I Know That I'm Forgiven...But I Don't Know How I Know

photo by Amanda Christensen-Graef

I once had someone question the Absolution offered at the end of the Confession of Sins.  She said, “I don’t need someone to forgive my sins.  God does that.” 

Leonard Cohen wrote these lines in a song called That Don’t Make It Junk.

“I know that I’m forgiven,
But I don’t know how I know
I don’t trust my inner feelings
Inner feelings come and go”
                         (Ten New Songs) 

Of course God forgives sins, but without someone to declare that forgiveness to me, my forgiveness becomes an internal phenomenon.  A product of my inner feelings, which change more often than the weather.  Worse, forgiveness becomes something I do for myself. 

We have a tendency to make faith largely a private, internal matter.  And yes, our relationship to God is highly personal, deeply intimate indeed.  But God is more than the private relationship God and I have. 

An important part of my intimate relationship with God is the way it drives me to engage the world.  My relationship with God compels me to be relationship with others.  And God addresses my heart not only through an internal voice, but in a spoken word that enters through my ear.  A word that originates from outside of me, beyond my control.  A word spoken that draws me into it. 

When Absolution is pronounced by a pastor, a minister or a priest, it is pronounced on behalf of God.  It draws us out of the echo chamber of our own inner feelings, and into relationship with our brothers and sisters. 

Luther, taught children to make the sign of the cross (touch your head, your heart, your left shoulder and your right shoulder) like this:  God is in my head, God is in my heart, God is on my left, and God is on my right. 

God is inside of me, and outside of me.  God is not my possession as much as what and who possesses me. +

And We're Off....

Lutheran worship follows the basic progression of Western catholic liturgy.  There is the Entrance Rite, Word, and Meal.  These three  movements comprise the Liturgy. 

Each of these large movements are made up of smaller pieces, like a symphony.  The Entrance Rite, for example, contains an invocation, supplication and praise, ending in a concluding prayer which captures the worship theme of the day (Prayer of the Day).

The Entrance Rite focuses our attention and draws us into the presence of God.  It typically begins with a Brief Order for Confession of Sin and Forgiveness.  “if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us...”  That’s 1 John 1:8.  Just about everything we say in the liturgy comes from the Bible. 

The Entrance Rite ushers us into God’s presence by immediately taking us out of our comfort zone and our self-serving.  Our admission into God’s presence is our admission that we are not who we claim to be, despite our best efforts. 

And, if we’re listening carefully at this point, we’re also acknowledging that much of the brokenness and suffering we experience is self-inflicted.

Why is this admission important?   Does God take some perverse delight in making us feel bad about ourselves?  Well, let’s look at that for a moment.

In every other aspect of our lives, we strive to “put our best foot forward.”  Our goal is to “make a good impression.”  This is the path to success, right?  And success equals happiness.  This is the underlying formula for most of our recipes of living the good life. 

Take politics for example.  Candidates seek success (votes) by pointing out their opponent’s “sins,” and ignoring their own.  Or, if they’re really sophisticated, they try to spin their own frailties and shortcomings into something positive.  That’s the way our world works.

To be successful, project an image of strength and certainty.  We’re captain of our own ship, master of our own fate, and we know exactly where we’re going.   

The trouble is that underneath that projection, we know the truth.  We project strength to cover our weakness.  Certainty to mask our doubts.  Independence to hide our insecurities.   

Yeah, we’re the captain of our own ship, but the instruments are all jammed, there’s a thick fog, and we’re flying by the seat of our pants not sure where we’re even going.  But, don’t tell anyone. 

We invest a lot of energy keeping that a secret.  Making a good impression requires lots of emotional suppression.  As the gap between who we are and who we claim to be (in order to be accepted, successful and loved) widens, our stress increases.  The bigger that gap, the greater our stress.

Some come to think then, that it pleases God when we feel awful about ourselves.  When we’re filled with self loathing.  So we confess our sin with gusto.  We pull out a laundry list of sins and delight in adding to it.  Even if we have to make stuff up.  Heck, it’s all for a good cause.

But, trying to impress God with either our sinfulness or our goodness is equally boneheaded.   Besides, it’s a complete waste of energy.  Because it is not necessary.  How do you impress someone who already loves you?  Why would you want to? 

So, why do we have to confess our sins when we come before God, if God isn’t just trying to make us feel bad about ourselves?   What’s the point?

It’s like carrying heavy bags around with you all the time.  Baggage filled with fears, anxieties, secrets that can never see the light of day.  Coming into the presence of God, we finally get to put those heavy bags down.  Under God’s loving eye, we might even get the courage to begin unpacking them.

In the act of confession, we are relieved of the burden of having to impress God, and each other, and freed to be who we are.  We are freed to relate to each other in new ways.  We are freed to engage our world in new ways.  Supportive, cooperative....not exploiting and self-serving. 

And, as we hear in the declaration of absolution that in spite of everything, we are loved by God deeply and unconditionally, we’re  turned to a new path.  Given a new road map to happiness, peace, fulfillment, contentment and joy. 

And you can leave all that baggage here.  You won’t be needing it where you’re going. 

What IS Lutheran Worship Anyway?

One afternoon, I was in Manhattan for a meeting.  I had some free time before the meeting started since I lucked out on the subway.  Every train arrived right after I did.  So I stopped at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral. 

I love going into Saint Patrick’s.  The hush of the sacred just steps off of Fifth Avenue is always startling and refreshing.  The contrasts remind be a lot of DC.  The poor struggling with their lives in the shadow of power. 

You go into St. Patrick’s, and the homeless are sleeping on pews under the watchful eyes of the saints, people are praying, lighting candles, or browsing the side altars like they're shopping for vegetables.    

This particular afternoon, Mass was going on at the main altar.  As the doors closed behind me, the hush descended and I heard the familiar Hymn of Praise...This is the feast of victory for our God.  Alleluia.  Alleluia. 

They were singing right out of the Lutheran Book of Worship, Setting One, in one of the largest Roman Catholic cathedrals in the world. 

That’s the perfect place to begin thinking about Lutheran worship today.  Our Lutheran worship isn’t unique.  It grows out of the Western Catholic liturgical tradition.  A tradition we share in varying degrees, with Roman Catholics, Anglicans (Episcopalians), and the Reformed Churches (i.e. United Church of Christ, Presbyterian, Methodist etc.).   

So, what was Luther’s beef with the Mass?  In truth, not much. At least in practice anyway.  In the Reformation, Luther brought basically two innovations to the Mass.   First, he translated the Mass from Latin into German.  Something he did with the Bible too.  

Second, he restored the Word (preaching) to the Mass. In Luther’s time, the Mass stressed the sacramental.  The Lutheran understanding of the Mass held Word & Sacrament in equal importance and equal esteem.

The Sacraments were tangible expressions of the Word.  Nothing more and nothing less. 

That’s about it.  Two things, but they were doozies. 

It should be noted that Roman Catholics pretty much embraced Luther’s changes to the Mass with Vatican II about 50 years ago. 

Anglicans applied Luther’s principles and innovations and developed many rich spiritual resources, like the Book of Common Prayer, that still serves all Christians today. 

The biggest and most enduring thing that Luther did in terms of shaping the Mass was to connect worship to the daily lives of people.  He made the Word accessible.

For Lutherans, the Word of God doesn’t exist to support the life of an institution.  The Word & Sacraments were to nurture and enrich the lives of the faithful and equip them to live the Good News.  To be a blessing for all. 

These innovations continue to define Lutheran worship. 

Lutherans fiercely guard the integrity of the Word and Sacraments while continually struggling to find new ways to connect them with the ever changing lives of people. 

To be sure, sometimes we’re better at guarding than innovating. 

We still know that worship practices and forms will change and evolve as people’s lives change.  That’s a given for Lutheran worship. 

The integrity of Lutheran worship is not that we keep doing things the same way, but that we find new ways to declare the same thing: God’s unconditional love for all in Christ.

Lutheran Pastor Forced to Apologize

The Rev. Rob Morris, pastor of Christ the King Lutheran Church (a congregation of the Missouri Synod) in Newtown Connecticut, was forced by Missouri Synod church officials to offer a written apology for participating in an ecumenical prayer vigil in Newtown, following the mass killings at Sandy Hook Elementary School.  Unlike the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod (LCMS) forbids its clergy from participating with other faiths in worship. 

The prayer vigil, held in Newtown, two days after the shootings in December, was attended by President Obama, and Muslim, and Jewish leaders as well as other Christian clergy and families of the first grade class where the shootings occurred. 

I’ve included links here for those who want to read more about this story. 

NBC News

Religious News Services

I’ll admit, there was a time when my first reaction to this would have been anger.  And yes, I’m still angry.  The general public doesn’t understand the difference between the ELCA and the LCMS.  All they see is Lutheran, and so I and to some degree all Lutherans, are tarred by this brush which I personally find offensive and the antithesis of everything I believe and confess as a Lutheran.

But that’s not my strongest reaction anymore.  My strongest reaction is sadness.  Sadness at the missed opportunity to bring the love of God close to people who desperately needed it. 

Pastor Morris was right to stand with the brokenhearted, to offer comfort to the inconsolable, to represent the visible presence of God in solidarity with those who weep at such unthinkable loss.  As a pastor, and as a human being, it would have been unthinkable for me to be anywhere else. 

I’ll leave the Missouri Synod leaders to work out their own salvation in fear and trembling, knowing that every church body today, yes, even the ELCA, has been guilty of all manner of failings and shortcomings when it comes to bearing the grace of God to the world. 

Instead, I want to affirm the mystery of what God calls us to be as the church.  God invites us into relationship, not that we may take possession of God.  As Paul says quoting the hymn in Philippians: Jesus did not count equality with God as a thing to be exploited, but emptied himself. (Phil. 2:6-7). 

This self-emptying is mark of our relationship with God too.  It is our ongoing work.  We are not called into relationship with God in order to take possession of God, but so that God may take possession of us.  So that we may work with God the way a sail, properly set, captures the wind without ever possessing it. 

Each one of us will have a different take on the mystery of our relationship with God.  None of us will ever fully understand it, or give proper expression to it.  That’s OK.  We’re not supposed to.  Because we are not called to perfect our relationship with God.  We are called to be empty vessels, that we may be filled with God’s love and so be in loving relationship with each other. 

Any understanding of our relationship to God that demands that we be less than human or humane; that we turn our backs on our brokenhearted sisters or ignore the tears of our grieving brothers, is flat out false and misguided.  That is an understanding that seeks to exploit God, not to be filled by God.  

Thank you for your faithful service Pastor Morris. 

The Super Bowl & the Spoils of Victory

Mercifully, Ray Lewis long ago dropped off my radar.  After his shady plea bargain deal where he admitted conspiracy and obstruction that let him off a double murder charge, I thought he deserved to just fade away.  And, unless you were a Ravens fan (which I am not, even though Joe Flacco is a graduate of my high school alma mater in NJ), that's exactly what he did. 

Oh, but now he's back.  The Ravens won the Super Bowl!!!!!  Congratulations Baltimore…I think.  Because now we are treated to a revolting parade of Ray Lewis, prancing and preening, spouting his obnoxious infantile nonsense about leadership, perseverance, morality  and God. 

You see, in the eyes of Ray Lewis, the reason the Ravens won the Super Bowl is because God is a huuuge Ray Lewis fan.  Evidently, Ray Lewis found religion.  Or rather, God and religion finally caught up with Ray Lewis and his awesomeness.   

Since I've gotten up this morning, I've seen Ray Lewis interviewed on three different channels (mis)quoting St Paul and Romans…."If God be for you, who can be against you."  Too bad San Francisco.  New England.  Denver.  God's just not that into you.

There he was at breakfast on the morning shows.  Again later when I went to the gym in the locker room.  On the treadmill on the big screen.  Again in the locker room after the tread mill.  And then, the hyper ventilating talk jocks shouting back and forth about the blown calls, the blown lights, the blown opportunities, and poor Ray Lewis!  How he was being soooo unfairly treated in the media for his spirituality and how he's turned his life around!

OK, wait a minute guys.  Breathe into a paper bag for a few.  What Ray Lewis is spouting has nothing whatsoever to do with spirituality.  Or with God.  As far as being unfairly treated…I wonder how the families of the murdered young men feel about how unfairly Ray Lewis has been treated in the media, the NFL, and by life in general while his career never missed a beat during the years since they buried their sons?  

No, if anyone is being unfairly treated here, it's God.   It's those who struggle with real spiritual issues like those grieving families. 

Ray Lewis, and his inane posturing cheapens and grossly demeans genuine spirituality and faith. Despite Ray Lewis delusional perspective, God's goals and the goals of an NFL football team really have nothing to do with each other. 

Despite what is often popular perception; a football game, a baseball game, basketball game, bowling, bocce, you name it; are not mini morality plays where God doles out favor.  In fact, I hate to break it to you, but I think God was watching Downton Abbey last night.  Especially while the lights were out.  Anyway…

Just to be clear, if you want to find God in sporting events, God's there.  Just not where Ray Lewis thinks.

Ignore the buffoon trotting around the bases pointing to the sky.  Watch the pitcher who just watched his pitch sail into the seats.   

Forget the purple confetti and the trophy, the locker room with the champagne soaking everything.  Head over to the other locker room where you can hear the showers dripping. Where cameras and questions seem a tasteless intrusion.  Where adults sit and stare at the wall. 

You see, that's what Paul was actually writing about in Romans, when he said, "If God is for us, who can be against us?" 

God & Guns

On an online clergy discussion list I occasionally participate in, a hospital chaplain confessed his weariness and frustration dealing with the aftermath of gun violence.  In his ministry, he regularly dealt with shooting victims.  Their families.  Their friends.  He felt like he was drowning in a rising tide of pain, anger, grief, revenge, and ultimately death and despair. 

He posed a question (in the middle of a rant at what he perceived to be the silence of the church and the Christian community at large), “What does God and our theology have to say about guns?”  

The answers from the clergy who responded were appalling.  Not just in what they said, I found them to be little more talking points.  Reinstating prayer in schools, violence in video games, teaching abstinence when it comes to sex, warning against a government that is deviously plotting to enslave its citizens after it disarms them, and finally even reaching back to the oldies but goodies hit parade, “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people.”   A lot more often than people with pasta do, no doubt.  

Any theology or serious grappling with what God is calling us to be was completely missing from their answers.  

To be fair, I’m sure they thought the same about my responses to them.  Just more talking points from the other side.  That’s a shame.  I think the original question deserves serious consideration. 

So, here is how God shapes my thinking as a follower of Jesus when it comes to guns.

It comes from the Lord’s Prayer.  The prayer Jesus taught us and the prayer we pray together every Sunday.  What are we really praying for in this prayer?   

In the Lord’s prayer, we pray “your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven...” 

Now maybe there’s a vision somewhere of God’s kingdom as a place where the heavenly host are armed to the teeth with assault weapons and extended ammo clips.  I once saw a tattoo of a cherub wearing an ammo belt across his chubby little chest.  If this is how you envision God’s Kingdom, the Lord’s prayer is pretty much descriptive of your reality I suppose.  But then, you have other issues to grapple with.

Didn’t Jesus tell Peter to put down his sword (as guns weren’t invented yet, you may substitute freely), when the authorities came to arrest him?  A good guy with a sword may not be the best antidote to a bad guy with a sword (and ironically, a slave bystander is the one who winds up losing an ear in the exchange) as far as Jesus is concerned. 

In fact, Jesus’ last public act in his ministry is healing that slave’s ear.  Ministering and healing those caught in the cross fire of violence, even as he is about to be swept up into it himself.  Isn’t this a repudiation of the our violent world?  A world where we turn to weapons to make us powerful and invincible?

Isn’t that the very fantasy that the mass killers were playing out, in Aurora, Newtown, Columbine, Virginia Tech, and so many other places? 

Armed to the teeth, they acted out their power fantasies and in almost every case, wound up dead by their own hand.  The final victims of their own superior fire power and “invincibility” which turned out to be anything but.

When Jesus was arrested, he didn’t shout to his followers to take up arms as he was being dragged away.   Doesn’t Jesus explicitly say to Pilate, “my kingdom is not from this world. If it were, my followers would be taking up arms and we’d have a battle.”  

Like Jesus, whatever power we have comes from another place. 

Jesus call to arms came earlier that night, as he draped a towel over his arm and washed his disciples feet.  He left them with the command, “Do this...love one another as I have loved you.” 

Isn’t this is what we pray for, in the Lord’s Prayer?  Aren’t these are the marks of the Kingdom ruled by the will of God, that we pray will come about here on earth?  

As people who pray this prayer then, we are called to live as midwives in the birthing of this new kingdom.  This is what Jesus meant by calling us out of the world and sending us back into the world.  We are agents of a new order.  An order that is coming, but not yet. 

This is also what we affirm in praying the Lord’s Prayer.  What we pray is predictive of a future time (“your kingdom come”), not descriptive of the present moment.  We are called out of the world and sent back into the world, not as the world will be, or even could be, but to the world as it is.  To the world where guns exist.  To the world where Peter had a sword (you may again substitute freely) to draw in the first place.

As those called out and sent back, we are sent to model a new way of relating to this world as it is.  Guns exist, and will continue to exist, but not as expressions of our power and invincibility.  Those things come from another, life-giving place for God’s people.  Guns exist as part of a world that is being overshadowed by a new order.  A new order we are charged to bring about.

In light of the new order that is coming, an order that we pray for whenever we gather in worship, guns can, and should be regulated and placed within strict limitations, along with the chaos and havoc guns can create.  The way that God put limits on chaos in creation.  The very things our hospital chaplain dealt with everyday. 

Enacting those limitations would be tangible evidence of what we pray for in the Lord’s Prayer.  Not necessarily the fulfillment of God’s will.  But certainly signs of that Heavenly kingdom drawing near, and that’s what God sent us back into the world to do, isn’t it?   

The Granduer Of The Obvious

I went to the Metropolitan Washington DC Together in Mission event on Saturday.  The speaker was Brian McLaren.  I’d read a couple of his books, and sort of knew what to expect.  Solid thinking presented in an accessible way.  A trademark generosity of ideas and spirit that marks his work. 

I don’t want to go into detail now, other than to say I thoroughly enjoyed the day.  McLaren lived up to his reputation.  What I’ve been reflecting on most from hearing him speak is the way the truth hides in plain sight. 

Listening to McLaren was a little like watching the sun come up.  Something that happens every morning, without exception.  A perfectly ordinary event.  So ordinary, most of us don’t bother getting out of bed to see it. We’d much rather sleep.

McLaren had a way of peeling back the ordinariness to reveal the grandeur of the obvious. 

This is, it seems to me, the job of both the pastor and the poet.  To just see what is there to see.  To point out the eternity tucked away in the ordinary comings and goings, the risings and the settings that define the borders of our lives.   God is in these mundane places and events.  

Gun Violence...Let's Do What We Can

This morning, I heard NJ Gov Chris Christie explain the evolving conservative position on gun control.  It must be part of an overall focus that addresses violence in our culture.  Guns can't be singled out.  This broad stroke approach includes, mental health care, violent video games, and violence in the media. 

Christie said it’s not healthy for kids to be blowing people away in their basement for hours in violent video games, like Adam Lanza, the Newtown shooter, apparently did.  Christie went on to say that he and his wife do not allow these kinds of violent video games in their house. 

While I applaud the Governor, and agree with him about the violence of American culture, I disagree with his conclusion that you can’t deal with guns except in a larger cultural context.  This entirely misses the point.  You have to start somewhere.  And guns are by far, the most lethal expression of violent culture.  The culture with fewer guns is by definition, less violent.

The only means we have of changing our violent culture is by changing the way the culture manifests itself.  In other words, to address guns IS to begin changing a violent culture.  Moreover, it is the easiest part of the violent culture to begin fixing.  Here’s why it’s important to do what we can do. 

Most people are perfectly capable of distinguishing the fantasy world of violence in a video game with violence in real life.  However, for those who find that distinction harder to make, i.e those with mental and emotional illnesses, it’s even more important for the culture to reinforce the distinction. 

For example, in the fantasy world of a video game, a player can wreak unimaginable harm and destruction, as Gov Christie rightly notes.  Blowing fantasy people away left and right.  But, when the culture mimics a fantasy video game and makes 100 round magazines and semi automatic assault weapons available in real life, the culture in effect colludes in blurring the line between fantasy and reality.   It invites those with mental or emotional illnesses to step across that treacherously thin line, and provides them the tools to do it.

There are no quick fixes to cultural violence.  We can choose to focus on what lies beyond our control, and use that as an excuse to do nothing, or we can change what we have the power to change, and take it one step at a time. 

Governor Christie, let’s roll up our sleeves and change what we can.  Now.

Greet the New Year With Gratitude

Today marks the end of 2012 and the beginning of 2013.  Our celebration of Christmas is often soaked in nostalgia and now, many of us look for a fresh start in the New Year.

We look ahead with new resolve, new behaviors and new habits to create the new person we have always dreamed of being.

For many of us though, those resolutions are famously short lived.  Rather than a new start, we wind up with a continuation of what preceded it.  We're the same people, facing the same challenges, often with the same disappointing  results.

Here's some thoughts about ringing in the New Year and that new future we're dreaming of:

• The future begins now.  Think about it.  The future doesn't just arrive out of nowhere.  The future grows out of the present moment.  I suppose, in some very important ways, the future is the fulfillment of the present moment.  It's what the present moment means.   Isn't that what Christmas was all about?  God born at a particular time, in a particular place and that's where God continues to be found.  God enters our time to be found nowhere else but here and now.

• Change your relationship to now.  If I'm angry now, the future is likely to be filled with bitterness.  If I feel cheated now, the future will bring disappointment.  If I'm fearful now, the future will bring anxiety and dread.   On and on.  We can't have a new future until we figure out a new way to be right now.

• Gratitude is the most powerful tool we have to create the future we hope for.  At this end of the year, simply hold everything that brings you to this present moment in grateful awareness.  Even the pain that might come from this exercise.  Or the fear, or the anger, or even the grief and tears.  They all exist now too, and they have a right to be here.  Resist the urge to push them away.  Instead, try this.  Pull up a chair.  Invite them to sit with you.  Introduce yourself.   Serve snacks.  Don't worry, another guest will be arriving at any moment.  It's called healing and healing hangs out with some of the very people you've been dying to meet.  

 

Sermon Reflections on Sandy Hook Shootings

I am sharing the audio of the sermon I preached yesterday at: 

Epiphany Lutheran Church
5521 Old Mill Road 
Alexandria, VA

Still reflecting on those events, and their implications for all of us.  In the meantime, clinging to that light that the darkness does not overcome...walking the path it lights ahead of me. 

Later, I will post the prayer, where the names of the victims are read, and the congregation rings a hand-chime.  A moving memorial.


The Light That Shines in the Darkness (Sandy Hook Elementary School)

Helping Your Child Deal With Tragedy

The tragic shooting in Newtown CT strikes the parents of young children in a unique way.  Our children’s trusting eyes, their upturned faces emphatically underscore the human proportions of this senseless act.  We feel our responsibilities as parents even more keenly.  At the same time, fulfilling them becomes infinitely more complicated now.

Here are five basic things you can do as this story unfolds:

• Spend intentional time with your child.  One of a child’s most basic needs is to feel safe.  As parents, we often underestimate the security our mere presence provides.   Make a special effort to stay close to your child.  Just being together in the same room is a tremendous source of reassurance.

• Don’t encourage or discourage their questions.  Don’t initiate questions but, don’t discourage them either.  Let your child be your guide. Respond honestly and directly to your child’s question if and when they do ask.  Remember, it’s often not what we say, but how we say it.  Our words may go right over our child’s head.  Our body language, our tone of voice will ring out loud and clear.  Direct, honest, calm responses tell your child what they most need to know.

• Limit news coverage.  While it’s important to stay informed, it’s easy to overdo it these days.  Constant news coverage creates it’s own rationale, and it’s easy for children and adults to lose perspective.  Turn it off for awhile.

• Save adult talk for adults.  Our children’s questions often touch our own uncertainties.  Avoid the temptation to go into those uncertainties with your child.  It’s important that we have a place to work out our own questions and feelings.  Talk with your spouse, a friend, or even write in a journal.  While, it can be healthy and healing for an adult to acknowledge their questions with their child.  An honest “I don’t know” is better than posturing and avoidance.  However, it’s almost always a mistake for a parent to share more than that with their child. Our children don’t need to deal with their parent’s issues.  They need us to help them deal with theirs.

• Maintain perspective.  Because bad things can and do happen in the world, doesn’t mean the world is a bad place.  Bad things are the exception, not the rule.  Remind your child that their school is a safe place.  They can trust their teacher, the principal, and the school staff.  If you have questions about school security, resolve them with the school administration.  Your child doesn’t need to hear them right now.

Finally, get involved.  Perhaps the best thing we can do as parents is to have a hand in creating a world our children can safely believe in.

Wherever Two Or Three Are Gathered

It was great to see ECUSA Bishop Eugene Robinson on the Daily Show.  He is the first openly gay man elected Bishop.  He was plugging his new book in favor of same sex marriage.  The premise of the book, in so many words is that love is from God.  When people of the same sex experience love, what they experience is from God, as there is not love apart from God. 

I wouldn’t want to push that analogy too hard, but as a basic operating principle it’s not bad. 

What was really great about his appearance on the Daily Show was another Christian voice added to this conversation.  Not just any voice.  A Christian leader. 

Too often, the Christian position is characterized in popular media by religious conservatives who’s answer to most things progressive follows the famous advice of Nancy Reagan; Just Say No. 

Bishop Robinson’s appearance affirmed again that there is diversity of opinion among people of faith.  I don’t think that can be stressed enough. 

No individual, no group, no theology, no doctrine, has a lock on the Truth. 

At Advent, that’s a big part of what we celebrate, isn’t it?  Emmanuel.  God with us.  When two or three are gathered.

When two or three are gathered, that’s when the fun starts.  Two or three gathered will produce at least two or three points of view.  Sometimes more.

And that’s where God is.  That’s where God has chosen to be.  Right smack in the middle of it.  In the unique messiness of life that happens whenever two or three are gathered.