ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHING
December 31, 2021
It is time to begin again all over again. Life is an unending cycle of new beginnings, yet with everyone of those new beginnings comes an ending. As of midnight tonight, 2021 comes to an end. There were plenty of jokes a year ago about staying up until midnight just to make sure 2020 really ended. We were optimistic of the possibility and promise of 2021. In some ways, it does not feel as if it lived up to our hope. For most of us, we really believed we would see the end of the pandemic and a renewal of civility in our society. In other ways, there were plenty of new beginnings. Part of the faith inspired by Jesus, at least from my vantage point, is a belief in new possibilities beyond what could be imagined in the moment. Those possibilities exist within us. Maybe not within one or just two of us, but within the collective (the church) believes something can emerge from our effort… our common effort. It is time to begin again all over again. What might God be trying to do through us in this new year?
As we come to another threshold moment, O God of New Beginnings, we pray for guidance and assurance as we prepare to take our first few steps into the new year. We hope to represent faithfulness to your Gospel of love and kindness. Amen.
Month: December 2021
12-30-21
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHING
December 30, 2021
The amazing singer, Mahalia Jackson, said: “Faith and prayer are the vitamins of the soul; [we] cannot live in health without them.” I might just add to her list another word: music. Years ago, my good friend David Merrick put together a mixtape of all kinds of music. One of those tapes included Mahalia Jackson singing, “Walk in Jerusalem.” The lyrics by themselves might give a sad and despairing impression, but with her voice animating those words, there is hope and joy and a desire to join the faithful way up high in Jerusalem. It is more than the style in which she sang it. Every word was dripping with unwavering conviction. Especially in the struggle for civil rights, songs about heaven (whatever metaphor might be used) were songs of hope for those who died in the struggle, but also an ultimate vision of where creation was headed. When you listen to Mahalia Jackson singing that song, it is like a train headed toward that magnificent image of a heavenly Jerusalem and there is nothing going to stop its passengers from making it.
May the faith you inspire within us, Amazing God, be the faith that has us living inspired lives. Amen.
12-29-21
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHING
December 29, 2021
When I’m needing a little inspiration or push or jolt, I find Anne Lamott is often the right person to read. In her wonderful book: Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers, she writes:
Love pulls people back to their feet.
Bodies and souls are fed.
Bones and lives heal.
New blades of grass grow from charred soil.
We must allow our concept of love to expand beyond hormones and warm fuzzies. I believe it is a power woven into the universe, one from which we can draw energy and inspiration; find peace and wholeness; seek the ways of justice and kindness. If God is everywhere as is poetically exhibited in Psalm 139, and God is love, then my image of God must be far beyond the old man sitting in some celestial castle. I picture God as pure love, not simply present where human beings could name it, but wherever there existence exists.
Wherever you are, O God, there is love. And since there is no place where you are not present, I can trust there is no place where love is not present. In my darkest moments, when hopelessness appears to have won the day, embolden my conviction of your abiding love forever present. Amen.
12-28-21
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHING
December 28, 2021
Bless us that we might be your beloved peacemakers. Holy God, center us in your love so when our little part of the world is broken and at odds with forces inside and out, we are able to find reconciling and mending power. May the Christ Child, your wonderful enfleshing of far-reaching love, be our inspiration and motivation, our template and prototype. It is through the simple, the hopeful and the gentle that we find ourselves glimpsing the way to your peaceful world. Amen.
12-27-21
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHING
December 27, 2021
On Mondays, I usually offer a prayer for the week, but yesterday one of the great witnesses to the power of transformative love, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, died. While some folks have a hero in the sports world or maybe from the big screen, Desmond Tutu has served as one of my heroes. He was unwavering in his opposition to Apartheid in South Africa. As some of you have heard, I met him at our Denomination’s General Assembly in 1993. The event was in St. Louis during a time of horrible flooding. While doing sandbagging in a neighborhood, Demond Tutu came out to meet some of us. Though he was actually shorter than I am (that says something), he towered over all of us. A few of my favorite quotes are:
-Differences are not intended to separate, to alienate. We are different precisely in order to realize our need of one another.
-My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together.
-Without forgiveness, there is no future. Forgiveness is not nebulous, impractical and idealistic. It’s thoroughly realistic.
-If we are to say that religion cannot be concerned with politics then we are really saying that there is a substantial part of human life in which God’s writ does not run. If it is not God’s, then whose is it? Who is in charge if not the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ?
Holy One of the Universe, we express gratitude for all those whose life-witness has pointed others to you – to your love, kindness and justice. Amen.
12-26-21
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHING
December 26, 2021
For many households, the Christmas decorations are headed back to the attic or closet today. Christmas is done, the radio stations have moved to their usual formats, and we need to remember that Easter is just a few short months away. For many people, Christmas is complete, but in fact, the church doesn’t begin celebrating Christmas until Christmas Eve. The culture and economic system have been celebrating Christmas since Halloween, yet church tradition didn’t celebrate the arrival of the shepherds until two days after Christmas. Remember, the angels appeared to the shepherds with a great announcement, but they had to walk (with sheep) some distance. The church marked the 12 Days of Christmas as the time between Christmas and Epiphany (January 6, though we will celebrate Sunday, January 9). Epiphany is when we remember the arrival of the Magi. Just because much of the world is moving onto something other than Christmas, we need to remember the faithful journey of the shepherds and the need to seek out the Good News of the Christ Child even after December 25th.
Encourage within me, O Lord, a yearning for Christmas. I want to feel a deep desire for the gift of Emmanuel no matter what the calendar says. Amen.
12-25-21 — Merry Christmas
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHING
December 25, 2021
On that first Christmas, the angel announced: “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.” We have here an individual gift with an universal application. The Good News is given to a small band of shepherds on a particular hillside in a specific moment of time, but it is Good News of great joy for all people. When an individual becomes the recipient of the Good News, that individual becomes, by default, a delivery agent of that same good news. The shepherds received the Good News of God’s limitless love, but such a gift comes with an accessory called responsibility.
Thank you, O Lord of Life, for the gift of your love revealed in the Baby Jesus. And might I say, thanks for the responsibility you have attached to this gift which will continue to animate me and the love I share. Amen.
12-24-21 — Christmas Eve
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHING
December 24, 2021
When I’m on the stationary bike in the mornings, and I’m not in the mood to read, I will watch National Geographic programs. I am a big fan of a guy named Albert Lin. He uses a lot of high tech scanning in his archeological work to uncover what might be hidden by trees or thick underbrush. One of the things that has caught my attention is his capacity to appear enthusiastic no matter what the find might be. He says, “Wow” or “That’s amazing” more than a dozen times in each program, but never once does it feel false or contrived. There are a limited number of ways of showing awe using language, yet he makes reoccurring words and phrases sound fresh every time. And I think they’re genuine. He loves what he does, and he is amazed at what is discovered. Tomorrow is Christmas Day, and for most of us, we’ve been doing Christmas for a number of years now. Tomorrow, will the “wow” offered for the new slippers be offered with the same enthusiasm and authenticity as the “wow” offered when you were seven years old and opened the toy you dreamed of getting? More importantly, will the story of Christ’s birth bring forth the same intense joy as those shepherds experienced as they walked into the stable and discovered the angel’s announcement was true?
Wow! That’s all I can say, Good and Gracious God. Wow! The story of your love enfleshed is beyond breath-taking, and I only hope my life may reflect this glorious news to the world around me. Amen.
In-Person or Online
12-23-21
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHING
December 23, 2021
One of the great characters of old TV was Barney Fife. Just recently I was watching an old episode of the Andy Griffith Show. In it, Barney was the only tenor in the choir, and by default, he was given the tenor solo. Barney’s ego was pretty puffed up, especially because of the encouragement from his voice teacher, Miss Poulitice. The choir director was looking for anyone else who might be able to sing the tenor part as Barney was not a real solo voice. They are actually singing part of the traditional song Santa Lucia (I learned it in Swedish as I prepared to go to college in Sweden, though I didn’t even sound half as good as Barney). I was two minutes into the show, and even before we got to the conflict in the specific episode, I could tell you how it was going to play itself out. Even feeling confident I knew the outcome, I watched the entire show with a sense of anticipation. And yes, it pretty much concluded as I thought it would. Well in just a few days, we will once again tell the story of Jesus’ birth. There might be someone at a Christmas Eve Service who has never heard the story, and that would be awesome! But for most all of us, the story will be well known. There won’t be an unexpected twist. Yet, at least for me, I enter the Christmas Eve experience with a spirit of excitement, even a hint of giddiness… as if to be shocked by the Angel’s announcement. We should never say, “I already know the story. No reason to retell it.” Actually, in our retelling we are invited into the story in a new way. Who knows, we actually might be surprised by something we had never before seen.
No matter how well I know your story, O Amazing God, lead me into the story with fresh eyes and an open mind. If you can, surprise me this year as your love enfleshed speaks to me in a way I never previously imagined. Amen.
12-22-21
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHING
December 22, 2021
I guess I missed the announcement prior to the first Sunday of Advent. The Regional Ministers of our Denomination, including our General Minister and President, put together a devotional (https://cdn.disciplesmissionfund.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/19104910/College-of-Regional-Ministers-Advent-Devotional-2021.pdf). I have been playing catch-up since last week when I first came across these writing. In one devotional written by our General Minister and President, Rev. Terri Hord Owens, I was drawn to these words:
In every parable, Jesus invited us to consider the God whose love is limitless by asking us to think about those things that could be grasped in concrete ways, be it a story about sowing seeds, forgiving a prodigal son, or searching for a sheep that was lost. While we revel in and enjoy theological arguments and engagement with often lofty and scholarly language, Jesus knew that we could get to that understanding that was beyond us through the window of the familiar. He understood that language is simply our best attempt to explore and explain the love of God, God who is beyond our understanding, and whose love is not only limitless, but overwhelming to our senses and even to our intellects.
Her words resonate with me today as I think about my inability to fathom God and the workings of God, yet very simple and tangible words and images meet me in this season – a mother and her child; Emmanuel: God is with us; shepherds hearing a call; the making of a way when there did not appear to be a way; fear that is overcome with joy; family supporting one another; hope when there was no rational reason for hope. I may not fathom the fullness of God or even come close, but God seems to be using language and simple images I can understand and embrace. I may not discover an explanation for the mystery of God, but I find myself drawn into that mystery and overwhelmed with the love found there.
These devotionals written by Regional Ministers and others were part of the Christmas Special Day Offering. I hope you will consider a gift this year.
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