Blind Side

 The Blind Side

This week I watched the movie The Blind Side for the second time and noticed that it is more than a football movie—it is the story of a young man named Michael Oher who grew up in the slums of Memphis, Tennessee. For the first 17 years of his life, he went from foster home to foster home. Then one of his friend’s fathers convinced a local football coach to give Oher a chance. Due to his size and athleticism, “Big Mike” became an unlikely student at a private academy named Briarcliff Christian School.  Leigh Ann and Sean Tuohy were prominent members of the community, and their children attended Briarcliff. One cold, rainy night they saw Michael walking down the road to the school gym where he planned to spend the night. When Leigh Ann learned about Michael’s situation, she took charge. Michael eventually became a part of the Tuohy family, and they adopted him as one of their own. 

There were a number of heartrending moments in the film.  One of my favorites is when Leigh Ann felt threatened in Michael’s old neighborhood, he gently assured her, and “I’ve got your back.  ”By the end of the movie, you realize that football was only the backdrop of the film. The real story was how the Tuohys protected Michael’s blind side . . . and how he in turn protected theirs. 

Who’s got your blindside?  When was the last time you were blind sided by someone and how did you respond?  Over the years I have led men’s retreats and one of my favorite retreats was with Prince of Peace in Loveland, Ohio.  The theme was from the Gospel of Mark Chapter 2.  It is the story of the paralytic carried by four friends who break through a roof and lower their friend down in front of Jesus for healing.  In that retreat I ask 40 men: “Who are the four friends you could call at 2:30 in the morning outside of your immediate family and ask for their help?”  Many could not name four people.  Can you think of a friend, a prayer partner, how about your congregation, or someone you work with?  There is joy when your blind side is protected and you have the opportunity with God to cover for another. 

You see it does not matter who you are: Michael Oher, The Touey’s, the People of Israel, or each one of us - we all have a blind side, we all need someone to help us on the backside and God ultimately has our backs.  One of my friends asked for prayer this week as he entered a tedious meeting.  He said, “I need a little bit of God’s protection before I enter that place, could you help me?”  Another person sitting close by said, “I’ll be there and I will have your back!”  Isn’t that beautiful?    

In a sermon about the parable of the Good Samaritan the Right Reverend Bishop Gene Robinson said:

The heart of the gospel is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength; and to love your neighbor as yourself.  The Christian life is not about life after death it is about life before death. What God does for us after death – God will take care of…but what we do with life before death is up to you and me.

We all have a blind side, but God’s got our back. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son so that we might eternally have the blind side of God’s presence revealed to us one day.  In the mean time we are called to love one another—to look after one another’s blind side with love.  My prayer is that somewhere this week I can say: I’ve got your blind side, and you’ll have mine.

Freed in Christ to Serve

Wednesday August 17, 2011

Freed in Christ to Serve

Orlando Florida  

One of our delegates Jay Teisberg from PrimRose Lutheran Church wrote these words to sum up our Wednesday together:

I am full of optimism that the ELCA and its Churchwide expression is alive and quite well.  I am so inspired and proud because our church is truly a church rooted in Christ and centered on His perfect example and mission. 

The Churchwide organization has responded quickly over the past year and a half to act responsibly to significant declines in benevolence and other sources of income in ways that streamline available funding so that God's work (mission) is unimpeded. 

Did you know there were 60 new congregations formed last year alone and we have a goal of forming 500 new congregations in the next 5 years?  We are in the midst of deliberating on and approving a new and vibrant Church wide organization that will more efficiently support and enable all three expressions to creatively execute programming across a wide array of ministries and mission opportunities.  We are about to deliberate on and hopefully approve a much needed and groundbreaking social statement which does not judge the use of but enables thought and discernment as to how humans steward the use of genetic science in food production, medicine and other uses.

Yes, it is a great time to be a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.  We have such a wonderful story to tell.  But we must, as members of this great church, share our stories of love, faith and hope with those overlooked and neglected in our midst.  It is through our sharing and serving (doing) that the ELCA, through Christ, will become stronger and more relevant to many. It is God's work, our hands.  We are freed in Christ to serve!  Let's get to work!

My first highlight on Wednesday amidst multiple amendments to LIFT (Living into the future) was the report of our new secretary David Swartling.  At the end of his report he used a video clip out of the archives of the American Lutheran Church.  It was the Youth Gathering in Miami Florida in 1962.  It was a fuzzy old memory of kids getting off buses from all across our country.  The keynote speaker during their four days together was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the message was about the Lutheran Church being a church of the Reformation.  King’s comments to the youth addressed racial unity and welcoming all people.  David Swartling drew our attention to the fact that we are still a church of the reformation making room for all people.  

The second highlight was the worship and preacher - Rev. Joseph Livenson Lauvanus from Haiti.  On Sunday evening I met him on the plane to Orlando.  He was in Minnesota visiting the parents of his best friend Ben Larson.  Ben was one of our ELCA pastors who died in the earthquake of Haiti.  While in the states Joseph took time to be with Ben’s mom (Former Bishop April Larson) and dad.  Pastor Joseph preached a message around the text of the Woman at the Well in John 4 on inclusion in the name of Jesus.   The same lesson we had for bible study on Tuesday.  He was inspiring and preached the gospel with clarity reminding us that we are freed in Christ to serve!  Who knows but maybe in the archives 50 years from now another assembly will be watching a clip of history that we are making in Orlando.  Thanks be to God.  Work was done I share a bit of pizza with an old friend and then sleep was welcomed!  It was the end of the third day!

Living Lutheran

To Live Lutheran

Orlando Florida: I am so proud to be a member of the ELCA!   After worship and song we enter the second day with Plenary 3 and the report of the Bishop. The recurring theme in his message was: “This is Christ’s Church, you are welcome here, and there is a place for you here!”  He told us of a woman who pressed him to sum up his forecast for the future of the church in one word, he responded: “freedom!”  He challenged the assembly to take seriously Luther’s words “Living a daring confidence in God’s grace…”  During the message we paused for video clips of hopeful signs of God’s activity in congregations across our country and the world.  In one defining moment he lifted up the hope that the ELCA is “called to multiply the church not divide it.”  Our church defines itself by our relationships not the things that divide us.  He reminded us that we live Lutheran when we listen to the Word of God.  We live Lutheran when we listen to the people of our community where we are planted.  And we live Lutheran when the Holy Spirit then leads us to respond!  These words take me back to Mary’s story in the opening worship on Monday afternoon.  I am proud to live Lutheran because we are a welcoming community with a place for everyone.  

Bishop Mark Hanson is a gifted leader who stands in the gap of faith and practice.  His closing words I am still pondering, this evening before sleep: “This is such a hopeful time in our church!”

Throughout the plenary sessions we have been looking at Video clips creatively put together by a number of our churches.  In a way it is like our confirmation structure utilizing a number of commercials to keep things fresh.  The theme of each clip is “What does it mean to live Lutheran?”  They are a mixture of humor, congregational life, and faith. 

Our morning continued with a teaching about how a Memorial is advanced to the Churchwide Assembly for consideration. 

We took time for consideration of Amendments to Constitution, Bylaws and Continuing Resolutions related to LIFT; which stands for Living into the Future Together.  This is a course of action of renewing the ecology of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.  LIFT is one of the items that will impact our future in meaningful and practical ways. 

For the second day in a row the worship service simply “knocked my socks off.”  The story of the Walk to Emmaus in Luke 24 was read in Spanish, the opening call to worship was sung in Japanese, and music during Holy Communion was a mixture of traditional hymns and blues.  “Taste and See” moved me to remember how close I feel to the presence of Christ in the precious moment of Eucharistic hospitality. 

After lunch about 1000 people entered into a bible study around the “Woman at the well” text in John 4.  It was here that I met my prayer partner Chris Preisinger for the first time; she is from Scotia New York.  Prior to our arrival in Orlando every participant was assigned someone to pray for before the assembly; who later becomes someone you learn with in bible study.  The study included 8 other people; young and old, male and female, Bishop and lay, pastor and deaconess, all from different expressions of faith communities.  The man on my left is Pastor Maecir who is Portuguese and serves a congregation on the east coast using Portuguese and Spanish as the primary languages of worship.  Yet we were both taught about Faith Based Organizing from the same people.  We come from different expressions of faith communities but have a lot in common; living Lutheran.

We were then led to areas of Mission Discovery where we learned of mission partners all over the world; topped off by a global dinner.  There are many expressions of how we live Lutheran today.  My closing prayer of thanks tonight was:  Thank you God for the opportunity to live Lutheran.  Work was done and sleep was welcomed!  It was the end of the second day!

Freed in Christ To Serve

 

Monday August 15, 2011

Freed in Christ to Serve

Orlando Florida: I find myself feeling very grateful to be a replacement for Pastor Pedro Suarez at the ELCA National Assembly in the Marriott World Center.  After literally landing in bed at 3:30 am Monday morning we awoke to the gathering of people from all over the world.  I began to taste the vastness of our church when Pastor Josephus the President of the Lutheran Church in Haiti was on my right and Pastor Phil Leer from North Dakota was on my left on the plane out of Minneapolis, Sunday evening.  Pastor Josephus asked if I was at all familiar with the Lutheran presence in Haiti; that conversation lasted a while with our mutual connection to Gladys Mungo serving Haiti’s Children, Inc.

We began under the theme “Freed in Christ to Serve.” At our first plenary we adopted the rules of organization and procedure as well as the Order of Business; with 946 people in attendance.  Before every action we pray and after each action we sing. 

I am amazed at the leadership abilities of Bishop Mark Hanson.  He leads with grace and a touch of humor that is appreciated by the community gathered.  The last time I was a voting member we did not have these wonderful high tech voting remotes that give the churchwide assembly the results in a few seconds.  In a blink of any eye, we learned that over 15% of our voting group was less than 30 and over 50% were at this event for the first time.  We are simply getting our bearings for the rest of the week.

The next step was worship – Oh my, it was a worship that touched all five of my senses; which means it moved me!  Bishop Hanson’s sermon stimulated us to ask the question: “Like Mary, are we as a church ready to be moved by the power of the spirit?”  It was a message that caused all of us to catch our breath and ponder with Mary the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  He held my feet to the question and concluded with—“by adjournment Friday, we will have given our answer!”   Imagine 1500 people singing with energy, sermon proclaimed powerfully and courageously, meal distributed beautifully, music performed lively and even the people worshipping joined in movement as we left the worship space.  These are the gifts of the people coming together. 

After supper we jumped into Plenary 2 with an introduction to Living into the Future initiative and the proposed Social Statement on Genetics.  But the highlight of the evening was the ELCA Malaria Campaign; where we voted to approve an appeal through our congregations across the world to raise 15 million dollars to eradicate malaria by the year 2015.   We set a goal so big that only God can accomplish it.  My heart was pleased to note the work we have already done to begin this work at Covenant!  Work was done and sleep was welcomed!  It was the end of the first day!

 

 Faith in Action Begins at Home

Years ago when my girls were very little I read them the book: “Love you Forever”, written by Robert Munsch and illustrated by Sheila McGraw.  It is the journey of a loving mother and her son with a repeating refrain:

I’ll love you forever

I’ll like you for always,

As long as I’m living

My baby you’ll be.

As the saying goes: “What goes around comes around,” the boy now a young man returns the gift caring for an aging mother with the words:

I’ll love you forever

I’ll like you for always,

As long as I’m living

My mommy you’ll be.

He then passes on the gift to his own daughter.  This is faith in action and it begins in our home.

Like that mother-son relationship, God has made a habit of loving you.  In many ways just as that son modeled his own mother’s action of loving and created his own habit—God calls us to do the same.  Fr. Thomas Merton, a gifted mystic once said that “Grace uses faltering beginnings to achieve its own unforeseeable ends!”   Humbly reminding us that God’s action is at the center of this habitual gift of loving the world!  I simply pray that I may model such a habit as a son, husband, father, future grandfather, friend or pastor.  I have so much to learn!

All Jazzed Up!

We celebrate worship this next Sunday with a jazz liturgy and one of my favorite jazz artists was just interviewed on 60 Minutes.  Wynton Marsalis is considered part of the royal family in the world of jazz.  With a pen and pad in hand I quickly scribbled multiple quotes to remember.   The finest quote was: “To live Jazz with passion and integrity and to affirm in the Spirit of swing the ultimate ascendance of our humanity.”  The 60 Minutes crew traveled with him to Cuba where he lives out a belief that: “Jazz touches the soul which crosses all boundaries…”  What captured my attention was multiple generations jamming together producing this rich gift of joy.

Blues and jazz are rooted in some basics — common chords, recurring rhythms — that improvise in such a way that music is constantly innovative, fresh in each performance. It may be a way that all of us who gather for worship can discover anew that “holy living,” when it is most faithful, is as diverse in its expression as the needs of the neighbor and as fresh and new as a loving jam session.

I’m all jazzed up over Romans 8:1 - "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus!" Did you hear that? No condemnation. None. Nada. Maybe this is the most potent verse in all of Romans!  Another reminder that ultimately God loves us enough to forgive us, to restore us, to welcome us home!

For you lovers of jazz this is like sitting in the front row listening to a talented musician bend the “blue note.”  Blue notes (also “worried” note) are notes sung or played at a slightly lower pitch than that of the major scale for expressive purposes.  God can take even the “worry” notes of our lives and make music to sooth the soul not only for the individual but for others listening and observing.  “No Condemnation” – is Paul’s blue note claiming that this is the reason Jesus came; to show us through his cross just how much God already loves us.  And to show us through his resurrection that his love is more powerful than anything—than death, our sin, our confusion, and even our sense of being condemned.

The very last blue note in Romans 8 comes at the very last verse which says: “…nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord!”  We call this living on the wild side of God’s love.  It ought to jazz all of us up and assist us in bending the worry notes of our lives around the promise we need to hear, "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus!"  God is not angry with us.  God on the other hand has our back!  Are you ready to bend the blue note?  Let’s give it a try!  Thanks be to God!