British Evasion #5, part 2 of 3, July 31, 2015

British Evasion #5, part 2 of 3

Another opposite, yet mutually true set of truths I have experienced while visiting these four (now five) English cathedrals is the contrast between the mortal and the immortal.

When you glance at or walk into a cathedral one's eyes are immediately drawn up toward what is, metaphorically speaking, the heavens.   A holy quiet is intuitively ushered into one's body and spirit. Walk into St Paul's Cathedral, with its marble floors, and one can't help but be self-conscious of the steps he or she makes. There is metaphor there for sure. And words.  Words seem so small in places like these. I can hardly imagine what trepidation a preacher must feel as the steps to the elevated pulpit are ascended. Who would dare to even speak a sound in such a place as this?  "The LORD is in heaven, and we are on earth; so let your words be few," the wisdom writer says.  Even better, let them be none.

"The LORD is in His Holy Temple
Let all the earth keep silence before Him."

Or, as we sang during last Sunday's worship service at St Paul's:

"Let all mortal flesh keep silence
And fear and trembling stand . . ."

Perhaps this conscious sense of my own mortal flesh has been most evident to me within the medieval sandstone walls of Canterbury Cathedral.  Here, amidst stones hewn prior to Henry IV, one really gets it -- how small the part we have been cast in such a long drama.

You see this especially at the focal center, just beyond the choir (or as it is spelled in Canterbury "quire").  There sits the throne of the archbishop, beautifully carved from what looks to be oak and couched in red cushion.  And large, very large -- a symbol not so much of the largeness of the men who have set here or their character, but of the office and the task, greater than one man could ever live up to. As former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, has said, "It is physically impossible to fill this throne, which shouldn't surprising because it's spiritually impossible."

And then, as if to underscore the whole thing, sits just adjacent from the archbishop's seat a stunning, if a bit chilling, sarcophagus of one of the long-deceased archbishops. Atop is a beautiful image of the archbishop fully festooned in all his ecclesiastical regalia and surrounded by miniature saints and angels, praying over and tending his tomb.  Then the credentials.  "Here lies Henri Chiceli, Doctor of Laws and Chancellor of England, Henri V's Archbishop."  

But then, beneath that image is another, even more striking -- disturbing even in its depiction of a naked and emancipated body.  "Born a pauper, I was raised up to be Archbishop; Now I am laid low to be food for worms."  Then the real kicker, just to make the whole point as personal as possible: "Here is my tomb; look into your mirror."

"What is man?"  Dust we are; and to dust we shall return.  And long after our mortal bodies have returned to dust (thanks in part to those worms), the stones of cathedrals will still stand, and our grandchildren's grandchildren will have there turn to be born and rise up to whatever they will be.

And so these cathedrals are a reminder to look up to the heavens in humility and behold our part in the play, and to be mindful of our steps and graceful with our script as we make our way across the stage.

British Evasion #5, July 30, 2015, part 1

British Evasion Day Eight, part 1

And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.

Revelation 21:22

For thou hast made him but little lower than God, And crownest him with glory and honor.

Psalm 8:5

We have now so far been to three cathedrals -- St Paul's, Canterbury, and Coventry -- and each of these visitations have stirred within me a number of divergent and even conflicting theological and anthropological thoughts, all of which are ultimately resolved within me by an overwhelming and deeply resonant sense of spiritual awe and wonder.

The most immediately identifiable conflict I have within me is perhaps more taught than it is natural -- in other words it is more of a thought than an intuitive feeling. It comes from my Baptist forbears' conviction that the Temple is not an edifice but a Person, and Church is not a building but a people.  Rejecting all the majesty and mystery of the medieval church, the Baptists and Congregationalists who joined together to build the first church I pastored built a simple and unembellished meeting house where 175 years later some old timers still spoke of "Sunday go to meetin'" and never Sunday go to church.  For these early 19th century Protestants, the church met in the building, but was never the building itself; and I'm sure they could quoted chapter and verse from Revelation where John said he saw no Temple in his vision of heaven because God Himself will be the Temple.

But it's not just Puritans and Separatists from centuries past who cast suspicion on the temples humanity has made for its gods.  From another very different spiritual tradition, the 20th great century Jewish mystic Abraham Joshua Heschel himself, in a widely influential reflection on the meaning of Sabbath contrasted the difference between sacred space and sacred time, locating the human need for holy space in the lower order of spiritual evolution. "The primitive mind finds it hard to realize an idea without the aid of imagination," Heschel wrote, "and it is the realm of space where imagination wields its sway.  Of the gods it must have a visible image; where there is no image, there is no god.

To speak of something as "primitive" is not in itself to say anything negative.  It does, however, imply an undeveloped and even infantile state. Heschel's thesis was clear -- a religion in need of temples is for a humanity only just born.

Heschel's critique of temple religion is, of course, as old as the Jewish Prophets.  And it was a very similar statement that got Stephen, the first Christian martyr killed, when in the shadow of the Jerusalem he dared to say that God does not dwell in houses made by human hands and quote the prophet Isaiah in saying, "Heaven is His throne and the whole earth just his footstool," [my translation].

All of this is, of course, true.  God surely cannot be held in a house or temple or even in the whole earth or cosmos.  And yet, there is something within me -- something "primitive", to use Heschel's term -- which is attracted to or perhaps by spiritual space. The loft and grandeur of these cathedrals draw me like a moth to a flame. There is awe and there is wonder, and there is a sense that art and architecture were dreamed for such a sacred calling as this. Just as all things take place, so holy things take holy places. And these cathedrals, though built and maintained by fragile and sinful men, are still nonetheless holy indeed.

So I am thinking again and more deeply about the the book of Revelation and John's vision. It is true, there is to be there no Temple because God Himself will be our Temple. But it is also true that there will be no sun and no moon because God himself will be our Light.  In other words, our needs there in heaven are going to be different from our needs here on earth -- both physical and spiritual.  And that brings me back yet again to the folk wisdom of my pastor Charlie Johnson which I mentioned a few days earlier, "This ain't heaven -- it's church."

This ain't heaven -- it's earth.
Where stars and sun and moon light our way,
Beckoning us on to believe there is such a thing
As Very Light of Very Light
And Temples Made with human hands lift our eyes
To behold with primitive men
A glory too great for marble and stone
Yet humble enough to meet us there, nonetheless

British Evasion #4, July 28, 2015

British Evasion, Day 5

One of the churches we visited while in London was St Martin in the Fields in Trafalgar Square. The vicar of St Martin's is Sam Wells, who was dean of Duke Chapel from 2005 to 2012.

St Martin's is such a vibrant and contrasting place.  In the middle of the most bustling part of the modern city, you enter its doors and are immediately met with reverent quiet and wonder.  Here the sacred is literally just a few steps from the secular.

It is the meeting of sacred and secular that makes St Martin's as dynamic and relevant a church as I know.  The sanctuary is just that -- a sanctuary and refuge for religious pilgrims, weary tourists, and homeless neighbors all alike. The church crypt has been converted into a cafe, serving local and sustainably-grown food amidst two galleries -- one a photo exhibit giving face and voice to the homeless community and the other an art exhibit done collaboratively by both Christian and Muslim youth.

This is church.

One image which for me really captured the whole spirit of St Martin's is a photo I took of a statue set near the rear of the sanctuary.  In the days of Apartheid in South Africa, St Martin's was an outpost of strong anti-apartheid protest, as the church set very near the the then South African embassy.  The statue by Chaim Stephenson is called "Victims of Injustice and Violence" and was dedicated in 1994 by none other than Desmond Tutu himself.  It is an image of one man carrying another, intentionally reminiscent of the Parable of the Good Samaritan, wherein the wellbeing of a suffering and mistreated man is looked after by another, foreign man -- the Samaritan.

I love the photo because in the background to the left is St Martin's pulpit, and then to the right two homeless men sleeping in the church pews, while in the center foreground there is the statue.  In other words, there is there on the left the pulpit -- the symbol of the Word which tells us to love God and love our neighbor, and then there is on the right the neighbor, and then in the center the two becoming one.

All are becoming one in this great church of St Martin in the Fields. The sacred and the secular, the Christian and the Muslim, the Jew and the Gentile, the church and its neighborhood, the church and the whole world.

As I leave I cannot help but think of Jesus' words at the end of the Parable of the Good Samaritan: "Go and do likewise."

Postscript:

For any of you who are fans of the BBC show "Rev.", St Martin in the Fields is the inspiration for Rev Adam Smallbone's church St Savior in the Marshes.  And St Martin's is similar to St Savior, except without the alcoholic priest and with a lot more people on Sunday.  Cheers.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rev._(TV_series)

British Evasion #3, July 26, Day 3, part 3 of 3

When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed.

Revelation 6:9-11

After the microphone disaster at St Paul's, we were able to hear a sermon -- and a good one at that.

It being the Feast of St James the Apostle, Reverend Alan Moses of All Saints, Margaret Street preached on James' witness as the first apostle to be martyred for faith. James was killed by King Herod sometime in the middle part of the first century A.D.

Rev Moses spoke on the powerful attraction dying for one's faith can have upon people -- and how that attraction can be used to recruit people to smash planes into buildings and do other horrific things in the name of God. He explicitly mentioned how the lure of martyrdom is now being used to recruit young people -- he was at least partially implying young British people -- to leave home and come and join ISIS. And in a particularly sobering reference given our location, Rev Moses also explicitly referred to how martyrdom for faith was a driving force which drove 4 young men to board London tube cars and a double decker bus with suicide bombs 10 years ago this month.  Martyrdom can be a powerful motivator.

But this is never what we mean when we say a Christian martyr, the vicar said.  And that is the great lesson of St James the Apostle's life.

James and his brother John had wanted to call down thunder and destroy a city for its infidelity.  But Jesus rebuked them saying, "The Son of a man has come to give life -- not to take it."  James took the lesson to heart, Rev Moses said; and so should we -- we are to bear witness (that's actually what "martyr" means, "witness") to a faith that is life giving and not life destroying.

As Rev Moses preached, I thought of the display of the ten 20th century martyrs I had just seen outside Westminister Abbey.  The statues, which include Martin Luther King, Jr., Archbishop Oscar Romero, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer were dedicated together on the frieze outside Westminster in 1998 in niches which had set empty since the medieval period.  At the dedication of the statues, Rev Anthony Harvey, sub-dean of Westminster said, "There has never been a time in Christian history when someone, somewhere, has not died rather than compromise with powers of oppression, tyranny and unbelief."

There has never been a time; and there shall never be a time.  There are more empty niches to be filled; and the bodies of faithful martyrs shall fill them. I pray for those martyrs now.  I pray for their courage, for their strength, and for their witness.

And I pray for us also. I pray we would never confuse what we mean by the word "martyr" with that which some others might mean. A Christian martyr is one who follows, not in the way of oppression or tyranny or violence for the sake of one's faith, but rather in the way of Christ, the one who came not to take life but to give it -- and the life that he came to give was his very own.

British Evasion #3, July 26, part 2 of 3

Today my good friend and erstwhile and still pastor Charlie Johnson is preaching at Second B.  Yesterday, while worshiping at St Paul's Cathedral, something happened which reminded me of Charlie.

Irie and I attended the evensong service and set beneath the cupola of the great and glorious St Paul's done, which rises high and triumphant over the city of London. As the service began the organ thundered -- proving itself as king of instruments. As the prelude rose to a crescendo, there was the ringing of bells followed by the sight of priests, deacons, and stewards coming out from behind closed doors in a full regalia of white cassocks and red surplices.  The congregation stood silent in anticipation.  There was the waft of incense and the march of the crucifer followed by a train of all the others down the center aisle of the church. It was truly a high and holy moment in a high and holy place.

And then the priest stood to summon the people to worship and lo and behold the audio system went out -- completely.  The priest went on but nobody beyond a few rows back could hear a thing. It was like he was just totally lip synching up there.  For all I know he was.

I turned to Irie and whispered, "For all the pageantry, they still have the exact same problem we do back at home."

Which brings me to Charlie and something he used to remind us of all the time when he was Second B's pastor:

"This ain't heaven -- it's church."

So it is; and it is good.

British Evasion, #3, July 26, part 1 of 3

British Evasion, Day 3, part 1 of 3

Yesterday was one of those full-forced, non-stop days of sight seeing which borders on near overdose. 

Still suffering from the jet time warp, I woke insanely and waited for first light and then took a jog around the city of London. It's the best way I know how to learn to get lost and then found in a new city.  By 6am I had already seen St Paul's, St Martin's in the Field, Trafalgar Square, Big Ben, Westminster, the London Eye, the Thames, the London Bridge, and about 6,000 red double-decker buses.  By 7am I was showered and shaved and enjoying my third cup of morning joe.  By 7:30am I was seated inside a small chapel within St Paul's ready for morning prayer and the Gospel Lesson prescribed for the Feast Day of St James the Apostle.  Then at 8am I was sitting in the wooden chorister pews inside another chapel within St Paul's ready to hear more on the Apostle James and to receive communion.  By 8:30am I had eaten the bread, drunk the wine, said the Amen.

By 8:45am I was now back at the hotel, waiting on Irie to get ready so that we could go out and finally begin the day's tour of London.

And indeed, that was just the beginning . . .

British Evasion #2, July 25, 2015

British Evasion Day 2:

Yesterday, we visited St. Mary Woolnoth Church, which is a vertical and monolithic Baroque edifice built by architect Nicholas Hawksmoor in 1727 and now in the heart of London's banking district. The church's clock (pictured) makes a cameo appearance in T.S. Eliot's Waste Land: "To where St Mary Woolnoth kept the hours / With a dead sound on the final stroke of nine."

As cool as that is, what really drew me to St Mary is the fact that it was the church where John Newton, Anglican priest and writer of the hymn "Amazing Grace", pastored for 27 years.

If you've been around me or listened through my sermons for any length of time then you probably already know that John Newton is one of the giants of faith.  Baptists don't usually believe in patron saints but Newton may be an exception that changes the rule for me. He is a hero, not because he lived a perfect life, but because he allowed God to work a story of redemption into his very imperfect -- he called it "wretched" -- life.  A slave trade ship captain whose heart was taught to fear God amidst a terrible storm, Newton gave his life to Christ's redemptive grace and surrendered his life to ministry, and then later publicly repenting of his involvement in the slave trade and becoming one of England's most outspoken truth tellers about its horrors. He whose soul was set free from the chains of sin then gave himself to the cause of setting others free from the bonds of slavery.

As I made my way around the perimeter of St Mary, I discovered something surprising in back of the church. There, hidden between St Mary and a modern walkway, is a blackened and weathered image nailed to the back of the church.  It is a picture of a ship at sea.  An image which no doubt struck fear in the hearts of Africans as they saw it advance on their continent, and an image which later was a source of shame for Newton as it reminded him of his own wretched behavior toward his fellow human beings. Yet, that image has been transfigured; it stands now as a sign of God's providence over all in the boat amidst raging seas, and it stands as a sign of God's ability to bring new sight to even the blindest of us all and to lead home even the furthest -- even a wretch like me.

British Evasion #1, July 24, 2015

British Evasion Day 1:

People keep asking how they can be praying for me while I am on sabbatical. I keep telling them to pray that I eat -- a lot. 

Fish and chips of course.

But I'm thinking of something even more substantive -- no, not Newcastle. 

In last Sunday's Gospel Jesus told the disciples to, "Come away, and rest awhile." Not a bad scripture for your last day of work before taking some time away.

The story says Jesus took the disciples away because they had no leave of the demands of their ministry, and not even any time to eat. 

That was probably literal -- meaning they literally had not time even to grab the loaves and fish. That's why they had to borrow from the boy. But maybe it was metaphorical also -- meaning they had no time to eat or drink of the things of God; in other words, after all the hard days, they're souls were famished and their spirits starved.

So, if you would like to pray for me while on my British Evasion, maybe that's what you can pray. That my soul will eat and drink deeply of all the places, people and experiences God would have me to feast upon while gone; and that I will come back well nourished and fully satiated by whatever the spiritual equivalent of a good and hardy English pub meal might be. 

Btw -- made it to London!

Daily Lesson for July 23, 2015

Today's daily lesson comes from Psalm 90 verse 12:

"Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom."

Last night was a hard night. Irie and I leave for England later this morning, and as we were packing our bags with all the last minute things it really fell on us all that we are leaving and that our kids are not.

As our daughter Gabby laid on the bed with big tears filling the corners of my eyes, I thought back to another time, the first time, when the thought of our departing set in on her.

A few years back, when she was about 5, Gabby walked in to the bathroom while I was shaving. She had never seen me with shaving cream on my face. "What's that?" she asked.  "That's shaving cream."  "Oh," she said, "I thought your beard was grey."  "It is," I said -- not adding that that's the main reason I shave it.  In fact I could not have added that, because I saw the look in her eyes when she heard those two words, "It is," and I knew deep within myself that something had just happened in Gabby that could never be taken back undone. That look, with all its primordial power, was an eternal look -- one fathers at one time or another all have to see in their daughters' eyes.  She began to tear up, but having seen the look and felt it deep within me I was not surprised. Nor was I surprised by what she said next. "But I don't want you to die."

What Gabby and I both experienced that morning in the bathroom and what she, Irie and I experienced again last night is a kind of anticipatory grief -- grief before departure. It is a sad and even heartbreaking pain, and yet it is a necessary one. It is the way God teaches about our own mortality and that of those we love.  A little grey in the beard, the final zipping of a bag before a trip, and the refusal to say, "It's alright; I'll be back," but instead the reaching for something deeper and always truer, "You know I love you, and that the good LORD is with us no matter what, right?"

These are the ways God teaches us to learn to say goodbye -- the ways God teaches us to number our days and gain the heart for wisdom.

Daily Lesson for July 22, 2015

Today's daily lesson comes from Mark chapter 4 verses 35 through 41:

35 On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.”36 And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. 37 And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. 38 But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” 39 And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 40 He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” 41 And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

There is the big miracle in this story, the one which is most visible and most memorable -- the stilling of the storm. Yet behind that is the smaller miracle, which though less visible, is when one really pauses to think about it no less astonishing than Jesus' stilling of the storm.  I am talking about Jesus' stillness in the storm.

Waves crashing, winds whipping, thunder and lightning over head -- everything is out of control. The little boat -- a symbol of the church or the home or the business -- caught up in the storm and completely out of control. This is chaos; everything is spinning, and topsy turvy, and even if they knew which way to go, there is no way now to get there, no way to steer the little dinghy of a boat. Yet Jesus is still, calm, at peace enough to sleep through it all.

That's infuriating to the crew.  They rouse him with anger and pointed fingers, "Don't you care?" And yet Jesus' calm remains; he absorbs their hostility and does not return it.  I think of Kipling's words:

"If you can keep your head
when all about you are losing theirs --
And blaming it on you . . .
You shall be a man my son."

The boat is swamped. The accusations fly.  The storm rages. Yet, Jesus is calm. He is calm amidst the storm. He is the calm amidst the storm.

I don't believe the big miracle -- the stilling of the storm -- would ever have happened without the smaller miracle -- the stillness in the storm. And so maybe that's what we should pray for first, not the power to rebuke the winds and the waves, but the peace to go ahead and sleep when all is chaos and confusion; for we shall never be able to bring calm to the chaos around us, if we do not first have calm amidst the chaos within us.

And Jesus said, "Peace, be still."

Daily Lesson for July 21, 2015

Today's daily lesson comes from a Mark chapter 4 verses 21 and 22:

21 And he said to them, "Is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket, or under a bed, and not on a stand? 22 For nothing is hidden except to be made manifest; nor is anything secret except to come to light."

Over the years, I have been greatly influenced by the Quaker tradition of the "Inner Light".  Their understanding is that we all have a light -- a spark of Godlikeness -- within us. This light is sometimes in other traditions called the "soul" or the "logos" or the divine.  The deepest and often most difficult human task is to come to believe that we do indeed have this light -- this buried treasure of God within us -- and to allow its flame to bear forth its gift to the world.

Yet the light cannot be compelled to come forth.  It must be wooed, and cajoled, and given time.  We see this in the book of Genesis when the first thing God said was, "Let there be light."  The statement is one less of divine fiat than one of permission giving.  Not, "Make light appear right this minute," but rather, "LET there be light.  LET it happen.  LET it come about."  We have no idea how long it may have been between God's permission and the light's answer.  And it really doesn't matter. What matters is that at some point the light answered the call and came forth.

My friend Jay is an electrician who runs his own business. In his office there's a sign hanging up which says, "God said, 'Let there be light.'  We're just following orders."

The soul's ultimate job is to follow the order, to answer God's call, to discover the inner lamp and to bring forth its light -- it's gift, our gift -- and to finally live into the fullness of the lyrics we've all been singing since childhood:

"This little light of mine,
I'm gonna let it shine,
Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine."

Daily Lesson for July 20, 2015

Today's daily lesson comes from 1 Samuel chapter 24 verses 2 through 6

2 Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel and went to seek David and his men in front of the Wildgoats' Rocks. 3 And he came to the sheepfolds by the way, where there was a cave, and Saul went in to relieve himself. Now David and his men were sitting in the innermost parts of the cave. 4 And the men of David said to him, “Here is the day of which the Lord said to you, ‘Behold, I will give your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it shall seem good to you.’” Then David arose and stealthily cut off a corner of Saul's robe. 5 And afterward David's heart struck him, because he had cut off a corner of Saul's robe. 6 He said to his men, e“The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, the Lord's anointed, to put out my hand against him, seeing he is the Lord's anointed.”

Well here's a pretty embarrassing story. King Saul is after his on-time servant turned political rival David and chases him to a place with the lovely name of Wildgoats' Rocks.  Not knowing that David is hiding in one of the rock caves, the king goes inside to relieve himself (the actual Hebrew says, "cover his feet" but we know what the euphemism means).  As Saul is in there with his feet covered, David has a chance to kill him but instead only cuts a corner of the king's robe.  And afterward David feels terrible, for having done something vile against the LORD's anointed.  Even though Saul is trying to kill David, David knows he ought to treat Saul with respect and with deference -- for the sake of the king's office alone.

I read this and I think, though we don't necessarily look at our government officials as anointed by God, nevertheless we ought to treat them with greater respect than we do.  As a society, we have come to tolerate all kinds of ugliness in our political campaigns. I know it's been worse before, but you would think a civilized democracy in the 21st century would not look on the election cycle as open season on politicians.  Unfortunately, this goes all the way down to city offices; we speak and act in a very ugly way about mayors, city councilpersons and our chiefs of police.  And the average cop on the beat or school teacher in the classroom gets even less respect for the position they hold.

It's time for an era of greater civility, decorum, and respect. And it begins with me -- who I talk about, how I talk about them, and what I choose to share about them on Facebook.

Even if our government officials aren't all class acts, I can be; and I should be.

Daily Lesson for July 17, 2015

Today's daily lesson comes from Mark chapter 3 verses 14 through 19:

14 And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach 15 and have authority to cast out demons. 16 He appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); 17 James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder); 18 Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Zealot, 19 and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

Here's a brief description of the guys Jesus called as his disciples:

Peter -- tempestuous; would deny Jesus

James and John -- brothers, each with anger issues

Andrew -- Peter's brother who lacked the charisma of his brother

Philip -- in no way an idealist; he told Jesus they just didn't have the money to feed 5,000

Bartholomew (also called Nathaniel) -- from the sticks himself, he was a total skeptic that anything exciting could come out of a small town like Nazareth

Matthew -- a despised tax collector; seen as a collaborator with Rome

Thomas -- the doubter

James the son of Alphaeus -- an unsung hero whose work went unreported and probably unnoticed

Thaddeus (also called Judas) -- often called the forgotten disciple, or the "not Judas Iscariot" disciple; the only time he says something in the Bible is when he questioned what Jesus was doing on the last night

Simon the Zealot -- a right wing nationalist

Judas -- Jesus' betrayer

Not necessarily an all-star squad; nevertheless, these are the 12 Jesus chose to be the apostles of a message that would change the world.

Which makes me wonder if maybe the people around us might have more potential than we're seeing on the surface . . .

Daily Lesson for July 16, 2015

Today's daily lesson comes from Mark chapter 2 verses 23 through 28:

23 One Sabbath he was going through the grainfields, and as they made their way, his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. 24 And the Pharisees were saying to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” 25 And he said to them, “Have you never read what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him: 26 how he entered the house of God, in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?” 27 And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 28 So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”

One of the things I love about Jesus was that he was willing to go to bat folks. When something needed to be said or done you could count on him to have the best interest of the people in mind.  That oftentimes put Jesus at odds with those committed to serving the interests of the institution and obeying the letter of the law -- as interpreted by its enforcers.  Sometimes that created conflict and there was personal cost. But Jesus nevertheless spoke up on behalf of those who needed a voice.

In today's lesson, Jesus' disciples were hungry and started pluck grain, breaking the law against Sabbath harvesting.  Though Jesus himself did not take part in the incident, neither did he throw his disciples under the bus. He stood up for them, and he used a precedence from the Bible to do it.

Jesus was an able leader willing to speak up for what was right -- especially when it came to the welfare of others.

Another words, he was the kind of leader I would respect and follow.

Daily Lesson for July 15, 2015

Today's daily lesson comes from 1 Samuel chapter 20 verses 1 and 2a:

Then David fled from Naioth in Ramah and came and said before Jonathan, “What have I done? What is my guilt? And what is my sin before your father, that he seeks my life?” 2 And he said to him, “Far from it!”

One of the most necessary lessons we must learn in life is that at some point somebody is going to dislike us for no good reason.

The hard part is accepting this as the case, rather than internalizing their feelings with our own guilt and self-blame.  This is very difficult because most of us are hard-wired to want to be liked and therefore adapt when we perceive that someone is not pleased with us or might be more pleased if we were to do something different. Most of the time that's pretty effective, but it also assumes a certain rationality in others' feelings. But sometimes that just ain't so.  Sometimes some people aren't going to like us no matter what we do.

The key to surviving a situation like this is to either neutralize it or get out altogether. When somebody has it out for you, you need to do whatever you can to protect yourself and your interests. If that means quitting or moving or or going to a supervisor then so be it. Some folks just aren't rational and when that's the case trying deal rationally with them is itself irrational.

My good friend and former pastor Hardy used to say, "Don't try to make friends with mad dogs."

I'd say that's pretty good advice.

Daily Lesson for July 14, 2015

Today's daily lesson comes from Acts chapter 12 verses 1 through 3, 6 and 7:

About that time Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church. 2 He killed James the brother of John with the sword, 3 and . . . he proceeded to arrest Peter also.
6 Now when Herod was about to bring him out, on that very night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries before the door were guarding the prison. 7 And behold, an angel of the Lord stood next to him, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his hands.

There is a mystery hidden in God as to why some die while others are spared.  I mean really, why was James, one of Jesus' closest companions, martyred while Peter was spared?  Was there a reason for this?  Did the church pray harder for this?  Was Peter more saintly than James -- less saintly than James?

As I say, these are mysteries hidden in God, and they go far beyond martyrdom or not martyrdom.  These mysteries stretch into every aspect of life, wherein one suffers while another rejoices. We cannot know the answers nor the grounds for the answers as to why.  It is not for us to know now; it may never be for us to know.

What we must learn to do is accept whatever lot we draw and learn to say what Saint Paul, who looked upon his own uncertain future, once said, "If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord."

We play the hand we've been dealt. And we play to the very best of our ability.  And when we do, God is glorified -- win, lose or draw, God is glorified.
Today's daily lesson comes from Acts chapter 12 verses 1 through 3, 6 and 7:

About that time Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church. 2 He killed James the brother of John with the sword, 3 and . . . he proceeded to arrest Peter also.
6 Now when Herod was about to bring him out, on that very night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries before the door were guarding the prison. 7 And behold, an angel of the Lord stood next to him, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his hands.

There is a mystery hidden in God as to why some die while others are spared.  I mean really, why was James, one of Jesus' closest companions, martyred while Peter was spared?  Was there a reason for this?  Did the church pray harder for this?  Was Peter more saintly than James -- less saintly than James?

As I say, these are mysteries hidden in God, and they go far beyond martyrdom or not martyrdom.  These mysteries stretch into every aspect of life, wherein one suffers while another rejoices. We cannot know the answers nor the grounds for the answers as to why.  It is not for us to know now; it may never be for us to know.

What we must learn to do is accept whatever lot we draw and learn to say what Saint Paul, who looked upon his own uncertain future, once said, "If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord."

We play the hand we've been dealt. And we play to the very best of our ability.  And when we do, God is glorified -- win, lose or draw, God is glorified.

Daily Lesson for July 13, 2015

Today's daily lesson comes from Mark 1 verses 32 through 39:

32 That evening at sundown they brought to him all who were sick or oppressed by demons. 33 And the whole city was gathered together at the door. 34 And he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons. And he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him. 35 And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed. 36 And Simon and those who were with him searched for him, 37 and they found him and said to him, “Everyone is looking for you.” 38 And he said to them, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.”39 And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.

Sometimes the greatest obstacle to what we should be doing is what we are doing right now.  Usually this is the case, not because of our failure in what we are doing now, but because of our marginal success.

I am convinced that many a talent has gone not fully realized because people get so comfortable in what they are doing today that they quit imagining what they are supposed or could be doing tomorrow. That is the beginning of the end.

There is a book titled "Necessary Endings" which I commend to anyone thinking where they are, what they are doing, and how they are doing it might is sufficient for today but maybe not tomorrow.  The premise is basically that for something new to begin then it is almost always necessary for something old to begin.

Jesus was wildly successful in the little town of Capernaum. Had he staid there doing what he was doing he would have been one of the greatest healers, teachers, and exorcists Galilee had ever known; but he would not have been called Savior of the World.

Daily Lesson for July 10, 2015

Today's daily lesson comes from Psalm 16 verse 11:

 You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;

Not very long ago Victoria Osteen, the wife of the famous preacher Joel Osteen, told the people in their congregation to "do good for your own [selves]", and "do good because God wants you to be happy" because "that's what makes God happy."

A lot of Christians, including a lot of my pastor friends, took her to task for that.  They said Vistoria Osteen's statements were basically a part of a whole religion of narcissism that makes personal pleasure the barometer for faithfulness -- a seemingly rather costless discipleship.

I get the criticism; but I have to say that when I heard what Victoria Osteen said something inside of what she was saying actually resonated with me in my own and my own experience.

Often when I am approached by someone who is seeking to know what to do with their lives, there is so often a kind of guilt in their questioning.  Say they want to do something vocationally, but they feel guilty about it because it is not the path of St. Francis-like renunciation; it is not the way of the cross.

Well, I have got to tell you, I actually know very few who have died on the cross.  And I am convinced that some went to the cross, not out of faithfulness, but out of a martyrdom complex rooted in a faith of works rather than grace.

I say, instead of thinking the way always leads us to set our faces toward Golgatha, the way is actually the path of our own heart -- sometimes that leads to Golgotha, but usually it leads to more pleasant places.  Regardless, it is always a path that, however hard, ends in life and in the fullness of joy.

No one should feel guilty about that.

Howard Thurman, the great black mystic and mentor of Martin Luther King, Jr., used to tell his students, "Do not ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come to life.  Because what the world needs is people who are fully alive."

I read that and I think, wow the one who inspired the martyr Dr. King sure sounds like Victoria Osteen . . .

Daily Lesson for July 9, 2015

Today's daily lesson comes from 1 Samuel 17 verses 4 through 7

4 And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. 5 He had a helmet of bronze on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze. 6 And he had bronze armor on his legs, and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders. 7 The shaft of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and his spear's head weighed six hundred shekels of iron. And his shield-bearer went before him.

At first reading, the panoply of Goliath is a awesome-sounding list made to strike fear in the hearts of both the ancient Israelites and modern Bible readers alike.  I mean, even if we have no idea how much one bronze shekel weighs (I don't) we still just aren't going mess with the dude who shows up wearing a coat of mail weighing five thousand of them.

But as fearsome as Goliath sounds with his giant's retinue, we do have to wonder who in their right mind would want to walk around with all that junk?

A couple of years ago Malcolm Gladwell wrote a popular book titled "David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants".  In the book, Gladwell basically says that all that Goliath has that makes him appear so strong and fierce actually in the end leads to his downfall in his fight with David.  Goliath is heavy, David is light; Goliath is bulky, David is free.  Goliath is overly-armored and weaponized while David is free to "float like a butterfly and sting like a bee."  One of the essential points of Gladwell's book is that what appear on surface to be strengths are in fact actually quite often weaknesses, and that "giants" -- whether they be corporations, or militaries, or police forces -- are often overly-outfitted with suites of armor worthy of going into battle with hundreds of giants, but incapable of defeating even one David.

So here's the questions: In what ways are our perceived-strengths in fact weaknesses and in what ways are our weaknesses in fact strengths?  Are we wearing too much armor?  Are we well-suited for some battle other than the one we have to fight?  Are we Goliaths in a David world? Or are we Davids in what we only thought was a Goliath world?

Again and again in the Bible, God chooses the small to humble the mighty, the weak to put to shame the strong.  And it's a good reminder that in the end it's better to be a big-hearted underdog with just one tiny, smooth stone divinely inspired, than it is to be a giant with five thousand shekels worth of bronze armor on the outside and just a big lug within.

Daily Lesson for July 8, 2015

Today's daily lesson comes from 1 Samuel 16 verses 6 through 12:

6 When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord's anointed is before him.” 7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” 8 Then Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” 9 Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” 10 And Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen these.” 11 Then Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your sons here?” And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, but behold, he is keeping the sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and get him, for we will not sit down till he comes here.” 12 And he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome. And the Lord said, “Arise, anoint him, for this is he.”

A few years back I was rummaging the religion section of an old used bookstore in Portland, Maine when I came across the great scholar Raymond Brown's commentary on the book of John, "The Gospel According to John" volumes one and two, which I had been searching for for a long time.  I jumped at the price, got it safely back to my then-home in Vermont and went to reading. As I opened the first volume, I found that the cover on the book was for the wrong volume and so I went to make the switch. That's when I made my discovery.  I had purchased the great scholar Raymond Brown's commentary on the book of John, "The Gospel According to John" volumes one and one.

"You can't judge a book by its cover."  I had always thought that was about people; but apparently it's true about books as well.  Who knew?

Today's lesson is a lesson about not judging by appearance. The priest Samuel comes to anoint one of Jesse's sons as the new king, and seeing the oldest and how he looks Samuel just knows this must be the one.  But the LORD tells Samuel  this is not the one and warns him not to judge by appearances.  So now Samuel stops judging by what his eyes see and goes down the whole line of Jesse's sons by listening with the heart.  He goes through all the sons until finally he comes to the youngest -- David.  "Arise," the LORD then says to Samuel, "anoint him."  And just to throw a double irony in the text says David "had beautiful eyes and was handsome," which would usually mean something to us, but by now in the story Samuel isn't paying attention to that stuff; and neither are we supposed to be.  David might have been handsome, but it doesn't say Samuel noticed -- it just says the LORD told him David was the one.  That was what mattered.

The LORD does not judge by appearances, but looks on the inside.  We are to do the same.

And I try to practice that now every time I rummage an old bookstore . . .

Daily Lesson for July 7, 2015

Today's daily lesson is from Acts chapter 9 verses 36 through 39:

36 In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (in Greek her name is Dorcas); she was always doing good and helping the poor. 37 About that time she became sick and died, and her body was washed and placed in an upstairs room.38 Lydda was near Joppa; so when the disciples heard that Peter was in Lydda, they sent two men to him and urged him, “Please come at once!” 39 Peter went with them, and when he arrived he was taken upstairs to the room. All the widows stood around him, crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them.

In today's lesson Peter is summoned to a place called Joppa, where a good and faithful woman named Dorcas, who went by Tabitha (which I sometimes joke isn't a bad idea if your name is Dorcas) was ill. When Peter entered her upstairs room, Tabitha was surrounded by a group of widows who were weeping and displaying all the garments that she had made for them out of her kindness and generosity.  It is a beautiful and touching scene as Peter then awakens her from death.

Whenever I read this story I always think of some good ladies from our church who make dresses for impoverished little girls in places like Haiti or South America.  They don't know these little girls, but I have this vision in my head that in the age to come they shall be awakened in the great Upper Room, and will be surrounded by those little girls and those dresses they made for them.  It's an even more beautiful and touching scene in my mind.

And not only that.  But the story goes on to say that Peter stayed on in Joppa, and it was there that he had his dream about the inclusion of Gentiles into God's fellowship and decided to go to them when asked for help.

Tabitha could never have known that while making those dresses she was also making difference for the kingdom and for eternity.

None of us really know what a difference we might be making, and never really will -- not until we awaken in the Upper Room.

Daily Lesson for July 6, 2015

Today's daily lesson comes from 1 Samuel chapter 15 verses 16 thru 18a:

16 Then Samuel said to Saul, “Stop! I will tell you what the Lord said to me this night.” And he said to him, “Speak.”
17 And Samuel said, “Though you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel. 18 And the Lord sent you on a mission . . ."

There is nothing that has more power over us than the way we see ourselves in our own eyes.

If in our heart of hearts we believe that we are small, stupid, inarticulate, impotent, or in any other way inadequate for the task given us then it shall surely show. What we believe about ourselves is always -- ALWAYS -- a self-fulfilling prophecy.  This is the way that fear and its twin shame end up undermining so many and so much of us.

God would have us to know that what has been given unto us is sufficient for whatever it is that He has called us to.  We must believe one thing about ourselves -- that we are enough.

Believing that is everything; but neither God nor anyone else can believe it for us.  We gotta believe it ourselves.

Daily Lesson for July 3, 2015

Today's daily lesson is a reflection on the meaning of America:

In a 2002 address, the former chair of the Natuonal Endowment of the Humanities delivered a speech in which he said:

"A nation that does not know why it exists or what it stands for cannot be expected to long endure . . . We must recover from the amnesia that shrouds our history in darkness, our principles in confusion, and our future in uncertainty.  We cannot expect that a nation which has lost its memory will keep its vision."

Independence Day is about holding on to memory.  It is a time set aside to observe the meaning of our nation and to protect us from the amnesia which would have us to forget why it is that we exist.

There is often now a debate about whether or not America is "exceptional".  I say yes, America is exceptional insofar as God has given it to us to for this time to hold the light of freedom up for all the nations to see.  Of course, we have not always held it up as high as we might, and therefore the light of freedom has not always reached as far as we said on paper it would; but when we have chosen to hold it as high as we might, the light has reached far and wide. That is truly exceptional.

This weekend is our chance once again to be reminded of our enduring call to lift the light. And I suggest it is for each of us as individuals and as families to go back this weekend to the paper -- the Declaration of Independence -- and remind ourselves once more of what it is that we stand for.  "Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" -- this is what must be perpetually observed and remembered lest the light be lost.

In his famous 1852 Independence Day speech, Frederick Douglass said this of those famous words on paper:

"I have said that the Declaration of Independence is the ringbolt to the chain of your nation’s destiny; so, indeed, I regard it. The principles contained in that instrument are saving principles. Stand by those principles, be true to them on all occasions, in all places, against all foes, and at whatever cost."

Independence Day is a day set aside to remember again what we stand for, why we exist, and what is our exceptional calling in this world.

May we seek to live up to this calling, and may the torch of liberty we hold always burn bright and burn bold.

Daily Lesson for July 2, 2015

Today's daily lesson comes from Psalm 133:

Behold, how good and pleasant it is
when brothers dwell in unity!1
2 It is like the precious oil on the head,
running down on the beard,
on the beard of Aaron,
running down on the collar of his robes!
3 It is like the dew of Hermon,
which falls on the mountains of Zion!
For there the Lord has commanded the blessing,
life forevermore.

As we toward the Independence Day weekend my thoughts today are on our nation and its meaning.

Unlike most nations, we are a country made up of differences in race, religion, custom, and geography. Our differences almost destroyed us once, yet for nearly two and a half centuries, in the end we've largely made it work.  This is a part of the beauty and genius of what is America.

As Psalm 133 is today's morning psalm, I read the first line which speaks of how good and pleasing it is for brothers to dwell together in unity.  This makes me think of those old and sacred words now so familiar and resonant with the soul of our country, "E Pluribus Unum" -- out of many one. The psalm then goes on to speak of the great mountains and landscape of Israel as metaphor for its people, and my mind thinks of the lyrics to "America the Beautiful" which do the same.

The last year has been a tense time in our nation's history, but we are still dwelling in unity.  From purple mountain majesties and over the fruited plain, all beneath the spacious skies have had God's grace shed upon us, so may we on this 4th of July crown our good with brotherhood and remember the most important thing: that we all belong here and that we all belong to on another.

Daily Lesson for July 1, 2015

Today's daily lesson is from Acts chapter 8 verses 17 through 20:

17 Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. 18 Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money, 19 saying, "Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit." 20 But Peter said to him, "May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money!"

There is an old saying that the best things in life are free.

On Monday I wrote about a really incredible thing that happened after church on Sunday between me and a sick, and then mostly unconscious young man and his mother.  I had preached that morning about a bleeding woman holding on to the thread of Jesus' prayer shawl tassel, and then I show up at the hospital and the mom, without provocation,is talking about it being the touch of his prayer shawl tassel that most comforts her boy.  I said, "I think I am going to send you a copy of today's sermon."

Now that kind of experience is just a God-thing. You can't create it; and you certainly can't buy it.  You can wish for it; but it can only come as a gift.

The more we are in tune with God, the more closely we are connected, and the more open we are to God's Spirit moving in and through us then the more God-things happen.  But we can't buy them or manufacture them or wish, wish, wish for them to happen.

It's a grace thing; which means by definition it cannot be bought but only given and received.