Doug McMahon

Love One Another

On Sunday, at the Missio Dei Community, we sang "O Holy Night."  As we sang the following words, I thought about the plight of many farmworkers in Florida.

Truly He taught us to love one another; His law is love and His Gospel is peace.  Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother.  And in His Name all oppression shall cease... Fall on your knees, Oh hear the angel voices!  Oh night divine, Oh night when Christ was born!

Since 1997, there have been seven convictions of slavery in the fields of Florida.  Presently, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers are advocating for a penny-a- pound more for all Florida tomato harvesters, safe working conditions and a voice at the table in labor negotiations.  You can read more about their work here.

This Christmas season, let us remember the words of the Christmas carol, "His law is love and His Gospel peace... And in His Name all oppression shall cease."

PC (USA) Young Adult Volunteers - Northern Ireland Program

Last night, I had the opportunity to welcome Rev. Doug Baker, of North Ireland, to Eckerd College.  He was our guest preacher at our Sunday evening worship gathering. He spoke about the Presbyterian Church (USA) Young Adult Volunteers program.  This is a great program available to all young adults not just Presbyterians.  The following is a quote from the PC(USA) web page about the Northern Ireland program.

PC(USA) Young Adult Volunteers - Northern Ireland Program

This is the tenth year for the PC(USA) Young Adult Volunteer Program in Northern Ireland. PC(USA) mission co-worker, the Rev. Doug Baker is the program coordinator. Forty-nine volunteers have served previously with sixteen different congregations or projects. Some of the projects where young adults have been placed recently are listed below.

The Bridge

Located in a low-income inner city Protestant / Loyalist district of East Belfast, the Bridge Community Trust (BCT) was established to be a link between "church" and community. BCT seeks to be a presence and support in the area, through a community café and involvement in after-schools and youth work provision. The volunteer helps develop the café / drop-in center, works with children in a homework club, and with youth at a local community center.

Read more about this mission program here.

More current information about Rev Doug Baker can be found here.  And you can find even more information about registering for the program here.

I'm Going to Malawi!

In January, I will be traveling with a group of 15 Eckerd College students to the LIttle Field Home in Malawi.  The purpose of the Little Field Home, according to the web site, "is moving beyond just providing food and shelter for the orphans and vulnerable children of the Ntaja area.  The children's health care and education are extremely important to us.  We also want to empower this community to find self sustainable solutions. Currently we have opened a medical clinic in the area and we are working on bringing commerce into this village through job training and apprenticeship."

We will be leaving in early January and the trip will be about 3 1/2 weeks long.  In the coming weeks, I will let you know what items you might want to donate to the children of the orphanage.  We will be carrying these donated items to Malawi in January.  Here is the web page about the Little Field Home.

Simplicity

I didn't think too much about simplicity until I was well into my 30's.  By the time I was 35 or 36, I began to yearn for time to do nothing.  I also wanted time to exercise, listen to music, go to a movie or to just do nothing.  As a father of two little children and a busy pastor, it seemed like life had become far too busy and complicated.  As I approached 40, I began to realize that I could control my schedule and my life again. I couldn't change all of my commitments overnight, but I realized that I could begin to build a more simple life. 

It is like trying to lose ten pounds.  You can't do it over night, but it is possible.  If I wanted to keep off ten pounds or build simplicity into your life, I needed to take stock of my schedule and my life on a regular basis.   It continues to be an up and down journey.  

Life is never perfect, and I have learned that new and unexpected interruptions find their way into my life. But I value living a more simple life.  I am learning to more often say no to commitments that make life unnecessarily more complex and busy.  Being busy all of the time is a sure way to undermine our spirituality.

When I get too busy, I take time to look at my life.  Ronald Heifetz and Marty Linsky write about gaining perspective as "getting to the balcony."  Getting to the balcony for me is taking time to meet with my colleagues in an accountability group that meets for five days once a year.  It also involves taking significant time for vacation with my family.  And twice a month, I meet for two hours of prayer with local friends.  These activities enable me to retreat long enough to get the balcony perspective and evaluate my use of time and personal resources.   The important questions for me during this balcony time are:  "Where is God is my life?  What is God doing?  What is God saying to me?"  

Jesus wasn't busy.  He was effective, compassionate and faithful.  He was intentional and purposeful, but he wasn't busy.  He had time for people and for prayer.  He lived a simple and beautiful life.

When I think of greatness, I think of a simple and intentional life.  I enjoy my life when I take time to reflect, rest and make strategic decisions to use my time well.  I am happiest when I am not rushing around and wasting time. Some people think of sitting around doing nothing as wasting time.  Instead, I think of wasting time as being too busy and running around in an ineffective way.  

Simplicity is beautiful.  It also helps with the other issues I am thinking about:  suffering, sharing, solitude and Sabbath.  They are interrelated.  Over the next four posts I will be writing about suffering, sharing, solitude and Sabbath. 

Everything is a Gift

Yesterday, I read the following sentence:   Everything is a gift.  That is a beautiful thought and one that makes me feel better thinking about the reality of that statement.  It also strikes me as one of the most radical statements of faith.  If I believe that "Everything is a gift," than everything is changed--every relationship, every decision and every purchase.

Not only do I believe that everything is a gift, but, I also believe that God is the giver of every good gift. To believe that everything is a gift is a radical statement, but to believe that God is the giver of every good gift is to take that statement of faith much farther.  What are the implications of believing that God is the giver of every good gift?

One way of responding to that statement is to trust in God.  Psalm 23 is a prayer that affirms, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want."  Last night, 20 friends, from Missio Dei and the Refuge, and I prepared about 100 meals and took to the streets giving away that food to those who were hungry, homeless or lonely.  We gave away food from our abundance.

Whenever I participate in an activity like this I always think, "Except for the grace of God, there go I."  I know that it could be me living in the streets tomorrow.  It could be me who will need a meal and bottle of water following a hurricane.  It could be me needing a few crumbs of conversation in a nursing home when I am old.

When I was much younger, I remember reacting negatively to older people who said, "Except for the grace of God, there go I."  I dismissed the statement as pious nonsense.  I didn't understand the sincerity of the comment.  I hadn't lived long enough or been through the pain that my elders had lived and seen.  I didn't understand how unfair life could be nor had I seen enough of the unrelenting difficulties of the human journey.

Now more than ever I have come to believe that everything is a gift.  This is good news.  It isn't just an acknowledgement of the limits of life, but also an affirmation of the abundance of God's grace.  When I turn to God I need not worry about tomorrow or fear any danger.  God is a like a shepherd that seeks me out when I am lost and leads me towards cool, cool water when I am thirsty.  God feeds me when I am hungry.

The dark side of this faith statement is the reality that thousands of children die of hunger each day.  A theology professor once told me this is the surd of Christian faith.  A surd he explained--if I remember correctly-- is something that doesn't fit into the equation.  Surd is related to the word absurd.  If God is all-loving, all-powerful and all-knowing, why is there evil and suffering in the world?  If God is good, all the time, why do children die of hunger?  Everyday?

I don't know why God allows suffering and natural disasters.  I have wrestled with these questions and I still do.  Yet, I still believe that everything is a gift.  I still believe that God walks with me through the valley of the shadow of death and God takes delight in the beauty of life.  God, in so many ways, leads me towards cool, cool waters when I am thirsty.  I still believe that God is good, all the time.  God is good.  Everything is a gift.

Resolve to Love

While attending my 30th Reunion at Asbury College in Wilmore, Ky, I saw this quote from E. Stanley Jones: "Here we enter a fellowship, sometimes we will agree to differ, always we will resolve to love and unite to serve."

A Definition of Spirituality

A number of years ago, while in my hometown of Ocean Grove, NJ, auditing a D.Min. course at Drew @ Ocean Grove, I heard this definition of spirituality: spirituality is a way of being in the world.  It was like a light going on for me.  This simple definition helped me to express my spirituality as something that is earthy and ordinary, and, therefore very real.  It is not something that is "so heavenly minded that it is no earthly good."

Spirituality is a way of being in the world.  It is not the only way. Some people live in the world and deny their spirituality.  But living a life in the spirit is lived in a body, on the earth and in very ordinary ways, every day.  During a sermon, I once told the congregation that the life of the spirit always involves the body.  I said, "if that doesn't make sense to you,then please feel free to attend worship next week without your body.  Just attend the worship service and leave your body at home!"  The life of the spirit is always a life that is an embodied life.

Some people tend to think of the life of the spirit as something beyond the body or away from the body.  But spirituality is holistic. It involves body, spirit, soul, mind and heart.  It is a life connected to God, people and all of creation.  In this world, one cannot be a spiritual person without a body.  We cannot be a spiritual person in isolation from other people. We need each other.  Whether we acknowledge it or not, we are connected to the beauty of the created world.   

Spirituality is a way of being in the world. Jesus taught us that the two greatest commandments are to love the Lord God with all your heart and soul, mind and strength, and, to love your neighbor as yourself. Loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and loving our neighbor as ourself, requires us to take this earthly life seriously.

To define spirituality as a way of being in the world is to also acknowledge that how we live our lives in this world is important to God.  Spiritual practices cannot be disconnected from earthly practices of mercy, peace, and justice.  The Hebrew prophet Isaiah said that fasting, prayer and worship that does not result in sharing our bread with the hungry, providing shelter to the homeless and doing justice in the workplace is not the true worship of God. 

What I do--or don't do-- with my life is a spiritual matter.  The four gospels tell us how Jesus lived in the world.  When our way of being in the world is modeled after his way of being in the world, we experience peace and joy.  He has shown us the way. 

The Practice of Prayer

I remember hearing a pastor say, "to be honest I don't pray that much."  These words surprised me because they were said by a pastor for whom I have great respect.  He is a very competent and compassionate pastor and a great preacher.  His statement about the lack of prayer also surprised me because it was said as a matter of fact not confession.  His assumption was that most pastors are active religious leaders and not contemplatives.  But I am becoming more convinced that in order to be active leaders in the world we need also to be contemplatives at prayer daily.

I wish that I could say this balance of adequate prayer and action has been my daily practice for the past twenty-two years of ordained ministry as a Presbyterian minister.  But it hasn't. I have learned about the importance of prayer over time. The practice of prayer is essential, but too many people live active lives without adequate time for prayer--even pastors.  Maybe I should say especially pastors.  I confess that there have been some years when I have allowed myself to become too busy and too fragmented by my daily tasks.  I didn't take enough time to pray daily.

In contrast to our busyness, Jesus is our positive example.  Jesus prayed often and regularly took long periods of time for prayer.  Dallas Willard in his book, The Divine Conspiracy, concludes that if Jesus took 40 days to pray in the wilderness it might be good for each of us regularly to devote 3 or 4 days for prayer.  It's a good question to ask:  if Jesus needed so much time for prayer, why do we think we can sail through life and ministry without taking adequate time for the practice of prayer?

What is your practice of prayer? Desmond Tutu writes, "Prayer and holy words can also bring us back to our love and our recognition of our connectedness.  St. Paul tells us to pray unceasingly and many Christians have used the Jesus Prayer as a way to create inner stillness at times of anger and turmoil. The form of the prayer has varied, but the most common form is, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Some have suggested simply saying, Lord Jesus, have mercy, or repeating a verse from the Psalms, a quote from the Bible, or another prayer that is meaningful and significant to you and your beliefs."  (God Has a Dream, Page 80)

Ultimately, prayer is the best way to enjoy God's presence in our life.  Prayer is the way to stay connected to God and, as Desmond Tutu writes, prayer helps us recognize our connectedness to one another and all of God's good creation.  Prayer isn't an escape from our responsibilities or a way to run away from our problems, rather it is a conversation with our Maker and Sustainer about how to more fully engage the realities of life.  

I remember hearing that prayer is the language of love.  Prayer is, sometimes, speaking words to God but it is also listening.  Prayer can simply be sitting in stillness before God--without words.  Prayer is about turning our attention towards God.  The practice of prayer is an opportunity to make each day a time to partner with God.  To be a person of prayer is to know that you are not alone.  God is with us.

 

 

The New Monasticism

Earlier this month I wrote about The Monk Within Us and discussed the recent movement in the church sometimes referred to as the new monasticism, a way of being more intentional about our journey of faith.  I quoted Peter Scazzero, author of Emotionally Healthy Spirituality, who writes about this new monasticism.  "We may not be called to be monks but we can learn many things from them as we seek to follow Christ in the twenty-first century."  He continues, "Emotional health and contemplative spirituality enable the contemplative circle of our lives to grow larger and to balance off the amount of activity in which we are engaged.  This adjustment has the capacity to lead us to an incredible transformation with the love of God in each day."  (Page 56)

This past weekend, I attended my 30th Reunion at Asbury College in Wilmore, KY.  As I walked the basement of Hughes Auditorium on the campus, I looked at thousands of pictures of graduates who, like me, attended chapel three times a week in Hughes Auditorium.  We also attended worship services at least once or more each Sunday in the congregations of our choice, participated in many campus ministries, worked in mission off campus, and attended academic classes that often began with prayer.  Campus life at Asbury College (1975-1979) was a kind of new monasticism.

I find Pete Scazzero's discussion of the active life being in balance with the contemplative practices very helpful.  It occurs to me now, that my time at Asbury College has prepared me for my present call to a new monasticism.   God has a way of weaving together our life experiences, old and new.  This is God's way of bringing together the many threads of our lives into a new creation.  

The reformation of the church that we are currently experiencing in the twenty-first century is not the end of the church as we know it, but it does involve dramatic changes.  God has a way of bringing together our life experiences, old and new, in order to bring renewal and hope not just for the church but for the world we live in.  God is about the business of bringing faith, hope and love to people who hunger and thirst for justice, peace, and right-relatedness to God and one another.  Jesus said, "seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added unto you."  

God loves people not church structures.  The church exists in order that people might know the love of God.  In every generation, God calls the church to be about the business of compassion, hope, forgiveness, transformation and abundant life.  Church structures may change, but the mission of the church is the same:   proclaiming God's love for the world and inviting people into missional communities of faith that are centered on Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Father's Day: A Time to Pray and Teach Non-Violence

Father's Day weekend can be a time to pray for peace and to teach nonviolence.  Back in April, a little girl was gunned down in a hail of bullets in St. Petersburg.  This tragedy saddened all who heard about it and the ongoing violence in our city has disturbed most of us.  Earlier this year, a small group of us met with Lisa Wheeler-Brown to listen to her story about the murder of her son, Cabretti. He was murdered last September. Every murder, whether a little girl, a teenager or a senior citizen, is a tragedy and the violence must stop.

As we prepare for Father's Day, I urge you to continue to do three things:  pray for the families of those who have died and also pray for peace.  Second, live and teach nonviolence in your family and in the community. Lastly, find practical ways to come together as a community to end the violence. 

In honor of Cabretti, the young man who was murdered last September, his mother's foundation has adopted 1.25 miles of road to keep clean.  The road that the foundation will keep clean is from 22nd Ave South and 34th Street South to 22nd Avenue South and 49th Street South.  The foundation held its first two clean up days in November 2008 and February, 2009.  The adopt a mile program has installed signs displaying the Cabretti Wheeler-Fortner Foundation's name.  Keep Pinellas Beautiful requires that the foundation complete a clean up once every quarter.  The next clean up is scheduled for this Saturday, June 20.

I invite you to join me on Saturday (8:00 AM) as we do our small part in trying to stop the violence.  Participating in this Clean-up Day, June 20, would be a step forward, honoring the memory of this young man, Cabretti, and calling attention to the ongoing violence in our city.  Your participation in this Clean-up Day, on the day before Father's Day, may help prevent other families from losing their children. (For more details, email me at douglashmcmahon@gmail.com)  Whether you live in St. Pete or not, this Father's Day, pray for peace and look for an opportunity to teach nonviolence.

I invite you to join me on Saturday (8:00 AM) as we do our small part in trying to stop the violence.  Participating in this Clean-up Day, June 20, would be a step forward, honoring the memory of this young man, Cabretti, and calling attention to the ongoing violence in our city.  Your participation in this Clean-up Day, on the day before Father's Day, may help prevent other families from losing their children. (For more details, email me at douglashmcmahon@gmail.com)  Whether you live in St. Pete or not, this Father's Day, pray for peace and look for an opportunity to teach nonviolence.