Should we have fun in worship?
Yes!
Why?
Because among all the other things, worship is a celebration of the gift of life! Life is God's gift to us. Life is good. Sacred life is absolutely stunning.
As we enter a worship space, or whenever we consciously, purposefully acknowledge that we are in the presence of God, we open ourselves to a depth of joy that is true and will always be true, no matter what is happening in our lives.
Life is not always fun. When difficult things are going on in our lives and we bring those things to God's presence, with all the courageous honesty about ourselves that we can muster, God's joy will sit next to our grief, our sadness, our fear, our anger, and will befriend us and our hard times. In that befriending, our tragedies, our fears, our rage will be transformed into opportunities for a greater depth. We grow. We find new resources, new ways of seeing and understanding, and we will be more available for God's gift of sacred life.
Worship is one of the places where we practice bringing our courageous honesty and opening to God's presence, this Sacred Center, this transcendant joy. And ultimately, yes, that's fun!
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Friday, February 20, 2009
One voice in Christianity? No.
There has never been one uniform voice in Christianity. There have always been many voices expressing many different points of view. It was that way in the first century, second century, third, fourth, etc., and is still true today.
Conservative voices in Christianity today work from their point of view, but they do not speak for all of us. There has always been a more liberal Christian view and I'm happy to say that the liberal or progressive Christian voice is gaining momentum.
So if you have a spiritual hunger, look for a church that is truly inclusive. They are out there. There are many congregations in many faith groups who are liberal. We are one. ALL are welcome: First Congregational Church of Santa Barbara, 2101 State St., Santa Barbara, CA.
Conservative voices in Christianity today work from their point of view, but they do not speak for all of us. There has always been a more liberal Christian view and I'm happy to say that the liberal or progressive Christian voice is gaining momentum.
So if you have a spiritual hunger, look for a church that is truly inclusive. They are out there. There are many congregations in many faith groups who are liberal. We are one. ALL are welcome: First Congregational Church of Santa Barbara, 2101 State St., Santa Barbara, CA.
Ashes - you, me or us?
The church has a holy day coming up on February 25th; it’s called Ash Wednesday. It marks the first day of Lent, and has been a day of confession. It invites us to make a decision to go in a different direction. This opens up a lot to talk about.
First, I have a lot of problems with the way the Church has talked about sin. We human beings can certainly do a lot of stuff that is destructive, hurts people and is just plain wrong; but I also think the Church has used ideas like sin to simply control people.
Second, “confession can be good for the soul”, but, when forced on or dictated to another, it can also make one’s soul feel like it is held in a vice on someone’s work bench.
Even with these hurtful traditions, I think Ash Wednesday and confession can be turned to the good, especially this year. This is why.
First, sin is not just something that happens when someone does something destructive or hurtful or wrong; whole groups of people, whole cultures can do the same thing. As a group, Caucasian people have not had a good track record with other races. We (yes, I am Caucasian) have oppressed just about every group of people who have a different skin color than ours. Many groups either have someone they discriminate against or are themselves the objects of discrimination. The collective “We” can certainly find enough to be sorry about.
Second, our world is in trouble. Nations practice distrust for one another. International corporations seek to make a profit regardless of who they may hurt or use. The prison system disproportionately arrests and imprisons persons of color, usually male. The rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer, and the middle class is disappearing. And please, don’t get me started on global warming! If you want a list of things to be sorry about, this may help get us started.
Third, you might say, “Yeah, things are bad, but I didn’t do it.” To that I would say, “Yes and no.” Unless you’re very powerful, it’s unlikely that any one person made this mess in which we live; and unless you’re very powerful, it’s unlikely that any one person will be able to fix it. But if you follow systems theory, we are all responsible. System’s theory says that everyone in a group contributes to whatever happens, good or bad. The bad news is that we are all responsible for our mess. The good news is that we are all able to do something about it.
So this year at Ash Wednesday, I will offer prayers on behalf of us all. I will ask forgiveness for the way we – We – have done things that are destructive, hurtful and just plain wrong. And I will ask for blessing on our creativity and cooperation, so that we may be empowered to make a decision to go in a different direction.
There is a lot to talk about. There is a lot to pray about.
First, I have a lot of problems with the way the Church has talked about sin. We human beings can certainly do a lot of stuff that is destructive, hurts people and is just plain wrong; but I also think the Church has used ideas like sin to simply control people.
Second, “confession can be good for the soul”, but, when forced on or dictated to another, it can also make one’s soul feel like it is held in a vice on someone’s work bench.
Even with these hurtful traditions, I think Ash Wednesday and confession can be turned to the good, especially this year. This is why.
First, sin is not just something that happens when someone does something destructive or hurtful or wrong; whole groups of people, whole cultures can do the same thing. As a group, Caucasian people have not had a good track record with other races. We (yes, I am Caucasian) have oppressed just about every group of people who have a different skin color than ours. Many groups either have someone they discriminate against or are themselves the objects of discrimination. The collective “We” can certainly find enough to be sorry about.
Second, our world is in trouble. Nations practice distrust for one another. International corporations seek to make a profit regardless of who they may hurt or use. The prison system disproportionately arrests and imprisons persons of color, usually male. The rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer, and the middle class is disappearing. And please, don’t get me started on global warming! If you want a list of things to be sorry about, this may help get us started.
Third, you might say, “Yeah, things are bad, but I didn’t do it.” To that I would say, “Yes and no.” Unless you’re very powerful, it’s unlikely that any one person made this mess in which we live; and unless you’re very powerful, it’s unlikely that any one person will be able to fix it. But if you follow systems theory, we are all responsible. System’s theory says that everyone in a group contributes to whatever happens, good or bad. The bad news is that we are all responsible for our mess. The good news is that we are all able to do something about it.
So this year at Ash Wednesday, I will offer prayers on behalf of us all. I will ask forgiveness for the way we – We – have done things that are destructive, hurtful and just plain wrong. And I will ask for blessing on our creativity and cooperation, so that we may be empowered to make a decision to go in a different direction.
There is a lot to talk about. There is a lot to pray about.
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