Come for Coffee...Stay for Conversation

Hey All,

What are you doing Sunday night, May 29th, at 7:30pm? I ask because I know what I'm going to be doing: hanging around at Panera Bread off of the Somerville Circle. What say you come too, eh? If nothing else, it'll be a chance to say hi and get caught up on what's going on. I'd be happy to talk about the mission trip if you have questions about it...but I'd also enjoy just shooting the breeze and seeing where you stand on important issues like high gas prices, and the passing of George Carlin. This is getting thrown together last minute, but it's also a really low-stress sort of a thing...you come, you get a drink and/or a baked good, and you hang out.
No need to RSVP on this, just come by - I'll be within sight of the door.
Between now and then I'll not be checking email much...but feel free to give me a call or text me if you need to get a hold of me (the church has my cell number).
Oh, hey, I went to see REM in concert last week. They were pretty good. Not great, but good enough that I was glad I went. If there was something I'd criticize, it's that there was too much biting political commentary. And it doesn't really matter which way the commentary went, either. When you are polarizing, you are dividing and not uniting. Our country, and our world, desparately needs uniting.
This has been sort of a mish-mash post...but hey, that's what blogging is for!
I'll be praying for all of you this week.

Peace,
Kevin

The Devil's Greatest Trick

Matthew 10:34-39 34 "Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; 36 and one's foes will be members of one's own household. 37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; 38 and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it."

These are the words of Jesus. But this is not the warm, cuddly (and suspiciously pale-skinned) Jesus, surrounded by fawning children, that we see in some paintings. It is not the mystical and otherworldly Jesus, non-threatening in his pose, giving strange hand signals from wooden icons. No, this is not a Jesus that I would walk up to and ask for a hug. You see, the Jesus I like to spend time with is all about peace and loving your neighbor. But this Jesus is edgy and confrontational, and that makes me fairly uncomfortable.

But my discomfort does not make this statement false. Peppered throughout the Gospels, Jesus makes it clear that the good news is anything but comfortable. To inherit eternal life, give away everything and follow Jesus. My mother and my brother and my sister is the one who does the will of God (rather than my blood relation). It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.

This is a hard truth. As the disciples said in the Gospel of John, "This is a difficult teaching; who can accept it?"Can there be no compromise? No deal to cut? No bargain to strike where I can both follow the will of God and live life on my own terms? In short, no. Jesus calls us to a radical discipleship. One that is bigger than ourselves, one that is bigger than our blood relations, one that is the size of a cross.

Someone once wrote that "The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist." But maybe not. Maybe the greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing us that God should play by our rules rather than vice versa.

Peace,
Kevin

Families...they're just crazy aren't they?

Do y’all know much about family systems theory? Now, before your eyes glaze over let me say this: those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it! I’m not talking about military tactics here, or government policies. I mean how your family (however you define that term) interacts. The pattern of those interactions is likely to carry on into the next generation…for better or ill. If you are aware of what those interactions are, and how you fit into that “family system”, then you can work on changing those dynamics – if you want to.

Why am I bringing this up? Because I just spent two days exploring my family system and my place in it. This type of psychological testing is part of the ordination process.

But there is another reason I bring it up, that is church related. Is not a congregation like a family, in a sense? Really any close-knit community is. So the same kinds of interactions and patterns that apply to families apply to congregations as well. Does that make you think about church in maybe a way you haven’t before? Does it at least open up some new avenues of thought on how the church (or your family) functions?

And speaking of family systems, Father’s Day is coming up. For those of you who have lost your father, or are estranged from him, or just don’t have a good relationship with him…know that I am praying for you. For those of you who do have a good relationship with your Dad – I rejoice with you in that.

That’s all for the moment. Now that I’ve cleared a path through my other responsibilities, it’s time to go full speed ahead on the mission trip to Pittsburgh! God rocks! Whoo-hoo!!

Grace and Peace,

Kevin