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I am very grateful for these weeks of sabbatical. I will periodically share my thoughts with any who are interested.
Thanks for listening to these sabbatical reflections. You're welcome to respond to abbott1945(at)gmail(dot)com.
HMA
SABBATICAL REFLECTIONS
THINGS WE WORRY ABOUT THAT DON'T HAPPEN
On our recent Ireland trip, I drove a rental car for a week on the
"wrong" side, through narrow country roads, and navigating roundabouts
galore. With Mary Ann's good navigating and frequent reminders to "keep
left," I succeeded in avoiding two close encounters with other vehicles.
However, turning around in a tight space one day, I had a too-close
encounter with one of the "umpteen" rock walls in Western Ireland. Some
scratches and a broken plastic rear light protector ensued.
O dear, did we ever worry about that! Where I may not have worried
enough, Mary Ann made up for my lack. What will they charge us? What
will they do when we turn the car in?
We returned the car to the rental place at the Dublin airport with
trepidation. The same man who took care of us on the front end came out
and hastily surveyed the car. He looked right at the impact of the rock
wall and said nothing. NOTHING!
But of course, I remembered that on top of the rental charge was a
substantial fee for collision insurance, which did not seem optional.
They only wanted to know whether or not I wanted more collision
insurance. Must be they know that a substantial percentage of American
car renters are going to have too close encounters, leading them to slap
on an automatic insurance surcharge.
So we breathed a sigh of relief and realized we had worried for nothing.
Does that ever happen in your life? Don't we often waste emotional
energy worrying over things that never happen?
You may remember that earlier in the summer, I had an out-patient
surgery to remove a tumor thought to very likely be malignant. The day
before leaving on sabbatical, I went for the post-op appointment to
receive the pathology report. Though not terribly anxious, on my way to
the doctor, I admit to feeling some worry. But my mind went to a
wonderful verse in Psalm 112, describing people who fear the Lord. "They
are not afraid of evil tidings; their hearts are firm, secure in the
Lord..." (vs.7)
With my heart quieted, I faced the doctor appointment. But the good news
from pathology is that the tumor was an unusual one which in most cases
is not malignant. Thus, we monitor, but do not proceed further with
cancer treatment.
I worried about something that did not happen. "Do not worry about your
life," said Jesus (Mt 6:25) Is there a way to work against such
unproductive and needless worry? Read the Sermon on the Mount!
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IS THERE ROOM FOR GRAY?
One of the books I have skimmed on sabbatical is by an evangelical
United Methodist pastor, titled "Seeing Gray in a World of Black and
White." Adam Hamilton makes the case that in a world where black and
white prevail and polarize us, there is room for and people are seeking
a middle way, not just conservative or liberal, for or against.
I think he has a good point. However, I am a little disappointed in that
the author's gray sometimes seems to lose sight of some clear biblical
realities that are not gray. I am not recommending the book. But I am
recommending that in a year of presidential election we resist the
pressure to polarize.
I am currently auditing a class in Vancouver titled "The Bible,
Homosexuality, and Sexual Ethics." It is taught by a Princeton PhD, a
professor at a Presbyterian Seminary (Pittsburgh), razor sharp, intense,
and very black and white about what the Bible says regarding human
sexuality. But if there is not gray in what the Bible says, maybe there
is gray in how we implement biblical witness in today's complex world.
Love works against polarization which can often be harsh rather than
gracious, exclusive rather than inclusive, condemning without
compassion.
Is there room for gray in how we implement what may clearly be Biblical
norms in a wide range of issues? Gray does not mean we have no
convictions. Gray may mean we work against what Brian McLaren calls
"binary thinking." (It's always either this or that!). And gray may mean
we search for a compassionate middle ground between condemnation and
complacent acceptance in how we treat people.
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UNDERSTANDING AND COMMUNICATING FAITH
Last week I finished two books that are very different in style and tone, but linked by the attempt to find ways to understand, experience, and communicate faith effectively today.
I read "The Gospel According to Starbucks" by Leonard Sweet because I've heard the seminary professor and popular author speak and because it's a book to be discussed at a fall pastors' day. Len Sweet in hip, postmodern terms mines Starbucks' philosophy for ways in which today's believers should be experiencing and communicating their faith. It ought to be, he says, in EPIC ways:
- Experiential
- Participatory
- Image-rich
- and Connective
Here's a take-away-thought: "It makes all the difference whether humans are depicted as simply sinners or whether sin is the condition and behavior of cracked icons (images). Instead of regarding those outside the faith as sin personified what if we saw them as fellow bearers of God's image, who are marred by sin, as we all are?" (p.123)
I think Sweet is often guilty of overstatement and oversimplification. However, he makes some good points. His book is a useful and relatively easy read.
The other book I read is more heady, again by a seminary professor touted in emergent church circles, "A Community Called Atonement," by Scot McKnight.
McKnight's concern, with which I resonate, is that many believers have gotten stuck with one image, one way of speaking about what God has done for us in Jesus. We talk about Jesus paying the penalty levied by a just and angry God for our sins. "Penal Substitution" is one way of talking about atonement. But McKnight urges us to use all the golf clubs in our bag, not just one. What golfer would insist on just using one club instead of a variety? And each golf club is a metaphor and a story which helps us understand something of the work of Christ for us.
McKnight will challenge and stretch your envelope. You won't read much at a time. But again he enriches how we think of, experience, and communicate our faith.
Oh yes, Mary Ann and I heard Paul Douglas, author of "The Shack" speak in person at Mariner's Church, one of Orange County's mega churches. This story he developed for his children now published has taken off wildly. I've seen displays in airport bookstores.
We heard him explain "the shack" as the soul built in us from all the experiences of our lives, including the difficult and painful. Douglas referenced his own experience of a distant and abusive father. Healing requires us to return to that "shack" and experience God's love and grace from within it.
Two questions are essential, said Douglas :
- How do we really see God?
- How do we think God really sees us?
If you haven't read "The Shack" read it with an open mind and heart. It's not universalistic, as some affirm. It is a wonderful picture of God and of healing.
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IDEAS ABOUT IRELAND -FROM A 10 DAY "EXPERT"
- History is around every other corner in Ireland-Medieval, Viking, Celtic, Iron Age, even Stone Age monuments. Traditional in America is about modern in Ireland .
- Ireland is scenic even in the rain, but stunning when the sun shows itself.
- And yes, it rains at least every other day. There's a price to be paid for twenty shades of green.
- Irish serve food piping hot and there's nothing like their soda bread.
- You can get used to driving on the left side of the road, but constant vigilance is required.
- Irish people do seem to drink a lot. Keeps the 6000 pubs in business.
- There's a sense of the sacred everywhere from ancient pagan memories to traditional Catholic to reminders of Medieval and Celtic saints and scholars. I'm considering an August series on Holiness, by which I'm thinking of this "sense of the sacred."
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CHECKING CHURCHES OUT
I don't get out much! That is, to visit other churches. But the services I have attended lead to these reflections:
- We do a lot of really good things at FFMC, at least to the level of many other churches. I'm thinking of worship and preaching. In one service I attended, there was only one congregational song, a very long sermon, leading to communion with a couple other songs. But the church is booming.
- In effective churches there seems to be other things in play besides worship music and preaching. What are those other factors? What do you think?
- One thing I observed about the preaching is that while creative and effective in connecting with listeners, I heard a minimum of really opening up of the scriptures. Hopscotching through Bible verses rather than mining a passage, I fear, tends to model a use of scripture for church people which tends toward proof-texting instead of close listening to a passage in its context. What do you think? Oh, and instead of 20-25 minute sermons I heard sermons of between 45 minutes and an hour and a quarter!
- And yes, there was Anglican worship, especially Evensong in Dublin . My heart soars to cathedral music, to its beautiful sounds and scriptural texts. But does it connect? I observe that "church' even in Catholic Ireland is in danger of becoming part of history rather than vital and contemporary.
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