Theologically Feminine
because pastors don’t have to just be menMary Oliver
“One day you finally knew what you had to do, and began, though the voices around you kept shouting their bad advice -
Mary Oliver
Wise words Mary.
Peace to You
Remember the last time you said that to someone. You looked them in the eye and said “Peace to you”. Or maybe you didn’t look at them, but quickly grabbed your neighbors hand haphazardly saying “Peace to you.” Maybe you were in church and the phrase you said “The Peace of Christ to you”. Or maybe you were marching in the middle of the street crying out for a war to stop saying “Peace”. Maybe the last time you really believed that when you said that is when you were holding a joint in your hand listening to John Lennon singing “All we are saying is give peace a chance.” Or maybe, tragically you have never said that, because maybe you have never believed that.
I have been thinking a lot about peace lately. I have been thinking about the gravity of its meaning.
It is counter-cultural to look someone in the eye and say “Peace to you.” When one says this, one is subverting every anxious bone, every pulling thought, every “I’m not good enough feeling”, every triumphant event, and every technological attention grabbing device and speaking right into the middle of the storm of someones life and saying “Peace”.
Peace is a powerful word spoken to someone.
Next time you welcome the hand of your neighbor at church and say “The peace of Christ to you”. Look at them…and mean it. For in those words you are speaking right intto the storm that is just as turbulent as your own.
The Peace of Christ to you.
Freedom
A friend of mine on facebook just posted this question.
“Define Freedom”
Some of the responses were “Choice” + “Life without fear” + “Jesus, bible, God”. One of my favorite response was “william wallace” – remember that epic moment in Braveheart when Wallace yells “Freeeeeeeedom”?
This is a loaded question for me. I am attracted to this word. I am attracted to it because I don’t like being controlled by others (those of my enneagram friends out there – I’m a true 8). Saying that though is stating an assumption that not being controlled by others is a requisite for freedom. That might be part of it, probably just in my personality, yes. But this is deeper then just “not being controlled by others.” This is my response to Peter. Read it. Then I will ask you to do the same, “Define Freedom”
“My initial gut reaction is not being controlled by others. Going deeper I thought it was a state of being in our spirits. I think of Paul being in jail while writing Philippians and I think maybe it has something to do with peace, having spirit of freedom even though he was in chains. Then I think about a friend of mine who committed suicide and I think, freedom for him would have been a liberation of his mind from psychosis. I think people who have not had a voice, such a women historically in the pulpit (well and now) and I think freedom is having a voice. I think of Ubuntu – the African saying that says “I am because you are” – I think that might be part of freedom. I don’t think red, white and blue understands what freedom really is, that I feel pretty confident about. Not that it doesn’t have a part of it-but ask the person bombed by those colors, I don’t think they would say we understand freedom.”
So…how do you define freedom?
Hope
In class this past year, Dr. Jaco Hamman said that the number one job of the pastor is to install hope.
I have been thinking about this a lot since this comment. And I think I agree with him, because there is no other job that seems more important to me than installing hope as a pastor.
Later that semester I had wine with a highly respected a loved couple in the RCA, Marlin and Sal Vis. Marlin made this comment, “We’re Christians, we don’t have an excuse not too have. This is our life. We hope.”
So here is my conclusion on the word hope.
I don’t like it when someone says something like “I really hope I can afford these jeans” – wrong use of the word hope. Instead you might want to try “I really fancy these jeans and would like to think I have enough money to buy them” or “I am ambitious to buy another pair of jeans!” or “I wish I owned these jeans”
You can not hope in something as inanimate as jeans.
When we throw the word hope around as in “I hope to get a coffee today” we easily forget what we are really hoping for.
So let me please refresh our minds…
We can hope because there was a Friday but then there was a Sunday. We can hope because that Sunday is for us too. We hope because we know this is not the end. But we begin again…every year, every month, every week, every day. We hope because we know grace.
This, my friends, is worth spreading.
al-hamd li-allah
I enjoyed reading this today from this website.
The word for praise is al-hamd (praise to the Divine), and the attitude inherent in it constitute an essential aspect of being truly human. The Quran asserts in several verses that all things praise God, but the praise by men and women is of special significance because human beings have been given the possibility of not praising God and not being thankful to Him.
In Sufism hamd (praise of God) and the inner attitude associated with it are central. Followers of the Path are expected to be always grateful to God and to praise Him no matter what their circumstances.
Preaching the Lectionary
I have now grown to be a believe in preaching the lectionary. I came from a background that preached topics or themes. It is a good model as well. I was convinced this past Wednesday when I was sitting with a bunch of ordained pastors (and me working on my ordination!) as we discussed the lectionary on what to preach for the week ahead. The group was comprised of 6 Roman Catholic Priests, 2 Reformed Church in America Pastors, 3 Episcopal Rectors, 1 Methodist, and 1 Presbyterian Pastor. It was powerful as we all read the word from our different theological nuances and let the word speak to us and we collaborate to prepare the Word for our congregations. To know that on the same morning that I will be preaching, men and women from all different denominations will be preaching on the same lectionary passage is quite a powerful thought. The Word came alive and reached beyond and within (very importantly) our denominational constructs.
General Synod Blog
This week, beginning tomorrow, is General Synod for the RCA. I will be blogging for their blog as well. Check out what’s going on in the life of the RCA this week at:
http://generalsynod2009.blogspot.com/
Grace and Peace
Body and Spirit
I believe the spirit is not better then the body. I believe that in Jesus we saw our bodies, our humanity affirmed. Our bodies do not forecast what is to come. Nor will they just fade away. Our bodies are the living temples. Our bodies, spirit, soul, mind, heart are one. It is all spiritual.
To live like this drastically changes everything. Because no longer is your 30 minutes in the morning devotional the most important thing, everything is just as important. It’s all spiritual. What I eat, what I wear, where the clothes I wear came from, what I drink, who I talk to and how, what I think, etc…
It all matters equally.
It is all worship to our God.
Questions, 2 of them
I think the two most important questions Christians can be asking today are:
1-Are we being faithful to our Christian tradition?
2-Are we credible to the world?
The first we can answer. The second is one I don’t think we can answer, we must invite voices that are different then ours.
