tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-294918062024-03-14T08:29:41.313-07:00some folksmostly david weasley talk about mostly churchy stuff. Originally a group blog (hence the name) but most of the folks stopped posting. David Reesehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15269632412061084158noreply@blogger.comBlogger328125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29491806.post-18287511870191523322018-09-29T13:17:00.001-07:002018-09-29T13:22:57.281-07:00kiddos and callHey.<br />
<br />
I'm still working my way through my list of "profound shit about zeke," the little list I made on my phone in the first week of Zeke's life. I don't anticipate finishing anytime soon, but this blog has been many things and this seems like a reasonably good thing for it to keep being.<br />
<br />
In those first few days of Zeke's life, I was struck, not only by the ridiculous, I don't know, volume and size and amplitude of my love, but by the familiarity of it. It was new in its overwhelming waves, but I knew some things that are in the same key as this love.<br />
<br />
(Sidebar: I'm not trying to say that this is everybody's experience of parenthood, and I want to work against that bullshit where people say you don't know what real love is like until you become a parent. That is patently false and listing all the reasons why that's problematic would be a whole other (\[more boring and equally ranty] blog post. I sure don't care at all whether people become parents. But I sure do want people to experience a relationship with this kind of love, wherever it finds them. Your mileage may vary. End sidebar.)<br />
<br />
I kept telling people that I was glad to experience a call to ministry before I became a parent. Because, for me anyway, the project of ministry is one where the Spirit is like: Hey David, come do this thing for which you are certainly not entirely qualified, and certainly not entirely prepared. You will fail a bunch and that will be part of the point of it. Most of what you will do is just show up, with the kind of stupid relentlessness that is kind of my jam. It will be super hard and maybe also joyful in its own weird way. You could also get an easier job if you would rather do that, but I don't think you would rather do that. Are you in?"<br />
<br />
And I was like, "Yeah." Or at least most days, when She says that, I say yes. And some of the moments in those days too.<br />
<br />
But I felt out this scary-big love in the late nights in the hospital, in the joy and the exhaustion, and it felt a little familiar. It felt like the way it felt one way to hate gun violence in Chicago, and it felt a whole other way when it was one of the kids at my church who got shot. It felt like the way my whole experience of weather changed when I was working with people experiencing homelessness: every rain shower was a worry, every freezing wind brought a new layer of prayer to my world. And yeah, it feels a bit like the way I love this church: all the ridiculous lot of them, holy and broken and weird and wild and problematic and kind and beautiful. And it felt like the way my church loved me when I was a kiddo: cause it wasn't about what I do, it wasn't anything like caring about my success. It's another kind of love.<br />
<br />
Today I am still in.<br />
<br />
<br />David Weasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05443944500611142041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29491806.post-1182835295036769112018-09-29T13:04:00.005-07:002018-09-29T13:04:59.069-07:00your confusion will give way to wonderPretty soon after Zeke was born, he was looking at some acoustic ceiling tiles and fluorescent lights. I told him, "Zeke, those are somewhat dirty acoustic ceiling tiles. If you like looking at those, just wait til you see LITERALLY EVERYTHING ELSE IN THE ENTIRE WORLD."<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Maybe you are unfortunate enough to be reading this underneath some ugly acoustic ceiling tiles, or some soul-crushing fluorescent lights. Maybe it will help you to take heart, a bit, to know that when Zeke was first born, he seemed really delighted and entranced to just stare at the mediocre hospital ceiling, while he digested his first meal. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
There's a line from the gospel of thomas that's been with us these days, that was with us during the last few months of Rachael's pregnancy: </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Something like:<br />
<br />
"If you are searching, you must not stop until you find.<br />
But when you find, you will become confused.<br />
Your confusion will give way to wonder.<br />
In wonder you will reign over all things.<br />
Your sovereignty will be your rest."<br />
<br />
Especially that third line- Rachael put it to music: Your confusion will give way to wonder. It is quite the promise.<br />
<br />
I kept thinking about it during labor and right after Zeke was born. It was true: my confusion was giving way to wonder. But it turns out that both of those things are pretty overwhelming. <br />
<br />
Your confusion will give way to wonder- maybe the kind of wonder that makes us stare, entranced, at acoustic ceiling tiles. Maybe the kind of wonder that Zeke invites whenever I go out walking with him, that took the barista at this coffee shop up short when she saw him, that makes me stay up later even than I need to so I can cuddle his warm body against my tired heart. <br />
<br />
These days, I am trying to breathe in the kind of wonder that makes two women in an elevator confront a republican senator to change his heart about an fbi investigation into an assault. Your confusion will give way to wonder- in wonder you will reign over all things. Whatever kind of sovereignty those two women in the elevator had, that's what I want. The strength in my heart and in the midst of my fears to tell the powers to look me in the eyes when I have something true to say.<br />
<br />
I honestly started this post trying to talk about how it was funny that Zeke was entranced by ceiling tiles and I was so eager to show him literally any other thing, because to me they are all more interesting to look at than acoustic ceiling tiles. But I am now asking myself: is there something about wonder that is an invitation for me these days? It's kinda dumb that everybody I know is out in the streets and preaching and proclaiming and organizing and working these days, and I'm at home doing dishes and endlessly bouncing this kiddo. And I'm super aware of the privilege that allows me to take all this time away from this sacred work, to attend to this differently sacred, differently intimate work. And I'm praying, with Zeke on my heart, for all the survivors these days, for all the truth tellers and all the quietly-wounded and all those who are in the midst of trauma and in the midst of trauma re-inscribed. And I'm tempted to make some high-handed point about how we could all do better with some more wonder in our lives, and let's all take a minute to walk in the woods or snuggle a baby or stare, astonished, at some acoustic ceiling tiles. But today, after this week, I'd rather just share this:<br />
<br />
Maybe it's not so much a promise as a hope:<br />
your confusion will give way to wonder.</div>
David Weasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05443944500611142041noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29491806.post-91321500983603291702018-09-18T12:43:00.000-07:002018-09-18T12:43:08.487-07:00how i can tell it is good love(another sappy parenting blog post.)<br />
<br />
Okay, let's see if we can write one of these without Zeke in my lap- I'm not sure if that'll work, but I suppose it's worth a try. (Zeke and Rachael are in a little workshop about stretches that are good for folks with new babies at the center of healthy motherhood, so I have a minute to sit and write.)<br />
<br />
So, when Zeke was first born, it was a little overwhelming to love him so much. I feel like it's still stunning, and still a really profound and big love, but maybe it's getting a bit less overwhelming? It's a bit like how grief gets less overwhelming as you get farther out, as you live with it and sleep and eat and breathe with it- it's just a thing about my life these days, and I am learning how to be in the world with this much love.<br />
<br />
Sometimes theologians and preacher types are into talking about different kinds of loves. (I'm a little bit suspicious of this project, but that's another blog post.) And so I remember in the first few days thinking about what to do with this Zeke-love, how to wrangle it and what I thought about it.<br />
<br />
And what I was noticing is that it kept making me love everybody more. I trust that. <br />
<br />
I think I already wrote about how, early on, I was spending some time each day on facebook. And it turns out that part of that for me was wanting to see some people and love them (and doing it without leaving our hospital-room-cocoon!) I wanted to heart all the posts. I wanted to post stupid encouraging comments when people were having a bad day, I wanted to squee over people's first day of school photos. It's like I had so much love for Zeke (and for Rachael too) that it just bubbled up over the top of the pot of my heart and spilled over. And I needed to deploy it somewhere or else I wouldn't even be able to sleep.<br />
<br />
What a curious condition. May it continue. David Weasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05443944500611142041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29491806.post-16524496605147054652018-09-14T17:22:00.003-07:002018-09-14T17:22:39.046-07:00everybody used to be a babyThe first baby song that I wrote that I like I wrote a while back, back when Sophia Hammond was a baby and I was getting to visit with her and Mary and Steve.<br />
<br />
Everybody used to be a baby<br />
Nobody used to so tall<br />
even you used to be a baby<br />
back when you were really really small.<br />
<br />
There are ridiculous verses, too. I guess sometime I should sing it and put it up on youtube so that everyone in the world can enjoy this stupid and catchy song. But I feel the need to remind people about this all the time.<br />
<br />
"Hey Rachael," I'll say, as I do dishes and she feeds the baby or vice versa. "Did you know that everybody used to be a baby?"<br />
<br />
We stare at Zeke for a while. "I don't know," she says, "That doesn't sound right. What are you sources?"<br />
<br />
Cause it's really absurd and ridiculous when you think about it. Think about your least favorite person in your town: that person used to be a baby. Your sweetest lover: used to be a baby. The literal baby that you know: used to be a baby (and also still is a baby.) Rutabaga: used to be a baby cat. Reluctantly I will admit that most evident supports the claim that Donald Trump used to be a baby.<br />
<br />
I don't know about you but these days when I see a baby (maybe especially one baby in particular) I am filled with an awe, a not-so-quiet reverence, an abiding respect and an urge to protect and a joy and a desire to care for... I don't think it's groundbreaking for people to say that this is how the Divine sees us. <br />
<br />
But it's something to see it up close. <br />
<br />
Next time you need to throw up your hands in anger and despair, remember the hilarious truth. Everybody used to be a baby. David Weasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05443944500611142041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29491806.post-8622433097552427832018-09-14T17:08:00.003-07:002018-09-14T17:08:50.928-07:00tell everybodyThe thing about it, when Zeke was born, is that I didn't want to leave the room with him ever. And I also I wanted to tell everybody.<br />
<br />
And I think that's part of what took me to facebook and texting and whatnot, in the early days, but I am interested in the deep part of that inclination: what about the energy of having a newborn makes me want to tell everybody?<br />
<br />
Maybe it's just that he's so great. People say he's cute, and they're right, and I sit around thinking about how cute he is some of the time, but more often I think about how having him sleep on my belly is like lying with the heart of a star, about how looking at him is like staring into the most hopeful of futures, about how loving him is making me grow and change in a startlingly relentless and gentle way. It's great, yeah, and he's cute, yeah, but there's more going on there, at least for me.<br />
<br />
And so I like to wear him around, to strap him onto my heart chakra while he naps or stares into space, and walk on the lovely trails and shitty strip malls around my apartment. And we run into people, and some of them ignore us, which is fine, but a lot of folks want to see him, want to say hello. Because if someone is wearing the heart of a star on their chest, well, that seems at least notable. And maybe remarkable. And maybe marvelous and inviting and wonderful in the literal sense.<br />
<br />
People of a bunch of different cultures and languages have gotten to marvel at him in this way. And I love to post the dorky pictures on facebook and have people all over join me in the practice of delighting in Zeke. <br />
<br />
But it's just there's something there for me in this practice. Maybe I understand evangelism for the first time, or at least new and clear. Cause I want everyone to try playing dungeons and dragons, and I want everybody to have a meaningful spiritual community, but not quite in the same way that I want people to get a good look or a visit from Zeke.<br />
<br />
I have to wonder if there isn't something evolutionary about it- so many cultures have the "here is the baby let us visit the kin" practice. And I can imagine the ice age nomadic bands having that: here is this kid who is new, but let's take them around so that they can belong to the whole band of us, cause lord knows one or two parents alone are not gonna be sufficient for this task.<br />
<br />
So probably there's something old and visceral in me that is wired to show this kid off, to make sure that as many people as possible see him when he is obviously beautiful, when he is cute and lovable in this most simple and stupid way, so that he will have those people to draw on if we get attacked by a mammoth. Or what have you.<br />
<br />
And.<br />
<br />
And I think that as I grow as a person, I'm moving towards more honesty and more vulnerability in general. And every time I post a dorky picture, there is a way in which I am saying: here is a person who has utterly claimed my heart, who has made my heart grow six more sizes and I feel like it was pretty big already so how am I even to live in this world, this person who is so perfect and all he does is sleep and eat and poop and that is completely sufficient to make him my favorite person in the history of ever. And if that's true, that must mean something fierce and stupid and big about the lovability of all of us. <br />
<br />
So, yeah, I am still wanting to tell everybody. And when people at the checkout counter or on the trail or wherever just look at him and grin in passing, I want to say, "that's right." But it's not just him, friends. It's all of us.David Weasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05443944500611142041noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29491806.post-57805387004545201752018-09-14T16:53:00.002-07:002018-09-14T16:53:36.343-07:00umm maybe this is becoming a sappy parenting blog part 1 of 17,000: the songs in my headOkay, so I'm almost a month into this parenting gig, and so far I like it. <br />
<br />
When Zeke was first born, I made a big list of "things that seem important that i want to think more about later." A buddy of mine is in recovery and we talked a bit later about how those early days in the hospital were a bit like his experience of his first week sober: suddenly everything is intense and real, and there's big major life change stuff to think about, but also there's a bunch of logistical and survival stuff to do, and so some stuff you stay awake thinking about, and other stuff you nod at, and make a mental (or literal) note to reflect on it more later.<br />
<br />
So right now, Zeke is half asleep kind of across my lap and my computer is under him, and if I keep typing fast enough it kind of bounces/ jostles him in a way he likes, so while he slowly falls asleep or works on pooping or whatever he's up to, I thought I might go back to my list and see whether I still have something to say about this whole baby project.<br />
<br />
I feel like this project needs a bunch of caveats, among them that I'm doing parenting on easy mode as a white cis guy who's from a middle class background and firmly operating in a middle class space these days, with a partner who's a woman and all of that, and this is still the hardest (and best) thing I've ever done, so who knows if this will be lovely or annoying for other folks to read. But I'm still pretty sleep-deprived, and I guess I'll just launch in.<br />
<br />
I want to talk about the songs in my head while Rachael was in labor. There's a lot to be said about that experience and that story, and most of that feels like Rachael's to tell more than me. <br />
<br />
But one of the songs that was in my head on that longest of days was "A Golden Thread," which I know as a Pete Seeger song. "Oh, had I a golden thread, and a needle so fine, I'd bind up this sorry world, with hand and heart and mind... in it I'd weave the bravery of women giving birth..."<br />
<br />
Look, I feel like it's not breaking news to say that women giving birth, are, you know, impressive. But after being in the midst of this up close I have to wonder how much of patriarchy is a startle response, a deep fear of the kind of power that is present in labor, in all the kinds of life-making that mothers and other women do for children and babies and a bunch of humans. <br />
<br />
Another song that was with me was "Bread and Roses," which has some of the same energy. It feels problematic to equate this energy with what will save us- I don't thing that laboring women need to also save the world, lord knows they've got their hands and bodies full. But something about the strength and ferocity of that, something about the way that kind community gathered around and made space for that, our doulas and our midwives and hospital folk: there's something about the space that is made for that, and it's not unlike all the other times I've seen bodywisdom fiercely proclaimed. But still, there was a certain kind of fierceness and clarity to it, that I've rarely seen so clearly in this life. <br />
<br />
And honestly, I thought of a song that I am secretly writing for one of my colleagues, someone who loves people relentlessly with the fierce love of the divine. Because there is something about that love, that literally embodying the presence of jesus in ways that are sometimes overwhelming and weird for others, that obviousness and almost-brutal passion for whoever walks in the doors- ther's something about that in labor, too. <br />
<br />
Oh, and Dar's The One Who Knows. Cause, you know, love and stuff.David Weasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05443944500611142041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29491806.post-8599271569058724832017-06-03T22:02:00.003-07:002017-06-03T22:02:54.886-07:00The WindThe Wind is a song I wrote a couple years ago, but it's Pentecost and also the US is pulling out of the Paris Climate Accords. Recording on my soundcloud page. (The recording has the verses in a different order, but whatever; I actually think I like the order here better)<br />
<br />
Chords:<br />
Dmin - - -<br />
Gm Dm<br />
Gm Dm Gm<br />
Gm Am Dm<br />
<br />
there's a certain kind of morning<br />
when the sun comes blaring down<br />
and the people in the city<br />
hate the people in the town<br />
you could walk around forever<br />
and never touch the ground-<br />
but I've been hearing something from the wind<br />
<br />
cause the wind blows like crazy and we don't know where she goes<br />
and she troubles all the billionaires and scatters us like crows<br />
and the people who don't give a damn will sit out in the breeze<br />
but the fuckers better watch out for the wind<br />
<br />
there's a certain kind of anger<br />
that settles in your bones<br />
and it can wear you through<br />
it can turn your bread to stone<br />
but the people who won't hear it<br />
have been holding court too long-<br />
and those fuckers better watch out for the wind<br />
<br />
cause the wind blows like crazy<br />
and we don't know where she goes<br />
ain't it something how she rattles<br />
ain't it something what she knows<br />
and the ones who want us silent<br />
will be waking in a gale-<br />
all those fuckers better watch out for the wind<br />
<br />
<br />
there's a certain kind of hopefulness<br />
that cannot stand to rest<br />
and it rhymes a song for freedom<br />
and it throbs within your chest<br />
and if the ones who've built so proudly<br />
have just built the gates of hell<br />
then those fuckers better watch out for the wind<br />
<br />
Cause the wind blows like crazy and we don't know where she goes<br />
ain't it lovely what she scatters, ain't it stunning how she grows<br />
and the ones who want us empty will be shattered by the storm<br />
all the fuckers better watch out for the wind<br />
<br />David Weasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05443944500611142041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29491806.post-71578912829008683412016-11-04T11:19:00.003-07:002016-11-04T11:19:29.564-07:00Villanelle for these days, November 2016When the story turns to tragic<br />
tearing truth and rending bone,<br />
the horde of hearts resorts to magic.<br />
<br />
The morning news makes me sarcastic<br />
my neighborhood is made of stone<br />
and the story turns to tragic.<br />
<br />
I cannot even stay socratic<br />
I cannot raise my voice alone<br />
the horde of hearts resorts to magic<br />
<br />
All our dreams fall back to static<br />
Shining flares are left alone<br />
when the story turns to tragic<br />
<br />
The beggar smiles enigmatic<br />
The crows bow west and head for home-<br />
the horde of hearts resorts to magic<br />
<br />
The circuit breaker trips fantastic<br />
the weary singer picks a tone<br />
when the story turns to tragic<br />
the horde of hearts resorts to magic.David Weasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05443944500611142041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29491806.post-18792121689248142802016-01-25T13:30:00.002-08:002016-01-25T13:30:15.463-08:00Lover of our Hearts: An AWAB Valentine's Litany<i>Valentine's Day is on a Sunday this year. So I wrote a little something to share with our <a href="http://awab.org/">AWAB </a>(The Association of Welcoming & Affirming Baptists) churches. It's designed as a responsive reading, but feel free to use it however you like. </i><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
God of every lover.
God of first kisses and last kisses, God of every caught eye, every
shortened breath, every longing sigh. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>God, you know our
love and you know our lovers. <o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Teach us to love like you love. Profligate and unrepentant.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Teach us to love with
discernment and grace, with justice and truth.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Teach us to love with unstoppable hearts and a love for our
own limits.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Teach us to love
better the people we love okay, and teach us to love a tiny bit the people we
don’t love at all.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Entice us, entrance us.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Invite us, romance
us.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Catch our eye across the crowded bar, swipe right on the
tinder profiles of our broken, beautiful lives. Leave us some secret-admiring notes by that
song coming up again in our heads, by that cat crossing our path again, by that
wild troublemaker making noise at us again.
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Cause our hearts get
tired sometimes.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our hearts get tired when our friends can’t love each other
openly.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Our hearts get tired
when people can’t live in the bodies to which you have called them.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our hearts get tired when hearts break under the weight of
illness or hate or greed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Our hearts get tired
sometimes just from living in the world.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Call our name again, Divine Lover, you who know just what
turns our heads.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>God of every lover,
give us fresh and loving hearts again.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>(*Feel free to adapt that part about Tinder if that’ll
confuse folks in your ministry setting.)</i><o:p></o:p></div>
David Weasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05443944500611142041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29491806.post-46935728000123121242015-11-22T13:53:00.002-08:002015-11-22T13:53:21.319-08:00King of Who?Christ the King Sunday<br />
<br />
It's Christ the King Sunday, which I've had an aversion to ever since my earliest political awakenings. Monarchy is an archaic idea for a lot of us, but hierarchy is not- power structures where the strong rule over the weak, the rich rule over the poor, and the folks in charge seem like they're going to keep being in charge for a long, long, time. My understanding of who Jesus is seems to have little to do with these structures, unless it's in a relationship of profound tension and opposition to the "powers that be."<br />
<br />
And. It's still Christ the King Sunday, and we still have scriptural traditions confessing the Risen Jesus as Lord, and King and Ruler. In recent years, I've taken some consolation in the question, "king of what?", reflecting on what confessing Christ's kingship means in our lives and the like. But this year seems like more of a "king of who" kind of year.<br />
<br />
I haven't had much to add to the recent conversations about refugees- I've been busy moving across the country, and I'm trying to get settled here. But moving from one community where I have a safe place to stay, enough to eat, and people who love me TO a community where I have a safe place to stay, enough to eat, and people who love me has been so disruptive, so challenging, such a stretch for my body and family and soul, that it makes me wonder about whether a refugee experience would utterly crush me. And so I am grateful for the King of Refugees.<br />
<br />
Because Christ is King of Refugees, not in the way that Henry the VIII was King of England, but in the way that Michael Jackson is the King of Pop. King of refugees because he is the foremost among them, the refugee of refugees. Born amidst the slaughter of innocents, fleeing to Egypt and taking safety there, among strangers, among foreigners, among neighbors who must have welcomed them, must have helped the holy family to find food and work and a warm place to stay. The King of Refugees who spent his ministry wandering, often without a certain place to rest, or a sense of where his next meal was coming. Genderqueer and occupied and outcast, the divine seeking some breath of sanctuary among us hateful and sometimes graceful mortals.<br />
<br />
Christ is the King of Refugees, Christ is the King of Queers. Christ is the King of the Homeless Wanderers, Christ is the King of the Broken. He hates violence and has commanded us to put aside the sword, but his army is a scattered crazy-quilt of lovers and seekers and trouble-makers. He has no treasury but our tattered hope and he has no castle but our broken hearts. <br />
<br />
But he's not just King of Refugees, he's also Lover of us all. Lover of the refugee-haters, lover of the racist politicians, lover of my all-too-often-hateful heart. Lover of disaffected terrorists, lover of martyrs and thieves and rapists and all the rest of us sorry beautiful lot. He is King to the exclusion of all other masters, and lover to the fulfillment of every other lover. <br />
<br />
So, it's Christ the King Sunday. And I'm still in.David Weasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05443944500611142041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29491806.post-16761515124585568772015-11-01T22:21:00.005-08:002015-11-01T22:21:44.933-08:00A Villanelle for Haymarket (I left this in the kudos box before I left town.)<br />
<br />
Bread and sweat and heart and stone<br />
Flaking paint cannot conceal<br />
Love that warms me to the bone.<br />
<br />
All the tender hearts will groan:<br />
what will this old house reveal?<br />
Bread and sweat and heart and stone.<br />
<br />
Sing out in crowd or all alone,<br />
heat the oven, prepare the meal:<br />
love that warms me to the bone.<br />
<br />
Pots to wash and knives to hone;<br />
there's nothing here that you could steal-<br />
bread and sweat and heart and stone.<br />
<br />
Sure as the flock of crows has flown<br />
I carry it like coals that heal:<br />
bread and sweat and heart and stone,<br />
love that warms me to the bone.<br />
<br />
<br />David Weasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05443944500611142041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29491806.post-87305506534746204192015-09-16T18:23:00.003-07:002015-09-16T18:23:33.626-07:00Farewell TourThis isn't what I usually use this blog for, but something about event pages on facebook and invitation websites annoy me, so I'm posting here some events I want to invite y'all to:<br />
<br />
<div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 12.88px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
Ok, I'm winding down my time in Chicago, which is to say winding down my time in this part of the country. If you want to celebrate my time here and my new call out west, there's some upcoming opportunities! Chicago, Oberlin, and Chautauqua County folks: read below!</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 12.88px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Chicago folks:<br />Friday, October 2nd, I'm having a Farewell on Farwell! (See what I did there?) This is a Farewell Party for me, but also a fundraiser for The <a class="profileLink" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/page.php?id=207481543481" href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Association-of-Welcoming-and-Affirming-Baptists/207481543481" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists</a>. (Y<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">ou can come even if you don't like either me or AWAB.) 7 pm, message me to RSVP and for details! Campfire, delicious First Slice food, elaborate toasts, and a punching bag!</span></div>
<div class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 12.88px;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 6px;">
Also on Friday, October 2nd, in fulfillment of a fundraising promise I made last year, I'm going to be doing some STREET PREACHING! 4:30 pm, State and Van Buren. Bring your best heckling voice.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Oberlin folks:<br />I'm going to be in town the weekend of October 9-11. October 9th, I'm speaking at the Friday evening Peace Potluck at Peace Community Church. Potluck is 5:30, Program is 6:45-7:45. I'll be talking and then leading a conversation called "Sustainability in Activism: On Not Burning Out." Come share your wisdom!</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
I'm also preaching on October 11th at Peace Community Church, at their Sunday morning service. (I want to say 10am?) I'm preaching in celebration of the 10th Anniversary of PCC joining <a class="profileLink" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/page.php?id=151566821530965" href="http://www.causes.com/causes/487020" rel="nofollow" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">AWAB: The Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists</a>! (See a theme here?)</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Chautauqua County folks:<br />I'm going to be stopping by the evening of Sunday, October 11th, through the morning of Tuesday, October 13th. (Not much time, I know!) Message me if you'd like to see me and I'll see what we can arrange! I'm also having a little 'sending prayer' shindig at Hurlbut Church on Monday, October 12th at 7 pm- you can come even if you're not the praying type, if you just want to hang out and eat some cookies. The 'service' part will be pretty short!</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Yay seeing folks I love!</div>
</div>
David Weasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05443944500611142041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29491806.post-15202288200326580812014-12-25T12:00:00.003-08:002014-12-25T12:00:47.286-08:00A Villanelle for ChristmasA Villanelle for Christmas<br />
<br />
Angels call and wait, proclaiming<br /> Crooked wings and holy fire<br /> Can this word be still sustaining?<br />
<br />
<div class="text_exposed_show">
All our foolish wisdom claiming<br /> A silver star on copper wire<br /> Angels call and wait, proclaiming.<br />
<br />
Broken hearts forget their training<br /> broken bones and hands conspire<br /> can this word be still sustaining?<br />
<br />
Every neck is upward craning<br /> hoping still to hear the crier-<br /> angels call, and wait, proclaiming.<br />
<br />
Will the tired coals turn flaming?<br /> Will the child again inspire?<br /> Can this Word be still sustaining?<br />
<br />
Holy, wailing, child inspire<br /> Grace unswaddled, still reclaiming.<br /> Angels call and wait, proclaiming-<br /> can this word be still sustaining?</div>
David Weasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05443944500611142041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29491806.post-11597431364562203432014-07-24T13:47:00.001-07:002014-07-24T13:47:08.207-07:00a villanelle for these daysThe fire kindles, starts to burn-<br />
the wood is wet and smoky sputters<br />
the things that I have yet to learn<br />
<br />
My heart is broken but still it yearns<br />
my tongue is clay and barely stutters-<br />
the fire kindles, starts to burn<br />
<br />
Every table overturned<br />
turning towers into clutter<br />
the things that I have yet to learn<br />
<br />
Nobody's pain is lost or spurned<br />
the broken dove begins to flutter<br />
the fire kindles, starts to burn<br />
<br />
A wild fire, grace unearned<br />
the silent breathe and start to mutter<br />
the things that I have yet to learn<br />
<br />
I cannot teach or even warn<br />
sourest milk to sweetest butter<br />
the fire kindles, starts to burn<br />
the things that I have yet to learnDavid Weasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05443944500611142041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29491806.post-42247577732225646592014-05-10T11:44:00.001-07:002014-05-10T11:44:34.920-07:00The Man Carrying WaterA friend of mine asked me to submit an article for a devotional booklet he's putting together for our region. He had heard me talk about a sermon of mine, and thought it might be worth adapting/writing up. Here it is.<br />
---<br />
<br />
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
I think of him every Holy Week.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The guy they follow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus and his apostles are heading into
Jerusalem to share in their Maundy Thursday meal, and Jesus gives them
directions: “Follow the man carrying water.” For years, I read this as a
mundane act of prophecy or as a folkloric twist in the tale.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps Jesus could’ve just as easily said “follow
the man in the red hat,” or “follow the woman carrying grapes.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But then I learned that for a man to carry
water, in the culture of Jesus’ first apostles, was a radically
gender-transgressive act: men simply did not carry water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was women’s work, and rigidly assigned to
women in that culture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For Jesus to say “follow
the man carrying water” in those days would be like Jesus saying, “follow the
man in the dress” in my context.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So, what do we make of this?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>For one, I think it’s a reminder that then as now, people on the edges
tend to look out for one another.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Look
at Jesus band of outcasts, rebels, and weirdos- where could they be safe to eat
together, to share wine together, to tell stories and hear loving words and
wash feet?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Where could they be safe
enough to do all of this given that the powers of the Roman Empire were even
then gathering to arrest and execute Jesus?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Well, maybe they could be safe wherever the man carrying water could be
safe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then as now, people who are
outcast for sexuality or gender identity are at least more likely to shelter,
to spend time with, to be welcoming towards those who are outcast for other
reasons, political radicals not the least among them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Stonewall Riots, which many point to as
the beginning of the contemporary LGBTQ rights movement were started not by
affluent white gay men, but by homeless youth, by drag queens of color, and by
other contemporary mirrors of the man carrying water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus sends his friends looking for the man
carrying water, because wherever he goes, even they will be safe; wherever he
goes, even they will be welcome.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So, this is a nice little textual moment, but what does it
mean for us?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As the current board chair
for the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists, I’m tempted to read
this as just another scriptural reminder of God’s call to a variety of sexual
orientations and gender identities, another place where God’s word bears room
and honor for those who would find new ways to be gendered in the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I think it’s more than that, and I think
it hits closer to home than that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In Jesus command to his first followers is (as usual) an
invitation for us. “Follow the man carrying water.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What does it mean to follow the man carrying
water in our towns and churches?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps
it means looking for whoever is left out, whoever is living on the margins of the
community, whoever is not quite fitting in, whoever is outside the bounds of “normal
folks”- and going to them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wherever they
go, the church should show up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wherever
they wander, we are called to come alongside them, to learn from them, to see
what maybe only they can thus far see.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But (again as usual) the call is not only to social
commitments in our churches and communities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I think the invitation is also to our hearts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because the man carrying water is not just
outside of me, is not just the stranger at my gate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Somewhere in my heart, there is a part of me
that is weird.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s a part of me that’s
“outside the bounds”, there’s a part of me that I don’t want to acknowledge, or
even look at, let alone listen to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t
know about you, but I reckon you maybe have that part of your heart to,
especially if you sit for a moment or three and listen for it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Follow the man carrying water,” Jesus tells his
friends.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Learn from whoever is
strangest among you,” Jesus tells my community.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“Listen to the part of yourself that you are so desperately trying to
ignore,” Jesus tells my heart.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And in the mist of it, wherever we follow that man carrying
water- the Risen Lord has already walked ahead of us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He is waiting to meet us there, at the
welcome table.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
-</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Rev. David Weasley is an American Baptist pastor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He currently serves an ELCA congregation in
Tinley Park as their Director of Youth and Outreach.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He also serves on the Board of the
Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists (<a href="http://www.awab.org/">www.awab.org</a>.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He lives with his partner Rachael and a dozen
other housemates in a co-op in Hyde Park.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
David Weasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05443944500611142041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29491806.post-77662670032462715682014-03-11T18:08:00.000-07:002014-03-11T18:08:08.685-07:00look, it takes some of us a while to type up our ash wednesday poemsthere at the gym, we have ashes on our foreheads.<br />
not all of us. or most of us. but some of us.<br />
and some of us have just a grey smudge on our foreheads,<br />
forgotten, maybe, and certainly faint enough that i have to look twice,<br />
secretly, to see who's wearing ashes.<br />
<br />
how could there be so many?<br />
maybe a dozen in my fluorescent suburban gym.<br />
people wearing ashes, people claimed by God.<br />
People who were willing to stare down their mortality<br />
by 4pm in the afternoon on a wednesday,<br />
when snow is falling yet again,<br />
and we all still have too much work to do.<br />
but we all took a moment: on purpose or by accident,<br />
or out of mis-guided obligation-<br />
to remember that in death and life, we are beloved of God.<br />
<br />
The Risen Lord has claimed our lives, and our bodies, and our foreheads:<br />
smudged or scarred or clean or ugly.<br />
My God, the Crucified, loves every forehead<br />
at the florescent suburban gym. David Weasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05443944500611142041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29491806.post-53026281339476285512014-02-09T19:10:00.001-08:002014-02-09T19:10:27.662-08:00a little prayer for tonightshe is making<br />
shame into popsicles<br />
<br />
she is tearing up fear<br />
and making it into blankets<br />
<br />
she is taking your<br />
pain and forging it<br />
into an iron cup<br />
for the carrying of<br />
cool water for<br />
the thirsty<br />
<br />
blessed be god forever. David Weasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05443944500611142041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29491806.post-25126074490058569072014-02-09T18:37:00.001-08:002014-02-09T18:37:31.996-08:00Fourth Corners: A Villanelle from the Middle School Confirmation Retreat about the Sacramentsthe bread, the font, the moon, the tree<br />
fully hidden, fully known.<br />
the son of love has come to free.<br />
<br />
death dismayed and terror flees<br />
breaking chains and mending bones-<br />
the bread, the font, the moon, the tree<br />
<br />
queer enough for you and me,<br />
wild folly drunken thrown-<br />
the son of love has come to free.<br />
<br />
she's been over-stepping me<br />
arms of grace a whirlwind blown<br />
the bread, the font, the moon, the tree<br />
<br />
wild again and wild indeed:<br />
creation wails a birthing groan<br />
the son of love has come to free<br />
<br />
to drink, to dance, perchance to be<br />
the green bends back and comes around:<br />
the bread, the font, the moon, the tree<br />
the son of love has come to free.<br />
David Weasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05443944500611142041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29491806.post-50904853567685339932014-01-12T18:22:00.001-08:002014-01-12T18:22:41.866-08:00Get your ass in a clergy group
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
So, I've got my clergy group meeting
tomorrow morning, and as usual, I feel great about it. It almost
makes me break out in poetry, and I reserve the right to do so by the
end of this post. But here's the deal: there's a crew of
progressive-ish white guy clergy in my denomination in this region,
and once a month we hang out together for a few hours. Maybe we
should have more of an agenda, maybe we should have clear guidelines
about what's going to happen and who's going to do what, but we
don't. What we do have (and what makes up for what we don't have) is
an abundance of love for each other. And it's pretty awesome.
Basically it's me, a guy who's maybe ten years older than me, and so
on, with a colleague representing every decade or so on through
retirement. It's a collective wisdom, a collective grumpiness, and a
collective faith of a hundred years of ministry around the table.
They love some of the same things I do, they hate some of the same
things I do, and they have my back in a really profound way.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
So, this post is a post about
gratitude, I guess, but it's also an encouragement. It doesn't
really matter who they are, I think. Don't choose somebody who's
supposed to be supervising you. Don't pick somebody you don't trust.
Don't somebody who can't listen to you well. But other than that, I
suggest you find some crew of colleagues, some random smattering of
ministry-types, and get them in a room once a month. Have some
silence, maybe, have some prayer, maybe, but listen to each other.
And go out to lunch afterwards, I think. I was going to preface this
by saying that this is advice for my fellow young-ish and/or new-ish
clergy types, but I think that I actually believe this is true for
everybody. Get some people who love you unabashedly, and go and talk
to them about your job and vocation once a month, or at least listen
to what they're saying about their jobs and vocations. I think it'll
serve you well.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
So, a story, to tell you what it's
like: this year, we agreed to go on a retreat together. I was late
coming to the retreat, like, really late, because of a pastoral
crisis that came up in my church. It was a long day of ministry, and
I was getting to the camp where we were staying long after dark. The
others in the clergy group had been there for a few hours, and knew I
was on my way. I texted them a couple of times with my progress.
They were worried that I would have trouble finding the retreat house
once I got to the camp, so a couple of them drove out to the main
gate, and led me to the house. It was a dark and beautiful night,
and I didn't know where I was going. But they had already been
there, and they were driving on ahead of me. They weren't driving
ahead of me, they weren't telling me what to do, but I got to watch
them, and witness the headlights of the battered old minivan through
the trees. They kept me from driving into the lake, at the least.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
And that's what it's always like.
</div>
David Weasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05443944500611142041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29491806.post-71950726649663779042013-11-03T09:11:00.003-08:002013-11-03T09:14:19.200-08:00Villanelle for All Saints' Day<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villanelle">Villanelle</a> for All Saints' Day <br />
<br />
we drink the wine and eat the bread<br />
gathered like a tired cloud<br />
and we remember all the dead<br />
<br />
with broken hearts and stumbling tread<br />
grief bleeds slow, or roars out loud<br />
we drink the wine and eat the bread<br />
<br />
martyrs white and green and red<br />
broken, bending, wrapped in shroud<br />
we remember all the dead<br />
<br />
because the Lord has never fled-<br />
the one who makes the wounded proud-<br />
we drink the wine and eat the bread<br />
<br />
the world remembers <i>some</i> instead<br />
forgetting quiet, keeping loud.<br />
we remember <i>all</i> the dead<br />
<br />
they are not gone but sleep instead<br />
God's troubling promise rings aloud<br />
we drink the wine and eat the bread<br />
we remember all the dead David Weasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05443944500611142041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29491806.post-37730392416970388312013-07-12T10:38:00.001-07:002013-07-12T10:39:44.240-07:00Put a Wizard in Your Party <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Put a Wizard in your
Party </i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">(This is my August article for the newsletter of the church where I serve, Zion Lutheran: www.facebook.com/ziontinley)</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One of the really helpful articles Pastor Dave gave me when
I arrived at Zion was a National Geographic article from a few years back on “Teenage
Brains.” (<a href="http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/10/teenage-brains/dobbs-text">http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/10/teenage-brains/dobbs-text</a>
)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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It’s a good read, and it sums up recent research into how
the brains of adolescents function differently than the brains of older
adults.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I understand it, adolescent
brains are better at learning, better at making new connections, and less risk-adverse
than other (older) brains.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Which, of
course, made me think of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dungeons & Dragons</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As I’ve mentioned to some of you, I play Dungeons &
Dragons whenever I can.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>D&D (as we
call it for short) is a great opportunity to goof off with friends, to do
collaborative improv storytelling, and have wacky cooperative fun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But for the sake of today’s column, you just
need to know that most D&D parties (teams, groups) try to be balanced: you
want a fighter, you want some other folks, and you want a wizard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The fighter is hard to kill, so the goblins
can beat on her for a bit while the rest of your team gets ready to
respond.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The cleric heals your party and
keeps them in the game.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The rogue sneaks
around and disarms traps.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the
wizard?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The wizard does everything
else.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When it’s time for somebody to hit the troll with a stick,
wizards are not where you look.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But when
you come across something you’ve never seen before, some situation that seems
impossible, some massive horde of enemies or some unsolvable riddle- then you
want a wizard in your party.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wizards
bring unmatched versatility to the table: maybe they’ll throw a wall of fire up
to protect your party, maybe they'll turn the evil dragon into a caterpillar,
or maybe they’ll just grant everyone flight to escape a threat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They can discern lies, find the right
direction, summon angels, and conjure up a magical platform to carry your stuff
for you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In short, they are the Swiss
Army knife of Dungeons and Dragons: don’t leave the tavern without one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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But there’s a problem with wizards.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The game tries to have the various roles be
balanced, so wizards are “squishy.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If
one gets too close to a horde of orcs, they’ll fall quicker than any of the
other characters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They can’t stand up to
damage, and so they need the rest of the party to protect them- to keep them alive
so that they can fall back and do their awesome, versatile, magical thing.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Maybe you see where I’m going with this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Adolescents are just better than we are when
it comes to thinking!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They see new
solutions more quickly, they make more graceful connections between disparate
parts of a question, and they will keep coming up with things to try until
something works.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s why, throughout
human history, adolescents have been the ones to push on boundaries, to try new
things, to question established orders.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But the flip side of that is a decreased attention to risk, a mind that
is less willing to account for possible negative outcomes- that’s
neurologically one of the reasons adolescents engage in various risk
behaviors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, I think it’s up to the
rest of us: the clerics and the fighters and the rogues, the ones among us who
can hold the line, the ones among us who can heal wounds, the ones among us who
can get rid of traps before they hurt somebody- (the non-adolescents who love
and support adolescents)- to step up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Which leads me to my invitation: given my premise that one
should never leave the tavern without a wizard in one’s party, I also want to
say that one shouldn’t try to do the work of the church without an adolescent
in the room.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am so excited to have
teenagers helping on the Evangelism Team and on the team of older folks
supporting confirmands this year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I
think there are a lot of other opportunities to invite young people into
ministry at Zion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have many awesome,
wizardly young people at Zion, and I think we miss out by not learning more
from them, by not inviting them to participate more actively in God’s work at
Zion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So: the next time you’re sitting in a committee meeting, or
at a service project, or even in worship, and you start to think about why
things aren’t going quite right: things could be faster, things could be more
innovative, things could be wackier or more fun, things could be riskier-
consider whether the Spirit might be calling you to invite a young person into
the collaboration.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We are blessed with wizards among us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>May we remember to invite them into the work,
may we help to keep them safe and thriving, may we learn to follow their
lead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It will be like magic.</div>
David Weasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05443944500611142041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29491806.post-13187447861024998112013-04-28T10:26:00.003-07:002013-04-28T10:33:00.682-07:00Loving Minecraft(this is my<a href="http://www.facebook.com/ziontinley"> church</a> newsletter article for May.)<br />
<br />
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<br />
<div class="Default">
Loving Minecraft</div>
<div class="Default">
<br /></div>
<div class="Default">
All the kids are playing it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Which is not in itself is a reason to love something, I'll give you
that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But a lot of the adults are
playing it too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you've never tried
Minecraft, you should probably try it right now- there's a demo at <a href="http://www.minecraft.net/"><span style="color: navy; mso-ansi-language: #00FF; mso-fareast-language: #00FF;">www.minecraft.net</span></a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you're not an internet person, here's the
gist of it: </div>
<div class="Default">
there's a large world, made entirely of blocks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You get to run around in it, and build things
out of blocks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Four planks of wood make
a crafting table.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Two sticks and some
stone make a shovel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="Default">
<br /></div>
<div class="Default">
The thing about Minecraft is that everybody plays it differently.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rachael's brother is in college, and he and
his fellow engineering students build huge construction projects and elaborate
pranks for one another.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was talking
with some of the young women at our First Communion class, and they are all
building castles and palaces.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some of
our middle school students are learning basic programming and computer logic by
building machines in Minecraft.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I
play, I mostly just hop around and build stuff.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There's no plot to speak of, no linear story winding through the
game.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(It's arguably not even a game at
all.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I love it, and I think it has
some things to teach us about how to be church together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="Default">
<br /></div>
<div class="Default">
First: In Minecraft, building is joyful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The game has its own physics- you can't just
build anywhere, but you can build a lot of things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the mechanics really encourage you to try
things, to build things, to pile blocks on top of other blocks not just to
avoid the monsters that come at night, but because it's really fun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are a community of builders here at
Zion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And when we are doing the hard
work of planning and preparing, of organizing potlucks and getting people to
sign up for the mission trip, it can be easy to forget about what we're
building.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What looks like one more
committee meeting, one more Sunday school lesson, is actually building, just as
clearly as if we were stacking iron in Minecraft.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are building something awesome here at
Zion- a place where people feel welcome, a place where God's call is lived out,
a place where we get to be family for one another.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It should be really fun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="Default">
<br /></div>
<div class="Default">
Second: We don't all have to play the same way. I alluded to
this above, but one of the things I love about Minecraft is that there's a lot
of different ways to play.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe you
really like seeing how deep you can dig.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Maybe you just want a little house and a barnful of chickens.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe you're really good at figuring out how
to make your automatic crossbow trap shoot flaming arrows.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe you just want to wander and explore the
ocean, the tundra, the mountains.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe
you want to play by yourself, maybe you want to get all your friends on the
same server, maybe you want to play with crazy designers or battle-ready
warriors or artists from around the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We do well to remember this kind of ethic when we're at church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We share a common story, a common life in the
Spirit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But that looks very different
for different people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We don't all sing
in the choir, we don't all bake bread, we don't all chair a committee.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But we all have our piece of the building.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If it were Minecraft, we would all know that
four planks makes a crafting table.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But
it's church, so we all know that the bread is the Body of Christ.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everything else builds from there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="Default">
<br /></div>
<div class="Default">
Finally, Minecraft is a game that encourages trying things
until something works.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe I didn't
make my castle walls thick enough the first time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe it takes me ten or twelve tries to
figure out how to build a shovel or the right kind of clock.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But because building is joyful, because
there's no one right way to play, there's a freedom in it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even if the zombies eat you, you just get to
start again, and starting again is fun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This is another thing we would do well to take to heart at church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not every class is going to be well
attended.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not every mission project is
going to be successful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not every youth
group lesson will be super-interesting and engaging.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some of them will, and that's great.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the work of the church is not about
success.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think too often, in the
church, we don't try things because we might fail.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That doesn't work in Minecraft, and it
doesn't work in God's call to us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>May we
try eight things and fail at seven of them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>May we build big and know when to run away before it crashes down on
us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>May we laugh amidst the rubble of
failure for a moment before we start building again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>May we take up our pick-axes and blocks, our
songs and our gifts and our talents and our sheep- and join in the joyful
building.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="Default">
<br /></div>
<div class="Default">
May it be so.</div>
David Weasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05443944500611142041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29491806.post-52325138666309383862013-03-11T15:36:00.001-07:002013-03-11T15:36:28.125-07:00Thrift Shop as the Theological Project<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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Last night I had my first meeting of the High School Youth
Group at my new gig at Zion Lutheran Church in Tinley Park.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I invited everyone to bring a song that they
were into these days, or that they wanted to share with the group.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of the youth said that they didn’t have a
song, and I offered to look one up on youtube.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“No,” he said, “I don’t have any that would be good for, you know,
church.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I assured him that I didn’t
mind swearing, and I checked with the rest of the youth to see if they minded
either.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We went ahead and played the “Thrift
Shop” youtube video.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Link to the
profanity-laden (and problematic gender politics-laden) music video: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/QK8mJJJvaes">http://www.youtube.com/v/QK8mJJJvaes</a></div>
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<br /></div>
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Here’s the thing: I can’t stop listening to this song.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I can’t stop watching this video.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because I think this is our project, as a
youth group.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I think this is our
project as a youth group, as spiritual companions, as pastors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because the Christian tradition is like a
thrift shop.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not everything in that shop
is worth keeping.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But a lot of stuff
that other folks have considered trash is actually, for us, treasure/ come
up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our task is to dig through all of
that, and see what makes us glorious.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What belonged to our grandparents that we need to bring back out of the
back racks and proudly display, proudly proclaim?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(“No for real, ask your grandpa, can I have
his hand-me-downs?”) </div>
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<br /></div>
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This is our tradition, and we all own it together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nobody should be trying to sell us the “fifty
dollar tshirt” of Christianity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Plenty
of people will argue for one or another construction of Christianity which
demands that we collapse our differences, and most of those people are trying
to make money off of us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Macklemore does
the “simple addition” of this equation- and he and I agree that we shouldn’t
let anybody sell us stuff we don’t need, that don’t even serve us, that don’t
even bring us to fuller justice and liberation in the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whether it’s clothes or theology,
friends.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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And this is a particular gift for the mainline church these
days.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The mega-churches have a lot of
edges on us, but they don’t have a big back catalog.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They don’t have a thrift-store-load of
grandparents’ theology and experience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They don’t have a thousand year hymn tradition for the most part.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But we do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That is not to say that we should use it all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s not to say that we shouldn’t use new
things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is to say that we should delightedly
and relentlessly tear through the piles of stuff in our churches: what stories and
songs and rituals are languishing on the shelf of our liturgical
Goodwills?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What will we find that
someone else has thrown away?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What will we
find and throw away ourselves?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What will
we find in two separate piles or categories and glue together to make something
way better?</div>
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<br /></div>
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Bold authenticity, encouraged by a ruthlessly joyful
ransacking of history and tradition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m gonna pop some tags.</div>
David Weasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05443944500611142041noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29491806.post-86350739632951066682012-10-16T18:39:00.002-07:002012-10-16T18:41:01.903-07:00The ResurrectionistsI was listening to a great episode of RadioLab the other day, and they were talking about the occupation of "resurrectionist" that sprang up with the invention of modern medical schools. Basically, the schools needed cadavers and somebody had to go and dig them up- rich people got fancy triple-layered-and-locked "resurrectionist-proof" caskets, but the paupers' fields were more, well, accessible. Riots ensued.<br />
<br />
Anyway, I got to thinking about this, and wrote this poem, on my way to my wonderful Together In Ministry group meeting.<br />
<br />
<i>The Resurrectionists</i><br />
<br />
Up all night, we toil, not understanding.<br />
With shovels and our own weary backs, we dig for the dead.<br />
To pick up again what everyone else wanted not-picked-up;<br />
we start riots because of it, and the crowds chase us.<br />
We don't know anything but the job, the smell and ache of it.<br />
And our companions, beloved, dusty with the dust of graves.<br />
<br />
Let us break every coffin: the poor woman's burlap sack<br />
and the rich man's velvet majesty.<br />
Until all are risen; or until the mobs catch us.<br />
<br />
<br />
"The church is dying," she says, "or maybe it's already dead."<br />
That's okay with us. Nodding, we take up our shovels.<br />
Dead we can work with.David Weasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05443944500611142041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29491806.post-24154401222399003422012-08-17T11:09:00.001-07:002012-09-20T11:45:23.484-07:00Zeke 37<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
A couple of folks commissioned songs
from me as an AWAB fundraiser.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here's
the chords and lyrics the first one I wrote.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Not sure how to post an mp3 here, so let me know if you want the
recording and I can email it to you.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
Zeke 37</div>
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G / C/ Am/ F D</div>
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<br /></div>
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The little church's coffee hour</div>
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is fifty minutes out</div>
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a few people stand and argue</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
but I don't know what about</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
well the choir sang like angels</div>
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and the message it was fine</div>
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and the children were so precious</div>
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and it ended just on time</div>
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<br /></div>
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chorus: Em G/ Dm/ Dm/ F D</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
But the valleys in my world</div>
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are filled up with dry bones</div>
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and God's children wander hungry</div>
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and too many have no home</div>
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<br /></div>
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The church sign is freshly painted</div>
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with words of welcome without price</div>
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but I've never found much welcome</div>
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where everybody is just nice</div>
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<br /></div>
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And the preacher leaves the building</div>
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locks the door and turns the light</div>
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wondering as he finds his car keys</div>
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where will Jesus sleep tonight</div>
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<br /></div>
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And the valley of my city </div>
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is filled up with dry bones</div>
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and my friends wander hungry</div>
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and my people have no home</div>
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<br /></div>
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The deacons meeting is on Tuesday</div>
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and we'll talk about the plans</div>
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for the rummage sale and picnic</div>
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for the boiler and the cans</div>
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<br /></div>
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Wednesday night we come for dinner</div>
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and we cook a pot of soup</div>
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and we hear from some missionaries</div>
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and we hear from some youth</div>
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<br /></div>
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They bring us so many stories</div>
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show us pictures of such pain</div>
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as we're reaching for our checkbooks</div>
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we wonder if it's too late</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
And the valley of my family</div>
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is filled up with dry bones</div>
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and my heart is wandering hungry</div>
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and my sorrow finds no home</div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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But tonight the wind is blowing</div>
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one of the deacons is up late</div>
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she's praying for her daughter</div>
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wondering how to stop their hate</div>
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<br /></div>
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And not too many miles distant</div>
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a kid is also sitting up</div>
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and he's reading in the Gospels</div>
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and wondering can he drink this cup?</div>
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<br /></div>
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And when it's time to choose the music</div>
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the choir director picks that song</div>
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that will only lead to trouble</div>
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but she can't reckon that it's wrong</div>
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<br /></div>
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And the guy who runs the diner</div>
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wakes up once again in tears;</div>
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when it's his turn to give the welcome</div>
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he will know to start from here</div>
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<br /></div>
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and the preacher doesn't know it</div>
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but the scripture coming round</div>
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is the one that lights the fire</div>
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is the one that breaks the ground</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
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and sure enough on Sunday morning</div>
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three more strangers come in back</div>
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and one's sick and one is tired</div>
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and one's expecting an attack</div>
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<br /></div>
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and the table on that morning</div>
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is the same table as all these years</div>
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but it's a different invitation</div>
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and the bread casts out our fear</div>
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<br /></div>
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And in the valleys of our world</div>
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the wind blows once again</div>
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and our dry bones come together</div>
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and our hearts begin to mend</div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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And a church that once was dry bones</div>
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picks up hospitality</div>
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and it turns out this band of pilgrims</div>
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could welcome even me.</div>
David Weasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05443944500611142041noreply@blogger.com0