectionary was the best thing since Buffalo Wing Flavored Pretzels. But after five/six years of the lectionary and greater knowledge of where the congregation is at I decided to break from the guided lections. For Lent I asked folk to submit their burning religious questions. Interestingly they all revolved or directly touched the petitions in the Lord's Prayer, so I am doing a series on the Lord's Prayer. The Lenten-Easter Season works out great.
Ash Wednesday - Our Father who art in heaven
1st Sunday of Lent - Hallowed be thy name
2nd Sunday of Lent - Thy Kingdom Come
3rd Sunday of Lent - Thy will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven
4th Sunday of Lent - Give us this day our daily bread
5th Sunday of Lent - and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors
Palm Sunday - and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil
Easter - for thine is the kingdom and power and glory forever. Amen.
So well see.
Ash Wednesday - Our Father who art in heaven
1st Sunday of Lent - Hallowed be thy name
2nd Sunday of Lent - Thy Kingdom Come
3rd Sunday of Lent - Thy will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven
4th Sunday of Lent - Give us this day our daily bread
5th Sunday of Lent - and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors
Palm Sunday - and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil
Easter - for thine is the kingdom and power and glory forever. Amen.
So well see.
JOB
A couple of weeks ago I began a class on the Book of Job, taught by Dr. Gregory Mobley. I have always liked the book of Job, maybe because it read more like a play than any other biblical book, maybe because it seems like a work on constructive theology; the speeches by the friends, Job and God all show how theological work is done -that is if you believe theological thoughts emerge mainly from arguments rather than agreements. I would have to believe the arugment clause, that seems where most baptistic thoughts came from.
13 February 2006
An Idea for a Restaurant Commercial
Last week I bought a couple of Sirloin steaks for dinner. tonight I cooked them. Simple recipe, salted heavily and wrapped in plastic wrap for a couple of hours, then rinsed and dried, then oiled with evoo salt and peppered and there you go. I bought 'em because we couldn't go out this week or next week. I knew I could make the steaks as good as the restaurant, if not better. However, I cant replicate the experience. Soon after I cut the steak, dressed my potato and opened a Sam Adams Light the kids came running in wanting a piece of bread, then the boy took a night light out, then the boy bumped his nose, then the girl wanted her shade pulled down. After all of these I looked at the wife and said this is why we go out.
The commercial: You can replicate the meal, show me bringing in the steak on a plate and gussied up table. But you can't replicate the experience, show us at the restaurant eating in peace and quiet (flash the kids running around or wallowing us).
The commercial: You can replicate the meal, show me bringing in the steak on a plate and gussied up table. But you can't replicate the experience, show us at the restaurant eating in peace and quiet (flash the kids running around or wallowing us).
08 February 2006
Switching Teams, Nah
Occasionally, about once a month or so, I entertain the notions of switching from the Baptist team to the Episcopal or even the Presbyterian team. But then there is the whole 2 year process of becoming "re-ordained" which really bugs me then the whole anglicization process, blah, blah, blah.
Yet I keep finding rich resources in my own tradition that stand up and yell "Hey take a lookie over here" I do and am delightfully joyed.
This week at the funeral service of Coretta Scott King I was once again reminded of why I am Baptist and the rich resources of this particular tradition. There on the stage with four presidents, 14 senators, and with a nation watching African-American Baptist preachers, okay Rev. Lowery is a Methodist, kept to the prophetic proclamtion of peace, civil rights and justice. It was amazing, tear-bearing, inspiring. Then there was good ole Jimmy Carter oh so slyely slipping in the importance of the continual fight against racism in this country (I liked watching W squirm.) All of this in a 6 hour funeral service!!
That night I went and picked up Parting the Waters by Taylor Branch and vowed to start from the beginning and finish it. While reading I found another subtle reminder of great baptistdom: Howard Thurman and Mordacai Wyatt Johnson - both Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School graduates.
Yet I keep finding rich resources in my own tradition that stand up and yell "Hey take a lookie over here" I do and am delightfully joyed.
This week at the funeral service of Coretta Scott King I was once again reminded of why I am Baptist and the rich resources of this particular tradition. There on the stage with four presidents, 14 senators, and with a nation watching African-American Baptist preachers, okay Rev. Lowery is a Methodist, kept to the prophetic proclamtion of peace, civil rights and justice. It was amazing, tear-bearing, inspiring. Then there was good ole Jimmy Carter oh so slyely slipping in the importance of the continual fight against racism in this country (I liked watching W squirm.) All of this in a 6 hour funeral service!!
That night I went and picked up Parting the Waters by Taylor Branch and vowed to start from the beginning and finish it. While reading I found another subtle reminder of great baptistdom: Howard Thurman and Mordacai Wyatt Johnson - both Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School graduates.
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