Raising a Cry for Justice (Isaiah 58)

This weekend, more than 750 Christian advocates have gathered in Arlington, Virginia for the tenth anniversary Ecumenical Advocacy Days. EAD2012 unites our voices to cry for justice for the powerless in our society. Rooted in worship at the beginning of each of our days together, we are learning more about how issues like immigration policy, women’s rights, healthcare, peace, Middle East affairs, the environment and foreign aid intersect with the federal budget and discovering how we can contribute unique and distinct voices to the conversation because our positions are grounded in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

It’s been intriguing to begin to dig into the economics of the federal budget and realize how it is a moral blueprint for the United States.  Dr. Gary Dorrien from Union Theological Seminary reminded us, “If people are suffering because of economics and politics, then the church must be involved in economics and politics.” One question that can help guide us is, “What are our priorities, and do the choices we make increase income inequality and poverty or not?”

A generalist by nature, I know about three minutes of information about a lot of different subjects, so it’s been fascinating to realize how we can provide one message that impacts all of these policy areas without becoming subject-area experts. Here is our message:

As people of faith, we urge decision-makers to defend people struggling to live in dignity by funding programs that protect vulnerable populations here and abroad. Enact a faithful budget that serves the common good, provides robust funding for people struggling to overcome poverty, and exercises proper care of the earth.

As one Washington staff person reminded us, we are called to bring our voices together to cry for justice; that is our task. We do not need to get into the weeds on any one issue or attempt to maneuver specific budget lines because that task belongs to someone else. But we must make our voices heard.

What would you like to be called?

Lauren Hunter at Church Tech Today published a new post this week about 5 Pinterest marketing strategies for churches.  

There’s been a lot of buzz around Pinterest (leave your email in a comment below if you want an invite) because its use, especially by women, is soaring. Recently, when Pinterest policies came under scrutiny for potential copyright issues I began thinking about how we share and promote our interests without infringing on others’ rights, and exploring what kinds of pins people are sharing. (For more on the copyright concerns, here is the February blog post from lawyer and photographer Kirsten Kowalski and a blog post from today’s Wall Street Journal. I follow a lot of people and boards on Pinterest because they pin images that reflect beauty and inspiration in ways that I understand. Here are a couple of my favorites:

Sacred paths by @ChSocm
Places by Yoichi S
Sacred Spaces By Stratton McCrady

As much fun as it is to drink in all the breathtaking images on Pinterest, I wonder how many folks dismiss it as the latest fad and at its worst, vanity and indulgence.

It isn’t.

I am not a social media savant. I still only know a sliver of how people are communicating today. In his newest book Viral, Len Sweet would call me a Gutenberger because I am about three years older than the oldest digital natives who he names Googlers; I grew up with a different language and vocabulary and my default is still paper and pen.

However, I think Pinterest is giving us new ways to answer an ancient question:

“What do you like to be called?”

When someone asks you,“What is your name?” they are asking what you were called at your birth. But "What do you like to be called?" offers something else. A friend reminded me of how differently those two questions can be heard by people who cannot or will not claim their pasts. Others want to stake their futures with their answers; creatives - graphic designers, artists, photographers - are using Pinterest to visually represent themselves by pinning their resumes. Our answers can reveal how we see ourselves and what parts of ourselves we want to share with others. 

That’s where the opportunity exists for churches on Pinterest. People are asking, “What do you like to be called?” and instead of delivering an answer people may expect, let’s answer by showing people who we are and to whom we belong. Happy pinning!

Speaking Faith

The same year that I began seminary (2008) the ELCA launched its Book of Faith initiative with the publication of Opening the Book of Faith. One of its goals was to teach people in our congregations the language of faith - to understand the Word of God as our "mother-tongue." That definition has stayed somewhere in the back of my thoughts as I learned to decipher Greek and Hebrew, considered the language we use in prayer, liturgy and hymns, and studied the Bible. Now the question of how faith language has emerged again in conversations about the strange silence of the Bible which is the idea that the Word of God is often absent in how we go about living in the world.

The language we use to approach God is important and how we worship can shape how we think about God but that is a different conversation.

The question I have been thinking about is one we ask when we talk about how we make decisions and live as God's people in the world: "What if we lived as though we believed God's promises?"

I think the question needs to be even more basic: "What if we knew God's promises?"

I didn't grow up in the church the way my children or many of my classmates have; I am not a pastor's kid and my grandparents were either dead or agnostic so I didn't have this family tradition of faith. I learned faith as a young adult.

So I know I am not fluent in this language of faith but now when professors or lecturers say, "Well, you all know the story of...", I can usually figure out what they are talking about.  But what I have been thinking about is that when everyone you know, or at least most of the people you stay in conversation with are Christian, it's tough to know what it's like to not know the language.  Have you ever traveled to another country, or even another part of the U.S. and asked for soda, pop or Coke? Discover tea in the South is not Earl Grey? (we have it; it's just not the first thing that comes to mind) What about when you started working in a new job? Do you remember what it's like to be in a group of people who all speak the same language and use the same jargon and you're still figuring out the alphabet soup?

Even though I began learning this language later than some, I had forgotten what it was to not know it. To not know that God loves me. If that is a promise you know and remember, it's easy to forget that everyone doesn't. People do not know God loves them. Not just people outside the church, but people in our congregations.

Why not? It's not because they were texting during the sermon or fell asleep, didn't show up for Sunday Learning or skipped confirmation classes. Too often, I think we speak in a different language and if people don't learn it, we leave them behind to figure it out on their own. Like there is a passcode or hocus pocus. After all, that would be easier than admitting our efforts were worthless and we did nothing but receive God's incomprehensible grace.

So, let's let the secret out and start talking a language that people can understand: one that tells them that God loves them.  Then we can think about how we teach people inside and outside of our churches God's promises. We can help people understand that the waters of baptism are the beginning of new life and coming to the table for Holy Communion is the nurturing on our journey.  We can awaken people to the discovery that the language of faith is not buried or petrified in religious tomes but is a living language that frees us and gives us our voice. When we can begin to speak the language of faith and learn about God's promises to us, then we can ask what life looks life when we both know and believe that God fulfills God's promises.

Preacher's Corner

In the spirit of Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park, London, this is my Preacher's Corner.

I am a candidate for rostered ministry in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America  (ELCA) and a seminary student. A volunteer chaplain, I lead a Service of the Word and preach the first Sunday evening of the month at a nearby Lutheran retirement home. I follow the Revised Common Lectionary for the lessons. The sermon text is marked in bold.

For anyone who can't be with us, I'm recording the sermons and posting those audio files here. I welcome your comments. Thanks for listening.

March 4, 2012
Second Sunday in Lent (Year B)
Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16
Psalm 22:23-31
Romans 4:13-25
Mark 8:31-38

Listen Now



February 5, 2012
Second Sunday in Epiphany (Year B)
Isaiah 40:21-31
Psalm 147:1-11, 20c
1 Corinthians 9:16-23
Mark 1:29-39

Listen Now



December 4, 2011
Second Sunday of Advent (Year B)
Isaiah 40:1–11
Psalm 85:1–2, 8–13
2 Peter 3:8–15a
Mark 1:1–8

Listen Now



October 2, 2011
Sixteenth Sunday After Pentecost (Year A)
Exodus 20:1–4, 7–9, 12–20
Psalm 19
Philippians 3:4b-14
Matthew 21:33–46

Listen Now

Where do we find God/Where does God find us?

Some people want to say that God can only be found in the words written on the pages of a bound Bible - that a Christian's "faithfulness" can be measured by how quickly they open the weathered pages of the book. (After all they must be weathered if they're faithful, right?)

A bound book of paper and glue isn't the only way to discover or dwell in the Word of God.

We are called to be living sanctuaries for God. 1 Corinthians 3:16 (NRSV) reminds us, "Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?" 

What does it mean to be a living sanctuary? It isn't a call to shut out the world. It is a call to open myself to God,  in whom we live and move and have our being.(Act 17:28, NRSV)

The Word of God lives in our prayer and reflection, both alone and in community. And the tools we have today make it possible to access God's Word in Scripture through digital media and open ourselves to the sacred in more ways than one, whether it's worshiping with Virtual Abbey or diving into photographs of sacred places (or Stations of the Cross, or prayer beads) on Pinterest or listening more carefully to the music all around us (Chris Scharen writes more about this and Jeni Grangaard is sharing a Lenten playlist this season)

I am not taking anything away from the primacy of Scripture, but why do people insist on limiting God and arguing that there is a wrong way or a wrong place to look for God? By watching and listening for God in new ways, I can experience the beauty and mystery of God's presence even when God may feel more hidden because of the way my day is going. 

During this season of Lent while I reflect on the wilderness, I examine where I become separated from God and how God draws me near. The hymn "Sanctuary" petitions God

, 

"Lord, prepare me to be a sanctuary

Pure and holy, tried and true

With thanksgiving, I'll be a living

Sanctuary for You" 

Becoming a sanctuary for the Living God means first finding ways to recognize God in my day and my life. Some days, that will mean holding a hard bound Bible in my hands but I refuse to say God cannot reach me anywhere God chooses.