Dr. Wright

With all the flack Obama has been getting about his association with the Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright, it's about time someone presented an image of him as something other than the mirror-image of a white supremacist. Finally, the Post has an article about how the members of Trinity UCC view their pastor (who recently retired) *very* differently than the media soundbites have portrayed him. Not that I would expect Black liberation theology to play well in a U.S. presidential election.

Donkeys

As I've been working on my sermon for tomorrow, I recalled that last year for Palm Sunday, I chose my title, "A Royal Entrance (Riding on a Donkey)" before I started my in-depth work with the text. I really had read through it already (I swear!), but because the story is so familiar, the details from the different accounts meld together in my perception, I failed to notice that in the story in Luke, which I was preaching on, Jesus rides "a colt," not a donkey.

This year, the text is from Matthew, where it does specify that Jesus rides a donkey, but actually goes further to specify that he rode a donkey *and* its colt, which is Matthew going out of his way to make clear that Jesus' entrance fulfills the prophecy in Zechariah about the restoration of Jerusalem by a ruler who brings peace to the nations.

I haven't figured out a way to work this into my sermon, but all this thinking about donkeys reminded me of a very nice scene about acceptance from Shrek, which is burned into my brain because Grace (my now 3 year old niece) was obsessed with Shrek when we lived with her, and at one point the DVD malfunctioned and would replay this one scene over and over... where Shrek (the ogre) is trying to get rid of Donkey, who really wants to be his friend. And it becomes clear that Shrek assumes he can't have friends because he's an ogre, and everyone hates and fears ogres, but Donkey for some reason doesn't know he's supposed to hate and fear ogres... and it's a beautiful moment, although I appreciate it much more now that it's been over 6 months since the time I had to watch it over and over and over trying to fix the DVD.

More questions than answers

So, I'm super late with my blog post tonight... hence it will be brief.

One of the ideas I encounter surprisingly often, that is in my view a misconception, is the idea that people of faith either have or think they have "all the answers." I suppose there are some people who think they do, but I get the distinct impression that most people don't feel thttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifhat they have all the answers. But I do think that people who see themselves as outsiders to religion perceive people of faith as having more answers. I also think that people of faith sometimes think having more answers would make them more faithful. That's more than enough conjecture about what other people think.

I think that faith gives us more questions than answers, and can and should help us ask better questions... but doesn't always give us clear answers. And exploring questions about the deep, meaningful things in life often leads to more questions. My view on this is very consistent with my tradition, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), which puts a high value on individual conscience theological diversity. Arriving at the same answers is not an indicator of faithfulness.

My faith does ground me, and reassure me, and challenge me to be a better person. It also keeps me asking the big trifecta of questions: How can I love God? How can I love my neighbor? How can I love myself?

Spring (again)

I know I posted a while ago about how perfect it is that Easter comes in springtime... but I was struck again today by how much my spirits are lifted by the warmer, sunnier weather. It's so easy for me to spend lots of time indoors and never get outside. I think being indoors (or in a car) too much disconnects us, not only from nature, but from an important part of ourselves.

This is a thoroughly modern problem; we have so much "inside" space (and so many forms of entertainment and channels of communication there). And I'll freely admit it doesn't quite feel so rejuvenating to be outdoors in nasty weather. But I think our connection to the earth and its seasons is essential to being human.

Embarrassed ...

... by a fellow white person! This is something that happens to me from time to time. Or perhaps it's more accurate to say I was embarassed for this person.

A friend and I attended a worship service on Friday that was part of the Interfaith Peace Witness weekend. It was held at Lincoln Temple UCC, which (I learned) is the oldest African-American Congregational church in DC. It was interesting, because the congregation gathered was almost exclusively white, but the piano player/ songleader, host pastor, and guest preacher were all African-American. So, the singing was less than impressive. But that was not the embarrassing part.

When the host pastor came to the pulpit to greet the congregation, he greeted us by saying "God is good," to which a few people scattered throughout (me being one of them) responded "All the time!" And then, he said "All the time..." to which a slightly larger number of people responded "God is good!" At the passing of the peace, the white person seated in front of me, who was wearing a clerical collar, asked "Do you go to this church?" I responded "No," and decided to leave it at that, but I probably looked puzzled, because this person then said, "because you seemed to know that litany the pastor was saying at the beginning." I was too shocked to take the time to educate that person about the prevalence of this greeting in Black churches.

Not that I have any reason to expect everyone to know that... it was just very odd that this person assumed it was a local tradition.

Palms or Passion?

As I'm beginning to think about my sermon for Sunday, I am confronted again this year with the liturgical tension between Palm Sunday and Passion Sunday (two options, if you will, for the sixth Sunday of Lent).

My mother told me several years ago that she felt that Palm Sunday had been getting short shrift of late in churches, perhaps in her congregation in particular, begin edged out by Passion Sunday. They create very different feelings -- either the jubilation of Palm Sunday, shouting Hosanna, or the somber, sorrowful tone of the Passion. My mom said she figured preachers were trying to make sure the congregation experienced the passion story, and found that most people weren't coming to church during the week for Maundy Thursday and Good Friday.

I'm pretty sure my mother thought that people should come to church during Holy Week. You can't really "get" Easter without going through Good Friday. I love going through Holy Week, but I also know that not everyone is going to come to our Tenebrae service Thursday evening -- even though it's powerful and moving, many people just don't have the time. So, my dilemma is, how do we experience both in the course of one worship service, without doing disservice to either? Is that an impossible task?

The Root of All Evil...

... according to Scripture, anyway, is the love of money. That's the verse that came to my head as I was reading this article in the Washington Post. I think it's Thomas Aquinas who talks about sin coming from loving other things more than God. It's not that loving money, or making money, is a bad thing -- it's that when it is valued so highly that you don't care about people having a place to live, that you get situations like this one.