Constructive Faith

As many of you know, I spent much of this week in Minneapolis. It was beautiful and slightly odd. They have this slogan, “Minnesota Nice.” And they are, but in a slightly creepy The Borg sort of way. I mean, maybe I’ve lived in New York too long, but these people were in orderly lines for buses that hadn’t even arrived. The counter staff took the time to inquire about my wrist and my general state of being in the middle of lunch rush. And the accents… well let’s just say Garrison Keillor and the actors on “A Prairie Home Companion” get it right. Diversity in Minnesota is generally of the Swedish or Norwegian variety. At least that’s the official story.

But there is another story. Other immigrants have made their way north to Minnesota. There are people of color, and Latinos and Asians, though given the conditions in winter, we may want to question their sanity. Minneapolis is even the home of my favorite hip-hop label, with a vibrant Alt Hip-Hop scene, and I was delighted to stop by their retail store, where they were, predictably, really nice. Continue reading “Our Messy Diversity: Sermon for May 25th, 2014”

I may not have kids, but I love the Disney Pixar films. What’s not to love about Dori, the fish with no short term memory voiced by Ellen Degeneres in Finding Nemo? Though other movies have had better tie-ins and marketing, I believe Meet the Robinsons is the real masterpiece of the series. And what’s not to love about Dori, the fish with no short term memory voiced by Ellen Degeneres in Finding Nemo?

As much as I love Pixar, I find it just a tiny bit tragic that for future generations, the words “Hey, Boo” will only be heard in the voice of John Goodman as Sully, the furry blue beast of Monsters Inc. For me, and for several generations of Americans who were educated before the tyranny of standardized testing, “Hey, Boo” is meant to be heard in the Southern accent of one Jean Louise Finch, sometimes called Scout. She is, of course, the narrator of Harper Lee’s American classic To Kill a Mockingbird. Most of us have read it, and if you haven’t, well, I can’t recommend it highly enough. Continue reading “Messy Families: A Sermon from May 11th”

Just as would happen with Christianity, Buddhism would decline in the region that gave it birth. And like Christianity, as it spread into other regions, it took on distinct forms. The form that spread in Southeast Asia came to be called Theravada, the School of the Elders, though its opponents would call it Hinayana, or the Lesser Vehicle. The northeastern movement of Buddhism split into two major forms. Syncretism gave rise to a distinctly Himalayan form called Vajrayana. The Buddhism that spread into China, and eventually into Korea and Japan, was labeled, in chauvinist form, Mahayana, or the Great Vehicle. And it was from this third northern branch that the most well known form of Buddhism developed… that is, the School of Zen Buddhism, as it is known in Japan and the West, or Chan, as it is known in China.

The key figure in the development of Zen Buddhism was Bodhidharma. A monk who arrived in China in the early 5th century, he is best known for a fierce intensity, and is often depicted with a scowl. Legend has it that during the sixth year of a seven year meditation called “wall gazing,” he fell asleep. Infuriated, he cut off his own eyelids. Continue reading “Messy Bodies: A Sermon in the “Get Dirty: Live Your Faith” series”

Blessed Rabbi,
our week began with hosannas and palms…
And then we went our separate ways
tending to bored children on vacations…
Frantically completing our taxes…
Dealing with the mundane…
While your story continues in Jerusalem…
With growing tension…
And mounting danger.
It is in this context…
This moment ripe with the new Kingdom…
Imperiled by the eruptions of the old
that we gather
to listen once again to the proclamation
to live as if the revolution had been won…
For it had been, has been, will be
in the timelessness of God’s will…
Gather our hearts to this moment…
And all that is within it.
Amen.

 

Creator God,
we throw out words that are meant to capture your essence…
We call you infinite, immortal, timeless…
We describe you as omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent…
But these are just words
pointing to what is beyond our knowing.
Yet even as you are beyond us,
you were with us in Jesus
felt like us
loved and cried and raged and died
and then
with love spilling past the boundaries of death
you are alive again
as we are alive again
and will be alive again.
Gather us in love,
gather us to your divine mysterious self.
Amen.

Four planes took off that morning. One was different than the others… Flight 93 sat on the tarmac for 45 minutes placing that at half hour behind the other three aircraft. It carried less than its normal load. It flew with only 20% of its normal number of passengers. This may well have come to play a role, as the tendency of crowds not to act may have factored into the eventual outcome. And finally, it was one hijacker short — the missing “muscle” hijacker having been turned away at the border as the customs agent, looking at the small amount of cash and the one-way ticket, decided that the individual was likely to become an illegal immigrant. So on September 11, 2001, when three aircraft were used as weapons of mass destruction, the fourth aircraft failed to reach its target. Continue reading “A Sermon Sketch for Lent 5”

The following texts are a communal prayer of confession followed by an assurance of pardon.

God of Life,

we are baffled by the mystery of our existence,
and so we obsess about the thin line
between life and death.
We fill our screens with the undead,
the living dead,
the murderous and murdered.
Our highways are marked with fragile memorials,
our cars are rolling tombstones.
We confess our unholy obsession,
praying for your forgiveness,
as we seek to embrace new life.
Amen. Continue reading “Zombie Prayer”

Note: I preach in a variety of styles, from traditional text behind a pulpit to no-notes and walking about. An intermediate style begins with a short sketch, though I often wander away from the text during delivery. The following sketch is prepared for the March 23 service and reflects on Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well.It is a continuation of an informal Lenten theme. Under the rubric “something must die in order for something to live,” this sermon will focus on the need for our divisions and prejudices to die that we might know new life. 

Several options when approaching this text

Popular option to focus on Jesus dismissing his disciples in order to have an exchange with a woman in public, variously interpreted through feminist lens and as an active transgression

This is a red herring. Text is loaded with symbols that would have been obvious to the reader of that period but are largely lost on us. For example, the number of husbands woman at the well has supposedly had is a reference to the Judean concept of the wicked Samaritan — the construction of the Samaritan as the other. In our postmodern age and with eyes open to the historical context we understand that the rivalry between the community centered on Jerusalem and the remnant in the conquered northern kingdom plays an important role in understanding the text. More on that later. Continue reading “On Jesus and the Samaritan Woman”

Merciful God,
we confess that we do business with false gods,
that we get swept up in hype and marketing,
that we run after a dream that is not yours.
Yet here we are,
humbled,
returning to you.
Fill us with your spirit and with your truth.
Purge us of idols and cleanse our hearts. Amen.

Silence

The poet Gerard Manley Hopkins reminds us that the world is charged with the grandeur of God. With that grandeur, our Creator reminds us that we are more than what we make, more than we can dream. Our God calls us through the beauty of this creation. Hear the good news of God’s forgiveness and be at peace. Amen.

Note: I preach in a variety of styles, from traditional text behind a pulpit to no-notes and walking about. An intermediate style begins with a short sketch, though I often wander away from the text during delivery. The following sketch is prepared for the March 16 service with the lectionary reading focusing on Nicodemus.

Most of us were forced to read T.S. Eliot’s classic poem The Wasteland in high school, long before we had the maturity or skill to interpret this complicated text by a well educated and experienced poet.

Often, Eliot’s work is interpreted as depressing, the complaint of a morose observer in a bleak time. This interpretation misses something fundamental in Eliot’s masterpiece. The Wasteland is a modern and poetic retelling of the Fisher King story found in the Arthurian legend, itself an interpretation of ancient and often pagan rituals and myths related to fertility and life.

Rather than a depressing tale of life in the early 20th century, The Wasteland is a story of hope, for it ends with rain and birth. The wasteland is restored. The land that was barren due to the infertile king, pierced in the groin, is once again fertile. Continue reading “Nicodemus, Eliot and Blood”