Questioning Easter

"² They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, ³ but when they went in, they didn’t find the body of the Lord Jesus. ⁴ They didn’t know what to make of this."  Luke 24:2-3

 We celebrated Easter with singing and shouting about our risen Lord, but like the women and the early disciples we struggle with what to make of new life on an ordinary day. We sing hope, yet look live in fear.  The disciples saw the empty tomb and were amazed, but didn't believe until later.  We celebrate promise and live limits.  What I'm getting at is that certainty is the opposite of faith.  We celebrate a gift, a path, a direction, a love, an experience.  We celebrate a mystery that is barely expressed in any one account, or accounted for in any one expression. We celebrate a faith that includes both doubt and confidence.

Don't despair.  Do what those first followers did, ask fierce questions:  Who took Jesus?  How can I believe unless you show me?  How could we possibly feed this crowd?  Put those question alongside the celebrations, the stories, the testimonies, and the truths, then take a step.  Take a step in any direction, but take a step.  That's a step of faith.  Yes it is, because it's mixed with all that other stuff, God stuff, life stuff, YOU stuff!

OK, I may not have the whole thing down in a perfect formula.  There's probably a flaw in my argument somewhere, there usually is.  But I'm taking a step into a conversation with you.  I'm leaning into my experience of new life this Easter, of Jesus, of Love and tip-toeing forward.

How about you?  Yep, I sang "Christ is risen..." and I shouted "He is risen indeed!"  I also did all of that with questions, hurts, hopes, opportunities, struggles and so much more swirling in my life.   It's usually a bit of a jumble.

Yet, it's my jumble, my story and because of Easter (at least as a key in a bigger story/truth/promise) my hope.  So, I'm singing, hunting eggs, chowing down with family, and telling my story.  Not because I've got it all together, but because something bigger's got me.  The words I have for that are Jesus, Love, God, and Easter. My experience of God is a Love that won't let me go, a dependable Love.

Now, I'd love to hear your celebrations and laments.  I want to hear your story, struggle, hope, and the words you have for them.  You see, Easter means to me, that there's room for all us to look at the situation and not know what to make of it right now.  Let's have a meal and talk it over.  I'm confident there's more possibility to be found. 

That's why I celebrate Easter.  Why I say "Christ is risen."  And why I'm still wrapping my mind, heart and life around all that means.  Happy Easter.  Christ is Risen Indeed!

   

10,000 Joys in the Love of Jesus Christ, Pastor Dave

Women on the Edge

What if love, not force, is most important in life?  Getting ready for Christmas, Advent in my circles, is all about entertaining a relentless Love-that-will-not-let-us-go, and that does the impossible.  Getting close to such a thing takes us close to the edge, dangerously amazing places.

Speaking of Mary & Elizabeth in Luke's Gospel, Brian McLaren writes, "...the actual point of these pregnancy stories... is a challenge to us all: to dare to hope, like Elizabeth and Mary, that the seemingly impossible is possible.  They challenge us to align our lives around the 'impossible possibilities' hidden in this present, pregnant moment." (We Make the Road By Walking, Brian McLaren p. 69)

The seemingly impossible is possible...hmm.  While pondering this for teaching and worship this week I watched Kathryn Schulz's video, "On Being Wrong,"  a TED talk, about a basic human aversion to being and feeling wrong, and how it limits us. (Well worth the 18 minutes to watch.)  This same human predisposition also makes it hard to willingly believe God can make the impossible possible.  Schulz unwraps why we feel "right" even when we're wrong.  She prompted me to ponder if I might be wrong in my assessment of the "impossible," anything labeled impossible, especially when it comes to God.   

Schultz presents a choice to either, be misled by our feelings of rightness, or to embrace a different perspective beyond the "...tiny, terrified space of rightness and look around at each other and look out at the vastness and complexity and mystery of the universe and be able to say, 'Wow, I don't know.  Maybe I'm wrong.'"  Could I be wrong and the impossible really is possible because of something I can't see or feel at the moment?  Trusting something bigger than a feeling seems to me a fair description of what Mary & Elizabeth did.  It might be a reasonable way to describe faith.

Let's look at the story about these two women in Luke's Gospel.  Elizabeth, unable to have a child, learns a baby is on the way.  Mary, young and unmarried, is invited to participate in the life-threatening impossible, and she says, "Yes!"  (Luke 1:5-48) to this possibility.  Both circumstances and participants illustrate paths of feminine leadership, the kind that is a conundrum to the religious establishment (then and sometime now).  Both exhibit allegiance to God, "...who doesn't rule with the masculine power of swords and spears, but with a mother's sense of justice and compassion." (We Make the Road, p.69)

What if you and I regularly entertained the realities of our limited rightness, along with Schulz, and considered the possibilities of God's mothering justice and compassion that births such a love impregnated impossible?  What would change?  What would unfold?  Mary's son "...Jesus ...consistently model(ed) her self-surrender and receptivity to God." (We Make the Road, p.70)  Christmas is undoubtedly a time of wonder, imagination and faith.  I certainly think so.  But, maybe I could be wrong.

10 Gifts of Rest and Renewal

Fountains, living water, captured
my imagination and lens this summer.

Renewal has been a planned part of the summer Study and Renewal leave.  My training, my job and my culture teach me to seek and report tasks, but they seldom encourage rest and renewal.  Thank you for being a part of God's design for rest.  

Below are 10 Gifts of Rest and Renewal.  They are refreshing and wonderful.  Just recall a time you've had time with a friend for a long lunch, or a weekend with no scheduled tasks...nice, eh?  Here are 10 of the gifts that have renewed my spirit:

1. No Evening Meetings, allowing time for family and offering a restful stopping place at the end of each day;
2. Walking an average of 5 1/2 miles each day has entertained life-giving prayer, transportation, engagement with the world around me, and improvements to health;
3. Traveling in my truck, navigating the countryside.  I enjoy the adventure of new places and conversations with new-found friends;
4. Woodworking offering creativity and clear accomplishment.  (I love working with people, and it's hard to know how much is accomplished on any given day.)  I finished my Ukulele, built a Cajon (wooden drum), and crafted several walking sticks;
5. Family Time with Penny, the kids, grandkids, my sisters and their families...it's just great to have some additional weekends when they're free, and a slower pace permitted quality time for family;
6. Worship at Many Tables means that I've experienced the ministry of others and enjoyed the variety in the Body of Christ.  I've worshipped on the boardwalk by the ocean and with a homeless congregation,  in satellite congregations and in historic downtown churches.  Each place and people sharing gifts, experiences and insights;
7. Learning growing from my natural curiosity, partnered with time to explore everything from places to people, books to museums--every experience a building block;
8. Pacing that is life-giving.  In our American/Western Culture I/we frequently live as if there were not enough time in the day.  The truth is that God has made plenty of time for that which is important and necessary.  This summer I'm remembering the core of those essentials;
9. Encouraging Conversations with friends, colleagues, and all those who surround me too often gets hurried in the busy-ness of life.  This summer offered reminders and invitations that it is OK to be right here, right now;
10. Emptiness draws attention that which makes me richly filled.  There have been moments of personal emptiness beckoning me toward new spiritual and emotional resources.  There have been times of emptiness felt in lost routines, causing me to appreciate deeply the loving congregation that has walked with me through a dozen years and a summer of study and renewal.  What a gift...thank you!

There are more gifts to be appreciated and in this celebration I  rejoice that the familiar rhythms of pastoral life return later this week.  I look forward to reconnecting with the people of Palmyra First UMC-- I've missed you all.

I anticipate renewing familiar tasks with fresh eyes, seeing in the conversations of old and new, glimpses of transformed life promising hope-filled ministry ahead.  I'm excited about this next season of conversation, life and being followers of Jesus together. 

10,000 Joys in Jesus Who Gives Life

Pastor Dave

A List of earlier Study Renewal Blogs Here

Suprises & Invitations

Big Eds in Old City Market-Raleigh NC

The best experiences in life are invitations and surprises !

Invitations come from relationships.  Some come from passing relationships, striking up a conversation with a stranger or new quaintance. Others from deep friendships.  All lead somewhere of value to the one who made the offering, the invitation.

Invitations are how I have found many of the churches and ministries on my Study-Renewal Leave journey.  Friends like Alan Rice or Bishop John Schol or Vance Ross have taken time to reflect and share.  Invitations are how I find my way deeper into God's presence.  Just today, as I began exploring the streets of Richmond,  I felt a holy nudge, an inner sense, God's Spirit invite me to allow the day to be restful, walking and praying; to take time to be present to whatever came my way and breath.  That prompt was freeing for me.  It opened the door to 8 miles of walking, and much journaling.  All this comes from invitations.

Now, surprises are things out of my control.  They are not all evaluated as good when they come my way, but many of the great experiences I have begin as surprises. For instance, the recommendation to eat at "Big Eds" in Raleigh, was shared with me this week by a college.  Not only was the food and service great, but I stumbled upon a motorcycle show in the midst of the quaint shops on a historic Old City Market.

As I scanned the street from my table by the window; eating my burger and engaging surroundings lifted my spirits. This surprise guided my feet for an hour or so and put a gift in the day, when I was missing family.

God works with invitations and surprises.  I'm not the only one.  It simply takes being open to the possibilities, saying yes and seeing where they lead.  No matter where they go, there is a gift to be found.  Often there are experiences that mark a trip, a friendship, a life... when we are open.  On pastor I met in my travels said,  "If I can't tell you a new story of what God is doing in my life, from the last few days, then I'm not paying attention."

What invitations and surprises have you noticed recently?

October is for discernment!  Discernment, according to Webster, is "the ability to see and understand people, things, or situations clearly and intelligently."  In this month we're seeking understanding in our finances, our congregation and in our directions.

In the "Enough" series we are seeking clarity about our God given resources and how best to use them.  We have begun thinking, studying and praying together about how to best serve God with what God has first given us.  This includes our financial commitments as well as our prayers, presence, service & witness.

For our Oct. 21st Charge Conference we're reflecting on what God has been doing among and through us in the past year and where God is leading in the year to come.  This involves reviewing the ABC's (Attendance, Buildings, Cash) but more importantly seeking out "God Moments," where we're seeing God at work, in our life together.

Finally, our Church Council has convened a Vision Team to think and pray together about 3 goal directions and offer insight.  This team has people from each service, all ages and they aren't already on Council.  When you read this they hope to have some preliminary recommendations for our Council as we set 2016 goals, helping us see where God is leading.

Possibly there is one more area... your own life.  Where are you seeking clarity?  Seeking God?  Seeking growth?  Seeking direction?  How can I hold you in prayer?  Share in a conversation?  Connect you with a Koinonia group to make the journey with you? 

God is always ready to help us discern and celebrate the holy.  Jesus makes the way for this to happen and the Spirit walks with us all.  May this be a time of great joy and discovery reflecting the love of Christ in your life. 

10,000 Joys Following Jesus, Dave