Tuesday, December 24, 2013

New Year worship thoughts

January 5 - Epiphany
Matthew 2:1-12
In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, 2asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.” 3When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; 4and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. 5They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet: 6‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.’” 7Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. 8Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.” 9When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. 11On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.

Anchor: The Star that everyone can see
Frame: Love is Light
Thread: More Light
Social Issue: Religious Pluralism

The star was in the sky for everyone to see. Yet not everyone read the same significance in that star that our so-called "Wise Men" did. It was so significant to them that they packed up and left the comforts of home to follow wherever that star took them. It took them to Bethlehem and to Jesus. As far as we know, these astrologers were neither Jewish nor Christian (meaning that there is no evidence that after their encounter with the infant Jesus that they in any way continued to follow his life much less his teachings).

This Sunday observes “Epiphany” the day when we proclaim that the world saw the glory of God in the baby Jesus. The word “epiphany” means “manifestation.” For years this was an occasion to herald that the definitive light had come to the world: the Christian light. The story of the Wise Men, people from foreign nations, being led to Jesus is told as evidence of this. Yet I find it odd that nothing much is made of the fact that in the story when all the intrigue and mystery is played out these foreign scholars  “left for their own country by another road.” Presumably they went back to their homes and lives and studies and likely their own religions. They paid homage to what they saw revealed in Jesus, but they didn’t follow him. For most of Christianity’s history we have been touting the goodness and God-ness of the light we proclaim that we have rarely thought about how we make that light look to others.

And Christianity has rarely thought to ask how God’s light looks in other theological or even geographical places than our own. Eastern religions have been recognizing and talking about light for hundreds if not thousands of years longer than Christianity. How might their perspective on divine light illumine our own?
January 12 – The Baptism of Jesus
Matthew 3:13-17
13 At that time Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan River so that John would baptize him. 14 John tried to stop him and said, “I need to be baptized by you, yet you come to me?” 15 Jesus answered, “Allow me to be baptized now. This is necessary to fulfill all righteousness.” So John agreed to baptize Jesus. 16 When Jesus was baptized, he immediately came up out of the water. Heaven was opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God coming down like a dove and resting on him. 17 A voice from heaven said, “This is my Son whom I dearly love; I find happiness in him.”

Anchor: water toys
Frame: playing with God               Thread: More Light
Social Issue: Setting an intention for the Common Good – world citizenship

Baptism has been laden down with the scrim of sin that it seems to have lost its symbolism as a beginning and a way of life. We get involved with questions like, “Why did Jesus get baptized if he had no sin?” “Did Jesus sin?” “Did Jesus repent of anything?”
               
If we remember that “repent” means to turn a new direction (Borg says that its implication is “turning toward home as if from exile”) then the answer to that last question is yes. Each of the synoptic gospels tells their version of Jesus coming to John for baptism at the initiation of his (Jesus’) ministry. In his commentary on Mark’s gospel, Borg refers to this incident as Jesus’ conversion story. It seems that Jesus sensed that he was setting out on something big and he wanted a way of marking that. In many ways he was giving up his conventional life (taking up his father’s trade, finding a wife and having kids, settling down) for the life of pleasing God by inviting others to explore a new Way.

At the beginning of the New Year we tend to make (or joke about making) resolutions that will improve our lives. Eating better. Being more organized. Getting more exercise. None of these are bad things, but it seems that most of our resolutions have to do with ourselves. What if we claimed in our baptized nature that we have the capability – like Jesus – to bring happiness to the God who dearly loves us?  What if our resolution is not to make ourselves better but to live in god’s Creation in such a way as to bring happiness to the Divine?

As a parent I remember specific moments when I set aside my own agenda (whatever I thought was important that I had to do as a responsible adult) and did something one of my kids wanted. My motivation was not necessarily to improve their lives. I have to admit it was kind of a selfish motive: seeing my children smile and hearing them laugh is a unique and life-charging experience. What if we stopped whatever we think it is that is so important and sat down with the single intention to make God happy? What would that look like? For me, that changes my perspective on the things that followers of Jesus often do. Feeding the hungry then is not an obligation, not just serious work but also a cause of joy. Waging peace (in pickets, in polling places, in prayer groups) is not a heavy-shouldered labor but is like chasing butterflies – a celebration of the lightness of life. Caring for Creation (certainly a life-preserving reality in our generation) is not just about rescuing the planet from our own self-centered and rapacious use of the Earth, but is also the planting of a garden of laughter and happiness as we love what God loves.

When we listen to stories like this from the bible, we rarely imagine smiles in them. But I can’t help that think that when Jesus had that feeling of being dearly loved and sensed the delighted laughter of God, that a broad and genuine smile didn’t spread across his heart and his face.
January 19 – MLK Weekend
Psalm 40:1-3 (Nan Merrill’s “Psalms for Praying”)
I waited patiently for the Beloved,
                who came to me and heard my cry
Love raised me from the pits of despair,
                out of confusion and fear,
                and set my feet upon a rock,
                                making my steps secure.
There is a new song in my mouth,
                a song of praise to the Beloved.
Many will see and rejoice,
                and put their trust in Love.

Anchor: Garbage cans
Frame:
Thread: More Light
Social Issue: Racism and Inclusion

To me, there is a difference between prejudice and racism. Prejudice is a personal feeling and pre-judgment (as the word itself literally means). Racism is systemic. Those who live and function in a racist system are affected by it, either as privileged or oppressed. As a straight white male living within the racist system of American culture, I receive privileges withheld from those who are neither male nor white nor straight. While I strive and aspire not to be prejudiced, by benefit of being a member of a racist system I have to confess (and deplore) that I am racist.

Martin Luther King was not only working to change the hearts of the bigots who opposed him, he was working to change the very system that perpetuates the racism that subjugated African Americans in the 50’s and 60’s. And though we have now elected the first African American President, in many ways that election has only brought to light the depths to which the racist American system has not changed since King’s generation.

King’s biblical foundation enabled him to begin that system-changing campaign from the bottom up. It was with the striking garbage collectors that brought him to Memphis. King addressed the United Nations and had conversations with Presidents, but it was for the garbage collectors he gave his life.

The psalmist writes of singing a new song when God, the Beloved, has restored light and life to the poet. Sometimes we have to learn the new song even before liberation is fully attained. We cannot wait until the last stones of racism are torn down before we sing of God’s equal and unconditional love. Maybe the singing can urge us a step or two closer to that day.

The psalm also reminds us that our restoration by God requires a new song. It is a new day and a new world and an old song will not do. The new song may feel strange on our lips, and maybe that newness will tempt us to long for the treasured songs that feel so comfortable in our mouths. But singing only the same old songs of the old empire makes it all the more difficult to root out its foundations.  Fear and confusion beg for comforting old songs. God’s liberation and recreation of life requires a new song!



January 26
Matthew 4:12-23
12 Now when Jesus heard that John was arrested, he went to Galilee. 13 He left Nazareth and settled in Capernaum, which lies alongside the sea in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali. 14 This fulfilled what Isaiah the prophet said:
15 Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,
        alongside the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles,
16     the people who lived in the dark have seen a great light,
        and a light has come upon those who lived in the region and in shadow of death.[a]
17 From that time Jesus began to announce, “Change your hearts and lives! Here comes the kingdom of heaven!” 18 As Jesus walked alongside the Galilee Sea, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew, throwing fishing nets into the sea, because they were fishermen. 19 “Come, follow me,” he said, “and I’ll show you how to fish for people.” 20 Right away, they left their nets and followed him. 21 Continuing on, he saw another set of brothers, James the son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with Zebedee their father repairing their nets. Jesus called them and 22 immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.23 Jesus traveled throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues. He announced the good news of the kingdom and healed every disease and sickness among the people.

Anchor: Headlights and Heartlights
Frame: Entering the Darkness of people’s lives
Thread: More Light
Social Issue: Mental Illness, depression, despair

I’ve often wondered what was so compelling about the person of Jesus that those fishers would drop their nets and immediately follow him. Matthew gives a hint when he more or less quotes Isaiah about the people of Zebulun and Naphtali seeing a light in the midst of their darkness. The story of the call of the first disciples is an example of the people of that region encountering that light. And like moths to the compelling flame, they left their nets and their families and went toward that light.

I took a tour of a cave in the Black Hills a number of years ago (I haven’t made it to see Kartchner Caverns yet). It was a beautiful underground cathedral of crystals and spires. The minerals made the rooms sparkle in the artificial light. At one point on the tour, the guide wanted us to see the cave in its natural setting. We gathered in a wide, flat area and they turned out the lights. I have never seen a dark so impenetrable. There was no sense of direction, or time, and but for the murmuring of the people around me no sense of anything else. I was surrounded by beauty and companionship, but without the lights I could not see them.

It seems to be a hallmark of our society that we tolerate a great deal of darkness and lostness. We have created a culture that fosters isolation, with the particular characteristic that if you don’t fit in (aren't wealthy, happy, secure, skinny, outwardly beautiful, etc.) you are encouraged not to talk about your feelings and experiences. Mental illness especially is a ninja-like condition. It’s all around but nobody sees it and it is striking more and more every day.

The signs of Jesus’ Messiah-hood were that the good news was proclaimed and that every kind of disease and illness were healed. He embodied the light that revealed the beauty of the dark cavern. Today we are called to be the Body of Christ, imperfect for the task we may be but we are called nonetheless. Just as those first disciples saw the light in the darkness when they saw Jesus, so in some way we should strive to shine for others. Some of us are pretty ashamed of the kind of Christianity that gets shown in the world.  What might be ways that we cast a different, a healing light?



Wednesday, October 9, 2013

October 13 - Plain Jars of Treasure

October 13, 2013              Plain Jars of Treasure
2 Corinthians  4:7-12—Paul writes that our very human lives are containers for the Divine in our world
But we have this treasure in clay pots so that the awesome power belongs to God and doesn’t come from us. We are experiencing all kinds of trouble, but we aren’t crushed. We are confused, but we aren’t depressed. We are harassed, but we aren’t abandoned. We are knocked down, but we aren’t knocked out. We always carry Jesus’ death around in our bodies so that Jesus’ life can also be seen in our bodies. We who are alive are always being handed over to death for Jesus’ sake so that Jesus’ life can also be seen in our bodies that are dying. So death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.
Sometimes it is the not so special that is the perfect way that God becomes known. Seas don’t have to part, mountains don’t have to smoke, winged angels don’t have to appear. Just very ordinary human lives, just like plain old clay jars, are all that God’s spirit needs to bring love into the world. What changes might we make if we believe that we are carrying God into the world?
Jars come in all shapes and sizes and serve all kinds of purposes. There are glass jars, plastic ones, tall, short, wide mouth and narrow, jelly jars, mason jars, pickle jars, pottery jars, and cookie jars. What they all have in common is that they are containers.
Human beings come in all shapes and sizes as well, and biblically we, too, are containers. In both the first and second chapters of Genesis (two very different stories of Creation) humans are depicted as containers of God’s Spirit. In the first Creation story, we are told that we are made in God’s image. That word “image” is the same word that the bible uses for a graven image or idol. The belief was that a divine spirit inhabited that image or idol. To say that we are God’s image implies that we are the image that God inhabits. Likewise, in the 2nd chapter (the Adam and Eve story), the human being is shaped of mud or clay but does not have life until God breathes the Divine Spirit into its nostrils. And so in Paul’s second letter to the church in Corinth, he says we are plain jars that hold the treasure of God’s presence. Paul grooves on this oxymoron. We are ordinary clay and divine light. We are death and life. We are human and we are Christ.
This is the heart of the Benedictine sense of hospitality that I’ve been talking about: we each of us show something of Christ to each other. That hospitality is challenging when we are asked to see the glory of Christ contained in every plain old human jar: gay, straight, whole, infirm, young, old, brilliant, Down’s Syndrome, liberal, Tea-Partier, pacifist, NRA life member, Joan Baez and Ted Nugent.
This also challenges the Church’s traditional understanding of mission. Mission used to be that we good Christians would go to some strange land and people to show them Christ and teach them how to live as good, civilized Christians. But the container idea begs us to look and see what others may have to show and teach us about Christ, whether or not they use that name.
We are plain jars holding divine treasure, and therefore we can be “Jars of Change.” What are we showing other people about God? I once attended a breakfast where the program was a slide show from a mission team who went to Africa to help some people that they had previously worked with. The previous trip they had built a church for the village, but had not been able to put the roof on. The location was so remote that they had to pack in all tools, materials, generators and supplies. They showed us pictures of the conditions in the village. There was the cooking hut with a dirt floor and chickens wandering through. They showed the women of the village toting water from a remarkable distance. They showed the pot where everybody scraped their scraps from supper which would become the soup for lunch the next day. Then they showed us pictures of their work. They showed the guys putting up rafters and sheeting. The last pictures were of the people sitting on simple benches worshiping in their newly finished church. I understand the group’s priority to give the villagers a nice place to worship, but I wonder why they never thought about putting a floor in the cooking hut or helping to dig a well closer to the village. They had a nice church, but the quality of their life was not improved at all. What kind of change is that?
Water is a symbol of the Spirit and water is an essential element of life. Our Jars of Change can carry water, either as symbol or element or both. The CROP Walk was initially set as the average distance that people had to walk for clean water. We can use our jars, our lives and our giving to show the world a God who cares how people live and that their basic needs are met.



Friday, August 2, 2013

Tuning the Heart’s Ear (Listening to the Still Speaking God of the Bible)


Often some issue or other arises in our life and then we ask, “What does the Bible have to say about this?” This series takes another approach. Affirming that we are loved by a Still-Speaking God, we will begin by asking, “What is the Spirit saying to us today?” The Psalms are one of the most beloved books of the Bible. We invite you to enter into a conversation with the Spirit by asking, “What are you saying to us through this Psalm today?”
The Book of Psalms was collected as the songbook of ancient Israel. It reflects the breadth of the emotions and expressions of those people struggling to be faithful and connected to God. Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann says that there are at least three kinds of psalms. .  Psalms of orientation (when all is right with our world), psalms of disorientation (when things fall apart), and psalms of a new orientation (when God creates something new out of the disorientation). What is the Living Spirit saying to us today through these ancient songs?
August 11 – When Life is Good: Psalm 1
When we know that God loves us and all is right with the world. God’s steadfast love and strength protects us and those we care about. We are like trees planted by flowing waters. When life is good, what is God saying to us?
August 18 – When the Storm Hits: Psalm 13
When we experience turmoil and strife, it is often more difficult find that Still-Speaking God. In the middle of the storms of life, we echo the psalmist “how long, O God?”
August 25 – When the Phoenix Rises: Psalm 66
The experience of the Israel is that God never abandons them. God frees the saves, divides the sea, and gives manna in the desert. What the world destroys, God recreates. When the storms subside, the clouds break, and the sun rises, and the psalmist sings, “Come and see what the Beloved has done; wondrous are the deeds of Love.” Where is God working wondrous deeds of Love?


Tuesday, July 23, 2013

August 4 - Wrestling at the River: Transformation & Grief Week 5: Acceptance

Wrestling at the River: Transformation & Grief
Week 5: Acceptance
While I might quibble with the name of any of the stages of grief, I really think “acceptance” is inadequate. The graphic I’ve been using on one slide says by acceptance “return to a meaningful life.” To me this sounds as if everything gets back to normal. Except that in my experience whatever normal was before the grief-inducing event can never be re-attained. Going through the stages of grief do not return us to anything, certainly not back to where we were. Going through grief and change is a transformative process and at the end of us (hopefully) we are ready embrace the new being we are becoming. So instead of acceptance per se, it is a new orientation, a new perspective. It may be normal but it is a new normal that we walk into.
When the sun rose and Jacob was through with his wracking and wrestling, he crossed the river into a new day and a new life. He even had a new name. Now I recognize that this new reality was not all peaches and cream. His new name, Israel, not only reflects that through the night he had wrestled with God but it states in present-tense that he strives with God. Life is not guaranteed to be easy, just new. The rest of the book of Genesis shows that Jacob and his descendants continue to strive with God, make mistakes, and occasionally live up to the blessing that God has given them.
Henri Nouwen said that "Forgiving does not mean forgetting. When we forgive a person, the memory of the wound might stay with us for a long time, even throughout our lives. Sometimes we carry the memory in our bodies as a visible sign. But forgiveness changes the way we remember. It converts the curse into a blessing. When we forgive our parents for their divorce, our children for their lack of attention, our friends for their unfaithfulness in crisis, our doctors for their ill advice, we no longer have to experience ourselves as the victims of events we had no control over.

Forgiveness allows us to claim our own power and not let these events destroy us; it enables them to become events that deepen the wisdom of our hearts. Forgiveness indeed heals memories."

Nouwen’s definition of forgiveness seems to me as good a description of acceptance as I’ve seen. The process of grieving turns the curse into a blessing, even if it is a hard won one at that.  It is like the sunrise. It does not erase all the days gone before but it offers the freedom of a brand new day. Are we at SCUCC ready to walk into the new day with a blessing and the promise of a new future?

This may be a day when we can provide an experience of crossing the river like Jacob/Israel crossed the Jabbok. It might be a symbol of being done with what is behind us and walking into whatever it is that God holds before us. 

July 28 - Wrestling at the River: Transformation & Grief Week 4: Depression

Wrestling at the River: Transformation & Grief
Week 4: Depression
One of the aspects that we need to focus on this week is that these are stages of grief.  It is normal and healthy that one moves through these stages when one grieves. It becomes unhealthy and even destructive when one gets stuck in any of the stages. And probably the most destructive phase to get stuck in is depression. Let me be clear. There is a marked difference between the sadness and even feelings of hopelessness associated with grief and the medical condition of depression. They are different, though related. Hopefully, the experience of this stage of grief can help us sympathize and understand those for whom depression is an illness and a lifelong struggle. As we explore the stages of grief and seek a vision forward, it is in solidarity and shared experience that strengthen us.
My theological guess is that Jacob’s whole story about wrestling at the river is a description of his depression. He had lost all reason to hope that Esau would reconcile with him. All Jacob’s tricks wouldn’t get him out of the next day’s interaction.  The long, dark night. The self-imposed isolation.  The wrestling and fighting. The wounding. These are all descriptions of what one might feel in the midst of depression.
Those feeling are also described quite articulately by Kevin Breel in a TEDx talk on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3yqXeLJ0Kg This is clearly an explication of the experience of depression as an illness. Yet he opens a window on its depth, its stigma, and the power of truth and acceptance. He also proclaims that it is in standing together that we gain the strength to overcome. It is my intent to run his entire talk in the Gathering.
And this reminded me that we have persons in our family that deal with this quite intentionally. Kim and Anita Brown have trained for L.O.S.S. (Loving Outreach to Survivors of Suicide). Their training has prepared them to meet with those at risk of suicide, offering understanding and most importantly (says Anita) hugs. Kim has already gone out on such a call. They have agreed to dialog with me on Sunday about what they do, and more importantly, why they decided to do this.
So, the heart of Sunday’s Gathering is that we all experience bits of depression. Some of us experience it in grief. Some of us wrestle with it our whole lives. Yet whether in grief or life, when we stand together and support each other, the sun rises and we get blessed and we have a new life to live.
So I see a fairly simple outline for Sunday:
                Our beginning pieces
                Scripture reading: Genesis 32:22-30
                Reflection on the scene as depression
                Kevin Breen’s video
                Song
                Dialog with Anita and Kim
                Community Prayers
                Communion
                Song
                Blessing and Sending

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Wrestling at the River: Change & Grief – Week 3: Bargaining

Wrestling at the River: Change & Grief – Week 3: Bargaining
Last week we supposed that one of the sources of anger is loss of control. This week’s phase I believe is a response to that loss of control. Bargaining is an attempt to regain control over the given situation. Bargaining may take place with God, with other people, even with one’s self. But it is always “I’ll give you this if you’ll give me that. “I’ll go to seminary if you’ll let Mom survive this stroke.”  “If Obamacare passes, I’m moving to Canada!” “I’ll let you go if you will bless me.” There is a wonderful little clip from the movie “The Descendants” with George Clooney where his character is begging his wife to wake up from her coma. IT is classic and poignant bargaining. “I’m ready to listen,” he says, “if you will just wake up.”
The complement of bargaining is releasing. Bargaining is us trying to wrest control from an obviously uncontrollable situation. The exit ramp on the bargaining highway is to give up control. As a people of faith, our assurance is that the control is in the hands of a benevolent God. It takes great courage to give up control in the midst of a whirlwind of change. And yet what we call giving up control is just admission that we never truly had control to begin with.
Jacob’s bargaining is not done from a position of power. He had lost the fight, except that he will not let go. He desperately wants a positive result to come from the night’s ordeal (and maybe even from his entire life up to that point?). And it is interesting to note that Jacob’s name change to Israel is not the blessing. His opponent offers the blessing after that exchange, and we don’t have a record of what that blessing was. Dictionary.com says a blessing is the act of invoking divine protection or aid; it seems to me it is something more than that. And it seems to me that God is not stingy about blessing us. I know that is not the impression that the Old Testament gives. Yet when we are in the chaotic grip of change it seems like God’s blessing is hard to find indeed.
So, like Jacob and the angel, what are we desperately holding on to? Despite the pain that the fight causes us, regardless of the wounds that we will carry with us, we hold on hoping to extract some kind of blessing from the situation. Bargaining is holding on. Grace is letting go.
I think our experience this Sunday is in that movement from grasping to releasing. What are we grasping, holding on to that is not really ours to control? How do we find the trust to release?


Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Wrestling at the River: Week 2 Anger

Wrestling at the River: Week 2 - Anger
Genesis 32:22-31
In the course of the night, Jacob arose, took the entire caravan, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok River. After Jacob had crossed with all his possessions, he returned to the camp, and he was completely alone. And there, someone wrestled with Jacob until the first light of dawn. Seeing that Jacob could not be overpowered, the other struck Jacob at the socket of the hip, and the hip was dislocated as they wrestled. Then Jacob’s contender said, “Let me go, for day is breaking.” Jacob answered, “I will not let you go until you bless me.”  “What is your name?” the other asked. “Jacob,” he answered. The other said, “Your name will no longer be called ‘Jacob,’ or ‘Heel-Grabber,’ but ‘Israel’—‘Strives with God’—because you have wrestled with both God and mortals, and you have prevailed.” Then Jacob asked “Now tell me your name, I beg you.” The other said, “Why do you ask me my name?”—and blessed Jacob there. Jacob named the place Peniel—”Face of God”—”because I have seen God face to face, yet my life was spared.” At sunrise, Jacob left Penuel, limping along from the injured hip.

As usual, the English translation of the text seems to let the intensity of the scene drain out.  One might almost miss the reality that this is a fight scene. It is violent and intense and should be scary. Israel nee Jacob is fighting for his life! He is fighting to give up the old life and name and claim a new life and name. But that it is a fight sometimes gets almost lost. He walks away forever wounded from it.

Many of us walk around with the wounds from our life’s struggles, too. Too many of us know firsthand that life isn’t fair, that the world is unpredictable, and that too many times it seems that God fights dirty. The Christian PR departments love to paint pictures of Jesus sitting with quiet, clean children sitting serenely on his lap. Or Jesus leading the obedient sheep. Or scenes of the first line of the 23rd Psalm, carefully editing out all the “Valley of the Shadow of Death” part.

Being attentive to the Spirit, following God, or giving your life to Jesus do not guarantee that life will be pleasant, or that your business will be successful, or that your marriage will last 57 years. In fact, one of the bottom lines truths about life on earth is that there are no guarantees. And sometimes, to use the appropriate theological word, that sucks. And to be absolutely human, it likely makes us angry.

I was told once that anger is a response to pain. And like many people I was taught in one way or another that getting angry is sinful. And if the pain of life provokes an existential anger, what does it mean to be angry with God?

I know a lot of people who are angry with God: angry that their father died when they were 13, angry that their spouse has cancer, angry that their life just turned out different from the way they thought it should. Even those of us who have adopted a theology that says God does not micro-manage the events of our lives sometimes experience a hot flash of anger at God, because if we can’t blame someone on earth for our pain who else is there? Moses got angry with God, and so did Job, and Jacob fought tooth and nail and knee-to-the-groin with God. I wonder if reading a little anger into Jesus’ gethsemane prayer doesn’t make sound a little more human.

So, can we get angry with God? Is it all right to do so? My initial reaction is, “Yes, of course, God can take it!” It is better to get angry and express that anger rather than to stuff those emotions and injure our psyches and bodies by repression. On the other hand, I’ve had a couple of recent conversations with people who have said that they experienced the very physical consequences of getting angry with God. So I realize that the question is not an open and shut one.

One of the pieces I want to use this Sunday is a clip from the West Wing where President Jeb Bartlett is alone in National Cathedral confronting God about the death of his long-time secretary, friend, and conscience Mrs. Landingham. In his rant, Bartlett calls God a “feckless thug.” In his anger and despair, Bartlett almost decides to give up the hope of a second term as president.  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYcMk3AJKLk) I will edit the language to make it appropriate, but even planning on that I know this is a challenging clip.

So as we think about what we may experience in worship, what in life makes us angry? What makes us angry at God? What makes us mad enough to fight? To pummel at our parents even as they try to hug us and love us?


Maybe the symbol for this Sunday is a bruise: a recognition that life has bruised us.  Like Jacob or Israel, we walk away limping. Few of us get through our process of grieving without at least a lay0over at anger. Maybe we have to throw our anger out there into the universe in spite of the consequences because to carry it with us wounds us further.