madavison

This year we meet Jesus through the experiences of Matthew.  He probably used a few of the letters of Paul and the Gospel of Mark as his source material filling in the details that Mark leaves out.  Yes, the author of Matthew may have embellished a bit based on his experiences and the time he lived.  All the gospels and epistles do it.  You may think that never happens today, but well, you know different.  A couple of weeks ago we met the first disciples (Matthew 4:18-23) that Jesus called: Simon Peter, Andrew, James, and John.  It was the beginning of their disciple story.  Have you ever thought about how your disciple story begins?

Did it begin with a parable?  Try this to begin remembering. “Look in a mirror and see if you can see yourself without seeing your eyes seeing yourself.”(1)

The parables that Jesus told flip our thinking and our vision.  New Testament scholar John Dominic Crossan notes, “First, parable is story, that is, a tensive sequence of beginning, middle, and end in a narrative that lures you into its plotted micro world to participate as an outsider-insider in its ongoing adventure.”(2)  The parables describe the world, relationships, and community as the way it could be, should be, would be, might be were those that believe in the God that Jesus proclaimed experiencing good news; and being living good news.  Often, it takes walking around in another person’s shoes to see the world through another lens.  Yes, that takes a lot of work.  My guess is your disciple story begins with you seeing or experiencing God differently, and that there is something more to your story than accepting Christ as your savior and being baptized.

Maybe one or two of the parables can connect us as followers of Jesus. Which one or two of the parables best frame the good news of God or describe the kindom of God?  Which parable provides connections to community and to practicing the way of Jesus which, in our current context, might be different than what is called Christianity.

I think the parables have the power to connect us, we disciples of Jesus, because they work on us and help us be better people.  Many of the people I know, non-Christian and Christian alike, work a parable or two every day.  Most often without any thought.  So, I’ll be thinking about the parables this spring, with a few colleagues and friends, trying to choose one or two that connect us and our discipleship following Jesus, whom we call Christ. I look forward to the journey.  Join us.  I’ll be posting the conversations here.

——
Note
1. John Dominic Crossan, The Power of Parable: How Fiction by Jesus Became Fiction About Jesus (New York: HarperOne, 2012), 243.
2. Crossan, The Power of Parable, 243.

“Time may change me, but I can’t trace time.”
David Bowie, “Changes” 1972

The flow of information into our lives has increased.  Some by choice and some simply by being awake. It is the product of living in an information age.  Every TV service offers users a way to create a favorites list.  SiriusXM encourages users to create a favorites list and within a specific music channel gives users the ability to filter the kind of music heard on that channel.  Email programs can be set up to filter our email to different folders: spam, inbox, work, friends, family. Most of us have created filters to help us manage, choose what information gets to us. It is an important skill to own in the early 21st century.

With this in mind, this little eNews has made a format change.  Each month we will highlight resources, information, and stories trusting that you will choose to be connected to your Disciples sisters and brothers.  This eNews will contain snippets of stories and articles with links if you want to read more in depth.  We will include more writing from members of our Children, Youth, and Young Adult Commission, from our Regional Youth Council, and from others in our Region and beyond our Region. We will do our best to be device friendly knowing that many of our subscribers use a small screen rather than a big screen.

We start off 2017 with gratitude.  Thank you for being a part of our movement, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).  Thank you for allowing this eNews into your circle of attention.  Thank you for supporting ministry, presence and program, with children, youth, and young adults in your congregation and through the Region.

Happy New Year!  May God continue to bless us with gospel to be and ministry to do.

Peace . . . Michael D

I may have said it before, so my apologies if this is redundant.  Christmas is not my favorite holiday, sacred or secular.  I’ve lived long enough to remember how it was ‘back then’ knowing that the old days were not always good, but those days and the experiences shaped who I am.  I am in touch with how my past informs my present and continues to teach me how I follow that inner moral compass into the future.  My past has a voice, but not a vote.  Hard as it is to change your narrative, change it can; and this time of year people believe that idea a little more than they do at any other time.  Maybe it’s because culture markets this feeling more in late November and December.  About this I don’t mean to sound cynical, but ‘selling’ Christmas begins in October.  Over twenty years ago I stopped listening and buying.  I’m content with the responsibility of recognizing the context before I wish someone I know, or that is unknown to me,  “Happy Holidays” or “Merry Christmas.”  I’m not on the ‘war on Christmas’ team, because it’s always been about selling the feelings that get consumers to spend more even if that means taking on debt.  Been there.  Done that.

That cynicism aside, that is not what Christmas or the holiday season is all about. Think about your favorite Christmas cartoon or movie.  Imagine the characters or a scene in your mind.  There is a character or group that experiences an “aha” moment of vision that changes the way the character or group sees the world, interacts with the world, or expands the heart.  My favorites are: How the Grinch Stole Christmas, A Charlie Brown Christmas, It’s A Wonderful Life, and Love Actually.  Yes, I’m admitting that last one in print, but I also think Die Hard is a Christmas movie.  Odds are your favorite holiday film encourages self reflection about your motives, desires, and communal life using the “olden times and ancient rhymes of love and dreams to share.”(1)

Oh, that we could always see
Such spirit through the year.(2)

That last bit of lyric that Lee Mendelson wrote invites us to go, and see, and ask.

What would that spirit look like in your community?

What dreams do you share with your neighbor?  Not the neighbor you like, but that other neighbor?

What kind of maintenance plan do you have for your moral compass?

Christmas day is in our grasp
So long as we have hands to clasp

Welcome Christmas bring your light

Welcome Christmas while we stand
Heart to heart and hand in hand.(3)

May the Spirit of Christmas inhabit your dreams, and your living, as you make your way to Bethlehem to see this thing that God  has made known to you.

______

1) Mendelson, Lee / Guaraldi, Vince. “Christmas Time is Here.”  Lyrics © Lee Mendelson Film Prod., Inc., 1965.

2) Ibid.

3) Geisel, Theodor S. / Hague, Albert. © EMI Music Publishing, 1966.