Dear Drew,

Dear Drew,

It was going to be the largest crowd I'd ever spoken to at that point in my life. By far.

I just couldn't get what I wanted to say clear in my mind as I tried to prepare for  the talk I'd been invited to give. I slept very little the night before.

When I walked up to the podium, the lights in the auditorium went out and spot lights shined in my eyes. I could not see the audience and I could not read my notes.

I did the standard "thank you's." For the first 4 or 5 minutes I was funny and even edgy. People laughed.

And then I lost my way. I rambled. I wasn't on point. I wasn't clear. I finished my talk as soon as I could without the shortness of my talk being even more embarrassing than the talk itself. I took myself out of the game.

When it was over I felt as if I had let down the people who'd invited me to speak. I felt as if I never wanted to speak in public again.

People said the polite things they always say to speakers. I didn't sense much conviction behind their comments.

All I wanted was to get out of the auditorium, drive home, and hide.

Mike Wise has written a very poignant story about how you seemed to be feeling after last night's game. It  brought all those old feelings back from when I blew it big time doing what I do.

After 10 years, speaking at Foundry Church is like talking to old friends. But when I am preparing to speak at other places, I always think about that early experience and pray: "Dear God, don't let it happen again."

There is a verse of Scripture from the writings of the Apostle Paul that has strangely moved me for the past 25 years. Paul was writing about his "thorn in the flesh," whatever that was. It was something that made him weak.

Paul says that he prayed three times that the "thorn" would be removed from him. But, he says, the Lord answered: "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness."

Then Paul adds these words: "Whenever I am weak, then I am strong." (2 Corinthians 12:8-11)

I've wished that I could just wipe that early public embarrassment out of my memory. But it won't go away.

I suspect it has made me better at what I do ... less concerned about performing and more concerned about getting a message across. Less concerned about what people think about me as a speaker and more concerned about whether I've done right by the message I've been given to get across.

I know this is impossible to hear right now, but these kinds of experiences can make us better people and better players in whatever our "game" in life is.

I believe that.

So, Drew, be gentle with yourself. Let the people who love you the most take care of you for a while. Remember that you are a great pitcher and a good guy.

We love you.

Grace and peace,

Dean      

Baseball, politics and God

The photo above was taken by my wife Jane.  She took the picture with her iphone as Jason Werth was preparing to come to bat in the ninth inning of last night's playoff game between the Nationals and the Cardinals. If anybody is not aware,  the game was tied. If the Nats lost they would be out of the play-offs. They had just lost two games to the Cardinals in which they had been beaten cruelly.

Notice the scoreboard. It is Jason Werth's photo on the scoreboard. Jane took the photo because she said she just had a feeling Werth was going to do something big.

Werth hit seven foul balls. He hit the next pitch into the visiting team's bullpen for a home run and ended the game. The Nats would live to play another day.

It was about as excited as I've ever seen so large a group of people. Nobody wanted to leave the stadium. Strangers were hugging. It was a kick.

I always feel a little bit guilty about being as much of a baseball fan as I am. One of the theologians who influenced me greatly as a younger person was William Stringfellow. I read his book An Ethic for Christians and Other Aliens in a Strange Land over and over.

Stringfellow was critical of spectator sports. I can't remember exactly how he put it, but he suggested that the passion that people put into supporting and cheering their teams was at the cost of time and energy that could have been spend on working for justice in the world. He suggested that human beings have within us a natural and God-given desire to work for justice. Spectator sports diverts this desire into a meaningless battle that changes nothing in the world but instead maintains the status quo. 

I don't recall Stringfellow ever explicitly referring to the Roman Empire's Bread and Circuses. But the implication was the same. Spectator sports keep all our energies focused on whether our sports team wins rather than whether our movement for justice wins.

My enjoyment of baseball a pleasure with a tinge of guilt attached to it. I have, however, never managed to give it up.

I want to live in a world where it is possible to both work for social justice and love baseball. It's sort of like the famous quote attributed to Emma Goldman: "If I can't dance, I don't want to be part of your revolution."

Still, I worry a little bit that Bill Stringfellow may not have been all wrong.

So, after the baseball game last night, I dutifully watched the vice-presidential debate. I tried to get as excited about the debate as I had been about the game.

I failed.

Do we need to let Teddy lose now?

Am I the only person in the world who had never heard the expression "Gangnam Style?"

Yesterday Teddy started the presdients' race by himself with the other presidents not to be seen. Halfway to the finish line, the other presidents joined him, set up a boom box, and they danced for a couple minutes before Teddy took off and won the race for the second time in history.

It wasn't until later, when I read a Let Teddy Win blog, that I discovered they were dancing "Gangnam Style."

Apparently a video by a Korean rap singer named Psy in which he danced "Gangnam Style" is one of the most watched youtube videos ever. Last night I watched it and thought it was interesting. (I need to get out more.)

It turns out that, according to the Let Teddy Win webpage, there was a long commercial scheduled on TBS. The presidents' dance was used to fill up the time at the park.

I had no idea what they were doing or why. (I do need to get out more.)

My greater concern is that Teddy has won two races in a row now. Will he need to win every race now? Isn't this a lot of pressure?

I've thought there may have been a hint of grace in Teddy being the most beloved president in the Presidents' Race even though he never won. But there is certainly no grace in needing to win all of the time.

Are we going to need to start a Let Teddy Lose movement? 

Dear Bo Obama

Dear Bo Obama

You turned four yesterday, according to DCist.com. Congratulations. We are sure you make the White House more of a home for your human companions who live and work there.

As a part of God's good creation, you and other animals are important. You are a blessing to we who are human, so we'd like to bless you.

We invite you, Bo, to our blessing of the animals which will be held this Sunday, Oct. 14 at 3 p.m., on the patio outside the main entrance to Foundry Church at 16th and P Sts., NW, Washington, DC.

Hope to see you there.

There will be special treats.

Sincerely,

The members and staff of Foundry Church

'Nough said Sunday

Thanks to Unvirtuous Abbey.

Anybody got a goat?

St. John the Divine Cathedral in New York City knows how to do a blessing of the animals. I don't think anybody can beat them. Watch a video here from their 2010 blessing.

St John holds its celebration on the first Sunday of October which, on the Anglican calendar of saints, is St. Francis Day. They have ponies, llamas, ostriches, tortoises, burros, camels and sometimes even elephants.

And they have goats.

I have a special affection for goats. Maybe this is because in the Bible goats do not seem to get a fair deal. In Leviticus 16:7ff , we are told two goats and a ram are to be Israel's sin offering. One goat gets killed and the other goat is driven into the wilderness as a scapegoat.

Frankly I don't quite get this. It wasn't the poor goats who sinned.

But that isn't all. Jesus' famous parable in Matthew 25:31ff talks about separating the sheep from the goats. Why are the sheep the good guys? What did goats ever do to anybody?

Jane and visited a goat farm in Maui once -- the Surfing Goat Farm. We got to feed the young goats, pet the babies, and watch the adults in the milking barn. Who wouldn't love a goat? And the cheese is excellent!

Jane and I would like to have a goat but apparently goats are not allowed on Capitol Hill. Maybe chickens will be allowed one day soonish, but there is no legislation pending to allow goats. 

Foundry Church is hosting a Blessing of the Animals on our patio Sunday, Oct. 14 at 3 p.m. The only animals we are going to bless in person are the animals you bring ... your animal companions.

But I really wish somebody would bring a goat to our blessing of the animals. I think we owe goats reparations, or at least a blessing.

Hold me tight praying

The Center for Pastoral Counseling of VA is offering Hold Me Tight workshops. The workshops are based on the writing of Susan Johnson who wrote a book entitled Hold Me Tight. 

I especially like the workshop's "Seven Transforming Conversations." 

The reason I mention this is because I attended a service in a United Methodist church in North Carolina a while ago that included quite a few young adults, including young couples. During the pastoral prayer I noticed many of the couples holding hands or even holding each other. (I peeked.)

I was moved. Commitment is hard. Marriage is hard. These couples obviously saw prayer as a resource for their commitment. 

I came back to Foundry and suggested one Sunday that couples hold hands or even put their arms around each other during the pastoral prayer. A few did.

I myself have gotten in the habit of leaving the pulpit and sitting with Jane during Communion. Faith ought to be a resource for our marriages and committed relationships.It is a resource if we will use it.

I did hear back from one single person who said that inviting couples to hold each other made him feel lonely during the prayer. Good point. I don't know what to do about that. Any ideas?

(BTW, it is great to be part of a congregation that believes in marriage equality so no couples in our congregation are excluded!!!)

Check out the video here.  

What Bing thinks about Methodists and Baptists

One of my favorite blogs is Remy's World written by Mark Remy at the Runners' World website.

Last August, Mark Remy posted a blog about Google. One of his favorite things about Google is the way it anticipates what you might be looking for as you type it, and makes suggestions.

This, he suggests, provides a clue as to the kind of questions people are commonly asking (and thinking) about whatever subject it is they are doing searches about.

Since his topic is running, he began to type a query and got these results:

I decided to try something similar. Using Bing, I began this search to see how Bing would finish the sentence "Why are Methodist ..."
.

Bing users think Methodist churches are dying?  Or that we are a cult? Or that we are unusually liberal?

Mark Remy did a search that began "Why does running ..." to see how Google would finish the sentence.  You can find the results here (warning -- includes at least one indelicate word).

 So I decided to do a search that begins "Why do Methodist..." 

This is very interesting. I wonder what percentage of Methodist church buildings have two steeples? I wonder how many Methodist congregations still say the Apostles' Creed regularly? And are there still Methodist churches where the ministers move more often than is the case in other denominations?

I decided to see how Baptists would do on the Bing test by comparison.

Not so well. The first one is "Why do Baptists hate Methodists" which I do not believe is true. (By the way, I also don't think the 5th and last lines are true either.)

Christians in general fared the worst of all ... even worse than Methodists and Baptists. 

I wonder if we could change the image of Christians if we all did a dozen searches every day to change the way Google and Bing finish searches about us?

What if we did searches like these: Why are Christians so generous? Why are Christians so forgiving? Why are Christians so accepting? Why are Christians so nonjudgmental? Why are Christians so friendly? Why are Christians so open-minded? Why are Christians so much like Jesus?

The other option would be to so clearly live this way that no one could doubt it. 

Love your neighbor?

A new CBS/60 Minutes poll says that seven out of 10 Americans don't believe that Scientology is a true religion.

Is Scientology a true religion?

• Yes
• No
• Don't know/ N/A

Seventy-nine percent of evangelicals, 74 percent of Protestants, and 72 percent of Catholics surveyed responded that they did not think Scientology is a religion, according to a Religion News Service story.

Scientologists are our neighbors here at Foundry. We are immediately north of P Street. They are immediately south. I say hello to a scientologist almost everyday. 

Our Scientology neighbors are out on the street corner inviting folk in morning, noon, and night.

I once wore my Sunday Night at Foundry tee-shirt when I was shopping at my local health food store. The clerk saw the address 16th and P Sts. NW on my shirt and asked me if I was with the scientists. "Do you mean the Scientologists?" I asked.
 "Yes," he said. "My friends keep telling me I should take their mental health test."
"I am not with them, but we have a great Sunday evening service across the street," I said.
"I want to take the science test," he said.

If Scientologists are not a religion, they surely are evangelistic about whatever it is they are.

We could learn from them, maybe. 



 

Should stay-at-home dads do yoga?

From yesterday's Religion News Service round-up (word for word).

A Baptist seminary professor calls stay-at-home dads unbiblical.

Is yoga kosher for Catholics? A priest in Britain says no because "it can be seen as Hindu meditation or as relaxation."

If you're a Catholic stay-at-home dad, I guess you shouldn't compound the problem by doing yoga. 

Friends, these strange manifestations of parochial thinking are signs that we are making progress. Receive them as signs of hope.