PRACTICES: Community

PRACTICES: Community

In our series, “PRACTICES,” we’re exploring the central things that shape our lives as Christians and as a community.  We do this in preparation for COVENANT SUNDAY on NOV. 6TH when we’ll each of us who feel called will make commitments as Covenant Members of this community, articulating how we will engage our faith in practice here.  So far we’ve discussed Sacraments & Worship, Food & Hospitality, and now we want to take a fresh look at Community. 

 “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another.  Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” - John 13:34-35 

Our Christian Community is marked by love.  The command is simple, the implications are more complex.  Love God. Love People. Community is the context of church isn’t just about a club of like-minded people who enjoy…it’s a web of deep relationship where we share more than the superficial stuff of life.  Don’t get me wrong, we really enjoy being together (last Sunday’s AFTER HOURS at the bar, was fantastic).  But how can community be something more?  What happens when strangers become family?  When spectators become participants and creators? 

It is happening around the tables of DINNER CHURCH, and it extends into our offices, homes, and neighborhoods.  Here’s your weekly journaling guide that walks you through your own reflection:

Prepare: What do you bring with you to your community?  Write down what gifts, interests, passions, or ideas you have to share.  It doesn’t have to be stuff you might think of as “church-y,” but what are you good at in general?  What gets you fired up?  What would you do if you if you could do anything?

Day 1: This week, you’ll dig into the practice of community by finding ways to use your passions, talents, and connections in your church. Some people have a hard time with this – they feel they aren’t invited or welcomed to involve themselves in their faith community.  So start in this practice by writing down some thoughts about what might hold you back from investing yourself in your church.  What could you do to get over some of these hurdles?

Day 2: Remember that list you made of your gifts and interests? Look over what you wrote. Now get specific about the talents of interest or resources you have that could help you get more involved in your faith community.  Think creatively: maybe you’ve raised your kids already and could mentor a younger parent.  Maybe you live close to the airport and can offer rides when people need to fly somewhere.  Write down some options.

Day 3: Today, explore our church’s website or send an email to Pastor Ashley to find out what opportunities for involvement already exist in our faith community.  You don’t need to commit to anything yet, but don’t rule anything out either.  Just get a sense of what’s already going on in your community. Make some notes about places you can see yourself using the skills and interest you listed yesterday.

Day 4: Now that you’ve got a sense of what you can offer and what’s already happening in your community, take today to pray or talk to a friend or two about taking the big step toward true involvement.  What feels scary about this?  What feels hopeful?

Day 5: If you get this far and just haven’t found something that feels like a good fit for you, consider how you might create that fit.  If you brew your own beer or have a knack for gardening or tell great stories, think about how those skills could create new ways for you – and others – to connect in your community.  Write down your thoughts.

Day 6: This is the day to take action.  If there’s a group at church you’d like to join, call or text the person coordinating that group and let them know you’re interested.  If you’ve got an idea for a new event or project in our faith community, arrange to meet with Pastor Ashley to talk about how you can make that happen.  As you get started, write about how it’s going.  What are you learning about community?  About yourself?

PRACTICES: Sacraments + Confession

What’s at the heart of our Christian faith?  What are the most important practices for how we are to live as God’s people? This is what we will spend the next 7 weeks exploring in a series called “Practices.” It’s not just a sermon series, but a series we take home with us and reflect on through journaling and action.  We'll hear from diverse Christian leaders from across the country, reflect on how we experience these traditions, and contemplate our own commitments.  It all leads up to COVENANT SUNDAY - NOVEMBER 6TH.  This is how we will make promises to ourselves, to God, and to one another about how we want to be KINDRED.  It's a different kind of "membership."  It's less about who's in and who's out, and more about who we want to be.

This past week we engaged the tradition of sacraments – those things we set apart as uniquely sacred, as a combination of divine promise and common earthly elements.  For Lutherans, we identify baptism and Holy Communion as the two sole sacraments based on that understanding.  The word Sacrament comes from the latin “sacramentum” which had a broader meaning as a vow or promise, as in the swearing of an oath to Caesar. How does this historical meaning of the word sacrament change your ideas about the role sacraments play in the Christian faith? Can you remember a time when taking communion or witnessing a baptism felt like a truly spiritual experience for you?  If that never happened, what would it take for those sacraments to hold deeper meaning on your life?  Among KINDRED, we practice communion with homemade bread, we serve each other around our tables, and we proclaim that all are welcome – children, skeptics, sinners, and saints.  How does the WAY we practice communion reflect how we understand it? What does it mean to visibly seal our lives to God through the practice of the sacraments?

Although not a sacrament in the Lutheran church, the act of confession holds a special place in our tradition. Throughout the week we engage this practice with thoughtful reflection.  This practice might feel very new and even uncomfortable, but we open ourselves to the possibility that this practice might offer healing and freedom. Each day this week, we give ourselves over to this practice in a new way:

Day 1: This week, you’ll be working through one of the less-common sacraments, confession. This might be a new practice for you or one that feels a little uncomfortable.  That’s okay.  Each day, you’ll move a bit deeper into the practice and have the chance to write about the feelings or thoughts it brings up.  Today, think about a relationship in your life that might benefit from an act of confession on your part.  Write down the name of the person you’d like to reconcile with over the course of this week as well as the part of your relationship that needs to heal.

Day 2: It’s never easy to admit fault, but speaking our failures out loud can take some of their power and shame away. Start the process of confession by talking honestly with God about the issue. Confess out loud to God and allow yourself to feel God’s grace work its way into you. What is this experience like for you?

Day 3: It can help to bring another person into this process to offer support and encouragement. Today, ask a trusted friend or your pastor to listen to you confession. Journal a bit about what might be holding you back from moving more deeply into this practice.

Day 4: Now it gets real. Reach out to the person you need to confess to and ask to meet tomorrow.  If it’s not possible to get together in person, set up a time to talk over the phone or over Skype.  No texting or email allowed here – this needs to happen in a face-to-face conversation.  Write out any fears or anxieties you have about this step.  And don’t forget to lean on the person you asked to support you.  This is when you’ll need them most.

Day 5: This is the day you make it happen.  As you confess, keep the focus on you and the actions you regret.  Ask your friend to listen and allow you to say what you need to say. Ask for forgiveness.  You might not get it, but no matter what happens as a result of this confession, you will have made a significant step toward repairing a broken relationship.  Then take some time to write down your thoughts about this conversation.  How did it feel? What did you hope for? What might come from this?

Day 6: Today, take some time to reflect and write about this experience.  Allow yourself to feel that weight of guilt lift off of you, no matter how the conversation went.  You might not have gotten the response you hoped for from the other person, but you can find rest and peace in the grace of God.

God's Work, Our Hands

Church isn't just what happens inside the sanctuary, it's who we are. We gather as the people of God to celebrate God's goodness and share God's blessing - not just with our words...but in our action and experiences. We embody the Good News to each other, to our neighbors, to this city.  To someone who's hungry, Good News can look like a heaping plate of chicken and orzo salad, a full bowl of ham hocks and greens. That's one of the many reasons our worship happens around the table and over a good meal. Over and over, Jesus shows us that our abundance is to be shared with those in need. Throughout history, the people of God are marked as those who invite strangers into their homes, who clothe those who are down to their last pair of clean underwear, who acknowledge the humanity of those imprisoned and align themselves with the struggle of the oppressed. That's what "God's Work, Our Hands" Sunday is about - a day of service across our denomination, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. From Texas to Minnesota, we invest our time and energy in something other than ourselves. We make a visible declaration to the community that Christians aren't only concerned with piety, but with justice and the people who are most vulnerable among us. 

As KINDRED, and alongside Lutheran Campus Ministries of Houston, we went out into the streets of our Montrose neighborhood to gather necessities for our partner, Montrose Grace Place (MGP). The community rallied to provide clothes, toiletries, diapers and games for the homeless youth that MGP serves each week. We also labeled 1500 bars of hotel soap with Human Trafficking Hotline stickers. Houston is the #1 hub for human trafficking in this country and events like the super bowl are exponentially exploited as a venue for trafficking. In coming weeks, Lutheran Campus Ministry will deliver these soap packages to several hotels around town and educate hotel staff on how their vigilance and the access to this vital hotline can help release people from modern-day slavery. 

We began with prayers, holy communion, and a simple meal - food for body and soul , preparation for the work ahead. We mobilized in service to others. We continue to learn about the larger context for these community needs. To learn more about the mission of Montrose Grace place and youth homelessness, visit here:

http://www.montrosegraceplace.org/

http://www.montrosecenter.org/hub/services/hatch-youth-services/nest-home/

http://www.houstonpress.com/news/the-struggles-of-being-young-homeless-and-lgbt-7901209

http://cw39.com/2015/05/13/shocking-numbers-of-homeless-youth-revealed-for-houston/

To learn more about human trafficking (especially in Houston), here are some trusted resources and info:

https://www.soapproject.org/

http://www.elijahrising.org/

http://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/the-lost-girls/

http://humantraffickinghouston.org/

If you don't already know about A 2nd Cup, let me introduce you to one of my favorite coffee shops. In the heart of The Heights, it's part coffee shop, part non profit for justice. The proceeds from that delicious Squirrel Latte go to organizations that address prevention, liberation, and healing from human trafficking. I intentionally spend office hours there and take meetings there to support their work. I also learn a thing or two when I'm there, including awareness about upcoming events for continued learning or special art sale fundraisers, etc. We're seeing more creative collaborations between business and social change and I needed a good source of caffeine anyway. 

The Old Bedazzled Cross

Luke 14:25-33

25 Now large crowds were traveling with him; and he turned and said to them, 26 "Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. 28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, 30 saying, "This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.' 31 Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 If he cannot, then, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. 33 So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.

As a pastor, people sometimes want to express their gratitude and appreciation for this or that, so they want to get you a little gift.  I’ve noticed that there’s a definite go-to pastor gift. It’s truly the thought that counts and I appreciate the appreciation….but can you guess what the most common gift is?

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The number one gift a pastor receives is some kind of cross décor.  Before I even graduated seminary, our family had enough wall crosses to cover the entire wall of our stairwell.  Many are made by hand and are stunningly gorgeous examples of craftsmanship and artistry.  Some are more kitschy, bedazzled with carefully placed hot glued rhinestones or butterflies. All together, they are actually kinda beautiful and they hold the memories of the cherished people who gave them to me.  But every now and then the thought creeps into the back of my head that reminds me…you have an entire wall covered in first century torture devices.  Ultimately, the roman cross is a killing machine, a totem to imperial power, a landmark erected to remind us of what happens to those who mess with the established system.

Naturally, that frightens us. We don’t really want a God that’s bruised and bleeding , one thank makes us think of the darker side of life, and so we drift toward the shiny Jesus, the Jesus painted in Thomas Kinkade pastels, surrounded by woodlands animals like a Disney princess, the Jesus we can bring home to mama, preened and polished, shining, shimmering, splendid Jesus. The Jesus that won’t scare off our friends and let’s be honest…that one that doesn’t frighten us so badly. 

There are times that I can get behind this revolutionary Jesus.  I’m like, “yeah, Jesus, tell those money changer’s what’s up! Those consumerist heathens!” and then Jesus says, “none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.”  Whoa, whoa, whoa, Jesus. Let’s not overreact. What do you mean by all?  Like, ALL all?  I was totally ready to follow hobby Jesus, but ain’t nobody got time for all this.

When faced with the real significance of the cross, we either throw in the towel or we water it down. We have too often metaphorically and literally whitewashed the cross – turning a homeless middle eastern radical into blue-eyed do-gooder. But there’s got to be another way. My soul longs for something more than that. How do we make sense of the cross? Let’s wrestle with that for a bit.  What does the cross mean to you?  When you really see it?

Real quick though, before we dive in, I want to offer two parameters.  First, this isn’t a multiple choice question with a single correct answer. Each of us are likely to see it a little differently.  After all, the cross means something different to each of the four gospel writers.  So, even in the Bible, there’s no one uniform answer. Second, I want us to be honest with ourselves and each other. 

What does the cross really mean to you? 

In your day to day life…not just the Sunday School answer you think I want to hear.

What are your gut reactions to the cross?

Has your answer changed over time?

I want to suggest another way of looking at the cross.  Jesus uses the examples of financial cost – a building project, the wages of soldiers – but these things are also matters of awareness, looking at the world with clear eyes not just rose-colored glasses, taking time to contemplate the very real implications of our choices. I often say that Christianity is pretty simple, but its implications are complex.  The cross is a light to the world, and so it brings to light some things we wish would have remained in the shadows. The Cross gives us sight to see the intimate brokenness AND beauty of the world God loves. God gives us eyes to see and it cannot be unseen.  Like, once you’ve seen the images of toddlers washing up on Mediterranean shores, you can’t think of refugees as some faceless issue over there. Once you’ve seen a homeless person bring their food back to camp and share it with those who have even less…they can no longer be an amorphous blur as we drive by. Once you’ve seen your annoying co-worker stop to invite that person who always gets left out, out to lunch…you see generosity in a new way. Once you see wildflowers taking over that abandoned eyesore of a lot, or whimsical dandelions breaking through cold concrete…you recognize beauty in barren places.

Cuban Artist, Eric Ravelo's contemporary installation, "Los Intocables/The Untouchables"

Once we’ve heard the good news that God loves us even with our messy truth, we see God’s love in so many other unexpected places and can’t help but follow in a new way. And that’s the key. If you hear nothing else, hear this. The Gospel comes first.  We receive grace overflowing first and foremost.  The cross isn’t about suffering our way to God, but God’s dogged commitment to transform even the dark dank dismal pits of this world into something entirely new and full of life.

So, what if the cross were about awareness? Some in the church call that revelation, others call it being woke. And it changes the way we live. What if we were to look at the cross as something that opens our eyes and can’t be unseen?

Now, with that framing, what does the Cross mean to you?

Jesus wants us to know that kind of life is tough.  Jesus is not interested in bait-and-switch discipleship and neither am I.  This way will not be always smooth. It may cause some people to think you’re strange, or too opinionated, too political, or a bleeding heart do-gooder. It will cause you to make choices that put the needs of others above your own.  In many ways this kind of life will cost you, taking up the cross will weigh you down and sometimes you’ll wish you could go back to the blissful ignorance you enjoyed before…but even more powerfully, it has liberated you.  On the journey to the cross and through it, Jesus liberates us from fear, from hiding, from crippling shame, from oppression, from sorrow, from ulcerating stress, from impotence, from avoidance, from consuming hatred, from hunger, from pain, and from ultimate death. We will never be the same.  Jesus calls to us, “Take up your cross, stay woke, and follow me.” The gospel is on the move, let’s go. Amen.

KINDRED'S Recipe Box: Chinese Steamed Buns

Yesterday evening was the last of our summer series in bread-baking as an act of worship.  We gathered around good food and great company, around the word of God, prayer, blessing, and work.  We tried something new, we learned more about each other, and we glimpsed God's joy.  We'll continue to make our rustic country loafs for Central City Co-op each week, but here's the special  recipe we made last night:

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup warm water

1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast

1 tablespoon cooking oil (canola or vegetable), plus more for brushing

3 tablespoons sugar

3 cups all-purpose flour + more for dusting

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a mixer bowl, add the warm water, oil, yeast and sugar. Let sit for 1 minute, until the yeast begins to bubble a bit. Next, add in the flour, baking powder and salt, in that order. With the paddle attachment, mix on low for 2 minutes. Add more flour, a tablespoon at a time, if the dough sticks to the sides of the bowl. Change to a dough hook, and on speed 2, knead for 4 minutes, until dough is smooth, supple and clear the sides of the bowl. If the dough sticks to the side of the bowl, add more flour, a tablespoon at a time.

2. Dust your counter with a little flour and turn out your dough knead it a few times and Shape the dough into a smooth ball. Return the dough ball to the mixing bowl, cover with a clean towel and let rise in a warm, dry spot for 1-2 hours, until it nearly doubles in size.

3. Turn out your dough onto a lightly floured surface. Cut the dough in half. Gently roll each half into a log shape. Cut each log into little balls. Roll the dough ball out to a long, oval shape about 6"x3". Brush the top with a little cooking oil. Fold over one side of the oval. Use your rolling pin to gently roll and press one last time. Place bun on a parchment paper, place into the bamboo steamer and cover with lid to prevent drying. Repeat with the remaining dough balls.

 4. Fill your pot or wok with 2" of water. Place the steamer ring (if you have one) bamboo baskets on top. Do not turn on the heat yet. Let rest for 10 minutes. Then, turn on the heat to high. When you begin to see steam coming up from the top of the steamer, reduce heat to medium-high. Let steam for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat, without opening the steamer. Let rest for 1 minute. Open steamer and gently lift the steamer off one another to let the buns cool.

Don't have a steamer basket? No problem! Here's how you can do it with everyday household items.

LIFE TOGETHER - The Mission of God

matthew 28:16-20 - The Commissioning of the Disciples

16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted. 18And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’

 There is so much packed into these 4 short verses.  These are the very last lines of the Gospel of Matthew, this is where one part of the story ends.  God reveals, God commissions, and God blesses.  The resurrected Christ comes into view, comes to where the disciples are, shows up in real time.  Jesus had told the disciples to go to this place and he would met them there, but nothing can really prepare you for the actual experience of witnessing the resurrection. Jesus waits about two seconds for them to register the shock, fall down in worship, but then moves right on to action.  You have seen me, you have heard my promises, God’s promises, you have experienced those promises fulfilled….what are you gonna do now? “Go!” he says. I love this line from a Dave Matthews Band song, it says “to change the world starts with one step.  However small, the first step is hardest of all.”  Often we just don’t know where to start. We want to follow, but we don’t know how. Or we have an idea of how…in theory…we just struggle to put it into real lived practice.

Jesus boils it down to the essentials, “go makes disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.” Church, this is what we are called to be and this is what I want to explore together today.

But before we do….we need to stop and recognize the complexity of that call.  The call is simple, but the implications, how we respond in reality…are more nuanced.  How did the disciples respond to seeing Jesus living where they expected to find only death?  They worshiped…and some doubted.  They both worshiped AND doubted…. There’s not an easy, clean, clear separation of those two elements. There is both adoration and inspiration mixed with uncertainty and skepticism. Resurrection living has room for both, but leans into faith.  This past week I joined Lutherans from around the country, even around the world, as they gathered in New Orleans for our Churchwide Assembly to move the church forward in this call. We heard from one Lutheran, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Leymah Gbowee, a powerful Liberian woman who has tirelessly worked for peace, for women’s rights and safety, but most fervently for the Gospel. She’s met with presidents but she’s also been threatened with violence.  She can count the number of her friends on her hands, but…. She leans passionately into faith and hope.  This past week she told us “it’s not that we weren’t afraid, but we could not allow the fear to stop us.” 

This revelation, commission, and blessing can be overwhelmingly beautiful, frustrating, liberating, confusing, and transformational. I want to acknowledge that as we dive in. There’s room for all of it, but ultimately the last word will belong to blessing.

So let’s break this commission down.  “go make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.”

 I want us to look at each piece and study it together, to explore what this resurrection living looks like, how we understand it in this place and time.  When you hear these words, what comes to wind, how do you hear them?  This is what the community gathered last night for Dinner Church heard:

Go! One thing's for sure, it isn't a commission to stay hidden in our homes.  There's a sense of being granted permission, of being released to go. This is part of the larger rhythm of being gathered and sent, of inviting and sending.  It invokes actions and movement.

make disciples.  There is a shared story.  The story was shared with the disciples, now they share it with others.  It's about spreading the good Word.  It involves encouragement and trust.

of all nations. This is a global commission, where everyone's included with no exclusions. It is directed toward "others" especially those who are different, even strangers.

baptize.  We envision water, but not just water...water that is combined with the Word.  It's about identity, being grounded as Children of God.  We are baptized in the name of God, into the larger church, not just this one church named KINDRED.  Baptism is enduring, we are constantly being reminded of the promises, the community promises and God's promises.  In baptism we are a new creation.

TEACH. We think of sharing, listening, and empowering, persuading. It's not just about intellectual knowledge, but a way of life, living as an example and a willingness to be transformed.  This implies an enduring practice, continual learning.

This is the commission of the church, of disciples, of those who follow in the footsteps of Christ, our commission, our resurrection life! But it is God’s mission.  Notice how close those words are: mission and co-mission.  God is the author, but we are invited to join in that life – co-missioners, co-misseraters, this is our co-mission, together with God as the ultimate director and perfecter of our faith. Our missions will inevitably break down, they point ultimately to ourselves, but this mission points toward God from whom it comes. This is God’s mission and so it WILL. NOT. FAIL!  We rest and lean into that hope, that promise.  It revives us, resurrects us into a fullness of being, a fullness of life as individuals, as a community, as an entire creation.  God’s mission of reconciling the entire world will not fall short. This is no up to us alone, we are not alone. We move forward with God’s blessing, which is this: God is with you always, even to the end of the age.”  Amen.  

5 Things We Need (but forget) for Housing Success

What is Houston doing to care for our homeless?  Several of you came to our local Hyde Park Civic Association last Monday to hear from Marilyn Brown, CEO of The Coalition for the Homeless.  COH brings service providers from around the city together so that those in need can create a plan for comprehensive care.  Housing Assessments and ID services are provided while they also meet basic needs with food, healthcare, showers, and laundry.  Services are concentrated in one location such as The Beacon downtown.  The city has moved to a policy of “housing first” which seeks to provide the stability of shelter and then work toward jobs assistance, sobriety, and other needs rather than expecting stability as a qualifier for housing.

One of our KINDRED community, Donnie, was able to raise his hand and speak to how these more integrated systems are still presenting challenges as struggles to fins housing and work.  Even after completing programs with local shelters, he has been unable to find a job so that he can move forward.  Marilyn reminded our whole association that there are still gaps and shortcomings, that when we talk about homelessness it isn’t an abstract idea, but people with names and stories like Donnie.  Before the meeting was over, Marilyn wrote down his name and promised to investigate his status further.  The next day we got the update that unfortunately they don’t yet have funding available to provide housing vouchers for folks like Donnie who are newly (not chronically) homeless, single (not families), and without disability.

There will always be people who experience homelessness because there will always be people who experience crisis.  The goal of COH is to get people into housing and services within 30 days.  Currently, that process takes an average of 86 days.  There’s still room to grow.  She shared 5 persisting barriers to housing success:

1.       Application fees

Apartments charge an additional fee not covered by the housing voucher.  COH keeps a small fund to help with this, but it’s still insufficient to meet all the need.

2.       Basic furniture

You got an apartment!  Yes! But you probably don’t have anything to sleep on.  We heard one story about a woman who laid our every item of clothing she had to create a soft surface to sleep on.  Again, COH keeps a small fund to provide three basic furniture pieces: a bed, a chair, and a lamp.

3.       Basic household goods

You have a lamp! Yay!  But you probably don’t have a lightbulb for that lamp…or sheets…or toilet paper…etc.

4.       Basic staple foods

Remember what it cost to set up your first apartment?  That first trip to the grocery store?  Oil, sugar, salt and pepper, flour…

5.       Transportation

Getting to your appointments for job interviews and for services requires mobility.  One man who had actually had housing was sleeping on the street downtown several days a week because he physically couldn’t take enough buses to get to his job on time.  Personally, I refer people to the comprehensive service locations which are a minimum of 3 miles from the church.  That’d be a 45 minute walk in the Texas heat without a bike or bus pass.

The arc of justice is long, but it bends towards justice. We know more now than we did two weeks ago, but there’s plenty room to learn.  KINDRED, let us pray for the release of those who are captive to homelessness.  Let us cling to hope as Donnie does.  Let us be an active part of the coming of the kingdom of God where all are cared for in their fullness.

LIFE TOGETHER - Our City

Jeremiah 29:1-7

These are the words of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the remaining elders among the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. 2This was after King Jeconiah, and the queen mother, the court officials, the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the artisans, and the smiths had departed from Jerusalem.3The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah son of Shaphan and Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom King Zedekiah of Judah sent to Babylon to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. It said: 4Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. 7But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.

 This spring, KINDRED began to gather for the first time. As a people, as a community. We had a name, we had a place to worship, and we began to sing the simple songs of faith passed down to us by generations.  This summer, we have begun to explore what our identity as KINDRED is really about.  What does it mean to be KINDRED? What’s important?  Who is God calling us to be?  And so, our leaders on the Restart Team took time for prayer and reflection and study and discerned God’s vision for KINDRED

to cultivate bold community that reveals God’s presence in the city.

That’s the vision, God’s vision, for this time and place and people. And these leaders identified values that would help live into this vision as a people:

the Word of God, boldness, simplicity, equality, family, and our city.  Houston.

We value our city because our location matters, it affects how we live together.  The fourth largest city in the U.S., the most racially diverse city in the country, Houston is home to a wide variety of folks.  Some folks were born here, but many come from other cities, and many come from other states.  Actually, 1 million people in Harris County (that’s one in 4 people) were born in another country.  So that shapes how I look at this text from the prophet Jeremiah. 

It must have felt like the end of the world for the Israelites.  It was certainly the end of life as they knew it in Jerusalem – not just their homeland, their hometown, but their Promised Land!  Theologian Wil Gafney helps us imagine if their story was our story:

Our national government has just collapsed as the result of an invading foreign power. There is no remnant of the military. There is no government. The President, First Lady, Cabinet and Congress have all been exiled. All of the artists in New York and steel workers in Pittsburgh were separated from their families and exiled as well.  You are sent to live in a foreign land where the food is different, the language is different, your job probably doesn’t exist, and you are at the bottom of the societal totem pole.  It’s the reality of millions of refugees across the world including almost 5,000 refugees who come to Houston from 40 countries each year.

 Jeremiah tells the people that they won’t be returning home anytime soon.  That this generation won’t be going back.  That it will actually be several generations before they can return.  In the meantime, they are to make this new place their home.  It’s easier to endure life-altering challenges when you know there’s an end date, but there’s no such situation here.  God is not going to make their troubles magically disappear.   They aren’t told to hunker down, isolate and preserve themselves, but to engage and edify the culture they now inhabit.  They are to build houses, plant gardens, marry, expand your family…even to those who aren’t the same as them.

7 But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. 

The exiles, the refugees, are commissioned not only to tolerate the Babylonians, but to love them and to seek their welfare.  They are called to care for the city…not necessarily because the city has great parks and a renowned art scene or is so darn loveable, but because this is where God has called them to be right now.  They have been exiled from home but not from God. 

So I want us to explore more of what this means in our context.  In light of what this would have meant to the ancient Israelites, what do we hear the prophet saying to us? 

1)    What are your initials thoughts?

2)    As the dominant power, I’m sure the Babylonians did not expect their conquered subjects to then seek their welfare. Have you ever experienced love from an unexpected place?

3)    What keeps you from loving the city/its people?

4)    What would it look like to love this city/its people? To build it up?

5) How is God calling you to be a part of that love?

We are called to care for the city, not because the city is so darn lovable, but because this is where God has called us to be right now.  We are called to join in God’s love already present here – not just the cool and hip parts of the city, not only the art and the fantastic food, but the whole people of Houston, from the suburbs to the slums.  We don’t bring value to the city because we’re a church.  We bring value to the city because the church serves the people of the city and seeks their welfare because we know our welfare is tied to that of our neighbor.  I’m not gonna pretend like the Israelites heard this commission from Jeremiah and were just like, “oh ok!” Psalm 137 is a song of lament for their loss, their experience of being lost without an anchor, and then it’s followed by a cry for vengeance!  Rather the promise unfolded over generations.  In fact, is still unfolding.  There is no place we can go where God is not already present and already at work and we are invited to be a part of that work, of revealing God’s presence and promise in the city.  Let it be so.  Amen.

LIFE TOGETHER - Family

For our time of Word & Wondering, we hear the story of the Great Family.

You are a child of God.  That is your Identity above and before any other, it’s “child of god.” That’s foundational, but just as much so is our identity as Sibling, connected to the Children of God, siblings in Christ.

I wonder…When are people a family?  Obviously when you’re born, but is a couple only a family once they’ve had children?  Or when they have joined themselves in marriage?  Is it only couples and households? Are you a family when you’ve shared Christmas dinner together? When you’ve survived a summer road trip together?

KINDRED, when we say we value families and framilies, we mean that we honor the youngest among us, the relationship their parents have for their complete well-being, and there are lots of those kinds of families moving into the neighborhood.  But we also mean that we honor the intimate connections and relationship formed between people who are sharing their journey together. It’s not the DNA that makes a family, but the commitment to one another, to stand by one another when we celebrate God’s faithfulness, to stand by one another when we pass through a place where God is hidden from our view, to stand by one another as we remember things past and as we look toward the horizon. 

At our core, our foundation, we are created as children of God, siblings in Christ, knit into this expansive family tree that reaches as far as the sky.  We are a part of this great family.  We are family, we are kin. Psalm 133, “how good and pleasant it is when Kindred dwell together in unity.”  We are KINDRED, united in our diversity.

These are the intimate spaces where we learn how to relate to one another, how to trust, how to be generous, how to empower one another.  These are most intimate communities where we can practice being bold…So that…God is revealed in the city. 

The other day my 4 year old daughter, Marley, said to me “mom, I have a big family, not a little family…because I have friends in my family.” Oh yeah?  Who’s all in your family?  “oh! Carson, aroline, Kim, Wes, Emma, Lily, Jude, Tatum, Beth, Adelyn, Chris, Sara, Matt, Jen, Norah, Holden…."

Ok, she is biologically related to the first four on that list.  Carson is her cousin, but she almost always calls him her brother.  Sometimes I try and correct her, but I’m also grateful that she has this very intimate and yet wildly expansive sense of family.

We casually toss around our identities as children of God, baptized into one family, one body. We use relationships like euphemisms.  “Our African-American brothers and sisters, our homeless brothers and sisters, our refugee brothers and sisters.”  But I would never allow my biological brother to live in the conditions that my apathy allows these people to live in. 

The relationship is diluted into words while our lives remain disconnected.  We know in our heads that we are connected, that what affects one, affects us all, that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere…and yet, we keep a safe distance from one another.

But at the cross, a new relationship, a new KIND of relationship is formed. At the cross, we are fused together. At the cross, our identity as one family, a family that bears one another’s burdens, is revealed.  Woman, here is your son.  Disciple, here is your mother.  Living into this kind of family, this kind of kin-ship, means more than sending cards for birthdays.  It’s walking down grocery store aisles together, washing dishes together, helping each other move into a new apartment, sitting down to a table in our homes and sharing a meal together.  It’s showing up for vigils when a part of our community is hurting, it’s listening to each other so we might know how to help. It’s sharing our whole lives together, opening ourselves to be affected by the joy and challenges of another.  At the cross, Christ empties himself, for the sake of the world.  At the cross, we are invited to follow and to do the same…not in theory, but in practice. 

As I brushed through my daughter fine blonde baby hair, I wondered…what if she were to say to me, “mom, I want you to love this other little girl as fiercely as you love me.”  I can’t imagine it.  But that’s what Christ commends to us. 

Look up, look around you, look into the eyes of another…this is your child, your mom, you brother, your sister, your sibling.  How does that shape how you will love them? How you will live together?

God's Gift in the Midst of Violence

What a week.  Last week started with July 4th, Independence Day, a day we celebrate liberty and justice for all…but before the week was out we mourned the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, and for Dallas Police Officers Lorne Ahrens, Michael Krol, Michael J. Smith, Brent Thompson and Patrick Zamarripa. Less than a month ago I sat with my young daughter on a sidewalk in Third Ward watching the Juneteenth Parade go by to celebrate emancipation and the way that it liberates all of us.  In that same month, our new reels were filled with scenes from the gay nightclub in Orlando.  We lost so so so many. In the past year, we united in the face of terror to proclaim, “WE ARE PARIS!” The same brutal hate took the lives of our siblings in Istanbul’s airport and in the streets of Baghdad.

I’ve read so so so many articles on what happened and why.  I’ve stayed up until far too late scrolling through the memes, the cartoons, and the comments threads that offer both truth and vitriolic snark.  I’ve watched the videos because it is my responsibility to witness the suffering of my neighbor.  I have witnessed the utter fear and grief on the faces of people pleading for the very lives our people.  As Christians, all people are OUR people, and our call is especially to advocate for the oppressed.

I’m overwhelmed by all there is to take in.  I’m exhausted because I feel like I shouldn’t have to reiterate people’s humanity over and over again. I am breathless.  I am speechless.  What is left to say?  I know that God is with us in this mess, but where are the promises being fulfilled? Where is the glimpse of hope when the curtain of violence shields it from our view?  I long for a gospel that is more than silver-linings in the midst of tragedy.  The image of peaceful protestors and law enforcement hugging one another is a powerful one, but I don’t want mere eye candy.  We are promised more than that.  We are promised transformation.  Personal transformation, relational transformation, societal transformation…a new creation. 

Romans 8:18 -27

 18 I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; 20 for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; 23 and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. 27 And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

We follow God who is still creating.  God is still speaking.  God speaks up on behalf of both children and tax collectors, for the oppressed and for the oppressor…to proclaim their humanity and to reconcile them once again to each other.  God says their names. God says our name.  God claims us, sighs with us, and groans with us.

Romans 8:31- 39

31 What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32 He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? 33 Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us.[i] 35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written,

“For your sake we are being killed all day long;
    we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.”

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We are not alone in our grief, nor in our hope.  We don’t have to rely on our own strength to get through the day and toward tomorrow.  We come together to be reminded of this.  We come together to live into the love of God – to hear it poured out over us and to pour it out over others.  We pray together and we work together to reflect God’s light into dark places. Last night for WOR(K)SHIP we put our prayer into action as we worked with Montrose Grace Place to organize their closet so that it can be a joyful experience to the homeless LGBTQ youth that come each week.   Many hands made light work as both homeless and housed, first-time visitors and community leaders, people of all colors came together to live into our gospel promise.  Throughout our daily life we continue to show up for one another, speak up for one another, educate ourselves on the challenges we face together, call our representatives and vote for the sake of one another.  We are not alone in this.  We are not alone in our grief, nor our hope.  We pray together:

The world trembles out of control. The violence builds, some by terrorism, some by state greed dressed up as policy, violence on every side.  You, in the midst of the out-of control violence. We confess you steadfast, loyal, reliable, but we wonder if you yourself are engaged in brutality.  We confess you to be governor and ruler, but we wonder if you manage.

We in the midst of out-of-control violence, we in great faith, we in deep vocational call, we in our several anxieties. We — alongside you — in the trembling. This day we pray for freedom to move beyond fear to caring, beyond self to neighbor, beyond protection to growth. That we may be a sign of the steadfastness, that anxiety may not win the day. You are the one who said, “Do not be anxious.” And now we submit to you. Amen.

- "God's Gift in the Midst of Violence" by Walter Brueggemann

Invitation. Peace. Celebration.

Luke 10:1-11, 16-20

1 After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. 2 He said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. 3 Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. 4 Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. 5 Whatever house you enter, first say, "Peace to this house!' 6 And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. 7 Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the laborer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house. 8 Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; 9 cure the sick who are there, and say to them, "The kingdom of God has come near to you.' 10 But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, 11 "Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.'

16 "Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me." 17 The seventy returned with joy, saying, "Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!" 18 He said to them, "I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. 19 See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you. 20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven."

Today, we take a break from our regularly scheduled programming, our summer series on KINDRED’s values, to explore this text about sending, peace, and celebration. Jesus has spent the first part of the gospel of Luke being born, growing up, teaching, preaching, and healing in his own neck of the woods, familiar territory and remote enough as to be outside the interest of Rome and its power.  But now he’s journeying toward Jerusalem. A time of transition has come and the gospel hits the larger road.  It will be a long journey and challenging journey, but also a joyful journey.  The journey doesn’t mean they take a break from sharing the Gospel, saving their good stuff until they arrive at the really important place, but all along the way, Jesus and the disciples continue to multiply, to tell their stories, and practice hospitality. This text is rich with things that intrigue me, starting with the very first verse:

1 After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go.

Did you know about the 70? Often when we picture Jesus and the disciples, we picture just 12 other men.  Just 12 people, 12 tribes of Israel. The people of God. We picture the last supper. And it’s true, the Jesus movement had to start somewhere, gathering just as a small handful. But a movement naturally gains momentum and multiplies. The 70 never get their names on the billboard, but Jesus assures them their names are written in heaven.  The work of the Spirit THROUGH them is what’s noteworthy.

At first glance, we might also look at the growth from 12 to 70 as significant and it is, but it’s not just about the success in recruiting new followers. It’s not just Exhibit A in the gospel of bigger and better.  It’s actually a profound statement about the vast expanse of the kingdom of God. Here we see that the Good News of Jesus Christ is not just for a special few lucky enough to be born into the 12 tribes of Israel, the privileged nation of Israel, it is for the multitudes.  70 is this number that represents the tent of God growing wider and wider. It signals that the mission of the church is not only for a small group, but for the nations. Indeed, this Good News is for the whole world.

1 After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go.

The 70 were not sent our as lone rangers, but in pairs.  In this mission of preparing the way for Christ, we are told: “Don’t go alone.”  With two, there is always someone to be encouraging if one of the pair is discouraged, to keep faith if one is dispirited, and to carry on when one feels tempted to quit. Just think about Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee… We could probably think of plenty of these dynamic duos. This discipleship thing can be hard, but it’s always easier with a companion.

So I want you to think about, how can you invite someone to join you this week?  I’m not saying you have to put on button down shirts and go door to door, just how can you share life with another person this week?  How can you invite someone to join you on your journey?  For example, last week I needed to finish cutting out this craft project, so I invited a neighbor to join me.  It didn’t have to be some extra thing, it was an opportunity to share something with another person and hang out in the process. So how can you invite someone to join you this week?

What I find particularly amazing about this passage is not the miracles but the willingness to be dependent on others. Think about it: no purse, no bag, no sandals and, importantly, no guarantees about how they will be received. I mean, I packed 4 pairs of shoes for two days out of town this weekend.  All they have is the promise of Jesus to go with them, to do great things through them, and to bring them home again.  That’s daunting and humbling, but also liberating.  This Kingdom of God, it’s not about masses and money. It’s about valuing people not things.  God sends just 70 with no purse.  We don’t have to be the richest church or the biggest church to be a part of the work of God.  We don’t have to have the right accessories, the best-looking banners, or perfect hair to share God’s promise of love. Where two or three are gathered…

There’s no “stuff” that will make this work. It is the presence and work of the Holy Spirit in us that accomplishes the ministry. We let the Spirit do the heavy lifting.

But just because we’re sharing and depending on one another, doesn’t mean everything will work out like magic. It’ won’t be easy or without pitfalls, dangers, roadblocks, and rejection, but…Jesus tells them to keep moving.  Not with vengeance or hatred, but in peace.  Moving onward. 

The good news is that the reign of God, more traditionally “the kingdom of God”, is not pie in the sky when you die. It is right here. It is breaking into our world.

In what ways has the reign of God come near you? Tell your story, invite others to share their story, offer a word of peace, and celebrate what God is doing through you. Point to the God who shows up in the everyday stuff of everyday life.

Why bread?

This past Sunday we gathered for worship in a new way.  There were all the traditional elements: gathering, word, meal, and sending…but also something more.  We’ve been exploring how worship can also be about action. When we talk about our values (Word of God, Boldness, Simplicity, Equality, Families, and Our City), we have to also embody them. They can not remain abstract, but recognized as actual realities and practices.  Our new rhythm for worship this summer is a part of that. Every 4th Sunday we will gather in this way, as Kindred Kitchen, to make something for others. In worship, we gathered with liturgy, prayer, and a psalm, and then we set to the work of making bread.  There were four simple ingredients.  It was a simple process we shared together.    And it was delicious.

But why bread? Why put a cooking class in the middle of worship?  Why spend time with a blazing oven in the middle of summer? It’s not just because we thought it would be fun (although, it really really is). It’s not just because it’s an experience that everyone (young and old, housed and not, church-y or not) can contribute to.  It’s because there is something profoundly holy in this act.  Bread is an integral part of God’s story in the Bible.  It speaks to the rhythms of work and prayer throughout the history of the church.  It connects us to others in this very human way.

As the grains of wheat, once scattered on the hill were gathered into one to become our bread, so may all God’s people through all the ends of earth be gathered into one. In the beginning God watered the earth that humanity might have food and drink. God gave Sarah bread to strengthen her family on their journey. God called Moses and his people out of bondage and refreshed them with food in the wilderness. God gave Mary and Jesus their daily bread to share. Over and over the Bible tell us of God’s provision through this simple staple.  Over and over, we hear of how Jesus sits and breaks bread with the social outcasts in order demonstrate God’s love extending to all, even and especially in common everyday ways. Jesus offers his own body as bread for the world.  After the resurrection, Jesus walks along the road to Emmaus without being recognized by the disciples….until they break bread together. And when Jesus speaks of the God’s promise, of the Kingdom of God, he says, “it is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.” (Luke 13:21)  As we mix three cups of flour with the tiniest sprinkle of yeast, we come to understand this promise in a new way.  We get to experience the messiness of hand-mixing and be a part of their transformation.

Surely, ancient cloisters of monks recognized a divine mystery in the comingling physical and spiritual work.  In their daily rhythms of devotion and rest was also a rhythm of work and prayer, ora et laobra. As they would tend the monastery garden, they would pray for creation and their community.  As they washed the dishes, they would pray for the sick and hungry.  The daily ritual would always include both work and prayer, not necessarily at distinct times and settings.  The work of the monasteries often varied – some teach, some heal, some make things.  They made chocolate, beer, wine, candles….and bread.  The money made from the sale of these things helped support the monastery so that they could help others.  As we measure and mix, fold and bake, we tap into this ancient heritage of work and prayer, of prayer in action.  We pray for our neighbors, our neighborhood, the homes this bread will go to, and the fellowship that each loaf will foster. 

 Our rustic loaves are made with organic flour, left to rise and rest, then baked up fresh to be sold at the oldest organic co-op in town (the Central City Co-op), which is conveniently located in our fellowship hall.  The money earned supports the work of the church in building community and providing good food to those in need, while a portion of our loaves go to fill hungry bellies, to the neighbor who just had a baby, or to those who often go un-thanked. You can pre-order your loaf by Sunday night and pick them up on Wednesday every week.  From our table to yours…taste and see that God is good!

LIFE TOGETHER - Equality

Isaiah 61

61The spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
   because the Lord has anointed me;
he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed,
   to bind up the broken-hearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
   and release to the prisoners; 
2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour,
   and the day of vengeance of our God;
   to comfort all who mourn; 
3 to provide for those who mourn in Zion—
   to give them a garland instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
   the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
   the planting of the Lord, to display his glory. 
4 They shall build up the ancient ruins,
   they shall raise up the former devastations;
they shall repair the ruined cities,
   the devastations of many generations. 

5 Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks,
   foreigners shall till your land and dress your vines; 
6 but you shall be called priests of the Lord,
   you shall be named ministers of our God;
you shall enjoy the wealth of the nations,
   and in their riches you shall glory. 
7 Because their* shame was double,
   and dishonour was proclaimed as their lot,
therefore they shall possess a double portion;
   everlasting joy shall be theirs. 

8 For I the Lord love justice,
   I hate robbery and wrongdoing;*
I will faithfully give them their recompense,
   and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. 
9 Their descendants shall be known among the nations,
   and their offspring among the peoples;
all who see them shall acknowledge
   that they are a people whom the Lord has blessed. 
10 I will greatly rejoice in the Lord,
   my whole being shall exult in my God;
for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation,
   he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland,
   and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. 
11 For as the earth brings forth its shoots,
   and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up,
so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise
   to spring up before all the nations. 

You need to know two things today and all days.  You are a child of God, and so is everyone else. You ARE a child of God, and so is EVERYONE else. Glennon Doyle Merton, a wonderful woman with a blog called Momastery, says it this way, “I am confident because I believe that I am a child of God. I am humble because I believe that everyone else is, too.” You are a child of God, just as you are, right now, and so is the person sitting next to you, and so is the person who will never darken the door of this sanctuary. You are a child of God.  There’s no caveat, no reservation, no asterix, no “if”s or “but”s. You are a child of God, and so is everyone else. When Christ died on the cross, what was put to death was every thing that would separate us from God and from one another.  Every. Thing. What rose from the grave was a new way of life, an entirely new world where that wholeness is experienced in full. You are a child of God, right here, right now, just was you are and don’t let anyone ever tell you different. This is our identity, the foundation of who we are in addition to all our unique diversity.

We have forgotten our identity, we have allowed others to make us forget. I know that we have forgotten because…

Because when I gathered with the LGBTQ community Sunday night, my neighbor was sure he had all the candles and lighters we needed because, he said “I have a vigil bag ready.”

50 empty places at the table for all those lost to hate at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando

Because jail sentences are awarded by considering their potential negative impact on the affluent and athletic rapist and not the victim.

Because it was only 153 years ago that black slaves were declared free in this country, because it took 2 years after that before anyone told the slaves in Texas, and because in all this time, and one year after the shooting of the Charleston 9, almost a year after the death of Sandra Bland…we still struggle to honor their humanity fully.

Because slavery is not a thing of the past, and our city is one of the largest hubs for human trafficking in the nation.

Because mass shootings have increased exponentially, but we continue to make an idol of assault rifle ownership.

Because we still try excuse ourselves and distance ourselves from our contributions, both subtle and overt, to the systems that support our forgetfulness.

But God does not abandon us here.  God’s vision and hope for humanity is not a life of despair and oppression, but joy and liberation. That is our true identity, to be a part of God’s work of restoration.

When God’s people lose sight of their identity and how that identity calls them to live – to love god and love people, especially the vulnerable people in their society – the widow, the orphan, the slave, the foreigner, the prisoner, the sick, the leper, those cast outside of the mainstream societal walls….when god’s people lose sight of their invitation to love these people…God raises up prophets in their midst.  Prophets emerge, they raise their voices, to remind the people of who they really are and to name to the ways the people are missing that mark.  You are a child of God, and so is everyone else.  Let us Love God and Love one another.  In Christ, you are a part of this redeeming and prophetic work. We are the ones who get to show up, speak up, and act up.

We pray that love might find root in our hearts, in our world. We pray for love to outrun hate in our inward souls and in our outward bodies. The prophet calls the people to love. Love, not in word alone…not in some overly sentimental rose-colored glasses way, but embodied – inviting the stranger, the foreigner, into their homes; giving the thirsty a cold cup of water to drink.

We are called to comfort those who mourn. It is no comfort to say “I’m really sorry this happened, but there’s just nothing we can do about it.”  “When the church of Jesus Christ is known only for its prayers and its limp expressions of sympathy for the oppressed rather than its speaking up and acting out in Jesus’ name, we have decided to be a bit of honey to sweeten the world’s evil rather than to be what Jesus commanded us to be: salt, light and agents of a new age… Jesus did not say, “Light a candle for me,” or “Every now and then when there’s a spectacular criminal act, pray to me.” You know what Jesus said. “Follow me.”” We are children of God. It’s who we are.  It’s who you are.  You are a child of God, and so is everybody else. That identity is already secured, so how does it shape us to follow?

Today, you are invited to follow with prayer, anointing, and action.

There is a station for prayer, where 50 candles wait for you to light them in memory of all those who were lost to hate in the shooting of the LGBTQ nightclub, Pulse in Orlando. There are additional candles there for you to light in honor of others who suffer hate and mourning.

I will be standing at a station over there for any who wish to be anointed with the oil of gladness and receive a blessing.

Finally, if you have not contacted your elected officials to plead for equality, safety, and justice…it’s time.  If you haven’t registered to vote….it’s time. There’s a table with your representative’s contact info and scripts you can make use of and adapt.  You can write them, call them, tweet them. 

Let us now enter these stations of prayer, anointing, and action.

As we head out from this place, we find rest in the promises of God.  The promise is that these hopes of equality and justice are not pie-in-the-sky, but they are promised by God. This reality, this promise WILL be fulfilled.  This dream is not impossible. The promises Isaiah declares may not have been fully realized in his lifetime, not until almost a millennia later when the Messiah, the Christ, broke through to redeem all of creation, but he was a part of it. Perhaps the most powerful moment for me this past week, was at Monday night’s interfaith vigil, where I held hands with my Baptist siblings, my Buddhist siblings, police officers and transgender veterans, people of all colors, and we sang We Shall Overcome….someday.  We will overcome.  We are the children of God.  This is our inheritance, our hope and our empowerment.  You are a child of God, and so is everyone else.  And absolutely nothing can take that away.

LIFE TOGETHER - Simplicity

matthew 6:25-38

25 ‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? 28And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, 29yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 30But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31Therefore do not worry, saying, “What will we eat?” or “What will we drink?” or “What will we wear?” 32For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

34 ‘So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.

We talk about KINDRED being something that we are creating together.  It’s not something you go to, it’s something you’re a part of.  The Restart Team together with the Holy Spirit has discerned that KINDRED is cultivating bold community that reveals God’s presence in the city. to prevent that vision from becoming a meaningless static statement, we identify these enduring values that guide our life together:

Word of God. Boldness. Simplicity.  Equality. Families & Framlies. Our City - Houston.

Today I want us to think about simplicity.  For me, this is perhaps the most challenging of all our values, because I so desperately want to complicate things. Just last night I was on my way out with friends, and we were trying to figure out who was going to ride with who because so-and-so will come back here, but then this car won’t come back.  And there’s room for 2 people in this car, but there’s kinda 3 people in our group, so who’s going to ride where? All just to get some pizza! I long to things simple, but I drift toward complication.  I long to better balance the sacred rhythm of work and rest.  I long to embrace the solace of simplicity, rather than try to fill it up with more and more and more.

I hear the promise that Jesus offers in this text, the promise that we will be cared for - clothed and fed, but I’m skeptical.  It can’t be that simple, can it? I’ve got to keep busy, I’ve got to be stressed out, because that’s how the story goes when I hear about successful people.  If I’m not worrying and scrambling, how will I be glorified when I overcome the obstacles with all my smarts and hard work, and my own awesomeness? And as soon as I’ve said it, as soon as I confess this truth in my heart, I realize that might resistance to simplicity is about building my own empire and not God’s kingdom.

The Kingdom of God is simple, it is we who try to complicate it with our caveats and debates of minor details. God simply...offers it up - offers us love and grace and care. But that freedom is too scandalous. Surely it can’t be that easy, that accessible… The Torah, which Jesus had intensely studied, contained 613 commandments - rules to live by, defining what should be done and what shouldn’t be done. And so….out of 613, the pharisees thought they could trip him up by asking which was the most important.

Matthew 22:36-40

36‘Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?’37He said to him, ‘ “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” 38This is the greatest and first commandment. 39And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” 40On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.’

All the 613 laws could be boiled down to these two principles.  Love God. Love People.  It’s that simple.  This is what it means to be the church, followers of Christ, the people of God -  Love God. Love People.

It’s a simple promise and a simple commision.  God loves you, love one another. My sinful self immediately races to qualify these statements.  Sure, God loves me...but not THAT part of me. Yeah, we should love one another, but surely I’m not supposed to love THAT other. It is sin that keeps me from simple - the sin that lets me think I can fix it on my own, the sin that tells me I’m not worthy or that someone else isn’t worthy, the sin that even claims God’s promise is not trustworthy.  

What truly keeps you from simplicity?

What is one thing that you could do to make room for simple in your life?

For me, simple is both a matter of stuff and a matter of soul. I start to get that insatiable desire for more, more stuff, a new pair of shoes, new trips, new restaurants.  And I don’t think those are inherently bad, but I have to check my motivations - is this something I need or something I want? If I look around, do I already have enough? Do I really need a third pair of wedges that are a little trendier, a slightly different color….? And simple looks like taking 5-10 minutes of my day, just 10 minutes with my cup of hot coffee to just sit, and rest, and be - to be with God, to acknowledge God’s presence in my day, in my work.  And I find that if I do this second thing, this simple time with God, I find myself more satisfied.

Simplicity is not easy. And simplicity is not reduction, it’s not throwing the baby out with the bathwater.  Simplicity is not deprivation.  Simplicity is discernment as to what is essential and what is not. Simplicity is the continual practice of clinging to what is central. Fighting for focus. Simplicity is about trust in God, and one another, in what God is doing through one another.  

This past week I got to visit Rothko Chapel and as I stood there, dwarfed by these massive monotone paintings, I realize...it is the simplicity of these works that reveal their richness.  Their simplicity helps me to notice subtle differences and details I would overlook in other pieces.  There’s a nuance of texture.  And even in a monotone painting, you realize THAT black is different from THIS black, and there’s almost a hint of blue or purple here.

Simplicity is confessing that we cannot create our own salvation, we can't program our way to perfection.

Simplicity is like pushing all the furniture to the edge of the room so that we can recognize how much space we have for activities.

Simplicity is the acknowledgement of abundance, that there is enough for me - enough stuff, enough grace, enough love for today.

I was five, and I didn’t want to go

guest blogger: Meredith Massey

I was five, and I didn’t want to go. I cried, I pleaded and from my car seat I kicked the back of my mother’s seat ferociously. We were headed to the community swim complex. Upon arrival my mother put the car in park and turned out of concern and confusion, “Honey, why do you not want to go to swimming lessons?”  Staring back at her I answered, “Because I don’t know how to swim.”

Maybe it’s my competitive nature, my fear of the unknown or uneasiness in trying new things…but I am often uncomfortable in settings I can’t control. My life has instances that resemble five year old Meredith’s hesitancy, denial and blatant disregard for things that may be difficult at first. One thing that fortunately has never felt difficult is my faith and trust in God, in Jesus, and in the Holy Spirit. I have my parents, several mentors, influential pastors, camp counselors and a loving community to thank for that.

In my first 25 years I’ve only ever known the Lutheran tradition and it’s as if I never had to learn it, because it was always there. I have loved traditional liturgy, hymns and the ritual of worship flowing from the green, red and occasional blue books in the pews in front of me.  The order of worship was predictable. The words and tunes brought comfort. And the confession, and word, and sharing of the peace, and sacrament were routine. These components helped to nurture the DNA of my faith, and they are sacred traditions to me that I will never fully abandon.

However. Predictability, comfort and routine no longer sound like discipleship and mission to me, it sounds more like hospice care. Trial and error, discomfort, cluelessness, risk, occasional chaos, honest conversations and new relationships are the components to me of the community boldly rediscovering what it means to be the church in the world, particularly in the city of Houston.

+KINDRED is a community that is diving head first into a city often inundated in waters streaked with racism, prejudice, fear of the stranger and content. How is it that we engage our city in word and sacrament to share the grace of Jesus Christ and multiply the peace that surpasses all understanding? We have ideas…ways to tread water, ways to make waves, and people to make sure we don’t drown. 

What about Dinner Church? I don’t mean let’s eat dinner in the fellowship hall and then head to the sanctuary for church. I mean let’s eat the sacred meal around a table that was once a pew. And while we’re eating, let’s engage in conversation that corresponds to the day’s text. What about Workship where we pray and serve with our neighbors as a form of worship? These are just a couple of the new components redefining my faith through +KINDRED to better reflect how the community around me interacts with God.

+KINDRED is teaching me a different language of love and service. +KINDRED is translating the fundamental components of the Lutheran identity into words and actions the people sleeping on our doorstep can understand. +KINDRED is reminding me that I’m not meant to float contently in the waters of my baptism. +KINDRED is the lifeguard to my faithful flailing and splashing and gasps for the Holy Spirit in the sea of uncertainty and challenge. For once I am not uneasy being a part of a community doing something we’re not exactly sure how to do, and I think that makes God smile.

LIFE TOGETHER - Be Bold

In worship this past Sunday we heard Acts 4....you know...that whole chapter.  Because it's soooo good!  Have you read it?  CLICK HERE TO READ IT AGAIN.

We talk about KINDRED being something that we are creating together.  It’s not something you go to, it’s something you’re a part of.  Belong. Become. Be loved. We are a community that is still becoming.  Together, we are midwifing this KINDRED life into the world.  The Restart Team together with the Holy Spirit has discerned that

KINDRED is cultivating bold community that reveals God’s presence in the city.

to prevent that vision from becoming a meaningless static statement, we identify these enduring values that guide our life together:

Word of God. Boldness. Simplicity.  Equality. Families & Framlies. Our City - Houston.

Today, we explore what this boldness is about.  I couldn’t help from reading all of Acts, chapter 4, because of the amazing display of boldness throughout. Sometimes Christianity gets painted as a religion of the meek and mild, of quiet propriety and docile morality. There is a time for gentleness, there is a place for solace and serenity.  We follow a God that went away to quiet places to pray and reflect.  But let us not forget that we also follow a God that went down streets he shouldn’t have, ate at tables he shouldn’t have, with people he shouldn’t have and literally flipped the tables when necessary.  Jesus challenged the status quo, the ruling authorities, the keepers of tradition.

But it’s also important to remember that Jesus does all this in service to Gospel. He’s not a rebel without a cause, an anarchist, or an obnoxious contrarian.  He’s not just breaking the rules for the fun of it. It’s intentional.  Every time he breaks the rules it is to point toward grace, toward hope, and toward life...in a way that the current system is not capable. Bold is not reckless, but it is risky. I quote the wise teachings of Mufasa, who said, “i’m only brave when I have to be.  Being brave doesn’t mean you go looking for trouble.” Here, the early church lives into bold proclamation, bold prayer, and bold generosity.  Certainly risky, but always pointed toward the Good News of abundant grace.

Bold is...

Bold is calling a thing what it is.  Naming that which must not be named.  Bold is standing in places that most would abandon.  Bold is telling the truth, even if your voice shakes.  Bold is trying new things and not allowing the shadow of fear or failure to snuff out the light of hope.  Martin Luther said that we should “sin boldly...but believe even more boldly still.”  Bold is being willing to mess up big because we know that God is bigger.  Bold is the woman who will not sit silent as an accessory but who powerfully asserts her voice in meetings and bold is the man who keeps others from interrupting long enough so that they can hear her. Bold is the one who defies that gender binary and lives into the fullness of God has created them to me. Bold is walking into a place, a part of town where people don't look like you or talk like you but you go and listen anyway.

Where have you witnessed and/or lived out BOLDNESS?

How would you finish this sentence, "Bold is…...."

Be bold. Be strong. For the lord your God goes with you.

LIFE TOGETHER - Words Create Worlds

John 1:1-5

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. 5The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

We talk about KINDRED being something that we are creating together.  It’s not something you go to, it’s something you’re a part of.  Belong. Become. Be loved. We are a community that is still becoming.  Together, we are midwifing this KINDRED life into the world.  It’s an exciting time.  The Holy Spirit is doing so so much in our midst that I feel like we’re just trying to keep up!  Have you noticed it?  When we gather together, this almost palpable passion for possibility?

That raw lurching in your chest? That divine curiosity?  That yearning for something more and having this sense that something is happening, is coming, even if you can’t quite put your finger on it?  This is what Pentecost does to us.  It stirs us up.  And for what?  Because it’s not just agitation for the sake of itself.  Remember, last week Paul told us in his letter that ese various gifts and passions are given not for ourselves, our own glory, but for the common good.

So how do we keep this divine energy, these sacred stirrings, from missing that mark? From going off in just any direction?  We do that by coming together, by faithfully looking to scripture, and by praying for discernment and guidance, so that we might know what God is up to around here, and align ourselves with that vision.  So to get us started, this is what your Restart Team has been doing.  Beth, Allison, Kinnon, Chris Markert, Angela, John....at the time Xavier was with us... and we all met weekly since January to read the book of Acts together, to learn about how the Early church was born, to witness their life together, to take a look at what values they clung to, and to pray that we might be faithful to those same values, following in the way of Christ. After months of looking to scripture, to God, looking to each other, and to our neighborhood and our city...we had a stronger sense of what God was calling us, as KINDRED, to be.  And so, to be keep this divine energy pointed toward God, to keep our focus as a community on Christ, we wrote down what we understand to be God’s vision for KINDRED.  Here it is:

KINDRED is cultivating bold community that reveals God’s presence in the city.

Now, it’s easy to wax eloquent about these theological matters and then turn around and continue to live our lives no differently.  I get that.   I confess that I am guilty of this often, that the church has been guilty of empty words for millennia.  But God fills up that which is empty, even beyond its banks until it overflows.  God takes what is dead and gives it life.  God creates an entire universe out of a formless void. As KINDRED, to prevent that vision from becoming a meaningless static statement, we identify these enduring values that guide our life together:

Word of God.

Boldness.

Simplicity.  

Equality.

Families & Framlies.

Our City - Houston.

Pentecost has stirred us up, animated us with gifts to share.  Now we get to explore those gifts in practice. Just as the natural world has season, so too does the church year follow a rhythm of seasons.  Now we enter the season AFTER Pentecost, one of the great green growing seasons.  Now we, as KINDRED, will spend our summer exploring what this life together means, what it looks like. SO each time we gather for DINNER CHURCH, for WORD & WONDERING, we’re going to be looking at one of our values.  Today, I want us to talk about the WORD OF GOD. I want us to talk about it in three different ways.  The Word of God as Anchor. As Promise. And As Creation.

When I say Word of God, what do you think of?

Growing up, I thought about the Word of God in one way - scripture.  The Good Book, the WRITTEN word. As I continued to read it, to study it alongside others and with mentors, I discovered that even the bible isn’t as static as I thought.  It’s not a simple encyclopedia for living, or a manual as some call it.  It is poetry, and humor, and innuendo, and metaphor, and vibrant history, and mystery, and song, and prayer, and letters, and parable.  It is the story of God, of God’s people, our story, our people. When we look closely it is beautiful.  Just don’t look too closely at 1 and 2 Chronicles.  I really struggle to find the beauty in lists of genealogy  And it’s true, not all of the bible is beautiful.  It is also raw - a story of pain, of fear, of wrath and violence. But I’d rather have a bible that’s honest and real.  I want scripture that can speak to God’s presence in the midst of THAT. God’s story with people throughout the whole of experience.  

2 tim 3:16-17

16All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.”

Scripture anchor us in God’s story throughout creation, throughout our lives. It reveals God’s presence and faithfulness throughout time, it shows God’s people wrestling with God and with each other throughout time.  It points us back to God and God’s hope for the world, it grounds us in this hope, so that we don’t get blown about by every breeze or shiney thing that crosses our path. It keeps me from creating the church of “me.”  The Word of God as Scripture anchors us in something bigger than ourselves.

That points us to another understanding of the Word of God.  The Word of God is hope, it’s promise, it is good news!  It is not only literary but alive. It is living and breathing.  It is not abstract but actual.  It takes shape and form, it takes on flesh and blood. The Gospel of John tells us that Jesus is the embodiment of the Word, of this promise. A Word that transcends time but also enters fully and deeply into a specific time and place, into humanity, into the human body.  The Word is incarnational, in the carnal, in the body, in OUR bodies. This Word of God does not exist separate from the world we live in.  It enters our hearts.  

The prophet Jeremiah tells us,

“The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 32It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. 33But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

The Word is relationship, connection, embodied.  It is something we can touch and taste.  The Word of God is the word of communion. “This is my body, given FOR YOU”  “taste and see that God is good.”

The Word of God is living promise.

And that, that does something to us.  It’s affecting, it affects us. It forms and transforms, right? God speaks and we are changed, the world is changed.  Jesus tells the paralytic man, get up and go, take your mat and walk….and it happens.  Jesus says your go and wash, your sins are forgiven, and it is accomplished. This has been the power of the Word of God since the dawn of time.  “God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light.”  The Word of God is an act of creation, still speaking, still creating.  

KINDRED, we have the Word of God to lean on in scripture to ensure we are following Christ and not just ourselves. KINDRED, we we get to witness, to be on the lookout for the Word of god active in our midst, in the voice of friends and strangers, in our relationships, in our humanity, in our flesh and bones.  KINDRED, we get to be a part of the Word of God in it’s act of creation, creating a way of life, creating a bold community that reveals God’s presence in the city.
 

What does the Word of God mean for you?

What questions do you still have about the Word of God?

NEW SEASON, NEW RHYTHMS

The summer brings new rhythms and a new season in our life together.  This Sunday will begin a Sermon Series to explore our values as +KINDRED.  You can find our values articulated HERE. What are we about? What do we dream about as a church? What are the things that anchor us? How will we live our LIFE TOGETHER?  This series is more than an information session, you will be a part of the evolving formation of our way of life, our communal culture.  +KINDRED isn’t something you go to, it’s something you’re a part of.

How we gather is also changing.  We get to try out new ideas and experiment with new (or actually really really old) ways of being church.  DINNER CHURCH is one of those new/old experiments.  Starting June 5th, our practice of worship will adopt a new rhythm of communion, community, and commission. Our DINNER CHURCH liturgy will happen on 1st and 3rd Sundays, while 2nd Sundays will be +KINDRED KITCHEN (we’re gonna learn to cook new things as a community and try our hand at bread baking!), 4th Sundays will be WORKSHIP (praying and serving with our neighbors like…Montrose Grace Place), and if there’s a 5th Sunday….POTLUCK!

So it looks like this: same time, same place.  Every Sunday at 5:30PM, so you don’t have to worry about which week is what. And ALL of these gatherings are WORSHIP.  Like the early church who “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer (ACTS 2:42),” we will honor God with simple and sacred practices.

1st Sunday – DINNER CHURCH - Full liturgy in the sanctuary over a scrumptious meal

2nd Sunday - +KINDRED KITCHEN - Baking bread together…for others

3rd Sunday – DINNER CHURCH - See above

4th Sunday – WORKSHIP -  Serving alongside our neighbors

(5th Sunday) – POTLUCK - Bring a dish, share stories, and enjoy each other’s company

As we live into this new rhythm, we’ll be talking more about the significance of these practices, so stay tuned.