Someday

The theme is coming into view. The theme for the week of devotions I’m writing. My deadline is just over a month away, and I’m finding my writing falling into place. Still, it is hard to keep it to the proper length. I want to weave more words into the story. But I’m doing what I’m told, and following the rules.

One thing that has helped is writing prayers for our Daily Prayers for Change feature through Discipleship Ministries online. We are joining with all the agencies and the council of Bishops and creating resources for anti-racism. One of the elements are daily prayers that you can receive through your email. Over 1,000 United Methodist’s are receiving these prayers Monday through Friday each week. You are invited to sign up if you’d like to be a part of the group praying for change. Here’s a link:

 https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/articles/praying-for-change-daily-prayers-for-anti-racism. 

But I mention it because I’m writing some of them each week and we need to keep them brief. So, it is helping me be in the mindset of writing quickly to get to the point. Folks won’t necessarily read and pray the prayers if it takes too long. So, I’m trying to get to the point.

This devotion comes from 2 Thessalonians, which purports to be written by Paul. Some scholars dispute this, however, as they do. But whoever wrote it, it is telling the church of that day and this day that we can rely on God and believe in the promise, even as we are called to be careful about who we put in charge of our vision and our hope. So, here is the devotion I’ll be submitting (after the scripture, I mean!) 

2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17 As to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we beg you, brothers and sisters, 2 not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as though from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord is already here. 3 Let no one deceive you in any way; for that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first and the lawless one is revealed, the one destined for destruction. 4 He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, declaring himself to be God. 5 Do you not remember that I told you these things when I was still with you? ... But we must always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the first fruits for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and through belief in the truth. 14 For this purpose he called you through our proclamation of the good news, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 15 So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by our letter. 16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope, 17 comfort your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and word.

Waiting is always hard. You can smell those cookies baking. You watch the clock hands move. And it seems interminable. So you try to hurry it along. You open the oven before the cake is done. You attempt to make the clock hands move faster by sheer force of will. But nothing. Waiting is inevitable. And difficult.  

That’s why Jesus never just says “wait!” There was always something else. “Watch and wait.” Or “keep awake and be ready.” Waiting is not empty time. It is time for doing. Not just busy work to keep you distracted. We’re waiting for Jesus, for the Kin-dom of God, for fulfillment. So our waiting is learning to live as though it was already here. We practice Kin-dom living every day. Yet, we always know there is more. That’s what 2 Thessalonians is telling us. Don’t assume we’re done, don’t assume this is the best it can get. We don’t wait with eyes closed, acting as if this life doesn’t matter because there will be a day when someone else sets it all right. No, we wait by working with the Spirit to build the Someday that is coming.

We need a Someday; a vision of what might be possible. Not to distract us, or lull us into laziness or push us into despair. The Someday we long for is fulfillment, the blessed community, the experience of love. When we get a taste of it, we can rejoice. We can comfort our hearts and take strength from that experience; that kiss of grace that comes from a surprising place. We strive for more, for justice, for peace, for mercy in this life. We can smell those cookies baking and wait with hope.

Loving God, we wait for the fulfillment promised by your Son. May we never give up hope, may be never stop leaning into Someday. Walk with us, that we might see and know the Kin-dom. Amen.

Shalom, 

Derek 

Every Day

Psalm 145:1-5, 17-21 I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever. 2 Every day I will bless you, and praise your name forever and ever. 3 Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; his greatness is unsearchable. 4 One generation shall laud your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts. 5 On the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your wondrous works, I will meditate. ...  17 The LORD is just in all his ways, and kind in all his doings. 18 The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. 19 He fulfills the desire of all who fear him; he also hears their cry, and saves them. 20 The LORD watches over all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy. 21 My mouth will speak the praise of the LORD, and all flesh will bless his holy name forever and ever.

Every day I will bless the Lord. Every day? Yes, every day. What about the days I regret, the days when everything goes wrong, when I make bad choices or fall into bad circumstances? Every day. What about the days when it seems like the world is heading to hell in a hand-basket? What about the days when loving my neighbors seems impossible because I can’t stand some of those neighbors and the ways they choose to live their lives? What about the days when I get so disgusted reading social media because every one’s opinion seems so far from mine and theirs make so much less sense? Those days too? Every day.

It seems to be asking a lot, this Psalm 145. And it certainly would be, if praise was a response to circumstance. Let’s be honest there are days when praise is easy. It just kind of rolls off our tongues, just oozes out of our pores. Praise as a response is a fun and uplifting kind of thing that we all enjoy. But Psalm 145 isn’t talking about praise as a response. It is talking about praise as a way of life. Or perhaps an act of will. Every day I will bless the Lord is a decision and not a reaction. Every day.

You can then see the rest of the psalm, after the every day declaration, as a list of ways to maintain the pledge. Meditate on God’s works, see God’s justice, feel God’s nearness, listen for answers to prayer. All these ways can keep us praising, even the days we don’t necessarily feel like it. But then there’s a challenge to accept with this praise way of life, and that is to get others to praise along with you. Maybe the buddy system for praising keeps us on task. Every day I will bless God’s name. Every day. And today.

OK, I’m still working on my devotions for the Upper Room Disciplines. The above is one. It still needs some editing and a prayer added in. But there it is. If anyone wants to make a comment to let me know what you think of the shorter format, I’d appreciate it. Thanks for being a faithful reader.

Shalom, 

Derek

How Does It Look to You Now?

I’m discovering my role on the team. I work with some amazing people here, on my team and in the agency in general. They continually amaze me with their knowledge and experience and the passion with which they do their jobs. Even in this strange times we find ourselves in these days. Which means that I see them on Zoom, little squares of people as we gather for meetings large and small. I’m old enough that the first images that comes to mind when I think of our Zoom communication is the intro to the Brady Bunch. You remember that sitcom - “It’s a story, or a lovely lady ...” You’re singing it now, aren’t you? Well, some of you. But they were in those boxes looking down and around at each other. That’s the first Zoom meeting, it seems to me. 

Where was I? Oh, yes, my role in the incredible team. I’m the writer. I know, I thought I was going to be the preacher, but no. There aren’t enough opportunities to preach. But write. It is all I do it seems. Except for Zoom meetings. Which makes it odd, I guess, that on the weekend, I write. Still. I love it. I love words, and putting them together and making sense out of a world that doesn’t really make much sense any more. Or attempting to make sense. So, I write, a lot. I write preaching notes and worship ideas for every series that we produce. I write articles about worship and preaching. I write responses to questions that come in. I write reports, and proposals. I just write a lot. 

Don’t get me wrong, the others write too. And do it well. I’m just often tasked with putting our conversations into written words, or coming up with descriptions of the podcasts that we record, or putting into words emotions that arise among us and threaten to choke us up. I do that. And I love it. 

Which is why I was honored to be asked this spring if I would write a week’s worth of devotions for the Upper Room Disciplines. This is different from the monthly Upper Room Devotional. This is whole year’s worth of devotions published in one book together. I’m writing the week that includes All Saints Day (Nov.1) in 2022. It’ll come out in fall of 2021, so watch for it. :)

But I thought I’d test out my devotionals here in this space. The problem is they have to be very short, 325 words.  Considering my last post here was a little over 5 times that amount, it seems really short. That’s why the long introduction. I’m given four texts and because I have All Saints Day in my week, I get four more. And I’m supposed to use them all over the week. So, for the next few weeks you get to read my musings on these texts and figure out (and maybe help me figure out) which 325 words I can use for the devotional.

And I thought I’d start with the hardest one. At least from the first reading a while ago. (I admit, I set this aside for a while, but the deadline is now closer, so I need to get working on this, along with the other things I have to write!) I love the Hebrew Bible stories, but there are parts that I don’t pay a lot of attention to. And this is one of those. Take a look.

Haggai 2:1-9 In the second year of King Darius, in the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month, the word of the LORD came by the prophet Haggai, saying: 2 Speak now to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people, and say, 3 Who is left among you that saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Is it not in your sight as nothing? 4 Yet now take courage, O Zerubbabel, says the LORD; take courage, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest; take courage, all you people of the land, says the LORD; work, for I am with you, says the LORD of hosts, 5 according to the promise that I made you when you came out of Egypt. My spirit abides among you; do not fear. 6 For thus says the LORD of hosts: Once again, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land; 7 and I will shake all the nations, so that the treasure of all nations shall come, and I will fill this house with splendor, says the LORD of hosts. 8 The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, says the LORD of hosts. 9 The latter splendor of this house shall be greater than the former, says the LORD of hosts; and in this place I will give prosperity, says the LORD of hosts.

Huh. Not necessarily Huh? But certainly just huh. What do we do with that? This is very specific, look at all those names and dates. It’s like a bad history class. Names of people we don’t know from Adam. Or Archduke Ferdinand. Or Chaing Kai-Shek. It just seems like a mess, right? A right zerubbabel, you might say. And a date that seems somewhat arbitrary. July 21st. Seventh month, twenty-first day. Except it wasn’t July. July hadn’t been invented yet.  Actually, it was called Tishrei, and it was a very important month. Rosh Hashana happens in Tishrei, as does Yom Kippur, and Sukkot (or the Feast of Tabernacles) and Hoshana Rabbah which is the seventh day of the Feast of Sukkot and a special synagogue service marked by processions and the sounding of the shofar and it happened on the twenty-first day of the seventh month. 

Did you get all that? It was a loud day, a party day. It was a celebration of what God has done for God’s people, and marked my movement and music and food and joy. On that day the Lord spoke to Haggai. That day. Haggai probably said “What?” and held his hand behind his ear. “Was that the shofar or was that God?” 

But somehow God got through the noise of that celebratory worship. And what was the message? It was all about God’s house. The temple and how it was rebuilt, or not rebuilt. It didn’t have the style it used to have, didn’t have the glory. And even on this loud day of celebration there was a ho hum quality to their worship. It ain’t what it used to be. “How does it look to you now?” Is God trying to shame them? King Zerubbabel? Prophet Haggai? Everyone? You’ve given me a shack, God says, a dump, an eyesore!

No, it doesn’t seem that way. I wonder, in fact, if God is actually hinting about something beyond the building anyway. Yeah the second temple wasn’t as grand as the first. But God says, don’t worry about it. I’m with you. I’m always with you. And guess what? Things are going to get shaky. Stuff is going to happen. You’re going to be afraid. You’re going to wonder what’s up. You’re going to feel ... shaky. And then you’re going to figure out what really matters. What the treasure really is. And it’s mine. 

Wait. God’s going to threaten us? For a ransom? No, I don’t think so. Shaking happens. Is happening. And pat of what gets shaken is our priorities. But as always, we have a choice. We can choose to go after God’s treasure, the stuff that really matters. Like loving God and neighbor, like self-sacrifice and service, like building up and making better, like equality and justice, and peace. Or we can choose the shaky stuff. The temporary stuff. The stuff like the second rate temple building that doesn’t really satisfy anyone. We can cling to our lifestyle and our rights and our so-called freedom. And still miss out on the splendor of God. The splendor God promises to fill our spaces with.

There are those to value buildings and festivals and the right to ignore science and safety. And while they are doing it, blowing their own horns and making all the ruckus. There are those who value a way of life that over-values some while devaluing others, they shout about their right to hate. And it is during the noise of this protestation that God says “how does it look to you now?”  

No so great. I vote for the glory of God. Fill our spaces with your presence, as we care for the most vulnerable among us. Shake us up until we begin to see what we are doing to one another, to those who are different, and finally begin to see the treasure that they are. The treasure that we all are. Only then, will God’s splendor return. The latter splendor, the splendor of peace, the splendor of justice, the splendor of equality will be greater than the former. Because we choose love.

Shalom, 

Derek 

Festival of Homiletics 2020, Virtual Edition Day Five: Lament and Longing

Peter Mayer and his family are singing as I write these closing thoughts from the last day of the Almost Festival of Homiletics. Peter Mayer is a guitarist, played with Jimmy Buffet, and maybe still does, I don’t know. But I know that he’s really good. He sings with his son Brendan and others from time to time appear. He isn’t really here, but it’s like watching to original MTV, when it was music videos. It is the best of Peter Mayer, music videos. Peter sings songs of faith, when he isn’t with Jimmy. Not that Jimmy Buffet isn’t a person of faith, don’t want to upset any parrot heads who might read this.

It was an interested final day of the Virtual Festival. After we were welcomed and blessed by another of the organizers, I forgot to record her name. But she thanked everyone she could think of, and had a better list than I did. It was a usual end of event kind of welcome. Thanking everyone who made it happen. Everyone who made a major shift to make this happen in this new way in a short period of time. And it worked. No, it wasn’t the same, but it worked. I am grateful for those who went out of their way to make this happen.

Then we worshiped together. I did catch the musicians names today. Uriah Moore was the pianist and singer, and Una Brown was the singer. They did a great job all week. The preacher for the service was Rev. Dr. Raphael Warnock, Senior Pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. Yeah, that one. I sometimes struggled to follow the pastors I had to follow. To preach from the pulpit made famous by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would be daunting to say the least.

Dr. Warnock preached from the prophet Joel, and he called us to Lament. It’s a language unique to God’s people, he argues, a language that we seem to be losing in our self-sufficient culture. A language that just might save us. Lament. Not a whine. Not a complaint. Lament. It is a cry out to God. It is an acknowledgment of a difficult situation, it is an admission of helplessness. Lament. It is a surrender. It is a invitation to be opened up to new possibilities. Which begins when we learn how to praise even as we lament. How to cling to faith and cling to hope, even when despair seems the more logical step. Lament.

Later in the afternoon, the preacher was Bishop Robert Wright, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta. His text was Psalm 42 and his title was “Like a Deer.” I think he should have named it Longing. That was the theme, or one of them anyway. His over all theme, with the theme of the Festival, was about the care of the planet. But Psalm 42 calls us to care by longing. Longing for a better world. Longing for a more faithful witness. Longing for a faith secure in the promises of God, not in the resources of our economy. Of course we need to live, we know that, God knows that, at least Jesus said so. But we don’t need to destroy. We don’t need to deplete. We don’t need to take from others that we might have more. We’ve got to live. But that we is an inclusive we. We all have to live. Bishop Wright quoted that well known theologian Theodore Geisel, or as some of us knew him, Dr. Seuss.  The bishop quoted from that book that was banned in some circles because it seemed too radical, too environmental for our culture, The Lorax: “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” Maybe caring a whole awful lot means starting with Lament and moving toward Longing.

Part of what I long for is a place to preach more regularly. I do enjoy the freedom to have a Saturday, I must admit, and to face Sunday without the anxiety of proclamation weighing on me. But still, it miss it. It was a part of my life for a long time. Perhaps that is why I wasn’t terribly excited about the lecture titled “Less Stress Preaching and Prep.” It felt like an intro to preaching course. Admittedly the Rev. Dr. Raquel S. Lettsome, Associate Minister at Union AME and Managing Partner of Say AMEN!, had a solid presentation and she brought in the unique pressures of preaching during a pandemic and the shelter at home phenomenon. But I found my mind wandering as I imagined how I would be preaching now, what I might say and what I might try to do. Name your anxieties, Dr. Lettsome advised. So, I did.

The interview was with Rev. Neichelle Guidry, Liturgist and Scholar, Dean of the Chapel and Director of the Wisdom Center at Spelman College. She spoke with enthusiasm and passion about women who preach, and about helping victims of abuse find a voice and community of welcome. She talked about preaching as a corporate act, not dominated by a preacher, but shared as a conversation within the body of those who gather, believers and those who aren’t believers yet. I admit, it was fun listening to her passion for what it is that she offers.

There was music, as I said at the beginning. Peter and Brenden Mayer, and also Fran McKendree, who sang and played while we watched a slide show of previous Festivals, you know back when you could shake a hand and give someone a pat on the back. There were also slides of the behind the scenes people who made this year’s Festival possible, and screen shots of the speakers and preachers we heard. It was not the same, but it was good. I am thankful, but am still praying that next year we’ll be able to go to Denver and sit in the same room and worship together. Just like I am sure many of you are hoping that soon you can gather with your family and worship together. Let’s long for that together.

Shalom,
Derek
#Homiletics2020

Festival of Homiletics 2020 Virtual Edition, Day Four: Truth that Matters

Today I was part of the recording of a Podcast, and then quickly having to write a description of the same Podcast because the web folk were working quickly because of the holiday weekend. I wrote up and sent off a proposal for an online Preaching Webinar about tips and techniques for Preaching Online, not sure when that will be released, but soon. And I managed to attend a full day of the Almost Festival of Homiletics!

Virtual, I mean, not almost. The Virtual Festival. Another good day and again I give credit to the planners and organizers. I’m actually writing while the last session is underway. It’s a music group called “The Fleshpots of Egypt” or the “Fleshpots” for short. A group of seminary professors and pastors playing bluegrass gospel songs. You have to see them to believe it. They have a lot of fun. Even in the streamed version, they are enjoying themselves tremendously. Full disclosure, I’m not a big bluegrass fan, but these guys are a lot of fun.

But let me go back to the beginning of the day with the Festival for my reflections. We began with the welcome and blessing of Rev. Antony Bailey hosting us from his home in Toronto Canada and he walked us through the schedule for the day and then had a little devotion for us. Originally from Barbados, Antony is a frequent host at the Festival and brings a gracious spirit with him.

This was more like a “normal” day at the Festival, in that I heard three sermons today, and a lecture and an interview, before the Fleshpots. You just have to keep saying the Fleshpots, it seems to me. It’s not a word I type all that often. Anyway, the first worship experience was led by our musicians and liturgists. Most of whom are invisible. The prayer time, for example, is floating words, inviting us into a spirit of prayer. The voices are prompters and not performers. Sometimes we have landscape pictures to help us in our spiritual imagination. Sometimes the words alone, or a candle flame flickering with our virtual breath in the space we create. The musicians likewise are often obscured by images. Once in a while we get a glimpse of them, a young African American man on the piano and an older African American woman at a microphone. I think their names appear briefly as they begin to sing. I’ll have to pay attention more tomorrow. I’ve been appreciative of their ability to lead us, usually with familiar hymns of the faith. I am grateful for what they add to the worship feel.

The preacher for the first time slot was Dr. Cynthia Hale, Senior Pastor of Ray of Hope Church is Decatur Georgia. I think every church should be named Ray of Hope, don’t you? We should declare what we are doing with our name. Her sermon was titled “Don’t Panic: God is in Control!” With exclamation point. And that’s exactly how she preached. With exclamation points. She was hampered, I am sure, by the lack of response in her call and response style of preaching, but it didn’t slow her down. She leaned on us to trust in the promises. It was a recitation of words that have brought the people of God hope for centuries I have to confess I was looking for something deeper, something surprising. To be honest, based on the title, Don’t Panic, I was also expecting a few Douglas Adams quotes from Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, but there were none. But maybe we need to be reminded of the eternal truths from time to time. God is still in control. Amen? Amen.

Following Dr. Hale was a lecture titled “‘Is it True? Does it Matter’ Preaching that Saves Lives.” The lecturer was new to me, but I confess to being swept up in her topic quickly. Her name is Rev. Dr. Katie Hays, and she is the Senior Pastor of Galileo Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Fort Worth Texas. She planted that church and has intentionally directed her attention to the marginalized peoples of our society. In their mission statement it states that Galileo Church is “a next church community of belonging that seeks and shelters spiritual refugees, especially LGBTQ+ people and those who love them.” 

Her lecture challenged all of us who preach to consider not just truth, but truth that matters. Telling someone something that is true might not save them, might not bring them the hope that they need, might not be meeting them in their brokenness and leading them into deeper and more profound relationships of truth and salvation. What is our preaching trying to do? That was the question she was asking us. Are we preachers giving answers to questions no one is asking, while we ignore the deeper needs, wounds and potential of the people around us, inside and outside the church. It is a message that we need to return to again and again as we examine our preaching. 

As I am preparing, for instance, to present a webinar on how to preach online, a part of my content must pay attention to the why of preaching and not just the how. My shelves are full of books on the how, but those who pay attention to the why are more rare. I took another look at my outline as I listened to Dr Hays speak today.

Two sermons followed in quick succession. And they were stand alone sermons, outside of the context, even the almost context of this virtual world. They were just dropped in on us from above. Antony Bailey’s voice introduced them, but that was the only contextualization of these two sermons. It was unsettling to say the least.

But then they were unsettling sermons. Maybe that was part of the intent. Lenny Duncan, who is introduced as “pastor/author/speaker/activist”, preached on Awaiting the God who Answers from Habakkuk. It was a plea to pay attention to who is left out, left out of the recovery efforts, left out of the health care system, left out of our attention. But also what does it mean to say we await a God who answers? Where are the answers? How do we know them, recognize them, listen to them? 

William Barber continued that theme in his sermon that followed. Rev. William Barber is a life long advocate for the poor and the head of the Poor People’s Campaign in Washington DC. He, as he often does, astounds us with statistics about the depth of poverty in this the greatest country in the world. And like Lenny Duncan before him, asked us how we can justify doing nothing about the injustice rampant in our nation? How can we call ourselves followers of Christ and yet be content with death on such a scale. Duncan and Barber both reminded us of the national debate when it comes to the reopening of our economy and how often it devolved into a discussion at to which lives are worth saving. Sermons that came out of nowhere and left us breathless and trembling, if we just paid attention. What truths really matter, as Dr. Hays might ask.

We concluded with an interview of Jonathan Wilson-Hargrave, a Spiritual Writer and Public Speaker, according to his bio. He didn’t let us off the hook either. Insisting that spiritual life has to manifest itself in social justice, we were encourage to take words of those like Barber and Duncan to heart as we seek to walk with Jesus. Walking with Jesus cannot be a walk in the garden alone, despite the gospel song. To walk with Jesus is to walk through the truths of the world as it really is, as we are living it out every day, as individuals and as a nation. In fact, I might have to read some of his writing because he said in the interview, that coming from North Carolina, he was aware of just how much the bible says “y’all” and not just you.  I believe that I’ve heard that before somewhere.

The Fleshpots have sung themselves off the stage and it’s time to wrap this up. One more day of the Festival and what I hear, I’ll share with you.

Shalom,

Derek

#Homiletics2020

Festival of Homiletics 2020, Virtual Edition, Days Two and Three:Certain Uncertainty

Because of work responsibilities I am only getting a partial experience of the Festival in this “almost” experience. But even if I could hang on every spoken word, I would still be getting only a partial experience. One of the elements of the Festival experience is gathering together with colleagues from all over the world into a shared space and hearing the sound of 1,500 voices singing the great hymns of the faith, and leaning into the proclaimed word, caught up in the Spirit that moves through. Sitting up here in the spare room, the “room of requirement” that can become whatever we need it to be, except that it can’t become the cathedral like sanctuary of Peachtree Road United Methodist Church, which is where we were supposed to have been. 

Still, I don’t want to moan too much. A little moaning is OK, isn’t it? But not too much. And I have to give credit to the organizers, they are trying really hard to capture the moment as best they can. And there have been some good sermons in this unusual setting, some good conversations and some amazing music. And maybe that’s what we need right now. Almost. Something that speaks of what was, what we remember together, and also recognizes that everything has changed. 

Day Two began with the Rev. Otis Moss III preaching in his empty sanctuary in Chicago about the Certain Uncertainty. He too, like many of us, is almost done hearing “these uncertain times.” And yet, what better description can there be about the life of the follower of Jesus? Everything is uncertain, except the certainty of the presence of the One we follow. And in the end, that is enough. What we need, Moss declares is to look beyond the frame. To look for the support that stands with us. Here the camera he was using pulled back and revealed his wife sitting in the pew next to him. We lean into the support of the God who calls us, but we feel it in the people around us. Who is supporting you, who is praying you through, who is just out of the frame and on your side? In the certain uncertainty, we need to remember those who brought us to where we are.

I was in and out yesterday and didn’t catch all of anything else. But I heard parts of Dr. Ellen Davis, biblical scholar from Duke University, talking about “Telling the Truth: Ungodly Facts, Real Power, and Holy Fear.” Dr. Davis’s thesis was reminding us of the Exodus event, and how Moses was called to speak truth to power, even at the risk of his life, and the fear that his own people had when he chose to do that. Sometimes, slavery seems safer than the risk of resistance. Sometimes, the destruction of the world is safer than the risk of changing a way of life so that life may continue.

I caught most of Dr. Joy Moore’s sermon titled “Breathless Anticipation.” Her sermon was based on Romans 8, reminding us what a shocking statement Paul made when he said “the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing to the glory about to be revealed to us.” Which was immediately followed by “Creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God.” The breathless anticipation is because of the great need, the great suffering that all of creation endures, while it hopes for the people of God to finally understanding stewardship of all that is. The glory is not just the someday of the coming new age, the Kingdom, or Kin-dom as many of us are now naming it. But it is in the translation of this world to that one. It is in the rescuing for what the world has been and can be, once we stop our mad dash toward destruction. Creation waits for us to be who God calls us to be.

Dr. Leah Schade was the subject of an interview in the next time slot. I got to hear a part of it before having to go to yet another zoom call. I met Leah at a conference last December, she made a presentation of her major work, “Preaching in the Purple Zone.” The purple zone is trying to walk the middle of our great national divide between the red and the blue, attempting to speak into this polarity and be heard. Or better yet, let the gospel be heard. 

I came back in time to hear Grace Kelly sing and play us out. Grace has been a part of the Festival before, and I remember being amazed at her talent and heart. She is a jazz saxophonist and singer of blues and jazz. And she’s Asian American. Sometimes it’s like I am looking at Maddie sing the blues. It seems incongruous on the one hand, but oh so amazing on the other. Grace sings and plays of a spirit that connects, that teaches love, risks loving. It was a beautiful ending to day two.

Day three was even more sketchy than the previous. We had an all staff meeting a Discipleship Ministries in the morning and then an all programming staff meeting in the afternoon. So, I missed a lot today. I did, however, hear a sermon for Olu Brown, a pastor from Atlanta who planted a church near the airport and somehow managed to grow it into a multi site church and now online church with a reach in the multiple thousands. Oddly enough, tomorrow the Worship Team is recording a podcast with Olu about the use of technology in worship. 

His sermon was titled Imagine, based on the end of the book of Revelation, Olu was asking us to not let our imagination sit on the sidelines as we work toward what Christ as promised for all of creation. To not settle for what is but continue to long for what can be, what might be, what God intends for each person. Too often we are apt to say, that’s just the way things are. And have stopped asking why are they this way? And why are we content with this? Whether we’re talking about our own lives, our human community or the condition of the planet as a whole, we need to imagine a better reality, a more God-breathed reality. Don’t stop imagining.

Then I was able to hear most of Karoline Lewis’s lecture on leading with the sermon. Preaching, she argues, as do many others (I’ve even been know to talk about this when I teach) that the sermon is not just a Sunday morning moment of uplift or inspiration, but a way of shepherding the flock into becoming the body of Christ. Much of what she shared I knew, and yet it was good to hear it outlined the way she did. My only problem was that she started by saying she had 8 elements of the sermon as leadership, but I only got 7. So now I’ll have to wait until the recording is publish in a few weeks to find number 8.

Then I was caught up in office stuff, and managed to come back in time to catch most of the closing music and worship experience led by a group called “The Many.” I was amazed at what they were doing, able to do in this disconnected medium. They sang and they prayed and they even shared in a few minutes a meditation that took my breath away in its simplicity and grace. I hope to learn more about The Many, and I’ll let you know.  

Shalom,

Derek

#Homiletics2020

Festival of Homiletics 2020, Virtual Event, Day One: Almost Bent Over

Well, here I am at the Festival of Homiletics, 2020. I’m not alone this time. Dora, the upstairs cat, is sleeping on the pile of boxes next to her window here in the room of requirement in #S303 here on Sawyer Brown Road, Nashville TN. Yeah, like so many other things this year, the in person Festival was canceled and replaced with this virtual edition. So, I’m up here in my home office, which sounds like an awfully grandiose title for the spare room. Or the comic book room, because that is where the comic books reside. And the room of family genealogy papers that La Donna is working her way through. All of which is why we call it “The Room of Requirement.” For the non-Harry Potter fans out there, it is the room where what you need to have happen, happens. So, since mid-March, it has been where my computer and books reside so I can do whatever I need to do for Discipleship Ministries. 

This week what I am doing is attending the virtual Festival of Homiletics. As well as various other things that work requires. That’s the problem with not going away, you end up trying to it all. So, I’ll miss some of the Festival, while I maintain my virtual presence as a part of the Worship Team, and the larger Strategic Programming Team, and the Discipleship Ministries Team. It’s hard to keep all those things in motion all at once. Especially in “these difficult times.”

That is the subtext of everything happening at the Festival this year. The theme is “Preaching a New Earth: Climate and Creation.” But the pandemic has focused the thinking and acting and the whole structure of the event. We’re scaled down this year, no overlapping or concurrent events, we’re not starting at 8am and ending at 7 or 8pm. Instead we’re “live at 12noon Eastern time and we end at 4pm with some music. Today, for example, after an opening welcome we had a sermon by Rev. Traci Blackmon/worship experience, a lecture on Christians and Climate Change by Climate Scientist Katherine Hayhoe, then a talk on Genesis in reverse, or undoing creation by Bill McKibben, an interview with Bishop William Willimon, and music by Ashley Cleveland. That’s Day One. Seems like a lot, but it is a light day for the Festival. Trust me on this.

But, I have to give credit to the organizers who have been scrambling for these past few months to figure out what and how. It was still a significant event. The beginning of a significant event. 

The Rev. Traci Blackmon serves as pastor in the UCC and also is the Executive Director of Justice and Local Church Ministries. Think about that for a moment. Justice and Local Church Ministries. I don’t think, or rather I hope that isn’t two different jobs cobbled together. But rather a denominational position. Justice and Local Church Ministries. Justice isn’t something that happens somewhere else, by people apart from the functioning of the local church. No, justice is what the local church is about. What the local church does. And Rev. Blackmon says it begins by seeing. Her text was Luke 13:10-17, the woman bent over whom Jesus heals on the Sabbath causing all sort of conniptions amongst the people of power. Blackmon points out that this woman didn’t come to be healed. She was just coming to the synagogue. Coming for prayers. Coming to make her offering. She doesn’t come with a request. She is bent over, has been for 18 years - and there isn’t any indication of her age, we assume elderly because bone density and curvature of the spine is an affliction of some in the old age, but she might have been this way from birth, maybe she was 18 years old and didn’t know any life but this bent one. We don’t know. But she might have been there, worshiping beside us for years, and we knew it, we know her, but we don’t see her. That’s Blackmon’s point. The bent ones among us, the ones burdened by the injustice of this world, the one’s carrying this society’s burden of not being the majority, not being the right race, the right gender, the right ethnicity, the right economic class, she and they are bent over trying to carry all that has been piled on them, all that has been thrown at them and we don’t even see them. By choice, often. We don’t want to see them. Because seeing them might carry responsibility to do something, to heal something, to bring justice. 

That’s why workers of justice in our society want us to know the names of those who are bent over by injustice, those broken, the Ahmaud Arberys and the Breonna Taylors, and the Atatiana Jeffersons and so many others who have become statistics and not people who are bent over in our society. Jesus healed her because He saw her. Not because she asked, not because she “deserved” it more than any others, but because He saw her. Can we do less than to see those around us. In part because we hope someone will see us when we are bent over.

Like those who hope we will see a world bent over, in need of healing. I missed Dr. Hayhoe’s lecture, but I heard Bill McKibben speak about an issue that he has spent most of his life trying to get people to see. The earth is bent over, he argues, has been for years. And, he claims, everyone knows it. Even those most at fault, the oil companies and fossil fuel companies, who have known for years the impact of their industy on the planet. They’ve made some changes in what they do, not to halt the devastation or to lessen their impact, but to ensure that they can keep making money. One example, they raised the level of their oil drilling platforms off-shore to account for the rising sea levels that they predicted decades ago. 

Frankly it was hard to listen to Bill. You could hear the despair in his voice, the fear that we will continue not to see, to want to sustain our lifestyle to such an extent that the world we give to our children and grandchildren will not be able to sustain life. Will we see? That’s the question that Bill McKibben is asking us. Will we see what’s bent over around us?

Bishop Willimon talked with Karoline Lewis, who is the host of the event from Luther Seminary in Minneapolis. The subject was preaching in this difficult moment. And let me sum up the Bishop’s advice, listen to God. He says we need to turn back to the Word and hear what God has been saying to God’s people about who is in charge and who isn’t. Sometimes it isn’t our innovation that is called for but our confession and our surrender. Then maybe we can stop thinking we’re in charge, and let God direct our eyes to see who is bent over.

Ashley Cleveland echoed that with two of my favorites from her repertoire, God Don’t Never Change, and Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning. May we indeed! 

Shalom,

Derek

#Homiletics2020