Uncovering Joy – A Circle of the Blessed
“When Jesus saw the crowds, he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak to them. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for there is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in hear, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness‟ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. You are the salt of the earth...you are the light of the world...” (Matthew 5:1-13,14a)
There‟s something about an old, urban church building. It begins with the obvious – its size. So often the buildings are enormous and marked with additions that make living in the present context of barrier-free buildings next to impossible. But...the building is there holding the dreams of the people who decided that this place in this city will be the place from which we will make a witness to the Lord of new life. Old stones, now covered with soot, have a memory of glory days as we usually define them: many people, even more children, a center for neighborliness, programs...programs...programs.
Too often congregations who abide in old, urban church buildings enter the new world that is unfolding right in front of them with low expectations. It is as though all that can be done is simply to hang on to memories and the funds still in the bank. Endowment funds once considered a gift to the future have gone up in the smoke of heating costs and building maintenance. It becomes so easy to pull the life of the church into the building - rarely venturing out or letting others venture into the building.
There are many congregations in urban settings that have been gifted with great resources. Many small cadres of people are wholly involved in being present within the communities in which the saints of old once lived and loved and learned what it was to be called the Beloved of God. These saints, who gather together under the oppression of bills and the grief of dwindling numbers of the followers of Jesus who long to be a part of the vitality of life within such places, do not always see the joy that is at hand.
If we watch and listen to the life within the wider church, there are many and various voices that speak of another way and another world. The church often follows the flow of people “like us” who move out from urban areas. Just as malls follow the flow of people out of urban areas and leave behind shells of building that are often discarded, the followers of Jesus follow this model of what we are told is success. It is no surprise then that on one of Jesus’ trips to the Temple in Jerusalem in John’s gospel he accuses the folks of turning the Temple grounds into a marketplace. We still have a history of playing to the market and avoiding the much needed real presence of our Lord that is meant to be alive among us.
In the thirty years I have served in Columbus, Ohio, even though I don’t know anything about how to build homes or building, I have been an observer of buildings. I simply like to watch where things are built and how we make decisions about the buildings in neighborhoods. Too often we are willing to write off, as a loss, whole sections of a city - the places where people live and long for new life. I’ve noticed that these same kinds of decisions are made in the various cities in which I spent time during my life.
One of my most meaningful journeys through the season of Lent was the year I walked through five very different neighborhoods. I had a friend drive me to some of the neighborhoods and then I would call him to pick me up after three house of walking. I went down every street and prayerfully observed the shape of the homes and business and institutions of the community. I would venture into corner stores for a beverage or a snack I could carry in my pocket as I went along my way. I never saw myself as someone there to interview people or engage in conversation. On occasion conversations did happen – but it was never planned. I needed to intentionally get out of my neighborhood and open my eyes and let myself consider those who share a city with me but do so in so many different kinds of living conditions.
For the past few years, a number of lay people and clergy have been trying to work in a collaborative manner with a local urban parish. Like so many old urban churches, the “glory” days were referred to as “those days when....” But over time and through the many levels of changes that take place in a metropolitan area, this large facility now is the home parish of just a handful of people. And yet, on a Saturday afternoon there was a meeting of a number of members, collaborators, friends, who were attempting to speak up about how this cadre of saints was making something new in the middle of what was worn by years and tears.
These folks were not merely trying to say good things in order to receive funding for the upcoming year from the national expression of the church. I heard and I saw joy unfolding. In many ways being a part of that meeting was a time of spiritual renewal for me. Hearing people from a financially well-off congregation taking part in the ministry and mission of First English and also wanting to investigate a way to hold a joint membership in two congregations because of the joy they were experiencing on this journey was overwhelming.
Joy within an urban church comes through activity and contact with others and bridging that which has caused separation. These folks – all of us – were on a spiritual retreat in that basement. It was a retreat that was grounded in the life and activity of the day to day immersion into a world where people are deliberately crossing the paths of others. That crossing comes in the shape of the service and the listening and learning. Urban spirituality is shaped within a context of joy that is being uncovered in places and with people many others would not associate with such a word as joy.
Vital to urban spirituality is that we are able to see in these places and times and communities – a vision for life that opens our hearts. It involves an attached contemplation that is able to see the joy of God’s Reign - as it is uncovered among us, right in the middle of what some may call the congestion and speed of ordinary urban life. This is no sugar-coated experience. It is filled with the frustration of poverty and the many layers of social injustice that has, over years, torn apart our urban communities. Joy erupts even when there is the utter disappointment of dreams that are not able to come to fruition. Joy is being a part of the hopefulness that is able to turn us more fully toward that which has just disappointed us and created havoc.
Sometime, we need to sit down with one another as we contemplate the condition of the day within our cities and we need to say “blessed are you.” Blessed are you when the building is falling apart and you are overwhelmed with the “nothing” that seems to be happening in the middle of a culture in which “something” must always be happening. Blessed are you when you stand or sit alongside others as though we are really one beloved and blessed people. Blessed are you when the life of urban places creates anxiety in the hearts of many but you continue to say this is our home – our future. Blessed are you when, for mere moments in time, the variety of God’s beloved are able to gather as though the promise of one communion is so real and true that we are shaking hands with it. Blessed are you for handing out the food and sitting down to talk and make a feeding program - a living room of fellowship. Blessed are you for not only being a part of the joy of life that is present but for also having the gift to experience joy being uncovered – a spirituality many have not had the opportunity to touch and see.
During the rite of Holy Baptism, I love to place salt on the lips of infants. This reminder that the followers of Jesus are the salt of the world comes with some strange reactions. Often the wriggling baby, who appears to be ready to call it a day, retracts just a bit and then...the lips move and the tongue comes out and sweeps the salt away. This sweet looking part of the liturgy is seasoned with the contrasting taste of salt.
When we remind ourselves of how we are this seasoning within the life of God’s people from day to day, we may be open to enter into the life that is available to us within the cities in which we live. Urban spirituality reminds us that we can turn around and begin to taste and see the fullness of God’s Reign that is within the patterns and routines and spaces of this day that the Lord has made. Tasting that salt of life that is in, with, and under the times at hand has the capacity to bring us back to the font and remember the joy that comes as we move from the water of new life...into the new life that is ours as we are those vulnerable saints right in the middle of our urban neighborhoods.
TRRR
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