Category: Focus Columns

Thought One

Ruth was at work recently when she sneezed.  A colleague who sits near her said, “Gesundheit” to which she replied, “Danke.”  Then up on her computer screen popped a message.  It said, “Bless you.”  The message was from another colleague who had heard her sneeze from far down the hall.

I love that story because Ruth was socially connected to the person by her side as well as the one down the hall.  One chose to communicate God’s blessings verbally and the other over Skype.  What a world.

When I was in the cell phone store recently a father of a 16-year-old girl was aghast over his bill.  Apparently his daughter had sent 13,000 text messages…in one month.  By the time he walked out the door he had changed her phone account to “unlimited texts.”  I wondered if maybe he needed to sit her down and ask “Why?” and possibly “When?”

Fred Craddock tells the story of paying a visit on an elderly farmer.  As they sat and talked in the farmer’s home the phone began to ring.  It rang and rang.  Finally Fred asked, “Are you going to get that?”  The farmer said, “I put the phone in for my convenience.” Meaning, you and our conversation are more important to me than anything else.

Have you ever thought about our infatuation with immediate gratification, and how instant communication feeds our need?  Make some time to reflect on whether your use of social networks is healthy for you.  Is it a tool that you can walk away from and not miss?  Do you have an addiction to it, meaning that you have unhealthy cravings and obsession when away even for a little while?

As you know, computers and phone screens lack two essential elements in sustaining the human condition:  touch and tone.  We need to feel and sense one another’s presence, and we need to hear the tone of human speech in order to grasp nuance and emotion.  Both touch and tone communicate far more than any text or tweet!

Thought Two

Don’t get me wrong.  I see much good in humans connecting with one another.  The purpose of religion is to connect us to God and one another.  I am all in favor of human communication and interaction.  And now we have a new blessing via the social network (a form of instant communication that is enabled by internet access and lightening quick tools).  The Net has tapped into a new sense of purpose:  catalyst.  Consider the sudden, recent geopolitical changes in the Middle East.

The people of Tunisia had had it up to here with their repressive regime.  The late Fannie Lou Hamer’s words would fit here.  Tunisians were “sick and tired of being sick and tired.”  Fed up with their tyrannical government, inspired by hope, and connected by social networks via the internet, the people began to meet.  Messages received told them where to meet on the street and protest for social change.  Motivated by words on touch screens and cell phones, Tunisians poured out of their homes, schools and shops to march and stand up for freedom, knowing full well that they were risking life and limb, arrest and death.  Literally within days the ruling party made for a smooth transition and future elections, and then simply walked away.  Tunisia was liberated.

The seeds sown over the internet social networks of Facebook and Twitter, texts and blogs moved like the wind across the Middle East.  Egypt caught on and within a few weeks the 30-year regime of Mubarak, despite his power and protestations, was overthrown.  The winds of freedom still blow across the desert sand.  Keep your eyes on the brave people of Iran, Jordan, and elsewhere around the Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf.   Look toward the horizon.  When will the people of Myanmar (nee Burma) rise up?  Are Tweets of freedom filtering across North Korea?  Can you imagine a new uprising in Tiananmen Square in China?  Whenever and wherever divine winds of freedom start to blow, with God nothing is impossible.

My friends, use the social networks at your disposal to spread the Good News that freedom has its roots in the love of God.  Genesis opens the Bible with the inspiring language of freedom from nothingness.  In the beginning the breath, the wind, the ruach of God swept across the seas and lands and breathed new life into the world.

You and I know this wind, this breath, this Spirit.  We are witnesses of the winds of liberation, winds which have always blown across the land and seas, mountains and deserts, inviting oppressed and downtrodden peoples to lift up their voices and stride toward freedom.  The litany of freedom movements is long and inspiring, as are the root causes that led to the oppression of God’s people the world over.  Our nation was populated by people who fled tyranny, and then we gained independence by overthrowing a tyrant.  Our nation was also populated by peoples brought here in chains and sold into slavery, and it would take a bloody civil war before freedom was gained.  Within the last four generations alone we have witnessed the uprising of the disenfranchised in India in the 30s and 40s; the Civil Rights Movement here in the 50s and 60s; and in the succeeding decades we saw people’s power explode in the Philippines, South Africa, and West Germany, dramatized by the toppling of the Berlin Wall and then the USSR.

While standing in the shanties and slums of Jamaica, the Wailers (Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer) boldly lifted up for their people songs that spoke of liberation.  They used their voices and radio airwaves as their social network, singing,

Exodus, movement of Jah people

Exodus, movement of Jah people

Jah come to break down ‘pression, rule equality

Wipe away transgression, set the captives free

Whether you know the one true God by the name of Jah (short for Yahweh) or Allah or Lord Almighty, what matters most is that you connect socially with the one truly divine Networker who has the power to liberate.  God breaks down oppression.  God rules with equality and grace, is slow to anger and quick to forgive.  God wipes away our confessed transgressions and sets us free to be, you and me.  Amen!  And what happens when this message is spread amongst a people who have known only repression and rejection?  The Word has the power to unite and bring hope.  If there is one thing a tyrant fears, it is hope.

As always, First Christian Church of Decatur, I am delighted to be your pastor.  Shalom, James L. Brewer-Calvert

“The best way
to predict the future
is to help create it.”

Christians multitask. As you know, Jesus’ followers need to be flexible because we’re often required to handle more than one thing at a time.  For example, we function well with a variety of calendars.  First, there is the Gregorian calendar year, with which we are most familiar; then there is the business-centered fiscal year, which can be either July-to-June or January-to-December; and finally there is the liturgical calendar, which is influenced by the vernal equinox and incorporates the six liturgical seasons which constitute a church year.  Christianity’s liturgical year begins on the first day of Advent (which is coming up on Sunday, November 28), and then moves through Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, and Pentecost.  These six seasons serve as a beautiful way for people to learn, remember, and share the story of God’s love for all of creation.  This is one of the ways the Holy Spirit works through the church to weave together theology, history, liturgy and worship, and the Holy Bible into a fabric that we can hold onto as we seek divine direction for the human condition.

Christians prepare. We plan our work and work our plan, as inspired and informed by the Messiahship, mission and ministry of Jesus Christ.  Here is the beginning of a vision for First Christian Church of Decatur as framed by the liturgical year, starting with Advent and moving through the conclusion of Pentecost in late 2011.  This vision comes to us through our communal connection with the Holy Spirit and in prayerful, direct response to our church leadership’s desire for spiritual direction and guidance, which is what I, your pastor, have been called to offer and provide, with the help of God.

Christians live inside out. Good News!  The faith we affirm has already been planted deep inside.  Hopefully, by tapping into the Spirit that resides within and drawing it ever outward, we will evolve, change, and be transformed; the resulting new life in Christ shall generate good will and positive energies that, in turn, may increase the church in spirit, mission, and people.  Fostering spiritual formation calls for our collective focus as a congregation for the next 12 months to be:  faithfully and intentionally pray and meditate; study and embody the Holy Scriptures; and engage in the spiritual disciplines.

Christians organize. The community organizer in me acknowledges that communities are already organized; therefore the organizer’s responsibility is to work with and within existing structures and relationships in order to channel people’s energies, sense of will, and resources toward the fulfillment of a common cause.  My friends, our common cause is to build the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven.  We begin and continue the journey by living faithfully, from the inside out.

Advent (Season of Anticipation and Preparation)

This Advent we eagerly await God’s blessed surprise, as foretold by the prophets and anticipated by a people in need of healing and hope.   The church will be encouraged to name and cherish the ways and means that God’s love has been a blessed surprise.  In what ways are you the surprise the world is waiting for?  How can the church surprise the world?  We prepare for the birth of God’s love in the world with special services of worship, creative gifts of kindness, acts of generous hospitality, and interacting with our neighbors and one another while selling Christmas trees, making wreaths, practicing hospitality, and encountering the holy in surprising places and faces.

Christmas (Season of Birth and Joy)

Christmas is set aside to celebrate that the Earth and the Transcendent have meet in the Child of God born in Bethlehem.  Let the Lord be born (again!) in you and in our church and city.  The church will be invited to contemplate and celebrate God’s decisive, loving action to save the world.  Even though decorations and gift wrapping paper have been put away, now is the time to give thanks and quietly, gratefully, joyfully dedicate our lives to one fully human in whom God is fully present:  Emmanuel, God with us.

Epiphany (Season of Celebration of Jesus’ Manifestation as the Messiah)

This is a season of recognition.  People recognized that Jesus was the Messiah at his baptism, at a wedding in Cana, and in his preaching, teaching, and healing works.  The church is instructed to pause and recognize the holy in our midst.  During January we will participate in a month-long experience of rest, renewal and recovery.  Our worship services will be uplifting and strengthening.  Starting on January 15 (MLK Day) and ending on April 24 (Easter), we will share in 100 days of prayer.  Everyone who chooses to join in this spiritual practice will be divided into triplets (groups of three); each triplet will be asked to commit to pray together 10 times in 100 days.   We seek to discern and discover afresh God’s will for us personally and communally.

Lent (Season of Preparation and Repentance)

This is a season set aside to focus on the spiritual disciplines.  We seek to overcome whatever comes between us and God and one another.  The church will be united with a heightened devotion to community service and self-sacrifice.  We will offer opportunities for a mission trip, local and regional outreach ministries, and cross-cultural, intergenerational experiences to help make faith tangible.  May our Lenten confessions and contrite hearts lead us to be active in good deeds for the sake of the Gospel.

Easter (Season of Redemption and Salvation)

This is a season that celebrates the spring time of life, of rebirth, renewal and resurrection.  We are in awe of the sacrifice of God’s Son so we might experience forgiveness and receive the gift of life everlasting.  The church will be invited to look within and to look around, asking, “What needs to be let go in order for something new to be raised up?  How can I (we) best be a part of God’s plan for the renewal of the human condition?”  We may decide to offer another spring carnival, which is a fine way to have fun, interact with our neighbors, and fund a church mission.

Pentecost (Season of the Gift of the Spirit for the Building of the Church)

This is a season that begins with the church’s birthday celebration, lifting up the gift of the Holy Spirit.   With this power from on high, Christians have the inner strength to nurture the growth of the church.  Pentecost lasts for 26 weeks, giving us the time necessary to concentrate on building up the Body of Christ.  The church will be invited to explore the variety of expressions of the Spirit, as well as learning how best to embody the ministry that Jesus had begun.  We’ve prayed in triplets and small groups, in our homes and in worship.  What have been some of the answers to our prayers?  Is now the time to invest ourselves in fleshing out the Word?  How do you live out the love that is given to you?  Who is within your reach that needs to be loved?  Surely this is the season to act on God’s commission:  serve one another as Christ first served us.