The thankful list for May:

* Spring has sprung!

* Our baby girl will be here in less than a month!

*  York Peppermint Patty Ice Cream from Baskin Robbins (mmmmmmmm….goood)

*  The members of Colesville and Rockville Presbyterian churches who threw wonderful and generous baby showers.

*  Serving God, Saving the Planet by J. Matthew Sleeth

*  Joe Purdy’s “Washed Away”

* The return of The Office and Scrubs–funny times, funny times

*  Re-connecting with old friends on Facebook

* Seeing Eddie Izzard, one of the greatest comedic minds of all time, with John Weicher and his sister Jean at Constitutional Hall in D.C.  I laughed so hard that I got a headache and almost peed in my pants.

* The James Hubert Blake High School’s stunning production of “Les Miserables”; David Tuttle, a youth at Colesville, is a gifted actor who delivered a memorable and incredible performance in 4 different roles; Katya Ankudinov, another youth at CPC, who was a brilliant member of the Ensemble and Lucas Murphey, CPC youth, who played with an orchestra that sounded, note for note, like the original musical score. Inspirational and moving.

* “Do You Hear the People Sing?” from Les Miserables…one of my top 10 songs of all time; gives me goosebumps.

* You, ole faithful readers of this blog.

 

          

 

Earlier this evening, Elizabeth and I watched Lars and the Real Girl with Ryan Gosling and Patricia Clarkson. It’s a clever, funny and poignant film that serves as a powerful lesson about the effects a loving and accepting community can have on a person’s life. For a synopsis of the film, check out the trailer here:

 

 

It’s a wonderful movie that everyone should see, especially church goers and folks doing ministry in their congregations and communities.  The next two scenes are grace-filled moments that depict how the small town residents and church in which Lars attends respond to Lars and his girlfriend Bianca.  This, I believe, is an example of what the Church can really be if we open our eyes to see how God in Christ is inviting us to be part of the building of God’s kingdom–a place of compassion and mercy for all people:

 

 

The real question is: Can we create in our own lives the same church and community that exists in the movie? Is it possible for us to reach out compassionately to folks like Lars? Can we really and faithfully respond to their needs?  Can we really love the Lars’ of the world like Jesus wants? Can we begin the divine search for true loving relationships outside the box?

One of the funniest kid videos I’ve ever seen.  I hope our little girl is this brilliant.

 

 

 

 

John 21:1-19
April 13, 2008
The Fourth Sunday of Easter

Elizabeth and I have this fun and simple game we occasionally play with one another called “How much do you love me?” I’ll begin by saying, “Hey Elizabeth, how much do you love me?” and Elizabeth will reply, “I love you more than all the people in the world who have to scoop up cat litter.” I laugh and then say to her, “That’s a lot of love.” Then Elizabeth will ask, “How much do you love me?” and I’ll say, “I love you more than all the people in the world who get ice-cream headaches.” And she’ll giggle and say, “Wow, that is a lot of love!” Sometimes there’s a twist to the game and Elizabeth will ask me specifically if I love her more than a certain thing. This past Thursday she asked: “Do you love me more than you hate cleaning the bathroom?” And I responded with an emphatic “YES, without a doubt!”

This is, of course, an example of the type of romantic and friendship love Elizabeth and I have shared in our four years of marriage. But the silly banter also points to a deep and abiding love that we’ve been given by God-a love that we’d always choose over any one thing because our relationship is more important and valuable than any of the material possessions we own. We love each other more than the things, and the game Elizabeth and I play is a way of remembering the importance of that love over all else.

Jesus uses the same type of approach with Simon Peter on the shore of the Sea of Tiberius in Galilee. After finishing a breakfast of fish and loaves, Jesus asks Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” Jesus never explains what “these” means. The common theory among scholars is that Jesus is saying, “Do you love me more than these disciples love me?” as a way of determining whether Peter is willing, more than the other disciples, to go the extra mile to create the Church. Going that route, though, raises questions about whether Jesus gave preferential treatment, considered certain disciples to be the greatest among them or thought that those who loved him more would get the most work done. And that doesn’t seem to fit with the Jesus we’ve grown to know earlier in the Gospels-the Jesus who interrupted the disciples’ argument about who was the greatest and explained that the greatest is not the one sitting in a chair of power at the head of a table, but the one who serves.

 

A more likely interpretation of “these” is the fish. Not the breakfast of fish but rather the big catch of fish that Peter has spent all night looking for and finally receives after Jesus tells him to cast the fishing nets on the right side of the boat. Peter has been a fisherman all his life and never once has he seen so many fish, so many that the nets don’t even break like they should. This is the elusive catch fully realized, the capstone of life-long fishing career. It doesn’t get much better than this for a fisherman, especially a blue collar Jewish one living in Roman occupied Galilee. There’s nothing more for Peter to achieve and that’s when Jesus asks the question, “Do you love me more than these fish you’ve caught, this big catch and this career you’ve had as a fisherman?”

It’s a valid question that Peter seems to have forgotten. Jesus’ fishing tips to Peter and the disciples in the beginning of John 21 alludes to a similar story in the early chapters of Luke’s Gospel. Taking a break from the crowd of people pressing in on him to hear God’s word, Jesus gets into a boat belonging to Simon Peter. He teaches the crowds for awhile and then tells Peter “Put out into deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” Peter answers, “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.” After doing so, Peter and the other fishermen caught so many fish that their nets began to break. They signal to another boat to come and help haul in the fish and after they fill both boats, the vessels start to sink. Upon seeing this amazing sight, Peter falls down at Jesus’ knee and says, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” Jesus says to him, “Do not be afraid; for now on you will be catching people.”

Peter’s new calling is to be a disciple of Jesus and a true fisher of men, of people. And yet according to John’s Gospel, good ole Peter-in the midst of Jesus’ resurrection revealed in two appearances to the disciples-decides he’s going fishing! Peter is going back to the trade he was called away from. The trade in which he previously dropped his fishing gear to follow Jesus.

Peter, however, did stray a bit prior to this encounter with the risen Jesus on the shore of the Sea of Tiberius. Shortly after Jesus was arrested by the Roman authorities, Peter vehemently denied knowing Jesus three times. I imagine when that cocked crowed and Peter realized what he had done, he went away full of sadness and shame. Maybe Peter feels he is no longer worthy to be a disciple and chooses to return to the only thing he knows how to do, which is catch fish.Fortunately it’s not what Jesus wants Peter to do. As a way of testing Peter to see if he can remember his true calling and the deep and abiding love he is to embody, Jesus gently teases the guilt wracked disciple by repeating the question, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?”…”Feed my lambs.” New Testament scholar Frances Taylor Gench points out that Jesus’ words are a “blueprint for a vocation in ministry” that are meant for us just as much as they are for Peter:

Love of Jesus is required of every disciple and all play a role in the care and nurture of the community of faith. Thus what do we learn about ministry from this exchange, about the practice of caring for Jesus’ sheep? For one thing, it is clear that ministry is entrusted to forgiven sinners, less-than-perfect people, who undertake this work “not to earn the forgiveness and acceptance that has already been given, but as a way of expressing gratitude for the gift of grace, and as a way of living the new, resurrected life we have received.”

Gench also says that “it’s worth noting that Jesus’ question is not “do you love my sheep?”:

Sheep or fellow disciples are not always loveable and whatever love we have for them will not sustain us in ministry. We will not persevere in shepherding tasks unless the love of Christ is our motivation. Ministry is grounded in that love-a love that is lived out in the practice of caring for Jesus’ sheep. Moreover ministry clearly entails doing for others what Jesus has already done for us. Thus it is after breakfast, after feeding Peter, that Jesus calls him to feed other sheep…Only as we are nourished and tended by Christ are we able to nourish and tend to others.

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., who died from an assassin’s bullet 40 years ago this month, was daily challenged with the command to nourish and tend God’s sheep with the love of Christ. He once preached that one doesn’t have to like someone to love them:

There are a lot of people that I find it difficult to like. I don’t like what they do to me. I don’t like what they say about me and other people. I don’t like their attitudes. I don’t like some of the things they’re doing. I don’t like them, but Jesus says love them. And love is greater than like. Love is understanding, redemptive goodwill for all men, so that you love everybody, because God loves them. You refuse to do anything that will defeat an individual, because you have agape in your soul. And here you come to the point that you love the individual who does the evil deed, while hating the deed that the person does.

This way of loving others, even those we don’t know or don’t like or who we consider enemies, is referred to in some cultures as namaste, which means “I honor the Holy One who lives in you.” For Christians, it means seeing the image of Christ in others and recognizing that they are deserving of Christ’s merciful and redemptive love. That type of loving is not easy. It can be very challenging to love others with Christ’s love when the world tells us to do otherwise. In his book The Irresistible Revolution, author and activist Shane Claiborne tells of a time he and some friends were sharing Christ’s love with the homeless in Philadelphia when they ran into trouble with city authorities.

A few years ago on Dr. King’s birthday, Philadelphia passed anti-homeless legislation that made it illegal to sleep in the parks, illegal to ask for money and illegal to lie down on the sidewalks all over the city. The reason for the law was to crack down on the homeless hanging out in Love Park, a historic site in Philly known as a visible, safe and central place for the homeless to sleep and to receive food and clothing. The city passed an ordinance banning all food from the park and began fining people who would distribute or share food with the homeless.

Shane and a hundred others decided to challenge the unjust law by throwing a party in Love Park for the homeless. They worshiped, sang, prayed and served communion, which was illegal. Most of the police, however, sat back and watched, not daring to arrest anyone, especially during communion. And then as Shane tells it, “we continued the ‘breaking of the bread’ by bringing in pizzas. It was a love feast, and then we slept overnight in the park with our homeless friends.”

Shane and his friends continued the practice for several weeks until one night, as they were sleeping, the police circled the park and arrested everyone. The police, though, were sympathetic and agreed the law was wrong and that folks shouldn’t be arrested for sleeping. The city and the district attorney thought differently and tried to push for jail time, thousands of dollars in fines for numerous charges, and hours and hours of community service!

Surprisingly, the judge ruled in favor of Shane in his friends saying, “What is in question here is not whether these folks broke the law; that is quite clear. What is in question is the constitutionality of the law. The constitutionality of the law is before every court…If it weren’t for people who broke unjust laws, we wouldn’t have the freedom that we have. We’d still have slavery…These people are not criminals; they are freedom fighters. I find them all not guilty, on every charge.”

Loving others with Christ’s love can get us in trouble and sometimes getting into trouble in the love of Christ changes things, like the law and people’s hearts. Loving others with Christ’s love also can literally save other people’s lives. Consider the story of Jason Ray, the University of North Carolina mascot who died after being struck by a car during the 2007 NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament in New Jersey.

The young man not only loved others in life but also in death: A few years earlier Jason decided to be an organ donor. Simply by indicating on his license that he wanted to donate his organs in the event of his death, Jason has saved numerous lives over the past year.

Kenneth Williams, a 57-year-old retired aircraft engineer with a degenerative disk disease-that had left him unable to brush his teeth, comb his hair, roll over in bed or lift up one of his five children without pain-now has a new spine and can do many things pain free! All thanks to Jason’s bone chips which doctors used to fuse Kenneth’s spine.

According to the Musculoskeletal Transplant Foundation, 114 allografts from Jason’s tissue have been provided to hospitals across the U.S. and Canada. The recipients come from 24 states, from New York to Hawaii, and range from Tedie Marie Harper, a 13-year-old Oklahoma girl who suffered from scoliosis, to an 80-year-old Minnesota woman who underwent a fracture repair. Two recipients had their limbs salvaged because of Jason. Four received tissue for a new ACL. Twenty-five recipients received tissue for spine surgery. And tissue is still being preserved for another 50-70 future recipients.

Loving others with Christ’s love can even fight diseases and transform entire communities a world away as 13-year-old Austin Gutwein of Mesa, Arizona discovered a few years ago. He writes:

In the spring of 2004, I watched a video that showed children in Africa who had lost their parents to a disease called AIDS. After watching the video, I realized these kids weren’t any different from me except they were suffering. I felt God calling me to do something to help them. I decided to shoot free throws and on World AIDS Day, 2004, I shot 2,057 free throws to represent the 2,057 kids who would be orphaned during my day at school. People sponsored me and we were able to raise almost $3,000. That year, the money was used by World Vision to provide hope to 8 orphan children.
From that year forward, thousands of people have joined me in a basketball shoot-a-thon called Hoops of Hope. By doing something as simple as shooting free throws, Hoops of Hope participants have raised over $325,000 (for villages in Zambia). The children left behind by AIDS now have access to food, clothing, shelter, a new school and finally, a medical testing facility.

This year’s goal is to raise enough money to build a second medical lab in Twatchiyanda, Zambia and provide caregiver kits and bicycles for caregivers to ride. The lab combined with caregiver kits and bicycles will help to keep parents healthier and alive longer so they can provide for their children.
Spending time in the city park feeding and sleeping with the homeless; donating organs so others can live healthier lives; shooting basketball hoops to improve the lives of AIDS victims in Africa, are amazing illustrations of how people are called to feed and tend Christ’s sheep, to love Jeus more than “these,”-more than our cars, our bank accounts, our social status, our job successes, our stuff.

I realize, though, that these particular acts of shepherding and feeding others with the love of Christ, may seem too overwhelming for us to begin to duplicate. Not all of us have the energy or resources to love in the exact ways that Shane Claiborne, Jason Ray, Austin Gutwein or even Martin Luther King Jr., has loved.

And yet Jesus calls each and every one of us to love others in our own ways and styles. We don’t all have to build schools in Africa or go to jail for the homeless or donate organs or lead civil rights movements to love others with Christ’s love. Many in this congregation tend and nourish God’s sheep and lambs with Christ’s love through some very simple, humble and powerful ways like:

Making hundreds of desserts for the wounded soldiers at Walter Reed and spending a day with those veterans, listening to their stories and playing games and painting faces with their children.

Assemble care packages for troops in Iraq.

Helping a refugee family from Burundi by volunteering to teach English, hooking up a computer in the home, and providing transportation and financial assistance.

Spending a Saturday doing home repairs for a blind woman in Wheaton through Rebuilding Together.

Teaching, nurturing and supporting the children, youth and adults of the church through Sunday School, Enrichment, Music and Youth Ministry Programs. And providing a brunch to recognize those teachers and leaders.

Throwing baby showers for members of the church staff who have recently had babies or are expecting babies.

Developing relationships with the EWE Church of America, an immigrant congregation.

Having coffee with a friend who feels brokenness in their life.

Welcoming visitors and new members and making sure they are nourished in the life of the church.

Providing care to those who are sick or who have lost loved ones to illness.

Making baptismal promises to support Brian Scott and Suzie Shaw in the raising of their child Catherine Adventure Grace in the love of Christ.

That is ministry grounded in Christ’s love and lived out in the practice of tending God’s sheep, of seeing others in the image of Christ’s love. Our purpose for living, our true calling is not to slave over tedious 9 to 5 jobs or run around trying to complete a series of mundane tasks. Like Peter, we are called to do more than just catch fish and we are called to love more than just the things we have. We are called to be fishers of people, shepherds of the flocks. We are called by Jesus to nourish others with every part of our being, with the love of Christ that flows through our veins. We are called to tend, to feed and to follow. Anything less is meaningless. …

Namaste and Amen.

 

 

Sources:

Encounters With Jesus-Studies in The Gospel of John by Frances Taylor Gench, 2007
The Irresistible Revolution: Living As An Ordinary Radical by Shane Claiborne, 2006
“A year after his death, the memory of Jason Ray still lives” by Wayne Drehs, ESPN, www.espn.com, March 26, 2008
Austin Gutwein’s story and Hoops For Hope, http://www.hoopsofhope.org/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                              

 

On Saturday, the members of Colesville Presbyterian Church threw Elizabeth and I our first baby shower.  It was a fun celebration.  We were a bit overwhelmed by the amount of gifts. We had no idea that there would be so many or that a baby would need that much stuff.   Our little girl is not going to be hurting for any onesies and outfits, that’s for sure. She’s going to be one stylin baby. 

I have to admit that I’ve never been into baby clothes, much less the girlie kind.  But ever since we found out Elizabeth was pregnant, my eyes have suddenly been opened to all of these cute outfits.  Little pink sweaters and yellow outfits with ducks and little booties with colorful stripes.   I can’t wait to see my daughter in them and hold her in her onesie that says, “Don’t Laugh, My Daddy Dressed Me” or the “I Love Daddy” in case she forgets or other people wonder if she loves me after I’ve dressed her in non-matching outfits.

In the picture above is one of several burp clothes/diapers that the 3-8th graders decorated with words like “Baby” (in case I forget what it’s for and use it to pick a booger instead) and their names, all in acrylic paint. We also received some Target, Home Depot and maternity store cards to use for future baby-child needs or to buy some supplies for painting the nursery or kid’s bedroom.

Some of my personal favorites are the musical playing Eyore (his feet are painted in different colors and when you press them, they make a nice musical sound); the Learn & Drive steering wheel and dashboard (you can honk the horn and press a button that says “Get out of the way!” and learn your ABC’s at the same time); and Noah’s Ark (equipped with one animal of every kind that make their God-given sounds when you press on them, although Noah makes the sound of a foghorn. Go figure). Elizabeth’s favorite: Beaudreax’s Butt Paste for baby’s dry itchy skin, a home-grown Lousiana product

All gifts aside, the best part was actually seeing the joy and care that went into each gift and feeling all of the love and support from everyone.  It’s been a blessing to have so many folks a part of this journey with us.

Only six more weeks until the little one is here.  As I write, my wife is reading to the baby from Real Simple.  Studies have shown that the more you read to a child in the womb, the more advanced their vocabulary is, particularly at a young age.  Probaby means I should get back to finishing Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax.  Gotta bring her up to date on how it’s bad for the environment to cut down trees, especially the Trufula ones.

 

“Heaven’s Tap”

I was weeding out my files the other day when I came across a poem I wrote in memory of Shirley Guthrie, long time theology professor at Columbia Theological Seminary and author of the classic book Christian Doctrine who died of cancer in October, 2004.

A story I wrote for the Presbyterian Voice about Shirley’s death and how he’d be remembered can be accessed here:(http://www.synodoflivingwaters.org/the_voice/0412/10guthrie.html)

I whipped up the poem a couple of months later and read it as part of a creative writing assignment for a January term class on Children’s Spirituality. While the poem is not quite appropriate for a 10 year old, it does have a child-like whimsey to it. And it honors a good humored theologian who never took himself too seriously and never hesitated to claim that he was a child of God in life and in the midst of death. I hope he’s having a blast in Heaven’s Tap.

                              

Up in the clouds where the angels have been known to take drunken afternoon naps is a pub called Heaven’s Tap.

It’s a grand ole place just inside the pearly gates where the beer is cheap and the conversation is first rate. It is after all filled with a lot of theological debates.

They come in one by one as its deemed their time. They pour pitchers of ale, brandy or wine. But the drink doesn’t matter as long as it has fun with mind, tickles the tongue and pulls forth a rhyme.

And of course it’s always good to have friends very near and enemies even nearer. You never know what you’re going to get considering God is the ultimate grace-bearer.

Oh there are some beautiful arguments to see, so try not to scoff at it if you please. They go round and rounad about philosophies, doctrines and theologies as old as Origen and Socrates.

Barth will say it’s “Scripture that connects us to the Creator”

But Tillich will argue, “No, experience is greater.”

Luther will say, “Christ is in and under and around the bread and the cup.”

And Calvin will argue “No, It’s the Holy Spirit that lifts us up.”

Meanwhile in the corner of the room Zwingli pours the wine while Wesley takes a gulp warming his heart just fine.

And the feminist and liberation scholars ar there too. They poke their heads in the conversation to make a point, just a few–to clarify, to counter, to haw and to hem, lend a good insight every now and then. And sometimes they pass around a joint or two just to make amends.

But soon, in walks a stranger, one of the recently deceased with a jingle in his pocket and a blue sweater that is creased.

He sits down and wraps his legs around the bottom of a chair.

He orders a beer and lights up a pipe with the easiest of care. Then he sits back and smiles, eager to hear the rhetoric that is filling the air.

So they turn to him for some words of wisdom when they are stuck in a fight, and he says to each and every one of them, “That sounds just about right.”

And they raise their glasses and cheer, shouting, “Oh what a party it’s going to be in Heaven’s Tap every day and every night!”

This month I’m thankful for:

*  Dylan and Harper who crack me up everytime they stare at the window looking at the birds they just can’t get (They literally freeze. You can poke either cat and they won’t flinch; they’re that mesmerized. And they talk to the birds to in these high pitched squeaks as if to say, “Suffering succatash, I see you birds. Come any closer and you’ll be the hot wing special for lunch.”)

* Elizabeth and the baby girl that is two months away from popping out of the womb!

* April showers that bring May flowers

* In-laws coming to visit this month

*  Our fourth wedding anniversary on Thursday!

*   Friends and Family

*  LOST—for its spiritual, philosophical and ethical insights; it’s intensity, drama and humor. It is storytelling that feeds the imagination at its very best.

*  Re-connecting with old friends from my youth

* Cocoa Krispies…mmmmmm…chocolate milk cereal

* Officiating weddings

*  Chocolate Crunch ice cream bars

*  Smiles and laughter

*  Reading The Lorax to my daughter…she’s got to know about saving the treeees!

*  A church member and youth leader who just calls to say, “Hey, how are ya?”

* Playing Scrabulous on Facebook with friends, family and church members

*  A baby’s kick

*  A wife’s love

* A friend’s support

When I woke up Monday morning, I felt the start of a cold coming on.  Since the head of staff at the church decided to close the office on the Monday after Easter, I didn’t worry too much about the remnants of my ailment and enjoyed a day of rest.  But then it seemed a bit worse on Tuesday. Coughs were steady and chest felt tight so I worked from 9:30 to 4 pm (which included setting things up for the HSYG Bible Study on Harry Potter & The Order of the Phoenix) and headed home.  Got da fevah and the bodyaches last evening and woke up this morning with a raspy voice and a bit of pain whenever I talk or swallow. Same steady coughs, same tightness of the chest and did I mention, greenish-yellow phleghm…mmm…always good to hack up.  (seriously, it’s gross but a good thing)

I made an appointment with the doctor, who is conveniently 3 minutes away.  The doctor thinks I might have an ear infection judging from the redness he saw when he peered in with that ear doo-hickey although it doesn’t hurt; and then after making me say “Ahh” with the tongue depressor, he said, “Your throat looks nasty.” You’re telling me. It feels like a raw piece of boar meat. I know what you’re thinking, boar?

Since Sunday afternoon I’ve been catching up on LOST, Season 1. A member at the church loaned me Seasons 1 and 2 a couple of months ago. With the 4th Season nearing, it felt daunting to try to catchup in a short amount of time. So I opted for the free 7-minute and 45-minute recaps of Seasons 1-3, availalbe temporarily on iTunes.  I started Season 4 and became hooked and of course intrigued about the nuances of the story and character development I missed previously.  Today, I officially completed the viewing of 24 episodes of Season 1 since Sunday afternoon. And I’ve been pulled even deeper into this rich, mysterious, spritual, redemptive and powerful story. I won’t go into all of it now; it would take more than just this post to cover it all.  I will say, without a doubt, it’s one of the 5 best TV shows of all time. I’m looking forward to watching Season 2 and then possibly using along with the book “TV’s Most Teachable Moments” by the Skit Guys at Youth Specialties, www.youthspecialties.com.

But while spending most of my time watching LOST may sound like fun (espeically to hard core LOST fans) it kind of stinks too. The only reason I’m able to watch all of these episodes is because I’m sick and can’t do much more than watch TV, read a fluff piece from a magazine, play Scrabulous on Facebook and send a few emails, mostly church-related. That may not sound too bad either. 

It’s just that if I wasn’t sick, I could be at the second session of the child birthing class Elizabeth and I began last Wednesday and will take every Wednesday evening until April 30.  Doctor told me I shouldn’t go so I don’t get the other pregnant women sick which is wise. Unfortunately there’s nothing to prevent Elizabeth from getting sick since we’re married and breathe the same air. We’ve limited contact (kisses and hugs) so I don’t spread the germs too much. So far she’s not sick and I’d be very happy for it to stay that way.  She’s only got 10 more weeks to go so it should be downhill (so to speak) from here.

The real bummer is that she has to be husband-partner-less in the class.  The teacher Jenny, a really good and humorous RN who knows her stuff, will step in, but still I feel bad missing it.  Nothing I can do, of course. I’ll miss other important things in our lives and in my child’s life because I’m sick. So no point in worrying about it.

I am truly thankful to have Elizabeth in my life and to have a baby girl on the way. Elizabeth has taken good care of me, made me soup, tea and other comfort food that is easy to eat. She even bought me my favorite ice cream, Stephen Colbert’s Americone. Nuttin soothes the throat better. Elizabeth is a wonderful wife and a strong and loving one too, especially when pregnant. If I was carrying that much weight around, I wouldnt’ want to be waiting hand and foot on someone.  But then again, I probably would. I’d just whine a little more (If you haven’t guessed, I’m not the easiest patient to deal with).  That’s what love does. It carries, puts up, empties and re-fills all at the same time.

The best of the Easter editorial cartoons from Daryl Cagle’s Professional Cartoon Index, http://cagle.com/:

 

Elizabeth and I just watched the 1981 movie Godspell (based on the musical by the same name) a retelling of Matthew’s Gospel set in modern day New York City.  It’s a beautiful, creative and imaginative piece that breathes new life into the text. 

I was struck immediately by a scene earlier in the film where Jesus and the disciples (both men and women) create their home, their church, out of an abandoned junk yard.  They clean and repaint everything from the tattered shed to the battered car on cynder blocks with bright colors–yellow, red, green, orange and blue. Jesus also paints colorful crosses and other symbols on their faces, marking them for discipleship. While they work on the junkyard, Jesus and the disciples sing songs to God and tell stories to one another, parables about how to live in the loving and just kingdom of God rather than remain captive to the cruel and unjust system of the world. 

As Jesus or one disciple tells a story the others act it out, using their imaginations and junkyard pieces as costumes and props. The disciples are invited by Jesus to transform their lives and the world around them by using both their hearts and imaginations to love, inspire and heal those around them.  And they continue telling stories and acting out the parables as they leave the junkyard and joyfully tramp across New York City for the day with Jesus.

In a scene toward the end of the film, Jesus and the disciples, who are on their way home, began singing the song “A Beautiful City” created specifically for the movie. The song reflects how they started on the journey; what they learned on the way and what they must do long after Jesus has left them.  It is a perfect bookend to the earlier scene where they transform the junkyard into their church:

Come sing me sweet rejoicing
Come sing me love
We’re not afraid of voicing
All the things (all the things)
We’re dreaming of (we’re dreaming of)
Oh, high and low,
And everywhere we go (everywhere we go) We can build (we can build)
A beautiful city (a beautiful city)
Yes we can
Oh yes we can
We can build (we can build)
A beautiful city (a beautiful city)
Call it out

The junkyard scene and the song “A Beautiful City” gave me hope for the Church and made me wonder about what the Church could look like if we truly threw away our pretentiousness and became silly foolish followers of Jesus.  What would the Church, which often seems like a junkyard these days, look like if we painted it and our faces with bright colors? What would the Church look like if we listened more, laughed more and played more? What would the Church look like if we live out the scriptures more from our imaginations and hearts rather than our stuffy dusty ole brains? What would the Church and the world look like if we weren’t afraid to sing with sweet rejoicing all of the things we were dreaming of?

I imagine it would be beautiful, wouldn’t you?