Brueggemann and Abundance

Abundance

“The church is the only community in the world that has as its central symbolic act, an act that is called, “Thanks.” The Eucharist. You know Eucharist is Greek for “Thanks.” And participation in the Eucharist is an act of gratitude for the abundance that the creator God gives to the world.

And I think that the neighborly economy can only be funded by gratitude. It is all a gift! I did not make any of it, produce any of it, it is a gift! But the extraction economy wants to think, “It’s mine!” “I made it, I own it, I can do what I want, I don’t have to be grateful to anybody.”

Which leads me to think that participation in the Eucharist is the most subversive thing we can do.

But notice what the long history of the church has done to the Eucharist. It has siphoned off its danger into something about sin and salvation and getting right with God, rather than a meal for the neighborhood. The African Americans in the United Church of Christ calls the Eucharist “The Welcome Table.” All are welcome, no restrictions. All are welcome because there is more than enough.”  -Walter Brueggemann, Inward, Ouward, Daily quote, August 23, 2018, InwardOutward.org, Church of the Saviour.

Brueggemann reminds us something we so often forget about the Eucharist. Christ called all to the Welcome Table, and this should be the center of our worship. Weekly or daily Eucharist is a reminder of abundance. There is always enough bread and wine and always some left over. The Eucharist is a reminder of a great gift, the love of God for each of us and for all.

 Remembering that we are giving thanks for God’s great gift of love, remembering that this is a table for all, remembering that this is a table of abundance, remembering that this is a reminder that we have been given a life of abundance through Christ can make all the difference in how we receive the Eucharist and how we live our lives.

Joanna joannaseibert.com

Practicing and Preaching and Fear

  Practicing and Preaching and Fear

“If mainstream Christianity has steadily lost force and credibility in the contemporary world…I wonder how much of this decline might be attributed to the fact that for so long now the means have not matched the ends. We preach one gospel and live another… the clash is accentuated in the security-obsessed consciousness of our own times. We preach the Good Samaritan and lock our church doors. We preach the lilies of the field and allocate large amounts of our monthly paychecks to pension and insurance plans.” Cynthia Bourgeault,  Mystical Hope, Daily Quote, Inwardoutward.org, Church of the Saviour.

This is the old story of practicing what we preach. We talk one way, but act another. My experience is that much is unconscious. We see ourselves as good and caring people. We know a certain belief is part of our core value, but our society speaks against it or does not value it and gives us excuses or wiggle room so that we don’t have to follow through.

My own experience is that fear and scarcity zero-sum mentality is what most often keeps me from being this person God created me to be, acting on what I know at my core is true.  We fear we will not have enough money. We fear that someone will break in and steal what we already have.  We fear our health with fail. We fear we will be left alone and abandoned.

 Being grateful, thankful for what we have is one of the best ways to journey out of a fear-based life. We have been given a daily reminder of how much we are cared for and loved. When I am most fearful, I rise early in the morning and watch the sunrise. Out of deep darkness comes overwhelming light. We are given a new day, a new start, each day. Out of the darkness comes resurrection.

Joanna   joannaseibert.com

God Callings and Meetings

God Callings

The many things we have to do, the hundred and one calls on our time and attention, don't get between ourselves and God. On the contrary they are to us in very truth his Body and his Blood.  

—H. A. Williams in The Joy of God. Synthesis Quote of the Day, August 10, 2018.www.synthesispub.com

Well, this is a novel idea! We anticipate during the day the quiet time that we will have writing or walking or at centering prayer, but the interactions we have with people during the day and our work are just as much a part of our relationship with God!

 The God within us is meeting with the God in our neighbor or the patients we work with or our co-workers or our partners or the children we teach or our fellow students. This is like turning on a switch in our brain. Our life is not divided into parts. Every part of our being is an offering. Every second, every hour is an opportunity to share the love we have been so freely given. We should tape Williams quote to the back of our cell phones to remind us when we get that last-minute phone call just as we are leaving our office.

My experience actually has been that they have been some of the most important calls I have had. It could be a novel idea to imagine that it is God calling.

This is a blending of the doing and the being aspects of our lives, our Martha and the Mary parts. Perhaps at times, we are called to be more being and at other times more doing. I think Williams is asking us to consider both of these as offerings to God.

I wonder if Jesus’ story of his visit to Mary and Martha would have been different if Martha had believed her doing was just as important, but not more important than Mary’s being?  

Joanna  joannaseibert.com