Author: J. Barrett Lee

Pride Fest 2010 and its aftermath

On By J. Barrett LeeIn Community Chaplaincy1 Comment
Claire Buffie, Miss New York 2010, speaking at the interfaith spiritual celebration where I led worship. Image by Nicole Cvetnic of the Utica OD.

Another Pride Fest has come and gone in our community.  Turnout was lower this year, but I think this is due to the fact that the Utica Music & Arts Festival was also going on, along with the final bout of Roller Derby season.

There was an article about our interfaith worship service in yesterday’s Observer-Dispatch.  You can read it by clicking here or on the picture.

The Comments on the article are also worth reading.  For those who have neither the time nor the desire to read the whole thing, here is my contribution to the discussion, which I think sums up some of my better thinking on the subject:

Greetings all!

I am the pastor who sang and played guitar at the celebration on Sunday afternoon. I am an evangelical, Bible-believing Christian who tries his best (but often fails) in following Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior.

When I was a seminary student, I really felt the Holy Spirit challenging me through the text of Scripture and my relationships with LGBT friends to re-evaluate my beliefs about homosexuality. It was a long and difficult process that involved a lot of serious thinking and praying. I don’t claim to have the one and only true interpretation of the Bible, but I can tell you where my convictions landed me:

I believe we are all embraced by the big, big arms of a big, big God who loves us, even though we are all sinners and fall far short of the glory intended for us. I know that Jesus proclaimed that love in his words and his deeds on this earth. I think the Holy Spirit calls us to do the same through our words and deeds.

As a follower of Christ, I believe that my life will be judged based on how well I conform to that impossible standard of perfect love. I know that I will fail miserably in that task and will have no choice but to ask my Judge/Savior for mercy. I do not think that my Jesus will condemn me to hell for placing too much faith in his love.

That’s why I’m going out on a limb and questioning some of the assumptions that some of my fellow Christians have made about our Bible and our God. I am inclined to disagree with my dear friend Dennis Dewey when he preached that some parts of the Bible are ‘out-dated’. I believe that all Scripture is divinely inspired and given to us as a lamp unto our feet and a light for our path. However, our interpretations of Scripture are always flawed and finite. I think it is quite possible that God’s word to us on this subject may not be what we think it is.

As we search for these tough answers together, let us always remember that, wherever else our convictions and interpretations may lead us, our first calling is to love others as Christ loves us.

I leave you with these lyrics from the Presbyterian Hymnal (#298):

‘There’s a wideness in God’s mercy, Like the wideness of the sea; There’s a kindness in God’s justice, Which is more than liberty.
There is no place where earth’s sorrows Are more felt than up in heaven; There is no place where earth’s failings Have such kindly judgment given.
For the love of God is broader Than the measures of the mind; And the heart of the Eternal Is most wonderfully kind.
If our love were but more faithful, We would gladly trust God’s Word; And our lives reflect thanksgiving For the goodness of our Lord.’

Utica Mosque Gets National Attention

On By J. Barrett LeeIn Community ChaplaincyLeave a comment

It’s not often that Utica gets such positive press on a national scale.  I am blown away that our city can serve as a moral example to the rest of the country at this moment.  This doesn’t happen often, so I’m cherishing the opportunity while it’s here!

Read the article in the NY Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/19/nyregion/19towns.html?_r=1&ref=nyregion#

See also my earlier post with a link to a similar article in our local paper:

https://streetpastor.wordpress.com/2010/08/14/a-welcome-a-blessing/

The Person Behind the ‘Ground Zero Mosque’

On By J. Barrett LeeIn Uncategorized2 Comments

Much fuss is being made in the media about Cordoba House, the proposed Islamic Center in Manhattan that is sometimes referred to as the ‘Ground Zero Mosque’.  The cleric spearheading this project has been compared to extremists, fanatics, and terrorists like Osama bin Laden.

Nothing could be farther from the truth.  The truth is that Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf represents the kind of much-needed civility that is unfortunately lacking in contemporary American public discourse.  Opponents who hear him are more likely to be offended by Imam Feisal’s liberal open-mindedness than his Islamic extremism.  I encourage you to let the man speak for himself, as he did in this TED talk:

Imam Feisal’s talk centered around the Charter for Compassion.  Learn more about this important document from the following video:

If what you just heard is making waves in your heart, please visit their website and consider signing the charter:

As a Christian, I fear for where we are heading as a country.  If we block the construction of Cordoba House, we will be taking our first small steps down a road that leads to holocaust.  We will be holding an entire religious group responsible for the actions of one small sect.  If there should not be a mosque near Ground Zero because of atrocities the committed there by Muslims, then neither should there be churches on Native American Reservations because of the atrocities committed there by Christians.

When we fight for the freedom of all faiths, we fight for our own freedom.

Learning How To See

On By J. Barrett LeeIn Bible study reflection, Community Chaplaincy, Sermon1 Comment

This sermon was preached this morning at First Presbyterian Church in Rome, NY.  The text is Luke 12:49-56.

For those who would rather listen than read, you can hear a recording of the sermon by clicking here.

Earlier this week, I received a life-lesson in waiting for the voice of the Holy Spirit.  The time came for me to submit this week’s bulletin materials to Kari, your church secretary, and I decided to go ahead and give my sermon a title (even though it had not yet been written).  I thought I might focus on Jesus’ statement about bringing “fire to the earth” and explore the ways that Jesus might be “kindling a fire” in our hearts.  But on the day after I submitted the bulletin, my point of view on this week’s gospel text was drastically altered during our Thursday evening Bible study at St. James Mission in Utica.

My paradigm shift came from comments offered by a new visitor to our group.  He is a young father in his early thirties who is currently going blind.  He claims that, as his eyesight has diminished over the last year, he has developed an ability to intuitively sense when he is in an unsafe part of town.  While there may be no way for us to scientifically test whether he actually has this sixth sense, let’s take him at his word, for the sake of argument.  What this means is that this gentleman has been learning how to see in a new way.

Our visitor told this story in response to the last part of today’s reading, where Jesus asks, “You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?”  Our friend commented that the people in this story were like he once was: blind to the reality of the world around him.  Ironically, it is as he loses his sight that he gains insight.

Jesus’ question to the people comes in the context of a larger discussion that happens in Luke 12.  This discussion is prompted by someone who comes to Jesus, asking him to resolve a dispute between family members over an inheritance.  Jesus declines to get involved in the conflict and engages instead on a lengthy teaching about the spiritual dangers of greed and anxiety.  He invites people to live by a different set of beliefs and values than those embraced by society-at-large.  In the portion of the discussion we are reading today, Jesus warns his followers that living by this different set of beliefs and values will inevitably put them at odds with the world around them.

Jesus further challenges the crowd to take a closer look at their lives.  All the fuss about money and property rights; does it really lead to better quality of life?  Is it really worthwhile to get caught up in playing society’s games?  As for the man who was fighting with his brother over their inheritance, Jesus encouraged him to go and try to reconcile with his brother outside of court.  After all, what’s more important: the inheritance money or their family relationship?

If we were to take an honest look at today’s world, I think it would be fair to say that ours is no less driven by the powers of greed and anxiety.  The teachings of Jesus present us with a way of living that still puts us at odds with society’s beliefs and values.  We, no less than Jesus’ original followers, face the daily temptation to buy into society’s illusions about what will bring us true security and happiness.  And, like those first followers, Jesus is continually inviting us to take a closer look at the world around us, so that we might become more faithful followers of the way of Christ.

One way that we can take a closer look at our world (or “interpret the present time”, as Jesus put it in today’s reading) is by looking at the world through the eyes of another person.  This is a large part of our ministry at St. James Mission.  Allow me to give you an example:  There are relatively few homeless shelters in the state of New York between the cities of Albany and Syracuse.  One day, as I was sitting outside a coffee shop here in Rome, I asked a passing police officer about homelessness in central New York.  He told me that we are “blessed to not have that problem here.”  At first glance, it would be easy to agree with this officer’s assessment.  After all, I am rarely approached by panhandlers in Rome and Utica.  I don’t often see people sleeping on park benches or huddled inside cardboard boxes (a common sight in other cities).  Could it be that we are immune to the effects of this perennial urban problem?

The answer came for me as I have walked with multiple people as they transition from one place to another.  St. James Mission started our Community Chaplaincy program a year and a half ago in the neighborhood surrounding the Olbiston Apartments on Genesee Street.  Those who know Utica are probably familiar with this large red-stone building at the corner of Genesee and Clinton.  Most of our ministry contacts were located in that immediate neighborhood.  As relationships have developed, every single one of the people I met there has moved elsewhere.  I have helped individuals find new housing and fill out applications for assistance.  What I have discovered is that many of these people have been moving house every three to six months for years on end.  Sometimes they travel into and out of inpatient treatment programs.  Sometimes they stack up eviction after eviction, each time stepping down the ladder toward more dilapidated housing.  Some people go “couch-surfing” or staying informally with a series of friends for extended periods of time.  While these urban nomads always manage to have some kind of roof over their heads, they are still ultimately homeless.

Homelessness is a very real problem here in the Mohawk Valley, but it remains a hidden problem as long as the general public is unaware of the particular form it takes in our area.  I am learning the truth of this reality from those brave men and women who are willing to share their lives with me as their pastor.  To me, they are God’s messengers who help me “interpret the present time” and pay attention to the world around me.  Never again can I buy into the illusion that the Mohawk Valley has no homeless people.

Ministries such as Emmaus House, Hope House, JCTOD, and the Rescue Missions are working tirelessly to address this problem.  Through our Community Chaplaincy, we at St. James Mission are joining the effort by offering free services of referral, advocacy, and spiritual care to people on the street in Utica.  Any of these ministries would be worthy of your support.  Consider giving, not only with your prayers and wallets, but with your volunteer time and presence as well.  Get involved and look at the world through the eyes of someone who is different from you.  This is part of what it means to “interpret the present time”.

There are many other ways in which God is teaching us how to see.  Earlier in this passage, Jesus talks about reading the signs set forth by the clouds and the wind.  I couldn’t help but think of this as I was driving home from our Bible study on Thursday.  There was a most magnificent sunset on the horizon.  With me in the car was another one of our regular participants who lives in Rome.  We drove west on Route 49 describing the shapes we saw in the brilliant orange and purple clouds.  At one point, he said to me, “I think of clouds as art.”  I think he was absolutely right.  When we look at our world, do we see a random collection of atoms and chemical reactions?  Or is there something deeper that lends meaning to this universe?  To be fair, Jesus wasn’t exactly speaking about the revelation of God in nature when he spoke about the clouds and the wind in this passage, but there are certainly other passages in the Bible that do point in that direction.  One of my personal favorites is Psalm 19:

“The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims God’s handiwork.  Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge.  There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard; yet their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.”

As we drove along toward home, praying grateful prayers for those natural fireworks, I believe I could hear the voice of the heavens telling the glory of God.

If I were to give this sermon a new title, it would be Learning How To See, because Jesus is in the business of teaching us how to see.  He teaches us to take an honest look at our world and the empty illusions it holds.  He challenges us to look past the surface of our lives and face reality, so that we might learn what makes for true peace and prosperity.

I’ll close with these words from a song by Bruce Cockburn:

“Little round planet in a big universe:

Sometimes it looks blessed, sometimes it looks cursed.

Depends on what you look at, obviously.

But, even more, it depends on the way that you see.”

Let us pray.

Lord Jesus, we confess that we, in our spiritual blindness, are unable to see our lives and our world clearly; we need your Holy Spirit to kindle a fire in our hearts, so that we might see you and serve you in every person we meet and every situation we encounter; we ask this for the glory of your most holy name.  Amen.

A Welcome & A Blessing

On By J. Barrett LeeIn Uncategorized1 Comment
Photo taken by the Bosnian Islamic Association of Utica

I have attached an article from the Utica Observer-Dispatch that gives us something to celebrate in our community.  The new Islamic Center sits right next door to my office (in fact, this photo was taken in our parking lot).  I am thankful for their presence and pray a blessing for their new ministry.

I think the rest of the country could learn something from Utica this week…

Here is the link to the article in the Observer-Dispatch:

Local Muslims find acceptance missing elsewhere

Incoming!

On By J. Barrett LeeIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Hey everybody,

Tonight’s Bible study really got me rethinking the sermon I’ve been preparing for next Sunday at First Presbyterian Church, Rome.

Rather than summing up this week’s discussion, my thoughts will be included in the sermon (which I will post on Sunday).

The text is Luke 12:49-56, in case anyone else wants to offer their two cents on it.

Until then, you’ll just have to read the text and listen for the voice of the Spirit in your own lives!

Pitching Tent

On By J. Barrett LeeIn Community Chaplaincy2 Comments

I’ve been reading Blue Collar Resistance by Tex Sample and I really click with his notion of “pitching tent” among the people with whom one does ministry.  Theologically, the idea stems from John 1:14, which reads as follows: “the Word became flesh and lived among us” (NRSV).  The Greek word translated here as “lived” is skenoo, which literally means “to pitch one’s tent”.  I like Eugene Peterson’s rendering in The Message: “The Word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood.”

Whether one is pitching a tent or moving into the neighborhood, the connotation is the same: Jesus shows up where people “do life”.  Christ meets his disciples in the midst of their daily work: mending fishnets and gathering water.  His parables of God’s kingdom were inspired by the most mundane activities: planting seeds and baking bread.  None of these events are thought of as explicitly “spiritual” activities, yet they seem to be Jesus’ preferred settings for encountering people.

I must admit that I sometimes struggle with my sense of call as a pastor on the street.  I sometimes feel like an amateur social worker.  Yesterday morning, I helped one guy make flyers and post them around town.  In the afternoon, I sat at a cafe with someone and helped him fill out applications for new housing.  Neither of these activities seems very “pastoral” at first glance.

We don’t always talk about the Bible or Christianity.  Does that mean our time together is spiritually empty?  I can’t bring myself to believe that it does.  When I look at these growing relationships, I can see God’s hand at work in our ministry.  Making flyers and filling out applications are part of “doing life” with people in the margins of society.  Following in Jesus’ footsteps, I am trying to pitch my tent with people who have no other pastoral connection.  As an act of spiritual solidarity, I have to believe that counts for something.

What the Bible Really Says About the End of the World

On By J. Barrett LeeIn Sermon2 Comments

This morning’s sermon preached at Forest Presbyterian Church in Lyons Falls, NY.  My text is Luke 12:32-40.

In the eyes of popular media, inner-city neighborhoods are often portrayed as haunts of violence and lawlessness.  The inhabitants of such areas tend to be stereotyped as hardened and dangerous people, who are best avoided by well-to-do suburbanites.  I’d like to reassure you this morning that the reality of life “on the street” is far duller than the imagination allows.  The lives of our fellow human beings in downtown Utica bear a striking similarity to the lives of people here in Lyons Falls.

I’m thinking right now of Youngblood, a sometime-resident of Genesee Street who is frequently in trouble with the law due to his activities as a vendor of controlled substances.  One day, Youngblood and I were driving to an appointment with his probation officer and he said, “Man, I been reading about this 2012 s**t.  They say the world is gonna come to an end.  Is that stuff really in the Bible?”  What strikes me about Youngblood’s question is that this is the exact same question that many people are asking in churches these days.

In fact, people have been asking this question on and off for many years.  Before the massive influx of literature regarding the end of the Mayan Calendar on December 21, 2012, many of us will undoubtedly remember the great fuss that accompanied the arrival of the year 2000.  Going a little farther back in history, much attention has been given to the quatrains of Nostradamus (which have never been successfully used to predict an event before-the-fact) and other Apocalyptically-minded “prophets”.  Almost forgotten is the chaos that surrounded the turning of the last Millennium in the year 1000.  Kings and Popes were found muttering prayers in cathedrals at midnight, certain of the earth’s impending doom.

Several bestselling “road maps” for the end of the world, notably the Left Behind novels by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins and The Late Great Planet Earth by Hal Lindsey, claim to take their information straight from the pages of the Bible itself.  As a result, many Christians have become increasingly confused and anxious about the so-called “end of the world”.  While rational believers are typically disinclined to accept the dark predictions of such fanatics, we sometimes wonder, “What does the Bible really say about that stuff?”

To fully answer that question would take much longer than the time we have this morning, but we can begin by looking at the gospel text we have in front of us.  In verse 40, Jesus tells his followers, “You… must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.”  This is one of those Bible verses that often get painted on billboards, bumper stickers, and picket signs.  During his growing up years, my father heard sermons on texts like this one.  The preacher would thunder, “When Jesus returns, you wouldn’t want him to find you out dancing or at the movies, would you?!” Trusting that Jesus doesn’t really have a problem with people going to movies and dancing, it makes sense to ask the question: what then does it actually mean to “be ready” for the unexpected coming of the “Son of Man”?

To answer this question, we must first establish what it is that we should be ready for.  When Jesus uses the phrase “Son of Man”, he is making use of an ancient Hebrew expression that means “human being”.  This phrase is the one that Jesus uses most often in reference to himself.  Many scholars agree that, in this particular case, Jesus is identifying himself with the figure seen in a vision by the Hebrew prophet Daniel:

As I watched in the night visions, I saw one like a human being coming with the clouds of heaven. And he came to the Ancient One and was presented before him. 14To him was given dominion and glory and kingship, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not pass away, and his kingship is one that shall never be destroyed. (Daniel 7:13-14)

This human being in Daniel’s vision, who receives eternal authority over the nations of the world, appears immediately after God subdues the other empires of the earth, all of which appear in the vision as vicious and wild animals.  The message is clear about God’s plan for the future: to reform the many violent and animalistic nations of the world into one human society.  Jesus presents himself as the crux and the catalyst for this new human society.

In the book of Revelation, the apostle John expands on Daniel’s vision:

I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them as their God; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; 4he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:1-4)

According to John’s vision, the face of the earth is renewed and all suffering is erased.  Ironically, no one flies away to heaven in either of these visions because heaven comes here! Isn’t this exactly what we ask for each week when we pray the Lord’s Prayer: “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”?

I believe that one of my favorite modern-day prophets, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., had this eternal vision in mind when he spoke about that day “when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing together in the words of the old negro spiritual: free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”

So, when Jesus tells his followers to “be ready”, I believe this heaven-on-earth is what he had in mind, not some apocalyptic vision of destruction through fire and brimstone.  Later in his vision, Daniel states explicitly that “the holy ones of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever” (Daniel 7:18).  Daniel’s vision bears remarkable similarities to Jesus’ words of comfort in Luke 12:32: “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”  This is beginning to sound like good news, isn’t it?

How then, do we make ourselves ready for the fulfillment of these visions?  I think Jesus gives us a hint in verse 33: “Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

This little nugget of advice from Jesus is part of a larger block of teaching found in Luke 12.  It starts when someone comes to Jesus in verse 13, asking him to resolve a family dispute regarding an inheritance.  Jesus declines to get involved and embarks instead on a teaching about greed and anxiety.  From God’s point of view, the acquisition of material goods is not an end in itself, but merely a means to an end.  The only worthwhile end, in God’s eyes, is that vision we read about in Daniel and Revelation.  Material possessions are only helpful insofar as they contribute to the establishment of that kingdom of heaven-on-earth.

You and I live in a world where we are inundated with messages telling us that true happiness can be achieved if only we would purchase this or that product.  I recently saw a commercial for a brand of beer that is apparently favored by “the most interesting man in the world”.  I don’t know about you, but in my experience, consuming alcohol has little to no effect on how “interesting” a person is!

Jesus, in today’s gospel reading, invites you and me to check out of this empty process and invest in projects that have eternal value.  To the person who came asking him to arbitrate a family dispute, Jesus had this advice:

…why do you not judge for yourselves what is right? 58Thus, when you go with your accuser before a magistrate, on the way make an effort to settle the case, or you may be dragged before the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and the officer throw you in prison. 59I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the very last penny. (Luke 12:57-59)

Whether the world’s game for you is consumerism, fear, or conflict, Jesus’ invitation is to stop playing.  If you play, you will lose because the game isn’t fair.  This is why Jesus said, “Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” When we stop playing this world’s games, we are liberated to participate more fully in God’s vision of heaven-on-earth.  This is what it means to “be ready” for the unexpected coming of the “Son of Man”.

So, what does the Bible really say about all that end-of-the-world stuff?  We have seen that God’s vision for the final destiny of the world is one of redemption and not destruction.  The best way for us to “be ready” for this redemption is by checking out of this world’s silly games of fear & greed and living lives based on spiritual values such as generosity and reconciliation.

Living our lives according to these values will necessarily put us at odds with the world around us.  The world says that the only way to successfully establish a kingdom is through violence and anxiety.  But our ace in the hole as Christians is that we don’t have to build anything!  As Jesus told his followers in Luke 12:32: “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” We already have everything we need to accomplish this task and more!  It’s not up to us to produce or construct or build God’s kingdom of heaven-on-earth because it has already been given to us.

I ask you this morning: how are you making yourself ready to participate in God’s vision?  Jesus told his followers to sell their possessions.  Most of us in this room probably aren’t ready to take that step.  But maybe we can begin to ask hard questions about our relationship to those things.  Do we own our possessions or do they own us?  How does my use of time, talent, and treasure communicate the spiritual values upon which I base my life as a Christian?  As you seek to answer these questions for yourself, remember that you already have everything you need.

I met a woman several years ago who had been very anxious about the turn of the Millennium.  In preparation for a global disaster, she stockpiled food and water in her basement.  When New Year’s Day came and went without a hitch, she was suddenly embarrassed to have an entire barrel of wheat berries and no idea of what to do with it.  Over the next few years, she slowly emptied the barrel and gave bags of wheat berries to family and friends as gifts.  I love this image: the unnecessary byproduct of this person’s fear and anxiety was transformed into a nourishing gift for an entire community.  What better illustration can there be for how God wants to redeem our anxieties about the end of the world?  Amen.