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Rector's Blog
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
This Christmas finds the Phillips family in transitional upheaval: A call to a great parish, a transition out of a great parish -- all in the midst of a world decked red and green but with only a fading memory of what all the caroling is about.
Christmas is the season of the Incarnation. The Eternal Word -- ineffable, transcendent, utterly and completely beyond the reach of human comprehension -- enters human history. What's more, the Eternal Word enters human history the way everyone one enters human history -- hungry and with a shiver.
This is where faith kicks in. Otherwise Christmas becomes utterly absurd.
The Incarnation means that for the Eternal Word to even survive requires a mother to hold him, keep him warm, feed him. It requires a father to at least close the door to keep the cold wind out.
And the shepherds. The shepherds? You want to see who? The angel told you what? Yeah, I guess its okay. . . . Wipe your feet.
And the Kings. The Kings! A star? How long did it take you to get here from the East? Oh, why not. But the camels have to stay outside.
Who but this baby has the authority to bring both shepherd and King together in the same place. And here's the point: the Kings, even with their gold, frankinsence and myrrh, bring nothing to commend themselves to the Eternal Word made Flesh that the shepherds do not also bring.
Kings come with hands full. Shepherds come with hands empty. Kings follow a star. Shepherds respond to angels. Kings come accompanied by a retinue of servants. Shepherds come accompanied by fleas.
Both Shepherd and King come together. And being together they acknowledge and somehow yield to the Eternal Word who has entered human history and bids them come.
Within the challenge of my own transition one thing gives me hope. The babe who calls to me from within St. Tim's, is the one who calls to me from within St. David's. The call is the whimper and the cry of a babe who must be nurtured if he is to grow up in our midst to transform the world.
I leave one parish of shepherds and kings, to join another parish of shepherd and kings -- all of us gather to yield to the Eternal Word Made Flesh.
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Wednesday, December 14, 2005
I have not posted anything for a month. The reason? I have been deep in prayer and lacked. . . what? the energy? the freedom? the courage? the wisdom? to articulate my struggle.
I have accepted a call to St. David's Episcopal Church, in Ashburn, VA.
For the past month I have been working hard to hear God's clear voice -- speaking in the depths of my heart, in the voice of my family, my collegues and staff. I have been trying to get in touch with the deepest longing of my heart, knowing that there I will encounter the longing that rises out of the heart of God. It is not easy.
In the course of my ministry people often ask, "How do you really know what God wants you to do?"
Well, it begins by really wanting to know what God wants you to do.
And then by really believing that God speaks to us.
And then by really having the faith to throw security and comfort to the wind when what God wants requires you to step off a cliff.
And finally -- and this is the only way you really know what God wants you to do -- by really doing it.
Discerning God's guiding hand is not a theoretical exercise. It demands a choice and action.
Okay, so that is why I havn't posted a blog for a while. I have been struggling with the questions:
1. Do I really want to know what God wants me to do?
2. Do I really believe God is speaking?
3. Do I really have the faith to let go of comfort and security?
4. Am I really willing to be God's faithful covenant partner in the transformation of the world by making a real choice, by taking real action?
Argh. Struggle, struggle, struggle.
This is where it gets hard. My choice, my action slams into other people. My choice and action forces change on other people. My choice, my action, my response to God's call will generate a new thing in the world. Ready or not, here God comes.
I take great comfort in this:
God has lifted up faithful leaders at St. Tim's. The parish is deep and strong.
The God who calls me away from St. Tim's is also the God who calls St. Tim's to continue in faithful mission. God continues to bless.
Jesus' promise endures: "Lo, I will be with you always. . . . " "I will never leave you or forsake you. . . ." "Where two or three are gathered in my name, I will be there in the midst of
them. . . ."
Do I really want to know God's will?
Do I really believe God is speaking?
Do I really have the faith to abandon the secure and the comfortable?
Am I really willing to take action in the world, to make a choice?
As it turns out, my answer is yes.
What's yours?
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Wednesday, November 09, 2005
I have encountered recently two parishioners who have told me about conversations they have overheard with their friends. Here's the scene, a scene that has been repeated a number of times:
Parishioner with Friend Number 1, Friend Number 1 talking to Friend Number 2:
Friend Number 1: So what have you been up to lately?
Friend Number 2: Well, actually I'm looking for a church. I'm having trouble finding a place that 'feels right.'
Friend Number 1: Yougottagotosttimsitssocool! The music is great! The people are friendly! The website is cool. They even pod-caste! The place is just perfect!
Later, Parishioner with Friend Number 1.
Parishioner: Hey, if you think St. Tim's is so good, how come you don't go?
Friend Number 1: Oh, I just don't need church in my life right now.
This scenario has been related to me several times recently. I got to thinking. If people do not go to church because "they don't need church in their life right now," what happens when you know what hits the fan and suddenly they are in desperately need of a supportive community that draws life and vitality from Jesus?
Some people learn the hard way. People of faith practice community building spiritual disciplines because they know there is always someone around who needs them.
And then, when the wheel turns and they are suddenly "in need of church right now." They have it. Faith is about time invested in the lives of others. Following Jesus is, in part, about logging in the time.
What makes this so hard to understand?
This seems to be something the emerging generation has never learned. I wonder when, if ever, they will ever learn it?
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Tuesday, October 04, 2005
I received a great email recently from a very faithful and very articulate parishioner in response to Stewardship stuff I have generated in sermon and web site. He ends his email with a gracious apology for being "strident."
Naaaah. Not strident. Just real.
He gave me permission to post a bit of our dialgoue here. He wrote (in part):
You metioned (once) that is occasionally good to leave church angry. Well, I was mad last Sunday but not because I felt spiritually challenged. Having just read the stewardship (Focus article) again on the Web site, my sentiment is exacerbated.
We can agree to disagree here But I just don't buy the logic creating a seemingly singular link between spiritual growth and applied wisdom and tithing. I find the rationale a bit heavy-handed. While I don't have the benefit of your experience, I'd like to believe that there are plenty of ways to demonstrate meaningful growth and am concerned that you left me and a lot of others feeling guilty that a tithe was one of the only routes of achieving it.
Ouch. Mia culpa. I hate when a sermon I preach generates guilt. Guilt just gets in the way of genuine spiritual formation. It's the reason Jesus died on the cross, to get it out of the way. I must try to do better.
Here is my response to him (in part):
Is their a link between spiritual growth and tithing? I really think so. Is it the only link? Not at all. Others include, prayer and study, Sabbath keeping, covenant group, service, and active witness to personal faith. There are others, but I believe these are the core spiritual disciplines for our contemporary age.
So, I don't think the tithe is the only means to achieving spiritual growth, but it is an important component. You may not have heard me say this yet. You will hear me say this soon. The tithe is not on obligation, it is a challenge. The biblical standard of the tithe is a high bar. It certainly is for me. But once a person embraces the challenge, (that is the principle as a goal) one begins to relate to money in new and surprising ways.
With the financial obligations of two kids, it makes a significant impact on the shape of my life. (My brother tithes with four kids. Ouch!) It is not easy.
Though it is not easy, in my personal experience, I feel genuinely blessed by the discipline. Just to offer one simple example, I have many conversations with God that I wouldn't have otherwise. I also have had some very interesting conversations with my 12 year old daughter Claire, whose life is also impacted by this discipline, especially when she compares her experience to that of her friends at her expensive (at least for us) private school. I am pleased by the maturity and the groundedness of her life. I think our commitment to tithe has something to do with that. (By the way, my wife Holly has also freely embraced this discipline or else I couldn't do it.)
The tithe is a personal choice. It is a personal spiritual discipline a person chooses to embrace. Or not. I do not believe the tithe influences one bit, God's intention to bless. Although, I really do believe it influences my ability to perceive the richness of God's blessing. Otherwise, instead of investing so much money in my spiritual formation, I would probably choose to pay down the debt on my house.
The Stewardship challenge generates tough conversations like this -- once a person finds the courage to really engage the issue. Hard conversations push the boundaries of our perceptions.
If God really is doing something in the midst of people, both people who tithe and people who don't, but among people all of whom make real and genuine sacrifices in their commitment to follow Jesus, isn't it somthing worth talking about?
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Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Does talk about money and faith turn your stomach? Make you feel a little queasy? Maybe a little dizzy?
The issue stimulates some of my best thinking. It got Jesus thinking too. Listening to Jesus helps me get clear in my own head about the proper role of money in my life.
Here is Jesus talking about money:
"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."
"No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money."
"The Kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up; then in his joy he goes and sells all he has and buys that field."
There is a lot going on here. A lot to think about. Here are questons worth pondering.
Maybe Jesus knows something we don't know? Where my treasure is, their my heart is also. So where is my treasure? Where is it really? Or better, What is my treasure? How can I find more of life' genuine treasure? How does my society prevent me from finding life's genuine treasure?
Have you noticed how freaked out some people get talking about money and faith?
My own personal experience teaches me that money-love hinders the genuine freedom of faith. Other people of faith who have broken through to freedom say the same thing. Tithing has always been a part of the journey.
I have asked Sara our webmaster to create a formwhere people can anonymously email me questions they may have about money and faith. It's not that I will answer the questions. Not at all. I simply want to engage the issue.
Is anyone else interested in discovering where genuine life is found?
We'll see.
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Monday, September 12, 2005
This month we are exploring "foundations of faith." In sermons over the past two weeks I have talked about our faith in God as Creator and Savior. These are big themes. As I have thought about our generation and its struggle for faith, it seems to me that faithful confidence in God as Creator and Savior are both being undermined by foolishness from within the church.
People sometimes confuse the notion of Creation with the more polemical movement known as Creationism. Creationism compromises serious-minded consideration of Creation by framing the discussion as an argument against the theory of evolution. Creationists shame faith by absurd distortion of scientific discipline. Genuinely important themes get neglected.
Instead of talking about the human need to find an ultimate source of human meaning, we talk about dinosaurs. Instead of talking about our ecological stewardship of creation, we talk about whether or not there is evidence of a cataclysmic flood to support the historicity of Noah. Instead of securing the notion of human rights in eternity -- rooted in the faith statement that we are all created equal -- some dispute the age of the earth. People of faith appear to be idiots.
In a similar way people confuse the notion of salvation with another polemical movement. It often goes by the term evangelism, but it lacks the richness of the witness of the origional Evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Pseudo-evangelism often involves confronting people with a simplistic question: Are you saved? It is formulaic and manipulative. It lacks qualities of grace it claims to offer to the world.
At its best, "saved" language expresses in short-hand a life-transforming experience another person simply cannot understand who has not experienced the genuine grace of God in this way. At its worst, it is deeply alienating. It turns the Gospel of Jesus into a magic trick. Missing is the investment of time exploring with one another the profound human need for self-transcendence.
Creation is a much richer concept than that presented by creationists. Salvation is a much richer concept that that presented by pseudo-evangelists. The challenge is to engage the reality of our Creator and Savior in ways that honor the genuine mystery of God.
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Thursday, September 01, 2005
Hurricane Katrina has been a natural disaster of, I hate to say it, "biblical proportions." The category 4 hurricane, coupled with the failure of levees around New Orleans has destroyed one of America's most celebrated cities. Rescuers in aluminum fishing boats pushed along by outboard motors tend to those stranded on rooftops while bodies float by face down in the water.
Meanwhile, looters break windows and walk away with flat-screen plasma TVs and Sony PlayStations. Authorities are too busy saving lives to police neighborhoods. Some shopkeepers have taken up vigil with shotguns on their front stoop beneath signs that read, "You Loot. I shoot."
Meanwhile, 30,000 refugees in the hot-house of a Superdome endure 100 degree temperatures while toilets overflow, garbage piles up and tempers burn on short fuses. Supplies of food and water run out before the long lines of hot, hungry, thirsty people do. There have been rumors of rape among the refugees.
And in some parts of the country some people complain about how the destruction of Gulf Coast oil refineries is driving up the price of their precious gasoline above $3.00 a gallon.
Nature does its worst. Humanity responds. . . how? Manifesting both the best and the worst of our nature.
The "biblical proportion" is most often a reference to the Bible's graphic presentation of periodic catastrophe: Noah's flood, Egyptian plagues, the destruction of Jerusalem. But if one's notion of the "biblical proportion" stops here, it is incomplete.
The "biblical proportion" of the biblical narrative always includes a challenge to the human response. In the midst of the crisis of our neighbor, what will we do? Will we loot? Will we shoot? Or will we reach out to others with whatever gift God has given us to give?
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Archive:
12/01/2004 - 12/31/2004
01/01/2005 - 01/31/2005
02/01/2005 - 02/28/2005
03/01/2005 - 03/31/2005
04/01/2005 - 04/30/2005
05/01/2005 - 05/31/2005
06/01/2005 - 06/30/2005
07/01/2005 - 07/31/2005
08/01/2005 - 08/31/2005
09/01/2005 - 09/30/2005
10/01/2005 - 10/31/2005
11/01/2005 - 11/30/2005
12/01/2005 - 12/31/2005
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