Tuesday Prayer for 11/26/13: Beat

(Inspired by Isaiah 2:1-5)

We have beat the ploughshares into 

swords and

coal-carrying trains and

missile-firing drones and

pollution-belching smoke stacks and

We have beat our pruning hooks into

spears and

life-disrupting mobile this or thats and

earth-ravishing chemicals and

ever-meaningless coins and

We have beat our people into

defeated-depression and

soul-crushing submission and

life-devaluing objects and

prescription-enhanced servants and

the earth itself feels the weight of every step and

the sky itself has become weighted and

God 

mourns 

and

hope feels more and more like an advertising slogan and less like something that is

Real.

It is, though, 

"something that is real.”

Hope.

Is.

Real.

Because there is a difference between being "beat" and "beaten" and

THIS is the difference 

that makes every oligarch shudder and

every abuser worry and

and every oppressor wake

in the middle of the night

in a 

cold 

sweat.

There are arms out there strong enough to beat those swords into ploughshares.

There are feet out there strong enough to stomp those spears into pruning hooks.

There are backs strong enough to break chains and

Those people who have been beat?

They have not been beaten 

and they can beat

back.

(beat beat

beat beat

beat beat

beat beat…)

(From http://www.rootforce.org/2008/06/19/peru-turmoil-slams-copper-supplies/)

Tuesday Prayer for 11/12/13: Storm's Rage

(All photos of the Philippines, pre-Typhoon Haiyan,  by Frederica Helmiere)

Inspired by Isaiah 65:17-25

Dear God:

When storms rage,

When towns are swept away,

When children suffer,

it is hard

to believe

in

anything.

When our hearts rage,

When serenity is swept away,

When confidence suffers,

it is hard

to believe

in

anything.

How will we appreciate

this “new heaven?”

How will we appreciate

this “new earth?”

How?

When 

we haven’t

figured out how

to appreciate

this one?

Amen.

To give to the UCC Typhoon Haiyan response fund, click on this link.

Tuesday Prayer for 11/5/13: Cutting Teeth

Tuesday Prayer for 11/5/13

Inspired by Psalm 145

Dear God:

These sounds of early morning teething and reading the Psalms seem to go together.  The sounds of wailing and gnashing of, well, gums seems to match the sorrow and the pain in these songs.  My son has not had pain quite like this before.  It is not something I know but something that there are only deep memories of.  When I hear him cry, it seems like this is a flaw in our creation.  Our bodies seem to rebel against themselves to do something normal.  It is bone slowly cutting through flesh.

And billions of people have all gone through this.  And millions of other parents are thinking similar things…

Now.

I was once told that you really can’t pray the Psalms until after you turn thirty.

The pain and reality you thought might be passing you begin to realize

is permanent

and real

and cumulative.

It takes awhile to really get 

Psalm weary and

Psalm angry and

Psalm tired and

Psalm frustrated.

It takes awhile to get

Psalm desperate.

“God fulfills the desire of all who fear God;

    God also hears their cry, and saves them.

God watches over all who love God,

    but will destroy all the wicked.”

These are strange prayers and I pray them.

These are strange songs and sing them.

I do not always believe in the kind of G-d that they call for but

There are days I pretend to and

On those days,

I am comforted.

Amen

Tuesday Prayer for 10/15/13: Presence

(Inspired by Luke 18:1-8)

(From http://theresoundingdeclaration.blogspot.com/)

Dear God:

One:  What has you weary this week?

All: (Silence)

One: What would you like to give up?

All:  (Silence)

One: What are you still called to do even though you might be tired doing it?

All:  (Silence)

One: What are you called not to do, anymore?

All: (Silence)

(from http://archives.starbulletin.com/2004/12/24/news/index.html)

One:  God, help us know you are present.

Many:  Help us breath in life and renewal;

One:  Sit next to us in those moments of weariness and exhaustion;

Many:  Hold us as we seek persistence and wisdom;

One:  Celebrate with us as we find release and forgiveness. God, help us know you are present.

Many: God, help us know you are present.  Amen.

(from http://spiritualnormal.wordpress.com/)

9-24-13 Tuesday Prayer (a day late): More Than This...

Tuesday Prayer for 9/24/13: More than this...

Inspired by Jeremiah 32:13a, 6-15; Luke 16:19-31; and Seamus Heaney

One: Is this really what we have?  This land this land soaked with waste and short-sightedness?  This land paved over with parking lots and roadways?  This land that we fight and kill over?  There must be...
Many: ...more than this.
One:  Is this really what we have?  These people soaked with violence and greed?  These people used and abused by those who are addicted to power and wealth?  These people who fight and kill each other?  There must be...
Many: ...more than this.
One:  Is this really what we have?  These souls soaked with cowardice and grandiosity?  These souls broken and crushed and twisted and cold?  These souls lost and forgotten?  There must be...
Many: ...more than this.
One:  There must be...
Many: ...more than this.
One:  There must be...
Many: ...more than this.
One:  There must be more than this...  There is that water, air and decay that heals that land and makes way for the life that was sleeping; waiting; that tree that breaks through the pavement and makes it dirt again; the peace that is stronger than the green things that break through and make the cracks in the sidewalk.  There is...
Many: ...more than this.
One:  We are that people through whom flows hope and commitment; the people who rise up on a great warm wind and are set free from that which burdens us; the people who create peace and give shape to justice.  There is...
Many: ...more than this.
One:  We have these souls that, although sometimes painfully bent, cannot break; souls that are fed by courage and give birth to life; souls connected to the source of all souls and great love; souls that always - always - are closer to more beginnings than endings.  There is...
Many: ...more than this.
One: That rumble is not the end.  That rumble is not the end.  That rumble is grace and hope and love and peace and forgiveness and freedom and emerging like a belly laugh from deep within God.
 "History says, don't hope on this side of the grave.
All: But then, once in a lifetime, the longed for tidal wave of justice can rise up and hope and history rhyme."
One: This may be that time.  Right now.  This very moment.
All: (Silence)
One: Let all God's people say..
All: (loudly) Amen!

Tuesday Prayer for 9/17/13: Gravity

Inspired by 1st Timothy 2:1-7

So, this is what I say;

Let them fall.

Let them fall.

Let them fall, fail, fly and flee.

Let me push,

when need be.

Gravity has a way of

catching

up;

Of strengthening when being denied,

Of opening herself up and saying

"Come. 

Rest here.  

Come sit with the rest of us.

You have not died.

You have not died.

Yet."

Tuesday Prayer for 9-3-13: Searing

Dear God;

There are images I
can
not
get out of my head:

these cocoons
shrouded in white
in an endless line...

some are heartbreakingly small
some faces tinged blue
same faces forever afraid

these cocoons
shrouded in white
in an endless line...

again

This is what always happens when
Missiles are launched or
Food is denied or
Plague comes or
Bullets fly or
Bombs explode or
(                         or)

these cocoons
shrouded in white
in an endless line...

As these things go,
as they always seem to go,
as there is a response to the outrage
(that will create outrage)
after the missiles fly
we
see
pictures
of

these cocoons
shrouded in white
in an endless line...

We do not end it
By adding to it but...
We do not know how to end it
Or we refuse to, at least.
The arch of the fist is already in motion.
It has momentum.
It has momentum.

(The other night I had a dream or
maybe it was just a vision of
these cocoons
shrouded in white
in an endless line...
As the sun warmed them
one of them began to move
and the shroud began to rip
and I was afraid
until this child, this beautiful child,
stood up,
wiped her eyes like in the morning and
stretched her arms back like new wings
and laughed with death fracturing joy and
as she did
these cocoons
shrouded in white
in an endless line...
Shuddered.

The sky was torn open by the sound of
death shrouds
ripping and
death fracturing laughter made the earth rumble
and waken those long buried.

And we joined them, we all joined them,
and empires melted
and dictators relented
and hunger was forgotten
and the missiles turned to dust
and plague was healed
and the gas dissipated
and the guns were put in the graves of the once buried

There was laughter everywhere
There was laughter everywhere
There was laughter everywhere)

Amen.

Some sabbatical reading....

I've been reading lots of fiction and catching up on periodicals but a couple books have really stood out.  Both of these books have stuck with me past reading them:

Rich Church, Poor Church

by J. Clif Christopher:  So, what's a book about church stewardship have to do with decision making?  Pretty much, everything it turns out.  This book could have been as easily titled Thriving Church, Sick Church.  The author's theology is more conservative than mine and his understanding of church leadership is sometimes too pastor-centered but his basic points are compelling and thought provoking.  Its worth the work of theological translation in order to get the wealth this book shares.  Its intended as a study book with questions at the end of each chapter.  A couple key quotes?  

• "In the Poor Church, you will hear of discipleship, but in reality the domination decision-making factor is appeasement."  
• "Do al of your people understand what the mission of your church is?  Is this mission a unifying factor in your church?"
• "Bad decisions regarding debt will cripple a church faster than just about anything... Debt can be forever and it is unforgiving."
• "There is a humbleness of attitude in the Rich Church and a pervasive arrogance of attitude in the Poor Church."
• "The Rich Church will almost always mandate classes for anyone seeking to join the church."
• "Persons joining the Rich Church are constantly reminded that they are just getting started in Christian life...  In the Poor Church, the attitude is that once a person joins, he or she is finished with his or her obligations."
• "The Rich Church has systems in place to ensure that leaders are indeed leading."

That's really just a start.  I found this book but thoughtful and thought provoking.

The Anatomy of Revolution by Crane Brinton:  This is an older book (first published in 1938) that was part of that pile of books I've been planning to read for a long time.  It's a study of four different revolutionary movements build on more of a biological model.  Although bone dry at some points and annoyingly academic at others there's still a richness in the text.  I found myself relating many of its points about the unfolding of revolutions to church conflict.  Here are some quotes related to church conflict and religion that jumped out.

• "Our revolutions, then, clearly were not born in societies economically retrograde; on the contrary, they took place in societies economically progressive."  Otherwise, the revolutions studied in this book did not come when things were at their worse but when things had started to get better.
• "In each revolution there is a point, or several points, where constituted authority is challenged by the illegal acts of revolutionists.  In such instances, the routine response is to have recourse to force, police or military.  Our authorities made such a response, but in each case with a striking lack of success."
• "The moderates, then, do not really believe in the big words they use.  They do not believe a heavenly perfection is suddenly coming to men on earth.  They are all for compromise, common sense, toleration, comfort.  In a normal society, these desires are part of their strength and give them hold over their fellows, who share at least their desire for comfort.  But in these three revolutions large numbers of men were for the moment lifted by desire and emotion to a point where they seemed to despise even comfort.  The moderates could not deal politically with such men; they could not take the first steps which are necessary if such men are to be understood... For we are here in a land fabulous but real, where the wisdom and common sense of the moderate are not wisdom and common sense, but folly."
• "What separates these revolutionaries from traditional Christianity is most obviously their insistence on having their heaven here, now, on earth, their impatient intent to conquer evil once and for all.  Christianity in its traditional forms has long since, not by any means given up the moral struggle, but given up its chiliastic hopes - the hopes it had when it was young and revolutionary, the hopes of the immediate Second Coming of Christ.  By distinguishing between this world and the next world, the natural and the supernatural or divine, Christianity can bridge the gap between what men are and have and what man want to be and want to have.  This gap your revolutionary knows well enough.  He proposed, however, not to bridge it, but to fill it in or leap over it.  He often ends, where the mystic begins, by persuading himself the gap isn't really there."
• "As Ferrero has put it, when the 'silken threads' of habit, tradition, legality are broken, men must be held together in society by the 'iron chains' of dictatorship." Dictatorship in a church can make it a cult of personality but it does bring up the need for strong leadership and commitment when bringing systemic change.

July '13 CM Report

• Sabbatical: I’ll be starting sabbatical (my first ever!) next week and my first day back in the office will be October 15th.  
• Although a good deal of my time will be practicing the “sabbath” part of sabbatical-ing (I am going to try and match Leo’s napping schedule, for example), I’m also going to be exploring the subject of decision making from the perspective of different organizations, different fields and brain science.  I’m really pretty excited about it and have a good sized pile of books I’ll be working through the next few months as well as a conversation or two with some experts.  As you might imagine, one of my primary roles is accompanying individuals, churches, committees and institutional structures as they move through various discernment and decision making processes.  I want to learn more so I can share more.  I’ll be posting occasional updates and reviews of what I’m reading on my blog (Thoughts and Prayers) if you’d like to keep up.
• While I’m away, if there’s anything you’re seeking that you’d normally call me for, contact Arlene.  For those of you who might not know her, Arlene Hobson is out Executive Administrator.  Our office number is 206-725-8383 and Arlene’s email address is pncucc@gmail.com.  Although we have many of my tasks covered, please be patient with those in our conference structures when - inevitably - something comes up that’s outside those systems we’ve set up.  
• Do know that I will not be able to receive emails, phone calls or any other work related communication while I’m gone.  I ask your prayers for rest, refreshment and new insights.  THANK YOU FOR THIS OPPORTUNITY!!!!!!!
• General Synod:  For those of you who follow the Pacific Northwest Conference listserv, you saw some of the wonderful reflections on General Synod from our delegation and visitors (if you’re not on our listserv, please sign up!  Its a great way to keep up on PNC news.  Click on this link to get instructions).  I really appreciate the snapshots of conference life that our moderator, Tim Devine, shares with the conference!  There are a few actions of Synod, in particular, that I’d encourage you to keep your eye on or check out:
• Two resolutions we endorsed at our Annual Meeting were passed by Synod.  
• The first one is titled “A Resolution In Support of Outdoor Ministries of the United Church of Christ.”  Its a good and faithful witness to this ministry we share together.  
• The 2nd was a call for the UCC to divest from the fossil fuel industry.  Do take the time to read this article and take a little extra time to check out the considerable attention our denomination received for taking this action.
• Three of the resolutions may have a specific effect on the work and life of our conference.  
• The first is a resolution that recognizes United Samoan Ministries as a historically recognized group which both gives them the opportunity for special recognition by the denomination as well as separates their work from Pacific Islander-Asian American Ministries (PAAM).  This also provides us an opportunity to be in ministry with our ethnically Samoan churches more effectively.
• The 2nd is a resolution that instituted a study that will reconsider the boundaries of conferences.  At this point, we’re far from knowing whether or not this resolution will effect the way we work but we will be invited in to this discernment work in the coming years.
• The 3rd is the resolution that I was the most excited about and is the first, official step towards exploring a closer relationship with the United Church of Canada.  Our conference - with Washington, North Idaho and Alaska - shares more of a border with Canada than any other other conference.  In many of our border towns, at least one UC of Canada church is geographically closer to some of our churches than any UCC congregation.  When you consider the environmental, justice, border and trade concerns we share in addition to the possibility of mutual recognition of each other’s ministries, this resolution becomes more and more exciting to me.  I’m really looking forward to closer working relationship with our neighbors to the north!
• Insurance Assistance Fund: You’re going to be hearing more about this soon, but we need to increase those monies that are part of the PNC Insurance Assistance Fund.  These monies are used to help support those retired clergy and smaller churches that could not afford to pay for health insurance, otherwise.  In many cases, we’re talking about retired clergy that served churches others would not; congregations that served rural or isolated settings with small memberships.  Many of the churches we support are in some sort of transition or in communities where the voice of a more inclusive form of Christianity is small.  This is important work for both the health of our congregations and pastors.  If you are so called, please consider sending a check to the Pacific Northwest Conference with “For the Insurance Assistance Fund” written on the memo line.  Thank you!

OK, that’s it for now.  See you all in a few months and, again, if you’d like to see an occasional sabbatical report, take a look at my blog: Thoughts and Prayers .

Flooding: Tuesday Prayer for 6/25/13

Inspired by 2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-14

Dear God:

These days are long ones.

I feel the guilt of every task delayed one more day because previously undone tasks became urgent.  It is the small things that feel big, the big things that I try to do too quickly and the unimportant things that I turn to too often because I can hide there looking busy as my anxiety flies around

(like a swarm of bees).

I swear that I can feel the weight of each new email as it drops into my inbox.  I fool myself into thinking that if I don’t listen to a voicemail it doesn’t quite count.

And, then, these are the small things.  Because, then, I read the paper or listen to the radio and people are killing each other and people are DECIDING TO LIGHT THE PLANET ON FIRE and people are protesting and people are indignant and people are trying to change things and I know I will join them

right after I catch up on email.

The diapers...  These are a new thing.  Yes, here is the stink of happiness and messy, wonderful reality.  There is nothing more important than this happiness and this laugh and these new teeth.  

Nothing.  I will set everything aside for the smile that comes after this smile and too figure out what our boy needs when he can’t quite speak it, yet.

All those other things and people - however - already use their words.  Frequently.  Insistently.

These days are long ones and, sometimes, It feels like someone left the faucet and the tub is overflowing and I keep mopping trying to figure out why the mopping doesn’t take care of this flood.

(Deep breath..)

(and again...)

(and again...)

These days are long ones.  They are full ones.

God, if I can’t turn off that faucet, would you mind parting the waters?

A little dry land would be lovely.

If not, could you help me find an island of dry land?

A little time alone would be lovely.

If not, might you send a boat my way?

A sailboat would be lovely.

If not, could you remind me how to float?

Taking a little time to stare at the stars would be lovely.

Let me try that again:

(Deep breath..)

(and again...)

(and again...)

(there is the sound of birds, now. the sound of my child waking, now.  the sound of rain, now. the strangely comforting sound of the dishwasher, now.  the sound of my breath... and my breath...  and my breath... now.)

And the waters

part.

These things, these people, this family, this place, this day, these tasks...

They are lovely.

They might be a tapestry that grows things if I just nurture and pray and love

and pray and love and pray and love

and pray and love and pray and love

and pray and love and pray and love.....

Amen.