One of the more unique things about aging is that time seems to speed by exponentially. I have heard 22 years olds recently exclaim to me that time seems to "fly by" when what they are considering seems to me to be just seconds ago...
St. Augustine famously noted that he knew what time was except when someone asked him to explain it, and Western philosophy has been on an eternal search it seems to somehow explain "time and eternity." My answer to this problem of time, and especially of its speeding up the older we get? I bought a fast car.
My reasoning is such...the faster I drive between two points means I save some "time." This time is therefore spent doing other things than driving between two points (and since I do a lot of driving this is quite a "time-saver.")Slow cars=less time to do other things: fast cars=just plain fun!!
Because as even these 22 year olds know, time is the ultimate chimera. It only has value if you are living the life you love or the life you were called to live by God. A five minute life in the care of God seems much more interesting to me than an 85 year old life lived amidst the confusion of this world...(I am not advocating a shorter or a longer life, but rather that every life--short AND long--should be measured by its God relationship in the world)
So time literally rolls along and takes us with it...like the mighty Missouri that is ravaging homes and banks along my town, time has few cares for those who ride it. You can use fast cars, vacuum cleaners, microwave food to save all the time you want...but it's how the saved time is used that matters to the world...and it would seem, to God. It's not the length of time of Jesus' life that matters, but rather how he used that time to show us how to be human and not try to be God that brings his time to us.
May your tables be full and your conversations be true.
Your Blog Steward
- Scott Frederickson
- I am more and more convinced that most congregations die from a staggering lack of imagination. Let's change that. Let's imagine a creative future with God and each other together. Drop me a line on email or leave a comment if you have thoughts on God, Jesus, congregations, the church or whatever.... I look forward to our conversations.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
I heard there was a secret chord...
Somewhere deep in the recesses of my soul lies a "God spark." I am not sure what it is, not even sure if it's important, but over the years when it has appeared to my consciousness I have heeded its illuminations.
I don't get these crazy, "END OF THE WORLD IS COMING!" type illuminations; rather, mine are more mundane. "Oh, that is what my wife meant!" Or, "maybe this is what is bothering my daughter?" Sometimes I get a vision of a person, someone I know, and within minutes, if not hours, they are calling me...sometimes after years of non-contact.
When I take the Myers-Briggs personality test they call me "Intuitive." My doctoral advisor, also of the intuitive bent, once remarked that "Scott, no one ever accuses us of actually seeing trees in the forest." True that.
I first realized this eschatology (a deep, Pannenbergian theological joke there) back when I was a kid. When playing sports it was like the whole field or diamond was laid out on graph paper, and I knew where each person was going to be. I played defensive tackle for a awhile in Jr. High football, and I was the slowest runner on the team...but I made a lot of tackles. My coach once asked me how I ever made a tackle since I was so slow? "I know where he's going," I said. My coach benched me for being a wiseass...but it was true...since I knew where he was going, I just got there before he did and made the tackle.
As a professional theologian, and coming out a a tradition where such Spirit-driven ideas like "God spark" are received skeptically--Luther once said of a group of Spiritualists they had swallowed the Holy Spirit "feathers and all"--I never use these divine illuminations in my theological work. My ministry, yes; but theology, no.
But if you've heard the secret chord of which Leonard Cohen sings...well, I don't have to tell you how that goes do I? If you haven't heard it...well, that's why there's stories from the Bible, sermons from me, and songs from Leonard Cohen.
May your tables be full and your conversations be true.
I don't get these crazy, "END OF THE WORLD IS COMING!" type illuminations; rather, mine are more mundane. "Oh, that is what my wife meant!" Or, "maybe this is what is bothering my daughter?" Sometimes I get a vision of a person, someone I know, and within minutes, if not hours, they are calling me...sometimes after years of non-contact.
When I take the Myers-Briggs personality test they call me "Intuitive." My doctoral advisor, also of the intuitive bent, once remarked that "Scott, no one ever accuses us of actually seeing trees in the forest." True that.
I first realized this eschatology (a deep, Pannenbergian theological joke there) back when I was a kid. When playing sports it was like the whole field or diamond was laid out on graph paper, and I knew where each person was going to be. I played defensive tackle for a awhile in Jr. High football, and I was the slowest runner on the team...but I made a lot of tackles. My coach once asked me how I ever made a tackle since I was so slow? "I know where he's going," I said. My coach benched me for being a wiseass...but it was true...since I knew where he was going, I just got there before he did and made the tackle.
As a professional theologian, and coming out a a tradition where such Spirit-driven ideas like "God spark" are received skeptically--Luther once said of a group of Spiritualists they had swallowed the Holy Spirit "feathers and all"--I never use these divine illuminations in my theological work. My ministry, yes; but theology, no.
But if you've heard the secret chord of which Leonard Cohen sings...well, I don't have to tell you how that goes do I? If you haven't heard it...well, that's why there's stories from the Bible, sermons from me, and songs from Leonard Cohen.
May your tables be full and your conversations be true.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
A Flood of Biblical Proportions
They tell me the Missouri River hasn't been like this since the Garrison Dam was finished in 1952 (or was it 1953?). There is a lot of water. Which got me to thinking about Noah...
Now more than a few of you probably know the story of Noah. He was a man whom God entrusted to save creatures from the devastation of a flood God was going to send to end humanity as we know it. There are a few variations of this story, but the result from the Jewish tradition is that God sent a rainbow after the flood was over as a way to promise God's love to the survivors...and--ostensibly--not send another flood. There aren't many rainbows around here Kermit!
The flood and all the work that goes into battling water is now approaching its third week, and people are saying that it will be like this until August. Some people are wondering if the river will ever return to what it was a month ago. People are tired, and even now a few are wondering if some lifetyle changes are in order...there are a few who haven't left the flood zone, and probably will return the minute the National Guard lets them!
What to say about all this? How about something like the God that creates the river is the same God that redeems the people whose homes are washing away? How about that we live in a world where our relationship with God is not dependent upon the good and bad that happens (or even that we may or may not do), but rather is dependent upon the love we share with God, ourselves, and with each other? Jesus Christ is not a judge of good and evil--he is beyond good and evil--he is a judge of love, of character, or compassion, a judge of hope, a judge of peace, a judge of sharing...
Natural "disasters" are never about good and evil, right and wrong, or other such moral and ethical dichotomies--they are about love...which is why we help sandbag, move furniture and pictures to higher ground, and sell our trailers to friends in need at 25 cents on the dollar...there is the love even in a flood of biblical proportions.
May your tables be full, and your conversations be true.
Now more than a few of you probably know the story of Noah. He was a man whom God entrusted to save creatures from the devastation of a flood God was going to send to end humanity as we know it. There are a few variations of this story, but the result from the Jewish tradition is that God sent a rainbow after the flood was over as a way to promise God's love to the survivors...and--ostensibly--not send another flood. There aren't many rainbows around here Kermit!
The flood and all the work that goes into battling water is now approaching its third week, and people are saying that it will be like this until August. Some people are wondering if the river will ever return to what it was a month ago. People are tired, and even now a few are wondering if some lifetyle changes are in order...there are a few who haven't left the flood zone, and probably will return the minute the National Guard lets them!
What to say about all this? How about something like the God that creates the river is the same God that redeems the people whose homes are washing away? How about that we live in a world where our relationship with God is not dependent upon the good and bad that happens (or even that we may or may not do), but rather is dependent upon the love we share with God, ourselves, and with each other? Jesus Christ is not a judge of good and evil--he is beyond good and evil--he is a judge of love, of character, or compassion, a judge of hope, a judge of peace, a judge of sharing...
Natural "disasters" are never about good and evil, right and wrong, or other such moral and ethical dichotomies--they are about love...which is why we help sandbag, move furniture and pictures to higher ground, and sell our trailers to friends in need at 25 cents on the dollar...there is the love even in a flood of biblical proportions.
May your tables be full, and your conversations be true.
Monday, May 30, 2011
If Love wins, now what? A Final Thought
For someone like me knowing (and knowing is more than just an intellectual assent) that God's love wins in the end provides the only reason to do the stuff God invites me to do in the world.
I mean, if it were up to me I would spend all my time driving around in fast cars, hanging out with friends examining the trivia of life, and constantly be in search of the next good time. I wouldn't help friends who are threatened by natural disasters, much less strangers...I wouldn't care that children in this world go hungry...I wouldn't be bothered that people who make money want to see people who don't put into jails and slavery...but God's love wins...
And that changes everything. For one, it means that I don't have to fear the future as much, and for me that means I can spend time taking care of this planet. (I believe one of the reason we abuse the planet is because we fear the future, and so we want to get all we can out of this planet while we can). I joined a conservation organization (the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation) when I realized God loves this planet too...
Because God's love wins out in the end I don't have to fear strangers, and I can trust my friends...because even should a stranger or a friend abuse that trust, God's love still makes the betrayal into something of value. So I can make some sandbags for folks I don't know...I can donate money to places of need...I can offer my home to those who need a bed...and should my body, should my money, should my home be taken advantage of--well, there is always God's love to carry me onto the next day.
It is true that I drive a fast car (a really fast one these days)...it is also true that I hang out with friends and examine the trivia of life...and my beautiful wife and I are always in search of a good time...but they are encompassed in the eternal reach of God's outstretched arms of love though Jesus the Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit...because to say God's love wins is to say God wins...the one in whom we live not only for ourselves but for each other.
May your tables be full and your conversations be true.
I mean, if it were up to me I would spend all my time driving around in fast cars, hanging out with friends examining the trivia of life, and constantly be in search of the next good time. I wouldn't help friends who are threatened by natural disasters, much less strangers...I wouldn't care that children in this world go hungry...I wouldn't be bothered that people who make money want to see people who don't put into jails and slavery...but God's love wins...
And that changes everything. For one, it means that I don't have to fear the future as much, and for me that means I can spend time taking care of this planet. (I believe one of the reason we abuse the planet is because we fear the future, and so we want to get all we can out of this planet while we can). I joined a conservation organization (the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation) when I realized God loves this planet too...
Because God's love wins out in the end I don't have to fear strangers, and I can trust my friends...because even should a stranger or a friend abuse that trust, God's love still makes the betrayal into something of value. So I can make some sandbags for folks I don't know...I can donate money to places of need...I can offer my home to those who need a bed...and should my body, should my money, should my home be taken advantage of--well, there is always God's love to carry me onto the next day.
It is true that I drive a fast car (a really fast one these days)...it is also true that I hang out with friends and examine the trivia of life...and my beautiful wife and I are always in search of a good time...but they are encompassed in the eternal reach of God's outstretched arms of love though Jesus the Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit...because to say God's love wins is to say God wins...the one in whom we live not only for ourselves but for each other.
May your tables be full and your conversations be true.
Monday, May 23, 2011
If Love Wins, now what? Part III
God's love wins through the power of the Spirit in the resurrection of Jesus as the Christ...now what? With worries about our future, and especially our future with the Divine power that moves in and through the universe, taken care of in a promise to be loved forever...now what? In a world where love peeks through, even amidst the darkest of personal or corporate tragedy, and where human capacity for love stretches to the ends of the earth...now what? Now that we have seen this love in action even through death on a cross...now what?
How about something like this?
Early in my ministry I was walking through the tunnels that connected the various buildings and parking ramps of the University of Minnesota hospital system. It was 1994, and my world was going well. I had a wonderful wife and two lovely, growing children, and I was really getting into the routine of being a parish pastor. I had friends that I could celebrate and share with, and as the song went a "future so bright I had to wear shades." And then I saw him...
Walking towards me down this tunnel was a very skinny man in a hospital gown flapping along with him. Even from a distance I could see he was very unkept, and his hair was sticking out all over the place. He was tugging a portable oxygen container behind him with the tubes connected to his nose, and his pace was very slow, almost as if he didn't want to move at all. Oh, and he was smoking.
When you are in a tunnel that is 10 feet wide and 8 feet tall you do not want to see somebody who has an open oxygen container smoking a cigarette. Something about an explosion in a confined space just seemed to not be the way I want to meet my maker. And it would put an end to my great life. So I stopped to talk to him.
I introduced myself as a pastor going to visit one of the patients, and asked him how he was doing? He introduced himself as Alan, and said "not good." Tell me about I said. Oh, and the smoke itches my nose.
"Sorry," he muttered in a weak voice, and stubbed it out on the greenish tile floor.
Why aren't you good Alan?
"Well, I have AIDS. They say I am going to die soon." At this point I felt bad for making him put out his cigarette, but now I found myself in a conversation with the first person I ever met who has this disease(or at least that I knew of, as not everybody was forthcoming with that information in those days). Over the next ten minutes or so he proceeeded to relate to me how everyone in his life had abandoned him over the past few years, family, friends, even his lover was gone, although he had died of AIDS just a couple of months prior.
Now it is common for me to pray with someone at the end of our time together, and often times I will hold their hand. But as I was thinking about offering to pray I had a thought? What if I get AIDS? Now, I didn't know much about the disease at the time except that if you got it, you were going to die, and looking at Alan it did not seem like the most dignified way to go. And--I didn't want to die. But standing there looking at this agonized human, completely alone, I remembered God loves me. And I remembered in the cross branded on my heart that even when I die God loves me, just like God loves everybody, just like God loves Alan. So, I reached out, grabbed his hand, and asked if I could pray?
He joined me at the Amen, and left his hand in mine. He stared me down before letting go. "Thank you," he said, "I've forgotten what it's like to be touched." He reached into the pocket of his gown for another cigarette and his lighter. As I was walking away I could smell him light it...and I was completely fine with that.
Good thing God's love wins, yes?
May your tables be full and your conversations be true.
How about something like this?
Early in my ministry I was walking through the tunnels that connected the various buildings and parking ramps of the University of Minnesota hospital system. It was 1994, and my world was going well. I had a wonderful wife and two lovely, growing children, and I was really getting into the routine of being a parish pastor. I had friends that I could celebrate and share with, and as the song went a "future so bright I had to wear shades." And then I saw him...
Walking towards me down this tunnel was a very skinny man in a hospital gown flapping along with him. Even from a distance I could see he was very unkept, and his hair was sticking out all over the place. He was tugging a portable oxygen container behind him with the tubes connected to his nose, and his pace was very slow, almost as if he didn't want to move at all. Oh, and he was smoking.
When you are in a tunnel that is 10 feet wide and 8 feet tall you do not want to see somebody who has an open oxygen container smoking a cigarette. Something about an explosion in a confined space just seemed to not be the way I want to meet my maker. And it would put an end to my great life. So I stopped to talk to him.
I introduced myself as a pastor going to visit one of the patients, and asked him how he was doing? He introduced himself as Alan, and said "not good." Tell me about I said. Oh, and the smoke itches my nose.
"Sorry," he muttered in a weak voice, and stubbed it out on the greenish tile floor.
Why aren't you good Alan?
"Well, I have AIDS. They say I am going to die soon." At this point I felt bad for making him put out his cigarette, but now I found myself in a conversation with the first person I ever met who has this disease(or at least that I knew of, as not everybody was forthcoming with that information in those days). Over the next ten minutes or so he proceeeded to relate to me how everyone in his life had abandoned him over the past few years, family, friends, even his lover was gone, although he had died of AIDS just a couple of months prior.
Now it is common for me to pray with someone at the end of our time together, and often times I will hold their hand. But as I was thinking about offering to pray I had a thought? What if I get AIDS? Now, I didn't know much about the disease at the time except that if you got it, you were going to die, and looking at Alan it did not seem like the most dignified way to go. And--I didn't want to die. But standing there looking at this agonized human, completely alone, I remembered God loves me. And I remembered in the cross branded on my heart that even when I die God loves me, just like God loves everybody, just like God loves Alan. So, I reached out, grabbed his hand, and asked if I could pray?
He joined me at the Amen, and left his hand in mine. He stared me down before letting go. "Thank you," he said, "I've forgotten what it's like to be touched." He reached into the pocket of his gown for another cigarette and his lighter. As I was walking away I could smell him light it...and I was completely fine with that.
Good thing God's love wins, yes?
May your tables be full and your conversations be true.
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