Our friends are walking here in Austin to care for others this Saturday. More info for joining or supporting the team.
Remember, there is no charge or registration fee. Please just show up at 8:30AM this Saturday at Auditorium shores if you want to walk the three miles around the Capitol, It is a beautiful, inspiring walk for a great cause. Please either wear a black, white or black & white shirt as these are our Can't-to-Can team colors this year.
The goals of the simultaneous nationwide NAMI walkathons are to fight the stigma that surrounds mental illness, to build awareness of the fact that the mental health system in this country needs to be improved, and to raise funds for NAMI so that they can continue their mission
We hope to be there enjoying the weather and the love we can show to others.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Monday, September 29, 2008
Love and Truth
Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.
-1Peter 1:22
As our family looks for a new church, I have asked myself which is more important in a church, a commitment to demonstrating love or to upholding truth? Of course the answer is that both are important: love without truth is blind, sloppy and misdirected; truth without love is empty, barren even brutal. Even the most sincere love becomes perverted and destructive if not seeking truth. Even the most factual truth becomes distorted and deceptive if not guided by love. However, for some reason, we can have a hard time keeping them in balance when we gather together in a church.
I was raised in evangelical churches that upheld the importance of rightly studying Scripture to order our lives toward Christ. But after my my recent experience, I'm a bit wary of those who profess to only know and obey the truth in this way. I can respect their call to the truth and their desire to refine their words and actions to be pure. But they do risk putting their faith in details of the truth instead of the Spirit of God. When they start to work to maintain the power of their truth themselves, they fall away from love and end up judging others.
But I also cannot worship God in a church that is only about “goodwill and better friendships”. I have obtained strength meditating on the law of God. I ask many questions about where I am but Scripture is the basis I need to search for answers. I still need a church that is connected to God through Scripture and connected to the saints of the church through creeds. I need to keep this connection to the story of the Bible and the story of the Church myself.
I bumped into the Emerging Church movement on my way out of our last church. I found most evangelicals critical and dismissive of this movement. I still am not real sure what an emerging church is, maybe because it is … well, still emerging and figuring it out itself. The traits I observe are an avoidance of church hierarchy and an emphasis on accepting everything through the love of God. The purpose of the emerging church appears to be making room to listening to where we are as we read the Gospel. But whereas evangelicals judge this as watering down the Gospel, a more appropriate response is that the emerging church is offering real alternatives to the answers, judgment and control used by many evangelicals. It is an emphasis of truth before love that has brought about this reaction in the church to emphasize love.
But the pendulum shouldn’t just swing uncontrolled in the other direction. Rejection of all church hierarchy is not the best response to the misuse of authority in the church. We don’t find God’s love by simply ignoring evidence of his judgments. We don’t throw away 2000 years of church thought and creeds when we ask questions about what the Gospel means for us today. Any church movement that proceeds along these lines does risk missing the truth while trying to uphold love.
After leaving an evangelical Anglican church, we wandered to Journey Imperfect Faith Community (what a great name), mostly because it seemed interesting based on what a friend had said. We were still in shock from what had happened to us and weren't thinking so much about what to expect as about how to keep connected to God in some way. But on my first Sunday there, I was deeply moved by the message of love and acceptance standing in such stark contrast to the message of judgment I had heard previously. I kept coming back not just because they are accepting of me but they are still talking about how God wants us to live our lives in new ways. Marion also seems to feel this change and a desire to learn more about this manner of worship and service. We were worried about the kids (we left a very robust and organized children’s program) but they have embraced the love and acceptance as the place they really want to be as well. So maybe this is where God has called us. (I had wanted to visit a bunch of churches to find a "good match" but this is not so easy to do with three kids.)
-1Peter 1:22
As our family looks for a new church, I have asked myself which is more important in a church, a commitment to demonstrating love or to upholding truth? Of course the answer is that both are important: love without truth is blind, sloppy and misdirected; truth without love is empty, barren even brutal. Even the most sincere love becomes perverted and destructive if not seeking truth. Even the most factual truth becomes distorted and deceptive if not guided by love. However, for some reason, we can have a hard time keeping them in balance when we gather together in a church.
I was raised in evangelical churches that upheld the importance of rightly studying Scripture to order our lives toward Christ. But after my my recent experience, I'm a bit wary of those who profess to only know and obey the truth in this way. I can respect their call to the truth and their desire to refine their words and actions to be pure. But they do risk putting their faith in details of the truth instead of the Spirit of God. When they start to work to maintain the power of their truth themselves, they fall away from love and end up judging others.
But I also cannot worship God in a church that is only about “goodwill and better friendships”. I have obtained strength meditating on the law of God. I ask many questions about where I am but Scripture is the basis I need to search for answers. I still need a church that is connected to God through Scripture and connected to the saints of the church through creeds. I need to keep this connection to the story of the Bible and the story of the Church myself.
I bumped into the Emerging Church movement on my way out of our last church. I found most evangelicals critical and dismissive of this movement. I still am not real sure what an emerging church is, maybe because it is … well, still emerging and figuring it out itself. The traits I observe are an avoidance of church hierarchy and an emphasis on accepting everything through the love of God. The purpose of the emerging church appears to be making room to listening to where we are as we read the Gospel. But whereas evangelicals judge this as watering down the Gospel, a more appropriate response is that the emerging church is offering real alternatives to the answers, judgment and control used by many evangelicals. It is an emphasis of truth before love that has brought about this reaction in the church to emphasize love.
But the pendulum shouldn’t just swing uncontrolled in the other direction. Rejection of all church hierarchy is not the best response to the misuse of authority in the church. We don’t find God’s love by simply ignoring evidence of his judgments. We don’t throw away 2000 years of church thought and creeds when we ask questions about what the Gospel means for us today. Any church movement that proceeds along these lines does risk missing the truth while trying to uphold love.
After leaving an evangelical Anglican church, we wandered to Journey Imperfect Faith Community (what a great name), mostly because it seemed interesting based on what a friend had said. We were still in shock from what had happened to us and weren't thinking so much about what to expect as about how to keep connected to God in some way. But on my first Sunday there, I was deeply moved by the message of love and acceptance standing in such stark contrast to the message of judgment I had heard previously. I kept coming back not just because they are accepting of me but they are still talking about how God wants us to live our lives in new ways. Marion also seems to feel this change and a desire to learn more about this manner of worship and service. We were worried about the kids (we left a very robust and organized children’s program) but they have embraced the love and acceptance as the place they really want to be as well. So maybe this is where God has called us. (I had wanted to visit a bunch of churches to find a "good match" but this is not so easy to do with three kids.)
But what about my concerns that love is emphasized at the expense of truth? Well, I don't think Journey is really an emerging church, at least not in the sense that they would question every truth in Scripture. But more importantly Journey is a community that is open to listening to each other. If they can extend grace to listen to some Bible-thumping, liturgy-loving evangelical as myself then I may could find a place there. I think that God does want us to listen to each other - show mercy to each other - as we ask how to live out the Gospel. In the end mercy does triumph over judgment.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Getting Back On
So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. -Heb 10:35-36
My daughter, Lauren, learned to ride a bike this weekend. She’s already quite an athlete so she didn't lack physical coordination but it was a mental challenge. We often bike to breakfast on Saturday mornings, with Lauren dragging a bit behind with training wheels on. But this past Saturday she just didn’t want to do it; it just wasn’t fun anymore. So we talked about the training wheels and she finally agreed that I could take them off if I stayed home with her to teach her to ride when everyone else was gone (so her siblings wouldn’t laugh if she fell).
It took a couple of falls and patient encouragement to get back on but she made it. And since, everyone else was delayed getting to breakfast (the best intentions are often distracted at our home) they were soon outside cheering her on. She kept going for a while and the next day she was back on. As we rode around the neighborhood she commented that it just like riding with training wheels except a lot faster and easier. She’ll be on that bike a lot more now.
It is good for a parent to experience their children learning. We forget that things often seem harder when we think about them instead of just doing them. Seeing Lauren’s joy in the freedom of riding unencumbered by training wheels makes me want to find something to accomplish - something of value to work on. I lose much of that in day-to-day work and expectations. It is easier for me to keep in the same mindset – with the same “training wheels” on – throughout the day. Maybe I think that it keeps me safe or maybe I just haven’t thought about the better way. But there’s a joy in pushing myself into new things that I miss much of the time. I need to remember to get back in and learn in life.
My daughter, Lauren, learned to ride a bike this weekend. She’s already quite an athlete so she didn't lack physical coordination but it was a mental challenge. We often bike to breakfast on Saturday mornings, with Lauren dragging a bit behind with training wheels on. But this past Saturday she just didn’t want to do it; it just wasn’t fun anymore. So we talked about the training wheels and she finally agreed that I could take them off if I stayed home with her to teach her to ride when everyone else was gone (so her siblings wouldn’t laugh if she fell).
It took a couple of falls and patient encouragement to get back on but she made it. And since, everyone else was delayed getting to breakfast (the best intentions are often distracted at our home) they were soon outside cheering her on. She kept going for a while and the next day she was back on. As we rode around the neighborhood she commented that it just like riding with training wheels except a lot faster and easier. She’ll be on that bike a lot more now.
It is good for a parent to experience their children learning. We forget that things often seem harder when we think about them instead of just doing them. Seeing Lauren’s joy in the freedom of riding unencumbered by training wheels makes me want to find something to accomplish - something of value to work on. I lose much of that in day-to-day work and expectations. It is easier for me to keep in the same mindset – with the same “training wheels” on – throughout the day. Maybe I think that it keeps me safe or maybe I just haven’t thought about the better way. But there’s a joy in pushing myself into new things that I miss much of the time. I need to remember to get back in and learn in life.
Monday, September 22, 2008
An End and a Beginning
Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. -Rom 15:7
Five weeks ago I left my church. This was a very significant step for me and my family. We have given much of our lives to this community of faith over the past eight years, walking with them through some very tough times and enjoying what can only be called God’s presence working in our lives together. We made this decision to leave after the rector (head pastor) of our church suddenly told me that I was no longer welcomed in any ministry of the church. I was confused; I was hurt; I didn’t want this end but what could I do? So I asked him to seek healing together or at least some communication to resolve whatever issues he may have. But he has declined to even respond to my requests, cutting off our communication and friendship. He has stated his judgment and decision against me, so I can only determine my response to what he has decided.
Christ Church is also a new beginning recently "re-born" from an ending. Just a few weeks ago we were told that our current Episcopal Church would be meeting at a new location, after looking at options for the past few months. But afterwards we were told that, in fact, these resources, and the pastor, church board and staff were all being realigned to the new church that they had established. This had been planned for many months – some in the congregation had suspected – but there would be no discussion or discernment. We were asked to determine our responses based upon what had already been decided for us.
It is not surprising that an orthodox community would consider leaving The Episcopal Church (TEC). TEC is struggling for a new beginning aligning Scripture with culture and they have similarly ignored others in a very difficult process. Against the will of the world-wide church, the 2003 General Convention of TEC elected a homosexual as bishop. This was another unilateral decision by a few leaders, requiring others to just respond. The Anglican Communion has responded, though the liberals consider the response too severe and the conservatives , that it has not been severe enough. Many orthodox churches struggle to find a place in this change: a few have decided to just leave TEC (though these have done so with a vote and, of course, with more gracious communication to the community and open discernment than was allowed by Christ Church) as the Anglican Communion works through this. But through the years the rhetoric becomes stronger, the new voice of the Anglican orthodox now say that only they represent the true faith; they now make their sweeping pronouncements so that others must respond to their decisions and actions. Both sides claim to be right without needing to listen to the other.
I find parallels in these divisions of denominations, churches and people. Each of these divisions is born out of judgments; a conviction that we know best for everyone, that I know the heart of God better than you do. Then the best way to maintain these judgments is to not communicate or try to listen to what someone else is saying. I have been at church councils where the conservatives and liberals speak vehemently to each other without ever seeming to hear what the other side has just said. The leader at my church would not discuss the decision to be made for our church but only allowed one side to prepare and speak; my asking that our plans and actions be discussed and considered openly and honestly as a community appears to be the sin for which I was removed from the church. But, of course, I will never know the real judgments that the pastor has made against me since he has chosen not to tell me what I have done wrong much less allowed me to respond to his judgment. It is easier to hold judgments – to expect others to just follow them – if they are not discussed but just handed down.
Without dialogue, judgments are hardened until there is little hope that I can be accepted by the pastor. This, of course, has grieved me deeply since he is now the leader of the church I love and cherish. Divisions in the church do hurt those who love the church but this pain is much more visceral when the divisions are directed personally, as I have now felt. I long to be a part of this church family and have great sorrow that reconciliation is lost. I can now chose to respond with the same judgments; battle it out with the pastor about who offended who, who has listened to God more closely or who has cared more for the church. Even worse, I can chose to respond as if I deserve to be judged in this way; that the pastor has some special power or insight that allows him to unwelcome me, who welcomed him into this church. That is not the new beginning that I desire for myself.
I must admit that it is sure a lot easier to judge rather than love. But God has not called me to an easy life where I am always right and don’t need to listen to others. Rather I am called to bear one another's burdens, forgive sins and love those I would rather dismiss as my enemy. Fortunately, I can leave this church confident that I have accepted this pastor even when he has rejected me, forgiven when I am not forgiven. I make the choice to leave (it is not as if people are excommunicated nowadays, are they?) but I make that choice because the leadership has made it painful for me and family to remain, not because I judge the church or the pastor as wrong, heretical or otherwise unworthy of my acceptance. An end has occurred, against my best efforts to keep things together and pursue reconciliation, and I can now begin again, with hope, acceptance and compassion.
Five weeks ago I left my church. This was a very significant step for me and my family. We have given much of our lives to this community of faith over the past eight years, walking with them through some very tough times and enjoying what can only be called God’s presence working in our lives together. We made this decision to leave after the rector (head pastor) of our church suddenly told me that I was no longer welcomed in any ministry of the church. I was confused; I was hurt; I didn’t want this end but what could I do? So I asked him to seek healing together or at least some communication to resolve whatever issues he may have. But he has declined to even respond to my requests, cutting off our communication and friendship. He has stated his judgment and decision against me, so I can only determine my response to what he has decided.
Christ Church is also a new beginning recently "re-born" from an ending. Just a few weeks ago we were told that our current Episcopal Church would be meeting at a new location, after looking at options for the past few months. But afterwards we were told that, in fact, these resources, and the pastor, church board and staff were all being realigned to the new church that they had established. This had been planned for many months – some in the congregation had suspected – but there would be no discussion or discernment. We were asked to determine our responses based upon what had already been decided for us.It is not surprising that an orthodox community would consider leaving The Episcopal Church (TEC). TEC is struggling for a new beginning aligning Scripture with culture and they have similarly ignored others in a very difficult process. Against the will of the world-wide church, the 2003 General Convention of TEC elected a homosexual as bishop. This was another unilateral decision by a few leaders, requiring others to just respond. The Anglican Communion has responded, though the liberals consider the response too severe and the conservatives , that it has not been severe enough. Many orthodox churches struggle to find a place in this change: a few have decided to just leave TEC (though these have done so with a vote and, of course, with more gracious communication to the community and open discernment than was allowed by Christ Church) as the Anglican Communion works through this. But through the years the rhetoric becomes stronger, the new voice of the Anglican orthodox now say that only they represent the true faith; they now make their sweeping pronouncements so that others must respond to their decisions and actions. Both sides claim to be right without needing to listen to the other.
I find parallels in these divisions of denominations, churches and people. Each of these divisions is born out of judgments; a conviction that we know best for everyone, that I know the heart of God better than you do. Then the best way to maintain these judgments is to not communicate or try to listen to what someone else is saying. I have been at church councils where the conservatives and liberals speak vehemently to each other without ever seeming to hear what the other side has just said. The leader at my church would not discuss the decision to be made for our church but only allowed one side to prepare and speak; my asking that our plans and actions be discussed and considered openly and honestly as a community appears to be the sin for which I was removed from the church. But, of course, I will never know the real judgments that the pastor has made against me since he has chosen not to tell me what I have done wrong much less allowed me to respond to his judgment. It is easier to hold judgments – to expect others to just follow them – if they are not discussed but just handed down.
Without dialogue, judgments are hardened until there is little hope that I can be accepted by the pastor. This, of course, has grieved me deeply since he is now the leader of the church I love and cherish. Divisions in the church do hurt those who love the church but this pain is much more visceral when the divisions are directed personally, as I have now felt. I long to be a part of this church family and have great sorrow that reconciliation is lost. I can now chose to respond with the same judgments; battle it out with the pastor about who offended who, who has listened to God more closely or who has cared more for the church. Even worse, I can chose to respond as if I deserve to be judged in this way; that the pastor has some special power or insight that allows him to unwelcome me, who welcomed him into this church. That is not the new beginning that I desire for myself.
I must admit that it is sure a lot easier to judge rather than love. But God has not called me to an easy life where I am always right and don’t need to listen to others. Rather I am called to bear one another's burdens, forgive sins and love those I would rather dismiss as my enemy. Fortunately, I can leave this church confident that I have accepted this pastor even when he has rejected me, forgiven when I am not forgiven. I make the choice to leave (it is not as if people are excommunicated nowadays, are they?) but I make that choice because the leadership has made it painful for me and family to remain, not because I judge the church or the pastor as wrong, heretical or otherwise unworthy of my acceptance. An end has occurred, against my best efforts to keep things together and pursue reconciliation, and I can now begin again, with hope, acceptance and compassion.
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