St. Patrick's Breastplate

As I arise today,

may the strength of God pilot me,

the power of God uphold me,

the wisdom of God guide me.

May the eye of God look before me,

the ear of God hear me,

the word of God speak for me.

May the hand of God protect me,

the way of God lie before me,

the shield of God defend me,

the host of God save me.

May Christ shield me today.

Christ with me, Christ before me,

Christ behind me,

Christ in me, Christ beneath me,

Christ above me,

Christ on my right, Christ on my left,

Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit,

Christ when I stand,

Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,

Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,

Christ in every eye that sees me,

Christ in every ear that hears me.

I arise today

Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,

Through belief in the threeness,

Through confession of the oneness,

Of the Creator of Creation.

Amen.

I am a Son of God.

Covered in Manure

One of my favorite movies scenes occurs near the beginning of Les Miserables. The main character, Jean Valjean, a convict, steals from and attacks the bishop who offered his home to the wandering stranger. When the authorities catch Valjean and bring him back to the bishop, the bishop actually testifies that he gave Valjean everything and insists that he take the silver candlesticks as well. Valjean is undone in this totally unrequested act of forgiveness. In his confusion he looks at the bishop and asks why he is doing this. The bishop responds, "Jean Valjean, my brother, you no longer belong to evil. With this silver, I've bought your soul. I’ve ransomed you from fear and hatred. And now I give you back to God."

In this season of Lent, I have both failed miserably and yet also seen moderate success in my attempts to speak with a good tongue. So much of what I am learning is found not in specific commands but in the everyday language of Jesus as he travels to Jerusalem. Just as Jesus is preparing for the events of the Passion week, I too am preparing. Jesus has taught me the humility and community-creating power of asking questions and being silent, the commonality in which we are to approach our God in prayer, and the freedom found in not boasting. Most of this has been seen in his stories, his parables. These illustrious stories often cause deep reflection and even shock despite their simple garb. One such parable is found in Luke 13:6-9:

Then he told them a story: "A man had an apple tree planted in his front yard. He came to it expecting to find apples, but there weren't any.He said to his gardener, 'What's going on here? For three years now I've come to this tree expecting apples and not one apple have I found. Chop it down! Why waste good ground with it any longer?'"The gardener said, 'Let's give it another year. I'll dig around it and fertilize,and maybe it will produce next year; if it doesn't, then chop it down.'"

Here Jesus is teaching us to not do something. So much of what Jesus commands involves action and this appeals to us, it feeds our sense of control and power, but here Jesus is teaching us that patience and waiting should define our relationships with those who "waste good ground." A recent book has come out by a prominent pastor that before it even reached publication caused some to decry him a heretic and to bid him farewell from the community of God. Yet despite the validity of these claims, Jesus seems to warn against our swift judgments, even against judgments based on years of observance. We are to not be so swift to chop it down, chop him down, chop each other down. The gardener's response "let it be" is the same Greek word Jesus uses when he himself is chopped down and nailed to a cross, "forgive them." Too often in life we desire the role of judge, jury, and even executioner. We leave little room for God, let alone forgiveness. Perhaps we should heed the gardener's advise and give it a year, spread it with manure. It is hard work, undesirable work, but desperately needed work. In the process we cover each other in manure, in forgiveness. 

Interestingly enough, in both of these examples, the one being forgiven has done little if nothing at all to deserve it. The tree is barren and, if a tree could be such a thing, unrepentant. Jesus prays for us all as our horrible choices and voices were responsible for his death. It is our very ignorance of our error that gives the cause to Jesus' pronouncement of grace, "forgive them, for they know not what they do." 

Perhaps it is not the ones I encounter day-to-day that need forgiveness so much as it is me. I am precise in my judgments on another, quick to tell anyone who will listen of the wrongs I have been wrought. What if I had the audacity, the patience, the grace to keep my mouth shut or better yet, to pronounce forgiveness. What if I was just as quick to tell the listening ear of my forgiveness, not in a boasting way but in a sincere and vulnerable way.

"I forgive you."

And in the midst of these simple words perhaps lives will change. Forgiveness not only frees the offender from the burden of his debt but also the victim from the burden of his own debt, hatred and pain. Forgiveness brings healing in a way no drug could hope to duplicate. Jean Valjean leaves that Bishop's presence a new man, given to God. He changes the lives of those around him sacrificing much for not only the noble but prostitutes and their daughters and ultimately it is his unceasing capacity for grace that breaks the hardest heart of all. Jesus looks out from his bloody brow and whispers a prayer that will and has changed us all. The one who will himself wipe away all of our tears, cries himself not for his pain but for our's. He is ever patient with us and is quick to tell anyone who will listen: "I forgive you, now go and do likewise."

Sounds good to me.

Questions of Silence

Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt. -Abraham Lincoln

I was born to talk. 

My dad, when he had enough of my rambling, would say to me, "you could talk the ears off a brass monkey." I'm not sure I knew exactly what that meant but I knew it was his way of telling me to shut up. I spent so much time in the principal's office for talking in class that the principal from the local high school where my mom taught thought I was the office assistant at the elementary. As I've grown older, I have learned that I am a verbal processor, that I have to talk things out to understand them better. This often looks like a spew of unrelated mutterings and apologizes as I chase rabbits only to realize that everything I was trying to say made no sense at all. See, processing.  And yet, it is in the act of speaking that I find myself most fully connected with others and even with God. This deep connection has forced me to contemplate how I use my words, to dig into the meaning and power of speech. One of the scriptures primary lessons on on how to speak is to not do it. The Teacher in Ecclesiastes warns that we are human and thus our words before God must be few. Jesus' brother James also commands us to be slow to utter a word, but instead to speed to listen. Jesus himself warns that merely calling someone a fool can bring fiery judgment upon us. But, as one born to talk, learning to be silent is rather hard. 

Jesus showed excellent skill in public speaking. His proclamation of ministry intent at the synagogue, the sermon on the mount, the sermon on the plain, the pronouncement of woes against hypocrisy, and his various parables all exemplify a person who not only had something rather valuable to say but also wielded the power to say it well. Yet there are these times when Jesus is oddly silent, especially before the Sanhedrin. With his life on the line, he offers no great rhetoric to prove his divinity or even his innocence but merely remains silent, save a few choice words. Even though I know the ending, that He must die, I still read that story and just want him to stand up and tell them off, but he remains silent. He had the wisdom to know that no matter what he said, the end would remain the same and so he used his silence as a witness.

But this scenario is not likely for my daily encounters. How did Jesus speak in his day-to-day conversations? One great example is found in Luke 10:

Just then a religion scholar stood up with a question to test Jesus. "Teacher, what do I need to do to get eternal life? 

He answered, "What's written in God's Law? How do you interpret it?" 

He said, "That you love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and muscle and intelligence-and that you love your neighbor as well as you do yourself." 

"Good answer!" said Jesus. "Do it and you'll live." 

Looking for a loophole, he asked, "And just how would you define 'neighbor'?" 

Jesus answered by telling a story. "There was once a man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. On the way he was attacked by robbers. They took his clothes, beat him up, and went off leaving him half-dead.Luckily, a priest was on his way down the same road, but when he saw him he angled across to the other side.Then a Levite religious man showed up; he also avoided the injured man."A Samaritan traveling the road came on him. When he saw the man's condition, his heart went out to him.He gave him first aid, disinfecting and bandaging his wounds. Then he lifted him onto his donkey, led him to an inn, and made him comfortable.In the morning he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, 'Take good care of him. If it costs any more, put it on my bill-I'll pay you on my way back.' 

"What do you think? Which of the three became a neighbor to the man attacked by robbers?" 

"The one who treated him kindly," the religion scholar responded. Jesus said, "Go and do the same."

Here we see a conversation dominated by questions. These are not integrating questions but ways of opening up, disarming one another. I recently watched a movie in which a teenage boy and girl try to get to know each other better and they play a game where they can only ask questions. The interesting thing is that it works, the questions spoke of a desire to not promote oneself but to know the other. Jesus here knows that the religious scholar wants to know what he's about and Jesus turns the question right back. Jesus seems less concerned about "preaching" the truth here as he is about connecting with this man. Even though Jesus speaks the most in this encounter, He never makes any commands other than supporting the conclusions the religious leader makes himself.  Jesus could have simply explained all this without the use of leading questions and story, but by doing so, He let himself be silent and listened to the answer that was already inside this man, and inside us all. 

In our conversations we should be quick to listen and slow to speak. And in so doing we may find less and less need to defend ourselves and our beliefs but to nurture the truth that is already in those around us. And just maybe, the act of listening will nurture the truth within us as well. The religious scholar challenged Jesus to find justification for how he treated his neighbor but in listening to Jesus' story he finds no defense of his definition of who his neighbor is, only a plea to be a neighbor. He finds not the answer to his question but the answer to a much more important one. And perhaps, he finds what he asked about in the beginning, eternal life.

What, I wonder, will we find?

Let My Words Be Few

As I continue to explore and practice a renewed speech ethic this Lenten season, I hope that scripture will guide my path (and my tongue). While I am learning about speech by studying how Jesus spoke, there are places where the scriptures speak directly about a framework that should support the use of our words.  Here is a sampling of these that merely refer to the tongue itself.

Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. Psalm 34:13


Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation,and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. Psalm 51:14


The tongue of the righteous is choice silver, Proverbs 10:20


There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts,but the tongue of the wise brings healing. Proverbs 12:18


Death and life are in the power of the tongue,and those who love it will eat its fruits. Proverbs 18:21


If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. James 1:21


Whoever desires to love life and see good days,let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; 1 Peter 3:10


Jesus came, among many reasons, to show us that our words were not the problem but our hearts that produce them. So, perhaps I am a bit misguided in my attempts to tame the tongue, for James says this is impossible. But we must also remember that nothing is impossible with God. Lent is a bit of a quandry when you think about it, we "do good" and "cease bad" so that we may be more like Christ? Is not the heart of the Gospel our utter lack of ability to save ourselves? Yet also in the heart of that same gospel is a plea to be changed. So perhaps the the greatest speech ethic I can learn this season is that of prayer.

My God, take this heart of stone and make it new. I am afraid of the chiseling you must do, but Lord do it please. Teach my heart to give worth to my words. Tame my tongue to not speak folly, lies, slander, and even death, but praise, joy, healing, and especially life. May Your Son, the Word of life give life to my words and defeat death in my heart. Thank you God that you have granted me, a man of unclean lips, the privalage to proclaim that you are holy, holy, holy. Amen

Fat Tuesday 2011-Tell it Slant

As the festivities on Bourbon street come to a halt in the wee hours of the morning, the few faithful will file into their local church to receive an ash cross upon their forehead as they enter the season of Lent. Although my Fat Tuesday lacks any of the pageantry of Mardis Gras, I still have a sense of excitement for this season in my life. Last year Michala and I were encouraged and challenged as we experimented with this thing called Lent. This year, I have bought into the idea of my local church to view this season not as a time of denial but of embrace. Instead of denying some random thing like chocolate in hopes that this will somehow deepen my connection to Jesus, I have decided to simply feast upon Him. This season I will not try to put out little fires of things I should not do, but to focus instead on the fire of God.

One of the primary ways that I hope to embrace God this season will be through a reading of Jesus' words, specifically his parables and prayers. I have enlisted Eugene Peterson's Tell it Slant to help me soak in the language of God, to listen to how the Living Word spoke. So each Thursday during Lent, I will post some insights, reflections, struggles, prayers, or stories that have been influenced by this time of embracing. I hope to honor God's words with my own words. The power of life and death reside in the tongue and I hope to align my words in a pattern of life-giving. Peterson senses the power of our words, especially in telling the Truth but that in the pattern of Jesus we see a truth-telling that was often gracious and gradual, a truth telling that embodied the idea behind this Emily Dickinson poem:

Tell all the Truth but tell it slant---

Success in Circuit lies

Too bright for our infirm Delight

The Truth's superb surprise

As Lightening to the Children eased

With explanation kind

The Truth must dazzle gradually

Or every man be blind---

I look forward to this season of embrace and I hope to engage you as well.

What is the Church? Part 1: An Origin

I have recently been challenged to articulate what exactly the church is.  In many of the circles I have found myself in, the answers often included multi-syllable words ending in -ism and -ology.  While these words hold a depth of meaning, they lack a sense of heart.  To say that the church is a "heterogeneous, multi-ethnic, fellowship committed to orthodoxy and worship through a prescribed liturgy" leaves a bad taste in my mouth.  Do not get me wrong, I think the definition is accurate, just not palatable.  I need something to sink my teeth into, something that speaks to me as a person who gets up at 4:40 am to go to work to support my family.  While the -isms and -ologies translate in the classroom, they sound an awful lot like a clanging gong to those of us not so well-versed. Beyond this, these words lack a vitality that dresses the church in rather drab cloakings.  The church is a fierce, living, breathing entity, a story in the process and it deserves to be described as such.

The very first church was like this:

" They spent everyday eating together, laughing and crying, relishing honest conversation over good meals.  They strived to live together in a radical way, giving away everything if they had too, so that no one suffered.  They would cry out to God for help because they desperately needed it and would sing songs of "thank you" whether He answered or not.  They committed themselves to live out Jesus' love commands as taught by his closet friends.  They were one despite being so different, daring and hoping to change the world one act of intentional kindness at a time.  And by this, the world took notice and smiled and some even risked it all to join this group so devoted to one another that they could truly be called a family." (Acts 2: 42-47, My paraphrase)

This is a story I can give myself to.  This is the story I have given myself to.

This week I will explore this story of who the church is and I thirst for your thoughts and convictions as well.  

Dress Us Up

Today, I am all out of words.  So I offer you the lyrics to "Dress Us Up" by John Mark McMillan:


dress us up 
in your righteousness
bring us in with a 
ring and a kiss
when you walk into the room you 
know we can't resist
every bottle of perfume always ends 
up on the floor in a mess

You make us sparkle 
and you make us shine
like the stars who sing 
on your chorus lines
through space and time 
we'll harmonize
where deep meets deep 
like the ocean meets the sky

the sun and the moon
they come out 
of their grave just for you
the dead man 
and the cynical too
they're coming out 
of their grave
and it's just for you

cause the love of God
is stronger
than the power of death

dress us up 
in the blood of a son
who opened up his veins so that we 
would overcome
hell and the grave 
in the power of his love
after three dark days
he showed us how it's done
and he still does

you make us sparkle 
and you make us shine
like the stars who sing
on your chorus lines
through space and time 
we'll harmonize
where deep meets deep 
like the ocean meets the sky
yeah
cause the love of God 
is stronger
than the power of death


His love is stronger stronger