April Fools...

Some say it began back in the 1700s as a "prank day," others tie it to the Vernal Equinox. If you Google it, you will find several hundred theories as to what gave birth to "All Fool's Day," or "April Fools." Here's one thing I read:

These pranks included having paper fish placed on their backs and being referred to as “poisson d’avril” (April fish), said to symbolize a young, easily caught fish and a gullible person.

Wow, that must have been a blast. I guess you had to be there, as they say.

I also found a site called "Top 100 April Fool's Day Hoaxes of All Time" (Hoaxes.org) that ranks some of the wildest ones including:

1. The Swiss Spaghetti Harvest - a video played on BBC TV stations back in 1957, showing people harvesting spaghetti noodles from trees.

3. The Eruption of Mt. Edgecumbe - a long dormant volcano in Sitka, Alaska, where some joker in 1974 hauled a bunch of old tires up the snow-covered slope at night, and lit them on fire so the locals awoke to what appeared to be the beginnings of an eruption.

7. The Taco Liberty Bell -  an ad run by the famous Mexican junk food purveyor Taco Bell in 1996, saying they had purchased the naming rights to the Liberty Bell. So many gullible people were outraged that President Clinton's press secretary Mike McCurry actually got questions about it at a press conference. Thinking quickly on his feet, McCurry (who is now an ordained U.M. pastor and instructor at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C.) stated that it was true, and that the rights to the Lincoln Memorial has also been sold, now to be known as the Ford Lincoln Mercury Memorial.

10. Nixon for President -  a 1992 gag where it was reported that former President Richard Nixon was going to run for the office again using the slogan "I didn't do anything wrong, and I won't do it again."

20. Left-Handed Whopper -  in an April Fools' Day 1998 ad, Burger King touted a new "left-handed Whopper sandwich," complete with a schematic drawing of it. Thousands of goofs asked tried to order it.

Every one of these 100 "Hoaxes of All Time" are accompanied by the disclosure that many people were fooled. Is it any wonder that authors of REAL fake news on some of those internet sites gather adherents. It sure explains Fox "News."

Actually, there is a secret goof in all of us, I believe. There is a tiny nook in our psyche that wants believe in miracle cures, benevolent aliens, get-rich-quick schemes, and virtually anything that is capable of suddenly launching our joy of living into warp speed. If a story about something extraordinary like that is made even the slightest bit convincing, we may fall for it. Now, there is some kind of a continuum at work here whereby some of us are more gullible than others, with skeptics on one end, and Publisher's Clearinghouse "sure winners" on the other. Unfortunately, some of the more easily fooled are also easily fleeced, hence the proverb, "A fool and his money are soon parted."

Skeptics and atheists put religion on the "easily fooled" end of this spectrum, usually because they begin from the "there is no God" point of view. If that is your premise, then it's easy to see how they can be critical of persons of faith. Oh, and many persons of faith have helped the skeptics' cause: Ku Klux Klan and religious fundamentalists of all faiths have espoused hatred, vengefulness, and even terrorism in the name of their "faith." I confess to being weakened in my own Christian faith when I hear of some bunch saying or even doing horrible things in the name of Christianity, including the current acceptance of "the end justifies the means" by "evangelicals" by defending the moral failures of our Commander in Chief because he is naming the "right" Supreme Court Justices or encouraging the incursion of their religion into the affairs of state. Sounds like an "easily fooled" move to me.

In fact, Easter and the Resurrection of Jesus have long been seen in church history as a divine "prank" or "April Fools" joke on the devil. There is actually a group of people who call themselves "The Fellowship of Merry Christians"--publishers of The Joyful Noiseletter--who like to continue to bring the best "April Fools" humor and Easter in close proximity. The idea that the religious leaders who encouraged the crucifixion of Jesus, the Roman government who carried it out, and Satan himself, who purportedly wanted Jesus to fail at his quest of redeeming humankind, were all bamboozled by the Resurrection is, in itself, a divine prank. Even the Apostle Paul gets into the comedy when he writes, "...the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us being saved, it is the power of God" (I Corinthians 1:18) and "We are fools for Christ's sake..." (I Corinthians 4:10).

There is a reason we call it the Christian "faith." Hebrews 11:1 defines faith as "...the substance of of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen..." We read the testimonies of Jesus Christ in the Bible, hear the stories of persons of faith who have gone before us, and based on these witnesses and accounts, we come to believe in the redeeming and transforming power of the Christian experience. We remain "fools for Christ" because there is no way to prove this stuff, any more than we can "prove" that the Beatles are the greatest band that ever lived or that Black Holes are exactly what Stephen Hawking said they were. That doesn't make them any less impactful on human history, and believe me, the Jesus story has impacted history far, far more than the Fab Four or the late theoretical physicist (this is the year 2018--two-thousand and eighteen years after the Christ event!). Can we prove that Jesus is alive and seated at the right hand of God? Or that the Holy Spirit resides in the hearts and lives of believers and their church? Nope. We choose to believe this stuff because we're "fools for Christ's sake." And don't let your believe be a smug belief--if God "desires that none should perish" (II Peter 3:9), we should too, and be about this pursuit, rather than grooving on the idea that we are counted among the sheep rather than the goats. Being a fool for Christ's sake means we believe the whole world is worthy of God's love, grace, and redemption, and that Christ did the heaving lifting to make this come true. Now, we just have to partner together to fix things and spread the love around. There is a reason our tale is called "Good News," and not just "Good News for some, sorry about the rest of you."

If there is anything that speaks of the genuineness of our Christian faith, it is that God didn't make the Resurrection an nationally-televised reality show. The scriptural accounts suggest it was a "quiet" occasion with no fireworks, people screaming in the streets, or even universal acceptance of its occurrence. Even Thomas "doubted," and the two guys on the road to Emmaus didn't even recognize the resurrected Jesus. The Romans didn't freak out, nor do we hear anything from the religious leaders like "Well, he didn't stay dead, so let's go after him!" Instead, Jesus appears quietly, and to individuals or small groups of his followers. This new "faith" would be something about which each of us would have to decide, not a Hollywood moment before the cameras and lights.

So, as we finish our Lenten journey through the Cross, the waiting, and the Easter promise, let us decide, or be affirmed in our decision. And let us celebrate our faith, not with raucous festivals and shouts, but with smiles and a joke or two, and the whispered words, "He is Risen!" Don't tell anybody...April Fools...

Special Election...

Nope, this one isn't going to be about what you think, either. "Election" is a term much debated in the history of Christian theology. John Calvin argued (more mildly than his followers) that God "chooses" persons to be "saved," and that unless God chooses you, you will not be part of the "elect." Jacob Arminius, a theologian/philosopher who had an influence on John Wesley of Methodist fame, advocated for a "free will" view of salvation and Christian volition--a kind of "whosoever will" thing.  Honestly, Calvin never went nuts about this "election" thing, and John Wesley didn't do an endless "free will" dance to the music of Arminius, either. Both Christian theologians approached God in a spirit of humility, underscoring God's love and grace as presented in Jesus Christ, and that we, the beneficiaries of it, should do likewise. Who "chooses" whom is far less important than the fact that God's love and God's desire to include all people trumps the numerous theological eddies human thinkers have swirled around it. Why can't we just accept that God has "chosen" to accept us?

Another topic that could come under "election" is the idea that God calls us to do stuff. On one hand, there are numerous responses, tasks, and ministries that we can just go and do, without any special prompting. The Bible is full of stuff like this--love your neighbor, feed the hungry, help the needy, random acts of kindness, etc. One doesn't need to be "touched by an angel" to commit such acts of mercy. However, if your plan is to quit your job and go out on faith to do any of these things for the rest of your life, that may be something you should listen to see if God is specifically calling you to do that. Down through the history of the church, people have gotten themselves into serious trouble by setting an overly ambitious agenda without checking with God first. Oh, and don't ever go into the ordained ministry or become a pastor without working through a call from God, either. As a former co-chairperson of our conference's Board of Ordained Ministry, a big part of our task was to listen to the call stories of potential ministerial candidates, seeking to validate them for the wider faith community. Occasionally we would hear a candidate say something like "I want to be a pastor because I always thought a church would be such a loving an peaceful place to work," or "I failed at several other careers, so I figured maybe God wanted me to become a pastor," neither of which inspired confidence in the Board that this individual had a legitimate call of God.

Actually, our theology suggests that ALL of us have a call of God on our lives, as people of faith. Every career, provided it is on the up and up and not a scam or a crime, is a vocation, which comes from the Latin, vocatio, meaning "to call" or "called." If you have never thought about what you do for a living as a call, now is a good time to start. It can bring a greater sense of purpose to your job, and maybe even provide ways to subtly witness to your faith. If you really accept that God has called you to do what you do, you may find much more fulfillment and happiness in it. And if, instead, it is a constant source of stress, anxiety, or dread, maybe it's time to do a little praying and listening to see if God has a new calling in the offing for you. The most blessed people I know are the ones who are spending their lives doing what they "know" they should be doing, and using their best gifts in doing it.

It would be nice if everyone was at this point. I often wonder if the monumental rise in the "leisure" industry is the result of many folk not working in careers they find fulfilling or that are a calling for them? So, they "work" to make enough money to do fun stuff to salve the pain through leisure activities on the weekends.

Of course, none of the ideas presented here should be taken to extremes. We can do lots of nice stuff without feeling God calling us to do them. We can have a legitimate vocation (job) that sometimes drives us nuts, but it doesn't necessarily mean we're in the wrong place at the wrong time. And we all enjoy certain leisure activities without them being some kind of compensatory medicine for a bum job. However, the well-examined life--which I think Christian people are to be about--has us at least thinking about these things, and seeking a benevolent balance. As a pastor for over 33 years, I can say it is frustrating, for example, to have parishioners turn you down for a volunteer job, saying, "Oh, pastor, I'm just SO busy!" And when you ask them what they're up to, answers include things like "Well, we're going skiing this weekend, and then next weekend we have to get the boat out, and then we're going hiking the weekend after that..."

At risk of sounding like the TV detective Columbo, there's one more thing: God sometimes calls people to short-term service, which is in the middle between the "we all should do" acts of kindness and mercy, and full-time religious service like pastoring or the mission field. Years ago, my wife felt God calling her to go on a short-term mission trip to Paraguay. I told her the church would affirm her and help her raise the necessary funds to go on the trip. And then something really weird happened--as I began to pray for her for and the trip, I heard God's "still, small voice" saying I should go with her. (By the way, we preach and teach about God's "still, small voice," but for me, it's usually a louder shout, because I can be spiritually tone-deaf.) Not being one to be excited about going to a far-off land where they don't speak my language, and where I'm going to sleep on the floor for two weeks, AND where my particular "skills" really aren't all that helpful, I resisted rather passionately. Finally, though, I gave in to this little election, and it was one of the most fulfilling and formative experiences of my Christian life.

Isn't it nice to read something about elections that doesn't involve politics, attack ads, or incessant telephone polling? You're welcome...

When prayer feels "empty"...

First, let me state that I believe to the very cells of my toenails in prayer. Throughout my 33 years of ministry, I've made it the fulcrum of the worship services I have led, and have supported and "enhanced" the prayer ministries of each of the churches I have served. But there are times when prayer just seems empty--like there must be SOMETHING else I can do? Have you ever felt that way? Or have you said, "I know I can pray for [her or him], BUT..." Of course, many of us felt that way when 17 people were murdered at Parkland, and "thoughts and prayers" was the best we heard from our national leaders. But let's not go there, and stay focused on our individual challenges with "You are in my prayers."

In the past couple of weeks, several people dear to me received challenging medical news or were in tragic accidents. Immediately these people entered into our church "prayer queue," and into my personal prayers as well. And as much as I've always taught that "how" to pray is not a thing, and that God hears our prayers, no matter how childlike, crude, or chaotic, I still find myself wanting to say the "perfect" prayer for these friends, meaning that it is so well structured and then prayed expertly that God will just simply have to perform miraculous healings, and right now. I taught my congregations that God is not the genie that comes from a well-rubbed lamp in time to grant our current wish, but that is exactly how I feel when praying for dear ones who are severely hurting in body and soul. I just want to rub that lamp, and get my wish. If there is anything good in this experience, it is that I now have empathy with what many of my parishioners have gone through when someone close to them is in need. I hope that God gets a kick out of the irony of this, but I'm certainly not being entertained by it. Usually, though, I get a grip, remember my own sermons, and try to visualize God hearing my prayer and acting on it in the great scheme of things.

It doesn't help that I tend to be a "fixer." Troubleshooting is apparently a genetic thing for me. When I am denied the opportunity to diagnosis and repair, I feel like the job is not done. While this might be good when it comes to fixing a faucet or doing home improvement, it's something that must be disciplined and suppressed when offering pastoral care for the sick or those with anxiety issues. Counseling is also a "no fly zone" for problem solving, and since I do quite a bit of counseling, my "fixer" self has to be reigned in pretty severely. Good counselors are good listeners, and adept at helping persons experience self-discovery, ownership of their feelings, and being gently nudged to participate in forming a care plan. And that's the problem with prayer: it is not an easy playing field for troubleshooters who want to analyze, diagnose, and prescribe a "fix," praying only to send God out for parts. No, to be true to prayer, it means turning the friend or the loved one and their need over to God, and then attuning oneself to any feedback God may have as to how we may be helpful in providing comfort. "But God, I want to do more!"

I think I'm a pretty effective "prayer," even with my penchant for grabbing stuff back to try to fix myself. And that is the second lesson in all of this: God may have a job for me to do for the individual in question, but I should not be the one writing the job description without the guidance of the Spirit. If being prompted to "let go and let God," as they say, I'm not going to "fix" the empty feeling that may initially result by just doing something. The danger in intruding into the situation without guidance and "cues" from the person in need is that I may just be complicating what is already a stressing situation for them, which is the last thing a compassionate person wants to have happen. My "empty" feeling is my problem. The truth is that prayer is anything but empty.

Now, there may be concrete factors that can cause prayer to seem empty, such as when there are things I can do about a troubling situation, and I choose to simply "hide" behind "thoughts and prayers." If I know someone is hungry and in physical need, I should feed them, or arrange for that need to be met, and then pray for them as part of this remedy. If it concerns a justice issue like racism or gun violence, prayer alone is not the solution. I know steps I can take to address these, whether it is writing letters to representatives, engaging in public debate, or helping bring people together to have strategic conversations about what we can address as a community. Prayer can be an essential ingredient in this potion, but "thoughts and prayers" should never be used to sweep vital issues of justice under the rug. There are times to put "feet to our prayers," indeed, but when dealing with deep, personal matters of friends or family, delving in cautiously and respecting the integrity, privacy, and vulnerability of the individual is paramount, and that point, praying for them becomes job one.

As a pastor, I understand the empty feelings of others when they hear of a loved one suffering and say, most sincerely, "What can we do?" As mentioned, there may be supportive, caring "human" things we can do for a hurting friend, but prayer is always huge here, and even if it feels inadequate or empty at the moment, keep praying! Never downplay God's role in healing at this level just because a genie doesn't appear.

And remember, empty is not always a bad thing. Jesus "emptied himself" of all of the privileges of being God to come among us, as it says in Philippians 2. The Apostle Paul talks of "pouring himself out" in service. Sometimes the echo of the "emptiness" allows us to hear the still, small voice of God better than when we are full of ourselves. And no matter how competent a troubleshooter we may be, none of us trumps the Creator of the Universe in fixing stuff, whether it is a broken body or a broken spirit. Blessings, All!

"Puff Graham..."

With those two simple words--"Puff Graham"--telegraphed to the editors of his vast newspaper holdings, publisher William Randolph Hearst, unwittingly launched the worldwide ministry of Billy Graham. Hearst heard Stuart Hamblen, an entertainer and one of radio's famous "singing cowboys," tell of his conversion on air, and was impressed.Who says God can't speak through the "mainstream media?" Hamblen, by the way, would go on to write a very popular Gospel song, "It Is No Secret, What God Can Do." Billy Graham would go on to become, well, Billy Graham, preaching to kings and princesses, presidents and popes, and even Bolsheviks behind the Iron Curtain.

Today, Wednesday, February 21, it was announced that Billy Graham had died at age 99. An NBC religion reporter described Graham as "an evangelical but not a fundamentalist." I believe that to be an accurate description of the man and his ministry, and this reporter went on to say that Graham's whole life and ministry hinged on a single verse of scripture: For God so loved the world that God sent the only Son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. (John 3:16) I think that assessment is right as well.

Graham would be the first person to say that he was far from perfect, just a person "saved" by his faith in Jesus Christ. He served as "pastor" to several U.S. presidents, and even got "burned" by getting too close to Richard Nixon as he was spiraling into the Watergate abyss, something Graham would later regret. I'm sure he didn't regret ministering to Nixon, but the few public statements he made in support of Nixon, politically, he did regret for the rest of his life.

Most of us over the age of "39" have friends and acquaintances who owe their Christian faith to hearing a Billy Graham sermon, in person or on TV, or to going to one of the "Billy Graham movies" like Time to Run, produced by his own Worldwide Pictures.  The message was always the same--no matter your situation, status in life, or how "far" you have fallen, "God loves you!" And by confessing faith in Jesus Christ, a person would be forgiven, redeemed, and gain the aid of God's Holy Spirit to put her or his life back together. Friends, that will preach. Graham didn't judge people, and didn't "grade" how strong their faith was. In the last three decades of his life, he refused to say that Christians had an "exclusive" lock on who gets into heaven, declaring that this judgment was beyond his pay grade.

Even with his shortcomings, I never lost respect for the man and his message. I have to confess that I'm greatly aggrieved by the filth, vitriol, and what I see as bad theology being spewed by one of his offspring, Franklin Graham, but on this, the father stayed largely silent. I guess a father always holds out hope for the redemption of his children.

OK, here's my Billy Graham "testimony," something that became popular as a result of his evangelical crusades. I grew up in a wonderful Methodist (became United Methodist in 1968 when I was in the 8th grade) church in a small town. I was active in the youth fellowship and was in church weekly--WEEKLY--with my family. I had made many "commitments" to Christ growing up, as ours was a church where people were urged to do that, and I was OK with it. However, years later, when I was a college freshman, I had a unique and very personal "encounter" with God in my dorm room, late one night. The "encounter," when I felt the presence of God like I never had before, and even deduced a "message" God had for my life (which would later gel into a "call to ministry"), left me curious, and more than a bit shaken the following morning. "Something" told me to go to the college library and look in the religious book section. At this particular non-sectarian school, the religious book section had about 5 volumes, and one was Billy Graham's Peace With God. Having made fun of Graham from time to time when my parents would watch one of his crusades on television, I felt it penitential to read his book now. I turned out to be exactly what I needed at that point in my freshly minted young adult faith experience. To this day, I recommend it to people. I think it's in its 1,000th printing, or something. Peace With God was just like the rest of Graham's message--simple, to the point ("God Loves You!"), and easy to digest. I have felt a special kinship to Billy Graham ever since, and from what I heard of media "testimonies" from religion editors and anchor-persons this morning, on the day of his death, I think millions of others did, too. They said that he preached to over 250 million people, but I bet with radio, TV, his books, and satellite TV globally, it was actually much more than that.

Would Billy Graham have become "Billy Graham" without Hearst's "Puff Graham"? Who knows. But it happened, and the farmer's son who always saw himself as just a "country preacher" would win the world, in more ways than one. The NBC reporter today related that Graham once told him in an interview that Jesus would be his "advocate"--literally lawyer--before God when, someday, he would stand before the Almighty. That reporter then said, "So, Dr. Graham is in court today." His case is already won. Remember, Yinz: God loves you!

Parkland...

"Thoughts and prayers." We pastors often write or speak those words, seeking to comfort a parishioner experiencing some personal challenge, suffering through grief or illness, or facing other emotional trauma. Even then they sometimes feel empty. How empty they indeed are when spoken by gutless legislators or a president who doesn't even mention the word "gun" in a speech designed to "comfort" the families and friends of 17 people gunned down ruthlessly in a high school in Florida. "Thoughts and prayers?"

Imagine if the response to the attack on Pearl Harbor had been "thoughts and prayers," or if "thoughts and prayers" had been all that was done about the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. "Thoughts and prayers"--"there's nothing else we can do..." The gun lobby, that owns this president and most of the U.S. Congress, hides behind the Second Amendment as a "protected right," while my personal, constitutional "rights" are infringed every time I want to go on an airplane, because of our national response to terrorism. A whole raft of freedoms have been taken away because of a desire to halt the kind of attack visited upon us from the sky on 9-11. I've been groped, patted down, X-rayed, forced to walk through scanners on a filthy floor in stocking feet, holding my pants up, and told how much aftershave I could pack in my carry-on because of the fear of terrorism, and 99% of us are happy to put up with it, for the safety of us all. And yet, more people are gunned down every 10 days in America than died in the New York terrorist attacks. Oh, but "thoughts and prayers."

We DO pray for the families and friends of the victims of Parkland. We DO pray for a young man whose messed up head would lead him to murder 17 people in cold blood. We DO pray for the sanity of our nation as we are held hostage by the NRA and their privately owned legislature and White House. We pray for them all. (I won't tell you what I'm praying for, though, when it comes to our government officials and aforementioned NRA, as you might not want to have me as your pastor at this moment, if you knew. ) This morning I heard the wailing cries of the mother of a 14-year-old girl killed at Parkland, and I will never forget it. Never. I have to do something. I'm sure YOU feel you have to do something. Of course, there is always "thoughts and prayers."

Barack Obama said it best, "Don't boo, VOTE." The people we now have in office are so clueless that they don't even act when THEY, THEMSELVES are the "target practice" for some sick, gun-wielding individual while they were playing baseball. How nuts is that? It's time for a new legal interpretation of the Second Amendment, one that acknowledges that the popular "Originalist" interpretation--that the Founding Fathers put this amendment in the Constitution so citizens could be armed to overthrow their government, should it become oppressive--is no longer valid. That boat's sailed, friends. We can't POSSIBLY own enough weapons to defeat the United States Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines. So give up on that argument. Without it, reasonable gun safety laws  are possible.

While I believe in prayer--and I do most sincerely--I also believe that a majority of our prayers are effective when they change PEOPLE, and PEOPLE change things. God has given us incredible gifts, a sound mind, and, in this country at least, the freedom to use them for the common good. Oh, there's a phrase often used and quoted from the Founders--"for the common good." Right now, "for the common good," it is time to rein in the out-of-control idolatry of firearms. We have to find a way to stop these horrible mass shootings, or at least make them less frequent, and possibly save SOME lives, anyway. "Thoughts and prayers" will not get it done alone. It is time for each of us to begin to speak up, to write our State and national representatives for some action on background checks and gun safety. And if this crowd won't listen to their constituents, instead of the big-money gun lobby, then it's time to vote them out and give someone else a chance.

Go to this site as an easy way to begin communicating with your U.S. representatives and senators: Democracy IO

Take some real steps to fight the gun scourge in our country and to help our children be safe at school. Once you've written some letters, made some calls, considered who you will vote for if these people don't respond to the American outcry in the wake of Parkland, THEN you are welcome to add your "thoughts and prayers." Thanks for listening, Yinz...

Listen...

I wish I was a better "natural" listener. As an extrovert, I talk more than I listen, and when I DO listen to another, their sharing tends to spark my brain into remembering other stories, or dredging up past things the "listenee" has told me. Now, as a trained clergy person and counselor, I generally can effectively use "active listening" skills, and have my best listening experiences during counseling sessions with parishioners when I'm putting all of my training to work, in conjunction with my "natural" love of people.

I don't know where you are with this "listening" thing, but my most spotty performance tends to be when my spouse is trying to tell me something important. In premarital counseling, I strongly urge couples to make "a thing" out of listening to each other--turning off the TV, putting down the book or smart phone, and intentionally concentrating on what the other is saying. "Physician, heal thyself," as the saying goes! Dara says that I hear well, but don't often listen. Why is it that many of us (usually the male partner) have a problem with paying attention to our significant other? Maybe it's because we figure they know we love them, having made a lifetime commitment to them, and share the same space with them? I sometimes think my brain says this means I have a level of credibility with Dara that, while I may not listen to everything she tells me, she knows I care. My brain is obviously quite flawed, at this point. Listening IS caring 101. On top of all of these dynamics, Dara is an introvert, meaning she is naturally suspicious that anyone listens to her (a fairly common paranoia of introverts). Add to this the fact that introverts tend to have a strong and continual inner dialogue--so strong that they somehow believe that you are in on it--and we have the makings of a perfect storm, communication-wise. Lately, I've been trying to really listen to Dara when she wants to talk about something important, putting down the smart phone, muting the TV, or turning down the satellite radio in the car, and concentrating only on what she is saying. It is at this point that I may nod off, fueling another "debate," shall we say.

I have come to the conclusion that God is basically an introvert. Anyone who speaks with a "still, small voice" certainly fits this bill. I wonder if God understands how hard it is for an extrovert (especially one that is about 96% on the Myers-Briggs scale) to hear, let alone listen to this kind of thing? Why is God so quiet? I guess because she/he chooses not to dominate us; instead God's presence is through the Spirit who lights paths, lures, and "entices" us in directions that benefit us and others in the wider Realm of God. God won't yell at me like my mother did when she said "Go clean your room!"

If Ash Wednesday is a time when we are beckoned to see for ourselves how dirty and messy our "room" is, then Lent may be a time to learn how to keep it clean, once it has been "redeemed." We do this, I guess, by learning to listen to God. At St. Paul's UMC, our Lenten worship theme is just that: Listen. We're exploring the ways we may hear God's voice. Some of you reading this have probably already thought: "Why doesn't he just read the Bible!?!" Good idea, but many of us never read the instructions, and don't stop to ask for directions (thank God for the GPS navigation system!). Seriously, the Bible is a source for hearing God's message to us, and it's an important one. However, the more "personal" presence of God for us--the still, small voice-- will come from other directions very often. Here's one for you: Take time just to listen for God. The meditators among us call this silence. Extroverts like me think it means there's something wrong (As a former radio and TV person in my career before ministry, dead air usually meant someone was getting fired). In God listening, though, it means opening a channel. While I've made it my practice throughout my 33 years in ministry to provide a moment of silence before leading a pastoral prayer, that has been a much tougher thing to do in my personal spiritual journey. How about you? Are you good at carving out some time to just be silent before God and the Holy Spirit to see what shakes?

The practice of silence is just one of many ways we may open ourselves to listen to God. I'll bet you have tried a few spiritual practices of your own, most likely with varying degrees of success. Why not use the season of Lent as a time to get back in touch with either our past best practices of listening, or take a a couple of new ones for a spin? And may it be a time when we celebrate God's best attempt at extroverting by sending Jesus into the world. What a risk this must have been! Introverts lose so much of their energy when they must extrovert. It's no wonder Jesus had to keep going off by himself to "recharge," and it's also no wonder why he had so much trouble being heard by his own disciples, many of whom seemed to be mouthy extroverts! (Witness Peter--blah, blah, blah; James and John--the "Sons of Thunder"; and Andrew, who didn't meet a single person he didn't drag over to meet Jesus!)

Here's to praying you have a meaningful Lenten season, friends. Keep an open mind, and possibly a closed mouth! Thankfully, God seems to love God's human creation too much to remain terminally passive when we make so much noise in the channel it threatens to drown out the message. Shalom!

Ashes...

February 14 is Ash Wednesday. While we Protestant Christians have embraced the "ashes" thing more during my lifetime, I wonder what we think is going on when we "get the ashes" imposed? In the Hebrew Bible, sackcloth and ashes were an outward and visible of an inward and sinful life or action. When one of the prophets donned the "S & A," it was a symbolic gesture for all to see that Israel had thumbed their nose at God again, and some kind of retribution was on its way. So, as a sign of our own sin, and our desire to confess and repent of same, we get a little smudge of ash on our forehead or the back of our hand. We like to focus on the repentance part of this little spiritual drama.

The word we translate "repentance" is the Greek word, metanoia, which can be translated "change of mind." Now, we should not think of this as "changing my mind" like we have just decided to get the chicken instead of the fish--this "change of mind" means making a conscious decision to turn one's life in a different direction. We are saying to God, "I want to turn my life toward you, O Lord, and away from my self-guided ways." Someone has said repentance means "turning my life Godward." Interestingly, one of the most frequently used Hebrew Bible words for repentance also means "turning," or "returning," meaning returning to God's leading, guiding, and wisdom. I don't know about you, but if I only made this decision one day a year--Ash Wednesday, for instance--I'd be an even lousier Christian than I am, and would probably be as successful at "repenting" as I am with managing my sweets intake. For our act of repentance (changing the way our mind looks at life, God, and others) to truly take root, I'm guessing it should be addressed daily, kind of like medicine for hypertension or high cholesterol. There is a reason that people in Alcoholics Anonymous or some other 12-step program are urged to make frequent meetings--even daily at first: Part of fixing the problem is fixing your gaze upon your Higher Power and then using regular accountability of the meetings to modify one's behavior patterns. So then, does regular worship at church become sort of like our 12-step program? Maybe, although as United Methodist Christians, we believe in the transforming ability of Jesus and of the Spirit Jesus sent to us, so "going to meetings" is not our sole recourse (or maybe that should be "soul recourse?").

Back to the ashes. They are dirty. They get ground into our skin by the pastor or priest, and often feel very gritty. I know that it can take a few days to get my "imposing" thumb fully clean. Dirty is good. It reminds us that self-guided, "sinful" behavior can be bad for us and all of those around us. It also reminds us that our "corporate" or "sins of the society" can be very gritty for those victimized by them. Oppression, queuing, and the dominance of one class or group over another is filthy stuff, and it doesn't "clean up" easily. That smudge of ash on your forehead symbolizes much more than your personal "boo boos." Since we're all getting "imposed" as we share a time of confession, it also reminds us of the ugly things we have allowed to exist, and maybe even encouraged, in our society. May this "smudge" also be wiped clean as we work to see the Realm of God fully come into the world, and may we envision a place where all are equal, accepted, and respected, and none left behind. Maybe this year, with Ash Wednesday also falling on Valentine's Day, we can plant a little mental seed of loving our neighbor as an act of metanoia!

And, as our Lenten journey begins, may we not get all hung up on the negative stuff only--we are a post-resurrection community, and the healing, transforming, and empowering presence of God is in our midst and available to all. With this in mind, Lent is also a time of celebrating all of the parts of our faith that intersect with our friends from other faith traditions, and discovering new ways our common desire for justice and peace may be enjoined through shared work and understanding. May Lent not be just a time of turning "inward" and focusing solely on our United Methodist or Christian experience, but seeking ways to encounter the wider work of God in the world. May the ashes of Ash Wednesday also, therefore, remind us of the "dirty" work of building and creating, as well as fixing that which is broken.

Blessings, Yinz!