Federated Flash, June 21

The newsletter of the Federated Church is the Federated Flash and it is published every Tuesday. This is my first newsletter article, though my last blog entry could have been a wonderful first entry.

After I finished seminary, Marie and I went to visit my parents in Mexico, MO, a small town between Paris and Columbia. While we were there we went to visit my grandmother’s cleaning lady. Now my grandmother passed about ten years prior making her cleaning lady, Miss Fannie Lucas, near about 100 years old. She welcomed us into her home, sat us down and asked, “Now Paul, do I have to call you Reverend Andresen?” I looked at her with a shy smile and said, “Now Miss Fannie, if I asked you to call me anything but Paul you know my grandmother would leave her grave to have a word with me!”

I have been asked several times, “How do you want to be addressed?” It’s a great question, Miss Lucas knew me all my life, but we hardly know each other. As for parents, I’ll leave this up to you for your children, but I think “Pastor Paul” is fine. As for the rest of us, please call me Paul.

I don’t say this to be informal, I say this because it was the name I was called at my baptism. Since it is good enough for God in the waters, it’s good enough for me. Having worked at the University of Arkansas I like to think calling me by some honorary is like putting a tuxedo on a pig. It doesn’t seem right on the pig and ruins the tux.

Our baptismal identity is very important. We celebrate two sacraments, baptism and the Lord’s Supper. The first identifies us with Christians everywhere and with Christ himself. The other feeds, nourishes the body of Christ, taking the meal remembering Jesus until he comes again.

So please, call me Paul.

Founding Fathers and Trust in "The People"

Folks talk about "what the Founding Fathers intended." Fortunately we have a lot of writings to figure out what they intended, but I'm going to use just a couple of pieces out of the constitution to make a point here.

First, the Founding Fathers did not trust an ultimate authority. That's why there were States' Rights. That's why there were elections. That's why there were terms if not term limits. Schoolhouse Rock said it well with "No More Kings!"

Second, they didn't trust the masses either. The best proof of this is found in the Electoral College and Senate Election by the state legislatures. Yes, we have direct election of the Senate now, but individual vote is still not trusted enough to elect our President. Yet, in the beginning, the Founding Fathers didn't trust "the people" enough to elect the most powerful representatives of "the people."

Third, on firearms, the text reads, "A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."

Let's do what nobody does, take this in order: "A well regulated militia being necessary for the security of a free state."

The constitution mentions the word military twice and militia six times. In short, the President is Commander in Chief and the Legislature makes sure the training and resources are in place for the military. Militia belong to the states and can be called up by the Federal Government. If the trained military isn't enough for the security of the free state, the militia can be called up to serve.

Well, in the beginning, the federal government had barely enough to assemble and arm an Army. Even as late as the Civil War a man could buy his way out of being drafted and the cash strapped army welcomed funds over the man in many cases.

The militia was necessary to supplement the Federal Army. They needed to be armed and trained so they needed to keep their weapons. Not to mention that on the new American frontier a gun was as much a tool as an ax or hammer.

To close that third point, we have gotten away from this original intention of the amendment. Don't worry though, nobody's going to take your gun. Anyway you can defend your gun with your gun! Don't sweat that.

Still, something the Founding Fathers did not imagine is a musket evolving into a weapon that can shoot multiple rounds per second. It would take thirty seconds to load a musket rifle. You didn't have to worry much about standing to reload though because of a musket's legendary inaccuracy. How accurate do you have to be with a spray pattern?

So, the Paul Andresen Plan- the purchase of firearms comes with a commission into the national guard. Make it happen during the background check. This way, even the purchaser of an AR-15 gets training! Now that's win-win! That is... if the Founding Fathers would trust them.

Two Weeks

Updated sign outside The Federated Church in

Weatherford, Oklahoma

When this post goes online, it will be the exact two week anniversary of our arrival in Weatherford, Oklahoma. Thanks be to God.

I sit here in the living room of the parsonage, listening to Elton John's Tumbleweed Connection, Elton and Bernie Taupin's au mage to the American West, while I contemplate the blessings we have received since coming to this community in Western Oklahoma.

In a way, I first came to this community when I found the Federated Church online at the Presbyterian Church (USA) Church Leadership Connection (CLC) Website. For those who don't speak Presbese, CLC is the Presbyterian Church "Help Wanted/Pastors Available" website.

When I saw that the congregation was a federation of three different congregations, the United Church of Christ, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), and the Presbyterian Church (USA) under one roof, I was interested, and amazed.

I saw this and thought this was very interesting, sure; but more than that I thought that these people must be very interesting, very adaptable, and very in tune to the Holy Spirit for this to not only work but to thrive. I won't tell you I was right, that's giving myself credit I don't deserve. These people deserve all of the credit for being their own trinity: three denominations, one congregation. It's three faith traditions, but only one faith. These people are Christians first and foremost, disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Arriving, Marie and I were overcome with wonder! The city isn't huge, but a University, on the Interstate, about an hour from the state capital makes a city of 10,000 more like a community of 25,000. The services, the people, the vibe of this town are a welcome change for us.

There is new hope here. I have a sense of hope and joy I haven't had in a long, long time. This is a hope and joy in doing what I have been called to do in a place I have been called to do it.

Tonight I've been reading some of my old blog posts. Many of these posts have an element of David's Psalms of Lament. (Others would say they are the rants of a man with depression... be that as it may, let's stay theological here.) I share my woes, I shake a fist at God and man, and I give thanks and praise God. Because God is God and I am not.

I feel like a Heisman winner right now. I want to thank God, because no one can do what God has done or what God will do. To God alone goes the glory. We also thank Jody and Suzy and the Search and Call Committee of the Federated Church who brought us here in the first place. I not only thank the congregation for voting to call us, but I thank the three who voted against us for taking the pressure off of me "to please everybody."

Being a perfectionist and a middle child, I want to please everybody. Not a good thing to do for theological and pastoral reasons. Since I haven't pleased everybody from the start, that actually takes a lot of pressure off of me! It doesn't stop hard work, it just kills my perfectionistic streak. Let's face it my perfectionist streak needs to be killed everyday.

Well, we're half unpacked. I need to go to the ETC Shop and Craig's List to look for book cases. Lots of book cases. Murphy's asleep on the floor. And Joe Jackson's playing right now. It's a good night and time to say good night.

God bless you all. God bless Weatherford. God bless The Federated Church. God bless you my wonderful wife Marie. God please bless me too. Amen!

Word and Sacrament

This picture was taken on a lovely, sunny Oklahoma afternoon. The way the light explodes through the rose window into a spray of colors delights and amazes me. Earlier in the week, the Worship Committee and the Board of the Federated Church in Weatherford approved the move of this baptismal font from under the pulpit (not pictured, but on the left in this picture) to this place where it will be seen by all who come to worship.

There is something else wonderfully special about this font, specifically the stand. Under the runner is a small plaque noting that this is not a font stand, this is the original pulpit.

The Federated Church was founded in 1901 as a United Church of Christ congregation. Years later, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) entered into communion forming the Federation and later the Presbyterian Church (USA) joined the Federation.

Of course, the UCC and DOC Churches baptize by immersion. That main baptistery is in the basement of the building. While Presbyterians can celebrate baptism by immersion, it is not usually done that way, thus the font.

Not so long ago, Presbyterian Ministers were called "Ministers of Word and Sacrament" (forgive us, we Presby's get a little wordy), we now call our pastors "Teaching Elders." When I was told that the font sets upon the original pulpit, I thought how glorious it was that this congregation brings these symbols of Word and Sacrament together so wonderfully and so gloriously. It makes me wonder if someone created this symbolic symbiosis intentionally.

Either way, it is glorious. The late Rev. Dr. Stan Hall, Professor of Worship and Liturgics at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary would be delighted.

The Big Lesson of Mayweather/Pacquiao

I love this song:

Here's the lyric that matters for to Floyd "Money" Mayweather:

When they asked him who was responsible
For the death of Du Koo Kim
He said, "Some one should have stopped the fight
And told me, it was him"
They made hypocrite judgments after the fact
But the name of the game is, be hit and hit back

People say Floyd Mayweather fights a boring fight. Can't disagree. He fights an amateur style fight in the professional arena. Hit, stick, get away. He's trying to score points, not knock anybody out.

Floyd Mayweather has decided the name of the game is not to hit and hit back. To Money, it's just to hit and get away. Boring, but hey, he has championships, money, and he just may escape the fight game with his life. When you see so many boxers looking permanently "punch drunk" later in life, he has a point. It's killing boxing for people who were raised on Ali, Frazier, Norton, Foreman, Tyson, Holyfield and other boxers who hit and hit back, but look at these men today, the ones who live beyond "archival footage."

Boring or not, he might be the big winner after all.

Mayweather-Pacquiao and the State of Boxing

I'm not going to watch the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight this weekend for several reasons. First, I don't have $100 plus the extra fees my cable or satellite provider charges. Second, there's the question of paying a guy who has been accused and convicted of abusing women that's morally questionable. But then again, who would think there would be no connection between a violent sport and a violent life. Did we learn nothing from the life and times of Mike Tyson?

But no, that's not why.

This isn't the fight of the century. It should have been the fight of the last century. It should have been the fight of the decade if it were fought in the last decade, but Floyd made sure that didn't happen.

Ali fought all comers. Frazier fought all comers. Ali and Frazier fought each other several times. Ray Mancini and Doo Koo Kim fought to the death. These guys couldn't come to an accord until there was no one left to fight. That's why they're fighting. This is the last big payday for both of them.

Sorry guys, as a sports fan I don't want to have anything to do with this one. It may not be the loftiest reason to skip this one, but it's the real reason I just don't care.

Confessing Sin

I'm working on a sermon to be shared in Dallas in a couple of Sundays. It has taken a new shape since I began. So these paragraphs are irrelevant. Still, they belong somewhere in the world and the Fat Man is just that place.

Yet if there is one thing some Christians have overextended, it’s confessing the sins of others and calling for them to repent. Forgive me if I make it sound like it’s something new because it’s not. It’s as old as the Book of Acts and the Council of Jerusalem. It’s even older than that.

Scripture reminds me that if I say I am without sin I am fooling myself. 1John 8-9 says “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” It never says what will come to pass if I confess somebody else’s sin. 

John 8 actually tells that story. It tells the story of the crowd of holy men bring the adulterous woman to Jesus he reminds them that they have no room to judge her, asking the one without sin to cast the first stone. That piece ends as the one without sin refuses to cast a stone. He calls her to repentance. Holy men call her to judgment and death, without calling her adulterous partner to any judgment at all. Jesus calls her to repentance and new life.

Am I talking about wedding cakes and pizzas, not really. Those are just the fruit of that sinful spirit (a spirit even I am not immune from based on this very sentence). Let us confess our own sins. Let us love as Christ loved us. When we do that I suspect the small stuff will begin to take care of itself.