'Look for God everywhere'
By PASTOR RORY SWENSON
Park United Methodist Church
Someday I would like to visit Japan. One of the places I would visit would be the Buddha of Kamakura. It is an ancient pilgrimage place near the sea with several monasteries and temples, gardens and museums. I have read that the Kamkura Buddha stands above the trees and buildings. He sits in the lotus posture with his right palm cradled by the left hand. The size of this statue is so big that twelve monks can sit lined up across his two thumbs. The Buddha figure is worn by the weather and there is a story about why he is outside and not covered or protected by a temple as one might expect.

Once upon a time when the Kamakura Buddha was first built, there was a huge wooden temple to house him. But almost as soon as the great structure was finished and decorated, a great storm hit the coast and destroyed the temple. The monks did not want to leave the Buddha uncovered so they began to collect money and materials to build another temple for the great statue. This took decades but again the Buddha was sheltered. A few years later there was a fire that left only the Buddha among the ashes. This happened again; the shrine was built, but then destroyed again in a few years by the elements.

Then, in more recent memory, a priest tried to raise funds and workers for a structure to house the Buddha figure. Money poured in for the project. Then one night he had a dream and in the dream the Buddha was speaking to him. He was frightened at first but the serenity of the Buddha helped him to become calm. The Buddha was clearly saying in the dream that he did not want anyone to build a temple for him. He was told "The temple is a prison. It contains me and squeezes me into a space far too small. It is never a home. Leave me outside with the weather and the elements and the people. Let me be exposed to all the changes and ravages of life, to the warmth of the sun and to the horizons and all the people. I belong here, outside on the earth, with the people in the world. " And so another temple was not built.

I tell that story because I think of my own spiritual tradition. I can hear God, saying in Jesus Christ, "let me be with the people." We call this the doctrine of the incarnation, or we can hear the promise of Jesus to be with us always, or think of the Holy Spirit among us. Our God is still "Immanuel ,God with us": wanting to go beyond the walls of sanctuaries and institutions. Jesus went outside the temple system of his day, traveled the roads and ate with the common and the outcast. He calls us to follow him there. Our spiritual truth says we can look for Jesus in the sick and the homeless, in the ravages of life. As Christians doesn't that mean we should also get out of our "temples" more? We can't keep God to ourselves. Are we being the church outside of our church buildings? Look for God everywhere. That's our homework for the week.

Story adapted from "We Live Inside a Story," by Megan McKenna, New City Press 2010.

A Possible footnote for the parable of the Good Samaritan

HOW IS IT that sometimes subtly, sometimes with a sudden startle, God breaks through the thick fog of our collective blindness? Our lives confront us with the inevitable experience of suffering: our own suffering, the suffering we cause to others, the pain we experience in and with the suffering of others. “Pay attention,” says the voice of God within us, “Here is an opportunity to deepen your relationship with me! You will find me when your heart breaks open with compassionate love for all of creation. But you must let the suffering touch you deeply enough that you begin to see your own path as a path of compassion on behalf of all living creatures.”

- Elaine M. Prevallet
Weavings: A Journal of the Christian Spiritual Life

From “With Open Eyes: Discerning the Pattern of God’s Presence,” pp. 29-30, Weavings: A Journal of the Christian Spiritual Life, vol.25, no. 3. Copyright © 2009 via Upper Room web site

Late June rambling

Time for some old fashioned rambling thoughts and random writing! Yesterday I had two funerals. I also had two funerals on the previous Friday and before that I had funeral services on two consecutive Saturdays. That's 14 funerals so far this year. But with each service I do, I spend time listening to a family tell about their loved one. I guide them with a series of questions about the person's work, interests etc and then I ask: "What did this person teach you about life?" Maybe I ask that question for my own benefit as well. I hear some wisdom in each person and it is often something I need to hear.
Today I have a wedding in the afternoon and this morning I will open up the church so the choral ensemble "From Age to Age" can rehearse. They will be singing at both services tomorrow. Maybe, yet this morning,if it doesn't rain, I will mow the lawn again!

Here at the parsonage, all the carpet has been removed from the basement. That also means that we have basement furniture and boxes in the garage or the dining room or squeezed into a side room downstairs. All this was the result of a leaking shower drain but I am blessed with wonderful trustees who said this was just the excuse they needed to get rid of the dark wall paneling down there and add the new carpeting they have wanted to do any way. I am hoping it will all be done in time for my sister's visit in mid July.
Sara's garden is growing wildly. Nick has graduated from the Perpich Fine Arts High School, we had his open house, and he should be coming home soon from a great week in a Theatre festival in Lincoln Nebraska. Beth is in Michigan seeing her parents. Sara is keeping busy with her two jobs, as the administrative assistant at the Congregational church in the mornings and an Applebees server in the afternoons or evenings. She is still not sure if she will attend Iliff in the fall or wait until January.
Sara has also updated her writing blog so check that link out.
Rory

LET US BEGIN TO SEE beyond race, beyond culture, beyond gender, beyond sexual orientation, beyond religion, beyond all these externals and see each other as God’s beloved. When we relate to others as God relates to us, our sense of being God’s beloved deepens even more.

- Trevor Hudson
The Way of Transforming Discipleship

From p. 25 of < em>The Way of Transforming Discipleship by Trevor Hudson and Stephen D. Bryant. Copyright © 2005
(From Upper Room)

New methods/new day Generous God vs. cheap church

New methods/new day Generous God vs. cheap church

History lesson

Martin Marty says it;
http://blog.al.com/birmingham-news-stories/2010/04/historian_martin_marty_says_sa.html

Historian Martin Marty, delivering a series of lectures at Samford University, said Tuesday that former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and others have oversimplified and misrepresented the religious beliefs of the nation's founding fathers.

Delegates to the Constitutional Convention did not want government to favor Christianity, he said.

"They did not set out to have a Christian nation," Marty said Tuesday at Reid Chapel in the first of several lectures sponsored by the Baptist Joint Committee. "It would have been very easy to set that out."

Marty will conclude the Shurden lecture series today at 10:30 a.m. in Hodges Chapel at the Beeson Divinity School at Samford.

He said Tuesday that George Washington, a churchgoing Episcopalian who never took communion, used at least 28 different terms for God in his writings. He made every effort to be inclusive and nonsectarian, referring to the deity with words such as Providence, Heaven and Benevolent One. "They were looking for a language that would enlarge the context," Marty said.

Nine of the 13 colonies had established churches, either Anglican or Congregationalist, and the founders wanted to avoid establishing religion for the nation while being tolerant of differing religious beliefs, Marty said.

Marty, author of "Righteous Empire: The Protestant Experience in America" and numerous other books, said in an interview that the founders have been distorted for political purposes.

"It's not honest," Marty said. "They say pluralism is our problem. Pluralism is our common story."

Clearly, the founders touted a virtuous citizenry and believed religion helped serve that purpose, he said.

"They cared about virtue, and they believed religion was backing that," Marty said.

But they also feared the tyranny of a government-backed clergy class, he said. Religion in America has thrived precisely because it was not backed or funded by government, he said.

U.S. religious expression has relied on the power of persuasion and evangelism, unlike in Europe, where state churches relied on funding from government to survive. The state churches of Europe declined and are moribund because they do not appeal to or serve the public well, Marty said.

"It's harmful for churches and other religious institutions to be privileged," he told Samford students. "We're much better off with protection and freedom."

something to post

My apologies for the lack of blog entries. I copy notes more often at the Park church facebook fan page. I can give you this advance copy of what I will put in the church newsletter for May:

Remember those coloring contests where it seems like the winners were the ones who never colored across the lines? I wanted to be that kind of a good "colorer."

Later on, I learned that art wasn't about just painting by number or filling in someone else's lines. Sometimes you need to work with blank paper or embellish and design beyond the printed lines. I am still trying to learn that lesson. My life has been mostly about staying within the lines. I am not that big on rule breaking and I know about the importance of healthy boundaries. But that simply doesn't get to the art of faithful living.

Mike Yaconelli wrote a good lesson for me in his book, Dangerous Wonder :

"Most of my life I heard the message loud and clear that Christianity was all about coloring within the lines and coloring well. If I was a good Christian, if I loved Jesus and wanted to please Him, if I read my Bible, prayed, and went to church, then I would get better and better at coloring. And if I lived a long and godly life, I would eventually be able to draw close to the perfect drawing. Wherever that message came from, it was a lie. I am fifty-five years old and my coloring still looks like it was done by a two year old. I believe God looks at my coloring and says, “Hmmmmm. You certainly like the color green! Lots of passion in this stroke. I like it.”

Even as I write those words, I can hear the “concern” of those who worry about others misunderstanding the gospel. “You’re not suggesting, are you, that nothing matters to God? Certainly, God has standards!” What I am suggesting is that God’s grace is so outside the lines of our understanding that we can only stand in awe and wonder. Christianity is not about learning how to live within the lines; Christianity is about the joy of coloring. The grace of God is preposterous enough to accept as beautiful a coloring that anyone else would reject as ugly"



I think this coloring analogy describes God in some other ways as well. God , too has been showing us the way to be creative in the art of soul work and True Life. Eventually we have to get beyond just coloring between the lines. God has given a Bible full of illustrations and examples.

When it came to the line between heaven and earth; Jesus was God's way of coloring across the line! Our Gospel is that the line between us and God, has been colored over with forgiveness. Jesus was always coloring across religious and social lines when he ate with "tax collectors and sinners" There were people in his days who didn't like the way he did his coloring. That's probably still true. The resurrection of Christ, is all about God coloring across the heavy lines of death. St. Paul says that "in Christ there is neither slave nor free; Jew nor Gentile, male nor female". Sound s like coloring across the lines to me! God colors outside the lines with grace. John Wesley too, even with his strict "method's” was a person who colored outside the lines when he preached outdoors and went to the people who were not inside the lines of the church's doors.



Pentecost is on May 23 and it is a great story about God not staying in the lines. The Holy Spirit will blow across the boundaries of language , culture and nations. God will color all over the world! Can we see it as the coloring work of love! We still need to get out the color crayons and let God teach us how to be creative again. We are repeatedly hearing that we need to do more coloring outside of the church, Can we color across the lines with new ways of doing business, trying different things in worship, being more inviting to others, and learning new things?

Pentecost teaches us to get out the color" red", for spirit, and fire and enthusiasm and courage, and reach out across the lines. Color with the power of wild wind! Art, like Christianity, is about being inspired, beyond the lines That's Pentecost. Let's go and do some coloring, with joy! Pastor Rory