Election Day and Beyond

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It’s election day. Soon it will be over. And the effects of the day will extend for many years, touching the lives of those who voted as well as those who failed to vote, who wanted to vote but couldn’t, who couldn’t have cared less, and who, possibly, aren’t even alive yet.

The same can be said about our lives, and the footprints we leave behind. (See the Nov. 2 blog entry.) The effects of our lives extend beyond our limited vision.

My friend John Colon recently posted on Facebook:

I just voted. As has been stated before, it’s the one day when there are no rich or poor as one person one vote makes us all equal. Voting has always been an emotional experience for me after I have voted. Yet, this morning as I was preparing for my day, I was thinking about the people who have influenced my life and who helped me become the man I am today. I noted the diversity of people who have mentored me, my family, friends and peers, and those whom I have had the privilege to serve and lead. And I thought to myself, “Indeed, it does take a village.” Vote wisely today, friends. This is not an election about material wealth, self-centered desires or fear and hatred. It’s about community, welcoming the stranger, loving your neighbor as yourself, faith, hope and love.

The people John credits with influencing his beliefs were witnesses in daily life, demonstrating to John and to the world around them the values they held dear and the beliefs that shaped their lives. Each of us, in our daily lives, witness in that same way. That witness – perhaps more than any intentional acts of charity or piety or faithfulness – is our true ministry. God willing, our lives and our witness serve as our proclamation of God’s good news. Or perhaps, a proclamation of our unbelief. Or our worship of someone or something other than the Holy One.

In the weeks and months ahead, may our lives offer to those around us a transformative example, as John experienced. May we “show forth [God’s] praise, not only with our lips, but in our lives.” May we embody the presence of Christ in our daily interactions. May we practice being part of the Jesus Movement in every aspect of our daily life.

As St. Francis said, “Preach the Gospel at all times. When necessary, use words.”

Shared values answer needs — with God’s help

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by Wayne Schwab

God is on mission to make the world more loving and more.  Baptized, Phoebe’s mission is to be part of God’s mission to make the world more loving and more just. As a strong secular humanist, Liz holds love and justice to be among the values guiding her daily life.

No wonder Phoebe and Liz could work together easily.

Liz works full-time for the county branch of the food bank.  As part of her work, she addressed some church members at their Sunday coffee hour.  One of the members, Phoebe, resonated with Liz’s commitment to developing community-wide support for local and county programs to feed the hungry.

Phoebe believed Liz must have wrestled with a sense of need – Phoebe would say a “call” – to meet the needs of many for an adequate food supply; must have assessed her talents for what she could do; and then, must have made the decision to take the job at the county food bank.

Phoebe had been wrestling with the same issue in the church committee she headed.  She connected with Liz after the coffee hour and shared her concern.  Liz suggested Phoebe’s committee might like to sponsor a “fun run” to raise money for the food bank.  Phoebe welcomed Liz’ offer to mentor her in setting up a “fun run” at her church.  It was hugely successful with 225 participants and $1,567 for the food bank.

Together, Phoebe and Liz had made a part of the world more loving and more just – with God’s help, Phoebe told her committee and church.

How am I running with Jesus?

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by Fletcher Lowe

In the recently concluded 2016 Rio Olympics USA members David Boudia and Steele Johnson won the silver medal in men’s synchronized platform diving. “We both know our identity is in Christ,” Boudia, 26, told NBC. Johnson, 20, added, “Going into this event knowing that my identity is rooted in Christ and not the result of this competition just gave me peace. And it let me enjoy the contest. God’s given us a cool opportunity….”

The Bible’s Letter to the Hebrews states: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses …let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus who is the pioneer and perfecter of our faith…. “

Although their sport was diving, Boadia and Steele were both running with Jesus.  That is the continuous call for each of us as a Christian –  “How am I running with Jesus?”  To continue the analogy, every athlete has a goal. In interview after interview, Olympians expressed their various goals. Ours as followers of Christ is to look to Jesus who is the pioneer and perfecter of our faith….

We have our track, our race course – our daily lives of home, community, and work.  How am I running with Jesus in my home – as I wash or clean or garden or access the internet or the TV channels or relate to my housemates?  In the community, how am I running with Jesus as I volunteer in the school or library or nursing home or hospital?  What about my connection with my neighbors or friends?  And at work, how am I running with Jesus as I relate to my fellow workers, as I analyze a budget, or work in a team or design a program?

Now our race course of life is not the quarter-mile flat track of the Olympic stadium. It is rather like a cross country course with hills and valleys, rough and smooth places, deserts and fertile grounds.  Jesus never promised us a rose garden, but he did to say that he would be with us even to the ends of the earth.  “I am with you always….” So we never run alone.  Not only are we not running alone, but we have our cheering section – a great cloud of witnesses including the vast community of saints from Peter and Paul to Mother Teresa and Pope Francis to our fellow Christians in our congregations and community.

After her victory in the women’s 110-meter hurdles in the Olympics, Brianna Rollins said that she joined with others that morning for some prayer time – and left it with God to carry her forward.  That prayer time was focusing on her goal –  “looking to Jesus” – as she saw God shaping her life as a runner.  She knew, as she engaged her real world of the 110 meter hurdles that she was not running alone and that she had her cheering section supporting her.

So with each of us.  We have our race course – our daily lives; our cheering section – a great cloud of witnesses; our goal – looking to Jesus.  The question remains: how are we running with Jesus?

Confirmands who ‘get it’

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by Edward L. Lee, Jr.

As a retired bishop (Western Michigan) who is an assisting bishop in the diocese where I now reside (Pennsylvania) I make Sunday parish visitations twice a month on behalf of the bishop of the diocese. This means I have the privilege and pleasure of presiding and preaching at services that usually include baptisms and confirmations. When this occurs, my episcopal heart is deeply gladdened. The opportunity to explore and illustrate the ministry in daily life that is everyone’s by virtue of their baptism is a task to be treasured.

In some parishes candidates for confirmation, usually teenagers, are asked to write a letter to the bishop explaining why they want to be confirmed. It should be noted that this comes at the end of at least a year-long program of significant preparation. It’s clear that the parish, priest, and candidates are serious about what it means to be baptized and to be the church’s first and foremost frontline of ministers and ministry in the world.

This past spring I received two sets of letters. None were frivolous or glib. All were conscientious and insightful. Here are some passages that reflect what the confirmands understand to be their baptismal lives and living.

“Confirmation will take me another step further in my faith journey, which will continue the rest of my life. I have a lot to look forward to.”

 

“I have reached the age where it comes time for me to make my own decisions about my future. My first and most important decision, however, is not deciding on what college I want to go to. Rather, it’s the decision to affirm my Christian faith.”

 

“I approach confirmation in a certain mindset. I will be moving forward knowing that this is my decision and now my responsibility to continue in my faith journey. Most of all I remember this: Baptism is having someone else devote you to God, and confirmation is you devoting yourself to God.”

 

“… when you get confirmed you get to feel you are more connected to God. Since you get confirmed you feel God is more a part of your life. It is the adult affirmation of the baptismal vows.”

 

“I want to be confirmed because I am ready to take responsibility at church like I do at home and at school. The activities I like to take part in are help with the homeless, animals, and veterans.”

These are samples of other letters just like them that I received. These young Christians are “getting it.” They are getting to know and realize what it means to be baptized, to be a minister, to be a disciple!

Baptize those backpacks!

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by Demi Prentiss

Fellow ministry developer Andrea Rosenberg McKellar recently posted a story on her blog about her church’s blessing of the backpacks, a ritual marking the beginning of the new school year. I love her son’s remark: “Mom, can’t you just baptize it for me?”

Baptism is all about becoming a part of God’s mission, a participant in the Jesus Movement, as Presiding Bishop Michael Curry would remind us. So, as a reminder of the everyday ministries of daily life, why not “baptize” the backpacks? And why stop there? Shouldn’t we, really, be “baptizing” law books, and computers, and scalpels, and grocery carts, and hand trucks?

What if we remembered, via our Sunday liturgies, more of the ways that the baptized honor their commitment to the Jesus Movement in every aspect of their lives? What if what we did on Sunday really caused us to remember — on Monday and every day —  that we have promised to “seek and serve Christ in all persons”?

So yes, please, bless the backpacks and the children who carry them back to school. And then remember to bless the grading books and the teachers who labor to fill them out. Bless the blood pressure cuffs and the nurses who skillfully use them. Bless the power saws and the carpenters who build our homes and our workplaces.

Labor Day is just around the corner! Here’s a useful liturgy which works for Labor Day as well as Rogation Day. Or pick a Sunday each month, and honor all those in a profession like real estate or law enforcement. Or remember one vocation each Sunday. Here’s a prayer cycle.

As Andrea urges, may the baptismal font remind us that God is with us when….. [you name it!] And may we also be reminded that our faith community promises — in that same baptismal liturgy — to support one another through all the ups and downs.

When necessary, use words

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by Fletcher Lowe

As a graduation present for our two granddaughters, our daughter recently gave them a trip to France. My wife and I were invited to join with them – and we accepted – as you can well imagine. We engaged a cabbie at the Paris airport to take us to the AirB&B where we were to be staying. When I got into the front passenger seat, I noticed a cross hanging from the rear view mirror. Upon reaching our destination, as I was paying the driver for the trip, I asked him about the cross. He said – in English!! – “I am a Christian and the cross reminds me of who I am working for.”

Symbols of our faith in the workplace. What about crosses in cubicles, Bibles on desks, prayer books on work tables? What about wearing crosses or doves or other symbols around one’s neck, or on one’s jacket lapel? What about religious pictures or statements on one’s wall?

How do we use “outward and visible signs” in the workplace to express our faith? And how do we use those signs as “door openers” for transformational conversation? It is in the details of our daily lives that we offer our most powerful witness to the work of God in and through us. And as St. Francis reminds us, “[only] when necessary, use words.”

Who owns ministry?

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by Fletcher Lowe

Recently I was in a meeting where a young man was sharing his Christian journey.  He outlined his childhood closely connected to a Church community, then college where he felt called to the “ministry,” which he pursued through graduate school in music, became a Minister of Music, moved on to Seminary to further pursue that call to “the ministry,” had a not-too-challenging time as an assistant minister before finding his ministry fit as a chaplain in a home for disabled adults.

The more I heard his story, the more I felt uncomfortable with the way he was using the word “ministry.”  It was as if the only real ministry was within the church community.

I had a similar conversation at a dinner party a week ago when I was introduced to another guest: “She is a Presbyterian minister,” my friend said.  I looked back at him and said, “Well you, too, are a Presbyterian minister – it’s just that she has been ordained, but we are all ministers by virtue of our Baptism.”  They both looked as if I was speaking a foreign language.

Part of the current missional revolution is challenging the Church to reclaim the sense of ministry, of calling, of vocation for all the Baptized, not just those who are ordained.  As Byron Rushing, the vice chair of The Episcopal Church’s House of Deputies remarked, reflecting on his calling in the Massachusetts Legislature, “Jesus is in the Legislature where I am called to serve. If he were not there, I should not be there either.”

Each of us is empowered by our baptism for ministry in our daily lives of home, work, and community.  We need to claim that calling – and not let the ordained alone “own it.”

Real ministry happens during real life

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by Demi Prentiss

In a recent review of Radical Sending, Gayle Hunter Hagland offered praise for the book, saying it reminds congregations “that real ministry happens during real life.” What clarity that brings to the difficulties of truly being a follower of Jesus, refusing to settle for being a “Sunday only” Christian.

We don’t need to bring Jesus out into the world. The Living God is already there at work, in the real lives of people. God’s challenge to us is to tune our hearts to see where God’s Spirit is moving, and to partner with whatever the Spirit might be up to. Often that means immersing ourselves in the messiness of real life.

Jesus spent much of his earthly life living on the messy margins, outside the boundaries of acceptability – talking with women, healing lepers, befriending tax collectors, breaking bread with sinners. Hanging out with “the wrong people” didn’t earn him any points with the powerful, rich, and famous. He immersed himself in “real life,” and brought real life – life abundant – to those who chose to walk his way.

Jesus’ entire life was his ministry. May we become living members of “the Jesus Movement,” claiming each moment of our own real lives as opportunities to be “on mission” with Jesus.

Ninth grade justice

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by Wayne Schwab

This blog entry is from a podcast by Wayne Schwab of the Member Mission Network.  We help people to live better every day.  This time a unique story of justice.  It’s unique because it’s justice lived by two ninth graders, Diana and Laurie!

Diana and Laurie were with friends at lunch time.

Boys at the table next to them were throwing trash into a nearby container.  They didn’t want to bother with walking over to drop their trash in the container.

As you’d expect, one boy’s throw missed the container and splattered its contents across the floor.

A Chinese friend of Diana and Laurie said, “Pick it up.”

The thrower mocked her, saying, “I don’t speak Chinese.”

Diana and Laurie caught the insult and its bit of racism.  They objected loudly.

The boy turned and ran.

Diana and Laurie chased him.  Laurie, the bigger of the two, cornered the boy in a stair case.

They both insisted he apologize to the girl.

He did.

For the rest of the day, their Chinese friend thanked Diana and Laurie almost every time she saw them.

Diana told me the story – a neat story of advocacy.  Advocacy is defending people who need help.  That’s the promise made in her name at her baptism and affirmed by Diana herself in confirmation.  That promise is “to strive for justice” and to “respect the dignity of every human being.”

I said, “Hooray.  How good to hear you defend someone who had been insulted!”

That’s today’s adventure in justice.

For more such stories go to our website at membermission.org.

Thanks for listening.

How do you rate?

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by Peyton Craighill

Charles Schulz, the creator of the “Peanuts” comic strip, offered this reflection as an illustration of his philosophy of life. Though he probably wouldn’t have used this term, he is calling us all to practice our God-given mission in our daily lives:

You don’t have actually to answer the questions. Just ponder on them.  Just read this message straight through, and you’ll get the point.

  • Name the five wealthiest people in the world.
  • Name the last five Heisman trophy winners.
  • Name the last five winners of the Miss America pageant.
  • Name ten people who have won the Nobel or Pulitzer Prize.
  • Name the last six Academy Award winners for best actor and actress.
  • Name the last decade’s worth of Super Bowl winners.

How did you do?  The point is, none of us remember the headliners of yesterday. These are no second-rate achievers – they are the best in their fields. But the applause dies… Awards tarnish …  Achievements are forgotten. Accolades and certificates are buried with their owners.

 

Here’s another quiz. See how you do on this one:

  • List a few teachers who aided your journey through school.
  • Name three friends who have helped you through a difficult time.
  • Name five people who have taught you something worthwhile.
  • Think of a few people who have made you feel appreciated and special.
  • Think of five people you enjoy spending time with.

Easier?

 

The lesson: The people who make a difference in your life are not the ones with the most credentials, the most money … or the most awards. They simply are the ones who care the most.