Late reflections are better than never

Well over two weeks ago on Trinity Sunday (May 18th this year) was also celebrated as Graduate Sunday at Wentz’s United Church of Christ, where this year’s graduates, myself included were honored. The service was well done and full of surprises especially afterward on the way out when I was intercepted by one of the women involved with the church’s knitting ministry with a scarlet red prayer shawl (to match the academic colors of seminary degrees) that she thought they were going to give me during the service in recognition of my advanced degree but it didn’t happen. Although in the end the part that stood out to me the most was the blessing upon the graduates which with a bit of online research turned out to be the Franciscan Blessing:

May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half truths, and superficial relationships, so that you may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression and exploitation of people, so that you may work for justice, freedom and peace.

May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, and war, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and turn their pain to joy.

And may God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done.

Amen.

Which also exists in a second slightly amplified form:

May God bless you with a restless discomfort about easy answers, half-truths and superficial relationships, so that you may seek truth boldly and love deep within your heart.

May God bless you with holy anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may tirelessly work for justice, freedom, and peace among all people.

May God bless you with the gift of tears to shed with those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, or the loss of all that they cherish, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and transform their pain into joy.

May God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you really CAN make a difference in this world, so that you are able, with God’s grace, to do what others claim cannot be done.

And the blessing of God the Supreme Majesty and our Creator, Jesus Christ the Incarnate Word who is our brother and Saviour, and the Holy Spirit, our Advocate and Guide, be with you and remain with you, this day and forevermore.

Amen.

In some ways I think that the Franciscan Blessing highlights what not only seminary education but also Christian education should look like. Those of you who have had more social contact with me during my time of seminary will know that as time went on during my studies that I’ve become more concerned about the dangers of oversimplification to the point of indifference in regards to nonessential issues, to the point of being wrongly accused of turning lukewarm by a few that did not understand. Early on during my seminary career I was a strong young earth creationist and led a science and faith small group to teach it as a volunteer with InterVarsity at Ursinus College. Yet now I have since changed from viewing theistic evolution and old earth creation as valid honest attempts to harmonize the scientific worldview with the Biblical one and have since shifted from considering myself a young earth creationist to a simple creationist as in God created the world as compared to naturalist evolution’s teaching that by random chance nothing exploded and created everything. The same goes with many other divisive issues within the church as instead of taking hard stands like I used to in the past, I can now name the Biblical basis of the strengths of the weakness of both sides of the issue and most likely come to the conclusion that neither side is completely right. In a similar way my one personal spirituality has expanded to the point that while I’m clearly most heavily rooted in the Reformed stream of church history, but I’m now willing than ever to study and apply aspects from other Christian traditions including Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox which I know would make some of my friends a bit uneasy if they knew the full extent of it. Yet I believe this broader devotional base has resulted in me having a fuller understanding of Christ given that the church is body of Christ which is not restricted among any one denomination but a makeup of them all together as one. I also feel that I’ve reached the point now that I regardless of what happens for me vocationally, which is still up in the air, that I would view my time in seminary earning my masters of Divinity to be worth it. I know that regardless of what happens that I will always be involved in some form of ministry and at the very least my blogging and little spiritual formation study and possible book project will not be going away. Yet beyond that I could potentially see myself being personally content to spend my entire working years in a secular job such as working in a tea shop till retirement. Not to say that I won’t honestly attempt to find a career in full time ministry. I have reached the point where I feel that my seminary education has made me a better Christian with my main focus to make a difference in helping other people and it no longer matters to me what I’m doing as long as its something that fits me as a Christian as part of God’s will.

Save Us

The other day I saw a bumper sticker that said “Jesus save me from your followers” which has an interesting double edge to it in my opinion. First at the surface level it is an undeniably anti Christian message. Yet at the same time, it can not be denied that to some extent the church had it coming from how many Christians have been acting. All too often it seems as if the cultural warriors within the church are picking the wrong issues to fight over which only seems to cause resentment among non-Christians and “proves” to them that the Christians are crazy by carrying on in a fight often to impose Christian moral standards on non-Christians which has zero chance of success. Sadly I’ve encountered Biblical justification for this, citing Jesus calling His followers the salt of the earth, when pointing out that salt both preserves as well as burns and irritates so if they are doing a good job people should either be getting saved or pissed at them. While overlooking John 13:34-35 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another”(ESV). As how is one supposed to reach out with a message of God’s love when being seen as a judgmental person trying to force others to submit to their rules by acting in a way contradictory to love? I heard a person say that much of what Christians consider an bold witness for Jesus is viewed by non-Christians as equally ridiculous as someone standing on a street corner loudly proclaiming that one type of underwear is superior to all others. And the same holds to Christians to some extent as a friend told me about an incident that happened at a church conference. They were with a group of pastors leaving a restaurant after lunch when they were ambushed Bible thumping style by a group of street preachers who wanted to know if they were saved. One of the pastors responded by laughing and responding we’re clergy when opening his jacket slightly to make his clerical collar visible. Evangelism serves as a good study point as I was taught in seminary that evangelism also needs to be directed toward Christians, which caused many cringes around the classroom. But think about it if most of the people in the church don’t want to sit through their own sales pitches doesn’t that say that something is clearly wrong with how it is being done much of the time? Of course the professor meant it in a different way within the context of preaching which should included the core basic truths of Christianity. As preaching just like fitness advice is not just about teaching people new things for the first time but to remind you about the things that you know but might not be putting to good use, so in theory a good sermon aimed towards Christians is also evangelism to any non-Christians present.

What do you have to say to us?

This past week I had a very productive and enjoyable meeting with Pastor Tony about the next steps toward getting in care status, the first stage of ordination. The part of our two hour and twenty minute talk that stood out to me the most was my question about the difference between the Evangelical and Mainline Churches and the talk the ensured on the issue. Of how the traditional Evangelical answer is to call the Mainline Churches liberal (as a dirty word from their perspective) and at times question if they are really Christian. Yet as I have noticed much of the time the conservative branch of the church is unable to stand its own arguments against the liberal branch of the church is turned against itself, so in that case what is the difference? Turns out from the Mainline perspective the question itself is somewhat misguided as unlike the Evangelical church, the Mainline church can not say to the Evangelical church “You are wrong!” but instead asks “What do you have to say?”. Just like the common ecumenical motto “In essentials unity. In non-essentials liberty. In all things love.”, which recognizes that as Christians we will never completely agree with or even fully understand each other’s perspectives but the more important thing is that despite our disagreements over the non-essentials, we are still united under the essentials of being saved by the blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, our Lord and Savior. I also found out from Pastor Tony that the simple answer is that the Mainline Protestant Churches are the ones that came out of the Reformation, the Lutheran, Reformed, Anabaptist, etc which along with the Roman Catholic Church recognize three sources of authority: Tradition, Scripture, and Interpretation. The traditions of the church passed down to us from previous generations, the Holy Scriptures at the root of our faith and the responsibility of interpretation that each generation has to make the faith their own in their current place and time. As God will not be backed into a corner and His Will changes with the times, just like how in the book of Jonah, God changed His mind in response to the people’s repentance. As compared to the tendency of Evangelical stance which focuses on Scripture at the cost of Tradition and Interpretation. Yes I realize that I’m likely oversimplifying things but honestly I have reached the point where I am more comfortable with the mainline stance of being more willing listen and learn from others with different views, even though I still find the ultra conservatives and ultra liberal stances equally scary.