All Around and Upside Down

Note: You can watch this teaching on CrossWalk’s YouTube channel.

We – all of us everywhere – are spiritual people.  This is simply true, right alongside saying that we are also physical people who have bodies and breath.  Our culture is very aware of how to care for and develop our physicality, with lots of agreement on what we need to be healthy and growing.  We know we need to eat right and get some exercise most days, and we need to avoid eating and drinking some things in excess (or not at all) that will harm us.  When it comes to developing our spirituality, there is not the same level of widespread agreement. Sometimes it seems that there are so many books, podcasts, and voices that we don’t know where to start and, in the overwhelm, stall out.  I would like to offer a simple process which hails from the Judeo-Christian tradition that might provide a foundation from which we can develop a healthy, growing spirituality.

            The Jewish and Christian traditions organized a variety of scripture passages to be read throughout the year.  The Christian tradition expanded on the idea and developed three different years’ worth of passages to expose the Church to the fullness of scripture while being relevant to major events in the Christian calendar, like the birth of Jesus, his death and resurrection, and the birth of the Church.  This organized collection is called the Lectionary. Most churches who follow this use the Revised Common Lectionary.  We are currently in Year B.  Most Catholic and many Protestant churches around the world follow the schedule to guide and inform their worship services.  Baptists, being the renegades that we are, aren’t as likely to use it given our bent toward the free church tradition. Yet there is great value in using the Lectionary to keep us in touch with sacred text as a catalyst for understanding and growth.

            Here is my recommendation.  Carve out time daily – preferably the same time every day to help you build the habitual rhythm (I prefer this to be the first thing in the morning).  To center yourself, do a short breathing meditation to get in touch with your full self – body, mind, emotions, spirit – and get to a place where you are genuinely open.  Finish the time with The Lord’s Prayer, reading/saying it slowly, line by line, ingesting each movement’s meaning.  Then, read the select passages.  After reading them, sit in still silence for a while.  Jot down what impressions you have after reading and sitting with it, and perhaps even a prayer in response.  In my experience, when I have done this daily, I have new insights nearly every day even though I am reading the same daily verses.  Perhaps choose to wrap up your time by speaking St. Patrick’s Breastplate prayer?

            Why do I think this works?  Reading sacred text roots us with our spiritual ancestors within our tradition – we are somehow joined with them in the conversation around the same ideas.  Exposing ourselves to the texts provides a catalyst for the Spirit of God to move in us.  When we do this in community, we potentially find ourselves growing in shared meaning, encouraging each other along the way.  As I will teach each week (unless I dart off into a series for a bit), you can use what I bring to help further your understanding.  Or, you could work ahead and have the Sunday service help bring the whole experience home.  Let’s give it a whirl...

Readings for the coming week: 1 Samuel 15:34 – 16:13; Psalm 20; Ezekiel 17:22-24; Psalm 92:1-4, 12-15; 2 Corinthians 5:6-10, (11-13), 14-17; Mark 4:26-34

My takeaways...

The primary passage that caught my attention this week was Jesus’ parables about the Kingdom of God – one about the farmer scattering seed, and the other about the small size of the mustard seed and the eventual large size of the plant. The following bubbled up for me:

·      There is way more happening than meets our eye, understanding, and imagination. Sometimes I dupe myself into thinking that I’m all alone in the world and it’s all up to me and what I do.  This drives me at times, but it can also be destructive as it can lead to me doing too much, and trying to control what I can which might exclude others, including God!  Like Elijah on the mountaintop, I need to be reminded that the Spirit is everywhere, good, and constantly doing good in the world.

·      The seeds planted had a purpose: to develop, grow, and then feed or seed perpetually.  The Kingdom of God is a collective, a presence, yet it includes people.  As sentient beings, we have more agency than most other beings in our world to decide what we do with our lives.  The process of the seed serves as a reminder that we are meant to grow and flourish, and not just for ourselves, but to provide nourishment for others as well as seed for more of the Spirit to flourish as well.

·      The Spirit of God does not consult much with our cultural values, but rather operates from a different center.  King Saul fit the cultural bill – tall, dark, and handsome – and yet he was not a good pick because he couldn’t stay in the obedience zone with God.  David wasn’t the likely choice to be anointed by Samuel – he was actually the last choice – yet he became the favorite King of Israel and called “a man after God’s own heart” even though he failed many times.  How do we evaluate people?  Do we see primarily through a culturally fashioned lens or the Spirit?  It’s always both.  My goal is to be aware that it’s both and do my best to see through the Spirit more than our culture.

·      The mustard plant is a biblical paradox. We are not talking about an obviously glorious tree like the cedars or Lebanon or a California redwood.  We’re not even talking about a tree!  Jesus shifts from the ancient prophets here with his choice of metaphor.  A mustard plant may provide shelter for some birds and shade as well, but it would otherwise go unnoticed, and certainly would not be associated with strength.  This is important for us to understand as those who live in one of the world’s most powerful countries that celebrates its strength of businesses and military.  Like the lens issue before, how are we holding the tension between Kingdom of God sensibilities and those that are culturally derived?

·      Do what we know to do toward shalom with shalom, knowing that there is more going on that we are somehow a part of, and that the outcome will be good even though it might not even register on cultural scales.  Alabama football coach Nick Saban is known for implementing an approach to the game he calls “The Process”.  Simply put, he encourages his players to not think about anything except the play at hand, the next best move.  How distracted we can become, and how helpful this reminder is to just do the next best thing. The Star Wars movie, Rogue One, is based on one small but important scene from Episode IV where Princess Leah delivers a message through R2D2.  The entire movie is about how that message got in that droid.  Spoiler alert: at the end of the movie, the message is successfully delivered, but the key characters responsible for the delivery die.  Their deaths were not in vain, however.  When we choose to sail by the winds of the Spirit, we can live, rest, and die confident of the same.

What about you?  After spending time reflecting on these passages, what is stirring in you?

Skeleton Valley

Note: You can watch this teaching on CrossWalk’s YouTube channel.

Note: Scroll to the end to see tips on how to use this text to grow throughout the week.

What would it feel like to wake up one day and be told at gunpoint that you had to leave every possession behind except what would fit into a suitcase, and be removed from your home and placed in an entirely different, foreign, inhospitable environment?  Our thoughts go to the Jewish people who endured the Holocaust.  Or to Africans ripped from their home continent to become the slaves that enriched and enabled our country to stand on its own two feet.  Or to the Indigenous People who were killed or moved out of their homes to make room for colonization.  Most of us in the United States today can only imagine the horror, loss, grief, and despair of such a thing.  The Jewish people, however, experienced this roughly six centuries before Jesus was born as their nation crumbled before the Babylonian Empire.  Most of the key people were ripped from their homes in Israel and displaced hundreds of miles away to present day Iraq under the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar II.  Ezekiel and his family were among those taken into exile.  Fifteen years (!) into exile, the Jewish people received word that their beloved city, Jerusalem, had been completely leveled.  All hope seemed lost.  It was during this deep despair that Ezekiel had a vision (Ezekiel 37:1-14 | NLT).

The LORD took hold of me, and I was carried away by the Spirit of the LORD to a valley filled with bones. He led me all around among the bones that covered the valley floor. They were scattered everywhere across the ground and were completely dried out. Then he asked me, “Son of man, can these bones become living people again?”

“O Sovereign LORD,” I replied, “you alone know the answer to that.”

Then he said to me, “Speak a prophetic message to these bones and say, ‘Dry bones, listen to the word of the LORD! This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Look! I am going to put breath into you and make you live again! I will put flesh and muscles on you and cover you with skin. I will put breath into you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’”

So I spoke this message, just as he told me. Suddenly as I spoke, there was a rattling noise all across the valley. The bones of each body came together and attached themselves as complete skeletons. Then as I watched, muscles and flesh formed over the bones. Then skin formed to cover their bodies, but they still had no breath in them.

Then he said to me, “Speak a prophetic message to the winds, son of man. Speak a prophetic message and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come, O breath, from the four winds! Breathe into these dead bodies so they may live again.’”

So I spoke the message as he commanded me, and breath came into their bodies. They all came to life and stood up on their feet—a great army.

Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones represent the people of Israel. They are saying, ‘We have become old, dry bones—all hope is gone. Our nation is finished.’ Therefore, prophesy to them and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: O my people, I will open your graves of exile and cause you to rise again. Then I will bring you back to the land of Israel. When this happens, O my people, you will know that I am the LORD. I will put my Spirit in you, and you will live again and return home to your own land. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have spoken, and I have done what I said. Yes, the LORD has spoken!’”

Remains.  The vision begins with an up-close view of a terrible scene: a valley where a horrible battle was waged a long time before, with the war dead’s bones scattered about.  Ezekiel didn’t view this from a Vista Point; he was led into the valley so as not to miss the details of how many remains there were, how dry the bones were and how scattered they were.  I think our self-preservation systems keep us at the Vista Point where we don’t have to see things as clearly.  Yet I believe that if we want to really heal through the painful times in our lives, we need to take a close look.  Ezekiel had the Lord as a guide – we always do, too. Sometimes we need a counselor, or authors, or speakers, or friends who really listen well to help us see what we are dealing with.  If we don’t, sometimes our problems are simply big, tightly wound knots that are difficult to deal with.  Closer inspection helps us untangle our pain so that we can deal with it more manageably and pursue healing sooner.  Sometimes time heals wounds, but the amount of healing and the time is takes is aided when we take a slow walk through Skeleton Valley. What are the unexamined areas of your life that you have preferred to keep at a distance? What is keeping you from taking a closer look?  Who can you invite to walk with you? 

Religioned.  The Lord asks Ezekiel if the bones can live.  Like Jesus’ disciples, Ezekiel had learned by now not to make assumptions and rightly responded, “God only knows”.  By the power of God, the bones reassembled, and flesh even returned. These were now bodies capable of life. What dawned on me is that there was a process involved.  So it is with us.  We don’t just go from broken to whole in an instant, whether we are talking about physical or emotional pain.  There are steps that can’t be skipped that take time.  In my experience, I need to get to one level of healing or insight before I am able to receive the next, sort of like working through an escape room whereby solving one puzzle leads you to a new puzzle leading you to more puzzles until the last one is solved that opens the door to freedom.  Life is like that.  Religion is supposed to help people do just that, to re-ligament their broken lives so that people can become whole again. Where are you in your process of becoming whole?  What might your next step be in your lifelong journey of becoming?

Resurrected.  In the vision, the bodies were back together, but there was no breath in them.  The Lord instructed Ezekiel to call on the Wind to make the difference.  This scene reminds the readers that we are more than flesh and bones.  Our underlying essence is born of the Spirit.  Neglecting this reality likely will leave us as lifeless lumps. In my experience, the world around us doesn’t encourage such things, which means we have to be intentional about it, which takes time and discipline.  In my experience, my connection to the Spirit is fostered through regular time for prayer, sacred reading, solitude, silence, listening, and journaling.  It serves as a vision reset.  God is always present for the meeting, but I must get myself there. What are you doing to intentionally foster your connection to the Spirit of God?

Revisiting Context.  I have focused mostly on how to apply this vision to our personal lives.  We must remember, however, that the original recipient was a nation.  The same principles apply.  If we want genuine healing in our nation, we have to be willing to really examine Skeleton Valley up close and personal, with the aid of others to help us see what is there.  We need to go through each necessary stage of healing.  And, to keep us from finding ourselves in the same mess, we need to have our hearts molded by the Spirit so that we will see each other and all of creation more clearly.  In our overly politicized culture, how might we encourage these steps?

Deepen your experience: Try Divine Reading.  This is a time-tested practice that allows time and space for the Spirit of God to speak to us as we engage biblical passages.  Use this week’s text this week.  Carve out at least 20 minutes or so in your schedule when and where you can be alone, still, and silent.  Take some deep breaths before you begin to help you get centered.  Read the text slowly.  Pause for a few moments.  Read it again slowly.  Pause again.  Read it a third and final time.  Sit silently, choosing to be open to listening, and see if anything bubbles up.  Perhaps a word or phrase jumped out at you.  Maybe an idea came to mind related to the text.  Right about it in a journal (trust me – it helps).  Over time I believe you will learn more and more to discern the voice of God and the movement of the Spirit in your interaction, which will lead you to Life itself.

Sikhism

Zen Buddhist Priest and former university religion professor Wakoh Shannon Hickey, Ph. D., provides us an overview of this ancient religious tradition. Note: You can watch this teaching on CrossWalk’s YouTube channel.

Hinduism

Zen Buddhist Priest and former university religion professor Wakoh Shannon Hickey, Ph.D., gives us an overview of this ancient religious tradition. Note: You can watch this teaching on CrossWalk’s YouTube channel.

Islam

Zen Buddhist Priest and former university religion professor Wakoh Shannon Hickey, Ph.D., teaches us about this ancient religious tradition. Note: You can watch this teaching on CrossWalk’s YouTube channel.

Buddhism

Zen Buddhist Priest and former university professor Wakoh Shannon Hickey, Ph.D, gives us an overview of this ancient religious tradition. Note: You can watch this teaching on CrossWalk’s YouTube channel.

Pizza Be With You!

Note: You can watch this teaching on CrossWalk’s YouTube channel.

John 20:19-23 (NLT)

That [Easter] Sunday evening the [broader community of followers, not just the 11,] were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them! “Peace be with you,” he said. As he spoke, he showed them the wounds in his hands and his side. They were filled with joy when they saw the Lord! Again, he said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

Pizza, Baby!  Many friends and family members can readily tell you that one of my favorite foods is pizza.  When my family visited my uncle’s home when I was 4 or 5 years old, they served pizza.  It was during that dinner that my family realized they had a legit progeny on their hands: nobody they had ever seen ate pizza with the same passion, skill level, and appetite as me.  My Uncle Jack nick-named me Pizza Baby.  My oldest sister still calls me that to this day.  Why pizza?  WHY NOT PIZZA!!!?  It is one of God’s perfect foods. Our elected officials in Washington a few years back even recognized pizza as a vegetable.  Note: this may have had more to do with large pizza companies with massive school-lunch contracts than science, but I think we’ve all learned by now that we can completely trust government officials to trust science over all else.  So, there you have it, pizza is a vegetable!  Praise God!

Tasty Heresy.  I like biblical research.  I take the Bible very seriously (yet not literally), not because God wrote it (God did not write it), but because it is a library of material representing the faith experience of mainly Jewish people from around 2000 BCE’ish through 100 CE’ish.  There is a lot there. One of the things the Bible says not to do is alter the text.  Nonsense!  For today’s purpose, I wonder if we might benefit some by trading out “Peace” for “Pizza”.  I can sense you nodding your head in complete agreement.  No explanation required, really. Yet I will anyway, if only to give me another opportunity to talk more about this food of the gods.

“Pizza be with you.”  Who wouldn’t want to be welcomed with such a lovely, generous greeting? We all know what it implies – the one offering the greeting wishes us to be fed with the most important delicacies known to humanity.  It is a statement wishing us to be well fed with a particular entrée, one that will delight any and all who taste it.  The peace Jesus speaks is like that.  Shalom is the Jewish word for peace, and is a rich, deep word that communicates to its hearers the sense of being satisfied, at rest, content, nourished, joyful, satiated, and more.  Shalom has always been the agenda of what/who we call God.  Shalom has also been the means to that end.  Shalom is so central to our understanding of the Jewish faith that you could nearly say that one of the primary characteristics of God is shalom, because it encompasses so much.  Love, grace, mercy, justice and more all are included in every slice of pizza.

Pizza Delivery.  Early in the Gospel of John, we are told – from Jesus’ mouth, no less – that “God loved the world so much that he sent his only son into the world so that whoever would believe in him would not perish but have eternal life.  God did not send him into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him (John 3:16-17).”  Jesus wasn’t talking about getting to heaven one day.  Jesus was talking about living in the presence heaven that is already here and extends forever, everywhere.  He was saying that there is a way to live that is sourced in deep life for those who want it.  He also made it clear that the method of his ministry was not condemnation, but love.  You know what Jesus is talking about here, right?  Pizza!  Jesus came to bring pizza to the world!  Which means, obviously, that at the end of the day, Jesus was simply a pizza delivery guy.

Pizza for everybody.  Jesus was the ultimate pizza delivery guy.  He was willing to deliver pizza anywhere and to anyone who wanted a slice.  Some people traveled great distances to get some pizza.  Jesus himself traveled great distances to deliver pizza where there was none.  Sometimes Jesus even showed up in front of people who knew they needed to eat something new but had not been introduced to pizza yet.  Oh, what joy to be able to introduce people to pizza!  Can you imagine!  The look on their faces as their taste buds are resurrected from the dead with a savory mixture of ingredients that will surely overwhelm them.  There were some, of course, that turned their noses up at the pizza Jesus was delivering, thinking they had the real pizza.  They called what they were delivering pizza, yet a lot of people weren’t really evidencing the impact of eating great pizza.

Cardboard with sauce.  I made a terrible mistake awhile back.  My daughter went to visit her brother in SoCal earlier this year, which meant Lynne and I could indulge on something Laiken was just okay with (only because we ate it a lot).  Cauliflower crust pizza.  Two for $8.00. Pretty tasty.  Throw some chicken and extra cheese are you’ve got a completely healthy dinner.  Costco let me down, however – they were all out of our desired pizza!  So, I took a major risk. There before me was a box of four frozen margherita pizzas.  Four!  For $5.00!  Could this be a new heaven-sent revelation of incredible proportions? No, it was not.  Lynne and I ate one of the pizzas for dinner and looked at each other.  Sometimes you don’t need words.  We both knew that we would not eat this pizza again.  It looked like pizza, but it was so devoid of flavor that we are convinced that it was actually post-consumer recycled cardboard with red-colored motor oil and red and green rubber chips made to look like tomatoes and green pepper.  This was technically pizza, but so awful it was hard to really call it pizza.  Many people in Jesus’ day were hungry for good pizza and were given this.  Not satisfying.  Distasteful.  An offense to good pizza everywhere.  And overpriced. There was deep corruption on the part of the religious leaders of Jesus’ day that resulted in terrible abuse on the part of the leaders toward those they were supposed to serve.  Perhaps the grossest exaggerated example of their corruption was that they were so threatened by the pizza Jesus was delivering that they got rid of him.  They killed the pizza delivery guy. Yet the pizza was still being made. And it needed to be delivered.

Cool uniforms included.  When Jesus told the disciples that they were being sent by God as he was sent, you understand what was happening, right?  The disciples were done with their training phase.  Despite their fear and lack of experience, they were given the cool hat, shirt, and car badging: ready or not, it was time to get some pizza delivered. Up to that point, the disciples knew they were in training.  They had some ideas about what might be ahead for them, but not really. Recognize how he framed it, though.  You are being sent as I was sent.  In the same way, for the same purpose, with the same approach.  The end goal: get delicious pizza delivered in a such a way that the recipients can’t wait to take a bite.  Their new job involved them, of course, but it was not about them.  It was about the pizza and delivering the pizza. 

Keys, car, gas.  When Jesus breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit,” it was Jesus telling the new pizza deliverers that they had everything that Jesus had to deliver pizza well.  They knew they were delivering pizza, and now they were given the keys to the delivery car, plus a card to buy gas.  This was a really big deal.  The book of Acts paints it quite differently, tying the moment to the Jewish Feast of Pentecost, which celebrated, in a sense, the giving of the pizza in a profound way to Israel.  The end result was the same: the sheepish disciples turned into shepherds.  People who were once simply fans of pizza were to now go deliver pizza to the masses.  The disciples probably questioned whether or not this was okay.  After all, to become a legit card-carrying rabbi in Jesus’ day required years and years of intense training.  Jesus was essentially telling them that they had acquired enough training.  The Spirit, which they likely thought was meant for only very few prophet-types, was now there’s as well.  They had a perpetually full tank of gas. Time to get some pizza to the world!

Pizza Variants.  The new pizza deliverers would discover that there would be challenges ahead.  They knew already that the pizza they had been served by the religious leaders from Jerusalem was technically pizza but had lost something along the way.  Jesus helped them recognize that great pizza comes from lots of different recipes reflecting all sorts of creativity and speaking to all sorts of different kinds of people.  I have grown to appreciate this reality as I have continued to learn more and more about pizza.  Growing up, there were very few options.  It was basic. Pepperoni, maybe some olives, thin crust.  Then Pizza Hut made deep dish popular.  The heavens opened up!  Over time I became conversant with a range of classic pizzas made in different styles.  Chicago, Detroit, and New York all boast great classic pizza, but made differently.  All delicious.  At some point when I was working on my Masters in the Chicago area, I ate at a California Pizza Kitchen and found myself in the middle of a crisis of belief. On the menu, daringly under the heading of “Pizzas”, they boldly included their Thai Chicken Pizza.  What?!  What are they thinking?  This is blasphemous!  Further down they also had BBQ Chicken!  Eventually they had the audacity to add all sorts of pizzas boasting flavors from many cultures.  Was this still pizza?  Yes, it was. New ways of expressing pizza from different influences are actually delicious.  It’s still pizza. One of the things I am really excited about is the upcoming series at CrossWalk which will feature Wakoh Shannon Hickey, Ph.D., who is a Zen Buddhist Priest and Chaplain.  She will be teaching us about four different religions: Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism, and Islam.  You’ll be learning how these different cultures got their pizza.  Sounds like a very tasty series.

Pizza Police?  At the close of this scene with the disciples-now-apostles, Jesus gives them an incredibly powerful instruction: whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven, whatever you do not loose on earth will not be loosed in heaven.  The word forgive is often used instead of loosed.  This was a massive statement of power and responsibility.  Remember that Jesus told the disciples that they were sent as he was, and the same Spirit that empowered him was empowering them.  They were to mimic Jesus’s pizza delivering style going forward.  It was all about the pizza.  There were times when Jesus delivered pizza to some folks who the religious authorities said were not allowed to eat pizza.  Nonsense!  Jesus made sure everyone he met had the opportunity to eat pizza if they so desired. It was always available.  Pizza be with you is an ongoing reality, after all.  The Church, historically, got off track many times in their role as pizza deliverers. Enormous untold millions of people have suffered because of it. People were refused pizza because they wanted Thai Chicken instead of Margherita.  People were refused because of their gender.  Or because of their nationality.  Or culture.  Or skin tone. Or language. Or marital status.  Or sexual orientation. Or social status. Or education level. Or political power.  It is a very, very, very long and horrific list.  The Church in these instances offered a semblance of pizza, but they also allowed some other things to slip onto the menu that were not pizza at all.  There are all sorts of pizzas for all sorts of occasions and even types of meals.  Dessert pizza is delicious, and often has fruit or chocolate, or both!  Breakfast pizza might have fruit, or bacon and eggs. Sometimes a fried egg is thrown on a pizza just to mix things up.  But you still know you’re eating pizza.  You know the difference between a bowl of soup and a slice of pizza.  I’m pushing the limits of my metaphor a bit but let me simply remind us that we are about delivering pizza. Pizza is our thing.  The pizza should be delicious.  The pizza should be delivered to whoever wants a slice, just like Jesus.

Refused.  Some of you have been refused pizza for some of the reasons I mentioned.  I am so sorry.  There is no excuse.  Somehow those deliverers forgot about being sent like Jesus, with the same Spirit empowering and informing.  I hope you know you can have a slice anytime you want, with no conditions attached.  Pizza be with you.

Refusing.  Jesus’ mandate, however, begs some really important questions for us to consider as we think about what it means to be representatives and deliverers of pizza.  There are some things that are not on the menu.  Ideas, actions, and policies that turn a blind eye toward justice, that abuse certain people but not others, or in negligence allows suffering to continue toward others or creation itself are not pizza.  I think it’s okay to state what is pizza and what is not.  The challenge for us who are deliverers is to be very cognizant of how we define pizza, and how we chose to come to our rubric for defining pizza in the first place. We are all biased.  We are all married to our paradigms.  What a horrible tragedy when we are more wed to our way of seeing the world than we are the pizza we are called to deliver.

Pizza Chef.  We are not the pizza creators, even though sometimes we think we are. When we mistake ourselves for the creators of the pizza, we can cause some real damage.  Some of you have been told that since you are a single mother, or LGBTQ, or divorced, or fill in the blank, you are in sin.  Sometimes we say things that we are not authorized to say about the pizza.  You aren’t changing heaven for that person, but you are severely limiting it.  When we restrict God from people because they don’t fit our understanding, we are keeping them from God.  That is why Jesus’ statement is so powerful and why it must be treated with incredible care.  We already do this quite naturally and often terribly.  Don’t ask yourself “if” you do this, ask yourself “how” you do this, because if you are human, you are very likely restricting pizza from people who are really starving for it.  Similarly, when we see something in front of us that is clearly not pizza and we allow it, we are also perpetuating the horrible problems that plague us.  Massive problems around race, immigration, economic disparity, education, health – all of the whoppers – will not change if those who see what is happening remain silent.  It takes great courage to call things “not pizza” when they are actually soup.  Sometimes other well-meaning pizza deliverers are delivering pizza, but they’re also including “not pizza” and we get confused.  Call pizza and “not pizza” thoughtfully and courageously.  Real lives depend on it.  Indigenous Americans were brutalized by “not pizza”.  Africans were taken from their homeland and sold like cattle because of “not pizza”, and African Americans today still are a long way from equality and equity because we who do not look like them can’t see the “not pizza,” let alone call it out. It’s a long list, and it is complicated and messy, and it is also part of our role as pizza deliverers.

Pizza Piggies.  Some of you were told that being a Christian is mainly about eating pizza.  You were told wrong.  You are certainly invited to become growing aficionados of pizza, no doubt!  Keep exploring and learning about pizza!  Yet you were not called to simply sit on the couch and enjoy pizza while the world around you starves.  Please don’t see this as a reprimand but rather as an invitation.  You get to be pizza deliverers.  Not in a force-it-down-peoples-throats kind of way – that’s not reflective of being sent like Jesus.  Like Jesus, however, we can enjoy the pizza and let the joy of pizza permeate our entire being so that pizza just wonderfully and naturally comes out of our pores.  Those early pizza deliverers captured the attention of those around them because they were such fans of pizza and were willing to share pizza with everyone.  The world would surely be a better place if we did.  This is your wonderful, life-changing and world improving invitation.  

May you fully embrace the pizza that is freely offered you without condition.

May the pizza bring you deep satisfaction.

May you hear the wonderful invitation to become a pizza deliverer like Jesus, fully equipped.

May you have the humility and courage to recognize “not pizza” in yourself.

May you have the humility and courage to call out “not pizza” in the world.

May you relish and celebrate as you see hunger satisfied by Great Pizza, energy restored, the smell of great pizza wafting through the air as worship to God, for that is precisely what we are called to do.

Pizza be with you.

2021 Annual Report

May 2021

Pastor’s Annual Report

Dear CrossWalkers,

What a year! What an understatement.  At our Board of Stewards meeting in April 2020, we prepared ourselves for a dismal year, not knowing how long we would remain closed, or how many CrossWalkers would be directly impacted in their health or employment or housing or all of the above.  We took a conservative, wait-and-see stance, putting in place some immediate financial controls to limit our exposure, while taking advantage of the resources made available.  All the while, we provided the same amount of ongoing direct ministry to CrossWalkers as when we were on campus, except everything was virtual. Services saw good and steady attendance across Zoom, YouTube, and our podcast.  New people found us and engaged with us. With the campus empty, we made a wide range of improvements using Capital Improvement funds created for that purpose over many years.  Lots of areas have been refreshed, new flooring has been installed, some rooms reconfigured, others totally redone (HUGE thanks for Loren Haas, Jim Della Santa, Ted Valencia, and Lynne Shaw).  The gym is still on its way as the kitchen, locker rooms, lobby and lobby bathrooms are getting renovated.  A range of grants have come in from outside CrossWalk to help with these projects – isn’t that great? Thanks to your generosity, CrossWalk has come through the past year with flying colors.  We are stronger now than we were then.  We are better equipped to serve than we were before.  We have felt the sting of death, yet we have also experienced hope and are choosing to lean into it.  Thank you.  Thank you.  Thank you.

Annual Meeting Items and Information.  As our Annual Meeting approaches, I wanted to give you some information so that when you attend the meeting on May 23rd, you are prepared to vote or ask any questions you may have.

When: May 23, 2021 @ 11:00. As has been our practice for many years, the Annual Business Meeting will open before our 11:00 service begins, with the first agenda item being worship!  CrossWalk Active Members will be mailed a ballot to cast their vote. You can return it in person or mail it in.  If you did not receive a ballot, we may have made an error.  Please contact Dar for assistance.

• Church Officer Election.  The Board of Stewards has once again nominated Linda Smetzer to remain as our Church Clerk, and we newly recommend Stephen Corley as Treasurer.  Stephen Corley was appointed to the Treasurer role by the Stewards last June after Michele Corley resigned from the position.  While a Steward, Stephen sat on the Finance Team as the appointed liaison for the Board.  He was an obvious choice and has done a great job.

• Stewards Nominees. The Stewards asked a range of CrossWalk Active Members to consider running for these three-year terms.  The three nominees we present today are outstanding.  CJ Prutch is just finishing a year filling a vacant space on the Board and is eligible to run again.  Karen Kenny has served on the Board as well and will continue to be an excellent Steward.  Becky Peterson is recently retired from her career largely on the Executive level of critical Non-Profit Organizations.  While in retirement, she will continue to consult with NPOs.  What a gift to have her skillset onboard! We thank Beth Cortez, Bruno Bardet, and CJ Prutch for their service as their terms come to an end.

• 2021-2022 Proposed Budget.  The Stewards are recommending a modest increase to the budget, from $382,354 to $388,690.  There is one big, exciting change in the budget that deserves celebration.  We will no longer be squirreling away funds each month to eventually pay off our solar energy system because we have now saved $50,000 to pay the contract off when it comes due in 2023!  This means we are ahead of schedule!  Yay!  It also means we can allocate funds toward ministry, in this case, a half time Children’s Ministry Director.  Our search will be methodical, informed by the feedback of CrossWalk parents of younger children as well as from a few community members.  Yay!  Also, know that the budget reflects a 2% COLA increase to keep up with inflation, which is roughly the same amount.  Even though it is a little more money, it is not a raise – it simply keeps us current.  To not provide COLA would essentially be a pay cut.

  • Payroll Protection Programs.  CrossWalk qualified for and pursued both rounds of the Payroll Protection Program and was awarded both.  The first round funded nearly a year ago and provided a protective buffer for our uncertain economic future (as it was designed).  We kept all staff throughout the past year.  Recently we received a letter stating that the first round has been completely forgiven – the loan became a grant.  We received a second round in March and anticipate that it will be completely forgiven as well since we are abiding by its terms.  These funds were extremely helpful and greatly appreciated!

  • Restricted Funds.  The biggest news to share about what we were able to do here has to do with our Reserve Fund and another, newly created Children’s Ministry Director Fund.  We were able to double our Reserve Fund and establish the Children’s Ministry Director Fund. The Reserve Fund is tapped when our contributions do not meet our contracted needs, which happens from time to time.  The newly increased amount provides a more adequate buffer given the size of our budget.  The Children’s Ministry Director Fund was created because in years past, we have not been able to sustain the position due to lack of funding.  While the compensation for this role will come from the General Fund, this dedicated reserve fund provides an extra cushion to guarantee the role’s sustainability.  Also, if we believe we have found a candidate that requires us to offer more compensation, this fund could be used for that, too.  The fact that we never needed to touch our Reserve Fund during the past year is amazing. The fact that we were able to double it and create a new fund is truly incredible and is why we can feel confident going forward with a new hire.

• Inclusive Church. Recently, the Board of Stewards adopted the following statement of inclusivity and asks you to formally affirm it as well:

  • We, Crosswalk’s Board of Stewards and Leadership, believe in inclusive faith community. A faith community which celebrates and affirms every person and does not discriminate. We will continue to challenge discrimination against people on grounds of disability, economic power, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, learning disability, mental health, neurodiversity, or sexuality. We believe in a faith community which welcomes and serves all people in the name of Jesus Christ; which is scripturally faithful; which seeks to proclaim the Gospel afresh for each generation; and which, in the power of the Holy Spirit, allows all people to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Jesus Christ.

CrossWalk Goals. When considering how effective we are as a church, we use the life and ministry of Jesus as our primary reference point.  One word is associated with Jesus more than any other figure in world history: resurrection.  More than just life after death, this word also refers to Jesus’ work in the world, bringing life to dead places, bringing the renewal that comes with shalom, restoring people with the very Good News that God is love and that all people are loved.  Embracing this quality and experience of eternal life is a choice that falls into five major areas that we pursue with significant intentionality: embodying grace that stands for justice while helping the broken rise, kneeling in service to others, stretching in our understanding, connecting with God to foster deepening spirituality, and incarnating the Spirit of Christ with each other in community.  Here are some highlights from the past year:

• Grace: Justice, Mercy, with Humility.  How did we embody Good News?

  • We reached a growing number of people over the past twelve months.  Every Sunday we held virtual services on Zoom, YouTube, and also on our podcast.  On Zoom, we welcomed roughly 30 homes onto the screen each week (between two services) to watch together and discuss afterward.  Our YouTube channel followers increased from not much over 100 to 477.  That doesn’t mean they watch every week, but it does mean they are watching us.  Our Facebook followers also increased from 1,116 to 1322.  The meaningfulness of these numbers has more to do with our “reach capacity” more than anything else.  The numbers on YouTube and Facebook represent interested people who will hear what we say.

  • Stories.  There has been a recurring theme in the stories that come our way.  They almost always refer to people who didn’t realize there was a way to embrace faith like we do.  They are finding acceptance, inspiration, and despite our virtual approach, they are also finding community.  Amazing.  One really cool thing was that I received the Excellence in Leadership Award from the Center for Volunteer and Non-profit Leadership (CVNL).  Most Napa NPO’s are aware of it.  It was such a great honor to be recognized outside of the church world.  Of course, a leader who has no followers is just a person taking a walk, so the award really represents Team CrossWalk – I just got to receive it – thank you for being awesome!

  • Solidarity. CrossWalk, either through her pastors, or signage, or campus, or in the community, has taken stands for greater inclusivity in Napa. Last June, I helped organize a Healing and Grieving Vigil with Napa clergy to honor George Floyd’s murder, which went well.  In the Fall we officially joined Common Ground, the local affiliate of the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF), which is a community organizing group that works to effect important social change. Recently, the Board of Stewards unanimously voted to affirm legislation, The Equality Act, which is aimed at providing and protecting rights for the LGBTQ community.  Stephen Corley has been engaged with the Evergreen Association in a training program designed to help us increase our understanding and influence regarding racial equality and equity, with the hopes of bringing the training to CrossWalk. 

• Kneeling in Service.  We weren’t able to kneel in the same ways as we did prior to the pandemic, but we still did a lot!

  • Food Pantry.  The heavenly crowns for Karie Nuccio and Linda Smetzer are getting so loaded with jewels they are going to need neck braces when they arrive!  These two put in multiple days each week collecting, organizing, and distributing food to those who would otherwise fall through the cracks!  We expanded their space this year, too, which meant they had to help make that shift happen.  Thanks to Ben Neuman, Jim Della Santa, Ted Valencia, and others (sorry if I missed you) who helped expand their space!

  • Sanctuary Childcare Center. In the summer our campus was used by the Boys and Girls Club for childcare for essential workers.  It all happened quite safely.

  • Evacuation Center and Charging Center.  We were called on twice to open up as a shelter.  During the LNU Fire, we had very few guests. The Glass Fire, however, brought hundreds to be processed into hotels, while we housed around 30 for a week or so.  We also opened during the Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) events as one of PG&E’s designated charging stations in Napa.  At PG&E’s expense, a generator and automatic switch was put in place during fire season.  We have contracted with them for the next four years regarding this role.

  • Emergency Pet Pantry.  We welcomed this important partnership with Jamieson Animal Rescue in the summer, which now provides pet essentials to those in need every week.

  • COAD.  Dar and I both gave (and give) an enormous amount of time to help lead different areas of the COAD (Community Organizations Active in Disaster).  Dar is the Co-Chair of the Food Services Sub-Committee.  I am the Co-Chair of the Mental Health and Faith Leaders Sub-Committee and am currently the Vice Chair of the Executive Committee.  The first three months of the pandemic were absolutely grueling but tapered off some since.  It is very important work, bringing the immense resources of Napa’s NPO’s together to meet the need the County cannot meet alone.  Napa County’s COAD is the envy of all CA counties!

  • CrossWalk Campus Feasibility Study.  We are in the middle of a feasibility study in partnership with Human Good that will give us some ideas of how we might leverage our property to do even more to serve Napa in the area of affordable housing.  Nothing to share yet, but we will once the study is complete.  Could be very exciting, or terrifying, or both, and neither!

• Stretching our Understanding.  We are a church that takes learning seriously.  Even though we have been virtual for a year, I have tried to bring in some voices that offer fresh perspectives.  A year ago, I offered a resource featuring Richard Rohr, followed by a teaching series on Paul’s Letter to the Colossians.  In the Fall I did a series called Go Be Jesus, which examined what Jesus was really about in his ministry (hint: social justice was a HUGE piece).  I probably did something about Christmas in December – can anybody remember?  In January I offered a different voice, Barbara Crafton, on the subject of Forgiveness.  Very powerful series and incredible follow-up discussions. In February I focused my teaching on racism which likely made everyone uncomfortable.  In March we focused on Grief with the Spring Cleaning series, to help us take stock, deal with our grief, and move forward.  In May we will feature Wakoh Shannon Hickey, Ph. D., who will teach us about Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and Sikhi.  Do you feel stretched?

• Connecting with God, Deepening our Spirituality.  Honestly, this year has been tough for measuring this one, except that we tried hard to encourage meditation as a means to reduce pandemic-related stress.  We did receive feedback that it was helpful.

• Incarnating Christ in Community. Like the above, this was not easy given COVID-19.  I celebrate something I also kind of hate: Zoom.  Zoom worked reasonably effectively to keep our relationships intact, and still does.  As much as we would prefer to see each other beyond a tiny square on our devices, can you imagine how much worse it would have been without it?

  • In Remembrance. We grieve the loss of Bill Swanson, Dot Hoover, Roger Langley, Larry McCart, Max Proteau, and Kenn Vigoda.  Wonderful people who are dearly missed.

  • New Members!  This past year we welcomed Colleen Chappellet, Ed Edwards, and Keith Ridenhour into our membership!  Hurray!

In conclusion, it has been quite a year.  If asked a year ago what I would be happy with by this time, I would have said “survival.”  Literally and figuratively.  Despite the challenges, we have prevailed over the past year.  Thank God.  Thank God.  Thank God.

Let’s keep moving forward.

In this glorious journey together,

 Pete Shaw, Pastor

COVID Safety Precautions

We look forward to welcoming you on campus at CrossWalk! Whether inside or outside, we believe we can host a limited number of guests safely. When we are outside, we can obviously accommodate many more than when inside.

• Please reserve your space! Get tickets here. Ticketed guests are guaranteed to get a seat. Those without a ticket will be seated as space is available. Please note that the tickets are identified as Fully Vaccinated and Not Fully Vaccinated. This helps us know how many people we can accommodate. No extra points or special treatment for overachievers who somehow managed to get vaccinated with all three of the vaccines available.

• Entry will only be allowed through the main entrance into to the sanctuary. Don’t even think about parachuting into the courtyard from a hot air balloon.

• Face coverings are required on campus at all times regardless of vaccination or the pod you are sitting with. This increases safety for all, and also means you really don’t need to brush your teeth.

• No food or beverages will be provided. Cigarettes, cigars, and joints will also not be provided.

• There will be singing (if you want to join in) – keep your face covering on. Only the people on stage are allowed to take their face coverings off – they will be socially distanced as well according to state guidelines. Masked singing means you won’t be heard much, so if you’re a terrible singer, this is your chance to really let it out!

• Tables are arranged to provide social distancing. Please do not move them as it will disturb The Force.

• Hand sanitizer will be readily available for your use. Do not ingest (unless it’s on a corn chip).

• We will have prepared kid boxes with stuff for them to do during service (Pre-K-6). Please take all of the contents home but leave the box at church to be sanitized and refilled for next week.

• Before and after service, continue to respect social distancing. The state strongly discourages lingering conversations before and after the service. If someone is a long talker or a close talker, blame the state and walk away!

• When outside, if you are attending as an individual to be seated alone, we will have two areas of chair sections available – one area shaded and closer to the stage, the other sunny toward the back. Chairs are socially distanced. Please don’t move them as they are carefully positioned to keep the church afloat.

• We will set fully vaccinated folks together as much as possible. Fully vaccinated people do not need to be socially distanced when seated together, which means we can put more of you around a table. If you can’t stand those people, know that we will pray for you.

• For not-yet-fully-vaccinated guests: if you are seated at a rectangular table with others not in your pod, know that our intention was for you to sit at opposite ends of the table to ensure the prescribed six feet of social distancing, and to make sure they can’t hear you complain about my teaching.

• When we meet outside, come prepared for shade or sun. If you’re seated in a spot that is sometimes sunny and sometimes shaded, we will surely focus on your discomfort for our livestream via YouTube for all to enjoy.

• When meeting inside, know that we have really good ventilation, so feel free to wear an abundance of cologne.

• Any questions or concerns? Email us back and we’ll do our best to help! Oh, wait, that’s not a joke.

Peace Be With You

Note: You can watch this teaching on CrossWalk’s YouTube channel.

John 20:19-23 (NLT)

That [Easter] Sunday evening the [broader community of followers, not just the 11,] were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them! “Peace be with you,” he said. As he spoke, he showed them the wounds in his hands and his side. They were filled with joy when they saw the Lord! Again, he said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

Green Screen. One of the industries everyone wished they bought stock in prior to the pandemic was one related to virtual meetings: green screens.  Green screens have been used in broadcasting for decades to allow producers to superimpose whatever backdrop they desire behind local weather forecasters and news anchors.  Over the last year, green screens have made it possible for us to hide our messy homes while transporting ourselves into any scene or video.  I regularly used a picture of my office and sanctuary when I would host church-related stuff.  Or sometimes I might be at Bodega Head, or Yosemite, or the High Sierra, or just down the street.  Nobody really knows where you are when you’re virtual.  The disciples knew where they were.  They had locked themselves inside a large upper room for fear of being arrested and potentially executed like Jesus.  There was no green screen for them – this was their reality.

Peace in Hiding. Somehow, in the midst of their cowering, they all experienced Jesus there with them even though the doors were locked.  Note that there is no attempt to explain how this happened.  They are simply conveying their experience.  In their sorrowful terror, Jesus showed up in such a way that the entire group of them experienced it.  His common greeting took on deeper meaning: Peace be with you.  When God comes, it is always with this greeting because peace reflects the character and nature of God and also God’s goal in the world – to bring a sense of wholeness, healing to the world.  There is no rebuke here – only love. How does this jibe with your default belief about the character and nature of God?  How does approaching God as loving and peace-oriented affect our openness to God as well as our desire?  How have you experienced this shift?  How’s the level of peace for you right now?

            Peace in Context.  I don’t know about you, but I have discovered that I am at peace at some times more than others.  For instance, when I am in deep sleep in the middle of the night, I am so peaceful I don’t think about a thing – I am completely at rest.  When I watch the news, not so much.  My hunch is that the last year has challenged your sense of being at peace given the pandemic, the election, the ongoing racial tension in our country, the economy, our natural disasters, etc.  I would not be surprised if you elicited symptoms of the lack of peace: irritability, angst, fear, tightness in your body, perhaps stomach issues, strained relationships, impatience.  Peace is easy enough to experience when things are good, and easy to wish for those in a good space.  “Peace be with you” at a wedding ceremony is easy; at a funeral it is not.  Jesus showed up in the midst of terrified followers with the more-than-casual greeting, “Peace be with you.” Knowing that peace is core to God’s character and goal, I wonder what might be involved in actualizing the peace that is called forth in such a greeting. Did they experience such peace?  If so, how?

            Alignment Matters. My first car was a piece of junk.  The front wheels were so out of alignment that driving was in itself a workout.  I’m not kidding, everywhere I went it sounded like someone was taking a corner too fast.  Take your hands off the wheel and you would find yourself making a sharp right turn!  If I had not taken care of the alignment issue, not only would I be exhausted from driving (and a little embarrassed), but I would also find myself buying new tires very often as they would be worn down prematurely.  So it is with our walk with God.  When we get out of alignment, we find ourselves struggling against the flow, the peace disturbed by screeching tires and tired arms.  It shows up in our lives as exhaustion and damaged equipment. Once aligned, the car drove easy.  How aligned are we with the Spirit of God that is (and brings) peace?

Pushed to the Max. I confess that I don’t always practice what I preach.  When the pandemic hit, my workload increased significantly. Producing our virtual services added a full day a week all things considered.  At the same time, in the early months, my volunteer leadership with the COAD commanded two days a week of extra work.  As a pastor-leader, this meant that I tried to help shoulder the stress of those I was helping to lead, hoping to bring some calm amidst the storm.  Of course, I was also leading CrossWalk into an incredibly intense season of unknown and angst.  There were times, of course, when CrossWalkers needed their pastor to pastor them, which I treat as a holy privilege and honor.  Simultaneously, I was a dad to my kids as best as I could be, wanting to be strong for them.  I was also a husband to my wife who lost her job and went through all of the complex emotions associated with it: grieving the loss of a job she really liked and the fading relationships associated with it, the angst of not knowing what would be next for her, money concerns, etc.  On top of that, the stress of the actual virus took its toll on everyone – none of us were operating at 100% (more like 70% tops).  Racial tension around George Floyd’s death, the increased politicization of everything due to the election just made the last year overwhelming.  

Out of Alignment. When the pandemic hit, I was already running on empty from extra work to prepare for a three-month sabbatical rest after 20 years as CrossWalk’s pastor.  I did an okay job treading water, but I could not slow down for very long, and it caught up with me.  Jesus built balance into his life – time to break away and recharge, distancing himself from others for solitude, silence, and stillness.  I have not done a good job with that.  I have been operating out of alignment for over a year, my tires are worn, and my arms are tired.  My personality wires me to constantly perform and drive forward.  I will be taking a sabbatical a year from now, but I simply cannot keep doing for the next year what I’ve been doing for the last year.  I will burn out long before then and have nothing to offer anyone, especially my wife and kids.  I know that the greeting is always the same, “Peace be with you,” yet I do not think I have done much to actualize it, rest in it, float in it, enter into it. I apologize for not modeling this better to my wife and kids, and to you.  You would be the last to know because with you I am always in performance mode.  But my wife especially knows as she has seen me become more of a shell of a person than a whole human being. If you hear about me stepping away for retreat, for prayer, for vacation, know that I am simply trying to reenter the Peace.

Suck it up. Some who hear or read this might want to say out loud or in their heads, “Suck it up, Pete!  Good grief!  So, your work life was really hard.  You didn’t lose a house, or a spouse, or your favorite pet mouse, you louse!”  Dr. Suess has always been a vocal critic of mine.  I have just one thing to say in response to such a reaction: I beat you to it. Many times over the last year I have told myself the very same types of things.  Sometimes it helps as it forces my attention to all the things that I am grateful for, which is always a good practice.  But sometimes things can’t be fixed by a positivity booster shot.  I discovered that telling myself to suck it up was in no way redemptive or restorative, and only served to encourage me to dismiss my very real pain and struggle, which means it gets pushed aside and left unaddressed.  Maybe you’ve been dismissive of your real pain and struggle because you’ve minimized it in contrast to others’ pain. Maybe today you stop doing that and instead take a real look at things.  And if you are a suck-it-up-soothsayer while your intent may be good, let me just say that your words suck, are destructive, and add to the problem. Not everybody talking about their pain is a narcissist inviting you to their pity party. There is a place for KCCO, for having a stiff upper lip, for soldiering on.  Yet we also must encourage the courage-required inner work, too, which is, in my experience, much harder than just making it through the day.  Emotional and mental health matters.  When we discourage health, we really don’t know how much damage we do.  Again, I do this to myself – I don’t have sucky people telling me to suck it up.

Remove the Green Screen. We all live with green screens, projecting an image to the world we want to be seen, hiding our dirty laundry, or cluttered closets, or ugly couches from those with whom we interact. What is your current reality regarding experiencing the peace of Christ?  Not your virtual reality that you project to the world, but your actual reality.  What would your closest friend say about your reality? What do you suppose God might say about your reality?

How to hope.  How do we go forward when we are stuck in such muck and mire?  For me, this is where faith comes in.  In faith, I am going to build back into my life the things I have neglected, believing that doing so will help me become more present to the Peace that is always present.  This is the power of Easter at work.  I have been in this space before for similar reasons.  At other times, usually when the pain got unbearable, I realized that I was out of alignment, and took myself in for service.  Sometimes that required counseling.  Sometimes friends helped me see things.  Sometimes books spoke into my life.  Sometimes it has been my wife.  Sometimes getting into nature has instructed me. Sometimes a combination of some or all of those things.  Invariably, when I get back into alignment, slowly and surely, I am able to tap back into the Peace that has always been there.  It takes time.  It took time to get out of alignment.  It takes time to correct out-of-alignment behavior and attitudes. With a car, your alignment is corrected in a single visit and you’re back on the road.  Sometimes, however, even with a car, there are contributing mechanical factors that can cause your car to get out of alignment again, soon. Sometimes it’s because you keep hitting potholes instead of avoiding them. Sometimes you get blindsided and that messes up your alignment.  Alignment isn’t always a quick fix. I know that I can trust that I will return to Peace because I’ve done it before, and the Peace is a constant I can trust to be there.  Maybe you don’t have the experience from which to hope.  For you, the Easter story itself may be cause for hope.  These disciples were in absolute despair and had to be completely exhausted.  They discovered the constant of the Peace that the presence of God brings in time.  Their Easter evening epiphany wasn’t because they were all smoking the same stuff at the same time and then went away.  Instead, they all increasingly discovered that there really was (and is) a “there” there.  There really, really is.  I hope that today the Spirit of God may be nudging you to trust such truth and take a step forward in faith, that you may find Peace once again.

Letting Christ In. There is a story about King Edward vii of England. He and his queen were out walking late one afternoon when suddenly she stumbled and sprained an ankle. In great pain, and with considerable difficulty, she limped along, holding to her husband’s shoulder. At dusk, they approached the home of a humble man. The king knocked on the door. “Who’s there?” came the query.

“It is Edward. It is the king. Let me in.”

The man on the inside shouted back, “Enough of your pranks now. Be off.…”

The king, not being accustomed to such language, was shocked. He hardly knew what to do, but he knocked a second time. The cottager inquired, “What do you want?”

“I tell you it is the king! It is Edward, your king. Let me in.”

In anger the man shouted, “I’ll teach you to torment an honest man trying to get his sleep.” He threw open the door in disgust, only to see that indeed it was his king! With profuse apologies the laborer invited the royal visitors in and sent for help to attend his queen.

Years later, when the Britisher was too old to work, he would spend much time rocking on the porch and visiting with neighbors. He took great delight in reviewing that experience, always concluding with the same words: “And to think, to think, I almost didn’t let him in! To think I almost didn’t let him in!”

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and eat with him, and he with me” (Rev. 3:20). In truth, Christ is already in the room with us, waiting for us to open our eyes, our minds, our hearts, and our full lives to the Spirit.  It is an act that requires something of us – a getting over our perceptions of reality to entertain something new, a repositioning of ourselves to get up and open the door.  The Christ is here, now, with you and me, saying, “Peace be with you!”  What might you need to do to experience it? 

Some helpful related verses...

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. 

8 And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. 9 Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you. – Philippians. 4:6-9 (NLT)

27 “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.” – John 14:27 (NLT)

A Way Forward: Be Like Thomas

Note: You can watch this teaching on CrossWalk’s YouTube channel.

Today we feature an excellent, provocative teaching by Rev. Douglas Avilesbernal, Executive Minister of the Evergreen Association, the region of the ABC-USA CrossWalk calls home. Enjoy!

Be Like Thomas  (John20:19-31)

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”        But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

Growing up. I was taught that Thomas doubted Jesus and therefore no one should be like Thomas. First, let me be clear that this is not a sermon against Jesus' treatment of doubt in this passage. I think there's a whole lot to explore there. “Those who have not seen yet believed,” that is powerful. However, what I would like us to focus on today is the conditional Thomas at the start of this passage versus the late transformed Thomas, Scriptures give us about a week’s time in that transformation.   

The birth of this question for me is in how largely doubting Thomas loomed during my faith formation years. I couldn't even see the conditional way of  his “if/then” reaction to the disciples who saw Jesus. Thomas seems to have been saying that the work of his own believing without seeing was entirely on Jesus. Sounds familiar? 

All your expertise and education does not matter as much as what I think after reading articles for a couple of hours, days, weeks. I’ve done my research! 

How could I not see this? I never thought about the transactional aspect of early Thomas. Especially since I do it all the time?  If you get me through this… If you get me this job Jesus I will tithe, I mean at this time! I think we Americans tend to measure everything in this zero-sum calculation. If you do this for me, I will do that for you. And we see it in how fractured our world is now. “What's in it for me?” Is embedded in everything.  It's so conditional that we now live in a world where refusing to come to reason even when wrong is praised, especially when one wins. 

I saw a woman say: “doctors can line up around the block and I will still not vaccinate my children.” Because I read articles I agree with. Or, “it's just locker room talk.” Or, “Everyone makes mistakes everyone is entitled to a mulligan once in a while.” This is from Mike Lee of Utah on the former president’s insurrection speech in January 6th. 

We have witnessed precedential candidates on national TV boldly say they have never been wrong. We have seen and heard one candidate even say that he has never asked God for forgiveness! We have all seen or even have fallen for believing a crazy conspiracy theory someone has told us about rather than believe a truth we disagree with. It is as if we want to be able to control all about our faith. If/then.

To me that is the problem, early Thomas wants to decide the conditions for believing. Jesus himself will need to come to my living room for me to consider changing my mind, doctors could line up around the block and I will still not vaccinate my children.

My faith is your job Jesus. But when we set the conditions, we're free to decide what those are right? We’re free to decide the rules of the game and we’re free to change them whenever we want. which might be the reason why there is endless forgiveness for me and mine yet very little change and much less transformation in our country. It’s as though we're saying I will not change my mind unless Jesus himself shows up and I get to decide if the one in front of me is actually Jesus.

That attitude, let's call it early Thomas, has us divided to the point that we refuse to entertain the possibility that I might be wrong or worse that the other side that I dislike might be right. Worst of all, it leaves us open to be manipulated, to be divided and to continuously agree to hurt each other, even if we have to go against our own interests. Voters do this all the time; we vote against our own interests just so that the other side will not win. legislators vote against their own proposal if it looks like it might benefit the other party. is that a way to live our faith? is early Thomas with his “if/then” a good way to live our faith?

Yes, in that sense I agree, don’t be like early Thomas. 

If we begin in that space then Surrender to Jesus becomes a necessity. Because in this world there are winners and losers, someone has to win and therefore someone has to lose. Jesus is stronger than me so Jesus wins and I lose. I have to surrender to Jesus because there is always a winner and a loser. But can you remember a time when you were glad to have surrendered? Nobody surrenders willfully. Nobody is glad to be forced to surrender. Nobody's happy to lose, you only do that after bitter struggle where you give it all you can, kicking in and screaming and once you know there's nothing you could do so you are forced to surrender. can you think of anyone, ever, who when forced to surrender begins a process of deepening relationship with the one with the one who forced them to surrender?

Now, online and in our teaching, someone will always say, well the difference is that when Jesus makes you surrender it’s for your own good, your own interests. But I still don’t like it.  Fortunately, there is a way out, let's call it, the late Thomas way out. That path is radically different that the normal way out. The late Thomas way asks that we be free from the winner and loser zero-sum transactional relationships we so love.  

This path though is no easy path. Especially since we have always been taught we need to surrender to Jesus. I surrender all, as the hymn goes but is that what scriptures say? look it up search for it, living sacrifice that we must show ourselves to be living sacrifice (Romans 12) –  is that to surrender? Galatians 2:20 says “It is no longer I who lives but God who lives in me.”

Maybe Matthew 16 24 and 25 pick up your cross and follow me or mark 10:28 we left everything to follow you or mark 8:35 for whoever wishes to save their life will lose it – 

are those surrender? These are the results I get when searching, what does it mean to surrender to Jesus? Is that what those Scripture passages are saying? Surrender. You can look it up yourselves. Pause this and look up, surrender to Jesus Bible verses. But I tell you that I do not see surrender in any of these verses nor do I see that in our passage for today. Far from it what I see there are bold leaps forward toward love a leap fully embraced and solidly rooted in love that the before then just doesn't matter because love is so much better. that is not surrender.

I know surrendering is so embedded in our faith formation that we might be tempted to argue that we are surrendering because we're saying no to other things, we are surrendering our previous life, we love the surrender language. But how often do we think about the fact that, by definition, to surrender is to recognize that the enemy is too strong for us to keep fighting? that's important because it points to an important question. Is surrendering to Jesus the only good kind of surrender there is? All other types of surrendering are bad. 

The question needs to be asked because to surrender is not to be transformed To surrender is not to love. it's simply to know that the other side is stronger, and it makes no sense to keep fighting. I don't think Jesus wants us to surrender because if Jesus wanted us to surrender he would have come down from that cross when the when the priest asked them to and kicked the Romans out of the holy land we surrender to the stronger.

Fortunately,  there is a way out of our divisiveness and lack of trust but it isn't to surrender at least not in the meaning of the word. The late Thomas Jesus encounter illustrates this very well. Seems clear to me that when Thomas comes to his Jesus moment there are no signs of surrendering. Scriptures don't show us frustration or pain or regret or anything other emotion or sign that comes with having to surrender. Thomas doesn't even bother to check the wounds as Jesus offers, that is completely different than surrender.

Thomas is so taken by love and his full embrace of Jesus that is conditions, the conditions he has set for believing, just don’t matter anymore. It isn’t that he can no longer enforce his conditions, Jesus gives him a chance to do that. But he just doesn’t care anymore. That is not surrender, that is love. 

Still, our minds might still be wanting to find surrender in all of this. I know surrendering to Jesus is part of the core of our preaching our teaching and our learning of faith in our American Christian faith. I searched, what does it mean to surrender to Jesus here are some quotes, 

“Answer: This world is a battleground. There are different levels of surrender, all of which affect our relationship with God. The act of surrendering is very difficult for those who realize that the battle is lost. When we receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we are duty-bound to him.” 

It goes on like that for hundreds of pages. We love the surrender language because it fits our culture so very well. we like listening to the strong. we are attracted to strength we want leaders who are decisive. Leaders who worry less about being right or wrong and more about making a choice right now right here. We like that might makes right even if we cannot get ourselves to say it. But is that what Jesus taught us? is that what scripture say about our relationship with Jesus? yes saying yes to Jesus means saying no to a lot of other things but is it a surrendering or stepping forward in love? when we surrender, we are forced to say no to many things. we are forced to live under the thumb of the stronger.

When we step forward in love we want to say no to other things. when we know we are loved we want to not do other things. when we know we are loved we want to love back. but it doesn't mean others all other things are no longer appealing it also does not mean that we will be kept from doing them which is what will be the case in a surrender.

It is in our language; this is why hell is so important in our language because someone has to lose. Jesus says if you don’t surrender, I will punish you. The more I think about this the more embrace fits better than surrender. think about the beginning of falling in love. when we first fall in love nothing else matters. is that what we feel at the beginning when we have to surrender?

So, what if part of the message in this passage is don't be like conditional Thomas.

Conditional Thomas has to surrender because someone has to lose in that exchange. If/then. There must always be a winner and a loser. But instead, what if an important part of this passage is, aspire to be like embracing Thomas. love so deeply that who you were before with your conditions your mistrusts your disbelieves and more just doesn't matter anymore. That is the way out, that is our freedom. That is what Thomas sees in his Jesus moment. hallelujah Christ is risen! and he did but don't surrender to Jesus. Embrace him by boldly going forward to him in recognition of the love you see. do you best be like Thomas and love so deeply that being wrong is no longer embarrassing or to be feared or avoided or as the worst thing that could happen. Instead, the fear of being wrong is just forgotten because loving is so much better.

Step forward in love toward Jesus. Don’t be like conditional Thomas. Be like loving Thomas. 

2021 Easter: "I'll meet you there."

Note: You can watch this teaching on CrossWalk’s YouTube channel.

Happy Easter!  If you grew up going to church on this day, you would hear someone say, “He is risen!” and you would respond, “He is risen indeed!”  Easter is the most important Christian holiday – without it, Jesus would have been forgotten along with his teachings.  At best he would have garnered a footnote in the history books.  Here is the shorter account of that first Easter according to the Gospel of Mark:

When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so they could embalm him. Very early on Sunday morning, as the sun rose, they went to the tomb. They worried out loud to each other, "Who will roll back the stone from the tomb for us?"

Then they looked up, saw that it had been rolled back—it was a huge stone—and walked right in. They saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed all in white. They were completely taken aback, astonished.

He said, "Don't be afraid. I know you're looking for Jesus the Nazarene, the One they nailed on the cross. He's been raised up; he's here no longer. You can see for yourselves that the place is empty. Now—on your way. Tell his disciples and Peter that he is going on ahead of you to Galilee. You'll see him there, exactly as he said."

They got out as fast as they could, beside themselves, their heads swimming. Stunned, they said nothing to anyone. – Mark 16:1-8 (MSG)

            Easter Sunday takes on deeper meaning when we first allow ourselves time to dwell on and in the Friday and Saturday which precede it.  Those were days of absolute agony and despair as Jesus was unjustly tried, found guilty, severely beaten, sentenced to death by crucifixion, and summarily executed. From initial arrest until death probably took less than 18 hours.  Of course, it was horrific for Jesus.  But it was also unbearable for his disciples.  If I suffered, the suffering would be worse knowing that it would cause those who love me most to suffer as well.  It is so hard to lose loved ones.  

            Losing loved ones in a pandemic is harder.  If they were hospitalized before death, visiting would have been restricted.  Once gone, our mourning rituals were forced to change.  I think about those at CrossWalk who lost loved ones since the pandemic’s restrictions were imposed.  Bill Swanson, Dot Hoover, Roger Langley, Larry McCart, Kenn Vigoda, Max Proteau, and Lawrence Paul Scott, Sr. left us.  Have you lost a friend or relative in the past year?  How have you grieved?

            The pandemic wasn’t our only challenge over the past year.  Napa faced two major wildfires that were among the largest in state history.  CrossWalker Karen Kenny lost her home.  We grieved along with her – such a complex, multifaceted process when you’ve lived in one place for so long, with so many memories.  A number of CrossWalkers lost their jobs due to the pandemic’s impact on the economy.  The physical realities of income loss are one thing; the emotional toll is quite another.  Of course, we weathered one of the most contentious, divisive presidential elections in a generation, made more so due to COVID.  Altogether, this created a toxic environment that affected us all whether we acknowledge it or not.  Friends and families were torn apart leading up to November.  The drama continued all the way to its climax on January 6 when we witnessed a violent uprising against the United States government at the US Capitol.  It was the very definition of insurrection.  We collectively held our breath wondering if there would be a peaceful transfer of power.  Gratefully, there was.  Yet we are still left with the damage that such division has caused.  We could go on to talk about children and education and burned-out medical personnel and toilet paper shortages and so much more. Meanwhile, the death toll in the US from COVID has surpassed 550,000.  We have carried so much death this past year.  The whole year has been a perpetual Friday and Saturday. We are so eager for Easter morning, yet it is wise to acknowledge and grieve the loss we have endured. Please do so, knowing that you are deeply loved and held by God.  God will meet you in your mourning, to remind you of who you are, to give you comfort, peace, and strength.

            While the core followers of Jesus were mourning and in hiding, a lovely thing happened.  A man of means named Joseph of Arimathea stepped up to provide Jesus with a proper burial.  Under normal circumstances, those poor souls executed by crucifixion would be left to rot on the crosses – utterly inhumane and humiliating for the deceased’s loved ones.  That didn’t happen to Jesus, thankfully, because Joseph stepped up.

            CrossWalk didn’t rot over the past year because we had a lot of Josephs rise to help us in our time of need.  We – the Board of Stewards, CrossWalk officers and myself – were prepared for the worst, not knowing how the pandemic could impact our ability to continue to serve the community.  We shut down the campus in accordance with state and county instructions.  Your support continued.  Because it did, we were able to take advantage of the empty campus and make improvements that will serve us for a long time – some of which are still in process.  I cannot thank you enough for being so faithful over the past year.  In the first phase of COVID, I was pretty confident we would survive without too much damage, but I never would have guessed that we would emerge in good shape – better shape in many ways – to meet the new day.  Thank you for your love, your prayers, your contributions – all forms of support have been Joseph maneuvers that are so deeply appreciated. In so many ways, you have loved CrossWalk in ways that resemble how God loves us.  If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, you have made God blush. 

            The first Easter morning offers us some really important help and hope that I’d like to point out.  The first has to do with something we love but also take for granted: there was more beyond the grave.  I have presided over many funerals and memorial services in my 25 years as a pastor.  Hundreds, I suppose.  I have never attended one where the theology of the Sadducees prevailed.  There is an assumption that is widely held by people of faith in the United States if they were in any way exposed to Christianity (which is everyone to varying degrees).  The assumption is that there is life after death, and that we will be welcomed “home” by family and friends who have preceded us, and God.  The fact that this is commonly held is a testament to what happened that first Easter.  In a relatively short amount of time, the disciples came out of hiding and boldly proclaimed what they experienced at Easter, and shared Jesus’ life and teachings with anyone and everyone.  When you experience something like they experienced, it changes you, giving you a hope and confidence that is hard to come by any other way. I believe with them.  Because I do, I believe that we really will experience more beyond the grave.  I hesitate to simply say life beyond the grave only because I don’t want to minimize our expectations with our puny dreams of what may come.  Whatever our loftiest images of heaven might be, I am confident that they will pale in comparison to what will be.  Whatever limited expressions of justice and mercy we might place on God, I am certain we will be wonderfully shocked at how extraordinarily beautiful, gracious, and just God is.  Those who we lost over the past year or so have the advantage over us and already fully know what we only know in part.  Having faith in who Jesus was and what he taught isn’t an admission test, it’s more of a prep school for what is really real. Because of all that Jesus taught, and also because of how his death was viewed through a sacrificial lens, we are confident that in death, God will meet us there, and after death, God will meet us there, too.

            The second obvious thing in front of our noses that I would like to point out is that all of the humans involved in the Easter story were dazed and confused.  Even after the disciples went back home to Galilee where they experienced Jesus alive again, their experience was so different than before that it took them awhile to really grasp and integrate it.  Their emotions ran from terrified, to indignant, to doubt, to denial and beyond.  They went back home, but nothing was the same, really.  The surroundings looked the same, and yet everything had changed.  I believe we can relate to that in a very real way right now, and, building from their experience, I think we can be hopeful.  God showed up in new ways after Easter that were unprecedented – new ways that allowed God to move powerfully in the lives of entire populations that would have been unreachable otherwise.  God moved through CrossWalk in new ways this past year, and I believe is inviting us to consider more new ways to be conduits of God’s love and mercy.  What can we expect based on what happened on Easter and following?  We can expect to be surprised, afraid, doubtful, stubborn, and more.  Yet we can also expect God to be faithful to be with us, to be faithful and good, and to help us move forward in our faith and our lives in ways that are healthy, wise, and good for ourselves and everybody else.  We will find ourselves in unfamiliar territory in our own backyard.  And yet, ever so faithfully, God will meet us there.  So, keep your eyes open as you move forward from this Easter morning!  Christ is here, yet Christ is already where we will be – wherever that might be!  In our grief, our confusion, our angst, our fear, our cowardice, our doubt, our sense of despair, our joy, God will meet you there.

2021 Maundy Thursday

Note: You can watch this teaching on CrossWalk’s YouTube channel.

The Apostle Paul, in his letter first to the Corinthians (11:23-25 |MSG) reminds us of what happened on this night 2,000 years ago:

Let me go over with you again exactly what goes on in the Lord's Supper and why it is so centrally important. I received my instructions from the Master himself and passed them on to you. The Master, Jesus, on the night of his betrayal, took bread. Having given thanks, he broke it and said,

“This is my body, broken for you.

Do this to remember me.

After supper, he did the same thing with the cup:

This cup is my blood, my new covenant with you.

Each time you drink this cup, remember me.”

Maundy Thursday commemorates what is called the Last Supper, which was true – it was the last meal Jesus and the disciples would enjoy together since Jesus would be arrested later that very night.  By the next afternoon, Jesus would be dead.  I wonder what the dinner-table conversations were like that evening?  I wonder if it would have been similar to conversations we may be having this week, in 2021.

This week marks the beginning of the trial of Derek Chauvin for killing George Floyd, who died while being taken into police custody last Memorial Day.  Floyd’s death sparked a global movement decrying racism.  We have not witnessed such a movement since the Civil Rights movement a generation ago. Depending on who is invited to dinner, you may or may not talk about what happened to George Floyd and the trial.  If you are all on the same ideological page, it will be an unpleasant yet unifying dialogue.  Yet many will be reluctant to allow the conversation to begin because it represents a larger, extremely divisive issue that often falls along party lines.  Black Lives Matter finds itself in a head-on collision with Blue Lives Matter.  There is no shortage of strong opinions on either side.

For Jesus and his closest followers, this week was similarly charged. They made the trip from the northern region of Galilee where they were from to Jerusalem for the Passover Feast that remembered the miracle-laden drama that led to Israel’s release from Egyptian captivity.  Jewish people – especially those outside of Jerusalem – were hoping and praying for history to repeat itself where God might free them the oppression of the Roman Empire.  Jesus and his disciples anticipated some fireworks that week, knowing that Jesus was seen as at least an upstart if not the very person God would use in Moses-like fashion to free Israel yet again.  There would be talk of Pilate, the Roman Governor ruling over the entire region that included what we call Israel.  He likely couldn’t have cared less about the Jewish people, their traditions, or their land.  He made sure things were kept quiet by ruling with an iron fist.  The disciples would also be criticizing Caiaphas, the Jewish High Priest who was a Sadducee, one of the primary sects of Judaism that primarily found adherents in and around Jerusalem.  They were known for their legalism, which was a practical pursuit – if they kept Jewish people obeying the law of God, they would not have to endure as much harsh treatment from Rome.  The Sadducees were an elite group of Jews, too – richer and more educated than the other sects.  They saw their wealth as a clear indication of God’s favor, blessing, and endorsement.  They also believed that there was no hope beyond the grave – once dead, that was it.  Perhaps their belief was allowed, in part, because their current life was luxurious and there was little need for correction after death?  The poor followers of Jesus had little respect for the Jewish elite and were more than ready to see them topple.  The signs of their corruption were everywhere.  They were ready to be part of a new exodus.  Lucky for them, they sat very close to the new Moses.  Life would soon be good for them.  It would be animated conversation about what they saw as the problems of the world and how to solve them.  Not unlike conversations we might have today.

Do you recall how long George Floyd struggled to breathe?  Many of us have memorized it: eight minutes and forty-six seconds.  In fact, that answer is wrong.  The more accurate answer is that George Floyd struggled to breathe since 1619, when Africans were taken from their continent and shipped to our land to provide cheap labor that would eventually allow our economy to be sustainable beyond the British crown.  Global protests didn’t arise because of one case of police brutality, but rather the ongoing treatment of people of color – especially black people – in the United States and around the globe.  The case now being tried regarding George Floyd’s death is really about a system that contributed to George Floyd’s struggle with crime and drugs up to and including the last day of his life.  This wasn’t simply a story about one “bad dude” who met his demise because of one “bad cop” – this is more complex, with centuries of stories that lead up to and include what we are still seeing today.  George Floyd has come to epitomize the plight of the black lives, and Derek Chauvin (who kept his knee on Floyd’s neck for 8:46) has come to represent oppression.

The disciples knew they were oppressed, and they knew who was doing the oppressing. They had their strong opinions about what needed to happen, and for many of them it involved a long-overdue revolt led by their leader, Jesus. The names of the characters have changed, but I imagine the themes of the conversation were not too different.  I also think that their reaction to Jesus’ words that night was as challenging as they are for us today.

Jesus washed their feet – something nobody else was willing to do – a clear and bold identification with servanthood.  He told them that what he did was a model for them to follow.  The disciples were quieted and humbled by Jesus’ gesture.  They were so caught up in their passionate conversation that they failed to do what needed to be done, even and especially for the one they honored as their leader.

Jesus then gave them a new commandment, that they love one another the way Jesus loved them.  They would forever tie that command to the experience of their feet still drying from being washed.  To love as Jesus loved was to humbly serve the other. 

Jesus’ mandate here is where we get the term, Maundy (mandate) Thursday.  We remember who we are called to be and what we are called to do.

The next day is so well remembered because Jesus followed his own command.  He chose not to add to the violence and instead absorb it while the world watched in horror.  This is nonviolent resistance at its best.  An innocent victim of centuries of injustice played out in the life of one poor Jewish peasant at the hands of Church and state in collaboration.  

We need to remember this night in history so that we can more adequately see what is happening now and decide whether or not to hear and heed the invitation of Jesus to be who God calls us to be and what God calls us to do.  To see, hear, and understand.  To be wise in the way we shine a light on the deep and complex challenges we face today.  To help shoulder the burden, even taking our licks, so that the world may see it, too.

As you take the bread, remember the body of Jesus that took a knee to wash feet.  Remember the blood that coursed through his veins as his heart rate rose as he went from disciple to disciple, foot to foot, toe to toe.  Remember the body of Jesus that he willingly offered that was subjected to unjust, harsh treatment from his arrest all the way to his death.  Remember the blood he shed, the beatings he suffered as a sign of all that is unjust in the world.  Remember that because he chose not to respond in similar retaliation, the world is still captivated and drawn to him as the model for change.

Even if the world around you clamor for violence and violent response, remember Jesus, and be a part of the way forward that leads to peace, lest his flesh and blood be wasted and our communion an offense to his name, as Paul instructed to the Corinthians below:

What you must solemnly realize is that every time you eat this bread and every time you drink this cup, you reenact in your words and actions the death of the Master. You will be drawn back to this meal again and again until the Master returns. You must never let familiarity breed contempt.

Anyone who eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Master irreverently is like part of the crowd that jeered and spit on him at his death. Is that the kind of "remembrance" you want to be part of? Examine your motives, test your heart, come to this meal in holy awe.

If you give no thought (or worse, don't care) about the broken body of the Master when you eat and drink, you're running the risk of serious consequences. That's why so many of you even now are listless and sick, and others have gone to an early grave. If we get this straight now, we won't have to be straightened out later on. Better to be confronted by the Master now than to face a fiery confrontation later.

So, my friends, when you come together to the Lord's Table, be reverent and courteous with one another. If you're so hungry that you can't wait to be served, go home and get a sandwich. But by no means risk turning this Meal into an eating and drinking binge or a family squabble. It is a spiritual meal—a love feast. – 1 Corinthians 11:26-34 (MSG)

Spring Cleaning 4: Hidden in Plain Sight

Note: You can watch this teaching on CrossWalk’s YouTube channel.

I was excited to give a tour of my church to my college friend and her husband.  It was my first pastorate, and I was really proud to show off the place as I knew it was nice.  As soon as we walked in the door, however, I was shocked to see so many things that I wish weren’t there: ugly furniture, ugly wall hangings, an ugly coat somebody left with us on our coat rack.  I was a little embarrassed, actually.  The funny thing was that these items had been there ever since I had arrived a year or more before.  I simply hadn’t noticed because they became so familiar to me.  They were hidden in plain sight.

            I’m sure you can appreciate this phenomenon.  Maybe for you it happens when you realize you have company coming to your home, and all of a sudden you noticed piles of stuff laying around that you let accumulate over time and now needs to be dealt with.  Or perhaps you’re going to go on a date, and you see your car through the eyes of the one with whom you hope to make a good impression: how did it get so filthy? What’s that growing on the back seat floor?  How long has that In & Out bite of a Double Double been there?  Is it safe to eat now?

            The story of Jesus so-called “Triumphal Entry” on what we remember on Palm Sunday is kind of like that.  There is stuff hidden in plain sight that needs to be addressed, cleaned up, for us to really appreciate what’s going on.  All four gospels remembering Jesus’ life and ministry feature this story with remarkable similarity. This happened five days before the Jewish Feast of the Passover celebrating God’s liberating of the Jews from Egyptian captivity:

The next day the huge crowd that had arrived for the Feast heard that Jesus was entering Jerusalem. They broke off palm branches and went out to meet him. And they cheered:

Hosanna!

Blessed is he who comes in God's name!

Yes! The King of Israel!

Jesus got a young donkey and rode it, just as the Scripture has it:

No fear, Daughter Zion:

See how your king comes,

riding a donkey's colt.

The disciples didn't notice the fulfillment of many Scriptures at the time, but after Jesus was glorified, they remembered that what was written about him matched what was done to him.

The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb, raising him from the dead, was there giving eyewitness accounts. It was because they had spread the word of this latest God-sign that the crowd swelled to a welcoming parade. The Pharisees took one look and threw up their hands: "It's out of control. The world's in a stampede after him." – John 12:12-19 (MSG)

            There are a number of things hidden in plain sight that tell us a lot about the complexity of the story’s context.  Jesus is going to make his way into the capitol city of Jerusalem where he knows he is unpopular, and also knows he is ready to challenge the leading Jewish authorities.  There will be fireworks!  When he rolls into the city, his fans showed up and paid homage by laying down palm branches and their cloaks – a tribute that matched their declaration of Jesus as King of Israel.  There is a word for the act of declaring a person king when another leader already sits on the throne: insurrection.  We witnessed an attempt at insurrection on January 6, 2021, when ardent Trump supporters broached the capitol building to thwart Congress’ affirmation of the Electoral College results declaring Joe Biden the President of the United States.  Some who entered muttered murderous threats against key officials including Vice President Mike Pence and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.  People died that day due to their attempt.  Former President Trump has been accused of fomenting the crowd, and then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnel stated that Trump was morally responsible for the actions that took place on that day for both his action and inaction.  Since then, more than 200 arrests have been made.  In Jesus’ day, insurrection was not looked on kindly, either.  Justice likely moved quite quickly (and perhaps unfairly) as the Roman Empire would simply kill those accused of such acts of treason.  Make no mistake: to utter words declaring Jesus “king” and follow it up with acts that back it up would not be missed by anyone.  Risky business here.

            Jesus, knowing that most Jews (except the ruling Sadducees) hated Rome and were hoping and praying for a God-anointed Messiah to crush Rome with a miracle-powered revolt, made his transportation decision for his grand entrance very carefully.  He chose a jackass.  How many paintings of US military war heroes can you remember where the hero was riding a donkey?  None.  Why?  Because donkeys are a really stupid choice for battle!  They’re not very fast.  They are stubborn and don’t always go where you want them to go.  And they aren’t very tall compared to a horse.  If a horse is akin to a Hummer, a donkey would be a Prius.  Jesus chose the vehicle that would communicate anything but war.  The donkey communicated peace to his raving fans.

            The Jewish leaders who were present cared less about Jesus’ ride and were much more impressed by the size and tenor of the crowd.  They realized that even if Jesus’ intent was peace, the crowd perhaps had other ideas.  They needed to take care of business.

            One thing that has always struck me is that within a few days, this vociferous crowd was nowhere to be found.  Even Jesus’ closest followers were mostly hiding in fear, distancing themselves from Jesus.  Only a few stayed close enough to him to know what was happening.  What happened?  Why the shift?  It could be that the crowd who called for Jesus’ crucifixion was mostly comprised of Jerusalem Jews who had more to lose if Jesus lived.  Yet I believe that as each day passed, those who were cheering him into the city may have realized the Jesus wasn’t flowing along with their undercurrents.  He wasn’t interested in being a king or leading a military revolt.  Just the opposite – he embodied and modeled non-violent resistance. I wonder how many people simply walked away like they did when he invited people to pick up their crosses and follow him.  Undercurrents in people’s lives hold a lot of power – they are the often unseen and unknown forces at work beneath the surface, guiding us to believe and do its bidding.  When unchecked, we find ourselves going downstream almost unconsciously, wondering how we got there.

            We have been reminded of late about the undercurrents of our culture and their power.  Racism is real, as reflected in the mass shooting at a massage parlor in Georgia.  The mass shooting reminds us that we also have a violence undercurrent.  The shooting reminds us that we have a gun rights undercurrent, which quickly inflames politicians to remind us that we have a binary/partisan divide undercurrent.  If that is not enough, the flood of immigrants seeking hope at our southern border reminds us of that undercurrent.  Of course, we are still in the fight against COVID-19, which reminds us of other undercurrents which we’re dealing with, such as the question about what is true or not, safe or not, and the balance between personal freedom and the greater good.  Lots of undercurrents.  Do you know what is flowing beneath your surface?  If not, you may be going with the flow – but not necessarily the same flow as Jesus.

            The presence of God is still with us, entering into Jerusalem in a Prius every day in all of our hearts, competing with the other currents active within us. Sometimes we don’t know of the other flows until we find ourselves feeling discontented, and maybe at odds with what Jesus is about.  When we notice, we must remind ourselves that we are in tension in the invitation to follow the Spirit of God.  To follow one means, at times, to not follow the other.  To go against our personal undercurrent will create dissonance, which is painful to varying degrees.  The question is, when the incongruence comes between the flow of the Spirit and the flow of your undercurrents – and it will come again and again – which flow will you give yourself to?

            Jesus said that the flow that he followed – the Spirit – leads to an abundant life for us, for all, for the world itself.  He also said that his yoke is easy and his burden light when we give into the flow.  When we don’t however, I think it is an incredibly difficult life of tension, with at least two flows in competition with each other. The undercurrents are sometimes hidden in plain sight.  Simply taking a fresh look can make them jump out at us like pop-up books.

            So, what’s flowing in you?  Which flow are you going with?  How do you know?  

Spring Cleaning: How to Move Forward

Note: You can watch this teaching on CrossWalk’s YouTube channel.

Last week we looked at a difficult, rather ugly story reflecting pain and loss on the part of Sarai and Hagar before Ishmael was born.  I doubt if Sarai and Hagar ever grew very close.  There was rivalry and jealousy at work, no doubt.  Ishmael grew into his teenage years, which is when the story between Sarai and Hagar came to a head:

One day Sarah saw the son that Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham, poking fun at her son Isaac. She told Abraham, "Get rid of this slave woman and her son. No child of this slave is going to share inheritance with my son Isaac!"

The matter gave great pain to Abraham—after all, Ishmael was his son. But God spoke to Abraham, "Don't feel badly about the boy and your maid. Do whatever Sarah tells you. Your descendants will come through Isaac. Regarding your maid's son, be assured that I'll also develop a great nation from him—he's your son too."

Abraham got up early the next morning, got some food together and a canteen of water for Hagar, put them on her back and sent her away with the child. She wandered off into the desert of Beersheba. When the water was gone, she left the child under a shrub and went off, fifty yards or so. She said, "I can't watch my son die." As she sat, she broke into sobs.

Meanwhile, God heard the boy crying. The angel of God called from Heaven to Hagar, "What's wrong, Hagar? Don't be afraid. God has heard the boy and knows the fix he's in. Up now; go get the boy. Hold him tight. I'm going to make of him a great nation."

Just then God opened her eyes. She looked. She saw a well of water. She went to it and filled her canteen and gave the boy a long, cool drink.

God was on the boy's side as he grew up. He lived out in the desert and became a skilled archer. He lived in the Paran wilderness. And his mother got him a wife from Egypt. – Genesis 21:9-21 (The Message Translation)

Remember that the story is about the development of Israel as a people, explaining their origins and the influences along the way that resulted in their present and future.  The enmity between Sara and Hagar was more than about two women – it was about two peoples.  These two people groups struggled to tolerate each other as time progressed.  When people don’t address their pain, their pain addresses them.  This story may be about Israel, but it is also about humanity as a whole.  Unaddressed pain caused by any number of things has a way of leaving a wake of destruction behind its carriers.  Lots of wounds.  Lots of broken or severely incapacitated relationships.  You’ve probably heard it before, hurting people hurt people.

I don’t know many people who wake up wanting more pain in their lives.  I think we are wired to want peace and harmony.  Yet dealing with pain is itself painful, which leads us to denial, which means the pain doesn’t get addressed.  Pain addresses us in myriad ways on an individual, interpersonal level as well as larger scale problems.  Racial prejudice is still alive and well in the United States because we have failed to really face it squarely.  It is hard work.  It feels easier to pretend everything is fine.  Unfortunately, that only leads to harder work for a longer period of time.

Check out my interview with Jim Wornack on the video or podcast to hear his advice for dealing with the pain associated with loss.

The story of Hagar and Ishmael being kicked out of Abraham’s compound is absolutely horrible.  It reflects so poorly on Sara and Abraham both.  Nothing to be proud of here.  They both totally messed up on this one for a very long time.  God didn’t want what happened to happen, but God did come alongside to give hope to the brokenhearted.  Because that’s who God is.  If you are working through grief and loss and it feels really hard, know that you never walk alone, and that the One who walks with you really is interested in your healing, your wellbeing, your future, and will be working at all times to help you move forward.  There is comfort and strength in this truth, even if things don’t always turn out as we’d hope.

Israel messed up a lot, and it came back to bite them many, many times.  Yet they experienced God being with them through it all, picking them up again and again and again and again with the same comforting presence.  Many generations after the above story, Israel was overtaken by Babylon.  Jerusalem was sacked and the Jewish leaders and skilled laborers were taken into exile.  In Jerusalem, there weren’t enough Jewish people (and not enough of them skilled) to pose any threat to Babylon anymore.  Those in exile felt hopeless.  Jeremiah, the great Jewish prophet, wrote them a letter where, in one part, he reminded them of who God is and what God is about: “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29: 11 NLT)”. These words are still true today, no matter how far from home we may feel.  Whether home is an address or state of being, God is with you and for your best.  Live like it is true, because it is.

Questions.

1.     Has there ever been a time in your life when you were reluctant to deal with your pain?  Why were you reluctant?  What were the consequences – positive and/or negative – of your reluctance?

2.     What pain do you imagine Sara, Abraham, Hagar, and Ishmael endured in their dramatic story?

3.     How do you make sense of God’s kindness in response to all characters?  Is it just?  What are the upsides?  What are the tension points?

What pain are you dealing with right now – or not dealing with? How’s that going for you? What’s hard?

Spring Cleaning: Two Holy Questions

Note: You can watch this teaching on CrossWalk’s YouTube channel.

In light of the first anniversary of COVID’s intrusion into our lives, I asked CrossWalkers to share with me their reflections on the past year.  Andrea Langley wrote the following (shared with permission):

Here's my experience of the last year.  The most precious thing that COVID stole from me last year was the last 4 months of [my husband] Roger's life.  It was gut-wrenching not being able to hug and kiss him and getting in only when he was in a coma.  Grateful though for being with him for the last few days of his life here on earth.  COVID also stole my family from me when Roger died and is still doing that as we can't be together yet for his burial.  I lost my freedom – no shopping, no socialization, no helping my neighbors.  I was heart-broken with people losing loved ones, people dying alone, job losses, businesses closing, children losing their school community, the fraud in our systems – and then there was the political scene and the insurrection.  I think one of the hardest things for me personally was losing the hugs.  We all need human touch so that was rough.  The stuffed bears are just not doing it for me!

What have I gained during the last year?  I learned that I am a strong woman and that I am capable of living in isolation.  I am learning how to deal with all that goes with death and grief.  We are all grieving our losses and we have all had losses this past year.    I was able to handle issues that I knew little about.  One of the positives was learning more technology and finding I needed to update some systems.  Zoom was a lifesaver for me in connecting with people...  COVID gave me quiet time as I have never had before.  I got much needed rest and restoration to grieve, to reflect, to question.  I was given a sound guide for health from a Dr. I had the privilege of working with for 6 months.  Brilliant man!  My faith grew in having the time to do more in depth Bible study and discussion on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.  My faith also grew through the people that I came in contact with that I have never met.   I was able to make new friends and connect with old ones via phone calls and correspondence.  Coming out of COVID I will have more appreciation for community, I will be looking to find adventures other than those that find me, I will continue to strive to be the woman that God created me to be wherever God chooses to put me.  In some ways the last year has given me more than what it has taken away.  I will move forward with optimism. Hope, Healing and Patience are my words for this year.  

            Aren’t you grateful that Andrea took time to reflect on her year, and also share it with us?  The details of Andrea’s story are unique to her, of course, yet we all have our own story to tell.  There is a remarkable story in the Bible’s book of beginnings – Genesis – which has a lot to offer us as we think about our own stories.  The context: Abram sensed God calling him to begin a new chapter on his own in order to create a new people, a new way of thinking about life, a new way of interacting with God that was unique in the world.  He gathered his possessions and he, his wife, and all of his servants ventured out together.  He was seventy-five years old (maybe – this is one of those instances where we need to appreciate the fact that the author is wanting us to see that he was older – a sign that God had already blessed him greatly).  He and Sarai struggled with infertility, which is where we enter the story:

Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had not been able to bear children for him. But she had an Egyptian servant named Hagar. So Sarai said to Abram, “The LORD has prevented me from having children. Go and sleep with my servant. Perhaps I can have children through her.” And Abram agreed with Sarai’s proposal. So Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian servant and gave her to Abram as a wife. (This happened ten years after Abram had settled in the land of Canaan.)

So Abram had sexual relations with Hagar, and she became pregnant. But when Hagar knew she was pregnant, she began to treat her mistress, Sarai, with contempt. Then Sarai said to Abram, “This is all your fault! I put my servant into your arms, but now that she’s pregnant she treats me with contempt. The LORD will show who’s wrong—you or me!”

Abram replied, “Look, she is your servant, so deal with her as you see fit.” Then Sarai treated Hagar so harshly that she finally ran away.

The angel of the LORD found Hagar beside a spring of water in the wilderness, along the road to Shur. The angel said to her, “Hagar, Sarai’s servant, where have you come from, and where are you going?”

“I’m running away from my mistress, Sarai,” she replied.

The angel of the LORD said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit to her authority.” Then he added, “I will give you more descendants than you can count.”

And the angel also said, “You are now pregnant and will give birth to a son. You are to name him Ishmael (which means ‘God hears’), for the LORD has heard your cry of distress. This son of yours will be a wild man, as untamed as a wild donkey! He will raise his fist against everyone, and everyone will be against him. Yes, he will live in open hostility against all his relatives.”

Thereafter, Hagar used another name to refer to the LORD, who had spoken to her. She said, “You are the God who sees me.” She also said, “Have I truly seen the One who sees me?” So that well was named Beer-lahai-roi (which means “well of the Living One who sees me”). It can still be found between Kadesh and Bered.

So Hagar gave Abram a son, and Abram named him Ishmael. Abram was eighty-six years old when Ishmael was born. – Genesis 16 (NLT)

            Questions.  What is going on here?  What are the obvious conflict issues that present themselves in this story?  What might be among some undercurrent issues beneath the surface of simple tension between Sarai and Hagar?  What might be under the undercurrent?

            I am seeing the obvious thing here: some attitude exchanged between the authority figure Sarai and the surrogate-servant Hagar who might not be acting much like a servant anymore.  Deeper than than that there is Sarai’s pain associated with infertility, exacerbated by Hagar’s fertility.  Hagar may have been quite young – a teenager? – and likely not thrilled at the prospect of creating a child with Abram (now 85).  How many times did she feel abused before she became pregnant?  Getting pregnant may have ended having to endure Abram’s visits, but also meant that her own dreams would not come true.  This was not what she wanted.  She didn’t have a choice.  This was not Sarai’s dream, either, adding salt to her wound.  There are power issues at play here.  There are age issues at work.  There are injustices.  There is pain and grief – because there are multiple losses for each of them.  Lots of losses intersecting each other, feeding each other, making the whole thing very complex.

            COVID-19 has brought great loss to us all on many levels, making our grief complex.  Can you articulate what you’ve been through?  Can you answer the holy question God posed to Hagar, “Where have you come from?”  God knew the answer – the question was for Hagar.  She could have simply answered, “from Sarai’s tent – we just had an argument – weren’t you paying attention?” But that really wasn’t the intent of the question.  Where have you come from – where have you been – begs for deeper reflection that will help us heal, grow, and eventually move forward.  

            Part of the answer to the question for us is to recognize the stages of grief that we have already traversed.  My friend, Rev. Jim Warnock, who retired a few years ago after serving as Chaplain at Queen of the Valley Hospital in Napa, encourages us not to think of “stages” of grief but rather “faces” or “facets” of grief.  Shock, denial, bargaining, confusion, anger, guilt, depression, and acceptance don’t necessarily flow in linear fashion.  Rather, we process these things in different ways over time, sometimes revisiting a facet or two, all of which is normal.  Processing our journey is part of answering the question, “Where have you come from?”  

Identifying and appreciating where we have come from will make a massive difference on how fully we are able to answer the second question, “Where are you going?”  Hagar knew the literal answer to the question – she was going to end up back at Abram’s massive compound.  Time and attention may have shaped her path a bit as she recognized the depths of her own pain and how it affected her capacity to respond.  I wonder if she – for survival if nothing less – held her tongue around Sarai? I wonder how powerful it was for her to realize that God showed up to meet with her, and Egyptian servant girl, in the middle of nowhere.  She knew she was seen – and cared for – by God.  How would that encourage her moving forward?

Earlier in my interview with Jim, he said something quite profound along these lines: to the extent that we deal with our grief we will experience healing and renewal.  I would suggest that to the extent we answer the question, “Where have you come from?”, the greater the possibilities we will have to answer the other question, “Where are you going?”

May you know where you’ve come from so that you will have a healthier journey ahead.

Spring Cleaning: Adam, Eve, and Being Human

Note: You can watch this teaching on CrossWalk’s YouTube channel.

When you hear the word “loss”, what comes to mind?  I bet for many of us, death tops the list as we recall those we have quite literally lost.  For others it may be divorce or a significant breakup with a lover or friend – we are painfully aware that the relationship as it once was will never return in the same way.  The global pandemic we find ourselves in certainly has brought loss – over 500,000 deaths (and climbing) just in the United States.  We know that when we lose someone that we love we will find ourselves on a journey of recovery that has some predictable themes.  When we don’t honor that grieving process, we hinder our capacity to move on.  The grieving process is hard enough even when we are intentional, yet life is even harder when we deny or ignore grief and its impact on our lives.  Could it be that other forms of loss also require a similar process?  My friend Rev. Jim Warnock shared this quote with me:

In every change, there is loss;

In every loss there is grief;

In every grief, there is grieving;

It is unavoidable;

It is necessary;

It is how God made us;

It is good.

We have all experienced many forms of loss since the pandemic hit, not just death or ended relationships.  Spring is around the corner – literally and figuratively.  I think we will be much more able to live again if we do the hard work of grieving what we’ve lost before we jump into whatever may be next.  I’m calling this series Spring Cleaningbecause, like our homes, there may be some unaddressed stuff laying around that we haven’t dealt with just yet for lots of reasons.  Just like literal spring cleaning, when we see what’s been piling up, clean up what has been collecting dust, we will feel better and more prepared to enjoy more life ahead.  That’s what the next few weeks will be about.

            March is Women’s History Month.  Some of the great stories in the Bible that deal with loss involve incredible women.  Take a moment and realize how incredible it is that the Bible honors many women throughout its books.  The earliest stories were told somewhere around 1500 BCE and the last pen stroke of the Christian canonical books dried in the 90’s CE.  This was at a time when most women were seen and treated as property not unlike cattle or sheep, and did not enjoy many more benefits or legal protections!  The very first story in the Bible from the book of Genesis even celebrates the feminine nature of God!  No joke!  What we call the “Spirit” of God is literally feminine, not masculine.  And the first woman in the Bible, Eve, was given a role description when “introduced” to Adam.  Eve was to be a helper to Adam.  We read/hear “helper” as derogatory and demeaning.  But the original language used the same “helper” language to describe the role of the “Spirit” in the make-up of God.  There is no hierarchy in the nature of God.  There was never supposed to be a hierarchy between men and women.  Men and women were equal in the beginning.

            The story of Adam and Eve, the Garden of Eden, the Serpent-Tempter, the Forbidden Fruit, and the resulting consequences have been viewed by Christianity as the story of the entrance of sin into the world that led to the fall of humanity from the presence of a holy God who cannot tolerate imperfection and forever condemned them for their total depravity.  Therefore, much sacrifice would be required to appease the wrath of God, setting the stage for humanity’s need of someone who could save them from their sins.  Christianity names Jesus as that savior and views his horrific death as a final sacrifice to ransom the captives from the grip of sin forevermore.  This view made a lot of sense to an ancient people who were very comfortable with the idea of sacrificing birds and sheep and bulls as a way to insure that God still welcomed them.  For most of humanity living today, however, this doesn’t resonate or relate as much.  While there is surely room for this interpretation when appreciated in context, it doesn’t do much for me, and in fact is so riddled with problems that I cringe whenever this interpretation is referenced.  Thank God it wasn’t the original interpretation of the story, and therefore need not be the only perspective worth considering.

            Appreciated through the lens of ancient Eastern culture (which is the fertile ground in which Judaism took root), the story of Adam and Eve’s fruitful garden chapter isn’t one about the fall of humanity, but actually about normal, natural maturing.  Adam and Eve were safely cocooned in their bubble, were given very clear instructions, and their mettle was tested by a common antagonist found in literature from antiquity: a serpent.  The snake wasn’t to blame here – it was merely asking questions which served to display Adam and Eve’s desire to be grown-ups.  This is every human’s story.

            Also part of every human’s story when significant decisions are made, even if for good? Loss.  Innocence was lost.  A sense of security was lost.  The freedom of running around naked without anybody caring – lost.  Complete vulnerability and transparency was also lost.  Loss of ease also resulted, as well as a loss of protection from some forms of pain.  Realize that the story itself gives us a hint that they were on their way to this moment.  Something was up between Adam and Eve – they weren’t as close as they could have been – were they beginning to grow apart or more greatly individuate in some way?  When the tempter came, neither bothered to offer or ask for assistance.  

This story is about coming of age.  It was told to kids from early on so that they would know that this was part of being human.  It was part of the Jewish storyline as well, reminding the Israelites that this was their story as a people, too – all of Genesis should be viewed as such.  Knowing that loss would come with maturity would be helpful for those who knew it, even as they might be excited about the good future ahead.  Being aware early on that loss is part of the deal would help people recognize it, own it, and hopefully process it.

We have all been kicked out of the nest this past year.  The snake’s name is COVID-19, and it has tested us.  Our individual and collective character has been seen for what it is, and it’s a mixed review.  We have all lost a lot.  What losses have you experienced over the past year?  How many can you name?

I asked my friend, Jim, to offer some insights here to know whether or not we are dealing with loss and therefore grief.  He noted several things in our discussion, some of which I resonated with quite a bit.  The things that he noted are symptoms that something more may be at play – I think that thing is grief.  We may lack energy.  We may have lost resolve.  We might feel unshakably sad.  We may be eating too much.  We may spend the entire day (or week?) in our pajamas.  We may find it hard to exercise.  We may be more irritable than normal.  Things we used to really enjoy don’t seem as enjoyable.  We may feel stressed a lot of the time. We may find ourselves with less emotional reserves than before, which means we might find ourselves in conflict more than previously.  The list of symptoms is long.  What symptoms of dealing with loss and grief have you been experiencing?  If you aren’t sure, ask someone close to you if they see any of the above showing up in you.

Perhaps a good first step in Spring Cleaning is to simply recognize that there’s some stuff that needs to be addressed.  Perhaps we need to admit that we’ve been grieving and may not have known it.

The way Christianity portrays the “Fall” story is that Adam and Eve get punished – banished forevermore from the Garden of Eden.  What is often overlooked is that while they couldn’t re-enter the womb, they weren’t without the help and love of God.  God was in the womb, but God was also outside of it.  God cared for Adam and Eve in paradise, and God was also with them as they left it.  God was as much in Eden as God was East of it.  The very good news told to Jewish children and to a listening Israel was that God truly cared enough to look after them and assure them that they could make it.  It wouldn’t be easy.  There would be pain and struggle.  But they could flourish.  And they did.

You and I and all of humanity may have been in an Eden of sorts without knowing it.  It was called pre-pandemic.  We’ve been kicked out of that reality for a year now, and it has been filled with loss of many kinds.  We need to remember that grieving well is very good for us if we will have it, if we will honor it.  And we need to remember that God has not forgotten us or left us on our own without hope.  The Spirit of God, the Divine Feminine – She will mother us in the best sense of the word and will love us forward.

May you become fully aware of the losses you have endured so that you might grieve more consciously and intentionally.  May you know that leaving Eden is simply part of life.  May you know that God is with you no matter what space you are in, and that She is loving, kind, nurturing, and supporting. Always.

Colorfully

Note: You can watch this teaching on CrossWalk’s YouTube channel.

Today I finish out the Colorful series which tapped into biblical history and US history to guide our thoughts regarding how we think about others in our community – particularly African Americans.  I revealed some pieces of my personal history regarding family racism and prejudice, we took a look at an example of Jesus’ prejudice which was formed by his upbringing (racism is both caught and taught), we examined a sermon Jesus gave which championed inclusion (he was nearly killed for suggesting it), and last week we reminded ourselves of how far the early church shifted given Paul’s instruction that in Christ there is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female (and whatever other binaries we might come up with).  We close today by examining four stories.  The first simply because it provides deep backstory for Jewish people, especially on this day which celebrates the Jewish holiday, Purim, honoring Queen Esther’s courageous role in saving her people from the pogrom of Haman.  The three other stories are from the early days of Christianity.  I link you to the text below – I hope you’ll read the stories for yourself.  I also offer some thoughts and questions related to each component.

            Esther.  Antisemitism has been with humanity a very, very long time.  This particular story hails from the mid-300’s BCE.  It is meant to be read like a novella.  Grab a lovely beverage and enjoy it!  Then ask some questions...

1.     What prompted Esther to put her life on the line? 

2.     What would prompt us to stick our necks out?  

3.     What do you imagine went through her mind as she considered what was happening and what she could do?  

4.     Try and place yourself in her story and imagine her emotional roller coaster, the reaction of others, the fear of risking everything, and the joy of seeing her hopes realized.

Philip (Acts 8:26-40). This short scene from Philip’s life is quite provocative because it involves big-time inclusion of an African!  And, given his life story, it is also an early nod to intersectionality given the different category of inclusion that the Church is deeply divided over today: our LGBTQ neighbors.  What I love about Philip is that he just goes with what he senses God asking him to do: get on the road to Gaza, go walk near that official dude in the fancy carriage and see what happens...  Then the guy chooses to embrace the Good News of Jesus!  Then requests baptism!  And Philip just does it!  For a guy that would have been denied access to the Temple!

5.     Have you ever moved forward with such simple faith?

6.     What do you imagine that would have been like for Philip?

7.     What fears did he have to overcome?

8.     What do you think he thought about when the baptism request came?

9.     What else are you wondering about here?

Saul’s Transformation (Acts 9).  I love this story for so many reasons.  Here is a devout guy who is extremely confident in his view of these Jesus-following Jews – they are wrong and need to be stopped before they direct more people down the “wrong” path.  He was zealous for their demise.  On his way to Damascus to round up some of these apostates, he was stopped in his tracks by a mystical experience – a blinding light from the heavens identifying as Jesus!  The experience blinded Saul – or was he blind before but now he knew it?  He was led to Damascus where he was eventually cared for by Ananias – one of the folks Saul was going to arrest!  Now he had to trust him with his life!  God healed Saul’s blindness through the prayerful work of Ananias and immediately joined the ranks of Jesus followers, eventually changing his name to Paul to appeal to the Gentile people.

10.  What do you imagine shaped Saul’s prejudice?

11.  What do you suppose went through Saul’s mind when he had his mystical experience?

12.  What do you suppose Saul made of his blindness?

13.  What do you think went through his mind when we learned that Ananias was his caregiver?

14.  What do you think Ananias went through in this process?

Peter and Cornelius (Acts 10).  Here we find hungry (and hangry?) Peter, given a vision about food which was really about what was clean and unclean according to God’s covenant with Israel.  Peter knew the answers, yet God was making it plain that the rules had now changed.  God also made it clear that it wasn’t just about food – it was about creating a table big enough for all people.  Peter follows along, his prejudice in full view every step of the way.  By the end of the story, Peter finds himself welcoming these Gentiles into the Christian community with baptism!

15.  What do you think Peter was feeling when he was told by God that the tradition he had honored his entire life was no longer valid? What would this imply about the nature of God?  What about the nature of faith?  Have you ever been in a similar crisis of faith when you sensed God was doing something new even though it was counter to former ways of understanding things?

16.  What sort of attitude do you imagine Peter had when he went into a home full of people he couldn’t stand?

17.  What did it take for Peter to loosen up and welcome these people into the faith?  What does this suggest about why prejudice is so hard to shake for human beings?

18.  How are you like Peter when it comes to the prejudices you hold?

Colorful You and Me.  It appears to me that there are some patterns we can learn from in these stories.  In each there is a certain level of discomfort, even if it is to simply hit the road for reasons yet unknown.  Most people don’t change or shift unless their level of discontent is greater than their comfort.  Few are proactive.  That’s not great news for those who want to see the world change by end of day tomorrow! 

This series has been heavy for a number of people.  For some it has been really annoying, and they are really glad it’s nearly over.  Why the discomfort?  Where is it coming from?  In light of what we’ve been working through, which of the four characters do you resemble in this season of your life?  Perhaps there are bits and pieces of each of them that resonate with you?

Remember, Jesus struggled with this stuff – that means we should expect to struggle as well, even if we don’t want to admit it even to ourselves (why is that?).  Remember, too, that Jesus sensed that the Spirit of God that anointed him was leading toward greater and greater inclusivity and mutual respect which is sometimes difficult to pull off.  If you call yourself a Jesus follower, it means that we strive to follow Jesus even if we don’t like parts of the journey.  The salvation he brought is a package deal – you don’t become more wholly well, more filled with shalom by picking only the parts of the Jesus buffet you know you like.  Guess what?  Dealing with existing inequality and inequity by recognizing it, calling it out, and doing what we can to remedy it is on the menu for good.

So, we can either embrace it and decide to milk it for all it’s worth, allowing it to grow us in ways we didn’t know we needed and thus becoming more wonderfully whole and well, or we can drag our feet, get grumpy, throw fits, stomp our feet, and basically become worse than roadblocks to the redemptive work God is always doing.  When we choose this, we are worse than an anchor slowing progress; we misrepresent the Jesus we claim to follow and serve to cause others to question whether or not we really need to follow Jesus fully.  Even worse, for those who know little about the Way of Jesus, we leave them with the impression that Jesus must not give a rip about really significant issues that tear humanity apart – he’s only relevant for the afterlife.  When we choose this path (even if by apathy), we become complicit with all the forces that keep our world from being the beautiful creation it can be for all people.  Please don’t do that.

Be colorful instead.  Choose to stretch your mind, wear out your knees in service, humbly pursue justice while loving mercy and extending grace.  Stay connected to God using all the spiritual practices that make sense for your evolving seasons of life.  Don’t be suckered by the American Lone Ranger lie that life is mostly an individual pursuit for happiness.  Instead, choose to love each other and all your neighbors well.  Jesus assured us that when we follow the Way that it will lead to an abundance of life.  Our choosing the Way by giving ourselves to it does not drain our resources but rather ties us into the living water which never runs out.

The world needs Jesus followers who actually, joyfully follow Jesus.  This is a daily choice that leads to life.  Will you choose to follow Jesus fully?

Don’t have a clue what to do?  Check out this article that will probably offer something.

Colorful US

Note: You can watch this teaching on CrossWalk’s YouTube channel.

I invite you to take a slow look at the following timeline regarding Black History in the United States. I linked two additional sites with more historical stuff as well. The highlighted entries are ones I touched on in my teaching.

Questions to think about…

What do you imagine has been the cumulative impact of attitudes and behaviors toward African Americans given the historical record? How do you suppose racism may have influenced laws that were written, as well as laws that were enforced and others that were ignored? What does it say that there was such a flurry of court activity in the 1950’s and 1960’s? Why did it take so long to address obvious freedoms granted by the 13th Amendment that were not really enjoyed by African Americans? What might the impact have been if, for a century, black Americans in the South were not able to vote for leaders they thought represented their voice? What do you think has been the impact of an educational system that still disproportionately favors white Americans over black? How might the historical lack of opportunity for educational, employment , and property ownership contribute to inequality and also serve to fulfill a prophecy of ongoing negative sentiment toward black Americans? If we equal success with educational achievement, good employment with good earning potential, and property ownership, what happens if an entire people group is not given the same chance? How does that feed into and perpetuate classic attitudes of prejudice toward African Americans?

Racism in America was poured into our country’s foundation in 1619, deeming non-whites as “less than”. The decisions made based on this underlying paradigm is what led to what we can now identify as systemic racism. It didn’t happen overnight, and it will not change overnight. As Jesus followers, however, we are called to do our part to insure that all of God’s children are equally loved, expressed by truly equal access to all that God has for their flourishing.

African American History Timeline: 1619 - 2008 

1619 The first African American indentured servants arrive in the American colonies. Less than a decade later, the first slaves are brought into New Amsterdam (later, New York City). By 1690, every colony has slaves. 

1739 The Stono Rebellion, one of the earliest slave revolts, occurs in Stono, South Carolina. 

1793 Eli Whitney’s (1765 – 1825) cotton gin increases the need for slaves. 

1808 Congress bans further importation of slaves. 

1831 In Boston, William Lloyd Garrison (1805 – 1879) begins publication of the anti-slavery newspaper the Liberator and becomes a leading voice in the Abolitionist movement. 

1831 – 1861 Approximately 75,000 slaves escape to the North using the Underground Railroad. 

1846 Ex-slave Frederick Douglass (1818 – 1895) publishes the anti-slavery North Star newspaper. 

1849  Harriet Tubman (c. 1820 – 1913) escapes from slavery and becomes an instrumental leader of the Underground Railroad. 

1850  Congress passes another Fugitive Slave Act, which mandates government participation in the capture of escaped slaves. 

Boston citizens, including some of the wealthiest, storm a federal courthouse in an attempt to free escaped Virginia slave Anthony Burns (1834 – 1862). 

1857 The Dred Scot v. Sanford case: congress does not have the right to ban slavery in the states; slaves are not citizens.

1860  Abraham Lincoln (1809 – 1865) is elected president, angering the southern states. 

1861  The Civil War begins. 

1863 Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation proclaims that all slaves in rebellious territories are forever free. 

1865 The Civil War ends. Lincoln is assassinated. The 13th Amendment to the Constitution, prohibiting slavery, is ratified. The era of Reconstruction begins. 

1866 The “Black Codes” are passed by all white legislators of the former Confederate States. Congress passes the Civil Rights Act, conferring citizenship on African Americans and granting them equal rights to whites. The Ku Klux Klan is formed in Tennessee. 

1868 The 14th Amendment is ratified, defining citizenship. This overturns the Dred Scot decision. 

1870 The 15th Amendment is ratified, giving African Americans the right to vote. 

1877 The era of Reconstruction ends. A deal is made with southern democratic leaders which makes Rutherford B. Hayes (1822 – 1893) president in exchange for the withdrawal of federal troops from the South and puts an end to efforts to protect the civil rights of African Americans.

1879 Thousands of African Americans migrate out of the South to escape oppression.

1881 Tennessee passes the first of the “Jim Crow” segregation laws, segregating state railroads. Similar laws are passed over the next 15 years throughout the Southern states. 

1896  Plessy v. Ferguson case: racial segregation is ruled constitutional by the Supreme Court. The “Jim Crow” (“separate but equal”) laws begin, barring African Americans from equal access to public facilities.

1954  Brown v. Board of Education case: strikes down segregation as unconstitutional.

1955  In Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks (1913 – 2005) is arrested for breaking a city ordinance by refusing to give up her seat on a public bus to a white man. This defiant act gives initial momentum to the Civil Rights Movement. 

1957 Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929 – 1968) and others set up the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, a leading engine of the Civil Rights Movement. 

1964  The Civil Rights Act is signed, prohibiting discrimination of all kinds. 

1965  The Voting Rights Act is passed, outlawing the practices used in the South to disenfranchise African American voters.

1967  Edward W. Brooke (1919 - ) becomes the first African American U.S. Senator since Reconstruction. He serves two terms as a Senator from Massachusetts. 

1968  Martin Luther King, Jr. is assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. 

2008 Barack Obama (1961 - ) becomes the first African American to win the U.S. presidential race. 

Timeline of the Civil Rights Movement in the US

Timeline of African American History

Colorful Napa

Note: You can watch this teaching on CrossWalk’s YouTube channel.

Napa’s history was first remembered by indigenous people who lived in Napa Valley and beyond for thousands of years before they would be introduced to the advanced military of Mexico, and along with it the notion of land ownership.  Over time, the Mexican government would be subdued by the United States and those who were granted land.  Catholic missions were introduced as well, although the Good News they claimed to share often felt more like subjugation. Time passed, and so did the likes of General Vallejo and Chief Solano.  Eventually, nearly all of the indigenous peoples of Napa County were pushed north into Lake County, where they were far enough away to not cause the settlers any significant trouble.  As the California gold rush made headlines, people came to California from all over the United States and abroad – including China.  African Americans found their way to Napa by sea and land and settled.  Over time, however, they would find themselves leaving Napa Valley due to lack of opportunity – the color of their skin made it virtually impossible to run a business or hold a job with a future.  Chinese settlers experienced the same fate and moved away. Migrant workers were welcome for the most part, until some in politics deemed them a threat to American jobs. Even to this day, the majority of vineyard workers are Latinx.  Their standard of living is not yet equal to their Caucasian counterparts, but not because of any lack of effort on their part.  There is something deeper at work.  To learn more, watch an interview with Napa historian Alexandria Brown.

            The story of Napa raises questions for me: what were the causes of the inhospitable atmosphere in Napa toward people of color?  Why the hostility?  This reminds me of a story from Jesus’ life where he experienced severe hostility from a group that knew him his whole life – the fine folk from Nazareth:

Then Jesus returned to Galilee, filled with the Holy Spirit’s power. Reports about him spread quickly through the whole region. He taught regularly in their synagogues and was praised by everyone.

When he came to the village of Nazareth, his boyhood home, he went as usual to the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read the Scriptures. The scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where this was written:

“The Spirit of the LORD is upon me,

for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released,

that the blind will see,

that the oppressed will be set free,

and that the time of the LORD’s favor has come.”

He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. All eyes in the synagogue looked at him intently. Then he began to speak to them. “The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!”

Everyone spoke well of him and was amazed by the gracious words that came from his lips. “How can this be?” they asked. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”

Then he said, “You will undoubtedly quote me this proverb: ‘Physician, heal yourself’—meaning, ‘Do miracles here in your hometown like those you did in Capernaum.’ But I tell you the truth, no prophet is accepted in his own hometown.

“Certainly there were many needy widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the heavens were closed for three and a half years, and a severe famine devastated the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them. He was sent instead to a foreigner—a widow of Zarephath in the land of Sidon. And many in Israel had leprosy in the time of the prophet Elisha, but the only one healed was Naaman, a Syrian.”

When they heard this, the people in the synagogue were furious. Jumping up, they mobbed him and forced him to the edge of the hill on which the town was built. They intended to push him over the cliff, but he passed right through the crowd and went on his way. – Luke 4:14-30 | NLT

            What the heck happened here?  They were willing to kill Jesus simply for reminding them of their own history and the fact that it might be repeating?  And then they fulfill his very words?  Jesus’ words triggered their not-too-covert prejudice and racism toward non-Jewish people. The hatred’s origin went back centuries, was apparently endorsed by God, and fueled by their multiple-centuries-long occupation by foreign oppressors.  They believed they were God’s chosen people dating back to Abraham.  They believed God was bigger than geographical boundaries – a novel idea in the ancient world.  They believed God called them to be special, instructing them to take by force the Promised Land (even if at the expense of incalculable numbers of innocents).  They believed that at times they failed to live up to their end of the covenant, but God always kept God’s side of the covenant.  Even though they wanted a king (which was against God’s direction), God worked with them for centuries anyway.  God, through the prophets, warned them against neglecting the practice of their faith as the beginning of their end, but Israel ignored the call.  Eventually and predictably, their actions caught up with them.  Their kingdom was divided in half, and eventually they would lose their Promised Land to foreign oppressors – three different empires over several centuries.  Yet they still believed that they were God’s chosen people, and that God would redeem them through an anointed leader (Messiah) at some point.  In the meantime, their disdain for non-Jewish people exponentially increased as they awaited redemption.

            Jesus’ hometown teaching pointed a spotlight on errant thinking held by his longtime friends, prejudice that grew over time, was enculturated, codified, and even celebrated among the Jews.  

            Could it be that a similar phenomenon has taken place in the United States that has shown up in our Nazareth?  I don’t know any white people who can identify the development of their own prejudice, if they will even recognize it.  Is it possible that realized racism exists, that what we are being told by the voices of people of color, our own history, our own legal battles, our own statistics, our own current areas of inequality and inequity – are true?  Will we have ears to hear, or will we make like the faithful in Nazareth and prefer to kill the messenger?