
Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Sunday, November 27, 2005

"It would be nice if someone would read this sad-eyed crowd the Sermon on the Mount, accompanied by a rousing commentary on income inequality and the need for a hike in the minimum wage. But Jesus makes his appearance here only as a corpse; the living man, the wine-guzzling vagrant and precocious socialist, is never once mentioned, nor anything he ever had to say. Christ crucified rules, and it may be that the true business of modern Christianity is to crucify him again and again so that he can never get a word out of his mouth."

Saturday, November 26, 2005

HOPE MINGLED WITH DREAD. I think Charles Moore captures my own sense of the situation as we turn toward Advent (it begins tomorrow):
"Though Advent (literally 'arrival') has been observed for centuries as a time to contemplate Christ's birth, most people today acknowledge it only with a blank look. For the vast majority of us, December flies by in a flurry of activities, and what is called 'the holiday season' turns out to be the most stressful time of the year."
"It is also a time of contrasting emotions. We are eager, yet frazzled; sentimental, yet indifferent. One minute we glow at the thought of getting together with our family and friends; the next we feel utterly lonely. Our hope is mingled with dread, our anticipation with despair. We sense the deeper meanings of the season but grasp at them in vain; and in the end, all the bustle leaves us frustrated and drained."
TOWARD THE MANGER. I hope Charles Moore's conclusion isn't the last word for our Advent experience. As one who is assigned to lead a faith community into and through Advent, I know the challenge of drawing folks' hearts toward the manger amid cultural-commercial Christmas. I will try to help our community use the spiritual senses of (1) an awareness of time and (2) a Spirit-listening heart to prepare for the authentic Christmas that awaits beyond the cultural-commercial one.

SINCE THEN. Realization of our national leaderships' over-reactions, choice of direction, and squandering of momentary international empathy and resolve also overwhelms. Over the tragic loss of 3,000 lives in a single terrorist attack, more than 500,000 people have since been killed in retaliatory and so-called "pre-emptive" U.S. military and secret intelligence-led torture operations. Of course our leaders try to justify this as necessary to maintain our freedoms and make the world a safer place. But the equation doesn't work--not from any sane logical angle.
A HOPE AND A PRAYER. I will put it as graciously as I can: We have not been led well through this time of national and international crisis. I hope for dramatically different national and international guidance in the years ahead. Let us change our course. Let us repent genuinely of our complicity and violence. Let us step back from the brink. Let wisdom begin to prevail.
Friday, November 25, 2005

AT THE END OF THE DAY. Does the Big Apple shine for those who labor in it? Or does the extreme power, privilege, and price tag of this city juxtapose to their meager pay and comparative marginality, making them cynical, hardened, resigned? Are they resigned to exist in a city and a system of wealth that needs and uses them while reducing them to 21st-century indentured servants? At the end of the day, at the end of a lifetime, what has this city given them for their contributions? For all the talk of freedom in this city, control--of money, of power, of creativity, of image--is the overwhelming, if unspoken, reality of this city.
Thursday, November 24, 2005

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

NEVER MISSED A BEAT. Molly has never missed a beat. She played soccer competitively within a day of the surgeries. This fall, she started every varsity game as a freshman for her high school; she played a vital role in the team's run to the state semi-finals. Talk about gratitude...
MAKING A WISH. Molly's oncologist at St. Vincent Children's Hospital recommended her to the Indiana Children's Wish Fund, which grants wishes for children who have had life-threatening illnesses. Molly's wish: to travel with her family to New York City over Thanksgiving to see the Broadway musical "Wicked," attend the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, and tour the sites of the Big Apple. So, the Hay family will be the guests of Indiana Children's Wish Fund in NYC for a few days in what will likely be the most unusual Thanksgiving we could ever imagine. Talk about gratitude...
Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Turkey on the table
and my Mom, Dad and I
playing football
Talking about stuff and musical tunes
Juicy turkey on the table
and all that good food
I will have it every year

- "In today's American supermarket, there are no seasons, no limits. The world's harvests and manufactured meals are at your fingertips. The supermarket appears to symbolize the best of democratic capitalism, offering consumer choice and a largess born of amazing productivity. But how does all this food actually get here? Is it really as cheap and convenient as it seems?"
- "Our most basic necessity has become a force behind a staggering array of social, economic and environmental epidemics – pesticide-laminated harvests, labor abuse, treacherous science, and, at the reins, a few increasingly monopolistic corporations controlling nearly every aspect of human sustenance. The way we make, market and eat food today creates rampant illness, hunger, poverty, community disintegration and ecological decay – and even threatens our future food supply."
- "The very way we eat affects the future of food. Our buying and dining choices today affect our food options tomorrow. It's not simply a matter of big-farm-versus-small-farm, or pesticides against organics, natural versus genetically engineered. The food we eat is the product of a whole system that is in the process of destroying itself – poisoning our air and water, turning topsoil into useless dust, and putting farmers out to pasture. If we are to have a truly healthy cornucopia that sustains society, the entire system of making, distributing and marketing food must be sustainable."
- "There are paths to a better way: muscular antitrust measures to break up corporate control over food; subsidy reform that shifts payments (currently $15-20 billion a year) from large-scale agribusiness to ecologically sustainable diversified farms; aggressive regulation (and enforcement) of the meat industry's shoddy food safety practices and mistreatment of its workers; a serious reduction in the 500,000 tons of toxic pesticides dumped on our food each year; and major public investment in community food security projects that link together small local producers and consumers to supply healthy, affordable, sustainably produced food (the USDA ladled out just $4.6 million for such efforts last year)."
Monday, November 21, 2005

“We easily divide our lives into good things to be grateful for and bad things to forget...True spiritual gratitude embraces all of our past, the good as well as the bad events, the joyful as well as the sorrowful moments...everything that took place brought us to this place..."
"That does not mean all that happened in the past was good, but it does mean that even the bad didn’t happen outside the loving presence of God...they have brought us to a deeper recognition of God’s mercy, a stronger conviction of God’s guidance, and a more radical commitment to a life in God’s service."
"Once all of our past is remembered in gratitude, we are free to be sent into the world to proclaim good news to others...all our failures and betrayals can be transformed into gratitude and enable us to become messengers of hope.”
Sunday, November 20, 2005

“Gratitude is where spiritual life begins. Thank you, Lord, for this amazing and bountiful life and forgive us if we do not love it enough. Thank you, Lord, for giving me the wherewithal not to fix a half-pound cheeseburger right now and to eat a stalk of celery instead. Thank you that I haven’t had alcohol in lo! these many months and thank you that it isn’t a big struggle to do without, as I feared it might be. Thank you for the odd delight of being 60, part of which is the sheer relief of not being 50. I could go on and on. One should enumerate one’s blessings and set them before the Lord. Begin every day with this exercise.”
Saturday, November 19, 2005
I shared a workshop at the Christian Community Development Association's Annual Conference at the Marriott Hotel in downtown Indianapolis this afternoon. I compared and contrasted three approaches to redemptive social action: (1) rescue, (2) providing services, and (3) hospitality. My experience with these--and growth through each of them--track with my own development in ministry/community action. I'll put a hospitality paradigm up against the other approaches for better outcomes and more faithful Christian witness every time.


We live by mercy if we live.
To that we have no fit reply
But working well and giving thanks,
Loving God, loving one another,
To keep Creation's neighborhood.
And my friend David Kline told me,
"It falls strangely on Amish ears,
This talk of how you find yourself.
We Amish, after all, don't try
To find ourselves. We try to lose
Ourselves"--and thus are lost within
The found world of sunlight and rain
Where fields are green and then are ripe,
And the people eat together by
The charity of God, who is kind
Even to those who give no thanks.
Thursday, November 17, 2005

This holiday is for all that we
Take for granted,
Assume as a given,
Absent-mindedly overlook,
Claim as our God-given right.
This holiday is for all those we
Unnecessarily criticize,
Agitate with our demands,
Impatiently rush,
Regularly impose upon.
This holiday is for all that we
Bypass in our drivenness,
Go out of our way to avoid,
Carelessly forget,
Thoughtlessly leave out.
This holiday is for all things we
Receive as gracious gifts,
Share as common ground,
Express as transcendent grace,
Return in praise to God.
Wednesday, November 16, 2005

- A Heart-felt Thanksgiving (a prayer of Ted Loder)
- A Way of Seeing
- Distressing Disguise (lyrics by Michael Card)
"If I do not frequently challenge vain expectations and seductive perceptions, they become self-reinforcing until vision is permanently clouded. Sadly, much of the social and global landscape is viewed through cataracted eyes; it is seen as a near-sighted opaque in which realities are obscured and hope is diminished. But coming close can cure near-sightedness. What is distant is illusory, unreal; when we come close to one another we see and touch realities—and can begin to respond in truth and love. Perhaps the most important discipline in our society today is to foster a way of seeing people through the eyes of Jesus." Read more
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Foregoing advice
Withholding “how to’s”
Alternative to scolding
I’ll listen to you.
Instead of a lecture
Not judging outright
Suspending legalities
I’ll hear your plight.
Expect no reprisals
Let go of your fears
No harm will come
Just know I am here.
I offer you grace
And a deepening desire
To know your heart
And to be inspired.
Sunday, November 13, 2005

MOLLY, TOO. Molly received her first varsity letter for soccer at the same awards dinner. A freshman, Molly started every game for the Lady Giants in a season that saw the team win their sectional and regional championships and advance to semi-state. Like Jared, Molly is a tenacious defender. She is part of class of freshmen who contributed significantly to BD's success; four freshmen started and seven played in most BD games. They have a lot to look forward to in coming years. Congratulations, Molly!
Saturday, November 12, 2005
Dear Mr. President,
Regarding your assertion that the open misgivings most Americans have about your war in Iraq are hurting our troops and making enemies question our will: will and wisdom are two very different things. Personally, I question your wisdom in the use of Americans' will. I think you have misused Americans' will, placing American troops and American integrity in a compromising situation. You have chosen and are holding to a very narrowly-defined course of action in Iraq. It is time and past time to gather wisdom beyond your own ingrown circle of advisors. It would be wisdom to consider alternative outcomes and means, and to chart a different course. May God give you grace to do so.
Friday, November 11, 2005

HARD FROST. Finally, it has come. We woke to a hard frost this Central Indiana morning. Leaves on the ground in our backyard were crystal-covered. Early temps were below 30 degrees. The sun over a clear sky will quickly warm up this Veterans' Day. By the first of the week, the majority of trees will have shed their glory. This disrobing is part of the annual transition from fall to winter, the charged changing of the season in the heartland.
Thursday, November 10, 2005

WHO NEEDS THIS? I frequently challenge the folks in our community of faith to make prayer a priority. Prayer is included in each of our communty's gatherings, whether in worship, fellowship, Christian education, or recreation. The Apostle Paul admonished: "Be joyful always, Pray continuously. Give thanks in all circumstances." But focused prayer as a daily discipline evades most of us. Or, we evade it. Or, our prayers turn repetitive and shallow, barely sincere. The Daily Offices are simply a way to let the Scriptures lead us into prayer and keep us focued in continuous prayer. The Offices are a helpful beginning point for a deeper life of prayer. So, away with our excuses. Let us begin again...
Wednesday, November 9, 2005

TOWARD SELF KNOWLEDGE. “We have come increasingly to see the need of consciously moving toward self-knowledge. We need the collaboration of our own experience in a community to understand that self-examination is essential if we are to have a life together and to be in any meaningful way the Church in the world. We have to be people engaged with ourselves if we are going to find out where we are and where it is we want to go.”
LIGHT AND DARKNESS. O’Connor explores various ways we engage with ourselves -- through vigilant awareness, in asking ourselves questions, attention to our dreams, and to our inner fragmentation. Of this latter condition she notes: “Recognition of the division in ourselves begins when we shift the attention we have been giving to the mote in our brother’s eye and fasten it on the beam in our own. In an age, however, when so many suffer because they feel no sense of self-worth, it is equally important to become aware of the light in us -- that part of us which is based on truth. Light and dark -- they are both there, and each has many children, the children of darkness and the children of light. ‘My name is Legion’ is the plight of us all.”
ENGAGEMENT WITH GOD. “We need the engagement with self to find out that we have our houses resting on sand, but there is no possibility of getting them over on rock without an engagement with God,” writes O’Connor. “If we are really to know our own life, we will have to emerge now and then from study of self and meditate on the ‘greatness and majesty’ of God. ‘As I see it,’ said St. Teresa of Avila, ‘we shall never succeed in knowing ourselves unless we seek to know God.’”
RECOLLECTION FOR PRESSED PEOPLE. “For most of us the days are not filled with events that we label ‘important.’ But the content and quality of our lives is determined by how we respond to the ordinary, and this depends on whether or not we have taken the time to nourish an inner life. The more pressed we are for time the more essential it is to make recollection a part of our day.”
FOR WHAT ARE WE ASKING? “There is a profound sense in which our whole life is prayer, whether we strive for it or not, so that much of what we wail and complain about is an answer to requests we are not conscious of making. If we take with any seriousness the idea that our whole life is prayer, surely we will want solitude to meditate on what our posture, and attitudes and acts, are really petitioning.”
DIFFICULT, REWARDING. The journey inward also needs the depth companionship of heart-seeking fellow sojourners. O’Connor writes: “Engagement with others in depth is always difficult within the church, which is probably why so few try it and why there is so little genuine Christian community in the world.” And yet, when tried, “it is the most rewarding and the most essential to those on an inward journey. As we grow in depth relationship with those whose values and experiences are different from ours, the horizons of our little worlds are pushed back -- our ‘Umwelts’ are enlarged. Life comes to have a variety and a richness that was not there before.”
FROM MISERABLE TO MYSTERY. Gordon Cosby describes the kind of commitment required in this engagement: “This is never a tentative commitment that I can withdraw from. It is a commitment to a group of miserable, faltering sinners who make with me a covenant to live in depth until we see in each other the mystery of Christ himself and until in these relationships we come to know ourselves as belonging to the Body of Chirst.”
FREE TO ACT AND SPEAK. “In this strange community where commitment is not tentative we become free to act and to speak. We can take risks that we could not take in other situations, which include the risks of getting in touch with our own unfelt feelings. We can afford to express negative reactions and move toward meeting, if we know our words do not cut us off. We can choose to express anger and therefore keep the sun from setting on it. We can take the risk of telling a brother what stands between us, if we know there will be another time when we are together, and that it does not depend on what does or does not happen in this moment.”
CONFRONTED WITH OURSELVES. “To the extent that a community has a continuing life together we are going to be challenged at the point of our illusions about the kind of people we are. The task is always to change ourselves - - to deal with that in us which prevents our going forth to meet the other. It is when we are locked in a permanent kind of relationship, however, that the conflicts arise which confront us with ourselves. Peace is not the object of Christian fellowship, though we have thought it was and have maintained ‘good’ relationships at the terrible expense of not being real with each other. When this happens, we forego being a people on a pilgrimage together.”
HANG IN THERE. “The Church is wherever two or three gather in His Name. But this does not mean the choosing of a few kindred friends with whom to pray. We gather in that Name when with other faltering, estranged persons we agree to live a life in depth, which means learning something about forgiveness and what it means to be forgiven. It means staying locked in a concrete, given web of relationships until we come to know ourselves as belonging to one another and belonging to the Body of Christ.”
Tuesday, November 8, 2005
To “reconcile” means “to bring together,” "to resolve, settle," "to restore to friendship or harmony." The Apostle Paul described the Christian mission primarily in terms of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:11-6:2). Here are 5 ways to be a reconciler:
BREAK BARRIERS: fear, suspicion, doubt, bigotry, ignorance--these are to be challenged and broken with the love of Jesus lived thru us.
BRIDGE GAPS: insulation, seclusion, division, suspicion, resentment--these are to be spanned by the positive presence of Christian witness.
CROSS BORDERS: put yourself in the situations where you can grow in grace--cross cultures by intention again and again, be enriched by those whom you consider poor, love the city though you may prefer the country, learn as you teach, receive as you serve, .
WELCOME STRANGERS: make room for those whom the dominant culture and society discards, looks down on, suspects, or dismisses. “Let every guest be received as Christ.” “Strangers expected” is the watchword.
STAND IN THE GAP: many situations and people resist reconciliation for a long time. You may be called to literally live in the tension between conflicts, estranged people. But that is what Jesus does on the Cross. As His ambassador, dare to stand in the gap with the grace, love, and power God gives.
Monday, November 7, 2005
MARTIN LUTHER. The folks at Bruderhof picked the follow quote by Martin Luther found in Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Cost of Discipleship for today's "Daily Dig." It's quite a challenge to receive, contemplate, and incorporate into one's life. But what are the other valid options? There is no better way.

GOING OUT NOT KNOWING. "Bewilderment is the true comprehension. Not to know where you are going is the true knowledge. In this way Abraham went forth from his father, not knowing where he was going. That is the way of the cross. You cannot find it in yourself, so you must let me lead you as though you were a blind man."
IN THIS SENSE. "Not the work which you choose, not the suffering you devise, but the road which is contrary to all that you choose or contrive or desire – that is the road you must take. It is to this path that I call you, and in this sense that you must be my disciple."
Saturday, November 5, 2005
I am preparing a workshop for the Christian Community Development Association (CCDA) annual convention in a few weeks here in Indianapolis. I title the presentation: "Stop Providing Services; Offer Hospitality." It is geared toward challenging those who would engage in transformative and socially redemptive outreach to consider moving beyond "rescue" and "service provider" models. A few principles undergirding my preparation and presentation:
- 1. Hospitality is subversive of the status quo and is a sign of the upside-down Kingdom.
- Hospitality expresses the grace of a heart-centered faith.
- Hospitality gives human shape and presence to the truth we proclaim.
- Hospitality, by making room, makes real the hope of the Kingdom.
- Hospitality, by refusing to refuse those otherwise refused, simultaneously stands against domination and risks consequences.
- Hospitality opens up the possibility of a person finding recovery or a group transforming themselves-- and making a needed contribution to the whole.
- Hospitality opens up the possibility of the host being changed—transformed—and to receive a needed gift.
I'm thinking about fleshing out these principles on bikehiker blog over the next few weeks. Let me know if you're interested in any particular one, or in hospitality as a radical expression of the Gospel in general.
Friday, November 4, 2005

AIRPORT...OR PRISON? My typical before- or after-work bike ride is to circle the perimeter of the Indianapolis International Airport. After September 11, 2001, another fence was erected around the public, civilian facility. Only this one is ten feet high and topped with razor ribbon. It is clear that no terrorists have attempted to sabotage aircraft or board airlines from anywhere but the terminal, so I ponder the real use or message of this prison-type fencing. What commercial purposes does it serve? What public safety purposes does it serve? What logic was at work to warrant this action? What if you carried that same logic out in all equally impactful possibilities for harm? What else would we fence with razor ribbon? Does knowing this fencing is in place instill a sense of safety in the citizenry? Or does it incite a higher degree of fear and centralized control? What would it take to reverse the order that put this fencing in place?
Thursday, November 3, 2005

Wednesday, November 2, 2005

Tuesday, November 1, 2005
GOOD LUCK, JARED. My 17-year old son Jared found a job today. He will be employed by a nationally-franchised retail company that sells and exchanges electronic video games. A new store is opening in a bustling suburban strip mall and he will be on the ground floor of the shop's beginnings there. I think Jared brings a lot of positive capabilities to this workplace; may this employer realize it and tap into it. Congratulations, Jared.
WORKPLACE ENVIRONMENT. Jared has demonstrated a strong work ethic and leadership in varsity soccer and choirs for years. Does the discipline and hard work on the ballfield or other venues translate into solid or peak performance in the workplace? I believe it can. Some of this depends on the competence and leadership of the manager and assistant managers. Some of it depends on the workplace milieu or environment. Some of it depends on the perspective, attitude, and outlook of the employee. I hope the combination in this case is a good mix for a successful employment and productive work environment.
JUGGLING PRIORITIES. Youth employment can be a pressure cooker, really. It was for me...and I have observed it to be so for others. It is part-time, low-wage, unskilled work wedged into school work, extra-curricular activities, dating relationships, and family commitments. Managers must be skilled at helping young people stay focused and offer their best during their "on duty" time and simultaneously respect the demands and challenges of the young person's "off duty" time. For many youth, their first few employers dramatically shape views of work and the workplace--for good for ill--that last a lifetime.
MANAGERS, THINK LONG-TERM. Most of us survive our first few workplace experiences. What was it like for you? Most of us learn, lick our wounds, and move on. For many, youth work experiences help us learn what we do NOT want to do with the rest of our lives. How different this is than an apprenticeship model! Good employers, it seems to me, would do well to treat every employee as a potential manager or leader of their organization. Don't just teach how to do something; share your passion for what you do. This approach at the beginning makes a difference in the longevity and quality of work.