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> Bill's Blog
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3/6/2010I have to say that I am so grateful for the church life we experience at First. It is so dynamic, so vibrant. When I am elsewhere I find myself longing for what we get to experience on a regular basis at First. I am not always sure our own people grasp the unusual character of life at First. We've got something good here. And I don't say this to blow our collective horn, but to remind us of something we can easily overlook. 2/25/2010I don't know how many of you heard a recent report on National Public Radio regarding how it is that many people respond to scientifically verifiable information that they are provided. The report suggested that for many of us culturally shaped belief systems sometimes are more important for what people think than are the so-called facts. The report was dealing with the response of people to climate change. Although the scientific studies are relatively definitive, some people do not believe that info because of their culturally-shaped beliefs. I guess we don't like to be confused by the facts. This is true evidently for the so-called liberals as well as the conservatives. 2/22/2010Today I heard a radio show that indicated that there is nothing wrong with our current health care system. No matter what people think of some of the current proposals, to think that there is nothing wrong with our system is, in my opinion, to live with one's head in the proverbial sand. We have serious problems--with cost, with access, with issues related to personal responsibility, with liability. Until we admit that, nothing will change. And change is desperately needed. Too many people are going bankrupt because of health care expenses. Too many are being denied coverage. All of us are having to pay too much of our income to address health care matters. Note what Scott Gearhart says about God being masculine femininity in his meditation for today (February 22). Quite the image! Some might be threatened by that image. I find it compelling. I am aware that the people of the Old and New Testament times avoided discussion of the feminine aspect of God because their neighbors often were involved in sexual rites that brought the male and female together. But I wonder if today we ought not consider the way God includes and ultimately transcends masculinity and femininity. 2/18/2010Sarah Palin certainly is an interesting new person on the political scene. No matter what any of us think of her, I worry these days about how people are being used to "sell" a certain political product. It seems like we are packaging politicians like we package tooth paste or cruises. The consequence, it seems to me, is the loss of depth. I wonder if Palin is not one who is being used. Isn't it exciting to have one of our own as a part of the Olympic games? This makes the games seem so much more real to me. I trust you are checking out meditations from our forty days of Lent. Make sure you read Lisa Bayne's insights on icons. She is urging us to pursue heroes. Do you have persons you could label as heroes? & Why are those people heroic to you? 10/30/2009
People often say that having to preside at funerals and to deal with the sad stuff of people's lives has to be the hardest part of being a pastor. That isn't true. To be in those places is such a privilege. The hardest part of being a pastor for me is experiencing people coming and going in church life. They are here for a while, and then some of them leave. It is not always clear why people come and go. They just lose the discipline. The church hurts them. Their kids grow up. Whatever the reason, some just disappear or practically disappear. That is hard for me. I am a people person. I invest a lot in people. It's hard for me when their investment disappears. Any insights? Any words of wisdom? 8/24/2009Our church has just recently met in assembly, and many decisions were made. We decided to enter into a full-communion agreement with the United Methodists. We approved a social statement on human sexuality. We committed our church to addressing malaria and AIDS. The subject that created the most controversy centered on whether congregations could, if they chose, call men and women who are homosexual and are in a monogamous relationship to be pastors of their congregations. The decision was "yes" they could. The issue really wasn't will the ELCA ordain gay people who are practicing their sexuality. The issue was whether individual congregations could make that choice. Honestly, they have been making that choice already. Such choosing put the national church in an awkard spot. They were required to discipline the individual congregation, something that almost no one wanted to do. Now they won't have to discipline these congregations. And what's more, gays and lesbians who are in a relationship won't have to hide what is happening in their lives. Such hiding, it seems to me, harms not only the people who are doing the hiding, but the rest of us. The whole "Prohibition" approach to this subject has driven many things underground. And in my perspective that is not healthy for any one. There is no doubt but that some people find this decision deeply troublesome. Some of these folks are those who think the Bible is quite clear about homosexual practice. And many of them, from my view, are folks who simply are troubled that the world seems to be changing so much. This decision threatens the world as we have known it, a world that seemed quite orderly. This makes the world seem less orderly. I understand this reaction. The older I get the more I find myself feeling this way about so many things. The world as I knew it and that I helped to create is changing so dramatically. This threatens my understanding of the world and most importantly my place in it. Decisions like the one that took place at the Church wide assembly can threaten some people's self-justification schemes, the means by which we make ourselves feel worthwhile. "At least I am not gay" some folks have been able to say throughout their lives. Such "at least" statements make me feel better about myself and my place in the world. Now that scheme may be threatened. Now this is not to say that those who oppose what happened at the CWA are self-preoccupied slobs. Not at all. But it is to say that sometimes our reactions are shaped by what drives our sense of worth and purpose in life. What do you all think? 5/28/2009Listen to the wisdom of Parker Palmer: "grasping brings less, and letting go brings more." Sounds like the teaching of Jesus. How can you live within that wisdom? |
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