Liturgies, Old and New?

Today Christians celebrate the Pascha, Easter, the celebration of the resurrection. God came to Earth as a man. Known as Jesus of Nazareth he was, is, was forever and forevermore will be the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed of God.

Today as we worship we share the ancient liturgical greeting of the church--

He is risen.
He is risen, indeed. 

Unfortunately, for many in America this liturgy is being replaced with:

Now first a word on the word "liturgy." In the church today the word means the call and response between a pastor or worship leader and the congregation. This is unfortunate. What the word--the actual word--means is "Work of the people." Liturgy is work. Liturgy is how we live as Christians. Liturgy is how we show ourselves to the world.

There has been a lot of news lately about states and individuals that "choose not to cater" (my wording) to others for one reason or another.  Sexuality is the vogue right now. Bakeries, florists, and pizza parlors are the flavor of the day. This whole issue may be limited to a very few people, but the tempest suggests a hurricane.

And all Christians are being painted with the same brush, "No soup for you."

This does not sound scriptural to me.

According to Matthew's gospel it is written--

When the Pharisees heard that he (Jesus) had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 22:34-40)

While on Earth, Jesus the Christ, Joshua the Messiah confirms the greatest commandment of them all. It is to love God and love one another. That is the GREATEST COMMANDMENT! I just don't see how  "No soup for you" fits into loving God and one another.

God does not have to be defended. Let me say that again--God does not have to be defended. Today we testify God conquered death. Death. If God can conquer death what we throw in his face won't demand his "A game." Sin offends God, but after conquering death what we've got is small potatoes.

In this space I have recently said "Maybe it's time we get back to the basics of love." Nothing can be more basic than this, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

We will never demonstrate our love crying "No soup for you."

BUT BE WARNED, there is another injunction from scripture which we had better be wary of as well. This from Luke 18:

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.” (Luke 18:9-14)

That whole "Pride goes before the fall" thing? Yeah, it's scriptural. Let us not rejoice that "we're not sinners like them." That's bad form.

Instead this Easter, let us rejoice, "He is risen, He is risen indeed." Now let's go out there and live and love one another like Jesus did. If we do not then what did he die for?

Black Friday into Good Friday

I've been doing a lot of reflection during this Lenten season. That's not all bad, after all, that's one of the goals of Lent. Here's what I know. It has been a rough five years or so.

I won't continue to bore you with the foils of life, just a quick update on the latest. On Labor Day I began a "career" in insurance. I went to work for Bankers Life. SIDE NOTE: Great company, great products, great local agents (speaking for my former co-workers). If you need insurance in East Texas these are the professionals to speak with. They will make an appointment with you, come to your house or business, and get you set up. As for me, well, I couldn't get it to work. I had one good month out of six. My boss tells everyone to give it six months to see if the business is for you and I did. And it wasn't.

God love 'em, but I couldn't make sales to save my life. Getting appointments was difficult. Getting people to be home for their appointments seemed to be even harder. And if you don't talk to people making sales is not going to happen. So I went back to where I was before that, Motel 6 welcomed me home with open arms.

By now some of you are saying, "Don't you say you're a minister in the sidebar of this blog? What's up with that?" Well, that's a long story for another day but let me say the people of First Marshall, my last called appointment, decided to quit meeting together. With that went pay, housing, insurance and so on. There are other blog posts which show my tenuous grasp on mental health went to the other side of the hedge during these last two years. It got to the point that a year ago I had serious doubts that serving another church was in my future. It felt like the church was done with me.

WARNING, DANGER WILL ROBINSON! Don't misunderstand me, I'm not saying God is done with me. I'm saying I thought the humans who call pastors to churches are done with me.

Well praise God, that season in the wilderness is beginning to pass. I don't feel that way any longer. A year or so ago my Spiritual Director looked at me one day and said, "You know, with all of this horrible, even satanic opposition you're facing; when God comes in Glory there's going to be some kind of joy." In the midst of Black Friday this was a pipe dream. On Good Friday this is my hope.

I'm working and getting paid everyday, something commissioned sales can't promise. While we're about to lose where we're staying-for the third time in 18 months-we have a place to go. AND there is a wonderful congregation of people who are praying for me to be their pastor and they don't even know who they are. (AND there's a church checking my references which is VERY, VERY exciting. I won't share more than that to protect their place in their process.)

I want to leave you one thought, one reflection. Join me on that first Black Friday. Imagine being a disciple, an apostle, a follower; now imagine the events of the prior day... There's the triumphal entry into Jerusalem, what we call Palm Sunday. There's the final meal and instructions--what we now call the Last Supper, the Lord's Supper, the Holy Communion, the Eucharist. Then sleep falls on the weary only to be awakened by the sounds of a unit of Legionaries being led by one of their own to arrest the Messiah.

Oh, the trial, Pilate's question "What is truth?" rings in your ears. Jesus is alone, there's nobody with him as his advocate. He is convicted and sentenced. He will die and die horribly. We know that the only earthly difference between us and him is we are not in the hands of Rome, not yet.

Jesus cries, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" The Son of God is fully separated from God. We can't imagine this level of separation even on our worst days. Still, there's more to come and the horror of what that will be brings fear to paralysis. This is the state of Black Friday before the resurrection. The followers of the way don't know what will happen on that day. They're so afraid scripture doesn't even show them wondering. They simply scatter. Contemplation is a luxury when you fear for your life.

But we know this, we know Easter. We know what was Black Friday only once will forever be Good Friday. Today, reflect on the blackness, but rejoice that as the Easter people we know that the Light conquers the dark.

Church Advertisements on the Radio

Recently I have been thinking of church ads playing on local radio out of Marshall, Texas. Two in particular come to mind. One from an unnamed church (for reasons to come) and the other from Trinity Episcopal Church in Marshall.

Both ads feature the voice of the pastor offering a word and an invitation. As for the unnamed church the ad ends with the pastor saying "Follow me as I follow God." That has always made me a little queasy. It's just the reformed nature of my soul, but I would rather follow God. I would rather have a pastor who would have us all follow God together. In this case I get a sense that the pastor is a Sergeant in the Army of the Lord and we are buck privates.



By the way, this analogy allows me to post this video, Love it!

As for Trinity Episcopal, Father George begins his ad with this question: "Do you know that you are the beloved of God?"

Now I 've heard this ad thousands of times, literally. But one day, after an especially difficult day in the field, I heard this and it hit me in a brand new way.

So, based on 60 seconds of radio advertising where would I go? Honestly I'd go with the one who reminds me I am loved and makes me know I follow the Lord and not another man like me. I know Father George and have never met the other man. I judge the ministry they present based only on what they share on the radio here, what I share with you. Then I go with Isaiah, as for me and mine we will serve the Lord.

So when you're in Marshall, Texas tune in to ESPN 96.9 and judge for yourself.

Storytelling

My family is a family of storytellers. My sisters and I learned this from our parents. My mother's family, the only extended family we know, are notorious storytellers. For some odd reason I was reminded of this story...

About ten years ago Marie and I lived in Northwest Arkansas, about 40 miles from Branson. We were up there for some reason I don't remember and decided to have dinner at Red Lobster. We were seated pretty close to the kitchen which provided the inspiration for this ditty.

We were about half way through the meal a server walked by and I asked him this question:

Excuse me, is this the Red Lobster with the Twister board painted on the floor of the walk-in?

For those who don't know, a walk-in is a large freezer or refrigerator. To suggest that someone, somewhere would paint a Twister board on the floor would be weird. To fall for it is just plain fun, at least it is for me.

The man (blonde sure, but a man-put away your gender based stereotypes!) stopped in his tracks and asked what I was talking about. So I spun a little yarn about the legend of a Red Lobster restaurant somewhere having a Twister board painted on the floor of the walk-in. He was enthralled by the story.

I loved it. Marie was marginally amused and preferred her shrimp.

I didn't take it too far, letting his imagination run wild was far better than making the story so big he would figure out I was weaving a tale. Still, we had a lovely chat about the restaurant and he said he would have to keep an open ear to the "Legend of the Walk-In Twister Board."

Ah storytelling. My sisters are so proud. My mother would have been appalled.

Updating the Pastor Information Form

I decided it was time to do some updating on my Pastor Information Form. For those of you who are indoctrinated to such things, Presbyterians call it a PIF for short. For those of you who aren't, think of it as a kind of Presbyterian version of a Minister's resume.

In the past few years there have been some revisions to the form and format. One of the things that was removed is a section formerly known as Key Theological Issues. This is where the Pastoral Candidate defines, explains, or dances around an issue in 1,500 characters or less. (Gotta love forms, but when a church gets several hundred PIF's for a single ministerial opportunity you can imagine they might hope people can get it down to 500.)

I decided to redo my "Key Theological Issue" section, with the song lyric it comes to a bit more than the basic 1,500 characters. I do believe this is an important issue and I hope you can see where I'm coming from.

In a time when knowledge is expanding exponentially and when the speed of communication threatens to overwhelm the message, I see the key theological issue of our time to be something Texans call the Gospel of Luckenbach, maybe it's time we get back to the basics of love.

For those of you who don't know the chorus, it goes like this:

Maybe it's time we got back to the basics of love

Let's go to Luckenbach, Texas
With Waylon and Willie and the boys
This successful life we're livin'
Got us feuding like the Hatfields and McCoys
Between Hank Williams' pain songs and
Newberry's train songs and Blue Eyes Cryin' in the Rain
Out in Luckenbach, Texas ain't nobody feelin' no pain

 ("Luckenbach, Texas (Back to the Basics of Love) by Chips Moman and Bobby Emmons. As for “feelin' no pain,” I would propose that in the church that should have more to do with joy in the outstretched arms of God than one too many Shiner Bock's.)

For the church this is our first love, God.

As Presbyterians we have a long tradition of seeking guidance from our three sources of governance, in order: Holy Scripture, the Book of Confessions, and the Book of Order. Unfortunately too often we tend to move from Grace to Law, from the Living Torah to the Book of Order. Jesus did not teach divorce or define marriage. He demonstrated love and taught us to love God and neighbor. When others tried to force Jesus into constructs like government and taxes, he shows that the Lord God is not bound by such. As people try to force God to be one way, the Triune God-Father, Son, and Spirit-shows The Way.

The issue of our time is that we must seek and follow God's mysterious and gracious way. God never acts out of character but always in sovereignty. God moves in ways that we can't often anticipate and less frequently understand. Jesus ministered to and with those on the society’s fringe, including Zealots and Roman collaborators; lepers and harlots. Yet to be the Body of Christ the church must seek and follow-especially when this direction takes us from our comfortable places. The church must start again. God is love, and it's time we get back to the basics of love.

To God be the Glory. Amen

on the death of Robin Williams

Here's a conversation I've had lately with many people:

Others: Paul, you've lost so much weight, how are you doing it?

Me: Poverty, mental illness, and exercise. Sure, two out of three aren't that good but I have lost over 180 pounds.

As regular readers of this blog know, I suffer from Type II Bi-Polar Disorder. In short, when not properly medicated, I suffer from strong depression with times when I become obsessively focused on matters or engage in risky behaviors. For me, risky behaviors have taken the shape of alcohol abuse (that ended in my early 30's more than 20 years ago) or using humor in situations that is not proper.

That came to a head last November when I considered living out a line from the Supertramp song Goodbye Stranger, "Feel no sorrow, feel no shame, come tomorrow feel no pain." Suicide has that going for it--the end of today's pain.

I can't say I understand what made Mr. Williams do what he did. This I do understand, when there is too much pain, suicide seems like the only way out.

It must have made some sense to Megan when she did it. It must have made sense to Sandy when she did it. It sure made sense to Carlos when he disconnected his feeding tube--dying that way rather than from AIDS in 1988. A permanent solution to a temporary situation? Well, not to Carlos, not in 1988. But in the middle of that situation, after years of being in the middle of that situation, it makes a certain sense.

As for the number of comics who have gone before Robin Williams--Chris Farley, John Belushi, Lenny Bruce, Socrates--all lived on that razor's edge and died tragically. All were incredibly smart and used an incredible sense of humor to overcome what they thought were their own personal deficiencies.

As for me, I'm just glad I've got good medications for the Bi-Polar disorder and the dog to get exercise. As for poverty, well, that's a story for another day and the lives of Williams, Farley, Belushi and the rest show that fame and wealth don't equate to happiness and mental health. But that's another post.

Ending this, I loved Robin Williams. My favorite memory of him was on the Dennis Miller Show on HBO when Miller was still funny. Miller's monologue was great that night then Williams came out.  That's when the whole show came off the rails. Robin Williams was outrageously funny. He finally asked Miller if he wanted to ask more questions and Miller said something to the effect that there was no way he was going to stop what was happening. It was the fourth episode and it was magic. Pure magic.

I'll miss the humor. I'll miss the wit. I'll miss the brilliance of the connections he made to create and weave a tapestry of wonder and love with humor. I knew it masked pain. I knew it from his life. I knew it from his biography. I knew it from his addictions. I knew it from my life. But still, the wonder is now gone, but it's not lost.

Via con Dios.

It's been a while, and here's why...

The other day I posted this little gem on my facebook page:

I hereby declare that Blueberry Syrup shall henceforth be known as "Mrs. Buttersmurf."

I know, it's a silly little thing to say, but it crossed my mind on Sunday morning and I thought it was worth sharing with the world.  As for me, I think I think the bottle would be a hoot.

On of my friends posted this on my page:

I was just thinking yesterday I was missing some Paul Andresen humor. Thanks for the infusion.

My response was that things stopped being funny a while ago. Life its ownself has gotten pretty tough. It has seemed that over the past few years most everything has been tough and whenever anything has looked up, Marie and I would get knocked down twice as hard.

If you are thinking that my blogs and other correspondence have reflected this, please know there is significant self editing. I am trying not to live so that the rest of the world sings this song to me:

I simply pray never to hear those fateful words "If you just want to cry to somebody, don't cry to me."

But things are beginning to look up. I'm interviewing for a part time job, there's a church that has some interest, my Motel 6 management training should restart soon, and we're moving this weekend. Thanks to all of the folks who are helping too.

Marie even got the notice of her judgement, her Social Security disability has been approved. Of course, that day we got a parking ticket... for parking in a handicapped parking space without a permit. Like the Morton Salt girl says, when it rains...

All in all, I could use a little more humor too.