Reflection #23: End Times for a Long Time

Given that some have predicted the end of the world for December 21, 2012, I thought it a particularly perfect time to post this reflection.  From my perspective, it has been the End Times for a long time.

When I was a teenager the newly developing Christian Rock scene was saturated with an ‘end times’ emphasis - from Larry Norman's classic song I Wish We'd All Been Ready, to Daniel Amos' lesser known Revelation Suite.  Even my favourite Canadian singer/songwriter reflected this theme in his song Can I Go With You.  I am still struck by the beauty of Bruce Cockburn’s lyrics and imagery in this song – even if I am no longer caught up in any end times fervor (and to be fair, nor is Cockburn himself).

When you ride out of the shining sky
To claim the ones who love you
Can I go with you?
Can I go with you?

When the angel shouts from the heart of the sun
And the living water flows down
Can I go with you?
Can I go with you?

When the earth and stars melt like ice in the spring
And a million voices sing praise
Can I go with you?
Can I go with you?    

Back in the early 1970’s author Hal Lindsay was making a big splash with his book Late Great Planet Earth (and subsequent titles), and films like Thief in the Night were being shown in churches around North America (frightening countless impressionable teenagers in the process).  I remember one evening when my parents did not return from a trip to Calgary quite when I expected them to - I got myself all worked up because I was beginning to worry that the rapture had happened and I'd been left behind!  (I knew I had done some bad things and perhaps I hadn’t been sorry enough for my sins - and I hadn't quite gotten the concepts of repentance or grace yet!)

At the end of Randy Stonehill’s landmark recording Welcome to Paradise the closing song on the album, Good News, fades out on a conversation in the studio caught on tape – Randy is talking about the imminent return of Christ and he speculates on how many years are left before the rapture “Maybe four, maybe five?” Stonehill’s cheerful voice ponders.  That was certainly the sense of things in the late 70’s – we were living in the very end of times.  That produced a paradoxical effect, we were both excited and frightened – big things were about to happen!

Hal Lindsey, and others like him, saw the re-establishment of the nation of Israel as a significant sign that the countdown to Armageddon had begun.  Armageddon is the site of the great battle at the end of the world that is referenced in Revelation 16:16.  Lindsay, like others after him, took the obscure symbolism of apocalyptic literature like the Book of Revelation, or certain parts of the Book of Daniel, and made it line up with current events in a way that convinced a lot of people that this was legitimate Biblical interpretation. 

I remember reading a comic book as a teenager that was based on Hal Lindsey’s writing, it captured my young, and fearful, imagination.  Most vividly I remember a drawing of a military helicopter (Vietnam War era) which was connected with some verses from the ninth chapter of Revelation chapter 9.  These verses described the plague of locusts, saying they “had scales like iron breastplates, and the noise of their wings was like the noise of many chariots with horses rushing into battle. They have tails like scorpions, with stingers…” Lindsay said these verses predicted military helicopters with their armour plating, noisy rotating blades and machine guns in their tails - and to my young mind, filled with news footage of helicopters in combat, this sort of made sense.  Due to people such as Hal Lindsay and their apparent ability to unveil secret predictions in this biblical material, many were drawn to the conclusion that the end of the world as we know it was just around the corner.

One other reason many thought the world was near the end in the 70's and 80's is because of the never ending string of reports about nuclear arms build up between the U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R.  We were told that the Doomsday Clock was just minutes before midnight, and seeing how it was Atomic Scientists who were telling us this, the warning was ominous.  Living through that era resulted in bizarre bits of information being burned into my brain - like hearing that at the height of the nuclear arms build up there were enough weapons to destroy the earth many times over.  (I have since learned this was not exactly accurate).  I read books like A Canticle for Leibowitz and watched movies like Planet of the Apes (the original) – all which fed my fears and fascination with the end of the world.  Combined with the apocalyptic interpretations of best-selling Christian writers, this was a potent stew.

However this stew began to smell funny when I began to learn the original purpose of apocalyptic writing.  When I took a course on the Book of Revelation at seminary my thinking took a serious shift (thank you Dr. Erwin Buck!)  One of my seminary roommates has become notable for his understanding of this apocalyptic material, and has written a well regarded book called Apocalypse Recalled (a shout out to Dr. Harry Maier).  Through the wisdom of such teachers, and other authors like Eugene Peterson (Reversed Thunder) and Barbara Rossing (The Rapture Exposed) I began to see more clearly how such an end times fixation mis-represented the intention of the original material, and was distracting us from the destruction of God’s good earth in the present.

More than 3 decades have passed since that time.  The conversation on the end of Stonehill’s album – “maybe four, maybe five” - seems quaint, if not silly, in retrospect. (Someone else must have thought so too, the digital versions of this recording fade the song out earlier, before these spoken words have a chance to be heard.) The end did not arrive when expected, and many have grown tired of those who cry “wolf!” I have a friend whose family was convinced Harold Camping was absolutely right when he predicted the end of the world, and that was the first time Camping made a false prediction - back in September 1994.  Jesus didn’t return then, nor did the rapture happen in May 2011 – the revised date Camping convinced many people was the gospel truth. At least after this more recent failed prediction Camping apologized for his mistake afterwards, but words of regret didn’t really help all those folks who used up their life savings to spread the word of an imminent end.

This fixation on the end times has not served the message of Jesus well, we have been distracted about what might be, rather than being concerned about what is. This emphasis on the imminent second coming of Christ has misled many a sincere Christian.  I watched as my own grandfather got totally sucked in by the Bible quoting televangelist Jack Van Impe, even sending significant amounts of money to that ‘ministry’ over the years.  Jack takes news reports from current events and interprets them as signs and proof of the closeness of the second coming of Christ – but he’s been doing this for decades now! Apparently Jack Van Impe believes in the Mayan prophecy about December 21, 2012, even though it has no connection to the Bible he maintains is the basis of his pronouncements. (Nor was there a Mayan prophecy, just an ignorant conclusion about the end of the Mayan calendar made by people with limited or non-existent understanding of Mayan time-keeping). We now know how that so-called "prophecy" played out. Wrong again Jack!

This is not to say that we shouldn’t ever reflect on our end, I do think that we need to constantly consider that every day could be our last – that is, I think we should always be prepared to "meet our maker" as the saying goes.  We shouldn’t need the fear of a future timeline prediction to motivate us into living the way God intends us to live in the present time.  The fragility of human life - as evidenced by accident, illness and natural disaster – should be enough to convince us of the shortness of our span on earth.  When I look at how the end times emphasis has been used in the North American church I see a very one-sided approach – it was used to propel people into evangelism, that is, to get as many people to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior before the rapture.  But that’s not what Jesus said was the way we prepare for the return of the Christ the judge – rather we should have been putting energy into loving our neighbours through feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, tending to the sick, visiting those in prison and so forth (Matthew 25:31-46).  Ironically, over these past decades I saw much less emphasis on these things directly mentioned by Jesus than on efforts of mis-guided evangelism which bore little resemblance to Jesus’ ministry or words.

I also need to be clear that I do actually believe we are closer to the end of the world than ever before, but I say this not because of some elaborate interpretation of obscure symbols and writings in the Bible – rather I say this because of our own human behaviour. It is human sinfulness that has allowed us to build up weapons of mass destruction – and the current arsenal of nuclear and biological weapons, if unleashed on earth, would certainly end life as we know it.  It is human self-centeredness that has allowed us to strip the earth of its natural resources, replacing them with pollutants and climate changing gases – this too, if unchecked, will lead to the end of the world as we know it.  It is human arrogance that has allowed us to mess with the building blocks of nature, genetically modifying all kinds of organisms without truly knowing what the long-term result of such biological and chemical manipulation will be – this too has the potential to end the world as we know it.  The end is coming, and we are bringing it closer.

What should be our response be to the predictions of the world’s demise?  From my perspective it is to simply continue living as much life as we have left grounded in love – striving to leave our mark on the world, not a mark of conquest and destruction, but rather a mark of service and love.  In the end there is no greater power in the universe, and there is nothing, not even the end of the world, that can separate us from the love of God (Romans 8:38-39).  Whatever the future brings I believe there is a God who loves us and will never let us go.

Whoever Is Not Against Us

I begin with a reading from the Gospel of Mark, Chapter 9, verses 38-50 (N.R.S.V.)

John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.” But Jesus said, “Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. Whoever is not against us is for us.  For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward.

     “If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea.   If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire.  And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and to be thrown into hell.,   And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell, where their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched.

     “For everyone will be salted with fire.  Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it?  Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”

When I was a young boy I used to enjoy making “forts”.  A fort could be as simple as a big cardboard box with some holes cut in it for windows and doors, or it could be a place of sanctuary high in a tree put together with scrap boards and a few nails. There were forts were made with straw bales at my uncle’s farm, or forts created by a small clearing in the bush that only my buddies and I knew about.  And that seemed to be the most important part of a fort – only certain people knew about it, or only certain people were allowed in it.  The stereotypical sign for a boy’s fort in those days was “No girls allowed”.  We knew who was part of the inner circle and anyone else simply wasn’t allowed in.

It’s one thing to see children at play be so exclusive, that can be excused as simple lack of maturity and understanding.  It’s quite another to see grown adults engaged in a process of protecting the inner circle by excluding all others.  Our gospel reading today begins with that very scenario.

In the Gospel reading I began with the disciples announce to Jesus that they tried to stop someone who was casting out demons in his name.  The fact that he was throwing demons out of people didn’t seem to be their main concern, rather it is latter part of the verse 38 that  reveals the real issue: the disciples complain “because he wasn’t following us.”

Perhaps there was some jealousy at work here.  Earlier in the 9th Chapter of Mark the disciples were not able to cast out a demon that was causing a boy to throw himself in the fire.  Then they come across a person who is not part of their inner circle who is having success casting out demons in Jesus’ name.  He is doing what the disciples could not.  That probably made them frustrated and angry – so they tried to stop him.  This unknown exorcist was not part of the club and thus, in their minds, he had no right to be throwing out demons in Jesus’ name.  They tried to stop something that, to all onlookers, would have been seen as a positive thing.  Why couldn’t the disciples see that someone who was able to relieve people of the evil forces that oppressed and harmed them was a good work?  Why didn’t they encourage this unknown minister working in Jesus’ name?  Is it because they were so wrapped up in self-worth derived from being part of the inner circle of Jesus that they simply couldn’t let anyone else close to that place of honor?

This is the same group of disciples that Jesus just chastised because they were arguing amongst themselves about who was the greatest.  This is the same group of disciples that would soon try to prevent children from coming to Jesus.  This is the same group of disciples that wanted to call down fire from heaven on the Samaritan village that didn’t welcome them. There is great irony in that scene – the disciples, who were not always good at welcoming those they saw as outsiders, wanted revenge on a village that was simply acting the way the disciples themselves did – being non-welcoming.

Jesus is concerned with not limiting anyone’s access to the good news he brings to the world.  Jesus teaches his followers that “Whoever is not against us is for us.”  That opens the door pretty wide for disciples who were interested in keeping the fort for themselves only.  Jesus once again shows a desire to be inclusive rather than exclusive.  Jesus wants to welcome all into the abundant life he is offering.  Excluding others has been a problem in the church ever since the earliest days of the Christian faith.  The Apostle Paul had to struggle to get Gentiles accepted as full members of the Christian church.  Many in the early church centered in Jerusalem wanted to keep the Church for “Jewish people only.”  Throughout the centuries the church has too often been guilty of saying only for certain people could belong.  Sometimes the exclusivity was expressed indirectly, such as when the language used in worship could only be understood by some. Other times the exclusivity was more direct as when some churches in the United States posted signs that stated “Whites Only”. 

Whenever we act in such a manner we are repeating the mistakes of the disciples who tried to stop the un-named exorcist from his Jesus empowered healing ministry.  We are too often blind to the workings of the Holy Spirit throughout the world, believing that God can only work through our particular group.

After the correcting the disciples in their attempt to shut down an outsider from ministry, Jesus continues with a strong warning “If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea.”   The word in this passage that is translated in English as “stumbling block” is the Greek word scandala.  This Greek word is the orgin of our English word scandal. It can mean to stumble, but it can also mean “to cause offense”.   Jesus is telling his followers that if they do anything that causes someone to lose their faith, or to restricts a person’s access to the Saviour, then it would be better if they were given cement boots and tossed overboard (to put it in more modern terms).  Notice that Jesus is not referring to others, to outsiders, he is speaking directly to his followers, his disciples, using the pronoun “you”.  Given that this warning follows so quickly after the story of the un-named exorcist, and just before the disciples attempt to prevent the children from coming to Jesus, this is a strong criticism of their behaviour.

Jesus uses harsh language to say “Wake up!  Pay attention!  Don’t you see what you are doing?  By your actions you are trying to restrict the work of the Holy Spirit, you are trying to limit where and with whom God can work.  You are trying to limit how God works, excluding others you don’t consider as rightfully belonging. This restriction of the expansion of God’s realm is one of the worst things you can do.  Better if you just removed yourself from the picture rather than be found to be in opposition to God’s will.”

Then to drive the point home Jesus uses the same term scandala to talk about the trouble our eyes, hands and feet can cause.   Again speaking in hyperbole Jesus says it would be better if you removed the offending part, whether that be one’s eye or hand or foot.  Many people have assumed that Jesus’ reference to sin in these verses is about breaking the commandments – thus if your hand causes you to steal, or your eye causes you to covet, or your foot causes you to murder – then better to cut these body parts off.  But considering the context in which the gospel writer Mark puts these verses, I think Jesus is referring to any form of attitude or action that cause someone else to lose their faith, or to not come to Jesus in the first place – these are things that must be guarded against.

We need to ask ourselves “What are some of the stumbling blocks Christians today are guilty of setting in front of others?”  Are we ready to take a good hard look at the ways we have caused others to lose their faith in God, or to have no desire to come to Christ in the first place?  Are we prepared to ask ourselves hard questions like “Do I behave in such a way as to hinder others from seeing the love of Jesus?”

I have learned that one of the biggest reasons people today are not interested in the Christian faith is because of the hypocrisy they see in our actions and attitudes.  Like the disciples in our gospel reading today, we still want to designate who’s in and who’s out. Most people today know that Christians are supposed to “Love others as we love ourselves.”  We talk a lot about love, but then we too easily slip into expressions of judgment.  We say that Jesus welcomes all people into his fold, but then we shun those who are not like us.  Such hypocrisy is a stumbling block, causing many to turn away from the message of Jesus.  Too often we have become like the Jesus’ disciples who tried to prevent the children from coming to him because they felt that was not appropriate.  We have set ourselves up as the judges of what is appropriate and what isn’t appropriate, and like the disciples of 2000 years ago we too can interrupt the ministry of others because we can’t understand how God would ever work in people like that!

I am reminded of a song by Noel Paul Stookey, of Peter, Paul and Mary fame.  A number of years ago he wrote a song called “Peace in the Valley”  The last verse of that song goes like this:

So if you meet a man in a pastel suit

With an alligator Bible to match his boots

You might not like his style too much

But if he could reach a soul you could never touch

You gotta say...

Peace in the Valley

Peace on the mountain too

Before you tell a man he's got a splinter in his eye

You better pull the log out of you.

It is too easy for me to look down at Christians from other denominations and faith traditions, to think that God really works best through Lutherans, but such arrogance is exactly what the disciples were exhibiting in today’s gospel reading.  I need to be reminded, again and again, “Whoever is not against us is for us.”    I need to rejoice when I see evidence of God’s Spirit working through the efforts of other people, even if they are people quite different from me, even if they are people I don’t agree with on some issues, even if they are people I would hesitate to call Christian.  There is so much evil in the world, we should, as disciples of the Prince of Peace, be glad whenever there are actions and attitudes of love and acceptance, forgiveness and healing – regardless of who is performing those actions.  We need to be more concerned with our own failures in following Christ rather than in the perceived failures in others.

Jesus calls us to follow him, but then he also calls us to “get out of the way” if we are hindering others from experiencing the healing and transforming grace of God, if we are restricting access to the one who calls us to be agents of peace rather than gatekeepers of the fort.  The gospel reading for today ends with this important command of Jesus “be at peace with one another.”  May we strive to be peace makers, especially with those we have understood to be outside our group.  And may our peace making become the attitude that we are known for, that we might draw all people to the Prince of Peace.

Attach / Send

This past summer I was asked to give one of the keynote presentations at the Canadian Lutheran Anglican Youth Gathering (CLAY 2012).  The gathering was called HyperLink, and the title given to the last Large Group Gathering for which I spoke, was Attach / Send.  Some day I may rework that presentation into a written form that can be posted on this blog.  For now I am posted a link to a webpage that has an audio recording of that last talk.  A word of warning - it is about 50 minutes long, so settle in before you start to listen.

Click here to listen to my keynote presentation.

There are a few spots in my presentation where visuals were important.  All the relevant images are included in this post below.  As you listen to the presentation you can look at these images at the appropriate time.

A short while after the Kuriakos Song I talk about a picture of a cross from Iona.  This is the picture:

Then I refer to the Celtic Cross design, at which point this graphic is put on the screen:

Later in the presentation I am talk about being present to another.  I one point I ask "Which might be more comforting?" showing this image on the screen:

 Then this one:

Towards the end of my presentation I ask "What would church be like if we weren't really present to one another?"  Then some music plays for a few minutes.  During the music the drama troupe came on stage and sat down, not looking at each other, but instead focused on their cell phones.  On the screen the following played out.  I call this segment The Church of Text (there are 26 images that follow each other sequentially):

Comments on a Hiatus

It has been a long time since my last post, this is primarily because all of my time and attention were focused on other things - most notably the European vacation I took with my family, and preparing for HyperLink - the Canadian Lutheran Anglican Youth Gathering, held this past week in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

The experiences I have had these past few months have been great, but now things are beginning to settle back into a "normal" routine - if there is really anything that can be called normal.  It is my intention to write more entries on this blog in the coming weeks.  I plan to finished off the 25 Reflections on 25 Years in Ministry, I think I might try to put my presentation at HyperLink into a readable form, and I have some ideas springing from my experiences in Europe.  So there is lots to write about, now comes the disciple of the actual writing.

In the meanwhile, people who are interested can check out the family's blog on our trip to Europe at this site: Our European Family Adventure

Those interested in the Canadian Lutheran Anglican Youth Gathering can check out the CLAY facebook page here: HyperLink - CLAY 2012

As for this blog, I hope to have some new entries before the end of this month.  Only time will tell.

Here I am making 2 points (or giving the peace sign) at HyperLink - the Canadian Lutheran Anglican Youth Gathering held in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, August 16th to 19th, 2012.  The picture was taken by my daughter Anna.

Anna's Arrival

Tomorrow Anna, our youngest child, will graduate from High School.  It doesn't seem that long ago that Beth and I were at the hospital wondering if we were going to have a Christmas baby.  But Anna refused to enter the world until after midnight, a Boxing Day baby instead.  After the long labour we were tired, but delighted with this new addition to the family.  Once Beth was back in her hospital room and resting, and Anna was in the nursery under the good care of the nurses, I went home to sleep.

Except I couldn't sleep - I was too excited.  So, not knowing how else to express the feelings of wonder and gratitude swirling inside of me I sat down at the piano and began to play.  Soon emerged a new song, written in honor of Anna's birth.

Weeks earlier I had booked some time at a local recording studio on Boxing Day, which happened to be the only time when some musical friends were available (because of the holidays).  So later that same day, with Beth and baby resting in the hospital, I headed out to the studio (located on an acreage outside of Regina).  I vaguely remember Beth insisting that I not cancel the recording session, but that could be my guilt wanting me to not look like an absent and inconsiderate dad!  Whatever the case, out to Cave Studio I went were I met Nevin Eggum, David Hilderman, and Dave Fries (who ran the studio).

We recorded three songs in that session, including the brand new composition which I had named Anna's Arrival.  It is a testament to the musicality of these friends that they were able to take this new song and quickly flesh out an arrangement.

I have never released Anna's Arrival on any albums, even though that had been my intention - in fact a few years after this initial studio session Nevin and I began recording a new version - which, unfortunately, was never completed.  So in honor of Anna's graduation I present the original version of this song, recorded mere hours after Anna's arrival.  Too soon, at least for these parents, she will depart - heading out into the world, a beautiful, creative, sensitive and wonderful young woman.

Whenever I hear this music I think back to that Christmas time 18 years ago when Anna was born, this little fragile package of flesh and bones, skin and hair - so vulnerable, so beautiful, so present - and due to her birthday's proximity to Christmas I am also reminded of Jesus' birth - the Word made flesh - so vulnerable, so beautiful, so present... and once again I am wrapped in wonder and awe.

On this track:
Dennis Hendricksen - Keyboards
Nevin Eggum - Guitar
David Hilderman - Bass
Dave Fries - Drums & Recording Engineer
Remixed May 2012 by Dennis Hendricksen

 

Press the orange circle with white arrow to play the track.
It might take a few moments for the song to load.

Reflection #22: Still Making Mountains out of Molehills

If we call ourselves Christians, what should be the significant and absolute center of our faith and life? Christ Jesus, of course!  And yet in my 25+ years of ministry I have seen too many examples of losing sight of the most important aspects of our faith, and getting side-tracked with non-central issues.  We too easily get fixated on non-essential theological or ecclesiastical arguments, we quickly make mountains out of molehills.  Things that have little to do with Jesus (either who we understand him to be or what he taught his followers to do) can take the center of our attention and create unnecessary trouble and grief.  Over time we begin to see the true size of those concerns which consumed so much of our focus and energy, conflicts that created such bad impressions with our neighbours – with the passage of time we begin to see that many of these things were adiaphora.  This ancient Greek word refers to things that are debatable or neutral, to things outside the essentials of the Christian faith.  Too much of what has pre-occupied the church in past decades is adiaphora.

At the time of the Reformation leaders like Martin Luther had to determine what they considered central to the Christian faith, and what was adiaphora.  In other words, they had to figure out what was essential and foundational, and what was flexible and non-essential.  The Augsburg Confession states “And to the true unity of the Church it is enough to agree concerning the doctrine of the Gospel and the administration of the Sacraments. Nor is it necessary that human traditions, that is, rites or ceremonies, instituted by men, should be everywhere alike.”  (Article VII)  The Gospel and the Sacraments were central, they were the mountains, all else was adiaphora.

So what sort of things have Christians put a lot of energy into debating and defending during my time in ministry? What sort of things have become mountains in the life of the church in the past few decades?  Here is a brief list of some of the controversies and debates I am aware of:

• What musical instruments are appropriate for worship (Should it be organ only, or guitars and drums primarily?)
• What colour should the carpet be in the sanctuary?  (Or any number of decorating issues that pop up in the life of a church.)
• Is it right to kneel or stand for confession and prayer?  (A huge controversy at the church I serve, which took place before my time, happened when kneelers were installed in the sanctuary.)
• What translation of the Bible is allowable?  (I still run into people who insist that only the King James Version should be used by English speaking Christians.)
• What translation of the Lord’s Prayer should be used?  (I am tempted to ask “Does God really lead us into temptation?”)
• Should the pastor wear a goatee?  (Seriously, I received an angry anonymous note about this shortly after I grew my distinctive beard – and by the way, it is the only kind of beard my face can muster.)
• Should the congregation sit or stand for singing hymns?  (I’ve heard both articulated as the “right way” to do things).
• How should communion be served?  (Kneeling or standing, by table or continuous, whole loaf & common cup or individual cups & wafers, and so forth.)
• Can we allow women to be ordained pastors? (Having served with a couple of different women clergy I know personally the value of female pastors, but there are still many churches that insist this cannot be of God.)
• Will there be a ‘rapture’ and will that happen soon, or should the Book of Revelation and other such apocryphal writings even be read as a road map of future events?  (End-times have been big time in the North American church my whole adult life, resulting in much fear-mongering and successful marketing.)
• Can we allow children to receive communion before they are confirmed?  (“If we allow children to commune before they are confirmed how will we be able to keep kids in the confirmation program?” went an argument that I have heard more than once.)
• Can we allow GLBT people to be fully part of our church - as pastors or married couples?  (The current “big mountain” we are dealing with throughout the church in North America.)
• Should everyone who has the Holy Spirit active in their lives speak in tongues?  (As a young adult I was often made to feel inferior as a Christian because I didn’t speak in tongues – though sometimes the way I garble the English language one might wonder if I was exhibiting glossolalia!)
• Should Sunday School be offered during worship services, or at a different time?  (We had some people leave our congregation over this issue.)
• Should God be referred to as both masculine and feminine?  (The debate about inclusive language in worship was a significant part of my seminary experience.)

I had better stop here before this post gets too long.

All these controversies listed above I would consider adiaphora – they have little or nothing to do with Jesus, and everything to do with personal preferences and interpretations.  They are not central to our faith, but they have been central to our church experience at one time or another.  With the exception of the debates around communion (and I would consider how we serve communion, and at what age we offer communion, as less central than the  requirement of the Christian Church to celebrate communion and uphold its significance), all these issues have little to do with the gospel of Jesus.  We keep making mountains out of molehills.  Mount Calvary should be the focus of our life together, not Mount Tradition or Mount Personal Preference.

While thinking about this I came across an interesting contrast between a biblical mountain and molehill.  The Bible contains more than 2000 verses on poverty and justice, and God's deep concern for both, yet lately the church in North American seems far more focussed on 5 verses that refer to same sex relations, even though exactly what these verses condemn is unclear, and the translation of some words in these verses is uncertain at best.  (I should clarify here that I don’t consider the passages about Sodom and Gomorrah to be about same sex relations.) When considering this contrast which should be the mountain?  Which, by comparison, is a molehill?  One of these topics is 400 times larger than the other, but I seldom hear it discussed in church circles these days – at least not with the same level of passion and conviction.

As Christians we are called to follow Christ and should consider his words and actions of primary significance – but the mountain of Jesus’ revelation gets obscured by molehills of Pauline admonitions, end-times speculations, and the dirt heaps of personal preference and protection of tradition.  We debate whether women should be allowed to be pastors based on a couple of comments Paul makes in his letters rather than spending time and energy debating how best to fulfill Christ’s commands to “love God and love others”.  We split churches over issues around same-sex relations (even though there is absolutely nothing about this topic in any of the gospels) rather than consider the implications of Jesus’ prayer for unity and his inclusion of those marginalized by society.   We should be examining what Jesus is actually asking us to do, and discussing as a church body how best to do these things, rather than get caught up in theological miscellanea.  We should guard against majoring in the minors, and minoring in the majors.  We should keep the main thing the main thing rather than distract ourselves with subjects that are not central to Jesus’ ministry and message.

What should we be majoring in?  There is only one thing Jesus ever commands his followers to do, only one thing!  To love.  That’s it, everything else Jesus teaches is related to that central command.  To love God and love others it is not a suggestion – it is the pinnacle of Jesus’ revelation (both in word and deed).  There is only one topic that Jesus comments on throughout his ministry, something he encourages in his disciples over and over – the importance of having faith, to place one’s confidence in God rather than give in to fear.  Love and faith are central to Jesus message, they are what he identifies as essential for his followers.  The bulk of our communal and personal energy should be never be channeled away from these two central themes.  Love and Faith – that’s it in a nutshell.  It’s time to stop acting like blind moles, digging around in our little molehills like they were the only important thing to consider. Time to open our eyes and see what Jesus wants us to see.

May we not be so fixated on the little pile of dirt at our feet that we forget to raise our eyes to the heavens, and thus miss the grandeur of God’s majestic mountain of grace.

Confrontation in the Back Pew

They sat in the back pew,

I wondered who they were,

and what brought them to our worship service.

I’m not sure it was a desire to worship God,

but that is too judgmental, too presumptive.

However what transpired after the service

led me to consider such a possibility.

It seems they felt called to challenge,

to point out the mistakes of our church,

to confront me with my failures in Biblical interpretation.

It was not what I needed at the end of a long day,

I’m not sure it was what they needed either.

But I was not about to let two young literalists

condemn me and my ministry without a word of explanation.

Unfortunately it seems my words fell on deaf ears,

their minds were firm in their black and white convictions,

there was little, if any, humility in their approach,

they could not understand how someone
could think differently than themselves

and still be faithful to the revealed Word of God.

In the end they displayed what is true of all of us:

we chose to believe what we do because it seems right to us,

then we read the Bible to suit our perspective.

At least I admit that such bias functions in myself,

but they understood themselves above or beyond that human limitation.

Arguments from silence go nowhere,

arguments from interpretation go wherever,

and I am tired of arguing…

just let me love others as God has loved me.

And leave me in peace to listen to the Spirit of God

instead of the voices of self-certain young people.

Kyrie Eleison.

  

Towards Eternity

A typical prairie scene, railway tracks converging into the distant horizon, pointing us to a future beyond what we know.  We move towards the light and beauty of God's promises.

This photo taken in March of this year, a little west of Regina near Grande Coulee, Saskatchewan.

Reflection #21: Beyond Words - Worship that is Sensory and Experiential

Lutherans have been fairly ‘word focussed’ from the beginning - after all Martin Luther used words to bring about the Reformation.  However it is not true that everyone is really good at connecting with words alone (either spoken, read or sung).  In recent years an understanding of worship needing to be experiential, and something that involves all the senses has been the result of some creative thinking on this subject by a number of authors.  Of particular note is a book that really pulled things into focus for me, Bob Rognlien’s “Experiential Worship: Encountering God with Heart, Soul, Mind and Strength.”  The title of that book points to a holistic approach to worship.  For years I have taught that the command to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30 NRSV) is a call to a holistic response to God.  In other words when we strive to love God (and others) it must involve the whole self: our emotional, spiritual, intellectual and physical being.
  

We were created as beings who experience and relate to the world in many different ways.  We are complex and multi-dimensional beings, thus to focus on just a few senses in our worship is to ignore other significant parts of ourselves, limiting what we receive and what we share.  When worship is primarily about sitting still while listening to a bunch of words, and saying (or singing) some words in response, then we are missing a big part of the picture.
  

In the first centuries Christian worship was often accompanied by a meal, which came to be known as an agape feast.  Imagine all the senses engaged in this early worship practice – smell, sight, taste, touch, as well as hearing.  It is often noted that eating together creates a sense of fellowship in a way that simply sitting together listening to one individual speak cannot.  Perhaps part of the reason for this is that when we eat together it is a multi-sensory experience, and thus a more complete engagement of ourselves is happening in such a gathering.
  

Dan Kimball, in his book “Emerging Worship: Creating Worship Gatherings for New Generations” writes:

Multisensory worship involves seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, touching, and experiencing. This means our worship of God can involve singing, silence, preaching, and art, and move into a much greater spectrum of expression. It goes outside the box and then throws away the box that limits how we can express our love and worship to God when we gather. We move past merely listening and singing to a whole new level of ways to participate in worship through all our senses.

On one level I had already been aware of this for years.  I am reminded how I learned at seminary that word liturgy comes from the Greek word leitourgia, which literally means “work of the people.”  Thus liturgy was to help the people participate, liturgy is something the people actively do rather than passively receive.  And yet, still so much of our worship experience remains primarily passive – listening to the scripture readings and sermon, listening to the prayers – maybe adding the occasional “hear our prayer.”  There are ways in which the congregation participates in such traditional Lutheran worship - the singing of hymns, the congregational parts in litanies, going to the altar to receive communion, but even these things are fairly limited in what is experienced by the participants.
  

Worship in the cathedrals of Europe was more multi-sensory than what I grew up experiencing in western Canadian Lutheran churches.  European worshipers were surrounded with sounds, sights and smells – all laden with meaning.  The stained glass windows, paintings and sculptures giving the eye much to consider; the sound of bells, organs, choirs (and even preachers) reverberating through architecturally symbolic space (and in the ears); the smell of incense, bread and wine encouraging remembrance (smell being one of the strongest triggers of memory).  All this added together created a more engaging worship experience, involving more of the whole person than simply sitting and listening (though admittedly worship in European cathedrals could also become too esoteric and distant from the average worshiper).
  

I first encountered the concept of multi-sensory worship through Robert Webber, who coined the term “ancient-future worship” to describe the blend of ancient multi-sensory worship elements with contemporary context and technologies.  The writings of Robert Webber, Dan Kimball, Bob Rognlien already referred to, and others like Tex Sample (The Spectacle of Worship in a Wired World), Richard A. Jensen (Envisioning the Word: The Use of Visual Images in Preaching) and Robert P. Glick (With All Thy Mind: Worship That Honors the Way God Made Us) – all these percolated in the back of my brain and eventually Mysterium was the result.
  

Mysterium began with a dream, or perhaps it was a vision. Very early in the morning on Sunday July 24, 2005 I found myself wide awake. Since I was about to lead two worship services later that morning I knew I needed to get back to sleep. I remembered a technique for such occasions that Beth, my wife, uses — when she can’t fall back asleep she prays, offering intercessions on behalf of all the people she can think of. By focusing her mind on prayer her thoughts stop spinning around and soon she falls back to sleep.  So I began to pray, thinking of all the people in my congregation and life that were struggling with various concerns, saying a silent prayer for each of them. After a while of doing this I began to drift off when suddenly, in my mind’s eye, was a picture of an unique worship setting, an image so completely formed that it startled me into full consciousness again. I remember thinking “this is some interesting stuff, I’ll have to remember it when I get up.” As I began to make a mental check list of all the things that were part of that vision I soon realized I had better get up and write it all down — there were simply too many details to trust I would remember everything later. So I got out of bed, went down to my office, fired up the computer and proceeded to type a page and a half of notes. With that accomplished I went back to bed, and fell fast asleep.
  
Later that day, when I went back to read what I had typed early in the morning I was amazed at how everything seemed to make sense and fit together. There were some elements that could be attributed to my worship experiences at places like the Qu’appelle House of Prayer, or various Youth Gatherings I’ve been part of, but much of what I had seen in my mind’s eye was unique. Over the next number of weeks I talked about this vision of worship with some creative and gifted people from the congregation. Their conversations affirmed for me the need to put this Mysterium worship experience together.  Right from the very beginning I knew that if Mysterium was to happen it would require a team of creative people working together. I put the word out, and was delighted by the enthusiastic response of people who became part of the Mysterium Team.
  
It has been over five years now since Mysterium was first introduced.  There have been changes over the years, but at its core remains the desire to provide a multi-sensory and experiential worship experience for all who come.  Visuals are an important part of what we do and one of our team members, Lois-Anna Kaminski, has faithfully put together a slide show of images and quotes each month related to the theme for that worship gathering.  We have had artists at many Mysterium gatherings who create an original painting during the worship time.  Over the years we gathered enough artwork that we were able to host an Art Show this past fall featuring over 40 pieces of art created at Mysterium.  There is much more I could write about Mysterium, but instead of making this blog post longer I will simply refer interested readers to the Mysterium website.
  
There is much room for growth and improvement in creating worship that is multi-sensory and experiential, but I do feel that many churches have begun to point themselves in this creative direction.  Old ways of doing things are always hard to change, but worship that does not engage the whole person will be easier to dismiss or abandon for those shaped by our post-modern culture.  The era of people sitting through a church service out of politeness and cultural expectation are gone, it’s time to explore the fullness of ancient-future worship.
  
I end this post with a quote from the first Robert Webber book I read, “Worship Old and New” – I read this work over 20 years ago as part of a course on worship that I audited at Canadian Theological Seminary (back when it was still located in Regina).

Worship is not an isolated aspect of the Christian life, but the center from which all of life is understood and experienced. For this reason [we] ought to give careful consideration to… a more thoughtful use of space… to a full range of music… and to a more concentrated effort to engage the senses of sight, sound, taste, smell, and hearing… Clearly worship renewal does not consist of moving chairs in a circle, rearranging the order of worship, or finding new gimmicks. The heart of worship renewal is a recovery of the power of the Holy Spirit who enables the congregation to offer praise and thanksgiving to God. The value of studying the history and theology of worship is that it provides us with insights into the work of the Holy Spirit in the past and allows us to be open to His work in the present. In this way the Holy Spirit may lead us into ways of worship that are continuous with the historic witness of worship given to the church throughout its history in the world, and at the same time He may lead us into the discovery of new forms and patterns that meet the needs of people in our day.

Those words, first written 30 years ago, remain relevant today. It remains my desire to have the Holy Spirit lead me in my worship leadership, and maybe that’s exactly what happened in the genesis of Mysterium.  May all who plan, prepare and lead worship be open to the Spirit’s guidance, that all our worship enables a holistic response to God.

Shadow on Shadow

Shadow on shadow
don't make light
In the same way two wrongs
don't make right


From my notebook.

April Creation

This is a recording I dug out of my archives - it was created in the spring of 1982. The recording took place in the chapel at Lutheran Theological Seminary in Saskatoon and was made using an early cassette 4-track machine and some basic microphones (thus the sound quality is rather limited). I have never released this track to the public before. April Creation is an original composition. Thanks to Bruce Solsten and Rich Kaminski for lending me their equipment way back then.

The picture of the tulips is one I took in 1981.  Nothing like Kodachrome slide film to capture such deep reds.  I'm not sure where the picture was taken anymore, but something makes me think it was Ottawa.

Spring is a blessed time of year as the earth creates anew a great array of life: beautiful colours, fragrant aromas and a plethora of sounds.  Some of this springtime essence - life bursting forth with beauty, newness and hope is what I tried to capture in this music.

On this track:
Dennis Hendricksen: piano and keyboards
Garry Checora: percussion

Sprung Free

This is a poem first written at Qu’Appelle House of Prayer on May 15, 2000.  I have reworked the poem the past couple of days, finishing it today, Easter Sunday, 2012.

Sprung Free

Easter, shrouded behind grey skies,

ready to spring forth unexpectedly.

Then with a breath, emancipation breaks out

shattering chains of  fear and captivity,

like a mysterious angel appearing

in Herod Agrippa’s prison

to set the bewildered Peter free.

The angel indicated that freedom was possible,

but Peter had his own part to play.

Peter was invited to walk out of bondage,

but he had to use his own muscles to follow

where the angel led the way.

The angel unbound the chains,

but Peter had to walk.

As the Easter angel announces

surprising realities,

it is required that we

not just believe the freedom we are given,

but that we use that freedom to truly live.

We have been sprung free

by the glorious good news of Easter.

May that Word respoken

help us to walk into the world,

with resurrection power

and new life - offering freedom

to all.

Amen. Alleluia.

Praise to the Risen Christ.

Glory to the Eternal Word.

  

Qu'Appelle Cross

On top of a hill in the Qu'Appelle Valley stands this cross.  It marks the glen where the Qu'Appelle House of Prayer is situated.  It is one of my favourite sacred spots in Saskatchewan.  This picture was taken a few years ago when I was out there on a personal retreat.  The colour of the sky, the approaching clouds, and the silhouette of the cross has me think of this image as especially appropriate for Lent, and particularly Good Friday.  (Click on the picture for a larger version.)

Reflection # 20: Religion Brings Out the Best and the Worst

I write this reflection during Holy Week, the days leading up to and including Good Friday, a time when we remember the suffering and crucifixion of Jesus.  It seems an appropriate week to express the mixed message of this reflection – that religion brings out the best and the worst in people.  In these past 25 years in ministry I have had ample opportunity to observe the behaviour of religious people, especially those who call themselves Christians, and while I would like to say that Christianity always brings out the best in people, sadly there are too many examples of the opposite.

There is nothing new about this dichotomy, all throughout the history of religious faith people have displayed both sides of this spectrum.  Holy Week itself gives us both corporate and individual examples of this contrast, often within the same people: The crowd cheers as Jesus enters Jerusalem, and only a few days later the crowd calls for execution;  Religious leaders plot to get rid of Jesus - even to the point of securing false witnesses (a direct violation of one of the ten commandments) and breaking their own laws regarding the conduct of trials, this in contrast to Nicodemus, a member of the  Sanhedrin, who earlier appeals for a fair treatment of Jesus (see John chapter 7);  Peter announces he will never abandon Jesus, then a little while later showing fear for his own safety, he denies Jesus three times.  Judas seems concerned about sharing money with the poor, then ultimately he betrays Jesus for 30 pieces of silver.  The best and worst in human behaviour in a brief span of time in Jerusalem 2000 years ago.

What is it about religion that it can create such a contrast in people?  I think it is clear why religion can bring out the best in people, because religion (certainly Christianity which I am obviously most familiar with), can have a transformative effect in people, moving them away from self-centered, sinful self-interest to a desire to love others as God has loved us.  It was this transformation of people, so that they exhibited greater caring and compassionate behaviour, that I believe was at the center of the expansion of Christianity in the Roman Empire in the second and third century (when the Empire oppressed and persecuted this new religion).

But what about when religion, including Christianity, brings out the worst in people.  How does that happen?  Perhaps it is like Charles Kimball suggests, that religions believe in absolute truth, and “people who believe they have God in their pocket and know what God wants for them have proven time and again that they’re capable of doing anything because it’s not their will but God’s will being carried out.”  (For further reading on this read this beliefnet interview with Rev. Charles Kimball titled The Problem with Monotheism.) 

When doctrinal truth becomes more important than the God that doctrine points to, this leads to trouble.  When we become more concerned about defending the doctrines of Christianity rather than the following the teachings of Christ we can end up behaving very poorly.

History gives us plenty of examples of both the best and the worst. Looking back in time we see the Christian religion producing shining examples of the best in human behaviour, from the development of hospitals and schools, to compassionate and consistent care for the poor and outcasts.  However we also must admit to some of the worst of human behaviour, from the crusades and inquisitions, to the religious wars of Europe and acceptance of slavery in North America, these also happened because of Christian people.

I do not need to look at examples in history only, in my time in ministry I have watched (on television and film) the amazing love and servanthood of Mother Theresa, as well as the horrific and devastating attacks on 9/11.  I have been encouraged and enlightened by the example of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the non-violent civil rights movement in the United States, and I’ve been disgusted and disheartened by the inflammatory language of Reverend Ian Paisley and the violence between the Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland.  Closer to home I have witnessed incredible generosity, a selfless sharing of time and resources, I have heard of acts of quiet hospitality shown to people in need.  I have also seen the pain of people shunned from their own families because of a different religious understanding, I have known  mourners of a suicide victim who were treated with cold religious legalism and a shocking lack of compassion.  In my time in ministry I have seen both sides of the spectrum, internationally and locally.  Such occurrences have taken me from the heights of happiness to the depths of despair.  In some ways it’s been like watching a movie that can’t decide if it is a heartwarming comedy or a brutal tragedy.  It leaves me feeling conflicted.

In a book about Mahatma Gandhi, written by the English missionary E. Stanley Jones, he recounts a time he asked him, “Mr. Gandhi, though you quote the words of Christ often, why is that you appear to so adamantly reject becoming his follower?”  To which Gandhi replied, “Oh, I don't reject Christ. I love Christ. It's just that so many of you Christians are so unlike Christ.”  The problem with Christians not acting like Christ is that we drive people away rather than draw them closer to the one we worship.  Jesus identified this same problem in his time of ministry, denouncing the behaviour of the scribes and Pharisees, saying “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you lock people out of the kingdom of heaven. For you do not go in yourselves, and when others are going in, you stop them.”  (Matthew 23:13 NRSV)  Just as Gandhi was turned away from the Christian faith by the behaviour of Christians, Jesus points out that the religious people in his day were turning people away from the fullness of faith.  This is the sad, but not surprising, result of using religious reasons for behaving hurtfully toward others.

Lately there have been many books and articles written about the abusive behaviour of churches or Christian leaders - the world is taking notice, and not in a good way.  Westboro Baptist and Christian media personalities like Pat Robertson have given the impression to the general public that Christianity brings out the worst in people, and there seems little remorse or repentance for such behaviour.  Instead such unappealing actions and attitudes are being upheld as “defending the faith.”  Some recent atheists, people such as Christopher Hitchens and Steven Weinberg, have made the accusation that religion brings out the worst in people always, and that all religion should simply be left behind.  We are being painted with the brush of intolerance and hatred - and while that is only one side of the picture, it is a valid criticism that we must be open to hearing.

One significant frustration I have in my ministry is that in reaching out to the world beyond the sanctuary walls I often first need to undo damage done by others who hurt in the name of Jesus.  Too much of my interaction with non-church people is dealing with skepticism about the faith I am trying to share because of the poor behaviour of Christians past and present.  While it is easy for me to point out the faults of other Christians behaving badly, I should begin with me - I must first and foremost look at my own behaviour - do I give Christianity a bad name?  Am I behaving in ways that are motivated by my own need to control?  Are people seeing love and justice in my actions, or am I just being hypocritical by preaching one thing and doing another?

My prayer has been, and continues to be, that I would allow the Holy Spirit to work its transforming power in me that I might be an example of religion bringing out the best in a person, rather than the opposite.  I thank God for forgiveness, because I know I have not always acted in a way that people would see Christ in me.  Yet life is not one moment in time, it is a journey - so renewed by word and worship I set out again to be the best person I can be - because of Jesus, and for the honoring of Jesus.