"A SACRED MOMENT"

I am concerned, alarmed would be too strong of a word, that we are losing a sense of the sacred. The Christian Church has only been given two rites or rituals (Baptism and Communion). These are both sacred events that point to the same thing (the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus). It should be noted that one is something that is done to us and the other is done by us. Both are participation in the divine drama of salvation, the saving action of God. In these we become participants of divine grace.

Our familiarity with each of these sacred acts often leads us to debate them rather than practice them. The New Testament church accepted these and practice them as part of their living faith. They joined in as participants in the living history of God's transforming and transcendent act of salvation. That is why the language of baptism and communion is inclusive language. You find words like united with and clothed with for baptism. The language of communion is share and participate. How is it that matters that are intended to draw people together have become so divisive?

These are, beyond doubt sacred acts in the truest sense of the word. Sacred, sacrifice and sacrament come into English from Latin. The Latin sacra means holy, consecrated and sacred. The communion as a sacrament points to a consecrated event or person ("do this in remembrance of me..."). The communion as sacrifice is a reenactment of the sin offering presented by God and to God (the crucifixion of Jesus). These same points can be made for baptism.

We invest a lot of time and effort in debating the why and how of baptism. This is not something that the New Testament writers did (debating the issue). They simply said to do it and the people willingly participated. They also present it in the Epistles as something that members of the body had already done in the past ("as many of you as have been" or "were" this is the language of the scripture reflected as a past event and a present reality). We present ourselves to God as "living sacrifices holy and acceptable to God..." The consecrated life a living sacrament honoring God.

These are sacred events and actions. Let us focus on the sacredness of the moment. Share in this holy event by honoring the transcendent and transforming God. We remember the mercy of God who acted for us and who is active in us during these sacred moments and beyond.

Just some things to think about along the way!

Bob

"My Empire of Dirt"

"I hurt myself today, to see if I still feel..." These troubling, biting words issue forth from an old man dressed in black, with gnarled hands, a face cracked and creased by decades of sorrow and struggle, and that raspy, gravelly tired but strong voice. A voice that seems to roll like thunder through the valley of trial, which echos off of the jagged granite walls of the mountain of pain. Yet, it is those piercing knowing eyes that warn you he knows more than the words he is singing. One could lose himself in those sad eyes and immediately know beyond a doubt the Singer has lived its message. "I hurt myself today, to see if I still feel..."

Have I become so calloused that I no longer fell the pain and sorrow around me? Or is it just that I have become "comfortably numb?" Do I see Issiah or Nick? Do I feel Shelia's struggle with MS? What about the brothers and sisters who are unemployed or underemployed? The hurt and pain of a rebellious child or a family member battling addiction? Do I look the other way when I see battered women and abused children? What about the plight of young parents trying with all their strength to rear their children in an increasingly hostile world? Maybe I needed to be reminded and forced to, "I hurt myself today, to see if I still feel!"

In the chorus of the song the following line, "you can have it all, my empire of dirt..." drives the point of my disconnectedness to the plight of others home. I fear I have become so busy building castles of stone with ramparts of diamonds and streets of gold, that I have forgotten that all these things are simply dirt? I have become obsessed with constructing emerald cities with spires that touch the heavens and whose entrances are gates of pearl and yet have neglected, "the tired, poor, the huddled masses, yearning to breath free..." I think I have come to a place where I must say, "Here I am, turn the page..."

Yes, this is what I believe, "you can have it all, my empire of dirt."

Just some things to think about along the way!!!

Bob

"Livin In Laodicea!"

The title is loosely taken from a line in a Steve Camp song. The line goes like this, "I've been living in Laodicea..." It seemed somewhat applicable to my life right now. Laodicea, one of the seven churches of Asia addressed in Revelation. It is a church that nauseated the King of Kings. A literal rendering of the phrase "spit you out of my mouth" is "I will vomit you out of my mouth." I am not real sure but I believe that my life of late would give Jesus more than just the dry heaves. The thought of my failures turning his stomach makes me deathly ill.

I find that I have taken up residence in the kingdom of apathy. And I have even become one of its leading citizens. As the mayor of Apathy my quest is do just enough to get by. One should never go the extra mile unless others are watching or perhaps the newspapers and media are recording their actions. It has been said that the opposite of love is not hate but apathy. If this is true then I have become the emperor of Apathy, the king of lukewarm.

How simple it has become to make alliances with the surrounding nations on the continent of mediocrity. Negotiating treaties that laud the virtues of compromise and concession. I have become an expert at giving up and giving in. Just call me Chamberlain, Prime Minister of the land where appeasement has become the coin of the realm. I have become a shinning example of the old adage, "the only thing needed for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing." I wonder if one who does nothing could still be considered a good man? Would a good man really do nothing in the face of pain, suffering and lost souls? I am reminded that Jesus, "went about doing good." I should be troubled by that reminder. Here I am a mediocre man ruling a mediocre land making treaties with a mediocre band of lukewarm vagabonds. Miserable wretches who are more than happy to simply exist on the crumbling the continent of mediocrity, rather than truly living.

An alien resident of a barren and desolated planet whose surface is marred by hot dusty winds of compromise and storms of despair that ionize the atmosphere of this alien world. In the midst of this hostile environment I have become much too comfortable. This tepid world devoid of moral and ethical structure, this modern Sodom, is beginning to feel too much like home. Livin' in Laodicea I have become an arrogant individual who believes himself rich and in need of nothing, but who is in reality a hopeless street urchin, a miserable vagrant begging soup. A troubled soul in need of redemption.

It is half past time for leavin' Laodicea. "I'm going home on the mornin' train.."
Leavin' Laodicea.

Just some things to think about along the way.

Bob