This coming Sunday is the last Sunday after the Epiphany, Transfiguration Sunday. This means Lent is right around the corner. Ash Wednesday is next Wednesday. We are about to enter a time of fasting and repentance in preparation for the celebration of Easter. Mark places Transfiguration of our Lord on Mount Tabor between two discourses of Jesus on the necessity of his suffering on the Cross. We prepare to enter Lent by both reflecting on the revelation of Divine light and the divinity of Jesus on Mt. Tabor and then we like Jesus turn our attention to the Cross. For as we know before we get to Easter we must pass through Good Friday.
As we make this liturgical move in the church year, we are in the midst of transition.
This past Monday our council/core group met once again to write a revised vision statement and set out our one three and five year plans. This is still in process and will be completed at our next meeting on February 27th. At the same time for the past two weeks our weekly attendance has been doubled. We praise God and welcome those who are new to us.
All of this means that we move into Lent at a point of transition for ourselves, as we seek to live into our renewed vision and our strategic plans for the next years. As we seek to continue to welcome new people into our midst.
I think it is a gift of God that we enter this new situation at the same time as we enter Lent and walk with Christ to the cross and on to the joyous victory of Easter. We need to keep in mind that it is for Christ and the proclamation of the cross that we have planted this church and come together week after week. It is not our success, or the success of this particular church plant that we work. However it is for the proclamation of Christ and him crucified and risen again for our sake and that of the world that we do everything and anything at Reconciler, as those called out into the purposes of God.
During Lent Kate Kamphausen will be leading a Lenten Bible Study on the Gospel of John before the worship service. Our Ash Wednesday service, as has been announced, will be 7:30 PM at Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church joining Immanuel and St Elias for their service of communion and imposition of ashes.
In Christ,
Larry Kamphausen
Pastoral Team
Thursday, February 23
Tuesday, February 21
Ash Wednesday Announcement
On Ash Wednesday, March 1st, we will be joining the joint Ash Wednesday service of communion and imposition of ashes with Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church and St Elias Christian Church: Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church 1500 W. Elmdale at 7:30 PM.
Monday, February 20
Sermon 7th Sunday After Epiphany
Isaiah 43:18-25
Psalm 41
2 Corinthians 1:18-22
Mark 2:1-12
What does i t mean to be whole? Do we want to be whole, truly whole? These are the questions Isaiah and the Gosple ask of us this evening. Healing and forgiveness are about being whole because they are about confronting evil and sin in ourselves and the world. Yet, while asserting this I also want to honestly face the difficulty of stories of physical healing for us in our skeptical, pluralistic and questioning time. I at least am unsure how to appropriate these stories for myself let alone sure how to preach from our Gospel today. My suspicion is that our encounter with this Gospel is haunted by many questions. Some question maybe around scientific knowledge and its definitions of what is possible. Other questions may center around the seeming arbitrariness or infrequency of divine and miraculous healing. These questions may be very personal and gut wrenching: Why was I not healed? Why wasn't so and so whom I prayed for healed? The questions may also surround the source or technique of healing: What of Rake or Eastern medicine? Our questions may also stem from issues of where does prayer and scientific medicine meet. A question I regularly faced as a chaplain: what place does prayer have in the midst of the hospital? I do not know if these questions help of hinder our hearing the Word of God?
Perhaps I should just focus on forgiveness and psychological healing. Maybe I should just talk about ways in which we can help people be freed form oppression that cripples them? Yet is this route really free of problems and questions? Are we able to embrace forgiveness? Do we understand sin and forgiveness of sins any better than we understand physical healing? Do we as often as not evade talk of Sin? We speak of needing to forgive ourselves and failing to do so. We also speak of never forgiving someone or of unforgivable acts. We can be deeply self critical and equally judgmental of those around us. In movies the symbol of forgiveness, the confessional, become a place of intreague hypocrisy and entrapment. I doubt our culture embraces true forgiveness any better than it embraces physical healing.
Isaiah and Mark come to us in the midst of all these struggles and questions calling us Beyond the presupostions of our culture and our cultural Christianities, what ever lable they wear: conservative, liberal, charismatic, etc. Gods Word to us confronts us with our weekness, our sin, our ailments and offers us healing and wholeness. God's word comes to us and does not allow us to limit the effects and reach of the Kingdom of God. The story of the paralytic should grab us viscerally for it is the Gospel at its most raw, confronting us with the limits of our understanding.
This is what makes Mark's story of the paralytic such good drama. Jesus has returns to Capernum where he began his public ministry and word has spread that Jesus is back in town. Some friends of a paralyzed man hearing this news rush to their friends house and carry him out. Maybe with some protestation on the part of the paralytic: "You don't need to make such a fuss. Just let me be?!" But the friends are going to bring him to Jesus, and they together carry him through the dusty streets to the house where Jesus is staying. Word has spread so rapidly that when they arrive at the house it is packed full. They could barely squeeze through the crowd one at a time let alone four men carrying a fifth on a mat.
They put their friend down, a little discouraged. The paralytic says, "See take me home, it's obviously not God's will for me to be healed, at least not today. Maybe another time." His friends tell him to hush and let them think. They look all around the house for another possible way in but there is no other way. Suddenly one of them is jumping up and down at the door trying to get a good look at where Jesus is. "What are you doing Thadeus?" say the other three. He motions for them to wait. He then turns around and says, "I've got it, the roof" "You've got to be kidding, that's crazy." another says "Thad that's crazy enough it might work!" Their friend on the mat says "No, no, no, people will stare, their already starring, look! I hate it when people stare. Plus, isn't enough that I am paralyzed you have to kill me as well." "Oh stop your winning you'll be fine. It's the only way will get you to Jesus." And so they climb the stairs to the roof. Thadeus paces off where he thinks Jesus should be and the four take off their outer cloaks and tie them to the ends of the mat. They begin to dig.
Meanwhile Jesus is teaching. Some scribes the religious teachers are nearby. Listening carefully testing what Jesus says in their minds. Dust at first and then plaster begins to fall from the ceiling. Some plaster falls on Jesus' head and he brushes it away, suddenly more dirt and plaster fall to the ground in front of Jesus people begin to back up. Jesus has stopped speaking and with everyone looks up as daylight streams in to the dark room and hands and faces appear and disappear. Soon there is a large somewhat rectangular opening in the roof and four faces peer over the edge. Jesus smiles. People begin to whisper and mutter as the four men lower the paralytic on his matt. Those gathered are watching Jesus: what will he do, surely he will speak against this wanton destruction of property, surely he will heal this man. The scribes watch carefully poised ready to pounce.
The matt drops the last few inches to the floor with a sudden thud, and all is quiet. Jesus looks up again at the four friends and turns with a smile to the man on the mat and says "Your sins are forgiven." At this the the crowd erupts again with surprised whisper. The scribes are shocked. Everyone wonders what can this mean? Is there a connection between the paralysis and this man's sin? Is he not going to heal this man like he has so many others?
Isn't this surprising? Maybe not to us. I don't know if this surprises you but it was not surprising to most of the commentators and preachers I read in preparation for this sermon. The consensus seems to be even among those that believe Jesus did miraculously heal people that this makes perfect sense, after all it is really for our spiritual and psychological healing that Jesus came. Following this line of thought the paralysis of the this man becomes a metaphor . While I agree that certainly to be forgiven is healing and healing is certainly used in this figurative sense in Scripture, I think that to simply read this passage figuratively is to miss part of what the passage has to say to us.
Now back to our story. The Scribes were not only surprised but offended. After all only God can forgive sins, and they were also probably thinking only after sacrifices have been made and some payment of the sin and sign of repentance. After all even the passage of Isaiah shows God offering forgiveness after he has punished Israel for their sin by sending them into exile. Jesus is too cavalier, not only placing himself in the place of God but forgiving freely without any strings: To simply declare sins forgiven is an affront to God and God's Law, the Scriptures.
Jesus knows their thoughts. The crowd has seen the scribes agitation and forceful whispering. The air is thick with tension. Will the Scribes say anything? Instead it is Jesus who speaks again. "Why do you raise such questions in your hearts? Which is it easier to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Stand up and take your mat and walk'? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins" he says to the paralytic "I say to you stand up, take your mat and go to your home." And the man gets up, picks up his cot and walked out the way he could not get in through the crowd. What just happened? All are amazed some dumbfounded. What is the meaning of all this?
Jesus makes a number of connections we are perhaps uncomfortable with: between sin and physical disorder, between faith and healing. Yet, Jesus' connections are not about cause and effect but relation. Forgiveness of sin and physical healing parallel each other, neither is more or less difficult. Each is equallly significant for the Gospel and the manisfestation of the Kingdom in this man's life. Mark also tells us that Jesus forgives and heals the paralytic on the basis not the paralytics faith but the faith of his friends. Mark to underscore this point makes no reference to the paralytics faith or doubt, unlike I did in my retelling. Mark emphasizes that the paralytic receives forgiveness and healing without reference to his faith or his doubt. He is simply forgiven and healed on the basis of the faith of his community. So this is a story of faith, but we should not loose sight of how this story unfolds in the midst of questions, doubts and uncertainty. Jesus is unphased by these things. The Gospel , the work of Jesus and the manifestation of the kingdom functions in this matrix while being center all on Jesus and the Church.
Yes, the church. According to commentators when Mark talks about Jesus being at home or in the house this is an allusion to the Church. Mark then is contextualizing Jesus' work and that of the Kingdom of God in the midst of community specifically the body of Christ, the Church. This story of healing and forgiveness is not about an individual encounter between a person and Jesus, but occurs in the midst of those gathered around Jesus. The man is forgiven in the midst of his community and the community of God, the body of Christ. This emphasis on community and church here in this story should not surprise us since the Church has always had two rites which parallel each other just as fogiveness and healing parallel each other in this story: confession/reconciliation and anointing with oil for healing. James 5:13-18 makes this same connection of anointing for healing and confession and forgiveness of sin. Mark calls us to come, James calls us to come to Jesus, to come with the community of faith and be healed and made whole.
The world in all its manifestation, in obvious and subtle ways, can wear us down, tempt us. We who are gathered together as the body of Christ still live in the world marked by sin and death. A world that can leave it mark on us through physical ailment personal sin and complicity with societal sin. Through Christ in Christ in the midst of his body the Church we come to be renewed and made whole. We come so that we may witness to the Kingdom of God in the world. This is why we together confess our sin and why each Sundnay before we come to the table we offer the opportunity for any and all to come to Jesus, whether for the first time or again, offering anointing for healing. We are here to be made whole by Christ and so we pray together and for one another. We confess our sins together. We are anointed for healing. If you hesitate to come, if you are uncertain and plagued with doubt or question come anyway, lay yourself down in the faith of this community, the faith of the Church, which invites you to come to Jesus in confession and holy anointing. Come to Jesus and be made whole. Continue to come again and again, so that we as the body of Christ may witness to the healing (personal and corporate) offered by God in Christ. Come with your questions uncertainty and doubts and Christ will make us whole.
Psalm 41
2 Corinthians 1:18-22
Mark 2:1-12
What does i t mean to be whole? Do we want to be whole, truly whole? These are the questions Isaiah and the Gosple ask of us this evening. Healing and forgiveness are about being whole because they are about confronting evil and sin in ourselves and the world. Yet, while asserting this I also want to honestly face the difficulty of stories of physical healing for us in our skeptical, pluralistic and questioning time. I at least am unsure how to appropriate these stories for myself let alone sure how to preach from our Gospel today. My suspicion is that our encounter with this Gospel is haunted by many questions. Some question maybe around scientific knowledge and its definitions of what is possible. Other questions may center around the seeming arbitrariness or infrequency of divine and miraculous healing. These questions may be very personal and gut wrenching: Why was I not healed? Why wasn't so and so whom I prayed for healed? The questions may also surround the source or technique of healing: What of Rake or Eastern medicine? Our questions may also stem from issues of where does prayer and scientific medicine meet. A question I regularly faced as a chaplain: what place does prayer have in the midst of the hospital? I do not know if these questions help of hinder our hearing the Word of God?
Perhaps I should just focus on forgiveness and psychological healing. Maybe I should just talk about ways in which we can help people be freed form oppression that cripples them? Yet is this route really free of problems and questions? Are we able to embrace forgiveness? Do we understand sin and forgiveness of sins any better than we understand physical healing? Do we as often as not evade talk of Sin? We speak of needing to forgive ourselves and failing to do so. We also speak of never forgiving someone or of unforgivable acts. We can be deeply self critical and equally judgmental of those around us. In movies the symbol of forgiveness, the confessional, become a place of intreague hypocrisy and entrapment. I doubt our culture embraces true forgiveness any better than it embraces physical healing.
Isaiah and Mark come to us in the midst of all these struggles and questions calling us Beyond the presupostions of our culture and our cultural Christianities, what ever lable they wear: conservative, liberal, charismatic, etc. Gods Word to us confronts us with our weekness, our sin, our ailments and offers us healing and wholeness. God's word comes to us and does not allow us to limit the effects and reach of the Kingdom of God. The story of the paralytic should grab us viscerally for it is the Gospel at its most raw, confronting us with the limits of our understanding.
This is what makes Mark's story of the paralytic such good drama. Jesus has returns to Capernum where he began his public ministry and word has spread that Jesus is back in town. Some friends of a paralyzed man hearing this news rush to their friends house and carry him out. Maybe with some protestation on the part of the paralytic: "You don't need to make such a fuss. Just let me be?!" But the friends are going to bring him to Jesus, and they together carry him through the dusty streets to the house where Jesus is staying. Word has spread so rapidly that when they arrive at the house it is packed full. They could barely squeeze through the crowd one at a time let alone four men carrying a fifth on a mat.
They put their friend down, a little discouraged. The paralytic says, "See take me home, it's obviously not God's will for me to be healed, at least not today. Maybe another time." His friends tell him to hush and let them think. They look all around the house for another possible way in but there is no other way. Suddenly one of them is jumping up and down at the door trying to get a good look at where Jesus is. "What are you doing Thadeus?" say the other three. He motions for them to wait. He then turns around and says, "I've got it, the roof" "You've got to be kidding, that's crazy." another says "Thad that's crazy enough it might work!" Their friend on the mat says "No, no, no, people will stare, their already starring, look! I hate it when people stare. Plus, isn't enough that I am paralyzed you have to kill me as well." "Oh stop your winning you'll be fine. It's the only way will get you to Jesus." And so they climb the stairs to the roof. Thadeus paces off where he thinks Jesus should be and the four take off their outer cloaks and tie them to the ends of the mat. They begin to dig.
Meanwhile Jesus is teaching. Some scribes the religious teachers are nearby. Listening carefully testing what Jesus says in their minds. Dust at first and then plaster begins to fall from the ceiling. Some plaster falls on Jesus' head and he brushes it away, suddenly more dirt and plaster fall to the ground in front of Jesus people begin to back up. Jesus has stopped speaking and with everyone looks up as daylight streams in to the dark room and hands and faces appear and disappear. Soon there is a large somewhat rectangular opening in the roof and four faces peer over the edge. Jesus smiles. People begin to whisper and mutter as the four men lower the paralytic on his matt. Those gathered are watching Jesus: what will he do, surely he will speak against this wanton destruction of property, surely he will heal this man. The scribes watch carefully poised ready to pounce.
The matt drops the last few inches to the floor with a sudden thud, and all is quiet. Jesus looks up again at the four friends and turns with a smile to the man on the mat and says "Your sins are forgiven." At this the the crowd erupts again with surprised whisper. The scribes are shocked. Everyone wonders what can this mean? Is there a connection between the paralysis and this man's sin? Is he not going to heal this man like he has so many others?
Isn't this surprising? Maybe not to us. I don't know if this surprises you but it was not surprising to most of the commentators and preachers I read in preparation for this sermon. The consensus seems to be even among those that believe Jesus did miraculously heal people that this makes perfect sense, after all it is really for our spiritual and psychological healing that Jesus came. Following this line of thought the paralysis of the this man becomes a metaphor . While I agree that certainly to be forgiven is healing and healing is certainly used in this figurative sense in Scripture, I think that to simply read this passage figuratively is to miss part of what the passage has to say to us.
Now back to our story. The Scribes were not only surprised but offended. After all only God can forgive sins, and they were also probably thinking only after sacrifices have been made and some payment of the sin and sign of repentance. After all even the passage of Isaiah shows God offering forgiveness after he has punished Israel for their sin by sending them into exile. Jesus is too cavalier, not only placing himself in the place of God but forgiving freely without any strings: To simply declare sins forgiven is an affront to God and God's Law, the Scriptures.
Jesus knows their thoughts. The crowd has seen the scribes agitation and forceful whispering. The air is thick with tension. Will the Scribes say anything? Instead it is Jesus who speaks again. "Why do you raise such questions in your hearts? Which is it easier to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Stand up and take your mat and walk'? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins" he says to the paralytic "I say to you stand up, take your mat and go to your home." And the man gets up, picks up his cot and walked out the way he could not get in through the crowd. What just happened? All are amazed some dumbfounded. What is the meaning of all this?
Jesus makes a number of connections we are perhaps uncomfortable with: between sin and physical disorder, between faith and healing. Yet, Jesus' connections are not about cause and effect but relation. Forgiveness of sin and physical healing parallel each other, neither is more or less difficult. Each is equallly significant for the Gospel and the manisfestation of the Kingdom in this man's life. Mark also tells us that Jesus forgives and heals the paralytic on the basis not the paralytics faith but the faith of his friends. Mark to underscore this point makes no reference to the paralytics faith or doubt, unlike I did in my retelling. Mark emphasizes that the paralytic receives forgiveness and healing without reference to his faith or his doubt. He is simply forgiven and healed on the basis of the faith of his community. So this is a story of faith, but we should not loose sight of how this story unfolds in the midst of questions, doubts and uncertainty. Jesus is unphased by these things. The Gospel , the work of Jesus and the manifestation of the kingdom functions in this matrix while being center all on Jesus and the Church.
Yes, the church. According to commentators when Mark talks about Jesus being at home or in the house this is an allusion to the Church. Mark then is contextualizing Jesus' work and that of the Kingdom of God in the midst of community specifically the body of Christ, the Church. This story of healing and forgiveness is not about an individual encounter between a person and Jesus, but occurs in the midst of those gathered around Jesus. The man is forgiven in the midst of his community and the community of God, the body of Christ. This emphasis on community and church here in this story should not surprise us since the Church has always had two rites which parallel each other just as fogiveness and healing parallel each other in this story: confession/reconciliation and anointing with oil for healing. James 5:13-18 makes this same connection of anointing for healing and confession and forgiveness of sin. Mark calls us to come, James calls us to come to Jesus, to come with the community of faith and be healed and made whole.
The world in all its manifestation, in obvious and subtle ways, can wear us down, tempt us. We who are gathered together as the body of Christ still live in the world marked by sin and death. A world that can leave it mark on us through physical ailment personal sin and complicity with societal sin. Through Christ in Christ in the midst of his body the Church we come to be renewed and made whole. We come so that we may witness to the Kingdom of God in the world. This is why we together confess our sin and why each Sundnay before we come to the table we offer the opportunity for any and all to come to Jesus, whether for the first time or again, offering anointing for healing. We are here to be made whole by Christ and so we pray together and for one another. We confess our sins together. We are anointed for healing. If you hesitate to come, if you are uncertain and plagued with doubt or question come anyway, lay yourself down in the faith of this community, the faith of the Church, which invites you to come to Jesus in confession and holy anointing. Come to Jesus and be made whole. Continue to come again and again, so that we as the body of Christ may witness to the healing (personal and corporate) offered by God in Christ. Come with your questions uncertainty and doubts and Christ will make us whole.
Thursday, February 16
Almost Weekly Update
Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning.
Whenever I read these words from Psalm 30, I am reminded of a powerful sermon I heard in Washington DC. The preacher stood in the pulpit of The First Baptist Church of Washington DC. He was preaching to a room filled with clergy from various denominations all attending a preaching conference. So, what was the message? This is the state of the Church. We are a divided body - divided by race and theology. And though weeping may linger for the night, joy comes with the morning. This is the hope of the Gospel, and it extends into all aspects our lives. So too it is with denominationalism in the Church. This is my belief.
There is much to report from life at Reconciler.
Ash Wednesday services will be celebrated with our host congregation, Immanuel Lutheran. Eucharist and imposition of ashes is at 7:30. We hope that you will all join us there. And many thanks to Immanuel for including us.
We had eight guests this past weekend! We ran out of bulletins and had to open another box of the new Covenant Hymnals we purchased before the Christmas holiday. It was very exciting. Keep us in your prayers, that we may continue to enjoy such challenges.
Please see the blog for the specifics - Larry has moved the Thursday evening location for his "office hours." He will be at the Starbucks on Sheridan near the Village North Theater. I will be at Kopi this Friday from 7-9pm. Do visit the blog from time to time to find out where Larry and I may be. We would love your company.
Our friends at up/rooted remind us that Dave Tomlinson will be at North Park this Sunday evening, February 19th, from 5pm to 7pm in the Olsson Lounge in the Seminary Building of North Park University. If you cannot attend worship, do try to go.
He will be speaking to us about his new book (which hasn't come out in the US yet), Running into God: Reflections for Ordinary Days, and the narrative theology undergirding it. In this book Tomlinson investigates the sacrament of ordinariness - that we can run into God anywhere, anytime, in any situation, through any person, and how this everydayness draws us into the Story of God.
We want to remind the Council of our meeting on 2/20 at 7pm at Taqueria #2 on Sheridan. We will continue to work through our one, three, and five year plans. Also, we want to come as close as we can to finishing our revised Vision Statement.
As you can see, we have a lot going on at Reconciler.
We look forward to seeing you all soon.
Peace and all good things,
Tripp Hudgins
The Pastoral Team
Tuesday, February 14
Thursday "office hours"
This Thursday February 16th there will be a change in location for Larry's office hours due to Ennui Cafe being closed for Remodeling.
The alternate location will be at the Starbucks on Sheridan Rd. next to the Village North Theater, one block south of Pratt.
He will be at this location at the usual Thursday office hours: 6:30-8:30PM.
The alternate location will be at the Starbucks on Sheridan Rd. next to the Village North Theater, one block south of Pratt.
He will be at this location at the usual Thursday office hours: 6:30-8:30PM.
Sunday, February 12
Sixth Sunday of Epiphany
Get in The Water Already!
No one, it seems, is particularly impressed with Naaman.
Some of my seminary friends remembered him, but not with any great excitement.
Other friend suggested that the story about Naaman is just dull.
The historical commentaries i read to prepare for this sermon gave him a bare mention. He's just some guy that Elisha healed. Perhaps he was an important military leader for a time, but eventually Syria would be conquered and all of Naaman's heroism would be for nothing.
But here he is in the reading for today. Really, there are twenty-seven verses committed to the story about Naaman. Given the state of scholarly and popular opinion, it is no wonder that the lectionary committee shortens Naaman's time in the scriptural limelight is whittled down to fourteen verses. But what an amazing fourteen verses! We learn a great deal about Naaman.
He was a great military leader. He was well known, and feared, feared enough that the King of Israel, trembles at the announcement of his visit. He rends his garments, tears his own shirt off his back in fear, frustration and anger. Unlike the scholars I read, the King thinks a great deal about Naaman. You could say that He was quite impressed.
Elisha's response is more in keeping with the scholars I read. When Naaman arrive, Elisha sends a messenger. He does not go out to meet with Naaman himself. Perhaps there is a safety concern. He does not want to contract the disease himself. But then it doesn't say much about Elisha that he would then send his servant in his stead!
Maybe he simply cannot be bothered with Naaman. He is not as impressed as the King. Perhaps Elisha knows something we don't. Unmoved by the man's greatness, he simple sends his servant with a a simple message. “Go to the Jordan and take a bath.”
Naaman is enraged. He has been slighted by this prophet. Remember. Israel is a conquered land. The King fears Naaman because Naaman's people have beaten many other powers in the area. The servant who told Naaman about Elisha was an Israelite slave. He has been slighted by an Israelite. And if that were not enough, the task set before him is beneath him. Bathe in the Jordan? Naaman is not impressed.
The Jordan is unimpressive.
The rivers in Damascus run clear. The Jordan dries up in the summer.
The task is unimpressive.
That Elisha sends his servant is unimpressive.
Naaman is impressive. He wants you to be impressed with him.
And he wants to be impressed. He wants a great task.
He wants to be remembered.
Like Hercules.
Like Gilgamesh...
...or Beowulf...
...or Wolverine from the X-men.
This is what his servant guesses at least.
“Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult,
would you not have done it?”
Yes, please. Give us something difficult. This is what many of us might prefer...at least I know I would. Give me a challenge. Instead all any of us hear is “Wash and be clean.”
It's so simple. “Wash and be clean.”
These, if we are honest with ourselves, are terrifying words. “Wash and be clean.”
So welcoming...
“Wash and be clean.”
So generous...
“Wash and be clean.”
That's all.
That is all you have to do to be healed.
But don't you want me to do something, Lord? I've been to good schools. I have studied with wise professors. I associate with the right people. I am ready, primed and ready to do something great! Give me a challenge.
But no, says God. No.
The thing that Naaman did that was so great...the thing that Naaman did that made his story worth 27 verses of scripture, worthy of remembering, is to actually heed the advice from his servant...his societal lesser.
Let all of those things go, Naaman.
God does not need you to fulfill some great task.
No, God requires the heart*.
So, Naaman, what are you waiting for? Get in the water already.
Don't you want to be healed?
Get in the water already.
And this is what tells us who Naaman really was. He was the man who was able to hear those words...and from his servant no less. He went to the Jordan river and washed the disease away.
What makes him worth remembering is that Naaman was ready. After all of those accomplishments, all of that work, all of that grandeur – Naaman was ready.
He was ready to let it all go.
All of those things that defined him, that were to preserve his memory...
in the end they meant nothing.
The reason why we remember Naaman at all is because he was ready. Naaman was finally ready to hear the invitation and respond. He was ready to get in the water.
This is the great puzzle about God's healing grace and salvation...it is not that God is unwilling to heal us or heal the world. No. God sent his Son for this very purpose. But this is a constant question is it not? Why are some healed when some are not? Why do bad things happen to good people? Many of us have spent time mulling this over.
One of the pieces to the conversation that I believe is neglected when we speak to spiritual or emotional healing is someone's readiness. Is someone ready, as Naaman was to hear such an invitation? Is someone ready to respond?
In 12-step jargon it is referred to as a “bottom.” It is that moment of clarity, when you have sunk so low that disillusionment is a gift. It is the moment when the words “You have a problem” finally hit home an are heard. For some people the bottom can be really low. They could be in jail or in a hospital. Their spouses could be divorcing them and their kids no long want to talk with them. Sometimes it takes someone else's death to bring the addicted person around to see reality for what it is. But by then, of course, it is perhaps too late.
Some people never hit their bottom. They never have that moment of clarity no matter how low they get.
I like to think that Naaman hit his bottom. Here was a guy on top of the world. Then one day he contracts a disease that will leave him outcast, enshrouded in rags, living off the scraps that others leave for him. This is what Naaman has to look forward to. I imagine this reality played into his ability to hear the words of the servant. Get in the water already.
Not only individuals hit bottom.
Communities can as well.
Entire countries can. Perhaps even the planet can.
I guess most people have heard about the uproar by now. A Danish newspaper printed cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohamed. It took about four months for word to get around, but now there are riots. People have been killed. Embassies have been attacked. Companies have been boycotted. And in every corner, someone has something to say about it. Myriad bloggists have been speaking out. Every possible position is being articulated to one degree or another. The media speaks out proclaiming the right to a free press. Governments speak out against one another. Liberals call for understanding. Conservatives call for retaliation. Moderates call for patience.
Many people are rending their garments over this. We know one another by reputation. We fear one another for good reason.
But have we not yet had enough?
Aren't we done with all of this?
Perhaps not. Maybe we have not yet hit bottom.
We are not yet ready...
...not ready to get in the water.
Nonetheless, Naaman stands before us today. He is at the door.
His story is for us. “Wash and be clean.”
Get in the water already.
Amen.
*These are words introduced to me by Sister Marie Goldstein, a sister of the Sacred Heart of Mary.
Friday, February 10
Our vision
Church of Jesus Christ Reconciler is an ecumenical congregation. In calling ourselves an ecumenical congregation, we are seeking to invite and welcome all to Jesus Christ who reconciles us to God and each other. Practically speaking, ecumenical means that three denominations are officially represented through our three pastors and our official affiliation as a congregation. To be ecumenical is to recognize difference while seeking to be bound together by a common relationship to God in and through Jesus Christ. Because of this belief the central activity is our worship of God, focused on hearing God’s word and celebrating communion. In the rite of communion we encounter Jesus Christ in the common objects of bread and wine, also known as the Eucharist.
▲ We come to the Eucharist together from various places seeking the reconciliation of those differences that divide us from each other from ourselves and from God. It is our belief that it is only in relation to Jesus Christ that the differences that threaten to divide us can be reconciled and unified.
▲ All of this leads us to desire to be a place of healing and welcoming love – where through seeking the unity and reconciliation offered and promised by Christ all may find themselves reconciled to God, in love and hope – joining with all the archangels and saints, worshiping our God and Savior Jesus Christ together in the unity of the Spirit.
▲ We come to the Eucharist together from various places seeking the reconciliation of those differences that divide us from each other from ourselves and from God. It is our belief that it is only in relation to Jesus Christ that the differences that threaten to divide us can be reconciled and unified.
▲ All of this leads us to desire to be a place of healing and welcoming love – where through seeking the unity and reconciliation offered and promised by Christ all may find themselves reconciled to God, in love and hope – joining with all the archangels and saints, worshiping our God and Savior Jesus Christ together in the unity of the Spirit.
Thursday, February 9
Church of Jesus Christ, Reconciler Vision Statement
Church of Jesus Christ, Reconciler is an ecumenical congregation seeking to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ and live together as one body of Christians coming mainly from and in continued connection with the Episcopal Church, the American Baptist Churches and the Evangelical Covenant Church. We seek to be a welcoming congregation, recognizing the differences while seeking to manifest the unity of the church of Christ. Through bringing together the above three traditions we seek to be true to the faith once delivered to the saints and passed down and developed through time form Jesus and the apostles. We wish to honor, affirm and instruct new believers and committed Christians in the breadth and depth of the faith as found in our three traditions and the universal church.
We are taking the spirit of ecumenism and the discipline of Christian humility to heart in this congregation on the north side of Chicago, where we celebrate and uphold these traditions as rich and true collection of human understanding and experience of God’s redemptive work through Jesus Christ and the transforming power of the Holy Spirit, believing that only as living as one can these traditions fully and powerfully give witness to Christ and the Gospel.
We do not expect that this congregation will single-handedly effect Christian unity nor total reconciliation of our differences: denominational, class, cultural, ethnic or racial. Rather we come together weekly; around word and table seeking God in Christ as we worship together, hearing God’s Word, prayer, confession and being joined with Christ in the bread and wine of Communion. We do this acknowledging that it is only in Jesus Christ and being formed in him and transformed by faith baptism and Eucharist that there is any true reconciliation.
It is in worship – word and table – where we are invited to lay aside what divides and are joined together as the one body of Christ.
We affirm and seek the unity we are called to by Christ, following in the steps of Christians who have joined together in various ecumenical efforts and documents. Seeing these ecumenical vision as a mandate in full accord with the teach of Scripture to live in unity; with respect for our diversity (1 Cor. 12), we aim to live out these documents at the grassroots as a single congregation, weaving together as a community of faith the spiritual traditions of our three denominations and of the tradition older than ours.
Why this vision is important for the proclamation of the Gospel?
There are various indicators that the witness of our denominations, while faithful, is impaired by our separation. On the one hand, many looking to choose a “home” congregation no longer feel any pull of denominational loyalty in doing so. Others feel alienated by the necessary demands of loyalty to a particular denominational expression of Christian faith, having experienced each denomination on its own as only a partial expression of Christian faith. For those outside the faith, the lack of agreement and unity between Christian denominations is a stumbling block, allowing for easy dismissal of the truths of the Gospel. Thus we hope by living as a single community of faith from differing traditions that we will more effectively witness to Christ and proclaim the Gospel, as affirmed in the Apostle’s and Nicene Creeds.
Our worship together offers to those outside and on the periphery of the faith an example of the reconciling work of Christ, which creates the one church out of many – united as one body with many members, serving not only our particular identities but the identity of Christ our head.
We recognize this will present challenges for our denominations and ourselves. We hope to meet these challenges through worship and commitment to on going catechesis and Christian formation. We commit to teaching and sharing not only the beliefs and practices of each tradition but also showing how these traditions give witness to the one faith of the Church. The foundational element is the formation of Christian identity centered on the sacraments of baptism and Eucharist and the proclamation of the Word of God.
We see those who desire reconciliation between Christian traditions at the congregational level, those who are wounded by patterns of self-righteous exclusivity, post-Christian spiritual seekers, artists and members of other urban subcultures to be drawn to this congregation and are those we seek to reach.
We then see this ecumenical congregation as a proclamation of the universal body of Christ—the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church as a concrete spiritual reality. We want to be an example of how we can be reconciled one to another not just as individuals but also as institutions. This we hope will be a sign and beacon of the reconciling work of God in Christ through the Cross. As such we hope to draw those who find Christ hidden by the disunity of Christians and our various claims to be church, that all may find reconciliation offered them in Christ Jesus.
We are taking the spirit of ecumenism and the discipline of Christian humility to heart in this congregation on the north side of Chicago, where we celebrate and uphold these traditions as rich and true collection of human understanding and experience of God’s redemptive work through Jesus Christ and the transforming power of the Holy Spirit, believing that only as living as one can these traditions fully and powerfully give witness to Christ and the Gospel.
We do not expect that this congregation will single-handedly effect Christian unity nor total reconciliation of our differences: denominational, class, cultural, ethnic or racial. Rather we come together weekly; around word and table seeking God in Christ as we worship together, hearing God’s Word, prayer, confession and being joined with Christ in the bread and wine of Communion. We do this acknowledging that it is only in Jesus Christ and being formed in him and transformed by faith baptism and Eucharist that there is any true reconciliation.
It is in worship – word and table – where we are invited to lay aside what divides and are joined together as the one body of Christ.
We affirm and seek the unity we are called to by Christ, following in the steps of Christians who have joined together in various ecumenical efforts and documents. Seeing these ecumenical vision as a mandate in full accord with the teach of Scripture to live in unity; with respect for our diversity (1 Cor. 12), we aim to live out these documents at the grassroots as a single congregation, weaving together as a community of faith the spiritual traditions of our three denominations and of the tradition older than ours.
Why this vision is important for the proclamation of the Gospel?
There are various indicators that the witness of our denominations, while faithful, is impaired by our separation. On the one hand, many looking to choose a “home” congregation no longer feel any pull of denominational loyalty in doing so. Others feel alienated by the necessary demands of loyalty to a particular denominational expression of Christian faith, having experienced each denomination on its own as only a partial expression of Christian faith. For those outside the faith, the lack of agreement and unity between Christian denominations is a stumbling block, allowing for easy dismissal of the truths of the Gospel. Thus we hope by living as a single community of faith from differing traditions that we will more effectively witness to Christ and proclaim the Gospel, as affirmed in the Apostle’s and Nicene Creeds.
Our worship together offers to those outside and on the periphery of the faith an example of the reconciling work of Christ, which creates the one church out of many – united as one body with many members, serving not only our particular identities but the identity of Christ our head.
We recognize this will present challenges for our denominations and ourselves. We hope to meet these challenges through worship and commitment to on going catechesis and Christian formation. We commit to teaching and sharing not only the beliefs and practices of each tradition but also showing how these traditions give witness to the one faith of the Church. The foundational element is the formation of Christian identity centered on the sacraments of baptism and Eucharist and the proclamation of the Word of God.
We see those who desire reconciliation between Christian traditions at the congregational level, those who are wounded by patterns of self-righteous exclusivity, post-Christian spiritual seekers, artists and members of other urban subcultures to be drawn to this congregation and are those we seek to reach.
We then see this ecumenical congregation as a proclamation of the universal body of Christ—the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church as a concrete spiritual reality. We want to be an example of how we can be reconciled one to another not just as individuals but also as institutions. This we hope will be a sign and beacon of the reconciling work of God in Christ through the Cross. As such we hope to draw those who find Christ hidden by the disunity of Christians and our various claims to be church, that all may find reconciliation offered them in Christ Jesus.
Wednesday, February 8
Thursday "office hours"
Larry will be at Ennui Cafe tomorrow evening from 6:00 to 7:30 PM instead of his regular time from 6:30 to 8:30 PM.
Weekly Update
As we move ahead with completing our vision statements and strategic plan the question of how we invite and to what we are inviting people looms large, at least for me.
There are two orders of our witness at Reconciler: to fellow Christians asking them to consider the meaning of unity of the faith and call to love and be reconciled to God and one another, the other is giving witness to God's invitation to the world to be reconciled to God through Jesus Christ. Both of these aspects of our witness may challenge us in our own faith and push us to the edge of our own understanding.
In whatever degree this is so we should be encouraged that we do not rely on our own understating or even faith, but put our trust in God and the Spirit. Recognizing our own limits can lead us to a depth of honesty that can be a powerful witness to the work of God in us and in the world. We do not need to be absolutely convinced or act as if being Christian makes everything absolutely clear. The strongest witness may be to admit how even in our own faith things seem precarious, but in our weakness and lack of understanding we are lead to God in Jesus Christ. After all we are not proclaiming our strength of belief or even our mighty faith but the faithfulness of God and God's mighty works centered and fulfilled in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
We witness ultimately to a relationship that was not initiated by us but by God.
In the end our motivation should be that of love! Love of God, love of our brothers and sisters in Christ and love for those in the world. If we do not have love all our talk of unity and of Christ is just more meaningless chatter with which most are bombarded every day.
My brothers and sisters love one another and love the world, for God so loved the world and God is love. Pray that all our planning and writing of vision statements and all we do be infused with the love of God.
In Christ,
Larry
There are two orders of our witness at Reconciler: to fellow Christians asking them to consider the meaning of unity of the faith and call to love and be reconciled to God and one another, the other is giving witness to God's invitation to the world to be reconciled to God through Jesus Christ. Both of these aspects of our witness may challenge us in our own faith and push us to the edge of our own understanding.
In whatever degree this is so we should be encouraged that we do not rely on our own understating or even faith, but put our trust in God and the Spirit. Recognizing our own limits can lead us to a depth of honesty that can be a powerful witness to the work of God in us and in the world. We do not need to be absolutely convinced or act as if being Christian makes everything absolutely clear. The strongest witness may be to admit how even in our own faith things seem precarious, but in our weakness and lack of understanding we are lead to God in Jesus Christ. After all we are not proclaiming our strength of belief or even our mighty faith but the faithfulness of God and God's mighty works centered and fulfilled in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
We witness ultimately to a relationship that was not initiated by us but by God.
In the end our motivation should be that of love! Love of God, love of our brothers and sisters in Christ and love for those in the world. If we do not have love all our talk of unity and of Christ is just more meaningless chatter with which most are bombarded every day.
My brothers and sisters love one another and love the world, for God so loved the world and God is love. Pray that all our planning and writing of vision statements and all we do be infused with the love of God.
In Christ,
Larry
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)