What Can Brown Do For You? - Part II

Michael Brown - "Brownie." He's some kinda guy.

Apparently, he's the ONE allowed to play "the blame game."

I'm just spitballing here.

You stand before Congress, swear to tell the truth, blame everyone (and there's plenty of blame to go around), but not accept any responsibility (even W did that).

And, you proclaim that Mississippi and Alabama's responses went well, while Louisiana is disfunctional (any chance that's because MS and AL are Republican strongholds, and Louisiana is, well, Louisiana).

I don't know what world you live in, but I'm sure your doing a heck of a job.

Two Posts to Go See

Rather than cut and paste their work into my space, be sure to visit two blogs whose commentary on current issues are worthy of your time.

The first is from my friend of 30 years, Ed Kilbourne, whose blog, A Place to Watch the Rain offers a theological conundrum on the power play in the church with his post A New Low Pressure System. The larger questions raised are compelling.

The second is from Bishop Will Willimon (still can't quite get that in my head - maybe because I'm a Vandy guy, and he's from Duke, the "Vanderbilt" of Tobacco Road), whose blog, A Peculiar Prophet (man, we like ourselves, don't we? - of course I'm not planning on being appointed to the North Alabama Conference, can you tell?) whose post titled Thinking Like a Christian is a challenging examination of what is going on with the theological tug of war in the church. Be sure to read the comments posted in response to his article. There's much about Willimon's writing that drives me nuts (for me, it's what too much of his written work comes off as - self-aggrandizement wrapped in feigned humility, which often gets in the way of good theological insight) but this article is a nice piece of work.

Come Share the Lord

The following comes from our church newsletter as we seek to live more faithfully the Sacramental Life

After many years of theological ambiguity, The United Methodist Church has offered significant, defining statements about the essential tie between the Divine and the Church expressed through the Holy Sacraments.

The reasons for such ambiguity are complex, and part of parcel of what happens to a religious movement whose numeric growth is more valuable than the theological compass headings driving it. There's plenty written on the whys of rebaptism or the profound lack of zeal for the Eucharist. The long and the short of it is, however, that we didn't count understanding the nature of our relationship with God through Jesus as continual and necessary to our own spiritual health, and, that God, who provides all things, has also provided manifest expressions of Self-giving to nurture and sustain that relationship.

The ship began to turn several years ago with the denomination's study on baptism, called By Water and the Spirit - A United Methodist Understanding of Baptism. As a landmark document, the church stated that baptism is that claiming of the individual as God's son or daughter. It is God who initiates this claim. It is dependent on how you feel about it, or, that you are cognitively aware of it. So, if you are 9 days old or 90 years old, the issue is what God has done and is doing in naming you one of God's own. And, it is a one time thing. You don't redo what God has already done. However, we are now understanding that while God claims us once, we need to remember that promise, and our own promises to God, perpetually. So, the service celebrating the renewal of the baptismal covenant has become an essential part of United Methodist liturgy.

At the General Conference in 2004, the denomination approached Holy Communion, the Eucharist - and adopted a position called This Holy Mystery - A United Methodist Understanding of Holy Communion, taken from the Eucharistic prayer we share every time we commune. As a comprehensive statement for this time in the Church's life, this document gives long overdue instruction and interpretation for how we have understood The Lord's Supper, and why we have been so inconsistent in it's observance. The call for the Church, even the mandate of the Church, is to call all United Methodists into a more constant observance of the sacrament, for in our celebration of it, we are drawn closer to Christ, to each other, and to the call of God through Christ upon the Church to heal a broken world.

For now, what I would want you to know is simply this - this document is not some new rebellious attempt to sway us from the way we've always done things and turn us into Catholic wannabees (as if that's a bad thing). In fact, this new position of the Church is really trying to get us back to the way we always did it. Mr. Wesley believed strongly in the command of God to commune "constantly." The first Methodists in America were under orders to observe The Lord's Supper on every Lord's day.

As it was with baptism getting steered by the prevailing winds of other agendas, so, too, did the observance of the Church with Holy Communion. It is a complex story, but one that it is time to redeem.

And so, with this, and under the instruction of the general Church, we will launch into a more frequent observance of Holy Sacrament. This Sunday is World Communion Sunday, and there's hardly a better time to think of what is at the core of this holy meal than this. There following, we will observe Eucharist on the first and third Sundays of the month, as well as the high days of the church as they occur in the Christian calendar.

Over the next year, I will be teaching, in many different contexts, the United Methodist understanding of both Baptism and Eucharist. I hope you will engage in study with me and with one another to discover that it is through these acts of God's self giving that our mission as disciples of Jesus becomes clearer, thus, equipping us to fulfill that to which we've been called.

The newfound claim of a Sacramental ethos, is, I believe, at the core of our renewal as disciples and as a Church to claim the world as our parish.

For further study, I recommend the following resources linked below:

This Holy Mystery: A United Methodist Understanding of Holy Communion
"The Duty of Constant Communion," Sermon 101, John Wesley
By Water and the Spirit: A United Methodist Understanding of Baptism

Eddie Webb Has My Rush 2112 Album

It was sometime in the fall of 1978.

God's country...south Jackson, Tennessee.

He said he wanted to borrow it. Had this new thing called a cassette recorder - having moved away from 8-track (which was scandalous for many of us to even consider), and that he wanted to "record" it.

"Get it right back to me," he said.

My favorite album.

Rush 2112.

How many nights did I crash to side one of that album? With headphones on (and this was back when headphones were huge) I would slip into dreamland listening to "Temples of Syrinx" and "Oracles: The Dream."

A masterpiece of rock opera too often ignored by devotees of "Tommy" (which ain't bad, by the way).

But man, Neil Peart on the drums...are you kidding me?

With some reluctance, I did it. I "loaned" my Rush album to Eddie Webb. He was a senior, I was a freshman. I figured, "hey, couldn't hurt my never ending attempt to appear cool to the upperclassmen," and that longing was something he could smell like blood in the water.

Eddie was an alright guy.

Tall.

Long hair.

Dripped "cool," and he knew it.

The chicks dug him.

So if I could get close to that, by association, therefore... you get it...my logic was worthy of Mr. Spock.

Except for this one thing...

You know what you call things that belong to you when placed in the hands of someone who has power over you?

Theirs.

He never returned it. Later in the spring of '79 as my family was preparing to move to Memphis, I, sheepishly, asked him for my album.

He did the old, " I gave it back to you didn't I?"

"No."

"Well, I'm sure I did."

So much for Rush 2112.

We live with a complexity of relationships too often guided by underlying agendas. I had something I was hoping to gain from doing somebody a "favor." He just saw it as a way to get what he wanted. And from the position of power he held over me, he got it, and I was left without what was mine in the first place.

Too much of life is lived wanting to please, hoping to impress, trying to appear as anything other than people not at ease with ourselves - and willing to do anything to mask who we are.

Part of living a life of faith, it seems to me, is to accept who we are in the face of what we're called to be. And getting from point A to B, is the journey. For those of us who claim faith in Jesus of Nazareth, there is this journey to be taken as empowerment. What's that scripture say? "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

One of empowerment's definitions is - "to promote the self-actualization or influence of. "

Those who are empowered are self-actualized to respond to power's abuses whenever and wherever they occur. A person of faith, under the influence of Holy Boldness gains the perspective of justice through the eyes of the One who empowers them.

And that justice, biblically speaking, is about a redistribution of power. The reason the Western Church too often dismisses out of hand the Liberation Theology of the 3rd world is because it puts them on notice..."if your wanderlust for power and consumerism continues at the expense of others, you're about to fall."

Really, who around here wants to hear that? Didn't God bless me with what I have? Can't I just love Jesus and do with what's mine whatever I please?

But hold on. If you want to go there, consider this - John Wesley was clear on this point. You have what you have not to hoard, but to share with those who don't have. He would go on to say that if you're not sharing fully all you have (because it's not yours in the first place, it all belongs to God), then you are robbing those without with what is rightfully theirs - and that is, what God has placed in your hands to give them.

Would that we could embrace an empowered life. Would that we were no longer slave to the crippling fear as we witness the misappropriations of power by those who take advantage of the powerless. Would that our silence in the face of such injustice be shattered by the voices of advocacy for those whose cries are dismissed.

Would that empowered disciples of Jesus stand in the Temples of this world and say, "Repent, the Kingdom of God is at hand."

A wishdream? Probably. But this one thing I know. If I ever run into Eddie Webb again, I'm going tell him to give me my damn album back.

And of course he won't have it.

So I'll settle for the newly remastered CD.

Gotta keep up, don't you know!

They Say, "The Fruit Doesn't Fall Far From the Tree"

''What I'm hearing, which is sort of scary, is they all want to stay in Texas. 'Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this is working very well for them.'' - Barbara Bush - Former First Lady & Mother of President George W. Bush, upon visiting the evacuees in the Astrodome

I had to actually see the footage of Mrs. Bush myself to believe it. But boy, W's mom makes my point from the September 3 post to a tee. Affluence and privilege without empathy or sense of stewardship obligation blinds the realities of poverty. Period.

The sad thing is, she doesn't think she's said anything wrong.

Money is not itself a bad thing. It's what motivates your heart do something with it.

"Money in the hands of God's children is food for the hungry, drink for the thirsty, and clothing for the naked. It gives a place to rest for the traveler.... It provides care for the sick." John Wesley

If John Wesley is spiritual forebear to the "people called Methodists," how far from that tree shall we fall? Hmmm..I wonder.

Inconsequential Responsibility?

Riddle me this, Batman....

If something bad happens and I'm responsible for it - are there any consequences that I must live with as a result of my action or inaction? Is there accountability? Or, is just saying "I'm responsible" enough?

I'm just asking. I've got more on this later, but for now, let's allow the sauce to simmer and you feel free to chime in.

This is not a political question (although I cannot ignore the current context). It's a theological one. What do you think?

Sins of the Father

My father and I have an interesting relationship.

Parent, child - colleagues. It can get kinda mixed up sometimes.

Not long after my first son was born, almost 13 years ago, I remember seeing something shift in dad. It seemed he needed to tell me that he was aware of how much of my life he missed while he was doing "church work."

Dad is good at what he does. He always has been, and to see him in a moment of introspection and confession was among our most "real" moments. And with that came the admonition that as I proceeded in ministry that I not forget the relationships that ground me - family. I made a pledge then that I would not let my pursuit of vocation get in the way of my covenantal vows to family.

13 years later - I must confess that it's a pledge I've broken too damn often.

Too many nights away only to see my kids asleep.

Too many calls of "Daddy, when are you coming home?" and too many times answered, "as soon as I can," knowing all the while that I was nowhere near home.

Too many times sacrificing the relational work with my partner while thinking there's still so much more I need to do at work - too much left undone.

Too many times seeking to be all things to all people only to realize too late that I've been very little to anyone.

This is the tension under which most of my life is lived - seeking to be relevant in ministry and relevant as a husband/father. Most of the time, it seems to make sense - where one sphere of life melds into the other seamlessly.

But there are times, like the last couple of days, I'm pretty sure I've sucked at both.