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Friday, August 25, 2017

"Who Do You Say I am?" -- For Sunday, August 27th



Matthew 16:13-20  NRSV

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?"  And they said, "Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"  Simon Peter answered, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God."  And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven.  And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.  I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."  Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

But Who Do You Say I Am?

Our weekday routine is that my fiancĂ© gets up at 4am.  To get more sleep and leave the master suite bathroom open for her use after her morning meditation, I head out to the loft and snooze in the recliner until she’s ready to leave for work at roughly 6:30am.  Occasionally during those hours sleeping in the recliner, I dream.

A morning or two ago, I dreamt of being in priestly garments and serving Communion to my congregation.  The line seemed endless as one parishioner after another came before me to partake of the wine, symbolic of the blood of Christ shed for our sins.  At one point, we ran out of wine, and so I asked my helpers to bring water and we kept serving water for wine until the water ran out, but luckily everyone had been served.  

Next it was time to serve the bread of communion, symbolic of Christ’s body broken for our sake.  In the place of bread however was oatmeal, and I served the oatmeal to each individual until all had been fed.  For some reason, the process had gotten a little messy, so at times I used my garments for wiping my hands.  I remember being near to exhaustion by the time all had been fed and my helpers had removed the Communion emblems.  I felt relief and satisfaction that all had been served.

All of this was followed by a lay leader in the congregation who came forward as I tried with a wash cloth and towel to clean the sticky oatmeal from my hands and garments.  She said to me, “It was beautiful to watch you serving Communion to our congregation this morning.”  The look in her eyes struck me far more than her words as I felt humbled and touched to the core of my soul.

Who do I say that you are my Lord?  You are the one who calls me to believe that I can capably serve others no matter the circumstances.  You are the one who helps me to serve creatively and resourcefully when challenges arise in the midst of serving the needs of our human family.  You provide me means to comfort and heal.

I am who I am because of you! 

Brad Shumate
Free of Encumbrance
Eugene, Oregon
USA   

Saturday, August 19, 2017

Will POTUS 45 & Steve Bannon issue call to arms???

Roughly 1/3 of the USA supports POTUS 45. Of 45’s supporters, about 2/3rds (or 22% of the USA population) say that no matter what 45 says or does, they will support him. These are the folks that 45 spoke of when he said he could walk down a city street and shoot people dead and his base would still support him.

So let’s do a bit of math. The eligible voting population in the USA numbers approximately 235.25 million citizens – 22% of that number is 51.75 million citizens in the USA who say they will have 45’s back no matter how he behaves, what he says, decisions he makes, or actions he takes. If 45 issues a call for his base to weaponize into some form of rebel militia, i.e. “The Second Amendment” people, and if just one-tenth of 45’s base were to answer his call, 45 will have an army/militia of nearly 5.2 million of USA citizens at his command. No country in the world has an army that large – a very concerning prospect when I reflect how unfit and unhinged 45 has become. His buddy, Steve Bannon, has now left the White House and barely out the door, Bannon says he left so he can go to war. These individuals taken together believe profoundly in the Constitution’s statement that the people have the right to overthrow the government if that government has become oppressive.

Religious scholar, Martin Marty, once wrote that a very distinct portion of American society has become so disillusioned, angry, and hateful toward our increasingly pluralistic culture that the only thing they haven’t done yet en masse is to take up arms.

I hope Martin Marty’s fear/concern never becomes reality, but 45 keeps moving the USA citizenry closer and closer to the edge. It is time for Republicans and Democrats to come together and remove 45 from office and actively prepare for managing and healing the backlash and aftermath that will surely follow.

Brad Shumate
Free of Encumbrance
Eugene, Oregon