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Archive for November, 2009
The Believer’s Road, Luke Chapter 9
Sunday, November 29th, 2009“Roadside Conversations” video for Luke 9 and 10 now posted.
Saturday, November 28th, 2009For those of you watching the Luke video commentary, Roadside Conversations, here’s Chapter 9 and Chapter 10.
And don’t forget: These are not only helpful for small group preparation and personal Bible study, but are also helpful prep for worship!
Emptiness + Emptiness = Somethingness?
Saturday, November 28th, 2009Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten in God’s sight. 12:7 But even the hairs of your head are all counted. Do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows. – Luke 12:6-7
The other day I responded to an email I received from someone living out-of-state who is an agnostic wanting to have a conversation about how one may experience this “God who loves us beyond our wildest imagination” that I talk and write about. This is a person who has experienced a great deal of pain and disappointment in his life, and I found myself reflecting along the lines of the “salt” sermon I preached a couple months ago where we poured cans of Morton Salt down the aisles (“The Three Great Loves, Affirmation 10, Part 2,” September 20, 2009). It was a sermon that touched on the verses from Luke 12 above. I realize I’m getting ahead of myself by blogging on Luke 12, and that those of you who were here for that sermon may find what’s below redundant, but I thought I’d share the following for those who wish to read it:
When people of our great-great-grandparents’ generation looked out at the stars shining brightly over their farms and ranches, it was easy to feel exactly what thousands of generations before them felt – a sense of awe and wonder; a sense of perfection and orderliness to the Universe; perhaps also a sense of artistry and imagination. The sky may have served as a reminder of God’s beneficence and blessing. At least they could feel these things when the crops were doing well, or the cows were milking. But in drought, or through cold winters that livestock didn’t survive, that sky may have looked the same, but other associations or questions might have come to mind: Is God punishing us by withholding the rain? Did we do something wrong? Is God trying to teach us a lesson? Did God decide not to listen to our constant prayers? The one thing that they would NOT likely have asked is, Does God exist? That wasn’t in their world-view.
But now that modern science has stepped onto the scene, we can look into the same sky our ancestors did and while there may be a number of similarities of thoughts and ideas we share with our ancestors, we have new thoughts as well, thoughts that none of our ancestors could even imagine having. We look into the milky area of the sky and realize we’re in the midst of a galaxy 100,000 light years in length and 3,000 lightyears in depth – a galaxy that is said to contain AT LEAST one hundred billion stars (i.e., approx 66,000 cans of Morton Salt if each grain represented a star). We look at one faintly glowing “star” in the lower hemisphere and realize that that “star” is actually an entire other galaxy called Andromeda, and what we are beholding has travelled 2.5 million years at the speed of light to reach us. And the Andromeda is considered to be the most distant visible galaxies of what scientists call the NEAR Field, i.e., the closest galaxies!
In some respects, these observations have allowed us to be filled with even more awe and wonder; even more peaceful reverence than even our ancient forebears. However, they have also introduced a NEW thought into our our minds, at least when the (literal or figurative) rain doesn’t come and the cows are dying: “Does God exist?” “Are we all alone?” “If God exists, how could such a God be aware of me, or hear my prayers with so much … empty space?”
Those who are more prone to more down-to-earth, concrete, rubber-hits-the-road thinking may try to escape the terror of aloneness in the face of such vastness by looking to only that which they can see and touch. But even here, modern science has introduced NEW thoughts into our minds that the ancients (even our great-great-grandparents) never had to deal with. We look at our hands and realize that they are made up not just of skin, muscle, bone, etc, but also of cells … and cells can be reduced to molecules … and molecules to atoms … to atomic particles … and to subatomic particles like quarks. We recognize that, on a relative scale, the distance between a proton and its nearest electron is greater than the distance between the sun and earth. And this causes us to realize that everything we can see before us contains more empty space than anything else. We’re really more than 99.999999999% empty space …
So now when we modern “farmers” look out at the sky when the “rains” don’t come and all around us seems to be dying, and also when we turn our gaze downward to the earth, it is hard sometimes not to be overwhelmed by a sense of vast, vast, emptiness. And absence.
“What of this God who loves us beyond our wildest imagination now?” one cannot help but ask.
The major religions of the world all have different ways of addressing this question (though not all believe in a God, or a God who loves us like this, of course). I find that the Christian path speaks to me quite powerfully precisely at the intersection where vast emptiness meets vast emptiness. For, at the center of Christian faith is not a “warm fuzzy blanket” meant to provide an “cushy comfort” but a Cross – an instrument of torture and death; a place of utmost desolation and despair; a place where even Jesus cried out “My God, my God, why have you FORSAKEN me?”
Christian faith is not a good intellectual concept. It’s not a set of doctrines. It’s not even a set of beliefs. Christian faith is simply an experience. While the experience may turn into something quite ecstatic, lifting one to the heights of love and grace, it never starts here, nor does it end here. The basic experience to which the Cross points is emptiness. It is the experience of deeply relating to and claiming our emptiness, losing hope and faith, and discovering the emptiness of God touching the emptiness that is us.
I cannot begin to describe what this experience “feels” like. The experience is as far beyond words as that Andromeda galaxy is beyond earth. It is WAY beyond doctrines and beliefs – so far that people of absolutely NO belief can experience this fierce intersection without ever finding religious language to describe it. And to me, that only makes it more real; more worthy of contemplation (even though I admit from square one that I’ll never understand it); even more worthy of adoration (even though I’ll never fully appreciate, much less adore it).
Even my own “mountain top” experience in 1981 (that I write about in Asphalt Jesus) didn’t begin there, with a spiritual “high.” It began with two people getting in touch with our deep emptiness and letting go of “self.” If one searches for an ultimate “high,” one never finds it (I know this from incredibly long experience of trying to replicate the very experience I had in ‘81, or trying to get close to it!). But what all of us can do is find the emptiness inside and claim it. This is the surest path to God, I think. Somehow emptiness + emptiness regularly seems to lead to somethingness. Literally, creatio ex nihilo. And a new day dawns. A new creation is born.
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Another Thanksgiving Thought
Thursday, November 26th, 2009Last night we read the present Nebraska Governor’s Thanksgiving Proclamation at Countryside’s Thanksgiving Eve service. I like the one written by Nebraska Governor Robert W. Furnas in 1874 even better. He wrote it during a time of famine in Nebraska, and it was even published in the New York Times. Here’s Gov. Furnas’ proclamation, with wishes for a Happy Thanksgiving!
THANKSGIVING PROCLAMATION
By the Governor of the State of Nebraska:
In conformity with the proclamation of the President of the United States, respect for a custom of our forefathers, and in reverential acknowledgment of dependence upon Divine Providence, I do hereby recommend that Thursday, the 26th of November, 1874, be observed as a day of prayer and supplication; that upon that day the people of this State abstain, as far as practicable, from their usual avocations, and observe the day in a manner becoming our surroundings. And I entreat of all those endowed with substantial gifts of prosperity a kindly remembrance of those in the abodes of want. Let the accustomed gatherings “be made joyous by the exercise of that cheerful bounty which blesses the receiver adn giver alike, and which is always an offering peculiarly acceptable to Him who holds the lowly in the solicitude of His infinite care.”
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the seal of the State.
Done in the City of Lincoln, this 27th day of October, A.D. 1874, and of the independence of the United States the ninety-ninth, and of this State the eighth.
By the Governor: ROBERT W. FURNAS
JOHN J. GOSPER, Secretary of State
Published: November 12, 1874, The New York Times
A Thanksgiving Reflection
Wednesday, November 25th, 2009Okay, this isn’t exactly related to Luke 8, our focus for the week, but it’s Thanksgiving Eve, and this evening we’ll be gathering at Countryside Church to give thanks for four specific elements in our lives: distinctive people, life experiences, God-experiences, and food. Congregation members will be bringing forward items that remind them of one or more of these things and placing them in the chancel area. A number of folks will be given opportunities to reflect on their items/experiences before a blessing is given over the items and we all go down to Memorial Hall to eat pie!
Below is a story that fits both into the “food” and the “God-experience” category, which I may share this evening if there’s time for it. In my experience, I’ve found that there are a number of things we can do to become more open to having such experiences, including: meditation, worship, treks in the wilderness, study of the Bible or other sacred texts, journalling, reading or writing poetry … and eating good food mindfully. Here’s one of many food/God experiences I’ve had – this one from my first day in India in the summer of 2004:
I’ve been to lots of Indian restaurants before coming to India, and thoroughly enjoyed most of them. I, and my girls, have cooked Indian food at home. But I had never been to Kamat’s Restaurant in south Mumbai!
After arriving in Mumbai late the night before, I slept in a bit, missing breakfast and emerging from my hotel in time for an early lunch. Kamat’s was on Colaba Causeway a block or two from the hotel I’d picked to spend a couple days before my family arrived from Arizona (I was coming directly from Ethiopia). As do many restaurants India, Kamat’s advertised itself as “pure vegetarian.” I nervously sat down in the tiny restaurant not knowing how much English the waiters spoke or how to interpret a number of unfamiliar items on their menu. I decided to play it safe by ordering a broad sampling of south Indian food and to wash it down with a beverage that caught my eye: a ginger-lemon soda. What arrived minutes later will remain with me the rest of my life.
First came the ginger-lemon soda. The waiter brought a medium-sized glass about a quarter full of thick, golden-brown syrup. Next, he opened a bottle of soda water, and set down a spoon and tumbler of straws beside it. 
The waiter showed me how to slowly poor the soda over the syrup without creating too much foam. I knew from previous soda-syrup experiences that you don’t want to stir the mixture with a spoon too much, if at all, lest you create an overly powerful mixture that gradually dilutes with each re-pouring of soda water. You take a few sips until you get down to a level where the syrup is more concentrated and pour on more soda.
Anyway, I poured the initial measure of soda, brought the glass to my lips, and as soon as the first golden-brown drops hit my tongue it was like the universe stopped expanding. For a few brief moments everything was enveloped in ginger-lemon!
As the sensation began to fade, I took another sip. Once again, the universe stopped in its tracks, infused with a golden-brown aura. I continued sipping on and off again until everything was not simply infused with ginger-lemon, but the universe became ginger-lemon.
No, there was nothing weird in my drink! It’s just India. The meal that followed brought on similar experiences, only with different flavors, all of which seemed to unite somewhere in the ethers like planets orbiting some great sun. I was particularly struck by a dab of red, syrupy sauce – no more than three teaspoons worth – on the edge of my plate. A small chunk of tomato in the center suggested some form of tomato chutney. (I learned later that this is called “pickle” and that a wide variety of “pickle” is served throughout India as a condiment.) I took a spoon of rice, dabbed it in the sauce, and placed it in my mouth. This time, the universe did not stop in its tracks. It exploded with light of a million red tomato supernovas pulsing to the tangy, sweet-tart beat of vinegar, a grain or two of sugar, and spices. It took everything I had not to stand up and shout, “Praise be to You, O wondrous Creator!”
I immediately determined to return to Kamat’s the next day, and as often as possible before my family and I headed for southern India!
The next day happened to be the World-Wide Opening of the third Harry Potter film. Turns out, Mumbai was as crazed over Harry Potter as the rest of the planet, which was okay by me since I’m a little Harry Potter crazy myself. 
What else could explain my walk of several kilometers in the intense heat and drop-to-your-knees humidity, carrying heavy video equipment I was using to document my journey, just to see the first showing? After getting lost, finding my way again, and arriving at the theatre completely drenched from head to foot in perspiration, I gladly purchased a scalped seat for nearly three times the original cost (still only around $4 US!). I entered the theatre, gulped down a cold soda, and found my seat. 
There was a power outage just before the film started, but after a 45 minute delay, the world of Harry Potter was ours. I, and several hundred kids and handful of adults in the audience, had great fun.
We got out just before 7 PM, so there was still some daylight left – and a slight reprieve from the heat (but not humidity). I continued my walking tour of Mumbai. Along the way, I noticed a man wearing traditional Indian clothing for that area – a light, round-collared (like a priest wears) top garment that extends down below the knees, which covers loose-fitting, similarly colored pants. I really liked the look and it seemed like it would offer at least a little reprieve from the heat and humidity. Moments later, I passed a stall with similar clothing. After haggling with the stall-keeper, I had a similar outfit for 200 rupees (same price as the Harry Potter ticket!). This outfit became my “church clothes” for the rest of the journey.
Eventually I found myself at the famed Horniman Circle. 
Horniman Circle is a very small park in the middle of bustling south Mumbai. In the 1860s, it was the sole remaining section of Bombay’s cotton green (Bombay was later called Mumbai). Now, it is a fenced garden, filled with lush flowers, flowering trees and shrubs, green grass, a serene central fountain, palms, and the original banyan tree under which stocks were traded in the early days of the Bombay Stock Exchange.
The fading sun deepened the intense reds and oranges of the flowering trees. 
This, combined with the park’s amazing quietness (considering its location), the shadowy leaves gently swaying in the breeze, the fragrance of plants mingling with incense, set me in a reverent mood. I walked the perimeter of the garden-park feeling as if a beautiful, heavy-set woman with long, black, leafy hear, wearing an orange-red dress (the color of Kamat’s “pickle”) and perfume that was supremely complex yet simple, was reaching out and embracing me with multiple arms. 
The feelings that stirred within me were not sexual. Nor were they entirely sensual. They were spiritual. This was the same deity of the ginger-lemon universe with red tomato supernovas I’d experienced at Kamat’s Restaurant yesterday. This was a feminine deity. Or, more precisely, a feminine face of the Deity. It was the same deity I have always known – in both masculine and feminine forms – deep at the heart of Christian experience. Deep in the love of Christ. Yet, it was another side of this love.
I passed under a trellis gateway bowing my head to avoid brushing up against the leafy branches hanging from it, and suddenly realized it was only my body bowing to the branch.
My soul was bowing to the Creator. Part of me was bowing to a fraction of God to whom I’d never bowed before; never quite knew existed in this way before; to whom I’d never submitted or pledged obedience before. Before then. I became a better Christian because of it.
Dinner was spent at Kamat’s – of course. You can guess how that went!
The Believer’s Road: Luke Chapter 8
Sunday, November 22nd, 2009Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Fall Follies 2009
Sunday, November 22nd, 2009Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Jesus and Stem Cell Research
Friday, November 20th, 2009This weekend at Countryside we’ll be looking at Luke 8, a chapter that in which Jesus heals three different people: a “demon-possessed” man (probably schizophrenic), a woman who had been hemorrhaging for twelve years, and even a girl thought to be dead. As Marcus Borg has observed, there are so many stories of Jesus healing people in the gospels that it is hard for even the most skeptical of scholars to deny that healing was an authentic aspect of Jesus’ life and ministry, even if we don’t understand how he did it or doubt the historicity of one or more particular stories.
I believe Jesus healed people. And while I cannot claim to know how Jesus did it, or that each and every story of healing is historically accurate, I have seen enough examples of healing within the ongoing community of Christ to believe that there are certain times when we actually stumble onto and engage the very same spiritual powers that Jesus himself engaged when healing people.
Not everyone will agree with me in this regard. However, I believe we can all agree that the Founder of our faith would affirm the practice of healing, including those practices that utilize the tools of modern science more than prayer or healing touch. As Jesus observed, “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers” (Luke 6:42-43). The medical community has certainly offered humanity much “good fruit” in the last century. While not all medical advancements may be universally acceptable or praiseworthy, there are precious few of us who yearn to return to the state of medical knowledge that existed even in our own parents’ and grandparents’ lifetimes. While the medical arts, particularly as practiced in the West, seem far removed from the techniques used by Jesus, the fruits of these arts indicate that they spring from a “good tree.”
It is therefore saddening when certain members of the medical community – typically those engaged on the cutting edge of research – are maligned by certain people, acting in the name of Jesus, who view their work as antithetical to that of Jesus. I’m thinking particularly of those medical researchers currently involved in embryonic stem cell research, using embryos that would never have resulted in the birth of a child. Regardless of one’s view of abortion, it stretches the boundaries of both logic and imagination to consider it immoral to use such embryos in research that holds so much promise for curing diseases like diabetes, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and Multiple-Sclerosis (In Nebraska alone, approximately 130,000 people suffer from these horrible diseases).
Currently, opponents of embryonic stem cell research are urging the University of Nebraska Board of Regents to restrict approved research at the University. I find it incredible that the majority of these opponents are acting according to what they conceive to be Christian convictions. While I have no doubt that many, if not most, of these Christians are good people who are honestly seeking to put their faith into practice, I have strong misgivings about the theological basis upon which they base their opposition.
To this end, I have written an Open Letter to the University of Nebraska Board of Regents, which I am sharing with you below. If you find that this letter resonates with you, I encourage you to send your opinion to the Board yourself by using the simple interface found at www.nebraskacures.com. Feel free to cite this letter if you like. And whether you agree or disagree, I encourage you to post your comments on this blog. And if you wrestle with this issue and seek to engage in personal conversation about it, I invite you to contact me at the church. I would be happy to listen to, and converse with, any member who disagrees.
An Open Letter to the University of Nebraska Board of Regents
Dear Regents,
I am the Senior Pastor of Countryside Community Church (UCC), a 1,700 member congregation at 87th and Pacific in Omaha, of which over 200 members are part of the medical community. I am writing in support of continued embryonic stem cell research in accordance with federal and state law and ethical guidelines established by the National Institutes of Health.
While I cannot claim to represent the views of each and every member of my congregation, I can claim with high certainty that each of our members’ lives have been impacted by the diseases of diabetes, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and/or Multiple Sclerosis, either through personal experience or through relationship with a friend or loved one who suffers from one or more of these diseases.
As a congregation that stands in the historically moderate and liberal theological traditions dating back to the pilgrims, we do not join the vocal minority of our Christian sisters and brothers who feel threatened by advancements in science. Rather, we embrace all advancements that enable us to better understand the Universe in which we exist (Jesus said, “The Truth shall set you free”- John 8:32) or relieve the scourge of human suffering (Jesus said, “Whatsoever you have done to the least of these you have done to me” – Matthew 25:40).
Jesus, the founder of Christian faith, was a healer. While he was not a healer only, the fact that healing was an important part of his ministry carries important implications for those who claim to follow him. Jesus’ choice to heal people signals that concern for our physical bodies does not run contrary to spiritual concerns, but rather is organically related to our spiritual life.
It is also significant that Jesus himself observed with respect to followers who would come after him, “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these …” (John 14:12).
Stem cell research carries with it the hope of curing the very diseases that afflict members of my congregation, their friends, and their relatives. Indeed, they afflict the lives of over 130,000 people in Nebraska alone. These are diseases that Jesus himself would have chosen to cure.
Therefore it is as deeply ironic as it is troubling that a vocal minority, claiming to be acting in the name of Jesus, are trying to block important stem cell research, and along with it, our hope for curing these debilitating and fatal diseases.
There are those who claim that manipulating embryonic stem cells is akin to “playing God.” Yet, I would ask any Christian who seeks to block stem cell research on these grounds how we can neglect our responsibility to “play God” in this way when Jesus, the Great Healer, commanded us to “Go and do likewise …” with respect to attending to our ailing neighbor (Luke 10:12)?
For a decade, it has been the policy of the University of Nebraska Medical Center to have its scientists and doctors conduct this vital research in accordance with federal and state law and the ethical guidelines established by the National Institutes of Health.
The abandonment of this long-standing policy currently being debated by the Board of Regents would prohibit scientists from pursuing some of the most promising avenues of stem cell research. While certain Christians find all forms of stem cell research to be intrinsically problematic to their faith, there are a great many of us who not only affirm such research when it is applied to curing diseases, but find it to be a continuation of the great work that Jesus himself practiced and encouraged of his followers.
I strongly urge you to vote to maintain the current policy and allow this potentially lifesaving research to continue.
“Roadside Conversations” Video for Luke 8 Posted
Thursday, November 19th, 2009For those of you who are ready to move on to Luke 8, here’s the corresponding “Roadside Conversations” video commentary.
The Golden Rule in Various Religions
Thursday, November 19th, 2009This week a Countrysider was obviously listening to the sermon, where I stated that all the major world religions have some version of the Golden Rule as a key facet of their practices. She passed me a compilation of scriptures from around the world:
BRAHMANISM (A form of Hinduism): This is the sum of duty: Do naught unto others which cause you pain if done to you. - Mahabharata 5:1517
BUDDHISM: Hurt not others in a way that you yourself would find hurtful. Udana-Varga 5:18
CONFUCIANISM: Surely it is the maxim of loving-kindness: Do not unto others what you would not have them do unto you. - Analects 15:23
TAOISM: REgard your neighbor’s gain as your own gain and your neighbor’s loss as your own loss. T’ai Shang Kan Yig P’ien
ZOROASTRIANISM: That nature alone is good which refrains from doing unto another whatsoever is not good for itself. - Dadistan-i-dinik 94:5
JUDAISM: What is hateful to you, do not to your fellowman. That is the entire Law; all the rest is commentary. – Talmud, Shabbat 31a
CHRISTIANITY: All things whatsoever ye would do that men should do to you, do ye even so to them; for this is the law and the prophets. - Matthew 7:12
ISLAM: No one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother that which he desires for himself. - Sunnah
If you haven’t been to the Charter for Compassion website, read the charter that was released last week, and/or signed the charter yourself, I suggest clicking here.