Rev Peep

What is Circle of Hope?

2012-01-11T14:00:00.000-06:00

I wrote the following for The Dialogue, the newsletter of the church where I serve, First Christian Church, Disciples of Christ of St. Joseph, MO.

For about a year now, the name Circle of Hope has shown up on our church calendar on the second Monday evening of each month. FCC members have naturally asked since we have a women’s circle called Circle of Grace if this is a new women’s circle? Unfortunately it is not another women’s circle, but fortunately for our community, it is a non-profit organization working with families containing individuals with physical and mental health issues. Among the many services they offer, they meet once a month at our church building to offer a support group, “Focus Empowerment Group,” for parents raising children with physical, mental and/or emotional health needs. They have dinner together, and then the children have their own session while the parents get to share their stories and struggles with one another.

The FCC Administrative Board voted in 2009 to allow Circle of Hope to meet in our building, because there is a great need for mental health care and support of families who have children with mental health needs. I have gotten to know a few of these parents who somehow manage to work, hold a family together and raise multiple children, some with and some without special mental, physical and emotional needs. They are often exhausted from caring for their special needs child and the once-a-month meeting may be the only time they get a break and can interact socially with other adults. As with any support group, they benefit from sharing their stories with other parents who know the struggles they face. Circle of Hope provides them with a meal, transportation, child care and most of all an opportunity to feel they are not alone in their struggles.

If your family or a family you know is struggling to raise a child with special physical, mental or emotional needs, I urge you to give Circle of Hope a try. You can call them at 816-671-9190, or visit their website. You can also find them on Facebook by searching for “focusfamilysupport.”

Offering meeting space to a group like Circle of Hope is an important ministry that our church can offer to the community. We have a church building that contains more space than we use-- 90% of the building goes unused most of the week. We may not have the funds to contribute to worthwhile organizations in our community or to start our own, but we certainly have unused space! It is simply good stewardship of our resources for First Christian to share our space with groups that make the kind of difference Circle of Hope does.

Of course, Circle of Hope is not the first community organization we have hosted in our church. The Alzheimer’s Association has maintained an office on the third floor of our building for a number of years providing essential support to families caring for a loved one with dementia or Alzheimer’s Disease. Later this month, we are hosting an orientation workshop for Dream Seekers of St. Joseph, a new organization that provides mentors to people looking to break out of poverty. Once upon a time, FCC also hosted Alcoholics Anonymous groups and other organizations.

There is always a temptation for churches to shut out the community around them and forbid the use of their building by outside groups. Sometimes churches give in to this temptation because doing so is an inconvenience and other times they do so out of a misguided sense of the church building as a museum that must be kept free of contamination. Of course the church’s property should be respected and groups should be considerate of church events, but in my experience community groups are usually so grateful for the free space that they will gladly respond to all such concerns.

A church refusing to share its building with outside groups is essentially idolatry—an idolatry of church buildings—spending more energy, attention and money on a building than upon the God who calls people to share what they have with others. As with all things, the people who make up a church must ask the question, “Does this building belong to me or to God?” If church people answer the former, then they have not read the story of Jesus Christ well. As Paul said, “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross.”

I am proud to serve a congregation that has the “same mind” as Christ Jesus when it comes to sharing our building. The lives changed for the better by these groups are a part of the ministry we offer to the community around us.

Grace and Peace,

Chase

Great Editorial about Royal Family Kids Camp

2012-01-04T12:57:00.000-06:00

My thanks to the editorial page of the St. Joseph News-Press (who'd thought I'd ever say that?) for last Saturday's editorial about First Christian Church of St. Joseph's ministry to abused and neglected children: Royal Family Kids Camp.

2 Prayers for the New Year

2012-01-04T12:45:00.000-06:00

I wrote the following for The Dialogue, the newsletter of the church where I serve, First Christian Church, Disciples of Christ of St. Joseph, MO.

At the end of October, we as a church ended our stewardship campaign with Pledge Sunday. Although our focus in stewardship tends to be about money—and justly so, since money can be such an addictive idol that takes our attention away from God, being a steward of our time and energy when it comes to our relationship with God also matters. One of the things I asked church members to commit to was daily prayer for our church. 32 members made that commitment, and this is the model prayer I supplied them with:

A Daily Prayer for First Christian Church

Loving God, please help First Christian Church of St. Joseph to share your inclusive welcome with all of your children. Inspire the church members—myself included!—to new depths of service to our community. Give us the eyes and ears to experience your love in new and exciting ways as we become the church you desire us to be. In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray these words. Amen

Let this column be a reminder to those 32 to keep up the praying, and even if you miss a day or two don’t stop. I confess to missing a day now and then myself, but I have taped this prayer on my bathroom mirror and pray it most every morning. I cannot quantify the effect it has upon First Christian, but I do know that I have felt a change. I feel more attentive to the work of God’s Spirit in the life of our church. I feel less anxious about its future. I feel that my attention is more on where it should always be—upon God, rather than upon so many other distractions.

If you did not commit to pray daily for your church, I urge you, as your minister, to do so now. We can always use more prayer! If the members of FCC will devote this small amount of time each day to praying a prayer like this one and each member feels the sense of internal change I have described, then I believe we will have a membership more focused upon God, less anxious and more attentive to the work of the Spirit. That cannot help but be a good thing for our church!

Since we are talking about prayer, let me share one with you by Sharon Watkins, the General Minister and President of our denomination, The Christian Church,Disciples of Christ. Dr. Watkins, a dynamic preacher and gifted minister, will speak at our church on October 14. That weekend our region (most of theDOC churches in Missouri) will have their regional assembly, and Dr. Watkins is one of the keynote speakers. She will hang around on Sunday morning and preach at our church. She offered the following prayer for our churches. I encourage you to take a moment and pray it for First Christian Church of St. Joseph:

O God of infinite creativity . . .

At the beginning of this New Year – winter for so many – the rich brown earth is even now preparing to burst forth with a spring of possibilities and new life.

Though the human eye cannot see it, you continue to bless the earth with new beginnings.

We praise you!

Bless us with new beginnings, we pray.

Where we have lost sight of your Reign breaking in – even now at hand –
Renew our vision.

Where we have faltered in reaching out to our neighbor in love, missing the moment to extend a hand of wholeness,
Renew our courage.

Where we have allowed cynicism to dry our bones and sinews,
Renew our hope.

At this beginning of a New Year, dear God, our arms are still warm from cradling the Babe of Bethlehem.

Help us to keep that memory strong.

Strengthen our arms to welcome your many children into communities of love.

Prepare our hearts to burst forth with a spring of possibilities and new life.

Stir us to be and share your love with the same vulnerability, the same humble expectation that brought you into the world in person.

Help us, your church, your disciples, to be harbingers of your reign of justice and of peace fully emerged.

O God of infinite creativity, at the beginning of this New Year, we know that you are about to do a new thing. Help us to perceive it. And to join in.

In the name of Jesus, your greatest new beginning, we pray.
AMEN

May prayer be a significant part of your 2012!

Grace and Peace,

Chase

A few thoughts on finding joy and/or happiness

2011-12-27T12:08:00.000-06:00

Alonzo Weston interviewed me for his story published this past Saturday in the St. Joseph News-Press about finding happiness and/or joyfulness in life. I was honored to be asked.

Take a look--if you haven't already exceeded your 10 on-line story per month limit on the News-Press site.

My Christmas Wish List 2012

2011-12-22T14:15:00.002-06:00

I wrote the following for The Dialogue, the newsletter of the church where I serve, First Christian Church, Disciples of Christ of St. Joseph, MO.

In my almost five years at First Christian Church, I’ve made it a custom in the final Dialogue of the year to make a list of things I’m wishing will come to be by Christmas a year later. So, here’s what I’m hoping for in the coming year:

A Better Economy—I’ve been wishing for this one for the last three years. My heart continues to go out to people in our church and community who are unemployed as well as those who depend upon government and private programs to get by—programs facing cuts!

New Energy at FCC—It’s been great to see some new church members come in 2011 with new ideas and the desire to make those ideas happen. I wish for even more of the same next year—new energy to not only offer new ideas but to actually make them happen.

Authority Figures Who Actually Respond to Sexual Abuse—Whether it is people in high positions at Penn State University or in Protestant and Catholic churches, I’m wishing for authority figures who actually put the welfare of children above the reputation of their institutions.

Courage at FCC—At the end of 2010, First Christian took the courageous act of becoming Open and Affirming of all people, including LGBT people. Over the last year, we have faced criticism from outside the church and complaints from some inside the church. I wish for our church to have the courage to see that it is on the right side of history and the right side of God’s grace, so that it will celebrate the love of God for all people rather than listening to those who refuse to open their hearts.

A Great Quarterback for the Chiefs—I like Matt Cassel. I like Kyle Orton. Heck, I even thought Tyler Palko was a nice guy in spite of his interceptions. I’m wishing, however, for my favorite team to actually get a great quarterback rather than just an average one.

Faithfulness During Transition at FCC—As a church, we continue to welcome new members while at the same time we continue to mourn the deaths of long-time members. All the while, some of our members who have served faithfully for years must make the difficult choice to step down due to aging and health concerns. I’ve only been here 5 years, and in many ways the church feels like a whirlwind of change. I know it feels even greater to those who have been here many more years than me. Meanwhile, for new folks, everything about FCC is a significant change from what they have known before. I wish for our church to hold on tightly to God and to each other as we continue to ride this roller-coaster of relationships together.

Quit Messing Up Facebook—I along with every other Facebook user I know makes the same complaint: just when I get used to (and by get used to I mean make peace with) the last overhaul of Facebook, they screw it up by changing it again. Isn’t it enough, Facebook, to have the majority of the world using your social networking device; must you torment us with your constant changes?

FCC Embracing Its Role in the Community—In January, I will have served First Christian for five years, so that makes me a newcomer to St. Joseph. Perhaps that’s why it is easier for me to see the significant role the church plays in St. Joseph. FCC remains an often lonely voice in our community for a faith that is open-minded, inclusive of all people, and grace-oriented rather than judgment-oriented. We cannot offer the types of programs offered by larger churches in our community who have more money and members than we do. But, we can offer a vision of God’s saving work in the world that brings hope to people who have given up on the church as an institution. I wish for FCC to stop being afraid of its God-given role in St. Joseph and to embrace it as a joyous privilege!

I look forward to hearing your wishes for 2012.

Grace and Peace,

Chase

Zombies, Vampires and Meth Dealers, Oh My!

2011-12-07T17:51:00.001-06:00

Among the podcasts I listen to regularly is On Being--I preferred it's previous title Speaking of Faith--a program on religion, meaning, faith, etc.. Last week's show was particularly meaningful to me as a consumer of pop culture. Diane Winston, who writes on pop culture and religion was on the program talking about the prominence of the supernatural on TV right now--from The Walking Dead's zombies to the vampires of The Vampire Diaries to the morality tale of Breaking Bad. I particularly thought her comparison of the morality tales occurring on TV now to passion plays to be interesting. I highly recommend this particular program. I've added W inston's blog to my list of favorite blogs.

Tim Tebow and the Real Religion of December

2011-12-07T16:56:00.000-06:00

I wrote the following for The Dialogue, the newsletter of the church where I serve, First Christian Church, Disciples of Christ of St. Joseph, MO.

Sure, Christmas music is on the radio, decorations are up around town and culture warriors are blathering on about the supposed “War on Christmas.” You may be under the impression that religion in December is all about Christmas. Or if you are more pluralistic in your thinking, you may allow for Hanukah, Kwanza and perhaps even neo-Pagans and Wiccans celebrating the winter solstice. The more cynical among us might offer that the annual orgy of materialism is the real religion of this time of year. Yet, I declare to you that the real religion of December is football!

Yes, if we measure religion according to the amount of energy and devotion given communally by a society to a given thing, complete with rituals, financial expenditures and demonization of one’s enemies, then good old American football is the real religion of December. Weekly, adherents of particular denominations (teams) don their religious garb (assorted team clothing, t-shirts, jerseys, etc.) and encamp themselves in front of their altars (TV sets) and communally feast (hot wings anyone?) while they lose themselves in ecstatic displays of passion often couched in language of good vs. evil. Whether it’s college games on Saturday or pro games on Sunday, this same ritual is enacted throughout the land—and attendance is far better than at churches and synagogues. The more devout among us go on pilgrimages to their local shrines (sports bars) or the temples (stadia) themselves, where they dress themselves in costume and engage in ritual meals with one another (tailgating).

I must confess some devotion to this religion as well. I only listen to sports radio between the beginning of NFL training camp and the Super Bowl, but you should hear the amount of time, passion and energy devoted to the game. This is especially true when the college bowls announce their picks as they did this past weekend. Occupy Wall Street has nothing on the outrage expressed at the BCS rankings. College football fans across the nation rail against the greedy, monopolistic cabal of coaches, universities and conference executives who reap millions off of college football and care nothing for the ordinary people (much less about the athletes they exploit). When multinational corporations and Wall Street banks operate this way it is only free market capitalism, but when the BCS does so, it is blasphemy!

Perhaps no player this year has embodied this religion more so than Tim Tebow, quarterback for the Denver Broncos. His on-field and on-camera moments spent bowing in prayer after a win have even sponsored an on-line phenomena called “Tebow-ing,” defined by the official website as “(vb) to get down on a knee and start praying, even if everyone else around you is doing something completely different.” I can’t tell if the people “tebowing” in the pictures on the web while fighting fires, visiting the Grand Canyon, etc. are really into it or merely being sarcastic (both probably).

Tebow has been outspoken about his faith and declared in a USAToday article making its rounds on Facebook that just as you would want to tell your wife you loved her on national television given the chance, how much more so would you want to tell Jesus Christ you love HIM in as public a place as possible? Those who have followed Tebow’s impressive career should not be surprised by these public displays of faith, after all this was the same guy who wrote “John 3:16” in eye-black on his cheeks during his college games. Of course, football players kneeling in the end-zone isn’t new, but Tebow has managed to mix the religion of football with that other December religion (Christianity) in a manner that has grabbed the spotlight.

First of all, let me say that I am predisposed to dislike Tim Tebow because he plays for the Broncos. As a life-long Chiefs fan, in my book there’s not much good anybody can do who wears a Denver uniform. As the parent of two boys, I admit, however, that I guess I would rather them see an NFL player kneel in prayer than get caught in a scandal like Brett Favre or Ben Roethlisberger, a point many of Tebow’s defenders have made. Yet, as a Christian parent (who is also devoted to the religion of football) I am uncomfortable with the mixing of these two religions. I guess I would have my sons learn that rather than bowing in prayer in front of millions of on-lookers, loving Jesus means feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, caring for the sick and visiting people in prison as in Matthew 25.

Although I don’t think Jesus would begrudge folks having fun at a game, I feel pretty sure that God has more important things to worry about than who wins a football game. Then, of course, there are Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount about praying in public: “And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” I don’t know if Tebow is a hypocrite—from what I can see, he seems like a pretty darn good guy and his faith is genuine—but his public prayers seem to have brought more attention to him rather than to the God he desires to praise.

Although I will be participating in the sacred rituals of football just like millions of others this December, I sure hope I give at least as much attention and love to the God of that other December religion as I do to Tim Tebow and his fellow football players.

Grace and Peace,

Chase

Sources Used in Sunday's Sermon

2011-12-07T16:37:00.000-06:00

I try to have some pastoral integrity and cite my sources in my sermons. If it's somebody else's idea, I want to give her or him credit. Yet given the fact that I speak without notes, I inevitably forget from time to time to give credit where credit is due. I received some very good feedback regarding Sunday's sermon and want to make sure I list my sources for it.

Sunday's sermon was entitled "Spiritual Halitosis" an idea I got from reading about the "breath of God" in Isaiah 40. The breath of God gives true life and reminds us of our mortality, whereas the air we ingest often is life-taking and idolatrous--hence bad spiritual breath. On Peace Sunday, the second Sunday of Advent, I offered the idea that we must begin to work for peace by moving from an inward peace and then move outward to peace in our closest relationships and then to the world.

I made use in the sermon of the wonderful book by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat Spiritual Literacy: Reading the Sacred in Everyday Life. It is a wonderful collection of thoughts on the spiritual life. From this book, I got the wonderful story of the woman who went shopping in Jesus' mall store by Megan McKenna. Also, I got the great thoughts about faithful parenting--Mother Theresa's exhortation to some wealthy matrons to create peace in their families before they worked with the poor and homeless and the words of Polly Berrien Berends who declares that "parenthood is the world's most intensive course in love." and by Gary Snyder that having a "child in the house is like living with a Zen master, it requires attention, patience, and selflessness." Finally, I took from this book the story by Joseph Campbell about the woman who could not love God, to whom the Hindu sage urged to love her family member and that would be her service and love to God.

I also quoted one of my favorite authors, Frederick Buechner, from his terrific book Wishful Thinking: A Theological ABC. He writes about compassion:

Compassion is the sometimes fatal capacity for feeling what it's like to live inside somebody else's skin. It is the knowledge that there can never really be any peace and joy for me until there is peace and joy finally for you too.

Also, I referenced Parker Palmer's wonderful book The Active Life where he quotes a friend who declares, "I have never asked myself if I was being effective, but only if I was being faithful."

Hear the words of the prophet Bono on World AIDS Day

2011-12-01T10:41:00.000-06:00

On this World AIDS Day, I encourage you to read the words of the prophet Bono in the NY Times today who praises America for how much we have accomplished fighting AIDS and asks us to finish the job--cutting funding would sentence millions to death. He credits the US with leading the fight to stop the epidemic in Sub-Saharan Africa and saving millions of lives. Yes, the irony is not lost on me that the president whom I dislike so much--George W. Bush--was instrumental in making this good stuff happen. Let's hope Obama's announcement of new goals actually results in the "end" of the epidemic.

A Child in Weakness Born

2011-11-30T13:10:00.001-06:00

I wrote the following for The Dialogue, the newsletter of the church where I serve, First Christian Church, Disciples of Christ of St. Joseph, MO.

BrianWren, probably the greatest living hymn writer (some of his hymns are in The Chalice Hymnal which we use for worship), writes in one of his hymns the following lines:

When pain and terror strike by chance, with causes unexplained,

when God seems absent or asleep, and evil unrestrained,

we crave an all-controlling force ready to rule and warn,

but find, far-shadowed by a cross, a child in weakness born.

I can’t think of any better words to reflect upon as we begin this Advent season together.

This past Sunday I preached on Mark 13 and pointed out what I felt was most important about these strange apocalyptic verses: Jesus’ exhortation for us to keep awake and stay alert to the presence of God in our midst. Unlike many interpreters who understand all of this passage to be about the end times, I side with those who view much of this chapter as referring to Jesus’ first coming among humans. Understood this way and within the context of the Gospel of Mark’s narrative, Jesus is urging his listeners to be awake and alert to God’s activity NOT in some non-specific future but right here and now. So, I urged those present in worship to “keep awake” and “stay alert” this Advent.

In an effort to foster wakefulness and alertness, I offer a few moments from my week where I have seen God at work in the midst of my own life.

This week the presence of God came in the form of a puppy—as in, we have a new puppy at the Peeples’ home. We adopted him this weekend from the animal shelter. We’ve had a vacancy at our house left by our faithful 16 year-old Jack Russell Terrier Buddy, who died in July. Buddy’s age meant that he would rather lay on the carpet than chase our boys around, but he was patient with Julian’s and Jameson’s overzealous efforts to love him. Our other dog, 11 year-old Jack Russell Terrier Katy, was a rescue when we got her years ago and she is not particularly social nor in any way tolerant of boys who wish to play with her. So, we’ve had two boys with a lot of love to give a pet (and two parents as well) and no one to receive that love.

When the boys met the 8 month-old Jack Russel mix Snuggles at the shelter (that’s right, Snuggles, the boys named him—I would have preferred Joe or Flash or Triumph but was outvoted) and he crawled in each of their laps to gratefully receive their attention, something clicked and a hole was filled. We still get sad thinking about Buddy, but the sadness has been joined by the joy of having Snuggles (I’m still getting used to the name though).

Sure, it is perhaps too easy to see the divine in the love between boys and their new puppy, but I’ve been touched this week in ways that go beyond any kind of “awww. . . ain’t it cute” schmaltzy thing. I’ve been reminded that each of us was created to receive and give love. We are not complete with only one and not the other. As God makes room in our lives for others, we carry out something essentially sacred with one another.

Snuggles is fragile, in the way of puppies, and it’s been fun to watch the boys take care of him and learn to be careful with something so fragile. Our boys get less and less fragile day by day—wasn’t it just yesterday I held them as infants and worried I would break these fragile miracles? Now they are growing and learning to take care of others—a puppy, each other, perhaps one day their parents. There is joy in the giving and receiving of love—a joy mixed with fear over being vulnerable enough to receive the care of another.

By preparing ourselves for Christmas, we are readying ourselves to contemplate anew the God who came to us in the Christ-child—helpless and in need of human caregivers. What does it mean that the God of the universe came not as an “all-controlling force ready to rule and warn” but rather “far-shadowed by a cross, a child in weakness born?” Perhaps God felt that there was something greater to be gained for us humans trough offering us the chance to give and receive love than through only experiencing domination and control. Does not the vulnerability of God point us toward the value of being vulnerable with one another? May you give and receive love this Advent season.

Grace and Peace,

Chase

A Royal Family Christmas

2011-11-29T11:46:00.000-06:00

Saturday night we had a wonderful fundraiser for FCC's ministry to abused and neglected children, Royal Family Kids Camp. Over $13,000 was raised! Here is the article about it in Sunday's News-Press and the story that aired on KQ2.

The “Sacrament” of Sharing the Bread and the Cup

2011-11-23T14:05:00.000-06:00

I wrote the following for The Dialogue, the newsletter of the church where I serve, First Christian Church, Disciples of Christ of St. Joseph, MO.

Yesterday, I visited one of our older members at home and we shared communion together. Charles Wilcox has not been in Sunday Worship at First Christian in the five years I’ve been here due to painful back problems, but I’m willing to give him a break since he’s 94 years old and has literally been coming to FCC since he was born. Those who have come to First Christian in recent years may not know Charles, but he was a vital part of the church and its ministries for many decades—teaching youth Sunday School, serving on the Administrative Board and even serving as the church attorney pro bono.

As we shared the bread and the cup together, Charles shared his memories of the church. His parents were members when the church moved from its building at 10^th and Edmond Streets and built its current building in 1918. He remembers C.M. Chilton (FCC pastor from 1898-1944) and how the church threw him a birthday party and gave its pastor a new putter. He has watched children grow up in the church and move away, some never to return and others who eventually settled back in St. Joseph. His memories of the history of FCC are a treasure and I, as the current minister at FCC, was honored to hear them. The bread and cup we shared together was only the latest in many hundreds of times Charles has taken communion at FCC. Through the bread and cup, we were “in communion” with all those who had gone before at First Christian Church of St. Joseph.

When I returned home from visiting Charles, I had the small wooden communion box with me which contained the grape juice and the leftover communion bread from Sunday. My sons, Julian (8) and Jameson (5), clambered around it. They knew what it was and since they were home sick Sunday, they demanded that they take communion then and there. Even Jameson who has trouble speaking urged me to “say the prayer about the blood.” So, in my kitchen, I took communion with my sons and as I said the words of institution, Julian joined in to echo my words said each Sunday about Jesus giving us new chances with God. As we sipped our Welch’s grape juice and pinched off pieces of bread, I experienced a different kind of grace with yet another new generation of FCC members. Like many parents before me, I shared communion with my children thanks to this church and marveled at the mystery of God’s love that unites us.

Whether in living rooms of homebound, at a kitchen counter with children or in the sanctuary on Sunday morning, we share a wonderful and mysterious grace with one another and with God. Thanks to the Holy Spirit, we commune with those who have gone before us, those who are currently present with us and those who come after us. This simple act of bread and cup exists somehow beyond the limits of time and space. It is a wonderful mystery.

At its most basic definition, a sacrament is a means for humans to experience God’s grace. Different denominations hold to different definitions of what constitutes a sacrament and different rules regarding whom may partake of them, yet from their beginning Disciples of Christ—who were not very firm on many things when it came to belief and practice—were firmly committed to the idea that ordinary bread and ordinary wine or grape juice had great spiritual significance.

Although different Disciples churches hold to different standards today regarding just how open their open communion is, I have always insisted when I am at the communion table that our communion is really, really open. Our denomination was founded in large part as a reaction againstthe restrictions placed upon communion by other churches; keeping to that principle, I firmly believe that the opportunity to experience God’s grace via the bread and the cup is not limited by our beliefs or lack thereof, but rather by the breadth and depth of God’s grace—which is to say, it has no limit. I often remark at the communion table “Whatever your faith or whatever your doubts, you are welcome at this table, because it is Jesus who has invited you and we will not get between you and Jesus.” The wonderful mystery of God’s grace that unfolds in the sharing of bread and cup is not limited by place or time. Likewise it is not limited by the divisions we human beings make between one another.

We do not believe that the bread, wine and grape juice we share in communion is anything other than the ordinary stuff we buy at a store. Likewise we do not believe that the life-giving salvation of God is dependent upon how often we take communion on Sundays. Yet, at the same time, we profess to experience the mystery of God’s grace in these ordinary things however often or rarely we choose to partake of them. How strange that ordinary bread and juice can capture the imagination of a 94 year-old man at home, two boys in their own kitchen or an entire congregation on Sunday morning! Thanks be to God!

Grace and Peace,

Chase

The Effects of Fear at Penn State

2011-11-23T14:00:00.001-06:00

On November 13, I preached on fear and how living in fear leads to violence. We fear losing what was never ours to begin with and we will do anything to keep it.

I mentioned the Penn State sexual abuse scandal as an example of people afraid to damage a beloved institution and to lose personal fame and power. Having read the November 21 Sports Illustrated issue with its coverage of the scandal only reinforces my belief that fear was at the heart of the scandal--fear overrode even a most basic sense of morality--e.g. protecting children. Also, this week's episode of this American Life does an excellent job explaining the mindset of Penn State's culture and how misguided love for that culture allowed the scandal to happen.

Giving Credit Where Credit is Due

2011-11-18T20:47:00.000-06:00

In my November 6 sermon, "Hope in the Midst of Grief" I began my sermon by telling the story from The Life of the Buddha of when the young sheltered prince Siddhartha (later to become the Buddha) first encounters people who have aged, are sick and have died. My point was that each of us goies on a similar journey in life realizing that suffering and death are realities of life and we must (like the Buddha) find our own answers regarding finding joy and happiness given these realities.

What I failed to mention in my sermon was that I got the idea to tell the story from a sermon by Rev. Lissa Anne Gundlach at Unitarian Church of All Souls in NYC. Her sermon is excellent and well worth reading. My apologies for not giving credit where credit is due.

Rethinking My Religious Prejudices

2011-11-18T19:20:00.000-06:00

I wrote the following for The Dialogue, the newsletter of the church where I serve, First Christian Church, Disciples of Christ of St. Joseph, MO.

I like to think I’m a pretty open-minded guy when it comes to people who hold religious beliefs different than mine. I’ve realized lately, however, that I am not immune to religious prejudice. In my own faith journey, I have moved from a narrow understanding of how God works in the world to a much broader one. I do my best to avoid generalizations, stereotypes and judging those holding beliefs different from my own. Sure, I have my close-minded slip-ups, but generally I pride myself on being open to all different kinds of religious people. Well, as the good book says, “Pride goes before the fall,” (Proverbs 16:18) and I’ve been swallowing my pride this year when it comes to my self-perceived open-mindedness. Yes, I’ve bumped up against the limits of my “open” mind thanks to what many commentators are calling “the Mormon Moment” with two Latter Day Saints running for the Republican presidential nomination: Mitt Romney and John Huntsman.

Having been raised as a Southern Baptist, I grew up from birth learning that the only way to heaven and the only way to truly be in a “right” relationship with God was “accepting Jesus Christ as my personal lord and savior.” As I grew up and my exposure to people of different beliefs than my own also grew, I began slowly to see that God could work in the lives of people who held different beliefs than I did. First, I learned that God was present in the lives of non-Southern Baptist Christians. I was shocked to discover that Methodists, Lutherans, Nazarenes and others were actually Christians too. Later on, I began to drop my suspicions of Catholics, Pentecostals and Charismatics. When I went to college and seminary, I got the chance to study and even meet adherents of non-Christian religions; what a disconcerting process it was to learn not only was there much I identified with in other religions but I also could sense the love and compassion of the God I knew at work in them.

I developed a new kind of humility towards my own beliefs, and I slowly but surely came to a place where I learned to unashamedly claim my own religious beliefs while at the same time stop short of concluding that my beliefs necessitated that anyone who did not share them be misguided at best and on the side of evil at worst. I’ve learned to tell my own religious story and to learn from the stories of others rather than to engage in debates over who possesses the one and only truth. I have also learned to judge religious beliefs less on the tenets of a particular faith and more on the ethics those tenets result in. I have discovered that dangerous and unhealthy forms of religion exist everywhere—including in my own little corner of the sacred—just as there are life-giving and healthy forms of religion everywhere.

All this sounds nice and happy, but old prejudices die hard. A few weeks ago, when the pastor of FirstBaptist Church of Dallas, TX declared at a religious political event that MittRomney was not a true Christian and a member of a cult, I knew exactly what he meant. There was a part of me that even agreed with him. Back in the 1980’s, there was a film called The God Makers going around in conservative church circles which purported to show all the crazy non-Christian beliefs of the Latter Day Saints or Mormons. I watched this film multiple times and I think I still even have the companion book that goes along with it. As I heard that Southern Baptist megachurch pastor utter his opinion of Mormons, I found myself sort of agreeing with him—which is frightening in itself, since I doubt seriously I would agree with him about anything else. My suspicions were aroused that my understanding of a fast-growing American religious movement was based upon some drastically biased secondary information.

So, in recent weeks, I’ve been trying to rethink my prejudices towards Mormons and to do a religious gut check to see what other groups I unfairly judge. I’ve been reading the writings of JoannaBrooks, a college professor, feminist and self-named “unorthodox Mormon” . She offers a critical yet loving perspective as a person who grew up Mormon and remains a part of its culture that somehow blurs the line between insider and outsider. A recent interviewwith her on the public radio show OnBeing helped me to understand and even empathize with Mormons even as it confirmed some—but by no means all—of what I thought I already knew about Mormon beliefs. Although there’s plenty about LDS or Mormon beliefs I do not share and even some things that are difficult for me to understand, I have discovered God at work in a movement that I had previously regarded as decidedly beyond redemption. Sure there are plenty of cases of unhealthy and destructive uses of religion in LDS life, but they are hardly alone in that regard—think of the Roman Catholic sexual abuse scandal, hate speech by Protestant Christians towards LGBT people, etc., etc., etc.

I share my experience of reevaluating Mormonism, because I think all of us need to reassess how we regard and treat people of different religious beliefs and practices. In the world we live in, religion can literally be the spark that ignites a firestorm of violence. In the run-up to the 2008 presidential election, I expressed my dismay at how the beliefs of Barack Obama’s Chicago church were misrepresented for political gain, in the same way, my hope is that the Mormon faith of Mitt Romney and John Huntsman will not be similarly abused. If we are truly to love our neighbors as ourselves in the way of Jesus Christ, I believe we must find ways to live in a society that is religiously pluralistic. We can be faithful in our own beliefs without operating from distorted perceptions of the beliefs held by others.

Grace and Peace,

Chase

Your Homework for Sunday

2011-10-05T14:59:00.000-05:00

I wrote the following for The Dialogue, the newsletter of the church where I serve, First Christian Church, Disciples of Christ of St. Joseph, MO.

Three weeks ago, I did something a little bit different during my Sunday morning sermon. I asked those present to take two of the note cards in the pew racks and to write something on each of them. On one card I instructed folks to write something they were thankful for, and on the other I told them to write down a resentment, slight or grudge they were holding on to. Then I asked them to place one of the cards into the offering plate when it came around and noted that although the cards weighed the same in physical terms, in spiritual terms the contents of one of those cards were much more difficult to carry around. It was up to each person present which card they would let go of and thankfully most people seemed to let go of the card containing a resentment, grudge or slight. I hope that act also helped them to let go of that bitterness in their lives as well

The idea of the note cards was not my own. It came from David Lohse, a preaching professor at Lutheran Seminary in Minneapolis. I heard Lohse speak at a conference last year and felt that unlike many of the other preachers he actually seemed to possess the virtue of humility—a quality rarely found in preachers, so I’ve kept up with his writings. Each week he offers thoughts on the seminary web site about how to engage this week’s lectionary scripture passages. (The lectionary is a list of scriptures for each Sunday over a three year period. I try to follow it in my preaching schedules most Sundays.) This week Lohse has another interactive idea I would like to try with you, although it requires some work beforehand.

Lohse suggests preaching on Psalm 23—you know the psalm you usually only hear at funerals: “The Lord is my shepherd. . . “ With the scripture’s emphasis upon trusting God to provide for you and me—through good times and bad—throughout our lives, we should think about two things: the blessings we already have and the things we want to have. He argues that even in the midst of more difficult economic times that our “wants” usually pale in comparison to the blessings that really matter. Although I am sure there are exceptions (aren’t there always exceptions?) I am willing to bet that Lohse is correct. The following is his idea.

So, here is your assignment. Take out two sheets of paper. On one of them write down a list of blessings in your life—you decide how long the list should be. On the other write down things you want—again you decide how long the list should be. Compare the two. That’s all.

Once you have made your two lists think about what would happen if the list of blessings were taken away. Then think about what would happen if you still had your list of blessings but you never acquired any of the things on your list of “wants.” I wonder what you would discover.

I am going to do this exercise myself and I hope you will do it too. (I guess this will also be an experiment in seeing how many people actually read my column in The Dialogue and if anyone is willing to respond to what I write here.) I know that plenty of our FCC folks are a lot like me. When I am challenged to do something like this, I often think I know the point of it ahead of time and don’t bother to take it seriously. Well, as your minister, I’m asking you to take this seriously. Take a few minutes out of your busy life and assess your blessings and your wants. See what you find out.

I would really like to hear what you find out. In fact, I would like to have some of you share what you found out on Sunday. If you don’t feel like sharing it publicly, why not let me share your findings anonymously without mentioning your name or any specifics. I believe we all would benefit from hearing from one another. You can tell me Sunday morning or better yet, e-mail me between now and then. How do your blessings and wants compare?

Grace and Peace,

Chase

Why Have a Worship Service Centered on John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme?

2011-09-23T15:23:00.000-05:00

This Sunday at First Christian we will do something different. A jazz quartet will accompany our singing and perform some renditions of the great jazz saxophonist John Coltrane’s masterpiece A Love Supreme. Why?

One reason is that our gifted accompanist and exceptional jazz pianist Jeremy Gregoire and I wanted to do something a little different in worship. We decided a jazz service sounded like fun and like a different medium to experience the worship of God. Then we looked for an approach; jazz is a pretty big ocean to swim in after all. At what point do you jump in? Jeremy suggested we consider Coltrane’s A Love Supreme.

Being a jazz ignoramus, I asked Jeremy to educate me. He showed me Coltrane’s liner notes, and right there in black and white Coltrane declares this four-song album is “a humble offering to God.” It’s not a shallow shout out to the divine as musicians do now at awards shows but rather a deep meditation on the “supreme” love of God. The fourth song is entitled “Psalm” and is a musical accompaniment to a poem of praise to God that Coltrane wrote (also included in the liner notes). Here are Coltrane’s own words about the album:

ALL PRAISE BE TO GOD TO WHOM ALL PRAISE IS DUE.

Let us pursue Him in the righteous path. Yes it is true; “seek and ye shall

find”. Only through Him can we know the most wondrous bequeathal.

During the year 1957, I experienced, by the grace of God, a spiritual awakening

which was to lead me to a richer, fuller, more productive life. At that time,

in gratitude, I humbly asked to be given the means and privilege to make

others happy through music. I feel this has been granted through His grace.

ALL PRAISE TO GOD.

As time and events moved on, a period of irresolution did prevail. I entered

into a phase which was contradictory to the pledge and away from the

esteemed path; but thankfully, now and again through the unerring and

merciful hand of God, I do perceive and have been duly re-informed of His

OMNIPOTENCE, and of our need for, and dependence on Him. At this time I

would like to tell you that NO MATTER WHAT . . . IT IS WITH GOD. HE IS GRACIOUS AND MERCIFUL. HIS WAY IS IN LOVE, THROUGH WHICH WE ALL ARE. IT IS TRULY —A LOVE SUPREME —.

This album is a humble offering to Him. An attempt to say “THANK YOU

GOD” through our work, even as we do in our hearts and with our tongues.

May He help and strengthen all men in every good endeavor. . .

May we never forget that in the sunshine of our lives, through the storm

and after the rain — it is all with God — in all ways and forever.

ALL PRAISE TO GOD.

With love to all, I thank you,

John Coltrane

A “love supreme” indeed! That sounds like church to me! See you Sunday!

Grace and Peace,

Chase

What I will be preaching about on 9-11-11

2011-09-09T13:12:00.000-05:00

I was one of a number of clergy asked by our local religion reporter what I would be preaching on 9-11. Here’s what I gave her:

I began work at a church in a Wall Street bedroom community on Long Island two weeks after September 11, 2001. In the pews each week sat women and children whose husbands and fathers had died in the World Trade Center. Others sat nearby who had made it out alive. The small town in which our church sat included over 60 people who had perished that day. Everyone knew someone well who had died on 9-11. As I came to love these people, I also came to understand the desire by many for revenge. I too wanted to bomb the hell out of those who had hurt us so badly.

Yet in the recesses of my soul, I also remembered the command of Jesus to “love your enemies” and the teaching of the Apostle Paul, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Despite my desire for revenge, I heard the difficult call of Jesus to choose the path of sacrificial love. Yet, that call was largely ignored by our nation. In the aftermath of our nation’s trauma, I believe we saw the best and the worst of our nation’s soul. We saw the best in the sacrificial work of rescuers and first responders along with the desire of many to serve a greater good by enlisting in the military. Yet, we also saw the worst in our collective howls for revenge, decisions to go to war based upon falsehoods, acts of xenophobia and intolerance, and our inability to reflect as a people upon what kind of world do we truly wish for our children.

Over the past ten years we have chosen the path of war rather than peace. We have asked the few in our military to suffer and die in our name while the vast majority of us have refused to be inconvenienced in the slightest. Unlike earlier generations who collectively sacrificed in a time of war, we have chosen wars we can ignore and refused even to pay the bill for trillions of dollars spent on the wars. We have used the deaths of our people who died on 9-11 as an excuse to visit death upon thousands of noncombatants whom we viewed as collateral damage in our “war on terror.” We have not asked the difficult questions of what the seeds of our violence will produce for generations to come. We missed the call of Jesus to make a different, better world and chose instead to continue the cycle of violence that claims “an eye for an eye.”

As we approach the ten year anniversary of 9-11, Jesus’ lament over Jerusalem echoes to us once again, “If you had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace!”

Grace and Peace,

Chase

My Letter to the Editor of the St. Joseph News-Press

2011-08-30T16:07:00.000-05:00

Recently a letter to the editor appeared in the St. Joseph News-Press which criticized the title of a sermon I preached almost two years ago. Interestingly, the letter writer not only criticized me but also a letter written a week earlier by FCC member Keith Evans. I have no idea if he knew the connection between Keith and me. I will put links to the letter I’m responding to along with Keith’s letter on my blog. Below you will see my response.

Dear Editor,

I am responding to an April 18 letter by John Beggs of Maryville in which he referenced a sermon I preached at the church where I serve, First Christian Church, Disciples of Christ of St. Joseph, MO. Although he neither heard the sermon nor knows me personally, Mr. Beggs labeled me a “Marxist” and a “hatemonger.” Although this isn’t the first time someone has called me names, usually people who disagree with me wait until our first or second meeting before doing so.

I preached the sermon on September 13, 2009 and its title was “Jesus is not a Rich, White Republican.” I stand by this declaration, especially as we near another presidential election year, because people in all times and places who have wealth and are in the majority have always sought to domesticate the divine to justify their hold on power. Over the last few decades the Republican Party has been particularly adept at claiming Jesus is on their side in the culture wars. Democrats are by no means above attempting to do the same; they just aren’t any good at it. My sermon was a denunciation of all who seek to co-opt God to legitimize their own power.

Had Mr. Beggs heard the sermon, he would have heard me declare “Jesus is also not a poor, black or brown, Democrat.” Although I did give the caveat that since Jesus clearly identified himself with “the least of these” in Matthew 25, he would be found among the minorities and the economically marginalized of every culture. In our culture, the “least of these” are not exclusively black or brown in skin color but are likely to be so. I believe it is neither liberal nor conservative but biblical to declare that while God may love everyone, God is especially concerned with those on society’s margins whatever their ethnicity or politics.

I can only assume that Mr. Beggs and others who prefer to demonize those who disagree with them would not care for sermons like mine nor for the church where I preach. I’m proud to serve a church that fully welcomes and accepts people of all sexual orientations, skin colors, ethnicities, incomes and abilities. I am also proud to serve a church that does more than charity but dares to ask why our society chooses to oppress so many of God’s children. All are welcome at First Christian St. Joseph, but be warned, if you come, people like Mr. Beggs may call you names.

Rev. Chase Peeples

First Christian Church

St. Joseph, MO

The story from Sunday's sermon

2011-08-18T16:18:00.000-05:00

This past Sunday I preached a sermon entitled "Everything You Know About Forgiveness is Wrong" and in it I told the amazing story of Mary Johnson and Oshea Israel. Johnson's son was killed in 1993 by Israel and because of her Christian faith, Johnson eventually sought out her son's killer in prison and forgave him. Since that initial meeting in 2005, the two developed a relationship where Israel grew to consider Johnson a second mother and Johnson considers Israel to be like a son. Upon release from prison, Israel moved in next door to Johnson and together they now work with victims of violent crime.

To hear and read the story in their own words, check out the following links:

Storycorps interview of Johnson and Israel on NPR
From Death to Life--the non-profit Johnson started to work with families who have had loved ones killed as a result of violent crime
CBS news story about Johnson and Israel
article in St. Paul Pioneer Press about Johnson, Israel and Israel's mother sharing Christmas dinner together after Israel's release from prison

Whose God are You Voting For?

2011-08-17T19:14:00.001-05:00

Texas governor and presidential candidate Rick Perry declared April 22-24, 2011 “Days of Prayer for Rain in the State of Texas.” Unfortunately for Texas, God did not grant rain and since that time Texas has suffered one of the worst droughts in its history. I’m just cynical enough to ask whether our country might be better served by someone who has a better track record when it comes to making God control the weather. Think of the next time a hurricane comes towards the U.S. coastline, don’t we want a president who can pray it away?

This is not the only time Perry has brought God into his political sphere—and by the way we’re not talking here about a general, civil religion, non-sectarian God, but rather Jesus Christ of the evangelical Protestant variety. Throughout his career, Jesus has been a part of his pro-gun, anti-tax, anti-regulation, pro-life agenda. At his August 6 Houston prayer rally, “The Response—a Call to Prayer for a Nation in Crisis,” Perry declared, “As a nation, we must call upon Jesus to guide us through unprecedented struggles.” I guess American citizens who are Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and atheists should call upon Jesus too.

Critics of Perry’s prayer rally took issue with the sectarian and exclusive nature of the event being led by a governor who is charged with serving all the state’s citizens as well as the event’s participants which included the American Family Association. The AFA has been labeled a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center because of its denigration of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, Native Americans and other minority groups. By the way, did you know that the First Amendment applies only to Christians and therefore Muslims shouldn’t be allowed to build mosques? I didn’t either, but according to AFA leaders it does and they can’t.

Of course, Perry is not the only presidential candidate who has Jesus in his or her pocket; Michelle Bachman also has Jesus guiding her politics. She has spoken about her legal education at Oral Roberts University where she learned a particular understanding of the role of government called “Christian Reconstructionism,” now popular among the Religious Right and among religious members of the Tea Party. Among this ideology’s tenets is a belief that God has set the proper role of government, a role which does not include things such as public education and any type of assistance to the poor. Instead, God desires a “Christian” government which is Libertarian in most ways, except when it comes to the enforcement of an evangelical Christian worldview. The government should stay out of your life except if you are a woman determining what happens in your own body, a gay or lesbian person who wants to marry someone of the same gender or a non-Christian who wants your government to represent you as well as evangelical Christians.

Lest anyone think I am partisan in my criticism of politicians using Jesus to promote their own ideologies and build their own power bases, I am equally as offended when Democrats drag Jesus in to their campaigns. (Anybody remember Barack Obama’s speech to the 2004 Democratic National Convention? “We worship an "awesome God" in the Blue States . . .”) The Democrats, however, are usually so inept at invoking religion that they undermine themselves and spare people like me from having to criticize them. (Remember when Howard Dean said his favorite New Testament book was Job?) Be assured, however, that Bible verses can be quoted and Jesus’ name invoked to support any part of the Democratic agenda too.

As the presidential campaign season heats up, will you vote for the Republican God or the Democratic God? Or. . . How about we take a step back and learn to view all religious claims made by politicians with a healthy dose of skepticism. As people of faith who know the disastrous history of mixing religion and politics, we should regard any politician’s use of Jesus for the cheap political ploy it is. Instead, we should look for leaders informed by their own particular faith but open to the beliefs of other faiths and even the beliefs of those who claim no faith. We should expect leaders who claim to be Christians to follow the teachings of Jesus that condemned acts of public piety geared towards public approval. As Americans, we should expect our leaders to guard the rights of all our nation’s citizens to practice their religious beliefs (or lack thereof) without interference from the government. We should reject politicians who use religion as a tool to demonize political opponents and who refuse to honor respectful religious dialogue between people of different points of view.

When God becomes a political talking point, all people of faith are worse off.

Grace and Peace,

Chase

Reflections on the Disciples of Christ General Assembly

2011-07-26T13:53:00.001-05:00

I'm catching up on my blog after a very busy month. I wrote the following earlier this month for the newsletter, The Dialogue, of the church where I serve, First Christian Church, Disciples of Christ of St. Joseph, MO.

Last week I returned from the national meeting of our denomination, the General Assembly of the Christian Churches, Disciples of Christ in the United Statesand Canada. These meetings take place every two years and it is a time to learn about what is happening in the denomination, network with like-minded folks and address particular social issues. Being new to the Disciples, I still feel like a bit of an outsider at these events, but I’m growing more comfortable in my new denomination. This is only the second General Assembly I’ve attended. I feel sure those who came up in the denomination, attending Disciples colleges and seminaries, active on denominational committees and boards, could give you a better picture than I of what the Disciples are up to nationally, but here are my reflections.

In an age when denominations like ours are declining in numbers and influence, the Disciples are especially so. The combined pressures of the bad economy and a shrinking church could be felt everywhere at the meeting. Yet, compared to my first General Assembly two years ago, I experienced a much more positive and forward-thinking outlook by the church’s leadership. Last time around, I came away feeling the denomination was in survival mode and merely circling the wagons as it slid into complete irrelevance; this time, I saw some of that but saw a lot more of people forced to let go of ways of doing things that no longer work in today’s context. The net result was a meeting that highlighted churches who were transforming from dying congregations to communities with new life and vitality. Granted most Disciples churches continue to die, but it was both hopeful and exciting to learn about churches that had made the right decisions to dream new dreams and make a difference in the 21^st century.

Yes, as is true of most mainline denominations like ours, the average age of participants was somewhere above 175 years old, but compared to two years ago, I saw more younger clergy and laity represented at all events. Also, throughout all events, the leadership had made a concerted effort to be inclusive in terms of gender and ethnicity. The result was a program that looked a lot more like the Kingdom of God in its diversity than just a bunch of Caucasian men.

A disappointing omission in the diversity of people in leadership at the meeting was the lack of openly gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people. With a few exceptions, the elephant in the room that many seemed not to want to discuss remains the full inclusion of LGBT people in Disciples life. I was encouraged, however, when Sharon Watkins, the Disciples General Minister and President was reelected for a second term and she mentioned pursuing meaningful dialogue as a denomination regarding the inclusion of LGBT people as one of her priorities. While at the assembly, I attended the GLAD Alliance Banquet (GLAD = Gay and Lesbian Affirming Disciples). GLAD Alliance continues to be the main voice for speaking up for the full inclusion of LGBT people in Disciples life. Our church was recognized at the banquet for becoming Open and Affirming in 2010. I was proud to represent FCC at the event.

Of course, I gained much from hearing wonderful speakers like Holly McKissek ofSt. Andrew Christian Church in Olathe, KS, the dean of Disciples preaching FredCraddock and the celebrated author and leader in the “emergent church” BrianMcLaren. I also felt blessed to participate in a healthy discussion about immigration reform and an immigration reform prayer walk on the streets of downtown Nashville. Yet, I especially appreciated the business sessions which took on some difficult issues but did so with civility. A resolution regarding sexual abuse in the church became a little difficult when different people who had been abused took issue with whether they should be called “victims” or “survivors” of sexual abuse. People spoke against and for both terms based upon their experience of abuse. In the end, a compromise was struck and both terms were used, but more importantly the voices of those who had previously been silenced were heard. My sense was that discussion and debate still mattered at the assembly rather than things being rammed through by a few power brokers in a back room

On a personal note, the General Assembly was meaningful for me because I attended it with my father, who is now also a Disciples minister. Both of us know the pain of leaving the church we grew up in, yet he lost more than I did when he left Baptist life behind. He let go of a lifetime’s worth of relationships that mattered to him. I had only begun my career in ministry when I chose to no longer claim the Baptist label. On the last night, he sat with a group of ministers who had all previously been Baptist but were now Disciples. They had known each other in their previous lives. As they sang and worshiped together, they experienced a sense of healing as they reunited in their new church family. Perhaps that is what I will take away most from the General Assembly—the belief that at its best, our denomination—just like our local church—can be a place for those who have been rejected and excluded elsewhere.

Grace and Peace,

Chase

Stories from Royal Family Kids Camp 2011

2011-07-26T13:45:00.000-05:00

I'm catching up on my blog after a very busy month. I write the following earlier this month for the newsletter, The Dialogue, of the church where I serve, First Christian Church, Disciples of Christ of St. Joseph, MO.

Last week First Christian Church held its 19^th Royal Family Kids Camp at Camp FarWesta in Stewartsville. 34 children who have experienced abuse and neglect from their families enjoyed a week where they could just be kids in a setting that was safe and where all attention was on them. Unlike other camps which have “camp counselors” who take care of many children, at RFKC “special friends” (for these kids the word “counselor” has a particular and possibly negative connotation) have only two children a piece in their care. At the end of the week, camp staff debriefed and told about their experiences with the children. Here are a few of them. (Names have been changed in order to protect the privacy of the children.)

A girl named “Jane1” told her special friend near the end of the week that she wished camp would last for two weeks. The special friend replied, “Oh, but we have to go back to our families.” Jane1 then said, “My family doesn’t want me to come back home.”

On the last night, a boy named “John1” blew bubbles with his special friend to whom he said, “I’m going to blow a bubble big enough to take you home to Kansas City with me.”

A girl named “Jane2” refused to talk all week long until the last two days. On the last night of the week, the children, who often do not get to celebrate their own birthdays, receive a box filled with presents. One of the presents was an MP3 player with the camp songs loaded on it. Jane2, whom had been almost silent all week, put on her earphones and walked around singing songs about God’s love at the top of her lungs.

“John2” had been difficult all week and often combative. Toward the end of the week, his special friend spoke sternly to him. John2 stopped and asked, “Are you going to hit me? That’s what my dad does when he’s mad at me.”

“Jane3” asked a special friend at bedtime one night if she was safe to fall sleep. The special friend assured her that she could fall asleep because she was safe here. Jane3 responded, “One night I thought I was safe. My mommy was there with me. But I wasn’t safe.”

“Jane4” cried at bedtime, so her special friend stroked her hair and sang to her. Jane4 said, “God put you here as my special friend, my guardian angel, because no one has ever been able to put me to sleep except you and my mom.”

“Jane5” opened up her birthday box on the last night of camp to find a box containing a necklace. Jane5 stared in wonder at it for a moment then quickly closed the box. She then found some Scotch tape and taped the box shut. A staff member said, “Oh Jane5, that necklace is yours. You can wear it. Nobody will take it away from you.” The small girl replied, “I want to give it to my mom.” The staff member answered, “Oh, O.K., but I’m sure your mother has lots of nice things, and this was a gift for you to enjoy.” Jane5 said, “We don’t have nice things in my family.”

· Almost five children die every day as a result of child abuse. More than three out of four are under the age of 4.

· Child abuse occurs at every socioeconomic level, across ethnic and cultural lines, within all religions and at all levels of education.

· Over 60% of people in drug rehabilitation centers report being abused or neglected as a child.

· About 30% of abused and neglected children will later abuse their own children.

· About 80% of 21 year olds that were abused as children met criteria for at least one psychological disorder.

Please pray that the 34 children who attended RFKC this year.

Grace and Peace,

Chase

What I Learned at Conflict Resolution Training

2011-07-26T13:39:00.000-05:00

I'm catching up on my blog after a very busy month. I write the following last month for the newsletter, The Dialogue, of the church where I serve, First Christian Church, Disciples of Christ of St. Joseph, MO.

This past weekend First Christian Church of St. Joseph along with First Christian Church of Maryville hosted a 2-day training on Interpersonal Conflict Resolution Training. The training was led by facilitators from the Community Mediation Center in Kansas City, and eighteen people attended from St. Joe and Maryville representing social service providers like the YWCA, InterServ, Youth Alliance and the abuse shelter in Maryville, along with MWSU faculty and staff, and other members of the community. Together we learned about what is necessary if you want to be a peacemaker by helping others work through conflict. Here are a few of the many things I took away from this important event.

Start with yourself. I came prepared to learn tools about helping others work through their conflict, but I discovered that we spent the bulk of our time learning how to manage conflicts within ourselves. I guess I should have known this already, but it turns out if you actually want to help others communicate and work through conflict, then you have to do things like listen and communicate in a way that makes sense to others. Huh? I thought I was just going to focus on other people’s issues, but I found out that can’t happen until I work on my own first.

Stress changes things. Again, put this one in the column for things I probably should have known already but never really spent much time thinking about before. When a person is under stress, that person doesn’t listen as well. In fact, stress takes strengths possessed by a person and amps them up to an excessive level which can turn them into weaknesses. For example, a person who likes helping others can become needy and dependent upon others' approval; or a person who is a decisive leader can become demanding and dictatorial. Conflict is stressful, and even when you are trying to help someone else work through their problems, their stress can become your stress turning you into part of the problem rather than an ally in finding a solution.

Having winners and losers doesn’t end conflict. Many of the world’s so-called peace treaties don’t lead to real peace, instead they only continue the conflict. Whether the stakes are an accord between warring factions or a divorce decree for warring spouses, when only one side wins, the conflict hasn’t really been resolved. At the training, we talked about the idea of moving beyond winners and losers towards helping people in conflict to create something new. For example, a divorced couple fighting a bitter custody battle could choose to continue the fight disregarding the needs of their children or they could create a new situation that puts their children first. Finding that shared purpose is at times a difficult process, but the end result looks a lot more like real peace rather than a simmering continuation of the fight.

People are people. A highlight for me was working through some of the exercises with another participant who happened to be African American and Muslim. He and I have had very different experiences in life, but as we shared our own experiences with conflict in our own lives and talked about healthy ways to deal with them it turned out we had quite a lot in common. We both struggle with the frustration that comes when we feel misunderstood and effort it takes to communicate with others we disagree with in ways that build bridges rather than deeper divisions. I was reminded how much alike people really are. We all wish to be understood. We all desire others to really listen to us. We all seek positive ways forward in complicated relationships despite our limited skills.

Grace and Peace,

Chase

Who Would Miss First Christian Church of St. Joseph?

2011-07-26T13:33:00.000-05:00

I'm catching up on my blog after a very busy month. I write the following last month for the newsletter, The Dialogue, of the church where I serve, First Christian Church, Disciples of Christ of St. Joseph, MO.

How does a church measure success? A for-profit business can measure its success according to its profit in a given year. A non-profit entity can measure its success in clients served. Yet, a church can have lots of money and members and still not be a success. Why not? A church’s success is entirely dependent upon its faithfulness to God and its decisions to model itself upon the sacrificial love of Jesus Christ. A church can be faithful to God and sacrificial in its love—or not!—no matter its membership or money. Of course, at First Christian Church we work hard to respect different points of view and different under-standings of God’s leadership in our lives, so how do we—in our diversity—come to a common understanding of what it means to be faithful and sacrificial in our love? Here’s one idea.

One way of determining if we as a church are faithful to God and sacrificial in our love is to ask the hypothetical question “If First Christian Church, Disciples of Christ of St. Joseph, MO were to close tomor-row, who would miss it?” After all, if we are truly be-ing faithful to God then we would be creating a space where people’s lives are transformed by their experi-ence of God, and if we were being sacrificial in our love, then people both inside and outside the church would know firsthand what it means for a community of people to care for them. If not, \then neither those inside or outside the church would miss First Christian if it closed.

From my perspective as FCC’s minister, I do believe the church would be missed by the members of the church who actually attend and have relationships that matter with other church members. (As for those members who either rarely or never attend or partici-pate, I can only wonder if the church matters to them open or closed.) I also believe that the church would be dearly missed by some more recent members and regular attendees who have experienced a welcome at FCC that they have not known elsewhere. These are folks who have felt excluded or judged at other churches but who have found FCC to be a community that truly welcomes them. I also think the church would be missed by people in the community who at-tend other churches or no church, but who nonetheless appreciate that there is a church like FCC in their town, a church that welcomes all people, values freedom of belief and seeks to care for those who are considered “the least of these” in society. An acquaintance of mine likes to say, “I’m not a religious person, so I don’t go to church, but if I did, I would go to First Christian.”

In terms of outreach (ministry to the needs of people outside the church), however, I wonder how much FCC would be missed if it closed tomorrow. Our church has played a significant role in past years of getting minis-tries started, such as the Open Door Food Kitchen, Faith in Action and others, however the success of these ministries since their beginnings now means (thankfully) that FCC is only one church among many involved in them. While our contributions of funds and volunteers matter and would surely be missed, other churches would hopefully step in to fill any gaps left by our disappearance.

There is one big exception to this rule when it comes to our outreach ministries, however: Royal Family Kids Camp, our annual ministry to abused and neglected children in our area. Although camp directors Sandy and Ken Hamlin do a great job of drumming up support from other churches and area groups and businesses, the fact remains that if our church did not make RFKC happen each year, it would not happen. In the 19 years that FCC has made a RFKC camp happen in our area (there are al-most 200 other RFKC camps elsewhere), hundreds of children who have experienced difficulties that are hard to comprehend have experienced God’s love in tangible and dramatic ways. If FCC closed tomorrow, RFKC would cease to happen in our area and these children who have experienced the worst that life has to offer simply would not know that there are adults in the world who serve a loving God and seek to care for children rather than abuse them.

This Sunday is RFKC Sunday where we as a church will commission this year’s 34 staff members and celebrate what God has done in the camps of previous years. We will be reminded of the difference our church can make in its community when it chooses to be faithful to God and to love in sacrificial ways. Thankfully First Christian will not close tomorrow. I hope you will come Sunday and see one of the most significant reasons why that is a good thing!

Grace and Peace,
Chase

Speaking Metaphorically

2011-06-14T14:59:00.000-05:00

This piece was originally written for The Dialogue, the weekly newsletter of the church where I serve, First Christian Church, Disciples of Christ of St. Joseph, MO.)

This past Sunday we began the season following Pentecost. As we follow the liturgical church calendar, we mark each Sunday going forward by how many Sundays it has been since Pentecost (the First Sunday after Pentecost, the Tenth Sunday after Pentecost, etc.). We will do this until we reach Advent (the four weeks prior to Christmas) when we start our annual journey through the church seasons (Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter and Pentecost) all over again. The season following Pentecost is the longest of the year and symbolizes where we are as a community of believers—doing our best to experience God in our daily lives. According to traditional Christian doctrine, we experience God by means of the Holy Spirit.

The problem with the Holy Spirit is that who and what the Holy Spirit is remain elusive. The portrayal of the Holy Spirit in the Christian scriptures is vague when it comes to describing what the Holy Spirit is but quite concrete in describing the Spirit’s effects. Although the characters in the New Testament do not know when the Spirit will visit them or in what way they will experience it (flames, strange tongues, dreams, intuitions, human fellowship, etc.), the early church grows in number and spreads geographically according to the Spirit’s direction. Furthermore, according to the account of Pentecost in the Acts of the Apostles, we the readers are meant to understand the Spirit that energized the early church as the same Spirit of God who was at work throughout the history of Israel and the history of the world. Yet even this biblical background is not enough for us to adequately capture what or who is the Holy Spirit.

As I shared Sunday, the “Great Schism” between the Western and Eastern Churches occurred among other reasons because of a disagreement over the nature of the Holy Spirit. The Western Church insisted the Spirit originated with Christ (Christ came first!), while the Eastern Church declared the Spirit as part of the Trinity was always present as an equal “person” of God. Each view has its strengths; theologian John Macquarrie notes that the Western view maintains consistency with Jesus and guards against extremism justified by a claim of the Spirit’s leadership, i.e. if it is not consistent with the love of Jesus then it’s not truly Christian. Maquarrie also notes that the Eastern view, however, recognizes that God’s Spirit is at work outside the church in the entire world, even in other religions. I figure why choose between the two? Why not believe in a Spirit that is consistent with the sacrificial love of Jesus Christ and that is at work everywhere?

As with most things with God, we humans are left to grasp for language to describe who and what God is. We are left with metaphors. When it comes to the Holy Spirit, the church has long spoken of the Trinity or the three “persons” of God or the Spirit of the resurrected Christ, yet each of these terms works only to the extent they help believers to understand their experience of God. To teach about the Spirit, and thus the Trinity, I have used the metaphor of water (able to be a solid, liquid or gas yet still water) or a metaphor from physics of a “force field” (the field of energy that exists between all living things), yet those metaphors have their limits too. Even the name “Holy Spirit” only goes so far in helping us understand the presence of God in our lives. The experience of the Spirit must come first, and language can only trail behind trying to express what that experience was like.

In the season after Pentecost each year, the best counsel I can offer is for believers to be aware of the metaphors we use to describe our experiences of God. To the extent that those metaphors are loose and enable you to speak of God without limiting your understanding of who God is and what you believe God can do in your life, the metaphors are healthy and good. To the extent that those metaphors are rigid and result in you placing limits upon what God can do and who gets included in the activity of God, the metaphors are unhealthy and destructive. As we seek to sense the presence of God in our midst, may our language allow room for what the apostle Paul named as the “fruits” of the Spirit: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” When our language allows these “fruits” to blossom, then we will know our metaphors are worthy of the God we claim to serve.

Grace and Peace,

Chase

Resisting Temptation

2011-06-07T17:01:00.001-05:00

(This piece was originally written for The Dialogue, the weekly newsletter of the church where I serve, First Christian Church, Disciples of Christ of St. Joseph, MO.)
At the end of 2010, I wrote the following in my annual wish list for the coming year:

No Celebrity Cell Phone Pics—I don’t care if you’re Brett Favre or a mistress of Tiger Woods, I wish for a year where I don’t have to hear about anyone getting in trouble for taking a picture of a body part with their cell phone and sending it to someone else. In this case, technology is not our friend. (This wish also counts for non-celebrities.)

Ah those were the days—when we only had to worry about athletes taking pictures of their body parts and sending them out for the world to see! So much for that 2011 wish; now we have to worry about politicians. (As I write this, I have turned off the news, because I’m tired of hearing about Rep. Anthony Wiener’s stupidity. He’s only the latest politician to send pictures of himself via his cell phone camera.) What is it with guys taking pictures of themselves naked?

In the light of day (or the glare of TV cameras!), stupid choices look like what they are—STUPID. The dam-age done to marriages and other important relationships, the loss of trust and credibility, and the pain caused to so many are plain to see. Yet, our moments of temptation often do not come in such public moments but in private when we fool ourselves into thinking that our actions and their consequences need not ever meet. As I watched politicians and clergy in recent weeks stammering before news cameras, the words of Jesus kept coming to my mind: “For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open.” (Luke 8:17 NIV) Not every sin we commit goes public—at least in this life, but perhaps it would be a good idea if we lived as if it would. We may not be politicians, famous athletes or celebrities, but each of us is human and not immune to temptation. Here are my thoughts about how to resist temptation.

1. Plan ahead. When word got out that a minister with whom I’d gone to college and seminary had an affair with another staff member at the church he served despite having a beautiful wife and adoring children at home, I was shocked. I recall talking to a friend about it and saying, “I never thought he was the kind of guy who would do such a thing.” My friend replied, “He just never had the opportunity before.” Those words have stuck with me, and I’ve reflected since on how we are seldom prepared for moments when temptation strikes. Opportunity is everything. In calm moments, it’s a good thing to think about what could happen and how you will respond. Thinking actions through ahead of time results in better choices.

2. Avoid tempting situations. When addicts go to rehabilitation, they are instructed to avoid streets with known drug dealers and relationships with people who use drugs.
The same can be said for any kind of temptation—avoid situa-tions where you know your will is weak. This goes for visiting the refrigerator late at night or where you surf on the internet. Most of the time, we know where we are going before we get there, cut short the trip or don’t take it at all.

3. Community matters. There’s a reason why anony-mous groups work—they provide intimacy, accountability and safety. They are safe spaces where a person can be vulnerable and honest with people who understand yet won’t let others excuse bad behavior. We all need such places. The church is supposed to be such a place (but often unfortunately is not). Although there’s sometimes a fuzzy line between vulnerability and exhibitionism, there are appropriate ways for people to share their struggles and gain support in any healthy congrega-tion.

4. Don’t judge. Learn. The sex scandals of politi-cians and clergy illustrate how hypocrisy only increases the misdeeds. My mother always said, “Those preachers who preach about sex all the time are obsessed with it and are the worst offenders.” She was right and the same is true of politi-cians, celebrities and ordinary people too. Often the most judg-mental have firsthand experience of the bad behavior in ques-tion. Our energy is better spent taking the mistakes of others as warnings of what can happen to us in our weak moments.

5. Pray. Each Sunday at FCC, we pray the Lord’s Prayer which includes “Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.” We ask God to lead us away from temptations and to save us from the many evils that infect our culture—those evils include the unhealthy selfishness which is at the root of all temptations to commit destructive acts. That prayer and others like it make a difference. They stiffen our own resolve while being honest about our weaknesses before God. They tap into a power greater than ourselves—God’s power to accom-plish what is impossible for us alone. Prayer should not be un-derestimated.

We may not be public figures subject to a media-driven sham-ing, but all of us have our moments when what we have done in secret comes out into the open. Such moments are painful—all the more so because they are avoidable.

Grace and Peace,
Chase

Memorial Day

2011-05-31T14:56:00.000-05:00

(This piece was originally written for The Dialogue, the weekly newsletter of the church where I serve, First Christian Church, Disciples of Christ of St. Joseph, MO.)

There’s nothing wrong with grilling out or heading to the lake on Memorial Day Weekend, but come Monday we are asked as a society to honor those who have died and been wounded in service to our country. I confess that I didn’t do much memorializing yesterday; I spent it trying to get over a miserable head cold. If you—like me—missed your opportunity to honor those who have served (hopefully you were having more fun), maybe these thoughts will help offer some perspective.

I heard the great documentarian Ken Burns’ interviewed yesterday and it turns out his next work is on Vietnam. He mentioned that he was of age to be drafted but drew a high draft number and did not have to go. I thought once again about the differences between generations, and how I, having grown up barely remembering Vietnam, never had to know the fear of being drafted. Although I cannot know for sure, I feel that the war in Iraq and the length of the war in Afghanistan would have faced more opposition had a greater percentage of our nation borne the pain of war. If most Americans were truly worried about having a son or daughter killed or about a child having his or her limbs blown off, would we really be so blasé about war and its effects? As it is, a minority of our citizens knows this pain and makes such sacrifices, so we spend billions to continue these wars and think nothing about preventing future ones.

A few days ago, I received the following forwarded e-mail from a member of my church in New York who asked me to share it with my church here and pray for the family mentioned. The wounded young soldier described is the brother of one of her students. The e-mail is written by soldier’s mother.

Dear Friends,

Last Sunday we received word that our son Liam had been seriously wounded by an IED explosion in Afghanistan. Liam has sustained numerous injuries to his upper and lower extremities: his left leg has been amputated above the knee & his right leg is broken in two places. Surgery has been done on both his arms and we are told he may lose his right arm. Liam has a collapsed lung and is not breathing on his own. Liam is stable enough to be transported & will be arriving at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland this evening. We were able to speak with a nurse who is at Liam's side and she tells us that he is "a fighter"...As we get ready for this upcoming Memorial Day Holiday, I am asking all of you dear friends to keep Liam and our family in your thoughts and prayers as we wait for the unexpected. Please also pray for all those men and women who everyday are putting their lives at risk and pray for their safe return! Thank you with love, Marci

It does not need to be Memorial Day for us to remember Liam and his family in prayer as he seeks to recover from his wounds. May we remember in prayer him and all those who suffer from similar wounds, along with their families. May we remember in prayer the families grieving loved ones who have died in these wars. May we remember those who are serving in harm’s way. That seems like the least we can do as Americans. But as we pray for them, I believe the very least we can do as Christians is to not only pray for our soldiers and their families but also for our nation’s enemies and their families. Jesus, after all, taught us to do so. Perhaps if we begin with prayer for our soldiers as well as for our enemies, then we will not be content to allow the few to bear the sacrifices for the many nor for alternatives to war to be left untried.

Grace and Peace,

Chase

The Rapture Didn’t Happen, So What are You Going to Do with the Rest of Your Life?

2011-05-24T17:01:00.001-05:00

(This piece was originally written for The Dialogue, the weekly newsletter of the church where I serve, First Christian Church, Disciples of Christ of St. Joseph, MO.)

The Rapture didn’t happen on Saturday, as predicted by the self-taught Bible prophecy interpreter and fundamentalist Christian media mogul Harold Camping. Millions of true believers were not immediately beamed to heaven, and the other six billion heathen were not left to undergo a time of tribulation as they waited for the final destruction of the world in a few months. Life pretty much went on as it had already been going on. Given that the end of the world didn’t happen, perhaps now is as good a time as any to do some reflecting upon what exactly you will do with your life now that you get to finish living it. Here are my suggestions of what we could do now that we have been given an apocalyptic reprieve.

1. Let’s pay less attention to old white male fundamentalists! Emory University

Religionprofessor Gary Laderman sums things up well in a piece written after thenon-rapture. He writes, “Even as American society grows more religiously diverse . . . all it takes is one older white fundamentalist Christian proclaiming some message of violence or hatred to a create a media frenzy and get the world talking about theology on the fringes (which can, in the right political circumstances, take the fringe to the heart of the mainstream). Terry Jones is one recent example with his attack on Islam but the list is long and includes such figures as Pat Robertson, James Dobson, and Jerry Falwell.” Here, here! Wouldn’t our lives be better spent doing something else besides rewarding the bad behavior of these folks with the attention they crave?

2. Let’s advocate our own religious views with humility. Okay, sure, maybe you—

like me—watched Camping and his followers on TV with a mixture of pity and amusement, but pretty much every religious person holds beliefs that a non-believer would find ridiculous. Non-Christians find most Christian beliefs to be unacceptable if not laughable—e.g. the virgin birth, the simultaneous humanity and divinity of Jesus, the resurrection, the miracles of Jesus, etc. The same can be said about any other religion from the perspective of one who does not adhere to it—e.g. reincarnation, God giving Moses the Torah at Mt. Sinai, Muhammed receiving the Qu’ran from the Angel Gabriel, etc. Although religious people may have very good reasons for believing what they do—as Laderman notes. “Like DNA, religious motivations, commitments, investments, desires, etc. are built into and elemental to human life.”—a healthy religious person has to allow for the possibility that he or she may be wrong.

Although we may scoff at the single-minded belief of those expecting the rapture to come on Saturday, shouldn’t we also do a quick gut check regarding our own blindness to possibilities we don’t want to consider. In a culture where those on the extremes get the most attention, isn’t it intellectually honest, if not existentially essential, that we admit the possibility that we might be wrong? Our culture’s competitive, status-seeking and sometimes violent religious landscape could benefit from religious people who showed some humility.

3. Let’s accept the likelihood that the earth is going to be around for a while. Most

of the New Testament urges Christians to be ready for an immanent return of Jesus Christ along with the end of the world as we know it, but unless I’ve missed something, it hasn’t happened yet. As I stated in my sermon Sunday, I still believe in a return of Jesus Christ—just not a violent or destructive one, so I’m not giving up on Christian eschatology (beliefs about the end times). Yet, I do think that since almost 2000 years have gone by without the end coming, we should act, plan and conserve as if the earth is going to be around for a long while. What kind of world do you want your children and grandchildren to inherit? What about their children and grandchildren? Instead of living like the world will end tomorrow, why not get busy doing what you can to make the world better now and do it in such a way that it is sustainable for the future?

4. Let’s spend time thinking about our own individual ends. Okay, so maybe the

world didn’t end this past weekend, but guess what? You’re still going to die. Assuming the world will survive after you, what do you want your life to accomplish? I’m not talking about a bucket list where you go sky diving per se, but rather how do you wish to be remembered? What legacy would you want to leave behind? What difference do you need to make in your life, in the lives of others or in the world? Has God been whispering in your ear prompting you to do something for God’s sake that you’ve been putting off? What makes you think that you will have time later to get that thing (or things) done? The rapture didn’t happen last Saturday, but as much as we may not want to consider it, your end or mine could have happened then or any other day in one of a thousand unexpected ways. A long life to do everything God calls us to do is not guaranteed, so what are you waiting for?

Grace and Peace,

Chase

Chase's Mailbag: I'm Going to Hell--Again!

2011-05-18T14:22:00.000-05:00

(This piece was originally written for The Dialogue, the weekly newsletter of the church where I serve, First Christian Church, Disciples of Christ of St. Joseph, MO.)

Well, it looks like I’m going to hell again. I say “again,” because I’ve gotten used to being condemned to hell by folks who think my theology is liberal or blasphemous. Over the years, I’ve been condemned to hell most often for not believing the Bible is “the inerrant word of God,” but also for my refusal to consider being homosexual a sin, my support of equal rights for women—especially the right of women to be ministers, and for not voting Republican—just to name a few. I’ve come to believe that I must be doing something right if I have upset the sort of people who feel they have the right to decide whom God will show grace to and whom God will condemn to everlasting punishment.

This time around I was condemned to hell because of my views on the Bible. I received an e-mail yesterday from a gentleman who wrote, “You don’t know me - but I am aware of you and your classes in Bible.” Now, I’m not sure which “classes in Bible” this fellow was referring to, but I’m guessing it was the class I taught this spring at Missouri Western: Introduction to Biblical Studies, an academic and secular overview of the Bible from the perspective of critical scholarship. I can only assume he heard about the class from one of the students, and since the perspective of the class was not the same as his perspective on scripture, he felt the need to inform me of my erring ways.

Even though the author felt sure I would take offense at his message—which included an attached article by a conservative minister detailing the nature of a “true Bible Christian”— he felt the “greatest thing he could do out of Christian love” was to share the Gospel with me. He was right; I am offended by his e-mail, but I can cut the guy some slack. Once upon a time, I too believed that it was worth the risk of offending someone if it might mean saving them from an eternity of torture and pain. When your worldview is starkly dualistic and the dividing line between the “saved” and the “damned” comes down to who has the right doctrine or beliefs, it’s pretty easy to convince yourself that just about anything is justified if it results in saving someone from the fires of hell. Such a worldview makes its own particular kind of sense, even if those outside of it consider it nonsense.

I moved outside of such a worldview when the God I experienced failed to conform to its rigid ways. I began to ask some questions: Just who is doing the saving? What do the “unsaved” need to be saved from? Etc. Etc. I realized that it was not I but God who saved people from their own destructive behaviors and failures. Oh sure, I was taught that God saved people through Jesus Christ, but it was up to us, the true Christians, to spread the word and if we failed then the eternal status of our unsaved friends and loved ones was on our heads. When I realized God was the one doing the saving—or in other words, it is God who shows grace to God’s creation, then I also realized that the grace of God did not operate in such a mechanical fashion.

Rather like a vending machine in which you insert the correct amount of money and receive your chosen product, I believed that God would automatically dispense salvation if I believed the right combination of doctrines or had the proper emotional state when I prayed, etc. etc. I came to understand that the grace of God is not mechanical but organic. It flows and grows and spreads in ways that far exceed the limitations we place upon it. Our efforts to reduce the working of God’s Spirit to a transaction or mechanism reveal more about our need to control God than God’s love for us.

I am sure the writer of the e-mail felt he was doing what was right; indeed he probably felt he is being a true Christian. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, I choose to believe he is unaware of just how arrogant he really is. Sending an e-mail to a stranger that professes Christian love yet informs that stranger of his errors and then goes on to describe the consequences of those errors as eternal damnation pretty much defines arrogance. Yet, this author has actually done me a service, just not the kind of service he intended.

He has reminded me once again about my own tendency towards arrogance regarding people I disagree with and how easy it is to reduce them to a caricature rather than viewing them as living breathing human beings. He has reminded me that my conversations about what I believe should flow from my own experience of Jesus Christ and the resulting humility I feel at being loved by God even though I am so often unworthy of that love, rather than out of an arrogant need to control or correct others who hold different beliefs than I do. He has reminded me that such conversations need to take place within relationships where I can demonstrate my love for the other person and learn from them as an equal rather than taking place in a one-sided exchange where I inform them how I am right and he or she is wrong.

Most of all, the author of this e-mail reminded me that I am fortunate to serve a church where our goal is not to enforce doctrinal beliefs but to experience the love of God with and through one another. Our energy is better spent experiencing God through listening to one another and learning from one another rather than policing the border of hell out of fear that God’s grace might not be up to the job.

Grace and Peace,

Chase

FCC is Now a Little More Open and a Little More Affirming

2011-05-14T22:38:00.000-05:00

(This piece was originally written for The Dialogue, the weekly newsletter of the church where I serve, First Christian Church, Disciples of Christ of St. Joseph, MO.)

At our church’s annual meeting last November, the members of First Christian Church adopted the following language into the church by-laws:

“First Christian Church of St. Joseph is open to and affirming of all people whatever their gender, race, age, culture, ethnic background, sexual orientation, economic circumstance, family configuration, or difference in ability. All who seek to follow Christ are welcome into our community to share fully in its life and ministry.”

For short, we called this becoming “Open and Affirming,” which is a title used by churches in our denomination, Disciples of Christ, and our sister denomination United Church of Christ, who have taken deliberate steps to be both “open to” and “affirming of” all people.

As is the case with most churches who take this bold step, most of the light and heat in our process of becoming Open and Affirming centered on questions of sexuality. This is understandable given the debates in our culture over the rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender people (LGBT) and given the many misconceptions about issues such as sexual orientation and what the Bible says and doesn’t say about homosexuality. Although being open to and affirming of all people no matter their sexual orientation involved a of our attention, we should not forget the rest of our commitment to welcoming other groups of people.

I recall vividly the first board meeting when we discussed the Open and Affirming process. Of course, the discussion began with our church’s welcome of LGBT people, but very quickly some on the board recognized the commitment we were making to other groups of people as well. Members of the Property Committee made known that if we took this step as a congregation, then we would have to rethink our facilities to make them more accessible to people with physical disabilities. All were in support of that kind of accessibility, but following through on good ideas takes hard work.

I’m proud to say that the 2011 Board and the property committee in particular have followed through with a major step of being “open to” and “affirming of” people with physical disabilities by renovating our downstairs restrooms. The previous condition of the restrooms made them barely fit for people without disabilities, because few wanted to enter rooms so dark, uninviting and antiquated. Now thanks to the hard work of Rick Ezzell and his fellow laborers, the restrooms are now well-lit and inviting with new fixtures. The most exciting part of the renovation is that a store room was remodeled into an ADA-compliant restroom! Furthermore, although we are still waiting on the wall-mounted changing table to arrive, this restroom will also serve as an unisex family restroom.

Obviously, everyone involved would have preferred an accessible restroom on the main level which gets the most use, but structural issues in our 93 year-old building made such an improvement cost prohibitive, assuming such changes would even have been possible at all. Even though a person must use the elevator to go downstairs to use it, this accessible restroom does allow for someone with physical disabilities complete access to a restroom, something our church has not had in its 166 years of existence. The logistics and costs in this renovation/remodeling were significant and if our church leadership had desired to make excuses for not going through with this project, plenty were available, but I’m proud to say they remained true to our church’s commitment to be “open to” and “affirming of” all people.

Prior to our November vote, a number of church members with adult children who are LGBT expressed a desire for our church to be intentionally welcoming of people who are LGBT in hopes that if their children and grandchildren ever desired to belong to a church we could be that church for them. Shortly after our vote, FCC was rewarded for its decision with a same-sex couple with children joining the church. Their proud parents/grandparents who were already members beamed proudly that Sunday.

Similarly, FCC members who are parents of an adult son who was paralyzed in a car accident have long expressed their feelings that if their son ever came to FCC he would not even be able to use the restroom here. Now, should he attend, our building and our community will be more hospitable than we were previously. There are other families with members who are disabled, and although our old building remains inaccessible in many ways, at least we have taken this important step forward to welcome them.

I’ve mentioned sexual orientation and physical disabilities. Why not take another look at the above statement and consider the other groups of people we committed to being “open to” and “affirming of?” Each of them represents children of families in our church and community, so what more must we do to demonstrate our openness and affirmation of them?

Grace and Peace,

Chase

How Would Jesus Have Us Respond to the Death of Osama bin Laden?

2011-05-03T13:58:00.000-05:00

(This piece was originally written for The Dialogue, the weekly newsletter of the church where I serve, First Christian Church, Disciples of Christ of St. Joseph, MO.)

I’m not sorry he’s dead. I believe every life is precious in the sight of God, and I believe every human being is a child of God, but I’m not sorry Osama bin Laden is dead. I feel a sense of relief that my sons will grow up in a world where they will barely remember a time when Osama bin Laden was alive, because I do not wish for them to see his smug snarling face on TV nor to hear his messages of hate and insane justifications for his followers’ violence. Yet, I also know that my sons will face in their lifetime future bin Ladens who will find new ways to spread hatred and terror around the world. The odds are likely they will experience another 9-11 in their lifetime, and bin Laden’s death will most likely not change those odds.

Oddly, the same day I write this column I responded to an e-mail sent to me last week by one of the 9-11 widows in the congregation where I served in New York. She had sent it last week, before the news broke of bin Laden’s death, but due to my recent move I didn’t check that account until today. As I thought of her and her children, whom I taught in confirmation class, as well as other families who had lost husbands, fathers, mothers, wives, children, and lovers on September 11, 2001 due to bin Laden’s plans, I could muster no sympathy for bin Laden.

I started work at my Long Island church two weeks after the original 9-11 and arrived to find a community in shock, national guardsmen with assault rifles at the train stations and flyers of missing loved ones—by then presumed dead--plastered across New York City and the surrounding towns. The televisions never stopped replaying the images of the planes crashing into the towers. In the months to come, I worked with an interfaith group responding to the terrorist attacks and learned about how the trauma of that day impacted the lives of everyone, from the stock traders killed in the tower to the first responders to the taxi drivers dependent upon fares in lower Manhattan. No, I do not feel anything close to sadness that bin Laden is dead, but I do feel sadness for our world and the cycles of violence we are caught up in.

Now that I’m in St. Joseph, MO, it feels like I’m a world away from 9-11 and its aftermath. Yet, I don’t have to look hard around northwest Missouri to find young women and men in fatigues headed to war, most of whom were children ten years ago when the towers fell. The decisions made after 9-11 to invade Afghanistan and Iraq whether made from a need for retribution, misguided neoconservative ideology, or even sincere patriotism have led to still more deaths and mini-9-11’s for the families of thousands of American service members. Although the advocates for our wars can point (rightly or wrongly) to the fact that there has not been a major successful terrorist attack on American soil in the last ten years as justification for our military efforts, the tens of thousands of civilians killed in both countries beg the question of whether other alternatives should have been considered. Does God hear the cries of a mother whose child has become “collateral damage” in a US missile strike any differently than the cries of a mother whose child has been killed in a terrorist attack? The violence may spring from different motives, but in the end both mothers grieve.

For a time, it was fashionable for American Christians to ask, “What would Jesus do?” I happen to agree with Peter Gomes who remarked that this is the wrong question. The proper question is “What would Jesus have us do?” Asking how Jesus would respond to bin Laden’s death allows us to distance ourselves from the radical call to discipleship that Jesus places upon us, because we can simply shrug and say, “Jesus may love bin Laden, but I’m not Jesus.” No, none of us is Jesus, but those of us who call ourselves Christians must wrestle with Jesus’ words to “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” I don’t believe Jesus’ command to love our enemies means we have to like them or feel anything but revulsion for the violent hatred someone like bin Landen spews, but I do believe Jesus’ command of love does call us to try and see the God-given humanity in our enemies, even ones who have become inhuman in their hatred. Jesus’ command of love is there for our own protection, so that we do not succumb to temptation and respond in kind to the ones who hate us. We risk losing our own God-given humanity when we seek joyous revenge upon those who have wronged us.

This week I will not feel sadness for the death of bin Laden. I will save my sadness for the victims of his crimes. Yet, I will also, for the sake of Jesus Christ who forgave his executioners and calls us to love our enemies, renew my determination to work and pray for a world where our loving God helps us humans escape from our never-ending cycles of violence and revenge.

Grace and Peace,

Chase

It's a Good Friday World

2011-04-20T12:12:00.000-05:00

(This piece was originally written for The Dialogue, the weekly newsletter of the church where I serve, First Christian Church, Disciples of Christ of St. Joseph, MO.)

Once upon a time, somebody described the Christian life as “believing in Easter in a Good Friday world.” I don’t know who said it, but whoever it was got it right. Each springtime we Christians celebrate Easter and even with the holiday’s pagan roots and tales of candy deliver-ing rabbits we still manage to talk about an empty tomb and a guy named Jesus who couldn’t stay dead. Yet, this celebration of good conquering evil, hope winning out over fear and life overcoming death can be a bitter pill for some to swallow. For many, the resurrection has not come yet; they remain in a Good Friday world due to pain, grief and hardship.

Our world is a broken one filled with much violence, despair and disappointment. We live in a world where tornadoes come out of the sky to rip apart lives as happened this week. We live in a world where earthquakes and tsunamis destroy entire cities as happened last month. We live in a world where car bombs and smart bombs kill indiscriminately as happened—pick any day in the last two decades. We live in a world where a few can enrich themselves by cheating our entire nation without fear of ever being held to account as happened in the financial collapse. We live in a world where children are abused, marriages fall apart, women are raped, and people are assaulted for their skin color or their sexual orientation as happens each and every day. The violence and despair of the cross rather than the empty tomb mirrors the reality of much of humanity.

Critics rightfully charge that the events of Holy Week are often empty rituals or worse rituals filled with debilitating guilt and shame, but I prefer to think of them in their best form as an honest appraisal of reality. One of the appealing things for me about Christianity is that, despite the deformed manifestations of it that emphasize prosperity over sacrifice, it faces squarely just how screwed up the world can be. Furthermore, it has the temerity to declare that God gets to experience this world in all its “screwed-up-ness” along with us. Violence, death, betrayal, abandonment, fear, terror, hypocrisy, abuse of power, etc. etc. etc.—it’s all there in the Gospels for us to read, if we dare. If our Easter celebrations are empty of meaning, then perhaps it is because we skipped from Palm Sunday to Easter without stopping at Maundy Thursday or Good Friday.

In our tradition, the ministers of the church do not speak for God; each believer has her or his own relationship with God and can directly experience God’s presence. Yet, sometimes I do perform a sort of “priestly” role for people experiencing difficult times. They come to me in order to share their difficult experiences and in response I get to acknowledge that difficulty and declare that God acknowledges that difficulty too. The events of Holy Week serve a similar purpose. They are a means for us as a church to validate the experience of the one who hurts and doubts by demonstrating in services and rituals that Jesus experienced similar troubles. Holy Week declares that God is not removed but in solidarity with people who are hurting. It is only after we have done this “priestly” work for one another that we can celebrate the empty tomb in a significant manner

The writer Mary Gordon says, “For me the meaning of the Resurrection is the possibility of possibility.” By that, I take her to mean that the resurrection we celebrate on Easter and we hope to experience ourselves is a decision to believe in the possibility that Good Friday does not have an ultimate claim upon who we are. The pain of this life is not all there is and one way or another we will not be defined by our pain but by the grace we experience from God. Yet, if we gloss over the pain or worse seek to deny its existence altogether, then our celebration is trite and without significance. For us to truly celebrate the possibility that our lives, our deaths and whatever we experience beyond them shall all transcend the troubles we have known, we have to admit there are troubles in the first place.

This Holy Week, I pray that you are finding ways to face with courage the broken reality of this world, and that you will journey with the rest of God’s people towards the empty tomb and the promises it offers.

Grace and Peace,
Chase

You can listen to my sermons on my church's web site

2011-04-19T11:29:00.000-05:00

After much delay and much grace freely given by folks who are more technologically proficient than I, my sermons are now available on the church web site as audio files (MP3). You can listen to them on-line.

Folks routinely ask me for written copies of my sermons, but despite the efforts of college and seminary preaching professors, I have never really been able to write a sermon manuscript ahead of time. My style is to speak without notes and the content I've prepared ahead of time may or may not make it into the final presentation depending on my memory, my sense of the audience and hopefully the guidance of the Spirit. Also I've tried having my sermons transcribed and then edited, but that requires more time than I have to give.

So, should any care to hear it them a first or second time, my sermons are now on the web site.

When Evil Goes Public--stuff from Sunday's sermon

2011-04-19T10:59:00.001-05:00

In my sermon this past Sunday--Palm Sunday--I asked the congregation to imagine themselves in the place of the crowd which cheered Jesus on Palm Sunday but mocked him on Friday. I used the analogy of a stock offering--I.P.O--"Initial Public Offering"--to talk about how an evil that belongs to a few is bought into by many--hence a crowd that supports Jesus one day can abandon him a few days later.

One of my illustrations came from a favorite public radio program of mine, This American Life. On a recent episode entitled "See No Evil" excerpts were read from the book Voices of Chernobyl which detailed how all sorts of officials overrode their own consciences and bought into the cover-up and deception regarding the tragic effects of released radiation from the reactor.

I also spoke about Civil War historian and documentarian, Ken Burns' remarks about how a nation would allow its economy to become dependent upon slave labor (the best analogy he could come up with was our current dependence upon fossil fuels even though we know it's bad for all involved), despite the fact that most people knew it was wrong, as well as the many Germans in Nazi Germany who were guilty bystanders to the Holocaust (e.g. Hannah Arendt's book on Adolf Eichmann which labeled it the "banality of evil"). It seems only in retrospect--and many times not even then--can we admit the complex evils we are a party to.

In my opinion only the saving grace of God can truly reveal to us our own complicity in the brokenness of our world in the present tense--otherwise we find our ways to justify our actions until a day when we can admit our faults without having to sacrifice anything to change them.

A Response to Shirley Phelps-Roper--Letter to the Editor St. Joseph-News Press

2011-04-19T10:21:00.000-05:00

The following letter was printed in the St. Joseph News-Press on Saturday, April 16. Unfortunately, I guess their web person was off on Saturday, so they did not publish it on their web site.

April 15, 2011

Dear Editor,

I read the April 14 letter from Shirley Phelps-Roper with dismay, if not surprise. I am disappointed that the News-Press chose to publish her letter and gave her hateful, bigoted mockery of a church free publicity. Although I believe firmly that the expression of diverse points of view is the hallmark of a free society, I do not believe giving attention to the most virulent and extreme viewpoints is the obligation of any media outlet. Whether it is the pastor in Florida choosing to burn a copy of the Qur’an or the Phelps group, at some point the members of the media become complicit in these groups’ bigotry by providing a forum for people who ultimately care only about self-promotion.

As for Phelps-Roper’s statement that nothing can stop the work of her group (presumably because God is on their side), I beg to differ. Her group will be stopped, first of all, when reporters and editors finally stop giving them the attention they crave. When we realize that such offensive behavior is so offensive that it is not worth our attention, we will move on and spend our energy on addressing the real needs of our society rather than wasting it on a group whose behavior amounts to the same thing as a spoiled toddler’s tantrums.

Furthermore, we as a community of people with diverse views and beliefs can consciously choose to not allow a group like Phelps-Roper’s to dictate our behavior. The best response to them is to not lower ourselves to their atrocious standards. Where they sow seeds of hatred, abuse and scorn, let us as a people choose the better way and reap love, dignity and respect. The proper response to Phelps-Roper’s group is to first ignore them and second define ourselves by our deepest values rather than our shallowest prejudices.

Rev. Chase Peeples

Why Make Time for Holy Week?

2011-04-13T14:12:00.000-05:00

(This piece was originally written for The Dialogue, the weekly newsletter of the church where I serve, First Christian Church, Disciples of Christ of St. Joseph, MO.)

The date for Easter changes each year (according to a method of calculation I still cannot understand despite much time spent trying to do just that), but no matter when Easter comes in March or April people are busy. The date of Easter and thus Holy Week prior to it changes, but the ordinary routines of life do not. Children must still be cared for, taken to soccer games and play dates. Elderly parents must be checked on and visited. Doctor visits still must be kept. If you are lucky, you may get Good Friday off, but most likely you are working at least some of the time during Holy Week and Easter weekend. If you have time off, there is probably a voice in your head telling you in a very convincing manner that the thing you need most is to sleep.

For all I know, some folks are at such a low place mentally and physically that they really do need to rest above all else, but I’m guessing the rest of us probably just need to readjust our attitudes, priorities and schedules. So here’s my list of reasons you should make time for Holy Week this year.

1. You’re a Christian, dummy. This stuff is supposed to matter to you. It should be obvious, but I think it needs to be said—in the Christian life Easter should be your most important holiday. I know Easter doesn’t come in the middle of winter when we’re all in need of some cheering up. I know thinking about a baby Jesus is a lot more fun than thinking about an adult Jesus who dies in a horrible manner. I know that giving and getting presents is more exciting than thinking about an empty tomb. Heck, I know that other holidays when you get to drink green beer or send valentines or eat turkey have their appeal. BUT the heart of the Christian faith for each believer should be in some way a sense that Jesus Christ’s rejection, betrayal, suffering, death and eventual resurrection mean something significant. At FCC, I know we have a wide spectrum of belief about who Jesus was/is and what his life/death/resurrection mean, but whoever Jesus is to you the most significant events of his life should be worth reflecting on.

2. You’re part of a church and churches make time for Holy Week. Yes, yes, I know each person can worship God in his or her own way and you can experience God in nature or on your living room sofa. Yada, yada, blah, blah. Every year somebody makes a wise crack to me about the people who only show up at church on Easter and Christmas. Although I know where the frustration comes from, I reply, “Well at least they showed up on Christmas and Easter. What’s everybody else’s excuse?”

A church is about more than individual piety or concerns. It is not about being a consumer of a product. A church is a community of people that gather together in the sight of God, because somehow being together—with all our faults and hypocrisies—means more than being apart. It matters that we are together, and this is especially true during Holy Week as we reflect together on the human capacity for rejecting the ways of God.

3. Rituals are only empty when you choose to make them so. Some long-time church goers may admit when pressed that they have done Holy Week so many times that it has lost its meaning. My reply is to ask, “Whose fault is that?” Sure pretty much every church could use a little freshening up of its Holy Week traditions, but the power of Christ’s last week does not lay in how well the tenebrae service readers do their parts, how well the choir sings or how well the preacher preaches. The power of Holy Week is in the story itself and the difference it makes in the life of the believer. If you walk away unmoved or indifferent or worse—unchallenged in your own complacency, then perhaps you were focusing upon the wrong things.

The rituals of Holy Week—waving palm branches, darkening the lights, partaking communion, celebrating on Easter morning—can be empty if we choose for them to be. I believe, however, that even when we do not feel like doing them, rituals change us. The Catholic writer Mary Margaret Nussbaum writes, “You become what you do. We are shaped from the outside in . . . we bend and we kneel, even when our head is clouded and our spirit is grudging. We cross ourselves even as our faith fails. We light candles and sing "O Radiant Light, O Sun Divine," even when the world seems dark.” As Protestants, our rituals may be different from Nussbaum’s, but her point remains true across traditions--our rituals have the power to transform us “from the outside in.” The rituals of Holy Week certainly have that power.

If you’re reading this church newsletter, then you’re probably not the ideal audience for my thoughts on Holy Week. After all, just the fact that you took time to read your church newsletter indicates that you are more committed than many. However, perhaps even the kind of church member dedicated enough to read the newsletter needs a reminder of the importance of Holy Week.

Grace and Peace,

Chase

Is the Bible True?

2011-04-08T20:25:00.000-05:00

This spring I've been teaching a class on the bible at Missouri Western State University and it's been a great experience. One of the things I have struggled to communicate, however, is the different ways the term "truth" is used when discussions of the Bible's authority occur. There is often an assumption that we are talking about the kind of truth that can be proven in a laboratory or truth that is like the solution to a math problem, but the writers of the Bible were concerned with a different kind of truth--namely what truth does God wish to communicate regarding identity and community.

David Lose, whom I read regularly for his thoughts on preaching, has a really great column published recently on-line on just this subject. I shared it with my class, because Lose manages to make the point I've been struggling to make in a concise and readable manner. I'm grateful to him for putting such an articulate piece out there on such a complicated topic.

What the Hell? (Dialogue Column 4.5.11)

2011-04-08T20:12:00.000-05:00

(This piece was originally written for The Dialogue, the weekly newsletter of the church where I serve, First Christian Church, Disciples of Christ of St. Joseph, MO.)

I have a soon-to-be 8 year-old at home, and despite the best efforts of his mother and I, he is inevitably learning curse words from friends at school. He will come home and ask about what certain words mean, and I’m grateful that we can discuss them by their first letter designations (e.g. the “d-word,” “s-word,” “f-word,” etc.) The strange thing is when as an adult you try to break down the meaning of these bad words they often do not make sense. Although we think we know what we mean when we use them (and yes I’m sad to say they occasionally escape the lips of your minister), the words are often said in ways that make little grammatical sense, much less any other kind of sense.

When it comes to the “h-word,” things get complicated. Unlike other curse words that refer to bodily waste or anatomical functions, “hell” is used in a lot of different ways, most of which people (myself included) don’t take much time to think about. Take, for instance, the title of this column: “What the hell?” (My apologies to anyone offended, but I felt like it would at least grab your attention.) If you think about it, despite its cultural connotations, the phrase doesn’t really make sense, at least not grammatically. Depending on its context it can indicate confusion or resignation (the latter can range from weary to bemused).

I think that confusion and resignation are probably adequate ways of describing how we use the term “hell” in its more grammatically appropriate manner too. When we speak of “hell” as a place where people go for eternal punishment, we usually imagine underground caverns filled with lakes of fire and damned souls undergoing torment. Yet, those images have little to do with any portrayal of hell in the Bible and more to do with Milton’s Paradise Lost, various medieval paintings and in my case, the Bugs Bunny cartoons I watched as a kid. When we actually look at the Bible passages that refer to life after death, we find very little that is clear, thus we read into it two millennia of changing theology. Because these passages are so unclear, confusion and resignation set in—or perhaps a false sense of confidence .

In the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, there is a common belief about an abode for the dead (Sheol in the Hebrew Bible and Hades in the New Testament—both often mistranslated as hell) where the souls of the dead remain in a shadowy existence. Later Jewish thought and Christians along with them came to believe in a general resurrection of the dead when God would let all the souls out of this waiting room and then judge between the righteous and unrighteous. What happens after judgment? That’s not clear. Some texts (for instance some parables of Jesus) seem to describe torment (e.g. “wailing and gnashing of teeth”), but it’s not until later Christian writings from the second century forward that we really get a developed picture of eternal torture. The Bible itself remains vague.

Today, after centuries of changing theology, doctrine, philosophy and culture, we tend to speak about an eternal soul that either goes to heaven or hell. Somewhere along the line we stopped talking about waiting until the end of time for a final judgment. Perhaps waiting that long for a loved one to be at peace proved unsatisfying, just as waiting until the end of time for our enemies to get what we consider to be their just punishment also proved frustrating. Yet, we are no closer to explaining what really awaits people after death than our spiritual ancestors. Explaining the meaning of the phrase “what the hell?” is probably an easier task.

A recent book by the delightfully provocative megachurch pastor Rob Bell, Love Wins, has sparked debate about whether hell is real or at least whether God really sends anyone there. I haven’t read the book, but I’m enjoying watching the charges of heresy fly around. The debate is not a new one. Christians have long debated whether salvation is universal or particular and whether God elects some for salvation via predestination or if humans choose their own eternal destinies via free will. Similarly, in Jesus’ day people were debating whether or not there would be a resurrection of the dead. What strikes me as ironic is how quickly everyone involved in such debates is to condemn their opponents to hell while being so sure of their own salvation.

I know many would call it blasphemy, but I remain unconvinced there is a hell or at least unsure who will end up there, if anyone. What I am sure of, however, is that I have experienced a gracious and merciful God who regularly gives each of us more than we deserve on our own merits. I remain convinced that it is God who holds our souls in God’s hands and it is God who determines what will become of me and others after death. I believe it is not my limited theology, church membership or so-called good deeds that get me into heaven, but rather it is God’s grace alone that I must depend upon. So, I will speak, teach, preach and most of all live depending on what I do know rather than upon what I do not—I may not know much for sure about hell, but I do know a God whose grace I dare not underestimate.

Grace and Peace,

Chase

Lenten Reading Day 9--Waiting

2011-03-20T00:50:00.000-05:00

Henri Nouwen writes:

"Jesus does not fulfill his vocation in action only but also in passion. . . Passion is a kind of waiting – waiting for what other people are going to do. . . That is the great drama of Jesus’ passion: he had to wait upon how people were going to respond. How would they come? To betray him or to follow him? In a way, his agony is not simply the agaony of approaching death. It is also the agony of having to wait.

All action ends in passion because the response to our action is out of our hands. That is the mystery of work, the mystery of love, the mystery of friendship, the mystery of community – they always involve waiting. And that is the mystery of Jesus’ love. God reveals himself in Jesus as the one who waits for our response."

Henri Nouwen, "From Action to Passion," from A Spirituality of Writing in The Weavings Reader ed. by John Mogabgab. Copyright 1993 by the Upper room, as reprinted in Bread and Wine: Readings for Lent and Easter, copyright 2003 the Plough Publishing House.

Lenten Reading Day 7--Misfits at Table Together

2011-03-20T00:21:00.000-05:00

I had cataract surgery this week, so that put me behind posting bits from my Lenten reading. I'll try to catch up in the coming days. This one was from Thursday and it's by Lillian Daniels from the book we're using for a Lenten study this year, The Jesus Diaries: Who is Jesus to Me?:

"It was Jesus who gathered so many sinning misfits together at the table that I can picture myself belonging there too. And its that same welcoming Jesus that makes me long to share a table with Jews, Muslims and Buddhists as a foretaste of a heavenly banquet where there will be room for us all."

Lenten Reading Day 3--when God was an atheist

2011-03-13T00:20:00.001-06:00

Today's bit that stood out to me in my reading for Lent comes from G.K. Chesterton:

"In that terrific tale of the Passion there is a distinct emotional suggestion that the author of all things (in some unintelligible way) went not only through agony, but through doubt. It is written, 'Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.' No; but the Lord thy God may tempt himself. . . When the world shook and the sun was wiped out of heaven, it was not at the crucifixion, but at the cry from the cross; the cry which confessed that God was forsaken of God. . . let the atheists themselves choose a god. They will find only one divinity who ever uttered their isolation; only one religion in which God seemed for an instant to be an atheist."

From G.K. Chesterton, "God the Rebel," from Orthodoxy. New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1908, as reprinted in Bread and Wine: Readings for Lent and Easter. Farmington, PA: Plough Publishing House, 2003.

The Best Criticism of Rep. King's Hearings on Islam and Terrorism

2011-03-11T12:26:00.000-06:00

While serving a church on Long Island, I came to know a number of the leaders at the Islamic Center of Long Island through interfaith events they sponsored. I found them to be thoughtful, hospitable, open-minded, peaceful and dedicated to building bridges to people of other faiths in a spirit of graciousness. The Muslims I came to know were loyal Americans who were grateful to be in a country where they could practice their faith in freedom and safety. At that time, I also came to know Rep. Peter King who routinely attacked Muslims following 9-11, including members of the Islamic Center of Long Island, and painted Muslims in simplistically broad and dangerously xenophobic ways.

So, I was not surprised but still saddened to hear that King, now the chairperson of the Homeland Security committee, has begun conducting hearings regarding the radicalization of American Muslims in a manner that also paints with far too broad a brush and is dangerously xenophobic.

There's been a lot of criticism of King and his hearings from a number of sources, including Christian clergy and leaders, but the best by far I've read is by Melissa Rogers in the Washington Post today. Rogers is the daughter of one of my seminary professors and she is by far one of the leading experts on church/state issues and the First Amendment's treatment of religion. I strongly encourage all thoughtful people to read it.

Lenten Reading Day 2--Following or Admiring?

2011-03-11T12:01:00.000-06:00

One of my Lenten goals is to read some particularly "Lent-y" stuff and I'll share it here and elsewhere. Today, it's Soren Kierkegaard:

"Christ consistently used the expression 'follower.' He never asks for admirers, worshippers, or adherents. No, he calls disciples. . . It is not adherents of a teaching but followers of a life Christ is looking for. . . to admire Christ is the false invention of a later age. . . No, there is absolutely nothing to admire in Jesus, unless you want to admire poverty, misery, and contempt.

What then, is the difference between an admirer and a follower? A follower is or strives to be what he admires. An admirer, however, keeps himself personally detached. He fails to see that what is admired involves a claim upon him. . .

The admirer never makes any true sacrifices. He always plays it safe."

Soren Kierkegaard: "Followers Not Admirers," from Provocations: Spiritual Writings of Kierkegaard,, compiled and edited by Charles E. Moore. Farmington, PA: Plough Publishing House, 1999, as reprinted in Bread and Wine: Readings for Lent and Easter. Farmington, PA: Plough Publishing House, 2003.

Lenten Reading Day 1--Truth-Telling

2011-03-10T12:16:00.002-06:00

From my Lenten reading today by Barbara Brown Taylor: "I remember being at a retreat once where the leader asked us to think of someone who represented Christ in our lives. When it came time to share our answers, one woman stood up and said, "I had to think hard about that one. I kept thinking. Who is it who told me the truth about myself so clearly that I wanted to kill him for it?"

From Barbara Brown Taylor, "Truth to Tell," from "The Perfect Mirror," copyright 1998 Christian Century Foundation. Reprinted in Bread and Wine: Readings for Lent and Easter, copyright 2003, The Plough Publishing House.

Chase's Mailbag (Dialogue Column 3.8.11)

2011-03-08T15:01:00.000-06:00

(This piece was originally written for The Dialogue, the weekly newsletter of the church where I serve, First Christian Church, Disciples of Christ of St. Joseph, MO.)

On Saturday, February 19, an article ran in the St. Joseph News-Press telling of a baptism service held at our church and Zion United Church of Christ. Of the nine people baptized, most of them were gay or lesbian. The article told about FCC’s and Zion’s openness to all people, as well as, our decisions as congregations to welcome lesbian and gay people as they are, in contrast to the “welcome” most churches offer which considers being homosexual to be a sin and expects a gay or lesbian person to become heterosexual. I’m quite proud of the article, just as I am proud of First Christian and Zion for being courageous enough to live out God’s life-giving grace to all people.

Although it did get a mention in the daily display of anonymous ignorance and intolerance published in our city newspaper as “It’s Your Call,” the article didn’t provoke much of a negative reaction. On the contrary, I heard all week long from people in the community who attend other churches that do not welcome LGBT people. They praised the article as well as FCC and Zion. (I could only wonder if they said anything at all to their own ministers and priests about the practices of their own churches which are either silent on the issue or outright hostile towards gay and lesbian people.) I was surprised at how small of a negative ripple the article made.

My faith in the judgmental types in our community was restored, somewhat, by a letter I received about a week later. Here is an excerpt (note—the grammatical mistakes are those of the letter’s author not mine):

In Saturdays February 19, 2011 issue of St. Joseph News-Press there was an article about your church receiving homosexuals. I understand you are baptizing these individuals. Now as I understand the Holy Bible this is good if they are acknowledging this is a sin, then repenting and giving up their ungodly lifestyle. However, as I understood the news article, you are saying after baptism they may continue their sinful life style. Yes or No. If Yes, I would like to know what Holy Bible you are using.

The letter goes on to mention some Bible verses and to declare what the Bible says. I’ll give the author credit for not making anti-gay slurs or engaging in name-calling. He sticks to the question of biblical interpretation. Although his interpretation is one I disagree with vehemently, he at least deserves credit for being more polite in expressing his intolerance than most people are these days.

The letter’s author invites me to respond, but I doubt I will. I learned long ago not to waste my time debating the Bible with someone who really doesn’t want to engage in dialogue but instead just wants to let me know how wrong I am. If I were to write back, however, I might note that the modern understanding of sexual orientation (a person being born with a sexual attraction to a gender the same as or different from one’s own) is a modern idea, just like other modern ideas such as women should have rights as individuals rather than being treated as property and owning another human being as a slave is immoral (all are relatively recent conceptions that came long after the biblical writings were produced), so we shouldn’t be surprised the authors of biblical writings considered sexual activity between people of the same gender to be sinful. I could mention in my reply the many difficulties in translation of the original Greek words usually translated as “homosexual” in English Bibles. I could also point out examples in the New Testament of the early church choosing to include people who would have been excluded on the basis of the scriptures they knew from the Hebrew Bible and ask if that provides any model for Christians’ interpretation of scripture today? But, if I did write back, I would probably not say any of these things.

If I did write this person back, I wouldn’t expect to change his point of view. I would thank him for sharing his unsolicited opinion with me, and I would correct him and note that the folks baptized were members of Zion; we just shared our baptistery with them. (Although I would love for First Christian to baptize that many people, no matter what sexual orientation they have.) Also, I would let him know that should any of his children, family members or loved ones turn out to be gay or lesbian—or for that matter should any of his loved ones end up holding a view of God, scripture, politics, science, or whatever that is different from his own—please let them know that they would be welcome at First Christian Church of St. Joseph, because it doesn’t sound like they would be welcome at his church.

Grace and Peace,

Chase