Spiritual and Religous

Sermon from 02/07/10 Sorry it has taken so long to put this up.

When I was younger I used to spend hours talking to the trees. I would sit and listen as the wind blow through the branches and I could imagine these noble plants imparting their wisdom upon me. After all they had been there before I was born and in all likelihood will still be there long after I’m gone. I felt connected, connected to the trees, connected with the earth, and most importantly connected to the creator of all of us.
Sadly, it has been a long time sense I have spent time with the trees and the reality is I’m coming to realize that I need to reconnect. You see that time listening in the quiet hearing the wind through the trees was truly a spiritual discipline that grounded me and routed me in connection to God and to the life that was all around me.
We are a people in desperate need of connection. Because we do not connect with other people we see violence, hatred, and indifference that degrades and strips humanity from ourselves and others. Because we are not connected with the earth we see climate change, extinction of species and loss of ecosystems that threatens life itself. Because we are not connected to God religion is used to draw circles of exclusion, to cause pain and heartache, instead of being the life giving, reconciling force that it can and should be.
There is a real want in our world to connect to something deeper, to be a part of more than ourselves. And yet for many they have been disenfranchised by organized religion, seeing it not as a place where life can be found and that connection can be nourished and grown, but rather as a place of rules and dogmas that get in the way of that connection, that spirituality. (recycle your faith video).
I would imagine that for many in this room that the story in the video connects in some way if not in many ways with you. I know it connects with me, I hear many of my thoughts spoken out loud when I see this video. I would hope that we here at Wesley Foundation and Collegiate UMC are doing our part to provide that safe place to talk about the hard questions of our spirits and journey in those questions together. But just because we are trying to be that kind of place does not mean that we do not have a lot to learn from those who consider themselves spiritual but not religious.
The fact that so many people are taking on this descriptor for themselves tells us that we as Christians need to make sure that we are not sacrificing that connection, that spirituality I was speaking of earlier for our preconceived notions of what is Church. In fact we need to make sure that as a church that we are nourishing those connections, that spirituality that so many are looking for.
The words from Isaiah we read earlier tonight speak to this connection, this wholeness that we can find through God. It tells us to seek God and poetically describes what that connection can be like. As we read the scripture it is striking that when one connects or reconnects as it may be to God, we not only connect with the creator we connect with creation.
As we spend our time connecting with God we should feel more connected to the very world we live in. By cultivating spirituality we can feel that care that God has for this world. We begin to see others through God’s eyes making us more compassionate, caring and willing to build up others humanity. We begin to see the natural world through God’s eyes. We recognize that we cannot continue to consume without thought of the impact. We begin to see ourselves through God, not as mistakes of the past, not as our insecurities but we see ourselves as what we are and may became. By cultivating spirituality we cultivate hope.
So the question becomes what can we do to connect with God, to revitalize that spirituality that is within us. We can turn to the spiritual disciplines to study, prayer, creativity, meditation, silence, fasting, service and many, many more.
You see these practices are not ways simply to be holy or to appease an angry parent in the sky. No, the reason for these practices is to cultivate a connection to God, to each other, and to the world around us. It is through cultivation of our spiritual selves that we are given the strength and energy to carry on and fight for social justice, to feed the hungry, to care for the forgotten, and to love our enemies.
Our spiritual disciplines and practices should spur us on. Spur us on to creativity. They should enliven us and invigorate us to be co-creators with God of a world that is more just, more loving, and more connected.
I think the fourth affirmation in the Phoenix Affirmations puts it well.
As Christians, we strive to respond to God's artistry in Creation by integrating the arts in worship, education and proclamation. We encourage the reclaiming of artistry and artistic expression in all Christian endeavors, both personal and communal.
We affirm that the Path of Jesus is found where Christ's followers make sincere and vibrant worship of God as central to the life of their community as Jesus did. We further affirm artistic expression as a way of reflecting God's creativity, joy, and prophetic voice in what may be seen, heard, felt, tasted, sung and spoken.
We confess that we have moved away from Christ's Path when we have failed to make worship the product of our best efforts to experience and express love for God, neighbor and self in community with others. We have moved further from this path when we have considered the arts as trivial or merely tangential to the life of a mature Christian community.

In this affirmation about worship we find a call to artistry in responding to God’s artistry. The great leaders that have gone before us who have made a differences are at their heart “social artists.” Connecting what is bigger than them and using that connection and creativity to better the world around them furthering that connection.
So what of religion then? Is it just something to be thrown to the curb? I don’t think so. We can be both spiritual and religious. At its best Christianity acts as a wide path up the spiritual mountain. It has nurtured many different people from many different backgrounds. I find that my religion works to deepen my spirituality through the understanding of those who have come before me. Our religion can act as a well marked path that keeps us from wondering around the spiritual mountain aimlessly.
I think that we can be both spiritual and religious. If we are keeping that balance right our religion deepens our spirituality and our spirituality energizes our religion. Spirituality and religion can be two sides to the same coin. When we can hold the two together in balance we can be not only in closer connection to God, but we will be more ourselves.
So I challenge you today to get connected. Pray, meditate, have a discussion with one another, talk to a tree, dance, do what it takes to be in connection with God. Because the more we are connected the more we can co-labor with God so that God’s Kin’dom can truly come. Amen.

Our Best vs. Their Worst

Over the last year or so I have spent a lot of time thinking about how divided everyone seems to be and how no one seems to be able to communicate with one another. I believe deeply in spirited debate and that two people can believe very different things yet still be respectful and learn from each other. But I don't see a lot of this kind of debate out there. So I have been wondering why that was.

As I have pondered this one thing I keep seeing is people comparing their best with other people's worst. If I'm honest with myself this is something that I myself am guilty of so as I talk about this I recognize that I have been part of the problem.

The reality is that when we begin to compare our best with others worst we do much more than than just shut down conversation we also begin to label the person or group that we are disagreeing with as "the other" or "the enemy." By making this best vs. worse comparison we deny others their humanity and we deny ourselves the ability to grow and learn by hearing other points of view.

The fact is that I have seen this vs. attitude in many of the pressing issues of our day. In conversations about religion and science, in conversations about other faiths, in conversations about politics, and in conversations about theology. We can not continue to try to make ourselves right by looking at the worst of the people we disagree with because they can look right back at us and do the same thing.

If we can learn to disagree and have a real discussion and debate where we allow both sides of issues the opportunity to speak and truly hear, not just listen to, but truly hear both sides I believe we will have a new found respect even for those who believe very different things than we do. Even if we can't find common ground we can at least hear each other.

We live in a world and a nation divided, the challenges we face each day are becoming more and more complicated. We can not longer parish as fools by blaming one another for every evil known to human kind. Instead we must face the challenges together as sisters and brothers knowing that we are not always going to come to the same conclusions. We must remember the next time we are tempted compare our best with others worse, that in the world we live not all are guilty but all are responsible.

Peace

Issues of war and peace have been on my mind a lot lately. To put it simply I am a pacifist, I mourn war whenever and where ever it happens. I was deeply saddened by President Obama's announcement that we will be escalating the war in Afghanistan . I don't want to see more young men and women put in harms way. It saddens me to see the collateral damage and the civilian casualties. Even the death of an enemy should never be celebrated.

I'm troubled by a justification for just war being given at the noble peace ceremony.

Many of my heros are nobel peace prize winners. When I think of the prize I think of those like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Teresa and Gandhi, people who were committed to the cause of non violence. Don't get me wrong I deeply respect President Obama, but that does not I have to agree with him on every issue.

I think my faith calls me to stand against the use of force and violence as means to farther foreign policy. The thing is I understand how people can see the pacifist position as unrealistic, but I think it is important that someone is communicating with those in power the need to try to seek peaceful solutions in all things. I don't see it as a moral failing for others to see war as an acceptable option but that is just not my opinion. My understanding of my faith doesn't allow me to support war, but I would never make that claim that a person who supports war cannot be Christian.

It saddens me that the different sides of the war debate spend so much time making generalizations about each other. I seriously doubt that there are a large number of people out there who truly are happy to see war happen. Most people see war as regrettable so I don't buy into the rhetoric that sometimes comes out from fellow pacifists that equates supporting war with enjoying war.

Lastly I want to speak to a issue that is near and dear to my heart. I respectfully disagree which anyone who says that it is not possible to be a pacifist and support those in uniform. I have a number of family members and friends in the military and I think about them everyday. I think about our military women and men everyday, I pray for their safety and I respect the fact that they are willing to put their lives on the line for what they consider to be a just cause. I think that is possible to respect and disagree with people at the same time. Just because one persons path is not mine does not mean I have to demean it.

To those of you who might be members of the military who are reading this I understand you put yourself on the line everyday believing deeply that you are protecting the principle that I can without fear hold my beliefs as a pacifist, I truly thank you for that.

Rethinking Advent

I may be more excited about advent this year than I have been in a long time. I like many have come to dread advent because it meant having ten thousand things to do and ten thousand obligations. I'm committed to doing advent differently this year and I'm very excited about the possibilities that that will represent.

I've been inspired by a number of groups both spiritual and secular who all make good critics of the way the holiday season is done by many. It has been a good spiritual practice for me to reflect on how I have been celebrating or missing celebrating this upcoming season.

My plan is this; first be intentional about my spirituality during advent. I plan to explore what the season has to offer to my soul in as many ways as I can, to hopefully regain that sense of wonder about the season. Second I plan to be more open to those around me during the season, sharing my time and enjoying doing so rather than seeing all the extra things that take place during advent as obligations I'm going to focus on the joy of being around the people I love during the season. Third I'm going to do my best to be socially responsible in my gift giving. I plan on making the gifts I give unique, socially responsible and from the heart. Hopefully this will help make me feel more connected with those I am getting the gifts for, and I hope they will feel the care that will go into these gifts. Fourth, I plan to be intentional about carrying this reflection and the incites gained beyond the holiday season and into the dawning of a New Year.

So as I said I'm excited. In some ways I feel like a child again looking forward to the season, only this time it is not because of the physical gifts that the season has to offer, but rather because of ways the season can make me a better gift giver and receiver. The gift I hope for most this year is a Advent and Christmas season full of wonder, fellowship, love and new discovery.

The Christian Interfaith Narrative

This is a sermon given on November 8th at our faithspring worship service. I have been asked by a couple of people for it's text so I'm posting it here to my blog.

In his book “Acts of Faith” Eboo Patel a young Muslim man and creator of the Interfaith youth core relates a story of being involved with the Leaders School at the YMCA. As a part of this he had learned the song “Pass it On.” He sang that song around the house for weeks after. Sometime during those several weeks he overhead his father raise the concern to Eboo’s mother that the YMCA might be trying to teach Eboo Christianity. His mother responded in a beautiful way. She said, “I hope so. I hope they teach the kids Jewish songs and Hindu songs, too. That’s the kind of Muslims we want our kids to be.”

We only have to look around us to realize that we live in a world where interfaith dialogue is important. You can’t turn on the news without hearing about another conflict that is couched in religious terms. In which both sides are manipulating religion to justify some of the most horrific acts that can be imagined. Often times these conflicts are intensified by misunderstandings and sometimes outright lies about the other faith.

Not only this, but we live in a world where telecommunications allows us to instantly talk to someone on the other side of the world. And with the internet and social networking sites it is easy to have contact with those thousands of miles away.

We are not only able to talk to people around the world but do business with them as well. As industry continues to become more global it becomes more likely that we will be working with people that not only have different cultural values with but also religious beliefs.

Even within Christianity there are such a wide variety of faith traditions that dialogue can often be complicated among Christians. If you have ever visited a “Christian” chat room or message board you know how true this is. Often times these “discussions” become nothing but hate filled attacks at one another.

So we live in a time in human history when it is more important issue than it has ever been to be in conversation with those who differ from us. But this is not an easy thing to do because the dominate narrative out there is that conflict between people of different faiths is inevitable. This voice tells us that we must look out for own, we have to circle the wagons, because those other people are out to get us. We are made to believe that “they” whoever they may be are out to destroy the very things that we hold dearest. It’s us vs. them and there will be winners and losers. We are told that we need to come out on the “winning” side.

As Christians I believe that we are to live a different narrative. Our narrative calls us not only to actively be engaged in interfaith dialogue but to stand against that false dynamics that lead to conflict.

We can find the beginnings of this interfaith narrative at the very beginnings of our scriptural journey. In Genesis we find that it explained that Abraham is to be blessed so that his offspring may be a blessing to all other nations. This explanation of for Abraham’s blessing shows up explicitly not once, not twice but three times in Genesis and is implied a number other times. To bless another person means to have to know them, care for them, so that in and of itself makes interfaith dialogue a necessity. It calls us to not only be in conversation, but to be in cooperation to fight the injustices that exist in this world. The call to be a blessing directly leads to being in community with others. It breaks us out of the look out for only your own mentality. It speaks to cooperation instead of conflict. It is a narrative that breaks down fear, anger and hatred, replacing them with understanding, reconciliation, and care for all human kind.

Once we see the importance of collaborating with those of other faith traditions and religious beliefs the question becomes how. What should interfaith dialogue look like. The scripture we read earlier is a good guide. It is one of those scriptures that it is easy to gloss over, because it is a familiar scripture to many of us. But, today I hope we can look at it with new eyes. As Jesus is answering the question about what the greatest commandment is he lays out for us what I think is a really good model for being in interfaith dialogue. Jesus reminds us to love God with all our heart, with all our soul, and all our mind. In other words be grounded in your tradition, our narrative. Be grounded in God. Then love your neighbor as yourself.

Loving ones neighbor means getting to know them, it means knowing their hopes, knowing their dreams, and seeing the image of God that resides within them. It means moving beyond that win/ lose dynamic to a place where we can be in relationship. Jesus sees this grounding in the narrative of our faith and relationship building as so important he says that “On these two things hang all the law and the prophets.” In other words they are at the very core of our faith.

I can attest to the fact that being in true relationship with those of other faiths is truly rewarding. When it is at its best interfaith dialogue it will touch all involved in it. I have often in my life been taught to be a better Christian by those of other faiths and I hope that from our interaction that those people learned something about their own tradition that deepened their walk on their journey in that tradition.

I’m not saying that there are not differences but rather I’m saying that we are not to be afraid of those differences. Rather those differences should be celebrated and understood. Those differences can often help us to see our own faith in a new light.

In 1950 Martin Luther King Jr. was a 20 year old seminary student he heard a sermon on Christian Passivism that spoke about Gandhi as an example of what life lived in Christian Passivism could look like. King was so taken by Gandhi that he later traveled to India to learn about what Gandhi had done. When he got there he discovered that the movement that Gandhi had put together was an interfaith movement. The values that Gandhi had found in his Hinduism, connected with the values that King found in Christianity and that was obvious true about others as well because Gandhi’s movement Seeks, Muslims, Hindus, Christians and Buddhists. King was quite taken by this fact so much so that from a pulpit in Montgomery, Alabama he began his prayer this way. “O God, our gracious heavenly father. We call you this name. Some call thee Allah, some call you Elohim. Some call you Jehovah, some call you Brahma." Later when he lead the bus boycott he took the principles that Gandhi had used in India and created an interfaith movement to fight for equality for all Americans.

King could have as easily listened to the dominate narrative that night and walked away saying that because Gandhi was a Hindu he had nothing that could be important. Instead King recognized the interfaith narrative that existed within the Christian tradition. And not despite of his faith but rather because of his Christian faith learned much from Gandhi so that he could better fight the injustices of this world.

If we can see past our differences there is much to be gained. Not only will we learn much about others, but there is a true opportunity to make this world a better place. If we actively engage in interfaith dialogue then maybe rather than fighting each other we could fight malaria and AIDS. Maybe instead of worrying what name we call God, we could worry about those who don’t have clean water to drink. Rather than worrying about who is right, could worry about who is suffering.

I don’t think that this kind of interfaith cooperation is just a dream or an idea. We can engage in it now and work toward a better world. Working together as brothers and sisters. We can share the journey even if we do have different paths. Because in the end just as Eboo Patel’s mother wished for him, I wish for us, that we might became that kind of Christian, the one sing the songs of faiths that are not ours while engaging fully our own faith traditions. May the faith we find in our hearts truly bless others. Amen

Ramadan Kareem

As I was reading the ISU Daily today I had the opportunity to read a nice little article about Muslim students who were observing Ramadan. So I read the article with great interest, and when I noticed the comments I went to read them with interest. When I opened the comment page my heart sank. It was full of hateful and frankly false speech, so I left my Ramadan wishes for my Muslim brothers and sisters, not acknowledging the commenters spreading hate, because they did not deserve acknowledging. But as I have been thinking the rest of the day I think I owe it to my Muslim sisters and bothers to write about my positive experiences of Ramadan and of Muslims.

For those of you who did not know my wife and I spent time teaching in Bahrain (the island Kingdom of the Coast of Saudi Arabia). Less than a month of us arriving in Bahrain we got our first experience of Ramadan. It completely changed the entire country for that month. Things were closed during the day so that people could observe the fast. They opened back up in the evening as people broke the fast. I truly admired how much commitment it takes to fast from Sunrise to sunset for a whole month.

I taught 5th graders and a good number of them were trying to observe the fast for one of their first times, so out of respect for my students I fasted while I was at school. Being that I was fasting I used that fasting as a time for me to be intentionally spiritual in my Christian faith as well. It surprised me just how much of a time of spiritual renewal this was for me. I got to spend time thinking about those who could not afford to eat everyday. I got to learn how to rely on God in those times when physically you are not at the top of your game but you need to keep going. I spent time thinking about all of the famous fasts that were in the scripture. And in the end I found, as I did many times when I was in Bahrain, that my Muslim sisters and brothers had spurred me on to be a better Christian.

The fact is that the people I met in the middle east were easily some of the most welcoming, accepting and warm people I have ever met in my life.

I am tempted to tell you how "they" are this and "they" are that, but I don't want to label them as "they." The truth is that "they" are us, we are sisters and brothers. I tired of the fear mongering people are people and deserve to be treated as such.

So in this holy month I wish all people a Ramadan Kareem and as Ramadan ends next week eid mubarak. And hope that maybe this Ramadan we can all because better adherents to our own faiths. That maybe we can find understanding, because we have much to learn from one another.

Debunking the Sacred and Secular Divide

I've been thinking about this a lot recently I refuse to put my faith in a box and divide my life between the sacred and the secular... let me explain.

Those who know me know I'm a bit of a movie nerd. I love movies and the art that is cinema. When I was in college I started noticing something the movies I watched and loved often times at themes that tied into faith, or spoke to my spiritual side. Over the eight years sense that realization I've discovered that I am not the only one who recognized this, I have sat with countless groups, watching countless movies that have spurred countless theological discussions. If I were to discount these movies or themes simply because they were "secular" I would have missed many great insights about my faith and my spirituality.

I believe that God can and does speak through art, through movies, through music. I reject that that art must specifically speak about God to have something to say about faith. I heard a speaker say "we need less Christian music, and more Christians making music." I agree this this statement totally. I'm tired of having my faith sold back to me in the form of "christian" music, movies and art. Not that there is not some good "Christian" music, movies and art out there but I think the majority of it is spiritual junk food. It may be sweet but your in trouble if you are trying to live on it.

I don't want to have to leave God at the door when I leave the church and I don't want to have to leave behind the insights I've gotten from watching the latest episode of House as I walk in the church door. Our faith should effect our journey and I would hope that we would bring that viewpoint to the things we are watching and listening to.

After all am I worshiping God any less if I'm doing it while singing "Big Yellow Taxi" and not "How Great Thou Art"? I don't think so. So I pray that God effects every part of my journey and that it does not become divided between the sacred and secular. Instead let me see God where ever God may be.