December 7, 2008 — 8:46 PM
I had the pleasure of preaching for the Mission Bay crowd again this evening only two weeks after the last time I preach to them. A rather quick turn around for me.
It was made all the more interesting for me since Thanksgiving was celebrated in the week following that sermon. In addition, life at the seminary went into high gear. We have reached the end of the semester crunch and much of last week was spent preparing for and putting on the annual worship services of Lessons & Carols.
All of that meant that most of the work on the sermon today took place yesterday morning and this morning. (Thanks to having evening services this was actually possible.) But it all came together just fine.
We had a good evening of worship and people offered some great thoughts and insights as well as meaningful prayers for our world and our community. Our topic for this evening, the 2nd Sunday of Advent, was " The Word Made Flesh: PEACE."
I preach next on the Sunday following Christmas at Old First Presbyterian Church.
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December 14, 2008 — 9:53 PM
Tonight, the church I've had the good fortune to work with for the past two years, Mission Bay Community Church, moved from being a New Church Development to being a fully-fledged chartered church. After eight years of incubation in eight different locations, the church has come into its own as a congregation.
The service tonight, a combination of MBCC's typical worship service and the typical chartering service, was a true witness to the wonderful mystery of God. How else to explain the emergence of such a fantastically diverse group of people coming together to be God's hands and feet in this little corner of the world?
I have truly enjoyed working with and for this community for the past two years. And I look forward to many more to come, always offering many prayers for God's blessing on the work that we do together.
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December 18, 2008 — 7:58 PM
There has been much lamenting and wringing of hands today among liberal religious folks over President-elect Obama's choice to include the Rev. Rick Warren in his inaugural ceremony. All of the choices that Mr. Obama has made so far have led all parties to weigh in on the question "Is this change? Or more of the same?"
Many of my much-esteemed colleagues were bothered today by Mr. Obama's choice of the Rev. Rick Warren to offer the opening prayer at the inaugural ceremony on Tuesday, 20 January 2009. They would have rather had any number of other people, including a favorite: the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
But my question to that and many other choices of the liberal/progressive voices in this debate is: How would those choices offer change we can believe in?
Then Senator Obama ran on a platform of reaching out to people of all persuasions to have meaningful conversations that would lead us beyond the deeply held divide of right vs. left. If he had chosen someone such as the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, how would that have led to a meaningful conversation? No one on the right would have felt included in that choice. They would have felt shut out of the conversation all together.
The choice of the Rev. Rick Warren, while offensive because of his recent opposition to equal marriage rights for all, is a moderate choice because of the pastor's position on a myriad of other issues that are important to conservatives and progressives alike. By choosing the Rev. Warren, Mr. Obama has opened a door to including multiple voices at the table and taking a step beyond the typical divides that have held up meaningful change at the national level for so long.
So while I would have preferred a different choice myself, I support and applaud the President-elect for a tough choice towards making change that we all (both left and right) can believe in. To truly be the President for all Americans, Mr. Obama will have to continue to make hard decisions that please neither the left nor the right completely.
Change does not come easy nor quickly. But I pray that President Obama will continue to reach out to people on all sides and act with wisdom and compassion to bring us together as one nation. Not an easy task by any means.
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December 21, 2008 — 10:25 PM
Nothing says American holiday like a road trip. And my family has decided that this is how we will spend our Christmas vacation this year. My siblings and I will be gathering at my parents' home outside of Phoenix, Arizona, on Monday and Tuesday so that we can all pile in a rental car and head to Santa Fe, New Mexico - a 10-hour drive if all goes well.
We haven't embarked on such an undertaking in years. Years! And for good reason. We like each other best when there is a lot of space between us. My sister lives near where we grew up in Michigan. My brother lives in Asheville, NC. And I have claimed the left coast for myself by establishing a long history with the lovely city of San Francisco. My parents split their time between Michigan in the summers and Arizona in the winters.
So how will we fare spending 10 hours in such close proximity to one another for two days in the same week? I have to say I'm not holding out high hopes here. Anyone with whom I have discussed these plans in the past weeks will tell you that I am approaching this vacation plan with MUCH trepidation. I would like to think that we have matured to a point of handling it well. But I know my family.
But, the plans are made. And tomorrow I hop on a plane to jump into that fray. You can bet I'll be testing the limits of prayer this week!
Merry Christmas and may God's peace be real this season.
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