February 3 - The Guitar

February 3

Reel Faith using “The Guitar”, a 2007 film recognized at the Sundance Film Festival

Experience: Stripping away and beginning anew

Revelation 21:1-4

Then I saw new heavens and a new earth. The former heavens and the former earth had passed away, and the sea existed no longer. I also saw a new Jerusalem, the holy city, coming down out of heaven from God, beautiful as a bride and groom on their wedding day. And I heard a loud voice calling from the throne, “Look! God’s tabernacle is among humankind! God will live with them; they will be God’s people, and God will be fully present among them. The most high will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death, mourning, crying and pain will be no more, for the old order has fallen.

I know. “Revelation? Really?” Actually, yes. The book of Revelation is the ultimate testament to starting over. Christians in Rome were facing intense persecution. They could expect to be arrested and then subject to terrible torture and death. The message of Revelation is not that some weird dispensation of God’s justice will take some into paradise and leave others to suffer in some possibly immanent future. It is a message to Roman Christians that even though their lives were festering in despair, the love of God would eventually triumph. Though the world they lived in was falling apart, god was already creating a new one. It took another 150 years, but Christianity did indeed triumph in the Roman Empire. For us, the message of Revelation is again not one of unchanging prophecy, but that God is continually creating the new Jerusalem out of the ruins of our lives.

The movie, “The Guitar” is an obscure indie flick from a few years ago. It explores the disintegrating life of Melody Wilder who at the beginning of the story is diagnosed with inoperable cancer, loses her job, and is unceremoniously dumped by her lover. She completes the razing of her life by renting a new apartment for the 2 months her doctor told her she has left, and then throwing all the vestiges of her old life out the window (including her clothes!). She then reconstructs her environment, filling her credit cards and her new loft with only the best things. She surrounds herself with silk and finery. We see flashbacks to her childhood were she sees a red guitar that captured her heart. She obtains a new red guitar, and embarks on learning to play it. Her heart opens up in unexpected relationships with two different delivery people who arrive at her door. Eventually her credit runs out and she realizes that it is well past the 2 months she was given. Not only that, but physically she is stronger, not weaker. She goes back to her doctor who announces that somehow Melody is now cancer-free. She will live, but how? She has racked up debt and cannot remain where she has been. She sells her luxury items at garage sale prices in an attempt to free herself from their cost. All she keeps is the red guitar she has learned to play in this interim life. Not knowing where to go, she follows 2 young men who were also carrying guitars. They lead her to a park where a number of musicians are busking. She begins to play, hoping to get some handouts as well. Her playing attracts members of a band who stop to listen to her playing. The final scene of the movie shows a joyous Melody playing with the band, and singing along in her restored voice. She is living a life that was unimaginable at the beginning of the story, as is the joy on her face.

I’ve already edited the movie down to a series of clips: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqQF_MNlWWA&feature=youtu.be  I think these clips will tell enough of the story without everyone having seen the film.

I see us beginning with a threshold of a large painted sitting up front. Without a word, it is approached and painted over with a coat of white, preparing the canvas for a new work of art.

Doing something really new always comes at the cost of the old, and it is often painful. Beginning a new life, as individuals and as a church, is painful. Resurrection comes after death. The new Jerusalem only arrives after the old one is destroyed.

Clip #1   Diagnosis and desolation – Melody receives the news of her disease, loses her job and her lover in a single day.

                What would we do in the face of such news? Would you want to know?

                What affairs would we have to set in order? How would we do that?

Who would we tell? Hopefully, we have better support systems than Melody did – but when have we felt that alone?

Clip #2   New Space – Melody rents the loft and rids herself of her old life. She enters the empty apartment which reflects her emptiness, but also holds the possibility of a new start.

                How would you create your own spiritual womb?

                If your life were a new, empty space how would you fill it?

                What would be the most difficult for you to toss out the window?

Clip #3   Objects that Speak – Melody’s new friend Cookie is awed by the fine things she has surrounded herself with. Since the film’s beginning, this conversation is the closest Melody comes to admitting she will soon die. She says that she has collected these objects because they speak to her. They whisper to her rumors of her redemption.

                Is that why so many of us are attached our objects? Do they whisper to us of our redemption?

                What objects do, or would, we surround ourselves with? How many really speak to us?

                What one object is one that whispers meaning to you?

Clip #4   Healing and Strength – Melody discovers that she is not waning. She has regained the voice the tumor had stolen, and in fact her doctors tell her that the cancer is completely gone. Good news, but hard news. Melody has completely changed her life. What now?

                Would we recognize the signs of our own recovery?

Is it really possible to so change our lives that the metaphorical cancer in us would no longer feel at home? What would those cancers be?

Clip #5   Starting Over – Melody’s sanctuary is as empty as when she arrived. She watches as the last of her treasure is loaded onto the truck. All she has kept is the red guitar she has learned to play in her hiatus. Lost for direction, she follows other musicians to a park where she tries her hand at busking. This leads to her discovery by a band who evidently invites her to play with them. The movie ends with Melody playing with them on stage, smiling and singing joyously.

                Will we have the courage to follow unlikely guides? to play new instruments?

                Can we allow ourselves to be transformed by all the tragedies of life and still come out smiling?

I also like the prayer that is offered here at the end of the film, even if I am still delving its meaning: In art and dream may you proceed with abundance. In life may you proceed with balance and stealth.

January 27 - Us

January 27, 2013

Series Title: Me, Us, Them

Anchor:  tetrahedron

Frame:  Us!

Thread:  Phoenix Affirmations

Experience: An invitation to be a part of a sacred and safe community

            When I wrote at the beginning of this series I said: “The transformation of SCUCC into an Urban Abbey is going to take us from a place where like-minded people gather on Sunday morning to experience lively worship into a community of people committed to each other and committed to becoming fully human. Full humanity is what we become when we nurture our best selves, and open ourselves to the Divine presence. It means living our lives in search of a balance, and it means doing this every day of our lives. It is Sunday plus plus plus.” The crux of the Urban Abbey is that it is an intentional community. In ancient days (and even today) when someone wished to join the community at an abbey vows were said, clothes were changed, and one’s life was given over to the schedule and rule of the cloister. Our abbey will still invite people to be a part of an intentional community though without the habit, tonsure, or intensive vows! Nonetheless, I believe that the beating heart of the Urban Abbey will be the intention to share our lives in an attitude of deep hospitality as we seek to find creative and vibrant ways to follow Christ in today’s world. The “Us” of the urban Abbey is this community.

1 Corinthians 13:4-13 (The Message [alt.])
Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have. Love doesn’t strut, Doesn’t have a swelled head, Doesn’t force itself on others, Isn’t always “me first,” Doesn’t fly off the handle, Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,  Doesn’t revel when others grovel, Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, Puts up with anything, Trusts God always, Always looks for the best, Never looks back, But keeps going to the end. Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled. When I was an infant at my mother’s breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good. We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing God directly just as we are known completely! But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.

          We most often hear these verses read at wedding as if Paul were describing the characteristics of a married relationship. But Paul was not writing to a couple getting married. He was writing to a church, a gathering of followers of The Way of Jesus. The best we can do is read between the lines, but it seems Paul felt compelled to write to these people (more than once!) to remind them of what they were striving to be. They came together not to compete with all other associations in society. They didn’t have to be the wealthiest, the biggest, the meanest, or the most successful club in town. They came together to love and be loved. Sometimes we forget that we are called to be different than the rest of the world, and that this difference is love, eternal, unbounded, unimaginable love. Will I like the feel of the Message for this passage I also like the NRSV for verse 7, which reflects the original emphasis of the Greek more clearly: “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” “All things” declares the universal scope of this love we are talking about. Paul is reminding the believers at Corinth that they are a very special kind of community, one built on and sustained by a Love that transforms them and changes the world.

          And so I hear Paul inviting us at SCUCC back into loving community. Sometimes being part of a church is an almost lackadaisical affair. When asked membership vows the answer seems to be more often “Sure, why not?” than an intentional “I will, with the help of God!” As we move toward evolving into the Urban Abbey, I believe we must ask the question clearly: “We want you to be a part of this particular kind of community. Will you join us in this endeavor?” And not just for newcomers. Maybe more especially for those of us who have been here for years. And that invitation is fulcrum.

          The experience of invitation is the experience of feeling welcomed, truly welcomed and wanted. It is the feeling of being proposed to. It is the feeling of being accepted for every fiber of who you are (and not in spite of who you are!).

Laurel S. shared with a story that captures the essence of this feeling:

Pastor Renee once shared this story of her childhood:

When she was very young, she took cello lessons at school (in the days when music was not only offered but the school would loan you an instrument). The instrument was nearly as tall as she, but Renee gladly hauled it home and back, practicing what she had learned. Her brothers made faces when she would screech out her notes, and she was never sure that the sound she made was the right one.

One day in music class, the teacher asked Renee to play her little piece. Renee was afraid, but she did her best; it didn’t sound great. When she finished, her classmates didn’t seem impressed, but the teacher said, “now, I’d like you to play it again.” Rene was really scared then – had she messed it up? But once again she put bow to strings and began the little melody. Only this time, the teacher accompanied her on piano, adding chords and runs and rhythm. Finally, it was music!

Sometimes we forget that we’re not out there singing a solo. When all we can hear is our own small, unsteady voice, it can sound pitiful! But always, underneath it all, is a whole chorus of other voices singing backup. In reality, of course, we’re all just singing backup, but we've got earplugs that keep the other voices muted. If we listen, we can hear them, and we’ll know that we don’t have to carry the whole production alone.

In this story, Renee’s music was not derided or criticized. The teacher took her music, and added her own talent to it until together it was transformed!  That is the Ministry of Hospitality to a T! The teacher welcomed and honored Renee’s gift as it was. That is the element of community that we are hoping to engender as an Urban Abbey. Paul called it Love.

(I need some help weaving both our tetrahedron and the Phoenix Affirmations into this week’s fabric. Maybe we can build one of those larger pyramids using all of our little ones as a visual metaphor of Us!)

So our challenge this “Us” Sunday is to extend to every person that welcoming, accepting invitation that receives and honors their personhood. That’s all. It’s like a great big, group hug. Can we invite everyone to metaphorically enter the Urban Abbey where hopefully we learn that Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

January 20 - "Them"

January 20, 2013

Series Title: Me, Us, Them

Anchor:  tetrahedron

Frame:  Them

Thread:  Phoenix Principles

Experience: Stretching hearts to welcome others, the “them”

Them

Luke 10:25-37

An expert on the Law stood up to put Jesus to the test and said, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit everlasting life?” Jesus answered, “What is written in the law? How do you read it?” The expert on the Law replied: “You must love the most high God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”

Jesus said, “You have answered correctly. Do this and you’ll live.”

But the expert on the Law, seeking self-justification, pressed Jesus further: “And just who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “There was a traveler going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, who fell prey to robbers. The traveler was beaten, stripped naked, and left half-dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road; the priest saw the traveler lying beside the road, but passed by on the other side. Likewise there was a Levite who came the same way; this one, too, saw the afflicted traveler and passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, who was taking the same road, also came upon the traveler and, filled with compassion, approached the traveler and dressed the wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then the Samaritan put the wounded person on a donkey, went straight to an inn and there took care of the injured one. The next day the Samaritan took out two silver pieces and gave them to the innkeeper with the request, ‘Look after this person, and if there is any further expense, I’ll repay you on the way back.’

“Which of these three, in your opinion, was the neighbor to the traveler who fell in with the robbers?”

 The answer came, “the one who showed compassion.”   Jesus replied, “Then go and do the same.”

                Hospitality transforms the closed heart into one that can welcome the other, the “them.” It seems that Jesus heart was all about those that the good society of his day considered the “thems.” Jesus reached out and welcomed the outcasts, the women, the widows, the foreigners, the poor, even lepers and prostitutes. While it may be somewhat natural for human beings to draw lines between “us” and “them”, for Jesus the work of the Kin-dom was blurring and crossing those lines.

                The oxymoron of church work is that the more we focus on ourselves (we need more members, we need more money, etc.) the weaker we become. It seems that those who follow Christ gain their health and strength from finding the “them” and offering welcome and succor. Healthy attention to the inner being somehow prepares us to be open to strangers and sojourners.

                This is the weekend of the MLK holiday. While over-used, King’s “I Have a Dream” speech talks of a time when the divisions of race are overcome. Still, today there is a huge us-them divide over race in the United States.

                One of the questions facing us in our Urban Abbey process is “Who is the ‘them’ that the Spirit is leading us to?” 

January 13 "Me"

Me, Us, and Them, Installment 2

Mark 12: 30-31

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” The second is this, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” There is no other commandment greater than these.’

                The transformation of SCUCC into an Urban Abbey is going to take us from a place where like-minded people gather on Sunday morning to experience lively worship into a community of people committed to each other and committed to becoming fully human. Full humanity is what we become when we nurture our best selves, and open ourselves to the Divine presence. It means living our lives in search of a balance, and it means doing this every day of our lives. It is Sunday plus plus plus.

                In her book, “Radical Hospitality”, Loni Collins Pratt describes the spiritual rhythm of a monastery as making time for Cloister, Community, and Hospitality. She defines these terms in this way:

“Cloister refers to the time a monk is alone, or you are alone. It is the apartness of solitude and silence. Community refers to your closest relationships, the people with whom you share your life. The monk shares life with his community of brother monks. You have friends, family, maybe a spouse or partner. Hospitality refers to your interactions in all other relationships, especially those outside the security of your comfort zone—relationships with the stranger.

OSB, Fr. Daniel; Loni Collins Pratt (2011-11-01). Radical Hospitality (Kindle Locations 1475-1480). Paraclete Press. Kindle Edition.

                SCUCC’s Urban Abbey is not asking everyone to become a monk or a nun. It will require us to adopt intentionality about melding our daily lives and our spiritual lives. Urban Abbey provides people the support, the means, and an opportunity to live a fully human life. To be fully human integrates the aspects of cloister, community and hospitality. Or, to use language more common to us, “Me, Us, and Them.”

                There are six Sundays until Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. That gives us two Sundays each to explore Me, Us, and Them.

                “Me” is the aspect of our interior lives. It involves the spiritual disciplines of solitude, meditation, and prayer. It asks us to engender hospitality for our own selves.  The love Jesus asks of us (to love God, and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves) begins with a love of self that is honest, thorough-going, and unflinchingly grace filled. It means to enter the shadows of our own heart even if we are afraid of the dark. It means to learn to love the ugly parts of our self just as much as the beautiful ones. Knowing ourselves deeply and honestly and meeting God in the depths of our being is the central importance of “Me” time.

                “Us” refers to our common understanding of community. It is nurturing the relationships in which we are supported and support others. It is in the best sense of the word, family. We dream the best for each other in this community and hold each other accountable for those dreams. Community for the monks means taking a vow to live and seek God with those brothers in the order. Our community is just as intentional though much less formal. In this often frightening, painful world we need a community to keep us safe and give us the strength to go on.

                “Them” are the strangers, the others we don’t know yet. Some may be enemies; some may be friends we haven’t met yet. “Them” are the opportunities to practice the hospitality that changes us and the world. They are “them” until we open our hearts to them.

January 13

Theme: Me, Us, and Them (and God)

Anchor: Tetrahedron

Thread: The Phoenix Affirmations

Frame: “Me”

Psalm 63:5-7

My soul is satisfied as with a rich feast,

    and my mouth praises you with joyful lips

when I think of you on my bed,

    and meditate on you in the watches of the night;

 for you have been my help,

    and in the shadow of your wings I sing for joy.

Hospitality for our own self is the beginning place for the transformative journey. To love and accept our deepest self is to experience the grace of the Spirit who loves and accepts us wholeheartedly. The time we spend in solitude may bring us into that fearsome honesty where we have to confront the parts of ourselves we most despise and try our best to hide, but the hospitality we give even to those parts teaches our hearts to love more and more. The love we give ourselves comes from the same well as the love we extend to our neighbor.

                Two thoughts come to me about the journey into the self. The first is Ursula K. LeGuin’s novel about the wizard Sparrowhawk , “A Wizard of Earthsea.” In that book, everyone has a true name that they guard fiercely because one’s true name has power. Sparrowhawk is a powerful wizard but he is haunted by a terrible shadow who destroys all that Sparrowhawk loves. Sparrowhawk finally chases the shade down into the world of the dead where they come face to face. Knowing that the only way to overcome the shadow is to speak its true name, Sparrowhawk finally realizes the source of the shadow’s name. Sparrowhawk speaks the name, “Ged”, his own true name and embraces the shadow, its reign of terror is over. The shadow was a part of himself, something he had inadvertently created in a moment of pride and ignorance.

                The second thought is a quote from vulnerability researcher Brene Brown. She says that the word courage comes from the Latin word for heart, “cor.” Courage originally meant to tell our own story wholeheartedly.

                The “Me” part requires practice and dedication, much more than an occasional visit in solitude.  This Sunday could be seen as an invitation to enter the realm of solitude.

Me, Us, and Them - Spiritual Movements of Hospitality

Me, Us, and Them

Mark 12: 30-31

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” The second is this, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” There is no other commandment greater than these.’

                The transformation of SCUCC into an Urban Abbey is going to take us from a place where like-minded people gather on Sunday morning to experience lively worship into a community of people committed to each other and committed to becoming fully human. Full humanity is what we become when we nurture our best selves, and open ourselves to the Divine presence. It means living our lives in search of a balance, and it means doing this every day of our lives. It is Sunday plus plus plus.

                In her book, “Radical Hospitality”, Loni Collins Pratt describes the spiritual rhythm of a monastery as making time for Cloister, Community, and Hospitality. She defines these terms in this way:

“Cloister refers to the time a monk is alone, or you are alone. It is the apartness of solitude and silence. Community refers to your closest relationships, the people with whom you share your life. The monk shares life with his community of brother monks. You have friends, family, maybe a spouse or partner. Hospitality refers to your interactions in all other relationships, especially those outside the security of your comfort zone—relationships with the stranger.

OSB, Fr. Daniel; Loni Collins Pratt (2011-11-01). Radical Hospitality (Kindle Locations 1475-1480). Paraclete Press. Kindle Edition.

                SCUCC’s Urban Abbey is not asking everyone to become a monk or a nun. It will require us to adopt intentionality about melding our daily lives and our spiritual lives. Urban Abbey provides people the support, the means, and an opportunity to live a fully human life. To be fully human integrates the aspects of cloister, community and hospitality. Or, to use language more common to us, “Me, Us, and Them.”

                There are six Sundays until Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. That gives us two Sundays each to explore Me, Us, and Them.

                “Me” is the aspect of our interior lives. It involves the spiritual disciplines of solitude, meditation, and prayer. It asks us to engender hospitality for our own selves.  The love Jesus asks of us (to love God, and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves) begins with a love of self that is honest, thorough-going, and unflinchingly grace filled. It means to enter the shadows of our own heart even if we are afraid of the dark. It means to learn to love the ugly parts of our self just as much as the beautiful ones. Knowing ourselves deeply and honestly and meeting God in the depths of our being is the central importance of “Me” time.

                “Us” refers to our common understanding of community. It is nurturing the relationships in which we are supported and support others. It is in the best sense of the word, family. We dream the best for each other in this community and hold each other accountable for those dreams. Community for the monks means taking a vow to live and seek God with those brothers in the order. Our community is just as intentional though much less formal. In this often frightening, painful world we need a community to keep us safe and give us the strength to go on.

                “Them” are the strangers, the others we don’t know yet. Some may be enemies; some may be friends we haven’t met yet. “Them” are the opportunities to practice the hospitality that changes us and the world. They are “them” until we open our hearts to them.

January 6 – The feast of the Epiphany

Matthew 2:1-12

Common English Bible (CEB)

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in the territory of Judea during the rule of King Herod, magi came from the east to Jerusalem. They asked, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We’ve seen his star in the east, and we’ve come to honor him.” When King Herod heard this, he was troubled, and everyone in Jerusalem was troubled with him. He gathered all the chief priests and the legal experts and asked them where the Christ was to be born. They said, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for this is what the prophet wrote:

You, Bethlehem, land of Judah,

            by no means are you least among the rulers of Judah,

            because from you will come one who governs,

            who will shepherd my people Israel.

Then Herod secretly called for the magi and found out from them the time when the star had first appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search carefully for the child. When you’ve found him, report to me so that I too may go and honor him.” When they heard the king, they went; and look, the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stood over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were filled with joy. They entered the house and saw the child with Mary his mother. Falling to their knees, they honored him. Then they opened their treasure chests and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  Because they were warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they went back to their own country by another route.

                On the Christian calendar, January 6 – Epiphany – is the last day of the Christmas season. In many parts of the world it is Epiphany that is the big deal, not Christmas. Epiphany (which means “manifestation”) heralds the arrival of the Magi (foreigners, strangers, non-believers) who come and recognize that this nondescript peasant baby is in fact the foretold Messiah.

                I envision this week as an overview of the whole “Me, Us, Them” theme.  Some aspects of this are easy to name: The Magi are the “them,” those who are strangers to us who nevertheless recognize Christ in their own ways.  The “Us” are those of us who already believe in Christ, the community for whom this story holds no surprises. We are the “us” who named this Sunday the Feast of the Epiphany because we have in one way or another already seen the manifestation. The “Me” is a different telling or hearing of the story: we are the Magi, we are the voice of the Gospel writer, and we are the Christ-child. The “Me” recognizes that we are all too often strangers to ourselves and that it is miraculous indeed that we can catch a glimpse of our own Christ-likeness even if only on an obscure church holy day relegated to living in Christmas’ shadow. If we read the story further, we may also discover that there are times we are also Herod himself, hell-bent on killing the Christ we have just found.

                There are lots of examples in recent news reports that tell us how far we are as human beings from being Christ-like. The woman who hated Muslims and Hindus so much she pushed people onto the subway tracks in New York. The shooter at Newtown. Even the ineffectual Congress which plays politics with taxes but can’t seem to offer any real help when it is needed. And if we are honest, every one of us has to own some aspect of these people in our own beings. Saint Benedict’s Rule tells us that every stranger is to be received as Christ. That affirms that there is at least a little bit of Christ in every person, even us.

                So, “Me, Us, and Them” as seen through the eyes of the Wise Men and Women. Where do strangers to the church find Christ in this world? How can Christians make Christ available in surprising and wonderful ways to a world that couldn’t care less about our holidays? How can we see Christ made manifest even in ourselves? Epiphany affirms that there is a Christ waiting to be found, if anyone is looking.