Community of Prayer

New Testament:	Acts 1:6-14
Psalm:	Psalm 68:1-10, 32-35
Epistle:	1 Peter 4:12-14, 5:6-11
New Testament:	John 17:1-11

"Community of Prayer" is the Sunday Bulletin Service theme, referring to the Acts passage, which reports that, after Jesus' ascension, the apostles were "constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers." Leonardo Boff (see comment below) proposed that the "apostolic" church is a community of prayer; that is to say, it has nothing to do with the lineage of the priesthood, but everything to do with community. The church is apostolic by virtue of being a community of prayer. Wherever there is a community of Christ, there is the church.

Ubi charitas, et amor, deus ibi est.
(Where there is charity and love, God is there.)

The Sermon is still taking shape, as of this moment I'm still not sure what the title is.
The Hymns going into the bulletin are
#55 Rejoice, You Pure in Heart (I love that refrain)
#510 Grant us Wisdom to Perceive You (v. 1 and 4, before the prayers)
#332 As We Gather at Your Table (v. 1 and 2 before Communion, v. 3 after)

I have made your name known

John 17:1-11
"I have made your name known...." CK lifted up this verse in her commentary on Monday's blog. It reminded me of a gracious sermon I heard from Rev. Jose Malayang, former Executive Minister for Local Church Ministries, in which he sang to us about sharing God's word in accents that all people can understand.

"O let me hear you speaking in accents clear and still... "
-- New Century Hymnal #493 "O Jesus, I have promised"

As a denomination, we are (as Jeremiah Wright pointed out to the National Press Club) predominantly white, European, but also multi-cultural, multi-racial, and multi-lingual congregation. We have over the course of our history learned to share the gospel in ways that all people can understand. For example, the language of worship has been evolving. At one time we read scripture from the Geneva Bible or the Authorized (King James) Version; when better, more understandable translations became available we read from the Revised Standard Version and now the New Revised Standard Version. We no longer pray in the patriarchal accents of our grandparents, personifying God as "Him" with a capital H, and all people as "mankind."
Joe Malayang, in that sermon I heard about five years ago, spoke of the need to understand the language and the culture of the people we seek to reach. If we are to share the love of God, which is our congregation's mission, we have to learn to speak the love of God in accents that all may understand.
Now, the people in the pews may understand our current language of worship just fine. But what about outreach? Would someone who has never sung from a hymnal, or read aloud from a worship bulletin, stay long enough to hear the good news? Would they come again, to receive the love we have to share?

That they may be one

"He drew a circle..."

He drew a circle that shut me out--
Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout.
But Love and I had the wit to win:
We drew a circle that took him in!

"Outwitted" by Edwin Markham (complete poem).

Source: The Best Loved Poems of the American People. Doubleday, 1936. p.67.

“That they may be one….” Some of our brothers and sisters in the faith are easier to get along with than others. I enjoy our ecumenical Lenten series, and the bonhomie of my colleagues in the Episcopal, Methodist and Lutheran (ELCA) churches. Other relationships are more strained.

Yesterday, I (and all members of the Lakes Area Ministerial Association) received a genial invitation from a brother-in-Christ whom I have not yet met, the pastor of a Community Church in Aitkin. It is an invitation to come and learn more about a new initiative from Focus on the Family, called “The Truth Project.” The one who wrote the invitation believes that “this study is uniquely placed by God to aid churches in beginning to reverse the ground lost to the world, the flesh and the devil….”

Because the invitation was so genuine and personal, I did not relegate it to the “trash” file.

Instead, I did some research, watched portions of the video-based series (available on U-tube), and I saw for myself that “The Truth Project” lies. It is a beautifully produced, expertly edited package of Orwellian double-speak. From the beginning, it draws a circle that shuts out science, philosophy, anthropology, psychology, cosmology and mainstream theology (and anything else that challenges Focus on the Family). It defines truth as whatever the presenter (and Focus on the Family ministries) define as truth through their very dark, myopic lenses. Like Humpty Dumpty in Through the Looking Glass, when the presenter, Dr. Del Tackett uses the word truth, he means what he chooses it to mean.

“When I use a word,”

Humpty Dumpty said

in a rather scornful tone,

“it means what I choose it to mean—

neither more nor less.”

Doctor Tackett earned his Doctor of Management degree from Colorado Technical University. His field of expertise is business management. His work experience includes 20 years in the US Air Force, and unspecified periods of employment with George H.W. Bush’s National Security Council, Kaman Sciences Corporation and ITT Industries (both defense contractors). In 2007, ITT Corporation became the first major defense contractor to be convicted for criminal violation of the Arms Export Control Act (source: Wikipedia). Such associations fail to qualify Del Tackett as an expert on truth.

And Jesus prayed, “that thy may all be one.”

I struggle with that scripture.

When other members of Jesus’ flock draw a circle that shuts me out, and not only me but my whole church family, my tradition, the churches of my ancestors and the colleges they founded so that pastors could be trained up through academic rigor—then how can love and I draw a circle that takes in even the one who shuts us out.

Lord Jesus, you’ve got to help me with this one.

For Sunday, May 4

New Testament: Acts 1:6-14 The ascension of Jesus.

Psalm: Psalm 68:1-10, 32-35 God as the “rider in the sky,” protector of widows & orphans.

Epistle: 1 Peter 4:12-14, 5:6-11 A little more suffering, then God will restore you.

New Testament: John 17:1-11 Jesus’ farewell speech: that they may be one.

“That they may all be one” from this week’s gospel lesson, is on the logo of our United Church of Christ. It was an optimistic choice: this was to be the first of many unions of previously divided protestant churches. Subsequent decades witnessed the union of Methodist (United Methodist), Presbyterian (PC(USA)), and Lutheran (ELCA) denominations, and cooperative Christian advocacy through the World Council of Churches and the National Council of Churches. Our efforts to make peace with our brothers and sisters in Christ are a response to this prayer.

Focusing the Epistle Lesson

“Fearless love” is the sermon title that is going into the printed worship bulletin, as well as an adjustment in the selection of verses for the Epistle lesson. Sometimes, it is a wonder why the Consultation on Common Texts selects certain verses and omits others. After looking at the lesson in context, I will be reading 1 Peter 3: 8-18a. It’s about love, about remaining in the spirit of love, about persevering in love especially when we are tempted to stray from that spirit of love.

And it’s about blessing. Conventional wisdom is that prosperity is a sign of blessing, and suffering a sign of cursedness. Remember Job’s comforters? Job was a righteous man, and yet all his friends could think to say to Job in his suffering is, “Job, you must have really messed up. You better get right with God.”

For the first three and a half centuries, Christianity was an underground religion, despised by the “good people” of the Roman Empire. Christians were the despised minority, and they suffered for it. Some Christians surely must have wondered if their suffering was a sign of God’s displeasure.

The apostle’s response: Even if you suffer, you are blessed.

That response is contrary to conventional wisdom. Suffering is not evidence of God’s anger. The absence of suffering is not evidence of God's pleasure.

Do not fear their fear, the apostle wrote. I just previewed the film For the Bible Tells Me So, which (like The Laramie Project) reminded me of what terrible things frightened people can do.

“When people are afraid, they have to find scapegoats, and then they want to get rid of those people who are the bad guys,” said Mel White, in the film.

Rabbi Brian Zachary Mayer added, “The cheapest way of getting a feeling that we’re a group, a family, a... a... something is to make an other.” It has happened throughout history, with whites in the south during the Civil rights movement, in Germany during the rise of Nazi anti-Semitism. Homosexuals are the new “other.”

It’s easy to respond to hate with hate, to respond to fear with fear. It takes faith and love and discipline to respond to hate with love. The film ends with a triumphant example of non-violent resistance. You have got to see this.

And here’s a hymn to reinforce the message, and fortunately, this one is in the New Century Hymnal (#407):

Fear not, I am with you, oh, be not dismayed,

For I am your God, and will still give you aid,

I’ll strengthen you, help you, and cause you to stand

Upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand.

For Sunday, April 27

Scriptures:
Acts 17:22-31 -- Paul in Athens: "I see how very religious you are...."
Psalm 66:8-20 -- God has kept us among the living.
1 Peter 3:13-22 -- Do the right thing, even if you suffer for it, keep your conscience clear.
John 14:15-21 -- Jesus: "If you love me, you will keep my commandments." A continuation of his farewell sermon.

Sunday Bulletin Service theme: "Spirited Love"

Working Title: "Imagine Love"
Several weeks ago I planned out a whole series of sermons with titles that began with the word "imagine." I had the John Lennon song stuck in my head, I couldn't help myself. Now the Walrus sings again, as I read the gospel lesson of the day. Check it out: "you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you." I am you and you are me and we are he and we are all together.
A first title does not necessarily make it to the printed bulletin. Glancing at the chapter and verse numbers (and the bulletin theme), I was sure that the gospel lesson for this week would include: "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you." But that doesn't come until the 15th chapter.
No, now I'm more inclined to focus in on Paul in Athens, who toured the city and couldn't help but notice so many public displays of religious devotion. They even had a monument to "an unknown God," presumably, to protect themselves in case they left anygod out.
I'm reminded of the time one of our foreign exchange students asked us, "Why all the flags?" I couldn't think how to answer. So I asked her about her own country. Flags are displayed from government buildings, and on certain holidays, but not in front of stores and restaurants and car dealerships and gas stations and up and down streets all year long.
I'm also reminded of an old saw I once heard: "The guiltiest bride has the whitest veil"
Jesus was not impressed with public displays of religious devotion. Beware of practicing your piety before others to impress them. Better to pray in the closet.
And as I read the epistle from Peter, I am reminded of the training in non-violent resistance which the Rev. Dr King preached and the civil rights demonstrators practiced, suffering beatings and prison and being ready to die rather than fight violence with violence.
There is a lot of rich scriptural food on the menu for Sunday.