Tag Archives: christianity

Sean, What’s On Your Mind?

30 Thursday Mar 2023

Posted by in Culture

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , ,

When I log on to Facebook, it asks me, “Sean, what is on your mind?”. Oh Facebook, sometimes you don’t want to know. Some days, that would be too long of a post to make! And yet, at this time, so many thoughts seem to be flooding my head, and heart as well. I’m thinking about Spring and the newness of life that comes with it. How we’re fast approaching Palm Sunday, Holy Week, and Easter. That I leave for World Conference in just three weeks from today! How I have to watch live streams and clips of the Taylor Swift “Eras” Tour on TikTok because I still don’t have tickets to see it in person! I think about Greg and Alice, both of whom I know from Oregon. One recently passed away after losing a battle to cancer and the other because age caught up with her. I also think of Viola and Carol, both of whom recently passed away in our mission center and though I never got to meet them in person, I know they were well loved here. I think about how I will be traveling to Maui in May for a friend’s 30th Birthday trip. I also think about the constant legislative attacks on the LGBTQIA+ community, particularly those who are trans, in states around the nation.

And then my brain also goes to this…

I was in 8th grade when the mass shooting at Columbine happened. It affected me greatly as a young teenager. Often waking up in the middle of night with nightmares of it happening at my school. 11 years after I graduated, I was standing in the foyer inside our Temple in Independence, Missouri. I was at the 2014 Peace Colloquy. And while talking to Rob Borkwoski and Janne Grover, a text alert from Huffington Post came across my phone. School Shooting at Marysville-Pilchuck High School. This was my high school. Where I had graduated. I went to the local coffee shop on Independence Square to read the updates and watch the kids on the news be escorted in a single file line from their classrooms, the classrooms I once was a student in. Though I was no longer attending, my nightmares had turned into a reality. Just this week in Denver. More gun violence in our schools. When lives are cut short in safe spaces for the young… O God, out of the depths, we cry. 

The above is text from the sermon I gave at Colorado Springs Community of Christ just this past Sunday. Then the news came on Monday morning. Another Mass Shooting at a school. Of those who died that day, 3 of them were under the age of 10. My heart breaks again. I’m left wondering, “How many people? HOW MANY CHILDREN!?”

Earlier this week while driving to the RMMC Office on Tuesday Morning, “We Are The World” starts playing in the car from my the playlist on my phone. “There comes a time. When we heed a certain call. When the world must come together as one. There are people dying. Oh, and it’s time to lend a hand to life. The greatest gift of all.” And then the chorus begins, “We are the world. We are the children. We are the ones who make a brighter day”. My friends, tears just started pouring like waterfall down my cheeks as I drive into work that day and considered this song in light of what took place at Covenant school in Nashville, TN.

As I noted above, Holy Week is fast approaching. We will soon be entering a time where we reflect on Jesus. Jesus on the Cross. And I have to wonder at times like this, when we fail our kids to the point where schools can no longer be safe spaces because of the high rate of gun violence in our country, does Jesus stay on the cross? Does our inability to address the issues that are related to gun violence keep Jesus on the cross? Resurrection Sunday is coming. The hope celebrated and embraced by an Easter People because of the Resurrection is coming. So therefore, again, I have to wonder, what is our response to the issues in our world today that seem to keep Jesus on the cross rather than embracing the hope of new life?

I realize this week’s focus may not be the version of inspiration you anticipated in our weekly update today. But my friends, this is where we are at, yet again. As we continue our journey through these last few days of Lent and into Holy Week towards Easter, may we consider our response as a people of faith. Not just in response to what has happened but also because of our calling to be at the forefront of practicing the teachings of Christ as we seek to reduce future tragedies from occurring.

I was once asked by a congregation what they could do to engage their community in opportunities that would require minimal funds. I suggested sponsoring Community Meetings to explore the various perspectives related to the issues that their specific community as well as the nation and world was facing. To put Faithful Disagreement and Unity in Diversity into practice through intentional listening and compassionate sharing. As Community of Christ, maybe that is a good place for us to start.

We are a people dedicated to the pursuit of peace. Let us continue to not only pray for peace but to act for it as well.

This was originally shared with the Rocky Mountain Mission Center for Community of Christ in their weekly update on Thursday, March 30, 2023.

Next Adventure: Rocky Mountain Mission Center

18 Tuesday Oct 2022

Posted by in Community of Christ

≈ 12 Comments

Tags

, , , ,

“I’ll spread my wings | And I’ll learn how to fly | Though it’s not easy to tell you goodbye | I gotta take a risk, take a chance, make a change | And breakaway | Out of the darkness and into the sun | But I won’t forget the place I come from | I gotta take a risk, take a chance, make a change | And breakaway”

– Lyrics from “Breakaway”, as sung by Kelly Clarkson –

In August I posted a meme that said, “And suddenly you just know it’s time to start something new and trust in the magic of beginnings.” You see, just a day prior my attention was drawn to a job posting for Mission Center President of the Rocky Mountain Mission Center. It was now the first night of the Adult Reunion and I was having a sleepless night thinking about a potential job change and what that might mean for me, if I decided to send my letter of interest and was offered the position. Not being able to sleep, I opened my phone and the very first post I see is that meme. Oh, did it hit me! It was my first confirmation that I should send in my letter of interest for the position. 10 days later, I would. The funny thing is that after I shared the meme, a friend said that it appeared as if a work change must be coming. HOW COULD THEY KNOW!? Haha.

Now let’s go back. In the summer of 2011, I was let known that a half-time Director of Youth Camping position was being created in the Greater Pacific Northwest USA Mission Center. I expressed my interest and started working as an employed minister with Community of Christ in January 2012. A year later that increased to ¾ time with more responsibilities added. Then in September 2015, my time was increased to full time.

It has been a deep joy to serve the GPNW USA Mission Center but a little over a year ago, I sensed that it was time to begin preparing for a change in my ministry. I wasn’t sure what, but I sensed that I needed to be open to the ways in which the Holy Spirit might be moving in my life. This past summer had me experiencing several things that signaled a change. I found myself engaging in conversations that had me thinking about my future. I also was invited to preach at Spectacular, our Community of Christ Youth Camp at Graceland University. That was an amazing experience that caused me to reflect on my ministry and where the focus should be. So, after over a year of being open to what may be shifting in my life, I believe that the Holy Spirit was preparing me for this change.

As a local boy, I have been so blessed to spend the first 37 years of my life here in the Pacific Northwest. While serving the GPNW USA Mission Center, I have greatly benefited by serving under the leadership of Kathy Sharp, Mike Bessonette, and Kim Naten. I take what I have learned from each of them as I transition into the role of Mission Center President. I have also been fortunate to have many co-workers, friends, and companions on the journey who have helped shape me into the minister I am today. It is with that that I now say, it is time for me to “take a risk, take a chance, make a change, and breakaway.”

Weary Soul: Will You Cross the Bridge?

17 Sunday Jan 2021

Posted by in Culture

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, ,

Let me be honest for a moment, my soul is weary and I’m not in a great place. As could be expected, 2021 is already producing a shit show of emotions for many people. I’ve come to realize that the events in D.C. on January 6 have affected me more than I originally anticipated they would. It’s important to me that people understand that when something like the domestic terrorist invasion on our US Capitol Building takes place, people in communities who are marginalized simply for being who they are as a child of God, view those acts through a different lens. We recognize that the folks who are willing to do that are the same ones who would be willing to harm us while going about our everyday routines of life. Though, my soul has certainly been weary at times since then, especially as someone who is in the LGBTQIA+ community, I haven’t felt like this since the Orlando Nightclub massacre. Back then, I just didn’t have an outlet for expressing so since I was not yet out to the world in 2016. 

Trust me, I want to be able to simply embrace the call for unity and a way forward. I can’t do so though without acknowledging that the division in this country is deeper than just a difference of opinion. When who you are is not only subject to debate but outright hate from groups of people, a call for unity and peace is met with deep distrust. 

I have friends and family who I love and care about but who support a political party with a platform which promotes values that are harmful to people like me. A platform that emboldens behaviors in folks that are acted out in harmful ways towards people like me. Friends and family who seem to follow rather than honor the worth of all people and help change the culture within. I don’t see how this is in any way reflective of the teachings of Christ. My soul is weary and my heart aches because I do care deeply about many of these folks. They are an important part of the relational fabric woven within my soul and throughout my community. 

I want unity. I want peace. Unity and peace are not possible though if marginalized groups of people have to feel unsafe for it to occur. Unity and peace are not possible if we have to try and hide parts of who we are to make you more comfortable with being around us. We can respectfully disagree and try to find common space on many things in our society but human dignity and worth is not one of them. 

A swift, fierce river separates two sides. If you find yourself in the middle of the bridge because it is safe and you are not comfortable engaging in the hard conversations for fear of alienating people you love on one side while others who you also love continue to stand in harm’s way on the other side, the bridge is crumbling underneath, and the water will continue to drown the moral fabric of humanity. You are not helping anyone, if this is where you find yourself. If you are willing to cross the bridge and build more of them though, thank you. We need bridge builders more than ever before. When it comes to human worth though, we can’t simply meet in the middle of the bridge. If peace and unity is truly desired, we have to do the hard work that is necessary to cross it. We have to listen and then respond.

I pray for peace. I pray for unity. I know many of us do. Often times though, prayer without action lacks authenticity and is just words muttered rather than heart and soul engaged. 

Sincerely, 

A weary traveler who is tired today.

When the Nativity makes us uncomfortable

10 Tuesday Dec 2019

Posted by in Community of Christ, Culture, discipleship, Politics

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , ,

“God, the Eternal Creator, weeps for the poor, displaced, mistreated, and diseased of the world because of their unnecessary suffering. Such conditions are not God’s will. Open your ears to hear the pleading of mothers and fathers in all nations who desperately seek a future of hope for their children. Do not turn away from them. For in their welfare resides your welfare.” – Community of Christ Holy Text

This past week there has been an image of the nativity scene at Claremont United Methodist Church in California in where Baby Jesus, Joseph, and Mary find each of themselves in their own cage. It’s a protest visual in response to our governments border policies. To view the image, check out this article from CNN. To use the nativity in this way is provocative, sad, disconcerting, and even maddening, and that is why it is incredibly appropriate. I wish more faith communities were brave enough to make a similar statements. For the purpose of Christ’s message wasn’t to spread a message of rainbows and butterflies with pats on the back for good deeds done. It was to challenge unjust laws and spread a message of Joy, Hope, Love, and Peace in the midst of a society that seemed to contradict that message. It was to bring hope to those who were lonely, oppressed, marginalized, and forgotten. It was to live within a spirit of shalom, not fear.

Continue reading →

Where does it hurt?: Another Day, Another Mass Shooting

08 Thursday Nov 2018

Posted by in Culture

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

I woke up this morning to see the Huffington Post alert on my phone. Mass Shooting at a bar in Southern California. This one only an hour and half from where I am currently at in Southern California while away for work and some play. I flashback to waking up on June 12, 2016, and seeing the alert on my phone of the Pulse Nightclub Massacre. My heart sinks.

We learn that it was college night at the bar. My emotions flood me as I recall every school and college shooting that is embedded deep in my memory. Of young, innocent lives lost. Of lives full of hope and promise gone in a matter of minutes. In a matter of seconds. Gone. The high school I graduated from suffered it’s own shooting a few years back. Images of the school being evacuated from the same classrooms I once learned in, haunted me. They were similar images I saw as an 8th grader watching the events of Columbine unfold on the television. My heart sinks. Continue reading →