Michael Davison Blog

The Children’s Defense Fund created the idea of a National Observance of Children’s Sabbath back in 1992.  During October of each year many places of worship, non-Christian and Christian alike,  will participate in Children’s Sabbath by following a devotional, holding a special worship service, participating in service projects benefiting children, holding an educational event, or adding something to worship through October 22.

This year’s theme is, Moving Forward with Hope: Love and Justice for Every Child.

That is an ambitious vision here in 2017.   I say that because the past 60 days have been full of events to which we can only react.  And, react is something we’ve become good at doing.  Social media is often the tool of choice for many as we post messages of thoughts and prayers, we donate dollars (Week of Compassion has one of the lowest overhead costs of all non-profits receiving money for natural and human made disasters), create Clean Up Buckets and Hygiene Kits for Church World Service to distribute, and prepare for the mission trips to help neighbors recover and rebuild.  All good reactions.

Individuals cannot stop hurricanes, flooding, tornadoes, earthquakes, or other creation events that damage lives.  Systems, public and private, cannot stop hurricanes, flooding, tornadoes, earthquakes, or other creation events that damage lives.  Individuals and systems cannot stop all bad things from happening that are human made events that damage lives.

But, individuals and systems, public and private, can mitigate the potential that children will want for or dream about having basic necessities: food, shelter, healthcare, safety, education, equality, an opportunity to make their dreams of life real.  Individuals and systems can mitigate the potential that children or adults will be shot or injured with weapons created by the industrial military complex.  All this starts with individual and systemic, public and private, proaction that is based in universal desires for justice, love, and hope.  These are ideas and feelings that transcend race, nationality, religion or political ideology; or at least they should be.  Maybe that is the first step to reconcile and be proactive. Reclaiming justice, love, and hope as universal needs.

Exalted and hallowed be God’s great name
in the world which God created, according to plan.
May God’s majesty be revealed in the days of our lifetime
and the life of all Israel, and all who dwell on earth — speedily, imminently.

Blessed be God’s great name to all eternity.
Blessed, praised, honored, exalted, extolled, glorified, adored, and lauded
be the name of the Holy Blessed One, beyond all earthly words and songs of blessing, praise, and comfort.

May there be abundant peace from heaven, and life, for us and all Israel,
and all who dwell on earth.

May the One who creates harmony on high, bring peace to us
and to all Israel and all who dwell on earth.

To which we all say, Amen.(1)

______
Note
1. An adaption of the Kaddish Prayer from Reformed Judaism [http://www.reformjudaism.org/practice/prayers-blessings/mourners-kaddish] with the edition of “all who dwell on earth.”

“Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.” Romans 12: 17-18

Noble or nobility are not words we use much in our context.  When we do it is associated with board games, the latest HBO or Netflix period piece, or with European history of a hereditary class of persons.

Noble (def): of an exalted moral or mental character or excellence; admirable in dignity of conception,  manner of expression, execution, or composition.(1)

Watching the drama of Hurricane Harvey on TV and social media we saw the nobility of humanity on display. Neighborhood flotillas, strangers rescuing persons from cars and homes, it was hard to watch and inspiring as we see the best of what the human family can be and do.  There are, no doubt, hucksters out there that will demonstrate our need to profit at another persons pain, loss, and despair.  And, it is not only the scam artist taking advantage of tragedy because our system of supply and demand effects all of us flooded our not.  Have you filled up a car this week?  It is a scarcity/abundance cycle we’ve yet to tame as a system of government and as the Church universal.

A guy named Paul, that many Christians revere, suggests another way people who claim Christian faith might behave and interact with one another and our neighbors (Romans 12).  If it is true that one’s character or true self is on display in times of tragedy or high stress, then we have another example of the good that is in each one of us.  It is more than a compassionate melody of ‘heart strings” when we think of loading up our own boat, giving to the Week of Compassion or the Red Cross, creating clean up buckets or hygiene kits for Church World Service, giving blood, clearing our calendar to be ready to go and lend a hand, or other ways we might help our neighbors in south Texas, Louisiana, India, or in our own home town.  Somehow, we need to learn how to harness that “goodness” to address everyday tragedy to break the cycles of hunger, poverty, injustice, and violence.  It starts with us and trickles up, maybe becoming a wave racing toward those in government that are tasked with problem solving and governing for the common good.

Children and youth know how to do this “common good” thing.  Goodness is instinctive, I think, that is buried as a learned response to negative experience.  We cannot mitigate all negative experience, because those are learning opportunities, but we can “transform ourselves by the renewal of our minds.”  It is why, I think, images of selflessness become moving human interest stories of unbelievable courage.  In times of tragedy people can embody the nobility of, “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”  How do we do that in ordinary time?  Reconcile?

———
Note
1. noble. Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. http://www.dictionary.com/browse/noble (accessed: September 1, 2017).

How would you tell it?

Has your discipline during lent done for you, or to you, what you hoped it would?  Have there been surprises?

We’ve wandered in lent seeing Jesus through the eyes of the writer of John.  This gospel is more a theological handbook than a story of the life and times of Jesus of Nazareth.  From it’s opening word, John has gone about providing a theology of Jesus as the Christ of faith more than telling a story about Jesus the traveling prophet, turned preacher from Nazareth.

One of the best practices of lent, I think, is writing the gospel according to . . . [fill in your name].  You have had parable experiences, and have a story to tell about your circle of disciples following Jesus.  You have a personal story to tell.  Writing that story is not an easy assignment.  What part of the story do you leave in or take out?  And here is the somewhat harder choice.  What is important about Jesus’ last visit to Jerusalem.  What disciple do you identify with most as the events in Jerusalem unfold and Jesus washes your feet?

At the beginning of March I was the keynoter at the Kansas CYF retreat.  Those keynotes focused on knowing your own disciple story and being able to tell it, or at least a spark notes version, if asked.  Writing your story about being a disciple, a follower of Jesus, is an important thing to do now and again.  It helps you make sense of your experiences and gives you a voice when asked to talk about your experiences, your faith and belief.

You’ve followed Jesus to Jerusalem.  You’ve heard the Palm Sunday story and the Easter story many times. Now, you show up to the tomb with Mary Magdalene.  What happens next?  How will you speak of the good news you have experienced?  How are you living it?

I pray the events of Holy week and Easter will be surprising for you.  I look forward to hearing the story of the good news of God that you have to tell.  Take a risk and be a blessing.

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.

Is there another way to re-frame our view of the other, our congregation, youth group, person in the opposite political party, or reading of the biblical text? Our culture is caught up in 2 dimensional thinking, governing, religious ritual, and survival mode.  The characteristics of our current politics is evidence that we’ve become more transactional and less transformational since 2000.  There are some simple ‘right and wrong’ actions in our culture, but followers of Jesus are called to live in the messy balancing act of ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’  That’s the kin-dom of God in our midst and not yet fully known.  Some days we are better at recognizing the kin-dom than others.  There is so much noise competing for our eyes, hands, and thought.  It seems to me we need 3-dimensional thinking that speaks a vision of tomorrow together, AND solves a few of the bigger problems of ‘Now.’  Maybe that means seeing the ripples.

Every decision we make changes things. The people we befriend, the examples we set, the problems we solve…

Sometimes, if we’re lucky, we get to glimpse those ripples as we stand at the crossroads. Instead of merely addressing the urgency of now, we can take a moment to focus on how a quiet insight, overlooked volunteer work, or a particularly welcome helping hand moves so many people forward. For generations.

How did you get to where you are? Who is going to go even further because of you?

Thank you for passing it forward.

“Don’t throw your hat at the end of graduation.  If you don’t bring your hat back you cannot receive your diploma.”  Those are the words I remember from my high school graduation.  The school rented the caps and gowns.  You had to return what was signed out to you to receive your diploma.  I somewhat remember walking across the stage to get my diploma from the principal and school superintendent.  I remember my parent’s faces as I passed them in the procession and recession.  I’m sure someone spoke, student representatives, as is the norm, but I don’t remember anything that was said.

“You were educated to know how to ask questions, to think, and to recognize that you need more than one or two sources of news and information.  Keep reading.”  I know Chancellor Tucker said many other words at my graduation at Texas Christian University, but it is those I remember.   “This is for you.” I said to Chancellor Tucker, tipping him a dollar when I picked up my diploma with the customary “grab with the left and shake with the right.”  I also remember standing with Rev. Dr. Ambrose Edens, my advisor and a mentor, just prior to the procession of graduates.  “You made it.  Never doubted you would, but we both know Mr. Davison that there were moments you could have been better.  Do better in seminary.”  He looked around. “This will be about 3 hours in and out.  Do your best to remember some part of it other than getting your diploma.”  Dr. Edens had taught at TCU for 35 years at that point so he had been through a few graduations.  I later learned it was his habit to walk the graduation line seeking out a few religion majors and minors to drop words of wisdom upon.  Dr. Edens offered words about the “Golden Apples” of ministry at my ordination into Christian Ministry a few years later.

I remember being ‘hooded” at my graduation from Brite Divinity School, but don’t recall hearing any words other than Dr. Toni Craven whisper, “Congratulations Michael” as she placed the Master of Divinity hood on me as I knelt in Robert Carr Chapel.  The words from my days at Brite that have stuck with me are those shared with others preparing for ministry around the pool at Princeton House, and in Professor’s offices discussing theology, education, and exegesis.  One of the theology professors, Dr. Glenn Routt, once asked me, “Are you an iconoclast?  Is that your role in ministry?”   The words that stay with me from a formal setting at Brite are those of the Dean, Rev. Dr. M. Jack Suggs, who during my first opening convocation offered what I paraphrase, “There will be times in ministry when it seems like all you do is turn the crank that births the babe of Bethlehem and stands at the empty tomb of Christ each year.  There is much more to do, but sometimes that may well be all you can do.  Strive to do more.”

Many have or will sit through the commencement speech again this year.  I spend some time listening to or reading commencement addresses.  Part of what I do in ministry is about words.  I was taught, and continue to believe, that words have power: written and spoken.  It is a good place to pause and note that I don’t like reading for the pleasure of reading.  Being somewhat dyslexic, yes, you can be dyslexic somewhat, reading something that interests me is tiring.   Back in 2014, NPR put together a list of what their panel considers “The Best Commencement Speeches, Ever.”  Some are video.  Some are written.  They include great quotes.

“You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition.”
(Alan Alda, Connecticut College, 1980)

“I’m a huge fan of America,…you know the

[fans] that read the CD notes and follow you into bathrooms and ask you all kinds of annoying questions about why you didn’t live up to that.”
(Bono, University of Pennsylvania, 2004)

“You cannot authentically live anyone’s life but your own. That is the deal life offers us.”
(Gabrielle Giffords, Scripps College, 2009)

“Do a lot of spitting out the hot air. And be careful what you swallow.”
(Theodor ‘Dr. Seuss’ Geisel, Lake Forest College, 1977)

There are many more ‘commencement exercises’ to come this season, but these are some of my favorites so far for 2016 that you can access via the web.

Sheryl Sandberg, (UC Berkley, Ma7 16, 2016)

President Barack Obama, (Rutgers University, May 15, 2016)

Lin-Manuel Miranda, (University of Pennsylvania, May 16, 2016)

Michael Smerconish, (Widener University, May 21, 2016)

David Axelrod, (Eureka College, May 14, 2016)

Tyler Perry, (Tuskegee University, May 7, 2016)