The Death and Resurrection of Language

In addition to posting bulletin articles to prompt discussion, I've decided to post sermons from time to time.

Here is yesterday's, "The Death and Resurrection of Language."

Eugene Peterson is one of the major influences on my thinking about language and about scripture. Those who are familiar with some of his writings, especially his Spiritual Theology series, will see the evidence of the impression his work has made on my life and ministry in this sermon and many others.

Today is the Day

Here's my bulletin article from a couple weeks ago.

There is a strange dynamic at work in each of our lives, one that has become so second-nature to us that we often fail to notice the way in which it shapes us. Make no mistake about it, however, we humans cannot escape the fact we were created to be bound by time.

As we do with other aspects of life, we have become quite proficient at dissecting the notion of time so that what is at times unmanageable can be spoken of and thought about in manageable ways using manageable terms. Our consciousness as people is shaped profoundly by such notions, particularly past, present, and future. In some ways this is extremely important. If we are incapable of distinguishing between past and present or present and future or past and future, we lose our ability to function rationally.

At times, however, the segmenting of time into these three categories can be dangerous, if not destructive. This is particularly true when we think about these categories generally instead of specifically. The past easily crystallizes into a set of bad circumstances and flawed decisions to be avoided at all costs instead of a complex combination of positive and negative circumstances and good and bad decisions. The future easily becomes something of which we are afraid because nothing is certain or for which we long because we have everything planned out, instead of a complex combination of uncertainty and certainty of hopeful and discouraging developments.

Unfortunately most of our time spent thinking about the present is not really thinking about the present at all, it is merely longing for a return to the past or longing for an escape to the future. I suppose this is why so many of us wake up discontent not just on occasion, but frequently, always longing to return to a treasured experience or to fast-forward to some imagined scene of bliss.

If, however, our faith is anything more to us than an insurance policy or a social status symbol, we cannot settle for such attitudes and behavior. Instead, we join with the Psalmist today and every day in proclaiming with our words and our lives, “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice today and be glad!"

What's your reaction? Do you find yourself longing for the past or living for the future, rather than embracing the present?

Mistaken

Here's today's bulletin article:

Every one of us spends a great deal of time and energy worrying about identity. For many of us one of the more frequent questions we ask ourselves is, “How will it look if…?” Or perhaps the question is, “What will he or she or they think about me if…?” We worry about the clothes we wear, the kind of vehicle we drive, the place we live, what we read, what we watch, and how each of these affects our identity and others’ perceptions of us.

None of these are bad questions in and of themselves. In fact, many of them can be quite helpful in guiding our reflection on the image we project to others. Moreover, the questions flow out of a healthy recognition that the universe does not orbit around us. It is possible, however, that questions originating in an awareness we are not the center of the universe can give way to constant worry about appearances that becomes very self-centered.

While there are times it is appropriate to ask questions about how others perceive us, I wonder if a better question wouldn’t be “Do people see Jesus when they see me?” This transforms our self-centered questions into Jesus-centered questions.

One of my favorite singer-songwriters, Warren Barfield, expresses this sentiment in a positive manner in his song, "Mistaken":

“‘Til everyone I talk to hears his voice, and everything I touch feels the warmth of His hand. ‘Til everyone I meet sees Jesus in me. This is all I want to be. I want to be mistaken for Jesus.

“May He touch with my hands, see through my eyes. May he speak through my lips, live through my life.

“I want to be mistaken for Jesus.”

I hope and pray that whatever we do, wherever we go, with whomever we interact, we’ll be mistaken for Jesus.

Here's a video from YouTube of Warren singing the entire song.

Growing in Community

As Christians we are called to be apprentices of Jesus, walking alongside Him, observing Him in action, listening to Him speak, and joining in when the time is right. Just as Jesus gathered multiple apprentices around him to live out their faith in community, so we must live out our faith in community. It is my hope that this blog will serve as another means of engagement in the communal life of faith and that as a result of whatever conversations may arise, we may each become more faithful apprentices of Jesus.

Much of my time as a minister is spent speaking or writing. Unfortunately, our traditional environment has tended to limit, if not prevent, opportunities for dialogue. Bulletin articles, sermons, and classes often become one way streets, with traffic always flowing from minister to congregation. My hope is that this blog will serve to open up another lane for traffic in the opposite direction.

Not only that, but many of us aren't able to engage each other in conversation when we are gathered together. We need open lanes between each other as well.

One of the ways in which I hope to open these lanes is by posting my weekly bulletin articles. This will allow people in the congregation I serve, as well as others, to enter into conversations about apprenticeship. Since apprenticeship is an everyday kind of lifestyle which takes place in the ordinariness of life, I'll share observations and reflections on the ups and downs and ins and outs of the journey.

I invite you to join in the conversation and hope that through our interaction, we might learn from each other, as together we explore what it means to be apprentices of Jesus.