Monthly Archives: September 2010

The Love of a Parent

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I love this quote from Frederick Buechner:

“‘He who loves has fifty woes … who loves none has no woe,’ said the Buddha, and it is true. To love another, as you love a child, is to become vulnerable in a whole new way. It is no longer only through what happens to yourself that the world can hurt you but through what happens to the one you love also and greatly more hurtingly. When it comes to your own hurt, there are always things you can do. You can put up a brave front, for one, and behind that front, if you are lucky, if you persist, you can become a little brave inside yourself. You can become strong in the broken places, as Hemingway said. Continue reading →

Creatures are not Machines

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Wendell Berry, in an essay within his book Life is a Miracle (53ff), writes about the persistent problem of some analogizing humans with machines. You don’t have to look far for examples or remarks about the human mind being like a computer chip, or people being talked about as complex machines. Just watch a recent Droid commercial and you get the point. Berry points out that this is a serious problem, not because analogies are somehow bad to make, but that analogies have certain limits which need to be respected. In this case, the analogy seems to get carries away to the point of actually becoming an identification with, rather than an explanatory metaphor. Continue reading →

No History In the Empire

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I’ve been reading a lot of commentary on the prophets, specifically on Jeremiah lately. I came across this quote today in Walter Brueggemann’s “The Prophetic Imagination” in reference to liberation theologian Dorothy Soelle. He writes:

Prophetic criticism, Dorothy Soelle, has suggested, consists in mobilizing people to their real restless grief and in nurturing them away from cry-hearer who are inept at listening and indifferent in response. Surely history consists primarily of speaking and being answered, crying and being heard. If that is true, it means there can be no history in the empire because the cries are never heard and the speaking is never answered. And if the task of prophecy is to empower people to engage in history (their faith tradition), then it means evoking cries that expect answers, learning to address them where they will be taken seriously, and ceasing to look to the numbed and dull empire that never intended to answer in the first place.

(Walter Brueggemann, The Prophetic Imagination, 13) ((affiliate link))

Interfaith Clergy Letter to the Editor in Clark County

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(This is a letter a group of us from Clark County wrote in response to some of the controversy surrounding September 11th this past week. We submitted it to our local papers which did not pick it up so I thought I’d post it here.)

This year, a small group of clergy in Clark County began gathering monthly to learn from one another and to support one another as community leaders.   As an interfaith group, we honor and celebrate the religious traditions and spiritual paths of all people in our community.

For many people of faith, this week includes two major religious holidays with Rosh Hashanah for the Jewish community and Eid al-Fitr for the Islamic community.   However, this week is also charged by the memories of 9/11, plans to build a community center and prayer space in a building 2 blocks from Ground Zero and the furor over threats to burn The Qu’ran, the sacred Muslim text, by a pastor and his followers in Florida.   We are grieved at some Americans’ misunderstanding of one of the world’s largest religions. We celebrate the rich diversity within all faith traditions.  We stand together to honor the Islamic Society of Southwest Washington and all Muslims who are our neighbors. Continue reading →

Spoiled and Reworked (Jeremiah 18:1-11)

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(This is the message portion of what I shared on Sunday that follows a story I wrote. This message comes from Jeremiah 18:1-11.)

We in the middle of discussing various passages from the book of Jeremiah, asking what do these old stories have to teach us? Are there new ways to understand and approach these stories? Are there old ways that need to be set aside? Similar to this story about the two cobblers, Jeremiah’s time was a time of great upheaval and change. Continue reading →

The Two Cobblers

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A long time ago in an old village there was a cobbler named Samuel. Tall and thin, his dark hair had begun to turn the slightest shade of gray, like an early winter dusting of frost on the ground. Samuel came from a long line of cobblers. His father, grandfather and great-grandfather had all carefully learned the trade. Even though he had three other brother’s it was Samuel who was his father’s most favored apprentice working for many years under his father’s guidance before taking over the family business. Samuel was well known in the village, trusted for his honesty, and known for his skilled shoemaking. His business did well and while his family was not rich, they were able to have guests over from time to time. They enjoyed sharing a simple meal with their neighbors, it was a way they could be a gift to others. When they could he and his wife would give a little extra in the offering plate, or donate a pair of shoes to one of the poorer children in the village. This felt good and he loved his work. To make and repair shoes was for Samuel a calling. Continue reading →

Bored at Worship?

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I came across this post awhile ago and have been meaning to link to it. In the post Skye discusses bordem in our worship services, not just from the typical congregant but also the pastor. He also comments on that article that’s been pretty popular online about “Hipster Christianity.”

Here’s a quote from Skye’s post that stands out to me:

“I have been in the church all of my seventy year life and I have been bored for most of it. The trouble is that even though we are looking for a relationship with God, most church leaders/preachers interpret that to mean a relationship with a church.”

via Bored at Church – SKYEBOX.

I know the feeling, there have been plenty of times when I felt I was showing up on Sunday morning because that’s what we do. I personally feel different now as a pastor and don’t think I’ve felt bored at our meetings but I am sure that some do feel this way. Continue reading →

Come Visit the Vancouver Peace and Justice Fair Tomorrow

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Tomorrow, September 11th, the Vancouver Peace and Justice Fair is happening at Esther Short Park in downtown Vancouver, WA. I will be there with some of the folks from our Quaker meeting, Camas Friends Church, running the booth for our Yearly Meeting. There will be around 50 tents there and some entertainment as well. Considering all that’s been going on in the news towards Muslims and with the end of the war in Iraq, it seems fitting to spend part of the day promoting peace and justice as an alternative to so much of what we have been inundated with. Anyways, I look forward to hanging out a little and meeting new faces from the community. If you’re around stop by for a visit.

A Prayer from John Bellars

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I was reading an essay from T. Vail Palmer this morning on titled “Religion and Ethics in the Thought of John Bellars” and came upon this beautiful prayer and a great quote from about Jesus being the example for all people (even Princes) to imitate. Bellars was an early Quaker social reformer and has some beautiful and radical ideas that are still worth investigation today.

“Do thou inable us, O Lord! to prostrate ourselves in deep humility before thee, with our Wills subjected and resign’d unto thy Holy Will in all things, that we may with Sincerity, say, Thy Will Be done on Earth as it is done in Heaven.”

John Bellars 1718 Epistle

Jesus is the supreme moral patten for his ethics:

“Never mention those Heathen Heroes, such as Alexander, Caesar, or Hannibal, for Patterns to be Imitated by Christian Princes. who Sacrificed the Live of Thousands, to their restless Ambition and Honour; But let the Holy Jesus, who went about doing good, be the Example for all Christian Princes to Imitate, which will Increase their Subject, and add last Glory to themselves, and a happy Peace to both.”

All We Grow (Jeremiah 2:4-13)

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This is the message I gave on Sunday.

Opening_

What are we growing? There’s a new album that recently came out titled “All We Grow,” by S. Carey. While I actually really like the music on the album, I found the title to be compelling enough. The first time I heard the phrase “All We Grow” I kept saying it over and over in my head. “All We Grow.” “All We Grow.” I thought to myself, “What is it that I am growing?”  I started thinking about our children, and the things we I am personally involved in. If all these were seeds, what are the seeds that are being planted? What are the plants we expect to emerge?

Intentionality is needed today otherwise the default is often a kind of numbing rout motion. Without intention we get sucked into the routine of the world. Things will continue to grow, but they may not be what we want or expect.

Sometimes, while I am trying to build something beautiful, I am not really fully paying attention, or intentionally trying to do well at it. I just kind of show up and hope auto-pilot is good enough. It’s like trying to grow a beautiful flower when only later do you realize it’s a noxious weed. Continue reading →