Christians – peculiar family relationships ?

From where I am type here in Dallas, the growing mess between the former Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth and the New Diocese of Fort Worth is disappointing.  How can we be Christ to a hurting world when we are seemingly more concerned about power, position, property, polity, purity, proper interpretation, and our narrow purpose, than the persons to whom Christ sent us to minister and love? 

 After hearing today of the lawsuit filing against the former leaders of the Fort Worth Diocese, I wrote the Episcopal Presiding Bishop about my sadness over the lawsuit.  The fact that Christian brothers and sisters are seeking resolution in a secular court is a black eye for the Body of Christ.  We should not be taking brothers and sisters to court! 

I can see the reasons behind the lawsuit, but spiritually it does not make for a good exercise of faith.  

Jack Iker, the former Bishop of Fort Worth, is claiming to be Episcopal and the legitimate Diocese of Fort Worth, all the while leaving the body of TEC.  One guesses this is in order to remain a true Anglican, pure follower of Christ and the scriptures.  Good luck with that Jack.   I do not know Jack, so trying to address his issues is not a place I choose to go today.  

However, since I am a Christian, an Episcopalian second, and in Communion with members of my church, I sent an email to the Presiding Bishop of the TEC sharing my sadness and disagreement with the action of 4/14/2009.  The following is what I said in my email:
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I am writing to you today out of a deep sense of sadness.
  
I heard the news today that my Episcopal Church is filing suit against the former Diocese of Fort Worth.  I understand there are very significant concerns and issues related to the unfortunate and raw separation of churches and some former leaders of the Diocese of Fort Worth from The Episcopal Church.  Property, $s, and polity are at stake.  Authority and order are at stake.  Spiritual leadership and fellowship are at stake. 
 
I am pleased that “the new Fort Worth Diocese” is reforming and will again in time be a beacon of Christ’s light to that area.   
 
With regards to the lawsuit, there are eternally significant issues greater than $s, property, order, and polity, which may impact the Body of Christ.  This is especially true when a portion of the body takes brothers and sisters to court!  I do not think this is a sound approach in dealing with splintered spiritual relationships!

Those of you who are attempting to be the stewards of TEC may have it wrong. 

 

How tightly do we hold onto the temporal, and what impact do such efforts have on the eternal? 

Why would any non-Episcopalian, non-believer, or seeker be inclined to join a body whose high profile news and publicity make it appear that it has nothing better to do than fight and sue.  This brings disgrace to the cause of Christ, all in the name of “being Right”. There are so many good things that we do as a body!  However, it shames me that what people may remember about TEC are our fights, our “soul” concern for property, and being right.  Again, how tightly do we hold onto things and the right to be right when eternity is at stake?    

 

I read a clip by Iker via the Dallas Morning News. It said he wasn’t surprised by the suit.  “It was expected,” he said.  Should we not do something really unexpected and surprising by letting God deal with the parochial pieces of The Church and not use “the state” to settle spiritual challenges?   

 

I disagree with the lawsuit action.
  
Thank you for your time.

Todd
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In any family there will be disagreements.  As the Body of Christ we must also use grace in relating to those with whom we disagree.  We need each other for we are less the Body of Christ when we turn our backs and hearts away from one another.  For those that leave or those that stay God loves you!      

  

   

We should exercise spiritual forbearance toward each other.  All of us, at one time or another, are blinded by the log in our own eye.  We need God, the Holy Spirit, Scripture, and each other’s prayer and discernment of God’s truth.  We hope we are on God’s side in all this, but as human’s we sometimes can get it wrong.   I think I did one or two times in the past year. 

 

As God’s family, why are we bringing the state into the King’s realm???

 

Most likely I will be the next to need Godly understanding, so please have the heart of Christ. So when you see me on the street, greet me in the name of Christ for I am someone’s child – God’s.  Are you one too? 

 

Grace and Peace

Todd

 

 

 

The End: Hoopla and Fear of the Whirlwind

“They sow the wind,

     And reap the whirlwind.”   Hosea 8:7

 

 

It has come to completion. 
All is over:  all the hoopla, all the tall tales spent, all the painting of ideals, all the twisting of facts, all spin doctors spiel, all the invitations for change, all the sound bites, all image stories, all the innuendo and half truths, all the sowing of fear, all the aspiring to hope, all the anticipate…  It is finished. 

 

Wow, we all survived.  WE ALL continue on into another day, despite Fear’s Tools in this campaign, HOPE prevails.  Now is the time to continue the godly heritage of the best that We Are and Can Be. 

 

As I listened to John McCain’s concession speech I heard sincere attempts to undo, salve, and ease some of this campaign’s “sowing the wind”.  John spoke with conviction and grace, and worked to defuse a “reaping of the whirlwind.”  Accusations, innuendo, and half truths are winds that have tempted us to breed:  fear, trepidation, anxiety, apprehension, suspicion, questioning motives, and mistrust.  It will take days before we see if the sting of negativism has been neutralized and the whirlwind deactivated. 

 

John McCain’s concession speech was one of the most gracious parts of this campaign. Despite the boos in his crowd, McCain is right.  We live in a gracious, free, and God inspired country.

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John McCain:
“A little while ago, I had the honor of calling Senator Barack Obama to congratulate him. (BOOING)
Please. To congratulate him on being elected the next president of the country that we both love.  In a contest as long and difficult as this campaign has been…  he managed to do so by inspiring the hopes of so many millions of Americans… I deeply admire and commend him for achieving…

This is an historic election…

I’ve always believed that America offers opportunities to all who have the industry and will to seize it. Senator Obama believes that, too..

Let there be no reason now … Let there be no reason now for any American to fail to cherish their citizenship in this, the greatest nation on Earth…

I urge all Americans … I urge all Americans who supported me to join me in not just congratulating him, but offering our next president our good will and earnest effort… and leave our children and grandchildren a stronger, better country than we inherited.

Whatever our differences, we are fellow Americans…

This campaign was and will remain the great honor of my life… American people for giving me a fair hearing before deciding that Senator Obama and my old friend Senator Joe Biden should have the honor of leading us for the next four years.  (BOOING)
Please. Please…

Tonight — tonight, more than any night, I hold in my heart nothing but love for this country and for all its citizens, whether they supported me or Senator Obama — whether they supported me or Senator Obama.

I wish Godspeed to the man who was my former opponent and will be my president. And I call on all Americans, as I have often in this campaign, to not despair of our present difficulties, but to believe, always, in the promise and greatness of America…

We never hide from history. We make history.

Thank you, and God bless you, and God bless America. Thank you all very much.

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I have seen many of election campaigns come and go.  Each has its way of sharing promises, sowing fears, proclaiming hope, spreading doubt, and nurturing idealism… so once again, for the next four years, a new day has dawned.  I am glad to be awake and alive to see its potential.    

The fear of whirlwind need not burst into our Union for we are democracy of peace, hope opportunity, and which all has a foundation in God’s sovereignty.  Therefore at times when we may be weak and feel out of control, we can know that God is in loving control.   

God bless you, and God bless America, and may America be a blessing to God !!! 
Todd

Luke 8:24

And they came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!”

Then He arose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water. And they ceased, and there was a calm. ²⁵But He said to them, “Where is your faith?”

And they were afraid, and marveled, saying to one another, “Who can this be? For He commands even the winds and water, and they obey Him!”

 

  

See link below for the text of John McCain concession speech:

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hmJfimrZW3jBur_BmaFtqj7mfFgQD948JFJG5

Politics, Religion, Friendship and Bull Dogs

Politics, Religion, Friendship and Bull Dogs

 

I recently had an email dialogue with a close friend about the current political campaign.  Several ideas to ponder came up. 

 

1. An idea was proposed – Sarah Palin could be seen as a developing ”US Margaret Thatcher”.  There seems to be a good chance that if John McCain becomes president then, one way or another Palin has a good chance of eventually being the first female president.  Margaret Thatcher Palin, has a ring to it… ?

 

2. With the complexity of issues currently facing our nation I brought up the need for our next  president to be able to build consensus.  My friend and I got into a discussion about what the word “consensus” means.  He stated that “Sometimes I wonder if consensus building muddles us down into a lowest common denominator situation.”  Sometimes it very well may.  If the consensus building is merely finding the thing with which we agree, or becomes an act of placation, then no really high expectations can be set.  This type of process will yield a kind of indistinguishable mush.  Nothing appetizing comes out in “mush” form.  My mother-in-law cannot digest real food.  All of her food is pureed.  A nice apple cobbler ends up looking disgusting and tasting nothing like the original product.  The process of consensus cannot be finding the lowest common denominator otherwise it will end up as a useless, tasteless, ineffective glob of a solution.  

To me “Building Consensus” means that a great leader will:  
Really listening to a variety of views, including people with whom they may disagree.  In that process of listening said leader must be big enough to NOT be threatened.  Said leader (he/she) has to become a true statesman to persuade, cajole, and coax others to come along side their vision.  God really knows it’s individuals who are valuable, even those with strange views.  Consensus does not mean lowering our standards but raising awareness and inspiring the cooperation of others.  I think that’s why it is normally called “building consensus” – it takes work. By the way, Consensus is not a four letter word.  A good leader must work at sculpting their ideas and communicating them well.  In doing so, others may catch their dreams.   

 

For me this is an area where Bush got in trouble.  I voted for W.  He started off in office with an attitude of gathering people together, as a great leader should.  Bush strayed from his consensus building vision.  Along the way it seems that he changed, got insulated, and maybe started listening to only a very small group of advisors.  Closed circles of influence and a “my way” mentality can only last so long during a crisis.  As a result during recent Texas elections the Republicans lost a lot of good local Republican judges, and nationwide they lost senators, and representative positions due to a backlash against an insulated administration.  My perception is that people reacted and voted against a sense that Bush was not interested in listening to anyone outside his elite group.  A good leader must listen, respond to, or at least deeply acknowledge peoples concerns and frustrations.  Dismissal of The Peoples concerns or a perception that “they just are not capable of understanding” is not a helpful attitude or persona. 

 

It takes more than a president and vice president to be and make positive lasting change.  Being insulated unto themselves one will accomplish little, but as true uplifting visionaries a leader may accomplish much.       

 

3. I have concerns that Palin will not work to build consensus.  
Her “hockey mom” image makes her appear that she will acts more like a bull dog and less like a statesperson.  Reports I have read indicate that if one challenges Palin or does not agree with her, they get “banished” or blacklisted.  That is not an attitude that our nation needs! 

 

Palin does not appear to be starting out as a consensus builder, so if I had to guess I’d say she may alienate people who could be a great asset along the way.  The process to “real change” is going to take a lot of cooperation.  One has to lead and build a lot of consensus to make change happen.  Again, a president and vice president cannot go very far by themselves. 

 

4. I will watch McCain to see if he continues to be one who includes.  
Well, this certainly is turning out to be an interesting election year. 

Yep, I have not yet decided for whom I will vote.  I will be looking to vote for a statesman/statesperson, not a bull dog. 

 

Finally, the thing I enjoyed most about this email dialogue was that my friend and I could share our ideas because of attitudes of mutual respect, trust and appreciation.  We have a relationship which enables a safe context to share potentially controversial ideas and grow through the exchange. 

 

Many people avoid discussing politics and religion because it can get really personal and sometimes ugly.  It is through trusting relationships that the deeper interactions of life are enabled.  Isn’t it through trusting relationships that peace and grace can be found by which we can gently grapple with the harder questions of life, liberty and the pursuit of the eternal? 

 

May peace and the pursuit of truth be life unto you. 
Todd

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Woods, Water, Silence… Important but not Urgent

I am, I seek, I strive, I will, I relate, I photograph, I muse, I write, a little bit.

I had the opportunity to get into the woods this summer.  It was a relief to be away from the Dallas: away from the summer heat, away from the noise, away from the busyness, and away from the congestion of the city.  It was “heaven” for a few days.  Taking time off was a sanctuary for my soul.  A personal secure haven away from the pressure of the immediate, and the weighing stresses of daily “surviving”.  I need sanctuary places, small respites of time and place to be able to breath, think and be outside the demands of the every day. 

For a few days this summer there was time to enjoy a little reading, engage in conversations and fellowship.  Types of communication happened, which for me, can get left behind in the daily “got to get it done” information flow.  It can get left behind in that “communication” necessary to get a job complete and make a living.  Day to day responsibilities and tasks pull me in many directions.  Occasional “sanctuary moments” help my mind re-prioritize and focus on more ultimate values. 

My time off is more than just getting “away” it is having the occasion to break from the weight of the urgent.  It is time to refocus on what is living.  It is time to relate.  It is time to ponder.  It is time to seek wisdom.  It is time to contemplate on living life with abundant joy: being deliberately spontaneous to concentrate on these, instead of just existing. 

I cannot “get away” very often and I suspect that not many of us really escape the urgent for very long.  So how do I make sanctuary in my everyday life?  To what am I really getting away from?  What makes the everyday worthwhile?  For me it  comes back to: family, friends, meaningful relationships, appreciation, respect, generous, hospitality, fulfillment, joy, laughter, tickles, awe, faith, acceptance, forgiveness, surprises, fascination, wonder.  Just maybe – if I loose my wonder, I loose my soul.

“Happy are those who find wisdom, and those who get understanding… those who hold her fast are called happy.” Proverbs 3:13-18

Getting away is terrific, but living everyday is where I spend most of my days.  I seek vision to perceive sanctuary moments around me, and to work at finding them in the midst of the urgent. 

May wisdom and peace be our sanctuary.
Todd

It is our turn to listen, watch and pray.

What a unique idea and practice.  Instead of opening our mouths and voting our independence, why not exercise patience and measured respect for others in our communion.  Cannot we watch and pray just a little while longer – a little longer than what may be normal in our fast paced western culture and lifestyle.  Do we suffer from a western “got to have it now” lifestyle which spills over and impacts our spirituality?

Why not put off until tomorrow what may further alienate us today?  But then we must hold that in tension with godly folks who wait affirmation of their calling, right?  This is surely complex stuff to live and die by, stay or leave by, to love or dismiss by…  Do our prayers and actions lead to life or to taking it away?  More light in the world or less?  More grace for God’s children or less?  More people joining God’s way or less people? Do we lack because we are not one as Jesus calls us to be? 

Some battles may do more damage to the innocent and curious bystanders, than to the convinced and faithful. 

If I knew little of the Episcopal Church, Anglican Communion, or our loving Lord God, would I be drawn to join this seemingly rancorous crew?  Does our pride, on any side, honor our Maker, Lord and Redeemer?  Did God die for our right and/or for our soul?  

Onward through the fog…  for we now see dimly… but then face to face?
Simple words shared from just me.      
Thanks.