Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Keep Your Pants On
I found this article about an experience flying and with airport security rather hilariously funny. Read it here.
More on Church
I'm still thinking quite a lot about loving the church, and the various places I find it. I'm thinking too about the fact that, in a season where I am being increasingly drawn to the most formalized expression of church there is, I am surrounded primarily by friends who seem to have either rejected the church, or have allowed church to become a rote activity, rather than a deep expression of life and faith. I'm beginning to suspect that this will be an ongoing topic of thought and conversation for me.
In the meantime, another reflection on church by Henri Nouwen arrived in my inbox this morning...
Our Spiritual Leaders
The Church as the body of Christ has many faces. The Church prays and worships. It speaks words of instruction and healing, cleanses us from our sins, invites us to the table of the Lord, binds us together in a covenant of love, sends us out to minister, anoints us when we are sick or dying, and accompanies us in our search for meaning and our daily need for support. All these faces might not come to us from those we look up to as our leaders. But when we live our lives with a simple trust that Jesus comes to us in our Church, we will see the Church's ministry in places and in faces where we least expect it.
If we truly love Jesus, Jesus will send us the people to give us what we most need. And they are our spiritual leaders.
In the meantime, another reflection on church by Henri Nouwen arrived in my inbox this morning...
Our Spiritual Leaders
The Church as the body of Christ has many faces. The Church prays and worships. It speaks words of instruction and healing, cleanses us from our sins, invites us to the table of the Lord, binds us together in a covenant of love, sends us out to minister, anoints us when we are sick or dying, and accompanies us in our search for meaning and our daily need for support. All these faces might not come to us from those we look up to as our leaders. But when we live our lives with a simple trust that Jesus comes to us in our Church, we will see the Church's ministry in places and in faces where we least expect it.
If we truly love Jesus, Jesus will send us the people to give us what we most need. And they are our spiritual leaders.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Thoughts on Church
Thanks to missing a day and half of work while I was sick last week, I got a bit behind on reading the daily reflections from the Henri Nouwen society, and there were quite a few gems waiting for me in my inbox this morning.
I'm rather passionate about the church. I love the church - the body of Christ expressed on earth. Sometimes I feel like a bit of a minority, even among my Christian friends, because I do still hold the church with great love, rather than contempt. Because of that, it excited and encouraged me to read all of the following reflections on the church from Henri Nouwen. I also love that he acknowledges that the church can at times be a place of wounding, but that we are to look at Christ's model and express love and forgiveness and compassion towards the church.
Being in the Church, Not of It
Often we hear the remark that we have live in the world without being of the world. But it may be more difficult to be in the Church without being of the Church. Being of the Church means being so preoccupied by and involved in the many ecclesial affairs and clerical "ins and outs" that we are no longer focused on Jesus. The Church then blinds us from what we came to see and deafens us to what we came to hear. Still, it is in the Church that Christ dwells, invites us to his table, and speaks to us words of eternal love.
Being in the Church without being of it is a great spiritual challenge.
Loving the Church
Loving the Church often seems close to impossible. Still, we must keep reminding ourselves that all people in the Church - whether powerful or powerless, conservative or progressive, tolerant or fanatic - belong to that long line of witnesses moving through this valley of tears, singing songs of praise and thanksgiving, listening to the voice of their Lord, and eating together from the bread that keeps multiplying as it is shared. When we remember that, we may be able to say, "I love the Church, and I am glad to belong to it."
Loving the Church is our sacred duty. Without a true love for the Church, we cannot live in it in joy and peace. And without a true love for the Church, we cannot call people to it.
Meeting Christ in the Church
Loving the Church does not require romantic emotions. It requires the will to see the living Christ among his people and to love them as we want to love Christ himself. This is true not only for the "little" people - the poor, the oppressed, the forgotten - but also for the "big" people who exercise authority in the Church.
To love the Church means to be willing to meet Jesus wherever we go in the Church. This love doesn't mean agreeing with or approving of everyone's ideas or behavior. On the contrary, it can call us to confront those who hide Christ from us. But whether we confront or affirm, criticize or praise, we can only become fruitful when our words and actions come from hearts that love the Church.
The Authority of Compassion
The Church often wounds us deeply. People with religious authority often wound us by their words, attitudes, and demands. Precisely because our religion brings us in touch with the questions of life and death, our religious sensibilities can get hurt most easily. Ministers and priests seldom fully realize how a critical remark, a gesture of rejection, or an act of impatience can be remembered for life by those to whom it is directed.
There is such an enormous hunger for meaning in life, for comfort and consolation, for forgiveness and reconciliation, for restoration and healing, that anyone who has any authority in the Church should constantly be reminded that the best word to characterize religious authority is compassion. Let's keep looking at Jesus whose authority was expressed in compassion.
Forgiving the Church
When we have been wounded by the Church, our temptation is to reject it. But when we reject the Church it becomes very hard for us to keep in touch with the living Christ. When we say, "I love Jesus, but I hate the Church," we end up losing not only the Church but Jesus too. The challenge is to forgive the Church. This challenge is especially great because the Church seldom asks us for forgiveness, at least not officially. But the Church as an often fallible human organization needs our forgiveness, while the Church as the living Christ among us continues to offer us forgiveness.
It is important to think about the Church not as "over there" but as a community of struggling, weak people of whom we are part and in whom we meet our Lord and Redeemer.
I'm rather passionate about the church. I love the church - the body of Christ expressed on earth. Sometimes I feel like a bit of a minority, even among my Christian friends, because I do still hold the church with great love, rather than contempt. Because of that, it excited and encouraged me to read all of the following reflections on the church from Henri Nouwen. I also love that he acknowledges that the church can at times be a place of wounding, but that we are to look at Christ's model and express love and forgiveness and compassion towards the church.
Being in the Church, Not of It
Often we hear the remark that we have live in the world without being of the world. But it may be more difficult to be in the Church without being of the Church. Being of the Church means being so preoccupied by and involved in the many ecclesial affairs and clerical "ins and outs" that we are no longer focused on Jesus. The Church then blinds us from what we came to see and deafens us to what we came to hear. Still, it is in the Church that Christ dwells, invites us to his table, and speaks to us words of eternal love.
Being in the Church without being of it is a great spiritual challenge.
Loving the Church
Loving the Church often seems close to impossible. Still, we must keep reminding ourselves that all people in the Church - whether powerful or powerless, conservative or progressive, tolerant or fanatic - belong to that long line of witnesses moving through this valley of tears, singing songs of praise and thanksgiving, listening to the voice of their Lord, and eating together from the bread that keeps multiplying as it is shared. When we remember that, we may be able to say, "I love the Church, and I am glad to belong to it."
Loving the Church is our sacred duty. Without a true love for the Church, we cannot live in it in joy and peace. And without a true love for the Church, we cannot call people to it.
Meeting Christ in the Church
Loving the Church does not require romantic emotions. It requires the will to see the living Christ among his people and to love them as we want to love Christ himself. This is true not only for the "little" people - the poor, the oppressed, the forgotten - but also for the "big" people who exercise authority in the Church.
To love the Church means to be willing to meet Jesus wherever we go in the Church. This love doesn't mean agreeing with or approving of everyone's ideas or behavior. On the contrary, it can call us to confront those who hide Christ from us. But whether we confront or affirm, criticize or praise, we can only become fruitful when our words and actions come from hearts that love the Church.
The Authority of Compassion
The Church often wounds us deeply. People with religious authority often wound us by their words, attitudes, and demands. Precisely because our religion brings us in touch with the questions of life and death, our religious sensibilities can get hurt most easily. Ministers and priests seldom fully realize how a critical remark, a gesture of rejection, or an act of impatience can be remembered for life by those to whom it is directed.
There is such an enormous hunger for meaning in life, for comfort and consolation, for forgiveness and reconciliation, for restoration and healing, that anyone who has any authority in the Church should constantly be reminded that the best word to characterize religious authority is compassion. Let's keep looking at Jesus whose authority was expressed in compassion.
Forgiving the Church
When we have been wounded by the Church, our temptation is to reject it. But when we reject the Church it becomes very hard for us to keep in touch with the living Christ. When we say, "I love Jesus, but I hate the Church," we end up losing not only the Church but Jesus too. The challenge is to forgive the Church. This challenge is especially great because the Church seldom asks us for forgiveness, at least not officially. But the Church as an often fallible human organization needs our forgiveness, while the Church as the living Christ among us continues to offer us forgiveness.
It is important to think about the Church not as "over there" but as a community of struggling, weak people of whom we are part and in whom we meet our Lord and Redeemer.
High on the Dislike List
Okay, I actually probably hate this, more than just simply disliking it, but either way, it's high on my list of NOT happy things. What is it you ask? Well, let me tell you. It's waking up cold. Or waking up semi-warm, and knowing that if you move half an inch in any direction in your bed, you'll be cold. And, it's the dreaded moment when you have to pull those covers off your body, and step out onto the cold floor (I generally keep my slippers handy) and start getting ready for the day.
And why, you ask, do I so passionately dislike waking up cold?? Well, it's because if I'm cold in the morning, I generally have a very difficult time getting warm at any point that day. So, waking up cold leads to another one of my great dislikes - being cold in general.
And why am I mentioning this today?? Because I'm laying here in bed, shivering slightly, knowing that the blankets are like ice if I move half an inch in any direction, and that, in about a minute, I need to throw those blankets off, and start another work week. Ick. What a way to start a week.
And why, you ask, do I so passionately dislike waking up cold?? Well, it's because if I'm cold in the morning, I generally have a very difficult time getting warm at any point that day. So, waking up cold leads to another one of my great dislikes - being cold in general.
And why am I mentioning this today?? Because I'm laying here in bed, shivering slightly, knowing that the blankets are like ice if I move half an inch in any direction, and that, in about a minute, I need to throw those blankets off, and start another work week. Ick. What a way to start a week.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Three Words
It was, in some ways, a rough weekend again.
But there are three word statements that are standing out, and speaking hope to my heart.
"I love you." Spoken by a few special people over the course of the weekend, and always precious, but most dearly for me, by a three year old boy, and accompanied by a hug. There's something awfully calming and healing in the love of a child.
"You are lovely." Spoken by a dear friend, one who knows my heart deeply, and words I needed to hear in the midst of the harder spaces I've occupied this last while.
"You are mine." Whispered by Jesus, in the midst of a deep moment in a favorite spot. And again much needed.
But there are three word statements that are standing out, and speaking hope to my heart.
"I love you." Spoken by a few special people over the course of the weekend, and always precious, but most dearly for me, by a three year old boy, and accompanied by a hug. There's something awfully calming and healing in the love of a child.
"You are lovely." Spoken by a dear friend, one who knows my heart deeply, and words I needed to hear in the midst of the harder spaces I've occupied this last while.
"You are mine." Whispered by Jesus, in the midst of a deep moment in a favorite spot. And again much needed.
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