I grabbed a jacket outta the closet and put it on, not paying attention at all, until I realized the jacket was inside-out. Still the same jacket, same color, pretty much the same everything, but inside-out.
Thought about religion - maybe there's a way to wear religion inside-out - it pretty much looks the same, but it's not right.
I don't know … want to be careful … but I think when religion is worn inside-out, everything ends up upside down - what should be love becomes hate, what should be gentle becomes aggressive, what should be compassionate becomes exclusionary.
The words are pretty much the same, the sounds and the smells, the books and the candles, but it's all inside-out.
I think Jesus saw this and did his level-headed best to help folks redress themselves, to wear their religion right side-out. I think Jesus, via the Spirit, is still doing this.
It was a tough job then, and remains so, even for the Son of God.
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
The Gospel according to Jesus and Psalm 146
From this morning's (Jan. 21, 2014) Lectionary (PCUSA): Psalm 146
Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the LORD their God,
6 who made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that is in them;
who keeps faith forever;
7 who executes justice for the oppressed;
who gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets the prisoners free;
8 the LORD opens the eyes of the blind.
The LORD lifts up those who are bowed down;
the LORD loves the righteous.
9 The LORD watches over the strangers;
he upholds the orphan and the widow,
but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
In a time when many a politician takes a shot at the poor and questions their integrity, and makes sport of them in their poverty, as lazy, willingly dependent, a drain on the economy, laggards and sluggards, takers not makers, it's helpful to read of God's social agenda, God's priorities and the way God looks favorably upon those who are scorned and held in contempt by those who "live in ease and are proud" (Psalm 123.4).
When Jesus begins his ministry by preaching in his hometown, he's handed the Isaiah scroll and reads similar words, words of Jubilee, reflected here in Psalm 146.
Initially, the hometown folks thought he was preaching for them, and they were cheered and proud of this local boy, but when Jesus closes the scroll and begins to preach, they quickly turn on him, and seek to kill him. Why? Because Jesus makes it clear to them that God's purpose is ever-so much larger in scope and includes the very people whom these folks despise.
Jesus escaped their clutches and goes on to preach and heal, to lay before us a gospel that truly is good news for all - a gospel that never grows old, is always fresh, always a challenge, sometimes irritating, but always gospel.
Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the LORD their God,
6 who made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that is in them;
who keeps faith forever;
7 who executes justice for the oppressed;
who gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets the prisoners free;
8 the LORD opens the eyes of the blind.
The LORD lifts up those who are bowed down;
the LORD loves the righteous.
9 The LORD watches over the strangers;
he upholds the orphan and the widow,
but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
In a time when many a politician takes a shot at the poor and questions their integrity, and makes sport of them in their poverty, as lazy, willingly dependent, a drain on the economy, laggards and sluggards, takers not makers, it's helpful to read of God's social agenda, God's priorities and the way God looks favorably upon those who are scorned and held in contempt by those who "live in ease and are proud" (Psalm 123.4).
When Jesus begins his ministry by preaching in his hometown, he's handed the Isaiah scroll and reads similar words, words of Jubilee, reflected here in Psalm 146.
Initially, the hometown folks thought he was preaching for them, and they were cheered and proud of this local boy, but when Jesus closes the scroll and begins to preach, they quickly turn on him, and seek to kill him. Why? Because Jesus makes it clear to them that God's purpose is ever-so much larger in scope and includes the very people whom these folks despise.
Jesus escaped their clutches and goes on to preach and heal, to lay before us a gospel that truly is good news for all - a gospel that never grows old, is always fresh, always a challenge, sometimes irritating, but always gospel.
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
An Ode to Mashed Potatoes ...
An Ode to Mashed Potatoes …
Let me count the ways I love thee …
The common tator … a tuber … from the ground …
Just like you and me …
Maybe we feel something in common with this common ground thing …
They’re not picked, like apples or pears …
They’re dug …
Like good music … or hangin’ out with folks we love …
Lots of different sizes … and colors … in a lot of different places …
We do have a lot in common, don’t we?
With the humble potato …
Peel ‘em … if ya’ want …
But I like to leave the skins on …
Adds texture … as it should be … the whole potato …
As God intended.
Into a pot of water …
Turn on the heat … lots of good things need a little heat …
Cook ‘em not too hard …
Test ‘em with a fork …
Drain ‘em and put ‘em back into the pot …
And now the good part …
A couple of butter chunks …
A generous splash of cream … I mean: be generous …
Maybe even some cream cheese …
A little horseradish?
Rosemary?
Thyme?
Salt and pepper …
And a little elbow grease …
Smash and mash these remarkable gifts from God …
Not too much, just enough …
To blend it all together …
Taste to your heart’s content …
That’s what I love about cooking …
We get to sample everything before you do.
Can it get better?
You bet …
On the plate they go …
A fork-full will satisfy all your desires for comfort …
Just like home …
But like all good things … these good things go well
With a chorus of other good things ….
Gravy …
Giblet gravy …
Corn and slabs of carefully sliced turkey, neat and precise … though I prefer the dark meat … a tad bit unruly …
Cranberry relish on the side …
And how about the country cousin, the sweet potato … with its famous hat,
The marshmallow … all white on the inside, with golden trim …
And who knows what else …
Start with potatoes, and who knows where it’ll end.
But start with potatoes …
A very common thing …
And it will end well …
As all good things do …
Happy Thanksgiving …
© Tom Eggebeen, Los Angeles
Saturday, November 23, 2013
America Has No Sense of Sin
In a nation where Christianity has played such a pervasive role, with all of its yacking about sin, what's quite astounding is that the nation, itself, has no sense of sin.
For most of American Christianity, sin has mostly been about drinkin' and smokin' and dancin' and lately, gay sex and/or other personal/individualistic peccadillos.
But when it comes to the nation, no go … America gets away with murder, literally, and no one raises a question. And domestically, millions of Americans are eagerly discarded and dismissed because they're lazy, and whatever other character defect can be applied. A surprising number of Christians have no mindfulness of this, and some even encourage it, even as they tearfully sing "Amazing Grace."
While most Americans "remember" Pearl Harbor because it was a sneak attack, America has engineered any number of sneak attacks (remember Grenada?) and has often acted the bully around the world.
This much for Japan - at least they picked on someone their own size, and were simply doing what America has been doing ever since Reagan with Grenada and Bush with Iraq - preemptively striking.
Christianity pretty much affirms a personal truism - knowing one's sins is the essence of humility, the essence of spiritual maturity. To know God, it's said, one gets to know "how far short of God's glory a human being has fallen," and by the Holy Spirit, compelled to seek God all the more through the forgiving grace of Jesus Christ.
Christianity has made this clear for the person, but not for the nation. For the nation, alas, it's assumed that we're a "Christian" nation, and that's that.
Jeremiah and Isaiah stand in a tradition that made it clear for Israel and Judah that sin is not only personal, but national. John the Baptist makes it clear, and so does Jesus and Paul.
Abolitionists in England and the United States understood the "sins of a nation," but vested interests, i.e. the wealthy and those churches invested in the status quo, reacted quickly and decisively … sin is personal, never corporate … sin is what a person does, but the nation is a "Christian" nation endowed with divine purpose to Christianize and civilize the world.
Ah well …
If "knowing one's sin" is the essence of spiritual maturity, what about a nation?
It's interesting to note that an immature person is characterized by a sense of "innocence" - they always see their behavior in the best light, excusing all of their behavior and blaming others.
It would seem that America, as a nation, remains spiritually underdeveloped.
It refuses to face its sins of war and mistreatment of the poor.
It chooses, rather than responsibility, the strange and adolescent attitude of "innocence."
For most of American Christianity, sin has mostly been about drinkin' and smokin' and dancin' and lately, gay sex and/or other personal/individualistic peccadillos.
But when it comes to the nation, no go … America gets away with murder, literally, and no one raises a question. And domestically, millions of Americans are eagerly discarded and dismissed because they're lazy, and whatever other character defect can be applied. A surprising number of Christians have no mindfulness of this, and some even encourage it, even as they tearfully sing "Amazing Grace."
While most Americans "remember" Pearl Harbor because it was a sneak attack, America has engineered any number of sneak attacks (remember Grenada?) and has often acted the bully around the world.
This much for Japan - at least they picked on someone their own size, and were simply doing what America has been doing ever since Reagan with Grenada and Bush with Iraq - preemptively striking.
Christianity pretty much affirms a personal truism - knowing one's sins is the essence of humility, the essence of spiritual maturity. To know God, it's said, one gets to know "how far short of God's glory a human being has fallen," and by the Holy Spirit, compelled to seek God all the more through the forgiving grace of Jesus Christ.
Christianity has made this clear for the person, but not for the nation. For the nation, alas, it's assumed that we're a "Christian" nation, and that's that.
Jeremiah and Isaiah stand in a tradition that made it clear for Israel and Judah that sin is not only personal, but national. John the Baptist makes it clear, and so does Jesus and Paul.
Abolitionists in England and the United States understood the "sins of a nation," but vested interests, i.e. the wealthy and those churches invested in the status quo, reacted quickly and decisively … sin is personal, never corporate … sin is what a person does, but the nation is a "Christian" nation endowed with divine purpose to Christianize and civilize the world.
Ah well …
If "knowing one's sin" is the essence of spiritual maturity, what about a nation?
It's interesting to note that an immature person is characterized by a sense of "innocence" - they always see their behavior in the best light, excusing all of their behavior and blaming others.
It would seem that America, as a nation, remains spiritually underdeveloped.
It refuses to face its sins of war and mistreatment of the poor.
It chooses, rather than responsibility, the strange and adolescent attitude of "innocence."
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
"Our" God???? and Christian Music
"Our God is greater, our God is stronger, God you are higher than any other" ...
And if our God is for us, then who could ever stop us.
And if our God is with us, then what could stand against.
... and so the song goes.
It's biblical, I suppose, pulling out pieces of Scripture that "say" these things, but mostly disregarding context and history and what those words and images meant in ancient Israel/Judah.
When I listened, I felt uneasy, because I "heard" the crippling and tragic message of "christian triumphalism," a message of power, invincibility, conquest and victory.
And if "our" god is bigger and better and brighter and stronger, then so are we, and the "other" gods of this world, and that means other faith-traditions, other religions, other points of view, philosophies and ways of life, are inferior, and so are the people who hold these views.
What I didn't hear is humility, and that's biblical, too ... like seeing through a glass darkly. Nor did I hear anything of justice, welcome and mercy.
I know the biblical writers of the Old Testament - how they struggled to help Israel/Judah maintain identity in a swirling world of many nations and religions, and part of that identity is truth vs. falsehood,.
I understand that!
When it comes to the gods of racism and white-privileged culture, I will say that "my" god is better than that, and perhaps, by extension, so am I. The conjoining of one's god with one's identity is unavoidable, and can be good ... but it's always dangerous, and requires emotional and thoughtful vigilance.
Stripped of humility, "our" god, "my" god, becomes deadly.
Anyway, just some random thoughts about christian music and "our" god.
And if our God is for us, then who could ever stop us.
And if our God is with us, then what could stand against.
... and so the song goes.
It's biblical, I suppose, pulling out pieces of Scripture that "say" these things, but mostly disregarding context and history and what those words and images meant in ancient Israel/Judah.
When I listened, I felt uneasy, because I "heard" the crippling and tragic message of "christian triumphalism," a message of power, invincibility, conquest and victory.
And if "our" god is bigger and better and brighter and stronger, then so are we, and the "other" gods of this world, and that means other faith-traditions, other religions, other points of view, philosophies and ways of life, are inferior, and so are the people who hold these views.
What I didn't hear is humility, and that's biblical, too ... like seeing through a glass darkly. Nor did I hear anything of justice, welcome and mercy.
I know the biblical writers of the Old Testament - how they struggled to help Israel/Judah maintain identity in a swirling world of many nations and religions, and part of that identity is truth vs. falsehood,.
I understand that!
When it comes to the gods of racism and white-privileged culture, I will say that "my" god is better than that, and perhaps, by extension, so am I. The conjoining of one's god with one's identity is unavoidable, and can be good ... but it's always dangerous, and requires emotional and thoughtful vigilance.
Stripped of humility, "our" god, "my" god, becomes deadly.
Anyway, just some random thoughts about christian music and "our" god.
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
No One Should Call Themselves "Evangelical"
The term "evangelical" should never have been co-opted by a singular group of people.
It's one of the worst syntactical moves ever made.
Those who claimed the word are the descendants of the Anabaptists, and while many in that movement, such as the Amish and the Quakers, have given to the world some remarkable insights and examples of faithful living, but for many American "evangelicals," what with Billy Graham and his "puffed" 1949 Los Angeles Revival, and the money and the "under-God" crowd that flocked to his side, the term quickly became a badge of pride - they would show the rest of the Christian World what "true" faith, "real" faith, is all about. It was a stroke of one-upsmanship, an effort to divide the Christian World, into two camps, those who are "christian" in name only, and those are "really Christian" by their dogma, their enthusiasm and their title - EVANGELICAL, and to hell with the rest of ya'.
Jesus is the Evangel, the Good News - not any of us.
And everyone who claims the name of Jesus is both faithful and not faithful to that Evangel. No one has a leg-up on anyone else.
No one is evangelical - shall I say it?
Only Jesus is Evangelical - that is, faithful to the Father in all regards, faithful to God's People and faithful to the world, including all of humanity, and all creatures, great and small. Faithful from the beginning, and faithful to the end. Only Jesus is Evangelical.
The failures of the evangelical side of things - preachers who "fall from grace," and church members who sin reveal a simple reality: We're all sinners, and if we're saved at all, it's by grace, and grace alone.
So quit puffing yourself!
We're all in the same boat, and in spite of the fact that Peter got outta the boat - (a very evangelical move), with a brief moment of wave-walking, reality sunk him, and Jesus had to save him. And rather that trying it again, Jesus took Peter back to the boat, where he belongs, with all the disciples, and it's in the boat, that Jesus joins them, not on the waves where folks can show off for a few moments, but in the boat, where all of us are in this together, with all of our gifts and insights and abilities and sensibilities, the ways we see the world, and the manner in which the Holy Spirit has gifted and compels us.
How much better to say, "I'm a sinner saved by grace."
I can imagine Peter reflecting: "I tried wave-walking once, and it didn't work, and I'm not proud of it - I'll never speak of it again. Jesus took me back to the boat, and that's where I belong."
That's the end of it ... nothing more needs to be said, no titles claimed, and with that, the best is said, I"m a sinner saved by grace."
It's one of the worst syntactical moves ever made.
Those who claimed the word are the descendants of the Anabaptists, and while many in that movement, such as the Amish and the Quakers, have given to the world some remarkable insights and examples of faithful living, but for many American "evangelicals," what with Billy Graham and his "puffed" 1949 Los Angeles Revival, and the money and the "under-God" crowd that flocked to his side, the term quickly became a badge of pride - they would show the rest of the Christian World what "true" faith, "real" faith, is all about. It was a stroke of one-upsmanship, an effort to divide the Christian World, into two camps, those who are "christian" in name only, and those are "really Christian" by their dogma, their enthusiasm and their title - EVANGELICAL, and to hell with the rest of ya'.
Jesus is the Evangel, the Good News - not any of us.
And everyone who claims the name of Jesus is both faithful and not faithful to that Evangel. No one has a leg-up on anyone else.
No one is evangelical - shall I say it?
Only Jesus is Evangelical - that is, faithful to the Father in all regards, faithful to God's People and faithful to the world, including all of humanity, and all creatures, great and small. Faithful from the beginning, and faithful to the end. Only Jesus is Evangelical.
The failures of the evangelical side of things - preachers who "fall from grace," and church members who sin reveal a simple reality: We're all sinners, and if we're saved at all, it's by grace, and grace alone.
So quit puffing yourself!
We're all in the same boat, and in spite of the fact that Peter got outta the boat - (a very evangelical move), with a brief moment of wave-walking, reality sunk him, and Jesus had to save him. And rather that trying it again, Jesus took Peter back to the boat, where he belongs, with all the disciples, and it's in the boat, that Jesus joins them, not on the waves where folks can show off for a few moments, but in the boat, where all of us are in this together, with all of our gifts and insights and abilities and sensibilities, the ways we see the world, and the manner in which the Holy Spirit has gifted and compels us.
How much better to say, "I'm a sinner saved by grace."
I can imagine Peter reflecting: "I tried wave-walking once, and it didn't work, and I'm not proud of it - I'll never speak of it again. Jesus took me back to the boat, and that's where I belong."
That's the end of it ... nothing more needs to be said, no titles claimed, and with that, the best is said, I"m a sinner saved by grace."
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Michelle Bachmann's Loss of "Religious Freedom"
Michelle Bachmann says that Minnesota's approval of gay marriage denies "religious freedom" to those who oppose it.
I don't get that. Folks who oppose gay marriage can remain so; if their gay children get married, they don't have to go to the wedding. Their churches don't have to open their doors to gay weddings; their pastors don't have to officiate. No one's telling anyone to do anything, or stop anything.
Nothing changes for them.
It's like saying: "Giving my neighbors the right to have a dog in their apartment takes away my freedoms to not have a dog." In logic, one of the first lessons learned: "A" does not imply "B."
Freedom to marry for LGBTQ persons does not mean a loss of freedom for those who oppose such freedom. No way, no how.
I don't get that. Folks who oppose gay marriage can remain so; if their gay children get married, they don't have to go to the wedding. Their churches don't have to open their doors to gay weddings; their pastors don't have to officiate. No one's telling anyone to do anything, or stop anything.
Nothing changes for them.
It's like saying: "Giving my neighbors the right to have a dog in their apartment takes away my freedoms to not have a dog." In logic, one of the first lessons learned: "A" does not imply "B."
Freedom to marry for LGBTQ persons does not mean a loss of freedom for those who oppose such freedom. No way, no how.
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