The Peace of Wild Things on September 11

I started today--September 11, 2009--with full intentions of listening to my Ipod all day and ignoring the media coverage of commemoration, victims' families, retrospectives, etc. Then I got a phone call from a friend from NY letting me know one of the kids in my youth group there was reading the names of those who died at the World Trade Center. One of the names he read was his father's. I am very proud of him for doing so, but it was surreal to watch him stand at the podium via streaming video over the Internet.

It continues to be very strange for me to be here in Missouri instead of Long Island when September 11 rolls around. As I write this,they are preparing for yet another memorial service in the town park as they have done there each year since the terrorist attacks.

Without thinking, I flipped on the car radio this morning and heard a bit of coverage before turning it off again. That was enough to make me despair yet again for the state of our nation and world. Not only is there the great tragedy of what happened eight years ago to consider, but there is also the great tragedy of all that has gone on since then to think about. Instead of sacrifice, we were asked to shop. Instead of re-thinking our nation's policies that support despots and dictators we carried out a preemptive war. Instead of working for justice and reconciliation in the world we sought revenge. It is enough to make this liberal Christian believe in the fallen state of humanity and our world along with a God that has run out of patience with our pursuit of self-destruction.

On this day, I think about the cross. I've never been a big fan of atonement in its traditional depictions--i.e. Christ bearing the punishment due a sinful humanity in order to appease an angry God. But today, I've been thinking about the cross somehow being about all of the self-centered, revenge-oriented violence that we humans are capable of--perhaps on the cross all of our futile and violent scrabbling for control was shown for the pointless waste it really is. The empty tomb demonstrates that the worst this world can do is not enough to stop the grace of God. I guess I will fall back on faith, but today my faith feels in short supply.

I did receive some hope today watching the broadcast of the commemoration at Ground Zero in Manhattan. From all places, it came from Mayer Michael Bloomburg. Strangely, gracefully he read from Wendell Berry from his poem "The Peace of Wild Things". I leave it for you in hope that it can inspire you as it inspires me:

The Peace of Wild Things


When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.


— Wendell Berry

Grace and Peace,

Chase

Saying Goodbye to Matthew Gregg (Dialogue Column 9.9.08)

The Dialogue is the newsletter of First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in St. Joseph, MO. Often, I'll post here on the blog my columns for the weekly newsletter. I mention it just so that folks who read the snail-mail version can skip this post if they've already read it.

This past Sunday at the beginning of worship, Matthew Gregg announced that he is stepping down from the position of Director of Children and Youth Ministries here at First Christian Church. After two and a half years in this position, Matthew has decided that the time is right for him to leave it. He has shared with me that the decision is based upon his belief that the program is ready for a new level of ministry and his realization that this new direction would require time and energy from him that he needs to spend on his family and his new job at Missouri Western. Matthew’s last day at work will be September 30. Between now and then, the leadership of the church will be working on appropriate ways to celebrate the ways God has used Matthew at First Christian.

Matthew volunteered to work at First Christian after our last youth director left. What started out as a short-term commitment meant to last until the church found someone else developed into a long-term ministry to our youth and children. During his time here, Matthew has used his considerable relational skills to create a welcoming atmosphere for children and youth. Currently, we have 10-15 teenagers who show up on Wednesday nights for youth group meetings. Many of them are not church kids—ours or any other church’s; they are friends of youth who grew up in our church. I believe it says a lot that the youth who have family connections to First Christian feel comfortable inviting their friends, especially friends who have no faith background or church connection. Similarly, parents report to me how much their young children love coming to church on Sundays to attend Children’s Church. I believe this too is due to Matthew’s ability to welcome kids.

As we celebrate Matthew’s work at First Christian, it is also time to celebrate the growth of our children and youth programs. Even in the short time I have been at First Christian, we have seen a growth in the numbers of kids attending and the vitality of our ministries. We stand on the cusp of some really exciting times for our youth and children as new young families find their way to First Christian.

Given Matthew’s great work over the last two and a half years and the bright future ahead of us, it is time for First Christian to recommit ourselves to our ministry to children and youth. In the coming weeks and months, I will be asking for input about where we should go from here in our children and youth ministries and about what kind of person or persons we would like to see lead this work. I will be seeking the counsel of the Administrative Board, the Christian Education Committee, the Personnel Committee, parents of youth and children, and the youth themselves. I believe it is time to consider all of our options as we look forward to what will come next for our young people.

This process of discernment will not be done before Matthew steps down. We will be moving forward deliberately but carefully in our efforts to find the right person or persons for the future staff position(s). While this is going on, we will be in real need for church members to step up and fill in the gaps left by the end of Matthew’s time on staff. I am especially counting on the parents of youth and children to lead Wednesday nights and Sunday mornings beginning in October.

First Christian has much to thank Matthew for and much to be excited about in days to come.

Grace and Peace,

Chase

First Christian Members Hit the Nascar Circuit!

Two of our church members, Boyd and Nancy Alldredge, won a great sweepstakes from Best Western where they were allowed to drive an official Nascar pace car from Michigan to North Carolina stopping at Nascar races along the way. All expenses were paid and they got pit row access to the racing teams. You can check out their youtube video diary here.

A soft and fuzzy look at Palin's church

For a portrayal of Sarah Palin's church that seems to offer a very different view of Sarah Palin's church in Alaska, see this story in Friday's New York Times.

Double Standard on Candidates' Church Membership?

Everyone recalls--I assume--the drama and controversy surrounding Barack Obama's membership in Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. There were non-stop loops of out of context sound bites by its pastor Jeremiah Wright played over and over on cable news shows. Wright did not help himself or his church member running for president when at the National Press Club he got up and acted exacted like the arrogant extremist he was accused of being. The end result was Obama denouncing his former pastor and leaving his church. (For one of the only responsible treatments of Trinity U.C.C. and the Black Liberation Theology of its founder Jeremiah Wright see these NPR interviews.) Although the mainstream media has let go of this bone, the overall controversy continues unabated fed by talk radio, unsubstantiated e-mails and other far-right rumor and innuendo mills.

Given all that, it is foxhunting to me that no one in the mainstream press has looked into the religious background of Sarah Palin--the new V.P. candidate for the Republican Party. It turns out that the Assembly of God church in her home town in Alaska that she and her family belong to espouses all kinds of extreme and scary beliefs about spiritual warfare in America, the war in Iraq, the antichrist, the whore of Babylon, etc. There's apparently plenty of video of Palin and her family at events where such views are espoused by her minister and other church leaders.

Talk to Action is a website that chronicles the practices of the Religious Right. Their coverage of Palin's church and its connections is extensive and for the uninitiated--myself included--kind of an effort to read. Nonetheless, what I could follow is plenty scary to me.

Her church is apparently closely connected with other groups, such as the one depicted in the documentary Jesus Camp. If you've ever seen that film, it's enough to make you want to let your kid go near a church again. I felt that way and I'm a minister!

It will be interesting to see if anyone bites on this story. It took the media a long time to look at Trinity U.C.C. and Jeremiah Wright--and what they ended up showing was haphazard and shallow and sensationalized. Unfortunately, we do not have such a long time before the November election to see if anyone picks up on Palin's religious background.

Another factor against most people hearing about Palin's church is that her church happens to be white and conservative. Trinity happens to be black and liberal. There are a lot more white conservative bloggers, writers, televangelists and talk show hosts out there to attack a church like Trinity than there are anybody else who would care about digging around in Palin's fundamentalist baggage.

I respect McCain's religious background--however vague it may be. He and his wife attend a North Phoenix Baptist Church in Arizona that is conservative but honorable. I may not agree with everything taught at his church, but I can respect it for doing its ministry with integrity. I met North Phoenix's pastor, Dan Yeary, when he spoke at my college when I was an undergrad. I haven't followed his career, but at least then he was a relative moderate in the fundamentalist controlled Southern Baptist Convention. Palin's church on the other hand seems like one I think we all should be concerned about. I fear McCain--who strikes me as a conservative Christian but generally moderate--has picked as his V.P. someone with extremely frightening religious beliefs.

I have little hope that the media will cover Palin's religious beliefs in any depth at all, and if they do, it will probably be in the same sensationalized manner that they covered Obama's.

Now more than ever we need an elevated level of discourse on the place of religion in our pluralistic nation.

Grace and Peace,

Chase

Church Member in the News

There was a nice article in yesterday's St. Joseph News-Press regarding Ron Wade, one of the members of my church. He flies for Angel Flight, an organization that helps families who cannot afford long-diatance transportation for medical care.

Community Organizing

On Wednesday night, the woman who got all the buzz this week Sarah Palin--GOP Vice Presidential candidate and Tina Fey look-a-like--criticized Democratic Presidential candidate's experience as a community organizer. Her words: "a small-town mayor is sort of like a community organizer, except that you have actual responsibilities." There was much to groan about in this speech, but for me, this was the line that was over the line. I'm pretty sure that there are plenty of good people on all sides of the political spectrum who are community organizers--especially people of faith. Their work to get ordinary Americans to get together and make their communities better is our society at its best--think preservation groups, neighborhood watch groups, soup kitchens, mentoring programs, PTA's, and so on and so on. I'm also pretty sure we got things like the abolition of slavery, the right to vote for women, civil rights for African Americans, etc. thanks to community organizing.

Jim Wallis has a great defense of community organizing on the God's Politics blog--much better than my few thoughts.

Grace and Peace,

Chase