Jumping across to Build a Bridge

Last week, the Church remembered in her calendar the martyrdom of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Bonhoeffer was a Lutheran pastor in Germany who was executed in a Nazi Concentration Camp for his involvement in a plot to assassinate Adolph Hitler. This week, the religious press is all abuzz about another critic of the Third Reich, Eugen (yes, spelled correctly) Rosenstock-Hussey. Born in Germany to Jewish parents, he was baptized at the age of 14. He became a professor of legal history and during the rise of Hitler, fled Germany to teach at Harvard University. According to author, Martin E. Marty, Rosenstock-Hussey was often criticized for being too Christian by other Harvard faculty. Aside from his passion for legal history and philosophy, Rosenstock-Hussey is best known for his Aphorisms. Quoted more than Voltaire in the Viking Book of Aphorisms, Rosenstock-Hussey is quite the witty one liner philosopher. Recently, a colleague celebrated one of his witticisms, “Any original thinker knows that he has to jump; later you can build bridges.”

Both in our personal lives and in the life of this congregation, we have had to jump. First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is famous for it’s jumping. It is a quality I greatly admire in the history of this congregation and one that I would celebrate in the development of our lives, this community and in service to the Kingdom. My only addition to the Aphorism would be, “When preparing to jump, remember, you’ll need a good spot on which to build a bridge.” It is a difference in perspective. For most, the only concern is “I” getting to the other side. As long as “I” can make it, everything will be fine. The Christian understands that sometimes one person has to take the risk, but that risk is always tempered by the responsibility of bringing others along. Moses didn’t just find a spot where he could cross the Red Sea, but knew that an entire nation was coming with him. You may have many opportunities to “jump” in your future, but remember, we are our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers. This congregation will face some significant challenges in the year to come, primarily with our physical plant, roof issues, space concerns and the constant challenge of integrating our new members into the Church Family. There are times we may have to “jump.” Pray that each jump we make will be at a place where a bridge can easily be built.

“Any man who says he is ‘just’ something has ceased to live. How can he know what he will be tomorrow?” (Eugen Rosenstock-Hussey) [Pastor’s Note: The same would be true for women!]

Jordan's Stormy Banks made Calm

The stony path from the parking lot to the banks of the River Jordan is about five feet wide with cut branches tied together for flimsy handrails. It winds through an area of woods and grasses watered by underground springs, but were this year, very brown due to a lack of rain and dried up springs. Only forty years ago, the same area was filled with land mines as Jordan was trying to delineate its own borders with the United Nations newly created state of Israel. Fifteen hundred years ago, it was bustling with churches, monastic communities and vendors of holy relics as pilgrims made their way from Jericho to Bethany on a pilgrimage of the holiest sites in the area. Helena, Emperor Constantine’s mother, ordered and funded the building of churches at the various sites deemed sacred from their biblical importance. One could look off to the north and see the now vacant caves where for the centuries prior to Helena’s visit, hermits and ascetic Christians lived in devotion to our Lords baptismal site.

The Jordan is a meandering river, which means it changes course over the span of several centuries. It is now about 75 yards from the site where the first chapel was built on the banks of the river. A newly constructed Greek Orthodox Church now provides the shadow over the river where pilgrims and new believers are baptized. The Orthodox Church is the world’s oldest church, pre-dating the Roman Catholic Church (founded in the mid-fifth century by Pope Leo I) by almost four hundred years. Orthodoxy is also the largest Christian community in Jordan. At one point an Orthodox Christian shopkeeper embraced me and thanked us for coming to his country. When I told him we were not Orthodox, he looked at me and said, “But you know Jesus as your Savior.” “Yes,” I responded. “Then we are brothers,” he declared.

When we reached the River, our service began with eight from our group being immersed in the chilly, muddy waters of the Jordan. The narrow river that once was a mile wide now separates Israel and Jordan by about seven feet. On the west side, a vacant visitor’s center still flies the Israeli flag. With the recent archeological find that proves the Baptismal site is in Jordan, Israel has abandoned its claim of ownership. At one point during the baptisms, I looked up to see over fifty people from other tour groups gathered on the banks to witness the baptisms. One couple from another group was actually from Kentucky. How can we explain the power of God’s Spirit that day? Only this: At the end of our service of Baptism and Holy Communion, the Benediction was given and our Muslim Guide joined his voice with ours in the response, “Amen.”

Mary is pregnant...at the beginning of Easter?

Today is April 5, 2008 and there are exactly 264 Days until Christmas. The staff and I won’t be thinking about Christmas plans for another couple of months. However, this past Tuesday, April 1, 2008, many throughout the Church remembered a little known holiday, the Feast Day of the Annunciation. From April 1, 2007 there are exactly 268 days until Christmas or 38 weeks. Of course, that is the general length of the average pregnancy and if we celebrate our Lord’s birth on December 25, then Mary would have been with child on or about April 1.

It seems odd to be thinking about Christmas in the middle of the Easter Season, extending from Resurrection Sunday to the Day of Pentecost, but sometimes that is how God works. In the middle of something, when everyone else is focused on other things, God steps into our lives and says, “Will you do this for me?” “Everyone will think your crazy, you may be criticized for not ‘fitting in’ to what the world expects from you.” Thinking of the angel visiting Mary two weeks after our Easter celebration began seems odd. Yet, in the midst of our spring preparations, expectations of summer vacations and the church’s continued emphasis on the resurrection, God sends an angel to Mary and whispers, “Let’s get ready for Christmas, when I first gave my Son as a gift to the world.”

Always watch and listen for God. He may lead us and work with us in ways that outwardly seem out of step or the seemingly wrong focus at the wrong time. God’s timing is never wrong. God’s gift and God’s call are always, right on time.