Impeaching Oneself...

Nope. Not going to be about what you thought, once again. If "impeachment" is a remedy for a public official who cannot be charged with a crime while in office, how does that compare with how we are called, as Christian believers, to be accountable for sin? See--not what you thought.

If we believe the New Testament biblical narrative and the teachings of Jesus and Paul, forgiveness of our sins is an act of God's grace and not contingent, at all, upon our actions. We receive this gift by saying "yes" to it--no magic incantations, no throwing clams at the sun, no self-flagellation--not even any specific "sinner's prayer" we have to say out loud with a qualified salvation "counselor." So, this lifting of the charges against us by God puts us in a similar position to the President of the United States, whom the Justice Department says cannot be charged with a crime while in office.

Now that we're forgiven, where does "accountability" come in? This is where we must impeach ourselves. What I mean by that is that we set out to live into our redemption by incorporating the teachings of Jesus into our attitudes, actions, and judgments. This process of integrating our faith into "real" life is what some might call discipleship. The problem is that the church has made such a big deal out of being "saved" or "born again," we have so downplayed the actual aim of living as a redeemed, beloved child of God. There is so much focus on "sin" in our lives that it often turns us into spiritual narcissists--it's all about us. Or, if we aim the "sin" beam on others, it's about THEM, and why they should be judged. In this distorted effort, it's time to impeach ourselves for violating the terms of our "office"--"Go and make disciples of all nations...", not "Call out the sin you see in other people and tell them exactly what they must do to be saved like you." (I think Jesus addressed this impeachable offense with the story of the speck in the other's eye and the log in our eye...)

The Bard said, "To thine own self, be true." This is the first step in following the teachings of Jesus to "love your neighbor as you love yourself." It means we are compelled to get to know ourselves at a sober, honest level--Like God wants to know us--which leads, necessarily, to a healthy level of self-respect. And from this good grounding, we are able to help and serve our neighbor, offering dignity and respect to them as well. Notice that the end result of getting our own act together is serving and respecting the other. Why is it so easy to move to judgment, rather than love, when we finally find our spiritual footing? What part of "Judge not, lest you be judged" don't we get? Judging rather than loving is an impeachable offense, which is way beyond our pay grade. The promise of grace says God won't do it, so we must impeach ourselves from this temptation.

It has become almost a joke today that when public officials are charged with an offense, they rarely take responsibility, either denying the charge, or invoking the useless assessment, "Mistakes were made." Accountability is becoming a profane concept, culturally. Copping to a faux pas, apologizing to those offended, and asking forgiveness is a sure way to get dumped in the next election or get fired from a job, in the current environment. This shift is truly an impeachable offense, especially for the Christian, but again, it is we who must impeach ourselves in order to short circuit this "blame game."

I have a confession to make: I'm a really good excuse maker-upper. I can be pretty creative in crafting excuses to let myself off the hook, from time to time. The worst of this is not what I tell others, but what I swallow myself in order to sincerely believe my own excuse! For, you see, if I am truly convinced the excuse is genuine, it is easy to broadcast it publicly. Yes, there are times I can convincingly lie to myself, and believe my own lie. If I believe it, I can act on it with integrity. If this sounds nuts, it IS! And yet, I'll bet I'm not alone in this pesky, personal, prevarication process. What say you? Yeah, it's probably human nature to save one's own posterior first, but according to the teachings of Jesus, this is also an impeachable offense. "The one who wants to be the greatest among you must first become the servant of all." Jesus' teachings can be viewed as "A Guide to Avoid Becoming a Narcissist."

I spoke with a friend the other day who told me of his journey, and how he has, through a series of life events that would have caused 99.9% of the rest of us to throw in the towel, come to truly love and respect other people. He feels a deep emotional and spiritual connection with others, harbors a profound sense of gratitude for how his life has turned out, in spite of past suffering and peril, and believes he is truly connected with mother earth. I think he came to see me, last least partly, because he wondered what he is doing "wrong." A truly humble man, he wished to share some of his story with others, but didn't want to seem like he had found some unique "secret." Truly, what he has found is faith, the divine--and himself. And he is quite comfortable with that. I suggested that he share his story in small doses, lest he either not be believed, or someone decides to nail him to a cross. His story may have been the most UNimpeachable one I have heard in a long time. I was blessed to hear it, and quick to affirm it.

Hold your own hearings, my friends. Draw up your own Articles of Impeachment to "fire" those parts of your journey that disconnect you from God, others, or yourself. But remember, your vote is the only one that counts, as in Jesus Christ, God has already voted. Live into your redemption, Yinz. One by one, it will transform the world.

A Blog about nothing...

If Seinfeld could be a show about nothing, might a blog be so? Well, if you take stock of everything happening in the country, there are thousands of pieces of news to address, so, basically I'm on news overload. Hence, I've decided to write about nothing. Here goes...

Bloom County is a cartoon drawn by Berkeley Breathed, a talented, but possibly deranged artist. In Bloom County, Breathed has created a host of beloved characters, including perverted attorney Steve Dallas, a young Jerry Seinfeld-like human named Milo Bloom (after which the strip is named, and around whom the "action" takes place), Bill the Cat, who is pretty much the feline version of Jeffrey Lebowski, and the "Kramer" character, played by a flightless waterfowl named Opus. Breathed uses the light-hearted antics of his penciled protagonists to perform all manner of satire and spoof, much of it social commentary, and, of course, some political. The actual syndicated comic strip ran in hundreds of newspapers across the USA, until Breathed took a break in 1989. He recently began drawing it again, distributing it for free on a Facebook page. His foils over the years have included presidents (including Donald Trump before he was elected), Hollywood elites, and fictitious politicians standing in for real life politicos. Around presidential election time, the American Meadow Party has its convention, at which point it typically nominates Bill the Cat and Opus as their candidates, to run against the party favorites of the other two major parties.

My favorite "race" strip was during the 1984 election cycle when Ronald Reagan was running against Walter Mondale. The American Meadow Party yet again nominated Bill the Cat (who was temporarily deceased, at that point until strip genius Oliver Wendell Jones resurrected him from one of his nine lives) and Opus, the penguin, who had left the convention to go out for Ding Dongs. As they had just completed their nominations, a man with a "Mondale for President" hat stuck his head in the door of the hotel room where the Meadow Party was meeting, asking,
    "Is this the Democratic National Convention?"
Milo Bloom replied,
   "No, this is the American Meadow Party."
The Mondale supporter inquired,
   "Oh? Who are you guys putting up against Reagan?"
Bloom answered,
   "A dead cat."
To which the Mondale man shrugged his shoulders and answered,
   "Oh, what the hell..." and joined the Meadow Party.

As one who gets WAY too torqued over political happenings and social justice advocacy, Bloom County is a needed piece of comic relief. Even though Breathed's strip is a soft version of Doonesbury, without shying away from all social commentary, it soothes the inflamed spirit and uses its mix of lovable, anthropomorphic animal characters and loony humans to build a joyous, two-dimensional community.

See, nothing.

Halloween just ended and Thanksgiving is coming, so that means Pumpkin everything is on the shelves. As one who likes only Pumpkin Pie, I am malignantly disaffected. Is there anything left that is not available in Pumpkin flavoring? Here are a few things I can think of: Pez candy; ketchup; Tootsie Roll Pops; meatloaf; axle grease; bourbon; Communion wafers; multi-vitamins; and olives.

I also eschew flavored coffees, if you exclude Irish Coffee, which I do like as a dessert. Other than that, I like my coffee coffee flavored, without Hazelnut, Vanilla, Maple Bacon, or Pumpkin.

Speaking of Halloween, why is it so hard to find apple cider all year round? Apples are grown somewhere all of the time. This is disappointing.

On a political note: don't forget to vote on Tuesday, November 5. You should always vote when you have the opportunity--it's an American right, and a civic responsibility. I urge you to vote "NO" on Marcy's Law. Using only 75 well-chosen words to describe a 500-word amendment to the Pennsylvania constitution, it is being marketed as a "no-brainer" victim's rights bill. However, it hides what may be serious limits to the rights of the accused, and since it requires several changes to the PA constitution, it violates the constitution, which states that changes to different parts of the constitution should be enacted individually, not in an omnibus referendum like this with a simple "YES" or "NO" vote. Both the ACLU and the League of Women Voters is urging a "No" vote on Marcy's Law, and I concur.

Speaking of pumpkins, I've seen a lot of posts on Facebook and other social media decrying why someone would steal a child's carved pumpkin from their front porch. Unless the pumpkin is observed smashed in the middle of the street, I've come to realize that it has probably been taken/eaten by a white-tailed deer. The deer like pumpkins, and deer are everywhere around our developments, because we have built whole communities over their former home woods.

Well, that's all the nothing I can think of for now. This doesn't bode well for this weekend's sermon...

Fright Night...

At the risk of sounding like Jerry Seinfeld, what is it with Halloween? Why do folk go so ga-ga over it, and why has it become the second most "decorated" holiday next to Christmas in our culture? And why has the church had such a love/hate relationship with it?

First of all, here is my personal experience: As a kid, the only thing I got into about Halloween was the Trick or Treating. I was and always have been a "candy" person, and just couldn't resist getting all of that free candy. I was so depressed when I had to give up Trick or Treating (about two years ago--just kidding). When Dara and I got married, we were attending a church that had a problem with "blending" Christian thinking with what was seen as "the devil's holiday," so we decided we would not raise our children up to celebrate Halloween. We were very intentional about taking them out of school on the day of the Halloween parties and doing something special with them, like going to the Carnegie Science Center. We also made sure they didn't miss out on the "treats." We taught them to not rain on the "Halloween parade" of their friends, nor to "preach" any wild reason for why we did what we did as a family, but just to respect what others choose to do. Neither of our kids seemed to resent missing Halloween. (I should also mention that one factor that weighed in our decision to NOT celebrate Halloween was that at that time, the news was filled with stories of poisoned or drugged candy, and suggestions to take the "treats" to a local hospital to be x-rayed.) Now that they are adults, they have made up their own minds about the holiday. Our two grandchildren go Trick or Treating. We loved hearing our granddaughter try to say "pumpkin," which came out "POOOMP-man."

The first church I served was just getting ready to "battle" over what they would do during the month of October. The previous year, this church, being in decline and down on their luck, financially, actually rented out the while education wing to a local school group that turned it into a month-long haunted house, as a fundraiser. Many in the church church were very upset by this, and considering that Pittsburgh's "Christian" TV station (channel 40 in those days) was just up over the hill in Wall, PA, and was "calling out" this church for "selling out to the devil" by doing this, I can see why they were. It wasn't the best PR campaign for the church. As the new pastor, I did a little research into it, and persuaded the Administrative Board to abandon the plan to rent the church out for a Haunted House again, but did so on the basis that they had actually lost money on the endeavor, due to extra utility costs during October.

Another church I served held a "Harvest Party," and limited the costuming to "biblical characters" or "Disney" visages. The kids had fun, just the same.

At St. Paul's, we have had Haunted Houses for youth fundraisers, typically have "Trunk or Treat" as part of our Fall Fest, and have lots of Harry Potter fans, including yours truly. I think most churches have grown out of the "boogeyman" phase of Halloween, although there are still necessary cautions when it comes to Trick or Treating and getting candy from strangers, as some are stranger than others. I think the Harry Potter series did a lot to use  the "spooky" images of wizards, dragons, and potions to teach lessons about good and evil, right from wrong, and the triumph of love over hate and inordinate power-seeking. Did I say that I like Harry Potter?

But what has it become such a major holiday? I'll bet that 90 percent of the homes in our plan decorate--some excessively--for Halloween. Is it a way we make fun of our fears? Maybe. Possibly we are reliving the ancient days when, in preparation for All Saints Day, people of faith "celebrated" All Hallows Eve, mocking death, because of the promise of new life, resurrection, and eternal life that comes via the grace of God. I'd like to think that, even though many Halloween merrymakers may not be aware of this history.

I still don't see all of the commercial hype, though, but this is coming from a guy whose era rented a $30  tux for the prom, took a date who wore a dress her mom made, and arrived in a Volkswagen, so what do I know?

As to Halloween, it will now always be the time I heard that precious little voice dramatically and slowly drawling out, "POOOMP-man." Shalom, Dear Ones...

Like Sands Through the Hourglass...

When I was a kid, faking illness to get a day off of school, I was often subjected to my Mom's TV viewing habits (she worked as an RN at night, and therefore watched daytime TV) which included a couple of "soap operas," including one that began with the dramatic pronouncement: "Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives..." Even in 1963, I didn't really know what an hourglass was, since I had a Mickey Mouse watch, but oh well. I think the point of the narrative was that life moves on, and we really can't stop its progress.

The past 10 days have sort of been like that for us. One of my best friends of young adulthood passed away very suddenly. Tim Tygert was a child of missionary parents, probably the most faithful Christian I have ever known, and even though we didn't see each other much over the past 15 years, I know that he became an amazing husband, father, and grandfather. [Story: Once, when I was serving First UMC in Warren, PA, a bright, talented young man came to practice on the huge pipe organ we had there. As I chatted with him, he said that I might know his fiancé's father, and then told me his name: Rev. Tim Tygert. I remember saying to him, "Ryan, you may have no idea how wonderful the family you are marrying into is! And then I told him a few good "Tim" stories, which were ALWAYS stories of faith.] I remember being so excited when Tim told me he was going to ask out this fantastic girl we both knew--I thought they would be a good match. While I was sad when they decided to stop dating, two others were blessed: Cindi, the wonderful young lady who would become his wife, and me, because the other girl was Dara!

As we were setting up our schedule to attend Tim's memorial service, we got word that Dara's dad, Edwin Apel, was taking a serious turn in his health. He recently entered into hospice care, and the sands of his hourglass may be dwindling. He has had a blessed life, and at almost 93, I know he will gladly look forward to being welcomed into the arms of Jesus. Still, this news was not something we were looking forward to hearing.

And then I got word that my Mom had been hospitalized by her doctor, who discovered a heart ailment that would require a pacemaker and related drug therapies. More sands ticking away. Her procedure was scheduled for Friday.

So, as that old "Days of Our Lives" sand crawls through the bottleneck of the hourglass, we'll be spending the next couple of days back "home" in Oil City. It isn't a joy ride, though--visiting Dara's dad, possibly witnessing his final days; visiting my mom in the hospital, and praying all goes well for her ticker to get back in a healthy rhythm; and saying an earthly "Goodbye" to a man who has inspired my life and Christian faith as much as anyone I ever knew. Life marches on--or trickles through the hourglass, as it were. How thankful we are for the grace of God and the love of Jesus, that embraces all in these times of need. May those eternal and endless arms surround all those who grieve, suffer, and strive for healing. Maybe that's YOU today, Dear Ones. Shalom...

That Darned Jesus...

The church I serve has as its Vision Statement: We will be an inclusive, diverse church, loving others according to the teachings of Jesus and working for justice and peace in our world. It's that "teachings of Jesus" part that gets hard.

I'm not talking about accepting--and even sharing--the redeeming, reconciling, and transforming grace of God offered to us in the Christ Event. We don't stumble much over that, unless our "diversity" is limited, and we "screen" those with whom we share this "good news." But, in general, we're good, at this point.

And most of us would probably affirm the "great commandments" Jesus challenges us with: Loving God and our neighbor as ourselves. Oh, we can get bogged down in the questions of "What is sabbath?" or "Who is my neighbor?", but again, we mostly good here, too.

It's when we start to look at the example of Jesus that we get a little kerfuffled. Jesus truly welcomed the stranger, ate with "sinners," and hung out with the ne'er-do-wells of the first century BCE. Even the lepers found a friend in Jesus. He wasn't afraid to "correct" the judgmental religious leaders, and suggested to them that they should "grow up" from just enforcing religious laws to realize that the role of the law was to turn people toward a relationship with God, not "appease" God. And, if that wasn't enough, when push came to shove, he let them push him through beatings and thorny crowns, and shove him onto a cross. He wasn't afraid to make the "ultimate sacrifice" for what he believed in, and what he believed in was US! And thanks to the resurrection, he still does.

In a sermon series on "Changing our Expectations," we have been looking at the parables of Jesus. Some of them are a bit hard to decipher for our time, as they are almost hopelessly buried in a first century context--you know, one of those "You had to be there" deals. We do our best, but parables like the "Crooked Manager" or the "Unrighteous Judge" are really hard to "fix" for our time. The rich man who is about to fire his crooked manager for cooking the books actually ends up praising him for being "shrewd" when he connives yet again to endear himself to the ones he screwed in the first place. What do we do with that?

Then there are the "Beatitudes" of Matthew 5, and part of the "Sermon on the Mount." Some of them make good ethical or moral sense:

-"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled."
-"Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy."
-Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God."
-"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God."

Then there are these:

-"Blessed are the poor in spirit, or theirs is the kingdom of heaven." What? What does it mean to be "poor in spirit"? Could it mean they live in full realization that apart from God's grace we are bankrupt right to our core? Maybe. Or could it mean we will only find true riches in life through faith in God? Maybe. Whatever, the outcome is that those who either have--or attain--this characteristic will hold the keys to the kingdom. That's pretty important stuff. Maybe we should be a bit more diligent figuring out what this "beatitude" means?

-"Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." OK, if this is just a statement of "blessing," telling us that when we find ourselves in grief, God will comfort us, I'm sure we can endorse this. However, since these statements of Jesus seem to be things we would be good to emulate, does this mean we should "seek" to mourn? Is this about the biblical understanding of "suffering," which is something to embrace, according to most of scripture, rather than to avoid? Are we to mourn for the lost, or the hurting, or the poor? Maybe. In doing so, do we develop the heart of compassion addressed in the "beatitude" about mercy and purity of heart? Is Jesus saying that our empathy for others will cause us to mourn, which should cause us to act on their behalf--including praying for them--and God will comfort us as we minister to and comfort them? Maybe.

-"Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth." What? It seems we had better figure out what "meek" means, because "inheriting the earth" is a big deal. At a time when we seem freshly bent on "consuming" the earth rather than preserving it and being good stewards of it, might we suggest that this "me first" response is the opposite of "meek"? The "meek" may be those who realize that we are only one part of a creation God pronounced as "good," and that while we have been "given dominion" over the rest of it, that was not meant to be a license to kill, destroy, or otherwise "use up" the "good stuff" God made. "Meek" may mean respectful of God's handiwork, and being of the mind to nurture the earth and its bounty, preserving it and even "improving" it for those who come after us. That works for me. How about you?

-"Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you." Ouch. "Once more into the breach, dear friends, once more..." Being like Jesus here means taking the crap that he took, from religious leaders, rich people, Roman authorities, and even ungrateful recipients of his miraculous healing ministry. Two important things here, and both of them are hard medicine: the "blessing" or "reward in heaven" is only granted when we are doing this for Jesus sake, i.e. for living out our faith with integrity and purpose; and we must not be jerks. Sam Calian, former president of my seminary, used to tell us budding preachers, "There's a fine line between being prophetic and being a jerk." The prophets got persecuted because they spoke a word of what God wanted to say to the people of their age, not because they mouthed off about what THEY thought about "what the Bible says" or tried to superimpose their religious prejudices upon the rest of the people. That's being a jerk. The business of interpreting scripture and what God wants to "say" to our time is hard work, and should be surrounded by prayer, grace, and with God's people in mind, not trite doctrines, enforcing "rules," and calling a judgmental spirit "keeping the covenant." Take a look around at who is really being persecuted. Those who promote "rule keeping" or maintaining the religious status quo are doing it to applause and a chorus of "amens." Edgy interpretations of God's Word that include, affirm, and transform society into a loving community are currently being slammed, and these "preachers" are being brought up on charges. While it's hard to "rejoice and be glad" when one is being branded "unfaithful" or "heretical," we will have to remember we are in good company, at least according to Jesus.

Long ago, I stopped coining that popular phrase, "What Would Jesus Do?" (WWJD), as most of the time, what Jesus did is really hard to replicate, and doing so may get you in serious trouble with the religious crowd, even in 2019. That darned Jesus. He continues to push the hanging out with those whom others disdain, to wreck walls people want to build against others, and to envision a kingdom and an earth "inherited" by people who love radically. This isn't going to be easy. I'll bet that's what he heard in Gethsemane, too.

Blogger's Block...

What do you write in a blog when you have nothing to write? Well, you begin to take inventory of what is happening around you to see if you choose to comment on it. Probably boring, but here goes (just so I don't forget how to "keyboard"):

--The church I serve just kicked off our Fall worship schedule this past Sunday, and we combined four Sunday morning services into one. I guess some would call that "blended" worship. Musically, we sang a variety of hymns and songs, had our "Lifeboat" praise band as well as our Wesleyan Choir, singing. We featured our bell choir, which shared a beautiful piece of bell music. Combining services meant Pastor Karen Slusser and I could share leadership of the service. We had lots of kids, who were treated to a fun "children's message." Oh, and we hosted a picnic lunch afterwards, with maybe the biggest turnout we have seen at one of these. Our worship theme for the Fall is "Changing Expectations," we began with a Bible story chock-full of expectations on the part of each character in it--the miracle story of the water into wine at Cana, the beginning of the "signs" of Jesus from John's "book of signs." The story from the gospel is "sketchy," to say the least. The narrative says that Mary approaches Jesus (who has brought his raucous band of disciples with him to the wedding) to tell him "The wine gave out." I suggested Mary told Jesus because his disciples were probably responsible for the consumption of mass quantities of wine. Turning this group of fishermen and tax collectors loose at a wedding with an open bar would be akin to inviting a college fraternity. This story has expectations galore: the steward expects the best wine first, followed by the Boone's Farm when the guests were drunk, but had his expectations shattered when the "miracle" wine was the "best for last." Mary expects Jesus can do something about the dearth of wine. Jesus seems upset at his Mom's prompting, and his expectation is "My time has not yet come." As far as Mary goes, yes it has. The servants certainly had no expectation that the 180 gallons of water they collected in the jars of purification would instantly be turned to a really great Pinot Noir. And, if I'm right, the disciples didn't expect that their swilling of the first wine offering would be rewarded with a more bounteous and better libation. Out of the story, we challenged our congregation to take inventory, over the coming weeks of Bible stories, of their expectations, of themselves, of God, of their church, and of their friends, family, and significant others. We suggested that most of us are probably operating out of misplaced, exaggerated, or deflated expectations we have, or that have been "programed" into us by others and life. God can redeem and heal lots of things, but too often we shield our expectations from God's transforming love and grace. Let's not.

--Vacation's over. The challenges of Fall activities, meetings, and crises have begun to present themselves. Bonhoeffer wrote that "life together" is hard for religious people. Our faith, and the church, puts us in close proximity and fellowship with "others." These others don't necessarily share our family values, habits, and prejudices, nor do they share our interests, our aims, or even how to deal with "normal chaos" of life. How do we build community in the church without killing each other? How do we engage in shared ministry when we don't agree what our priorities are? How do we overcome our own demand for services and attention, in order to see that others may have greater needs that should be met first? And how do we responsibly lead the church through theological reflection and studying the scriptures when our diversity often leads to broadly differing interpretation of these? Oh, and then there's the whole issue of stewardship--funding ministry, staffing ministry with increasingly reluctant volunteers, and asking for more time from families whose choices and opportunities have already co-opted their time to the point of near psychoses. The Bible says that if we lack wisdom, we should ask God for it. Well, the degree to which we lack "wisdom" in this rapidly changing context in which we find ourselves, should lead us to a constant revival meeting of prayer for God's insights! In my 35th year of ministry, in some ways, I feel more clueless than what I started. Biblically, that means God finally has me right where God wants me. Boy, I hate that...

--On a lighter subject, the Pittsburgh Steelers began their season Sunday evening with an embarrassment during Prime Time television. We Steelers fans can harp all we want about how Tom Brady is actually an android, capable of perfectly reproducing Hall of Fame passes play after play; how Bill Belichick is the "Evil Emperor" who reads the minds of opposition quarterbacks and coaches like I read the newspaper; and how the Patriots manage to collect every banner player in the game to add to their unequaled legacy of titles. Maybe the fact that they just keep winning Super Bowls is a factor in this latter success? Who wouldn't want to play for a team that pretty much guarantees the limelight and a regular series of playoff checks? But, if we are honest, we have to admit that the Steelers looked like a rusty Volkswagen Beetle up against a Ferrari, and they ain't "Herbie." Rookies buoyed by success in the preseason got a sudden and serious dose of NFL reality. Veterans who believe they "still have it," found out that "it" is slower and gets fatigued much earlier. Evening Prime Time games--once a "shining star" for Pittsburgh--may be past their bedtime. Of course, it could just be the "slow start" that has become typical under Coach Tomlin, and the Black and Gold could yet gather a head of steam in the weeks ahead. Cleveland and Cincinnati, division rivals, both looked like they matched competitive wits with Pittsburgh in week one, so maybe we shouldn't panic. Then I looked at Baltimore's score. OH boy...it's going to be a  l-o-n-g season...

--Today (Monday), I am enjoying a day off, after kickoffs 2019. I'm hoping the weather holds up so I can take a spin in the Batmobile later (my "new" 2008 jet-black Mazda Miata). I just finished an hour on a Medieval torture rack they have renamed "Bowflex." At my age, I'm lifting weights in an attempt to beef up my upper self, to deflect attention away from my lower self, that may be carrying the extra mass of long days, bad diet, and a too-often sedentary career (I'm guessing the typing I'm doing now is burning about three calories?). The week ahead looks brutal. How about yours? Are we all allowing ourselves to be squished under the weight of expectations--ours, our perception of God's for us, or those of others? As one of my good clergy friends is fond of saying, "Be good to yourself." Maybe this is exactly what Jesus meant when he told us to "love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Beat, beat-up, and beating people will always have a hard time offering or accepting love. But that's a different message for a different time. For now, let me just leave you with this: Shalom, Dear Ones!

Back from the Moon...

In Tom Hank's HBO special series, "From the Earth to the Moon," chronicling the U.S. Apollo Program, Apollo 12 astronaut Pete Conrad asks fellow crewman Alan Bean, "Are you back from the Moon, Al?" To which Bean replies, "I just keep thinking, 'Is that all there is?'" Well, Yours Truly is "back from the Moon"--or a great month of vacation, to be more precise. And yes, the strains of "Is that all there is?" are running through my brain, too.

For the past three years, my partner, Dara, and I have taken most of the month of August as vacation. My wonderful colleagues at St. Paul's are most gracious to cover my responsibilities, and we have enjoyed a variety of restful venues, including a Royal Caribbean cruise to New England this year. I'm always trying to come up with trips and activities that Dara will enjoy, as my best joy is in seeing her having a good time. I'm working on a lighthouse trip for next year, as she really likes lighthouses. I'm hoping we can actually stay in one--or in the keeper's residence. (I found a couple where you actually get to perform the keeper's duties, too, but the accommodations were pretty rustic, and one came with a warning that fairly common fog banks meant that a fog horn would be blasting day and night at least twice per minute. Not restful.)

We really have a good time on vacation together, so "returning from the moon" has the potential for evoking at least a small dose of depression or regret ("Is that all there is?") However, my experience these past three years is that I really DO get rested, and use some of that "down time" to contemplate: my relationship with God, my significant other, and my family; my call to ministry (has IT begun to evoke the "Is that all there is?" question?); and the efficacy of the church I serve. Now in my 35th year of pastoral ministry, I find that it is still fresh for me because the world is changing so much, and the challenge for the church is three-fold, in this light: 1. Keep proclaiming the timeless love and grace of God as revealed in Jesus Christ; 2. Be a constant observer of what is happening in the culture and in the lives of people who are--or who may become--the objects of our ministry; and 3. Develop innovative ways our church can respond quickly, lovingly, and efficiently to the change we see, tailoring our message so it can be "heard" by our rapidly changing audience and its needs.

I wish I could tell you that we have come up with a magic formula as to how to do this. We are learning mostly through trial and error, and have programed some changes, based on our observations and analysis, that have IMMEDIATELY elicited passionate--and sometimes negative--response. The trick here is to hear the "new" concerns, adapt our efforts to address any legitimacy we hear, and yet stick to our core plan, which we work to hard to assure is based on our church's purpose, mission, and vision statements. Being a responsive church is a messy game--sort of like launching three raucous "flyboys" in a spacecraft built by the cheapest bidder, and hoping they hit the moon. And that "cheapest bidder" part is key, as St. Paul's is a great example of a church that has the proverbial "champagne tastes and beer wages." Ministering in a consumerist culture, a large, vital church is so tempted to offer an abundant cornucopia of ministries and programs to address the whims and needs of every member family. Unfortunately, the funds necessary to carry all of these out with quality and consistency are rarely available, so we rely heavily on volunteers. Always have. And yet, in this current "paradigm shift" (sorry for dragging out that old chestnut), our younger families are too busy to staff for their own needs by volunteering, at least with any measure of consistency. Nowadays, when we make an appeal for persons to help us in a Sunday School class or with a hospitality ministry, we hear things like: "Oh, I can help on the second Sunday of the month, and occasionally on the fourth Sunday, unless my spouse is out of town, or my work schedule changes, which I won't know until the week before." Sound familiar?

Sometimes, what is at play in these machinations is a lack of priority for one's faith and/or faith community. That we can "preach about," challenging persons to give God more "time, talents, and treasures." However, I am not convinced that this is the central issue in this new environment the church finds itself in. The issue is change, itself. Things are changing so rapidly in the culture and in the lived-out realities for our families, that they struggle to know how to keep up, and how to both protect and nurture their children in this "time soup." This is NOT a time for the church to play the "blame game." I am increasingly convinced that we must use our vision to dial back on the "smorgasbord" approach to ministry and program, and to engender ownership and "permission-giving" ministry on the part of our people. And, at the risk of pulling out another of those tired, old chestnuts, we must be willing to try new things while letting some old things die a benevolent death.

The most perilous part of sending people to the moon was getting them safely back--that's why President Kennedy made clear his goal was of "...sending man to the moon and returning him safely to the earth." It's time for the church to come back from the moon, and to "return safely to the earth" by taking stock of what it feels God is calling it to be and do now! One of the great joys in serving a lively church like St. Paul's is that I RARELY hear in any meeting a suggestion that we "go back to the way we were," or regurgitate some program that worked in 1989, because someone has a great memory of how wonderful it was. At least here, people realize we are in 2019, and the world now is just about as different from what it was in 1989 (or 1952, in some churches) as the moon is from the earth.

At the risk of totally wearing out this "moon mission" metaphor, maybe what the church of today needs is a new spirit of exploration--exploring what kinds of things other communities of faith are doing that is reaching people successfully; being willing to try new things, especially when it involves a risk of redeploying scarce resources; and taking prayer and spiritual formation seriously as a root function of Christian discipleship, rather than just "feel good" exercises to temporarily re-inflate souls flattened by fatigue, burnout, or being stretched too thin.

All sounds good, but how do we make it work? I wish I knew. Again, maybe we can take a lesson from Project Apollo. In the opening segment of Hank's "From the Earth to the Moon," after hearing Kennedy's "man in the moon" speech, a staffer asked the NASA Administrator, "Can we do this?" He responded, "Most of the technology we will need hasn't been invented yet, we have no idea how to build the rockets needed to do it, and we have little information about the moon and how to keep a man alive there...Yeah, we can do it." His confidence was based on two things: the vision that launched the effort, and the people who would step forth to make it happen. So it is with the Christian church, Dear ones. So it is with the church. Grace and peace...