Sunday, March 24, 2013

Isaiah Isn't Writing About Jesus, and This Is Truly Good News

What follows is the final draft of a sermon I wrote on Isaiah 42: 1-7, the Hebrew Bible reading for Monday of Holy Week in the Catholic lectionary we use on weekdays at Saint Peter's (no daily Lutheran lectionary is published).  Thanks so much for everyone's initial input, and I'd love to hear more.

I want to begin with two simple assertions: First, that the author of Isaiah 42 wasn’t writing about Jesus and second, that this is very Good News. I’ll explain in a moment, but let me first give some context. For far too long much of the Church, especially during Holy Week, has talked about an angry, vengeful god… a god that wants to hurt us, to kill us, to throw us into hell, whatever that is … a god that wants to tear us apart. The only reason this vengeful god doesn’t do all these horrible things to us, we’ve been told, is because in its “mercy,” god brings the divine hammer down on Jesus instead. Jesus quenches God’s appetite for punishment. Well, I declare to you this day my sisters and brothers that anyone who tells you about this sort of god simply has no idea what’s really going on.

This notion of an angry, vengeful sort of god is nothing more than a false idol, a golden calf built of human piety, human pride and human tradition that unfortunately much of the Church has been propping up for centuries. It’s a god of past and future… only of past and future. It has no present; it has no ‘now.’ We’re told that in the distant past this is a god that led the Israelites through the wilderness, only to later on kill his son instead of us. Then, sometime in the future, after any number of raptures and tribulations, we’re told this god will judge us, throwing most into a volcano sort of place and selecting a fortunate few ‘Leave It to Beaver types’ to sing in a celestial choir for all of eternity. Once again my sisters and brothers, anyone who tells you about this sort of god, has absolutely no idea what’s really going on for the writers of Isaiah, for Jesus and the disciples OR for us. Such a god is nothing more than a false idol crafted by human hands.

So now, let’s let the words of Isaiah 42 tell us who and how God truly is. The book of Isaiah has at least three distinct parts, written in three radically different times. Today’s reading comes from the second part, often called Second Isaiah, and was written in a time of immense hope, right near the end of the Babylonian captivity of the people of Judah. After decades of exile, the Jewish elite were expectantly waiting for their Babylonian captors to be conquered in turn by an advancing Persian army, led by Cyrus the Great. The writer of second Isaiah asserts that God is working through the Persian army, through Cyrus the Great, to redeem and free the people of Israel... Cyrus the Great is in fact called a messiah! In these particular verses, the servant that Isaiah writes of is not an individual at all but a group of people, his fellow exiles to be precise… God will fulfill God’s covenant with the people of Israel by once again freeing them to bear justice, to be a light to the nations and to by their example liberate all those who are oppressed; all those imprisoned in darkness. This God, my sisters and brothers, this God of compassion and liberation, this God of justice, forgiveness and love, this God not just of past and future but this God of right now is who God truly is. And later, in Christ’s resurrection, in Christ’s triumph over the sin of the cross, the ultimately evil act of humanity killing God, God shows not just the people of Israel but all of us that the powers of oppression and hate, that the powers of sin and death can never win. This God, this God acting right now liberating us, loving us, is who God truly is and always has been for the writers of Isaiah, for Jesus and the disciples AND for us today.
Dustin is currently a vicar at the Lutheran Office for World Community and Saint Peter's Church in Manhattan, having recently completed his second year of a Masters of Divinity program at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. While seeking ordination in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, his focus is on the intersection between worship, service and justice building in de-centralized faith communities unencumbered by a traditional church building. In his free time, Dustin likes playing frisbee, hiking and pretending to know how to sing.

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Stories of Liberation, Stories of Freedom (Lent 5C sermon video)

I preached this sermon last Sunday on March 17th, 2013 at Saint Peter's Church where I currently serve as Vicar, primarily on the lectionary gospel reading for the day, Saint John 12: 1 - 8. I ended up experimenting with actually using the pulpit, and therefore ended up feeling a bit bottled up during the whole thing, but I was fairly happy with how it turned out. I'd love to hear your input! 


God's peace,
Dustin 

Dustin is currently a vicar at the Lutheran Office for World Community and Saint Peter's Church in Manhattan, having recently completed his second year of a Masters of Divinity program at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. While seeking ordination in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, his focus is on the intersection between worship, service and justice building in de-centralized faith communities unencumbered by a traditional church building. In his free time, Dustin likes playing frisbee, hiking and pretending to know how to sing.

Monday, March 18, 2013

For Progressive Christians, Evangelism is Easy

So to be fair, the title of this post is meant to be a bit of a shocker... evangelism, community development, reaching out to the unchurched and the like is of course difficult and time consuming ministry, and by no means do I want to underestimate the essential work of my many sisters and brothers engaged in such activities.  That said, particularly in the context of hearing so many people of faith lately fretting over the future of the Church and declining attendance numbers in their congregations, I think it's important to recognize that from one perspective, progressive Christians really do have some strengths that are immensely attractive to the unchurched, particularly those with low religious literacy.

I'll draw on one experience I had this past weekend to illustrate my point.  In New York City where I live and work, Saint Patrick's Day (and in fact that whole weekend) is celebrated with vigor, to put it lightly.  With that background in mind, you can only imagine some of the interesting conversations I had while wearing my collar and riding on the subway Saturday night.  After wrapping up an immigration advocacy workshop at Saint Peter's Church where I currently serve as Vicar, I hopped on the E Line down to Greenwich Village in the early evening hours in order to attend the weekly Prayer Vigil for Marriage Equality held at Saint John's Lutheran Church on Christopher Street.  My subway car was absolutely filled with drunken St. Paddy's "celebrants," and one of them, a college-aged frat bro leaned over to me and jokingly said quite loudly, "Don't worry Father, I'm not a sodomite!"  All the folks surrounding us in subway car, including many of the frat bro's buddies immediately got tense, wondering how I'd respond.

For a few moments I felt offended and kind of angry, but after remembering that I had frequently been just that frat boy during my own college years, I calmed down, saw the humor in the situation, and said back equally loudly, "I probably would prefer we use different language, but I'm a Lutheran, and many of the folks in my church are actually quite down with the sodomites... I'm on my way to a prayer vigil for marriage equality right now."  A couple folks in the subway car actually cheered, others breathed a sigh of relief, but the young frat bro responded back to me a in a truly awesome way.  He said something like, "Oh wow, I was just joking, I'm sorry... but knowing that is actually pretty cool.  I've never heard about Lutherans before... tell me a bit about your church."  We ended up having a great conversation and I left him with a handshake and my business card.

I may never speak with that young man again... he might not even remember having that conversation with me, but honestly, I run into these sort of situations all the time.  Even while writing this post in a Philly coffee shop, another young man saw the "Jesus is with the 99%" sticker on the back of my laptop and briefly came over to speak with me.

What's my point in telling this story?  Essentially, our more conservative sisters and brothers in Christ have at this point so alienated a large portion of society, particularly open-minded young people, that the simple notion that progressive Christians are out there, that there are Christians who don't demonize those who are "different," ends up being a really exciting ideaIn general, people who have been harmed by the Church in the past and people who never had much experience with the Church at all are immensely attracted to the idea that some Christians actually affirm that all folks are made in the image of God and are reconciled to Her in Christ... who would've thought?  So although there's of course a lot of follow-up and community building needed afterward, this fact absolutely makes the initial conversations that are part of spreading the Gospel quite easy for progressive Christians.

So, my sisters and brothers, if you're a progressive Christian, if you're a Christian for marriage equality, if you're a Christian who believes that all should be welcomed into this country whether or not they have the right piece of paper, if you're a Christian who believes in a women's right to control her own body, I encourage you to share that good news... it might end up in the literally bringing someone from death to a new life in Christ.

Dustin is currently a vicar at the Lutheran Office for World Community and Saint Peter's Church in Manhattan, having recently completed his second year of a Masters of Divinity program at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. While seeking ordination in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, his focus is on the intersection between worship, service and justice building in de-centralized faith communities unencumbered by a traditional church building. In his free time, Dustin likes playing frisbee, hiking and pretending to know how to sing.

WCC Ecumenical Prayer Cycle: Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos

Xieng Khuan near Vientiane, Laos
As I wrote about in a recent post, part of my vicarage at Saint Peter's Church this year is providing a supplemental paragraph about countries in the weekly Ecumenical Prayer Cycle created by the World Council of Churches. We pray for each country listed in the prayer cycle during the Intercessory Prayers at Saint Peter's on Sundays and the paragraph is included in our bulletin insert to provide context for those intercessions.

This week's countries (3/17 - 3/23) are Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. While the paragraph below provides some recent information, check out their WCC page for additional prayer resources.  

We pray for the release of fourteen Catholic bloggers and activists who were recently convicted for their connection to the non-violent, pro-democracy Viet Tan group in Vietnam.  We pray for an end to recent land grabbing, for government reform and for free and fair elections this July in Cambodia.  We pray for an end to ongoing government persecution of the Hmong ethnic group in Laos.
God's peace,
Dustin

Dustin is currently a vicar at the Lutheran Office for World Community and Saint Peter's Church in Manhattan, having recently completed his second year of a Masters of Divinity program at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. While seeking ordination in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, his focus is on the intersection between worship, service and justice building in de-centralized faith communities unencumbered by a traditional church building. In his free time, Dustin likes playing frisbee, hiking and pretending to know how to sing.

Reclaiming the Body as Holy Through Dance at the Commission on the Status of Women

Last week I had the privilege to film a conversation between myself and Dr. Valli Batchelor, a World Student Christian Federation/ World Council of Churches delegate to the 57th Commission on the Status of Women on behalf of Ecumenical Women.  In this brief video we discuss the role of dance in Valli's work at CSW57 and her upcoming WCC publication on clergy sexual abuse of women, "When Pastors Prey."


Dustin is currently a vicar at the Lutheran Office for World Community and Saint Peter's Church in Manhattan, having recently completed his second year of a Masters of Divinity program at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. While seeking ordination in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, his focus is on the intersection between worship, service and justice building in de-centralized faith communities unencumbered by a traditional church building. In his free time, Dustin likes playing frisbee, hiking and pretending to know how to sing.

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Immigration Reform Liturgy and Sermon

While I'll spend some more time later reflecting on the Immigration Advocacy Workshop we just held at Saint Peter's Church where I currently serve as Vicar, I figured I could at least post the homily and liturgy we used for the text immediately.  Click the link below for a .pdf of the liturgy, which borrows from Lutheran, Catholic and evangelical resources.  

Immigration Reform Liturgy at Saint Peter's Church

Additionally, the a rough manuscript of the homily I preached on Saint Matthew 25: 34 - 40 follows:

Born in the wilderness, a young Israelite sojourner with tears in her eyes steps foot into the Promised Land for the first time. A poor Gentile woman is welcomed into God’s covenant with Israel through Christ. Fast-forward a couple thousand years… Dutch Anabaptists arrive in New Amsterdam, later to be renamed New York, having braved sea and storm in order to be safe from religious persecution. A recently freed African-American family, whose ancestors were brought to America in chains, make the long journey north to New York from the Carolinas seeking safety and economic opportunity. An Irish widower, with two young daughters in tow arrives on Ellis Island. Pro-democratic activists flee from a newly Communist China. Persecuted Hmong families arrive from Vietnam. A Nicaraguan family in a similar situation flees from the US-backed Contras. A migrant worker hopes for a legal status that will allow him to receive just wages. Today, a young Mauritanian girl escapes from forced prostitution and seeks asylum here in our city.

I’m a vicar, studying to be a pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and I way too often hear from folks both at my seminary and in other churches that the Church, that the Gospel no longer seems relevant in our society, that it’s hard to find Christ in our contemporary situation. When I hear that sort of talk, I find it quite odd… to be fair, there’s oftentimes when Jesus can be quite cryptic in what he says in the gospels, but when you listen to the stories I just mentioned and then listen to Christ’s words in today’s gospel reading, I have no worry at all that the gospel, that Christ, is still relevant in our world today, as he’s always been. Christ is with us, and it’s amazingly good new that Christ shows up where we least expect him to… in simple water, in Words, in bread and wine and in the faces of those oppressed, those seeking refuge those made to feel not welcome in our society. It’s also amazing good news that churches from across the political spectrum agree on this… today’s liturgy uses prayers from Catholic, Lutheran but also evangelical sources. Christians can’t help but see Christ in those refugees and migrants who most need immigration reform, and across the country we’re starting the conversation about how to respond. Thanks for being here, and thanks for joining us.

God's peace,
Dustin 


Dustin is currently a vicar at the Lutheran Office for World Community and Saint Peter's Church in Manhattan, having recently completed his second year of a Masters of Divinity program at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. While seeking ordination in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, his focus is on the intersection between worship, service and justice building in de-centralized faith communities unencumbered by a traditional church building. In his free time, Dustin likes playing frisbee, hiking and pretending to know how to sing.

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Lent 5C Sermon: Stories of Liberation, Stories of Freedom

What follows is the first draft of a sermon I'll be preaching this 
Sunday on the appointed lectionary gospel reading, Saint John 12: 1- 8.  Would love to hear some feedback.  Thanks friends!

A young man who has recently come out to his faith community stands up to an intolerant, bigoted pastor by boldly proclaiming that he is a child of God reconciled through Christ and that he is no less a Christian because of who he loves. After suffering for decades under the weight of drug addiction, a middle-aged women enters a twelve-step program at a church in the Bronx, cleans up, and only two years later is elected president of the parish council. Young Coptic Christians encircle their Muslim sisters and brothers peacefully protesting in Tahrir Square in order to protect them from harassment during evening prayer. These are stories of liberation. These are stories of freedom.

Wrapped in the loving support of his local congregation, a father navigates an inefficient, under-resourced and unjust immigration system in order to remain with his two young, American- born children. After worship on a Sunday morning, a group of elderly African-American women venture out together to cast their ballot at local polling station, only to be kept waiting hours by a system that still wants to deprive them of their right to vote nearly fifty years after the passage of the Voting Rights Act. A Presbyterian woman marches through a blizzard outside the United Nations with thousands of others two Fridays ago on International Women’s Day. Struggling against heavy winds, she holds up a sign that boldly states, “Jesus is feminist”. She holds up that sign despite knowing that other Christians, Christians weighed down by centuries of patriarchy and privilege, are at that very moment actively working within the UN system to curb the rights of girls and women. These are stories of liberation. These are stories of freedom.

A family, two sisters and a brother to be precise, gather together a group of close friends for a banquet in the village of Bethany, just a couple miles outside of Jerusalem. There is much to celebrate… the brother, Lazarus, was raised from the dead only a few days earlier, yet there’s also tension in the air. The Passover is coming, and everyone’s wondering whether the guest of honor will attend the corresponding city festival despite the possibility of his arrest. One sister hosts the meal; joyfully presiding over its many courses while the other seems noticeably tense. Near the end of the evening, the second sister, Mary, bursts up from her seat and reaches under the table, pulling out a large package of costly, fragrant ointment. Then, making one hell of a scene, she scandously stoops down at the feet of Jesus, and the feet of her Saviour, and carefully anoints him with long flowing hair. Mary doesn’t stop until the ointment is all used up, despite the protest of other folks in the room who have no idea what’s going on.

You see Mary is in fact what the Bible typically terms a prophet, as she’s the only one besides Jesus who knows what’s really going on. She realizes that in one sense, her Saviour is already buried, that his fate is already sealed, and thus that he must be properly anointed. One particularly ornery guest named Judas, thinking that Mary’s actions are some sort of expensive thank you note for raising Lazarus, calls Mary wasteful… instead of spending all that money on nard he argues it should have been given to the poor. Jesus strongly rebukes this accusation, cries out “leave her alone,” and affirms Mary’s prophetic action, thereby saying that its not about what Judas, Mary, or what anyone else for that matter is doing at all… its instead about what the Son of God will soon do for all humankind. This too, my sisters and brothers, is a story of liberation. This too, is a story of freedom.

Throughout much of my internship this year, I’ve often found myself thinking a lot about what the whole point of what this Gospel thing is anyway. In a world that seems to be turning away as fast as possible… what does the Church, what does Jesus in fact, have left to offer? We often hear that God in Christ forgives us of our sins. This is certainly true, we are forgiven, but I have come to believe that what God truly does in Christ is something even deeper. Because when we are forgiven, when God reconciles us to Herself in Christ, an even more amazing work happens: we are liberated, we are freed from all that ails us, and that is truly Good News. And this world needs that Good News as much as ever, because without it, none of the stories I’ve told this day would be possible. Because you see, when you got the Good News of Jesus the Christ on your side, the powers of patriarchy and intolerance, the powers of hate and violence and the powers of sin and death don’t have a shot.

Not too long ago, sometime around Christmas I believe, you heard it aptly asked from this pulpit, “Where is God for you today?” After a long, cold winter, after blizzards and superstorms, after mass shootings and the massive stress of a presidential election, as we enter a new season of rebirth and light and as we prepare to celebrate the Good News of Christ’s resurrection and our resurrection in Christ, I’d like to leave you all with a new question. What is Christ liberating you from? What is Christ freeing you from? What is Christ liberating you from? What is Christ freeing you from? Because you see my sisters and brothers, the stories I shared today aren’t just the stories of Copts in Tahrir Square, or of a recovering drug addict parish council president, or of a young woman making a scene, anointing the feet of her Saviour… these stories of liberation, these stories of freedom in Christ, are our stories, all of our stories, as well. So I ask one more time, what is Christ liberating you from? What is Christ freeing you from? To put it another way, what is the new thing Christ is doing in you?
Dustin is currently a vicar at the Lutheran Office for World Community and Saint Peter's Church in Manhattan, having recently completed his second year of a Masters of Divinity program at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. While seeking ordination in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, his focus is on the intersection between worship, service and justice building in de-centralized faith communities unencumbered by a traditional church building. In his free time, Dustin likes playing frisbee, hiking and pretending to know how to sing.

Monday, March 11, 2013

WCC Ecumenical Prayer Cycle: Myanmar & Thailand

The ancient Buddhist capital of Bagan in Myanmar.
As I wrote about in a recent post, part of my vicarage at Saint Peter's Church this year is providing a supplemental paragraph about countries in the weekly Ecumenical Prayer Cycle created by the World Council of Churches. We pray for each country listed in the prayer cycle during the Intercessory Prayers at Saint Peter's on Sundays and the paragraph is included in our bulletin insert to provide context for those intercessions.

This week's countries (3/10 - 3/16) are Myanmar & Thailand. While the paragraph below provides some recent information, check out their WCC page for additional prayer resources. 
This week we pray for the people of Myanmar as they begin developing just and humane political and civil system after decades of military rule.  We give thanks for new government efforts to end the ivory trade in Thailand.  We pray that recently announced peace talks between the Thai government and Muslim militants in the south of the country succeed in ending a nearly decade-long conflict that has claimed more than 5000 lives.
God's peace,
Dustin

Dustin is currently a vicar at the Lutheran Office for World Community and Saint Peter's Church in Manhattan, having recently completed his second year of a Masters of Divinity program at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. While seeking ordination in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, his focus is on the intersection between worship, service and justice building in de-centralized faith communities unencumbered by a traditional church building. In his free time, Dustin likes playing frisbee, hiking and pretending to know how to sing.

Saturday, March 09, 2013

NH 4000 Footer Essay (Pt. 5): Hiking Paths and Moments of Transfiguration

What follows is part five of a five-part essay I'm writing for the NH 4000 Footer Club.  You can find part one here, part two here, part three here and part four here.

From Zeacliff in early morning fog, August 2012.
It's good to be almost done with this thing... it took me over eight years to hike all of New Hampshire's forty-eight four thousand foot mountains, and at a number of points, it felt like it might take nearly as long to write this essay.  But here am I, sitting in Queens nursing a coffee and looking at a blank screen nearly six months after summitting Mount Carrigain, trying to figure out how to conclude... how to write part five of five.  My general thesis when I started this whole thing, as stated in part one was: "the paths we trod in life simply serve as vehicles through which we realize the growth (or potential for growth) already stirring within and around us," an idea I still agree with.  Another key point I made in part one concerned the presence of God in the mountains: "Unfortunately, while I often marveled at Her handiwork during my mountaintop experiences, God Herself didn't seem to really want to show up... or at least it felt that way."

The path up Bondcliff, August 2012.
While I did find God over my many hikes in the Whites, although as typical, She didn't show up where I expected.  And actually, it shouldn't be all that surprising that God was around in the mountains... think about how much Jesus liked hanging out on them.  The Sermon on the Mount was well, preached from a mount.  On the night of his betrayal, shortly before his death and resurrection, Jesus visits the Mount of Olives.  Perhaps the most amazing story of Christ on the mountaintop however is the The Transfiguration.  Referenced in three of the four canonical gospels (and perhaps referenced in the other), the transfiguration is the story of Jesus taking Peter, James and John up an unnamed mountain and becoming ablaze in a bright light, shining with all the glory of God.  Elijah and Moses then decide to show up as well.  From one perspective, its the moment where God most revels Herself in Christ to humankind.  Predictably humankind however can't handle God in all Her glory... Peter tries to control the situation and asks to make three tents for Elijah, Moses and Jesus so the moment can last longer.  Before Peter really even finishes making his proposition, God proclaims, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”  The disciples fall to the ground, and when they get up, the moment is over... Elijah and Moses are gone and Jesus is back to normal.

What I've realized, is that in a more limited sense, moments of transfiguration happen all the time in the mountains.  They're fleeting and impossible to seek out yes, but they're there, and for me at least, these moments of transfiguration don't come from gazing at the beauty of the forest or far reaching vistas... they take place in momentary and miraculous connection with the Other.  Said in less theological student language, I experience the glory of God in the mountains in moments of deep connection with another human being.  Christ is not only the intermediary between humankind and God, but also between us all... the brief moments when we see Christ in others are the only times when we can truly connect, when we can truly know what another person is all about.  And for me, these moments of transfiguration, these moments when the glory of God even in a limited way shows up in the face of another human being, are most likely to take place while atop the high places of creation.

Atop Bondcliff, August 2012.
Working with Calumet campers at the Mizpah Springs Hut, hiking the Southern Presidentials with a loved one and summiting Mount Isolation with a best friend... there were transfiguration moments on those paths.  Taking a short stroll to the top of Cannon Mountain after my first week of seminary with another close friend, essentially climbing up a waterfall with three folks to bag Moosilauke during one of the best months of my life, conquering the horseshoe of the Northern Presidentials with my brother... there were transfiguration moments on those paths.  And while hiking alone but also while waiting out a late summer storm in the Guyot Shelter with two middle-aged women who couldn't have been more in love and while speaking with an eighty year old man near the summit of Owl's Head who had just bagged his last 4000 footer with his adult son... there were transfiguration moments on those paths.

I had many moments of transfiguration while hiking the many paths and summits of New Hampshire's White Mountains, moments where I saw the glory of God in the face of the Other.  And all these moments of transfiguration helped me realize the growth that was taking place within and all around me.  And because of all these moments of transfiguration, I am truly blessed.

Dustin is currently a vicar at the Lutheran Office for World Community and Saint Peter's Church in Manhattan, having recently completed his second year of a Masters of Divinity program at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. While seeking ordination in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, his focus is on the intersection between worship, service and justice building in de-centralized faith communities unencumbered by a traditional church building. In his free time, Dustin likes playing frisbee, hiking and pretending to know how to sing.