tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-91458743200316471892024-02-20T01:01:02.968-08:00Reflections and ThoughtsI expect to pass through this world but once. Any good things, therefore, that I can do, any good kindness that I can show a fellow being, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.
-- Stephen GrelletAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06072075612836672769noreply@blogger.comBlogger34125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9145874320031647189.post-68098138071410089852014-09-29T13:26:00.000-07:002014-09-29T13:27:21.666-07:00Moving to a new siteHey all,<br />
<br />
I will now be blogging at <a href="http://gregnjenn.wordpress.com/">gregnjenn.wordpress.com</a> with my wife Jenn! We will both write posts about our lives and add our voices on issues we care about.<br />
<br />
Please follow the blog! Thank you for your readership!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06072075612836672769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9145874320031647189.post-91690547602638285532014-04-27T19:58:00.001-07:002014-04-27T20:04:07.719-07:00Being Restored Through a Differently-Abled Christ<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>I preached in the Princeton University Chapel on Sunday April 27th on <a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=265651780" target="_blank">John 20:19-31</a>. This sermon relates to the <a href="http://reflectionsbygreg.blogspot.com/2014/04/worshipping-differently-abled-christ.html" target="_blank">sermon I preached on April 1st</a>, but it is not a follow-up per sé because the two sermons were preached in front of different audiences. </i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Last week, we celebrated
Easter with the glorious news that Christ was missing from the tomb,
the sign that He had indeed risen. This Sunday, the Second Sunday of Easter, we hear of the
Disciples' encounter with Christ after His resurrection. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH45RSaMR6nlykVTgjK7Sdd3VRfeNCVcWW4y5DxK_3Gz4KS3YUbZvgX3cM40zukEQlVHn1_VRt8Wi31G1IhNVp5xjXEPlDYq5nbQITwWpBe_tFHVNNw8ct_oZSJSkY2nW3imwwx_PqwdTa/s1600/10170860_654538253580_2486570518081421434_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH45RSaMR6nlykVTgjK7Sdd3VRfeNCVcWW4y5DxK_3Gz4KS3YUbZvgX3cM40zukEQlVHn1_VRt8Wi31G1IhNVp5xjXEPlDYq5nbQITwWpBe_tFHVNNw8ct_oZSJSkY2nW3imwwx_PqwdTa/s1600/10170860_654538253580_2486570518081421434_n.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a><span style="font-size: small;">As someone who has felt
like an outcast much of my life, I find a lot of hope in the
resurrection. For years I have been struggling to find my place
within the Christian body. As someone with a pronounced speech
impediment, I have felt more often like an outcast than a beloved
Child of God. I would frequently wonder: Does God really love me if
God gave me this difficulty? Why am I not perfect like others around
me?</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Yet, as we look at the
Gospels, Jesus does not have an easy life. From day one, people want
him dead. But during his ministry he is defiant to the authorities
and the upper class, yet loving towards the downtrodden. He meets
with the outcasts of society, to the dismay of His own Disciples. He
is clear that they are Beloved too. In the end, Christ is put to
death for challenging the political and religious powers of
first-century Israel. Yet, He rise again. His persecutors did not
have the last word. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Looking back on my own
life so far, I was tormented by taunts, treated unkindly and
unfairly. But my tormentors do not have the last word either. I am
using my voice, which has been mocked and discriminated against, to
bring you this word of God today. That is one of the hopes that the
Resurrection shows us. Good will always prevail over evil. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">I also find hope in how
Christ is embodied after the Resurrection. He did not come back with
a pristine, wound-free body. Yet He bore the wounds He had suffered
on the cross. Others expected this to be the case. </span>
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e0/Caravaggio_-_The_Incredulity_of_Saint_Thomas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e0/Caravaggio_-_The_Incredulity_of_Saint_Thomas.jpg" height="293" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px; text-align: start;">The Incredulity of Saint Thomas by Caravaggio c. 1601-1602</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">One of the disciples,
Thomas, was dismayed by not seeing Jesus when the others first had.
He doesn't even believe the others that they had actually seen him,
so he says in verse 25: “<span style="color: #010000;">Unless I see the
mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the
nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.’</span> </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">After seeing what horrors
Jesus went through on the Cross, Thomas was under no illusion that
Christ would appear without wounds. Furthermore, Thomas expected
Jesus to bear the wounds He had suffered on the Cross. If he didn't,
then he would not be convinced that Christ had actually appeared to
the others.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">When Christ appears with
his wounds, showing his imperfect body, Thomas readily embraces him
as Lord. Thomas was not grossed out by the wounds and Christ asked
him to reach out and to touch the wounds. This scene is reminiscent
of all the times in the Gospels where Christ would reach out and
touch the emotional and physical wounds of the outcasted. By Christ
bearing these wounds, we see a new take on what it means to be
differently-abled, and that we worship a differently-abled Christ.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Often being disabled in
our society has been a taboo topic. Until recently people with
disabilities would be discarded from society and locked away in
hospitals and schools, away from the larger society. Things are
improving for people with disabilities. But still today disabilities
are still regarded more as a sin than a blessing. Still largely
outcasted, people with disabilities are often on the fringes of our
society and are often treated more with pity than respect. People
with disabilities faced much discrimination, especially within the
Church. <span style="color: black;"> </span> </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">In her book <i>Disabled
God</i>, the late theologian Lisa Eiesland tells the story of Diane
who was born without lower limbs and above-elbow upper extremity
stumps. Shortly after Diane was born, her family </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguxAcDzse9rKefoHG4oI3XwaeP80adGSkn3B3lIISzAYfAV_46cQD9x66Q7-UBOjHa6b4lA_f20BVihKmrI_f2wgekMFyDXKZMkDTlq4S1OpAsHA8D3rM5XlgQW2HCpTvwKujqHZynKIHz/s1600/51mwzkj5yxl-_sl500_aa300_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguxAcDzse9rKefoHG4oI3XwaeP80adGSkn3B3lIISzAYfAV_46cQD9x66Q7-UBOjHa6b4lA_f20BVihKmrI_f2wgekMFyDXKZMkDTlq4S1OpAsHA8D3rM5XlgQW2HCpTvwKujqHZynKIHz/s1600/51mwzkj5yxl-_sl500_aa300_.jpg" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">moved across the
country to avoid Diane's grandmother, who accused her daughter,
Diane's mother, of sleeping with the devil. She called Diane “the
devil's daughter”. That was just the beginning of the torments she
would face throughout her life.</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">But, like my tormentors,
her grandmother was wrong. Diane and I are both beloved children of
God, just as we who are gathered here today, are all beloved children
of God. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Ascribing disabilities as
sins is largely due to misinterpretations relating to passages in the
Gospel where Jesus seemingly cures people of their ailments, of their
disabilities. Instead,<span style="color: black;"> I see Jesus' witness in
the Gospels as more about restoring outcasts to their communities,
not about healing. The Ecumenical
Disability Advocates Network contends that “The healing stories in
the gospels, are primarily concerned with restoration of persons to
their communities, not the cure of their physiological conditions</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
Later in her book, Eiesland
writes that: “The disabled God repudiates the conception of
disability as a consequence of individual sin... Our bodies... are
not artifacts of sin, original or otherwise. Our bodies participate
in the imago Dei, not in spite of our impairments and contingencies,
but through them.”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Christ bearing those
wounds proves this; we are whole just as we are, just as we are made.
</span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Growing up with a speech
impediment was not easy. Often I did not feel whole, because others
treated me as if I was not whole, as if my speech impediment was a
form of punishment for a past sin. I frequently dreamt about
overcoming my impediment. But I see that longing as futile now,
because I have been whole all my life. Because God made me in God's
image.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">We are each made in the
image of God, yet we are each shaped differently, with different
genders, with different abilities, and with different skills and
talents. I thought about this concept when I was baking bread for
communion last weekend. Over the last couple months, as I have been
baking the communion bread, I have tried my hardest to shape them so
that they would all look uniform. I could not! They each turned out
to be their own unique shape. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">This last time, I took
another approach. I let them take shape as I pressed them out from
the balls that I had formed. The balls themselves were similar in
size and made out of exactly the same ingredients, but each one took
a different shape and yet each one was just as good as all the
others. They served well as the bread of Life, but none of them were
exactly alike.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">I noticed that is how
humankind works. We are made out of the same mold, but we come out
looking different, with different abilities and insights. We are all
children of God that God can use as God see fit.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">In celebrating a
differently-abled God, we can recognize that the Resurrection is not
about resurrecting perfect people but allowing us, imperfect people
in an imperfect world a chance to be redeemed together through Jesus'
ultimate sacrifice and ultimate victory. We do not need to be perfect to be in this
community; instead we need to be faithful to the best of our
abilities. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Our insistence on
perfection is one of our greatest sins in our modern world. We strive
to be perfect: To have straight A's, to have successful careers, to
be the perfect spouses, to be perfect believers. But I do not see
that as what God intends for us. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">As I am ending my ministry
among you in a couple weeks, I see that we are a beautiful diverse
community. We are not uniform, but yet we are all children of God.
Christ has formed us out of the same mold, but we are not same. None
of us are perfect, but we can all strive to be faithful in an
imperfect world.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Also within the
Resurrection, I see a challenge within this hope. I see a challenge
to love others who are different from me, who hold different beliefs
from me, who have different interests from me. Yes we are not made
the same and a lot of the conflict in the world comes out of the
differences that exist between people. The hope is also the
challenge. If we admit that we are imperfect people, we will mess up
and make mistakes. We will fail to love our neighbor fully, we will
fail to see another person's humanity when they cut us off on Route
1, and we will fail to see the light of God within someone when we
feel betrayed by them. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">But our imperfectness does
not prevent us from being in a relationship with God. It proves that
we are humans, who are called to be faithful, not perfect.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">On this Sunday we, people
of different abilities, are being resurrected as a community into the
differently-abled body of Christ to have another chance to live out
God's Kingdom here on Earth, where differences are celebrated and
embraced.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Let's go forth from here
today striving to be faithful, in celebration of our differences, and
let's remember we are given this chance today only through Christ's
Resurrection. </span>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06072075612836672769noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9145874320031647189.post-15793447714428538012014-04-01T19:23:00.001-07:002014-04-27T20:30:35.082-07:00Worshipping a Differently-Abled Christ<i>Each Masters Senior at Princeton Theological Seminary is eligible to give the message during the weekday service. I gave my message on April 1. If you want to listen to the sermon or the whole service, you can. Here is the <a href="http://mediafiles.ptsem.edu/studentworship/2013_2014/040114woods/T002_20140401.wav" target="_blank">link to the sermon</a> and <a href="http://mediafiles.ptsem.edu/studentworship/2013_2014/040114woods/T001_20140401.wav" target="_blank">the service before </a>and <a href="http://mediafiles.ptsem.edu/studentworship/2013_2014/040114woods/T003_20140401.wav" target="_blank">after the sermon</a>.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>The passage for this sermon is <a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=263404366" target="_blank">John 9:1-5</a></i><br />
<br />
Throughout
my life I have been trying to understand why I have a speech
impediment. Why did God do this to me? At first I thought it was a
curse done to me because of past sins; just as the Disciples ask
Christ about the man who is blind. Then I wondered for some time if
it was a prank on me. One day, I would wake up and this impediment
would be gone. Jesus would be appearing more like<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/93/Buddy_christ.jpg" target="_blank"> Buddy Jesus from
the movie </a><span style="color: black;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/93/Buddy_christ.jpg" target="_blank">Dogma</a></span></i></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
and He would say “April Fools!” </span></span></span>
<br />
<br />
Most of my life, I longed for
that day to be whole, to feel whole. Why God? Why am I not whole? Then throughout seminary I have
tried to reconcile my speech impediment through looking at it as a
gift, as Jesus seems to proclaim in John 9. Christ must have meant
for this to happen. A way to use me in the world. In wrestling with
this, I have come to see that this too is not true. Being a person
with a disability is not a gift nor is it about sin. I
have realized the reason that I have felt like an outcast has nothing
to do with my
relationship with Christ. The source of my pain has been the
reactions of my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ here on Earth.
<br />
<br />
Part
of Jesus' witness in the Gospels is about restoring outcasts to their
communities. The Ecumenical
Disability Advocates Network contends that “The healing stories in
the gospels, [like John 9] are primarily concerned with restoration
of persons to their communities, not the cure of their physiological
conditions.”
This man who was blind was not welcome in his community and is only
restored to his community after the miracle.<br />
<br />
Furthermore, at the end
of this story, Christ proclaims that people who can physically see
are spirituality blind. Then the inverse must be true: People who
have disabilities can be spiritually whole. This speech impediment is just a
part of who I am, not a sin, not a gift.
Our
collective sin have been trying to reach an unrealistic perfection
while living in an imperfect world.<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 0.14in;">Let's remember: We are asked to
live faithfully, not sinlessly. </span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 0.14in;">Let's admit: We as humans err a lot. </span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 0.14in;">Let's confess: We will not be perfect as it is currently defined in
the modern worl</span><span style="color: black; line-height: 0.14in;"><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">d. </span></span></span></li>
</ul>
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-weight: normal;"> Lent
is an ideal time to think about this restoration. The theologian Lisa
Eiesland writes in <i>Disabled
God </i>that
after the resurrection in Luke, Christ appears with injuries to His
hands and feet. By doing so, she claims that Jesus' disability
indicates not a flawed humanity but a full humanity. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-weight: normal;">By
acknowledging this truth that we worship a God who is differently
abled and yet still whole, we can admit that our faithfulness, not
our perfection, bring us into the body of Christ. Therefore, the
resurrection in two and a half weeks is a collective restoration for
all of us.
We each have different abilities and struggles. We all have gifts to
offer each other and the world. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-weight: normal;">Let me caution you all today too:
People with disabilities are not here for abled body people to feel
blessed or feel lucky. We are not here for others' self-realizations.
We are here to be active parts of the body of Christ and to offer our
own gifts and talents to the world. Attitudes of pity, judgement, and
fear of people with disabilities interfere with this restoration. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-weight: normal;"> This is the Good News! On Easter,
we, as an imperfect people, will be restored back into this whole
living differently-abled body of Christ. </span></span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06072075612836672769noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9145874320031647189.post-82118766016500524042014-03-30T15:10:00.000-07:002014-04-27T20:18:23.589-07:00Lenten Reflection<i>I wrote the following as an entry in the Princeton University Chapel Lenten Meditation Booklet. I was assigned the following text: <a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Matthew%205:1-12" target="_blank">Matthew 5:1-12</a> (The Beatitudes)</i><br />
<div>
<i><br /></i></div>
<div>
<div class="Default" dir="LTR" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Arial; margin: 0pt;">
Doesn't Jesus make the Beatitudes sound so easy? Who wouldn't want to live in these ways?</div>
<div class="Default" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Arial; margin: 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="Default" dir="LTR" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Arial; margin: 0pt;">
Just follow these simple words and you will be blessed by the Lord. Why would it not be easy?</div>
<div class="Default" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Arial; margin: 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="Default" dir="LTR" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Arial; margin: 0pt;">
Yet we all know that these words, easy as they sound, are a lot harder to live out. At Jesus's time, in the First Century AD, people of faith had become lax in their devotion and practice. Social injustice was abound in a community that claimed to worship God.</div>
<div class="Default" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Arial; margin: 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="Default" dir="LTR" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Arial; margin: 0pt;">
Doesn't that sound familiar? Look at our current world that is ravaged by a lot of societal ills, such as mass incarceration, war, gun violence, increasingly economic inequality. Our worship can sometimes become rote, instead of having spiritual richness. In many ways we are currently in a similar position as First Century Israel.</div>
<div class="Default" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Arial; margin: 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="Default" dir="LTR" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Arial; margin: 0pt;">
To confront this communal sin, Jesus issues a call for His followers to go deeper in faith. He issues standards of devotion that God expect out of the new followers. These same standards are still relevant today. Christianity is not supposed to be something that is only relegated to Sunday mornings. Instead, our faith should be lived out in our everyday actions.</div>
<div class="Default" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Arial; margin: 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="Default" dir="LTR" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Arial; margin: 0pt;">
Yes this is hard to do! Another thing about the Beatitudes: Jesus was talking to His Disciples, not to a single person. We cannot do this alone, separate from each other. As a faith community we should work together to improve the world around us, so we can all be blessed, not just some of us. But this work of transformation must begin with us.</div>
<div class="Default" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Arial; margin: 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="Default" dir="LTR" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Arial; margin: 0pt;">
This first step in this transformation is to support each other and hold each other accountable to live deeper into our faith to strive to be like the examples Jesus expresses in the Beatitudes.</div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06072075612836672769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9145874320031647189.post-9827522339489507282014-01-02T12:42:00.000-08:002014-01-02T12:42:35.908-08:00Looking for Perfect Victims = Foolish Search<i>This past semester I took a class on the Book of Job. For the final project, I wrote a series of reflections looking at Job from a personal and societal liberation standpoint. Here is one of these reflections concerning the monologue of Elihu in <a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=255690920" target="_blank">Chapters 32-37</a>. I might share other reflections from the my notebook on Job.</i><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV5MXGv2j52VWDv6mhdwIAc9hcC8ORdhsQXAlz_qz8HA7abGmf7mRXx3iL2lqZjng9O1J3y2LWMEvBYX-53LWWvgSaWc806IJJUK-aUwQ9b69WLiNmcNua7lcARVjNFqTGS6vJ8Jt76O9S/s1600/725px-The_Wrath_of_Elihu_Butts_set.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV5MXGv2j52VWDv6mhdwIAc9hcC8ORdhsQXAlz_qz8HA7abGmf7mRXx3iL2lqZjng9O1J3y2LWMEvBYX-53LWWvgSaWc806IJJUK-aUwQ9b69WLiNmcNua7lcARVjNFqTGS6vJ8Jt76O9S/s320/725px-The_Wrath_of_Elihu_Butts_set.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The Wrath of Elihu </i>by William Blake (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_Wrath_of_Elihu_Butts_set.jpg" target="_blank">Source</a>)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
One of the reasons the Elihu rejects Job as being an innocent victim is because he doesn't resemble what Elihu think an innocent victim would look like: Himself. Daniel Berrigan, in <a href="http://www.powells.com/biblio/62-9781580510745-1" target="_blank">his commentary on Job,</a> writes, “Since Job drastically falls short of Elihu's estimate of a just one, a question occurs; What form would his “ideal Job” take? Elihu and his cohorts suggest the form rather consistently; the paragon would resemble—themselves,” (Berrigan 293). Often, then and now, innocence is only reserved for the judging parties, not for judged. Rarely will we ever find a totally innocent victim.<br />
<br />
In December, my friend <a href="https://twitter.com/NyleFort" target="_blank">Nyle</a> through sharing a post by <a href="http://www.facebook.com/sonofbaldwinfb" target="_blank">Son of Baldwin</a> on Facebook called my attention to an article of a recent horrific murder in Ohio. A 16 year old African American male teen, Dione Payne, was beaten up and violently raped by his killers because they, two white men in their older thirties, wanted to rob him of drugs and money. The hometown newspaper ran an article about the killing under the headline of “<a href="http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/news/bond-set-at-1-million-for-men-accused-of-beating-t/nb9rP" target="_blank">Dayton Teen Beaten to Death Had Trouble Past</a>”, even though looking at the URL, it seems that the headline was at one time was supposed to be “Bond Set at $1 Million for Men Accused of Beating Teen.”<br />
<br />
(Update: While editing this journal entry on December 20th for final submission, I discovered that the headline now reads “Bond set for Franklin men accused in teen's beating death” and there is no acknowledgment of the headline change or apology for the mistake. Also still no mention of the brutal rape he suffered before his death. A <a href="https://www.change.org/petitions/demand-justice-for-dione-payne" target="_blank">petition has also been started on change.org</a> to pressure the prosecutor to add hate crime and rape to the charges)<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1N0oK_-Ic8Zq9miJzAG84nUOvN364XufrET-cqGO9dfYQqly8nUpERg5_SzKUQzOC_Blb-7edLfA1D5gmsjpS8Ha6Xn0g-jAS5JNv7gBogmH-iGGFC6EIOXjEKLOjqv66eKbGPY3PH6a8/s1600/Dione_Payne.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1N0oK_-Ic8Zq9miJzAG84nUOvN364XufrET-cqGO9dfYQqly8nUpERg5_SzKUQzOC_Blb-7edLfA1D5gmsjpS8Ha6Xn0g-jAS5JNv7gBogmH-iGGFC6EIOXjEKLOjqv66eKbGPY3PH6a8/s320/Dione_Payne.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="219" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dione Payne in 2012 (<a href="http://www.daytondailynews.com/photo/news/crime-law/dione-payne/p3YCr/" target="_blank">Source</a>)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Why did the headline change, if it did at all? Can a black teen with a trouble past not be a victim? Will the eventual court case put him on trial as much as the media has? Will the deceased be tried along with his killers as if his drug dealing compelled the men to savagely kill him as some sort of accomplice? Yes Dione was probably not an honor student and had a criminal record, but he did not deserve to die for dealing drugs, much less to be beaten and rape to the point of death. The point of the article was to tell about a heinous crime he was a victim of. With the headline and the focus of the article on the past, they make his heinous violent death into a passive one.<br />
<br />
By looking for innocent victims, we want to ignore the complexities that come with faith and suffering. Neither faith nor suffering will ever be simple topics to deal. By maintaining an image of a perfect victim, we try to do this and not challenge ourselves on difficult topics. Let ask if we ourselves are really innocent before we try to convince others of their guilt. If we do, why do a majority of us Christians confess our sins each Sunday and ask for forgiveness? As Christians when we do this, we end up reducing our faith and the resurrection to a fairy tale and nothing to ever struggle with. Hence we will continue to believe in a shallow faith that requires no deeper inspection. This will just end up reducing the resurrection to a passive meaningless death. How will that reduction ever serve as a force to liberate the oppressed and the oppressors?<br />
<br />
Let us not be foolish like Elihu in our presumptions of others and God!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06072075612836672769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9145874320031647189.post-76917313080478984482013-11-22T12:33:00.000-08:002013-11-22T12:33:41.364-08:00Do We Worship God or America?This weekend is the <a href="http://www.soaw.org/" target="_blank">annual protest</a> against the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Hemisphere_Institute_for_Security_Cooperation" target="_blank">Western HemisphereInstitute for Security Cooperation</a>, formerly known as the School of
the Americas, located at Fort Benning, Georgia. This military
institute has been known to train Latin American general in brutal
tactics that have been used to silence the opposition in numerous
ways. Some of the victims have been Catholic priests and nuns working
alongside the poor.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://journalism.nyu.edu/publishing/archives/recount/img/soa-picture-jpeg2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://journalism.nyu.edu/publishing/archives/recount/img/soa-picture-jpeg2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by Patrick Mulvaney of 2004 SOA Protest Funeral Procession<br />
Read his recount <a href="http://journalism.nyu.edu/publishing/archives/recount/article/91/" target="_blank">here</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The vigil is held the weekend before Thanksgiving annually to
commemorate the anniversary of the deaths of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_murdered_scholars_of_UCA" target="_blank">6 priests, theirhousekeeper and her daughter in El Salvador on November 16, 1989</a>,
just eight people of the thousands killed by the graduates of SOA.
About 15,000-20,000 people will attend this vigil. School groups,
college groups, peace activists, Catholics, and Protestants from the
US and Latin America comes to peacefully protest this institute. I
went twice with fellow classmates from Earlham College. Every year
the vigil ends in a giant funeral procession remembering all the
people who have been killed by the graduates of the School of the
Americas.<br />
<br />
Yet, outside of a handful of Catholic and Protestant churches,
will this protest get any attention this Sunday in our churches? How
many churches will remember the victims of our military actions in
their prayers of the people? Will there be any special services to
commemorate this ongoing suffering tragedy?<br />
<br />
<br />
I want to contrast this with what I saw earlier this month all over
social media, in the news and with my own eyes. On the Sunday before
Veterans Day, there were special services, invitations to military
families, and prayers for our troops. Here is just one of many examples: Rick Warren's Saddleback Church had a
special invitation to military families.
<br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
If you're a veteran or currently serving, we'll honor you today at all USA campuses.Invite veterans! <a href="http://t.co/XqPuzwVVoB">pic.twitter.com/XqPuzwVVoB</a><br />
— Rick Warren (@RickWarren) <a href="https://twitter.com/RickWarren/statuses/399548348899667968">November 10, 2013</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
When will Saddleback Church
make a special invitation to peacemakers and their families? Or any
church for that matter?<br />
<br />
When will churches give prayers for the victims of war in the
Prayers of the People? When will we remember the deaths of our fellow
Christians or even humans affected by our extremely large military?
Even more, when will we recognize that we are all complicit with the
military industrial complex that feed off a patriotic Christianity in
the United States? This is one of our sins that we need to recognize!<br />
<br />
I have seen pastors who are worried about saying anything to
disrupt their congregants on Veterans Day weekend. If they didn't
want to glorify war, most of them stay silent and did not mention
their real beliefs. Veterans Day weekend in the Church should have
been one of mourning. Yes, mourning that the War to End All Wars did
not do accomplish that. Instead it continued a brutal and violent
history. We should mourn how we so eagerly send off young people to
fight to keep the Defense Industry wealthy, while we ignore veterans
on the streets?
<br />
<br />
Sadly American Christianity is currently more interested in
upholding American Exceptionalism rather than having a prophetic voice. When
will we recognize that God does not just love us but the whole world?
Until that point, American Christianity will continue to worship
America more than God. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06072075612836672769noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9145874320031647189.post-82142183970298922392013-10-23T08:45:00.000-07:002013-10-23T09:02:01.664-07:00Thesis StatementPeople have been interested in hearing about my thesis. After a little research, here is a better statement describing of where I hope to go with this project. Thank you already for all the help!<br />
<br />
I welcome feedback, tips, comments, suggestions, etc... you can email me at gregory.woods(at)ptsem.edu<br />
<br />
---<br />
<br />
My Masters of Divinity Thesis, being written under the guidance of <a href="http://www.ptsem.edu/index.aspx?id=1947&menu_id=72" target="_blank">Professor Mikoski</a>, will focus on re-imaging what short-term church mission trips could be. In this context, I am using short term mission trip to mean a trip primarily for teenagers and young adults going outside of their own community to do hands-on service projects in an economically-disadvantaged population for a short length of time, usually a weekend or a week, no more than two weeks. In its current iteration, these well-meaning trips have been problematic, often serving to reinforce stereotypes of poverty and minorities and establishing a helpee-helper relationship that creates an unhealthy power dynamic and fosters dependence.<br />
<br />
My main argument is that these mission trip experiences should be rooted in building interdependent relationships and by creating space for dialogue between groups of people that rarely interact in any meaningful way. Our society is so fragmented that even through we might live in the same geographical place as other people, we rarely engage with others from radically different backgrounds. These projects can serve as a way for us to answer the question that Jesus was asked, "But who is my neighbor?" (<a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=249543736" target="_blank">Luke 10:29</a>). Yet further these projects can challenge how to fulfill Jesus' second commandment of “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%2012:31&version=KJV" target="_blank">Mark 12:31</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2022:39&version=KJV" target="_blank">Matthew 22:39</a>).<br />
<br />
I will argue that a different model could be used. Short-term mission trips could be based on long-term reciprocal relationships that blur the lines between helper and helpee. These kind of relationships would allow for each other's gifts to be shared and appreciated. I will present case studies of existing reciprocal relationships and the best practices learned from these relationships. By presenting these case studies, I hope to further the academic research into these seldom-studied relationships, as well as provide examples for people wanting to start these kinds of relationships.<br />
<br />
Throughout the thesis I will draw on my own experiences as a participant and leader of mission trips, recent scholarship and popular works on this topic, interviews with people around the world involved in all facets of mission trips, and the research undertaken last academic year in an independent study by Margaret Webb (PTS MDiv 2013) and me.<br />
---<br />
<br />
If you are curious about Margaret and my research from last year, check out <a href="http://ethicalservice.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">this website we built</a>.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06072075612836672769noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9145874320031647189.post-57586078969672034352013-10-17T10:02:00.003-07:002013-10-17T10:15:41.315-07:00Debate about Teach for America<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-reactid=".r[4cuz5].[1][4][1]{comment629159762280_1100376}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[0]" style="line-height: 14px;"><span data-reactid=".r[4cuz5].[1][4][1]{comment629159762280_1100376}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[0].[3]" style="background-color: white;">Yesterday I read a <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/life/education/2013/10/teach_for_america_recommendations_i_stopped_writing_them_and_my_colleague.single.html" target="_blank">critique of Teach for America</a> on Slate by a former alumna and now Professor of Education. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-reactid=".r[4cuz5].[1][4][1]{comment629159762280_1100376}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[0]" style="line-height: 14px;"><span data-reactid=".r[4cuz5].[1][4][1]{comment629159762280_1100376}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[0].[3]"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-reactid=".r[4cuz5].[1][4][1]{comment629159762280_1100376}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[0]" style="line-height: 14px;"><span data-reactid=".r[4cuz5].[1][4][1]{comment629159762280_1100376}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[0].[3]">Today I posted that critique to Facebook. A friend, an employee of TFA, sent me a<a href="http://fongalong.com/2013/10/11/about-that-professor-who-refuses-to-write-tfa-recommendations/" target="_blank"> critique of the Slate article</a> by another employee of TFA, Justin "Juice" Fong. These two articles are getting a lot of comments on my Facebook wall and I want to get in more of a dialogue. I have friends who have done TFA and love it and I have friends who despise it. Please keep it civil. </span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-reactid=".r[4cuz5].[1][4][1]{comment629159762280_1100376}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[0]" style="line-height: 14px;"><span data-reactid=".r[4cuz5].[1][4][1]{comment629159762280_1100376}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[0].[3]"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-reactid=".r[4cuz5].[1][4][1]{comment629159762280_1100376}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[0]" style="line-height: 14px;"><span data-reactid=".r[4cuz5].[1][4][1]{comment629159762280_1100376}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[0].[3]">Below is my critique of Fong's critique:</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-reactid=".r[4cuz5].[1][4][1]{comment629159762280_1100376}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[0]" style="line-height: 14px;"><span data-reactid=".r[4cuz5].[1][4][1]{comment629159762280_1100376}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[0].[3]"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-reactid=".r[4cuz5].[1][4][1]{comment629159762280_1100376}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[0]" style="line-height: 14px;"><span data-reactid=".r[4cuz5].[1][4][1]{comment629159762280_1100376}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[0].[3]">I have read other posts by Fong before, so I am aware of him and his writings about TFA. Overall I think it is a good critique, but it raises more questions for me.</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-reactid=".r[4cuz5].[1][4][1]{comment629159762280_1100376}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[0]" style="line-height: 14px;"><span data-reactid=".r[4cuz5].[1][4][1]{comment629159762280_1100376}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[0].[3]"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-reactid=".r[4cuz5].[1][4][1]{comment629159762280_1100376}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[0]" style="line-height: 14px;"><span data-reactid=".r[4cuz5].[1][4][1]{comment629159762280_1100376}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[0].[3]">I am glad TFA is trying to get people to stay past two years. Why not do something bold and make it a five year commitment? I know of a program like that in Chicago. I talk to P</span></span><span data-reactid=".r[4cuz5].[1][4][1]{comment629159762280_1100376}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[3]" style="line-height: 14px;"><span data-reactid=".r[4cuz5].[1][4][1]{comment629159762280_1100376}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[3].[0]"><span data-reactid=".r[4cuz5].[1][4][1]{comment629159762280_1100376}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[3].[0].[0]">rinceton students who will go do two years in US and then go to graduate school or law school. They specifically do TFA because it will look good on resumes when they want to apply. </span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><span data-reactid=".r[4cuz5].[1][4][1]{comment629159762280_1100376}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[3]" style="line-height: 14px;"><span data-reactid=".r[4cuz5].[1][4][1]{comment629159762280_1100376}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[3].[0]"><br data-reactid=".r[4cuz5].[1][4][1]{comment629159762280_1100376}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[3].[0].[2]" /></span></span><span data-reactid=".r[4cuz5].[1][4][1]{comment629159762280_1100376}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[3]" style="line-height: 14px;"><span data-reactid=".r[4cuz5].[1][4][1]{comment629159762280_1100376}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[3].[0]"><span data-reactid=".r[4cuz5].[1][4][1]{comment629159762280_1100376}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[3].[0].[3]">Also I would argue that ending up in an education nonprofit is not the same thing as staying in a classroom teaching. I think that is what the Slate author is implying that people aren't staying in the classroom. I would love to see that data from RI about how many stayed in the actual classroom. Is it half of 70%? Or 3/4th? What will it look like in 10 years? What is TFA's goal for retention? Fong himself 10 years later isn't in a classroom. So are disadvantaged students supposed to accept having a new teacher their whole school career, just because they go to a school with a lot of TFA staff and turnover because of it? </span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-reactid=".r[4cuz5].[1][4][1]{comment629159762280_1100376}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[3]" style="line-height: 14px;"><span data-reactid=".r[4cuz5].[1][4][1]{comment629159762280_1100376}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[3].[0]"><br data-reactid=".r[4cuz5].[1][4][1]{comment629159762280_1100376}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[3].[0].[5]" /></span></span><span data-reactid=".r[4cuz5].[1][4][1]{comment629159762280_1100376}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[3]" style="line-height: 14px;"><span data-reactid=".r[4cuz5].[1][4][1]{comment629159762280_1100376}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[3].[0]"><span data-reactid=".r[4cuz5].[1][4][1]{comment629159762280_1100376}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[3].[0].[6]">Another critique that I have heard and the Slate author alluded to is that TFA is more interested in Ivy League and top private school students than public school students. What are the stats? Yes it is good that the corps are getting more diverse but where are they coming from? Lets talk about the differences in privilege of a Ivy League student compared to a public university student. Also how many are education </span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 14px;">majors? Seeing posters around my college back in 2007, I received the impression that they wanted everyone besides education majors?</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-reactid=".r[4cuz5].[1][4][1]{comment629159762280_1100376}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[3]" style="line-height: 14px;"><span data-reactid=".r[4cuz5].[1][4][1]{comment629159762280_1100376}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[3].[0]"><span data-reactid=".r[4cuz5].[1][4][1]{comment629159762280_1100376}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[3].[0].[9]"><br /></span></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-reactid=".r[4cuz5].[1][4][1]{comment629159762280_1100376}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[3]" style="line-height: 14px;"><span data-reactid=".r[4cuz5].[1][4][1]{comment629159762280_1100376}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[3].[0]"><span data-reactid=".r[4cuz5].[1][4][1]{comment629159762280_1100376}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[3].[0].[9]">When a school district is downsizes, does TFA downsizes its corps accordingly? Or are long term teachers losing their jobs to TFA members? What is TFA doing in Chicago, for example? (My friend at TFA responded that some Corps members did lose their jobs as well as alumni in both Chicago and Philadelphia.) Is TFA sending less corps members there because of that, so there is room for new teachers who have MATs who want to teach there?</span></span></span><span data-reactid=".r[4cuz5].[1][4][1]{comment629159762280_1100376}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[3]" style="line-height: 14px;"><span data-reactid=".r[4cuz5].[1][4][1]{comment629159762280_1100376}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[3].[0]"><br data-reactid=".r[4cuz5].[1][4][1]{comment629159762280_1100376}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[3].[0].[11]" /></span></span><span data-reactid=".r[4cuz5].[1][4][1]{comment629159762280_1100376}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[3]" style="line-height: 14px;"><span data-reactid=".r[4cuz5].[1][4][1]{comment629159762280_1100376}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[3].[0]"><span data-reactid=".r[4cuz5].[1][4][1]{comment629159762280_1100376}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[3].[0].[12]"><br /></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><span data-reactid=".r[4cuz5].[1][4][1]{comment629159762280_1100376}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[3]" style="line-height: 14px;"><span data-reactid=".r[4cuz5].[1][4][1]{comment629159762280_1100376}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[3].[0]"><span data-reactid=".r[4cuz5].[1][4][1]{comment629159762280_1100376}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[3].[0].[12]">What about the Slate author proposal of having TFA members be co-teachers with a veteran teacher or teaching assistants for the first year? Wouldn't that help members receive more training and students to have an incredible education experience.</span></span></span><span data-reactid=".r[4cuz5].[1][4][1]{comment629159762280_1100376}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[3]" style="line-height: 14px;"><span data-reactid=".r[4cuz5].[1][4][1]{comment629159762280_1100376}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[3].[0]"><br data-reactid=".r[4cuz5].[1][4][1]{comment629159762280_1100376}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[3].[0].[14]" /></span></span><span data-reactid=".r[4cuz5].[1][4][1]{comment629159762280_1100376}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[3]" style="line-height: 14px;"><span data-reactid=".r[4cuz5].[1][4][1]{comment629159762280_1100376}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[3].[0]"><span data-reactid=".r[4cuz5].[1][4][1]{comment629159762280_1100376}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[3].[0].[15]"><br /></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-reactid=".r[4cuz5].[1][4][1]{comment629159762280_1100376}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[3]" style="line-height: 14px;"><span data-reactid=".r[4cuz5].[1][4][1]{comment629159762280_1100376}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[3].[0]"><span data-reactid=".r[4cuz5].[1][4][1]{comment629159762280_1100376}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[3].[0].[15]" style="background-color: white;">I think it is sad for Fong to compare SAT scores of Education majors with college GPA of TFA members. Really that is not the same comparison at all. So no one can be a good teacher if they didn't do well on a test in high school? One of my teachers in high school didn't complete college until late in life (if she ever did), but damn she was one of my best teachers ever and had other teachers' respect. Over my life, committed teachers have help me more and they probably were not always the top of their college class. Yes it would help to have more smart teachers, but I would want teachers who are passionate for the job too and in it for the long haul.</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-reactid=".r[4cuz5].[1][4][1]{comment629159762280_1100376}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[3]" style="line-height: 14px;"><span data-reactid=".r[4cuz5].[1][4][1]{comment629159762280_1100376}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[3].[0]"><span data-reactid=".r[4cuz5].[1][4][1]{comment629159762280_1100376}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[3].[0].[15]"><br /></span></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-reactid=".r[4cuz5].[1][4][1]{comment629159762280_1100376}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[3]" style="line-height: 14px;"><span data-reactid=".r[4cuz5].[1][4][1]{comment629159762280_1100376}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[3].[0]"><span data-reactid=".r[4cuz5].[1][4][1]{comment629159762280_1100376}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[3].[0].[15]">What do you think? Hopefully Juice will answer some of my questions because I would like to hear his responses.</span></span></span></span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06072075612836672769noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9145874320031647189.post-52647905464456292132013-07-02T12:12:00.000-07:002013-07-02T12:15:04.588-07:00The Need for Intimacy in Quaker Worship<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><i>I wrote this piece for <u><a href="http://quaker.ca/resources/the-canadian-friend/" target="_blank">The Canadian Friend</a></u> Summer Youth Issue, which is being mailed to Friends across Canada and beyond this week. </i></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Do
we know our fellow worshippers? Do we know the people with whom we
are filling Christ's request for His presence in the Book of Matthew
chapter 18? Christ says in <a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=239791816" target="_blank">18:20</a>, " </span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">For
where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them"
</span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZET6HdyNg290mPHV9I87jlNbVnmPdGdQF0DoyFM8QMK6nDDxvsSpN0f9V1xxNS-sQoGUzjJm3RHbCzmYy2vvmtpJTKotTycFF_TLIWnq7ckAUqksCufrKsT1CUGwrhMBR4ksKJgwurmgJ/s1600/Canadian+Friend.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZET6HdyNg290mPHV9I87jlNbVnmPdGdQF0DoyFM8QMK6nDDxvsSpN0f9V1xxNS-sQoGUzjJm3RHbCzmYy2vvmtpJTKotTycFF_TLIWnq7ckAUqksCufrKsT1CUGwrhMBR4ksKJgwurmgJ/s320/Canadian+Friend.jpg" width="236" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The Canadian Friend </i>Summer Issue Cover</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"> Often
our monthly meetings do not function as a close caring group of
Friends. </span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">I
attended a large meeting for well over a year and one day during
worship I looked around the room to count the names of people who
were there. Even though I attended regularly and was active in
organizing the Young Adult Friends, I was embarrassed that I only
knew half of the names of the people gathered that day. After
attending another Meeting regularly for six months, I was called by a
member of the Outreach committee and was asked if I was still
attending worship. Even though I have a more positive experience with
this particular monthly meeting and had knew most of the community, I
had never met the caller. Furthermore when I asked the clerk of the
meeting if she could point out the person, she could not recall who
this woman was.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"> Recently,
I read an<a href="http://www.friendsjournal.org/toward-a-testimony-of-intimacy/" target="_blank"> article in <i>Friends Journal</i></a> recommending that the
Religious Society of Friends talk about having a testimony of
intimacy. I agree with the need to talk about intimacy in our
community, but this Friend referred only to sexual intimacy. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"> I
utterly reject using intimacy to mean only romantic relationships. By
relegating this word to just mean one kind of relationships, to mean
just one of its definitions, we are losing a valuable aspect of our
community. When worshipping together was considered a criminal act,
early Quakers know what being intimate with each other meant. Then
during our Society's isolationist period - in the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries - when Quakers lived in their own communities
away from others, they knew each other and set up ways to monitor
each other. This is why we have traveling minutes and marriage
certificates. Both of these traditions were introduce partly as ways
to watch over people to make sure that our collective faith stayed
pure. Friends were definitely involved with each other in an intimate
manner.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"> I
am definitely <a href="http://reflectionsbygreg.blogspot.com/2012/02/messy-faith-inclusivity-within-friends.html" target="_blank">not arguing</a> that <a href="http://williampennhouse.blogspot.com/2010/05/if-i-wanted-to-live-by-1600s-standards.html" target="_blank">we go back to our isolationist period</a>,
but our spiritual ancestors definitely knew who they worship with
every First Day. Do we? Can you name everyone in Meeting on Sunday?
If so, do you know what their recent struggles and triumphs are?</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"> Quakers
do not believe in outward forms of sacraments. Rather, we believe in
sharing the holy communion inwardly with each other. Through waiting
worship should be offering each other the proverbial bread and wine.
It is a communal experience. If it isn't, why do we gather each week?
Why pay for the upkeep of our Meeting Houses? Instead we could just
stay at home and mediate alone. Sharing God's body with fellow
worshippers each Sunday is an intimate act. Do we treat each meeting
for worship as a sacred time? Do we come to meeting for worship
expecting to be changed through this weekly time for sharing inward
sacraments with each other?</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"> One
of my favorite meeting for worships happened in the aftermath of
Superstorm Sandy that hit the eastern coast of the US last October.
The Sunday after Sandy hit, the Meeting House was still without
electricity. Yet we gathered on a rather cold morning. We huddled
together around the fireplace for an hour of waiting worship. Our
bodies were touching as well as our souls as we gathered in God's
presence. That day, I felt a part of this worshipping community in a
whole new way.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"> By
the next Sunday, the electricity to the Meeting House was restored
and we returned to our usual seating pattern spread throughout the
room, with two or three on a pew, instead of a dozen. The only people
who sat close together were couples and families. Months later I
still miss the intimacy I felt that one cold Sunday morning as we
huddle together simultaneously seeking the warmth of the fire and the
Holy Spirit. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"> How
can we reclaim intimacy within our faith community, before we just
become strangers who gather together for personal time of mediation?</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06072075612836672769noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9145874320031647189.post-21747248867320956622013-05-25T17:04:00.000-07:002013-05-25T17:04:39.594-07:00Lets Stop Glorifying War in Church<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
This weekend, we are celebrating
Memorial Day. In the last week, as I have passed churches on the road
and seen their Facebook updates, I have seen a lot of messages that
says something about honoring our heroes. Each time I read or see
that, I cringe. It is further evidence of the combining Christianity
and patriotism in this country. The Early Church gathered in secret
to worship a Savior that was executed by the most powerful military
at the time, but now we worship the most powerful country and its
military strength along with Christ. There are a lot of dangers in
this continued Idol worship.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The influential German theologian Karl
Barth was perturbed as a young man when his clergy mentors and other
prominent Germans signed the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manifesto_of_the_Ninety-Three" target="_blank">Manifesto of the Ninety-Three</a> in 1914.
This manifesto offered unequivocal support of the actions of the
German military. This had a major effect on Barth's theology about
the separation of the church and the government. When a professor
talked about this pivotal moment in Barth's life and theology last
semester during a class on Karl Barth, he did not even attempt to
make the connection between Barth's crisis to the current dilemma
that we face in this country. Tomorrow, thousands, perhaps millions
of US Christians will walk into their churches and not be surprised
to see the American flag near the altar.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I have been thinking about this
dilemma for a while. Growing up, I attended anti-death penalty vigils
outside of my state's Governor Mansion. In reading about the cases, I
sometimes learned that the death row inmates have served in the armed
forces at some point before their crime. Often I reflected on this
double standard, we teach people how to kill people and then praise
them, but then we will also put to death the same people if they kill
other people. How does any of this fits in Christ's admonishment that
we should love our neighbors?</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Last May I took a short intensive
class on Young Adult Ministries. As part of this class, we talked
about ministries in university settings, prisons, and the military.
To talk about military chaplainships, the class traveled down to
Washington DC and talked to chaplains currently serving in different
parts of the armed forces. Several of us asked most of the chaplains
how they dealt with the command from Christ to love our neighbors.
All but one chaplain did not answer this question. Usually they
responded with that they are just following orders or altogether
avoid the question. The one chaplain who actually answered the
question said that it was a hard question and one that some soldiers
had a hard time wrestling with.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
As a Christian, when I am in church,
my allegiance is only towards Christ. I do not believe that God only
blesses the USA, instead I believe God loves the whole world. I do
not buy into a philosophy that is the outgrowth of the Manifest
Destiny that led to the unnecessary slaughter, slavery and death of
millions of Native people. I do not buy into a philosophy that was
used to justify slavery in this country and around the world. I
believed that we are called to love our neighbors period.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
By writing this, I do not want Christians to abandon our troops. We should dialogue
about what it means to support our troops and how to support these
men and women after they return home, changed forever. We should also
hold up the people who go to the same regions to do purely
humanitarian work, often unarmed and with less support, in an effort
to bring about peace in other ways. But at the same time lets not
glorify the world's richest military within our church doors. We
already do that enough the other six days of week.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Instead, on this Memorial Day weekend and
after, let's keep Church as a place to remember the human costs of
the war (including all casualties of war) and our own implicitness in
this industry that keeps us at war. Let's pray that God will keep
giving us strength to work towards an eternal peace that will only
exist when God's Kingdom come into being.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06072075612836672769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9145874320031647189.post-31220331493517313332013-05-16T11:11:00.002-07:002013-05-16T11:14:53.515-07:00Not Letting Myself Be Defined By My Speech Or My BeardEarlier today I went to a barbershop
downtown and had my beard greatly trimmed and received a nice hair
cut as well. Part of the reason I had to do this is that I am doing a
Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) at a nearby hospital. This
basically means I will be the hospital chaplain's intern for the
summer. When I interviewed back in the fall, the chaplain informed me
that for health reasons that I would have to cut most of my beard
off.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Ever since I was young, I have wanted
a beard. I do not know exactly why, but I do remember wanting one as
early as middle school. Then when I was 18 I grew my first beard and
for a good portion of the last ten years I have had a beard in some
form. At times, I have kept it trimmed in a way but for almost the
last two years I have just let it grow with very minor trims. I
mainly did out of curiosity to see how long it grew. But I did it
unconsciously for another reason too.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOGWAHPcEKn1AUeE-8sOwgHcbUEKpOHTkPyKlH7QA3dvC7CPwrd90PvT6tukfaN2EF_mIcy22SqASzUFejcn6OYAKKytZUZZggh3vEvmKeIdzy-j_NeMFhc7C0TEzb96Evok5cMj7jc68s/s1600/20130516_101137.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOGWAHPcEKn1AUeE-8sOwgHcbUEKpOHTkPyKlH7QA3dvC7CPwrd90PvT6tukfaN2EF_mIcy22SqASzUFejcn6OYAKKytZUZZggh3vEvmKeIdzy-j_NeMFhc7C0TEzb96Evok5cMj7jc68s/s320/20130516_101137.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
In therapy, <a href="http://reflectionsbygreg.blogspot.com/2013/02/giving-up-anger-for-lent.html" target="_blank">as I have written aboutbefore on my blog</a>, I have been dealing with my self image. For most
of my life, I have felt that my speech impediment has been my most
defining characteristic. I thought the way I speak is how people
remember me the most and it was usually the only quality most people
would notice. But some friends told me that this was not case. Once I
wrote an email to someone who had met a couple years before at a
conference. She had not remember me, so I said that I had red hair
and a speech impediment. She emailed back to let me know that she did
remember me but she remember me for other qualities than my speech
impediment.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I think this was the first time I
realized that I should not let myself be defined by my speech
impediment. But it is hard not to let it be, especially after a
couple decades of telling myself that I am defined by my speech. To
be honest, I have to deal with people not being able to understand me
everyday and I have to deal with some of those people automatically
assuming that I am mentally handicapped in a way most days.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Yet, with a long red beard, I would
get noticed before I even opened my mouth. People everywhere
complimented me on the beard. I stood out in another way than just
having a speech impediment and a</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQZ8lWKGMl4GWkP0Xgz3fTKT9BdNCW02pQ7BIzuGozW7Hnra1KaNw6NLF0v9LHL3ExRz31SQlSNcF6nS9wKQ5S7k89sVMj9eY2lVpMp5yRCuxhXnbGW50ikWZzBoXvwNbyWZhPtKQPX38O/s1600/20130516_112203.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQZ8lWKGMl4GWkP0Xgz3fTKT9BdNCW02pQ7BIzuGozW7Hnra1KaNw6NLF0v9LHL3ExRz31SQlSNcF6nS9wKQ5S7k89sVMj9eY2lVpMp5yRCuxhXnbGW50ikWZzBoXvwNbyWZhPtKQPX38O/s320/20130516_112203.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
ll the baggage that comes with that.
With a long beard I felt defined in another way. It was like my
security blanket. I thought maybe people will remember me as the guy
with the really rad red beard, instead of the guy with the speech
impediment. But, also I did get a lot of snickers and laughs coming
at me because I had a ridiculously long red beard. Sometimes, like my
speech impediment, I felt embarrassed by having this long beard.<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
As I thought about this dilemma in
therapy, I realized that neither my long red beard or having a speech
impediment completely define who I am. I have a lot of other
characteristics, much more important aspects of myself. If I let
myself be define by either of these two qualities, I am holding back
my gifts that I can offer the wider world. Even though I will always
be defined negatively by an handful of people (it can be a cruel
world out there), I have to remember that I am a child of God and I
need to live into that role more fully. In Matthew, Jesus commands in
the Sermon on the Mount that, instead of hiding it under a bushel,
everyone should let their light shine (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%205:15-16&version=NRSV" target="_blank">Matt 5:15-16</a>).
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Yes, I do need to let my light shine
brightly and not hold my gifts from the world. </div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06072075612836672769noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9145874320031647189.post-15965945620808375802013-04-12T05:47:00.000-07:002013-04-12T06:59:54.297-07:00Reflections from My Lenten Journey with Anger<div dir="ltr" id="internal-source-marker_0.928594534738088" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The
Lenten season has ended, but my journey with anger is just getting
deeper. Over the Lenten season, I thought about: How deep my self-hate
actually is; why I root for underdogs; and How I may unknowingly
discriminate against others.</span></div>
<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">During the Lenten season, I began to really grapple with how deep my self-hate goes. I wrote about this in my </span><a href="http://reflectionsbygreg.blogspot.com/2013/02/giving-up-anger-for-lent.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: blue; font-family: Times; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">first blog post</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">,
but at that time I did not know just how deep it is and how I have held
a grudge against myself. Upon this realization, I thought that if I
just started to love myself the self-hate would magically disappear...</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></div>
<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Sadly,
it does not work that way. By focusing on my self hate more during the
Lenten season through therapy, writing, and mediation, I was able to
explore how I have internalized people's opinions of myself since a
young age. I have sought outside reinforcement of my worth because I do
not have a high opinion of myself. I thought I would gain this through
other means, but I never have. As I have discovered through the Lenten
season, no outside reinforcement has been enough to build a sense of
self-worth, it ultimately has to come from me and me alone.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></div>
<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">For
most of my life, I have been active in helping others and advocating
for social justice. I always thought it had to do solely because of my
Quaker upbringing. But during Lent, I reflected more on this. In late
February the poet Shane Koyczan released a video of the slam poem "</span><a href="http://tothisdayproject.com/listen" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: blue; font-family: Times; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">To This Day</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">" and it made its rounds across the internet. Then in early March his </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sa1iS1MqUy4" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: blue; font-family: Times; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">TED talk</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> was
released as well. I have listened to the poem several times and his TED
talk once. His words connected deeply to my experiences growing up
feeling out of place and why I root for the underdog. If I believe that
the underdogs would never win, I would never have a chance. I always
thought if they could win, I could win. I am still working through this
realization and how it has impacted my life and my outlook on life.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></div>
<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Thinking about this "underdog" mentality also reminded me of the movie, </span><a href="about:blank" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: blue; font-family: Times; font-size: 17px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Simon Birch</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">,
which I saw years ago. At the end of the movie when the title
character dies, everyone else reflects on what lessons they had received
from him and his tragic circumstances. This is how people, usually
children, with disabilities are portrayed in popular culture as being
here solely so that other people can learn valuable lessons. Afterwards
they are promptly discarded or ignored. They are not to be recognized as
regular human beings with the same desires and feelings, instead they
have a mythical presence. This might be because people with disabilities
are largely ignored or avoided in the real world.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></div>
<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Society
largely does not know what to do with adults living with disabilities.
As kids, at least society will raise money and make movies about us. As
adults, we are often left alone and the discrimination just gets worse.
Another famous example is Helen Keller. Most people learn about her
childhood and about her teacher, Anne Sullivan. But did you know that as
an adult she graduated from college and became a socialist activist,
fighting for human rights? We all like the story of Helen overcoming her
disabilities to communicate, but we never hear the rest of the story of
how she used her communication skills to advocate for others.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></div>
<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Shane’s
poem also raised up the subtle ways my teachers and friends compounded
my self-hate and discriminated against me with their use of words and
their actions. Realizing how language and actions impacted me has made
me wonder how I might discriminate against others with my words and
acts. Now I am looking at what I say and how I act towards others. I
have explored how I treat people and the words I use. In a recent
sermon, I explored the concepts of </span><a href="http://reflectionsbygreg.blogspot.com/2013/03/light-and-darkness-become-one.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: blue; font-family: Times; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Light and Darkness</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. This is just the beginning of that process in exploring ways I might have discriminated against other.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></div>
<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I
did not write a lot during the forty days but I hope to continue to
write and to develop something for children growing up with disabilities
and their families and friends. I continue to welcome anyone who wants
to dialogue on any of these topics. This journey will continue as my
journey with God and Christ continues after the end of Lent. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06072075612836672769noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9145874320031647189.post-22873609868465755322013-03-27T10:52:00.002-07:002013-03-29T10:06:02.722-07:00Light and Darkness Become One<span style="font-size: medium; line-height: 100%;"><i>I preached this sermon this morning in my preaching class based on some thoughts that I have been mulling over in the last week about the use of the word, "Light" among Quakers.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium; line-height: 100%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><i>This sermon is based on <a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=231406029" target="_blank">Jonah 1:17-2:10 (NRSV)</a></i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><i><br /></i></span></span>
<span style="font-size: medium; line-height: 100%;">In the
Quaker tradition, we use the metaphor of the Light a lot. Partly
because early Quakers use this imagery often in their writing and
also partly some Quakers are uncomfortable with using the word "God".
Most of them tend to be spiritual refugees from other denominations,
having grown up being told that God did not love them for one reason
or another. Some tried to hide their true selves from God and others,
feeling like if others knew the insides of their souls, they would be
disowned forever by God and the church. Now to them Light seems safe
to say because it is a new metaphor to them, something different,
something without baggage.</span><br />
<br />
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium; line-height: 100%;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium; line-height: 100%;">But
I have been reflecting on what I have been using for the opposite of
Light for most of my life, which is usually darkness, to describe a
lack of God, evil. I started rethinking using darkness to describe
the opposite of Light last semester when I read a quote from Rev. Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr. In an address in 1967 Dr. King <a href="http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/encyclopedia/documentsentry/where_do_we_go_from_here_delivered_at_the_11th_annual_sclc_convention/" target="_blank">said</a>, "In
Roget's Thesaurus there are some 120 synonyms for blackness and at
least sixty of them are offensive, such words as blot, soot, grim,
devil, and foul. And there are some 134 synonyms for whiteness and
all are favorable, expressed in such words as purity, cleanliness,
chastity, and innocence." Ever since then, I have been
wondering: Do I promote this negative duality through the way I talk
about my spirituality? Light/White = good and Darkness/Black=bad.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium; line-height: 100%;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium; line-height: 100%;">To
seek out guidance on how I should proceed with this question, I went
to the wisest place I know of for answers. Facebook!</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: medium; line-height: 100%;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: medium; line-height: 100%;">Several
friends <a href="https://www.facebook.com/thedrobe/posts/604130246630" target="_blank">commented</a>. A friend bought up the ideas of an UU theologian
Jacqui James <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=kV1djcTUikAC&pg=PA8&lpg=PP1&output=html_text" target="_blank">who writes</a> that there are some good points about
darkness, like it brings relief from the scorching heat. Also in
darkness seeds begin to sprout and thus new life begins. Another
friend brought up the story of Jonah being in the whale.</span><span style="font-size: medium; line-height: 100%;"> Jonah
had to go through the darkness within a fish to accept his call. As
we heard from the passage, in the darkness, Jonah says a praise of
thanksgiving to God, before the fish throws him up onto the land.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium; line-height: 100%;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium; line-height: 100%;">Before
this praise of Thanksgiving, Jonah has tried his best to avoid
accepting the call from God to go to Ninevah. As we hear in the
praise, he had to be close to death before he realized the entire
positives in his life and how much he believes in God. But we know
from the passage that he was not actually near death because God sent
the fish to shallow him before he drowned to the depths of the ocean.
God protects him, even though he acts disobediently when God calls
him. Jonah is not the only prophet he tries to hide from God. Oh no!</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium; line-height: 100%;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium; line-height: 100%;">I bet
some of us have stories of being disobedient towards God's calling to
come to be here today listening to this story. Heck, you probably
wanted to be disobedient and did not want to get out of bed this
morning. I know I did.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium; line-height: 100%;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium; line-height: 100%;">For me
the journey of coming to seminary took me to rural Missouri. I had
heard the calling before I moved to rural Missouri from Washington
DC, but I ignored the call. I was always too busy or too poor to go
to seminary, or I thought. I kept saying no to seminary, thinking
another opportunity, in the form of a job or anything else, was
around the corner. But it took me asking God late at night alone what
the next plans God had for me. It took doors closing before I said
yes to God's calling. I thought I was spiraling downwards but now I
know that God was leading me here by taking me to those dark cold
nights in Missouri. Now I am thankful for those cold dark nights
wondering where I would go next.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium; line-height: 100%;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium; line-height: 100%;">As
future pastors and leaders of the church, we will be charged with
helping people of all ages as they go through terrible parts of their
lives. Some things we will see will be horrible. But sometimes we
will see our parishioners struggle and they will actually be rebirths
into Christ and deeper faithfulness. There will be times where we
will go through difficult times in our own lives too. But the good
news, just like Jonah in the fish, we are not alone. God will always
be watching over us and this process.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium; line-height: 100%;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium; line-height: 100%;">Also I
think this is where the church that we are inheriting is right now.
Many people think the church is dying. All the signs are there.
Attendance is down across the board in the mainline denominations.
Churches are often in the red, only surviving off of endowments from
past generations. There are more pastors looking for positions than
open positions. Most of us are going to graduate without an assurance
of a job.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium; line-height: 100%;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium; line-height: 100%;">But in
the midst of this struggle, there is a hope, a seed, a thanksgiving
to be seen. We are seeing the church changing. LGBTQ people are being
accepted in as the children of God as they have always been. The
church is becoming more than just a building that is open on Sunday
to only some. There are so many examples of pastors and Christians
taking new risks, trusting on God, doing and being in the Church in
radical new ways because we cannot do any worse than we are right
now. A couple weeks ago we listened to Dean Kay preach about his
former church in Minnesota which changed themselves into a new kind
of church with an active laity outreach to the community. We live in
a time of great hope of pastor being bold. The church is being reborn
and we are involved with this process.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium; line-height: 100%;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium; line-height: 100%;">Finally,
this Sunday we will celebrate women finding an empty tomb and a
command for them to tell the world about their find. In this dark
cave, a place of death and sadness, God gave a people a message of
hope that has lasted over 2,000 years, the resurrection of Christ and
a proclamation of freedom to the captives. Light and darkness became
whole together in that tomb with Christ's Resurrection. This act
confirms God's devotion to all, despite what some people may try to
say. By putting Jonah in a fish and by making a sealed cave empty,
God shows that God does love all!</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06072075612836672769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9145874320031647189.post-43281842104797545752013-03-17T17:25:00.000-07:002013-03-18T08:44:33.480-07:00The Unpredictability of March<span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">A
couple weeks ago, I attended the meeting for worship at <a href="http://www.princetonfriendsschool.org/" target="_blank">Princeton Friends School</a>, which the school calls "Settling In". Each
week they meet for 30 minutes and a student offers a query. Since it
was the first day of March, the assigned student asked "What are
you looking forward to in March?"</span><br />
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">Students
talked about upcoming birthdays, looking forward to playing outside
more, and summer coming closer. They were ready to shed their winter
clothes and activities for sunny days spent outside. Eighth graders
expected to hear back from high schools soon and they were nervous
and eager to find out where they were accepted. These students were
eager to take the next step in their education and life.</span></div>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">One
of the teachers stood up and talked about how March could bring
different weather. In March it is still normal for there to be a late
snowstorm he said, but we also could expect sunny days to happen
where short sleeves can be worn and bike riding could be done. The
theme of his message was that March brought unpredictability, at a
time when we wanted something concrete, ie the end of Winter and the
start of Spring or the end of one stage of life and the becoming of
another. We know that Spring is coming and we will hear about where
we go on the next stage of our life, but March always brings
surprises and bumps along the way.</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">---</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">In
my experience this rang true. I used to go to New Orleans in March
from Washington DC with a group of high school students for an
alternative spring break trip. I remember often times bundling up to
go to the airport in DC and then shedding all the layers once we
landed in New Orleans. New Orleans was usually sunny with highs in
the 70s and 80s that week in March. It gave us our first glimpse of
Spring that helped us make it through the last few weeks of a DC
winter/early Spring when we returned home. We were given a chance to
see what was awaiting us once we waited out the dreadful last weeks
of the winter season.</span></div>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">But
that was not always true. Once I remember arriving to the airport in
DC when it was in the 70s there. Instead of the group all wearing
shorts and T-shirts in preparation for warm weather to follow us, we
were carrying jackets and coats while wearing jeans. I actually
expressed concern for two students who arrived with shorts on. "Did
you come prepared? Did you look at the weather forecast?" Once
we landed in New Orleans, it was a different than other years. It was
cloudy with a high in the upper 40s. That night the temps dipped down
to about freezing. We were cold that night sleeping in the not well
insulated dorm room. It did warm up by the end of the week, but it
seemed strange.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">---</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">A
week later after the Settling In worship, I was reminded of the teacher's
words. A small snowstorm dumped a couple inches on Princeton, ruining
any plans for bicycling or playing outside. It was beautiful and
Princeton looked more like it was early January than early March.
Jenn and I would have appreciated the snow more if we weren't in a
hurry to make it to DC. We left that morning instead of the night
before due to forecasts of snow. Yet, despite the weather
forecasters' predictions, the snow came that morning.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">The
unpredictability of March caught us and we were not prepared or
happy. We were worried that we were going to be late. Even though we
knew it would clear up as we headed south, we were still worried in
the moment. We knew that we needed to just keep driving until we were
out of the storm</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">---</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">I
feel like being a religious seeker is living perpetually in a state
of March. Hopefully most of us have made it through the long journey
towards God, the Light, the Holy Spirit. We know that we are almost
there to the glory and unlocking the mystery, but we are not there
just yet. Instead we will encounter a little more doubt and weariness
and we will encounter quick fixes that promises happiness sooner than
later. Sometimes I feel like that this time is harder than the
journey I experienced at my lowest point in time. I am ready for the
low point to be over. I am ready for God! That thought, much like
looking forward to sunny days during a late winter snowstorm, keep me
going in my faith. </span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06072075612836672769noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9145874320031647189.post-49234108930928551702013-02-21T13:08:00.000-08:002013-02-21T13:08:19.901-08:00Living Water is Available to All<i>I wrote this for my preaching class at Princeton Theological Seminary and I preached it this week. I wrote it with my classmates in mind, but it is a message for everyone to hear.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
The scripture is <a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=228480758" target="_blank">John 4:1-26</a><br />
<br />
When I was nine years old, I went to an annual family church camp that we went to
every summer. One afternoon I was hanging out with some slightly
older kids at the camp. The only reason I clearly remember my age is
because the older kids wanted to go on a walk without me, so they
told me that only people who were double digits in age could go on
that particular walk. I was disappointed. I remember thinking, "But
I will turn 10 in two months," as they went walking away and I
was left out of a cool adventure: Going to the railroad tracks to
throw rocks. I was outcasted because of something so trivial as my
age, something I couldn't change about myself.<br />
<br />
Often times I feel
that is how the church feels to outcasts in our communities, even if
we try to deny it. We say everyone is welcomed, but really is
everyone welcomed at our churches? Would the town outcast be welcomed
at your church like any other person? How would we end up acting if a
woman, who reeks of cat odors, comes in for the 11 o'clock service?
Would we give her the same time or attention that we give the
matriarch of the family who comes to church each Sunday and sit in
the fifth bench? Do we openly invite these people in and offer them
grace?<br />
<br />
In the scripture,
we just heard, Jesus shows us what it means to really invite someone
into the church. He offers grace and the Living water to a Samaritan
woman. She is an outcast and we do not exactly know why she is an
outcast. But she is at the well at a rather unusual time. We know
that she has had many husbands, so that may be a reason. Maybe this
town was her husbands' family town and the family despises her now
that her husbands are gone. Let just say dealing with in-laws is not
always easy, right? Whatever happened to her, it is clear that she is
not part of the in-crowd in this small town. She has internalized
this: Why would anyone want to have anything to do with me, much less
a stranger hanging out by the well?<br />
<br />
This <a href="http://reflectionsbygreg.blogspot.com/2013/02/giving-up-anger-for-lent.html" target="_blank">Lenten season</a>
I have devoted myself to writing about my anger and with the source
of this anger. Through therapy over the last year, I have found out
that I have had a lot of anger towards God and Christianity. Growing
up I was picked on by Christians and saw others being picked on by
Christians. "Why did God let this happen?" I thought. Their
actions didn't look like God's Love to me. I started to internalize
the taunts and the mistreatment I faced. I thought that God hated me
and gave me this impediment for some sort of misdeed I did in a past
life. Why else would God give me a speech impairment? Why else would
God do this to a kid? I remember crying at night when I was young and
saying, "Why me? Why God?" just wanting a clear answer yet
never receiving one. I felt like the Samaritan woman at the well. I
felt outcasted.<br />
<br />
In the last year, I
have realized that, even through the painful times, God was/is always
with me. I stand here today bringing the word of the Lord by God's
grace alone. There were times, I thought about leaving the faith.
During these dark times, I doubted myself and what I had to offer the
world. There were times when I couldn't feel loved by anyone, but now
I know that God and my family always loved me. They all loved me even
when I was a difficult person to be around, in the midst of an angry
rage. When I felt alone, the Living Water was still available to me.
God did not give up on me because, like the woman at the well, I did
not immediately understand what God was offering me through Jesus.
God was still there when I decided to come back and accept what was
being offered to me. Now I do not wonder why I am the way I am. I see
my life as a gift, not a daily burden. I have stumbled along the path
to God, but God has always been waiting to receive me.<br />
<br />
Jesus shows us that
the living water is available to all that seek, to all despite who
they are, even if they are an outcast or feel outcasted. Before this
scene in the Gospel of John, Jesus had only encountered other Jews
and the disciples did not fully grasp how far Jesus' grace extended.
After this scene with the woman at the well, the disciples are
surprised, "What are you doing, Jesus, with that woman? We went
to get some meat and now you are talking to an outcast?" Jesus
was showing them and is showing us through His actions that Love,
Grace, and the Living Water are available to all, not just a select
group at a select time. It is available to people we meet in everyday
life, whether it is in a church, at a well, on the street, or in the
check-out line, even if they are the worst sinner. If they ask for
forgiveness or the Living Water, it is always available to them.
Even if they do not understand at first, what is being offered, it is
still available to them. Jesus could have left the woman at the well
after her first misunderstanding by saying, "I give up! Bye!
That was your only chance." But Jesus does not give up, He
remains there with the woman in her time of need and continues to
offer a new path for her. God has offered us that same thing time and
time again. Do we have that kind of patience for others?<br />
<br />
That is the good
news! The Living Water is always available to anyone who thirst,
anyone, despite their pasts, despite our misdeeds. Although our
churches can often function like a social clique, where only certain
people are welcomed, we can change this. We can reform the church
with our leadership saying that anyone and everyone is welcomed. We
can choose to treat everyone like they are a child of God. Jesus
shows us in the Gospel of John that the Living Water is open to all,
who thirst, not just the privileged, or the morally righteous or even
the people whose ages are in the double digits.<br />
<br />
In our future lives
we need to be asking ourselves: How can we spread this vital message
in our ministries? How can we change our churches to better reflect
Jesus' message at the well, that everyone is welcomed for a drink, no
matter what. The church needs to make this change and we are the ones
God have called to this path. If we allow ourselves to be God's
implement, God will use us to continue offering the Living Water to
everyone who wants it. Just as Jesus sends out the Samaritan woman to
go tell all about what happened at the well, God is sending us out to
tell all about God's love and forgiveness that is available to
anyone.<br />
<br />
Are we ready for this challenge?
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06072075612836672769noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9145874320031647189.post-10905577223265037572013-02-13T08:25:00.000-08:002013-02-13T08:25:53.408-08:00Giving Up Anger for Lent<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">For Lent I am giving up my anger.</span><br />
<div class="gmail_quote">
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Not a lot of people know about my anger because I have tried to keep it hidden from most people, but my closest friends, family and housemates have seen my anger side. For years I thought my anger came out of my social justice work and seeing the inequalities in the world.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;">
After working with my therapist for more than a year, I finally realize that the anger comes out of a self-hate. This self-hate has developed over the years due to growing up with a speech impediment and feeling less than equal. I remember crying to my mom when I was young and asking, "Why did God do this to me? Why me?"</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;">
I have always known that my family and my faith community love me for who I am, but I spent most of my time out in the world where any slight differences were good enough reasons to be bullied, treated differently, or to be largely ignored. After years of this painful treatment and feeling less than whole, I internalized this hate and started to see myself as not being whole. I would wake up in the morning hating myself and thought that I had to do other things to make myself lovable. This has led me to undertake a lot of different kinds of work to prove that I am worthy of love and respect.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;">
But in the last year, with the support of Jenn, my fiance, and my therapist, I have finally gotten to a point in my life when I recognize that I am a whole human being and that I am deserving of love and respect because of being a person and not because of what I do or do not do.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;">
In this season of Lent, which I am doing in solidarity with my fellow Christians*, I will focus on writing more about my trauma and on loving myself more. I hope that my writing can lead to more personal healing. In the future I hope to produce materials to help youth living with disabilities and their families through the challenges of growing up in a world that is not always accepting of differences. Also, during this Lenten season, I hope to further internalize self-love to rid myself of the self-hate that has plagued my life. </div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;">
*Quakers historically do not celebrate holidays because we believe that every day is a holy day. In the last 100 years Quakers have started to celebrate holidays and more and more Quakers are observing Lent, but we do not have any special commeration for the Lenten season as a denomination.</div>
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</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06072075612836672769noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9145874320031647189.post-47921123744046028592013-02-07T08:19:00.001-08:002013-02-07T08:22:03.287-08:00Lets Face It Quakers are Unique, and Other Denominations are tooI consider myself an ecumenical Quaker.<br />
<br />
Why?<br />
<br />
I am a lifelong Friend, who goes to a <a href="http://www.ptsem.edu/" target="_blank">Presbyterian Seminary</a>. Last summer, I interned at an <a href="http://princetonumc.org/" target="_blank">United Methodist Church</a> where I still am involved with the youth group during the school year. This school year I am working at the <a href="http://episcopal.rutgers.edu/episcopal/home.html" target="_blank">Episcopal Campus Ministry </a>on the Rutgers University campus. I attend meeting for worship twice a week: On Tuesday nights at <a href="https://www.facebook.com/CanalFriendsWorshipGroup" target="_blank">Canal Friends Worship Group</a> and on Sunday mornings at <a href="http://www.pym.org/meeting/princeton-friends-meeting" target="_blank">Princeton Friends Meeting</a>.<br />
<br />
On an average week, I go to two meetings for worship, celebrate the Eucharist with college students, attend Chapel at the Seminary, and spend time with the youth at the United Methodist Church.<br />
<br />
I made the decision to go to Princeton Theological Seminary because I wanted to see what the wider Christian world has to offer Quakers and I wanted to see if all denominations were just as dysfunctional as Quakers. I can happily report that the wider Christian world has lots to offer Quakers and yes, they can be just as dysfunctional as any monthly meeting. (Too bad sometimes I thought we took dysfunctional to a new level, but now I see that we have stiff competition.)<br />
<br />
When I came here to learn more about the wider Christian world, I realized that people are interested in learning more about Quakers and what we have to offer other denominations. I have had several meal time conversations with fellow students. Several seminarians have attended Princeton Friends Meeting. A local hospitality house has asked me to come to talk about Quakers. My supervisor this year is interested in having me talk about silence at some point during Lent to the college students at Rutgers. Even at parties away from my seminary community, people want to know more about Quakers when they find out I am one.<br />
<br />
We have a lot to offer the world, especially in the midst of daily chaos, 24 hour news cycle, smaller and smaller technological devices. How can we still hear the voice of God in the midst of all this noise and clutter? How can we be comfortable and even live into the silence?<br />
<br />
Also the belief that anyone can be called to minister is still radical 350 years later. I have dear friends in the Catholic Church who are struggling for<a href="http://www.womensordination.org/" target="_blank"> Women's Ordination</a>. Also, I just met a woman, who was talking to her non-denomination church about being ordained. It has taken a year but she is finally making progress with her church and pastor to be the first woman ordained in her church. Being ordained will help her in finding a job as a hospital chaplain. Our pulpit is always open to anyone who feels led and our structures allow ways to nurture ministers and new ministries, <a href="http://reflectionsbygreg.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-need-for-eldering.html" target="_blank">if we choose to follow them</a>.<br />
<br />
We Quakers have a lot to learn from other traditions. We can learn about what it means to support young people with paid staff and offer opportunities for them. We can learn how to better support our elders as they age. We can learn that talking about our faith in public is not always bad. We can learn better techniques at letting people know we still exist and how to greet and welcome newcomers. Some monthly meetings do this well, but, based on my opinion, a lot do not. I have been particularly impressed by the <a href="http://www.gbod.org/site/apps/nlnet/content3.aspx?c=nhLRJ2PMKsG&b=5842747&ct=7597801" target="_blank">United Methodist Lay Leader program</a>.<br />
<br />
Quakerism is an unique faith and we have a lot to offer our siblings in other denominations. We can also learn a lot from them too.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06072075612836672769noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9145874320031647189.post-79568262531802936822013-01-31T13:27:00.003-08:002013-01-31T13:39:33.454-08:00Some Quaker HistoryThis semester I am trying to fit more Quaker history into my course work. I just picked up a book, <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Remember-Distance-that-Divides-Philadelphia/dp/0870137131" target="_blank">Remember the Distance that Divides Us</a></i>, edited by Marcia J. Heringa Mason, from Princeton University's Firestone Library for a project. The book is based on letters of a Philadelphia Quaker abolitionist and Michigan pioneer Elizabeth Margaret Chandler.<br />
<br />
While flipping through the book, I saw a poem that Elizabeth wrote about <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Benezet" target="_blank">Anthony Benezet</a>, whose 300th birthday happens to be today. Anthony Benezet was a French-born American abolitionist, educator, and a Quaker.<br />
<br />
So I figured I would share it here:<br />
<br />
Anthony Benezet<br />
by Elizabeth Chandler<br />
<br />
Friend of the Afric! Friend of the oppress'd!<br />
Thou who wert cradled in a far-off clime,<br />
Where bigotry and tyranny unbless'd,<br />
With gory hand defaced the page of time;<br />
Wert thou forth driven by their stern control,<br />
An infant fugitive across the deep,<br />
To teach, in after years, thy pitying soul<br />
O'er all the Afric's causeless wrongs to weep<br />
Where slavery's bitter tears the flag of freedom steep?<br />
<br />
And thou didst nobly plead for them; thy heart.<br />
Thrilling to all the holy sympathies,<br />
Of natural brotherhood, wept, to see the mart<br />
Of commerce, with its human merchandize,<br />
So crowded and polluted, and thy voice,<br />
With the clear trumpet tones of God's own word,<br />
Rang through the guilty crowd, until no choice<br />
Was left them but to tremble as they heard,<br />
Or bind with treble seal the feelings thou hadst stirr'd.<br />
<br />
The ears of princes heard thee; and the wise,<br />
Touch'd by the mastery of thy earnestness,<br />
Bade their train'd spirits for a while to rise<br />
From their profound research, and learn to bless<br />
Thy generous efforts, and with kindred zeal,<br />
Led on by thee in duty's path to move;<br />
And kindled by thy sacred ardour, feel,<br />
Like thee, that overflowing gush of love,<br />
That lifts man's selfish heart all narrow thoughts above.<br />
<br />
The fetters of the slave are still unbroken;<br />
But there will come, perchance, ere long, a day,<br />
When by their lips who wrong'd him, shall be spoken<br />
The fiat of his freedom;--and the ray<br />
Of intellectual light shall radiance pour<br />
On minds o'er which the gloom of darkness hung<br />
In treble folds impervious before,<br />
By tyrants' hands around them rudely flung,<br />
To bind the chains that to both limb and spirit clung.<br />
<br />
Then shall their children learn to speak thy name,<br />
With the full heart of gratitude, and know<br />
What thou hast done for them; and while they frame<br />
That history for their infants' ears, may grow<br />
Perchance, in their own hearts, the likeness strong<br />
Of they bright virtues; so thou still shalt be,<br />
Even in thy sepulchre, their friend;--and long<br />
Shall those who love mankind, remember thee,<br />
Thou noble friend of those who pined in slavery.<br />
<br />
Happy Birthday Anthony Benezet!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06072075612836672769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9145874320031647189.post-72925464567652985612012-12-28T09:11:00.000-08:002012-12-28T09:11:03.736-08:00The Need for ElderingLast week I wrote about where <a href="http://reflectionsbygreg.blogspot.com/2012/12/bringing-good-news-about-current-state.html" target="_blank">I see hope among Quakers today</a>. Let me be clear that was only a partial list of the good news and I was primarily focusing on YAFs because I have read and heard YAFs talk about their negative experiences of not being supportive. With the post I did not want to diminish these concerns, but I do not think that is the only storyline out there about the current state of YAFs. But that is the only storyline I see being repeated over and over.<br />
<br />
With that being said, I do have a concern about the current state of Quakerism: Our lack of effective eldering (that is, eldering that is spiritual-led and not personal attacks).<br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">We need eldering again. We need people to be elders. We need people who are willing to be eldered.</span></b><br />
<br />
We need Quaker meetings/churches to be a guide for ministers and a nurturing place for them, but also a place for people in ministry to be challenged and held accountable. I do not see this happening a lot and I, for one, have ran away from eldering on several occasions.<br />
<br />
I have held this concern for a while, but I have not written about it yet because I do not have any concrete ideas on how to get to that point. But I feel like I needed to write this post anyways.<br />
<br />
Overall, I do not think ministry happens just because of one person or a small group. I do not believe if the one person or group does not act or is not adequately supported, that ministry will disappear forever into the abyss. I know this because I have seen this happen a couple times where people independently feel led towards a particular ministry. Sometimes they join together and work towards this common vision. Sometimes only one or two goes forward with the ministry while others find other callings.<br />
<br />
I want to share a personal story about not following a leading. After the last <a href="http://archive.pym.org/publish/pym-news/2003/09/yq.htm" target="_blank">YouthQuake</a> in 2004 (a triennial event that bought together teens and younger young adults from all kinds of Quakerism), I was pumped to have an event for Young Adult Friends across the divide and hold it during the summer at Earlham College. I even gathered together some traveling Quakers in a room to talk about this idea and to gather their opinions about this kind of event. I had found someone else to join me in this work. But it never got off the ground.<br />
<br />
But this event still happened about <a href="http://old.fgcquaker.org/qy/yaf-conference-2008" target="_blank">four years later in May 2008</a> and the people who ultimately organized the conference were not in that room when I shared my idea. I did not feel called or I was not ready to take on the leading, but that energy was not lost because I did not stand up to follow. I am glad others did. It was a great conference. In the future, I hope I can stand up and follow a leading that others had, but, for some reason, they couldn't follow through.<br />
<br />
God works in mysterious ways and being in ministry is about being faithful to God and to your own self. But also ministry is also about the community and is larger than one person or a handful of people. I am wary of ministries being focused on the glorification of an individual or a small group. Ministries are a way to live out God's Kingdom here and to show people to see what is possible through God.<br />
<br />
This lead me to offer some queries rather than solutions:<br />
How can ministers ground themselves into monthly meetings/churches?<br />
How can monthly meetings/churches hold ministers accountable and ask difficult questions?<br />
How can ministers hear these difficult questions and not feel personally attacked?<br />
<br />
I have more questions than answers on this subject, but I am clear that Quakers need eldering again.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06072075612836672769noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9145874320031647189.post-72749455318865816662012-12-21T06:18:00.001-08:002012-12-21T06:18:15.291-08:00Bringing the Good News about the Current State of QuakerismThis summer, I preached three times at the church where I was interning. Part of sermon writing is to bring the good news at the end of the sermon that let people know that Christ loves them and to point out the good in our world that sometimes look like anything but good.<br />
<br />
Over the past few months, I have read blog posts about how Quakerism is dying, no one is supporting Young Adult Friends' ministry, etc... I think these points do have a point, but I don't see it as that as the only point. I have seen several instances of Young Adult Friends being supported by the wider community and I believe that we are growing.<br />
<br />
Here is some of the good news:<br />
<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>New York YM Young Adult Friends Field Secretary Gabi just wrote a <a href="http://nyymyafieldsecretary.blogspot.com/2012/12/if-i-havent-been-on-this-blogwhere-have.html" target="_blank">post</a> about her travels among Young Adults Friends in New York and New Jersey in the past six months. She has been busy attending to the needs of Young Adults there.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Christina has been <a href="http://www.friendsjournal.org/qa-christina-repoley-founding-executive-director-of-quaker-voluntary-service/" target="_blank">carrying a leading since 2002</a> about a Quaker yearlong service program. She followed the leading and others joined her along the way. She was supportive by Friends all over and by her home meeting. In August her leading came into reality when seven Young Adult Friends arrived in Atlanta to begin a yearlong internship with <a href="http://www.quakervoluntaryservice.org/" target="_blank">Quaker Voluntary Service.</a> The leading is still growing. Houses will open in Philadelphia and Portland, Oregon next August too. And it will not stop there... People are energized about bringing this explicitly Quaker program to their community and our dream (Currently I <a href="http://www.quakervoluntaryservice.org/board/#Woods" target="_blank">serve</a> on the board) is to keep growing a network of houses. </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>In Portland, two Evangelical Friends churches and an unprogrammed meeting <a href="https://www.facebook.com/QuakerVoluntaryService/posts/521957514483274" target="_blank">have joined together</a> to support the new QVS house there. That is amazing and exciting to see the branches working together!</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Another Young Adult Friend, Ana, followed a leading to create a Quaker summer camp in the Intermountain Yearly Meeting region. She worked for several summers at different Quaker summer camps and visited others. She and her partner, Ariel, have shared their vision with Friends across the Southwest. The camp, <a href="http://mountainfriendscamp.org/" target="_blank">Mountain Friends Camp</a>, has been going three years now and it keeps growing each summer. </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>An unprogrammed Young Adult Friend, Zachary, was led into Navy chaplaincy. He is currently serving in the Navy <a href="http://camasfriends.org/2011/08/02/state-of-the-church-report-camas-friends-church-2011/" target="_blank">under the care</a> of an Evangelical Friends church, who have taken him in and supported him in his ministry. Next month he will speak at a Convergent Friends gathering in the Northwest, <a href="http://nurseryoftruth.com/" target="_blank">A Nursery of Truth</a>. I wish I could go. Hopefully others can go!</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Friends General Conference just started the <a href="http://www.fgcquaker.org/services/new-meetings-project" target="_blank">New Meetings Project</a>. The coordinator, Brent, has found that more than 70 Friends worship groups/meetings/church have started in the last ten years. That translates to one new group starting roughly every seven weeks. I have been to several of these new groups and they have a great sense of community.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>I am a big proponent of online outreach, but two of these new meetings, <a href="http://firstshift.wordpress.com/2011/06/09/west-philly-worship-group/" target="_blank">West Philadelphia Worship Group</a> and <a href="http://www.fgcquaker.org/connect/quaker-finder/silver-river" target="_blank">Silver River Meeting</a>, do not have an online presence. They grow because of the community they have created. They see each other throughout the week in between meetings for worship and are deeply connected to each other lives. How can we grow to know each other outside of worship? </li>
</ul>
<br />
Lastly, God loves us for the imperfect human beings we are.<br />
<br />
These are just a few examples I know of and why I have not lost all hope in my faith community.<br />
<br />
Yes, there is a lot to be sad about with Friends today, but I don't see it as just doom and gloom. I am having conversations with Friends all over about a whole range of topics and I am excited. Yes we have a lot of divisions, but amazing conversations and projects are starting!<br />
<br />
Where do you see hope in the world of Friends today? Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06072075612836672769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9145874320031647189.post-31832249950879315172012-11-23T08:20:00.002-08:002012-11-23T09:53:46.621-08:00Questions I am Struggling with on Black FridayI wanted to write something about Black Friday, but as I sit here and think, only questions come to mind. I am myself absorbed in the consumerism culture, not detached as I would hope I could be. Even through I won't shop today, I will shop other days and I will still continue to benefit from others' cheap labors.<br />
<br />
As a person studying for living a life in ministry, often I feel the need to have the answers, to have it all figured out. But most of the time I stumble my way through, trusting on God to lead me. I am not divine, instead I am a human who makes errors every day, who is just trying to be faithful to a leading despite my shortcomings.<br />
<br />
Sometimes I feel that all I have to offer others are the questions that I struggle with.<br />
<br />
So... Here are the questions I am struggling with today:<br />
<br />
Why do I celebrate Jesus' birthday while bowing down to another god, Consumerism?<br />
<br />
Why do I benefit off of other people's cheap labor, when I wouldn't work for that same wage or under similar conditions?<br />
<br />
Why do I find it easier to say my feelings through material gifts, instead of words?<br />
<br />
How can I balance my desire for a stable life with my desire to stand in solidarity with others, who are abused by a system that favors cheap goods over their lives?<br />
<br />
How can I live more deeply into these questions and not look for immediate, feel-good answers?<br />
<br />
What questions are you struggling with today?Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06072075612836672769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9145874320031647189.post-57858996251331454642012-08-09T10:19:00.002-07:002012-10-02T16:27:32.847-07:00The Proposal<br />
<i>A lot of people are asking: How did she propose? Instead of trying to explain the story hundreds of times, I decided to write a blog post with pictures.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>First- Meet Jenn </b>(for my friends who never met her)<br />
<b><br /></b>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgarBKvkMDQnU24SPl1HU_JeA1NhnG_kbgebKY4MlyUPiLfVU2ZjJj1d6iK9umcPFlSO4py02XSr4uclN0BSEgOgMQxlmZjAm6UfMYbrtQf2rRT5fxbqrm6D6vSeK-uaNDCDF3hlGLjre9V/s1600/405299_10100171330519075_278231769_n.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgarBKvkMDQnU24SPl1HU_JeA1NhnG_kbgebKY4MlyUPiLfVU2ZjJj1d6iK9umcPFlSO4py02XSr4uclN0BSEgOgMQxlmZjAm6UfMYbrtQf2rRT5fxbqrm6D6vSeK-uaNDCDF3hlGLjre9V/s320/405299_10100171330519075_278231769_n.jpeg" width="252" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jenn on the Farm</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Jenn is a beautiful and amazing person. She grew up in a small town in Iowa. When she graduated from her high school, she decided to head east and study at Georgetown University in Washington DC. After college, she stayed in DC and started working for a non-profit that does financing for low-income housing projects. In 2010 she decided to go back to school for a Masters in Social Work at Catholic University of America. In May she graduated from there and she moved up to Princeton, NJ where I currently attend seminary. At the moment, she is working on a nearby farm and studying for her NJ Social Work Licensing Exam, which she will take next month.<br />
<br />
<b>Second- First Proposal</b><br />
<br />
<span style="text-align: center;">Last October, we decided one weekend that we should get married. The next weekend after thinking and talking to a couple friends, I proposed. I had an elaborate plan of making her dinner and asking her. But when I walked in the front door I couldn't wait. Right thn I asked her with a ring I had bought from a craft store and a hand-drawn picture. I even put the ring on the wrong hand because I was nervous.</span><br />
<br />
She decided she wanted to propose to me before we became officially engaged.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnWnpOzKik8NyS79cR4VpqMVctPVdV1KMNmq9sduGwazmzshFQmEsSrywO0KxeTim1u6wZX43Leu_or2WJf-AtkPYKOwYvza8URlldmcTZ1CFMXkDcWGoJxTwt2xUXxG_zicn3F30U8cAf/s1600/217898_576438021496_840448533_n.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnWnpOzKik8NyS79cR4VpqMVctPVdV1KMNmq9sduGwazmzshFQmEsSrywO0KxeTim1u6wZX43Leu_or2WJf-AtkPYKOwYvza8URlldmcTZ1CFMXkDcWGoJxTwt2xUXxG_zicn3F30U8cAf/s320/217898_576438021496_840448533_n.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A picture of us from last Sunday</td></tr>
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Back in July we figured out when we would celebrate 500 days of dating in August. (We had once watched 500 Days of Summer together. That movie does not resemble our relationship, but I love numbers and statistics.)<br />
<br />
Two nights ago I double checked when 500 days thinking it was yesterday, August 7th, but Jenn showed me it was the next day, the 8th.<br />
<br />
<b>Third- Second Proposal</b><br />
<br />
Yesterday I was away at a meeting on campus when Jenn came home from work. She texted me asking for personal time and asked that I would return home later, which was no problem. Then she asked me to bring home ice cream and I knew at that moment she would ask me. (I had expected she would proposed to me sometime in August and that she might do it on 500 days, then the ice cream was the hint).<br />
<br />
I returned home with Ben & Jerry's to candles burning and homemade pizza in the oven. She looked beautiful as ever!<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOxOwy4Ue-sTIG0Xj7RKVdSPKr1MEIdVTjEFGHyzV0cH7piI2nEfgW0rbD8q09c4-WTHtxPhtHAjJcW04uo1oRpybwPdqLCNXb5g2XpOtQIVCDhRN5_Vr4xXDvf_M9WrjpQzmC-w3-YHzp/s1600/192155_10100174158252275_197163852_o.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOxOwy4Ue-sTIG0Xj7RKVdSPKr1MEIdVTjEFGHyzV0cH7piI2nEfgW0rbD8q09c4-WTHtxPhtHAjJcW04uo1oRpybwPdqLCNXb5g2XpOtQIVCDhRN5_Vr4xXDvf_M9WrjpQzmC-w3-YHzp/s320/192155_10100174158252275_197163852_o.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Reading the notebook Jenn wrote me</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
After dinner, she gave me a present for our 500 days! It was a little notebook with 500 things she loves about me! I stopped reading at #49 (which was that I am her best friend) because I was tearing up. She asked, "Aren't you going to keep reading?" <br />
<br />
"Do I need to? Or should I read the last one?"<br />
<br />
"Well I didn't write it in there.... Will you?"<br />
<br />
"Yes"<br />
<br />
We called her parents, then my parents, her siblings, then my siblings, our grandparents. Then we made it Facebook-official. (It isn't official until it is on Facebook!)<br />
<br />
Her dad had asked her when we called him if we were going out to celebrate and I thought no. But Jenn said yes! I was surprised.<br />
<br />
I didn't want her to tell me where, so later I gave her my phone when a friend asked me where we were celebrating. While she texted that friend back, my phone beeped with more text messages. She said, "Oh let me answer these, so you don't know about Yankee Doodle thing." (Yankee Doodle Tap Room is a great quiet bar in the middle of Princeton, where we often go.)<br />
<br />
She didn't even realize that she gave it away until I pointed it out. Haha!<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkTWfb1mvAPS9LMCT0oqYDTvitUMLES0fZMwNRAcA4uQrs8e3G3lpqD5EdXvOIIt0rYQI766NdScDOGKG31to6PRqGm786FikT-6G_xcykgMpbxWfgvmRWqbjUxpzxVz42PaWs_kcP5_P9/s1600/259682_10100174231156175_2025604737_o.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkTWfb1mvAPS9LMCT0oqYDTvitUMLES0fZMwNRAcA4uQrs8e3G3lpqD5EdXvOIIt0rYQI766NdScDOGKG31to6PRqGm786FikT-6G_xcykgMpbxWfgvmRWqbjUxpzxVz42PaWs_kcP5_P9/s320/259682_10100174231156175_2025604737_o.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Friends made us a poster and Princeton UMC gave us cookies</td></tr>
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We aren't doing engagement rings, so she had two ring pops for us to wear out!<br />
<br />
We celebrated with over 25 friends. She had been planning with my friends for a couple weeks! I am amazed that no one told me. I saw two friends earlier that day who knew and they kept it a secret from me. Actually when I saw them, I almost told these two friends that I thought Jenn was going to propose to me that night.<br />
<br />
It was great to celebrate with friends on a joyous occasion!<br />
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<b>Four- Next Steps</b><br />
<br />
We don't know dates or definite plans. The first step is to write my Friends Meeting a letter asking for a clearance committee to be married under their care, which is the standard procedure for Quaker marriages. Our wedding will have Quaker and Methodist elements, honoring the traditions we come from. We will keep everyone informed.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1NPRo-advB5WSgnyK2Hb1YwmDDMY_nMTG8oubsfAUpsPbxPycudo_Tr3pKuWwd1IKTAs3NlguFPdvHsdp0JjBbX6DBKNYkn2KUX-Hii5xMzfWddwJFvGjxh65clYbWJrQCZjo1EZSggVE/s1600/331583_726453121374_1871739861_o.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1NPRo-advB5WSgnyK2Hb1YwmDDMY_nMTG8oubsfAUpsPbxPycudo_Tr3pKuWwd1IKTAs3NlguFPdvHsdp0JjBbX6DBKNYkn2KUX-Hii5xMzfWddwJFvGjxh65clYbWJrQCZjo1EZSggVE/s320/331583_726453121374_1871739861_o.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Out celebrating at the tap room</td></tr>
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I love Jenn with all my heart and I look forward to loving her every day for rest of our lives. We are continuing on our journey together! I feel like the luckiest person alive!<br />
<br />
One key to our relationship is communication. We have talked in some way either by phone, over Skype, or in person every day since March 26, 2011, the day before we started dating. We have talked on days we have been busy with finals, on days when we have been mad at each other, on days when we are traveling far away from each other (like in the mountains of California), but we still make time for each other and to hear about each other's day. I look forward to spending my life with Jenn!<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06072075612836672769noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9145874320031647189.post-27040751265068197192012-08-07T06:00:00.000-07:002012-08-07T07:02:08.310-07:00Sermon- Gospel Writers in the Windows Luke<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Last Sunday, August 5th, I preached my last sermon at <a href="http://www.princetonumc.org/" target="_blank">Princeton UMC</a> and it was the last day of my internship there. I had preach two other sermons there this summer: <a href="http://reflectionsbygreg.blogspot.com/2012/06/sermon-have-we-crossed-line.html" target="_blank">Have We Crossed the Line?</a> and <a href="http://reflectionsbygreg.blogspot.com/2012/07/sermon-neighborly-love.html" target="_blank">Neighborly Love</a>.</i></span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><br /></i></span></b>
<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>My sermon began a new sermon series for the church "Gospel Writers in the Windows", which will explore the four Gospel Writers in the stained glass windows in the sanctuary in order of they appear. Luke, Matthew, Mark, & John (Luke is first because the Tiffany Studio artists a century ago thought the color sequence of the robes was preferable this way.) </i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>I based the sermon on<a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=51629123" target="_blank"> Luke 12:22-34</a>.</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b>
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.03304775455035269"><span style="font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Today we begin a new sermon series as Russ said, exploring the four Gospel writers. Each writer brings different elements into their telling of Jesus' life and ministry. The first three gospels, known as the Synoptic Gospels, share a lot in common in terms of stories. Biblical scholars tend to agree that the three gospel writers, Matthew, Mark, & Luke had similar sources. Mark is considered to be the oldest and the two writers used Mark and other sources for their own Gospels. For example, 76% of Mark can be found in the other two Gospels. But yet they each use different literary styles and have highlighted different themes in the story of Jesus. </span></b></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiACmke8hOC2qZqviYdDf1VhOXHiq_DuWzMzOlP0EB7r_hZPHgIeeBZ3kM8mYbwVAc3DyuAAVAX2xZInx-zNj-BIeVdyZwCVv7O8RU9EoAoGSV77KwGplu1dmijkVZwp8YrbkKjQPxglvXC/s1600/2-apostles.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiACmke8hOC2qZqviYdDf1VhOXHiq_DuWzMzOlP0EB7r_hZPHgIeeBZ3kM8mYbwVAc3DyuAAVAX2xZInx-zNj-BIeVdyZwCVv7O8RU9EoAoGSV77KwGplu1dmijkVZwp8YrbkKjQPxglvXC/s320/2-apostles.jpeg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Stained Glass Windows at the Church</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Then lastly we have the Gospel of John. In that gospel we encounter a Jesus, who is acutely aware of his divinity. There are numerous differences between the Synoptics and John. For instance, in John, John the Baptist does not baptize Jesus. Then, at the Last Supper, Jesus washes the disciples' feet and does not offer them bread and wine as sacraments. Because of these differences, Biblical scholars think John used different sources than the three Synoptic Gospels.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Today I will focus on Luke. Like the other Gospel writers, we know very little about him personally. In <a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Colossians+4%3A14&vnum=yes&version=nrsv" target="_blank">Colossians</a> the Apostle Paul refers to Luke as a physician. Also Luke has the distinction of writing two books in the New Testament, this Gospel and the Book of Acts. These two books parallel each other in their structures. The Gospel tells the journey of Jesus and His ministry and then in Acts, he tells the journey of the early church beginning after the death and resurrection of Christ. Luke has a social justice bent, which is apparent by the numerous parables in the Gospel on this topic, like the story of the Good Samaritan. Lastly he dedicated them both to Theophilus, which means "friend of God" in Greek. There are theories about whether this person was Luke's benefactor or even an actual person. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">When I began my internship, Pastor Jana gave me a choice on which Gospel to preach on. Immediately I chose Luke, unaware about the history of the beautiful windows on my left. I wanted to preach on Luke because I love all of the parables about social justice, something that I have been passionate about all my life.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">A couple weeks ago I happened to read Luke 12 and I knew I had to preach on it. This one chapter has a lot of challenges for us as Christians living out our daily lives out in the wider world and for the church body as a whole. I think I could preach for hours just on these twelve verses. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">But in the interest of everyone's time and patience, I will limit my preaching and I will just focus on two messages I hear in this passage: one for individual Christians and another for the church body.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">The message I hear for individual Christians is: </span><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Can we give up?</b></span><span style="font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"> Can we just give up everything to act like lilies in the field to follow Christ?</span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglXSBb8B-YI9mdxBH_CdeGG8lwE_rmpBV4ZlwuuFRaa1d8tg2FvTuSLiMh45KbhO0smV11KSuneBDa95Ji3rI9ZP6TBX8pK9Pz1jAtBzLA7Q47DRsqE7_u3Hp2WCmt4P8NmIa6SbQBN2B_/s1600/206656_502976664220_1140_n.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglXSBb8B-YI9mdxBH_CdeGG8lwE_rmpBV4ZlwuuFRaa1d8tg2FvTuSLiMh45KbhO0smV11KSuneBDa95Ji3rI9ZP6TBX8pK9Pz1jAtBzLA7Q47DRsqE7_u3Hp2WCmt4P8NmIa6SbQBN2B_/s320/206656_502976664220_1140_n.jpeg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">A picture of me in 2004 talking on a cell phone</span></td></tr>
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.03304775455035269"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My ego tells me that I tread lightly on this earth and that I have few attachments to my material possessions. But my ego is wrong. Yes I might have fewer possessions than I once had due to moving frequently. But my material possessions still own me. You will rarely see me without two devices: my laptop and my cell phone. These two possessions have a tight grip on my life. I can't even begin to count the numbers of hours I have spent on these two electronic gadgets alone and not even for worthy endeavors. (A side note: Never buy a cell phone with Solitaire on it. I tried to give it up for Lent this year and I failed miserably!) </span></b></div>
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.03304775455035269" style="text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Frequently these two devices take me away from the present moment and from the people around me. I can spend hours at a time with these two devices and ignore the loved ones in my life. These possessions allow me to be distracted from my relationship with God and focusing on living out Jesus' teachings. </span></b></div>
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.03304775455035269" style="text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What are the material possessions that distract you from deepening your spiritual life?</span><span style="font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> What can't you give up in order to act like lilies in the field? </span></span></b></div>
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.03304775455035269"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This line of thinking is counter-intuitive within our current culture, which values consumerism. When we leave the front doors of this church, Nassau Street and beyond are full of messages that tell us that if we buy this one thing, or take that one pill, or amass a lot of possessions, our life will be more valuable and we will be happier with ourselves. But when we overindulge ourselves, we just end up feeling emptier and then we get more material possessions to fill our lives and our homes, ultimately just to feel Loved. Let me remind you all: You are already great and beautiful as you are. In Christ, all are one, no matter if some humans might try to tell you otherwise. Most of all, You are Loved. Jesus is reminding us in Luke that material possessions aren't the way to build the Kingdom here.</span></b><br />
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.03304775455035269" style="text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The second message I have today is: </span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Are we ready?</span><span style="font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Are we ready as a church to support each other in responding to a call to ministry? </span></b></span><br />
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.03304775455035269" style="text-indent: 35.45pt;"><span style="font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If a person stood up right now and offered herself or himself to ministry, how would we respond? Let me guess: some might say "Hey, I think she is nuts." Or "Won't he just sit down? We can't even see the choir." Wouldn't we? Are we prepared for that?</span></b></span><br />
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<span style="text-indent: 35.45pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">My friend Maurine is a traveling Quaker minister. Several years ago she felt a leading from God towards this ministry. But her Quaker church was not ready to hear this and soon she felt uncomfortable attending that church, knowing that they weren't ready to support her calling. Let me tell you this church was large and wealthy, so it had more than enough resources to support her, but they weren't mentally and spiritually ready to.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="text-indent: 35.45pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.03304775455035269"><span style="font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Eventually, another Quaker church welcomed her with open arms and she moved there to be under their care. This church was much smaller with a lot less resources and was hours away from the wealthy suburb. Now several years later, she feels supported in her traveling ministry there. And guess what? Since her arrival at the church, two other ministries have been started by other church members and they are fully supported too. The meeting is alive with the Spirit of God in their mist.</span><br /><span style="font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That is the remarkable part of ministry. Once someone follows a leading, others can get inspired too and follow their own leadings. Last week Cindy spoke about lay ministry and one integral part of lay ministry is the support of the congregation because it can be scary to take that first step alone. In Quakerism, we have support committees for people following a leading, no matter what it is.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In this church we already have a lot of great ministries here. But I want to ask you: </span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">are we ready for more ministries?</span><span style="font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Are we ready to support other lay members in following their leadings? If not, what is holding us back from being ready to respond?</span></b></span><br />
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<b><span style="font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The great theologian <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Thurman" target="_blank">Howard Thurman</a> once said: "Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive." What makes you come alive? What makes us as a congregation come alive? We need more Christians to live out their faith daily, not just by coming here on Sundays. The world is waiting for us and the world needs us to come alive today! </span></b></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06072075612836672769noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9145874320031647189.post-85812886912590067102012-07-05T10:31:00.000-07:002012-07-05T10:31:33.392-07:00Introducing youngadultfriends.orgFor the past year I have been working with Martin Kelley, Stephen Dotson, and Katrina McQuail to set up <a href="http://www.youngadultfriends.org/">www.youngadultfriends.org</a>, a website where Young Adult Friends, also known as Quakers, can connect, find information about others, events, resources, etc...<br />
<br />
Stephen has made a wonderful <a href="http://youtu.be/lKt4w1M1fN8%20http://youtu.be/lKt4w1M1fN8" target="_blank">video</a> about the amazing features of the website.<br />
<br />
The website is still a works-in-progress! Let us know if you have information you want added. Also you can add stuff to the <a href="http://goo.gl/maps/NBz1" target="_blank">Google Map</a> and the <a href="https://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=fevdo6pppj4rjvbmfa0uv6v4f0%40group.calendar.google.com&ctz=America/New_York" target="_blank">Google Calendar</a> yourself. But if you can't, please email <a href="mailto:youngadultfriendsorg@gmail.com">youngadultfriendsorg@gmail.com</a><br />
<br />
We are setting up a support committee for the website and we are open to new people. We are especially looking for more representation from Conservative Friends and Evangelical Friends! Please email <a href="mailto:youngadultfriendsorg@gmail.com">youngadultfriendsorg@gmail.com</a> if you are interested!<br />
<br />
I am so excited that it is finally launched!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06072075612836672769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9145874320031647189.post-53890444511279067892012-07-03T06:26:00.000-07:002012-07-03T06:26:13.524-07:00Sermon "Neighborly Love"<span style="font-size: large;"><i>This is the second sermon that I preached last Sunday at <a href="http://www.princetonumc.com/" target="_blank">Princeton United Methodist Church</a> as part of my summer internship. (You can read the first one "Have We Crossed the Line?" <a href="http://reflectionsbygreg.blogspot.com/2012/06/sermon-have-we-crossed-line.html" target="_blank">here</a> and my last one will be on August 5th on the Gospel of Luke.) Since the first one went so well, I asked to preach one additional time. I have wondered a lot about the contradiction between God giving land to the Israelites and Jesus' command to love our neighbors, so I decided to preach on it. </i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Also I had an elder in attendance for this sermon, following Friends tradition.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>This sermon is based on <a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=208321040" target="_blank">Joshua 1:3-6</a> and <a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=208321085" target="_blank">Matthew 22:34-40</a></i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">"Neighborly Love"</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Won't
you be my neighbor?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I
have been thinking a lot about that question in the last few weeks
since Scott sent out the link to the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFzXaFbxDcM" target="_blank">video</a> of Mister Rogers remixed
in the church e-newsletter. I do not remember watching Mister Rogers
a lot growing up. What I know about the show is very little. I think
I learned his famous question from one of the few times that I did
watch the show.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Anyway I absolutely love this question. Won't you be my neighbor? It was a
leading question when Mister Rogers asked it. How could anyone say no
to a kind man, like Mister Rogers? How could anyone respond with No I
don't want to be your neighbor. Leave me alone! That question is like
the command that Jesus gives His followers about loving their
neighbors. It is an invitation to something greater.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">In
the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus offers to the people two commands: Love
God and Love your neighbor as yourself. Again this sounds so simple,
doesn't it? It is almost a checklist for us to do: Buy Milk check,
mow lawn check, love God check, love your neighbor check. Such simple
words but it is such a hard task, especially loving that nosy
neighbor next door. But at the same time what does loving your
neighbor mean in the larger context outside of just meaning the
people living next to you? How can we love people who live in a
different context than us?</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Something
I have struggled with is to put Jesus' simple, yet challenging
command to love our neighbor in Matthew with the proclamation that
God made to the Israelites in Joshua 1. There God promised the land
to the Israelites and led them there. But the land was already
inhabited by other people, the Canaanites. We are told conflicting
stories about the Canaanites, but in the end we never hear about what
finally happened to them. Biblical scholars have several different
theories about what happened to the Canaanites. The theories range
from the Israelites destroying them all to the Canaanites co-existing
with the Israelites peacefully. What is the Canaanites' side of the
story of the Israelites coming into the land? What would that story
sound like?</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">This
week we will celebrate the 236th anniversary of our nation's
independence. A nation that was founded with the claim that God meant
for the Europeans to have this beautiful land that they had
“discovered" by accident a couple centuries before even though
there were already millions of people living here. Even at the time
of the founding of this country, most of the land, that we now know
as the United States, was still inhabited by Native Americans.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Our
country's story is told from the European's side, from the side of
the conquerors. What is the Native American story of the United
States' Independence? What would that story sound look? Unlike the
Canaanites, we actually know the history of the Native Americans. I
will give you a hint: It is not pretty. That story involves lies,
broken treaties, slavery, and massacres. It is still not pretty. Some
of the worst poverty in the nation exists on the Native American
reservations. Also there are high suicide rates among Native American
teens, just to give you a small glimpse into the current situation on
the reservations.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Don't
get me wrong! This is not a "Shame on the United States of
America" sermon on the Sunday before Independence Day. I love
this country. I have traveled this country countless times by car,
bus, train, and airplane. Some of the most beautiful places in the
world are within our borders. I love the diversity of our land and
the people who live within the borders. We have a lot to be proud of
about our country and our freedoms. But at the same time, I am not
going to sugarcoat our country's history and ignore the problems we
have had and still have as a nation.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="" name="_GoBack"></a>As
Christians we should not shy away from this history. Because if we
do, we are bound to keep repeating the same history over and over. As
a people yoked together in Christ we commit to be honest about our
sins, both personal and corporate. Let me be honest. We are not a
perfect people. I am definitely not perfect, so let not pretend to be
perfect. In not pretending to be perfect, I mean admitting our sins
that we do to each other and our neighbors out of contempt, jealousy,
and even carelessness. The good news is that we can strive to be
better, strive to something greater especially as a corporate body
gathered together in Christ's name.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">That
is the radical message of Jesus. He called on His followers to break
out of the religious complacency existing in the First Century. Jesus
showed His followers a new path! He advocated for His followers to
hang out with the least of the society, their own neighbors, while at
the same time challenging them to live to a much higher level. And
that challenge is still before us today.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">What
does that mean for us right now? What does loving our neighbor in the
21st century look like? In what ways can we live out Jesus' command
today?</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">As
a church, we have started by inviting our neighbors in for meals on
Wednesdays; we help each other during times of need. Right now 51
members of our congregation family are traveling to work with our
neighbors in West Virginia, while another member is in the Democratic
Republic of Congo working with our neighbors there. What more can we
do? Do we know our neighbors of different faiths, our neighbors
around us who believe differently than we do? How do we as a
congregation reach out to them?</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I
think this all starts with an invitation to join us at the table, an
open invitation to sit with us on an equal level to get to know each
other. A little like what will happen when Susan invites us to the
communion table later in the service. Mister Rogers' simple yet
powerful question, "Won't you be my neighbor?" provides a
great way to invite others in for fellowship and learning about each
other. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Isn't that a great way to start relationships with our
neighbors and live out our faithfulness to Jesus' second command in
the book of Matthew?</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: red;"> </span>
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06072075612836672769noreply@blogger.com4