A lament

Now that Synod is over, I have given myself sometime to lament. I share with you, how ever still rough and unpolished, a lament born out of Synod. I have hope that God will continue to work in us, with us, and even on us, until we are what we are called to be.

Blessings,

Justin

A Lament

O Lord our Creator, how long will we claim you as our God

until we realize that you first claimed us as your children?

O, Christ the King of kings, how long will attempt to build your Kingdom

until we realize that you have already built it?

O Spirit, the source of inspiration, how long will claim your power

until we confess that people who disagree, both have sought, and seek your guidance?

How long…

How long…

In a world divide you call us to be united, yet we cannot agree about what unites us. In a world divided, you ask us to be united so that the world may know you, yet we each see you differently. In a world divided, we make further distinctions in search of holy living, yet show our un-holiness in how we treat one another. In a world divided, we claim you as our God, our King, and source of our understanding, yet stand apart. We desire to be united, yet stand as divided as the world to whom you have called to us proclaim the Gospel.

We grow impatient.

How long….

How long will you allow us to disregard the Scriptures…..

How long will you allow some to exclude others….

How long will you let people continue in sin….

How long will you let history be ignored…..repeated…

We grow inpatient.

We grow impatient with each other.

We grow impatient with ourselves.

We grow impatient with You.

Yet You are a patient God.

You are patient with us.

You have your own schedule, your own timing.

You hold history in your hand, You destroyed sin on the Cross, You include people of all kinds into your Kingdom, You fulfill the Scriptures, You are holy when we are not.

O God, the creator, help us to trust you to continue the work in us that you began.

O Christ, the King of kings, help us to submit to your rule.

O Spirit, the source of inspiration, continue to work in us and among us as we seek to serve you.

Work in us, that we might be for You and the world what You have called us to be.

Work in us, that we might glorify You with our thoughts, and words, and actions.

Work in us, that the world might give You glory and praise for what You have made us.

And we will bless Your name. 

Amen.

Time for Lament

I consider myself a hopeful person. I place my hope in Christ, the promises in Scripture of God's work in the world and in creating a New Creation, and in God's calling of us to be the Church. I'd be lying if I said that my hope has never wavered. It has taken a few spills from time to time, but somehow, some way God has always helped my up, dusted me off, and set my feet back on the road of living a life directed by hope in God, Christ, and the work of the Spirit my life and the life of the Church.

One of the ways that God sets me back on the path of hope is through the process and discipline of Lament. I was first introduced to lament by Dr. Jaco Hamman and his book "When Steeples Cry." More recently at Duke Divinity School SUmmer Institute on Reconciliation, I was reminded that Lament is the cure, antidote, and prevention to a hardened heart. 

So far at Synod much of worship, if not all of it, has pointed to the hope of Christian Unity. It has been a joyful celebration of unity and Christ's desire for us to be one. I hope to that amid the joy and celebration of unity  that we can find time for lament. A lament that speak to the reality that most likely some of us will need to lament a loss or a change in our denomination. When issues and theologies threaten to divide us, when polity that has held us together is questioned, and asked to be removed from our life together, when we are polarized and might be asked to choose between and vote on divisive issues, someone is going to need to lament. 

Maybe we all might need to lament. If we are going to remain unified as a denomination we will need to lament. It is the cure, antidote, and vaccine for a hardened heart. And our hearts can easily be hardened when things don't go the way we think they should go.

If we are going to leave this Synod unified, lament will probably be needed in abundance.

I hope that even admid our joy, our excitement, our hope that we can find time and space to lament and through lament find hope in God, Christ, and the work of the Spirit among us. 

Time For The body

I just downloaded the Synod App for my phone....kudos to whoever put that together! As i was browsing through the schedule that allows me to add to my calendar all the things I need to be at, I had to stop.I was afraid of crashing the app from over use. I am guessing that I am not the only one who feels overwhelmed by the marathon that is the schedule for General Synod. 

One of the things that I have learned this year is not only to make time to spend alone with God to prepare for my day, but to make sure I spend time taking care of my body. I find that excercising most every day actually gives me more energy and in the end more productive time in the day than if I skip a workout.

Rumor has it that Martin Luther once said something along these lines, "I have so much to do today that I will spend the first three hours in prayer."

I would echo the sentiment, "We have so much to do at Synod (much of it sitting), that we need to be sure to move our bodies to prepare for the day.

I am planning on running/jogging/walking most every morning before breakfast to prepare for my days at Synod. If you would like to join me we could pray as we run, or just be with each other in silence and with God as me move through the morning air. You can email me at rev.meyers.coth@gmail.com if you would like to join me. Distance and speed will vary based on who shows up.

Either way, my encouragement to you is find time to pray and find time to move your body so that we all are at our best for the important work we will do in Chicago.

Ride the Bar!!

For Father's Day this year my wife and boys got me the http://thepiggybackrider.com/. As a family we like to go on long walks together. There are times when we walk so long that the legs of my almost 3 year old and 5 year old just can't physically make the journey. When that time comes, out comes the piggy back rider and the tired kid gets to "Ride the Bar!" I take them on my back and we are able to reach our destination together as a family.

For me this congures up a possible image of Salvation. As human beings we are unable to make the journey to where God is calling us on our own. Sure there might be times where we can walk parts of it on our own two legs, but eventually, like kids on a long walk, we will fail to make it to the end on our own. Our sin, our weakness, our lack of maturity in faith, all catch up to us and we can't make it on our own.

Since we can't make it on our own, God brought Jesus to the Cross. On the Cross Jesus carries us on the journey that we can't make. We "Ride the Cross!" on the back of Jesus to the place God is calling us. We reach our destination together as the Family of God.

(Note: I know the Bible also says that we need to carry our Cross and follow Jesus. But that is another image, for another time.)

Airport reflections

A change, a cancellation, and a rebooking hopes to have me home by this afternoon. Unlike my trip home, Synod seemed to go off without any major hitches. GSC met after Synod to discuss Synod and to gather and offer feedback to the new presdent and staff about ways to improve next years Synod. At the top of the list is fixing the electronic voting. While we saved over a literal ton of paper by going electronic and saved a mint on shipping, the first all electronic Synod was not with out its problems. The All Synod Advisory Committees recieved over all good, but some mixed reviews. This was a bit of an unusual Synod withthe approval and installation of the Tom DeVries as the new general secretary, and hopefully next year will be a more "usual" synod.

Thank you to all the delegates who had to use vacation time to attend the synod, and to all the staff who worked long and hard to make the Synod possible. I hope you find time to rest a bit.

Justin

PS BINGO!!