Ten Ways Christians Tend to Fail at Being Christian

Check out this article by John Shore on the Huffington Post.

He hits, at least by title, the biggest issues facing Christianity in the 21st Centuray and the issues around which we are struggling as a gathered people of faith.

Definately raises some points worth thinking and talking about.

What do you think are the 10 ways we fail at being Christian

Springing up like flowers

One of the things that I love about spring is how the flowers spring up - all of a sudden where there was nothing before there are tulips or daffodils or crocus - it's wonderful.

The ECW basket auction was another kind of spring flower. Nothing much was happening and then all of a sudden, out of nowwhere, baskets appeared and then people appeared and bingo - an event out of nearly nowhere.

Come next week for the Carnival which is happening in a similar way - these are the miracles of spring

Images of Holy Week

The contrasting images of Holy Week - the plain wood cross drapped in black and the Paschal candle lit and drapped in flowers.

The contrasting images remind us of the real contrast of Holy Week, moving from death to life as Christ dies, descends to the dead and is raised in glory

March Madness

In case you missed it - it is indeed that time of year - lots of people were tied to t.v. screens - and here in Buffalo we played host to lots of basketball fans routing on their teams.

I think that one of the things that people like about the NCAA tournament is that there is always the opportunity for the underdog to win - like this weekend - with Northern Iowa beating the top seeded Kansas - it's those kinds of stories that make March Madness what it is.

So while we are looking for underdogs to cheer on - it occured to me that the story of the beginning of Christianity is kind of a Cinderella story - we are going to hear next week that the disciples all scattered when Jesus was arrested and that they spent alot of the next couple of weeks hiding - but that little group hiding from everyone in two generations spread the story of Jesus to the then known world and were a force that threatened the Roman Emperor himself - just a thought

The Prodigal Parish

We heard yesterday about the prodigal son - but actually in the parable it isn't the son who is prodigal, it is the Father. The word prodigal means overly generous or perhaps more accurately, the overwhelmingly generous.

I just want to reflect on how prodigaly generous the people of St. Paul's were this weekend. We collected over $300 in the Day of Change collection - which is supporting a refugee family the Eastern Erie Deanery is adopting.

We also had a highly successful dinner in support of the youth mission trip - people were prodigal both with their money and their time.

In the midst of this we are participating in the ECS campaign and are doing well in those collections and people are painting the parish hall and the classrooms and the hallways.

Well done prodigal parish - making the Grace of God visible here.

Our time - God's time - Nature's time

I have just begun to be able to sense that the days are getting longer - for me that is the first sign of spring - it comes just before the whiff in the air that is a combination of thawing earth, slightly warmer air and melting snow.

But it's not quite spring yet - which is perfect, because it's not quite Easter yet - we aren't quite ready to celebrate the new life that is represented by both Easter and spring - we get a whiff of it here or there, but it's not time quite yet.

Of course this will all take a large leap forward in two weeks when we change the clocks -

But until then there is something nice about having time cycles coincide - about having the church year's cycle at the same place as nature's time cycle and my own - it doesn't happen very often, but it's nice when it does.

The difference between winning bronze and losing gold

I've been watching the winter Olympics - I'm a sucker for them - and one of the things that I have noticed is the difference between athletes.

There are those for whom just competing truly was all that they were hoping for and when they place third and actually get to stand on the podium and receive a medal it is clear that this was far beyond their wildest dreams and something that they will cherish their whole lives.

Then there are those who clearly expected to win and placing second or third wasn't winning a silver or a bronze medal - it is losing the gold. It is not having the thing that they expected happen for them. They are the ones standing on the podium with a scowl on their faces, glaring at the winner - or gamly trying (and failing) to cover their disappointment.

I wonder what are the things in our lives where just competing is joy enough and placing third is the icing on the cake. And what are the things where we expect to do so well that being the third best in the world is a failure? And how can we move from the second category to the first?