Rogue Reverend

Hooty-Hoo!

A dear friend of mine tells me all the time that I have a youthfulness about me. Of course, I always think, “Oh, great! He thinks I’m childish!” He says that I’m youthful because I really like to do some things he thinks are goofy. I sew. I make collages (he says, “coll-awww-geeees”). I drive to the store for only a magazine. I like to cook.

His point is that I do creative things, things he wouldn’t be able to do because of all of his grown-up responsibilities. He has a “real” job. He has familial obligations. He just doesn’t have time to do creative stuff. But even when I’m busy, I try to make time for creative activities.

I made this owl for the brand-new-baby, Lucy, the first child of my friend Caroline. It’s a goofy owl, but I do like it and had a great time doing it. A little shout out to my friend Jenny who helped!

What the Bible Means to Me

Following my second sermon in a series on Romans yesterday, one of my church members asked me a question. I can’t get the exact wording, but the question was something like this:

Why do you preach from the Bible? Do you really think that we should use it as our baseline for understanding why we do what we do? Can’t we, just as easily, use reality and preach from there?

My answer is probably way too involved for a brief conversation following church. I decided to post it here.

I have an interesting relationship to the Bible. First, I absolutely love it. I want to read it, study it in the original language, preach from it, orientate my life to it. Second, I could know God without it. You get that? It reveals to me how THOSE people related to God. It reveals some about God’s nature. But it’s certainly not all of it. Nor does it explain the context in which I live today. So, while I love it, I am also cognizant of it’s limitations.

As I see it, the Bible is the story of a people (actually, two peoples) trying to understand their relationship with God. In the Hebrew Bible, we start with cosmic beginnings then to the particulars of the patriarchs and matriarchs, wanting to follow God, and all the while, being VERY human. Wow. Isn’t that my story?

Then with the gospels, it’s the teachings. The little phrases that Jesus says, that challenge me every day. “Love your enemies.” “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?”“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.” Every day and in every way, the life and teachings of Jesus challenge me to move out of my boundaries.

But I have a different relationship with the Epistles. Especially Paul’s Epistles. Let me see if I can explain this…

Consider Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail. It’s a wonderful letter written to a specific group of people during a specific time. MLK writes in the style of Paul, and there are some very moving parts to his letter. There are some things that have relevance to my life.

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.

Definitely a statement that has universal implications. However, some things are not so relevant.

In spite of my shattered dreams, I came to Birmingham with the hope that the white religious leadership of this community would see the justice of our cause and, with deep moral concern, would serve as the channel through which our just grievances could reach the power structure. I had hoped that each of you would understand. But again I have been disappointed.

The specificity of this statement has very little to do with me, with my life in Richmond, 46 years after the letter was written. Imagine, we take Paul’s letter, written nearly 2000 years ago, and try to make each one of his statements universal. I don’t believe that they are universally applicable.

So, what does the Bible mean to me? I like this quote (I think it’s from Marcus Borg), “The Bible isn’t true, but it’s real.” I think I know God (not wholly, really). I know God through people, through nature, through my experience. The Bible helps me, especially in this Judeo-Christian context in which I live, to orient my life to this One who I follow: God shown most fully through Christ.

The Art of Preaching

Preaching is hard.

Yeah, yeah, I hear all you non-preachers out there playing your little “world smallest violins.” But it really is hard. The reasons are numerous, but maybe I should enumerate them:

You can’t please all the people all the time.
Sometimes the things you have to say are hard for people to hear.
Sometimes you get to Sunday morning, and there’s no inspiration.
Coming up with something fresh, over and over, is difficult.
Sometimes life gets in the way of spending time on your sermon.

And while it’s good to go hear other preachers for inspiration, it’s really difficult to get better at preaching. It’s an art. Education helps. But what we really need is a preaching coach.

One of the biggest questions I ask preachers is, “How do you tell if you’ve given a good sermon?” Some will talk about the response after the sermon, at the door, as people are filing past the preacher. However, I find this time to be awkward. People don’t know what to say to the preacher as they’re passing her. The only way that I really count the, “Good sermon, preacher” as people walk through the receiving line, is if they say, “I loved it when you said, ‘XYZ.’ That got me where I needed it.”

Others will talk about just feeling a response. When you use humor and emotional stories, sometimes you can tell that folks are connecting with your sermon. Sometimes you see tears. Sometimes, people fall asleep. Sometimes in the same sermon.

The most lasting way I judge sermons is this:

If someone contacts me about the sermon later in the week, or someone references it the next week or so. When the words really hit home, people remember them.

Biblical Equality?

I’m reading a book right now called Brand Jesus:Christianity in a Consumerist Age, about the Book of Romans. This guy is pretty realistic about what Paul would and wouldn’t do, and how Paul would feel about modern things.

Which brought up a key question for me: Would Jesus believe in equality?

Certainly, Jesus believed that all human beings have value.
Certainly, Jesus believed that God was available to all human beings.

But equality? Really, that’s such a late second millennial ideal. Would Jesus actually think that equality, in the way that we understand it, is good?

It just always seems to be that we celebrate a very democratic idea only we couch it as if God wanted it that way. For the record, I believe in equality under the law. Democracy seems to really work best with it.

I know, I know. There’s some verses that can be proof-texted to say, “This is equality,” like Galatians 3:28, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” However, Paul was really talking about division here, not equality.

So, what do you think?

And, on that note, Happy 4th of July, the day that celebrates our equality.

What Captures My Attention

You know what captures my attention?

Relationships.

I know it sounds stupid, but I want to know why relationships work. What makes one person like you and trust you, and what makes another dislike and distrust you? What is that little electric charge you get when you meet someone you like?

And what’s the best way to cultivate it? I know it’s about spending time together. Building mutual experiences. Listening. Talking.

And how do you sustain it? Across miles, new adventures, new experiences?

I just want to know. And keep doing it. And getting better at it.