“The church can be a foretaste of the peace for which the world was made. It is the function of minority communities to remember and to create utopian visions. There is no hope for society without an awareness of transcendence. Transcendence is kept alive not on the grounds of logical proof to the effect that there is a cosmos with a hereafter, but by the vitality of communities in which a different way of being keeps breaking in here and now. That we can really be led on a different way is real proof of the transcendent power which offers hope of peace to the world as well. Nonconformity is the warrant for the promise of another world. Although immersed in this world, the church by her way of being represents the promise of another world, which is not somewhere else but which is to come here. That promissory quality of the church’s present distinctiveness is the making of peace, as the refusal to make war is her indispensable negative transcendence.”      -John Howard Yoder

Regeneration

So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!  2 Corinthians 5:17 (NRSV)

I need more than to be tweaked or improved. I try to become me ideal, but I constantly fall short. The good I want to do I don’t, and the crap I don’t want to do, I do (Romans 5:17). I need to be reborn, I need to be regenerated.

As those that call themselves Christians, we believe that new life is possible, that new life is necessary. We have different ideas about how that actually takes place.

For some it happens in an instant, the result of a prayer “accepting Christ.” For others it is a life-long process of submission to Christ, of practicing following Jesus. For still others, it is some sort of combination of both.

For some it is the ticket punch needed to get to heaven, for others it is what makes life worth living here and now. For still others, it is a combination of both.

But we can agree that is desirable, that it is more important than anything else. It is what makes our life and our life together possible.

What are your thoughts about or, more importantly, your experiences of, regeneration.

On Sunday, my son Emerson “filled up his marble jar” for good behavior. This means that he gets some type of a reward – usually he chooses a toy. For a few weeks he knew that he wanted the Lego Star Wars Death Star. So Sunday after church we went to Walmart and picked it up. There were a few other things that I needed to get so I threw the toy into the cart. For the rest of our time at Walmart, Emerson walked alongside the shopping cart with heis hands on the side looking adoringly at the Lego toy as if it was a host in a monstrance and he was an old Catholic lady.

I realized, of course, that I do the same. I find my own little objects of adoration. Sometimes they are objects – a new gadget, a new book. Sometimes its food –  ”Hmmm – fifteen minutes on my knees in prayer or a stop at Dunkin’ Donuts?” Sometimes its a cherished grudge or pet idea that I stroke and pet or an anxiety that I continuously poke at like I poke at a canker sore in my mouth with my tongue. They all become my Death Star, what I can look to and get excited about. None of them ultimately satisfy. Just like my son now “needs” a Lego Star Wars planet for the Lego Star Wars Death Star to blow up. I, tomorrow will need something else as well.

I know that all I need is my relationship with God and sometimes, somewhere deep inside I even believe that. There are so many other things calling me. But if I allow myself, I can rest, complete and satisfied in the loving arms of God.

People aren’t busier than they were in the 1930′s. This is a common myth. There’s just more competition for their time. The reality is that what churches are doing is less interesting than other things. So we need to ask: How can the church become a meaning making system, not just a volunteer-organizing system? People don’t care about the old categories of paying dues and volunteering, or the distinction between clergy and laity. What people want is to live their life in a way that makes meaning in the world. Things within a church are only meaningful to the church itself. The church is functioning as a solution to a past period and answering none of the problems for our current time. In a traditional church system, all of the important stuff is reserved for clergy. All people should be doing it! The entire community should have to do what the pastor is doing. Most pastors stay pastors because they get to do the good stuff.

The whole article can be found here.

Both Eugene and his wife Jan spoke about embodiment. It is a subject very important to them. “When God revealed himself most completely,” observes Eugene, “it was through a human being.” He believes that we learn most about God through human interaction. Technology, in the author’s estimation, has actually put a barrier between our relationships. Drawing on the work of philosopher Albert Borgman, he observes that we have allowed technology to define us instead of using technology in a human way. Jan is well known for the hospitality shared with others in the Peterson’s Montana home. Hospitality shown says “you matter.” Jan says that “every time we sit at the table, we re-enact the Eucharist.” Meals, for the Petersons, pull stuff together visible and invisible.

A pastor in our age and culture in often defined as a communicator. For Eugene, pastor = conversationalist.

It goes without saying that, for Peterson, scripture is of the utmost importance. In his conversation on the subject, he critiqued what he sees as the bad exegesis of television – “dumbing scripture down to the lowest and finding an enemy.” He has no problem with scripture being inerrant or infallible, but he sees a danger in literalness. When children want to avoid you understanding what they say, they turn to the literal. Scripture requires participation, it should not be read alone. It is not meant to be dissected; it is living. Instead of imposing the story of the Bible on our friends, Peterson encourages us to invite our friends into the story of the Bible. For example, the parables of Jesus require participation. To ask what they mean destroys them. Our sermons, in his view, suffer from a lack of ambiguity.

Eugene Peterson is skeptical of programs to “create community.” It took 10 years before he felt community started to develop in his church. In this conversation and the previous and the next, on church,  the retired pastor emphasizes the importance of working with what we have. Eugene shared how his imagination had been formed by the work of The Church of the Savior in Washington, DC. He wanted to form a congregation in that tradition of intense discipleship and service. However, after several years at the church he founded, Christ Our King, he realized that he had “ended up with a bunch of losers.” He then learned that “everything he needed was in his cell” and all he had to do was work with what he had been given.

Peterson is the best example I have seen of working with what you have been given. He, more than just about anyone I have encountered, and most assuredly more than anyone I have encountered “in the ministry,” Peterson is authentically himself. As Jan Peterson says of Eugene, he isn’t popular because of marketing, but because he is true, because he is real. It was a privilege and an honor to be in his presence. Q Sessions: Practices will be a landmark formative event in my life and ministry.

Consecrate them so they’ll be soaked in holiness, so that anyone who so much as touches them will become holy. Exodus 30:29 (The Message)

In this week’s daily lectionary readings a passage from Exodus giving instructions on the construction and preparation from the tabernacle popped up. I honestly still don’t know exactly why it was included. It seems out of place. However, it started working on my heart.

The passage describes the preparation of the anointing oil and incense for the temple. And the way Eugene Peterson translates v. 29, above, captured my imagination. Everything in the tabernacle was to be anointed with the fragrant oil. They were to be “soaked in holiness, so that anyone who so much as touches them will become holy.” All I could think of is that is what I want to be, soaked in holiness.

In Paul’s letter to the church in Corinth, he reminds them “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” (1 Cor. 3:16) The “you” in the verse is plural and scholars surmise that Paul is speaking to the church. What if we, the temple of God, were consecrated, anointed like that ancient tabernacle. What if we were so soaked in holiness, that anyone who so much as touches us, came in contact with us, would become holy. What if the smell of anointing was so heavy upon us that even those who came near would smell the holiness, the presence of the Divine? That is the church I want to be a part of. That is the church that could change the world.

One element that I forgot to mention (I do that a lot) that came to my attention last week was the willingness to be vulnerable, to not be in control. I encourage you to listen to this 20 minute talk by Brene Brown, a social worker and researcher, who has some fascinating and inspiring insights on connection and vulnerability:

I had the opportunity to gather tonight with some folks who are pretty special to me. There was only a handful of us, and all we did was sing some songs, read some readings, and pray together, but like all the times that the Spirit moves, it was more than the sum of it’s parts. It was the highlight of the first week of advent for me. God was present.

One of the experiences was watching a video meditation by Christine Sine called “Awaiting the Christ Child.” You can see it below, but I think it’s better shared with fellow sojourners. Come and join us next week!

“When you change the way you look at things. The things you look at change”   - Wayne Dyer

I used this quote in a sermon a few weeks ago, speaking about how Jesus often used parables to reframe his listeners view of life and of God. The way we look at things makes a difference as is illustrated by the illusion to the right. What picture do you see? There are two images. It depends on how you look at it.