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Tokens of Trust @ Chapelwood! I'm facilitating an Introduction to Christianity using Tokens of Trust as the resource! The summer group will meet at Chapelwood on Wednesdays, August 12, 19, 26, 7:00-8:15 p.m. and the fall group will meet at Chapelwood on Sundays, September 13, 20, and 27, 11:00 a.m.-12:15 p.m.
The book by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, is a helpful, easy-to read exploration of the two ancient creeds of the church, the Apostles and the Nicene. We will not expect anyone to be well versed in the creeds.

The book is not required reading- it's provided for further study and reflection. Each evening will include a gathering time, a talk, and small groups. There is no charge for the book or refreshments. For further information, contact Scott Endress at email@example.com or 713-354-4470.
Posted by Scott Endress at 10:43 AM No comments: Links to this post 
Tokens of Trust

Tokens of Trust by Rowan Williams is an imaginative exploration of the foundations of Christian faith. Using the most ancient creeds, The Apostles and Nicene, the book is based on the series of talks Williams made at the Canterbury Cathedral Holy Week, 2005.

Central to the book is the connection of faith with trust. Christianity is not a set of beliefs ascribed to but a living, breathing, ongoing relationship to God, and engagement within the world and the community, the church. The theme of trusting relationship is continued as Williams presents Jesus Christ as the difference-maker, the one who brings peace to a shattered world, and a peace, realized in part, through the dynamic process of the community of Christians.

Thus the resurrection is the fulfillment of the one God who alone is faithful and trustworthy. In this, he defines hell as our decision not God's, using the image where God is eternally knocking on a closed door that we ourselves keep shut. "Eternity," says Williams, "requires contemplation." And he means bringing ourselves into the light, choosing to "acclimatize" to love.

One of the features of this book is its beautiful visuals of paintings, photography, and architecture from around the world to enrich Williams' text. The writing itself is easy to read, non-technical, and full of helpful, relevant illustrations. Those looking for a line-by- line exegesis of these historic creeds, or even a how-they-came-to be- explanation will need to turn to other studies.
Posted by Scott Endress at 4:31 PM No comments: Links to this post 
Learn from the UMC how to be PC

I noticed that, according to a United Methodist portal headline, most UM clergy support traditional marriage. Was this supposed to smooth over our rifts? Why do I ask?

Because the article also states in confusing fashion that while only a quarter of UMC clergy surveyed supported same-sex marriages, 51% of UMC clergy supported the rights of married or covenanted same-sex couples. ?!?!? How can we support the rights of a married or covenanted couple but not their same-sex marriage? We 're saying: "I support your right to do that, but I don't support your doing it." Talk about doublespeak and contradiction.

Getting back to the headline that most clergy support traditional marriage: golly, maybe that has something to do with a denominational BAN on same-sex weddings and ordination of GLBT people? For UMC's this survey is as useless as a 1980 Discipline! Does it really matter what we think?
Posted by Scott Endress at 1:15 PM No comments: Links to this post 
The British Open's Gracious Loser: Old Foggy Doesn't Win

Tom Watson's choking away the lead that tied the British Open, and then losing big in the sudden death round, was a career disappointment for him and a big let down for the many who were following the story. So when he looked around at the press conference and saw a sea of dejection, he quipped, "This ain't a funeral." He said jokingly that an appropriate headline would be something like "Old Foggy Doesn't Win."

Of course it may be easier to make light of it all, however, I like Watson's comments because , in spite of the fact that he lives and breathes the PGA, he still sees that even a heartbreaking loss at the British Open is NOT life or death. It's still a GAME, and he plays and is paid for its entertainment value. Many expected that it would have made for even better entertainment if he had actually pulled it off!

Francis Bacon wrote that while Old Covenant promises prosperity, the New promises adversity. And it seems that we live in that world of cause and effect. That if we observe the right religious rules, then God will bless us with lots of neat stuff. But that's only a reflection of our larger cultural idol of entitlement and deserved status. Earning our way is the American way, and when someone like Watson says that a winning finish is not ultimate, then it should help us to reflect on where we're living, and if that life allows us to see and receive life as gift; the grace of God.

No one would want to be in Watson's shoes. He said that this whole experience was nothing less than gut-wrenching. At the same time, we can learn from his experience if we're smart. A sense of perspective and appropriateness is what only wisdom and faith could bring to such a moment. 
Fun Summer Read

As part of the "Self Hurt" series, the title attracted me- How to Have an Ill Behaved Dog.

After adopting a dog from the shelter in May, I wouldn't have been the least bit interested in a typical dog obedience manual. This one, however, takes the monotony out of the genre with an off beat approach. It states the obvious in a sarcasm that is funny and creative. Among other things, it suggests that friends really don't find the stories about your IBD (ill behaved dog) very interesting, and what's more, they probably find your dog's crotch-sniffing offensive.

The theme seems to be that most of us choose chaos-- to be controlled by our dogs. We sink to their basic level of physical, health, and belonging needs while ignoring their needs (and ours) for consistent boundaries. The other thing the book points out is the poor planning we use in choosing a dog to fit our perceived emotional needs rather than finding one that will make a good fit with our family and life style.

Especially if you're looking at future dog ownership or if you're a new owner, you'll enjoy and benefit from this book. The best nugget was the explanation as to why dogs usually learn to bark and growl at mail carriers. It's because their racket is always reinforced by the fact that the mail person's departure quickly follows their bellowing. Of course, it's because of the din of the dog that makes the post person leave.

BTW, other interesting titles in the series include how to get fat, procrastinate, traumatize your children, etc.
Posted by Scott Endress at 9:35 PM No comments: Links to this post 
Just Wondering- On Memorials

Why the total disconnect of the past ten days- between visual media (especially national cable T.V.), which have been covering Michael Jackson's death ad nauseum and the local radio stations, where he and the Jackson Five have been totally absent in the same time frame.

What the Jackson family was thinking and feeling- especially Michael's children- when Stevie Wonder, whose music I love, said that God needed Michael more than we did. For me, this confirms that musicians should focus on their art and refrain from theologizing. I think this is also true of church musicians who sometimes can end up opinion- sharing and distancing the congregation instead of leading worship and bringing together.

When people are in grief, we can say some interesting and also weird things. One marked change over the last 25 years, I believe, has been the number of close friends, especially family, who are speaking at memorials and funerals in our churches. This is sometimes good in that the service can be more individualized, and a little less formalized.

On the other hand, you don't want these same folks, who are also in grief, to feel pressured or to be too anxious about breaking down in the middle of their talk. Normally, a person can determine if they will be able to speak or not. However, in grief we can't always know or say what we'll be up to doing.

Then there's the time factor. As officiating pastor, I offer to read comments written by a family member. I remember wanting to say a few words at my brother's memorial a few years back, but I just couldn't put it into words of a short duration, so I refrained. Then, a few years later at my Dad's memorial, I managed to share a few memories just fine.
Posted by Scott Endress at 8:41 AM No comments: Links to this post 
On not grabbing

While the appeal to greater control is very attractive and a cultural idol of sorts, the wisdom of letting go, though it's counter-cultural, is neglected. This sets people up for greater, not less, disappointment and loss.

If we let go we would be freer--freer of the illusion of control, the lie that life's about getting first and then, second, clutching what's ours. Ethicist Waldo Beach long taught that biblical freedom has two sides: freedom and deliverance from bondage and freedom for responding to God and neighbor.

Where are you stuck, and don't even know it? From what do you need to be freed? How will you surrender and let God love and heal you, even the parts you've always gripped so tightly? What do you need in order to be free for God and the people with whom you work and live?

In what ways will you "choose life" and open a closed fist today?
Posted by Scott Endress at 8:00 AM No comments: Links to this post 
July 6 John Hus Festival*

The Moravian Church, our spiritual mothers and fathers, celebrates July 6 as a watershed event in their heritage and history.

John Wesley's spiritual director and mentor, Peter Bohler, was a Moravian pastor. On a ship destined for Wesley's new mission field of Georgia, Wesley wrote of the faith of the Moravians on board as they sang Psalms through the most dangerous and threatening of seas. Wesley, terrified, was not singing, but looked on in amazement.

And then it was at a Moravian meeting that Wesley heard the words of Luther's Preface to Romans, and as he did, his heart was strangely warmed with the knowledge and newly found assurance that Jesus had died for him, forgiven him, and freed him from the law of sin and death.

In speaking of her sons Charles' and John's new experience of assurance and God's love in Jesus, Susanna stated that it wasn't about having faith, it was more about the "uniting of head and heart," and an encounter for which they had been searching for some time.

Is your faith something that others are drawn to, attracted to, or repulsed by? Or, do others at least find your faith the least bit interesting? Somehow whatever John Wesley witnessed on a ship made him both seeker of and searched by the One whose name is Love.

*On July 6, 1415, John Hus was martyred at the Council of Constance.
Posted by Scott Endress at 11:38 AM No comments: Links to this post 
Is all Scripture Equal?

An Old Testament professor called attention to the pejorative use of "old," the term Christians use in referring to that part of the Hebrew Bible that is Christian Canon. His own efforts were aimed at encouraging me and my fellow divinity classmates to remove the blinders, the New Testament lenses, that prevent us from seeing the whole of Scripture as Canon, "old" or "new."

The question regarding the equality of Scripture is a good one. Do I as pastor or even participant, omit parts of a reading because of the needs of the situation? For example, there's a reading from the funeral liturgy in the Episcopal church from Lamentations 3, and verses 31 and 32 were the ones I once omitted as family member not as officiating clergy: 'For the Lord will not reject forever. Although he causes grief..."

So the idea of the Lord rejecting us (even though not forever), and God causing grief is tough to proclaim or suggest to a room filled with mourners. But this question brings others: Should we bend the reading to be pastoral and if so, when? Most of us choose from already selected texts what to read at a service based on the appropriateness of the text.

But is that the easy way out? In omitting parts of the reading for the needs of the situation, do I take away others' gift to hear the whole text, to struggle over it for themselves, and to make their own conclusions? Should discomfort with the apparent dissonances be something we expect others to handle for themselves, or should we make it easier by not dealing with that issue in a time of grief and bewilderment, a time that is already difficult enough. There are no easy, black and white answers.

With Lamentations, the cries of grief are written for us to read and hear. They represent the gut-wrenching, illogical, messy, angry, confusing process that grief is. In all our mental confusion, is it sometimes comforting, in a mysterious way, to know there is someone to blame: God? That's a cry to the One who created us to grieve. That's different than claiming God causes suffering, which many would hear mistakenly (in my opinion) as representative of an authentic Christian faith and theology.
Posted by Scott Endress at 12:40 PM No comments: Links to this post Mailbag: Public Option

This recent comment on my recent post on the Public Option for health care insurance was so good I had to post it:

It may be a surprise, but health care has - throughout human history - been a for-profit enterprise. Only in nations brimming with people's commissars has health care been not for profit, and - since I lived in the Soviet Union for three years, while it was still communist - I can assure you that government-run health care is nothing about which one should get excited.

It may amuse your elitist sensibilities to tilt at your ideological windmills with phrases like "guvmunt," but it does your poor argumentation no favors and is unseemly in an alleged Christian forum.

Judging from your book reviews, I might suggest you balance our your mental diet with a few good studies from the other side of the ideological chasm.

I've always found that engaging the opposition fairly and resorting to clear, fact-based argument - not silly stereotyping and name-calling - goes a long way.
My reply--

Well, Joe, I'm sure that the over 40+ million men and women, and children without a doctor or insurance can all sleep better thanks to your fair and balanced comment. Knowing how you like the facts yourself, I was crestfallen that you neither mention any facts nor cite any of your suggested good studies.

You know the book reviews only represent a tad of my reading material. I'm now on my 8th (or is it 18th?) time through Das Capital, and I've continued daily passages from the Communist Manifesto, so don't judge a blog or its writer by its reviews alone, or whether it fits your idea of "christian."

I know you don't like my use of "guvmunt," so I want to express appreciation to you for refraining from name calling yourself, and not using words like elitist, silly, and unseemly to describe your opposition. But calling me a windmill tilter, well, that's really poetic, Joe.
Posted by Scott Endress at 10:22 AM No comments: Links to this post