In the early Negro Spiritual tradition, African Americans met in camp meetings and sang without any hymnbook. Songs were composed on the spot, inspired by their immediate circumstances. These early songs were called sperichil – spiritual songs – the spontaneous response of faith to life’s challenges and mysteries.

In comparison to this musical tradition, it occurs to me that we preachers got it plum easy. We have the luxury of extensive preparation before delivering a sermon: hours of research on the exegesis of the biblical passage; consideration of what others have said about the text, and the sermon topic; time to rehearse the delivery of the sermon; and so on and so forth. It also occurs to me, however, that it is easy for this process of sermon crafting to become mechanical and impersonal, and lose the possibility of a spontaneous and heartfelt response of faith to the topic at hand.

And this can be huge. If you are a fan of Jazz music, you know how powerful, penetrating, and inspiring improvisation can be. And one can readily imagine how moving were the songs in the sperichil tradition. Who knows? Maybe it’s the lack of improvisation and spontaneity that dooms many sermons to be dry, detached, impersonal, and – let’s face it – boring… Did I forget to mention boring?

This Sunday @ OPCC, we will make a concerted effort to give spontaneity and improvisation free reign in the sermon, in the hope that unfettered faith might just have something significant to share with us. So please peruse the gospel reading below, meditate on its meaning, and come Sunday prepared to pose questions about its nature and significance. You will have the opportunity to submit your question, and the sermon will consist of faith’s response to these questions. This will not be an occasion to stump the preacher, to show her or him up by posing really difficult questions; rather, this will be an opportunity to let the sincere voice of faith speak. It may not be polished, it may not be eloquent, but we can hope it will be authentic.

Oh, and by the way, if you can please get your questions to me by Saturday afternoon…


READING:
Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’ And they said, ‘Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’ And Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.’ Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.    
                                            - Matthew 16.13-20    

It is impossible for others to help you come to terms with the past, if for you the past is a pile of wounded memories and angry humiliations, and the future is just a nursery of revenge.
            - Eric Lomax 


READINGS:
“God’s kingdom is like a treasure hidden in a field for years and then accidentally found by a trespasser. The finder is ecstatic—what a find!—and proceeds to sell everything he owns to raise money and buy that field.
                        - Matthew 13.44 (The Message)

“Or, God’s kingdom is like a jewel merchant on the hunt for excellent pearls. Finding one that is flawless, he immediately sells everything and buys it.
                         - Matthew 13.45 f. (The Message)

If you grasp and cling to life on your terms, you’ll lose it, but if you let that life go, you’ll get life on God’s terms.
                         - Luke 17.33 (The Message)   



REFLECTION:
The more I have reflected on The Railway Man by Eric Lomax, or reviewed in my mind’s eye scenes from the movie of the same name (with Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman), I come back to the same question; the one question that refuses an easy response; how in God’s name is reconciliation ever possible? When one has been wronged in egregious ways (say, for example, tortured repeatedly as a prisoner of war); when one’s humanity has been mocked, assailed, and ultimately stripped away by the cruel acts of another (say, for example, being forced to watch and listen to the preparation for the next session of torture), how is it ever possible to forgive? How is it ever possible to reconcile with that devil in human guise?  How is it ever possible to look up to the heavens, like Jesus on the cross, and ask God to forgive his enemies?

So it was for Eric Lomax (The Railway Man is autobiographical) for years after he managed to survive his tortures and make his way home from the Second World War. I say make his way home; he made it to England, but you couldn’t confirm the home thing by him. He was tormented; his torture extended by his continued anguish, so wracked was he by fear, anger, bitterness, and a void where any sense of a just world had once resided. He was unable to make his way back into normal life, or find a place for himself in his own home; and he was unable to come to terms with his own history.

Then comes the news that the man he remembers as responsible for his torture not only survived the war, but also was working as a tour guide at the very POW camp in which he had tortured Eric and others.

Something had to give. Confrontation was inevitable. But what would it – what should it - accomplish? Revenge? Reconciliation? He knew that reconciliation would require something more powerful than his seemingly limitless hatred; he knew that it would take a treasure, a pearl of great value, to overcome his pain. Identifying this treasure is our task for Sunday. We get enigmatic hints about this treasure from one and another, but nothing that clarifies or soothes; nothing painless, no turn-key solution, nothing truly plug-and-play. Madeleine L’Engle, for example, insists that reconciliation requires healing grief… that forgiving someone is painful. It involves what she calls fellow-feeling; which I take to mean empathizing with the one we seek to forgive, being willing to see things from his or her point of view. Again, St. Francis observed that none of us can ever be truly compassionate until we recognize that we are capable of any act; even despicable acts like the torture to which Eric was subjected.

The treasure we seek will not be easily or painlessly identified. But we will search, for we, too, may be in need of reconciliation, and to find the treasure that can unlock forgiveness and reconciliation… now that would be priceless.

We hope to see you on Sunday!   

“So which story do you prefer?”  “The one with the tiger. That’s the better story.”  “Thank you. And so it goes with God.” 
    - fromThe Life of PI


READINGS:
Then Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the People of Israel and I tell them, ‘The God of your fathers sent me to you’; and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ What do I tell them?” God said to Moses, “I-AM-WHO-I-AM. Tell the People of Israel, ‘I-AM sent me to you.’”
                                                      - Exodus 3.13f.

And now, finally, God answered Job from the eye of a violent storm.
                                                      - Job 38.1

The angel of God appeared to him (Moses) in flames of fire blazing out of the middle of a bush. He looked. The bush was blazing away but it didn’t burn up. Moses said, “What’s going on here? I can’t believe this! Amazing! Why doesn’t the bush burn up?” God saw that he had stopped to look. God called to him from out of the bush, “Moses! Moses!” He said, “Yes? I’m right here!” God said, “Don’t come any closer. Remove your sandals from your feet. You’re standing on holy ground.”     
                                                      - Exodus 3.2-5

“When the north pole becomes the south pole, and the south the north, a world is reversed and overturned and we find ourselves standing firmly on utter uncertainty. The parables… intend to do precisely this to our security because such is the advent of the Kingdom. Or, as Paul might have put it, see if you can boast from the middle of an earthquake.”
                                                        - John Dominic Crossan    


REFLECTION: 
On Sunday we will start a sermon series that we have entitled, God’s Cameos. Finding the Spiritual in Reel Life. It should be both meaningful and fun as we examine movies with no particular claim to spirituality, and yet find God’s tracks all over them in themes, ideas, personalities, relationships, and more. In fact, that’s the point we want to make; that no matter where we look, if we are open to it, God is there and will speak. Like Frederick Buechner has stressed time and again, if God speaks anywhere it will be smack dab in the middle of our mundane, everyday life; even at the movies, with or without popcorn. One of the boundaries God ignores (or just plain doesn’t get… just shrugs those divine shoulders and mutters, “Oh, those kids” ) is the division we make between the sacred and the secular, the spiritual and the worldly. In this series we will explore the relationship between the two and, more importantly, how God can use any and all things to nurture and nourish life in its fullness.

The series will begin with a meditation on The Life of Pi. If you have not seen the movie, it is readily available online, on cable TV, or at one of many rental locations, and we encourage you to view or review the movie in preparation for Sunday. But be careful; The Life of Pi is chocked full of spiritual nuggets, and would provide material for a series all by itself. Since we aren’t devoting the entire series to one movie, we will reflect Sunday on the primary point of tension in the movie’s plot; the choice we are all offered between a life guided by reason or by faith. The former represents the empirical; facts and figures that can be measured and manipulated, and yet give no hint of transcendence, of anything behind the veil or beyond the boundry of the facts. Just the facts, ma’am, just the facts, as Sargent Joe Friday insisted on the classic TV series Dragnet. The latter is more difficult to pin down. The life of faith is full of surprises, unsuspected developments, and powerful stories that twist and turn, surprise, confuse, confound, and enchant anyone who walks its path. This choice – the life of faith – seems to offer a more expansive life of meaning and fulfillment, even if we can’t always put our finger on its explanation, or find the right words to give it expression.

Sunday should be a real hoot! and will provide an excellent opportunity for fellowship and spiritual nurture as we gather in worship. We hope to see you there.

“It’s the core values of our church that our ministries have in common– serving from our hearts, living hopefully and expectantly, valuing each person and accepting our differences with love. We use the resources that God has provided to strengthen our community, trying to address whatever needs we discover. A few years ago, right after we’d renovated our Sanctuary, our congregation got together and realized this was God’s plan for us. All the energy you see here sort of sprouted from that moment.”
      - From Church in Overland Park Reinvents Itself 

READINGS: 
After that I will pour out my spirit upon everyone; your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, and your young men will see visions. (Joel 2.28)

When there’s no vision, the people get out of control, but whoever obeys instruction is happy. (Proverbs 29.18)

There is still a vision for the appointed time; it testifies to the end; it does not deceive. If it delays, wait for it; for it is surely coming; it will not be late. (Habakkuk 2.3)

Don’t remember the prior things; don’t ponder ancient history. Look! I’m doing a new thing; now it sprouts up; don’t you recognize it? (Isaiah 43.18f.)
                                                         - All scripture CEB    

REFLECTION:
The vision & mission that have emerged from our Discernment Retreats have been given initial expression in a Future Story; that is to say, OPCC’s future story in narrative form. Our story is entitled Church in Overland Park Reinvents Itself, and it looks back on our situation from some unspecified point in the future. If you have begun to read and reflect on the story, you know that it describes a vital, dynamic, and courageous faith community that has identified its core values and undertaken the hard work required to live into them. I find it exciting to read (and reread!) the story, because I love the progressive and confident stance this community takes toward faith, the spiritual life, and the lived expression of faith in community service and the ongoing work for justice. You can readily recognize the faith community that has been molded through the past six decades; and yet the community is altogether new and exhilarating. I’m more than ready for this future, I desire to be a part of this faith community, and I pray you do as well.

One key passage in our future story looks back to a precise moment in the life of the faith community we call Overland Park Christian Church, and traces its development from that starting point. I have cited the passage in the heading above. Please read it again, and notice one particular statement, “A few years ago, right after we’d renovated our Sanctuary, our congregation got together and realized this was God’s plan for us. All the energy you see here sort of sprouted from that moment.”

If that description sounds more than vaguely familiar, it’s because we stand at that seminal moment now. This Is the Moment! We are the congregation that is commended for realizing God’s plan for their mission and ministry. We are the folks who are recognized for summoning the courage to embrace the plan and live into it day by day. We are the oh so very human group on which this future hinges. We may not sense ourselves up to the task; we might even wish that someone else – anyone else – would insure this promising future. But there is no one else to stand tall and courageous, and dare to envision a church reinvented, a church recreated. As the comic strip character Pogo used to say, “We have met the enemy and he is us!”

Needless to say, the decisions we take in the next few months will have a tremendous effect on the future of this faith community. So I encourage you to be prayerfully discerning in your consideration of this unique story, and seek the grace to embrace it without fear. In our worship gatherings for the next several weeks, you will have opportunities to spend time in prayer and reflection at the future story display set up in the overflow room of our worship space. When you are ready – and not before – when you discern the willingness to embrace this vision, indicate that by writing on what will be our future vision banner. You may inscribe a prayer for our congregation, you may add a scripture passage that addresses the task at hand, a poetic image that reflects our situation, and you may even write your name if you choose.

I can’t help but wonder; when the fearless reporter in the story leaves our building after being awed and impressed by the congregation it houses, will the reporter see only the two signs specified in the narrative, or will the reporter also see a worn but proud hand-drawn banner on which we have left our mark? 

God revealed a sublime truth to the world when he sang, “I am made whole by your life. Each soul, each soul completes me.”                                                             
                      - Hafiz 

READINGS: 
God, brilliant Lord, everyone knows your name – Majestic! Nursing infants gurgle choruses about you; toddlers shout the songs that drown out enemy talk, and silence atheist babble. I look up at your macro-skies, dark and enormous, your handmade sky-jewelry, Moon and stars mounted in their settings. Then I look at my micro-self and wonder, Why do you bother with us? Why take a second look our way? Yet we’ve so narrowly missed being gods, bright with Eden’s dawn light. You put us in charge of your handcrafted world, repeated to us your Genesis-charge, Made us lords of sheep and cattle, even animals out in the wild, Birds flying and fish swimming, whales singing in the ocean deeps. God, brilliant Lord, your name echoes around the world.                
                                 - Psalm 8 (The Message; adapted)

Meanwhile, the eleven disciples were on their way to Galilee, headed for the mountain Jesus had set for their reunion. The moment they saw him they worshiped him. Some, though, held back, not sure about worship, about risking themselves totally. Jesus, undeterred, went right ahead and gave his charge: “God authorized and commanded me to commission you: Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I’ll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age.”
                                - Matthew 28.16-20 (The Message)

REFLECTION:
Sunday is the day we set aside to contemplate Trinity; God as Three-in-One and One-in-Three. Yeah, I know; doesn’t make much sense, does it? At least, its meaning doesn’t exactly jump off the page. And there is certainly no model in the natural world to help us understand this puzzling notion of God that perplexes the most penetrating minds.

For example, one Christian theologian back in the day (way back in the day!) said of his doctrine of Trinity that he had not said nearly enough or that which is most important; but wrote at all to avoid being silent. More recently, Barbara Brown Taylor has resorted to poetic language to speak of Trinity. She compares it to a Zen Buddhist koan, the one most widely known in the western world, “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” Trinity, that is to say, is impenetrable mystery, like one hand clapping; only in this instance it is the sound of three hands clapping.

By this point you might be thinking, “Why bother to continue? Why not stop while we are ahead?” Why set aside a day on the Christian calendar to celebrate that which we have no chance of understanding? Why waste a worship gathering on such an abstract and distant concept?

I would respond that it is worth our while to examine Trinity because of the power of the poetic images that give it substance. These beautiful metaphors offer snippets of insight, they point toward something awesome and wonder-full; they provide fleeting glimpses of a God too rich for words, too real for any reality we know, too big for the universe as a whole, too small for the most intimate expression. Pay close attention, listen intently, delve more deeply; and Trinity will speak to you. Trinity will speak, not like an objective description of God or knowledge about God. Rather, Trinity will speak in the voice of poetry that will meet you in the middle of your lived experience with comfort, insight, understanding, and always a healthy dose of challenge.

I don’t want to preach Sunday’s sermon in my blog post, which is designed to help us prepare for worship, but let me mention what I consider to be the heart of Trinity’s meaning for our day, and its challenge to our collective lived experience. Many would trace the chaos and disarray of our society in the good ol’ U. S. of A. to the loss of any notion of a common good, an interweaving of lives, a dependence on and responsibility to each other. In its place is an exaggerated notion of individual freedom, and the right to live my life as I choose; period, end of story. No longer do our personal freedoms end at the intersection of the rights and needs of others, but exist absolutely and independently of anyone else.

Here’s the rub; when God’s life is contemplated as the model and inspiration for our own, as is emphasized from cover to cover in our Christian bible, this self-absorbed and over simplified notion of our personal life and freedom is challenged to its core. Why? Because God – listen closely to the poetry of Three-in-One and One-in-Three – God is always "we." God is always community. God is always completed in rich, intimate, relationship. Hafiz heard this voice; that is why he could give expression to the profound statement quoted above, “God revealed a sublime truth to the world when he sang, “I am made whole by your life. Each soul, each soul completes me.”

This image – the poetry of Trinity – has far reaching implications for the way we understand and live our life. I encourage you to reflect, pray, and listen for the soft, poetic voice of God that can and should inform our relationships.

I look forward to our time together on Sunday when we gather for a shared experience of worship. This week we worship at 9:30 am. Next week, however, we will begin our experimental summer schedule: intimate, informal worship at 8:30 am, and at 10:30 our primary worship gathering, which intentionally focuses outward, trying to meet the worship needs of a wide swath of folk, including new additions to our faith community. This worship includes both traditional and contemporary elements, woven into a progressive and unique worship style.