Thursday, March 24, 2011

What I expect from my seminary education . . .

In 2009, I began writing and presenting liturgy at Covenant Community Church. One of my favorite pieces of liturgy is the Invitation to the Table. I love the Table because it's a symbol that is filled with complexities and questions. Whose Table is it? What is its purpose? Why do we need it? (Do we need it?) Why is the story of Jesus breaking bread with his disciples important? Where is Christ, in relation to the Table? Who breaks the bread now? Who is invited to the feast? (Who would want to go, anyway?) What do we ask of the Table? What does the Table ask of us?

The Table has become central to my understanding of how to be church. I love the Table because it represents God's radically inclusive love. Actually, I'm more comfortable observing the radical inclusiveness of the Table itself. It's not that I want to leave God out of it (how would one approach that task?), but talking about God's love feels a little too mushy for my taste. The radical inclusiveness of the Table is a political reality, and it has (or should have) real consequences for our shared lives together. I believe that the Table has the power to transform our society, because it gives us that power.

So, what do I expect from my seminary education? For one thing, I expect the readings and class discussions to challenge my assumptions about the church, including my beliefs about the Table. I like to think that I have a good, while largely undeveloped, theology of the Table. (It is a radically inclusive symbol, isn't it?) Even so, it's one thing for me to stand up in front of a sanctuary full of people that I know and love and invite them to the Table with me. It's another thing to really live out that invitation. How do I invite people to the Table when I'm not in the church building? (What does it mean to be "radically inclusive" in our culture?) Or even in the building--I don't mean to undermine the importance of inviting (not demanding) all people to participate in the ritual of taking communion.

I expect that seminary, if we do it right, will invite (or, perhaps more accurately, push) me to examine and deconstruct and analyze and interpret and reconstruct and present my own theology--one that is reformed and always reforming.

May it be so.

Monday, March 14, 2011

Oct. 2009 sermon, Covenant Community Church

Click on the title of this post to listen to the sermon I preached at my church in 2009.

Oct. 2009 Reflection #3, Covenant Community Church

Click on the title of this post to listen to a reflection that I shared with my church in 2009. This was the third part in a three-part series of reflections leading up to my sermon, which I will also post on this site.

Oct. 2009 Reflection #2, Covenant Community Church

Click on the title of this post to listen to a reflection that I shared with my church in 2009. This was the second part in a three-part series of reflections leading up to my sermon, which I will also post on this site.

Sept. 2009 Reflection #1, Covenant Community Church

Click on the title of this post to listen to a reflection that I shared with my church in 2009. This was the first part in a three-part series of reflections leading up to my sermon, which I will also post on this site.