an offering by Rebecca Blackwell
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Picture Sources/Artists:
Good Shepherd Icon: http://www.ogs.net/
Water Into Wine: http://jefmenguin.com/turn-water-into-wine/
Loaves and Fishes: http://blueeyedennis-siempre.blogspot.com/2011/07/july-31st-july-2011-18th-sunday.html
Footwashing: http://holycreek-johnson.blogspot.com/
Buddy Christ: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddy_Christ
Crucifixion Picture: Salvador Dali
Sometimes it seems like we are so isolated. Yet the small world phenomenon proposes that all people are separated by only six degrees: that is to say that in six steps of introduction from friend to friend, we could meet any/every one else on the earth. This theory gained popularity through John Guare’s stage play, Six Degrees of Separation and through the trivia game “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” ( a game created by three Albright College students, which established that any individual involved in the film industry can be linked through his or her film roles to actor Kevin Bacon within six steps.)
A rabbi friend of mine in Los Angeles swears that though everyone else is separated by six degrees, the Jewish community is so close that they are only separated by FOUR degrees, and he proved it to me with numerous examples. However, now that I have moved to the South, I’ve discovered that Southerners are separated by only THREE degrees of separation… it seems that everyone around here knows or is related to everyone else.
And yet, whether they be Hollywood stars, members of the Jewish community or even southerners, so many people still struggle with loneliness, isolation and estrangement.
As we enter Holy Week, may we remember that, in fact we are all only separated by only ONE degree: one person is all that separates us from everyone else on earth… and that person is Jesus the Christ. In Him, the walls that divides humanity from God; person from person; race from race and tribe from tribe have all come tumbling down.
This Holy Week, may we be astonished all over again at this good news, and enter into its mystery with glad and grateful hearts.
Despite the difficulties of living in a diverse community — whether that diversity comes from gender, cultural background, theological persuasion, or any number of other things that can divide us, I continue to believe that we are better together. We help one another work out our salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12).
At a recent gathering of Presbytery Execs (by whatever title) in our Synod, my colleague from Tropical Florida Presbytery spoke about a couple of videos that they created to share with congregations that are in discernment about whether or not to remain in the PC(USA). The videos are not intended to change anyone’s mind, but only to share the thoughts of those who have decided to stay so that those who are in discernment can hear that perspective. In the first video several pastors in the presbytery speak about why they have decided to stay with the denomination. In the second, they address some of the specific talking points that have been raised by those looking to depart.
I share these videos here with permission of Tropical Florida Presbytery (and with a bit of envy at their ability to produce such high quality work). I share these in the hope that they will offer helpful input in your discernment process.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=v5gW8G3xHPc#
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Z5b5eIrXVAk
I’m so glad to be working out my salvation with all of you!
Rebecca
Early Ash Wednesday morning we (my husband and I) received the news that yet another of our friends had died. This was the third friend to die in less than 2 months. We are no strangers to death, but the death of these friends seemed to signal a tipping point of some sort, because these friends were our contemporaries. We’d been in school together, worked on plays together, laughed and spent our youth together. I begin to wonder if we’ve now reached that point in life where we’ll mark time by the list of those we’ve loved and lost each season; regularly searching the obit columns with a mixture of curious dread and relief. Ashes to ashes… dust to dust.
All of which leads me to thinking about legacy. When we’ve gone, what will people remember of us? What are the footprints we leave behind on the earth and in the lives of others? Will our leavings be worthy of Jesus? Will our lives have brought life, love, hope, joy and peace into the lives of others?
Surely, this is a Lenten pondering… may our Lenten disciplines bring us into closer conformity to the life and love of Christ.
For more of Ales Prikryl’s amazing photos of The Burning Man Festival, go to www.dusttoashes.net
I have been reading a book that I would commend to anyone who is interested in vibrant faith, young people, or the health and vitality of the church. The book is Almost Christian: What the Faith of Our Teenagers Is Telling the American Church.
The book is disturbing, exciting, challenging and equipping all at the same time. The author, Kenda Creasy Dean (faculty at Princeton Seminary), reviews the data gathered by the national Study of Youth and Religion that was done between 2003 and 2005 and offers us some assessment of the findings. Briefly, she says that the apathy that most teenagers feel toward religion (not necessarily spirituality) holds up a mirror to the American church. In that mirror, we come to see that we have watered down Christianity so that it is “nice” and “civil” … but not worth living or dying for.
If you don’t have the time or inclination to read the book, the following interview will provide a good insight to the book and its findings (but not the helpful recommendations and action items): www.patheos.com/Resources/Additional-Resources/Almost-Christian-Kenda-Creasy-Dean. Those attending the February meeting of Cherokee Presbytery in Dalton will have the option to meet and discuss the book at 9am, so plan to join us if you can. It is sure to be a stimulating discussion!
I don’t know the source of the recent interest in Pastor John Shuck of First Presbyterian in Elizabethton, Tennessee but he has been referenced by a number of my colleagues, with the implication that his views on theology, polity and doctrine are somehow wide-spread in the PC(USA). While I can’t pretend to have made an exhaustive survey of all Presbyterian Clergy, I do want to say that Rev. Shuck’s views are definitely not representative of the majority of pastors I have encountered in the four presbyteries where I have served — nor are his views representative of the majority of clergy I’ve encountered in my wider travels throughout the denomination. In fact, his views are not even representative of mine – and I’m admittedly left of center.
Certainly Rev. Shuck expresses views that may give us pause, and we may certainly wonder how he remains a minister in good standing in his Presbytery, but he is hardly the face of the entire denomination.
I know that we are in a stressful and conflicted time in our denomination and in such times, we are tempted to state our case and persuade others by using rhetoric that is less than 100% truthful. We exaggerate, minimize, sensationalize, or even fabricate the things we choose to present. We present half-truths as fact. In anxious or stressful times, this type of rhetoric serves only to further fan the flames of discontent, distrust and dismay among our members. While it is important to explore issues and differences, I pray that we would do so in a way that serves to build up the Body of Christ, rather than to tear it down.
How can we can help one another to engage in rhetoric and conversations that are not inflammatory? Can we speak the truth without presenting an extreme case as the norm or an exception as the rule. If we are going to cite someone’s words or actions as an example, can we be careful to put them in their full and proper context so that we are not engaged in misleading people by “proof texting.” The book of James reminds us about the importance of taming our tongue:
How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire! 6And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of nature,* and is itself set on fire by hell.* 7For every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species, 8but no one can tame the tongue—a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. 10From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters,* this ought not to be so. James 3:5b-10
May God help us to speak in ways that bless more than curse; and that and build up more than destroy the Body of Christ. Amen? Amen!
Thoughts & Images from the Heart 