Julie’s News from Maryland

“Jesus was a community organizer.  Pontius Pilate was a governor.”

I’m not entirely certain of the origin of this quote, I think I heard that someone said it on NPR a couple of weeks ago, but it keeps popping up in random places.  I just bumped into it again in a news article.  I thought about trying to track down the origin, but frankly, I’m just too lazy (and busy, really).

I just have to say that I don’t really think that Jesus was a community organizer.  I went to the source of all things good and true, Wikipedia, (please know that there is a silly smile on my face as I say that) to learn what they have to say about community organizers.  Interestingly, it sort of matches what I think a community organizer is:

“Community organizing is a process by which people living in proximity to each other are brought together to act in their common self-interest.  Community organizers act as area-wide coordinators of programs for different agencies in an attempt to meet community needs for various services.”

To the best of my knowledge, that is not what Jesus did.  Jesus did not rally towns of people to get together and build new wells to get clean drinking water.  Jesus did not pull together large groups of people to march against unfair taxation.  Jesus didn’t create leadership teams to study the problem of foreign occupation.  Jesus didn’t gather folks to brainstorm ways to overthrow the corrupt leadership in the temple.  Jesus did not organize the community.

Jesus preached to large crowds of people that came from all around.  Jesus had a small group of close friends that studied and prayed with him.  Jesus challenged the power structure of the temple authorities, but as an individual, not as the leader of an organized group.  Jesus healed the sick and restored sight to the blind.  Jesus loved the people around him.  Jesus died and was risen on the 3rd day.

Jesus restores each of us to wholeness from the depths of our brokenness.  And, once we are healed Jesus sends the Holy Spirit to empower us to use our incredible blessings to bless other people.  Jesus may be the world’s greatest catalyst for community organizers, but I don’t really think that Jesus himself was a community organizer.

What do you think?  Am I off base about this?

I just got this from a friend and I can’t stop laughing:

I just saw a tagline on CNN.com that said, “Store hides mag featuring female ministers.”  I didn’t click on the link because it was a video link and I was too lazy to wait for the video to load, so I did a quick Google search and this is what I learned:

The Gospel Today Magazine ran a cover article this month, “Breaking the Glass Ceiling: Female Pastors” and the cover photo is of five female ministers.  The Lifeway Christian Bookstore chain (owned by the Southern Baptist Convention) does not approve of female pastors and has removed this month’s issue of the magazine from the shelves of its 123 bookstores.  (Reports seem conflicted about whether it is removed entirely from the store or whether you can buy it from behind the counter).

How obnoxious is that?

I had a tough time finding much press about this - lots in the blogosphere, but little actual press.  I did fine a couple of good articles: one in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and one at StreamingFaith.com.

I can’t even begin to articulate my feelings of rage, injustice, intolerance and sheer frustration at the  ability of the human race to put limits on the mind of God.  Seriously, how do the Southern Baptists know what God wants?  How do any of us know what God wants?  God is not us, people.  God is not like us.  What God wants is so completely beyond us that we’re lucky if we ever even get a freakin’ glimpse.  Yet here we are, reading again about how somebody knows exactly what God wants.

What was that again about making God in our own image…oh yeah, if God hates the people we hate…

In Bill Tully’s weekly email to parishioners and friends of St. Bartholomew’s, he included a quote from one of my favorite authors:

“You can safely assume that you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.”  - Anne Lamott

And isn’t it so true?  Doesn’t God always seem to be on our side?  God is always for our causes and God always thinks those other people are off track.  God thinks our politics are right on target, while that other party just can’t ever seem to get it right.  God believes in all the same things we believe, right?

It’s so easy to fall into this trap - I’ve been spending quite a bit of time in this space lately myself.  As we approach this election, I know I’ve convinced myself that God is sooo totally with me in this politics thing.  Sigh.  I suppose it is time to take a step back and remember that God is other - totally other - totally not me.  Doesn’t think like me.  Doesn’t take my side. Doesn’t always like the guys I like.  Dang that sucks. 

My parish gave me an “Old Fashioned Pounding” today. Apparently, this is a tradition in which folks helped a pastor or a newly married couple or someone new to the community stock their pantry by bringing a pound of something - traditionally things like flour, sugar, butter, etc. Of course now, people are encouraged to be creative about the gifts that they bring, but whatever it is, it should be a pound. Here is a photo of all the things we got:

In this close-up that follows you’ll notice a cupcake pan (that was accompanied by cupcake mix, frosting, cupcake paper, and sprinkles), lipgloss, kid knex (for Nicholas), toothpaste, bottles of wine, kleenex, crayons, a huge box of AA batteries, a couple of stacks of notecards (some are beautifully engraved with various versions of our name: The Nelsons, Rev Julie Nelson, Julie Nelson), and an O magazine. We even got a pound of pennies that was labeled “a pound of wishes.” When Ella saw that she said that those pennies were for us to put in wishing wells when we find them.

The next photo has more conventional things in it. You’ll see several jars of peanut butter and salsa, quite a few pounds of coffee, tons and tons of pasta, cake mixes, crackers, a couple of bottles of ketchup, cereal, several bars of soap, a pineapple, and a beading kit for Ella to use to make necklaces.

I am so amazed at people’s generosity and creativity. We are so blessed by this wonderful congregation and I’m so happy to be here!

I watched a snippet of Gov. Palin’s interview with Charles Gibson on YouTube today.  When asked if she had hesitated when John McCain asked her to be his running mate, she replied that she “didn’t blink.”  She stated that she didn’t think twice about it, but rather told McCain immediately that if he thought it would “help the ticket” she would do it.  Later in the interview, Gibson asked her about whether or not we should invade Pakistan without the permission of the Pakistani government.  In the midst of her complex answer, she again used the phrase that  “we shouldn’t blink” when describing how we should go after terrorists.

I must say, that makes me a little uncomfortable.  I think, in fact, that when we are making major decisions for our lives or for the lives of others we should blink, maybe even more than once.  We should stop and think carefully about what we should do.  We should consult and listen to the voices of others in our lives that know us well and that we trust.  We should gather the appropriate information from those with the data.  And maybe we should even pray and listen for the voice of God in the midst of our lives and our world (though I know that it is very non-politically correct for a politician to say, but since so many of our candidates are using their faith as a qualification for candidacy I think it makes sense to mention it).  Sometimes our most immediate and instinctive choice is more about reactivity and less about what would benefit the most people in any given situation.

Sometimes we have to act quickly because we have no choice.   For example, if someone is coming towards me with a knife, it is probably not the best time for me to ponder the broader implications of reconciliation and how to create peace in relationships full of conflict.  I should probably either run or find another way to defend myself.  But as a general rule, we usually have a bit of time before we have to make a decision.  We have time to carefully consider the options and the outcomes of each.  And we have time to decide what is best for many, not just for us and our own interests as we often do when we react without blinking.

I certainly hope that my next president spends some time blinking before he makes major decisions that affect the lives of so many.

I read the online magazine Salon fairly regularly and one of my favorite things to read is the advice column, Since You Asked.  Recently, Cary Tennis, the columnist, included this in one of his responses, “If there is a God in your life it is a loving God that will catch you when you fall.  Its attention to detail may be lacking.  You would perhaps prefer a God better at multitasking and more attentive to your instructions.  But if you believe in a God then a God is there for you.”  That about sums it up for me at the moment.

I’m incredibly grateful for the gift of my new congregation.  More than one parent, after having met and spent some time with Nicholas, has come to me to tell me what a delightful and bright child he is and then went on to tell me of the difficult challenges that their child has had and the resources available in the area to meet those challenges.  I haven’t even had to tell folks about Nicholas’ struggles; enough people in this congregation have had to manage various learning and emotional difficulties that they all just understand where we are.  And, I got some feedback the other day that a number of people in the congregation had remarked that our situation with Nicholas really made them feel like I would be able to relate to them and what is happening in their life.  All this time I worried that Nicholas’ disabilities would be a curse to my ministry and God put us in a place where it seems to be the opposite.

After much research and lots of phone calls I’ve learned that the best possible place for Nicholas to be treated is at the Kennedy Krieger Institute at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore.  They have an even better reputation for treating children than the NYU Child Study Center where we were before.  And, they take our insurance.  We will no longer have to pay for Nicholas’ treatment out of pocket.  The downside is that it takes about 2 months to get an appt., the intake process is difficult and lengthy.  But, in good news, we found a treatment center in Annapolis that provides only short term care; they are designed to be a place for people like us who are waiting to get into another program.  Oh, and they take our insurance too.

Third grade has been a nightmare for Nicholas so far.  The teacher expects so much more from them in 3rd grade than in 2nd.  His anxiety level is through the roof and he spends various portions of his day screaming.  Yesterday he had to be physically removed from the classroom.  Twice.  Some days are better than others, but every day he is acting out and causing problems in the classroom.  The teacher and I are in constant communication and the principal is great.  We are going to meet soon to discuss revising Nicholas’ IEP so that he can get the extra help that he needs to manage his emotions during the day.  I learned at back-to-school night that his teacher has been teaching 3rd grade in that classroom for 16 years.  This is a lady that knows what she is doing.  She told me last week that her first priority with Nicholas is to help him feel safe in her room.  Whew.

There are days that I just don’t know how to help this child.  There are days when I wish God was more present and a bit more attentive to my instructions - would it have been so hard to help Nicholas get through at least the first week of school without a major meltdown?   But really, the truth is, we have been so blessed by what God has given us here.  It is going to be a long road and we have much work to do.  I’m already tired and wonder how I am going to continue on this journey with this child, but I know that God has caught us and that we are not going to just fall off the edge.