A Word on Hospitality

"Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it." - Hebrews 12:2

Earlier this summer, Lisa and I registered on warmshowers.org. Warm Showers is an online social network that connects touring cyclists to each other and to potential hosts along their journeys. We have friends who use this to find housing as they tour, and we would like to go on bike tours someday, so we decided to start by giving hosting a whirl.

It's odd and a little scary to host strangers in one's home, but we've become familiar enough with the tour-cycling community over the last couple years to know it's not as scary as it may seem. Also, Warm Showers does have some security built in that helps with peace of mind. We decided this would be a perfect opportunity to offer hospitality to weary travelers - an expected practice for early Christians and often written into the rules of living for monastic orders.

Wednesday night, we had our first guests, Paul and Jane from New Jersey. This lovely couple is celebrating Paul's retirement by biking from Portland, OR to Washington, D.C. As you can imagine, they're almost at the end of the road. We shared dinner and conversation, and they delighted in telling their greatest and most horrifying stories from the road - all of which seemed to happen in Montana. And by 8 am Thursday morning, as quickly as they had arrived, they pedaled into the sunrise on their tandem bike.

We couldn't have asked for more pleasant inaugural guests. Surely, not all of our guests will be as pleasant, but we look forward to the opportunity to meet and host new people. We feel blessed to be able to practice our faith in this small way in our small trail town.

Theodicy and the Pittsburgh Pirates

"Finally, I think the baseball gods have looked down on us, and said, 'Enough's enough.' " -- Pirates manager John Russell, after Saturday's walk-off win

It'll take more than one exciting walk-off win to erase 2 decades of ignominy, but the divine punishment inflicted on the Pirates for all these years is about to end. That's what their manager thinks, anyway.

We remaining intelligent Pirates fans believe that it won't be long (2012?) before this team has their "Crossing the Jordan" moment, entering into a promised land of winning seasons, pennant races, playoffs, and positive national media attention. But until then, we are left to ponder the theodicy question posed by John Russell, Pirates skipper and accidental theologian:

Why would a good God allow this much suffering, for so long, to befall a once-proud National League baseball franchise? And has God finally decided to plague the Houston Astros instead?*

For starters, God is not smiting the Pirates for their cocaine and greenies culture of the 80's, or some other evil. If God always punishes evil, explain to me the Yankees. Or Ben Roethlisberger. God does not inflict suffering on the Pirates any more than God inflicts cancer on someone who hasn't been to church enough. To say that God causes pain and suffering is anti-thetical to the fundamental Christian belief that God is completely and universally morally good.

But even if God does not cause suffering, God obviously allows it to take place. Why? The simplest explanation, as played out in sports, is that life is a zero-sum game - for every winner there must be a loser. Or, perhaps it reminds us that while "God is good, all the time," the world is not and we are not. Maybe suffering is a result of human sinfulness, and we have thrown the proverbial wrench into the side of God's creation and mucked it all up. The apostle Paul offers yet another explanation:

"We also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us." -- Romans 5:3-5

I don't think any of us know the full explanation as to the existence of human (and ballplayer) suffering in the world, but I also wonder if that is the point. Rather than question God's role in causing or allowing human suffering, maybe we are called to something greater. Perhaps the best thing we can do is let the suffering move us toward the hope that "does not disappoint us."

As a Pirates fan, I have hope. When that hope is someday realized, all these years of suffering will make it worth the wait.

*I am completely aware of my glib use of the word "suffering," and by no means equate the constant failings of the Pittsburgh Pirates with the real suffering in the world. As a white middle-class American, I readily admit that I haven't a clue what suffering is.

Obituary - Erik's iPod

Erik's iPod, also known as "Hoeker's iPod", died on the morning of Friday, August 6, in its home in West Newton. It began having health issues on a recent vacation to the beach, and subsequent efforts to reboot and restore were unsuccessful. The iPod, one of the last of its kind, shared 7 years of music and other media with its owner, including countless exciting road trips. It enjoyed shuffle mode, music by the Clarks and Eagles, NPR podcasts, and downloaded sermons. Viewing hours for a replacement iPod will be Friday afternoon at the Best Buy in Greensburg, PA. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations of music files be made to the replacement iPod.

Permission Granted

Here at First UMC of West Newton, the time-honored way of celebrating Communion is by kneeling at the altar rail to receive the bread and cup. We celebrate with small cubes of homemade bread and the "shot glass" distribution of the juice.

When I first arrived here, I was struck by the extreme passivity of the parishioners in this sacrament. They would not do anything unless directed by the pastor. They stand at the altar and stare at me or their shoelaces, waiting for the imperative to "kneel as you are able." Then they receive the bread and cup, but will not eat or drink until the pastor gives some verbal cue to do so. The first time I presided over Communion here was a bit awkward, as I had not prepared to give such directives. I did not expect pastoral ministry would require me to boss people around in the celebration of a sacrament. I'm not the type of person who particularly enjoys telling other people what to do - especially in something as simple as eating a cube of bread and drinking a shot of grape juice. Who are these people, anyway? These are adults; they shouldn't need me to hold their hand and walk them through every step of Communion. Perhaps this is what the Bishop meant when he commissioned me to "Order."

But now, I'm beginning to understand. These people don't need someone to give them verbal cues. They're not waiting for permission. What's really going on here is a deep understanding of why we call it Holy Communion. These people know this isn't a frivolous monthly practice. While we ought not take Communion too seriously, we should approach it with some sense of reverence. After all, this is Jesus Christ, broken for us, poured out for us, present with us in the giving of the bread and cup. Maybe we ought not to rush into the eating and drinking, lest we suffer from spiritual indigestion. Maybe we should take our time and allow someone to tell us what we are really doing at the table, so we have time to process the magnitude of our actions.

And, this congregation also understands why it is Holy Communion. With each group of 15-20 that approaches the altar, they wait to kneel so all may kneel together. They wait to eat so all may eat together. They wait to drink so all may drink together. In this, the celebrant is not the "boss" but the conductor. I am not ordering them what to do and when. No, I'm helping them eat together, to commune. Perhaps this is the role of a pastor - to help the assembled kneel together, eat together, drink together, and pray together, so that Christ may come alive in our midst. May it be so on the first Sunday of every month, and all the days in between.