My Daughter Goes to War

I have found that poetry helps me in my spiritual journey. I think it does so because it keeps me and my heart OPEN when I struggle to shut down and hide my feelings. Thus, today's poem is a struggle I am having to be open and trusting God during another difficult time in my life. While some of you may call it "political," I chose to call the poem "spiritual" in the style of a lament psalm...

God bless all of you as we journey through the Christmas season and into the Epiphany and the New Year!

my daughter

is this
the last time
i will see you
as you are?
as i have known
you?

after christmas
you returned
setting your sights
on your mission
to that strange land
we’ve
bombarded
blasted and
tried to
colonize

my friend
told me of
russia’s war
there
and how
each morning
his aunt and other
mothers of moscow
would wait at
the train
station
to wail
together
knowing
somewhere among
those many caskets
was one of
their
sons

when my
daughter left
her mother
tearfully said as
we drove away
“we will never see
her again”
she will be
changed
her friends will
be injured
perhaps her
others will die
her brigade will
return in a year
but with fewer
soldiers

i cannot even think
about the
horror of
your dying
even the thought
sucks air
from my lungs
seizes
my guts

mazar-e sharif
she said
a northern city
in a country where
tribal allegiances
mean more
than
what we call
democracy
a place
we cannot understand
let alone
force to our
will

another shameful
war
for what?
for whom?
certainly not her
nor the bodies
of her comrades

Washington –
i am putting you
on notice
hear me
you’d better not
kill
my daughter

are you
listening?
i will do
more
than
wail
at a
train station

i
will bring
you
to your knees.

Merry Christmas!

I wish you all a very merry and blessed Christmas!

It was the German mystic, Meister Eckhardt, who once said,

‘What good is it that Christ was born if he is not born now in your heart?’

May the Christ-child be born in your hearts this day!

I Believe, Help My Unbelief!

Sometimes it’s good to do a spiritual check-up.

One way I do it is from time to time I write down just exactly what it is I believe about my faith.

While organized religion would like to pound us into little “faith molds” most of us never quite fit. In fact, our belief varies from time to time, from experience to experience, and we are more like the father of the boy with an evil spirit in Mark 9 who told Jesus, “I do believe -- help me overcome my unbelief!”

So, here’s what I believe today… so far… maybe it will spur you into thinking about, and writing down, what you believe today?

I Believe

there is one God,
a God who is creator, lover,
and justice-seeker.
a God of whom we are
imprints.
a God who yearns for us
to be sought and known.
yet a God who will always
be a holy mystery.
a God who came to us
in the person of
Jesus.
to experience and live
among us.
God showed us
how to live.
but in we unjustly
killed him.
yet he rose from the
dead
as he promised
went back to a holy family
of Creator, Christ, and
Sanctifier
who’s Spirit is here
among us
won’t go away
waiting to be
birthed in us
to live God-lives
with integrity
now
and in
an existence
yet to come.

As we approach Christmas and Epiphany (the birth of the Light and the celebration of the giving of the Light to the world) let us be strong advocates for justice and peace in our selves, our families, and in the world!

Calling All Men!

"As steel sharpens steel, so one man sharpens another." (Prov 27:7)

Let's start sharpening!

The 2010 Wisconsin OYTL* Retreat!
*One Year To Live"

May 21-23, 2010

At the McKenzie Center (near Poynette and just off I-90/94).

The cost is going to be $175 for two nights lodging, materials, and 5 meals.

I have attended this retreat and am currently working on the organizing committee for this retreat. I heartily recommend it!

No More Country Clubs!

What exactly are country clubs? How do they compare to churches? Well, country clubs are filled with people just like me (same race, same socio-economic class, etc.); country club members pay dues, make business connections, and enjoy eating, swimming and playing golf. It’s not that I don’t like country clubs, I just don’t want my church to be one!

Rather than being a club, I want my church to be more like a gang. Gangs are exciting, even dangerous – their members are committed! Gangs have a difficult initiation process, a shared mission, and membership requires real commitment to one another. Gang members stick together through “thick and thin; they even die for one another. Sure, there are bad gangs, but there are good gangs, too – gangs that help and protect others.

Now I have to confess that I have been a gang member for most of my adult life. In my younger days, I belonged to two powerful gangs. Each of these gangs had a difficult initiation process which involved a long period of training, even hardship, but with a real sense of accomplishment in becoming a member. These gangs gave me a sense of duty, loyalty and honor. Was it the Crips or the Bloods in which I was a member? No, it was the Marines and the police!

Just about 20 years ago, I made a commitment to join what I thought was another exciting, dangerous, and world-changing gang – I decided to become a practicing Christian. And do you know what? It was too easy. It wasn’t like joining the other gangs in which I belonged. The church didn’t expect much of me. Joining a church was just like joining a country club. And the church I read about in the Bible was not the church I experienced as a returning Christian.

While Jesus showed us how to give up oneself and serve others in love, most of us seem to have forgotten about that. In the church, we talk a lot about being a disciple of Jesus when in fact most of us are “admirers” of Jesus.

Yet Christianity from the get-go has always been about action, not talk. I often wonder if we Christians worked on becoming committed, world-changing gang members, the world would be in a lot better shape than it is today. Being a disciple is trying to be more like the Master. We can admire Jesus, but it really doesn’t result in trying to become more like him. Disciples do. Disciples do what Jesus asked them to do in the 25th chapter of Matthew and showed us during his earthly ministry: feed the hungry, clothe and shelter the homeless, and visit the sick and those in prison.

We can find further examples of Christian discipleship in the 2nd chapter of Acts where Jesus’ followers taught, prayed, shared a common meal together, sold what they had and pooled their resources. The result? Soul by soul the world was being saved -- and day by day God added to their numbers.

Is our faith and commitment bold enough to join a gang like this? I wonder what would happen to our churches as we know them if we did? I wonder what would happen to us?

Wilderness Growth

Isn't it strange that four of the enduring religions of the world (Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism) all have leaders who experienced life-changing events while retreating from the world? In the Christian tradition, Mark's Gospel tells of a wandering Jewish rabbi encountering a Jewish prophet at a river. The rabbi asks to be baptized as a sign of repentance and purification. The prophet agrees but knows who it is that is standing before him. He tries to reverse the situation: "You should be baptizing me, not me you!" But the rabbi is insistent and John baptizes Jesus in the River Jordan. As he is being baptized, God's Spirit annoints him and he is given God's blessing, "You are my son of whom I am well-pleased!" After this powerful event, the Spirit of God drives Jesus into the wilderness for 40 days of prayer, fasting, testing, and being ministered to by angels. When Jesus emerges from his wilderness experience, he begins his ministry with power and great might.

We get part of the message, but not all of it. It seems to me that Christians have missed the major point of this narrative; that is, personal transformation happens in places of wilderness! We need to leave behind (at least for awhile) the addictive culture in which we live. We need silence when all we hear everyday is "blah, blah, blah, blah!" -- distracting voices, tunes and other noises. We must leave those things we have created (like houses and cities) and take a long look at God’s natural creation. Our tradition and our “saints” tell us to go to the wilderness and listen, but we cannot. Our schedules are too crowded and there are too many demands on our time. Ultimately, we are simply too busy to grow emotionally or spiritually.

Many of you know I recently had a great wilderness experience. A few weeks ago, I participated in a "One Year to Live" men’s retreat. It lasted only 44 hours yet the experience was powerful, reflective, and peaceful -- yet it was moving and productive. There was silence, prayer, small group discussion, spiritual/sacramental activities and an invitation for everyone to create a life-mission. It was great!

Looking back in my life, it was exactly these kinds of “wilderness” experiences that helped me grow my faith. It was my time on a mission in Vancouver nearly twenty years ago, Cursillo, the Alpha Course "weekend away," and now this men's retreat. God must be patient. God shows us the way and we quickly forget to tell others how to get there!

Brothers and sisters, if you want to grow in faith, go to the wilderness. Jesus did it, and it really worked!

Is It Christmas Already?

No! It’s not Christmas, it’s Advent. But each year the Christmas music comes earlier and earlier – even on our local Christian radio station. And every year, I feel the pressure that I am being pushed into the season of Christmas just after Thanksgiving – and before I am ready. I resist. For Christians, this is NOT the time for Christmas – it is Advent, it is a time of personal spiritual preparation. I want to shout that out!

A week before Thanksgiving Sabine and I went to dinner at a local Italian restaurant that we greatly enjoy. They often play Italian operas for our enjoyment during dinner. But that night they were playing Rudolph, Frosty and dreams of White Christmas’s. I protested. I objected. I told them that it was not Christmas time, but Advent, a time for preparation, reflection, waiting and praying for that joyous day more than a month away. I explained that I was a Christian and not a card-carrying member of the "Freedom From Religion Party." They agreed to change the music back to La Boheme.

Now I am not the Grinch. I love Christmas, but the culture around us is trying to push me right by the four weeks of Advent and into a shopping mall. After all, waiting, reflecting and praying is not good for the economy. But it is good for the soul.

It’s not too late. We can resist. We can slow down. We began a new church year on November 29th with the First Sunday of Advent. Many of us sang the fresh words of the Advent hymns: “O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel… Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel!” “Come, thou long expected Jesus, born to set thy people free,” and “On Jordan’s bank the Baptist’s cry, announces that the Lord is night…” and heard these words from the traditional prayers of Advent that highlight themes of grace, repentance, preparation, expectation, and the stirring power of God:

“Almighty God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armor of light, now at the time of this mortal life in which thy Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility…” (1 Advent)

“Merciful God, who didst sent thy messengers the prophets to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation: Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins, that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ…” (2 Advent)

And my favorite from the 3rd Sunday of Advent:

“Stir up thy power, O Lord, and with great might come among us…”

And from the last Sunday of Advent:

“We beseech thee, Almighty God, to purify our consciences by thy daily visitation, that when thy Son our Lord cometh he may find in us a mansion prepared for himself…”

I love Christmas, but I resist giving up the preparation, waiting and reflection that the season of Advent gives to me. Is it a hopeless cause to resist the jolly time before Christmas? I don't think so. But we can do it when we inwardly prepare and turn our hearts away from the cacophony of the global economy that just won’t slow down to the quiet Christchild who will come.

One preacher called this resistance an “Advent Conspiracy.” I think he’s right, it is a conspiracy to keep this important spiritual time in our lives.

And I am one of the co-conspirators... please join me.