a monk living in the world

Red Sky

2010-11-08T13:46:00.002-05:00

411-16, originally uploaded by Daemona_Mea.

A beautiful image from Daemona_Mea on flickr. Check out her other images.

Autumn Blaze

2010-10-22T12:44:00.000-04:00

Approaching Storm

2010-10-14T13:11:00.000-04:00

Wesley Mission and Vision

2010-09-26T10:06:00.000-04:00

mission on Prezi

Antelope Canyon

2010-09-07T20:45:00.001-04:00

Antelope Canyon, originally uploaded by Photonews.

A beautiful pic by Photonews

Bhagavad-Gita Krishna & Arjuna

2010-08-19T21:53:00.001-04:00

Bhagavad-Gita Krishna & Arjuna, originally uploaded by arjuna_zbycho.

my new wine and food blog

2010-08-18T17:41:00.002-04:00

Check out my new wine and food blog, the zin|zen wilderness.

new direction for this thing?

2010-08-08T10:07:00.005-04:00

Over the past months I have found myself at wineries in Arizona and New Hampshire, wine-tastings for Spanish wines, farmer's markets and small cafes with excellent food. And each time I find myself wanting to take notes and photos so that I could share what I was experiencing with others.

For the past few weeks I have been thinking about creating a blog space to concentrate on what has now become a passion for me...wine and simple, rustic food along with the experiences that each brings when you search out the wine and ingredients at the source. I am still not sure how I will proceed. I could just use my current blog and take it into a new direction or I may create a new space for this new passion.

Whichever way I go, the blog will focus on food and drink and the experience of searching out ingredients, trying new ways of cooking and learning from others. The drink part will be mainly wine but also might venture out into the world of beer and maybe even liquor (rum tastings is a possibility). One specific goal I do have is to try and focus on good, inexpensive wine that should be accessible to most everyone. The food will be simple and will look at recipes and ingredients from various parts of the world. And I will share notes and thoughts on restaurants and wineries I find along the way.

Now if could only think of a name...

Jerome AZ II

2010-04-27T20:31:00.001-04:00

Jerome Arizona

2010-04-27T20:23:00.001-04:00

Not bad for a phone pic.

John 1

2010-02-14T13:30:00.002-05:00

mind yer heid

2010-01-24T15:01:00.001-05:00

mind yer heid, originally uploaded by tartandart.

Good advice no matter how you spell it.

Please click the image to see other work by tantandart.

Rolling The I Ching/ Passion Reigns

2010-01-24T06:54:00.002-05:00

Rolling The I Ching/ Passion Reigns, originally uploaded by DraMan.

While browsing some of the image groups I belong to on Flickr, I came across an image that really spoke to me, sorta grabbed me and said "look at me." I wanted to share it with you here. The artist goes by the online name of DraMan and I hope you click through and check out his other material.

Westborough Baptist Protesters

2010-01-04T08:42:00.001-05:00

Westborough Baptist Protesters, originally uploaded by zenpilgrim.

The "god hates fags" and "god hates america" crowd showed up at our high school today. I along with Peter, our pastor, and Ruth, our church lay leader, went up to help form the barricade between them and the school.

1/2/2010

2010-01-02T11:25:00.002-05:00

1/2/2010, originally uploaded by zenpilgrim.

Looking out my front door at the first snowfall for 2010, got 4 inches during the night and expect 4 to 8 inches more over the next 24 hours.

1/1/2010

2010-01-02T11:24:00.003-05:00

1/1/2010, originally uploaded by zenpilgrim.

A project I am doing for this year involves capturing at least one picture/image each day, to document the passage of time/life during 2010. This is my first posting in this project. This pictures has Peter and Jamie, representing Wesley United Methodist Church at the Event Without Borders Marriage Equality Celebration, celebrating the fact that New Hampshire has true equality when it comes to marriage. A good way to start the year.

An Uncommon Lectionary

2009-12-30T18:20:00.000-05:00

A few years back, Tom Bandy put out a book titled "The Uncommon Lectionary." It wasn't meant as a replacement for the Common Lectionary but as a companion resource. While the Common Lectionary assigns specific scriptures to each holy day, the Uncommon Lectionary assigns a block of text to a week, focusing on a main idea of the scripture. It also is tied to the events and holidays of the secular calendar that we all live our lives by.

With the new year, I have decided to use the Uncommon Lectionary as my study guide for the year. A copy of the basic lectionary can be downloaded here. There is a lectionary for worship & preaching and a companion lectionary for leadership. The January worship & preaching lectionary starts off with Genesis, chapters 1 and 2, focusing on the Creation while the leadership scripture is Acts 17.

As I use the Uncommon Lectionary for personal study, I will continue to use the Common Lectionary for worship preparation. It will be interesting to see how this will work.

2009-12-23T13:42:00.001-05:00

the way the news should be

2009-12-04T06:28:00.001-05:00

Video Recaps | Full Episodes | Webisodes

Reclaiming Advent - thanks to the Work of the People

2009-11-28T22:01:00.001-05:00

church vision and the budget

2009-11-28T07:03:00.002-05:00

A link to a blog article was sent to me on twitter. The article, Budgeting and Staffing the Simple Church, is timely for me as we just voted in a new, simpler leadership structure at our church. I think the blog "Church Forward" will be on my regular reading list.

Advent Conspiracy - Think About It

2009-11-27T09:25:00.000-05:00

Thanksgiving

2009-11-26T06:50:00.001-05:00

Well its thanksgiving morning, almost time to start the turkey and the roasted vegetables along with the stuffing. For now, I am happy to sit quietly watching the sun rise slowly, only me and the dog up and about. A good time to send some thanksgiving emails to friends, watch the news on BBC, and reflect on where life is going.

Unlimited Possibilities

2009-11-15T12:06:00.006-05:00

A long time ago, the Jewish people would travel to the Temple to make sacrifices to God. These were important times and entire families would make the journey. And this is how it was for Elkanah and his two wives, Peninnah and Hannah.

Every year Elkanah went from his hometown up to Shiloh to worship and offer a sacrifice to GOD. Eli and his two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, served as the priests of GOD there. When Elkanah sacrificed, he passed helpings from the sacrificial meal around to his wife Peninnah and all her children, but he always gave an especially generous helping to Hannah because he loved her so much, and because GOD had not given her children. But her rival wife taunted her cruelly, rubbing it in and never letting her forget that GOD had blessed her with children and had not given children to Hannah. Year after year, every time she went to the sanctuary of GOD she could expect to be tormented by her rival. Hannah was reduced to tears and couldn’t eat.

Her husband Elkanah said to her, "Hannah, why are you crying? Why aren't you eating? Why are you so upset? Am I not of more worth to you than ten sons?"

So to please her husband, Hannah ate. Then she pulled herself together, slipped away quietly, and entered the sanctuary. The priest Eli was in the seat at the entrance to GOD's Temple and he was watching her. Crushed in her soul, Hannah prayed to GOD and cried and cried—inconsolably. Then she made a vow:

Oh, GOD, look at me. Take a good, hard look at my pain. I beg you to not neglect me, to take action for me by giving me a son. I'll give him completely, unreservedly to you. No razor will ever be used on his head. I'll set him apart for a life of holy discipline.

All the time that she prayed before GOD, Eli was watching her closely. Hannah was praying in her heart, silently. Her lips moved, but no sound was heard. Eli jumped to the conclusion that she was drunk. He approached her and said, "You're drunk! How long do you plan to keep this up? Get rid of your win and sober up, woman!"

Hannah said, "Oh no, sir—please! I'm deeply troubled. I haven't been drinking. Not a drop of wine or beer. The only thing I've been pouring out is my heart, pouring it out to GOD. Don't for a minute think I'm a bad woman. It's because I'm so desperately unhappy and in such pain that I've stayed here so long."
Eli answered her, "You may go home now and do not worry. I'm sure the God of Israel will answer your prayer."

"Think well of me—and pray for me!" she said, and went her way. Then she ate heartily, her face radiant.
The next morning, Elkanah and the entire family were up before dawn; they worshiped GOD and returned home to Ramah. That night, Elkanah slept with Hannah his wife, and GOD remembered her prayers. Before the year was out, Hannah had conceived and given birth to a son. She named him Samuel, meaning, "I asked GOD for him."

When I hear this story, it always reminds me of the birth of my son. Jamie and I had been married for some time, sure that we didn’t want kids. We had a great life, just the two of us, living in Atlanta, both of us with good jobs. But something happened. Actually two “somethings.” They were named Erica and Lindsay, our two nieces, one from each side of the family. When they came around, something changed, at least in me. Our brothers and sisters had other kids, we had nephews on both sides but these two little girls were different. They made me see things different, made me see other possibilities that had never crossed my mind.

Out of those other possibilities, Jamie and I decided to have a kid and we were blessed with Grant. As many of you know, he just recently turned 21 and is so much trying to live into all that it means to be adult. But I can remember the day of his birth like it happened this morning. I can still see this small little person and remember being totally awe struck and what the future might be, probably the same way Hanna felt when she first saw Samuel.

As humans, we have this habit of defining things, limiting things, putting things in categories. I had allowed myself to be defined as a yuppie (who remembers that word?), a young upwardly mobile professional. Hannah had allowed herself to be defined as a barren woman and that God was responsible. By defining ourselves, we were not open to the possibilities, we had set up limitations.

We are approaching a time when we need to be open to the unlimited possibilities. I like to think the story of Hannah was put in the liturgical calendar at just this time to give us a glimpse into what is to come. Hannah is pregnant by the grace of God, and pregnancy is one of those times when we are forced to be open to the unlimited possibilities that are possible with God. Unlimited possibilities such as the sex of the baby (but we continue to work at making that a choice) to the color of their hair, the talents they have, their personality, what they will want to be, what they will accomplish in life. Advent will be with us soon and I would like us to keep the story of Hannah (and the birth of our own children) in our hearts and minds as we remember that Mary and Joseph must have had the same thoughts and questions running through their minds for 9 months.

Dinner Guest

2009-11-11T22:56:00.002-05:00

RETHINK CHURCH – RETHINK FAITH

2009-07-17T09:01:00.003-04:00

A reflection on Mark 5:21-43 used as a sermon at my church:

Have you ever felt afraid because of your faith? Afraid to come to church? Afraid of not being welcome, of not being accepted? Afraid of what others will think of you? In Mark, we have the story of Jairus and his dying daughter as well as the story if the hemorrhaging woman and fear plays an important part for both Jairus and the woman…

When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered around him; and he was by the sea. Then one of the leaders of the synagogue named Jairus came and, when he saw him, fell at his feet and begged him repeatedly, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live.”
So he went with him. And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him. Now there was a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years. She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse. She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, for she said, “If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.” Immediately her hemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my clothes?” And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, ‘Who touched me?’” He looked all around to see who had done it. But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”
While he was still speaking, some people came from the leader’s house to say, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?” But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the leader of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.” He allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. When they came to the house of the leader of the synagogue, he saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. When he had entered, he said to them, “Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping.” And they laughed at him. Then he put them all outside, and took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him, and went in where the child was. He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha cum,” which means, “Little girl, get up!” And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about (she was twelve years of age). At this they were overcome with amazement. He strictly ordered them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.

Who are these two people and why would Mark put them together. On the surface, these two characters don’t seem to have much in common. Jairus was a leader in the synagogue; the woman was a poor sick woman, one who wouldn’t be welcome in the religious places because of her illness. They are two very different people from two very different worlds. But they do have something in common with each other and with our church today…and that thing is fear.

Jairus is a man in fear of his daughter’s life, she is sick and dying. A man in his position would have access to the best medical care available but still she is dying and he has decided to go to Jesus for help. But there are other fears that he has to face. As a leader in the synagogue, he would have known what the leaders were thinking of this crazy rabbi and his followers. He also has to face the fear of breaking the rules. It’s not like Jesus is in the synagogue or at the temple. He is out in the crowds, amongst the people who the religious rules say Jairus is to avoid. His move could result in his loss of position, reputation, and good-standing in the community. But he faces all these fears and goes to Jesus because he is at the end of the line; he has nowhere else to turn.
And we have the hemorrhagic woman, a woman in such a bad position that we don’t even know her name. She is a victim of the same rules as Jairus - rules designed to keep society and the church running orderly - to maintain the status quo.

She has spent all her money for treatment but to no avail. With her disease, she is unclean and can’t even seek solace in the synagogue or temple. Like Jairus she has exhausted all possibilities, but not all hope. This un-named woman takes a risk, puts aside all the rules just to be close to Jesus, to be close to the divine, to just touch his robe.

And in those few moments, Jesus turns everything upside down. He breaks the rules. He turns his back on the status quo. Jesus touches the unclean, the sick and the dead – all those the religious rules say to avoid. But Jesus doesn't become unclean by contact with them. They don't bring him down to their level as society would think would happen, but he raises them up. Jesus' holiness transforms their uncleanness.

We don't even know the woman's name, but we do know that Jesus called her daughter (thugater – Greek - a daughter of God), a term that signifies kinship and relationship. The woman's story is the story of every person wounded by man and society - the poor, the sick, the prisoner, people of color, and in the case of the United Methodist Church, the members of the gay community. Today we hear in the news all the stories about making gay marriage legal (which is important and a necessary step in making thinks just and fair in society) but that's not the real problem. It's an outward symptom of the real problem, much like civil rights and segregation were outward symptoms of the real problems between blacks and whites. Passing a gay marriage bill is like the woman touching Jesus' cloak; the physical symptoms are fixed but that isn't where the real healing will occur. The woman is healed when Jesus calls her daughter, bringing her into relationship with him. Jesus restores her to health; but even more, he restores her to family. And the real healing between the church and the gay community (feel free to insert black community, the poor, prisoners, etc. here) comes when we no longer look upon them as "the others" but truly call them sons and daughters, sisters and brothers, when we are in true relationship with them - and that means going to them where they are, just as Jesus did.

So that brings us back around to Jairus. I can identify with Jairus. A few years ago, I was the lay leader who led our local congregation through the process of becoming open and affirming to our gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered brothers and sisters. I sat through meetings where scripture, tradition and doctrine were used to explain why it was wrong, why homosexuality was sin. They warned me and others that scores of people would leave the church if we passed such a statement. Others used scripture, tradition and doctrine to argue for inclusion. There were some difficult and tense discussions. Like Jairus, the leadership took a risk; they took a step in faith, knowing that God does not want to exclude others from the family. And when it came to a meeting of the church as a whole, the church took the same risk. And you know, the walls stood and there wasn’t a mass exodus. Now I don’t know if Jairus lost his position in the church because he went against the rules, but I am still standing here as the lay leader of the church.

So now what? What does all this mean for us today in 2009? All this stuff, even the vision statement our church out in place, is in the past. We hung our banner, we opened up the door. Well it’s time to take another risk. Yes we made a statement, and we meant it. But that statement won’t heal the relationship between the church and the gay community, the poor, the prisoners, the sick. That statement doesn’t erase the hurt they feel from past encounters with the church, those times when the door was not opened, or sometimes slammed in their face. We are called to make the next step, to go to them, much as Jesus did, go to the places where the broken are to be found and help them heal the pain and remind them (and ourselves) that they are members of the family. Only then can we expect to ever see them walking through the door we have opened.

Ash Wednesday Wordle

2009-02-26T21:05:00.003-05:00

Ash Wednesday Meditation

2009-02-25T14:33:00.005-05:00

Adapted from my meditation for the Ash Wednesday services:

Ash Wednesday isn't exactly one of the days in the church calendar that causes one to feel all bright and bubbly. It marks the beginning of Lent. Lent began as a time of prayer, fasting and preparation for baptism by converts and later became a time of penance for all Christians. In traditional worship, it's a time where we are called to confront our mortality and our sinfulness, a time to truly accept our human fate and repent. Now all of this is pretty heady stuff. And it makes us uncomfortable. As I prepared for today, I made list of some words that I associate with Lent, words that often make me feel uneasy. I shared these words with some friends at a dinner meeting and while each word brought a different response from each person, they all agreed that three of the words tended to make us tense up a little as we sat and talked.

The three words are prayer, remember and repentance. On the surface, one might not think these words would have any real emotional impact on someone but lets take a look at them.

Prayer, that time when we come to God, to talk with God, to listen to God, the time when we want just to be with God. Why would that make us uneasy? Could it be because our prayers tend to be more like a shopping list or a "Honey Do" list for God? I have a theory as to why we fall into the trap of turning prayers into demands and requests of God. As we grow and become adults, there is a growing disparity between the person we tell the world we are and the person we really are. And this disparity results in feelings of shame, anger, self-hate. And when we come to God in prayer, if we let our guards down even for a second, we will come face to face with the real person. So our prayers become these one-way conversations so we can try and shield ourselves from the reality of who and what we are (the good and the bad). Because if you truly come to God, really come to know God, you will also come to know the real you, not the you that wears the mask for the world to see.

Prayer causes us to remember, to remember things we would prefer to forget. Things we said to hurt someone and things said that hurt us. God doesn't do this just to make relive the hurt or the anger. In prayer, with God with us, we can face up to what we did and ask for forgiveness. And we can embrace the pain we feel from what was done to us and then give it to God, letting ourselves forgive those who hurt us.

Prayer leads to remembering, and remembering allows us to move towards repentance.

Repentance is a word that our society really hates and I think also misunderstands. We often try to get off by saying "I'm sorry" with no real attempt to make things right trying to change how we act and respond to others. Or we try to downplay repentance by saying we try to change but it's too difficult. Or we ask God for help and when we don't change overnight, we just continue on in the same old way.

We need to remember that repentance is a process, like cleaning a house. It takes time and requires ongoing work to keep it clean. Repentance isn't like turning a light switch on and off, it takes time.

As we start this season of Lent, approach God in prayer, be with God, lets learn to face ourselves, to remember and to continue the process of repentance.

More Simple Lifestyles

2008-12-26T10:46:00.003-05:00

The idea of a more simple lifestyle is soemthing I have been pondering recently. The current state of the economy just makes it all that more important. I recently came across the free ebook by Leo Babauta, "Thriving on Less—Simplifying in a Tough Economy" to help us all do better with less.

http://www.mediafire.com/?t3wi0g4iimw

I also highly recommend Babauta's blog, "Zen Habits."

digital art: attack of the palette knife

2008-12-05T21:18:00.001-05:00

digital art: blue jazz

2008-12-05T21:16:00.001-05:00

digital art: soul window

2008-12-05T21:13:00.003-05:00

2008-10-26T10:47:00.000-04:00

gates and seinfeld 2

2008-09-19T13:33:00.001-04:00

gates and seinfeld

2008-09-19T13:33:00.000-04:00

friendship

2008-09-15T22:50:00.001-04:00

“A true friend stabs you in the front” - Oscar Wilde

Biden on the attack

2008-09-06T22:03:00.001-04:00

Fire Play at Burning Man

2008-09-05T11:39:00.001-04:00

John 1:1-10

2008-07-28T11:27:00.002-04:00

Emergent Wordle

2008-06-19T11:30:00.002-04:00

Tribute to Cash

2008-02-01T21:38:00.000-05:00

A tribute to one of the greatest singer/songwriters. We are very lucky that God graced us with Johnny Cash.

And take a listen to the song that got John on the wrong side of the country music establishment in 1971, when he started to let his feelings on the war be known.

The Good News

2008-01-24T10:40:00.000-05:00

I get all kinds of emails these days, forwarded to me, telling me to smile or to say a prayer and then forward on the email. Some emails ask me to wear a certain color on a certain day to show I care for this or that group of people. Back in Advent I decided to try and start one of these emails myself. The email consisted mostly of the text in this post.

It’s Advent, the time where we in the church prepare to celebrate the presence of God in our midst, and I am wondering…do we in the church really get the message and meaning of the Good News?

I often feel we don’t, or at least we don’t demonstrate it by our behavior. Most of us come to our weekly worship services, sitting with people we know, people mostly like us, people who make us feel safe and comfortable. I often wonder, when I read the Gospels, would Jesus even be in our churches today. Yes, he went to the temple but most of the Gospels show that he spent most of his time with the hurt and the broken, going where they were and being with them.

I don’t want to point fingers at any one church, or any certain people…when I look in the mirror, I see a person with the same issues looking back at me. I am just wondering (and praying) if maybe during this Advent season we could stop and really think about how the message of Jesus should be playing out in our lives, where should it be taking us, how should it be changing us.

Please take a couple of minutes to watch a very short video by Chris Seay, a pastor who wants to share a similar message. Then maybe you will share this message with a friend or two.

May God bless you and keep you.

We Should All be Artists

2008-01-24T08:16:00.000-05:00

“Artists, are simply people who are passionate enough to imagine things that do not yet exist.”

Seona Reid
Principal of Glasgow School of Art,
(graduation address spring 2004)

Mysticism

2008-01-17T20:54:00.000-05:00

“The Christian of the future will be a mystic or he will not exist at all.” -

Karl Rahner

In all ten directions of the universe,
There is only one truth.
When we see clearly, the great teachings are the same.
What can ever be lost? What can be attained?
If we attain something, it was there from the beginning of time.
If we lose something, it is hiding somewhere near us.
Look: this ball in my pocket:
Can you see how priceless it is?
Japanese Zen master Ryokan

Soul Space - Emergent Church Experience

2008-01-17T07:27:00.001-05:00

Brief look inside an emergent worship experience.

King of Glory

2008-01-12T17:25:00.001-05:00

I have got to get the sacred dance people at my church to learn this for a Sunday morning

The Zen Mind - An Introduction

2007-12-29T08:07:00.001-05:00

Our inter-connectedness to all others and creation is often overlooked in the Christian tradition.

We also need to be reminded that we only live in the moment, the past is gone and we can't change it and usually our efforts to control the future are at odds with the Creator's plan (and the Creator will ultimately win out).

the story of Christmas

2007-12-25T11:30:00.001-05:00

the advent conspiracy

[AC] Advent Conspiracy from Jon Collins on Vimeo.

Zen Circle

2007-12-25T10:40:00.000-05:00

I was testing out a new image editing software (Paint.NET) with an image of a sitting Buddha and ended up with a zen circle wallpaper.

Advent Liturgy

2007-11-23T22:58:00.000-05:00

Advent liturgy from our friends at Mustard Seed Associates.

Homeless Tell Their Stories

2007-11-19T16:12:00.000-05:00

my life in your hands

2007-10-27T12:48:00.000-04:00

Sitting on the porch swing

Thinking I don't need anything

How could I have been so wrong

All my friends are gone

And I am all alone

My heart is empty without you

God...

Let your Grace fill my heart

Let your Spirit fill me

God...

I place my life in your hands

God...

Your Grace and love is all I need

Your Spirit sets me free

God...

I place my life in your hands

Staring at the cross

My heart breaking at the cost

How could you love a man like me

God...
Let your Grace fill my heart
Let your Spirit fill me

God...
I place my life in your hands

God...
Your Grace and love is all I need
Your Spirit sets me free

Oh God, I place my life in your hands

Amazing Grace

2007-10-23T08:15:00.001-04:00

Amazing Grace - an amazing song sung by a man with an amazing voice.

Did You Know; Shift Happens - Globalization; Information Age

2007-08-20T22:33:00.001-04:00

Just in case any of us needed to be reminded that we are playing catch up - in the worlds of business, information, culture, and the church.

rain chant

2007-07-31T12:24:00.000-04:00

I use the esnips online service to store and link to some material. While browsing the site today I came across a piece of music that I wanted to share. I will let the artist, yuri_diliberto-thanatos, speak for the piece:

This is a song taken from my Acoustic/ambient project, there i used some bongos,chimes,and cubase to mix those with the samples. The song's talking about a old african tribe asking the sky for the rain. The plague of that people is the drought caused by the dark wind that rages their lands. please enjoy...

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Majesty and Intimacy

2007-07-12T08:37:00.000-04:00

Our church is looking at changing the schedule for our worship. As part of that change my pastor asked me and some others about the terms majesty and intimacy and how they play out in our church. Specifically how their meanings are understood in two statements:

"As I gather with many Christians, I experience the majesty of God.”

“As I share in a small group of Christians I experience intimacy with God."

I was giving some thought to his question and how the words applied to our proposed change in worship schedules, and then my thoughts about worship in general. I wasn’t having much luck being focused on this until I started thinking about how the words carry very different meanings today than they did in the past, and how they are understood differently by each of us. I decided to do some word play and look at the synonyms for both majesty and intimacy in order to get my mental process rolling.

Majesty
Glory
Greatness
Magnificence
Splendor
Grandeur
King
Miraculous

Intimacy
Brotherhood
Communion
Fellowship
Friendship
Understanding
Closeness
Companionship

A major issue is with how we apply and use these two words today. In today’s use, majesty is more of an adjective used to describe an attribute of something else. Intimacy is a feeling or experience that is attributed to us.

Majesty

Majesty in today’s world is hard for most people to really grasp. We have lost our place (and I think God’s place) in the cosmological order due to our better understanding of Creation. As we come to understand how Creation works we lose sight of how the Creator is present in those things we come to understand. We know the science and mechanics of how a seed grows and produces a stalk of corn, we know how a person gets sick from many diseases and we can cure those diseases. We no longer see the miracle in these events because we understand them. As we come to understand things, our feelings about the majesty of God tend to get pushed out and applied to only those things which are so much bigger than us and those things we don’t understand. We are no longer awed by the miracles that take place around us. Bottom line is, we have lost the sense of the sacred in the everyday (not the ordinary as nothing about creation is really ordinary) and that would include those times we come together to worship God.

Intimacy

This is a loaded word in today’s world. It carries sexual overtones for many people. Most use it to describe a relationship where you are both physically and mentally close to the other person. When asked who they are most intimate with, most people would answer a spouse or lover. If you can get people to really think about the meaning of the word, they might expand it to include a really close friend.

Intimacy is a scary word since it does imply a relationship where one would be truly open to the other and in our culture, being open is not our strong suit. We build walls (physically and emotionally) that prevent a sense of intimacy with others and with God.

One synonym for intimacy that really struck me was communion. Communion is a word that has a very specific meaning for most of us, referring to that moment when we share the bread and cup. I wonder how many people in our congregation would say they feel an intimacy with God or with each other when we celebrate communion.

So where has all this mental rambling led me?

First, I think we need to use words that are experiential and are not easily put off on things outside ourselves (often far away from ourselves). We need a different word to use in place of majesty.

We need to consciously focus on bringing a sense of amazement, wonderment and awe back into worship, into communion, and into the everyday. We need to see (and help others to see) the miraculous in the small things around us, in the relationships we have with each other, as well as in the big things.

We need to reclaim the word intimacy and help people understand how it applies to both their relationships with God and each other. It’s too easy to replace it other words (like fellowship or companionship) that don’t really carry the full meaning of the experience. This won’t be easy but it is necessary.

Nicaragua Food Security

2007-07-07T22:56:00.000-04:00

Story distributed by Reuters, providing info from the Famine Early Warning System Network, on food security in Nicaragua.

Food access is limited for poor Nicaraguan families, especially agricultural day laborers, a normal condition during the annual hunger season from April to August. However, food insecurity this year is more severe than normal for 23,000 poor rural households that were affected by harvest losses in early 2007 and by the currently high staple cereals prices, especially of maize.
Nicaragua Food Security

Hello from the White Mountains...

2007-06-29T13:06:00.000-04:00

Well, this is my last night on “vacation” in the White Mountains of New Hampshire (Lincoln, New Hampshire to be precise). It started 4 days ago on Sunday but we had to return home on Monday for me to do some work on a software project. That led to an on-line meeting on Tuesday morning. My wife, Jamie, and I were supposed to leave to return to our time-share (time share is the Dracula of the vacation world) condo in the early afternoon. That didn't happen.

Around 10:30 on Tuesday morning, we got a call from a friend who was going to the hospital. Jamie went to the hospital to be with our friend. She didn't get back to the house until 6:00 that evening. They had been in the emergency room all that time waiting for some results and decisions. Finally, they admitted our friend in for the night.

We got back to the condo around 7:30, early enough to go have dinner and then sit on the balcony drinking a bottle of wine we picked up on a trip earlier this year to Lodi, California (side note – Lodi produces great wine without all the hype you find in places like Napa).

Timeshares

Some of you may have picked up on the fact that this is a time share unit. Before I go any further, if any of you are thinking of going down the road of “buying a week” (or buying vacation points...the current scam they use to get you to pay too much up front for vacations)...DON'T!!!!! Sure the condo is nice (and the newer ones are even nicer) but you end up trying to schedule around this week you purchased (as it sucks the lifeblood out of you and all your loved ones). Or you try to trade it for someplace else using one of the brokerage groups and pray they have something in a place you might want to go...at a time you can go. The new points system is a little better in that you are not tied to a certain week but the cost is more and I don't see a decent return on your money (unless you plan on living longer than Methuselah and have lots of time to travel).

If you do decide to go on one of the free weekends and listen to the sales pitch, be sure and wear a strand of braided garlic bulbs around your neck...a carry a hand mirror, the sales staff hate that they have no reflections as they tell you about the wonders of time-share ownership

Entertainment

We were not at a loss for entertainment. Our balcony overlooked the tennis courts. Tennis seems to be the one sport that everyone feels they can do and do well. Look at it, how hard can it be to hit the ball and keep in that big green area. I took lessons in college and know a little about the game...I know it's not one I do well, and it's hard. For some reason our fellow time-share prisoners think that if you can hit a baseball or play badminton, then you can play tennis. You what what happens when a baseball player hits a tennis ball with a tennis racket...it flies over the fence like a cleanly hit fast ball in a baseball stadium. And a tennis ball tends to go lots higher that a badminton shuttlecock.

But they did prove to be very entertaining every evening...but I am sure the wine helped as well.

Food

My real passion on vacation is food., new food in new places. This trip did allow for some excellent food finds.

I'll start with my favorite place found on this trip (and I place it in my all time top 10). The Gypsy Diner is an eclectic little place, with a full bar, a small dining room, a deck for those evenings when you want to be outdoors, and did I mention an excellent chef. The food was some of the best I have had. We started with drinks. Jamie had a gin and tonic and I had a Bloody Gypsy (a very spicy Bloody Mary...the way they are supposed to be). We shared a Mezza Platter (olives, feta cheese, hummus and baba ganouche with grilled pita bread). I followed that with duck confit tacos (also on the appetizer menu). I don't get duck very often so I am very picky. It was excellent. Jamie had the special for the day...a salad with marinated and grilled chicken. She doesn't remember it's name (got to get her to take notes) but it was great. She brought half of it back to the condo and we had it as a snack this afternoon and it was even better.

Breakfast this week has been a real treat. I look upon the frying of an egg as an art. Making sure it's not cooked too little or too long is something you learn usually standing next to your mother or grandmother, as she cooks them for you. This being a tourist town, there are plenty of places to eat breakfast, and there are lots of cooks who would make their mothers and grandmothers proud. My favorite is Peg's on the main drag in North Woodstock, New Hampshire. It's only about a 10 minute drive from where we were staying and for 7 bucks you get three eggs, your choice of bacon or sausage, another choice of potatoes or corned beef hash, a short stack of pancakes and toast. Wash that down with a cup of coffee and your good for the entire day. (Tourist Tip – after breakfast, walk a few doors up the street and visit the Curious Cow gift shop being careful not to step on the little dog that has the run of the place. This is the only place I know where you can get a bobble-head moose, a John Deere bank, chopsticks and a mushroom brush, all in the same store).

Cheese

One final place I have to mention; in the small community of Sugar Hill, New Hampshire, you have to visit Harman's Cheese and Country Store. The store has been around since 1954 and they started selling cheddar cheese in 1955. They age it at least 2 years. The cheese I bought today was aged for 3 years. We bought two 1 pound blocks of the “Really Aged Cheddar.” It's worth the drive...but they do ship it around the world once you get hooked.

big day

2007-06-16T09:33:00.000-04:00

My son is graduating from high school today. It's a big day for him and us. For him it's one step closer to his dream of a career in journalism. For us it's one step closer to dropping out of the daily work life routine and then stepping into a different life...in Nicaragua.

Eight Dollar Hot Dog

2007-06-09T06:43:00.001-04:00

the video says it all.

Revolutionary Cows

2007-05-27T07:17:00.000-04:00

Cows with guns

The devil sells a new war with Iran

2007-05-19T09:41:00.001-04:00

Bush meets with Christian right leaders to drum up support for a war against Iran, citing the possibility that a nuclear Iran would destroy 1 to 10 American cities.

read more | digg story

Nicaragua restaurant helps street kids show their "True Colors"

2007-05-10T18:25:00.001-04:00

A moving short film which shows how a Nicaraguan restaurant works to help local at-risk young people escape drugs and gangs

read more digg story

patriotism

2007-04-30T07:45:00.000-04:00

Gore Vidal:

"Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel."

Inside Orthodoxy

2007-04-28T12:38:00.001-04:00

Wonderful clip showing images of faith and spirituality from the Eastern Orthodox tradition.

reincarnation

2007-04-23T07:03:00.000-04:00

Two dear old friends, Abner and Fred, had many conversations through their life about death and what heaven would be like. They had an agreement that whichever of them died first, he would make every effort to make contact with the one that was still living, and tell them what heaven was like. Some time passed, and Fred was the first of the friends to go. About a year later, Abner was living with the grief, missing his dear friend. One day the phone rang and when he answered it, he heard a familiar voice on the line.

Abner said, “Fred, is that you?” “Yes it is Abner.” Abner was overjoyed, and said, “So, tell me dear friend, what is it like where you are?” Fred said, “This is wonderful. You wouldn’t believe what I am experiencing now. The most plentiful food and lushest fields you have ever seen, I sleep in late, have a long luxurious breakfast, and then I go and make love. If it is a nice day I go out in the fields and make love some more. I come in and have a long lunch. I then go out into the fields again and make love all afternoon. I retire early in the evening.” Abner responded, “Heaven sounds so amazing!” And Fred said, “Heaven? Who said anything about heaven? I’m a rabbit in Minnesota!”

Maybe there is something to be said for reincarnation.

things to remember on Easter...

2007-04-08T08:36:00.001-04:00

As many of us sit down to Easter dinners of ham, mashed potatoes and deserts, here are some disturbing facts to remember.

Hunger in American households has risen by 43 percent over the last five years, according to an analysis of US Department of Agriculture (USDA) data completed by the Center on Hunger and Poverty at Brandeis University. More than 7 million people have joined the ranks of the hungry since 1999.

One in five children (approximately 15 million) in our nation live at or below the poverty line. In total, an alarming 22% of young children in America live in poverty.

The USDA estimates that in 2000, 10.5 million U.S. households were food insecure, meaning that they did not have access to enough food to meet their basic needs.

10.5 percent of all U.S. households, representing 20 million adults and 13 million children, were "food insecure" because of lack of resources (U.S. Census Bureau survey -2000)
Over 9 million children are the recipients of food from either a pantry, kitchen or shelter. (America's Second Harvest - 2001)

22.2% of shelter clients indicated that their child/children was/were hungry at least once during the previous 12 months but couldn't afford more food. (America's Second Harvest - 2001)

Between 2000 and 2001, requests for emergency food assistance increased by an average of 23% in American cities, with 54% of requests coming from families with children. (U.S. Conference of Mayors)

online religion

2007-04-03T08:09:00.000-04:00

The Virtual Church of the Blind Chihuahua - A spiritual web abode with a sense humor and an extreme dose of satire.

into the unknown

2007-03-18T22:20:00.000-04:00

As with many mainline churches, my church finds itself trying to find its way in the post-modern world; dealing with budget issues, staffing models...basically trying to figure out where God is calling them to be. The following is the basis for a guided meditation I prepared for the Pastor-Parish committee as they started to deal with some of these concerns.

Close your eyes and use your imagination, picture yourself walking. You are walking along the streets of a desert city. It’s hot and dusty. You can feel the dry, arid breeze on your skin as you approach the gate leading out of the city. As you step to the gate, you stop. You feel this desire to walk out of the gate but you are afraid. You look behind you and see that you have others following you, waiting to see where you are going. In the breeze, you hear a voice speaking to you. In a whisper you hear;

“Leave your country, your family, and your father's home for a land that I will show you. Leave behind what is known and comfortable; go forth to where I need you.”

Like Abraham, you step through the gate of the city into the unknown.

As you continue to walk, you can feel the presence of those behind you, their anticipation of where you are leading them, their fears, their frustrations, and their confusion. As you ponder on what this crowd wants from you, why they are following you into the unknown, you suddenly find yourself standing at the edge of a great sea. You feel the cool spray coming off the waves on your face as the wind blows across the expanse of water. You look to your left; you look to your right…all you see is water. Now where do you go? Suddenly, in the wind you hear the voice again;

“Come, step forward. Don’t be hindered by what you know is possible. Leave behind what you know is possible and do the impossible. Go forth to the place where I need you.”

You step forward; to move into the water, but find that, like Peter, you step onto the water and continue to walk, you know the voice will not let you sink. And those behind you follow.

After much traveling across sea and land, you come to a cliff, a great chasm, too far to jump across, too steep to climb down. There is no way to walk around it. You begin to have doubts in this journey you have been on. The people who have been following you press up behind you. You can feel their anguish. Many are questioning why they followed you in the first place. You are wondering the same thing. Some leave and go back to what is known, out of fear of moving forward.

You strain to hear the voice in the wind but the air is totally still. There is not the slightest breeze. Has the spirit left you alone?

In despair you begin to turn to face those who are waiting behind you, to tell them you don’t know what to do. But you hear the voice, this time it’s not in the wind; it’s calling you from across this great divide. You look and on the other side you see someone. He is calling you to come to him; he needs you and those with you to step forward in faith.

This is where we find ourselves today, facing uncertainty, do we leave behind the known, the comfortable, doing things as they have always been done, or do we step into the sheer abyss, attempting new ways to be the church, to lead God’s people, knowing that God will support our feet as we walk across the chasm?

And what of the people who are following you? They are waiting on your decision.

Bono's Acceptance Speech

2007-03-17T16:14:00.001-04:00

I have to credit another blog with bringing this video to my attention. After checking out this message from Bono at the NAACP, check out Jerry's blog, Becoming Missional. Check it out under links.

emerging/missional church

2007-03-17T06:16:00.000-04:00

While wandering through the many blogs available on the topics of emerging and missional church, I came across a post by the tallskinnykiwi. I think he does an excellent job at bringing the emerging and missional thoughts together.

What I Mean When I Say "Emerging-Missional" Church

Prayer of Sir Francis Drake

2007-03-16T16:21:00.000-04:00

Disturb us, Lord, when
We are too well pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we have dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when
With the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wider seas
Where storms will show your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.
We ask You to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push into the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.

Sir Francis Drake, December 1577

stations of the cross

2007-03-12T16:45:00.000-04:00

stations of the cross - an online meditation

as we approach easter

2007-03-07T15:12:00.000-05:00

crucifixion.wmv

Hosted by eSnips

revolution

2007-03-03T10:59:00.001-05:00

charlie brown gets down

2007-03-03T08:54:00.001-05:00

Hey Ya Charlie Brown

who are we speaking to?

2007-03-02T07:38:00.000-05:00

While surfing the net, I came across a brief story that relates part of a conversation between Anglican Bishop John V. Taylor and his son. His son had decided to leave the church and this was his explanation: ‘Father, that man [the preacher] is saying all the right things but he isn’t saying them to anybody. He doesn’t know where I am, and it would never occur to him to ask!’

This sounds very much like something that you would hear as a central part of the ongoing emerging church conversation.

As I look around my own faith community, and the church as a whole, I see us (myself included) as sitting in our nice church buildings, saying nice words to each other, under the guise of building up the church. We seem to do a great job of building up and supporting those sitting in the pews, but not enough true challenging of them to go forth and live every moment of their lives as a disciple.

Why is this? Are we afraid of what they might do that if we ask too much? Afraid they might get up out of those pews and go find more comfortable pews somewhere else? If we truly challenge them, I do believe we would have fewer people sitting in our pews (at least for awhile). And in our current way of thinking about church we can't have that. Who would pay the bills to heat our nice buildings, pay the salaries, attend all the committee meetings (to discuss how to pay the bills).

The church, as evidenced by declining membership and attendance in the mainline denominations, is in a crisis. The reason isn't the vision, mission or the message; the truth is still there for us to believe and share. I feel it's because the church has become comfortable in the pews and in society. We have forgotten the revolutionary message of Jesus Christ, a message of change for both the individual and society.

We need to challenge ourselves and those in the pews, truly push them to live their faith in every moment, to move beyond spirituality as something that happens on Sunday. Faith calls us to reach out to others, the hurt, the oppressed, the rich and poor who feel physical, emotional or spiritual pain. Our faith calls us to be in conflict with society and where it seems to be headed.

If we challenge those sitting in our pews, we will have fewer people sitting there on Sunday morning. But we will have a committed group of Christians who can change the world, making the Kingdom of God real to others. And if we do that, those empty pews will start to fill with those people who are searching for God.

ash wednesday banner

2007-02-18T07:30:00.000-05:00

Banner developed for my churches web site.

digital art inspired by music from the psalters

2007-02-10T16:19:00.000-05:00

digital art inspired by music from the psalters

The Future of Nicaragua

2007-01-31T08:16:00.000-05:00

Max Blumenthal has a well written article on the return to power of Daniel Ortega in the online version of The Nation. I think it's well balanced, not really a pro or anti Ortega piece, but I think it does an excellent job of presenting the views held by the average person in Nica who supports Ortega.

The Kinder, Gentler Daniel Ortega

Web Banner for Martin Luther King's Birthday

2007-01-11T13:10:00.000-05:00

What's your theological worldview?

2007-01-01T15:12:00.000-05:00

I found an online quiz to help one identify a person's theological worldview. My results are below (and no real surprise to me). Check it out and see where you end up.

What's your theological worldview?

You scored as Emergent/Postmodern. You are Emergent/
Postmodern in your theology. You feel alienated from older
forms of church, you don't think they connect to modern
culture very well. No one knows the whole truth about God,
and we have much to learn from each other, and so learning
takes place in dialogue. Evangelism should take place in
relationships rather than through crusades and altar-calls.
People are interested in spirituality and want to ask questions,
so the church should help them to do this.

Emergent/Postmodern

79%

Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan

61%

Modern Liberal

57%

Roman Catholic

57%

Neo orthodox

57%

Classical Liberal

54%

Charismatic/Pentecostal

50%

Reformed Evangelical

29%

Fundamentalist

What's your theological worldview?
created with QuizFarm.com

baptism of Christ

2006-12-31T09:25:00.000-05:00

Webpage banner for my church's website that will go live tomorrow:

prophet-righteous man-little one: reflecting on matthew 10: 40-42

2006-12-26T22:19:00.000-05:00

"Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet's reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous; and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple--truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward."

Matthew 10:40-42

This scripture reading is very short, and comes at the end of what some call the Sermon on Mission. The Sermon on Mission runs from Matthew 9:35 through 10:42, and this small scripture reading needs to be looked at in relationship to the previous portions of the sermon.

If we look back, we see that Jesus has called together the twelve, and he has set before them a task, the task of mission. Jesus summons the twelve together for instruction in their first mission, a mission to Israel. This mission is an extension of Jesus’ own mission; and like him, they are to go to the lost sheep of Israel and proclaim the nearness of the kingdom, heal the sick and perform other miracles.

Even though Matthew 10: 40-42 is the closing section, it carries a major theological statement, "Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.” The twelve were Jesus’ apostles. One meaning of “apostle” is “sent one,” which is what they were, they were the ones Jesus sent, they were his envoys, just as he was the “sent one” or envoy of God. In the ancient world, the idea of an envoy was very important, they were the authorized representatives of the one who sent them, and they could speak for the sender and act on his behalf as if they were the man himself.

As Christians today, are we Jesus’ envoys, much as the twelve were when he sent them on this first mission? I imagine many of the first readers of Matthew had the same concerns as most of us. “Now wait a minute, I have family and work responsibilities. Not all of us are called to be prophets or leaders within the church, and certainly not me. How can I respond to this Sermon on Mission you just told us about?”

Jesus understood this concern, as did Matthew when he wrote his gospel. In the closing verses, Jesus tells us, it is just as rewarding to be on the supporting side of the ministry as to be on the front line. “Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet's reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous.” Helping, supporting and assisting the prophets and righteous ones will garner the same reward.

But the final verse takes it a step further; “whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple.” The term “little ones’ has different meanings in other parts of the scriptures but it was a term which members of the early church used to refer to themselves. The closing verse makes it very clear; caring for each other within the community, with even the smallest of gifts, is also ministry. In the Middle East, at the time of the writing of the gospel, a gift as small as drink of water could mean saving a life. And the helping ministry of all Christians can be life giving, just as important as being a prophet or leader.

Now Matthew 10 can be discouraging to read. The calling of the apostles, sending them forth with basically the clothes on their backs, the warnings about being persecuted, of being hated and of divisions within families and communities. Sounds like something that makes you really want to step up to the front of the line doesn’t it. But the final verses speak to those of us not called to be in the leadership roles; they speak with a message of mutual ownership of the ministry of the church, whether you are a prophet, righteous man or little one.

covenant for a new america

2006-12-26T12:12:00.000-05:00

A call for a Covenant for a New America was issued by Sojourners and Call to Renewal. The call is for people of faith and politicians to move beyond their ideas of liberal and conservative and to work to bring an end to poverty. The call centers on a vision with three main points:

Work must work and provide for family economic success and security
Children should not be poor
Extreme global poverty must end

Individuals and faith communities are called to commit to personal renewal, congregational renewal and societal renewal.

Please read the information and pray over it. I hope that all people of faith can find themselves willing to make such a commitment.

More Info:

from a special place, a long time ago

2006-12-24T15:16:00.000-05:00

click and take a trip back...

Let It Be - The Beatles

Imagine - Neil Young

While My Guitar Gently Weeps - George Harrison

how rich are you

2006-12-24T07:51:00.000-05:00

On the blog located at emergent, I found a post for a website called How Rich Are You. Check it out, you may be surprised.

John Lennon - Happy Christmas

2006-12-23T00:05:00.001-05:00

Happy Christmas

Christmas Day Web Banner

2006-12-22T09:43:00.000-05:00

Banner developed for my church's web page that will go live at midnight on Christmas Eve.

where is the love

2006-12-22T00:36:00.000-05:00

I am sitting at my computer, working on visuals for worship on Christmas Eve and put this together:

Hosted by eSnips

preparing for Christmas Eve

2006-12-20T21:58:00.000-05:00

Wife and son decorating the tree...late start compared to most...only 5 days til Christmas. I am busy on the computer...snifter of Irish Mist close at hand...building videos to be projected on Christmas Eve...service based on the Stations of Christmas. Music styles ranging from traditional pipe organ to contemporary praise to chanting of the Magnificat.

Unlike most of my friends, Advent doesn't put me in the holiday spirit...spend too much time thinking about John the Baptist's message. Christmas Eve...late service...communion...that's when I'll transition to the Christmas mindset.

an empty bowl

2006-12-17T13:35:00.000-05:00

The empty bowl is a powerful symbol that has always spoken to me, with many different meaning and messages.

In Zen, it is used to describe the state of emptying one’s self, one’s mind, of the things you "know," the things that get in the way of being open to new ways of thinking and being. Often when you allow yourself to be like the empty bowl, you find that many things that were thought to be impossible, actually are possible.

Monks and nuns in many faith traditions use the empty bowl to beg for food and sustenance. Saint Francis directed the members of the order he founded to travel and beg for food. The empty bowl serves as a constant reminder of our humbleness before God. And by begging, by placing ourselves at the mercy of others, we are reminded of the presence of God in others.

In the Sufi tradition, it is used as a way to remind us that only a truly empty bowl is ready to be filled with the wine that is provided by our Creator. For the Sufi, the greatest task of life is to become empty enough, selfless enough, to be a suitable receptacle for the wine which the Creator pours.

At Christmas, my wife and I use the empty bowl as a gift for others at this time of year. We look for small, ceramic bowls, both simple and elegant to give as gifts. When we give the empty bowl to our friends, we also make a donation to a charity that is working to alleviate hunger and poverty in the world. We explain the reason behind the gift and ask that our friend use the bowl as a way to collect spare change during the year to donate to churches and charities that are working to end poverty.

Namaste

emerging church

2006-12-16T06:57:00.000-05:00

This idea of the emerging church and what it means has been bouncing around in my brain for a few years now. I have many questions and thoughts that I plan on exploring and sharing here. Questions revolving around new styles of worship, emerging perspectives on theology/art/mission, ancient disciplines and how they can be re-vitalized in today's church. But the most important question I have is...does this thing called the emerging church reside strictly in the domain of the young or can a 51 year old spiritual pilgrim find a place there.

Some websites I have come across that I think others would like to explore as well:

Emergingchurch.info

Emergent Village

Fresh Expressions

carpe mañana - reflection on Luke 3:1-6

2006-12-15T06:16:00.000-05:00

Luke 3:1-6

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah, “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”

Many of us have heard the term Carpe Diem, it’s used in many business books, and it means, seize the day. A new term has started to take hold in this thing called the emerging church. That new term is Carpe Mañana, or seize tomorrow.

In the world, nothing stands still; the world is not that same as it was 10 years ago, 5 years ago, or 1 year ago. I work in information technology where it can change drastically overnight. To the emerging church (and to those of us who work in IT), Carpe Diem often means playing catch up, putting us in a reactive, defensive position.

Carpe Mañana, seizing tomorrow, is a forward moving, anticipatory position. It requires us to realize that there is an abundant, fresh supply of resources provided y God and moving forward to make the Kingdom of God a reality for the world.

Carpe Mañana is taking on the task of being a prophet, both within the church and in the world that exists outside of the building we sometimes like to hold up in. As prophets we have to be out in front, going to places first, showing people where we are going and how to get there.

The church is charged with a big task. That task isn’t running a church school, leading worship or paying the utility bills. Those are things we do that enable us to accomplish the task (or they should…but sometimes I wonder about the impact some of the things we do really have on achieving the goal).

Our task is to make disciples and to make the kingdom of God real for the rest of the world. Each church and congregation finds itself in a specific place and time to attack that task in its own way. We are called to be prophets among our congregation and communities, discerning God’s will, taking the lead and going ahead, sharing a vision of the future with our church family and making it a reality.

This is scary work (remember what happened to John the Baptist). Anytime one ventures into the future ahead of others, it means leaving the comfort of the known. But we have to remember, we are never there alone. There are others who go with us, other prophets in the communities, some we know, some we don't. But most importantly, when we go forward into this new future, God is already there waiting for us.

Keep your eyes on the future and these words in your mind; in the 14th century an anonymous Christian mystic wrote:

“It is not what you are nor what you have been that God sees with his all-merciful eyes, but what you desire to be.”

sacred speech

2006-11-21T15:46:00.000-05:00

My greatest weapon is mute prayer. - Ghandi

Metta Prayer:

May all beings be happy, content and fulfilled.
May all beings be healed and whole.
May all have whatever they want and need.
May all be protected from harm, and free from fear.
May all beings enjoy inner peace and ease.
May all be awakened, liberated and free.
May there be peace in this world, and throughout the entire universe.

Food, Faith and Practice

2006-10-10T14:54:00.000-04:00

In his book, “Instruction to the Cook,” Roshi Bernie Glassman tells the story of the Zen Master Dogen. Dogen founded the largest Zen school in Japan and authored the Zen manual “Instructions to the Cook.” Both use the idea of cooking as a metaphor for how to live your life. In a monastery, the cook is one of the most important positions that can be held by a monk. He provides the sustenance required by the community, making sure it is prepared simply, properly and safely. He must prepare meals with whatever ingredients are available, not worrying over what he could prepare if only he had this ingredient or that tool. The consuming of the meal is also part of a spiritual practice. We should not rush to finish the meal, we should focus on every bite, every crumb.

Food and the sharing of meals is an important part of most spiritual paths. In Christianity, the sacrament of communion brings the community of faith together to share a meal presented to us by Christ. In the Sufi order (the mystical orders of the Islamic faith), there are celebrations built around both fasting and feasting. In the Hindu faith, prasadam, food prepared for and offered to the Lord before being shared is both an offering and a sacrament. Food is a gift from God and can serve as a daily reminder of our dependence on God.

There are two websites I have recently come across about food that I highly recommend. Check them both out.

Wine and Dine Radio

Harriett's Tomato – all food, all the time

What do you hear...

2006-10-05T09:10:00.000-04:00

If you close your ear to the cry of the poor, you will cry out and not be heard.

- Proverbs 21:13-14

Culture Shock

2006-10-02T21:40:00.000-04:00

A Reflection on Mark 10:2-16

And the Pharisees came to him, and asked him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife? tempting him. And he answered and said unto them, What did Moses command you? And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away. And Jesus answered and said unto them, For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept. But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. And in the house his disciples asked him again of the same matter. And he saith unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her. And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery.

And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them: and his disciples rebuked those that brought them. But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein. And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them.

While this passage talks about marriage and divorce, and is often used as a basis for sermons on Christian marriage, I think it is more a comment on social justice and how God wants his people to relate to each other and to God. In the passage from Mark, Jesus is attacking and tearing down a basic part of the social hierarchy that had built up around the roles of women and children. It had become too easy for a man to divorce his wife and leave her basically alone in the world. Women and children were basically property or chattel. Jesus is turning this idea on it's head by telling men that if they divorce their wives and marry another, they commit adultery. By putting the same same restriction on women, Jesus is actually lifting women up and putting them in an equal position (with equal responsibility) relative to men.

We then see the children being rebuked by the disciples (guess this was one of those times where they weren't quite getting what Jesus had been trying to teach them). Jesus rebukes the disciples and once again attacks the societal structure that put children in a lower position. Jesus lifts the children (the true innocent among us) to the highest level that people around him could understand. The Kingdom of God, this thing we are all working to see and make known to the world, belongs to these children (maybe we out to consider that when we decide how much to spend on children's healthcare or education versus military spending). They don't have to earn it or ask for it. It already belongs to them and woe be to any of us who try to get between them and God.

Oscar Romero

2006-09-27T12:19:00.000-04:00

"Beautiful is the moment in which we understand that we are no more than an instrument of God; we live only as long as God wants us to live; we can do only as much as God makes us able to; we are only as intelligent as God would have us be."

- Archbishop Oscar Romero, from his last homily, March 23, 1980.

The next day he was shot and killed at the altar by a death squad assassin.

What counts?

2006-09-25T12:33:00.000-04:00

The only thing that counts is faith working through love.

- Galatians 5:6b