Kid Steals Car to Avoid Going to Church

Cindy the Legal Eagle

Cindy is our Office Assistant here at Boulevard. She is incredible at her job but she is even more awesome as a person. Having spent two years working with Cindy I am confident that her failure to strangle me for my Office nonsense and fooling around is a sure sign of her complete and total awesome-ness. Everyone here loves Cindy! But today was Cindy's last day.

Cindy is headed to Law School. She has sold her home, rented an Apartment and is moving. While I am certainly bummed at Cindy's departure I am excited for what will happen next in her life. Changes like those Cindy is undertaking are scary no matter how strong one's conviction and determination is to make them. I remember the first 3 hours on the road from California to Kentucky as I made my move to start Seminary. I was petrified but I was also certain that what I was doing was right. I got to believe that is or soon will be a common expereince between Cindy and I.

Cindy is going to be a killer lawyer - a true Legal Eagle. Cindy is going to crush law school. Cindy is going to be missed.

Good luck!

Personal Forgiveness Test Case

Disenchanted largely by the radio stations here in Columbus I tend to listen to Spots Talk Radio exclusively. My local ESPN Radio channel carries Mike & Mike in the Morning which is always on when I am taking my short drive to work. Today, like just about every other day for about a month, the conversation eventually gets around to Michael Vick, one time NFL All-Pro for the Atlanta Falcons but now social pariah due to a felony conviction for all things associated with Dog Fighting. I am generally tired of Vick stories except for the speculations on which NFL team will brave the public relations firestorm and sign the now 29 year old Quarterback. The reason for this is simple: my favorite team could use a QB and I am petrified that they will sign Michael Vick. 

Growing up in California during the heyday of the San Francisco 49ers, I am a loyal 49er Faithful. The team has fallen on hard times but I still have my DVD copies of their Super Bowl victories (all 5 of them) which I tend to pop in when I need a little encouragement. There is not one thing that is wrong with the 49ers but several. I like to think that they are one poised, decent Quarterback from making a run at the playoffs (others have agreed).  So it doesn't come to a surprise that when Michael Vick was released from federal custody recently his name began to surface as a potential "good fit" for the 49ers QB woes. I got to be honest...I am having a hard time with this. I am still angry at Michael Vick. I am petrified the 49ers will sign Vick.

As a life-long lover of animals & someone who grew up with the sweetest and loving dog imaginable who also happened to be a Pit Bull I find Vick's convicted acts despicable and inducing of a rage/hatred that burns bright. I wanted to see Vick ruined. I wanted to see him tossed in a jail for which there was no key. I cringed at every account, photo, description of the atrocities that were committed on property under the supervision of Vick. In fact even writing this makes me livid. To put it bluntly if I never heard of or saw Vick's face on TV or print again I would be thrilled. Obviously that didn't happen. Vick's public relations trial still dominates and now that his football career has seemingly been given a second chance maybe it is time I do the same.

Michael Vick as a person - remorseful or otherwise - is a total mystery to me. I don't know him and don't guess I will ever meet him. I, like most of America, know what I know about Vick from the gridiron or from the news. I have heard accounts of his acceptance of the punishment that was laid before him, his expressed regret for the things he has done, and his adamant rejection of the lifestyle that deemed Dog Fighting acceptable. To my knowledge Vick said these things & meant them when doing so. To my knowledge Vick is a changed man. To my knowledge Vick wants to start over and given the chance to live again. For some this is not good enough - his pound of flesh coming up light - but I am convicted to recognize that if I do not forgive Vick, if I do not grant him another chance, then I am not deserving of having my own appeals heard. If I don't forgive Vick then what chance do I have of being forgiven? If I am not willing to crawl into bed with my own hypocrisy then I must admit if Vick truly is remorseful and he is asking the nation to forgive him then how can I withhold my own forgiveness? I am still angry at the mistreatment of animals in this world but as for Vick, should the 49ers sign him, I am done hating the man. 

Sermon: I Set My Friends on Fire

The following sermon is based on Luke's account of Christ's rejection in his hometown of Nazareth. This passage comes to us from Luke 4:14-30

On July 9 I took a day off and drove up to Cleveland to celebrate my Dad’s birthday while he was on a tour stop. Some of you already know this but my Dad is akin to a Director of Logistics for Ernie Ball’s traveling stage and displays at the Vans Warped Tour, a traveling punk rock music festival. I am not a big punk music fan but the opportunity to go backstage and feel important was too hard to pass up. So Dad and his all-access pass took me around and we saw everything there was to see. Really it was a lot of fun. As we were heading back to the tour buses we passed by the bands promotional tent where they sold their t-shirts and other stuff. As we walked I never suspected that amongst all the acts with their tight black jeans and faded $50 t-shirts I would have harvested out of it a sermon insight. I Set My Friends On Fire was the name of one of the bands that traveled with the Warped Tour and I instantly thought of Jesus & this passage. But being a pastor, to be fair, I am thinking about Jesus a lot so I guess it isn’t too rare.

I Set My Friends On Fire, for me is the perfect description to what is happening here in Luke 4. The scriptures do not say if the place where Christ read the Isaiah passage was the synagogue where he & his family attended but what we do know is that when Christ is done reading people click into that “local boy done good” mindset. They are thinking wasn’t that nice? He is so gracious and kind. His teaching is wonderful. This is the point in the story that Hollywood would pan over to very proud parents and grandparents that are beaming with pride silently confirming what the synagogue is asking: is this really Joseph’s son? Yet all this pride and beaming seems to convey that the folks gathered there didn’t make the connection that when Christ read the passage pronouncing the Spirit of the living God falling upon him he was literally talking about himself. From the outsider observer prospective I am really not all that surprised. Captivated by one of their own and his ability to command the attention of the room pretty soon the what he was saying gets overshadowed by who it is that is saying it – “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”

For those gathered there that day & even for some who gather in churches all over this world this day the nature of Jesus’ ministry is often misunderstood. Jesus begins his ministry, as Luke tells us, with a prophetic pronouncement that blows your socks off. The Spirit of the Living God falls upon this person of Jesus and it isn’t to be an amazing & gracious teacher, being the home-grown talent that knows what is fair game and what sacred cows to avoid. Rather Jesus’ ministry is to proclaim freedom to captive, sight to the blind, in other words Jesus is here to turn the world upside down, tell people something that they need to rather than want to hear, and Jesus is going to start right here by setting these friends on fire & maybe some of us as well.

Of the three statements that Jesus makes fairly rapid-fire after the events associated with the reading the only one that seems to have really any substantive baring on what is about to go down is the remark about being a prophet in your hometown – something Jesus is living out in real time before us. Being a prophet as we said just before is all about being prophetic, speaking the truth when folks don’t want to hear it and it would appear Jesus found that truth for these Nazarenes. The prophetic truth that was so hard to swallow, so revolutionary to the folks that Jesus spoke to that day is in many ways the same reality that we have a hard time swallowing today as well. God, from the very beginning wasn’t a tribal God who cared for the Israelites, who cares for us and us alone. The reality is that the truth that Jesus offered that day – the long history of God caring for the Other – was not aimed with the hope of acceptance. Rather Jesus wanted to get chased out of town, his hometown. I got to be honest with you. I really think that Jesus is in the business of making people mad. I really think that Jesus is in the business of setting folks like you and me on fire. Making us burn hot and long fueled by the vast resources of preconceived notions of what things should be like, what people should act like, what should and shouldn’t be said in public, who shouldn’t be allowed to do this or that, and who God gives two rips about and who God should just so ahead and forget. Jesus wants those stereotypes, those hypocrisies to burn… and burn in such a way that in our anger and notions eventually burn so bright that they shine a light on all the baggage that still needs to be thrown on the pile.

These words of Christ are easily preached to individuals. What baggage do you have that needs to be set on fire? That is an easy question to ask. But when we turn this question to the church – this church and the larger church – the church that is as much of a part of me as I am a part of it, the question becomes harder to ask. What friends of this church need to be set on fire? What “friends” – the things that we have become so comfortable with, so buddy-buddy with that they are treated like friends. Which of them need to be engulfed in flames, and burn so bright that we the church can have our pathway lit as we seek to follow Christ? Maybe it is our friendship with colorless dreams of the future? Perhaps it is our friendship with the tried and true, the already tested? Maybe our friendship with low expectations of God? Which of our friends needs to be set on fire? Which of your friends need to be set on fire? What needs to burn so we can see the path of Christ?

Dearly Beloved...

Fight Ignorance - Women and Faith

It is my blog so I can do what I want...so this week I want to put the blog post about Economic Disparity on the back burner and spend my Fight Ignorance weekly post about Women & Faith. Today (thanks to some friends) I stumbled upon a wonderful article by former President Jimmy Carter entitled Losing My Religion for Equality in which Carter spends some time reflecting on his decision to leave the Southern Baptist Convention due to their stance that women must be "subservient" to their husbands. I would like to defer to Carter's words as we engage this important issue. Therefore I would like to substitute this article for my own words this week. Please take the time to read this not long article by one of America's great humanitarians.

Losing My Religion for Equality
July 15, 2009 - President Jimmy Carter

The Ball has been dropped

I had all these ambitious plans to write VBS updates as well as my standard posts but as you can see that didn't happen. Sorry about that...my bad.

I will be catching up with work today and tomorrow so you can expect the ol' blog to reflect my Coffee-fueled productivity.

In the mean time here are some bullets...

• VBS had 46 kids and it was awesome. Thanks to all the hard workers
• The Boulevard Kickball team is just about full and games begin Aug 9
• I am preaching this week on Luke 4:14-30 which is the well know "you can't be a prophet in your home town" description of Jesus preaching in his old neighborhood
• Men's Prayer Breakfast is Wednesday @ 7:00...if you are looking for me Wednesday AM, I will be here @ 5:30 AM.

Some teasers to be sure. Hope all is well and I will be back on track tomorrow.

Monkey Underwear and The MLB All-Star Game

Yesterday was the Major League Baseball All-Star game. As many of you know I am a huge baseball fan and so any opportunity where all the best (OK, maybe not all the best) Major Leaguers get together for a night of pseudo-meaningless exhibition flanked by some of the best players EVER in attendance you can be sure I am going to watch. The festivities included Barak Obama throwing out the 1st pitch wearing a Chicago White Sox's (his favorite team) jacket which breaks the streak of baseball impartiality by our Commanders-In-Chief, poorly sung national songs, and one of my favorite baseball past-times: speculation.

Speculation is welcome at every sporting event and certainly it is in spades at All-Star games. What better place to gaze into the baseball crystal ball and figure out who will win the batting title, or the Cy Young, or who might have all the right stuff to make it to Cooperstown - the Baseball Hall of Fame. Everyone who engages in such an undertaking has their own personal criteria as to why Albert Pujols is a lock for the Hall and why someone like Vladmir Guerrero might not be. When you hear announcers talk about players they tend to talk about stats and perhaps the kind of people they are. When retired players and especially Hall of Famers talk about potential Hall-mates they tend to talk about approach of the game, and their commitment to playing the game right. When fans engage in the same speculation they tend to talk about accomplishments like making the All-Star game, Batting Titles, and game wining performances. Which one is the most valid? Which proof carries with it the most weight, the most predictive power?

The above comic helps me see that the life of faith is a lot like the speculation that takes place at the All-Star game. We tend to engage in speculation about the will of God, the state of the world, and other mysteries & paradoxes of faith with support based off of our own criteria. Perhaps you draw from experience, perhaps it is from Scripture, perhaps tradition, maybe it comes from the monkeys on your underwear but where ever it does come from it is compelling enough to become a foundation of your faith. Now, some religious folks may be interested in telling you that your criteria is wrong and then not-so-subtly tell you the "right" (aka. their) criteria for Truth. I am going to avoid that. What I will say is that no matter if it is the Monkeys or Scripture we should all strive for a faith rooted in experiences of the Divine - no matter where they are to be found. By opening ourselves up to encounters with Truth we can be challenged and shaped in a way that is not possible when our speculative criteria is too rigid. Let all of us remain open and flexible to what God will show us throughout our lifetimes!

Lots to talk about...VBS Begins

Since I last blogged tons of stuff has taken place that I will eventually get to but I wanted to start off this week by saying that today at 5:30pm Boulevard's Vacation Bible School will kick off. Camp E.D.G.E is an outdoor, extreme sports themed VBS that seeks to show that God can be found everywhere. There have been seemingly hundreds of hours of planning, decorating, cooking, & organization put into this project. While it seems like a mountain of work it will all be worth it when 41 children show up for the fun today at 5:30pm.

Stay tuned here for updates about VBS as well as some other planned blogs for the week. Including...

• Part 3 of Fight Ignorance: Economic Disparity
• My day backstage at the Vans Warped Tour '09 Cleveland
• The Major League Baseball All-Star Break

Fight Ignorance - Jesus, The Bible and Homosexuality

In the second installment of my Summer Series, Fight Ignorance, I wanted to spend a little time discussing a few resources that, like MuslimVoices.org, will help create dialog and combat stereotypes and misinformation. This week I would like to address faith in the Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgender community (aka. GLBT)

Many of you already know where I stand on this issue. I believe that God's Love supersedes anything else on heaven or earth. Therefore for anyone to systematically bar God's children from seeking after a relationship with their Creator and amongst a faith community is the epitome of a certain hubris that believes there are levels of humanity and some folks outrank others in the eyes of God. I, myself, am not qualified nor equipped to look at the world and divide and judge. I believe that we all are called to something more human - that is to see each of us as equally human and work to resign ourselves to leave God's work to God. But there are many folks who would disagree with me siting the Bible or other theologies that claim something very different than what I just said.

This rub - both sides claiming God, Scripture, and the Church as the source of their argument - can be painful and difficult for many who wrestle with this issue themselves. In the hopes that dialog can be created and misinformation can be dispelled I wanted to bring up two resources that I believe can help someone who wants to explore this issue faithfully.

The first is a book by former PCUSA Moderator (a big deal in PCUSA circles) Jack Rogers entitled Jesus, the Bible and Homosexuality: Explode the Myths, Heal the Church. In this recently revised publication Rodgers clearly spells out what it is that the Bible does and does not say regarding Homosexuality and addresses issues that arise when we seek to live by the Word of God rather than what we have been told it says. Included in the updated edition of Rogers book is a study guide and a collection of stories from the GLBT community that helps put a real world, here and now face to the issues Rogers brings up. If you cannot manage to get your hands on a copy of the book I recommend Rogers' blog and website.

The second resource is a small book put out by the Covenant Network of Presbyterians entitled Far From Home: Tales of Presbyterian Exiles. This short booklet shares a series of profiles of PCUSA individuals that have been shunned or have been kicked out of their faith communities because they are GLBT. The pain comes out clearly in the stories of individuals that desire to both serve the God they love and the church but have been told no. This resource may be hard to find but if you would like to borrow my copy please let me know.

I hope that you will take the opportunity to investigate this issue that is currently center stage for many Christians and denominations. It is my hope that no matter where you come down on this issue that you do so through dialog and from a position of inquiry. It is important for all of us to fight ignorance and stereotypes so that we might seek true community with our brothers and sisters.

Next week we will take a look at Fight Ignorance: Economic Disparity

Random Thoughts for a Monday

Regular readers know that I tend to stick with the observational/spiritual/relational format for the majority of my posts. I hope that you have not grown tired of those because that is pretty much the way that I think and look at the world. But today I am not feeling anything especially reflective so I thought that I would break ranks and provide a couple random thoughts for this Monday morning.

• I reorganized my office last week. When I just dumped books in here it looked like I was hurting for space. When I organized them I realized that I had an entire shelf free. I guess it pays to organize especially when it feels like the world is closing in around you. It is amazing how much space can be found when you work to find it.
• Our VBS registration has grown to close to 40 kids! This is causing a fantastic problem...we are running out of materials. If I have to go out and buy more supplies so that our VBS can accommodate more kids then it is going to be the happiest money I have ever spent.
• Many of you know Annie Craven. She has been a staple of Boulevard for sometime now and last year joined the Deacons. Annie, who now works as an Flight Attendant for Republic Airlines (flying regional destinations for major carriers like US Airways, Delta, etc.) told me that besides loving her job she gets great opportunities to meet interesting people. Among them is a 91 year old guy named Floyd. As it turns out Floyd served in World War II and during the drink service he showed Annie a photo of his unit. Sitting right there besides Floyd was Johnny Carson. In the picture, not the plane.
  

Well that is all I got. Enjoy the start of your week and tune in later in the week for my Fight Ignorance series.

Pastoral Roundtable Begins this Sunday

For those of you interested in dialoging about the themes and ideas that have been coming up in the Summer Sermon Series: "All God's Children" now is your chance. Beginning this Sunday, James (or myself when I am preaching) will be participating in a Pastor Round table discussion where we will be addressing the themes and ideas of the summer in a conversational/Q&A kind of way.

This meeting will take place in the Lounge post-worship and will allow individuals to grab a cup of coffee and join in.

If you are interested in learning more show up Sunday and participate.

Peace,
Brett

Oppostites Attract

My wife is from West Virginia & I am from California. My wife likes 2 story homes & I like ranches. My wife is an introvert & I am an extrovert. My wife is a Vegetarian & I am not.
I could go on and on...but I won't.

Truth is the things that make us different are in many ways the things that keep us grounded in being whole individuals and not some sort of mash-up couple that likes all the same things, listens to the same music, and dresses alike. When I do premarital counseling this is always something I make sure to mention. When two people fall in love they (hopefully) do so because they have grown to love that individual person who will become their wife/husband. What a disservice it would be for Mary to start loosing Tim's Tim-"ness" and visa-versa yet this is exactly what happens in many strong relationships. In order for healthy relationships to form individuality must be celebrated and respected.

This maxim of respected difference and individuality has significantly farther reaching application that just marriage. Respecting difference and individuality is at the cornerstone of how relationships and community are formed and maintained. At churches all across this nation and beyond, community often looks a whole lot like a dozen eggs - all the same - and homogeneity means very few awkward moments when differences comes to light. Yet we can be homogeneous in spirit and diverse in a myriad of other ways if we can do the hard work of welcoming diversity of many kinds (economic, theological, etc.) with respect, celebration, and reverence for the individuality that they bring to the community.

Now comes the Million Dollar question...How do we do this?