Friday, October 26, 2007

Sheep among wolves



The scripture reading today was Matthew 10, and Dean David Hester spoke helpfully about this difficulty passage about being sent on a mission trip, expecting hostility and rejection. David noted the menagerie of animal images in the passage--sheep, wolves, doves and serpents.

I went off on my own little excursion (I'm sure I'm not the only one to do that during a sermon) on the symbolism of these creatures. Only the wolves come out with a negative image in this passage. Even the snake gets a better promotion than the wolf.

My quick comment is, "wolves have gotten a bad rap." I say that partly because of a great love of nature and the delightful time we spent in Northern Minnesota where wolves have been reintroduced and have a valued role in the wilderness ecology there, as is true of a few other locations in this country. We still enjoy Jim Brandenberg's books and photography of wolves--their strength, their beauty, their line of continuity to our own very tame wheaten terrier, and remember fondly our visit to the the wolf refuge center near Ely, MN.

With that background, you might appreciate our experience of visiting eastern Kentucky a couple of years ago and going on an "elk watch" in the dusk of a summer evening. Thousands of wild elk have been reintroduced to the desolate landscape of removed mountaintops, which is an interesting wilderness story in itself. When the tour guides mentioned that the elk were multiplying and beginning to become pests, we asked them if there had been talk of reintroducing the wolves as the natural predators to help maintain a healthy balance of the populations of both elk and wolf. We were told with great passion that wolves would never be accepted in Kentucky!

Maybe this bad rap goes back to Jesus' words from Matthew casting wolves in a bad light. Maybe it's "Little Red Riding Hood" and the grandma eating wolf. Maybe, to take a more systemic perspective, we have fallen so in love with controlling nature and dominating the natural world, that we think we can decide better than the Creator what creatures belong and which do not belong in the wild and wonderful world. We do this at our own great risk.

To point to my own earlier work, in my book on church conflict (see July 24, 2007 post), I encourage us to see conflict as a positive gift, pointing to a deeper wisdom in the ecology of a congregation. Maybe, just maybe, Jesus intended us to recognize that there will always be wolves to challenge and balance our congregational and public ministry. They are not big, bad and evil. They are part of the natural wisdom of the way the world works, and like the elk, we do not thrive without natural challenges and dangers!

So let's rehabilitate the image of the wolves. Let's let them back into our vocabulary, if not on our ruined mountaintops, and thank God for the beauty, strength and goodness of predators in our midst.

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Meditation on Pastoral Leadership and Joe Torre


I usually identify with baseball managers. They get paid less than the people they lead, and work in an environment in which they have to answer to not only the clamoring crowd but also to a few irascible patriarchs and matriarchs (yes, "matriarchs"--remember Marge Schott!). The pastor's job is to lead a group of people who think they know better than the leader what they should be doing in their organization, and in fact the church members should be following their own gifts and passions and setting the tone in the sanctuary (like the clubhouse). And sometimes, the call and passion of the pastor diverges in subtle or significant ways from the crowd and those that have greatest influence, and sometimes it's good to know when it's wise walk away from the job.
Joe Torre stayed longer than anybody except maybe Casey and won lots of ball games and filled the stands and was a good partner with the other management folks and the players to make all that happen. But when that wasn't good enough, he was wise enough to not buckle under a change of covenant or changed expectations to "keep the peace." He walked away. My guess is he'll be OK. The Yankees will be OK, too. And baseball will keep on keepin' on.
What are your thoughts about pastoral leadership during this World Series?

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Giving Your Best and Lifelong Learning



Thinking about a presentation on lifelong learning I will make today to a group of religious leaders who engage in the addiction recovery process, I was struck by this reading from Howard Thurman in today's meditation guide (Shawchuck and Job, A Guide to Prayer for All Who Seek God, Nashville: Upper Room Books, 2003, 372):

  • "It is one of the great insights of religion that only God is worthy of the best in one's treasure house and the best in one's treasure house is not worthy. . . . The urge to share as an offering of the heart that which has deepest meaning is at bottom the hunger for God. It is deep call unto deep. Offerings may be made to other human beings. . . . But such offerings do not satisfy, nor do they bring peace to the spirit. . . . [O]nly when the offering is seen as being made to the Highest, to God, however crude may be the altar upon which it rests, is the deep need in us all satisfied and our spirits come into the great Peace."

For those of us called to some kind of ministry to others, it is easy to fall back into easy contentment with they way we've been doing our work. The way we preach, the way we counsel, the way we administer, even the way we pray. But each new situation, every new sermon or client or organizational dilemma presents a new challenge and we are called, from deep within, to reach down deep and learn something new, try something better, meet the change with innovation.

Ministry in a changing world challenges each of us to bring new reflection on how to interpret our faith tradition and the situation, new insights about what we are called to be here and now, and fresh skills in the performance of our ministry to others. Not to offer it to those others alone, but to offer this moment's efforts to the source of our life and strength, to the highest, to the deepest, to the one in which we live and move and have our being.

As I thought about this the old Sunday School song came back to me from my childhood : "Give of your best to the Master." The words and the theology are truly awful, dripping in violent imagery. Yet it captures the insight that Thurman illuminates: nothing less than our best, however humble, and only God is worthy of such an offering. That's the path of peace.

Friday, October 12, 2007

Fall Lectures October 24-25





The Second Annual Edwards Presler Lectures on Justice and Mission will happen Wednesday and Thursday, October 24-25.

The PRESLER LECTURE ON MISSION features Dr. Carlos Cardoza-Orlandi (shown on left), Associate Professor of World Christianity at Columbia Seminary. One of the bright young advocates of the global reach of the Christian Faith in the 21st Century, Dr. Cardoza-Orlandi will speak on the topic, "Mission Impossible?: Faith and the Crossroads of People and Religions" at 10 a.m., Wednesday, October 24th in the Seminary Chapel.

THE EDWARDS LECTURE ON JUSTICE will be given by Dr. Charles Marsh, shown on the right, of the University of Virginia where he is Professor of Religious and Theological Studies and Director of the Project on Lived Theology. This former Grawemeyer Award Winner is a popular speaker at LPTS and a clear voice for racial reconciliation in this country. His lecture on "The Beloved Community: American Search, Christian Hope, Human Struggle" will be at 7 p.m. in the seminary chapel.

These lectures are free and open to the public and require no reservations to attend. For more information, call 800-264-1839, ext 429.

Thursday, October 4, 2007

Hoagy's Coming To Town


I was confused when my friend (and the music director at my wife's church) said that Hoagy Carmichael was coming to town in New Albany, Indiana, and would be appearing in her nightclub-restaurant "The Speakeasy" in October. But indeed, he is going to be present there, in a lifesize bronze sculpture something like the picture above, in the music space of that lovely venue starting next weekend. Apparently Hoagy was a Hoosier, and this is his return tour of his home state.
Go to the co-sponsor of the event, the Carnegie Center for Art & History in New Albany, http://www.carnegiecenter.org/ for more information.
The Speakeasy is at 225 State Street in downtown New Albany, not far from the Brent-Spence Bridge.
FRIDAY OCTOBER 19
10 a.m-11 p.m.. Exhibit Open
4:30-6 Welcome Reception
8:30-10:30 Jamey Aebersold Jazz Quartet Free Performance
SATURDAY OCTOBER 20
10 a.m -11 p.m. Exhibit open
1 p.m. Floyd County Historical Society Lecture by the sculptor, Michael Livingston McAuley
8 p.m. Shall We Dance Studio Instructors Demonstrations and Lessons
9-11 p.m. Speakeasy Orchestra Free Performance and Dance
I think of Jazz as a wonderful metaphor for lifelong learning--continuing to adapt and grow and enjoy the ensemble of life! So I celebrate this remembrance of Hoagy!