Songs for the Journey: Hope in the Midst of Lament

Several years ago the first blog series I ever did was a series of reflections on various songs that reflected the themes we encounter during the season of Lent. This idea of looking for signs of God in the midst of the mundane things of everyday life has stuck with me. And I still find myself hearing theological themes on the radio and on TV.

Over the last week or so, I have noticed a song on the radio that keeps tickling at something inside me. It is somewhat haunting, and I hear in it a note of lament tinged with hope. As I rode into work this morning with the UMC General Conference on my mind, I heard it again and knew that I would need to reflect further.

The song is "In My Blood" by Shawn Mendes. In this song, the artist has tried to put into words his own struggles with anxiety. You can hear the pain as he names the many ways that  this anxiety manifests itself. And in the midst of the past three days in the life of my beloved denomination, I know that I have been feeling that pain, too. Feeling overwhelmed. Feeling insecure. Feeling anguish. Feeling heart ache. Thinking I am numb to the pain until the next round of words are spoken as if we are talking about a table that is not quite in the right spot rather than real, live human beings who are attempting to live into that same love of God as the rest of us.

Manifestation: Teacher Jesus 2 - Jesus Loves Your Enemies

This week we continue our look at Jesus' teaching as found in the Sermon on the Plain in the Gospel of Luke. (Luke 6:27-38) What does it mean for God is merciful to the wicked and unjust? What do we do with the fact that Jesus calls us to do the same?

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There are many difficult doctrines and beliefs in Christian teaching. Many of these things were also difficult in Jesus’ time, though we like to think they are more difficult for us with our modern sensibilities. From the virgin birth to the Resurrection, from miraculous healings to miraculous feedings, what are we to do with those things that our experience and intellect tell us are simply not possible? From the Trinity to the Sacraments to the Incarnation, what are we to do with concepts so convoluted it almost doesn’t make sense to even bring them up?

We talk about the unwed teenager who becomes pregnant with the Son of God, but we don’t often dig too deeply into what that means whether out of an inability to believe this girl was really a virgin or because we don’t want to think about how our modern culture treats unwed mothers. What does it mean for us today that this is how God chose to come into the world?

We hear the stories of Jesus feeding the multitudes, how a handful of bread loaves and a couple of fish turned into enough to feed thousands with more leftover than they started with. But is the miracle in so little being turned into so much, or in the people present actually sharing the food they had brought with others? Either of these thoughts can be hard for us to believe.

Manifestation: Teacher Jesus

This week we take on part of Luke's Sermon on the Plain (likely the same event as the one found in Matthew and more commonly called the sermon on the Mount). For this week, we focus on the Blessings and the Woes found in Luke 6:17-26, though I intentionally used a different translation of the text that doesn't use the more familiar language (I used the Common English Bible to set up the sermon this week; see the text here).

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Over the last few weeks following our celebration of Jesus’ birth, we have been focusing on the manifestation of Jesus - on Jesus being revealed to the world as the Son of God. We have had heavenly pronouncements, visitors from far off lands, miracles, and earthly proclamations. We have heard that Jesus is a powerful teacher and healer whose fame is growing as he travels the region. We have seen his prophetic claim to be the Messiah, the one foretold by scripture to come from God and turn the world around. And in between the stories that we have read in worship, Jesus can be found healing those on the margins of society or arguing with the religious leaders about the best ways to follow scripture. And on at least one occasion he does both at the same time - healing a man on the Sabbath and then arguing with religious leaders about whether or not that is appropriate.

But until today, we have not directly seen his teaching ourselves. It has been suggested in the stories we have heard, and we have been able to make some guesses based on what we have read. But it is in today’s text that we finally get to see what it is Jesus is teaching that was causing his fame to spread. And what we find is a message that is just as challenging to us today as it was to the people of his time.

Manifestation: Fishing with Jesus

This week in the Gospel of Luke, we meet Jesus at the end of a disappointing fishing trip (Luke 5.1-11). So we talk a little about Scouting and reflect on being prepared vs. being willing and how our willingness to go in new directions is another form of preparation.

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Many years ago when I was about the same age as my oldest son is now, I began my Scouting journey. I spent a few years in the Cub Scout Pack at the United Methodist Church I attended. Then I followed a couple of friends to a local Boy Scout Troop when we were old enough, eventually going on to become an Eagle Scout. After reaching the age of 18, I became a leader first in my local troop before eventually going on to serve as both a professional Scouter for a time as well as a district volunteer for several years.

Through Scouting, I learned various skills that would serve me well over the years – I met other boys from various backgrounds with different experiences; I developed leadership skills; I further grew in my love of nature; and I began to the explore the relationship between faith and service to others that eventually led me to seminary and to ordination in The United Methodist Church.

Of course, one of my key learnings is embodied in the motto shared by both the Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts – Be Prepared. There are many ways to interpret this saying. Sometimes we think of it as physical preparedness, that we should always have tools on hand to assist us in any situation. We see this in our response to anticipated bad weather as we flock to stores to make sure we have enough food on hand or as we stock our cars with implements such as road flares and blankets in the event of an emergency while driving.

Other times we think of this as mental preparedness. We prepare ourselves for emergencies by making certain we have the training necessary to address a potential situation, such as first aid or CPR training or the development of an evacuation plan in the event of a fire or other emergency at home or work. But mental preparedness also means having the ability to adjust to changing circumstances, especially those that you have not explicitly planned for or that perhaps run counter to accepted common wisdom.

As our communities change around us, for good or ill, how do we begin to adjust and adapt to those changes? This is part of what it means to Be Prepared as well.