I risked my life to bring you this picture from a local big box today...but I didn't buy anything! It is Friday now. Thanksgiving--with its own rituals of excess--is behind us and I am looking forward to Advent. Today we will go shopping, but not in the way that you might think. No door busters for us! Instead we are buying from local retailers. We do this for a number of reasons. Some of them are fairly conceptual and life-styley. We want to support local businesses and the local economy, for example. Some are less so. My mother-in-law and the college boys are here for the weekend so we need to get out of the house. Since hiking is out for a number of reasons, patronizing used-book stores is a nice way to spend time together. However, for me, there is also a general darkness to the day. I guess that is what I really wanted to mention. You can count me among the people who struggle not to get depressed during the holidays. The culturally enforced frivolity can be rough for many people. I am one of them. Like most folks, I try to keep with the breathtakingly saccharine "holiday spirit" but sometimes--frequently in fact--I fall short. Do you know what never snaps me out of my holiday blues? Perky people telling me to cheer up. Another weight on the season is from all the commercial "requirements". For the last couple of decades, after all, there is a narrative that tells us it is actually unpatriotic to choose not to shop to excess. December, itself, has become a season where our financial stress is viewed as a worthy sacrifice to the nation. Anyway, when you combine that with the natural ups and downs of life, it is easy to see how what--in easier times--might be a minor emotional bump in the road cant escalate to an existential black hole. From the outside looking in, it may appear to be a weird situation for a pastor. Of course...it isn't. Many of my colleagues are the same way. We aren't actually responsible for secular Christmas, We are responsible for the other one that starts later and then gets overwhelmed. That would be the season that is spiritual--whether it is religious or not--but that is also more gradual as it follows the rhythms of our human lives in relationship with the Earth. That relationship pre-dates any of the current winter festivals, yet exists within all of them. In addition, part of our job is to sit with other people's feelings. A lot of folks are struggling with the unsustainable nature of the next few weeks. We experience their emotions as well. I don't think anyone at my congregation would be surprised to know this about me. After all, there is what the deacons sometimes (affectionately) refer to as the "Adam Hates Christmas" sermon that happens at some point each year. I don't hate Christmas (not all of it anyway) but I do feel like it is overblown for reasons that don't have much to do with the themes of light in the darkness and the power of the human spirit to prevail in hard times. I am not a "keep Christ in Christmas" kinda guy. I just want everyone to calm the heck down and pace themselves. I also want to pace myself and come out the other end of this time with my spirits intact, able to look back and tell myself that it was a good holiday season. Anyway, here is a video of me tell people to calm down that I put up right before Thanksgiving. Good luck to you all this weekend. May however you greet the coming Advent be the way you want to greet it.
0 Comments
So after three years of talking, we finally managed to run a pilot for our dinner vespers service. The reasons it took so long have primarily to do with allocation of resources. In principle we all thought it was a good idea. There really wasn't much in the way of resistance from any "old guard" that we hear about in clergy groups. It was simply that we had other priorities so it would come up, we would get excited, and we would put it away as something else demanded our attention. That is the challenge for a small church. As we become increasingly counter-cultural, the dominant culture makes it harder for us to innovate. Institutions and activities that promote reflection and down-time are more frequently seen in a negative light. Church is one of those institutions,. The church Worship Committee took the lead on this and many of them were there last night. We have been calling it "dinner church" but it is quite possible we have been using the wrong name. I have found that church growth people are among the more doctrinaire when it comes to labeling. We have a "Pub Theology" group that almost certainly doesn't fit the accepted definition. So we settled on "Dinner Folk Vespers" because all three words have specific meaning in our context. "Dinner" is...well...dinner. "Folk" in our context means non-professional musicians leading the music on stringed instruments. We have a long tradition of that. For us "Vespers" just means worship at night. The service was pretty basic. There was 20 minutes of structured worship, then about 20 or 30 minutes of structured conversation over dinner. We took the Maundy Thursday Communion Vespers service and then deconstructed it. The subsequently rebuilt service kept a number of the aspects of the old one. The "Invitation" and prayers of Confession and Thanksgiving were straight out of various communion materials that we have used in the past. We added a couple of poems that made use of table imagery; "Perhaps the World Ends Here" by Joy Harjo and "At Home" by Kate Barnes. Lee Manuel and I provided music and Tara Humphries, our ministerial intern, took care of much of the worship leading, set up, and general coordination that we needed to get things done. I gave the prayer. The reading was Luke 14:15-24. We also had a couple of guiding questions based on the table image and also on the concept of God's steadfast love that appeared in a number of places in the service and, of course, will be part of what we talk about on Sunday as part of our Thanksgiving service. These questions were discussed while we ate. Thoughts: It really was fun--or at least I thought so--and we will do it again. The format was conceived as a different form of communion. The meal had an intention to it. We did not "potluck" but instead made specific food requests so that the food "matched" and we weren't overwhelmed by a large number of diverse items or leftovers. That way the service was more "worship" than "social" which enabled us to engage in a different way than we are often able to. It is probably worth noting that while we did not spend the whole meal answering the questions, beginning with the questions affected how the rest of the meal conversation proceeded afterward. It was a good conversation all around--at least at my table--and a nice break in a busy and stressful week. That said, some people mentioned that the questions and the format in which we presented them felt too structured. We need to look at that for next time. The challenge is finding a way to continue addressing the ideas from worship while at the table...at least for a little while. The entire service took two hours, including clean up (but not set up!). It was a good first try that, I think, over time, will get better as we get used to the format and streamline some things. Logistics, in particular were tricky. In addition to the clunky question format, the two dinner tables were pretty far way from each other. We will need to think about how to remedy that in the future as well. Still, in all it was worthwhile. What we are learning at Eliot is the same thing everyone is learning everywhere. Weekends are super-busy now as well. If we want to meet as a community of faith. We need to learn to be flexible and responsive to the world we live in. The challenge now is to grow with our sophomore effort. Here are a couple of videos. The first is of the one hymn we sang; "Plane Wreck at Los Gatos" (also called "Deportee") which is, unfortunately, still very relevant today. I have a whole post abut the song, which you can read here. This final one is a portion of the service, itself. It may only actually be interesting to wonky church nerds but we to need each other to share sometimes. We had technical difficulties for the first 5 minutes so the Harjo reading is missing and it opened about halfway through the Barnes reading. It ends as we prepare for dinner... I looked at the blog while prepping for the Burbania Posts Advent Calendar and noticed that I have been completely silent for almost 11 months. There are reasons of course. I have been on quite an adventure since I wrote here last. I haven't moved or changed jobs, but there have been plenty of peaks and valleys. There have been moments that have appeared to be both. I have been busy with my family and my ministry.
As I look back it is self-evident that this silent year has been a big one for me. I traveled more than I have in the past. I have pushed my self more. I took on a few new challenges in my ministry. What I did not do was post about it here. If you are interested in any of that you will find plenty of information in "Wednesday Words" (my vlog) or on the sermon page. Those need updating as well but they aren't quite so bad. I do want to write here more, though, and so I am. Sometimes writing and reading conveys more complexity than would otherwise be possible. My big learning during my BP silence is simple. The fact is, over the last year or so I have figured out how much effort goes into keeping a small church alive and thriving. Maybe it is because I am down to only one kid at home and have less to distract me, but this year I have felt the energy that it takes to do this job more keenly than I have in the past. This is true in the energy I draw from it in worship and study and elsewhere. However, I am also aware of how tired I can actually be at the end of the day. Of course, at the end of the day I am still thinking about the congregation. That is what it takes, after all. Church people know the difficult environment we try to work in. I don't mean that the congregation, itself, is difficult! For over 16 years I have found my particular faith community to be a blessing. Instead I mean the environment that we as a congregation (or more generally as congregations) face together. I could make an attempt at enumerating the challenges but you know what I am talking about. If you don't then you can look it up...but be careful. Everyone knows the problem in its generalities but we do love to argue about the particulars... Anyway, that is what I have for today. Basically it is an excuse. A healthy church requires a great deal of time and energy and I would rather work for the church than anything else. I will try to post more--Advent is coming right up!--but today please say prayer for our churches, our dedicated lay people and our staff. If you are not a church person you may need us more than you know. If you ARE a church person, you have my thanks and my prayers, just like every day. So it is that time of year once again. The annoying time when people pledge their current baby-steps to self-realization. A part of me doesn't really believe in resolutions because a part of me doesn't believe that the stroke of midnight tonight is anything other than the changing of another arbitrarily measured day. However, a part of me really does believe in resolutions, or at least the practice of it if not the timing. After all, I do believe in setting yourself a code to live by. As a clergy person there are whole books about expectations concerning my behavior. More generally, my job has a lot to do with finding ways to apply scripture to daily life. It is also not just my job, is it? It is life for human beings trying to walk a path of faith and/or of hope. Also, ever since I was a little kid, I experimented with personal oaths and codes. Back then a lot of them sounded like they came from the Paladin section of the D&D Players Handbook. Now? Well...they still kinda probably do... Anyway, I am updating (or applying) that code--I guess--as I always try to do at New Years and Lent. Do I fall short? Yep. Every. Single. Time. But I do believe that being a good person in God's Creation necessitates mindfulness. So--contextually couched in four decades of the study of scripture and the PHB--here is my resolution work-in-progress for the year. There will be a Lenten tune-up as implied... A Cloud O' Resolutions 2019 If I am blessed to see another year after this, I want to be able look back at the time between then and now and say: I have learned more Spanish I was almost always at 10,000 steps I have eaten less and enjoyed it more I drank less alcohol but more water and Moxie I gamed all the games I wanted to game I preached the sermons that needed preaching I did my best I played the music and enjoyed it even when I messed it up I have edited so much video... ...and am now a YouTube celebrity to 12 people I have practiced love I have practiced forgiveness at least when I have failed to practice love So, not very deep, huh? What did you expect? That is the point. It is a practice and practices are like that. Depth comes with repetition. Anyway, that is my nerdy work-list for the year. Good luck on yours! I realized that I had made an awkward mistake in my Advent calendar planning. I was so busy updating the “Ukulele Buyer’s Guide” that I forgot to answer the holiday-gift questions I am most asked these days, “What do I get for the D&D player?.” Well...that is a good question, my friend. As many of you already know, I am a big fan of roleplaying games (RPG’s) as a tool for recreation and self-discovery. When I started playing in my pre-teens it was the only real “team” I was on that didn’t see me as a burden. So I learned about cooperation and teamwork. Later (once I was firmly ensconced as a theater kid and member of the “Worst Cross-Country Team in Maine”) it still served as an outlet for creativity. My theater skills came in handy at the table. So did math but I prefer to think about the theater skills. In short, it was part of being social and learning about other people. It was also fun. However, what was most important throughout that whole time (and up to today when I am able to get some sort of game going) was the ability to imagine another world. I have written and preached about this. Frequently the way we grow as a society and as individuals is to try on different ways of being. In the game you can be evil or good or just out for your own gain. You can see what it is like to be the sort of person you would never want to be. Alternately, you can practice being the person you want to become. All of this is done in the context of shared storytelling and myth-making. It is actually a pretty spiritual experience whether you are playing a divine caster or not. Anyway, that is my way of being supportive of the RPG players in your life. Back in the bad old ‘80’s even calm, rational parents-who-should-know-better would worry a bit that their kids were turning to Satan by rolling those dice and there is still a lingering whiff of societal condemnation. I mean, now it is more likely to be considered vaguely nerdy more than threatening. I think that probably has to do simply with the fact that it is hard to make an adult controlled youth program out of it like you can with soccer or baseball. The game is good and fine. It does all the things that other youth activities to do. Also, it is not just a youth activity! You can play it as an adult with other adults. Trust me. The most active game I am currently playing is entirely made up of clergy. Everyone needs to get out of their own crap every once in a while and imagine being somewhere else. Definition of Terms: Okay, let's get back to the purpose of this magnum opus, namely answering those questions you might have about what to get for the tabletop gamer in your life. The first thing that you need to know is that when we say “Dungeons & Dragons” to non-gamers we are using it as shorthand. The fact is, we may not actually be playing Dungeons and Dragons at all! For example, if someone asks me where I grew up, I will frequently answer “Maine”. However, I do that because most people haven't been to Maine and certainly haven't been to the part I am from. If they turn out to have a connection there, I will start to narrow it down. I will say “the Lewiston area, but I went to college at the University of Maine in Orono.” If they still seem to know what I am talking about, I tell them I grew up in Lisbon Falls. What usually happens, though, is that I get a blank stare and the person starts to rattle on about Bar Harbor, Freeport, or the Sunday River ski resort. So here is the first and perhaps most important thing to know about buying things for a tabletop gamer: Dungeons & Dragons is the Bar Harbor and Sunday River ski resort of tabletop games. It is the one everybody knows and if they have visited RPGs just once in their lives, this is the one they have played. However, the situation is much more complicated than that. while people might make a different count, there are at least seven distinct rulesets for Dungeons & Dragons alone. Also, D&D is just one company (owned by Hasbro through their subsidiary Wizards of the Coast who make the Magic the Gathering card game)! Many people play other games, like Warhammer, Pathfinder, or Starfinder, or even things you can't find at the Barnes & Noble. That clergy game I mentioned uses a set of rules called ”RISUS” that takes up four pages of paper and is free. All of this is to say that it is a complicated market and that if you don't know what you are doing, it is best to stick with some generalities. I am talking about gift certificates here. So, What I am going to do is suggest a few items that are universally appealing and then a couple of web pages for the purpose of safe gift certificate giving so they can order from the system they actually use. Also, gift certificates at any of these web pages might the way to go if your gamer is particularly finicky. Stocking Stuffers: Here are some things that are of general use for the most part. Everyone needs a good set of dragon dice. They usually come in sets of seven and consist of one 20-sided die, one 12-sided die, two ten-sided dice, one 8-sided die, a six-sided die (“the normal kind”) and a 4-sided die. They probably already have a set if they play and certain systems don't use these dice. However no one minds nice dice in the RPG world so I might suggest something special. The best basic purveyor of dice is Chessex. I have POUNDS of their dice as dice have a tendency to roll into corners and run away. They are also good for the basic extras like dice mats (to keep your dice from escaping) and dice towers (for fun rolling). If you want to go in big, there are metal dice. I do NOT recommend stone dice for anyone who is going to actually use them to play. Metal is better and they are Metal if you catch my drift. They look cool and they feel great. I have a metal D20 (runs around $7-$9) and I actually feel a bit strange when rolling something else now. The easiest way to get them is through Easy Roller Dice. For other fancy kinds you can check out some of the more general pages I will list in the next section. Top of the line for those accessories you can get cheaper (but way less cool) at Chessex is Wyrmwood Gaming. They have all the stuff you need in rare woods and gemstones (see above about the stone dice, I always fear chipping) Dice bags are also good gifts. There are basic ones that come with the standard set but cool ones are cooler than basic ones. Google searches will reveal an Etsy empire of dice bags. Chainmail bags are a current thing as are bags made to look like cute versions of iconic monsters. Also, if your gamer is identifying as such in public, then there may be some fun clothing options as well. However it's good to check how they feel about that sort of thing. These can be obtained at the publisher web pages and third party sites. Finally, A little bit of conversation might indicate whether they enjoy watching live stream tabletop games on Twitch or YouTube. Channels such as Geek and Sundry, Critical Role, Penny Arcade, and Web DM (there's seem to be Patreon only) all sell funky products--including t-shirts--that contain the usual in-jokes that form the social capital of we nerdy types. Also worthy of note: Penny Arcade runs PAX, which is a gaming convention that features both video and tabletop games. They come to Boston--"PAX East"--so tix might be appreciated by some. Gift Certificates! Easily the two most dominant games are Dungeons & Dragons and Pathfinder/Starfinder. I love them both. If you know that one of these is what they play (and that they play the current edition), Then perhaps a gift certificate directly from the publisher would be your best bet. They can then pick the thing that they are looking for. These pages are also useful for miniatures. I am not qualified to discuss them since the last time I used miniatures seriously they were made of lead. That was a long time ago... If your gamer is more adventurous however, then I have one recommendation. You should get them a gift certificate to DriveThruRPG. This is the page used by most third party and smaller designers. If you are into things like RISUS or the new “old school” games based on clunkier but endearing RPG rule sets, this is the place to go. It is what I use for fun stuff It contains things like modules and one-shots made by semi-pros and very specific scenarios that a game master might just find themselves in need of an hour or two before a session. Much of their stuff is in PDF form but there are hard copies of many things and you can always wear out your printer if you are old like me. One note, there is always the risk that the thing at Drive Thru isn't as good as you wished it was. That is the risk. The reward is making it better. The Gift of Tabletop online: If you are old like me, then you remember the bad old days when it was hard to get a game going because people thought we would all get lost in the sewers after failing to raise a demon. It is still hard. As I alluded earlier. This is not a hobby that responds well to "leagues". The groups are usually best kept around 4-6 people and it is still not something that lots of people are into in a public way. In addition, people are super-busy! So even if they think gaming is cool and fun it is hard to get a group together. Fortunately technology has helped with that. Easily the most active groups I am in play online on a web page called Roll20. To set up a membership is free (if you are a player and not the Game Master) but a membership for that GM might be appreciated. There are also virtual books and adventure paths that work only on the platform that cost money. It may not be ideal to meet virtually but it really beats not playing. I am thinking about cracking open this option for my church group. We have met only once this year and even though we live just a few miles apart, it is hard to get together in person. Sitting down at the computer after work and homework are done may make a lot of sense. For adult groups it is almost a necessity these days. It cuts down travel and chitchat so people can get in and out of the game and then on to whatever else they are up to with no fuss. Incidentally, I am on Roll20 and would love to get a game going if anyone is interested.....just let me know! Long ago, back when Burbania Posts was on blogspot, I wrote a series guiding the reader through the process of finding and purchasing a ukulele for someone they love during the Christmas season. Back then, they were all the rage. Wherever two or more hipsters gathered, you could find three ukes. I had learned how to play right before the “big boom” and had started a ukulele orchestra at the church. The band grew and expanded into other instruments. Today its former members are in other bands but still play in church when they (we) can. In fact, this is the season of the Carol Sing. This past Sunday our ukes accompanied a hymn in church and no doubt will be pulled out for other events as well. That said, things have calmed down a bit for the most part. The market has moved on to other things. The people in the ukulele band that weren't in their 40s are mostly in college now. However, ukuleles are still fun and still worth checking out if you have a folk musician--or a budding folk musician-- in the family. Unlike many instruments, they do not feel intimidating. They are also portable in a way that many are not. If you can still find a good one that is relatively inexpensive, you can still feel comfortable bringing it wherever you go, just like a real Folkie. Therefore, I will link once again to those original columns but there are some updates I would like to add... Cost: Unfortunately, they cost more than they used to. The flip side is that quality has improved substantially. This is true for certain accessories as well. That said, they are still cheaper than a guitar and much less expensive than many other stringed instruments. The brands in the original posts are for the most part still going strong. Kala, in particular, has a solid entry-level collection. However, I still firmly believe that the biggest bang for your buck comes from the Magic Fluke Company. My go-to ukulele has been a concert size Fluke for years. If you are comfortable with non-traditional materials and appearance, I highly recommend them. Strings: Actually, my opinion on strings has not changed. A good set of strings is the most important thing you can do to improve the sound of your ukulele. One thing that has changed, however, is the proliferation of varieties. They fall basically into two separate groups; the mellow ones and the jangly ones. For mellow, almost "classical" sounding strings, it is worth checking out Aquila Nylguts that are sized for your particular ukulele (ukulele sizes are covered in the original posts). These days you can find them frequently already on the model. Still, it may be worth getting new ones. There are other Nylgut makers and those are also fine. Fluorocarbon strings are the jangly kind. if you are looking for the classic ukulele sound, these are the ones to get. I would recommend Martin strings ( again, sized for your Uke). There is actually a great deal of variation. Right now, for example, I am using fluorocarbons on my smaller wooden ukuleles and Martin Premium "polygut" strings on my Fluke. Martin actually developed these in consultation with Aquila as an attempt to combine the best qualities of the mellow and the jangle. I find the Premiums to be a bit brighter than nylguts, Each note in a chord feels a trifle more distinct and single notes cut through in a group more easily. They also have a different feel They are less slick to the touch. Of course, my experience may be subjective...like a shamrock shake tasting like mint. If you buy your first set of strings from either Martin or Aquila, you will be more than fine. Then you can try others to get the sound you want. Online Ordering: When I first posted I wasn't that keen on ordering online. I am still not. However, if you're looking for something more than the standard, online it will have to be. Do your research. A simple Google search usually will suffice. Then order from the company if possible or a reputable distributor. Here are links to the company's I have mentioned in this article. Here is my fave uke company's web page: Magic Fluke USA Also, Fluke-guy's brother-in-law is a ukulele deity (Jumpin' Jim Beloff). His page is probably the best place for ukulele-themed stocking stuffers, books (he writes them), straps, strings, etc... Flea Market Music. Both of the above companies are based in Massachusetts so buy local when you can! :-) If you want a more traditional looking uke that won't crush your wallet, check out these guys: Kala Brand Music And the Martin Page...because it is pretty Finally, the two articles that will make this one make more sense: So You Want to Buy An Ukulele for XMas Part 1 So You Want to Buy an Ukulele for XMas Part 2 Well that is it for me! Happy Advent and happy uking! FYI, this is a Makala "Dolphin" ukulele ($50 new) with basic Martin flourocarbon strings ($5). It may not be all you want but it is all you need for a good ukulele time. :-)
I usually keep the Ukestra videos somewhere else on my page but I wanted to put this one here. Recorded under a variety of names, this song began life as a poem by Woody Guthrie to commemorate the (at that time) anonymous Mexican victims of a plane crash in 1948. The song was set to music by a schoolteacher named Martin Hoffman and it has been sung ever since. The passengers were migrant farm workers being transported back over the border to Mexico. Reports at the time did not feel the need to mention their names. A name is important. It has practical uses, of course. It is also a recognition of our existence as holy children of God. To erase someone's name doesn't really erase their existence or their holiness, However, it makes it very hard to tell their story. What is happening today is a willful ignorance--a gross perpetuation--of our past and present injustices. It is suppression and oppression of people. It is an attempt to erase the reality of our shared humanity to comfort the status quo. We cannot stand with the status quo. We cannot allow the victims of today's crackdown on immigrant families--separating them from each other and in some cases "losing" their identities--to become mere numbers. We cannot allow ourselves to be numb. We must know their faces and their names and speak them loudly to the powers and principalities of this world. Obviously, this song still has meaning for us today. Our nation--both before and since the plane crash at Los Gatos--has grappled with recognizing the humanity of people who do not fit a "traditional" (that is, white) concept of "America". We played this song on Sunday in recognition of past and ongoing acts of injustice. It is a reminder that the more things change the more they stay the same.
One postscript to the story is that years later, thanks to some diligent work, the names of the victims of the plane crash were discovered. Here they are so that they are not forgotten again.... The 28 Mexican Citizens Who Died in the Plane Wreck Over Los Gatos January 28, 1948 Miguel Negrete Álvarez. Tomás Aviña de Gracia. Francisco Llamas Durán. Santiago García Elizondo. Rosalio Padilla Estrada. Tomás Padilla Márquez. Bernabé López Garcia. Salvador Sandoval Hernández. Severo Medina Lára. Elías Trujillo Macias. José Rodriguez Macias. Luis López Medina. Manuel Calderón Merino. Luis Cuevas Miranda. Martin Razo Navarro. Ignacio Pérez Navarro. Román Ochoa Ochoa. Ramón Paredes Gonzalez. Guadalupe Ramírez Lára. Apolonio Ramírez Placencia. Alberto Carlos Raygoza. Guadalupe Hernández Rodríguez. Maria Santana Rodríguez. Juan Valenzuela Ruiz. Wenceslao Flores Ruiz. José Valdívia Sánchez. Jesús Meza Santos. Baldomero Marcas Torres. There were prayers this Sunday as well. Our Congregational Associate prayed for the displaced people of the world. I closed with a prayer for the dream of that Commonwealth of Heaven, or as Woody Guthrie put it in one of our readings, "One Big Union." Prayer for the One Big Union Yes, we do all believe in “One Big Union” We may not call it that We may use terms like “The Just Society” Or the “The Utopian Ideal” Or the “Commonwealth of Heaven” But what draws us together in places like The Eliot Church Is the dream of something greater The will to oppose inequality To find a home for the displaced And to see the humanity of the stranger We also gather here to recognize the call In the words of the prophet Micah To do Justice, Love Mercy, and walk humbly with God We know that this new world This new society will not come Without the sacrifices and labors Of those who envision it And we know that we need help To maintain our vision And so we pray: Dear God, We know that we have fallen short Of the call to equality, peace and justice To the building of a world That is free of violence and oppression That give to each according to their needs In the spirit of radical welcome that Jesus And other prophets taught We know this and we are sorry And promise to commit ourselves To the One Big Union again Dear God please give us the strength To keep on traveling down that road A road with many distractions Many struggles and discomforts Please give us the assurance That (even though we may never see the day Of the Commonwealth here on Earth) Please give us the assurance we need To still work toward that day In Faith, in Hope, and always in Love Amen ADVENT 18, 2017 Well, I have to admit that things have been a bit stressful lately. I bet they have been for you, too. as you know, I have been worried about the Christmas and Christmas Eve stuff. However, I am also concerned about the future of the church--Eliot Church and the church at large--and more than a little stunned by the state of the world. Maybe that is why I made last night the time to read the first chapter of Luke in The Tyndale Bible. I will probably move on to another chapter tonight and then to Matthew so as to get the whole story (at least in the scriptural sense) covered. Actually, reading it isn't that hard if you use one of the contemporary "translations" of this first translation of the Christian scriptures into English. Those have standard modern spelling and punctuation. We use that version at the 7pm service on Christmas Eve so we don't get lost or confused. What I read last night was the facsimile of the 1526 edition. I bought it years ago when I first got into Tyndale. I am a nerd and get super-enthusiastic about certain things. Every once in a while I crack it open. Reading it turns out to be a challenge. For starters an "s" looks just like an "f" and sometimes a "j' will be rendered as an "i". Words change their spelling in the midst of the same paragraph. Then, of course, there is a different vocabulary and sentence structure. Oh...and there is the font. My modern and aging eyes have trouble figuring out certain differences so "houffe" (house) looks like "bouffe". Also my brain tries to fill in words too fast so that the fairly straightforward "bleffed" (blessed) comes out as "baffled" when I read. Baffled is, of course, my condition in those moments...not Mary's. That said, I like to do it sometimes. It requires concentration. The Advent/Christmas story is pretty familiar to me at this point and it is easy to stop paying attention to the words. Bending over this thing, puzzling it out, keeps me focused. There is also the history of the document. This would be the first book many people encountered in their lives. Certainly in 1526, it would be the first Bible they could read themselves. They would have had to puzzle it out, too. Literacy wasn't widespread. They also would have taken it very seriously. After all, their actions were illegal. In 1535 the authorities caught up to William Tyndale. In 1536 he was strangled and burned for the crime of this translation. Turns out these hard words have power greater than their use as "lessons" between carols on Christmas Eve. Those who actually had their own power worried that if anyone could read it, their power would be diminished. When I read this translation I cannot help but wonder--as its original readers must have--what it was that made the church, the governments, and the rich so scared. When I read this version, concentrating on getting every word correct, the answer is obvious. Jesus so clearly sided with his fellow poor and oppressed. He claimed lordship from his lowly post and said that the world we move through does not belong to the ownership class. Nor does God's world. Back then the Bible was viewed--at least by those whose position was threatened--as a document for the purpose of revolution. It was dealt with in the ways the rich still deal with such things. It was repressed. Today we would say that people were granted "unequal access" to it. We see the same strategy in action when the concept of equal access to money, education, employment, healthcare, housing, marriage, and compensation (among others) is challenged, Even more recently, we can add the internet to this list. Just as with the Bible, deregulation is an attempt to restrict the flow of information. To believe in these things--that all people should be able to have their fair share of the resources and that equal access is the same as equal opportunity--is to mark yourself off as part of the fringe, a dreamer, a progressive. To believe that the wealthy and powerful need to surrender their wealth and power sounds downright unchristian to contemporary ears. Yet that was what Jesus, his family, and his friends were all about. Over the centuries there has been a concerted effort to declaw Jesus' actions and teachings. It saves wear and tear on the furniture. There is a feeling in many parts of Burbania that to live by your faith in the public sphere is somehow rude. The problem is, the public sphere is so large that this idea reduces faith to a thought exercise. We are expected to generate happy thoughts at certain times and sad thoughts at others. No wonder people don't go to church! So much of the season is about warm fuzzies, joy and light, Jesus would be a Grinch at his own birthday party. I am pretty sure I don't agree with Tyndale theologically on some points (quite possibly many). Also, a modern Bible scholar could debate his word choice in a number of places. Still, there is Jesus, for the first time in accessible English, laying the groundwork for a massive upending of the social order that has yet to be fully realized. Today some churches fear stirring the pot and appearing as something other than pillars of the established way. In the Evangelical world there is much soul-searching about how some (but certainly not all) people in that community have abandoned long held beliefs to stand in the current political "winner's circle". Others--both individuals and congregations of many theological stripes--do step out and speak out. Sure, there are penalties for that. However, this has been quite a year for the Religious Left. On Christmas Eve in this country we will probably think we are reading a nice religious story that will reassure us. In fact, it probably will provide solace in a difficult time. It does, in fact, contain a personal meaning. Yet the radical message is still there, too. I, at least, will be praying that it enters our hearts in such way that on Christmas morning we feel that call to build a just a peaceful world. I pray we build (using today's words, not Tyndale's) the Commonwealth of Heaven. I am running a Facebook "Advent Calendar". You can find it by searching for "Burbania Posts". many of them don't translate well to this format, but when they do I will post them here...
ADVENT 12 2017 I find myself highly susceptible to Facebook roaming today. There is so much going on. Roy Moore appears in my feed quite a bit. The post-election analysis continues. However, Roy also makes an appearance with Harvey Weinstein et. al. on a list of the "worst people of 2017". It has been quite a year, hasn't it? Let's work toward a better one for next year. Of course, for me, all this heaviness forms an unwelcome (if sadly familiar) backdrop to a time when we try to look to that better world. The holidays are an exercise in imagination. We tell ancient stories in the hope that we can live up to their promise. In the midst of a sometimes grinding, often dehumanizing reality, we must make space for those Advent values of Hope, Love, Joy, and Peace. Here in the Advent-prep world we are quickly moving toward Pageant Sunday. This is one of my favorite services of the year. Right now we have a bit of an "innovation" to contend with. Thanks to logistical concerns there will be a few adults filling in various roles. It will be fun, though. It is always fun. I leave the casting concerns in the capable hands of the pageant's longtime director. My job today is to begin to nail down the sermon. It is a strange one to preach as it comes after the pageant cast has left for their "party". This year it will be about embracing the festive elements of the season. "Let's Talk About Santa" is the title. I will try it out at the local nursing home this morning. Actually it is a good pageant topic. The pageant story is, of course, the traditional one. It's a classic mashup of Luke and Matthew. That said, Santa (or his representative) briefly makes an appearance and the costuming is frequently non-traditional. Also, in our church at least, the actors lean toward the comedic rather than the somber. Not a problem. We learn the story in ways that make sense to us. A pageant changes the medium from scripture to theater. The goal is to put life in the static words. The lives that enter them (and that those words enter) bring their own stories with them. The actors, audience, writers, and directors are bound to make their own interpretations. The solemn scripture reading will come at the late services of Christmas Eve. The early one will be ukuleles and carols mostly. There will be a time for the hushed silences. I know a lot of people are looking forward to it. However, for me that is next week's concern. Now we are connecting to the wonder in a different way. We are letting the light in on this week of Joy--liturgically at least. We are keeping the faith that the world can and will be redeemed. That is worth a party. |
Adam Tierney-EliotThis is my old weblog of many years. I will probably post here from time to time is there is a subject that does not fit WWG. However WWG is the more active page at this point. Archives
April 2022
Categories
All
|