harry potter: a story of reformation

in honor of reformation and
halloween, our guest
blogger: mr. h. j. potter

my name is harry james potter, and i am a reformer.  let me tell you my story.

growing up i was pretty set on going to stonewall high.  much like martin luther's, my caregivers (uncle vernon and aunt petunia) had me set on a specific track--instead of becoming a lawyer like luther, i was set to go to public school.  one night during a great storm, a half-giant named rubeus hagrid knocked down the door to our hut on the sea and set me on an entirely different course.  martin luther's lightning was my knocked-in door.

our caregivers were not at all happy about our change of plans, but our minds were made up.  so it was that on the first of september, 1991, i boarded the scarlet steam engine that would carry me to hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry.

each year at hogwarts was unlike the one before, yet as the years progressed i began to realize that something wasn't right with the powers that be (also known as the ministry of magic).  the dark lord kept trying to come back and yet no one could let go of their need for perceived peace.

at the end of my fourth year, lord voldemort (alternately known as tom riddle, the dark lord, you-know-who, and he-who-must-not-be-named) returned.  i saw him and knew the evil he would seek.  it seemed, however, that the ministry had no concern and, in fact, refused to believe me!  now martin luther, it seems, remained in good standing with the catholic church until the 95 these were posted.  as for me, the moment i returned from the graveyard and cornelius fudge, the then minister of magic, refused to believe me, i was a persecuted man.

like luther, i had a few key people in my corner with me.  ron was my non-romantic katharina luther.  he supported me, occasionally argued with me, but overall, we were in it together--loyal best friends.  hermione was my philipp melanchthon.  her brains kept me sharp and on-point.  she kept our movement focused and when my part in the reforms was done, she continued, pushing for the improved treatment of all magical creatures--especially house elves--and continuing to reform the department of magical law enforcement.  professor dumbledore and the members of the order of the phoenix were oftentimes like prince frederick iii, elector of saxony, and the nobles who provided enough support and protection for us to continue reforming.

all of my memories of my fifth year are marred by thoughts of dolores umbridge, our defense against the dark arts professor.  she was cruel and was only there as a spy for the ministry.  those were lonely times and there were several occasions that i woke up and wanted nothing more than to be as scathing toward umbridge and fudge and the ministry--and sometimes even toward my own allies--as martin luther was toward the jews when he realized they weren't going to convert to christianity and when he was ill.  luther was bad, though.  i'd like to hope a right sight worse than i ever was even at my worst!  sometimes that resulted in detentions, but most often i was luckier than martin and managed not to have a record of it.  looking back, i sometimes wish that both luther and i had had the insight to just go back to bed on those days.

in the spring of my fifth year, i posted my own version of the 95 theses.  while luther didn't intend to upend the entire church and incite a new branch of christianity called protestantism, i was already in the midst of a struggle with the powers that be, so it was just another step along the path for me.  instead of a church door or a blog, i put my story in the quibbler, a magazine whose reputation varies, but was quite loyal to our movement for reform.

that's when things really got bad.  the ministry revved up its persecution of me while voldemort continued to get stronger and built up his army.  things came to a head with the ministry when umbridge tried to use the cruciatus curse (an unforgivable curse) on me.  like the attempt on luther's life planned after the diet of worms, when luther was made an outlaw and anyone was allowed to kill him, i too was spared.  prince frederick iii saved luther, and hermione's clever plan combined with pure luck saved me.

we continued the movement as the war continued.  we won the battle against umbridge, although the war kept going in full force.  the ministry of magic was forced to acknowledge that we had been right all along, but voldemort was still out there and so we turned our attention to him and the death eaters instead.  what martin luther did with words, i did with action as in our seventh year, hermione, ron, and i didn't return to hogwarts.  instead we set out to destroy voldemort's horcruxes--to make him human again.

in the end, by risking our lives and by staying true to what we knew--to our beliefs, we were able to defeat voldemort and reform the magical world.  throughout this all, some specific insights remain with me.  i remember sirius telling me in my fifth year that the world isn't split into good people and death eaters.  that is such a difficult concept, and yet it reminds me of what martin luther said: we are all simultaneously sinner and saint.  we are not one or the other, we are both and.  and in that vain as the holy spirit does with the church today, so too we in the magical world are ever reforming.

silent auctions and abundant communities

one of my joys so far on internship has been exploring and embracing the connections that immanuel has to other congregations and organizations.  as a congregation in kansas city, we partner with and support organizations like westport cooperative services, communities creating opportunity, metropolitan lutheran ministries, and hollis renewal center, to name a few.  we also connect with our sister and cousin congregations like children’s memorial, st. james catholic church, and st. mark hope and peace.

this connection with st. mark hope and peace has been especially clear lately as i’ve had the opportunity to help take applications there for the mlm christmas store, which will take place at immanuel.  the other strong connection i have enjoyed is the partnership for lessons and carols, which will take place on december 9^th at 3pm at st. mark hope and peace.  while lessons and carols has been put on by another group in the past, this year there is a small and strong group of us working on it. 

my role in this group involves coordinating and collecting donations for the silent auction.  the silent auction this year will likely be different from other silent auctions you may have experienced in the past.  instead of relying only on expensive donations like trips to mexico (which we will definitely accept if it's offered), we are relying on a variety of donations. 

in our seminary community, we don't necessarily have much money or financial resources for big ticket items at silent auctions, so usually what shows up are things people made, offers for dinners, skills in teaching or tutoring, etc.  having attended my fair share of silent auctions, i realize that silent auctions are 1-more fun and 2-more effective when more people are involved both on the donating and bidding sides.  

in our kansas city community we have many gifted people and as we’ve been finding out our strengths and gifts for ministry at immanuel, i’ve been realizing how many wonderful gifts this community has to offer.  because there is such abundance in this community, our silent auction will reflect that diversity.  thus far, we're looking at donations of massages, lessons in how to change a toilet or play the harp, gifts, training sessions on computer/internet programs like facebook (privacy settings, anyone?), excel, dropbox, blogspot, etc., baked goods, dinners, cookies every month for a year, consultations, yoga class, house cleanings, babysitting, etc.  when we actually get down to business, the possibilities are endless!!

i am really excited about lessons and carols all on its own, but with the creative collaborations going on for the silent auction especially, i'm now ridiculously excited.  this is also your warning, if you're interested in bidding on anything, i might be willing to right your bid down (and if it's something i'm donating, i could probably do/make an extra whatever you bid on, to make sure you can get it) and bid by proxy for you if you're not in the kc area.  

if you want to help support the awesome ministries of st. mark hope and peace and st. james catholic church and would like to donate something for the silent auction, please let me know and i'm happy to coordinate your donation for you!  if you are around or thinking about coming around, aim for december 9th at 3pm and i will see you at what is sure to be an amazing lessons and carols!

money stewardship

the last few weeks at immanuel have been our time for stewardship emphasis month.  immanuel is trying to focus on whole life stewardship (rather than just treasure or talents or time).  as such, when it came to my turn to preach on october 7th, i looked at the texts with stewardship in the back of my mind.  what i encountered when reading the texts was that they were actually about stewardship.  not of time or talents or treasure (well, kind of treasure), but instead stewardship of love and relationship.  in addition to preaching, we've had temple talks about giving, praying, and serving as expressions of stewardship.  i am actually a really big fan of stewardship.  i think it's awesome!  if everything (and i mean everything) is a gift from god--created by god, then it makes sense that stewardship could be expressed in everything we say and do as well!

in all of the emphasis on whole life stewardship and the move towards talking about "time, talents, and treasures" or "giving, praying, and serving," i am very aware that we can lose sight of money stewardship.  sometimes i have trouble talking about money.  recently i've been taken out to dinner by various parishioners, which has been wonderful and i'm trying hard to let myself receive the gift of hospitality through dinner, but it's hard.  i've also been trying to figure out my own issues with money.

as a seminarian, the common things seems to be to say that we're "poor seminarians."  in the grand scheme of things, yes, i suppose i don't have as much money as many people in the united states and statistically i fall well below the poverty line, but i also benefit a lot from financial aid for classes and rent, from housing right now while on internship, etc.  there are many in this country and around the world who do not have the privilege of student loans, financial aid, family, etc. to help them during financial difficulties.

so, while others might label me a poor seminarian, that is not how i would self-identify.  i have some money and although the seminary's goal seems to be to make me graduate with my savings account completely depleted (which i am on track to do), i do have a budget.  i am not tied to my budget, but i have one and generally tend to spend less than i budget to spend.

except in one category.

when it comes to giving money away, i am quite diligent about spending everything i budgeted.  in order to figure out that budget, i took 10% of what i am paid each month ($1,100) right away.  that goes back to the church no matter what.  i also decided that i could afford to become a trailblazer for rainbow trail.  that costs $10 per month.  then, i looked at all the other budgets i had, what i needed to save money for, etc. and decided that $150 would be a good total giving away budget.

once i set that budget, it was amazing how quickly different ways i could give away my money came up.  not only that, but i am still pleasantly surprised at how wonderful i feel when i get to give money away!  each month i give $110 to church, $10 to rainbow trail, and then i get to pick wherever i want to give the remaining $30!  immanuel folks were participating in the crop walk and since i was out of town the weekend it took place i couldn't join them.  instead, i donated money for them!  when i attended my cousin carrie's wedding (that i blogged about last week), instead of buying wedding favors, carrie and garrett donated money to the national multiple sclerosis society - new england chapter, so i decided that in november, my $30 is going to go there as well in honor of them and in memory of carrie's dad, my uncle pete.

the struggle for me has not been in giving the money or figuring out who to give it to (that has been the joy!), but instead the struggle was figuring out how much i could give.  i knew i wanted to and once i sat down and figured it out and set an amount, it's been wonderful to be able to give that money away each month.

weddings!

lately it seems that i have been going to a lot of weddings...mainly just this year.  by the end of the calendar year i will have been to five weddings and a commitment ceremony and will have known about/been invited to many more!  that being said, this past sunday i was blessed to be present for my cousin's wedding in boston, and so that is what i'm sharing with you: pictures and the pleasant surprise at the reception!

 me and aunt ghiq waiting for the wedding to begin

 me and mom waiting for the wedding to begin

 proud parents of the bride walking in at the reception

all the cousins (on our side) that came with the happy couple

and the surprise!

at the reception, instead of having favors for everyone, my cousin and her husband decided to donate money to the national multiple sclerosis society - new england chapter.  my uncle (her dad) died of ms when i was in third grade and other members of her family have also had (or still have) ms, so it was a really important cause for them.  so, instead of wedding favors, we received bands (pictured above on my water bottle).  it was really cool and i was really excited and proud of them for that unexpected surprise.

god gives us ways to love: 19th sunday after pentecost

the additional readings for today are: genesis 2:18-24 and hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-12

the gospel according to mark, the 10th chapter:

 ²Some Pharisees came, and to test him they asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” ³He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” ⁴They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her.” ⁵But Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you. ⁶But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ⁷‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, ⁸and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. ⁹Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

¹⁰Then in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. ¹¹He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; ¹²and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”

¹³People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. ¹⁴But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. ¹⁵Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.” ¹⁶And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.

the gospel of the lord

today’s readings are difficult for many of us.  we hear words from jesus that have been used for much of our lives to shame people, to keep people in abusive relationships, and to increase brokenness and alienation in this world.  

the irony, of course, is that jesus’ intent is never to increase brokenness, alienation, or shame.

jesus’ own context oftentimes gets lost in the midst of our contexts.  in jesus’ day women were understood as property.  in marriage they went from being the property of their father to being the property of their husband.  

as property, they were about as valuable as the children they could produce, they were provided for by whoever “owned” them, and they had no right to file for divorce.  

men, however, could file for divorce. 

as you might imagine, this was problematic.

after all, if a woman is her husband’s property and then her husband divorces her, whose property does she become?  if she no longer belongs to anybody, then how does she survive?  who provides for and cares for her?  chances are she will live the rest of her life in poverty with begging and prostitution as her only ways to provide for herself.

within this context, jesus’ words begin to fall in line with what god is doing and has been doing since the beginning.  

our god is a god of relationship and a god who wants love and relationship for us.

the creation account we read today from genesis 2 is an early attempt by god to provide some sort of relationship and love for us.  this first human being is just hanging out when god, like many well-intentioned couples i’ve known over the years, comes along and says, 

“you’re lonely! 

[eager] 

i’ll fix that.  

[look around for an animal] 

here!  have a cow.  

[confused] 

no?  you don't want a cow?  

[eager again] 

what about a dog?  

a lion?  

[a little disappointed at the lack of success]

a snake — no, no, not a snake i suppose

what about a slug or a snail?  no, it might get squished.

i've got it: a porcupine!

[crestfallen]

no? hmm...no luck here...well, you go to sleep and i'll think of something.

...

good morning!!  oh what's that?  your side is sore?  hmm, don't know anything about that—you should see what i have for you, though:

a human!  y'all are made from the same thing, [nodding head knowingly] so this should be a good partnership!"

god searches and searches and eventually comes up with the idea of two humans from hummus, two earth creatures from the earth,      of one substance,      joined together as equals.  

at the start, it’s just the human and god, but god is quick to realize that humans need relationships that are a bit more tangible.  so, god comes up with pets; companion animals.  for many people, their relationship with their pet is one of care and concern and through that relationship, they are able to nurture and steward love.  this is especially clear in the relationships people can have with their guide animals.  for many, this is enough; god’s first attempt works.  

but for many others it doesn’t quite cut it, so:         god creates another human. 

we are relational beings and in creating us of the same substance, god creates beings who have more in common than not.  god creates humans as relational beings so that we can be in relationship with and to each other.  it is god’s intent that we nurture and steward love and so we are able to do that by being in relationship with each other: friends, family—by choice, by blood, and by adoption, loved ones, and still pets.

jesus continues this pattern of adapting to our needs.  first, god becomes incarnate.  recognizing our need for tangible relationship, jesus comes in the flesh to be in relationship with us and to steward god’s love for us.

this love of god and among us continues to expand as, in hebrews, as well as earlier in mark 3, we have yet another way of understanding the relationship and love we share;            

this time, through jesus christ.  

in hebrews we hear that jesus is “not ashamed to call [us] brothers and sisters, saying, ‘i will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters, in the midst of the congregation i will praise you.’”  and in mark 3 when jesus is confronted with a worried mother and worried siblings who think he might be crazy, he declares that all those gathered with him are his sisters and brothers and mothers.  

jesus continues the pattern of redefining relationships and providing more ways to nurture and steward love, recognizing that we as humans also change and need to have ways to steward love that fit with who we are.

here in today’s reading from mark, we encounter another redefinition.  if the current relationship set-up is that a woman could be left destitute at the whim of her husband, jesus brings relationships of love and mutuality to the forefront, back to god’s intent, holding those with power, in this case the man, responsible. 

ownership means taking responsibility, a countercultural move even today, as we are bombarded with messages that if something is slow, broken, or lack-luster, we are to throw it away and get something newer—faster—shinier.  our responsibility, our stewardship of things, of love, of life is a countercultural move.  care for and stewardship of what we own, of those whom we love, and of creation all go against the culture of immediate gratification found on tv sets, in the newspaper, and on billboards just about everywhere. 

as christians we are invited into a new way of being in which we are given responsibilities in our relationships        with creation and with each other,        so that we might be good stewards of those relationships and work to live god’s love in our lives. 

jesus provides some parameters so that we know god’s intent for us: to be stewards of the relationships we have to each other.  jesus helps us to take responsibility for those relationships and gives power to those with less power.  jesus speaks of women divorcing men, which opens the opportunity for women to get out of a relationship—not for the purpose of getting into a new—shinier—faster one, but to get out of a bad situation. 

jesus also calls the children to him.  children, especially babies, were, and to a great extent still are, humans with astonishingly little power in the family.  

yet jesus is indignant that the disciples try to keep the children from being brought to him.  these children who are probably sick and sorry, poor and perhaps not long for life, are blessed by jesus.  

jesus comes to them and blesses them, nurturing love for them.

all of this is not to say that life is perfect or that everyone has their special someone and will find them and that’s the end.      

it’s not.  

sometimes we don’t get the relationships we want.  it’s a fact of life.  some who want marriage never find that special someone, marriages end in divorce or early death, people breakup, commitments are broken with abuse.  

some people have no desire for romantic relationships.  

and even when we do have the relationship we want, it never seems to fit what we’re told we should have—at least i have yet to receive my magic kiss and happy forever after, and i definitely do not know anyone with 2.7 kids.  

we are broken and sinful people and pain happens.  

we are diverse and saintly people and joy happens.

and still, somehow, in the midst of it all, we are drawn together;        drawn into relationship with each other. 

if two people decide to be in a publicly accountable, lifelong relationship, they have the opportunity to come together before god and their community to commit themselves to each other.  while i was in slovakia, i missed out on a wedding i really wanted to go to.  as the liturgical nerd that i am, when i visited the newly married couple, i got really excited about their wedding liturgy, which they had very intentionally crafted together.  

the commitments they made were both idealistic and realistic; committing to try their best and recognizing that they would need help.  they committed themselves to growing as individuals and together, as well as being open to the challenges they presented to each other.  

the thing that struck me the most was that, knowing especially that they wanted to have kids, they included “throughout my life, regardless of the shape of our relationship” they would be in it together.  they recognized that they didn’t know the future and couldn’t say for certain, but that no matter what, they will be in each other’s lives in some way.  they recognized their marriage for what it is, a joining of lives and a commitment to being involved with each other.

there’s a reason jesus quotes genesis that “the two shall become one flesh.”  in relationships, we join together.  there is no way to cleanly separate ourselves and that’s part of what jesus is getting at.  getting into a new relationship after divorce does not and cannot heal the brokenness that comes with the end of a relationship—with divorce.  it can create new life and can nurture new love, but it will never erase the past relationship.

throughout today’s readings and throughout the bible, god continues to redefine what it means to be in relationship: with animals, with creation, with people, with friends and family, with each other.  god is always there, providing ever-newer ways of being stewards of love, of being in relationship, of being family with each other.  because the reality is: we are all family.

every sunday we get to experience god’s extra chances to be stewards of god’s love.  we begin here at the baptismal font, remembering our baptisms, joining into this family of god.  we confess our brokenness and we are forgiven through the waters of baptism.  then we come to the table together as broken people to feast on a body broken for us.  

jesus comes to us and gives us and our relationships new ways to love and to steward god’s love, over and over each week.  and thanks be to god that god           never          gives            up            on                        us.                        

amen.