Songs to Use for Something, Sometime--Chance the Rapper--Everybody's Something (Parental Discretion)

So I know I know, every once in awhile I come around and post something, I say I am going to be doing it more often and as we all know that never happens.  So, I might write sometime or I might not.

So I have had this playlist going on my iTunes for some time now called "songs to use for something sometime."  When a strong strikes my fancy for some reason I drop it in this playlist and there it sits. "Everybody's Something" by Chance the Rapper has been sitting in this folder since I first heard it.

If you aren't familial with Chance, he is a Chicago based rapper, who instead of signing with a major label keeps working on his own projects and releases them for free.  The latest project he was a part of is called Surf which is by a group called Donnie Trumpet and the Social Experience.  If you haven't heard this album yet you better stop reading and head over to iTunes, datpift or wherever and give it a listen.  It has some fantastic stuff on which has already maybe it into my playlist.

Chance came onto the scene big time in 2013 with this mixtape called Acid Rap, it is still out there for free if you haven't heard it.  It is a rather busy, hectic album that showcases his various styles, flows and his hometown.  This track called "Everybody's Something" is off of that mixtape.  As I posted in the title of this article, this track is NSFW and requires some parental discretion.  The video below is the official video but does not have the last verse from BJ the Chicago Kid.  The second video includes the whole track.

The hook on this track, as it is supposed to, gets right to the heart of the message Chance is looking to send.  It doesn't mix any punches or beat around the bush, it just comes at you with this reminder that no matter who you are, where you are or where you are going, you mean something to someone. 

                                  "Everybody's somebody's everything.  I know you right.  

                                                    Nobody's nothing, that's right"

The hook might not take us into too much detail about reason or need for these words of reassurance but through the bridge and verses we get a better picture.  On his two verses Chance, weaves lines about gun violence, drug use, his city of Chicago, racism and I am sure other references that I've missed, but these don't seem to be verses just about others experiences but his own.  It is on the hook of the track that Chance lays out that he knows that he is loved because there have been people in his life that have helped him through the dark times, so in turn the connection that seems to be made is that if he can be loved then so can everyone.  If he means something to someone else then we all must mean something to someone. 

"I know somebody, somebody loves my ass 

cause they help me beat my demons ass"

My mind has been a wash over the past few weeks, with news of riots in my hometown of Baltimore, shootings here in my current home of Portland, a death in my congregation this week, the jury decision in Dzhokhar Tsarnaev case, the earthquakes in Nepal, seeing the Avengers over the weekend and everything else that dominates our news media.  Maybe in my mind I simplify things too much, or maybe I don't get the depth of the issues or maybe I am unwilling to vilify another, but I do not understand how life became so expendable, so unredeemable, or so quantifiable.  It is not just that we have become numb to violence and death in our society, but that we can so distance ourself from that life that we can see it as nothing or unredeemable, or some sort of justice is being done by the way we are treating a fellow person.

My mind keeps coming back around to these words from Chance, and the retribution that is in them, reconciliation, the grace, redemption.  When I see death on the news, I think of whose child died, or our next military campaign, whose husband won't be home or as a jury convicts whose mother is being torn away from her family.  There is a great depth that can be found in this track that would take days to unpack.

However, for me, right at this moment, the message that I hear, that resounds in my ear is one that is a lot simpler than that.  It is a message of the value of life, the importance of human relation, and the promise from God that we will never be alone, that there is nothing that can separate us from Christ love.  For me, deep in this song, we hear the message that Christ calls us to love ourselves, love one another, to pray for those that persecute us and to remember that we are all God's children and have value in God's eyes.  It causes me to slow down when I see someone on the street, causes me to reflect on who they are and who loves them, it causes me to think twice before I comment on Facebook or twitter, it makes me remember that the person I see on the news or being vilified is someones son, daughter, mother, father, sister, brother, but more importantly a child of God.

So before we cast the first stone, lash out in hate, or don't consider the life that is being taken we need to remember who we are and who cares about us and in turn who cares and loves the other.  If you feel that you are alone, or that you aren't anything to anyone, I am here to remind you, that you are something to someone, that you do matter to someone, if you know it or not.  If you don't know who that person is, it can be me, know that you matter to me, but more importantly know that you are God's.

If you do need someone to talk to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is always open 1-800-273-8255

Come and See

I am not going to be preaching this weekend but I wanted to pass along some thoughts I had regarding the Gospel for this week.


The reading for Sunday is from John 1:43-51 and is one of my favorites, not because one of our characters here is Andrew but because of how Jesus calls the disciples.

When Jesus calls the disciples on the beach he says "follow me," it is as simple as that, follow me is the command.  Nothing more and nothing less.  Jesus reaches out to people with an invitation to come and see what this is all about.  For me this feels the opposite from what many invitations are in our society today, especially from the church.

I feel what I have witnessed from the church is not an invitation to come and see but rather a question of what do you believe, can you prove it and does what you believe line up with our beliefs.  Jesus does not call down to the beach and tell them to "believe in me" but rather "follow me" it is not until the end of the Gospel that we hear a profession of faith from the disciples, only after they lived, loved and traveled with Jesus did they come to believe and understand who Jesus was.


Things do not begin with a demand of faith but rather with an invitation to come and see!

Epiphany Reflection 2015

Until just a few years ago I had only given passing thought to Epiphany (the day when the wise guys showed up).  I understood the event and all but the significance did not sink in until recently.  As I was reading this morning from Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals (the prayer book from Shane Claiborne) the Psalm of the day jumped out at me.

Psalm 33: 1-6

Rejoice in the Lord, you righteous: it is good for the just to sing praises.

Praise the Lord with the harp: play to God upon the psaltery and lyre.

Sing for God a new song: sound a fanfare with all your skill upon the trumpet.

For the word of the Lord is right: and all God's works are sure.

God loves righteousness and justice: the loving-kindness of the Lord fills the whole earth.

By the word of the Lord were the heavens made: by the breath of Gods mouth all the heavenly hosts.

A few weeks have now passed since we gathered on Christmas Eve to celebrate Christ's birth.  It was a night filled with singing the old comforting hymns, gathering around the table for a meal, and witnessing the light of the world scattering the darkness.  As the church emptied that night and everyone went home we were on the cusp of a new day, Christmas Day. 

There were presents to open, family to see, traditions to fulfill on that day and days to come.  However, as the days past we began going back to work with a brief pause for New Years. By now we are settled back into our offices, schools, roles and lives, while Christmas feels like weeks ago.  

Bam, Epiphany happens.  This is the day that the Lord has made and this is the day that we recognize and remember that Christ didn't come into the world for just us gathered in that church on Christmas Eve.  These wise guys that show up came from a distant land, from a far far far away place bearing witness to the Savior of the World.

We hear in the Psalm for today that we are to "sing for God a new song, sound a fanfare"  This is a day that should break us out of our post Christmas slumber, the post holiday routine and remind us that this child came not just for us but for the whole world!  This child is for the whole world and all people.  That for me is the significance of the day and the reminder for me that this day is not like any other day.  No day is like any other day because we are constantly being made new and the world is constantly being renewed.

Constantly Reforming

Constantly Reforming

Oct. 26th 2014

Matthew 22:24-46

20th Sunday after Pentecost

Holy Trinity Lutheran Church SE Portland

Grace Mercy and Peace to you

Happy Reformation Sunday.  Today, is the day we celebrate our history in the church, we celebrate our history of being reformers.  Today is the day that we reflect on the work that Luther did all those many years ago, 497 to be exact that set the Protestant Reformation in motion.  

He was moved to speak up and speak out because of verses from Romans likes these…If one is under the law they will never be able to get out from under it.  There is no possible way to live in the law and be justified by ones own measures.  

There is something else and something more that just this law…there is a God of Love.

Luther found the God of love and the God of righteousness.  He found a God that was loving, forgiving and full of grace.  You see Luther was tormented by his past, by his sins and his short comings haunted him.  While he was still a priest in the Catholic Church he would wear out priests during his confessions, he was known to have finished confessing, leave the confessionally booth and immediately return because he remembered sins that he had not confessed.  

He was tormented by his sin and the thoughts of a God of vengeance and judgement.  

However when he dived into the writings of Paul and the Gospels he found a God of love and redemption.  A God that was a loving rather than a condemning.  Justification for Luther was found in that redemptive and saving act of Jesus on the cross.  

It was in that redeeming act that the world was no longer kept in check by the law but rather the world was freed by grace.  No longer are we being held captive by the law but rather we are freed by the Grace of God.  

However, what does this freedom mean?  We hear Jesus in the Gospel this week speaking about being freed by the Son and that the truth will make you free.  However, this is was foreign concept to the audience that Jesus was addressing and is very different from the notion of freedom that we have in our society currently.  

You see in our society today we understand freedom to be something that allows to us to do and live as we desire.  It allows us to be able to speak, act and live in a certain way, where besides some of the basic tiers and tenants of society is more or less open.  

However, what Jesus is getting at is a new freedom in Christ and a new freedom in the world to live for the world and in service to one another.  Jesus does not simply say that you are my disciples if you believe, but he said that if you continue in my words then you are truly a disciple of Christ.  This is not a yes I’m saved and I can do whatever I feel, but it is a yes I am saved and for a purpose.  

It was these very words from Christ that spurred Luther to continue to push and work towards reforming the church.  He did not want to sit idly by the wayside but to push to make the church truly the Body of Christ and to continue to live into the calling of Christ, to be His disciples.  That is why he sought to reform the church.  

We are a part of this heritage and I do believe that we are still a reforming church, we are a church of the Reformation.  The Reformation did not end 400 years ago but we are a church that is constantly being called by the Gospel, to be disciples and constantly calling us to act on that new freedom we have in Christ.

This week I came across an article that is one Lutherans take on what the 95 thesis would look like to the church today.  I feel that it touched on some interesting ideas that I wanted to share with you today.

The first idea is that we are called to live a life of repentance.  We are called to speak when we are wrong, acknowledge our shortcomings and ask for forgiveness.  It may be counter to our society today, which seems to be me focused, individualist and not looking to admit wrong doing.  

However, the life of a Christian is one that is called to repent and to seek that healing that comes with forgiveness, this matters not just between us and God but between each other.  It matters with those people that we interact with on a daily basis.  

We cannot live a buffered life that is removed from one another and removed from God.  We cannot move through life not acknowledging and realizing our sin in the world.  We must seek that repentance.    

Repentance, is the second idea and that this focuses us on the importance of being in the world, entrenched in the community that surrounds us and not trying to live above or beyond our communities.  

Repentance will lead us to a deeper relationship with one another, one that is not looking to one up each other or best each other but to look towards the future together and to work for the betterment of the world.  

The Reformation sought to create new forms in the world, these new formations correct the wrong habits that we have sunk into.  The work now of the disciples of Christ is to create those new habits and formations which will form a new way to work in the world.  

This like learning to play an instrument, memorize a speech, shoot a basketball or anything that is learned, requires repetition and a community to grow in.  Christ modeled the way in which we are called to live, the scripture reveals to us the ways in which we are call to live.  These are lives of worship and service, and that is our calling as disciples to learn, to grown into those lives.  

We are not being held accountable by the law but we have been freed by the Gospel to grow into being disciples of Christ, this freedom reforms our lives, church and world to continue in the worlds as Christ taught us.

amen

Found in the Marketplace

Found in the Marketplace

Sept. 21st 2014

Matthew 20:1-16

15th Sunday After Pentecost

Holy Trinity Lutheran Church (SE) Portland

Grace, Mercy and Peace to you from our Risen Savior,

Most of us are somewhat familial with this parable I would imagine.  It is a commonly heard parable especially when we need to teach a child a lesson about humility (“The last shall be first and the first shall be last”)  But my question for today is, who do you most identify with?  Are you one of the labors from the beginning of the day, one that showed up half way through the day, one of the late comers?  

I often times find myself placing myself in the parable itself as one of the characters.  I have found it to be a very helpful exercise when trying to figure out the lessons that I am needing to hear, or the message of the parable for me.  So I ask you today, which character in the parable do you most identify with?  

There is no right or wrong answer to this question, but each character brings a different angle of our faith lives to light.  Many of us might be the workers that have been toiling away in the fields all day, some of us might keep our mouth shut about the wage earned for the day while others might raise a concern about the fairness of the wages.  Some of us might see ourselves as the worker that showed up halfway through the day and still got paid.  Finally, some of us might see themselves as those who showed up at the end of the day, worked for only a short amount of time and got paid like we had been there all day.

What I would imagine, is that we mostly identify with one of the two groups of people, either those who showed up at the beginning of the day or those at the end.  I am sure all of us are thinking it, and feel bad about it but the entire concern is that those who showed up late got paid the same.  This is a struggle is it not?  This wage system does not make any sense if you ask me.  Just like the other brother in the parable of the prodigal son…why does he get a party?

Maybe this is a part of our free market economics but it does not seem right that those that show up at the end of the day get the same amount of pay as those of us who were here from the beginning.  Doesn't sound right does it?  

For those of us that identify with the labors that have been working all day this sounds like an unfair deal.  “We have been the ones working all day and we get the same amount as those who have only been here for an hour.”  This sounds like the same thing I have heard in a few of the churches I have attended and been a member of over the years…”I grew up in this church and now all of a sudden these people show up and join as members” “I have been here all my life and have never been elected to church council yet they have been here for a year and they have been elected to church council.” or “I have never had a drinking problem unlike some members”  There has always been those comparisons, judgements and jealously amongst believers especially directed at new members.  But what is the issue at hand?  

It just doesn’t seem fair does it and doesn’t seem right that those late comers get the same treatment as the rest of us.  Well, I am sorry to have to burst your bubble that is the business that God is in.  God is the in the business of mercy, forgiveness and rehabilitation.  There is nothing that is outside the realm of forgiveness and God’s mercy is everlasting.  It is not a business about being fair or giving proportions greater to those that have been an active church member for longer.  But rather God is in the business of salvation and bringing the lost back to the flock.  

Those that are upset at this parable and think that it is unfair fall into a similar category as our brother Jonah today as well.  Jonah wanted so badly to see the city of Nineveh fall that he got angry with God for saving the people.  Jonah wanted to sit up on a hill and watch the city get destroyed, but once again that is not the business that God is in.  Once again mercy over rules and the grace of God is what shines through.  

So those of us that might more closely line up with those that showed up late for work we have been given that gift of grace.  This is the everlasting mercy of God.  It shines through in times when we do not feel that we are on the right track or have arrived up late.  It speaks a message of hope and forgiveness for all of us and possibility for us all.  There is a joy that exists for all of us that we are all forgiven and receive that same blessing.

No matter what side we fall on we have received grace and forgiveness beyond what we deserve.  If you ask me we are all those laborers that showed up at the need of the day.  I feel that each time we struggle with our faith, fall short and loose our way we find ourselves back in the marketplace and God continues to come to up, picking us up, paying us and telling us to get to work.  Each time we are feeling that tug, the nudging from the Holy Spirit that is the call from God for us to get to work and get out of the marketplace.  Our sin returns us to that marketplace but our Merciful Savior gathers us in and sends us back out to the field to work.

The writer of Teresa of Avila, a sixteenth- century said said this, “Christ has no body now on earth but yours, no hands but yours, no feet but yours.  Your are the eyes through which Christ’s compassion is to look out to the world; yours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good;  yours are the hands with which God is to bless people now.”

So let us be the hands, feet and eyes and get out into the field and show that mercy and forgiveness that we have experienced.