Teach Us To Pray (A Poetic Invitation)

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Image by Nestor Galina

And this is what I saw—

Leviathan leaping,

full length,

in radiant delight,

up from the dark depths of Mystery.

The night sky, clear;

the moon full,

casting its silver light across

the whale-fractured sea.

And then

she crashes, full length.

A million silver shards

dancing their holy glee.

As she

disappears again

into the dark, silent depths,

to soak in Thee.

Why then

pray like some dead fish

in this, God’s sea?

Dance, fly,

play, plunge.

That’s what prayer is meant to be.

chris neufeld-erdman, from December 31, 2008

A Prayer for the Season of Easter

Image by Lefteris Heretakis

For every green thing that emerges from the fertile ground,

for every ray of sunlight that warms the good earth;

for the vast panoply of stars and galaxies that fill the ever-expanding universe

for ocean depths and all that fills them,

for every variety of creature,

and each and every variation of personhood that populates this planet,

we are immensely grateful, O God of life.

And now, as we gather around these ancient words brought to life again

by your eternal Word made flesh,

your Wisdom, immanent, present in power among us,

may we know the irrepressible force of Easter

that is in us,

that is around us,

that is for us and all things. 

The life that ever shines, 

despite darkness and despair.

The sacred splendor that will not,

cannot,

and never will be suppressed—

the animating power of love

to which we can say no

or yes.

So guide us, we pray, as nations to what is deepest;

open us as peoples to what is truest,

lead us as a world to what is dearest,

that we may know and revere the sacredness of life,

the divine splendor that is all around us . . . 

that is us.

Raise us today in Christ,

in wonder and delight for life,

and may we say yes

to the birthright that is ours 

and of every blessed thing

breathed into being 

by your divine kiss.

Amen.

How to break free from the madness

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My wife, Patty, and I are just back from a week along California's Big Sur coastline, one of the most astonishingly beautiful places on earth.  Just type Big Sur images into your web browser and see what I mean.  

Nature is God's art and it nourishes something deep within us.

Today I stumbled on a piece by Daniel Ladinsky who's spent his life writing contemporary renderings of the ancient mystic poets.  Here's what Ladinsky says about nature; his description gets at what I feel when I am drawn into the vast, Divine canvas: 

"Nature and art are sacred breasts we can feed on to grow. They are vital to our evolution. They offer a jailbreak or leave from the madness and demands we can get caught in. Of course love does that, too. Love dissolves boundaries and ultimately removes any contour that is not luminous." 

For more on the nature of nature and art and love, and especially poetry, see Ladinsky's full blog post on Huffpost here. 

Go there, because if you can't get to the Big Sur coastline or any other place of extreme beauty, you can pick up a poem and it might carry you into ecstasy.  (And Ladinsky's got a couple great poems in his essay, especially the spiritually flirtatious poem by Rumi, The Body is Like Mary). 

"A Table for All": Announcing the Launch of My Newest Book

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While more and more people are changing their minds, homosexuality remains a lightning rod issue for Christians. A few years ago I decided I needed to get clear myself about what I believe as a person, informed by the Bible and Christian history.  My newest book, A Table for All: How I Came to Understand the Gospel Means Full Inclusion of Gays and Lesbians, is just out.  It’s the story of my journey.  It also tells the story of the congregation I’ve served for many years and how that congregation influenced that journey.

[ Order it here, or if you live in Fresno, I'll have copies for sale at my farewell party at University Presbyterian Church on Sunday, March 8th following a combined unity service at 10am (a lunch, celebration, and book signing will follow the service) ]

This short book offers a deeply personal testimony to the way people across the spectrum might listen together to both the human drama and the divine desire for wholeness and holiness with respect to homosexuality. The book covers: the nature of the gospel, the authority of the Bible and its interpretation throughout history, the pastoral needs of LGBT persons and their families, and the missional issues facing the church today. In addition, I explore the theological core of Christianity found in the teachings of Jesus and Saint Paul. It is this core, this rule of faith, that makes it possible for Christians today to keep faith with historic Christianity and find in it a vision for the full inclusion of those the church has too long marginalized and excluded.  

The book includes an extended study guide for personal reflection and group exploration. At a time when major denominations are struggling to find ways to engage in constructive dialog, this book may well help struggling congregations and concerned readers find a way forward. 

Here are some endorsements and reviews:

"We need lots of help in thinking through the subject of full inclusion of all people in Christ's body, the church. Chris Neufeld-Erdman gives us a pastoral perspective on this contentious subject. His journey is one many church leaders must take if we are to be faithful leaders of a church with a truly open and welcoming table."

—William Willimon, United Methodist Bishop, retired, Professor of the Practice of Christian Ministry, Duke Divinity School, Durham, NC

"I'm grateful for the serious way Chris and his congregation engage Scripture as a living tradition. Chris builds bridges between the ancient world in which Scripture first emerged and our postmodern world. This book makes you both think and feel--which can only strengthen the witness of the church to God's liberating good news of the gospel."

—Shannon J. Kershner, Senior Pastor, Fourth Presbyterian Church, Chicago, IL

"Prophetic, insightful, and thoroughly gracious. Following the noblest tradition of Christianity, A Table for All opens a door too long barred. If your church has tiptoed around the issues of homosexuality and marriage equality, this book is as fine a conversation starter as any I've read."

—Philip Gulley, Quaker pastor, Danville, IN

"Instead of keeping difficult conversations off the table or pushing thosemost impacted by them under the table, Chris Neufeld-Erdman draws upon religious history, biblical exegesis, and personal experience to put them on the table. Then he invites us all to sit, share, and sort out how to make space for each other so we can relate and flourish as a full family of faith."

—Sharon Stanley-Rea, Director, Refugee & Immigration Ministries, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Washington, DC

"A Table for All delivers an objective and scriptural focus on how gays and lesbians fit into the plan of God. Neufeld-Erdman's work ties together history and Scripture for a comprehensive view of Christ's mission. The result is a read--or really a debate--that engages us to think and re-think a topic we might have thought we'd mastered."

—Timothy Pestotnik, Partner, Pestotnik + Gold LLP, Attorneys at Law, San Diego, CA

"The more books we have that testify to the full inclusion of GLBT persons in the church, the better. And the better books we have, the better. If they're written by thoughtful, reflective pastors, all the better. Chris Neufeld-Erdman has joined the rising chorus of church leaders calling for marriage equality and full inclusion. This is a highly readable, small group friendly book, and I heartily recommend it."

—Tony Jones, theologian and the author of Did God Kill Jesus?

"Neufeld-Erdman invites those who embrace biblical authority to journey with him as he comes to a new understanding of God's hospitality. Along the way, he extends a special welcome to those who disagree with his conclusions about God's inclusion of same-gender couples within the marriage covenant. This makes the book a helpful conversation starter for all those wrestling with this very important matter."

—Lynn Jost, Mennonite Brethren pastor and parent of a gay son

"A helpful and easy read for congregational members and church leaders struggling to find a way forward. The book is highly accessible, while providing a biblical, historical, pastoral, and theological path for engaging this issue. Even better, it comes from the extraordinary depth of the author's own wisdom and experience of discerning the nature of the gospel from within a vibrant congregation. It's a testimony that's overdue. Would that many congregations had had it a few years ago! But it will likely help save many from the fracturing that's plaguing the church today and marring its witness."

—Justine Spurlock, Executive Pastor, Columbine United Church, Littleton, CO

"Neufeld-Erdman writes, 'If God can get along as three Persons, yet one Being, fully differentiated yet united, then we can too!' This hope for the community of faith, expressed through his enthusiasm for the doctrine of the Trinity clearly lies at the heart of A Table for All. Indeed, it lies at the heart of Neufeld-Erdman himself. God's unity has become a reality for him as he and members of his congregation have studied and discussed how the gospel relates to LGBT individuals and as he has been challenged to contemplate the Word and words with new eyes. This book is particularly helpful for groups--and many a pastor or group leader will be grateful for the probing discussion questions offered for each chapter."

—Mary Lynn Tobin, Presbyterian Minister, Leadership Consultant and Coach

"The debate on homosexuality divides the church--a division Jesus prayed against in his high priestly prayer (John 17.20-24). Could it be that the real problem is the division rather than the issue at hand? It's for this reason that the church needs a book like this to help us engage in peaceful dialogue. Neufeld-Erdman has given us a thoughtful and personal reflection that I pray will aid us in becoming the church that Jesus had hoped and prayed for."

—Danny Cortez, Pastor, New Heart Community Church (Baptist), La Mirada, CA

"A Table for All spills over with the very essence of Jesus's teaching, as Chris Neufeld-Erdman reminds us that to love God and neighbor is the commandment above all others! This heartfelt and slim book calls us back to the basics of our faith; to embrace the essence of the gospel."

—From the Preface by Colleen Townsend Evans, actress (retired) and author

Six Things I've Learned These Last 16 years

Don McCullough "Morning Fly By"

After almost sixteen years as a pastor at University Presbyterian Church, Fresno, I am beginning a new adventure in a new congregation, the Davis Community Church in Davis, California.  Parting with friends who have become family is not easy.  We've been part of each others' lives for a significant part of our lives.  So, as much as I feel this summons by the divine for a new adventure, I also feel grief.  Below is my last newsletter article to the congregation.  It's kind of a Credo, or summary of my faith at this hinge in my life.  This transition has given me the chance to reflect on the key learnings this last decade and a half.  And while I grieve this departure, I am also full of gratitude for what I've learned among this remarkable group of people.  

This is my last chance to write to you, my last opportunity as your pastor to put words onto the page and to say something that might endure—at least for a little while.  I recall other last words.  Jesus’ to his friends: “Go and make disciples of all nations”; Saint Paul’s to his disciple, Timothy: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race”; and the saintly Albus Dumbledore’s to Harry Potter: “Of course it’s happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?”  

These famous last words were brief.  I ought to follow that pattern and say one thing.  But I’m not nearly as wise as Jesus, Paul, or . . . Dumbledore.  Instead, I’ll give a short list of the six key things I’ve learned among you since since I came among you in November of 1999:

First, “God is nearer than we think.”  For too many people God is an idea, a doctrine, a belief system.  But among you, I’ve experienced God.  God is not up and out, some Great Being who created the world and now stands aloof from it.  God is intimately involved with us and within all created things.  God is Presence.  God is as close as the beating of your heart, near as your next breath.  

Second, “God’s mischief.”  I suppose this is my signature phrase, and most of you love it.  I love it because it reminds me not only that God is big and, in the older language, sovereign.  But God is also playful.  I’ve suffered greatly in my life, but I’ve nevertheless experienced this odd and delightful Presence who seems always intent to work good in the world no matter how much bad there is. God’s goodness has come to me despite the fact that goodness didn’t often march into my life like the Fresno State marching band.  

Third, “The glory of God is a human being fully alive.”  This is a famous phrase from Saint Irenaeus of Lyon (early 2nd century, Gaul/France).  Lots of religious people think the Christian path ought to carry them away from life, their humanity, and toward a spiritual existence in heaven.  I take it on faith that there’s something beyond this life, something we call heaven, but it’s not at all clear to me what that is.  Though I’m quite sure Jesus did not intend us to spend this life thinking about it or working to get there. Jesus was about this life and about living it well.  Heaven is a bonus not the goal.  So, I think Ireneaus, the great theologian of the early church, got it right when he taught that Christianity ought to help us live a red-blooded life now and not wait for some big event later in the sky.  The goal of Christianity is living well now, here.

Fourth, “The church is the place where everyone, without exception, receives an unmistakable and unqualified invitation to come and feast at the Table of God’s abundance among an ever widening circle of friends.”  This quote is more recent.  And I don’t think I’d have come to this big and dreamy sentence if it hadn’t been for you.  There are people here who have lived this before I ever put it into words.  And they’ve done so against the backdrop of those rather troublesome Christians who put up the kind of barriers and walls Jesus came to tear down.  In a world where barriers and walls, suspicion and hostility and violence separate people, we must follow Jesus more radically, more boldly, taking our place at the Table, welcoming others, and offering our gifts for the healing of the world.     

Fifth, “If God can get along then we can too.”  I’ve said this about the Holy Trinity—God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, or Mother, Wisdom, and Sacred Fire (metaphors that ensure we don’t conceive of God as merely male, but, somehow, according to the Bible, as both male and female; remember, in Genesis 1 we learn that God made human beings in God’s image, male and female; God therefore isn’t one or the other, but both).  God is naturally both diverse and unified—simultaneously.  So we must honor our differences even while we treasure our unity.  What a dull place this would be if we were cookie-cutter Christians, trying to shave off our differences, manufacturing some faux facsimile of one another.  God loves a riot of color, not the drab gray of sameness.   

Sixth, “Risk everything for love.”  I’ve borrowed this from the 14th century Sufi mystic poet, Rumi.  And isn’t this exactly what Jesus did?  It is.  And so, it’s what I aim to do.  And when I pray the phrase each morning, I carry it a little further.  But I don’t think for a moment that Rumi would mind, for he knew the expansive heart of God.  “Risk everything for love,” I pray, “‘till Love is All and All is is Love.”  By praying this, I’m drawing myself into the future of God, the future of the cosmos, a future that helps me live and love now, here.  “God is love,” wrote Saint John.  And one day love is all we’ll know, for it is the divine Fire that holds all things together.  So, why not live it now?

Six things.  Not the only things I’ve learned.  But for me, the most important.  Things I’ll carry with me into this new adventure of faith. 

I’m grateful beyond words.  I couldn’t be more blessed.  Thank you for calling me as your pastor so long ago and for loving me as a human being.  Together we’ve touched the face of God and I don’t think any of us will ever be the same.  And that’s a very good thing.