May 25 2012

remembering well

Sun Setting on Lincoln Memorial

The Lincoln Memorial was first proposed in 1867 not long after President Lincoln was assassinated by a white man.  We the people didn’t get it built until WW I.  As Lincoln was the great defender of democracy, the memorial was designed to remember the Parthenon and the birthplace of democracy.  The marble and granite chosen for the building came from the North, the South, the East, and the West—a symbol of our divided nation coming together, building something significant, something that would last.  We don’t remember well, do we?

On May 30, 1922, the Lincoln Memorial was dedicated.  A grateful nation celebrated the Great Emancipator with a great occasion.  50,000 people came, segregated by race.  The keynote speaker, Robert Moton, President of the Tuskegee Institute, an African-American, wasn’t allowed to sit on the speakers’ platform!!!!!!!  Makes me wonder if the monument was really meant to remember some other Lincoln, Lincoln Financial, for instance, or the inventor of the town car.

Memorial Day began in the wake of the Civil War as a day to honor Union and Confederate soldiers who had died in battle.  Union General John Logan chose May 30th precisely because it was not the anniversary of any battle.  After WW I Memorial Day became a day to honor all United States soldiers who’ve died in war.  Then in 1968 our Congress changed it to the last Monday in May so we could have a three-day weekend to shop, barbecue, and watch the Indianapolis 500.

I pray this Memorial Day that we will remember well what Abraham Lincoln said on November 19, 1863, as he stood up to dedicate a cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania:

It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom— and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.  (Excerpt, Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address)

Right after Lincoln finished his speech he called it  a “flat failure.”  Seventeen months later, on April 11, 1865, Lincoln made another speech advocating voting rights for African-Americans.  Four days later he was shot dead.

This Memorial day I will remember with gratitude those who have died for our country and our freedoms.  And, I will remember Abraham Lincoln and under God offer my prayer “that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

In rememberance,

david gilliam, pastor, faith united methodist church, austin.  for more about faith church, click here.

May 18 2012

methodist catholic spirit

John Wesley, founder of the Methodist Movement, was an amazing preacher.  Whenever I’ve made the effort to plow through his sermons, I always come away thinking, “That was profound.”  I want to share one with you, especially in light of the recent General Conference and the upcoming Annual and Jurisdictional Conferences.  I’ve taken one of Wesley’s most famous sermons, abridged it, and translated it into 21st century English.  Do read the original yourself and let me know if I got close.  Here is Wesley’s sermon “Catholic Spirit” Newcastle, England, 1749.

And when Jehu departed from there, he met Jehonadab the son of Rechab coming to meet him; and he greeted him, and said to him, “Is your heart right with my heart as mine is with yours?”  And Jehonadab answered, “It is.”  So Jehu said, “If it is, give me your hand.”  So he gave him his hand.  And Jehu took him up with him into the chariot.  And he said, “Come with me and see my zeal for the Lord.”    ( 2 Kings 10.15-16a)

The Bible says, in Leviticus 19, “Love your neighbor.”  For a long time I thought that meant love your family and love your friends.  But that’s not exactly what Jesus said.  Jesus said, love everybody, even your enemies.  That’s a strange kind of love don’t you think?  In John 13, Jesus said: “love one another, as I have loved you.”  Love, as Jesus loved, that is the proof that you are Christian.

Does everyone agree with that?  It seems to me that most people agree with that.  But do most people practice that?  In my experience the answer is “no.”  Where are the Christians of today?  Where are the true disciples, people who really do love like Jesus loved?

I believe there are two reasons why most Christians today do not love as Jesus loved.

  1. We don’t all think the same; we disagree on a lot of issues.
  2. Because we don’t think the same, we don’t love the same either.

There are all kinds of people in the church with all kinds of opinions; but we don’t celebrate that diversity.  Instead, we let our opinions divide us.  We become enemies, even in the church.  What happened to the Word of God? Jesus commanded us to love one another, even our enemies.  So I ask you: can we not have one heart, even if we are not of one mind?  Can’t we love each other, even if we have different opinions?

This man Jehu in 2 Kings; I think he’s on the right track.  Jehu met Jehonadab and said to him: “is your heart right, as my heart is with your heart?  If it is, give me your hand.”  Did you notice?  Jehu didn’t ask about the other man’s ideas; and I bet he had some ideas, even strange ideas, even wrong ideas.  And isn’t that true for us.  Look around you.  Don’t you think at least some of these people here today have a few peculiar ideas?  You probably think that person in the next pew is wrong about most everything; and it may be true.  This is only natural.  We’re human beings, with limited minds.  No one has perfect knowledge.  It’s natural that we don’t all agree. This has been true since Adam and Eve.  It’s quite natural for you to believe that your opinion is the correct one.  You wouldn’t hold tight to your opinion if you didn’t think it true.

But listen: how can you or anyone ever be certain that an opinion is correct?  We can’t; because there is so much that we don’t know, so many things we don’t understand, and maybe never will.  So, part of being human is being wrong, at least sometime.  I know this is true for me.  I don’t know everything; therefore, I must be wrong, at least sometime.  So I need to ask myself: how deep is my ignorance?  How many prejudices have taken root in my mind?  How often do my prejudices shape my opinions?  Surely I am guilty of many wrongheaded ideas.  So I beg you, my brothers and sisters in Christ, please, be compassionate.  Cut me some slack.  Give me the same freedom of thinking that you want for yourself.  The catholic spirit only asks us to do one thing: to unite our hearts in Christian love.  Is your heart right, as my heart is with your heart?

And another thing: in the catholic spirit we are not indifferent to other people’s opinions.  Indifference is a child of hell; indifference to others is a curse.  Be open to other people’s ideas and consider their opinions with the same respect you’d like to receive.  At the same time, be clear about what you believe.  Be fully convinced in your own mind.  A foggy mind with no consistent principles will always miss the mark.  No, in my own mind I’m fully convinced of my beliefs.  But, in the catholic spirit, I do not expect my opinions to be the rule for you or for others.  All I ask is this: Can we love one another as Christ loved us?  Is your heart right, as my heart is with your heart?  If it is, give me your hand.

Now, you may ask, what does it mean to have a “right” heart?  Simply this.  Do you try to love others with a Christian love, even loving your enemies; and do you show this love, not only in what you say, but also in the way you live?  Let all the controversial issues stand aside.  If you strive to love God and all God’s children, then give me your hand.  This is catholic love; this is the true catholic spirit.

So, where do we go from here?

I ask you to love me, love me with a tender affection, as a brother in Christ.

I ask you to be patient with me and love me in spite of my wrong ideas.

I beg you to pray for me, pray that God will set me straight and give me wisdom and fill my heart with love for all humankind, even love for people who are wrong sometimes.

And be very sure, my friends; these things I ask of you, I am ready and eager to do the same for you: to love you, to be patient with you, in spite of your wrongheaded ideas, to pray for you, that God will give you wisdom and a love that knows no prejudices and a love that has no limits.  A true catholic spirit, a true Christian, loves all people with an unspeakable tenderness and a longing for their welfare, just as Jesus loved us.  Hear me, O child of God, and think on these things.  Let us have our own opinions and respect one another.  And let us be united in the catholic spirit of Christian love.  Is your heart right, as my heart is with your heart?  If it is, then give me your hand.

May 11 2012

Who Is Against Us?

In his letter to those first Christians in Rome the Apostle Paul said, “If God is for us, who can be against us?  God who didn’t spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will God not…graciously give us all things?  It is God who justifies.  Who then is the one who condemns?  No one.  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?”  Paul goes on to list things some might think can or should separate us from the love of God.  Finally Paul answers: “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”  There is no power in all creation that can “separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  (Excerpts, Romans 8.31-39)  Please, read the whole passage in the Christian scripture.  I’m not making this up.

At the time Paul wrote his letter to the Romans there was no Christian Church, nothing like the institution we have today.  They were small bands of people, Jews and Greeks, men and women, sinners and heathens, whose lives were being transformed by the love of God as they came to know it in the good news of Jesus Christ.  But if the Church had existed in Paul’s day I think he would have included Church in his list of worldly powers that lack the power to separate us from the love of God.

If you followed the General Conference of the United Methodist Church these past weeks, you know why I mention this now.  The “powers” that gathered in Tampa to debate and adopt church law actually had a debate about whether or not God loves everybody.  This text from Romans 8 was actually debated.  Gad zooks!  Some 47% of our delegates voted NO, we can’t affirm that.  I’m told many African delegates said, no, we can’t go home and tell people that God loves sinners, those bad people, those heathens, those non-Christians; those people are indeed separated from the love of God, according to loads of delegates, including many from the old American South.

Friend, let us leap for a moment.  Who was responsible for Jesus’ execution?  Jews?  Hardly.  Jesus was a Jew.  Most of his first disciples were Jews.  Was it the Romans?  Yes, in the sense that Pontius Pilate gave the order to execute him; but under Roman law at that time there was no basis for that death sentence.  Pilate said as much in John’s Gospel; but then he caved to pressure brought to bear by a Super PAC.  Who were they?  The Chief Priests and the scribes, the Sanhedrin, and the Pharisees.  Two things stand out here.  First, these were the power players in the religious institution of that day.  Second, and most importantly, they had their own interpretation of church law, mostly man-made law, BTW.  Jesus interpreted the law differently.  Jesus put grace first, rather than obeying the letter of someone’s interpretation of law.  I don’t care if your law says you can’t heal someone on the Sabbath; grace goes ahead and heals them.  God is love, people.

In our time the church is caught up in a global and epic struggle over the authority of Jewish and Christian Scriptures, challenging every interpretation of Church law as it has stood in the past.  For me, the Methodist tradition has always been at its best when we put grace first; Jesus did.  Jesus loved everybody before any church law existed.  I believe Jesus still loves everybody.  Before the gospels were written, before most of the New Testament was composed, Paul of Tarsus, himself a Jew trained in the law, a convert with his own experience of the living Christ, said, “there is nothing in all creation that can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.  If God is for us, who is against us?”  The General Conference of the United Methodist Church?  Maybe.  But when we compare their conversation to Paul’s testimony in the New Testament, don’t we have to conclude that their debate on who is and who is not loved by God was largely irrelevant?  Go home, ye Methodists, and tell your people God is love.  If they leave your church, no worries; God will still love them.

All good things to you in Christ who loves you, no matter who you are,

david gilliam, pastor, faith united methodist church, austin.  for more about faith church, click here.

Apr 24 2012

Big Text

Today marks the beginning of the General Conference meetings of the United Methodist Church worldwide.  Every four years a thousand lay and clergy delegates come together to cast the vision for the denomination, sort out administrative and fiscal puzzles, and further shape the social principles of the church.  Millions of Methodists have as many opinions on things; only the General Conference can speak for the church in an official way.

 

Let the games begin; and may the odds be ever in your favor.

While I don’t have a great deal of confidence that the General Conference is going to produce high quality, grace-filled outcomes, I’m very hopeful for the United Methodist Imagine No Malaria Campaign launched by General Conference four years ago.  Provoked to action by the Gates Foundation our denomination set out to end deaths by malaria in sub-Saharan Africa by 2015.  When we started a child died from malaria every 30 seconds, dying from a disease that is preventable, treatable, and curable.  They say the clock has already been turned back to every 60 seconds.  Thanks be to God and to all who have supported the campaign thus far.

Wednesday, April 25, is World Malaria Day.  I’m inviting you to save some lives right now.  Text MALARIA to 27722 and you will donate $10. and save a life.  If you’re inspired to, send the same text every day during the UMC General Conference, now—May 4.  Together we can make a LOUD statement to the United Methodist denomination about our life-saving vision and our compassionate social principles.  Surely God wants everyone to live, not just the last Tribute standing.

Imagine.  No one dying from malaria.  Not that long ago people in the USA could not imagine that.  But then we stopped it.  Save a life.  Text MALARIA to 27722.  And share this with your friends in all those social media ways you’re so good at.

Thank you, friend.  All good things to you,

david gilliam, pastor, faith united methodist church, austin.  for more about faith church, click here.

Apr 21 2012

psst !

“God saw all that God had made, and it was very good.”  (Genesis 1.31)

One night I was sleeping in my cabin by the Pacific Ocean in one of my favorite places on Earth. It’s the kind of place where every day you wake up, look around, and say, “this is very good.”  But one night I woke up for no apparent reason around 3:00 in the morning.  It was as if the cosmos had whispered, “psst!  psst!”  I struggled to clear my head, looked out my window and said, “God.”  I scrambled to find my little Nikon Coolpix, went out onto the deck, set the camera on the rail to steady it, opened the shutter and tried not to shudder.  I knew I was asking the camera to do something impossible.  I said a little prayer.  This image was the answer.

Starlight Reflection

The full moon reflecting on the ocean shining through a cave running through an offshore rock.  My camera said, “Cool pic.”  I said, “God, this is very good.”  I sat and gazed at this wonder in time and I felt a bit beyond time.  I felt connected to all things.  I loved all things and all things loved me back.

I first celebrated Earth Day on the first day of spring during my junior year in high school and have done most years since.  A month ago some friends were sending around a video. I saved it to share in this Earth Day meditation. If the link doesn’t work, look on Vimeo for “The Most Astounding Fact” by Max Schlickenmeyer. Astrophysicist Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson was asked in an interview with TIME magazine, “What is the most astounding fact you can share with us about the Universe?” This video beautifully expresses his answer.  Every person on Earth is made up of atoms that came from exploding stars that came from star nurseries that came from what scientists call The Big Bang. We’re all connected, each one, one with the first one. From a Biblical perspective every adam came from the first adam, crafted on a wheel, spun into creation by the Master Potter as he/she began to create. Take a little H2O, blend it with stardust, breathe into it the breath of life.  psst.  This is very good.

The cover of the April 20, 2012, issue of the Austin Chronicle offers up one of those iconic Apollo mission photographs of the Earth rising over the horizon of the Moon, a body also made up of the same stuff as you and me. The headline reads: “Earth: Fun While It Lasted.”  The article poses a good question: can the Earth be saved?  I believe the answer is yes, of course. This marvelous planet is not going anywhere anytime soon. In fact, she’s been through cycles of life, destruction, and re-birth many times before. We can’t know with certainty what the near future holds; but if scientists’ projections are even close to the mark, sooner or later the earth is going to slough off this toxic environment we are destroying. Contrary to popular lore, I’m not even sure the roaches will make it. But then the Earth, self-healer that she is, will transform into a new Earth, adams and atoms mixing together to form whatever the Potter dreams up next.

In the meantime, at least as long as I am sentient in time, I plan to give thanks every day for this beautiful blue planet. And while I can’t just totally stop being part of the problems that are degrading the ecosystem of present-day Earth, I can do what I can to be part of the solution, part of the healing process.

psst.  I hope the rest of my species will wake up and do the same.

All good things to you,

david gilliam, earth pastor, faith united methodist church, austin.  for more about faith church, click here.

Apr 3 2012

Weeds

Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.  Genesis 1.11-12 (NIV)

I’ve been thinking about weeds lately.  This time every year, if there’s a square inch of exposed soil in my yard there’s a weed growing.  Thanks to the winter rains that weed is doing good.

The other day my wife and I drove out to the Texas Hill Country for a tour of the Willow Loop.  Thanks to the winter rains the wildflowers this year are AWESOME.  Even God rewrote “this is good” to THIS IS AWESOME.

Creation, Texas Hill Country, Spring 2012

But as I looked at scenes like the one captured in this photograph, I got to thinking.  Genesis doesn’t say God created good plants and then created weeds.  The Bible pictures God creating, spinning out all manner of natural wonders, awe inspiring feats capped off with divine appraisal—this is good.  Bluebonnets good.  Cactus good.  Cedar tree good.  Ash, oak, pecan, all good.  God didn’t make a single weed, friends.

Some of that’s hard for me.  Like my parents before me, I suffer from hay fever, cedar fever, tree and grass fever.  Every autumn, every spring, when God’s creations spew out pollen (their God created way of having sex), I think, this is not good.  I sneeze and cough and wheeze and call down destruction on all these bad bad things, weeds of the worst sort.

In the beginning there were no weeds; but somewhere along the line we humans started thinking in terms of good plants and bad plants.  We planted and watered and nurtured and came to love the plants we deemed desirable—flowers, fruits, nuts, lawns—while we made another list of everything else; we called them weeds and then set about pulling them up or devising ever more effective poisons with which to kill them.

I don’t have a problem with agriculture.  Jesus talked a lot about fruitful agriculture; even when he referred to wheat and weeds, he never said to pull up the weeds.  I’m cool with having only wheat in some places.  I love bread.

But I’m pretty sure we humans have gone too far.  We think in terms of weeds and good plants, then apply our energies to getting rid of the weeds.  We think in terms of good art and bad art, then cut funding for bad artists.  For too many years now our political thinking has trended toward good Americans and bad Americans and how to weed out the bad.  We think in terms of good people and bad people (rarely, if ever, suggesting that we are among the bad) and devise laws to keep the bad ones away, out, or down.

God did not create a single weed, friends.  God made all the plants and called them good.  We created Roundup.  God created humankind and called us good.  We created the KKK, Nazis, and all the subtle and not so subtle ways our societies and governments discriminate and oppress.  The Bible has lots to say about how we should and should not behave, how we should love one another and avoid sinning against one another.  I believe we badly need better thinking when it comes to good behavior and bad behavior, grace and judgment, love and hate.  But in the beginning, God created everything; and God saw that it was good.  Don’t you think we could try a little harder to see things God’s way?  What difference would it make in the world if we did?

All good things to you,

david gilliam, weed pastor, faith united methodist church, austin.  for more about faith church, click here.

Mar 12 2012

Be Well

Jesus said, “I came that they might have life in all its fullness.” -John 10.10

Sometimes people understand churches to be rescue missions or healing stations.  True, God’s grace and love have amazing powers to heal our wounded hearts and minds.  I see it all the time and I’m thankful.  Alongside that I’m equally fascinated with the recent slow shift in Western medicine.  For the longest time the emphasis has been on healing sick people.  They’re getting better at it all the time and I’m thankful.  But in recent decades there’s been more attention paid to what makes people well in the first place: how to promote physical wellbeing and perhaps ward off disease; how to promote mental health; how to be well spiritually.

Roman Spa, Bath, England

In this picture I’m standing by the Roman bath in Bath, England, a wellness center constructed about the time the first Gospel was written down.  The hot springs at Bath had been a sacred place of healing waters for millennia before the Romans came.

I love the image of church as a sacred place of healing waters, the church as spa restoring us in body, mind and spirit.  The church should be a place where people learn a healthy life-style that honors the temple of body, mind and spirit as God intended.  We should be in the wellness promotion business.  It’s a major theme all through the Bible.  Like the scene in Psalm 23: “God leads me beside still waters; God restores my soul.”  Standing there in Bath I was reminded of the time Jesus offered “living water” to a woman at a well (John 4). The Divine has much to teach us about physical, mental and spiritual well-being, deep wisdom to share about healthy work and play, life-giving relationships, wholeness in the midst of pain and loss, and the importance of maintaining the health of our homes—my house, your house, the church house, and planet Earth.

This spring at Faith United Methodist Church, Austin, we’re sharing a sermon series called “The Good Life: Seven Keys to a Healthy Christian Lifestyle.”  This week and next we’ll be looking at well-being at work and play, then the key to a healthy body.  April 1st and 8th we’ll pause the series to celebrate Palm Sunday and then Easter Sunday.  I hope you enjoy it and receive it as an invitation to your own renewal, your own new life, in whatever ways you most need.  God wants you to be well and, as Jesus said, have life in all its fullness.  You can do it; God can help.

All good thins to you in Christ,

david gilliam, pastor, faith united methodist church, austin.  for more about faith church, click here.

Mar 12 2012

Tuesday, March 13, Free Concert During SxSW

Faith Church on South Lamar

Tuesday, March 13, 5-11:30pm, in the parking lot of Faith UMC, 2701 S Lamar.  Seven live bands, food trailer favorite East Side King (famously associated with Top Chef contestant Paul Qui), fair trade shopping, a resource center, crafts and temporary tattoos, emcees Chet Garner of the PBS show The Day Tripper and Greg Bargo, who has devoted much of his life to fighting malaria, plus stories from those intimately involved in Imagine No Malaria, the United Methodist campaign to end deaths by malaria in Africa.  Free.  Parking at Matt’s El Rancho and the grass lot next to Far Out Home Furnishings on Manchaca.  Invite your friends – blog it, post it, share it, like it, check it out and check in. Bring a lawn chair, camp stool, or blanket.  We can stop the clock on malaria.  You can help.

Mar 5 2012

A Change the World Event During SxSW

The weather guys say that if we get spring rains in Austin this year—can you imagine?—we could see swarms of mosquitos.  Yikes.  Growing up on the Texas Gulf Coast I can imagine that; and I can say, with easy confidence, I’ve had enough of that.  They suck your blood and then you itch.  You can’t slap them fast enough.  They follow you inside and torment your sleep.

An artist's rendering by Jim Roberts

Okay, I’m being a baby.  A few mosquito bites aren’t going to kill me.  But in much of the world, it only takes one.  Every 60 seconds a child dies from malaria, a disease transmitted via mosquito.  One bite and bang! your dead.  Or your Dad gets bit; and while he doesn’t die—thank heaven—he can’t work for months so your Mom and your brothers and sisters die of starvation, if the mosquitoes don’t get them first.  That not bad enough?  After children, pregnant women are the next largest population to die from malaria in sub-Saharan Africa.

I’ll never forget a day 7 years ago when I was with a group of students on a pleasure boat cruising the scenic waterways of Kerala in southern India.  Late in the day our boat’s propeller got tangled up in water plants and came to a stop.  From our watery perch we observed families washing clothes along the river bank, stoking fires and cooking supper, burning incense and chanting evening prayers.  I was enchanted.  Then it got dark.  Then the mosquitos came out to feed.  Interesting term, eh?  Feed.  On me.  I happened to be taking the best anti-malarial medication money can buy; but I had no DEET.  I went from feeling creeped-out to becoming a tiny bit terrified.  The boat driver was under water freeing the propeller.  I stared into the abyss.

Obviously, I lived to tell this tale.  I’ve since learned that malaria is preventable and treatable.  It’s within our expertise to end deaths by malaria and I think we ought to make that happen.  That’s why I’ve been part of the Imagine No Malaria movement since it started.

Two years ago right here in Austin the United Methodist Church launched Imagine No Malaria in partnership with the Gates Foundation and the United Nations Foundation.  Together we’re trying to end deaths from malaria by 2015.  A tall order, but of course we have to try.  Since 2010 in those African countries where the full multi-faceted campaign has been implemented, remarkable progress has already been made.  A whole lot of children and Moms and Dads are alive today because of it.

Tuesday, March 13, during SxSW, Methodists are once again flying the Imagine No Malaria banner up our steeple, inviting everyone to come to the parking lot at Faith United Methodist Church, 2701 South Lamar in Austin, and learn about this global movement of saving lives.  From 5:00—11:30pm we’ll hear live bands and see a short award winning documentary Killer in the Dark, all emceed by Chet Garner of PBS’s The Daytripper.  AND, the East Side King food trailer will be there.  I’m totally down for that, too.

If you’d like to help save lives and have fun on March 13th, you’re invited.  Bring your friends.  Share this event, even if you can’t attend.  Help us help people get the tools and meds they need to live.  To save a life this very moment—talk about an awesome instant message—Text: “Malaria” to 27722 to give $10.  I can imagine a world where no one dies from a mosquito bite.  You?

Feb 24 2012

Light on Board

Last Christmas In Chicago my wife and I chanced upon something luminous. A sign above a ramp in Grant Park said, “Free art this way.” Walking up we found ourselves on the roof of the Art Institute of Chicago in the presence of a singular art piece called “Lunar” by Spencer Finch. A fit of curiosity overcame me, then a smile, and luminosity abounded.

 

As an artist Finch follows light as a primary subject.  The science behind his work is pretty cool: check it out here. But it was his simple vision that thrilled me: build a vessel to ascend to the moon, capture moonlight, and return it to Earth for us to see and maybe even see by.  Check it out—light on board.  Awesome!  Even cooler when it’s dark.

Being a student of the Bible and connoisseur of fine-food in Chicago, that afternoon over lunch my “Lunar” encounter brought to mind the Gospels in the Christian New Testament, which I believe call to memory and perception the original small step for a man and giant leap for humankind.  The moon doesn’t actually shine, right?  It merely reflects the light of the Sun.  And can you actually capture light?  Is that possible?  Isn’t all light fresh light?  Like that, a Gospel is not God; a gospel is a vessel trying to capture the light of God and return it to Earth for us to see, and maybe see by, especially when it’s dark.  Check out the Gospels—light on board. Awesome!

The Gospel says God sent light into the world and the darkness did not overcome it, that Jesus is the light of the world and even at this great distance when we look at Jesus we see God shining forth, luminous and radiant. Because of Easter Christ’s light is always fresh; and that’s good news right now, especially at times like this when the moon is down and night seems long and very dark.

I’ll leave you with a favorite Celtic Christian prayer.

 

O Christ you are a bright flame before me

You are a guiding star above me

You are the light and love

I see in others’ eyes

Keep me O Christ

In a love that is tender

Keep me O Christ

In a love that is true

Keep me O Christ

In a love that is strong

Tonight, tomorrow and always

 

Blessings to you, that you may walk in light.

david gilliam, pastor, faith united methodist church, austin.  for more about faith church, go here.

Feb 17 2012

God Speaks on Cap Metro

Monday morning, not so comfortable in the middle seat at the very back of a #3 bus on my way to work in South Austin, iPod in my ears listening to a Pray-As-You-Go podcast, one of my favorite daily prayer practices.

I wasn’t really quite awake when I got on, so I just kind of sat there, staring ahead, bouncing along, partly seeing, partly listening.  But then the podcast scripture reading began, this day from the New Testament letter of James.

Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear! Those who hear and don’t act are like those who glance in the mirror, walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are, what they look like. But whoever catches a glimpse of the revealed counsel of God—the free life!—even out of the corner of his eye, and sticks with it, is no distracted scatterbrain but a man or woman of action. That person will find delight and affirmation in the action.  (James 1.22-25 from The Message)

As those words registered I slowly began to see, waking up to the divinity of just what is this present moment.  The whole human race riding on the bus with me: the stooped elderly housemaid on her way to work… the banker heading downtown in a lovely new suit… maybe 20 college students off to U.T. and A.C.C…. an exhausted and not quite sober man slumped against a window… the elderly gentleman who gave up his seat for an expectant mother standing in the aisle.  Also on that jam-packed morning bus were the two men, one my age, one in his 20’s, both sitting on their respective inside seats, defying anyone to try and take the seat next to them by the window.  Far up front I could hear the garbled ranting of a woman loudly cursing someone on a cell phone.  We were all there, the human family in all our goodness and all our suffering, self-inflicted, other-inflicted, hearts longing “stop requested.”

That scripture really pulled my chain.  I’ve heard the Biblical words about loving your neighbor all my life.  I bet most everyone on that bus had heard it, too.  And yet, how often does it go right out the other ear?  I think I’m a Christian.  I want to love my neighbor.  But two minutes later I’ve forgotten who I am.  O, to catch the revealed counsel of God.  O, to find delight and affirmation in acting on those three weighty words—love your neighbor.

I like to say, because I think it’s true, faith is verb.  Love your neighbor sometimes must mean more than thinking kind thoughts about them.  I also know loving my neighbor is hard, especially when the bus is crowded and hot and some of my fellow passengers haven’t bathed in awhile, when the seat is hard and the trip is long, when that annoying man would rather someone stand lurching and clinging for balance than share his bench, and especially, dear God, when people are shouting into a cell phone cursing someone for being inconsiderate and un-loving.

We’re all on the same big bus and loving each other is hard, don’t you think?  All I know to do is look in the mirror and pray to God, a God who loves me just as I am, who knows it’s hard, who knows I fall short, but still wants me to grow in grace and love toward everybody on the bus.  How about you?  What helps you to love?

A fellow passenger and friend on bus #3,

david gilliam, pastor, faith united methodist church, austin

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Feb 11 2012

Blues Lotus Gospel

The Blues. What do you think of?  Sadness. Depression. That great river of sound flowing up from the Mississippi Delta to Memphis to Chicago, on and on.  I have a great love for blues music; but some friends mock me a little on that—”oh, the blues, you mean like: I’m tore down… lost my job… going down slow… born under a bad sign… hellhound on my trail… the thrill is gone… my baby left me… nobody loves me… high water everywhere… dark was the night, cold was the ground… cry, cry, cry.”  Two things.  First, those reflect real human experiences. Most people feel these things; too many of us experience them. I’ve known the blues; you?   Second, blues music at its root expresses real blue feelings; but it wasn’t meant to leave us there. Ultimately, the blues lifts us out of the muck and mire of life. As the spiritual masters say, we must descend in order to ascend. That’s why I sing the blues.

It’s like the lotus flower (Nymphaea caerulea). Rooted in mud at the bottom of a pond or swamp, the lotus rises up out of the mud and the muck, spreading its leaves on the surface of the water, it’s bloom emerging above it all, pristine, beautiful.  It’s no wonder the Buddha is often depicted seated on a lotus. To paraphrase the Buddha, we all experience blues; and we can all find a breath greater than the muck and mire of life.

In the Judeo-Christian songbook we hear the blues in the Psalms.  Most of the songs-poems-prayers in the Book of Psalms are “laments.”  Blues songs if ever there was. Human pain, suffering, struggle, hard times, bad luck, injustice–it’s all there. Their honesty is striking. And, if we listen, we hear the turning point as well, the faith that God hears our cries, knows our needs, and comes to raise us up.  Read Jonah 2 for a class example.

And, who had more reason to sing the blues than Jesus of Nazareth. He took all the brokenness of the human world upon himself.  He descended in order to ascend.  He died and rose again. Good Friday, the brutal death of Jesus, is the New Testament’s most powerful blues expression; but God does not leave him or us there. Easter is God’s answer.  I could name a thousand songs that express the rising, the gospel (Good News) God offers to all who know the blues.  For one gospel taste listen to Patty Griffin’s recording of “Move Up.”  Move on up, above and beyond the muck and the mire of life.  This is my prayer for you.

Just another bluesman on the banks of the river,

David Gilliam

Pastor, Faith United Methodist Church, Austin

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