Perceptions from a Pewboy

Yesterday, Tara and I traveled to Columbus, Ohio for the purpose of experiencing what, for us, was a post-Easter continuation of our celebration of the Resurrection. The man who led us in this celebration was a preacher of sorts—a peculiar prophet from New Jersey whose pulpit is the storytelling rock and roll behind which he has stood for nearly 40 years; whose liturgist is Little Steven Van Zandt; and whose choir is none other than the E Street Band.

The prophet to which I am making reference, of course, is none other than “The Reverend” Bruce Springsteen, whose concert at Ohio State University Tara and I were privileged to attend last night with a couple of our good friends.

Thanks to our friends’ concert-going savvy, we wound up being at the right place at the right time to win the “lottery” for being in the pit in front of the stage. This meant that we were about ten yards away from Bruce throughout the entire show. Let me put it this way: When the Boss periodically cleared his nostrils “farmer style,” we were grateful that he was facing in the other direction.

The show was relentless in its energy. If you are a fan of Springsteen’s music, the show’s set list (which he changes from show to show to keep himself and his band perpetually fresh and alert) speaks volumes about the show’s mood and energy level. Here is last night’s set list:

The Ties That Bind
Radio Nowhere
Lonesome Day
Adam Raised a Cain
Gypsy Biker
Something in the Night
Reason to Believe
You’ll Be Comin’ Down
Because the Night
She’s the One
Livin’ in the Future
The Promised Land
Sherry Darling
Incident on 57th Street
Devil’s Arcade
The Rising
Last to Die
Long Walk Home
Badlands
* * *
Girls in Their Summer Clothes
Born to Run (with Ed Manion)
Rosalita
Glory Days
American Land

My favorite song of the night, given the celebration of the Resurrection that we had experienced the day before, was “The Rising.” It resonated with particular depth for me as I listened to its multi-layered lyrics (the parenthetical reflections are mine):

Can’t see nothin’ in front of me
(the future, in other words, seems unclear)

Can’t see nothin’ coming up behind
(the past seems far away too, as though time has moved from chronos into kairos—which, I think, is precisely what happened on the cross)

I make my way through this darkness
(The darkness of what? Pain? Suffering? Death?)

I can’t feel nothing but this chain that binds me
(The lyrics describe a situation of enslavement. And doesn’t suffering often feel like that—like a bondage perpetuated by spiritual chains?)

Lost track of how far I’ve gone, how high I’ve climbed
(”My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”)

On my back’s a sixty pound stone
(or a wooden cross? It made me think of that line from “Lord of the Dance” in which we are told that “it’s hard to dance with the devil on your back.”)

On my shoulder a half mile of line
(or a half mile of scars?)

Come on up for the rising
(What’s this? Resurrection?!!)

Come on up, lay your hands in mine
(”Go ahead, Thomas, touch the scars in my hands.”)

Come on up for the rising
Come on up for the rising tonight
(come on up tonight—or come on up “early on the first day of the week.”)

There are spirits above and behind me
(What spirits? Perhaps the spirits of all the human souls—past, present, and future—with which Jesus is connected during his time on the cross.)

Faces gone black, eyes burning bright
(Faces with expressions of despair, eyes burning with a hopeful vision for deliverance)

May their precious blood blind me
(Does our blood commingle with the blood of Christ? Does our suffering connect with his suffering? I believe so.)

Lord, as I stand before your fiery light
(”Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.”)

Come on up for the rising.

Springsteen, of course, would not be so Christocentric in his explanation of his lyrics. But with the memory of a packed sanctuary singing “Christ the Lord Is Risen Today” still fresh in my thoughts, how could I interpret the lyrics in any other way?

Today, I am still singing the song to myself. “Come on up for the rising.” It has become my prayer. Come on up, church. Come on up, world. Come on up, pewboy. Come on up for the Resurrection of Jesus, which is God’s authoritative “no” in the face of sin and death’s dominion over human souls. Come on up for the resurrecting power that God continues to provide to broken souls suffering in the midst of the “little deaths” of depression, grief, illness, and poverty.

Come on up for the rising.

One last thought. As I stood in front of the stage last night, I looked around the packed arena and saw thousands of people of all ages standing up and moving to the music with their hands in the air. I found myself wondering why the church has such a difficult time getting as excited as that about Jesus. “Dignified” people will dance and clap with abandon at a Springsteen concert. “Dignified” United Methodists, on the other hand, can’t even raise their hands in worship without feeling scrutinized by the “pentecostal prevention patrol.” I don’t mean to sound cynical about this, because I’m really not. I’m just…wondering.

Maybe if I wore a bandanna in the pulpit, like Little Stevie…

Jesus is risen! He is risen indeed!

Enough said!

God’s blessings upon your celebration of our Lord’s Resurrection.

I don’t know exactly who is reading this post on this Good Friday. But I am praying for you. More specifically, I am praying that you will hear Jesus’ words from the cross resonating in the depths of your soul.

Jesus reveals the relentlessness of God’s mercy when he speaks these words:
“FATHER, FORGIVE THEM, FOR THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO.”

Jesus reveals that God’s saving grace is available to all people (even marginalized and disenfranchised sinners) when he speaks these words to the penitent criminal dying beside him: “TRULY I TELL YOU, TODAY YOU WILL BE WITH ME IN PARADISE.”

Jesus reveals that even suffering can become an opportunity for compassionate ministry when he speaks these words to his mother and one of his disciples who are standing nearby: “WOMAN, BEHOLD YOUR SON; SON, BEHOLD YOUR MOTHER.”

Jesus reveals the depth and authenticity of his brokenness (not to mention his devotion to Scripture) when he cries out from the depths of his soul, “ELOI, ELOI, LEMA SABACHTHANI” which means, “MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?”

Jesus reveals the urgency of his human need when he speaks these words: “I AM THIRSTY.”

Jesus reveals that something significant had been accomplished through his suffering and death when he speaks these words: “IT IS FINISHED.”

And Jesus reveals that his perfect relationship with God the Father is the very essence of his being, even in the midst of death, when he speaks these words: “FATHER, INTO YOUR HANDS I COMMEND MY SPIRIT.”

Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross is not a random tragedy. Rather, it is a revelation—a revelation of how far God was willing to go for the sake of our redemption.

I am praying that you will be spiritually relocated to the foot of the cross today and tonight. Come just as you are. Come with all of your sin and all of your brokenness. Come to the cross, and accept for yourself the salvation that only Jesus Christ can provide. He offers that salvation to you. He offers it to me. He offers it to a desperate and hurting world.

When was it in your life that you began to look upon the Lord’s Supper as something significant, something to treasure?

For me, the bread and cup became a treasure early on. When I was a boy of 4 or 5 years of age, I used to love Holy Communion Sundays at Grove City Grace United Methodist Church because that church used shortbread squares for the Lord’s Supper. They tasted like little cookies! Following worship on Communion Sundays, there would be about a five minute gap of time between the benediction and the arrival of the Communion stewards at the front of the sanctuary. During that five minute gap, I would leave my mother’s side, scurry up the altar, grab a handful of shortbread squares and head off to one of the Sunday school rooms for what might be described as an extended sacramental celebration.

The funny thing was that, even as a four or five year old, I knew that there was something important about those shortbread squares. I had seen enough people consuming them with reverence to know that they were something more than ordinary food. And so, as a 4 or 5-year-old, before I would consume the purloined squares, I would always try to pray some of the words that I could remember from the Communion liturgy. My truncated prayers, however, sounded something like this: “Dear Jesus, this is your body broken for us, but please help it to be like cookies because I don’t think that your body would taste very good.”

Somewhere in those childish words was the soul of a little boy who had already come to understand, at least in some elementary way, that the Lord’s Supper was something special, something to savor, something to treasure, something to crave.

About seventeen years later, when I was a junior in college, I attended a worship service on Palm Sunday evening at a British Methodist church in downtown London. It was at that service, as I sat alone in my pew, that I experienced my clearest sense of calling into the ordained ministry. That night, as I watched the pastor consecrate the elements, as I experienced afresh the breaking of the bread and the sharing of the cup, I could not shake the feeling that the Holy Spirit was creating a transformational intimacy with my soul. In those moments, I sensed that the Spirit was speaking to me and saying something like this: “Do you see that pastor consecrating the elements? That is what I want you to do for my people. I want you to help my people to celebrate the Lord’s Supper—not because you are better than anybody else, not because you are worthy of such a calling, but simply because that is the life into which I am calling you.”

The Lord’s Supper, you see, has figured prominently in my life’s journey. When I was a boy, I couldn’t keep my hands off the Communion elements. And when I was a young adult, those Communion elements became one of the primary means by which I experienced God’s calling to ministry. All of which is to say that I have no problem whatsoever thinking of the Lord’s Supper as a holy treasure. It is a treasure that has blessed my life in a thousand different ways.

I pray that you are able to say the same thing. Furthermore, I pray that you will join me in experiencing the treasure of the Lord’s Supper on this Holy Thursday. God bless you.

I found this interesting tidbit on the Reuters website:

A man in Australia is auctioning his life—his house, his job, his clothes and his friends—on eBay, after his marriage broke up, saying he wants to start a new life.

‘It’s time to move. A completely fresh start. I want to see where life takes me,’ Ian Usher, 44, told Australian television on Tuesday from Perth in Western Australia state.

Usher said he was auctioning his life as ‘a package’ with his house in Perth valued at around A$420,000 (US$385,000).

‘Hi there, my name is Ian Usher, and I have had enough of my life! I don’t want it any more! You can have it if you like!,’ reads his Web site www.alife4sale.com, which has a link to eBay for bidders.

Usher said his life auction, which starts on June 22, included not only his house, a car, a motorbike, a jet ski and a spa, but also an introduction to ‘great friends’ and a job at a rug shop in Perth for a trial two-week period.

‘When it’s over, I will just walk out the front door, take my wallet, my passport and start a new life,’ he said.

Usher said his ex-wife had heard of his auction.

Her last comment was, ‘it seems a bit mental to me.’

I read this and thought about the kind of transformation and new beginning that are at the very heart of an authentic relationship with Jesus Christ. I am very thankful that I don’t have to auction off my life in order to be born again!

For the benefit of those of you who are not particularly well-schooled in United Methodist polity, the General Conference of the United Methodist Church will meet in Fort Worth, Texas in April. Meeting every four years, the General Conference is the highest governing body in the United Methodist denomination and establishes the denomination’s Book of Discipline. I am honored to be one of Western Pennsylvania’s clergy delegates to the 2008 General Conference

Would you mind sharing with me your wisdom and insight concerning a petition to the General Conference from the General Board of Church and Society? The petition recommends a United Methodist divestment of all equity and debt holdings of a company called Caterpillar, Incorporated. According to the petition, Caterpillar produces and supplies bulldozers and other heavy equipment to the Israeli Defense Forces which, in turn, use the equipment for “the illegal destruction of Palestinian homes, orchards, and olive groves in the Occupied Territories and to clear Palestinian land for illegal Israeli settlements.”

The petition can be found here.

I don’t think that I have to remind you of how complex and complicated the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is. People tend to align themselves rather passionately with one side or the other, often without a sufficient appreciation of the history and intricacy of the conflict. Not surprisingly, the above-mentioned petition has become one of the more controversial pieces of legislation in the pre-General Conference material. I have a unique interest in the petition because I have been assigned to the General Conference section that will be addressing the petition with particular focus and scrutiny.

Last week, I met with some members of the Pittsburgh Jewish Community who were interested in engaging in substantive dialogue about the petition and its implications. Hearing their viewpoints in the context of civil discourse was a helpful and informative experience for me. I can share more about their concerns as this blog conversation continues.

I have also had dialogue with people who have spent significant time with some Christ-followers in Palestine who have been on the receiving end of what they perceive to be Israeli aggression. They, of course, are much more receptive to this petition and its cause.

May I be so bold as to ask you to join me in this process of discernment? I would greatly appreciate hearing about your reaction to the petition and any additional insights or observations that you might wish to offer. I will be sharing some of my own thoughts as well.

Thanks, in advance, for your availability.

Jeff “The Hoff” Vanderhoff reflects meaningfully on his family’s ecumenical life in this blog post.

His reflections inspired me to contemplate a question that I suppose all of us who are connected to a particular denomination must contemplate from time to time: What is the status of contemporary ecumenism? Or, to put it in a more straightforward way, are our current denominational configurations a sign of hope or a sign of the continued division of the Body of Christ?

This very question came up in a class that I was teaching recently. The participant articulated the question in this fashion: “If we are supposed to be united as Christians, then aren’t denominations a negative thing?”

They certainly can be, especially if they become a source of bitterness, rancor, and negativity–or if they become the governing portion of our spiritual identity. But, given the fact that denominations are not going away anytime soon, I suppose that we have no choice but to make peace with them and see them as part of the reality of the contemporary church.

I have been encouraged in recent years by the cooperative and ecumenical spirit that I have encountered in the church’s ministry. Even in my own township, I have seen Presbyterian, Lutheran, Baptist, United Methodist, and non-denominational churches coming together frequently for ministry and worship. Just last week, I met for prayer with area pastors of all denominations. This leads me to believe that denominations, if they are seen in their proper perspective, do not automatically have to be divisive or prohibitive to shared ministry. In fact, if we look upon our particular denomination as a sibling in the family of God, we can appreciate the differences and eccentricities that exist among the other siblings, while at the same time affirming that we are still part of one family.

I have always been a United Methodist. I went to a United Methodist Sunday School when I was a kid. I attended a United Methodist youth fellowship when I was in junior and senior high. I was confirmed into a United Methodist congregation. And I came to know Jesus among United Methodist believers. Therefore, I happen to be a United Methodist (just like I happen to be an American). Far more significant than my denominational and national identity, however, is my identity as a Christ-follower. That is the identity that brings me into unity with my brothers and sisters in Christ of all denominations and all nationalities. Since United Methodism is the denominational context in which my discipleship has been nurtured throughout my life, I feel no need to find another way to be Christian. As an adult, I have come to appreciate United Methodism’s theological integrity, especially its emphasis upon Scripture and its acknowledgment of the place of tradition, reason, and experience in the discernment of truth.

Sometimes I wonder what other denomination I would choose to be if I had to. I could go with a non-denominational church. Quite frankly, however, I am not certain that there is such a thing as a non-denominational church, since even non-denominational churches have to start acting like a denomination at some point (and most of them start acting like Baptist churches). I could be a Roman Catholic, but I have real theological problems with some of that church’s teachings (while still affirming the important place that Roman Catholicism occupies in the body of Christ). I could become a Presbyterian, but I disagree with the doctrine of predestination that is so much a part of that tradition’s history. I could become a Pentecostal, but I am not always in agreement with the way in which Pentecostals define “baptism in the Holy Spirit.”

I guess that I will simply remain a United Methodist believer while at the same time keeping my heart and mind open to what the other denominations bring to the body of Christ. I will also commit myself to the task of building bridges between the denominations instead of walls. It is true, after all, that, when we stand upon the common ground of Jesus Christ, all of our other differences, while not insignificant, are nevertheless secondary.

“The trouble about trying to make yourself stupider than you really are is that you very often succeed.” (C.S. Lewis)

I have proven this o’er and o’er!

On Saturday, I had the opportunity to lead a day long retreat for a wonderful group of Christ-followers from Holiday Park United Methodist Church. The retreat was held at Jumonville, and it was a blessing to be on the mountaintop with such a vibrant and gifted assembly.

The retreat was entitled “Disciplines that Deepen: A Day-Long Exploration of Some Time-Tested Practices That Help Us to Become More Attentive to the Presence of God.” Below is the outline that I assembled for the retreat. I hope that some of you will be inclined to skim it. It was a great day apart.

Disciplines that Deepen
A Day-Long Exploration of Some Time-Tested Practices That
Help Us to Become More Attentive to the Presence of God

Saturday, March 8, 2008
Jumonville
Eric Park, facilitator

Part 1: THE DISCIPLINE OF PRAYER

A. What is prayer?

-Prayer is a soul’s transformational intimacy with the presence of God (Psalm 91).

-Prayer is the God-ordained conduit through which the transforming presence of God makes its way into lives and circumstances (James 5:13-18).

-Prayer is a redemptive honesty before God (Psalm 137).

-Prayer is not simply a dialogue, but an ever-deepening love relationship with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:16-19; Ephesians 6:18).

-Prayer is both individual and communal (Mark 14:32-42; Matthew 18:20).

B. The Lord’s Prayer as a Prayer Model (Matthew 6:5-15—“Pray, then, in this way…)

-Prayer makes us sensitive to the holiness, the majesty, and the “wholly otherness” (Aquinas, et al.) of God. (“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be YOUR name. YOUR kingdom come. YOUR will be done…”)

-Prayer makes us sensitive to our own deepest needs in the presence of God. (“Give US this day our daily bread. Forgive US our debts…”)

-Prayer makes us sensitive to the deepest needs of others in the presence of God. (“…as we also have forgiven OUR DEBTORS.”)

C. Practical Considerations?

-What are our struggles and frustrations with prayer? (Time? Attentiveness?)

-Our devotion to prayer can sometimes be deepened by the establishment of a temporal consistency (a regular time) and a prayer “tabernacle” (a regular place).

-Our devotion to prayer can sometimes be refreshed when we look upon prayer, not as the accomplishment of a pre-established agenda, but as a free-flowing interaction with the Holy Spirit.

-Our devotion to prayer can sometimes be revitalized when we dare to incarnate prayer, not only as a time apart, but as a way of life.

Part 2: THE DISCIPLINE OF SPENDING TIME WITH SCRIPTURE

A. Searching Scripture as a Means of Grace:

“All who desire the grace of God are to wait for it in searching the Scriptures.” (John Wesley, sermon, “The Means of Grace”)

B. Why are apathy, avoidance, and illiteracy concerning Scripture such widespread problems?

C. What Do We Believe About Scripture? Why do we see it as a narrative that is worthy of our earnest study and our diligent meditation?

-Scripture has withstood the test of time.

-Scripture has proven itself to be historically reliable (in the best sense of that word).

-Scripture (at least in the eyes of this humble preacher) has proven itself to be
inspired.

-All of Scripture leads to Jesus, and Jesus is the interpretive lens through which we read and study all of Scripture.

-Jesus believed that Scripture was to be learned and revered.

D. Spending Cognitive Time with Scripture

-“Cognition” is the process of knowing, perceiving, discerning, conceptualizing, and interpreting. Therefore, spending cognitive time with Scripture means STUDYING the Scripture, its language, its imagery, and its historical setting, all for the purpose of determining what the text might have meant to its original audience and how it might shed important light on the contemporary life of discipleship.

-The goals in cognitive time are as follows:
-to LEARN about Scripture;
-to embrace Scripture’s meaning and content intellectually;
-to UNDERSTAND Scripture

E. Spending Meditative or Prayerful Time with Scripture

-Spending meditative time with Scripture means letting go of concerns about the “facts” of the text in order to listen for how God might be speaking through the text to the depths of one’s soul.

-The goals in meditative time are as follows:
-to EXPERIENCE Scripture;
-to make oneself available to Scripture’s impact and spiritual implications;
-to be understood BY Scripture

Part 3: THE DISCIPLINE OF JOURNALING

A. Is there any biblical teaching that might serve as a helpful impetus for journaling?

-2 Corinthians 13:5: “Examine yourselves to see whether you are living in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you?”

B. What Is Christian Journaling?

-It is the discipline of writing (typing) about one’s activities, experiences, thoughts, feelings, and prayers for the purpose of deepening one’s discernment of how it is that God is redemptively at work in the seemingly common nooks and crannies of one’s daily living.

C. Why Journal?

-To remember significant circumstances, happenings, and encounters

-To clarify one’s own thoughts and to distinguish between true feelings and split- second emotional reactions

-To bring one’s hidden sins to light

-To purge one’s potentially destructive emotional energy

-To discern the purposes of God and how those purposes are fulfilled over time

-To gain perspective on the “big picture”

-To discern the answering and outcome of one’s prayers

-To trace the process of sanctification in one’s life

-To encounter Scripture more meaningfully

Significant quotes:

“I wonder if I shall burn this sheet of paper like most others I have begun in the same way. To write a diary, I have thought of very often at far and near distances of time: but how could I write a diary without throwing upon paper my thoughts, all my thoughts - the thoughts of my heart as well as of my head? And then how could I bear to look at them after they were written? Adam made fig leaves necessary for the mind, as well as for the body. And such a mind as I have! - So very exacting and exclusive and eager and head long and strong and so very often wrong! But still I will write: I must write and the oftener wrong I know myself to be, the less wrong I shall be in one thing - the less vain I shall be!”
(Elizabeth Barrett Browning)

“This is not a pen, it is a prayer, one must have compassion for that.”
(Fyodor Dostoyevsky)

“I won’t give up the diary again. I must hold on here. It is the only place I can.”
(Franz Kafka)

Part 4: THE DISCIPLINE OF RESPONDING TO SUFFERING

A. Suffering is one of the most substantive common denominators of the human condition. If one lives long enough, one will surely spend some time suffering—suffering with illness, suffering with grief and despair, suffering with feelings of loneliness and isolation. Therefore, the way in which one responds to suffering has much to do with the health and vitality of one’s spiritual journey.

B. People are often so thoroughly focused on the question of why their suffering is happening to them that they fail to reflect upon the question of how they might respond to their suffering in a way that honors the integrity of their discipleship.

C. The Cross as a Model for a Christ-honoring Response to Suffering

-“I am thirsty”—Responding to suffering demands a rejection of heroic postures and forced stoicism in favor of an honest acknowledgement of our pain and our deepest thirsts. It is possible, in other words, to suffer communicationally rather than silently.

-“Woman, here is your son, and son, your mother”—A Christ-honoring response to pain and loss resists the condition of becoming so idolatrously fixated upon one’s own suffering that one becomes blind to the suffering of others and the doorway to ministry and relationship that such suffering often creates.

-“Today, you will be with me in paradise.”—At the heart of the Christ-follower’s response to suffering is the conviction that the suffering will somehow be redeemed.

-“Father, forgive them…”—One’s response to suffering honors Christ when bitterness and hardness of heart gives way to forgiveness and reconciliation.

-“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Psalm 22)—Suffering can be a pathway into a deeper contemplation of Scripture and an intensified life of prayer.

-“Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.”—One responds well to suffering when the suffering is treated as an opportunity for an even more deeply transformational intimacy with the presence of God.

-“It is finished.”—The Christ-follower responds to suffering, not by denying it, but by seeing it through to its redemptive conclusion.

Significant quotes:

“We fail to see the place of suffering in the broader scheme of things. We fail to see that suffering is an inevitable dimension of life. Because we have lost perspective, we fail to see that unless one is willing to accept suffering properly, he or she is really refusing to continue in the quest for maturity. To refuse suffering is to refuse personal growth.” (Henri Nouwen)

“When you and I hurt deeply, what we really need is not an explanation from God but a revelation of God. We need to see how great God is; we need to recover our lost perspective on life. Things get out of proportion when we are suffering, and it takes a vision of something bigger than ourselves to get life’s dimensions adjusted again.” (Warren Wiersbe)

Check out this article that appeared in a recent French newspaper:

The mayor of a village in southwest France has threatened residents with severe punishment if they die, because there is no room left in the overcrowded cemetery to bury them.

In an ordinance posted in the council offices, Mayor Gerard Lalanne told the 260 residents of the village of Sarpourenx that ‘all persons not having a plot in the cemetery and wishing to be buried in Sarpourenx are forbidden from dying in the parish.’

It added: ‘Offenders will be severely punished.’

I’m thinking of somehow utilizing this story in my Easter Sunday sermon: “No dying allowed!!”