Hi folks,
Thanks for logging into "A Word in the World." As you know, I am in ministry at Northwood United Church in Surrey and as pastoral minister, things come up. Last week you will have noticed that I was at a leadership training event, and so I posted some material from that. This week we are grieving the loss of one of our long time members, and are holding another family through the loss of their 30 year old son and brother.
This is all to say that I have not had a chance to prepare the blog this week, and I won't get to it. Sorry. One of those weeks.
However, they say farmers are "next year" people, ever hopeful for a new crop and a better year. Ministers are "next week" people, ever hopeful for a saner week.
Grace and Peace to you,
Will
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
October 19, 2010, Poems from a Leadership Course
Tuesday October 19, 2010
Greetings friends ,
This is a different week this week. I will not be posting the regular readings for the coming Sunday as I will not be leading worship on Sunday. Rather I am spending the week with a group of 40 clergy who have gathered with the Very Reverend Peter Short, former Moderator of the United Church of Canada. We are spending 5 days together renewing our practise of leadership in the church we love so much- the church we believe God loves so much. We have been here since Sunday evening and will be here til Friday. It is an honour to spend that much time with the wise counsel of Peter Short and the wise and compassionate presence of colleagues who have committed their lives to this crazy and beautiful endeavour of ministry in the church.
So instead, I offer you two poems I have gleaned from our sessions. The first comes from a session in which Peter was suggesting that courageous leadership comes from us when we are deeply and courageously who we are called to be. Unfortunately we humans spend a significant portion of our lives seeking to be someone God never created us to be. So our task really is to unleash ourselves in the world. He offered this poem by Billy Collins, Poet Laureate of the United States, as a playful place to start:
Litany
“You are the bread and the knife,
The Crystal goblet and the wine...”
-Jacques Crickillon
You are the bread and the knife,
The crystal goblet and the wine.
You are the dew on the morning grass
And the burning wheel of the sun.
You are the white apron of the baker,
And the marsh birds suddenly in flight.
However, you are not the wind in the orchard,
The plums on the counter,
Or the house of cards.
And you are certainly not the pine-scented air.
There is just no way that you are the pine-scented air.
It is possible that you are the fish under the bridge,
maybe even the pigeon on the general’s head,
But you are not even close
To being the field of cornflowers at dusk.
And a quick look in the mirror will show
That you are neither the boots in the corner
Nor the boat asleep in its boathouse.
It might interest you to know,
Speaking of the plentiful imagery of the world,
That I am the sound of rain on the roof.
I also happen to be the shooting star.
The evening paper blowing down as alley
And the basket of chestnuts on the kitchen table.
I am also the moon in the trees
And the blind woman’s tea cup.
But don’t worry, I’m not the bread and the knife.
You are still the bread and the knife.
You will always be the bread and the knife,
Not to mention the crystal goblet and—somehow—the wine.
The work of ministry is both the interior work of the soul and the exterior work of being that living soul, compassionately, courageously, helpfully, truthfully in the world. There is spade work, homework, planning work, gathering work, all kinds of work. But there is also listening work, listening to the stirrings of the spirit within the soul, hearing the voices we are given to guide us. Here is another Billy Collins poem called “The Night House”:
Every day the body works in the fields of the world
Mending a stone wall
Or swinging a sickle through the tall grass-
The grass of civics, the grass of money-
And every night the body curls around itself
And listens for the soft bells of sleep.
Mending a stone wall
Or swinging a sickle through the tall grass-
The grass of civics, the grass of money-
And every night the body curls around itself
And listens for the soft bells of sleep.
But the heart is restless and rises
From the body in the middle of the night,
Leaves the trapezoidal bedroom
With its thick, picture-less walls
To sit by herself at the kitchen table
And heat some milk in a pan.
And the mind gets up too, puts on a robe
And goes downstairs, lights a cigarette,
And opens a book on engineering.
Even the conscience awakens
And roams from room to room in the dark,
Darting away from every mirror like a strange fish.
From the body in the middle of the night,
Leaves the trapezoidal bedroom
With its thick, picture-less walls
To sit by herself at the kitchen table
And heat some milk in a pan.
And the mind gets up too, puts on a robe
And goes downstairs, lights a cigarette,
And opens a book on engineering.
Even the conscience awakens
And roams from room to room in the dark,
Darting away from every mirror like a strange fish.
And the soul is up on the roof
In her nightdress, straddling the ridge,
Singing a song about the wildness of the sea
Until the first rip of pink appears in the sky.
Then, they all will return to the sleeping body
The way a flock of birds settles back into a tree,
In her nightdress, straddling the ridge,
Singing a song about the wildness of the sea
Until the first rip of pink appears in the sky.
Then, they all will return to the sleeping body
The way a flock of birds settles back into a tree,
Resuming their daily colloquy,
Talking to each other or themselves
Even through the heat of the long afternoons.
Which is why the body-the house of voices-
Sometimes puts down its metal tongs, its needle, or its pen
To stare into the distance,
To listen to all its names being called
Before bending again to its labour.
I am grateful for the opportunity to both learn and lead in this event, and will return refreshed and renewed next week. Meanwhile, grace and peace. Will
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Oct. 11-17, 2010- "Never Give Up"
Tuesday October 12, 2010
I love this cartoon. This week we hear of Jacob wrestling with... not sure who. Do we go with that message or that of Jeremiah who encourages the faithful with rich images of a covenant, written on the heart? We also hear the writer of Timothy shouting across the centuries, “stay on message!” And we experience one of Luke’s classic parables of Jesus, the persistent widow and the unjust judge. Let’s take a look.
Background on this weeks readings:
Genesis 32:22-31
This is one of the classic stories of Genesis with the classic manipulator, Jacob. He is still on the run trying to avoid Esau, whose blessing and birth-right he had stolen. The night before he will be forced to face his past, Jacob sends his family and belongings on ahead and stays behind to spend the night “wrestling ‘til daybreak.” This feels like a story of archetypal proportions. Think about the features: main character on the run from his past, his brother, wrestling with a stranger who brings a blessing in the end, battling with no clear winner and no clear loser, from which he emerges both blessed and wounded, limping forward to face what he must face. Let go of history folks. This is all of us in every time and place. It is about you.
Jeremiah 31:27-34
We have been working our way through Jeremiah these last weeks. The hard tones of earlier give way now to softer, more hopeful tones. Where in Chapter 1 Jeremiah was talking about foreign nations being set over Israel to “pluck up and pull down, to destroy and to overthrow,” now it is time to “build and to plant.” In the past injustice, oppression and brokenness cycle down the generations. “Parents eat sour grapes and children’s teeth are set on edge.” How is that for an image of brokenness passed on.
But the hope lies in the covenant, newly written not on stone but on the human heart. Here we find Jeremiah pointing to the way, in mature faith, the covenant relationship with God becomes no longer something externally imposed and legally understood, but accepted from within and understood intuitively. People will live by the covenant because it has become so a part of them that they can do no other.
2 Tiimothy 3:14- 4:5
Do you sense the urgency in this letter? Although there is some dispute about who actually wrote this letter, it has a clear personal tone, and feels like a letter of advise from a veteran Paul to a younger worker. How about the image of “people having itchy ears,” following the latest new fad-doctrine that comes their way. Sound familiar to anyone? If the theme is, “never give up,” the call here is, “stay on message, hold fast to the core of the faith!” Presumably this would not be difficult for those with the covenant written on their hearts.
Luke 18:1-8
Here is a classic parable from Luke that comes from the same storehouse of great story from which we get “The Prodigal Son,” “The Good Samaritan,” and others. In this one, “The Persistent Widow and the Unjust Judge,” Luke hands us interesting introduction and conclusion words that are worth paying attention to.
The parable is basic. A widow needs justice, and calls for it persistently from a judge who doesn’t give a rip about her or God. Yet for the sake of peace and quiet, he gives her her due. If that’s how he acts in his unfaithfulness, how much more ready do you think God, who cares deeply for us all will hear and respond. The introductory words tell us what to look for. This is about the need to pray and never give up. But the concluding words are striking. If God showed up today, would there be faith on the earth?
The temptation is to look at this as a parable about the faithfulness of God. But the introductory and concluding words point us back upon ourselves.
Some thoughts
I am sure you have experienced a disagreement in which you, or someone else, likely because they have decided that the outcome is not worth the argument, say “whatever.” Often there is a tone that goes with the word. “Whatever!” It usually means, I care about it but I am just not going to argue about it any longer. Often it means someone has just let go of something that was precious to them. Sometimes, if it becomes a regular way of dealing with disappointment, “whatever” can become an indication that someone has lost their heart. What used to matter doesn’t matter anymore.
That is a sad state. The world needs us to care, to persist in the things that matter. This way of faith is not easy and can involve no small measure of disappointment. How do we deal with our disappointment? Do we swallow it and carry on? Do we, like the widow, push back and insist. Do we cave in, say “whatever,” and walk away. None of the great human achievements have taken place without disappointment along the way, and if you are Jacob, without coming away with a wound and a limp. How is it for you?
Starter questions:
1. Have you ever had a wrestling night as you have come face to face with your life? What came out of that night for you? Wounds? Blessings? Were you limping? Stronger?
2. In Timothy, Paul seems to be clear what is core and what is fluff- the stuff of itchy ears. For you, what is the core faith (written on your heart) that is worth holding fast to, and what experience do you have of itchy ears?
3. The picture of the persistent widow banging on the judges door sticks with me. Do you see this in the world? Where? Do you ever feel like you are banging on God’s door and not getting a response? What would Luke say to this?
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Oct. 4 - 10, 2010 "Remember and be thankful"
Monday, Oct 4, 2010
This week in Canada we celebrate Thanksgiving. Of all the festivals of the year, this is one of my favourites. It comes at harvest time, the earth is winding down for another season and the colours are gorgeous on the mountains. You can feel the coolness of the coming winter, and the air has a freshness that you can taste. It all inclines the heart towards gratitude.
This is also the festival that more than any other acknowledges our humanity, our limits, and our dependence on the creation and the creator. We have so much to be thankful for, and most of it had nothing to do with us.
Background on this week’s readings:
Deuteronomy 26:1-11
So to get a good sense of this reading you need to imagine yourself with Moses on the east bank of the Jordon River. That is the setting for the entire book of Deuteronomy. It is written as his final speech to the people after they have wandered in the desert for 40 years and are about to cross over into the promised land. And Deuteronomy is cast as a final speech. Moses will not go with them, so these are his parting words. So as he opens, he says, when you get there, there are a few things you need to remember. And this particular section is about remembering to bring the first fruits of the gifts of the land to God, remembering your story of liberation, and kindling within a humble gratitude. The assumption is, it will be tempting to think that you did this on your own. Remember.
Psalm 100
Here we have a pretty standard simple ancient song of praise to God, set in the place of worship. As in Deuteronomy, we are told to remember God, behold who God is, know that God made us, and that we belong to God. I get the sense that both here and in Deuteronomy, these writers kind of expect that human beings will forget God and start to think that they made themselves. Hmmm.
Philippians 4:4-9
You need to know that this is one of my favourite passages in the Bible. I have many, but this is near the top. It is one of the most elegant, loving and gentle sections in the entire works of Paul that we have. Paul had a special relationship with the church in Philippi. He was there from their very beginning, they had cared for him, and in their struggles, he had returned the favour. He was their spiritual mentor and here we see why. He is appealing to the very best in them and he knows that they will respond. He sounds just so very confident as he proclaims that “The God of peace will be with you.” That’s a promise.
John 6:25-35
The gospel reading for this Sunday is a real shift of gears from the other readings. This is vintage John, all multi-levelled and cryptic. Everything here has at least two meanings and you can never seem to get a straight answer out of Jesus. “When did you get here?” they ask, and he can’t even tell them that without talking about signs, and working for enduring food. They see that he is talking in riddles and they want some kind of verification that he knows what he is talking about. Give us a sign like Moses did with the manna? With this he launches into talk about bread. But bread means more than bread to him. Nothing is just what it seems but it packed with encoded meaning. Metaphors abound. Even he himself is not just himself, but is bread.
Some thoughts
I had a load of top soil delivered this past weekend, and today was the day to shovel it into the various different garden beds. It was a cooler day today and as I got deeper into the pile of pungent rich soil, there was a smell that emerged from the pile that was nothing short of the smell of fertility. The soil steamed with every shovelful. This was not lifeless dirt I was dealing with but soil, alive with the process of breaking down and building up, of decomposing and re-composing. I am not much of a gardener, but I know that my shovel was messing with a process that was more powerful than me. Life is so much bigger than me.
My parents gave be a rose bush last summer. I was not ready for it. I left it for a while because I didn’t know where to plant it. So finally, after neglecting it for too long, I took a guess, dug a hole, threw in some bone meal and some potting soil and planted it where I think it will go. It is a climbing rose, and I have nothing for it to climb on. I went out the other day, and it has exploded, heading off in all directions, literally covering ground. This thing has a plan to take over my little part of the world and it is surely not waiting for me to tell it what to do.
Moses wants us never to forget where we have come from, the psalmist wants us to remember who made us and to whom we belong, Paul wants us to contemplate the goodness of things, and gives us a promise that if we do that, we will find peace, and in John’s gospel Jesus is pointing to the deeper meaning underneath everything.
As you celebrate Thanksgiving, can you stop and behold what you have, and seek the deeper meaning God has placed in it?
Starter questions:
1. In Deuteronomy, Moses is pointing us to the ancient story of liberation as the base upon which an offering of gratitude is made. What is the story of God in your life upon which your offering of gratitude rests?
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