Take notice

I recently celebrated a birthday and while I appreciated all the birthday wishes on my Facebook wall, the correspondence that meant the most to me was a 4-page handwritten letter from my grandmother (who also sweetly included a $10 bill). We named our daughter after my grandmother, who is one of my spiritual heroes. One of the qualities I most admire about her is her ability to notice and cherish things. Here's a paragraph from that letter: "Grandpa enjoys watching the squirrels here. There are 3 gray ones & one black one. (Uncle) John brought him in some corn & they really like that. It's fun to watch them, play & eat." Those sentences may not seem like much to you, but I Iove those words because they describe the way my grandparents notice things like squirrels and then quietly observe and (I have no doubt) give thanks for them. There are so many things I miss in my life as my eyes stay glued to my iPhone. Meanwhile, the sacredness with which God has imbued this world keeps popping out. May God give all of us the awareness to notice. "The act of noticing helps you realize that your life is already suffused with the presence of God." -- James Martin in "The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything

Parsing Punctuation

My article for our e-newsletter this week:
Some people prefer periods. I don't have a problem with periods. When it comes to a person's faith life, periods are great. They make a statement, like, God loves you. Period. Jesus is God-in-the-flesh. Period. Some people, however, use periods exclusively. Everything they say about God ends in a period and there's no ifs, ands, or buts about it.

Other people prefer question marks. I like question marks, too. They provoke conversation and can engender closer relationships. A couple of great questions from the Bible: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Who do people say that I am?

There's room for both in our faith (and I'd also throw in the exclamation point as in "We have seen the Lord!" after the resurrection of Jesus). It's a good thing when we can make definitive statements about our faith. It's also a good thing (and very Scriptural) to ask questions, too. We'll be doing a lot of questioning during this upcoming sermon series, but those questions are also backed up by periods. We believe that God wants a deeper relationship with all of us. Questions are a great way to get there. Period. Or, if the mood strikes you, exclamation point.

Chicago Experience of the Day
We have our staff meetings at the Chicago Cultural Center in the big room that acts as a meeting place for lots of different folks. During one meeting we had yesterday, as dozens of people were huddled over computers and coffee cups, these two young women were rehearsing the Alleluia Chorus complete with hand and arm motions, like a combination of a concert and swing choir.

Praying over Christmas cards

We kicked off what has become a really nice holiday tradition last night. We got this idea from a former parishioner of mine whose family saved all their Christmas cards and then prayed for a person/family every day after Christmas until they ran out of cards.

It's nice for many reasons, including, of course, that it's always a good thing to pray for people and it gives our kids a sense of what petitionary/intercessory prayer is and isn't. In the midst of receiving these cards, of course, I rarely take the time to really sit down with the cards and this gives me a chance to read through them and give thanks for a wide array of people and organizations...including those we barely know!

The best sense of the word

For quite some time now, I've talked about Urban Village being a church that's "evangelical in the best sense of the word." In my own head, I've known what that meant (kind of), but I haven't been called on it until yesterday. I'm surprised it's taken that long.

I wasn't really called on it, but was nicely asked about it. On the first Sunday of the month, we offer "Urban Village 101" (formerly Coffee with the Pastors) after worship that's basically a summary of what we want to be about, how we started, what our mission is, etc. as well as answering any questions that people have.

Sample questions/concerns from yesterday: You say you're inclusive, but what does that really mean? Just how tied are you to the United Methodist Church? I can't get over the violent God in the Bible...what's up with that? And, of course, what do you mean when you say you're evangelical in the best sense of the word? No softballs in that group.

Evangelical, of course, has lots of many meanings in our society today and I'm guessing many people equate it with a particular political stance on particular issues (e.g. abortion, homosexuality). Some also use it to denote a particular theological stance. For example, George Barna, who's an evangelical pollster and researcher, defines an evangelical as one who meets these criteria:

1. Makes a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in their life today; and believes that after they die they will go to Heaven because they have confessed their sins and have accepted Jesus Christ as their savior.

2. Believes that God is the all-powerful, all-knowing, perfect creator of the universe who rules the world today.

3. Strongly agrees that their religious faith is very important in their life.

4. Strongly agrees that the Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches.

5. Strongly disagrees that when He lived on earth, Jesus Christ was human and committed sins, like other people.

6. Strongly agrees that they, personally, have a responsibility to tell other people their religious beliefs.

7. Strongly disagrees that if a person is generally good, or does enough good things for others during their life, they will earn a place in Heaven.

8. Strongly disagrees that the devil, or Satan, is not a living being but is a symbol of evil.

The root of evangelical, though, is the Greek word, evangelion, which means gospel or good news. That's it. Good news. What that good news, of course, is open to interpretation. For me (in short), it means changed hearts and changed lives so we can change the world. For others, it has to do with many other issues. When I say, then, that we're evangelical in the best sense of the word, I should probably say that we're evangelical in the root sense of the word. We're bearers of good news and that's going to be different for different people. It's good news that God loves them. It's good news that forgiveness and grace are readily available to all. It's good news that when we look at the life of Jesus, we see the ushering in of the kingdom of God, which means that the doors are wide open, particularly to those who were on the outskirts of society. Others certainly will have a different take on what that good news is. But I don't think anyone can have the final say on what that good news is. The book of Mark opens his gospel by saying "The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God..." There's a lot that follows, of course. That Jesus is the Son of God, that's a good place to start.