All In

Last week I spent a lot of time reflecting on a sermon that I told on February 22. The main illustration in that story was my own experience as an adolescent, considering a jump from a hayloft on my grandfather's farm.

I sat there for what must have been hours, considering carefully the
age-old question: to jump or not to jump. It was a beautiful day, and I
had nothing but time. It was mid summer. The northern Michigan
hardwoods in full green. The fallow fields of grasses swaying in the
wind. Two cows - black and white - grazing in the pasture. Earlier
that week they had been my bbgun targets. They seemed not to mind - the
sting from a horsefly (why didn't they call them cowflies?) posing a
more startling irritation than the gentle thwack of a bb.
(Incidentally, a bbgun will do a lot more damage to the window of a 57 Chevy
pickup than it will to a cow's hide). I sat on the weathered wood
with my legs dangling over the edge, considering the possibilities for failure
in my leap of faith. I could catch my pants on a nail or splinter.
The impact might break my leg. I could twist an ankle on a hidden
rock. I could end up with a mouth full of cow manure. I considered,
too, the prospects of glory: Having done it; having overcome some
fear; flying for a few brief moments; bragging rights with my brother;
knowing that I would add some measure of legitimacy to my pursuit of
my grandfather's heroic childhood tales.

At the first service, I told the congregation the outcome of my boyhood adventure, but at the second service, I omitted the final detail - did I jump or not? I left them hanging - unintentionally. On the way out of the service, at least 25 people asked me whether I jumped or not, and several waited more than a week with the question still with them.

Unfortunately, however, the sermon was not primarily about my boyhood leap. It was a faith analogy - and quite an obvious one at that. Now I know that the hearers are intelligent people, and the analogy wasn't lost on their ears. But isn't it a powerful commentary how we take such great interest in the heroic (or foolish) adventures of others, as distractions from answering our own hard questions?

So many people that day commented with a knowing grin, "So I just have to ask you, did you jump?" And in retrospect, my reply ought to have been, "You tell me first. In your faith journey, have you gone all in? Have you weighed the options and taken the leap, come what may? If you won't tell me, I won't tell you."

Mark 11:27 and following says,

They arrived again in Jerusalem, and while Jesus
was walking in the temple courts, the chief priests, the teachers of the law
and the elders came to him. "By what authority are you doing these
things?" they asked. "And who gave you authority to do
this?"

Jesus replied, "I will ask you one question. Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. John's baptism -- was it from heaven, or from men?
Tell me!"

They discussed it among themselves and said, "If we say, "From heaven, he will ask, "Then why didn't you believe him? But if we say, 'rom Men' . . . " (they feared the people, for everyone held that John really was a prophet.)

So they answered Jesus, "We don't know."

Jesus said, "Neither will I tell you by what
authority I am doing these things."

There's something about committing to the journey before the treasures of faith are revealed. The Fellowship of the Ring wouldn't have existed without Frodo's leap. Neo wouldn't have been able to discover the secrets of the Matrix without choosing the pill of no return. Kate Winslett's character on the Titanic wouldn't have tasted the fullness of life had she not gone below decks to dance with the fiddlers. We won't discover the fullness God has to offer without coming down off the fence, without leaping from our figurative haylofts.

Grace and Peace,
Ed

Many thanks for the photo, entitled "MJ Jumps" by Anna Pieka Valentine, used by permission. http://www.flickr.com/photos/annapiekavalentine/2934256901/

Uncomfortable Flight

Jesus, long ago, was baptized by John in the Jordan. It was a glorious event, with the Gospel recording the heavens opened and the voice of God speaking. But Jesus couldn’t get very comfortable following his baptism. He was led, rather, driven into the wilderness immediately following.
I don’t think God ever lets us get too comfortable. We try to get as comfortable as possible, but spiritually, comfort leads to complacency, and complacent is not really in God’s vocabulary.

TD Jakes says it this way in his book, Before You Do: Making Decisions You Won't Regret (TDJ Enterprises, Atria Books, New York, 2008, p. 186):

"The writer in Deuteronomy says that God stirs up our lives like an eagle stirs her nest. Maybe you’ve been watching Animal Planet more than I have, but let me share what I’ve learned about how mother eagles move their young to maturation. She rearranges her nest, the safe little haven she’s built as a nursery for her brood, so that it becomes as uncomfortable as possible. Why would a mother treat her children this way? She doesn’t want a nest full of dysfunctional birds who cannot move beyond where they began. She knows that if her babies stay in the nest, not only do they miss fulfilling their potential, but they also become an easy target for larger scavengers."

That leads me to ponder my own baptism, and to ponder the spiritual restlessness that I often feel. I wonder in what direction God might be inviting me to travel through the wilderness.

How about you?

Do we dare take on Gaza?

A friend sent an email this week asking for my thoughts, as a Methodist minister, on the Israeli-Palestinian crisis in Gaza.
So many thoughts swirl around my mind - I make no claim to the rightness or wrongness of them. I hope to continue to be influenced and educated on the nuances of the situation. Nonetheless, there are some perspectives from which I've given the issue thought in conversations with Jon and on my own:

-- As for the biblical witness, Israel has been coexisting with other religions and persons since their original inception. The issue of what to do with other religions in your midst is treated with a wide range of responses in the Hebrew scripture.
--The Bible reports that the Promised Land was conquered by Israel in the time after Moses, and it was reclaimed by force after World War II. Israel (and Judah) were conquered and reconquered throughout their history; they've been on the giving and receiving end of hostile takeovers.
--Americans don't have much moral ground to stand on here, as the nation as we know it was taken by force and coercion, too. Much of our projection of force in the 20th and 21st Centuries has been in the name of spreading democratic or capitalistic values, often in response to 'unacceptable' incursions into regions of our national interest.
--That said, a HUGE part of the Hebrew scripture is concerned with self-criticism of abuses of power, violence, and other atrocities. The excesses of other countries military strategies are also criticized by God speaking through the prophets.
--The treatment of aliens is an important theme in Torah and the Writings and Prophetic tradition. Aliens, persons with no political power in your midst, are often given equal status with Jewish widows an orphans.
--I would dare say that modern Israel functions and behaves as a political state guided by a parliament and government, not a theocracy, as was envisioned by many of the biblical writings. While some of God's promises are independent of the quality of religious observance by God's people, the vast majority assume that the people of God uphold their end of the covenant with devotion to God and not the state.
--Christians ought to be very cautious about making specific interpretations of apocalyptic prophesy that apply to this conflict at this point in time. Despite the caution, every age has appropriated Revelations and other prophetic words to their own time and situation. I believe that the only thing that makes today closer to the second coming or the end of days is that we live in chronological time - in the same way that I'm one day closer to my next birthday than I was yesterday.
--Jesus had very little to say to nations. So did Paul, for that matter. Just War theory is an ethical construction and one of many interpretive perspectives put forward on the relationships between nations by serious christian thinkers. Pacifism is another such ethical construction with equal, if not superior, merit based upon New Testament writings. That said, I think one would be more easily found huddling in a basement Gaza apartment with cowering innocents, than in the turret of an Israeli tank.
--Radical grace and forgiveness will be necessary to break the deadlock over who gets the land and how. Nations are not very good at either.

Hopefully I'll get the chance to elaborate on these topics in the coming days.

Ed

Congratulations to Mike

My dear friend, Mike Comes At Night, a member of the Blackfeet nation, just finished his coursework on his way to becoming a teacher. It's a long time dream come true for him, and I'm very happy for him and proud of him.

Interview with Teka

Here's an interview with a woman in Jamaica, talking about typical life up in the hills surrounding Montego Bay

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i77j6takbX4

Kenton's Call

Remember Kenton - the rafting guide at Lethe? He called me today while I was on my way to the Adult Fellowship Christmas feast in the fellowship hall. He said things aren't going so good. The rafting company, which wasn't doing great anyway, actually had to shut down for two weeks. That puts a guide like him in a tough spot - with no money and even less food.

He said his kids are OK - living with their grandmother. One of them goes to a private school. The government doesn't provide food at private schools, though.

He's tried getting work in Montego Bay before, but he's not qualified - not enough education (remember Doris' son, who had a degree in Elec Engineering from Great Britain, and still couldn't get work? It's undoubtedly worse for a guy who probably didn't finish high school). Anyway, he didn't ask for anything. He was just sharing, although in his not asking he was begging for help with a little food or something. What else but desperation would prompt a call all the way to the states to talk about a situation so bleak? I'm reminded of the call I made to Teka a year ago this week, asking how it was, and finding out that there was no food in the house - and hadn't been for quite some time.

Dominos. When business isn't good, the company doesn't operate. When teh company doesn't operate, daddy doesn't work. When daddy doesn't work, the kids have to move away or not eat, either. All that on my way to a luncheon in which the leftovers would probably feed he and his family for more than a week. I tell you, shadow-walking hurts your feet sometimes.

Anyway, I'm reminded how far $40 or $50 would go if it were wired to somebody like him. Maybe a little bit of light in a dim world.

Dominos. Listening to stories, doing what we can, leads to a dynamic friendship that shatters the lingering static and stereotyped souveniers from tourist visits. This connection is uncomfortable, prompting those with listening ears to re-orient themselves, to live into the hope that maybe a little bit of caring action as the body of Christ can change a life. God only knows what Kenton can offer the world that his poverty keeps him from offering.

Sunday Night Musings - Jamaican style

Sunday, October 26
Joan, and her daughter Teka. Teka has five children. Her cousin has a few more. Her other cousin, a few more, including a two month old named VJ. Twelve children, one house. Teka’s brother was killed when he fell from the bucket of a utility truck a couple years ago. Teka’s uncle has had two recent strokes. Teka is the only real income amongst a family of 18 in that house.
She works in a supermarket, in the bakery. There is no water cistern at the house, except two large rain barrels. There is no fresh water cistern. When the nearby spring goes dry, or the pipe of municipal water breaks, theer might not be any water for some time. They didn’t know what they would eat that night. This is Teka’s “blank week”. She gets paid every two weeks with a salary that only lasts one week. Two times a month, there is no food. Teka gets four days off this week, because Friday she collapsed at work and had to be taken to the emergency room. Low blood pressure. They wrote her a prescription for medicine. She must get it in Montego Bay. Getting there takes money. How will you pay for it? Well, I don’t know, she says.
The baby daddy doesn’t come around. He doesn’t pay for any support of the kids. Is that a good thing or a bad thing, that he doesn’t come around? Mostly a good thing, because when he comes around, he demands sex in return for anything he might give. We don’t know for sure, but it wouldn’t surprise me to learn that Teka wasn’t really wanting 5 children.
Paul, our driver, says he only has 1 boy – a teenager. He says he wanted only 1 so that he could raise them right – so he would be able to afford them. Paul is a rare soul.
I was bothered this morning by our morning meal. There was more food on our table than Teka and Little had in their possession to feed 18 children and 8 adults. I think that sums up the need pretty well.
When you start talking about needs, two subjects quickly emerge. 1) The enormity of the needs, and 2) the limitations in addressing it. A third subject, which may be a subset of limitations, is the issue of socio-economic relativity. How much is enough? Is it ‘enough’ assistance to restore a house to having no leaks? Or is it enough to build a home to North Raleigh standards, or even Mrs. Moore’s standards? These are issues we will need to wrestle with.
Where do we focus our assistance? Here is a common sense hierarchy based upon my observations:
Water – for drinking, bathing, and washing
Food – calories, nutrition, preparation
Clothing – adequate amount, replacement, washing
Shelter – security, elemental protection, social space, cooking space, resting space
Family – Safety, boundaries, sharing, encouragement
Health Care – Medicine, Dr., Diagnosis, Treatment, Prevention
Education – enough said
Income – skills, money, time away from working
Spiritual – church, prayer, learning
Community – support, encouragement, greater resources, laws, protection, sharing
Government – infrastructure (schools, roads), justice, provision

Some High Schools have agriculture teachers who operate farms and gardens as teaching tools.
Mrs. Moore bought 30 eggs for $40 Jamaican, but eggs are not a typical part of the Jamaican diet – they are high in cholesterol and ‘you’ve got to watch the color’. Even so, 30 eggs cost about 60 cents US.
Mr. Hugh Johnson, a member of the church in Hopewell, is a choir man, a Men’s ministry leader – he’s a welder, and he has grown boys. They get together on holidays once a year at a reunion. He used to work at the bauxite mine as an aluminum welder. Now he does ironwork and repairs. Arc and oxycetalene welding. He says a skilled tradesman makes roughly 10K Jamaican per month. Unskilled, maybe 4-5000. Minimum wage is 3000 per month. Hospitality/reception industry – 6000, cleaning – 4000.
Reverend Joseph, the deacon, works primarily in Lethe. She lives at the Bethel parsonage. She worked regularly at the home in Copse – West Haven.
Mrs. Moore knows the tax administrator – he is a circuit steward and goes to Bethel.

She showed Celeste the garden today. She also arranged for the youth to come and speak to us. They want us to make a tape and send it to them of our youth.

She spoke at length with us, talking and laughing. Her husband likes the house, she loves the neighborhood, but would like a smaller place. This is too much to take care of.
Joyce has a friend who told us Joyce is struggling. The husband doesn’t help much. Joyce works hard for little pay.

Mrs. Moore told us that Nicholas came from very poor situation, has a learning disability, struggles in school.

At church this morning, Rev. Joseph preached about how the church must change to create welcoming environment for the youth, or we will lose a generation. She also said anyone over 70 is on borrowed time – don’t waste it. When we see the destruction, lay it at the feet of the almighty. She asked individuals to quote their favorite Psalms, into a microphone. I did the Youth sermon. I talked about being afraid of the Shark I saw in the ocean last year, I asked them what they are afraid of – insects, snakes, and lizards. I told them about the gunshot last year that we heard during church. I used Psalm 27:1-4, the Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear?

We bought groceries for Mrs. Irving and Teka’s family. Hopefully we can get more “Tings” tomorrow.

Tonight we gathered on the roof for a cool breeze and plenty of stars. What a blessing.