Monday, December 01, 2008

Advent... time to wait, to watch, to prepare for the unexpected

Obviously I am now an official blog slacker. If you want to know what I'm up to, Facebook is the best bet - both as a way to keep in touch, and what I'm likely to be doing on any given day!

I do want to lift up this great post on the God's Politics blog (part of the Sojourners community), as a reflection on how to sanctify our consumption in whatever form it takes:

“Consumption” isn’t a bad word. Even as we watch the excesses of the consumer economy crumble and collapse around us, we should remember that the word “consume” also means “to eat.”

On Thursday, many of us consumed to excess as eaters; today, on “Black Friday,” many of us also consume to excess as shoppers. But as Eugene Cho pointed out so thoughtfully last week, buying stuff at low prices isn’t by itself a mark of shame or weakness. It is, in our post-agrarian, post-industrial society, a necessity. The issue isn’t whether we buy or not buy things. It is whether we do so with appreciation for all of God’s creation. read the whole article

This Advent I am seeking to celebrate the season in simpler, deeper, truer ways... I'll probably fall pretty far short, but I'm trying. Blessings on your seeking as well.

Wednesday, October 01, 2008

Fall is upon us... time to ramble like the drifting leaves

I can't believe it's October already. The car I bought 2 months ago has to be registered by Monday... as do any unregistered voters out there, at least in Colorado! :)

It's Friday, which means time to write a sermon, which means I'm procrastinating - but won't let myself do anything else intentionally productive because I'm supposed to be working on the sermon. So working out, taking my car for an emissions test and then going to DMV with the title papers, cleaning the kitchen, getting dressed... these are all on hold while I ponder World Communion Sunday.

I do a lot of my sermon research and preparation online. This week I've been very pleased to find lovely backgrounds for this and the 2 church blogs I manage. I have to check my email every 5 minutes in case a new, earth-shaking message has come in. You never know what crazy stuff someone might have sent me on Facebook, so I monitor that regularly as well. Has anyone else out there reflected on what a colossal waste of time this whole internet thing is? What? They have? Oh, okay.

The thing about preaching every week is that you really come face-to-face with how unoriginal you are, and how everything interesting, insightful, or inspiring has already been said. My saving grace is believing that the Holy Spirit can still work through a limited and unoriginal preacher to bring good news to people in ways that make it both GOOD and NEW. May it be so.

Monday, July 28, 2008

Coming Soon: The Open House

Thanks to all who checked out the list and commented either here or on facebook! Our leadership team met last week and decided on The Open House, with some kind of tag line to indicate this is an ongoing worship service/community rather than a one-time drop-in event - "a different kind of worship experience" or "a new community of faith," something along those lines.

There is already a church (UCC) in Portland, Maine, with this name, but they're far enough away that I think we can avoid confusion... the downside is that they already have the domain name and a great logo that we can't steal!

Next steps include plans for publicity (we'll need some kind of logo... the leadership team decided on a 12-issue advertising contract with a neighborhood paper, a big investment but it is distributed to the exact geographic area we're focused on), getting the music team and technology together, and rounding up a few more people to be part of our weekly welcomers and other helpers. Anyone in the Denver area looking to get involved in "a different kind of worship experience," Sundays at 5pm starting September 14, please let me know!

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

The name game

So hey, it's that time again... time for any of you who are still checking in here to vote on possible names for another of my (impossible?) professional ventures. This time a new worship service, to be Sundays at 5pm with an alternative/eclectic style of music and prayer and conversation and such. Emphasis on all are welcome (doubts and questions included) and faith is more than an hour on Sundays (do justice, love mercy, walk humbly with God). We're particularly looking to reach young adults and families; the immediate neighborhood is mostly Anglo upper-middle-class but other nearby neighborhoods include lower-income families, African-American and Hispanic/Latino communities. The current congregation is mostly older and most of them have moved out of the neighborhood, so we're starting outreach more or less from scratch.

With that in mind, here's the current list of top contenders from my brainstorming sessions... What do you like? What else would you suggest?

the commons - a gathering place, also a sense of togetherness created by recognizing the common good, resources that are available to all, the world we have in common (*note: this one was added late*)
all in - all people are welcome, each person gives their all
work in progress - church is a work in progress; we all are works in progress; God is at work, we are at work, we are making progress
midcity God - reading Psalm 46 recently I came across this:
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. / God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved; God will help it when the morning dawns.
living room - a place for living, for life in abundance, not stuffy but casual, a place for play and talk
pigs and madmen - Matthew's gospel tells of two men possessed by demons, and Jesus cast the demons out into a herd of swine; Peterson's The Message has the swineherds telling "everyone back in town what had happened to the madmen and the pigs." I liked it. Maybe for the name of our band?
allsacred - no distinction between sacred and secular; all people are of sacred worth
open house - God's house is always open to all
kin'dom - the reign of God without the hierarchy and patriarchy of kingdom, replaced by relationships among the family of God
koinonia - meaning community, communion
sheltering tree - the tree of life in the garden of Eden and in the City of God
deep life - life abundant, going out to deep water, heart & soul life
living word - the Word became flesh and lived among us; we are the Word of God living in the world
pilgrim band - think I heard this in a song? fellowship of those on the journey together

2nd-tier options:
vintage love
beloved fools
unholy rabble
come as you are
good earth
grace encounter
unexpected treasure
love in action

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Summer is upon us

So I've been absent from here for a while... again. Lots happening IRL (in real life, I just learned that one recently :) ). Birthdays, ordination, Mother's and Father's Day, banquets, workshops, meetings, preaching, conferences, weddings, movies, and travel. That pretty much sums up my life since May 4.

More soon.. but now, it's time for lunch!

Sunday, May 04, 2008

United Methodist General Conference

Over the past week and a half, somewhere near 1,000 delegates plus hundreds of staff and volunteers from United Methodist Churches, boards, and agencies around the world gathered in Fort Worth, Texas for the quadrennial (every 4 years) legislative meeting known as General Conference. This is the only body that can officially speak for The United Methodist Church, and delegates spend 10 days in "holy conferencing": prayer, discussion, reflection, debate, worship, and witness regarding legislation affecting the denomination's social teachings, organizational structure, finances, policies and procedures, and other matters of church law.

There was much that was disappointing this year, as there has been for many years now, regarding the UMC's official stance on homosexuality. Many groups organized powerful acts of witness to the need for change, and the way in which our refusal to embrace God's love for all people is hurtful to God's children. Small signs of hope (a petition that would have acknowledged that as a denomination, we are in a place of division and disagreement, urging all to practice humility rather than judgment, passed in committee but was defeated on the floor) suggest to me that we are, perhaps, little by little, turning the church in the right direction. Institutions move at glacial speed, and meanwhile those of us among the loyal opposition will continue to work and fight and love and protest and pray.

There was some change in other areas I was interested in: the ordination process and the ministry of deacons. When I started "the process," as those who go through it call it, you had to be a "certified candidate" for two years and a "probationary member/commissioned minister" for three years - with at least one year of work before that, and three or more years of a master's degree in the midst, it typically took people 7-8 years total to be ordained from their first exploration of a call in a local church setting. In 2004, one year was cut from the "certified" stage, and last week, another year was cut from the "probationary" stage (during which we will now be known as "provisional members" of our orders). Provisions were also included for those who discern a call to a different order (deacon vs. elder) during the process, so that boards of ordained ministry can't force candidates to start over from the beginning.

And finally, the order of permanent ordained deacon was created in our denomination in 1996, and in the 12 years since then, deacons have struggled for recognition as equal clergy with elders at many levels. Understanding that we are called to specialized, non-itinerant ministries, sometimes in local churches but often in settings beyond the local church, we have sought authorization to administer the sacraments (baptism and Communion) when our ministry in the absence of an elder would naturally call for these means of grace. Although General Conference did not grant across-the-board recognition of deacons being called to ministries of Sacrament, a petition passed that allows the bishop, at the request of a pastor-in-charge or district superintendent, to grant an individual deacon sacramental authority in his or her primary appointment setting. This means that deacons serving as chaplains, campus ministers, social workers, nurses, counselors, and many other roles can - when appropriate - offer Communion to those with whom they are in ministry, without having to arrange for an elder to either be present or "bless the elements," a practice which is not really in keeping with our theology.

Anyway, this has been a very churchy post, but I just learned of these developments today and wanted to put them up before I forget. We will keep working to see the Body of Christ truly reach out to all with God's limitless love and desire for justice.

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Animal meat without the animal

Slate has an article on recent developments in the possibility of growing meat in-vitro from stem cells, much as organs are now being grown for transplant. A fascinating addition to the food-ethics debate as it relates to meat and animal welfare - and (surprisingly, to me) PETA has endorsed the efforts in the form of a contest!

Which begs the question, as in so many debates, which is more important: the ideological principle of not viewing animals as under the domain of humankind, for our use as we please; or the pragmatic principle of reducing actual harm to animals, given the reality of a world that is unlikely to go vegetarian?

Friday, March 07, 2008

More on food ethics (briefly)

Thanks, Amy & Zwieblein for your interest in continuing the conversation!

Based on my reading and learning over the past year, here are some of the factors to consider if one wants to eat more ethically:

1. Location/origin of food: Americans eat food that travels, on average, 1500 miles from point of origin to our dinner plates. That's halfway across the continental U.S. Which may actually not seem all that shocking to those of us now accustomed to a global, year-round market, but it used to be that you could only eat fresh fruits and vegetables when they were - wait for it - in season locally. Barbara Kingsolver's latest book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, chronicles her family's experience eating 95% of their food locally for a year. In addition to the environmental impact of so much transportation (consumption of fossil fuels, production of greenhouse gases), long-distance crops are grown to be sturdy to withstand shipping, rather than to have high levels of flavor and healthful vitamins.

2. Organically grown: It used to be that most foods in the U.S. were grown on small(ish) family farms that produced diverse crops, often kept animals as well as crops, and used minimal or no chemicals. Throughout the 20th century, food production became increasingly industrialized (check out Michael Pollan's book, The Omnivore's Dilemma, for a more thorough history), with the development of pesticides, chemical fertilizers, monoculture crops (especially corn and soy), and agribusiness. Supporters argue that returning to a more natural/organic model of farming is better for the land, better for the health of our bodies, and produces better-tasting food.

3. Animal welfare: Any vegans reading this can skip to the next point, but please wait until you're no longer in the company of omnivores to pat yourselves on the back. As a former "meatasaurus" trying to make ethical choices, I have given up most meat and know that I should probably give up eggs and dairy as well. Sadly, along with the industrialization of plant-based foods, we have come to treat animals as food-producing machines, to be grown to full size as quickly as possible, with as little exercise as possible, cramming more animals than is possible into a small space, pumping them full of antibiotics to keep down disease, and slaughtering and processing them without regard for animals' experience of pain or fear, all to maximize production and keep us supplied with cheap hamburgers, hot dogs, and chicken nuggets. Dairy cows and egg-laying chickens have longer lives than those destined immediately for the slaughterhouse, but they experience similarly cruel treatment and eventually become meat as well.

Now, all of the above refers to factory farming, the source of the vast majority of meat available from supermarkets and restaurants today. (In addition to being bad for animals, factory farms are terrible for the environment and bad for human health as well.) Depending on where you live, you may be able to find ethically raised meat and other animal products from smaller farms committed to humane and sustainable practices, either directly or through specialty grocery stores.

4. Labor practices: Part of the effect of being literally distanced from the origins of our food is that most Americans today (myself included) have little or no idea what is involved in harvesting crops or processing food. The recent attention to immigration concerns and general desire to "close" or "secure" American borders has an impact on many industries, as undocumented immigrants often do the work that citizens don't want to do; farm work is one of these. Because so many farm workers are undocumented, or in the U.S. legally but with lower levels of education and less access to resources, those who pick tomatoes or grapes or strawberries are often more vulnerable to abuse or exploitation by their employers. Of the four categories listed here, this is the one I find hardest to track. Occasionally a labor union or advocacy organization will single out a particular restaurant chain or crop industry in which worker injustice has gotten particularly bad, but unless you are buying your produce from local farms where you personally know how the workers are treated, it can be almost impossible to know what goes on between the soil and the supermarket. Shortcuts for the sake of profit often lead not only to injury and illness among those who work for agribusiness, but also to contamination of our food supply, as is explored in the (fictional) film Fast Food Nation, based on the non-fiction book by journalist Eric Schlosser.

Well, this post ended up being longer than I anticipated, and is clearly far from objective, but it still barely scratches the surface. Are there other considerations you think are important that I left off this list?

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Food ethics

Over the past year or so I've been learning a lot about the various environmental, health, economic, and moral implications of the American food system. Some of this has come through my relationship with a thoughtful and compassionate vegan, some through growing public awareness and some through my previous ministry with a faith-based volunteer/intentional community program.

This Lent I've signed up for "Living Earth," daily emails from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America that address issues relating to the environment and stewardship of creation. The links included for further learning, reflection, and action include an article about the environmental impact of food traveling long distances between production and consumption, and an excellent blog about "factoids" from the author's research into "the converging issues surrounding agriculture, food, nutrition, health, education, economic development, and climate change."

The issues are complex and deeply intertwined. I have lots of thoughts (and questions) that I don't have time to share just at the moment, but I would welcome conversation... What does it mean to eat ethically?

Monday, February 18, 2008

Not an endorsement: Barackspeak, courtesy of Slate

As mentioned last week, I'm supporting Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination. But this widget from Slate is too funny not to share:

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Ah, February...

... month of blizzards and 65-degree days (this is Colorado), groundhogs and chocolates. And this year, Ash Wednesday and Lunar New Year.

Today, the Australian government issued a formal apology to aboriginal/indigenous people who were inappropriately removed from their families as children. Speaking as someone who is still an Australian citizen and lived there for 9 years as a child, I hope this can be a symbolic first step toward greater racial reconciliation.

The U.S. presidential campaign continues with great fervor and speculation. In case you're wondering (and not connected to me on Facebook yet), I'm supporting Hillary Clinton.

Life goes on... pretty well, really. Doing a bit of juggling with the three areas of work/ministry, but not too overwhelmed yet. I'm leading two Lenten study groups with the same book, The Last Week: What the Gospels Really Teach about Jesus's Final Days in Jerusalem, by Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan. We're off to a good start, and the book is fascinating. I highly recommend it for anyone who likes Jesus and was troubled by Mel Gibson's film, The Passion of the Christ. The book explores a different way of understanding what Jesus' "Passion" was really about.

And on a much, much lighter note, I would really like to get me some "Looking Good for Jesus" cosmetics... but I may be too late. Anyone who can get me one of these products will have my eternal gratitude.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Honoring Martin Luther King, Jr.

Okay, so I wimped out on participating in Denver's annual MLK Day Marade ("march" + "parade," because there's still work to be done, but there's much to celebrate as well). In my defense, it was 12 degrees (Fahrenheit) and snowing when I would have had to leave in the morning. I know, civil rights and freedom shouldn't be fair-weather activities.

At any rate, I've enjoyed reading and hearing the various sermons, speeches, and letters of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., being shared and talked about this weekend. In particular, Sarah Vowell has a nice column in the New York Times that includes this snippet:

Here’s what Dr. King got out of the Sermon on the Mount. On Nov. 17, 1957, in Montgomery’s Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, he concluded the learned discourse that came to be known as the “loving your enemies” sermon this way: “So this morning, as I look into your eyes and into the eyes of all of my brothers in Alabama and all over America and over the world, I say to you: ‘I love you. I would rather die than hate you.’ ”

Go ahead and re-read that. That is hands down the most beautiful, strange, impossible, but most of all radical thing a human being can say. And it comes from reading the most beautiful, strange, impossible, but most of all radical civics lesson ever taught, when Jesus of Nazareth went to a hill in Galilee and told his disciples, “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you.”

Her main point, contrasting MLK with President Ronald Reagan, is a bit lost on me since I didn't live in the States during Reagan's time in office (plus I was a kid, and not very politically aware), but I found her description of herself as a "culturally Christian atheist" intriguing.

I am also intrigued by how little attention race gets in the media these days - direct attention, anyway, and within the limited "mainstream" media that I choose to tune in to. (A recent report on NPR noted how little mention there has been of race in the presidential campaigns, which I find an interesting contrast to the many ways in which Senator Clinton's gender is subtly - and sometimes not-so-subtly - brought into play. Of course, this could well be my own bias in noticing media bias.) Maybe I'm just not paying attention, but my impression is that white people think we've come a long way and we're doing well in terms of racial/ethnic equality in the U.S., and it's not an issue any more. Conversations I've had with people of color, and the xenophobic overtones of the current immigration debate, suggest that this is a case of denial. And denial, of course, is a common symptom of white privilege, which has the luxury of ignorance wrapped in a cloak of invisibility to those who are advantaged by having pale skin and speaking English in one of several accepted regional (US) dialects, not with the inflections of someone who learned a different language first.

Disorganized rambling aside, I hope that more and more people will look to Dr. King's legacy of nonviolent action for justice and social change as they consider how our nation can continue to grow as a community and as a leader in the world. That's worth a day off to think about.

Thursday, January 17, 2008

To all of us in any form of exile

I find many of the posts at the God's Politics blog to be meaningful or helpful in my own life and ministry, but every once in a while one comes along that just about knocks me over with its power. This is one of those times.

Voice of the Day: 'Loneliness will be filled'

The word of the Lord to all of us in any form of exile is, "You shall be called Sought Out." Those who believe they are far from the life they envisioned may hear the news that someone is looking for them. Lostness is not our permanent state. Loneliness will be filled with the arrival of the One who seeks us.

- Gerrit Scott Dawson, Called by a New Name

Friday, January 11, 2008

New Year, new opportunities

Clearly I'm still a cyber-slacker (but you can find me on facebook pretty regularly if you want more updates on my life), but this seems a good time to offer a new post.

The past couple months have gone well, but my non-profit job has been helpful in clarifying that I do feel more led and more called to be in local church ministry, or at least in an explicitly faith-based setting. So in what I'm almost sure will turn out to be a crazy-making arrangement, I will this coming week drop back to half-time at Family Voices in order to officially be appointed quarter-time at Highlands UMC (my church of the past 4 1/2 years, where I'll go from Director of Choir and Liturgical Arts to Associate Pastor) and quarter-time at Montclair UMC (a small church in east Denver that wants to try starting a new, contemporary/alternative/emerging worship service to try to connect with younger adults and families in the neighborhood - I'll be Associate Pastor there as well).

I'm very excited about being able to spend bigger chunks of time focusing on church ministry, both the worship planning and leadership that I know and love and also the daunting prospect of outreach to the community to build a new congregation. As with all worthwhile new ventures, this one has its share of fear factors, too! Prayers will be greatly appreciated.

At some point this month, I still plan to write some kind of holiday letter summing up my life for the past year, but it hasn't happened yet! Thanks to those who were on top of the Christmas card process - I love getting mail!