Phronesis - Naming the Intangible Quality of Christ Community

 

The First Nations Version: An Indigenous Translation of the New Testament, tells the 2^nd Chapter of Philippians this way:

Walking the Road Together – As you walk the road with the Chosen One, have you gained from him courage for the journey? Have you found comfort in his love? Do you share together in his Spirit? Has his tenderness and mercy captured your heart? If so, then have the same kind of thoughts. Love with one heart. Join together in one Spirit. And walk side by side on one path. This will make my heart leap for joy.

 

The Apostle Paul is writing to the Philippian community of faith. There is no doubt in the telling from the First Nations Version that the letter is to a group. Have the same kind of thoughts. Love with one heart. Join together in one Spirit. Walk side by side on one path. Or as we heard from the NRSV: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind; let the same mind be in you.

 

Those who are grammar oriented probably balked at the opening line printed on the bulletin:

What gratitudes are in OUR heart this am? It was written this way to describe a

 collective heart: my sense of gratitude is not mine alone, the items for which I am thankful are also items others are thankful for; we bear each others gratitude, our collective heart offers thanksgiving together. This collective heart of gratitude (encompassing individual gratitudes) is evidenced in the singing and swelling of hymns, voices weave and sound grows, and the joint expression turns the air to joy. Gratitude interconnected and inseparable.

 

In writing his letter, Paul uses the Greek word phronesis- which in English is often translated ‘be of one mind.’ Be of one mind- only kind of gets at the power of this word. Phronesis is not a word used in relation to an individual. Phronesis is a property or ability that is created within community -one mind- and is defined as ‘the wisdom of knowing what to do.’

This is a unique gift that faith communities have. When you look at the world where does one experience a place where with others phronesis is created – one mind, one heart? At school board meetings, town councils, legislative assemblies, the House of Parliament, NATO, the UN? – maybe not as much as we would hope.

Phronesis is used twice in Phil.2:2 and is the active verb in verse 5-11; which has been called the Christ Hymn, a poem that describes Christ – not as a sole individual- but with phronesis, with God, people, creation.

Let the same mind be in you as in Christ Jesus, who though he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God, as something to be grasped, but emptied himself…

 

Paul’s letter directs the community’s collective heart to the core of its being. The centre from where comes power and healing and wholeness; courage, comfort, love, tenderness, and mercy. When you come into the sanctuary, in fact in most Lutheran churches, the centre focus -front and centre you will see a cross. When altars were against the front wall, a large brass cross sat on a stepped stand or shelf on the altar. In remodels – like here- the cross was kept central in a new design, here the altar cross was affixed to a large wooden one. Our collective heart -gratitudes in our heart- begin in the phronesis of God/Jesus/Spirit. We are who we are as a faith community because we are embraced into and whelmed by the phronesis within God’s self, who works redemption and salvation in one mind –meaning continued through ‘one mind’ created and practiced in faith community; a community attuned to the cross and emptying themself.

 

What I appreciate most about this passage from Philippians is that it addresses the present struggle congregations have when they discuss what to do with their sanctuaries. Congregations talk about their sanctuaries and the feeling they get when being in the worship space. Consider for a moment the feeling you have when you step inside this space;

when you step inside a little country church, or a magnificent cathedral.

The air is different. The light or the smell is different. Sound changes.

Paul’s words to the Philippians identifies this intangible, unmeasurable substance of faith community. It is phronesis - (Ancient) wisdom created and gained over time –a group of people of ‘one mind’ working out saving paths together (for they are of one mind and heart with Christ) and together discern faithfulness and together know how to act especially when face with in complex and confusing situations. From generation to generation, this phronesis seeps into the walls, into the wood, into the air.  … into our hearts … one heart.

 

That’s what I feel in this space.

Sadly, I have experienced a church or two, where the sanctuary was cold – not because they had turned the heat down to save fuel costs- but cold as in empty of joy, void of love and compassion, disjointed and only going through the motions of worship. In these cases, the congregation was about the Pastor’s ego, or a singular person or two who used money or influence or bullied their way to attention. The phronesis within God’s self, the focus of the cross, and the working out of salvation through faithful community – being of one mind- was missing, lost along the way.

 

As our morning shifts from worship to discerning next directions for this congregation and this place of worship, let us return to the questions asked in the First Nations Version:

 

As you walk the road with the Chosen One, have you gained from him courage for the journey?...

 Have you found comfort in his love? … Do you share together in his Spirit? … Has his tenderness and mercy captured your heart?...

If so, No because this is so - then have the same kind of thoughts. Love with one heart. Join together in one Spirit. And walk side by side on one path. May this phronesis guide Our heart, Our conversation, Our gratitude.

 

And, this will make Our heart leap for joy.

And Our tongue confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God!

It Is Time to Make a Faithful Decision

 

 

I invite you to look at the image.

You have 30 seconds to turn this into a picture. … What do you draw?

This task was given to a grade 2 class. Guess what most drew.  A clock.

Now the same task was given to the class again but this time the students were given 30 mins. to complete the picture. If you were given 30 mins – what would you draw?

The teacher received pictures of pigs, and cats, and pizza… with the gift of time the capacity for creativity grew.

 

The Exodus reading began with verse 2 of chapter 16. The first verse that was not included reads: The whole congregation of the Israelites set out from Elim and came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt.

This verse is important. It is about time. A whole month has gone by since the people have crossed over the Sea. It means that the provisions they brought with them have run out. Now they will learn a couple of important lessons.

 

In the book I use to accompany the confirmation class learning the Bible, Daniel Erlander talks about the Hebrew people leaving Egypt and once crossing over the Reed Sea, they enter wilderness school. In the wilderness school there are three lessons that the people are to learn:

God gives manna for all. The lesson is that we own nothing. All is God’s. All is gift.

The second lesson is that hoarding stinks. There were those who took more than their daily manna, what they tried to keep rotted.

The third lesson is the gift of sabbath. This lesson teaches that extra time is a beautiful gift and it is a gift to be built into the way the people keep time.  Not only does Sabbath include worship, “Sabbath allows humans to experience full time the wonder of friendship – with God and others and all creation.”

What we learn by following the journey with the Hebrew people in wilderness school is that learning these lessons takes time; their story took 40 years. It takes time --- for what and who they will be to emerge.

 

Tomorrow a devotion about making decisions is going out to the email distribution list and will be posted on my blog. The devotion talks of six characteristics that mark faithful decision making. One of the characteristics is time.

 

Resurrection has been in this neighbourhood a long time, 108 years: faithfully marking Sabbath by worshipping together, receiving daily bread, and redistributing God’s manna and abundance. There is something interesting about this 108 year period of time. There was always daily bread – manna for all, both physical and spiritual, all the pieces that sustained a community of faith over tine. Twice in the journey and once again now, the congregation is discerning the manna accumulated and how best to configure and use it so as not to hoard, and to continue with passion a place to mark Sabbath with worship and give the gift of sabbath and rest to all.

Time in faith life runs in approximately 40 year cycles: coming up to 1955 the church hall is built, followed by a reimagining of the sanctuary space; in 1995 discussions of what to do with the church, the parsonage, partnering with campus ministry, using interns, reducing ministry, as money was tight and there were large capital expenses. Every 40 years faith community returns to wilderness school. It’s as if time were the gift that God is giving as daily bread. A time to reflect, to reevaluate, to remember what is important, to reimagine the proclamation of the gospel; to return relationship – of loving God, each other, and all creation.

As this journey in the wilderness comes towards the end of a 40 year cycle, we are nearing the Jordan river – where on the other side the people set up community to live out what they learned in the wilderness- this is what we are discerning now, preparing the place to worship and mark Sabbath, to receive daily bread, to redistribute God’s manna for the next 40 years.

 

Thankfully we are a community who has journeyed through articulating our values and beliefs. We know our gifts and the work of God that we do in the world. This tells us that it is time to make faithful decisions, we are at the cusp of coming out of the wilderness.

The people who left Egypt needed time to shed the layers of slavery and bondage under which they had lived. It meant being able to look back, not bellyaching for what they had and now miss, but actually, seeing, that where they came from was not the ‘good old days.’ It was slavery, it was persecution, it was genocide – the experience in the wilderness was the gift of time given to move the people from that disfunction and ungodly system to forming God community, God kindom, a community that would live by faith not by sight, in relationship with God, each other, and creation.

 

We have been practicing the lessons of wilderness school.

Receiving daily bread and sharing the bread, honouring the sabbath by providing the sacred space for worship -connecting people with God and God with us, and us with others, and all of us with creation and with God; and this whole conversation of what now? – is wrapped up in the lesson of hoarding stinks. Do we keep our resources to ourselves, living in a bondage to the past and keeping things the same, hoarding the manna that is left until it is all gone and we stand in the wilderness grumbling – or do we courageously realize it is time to leave the desert and get on with building a place for sabbath and sharing manna with all, that will carry humanity -in this place- for the next 40 years?

 

I think about the image I shared at the beginning. With 30 seconds many people draw a clock. With 30 mins creativity abounds and people imagine and draw all kinds of pictures. I see the circle as this faithful community, the two lines are the work we have done investigating and gathering information; the gift of time has opened up options, the lines are ready to move outside the circle and with decisiveness draw all over the page with God’s manna.

Thanks be to God. Amen.

Current State of Affairs - Grace Changes Everything!

 

A week ago at National Church Council meeting, those in attendance had a candid conversation about the future of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada. We shared our fears, stress, and sorrows; our hopes and dreams, amidst the realities of being church in the current Canadian context. Through the conversation, National Church Council came to a place of shared hope.

 

We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living. (Rm. 14: 7-9)

 

I hear these words from the book of Romans as a place of shared hope. Paul’s words confront the church – the ELCIC, Synods, individual congregations, Christians around the world, this congregation, reminding us that our practice of church is to the glory of God. Pressing upon us that God is in the business of redemption and resurrection. And that we are graced with participating in ongoing death, redemption, and resurrection.

 

Chapter 14 of Romans illustrates the significant struggles with diversity in the Christian community – or rather communities- in Rome of 60CE. In this chapter Paul speaks directly to the traditionalists (that was part of today’s reading, staring, Some judge one day better than another…), while the later part of the chapter is directed at the liberal contingent. Paul argues with both, and all groups in between, that differences in worship practice and piety don’t make anyone a better Christian or a better community. Such, is simply that particular community’s way and expression.

What matters, what really matters – what a community’s life depends on- is resting in and belonging to Jesus Christ who died for all. In this belonging, God holds all -traditionalists, liberals- in life, in death, in life; and whether a community is currently in a time of life or death or life it remains in God. Is this not a freeing perspective? Is this not a place of shared hope?

 

In conversations, like the one I was part of with National Church Council, I appreciate that once our fears are articulated, room in our hearts grows to contemplate what really matters. For me, no matter what the church looks like in coming days, there are aspects of Lutheranism that keep me grounded and preach gospel to a hurting world, and for these I am willing to lay down my life. Deep down I know that I can let a lot go, so long as the church continues to preach that ‘grace changes everything.’ That there is nothing a person can do to earn the unconditional love of God because God has already given and continues to give this love. I value that Lutherans, since the 1500s, have welcomed the asking of questions, theological reflection and conversation are for everyone, faith education and teaching are for everyone by everyone. I appreciate commitment to liturgy – both ancient and reformed at the same time- with a vast compendium of music and hymns, prayers of the people, and persistence in Word and Sacrament. I take comfort that Lutherans embrace the ‘Theology of the Cross,’ that in vulnerability and suffering God meets us; in the reality of everyday life God is incarnate and dwells among us.  I can let a lot go – buildings, present church structures at all levels, job security – as long as those things I mentioned remain in the world. For me, my list of what matters, speaks and proclaims a Gospel that the world is in such desperate need of. The world needs a space and place of shared hope. We know this place. Christians have lived in this place through millennium. Paul preaches to us:  God is in the business of redemption and resurrection, and we are graced with participating in ongoing death, redemption, and resurrection.

 

This cycle of death, redemption, and resurrection; of life and death and life- is ongoing. This is baptized living, Kindom living. It is forever and always.

Matthew plays with this thought in his Gospel. Peter asks Jesus how many times should one forgive another member of the church? It is like asking: when have I paid my dues, completed following the Law, when can I retired, when can I stop actively participating?

Jesus’ response is a parable that directs hearers to what really matters. What is at the heart of the forgiveness question, is one of living compassion and showing mercy. Is there ever a time when a professed follower of Jesus can be done with compassion and mercy? No – there is no end to being compassionate and showing mercy. Compassion and mercy are the essence of a place of hope. Compassion and mercy are how we proclaim a gospel to a hurting world. Forgiveness, compassion, and mercy are how we participate in redemption and resurrection. Forgiveness, compassion, and mercy is our reaction to God’s grace, and our proclamation that grace changes everything!

 

In the current Canadian context – and the crisis throughout the world- it is a daily struggle for me to remember and live redemption and resurrection. I feel afraid. I feel sad. I feel angry. I feel helpless. I feel tired. And I grieve.

 

And in this heart space, in the valley of the shadow of death so to speak, I am greeted with the words:

We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living. (Rm. 14: 7-9)

 

A place of shared hope - spoken through the ages, in times of community squabbling, persecution, war, famine, natural disaster, exile, displacement…homelessness, climate crisis, nuclear posturing, revoking of rights and freedoms…

A place where shared hope is translated into redemption and resurrection through small acts of forgiveness, compassion, and mercy—which are not so small, in fact they are very large to the receiver, who is living in an unwell world.

And when compassion and mercy are the grace received, grace changes everything. These moments of redemption and resurrection are the heart of the matter, and this matter is in our hands. It is never-ending that through forgiveness, compassion, mercy, God’s kindom comes.

 

Our practice of church – no matter what form it takes- is to the glory of God. Pressed upon us this morning is that God is in the business of redemption and resurrection. And that we are graced with the gift of participating in ongoing death, redemption, and resurrection.

To God the giver of life. Amen.

...But Nobody Wants to Die

 

Have you ever considered the thought – Everyone WANTS to go to heaven, but nobody WANTS to die?

It doesn’t take much reflection to realize that WANTS rule our lives. We want to have, we want to be, we want to achieve, we want … Our wants are messed up – sometimes, like in the starting quote, not compatible. Our wants say much about our view of the world and the way we choose to live our lives.

 

This is Labour Day weekend. Labour Day is the first Monday of September. Traditionally it was marked with parades and picnics organized by trade unions. The day is an occasion to campaign for and celebrate workers’ rights. Origins trace back to 1872 and the Toronto Trades Assembly who publicly demonstrated to release from prison those who went on strike to fight for a 9hr workday. Groups of skilled workers were encouraged to join trade unions who mediated disputes between employers and employees, demanded safe workplaces and regulated job sights, and advocated for proper compensation for employees.

Whether you like or dislike unions- or are somewhere in between- the core of union work, the stand of the employer, and the public’s perception, is wrapped up in naming and negotiating WANTS and NEEDS.

 

This week, CBC Radio One had a segment about back-to-school and how this is an ideal time to teach children financial intelligence. The young people interviewed spoke about first day clothing and how one had to dress to fit in; others spoke of wanting the ‘right’ backpacks and shoes. Parents spoke about the increased cost of everything from school supply lists through lunch box foods. The interviewee stated that a foundation skill of healthy money management is determining and separating NEEDS and WANTS.

 

Two weeks ago, when Habitat Canada presented their proposal to us, it was nice to dream about what could be. Creating something new ----we dream, we want. Slipped into their talk was a question -that we have not yet tackled, (but will) what are our NEEDs in a worship space, as a gathering faith community, and as a community space? What serves us and what doesn’t? Stewardship of God’s gifts begins in articulating and separating our NEEDS and our WANTS.

 

This year, the Gospel of Matthew has been our guide through the stories of Jesus. Matthew’s Gospel has waxed on interpreting the meaning of the Law for everyday life. The Gospel does not shy away from pointing to NEED and WANT. NEED as exemplified in texts like Mt. 6: 11, give us today our daily bread. Later in the same chapter with regards to WANT: Do not lay up for yourselves treasures … where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Mt.6: 19-21

By the end of the same chapter, Matthew directs listeners to a principle that helps sort out the mess we get into with unbalanced WANT - Seek 1^st the kindom of God and his righteousness and all things will be added to you. Mt. 6:33

 

This morning once again Matthew continues – one way, among many, to interpret this morning’s text is in relation to NEEDS and WANTS. We hear: For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life? (Mt. 16: 26)

 

There is a story of a happy labourer, who went to work each day whistling merry tunes. The labourer led a simple life and was content. The ruler of the land was annoyed that the labourer should be so happy with so little; the ruler didn’t understand how the labourer could be happy. The ruler’s chief aide said, “that’s because the labourer is not part of the ’99 Club.’” “What is that?” asked the ruler.

The chief aide put together a bag with 99 pieces of gold and in the middle of the night left it on the doorstep of the cottage. The next time the ruler saw the labourer, the labourer looked haggard and was no longer whistling merry tunes. The ruler asked the aide, “what is the meaning of this?” The aide replied, “The labourer is now part of the ’99 Club.’ After receiving 99 gold coins, the labourer couldn’t believe that one wasn’t missing – who has a bag of only 99 coins and not 100? The labourer is seeking out that lost coin – a coin that is not lost because it never existed. This want of one more coin will consume the labourer from now until eternity.”

 

We could say that the labourer gained the world in 99 coins; but, the 99 coins also had the labourer lose – forfeit- the contented and peaceful life that was. In a twinkling of an eye WANT dominated the labourer’s life. Human WANTS are all messed up.

 

Matthew’s gospel has been addressing how the Law applies to everyday life. The Law, as in the commandments, the Covenant, and God’s vision of kindom, are all wrapped up in human ability and inability to balance NEEDS and WANTS.

Today’s reading is one more attempt to appeal to those who knew the Law to faithfully live it – not to gain anything for themselves, to be better than someone else, or more righteous; not to find loopholes that had individuals amassing wealth or authority; not to focus on the rules – the do nots-…

Focus was to be LIFE – kindom life.

A life of faithful covenant living, seeking God and God’s kindom first and all things -relationship, community, shalom, contentment – will be added to you. In this NEEDS are met in the whole community. WANTS are balanced.

 

 

To WANT eternal life means that one NEEDS to die.

To WANT God’s kindom to come here, I wonder what NEEDS to die in us as individuals, and in us as a community of faith to allow for that to happen?

 To WANT to continue as a worshiping and gathering community of faith, to discern what is next on the corner of Windsor and Allan, what NEEDS to die, what NEEDS to be carried forward, what NEEDS to change, what NEEDS to resurrect?

 

You are invited to reflect on NEEDS and WANTS in relation to worship space, in relation to congregation and community gathering space.  In coming weeks, a place will be provided to share your NEEDS and WANTS.

Start your reflection grounded in Matthew 6: pray for our daily bread, seek first the kindom of God, place your heart here and breathe deeply.

What do we NEED?

What do we WANT – what does God WANT? What does God NEED?

 

Holy Wisdom,

It is beyond us to consider your needs and wants, yet in our depths we sense that our purpose is in the essence of your needs and wants; the fulfillment of your kindom and living covenant.

Help us discern the difference between our wants and needs.

Instead of asking for what we want, change our prayers to pray for those who need our prayer.

Beyond our needs and wants, God, be at work in our lives and in the lives of others, that the world’s needs and wants become balanced for the wellbeing of all,

that you be glorified, now and forever. Amen.