O not so Little Town of Bethlehem

Bethlehem is a major city today, but it still sits on the steep hills south of Jerusalem. Today we visited both the Church of the Nativity as well as the refugee camps for Palestinians in Bethlehem. The photos below are from the camps, which originally were tents in 1948, but as you can see the tents have been replaced by concrete structures, including the Wall that now separates the Palestinian side from the Israeli side of the city. The complexity of this conflict were evident in many ways today. (Internet difficulties are limiting my ability to post photos)

Joining God in the Neighborhood

Our 2013 Bishop's Convocation concluded yesterday, and candidly, I've spent most of today lounging around the house, doing good 'man' things like laundry, dishes and high 5ing the dog over the Red Sox World Series win.

 Our convocation speaker, Alan Roxburgh, challenged, pushed, offended, and acted as the disruptive agent we had hoped.  Essentially, his message comes down to this:  We are in a time of unraveling of the structures of the church that have been dominant for 500 years.  This does not mean the gospel in unraveling, but it does mean that the way we have practiced christianity is coming undone, and we need to ask a new kind of question.  The old questions centered around ways of preserving the insitutional forms of the church.  The new questions focus on finding out where God is at work in our communities and joing God in that endeavor.

Since I believe Alan is on to something, yet I also know that we still have congregations and ministries, I followed up his talk with several suggestions.  These are my thoughts on how to carry forward some of Alan's ideas:

1.  We need a culture of failure in our congregations. (permission to not just try, but try something knowing that often in failure we discover something new)

2.  Experiments or playfulness can be one approach to testing the waters on new endeavors.

3.  Lurking in coffee shops might help us discover what God is up to in our neighborhoods.

4.  Most congregations are focused on the On-Stage event, but real behavior change (discipleship making) happens in Off-Stage conversations.

I gonna write more about these areas, so check back here in a few days.

 

Men's Retreat at Camp Calumet

This past weekend, I was the leader at our Camp Calumet annual Men's Retreat.  Sixty-eight guys from around New England gathered for conversation around the topic:  "How Men think about God, Sex and Money."  The title was intentionally designed to raise eyebrows.  While I never got to money, we did spend considerable time in the area of Male Sexuality and Spirituality.  I have been thinking about this subject for close to 15 years now.  It was nice to finally present some material I've been pondering for a long time.  Judging from the feedback, it was really well received.

Saturday mornings discussion centered around theme's emerging from the stories of Jacob and Esau, Fathers & Sons.

The afternoon include a variety of options.  Some chose a workproject.

John from Our Savior in Hanover, NH, worked especially hard (Bad over acting)

Our fearless leader and host Jim Doyle lead a tour for the over 20 guys who had never been to Calumet

A few familiar faces from St. Andrew in Charlestown, RI

An evening camp fire and drum circle concluded Saturday followed by many of us watching the Red Sox make their way into the World Series.

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Earlier on Saturday I took a solo hike on the Jackman Ridge Trail, and enjoyed the beauty of God's creation.


On Sunday morning, I was off to St. Ansgar Lutheran in Portland, Maine, but had to stop along this river to catch the one last glimpse before the leaves disappear and winter rolls in.

Believe Belong Behave

Christendom is gone!  According to Will Willimon, author, Duke professor and now retired Methodist Bishop, it ended in July of 1965 in a small town in North Carolina, when the local movie theatre decided to open on Sunday afternoon and show a film.  Christendom is a word used to describe the time period from roughly 325 til 1965 or 75 or 95 or2005.  The term refers to the time when the Christian faith was the dominant religious and political power in the western world.  Some of you reading this blog will recall a time when Sunday morning was set aside for Christian worship in this country.  There were no stores, movie theatres or soccer leagues open on Sunday.  The dominant culture reinforced participation in the Christian faith.  As Peter Steinke says, “We had home field advantage.”   That world, that framework of understanding who we are is largely gone.  We have a few vestiges of that time, such as sales tax exemption for churches in most states, pockets where politicians are expected to be Christian in name to be elected, and a few other hints here and there. 

But, for the most part, Christendom is gone.  Yet, most of our congregations, not just in the ELCA but in all of Christianity in north America, have not discovered that a new world surrounds us.  One of the ways this reveals itself is in our expectations of how people will enter into our congregations.  The traditional pattern has been to believe first (accept the doctrine), then choose to belong (membership) followed by participating in the behaviors (sacraments, spiritual disciplines, bible study and responsible living) of the faith.  The church of Christendom was largely based on this method of ministry, but does it still apply?

The general expectations of many of our congregations involved people selecting a congregation because they agreed with the belief system of the prescribed doctrine of faith.  (I recognize that not everyone chose the particular denomination, many simply attended the one their parents attended)  In other words they believed their way into the faith.  This followed with an acceptance by the congregation that they would belong to that community of faith.  The practice of church councils approving people for membership based on their adherence to the particular standards, creeds and confessions of that denomination is a good example of this pattern.  After belonging (aka membership) one was invited to participate in the behaviors of the Christian community – receive the sacraments, practice their faith in community life, participate in mission trips, retreats, etc.

That model is largely a thing of the past. 

Diana Butler Bass has suggested that the new pattern emerging is behave, belong, believe.  (See her book Christianity after Religion) We are now in a time when people are exploring the Christian faith by testing out the practices.  People want to try on, test and see if the faith fits. In other words, they want to test the behaviors.  I have maintained elsewhere on this blog that the BIG question about Christianity is shifted from, Is it true?, to Does it work?  This is a challenge for a doctrinally oriented denomination as Lutherans.  We have built our church on a doctrinal approach to the faith.  This is not a strictly Lutheran approach, but we are most often emphasizing a right understanding or articulation of the faith.  Lutherans are unique in that we are both a confessional church (i.e. the Augsburg Confession) as well as a creedal church (i.e. the Apostles, Nicene and Athanasian creeds)   The idea of our behaviors taking the lead makes Lutherans extremely nervous, because we are concerned people will see their actions as a prerequisite for receiving God’s Grace, Love and affirmation.  Martin Luther was so suspicious of the New Testament book of James, that he suggested it be removed.  “Faith without works is dead” made Luther fear that it would be used to reinforce a middle ages works righteousness. 

But, context is everything. 

The beauty of the reforming movement within the Christian community that is Lutheran theology has been its dramatic impact.  Justification by Grace through Faith has even been embraced by the Roman Catholic church in the 1980’s.  (We can argue about how fully this doctrine has fully lived out in the Roman church, much less other traditions, but the doctrinal agreements have been embraced)  My sense is that grace is a dominantly accepted framework for many people in the west.

I’m suggesting, along with Butler Bass, that in our time the emerging pattern is behave, belong and lastly believe.  I think a case can be made for allowing people to participate in many aspects of the life of the community prior to their accepting or buying into a belief system.  Could this mean that our historical practice of requiring people to be baptized first, prior to receiving Holy Communion needs to be examined?  One discussion group on this topic suggested that maybe we could be ‘communing people on the way to the font.’

But, this may relate to both an historical and contemporary approach to mission.  I believe there is high value to inviting people, who are not a part of the faith/church, to participate in a mission trip or habitat for humanity type project.  As they come along to try on some of the behaviors of the Christian community they explore what it means to be a person of faith.  They just might behave their way into belonging.

In a different approach Alan Krieder has written about the practice of the early church, where candidates for catechetical instruction were first expected to demonstrate behaviors of moral uprightness.  In other words, they wanted candidates for the faith to be working on their lifestyle, before they engaged the community.  The pattern in the early church seems to be behave, believe and then belong. 

All this suggests a way of thinking about the Christian faith using three legs of a stool, and those three legs are not static.  Belonging, Behaving and Believing are all significant aspects of a fully embodied disciple of Jesus Christ, but we may need to be flexible in our ordering. For some people, there is an intellectual connection to the faith, for others it will be the attractiveness of belonging to a community, and others it’s the behaviors.  In other words, there is no one path.  We are wise to see that there are multiple ways into the faith.

Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton

This past weekend, I was in Chicago for the installation of Elizabeth Eaton as the fourth Presiding Bishop of the ELCA.  It was a grand and glorious weekend, with lively liturgy and music.

Bishop Eaton will formally begin her responsibilities on November 1, 2013.

I am grateful for the ministry of Bishop Mark Hanson, who has been an articulate leader for twelve years.

We benefit from good leadership.

The week also included a full agenda with the Conference of Bishops, welcoming in 13 new synodical bishops as well as the initial meetings of the Theological Education Advisory Council, which I have been asked to join.

More to come - first, a night's rest in my own bed.

Burn the ships!

I had a bad week.

OK, not a completely bad week, but I got a little cranky.  I woke up on Thursday morning at 3:40 a.m. and could not get back to sleep.  A series of events made me realize that if we as a church, do not move boldly and clearly in the direction of mission and outreach NOW, we are not going to make it.

There is an old story about the vikings landing in northern Great Britain in the dark ages (who knows if the story is true).  While the men slept on the shore at night, the captain burned all the ships that would have taken them safely back to their comfortable homes in Norway.  The next morning when the men awoke, he told them, "if you want to go back home the only way to do that is to fight your way forward."   Now, I agree that the metaphor has all kinds of problems, but the point is, when you have no other choice but to go forward, you have much more zeal.  

We need zeal in the area of mission, outreach and evangelism.

In the past week, I listened to a series of disconnected stories that were not so disconnected.  One was from a pastor describing her frustration with her congregational council as they spent almost 90 minutes debating what kind of food to offer at a church fair, when they had before them a proposal to open their church to an AA group that got tabled to the next month. (You people that need a place to stay sober you'll just have to wait while we choose between cupcakes and brownies)  Another was a collection of churches who are located in an area undergoing dramatic multicultural demographic shifts, yet none of the congregation's wants to reach out to the new immigrant communities.  A third event centered around a pastor interested in coming to our synod for a new call, simply told me that outreach/mission/evangelism was not a top priority. (The pastor might need a new ear drum after I filled it with...well, let's just leave it at that, and know that a statement like that will not get you consider for calls in this synod)

People.... Hello!

If we don't get up off our duffs, and start to engage this rapidly changing environment, we are sunk.  If there were ships to burn, I'd start burning them, so as to force us forward.

In taking my own medicine of not simply whining, but putting forth some options, here goes a few:

1.   Consider a churchwide reading and discussion of Alan Roxburgh's book  Missional: Joining God in the Neighborhood.     

Alan will be our speaker at the Bishop's Convocation this year, and our clergy along with AIM's, Deaconesses and Diaconal ministers will have a chance to hear him speak.

Use this study not for navel gazing, but for action.  End every conversation with the question:  What's one thing we can do?  Now, Next Week, Next month.  Then do it!

2.  Pericope Study groups - I'm all for them, but what about including people who are not going to church.  How could you include those not yet in your church in conversation with the scriptures.  (FYI - Pericope study groups are typically weekly gatherings of area clergy to discuss the coming scripture lessons for sunday preaching)

3.  Form a WTHIGOAU group.  This stands for What the Hell is Going On Around Us.  Start conversations with local school principals to find out how you can help solve a problem in your community.  Believe me the local public school leaders know what they are, because they deal with them everyday.  Find a need, not thirty needs, find one and tackle it.  Making it the defining characteristic of your congregation.  Build that and people will come.

4.  Embody the true meaning of Grace.  Pr. Tim Roser, Pr. Santiago Rodriguez and Pr. Dave Rinas  recently reminded in three different conversations that lifelong Lutherans take the meaning of grace for granted.  Yet, almost everyone that I know, who has come into the Lutheran flavor of Christianity from the outside, has been simply blown away by God's grace.  I know that has been true for myself.  You also see it Nadia Bolz-Weber's writings, as well as the conversations happening with our Latino Mission Developers. Now when I say, emphasize Grace, I don't mean theological pontifications on confessional writings, and I don't mean Hallmark cards with puffy white baby angels - I mean narratives of redemption.   People whose lives have been profoundly impacted by receiving the good news of God's grace in Jesus Christ.

5.  Preach and talk about mission and outreach and evangelism everywhere and always.  Celebrate when and where you see it.

The thing is, the ships are burning as we speak, so we might as well get going anyway, cause staying where we are ain't working.

More to come on this topic...

 

 

Calumet Men's Retreat - How Men think about Sex, God and Money

Calumet Men's Retreat
Oct. 18-20
Yes, that is the title of the Calumet Men's retreat. Bishop Jim Hazelwood is the retreat leader, and his three talks "For Men Only" will wrestle with the unique ways men approach these subjects. He'll use studies from as disparate fields as depth psychology, philosophy and recent win-loss percentages of left-handed pitching in Major League Baseball.
 
"I'm weaving together a spirituality of male intimacy in this retreat," Bishop Hazelwood says. "I think men in our culture have inherited some unhelpful perspectives on money, sex & God. While I'm not aiming to overturn a thousand years of thinking, I do think that we can explore and surface some of these unhelpful world views. As is usual for my approach to such matters, we'll use zaniness, humor and playfulness while also integrating Biblical stories. Even if nothing new emerges, we'll have a good time."  
 
In case you haven't figured it out, Bishop Hazelwood believes in a Spirituality of Fun. Men can register for this retreat at Camp Calumet by contacting betsy@calumet.org.

How I'd change seminary education 3 of 8

While I have been clear in my belief that the great gift of seminary education has been the biblical, theological and historical studies, I feel at this point I need to give an example of the power and strength of theological education.  There is no better person to do that than Walter Brueggemann.  He is probably the most important biblical theologian of our time.  Retired, but certainly not tired, as an Old Testament Professor at Columbia Theological Seminary in Atlanta, GA.   This interview reveals the great gift of a seminary education.  Brueggemann helps us understand the wonder and poetic power of the scriptures.   In this interview, Krista Tipprt pulls out the best of Walter.

 

How I'd change seminary education - Part 2

Below is the results of a survey conduct by Thom Rainer.  Thom is a Southern Baptist, and I know some readers of this blog will dismiss him just because of his denominational label.  But, before you do that, read the results of his survey which was in response to this question:

What do you wish you had been told before you became a pastor?

Some of the responses were obvious. For me, a few were surprises.  Read through, and I'll offer some thoughts at the bottom.

I note them in order of frequency of response, not necessarily in order of importance. After each item, I offer a representative quote from a pastor.

  1. I wish someone had taught me basic leadership skills. “I was well grounded in theology and Bible exegesis, but seminary did not prepare me for the real world of real people. It would have been great to have someone walk alongside me before my first church.”
  2. I needed to know a lot more about personal financial issues. “No one ever told me about minister’s housing, social security, automobile reimbursement, and the difference between a package and a salary. I got burned in my first church.”
  3. I wish I had been given advice on how to deal with power groups and power people in the church. “I got it all wrong in my first two churches. I was fired outright from the first one and pressured out in the second one. Someone finally and courageously pointed out how I was messing things up almost from the moment I began in a new church. I am so thankful that I am in the ninth year of a happy pastorate in my third church.”
  4. Don’t give up your time in prayer and the Word. “I really don’t ever remember anyone pointing me in that direction. The busier I became at the church, the more I neglected my primary calling. It was a subtle process; I wish I had been forewarned.”
  5. I wish someone had told me I needed some business training. “I felt inadequate and embarrassed in the first budget meetings. And it really hit home when we looked at a building program that involved fund raising and debt. I had no clue what the bankers were saying.”
  6. Someone should have told me that there are mean people in the church. “Look, I was prepared to deal with critics. That’s the reality of any leadership position. But I never expected a few of the members to be so mean and cruel. One church member wrote something really cruel on my Facebook wall. Both my wife and children cried when they read it.”
  7. Show me how to help my kids grow up like normal kids. “I really worry about the glass house syndrome with my wife and kids. I’m particularly worried that my children will see so much of the negative that they will grow up hating the church. I’ve seen it happen too many times.”
  8. I wish I had been told to continue to date my wife/husband. “I was diligent in dating my wife/husband before I became a pastor. I then got so busy helping others with their needs that I neglected her/him. I almost lost my marriage. S/he felt so alone as I tried to meet everyone’s needs but hers/his.”
  9. Someone needed to tell me about the expectation of being omnipresent. “I had no idea that people would expect me to be at so many meetings, so many church socials, and so many sports and civic functions. It is impossible to meet all those expectations, so I left some folks disappointed or mad.”
  10. I really needed help knowing how to minister to dying people. “Some of those who have terminal illnesses have such a strong faith that they minister to me. But many of them are scared and have questions I never anticipated. I was totally unprepared for these pastoral care issues when I first became a pastor.”

 

As I read this list, I realize how the results would be amazingly similar for any group of young pastors across the whole of North American Christianity.  The only exception could be # 10.  I think many of our pastors do pretty well at this, largely through their CPE training.  In addition, I think our theological perspective helps us see death as a natural part of life.

So, when I read this list I wonder - does it resonate with you?  If it does, and I think much of it does for the many I talk with, then how should we retool our seminary education?

2014 Synod Youth Mission Trip

Group Youth Workcamp

Guilderland Center, NY

July 6-12, 2014

For: Ages 14+

Cost: $459 + Transportation

Deposit by Nov. 1, 2013:  $50

This weeklong mission trip is a great way to help your youth (age 14 and up at the time of next summer) discover their faith through service.  Come as a church group or come as an individual. 

Drive west from New England, and you'll be in a whole different world. Guilderland is a predominantly middle-class community nestled into the Capital Region of New York state. Guilderland is just minutes away from Albany and offers a mix of country and city, the best of both worlds.

Your group will be near a popular upstate New York theme park, Six Flags Great Escape. Locals enjoy a trip to Saratoga, or the many parks the town has to offer.

Hidden away in this good-looking town are pockets of lower-income areas that are often overlooked. The elderly struggle to keep up their homes that they have lived in for a generation. And in recent years, Guilderland was one of the towns ravaged by flooding.

Your week will be well-spent in Guilderland, as your group helps those who truly are not able to help themselves. Along with painting, siding, and other carpentry projects, your group will probably be upgrading the weatherization of homes as well, which will hold down heating costs and provide greater comfort for yearst to come.

 

For more information contact Pr. Tim Roser troser@nesynod.org

To register for this event, click here

 

Why Text and Talk works at Hammo

Every year on the weekend after Labor Day, the annual Youth Hammonassett camp out is held at, you guessed it, Hammonassett campground.  It's a weekend of music, speakers, cook outs, service projects, ultimate frisbee, etc.  I've been invited two years in a row.  Hmmm, wonder if I'll get an invite for next year.  Once again I held a Text and Talk with the Bish.  The format is simple.  I annoucne my cell phone number and invite 450 youth to text me any question.  Instantly, my phone lights up, and AT&T sends me messages that I've exceeded my data rate plan. (This year I got smart and grabbed an unlimited plan for the weekend)  I then answer a wide variety of questions, and the range looks something like this:

This is a good sample of the questions I am asked.  They range from even more absurd jokes about my motorcycle, questions about candy I have never heard of to the more serious faith questions.

I stand up there and randomly answer as many as I can in the 15 minute timeslot I'm given to respond.  

My answers range from silly to serious.

The challenge is to be quick, honest and true.  It ain't easy, but the challenge is great.  I know sometimes I stumble or ramble on, trying to answer questions about evil in the world in 30 seconds or less.  

How would you answer this last question on the left in a short time span, with basically no opportunity to reflect on how we understand the nature of God, a teenagers mind and the cultural context from which a question like this arises.

Mine goes "No, I don't think God sends nonbelievers to hell, because God is not in that business.  Plus it's not about what we believe, it's about the fact that God believes in us."

I received 308 text messages, and obviously I did not have time to answer them, so this week, I'm taking a little time here and there to answer questions by text messaging.

The kids love it.  Why?

Several reasons:  

1.  I'm not telling them to deny the reality of the world they live in by condemning social media or text messaging.  Actually, I'm embracing it.  They appreciate it.

2.  I may be having fun with them, even a little silly, but I remain the adult in the room.  In other words, when I answer their questions honestly, they appreciate and respect me. 

3.  It's interactive.  We no longer live in a world of presentations, we live in a world of engagement.

4.  I'm completely vulnerable, and they appreciate the risk I am taking.  They see me goof up, struggle, and when I don't know, well, they like that I don't know.

Then there is some other chemistry thing that happens, some kind of Holy Spirit moment, something I don't understand.  That happens too, and I don't understand it, but I live into the mystery of the Grace that passes all understanding.

Apple is changing its metaphors, should the church?

Apple will release a new operating system this September for the iphone and ipad.  It's called IOS 7, which, as you might have guessed is the seventh version of its operating system for these devices.  Word on the street, aka the internet, is that unlike previous upgrades this will be a whole new look, feel, indeed way of operating. Primarily, Apple is shanging the metaphors.  In the past, when you opened "Notepad" you found a little yellow pad with lines.  THis was a metaphor for, well, a notepad.  In the new version, Apple has decided that we are all native now.  We don't need those references to the old ways of doing things, we know we are in a digital world now.  At least, that is there operating assumption, I call is OA 2.

Now, before you go thinking, 'wow, dis bishop, he a really smaaaart guy,'  I must confess that what I've just written is a synopsis of a commentary I heard on Fresh Air today.  They have a new technology correspondent, Alexis Madrigal, and he outlined this understanding of metaphor.  He's the wicked smaaaart guy.  You can listen or read the essay here. 

 

(I'm writing this in the middle of a storm, so if I loose power - I'll complete it later.)

What I find fascinating about this work is a)  Apple is now assuming that we are all natives to this technology.  b)  They are just going to do it  c) According to Madrigal, Apple states that moving into the new operating system will be fairly smooth.

How old is this technology?  Oh, ah the original iphone is 6 years old, and it is now considered obsolete.  Six years! And they are changing the metaphors on us.  I love it.

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SO what about our metaphors in the church life?  Let's start with God.  Whoa, stop right there Mr. Bishop, are you saying God is a metaphor.  No, I'm not saying God is a metaphor, but those three letters I just wrote G O D. Those letters, put in that particular order, that's a metaphor for something, someone we are attempting to describe.  But, as Kierkegaard remind us, "the God that can be known is not God."  What I'm trying to say, in my own inept way, is that when we speak or write or use language of any kind, we are not in fact touching that ultimate reality that is the ground of all being.  So, yes, the letters  G O D are a metaphor, for something that cannot be described.  

The downside of this shorthand language that we use to attempt to describe the source of all life, and light and love and hope in the universe, is that we can very easily fall into the trap of an increasingly narrow view of God.

Should we change our metaphor?  Ah, that would be a no, not in the ultimate sense.  But, I do believe we need to expand our language so that we don't stay locked in on one vision of God.  A quick search for the names or images of God in scripture reveals a great deal to choose from:

king, judge, shepherd, rock, lion, fortress, friend, father, co-worker, potter, wind, breath, vine, light, farmer, old woman, mother hen, bride-groom, fountain, gate, water, bread, fire.

A quick search of images of god in the Bible on Google images yielded some interesting choices.


The Breath of God.  Ruach in Hebrew.  Wind.  Hmmmmm, What would Google say?

So, I'm taking a page from Apple, and expanding my metaphors, as I seek to understand and articulate something, about someone who cannot ultimately be described, but to simply stop and say, oh why bother, that won''t do either, so let's go forward, knowing that we'll get some clues along the way, and ruach will be there, whether we name it or not.   

 

 

P.S. Run on sentence intentional.