Coffee shop wisdom.

Today during my coffee shop office hours, I continued to read Douglass John Hall's 'The Cross in Our Context'. Some wise words...

"we are apt to find more appeal in a religion that provides sanctuary from the world, or at least a reliable insulation against the world's insidious taunts, temptations, and revenges. As the cross of Jesus makes entirely plain to all who follow in his steps, those who seek great proximity to the world must be prepared to experience rebuff: the world is governed by a strange wrath that is most vengeful against those who choose to love it." -p. 53

"A church that aims to engage the world cannot afford to cling to some previous formulation I the Christian message, the hearing of which would make it necessary (for instance) for 21st century persons, conditioned by a scientific outlook, to become early-19th-century pre-Darwinians." -p.58

"The impulse o control, which is never stronger in us than when it comes to our religious beliefs, must give way to a readiness to listen, to ponder the truththat may be represented in the other better than in oneself - to believe, in short, that this is not a situation in which one is oneself the authority but one in which one knows oneself to be (in biblical language) under Authority." -p.59

Whew, wise man!

- Posted from the Pavement.

Proximity

I learned the reality of Jersey City's proximity to New York City yesterday. And I learned the perks of our "parish house" yesterday: the new tv series Mercy is currently being shot in Jersey City.

Yesterday, a production assistant for the show finalized plans to use the ballroom of the Barrow Mansion as a gathering place for the extras for the show while they film at a local cafe down the street. The Barrow Mansion is owned by St. Matt's, sits right next to St. Matt's, and is the place where my office is located. It is a ministry of St. Matt's too - usage of the various rooms and halls and massive kitchen are leased to community groups and organizations. There's even an old-fashioned bowling alley downstairs!

Monday is my day-off, but I might just switch it up, but probably not. But, I do wonder what it might be like to wander around as Pastor in the midst of this tv show filming. As a midwesterner, who did see some movies being shot in Chicago, I am still a bit amazed what it means to live and work and minister in close proximity to New York. How normal it becomes for people to have tv shows and movies shot on their streets.

Maybe this sense of normalcy in relation to the rehearsed, abnormal sense of life on tv shows and movies is a good thing. It helps those of us who are confronted with it remember that tv is not real, movies are not real. They are rehearsed, they are scripted, they are practiced. But life, real life, is none of those. We live it as it comes. And we get to live our faith, too, as life comes. There is no right answer, there is no scripted means of living faith. We believe as we live.