The Waiting Game

The Waiting Game!
“And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” Acts 1:4-5

This evening the thoughts that keep going through my mind are many but they all have one theme in common – Wait, wait, and wait some more! For many months now we have been waiting for spring, (I think it might almost be here.) My youngest daughter and son-in-law are working toward and waiting for the opportunity to adopt their first child. My son and daughter-in-law are waiting for the birth of their 8th child. My oldest grandson is waiting for my visit later this summer. And I, I am waiting for a pastoral call.
In a society that thrives on “instant” gratification, waiting seems almost unbearable. We no longer wait weeks for answers to our correspondence with the advent of e-mail. In fact, if we write a note to someone using e-mail and do not receive a message back with in six hours, we tend to feel snubbed. I have to ask myself in the light of the society that I function in the question, “What is the value in waiting?”
Try to imagine what ones life would be like if there was no such thing as “waiting.” From the time you were born till the day you pass beyond this life, all the experiences that you would have, would be continuous, with no breaks, no time for reflection upon the experience – its merits, its lessons, its joys or its pains. How would you know the value of what you have lived? For it is in waiting that we do the tasks of examining, the tasks of setting value and judgment on an experience; of experiencing the anticipation that comes with waiting. For much of the value we put on an event or experience comes from the anticipation.
I think about a couple who become engaged to be married. There is usually a period of waiting, of making preparations for the wedding. One experiences the planning of the wedding, the picking out the invitations, of choosing the colors of the wedding, finding the right wedding dress, sometimes writing your own vows, but certainly thinking about the seriousness of the commitment that is going to be made to your beloved. Then comes the day of the wedding. The event, the words spoken, the commitment pledged holds it power, its worth, it’s meaning by all of the preparation that preceded it.
So it is when Jesus was telling his disciples to wait in Jerusalem for what God had in store for them. For it would be by the power and nurture of the Holy Spirit that would give the Disciples understanding and vision of their 3 years with their teacher and savior, Jesus. During this time of waiting for a call as pastor, I have to remind myself that it is in God’s timing the things that are to be will be. Joyce Landorff, an author of the 70’s and early 80’s once address waiting as the time when God takes the raw ore and refines it to the precious medal that it is. We all are precious metals; some of us just need more refining than others it seems. Susan Boyle is my patron saint this week. As she has waited for decades, caring for her parents before she was able to present herself on British television and start living her dream of being a professional singer. We of the world are now blessed with a most beautiful voice. A voice that has been molded over the years with her waiting for “her” time.
“….but to wait for the Promise of God…” this is the true battle cry for a world that is in such a hurry to get on with it, to get things done, to have the experience. Wait, for it is in waiting that we find the depth of what we are looking to experience. Amen

Several views of Cratar Lake.

Lent 2009 thought

Reflection on Psalm 137
For Lent 2009
“By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. There on the poplars we hung our harps, for there our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land?”

This Psalm was popularized in the musical “Godspell” in the early 1970’s and has been a focus in my minds eye this season of Lent. Why? Is it because “Godspell” is the focus on my personal devotions this Lenten season, or is there something deeper going on within my mind and heart? Possibly I might discover what it is as I place my thoughts into sentences.
When reading is Psalm, the obvious thought that comes to mind is the idea of being in a foreign land, where there is hostility and sarcasm being heaped onto those who have been taken captive by a more powerful people. This is a song about the Israelites while in captivity. Very similar to those who were captured, brought from their homelands and sold into slavery to a white population in America. Men and women and children sold into slavery, traded like stocks and bonds on the open market, to be laborers in an agricultural society that could only flourish on the sweat and pain of its victims – those oppressed.
True, my ancestor who found his way to the shores of America did so as an indentured servant. But he contracted himself to be in this position as a means to pay for his passage to the New World. He was a willing slave, but there was a time limit and after the fulfillment of his contract, he was once again a free man and as a white European male was able to enjoy all the empowerment that was given to those who held control in that new democracy.
So how can I, as a white male of European descent, having all of the privilege that comes by being male, white, educated and middle class relate to this Psalm? Even my religious faith as a Christian is the standard in my environment. Possibly if I were living in an area of the United States where political and religious norms were more conservative and where a person who is not 100% hetro-sexual might possibly feel some social ostracism; I might be able to relate a little to what the Psalmist was expressing. But I live in Seattle, WA and am surrounded with social norms that coincide with who I am as a person, in general.
How then, during this season of self-reflection can I connect with these words; these feeling of despair and alienation that come from the writer of this Psalm? I will have to leave the physical dimension of these peoples experience and look to the metaphorical expression to be able to find a relationship to these words.
For me, heaven translate into the “kingdom of God.” Christ says, the kingdom of God is within us. So where does the separation come into play? This again must become an individual definition and I believe it can change at varying points in ones life.
I have felt my relationship with God wax and wane at various times in my journey, we call life. One experience of separation from God came while I was pastor in Kittitas, WA. I had gone threw my divorce, so there was the remorse from loosing my family on the one hand and the other piece to this situation was the struggle I was having around my sexual orientation (which was the reason for the divorce).
I would lie in bed night after night praying my heart out to God, yet I felt my prayers and petitions were going no further than the ceiling. This feeling of separation from God went on for three months or so. Intellectually, I knew God was there with me, hearing me and guiding me; yet emotionally I was alone – in a foreign land, being asked by my congregation to “sing the songs of Zion” , so to speak, through preaching and teaching and counseling.
There ate times that we all feel lose and as we journey through that lose, we recognize that we are in a foreign land. Apart of the sadness comes as we long to go back to what is familiar. Back to a land that we understand and call home. As a Christian, I think of the separation of my spirit from God. My spirit is housed in a physical structure – my body. This body functions in this physical world – a differing finite dimension that does not easily recognize the dimensions that God dwells in. God dwells in this dimension as well; it is my spirit and five senses that have the limitation – thus bringing on that feeling of living in a foreign land.
But through Christ’s teachings, I am reminded that I am not in a foreign land, for God’s Kingdom is here among us; within each of us. So for me, my feeling of isolation – of living in a foreign land is generally a result of my shutting down my senses that connect me with God. It comes from dwelling on the past and wanting to hold on to something or go back to something that no longer exists as my minds eye remembers it.
I suspect this is the basis for the saying, “you can never go back home.” We can never go back or re-create “what was” for life is a forward journey. This entails lose of “What was” and in that lose, a sense of separation. As we journey, it is through Christ and his understanding of relationship with Zion that we are always with God. Life’s journey demands that we experience life in a foreign land (unfamiliar experiences). But with the knowledge that god walks with us and isn’t contained to one location – we do not have to feel we are wandering alone – separated from the love, shelter, protection, guidance and relationship of the on God; our loving Creator parent.

4th Sunday of Lent, 2009

“Believe Into” Jesus!
Fourth Sunday of Lent, St Paul’s UCC, Seattle
John 3:13-21; Numbers 21:4-9; Eph 2:1-10
By Rev Steven R. Mitchell


Today is the Fourth Sunday of Lent. That period of time that we in the church take time out, 40 days specifically (those are 40 business days), for contemplation about our relationship to God, Christ, our planet and of one another. Each congregation approaches this time differently, as do we as individuals. As a church we journey through this time with varying activities and observances. We started off with a joint service of Ash Wednesday with Luther Memorial Lutheran Church and our sister church Broadview Community UCC. On Friday evenings there is a small group who gather and attending the film series that is called, “Voices Not Heard”. This past Friday was dealing with the human rights issue of same sex marriage; last week it was discussing misunderstandings between Faith communities, specifically between the Christian/Muslim/ and Hebrew faith communities. The first week was examining self-images of women who are Native American/ Black/Latino/Asian/European Jew/European Christian in our society as well as those who come from bi-racial backgrounds. Next we are going to be confronted with the issue of Transgender and gender re-assignment with the film called, Call Me Malcolm. I can guarantee you that this is pressing the envelope for some people at St. Paul’s. Then we will finish on Good Friday with the film, 10 Questions I would like to ask the Dahlia Llama. As a church we will also celebrate Lent with a combined service that is traditionally called Maundy Thursday Service, at Broadview UCC, again with Luther Memorial Church joining us. Palm Sunday is the final observance that we as a church will observe before celebrating Easter Sunday, the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ!
Some of us take on a personal challenge of contemplation during Lent. I heard this last week in choir where one person was giving up chocolate during Lent. Another person was going through a specific personal devotional time on a daily basis. I have chosen for my devotional time this Lent to listen to the 1970’s musical, Godspell, on a daily basis and reflect upon the message in the music. I was also going to write out those reflections and post them on my blog, but that piece I haven’t accomplished. The purpose for Lent is to press the envelope of our relationship with Jesus and with our God parent. Issues of how involved or even aware of social justice issues I am should be addressed; where am I at in my relationship to God, should be addressed; do I recognize God’s partnership in the daily drudgery of my life?
Today’s lectionary readings from the Hebrew scriptures, the Psalms, the Epistles and the Gospels are so rich in their pressing the envelope that every one of us should find something in one of these readings that make us feel a little discomfort. My skin starts to crawl when I think about snakes. My sensibility is ruffled when I read about a God that brings on poisonous snakes as a means of punishment to those who were complaining; it seems a bit extreme to me as a way of dealing with the situation. Then there is the phrase in John, 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” What about that person who is morally good and have never harmed anyone, but has never spoken those magic words, “I believe in Jesus Christ as my personal savior.” Are they doomed to eternal damnation?
So let’s take a journey through each of the readings and see what we might glean from these stories. Ronald Allen in his book Lord of Song explains the story of the snakes in the desert this way: “One of the last rebellious acts the people of the wilderness community committed against Yahweh and his servant Moses was on their way to Edom. As had happened so often in the past, the people became discouraged with their harsh life in the desert and as before, they complained that Moses should have left them in Egypt to die rather than to die in the unbearable wilderness. Food and water were scarce and the people hated the detestable bread.
Worthless bread? It was manna from heaven the people were complaining about. Manna, the daily miracle of God’s provision. Manna, the mark of God’s grace. Manna, gift of God’s love. But the people, in an all-too-human way, had turned on God’s gift because of its very regularity….. In their contempt for manna they showed contempt for Yahweh. In spurning his gift of food, they spurned his daily grace.
God caused them great grief by bringing into their midst venomous snakes which cased a terrible plague amount the people. Then, in an abrupt and surprising manner, God had Moses make a bronze image of one of those detestable snakes and held it high on a pole. Whoever would look at that snake image on the pole would be spared from painful death by the snake venom. They had contemned God’s gift; he made an object of contempt the only means for their life.”
A question this 4th Sunday of Lent: What gifts from God, have you become tired of and complain and no longer appreciate? What snakes are in your life? What would God tell you to hang up on a pole to look at as a reminder of the love God wants to share with you?
Let’s move onto the Gospel reading. John 3:16 has become one of the most misunderstood and inappropriately used passages of scripture since it was penned. It has been used by the church as a means to beat people up, to exclude and divide humanity and to lord power over one another. This abusiveness comes in verse 18, “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”
In the translation called The Message, we hear a slightly differing verbiage, “This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. ….Anyone that trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.”
This portion of scripture is the latter part of the story of Nicodemus, a Pharisee and prominent leader among the Jews, coming under the cover of night to visit with Jesus trying to discern who Jesus was. Nicodemus states, “Rabbi, we all know you’re a teacher straight from God. No one could do all the God-pointing, God-revealing acts you do if God weren’t in on it.” Jesus said, “You’re absolutely right. Take it from me: Unless a person is born from above, it’s not possible to see what I’m pointing to – to God’s Kingdom.” How can anyone,” said Nicodemus, “be born who has already been born and grown up? You can’t re-enter your mothers womb and be born again. What are you saying with this ‘born-from-above’ talk?” Jesus said, “You’re not listening. Let me say it again. Unless a person submits to this original creation – the ‘wind-hovering-over-the-water’ creation, the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life- it’s not possible to enter God’s kingdom. When you look at a baby, it’s just that: a body you can look at and touch. But the person who takes shape within is formed by something you can’t see and touch-the Spirit-and becomes a living spirit.”
Too often we pass over the corner stone of John 3:16 and this is where the misunderstanding has come and why the ability to abuse somebody with this concept has come about. “No one has ever gone up into the presence of God except the One who came down from that Presence, the Son of Man.” In the Hebrew scriptures Ezekiel used the phrase, son of man, 90 times, referring in every case where God is speaking to his prophet as the human agent for the divine message. In the book of Daniel, the idea of the son of man takes on the understanding of a Messianic title. Meaning “He ho is the victor over the “evil” one at the end of time. Quoting from Ronald Allen, “The term also suggests the mystery of the Incarnation. From our perspective, the amazing thing about Jesus of Nazareth is that he, a man, was truly God. Perhaps we may say that from the perspective of deity, the amazing thing was the he, truly God, was now truly man.” Pg 28-29.
Jesus continued saying to Nicodemus, “In the same way that Moses lifted the serpent in the desert so people could have something to see and then believe, it is necessary for the Son of Man to be lifted up-and everyone who looks up to him, trusting and expectant, will gain a real life, eternal life.”
The message that Jesus is trying to tell us, is that our salvation, if you will, comes from the Spiritual connection we have with God. We can only recognize God because God’s spirit has descended into us. That is the One who came down from God’s presence. The message the church should be giving to the world is not “believe in “Jesus, but rather “believe into” Jesus. For too long, fairly or not, John 3:16 has been associated with escapism, with fire insurance (believe X and get your “get out of hell free” card.) Methodist study guide for 4th Sunday Lent
Thus John 3:16 is not referring primarily to believing things about the life, execution, and resurrection of Jesus, but rather by following in Jesus’ way. Eternal life is thus not a “thing” we get when we give assent to the right theology, but rather the reality in which we live as we follow the one who is Way, Truth and Life.
I would like to close with some thoughts from the letter to the Ephesians: “Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.”
Let the words from the Song Day by Day, which is from Godspell and was number 13 on the music charts in 1973, be the challenge for your 4th Sunday of Lent. “Day by day, Day by day, Oh Dear Lord three things I pray. To see thee more clearly; Love thee more dearly; Follow thee more nearly. Day by day!

Reflections on Lose of loved one!

I shared these thoughts today with a dear friend in New Orleans as a response to feeling guilty about her fiance' moving from Seattle to New Orleans and within weeks was gunned down in front of their home. I hope that this thought will be of encouragement to anyone who reads it.
"I have been thinking about your last e-mail and your expressing guilt about Howard's decision to move to New Orlean's. I know in your head you realize that Howard's death is not a result of something that you did or didn't do. Yet I am sure in your heart you feel differently. I have had thoughts that if I had acted differently toward Howard that possibly he wouldn't have moved down to New Orleans, yet the simple truth is, Howard's death was caused by people who didn't know him and who had evil in their hearts. Unfortunately Howard was a by standar as they were acting out the evil in their hearts. And their evil has left many hearts broken and very saddenned. I pray Vernella the those people's evil hearts will not steal the joy and love and expectations that you were felling with Howard. That would be a terrible crime indeed.
I am not sure there is ever really anything that can be said to comfort ones heart when we loose someone that is very dear to us, be it through illness or sudden death (car accidents or murder) or even thru old age. Our hearts still ache over their leaving us. The Apostle Paul once wrote, "Where is thy victory oh death, where is thy stinge, for in Christ there is no death but life." (loose translation) As survivors of those who have gone on before us, if we do not live the life that we still have with love and energy and excitement and investiment in those around us and those we will meet, then "death" has victory.
I think this is the greatest meaning of the story of Christ's resurrection, that there is life beyond the last moment we have experienced. There is hope, there is future with each breath that we continue to take. I believe that those who have passed before us, help give us the energy and courage we need to move ahead each day and this is done through those memories that we carry with us, about who they were and the experiences that we had with them. So our future is continually being build upon and bolstered by the past in a very active way!"

Hi everybody! This is my very first attempt at Blogging. I know this is what everbody says their very first time, but it is true. The goal for this site is to enhance my skills on communicationg with those out in cyber-space; create new relationships and share things that are going on in my life as well as a new venue to share semons and thoughts that I either write and present or just write. I hope that you will enjoy checking in from time to time to see how things are progressing with me and this site.

Grace and peace,

Rev Steve