Processing a Labor Day Weekend

This weekend I decided to join the Episcopal Peace Fellowship's conference for young adult Christian Activists.  I didn't know much going into the retreat - but I thought: "Hey this could be a good chance to reconnect with friends from GC77 and go to Chicago." Suffice it to say, I ended up in Chicago with very little idea what was going to happen to me, but I thought I should be here to find out.

This weekend was about finding your voice - the old voice that is within you that is coming forth from you and calling you towards action. Since 2006 I've been considering starting the process to begin thinking about maybe possibly becoming a person that is actively discerning a call ordained ministry.  I need to stop considering and start acting.  My voice is one that proclaims that the people who call themselves Christians need to be in and among and with the poor.  We need to be with those that are suffering.  Our love of God and Christ is something that compels us to love those that the world turns away.  My indecision has caused me to think more about myself than about Christ or anyone else in this world.  It's time for to take the first step.  I need to stop considering starting and start acting.

I assessed my life this weekend - is the life that I'm living expressing my voice? Sadly, the answer is no.  I began to look at the activities that do.  Where am I engaged in the world? What I am doing to use my voice to bless the world? My work with my Church and with Occupy are both integral to my life.  I am an Activist.  I am a Christian.  I cannot choose between the two.  If I am serious about stepping fully into either roll I have to commit 100%.  I cannot   I am already stretched too thin.  I do not have the time to consciously choose my path.  I am so busy running from protest to Church that I do not begin to pray about the protest or tell those within the Church walls about the way that Christ can be found while marching and chanting.  I forget to love all people.  I forget that God promises to provide for us.  My voice is currently being stifled by the busy-ness. 

In my walk with Christ I say that I have faith that God will provide for me both spiritually and physically whatever it is that I need. Yet my life does not necessarily reflect that. I also know that God's vision of what I need may be very different from my assessment of my needs.  I did not know that I needed this retreat this weekend.  (In fact I probably should not have come as I was taking too much time off work this year). 

One of the final thoughts shared in this retreat was that of a quote by Martin Luther King Jr.  in his final speech.  King was talking about the oft-quoted story of the Good Samaritan.  He talks about the Levite and the Priest could have had many reasons for not stopping.  Each of these reasons was in response to the question: "What will happen to me if I stop?".  King turns this questions around suggests that we ask instead: "What will happen to this man if I do NOT stop?"  I am at that point in my journey.  I can no longer be concerned about what will happen to me if I decide to dedicate my life fully to addressing economic inequality in this country.  I can no longer be concerned about what will happen to me if I decide to pursue full time work for social change.  What will happen if I sit by and do nothing.  Our world is in too great of a danger right now.  Our country is at a moment in history that calls all people into action. If I fail to act now I will be the Levite and the Priest who chose to walk on the other side of the road so that they were not defiled.  I cannot leave my brothers and sisters that are lying, possibly dead, beaten and bleeding on the side of the road.  I must act. 

My actions are going to look irresponsible to some but I know that I am stepping out on faith.  As I take this first step my voice may crack and I may not have the words to speak articulately, but as I continue my voice will develop until I am singing a song of praise and thanksgiving.  

Privatization and the Olympics

I have never really been a big Olympics person.  I mean, I guess they're a big deal, but I've never gone out of my way to watch them on TV. 

But, despite that, I think I understand something of the spirit of the Olympics.  They are about building community.  They are about the human need for competition - our desire to prove our skills.  In a way this is about proving that one community is better than another but it is also a chance to celebrate the human spirit. 

This understanding of the Olympic games is why I was so disheartened when I heard about the strict rules around use of the Olympic logo.  I heard a piece on NPR where they described how a local flower shop had been forced to remove their Olympic ring shaped flower design.  The only companies that are legally allowed to even mention the Olympics or use their logo are the 'official' sponsors like McDonald's, Visa or Coca Cola.  These giant corporations pay huge sums of money to ensure that they are associated with these games that celebrate the very nature of humanity.  Yet, in stripping away the rights of all people to use the logo and be a part of the games we are in fact creating a society where companies are people. 

Perhaps some day it will not be the United States vs. Canada vs. Russia.  No instead it will be Coca Cola vs. McDonald's vs. Visa.  We are living in a society where even the Olympic games, which celebrate the essence of our humanity, are bought and paid for by corporations.    I hope, and pray, that we will be able to reclaim some sort of human claim on the Olympic games.

The death of the Church

This General Convention will go down in history as the Convention that killed the Church. The Church needs to die in order to live into becoming the Body of Christ in this world. I have no idea what the resurrected Church will look like, but I want to be a part of it.

The 77^th General Assembly of the Episcopal Church was historic. It officially adopted a ceremony for blessing Same Sex Unions. In a world that often sees those within the Church as the enemy of those that are outside the norm, especially in their sexual expression, the Episcopal Church has said: “We stand with the outsider and we bless the outsider.” This moment when Resolution A049 passed was a predicted moment in history. The Episcopal Church has been moving towards this for some time, notably since the ordination of the first openly gay Bishop, Gene Robinson, in 2003. We have consistently been redefining what the “all” in our slogan “God welcomes 'all'” means. This week we finally said that this expression of the Body of Christ, the Episcopal Church, means ALL, in relation to most sexual minorities. There are still many ways that the Church is redefining all; we still have work to do. Blessing same sex unions is a life giving moment for the Church.

As momentous as this decision was, this is not the reason the Church is heading towards the cross. I will tell my grandchildren that I was lucky enough to be in the committee hearing when the deadly resolution was read for the first time. I believe that I will live to see the death and the resurrection of the Church. This resolution entitled “C095 Substitute”  created a task force to, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, “reimagine itself [the Episcopal Church] grounded in our rich heritage and open to our creative future.” This resolution passed unanimously out of committee, unanimously in the House of Deputies and unanimously in the House of Bishops. Change was a buzzword at this convention, but I do not know if people realize how painful change will be.

Our Church has become accustomed to preaching the Gospel of Conformity rather than the Gospel of Christ. If this task force does its job well, they will cause havoc. We still have members of this Church that grumble about women's ordination. Yesterday the dioceses that disagreed with the blessing of Same Sex Unions walked out of General Convention.  The way forward is unclear. There are as many different ideas about what we need as there are Episcopalians. Christ needs to be our guiding light, but I am afraid that many people have substituted a false idol without even realizing it. This false idol could be the United States, it could be the Episcopal Church, it could be Conformity, it could be Comfort, it could be the Democratic Party, it could be Money, it could be Change, it could be Sexuality, it could be Justice. We have a way of thinking that we understand what God is calling us into. If we do not remove these false idols the Church will continue down the path it is on. This path is not a path of life, it is path of death.

However, following the path the Christ is leading us into will feel like death, like we are destroying the Church we have always known, the Church that brought us to Jesus, the Church that created salvation. If we truly reimagine this Church we will be calling out these false idols. We will be truly awakening the Church to it's calling of being the body of Christ in this world.

This General Convention is challenging the Episcopal Church to become the resurrected Church. We are called into new life through Jesus Christ. That new life is individual, but it is also corporate. Corporately the Episcopal Church is at a breaking point. In order to become resurrected we must first die. This General Convention will kill the Episcopal Church but I am impatient and excited to see what the resurrected Episcopal Church will look like.

The Triangle of life: Faith, Actions and Love

Theology is not meant to stay in the realm of the theological. It is meant to impact your life and make us live like Christ. How do we do this? I am constantly torn between my desire to see all people being the people that Christ sees them as and the suffering that is going on in the here and now. The only hope I can find in this is that we are ultimately responsible and at the same time God is ultimately responsible. We are called to be God's hands and feet and body in the world. Yet we are a body of believers, not individual believers. If it were up to me (or any one person) to make sure the world was a good place, this world would be in bad shape indeed. Luckily, it is not up to me, it is up to the Holy Spirit, acting through people everywhere.

It is this tension that calls me into more service at all times. This tension of knowing that I am not responsible for everyone's well being, but I am responsible for what I can do. I felt this tension this afternoon as I walked away from the Convention Center. I was asked by many people for money for basic necessities. Inside this massive building we are discussing things like: Which comes first our welcome into God's family through baptism or our welcome into Christ's life through communion? Or how do we faithfully respond to the diversity in our Church? Or how do we reimagine the Church for the future? These are important questions. Yet for many outside of the Convention Center the questions are much more practical: How will I pay for my daughter's new shoes if I go see the doctor today? How will we have food to eat tonight? If I leave this abusive relationship will I ever see my children again? Where will I sleep tonight? These are the questions of the people in the streets. These questions, just like the questions about theology do not have an easy answer. I believe that we need to be the people that live in this tension.

We all bear the image of Christ, who came into the world to show us that true life is possible. However, when we begin to segment our lives into the “religious” side and the “real” side we begin to lose the vision that of Christ's light for the entire world. My faith matters. My action matters. It is through faith that all things are possible, (Mark 9:23) but this faith creates action. Faith without works is dead (James 2:13). Our actions and our faith are two sides of a triangle. The third is love. Love is what gives our faith and our actions life. No matter what we do, if we do not do it in love, it is useless. (1 Corinthians 13: 1-3). It is love for God the Creator, as experienced in the resurrected Christ and in the life giving Holy Spirit that drives us into being a people of the new covenant.

We love all well by living in this tension of a God who has already created a new vision for society but is giving us the opportunity to be a full partner in creating this new society. This society does not depend on me or you individually, it depends on us as the Body of Christ to follow the Holy Spirit who guides us into the just actions so that the answers to our theological questions generate responses to the practical questions asked by people both within the Church walls and outside of them.

The Triangle of life: Faith, Actions and Love

Theology is not meant to stay in the realm of the theological. It is meant to impact your life and make us live like Christ. How do we do this? I am constantly torn between my desire to see all people being the people that Christ sees them as and the suffering that is going on in the here and now. The only hope I can find in this is that we are ultimately responsible and at the same time God is ultimately responsible. We are called to be God's hands and feet and body in the world. Yet we are a body of believers, not individual believers. If it were up to me (or any one person) to make sure the world was a good place, this world would be in bad shape indeed. Luckily, it is not up to me, it is up to the Holy Spirit, acting through people everywhere.

It is this tension that calls me into more service at all times. This tension of knowing that I am not responsible for everyone's well being, but I am responsible for what I can do. I felt this tension this afternoon as I walked away from the Convention Center. I was asked by many people for money for basic necessities. Inside this massive building we are discussing things like: Which comes first our welcome into God's family through baptism or our welcome into Christ's life through communion? Or how do we faithfully respond to the diversity in our Church? Or how do we reimagine the Church for the future? These are important questions. Yet for many outside of the Convention Center the questions are much more practical: How will I pay for my daughter's new shoes if I go see the doctor today? How will we have food to eat tonight? If I leave this abusive relationship will I ever see my children again? Where will I sleep tonight? These are the questions of the people in the streets. These questions, just like the questions about theology do not have an easy answer. I believe that we need to be the people that live in this tension.

We all bear the image of Christ, who came into the world to show us that true life is possible. However, when we begin to segment our lives into the “religious” side and the “real” side we begin to lose the vision that of Christ's light for the entire world. My faith matters. My action matters. It is through faith that all things are possible, (Mark 9:23) but this faith creates action. Faith without works is dead (James 2:13). Our actions and our faith are two sides of a triangle. The third is love. Love is what gives our faith and our actions life. No matter what we do, if we do not do it in love, it is useless. (1 Corinthians 13: 1-3). It is love for God the Creator, as experienced in the resurrected Christ and in the life giving Holy Spirit that drives us into being a people of the new covenant.

We love all well by living in this tension of a God who has already created a new vision for society but is giving us the opportunity to be a full partner in creating this new society. This society does not depend on me or you individually, it depends on us as the Body of Christ to follow the Holy Spirit who guides us into the just actions so that the answers to our theological questions generate responses to the practical questions asked by people both within the Church walls and outside of them.

Transforming the Self, the Church and the World

Transformation is the church's business.  We are not called to fill every pew on Sunday mornings.  As soon as we begin to live to be the Church we are no longer living.  We are called to be alive with Jesus and bring Jesus' light to the nations.  One of the institutions that has done this thus far has been the Church.  However, God will find a way to bring God's light to the world if we fail or if we cannot.
I had a very enlightening discussion with a Bishop this morning.  We disagree on many issues, but it was amazing to see how much we agree on.  We are both convinced that the Church must change in order to continue being the Light of Christ.  We both understand that this change will be radical and painful for all, but that without this change our Church is not able to live into the life that the Holy Spirit is putting before us. 
He spoke of the assumption that people would come back to the Church when they have children.  Right now, there are not many young adults in the Church.  There are also trends showing the people in the US are waiting longer to have their first child.  If we expect people to leave the Church during the formative years of early 20's, college and post-college work we are losing the opportunity to inform the decisions that have life long ramifications for many.  Jesus did not only call those that were married and had children.  He did not only call those that were living the normative life.  Jesus called his disciples into a transformed life.  He called them into a new life.  If our plan for growing the Church is to wait for those who grew up in the Church but then left in their 20's to come back once they have children we have missed the point.  We are holding onto tradition at the expense of the Church. 
During our conversation this morning this Bishop explained that, as Episcopalians, we are very good at creating loving communities of believers.  We are very good at asking people of faith to grow and challenge themselves.  However, we are not very good at bringing people into the faith.  We have become so afraid of being exclusive that we have forgotten to tell people that there is more to our inclusivity than a social club.  The discussion of open table theology brought up the idea of open baptism theology.  We are so quick to share God's love through Christ that we often forget to share that Jesus also called us to die.  This death is necessary in order to have new life.  We cannot have one without the other.  God's love is magnificent and available to all, but then we must show that love in the world. We are calling people into something new and different.  We need to define what that is so that we can challenge people to follow this crazy carpenter that has been changing the world for thousands of years. 
The change that this Church needs is massive.  We are all aware of the necessity for change.  If we focus on living out our calling to follow Jesus we will be able to transform the lives of those around us and the world.  It will take time and it will be challenging.  I am renewed and enheartened to see that all of us, no matter where we stand on certain issues, are looking to be the nomadic people of God that live in tents, going wherever the Holy Spirit is leading us.  As we follow the Holy Spirit we will be transformed, the Church will be transformed and the world will be transformed into something we cannot imagine, but something that brings a small piece of the Community that God is building into reality.

Taking Jesus to the People

This morning I attended a hearing on D069 which I heard about last night through Twitter.  The testimony that was being given was on Twitter almost as instantly as it was said in the committee.  The Chair of the Committee responded to a Tweet from another member of the Committee during their discussion.  This subject of D069 was Social Media in the Churches. 
This afternoon I followed the proceedings in both houses via Livestreaming and Twitter.  I knew exactly which resolutions were being discussed and what the testimony was about.  I was sitting in my hotel room. 
It is still official policy that no one can Tweet from the House of Bishops.  Social Media is a tool that the Church needs to embrace.  In this morning's testimony a member of the official Youth Presence argued that since Jesus reached out to the People where they were, we too are called to reach out to people where they are.  They are on the Social Media. However, we cannot begin to be believe that any interaction on Twitter or Facebook or Four Square will replace any face to face interaction.  We can use this media to encourage and meet people where they are at so that we can invite them into deeper relationship with Jesus.
Just as the Church is expanding to embrace Social Media we are also expanding our definition of “all”.  At some points in Church history “all” meant all men or all those who were circumcised or those who happened to have fairer skin or the list goes on.  I am proud to be in a Church that is continuing the work to expand that “all” to as many members of the Queer community as want to be part of it. Two resolutions passed today that will grant Transgender people full equality within the Church.  We also approved A049, which will create a blessing for Same Sex Unions.
In his sermon tonight Bishop Gene Robinson reminded us that God is calling us to be people that live in tents.  He went on to say that in this Hebrew's passage Paul is talking about the fact that we are transient and we only dream of the foundation that God is creating for us.  Our calling is to be people that are constantly moving to the new inclusion and full love that God is calling us to. 
In including members of the Queer community in our Church and in moving onto the internet the Church is moving out of her comfort Zone.  We are becoming a Church that is taking Jesus to the people rather than expecting he people to come to us.