April 2: Hurry Up and Wait?
April 9: It’s What We Do
April 16: The Power of Encouragement
April 23: Created in God’s Image?
April 30: All We Need is Love
May 7: Stay the Course
May 14: Kids and Dandelions
May 21: In The Spirit of…
May 28: Scraping Stones
June 4: Burned Out?
June 10: Whose Got the Power
June 17: On Being Awake

For the week of June 17th, 2018

On Being Awake

The following is from “Grace Talks” by Philip Gulley (www.philipgulley.com)…

After my mother died and my father got kicked out of the assisted-living center for smoking in the bathroom—now that right there is a sentence I never thought I’d say—I was carrying Dad’s mattress up a flight of stairs to his new apartment and hurt my back. I actually heard a noise, felt something shift in my spine, and had this sharp pain, which didn’t go away. Joan told me to go to the doctor, forgetting I have a doctorate in humane letters, so I began a self-administered course of treatment—a strict regimen of complaining, avoiding physical exertion, trusting things would eventually get better without any effort or exercise on my part.

This course of treatment had worked well for me in the past. There would be a period of pain and discomfort, which I gradually adjusted to, until it was more bearable, and I could resume my life. But this time it didn’t work, so I went to a chiropractor who put me in a headlock, threw me around the room, then popped my back. I felt somewhat better, and was relieved to be healed without any effort. Then he had the nerve to tell me I was weak and out-of-shape and that if I didn’t start exercising, I would hurt my back all over again, so he sent me to a physical therapist named Gabriella, who at first I thought might be a terrorist, so fierce was her determination to destroy me. But I’ve been going twice a week for the past three months and am feeling a bit better.

I’m even starting to like Gabriella. She’s from Trinidad. She says, “You Americans just want to take a pill and immediately feel better. But you can’t do that. You must work. It takes time.”

I said, “There’s a pill I can take?”

So this week I’ve been thinking about discipline. That’s an interesting word—discipline. Along with the word disciple, it is derived from the Latin word discipulus, which means student, pupil, or follower. There are several meanings of the word discipline. We can say someone lacks discipline, which is to say they lack any sense of self-control or self-regulation. I’ll use it in a sentence. If I had more discipline, I would exercise and my back wouldn’t hurt. So there’s that meaning of the word discipline.

But there’s another meaning, and it is that other meaning, I want to explore this morning. This is discipline as a branch of knowledge, a field, or subject, or a specialty. I’ll use it in a sentence. Gabriella is an expert in the discipline of physical therapy.

It is this meaning I want to connect to the word disciple. When Jesus went around inviting people to be his disciples, he was asking them to undertake a discipline, in this instance the discipline, the specialty, of living in and alerting others to God’s presence and priorities in the world.

Because, let’s be honest, too often we go through life as if we’re sleep-walking. We become gradually accustomed to injustice, acclimated to hardheartedness—our own and others, we make our peace with indifference. So Jesus urged people to awaken from their moral and spiritual slumber and become aware. This is what prophets do. They try to awaken us when we have fallen into an existential coma.

When Jesus lived among us, he invited a small number of people to discipleship, to undertake the discipline of living in and alerting others to God’s presence in the world. Interestingly, Jesus didn’t invite everyone to discipleship. There were some people who had been so indifferent for so long, so dispirited for so long, they could not be roused.
To be a disciple is to be fully awake, fully involved. Here’s an example, and a contrast: I was talking with a woman about the school shooting in Noblesville, and she said, “We can’t just give in to this. We must figure out why this is happening and what can be done about it. And we will.”

An hour later, I was talking with a man about it, and he said, “These shootings are the price we pay to live in a free country. There’s nothing we can do.” One person had not become accustomed to violence, had not become indifferent, while another person had given up, and could not be roused to do anything about it.

Jesus went looking for people like that woman, who could help him awaken people like that man. I think the Spirit is still doing that. I think the Spirit is still looking for people who are wide awake, who haven’t caved in, who haven’t given up. And the Spirit uses those awakened people to revive the people who have fallen asleep, people who have ignored their responsibility to do good.
I was talking with a man not long ago who’d left his church. He’d gone there forever, but then they got a new pastor and this new pastor spoke about current issues. It upset the man, who said the new pastor was being political. So he quit his church and began attending another church. He said, “The pastor at my new church isn’t political.”

I said, “You realize that not being political is a political choice, don’t you? It means the pastor in your new church has decided to remain silent about injustice, silent about the dismantling of democracy, silent about racism. The pastor in your church has made a deliberate decision to remain asleep, to be indifferent, right when Jesus needs us to be awake, and needs us to care.”
To be a disciple is to be awake. It is to embrace the discipline of living in and alerting others to God’s presence and priorities in the world. That is, of necessity, a political act.

Don’t forget, friends, when Jesus lived and preached about God’s priorities, when he lived out God’s kingdom among us, he was arrested by the government, underwent a government trial, was judged guilty by the government, then sentenced to a government death. His life was a political life. His witness a political witness.

The Christian life is a call to a discipline. It is an undertaking. Sometimes it takes us where we do not want to go, to do difficult things while we are there, and then sometimes to suffer. The alternative is to remain asleep, to persist in indifference, to surrender hope. We can still do that, we can still abdicate our moral and spiritual responsibilities and call ourselves Americans. Many today are doing just that. But if we do that, what we cannot call ourselves are followers of Jesus.

Something to consider…

Blessings,
Blake
 
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For the week of June 10th, 2018

Whose Got the Power?

The week had been rough. Without having been asked, I had been carrying the weight of everyday injustices on my shoulders. The news had me depressed. The apparent lack of compassion on the part of some with regards to the plight of others was troubling. The seeming disregard for the common good of all people and the creation on which we rely to sustain our lives (as well as our wants and desires) was daunting. I am not by nature a hopeless person or a pessimist, and yet… one day last week, I found myself overwhelmed by the sheer volume of negative events and injustices that were continually coming to light. Of course, it probably didn’t help that my own “plate” was full to overflowing with things I needed to accomplish in order to fulfill the ministry obligations I had coming up in the next couple of weeks. But on that day, I simply couldn’t seem to “pull it together.” In the quiet of my car, I actually began to wonder if there really was reason for hope. Had the people who held the power to make a difference (to stand up for what was right … to change the course of a “me” focused society … to make compassion and love and grace a foundation for decisions regarding the welfare of others) given up or “sold out?” Or, was there reason to hope?

The answer didn’t come right away. Sure…I thought about the efforts that individuals and groups have been making in response to school shootings, immigration policies, education reform, healthcare, racism, unfair treatment of women, etc., etc. But what about the power brokers? What about “them?”

Two days later, I was heading out of town to provide guest ministry at a reunion in Montana. (Where I am currently). Lists had been made and checked…and rechecked. Everything was in order. All I had to do was get there. But all didn’t go exactly as planned, and certain circumstances (like getting to the airport without my computer) only served to increase the stress level. In spite of the events of the days and hours leading up to my flight, I found myself inside TSA…two gates away from my departure gate with 30 minutes to spare and standing in front of a Starbucks where there was on;y one person in line. (Perhaps there was reason to be hopeful after all.)

I ordered a cup of coffee. I stood catching my breath and waiting for my coffee when I noticed a young man holding something about the size of a business card and approaching people. I wondered what he might be trying to “sell.” I saw him approach the woman who had been in front of me in line. She shook her head no and then pointed at me. The young man then turned toward me with a big smile on his face. He came up to me holding the “card” he had been showing to others… it had my picture on it. It took me a minute. I didn’t understand why he had something with my picture on it…and then I realized it was my driver’s license. I had apparently dropped it after coming through security. And, this young man, having found it, had set out to find its owner (did I mention I was in the United terminal at O’hare?). Forget the fact that I didn’t even know it was missing. Forget the fact that had I gotten my coffee as quick as I had hoped, I would have already blended into the crowd at my gate. Forget the fact that the young man didn’t speak English, and had engaged on a “hopeless” task. Forget the fact that he could have left the ID where he found it, or handed it to an airline employee to put in ‘lost and found.’ Instead, he found me, and returned my ID. He would not take anything in thanks. He simply smiled…shook my hand…and turned to, I assume, find his departure gate.

As I stood there, holding my ID… searching the crowd to get another glimpse of the man who had taken the time to seek me out…it hit me… the people who hold the power to make a difference had not given up or sold out! (At least not all of them!) The people who hold that power are those like the man at the airport who risk suffering some personal inconvenience for the sake and welfare of someone or something other than themselves. They are everyday people… rich, poor, Muslim, Jewish, Christian, male, female, black, white, brown, trash collectors, entrepreneurs, doctors, electricians. They are you and me. They are NOT “them,” they are us.

Time and time again, Jesus showed and/or told his disciples that real power doesn’t come by wealth or position or status or societal acceptance. Real power doesn’t ride into town on a white stallion. Rather, real power comes in the offering of grace to one who has made a mistake …the gentle presence of a non-judging, listening ear for one not allowed to come to the well while others are there … the sharing in a meal with one who otherwise would eat alone … the refusal to turn others away in spite of the limited resources available…

Jesus said, the kingdom of God “is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches…” (Mark 4:31-32)

If you think you have very little to offer to the building of the kingdom…that place where justice flows like a river… remember how very little a mustard seed is. Imagine what the world would be like if the results of our efforts to bring about hope and justice…to do the right thing in spite of its potential cost to us … produce transformational results proportionate to the growth of a mustard seed into the greatest of all shrubs.

Are you ready to be a power broker for the building of the kingdom and restoration of hope in a broken world? I hope so!! I am!

Blessings,
Blake
 
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For the week of June 4th, 2018

Burned Out?

What do you think … did Jesus ever experience burnout? To my knowledge, there is nowhere in the scriptures where that question is answered. Some might argue that the answer was no, based on the fact that, for all intents and purposes, Jesus seemed to be the model for true Work-Life Balance. Jesus offered ministry to the multitudes, but he knew when to “go up on the mountain” (if you know what I mean). Others might argue that the answer is no because he was Emmanuel (God with us), and surely God doesn’t get burned out. Still others might argue that Jesus had to have experienced burn out… as it is a natural consequence of the human experience (at least for those who have not mastered the ability to “just say no”), and Jesus was fully engaged in the human experience.

The reality is that we really don’t know. All that we know of Jesus is that which was written and recorded about him, and there are a lot of gaps in the story. What we do know is that “burn out” is something many claim to have experienced, and something we all want to avoid.

I can’t tell you how many times burn out has been the topic of conversation in church meetings, both locally among volunteers and in gatherings of full-time ministers across the world. Most of those conversations turn, at some point, to the discussion of the seemingly illusive cure to which we affectionately refer as work-life balance. (For those reading this blog who where multiple hats: employee, parent, child, sibling, volunteer, aunt/uncle, grandparent, chauffeur [synonymous with parent and/or grandparent], student, disciple, caregiver, etc. … now would be the perfect time to either groan or laugh out loud since we all know that there is no such thing as work-life balance!!).

Or is there…

After sitting in one of said church meetings this past weekend where the topic did arise, I have found myself thinking about burn it more often than not. More specifically, I have wondered how I have avoided burn out, and what exactly is work-life balance. Here is where I am on the topic as of today…

First of all, I realize that I am extremely blessed to be able to do something that I love…and something to which I feel called. That, I think, is more than half the battle. The fact that a majority of my work is life-giving may mean that I have more work-life balance than I ever thought possible. One of the things that I wish for others would be that they experience the same life-giving source in their work. And, though I can’t promise that it will come true for everyone, I can promise that there are ways to make it a reality when it comes to “work” in the church. Here’s how…

We believe that “all are called.” What we sometimes forget is the rest of the sentence… “according to the gifts of God unto them.” Dare I say that all are not called to every ministry in the church. What would the body of Christ be if we were all arms? So, the first thing we must do is discern our individual gifts and calling. Second, our congregations, under the direction of their leadership, must discern where and how God is calling them into mission. Third, we must discern how our own giftedness and calling can be realized in the context of that larger mission. Finally, we must prayerfully live into that giftedness and calling in a way that fulfills God’s mission…not our own. That is the point in which work becomes life-giving and balance is achieved. Sure, there will be moments along the way that tire us…we are, after all, only human. But, we can always go “up on the mountain” for a brief respite when necessary.

Make sure the things you are doing in the church are being done for the right reasons…God’s Mission. God will take care of you, and the rest will take care of itself!

Blessings,
Blake
 
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For the week of May 28th, 2018

Scraping Stones

How often have I heard the words… “back in the day,” or “I remember when,” or “our congregation is going to die,” or “we used to have…”? In response to these statements, I also hear “the truth hurts” or it’s “a reality check.” But what if the defeatist attitude reflected in those statements didn’t have to be the reality? What if, as it is prophesied in the 49th Chapter of Isaiah, God is “about to do a new thing?”

Compared to days past, we (the Chicago Mission Center) are fewer in number. The median age of our worshipers (in most congregations) has risen with each passing day, while the number of hours not demanded by outside endeavors has dropped to a seemingly all time low. But before we close the coffin on ourselves or climb into the tomb… remember this… we are a people who believe in a God that is active and engaged in our world. We believe that all (yes, all…without exception) are called by God to be active and engaged in that which God is doing new each day. We must remember that we are called to be a resurrection people, and we believe that the stone was (and still can be) rolled away!

Here’s what Rose Marie Berger, Senior Associate Editor of Sojourners magazine, had to say about resurrection in “Life Inside a Tomb” in the May 2018 edition (p. 43):

It is hard to tell time from inside a tomb. We cannot know how many minutes or hours Jesus’ resurrection took. Traditionally, he was in the tomb for three days. But how long does it really take for someone to rise—or be raised—from the dead?

Some resurrections start at a mundane moment. Dorothy Day, for example, was sitting at the kitchen table in a crowded apartment in New York’s East Village (writing a never-to-be published novel) when the French Catholic theologian Peter Maurin knocked on the door. “It was a long time before I really knew what Peter was talking about that first day,” wrote Day, who went on to found the Catholic Worker movement with Maurin…

Some resurrections come through brutal suffering. Twenty-four-year-old Recy Taylor was left for dead in 1944 on a dark road near Abbeville, Ala., by the six white men who kidnapped and raped her as she walked home from a prayer meeting at Rock Hill Holiness Church. “A few days later, a telephone rang at the NAACP branch office in Montgomery,” wrote historian Danielle L. McGuire in At the Dark End of the Street. The president of the local branch promised to send his “best investigator” to speak with Recy Taylor. The investigator’s name was Rosa Parks. As part of Park’s organizing work on Taylor’s case, she formed what would become the Montgomery Improvement Association, the leaders responsible for instigating the bus boycott a decade later, an opening salvo of the civil rights movement.

Closer to home, I can testify to another kind of resurrection. One family has owned a decaying, 100-year-old apartment building on my block for much of its history. They have deferred maintenance for about half that time. Seven years ago, the 50 or so low-income tenants living there were about to be forced out—until they began to organize. They rallied neighbors to help them hold the owners accountable for the deplorable living conditions—which include pervasive mold; infestations of bed bugs, rats, and roaches; and a dangerously neglected boiler system…

Recently, the tenants won a legal case against the owners, who may be forced to rehabilitate the building and provide safe and clean housing for the tenants whose rent they have meticulously collected. Affordable housing may come back to life on one corner in rapidly gentrifying Washington, D.C.—and a resurgent community has been born between tenants and neighbors. Small resurrections.

We don’t have to re-create “the good old days” to experience the creative power of God working in us, through us, and among us. God is doing a new thing, just as has been promised.

Berger goes on to say…

“When one is inside the tomb, it is hard to tell how long you have been in or when the stone might be rolled away. The tomb of dehumanization, distortion, and domination is holding many of us now. If resurrection happens over time and if one learns it by example (as Christianity implies), then stay alert. Listen sharply for the many sounds of scraping stones. Like the disciples (Mark 9:10), question among yourselves what this ‘rising again from the dead’ could mean.”

We need to ask, “What small (or big) resurrection is God waiting to accomplish in our lives and in the lives of our congregations? What stones do we need to allow to be ‘rolled away’ so that we can join God in building the Peaceable Kingdom where ‘tombs of dehumanization, distortion, and domination’ (just to name a few) no longer exist?”

Can you hear the scraping stones?

Blessings,
Blake
 
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For the week of May 21st, 2018

In the Spirit of…

This past week, our theme for Sunday worship was “The Spirit of Truth.” In preparing for my sermon at the Mission congregation, I kept being drawn to the phrase “in the spirit of…,” and I wondered why. That thought, and the natural tendency of many to approach things “in the spirit of” something rather than head on has continued to haunt me every day since. I use the word “haunt” with regards to this phrase and myself very intentionally. That is because, although I don’t actually use that phrase often in my conversation, I am afraid that I have too often used it in my actions. Let me explain…

It started with my contemplation and preparation for the sermon. For several days, when I would turn my thoughts to the preparation, I would have to return to the worship helps to get the exact wording of the theme. Apparently, something in my subconscious wanted to add the word in. Initially, I passed it off as early signs of senility (some say the mind if the first to go … though I am way too young for that!!). But as the tendency persisted, I began to pay closer attention to it and give it prayerful consideration. I finally realized that, at least for me, when we do something “in the spirit of” something else (i.e., in the spirit of brotherly love, in the spirit of community, in the spirit of acceptance, etc.) we are leaving room for a way to rationalize our failure to actually achieve our stated goal.

When I sign and share a petition to create laws to end domestic violence and abuse, I am acting “in the spirit of” Abolish Poverty and End Suffering, but when I enter into community with those who have been victims of this abuse and help them to find healing, restoration, and a renewed sense of worth, I become a part of it. When I give my offering because I’m supposed to, I am acting “in the spirit of” generosity, but when I give my offering with joy because I can not wait to express my love and appreciation for God’s presence in my life, I have become generous. When I speak of peace from the pulpit, I am acting “in the spirit of” peace, but when I find ways to make it a reality in the lives of others, I am pursuing peace.

When Jesus is recorded in the Gospel According to John to have promised that God would send the Holy Spirit to walk along side (paraclete) of us and to uncover for us (Alethia) a deeper understanding of all that God has intended for us and His creation, he didn’t mean that, in the spirit of truth, God would send a helper. He said God would send the Spirit of Truth. And he did!

Each week, when I enter a congregation to worship God, build sacred community, and enjoy the fellowship of others on a similar journey… I need to ask myself … are my actions there done “in the spirit of” those high ideals, or are they done with full-fledged, one hundred percent, all out, wholehearted, no-holds-barred desire to see those things done?

Imagine what we, the Community of Christ in Chicago MC (if not all over the world), could accomplish if instead of doing things in the spirit of peace, we lived peacefully… if instead of doing things in the spirit of sacred community, we committed to building sacred community (in all of its messiness and vulnerability)… if instead of doing things in the spirit of inclusion (and the worth of all persons), we went out of the way to include and value everyone in word and deed.

Something to think about…

Blessings,
Blake
 
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For the week of May 14th, 2018

Kids and Dandelions

Remember when you were a kid and dandelions weren’t so bad…when it was fun to blow on the little white “fluff balls” that were produced and watch the seeds fly through the air? Perhaps I led a sheltered childhood, but I remember having contests with friends to see who could pick the most dandelions without “losing” any of the seeds, or seeing whose little seedlings would travel the farthest on the wind. Who knew something so attractive and tempting could be so destructive?

Funny that as I look out over my lawn during prime dandelion season…they are no longer attractive or tempting. I still find myself trying hard to pull the pods off of the dandelions without “losing” any of the seeds, but not because I want to win a contest, but rather because I don’t want them to spread.

I found myself thinking about all the things I did as a kid (and lived to tell about it) that seemed good at the time but would be grounds for great concern now. For instance, it’s probably not a good idea to let your kid sleep in the back window of the car while on a road trip…or stand on the front seat between mom and dad while driving down the road….without a seatbelt (unless you call dad’s right arm a seatbelt).

Some of the things we did were not harmful to us…directly… but may have caused great harm to others. We told jokes that singled out individuals and/or groups of people. We called people things that would not have been considered flattering…some that were downright mean…but they were OK because they were “nicknames.” We performed skits at campfires that humiliated others….remember the candy store with the “two suckers on a stick,” or the lawnmower that would only start when the cord was pulled by a “big jerk.”

Yes…we were just kids, and we were just having fun. We didn’t mean to be mean… at least not most of the time.

Here’s the thing… we aren’t kids anymore! We know better! God has called us by our name and we no longer need to prove to ourselves or to anyone else that we are better… or more important… or more worthy than others. What we do have to do is learn to live in sacred community.

A dandelion, at first glance is actually a beautiful plant. However, when you get closer, you see that it doesn’t only grow “up”…it grows “out”… dominating its surroundings…choking out the grass around it…casually spreading its seeds and multiplying its destructive power. The same is true for the bad habits and behaviors that are disguised and protected as “our rights” in spite of how they affect others.

In reality behaviors that served our own egos … behaviors that threatened our safety and the safety (physical or emotional) of others were never OK. Not even “when we were kids.” So… now that we are no longer kids … the only “growing out” we should be doing is growing out of those bad habits and behaviors … seeking to build others up … and thereby building the Peaceable Kingdom.

As the Apostle Paul said in his letter to the church in Ephesus:

We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love. Ephesians 4:14-16

Our actions and words can be like dandelion seeds … floating on the air …. appearing harmless … seeking fertile ground in which to root and grow. Hopefully, however, they will be more like “weed and feed” … eliminating that which is annoying and destructive and causing that which is good to grow.

May our growing season “promote the body’s growth in building itself up in love.”

Blessings,
Blake
 
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For the week of May 7th, 2018

Stay the Course

You’re in a hurry. You think… “I’ll just run into the store real quick and grab the one item I need.” After grabbing the one item, you carefully select your check out lane (the one with only two people … each of which have only a couple of items in their cart). What you don’t realize is that the first person in line chose the one item of its kind that didn’t have a price tag … and no one seems to know where to find the price. All the while, you happen to notice that the line in the next aisle over has been moving quickly and has now gotten down to one person… so you make the switch. Problem is, the one person remaining in your new aisle waits until the cashier has rung up all of their items to start looking for their checkbook (yes, people still use those) and a working pen. As you patiently wait for the person to “get it together,” you can’t help but note that three people have now gone through the line where you originally started. I don’t know…maybe that’s never happened to you, but if it has…

The sad thing is that, for me, the grocery line is not the only place that happens. It also happens in traffic. I patiently (and I use that term loosely) drive along for some time … refusing to give in to the urge to change lanes … trying not to notice that traffic in other lanes is moving along at a steady (faster) pace. I know from experience that no matter what lane I am in, even if it seems to be the slowest, I will probably reach my destination within a few minutes of the time I would in any other lane. The only thing that is certain is that if I switch lanes, something will happen to shift the flow of traffic … you get the idea.

I’m not saying that I have learned my lesson, and that I never switch lanes, but I will say this … on those times when I “stay the course,” I usually end up making more efficient progress toward my goal.

Today, as I drove toward Indiana to be with friends in support of a member of The Table whose mother passed last week, I was thinking about what God is doing in and around the Chicago mission center. I was praying for guidance and inspiration in reference to where our congregations are being called to participate in Kingdom Building opportunities that God has already begun…and, how I can be more “available to” and “present with” them (you) on that journey. I was praying for the Seventy in our MC who have been attempting to discern God’s call to them both corporately and individually. I was praying for the young adults in our MC who are searching for something that will feed their longing for a deeper relationship with God and with each other. I was praying for the YPC at Elgin, and The Table in Griffith, the Fall Festival at Libertyville, the summer worships “on the lawn” at Brainerd, the “Welcoming Congregation” efforts in Lombard, and the afterschool program in Norway (IL). I was praying for ministries that are growing, and for those that are just holding on. And, I felt a strong sense of peace and an affirmation to “stay the course.”

Just then, as I was sitting still in the far left lane on I-294…watching the lanes to my right continue to pass (of course I was praying with my eyes open)…when all of the sudden there was a break in traffic to my right. I didn’t change lanes. And, though I would like to say that the reason for not doing so was because of the powerful affirmation to stay the course, but it really had more to do with the fact that the person behind me was quicker than I was and I missed my chance. About a hundred yards later, the lane to my right had completely stopped while my lane had finally begun to move. I watched as I passed not only the person who had beat me to the open lane, but a bunch of other vehicles as well. Coincidence? Maybe. Karma? Not at all. As I passed those cars, it was not a sense of victory or justice that I felt. Rather, it was simply an affirmation of the challenge to stay the course.

Too often, I am tempted to “switch lanes” when I don’t feel that things are moving along as fast as they should…if I’m not seeing the results that I expect. But the reality is that switching lanes just sets me up for another potential delay.

When discerning God’s call, it is not always the “fast lane” that gets us where we are called to go…when we think we’re called to be there. New ministries may have to wait months or years to begin seeing the fruits of their “labor.” The persons reached or the results achieved may not be what was imagined by the group who sought to be a part of what God was doing. Engaging in God’s mission is about asking God, listening together, praying for guidance, becoming vulnerable and open to the promptings of the Spirit, waiting patiently for things to happen in God’s time … and … staying the course.

I leave you with these words from Doctrine and Covenants 163: 10…

“Collectively and individually, you are loved with an everlasting love that delights in each faithful step taken. God yearns to draw you close so that wounds may be healed, emptiness filled, and hope strengthened.

Do not turn away in pride, fear, or guilt from the One who seeks only the best for you and your loved ones. Come before your Eternal Creator with open minds and hearts and discover the blessings of the gospel anew. Be vulnerable to divine grace.”

Blessings,
Blake
 
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For the week of April 30th, 2018

All We Need is Love

I was just sitting down to write this week’s “From the Desk of…” when a notice came up on my computer saying that my daily meditation from Richard Rohr’s Center for Action and Contemplation had been delivered. So…I decided to take a minute and read the meditation first. Well…to make a long story short…that which I had planned to share today will have to hold until next week because the words I found in the meditation really spoke to me. Let me tell you why…

Believe it or not, I am a very sentimental guy who has this naïve belief that we actually can make a difference in the world, and that we, Community of Christ, have an incredible message to share with the world. Let me be clear… I don’t believe we are the only church with this incredible message based in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is a message of grace and forgiveness, welcome and inclusion, encouragement and challenge, hope and faith. Strengthened by our enduring principles, this message is truly life changing. But, it’s transformational potential depends on our “willingness to live in sacred community as Christ’s new creation exceeds our natural fear of spiritual and relational transformation.” (D&C 164:9b) And…living in sacred community, in my humble opinion, requires a kind of love like that about which the Apostle Paul wrote in his first letter to the Corinthians.

Which brings me to the words of the meditation…

NOTE: Though I found these words in Richard Rohr’s daily meditation, they are taken from a wedding sermon on “conscious love” given by Cynthia Bourgeault at her daughter’s wedding: She speaks of how “marriage is not the culmination of love, but only the beginning.” I personally believe that these words also apply to that love which is shared in sacred community…

Love remains and deepens, but its form changes. Or, more accurately, it renews itself in a different way. Less and less does it draw its waters from the old springs of romance, and you should not worry if over time these dimensions fade or are seen less frequently. More and more, love draws its replenishment from love itself: from the practice of conscious love, expressed in your mutual servanthood to one another. . . .

It will transform your lives and through its power in your own lives will reach out to touch the world. . . But how to stay in touch with that power? At those times when stress mounts and romance seems far away, how do you practice that conscious love that will renew itself and renew your relationship? . . .
Here is the one [practice] that works for me . . . :

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things (1 Corinthians 13:7).

“Love bears all things.” This does not mean a dreary sort of putting-up-with or victimization. There are two meanings of the word bear, and they both apply. The first means “to hold up, to sustain”—like a bearing wall, which carries the weight of the house. . . . To bear [also] means “to give birth, to be fruitful.” So love is that which in any situation is the most life-giving and fruitful.

“Love believes all things.”. . . . [This] does not mean to be gullible, to refuse to face up to the truth. Rather, it means that in every possible circumstance of life, there is . . . a way of perceiving that leads to cynicism and divisiveness, a closing off of possibility; and there is a way that leads to higher faith and love, to a higher and more fruitful outcome. To “believe all things” means always to orient yourselves toward the highest possible outcome in any situation and strive for its actualization.

“Love hopes all things.”. . . In the practice of conscious love you begin to discover . . . a hope that is related not to outcome but to a wellspring . . . a source of strength that wells up from deep within you independent of all outcomes. . . . It is a hope that can never be taken away from you because it is love itself working in you, conferring the strength to stay present to that “highest possible outcome” that can be believed and aspired to.

Finally, “love endures all things.” . . . Everything that is tough and brittle shatters; everything that is cynical rots. The only way to endure is to forgive, over and over, to give back that openness and possibility for new beginning which is the very essence of love itself. And in such a way love comes full circle and can fully “sustain and make fruitful,” and the cycle begins again, at a deeper place. And conscious love deepens and becomes more and more rooted. . . .

What might we be able to accomplish if we understood love in this way and allowed our desire to build the Peaceable Kingdom to overcome our fear of the vulnerability it might require?

Blessings,
Blake
 
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For the week of April 23rd, 2018

Created in God’s Image

Members of The Table, our Thursday night coffee house ministry in Griffith, IN, have recently begun an exciting journey of discovery. And, though the participants are all at different places on their overall journey of faith…some really just beginning and some circling around for a “second run”… this particular journey of discovery is causing all of us to think deeply about several things: where we are on the journey, what we have found to be enduring on the journey, what we have had to discard or re-think on the journey, and… perhaps most importantly… what it means to journey with others in sacred community. The reality is, it is only in community that we can test our faith, values, beliefs, and ideals. And, it is only in sacred community that relationships are strong enough for us to do so in a way that allows for honest self-evaluation and offers encouragement for judgment free “course” correction where necessary.

Here’s an example…

In our first couple of weeks of discovery, our conversation centered around our images for God. With the possible exception of those persons who believe God to be completely mystical and unknowable, we have all had some image with which we associate God (i.e. old bearded man on a throne in the clouds, judge in a courtroom, watch maker, gardener, shepherd, school principal, etc.). Several in our group had been taught to believe that the image of God as “portrayed in the Old Testament” … a vengeful, angry, disciplinarian waiting to punish them for their sins … was the only way to accurately understand God. They had not ever been “given permission” to see God any other way.

As our time together (and our discussion) unfolded, we came up with a laundry list of possible images for God. The thing is that, no matter where the discussion led, there was one thing that all of the images had in common… they were images with which we were familiar. They represented ways (and people) that reflected our own interactions with family, friends, enemies, and the world. The problem is that each of our images are filled with meanings specific to our individual experiences and lenses. For instance, what a person who has been “inside” the criminal justice system thinks when they hear the world judge may be completely different from a person’s image whose only exposure to a courtroom is through an episode of Judge Judy.

When it comes to images of God, in essence, we create God in our image(s) so that we have something on which to focus…something we can understand … even if it’s an image representing something we don’t particularly like. What’s important to understand is that it is an image that we have created … and that is OK and even normal human behavior. But that does not mean that any one image is THE image of God, or that the image we have for God today will be the same as the one we hold sacred tomorrow … or the same as the one(s) held by others journeying with us in sacred community. The scriptures are pretty clear that we were created in God’s image, not the other way around. If you think about it, that means there are a lot of God images out there … all of them created by God … not us.

That is all to say that we should not be too rigid in insisting on any one way of knowing/understanding God. There’s a reason why “Unity in Diversity” and “Blessings of Community” are two of our enduring principles. We have so much to learn … including how to best live our lives in a way that will create for others an image of God that aligns with the God in which we believe.

Here’s something to chow on…if you represent an image of God…and I’m pretty sure you do … what conclusions might others come to regarding God when they see you?

Blessings,
Blake
 
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For the week of April 16th, 2018

The Power of Encouragement

Each week, I sit down to reflect on what’s happening in the world…in my life and ministry…and in the lives and ministries of those participating in the Community of Christ (especially those in the Chicago Mission Center, but also in other places). I consider what words of encouragement or challenge might be most appropriate or timely based on how I see God interacting with the world around me. Even in those moments when I feel led to offer a challenge, I am always seeking ways to include encouragement because I am deeply aware of the power of encouragement when sincerely shared. For that reason, I thought it would be appropriate this week to share how I personally receive encouragement on a daily basis (either literally or figuratively) from you, the Chicago Mission Center, through your words, your actions, and your continued commitment and sacrifice.

A primary example came last Saturday when I had the incredible opportunity to serve with members of the Libertyville congregation at the Ronald McDonald House near Milwaukee. A group of us gathered to provide breakfast for the families currently residing there. Did you catch that… “a group” (not just a single motivated individual) “gathered to provide” (not to receive…and not for the purpose of attracting new members). Any time members of the mission center engage in a truly missional endeavor I am greatly encouraged.

Now, you would have to hear my story of last year’s disastrous attempt at pancake making to fully understand how encouraging it was to even be invited back for a second chance. Suffice it to say that it was a less than stellar performance. And yet, they allowed me (and I would even say … encouraged) me to try again. Maybe they were desperate…You know what they say about “desperate times”… but they didn’t make me feel that way. When the pancakes weren’t perfect (like when one of Mickey Mouse’s ears was bigger than the other) … there was still encouragement.

The reality is, encouragement was in abundant supply for all who were there. From perfectly fried eggs to beautiful bacon…from coffee brewed just right to eggcellent egg casserole…from incredible cheese biscuits to artistic pancakes…from the first grocery purchase to the last washed dish…the power of encouragement carried us through.

Time and again, as I travel around the mission center, I find that to be the case. Encouragement has the power to carry us through. In times when attendance is low … when the organ and/or piano sit unused … when our Sunday school rooms are quiet … when the leaders think they have little left to give, and some of our members believe that they have nothing to give … when the older among us wonder if they’ve done enough, or if they’ve made a difference … when the offering basket comes around and we have to let it pass because “these are hard times” … there is power in encouragement.

The Apostle Paul, in his letter to the church in Ephesus says that the gifts we have been given are “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up (edifying) the body of Christ…in love” (Eph. 4:11-16, adapted), and nothing is more edifying than encouragement when spoken in truth and love.

I am encouraged by you, and by the hope you embody when you listen to and watch for God … in the world and in others. Thank you for the ways in which you encourage me. Keep encouraging one another! We all need it!

Blessings,
Blake
 
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For the week of April 9th, 2018

It’s What We Do

In our house…at the top of the stairs…a place where all family members pass by on a daily basis…there is a wall decoration that describes the “sacred community” we have formed there. It says…

It is a constant reminder to all of us…adults and children alike…that living life in community is not about perfection. To the contrary, it is a difficult journey that requires sacrifice, devotion, a sense of humor, an abundance of forgiveness (both for oneself and for others), the space to make mistakes, the safety to be oneself (without masks or facades), the knowledge that you are loved when you get “it” right, as well as when you don’t “get it” at all.

I fear that there are those who would spread a different message…and call it Christian…something more like…

I was lucky to grow up in a church family where most of the first set of “We dos” were the standard, but there was still a little of the second set mixed in. And, if I’m being honest, we are not completely free of that second set of “We dos” in the church today…nor have they been completely and forever banished from our home. Occasionally, they rear their ugly heads…and when they do… the strength of our relationships wans a little. It affects our attitudes, our responses to others and to the world around us, and the image we portray to those with whom we are called to share Christ’s Mission.

Imagine, if we substituted the first set of “we dos” for the “thou shall nots.” It seems to me that in doing so, we would be creating an achievable set of goals that those both inside and outside the church could live with. Don’t get me wrong…I’m not suggesting that we loosen the guidelines on murder, and adultery, and covetousness and all the rest. Those are very important! But Jesus did say that the most important commandment was to “… love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matt 22:37-40; Mark 12: 30-31)

Wouldn’t it be great if our response to someone seeking sacred community who asks about the hope that lies within us (1 Peter 3:15), would be to hand them an “In this family…” card and say, “I have hope because I’m part of the (fill in the blank) Community of Christ … and ‘this is what we do’?”

Something to think about!

Blessings,
Blake
 
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For the week of April 2nd, 2018

Some said it would only be three days. Jesus promised that “this generation will not pass…” And yet, we wait… or do we?

There are those in our world (and in our churches) who feel blessed…those who are part of a sacred community who have come to understand their companions as the “hands and feet of Christ”…those who never truly want for anything … at least not for long. For them, waiting is not a struggle…having patience is easy. After all, what is there to wait for. Jesus has risen! Right?

But what about those to whom we are called reach and to bless…those who are not feeling so blessed… those who, for whatever reason, live day to day…minute to minute…meal to meal…without the assurance that the next (day, minute, meal…) will come, or that they will not be alone, or that they are loved, or that they will truly be “free” of whatever holds them down…

As we live in the afterglow of Easter…hearing again and again the shouts of “He is Risen” echoing in our collective memories, I offer the following for your deeper consideration. It is an excerpt from an article entitled, THE MYTH OF REDEMPTIVE PATIENCE, by Tom Fuerst, and comes from the website ministrymatters.com.

Waiting for liberation is the privilege of the privileged. Those who sit comfortably atop the world’s hierarchy can tell those on the bottom to “wait just a little longer for liberation” because they, themselves, do not have to go home to hungry faces. The privileged can persist in their call for patience because they do not fear whether they will have to choose between paying their heating bill or eating this month.

“Patience is a virtue” is a saying for the privileged; for the oppressed, that saying is an obstacle to their liberation.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. addressed the myth of patience when he stated unequivocally that one person has no right to set the timetable for another person’s freedom. Time, itself, has no redemptive qualities. Privileged populations are not persuaded to give up their privilege simply because of time. Patience, therefore, means nothing more than delay, at best, or denial, at worst… Time cannot, in itself, set injustices right. Injustices are only set right by human beings aligning themselves with God’s will. Conversion of the human heart, then, looks like replacing the myth of time with an understanding of God’s timing.

The future imagined in the Bible comes about by people and prophets in the present reaching into the future and dragging it into the present. This is called hope. It is the act of dancing to the song of the future even though we can barely hear it now.

The reason Dr. King did not believe time, itself, would redeem us, the reason he did not think patience would do anything but delay justice, is because he believed that God’s people had a moral and religious obligation to live according to God’s future right now. We are to embody the rule and reign of Jesus, to live into it, to call it forth, to invite its radical ways into the recalcitrant world of stubborn human hearts and entrenched politics.

For Dr. King, justice is nothing short of God’s future being brought to bear on the present. Hope is nothing less than a people who choose to live that revolutionary future in a world that is more comfortable with the status quo. Human progress, says King, never rolls in on the wheels of inevitability. It must be seized as a theological and moral imperative. That’s why the dream Dr. King spoke of neither appealed to patience nor seemed distant and abstract. The dream was always concrete, rooted, political, cultural, social, economic and physical because God’s future in the Bible was concrete, rooted, political, cultural, social, economic and physical.

As workers for God’s kingdom, the Christian community is to work for justice as if we are living in a hope-filled time-warp. We are prophets proclaiming in the present world that the “way things are” do not have to be endured because God is making all things new. We are the forerunners of a future where racial, economic, and gender equality is universal and widespread. Our work may seem wearisome, but we cannot lose this battle. It has already been won: when Jesus resurrected from the dead, Gods’ future of a universal resurrection of all the saints was pulled into the present. God’s future was initiated, inaugurated, commenced and started in historical time and space when Jesus came out of that grave. It was not a myth of a cool magic trick, it was God dragging his future into the present and inviting us to see that even God has grown impatient with injustice. Even God is calling for the liberation of the world right now.

“Know, O my people, the time for hesitation (and waiting and patience) is past..” Doctrine and Covenants 155:7.

He is Risen!

Blessings,
Blake
 
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