So, the family and I were able to bring Hollywood into our living room last night via Pay-Per-View. Miraculous. We watched "Evan Almighty" and thoroughly enjoyed it. The movie was energetic, humorous, and at times down right silly! Now, before you assume you mistakenly stumbled upon some movie review site instead of the RUCC Blog let me just tell you... There's a lot of really sound theology in this movie.
The concept of one man, with God's help, changing the world is explored. One man standing up to criticism, ridicule, and even Congress to try and do what he believes to be right is one of the basic tenets of the film. Evan doesn't wait on the world to change, he brings change to the world.
Evan also brings to life and modernizes the "reluctant prophet". You know the type, the Jonahs of the world. It proves that there are still plenty of these among us and that same dilemmas that faced Jonah are present in our world today. It made me wonder what kind of world we could live in if we were to give up our reluctance and embrace the message.
Clearly, the most obvious (and most fun) aspect of the movie's themes in that God is still speaking. Sound familiar? Yup, it seems that even Hollywood has heard the UCC rally cry. Have we? I would also like to add that I personally think that Morgan Freeman makes an OUTSTANDING God! He's personal, direct, a little mysterious, and loving. God takes himself far less serious than Evan does and He even pokes a little fun at man's incompetence at scriptural interpretation.
This movie also touches on subjects like environmentalism, governmental corruption, family unity, the love story between God and human, and animal preservation. I would highly recommend you look into the theology of "Evan Almighty". When the film was over and the popcorn was gone I was left with a deeper sense of personal commitment to rewriting the Gospel. Two thumbs up from my living room!
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Friday, October 26, 2007
I Owe Jerry Falwell An Apology
I owe Jerry Falwell an apology.
Years ago I wrote Reverend Falwell a rather unsavory letter touting my liberal and compassionate views of humanity and blasting his shameful doctrines of fear and intolerance. I ended my letter with a warning that "he had better get used to people like me because someday he would find himself spending an eternity with us."
I've grown up quite a bit since that letter was written and I can now see that my own doctrines were just as shameful, and cloaked in a false view of tolerance and compassion. I have come to realize that I too will someday spend eternity with the likes of "them". With this new awareness I have been able to enter into the same type of love, tolerance, and compassion that Jesus had such a grip on.
I believe to truly be a people of peace we MUST dialogue with our enemies. We MUST be willing to find the good in all people and to celebrate their unique gifts they bring to our world. We must even try to see how we can take the lessons offered from our enemies and apply them to our own lives. This is essentially the message Jesus gave when he instructed us to love our neighbors as ourselves. I no longer think he was referring only to those neighbors who thought and felt as I do. I don't think he was referring only to those it was easy to get along with, or to those people I think I can "convert" to my views. No, Jesus was talking about the prostitutes, the poor, the lepers, AND the Pharisees and Sadducees among us.
And so, my letter to Jerry Falwell would now read something like this:
Dear Rev. Falwell,
I Apologize for the accusatory tone my last letter took. I have come to see that you are a man of great commitment to your beliefs. I am learning to live my beliefs as strongly, though they do differ from yours.
I admire how you have taken what you believe and put it into action. I really feel that if I can learn this lesson from you and do the same I will help make the world a different and better place. I'm sure you feel the same.
I am awed by your abilities to take what you see as right and true and good and share it with others. I have begun to do the same with what I see as right and true and good.
Thank you Rev. Falwell for all the lessons you've taught me.
Peace, Always Peace,
Jennifer
Years ago I wrote Reverend Falwell a rather unsavory letter touting my liberal and compassionate views of humanity and blasting his shameful doctrines of fear and intolerance. I ended my letter with a warning that "he had better get used to people like me because someday he would find himself spending an eternity with us."
I've grown up quite a bit since that letter was written and I can now see that my own doctrines were just as shameful, and cloaked in a false view of tolerance and compassion. I have come to realize that I too will someday spend eternity with the likes of "them". With this new awareness I have been able to enter into the same type of love, tolerance, and compassion that Jesus had such a grip on.
I believe to truly be a people of peace we MUST dialogue with our enemies. We MUST be willing to find the good in all people and to celebrate their unique gifts they bring to our world. We must even try to see how we can take the lessons offered from our enemies and apply them to our own lives. This is essentially the message Jesus gave when he instructed us to love our neighbors as ourselves. I no longer think he was referring only to those neighbors who thought and felt as I do. I don't think he was referring only to those it was easy to get along with, or to those people I think I can "convert" to my views. No, Jesus was talking about the prostitutes, the poor, the lepers, AND the Pharisees and Sadducees among us.
And so, my letter to Jerry Falwell would now read something like this:
Dear Rev. Falwell,
I Apologize for the accusatory tone my last letter took. I have come to see that you are a man of great commitment to your beliefs. I am learning to live my beliefs as strongly, though they do differ from yours.
I admire how you have taken what you believe and put it into action. I really feel that if I can learn this lesson from you and do the same I will help make the world a different and better place. I'm sure you feel the same.
I am awed by your abilities to take what you see as right and true and good and share it with others. I have begun to do the same with what I see as right and true and good.
Thank you Rev. Falwell for all the lessons you've taught me.
Peace, Always Peace,
Jennifer
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
The Fires of Hell
At lunch with a colleague yesterday, we chatted about sermons as fires raged in the mountains just a few miles away. "What are you preaching about this Sunday?" I benignly asked. "The Fires of Hell..." he quickly replied. Like RUCC, the congregation he serves is open, affirming, loving, compassionate, looking for the best rather than expecting the worst in others. Such a sermon title is better suited to preacher Jonathan Edwards than to a couple of UCC pastors! Yet, as I drove home to the mountains last night, watching flames lapping up the timber to the north of the highway, I wondered how many days it will be until some religious nut accuses some group or other of having sinned to the point that God's anger is imagined as erupting in this fiery hell? Is that the kind of God who made the beautiful timber and provided homes for the wildlife in the first place? I think not...how about you?
Friday, September 21, 2007
Listening to the Unexpected
I was asked recently to provide the homily for a worship service at the monthly meeting of the Presbyterian women. I really got into it and thought I’d share with you some of what I said. What follows are snippets.
“Let’s be clear that a whale didn’t swallow Jonah! Whatever the beast was that got Jonah, it was a figment of the storyteller’s imagination. The sea was the great unknown, and awful unknown things dwelt in it. In being swallowed by the unknown, Jonah experienced primal, primordial separation from God and realized that life lived in service to God, whatever the dangers, was better than separation from the love of God. This was, by the way, the lesson Jesus learned in Gethsemane, what the gospel authors referred to as the ‘sign of Jonah’!”
“Jonah finally makes his way to Nineveh. He goes partway into the city and speaks a five-word prophecy! Wonder of wonders! It works! The people who hear it repent, and in a complete reversal of ancient political behavior, when the people repent, so does the king. In fact, the king is so frightened by the threat of the warrior god of Israel that he even orders the animals to be dressed in sackcloth! The total effect is to influence God to change her mind!”
[That response from God made Jonah almost irrationally angry.]
“Jonah has a very pious view of the world. He tells God at one point: ‘…I knew that you are a gracious god, merciful, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing.’ But he had always figured that God reserved that behavior for God’s people. It just wasn’t right that God should act towards others the way God acted towards Israel. The very idea that God could do that, that God could change God’s mind once having announced judgment, meant that nothing could be certain any more. How could Gentiles enjoy the same privileges and protections as those of Israel? How could God allow for the destruction of Israel and Judah and yet save one of the destroyers?”
“I think the answer to that question lies in [something]… I remembered [from] a study I did years ago on the name of God in the burning bush story. While doing the research on that, I ran across somebody—I don't remember now who it was or even where I found it—who made the observation that the first identification of the name—“I am who I am”—could be understood as “I will be known by what I do!” That insight fascinated me, because it implies a continuing revelation, an invitation to find God in the activities and processes of living, and suggests that God is revealed not only in what God does but also in our recognition of it. In that sense the only immutable truth about God is that we cannot, will not ever ‘know’ God because God is always being known! It is a masterful theological turn by the one telling the burning bush story, and a truth Jonah never saw. He first ran from God’s call and then behaved badly, petulantly, in parochial fashion when things didn’t work out the way he wanted them to, because his god had to fit his understanding of God.”
“God’s call requires us both to believe that there is more to know about God and the Kingdom than we now know, and that we must act on that belief even when it, from time to time, seems to fly in the face of all we have known and done before. It requires us to overcome our fears and manage our anger. It requires us to run towards God, calling out like a child on a playground, ‘Here! Here! Pick me! Pick Me!’ It requires us to accept and act on the possibility that ‘God is Still Speaking.’”
“May we be given the grace to risk standing on holy ground, listening to the great ‘I Am!’ with ears to hear and hearts to act!”
“Let’s be clear that a whale didn’t swallow Jonah! Whatever the beast was that got Jonah, it was a figment of the storyteller’s imagination. The sea was the great unknown, and awful unknown things dwelt in it. In being swallowed by the unknown, Jonah experienced primal, primordial separation from God and realized that life lived in service to God, whatever the dangers, was better than separation from the love of God. This was, by the way, the lesson Jesus learned in Gethsemane, what the gospel authors referred to as the ‘sign of Jonah’!”
“Jonah finally makes his way to Nineveh. He goes partway into the city and speaks a five-word prophecy! Wonder of wonders! It works! The people who hear it repent, and in a complete reversal of ancient political behavior, when the people repent, so does the king. In fact, the king is so frightened by the threat of the warrior god of Israel that he even orders the animals to be dressed in sackcloth! The total effect is to influence God to change her mind!”
[That response from God made Jonah almost irrationally angry.]
“Jonah has a very pious view of the world. He tells God at one point: ‘…I knew that you are a gracious god, merciful, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing.’ But he had always figured that God reserved that behavior for God’s people. It just wasn’t right that God should act towards others the way God acted towards Israel. The very idea that God could do that, that God could change God’s mind once having announced judgment, meant that nothing could be certain any more. How could Gentiles enjoy the same privileges and protections as those of Israel? How could God allow for the destruction of Israel and Judah and yet save one of the destroyers?”
“I think the answer to that question lies in [something]… I remembered [from] a study I did years ago on the name of God in the burning bush story. While doing the research on that, I ran across somebody—I don't remember now who it was or even where I found it—who made the observation that the first identification of the name—“I am who I am”—could be understood as “I will be known by what I do!” That insight fascinated me, because it implies a continuing revelation, an invitation to find God in the activities and processes of living, and suggests that God is revealed not only in what God does but also in our recognition of it. In that sense the only immutable truth about God is that we cannot, will not ever ‘know’ God because God is always being known! It is a masterful theological turn by the one telling the burning bush story, and a truth Jonah never saw. He first ran from God’s call and then behaved badly, petulantly, in parochial fashion when things didn’t work out the way he wanted them to, because his god had to fit his understanding of God.”
“God’s call requires us both to believe that there is more to know about God and the Kingdom than we now know, and that we must act on that belief even when it, from time to time, seems to fly in the face of all we have known and done before. It requires us to overcome our fears and manage our anger. It requires us to run towards God, calling out like a child on a playground, ‘Here! Here! Pick me! Pick Me!’ It requires us to accept and act on the possibility that ‘God is Still Speaking.’”
“May we be given the grace to risk standing on holy ground, listening to the great ‘I Am!’ with ears to hear and hearts to act!”
Monday, July 23, 2007
New Reading
I really enjoy the sermons of our pastor here on the mission field in Arkansas! He is one of the two best preachers I have ever heard, the other being Bruce Van Blair. On July 15 the lectionary reading for the gospels was Luke 10:25–37, the parable of the Good Samaritan. How many times have I heard it? Is it possible to hear it with new ears, a mode that Jesus exhorts his disciples to employ (Mark 4:9, 23)? I'm not sure I heard it completely anew, but I did find in my musings on Steve's sermon a few things I hadn't really considered before.
Try reading that old story again. Were you struck by the irony that Luke introduces at the end of the pericope? The commandment to love neighbor as self seems clear in a collective society, like those in the Roman empire of the first century, in which the individual finds individuality in group identity; there really is no "self" without "neighbor"in the ancient world. Unless otherwise described, the guy in the ditch is "neighbor" to Jesus's listeners because they figured he was a Jew. After all, he was traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho, and only Jews and Romans -- and maybe some other Greeks -- took that route.The neighbor couldn't be the Samaritan because he shouldn't have been on that road. For the listener the fact that he was, would have seemed astonishing enough, but then the Samaritan performed the very service required by the commandment, thus demonstrating that he, as a descendant of apostate Israel, understood the spirit of the commandment better than the priest and Levite.
That in and of itself is ironic. But I think a further irony is in the question Jesus asks and the answer given. "Who is the neighbor?" "The one practicing mercy!" The neighbor isn't the guy in the ditch; it is the guy who practices mercy, the Samaritan! Now the boundary conditions for who is "in community" are re-drawn! The outcast, the apostate is my neighbor! By implication Jesus is saying it is tough enough to show mercy to those who are members of the community, but the commandment is really even tougher. You have to love those who show mercy no matter what group they are from. The irony is that the people of God are made up of those who practice mercy, not just those with whom you readily identify! This is a new feature of the New Creation and a judgment on the intensely selfish cast of modern culture
Upon further reflection it also occurred to me that this ironic understanding of neighbor further enlightens the beatitude in Matt. 5:7, “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy." The apostate Samaritan was merciful! He, not the priest or the Levite, will receive mercy from God. And, if God shows mercy to the merciful, how can I not do so?
Think what that means for social justice issues! Whenever a Muslim shows mercy to anyone outside of the "house of Islam," she is our neighbor! The guy who does me the great service of mowing my lawn in the muggy heat of the day is my neighbor, even though he is Mexican and is quite likely not in the country legally. The whole story would seem to elaborate the notion that being a neighbor is an activity, not a status, and at the core of that activity is "doing" mercy!
It has almost become a ritual tradition in most churches for the pastor to end a sermon with statement like, "Amen!", or "Let us pray!" Sharon will often say, "Amen and Blessed be!" I want to make the case that, in light of the parable of the good Samaritan, that statement should be, "Okay, now what are you (we!) going to do about it?"
Try reading that old story again. Were you struck by the irony that Luke introduces at the end of the pericope? The commandment to love neighbor as self seems clear in a collective society, like those in the Roman empire of the first century, in which the individual finds individuality in group identity; there really is no "self" without "neighbor"in the ancient world. Unless otherwise described, the guy in the ditch is "neighbor" to Jesus's listeners because they figured he was a Jew. After all, he was traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho, and only Jews and Romans -- and maybe some other Greeks -- took that route.The neighbor couldn't be the Samaritan because he shouldn't have been on that road. For the listener the fact that he was, would have seemed astonishing enough, but then the Samaritan performed the very service required by the commandment, thus demonstrating that he, as a descendant of apostate Israel, understood the spirit of the commandment better than the priest and Levite.
That in and of itself is ironic. But I think a further irony is in the question Jesus asks and the answer given. "Who is the neighbor?" "The one practicing mercy!" The neighbor isn't the guy in the ditch; it is the guy who practices mercy, the Samaritan! Now the boundary conditions for who is "in community" are re-drawn! The outcast, the apostate is my neighbor! By implication Jesus is saying it is tough enough to show mercy to those who are members of the community, but the commandment is really even tougher. You have to love those who show mercy no matter what group they are from. The irony is that the people of God are made up of those who practice mercy, not just those with whom you readily identify! This is a new feature of the New Creation and a judgment on the intensely selfish cast of modern culture
Upon further reflection it also occurred to me that this ironic understanding of neighbor further enlightens the beatitude in Matt. 5:7, “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy." The apostate Samaritan was merciful! He, not the priest or the Levite, will receive mercy from God. And, if God shows mercy to the merciful, how can I not do so?
Think what that means for social justice issues! Whenever a Muslim shows mercy to anyone outside of the "house of Islam," she is our neighbor! The guy who does me the great service of mowing my lawn in the muggy heat of the day is my neighbor, even though he is Mexican and is quite likely not in the country legally. The whole story would seem to elaborate the notion that being a neighbor is an activity, not a status, and at the core of that activity is "doing" mercy!
It has almost become a ritual tradition in most churches for the pastor to end a sermon with statement like, "Amen!", or "Let us pray!" Sharon will often say, "Amen and Blessed be!" I want to make the case that, in light of the parable of the good Samaritan, that statement should be, "Okay, now what are you (we!) going to do about it?"
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Gospeling
I have been thinking about what it might mean to "write our gospel." Unlike early Christians, we have the means to write readily at hand! The "how" of writing lies in the availability of really nifty means of communication. With the internet, websites and blogging can carry the message more easily, cheaply, and speedily than anything the early disciples of Jesus could ever imagine, for that matter more so than my evangelist grandfather could have. It is the "what," the content that is the tough part.
That claim might seem strange given the fact that dozens of translations and thousands of copies of the Bible are found across the country. It would appear that all we need to do is choose one and paraphrase it or, like Thomas Jefferson, edit to meet our needs. But, I am convinced that those actions or others like them won't suffice, won't deal with the worlds we face, the crises of religion, ethics, politics, environment, and spirituality that confront the disciples of Jesus and the inhabitants of this world. No, we need to figure out what it might mean to recover and reclaim Jesus.
Having said that, I have to admit that I'm not quite sure how to go about that. I am intrigued that Paul either didn't have or didn't feel the need to make much use of the story of Jesus beyond the fact that he was crucified. It took at least two major crises -- the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 C.E. and the death of the first generations of disciples -- evidently to trigger the writing of the narrative gospels, that is to begin to create the story of Jesus, the man and his message.
Maybe that is the key, a crisis! I think we have one on our hands. Consider six years of an incompetent, lying, and hypocritical presidency. Consider rising global warming. Consider shameless corporate greed and a growing health care problem. No, I am not getting apocalyptic on you. I am simply saying that it is time to start figuring out how to tell the story of Jesus to this world. Apparently his earliest message had to do with re-structuring how we are to live in this world because the reign of God had already started. If that is what Paul meant by the "new creation," then his exhortation still holds. Live like God really is present in life, not just our own life but in LIFE. Be courageous enough to proclaim that love of neighbor should be the guiding principle in the body politic as well as among the people of God. Maybe the first words of our gospel have to be after all, "Repent, for the reign of God is here!"
That claim might seem strange given the fact that dozens of translations and thousands of copies of the Bible are found across the country. It would appear that all we need to do is choose one and paraphrase it or, like Thomas Jefferson, edit to meet our needs. But, I am convinced that those actions or others like them won't suffice, won't deal with the worlds we face, the crises of religion, ethics, politics, environment, and spirituality that confront the disciples of Jesus and the inhabitants of this world. No, we need to figure out what it might mean to recover and reclaim Jesus.
Having said that, I have to admit that I'm not quite sure how to go about that. I am intrigued that Paul either didn't have or didn't feel the need to make much use of the story of Jesus beyond the fact that he was crucified. It took at least two major crises -- the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 C.E. and the death of the first generations of disciples -- evidently to trigger the writing of the narrative gospels, that is to begin to create the story of Jesus, the man and his message.
Maybe that is the key, a crisis! I think we have one on our hands. Consider six years of an incompetent, lying, and hypocritical presidency. Consider rising global warming. Consider shameless corporate greed and a growing health care problem. No, I am not getting apocalyptic on you. I am simply saying that it is time to start figuring out how to tell the story of Jesus to this world. Apparently his earliest message had to do with re-structuring how we are to live in this world because the reign of God had already started. If that is what Paul meant by the "new creation," then his exhortation still holds. Live like God really is present in life, not just our own life but in LIFE. Be courageous enough to proclaim that love of neighbor should be the guiding principle in the body politic as well as among the people of God. Maybe the first words of our gospel have to be after all, "Repent, for the reign of God is here!"
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Welcome!
Welcome! Almost 35 years ago, Redlands UCC was born with a spirit of adventure and pilgrimage, believing that a very creative and loving God is our companion on the journey of faith. Our annual covenant writing has created a community that values the written word, and one that is attentive to the movement of the Spirit each day. Today, we continue to hear God speaking through a variety of sources and in an infinite number of places. In the summer of 2005, while discussing our "Still-Speaking God," one of our members suggested we write our own gospel. Another added, "Let's create a blog!" Thus, God spoke once again...
We invite contributions to this dynamic gospel...from those who wish to reflect on their own journey of faith, to write about the companionship of the Divine in their lives, and to have positive dialogue with other seekers. Remember: "gospel" means "good news" ~ we ask that your contributions reflect the good news of the Divine in your life. Blessings to you on the journey!
We invite contributions to this dynamic gospel...from those who wish to reflect on their own journey of faith, to write about the companionship of the Divine in their lives, and to have positive dialogue with other seekers. Remember: "gospel" means "good news" ~ we ask that your contributions reflect the good news of the Divine in your life. Blessings to you on the journey!
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