wonders and reflections in God's presence

he he he …

Your Quirk Factor: 57%

You’re a pretty quirky person, but you’re just normal enough to hide it. Congratulations – you’ve fooled other people into thinking you’re just like them!

Dwayne showed this add on his site … evidently it is too “offensive” for the networks to air. This is ridiculous.  There is nothing offensive here.  Of course, it does speak directly to a scandalous truth … that most of the “unchurched” population sees the Church as being a highly judgemental and exclusive club.  They DON’T feel welcome, and more than that they don’t want to be a part of that kind of judgementalism.  That’s why we starting Eklektos; that’s why the Harbour.  These ministries exist to create a Christ-focused community which blatantly welcomes all people.  This add, just speaks volumes to the heart of that perception/reality of a great deal of most traditional church communities.  Ugh … it’s a message of truth to people who are desparate for a relationship with Christ. 

Offensive?  Of Course!  It is meant to be a satirical, humorous sketch that cuts to the truth … and that kind of message is always offensive.

Kyle said it at auditions; this play is a church play.  That is, it’s about grace – how God reaches into our sordid lives and offers not only acceptance, but redemption.  Sure … most church-goers in Baytown will be offended by the use of foul language as well as the sordidness of these characters – an irate and drunken wife; an adulterous husband; an institutionalized, homosexual transvestite; the guitar-playing ex-con; and a sex-craved, pill-popping therapist.  Among all of these characters the young, gay actor in New York seeing his 27^th therapist seems the most “normal.”  Of course all of these characters are exaggerations of me and you and the people we know and love.  They are personifications of our sordid selves.  When we laugh at these people, we subconsciously acknowledge our own foolishness, and when we cry with them, we confess our own brokenness.

Yesterday, my prayer-partner asked me what I hoped for out of this show.  I told him, I expect that there may be someone in the audience who will actually experience a touch of grace while watching the show.  We’re praying for that.  You see, all of these sordid lives come together at the end of the show in a church – not a funeral home – and Bitsy Mae, the ex-con, sings “Peggy’s favorite hymn.”  She tells us (not with these precise words) that Jesus showed up at the bar late a night to a bunch of drunken, hurting people, and brought them friendship.  Isn’t this the point of the incarnation … what Christianity is all about?  Christ showing up as one of us, in the midst of our sordid lives, and offering hope.

Oh, I know that plenty of people will be offended by this play, not unlike people were offended by the scandalous Jesus of Nazareth.  Sure it’s “unclean”, but then, aren’t we all, really?

Please consider coming to see the show … we open on Friday, March 31.  Shows run Friday and Saturday nights and Sunday afternoons for two weekends.  Tickets are on sale at the box office.  Go to the BLT website for more information.

My parents have just put their house on the market.  It is the house I grew up in.  My earliest memories include playing in the dirt piles as the house was being built.  We moved in just before my brother was born in 1963.  There were horse farms and chicken farms on that part of Long Island then and lots of woods in which to build forts and play cops and robbers.  The expressway didn’t come out that far yet, and our hamlet was the last regular stop of the Long Island Railroad.  My grandparents lived next door, and my Dad was born in the old hospital there only a couple blocks away.  I lived in that house for 16 years before going away to college; then I’d come back to visit at least a couple of times a year.  Over the last 40 years, that community changed from small town to New York City suburb; I moved to Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan and Texas.  And in the midst of all that change, my New York “home” was the pride and stability in my life.  Now, as my parents prepare to sell the house and move to Texas, I feel pangs of grief.  Usually, I’m one who embraces newness; I get bored with the same old same old.  But that house has always been there just as it was, and it hurts to think of losing that tangible source of security.

I have a sense that’s how so many of us feel about our churches.  Life whizzes by us at ever accelerating speeds, and our church offers us stability through it all.  Our church stays the same when jobs change, when kids grow up and move away, when we get ill or when loved ones die.  Through all of life change – Church keeps us steady.  So, when a pastor suggests that we change our order or worship, the music we sing, or even move to a new building, we feel pains of grief and anger.  No!  It’s like selling the old house we grew up in.

Stability in faith doesn’t come from meeting in the same building, worshipping with the same people, or singing the same hymns.  Real security doesn’t come from holding on to the past, but from surrendering to the winds of the Spirit as we move into the future.  At a conference recently at Grace Presbyterian, Reggie McNeal reminded us that God is already planning for the future.  God is already at work ushering in His kingdom in new and changing ways.  The question is – is the church willing to go where God is leading?  Do we have enough faith to give up the old and allow God to create the new?  Can we really trust that if we let go and let God, God will provide for us?

On the day my parents signed the contract to build a new house in Pflugerville, we shared dinner at The Melting Pot in Austin.  As we dipped our bread into the cheddar cheese fondue, I looked across the table into my father’s eyes and asked, “Are you really ready for this, Dad?”  And with an uncanny sense of both human vulnerability and spiritual strength, he looked back lovingly and confidently, “A year ago I would never have believed I would be moving away from my life-long home, but I have a strong sense the Spirit is in this.”  He went on to explain that if he stayed, he felt his spiritual growth would become stagnant and, in effect, his life would be done.  He is confident that God is leading him into a future filled with possibility, growth, and a new life.  “Are you scared?”  I asked.  “Of course I’m scared.  I just signed a contract on a $250,000 home without having sold the old house yet.  But I’m sure that God is in this, and that gives me a deep peace about it all.”

I am so proud of my Dad and my Mom.  I don’t need a house on Long Island to give me strength … I have my parents, and they have me.  And, together, we rely on God, and we live confidently into the future God is unfolding and we help shape together.

This will be printed in the April 2006 issue of Connections, a publication of the Presbytery of New Covenant.

Opens March 31 at the Baytown Little Theater

Shows on March 31, April 1, 7 and 8 at 8:00; April 2 and 9 at 2:30 PM

Tickets cost $12 for adults and $8 for students.

Many of you know that I have been cast as Noleta Nethercott and Dwayne is cast as the Southern Baptist Preacher in the BLT production of Sordid Lives. Here is a link to an article about it in the Baytown Sun.

This is NOT a family play. It is a dark comedy with some foul language and adult topics. It is hysterically funny and has powerfully redemptive theme. There will be places where you won’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Please let your friends know … and put it on your calendars. Tickets can be reserved by contacting me or the box office. The box office is open 2-5 Monday -Saturday beginning March 27. Flex ticket holders can reserve tickets one week earlier. Check the BLT website for more information

Rahel and I went with Katie to have her senior pictures taken yesterday evening.  We had scheduled an hour sitting, but once we got there, the photographer worked with us for 3 hours!  She loved working with Katie and we had a good time.  Am I allowed to say I have the most beautiful daughter in the world?  I love her so much!

We were able to see some of the pictures in the camera; but we’ll have the proofs in a week or so.  I can’t wait to show them off to you all.

All weekend long, whenever I saw a young girl, I thought of Katie.  On Sunday evening I was watching a little girl as she jumped into her father’s arms.  I cried.  I literally cried right there in the restaurant!  Dwayne asked if I were OK … it’s not really sadness that makes me cry.  It’s more pride and gratitude and love.  I can not believe, sometimes, how blessed I’ve been having Katie as a daughter.  She has been a joy just about every step of the way.  Now, as I get ready to send her off … more than anything, I feel blessed to have been chosen as her mom.