LIVING IN THE DAILY GRIND

Community at Bargain Prices

I finally closed my Facebook account!  I am not sure if it is completely deleted yet but getting out of Facebook is not as easy as getting into its charms and glamor.  It has taken me several days to delete my information including all my friends, pictures, photos, notes, groups... anything and anyone to which I was connected through Facebook. 

Several months ago I have begun to realize how much time I was spending on Facebook doing nothing much else but following people here and there. Yet, I did not want to quit... I had made all these connections with people from all over the world... I was learning so much about what was going on with the Church... I joined all these fantastic groups, helped various causes, and even raised money by playing games!

I also joined Twitter to follow folks from Facebook. I twittered with excitement.  I quit Twitter as well.  One thing to mention--you cannot really quit Twitter they keep your information forever!

When Facebook announced that they were changing their user rights about a month ago I was quite disturbed but I kept going!  They retracted the change but I was full of suspicion about its future.  Then their security was compromised by hackers... It was not any of these incidents nor the still small voice within me which pushed me to the edge.  It was my mother-in-law whose wisdom and discernment has proven me wrong many many times over the years.

She asked me, "Tell me, how is Facebook helping you to build up the Church?  How are you serving Jesus by being on Facebook all the time?"  I gave her a ton of reasons yet she kept coming back with more questions.  Last week she finally said, "What saddens me is that you could have spent all that time reading the Scripture, meditating, praying, and actually being with people instead of being on Facebook."  These words broke the cycle for me.  And I quit Facebook.

Is Facebook creating community at bargain prices?  My aim in asking this question is not to disparage Facebook but maybe open the way to a genuine dialogue about what it means to be the community of Jesus in a time of technology.

Is it truly possible to share in the pain and suffering of the world while we are playing word games raising money for grains of rice for those who are dying from hunger? How would we honestly respond if the status bar reads, "I cannot pay my bills... My child is going to bed hungry... I am dying from cancer... I want to end my life... My church does not care..."?  We are broken spiritually, emotionally, physically, psychologically... How will Facebook or Twitter or Flicker or others... restore us to wholeness?

Our favorite words nowadays, "What would Jesus do?" I honestly don't know because I am not Jesus.

I follow Jesus.  Following Jesus is not easy.  It is not that Jesus makes it difficult, but following Jesus requires that I sacrifice my agendas and trust God for my very existence!  Giving up my hold on my life ... it  seems impossible.  Yet, the  promise is that "all things are possible with God." (Matthew 19:26)

I wonder if Facebook and other social networking sites are feeding into our fears of the other. It is easy to deal with people whom we do not interact face-to-face, know only from information made available for our liking, and have the option to remove from our lives any time we want without any repercussions.  Maybe we are replacing the Gospel with a fuzzy-warm-cuddly community that affirms whom we project ourselves to be but never challenge us to true repentance or keep us accountable  in following Jesus together.  In such a community where do we go in seeking healing for our brokenness?

One thing I know of Jesus is that this is not the Kingdom community he had in mind.  Years ago Dallas Willard wrote about vampiric Christianity.  Yes, he is talking about “vampire Christians”: “Those in effect say to Jesus: “I’d like a little of your blood, please.  But I don’t care to be your student or have your character.  In fact, won’t you just excuse me while I get on with my life, and I’ll see you in heaven.  But can we really imagine that this is an approach that Jesus finds acceptable?"

In the heart of a Christian community lies a vision where people are transformed by a radical love as they grow in their understanding of who Christ is and how they can become like Jesus.  It is in such a committed sacrificial community where one discovers  how to live the life of discipleship of which Sister Joan Chittister reminds us, “Christian discipleship is about living in this world the way that Christ lived in his — touching lepers, raising donkeys from ditches on Sabbath days, questioning the unquestionable… Discipleship implies a commitment to leave nets and homes, positions and securities, lordship and legalities to be now — in our own world what Christ was for his:  Healer and prophet, voice and heart, call and sign of God whose design for this world is justice and love.” 

For me Mustard Seed Associates (MSA) is such a community.  Every time I log in to community blog and website I encounter the voices challenging me to go deeper into my relationship with God, others and the whole creation.  MSA embodies for me what it means to be missional.

The word "missional" has become the new buzz word for "missions" in the Church.  If you ask an average church member what their church does for mission, they will answer you with... "My church gives to Salvation Army every year... We give to the local food pantry... We participate with Souper Bowl Sunday... We have a Blanket Sunday... We support Toys for Tots...."  As much as these projects and annual programs are praise-worthy  bringing help to those in need, they are not missional.

Being missional means finding out what God is doing in the world and joining in God's mission by being a witness to redemption and new life in Jesus Christ.  In a short time MSA has helped me to become intentional in missional living.  Being  missional, for me, has shifted from "just words" to "real time living".

As a pastor I know I cannot lead people to places where I have never traveled.  That is hypocrisy!  For the first time in pastoral ministry I am excited about the possibilities of having an online community where I am challenged, nurtured, encouraged to "seek  first the Kingdom of God and God's righteousness and all these things shall be added unto me." (Matthew 6:33).  I will bring this living to our soon-to-be parishes! 

Now MSA is no Facebook or community at bargain prices! If you are reading this post and have not clicked the link here it is again... Mustard Seed Associates

Let us continue seeking Jesus in Lent... Amen.

Being Broken in Community

This Lent is completely different than any other Lents I have kept over the years. I am an “unchurched” pastor. Our former church was not able to support its full-time staff as well as its various ministries; so since August we have been searching for a new community. This is the first Lent for a long time where I have not planned any services, activities, dinners, programs… This is the first Lent where my life is shrouded with a strange silence. I am not used to it.

In the midst of waiting and silence, I have encountered Mustard Seed Associates. “Mustard Seed Associates (MSA) is a community of Jesus’ followers all over the world striving to create the future one mustard seed at a time. MSA provides resources and a network for committed followers of Jesus to anticipate the future, decode the culture, convey the Kingdom of God, and create new ways of being a difference and make a difference.” I do not know any of its members personally, only by what I see and read from the community website and blog. I would not have encountered this community had I not been “unchurched”.

MSA has given me a new sense of the Kingdom here and the now. We speak so much about going to church, being the church, doing the church, being the missional church… Even in Emerging Church circles I feel the same language is being recycled not to call the Church to repentance but to self-serve the needs of yet-another-generation driven by technological advancements. For me a community of Christ is where one may come to smell and taste the Kingdom of God. It is a group of people who journey with me to deepen my commitment to live sacrificially for the sake of Jesus… to pick up my cross and follow Christ to people and places where I would have never traveled alone.

This Lent I am participating with MSA’s Lenten activities including the Lenten Synchroblog. I am using Chris Sine’s Lenten guide, A Journey to Wholeness as well as other resources listed on her blog, Godspace. This first week is spent examining the brokenness of my inner self.

I am broken to the extent that I do not allow Jesus to restore my being,  my life, my relationships  into his likeness, his life, his values for relationships. I have heard over the years that once I am in Christ all is well. Not exactly...

Past hurts, unforgiveness, guilt, negative voices, destructive habits... continue to plague my life, my relationship with God and others as well as God's creation. The good news is that now I have the power through Christ to change and become whole... to become the person whom God intends me to be.

In Romans 12 we read, "So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you."(Romans 12:1-2, The Message)

God's transformation in us is a daily journey of recognizing what is still broken and place it before Christ to be made whole.  This daily journey is one of making choices which will require a sacrifice from us.  I have been struck by what Chris Sine shared in the piece, Time to Clean House… “One place I struggle with my false self is in regard to the values that underlie my actions. As our economy continues its downward spiral, I grapple with how to provide resources, meals, and technology with the constraints of a limited budget without jeopardizing my concern for the environment and the poor… It isn’t easy to choose to live by God’s kingdom values in all our actions, but to do otherwise would be to give in to the “false self.”

We live in a world that wants everything especially food, clothing, household goods, and technology, at bargain prices, but at what cost to the poor and the environment? For us to have free access to bargain prices for food, technology, and resources often means that those who produce and sell our goods are not paid a living wage. And our bargain goods are often produced in conditions that devastate the environment and add to our polluted air.

What concerns me most is that our obsession with bargains extends to our faith as well. We want to buy salvation and God’s grace at bargain prices too. My quest for bargains encourages me to believe that I don’t have to pay the full price for redemption either. Which is great because I would much rather settle for a relationship that demands little of me in terms of penitence or repentance. Like most Christians, I would rather experience God’s grace and forgiveness without sacrifice, without commitment, and without the need to change.”

These words challenge me to carefully look at how much I settle for bargain prices in my choices.  In the past several months I have come to realize how much bargaining I have done over the years with God as a disciple, a pastor, a friend...  In bargaining we not only enable others to conform but also compromise God's grace and mercy.

We have a tendency to focus so much on our sins and failings during Lent that we miss the opportunity to move forward with a desire to change.  Henri Nouwen wrote, "There is an awareness of sin that does not lead to God but to self-preoccupation.  Our temptation is to be so impressed by our sins and failings and so overwhelmed by our lack of generosity that we get stuck in a paralyzing guilt.  It is the guilt that leads to introspection instead of directing our eyes to God.  It is the guilt that has become an idol and therefore a form of pride.  Lent is the time to break down this idol and to direct our attention to our loving Lord."

There is so much grace and mercy in God's love for me that I can boldly make the commitment to mend what is broken in my very self to experience the joy of salvation.  The amazing part of this Lenten journey is that I am not alone.  I feel strangely connected to those whom I do not know as we discover together what it means to embrace God's infinite mercy and love in our brokenness.  I am not shrouded in silence anymore.

The challenge in moving forward is to commit myself to realize now more than ever  that my choices will either build a better future for all or destroy even the smallest seeds which are being planted. For each week I have decided to follow a rule of life  focusing on the themes from A Journey to Wholeness. 

This week's rule of life is

To meditate on Isaiah 58,

To work towards giving up what has been negatively affecting my life,

To write a letter of affirmation to a friend who has touched my life,

To spend time in planning meals frugally--praying for all those who help bring my food to the table, focusing on those who have only $2 a day or less to spend to eat,

To fast from spending--how many days could I go without spending any money other than what my husband and I need?

I pray for God's guidance, wisdom and direction.

Akouete... Keep on Listening to Jesus

The Transfiguration account in Mark chapter 9 follows this way:

After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them. His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus. Peter said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah." (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.) Then a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and a voice came from the cloud: "This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!" Suddenly, when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus. As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. Mark 9:2-9(NIV)

There are three times in the Gospels where God speaks with an audible voice: at Jesus’ baptism, at transfiguration, and when certain Greeks during Passion week requested an interview with Jesus (John 12:20-28). In the first and the last, God speaks to Jesus, but in transfiguration, God speaks to the disciples. The voice gives the command: "This is my Son, the Beloved, listen to him". “

Listen to him!” Listen --akouete in Greek is a present imperative tense, implying continuing action: "Keep on listening to him" or "Continue to listen to him”.  This is holy listening.  It is an act of deep commitment.

The Greek word for “transfiguration” is the same as the one for “metamorphosis” or “transformation” (metamorphoō). Transfiguration is a moment of complete unveiling. Through transfiguration God acknowledges who Jesus is, reveals his power and directs the disciples to keep listening to him so that they may experience the metamorphosis.

When they returned from the mountain, the scripture says, “they kept silent.” Listening and keeping silent are sometimes the best things we can do, and particularly when it comes to our experiences with God. We may not immediately understand the meaning of what has taken place. So often it takes reflection. It takes time., reflection, quiet.  When we think of listening, however, we so often concentrate on the mind.

There is an Orthodox phrase which I recently learned when we conducted a funeral for an Orthodox friend's husband: We must learn to stand before God and one another with "the mind in the heart." It suggests the profound unity that we are called to express in our lives as disciples of Jesus Christ. With the mind in the heart, we listen!

I have a quote from an article that I have kept now for years. It was uttered by a young mother to her pastor: "Christianity no longer listens. All the church wants to do is talk -- lecture, reprimand, and command -- never really listen." I often wonder about these words.  Maybe we have truly lost the discipline of holy listening as a basic orientation of the Church.

It is difficult to admit but most of us are not oriented to listen. We have a difficult time listening. It’s not just that we are used to a lot of noise,  but we are used to the sound of our own voice. We want to comment on everything and we tend to have an opinion on everything.

Have you ever experienced conversations when you are asked how you are doing, how life is going, and you begin to talk about the recent trouble you are having, the serious matter which is weighing heavily on your heart and you barely begin to explain the essence of the problem when the person whom you are conversing interrupts, exclaiming, "I know exactly what you mean! My ..." And just like that, the conversation shifts as the person continues on for several minutes describing their own situation. When there is finally a pause, you simply want to leave… You feel rejected and not cared at all!

It's easy to be critical of others, but realistically, this kind of thing goes on all the time. I have been the person on both sides of this example—one who felt not cared, rejected and one who kept talking because I needed to hear my own voice, speak my own mind, share my own opinions. Few of us are immune.  We are rarely listening; usually, we are just waiting impatiently for our turn to talk. We nod and agree in all the right places, but really we are pondering the next thing we are about to say.

God’s command was to keep listening… It is in learning to listen, understanding that listening is a spiritual discipline that is cultivated that we discover the reality and the power of transformative life Jesus offers to us. Jesus both spoke with authority and listened with great compassion. Have you noticed how truly Jesus listens? Not only He listens in silence and solitude, but he also listens among the crowds. In the Scripture we find Jesus continuously surrounded by people crying out to him and he hears them! And it is precisely because he hears them there is a relationship which is developed that brings about conversion.

I sincerely believe it is critical for us to discover anew our orientation and understanding how the healing power of listening will bring about the transformation of lives. The ancient model for the Church was that of a nurturing mother. Our 21st century model is one of entertainer, bringer of religious goods and services. We place an enormous value on words. It seems that every minute of our lives in the church is packed with talking, preaching, or teaching. We do not guard our silence and we do not pay much attention for our need for solitude.

Our most desperate need is to be heard, not so much as a patient in a clinical setting, but as a human soul requiring attention.  As we listen to  God and others we are allowing ourselves for attentiveness to become a habit of the heart.  Our need is to  learn to stand before God and one another with "the mind in the heart."

Transfiguration took place in intense personal prayer and reflection—not during a public speech or one of Jesus’ teaching sessions to his disciples.  In that moment, the disciples saw who they were and realized who they could truly become.  Their journey became real. The disciples kept silent pondering the meaning of this  strange life-changing encounter.  They kept listening.

God graces us with the holy every day, and the call is to slow down, listen, reflect. Wherever we are in our personal experience, as we reflect,  learn,  are inspired, these moments do last in us—they invade us so that we feel the presence of God, who is closer to us than the air we breathe.

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday and it will mark the beginning of another Lenten season. Lent is a season of emptying ... it is a season of permission giving both to ourselves and to others. It is a letting go of those things that keep us from "listening" and open ourselves to the transfiguring grace which is Easter.

In the Lenten Season before us we are called to "listen to Jesus" both as the Word and in the Word. We make a mistake if we try to control the Word; instead, we should simply let it have its way with us. We cannot become holy on our own. We cannot manufacture mountaintop experiences of faith. But we can be open and pay attention, listening to Jesus in all encounters of our lives.

It is no accident that Transfiguration took place during a time of prayer. We can develop habits and ways of living that help us listen to God and to one another. We can cultivate a life of prayer. We can give attention to worship. We can slow down and reflect. We can spend time with nature. We can learn to talk less and appreciate more. And if we are attentive, we may find that there are glimpses of glory all around: in our selves, in others, in our church, in the changes of life. God says to all of us, “Be holy, for I am holy.”