Claimed, gathered and sent

Shifting Paradigms

2012-01-30T20:55:00.000-05:00

One of the opportunities we have during our senior year of seminary is to preach in chapel. Today it was my turn. The scripture passage was Luke 6:27-38.

Our campus is alive withexpectation. In 24 days, seniors called to the ministry of Word and Sacramentwill receive regional assignments. Graduation for all seniors is a mere 101days away, not that anyone is counting. We cannot help but wonder where we willland. Middlers, in just a few weeks you will be going through the marathon ofinternship matching, affectionately called “speed dating” with all itsexcitement and anxiety. And you juniors are looking forward to completing yourfirst year of seminary and embarking upon the world of CPE. How do you feelabout that?

Today’s scripture passage is takenfrom Jesus’ Sermon on the Plain as Luke's gospel calls it. Just as ourregional, internship, and CPE assignments are not for everyone, these words ofJesus are not for everyone. They are not for the multitude. Who are they forthen? They are for followers of Jesus. They are for us.

Once he has our attention, Jesussimply tells us to love. We can do that. God is love. We understand that. Thatseems basic. And Jesus must have really meant it because he mentions love sixdifferent times in these few verses. We are a loving community here. We lookafter and love our friends and neighbors. And of course, we love our families. ButJesus is pushing us beyond our comfort zone. “Love your enemies.”

Who are our enemies? We may not feel like we have any. Are those whooppose God’s work enemies? Are enemies those different from ourselves, withwhom we are uncomfortable? Are they people of different faiths, differentcolors of skin, different languages? Beggars in Jesus’ day only had thecompanionship of other beggars. They may have been seen as outsiders, certainlynot friends, maybe even enemies. Who are the enemies that God is calling us tolove?

This love we are being called to isnot just some passive, nice, warm feeling. This love lived out shows we areJesus’ disciples. Jesus fleshes out for us what kinds of actions express suchlove. First, love will do good. Anyonecan do good to those who are loveable. Itis easy to do good for our friends. But Jesus’ call is to do good, not just tooutsiders with whom we may be uncomfortable, but to do good to those who hateus.

N. T. Wright suggests:

Think of thebest thing you can do for the worst person, and go ahead and do it. Think ofwhat you’d really like someone to do for you, and do it for them. Think of thepeople to whom you are tempted to be nasty, and lavish generosity on theminstead. (N. T. Wright, Luke for Everyone,73).

Are you uncomfortable yet? Pause Jesuspushes us even farther now. Not only are we to love our enemies, do good tothose who hate us, but now it goes beyond hatred to such people cursing us. Andjust how does Jesus expect his followers to react? We are to bless them.Doesn’t Jesus understand that some people just have to be put in their place?But this is the call for followers of Jesus, we are to bless them—to ask forGod’s special favor, to call down God’s gracious power. We are to pray forthose who want to hurt us. Really?

Jesus teaching is radical. It is notthe norm. As one scholar said:

Jesus’ mode ofpresentation certifies that his message is not simply one of prescriptivemorality, as though he were telling people how they should or should not act.Rather, [Jesus wants us to accept that he is going to turn the world upsidedown]... and to act accordingly. (Joel B. Green, The New International Commentary on the New Testament: The Gospel ofLuke, 272)

Thisis the in-breaking of the kingdom of God

Jesus summarizes his message, “…love your enemies, do good, and lend,expecting nothing in return” (v. 35a). This is what Jesus is telling us ourattitude should be. Lord, you’ve got to be kidding! Do you want people to walkall over us? No he does not. N. T. Wright suggests, “Thekingdom that Jesus preached and lived was all about a glorious, uproarious, absurd generosity” (Luke for Everyone, 73). Jesus directs usback to the nature of God who is “kind to the ungrateful and wicked” (v. 35b).We are to be merciful just as God is merciful.

God lavishes love, mercy, and graceupon all. God’s love is indiscriminate. The message that runs throughout thispassage is plain: love, do good, lend. If we pass these words off as mere hyperbole, arewe doing justice to Jesus’ admonitions? This life of community in Christ withour neighbors AND OUR ENEMIES is beyond us. But is it beyond God?

Wright sums up this portion of theSermon on the Plain in this way:

There are twoparticularly astonishing things about these instructions. First, theirsimplicity: they are obvious, clear, direct, and memorable. Second, theirscarcity. How many people do you know who really live like this? How manycommunities do you know where these guidelines are rules of life? (Wright, 75)

Are they really the rule of life here onthe Ridge?

As we each approach our times, ofnew beginnings let’s turn our ears to hear Jesus calling and let’s move ourparadigm to where our world is closer to making the guidelines of love, dogood, and lend the norm. Amen.

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Driving Miss Ivy

2012-01-29T23:00:00.000-05:00

I love the movie Driving Miss Daisy.The main characters are a feisty older lady who is no longer able to drive and a man her son hired to be her chauffeur. It is a movie full of lessons about racism and classism and love and respect.

On July 5, 2011, I had ankle surgery on my right foot and was therefore unable to drive. I kept thinking and hoping that perhaps the next week, after the next visit to the doctor, I would be cleared to drive. That however, was not the case. This did not happen until this past Thursday. And today was the first time I have driven since the surgery.

Now for most families this would present an inconvenience, but the other family members would pick up the driving responsibilities. However, my husband is blind and unable to drive. I am the driver in our family. Things that we previously took for granted, like quick runs to the store, doctor's appointments, going to church all became things for which we had to coordinate times and people's availability to help us out. I give thanks to God for the wonderful community of faith and circle of friends we have here at the seminary. Because of them, we have been able to go where we needed and wanted to go to. Many a friend has chauffeured me to many a place.

I am very thankful to have progressed far enough now in my healing to be back behind the wheel as the driver once again for our family. It felt good to drive to church today.

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Martin Luther King Day: Healing Prayer and the Lies We Believe - Lisa Sharon Harper | God's Politics Blog - Sojourners

2012-01-15T23:41:00.001-05:00

On this MLK Day.

Martin Luther King Day: Healing Prayer and the Lies We Believe - Lisa Sharon Harper | God's Politics Blog - Sojourners

Old King Coal

2012-01-06T20:52:00.000-05:00

This is the sermon I preached today in my Preaching Controversial Topics class. The audience I had in mind was that of my internship site last year, Grace Lutheran Church, Petersburg, WV.

I’d like us all to take a trip backin time to our childhoods. How many of us still remember the nursery rhymes wegrew up hearing? Which one was your favorite? Was it Mary Had a Little Lamb or perhaps Jack Be Nimble, Jack Be Quick? Maybe you can help me with one Iremember from my childhood. If you know it, please join in:

Old King Cole was amerry old soul
And a merry old soul was he;
He called for his pipe, and he called for his bowl
And he called for his fiddlers three.
Every fiddler he had a fiddle,
And a very fine fiddle had he;
Oh there's none so rare, as can compare
With King Cole and his fiddlers three.

Does this nursery rhyme give you the warm fuzzies?Kindly… warm…King Cole…

I hear something different nowhowever, when someone brings up King Coal. There is a difference in thespelling too. It is not C-O-L-E as in the rhyme, but C-O-A-L, as in the mainindustry and livelihood of so many in West Virginia. Merry old King C-o-l-e mayhave been a benevolent, kindly ruler, but how does West Virginia’s King C-o-a-lcompare? Some have referred to him as a “Dirty Old Soul” (Econesting 2011).

What especially makes him a “DirtyOld Soul” (Econesting) is his work of mountaintopremoval mining. In other words, dynamite and earthmovers decapitate themountains! According to NASA, “The waste rock—the remains of the mountains—ispiled into neighboring hollows in towering earthen dams called valley fills.The largest fills can approach 800 feet in height and swallow more than a mileof streambed” (Lindsey 1997). This is a veryinexpensive way to harvest coal. Besides the fact that the mountains look alittle funny, is there really any problem with this methodology? Just checkdownstream.

Downstream of the mountains waterquality is affected. Fish have dangerous levels of a variety of toxic traceelements. The diversity of fish has declined. NASA further explains:

Hundreds ofthousands of acres of some of the world’s most biologically diverse forestsoutside of the tropics have been lost or degraded, and, to date, efforts torestore them have had limited success. Valley fills have worsened flashflooding during heavy rain events ... Floods from the collapse of valley fillsand coal sludge impoundments, though rare, have devastated some watersheds andcommunities. (Lindsey 1997)

On the plus side, besides being moreeconomical for the coal companies this method of mining coal is safer for theminers. However, what is the impact upon those living in the area of thesemining operations? Blasting has cracked the foundation of people’s homes (Lindsey). The machinery usedfor mining is an eyesore to neighboring residents. Some oppose mountain topremoval mining because they see their natural heritage taken away, which ispart of their rural culture. Will it be there for coming generations?

The beauty of West Virginia and itsvast natural resources is captivating. The majestic mountains, flowing rivers,streams, and woods provide recreation, sport, and food for its people. Many ofthe members of this congregation hunt and fish. You share the bounty of thegame you catch through organizations like Hunters for the Hungry. Is mountaintop removal mining in other counties threatening this way of life?

We may not all hunt and fish, but westill appreciate the beauty of our natural surroundings. For me, the mountainsmean so much. These mountains helped me discern a call to Appalachia. During mysecond year of seminary, I spent time here for a rural ministry immersionexperience. I drove around, prayed, and asked God if this is where he could becalling me. I felt the mountains spoke to me and affirmed that sense of call. Itwas as the psalmist declared, "The heavens are telling the glory of God; andthe firmamentproclaimshis handiwork. ² Day to day pours forth speech, and night tonight declares knowledge” (Psa 19:1-2 NRS). God speaks to us through thewonders of this world.

We are connected to thesemountains, woods, streams, and rivers and their non-human residents. In thebook, The Church on Earth, theauthors write:

The meaning of our lives can’t be unrelated to the meaningof our places, and the meaning of all those with which we share that place. Weare placed in grace, and graced in place. All places are therefore places inwhich we may encounter the grace of God… (Wild and Bakken 2009, 21)

These places are God’s gift to us.

So, we understand allthese wonderful things about creation and we love the beauty of West Virginia,but what how does this connect to Old King Coal? Much of what we do to creationtoday is because of how we interpret these verses in Genesis:

Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image,according to our likeness; and let them have dominionover the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle,and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing thatcreeps upon the earth.”… God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitfuland multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fishof the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that movesupon the earth.” (Gen 1:26, 28)

We hear words like“dominion” and “subdue” and perhaps we understand this as God’s command. Afterall, it’s right there in Genesis where “God said.”

Itmay be helpful to think of our relationship to creation as that of stewards orcaretakers of the earth. Some suggest, “To be fully human…is to rule over theEarth in a way that reflects our role as God’s vice-regents. We are to exercisedominion through servanthood” (Spencer, White and Vroblesky 2009, 88).

Our acceptance of the rule of KingCoal and what he is doing to our natural resources depends upon amisunderstanding of “dominion” and “subdue.” It goes something like this, we ashumans see ourselves as the center of creation, at the top of the heap andeverything revolves around our needs and wants. Coal mining helps fuel our useand abuse of creation for our comfort. Should mining of coal in the cheapestpossible manner continue no matter the cost to this earth? Is this exercising“dominion through servanthood?” (Spencer, White and Vroblesky). What can we do about this anyway?

TheELCA social statement, “Caring for Creation: Vision, Hope, and Justice”acknowledges the tension we live in stating:

Protection of species and their habitats, preservation of cleanland and water, reduction of wastes, care of the land—these are priorities. Butproduction of basic goods and services, equitable distribution, accessiblemarkets, stabilization of population, quality education, full employment—theseare priorities as well. (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America 1993, 8)

Elsewherethis document admonishes us:

It is in hope of God’s promised fulfillment that we hear thecall to justice; it is in

hope that we take action. When we act interdependently and insolidarity with

creation, we do justice. We serve and keep the earth,trusting its bounty can be

sufficientfor all, and sustainable. (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, 6)

We can exercise our freedom asAmerican citizens to support legislation that preserves our world. Regardingone mine in Boone County, scientists believe current regulations are“inadequate” and “….the impacts on stream and groundwater quality,biodiversity, and forest productivity were ‘pervasive and irreversible’ andthat current strategies for mitigation and restoration were not compensatingfor the degradation” (NASA 2011). More can be done.

What does God think? Comparing God’scare to the mountains, the psalmist writes, “As the mountains surroundJerusalem, so the LORD surrounds his people, from this time on and forevermore” (Psa 125:2 NRS).All of creation, including the mountains is called upon to praise God in Psalm148. I could continue with scripture after scripture about God’s love ofcreation, but suffice it to say, that God called it good in Genesis. What do wesay? In the end, whom will we call king…God or coal?

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Works Cited

Econesting. "Old King Coal is a Dirty Old Soul." econesting.com. December 15, 2011. http://www.econesting.com/2011/12/15/old-king-coal-is-a-dirty-old-soul/ (accessed January 1, 2012).

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. "Caring for Creation: Vision, Hope, and Justice." Chicago: Division for Church and Society, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, September 1993.

Habel, Norman C., David Rhoads, and H. Paul Santmire. The Season of Creation: A Preaching Commentary. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2011.

Lindsey, Rebecca. Coal Controversy in Appalachia. December 21, 1997. http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/MountaintopRemoval/ (accessed January 5, 2012).

NASA. Earth Observatory. April 2011. http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/ WorldOfChange/hobet.php (accessed January 3, 2012).

Spencer, Nick, Robert White, and Virginia Vroblesky. Christianity, Climate Change, and Sustainable Living . Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2009.

The Bible. New Revised Standard Version.

Wild, Jeff, and Peter Bakken. Church On Earth: Grounding Your Ministry in a Sense of Place. Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress Publishers, 2009.

Carmina Gadelica - The Journey with Jesus

2012-01-04T06:55:00.000-05:00

Have blessed day!

Carmina Gadelica - The Journey with Jesus

It's Been A Long Time

2011-12-17T19:50:00.001-05:00

It will be a few days before I'm able to post. I'm almost at the end of the semester with 3 papers left to do. It's crunch time. However, here is a word cloud of my year according to my Facebook statuses.