Pilgrims on the Way (Luke 24)

Pilgrims. For some of us it invokes images of the founding of this country, or at least the people with the funny hats with buckles on them. Pilgrims. It’s a good Christian word that describes those who are on a journey for religious purposes, usually devotional in nature. Pilgrims. Through the ages, Christians have trod to various holy places: the Catholic goes to Rome, the Episcopal go to Canterbury Cathedral, and the Baptists go to wherever the potluck is. (No, seriously, as a congregational movement, we have no sacred site that inspires pilgrimage on the same level Perhaps for American Baptists; we might go to Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, where the denomination’s main mission center is located. It’s a circular building, forever known as “the Holy Doughnut,” though it’s debatable how well a pilgrimage might go as you’re always walking in circles.)

Kerry and I have been to Rome and to Canterbury Cathedral (no; we weren’t church shopping!). One of the things that impressed me about Canterbury was the long flight of steps into the building. Well, it was impressive until I tried to walk up them. For years turned to decades and centuries, this old set of steps has been walked by generations of the faithful. Thus, the stone of the steps had started to wear a groove in the steps, a smooth, nearly polished surface that spoke well of the historic devotion but nearly dangerous to walk on nowadays. I gripped the railings at the side for dear life!

The disciples who walked to Emmaus were gripping the railings when Jesus found them. They were leaving Jerusalem with heavy hearts and did not know how to journey on. In the biblical narratives, there are affirmations of how great it is to travel towards Jerusalem, where all of the religious hope is centered in the worldview of the scriptures. Festivals, sacrifices, great celebration. Jerusalem was a place as much in the heart as it was on the map.

And yet, here are two pilgrims traveling AWAY from Jerusalem. As far as they were concerned, Jesus was killed by the powers that be. They haven’t picked up a water bottle for the last leg of the journey; they’ve thrown in the towel.

Yet, this stranger encountered on the road is the Lord himself that they mourn. As Luke notes, they did not see him, for “their eyes were kept from recognizing him.” That’s an odd little statement. Jesus is standing there right in front of them, and yet they do not see him. It sounds puzzling, yet it is not a physical ailment, but one more of the heart. When they tell “this stranger” about Jesus, this is what they say: “The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.”

At first, one might take these particular words and see the beginnings of a confession of faith. Christians throughout the centuries have taken words to shape their faith and give praise to God, and some of the hopes held by the Emmaus disciples might be the beginnings of a pattern to help shape a confessional statement: Jesus as a prophet, redeemer of Israel, yet in the midst of all these words, there’s an impasse when they get to the notion of the crucifixion. The disciples speak to Jesus’ teachings and acts, yet they find an impasse at the cross. They have heard of the women who come from the tomb proclaiming the resurrection (and in Luke’s Gospel, these women in his telling “get it” atthe outset and go forward proclaiming—yes, it’s different than Mark’s ending, but then again, this is Luke’s story, so we live in the tension of four Gospels that nonetheless tell the story differently). They have heard the story, yet they have not made the connection with what really matters. They have not yet seen the risen Christ with their eyes or their hearts!

Pilgrims. One might wonder why somebody would take a week off from work, get in the car or board a plane, and just go walking towards a place that is considered sacred. What brings some people to church? In the ancient cathedrals of Europe, there’s never a quiet moment in the tourist season. People flock to see the ancient treasures, take pictures, buy a postcard in the gift shop, but few are spotted lighting a candle or pausing in the summer’s day for a time of prayer.

There are many people who pass by a church, yet they never realize that they are on holy ground. Nora Gallagher, a religious writer that I like, spoke of being “outside” the church for many years, until she went to a place where she felt something different. Her wonderful line is that she came to the church “as a tourist, but stayed a pilgrim.” Over time, her time in church became less of attendance and became participation, and her faith less a matter of inquiry and more of belief. The beauty of her writing is not skill but of depth: the depth of belief and experience growing in the faith in the care of a congregation that did likewise. Jesus takes these disciples to task and begins a time of “bible study” while walking alongside them. He guides them through the texts that speak of what God had in mind through the patriarchs, prophets, and other writings. Jesus walks them through these narratives so that when they have made the trip, they will see the Savior who weaves all of these threads together.

When I was in seminary, I helped with a congregation in transition. They had endured a nasty church split, and the folks who “left” formed a separate congregation. The immediate problem, however, was the fact that they had no place to worship in. They were fortunate to find an old church that had been turned in a community outreach center. The current occupants had kept the pews, pulpits, and the stained glass, so it was quite a good rental opportunity. However, as the church folks settled, they realized that they were missing more than (literally!) a roof over their head. They had to create and recreate a number of things that they didn’t realize one took for granted, including curriculum. How could they teach the young children without what they used to have? I sat in on a Christian education meeting where they wondered what direction to go.

I suggested that they could do something without spending any money. The congregation had these beautiful stained glass windows with a bible story in each one. And so the next Sunday, the children got led around the sanctuary of this old church, the stories of Adam and Eve in the Garden, Noah’s Ark (a crowd pleaser for the tots), Abraham being called to sacrifice Isaac (not a crowd pleaser for the tots!). Moses on the mountain with the two tablets, and so forth. As they rounded the sanctuary, the kids were asked who this person was in the last stained glass. They said, “Jesus!”

That’s the sort of work that Jesus did on the road to Emmaus, building up the knowledge among those who needed to be acquainted with the texts that led them to this point on the road to Emmaus. It’s drawing close to evening by this point, and the disciples invite him to stay for dinner. Jesus consents, though he is ready to go on the way. (Another sly Gospel shorthand: if the disciples cannot “see” Jesus, they also cannot go “on the way” with Jesus either!) They gather at table and have a simple meal. It’s when Jesus breaks bread that these disciples finally “see” Jesus.

For those perplexed why food and not words get the message across finally, read Luke and its companion, the Book of Acts. There is a great deal of eating that happens in these two books. There are scholarly books that trace the importance in Luke/Acts of the Christians and their meals, because in the breaking of bread, something so simple, the abundance of God becomes clear. In particular, recollect how Jesus breaks bread in the Last Supper, and notice the repetition here at Emmaus: Jesus takes bread, gives thanks, breaks it, and gives it to them. In the Last Supper, Jesus foretells of his broken body in the symbolism of the last supper. In the Emmaus meal, the same words and actions are used. And over in Acts, when the early Christians break bread as part of their prayers, proclamation, and sharing in common, they call it not “suppertime” but “Church.” And when it happens at that table in Emmaus, it’s not just a meal. It’s “belief!”

“Were our hearts not burning eagerly within us?” these disciples ask. This experience of the risen Lord prompts them to get up from their table and head back to Jerusalem. They went home despondent, and now they run back to Jerusalem with the news.

Pilgrims. You go to a church service, and you see them out there in the pews at worship. They might light a candle, read the pew Bible, or sit or kneel in prayer. They come in all shapes and sizes, all walks of life. But there’s one thing that sets them apart from the tourists.

What is it that does that? They have seen the Lord.

Remembering Gardner Taylor

Gardner Taylor, long considered the dean of African American preachers, died on Easter Sunday morning, April 5, 2015.  With his passing, many generations of preachers and congregants mourned the loss of a veritable giant in the pulpit, ministry and the academy of preachers.  

At the White House Prayer Breakfast earlier this week, President Barak Obama remembered Taylor, saying:

"Anybody who had the privilege of hearing him speak knows what power he had. He was a civil rights hero. He was a friend of Dr. King, who used his spellbinding sermons to spread the gospel and open people’s hearts and minds. He taught and mentored countless young ministers.  So as we mourn his absence today, we also take solace knowing that he lives a living legacy and that he is in a better place."

The American Baptist Churches/USA and the American Baptist Home Mission Societies joined with other Baptist and ecumenical leaders, giving praise and thanksgiving for Dr. Taylor's rich ministry and faithful life.  To read the ABC/USA responses, visit  http://www.abc-usa.org/2015/04/07/preacher-and-civil-rights-leader-gardner-taylor-dies/

A great video clip of Taylor reflecting about his call to preach and his senior years appeared on PBS in 2006:  http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2006/08/18/august-18-2006-reverend-gardner-c-taylor/1786/   (Transcript and video available)

As for myself, I had the privilege of hearing Dr. Taylor in the pulpit of The Riverside Church of New York City.  He spoke at a large event full of noted preachers and scholars convened as the 5th Fosdick Convocation (October 23-26, 2006).  Taylor certainly brought the house down while bringing the congregation to their feet.  I had the great pleasure of meeting Dr. Taylor at his book signing, where he autographed copies of his sermons published in a best-selling multi-volume set by Judson Press.

Later on, when I began reading the volume I had autographed by Dr. Taylor, I was stunned at one particular story he shared of the difficult days he spent with the family of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Sr. In late June 1974, the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta was in the midst of worship when gunshots rang out. A gunman aimed for King, yet it was Mrs. King, the church organist, who was killed in the gunfire.

As Gardner Taylor and other colleagues came from around the nation to support the King family, Taylor recalls the way the Ebenezer Church members pulled together with its singing hymns of faith, led by the choir who had been in the midst of the tragedy just a few days before. The church resonated with hymns of faith, sung in full knowledge of their loss, yet giving testimony to the beliefs that helped them make sense out of yet another tragedy in their congregation’s life.

That same week, Taylor was a visitor to the King family home. He recalls:

Midst the tall Georgia pines, in the King family home, touched with the strange stillness of death, I sat with Martin Luther King, Sr., on Tuesday evening. He bit his lips and said, “They killed Martin, [my other son] A.D. is dead, and now they’ve killed Bunch [his wife’s nickname]. “ He stopped awhile. Then he said, clutching my hand, “A.D.’s third son came to me the other day, and he said he is going to preach [or, that is called to ministry].” Then he looked at me and said, “They won’t be able to kill us off.”

(From Gardner Taylor, Fifty Years of Timeless Treasures, Words of Gardner Taylor, vol. VI, Valley Forge, PA: Judson Press, 2002).

 

Preaching Easter at Sunrise Services in Albany

A "word cloud" takes a passage of text and reforms it into a "cloud" of words.

For fun, I tried a single paragraph from my Easter sermon delivered at the Sunrise Service offered by the FOCUS Churches of Albany, NY. The results capture some of the key words of Easter Sunday: Mark's Gospel. Tomb. Yet.

The sunrise service was held at a park area by the New York State Capital Building. The first Christians gathered in the shadow of "Empire". Guess these 21st-century believers did the same, gathered in the shadow of the symbols of Empire State power.

MARK 16:1-8:

On Easter Sunday a few years ago, the service began with the children’s sermon. The children heard me inviting them forward to sit on the altar steps. That much was very familiar in weekly worship. They knew what to do, so they came forward and sat on the steps.

Yet after the children settled down, they began to look quizzically at one another wondering what was wrong. They heard my voice however they could not see me in the sanctuary anywhere.

Then a side door to the sanctuary opened and I popped my head in and said, “Happy Easter!”

The adults laughed, yet the children were not amused. They looked perplexed, puzzled and a little perturbed. As I made my way down to the altar steps, one child stood up in her freshly pressed Easter dress and said, “Why did you do that?”

Mark’s gospel leaves his readers feeling the same way. He tells the Easter story, yet he is not giving us what we expect. The tomb is found to be empty. That is familiar. The women are told of the resurrection by a man (angel?) dressed in white. They have heard the good news!

Yet, according to the most ancient Greek manuscripts, Mark’s gospel ends on a very odd note: “So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.”

“Why did you do that?” we might say. With little thought to apology, let alone decorum, Mark ends abruptly at verse 8. What type of “good news” ends with “for they were afraid”? No wonder that later manuscripts of Mark’s gospel are found with more verses, trying to give a much happier, sensible ending than “They heard the word and then headed for the hills”.

Yet, if you read Mark from beginning to end, Mark’s gospel is quite fond of upending our expectations. Jesus reverses the expectations of the world around him. People who are at the margins are brought into the center of his ministry. The people in high places are brought low by a parable told at dinner among friends and sinners, foes and disciples alike. More than mere spectacle, miracles restore dignity and worth to people written off by religion and society alike. The world as the disciples knew it, the world as Pilate and the Temple leaders knew it just didn’t look the same through the teachings of Jesus.

Death, the most “final word” that this world can offer, ends much, much differently. Easter provides a different and very specific ‘last word’ on the life and death of Jesus. Even if at first, such a defeat of death with resurrection is met with terror and amazement by his own followers.

How does that story continue? Perhaps we see glimpses of the gospel, even while we struggle our way through life, living in the midst of terror and amazement, fear and uncertainty. As the disciples recover their wits and live out their convictions, Mark’s ending shows the shaking of the status quo is unfinished, left for the gathered people called “church” to keep stirring and bringing God’s Kingdom/Reign to bear in the world while we look for Christ’s return.

Mark’s ending opens up life anew as well as a way of life, where the faithful understand “what matters” in a different light.  For instance, look at the discipleship values of the FOCUS Churches.  The gospel is glimpsed when the hungry find a warm breakfast meal and provision of food, not judgment or inattention, when the pantry doors open, when clergy and lay leaders protest “the powers that be” who seem more capable of budget protecting yacht buyers from sales tax while threatening cuts to the truly needed type of entitlement programs. Or when we practice the ancient and ever needed ministry of hospitality, providing welcome to the stranger, the refugee and the marginalized.

Otherwise, why do we do that?

Playing with LEGOs for Holy Purposes

BloombergBusiness offers a great "insiders" view of the LEGO company.  While many of us grew up with the product as a creativity starter, the modern LEGO brand crosses over several different streams of revenue.  For example, one Oscar nominated song this year was from the LEGO Movie, not something Hollywood insiders could have predicted.

To watch the 20 minute LEGO piece, you can stream it via Netflix or online via:  http://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/b/4a56e664-4427-49fc-82fb-2d5e4a6f4502.  (Link accessed 3/25/15)

After watching the video, consider these questions (or feel free to discuss them with a group of colleagues or congregants):

1)      Before you watched this video, how would you have described what LEGO's business looked like?   Did you notice that the answers may have been formed by what generation the respondent comes from?  (Older persons will remember LEGO much differently than your young children, who have experienced LEGO as kits, video games, a popular film, etc.)

2)       LEGO found its way forward by addressing its operational assumptions.   What hindered them and helped them move ahead?    What are some similar issues for our congregation's way of operating?

3)       The LEGO company found opportunities to improve by listening to its enthusiasts.  Who could our congregation listen to more carefully and learn from?  Whose voices have we tended not to listen for?

(NOTE:  LEGO itself has experienced criticism from parents as well as children, including a 7 year old girl who wrote a letter to the company concerned that the way girls and women were portrayed in newer products.  See this article for more:  http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-28660069.  Happily, the company has modified some of its approach.

Enthusiasts building their own LEGO sets have also contributed their own projects, including this recent image making the rounds on social media.  It depicts a diorama of the four female justices who have served on the U.S. Supreme Court.  More on the article:  http://maiaw.com/scotus-women-lego-legal-justice-league.html.)

4)        What is LEGO?   The CEO found that he had to engage in careful research about his product to arrive at an understanding that begins with LEGO being described as "a material that is endlessly creative and extremely logical".

The definition sounds a bit dry at first, yet as you can tell from the video, sticking to a well grounded statement of purpose can elevate creativity well above "the same old, same old".     In turn, how do we need to strike the balance of defining the church as a place and a people with a past yet also with a future that moves in ways not completely merely repeating what was while missing out on what is needed now?

Greater Conversations Await: Links of Interest

While I find myself happily in the midst of the physical shelves of bookstores and the stacks of libraries, I also turn frequently to the online learning opportunities to develop ministry skills and keep up with conversations of interest.

This week's blog notes some recent online resources I found of interest in recent weeks.  I note these without great comment, other than the links themselves connect you with possible ideas, ways of perceiving the world around us and how the Christian faith moves through the seas of change:

An article on conflict management styles:
http://healthychurch.org/the-style-of-conflict-management

Recent trends in global religious intolerance and conflict is studied by the Pew Research Center for Religion and Public Life:
http://www.pewforum.org/2015/02/26/religious-hostilities/

Want to avoid roadblocks to change?   Read this article from Leadership Education at Duke Divinity School:
http://www.faithandleadership.com/dave-odom-clearing-obstacles

What makes for a church's missional health where "creative destruction and disorienting missional engagement", according to George Bullard, long-time church consultant?  Read more via:
http://baptistnews.com/perspectives/creative-destruction-and-disorienting-missional-engagement-transform-congregations/

Is that you in the corner, losing your religion?
http://sojo.net/blogs/2015/03/12/75-million-americans-lost-their-religion-2012#.VQNUlEijm50.facebook

Dr. Marvin McMickle, President of Colgate Rochester Crozier Divinity School, shares a powerful word on the 50th anniversary of Selma:
http://www.crcds.edu/bloody-sunday-50-years-later-dr-marvin-a-mcmickles-thoughts/

Recent research on the values of Millennials (aka those young whippersnappers who have some generational differences we'd do well to pay close attention):
http://publicreligion.org/research/2012/04/millennial-values-survey-2012/

Remembering Fred Craddock

This past week, many preachers and seminarians paused in the hustle and bustle of ministry, saddened at the news as emails or other announcements came via social media with word of the death of Fred Craddock.

Craddock served as a small church minister, a seminary professor of New Testament and later Homiletics at two seminaries.  He was recognized by many polls and surveys of fellow clergy as an extraordinary preacher and accomplished teacher of preachers.  A worship service or ministry event featuring Craddock was sure to draw a crowd across denominational lines and especially with his beloved denomination, the Christian Church/Disciples of Christ (DOC).  To read his obituary, click http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/atlanta/obituary.aspx?pid=174348713.

His 1971 book "As One Without Authority" is considered among the top 20th century works on Christian preaching, and in many minds, one of the most influential books shaping mainline Protestant preaching today.  Taking an inductive approach, Craddock introduced preachers to the power of story and narrative, away from the familiar tropes of "three points and a poem" (aka "expository preaching").     Often, in my days with Cokesbury, a table with Fred Craddock's books would be shared alongside titles by Frederick Buechner, Barbara Brown Taylor, Tom Long, Eugene Lowry, Richard Ward, David J. Schlafer and Mike Graves.

On the latter author Mike Graves, I studied homiletics at Central Seminary with Dr. Mike Graves, whose journey was shaped significantly by Craddock as an influence and later mentor and friend.   Dr. Graves shares a wonderful reflection about Craddock's life and ministry via his blog:  https://drmikegraves.wordpress.com/2015/03/07/one-last-craddock-story/

For pastors, I recommend Craddock's books  As One without Authority, Overhearing the Gospel, Preaching and Craddock on the Craft of Preaching (all published with Chalice Press).  His book Preaching (Abingdon Press) was recently republished for its 25th anniversary edition.  For all readers, I encourage you to read Craddock Stories (a collection drawn from Craddock's sermons co-edited by Graves and Ward with Chalice Press), Sermons from Cherry Log, and The Collected Sermons of Fred B. Craddock (both published by Westminster/John Knox Press). 

After his retirement, Craddock and his wife moved to a rural area of Georgia, and he was asked to preach for a group of Disciples living in the area.  This led to Craddock and the congregants forming the Cherry Log Christian Church.  Also, Craddock developed a center working with poverty issues and helping improve the educational horizons of people, especially those who felt a call to preach but financial barriers may have precluded them otherwise having access to a classroom.

Craddock grew up in the South, steeped deeply in the folk traditions of his upbringing.  Surely melding the preacher with the storyteller would come easily, once he realized the deep connections and possibilities of narrative for sharing the Gospel.  He knew the challenges of living in poverty and shared of his own life and means freely, especially through his latter years in retirement through the Craddock Center.  On the week of his passing, the Christian Century published by happy providence a cover story about Craddock and his work. To read "The People's Preaching Class" article, click: http://www.christiancentury.org/article/2015-02/people-s-preaching-class.   An article specifically about The Craddock Center is also available:  http://www.christiancentury.org/article/2015-02/craddock-center.

Can We Still Look at One Another and Talk?

Most Sundays, I make my way to a local shop and pick up the Sunday edition of The New York Times. Admittedly, the Sunday Times is a paperweight in comparison to most newspapers. This past Sunday's edition was no different, providing a wealth of articles, commentary and other wordy delights that I am still reading bits and pieces of as the week goes on. (And woe befall any puppy in my household who tries to abscond with the Sunday Book Review section. Then again, it was on the floor and ripe for the taking. One chase around the house and the Sunday Book Review is safe, if not slightly...dog-eared. Ironic, huh?)

One article in the Arts & Leisure section caught my imagination as well as my eye. A young actress is featured in a brief interview about a TV show she is starring on VH1. (Yes, they are more than a music video channel and have been for some time!) Actress Sarah Goldberg performs as a character in the series "Hindsight" set back in the long ago era of the 1990s.

For some readers, they join me in groaning slightly at the thought of "Gen X" now being the subject of nostalgia. We grew up understanding the Korean War via the insanity (on many levels) of MASH in the 1970s and 1980s. We are the generation for whom "Roots", "The Day After" and other major dramatizations shaped our understandings of world issues and history. We're also the generation dazed and confused by our youngsters looking at us oddly when we tell them we didn't grow up with Elmo on Sesame Street. Instead, we can remember Mr. Hooper and when Snuffy was still thought to be an imaginary friend of Big Bird. (Yes, we're that old now….)

Grumping aside, I return to the interview with young Sarah Goldberg, herself born in the mid-1980s, so just playing along like she knew what coming into young adulthood during the mid-1990s felt like. She was asked by the reporter why she thought the 1990s were having "a cultural resurgence" now. She replied:

I feel like it’s easy to romanticize this time, pre-technology and pre-mobile phones, essentially. People had to really commit. If you made a plan to meet at a bar, there was no texting five minutes before saying, “I’m not showing up.” There’s something — to me, in hindsight — so sort of sexy and free about it [the ’90s], because you had to make a bolder gesture. You had to vote with your feet. You couldn’t just vote with your thumbs.

In the middle of Lent, these words strike a particular chord.  Since the 1990s, relationships have become a lot more at arm's length, provided you're actually in the room to reach out and can test that distance.   Sarah Goldberg sees a bit of a "lost world" growing up with the saturation of technology that can tell you where you're going via Google Maps, so you can choose whether or not to make or break that appointment and then send the impersonal text.

The time for reflecting and self-examination might get lost in the shuffle of our iPod shuffling a tailored playlist as we work or work out, drive to work or chill out at day's end.  We like noise, we like streaming old episodes of TV shows we've already seen a few times over (who among GenX did not feel tempted to binge watch Friends now that it's on Netflix?).  Spending time with ourselves and really looking at our lives just doesn't seem the priority most days, and I include myself in this observation.

Add in the implications of interacting with our families, neighborhoods, faith communities, social relationships, and you begin to see why we might be predisposed to being sociable only when we feel like we have the energy or interest.  Living in a "24/7" communication world where we can connect with people yet use it as a deterrent or deferral, we have choices to make about our ways of connecting.  Meant to enfranchise communication and make it more efficient, some technologies have become conduits for taking the misanthropic approach to the point that we prefer still to be "islands unto ourselves" or "ships passing in the night".

Congregations in times of anxiety tend to turn inward just like the humans comprising the membership of these churches.  I am an advocate for churches learning to use social media, for pastors to consider using texting and FB messaging to keep in touch with congregants, yet I would be remiss if I did not hope that all of the tech is in service to what furthers our depth of relationship and our sense of being together in Christ.  As much as I love my iPhone to keep in touch, I am much happier speaking one to another in real face to face interaction. 

Luddite?  No, I love technology.  Relic from the 1990s?  Guess so.

+++++++++++++++
SOURCE: Sarah Goldberg's interview can be viewed via:  http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/01/arts/television/sarah-goldberg-of-vh1s-hindsight-is-having-a-blast-in-the-past.html