Called to Serve and Destined to Move Part I

Sometimes I wonder how Christians can stomach to live in this world.  This world is still broken, the hungry are still aching, the homeless are still cold, the sick are still dying, the orphaned are still unloved, the widows are still forsaken, and yet so many of us are SO blessed and we refuse to lift one finger. 

                                                

How did we get to be so greedy?  How did we get to be so wrong?

Jesus may have said “the poor will be with you always” but I do not believe that was an invitation to stop working passionately and diligently to change this world.  To bring mercy and justice; for ALL Christians to be change agents to this world and to frequently and whole heartedly devote their life to having “His will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven.”

Folks, somewhere in the rat race, we dropped the ball.  Take, for example, the poorest nation in the Americas- Haiti.  Do you know what Haitians eat when the food runs out?  Yellow mud cookies, worth about a nickel.  In our country we play with mud pies; there, they really eat them. 

Hey, hey, anybody listening?  Hey, hey, anybody there?  Hey, hey, anybody listening?  Anybody care?

In Haiti, 50% of children will die before they reach the age of five.  Why?  These children will fall from diseases that we have vaccinations for!  It’s not expensive, about $1.50.  When you bought your coke today, how much was it? 

Hey, hey, anybody listening?  Hey, hey, anybody there?  Hey, hey, anybody listening?  Anybody care?

In America, we have our poverty too.  Don’t ever think that we don’t.  We have safety nets, yes.  But we have deep human need too.  What do we do for them, besides tell them to go ask Uncle Sam for a handout?

Hey, hey, anybody listening?  Hey, hey, anybody there?  Hey, hey, anybody listening?  Anybody care?

When was the last time we tithed to a church, or gave significantly from our paychecks?  When was the last time we gave something more than the token quarter in the Salvation Army buckets at Christmas? 

Hey, hey, anybody listening?  Hey, hey, anybody there?  Hey, hey, anybody listening?  Anybody care?

We all have the ability to tithe, I remember reading in an article.  The reason more people do not is mostly boiled down to discipline.  If everyone earnestly decided to give a percentage of their paycheck, then they could do so.  Not necessarily easily, but they would have the ability to.

Hey, hey, anybody listening?  Hey, hey, anybody there?  Hey, hey, anybody listening?  Anybody care?

Even though I advocate giving to Godly things, don’t think that the church is not also guilty.  Why do our churches have savings and reserves, sometimes in the six or seven digit range, and there is still desolation in their land.  Why do churches run budgets where they are not even tithing or significantly giving back to their neighbor?

Hey, hey, anybody listening?  Hey, hey, anybody there?  Hey, hey, anybody listening?  Anybody care?

Why do we claim to be pro-life, or pro-choice, and not open up our doors to foster children and adoption?  Even though we know of too many horror stories to the families that go through the process, why are we so scared that we cannot back up our beliefs and work to make the life of a child better?

Hey, hey, anybody listening?  Hey, hey, anybody there?  Hey, hey, anybody listening?  Anybody care?

Why why why?  How can we live in this country and not see the truth anymore?  I am just as guilty, please do not think I am ranting against you, my blogging community.  I am calling myself to task, and I hope that you feel my energy.  I promise.

I was talking to a profound lady today about how the spirit of service and hope is like wildfire.  However, apathy and pessimism is like buckets of water.  We cannot not care any longer.  We never should have started in the first place, but we have got to move. 

**** This blog will be continued tomorrow.  Stay tuned! ****

When It Rains...

I spend a lot of time in the water.  Having been a competitive swimmer since the age of 12, and a lovable pool tycoon in my younger days, I have probably logged a number in the thousands of aquatic hours.

I love my aqueous home, though, even if I occasionally spend more time there than I care to admit.  In my life, dihydrogen monoxide carries a lot of weight. 

What I have been focusing on of late is the spiritual and symbolic side of this sacred compound on our planet.  Not only is it life giving, but it represents cleansing, through baptism and the ritual purification in the Old Testament.  It snakes into the cracks and the crevices that we cannot even dare to reach and scrubs away our impurities.  Water also means chaos, something only that God can control, such as when he separated the waters and created sky and sea (the Hebrews thought that the blue sky held water above.  While science found this view to be misguided, one can still appreciate the idea that life was carved out between the waters).  Likewise, it was God that let the watery-chaos flow and cleanse the wicked earth.

From science, we learn that water has compounds dissolved inside within it (it is known as the universal solvent, after all).  These compounds disassociate into ions, which are charged particles.  This ‘electrified’ water is how we live!  When/if we are baptized, not only is the old life washed away, but by the same symbolism, the new life is electrified and shocked into a new existence of Christian love and service.

Oh the thoughts that can run through one’s mind on a rainy evening.

The More Profound Questions

The Eureka College Honors Program is having a movie night tomorrow night.  Normally, this would go without notice, but as I suggested the film selection, I have been "rallying the troops" and incessantly bugging/emailing the peeps to come and gather round.  My film selection?  The Philosopher Kings. 

Somewhere in the backlog of this very blog (around November of 2011) I wrote a short piece on this monumental film.  I loved it to pieces because it directly challenged me to challenge my perception of people.  Who are the beloved and blessed?  Who are the educated?  What does vocation and pay have to do with one another, if anything? 

In preparation for tomorrow's cinematic event, I reviewed my notes from my HELM conference and I saw a note I made.  This note actually had very little to do with the film and a lot to do with faith, and what I wrote was this:
"When we say 'atheist' what are we an 'atheist' of?"
"What is a deeper question to 'Do you love God?' or 'Do you follow Jesus?'  This is a yes or no question. The more profound item to ask is 'What do I love when I love God?'"

What am I loving or believing in, when I say I love or believe in God?  Am I loving this idea of my own salvation?  Or am I loving a force?  Or am I caring for the people of this universe?  Or is it something even more, is it a natural order of things that I am trying to grasp my soul around?  What is it that we love in the divine?

When am I an atheist in my life?  I am not trying to downplay the faith choice of many people with this question, but in a secondary sense of the word "atheist," when do I choose to forsake faith or the divine in my every day life?  This reminds me of a beautiful video, actually.  The link is below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiG-nlDVvYM

IF you can follow my thought process from beginning to end... congratulations!  You may be one in a million.

Going Up?

I write this from Chicago, Illinois. The First Gen program will be seeing the Joffrey Ballet tonight and the Chicago Museum of Art tomorrow. Great fun, to be sure!

On the way up here, our bus had a television and DVD system. So we voted on the movie to watch. What do you think a group of around 70 college students would choose? "Up!" by Disney/Pixar (rated G). Natural selection, right?

In watching this heart touching film, I realized that all churches, particularly those that have an older congregation, should use this film as required viewing. 

The plot is interesting, but it focuses on a widower who is forced to befriend a young boy with an absentee father. This story had so much to say without words about the role of a surrogate grandparent and how a child can re-ignite the life of an elderly person who has very little left to do, but still could be a change agent in the world that he or she lives in. 

Maybe our churches could go "Up!" if they took some of the simple points of this movie to heart. 

The Wisdom of Dear Mary...

It is very late, and I’m rather tired.  So I will leave you with this word:

supercalifragilisticexpialidocious                         

After all, it is the word you say when you have nothing to say.  And, believe it or not, sometimes it is okay to say nothing else.  Sometimes silence speaks louder and more accurately than words ever could.

Just for giggles, though, another word I would like to give you is serendipitous, which is the act of finding a pleasant surprise.  This is potentially the hardest word in English to translate to other languages because of its unique definition.  I feel that I have had a very serendipitous night, and I wish you all a good night and a good day. 

Daily Urgency

The time is late, but in the good spirit of lent I am still typing this blog out for your punishment, er, enjoyment.

I went to the theater tonight to watch Thom Pain (Based on Nothing) by Will Eno.  This play is a one man show and was very well put together and performed (kudos to those who helped make that possible!).

As a few of you know, I enjoy finding a certain element of a play and looking at it deeper.  Tonight’s was an old lesson, one that I have actually heard many times.  That moment of learning was this: if I had one day to live, and knew it, I would live it UP.  I would love everyone!  I would forgive like crazy!  I would have fun up to my eyeballs!  I would do everything and anything to make sure that one day made a difference in my life and in the lives of others.  However, if I had forty years to live, I would do… nothing spectacular, in the here and now, anyway.  Maybe, eventually, I’ll get around to something interesting.  But, would that urgency, that longing, that dire necessity to make a difference and to live a life honestly worth the living every single day actually happen?  Not a chance. 

Why do we let life slip through our finger tips like grains of sand?  I do it.  You do it. Perhaps we let time pass without concern because it is difficult to remain so stimulated for so long.  However, what I do know is that it is vital to not live every day like it is our last.  Read the preceding sentence carefully, one more time.  We need to make every day count because it simply is.  We must come to realize, you and I, that we are the change agents of this world.  We can determine the quality of days for not just ourselves, but for so many others, but only, ONLY, if we live passionately and sincerely. 

We have a gift.  Whether it is a story to tell that has changed our lives, a talent that few possess, or a mind that is more malleable than gold, somewhere each of us has a something that can change the environment in which we live.  What catalyst will it take to start the cycle of urgency within?  This is the thought that I will keep as I slide off into the realm of sleep.

The Divine Audience

This may be surprising to some of you, but I am currently on a Jesus kick (I know, it DOES happen every now and then!).  Therefore, today’s blog will be about… Jesus!  And there is absolutely, positively, nothing you can do about it… except not read today’s blog, which would actually make me rather sad.

In John chapter two, Jesus performs his first miracle of changing water to wine.  Glancing over the temptation to expound on doing what his mother said in spite of not wanting to, Jesus transforms six jars containing twenty to thirty gallons of water a piece into high quality wine.

However, who watched this miracle?  It was not the partygoers who benefited from the wine, the master of the banquet, the groom, or the bride. 

Who had front row tickets to the first miracle of Jesus Christ?  The servants and the disciples saw!  Nobody really all that special was the divine audience; it was the workers, or average Joes, if you will.

The workers were not the chief recipient of this miracle, but they did get to see the transformation of a lifetime (and, just to be clear, we are talking about a transformation much grander than wine).  The first people to see the start of a worldwide revolution were the followers of some dude from Nazareth and workers at a wedding feast. 

Where are you working today?  When your feet are aching or your mind is about to explode if you have to balance one more ledger line or the kids you are trying to teach are about to break the last straw… remember, the miracles of Jesus don’t always happen where everyone can see them.  Many people may feel the effects of the divine, but not everyone gets to watch it happen. 

Be looking and waiting and hoping to see a glimmer and oasis of the divine today in the daily grind.  Who knows… maybe your water fountain may start spurting wine! ;)

Fruit for Lent

Okay all, I promise that I did not forget about Minor Musings.  I just… well, I am a complete and utter failure at keeping up at blogging.  Maybe what I should give up for lent is time to blog daily?  I think there are several people in my life that would appreciate that.

This past Sunday at my church in Creve Coeur (yes, I finally settled down) we sang a beautiful song that I would like to type for you here.

“Lord, Whose Love Through Humble Service”

1) Lord, whose love through humble service bore the weight of human need, who upon the cross, forsaken, offered mercy’s perfect deed:  we your servants, bring the worship not of voice alone, but heart, consecrating to your purpose every gift that you impart.

2) Still your children wander homeless; still the hungry cry for bread; still the captives long for freedom; still in grief we mourn our dead.  As, O Lord, your deep compassion healed the sick and freed the soul, use the love your Spirit kindles still to save and make us whole.

3) As we worship grant us vision, till your love’s revealing light in its height and depth and greatness dawns upon our quickened sight, making known the needs and burdens your compassion bids us bear, stirring us to tireless striving your abundant life to share.

4) Called by worship to your service, forth in your dear name we go to the child, the youth, the aged, love in living deeds to show; hope and health, good will and comfort, counsel, aid, and peace we give, that your servants, Lord, in freedom may your mercy know, and live.

Page 461 of the Chalice Hymnal 1995

Words by Albert F. Bayly, 1961

Words © 1961 Oxford University Press, Inc.; harm. © Lutheran Book of Worship, reprinted by permission of Augsburg Fortress

I do not know why this song struck me as it did.  Perhaps it was the optimistic tone… or the call to service that graced this hymn.  However, what I do know is that I felt stirred by this melodic hymn that doesn’t look very fancy, or sings like any modern song that I know of. 

I suppose the deep question that this song as of me as I sing or type the words is: what fruit are we bearing for others?  Furthermore what does bearing fruit really mean?  What good is fruit without someone to pick and eat of it?  When Jesus spoke of being believers who bore fruit for the kingdom, could it be that we are to bear fruit for the hungry to eat and for the thirsty to drink?

During this time of lent, whether you fully observe this time or not, work to bear fruit for the lonely sojourner who is searching for their way.  Bear fruit for the poor and downhearted, for they are looking for any lifeline.  Bear fruit for the rich and overinflated, for they need real food to sustain them. 

But, possibly most of all grow some real, deep, spiritual food for yourself, so that you may be nourished, and so that you may go, stirred on by God to “tireless striving [God’s] abundant life to share!”