Making Room

I’m going to do something that might embarrass a few people and tell a story about them. The last time there was a chance to sign up for Dinner Rounds at church (which is a group of 8-12 people that take turns hosting dinners at each of their homes), Ben and I signed up hoping to meet a few new people. As it turns out, seven of us have stuck together and formed an on-going group that meets about eight times a year. The original intention was to get to know a few people over the course of a year or less, but we’ve been going for about 3 years. We were scheduled to meet again and we had a house guest staying with us, so we asked the group if it would be okay to bring him along. We obviously know this group well enough to know that they would be welcoming and friendly. But I was still struck by the hospitality and goodness of these five other people to make space in a group that now has lots of “inside” jokes and ways of hanging out together. Every person made an effort to get to know our friend. They were, even dining al fresco, the church in the truest and best sense of that word. They cared, they listened, they were curious about someone else. And they were authentically themselves, in a very winsome and welcoming way. I knew they were great people, but as I sat at the table with these friends eating, laughing, and talking about God and life, I was really impressed with them and the way they had of putting a stranger at ease. So Ronna, Dave, Teresa, John and Pat, you have really captured the reality of this quote from Dorothy Day:

“We cannot love God unless we love each other, and to love we must know each other: We know Him in the breaking of bread, and we are not alone any more. Heaven is a banquet and life is a banquet, too, even with a crust, where there is companionship.”

Now that I’ve had my chance to tell a story, what story do you have of the church breaking out in meaningful ways?

Pentecost

I’ve been thinking a lot about the Holy Spirit recently. Several people I know, in addition to the staff, have been reading a book about this aspect of God’s personality, and because of that I’ve found myself in conversations about what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit. We also have a three week series starting up this Sunday on the subject. And coming up is Pentecost, the day the Spirit came upon the disciples and the church was officially “born.” It’s a nice convergence to have all these different threads coming together.

Some people may think that the Holy Spirit is a New Testament phenomenon, but the Spirit of God permeates scripture, from the very beginning of creation itself in the first chapter of the Bible (Genesis 1:2) to the end times in the very last chapter of the Bible (Revelation 22:17). He is not “new” to the Trinity, but has been a part of the personality of God forever.

The images of the Holy Spirit captivate me. They are boundary-less and uncontainable: water, cloud, fire, wind, noise, dove. When I think of these images, I realize they all have the ability to expand, to move freely, to touch what they will. I find myself desiring to have the Spirit of God, which I know is in me but is not contained (or controlled) by me, expand and have freedom in my life. I wonder what it is he is creating in me at this moment. And I have that same desire for our church. What would it look like to notice the Spirit’s work more? To see where ministries are expanding and infused with a supernatural power? I hope we learn to develop a better language for calling this out in our midst and in each other. It would be a wonderful encouragement to us all.

I am looking forward to this three week focus, to the chance to retell the story of God from the activity of his Spirit in our lives. Let’s keep looking for and discussing the ways the Spirit is moving among us. It will be exciting!

Easter People

I see on my calendar that today, Easter Monday, is a bank holiday in many countries. For a moment I let myself imagine it was because people had celebrated Easter so heartily and whooped it up so mightily that they needed this day off to recover from the emotional and physical toll of celebrating the Resurrection. But really, for most of us, Easter is now over for another year and we are moving on. But I can’t imagine Jesus’ disciples felt that way. After those painful events of Thursday night through Sunday morning, every day that they got to spend with Jesus must have seemed an Easter miracle, over and over again.

According to the church calendar, Eastertide is a fifty day celebration. Every Sunday is an Easter Sunday and on the seventh Sunday, we celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. It is a chance for us to exult in the truth of the resurrection, to embrace the peace and joy and renewal that we have because of Easter. To continue the celebration of light over darkness and the defeat of death. I’ve stumbled across several quotes by St. Augustine lately that I love:

“We are Easter people and alleluia is our song.”
“A Christian should be an Alleluia from head to toe.”

Aren’t those great and motivating sentiments? To show up at work, at school, at home as an Alleluia would be an awesome thing! To gather together on each of the next Sundays of Eastertide proclaiming, singing, reading scripture, with enthusiasm, just dripping with Alleluias because we embrace the resurrection so fully it comes out of our pores. I think it’s a good challenge to us. As we walk through the next 48 days, let’s let our lives shout out the truth that we are Easter people, that what we say we believe has really taken root in us as individuals and as a gathered community of believers. Here is one last quote from Augustine (who lived from 354-430):

“In the psalms it says, ‘Sing to the Lord a new song; sing his praise in the assembly.’ We are urged to sing to the Lord a new song. It is a new person who knows a new song. But make sure that your life is singing the same tune as your tongue. Sing with your voices, sing with your hearts, sing with your lips, sing with your lives…Do you want to speak the praise of God? Then be yourselves what you speak. If you lead good lives you are God’s praises.”

Let’s proclaim it with our lives: He is risen indeed!

Lent: Saying "yes" to God

Once again we are in the season of Lent. This is an annual observance which helps to prepare us for Holy Week and Easter. The forty days are symbolic of many things: the 40 days of the flood (Gen. 6-8), the 40 days Moses spent on Mt. Sinai receiving the Ten Commandments (Ex. 24:12-18), the 40 years the Israelites spent wandering in the desert (Num. 13-33), the 40 days of Elijah’s flight to Mt. Horeb (1 Kings 19:1-12), and most significantly, Jesus’ 40 days fasting in the wilderness (Matt 4:1-11; Mark 1:9-12; Luke 4:1-13). I think it’s not coincidental that all of these are journeys that various people took with God, encountering him on his own terms and in the process growing stronger in their knowledge and faith. And this is exactly what we are invited to do. We don’t have to go up a mountain or wander into a desert or seal ourselves in an ark, but we can use the next 40 days to journey with God right where we are. It’s easy to see why fasting is such an integral part of this experience. The more we can strip down our lives of what is excess and diversionary, the more space we make to encounter God and find out what he wants to prepare in our hearts. Whatever we choose to give up, whether it is chocolate or facebook, meat or video games, shopping or TV, our fast goes beyond just saying “no” to ourselves (although that is good and useful) but opens us up to the hunger and thirst that ultimately only God can fill. I think we often focus too much on the “no” of Lent, feeling self-satisfied with our denial and sacrifice, but I like to think instead that Lent is the opportunity to say “yes” to God. To strip away the things that keep God’s movement in our lives at arms length and to invite him to come journey with us and show us what it is he is calling us to as we walk with him from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday. How much more joyful is the redemption and life that he offers us when we have looked squarely at our need and been humbled by the very real presence that is with us always? I hope that you will accept the gift that Lent offers and think about saying “yes” to God.

O Antiphon: December 23

O Emmanuel, God-with-us, our king and lawgiver, the one whom the nations await and their savior: come to save us, O Lord our God.

This is the final antiphonal prayer. We wait just a little longer, in the quiet of our hearts through Christmas Eve, to the great joy that is ours when Christ comes. May Christ be born anew in your hearts this Christmas Day (and every day!).

O Antiphon: December 22

O King of the Nations and their desire, the cornerstone that makes both one: come, and save the human race, which you fashioned from clay.

O Antiphon: December 21

O Radiant Dawn, splendor of light eternal and sun of justice: come, and enlighten those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.