Cadences of God

September 5, 1997. Two people die. One in Calcutta, India. The other in Bayonne, NJ. The first person goes to heaven. Her name: Agnes Bojaxhiu, also known as Mother Theresa. The second person, we will call him Merle. He was known to the world as Merle. And Merle, well, he also went to heaven.

On a day like the Feast of All Saints, we take time to remember all those people who have gone before us in the Christian walk. Saints are people that we usually think of as having golden halos and being made of stained glass. The title “saint” comes from the word sanctus, which is Latin for “holy”. So, when we say, “Saint John” or “Saint Andrew” or “Saint Mary”, we are literally saying “Holy John” or “Holy Andrew” or “Holy Mary”. So, a saint is a person who is really, really holy.

Saints are people – in our mind – who in the business of being really, really holy - never swear, fast a lot, and do good deeds all day. They are always in the business of saying things which are wise and beautiful and sometimes even witty at the same time. Really cool saints can even do neat parlor tricks, like heal the sick, raise the dead, or even levitate when they pray.

The Bible has a very different idea of what a saint is, however. A saint is not someone who prays so much their knees bleed. A saint is not someone who does so much work for a homeless shelter that her hands are chaffed and cracked to the bone. A saint is not someone who has studied scripture so much that they are wise beyond the ways of all us mortals. A saint does not wear robes, build arks, or have three visions of God before their morning coffee.

In the Bible, a saint, a holy one, a sanctus, is anyone who is admitted into the presence of God in the company of the angels, into eternity. A saint is just another title for a person in heaven. Every person in this room who hopes to one day make a home with God in heaven, will be a saint. Every person who has already passed beyond the celestial gates of infinity, and resides in that place where “the home of God is among mortals” and where “he will dwell with them as their God; [and] they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; [and] he will wipe away every tear from their eyes. [And where] Death will be no more; neither mourning nor crying nor pain will be any more” – every one of them is a saint.

Both Mother Theresa and Merle are enjoying that kind of peace, that kind of personal attention from the Father of Lights, the Lord of Glory, and the Prince of Peace. They dine at the same table, sing hymns with same choirs of angels. They are a part of the same book club with Johnny Cash, C.S. Lewis, and Dr. Livingstone, I presume. They get together on Friday nights with the other members of their bowling team – Norman Rockwell, and Jerry Falwell, and the meanest bowler of them all, Elvis, “King of the Lanes”.

And why shouldn’t Mother Theresa and Merle be in the same place? This is all very fitting. Most people do not stop to think about it, but Saint Theresa of Calcutta and Saint Merle of Beyonne have – in fact – the exact same qualifications for heaven. Seriously! It is true! As much as Saint Theresa deserved to be in heaven, so did the blessed and holy Merle of Beyonne.

See, God makes the qualifications for heaven very clear in the Bible. The qualifications are nothing less than perfection itself!

You have to be perfect in holiness and love. Matthew 5:48: Be ye perfects as your father in heaven in perfect. Genesis 17: I am the Almighty God; walk before Me, and be you perfect. And I will make My covenant between Me and you.” Deuteronomy 18: “Thou shall be perfect with the LORD your God.” 2 Corinthians: “Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you”. Want that blessed heaven with God forever afterwards? Then all you need is perfection, like God himself is perfect, just like Mother Theresa was perfect. Just like the great and fabled Uncle Merle was perfect. Both deserved the riches and glories of Heaven itself!

Now, maybe you find this all a little odd or even very disturbing. It is a little odd for many people to think that Uncle Merle is actually Saint Merle. Odd to think of him with his pot belly, in his easy chair, reading his copy of TV Guide, with a halo round his head, and angels singing about him in glory. But, there it is. The Bible says you have to be perfect to be in heaven and it says that people like Uncle Merle, no less than the Mother Theresas of the world, are saints in heaven.

How can that be?!?!

The reason is less shocking than you might imagine . . . See, maybe uncle Merle was no mother Theresa, but – you know what - Mother Theresa would have been quick to tell you that she was no Mother Theresa either. Most true saints know that they are sinners, imperfect, impure, given to weakness, doubt, strife, and that they have their bad days the same as any other person alive. Yes, sometimes, even Mother Theresa sometimes felt like strangling the person in front of her who brought 3,000 items to “20 Items & Less Express Lane” at the supermarket.

Mother Theresa fell short of the glory of God’s perfection no less than Merle. She lied (at least once), if only when she was a little girl. There were days when she was not sure of who she really was or what she was doing with her life. Her private letters to that effect were just published. She (at least once), if even for a nanosecond, liked something more than God. As a flesh and blood woman – she must have though some married guy was very handsome (at least once). There were days when she was tired and did not want to get out of bed.  So, take you pick – whether it was bearing false witness, unbelief, idolatry, lust, adultery in her heart, or sloth – she was a very sinful woman. Surely, if anyone deserved Hell for all her iniquity upon iniquity, it was that vile reprobate before God, the sinner Mother Theresa. 

Merle, well Merle fell short of the glory of God on all the same accounts. Hey, maybe he even fell short on a few extra counts, too. But, perfection is the requirement and you are either perfect or you are not. No horseshoes. No hand grenades.

What we miss when we name people as saints in the church, is that most core doctrine of the Christian faith: that God is God, and that we are not God.

What makes a person holy and acceptable to God, what makes a person perfect as their Father in heaven in perfect, is not your long list of amazing spiritual accomplishments. Mother Theresa is not in heaven because she held a 100,000 people while they were dying and whispered to them the love of God. Uncle Merle is not in heaven because he went to church every week, and that pleased God enough to look past it bad TV choices.

Theresa and Uncle Merle met requirements for heaven just the same . . . they didn’t. Neither of them deserved to be in heaven if the price of admission is perfection or love and holiness.

Both Saint Theresa and Saint Merle are in heaven because they loved God, they served God, they lived lives of deep and humble faith. Both are in heaven because of their desire to be faithful to God, and both were taken into heaven in spite of the fact that they had lots of failings as people.

Scripture teaches us in Romans that “none is righteous, no, not one; no one understands, no one seeks for God.  All have turned aside, together they have all gone wrong: no one does good, not even one.” You, me, Mother Theresa, and yes – I dare say - even Uncle Merle.

Heaven is something that none of us deserves. And yet, if we give our hearts to God, it is a gift that we receive from God, our greatest gift from God, offered unto us because of the blood of his Son Jesus - you, me, Mother Theresa, and yes – I dare say - even Uncle Merle.

Today is our day to take a breath, to stop, and to remember all the great company of saints in light. None of them deserved heaven, but they all got it. They all got it because every one of them took their lives and gave them as gifts to God. Some of them did it better than others perhaps. Some suggest that Mother Theresa served better than Merle, and they are welcome to that opinion. But, from the eyes of God, Jesus had to die for their sins, both, just the same. And from the perspective of a parent who had to give up his only Son, it probably did not matter much that his Son needed to die more for this one and die less for that one. Dead is dead is dead; and a lost son is a lost son all the same.

Today is our day to take a breath, to stop and to remember the great company of the saints in light. They served God. They loved God. They let their faith spread through their blood and bones. And they lived what they breathed – even if they were not perfect about it.

Today is our day to take a breath, to stop and to remember the great company of the saints in light, because in a sense they have never left us. The great Mother Theresas, no less than the John Wesleys, Martin Luthers, Apostle Peters, and all the rest still inspire and move us to be live our faith a little better tomorrow than we did today, and follow them in trying to be a little more perfect – even if we never get there. But, just as those greats inspire us, so does Uncle Merle. Maybe he was your mother, or your father, or a friend from school, or grandparent, or a husband or wife, or a child, or someone you never knew well – but there was something about their story that touched you in a way you have never been able to let go of. They have never left us and never failed to guide us, if we will listen to them.

Today is our day to take a breath, to stop and to remember the great company of the saints in light, because once they were us. And because we hope to be remembered and honored after we are gone. Hopefully, if our hearts are in tune with honoring none but God, we do not hope to be honored for all the good and impressive things we did with our lives. Mother Theresa and Uncle Merle would not have us remember them for their accomplishments, either. But we should remember them for what God did through them, acts of the divine both great and small, bringing about in their own true way the Kingdom of God. And we can honor that as we hope to be honored in the same way when the number of our days has come to a close.

Today is our day to take a breath, to stop and to remember the great company of the saints in light, because one day, if we can give our hearts to God as they did, we too will be in their company. Now, maybe that will have nothing to do with a book club with C.S. Lewis, or bowling with Elvis.  I suspect it won’t. But knowing where they are, and knowing that God saw them there in spite of the fact that they did not deserve to be there anymore than we deserve to be there, they gives us hope for long walk from cradle to grave, to the glory beyond the grave.

Take time this day to remember them all . . . the Theresas, the Merle, the parents, siblings, friends, heroes of yesterday. All of them. This is their day. And, by the grace of God, one day, it will be ours as well. May it be so. Amen.

Tags: Salvation, Death, Heaven, Hell by Administrator
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Richard Rorty, Professor Emeritus of Comparative Literature and Philosophy at Stanford University, passed away on Friday, June 8, 2007, at home in Palo Alto.  

When I heard about Rorty’s death it was in an e-mail from a friend who started with : ”Apparently Richard Rorty’s epistemic peers have come to
an agreement. . . . Richard Rorty, Philosopher, Dies at 75.” [Those who have ears to hear will smile.]

I would include Rorty as one of the most influential philosophers in my life. After my college days and the “reshuffling of my mind” that occurred around that time, I bought just about everything that Rorty published. The content of my shelves has changed a lot since then, but I have always kept Rorty on them. He seems to make the cut every time I trim down in order to restock.

I married a couple last week. The groom was a philosopher (by persuasion, not occupation). He asked me how I came to be a Christian. My answer: “Well, we all have different journeys. But I blame Wittgenstein, and Rorty and West were his accomplices in the matter.”

Anyway, ol’ Rorty will be missed.

Tags: Death, Admired People by Administrator
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Rachel and I both love languages, though neither of us have any real aptitude for learning them. As human beings we swim in a sea of language and we cannot escape that. Knowing lots about your own language and how it works can help you out with any number of issues – legal, professional, communicating clearly with people, appreciating anything you read, and all that. Like I said, I’m not very good at languages, but I’ve thrown my hat into the ring from time to time. I have at different times attempted serious the study of German, Russian, Spanish, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French, and Czech. If I add languages I’ve studied just long enough to know that I never want to study them (which take me about a ½ hour) you can throw in Hindustani and Arabic. One of the neat things about languages I like is that every language can do some things that other languages cannot; even do them better than other languages can. For instance, there is this one Amazonian tribe that has seven different words for the under side of a leaf, depending on it’s color, textures, and the way it is different from the top side of a leaf. I’m not sure English has even one word for the underside of a leaf. Greek has different words for “love”, depending on whether you love your friend, and object, your spouse or lover, or God. I think that is pretty sensible. It seems kind of cheap that in English we use the same word - “love” - for how I feel about the Almighty God who made all that is, and a really great piece of chocolate cake. I may love both, but really not in the same way. In Hungarian, they do not use the pronoun “he” or “she” for God. God is kind of a he. But God is also kind of a she. And truthfully, God is not too much like either. So, Hungarians invented a whole new pronoun just for God (which is neither he, she, or it). It is just God’s pronoun. That seems pretty sensible to me.

Of all the languages I’ve studied, the only one I can claim to come close to speaking for real is Spanish. In Spanish, they also have one of these things were they do something better than we do. Spanish has one word for here. That word is aquí. However, Spanish has two words for “over there”. Now, that may seem a little nuts at first, but it does make sense. When I say, [Ron Jenkins] is over there. I might mean in the back row where he is. Or, I might mean in Cuba, which – if my longitude is right - is also “over there” somewhere.

So, the Spanish have two words for this – allí and allá. Allí means “over there”. You know, kind of where Ron is. But allá, that means way the heck over there. You know, where Cuba is.

Aquí, allí, and allá. Here, there, and way on yonder over there. Three different words.

See, that one observation of Spanish speaks to me of the whole mystery of the feast of All Saints. In Christian life, we tend to think mostly of the aquí, the here. We think about the church. We think about our finance, about the finance of the church, as Ruth prompted us today. We think about our “to do” list for today, while we zone out during the sermon. We think about the people in the pews next to us, their needs and concerns. We think about our families and their needs. We think about ourselves and what we need. We are present here and now. We live in the here and now, in the aquí.

We are reminded at times, here at church that we are also about the allí, the over there. We are reminded about our Christian brothers and sisters in another town, at other churches, and even those in West Africa, India, China, and so forth. Even though we live most of our lives in the aquí, the here and now, we do take time for the allí, the over there. Our apportionments that we pay, about 12% of our church budget, goes to a lot of these projects. Our United Methodist colleges and hospitals in Africa, Drew University, churches in the slums of Camden and Trenton. For some time now, churches have been helping out quite a bit with the flood damage in Louisiana, which is far from taken care of. So, in our spiritual lives, we also live in the allí, the over there.

But, if we are usually living in the here, and sometimes in the over there, we are almost never in the allá, the way the heck over there. That is the value of Church and the communion of saints. See, the communion of saints reminds us that there is more to the body of Christ than just those who are here with us, and those who are over there (be it the next town over or China). There are also those Christians sisters and brothers who are in the allá, the way off over there. Spanish creates a separate word for the way on over yonder, because it knows that the way on over yonder effects us and we effect it. That deserves a word.

Days in the church calendar like All Saints, or the Day of the Death, or liturgical practices like prayers for the dead are about those who are way on over yonder, but are always with us all the same. They are about those who are way on over yonder, but who are effected by us no less, since they watch over us still.

Every religion in the world takes time to step back and reconnect with the alla, those who are way on over yonder. We Christians are not spiritual adventurers going where no man has gone before on this on. Asians and Africans both make a point out of honoring the ancestors regularly. Here is America, people who spend lots of time delving into history or their personal family genealogies do this as well. They are connecting with the way on over yonder that still connects with us.

I’ve always liked the quote by Joseph Cinque, the black slave who in 1841 successfully sued the US Supreme Court for freedom because he was kidnapped illegally. He had former president John Quincy Adams as his lawyer. When asked by Adams before the trial is he was scared, Joseph Cinque said, “No. I will not be alone out there. My ancestors will be there with me. I will call into the past, far into the beginning of time, and beg them to help me at the judgment. I will reach back and draw them into me. And they must come…for at this moment I am the whole reason they have existed at all.”

That is the communion of saints. We Christians should take a breath to remember the ancestors, to call them into us from the very beginning of time, and from only a short while ago. We call them into ourselves because they have paved a pathway for us and us alone. As every parent lives for their children, they have lived for us. We reach back and draw them into us. And they must come. For at this moment in time, we are the whole reason they have existed at all.

There is a mystical connection tied by a cord that never breaks between the dead and the living. The prayers we say, the hymns we sing, the faith we confess with it’s creeds and confessions are all the hard labor of Christians who have gone before us to the undiscovered country. Many of them we do not even know their names, except we know that someone was there to do many of these great and small jobs. 

When I think about the congregation where I worship on Sunday, about the building, about all of it, I cannot help but remember that is has been a work in progress since 1789. It has been deeded over to us by those who have lived and worked hard in the fields of the Lord and are no longer with us. 1789. Think about that! George Washington was only just inaugurated President. They had just elected the first Congress. Our church has moved locations three times and each of those locations saw significant changes in the time we inhabited it. And all those moves and changes were done by people just like us, singing hymns a lot like ours, and reading bibles that sounded very similar to ours. Everything we enjoy as a church is just as much the fruit of their labor as it is ours.

I am sure that every person who counts themselves a Christian, can say that they are probably a Christian because of someone else, someone who might not be here with us anymore, someone who inspired you and had you want to tap into just a little bit of what they had – be it power, or peace, or depth, or whatever.

Almost everything we are is the gift of the saints now in heaven and their continuing watchful eye over our work in life. They have never left us, whether they effects us still in memory alone or by more direct and spiritual ways. They are always with us, for here and now, we are the only reason those who are alla, those who are way on over yonder, have ever lived.

In deed, there is a mystical connection tied by a cord that never breaks between the dead and the living. And it goes both ways. One day, when we have passed, we too will watch upon our children and their children and children not yet dreamed of. And we will watch over them as they lead churches which look unlike any we can imagine. For then, they will be the whole reason that we have ever existed.

We also need to head the responsibilities of the saints, because we will one day be among their number. We need to be about our Father’s business so that, when we ourselves will be way on over yonder, that there be a church at all in 30 years, 100 years, a 1000 years.

In the Christian faith we take very little time for the alla, for the way on over yonder. So, let us take hold of those moments and suck them dry for all they are worth. Let us revel in the saints who have departed from us in body and form, but never in spirit. Let us thank them. Let us conjure them unto ourselves once more and sit at their feet in learning. Let us build ourselves in holiness and faith that we too can be accounted among their number when our time has come. Let us live – not just in the aqui and alli, but in the alla as well.

Tags: Death, Heaven, Hell, Kingdom of God by Administrator
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NOTE: This message was delivered to staff members of the Virginia Annual Conference on April 17 during a worship service one day after a gunman killed 32 people on the campus of Virginia Tech University. It was delivered by Angie Williams, director of youth, young adult, and single adult ministries for the Virginia Annual Conference. Her message to the conference staff was based on Isaiah 40:27-31 and Esther 4:6-14.
“For such a time as this”
By Angie Williams
“For such a time as this” - So, what is this time?

This is a time when we, the leaders of the church, need to discuss the deeper issues that lay the foundation for such atrocities as the massacre on the campus of Virginia Tech — and the implications for our response as the body of Christ.

This is a time when…

A record number of students were killed in a college campus shooting;
The number of teens in foster care has increased by more than 200,000 in the last 20 years;
About 6 million children under age 12 have been diagnosed with depression and are on medication for it;
Urban youth swarm the streets because Daddy has abandoned them and Mama’s strung out on crack;
Minority youth are trapped by oppressive political and economic systems that have rendered them victims of degradation;
1 in 12 young people are the victims of violent crime;
Substance abuse among young adults has increased as much as 10 percent in the last decade;
Technology and acquaintances on My Space masquerade for true intimacy and significant relationships;
There is a considerable rise in young people who suffer from emotional disturbances manifested through eating disorders, self-mutilation and violence.
And, this is also a time when, for the most part, the institutional church with its traditional families wants nothing to do with “that” kid who abuses substances; or who dresses inappropriately; or who uses obscene street language and grooves to rap and hip-hop; or who has two mommies or daddies; or who is promiscuous or pregnant; or who is emotionally disturbed and anti-social; or who has darker skin or an accent; or who wears all black or metal or chains or piercings, tattoos or “bling bling”; or who isn’t familiar with the most basic of Bible stories.

The church stays away from “those” kids, lest they negatively influence the churched kids.

Neglecting ‘those’ kids

This is a time, for the most part, when we Christians spend the majority of our time building the church and very little time building God’s kingdom on earth. A time when the church has sold out and is more concerned with its own self-preservation than with the needs of the least, the last and the lost. A time when urban centers are surrounded by churches that refuse to reach out to the impoverished, drug-infested, subsidized residents.

This is a time when research has proven the primary impact of a significant adult relationship other than a parent in determining the success and positive adjustment of at-risk young people, and yet very few churches engage the youth of their communities in mentoring programs.

This is a time, for the most part, when the institutional church is completely out of touch with the cultures of today’s young people and has absolutely no clue how to reach the marginalized, disenfranchised, at-risk populations of young people.

And I only wish I was exaggerating.

Just in the 12 years of career experience that I have had in my young life, I’ve been there. I have served “that” church - the church that kicked out the kid who was caught selling drugs in youth group; the church that told the emotionally disturbed kid that he couldn’t come back to youth group unless a parent accompanied him; the church that outcast an unmarried young adult when she became pregnant; the church that literally closed its doors on a group of youth who wanted to share an alternative style of worship; the church that stared down the youth who was dressed creatively; and the church that  refused to let the young visitor sit in a family-designated pew.

‘Be the hope’

I realize that many of you were probably expecting more of a message of hope this morning, not words of seemingly negative chastisement. However, in this room sit THE leaders of the United Methodist Church of Virginia. And as leaders, what we need most is not a message of hope but a wakeup call that reminds us of our mission to BE the hope.

Of course, we can’t and shouldn’t blame the church or anyone or anything else for the actions of the Virginia Tech shooter. I remember hearing a professor speak shortly after the Columbine shootings. Likewise, he did not place the blame on the failures of an institution, the parents, the media, violent video games or any other entity.

However, he did speak of the deep responsibility that should be owned by educators in acknowledging their role as mentors who have at least the possible capability to stop such atrocities through successful intervention and outreach to high-risk students.

He suggested that more often than not, educators simply pretend not to see these students and ignore their cries for help.

This professor’s words to educators ring true for the church. We can no longer sit complacent in our pews, but must answer the call for such a time as this.

The greatest tragedy is that we respond in such a time as this in the midst of an isolated incident of crisis while we pretend not to see the crises that constantly surround us on a daily basis. When the upcoming months have gone by and the church feels like it has done its part to comfort families who have lost loved ones and lead them toward a path of the peace and forgiveness of Christ, will we forget that this crisis didn’t begin at Virginia Tech and it still hasn’t ended?

Or, will we finally realize that, “for such a time as this,” the church must finally begin the active pursuit of intimate and significant mentoring relationships with ALL young people within AND BEYOND our church walls, just as God ceaselessly pursues us.

For such a time as this is our call to finally wake up to the cries of marginalized, disenfranchised, at-risk young people who desperately need the church to show them a God and a love that is big enough for even them. For such a time as this…

REMEMBER

Tags: Death, Heaven, Hell, News, Evil by Administrator
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Yesterday, President Bush spoke at the national Catholic prayer breakfast in Washington, D.C. He spoke about something that has always been close to us United Methodists, the culture of life.

He said. “In our day there is a temptation to manipulate life in ways that do not respect the humanity of the person,” Bush said Friday. “When that happens, the most vulnerable among us can be valued for their utility to others instead of their own inherent worth.”

Respect the humanity of the person? Valued for the utility of others instead of their own inherent worth?
 Mr. President! That’s great! I’ve been waiting years for this day. I praise the Almighty for this amazing altar call! Let me offer you a few pieces of information you should be aware of so you can get working on that whole culture of life thing:
 
 

67,364 civilians dead in Iraq as of today.
3,561 soldiers (US and coalition) who have been killed in Iraq as of today.
26,188 soldier (US only) wounded in your war in Iraq as of today.
152 prisoners executed while you were governor of Texas.
314 prisoners executed while you were President, between your inauguration and January 1, 2006.

As fellow Methodists, I am sure we can both praise God for your conversion! Praise Jesus and pass the pot luck.

Tags: Peace, Politics, Death Penalty, Death, News by Administrator
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