ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHING
September 30, 2021
Do you know someone who is exceptional at welcoming? Do you know someone who has that special capacity to make a moment feel wide and inclusive, warm and hospitable? There are those who have that Spiritual Gift, an innate ability to create space where concerns of rejection or exclusion are not present. We think of Jesus as the one who welcomed, and he did, but in Luke 10:38, we read: “Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home.” Martha welcomed Jesus into her home, a traditional act of hospitality that would have included food, water, washing of feet and a place to rest. It has made me ponder the question: How well do I welcome Jesus into my life? Do I make sure he has everything he needs, and as the guest, is he served before I am? Do I treat him, not as family, but truly as an honored guest? I wonder if I have ever left Jesus just outside, sitting under the porch… waiting?

My heart, Gracious God, is always in need of expansion. May your Spirit assist me as I make space and then do what is necessary for Jesus to truly feel welcome. Amen.

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ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHING
September 29, 2021
Have you ever been hated by everyone? There might be times when we felt that way, but I doubt it was everyone. In Luke 5, we read about Jesus encountering a tax collector by the name of Levi. Jesus says to him, “Follow me,” and he does. Later, Levi throws a big banquet for Jesus at his house, and many other tax collectors joined them at the table. We mock and demonize the tax collectors in the Gospels, often implying their connection to our own IRS. When I worked in Kansas City where there was a major IRS office, I had members of my church who were employees of the IRS. And every single one of them was a wonderful human being. But in the days of Jesus, the tax collectors were hated by most everyone. They manipulated and abused their own, squeezing as much money out of them as they could. Even the Romans who hired them didn’t really trust them or like them. Yet Jesus doesn’t appear to hesitate for a moment. He says, “Follow me,” and Levi does. When everything is crashing in, and it appears as if everyone is turning against us, Jesus shows up and says, “Follow me!” It doesn’t mean Jesus approves of everything in our past, especially if we have been causing injury to people. But he is clearly telling Levi and everyone else, “You are more than your worst mistake, and no matter what it was, you’re not beyond redemption.” That’s some pretty good news.

Thank you, Lord God, for continuing to be gracious when things go bad. Amen.

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ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHING
September 28, 2021
A few weeks ago an image went viral of one football player helping another football player who had a leg cramp. If you’ve ever played sports in the heat and had a leg muscle lock up, then you know the pain. Well the player who helped was on the opposing team. His name is Mario Hoefer, and he immediately knew what was happening when the other player went down. And before the athletic trainers could get to the cramping player, Mario begin to help stretch the player’s leg. Mario told a newspaper reporter, “I know how it feels,” and in that moment, the guy in pain was no longer his opponent. On Sunday, I talked about stories that continue to inspire our capacity to love. We need to be loaded with such stories as the world around us seeks to blot out the good stories with tales of hatred, violence and indifference. In Matthew 10:7, we read: “As you go, proclaim the good news, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’” If it is good news, isn’t it intended to be shared? Good news changes hearts, inspiring us to stretch in our capacity to love. Our acts of kindness may never go viral as Mario’s did, but the impact on those around us could be dramatic and lasting.

O Source of Love, O Mighty God, may the Good News of Christ’s love continue to be shared in both word and action. Let us not be idle or negligent in the task, for there are so many whose daily news is not good, not joyful, not life-giving. Amen.

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ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHING
September 27, 2021
Prayer for the Week: We pray for those who do not know love; those who experience an unhealthiness disguised as love; those who only know a self-serving kind of love. How is it, O Holy One, that some people yearn for love while others twist the definition and repackage it in a way unfamiliar to Jesus. Help us refocus our hearts and minds on the stories of Jesus, where love broke barriers, drew in the rejected and healed the wounded. Let us learn from him, and his self-giving, self-sacrificing life that spoke with clarity about your understanding of love, O Lord. May we learn and follow. Amen.

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ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHING
September 26, 2021
In Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, he writes: “If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.” I read those words, the giving away of everything including one’s life, and I am awestruck. Yet Paul does not appear impressed, pointing back to love as the component that’s missing. Really? Is the motivation behind the action really that important? I would think those who benefited from this individual’s sacrifice wouldn’t find much reason to complain, yet Paul remains undeterred in his focus on love. Years ago, I heard a preacher describe it this way: You can build a large and very lavish house, using the finest material available, but if you do not have nails, it probably won’t hold together. We are building a whole new world based on the life of Jesus, and you can do some pretty impressive things, but if love is not present, the world you are trying to build won’t hold together. Love needs to be the motivation, but it is so much more. It is the power and inspiration, the reason and rationale, the blueprint and the toolbox for this project. Let’s make sure love is present from beginning to end.

Love is always present in you, Lord God, and so I take your lead and seek to bring love into everything I do. Amen.

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ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHING
September 25, 2021
Beginning this coming Sunday, and then for another four Sundays, I will preach on the Love Passage from 1st Corinthians. We’ve all heard it at a wedding as it is probably the most common passage requested by a couple. Paul, of course, was not writing this letter to couples who would soon be tying the knot, but to a community that appeared to have lost focus on the number one thing – love. He begins by writing, “If I speak in tongues of human beings and of angels but I don’t have love, I’m a clanging gong or a clashing cymbal.” We’ve all talked a good game at one time or another, yet did not follow the talk with good action. As parents, most all of us have told our children to behave one way to only do the opposite ourselves. I’ve heard what appeared to be divinely inspired oratory with poetic phrases and lush metaphors, yet the person attached to that creative voice appeared to be living a life that undermined every idea presented. Sometimes it is so abrupt and shocking that it feels like a gong or cymbal going off. Some might say we need more Cowbell, and maybe that’s true, but the church doesn’t need more cymbal or gong sounds coming from our midst.

Be my strength and encourager, Gracious God, as I seek to align my words and actions with the life of Jesus. It’s not always easy, but the world does not need a disingenuous expression of the Gospel. Amen.

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ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHING
September 24, 2021
Have you ever felt like something prepared you for something else? You did something small that provided some comfort or confidence when the bigger thing came your way? When Jesus was providing some coaching on faithfulness, he said, “Whoever is faithful with little is also faithful with much…” For the longest time, I pictured God testing us with a little something, scoring us, and then determining what we could handle next. When I pause and reflect a little more on that image of God, I find it to be a rather troubling perception to have. I don’t believe God plays games with us. There are challenges every single day, challenges that are a part of being human. Most of them are small, yet our faith calls upon us to be responsive in a Christ-like way no matter how small it might be. A string of small successes, whether we thought of it in these terms or not, often prepares us to be faithful when something a bit more demanding comes our way. Don’t overlook or dismiss the small stuff because it is important by itself. At the same time, it might just be the rehearsal we need for what follows.

Your love inspires my faith, O Lord – a faith that seeks to emulate your love; a faith that never allows even the smallest opportunity to slip by; a faith modeled in the likeness of Jesus. Amen.

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ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHING
September 23, 2021
In the Episcopal Church, the Presiding Bishop is Michael Curry. At a recent meeting of the Bishops, he used the “narthex” as a sort of metaphor for where we are. The “narthex” is a church term for the lobby outside the sanctuary of a church building, a sort of middle space between the sanctuary and the outside. Curry said, “We are living in a narthex moment, between the world we knew and whatever is being born.” I like the image, and it struck me as I was sitting at the dentist’s office on Monday. I was waiting for a root canal, but I waited much longer than I was expecting. The dentist wasn’t sure if the root canal was going to work, and so there was this unknown as I sat there in the lobby. It may not be the best illustration, yet I think most of us have experienced a time of waiting, amidst great uncertainty. In Philippians 1, Paul writes about being confident in the One who has done a good work, and this One will find a way of bringing that good work to completion. The pathway to that completion is rarely without complication, and often leaves us waiting. It sort of feels as if we are waiting for God to call our number, our moment to join the new thing God is creating. Yet because it is an unknown, it is not always the most comfortable of waits.

O God, I am here, listening for your voice. As we all wait, with some feeling of uncertainty, provide us the hope of a new day born out of your transformative love. Amen.

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ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHING
September 22, 2021
I love Richard Rohr! He is a Franciscan Friar and author who brings such wonderful insights to life and faith and what it means to be a human being. In a recent Blog Post, he quoted the 14th century mystic, St. Catherine of Siena, who wrote: “It’s heaven all the way to heaven…” I won’t pretend to know what she meant by those words, but they resonated in my soul. What does the path look like where you have walked? Are people different, in a good way, because they encountered you along the path? Does the heaven you envision appear, even in glimpses, because you lived in breathed in the moment? In Colossians 3, we read: Whatever you do, whether in speech or action, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus… This doesn’t mean we simply walk around saying, “I’m walking in the name of the Lord. Now I’m brushing my teeth in the name of the Lord.” To do something in the name of someone, means you are seeking to emulate or reveal that person. There will be plenty of moments when we feel as if we fall short or maybe experience a complete flop. Yet if what we did emulated the love of Jesus and revealed the kindness of Jesus, then I’ve got to believe that moment represented heaven a bit more than had we chosen not to do it in the first place.

May the life I live contribute to making it heaven all the way to heaven. This is my humble commitment offered in your name, O Lord. Amen.

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ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHING
September 21, 2021
When I was attending church camp as a youth, we would sing the “Garden Song” by Pete Seeger. I loved that song, and I still find its opening verses coming back to my mind and lips, often for no apparent reason. It starts with these words:

Inch by inch, row by row
Gonna make this garden grow
Gonna mulch it deep and low
Gonna make it fertile ground

Inch by inch, row by row
Please bless these seeds I sow
Please keep them safe below
‘Til the rain comes tumbling down

Both the words and the melody give a sense of patience and process, encouraging us to provide the necessary time and space for creation to do its thing. So much of life is a series of steps, often very small deliberate steps toward a goal. In Psalm 37, it speaks of how our steps are made steady and secure by the Lord. Those words are found in a larger poetic offering about the righteous and the wicked, and how the righteous are about the work of justice, wisdom and goodness. Those are big and bold words, often tossed around indiscriminately without much appreciation for what they mean in the context of daily life. Might I suggest they are big and bold, and for that reason we must honor every little step, every little action as part of the work toward these high ideals. In the Bible, the garden is an image of a world formed by God’s justice, wisdom and goodness. And Pete reminds us how no garden bears the fruit easily or quickly.

Guide my every step, O Lord, as I seek to walk with you and choose a path that will honor you and the vision you have for this world. Amen.

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