Recently I have been amazed at how many people believe that the people in the pews agree and support the views of their preachers as expressed in sermons. I have been amazed because I'm a preacher. I'm amazed because I've been a part of a church for longer than I've been a preacher.
I know that people love the members of their congregations and their preachers for a lot of reasons that have nothing to do with their sermons, at least not with all of their sermons. No minister believes that everyone listening to them agrees with them all the time. For one thing, they hear from those people. Now, in a small church, the preacher might drive out a dissenter, but in a big congregation, ain't never gonna happen!
Let it be known that I think it was nothing but a smear campaign to link Barack Obama with the most outrageous sayings of his preacher. It was wrong to cull out the most disconcerting and racially divisive sayings and say that Barack believes this without putting them in the context of the body of his messages. Yes it was Wrong!
Today I got an e-mail from MoveOn.Org asking me to sign a petition to say that this was wrong. Well good for them. Except, then they did the exact same thing regarding McCain! Now McCain is going to be responsible for all of the right-wing beliefs of his pastor.
Choosing a church is about much more than making sure that you agree with all of the political expressions of your preacher! For me, it is about being part of the Body Of Christ which comes together to read scripture, be taught, to drink the wine, to eat the bread, and to pray to God and listen to his voice.
If this keeps up, there will be no politicians in church because they will be too worried about what this might mean to them politically.
Wrong is Wrong. It is wrong to hold a parishioner responsible for the utterances of their priest, pastor, preacher, etc. It is wrong to divide the Body of Christ along political lines, or racial lines, or gender lines for political reasons.
There is evil in this debate and it is as much on the lips of the news reporters as it is on the lips of those working overtime to make sure they have the information as it is on the lips of ministers who are misrepresenting God in the world.
Friday, March 21, 2008
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Passion According to Matthew
In our Bible study, one of the students said, "Judas was really the best of the disciples."
"Why do you think that?" I asked, truly confused by her assertion.
"Because he knew he had done something wrong, and he killed himself. Peter kept doing the wrong thing and he just hung around anyway."
That is the LAW. If you do something wrong you should pay. We have a justice system based on that and most of us live according to this kind of thinking all of our lives.
But God, is a God of grace.
Today is Palm Sunday and we recited the Passion narrative as told by Matthew. We started our service with the Hosannas of Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem and then, SLAM, we're in the midst of betrayal, conspiracy, cowardice, and death.
But did you notice that this is not the end of the story? We've heard it before, so I don't think I'm giving away the plot. We know that God still has a lot to do with everyone in the story. Over Holy Week and on to Easter, all of these folks have more to do. Everyone that is, except Judas. Today was the end of his story. He's done.
Why is he done? He's done because he looked at what had happened from a purely legal viewpoint. He had made a terrible decision and once he recognized it, there was nothing he could think of to do that would make it right. Nothing would help. And so, he brought himself to nothing. He's done.
But what he did is something that happens ALL OF THE TIME! People make bad decisions. People tell the wrong things to the wrong people and SLAM marriages end, people run away from home, some people are even killed. Things come to a head and we end them. Maybe we don't kill people violently, maybe we do it a bit at a time with silence or with guilt. We make mistakes and we can't make it right.
So what do we do? If we use strictly human logic, morals, ethics, etc. we're likely to be operating in the world of the law. But the path that Peter will show us is open to us as well. There is confession, and there is forgiveness, and there is reconciliation, and there is new life.
The story of the Gospel is all about New Life - "I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly."
In this Holy Week, let us look for the grace, let us look for the reconciliation, let us look for it in strange place, let us look in the tomb.
Peace,
Cori
"Why do you think that?" I asked, truly confused by her assertion.
"Because he knew he had done something wrong, and he killed himself. Peter kept doing the wrong thing and he just hung around anyway."
That is the LAW. If you do something wrong you should pay. We have a justice system based on that and most of us live according to this kind of thinking all of our lives.
But God, is a God of grace.
Today is Palm Sunday and we recited the Passion narrative as told by Matthew. We started our service with the Hosannas of Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem and then, SLAM, we're in the midst of betrayal, conspiracy, cowardice, and death.
But did you notice that this is not the end of the story? We've heard it before, so I don't think I'm giving away the plot. We know that God still has a lot to do with everyone in the story. Over Holy Week and on to Easter, all of these folks have more to do. Everyone that is, except Judas. Today was the end of his story. He's done.
Why is he done? He's done because he looked at what had happened from a purely legal viewpoint. He had made a terrible decision and once he recognized it, there was nothing he could think of to do that would make it right. Nothing would help. And so, he brought himself to nothing. He's done.
But what he did is something that happens ALL OF THE TIME! People make bad decisions. People tell the wrong things to the wrong people and SLAM marriages end, people run away from home, some people are even killed. Things come to a head and we end them. Maybe we don't kill people violently, maybe we do it a bit at a time with silence or with guilt. We make mistakes and we can't make it right.
So what do we do? If we use strictly human logic, morals, ethics, etc. we're likely to be operating in the world of the law. But the path that Peter will show us is open to us as well. There is confession, and there is forgiveness, and there is reconciliation, and there is new life.
The story of the Gospel is all about New Life - "I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly."
In this Holy Week, let us look for the grace, let us look for the reconciliation, let us look for it in strange place, let us look in the tomb.
Peace,
Cori
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Recognizing God
About a million times in my life, I have thought I should do something, then I let it slide. I'll do it later - when I have more time, more money, more energy, more.... Most of the time I get back to it or not and things go on. Some, like losing weight, are probably out there clogging my arteries as I write this!
Occasionally though, what I'm putting off seems to be important to God and God gets my attention. I think and believe that this is what happened when I left my old job. I had decided to leave, more than once, but kept putting it off because I didn't know how to do what I needed to do next. As I dithered, my employers made a decision. "You can quit or be fired." Suddenly quitting seemed to be the most obviously logical and inviting decision I could make. So I quit. It was my priest who said, "I think that was God telling you to get off your duff and move on!"
Well, it is happening again. I'm not leaving my call or anything like that, but I've been less than focused on my plan to learn Spanish. In my senior sermon at seminary I said that I knew that I needed to learn Spanish. I vowed, with all those witnesses, to do just that. I've taken classes, bought thousands of dollars worth of books, tapes, and computer programs, and thought about it. I've even learned enough Spanish to listen to phone calls and other casual conversations and follow - mostly.
But the truth is, I've also been lazy! Every crisis was an excuse not to study. You may not know this, but in a church there is a crisis of some sort almost every day! Someone is sick, or there is a meeting, or the air conditioner breaks, or I can't come up with a sermon topic!
Well, this week everything changed. The gifted preacher who was preaching at the Spanish service got another call from God. He's gone. I can't preach in Spanish. God has spoken.
Getting a call from God to get on with something is not the same thing as saying, well it will be easy now. Jesus calls us not to a life of ease, but to a life of carrying a cross. Crosses are not light. But loving the people God wants me to be able to talk to is a light burden. To serve them is a joyful occupation.
Today there is confusion, and panic in the streets. But in the Lord, there is peace and order and a Cross.
Peace,
Cori
Occasionally though, what I'm putting off seems to be important to God and God gets my attention. I think and believe that this is what happened when I left my old job. I had decided to leave, more than once, but kept putting it off because I didn't know how to do what I needed to do next. As I dithered, my employers made a decision. "You can quit or be fired." Suddenly quitting seemed to be the most obviously logical and inviting decision I could make. So I quit. It was my priest who said, "I think that was God telling you to get off your duff and move on!"
Well, it is happening again. I'm not leaving my call or anything like that, but I've been less than focused on my plan to learn Spanish. In my senior sermon at seminary I said that I knew that I needed to learn Spanish. I vowed, with all those witnesses, to do just that. I've taken classes, bought thousands of dollars worth of books, tapes, and computer programs, and thought about it. I've even learned enough Spanish to listen to phone calls and other casual conversations and follow - mostly.
But the truth is, I've also been lazy! Every crisis was an excuse not to study. You may not know this, but in a church there is a crisis of some sort almost every day! Someone is sick, or there is a meeting, or the air conditioner breaks, or I can't come up with a sermon topic!
Well, this week everything changed. The gifted preacher who was preaching at the Spanish service got another call from God. He's gone. I can't preach in Spanish. God has spoken.
Getting a call from God to get on with something is not the same thing as saying, well it will be easy now. Jesus calls us not to a life of ease, but to a life of carrying a cross. Crosses are not light. But loving the people God wants me to be able to talk to is a light burden. To serve them is a joyful occupation.
Today there is confusion, and panic in the streets. But in the Lord, there is peace and order and a Cross.
Peace,
Cori
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