Before the Incas…

It’s black Friday.  The day when retailers supposedly move from the red to the black in their yearly sales ledger.  Don’t think I’ll make it out into the shopping frenzy.  We will be venturing out to fetch that central Christmas symbol in most American homes–the evergreen tree.  Then the decorating.  Setting the stage for an early exchange of Christmas gifts sometime today or tomorrow.  We have moved up the calendar on these annual proceedings in anticipation of our trek to Peru in December.  

So I am reading Lost City of the Incas (Hiram Bingham) in preparation for our family visit to Machu Picchu next month.  Bingham is the Yale professor who is credited with discovering the lost Incan ruins north of Cusco during the early part of last century.  Reading and thinking about the origin of civilizations.  Like who lived in Peru before the Incas?  And before them?  And how did they get there?

Bingham notes that historians and archaeologists have very little material to work with in piecing this story together.  In contrast with Ancient Near Eastern civilizations, the Incas and their predecessors did not develop any writing system or even hieroglyphics.  So the answers to these questions must be constructed by studying fragments of cloth and pottery, ruins of temples and terraces.  From all this material we can gather a fragmentary story, the details of which are debated by the experts.  

Much of human history (as I have read it) has been interpreted through the lens Western civilization–the presumed repository of enlightenment knowledge.  The unshakeable foundation of truth.  Most of the written accounts of the Incas and their predecessors come to us from the early Spanish conquerors and their descendents, or the Christian missionaries, priests, monks, and Jesuits who learned the language of the Incas and made reports on what they saw and found.  (Note to self–read the account of the conquest of Peru by Garcilasso de la Vega, the son of an Incan princess and Spanish conqueror who went to live in Spain as a teen and never returned.)

One of these Spanish writers was Fernando Montesinos who apparently went to live in Peru the century following the conquest as an advisor to the viceroy, the Count of Chinchon.  Montesinos, an ecclesiastical lawyer by trade, was well educated and apparently devoted himself to historical research.  He wrote a history of the Incas, Memorias Antiguas Historiales del Peru, in which he contended that Peru was peopled under the leadership of Ophir, the great-grandson of Noah.  

Richard Danbury traces a different history prior to the Incas–only the third empire to dominate the Andes.  The first pan-Andean civilization, the Chavin, thrived about 2500 years ago, the second, the Huari-Tiahuanaco, about 1000 years ago.  Danbury’s survey of pre-Incan civilizations holds that the first settlers of the Americas, Paleo-Indians, walked across the tundra land bridge that joined the continents of Asia and North America some 20,000 years ago.  According to the theory, the earth’s climate at that point in human history was colder–causing massive ice sheets to freeze from the oceans into glaciers.  The temperature of the earth rose over time, the glaciers melted, and the land bridge is lost beneath the Bering Straits.  

Whatever myths one uses to explain the origin of pre-historic civilizations, there seems to be a common underlying quest–framing human existence in some kind of meaningful way.  This is the function of myths.  No matter how much the rationalist assumptions of Modern scientific inquiry presumed to avoid the messy, subjectivity of myths, the assumption of objective knowledge no longer has traction.  Science  and religion are recognizing the limits of the  foundationalist metaphor of knowledge–the primary driver of inquiry in modernity.  Those foundations are crumbling.  The illusion of objectivity is no longer tenable.  The emperor has no clothes on.  

What we are discovering in the postmodern world is that knowledge is fragile and subjective.  Another way of saying that is to say this.  We are not gods.  Our perspective is finite.  Even if we base knowledge on the examination of the physical world, we bump up against limitations.  

So what will we do with the stories told by fragmentary evidence of pre-historic civilizations?  Stories told by massive stones at Machu Picchu and Sacsayhuaman, by mysterious lines at Nazca.  How do we fit the stories of what has transpired in the physical world into a bigger story of meaning?  

Montesinos’ explanation that Peru was peopled by the great-grandson of Noah raises a troubling question for a certain line of biblical interpretation.  How do we explain the diversification of the species when applying a literal interpretation of the biblical text.  If all human history emerges out of one family–Noah’s family–how do we explain the perpetuation of the species in a way that leads to diverse cultures and civilizations?  How do we get from one to many?  Of course, this way of “explaining” human history only works if we allow for incest (by today’s cultural mores) as the means by which the earth was populated.  While the Babel story provides a biblical way of explaining linguistic diversity, the biblical text is less illuminating on questions of ethnic and cultural diversity–the Table of Nations (Gen. 9) notwithstanding.

What we have is a mystery (human existence) that cannot be explained by rationalist foundations.  Although it is defended by orthodoxies on the left and the right.  Whether reason is applied to the a literal interpretation of the biblical text, or the evidence gleaned from “empirical” examination of the physical world.  Either way the illusion of unshakeable foundations is only made possible by limiting the evidence one considers.  

So on this black Friday, we pause to consider the mystery of origins, the social dimensions of the construction of knowledge, and the need for great humility as we hold our beliefs.   As we attempt utter mere words.  Words which fall short of rationally explaining being and time…the relationship of matter with eternity.  As we attempt to provide words which explain God–God’s actions.  As we are bold enough to open our finite mouths and utter truth as God sees…

Eucharist and Peacemaking dialogue

Sunnyside Mennonite Church was the site of the fifth public dialogue between Mennonites and Orthodoxy in southeastern Pennsylvania.  The gathering on November 14 focused on the theme of Eucharist and Peacemaking.  Forty-four participants came together to hear presentations by John Rempel (Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminaries), Alex Patico (Orthodox Peace Fellowship), and Andrew Klager (visiting scholar at Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietiest Studies).  The presentations were followed by lunch and table discussion in the afternoon. 

The 2009 dialogue was sponsored by Anabaptism and Orthodoxy in Conversation, a grassroots friendship that is nurturing this conversation.  The group gathers monthly for prayers and discussion of various readings.  The Eucharist and Peacemaking dialogue was also sponsored by MCUSA Interchurch Relations.  Other financial gifts towards the expenses of this event were received from Lancaster Mennonite Conference, Anunciation Greek Orthodox Church, and various individuals from Sunnyside Mennonite Church. 

Here are a few snippets and highlights from the presentations:

• How do we understand unity in the body of Christ in relation to doctrine, order, experience, and action?  (Rempel)
• Anabaptism was a corrective movement.  In its assessment the existential dimension of being Christian was greatly lacking in the regions where Anabaptism arose.  The practice of believer’s baptism embodies this conviction.  This led to a church in which the Bible was known and lived out, costly discipleship, and missionary commitment.  But Anabaptism was also a church that lacked the riches of that from which it came and which it sought to reform, the larger Christian tradition, including comprehensive doctrine and sacraments that expressed divine initiative as well as human response.  My interest on behalf of our community of faith is to regain the riches we have missed integrated with the existential dimension of faith as indispensible to Christian identity. (Rempel)
• Marpeckite Christology and ecclesiology constituted the most sophisticated Radical Reformation rebuttal of Spiritualism.  It made the case for a believers church and its actualization in sacramental form on the grounds of the incarnation.  Underlying the practice of a visible church of believers lay the principle of the incarnation…(Rempel, 12)
• It is the surpassing merit of Marpeckite Anabaptism that it attempted the daunting task of re-uniting dogma and discipleship.  (Rempel, 12)
• Marpeck became aware of the fact that Anabaptist beliefs about the church, and with it, baptism and the Supper, were untenable without a belief in the incarnation.  As much by instinct and imagination as by formal training Marpeck was able to extend the meaning of the incarnation not only to the church but also to the sacraments. (Rempel, 14)

The papers that were presented are available to be downloaded here.  Also, video of the presentations is now available:

John Rempel (Part 1)   

John Rempel (Part 2)   

John Rempel (Part 3)   

John Rempel (Part 4)

Alex Patico (Part 1)   

Alex Patico (Part 2)    

Alex Patico (Part 3)

Andrew Klager (Part 1)   

Andrew Klager (Part 2)   

Andrew Klager (Part 3)

The Text that Deconstructs our Control (if we let it)…

Copernican Revolution

Reading Beyond Liberalism & Fundamentalism:  How Modern and Postmodern Philosophy Set the Theological Agenda, Nancy Murphy.

Also thinking about redaction of the Hebrew Scriptures.  The evidence that exists within and beyond the canon of Scripture that the Pentateuch is composed of four main sources or documents that were edited together:  J, E, P, and D.  Each with a distinct vocabulary and theological perspective.

J: Yahwist

E:  Elohist

P:  Priestly

D:  Deuteronomy

This comes through early on in the two creation accounts.  In Genesis 1:27 people are created first.  The second creation account is not simply a reprise of the first, but differs from the first both in outline and in detail. 

Genesis 1:1-2:3, the first account, narrates the creation of a highly symmetrical world by a very powerful deity who creates through the word.  In this account, for example, man and woman are created together (1:27) after the creation of the land animals (1:25).  In contrast, the second account, in Gen. 2:4-3:24, suggests that man was created (2:7), then the animals (2:19), and then woman (2:21-22).  Its focus is on the creation of humanity, not of the entire physical world, and God anthropomorphically ‘forms’ various beings, rather than creating them with the word.  Thus, these are two distinct accounts, written by two authors, representing different worldviews about the nature of creation, humanity, and God.  –The New Oxford Annotated Bible:  New Revised Standard Version with the Apocrypha (3rd edition)

Old Testament:  Text in Context is providing a framework within which we can hold with an open hand the mystery of revelation and at the same time study the evidence of experience that informs our understandings of text.  Learning how the Bible came to be is an important task if we are to do justice to questions that emerge from the text.  Questions like…

1.  Where did Cain’s wife come from? 

2.  Who is Melchizedek?  (Gen. 14; Psalm 110; Hebrews)

3.  Why does Exodus differentiate between the treatment of male and female slaves, whereas Deuteronomy insists that they should both be treated similarly. 

I am a firm believer that critical questions are part and parcel of pursuit of truth.  Questions are not evidence of antagonism toward faith.  On the contrary, critical questions are put forth with the assumption that Truth fears no questions.  Questions are a movement toward God, away from illusions and false constructs.  Questions move us from blind certainty to open embrace of holy mystery. 

Why do we prefer not to face questions that emerge from the Text and Experience?  Perhaps because they may deconstruct the “system”…the faith construct which underpins everything about our life–from beliefs to outward practices.  We fear that if a question dislodges one of the pieces of our worldview, the whole structure will come crashing down.  Chaos.  So we limit the questions, so that we can stay in control of “the world” as we “know” it.  These are the stakes given foundationalist assumptions about truth. 

Murphy would say that it need not be so.  Murphy is working toward a holism that is able to hold mystery and paradox, being as communion, along with the knowledge that comes to us from examining the physical world.  Communion not with a system of truth, but with God who comes to us through language and matter, but is not fully contained in language and matter.

What comes after the critical questions…after deconstruction?  Nihilism or faith as mystery?  The answer to that question largely depends on the Community one organically connects with in the pursuit of knowledge (God).  Our knowledge always comes to us communally whether we admit it or not.  The Communal knowledge (see Sara Wenger Shenk for an Anabaptist take on this) will determine which questions are permissable and which ones are dangerous.  The Community will shape the reading of Text.  The Community we do or do not place ourselves within will determine whether we live isolated individual “truth” (abstract system) or a communal knowledge (which is inherently relational and holistic). 

Most modern readers do not acknowledge the communal dimension of reading the text.  Because Modernity has placed the individual at the center of the universe, and enlightenment assumptions about text have liberated each individual to be their own authority, the interpretations of individuals dictate the Communities they choose to be a part of.   Individuals think they are submitted to a Community of knowledge (a tradition), but if we pay close attention, we see that it is in fact individuals picking and choosing which Community upholds their individual presuppositions.  When the “wrong” kinds of language or interpretation of text enters that community, the individual will move on to some other community which preserves (for the moment) their sense of foundationalist truth. 

Other communities are predominantly bounded-set social groups which condition behavior through a prescribed engagement with Text which allows for a limited range of questions that may emerge from Experience or Reading.  The Communal knowledge is preserved by conformity to a Communal set of behaviors.  These bounded-set communities usually are not diverse.  Often, these communities represent a sociological set that one is born into and remains a part of for life (i.e. Amish…).  There are also economic factors that are at play within these bounded-set expressions of Communitas. 

So, who was Cain’s wife?  Which did God create first, animals or humans?  Is ancient Hebrew creation poetry which seeks to explain the mystery of origins inherently opposed to evidence presented by the physical sciences?  The answers to these questions (even the way we frame the questions) and a myriad of other questions will be determined by the Community we place ourselves within as we seek God, truth…knowledge.

Centering our stories in God’s Story…

Strasburg Mennonite Church Renewal Meetings

Tuesday evening:  Luke 19:1-9

 “Where We’re From” (SMC 60s and older SS class, p. 20)

Once a month we center ourselves in God’s story in a special way at Sunnyside MC.  For about 12 years now we have been celebrating Communion once a month.  We do this to remember that while our individual stories, our family stories, and our congregational story have shaped us deeply, we are continually being invited to center ourselves in God’s story.  Gathering around the Lord’s Table helps us to do this.  To see our stories through that larger salvation story—not just individually but as a community surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses.  The liturgies we use give us the language to place ourselves within that story.  Much like the shabat tradition in Jewish families, each time we come to this Communal Table, the past and present come together.  We identify our stories with God’s Story and the story of God’s people throughout history. 

Share one of the Communion liturgies we use as an illustration of this.  Communion Liturgy Power Point

Why is the Communion Table an important expression of centering our stories in the larger Story of God?  Over and over again throughout the history of the church there have been divisions that have marred the church’s ability to reflect unity in Christ.  We (the Church) have not found a way to embody Ephesians 4:4-6 over time—particularly in the last 500 years.  “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.”

 Refer to last two slides of Communion Liturgy PPT…which provide a picture of the church family tree.  38,000 denominations in America alone.  The pattern of looking to Word and Spirit alone has not been able to keep us at the Communion Table together in the Church.  Does this picture reflect the working of the Spirit?

What is the Spirit saying to the churches?   Perhaps we will only be able to discern the answer to that question as at the Table that uncovers the reality of the crucified Lamb of God who is the Risen and Coming King of the Ages.  It is a Table that calls us to a mutual submission that subverts the strong current toward independence and the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness.  So the sending charge and blessing (Communion Liturgy) commissions us for our ministry of reconciliation in the world—a ministry that sends us to other tables to give and receive hospitality.  To reaffirm our identity as a people of Christ’s peace in a hurting world.  To reaffirm that we are called to be a people who seek to bring healing where there is disunity among Christians. 

Today we heard the familiar Zacchaeus story.  How might this story shape us as we seek to center our stories in God’s story?  Do you remember the song? 

Zacchaeus was a wee little man, and a wee little man was he.
He climbed up in a sycamore tree, for the Lord he wanted to see.
And as the Savior passed him by, He looked up in the tree,
And he said, “Zacchaeus, you come down from there;
For I’m going to your house today, for I’m going to your house today”

We identify with Zacchaeus from little on up.  Perhaps because he is short in stature, perhaps because he climbs trees.  Whatever the reason, this song and story captures our childhood imaginations.  I believe there is more to this story.  This story speaks to us about missional table practices and how we relate to others who have not lived up to our bounded-set understandings of righteousness. 

Who was Zacchaeus?  We know about his height.  But this was not the reason he was looked down upon.  He was a chief tax collector and was rich.  His occupation was dependent on supporting the Imperial system set up under Caesar Augustus.  Pax Romana provided roads and military defense with a price.  The hand of Caesar reached into Palestine at the time of Jesus.   Even temple worship had been corrupted by its relationship with empire.  Temple worship had become a market-driven reality.  Jesus confronts this a number of times in the gospels. 

Zacchaeus is an Israelite by birth who has cozied up to the Roman system.  He has personally benefitted from the oppressive system that placed a heavy tax burden on the religious faithful—especially on the poor.  People resented Zacchaeus for this very reason. 

We also see in the story that despite Zacchaeus’ wealth, he is searching for something.  He is apparently searching for something that money can’t buy.  So he climbs up in a tree to get a glimpse of the itinerant Rabbi, Jesus, who is passing by.  Can you imagine Bill Gates climbing up in a tree to catch a glimpse of the traveling Rabbi? 

When Jesus came to the place, he looked up…  I wonder what caught Jesus’ attention.  Was Zacchaeus the only one in the tree?  Was Jesus aware of the hunger in Zacchaeus’ heart that would send him into his perch overhead?  Perhaps there was nothing out of the ordinary.  Perhaps it was that Jesus had eyes to see the missional table possibilities along the way.  He was not so driven by his agenda, by his schedule that he missed the opportunity right in front of him.  Or above him to be most precise. 

I wonder if that isn’t the case more often than not.  That it’s the intrusions, the things along the way, that provide the opportunity to meet Jesus at missional tables.  Our routine of work and raising families may be well and good, but if we are going to encounter Jesus at table, it will likely mean that we need to make room for interruptions.  It may mean we even are willing to invite ourselves (or be invited) to someone else’s table from time to time.  It may mean that we are willing to divest ourselves of the power that goes along with being the host—with always being in the position of giver and not willing to humble ourselves and receive.   

Jesus models a freedom that goes with this level of humility.  We saw it at the Samaritan well in Sychar—he asks for a drink.  We see it here—Jesus invites himself to Zacchaeus’ home.  Zacchaeus is thrilled and readily gets out of the tree.  But not everyone is happy.  The crowd grumbles.  Perhaps they are stuck in bounded-set thinking that is fearful of what message will be sent by Jesus associating with a “sinner.”  Perhaps they are baffled by Jesus’ willingness to be at table with someone who quite obviously has sold out to the wrong things.  Is Jesus condoning the behavior, the values of Zacchaeus?   Jesus is undeterred by the grumbling of the people.  He goes to Zacchaeus’ house.

What about us?  Where are we in the story?  Individually and as Strasburg Mennonite Church?  Historically, our communal story as Lancaster Conference Mennonites has called us to mind the boundaries.  Whether it was dress, or other practices of discipleship—we have clearly been a people who have understood our faith in Jesus as one that called us to be separate from the world.  Non-conformity to the world was understood in very specific ways.  The boundaries have shifted over the years, but I wonder if there is not an underlying disposition still very much conditioned by our “come out from among them and be ye separate says the Lord” story.  Perhaps we have not learned how to encounter Jesus at table with Zacchaeus, with the Samaritan woman, because it would mean letting go of our bounded-set thinking and trusting that Jesus is present at those tables already. 

But here is Jesus, our standard of holiness, taking the risk of being labeled  as something or other as he relates to Zacchaeus.  Here is Jesus, embodying the good news that extends to all people and invites them to reconciliation with God and the community of God’s people, even before they have their act together.    

Again this is a story of transformation.  This table encounter of inviting oneself to be the guest, of being willing to receive the table ministry of another, leads to transformation for Zacchaeus.  We don’t know what all Jesus and Zacchaeus talked about over the meal, but we do know the conversation had a profound impact on Zacchaeus.  His heart is changed.  We know this because we see a different relationship with his money.  Greed and hoarding are transformed in to generosity and justice toward others. 

Then Jesus reaffirms Zacchaeus’ place at the communal table of God’s people.  “Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham.  For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”  We see that it is love that allows Jesus to reach out to those beyond the bounded-set standards of righteousness without fear of compromising his message.   Jesus is free to meet a Samaritan woman with a terrible track record in relationships.  A woman from a despised class of people is included at the table in the Kingdom of God.  Jesus is free to invite himself to the home of a wealthy lost son of Abraham.  This same Jesus is present at our tables.  He is able to radically transform our stories in such a way that we are able to embody the same love that Jesus did.   

May we hear and see Jesus in our midst and may we trust the gracious invitation to come to the table where he is present.  The table where he is extending radical grace to all who are hungry.  May Jesus himself be bread and drink for our journey.  Here at Strasburg Mennonite Church, at Sunnyside Mennonite Church, in Lancaster Mennonite Conference and throughout the body of Christ.

 AMEN.     

Invitation to reflection, listening posture, what the Spirit is saying.  Describe what the opportunity to respond will look like tomorrow.  Four stations:

1.  Confession:  papers, writing utensils, urn to confess where we have missed Jesus at table, where we have placed our individual and congregational (tribal) stories at the center and contributed to the pattern of brokenness in the church and in the world.

2.  Dirt:  reminds us that we are earthy like Peter.  That even though we have good intentions and want to get it right, we fail…we betray Jesus…  Dirt reminds us that we are from dust, that we are weak.  That we need the Spirit (ruach-breath) of God to breathe life into our tired living.  Dirt also speaks to the goodness of creation that we offer up to God as worship.  Dirt reminds us that the spiritual and physical must come together–that renewal needs to be expressed in our physical life.

3.  Water:  to remember our baptism…to reaffirm our baptismal identity which calls us to center our personal and tribal stories in God’s Story.  Baptism calls us to humility and mutual submission in the body of Christ.  Our baptism call us to express our oneness in Christ across differences, to stay in relationship even when we disagree about boundaries. 

4.  Oil:  annointing for healing and for empowerment to walk in the way of Jesus, to live into the mystery of the resurrection, to express love which calls us to meet Jesus at tables with others beyond our community.

All Saints Day…

We will observe All Saint’s Day on Sunday, Nov. 1 (although I will be speaking at Strasburg Mennonite Church for Renewal Meetings). During our worship service we will remember our loved ones whose faith in Christ has given us encouragement.  Jean and Rachel will be creating an altar space which contains photos or remembrances of departed family and friends that have been brought by members of our community.

This practice seems foreign, perhaps even questionable for those of us who have grown up in an expression of faith that did not talk much about the Communion of Saints.  So what basis is there for entering this unfamiliar tradition?  Much could be said, but let me just offer a few brief thoughts. 

What does Scripture say about saints?

 
And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the story about the bush, how God said to him, “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’?  He is God not of the dead, but of the living; you are quite wrong.”  Mark 12:26-27

Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves.  And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white.  Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him.  Matthew 17:1-3

Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints.  Ephesians 6:18

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us…  Hebrews 12:1

When he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell before the Lamb, each holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.  Revelation 5:8

The smoke of the incense, mixed with the prayers of the saints, ascended up to God from the altar where the angel had  poured them out.   Revelation 8:4
 
Our Worship
Some of the hymns we sing reflect the reality that the Church is a communion of saints that transcends space and time limitations.  O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing (Charles Wesley) is one that readily comes to mind.  One of the verses of that song uncovers the reality that Jesus has conquered death, so that the body of Christ is not limited to those of us who offer glory, praise and love from “below”:

To God all glory, praise, and love
Be now and ever given
By saints below and saints above
The Church in earth and heaven.
 
History
Christians have been honoring saints and martyrs since at least the second century AD. The Martyrdom of Polycarp, probably written near the middle of the second century, attests to this reality:

Accordingly, we afterwards took up his bones, more precious than the most exquisite jewels, and more pure than gold, and deposited them in a fitting place, so that when being gathered together, as opportunity is allowed us, with joy and rejoicing, the Lord shall grant us to celebrate the anniversary of his martyrdom, both in memory of those who have already finished their course, and for the exercising and preparation of those yet to walk in their steps (18).

As SMC attempts to uncover this reality which Scripture and the Church point to, the opportunity to bring photos and remembrances of loved ones who have been an encouragement to our faith is one way this is being expressed. 

The Church is an incarnational reality.  It is also a mystery.  There is so much about faith and the story uncovered in the biblical text that defies the categories and ways of knowing of modern rationalism.  A simplistic literal reading of text (as independent individuals or enlightened gods) will not allow us to hear the Communal witness which invites us into relationship with God and each other. 

All Saints Day is an opportunity to see ourselves within this beloved community of faith, hope and love.  This tradition reminds us that we are not just an independent Community gathering in this space and time around the Words our little group can agree to.  Our Faith and relationship with the body of Christ is much deeper and stronger than uniformity mediated by reason and words.  We are invited into the Divine Community of Love that is embodied, but also not limited to reason, time and space.  It is a question of what communal witness we trust and place ourselves within.  It is a question of how we make room for mystery. 

Like the story of beginnings found in Genesis, like the bread and wine table blessing of Abram by Melchizedek-the priest of God (Gen. 14), like the story of God taking up residence in the womb of a girl as a fetus, like the story of the empty tomb, the Emmaus road…like so many other stories of our faith, we hold this one with a sense of mystery and awe.  We hold it and we say Magnificent. 

Magnificent
Oh, oh, magnificent

I was born, I was born
To be with you in this space and time
After that and ever after
I haven’t had a clue only to break rhyme
This foolishness can leave a heart black and blue, oh, oh

Only love, only love can leave such a mark
But only love, only love can heal such a scar

I was born, I was born to sing for you
I didn’t have a choice but to lift you up
And sing whatever song you wanted me to
I give you back my voice from the womb
My first cry, it was a joyful noise, oh, oh

Only love, only love can leave such a mark
But only love, only love can heal such a scar
Justified, till we die you and I will magnify, oh, oh
Magnificent, magnificent, oh, oh

Only love, only love can leave such a mark
But only love, only love unites our hearts
Justified, till we die you and I will magnify, oh, oh
Magnificent, magnificent, magnificent

The story of leaves…

The story of leaves is an ancient script

written on earth’s parchment

in blazing colors

telling the timeless organic truth

 that the glorious  brilliance of fall foliage

(more Pollack than Serat)

is also preparation for death

 

leaves

and mortal adam—dust being

who Rises and builds greatness and beauty

must detach and let go

 

This story is also told

by stones and bones at

Giza pyramids, Coliseum, Acropolis

the abandoned Stuckey’s along I-70

in Illinois

 

Leaves and stones

whisper a truth into the human soul

also named by the writer

of Ecclesiastes

 that nothing can possess the meaning

reached for…named

 Glory and Power give way to

Decadence and Hubris

 

It has been so again and again…

Egyptian, Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian

Greek, Roman, Visagothic

Spanish, English, American

dream

 

The dream of illusory

power and meaning

(played out by human actors

wearing masks of eschatalogical gravitas

mixed with electric compulsions)

falls to the ground

 

And so I thank God for autumn leaves

eternal icon in earth’s temple

sacrament of wisdom

uncovering the reality

of Sein und Zeit

 

time to go rake

 

Cultivating Communities of Faith, Hope and Love…

Faith, hope and love.  These are gifts that emerge out of the biblical story.  These are the gifts which sustain community. Words, stories, community.  God’s story, composting in the soil under our bare feet, cultivating our journey into the beloved community.

In the biblical creation story, God speaks and moves. Without a prototype or patent–light, darkness, water, earth, plants, trees, sun, moon, stars, beasts and sea creatures–an explosion of life and symbiotic systems breathing. 

God breathes into dust (adam).  Humanity inhales.  Spirit, oxygen.  Exhales carbon dioxide.  Earth inhales.  Photosynthesis.  Life.  A seamless symbiosis of creature and creation.   Molecules and energy…being and time.  Imago dei.  Genetic fingerprints of divine handiwork.  Spirit and matter.  It is good.  

Without explanation, chronos and telos merge.  Order and chaos.  The tick tock of time within eternity .  

Agriculture, biology, linguistics, political science, theology…this was the curriculum in that first semester of human existence.   God moves humans into their new home and hands out the syllabus:  tend the garden, name the genus and species of things, know and be known, freedom is a gift that can turn sour.  Existence brings the possibility of good and evil. 

In the garden story we see our own story.  It is the human story.  We see beauty and ugliness within and without.  Eviction. Restorative justice.  Garden existense has proven difficult.  The freedom to exist has produced much pain.  We do our own thing.  We hurt others.  We hurt ourselves.  We run.  We hide.  Things are not as they should be.  

 

Sometimes.  As we are tilling the field of our own discontent.  Something emerges…sprouts out of the rubble of weakness and shame.  A tenuous sprout.  Growing among the earthen shards ancient and new.   Faith.  Hope.  Love.  Seeds must die.  Manure is good fertilizer.  Don’t plant too early.   The frost will get them.  Thatch and straw are good protective cover.   

Love.  A seed of redemption and liberation planted into the soil of human history.  In the womb of the young girl, God becomes a fetus.  Organic fusion of time and eternity.  God and the human condition.  Creator, as it turns out, is also Lover.  Redeemer.  Cosmos is loved and pursued.   Humanity becomes a grain of wheat.  Scattered and gathered. Crushed to make flour.  Bread.  

Jesus comes to us as he talks with a Samaritan woman at a well. As he invites himself to the home of a tree-climbing tax-collector–a son of Abraham.  Jesus comes to us on a donkey in the public square. At table in an upper room. Jesus stoops to wash our feet. We are self-conscious. Our feet have stepped in some messy places. They are ugly. Jesus washes.  

Jesus comes to us on a cross, in a tomb. He comes to us on a road where we walk deep in conversation with many doubts and questions. We don’t recognize him.

Jesus comes to us in the naked and poor, the prisoner, the depressed, the abused.  We don’t recognize him.

Jesus comes to us in the changing seasons that produce a bumper crop of grapes.  Crushed and fermented.  Wine.  Jesus comes to us in the bread and cup.  The bread of Life.  The cup of salvation.  The communal meal.  Feeding our hunger.  Nourishing the community of  Faith, Hope and Love.

the beloved community

what is your name
where are you from
what is your story

will you listen
to my story?

will you listen
or do you think
you already know the truth
of who I am
and how my story does
or does not fit with
your story

as you listen
will you take me as you find me
even as I do the same for you
and what will we do about
our differences

as you listen
will you make room for my questions
or will you seek to define me
interpret me through your
experience and presuppositions
sure that your words and categories
are sufficient to explain
the world of my life
fully, no mystery

will you
looking at me
see yourself
and the possibility
of mercy
triumphing over
judgment

will you recognize
the imago dei
within the broken eikon
in me
in you

and seeing…
will you still trust
the fragile possibility
of knowing and being known
in the beloved
community

Be who you are…

As you go off to school this morning
I see your middle-school wings spreading
and I want to tell you
be who you are
as you are becoming

As the sun rises on another day
of books, lockers, lessons
and teachers who will see
your potential and mold it
be who you are
as you are becoming

As you laugh with friends at table
and take the home-made sandwich
and sliced fresh peach from
your technicolor lunch sack
be who you are
as you are becoming

As you step off the yellow bus
and return home to rice pudding snack
couch vegetation, chores
homework and flute
be who you are
as you are becoming

And as you are becoming
know that I marvel
at the beautiful
mystery
of you

Receding summer…

A standing ovation for summer
with its buttery corn on the cob
sauteed zuchini squash suppers

A thunderous applause
for freshly sliced yellow
and red beefsteak tomatos
bathing in vinegary sweet
cucumber salad

A heartfelt yawp
for salsa colors
framed in Mason jars
popped and sealed
a family production

A euphoric yes
for verdant goodness
even as the tasks of the day
and the crisp morning air
foreshadow a turning
a diminuendo

See the children off to school
Take down the garden fence
Clear the beds
Buy peaches for canning

A reverent pause
to contemplate the liminal space
of changing seasons
the opus dei of earth
contained yet uncontainable
in this moment
this life