"I will look with favor upon you and make you fruitful and multiply you; and I will maintain my covenant with you. You shall eat old grain long stored, and you shall have to clear out the old to make way for the new. I will place my dwelling in your midst, and I shall not abhor you. And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you shall be my people." Leviticus 26:9-12 NRSV
I am intrigued by the text, " . . . you shall have to clear out the old to make way for the new." I hear Jesus' teaching that we don't put new wine in old skins or sew a new patch on old material. Both suggest that there are points in our lives when we have to put the old aside and embrace the new.
Sandi and I have been doing a lot of that the last year or so. We put aside the old and moved to Baltimore. Last week we put aside the old by closing on our home of 12 years and put an offer on a new home. We are embracing the newness of Mikaela being married, the even newer news of Beth's engagement and preparing for Samantha's graduation. There's a whole lot Sandi and I are clearing out and even more of the new we are preparing to embrace.
Clearing out the old and making way for the new is something I relish intellectually. I relish the thought of trekking the mountains of Peru to see Machu Picchu, of visiting Easter Island and doing a three month clergy exchange in Australia. Yet I tend to live in the rhythms of my life and forget to schedule time for vacation, much less my dreams. At worst, I am absorbed by pernicious minutiae and lose contact with friends, family, and parishioners.
And sometimes, clearing out the old and making way for the new is circling back and reengaging with the parts of my life that were once cherished but misplaced along the way: playing the guitar, running, theater.
So how do we live this out? I believe we celebrate God's marvelous gift of who we are embracing the unique talents, relationships and circumstances God has given us. Yet while we are embracing the gifts God has given us, we are invited to remain open to hear God proclaim "I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?" (Is 43: 19 NRSV)
A new thing -- that might be an old thing -- that is a blessing from God. Shall we open our hearts, minds, and hands for God's new thing?
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Who Does God Hate?
“Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.” (1 John 4: 7 NRSV)
I am in Washington DC at the Wesley Theological Seminary library today for my weekly sermon preparation day and had occasion to pass by a demonstration taking place outside the DC Superior Court building. While I couldn't hear the speakers as I passed by, I assume the protesters were there because DC now permits same sex marriage and today is the first day same sex couples can apply for marriage licenses. What I did see, however, was a protest sign proclaiming “God hates Obama.”
Even though the Bible does include passages stating things God hates, I cringe whenever anyone has the audacity to attempt to speak for God. Admittedly, this is dangerous ground for a preacher whose bread and butter is proclaiming “thus sayeth the Lord.” My training and experience, as well as my religious tradition, leads me to examine very carefully any claim, my own included, that alleges to speak for God. Unless approached with great care, study, prayer, and humility such claims are often attempts to wrap our own opinions in robes of religiosity. Theologians call this isogesis (layering our opinions onto scripture) rather than exegesis (letting the scripture speak to our lives).
So does God hate President Obama?
Rev. Rebecca Dolch in the February/March/April 2010 edition of “Circuit Rider” recalls how her mother taught her that claims about who God hates is more about what that person fears than God’s preferences. If that is the case, and I believe it is, why do people hate President Obama? Race? Age? Party? Politics? Gender? His choice for a family dog? That he still smokes?
What?
And more importantly, when did it become acceptable to use “hate” in either political or religious discourse much less include it in the same sentence with the word “God”?
I am in Washington DC at the Wesley Theological Seminary library today for my weekly sermon preparation day and had occasion to pass by a demonstration taking place outside the DC Superior Court building. While I couldn't hear the speakers as I passed by, I assume the protesters were there because DC now permits same sex marriage and today is the first day same sex couples can apply for marriage licenses. What I did see, however, was a protest sign proclaiming “God hates Obama.”
Even though the Bible does include passages stating things God hates, I cringe whenever anyone has the audacity to attempt to speak for God. Admittedly, this is dangerous ground for a preacher whose bread and butter is proclaiming “thus sayeth the Lord.” My training and experience, as well as my religious tradition, leads me to examine very carefully any claim, my own included, that alleges to speak for God. Unless approached with great care, study, prayer, and humility such claims are often attempts to wrap our own opinions in robes of religiosity. Theologians call this isogesis (layering our opinions onto scripture) rather than exegesis (letting the scripture speak to our lives).
So does God hate President Obama?
Rev. Rebecca Dolch in the February/March/April 2010 edition of “Circuit Rider” recalls how her mother taught her that claims about who God hates is more about what that person fears than God’s preferences. If that is the case, and I believe it is, why do people hate President Obama? Race? Age? Party? Politics? Gender? His choice for a family dog? That he still smokes?
What?
And more importantly, when did it become acceptable to use “hate” in either political or religious discourse much less include it in the same sentence with the word “God”?
I wrote this Feb. 27.
“You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” (Dt 10: 19 NRSV)
I am the outsider, today.
It is Tax Day at the Church my wife Sandi serves, Christ United Methodist Church of the Deaf. Each year on Tax Day, volunteer tax preparers are teamed with American Sign Language Interpreters to do tax returns for the Deaf community. This is a marvelous outreach that continues to communicate that Christ Deaf Church shares the love of Christ with the Deaf community.
Today, Sandi is mentoring Sign Language interpreters and making sure things run smoothly. I could be at home puttering around the house but have chosen instead to come with Sandi. While she works, I am in the church basement reading and drinking coffee surrounded by about seventy five Deaf people. They are having a marvelous time chatting with friends while waiting for their turn to have their taxes done.
This morning, an interesting dynamic is at work. A dynamic I experience every time I am in Christ Deaf Church and I guess that explains why I am here rather than at home drinking coffee and reading. A work of the Holy Spirit, actually.
In nearly every other place, the Deaf community is marginalized. Being unable to fully communicate with mainstream community by speaking in English, the Deaf are often ignored. They are victims of “audism” which assumes the Deaf are unable to work, make personal choices, receive education or in other ways be full, contributing members of society.
So, you’d think that when the Deaf come together, they would practice the behaviors the dominate culture inflicts on them. You’d think that when the Deaf come together, they’d shun those who are not fluent in American Sign Language. Folks like me, that is. But I experience something different. At Christ Deaf Church I am warmly welcomed. People appreciate my few, halting attempts to communicate and encourage me to learn a bit more.
I am an outsider to the Deaf community but I am warmly welcomed in Christ’s name. I am here because this is one of the place I meet Christ.
Praise be to God.
“You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” (Dt 10: 19 NRSV)
I am the outsider, today.
It is Tax Day at the Church my wife Sandi serves, Christ United Methodist Church of the Deaf. Each year on Tax Day, volunteer tax preparers are teamed with American Sign Language Interpreters to do tax returns for the Deaf community. This is a marvelous outreach that continues to communicate that Christ Deaf Church shares the love of Christ with the Deaf community.
Today, Sandi is mentoring Sign Language interpreters and making sure things run smoothly. I could be at home puttering around the house but have chosen instead to come with Sandi. While she works, I am in the church basement reading and drinking coffee surrounded by about seventy five Deaf people. They are having a marvelous time chatting with friends while waiting for their turn to have their taxes done.
This morning, an interesting dynamic is at work. A dynamic I experience every time I am in Christ Deaf Church and I guess that explains why I am here rather than at home drinking coffee and reading. A work of the Holy Spirit, actually.
In nearly every other place, the Deaf community is marginalized. Being unable to fully communicate with mainstream community by speaking in English, the Deaf are often ignored. They are victims of “audism” which assumes the Deaf are unable to work, make personal choices, receive education or in other ways be full, contributing members of society.
So, you’d think that when the Deaf come together, they would practice the behaviors the dominate culture inflicts on them. You’d think that when the Deaf come together, they’d shun those who are not fluent in American Sign Language. Folks like me, that is. But I experience something different. At Christ Deaf Church I am warmly welcomed. People appreciate my few, halting attempts to communicate and encourage me to learn a bit more.
I am an outsider to the Deaf community but I am warmly welcomed in Christ’s name. I am here because this is one of the place I meet Christ.
Praise be to God.
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