June 19 and forward

June 19

This Sunday is Fathers Day, and I’m not sure this direction particularly fits.  I’m open to ideas.

One of the things I brought back from my Annual Conference was gratitude that I am in ministry where we are Open and Affirming and that we do not injure each other with the ongoing “debate” about homosexuality and the church. But more importantly, I realized that it is not enough to be proud that we are Open and Affirming.  There is still too much persecution of GLBT people both here in the USA and around the world. Uganda keeps trying to make homosexuality a capital offense. Our own politicians continue to use sexuality as an election ploy, even as our own citizens are denied basic rights. What actions do we need to take, what voices raised, what exiles welcomed home?

Scripture: Mark 3:31-35 Jesus’ true family, whoever hears the Word and does it is Christ’s family.

Good News: Blood does not make family, love does.

Subject: Our doing of the Word includes all people, building a kin-dom of equality and hospitality.

Experiential Field: Our experience of being welcomed empowers us to extend that welcome to all.

“How to Train Your Dragon” Series –Beginning June 26

Week One: “I Can’t Kill Dragons”: A Wrong Kind of Viking

Scene: Hiccup finds the downed Night Terror, but frees it instead of killing it. Then at home, his father tells him what kind of Viking he should be.

We as progressive Christians often are made to feel like the wrong kind of Christians by the voices of popular religion.

Scripture:  Ephesians 6:10-18 – put on the full armor of Christ. Though many Christians have used this passage to justify military action, the author more likely was taking Rome’s prevalent mode of strength and using it as an ironic metaphor which actually calls on Christians to arm themselves with only love and not with literal armor. It is a call not for strength of arms but of heart and spirit. Early Christians were suspect because they would not serve in the military. They were exemplifying a new way of being Roman (which, by the way, eventually changed the Empire). Hiccup was the wrong kind of Viking because he wouldn’t kill dragons. We are the wrong kind of soldiers for this violent world.

Week Two: “Everything We Know About Dragons is Wrong”: Learning Anew the Ways of Dragons

Scene(s): Hiccup studying the book about dragons (which always says, “kill on sight”), then the scenes where he really learns about the dragons.

We are learning new ways of following Christ in this complicated, fearful world.

Scripture: Luke 6:27-42 – Love for enemies. This is a part of Jesus’ teach sometimes called the Sermon on the Plain. If there is a codex of Christian teaching, then the Beatitudes and these passages are it. Jesus is teaching a new way of approaching the world, ourselves, God, and each other. The Vikings saw the dragons as enemies but Hiccup began to see them as something different. We see Muslims, immigrants, all sorts of people as enemies. Jesus sees them as family. Everything we know about our enemies may be wrong. We need to learn to love them.

Week Three: “Doing Something Crazy”: Inviting Others to Join in Our Adventure

Scene: After Toothless is captured and forced to reveal the dragons’ nest, Hiccup teaches the other apprentices to ride dragons and rescues the Vikings

It’s when we invite others to learn what we have learned about following Christ that we can change the world.

Scripture: Acts 10:34-48 – Peter welcomes the Gentiles. Gentiles were the traditional enemies of the Jews, but following Christ meant that they were invited to join in on the Way, too. Peter preaches that God shows no partiality. Hiccup invites his rivals to learn his ways of interacting with the dragons in order to save his father and the other Vikings. God needs us to invite others, to welcome them extravagantly in the mission and ministry of Christ. In the terms of what makes sense in the world, this is a crazy step. But in a world that is tearing itself apart with fear and hatred, we need to do something this kind of crazy.

As we move into the series, I will expand these ideas with experiential fields and such.