To Catch a Church Mouse

About a week ago, I was working at my office desk in Wellington and I happened to see a brown streak dart in front of me. Looking up, I saw it was a tiny mouse sitting in the middle of the carpet. He was on his back paws, sniffing the air and looking right at me. Now I have seen my fair share of mice. But I have never come across one who had the gall to sit boldly out in the open before giving into his mousey instincts and taking off. It was certainly an odd experience, but I knew fully well what to do about it. We get mice all the time here in Wellington as we are a country town and our church building is right next to two large open fields. So as they are constant visitors, we have a ready supply of traps that I set out soon afterwards.

Fast forward to today. I walked into the church only to see that the bugger had somehow eaten all the bait from the traps without them activating . . . AGAIN! This was the second time the little twerp had managed it. Somehow, he could clean all the peanut butter off the catch without it so much as twitching! As if this was not enough, he would further mock me by leaving his little "gifts" all around for me to clean up. So yes, I was not happy as I stormed into the kitchen to get more traps out from under the sink. But as I bent down, my eyes locked on something in the drain and I realized I wouldn't need additional traps after all. The stupid mouse was in the sink.
  

He was sitting listlessly right on the drain plug, looking at me. I halfway expected him to dart off again, so I readied myself to give chase. However, when he didn't move I decided to take a closer look and realized to my surprise that the little spud was trapped! He had likely fallen in in the dark while trying to the candy. . . I mean, the health food I keep on the nearby counter. Then he found he couldn't get out because the sink is very deep and made of a slick acrylic. It appears he did give it a valiant try though. There were scratches everywhere from where he tried to claw his way to freedom.  He must have tried over and over to get out, exhausting himself in the process. Then when he realized it was hopeless, he sat there in a growing pile of his own waste, resigned for whatever would come next. When I found him, he was so dehydrated and weak that he could barely move. If nothing was done, he would not make it much longer and the sink would accomplish what a fleet of mouse traps failed to do.

Standing there, I had a decision to make. What do I do with this mouse?

Some might have let him die. After all, mice are vermin. They are simple animals who take what is not theirs while spreading disease and other problems to others. Yet, standing there I could not help but think, aren't humans this way as well? Aren't we also a broken race prone to taking and devouring things relentlessly while spreading various social sicknesses and issues across the world? We sure are. So how much really separated me from this mouse? Not a lot in my view. Of course, we are different physically, mentally and spiritually. But in the end, we are both two entities trying to survive and prosper in this crazy life. And I know if I was trapped, I would be desperate for help . So I decided to take mercy on the mouse. I got a box, tossed in a few pieces of cheese and ushered the bedraggled rodent into it with a piece of plastic. Then I drove about a mile out into the country and tossed him out into some grass so he could have a fresh shot at life.

Driving back, I think I felt some of what God might feel when God deals with humanity. For how often do we end up like mice trapped in a sink? How many times are we trying to do something, or going about our own business when suddenly we fall and find ourselves trapped in place we can't escape? So many people feel this way when they are wracked by sickness, pain, stress and loneliness. Heck, if you want to go all evangelical on this entry, this illustration is the perfect metaphor for how humans are trapped by sin! Whatever the case, we seek release. We seek freedom and pray for God to lift us out to give us another shot. And God does over and over, because that's what the Ultimate Love always does for trapped humanity. 

As for me, I will take a profound lesson from such a little mouse. Saint Francis of Assisi once said,“If you have men who will exclude any of God's creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men.”  Essentially, what Francis is saying is how we deal with the least of God's creatures affects how we deal with other humans. For the most part, we can continue to do what we have always done and play the game of give and take while hoping for the best outcome. However, when the rules of the game are completely out of whack; when those around us is at their most vulnerable, that is where we must stand up and show mercy as God showed mercy to us. This lesson is just as valid for a mouse as it is for a human being. It has changed how I consider the world today, and I pray it changes your view as well.

There are so many people trapped in giant sinks of their own out there. So let's go help God get a giant box to fish them out, shall we? Hoping you are having a blessed Advent Season, my friends.

A Voice from the Silent Middle

Sorry I haven't blogged in a while. Life just caught up with me in November as I had ordination, stewardship and charge conference paperwork fall square on my desk. Plus, I had another knee surgery, so it has been a freaking whopper of a month! Thankfully, things are finally quieting down it seems (of course, that will end next week with the start of Advent), so I thought I would share my thoughts on some of the discord rippling through the United Methodist Church.  We have always been a denomination that spans what Bishop Scott Jones would refer to as "the extreme center." Meaning that we are blessed to sit right in the middle of the religious spectrum and have liberal/progressive and evangelical/conservative voices present in one denomination. When these elements are in balance, our church is a beautiful thing because we represent a plethora of diverse views of God that unite under one banner. It is exactly what the Body of Christ should be in my opinion, which is why I am so grieved by events taking place. Unfortunatley, the balance has been upset within recent weeks as both wings of the UMC have recently erupted over the hot-button issue of homosexuality.

Homosexuality is and always has been a complex subject for us Methodists. Our Book of Discipline teaches us it is "incompatible with Christian Teaching"  despite GLTBQ people being of "sacred worth" to God.  The former view is far more dominant in Methodist polity, which is why Methodist pastors are not permitted to come out as self-avowed homosexuals or preside at gay weddings. To do so risks a ecclesiastical trial where a clergy person can lose their credentials (i.e. the ability to serve as a ordained pastor in the UMC).   This stance has recently come under fire as Methodist Pastor Frank Schaefer was put on trial for officiating his gay son's wedding. His action inspired 50 other members of his Pennsylvania Annual Conference to stand with him by jointly officiating a gay marriage ceremony for two parishioners. Essentially, these actions ignited a powder keg in the church, which has left the both wings bickering in an open and extremely bitter feud. The vitriolic nature of the argument is so bad that it puts the future of the church into some doubt.

I am caught in between all of this. Like my blog title states, I am a moderate and I seek the space between many different views and forces. So what is my view on all this? I am not quite sure how to phrase what I am thinking about the future of our church and what we should be doing. However, I know exactly what I want to say to the church now and  in cruising the net the other day, I found a view that perfectly expressed what I was feeling. It was by one of my colleagues here in the Rocky Mountain Conference, namely the Rev. Gary A. Shockley of Saint Andrew's UMC in Highlands Ranch. Below is an excerpt from that blog and if you would like to read more, you may access it at: http://garyshockley.wordpress.com/

"I am an older white guy in a system that has favored people who look like me– often toward the exclusion of others. I know that I am a person of privilege. I remember when, as an 18-year-old pastor serving a church in the inner city, my all white eighty-something congregation barred their doors against people of color. In spite of my door-to-door invitations to welcome new and diverse people to worship, when they showed up (and some of them actually did) they simply were not welcomed there.  My heart was broken but I soldiered on.

The first year of ministry at that church I attended annual conference when the conversation around ordaining women was a hotly divisive issue among United Methodists. Arguments like, “the bible forbids women from serving in leadership over men” echoed from more conservative voices.  I thought the argument was silly then as I do now. “Why would God not call and work through women?” My mom was a woman and God sure worked through her!Out of seminary, I served as a pastor of a three-point charge that received me warmly but only after turning down the appointment of a young man who had been divorced, “he is not welcome here because he is living in sin.” I was married and apparently fit their cultural image of a healthy “biblical” leader. I thought the argument was silly then as I do now. “Why would God not call and work through people who are divorced?” Some of the most influential people in my life have been divorced including members of my own family.

As I developed deep personal relationships with members of my churches over the years several of them “came out” to me risking being shamed or shunned because our church was clear that “homosexuality was incompatible with Christian teaching.” Imagine being made to feel incompatible…with God? I thought then, as I do now, “Why would God not call and work through people who are gay?” God did so in my life and still does.

As I’ve itinerated in ministry I have found myself appointed to conservative churches where some labeled me a liberal and to liberal churches where some labeled me a conservative. One day, at my current appointment, I met with a man who was angry with me and summed it up as, “you’re just too conservative for my liking.” Immediately following him was another man who wanted to meet with me to tell me my theology was “much to liberal-progressive” for his liking. I think Jesus had conversations like these. I laughed out loud, which didn’t make him too happy, and explained the conversation I had just had with the man before him. “Why would God not call and work through both conservatives AND progressive-liberals?” Some of the most influential people in my life have been on the extreme right and left of the theological spectrum and I’ve been blessed by them all.
And now we add to the debate in our denominational tribe the lawfulness within our covenant (Discipline) for clergy to officiate over same sex weddings. I serve a church where there are gay couples who have been in a loving covenant relationship with each other longer than the 33 years I’ve been married to my wife. Many of these folks have been examples of committed, monogamous, and holy love and I am blessed to number them among my dearest friends. Of course, I want them to be extended the same opportunities and blessings I have received as a straight white male in a church that values me but not them so much. It’s not difficult to see why. This aging denomination looks a lot like me. That’s not a compliment, by the way.

I love this church. My ancestors helped to found the first Methodist Church in America under the direction of Francis Asbury and Freeborn Garrettson. This church nurtured my faith, affirmed my calling, ordained me, and gave me opportunities to serve God. It blessed our marriage, baptized our sons, buried three of our parents, and opened my eyes to the mystery and majesty of God. I am extremely grateful for each of these gifts and I want them to be available to ALL.

The gospel we proclaim says, in many different ways, “when it comes to God’s love and grace: ALL MEANS ALL!” I need to pray for the day when that becomes true in our church. And I need to pray for all our leaders who struggle greatly to keep us moving together when we are so obviously divided. I don’t envy the challenges they face. I need to pray daily for the well-being of my bishop and all those tasked with leading our very weird yet beautiful family. And I need to pray for those of our church family who feel left out, shut out, shouted out and shoved out because they follow their hearts. As long as they are suffering the rest of us are suffering too.

I hear a lot of anger and angst in our church right now. I hear a lot of fear and anxiety about what happens next and whether or not there will be splits and greater schisms. I hear a lot of pain, and feel it too, because I care about all the people I am called to love and serve as pastor who are on BOTH sides of this current debate.

And so I find myself in the awkward middle.  I suspect I am not alone.

It may be naïve of me, but I long for the day (and will continue to work toward it in my own way) when we will find our way to each other and embrace one another as the blessed diverse children of God that we all are.  Until that day I will pray. And I will strive to be open in dialogue with those on all sides of the debate. And as God leads me within the context of a covenantal community I will act. And from the awkward middle I will love."

I hope you got as much out of this as I did. It is hard to be a moderate in this debate and balance the issues that are flying around. I am trying to do so and I hope to further write on my feelings in the future. But for now, I think this will do it. If you have any questions, or want to start a larger conversation about this, please feel free to contact me. Until then, have a good week, my friends!
 

Getting Back Up Again

In the movie Batman Begins there is a scene where Thomas Wayne and Alfred Pennyworth descend into a well near Wayne Manor. They are there to rescue Thomas's son, Bruce, who has accidentally fallen in. Bruce has a few broken bones and has been badly scared by a colony of bats. But for the most part, it appears he should be okay.  Bruce doesn't see that though, so as his loyal butler Alfred hauls him up to his bedroom, he asks the terrified boy a question:

"Took quite a fall, didn't we, Master Bruce?"

Bruce certainly did. The fall hurt him both physically and mentally, leaving him confined to bed and not sure what to do.  It is an emotional state that I think Wellington Fellowship knows all too well. In the past we have tumbled down many chasms and endured far too many lumps for our own good. Today was another such bruise as we tried to launch our initial foray into the world of Risk Taking Mission and Service. We were going to join with the Fort Collins Campus in a Food Drive, but we were going to go further by dropping off grocery bags door-to-door in the neighborhood just north of us with the promise to return next week for whatever donations our neighbors provided. Essentially, we were going outside our comfort zone to invite our neighbors to join with us in the sacred task of feeding the hungry. Yet when today dawned, it seems that the cards were stacked totally against us. The weather was extremely wet, windy and cold. Many families in the church were traveling. Others had prior commitments from hectic calendars. Barrier after barrier popped up. Ultimately, there were only 3-4 of us left staring out into the rain . After some discussion, our situation proved to be too much to handle.  Therefore, we decided to indefinitely postpone the community involvement aspect of the drive.  

It was disheartening result to be sure and a major blow to the new ministries and excitement we hoped to generate. For many of us, it also hearkened back to the many body blows we sustained in the past.  Once again, we found ourselves battered and needing to be hauled up from the dry well of a failed effort. Once again, we are dazed and confused, wondering what to do next. In the movie, this is where Bruce's father comes in and after comforting his boy, he makes the following comment:

"And why do we fall, Bruce? So we can learn to pick ourselves up."

Our Heavenly Father is here to do just that with us today. God comforts us, but in reassuring us with the Divine Presence, God is also asking us the question:

"And why do we fall, Wellington Fellowship?  So we can learn to pick ourselves up."

So as we again pick up the pieces, we should we learn from this attempt? Personally, I think there are several lessons to take from this, especially  if we want to live into our vision of church growth and changing lives in Wellington. Accomplishing such a lofty goal involves determination and intentionality. We need to make church a priority so people can see its importance in our lives. Picking ourselves up also means not being afraid to try again, to get up and try the very thing we failed at before, using the lessons we learned to guide us.

So what are those guiding lessons? Is it for the church to find better ways to communicate? Or to possibly determine a ministry that is more accessible to people with crazy schedules? Or is it that we need to set aside time in our crazy schedule to help the church achieve its goals? I would love to hear your thoughts about this as we once again begin sensing where God's path forward is for us.

We are destined to be the Batman of churches after all ;). So keep your heads up, my friends. Batman wasn't built or defined in one day. Nor will we be characterized by the events of today.

Existing in the Moment

As I write this, I am in sitting in a proverbial modern day desert. It is scary place to be, let me tell you. For although I have ample food, water and shelter; I am in a place where there is. . . wait for it. . . NO WIRELESS INTERNET OR STEADY CELL PHONE RECEPTION [insert dramatic music and panicked screaming here]!!! 

I know, I know, these are total first world problems.  But sadly they feel serious because of how conditioned I am to having access to them. So where am I that is so far from modern conveniences? Well, I am currently somewhere outside the town of Golden, Colorado at the Mother Cabrini Shrine and Retreat Center. Outside my window, the City of Denver is going calmly about its business and its people are undoubtedly enjoying the technological advantages I no longer have. It is a bit maddening to be sure. My smartphone is sitting right beside me on the table, and all I want to do is use it to check my email to make sure worship is okay for tomorrow. But can I do this? Nooooooo! The signal up here fluctuates too wildly causing my droid to freeze up when trying to access the net. It’s so bad that the hunk of junk is basically useless, except to call people, but who does that anymore?

 As to why I am here, or to be more exact, why I am required to be here. This weekend is one of two yearly Residents in Ministry (RIM) retreats that I must attend to be ordained as an Elder in the United Methodist Church. For those of you who may be unfamiliar with this course, RIM is kind of like a residency group for doctors in a hospital. Essentially, I am spending these three days meeting with other provisional pastors in the process, checking in about the state of our ministry and attending topical breakout sessions to improve it. It is not bad idea in concept, but it always seems a major pain to extricate myself to from my life to attend these sessions. There is always so much going on in my two churches that dropping my life to come is very difficult. This is particularly true if I cannot even connect with home using the internet, which I don’t have right now. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! Bryson smash!

My view of Denver from the Cabrini Shrine

 

Yes, not having my technology to rely on has been a real pain. Yet, it has also helped me relearn a very valuable lesion; a nice silver lining to not having technology as it were. Since I don’t have any way to connect with my to-do list or gmail, when I get free time after a session or lesson, I end up really having free time. Somehow, I always forget what this feels like. So when it happened this morning, I sat there in shock. I realized I WAS FREE! I HAD NOTHING TO DO! So I decided to take a leisurely walk throughout the Cabrini property, marveling at the breathtaking views of the mountains and city below. Normally, I would just keep walking to wherever I was supposed to be next. However, it suddenly hit me that I didn’t have to be anywhere. I could just stand there with the cloudless sapphire blue sky above me, the beauty of the mountains surrounding me and the amazing view of Denver in front of me. There was nothing keeping me from fully experiencing the moment. I could just be. So I stopped and drank it in, thanking God for the wonders I was experiencing.  As I did so, I felt a very profound tranquility welling up inside me. I have not sensed this feeling  a long, long time. And knowing that was enough to bring me to tears. A mentor of mine once told me that we ruin these moments by acting or speaking, so I stood there and let the Holy Spirit move around me. It was transcendent.  At some point, Be Still my Soul began playing in my mind, perfecting and ushering that sacred time to a close. Despite hearing this hymn a hundred times before, I think today was the first time I truly understood it’s meaning:

                 

Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side. Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain. Leave to thy God to order and provide; in every change, he faithful will remain. Be still, my soul; thy best, they heavenly friend, through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

              

             God had reminded me about that joyful end during this moment, which I know will energize me when I am forced to get reenter the world. Unfortunately, it is already trying to happen as I am getting irritated looking at the lacking 3G signal on my phone and the little red x on my laptop screen where my internet bars should be. These things are threatening my earlier moment, trying to get me to relapse. But that doesn’t need to happen just yet. I still have time to seek the “peace that passes understanding” that found me today. So, after this both laptop and phone are getting turned off for the rest of the weekend, or until I get a real signal anyway

            Are you like me in this? Do you find yourself yearning to get away from the beck and call of your calendar, computer or job? If you are, God’s peace is everywhere, beckoning us to take a break from the rat race and live into it during one perfect, serene moment. As a fellow traveler racing at breakneck speed, I totally recommend trying to find such a time, because it always helps you to remember what we are living for. I hope you find one soon and that you are well my friends. Take care  

A Prayer for Wellington UMF's Season of Prayer

Here is a prayer for those of you wondering how you can extend Wellington Fellowship's "Season of Prayer" into your own lives. I handed this out last Sunday, so know that through praying these words you are joining with the voices of many others who want to discern God's desires for our church. May the Holy Spirit bless us in this endeavor and guide us to the path we seek! Blessings upon you my friends.

DEAR LORD, our great Creator, thank you for my church, and for the people who are part of it. I’m grateful to be reminded each Sunday of:

Who I want to be,
Who you want me to be, and
Who you want us to be together.

Continue to guide our pastor, our leaders, and each church member to pursue this dream.

Keep us faithful to you and to the mission you have given us.
Help our lives better reflect your love, both as individuals and as a community.

I pray for courage and encouragement,

For vision and growth of our church ,
and other new churches like ours who are trying to set down roots in this world.

Let their lives show your love and caring
So that many people who need you will find you.

And that whole towns like Wellington would be changed.
Help my living always be a credit to my church
And a sign of my faith in you.

Guide us we pray

 Amen.

-Adapted from Prayers for Life’s Ordinary and Extraordinary Moments by Mary Lou Redding

It's in the Cards

Like many churches, Wellington Fellowship has a care ministry that sends greeting cards to people going through all manner of situations. It's a great ministry, because it offers a bit of intangible support and connection from the congregation to people outside of the church setting.  Keeping up with it requires a tremendous effort, and we are blessed to have a very dedicated volunteer that does the majority of the work. However, since I am the pastor, I do to sneak one in every now and then. This morning was one of those times, as I wanted to send a personal greeting to one of our families that just welcomed a new baby into the world.

Our card volunteer usually has her own supplies that she works from, so I use a stash in one of my office cabinets. Many churches have such a trove. It is a decently sized pile, and the cards range from recent purchases to some that are about 20-30 years old, complete with phrases I imagine were popular when Reagan was president (can't throw anything away in the church after all!) So after putting on my mining helmet, I dove in trying to find the one to properly celebrate a new life. Little did I realize how difficult this would be! After 10+ minutes of digging, I discovered that the cards broke down into about 4 categories. There were a select few depicting festive holiday scenes (Halloween, Christmas, etc), and some with floral imagery and the words "thinking of you" written ornately on them. There were also a number of religiously themed cards (we are a church after all) with the happy animals of Noah's Ark expressing thank yous, birthday/anniversary wishes or perhaps a blank space for another greeting. There were plenty of these, yet I was surprised to find they did not represent the majority of the pile. Rather, the bulk of cards I found seemed to denote bereavement. They wished people well who had moved far away, or abstractly promised support during many different life issues. There was not a card for a new birth in the bunch! Instead there were many for people going through life situations or non-descript periods of decline, interrupted by the occasional holiday or minor celebration. It was discouraging to say the least. So I ended up having to jury rig one of the Noah's Ark Birthday cards by writing my own message in conjunction with the card's text. But it did get me thinking . . .

What does this pile of cards say about the church?

We buy cards to commemorate the events going on in the life of the church, or to literally "be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep," (Romans 12:15 NLT) as the Apostle Paul would put it.  Essentially, these cards reflect the current state of things. With so many negative ones seemingly detailing decline and misfortune in my pile, it appears the outlook for the church is not overly good. Unfortunately, this jives too well with of the statistics surrounding the decline of Mainline Christian Denominations (Methodists, Presbyterian, Episcopal, Lutheran, etc). It is well documented that our message is not reaching younger people, which means that the majority of churches now consist of elderly members who are sick, aging, or dying. Worse yet, the decline is steadily increasingly and there are church leaders  who estimate that the Methodist Church (among others) have less than 50 years of life left if nothing happens. My card pile would seem to support this hypothesis, as is contents relates to many of the situations behind the statistic.

Thankfully, our churches are living things, so there are always shifts occurring on in the life of a congregation. For example, Wellington Fellowship is currently in an upswing of hope. We have had 4 babies born in the last year. Furthermore, in looking at our statistics, 20 of the 60 people involved in our 5-year-old congregation are under age 18. This means we have a lot of youthful vitality that we can harness and a new partnership with First Church, Fort Collins that can provide stability for our efforts. Between the two, I know we can buck the trend in our pile and similar movements in card ministries across the country! I have seen it, because I had joyful situation that was not present in overly negative cards we normally use. This sends a powerful message to us. For while the cards may tell us what is currently going on in our congregations, they can never restrict the future promise of God and the growing power of the Gospel when a church chooses to live into it. Our church, like many others, are living proof that we can change.

On that note, I need to buy some new greeting cards because I sense there will be plenty of new life, new possibilities and new frontiers in the future. Hope you are having a blessed week, my friends.

A Season of Prayer

 

If you weren't able to worship with us at Wellington Fellowship this morning, you missed the start of an important time in the life of our congregation.

Our service today focused on prayer and the effect it has on our faith lives. And what an effect it is! To sum it up, prayer is a practice through which we humans communicate with God and establish a relationship with the Divine.  It is also a primary means for God to provide grace, or the unmerited love that restores us and brings us into closer relationship with God and Neighbor. This relationship is critically important to say the least, as it links our entire belief structure together. In addition, Prayer is also one of few constant elements in our lives. We can pray in the best of times or the worst of times and know that God will hear us. In other words, prayer is a lifeline that pumps us up with Divine Love and Presence during life’s ever-shifting course. 

Since a new church setting like Wellington is a prime example of an unstable situation, my clergy coach recommended that we pursue the consistency that prayer provides. She reasoned that the many changes in our five years of existence have made it difficult for us to grow, so we desperately need some steadiness.  She is totally right. Having six pastors and three iterations of a leadership team in five years is tough for any church, let alone a new church start like us. Thus, we can greatly use the consistency that prayer provides. Plus, it will also help heal the pain of the past while opening us to the direction that God wants to give us for the future. This is exactly what we need, so I this morning I invited us all to join together for a Season of Prayer.  

So what is a Season of Prayer exactly, and what would it involve? Well, a Season of Prayer is an extended time to intentionally deepen our prayer lives and focus them on specific issues. To translate this into the life of our congregation, we are asking for every member of Wellington Fellowship (and First Church, Fort Collins if they would like to join in) to individually and corporately pray for the good of our church until New Years. So how can you help with this? It’s simple. During your individual prayer time, ask for strength for the people of this church and guidance on decisions. I would also invite you to ponder the gifts that God has given you for ministry. How can God help you use them in this congregation? How can the church empower you to live into where God is already working in your lives?  Then as your participate in prayer with our congregation, ask how we can use our collected gifts to bring forth God’s kingdom. Basically, where is God wanting us to go? Asking these questions as a congregation will help us discern God’s path for us while building up relationships within our community.  

This season is exactly what we need to tie into God’s plan and establish us permanently in the Wellington Community. As such, it will be a constant feature in our worship, leadership meetings and other church events going forth. I look forward to living this season with you and seeing how God’s grace will tangibly change us and transform us into the congregation that we all know we can be! Of course, there is much to be said about how God answers prayer. Or the motivations and methods we humans use in prayer. Those will have wait for a different post, or maybe a late night rant if I can’t sleep tonight. We shall see. So let us head forth into this season and I pray that God blesses you my friends.

 

A New Babel?

I recently entered my third decade of life here on this planet. I am not sure how I feel about this yet but I imagine I will get used to it. One thing is for sure though, celebrating it in style on a  Chicago vacation certainly helped ease the transition!

Honestly, I have never seen anything quite like Chicago. It is by far the biggest city I have ever visited. It is so vast and so loud. There is always a dull hum of commotion, like a dull roar of people and cars broken up by the periodic wailing of emergency sirens. The cacophony is deafening and the amount of people walking by you on the street is overwhelming. Good gracious, I have never seen so many people in all my life. Heck, even the sky was busy. Looking up at the plethora of skyscrapers surrounding me, I felt like a small ant navigating a complex parade of enormous metal giants. Basically, the city engulfs you. It's like you are in the heart of a great beast. There is no where you can look that does not remind you that you are in the middle of an entirely different, urban culture.

After a couple days of this, I was getting a little frazzled. I did enjoy many of the cosmopolitan experiences (Wrigley Field baby!) but since I am an introvert, I relished the quiet time I spent sitting with my wife in a coffeeshop at the foot of the Willis Tower. It is a fascinating vantage point from which to watch the city function. I saw men in expensive three piece suits darting around like hummingbirds, talking on bluetooth headsets and arguing about trade deals with distant countries. Then there were the large groups of tourists in bright, comfortable clothes, gawking at the Willis Tower and snapping pictures every couple feet. And, of course, there were the homeless who resigned themselves to shaking their change cups to get your attention. They hardly said a word, they just shook their cups as if that was all the explanation needed to garner a donation. As I sat there, all these people went about their business. Each had their own goals and lives in mind and were undoubtedly unaware that I was watching them. Some of them even seemed oblivious that they were walking around some of the biggest structures on earth, it was just a normal day for them.

As I sat there, I began feeling something that I am just now able to articulate. Looking at the Willis Tower,  I began hearing the story of the Tower of Babel from Genesis 11 run through my brain. I am not sure why this happened as there seemed to be very little in common with that story and what I was seeing around me. In the story, the people of Earth unite to construct a large tower in the hopes that it would make them famous and prevent them from being scattered across the planet. However, their efforts attract the attention of God, who is unhappy with the people's hubris and  decides to confuse their language so the project could not continue. In doing so, God shows humans the error behind excessive pride. It causes us to overly focus on our own issues and wants while isolating us from the needs of those around us. In the case of Babel, the people had taken this to an extreme. They were building a prideful monument to themselves, to call attention to their own abilities and achievements, instead of giving glory to God who's creation and influence allowed them to do such a feat.

It seems the lesson of Babel did not stick too well, because Chicago is filled with such towers. Most large cities have them nowadays. The Willis Tower is a prime example, it was built to be the largest in the world and draw attention to human achievement. It dominates the skyline and inherently draws attention to toward itself. I think this inward focus has also affected the city's inhabitants. Throughout the trip, I saw many, many people walking with their heads down, totally immersed in cellphones, Mp3 players and their own lives. They road the elevated trains in silence, not daring to talk to their neighbor. They worked silently in cafes, looking up only to make sure they weren't in someone's way. It was like people had become their own Towers of Babel, monuments to the separateness and importance of their own lives.Granted, my wife and I weren't speaking many people either, which is why I had such a great epiphany in the coffeeshop. I was feeling isolated, which is a bizarre concept in a city of millions. I had passed thousands of faces and hardly said hello. In fact, I vividly remember the only person we did talk to. It was outside Wrigley Field as the person taking our picture decided to introduce herself. Her name was Sarah and she was from Minnesota. She was also a tourist and had come to see the legendary ballpark. Our conversation didn't go much beyond that, but it made her stand out. She became a person amongst the throngs. We made a few other contacts while we were there, but that one will always stand out in my mind because of how it broke the seclusion.

Of course, I am unfairly describing Chicago in all this. There is no doubt my opinions are skewed by my experiences in smaller, more community oriented towns. Chicago is a fantastic place, but I think it's size makes humanities inherent prideful tendencies much more visible. That trait extends far beyond Chicago. It is everywhere and in everyone, and is always calling us to build our own Babel-esque towers. This isolating effect is what the church must always combat. It must help us walk the line between the individual and group identity toget us to a point of balance where we can look away from our selves to needs to others. If we do this, we can honor everyone and see that a tower is never the answer. What is important is that we use our resources for the good of all; that we build a structure where all can live with ample room for God and neighbor. It can happen in Chicago, or anywhere for that matter. So why not here? And why not now?