Raising Children Jesus' Way

Early on Wednesday morning my phone rang. I recognized the voice of a dear friend's daughter. The purpose of the phone call was not altogether unexpected, just difficult to grasp. I can only try to imagine how difficult it was for her to make. She phoned to tell me that her father had died earlier in the morning; just a few minutes before the call....his battle with cancer now complete.... Our conversation was brief.... Hanging up, my mind wandered back in time to a moment almost twenty-five years earlier when I saw her for the first time. Actually I saw the evidence of what she was yet-to-be, as unborn, she expanded her mother's abdomen for everyone to see. I'm sure I joked with her expectant mom and teased her about being "great with child". But the truth of her existence was, nonetheless, real - and the rest of the world- including her mom and dad - would have to wait the requisite nine months to be properly introduced. Yet, the waiting did not diminish the reality of her existence in any way whatsoever.

So today - hours after the phone call - I went searching for an image I had long ago encountered. Soon the brush strokes of Henry Tanner's painting, "Resurrection Of Lazarus" were reintroduced to my eyes. Today I have pondered their significance anew......Like any work of art the medium seems initially stagnant, or even worse - antique. Yet, interestingly enough the painting continues to speak. For one thing, Tanner's depiction of the crowded tomb almost makes me claustrophobic. I also notice there are children who witness the raising. It seems as if Mary and Martha (Lazarus' siblings) are the ones kneeling in the cave; one with head in hands as if she can't bear to see what happens next, and the other preoccupied with her distraught sister. Someone has the head of Lazarus in his hands (maybe this is Tanner's way,like Rembrandt, of creeping into the scene of his own design). One devout onlooker is praying with open eyes and palms upturned toward heaven. Then there's Jesus - standing with inviting hands amongst the gawking crowd - eyes firmly fixed on his deceased friend - a picture of quiet, calm, confidence - The Lord of Life demonstrating that he is also the Lord of death.

Today I noted for the first time that everyone in Tanner's depicted tomb is reacting to Lazarus' death in a different way. One man even turns his back on the whole process. This reminds me that each of us encounters the reality of death from our own, unique perspective. But the one constant in the midst of all the shrouded mystery of death is this: Jesus. Prayers from the liturgy of Death and Resurrection are one of the ways I experience the quiet, calm, confidence of Jesus in the here and now....even in the face of death.

We pray to you for one another in our need, and for all, anywhere,
who mourn with us this day. To those who doubt give light; to those who are weak, strength; to all who have sinned, mercy; to all who sorrow, your peace. O God, all that you have given us is yours....As first you gave James to us, now we give James back to you.....Gracious God, we thank you for those we love but see no more. Receive into your arms your servant James, and grant that increasing in knowledge and love of you, he may go from strength to strength in service in your heavenly kingdom; through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Raising children Jesus' way has a name - RESURRECTION - a reality we can experience while we have life and breath, and one we experience in completeness when we stand in his presence on the other side......Author Eugene Peterson speaks of the mystery of resurrection in this way:

"Jesus resurrection provides the energy and
conditions by which we "walk before the Lord in
the land of the living" (Psalm 116:9) The resurrection of Jesus creates and makes available the reality in which we are formed as new creatures in Christ by the Holy Spirit....the resurrection is not something we can use or manipulate or control or improve on....resurrection is not available for our
use; it is exclusively God's operation."

from Christ Plays In Ten Thousand Places

From the tomb of Lazarus we hear Jesus speak: "Take off the grave clothes and let him go." (John 11) So on Saturday we will gather....family...friends....former
parishioners,..colleagues and classmates....yet all of us children.....and none of us able to "raise" ourselves any more than Lazarus could. Our job is to acknowledge God's power and to assist in God's resurrection work by letting James go. "Before he is ours - he is yours", prays the liturgy.

As our Lord declared to Martha, he now says to us: I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will
live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and
believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?

There was a time when yet-to-be-Kristi, though
unseen, was present. Not being able to see her
in no way diminished her existence. In time the invisible became visible. So now her father - invisible to us for a season is undiminished in his existence and is present with the Lord.

I say, "Yes, Lord - I believe....help my unbelief..........."

Still In ONE Peace,

Jon(the methodist)

....Come Down From Heaven

6 Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near. 7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon. 8 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. 9 "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

10 As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, 11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. (Isaiah 55 NIV)

Come Down From Heaven....
“Come down…..from heaven…..watering-snow…….
bringing with you all the budding-possibilities….
Flourish…. yielded-seed….flung with intention from The Sower’s hands

…… Die to live…..Take root…..

Rise from your earthen tomb…..
Grow….Stand upright and sway in the unseen breeze……
Wait for the harvest of earthen-hands….

Be garnered.......carried to the threshing floor…… dismembered from the chaff…..milled into promise…..kneaded into One Loaf…..

Tested by fire you become bread to the eater…….
a creation of the Word who speaks us all into existence….

Come, “Creative Word”….
Accomplish your deepest desires……
Achieve your grandest purposes……
…..in us……..

JES (01/20/09)

Birthday Party or Martyrdom Significance?

January 15, 1929 - April 4, 1968

Monday the nation is poised to pause and remember the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The holiday is almost overshadowed this year with the remarkable occurrence of the presidential inauguration of Barack Obama. It is in many ways a fitting epilogue to the life of the slain pastor and civil rights activist. The historic inauguration of a man of African-American heritage is only possible in the 21st century because of the work initiated by Dr. King in the 20th century. His dream for America - and the whole world for that matter -included the hope that one day, persons would be judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.

One of my favorite stories about Dr. King involves his response to a heckler who was in attendance at a location where he was speaking. If my memory serves me well the story goes
that Dr. King was interrupted by a man who said, "Oh, all you want to do is marry my sister!"
Martin Luther King's calm response was: "Sir, I don't wish to be your brother-in-law. I wish
to be your brother."

I also think of the class I attended as a student @ Duke Divinity School some years ago. The class was called, "Black Theology". One day we discussed the MLK holiday and the potential significance it holds for our nation and the world. After all, Dr. King was more than an American.
His receiving of The Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 made him a citizen of the world. In "Black Theology" class I posed to the professor and my classmates a question, "Why do we choose to
remember Dr. King's birthday, but barely acknowledge his death-day? I still believe this is an
important question. The followers of Christ call this kind of death more than an unfortunate case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Dr. King was in Memphis for a purpose. That purpose contributed to his death. Therefore, we refer to this as his martyrdom.

In a sermon offered on April 3, 1968 - the night before his death - Dr. King concluded with with these words.

And then I got into Memphis. And some began to say that threats, or
talk about the threats that were out. What would happen to me from some of our sick white brothers? Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want
you to know tonight, that we, as a people will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.

So what does the life and death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. mean to you? My hope is that some of our nation's day apart (January 19) will be focused around that question. I welcome your contributions to the answer.

Gratefully,

Jon(the methodist)

Rummage Anyone?

In, The Great Emergence, writer Phyllis Tickle mirrors the thoughts of Anglican Bishop, The Right Reverend Mark Dyer. Tickle describes Dyer's summation of the current changing landscape of North American Christianity, writing:

"...the only way to understand what is currently happening to us as twenty-first century Christians in North American is first to understand that about every five hundred years the church feels compelled to hold a giant rummage sale....as Bishop Dyer observes about every five hundred years the empowered structures of institutionalized Christianity, whatever they may be at the time, become an intolerable carapace that must be shattered in order that renewal and new growth may occur."

I recently declared that I believe God’s chosen instrument of transformation in the world is the local congregation. Having served in churches of every size, and having been privileged to create a team which helped to establish one new congregation, I am convinced that the best days for strengthening the mission and ministry of the local church are before us. What I am not prepared to declare is that the transformation of God's world will take place through a church which is determined to remain static, unwilling to morph, change and diversify; refusing to recognize the myriad opportunities which are ours if only we will seize them.

Rummage can be defined as, "to find something by searching". If our searching is intended only to create the "new and improved church" then I am afraid we are no better off than those who attempted to construct the great tower known by Jews and Christians as Babel. If the church is compelled every five hundred years to hold a rummage sale, then who is the instigator of the compelling? Like the ancient architects of Babel we are prone toward believing that WE are the compelling ones. But the story of our salvation history demonstrates that this kind of thinking and living rests on a false foundation. Maybe Bishop Dyer is asking us to celebrate the falling of our spiritual self-centeredness which leads to the possibilities of resurrection. Maybe God is holding a rummage sale in 2009 - searching like the woman of Luke 15 for her lost coin (church). I can almost hear the sound of hammer on wood as the emerging signs on the front lawns of our churches read: I HEART RUMMAGE

Let the rummaging begin!

In Christ,

Jon(the methodist)

The Good News Will Outlast The Golden Arches

The arch is an arch-itectural wonder with ancient beginnings. Some years ago, while traveling in the Middle East, I visited the location of the one pictured above. This (Roman arch) is located beneath an aqueduct that runs parallel to the Mediteranean Sea at the ruins of the city of Caesarea in post-modern Israel. In all probability it was once gazed upon by the likes of: Philip (Acts 8:40) Cornelius the centurion (Acts 10:1) Peter (Acts10:24) and Paul of Tarsus (Acts 18:22) just to name a few.... Crazy King Herod even kicked the bucket nearby (Acts 12:22) - BTW this is not exactly bedtime reading.

20 centuries have come and gone since the aqueducts were built atop these arches and they
are still standing. I seriously doubt that 20 centuries into the future that very many tourists will have their photos taken beneath McDonalds golden arches. Can't you hear them arguing?
"Mom, Nevtek just pinched me!" "Boys! Keep your hands to yourselves." she says. "Now please - let your father capture this image so we can go. You know your grandmother is going to be upset if we're not back on Jupiter by lunchtime. " "Mom," one of boys whines. "What are these things we're standing in front of anyway?" Dad chimes in, "They're probably the ruins of some ancient temple. Look boys - here's the remains of their ancient god - Ro-nald."

Maybe one of the reasons the Gospel is GOOD NEWS is that it stands the test of time. I mean the good news which was shared by angels and shepherds in Bethlehem is the same good news
Paul found to be good thirty years after Jesus' resurrection. Its GOOD NEWS today. But the gospel, according to Frederich Buechner, is actually, " bad news before it is good news. It is the news that (humanity) is sinful; to use the old term that (we) are evil in the imagination of our hearts. That when (we) look in a mirror all in a lather - what we see is at least 8/10 chicken......phony ...slob.....bleeding to be sure...."

Kenneth Cragg once offered the following words in an Anglican Cathedral in Cairo Egypt. I think they've got more good news staying power than McD's could ever muster.

Christian faith is fact, but not bare fact; it is poetry but not
imagination. Like the arch which grows stronger precisely by dint of the weight you place upon it, so the story of the Gospels bears, with reassuring strength, the devotion of the centuries to Jesus as the
Christ.

It would be unfair to not let Buechner finish his earlier statement,

....what we see is at least 8/10 chicken....phony.... slob. That is the tragedy.
But it is also the news that (we) are cherished anyway....forgiven....bleeding to be
sure......but bled for.......

Standing On The Promises.......
Jon(the methodist)

"See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame." I Peter 2:6

One Gift In Two Life-Changing Words

This Sunday in the church year is commonly referred to as "Baptism Of The Lord Sunday". Yet, if baptism is significant at all - it is anything but common.

In Christ Plays In Ten Thousand Places, author Eugene Peterson helps to frame the significance of being baptized into Christ; through life in the resurrection community.

“Two imperatives chart the way of the baptized Christian as we set out living together in the community of the resurrection. Neither is difficult to understand, but it takes a lifetime of attention and discipline to be shaped by them. The words are: “REPENT’ and “FOLLOW”. “Repent” is the no, and “follow” is the yes of the baptized life. The two words have to be worked out in changing conditions throughout the life of the community and in each of our lives. We never master either command to the extent that we graduate and go to higher things. These are basic, and remain basic……”

Bishop Kenneth W. Goodson once walked the hallways of Duke Divinity School. His tenure as Bishop in Residence was a gift. "The Bishop" shaped many of us in significant ways. I was ordained when Methodists still did the "two-step". That is to say, I was first ordained a deacon, and then a few years later, I was ordained as an elder. The fall semester following my ordination as a deacon Bishop Goodson greeted me and congratulated me on taking this first big step toward becoming an elder in full connection. He fixed his eyes on me and said something like, "Jon - just remember that you were ordained as a deacon first, before you will be ordained an elder. No matter what - you should remember that you are ordained, first and foremost, as a servant, even before you are ordained as a priest. " Repent and Follow....no...and yes...... two imperatives for all who answer Christ's call to follow. Singer/songwriter John Michael Talbot says it like this:

Do you hear the call to follow? You must lay down your life to follow. For only when you die....are you free to live.

Saint Francis said it this way, "It is in dying that we are born to eternal life."

In Christ - jon(the methodist)

Jehovah's Sunrise

The beautiful image to the right is used by permission
of and is the exclusive property of Christine Valters Paintner at
www.AbbeyoftheArts.com/blog.

Jehovah’s Sunrise………
Isaiah….. son of Amoz…..
Yesh'yahu "the salvation of Jehovah"
Cry out; sing to us a song of joy –
Good News - Too wonderful to comprehend.

“God's bright glory has risen for you.
Jehovah’s sunrise glory breaks over you.
Look around! Watch as they gather.
Watch as they approach you.
Sons coming from great distances.
Daughters carried by their nannies.
People returning…….
Exiles gathered……..
Streams in the desert…….

Children from faraway places,
Filling the Holy City with precious jewels,
Diamonds of flesh and blood,
Singing the praises of God.
—open house day and night!—
---two diametric opposites—
---now indistinguishable….one from the other----
Yet…….

Not long ago you were despised refuse—

out-of-the-way, unvisited, ignored.

But now, now…..
You'll know that I, God, am your Savior.

You'll have no more need of the sun by day

Nor the brightness of the moon at night.

God will be your eternal light,

Your God will bathe you in splendor.

Your sun will never go down,

Your moon will never fade.

I will be your eternal light.

Your days of grieving are over.
God’s Dawning Epiphany…..

Jehovah’s sunrise glory breaks over you……. "

An interpretation of Isaiah 60 incorporating the words taken from

Eugene Peterson’s translation of The Message and my own…..

Jon (the Methodist) 01/08/09

The Sun Will Shine

I am not a fan of cloudy winter days. In all honesty, they are depressing at times. That's why I like living in sunny North Carolina. Of course in the tar heel state a cloudy winter day usually means - rain.... That combination may be more depressing than the freeze-dried version. On days like today I remember how only a couple of years ago I mission-traveled to "always sunny Belarus" at about this exact time of the year. There were occasions of sunshine, but most of the time the weather report was predictable: cloudy with a chance of snow flurries (they say something that sounds like schniiegh) It looks just like snow and by coincidence can be balled up and thrown just like our snow. Anyway, it stayed cloudy so much of the time that on those rare occasions when there were actual "sun-sightings" a sense of euphoria swept over me like a three-year-old @ Christmas. Our host family and friends (the Volkovs) e mailed this week and attached a picture that must have taken three hours to send over their speedy dial-up connection. Mom, Dad, and two kids are squeezed together on a couch in the living room of their three bedroom flat - with the drapes drawn behind them as a backdrop. A4 paper pieces are attached to the top of the drapes, spelling out Happy New Year in Cyrillic. When spoken aloud it sounds something akin to: SNOW - VOOM - GO - DUHM!!!! The light behind the sheer curtain cannot be described in any sense as "streaming". It is obviously a typical winter day in Mogilev - where the sunlight does not "stream". It comes through the overcast sky more like trickles of water through a clogged drain. Yet, there they are, on the couch, with smiles on their faces....and as I looked at the digital image I started smiling myself. Sergei Volkov is in every sense of the word a "bear-of-a-belarussian-man". His smile is contagious. ...His zest for life is constant. He is the consummate, top-shelf-of-the-banya (sauna), kind of guy. If he lived in North Carolina his wife, Irina, would only see him on rainy days - because every other day he would be fishing from his belarussian dinghy.

The two of us laughed and smiled and enjoyed the opportunity to live at the intersection of God's grace for some wonder-filled days. Our time together, and our staying in touch has cemented us as "DRUK" (friends). I often wonder if my friend Sergei struggles to keep his chin up when the sun is barely sighted for days on end. Does he dream of visits to sunny North Carolina in the midst of harsh Belarussian winters? Perhaps this will be included in our next conversation aided by the interpretation of his 12 year old daughter. Sergei makes me think of something the late Henri Nouwen wrote some years ago.

“….Real life takes place in the here and the now. God is a God of the
present. God is always in the moment, be that moment hard or easy, joyful or
painful. I have a friend who radiates joy, not because his life is easy, but
because he habitually recognizes God's presence in the midst of all human
suffering, his own - as well as others'. … My friend's joy is contagious. The
more I am with him, the more I catch glimpses of the sun shining through the
clouds. Yes, I know there is a sun, even though the skies are covered with
clouds. While my friend always spoke about the sun, I kept speaking about the
clouds, until one day I realized that it was the sun that allowed me to see the
clouds. Those who keep speaking about the sun while walking under a cloudy sky
are messengers of hope, the true saints of our day.”

Here and Now: Living in the Spirit

May God grant us the grace to know that the Son shines even when clouds seem to rule the day. I hope you have a friend like Sergei - someone whose contagious joy spills into your life as a gift from the One who spoke the sun into existence.

In Christ,

Jon(the methodist)

Post-Christmas Post

With a mixed sense of sadness and joy we packed up the Christmas decorations on Saturday. With two trees to dis-assemble and all the ornaments to boot this is no small feat. The wreath was removed from the front door. The red bows on the outside of the house were pulled down and packed away until next Christmas. One of my jobs was to pack up the small nativity creche. For a month or more it rested beneath the ornamental plates which are hanging on the side wall of the dining room. Perched on top of a table and laid atop a piece of maroon table-runner (a gift from a friend brought from far away India) it quietly and consistently served as a focal piece of my Advent/Christmas waiting and watching. The figures are pure white - unfinished - and evidence that less is more. Friends gave us these figures years ago when the girls were young. As I remember the nativity was wasting away in a dark attic, under-utilized, but not forgotten - just a second superfluous set. So now - each year - we bring them out of their shelved dungeon in the garage....the sheep...a cow and a camel......wise men and shepherds too (we don't try to figure all this stuff out - the Magi just keep showing up with the shepherds each year) ....there's an angel with quite a wing-span....and of course, .....Mary...Joseph and the smallest personage of all: baby Jesus.

Saturday, as I packed up the creche, I noticed that baby Jesus was the first figure I reached for. He was almost drowned by a tsunami wave of white tissue paper (after all the years its more brown wave than white). For some reason I paused and decided to wait.... and let Jesus be "King of the Hill". So beneath the ceramic Jesus I laid a foundation of all the other lesser characters in the story. After some careful packing - King Jesus was in his rightful place resting on top of them all. Soon the tattered box flaps were folded. The years-worn tape created a less than desirable seal. But now King Jesus reigns over his kingdom - atop two clear plastic storage tubs on a shelf in our garage. Sounds glamorous, huh? Oh the perks of Kingship......

There's something still which makes me want to pull this all back out, but then sanity kicks back in. There's something in me that wants to cling a bit longer to the baby Jesus....to draw close.....and listen carefully for his beating heart....to hold him in the same way we've cradled our own children (back when they would let us).From inside the box it's as if I can hear baby Jesus pleading: "Jon - Jon.. I am in here. Did you really think that you could box me up in a cardboard sepulchre or wrap me in any tissue paper grave clothes? You can always find me. I'm not the one who is adept at hiding!"

The prayer of John Baillie seems to draw a fitting thread through the tapestry of my most recent celebration of Jesus' birth.

O Holy Spirit of God, visit now this
soul of mine, and tarry within it

until eventide. Inspire all my
thoughts. Pervade all my imaginations.

Suggest all my decisions. Lodge in my
will's most inward citadel and

order all my doings. Be with me in my
silence and in my speech, in

my haste and in my leisure, in company
and in solitude, in the fresh-

ness of the morning and in the
weariness of the evening; and give me

grace at all times to rejoice in thy
mysterious companionship. Amen.

Mysterious companionship......but a mystery and a companionship to be experienced.....

In Christ,


Jon(the methodist)