by Greg | Aug 17, 2016 | Blog Posts, Uncategorized
When we speak of God we typically think in categories of “omni” – such as “omnipotent” (all-powerful); “omniscient” (all-knowing); “omnibenevolent” (all-good); or “omnipresent” (all-present). Such philosophical ponderings can lead to some silly conundrums, such as the one a religion professor posed to a class I was taking in college. It went something like this: “If God is all-powerful, can God make a rock so heavy that God cannot lift it?” His follow-up was equally disturbing, “If God is all-good, who created evil?” Logical absurdities aside, many take comfort in believing in a God that is all and everything. Have you ever thought of God as disabled? What comes to your mind when you hear the word, “disabled?” Some synonyms for this word include incapacitated, restricted, immobilized, and hindered. Such words seem inappropriate for the Lord of the Universe. Again I ask, have you ever thought of God as disabled? The Bible does. In Isaiah we read: he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by others; a man of suffering[a] and acquainted with infirmity; and as one from whom others hide their faces[b] he was despised, and we held him of no account. (53:2b-3) But the text that really grabs me by the collar and shakes me is the ancient hymn Paul quotes in Philippians chapter 2: Let the same mind be in you that was[a] in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited,...
by Greg | Aug 3, 2016 | Blog Posts, Uncategorized
“A Life of Gratitude” Meister Eckhart, in his contemplative and mystical work Cloud of Unknowing, wrote, “If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough.” I am discovering these days that gratitude marks most of my prayers when, especially when I am not sure what else to say. It is not that I am thankful for all events in my life. Certainly not. I am not thankful about pain or suffering, especially when it involves those whom I love the most. I am not thankful for evil in this world, or the hateful speech I hear, or the unloving acts against others. But I am grateful to share in this life with others as we confront a world that is often broken, suffering, and wanting for love. The monk David Steindl-Rast presented a Ted-Talk and said that the one thing that unites all persons everywhere is that we all want to be happy. Some think that when you are happy you are grateful, but this monk challenges us to think again. It is not that gratitude comes from happiness, but that when we are grateful we are happy. I think he is right. I have lived, for the most part, a happy life, but not because my moments are filled with pleasure. It is the moments when I can slow down enough to be grateful: grateful for good food, and the hands that have prepared it; grateful to see my sweet wife smile when I walk in the door in the evening; grateful for a...
by Greg | Jul 14, 2016 | Blog Posts, Uncategorized
“The Grace of Doing Nothing” I am not very good at doing “nothing.” I am easily distracted; fidgety; and deep down carry the deceptive belief that I should always be “productive.” Productivity is a lie we tell ourselves so that we may feel valuable. Nevertheless, I struggle with this lie and have spent too much of my life shouldering this onerous burden with busyness. Family vacations have taught me a different path; a path of passive resistance. I did not grow up with a family that took regular vacations. It was a luxury of time we did not have on a dairy farm that operates with milkings twice a day, every day. I can remember going on four distinct vacations with members of my family. When I was 8 years old we took a vacation to Disney World. The park had just opened a couple of years earlier and it is still one of my favorite childhood memories. A few years later my grandparents took us to the Smoky Mountains for a few days. Those mountains still have a hold on me. The first time I remember seeing the ocean was on a quick trip to Daytona Beach. Another time I went to Destin Beach with my maternal grandparents. The ocean holds its own kind of mystery and I never tire in hearing the tide come in. These four vacations all occurred within the first twelve years of my life, and I am grateful for each one. After that, if we wanted to see the mountains or go to the beach we had to find a way on our...
by Greg | Jun 30, 2016 | Blog Posts, Uncategorized
“Friends” When I was a child, friendships came easily. All I had to do was “play nice,” and just like that, friendships were formed. I remember swinging with Harold on the playground. We talked about what we wanted to be when we grew up and how we would be friends forever, maybe even live in the same neighborhood. Harold was African-American. Back then I did not know about issues of race or the divisions of class distinctions. I just knew that Harold was my friend. But as I grew older friendships became more complicated. Cars, clothes and relationships were sources of competition. As such, my circle of friendships grew smaller. No longer was it a matter of swinging on the playground during recess. It was more of an issue of popularity, and as such friendships were like commodities to be used and traded. Entering college I left behind my childish ways, as well as most of my friends. It was not so much a rejection of my childhood friends as it was geography. I was 180 miles away from my hometown. When I moved to seminary it was nearly 500 miles away. Nevertheless more than thirty years later there are many of my friends from childhood that I have not seen since the day I received my High School diploma. Harold, along with a few others, has since passed away. College, and later seminary, brought new friends, but, as with my childhood, life’s progressions like graduation, family and career would eventually leave many – most – of my friends behind in a nostalgic wake of memory. I...
by Greg | Jun 27, 2016 | Blog Posts, Uncategorized
“You Are Not Your Own” I grew up with a family where church was simply a part of life together. It was, and still is, a small church embedded in a rural county, surrounded by thickets of pines and pastures of hay. A portrait of Jesus hanging on the wall stared at me every Sunday as we recited the Apostle’s Creed. From the little, brown and slightly tattered Cokesbury hymnal our mighty congregation of about 30 would sing “Dwelling in Beulah Land,” although no one in particular was in a hurry to go there any time soon. Since my beginning, and I am certain at my very beginning, it was impressed upon me that my life was not my own and that I am a part of something much bigger than my solitary life. I stopped being the center of my universe many years ago, although my own orbit still tugs against the hidden gravity keeping me from being fully consumed with self-centeredness. I suppose you are expecting me to write about all the certainties I have unearthed along the way about faith. I will save those sermons for other pulpits. I am content enough to saunter deeper into mystery. It is enough for me to know that I am but a part of the Great Mystery’s work. My mentor, Thomas Merton, who died two years after I was born, wrote: …if we could let go of our own obsession with what we think is the meaning of it all, we might be able to hear His call and follow Him in His mysterious, cosmic...
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