Reformation Day

Today was a celebration of reformation day. About 500 years ago, Martin Luther nailed 95 "thesis" or complaints against the Church to the door of the Cathedral at Wittenburg. On that day, Luther protested (among other things) the practice of selling letters of forgiveness (indulgences) to poor Christians to fund church construction even though forgiveness is supposed to be a free gift. Luther’s action kicked off Lutheranism and pretty much the whole Protestant movement from the Roman Catholic Church.

This evening we decided to make it our own personal reformation day, and had the people write their own complaints against Christianity and our own church in particular. The main theme we came up with was the idea that we are bound up in old traditions that have little relevance to people outside the church. In some way, participating in church is reaching back to something ancient, something bigger than yourself… thousands of years old but still living. On the other hand sometimes we get caught up in the trappings of ceremony or personal piety, and put off those who come with spiritual seeking. Probably the worst thing a Christian can do is to put himself on a holy pedestal. Jesus himself condemned this hypocritical “show faith” in the book of Matthew:

"Their lives are perpetual fashion shows, embroidered prayer shawls one day and flowery prayers the next. They love to sit at the head table at church dinners, basking in the most prominent positions, preening in the radiance of public flattery, receiving honorary degrees, and getting called 'Doctor' and 'Reverend’. Don’t let people do that to you, put you on a pedestal like that. You all have a single Teacher, and you are all classmates. Don't set people up as experts over your life, letting them tell you what to do."

“Do you want to stand out? Then step down. Be a servant. If you puff yourself up, you'll get the wind knocked out of you. But if you're content to simply be yourself, your life will count for plenty.”

People from all branches of the church whether Lutheran, Episcopal, Baptist, or Catholic sometimes put tradition and piety before substance. God looks for the humble heart of a servant in all of us… one that puts the needs of our family, friends, and community before our own without an eye toward “looking holy”. I have to admit it is tough actually live that way, but an occasional reformation is good for the church.

Logos

"In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God and the word was God." We've decided to give some focus to our bobblehead biblestudy and read John's gospel. We decided on John because it is a dense theology of Jesus.

Dense turns to be a good way to describe it. We spent about 2 hours or maybe longer and I think we got through 16 verses. I'll try to summarize discussion as best as I can.

The beginning of John starts with "In the beginning..." Unlike the other gospels, John makes a point to go back to creation rather than Jesus's human birth to start out Jesus's story. Some say this is because he is trying to fill in what the other gospels miss, others say because this was the first gospel. No matter the reason, it is an intriguing way to start a book.

John calls Jesus the "Logos" a Greek word maeaning "the reason" or "logic." Heraclitus wrote about the logos saying

"This LOGOS holds always but humans always prove unable to understand it, both before hearing it and when they have first heard it."

We contine... "the word was with God, and the word was God.... through him all things were made." This reminded us of Genesis.

"In the beginning... And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light" God spoke, and there was light. The word was with God and the Word was God, through him all things were made. Somehow, this utterance of God through which creation came to be is in fact God.

Now. the part that blows our mind... "And the Word became flesh and dwelled among us." This utterance that was with God through which the universe was made became human. An eternal breath or sound or energy or logic was made human.

Our brains hurt at this point.

Repentance

This past week we meditated on the nature of repentance and God’s gift of forgiveness. In preparing for prayers this week I reflected on my own shortcomings that constantly pull on the grace of God:

I have let people down

I have come up short when my friends depended on me

I have promised to do the right thing and then gone back on my word

I have said words in anger I wish I could take back

I have passed by the stranger in need

I have turned a cold sholder and made others feel unwelcome

I have selfishly put today ahead of tomorrow

I think that Sara and many others sometimes have the same feelings of guilt too. What is forgiveness? God forgives us on the balance sheet up in the sky. What does this mean for us? Should we be without the feeling of guilt?

Sara gave the message this time. We read through the parable of the two brothers, one who said he would do his father’s work in the field but went back on his word, and the second who refused, but later went out to work in the field. Obviously the second brother is the one who did his fathers will.

We read psalm 51, a beautiful expression of repentance and forgiveness written by king David. Reading the works in a couple of different versions with contemplative Taize music in between really set the mood for reflecting on what repentance means for each of us.After the lesson, Sara left silence for people to focus on what they needed to repent of, and announced Jesus’ forgiveness on us all.

Forgive us our tresspasses as we forgive those who tresspass against us

What does it mean to forgive?

Last Sunday we discussed the story of the unmerciful servant. As a reminder, this is the parable about the guy who had a huge debt and begged for forgiveness. But then, turned around and didn't show mercy to a friend of his who owed him a small amount of money. The story was brought to life by the drama group that performed a modern interpretation.

In the conversation, we talked about how forgiveness is like removing the bullet after a gunshot wound. The bullet needs to come out before healing can begin... and sometimes.... the bullet finds itself lodged in very delicate places and there is not always a simple answer to what it means to forgive.

What about in situations where people will still harm us? what does forgiveness look like then?

We talked about giving up the right to revenge. When people do bad things to us we are totally justified in reactions of vengeance. To forgive is to name those things which we have right to do and then to let go of them.

And so even though it can be complicated, forgiveness can be very cleansing and healing. What would it look like if you woke up one morning and the world was completely fresh. There was no bad air between you or anybody else? What would it look like if everyday you had a clean slate with the people you love?

God teaches us forgiveness because we have to live with each other's brokenness.

Grace through Faith - a bit of theological bantering

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast."

Tonight was our first bible study -- or perhaps more accurately described as theological bantering over beer and pizza.

The theme: How does grace work through faith?

If grace is a gift and we can't do anything for it, what is faith, is it not an action on our part - to believe? We went a bit around and around on this, as you can imagine. What is grace? What is faith? what are works? What is salvation? What is God? What's the point?!?!?

We went all over the place, so it is difficult to summerize, but the pizza was good and I learned a lot. And oh ya, check out the bobble head Jesus -- he was the life of the party!

The dance of Creation

This Sunday we celebrated creation as a whole congregation, bringing together the Crossings folks and the traditional service worshipers. The music and worship styles were blended. To me, it felt like true celebration of what it means to be a community that reflects God's creation through our own creativity.

The service began with a call and response song "Come let us worship God" which we have traditionally done with the piano. For this service, Mary led the call, I led the response and Don and Jerry play African rhythms on the Djembe.

We then sat down to listen to Leanne lead us through a "Godly Play" creation story. Godly play is our new Sunday school curriculum which is Montessori based and allows children to explore faith through stories and questions.

After our Godly play, we all got up and danced and clapped our hands, as Jerry led us on "Wake up my soul." My seat was in front with the musicians and from that vantage point I could see a see of smiles as people let the music move them.

We then read the creation story one day at a time. Between each of the readings I sang a calypso song to which the congregation responded "It was good, it was good, it was real good.

"In the beginning.. God said let there be light" with this, the alter guild brought forth a lit candle.

"And God said, "Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water." God called the expanse "sky."" The alter guild brought forth blue banners representing the sky.

"And God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear." Jeff placed small cups of water and the congregation brought the water forward and filled the baptismal font.

"Then God said, "Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds." The alter guild brought forth potted plants.

"And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, " Around the outside of the room were several tables with candles on them. Each person got to go light a candle.



" And God said, "Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky."" Under many of the chairs were placed stuffed animals which people brought forward and placed around the alter.

"Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."" We joined hands and sang together.

"By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work." Perhaps the most touching of them all. On this day, we raised our hands and sang in celebration of creation... imagine a bunch of Lutherans raising their hands and dancing in church. One Sunday, in Davis California, it really happened.

Who is Jesus?

He pressed them, "And how about you? Who do you say I am?"

Simon Peter said, "You're the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God."

Jesus came back, "God bless you, Simon, son of Jonah! You didn't get that answer out of books or from teachers. My Father in heaven, God himself, let you in on this secret of who I really am. And now I'm going to tell you who you are, really are."

Who is Jesus?
Jesus asks a simple question that has a profound answer. Who am I? Who is Jesus? A wise man, a teacher, a prophet? Peter responds -- Son of God. What the heck, where does this come from? What does it mean? What makes Peter say this?

I wrestle with this question. Who is Jesus? Who is God? What does it mean for God to have a son and how can they be one? Without the bible or years of Christian tradition and theology, would I ever conceive to think of Christ as the son of God. This revelation of Peter's is so profound and Jesus responds by validating that there is no earthly way he could have come up with it.

Jesus continues by saying -- now you know who I am, let me tell you who you are -- I am struck by this. The idea that Peter's, and our, identity is somehow defined by who Jesus is makes me wonder -- How does Jesus as the son of God shape who I am?

I don't have an answer, but it is a curious question.