bigger & better barns

Long before George Carlin did his "bit" on the accumulation of stuff, Jesus had a word or two to say about that very subject. Carlin made fun of the way that we keep getting more and more "stuff" and then needing bigger and biggers houses to store the stuff--not to mention needing to drag our stuff with us wherever we go.

While Jesus did have a wonderful sense of humor--he didn't find our human propensity to collect more and more stuff-and particularly putting our trust in those material possesions--all that amusing. He urged his disciples of old--and urges his disciples of today--to get their priorties straight and stop thinking that the one who dies with the most stuff wins.

Do you place your trust in the stuff that can't last and doesn't really matter? I know I struggle with this one all the time. How do we find the balance between having nice things--but not being owned by them. If you had to--could you walk away from all your stuff?

summertime and the living is easy

Summer is supposed to be slower time in the church year and it is for many people. As people take family vacations and sunny days beckon us to outside activities, we find that Sunday morning church attendance goes down. Some pastors bemoan that fact but I'm not one of them. I celebrate the time families spend together. I celebrate the time we are given in summer months in the midwest to enjoy the gifts of God's nature.

I wonder from time to time if we ought not consider the possibility of "doing church" differently in the summer than we do during the school year. A colleague of mine once served a church in Chicago where the majority of her congregation had summer homes in Wisconsin. During the summer, they gathered on Sunday morning for mini-concerts in the space outside their building where passer-bys could sit and drink their lattes (it was Lincoln Park after all). Members got together on Wednesday night for their weekly worship service.

What's your summer practice when it comes to attending worship? I'd be really interested in hearing what you think.

better to be or better to do

I'll be preaching on the story of the visit from Jesus to Martha and Mary of Bethany when Martha was doing all the work--and Mary was sitting at the feet of Jesus listening with the rest of his disciples to his teachings. Martha is hopping mad at Mary and Jesus; not only is she doing all the work to get a meal on the table that Mary should have been helping with--but Jesus doesn't seem to care.

What makes you hopping mad? Are you like Martha--doing the work that needs to be done so others have the opportunity to pursue other options? Or are you like Mary--choosing to let the daily tasks go as you attend to what you have determined to be the "better" part of life? Do you find yourself more than just a little bit irritated when others around you don't make the same choices you do?

The daily tasks of life have to be completed. The other tasks of life--the ones that feed our souls and our imagination--also have to be completed. Where do we find the balance?

I find that, for me, the teachings of Buddhism are useful in this pursuit. The theory of "nothingness" (or as my teacher pronounced it "no-thingness") teaches us that since no thing ever remains the same--we ought to live in the present--attending to those things that are presenting themselves at the moment--and not worrying about the things that are not. When work presents itself--do that and do that with gratitude. When lesiure presents itself--do that and do that with gratitude. Life is simply too short to fixate on the past or worry about the moment. Live in the now--and live with grace and humbleness.