Lent 2007 Study Outline

I'm cross-posting this from ...urban wilderness... because in the intensity of finishing school I've blogged so sparsely here and also logically, because I'm planning to post each week's actual lesson on this blog when Lent arrives.

6-part Series for Lent 2007 – Bible Study Outline
Theology of the Cross | Leah Chang

1 Corinthians 1:20-25

²⁰ Where is the smart stuff of this world? Where are the world's heavy thinkers?... ²¹ Since in God's wisdom the world did not know God through their worldly kinds of smarts, it pleased God through foolish proclamation to save anyone who trusts Him. ²² Jews demand signs and Greeks crave wisdom, ²³ but we proclaim Christ the crucified one, a scandal to the Jews and moronic nonsense to the gentiles: ²⁴ But to those called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ--God's living dynamic power and God's kind of wisdom. ²⁵ Because God's foolishness is wiser than humanity's intellectual cleverness, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength!

1 Corinthians 2:2

² For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.

God is here! As we God's people meet to offer praise and prayer...
Here are symbols to remind us of our lifelong need of grace;
Here are table, font and pulpit, here the cross has central place...
–Fred Pratt Green © 1979 Hope Publishing Co.


Theology of the Cross: what does this mean for the Church's and this congregation's ("these congregations' in the case of OSLC) life and mission?

Week One

1. Theology of glory vs. theology of the cross
2. Hebrew Bible roots/wellsprings
3. Reading and interpreting scripture through a cruciform lens

Week Two

4. Paul, Mark and Jesus of Nazareth
5. Mark, Paul and Jesus the Christ

Week Three

6. Saul/Paul of Tarsus; Martin Luther
7. Some familiar theologians of the cross: Bonhoeffer; Dorothy Day; Gandhi; MLK; Desmond Tutu; Mother Teresa; us! Who else comes to mind?

Week Four

8. The cross and the sacraments:
          a. A theology of baptism and
          b. A theology of the eucharist

Week Five

9. What does the cross mean for each of us as individuals?
10. What does the cross mean for this church community?
11. What does all of this mean for our nearby neighbors?

Week Six

12. What does the cross mean for the world in which we live and serve?
13. The cross of Jesus Christ: Foolishness to the Greeks and foolishness to us?
14. Concluding questions, observations and loose ends

© 2006 Leah Chang

Nature and Mission of the Church III

Nature and Mission of the Church III
The Life of Communion in and for the World

• The Nature and Mission of the Church | A Stage on the Way to a Common Statement | World Council of Churches Faith & Order Paper 198 on Amazon

© 2005 World Council of Churches, Geneva | ISBN 2-8254-1463-8

Tomorrow, Wednesday, 25 October, I get to facilitate the discussion of this chapter at our monthly Faith, Order & Witness meeting; I decided blogging my notes would serve the two-fold purpose of a review before I present and a blog. This won't be particularly organized, but I expect it'll blog out okay. Anticipating later editions of this document, I'll mostly refer to paragraphs rather than to pages.

Many topics! This section begins with

• Location and
• Relation

It ends with location and relationship, too!

¶ 67 the first paragraph of this section III talks about God giving, bestowing gifts and graces that animate the church! I love the word animate! In addition, it uses the phrase "means of grace," which is such a part of the Reformation tradition but rarely referred to within other church bodies. Proclamation; participation.

¶ 68 faith and teaching = action; activity

¶ 74 baptism as "basic bond" I'll add that baptism is a boundary defining the church's perimeter and parameters as well as excluding and forming a barrier in some ways against those who are not of the church in some sense. In and for the world becomes in the church, too – the Church and the churches become bounded containers for people and sacraments.

¶ 75, 76, 77 describe baptism well in few words

¶ 77 references social, economic, cultural (etc.) institutions that preserve human life. I'll include the church as a life-preserving and sustaining institution, too, as well as living organism. Again, baptismal relations and locations: events measurable in time and space, but located and interrelated with Christians in all ages and engaged with the world in all times and places.

The gray wash section this series uses to indicate area of disagreement or at least non-convergence speaks of the development of the terms ordinance and sacrament. Here I'll mention the churches that theologize about "means of grace" and "effective sign of grace" typically use the term sacrament while the plain ole "sign of grace" churches typically use ordinance.

¶ 78 The interrelatedness (of course!) of baptism and eucharist...interesting they're not discussing other ordinances some church bodies also officially consider sacraments.

¶ 81 I like this! About our participating actively in the ongoing restoration of creation in a way consistent with God's reconciling presence in the world. However, throughout this document I'd far prefer more references to creation than simply to human beings/humanity and the world. here's never simply a single focus to human interpretation of God's ongoing sacramental activity in the world, reminding me of Darrell Guder’s saying God does not limit Godself to the means of grace. Of course, my rejoinder to that is nonetheless, God does bind Godself to the means of grace! I'll add the church needs to continue acting sacramentally in and for the world and for all creation. But readers of my blog(s) know where I stand on that!

The gray wash spanning parts of pages 47 through 49 mentions the literal conflicts between churches and church bodies that consider Eucharistic sharing either a means to unity or the ultimate sign of unity. This sorrowful situation reminds me of Walter Brueggemann's saying (or am I imagining this from ideas he inspired?) doctrine and theology are human constructs to a great extent; our response needs to be obedience, which in many cases we unequivocally can perform.

¶ 82 Service = Ministry

¶ 83 Mutual accountability – sounds like A Formula of Agreement's mutual admonition and affirmation (are those the words? Not going to check it out at this hour).

¶ 85 All Christians everywhere have an equal obligation to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor in word and action.

¶ 86 Refers to ordination and ordained specifically as ordination to Ministry of Word and Sacrament

¶ 87 Threefold ministry of bishop, presbyter and deacon again reminds me that some church bodies – such as the ELCA – have deacons who are not part of the historic diaconate and also that differing church traditions handle this concept in differing ways, with those whose polity formally is connectionally presbyterial formally ordaining deacons and elders as well as Ministers of Word and Sacrament. I'm feeling relatively unlettered in this regard, but I can reference both today's PC(USA) and congregations in the UCC of Evangelical and Reformed heritage that have retained this practice, despite assuming the UCC's more covenantal, semi-connectional polity.

¶ 89 apostolicity: a Pauline-style list of how this has been done regarding "succession in ministry"

Gray wash on page 52 details convergence and divergence (my words) regarding (post-baptismally, I assume) ordained ministry and mentions "the ways in which ordination is considered constitutive of the Church" (!!!) as an issue to be further explored.

¶ 90 many definitions of church; here we have "Body of Christ" and "eschatological people of God," both built up by the HS...

¶ 91 Episkopé | oversight – sort of umbrella term;

moving from

• informal, organic and less structured to
• formal, institutional and more structured

¶ 92 Collegial expressions as well as personal embodiment of episkopé

page 54, gray wash: stuff about the episcopal concept of formal apostolic succession; this reminds me so of being in the Lutheran Church in America (LCA, one of the antecedent denoms of the current ELCA) when they first started calling the chief synod officer "Bishop" rather than "President"—a great hue and cry arose from the pews, mainly from American Lutherans of Scandinavian heritage who had memories of a state church in which the bishops had inordinate clout. In addition, from my limited understanding, some bishops in Sweden long had been consecrated within the historic apostolic episcopal succession that includes Rome and Canterbury. I like the way this section mentions "hitherto unrecognized parallels" between episcopal and non-episcopal polities in exercise of oversight.

Clearly, too, whether it's the PC(USA)'s Executive Presbyter, the ELCA's Bishop or the UCC's Conference Minister, in all those cases we're essentially looking at and talking about what the church long has considered a bishop or overseer, as well as a person who officially functions as pastor to the pastors, though none of those remotely has the clout or authority of a Roman or Anglican bishop. Besides, I've heard a rumor that there's hardly a more powerful ecclesiastical entity anywhere than a Methodist bishop!

¶ 96 "Web of belonging, of mutual accountability and support"

Section G is about conciliarity and primacy…

¶ 99 ...at every level conciliarity is essential; the church, whether dispersed or gather, is conciliar under the HS – "local eucharistic community"

I love the reference here to "...the all in each place" linked to the "all in every place."

¶ 102 Primacy: Alexandria; Rome; Antioch; Jerusalem; Constantinople

¶ 103 questions of jurisdiction and even competitiveness about the Bishop of Rome

Section H is about authority

¶ 105 Jesus Christ: ministry with authority placed at the service of human beings (make that at the service of creation)

¶ 106 "Authority is relational and interdependent" There's a relation between authority and commission.

I love the oblique, not-spelled out reference to Acts 1, which I'm happy to spell out, "Will you at this time refer the Kingdom to Israel?" "Wait here in Jerusalem until you are clothed with power from on high; and you shall be my witnesses...everywhere!"

As I said at this blog's beginning, this section III of the book starts with

• location and
• relation

and it ends with

• location and
• relation.

I like that a lot!

A couple more personal observations from me:

• Once again, this ecumenical discussion remains among the mainline, both Roman Catholic and Protestant, which at least in our local FOW committee includes church bodies such as the typically more conservative LC-MS and Church of the Nazarene. However, among church bodies formed from the many 19th Century Restoration Movements, only the Disciples of Christ ordinarily participates in ecumenical dialogue and in fact has become a mighty ecumenical force.

• It is striking that for the most part this document uses the term "Eucharist" for the Lord's Supper with "Holy Communion" now and then. Eucharist indeed has become the ecumenical term, just as it was the early church's. But I'm also aware some of our more conservative brethren and sistern won't say eucharist.

Genre Blog

A couple weeks ago during morning break I was yakking with Lorraine, a classmate who also has lived in Massachusetts. As often happens, we got to talking about the East Coast, then about lifestyles on the North Shore of Boston—I served churches in very working-class Lynn, a GE town if ever there was one, and in the historically substantial city of Salem a few miles north up the coast. Historically substantial? In ages past the Old World considered Salem The New World, based on reports they heard and read. Clipper Ships and opium feature prominently in Salem's chronicles, as does Tabernacle Church, directly descended from the oldest continuing (possibly first ever, too) congregation in the New World gathered in 1629 by people John Robinson had pastored in Leiden! BTW, because of their third building's architectural style, the church eventually got named after the London Tabernacle. Needless to say, I needn't cite the Salem Witch Trials, but nonetheless I just did.

As Lorraine and I continued to talk in the shadow of the junk truck that pulls up at break time every day, we started reminiscing about generic less-than-healthy American cuisine(!). Lorraine asked if I remembered the name of a Saugus steakhouse she was thinking about and I said HILLTOP!!! of course, on the heavily-traveled and highly commercial Route 1. Then I mentioned a Molly Ivins commentary I heard on PBS ages ago; Molly was talking about Texas but it could've been Saugus, as she referred to "the cow on the roof genre." This is my theology site and lately I've become even more obsessed than usual about the church and my experiences therein...and the Cow on the Roof genre idea inspired me to think about church genres, so I’'ll list a scant few basic possibilities; I anticipate expanding on these soon.

Church of:

Cross between the candles
Eucharist in the ultra vernacular
Semi-monthly (Protestant) Bingo
Potluck in the named after a dead or alive former pastor Social Hall
Trespassers unwelcome
Intentional exclusion(s)

Gracious Transformations

Proper 18B/Ordinary 23B/Pentecost 14B | September 10, 2006

Mark 7:31-37 The Message

^31-35 Then Jesus left the region of Tyre, went through Sidon back to Galilee Lake and over to the district of the Decapolis, or Ten Towns. Some people brought a man who could neither hear nor speak and asked Jesus to lay a healing hand on him. He took the man off by himself, put his fingers in the man's ears and some spit on the man's tongue. Then Jesus looked up in prayer, groaned mightily, and commanded, "Ephphatha!—Open up!" And it happened. The man's hearing was clear and his speech plain—just like that.

^36-37 Jesus urged them to keep it quiet, but they talked it up all the more, beside themselves with excitement. "He has done everything well for us; Jesus gives hearing to the deaf, speech to the speechless."

Isaiah 35:1-2a; 5-7 NRSV

¹ The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom; like the crocus ^2a it shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice with joy and singing. 5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; ⁶ then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy. For waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert!

Sermon Title: Gracious Transformations

What a story we just heard! What vivid images we just saw! About us and about God; about the surprise of grace—God's unmediated, wonderful action in our lives and about the many transformations we and all creation experience from God's grace. Both of these stories are about life basics, too: a healthy environment and community, which typically works the best when people can – and do – communicate. These stores are about transformations from incomplete to complete; brokenness to wholeness and integrity; neediness to fulfillment. They're about God's love and passion for all creation, for each of us. About the here and now – yes; and about God's long-run-long-term provision.

These scriptures are about our mutual need and creation's need. Here in San Diego we know about deserts and oceans and we're increasingly aware of our responsibility to care for our environment and how much healthy surroundings contribute to our total well being. We know our urban environment outside these doors needs to be kept well in order for us to be in good health. It almost seems as if we're supposed to be needy and incomplete so we will need each other and desire community as well as desiring God's presence. Of course, we know there's always a lot of room for change and growth and space for transformation in all of our lives!

We just heard from the Gospel according to Mark. Even before the gospels in the New Testament, gospel originally meant Good News, as it still does for us; a "gospel" was political good news, meaning Good News for the People! We know the Gospel of Jesus Christ as spiritual, heavenly and eternal; the gospel also is physical, earthly and temporal. This Good News of Jesus Christ is something you can touch and feel, you can see and hear, smell and then taste!

Just as in this narrative from Mark, "some people" who already knew Jesus taking the guy and leading him to Jesus is our story, or it can become our story, as we who already know Jesus tell others about him and lead them to him. Here to church, to Bible study and where else can they learn about Jesus?

The Bible tells us we are created in God's image, which is a multi-faceted, multi dimensional one. That Image of God includes love, creativity, community and will, and in the texts we're talking about we, discovered God's first passion and response is for creation's needs, so caring for creation and for each other is part of the Divine Image in which we are created and in which we need to act. We can listen to each other and talk to each other, about their lives and their needs, and not just spiritual, church, scripture stuff. Just like God does for us! We can try our best to understand. Bring people to church, lead them to Bible study—show them the ways to Jesus. Just like in the story we heard, no one of us is self sufficient, and basic needs get better met in community.

What a story about Jesus we just heard, and we've seen images of a blooming desert singing and rejoicing, too! In the story Jesus tells the people to keep quiet, to tell no one about what they're seen and experienced. But after all, this narrative is about a guy who once was deaf and speechless receiving gifts of hearing and clear speech—they probably knew about singing desert in bloom, too! So they couldn't not tell the world and everyone they knew and met. After all again, these people had seem some spectacular happenings and miracles! But Jesus charged them to tell no one, because he knew these miracles and wonders were just a beginning: "you ain't seen nothing yet!" Easter's on its way; resurrection from the dead!

Of the four gospels we know from the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, Mark's is the shortest and in many ways moves most quickly and most directly. Mark included no birth narrative but begins with the public ministry Jesus initiated at the age of thirty. In his gospel, Mark concentrates on Jesus' moving toward Jerusalem and toward the cross of Good Friday, so the signs and wonders are almost the least of it: Easter's coming!

Despite the limitations and frequent pain and disappointments all of us have experienced, we've all known and experienced hints and foretastes of Easter's transforming power, Easter newness, hints and foreshadowing of the life we'll eventually know when we're living in God's presence forever. How can we not tell the story! How can we be silent?

I'd like to conclude with a poem by Pastor Brian Wren, who's from the United Kingdom and currently teaches at Columbia Theological Seminary in Georgia.

Christ Is Risen! Shout Hosanna!

Christ is risen! Shout hosanna! Celebrate this day of days!
Christ is risen! Hush in wonder: all creation is amazed.
In the desert all—surrounding, see, a spreading tree has grown.
Healing leaves of grace abounding bring a taste of love unknown.

Christ is risen!Raise your spirits from the caverns of despair.
Walk with gladness in the morning; see what love can do and dare.
Drink the wine of resurrection—not a servant but a friend;
Jesus is our strong companion; joy and peace shall never end.

Christ is risen! Earth and heaven nevermore shall be the same.
Break the bread of new creation where the world is still in pain.
Tell its grim, demonic chorus: "Christ is risen! Get you gone!"
God the first and last is with us; sing hosanna, everyone!

...Brian Wren...

Christ is risen! How can we be silent! Tell the story of Jesus to everyone you meet; invite them to church; invite them here; drag them to Bible study. Jesus Christ is alive and with us here and now!

To God alone be glory!

Amen!

Late August Blog

It was late in the day and I posted this on the wrong blog; I'm leaving it on this far by faith, but here it is again:

Very late August—so very late in fact that August has turned over into September; today is September 7, the end of the first week of the next month, but I'm keeping the title from when I started writing on the afternoon of Saturday, August 26.

Over the summer I've defaulted into almost daily sandwiches, most often the $2.99 Sandwich of the Day Special, from the local Subway (sandwich shop, of course; this is the West Coast where I haven't yet run into any subway train systems, with run into aptly suggesting near-frantic running after buses, subway trains and commuter trains back in Boston). Exactly like preaching the lectionary, going with the SOTD at Subway is both freedomed discipline and locked-in pre-determination. tell people "I appreciate the RCL's discipline and especially its ecumenicity!" Ecumenical – the entire earth's household, sometimes described as "the whole, known inhabited world," which also means the dwelling-place where all creation – not just human – lives and needs to have maintained in integrity if all of us hope wholly to thrive together.

Yesterday evening there were 26409 Subway restaurants in 85 countries, up some from 26347 a few days earlier, making me wonder about the bills-of-fare or plain old menu boards in places like Aruba, Belize and Costa Rica; on the site I found an answer:

The SUBWAY® chain opened its first restaurant outside the U.S. & Canada in the small Middle Eastern nation of Bahrain in December of 1984. Since then, the SUBWAY® chain has gone worldwide.

Despite the diversity of cultures wherever SUBWAY® restaurants are located, the core menu stays relatively the same—with the exception of some cultural and religious variations.

Is Subway(®) behaving like American Presbyterians did in Korea? Maybe. So does Subway® believe they have Good News that needs a particular kind of containerization in order to be effective—efficacious, even? In writing grant proposals "Measure of Effectiveness" is one of the parameters we define, usually listing criteria that minimally must be met in order for the goal or objective to be considered to have worked out well or achieved the desired effect. In mission, evangelism and ministry and in the Subway® sandwich restaurant's chain's market share, how is effectiveness determined by what measure and by whom? How do those results play out? Or could they find a way for "Eat Fresh" to work with basically non-Western ingredients whenever they're assembling and serving subs in non-Western contexts? A couple days ago I posted a short blog about contextualizing ministry, mission and evangelism; how well does Subway(®) contextualize its sandwiches? I'm suggesting Subway could be considered ecumenical—just like the RCL! Also notice Subway® gets called a "chain," which means each part is linked to the next part in a way that's difficult to break or undo. But links in a chain definitely don't need to be equal, the same, or even very similar, do they? In my experience they don't! Look as if this is turning into more-or-less pure blog...and my thinking is getting crazy, as is the hour, for someone who has to be in class at 7 Friday morning.

From The Shamu Adventure, "I remember the days of the starry nights" with music, maybe lyrics too, by Brad Kelley. A few days ago I bought a pair of Ocean Dream stoneware bowls—definitely worth posting a pic here as soon as I remember to take a few. This evening I'm recollecting – literally gathering together over again, re-linking into a hard-to-unlink group in my memory – days of starry nights and wishing they'd return and knowing they can't because this is today, almost the start of the second week of September 2006 and we can expect some days and some nights of Santa Ana Winds. In addition to those amazing weather moods, I can expect regularly to be considering many more ecumenical RCL lections and Eating Fresh™ quite a few more ecumenical(?!) sandwiches from the local San Diego branch of the Subway® chain.

Contextualized Ministry...and Mission

Very short blog, but too long in the works! Doubtless I'll be writing lots more about this as I make my way through a Generous Orthodoxy.

A Generous Orthodoxy: Why I am a missional, evangelical, post/protestant, liberal/conservative, mystical/poetic, biblical, charismatic/contemplative,...emergent, unfinished... by Brian McLaren on Amazon

Y'all you-all know all about contextualizing ministry and mission; reportedly and reputedly we're currently living not in post-modernism but more like post-post-modernism. So how, then, do we contextualize our worship, teaching, preaching and service to suit a post-post-modern culture and population? As individual(!) Christians, how to we present ourselves to the world? Does the world out there already own a caricatured distortion of the idea of Christian? The reality of Christian? Yes, in many quarters it does.

Albuquerque, Boston, Paris (Maine), Haarlem...

...your neighborhood, my neighborhood, wherever, whenever: Labor Day, Valentine's Day, Easter Day! Contextualized in space and in specific linear time, often in terms of a generic calendar event; frequently in terms of someone's life event. Several times today during the news our local ABC affiliate showed a feature about the hazards of starting kindergarten—that's precisely the kind of happening into which individuals and churches could imagine tons of potential for evangelism, mission and ministry: the parent whose first, or middle or maybe last child no longer will be at home; parents whose other siblings are in school or at home; a parent or parents' changed or modified work and social schedules; teachers, principals and other school personnel returning for another year or beginning their first year in the system. You know! In other words, all these situations easily can become live opps for direct service types of ministry as well as for discerning where the persons or families could fit into existing, emerging and not-yet envisioned church and neighborhood programs. How routine it is for people who have grown up in the church to leave but then return when they think they want their kids to get a moral or religious education or training? Even parents who haven't had their kids blessed or baptized? Even parents whose own parents haven't urged them to do so?

As I stated at the outset, this has been short.

The Dublin House in Seaport Square

Old-Fashioned Setting, Real Food: The Dublin House in Seaport Square
On a recent weekday afternoon we had lunch around two o'clock at Dublin House, a restaurant and bar at 9 Stanton Street in Seaport Square. With its vintage mahogany walls, Dublin House exhibits a solid, stable air. It has survived population shifts, retail business exodus, and the rest of the crises of the central cities. It is so much a survivor from another era that one gets the impression it will stay that way, even as another change - gentrification - arrives at Seaport Square.

The atmosphere of Dublin House is Irish, although the clientele – judging by the limited sample of four other diners we saw while we were there – reflected the diverse population of the area. Irish origins show in the faded country scenes of the wallpaper above the mahogany wainscoting, in the waitstaff's lively conversations with the regular customers, in the traditional Irish melodies found amidst the top forty and country-western jukebox selections. Bing Crosby crooned the Irish songs, we might add.

With the same menu for both lunch and supper, Dublin House stays open and serves food from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m.. Consequently, the plates we ordered, although a bit high for a workday lunch, would be reasonably priced if ordered in the evening. Three of us were together this time, so we sampled a variety of selections. We ordered Fish and Chips on the regular menu at $5.75, and two of the several daily specials: Chopped Sirloin Steak and Hot Open Turkey Sandwich, at $5.25 each. The fish part of the Fish and Chips was fried haddock, and it was outstanding in both appearance and flavor. The portion was very generous; the filet had been dipped in a light batter and browned perfectly—we can hear someone on TV saying "fried to golden perfection!" The chips were steak fries, and they were greaseless, well-browned and well-cooked on the inside. Along with these went good cole slow made without too much mayonnaise or too much vinegar and a generous helping of classic Tartar Sauce.

Both the Hot Turkey and the Chopped Sirloin came with a choice of mashed potatoes or fries and string beans or cole slaw. The Hot Turkey came from an actual turkey or turkey breast and was not the synthetic-tasting pressed stuff called turkey roll. It was real! The Chopped Sirloin, looking like a large hamburger (definitely more than ¼ lb.) was greaseless and well-flavored. They served both meats with gravy, and (believe it or not!) the two gravies were different. That with the turkey was light and suitable for poultry; the Sirloin gravy was definitely beef. Despite the green string beans coming out of a can, they were hot and did not detract from the meal. Like the turkey, our potatoes were real, and not packaged reconstitutes. We should add that before the actual plates arrived they served us ice water without our requesting it, a basket filled with six slices of good packaged wheat bread, plus a small plate of butter.

To us as eagerly hungry diners, the hallmarks of Dublin House fare are the "realness" of the food and the ample portions. Consequently, although we had to wait a longish twenty minutes before getting our food, we would like to think this related to its authentic quality. Perhaps they actually were mashing the potatoes! However, a more likely explanation is that we arrived to dine at a slow time when the kitchen was not prepared for quick service. We assume food delivery during real lunch hours is faster.

Although our meals cost more than one would care to spend on lunch every day, the menu did contain less expensive items. Sandwiches prices ranged from $2.95 for a Grilled Cheese to $3.95 for a Bacon Burger. So one in quest of a $4 lunch could be well satisfied.

A few final words about the physical atmosphere of Dublin House: the bar is well separated from the restaurant section, a wall with only one small opening between them. The women's rest room, although not well-scrubbed and gleaming enough for a TV commercial, is clean and well-supplied. We found the dim lighting restful and relaxing; the absence of air conditioning might prove a problem on the hottest days, although with low eighties outside, we stayed comfortable.

All things considered, if you're in the area of Seaport Square, you can't go wrong by ducking into Dublin House for lunch or dinner, just as we did!


The low prices reflect the original date of this review during the twentieth century.

current favorite authors

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Disclaimer: I truly am a little embarrassed, since everyone I've listed is a guy and all the theological types are protestants! I've listed mostly in the order the authors came to mind, categorizing each writer according to their literary genre or type I'm most familiar with. If you visit my other blogs, you'll notice I'm cross-posting; I expect to remember some omissions, so most likely I'll be adding to these lists.

Mostly Prose:

William Faulkner
Walter Brueggemann
Tony Campolo
Martin Luther
Martin Luther King
Paul Tillich
Martin Buber
Robert Farrar Capon
Max Lucado
Rick Bragg
James Cone
Matthew Fox
James Agee

Mostly Poets:

Richard Shelton
Hermann Hesse
Heinrich Heine
Conrad Aiken
Walt Whitman
Langston Hughes
Carl Sandburg

How Many Jesuses?

A Generous Orthodoxy: Why I am a missional, evangelical, post/protestant, liberal/conservative, mystical/poetic, biblical, charismatic/contemplative,...emergent, unfinished... by Brian McLaren on Amazon

Well, I'm not reading the chapters in order of appearance in the book, but I sort of read chapter 1 of a Generous Orthodoxy where Brian McLaren describes the seven manifestations (varieties?...try "categories"?) of Jesus he has experienced, so it's time for me to blog about some of my experiences of Jesus. Pastor Brian gets his Jesus-types taxonomy from various traditions and expressions of Christianity and does the biblical number seven with his Jesuses, getting specific with labels like Conservative Protestant, Pentecostal/Charismatic, Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Liberal Protestant, Anabaptist and Jesus of the Oppressed, grouping more according to style or worldview rather than doctrinal, theological or confessional propensities. I'll try matching his number, seven, and probably include some sub-types, but without taking time to flesh them out...incarnate them?! Here goes!

1. Activist Jesus: coupled with fond memories of the activist Christian community that first nurtured by faith and practice.
• Hand in hand with: Prophetic Jesus
• Closely yoked with: Iconoclast Jesus
2. Cosmic Christ: how many times have I mentioned how much I particularly love the Cosmic Christ of Colossians, the Pantocratur, the Oriental Potentate?
3. Friend Jesus? yes; Jesus reveals my best and my worst to me and helps me change and grow. Besides, most importantly, friend Jesus walks alongside me everywhere I go, even when the rest of the world and church forsakes me—I gotta remember that.
• Pretty much parallels Teacher Jesus, because friends often are our best teachers and our best teachers sometimes become our friends, too.
4. Christ Jesus who meets us and whom we meet in the sacraments and in the commonest stuff of creation; the Risen and Ascended One who dwells in, with and under all creation.
5. The Wandering, Marginalized Man of Sorrows who set out for urban and rural public ministry after being baptized by John the Wilderness Guy and temptations in the desert.
6. Servant Jesus, living among us as one who served and commanding us to serve. Not far distant from McLaren's Jesus of the Oppressed nor from my Man of Sorrows Jesus 5, nor is Servant Jesus more than an eyeblink away from Jesus of Latin American, Asian, African and North American Liberation, Feminist, Womanist Theologies.
• Another especially paradoxical manifestation of Wholly Holiness
7. Jesus desiring to be recalled and Jesus worthy of being remembered: "Do this; remember me..." But how? With unforgettable liturgies? Or with memorable acts of compassion and solidarity?

Have I omitted Springtime Jesus? No, not—I do not claim that Jesus, or at least I don't recall ever meeting him! But slowly I have been learning the Crucified One, the Crucified Jesus, Man of Nazareth become the Risen One at Easter Sunday dawn, which without any doubt is a springtime festival!

I'll end with a quote from one of my own blogs, Transfiguration: Until the Day Dawns, from February 6, 2005:

The Sign of Jonah—Death and Resurrection! For two thousand years, theologians and faith communities have struggled to learn and discern what Jesus means to them. We know Jesus as teacher and Jesus as political prophet; doubtless many of us consider Jesus a social activist, too. Jesus as a healer? Probably. But Jesus, the man of Nazareth, who died outside the city on a cross of shame as the Christ of God? At the very heart of the story of Jesus of Nazareth stands the seven days we call Passion Week: a crucified man – but – then an empty grave, a narrative with no easy answers or clear-cut implications, a series of events so far outside the normally credible many of us would like to dismiss it as legend. But today’s lections are not about death and resurrection but about something else altogether—they’re about a spectacular manifestation of God’s Glory on yet another mountaintop.

Of course, I hope that teaser will lead you to read the entire blog! I'm planning to continue blogging about a Generous Orthodoxy and I'm also working on several more blogs for this site.

25 Waterfront Drive

Imaginary and legendary names; real experiences.

Okay, all of you readers—since writing restaurant reviews for the local radical rag may have been my all-time favorite job anywhere at any time, I've decided to post another. These reviews are a indispensable part of my journeying this far by faith, but judiciously I've changed names, places, and some other specifics to continue protecting the guilty. As I chose my revisionist designations, I noticed how constantly seacoast and desert pull me back and forth. No surprise! But this time I stuck with the coast...

Twenty-Five Waterfront Drive: Bright Spot in Seaport Square
Twenty-Five Waterfront Drive was sunlit and inviting as we stopped by a little after one o'clock for Sunday brunch. Twenty-Five Waterfront Drive? On the southwest corner of Waterfront and Seaport Street, it's Seaport Square's newest dining establishment, and it's decidedly taking a bow toward gentrification. It has an air of class-consciousness: its name; its décor—highlighted by single fresh daffodils in depression-glass bud vases; creamy-colored linen tablecloths and beige cloth napkins; its somewhat eclectic though traditionally American bill of fare.

First impressions: a clean, well-contained room with seating capacity around 70, luminous natural light, an abundance of large, healthy plants, and about a dozen framed prints by local artists. Three walls painted white, a single brick wall, an unobtrusive dark Dhurrie-type rug, black ceiling and dark brown molded chairs added up to an aura of self-assured warmth and soft edges. Unhappily, too-loud music and talk from a commercial radio station also formed part of the initial impression.

Written on a wall-mounted chalkboard, the brunch menu for that day included griddle cakes or French toast for $5.85, with specialty griddle cakes, ham, bacon, or sausage an unspecified extra amount; a choice of four different omelets for $6.95; $7.95 for steak and eggs; Turkey Wellington or ham and yams for $8.50; fresh-catch of local fish and a vegetable-of-the-day for $9.35. Fresh cantaloupe or grapefruit listed at $2.35; mimosa (a champagne and fruit drink), $2.75. The menu board cited a fairly extensive variety of wine and beer. By this neighborhood's standards these prices are about average, although possibly a little lower than you'd pay for comparable fare in some other sections of the city.

We began our meal with sweet, flavorful fresh cantaloupe served with a sprig of parsley and a slice of lime. For entrées, one of us opted for an omelet – The Waterfront Drive – the other, for French toast. The omelet was chock full of chopped onions sautéed until transparent, crumbled sweet sausage, and sliced mushrooms, browned until golden and eased onto the plate so it looked like a half-moon. Savory hash browns, diced and blended with onion and cilantro accompanied the omelet, as did a grilled English muffin and jelly. With a glass of white Chablis ($2.65), it added up to a satisfying blend of flavors and textures.

The French toast also deserves a sound commendation! Three hefty slices made from substantial bread, sprinkled with powdered sugar, and spread across the plate arrived at the table. The outside was well-browned; the inside, the color of beaten egg; the edges, a trifle irregular from excess batter; this French toast had been soaked in vanilla-flavored batter along with a trace of an unidentified spice. Coffee and a selection of teas each were $1.45, each refillable.

Twenty-Five Waterfront Drive's current hours are Monday-Saturday from 7-10:30 for breakfast; Wednesday-Saturday 11-3 for lunch, 5-10 for dinner; brunch only on Sunday, from 10-3.

The association of Seaport Square and Twenty-Five Waterfront Drive will be interesting to watch in the months to come, since the restaurant's existence may foreshadow the future of the area. What does Twenty-Five Waterfront Drive say about commercial and residential investments and opportunities in Seaport Square? Waterfront Drive and Seaport Street is enough of a crossroads location that the restaurant's patronage potentially could be quite varied, but Twenty-Five Waterfront Drive's name and atmosphere probably would be likely to attract either those who already consider themselves "gentry" or those who are self-consciously upwardly mobile, rather than those from other groups who now make Seaport Square's surrounding area their home.

If Twenty-Five Waterfront Drive is a sign of things to come, does this mean additional shops and stores of the same general type? Does it thus signal the closing of still more businesses and the reopening of boarded storefronts? Does it mean a future Seaport Square whose stores and homes will not be available to many of the people who live there now? Twenty-Five Waterfront Drive is both a culinary bright-light and a place to watch in an area to watch; I encourage you to try its food and to keep an eye on its future and the future of Seaport Square!


Low prices?! Please note this happened during the last century.

Urban Coastal Cuisine

Here’s a spin on what I did during my probably all-time favorite job—a volunteer gig writing restaurant reviews for the local radical newsrag.

Madison Square's Newest Temptation

"Lunches to Savor and Remember"
With all the yuppies, graduate students, young families, and assorted others who've been moving into town, it's high time for the arrival of an establishment like Urban Coastal Cuisine!

Since we'd been wondering if the restaurant's name was overstated, too trendy, or aptly descriptive, last Tuesday a pair of us ventured into Urban Coastal's luncheon buffet. UCC occupies a storefront on Jefferson Street in Madison Square vacated several months ago by a retail outlet of a recently defunct small grocery chain; current tenants on the surrounding blocks include several national retail outlets.

In reviving and redesigning the site, Abigail Janssen and Rich Krone, the restaurant's owners/managers, both recent graduates of Johnson & Wales, retained the original plate glass windows and one of the original entryways, blocking the 2nd door with a subtle, freeform graphic done in densely textured acrylic with metallic accents by local artist and teacher Maya Gutierrez. Banner signage announces "local seafood and ethnic cuisine"; a quartet of Seats of Consciousness, commissioned from Mariela Santos of Community Fair Food's bevy of co-workers and fans, offer inviting spots to rest, wait, converse, or meet people. Inside the windows and peering out to greet passersby and potential diners, window boxes filled with floral plantings add a spot of bright color to an otherwise subtly sophisticated presentation mostly done in natural hues.

Once inside UCC, we discovered the atmosphere attempts to mimic what I've experienced in Cambridge's Harvard and Central Squares but in a less in-your-face "this is the way to be 'in' these days" manner. Clearly there is "a way to be" if you're well-educated and you've opted for inner-city rather than suburban living, and one of the requisite lifestyle accoutrements includes at least occasional dining at places that serve other than the more classic and traditional Americana vittles.

As we perused the bill of fare, we noticed the prices were high for lunch in Madison Square. But sometimes the image is costly, right? So going for the expected splurge, one of us ordered grilled (unspecified) seafood fajitas with Caribbean chutney-style salsa and "Thai Style" fruit compote. Yes. The other decided on non-coastal, choosing slightly blackened (that's still current?) chicken breast au poivre, wild rice medley, (local!) and a garden-fresh tomato and mixed green salad with the obligatory house vinaigrette. Since the wine selection was too pricey for us, we decided to drink bottled water. Then on to dessert—this time a different ethnicity with Tiramisu and an American favorite: strawberry-rhubarb tart crowned with housemade vanilla ice cream. To accompany dessert one of us had an herbal and black tea blend created by one of our J&W graduate hosts and served with honey from New Hampshire; the other chose a double latté from a plethora of specialty coffees. On a side note, while we were lunching, folks at two nearby tables stopped in for coffee and pastry, so that less-expensive option may help restaurant revenue.


The food? Yes, the food! Presentation of all the cuisine that came to our table was clean, fresh and appealing, served on natural-colored stoneware. All the flavors of everything were nicely married, with no particular accent overwhelming another one. However, none of the food we ordered had a particularly distinct or novel taste, either: it was more in keeping with the expected standard of this kind of cuisine, but that works well!

Ambience definitely is a big part of this restaurant's draw, with interior walls painted a light sandy beige, pale wood tables and chairs, and newly-refinished wide-plank floors coupled with stoneware dishes, silk flowers on the table and a diversity of silk-screened city scene, beach scene, and city beach scene prints hanging on the walls—including Malibu, one of my local favorites. The calming effect of it all took me back to a more tranquil era and soon will draw me back to Urban Coastal Cuisine. Recorded music definitely would enhance the entire mise-en-scéne or – ideally – live music, such as guitar or mandolin. But I can dream! Rich Krone, who together with Abigail Janssen is UCC’s owner/manager, told me a live music series s part of his vision, and acquiring an arts grant to provide live music performances is another hope for the future.

Baptist Blog

I'll begin by paraphrasing Luther: Condemned are the Anabaptists, who imagine they can do anything on their own. From Heidelberg Disputation(?)—I'm not sure. I've just finished reading Chapter 13, "Why I am (Ana)Baptist/Anglican" of Brian McLaren's a Generous Orthodoxy, so here's my blog; I'm actually allowing myself latitude about not compulsively linking to and referencing absolutely everything, but you can find a direct link to the book in my Products and Packaging from July 28.

A Generous Orthodoxy: Why I am a missional, evangelical, post/protestant, liberal/conservative, mystical/poetic, biblical, charismatic/contemplative,...emergent, unfinished... by Brian McLaren on Amazon

At this moment I don't recall what I was reading by whom at which time, but something I read not too long ago mentioned people in the churches sometimes designated "historic peace churches" are not reluctant to talk about the wrath of God, while mainline-types often hesitate to talk about sin and depravity and many conservative evangelical types are into sweet, friendly Jesus—"springtime Jesus" but not the Crucified One become the Risen Christ at Easter's dawn. So for a while I referenced Mennonite, Brethren and others birthed from the Radical Reformation as "Wrath of God" churches. A while ago I also mentioned that God had (sort of) taken me out of the liberal, activist American Baptist church that shaped my early Christian journey - though in my late teens and early 20's I wasn't all that young - because there aren't many Baptists writing heavy-duty theology. I've long been aware that a huge part of my attraction to the Reformation tradition has been its huge quantity of well-considered theology. McLaren mentions a scarcity of Baptist theologians, too—right on track with my own perception! As I continue research and consideration of my future book about ecological theology...

I love this chapter—esp the Ana/Baptist section, but also the Anglican one. Here's this blog's point of departure for me:

from Afterglow — Sarah McLachlan

"Fallen"

Heaven bend to take my hand and lead me through the fire
Be the long awaited answer to a long and painful fight
Truth be told I tried my best
But somewhere long the way I got caught up in all there was to offer
But the cost was so much more than I could bear
Though I've tried I've fallen I have sunk so low...

Heaven bend to take my hand I've nowhere left to turn
I'm lost to these I thought were friends to everyone I know
...and there doesn't seem a way to be redeemed

Excerpts in my mind from "Way to Go", an autumn 2004 blog on city delights round out this Sunday evening's sentiments.

Although I'm trying to be a little whimsical, I'm also trying hard to say conventional mainline protestant churches have not been working for me, for whatever reason. In addition, as I contemplated returning to the East Coast and scoped out websites for the two churches close to Harvard Square that logically would be my first places of inquiry – First Congregational and University Lutheran – and then checked out Old Cambridge Baptist, everything about OCBC seemed to make it my way to go. Notice the not-oblique reference to my blog quoted supra! By the way, every one of those churches I just mentioned is liberal and activist, so in those terms any differences are negligible. The Theology page on OCBC's website reads,

Some of our visitors marvel . . . "and all this at a Baptist church!" We take our theological bearings from deep within the European and British tradition of anabaptists, which held that the Gospel, rightly interpreted, was the a matter between an individual, his or her community of believers and God.

Before reading Chapter 13, I read Chapter 12, "Fundamentalist/Calvinist." Discussion question #1 asks about "fundamentals of the Christian faith that we're willing to fight for." I'll reply yes, definitely: Solus Christus!

As I fondly reminisce about First Mariner's ABC that nurtured me so, I do realize its very small size was a major part of its effectiveness for me. My youth and shapeability, bendability or whatever you want to call it doubtless was another overwhelming factor! I've told about this in person but haven't blogged many details, but the community was demanding and intense: in order really to belong they expected and pretty much directed you to be at worship, at Bible study, participate in and when asked lead a discussion; we had a close to locally legendary Holy Club that met weekly to discuss a book chapter or sermon, quite apart from Bible study groups. Baptist?! As I've previously mentioned, I was baptized in an Episcopal church as a young child, but when I asked the 1st Mariner's pastor if I needed to be baptized again (ana), he asked why would I!? We routinely took part in both everyday and specific issue-oriented neighborhood goings-on. When local and national political campaigns were on the docket, we were expected to work for the candidate or cause of our choice: no particular position dictated, but you'd better be there and you'd better show you care! A couple of times a group of us ventured out to the countryside on weekend retreat; those times we observed regular periods of silence and prayed the canonical hours, so I got to borrow the office books from the Franciscan Friary a couple doors. That discalced order of brown-robed brothers would traipse around the snowy winter city sidewalks and streets in sandals! One might imagine "Baptist" by default would be liturgically low-church, but we weren't exactly so. BCP worship was not unusual for us, and when a friend expressed an interest in elaborate liturgy, the pastor (who also was executive director of the multi-service agency housed in the same building) sent her around the corner to Old North. The same pastor, observing my interest in theology, suggested I attend Krister Stendahl's Wednesday morning Eucharist at UniLu; those Wednesdays, followed by breakfast and discussion at a local restaurant for anyone with time who was inclined, helped define my future. I'm not at all sure I outgrew the bounds of the now-disbanded First Mariner's Church, but God sent me in other directions.

McLaren distinguishes churches such as the American Baptist, which for the most part claim a British Isles heritage and Anabaptists of continental European origin, but in the blog at hand I'm grouping them together as being different and distinct from Reformation, Methodist (ummm, Arminian, Pentecostals...) and those on the Canterbury Trail. And again, while the person in the pew or on the streets might imagine mode of and age at baptism the primary dissimilarity, that is so not so. In fact, I don't perceive it as counting much at all, and I'm not sure McLaren does, either. I'll quote him from page 229: ...Anabaptists have long understood that what really counts is a fruitful way of life." Omigosh! On page 231 he says, "As outsiders [Anabaptists] learned to function at the margins, and they learned that the gospel functions there just as well as or better than at the centers of power, prestige, wealth and control." Part of my own story, and these days I'm saying it out loud: over the past dozen years I have felt and literally have been pushed to the edges, out from the center of society, of the church and of the human endeavor and in the process, I know I have experienced the heart of God, which is the heart of a stranger who doesn't really belong anywhere. During this time I've actually emerged as a theologian, learning to articulate God's passion and human reality. After all, throughout the witness of the Bible and history's witness, we learn the fullness of divinity and the fullness of humanity are the same, captivatingly revealed in Jesus Christ. Got it? I'm finally getting it! Pages 232-223: "Anabaptists know that community is far more costly than that [the candles, programs and training videos McLaren cites as examples]: one cannot add it to anything, rather one must begin with it in order to enter it, practice it and preserve it." Since Brian McLaren says it so well, here's my final quote, from page 223: "The exchange of treasures around that table can enrich us all, and without the Anabaptists there, the party is hardly worth having." He's talking about Christian – possibly formal ecumenical - conversation, a vital aspect of the eschatological feast of redemption's completeness, but it must go far further, to the Welcome Table of the Eucharist we celebrated this morning; it needs to culminate and then continue with the sanctuary and the healing embrace of the Welcoming Community I long for and finally am admitting in words I need in order to be alive (yes) and even to survive much longer.

Brian McLaren includes four pages about Anglicanism; I've blogged some about my experience with the Episcopal Church, especially last winter when I wrote about the short-lived Book of Daniel TV program, but in a day or two I'll write a few responses to the end of this Chapter 13.

Big Dig Boston Blog

James Taylor, Never Die Young

We were ring-around-the-rosy children
They were circles around the sun
Never give up, never slow down
Never grow old, never ever die young

Synchronized with the rising moon
Even with the evening star
They were true love written in stone
They were never alone, they were never that far apart

And we who couldn't bear to believe they might make it
We got to close our eyes
Cut up our losses into doable doses
Ration our tears and sighs ...

Oh, hold them up, hold them up
Never do let them fall
Prey to the dust and the rust and the ruin
That names us and claims us and shames us all

It's about time—lots and lots of time plus lots and lots of $$$, making the now-notoriously legendary CA/T Central Artery/Tunnel project, a.k.a. Big Dig the most expensive public works project ever in the history of this realm of the Americas; the latest cost quote I could find cited $14.6 billion, spelled out as $14,600,000,000. But trust Boston to do things right—maybe especially when it comes to scale! After all, when the Red Sox finally won the World Series, they wowed the entire world by coming back from 0 for 3 in that series, and from an incalculable disadvantage for oh so many seasons prior to 2004.

The Big Dig operates under the aegis of the Turnpike Authority! "Mass Pike" evokes drives to Lenox and Stockbridge; I have memories of betting $2.00 on Mass Pike to place or show at Suffolk Downs.

Most expensive...what then are we to say about this? From scripture's standpoint of covenantal justice, what was happening and what's going on now? Lots of pork doled out for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' congressional delegation's constituency: that's a fact. Has The Big Dig generated a lot of jobs? At what wages? Employment for people who otherwise might not have been working? How about the multiplier effect TBG has had on companies and corporations that mine and manufacture inputs for physical infrastructure? Kickbacks? Must've been a lot of those, and not only because TBG is about Massachusetts, but simply because Tip O'Neill's aphorism about back room deals always obtains.

Of course you gotta consider cost-benefit ratio; whenever I use the word "even" I always feel like apologizing, but even within the closely linked temporal/spiritual sphere, you need to give up some thing to get a desired other thing. Therefore let's ask, "Who has benefited and how? Who will continue to benefit?" While I was living, or sojourning – or whatever you want to call it – in Boston during summer 2000, my friend and housemate (landlord, too) Nick frequently ventured out to artistic and musical venues (churches, too, but Nick and church is another story for another blog). One afternoon he returned home and told me about a building-to-building art exhibition he'd just experienced in the South End.

Among the details he described a couple of guys living in a loft that amazingly was appointed exactly according to the early 1970s—"red candles melting down the sides of Chianti bottles and a paisley tablecloth, too." Meanwhile, Nick exclaimed, the entire world outside their windows was being disrupted for about the 345,567,678^th time, but between their nirvana and their painterly endeavors they remained oblivious. Immediately outside their studio loft home, TBG kept noisily rolling along.

But I began asking about benefits, and for sure government of all sizes has learned it is no more politically correct than it is morally so to dislocate lives and families by destroying their habitats and disarticulating their physical environments which, after all, have become an integral aspect of their psychological and spiritual milieus. JT speaks of sighs and tears, and agonizingly I recall tearfully sighing at yet another fire-gutted building, yet another boarded-up house.

During my high school years, live experiences of blockbusting, white flight, redlining, urban blight and inner-city decay made me learn to cut up my losses into doable doses…just the same as my current style of operating. I'm not sure, however, those concerns need to be part of a chronicle about TBG?! No more razing – and killing – communities to present the outside world another Lincoln Center in the wake of needless unredemptive death; no more demolished West Ends...the world learned what transpired in those and closely-related "cases" hardly amounted to resurrection! But nonetheless, we did study them seriously in my Urban Studies program courses—you know Case Studies in Urban Renewal.

In the Hebrew scriptures God refers to the city Shiloh – one of the shrines of the Tribal Confederacy – as the place God's Name first dwelt. The city! Not the apparently forsaken desert of wilderness wanderings that yet was the site of identity-formation and teeming with undetected life beneath the immediately observable, but the city: communications, infrastructure, cash transactions, middle-class and middle-person, near-infinite cultural and ethnic and educational diversity, where people imagine they know the source and time of their next meal and next pay envelope or paycheck, imagining themselves no longer dependent upon gracious gift, imagining their living actually secured—but by what means, and by whom? There's well-developed theology about the concept of God's Name/God's Presence in the Hebrew Bible, and centuries later, we have Martin Luther's theology of the ubiquity of the Risen and Ascended Christ. Ubiquity: the Crucified, Risen and Ascended One indwells The Big Dig and all its artifacts and excrescences! Yes!

With at least a half-dozen more blogs in mind and needing to be in class at 7:00 tomorrow morning, I'll sign off from this with a couple more song lyric quotes; just in case you even wondered, I'll tell you JT is one of my favorite songwriters and performers. Beyond the referenced song and album, I'm not familiar with Martin Page or much more so with Eddie Money, whom I heard at a pre-Winter Olympics campaign rally in Salt Lake City during the mid-1990's, and a few Faith Journeys back I quoted "Peace in Our Time." I'll try to retrieve a copy of that document and blog it onto this far by faith.

Martin Page, "In the House of Stone and Light":

O Mount Kailas, uncover me
Come my restoration; wash my body clean
I've been walking along a crooked path
Where the walls have fallen and broken me in half ...
I'm telling you I will not rest till I lay down my head
In the house of stone and light
I make my way; O gonna be such a beautiful day
In the house of stone and light

Eddie Money, Peace In Our Time, from The Sound Of Money

Never gonna break down the walls
And build the prison with the stone
Cause you and I know what love is worth
We're gonna build a heaven on earth
Running in the wheels of fortune turning water into wine
Gonna make love the bottom line gonna find peace in our time
We're gonna build a heaven here on earth
Turning water, water into wine making love the bottom line
Finding peace, peace in our time

public domain photographs from wikimedia commons

Grace for the Journey

Proper 9B/Ordinary 14B/Pentecost 5/July 9, 2006

Mark 6:1, 7-13 NRSV

1 Jesus...came into his hometown; and his disciples followed him.
7 And he summoned the twelve and began to send them out in pairs, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits;
8 and he instructed them that they should take nothing for their journey, except a mere staff—no bread, no bag, no money in their belt—
9 but to wear sandals; and he added, "Do not put on two tunics."
11 "Any place that does not receive you or listen to you, as you go out from there, shake the dust off the soles of your feet for a testimony against them."
12 They went out and preached that people should repent.
13 And they were casting out many demons and were anointing with oil many sick people and healing them.

Prayer:

God, sometimes as thunder rolls, we barely hear You whisper through the rain, "I'm here with you," as Your mercy and grace fall upon us. God, we'll praise You through our lives; You are with us here; You never leave our sides or leave us on our own. We praise You forevermore, in Jesus' Name, Amen!

Casting Crowns' song, "Praise you in this Storm" from their Lifesong album inspired this prayer.

Proclamation: Grace for the Journey

We just heard a narrative about us from the gospel according to Mark. Jesus summoned or called his followers and sent them out "in pairs" – not alone, but two-by-two, with each other for companionship [explain further]. And Jesus tells them to travel with only bare essentials, to trust that God will supply their needs for food and shelter—through the welcoming hospitality of people they meet along their journey. That sounds a lot like here, too. [explain further]

Mark's account mentions Jesus' hometown, and in a real sense Jesus' hometown is what we have here, because wherever God's Holy Spirit gather God's people together, God dwells among them and within them; God dwells within us and among us, right here, as well.

Jesus sends them – Jesus sends us – to share meals and sustenance with each other but amazingly relying on gracious gifts of strangers they encounter along the way. All that spells interdependence—just like here!

Jesus gives his followers authority over unclean spirit: addictions, demons, distractions, consternations—everyone has some of those! And Jesus' disciples call folks to repent, to make a 180-degree turned-around attitude and a turned-around lifestyle. Each of us needs some changes of direction away from situations and behaviors that have become negative and life-defeating.

But in plain human term, all of this does not sound possible; it goes way far beyond a tall order and moves right into the realm of human impossibility!

Let's hear some words of scripture from the apostle Paul [explain Paul: Romans, Galatians]. In this passage, Paul begins by referencing life's experiences of contentment, well-being and success, but goes beyond that to talk about some of those more difficult times that happen to all of us, and sometimes far too frequently. I'm going to read from Leslie Brandt's version of 2 Corinthians, called Epistles Now! [explain translation and version]

2 Corinthians 12:2-10 | From Leslie F. Brandt's Epistles Now! © Concordia Publishing House 1974, 1975:

Praise God for these cases of ecstasy that occasionally spice up our travels through the alleys and valleys of human suffering!

We cherish them—for ourselves and for others.

Nevertheless, our relationship to God is not dependent upon them, these mountaintop episodes in our lives, nor are the irrefutable proof of such a relationship.

God's Spirit indwells and empowers us regardless of the highs and lows of our day-by-day existence.

Over against the ecstatic high points of irrepressible joy are those balloon-puncturing experiences that flatten us in despair.

It may well be that we need both in our lives to keep us close to our Creator and Redeemer.

The remarkable thing is that the Spirit of God is often more obvious and more capable of using us during these low points of our lives.

They may actually, though indirectly, be the means by which we recognize and learn to rely on God's promised grace.

God is great; God accepts us as we are.

He can work out His purposes through us—even in spite of us.

We need only to submit to Him our whole beings—strengths, weaknesses, and all—and let Him have His way with us.

A more familiar, direct translation says, "my grace is enough for you because God's power becomes perfect in weakness." The word used for perfect literally says God's grace achieves its goal of filling and indwelling us when our human resources are so gone we have no choice whatsoever but reliance on God. Just as Pastor Leslie Brandt expresses it, God's Spirit often becomes more capable of using us for God's purpose during those times of total and near-total devastation and helplessness because they typically are the times we know we need to depend on God. So those are the times God's Holy Spirit fills us, making it possible for us to be the apparently humanly impossible presence of God in each others' lives.

The word Paul uses for grace, the free to us, unearned gift from God is charis exactly as in the word "charismatic." To be charismatic means to be a bearer of grace, to carry gracious, loving, welcoming acceptance to others wherever we go.

In the New Testament book of Romans, Paul charges us to "welcome one another as God in Christ has welcomed you!" How has God welcomed us in Christ?

In the cross of Calvary, Jesus draws all creation to himself so we live reconciled, put back together with God, each other and all creation. In the cross of Good Friday, Jesus is the supreme bearer of grace – the ultimately charismatic One – offering each of us unearned gifts of forgiveness and brand new beginnings. New beginnings? Yes! Because Jesus' God, our God, is the God who raises the dead to new life, and who would not dare trust such a God? Who would not want to follow the God who raises the dead?

Jesus calls us and draws us to himself, and in the Holy Spirit sends us out from his hometown—from here, where God has gathered us together. He sends us out with a Holy Spirit-filled measure of his authority, which is the authority of God, the power of heaven on earth, to cast out demons, to heal, to raise the dead!

How do we attain and maintain that divine nature, the nature of God? It happens when we obediently live connected to God in Christ, because then we live connected to God's power and authority, exactly like Jesus Christ himself. But how exactly? Some ways include attending bible study, participating in bible study, going to church, praying, reading the scriptures...[more]

God is here with us! Jesus Christ sends us out with his authority, the authority of the God who raises the dead, and who is with all of us wherever we go!

To God alone be glory,

Amen and amen!!!