Who knows how long I'll be stuck on the festival of preachers...probably a while since I have no classes at the moment. As some of you know, I didn't have a great experience, but it was an experience that shaped and affected me quite a bit.
So, one sermon we heard (from a professional preacher) was about God's commandments, how in spite of the ten commandments and various permutations of them in other parts of the bible, the most oft repeated command in the bible is "do not be afraid". I don't have the time, or energy to fact check that, so I'll let it slide as truth. Do Not Be Afraid.
There is a lot in the world to fear, shootings of congresspeople, the fact that it's been a year and people have stopped talking about Haiti in spite of the clean up that still needs to be done, wars between nations that have gone on for decades, parents not vaccinating their children, the AIDS epidemic all around the world, flooding in Australia. The list could probably go on forever. This world has a lot to fear, yet over and over again, God commands us Do Not Be Afraid
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Thursday, January 6, 2011
it is written...one does not live by bread alone
I'm at the National Festival of Young Preachers in Louisville, KY this week recruiting for LSTC. So far it has been a different experience, most of the participants are Baptist and look at me sideways when I say I'm Lutheran (and don't get me started on their views of women or gay preachers). One girl I talked to I asked her what she wanted to do after college, her response: "I want to preach." I proceeded to try to get her to talk about that, to then drop the seed about seminary as a good option after college. My next question to her was pretty straightforward: So you're thinking about ordained ministry then?
The answer shocked me. No. I just want to preach.
No seminary, no theological education, (seemingly) no desire to preside over communion.
Just preach.
To me, that's not a job that is self standing, you preach in addition to presiding over the Eucharist, or being a service minister (AIM, Diaconal ministry, Deaconess...).
But to just preach. There was passion there, passion for proclaiming the gospel. of the 120 students here, protestant denominations are the minority by far. There is a lot of passion for preaching, I've watched some sermons where these preachers have more passion than I have pairs of pants, and for those of you who know me, that's quite a few.
But is there something missing from all this passion? Jesus says (one of his coming on stage moments) that we are to remember that 'it is written, one does not live by bread alone' but that does not mean that we are to not eat bread. Jesus does not say that we are not supposed to be service leaders in the world. Jesus says not bread alone.
We can have passion for preaching the gospel of Christ, but we need equal passion for serving the neighbor, for worshiping the living and risen Christ child, for remembering Ephiphany, the revealing of Christ the human in and to the world. We can have passion for preaching the good news to the world, but where are we left when we stay in the pulpit all day? Once the congregation exits the church building do we stay standing in the pulpit, preaching to anyone who has ears to hear? Or do we get out there, go into the world and live lives that strive to emulate Christ himself, breaking down walls of injustice and persecution in the world?
As for me, I'll have my (communion) bread and eat it too. And pass it around to the world in need.
The answer shocked me. No. I just want to preach.
No seminary, no theological education, (seemingly) no desire to preside over communion.
Just preach.
To me, that's not a job that is self standing, you preach in addition to presiding over the Eucharist, or being a service minister (AIM, Diaconal ministry, Deaconess...).
But to just preach. There was passion there, passion for proclaiming the gospel. of the 120 students here, protestant denominations are the minority by far. There is a lot of passion for preaching, I've watched some sermons where these preachers have more passion than I have pairs of pants, and for those of you who know me, that's quite a few.
But is there something missing from all this passion? Jesus says (one of his coming on stage moments) that we are to remember that 'it is written, one does not live by bread alone' but that does not mean that we are to not eat bread. Jesus does not say that we are not supposed to be service leaders in the world. Jesus says not bread alone.
We can have passion for preaching the gospel of Christ, but we need equal passion for serving the neighbor, for worshiping the living and risen Christ child, for remembering Ephiphany, the revealing of Christ the human in and to the world. We can have passion for preaching the good news to the world, but where are we left when we stay in the pulpit all day? Once the congregation exits the church building do we stay standing in the pulpit, preaching to anyone who has ears to hear? Or do we get out there, go into the world and live lives that strive to emulate Christ himself, breaking down walls of injustice and persecution in the world?
As for me, I'll have my (communion) bread and eat it too. And pass it around to the world in need.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Coming onstage
The week before finals week, my professor of old testament (Pentateuch for all you needing a fancy name) made some comment about looking at Jesus differently than any of us probably had before. Sure, we read the Christmas story every single year, in fact, I've gotten pretty good at saying things like Quirinius over the years...
And then heartwarming stories of shepherds, angels, magi visits. Followed by some scary times fleeing to Nazareth, and silence for quite a few years. But what next? In the birth stories, Jesus is pretty silent, mostly because it would be difficult to record in letters the sounds of babies. So once Jesus gets to speaking age, what does he say? Let's start with the (earliest?) gospel
Mark: (1:15) "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news."
Matt: (3:15) "Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness."
Luke: (4:4) "It is written, 'one does not live by bread alone.'"
John: (1:38) "What are you looking for?"
These all come from pretty different stories (if you were to line the stories up side by side) and some of them are kind of surprising...but that's how Jesus enters the picture verbally in the Gospels. I'll let you pick your own favorite, but I think each of them is important, and insightful as to who Jesus is. Take John (I think it's the most gutsy for Jesus to start his dialogue with)...Jesus questioned things all throughout his ministry, questioning social and religious norms and making people reevaluate their stances. Maybe it's because I like to question social norms, but that resonates loud in the current world. We are in the midst of a change from modern times to post-modern times, a switch from Christendom to Secular culture. What are we looking for? What are you looking for? Are you looking for bread? Are you looking for the kingdom of God? The good news? the fulfillment of righteousness? Or something else? Whatever you are looking for, remember how Jesus came on stage
And then heartwarming stories of shepherds, angels, magi visits. Followed by some scary times fleeing to Nazareth, and silence for quite a few years. But what next? In the birth stories, Jesus is pretty silent, mostly because it would be difficult to record in letters the sounds of babies. So once Jesus gets to speaking age, what does he say? Let's start with the (earliest?) gospel
Mark: (1:15) "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news."
Matt: (3:15) "Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness."
Luke: (4:4) "It is written, 'one does not live by bread alone.'"
John: (1:38) "What are you looking for?"
These all come from pretty different stories (if you were to line the stories up side by side) and some of them are kind of surprising...but that's how Jesus enters the picture verbally in the Gospels. I'll let you pick your own favorite, but I think each of them is important, and insightful as to who Jesus is. Take John (I think it's the most gutsy for Jesus to start his dialogue with)...Jesus questioned things all throughout his ministry, questioning social and religious norms and making people reevaluate their stances. Maybe it's because I like to question social norms, but that resonates loud in the current world. We are in the midst of a change from modern times to post-modern times, a switch from Christendom to Secular culture. What are we looking for? What are you looking for? Are you looking for bread? Are you looking for the kingdom of God? The good news? the fulfillment of righteousness? Or something else? Whatever you are looking for, remember how Jesus came on stage
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