A Testament of Hope

This is a historic week in our history as a nation and my hope is to post a couple of things that reflect these momentous days.

This morning I reread Martin Luther King Jr's essay "A Testament of Hope." Hope is not a subjective feeling or wishful thinking about the future. Hope is based upon an objective reality and any hope that is based on anything other than this is nothing more than "pie in the sky dreaming." I was struck by these words from Dr King:

"People are often surprises to learn that I am an optimist. They know how often I have been jailed, how frequently the days and nights have been filled with frustration and sorrow, how bitter and dangerous are my adversaries. They expect these experiences to harden me into a grim and desperate man. They fail, however, to perceive the sense of affirmation generated by the challenge of embracing struggle and surmounting obstacles. They have no comprehension of the strength that comes from faith in God and man. It is possible for me to falter, but I am profoundly secure in my knowledge that God loves us; he has not worked out a design for our failure. Man has the capacity to do right as well as wrong, and his history is a path upward, not downward."

If anyone in history had the right to become a jaded, cynical, angry and vindictive person, it was Dr King. The hatred, bigotry, and evil that was thrown at him from all sides was brutal. Recently, I have become aware of some anger issues brewing within myself and I have been grappling with how to process them in a healthy way. Dr King never minimized the wrong in his world - yet, he refused to allow the wrong to control him. Hope, in God and in humanity, sustained him.

Some may say Dr. King was naive and that he thought too much of humankind's capacity to do right. His closing words of this essay remind me, that King's hope was not a subjective hope, but rather a hope that was certain and secure because it was grounded in the belief in a personal God who is on the side justice and the right.

"A voice out of Bethlehem two thousand years ago said that all men are crated equal. It said right would triumph. Jesus of Nazareth wrote no books; he owned no property to endow him with influence. He had no friends in the courts of the powerful. But he changed the course of history with only the poor and despise. Naive and unsophisticated though we may be, the poor and despised of the 20th century will revolutionize this ear. In our 'arrogance, lawlessness, and ingratitude,' we will fight for human justice, brotherhood, secure peace and abundance for all. When we have won these - in a spirit of unshakable nonviolence - then, in luminous splendor, the Christian era will truly begin."

Dr. King saw it! May our eyes be open to see it as well.

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Top Songs of 2008

Yesterday I was listening to WYEP's top songs of 2008. While 'YEP plays some stuff I truly enjoy, they also include a ton of music I haven't quite developed a taste for (yet).

They got me thinking though and I spent some time scrolling through my iTunes and here are my top songs from 2008 (in no particular order).

You Found Me (The Fray)
Violet Hill (Coldplay)
In Your Atmosphere (John Mayer)
Lost (Coldplay)
Hallelujah in the City (Joan Osborne)
I Will Posses Your Heart (Death Cab for Cutie)
Broken (Lifehouse)
Washington Square (Counting Crows)
Chasing Pavements (Adele)
At the Cross (Daniel Renstrom)
As It Is In Heaven (Matt Maher)
Breakable (Ingrid Michealson)
Count Me In (Leeland)
Hosanna (Brooke Fraser)

What about you? What songs filled your iPod this past year?

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Enter the Story - Merry Christmas

But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. (Luke 2:10-11)

O come o come Emmanuel
And ransom captive hearts that fell
Bring peace on earth and love’s goodwill for everyone

For You so loved the world You gave
Your life for us to heal and save
We hear the whispers of Your grace for everyone (Matt Maher)

We rejoice with the angels,
shepherds and Magi,
The wait is over!
God, our Savior,
Immanuel is come.

We rejoice in your amazing love
that reaches to all and covers all.
Overwhelm us with this love
So high and so wide,
So deep and so long,
Let us live fully in your embrace,
so secure and so strong.

May your love overflow our hearts,
so that we may be people of
mercy and grace and peace.
And let our lives be
an outpouring of your love,
an invitation to all those we meet
to come, find their place in your great story.

We rejoice with the angels,
shepherds and Magi,
God, our Savior,
Immanuel is come. (Dianne Poleme)

Merry Christmas

Enter the Story

This Advent season our faith community is seeking to understand and then enter the Christmas story in a deeper way. One of the greatest invitations to do so comes to us through the artform and gift of music. Have you ever noticed how a beautiful song can open us up to deeper truth and reality?

On December 1, Product RED launched a new music site called (RED)Wire. (RED)Wire is a digital subscription music magazine that makes a difference by sharing exclusive music from some of the world's greatest artists every week and using the proceeds to provide people living with HIV in Africa the medicine they need to stay alive. $50 if you can guess which band was featured in first issue.

Some of you may remember Emerson, Lake, and Palmer's Christmas classic, "I Believe in Father Christmas." To be honest, some of the original lyrical content of this song is pretty cynical, skeptical and even agnostic in nature. Take a listen to U2's cover of this song and I would love to hear your thoughts on some of Bono's subtle lyric changes.



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The Advent Conspiracy: Worship Fully

Our faith community is once again pushing into the Advent Conspiracy. We are asking ourselves this question: what if Christmas became a world-changing event again? The story of Christ's birth is a story of promise, hope, and a revolutionary love. So, what happened along the way? What was once a time to celebrate the birth of a savior has somehow turned into a season of stress, traffic jams, and shopping lists. And when it's all over, many of us are left with presents to return, looming debt that will take months to pay off, and this empty feeling of missed purpose.

What if Christmas became a world-changing event again?

The Advent Conspiracy invites us to:

• Worship Fully
• Spend Less
• Give More
• Love All
  

Yesterday I shared with our community some reflections on the "Worship Fully" theme, drawing upon the story of the Magi and King Herod found in Matthew 2. I called it "The Tale of Two Kings" and reminding us all that "they were the best of kings and the worst of kings." A focal part of my message centered around Matthew 2:11 - "On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh." In the spirit of "worship fully" I asked the question, "what is in your treasure bag and will you bring it to the feet of the new born King?"

If you know me at all, you know that one of my personal passions is worship and I have devoted a significant portion of my life to helping people expand their understanding and practice of worship. Last year I coined this definition: Worship is offering our lives back to God for the life of the world. Paul's words in Romans 12 helped shape this understanding: "So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. (Romans 12:1-2, The Message).

I have been reading an excellent book the past week, the latest from Margaret Feinberg, The Sacred Echo and it certainly informed my message yesterday. She has a great chapter entitled, "If You Don't Wear Your Crown (I will Give It to Someone Else)" and I included these words:

"If you don’t wear this crown I will give it to someone else. The words churned in my soul. Though I first interpreted the statement s an ultimatum, I eventually came to understand it as an invitation. In a poignant way, God was saying, “I want to be glorified in you and through you. I made you for this. But if you will not allow me to be glorified in you, I will find someone else.” I have to admit I withheld my decision, choosing instead to continue wrestling with God and myself. Is God really still looking for men and women (and boys and girls) who will fully yield themselves to him? And when he finds them, what can God do in and through them to glorify Himself?"

How does God want to be glorified in you, with you, and through you? Your bag of treasure is your very life - not just your life for an hour or so on Sunday morning, but your everyday, ordinary life.

Yesterday morning, our plan was to conclude our gathering by praying together the following words crafted by Dianne, a member of our community. In a moment of lostness, I completely blew it. So today, as you consider what it means to worship fully, I invite you to pray them and live them.

Child of promise,
We joyfully anticipate your coming.
Immanuel, God with us,
We celebrate your arrival.
Our Savior and our God,
We rejoice in your enduring presence.

As we enter into
This season of waiting,
With humble hearts
We worship you.
For all you are,
For all you’ve done,
For all you continue to do,
Your work in our lives,
Your work in this world

We worship you with all we are,
In all we say and do.
With all our hearts, with all our minds,
With all our souls, with all our strength.
We wait,
And while we wait,
We worship You.

(shared by Dianne Polome)

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6,000 Reasons: World AIDS Day

Today is World AIDS Day. This year the United Nations theme is Stop AIDS: Keep the Promise. Allow me to share 6,000 reasons why you should care.

6,000 reasons . . . and each has a name
6,000 reasons . . . and each has a face
6,000 reasons . . . and each has a story

Today, like every day, 6,000 children will lose a parent to AIDS.
Today, like every day, we have 6,000 reasons to care.
Today, like every day, we have 6,000 reasons to offer HOPE .

Thousands of children will lose a parent today because of AIDS. UNICEF estimates that 6,000 children lose a parent to AIDS every day. Each child has a name — and a heart-breaking story.

On this World AIDS let me suggest six things you can do to bring real help and hope to people in our world living with the reality of HIV and AIDS.

1) Take an AIDS Test: How much do you really know about AIDS? One of the reasons AIDS continues to be such a global concern is that the disease is surrounded by myth and misinformation. World Vision has a simple online test that will quickly reveal your knowledge base. And the good news: no blood is required.

2) Learn and Listen: Read a book on the reality of this global pandemic.

The Skeptics Guide to the World AIDS Crisis (Dale Hanson)
The Hope Factor (Tetsunao Yamamori)
There Is No Me without You (Melissa Greene)
28: Stories of AIDS in Africa (Stephanie Nolan)

Listen to this message of compassion and hope by Princess Zulu, an international spokesperson on AIDS and HIDS. Princess knows first-hand the reality of HIV and AIDS as she has lost both of her parents to AIDS and is living HIV+.

3) Get RED: During the season of gift giving, buy (Red) and give life. There are hundreds of products that you can purchase and also provide support for the elimination of AIDS in Africa. Today PRODUCT Red has launched RED WIRE, a weekly digital music magazine where you can receive exclusive music from the world's greatest artists, and people living with HIV in Africa will get the medicine they need to stay alive.

4) Advocate: Contact your members of Congress and urge them to continue exercising leadership on this critical issue. With great power comes great responsibility.

5) Fast: Poverty is one of the leading causes of AIDS. The Micah Challenge is inviting people to ACT FAST for seven weeks to end extreme poverty in our world.

6) Pray: Ask God to show you what you can do TODAY to bring real help and hope to people living with HIV and AIDS, both near and far and everywhere in-between. May God give us eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts that will respond in faith, hope and love.

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Act FAST

This Thanksgiving and Christmas season we have the chance to share the gift of
justice with those living in poverty.

From November 29-January 18 Christians all across our nation are praying, fasting,
and advocating for fast action on extreme poverty. People are pledging to fast, to
donate the cost of a meal ($10) to Micah Challenge, and to sign a letter to President-
elect Obama urging him to Act FAST to support the Millennium Development Goals
and cut global poverty in half by 2015.

Micah Challenge has produced a Prayer Guide that is filled with stories, information on developing nations, and prayers that been created by our sisters and brothers living in some of the nations that are facing extreme poverty.

During this holiday season, I am seizing this opportunity to fast, pray, learn and advocate for the most vulnerable members of the human family. Would you join with me and act FAST?

"He has shown all you people what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." (Micah 6:8)

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