Sunday Sermon- November 8, 2009

“Healing Hospitality”
Genesis 18:1-5, Mark 2:1-12, Romans 12:9-16
November 8, 2009
First Christian Church
Minneapolis, MN

While I was a student at Michigan State University, I became friends with three other people. We began a good relationship during my sophomore year and we started gathering weekly for prayer. It was a great time of sharing our lives with each other. It created a friendships that lasted long after college ended.

All of us were friends with an other person by the name of Chris. Chris was an agnostic and many of us had spiritual conversations with him. I remember one night he entered the room where we were praying. All of the sudden, the very smooth flowing nature of the group suddenly became frosty. Chris noticed how rigid we were. He could tell that he wasn’t welcomed and ended up making an excuse and leaving the room. We went back to our conversation.

A few days later, I was walking with Chris from class and Chris ended up confronting me on what had happened. “You say your are Christians,” he said, “ but then why didn’t you welcome me that night?”

I was stumped and ashamed. He had cut right to heart of the matter: here we were, supposedly loving followers of Jesus, and we had basically cut off someone who was curious about Jesus. We were not being hospitable.

That whole experience taught me about hospitality. What I learned is that as a follower of Jesus, how we treat people matters.

Today’s sermon is about hospitality. Now you are probably wonder what in the world does hospitality have to do with evangelism. As I was preparing this sermon, I decided to ask a few friends via Facebook to define hospitality. Here is what a few people said:

Inviting and accepting everyone into the group... making them feel welcome. Offering them my seat, while I stand or sit on the floor. Giving them my plate of food, while I have a cup of water instead.

Being a friend rather than being friendly. Opening the door to the poor, the sick, the disenfranchised. Opening the door to all who are different from ourselves. To me it means the same outside the church as it does inside the church.

Inviting, welcoming and generously serving the needs of others. Seems to apply both inside and outside the context of a church.

I also remember a time when my pastor had to call down our congregation during worship. Seems when a visitor would appear and try to take a seat in our frequently full sanctuary, oftentimes a member would say, "That seat's saved." John had to remind us--because so many of us hadn't had the experience in years--how difficult it is for someone to come visit a strange new church, without us making it harder by keeping them from finding a place to sit. He said, "No more saving seats in church."

The story in Genesis has Abraham meeting three strangers who basically walk up to old Abe one day. Immediately, he welcomed these strangers in and the scrpiture records how trouble he went into to make these strangers welcomed. What Abraham didn’t know is that these three people were two angels and God. He did all this without knowing that God was in his midst.

Then there is the story in Mark where four men are trying to bring their friend who is paralyzed to see Jesus. But they can’t get in. You would think that would be a signal to give up, but they got up on the roof and lowered their friend down to Jesus, who forgives him of his sin and heals him.

The stories in the Bible and the answer I heard on Facebook told me that hospitality is more than being a nice to people. It’s a process of being open, open to God, and open to those that we meet in our daily walk. It’s more than making sure visitors know where the bathroom is located, but about making a space where people can be who they are and where they are welcomed to God’s Table. Hospitality is not about doing the church doing something as much as it is about the church being something in the world.

Let’s look back at that first story in Genesis. Now, if most of us saw a couple of strangers come up to us, I’m pretty sure that none of us would be as friendly to these gentlemen. We don’t know who they are and they might be out to do us harm. And sometimes in church, we tend to do that as well. We want to be welcoming, but it has to be on our terms. We don’t go out of our way in trying to please our guests.

Or it could be that we are concerned about those people. They maybe different from us, from different race or economic background. But in keeping our distance from strangers, in not making them feel at home, we missing what God as to say to us. The reason is that those strangers in one way or another is God coming in one form. God might be speaking from this person and we miss seeing what God is up in the world.

Maybe the most basic rule of hospitality is being open to God. We have to have hearts that are willing to be open to God and what God is doing in the world. Too often we get trapped in customs and traditions that might be keeping us from hearing God.

Hospitality means wondering what God is up to in the world. Because God is not just found here on a Sunday morning, but is out there in the world and we are called to join in the Misseo Dei or mission of God.

In hearing all those responses on Facebook, what I learned is that hospitality is not something we do to get more members. If we think that we need to be nice in order to get more people in the pews, well, that is not biblical hospitality. Hospitality is about being the church. Let God worry about bringing more people in the church. What people out there wonder is if the church really cares about them. They aren’t looking to join a church, but they are looking for authentic people who welcome people and love and serve others as Christ did.

So then what is hospitality in the context of First Christian Church? Well, it’s when I hear of Warren and Karen Westphal as they stand and hand out brochures to people at Gay Pride showing that followers of Jesus love gay and lesbian people. It’s when several families here go on Saturday and cook a meal for the homeless at St. Stephen’s shelter. It’s when people like the Hesanos take part in building a house for Habitat for Humanity or when Deb Murphy starts a Children’s Sunday School class making the Little Ones that Jesus talked about feel welcome. Hospitality is about showing the love of Jesus in action to our neighbors and our friends.

Now, this doesn’t get people off the hook for inviting people to church. But it does put it into context. If we are talking about Jesus, but not welcoming the poor, or those of different races and nationalities, then what we have to say means nothing.

When someone enters the door of this church, we not only see God in their eyes, but they see God in us. Or can they? Are we open to welcoming people into our lives, not simply into membership?

What Chris taught my two decades ago, is that I was not open to God’s prompting. Here was a man wondering about Jesus and we told him Jesus was not interested in him. When we meet our co-workers, and friends and families, will be willing to be like Abraham and welcome them in as if they were family?

First Christian, I don’t think you’re done yet at a community. If we are open to what God is up to out there, then we can get ready for a wonderful journey. So let us get ready to welcome the world and welcome Christ- with arms wide open.

Thanks be to God. Amen.

John Elder Robison

One of the books that helped me as I was coming to terms with having Aspergers, was Look Me In the Eye, by John Elder Robison. It didn't hurt that John is the older brother of one of my favorite writers, Augusten Burroughs.

Below is a clip about John and Augusten from the Today Show.

I Think I Can, I Think I Can...

I've recently noticed something about myself in relation to my having Aspergers. I tend to be someone that can be doggedly persistent about something. Where as others can be focused on something for a while and then give up, I tend to persist...and persist.

For example, whenever I've been without work, I've been dillegent in looking for work. I'm basically running like clockwork.

At church, I've noticed that others don't tend to have much hope the church will continue. Even though there are those that I think want change, because others tend to not be that interested in changing there is a sense that there is no hope and that we should just learn to die well.

Now, they could just be realistic. However, in my view, I tend to think that if there are some people that want change, then you just keep at it and ignore those who don't want to change.

In the whole conversation, I've been the one that seems to be the one that wants to damn all the naysayers and keep trying. I want to believe that God is not done with First Christian and that if we are just open to what God is saying, a miracle will happen. Even the Senior Pastor based on the evidence is not hopeful the church will survive.

Maybe they are all correct and I'm all wet.

When I was leading Community of Grace, I held on to that project with all my stregnth. I did finally give up and closed the ministry, but I still look back and think I didn't try hard enough.

I'm hardly an Pollyana. But I think because my Aspie brain is so focused, I can't really see other options. Of course that can be a bad thing. Sometimes you have to see other options and understand that what we want and hope for might not come true.

But I also think it has a good side. As I journey within mainline Protestantism, I tend to see a lot of what I would call defeatism. We look backward at the past and long for the "good 'ol days" when the pews were full. We look at our small flock and think there is no hope.

But what if the church saw things like someone with Aspergers? What if we were single-focused on doing God's will in our particular setting? What if we believed all those stories told to us about how God took all those "uncool" people like Gideon and performed a mighty deed?

My brain is wired in a way that I'm a doer. I might not be the best person socially, but I can do the work required. I really do believe with faith in God and hard work, there are still good days ahead for First Christian.

Maybe I'm an idiot, but I don't think God is done with First Christian in Minneapolis. I have to believe that God is just waiting for us to know that we still have much to give to the service of God's kingdom.

I think we can, I think we can...

Unbinding Your Heart: Day One

Today's text was Psalm 139:

To the leader. Of David. A Psalm.
1O Lord, you have searched me and known me.
2You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from far away.
3You search out my path and my lying down,
and are acquainted with all my ways.
4Even before a word is on my tongue,
O Lord, you know it completely.
5You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is so high that I cannot attain it.


7Where can I go from your spirit?
Or where can I flee from your presence?
8If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
9If I take the wings of the morning
and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
10even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me fast.
11If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light around me become night’,
12even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is as bright as the day,
for darkness is as light to you.

As I've been meditating on this passage, what struck me is that God knows me. ALL of me. And yet God loves me.

One the questions today is how I know God. I can remember musing about the nature of God when I was a kid, but it was an event in my early adulthood that really made me aware that God is here. I will share that later.

Right now, I am just reveling in the fact that I can't hide from God and inspite of knowing all of me, God loves me anyway. Quite amazing.

Unbinding Your Heart

Beginning today, First Christian goes on a faith journey. Back during Lent, the church took part in Unbinding the Gospel. For those not in the know, this is one of series of books written by Martha Gay Reese, a Disciples Pastor who has a heart for igniting or starting the passion for evangelism in the Mainline Protestant Church. Being that First is a quintessential Mainline Protestant Church, this is right up our alley.

For the next six weeks, we as a church are taking part in the next phase of this project which is called, Unbinding Your Heart. One of the things we will be doing is daily prayer and also sharing our faith. So, during that time, I will use my blog as part journal and part faith sharing. I will be shortly posting something on my own faith story and why it matters that I am a Christian. So, feel free to follow along!

Support Me in the Minneapolis CROP Walk!

I'm walking in the CROP Hunger Walk. The CROP Walk has been something First Christian has participated in for a long time. After a few years off, we are doing this again.

I and hopefully a few others will be walking on October 11 at Augsburg College in Minneapolis. Part of the proceeds from this walk will help fund Groveland Foodshelf's Youth Program.

So why am I doing this when I could be using my precious Sunday afternoon to take a nap? Because CROP Hunger Walks help children and families worldwide -- and right here in the U.S. -- to have food for today, while building for a better tomorrow. Each year some 2 million CROP Walkers, volunteers, and sponsors put their caring into action, raising over $16 million per year to help end hunger and poverty around the world -- and in their own communities.

I'm also doing it to help Groveland Foodshelf. This is a ministry First has been involved with since the Foodshelf began back in the mid 70s. Part of the monies raised will help their program to feed at-risk youth. No kid should go hungry and I want to do waht I can to make a difference.

So, yeah, this is where I ask you to consider giving a donation. I know that times are tight and money is even tighter, but I am asking those who can to give whatever you can to help the "least of these." You can donate online by going here. And if you live in the Twin Cities and have nothing to do on Sunday afternoon, please join me and others from First Christian as we walk and help the vulnerable in our midst.

Thanks!

Why Pastors and Churches Ignore Social Media

For those of you in Disciplesland, Bruce Reyes-Chow is the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church (USA). He's a pastor of a new church start in San Francisco, and has become one of the leading voices in Presbyterian circles on social media. A while back, he wrote a great post breaking down the excuses used by churches about social media. Here is an example:

I often hear about those we are leaving behind by using all this technology. And while I love and respect those who have paved the way, to tell you the truth, I think that at some level if let out future be driven by those we may "leave behind," we are basically saying that those within the church are more important that those outside. Those of us who have reaped the benefits of our church heritage to this point should be falling over ourselves in order to reach people of a new technological worldview. My gratitude for the church in my life should open me up to the possibilities no matter how much I may not understand it. And don't get me started on class issues. People of all economic classes are using it technology and social media. Lets just be real about who we are protecting and are allowing to continue to drive the normative reality of church culture: it is those who are comfortable with the way the church serves them now and leadership who simply want to continue the status quo in serving them.

I've been using social media at First for a while now. We have a Facebook Page, a Twitter account, a blog and a Flickr page. I think all these are important. At times, I wonder if anyone is paying attention to those venues. I want to believe people are. And the thing is with social media, there are a lot of "lurkers" out there, watching and maybe waiting.

Anyway, what social media does is allow churches to tell a story...their story, Christ's story. People who are looking for a church can go to a webpage to see what is the story of that church. What is going on in that building in Minneapolis? Well, social media allows people to see what is going on, to see how we are following Jesus.

So that's why First Christian, Minneapolis is on social media. Why is your church using social media? Why isn't it?

Why Do Disciples in Minnesota Suck?

I've been trying to rein in my Aspie tendency to be incredibly blunt. So far, I've done a good job.

But I think I need to be blunt for just one moment.

I don't mean to be down on my own denomination, but I do think that here in Minnesota we Disciples just suck. I'm really starting to believe in a few years there will be no Disciple churches in Minnesota.

Why do I saw that Disciples suck? Because over the last few years, I've encountered frustrated pastors, lay people who leave Disciple congregations for other churches, a defeatist attitude, and a lack of willingness to be change agents. I keep wondering if Disciples here in the North Star state really care about the future of Discipledom. If we don't then we should just close up shop.

Take for example the fact that there are a fair number of Disciples that have left Disciple churches. Why is that? Do we ask those questions? What can we do to bring them back?

I don't mean to sound harsh, but I get frustrated in the lack of new ideas, of a willingness to think outside of the box. In many cases, I feel that we Disciples are stuck in doing church as it was in the 1950s. This was a time when the culture was nominally Christian and there was a certain way to do worship. But we don't live in that culture anymore and people under the age of 40 are looking for something different in a church, if they are looking at church at all.

I also get frustrated at the lack of diversity among Minnesota Disciples. We are still amazing white. I don't there is overt racism, but it would be nice if we had more people who looked like me in our churches. I would also love if we tried to find ways to plant more ethnic churches in the Twin Cities. We have a lot to learn from our Lutheran sisters and brothers that are busy planting Hispanic, Chinese, Hmong and countless other immigrant congregations in the area.

I also find myself frustrated at time of those who leave. Did they try to share their on complaints? Maybe they did, but it seems like they just took their toys and left. I wish they could put their anger into developing new ways of being a Disciple in the 21st century.

Now I love the church I am currently serving at, and I love the people there. I also love the many Disciples that are found in the other congregations, many that I know and have worshipped with. But I feel that there is a lack of the Spirit found among us. We seem to be without hope.

I would like to see a Pentecost experience happen among of the Disciples of Minnesota- an outpouring of the Spirit. I want to see the young having visions and the old dreaming dreams. I want to see a revival, a people who are not looking back at the good old days, but faithfully forward into the future. I want to see us dreaming of new ways to share the good news of Jesus.

I love my fellow Minnesota Disciples, but we need to wake up and stop sleeping. I pray that the Holy Spirit will awake our souls. Come, Holy Spirit, Come!

What if Starbucks Were Like A Church?

In response to my last post, I wanted to share this video about what would happen if Starbucks were marketed like the church. I can give you a quick summation: Starbucks would be filing for bankuptcy. Kinda what mainline churches are doing these days.



Thanks to Rebecca Woods over at Disciples World for the tip.

First Christian Church of Starbucks

Everyday before I go to work, I stop at Starbucks to get coffee. It's a habit, but I could think of worse things to get addicted to.

I've stumbled over a series of posts about the "Green Apron Book" a book given to baristas at the chain. It lists these five values:

1. Be Welcoming: Offer everyone a sense of belonging
2. Be Genuine: Connect, discover, respond
3. Be Knowledgeable: Love what you do. Share it with others.
4. Be Considerate: Take care of yourself, each other, and the environment.
5. Be Involved: In the store, in the company, and in the community.

The question all these other blogs ask is, what if the church were marketed like Starbucks? One blogger cuts to the chase:

it occurs to me why many churches are in decline. Because we have Starbucks! Starbucks tries to be everything to your community that your church used to be. They attempt to offer a sense of community, belonging, caring people, civic responsibility, genuine relationships, and enriching experiences. They basically offer everything but Jesus (which is the one thing in the church's favor).

It's kinda sad that the church is losing out to a coffee chain.

I've been thinking about how these principles could relate to my church. What if First Christian made the Green Apron Book it's mission statement? What if we stopped just talking about wanting to change and just did this for a month? Would we?

Sunday Sermon: October 4, 2009

“All in the Family”
Mark 10:2-16, Genesis 2:15-3:21
World Communion Sunday
October 4, 2009
First Christian Church
Minneapolis, MN

I can remember the date well…it was January 4, 1978. I was seven years old at the time. I remember on that evening, my Uncle Pablo came to the door and my mother answered. Pablo announced that he had come home from work to find his wife and his children gone. He found out that his wife of seven years had left him.

That night was the first time I had come face to face with divorce. For the next few years, Pablo, his wife and my three cousins dealt with all the lows that comes when a relationship ends. They divorced officially a year later, but the scars remained, and in 1982, Pablo’s ex-wife moved along with the kids to California. Being an only child, my three cousins were like my sisters and brothers. Now, they were gone. For Pablo, the pain was worse: his children were hundreds of miles away in another part of the country. While he would see them on occasion over the years, it would never be like it was.

I don’t have to tell many of you about the pain divorce can bring, especially when children are involved. Many of you have experienced it either in your own life or in the lives of your children. Sometimes the divorce is needed, such as a woman leaving an abusive relationship. But there is always sadness of the promise of love that ends in heartache.

Today is World Communion Sunday, a day when Christians around the globe celebrate the Lord’s Supper together as one. It is a reminder that in a world where there is division and barriers, we are called to be a people that communes together, that strives to live for others.

In the Scriptures we heard today, we hear a lot about the importance of relationships. In Genesis, we hear the story of Adam and Eve, where God creates a mate for Adam who was lonely. In Mark, Jesus makes a strong case against divorce and the destruction of relationships. He also adds in there that we are to come to Jesus as a little child or we can forget about understanding the kingdom of God.

It would be easy to use these verses to support some practices that are not very helpful to the wider community. For example, one could say that divorce is against God and force women to stay in relationships where they are being abused. The story of Adam and Eve can be reduced to a statement for heterosexual marriage and against same-sex marriage.
But I don’t think that is what either of these verses are talking about. What both passages seem to be saying is the importance God places on relationships. When you read the Genesis text, you see Adam in good relationship with Eve and both are in relationship with God. What has been commonly called the Fall causes the bonds of relationship to be broken. Humans would find it hard to care for each other and to have a relationship with God.

And that’s why Jesus isn’t so gung-ho on divorce. Jesus is not saying that divorce is a sin and should never be done, but that it is a reminder of the brokenness of humanity, that we frequently break our bonds and commitments with each other.

So what in the world do these verses have to do with those of sitting here today? Well, it has a lot to do with us especially in the arena of what I like to call “evangelism without words” or hospitality.

Hospitality is an important theme in the bible. Part of that comes from the fact that living in a desert meant that that treated strangers with kindness was a matter of life and death. If a guy living out in the desert and he refused to give water to some strangers who happened to stop by, you were basically digging their graves.

In the gospel text for last week, Jesus says that if anyone causes the little ones to stumble, they should start cutting off parts of their bodies or drown themselves. For Jesus relationship was important and the gathered community was doing things that caused others to lose faith, well, that was a serious thing.

Hospitality is a strange thing in that it asks us to be form a bond with people we have never met, or think less of. Jesus got annoyed when the disciples were shooing away the children. He welcomed the kids. He wanted a relationship with even children who can be, umm, kids at times.

How hospitable are you? How hospitable is this church? How we welcome the stranger tells speaks volumes about what we believe. Do we welcome kids? Do we welcome gays and lesbians? Do we welcome those who speak a different language or are of another race or background? What about those dealing with a disability? Some of you might be tempted to say that we do a good enough job, but I want you to really think about that. Look around you here at church. Does the layout of the church, the signage and other parts of the church welcome the stranger or do they say, “go away?”

I am reminded of the work of Deb Murphy who wanted to do something for children. I am excited to see her use her passion of the arts to tell the story of God and God’s creation to a new generation. That’s show hospitality to the little ones.
I want to end this with another story. During the summer of 1990, I had the chance to intern with the congressman that represented my district in Michigan. That meant that I got to spend the summer in Washington, DC working on Capitol Hill. I can say that summer rocked. Along the way, I met a few people that became friends. One such person was a guy named Dan who hailed from Arkansas. I remember one Sunday trying to figure out how to get to specific church in the Virginia suburbs, since I didn’t bring my car. Out of the blue, Dan allows me to borrow his car. I was kind of surprised that someone would trust me with his car, but he did. I was amazed by his hospitality. What I found interesting was that about twenty years prior to this meeting, we might have never met. He was a white kid from the South; I was a black kid from the North. And yet, here we were, and he was letting me borrow his car.

I never forgot his act of hospitality. Maybe that’s why we still are friends 20 years later.

Then there is the recent experience I encountered during my trip to Puerto Rico. We went to visit my mother’s cousin, Laura. She is in her late 80s and has some severe health issues. We had a good time visiting. After a while she wanted to offer us lunch. A neighbor lady had made some pastels, a Puerto Rican dish and she wanted to serve them to us. Now pastels are made up of plantain, which is a banana like plant as well as chickpeas and usually pork. They get wrapped up in banana skins and then frozen for later use. To serve them to us meant that Laura had to boil water to defrost them, a lot of work for a woman not in good health. My mother kept saying that she didn’t have to do this, but Laura insisted. In the end, my Mom and Dad, my partner Daniel and myself were eating the pastels.

Laura did not have to do this. She is not a healthy woman and all we wanted to do is just say hello. But hospitality was important to her, even in her state. She sacrificed her comfort to make us feel at home.

God calls us into relationship, even with those that we don’t know. God knows we will fall short, but we are still called into making friends with strangers.

So as we go back into our offices, schoolrooms and cubicles, let’s show some kindness and hospitality to others. As we come to church every Sunday, let us remember the stranger and make them feel at home. Let us welcome them to the Table, and let us invite them to the Feast. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Heaven Is the Face

Back in the day, I was big fan of Steven Curtis Chapman. As I got older and away from college, I tended to move away from the evangelical Christianity of my youth towards mainline Protestant Christianity, and that meant listened to a lot less contemporary Christian music.

But even though I don't listen to it as much anymore, I still do every so often. Chapman is one of those singers I've enjoyed even if I don't always agree with his theology.

His latest single is a song that was written in the aftermath of losing his daughter in a freak accident a year ago. Below is a slideshow of this new song called "Heaven Is the Face" where he sings that heaven is not always so far away.

Where Am I Going? Hell If I Know.

This summer, I started a morning prayer time before worship. As church things go, it was moderately successful, especially for the summer.

I've been wondering if I want to continue it into the fall and I have this gut sense to keep on going, but I want to do it a bit differently. I really want it to be a time of coming before God in prayer and silence. I want some time where people can simply experience God.

I've been thinking about using a variety of materials that are out there, especially from the emergent community. I'm thinking of using the Missio Dei Breviary for some Sundays, maybe the Emergent Psalter on other Sundays, and definitely the Painted Prayerbook.

Of course, I am doing this in typical aspie fashion: just doing it.

I can't logically explain why I'm doing this, just that I see a need for it and well, this might seem selfish, but I need it. I need a time to be quiet and enter mystery.

Now comes the hard part: getting people interested in participating. I'm not that good in drawing people to events (my lack of a charismatic personality).

Well, if God is leading me to this, then maybe I will leave that to God.

Feel free to share any ideas!

We All Fall Down

The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports this morning that the pastor of a new church start in the Southern suburbs of the Twin Cities was arrested in a prostitution ring.

Looking at the church website, one can see that this church tends to be on the more evangelical side, which I can imagine will cause some schadenfreude among my fellow mainline Protestants. In fact I have already heard about how "these churches" are the ones that condemn gay folks and then turn around and are involved in sex scandals.

Others might make fun of this pastor, but I won't.

Maybe it's because I came from an evangelical background, I dunno, but I don't think this is an occasion to gloat. Nothing on the church website seems to say anything anti-gay, and even if it did, I am thinking more about the hurt this has caused than about laughing about the downfall of a conservative Christian.

I think about the family of the pastor that has to deal with all of this. I think about this new church community, including those who might be new to the Christian faith, who have had their faith damaged because of this. Sexual scandals involving pastors tend to have a damaging effect on faith communities, and these people need our prayers, NOT our laughter.

I also have to add that in the years since I've been a pastor, I have been aware of people who got into situations where they slipped up sexually. It affects everyone, be they liberal or conservative. There is a reason that middle judicatories have boundary training- to make people aware of situations where pastors might be compromised. Being in such a position of power makes us susceptible to breaking boundaries.

To make fun of this is to not love others and is plainly un-Christian.

All Are Welcome

Being a Disciple living in Minnesota, you tend to encounter a lot of Lutherans. MANY Lutherans. Since I went to a Lutheran Seminary, and fell in love with the son of a Lutheran pastor, it's fair to say that I know a few Lutherans.

And I happen to know a lot of gay Lutherans. My first boyfriend, Erik is a life-long Lutheran that I met in seminary. Erik was basically not able to go through ordination because he is gay and in a relationship which was the rule in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Same goes for my friend Brenda, who graduated seminary and has been waiting and waiting for the church to make up its mind.

And today, the ELCA finally did make up its mind and voted to allow gay men and lesbians in committed relationships to be clergy.

The vote leaves the decision up to individual churches and synods and gives room for those who don't agree.

This means that people like Erik and Brenda can now go through the process that leads to ordination. It also means that another friend of mine, Mary is now officially the pastor of the congregation she has served for six years in violation of the rules. (The synod had listed the church as officially "vacant," without a pastor.)

I am reminded of the hymn written by Marty Haugen called "All Are Welcome." Here is the first verse:

Let us build a house
where love can dwell
And all can safely live,
A place where
saints and children tell
How hearts learn to forgive.

Built of hopes and dreams and visions,
Rock of faith and vault of grace;
Here the love of Christ shall end divisions;

All are welcome, all are welcome,
All are welcome in this place.

Today, the ELCA lived up to that song. Amen!

"Adam"

My partner and I went to see "Adam" at a local arthouse theatre just outside of Minneapolis last week. For those who are not in the know, Adam is a movie about a young man that has Aspergers. It was a good movie in many ways. While the whole thing of being someone with Aspergers is the main part of the movie, it isn't in-your-face and it was a very good portrayal unlike "Mozart and the Whale" which was another movie that came out a few years ago about two people with Aspergers.

My beef with "Mozart" is that it tended to see Aspergers as something more like a mental illness where as "Adam" seemed to "get it." You could tell the people behind the film really did their homework on what it is to live like a person with with Aspergers.

Maybe the best thing was that it helped my partner understand what it is to be an Aspie. Adam's traits were far more pronounced than mine are, but there were some similiarities.

If the movie is playing in your town, please go see it, especially if you don't have Aspergers. It will help you deal with those Aspies you will meet along the way.

The Trials of Being an Aspie Pastor

I've had this nagging idea that has been rattling in my mind for several months. It's the idea of trying to start an early morning worship service (early as in 8:30am). I'm a worship geek by nature and love putting together services as much as taking part in them. No doubt, I could do a good job in putting a service together and I know I could do a kick-ass job leading worship (can one say "kick-ass" in post on worship?). But there remains one problem:

How can a pastor with Aspergers, get people to come to worship? How can he invite them? How does someone who has trouble connecting with people socially be an evangelist?

In the years since my ordination, I've come to learn how "social" being a pastor is. I've learned to do that, but in some case it tends to be hit and miss. I feel in someways like Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation. In his quest to be human, he tends to learn the ways to be human, but his application always falls short of the mark.

When I started Community of Grace (the new church plant), I was good at getting the bulletins together and putting the worship service together. I was good at all the technical skills. But of course, to be an effective church planter, you need people who are...well, people-persons. I was not, and to be the head pastor, you kind of have to be.

Looking back over the years, making friends was always hard and let's not get started on dating. Sometimes I feel it's a near miracle that I found someone who can deal with all my quirks.

Even in this age of Twitter and Facebook, much of what goes on in life is till face-to-face. So, if I want to tell the story of salvation more often than not, I have to be able to do in-person.

But back to the morning service. I would love to do it, but how do I get the word our to new people? Any ideas, people?

In Search of Disciples Indentity

I am not what they would call a "cradle Disciple," someone who was born and raised in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). I found the Disciples about a decade ago. At this point, having been ordained and now serving in a Disciples church, I can say that I am fully Disciple, for what that's worth. But back in my seminary days, I really struggled with what it meant to be a Disciple, if it meant anything at all.

I went to a Lutheran seminary, here in Minnesota- the heart of Lutheranism in America. So, being at the Lutheran version of Mecca, where there were few non-Lutherans, you were challenged on what you believed. I remember learning about how Lutherans approached theology and studied up on Reformed Theology, but when it came to my own tradition, I was a bit lost. What did we believe? How did that shape our way of being? What did it matter that we were Disciples?

More than once, I thought about leaving the Disciples, simply because I didn't know what my tradition believed and I wanted some sense of identity.

I do remember reading two books, Disciples and the Bible and Disciples and Theology, which did help me immensely in understanding the Disciples. I can also credit having Jan Linn in my midst. Jan is the pastor of Spirit of Joy Christian Church in the southern suburbs of the Twin Cities and an emminent Disciples scholar.

But I still lacked solid grounding in Disciples heritage.

Recently, I was in a meeting where people brought up the fact that the congregation did not do a good job of describing who Disciples were. The common refrain people hear from Disciples is the errorneous viewpoint that we are free to believe in whatever we want. Even I have been guilty of saying that we are tolerant and open to a wide range of views, which said very little about who we are.

I am beginning to believe that one reason Disciples are in such a bad lot in regards to our size these days is because we do a bad job in telling people who we are. When someone comes to one of our congregations, they want to know a bit about us. They want to understand where we are coming from.

But the thing is, in many cases we don't have much to say. And I suspect with such a shallow ground, people go elsewhere.

I know that these days, "brand loyalty" doesn't mean as much to people as it once did. There are few and fewer cradle Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Baptists and the like. But even though people move from tradition to tradition, that doesn't mean that Disciples can be lax. In these postmodern days, identity means a lot and people want to know what is it that they are getting into. If it can't be defined in some way, they will go elsewhere.

I am thankful for the new book by Linn and Michael Kinnamon that tackles Disciples Identity. If this wonderful movement is going to continue, we have to start knowing who we are.

Quit Yer Complaining!

As someone with Asperger's I am always puzzled by people in that they never mean what they say. And one place where that is the case is in the church.

Over the last few years, I've had conversations with lay people where much is made about what is wrong with the church, or their church. In most of the cases, I could agree with them. What is interesting, is that while these people are good at pinpointing the problem, they are terrible in offering a solution.

More to the point, they don't seem interested in offering a solution. They can point to a solution, but they have no interest in putting the time into said solutions.

I've wondered a lot about that. If they know what the answer might be, why aren't they doing it?

As a pastor, sometimes it feels that you are working on your own. As much as we Protestants, and especially Disciples like to talk about the high regard we give to the Laity, most of us still believe it is up to the clergy to get things done. It's not a big surprise that pastors tend to burnout, distrustful of the church.

Part of me wonders if people in the pews feel powerless to really make any change. Maybe those who do have ideas and spark are afraid that they will be swatted down by pastors who fear their power is being taken away, or members that like things the way they are.

In my less charitable moments, I wonder if it is because they like to complain, but don't really care about making a difference. It's fun to be the one pointing out all the flaws. Better than getting down and dirty and trying to solve and issue or find ways to help revitalize a ministry.

I don't know. All I do know is that as someone once said, it would be nice to have people stop talking about what's wrong with the church and actually staring being the church.

Okay, my rant is done for now.

Happy Days

Sometime in the 1970s, I remember watching the TV show "Happy Days" and wondering aloud, what made the 1950s happy days. My mother remarked, that I would look upon the 80s as "Happy Days" one day.

I remember at the time kind of scoff at such a notion.

But, Mom was right.

This evening, as Daniel and I were heading to dinner, we stumbled upon a satellite station that played 80s music...actually to be more exact, it was playing an episode of American Top 40 with Casey Kasem, from June of 1984.

Hearing all of those old tunes, had me going back to that summer of 1984 when I was 14, soon to be 15. It was a very good summer. I remember watching the '84 Summer Olympics and that was the year that Michael Jackson seemed to be everywhere. Good times indeed.

Twenty-five years later, I'm 39 soon to be 40. I'm now a middle aged man, some of those bands I listened to in '84 are no longer playing and Michael Jackson is sadly no longer with us.

Those days of my youth were good days, but they weren't all good. My freshman year in high school was difficult. My mother spent several weeks in the hospital dealing with heart failure.

I'm thinking about how some congregations view their golden past, their happy days. They look back at those days with fondness and like me listening to an old American Top 40 broadcast, almost long to be back in those days when life was simpler.

But the thing is, I doubt it was that simple. I have to think that there were rough patches in those golden years as well as good days.

And the thing is, sometimes we get so wrapped up in our pasts, that we don't see what is ahead of us, which might be even better than what we left behind.


Congregations want to relieve those old days. They want it to be 1958 again when the pews were full. But we can't go back in time, and as much as I would love to go back to 1984 for a little while, I can't. Time only goes forward and that's a good thing.

A Disciples congregation in Nashville has put together a video that see what the church will look like 10 years from now. They are not looking at the past, but heading forward.

A friend commented that being in your 40s is pretty cool. Again, I feel like scoffing, but then I was wrong before.

The life before us can be pretty good, if we allow it to be.