Paul Burkhart

“Whisky, I find, helps clarity of thought. And reduces pain. It has the additional virtue of making you drunk or, if taken in sufficient quantity, very drunk.”

–from The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes

Haha. Love this.

It’s not that I haven’t had enough time….

(I’m caught up on all my TV shows, I’m a season-and-a-half into The West Wing, and I’ve finished several books in the past few weeks.)

It’s not that I haven’t had inspiration…

(I have several posts half-written and so many lined up and outlined out.)

It’s not that I’ve been uninterested in blogging…

(I’ve missed it so much!)

It’s not even that I haven’t had the energy….

(I’ve been writing many other things for church, work, school, etc.)

There are just times when things just need to relax and rest. Rest takes striving. And I feel very rested right now. I like it. I also feel the need to commune with that which is above, below, and around me.

If you’ve been here before, you know what I mean.

I want my writing to emanate from within more than from without. Does that make sense?

So, will tomorrow have a post? I don’t know.

We’ll see if I feel like it.

Yesterday, I received my acceptance letter into the Newbigin House of Studies, a distance Masters of Divinity program in partnership with Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Michigan.

The seminary belongs to the RCA family of churches (including my own) and is in the Dutch Reformed tradition (here’s a good article on some of the differences between Dutch Reformed thought and other “flavors” of Reformed thinking).

In a couple of months, I will be having my five-year anniversary of living in Philadelphia. What brought me here from college in Richmond, Virginia was my decision to attend Westminster Theological Seminary. Eventually, for several reasons, I left the seminary (reasons that a lot of people didn’t like).

I have spent the past several years working in social services, serving in my church, and continuing to grow in how I feel I could be used by God in the ways I’m gifted. I have continued to have a passion and desire for connecting the deepest parts of Christianity to the realities of life. My desire for continued education in both theology and counseling have only grown and this is the beginning of me stepping back into this.

I look forward to doing this journey alongside all of you both in my life and on this site. I’ll conclude with one of the last questions I received on the seminary application, and my answer:

Describe the reason for your decision to enter the seminary and your present aims and aspirations for ministry.

I do not pursue seminary education because I think God is “calling me” in the sense that he is there beckoning me towards it. In other words, I don’t see seminary itself as my “calling” as if I’m not currently fulfilling what God has called me to.

Rather, I almost feel a “wind” of sorts at my back. Seminary is the codification and further equipping for the way I already live my life in the community of faith: bringing theological depth and truth (and hopefully wisdom) to bear on the human condition and questions.

It really is with a lot of trepidation that I move forward in this. There has been a lifelong affirmation by numerous and varied people that–in some sense–I’ve been set apart in a unique way to serve God’s people and the work of the Gospel. My service in church contexts has been one in which I have flourished and the people around me have seen some benefit in my leadership. I’ve had the privilege of a diversity of theological exposure that has given me a graciousness, ecumenism, and perspective on the Bible and religion such that I feel I’m quite adept at walking people through ideas with winsomeness and clarity.

And yet, I’ve seen others that could say the same and have ended up greatly harming people. And so, I’m applying to the Newbigin House as a communal act, rather than isolating myself from my community in order to fill myself with “knowledge” and “expertise” (as is, at times, the usual model of seminary).

Ultimately, my desire is to complete graduate education/training in both theology and counseling, and seek ordination in the RCA and licensure in counseling.

After this, God willing, I’d like to be a counseling pastor at my church in Philadelphia, while starting a private (or group) counseling practice. In addition to this, I would continue to write, teach, and speak.

By God’s grace, I move forward in this equipping.

Though I love to take pictures, I didn’t take that many shots when I was in Guatemala with Lemonade International alongside the rest of the team of bloggers there. This was because we had a professional, dedicated photographer with us. I wrote about Scott Bennett and my thoughts on his work before the trip.

Each night as we writers sat down to blog, he’d show us the pictures he took for the day, and we’d fight over which ones we got to use in our posts. He took some amazing pictures, and shared many of the raw, untouched photos with us.

Well, now that he’s had time to dedicate more time and resources to focusing his creative eye on the pictures, he has now released his official photo documentary  from the trip, as part of the site Visual Peacemakers.

This photo essay beautifully captures the essence of our time and the people there as well as (if not better) than the words of us writers. I encourage you to spend some time with these pictures and let their weight and beauty affect you. Then, would you consider joining with Lemonade International in their continuing work in the La Limonada community of Guatemala?

Here is Scott’s own artist’s statement accompanying the photo documentary:

La Limonada is a unique neighborhood located in Guatemala City, Guatemala. It is located in a ravine that is 1 mile long and 1/2 mile wide, and is home to over 60,000 people. It is considered one of the largest urban slum communities in Central America. While the neighborhood faces many challenges (such as poverty, lack of job opportunities, prevalent gang culture, sexual abuse and exploitation, social stigmatization, and rampant drug use) there is also much hope and beauty to be found in the area. In recent years, the NGO Lemonade International has come alongside the community of La Limonada in solidarity and has done much positive work by establishing two schools (or “academies”) to help offer youth an alternative to dealing drugs or getting involved in gangs. I recently had a chance to witness the work of Lemonade International first-hand when I participated in the organization’s very first bloggers’ trip as the official group photographer. While I did learn about very difficult situations and people who have suffered tremendously, I also observed a tide of change and a positive vibe that has caused a good impact on the community: a chance for a better education and future for youth in spite of difficulties, and I also witnessed a key meeting between Colonia (or Barrio) leaders that offers reconciliation and understanding in the neighborhood. The area is made up of 11 mini-zones that are all governed by local representatives. Due to gang activity and territorial issues, many of the residents will not cross over established “fronteras” or borders between rival neighborhoods. During the #LIBloggers trip, our group witnessed a meeting of the neighborhood representatives for the first time. We also visited the two academies and other vital programs that Lemonade International runs alongside local Guatemalan leaders. My photo story focuses on just a few of the positive things that La Limonada has to share: a unique community, improvements through education, and also a few shots from the community gathering of colonia leaders. I also include a few shots of the cemetery and city dump, where we listened to a talk about the history of Guatemala and some of the struggles that the country has faced. My goal is to show people with dignity while respecting the human condition. I definitely learned much more from the people living in La Limonada than I could ever teach them, and I was especially impressed by the dedication and love that the local teachers and leaders shared with the community. For more information on how you might get involved with this essential ministry and organization, please check out the following link: http://www.lemonadeinternational.org/

CLICK HERE to follow the rest of my Guatemala posts for Lemonade International 

Today in the Christian church calendar is Ascension Day, the day we celebrate Christ ascending into heaven 40 days after his resurrection and now sits at “the right hand of God the Father.” (You can read a prayer and poem I posted earlier for this Holy Day)

The Useless Ascension

The idea of “Ascension” doesn’t seem to get a lot of play nowadays in the Church. This, in spite of the fact that it is an essential part of all the Church’s earliest doctrinal formulations, and the subject of the most-quoted Old Testament verse in the New Testament:

The Lord says to my lord, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.”

Compared to other, non-creedal things like Hell, homosexuality, and “attacks on biblical authority”, the Ascension isn’t really talked about. Maybe this is because the Ascension isn’t really a “doctrine”–it’s an “event” and a “declaration”.

And we western Christians love our systematic “doctrines” that we can pick apart as nauseam and/or figure out how we can “apply it to our lives” in such a way that we can feel like we’re “good Christians.” But honestly, the Ascension doesn’t have many direct applications for today.

The earliest Christians in Scripture appealed to this event as the primary proof of Jesus’ divinity and “lordship”, but beyond that, the Ascension can be seen as not very “useful”. There’s not much we can “do” with it.

Which is precisely why it’s so valuable (just like God’s Beauty). More than many other aspects of the Gospel and Christianity, the Ascension isn’t an “idea” to mull or unpack, but rather “news” to receive.

There are some beautiful aspects to it, though, that I’d like to point out on this Ascension Day, to help us meditate on it and rest in the cosmic beauty of this reality.

Ascension: God’s Gift for us and to us

In today’s series of readings and prayers from the Book of Common Prayer, there was a reading from Psalm 8, which contained these lines:

O Lord, our Sovereign,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory above the heavens….
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
… what are human beings that you are mindful of them,
mortals that you care for them?

Yet you have made them a little lower than God,
and crowned them with glory and honor.
You have given them dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under their feet….

In this one Psalm, there is both an expression of God ascending his glory above the heavens, as well as ascending humanity above the rest of Creation so that “all things [are] under their feet” (sound familiar?).

Though this Psalm is clearly talking about how humans in general are the ones ascended above Creation, the author of Hebrews interprets these verses as talking about how Jesus specifically is exalted and ascended above Creation.

I don’t think we have to choose here. I think these are both revealing different truths in the same words. Ascension isn’t just something God does “for” us in Jesus, it’s something he does “to” us in Jesus–it’s something we can taste and experience and know. It’s something that we can participate in as people joined to the Creator, Ruling, Lording God.

And this is a present truth, not some possible truth waiting for our right response, behavior, or maturity–it’s the good gift of a good God who loves us and invites us into his own experience as God.

[God's] great might…worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places…. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church….

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked… But God, being rich in mercy… made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 1:15-2:7)

The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. (Revelation 3:21)

The hinge around which the Bible turns

Throughout the Bible and the ancient world, one’s “right hand” was the active, willful part of a person It symbolizes the part of one’s self that turns their intentions into action. This is the significance of the whole “right hand of God” part to this idea.

I know that the Scriptural order and chapters and verses are not “inspired” and were established well after the Bible was “canonized”, but this is too much fun not to share.

Psalm 119 is the longest chapter of the entire Bible. Psalm 117 is the shortest. Right between those two psalms is Psalm 118 (duh). But the fun part is this: Psalm 118 is the exact middle of the Bible. And what are the middle verses of this middle chapter? What are the words that act as the hinge of the Bible?

I was pushed hard, so that I was falling, but the Lord helped me.

The Lord is my strength and my song;
he has become my salvation.
Glad songs of salvation are in the tents of the righteous:
“The right hand of the Lord does valiantly,
the right hand of the Lord exalts,
the right hand of the Lord does valiantly!”

I shall not die, but I shall live,
and recount the deeds of the Lord.

I could not think of a more beautiful and succinct summary of redemption’s story.

Though the enemy had pushed us (that’s what the Hebrew implies), and we were falling, the Lord has “become” our salvation in Christ.

Jesus, the one ascended to the right hand of God, has done valiantly and has exalted us. And so we sing as those made righteous by his acts.

And finally, we have the privilege of being among those who will not die, but will live eternally, recounting the deeds of the Lord, exalted and ascended to his right hand.

Happy freaking Ascension Day.

Grant, we pray, Almighty God, that as we believe your only-begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ to have ascended into heaven, so we may also in heart and mind there ascend, and with him continually dwell; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

(from the the Book of Common Prayer & the site Morning Prayer)

Also read my own meditations on this Holy Day.

meditation.

Ascension Day by John Kemble

Soft cloud, that while the breeze of May
Chants her glad matins in the leafy arch,
Draw’st thy bright veil across the heavenly way
Meet pavement for an angel’s glorious march:

My soul is envious of mine eye,
That it should soar and glide with thee so fast,
The while my grovelling thoughts half buried lie,
Or lawless roam around this earthly waste.

Chains of my heart, avaunt I say -
I will arise, and in the strength of love
Pursue the bright track ere it fade away,
My Saviour’s pathway to His home above.

Sure, when I reach the point where earth
Melts into nothing from th’ uncumbered sight,
Heaven will o’ercome th’ attraction of my birth.
And I shall sink in yonder sea of light:

Till resting by th’ incarnate LORD,
Once bleeding, now triumphant for my sake,
I mark Him, how by seraph hosts adored,
He to earth’s lowest cares is still awake.

The sun and every vassal star,
All space, beyond the soar of angel wings,
Wait on His word: and yet He stays His car
For every sigh a contrite suppliant brings.

He listens to the silent tear
For all the anthems of the boundless sky -
And shall our dreams of music bar our ear
To His soul-piercing voice for ever nigh?

Nay, gracious Saviour–but as now
Our thoughts have traced Thee to Thy glory-throne
So help us evermore with thee to bow
Where human sorrow breathes her lowly moan.

We must not stand to gaze too long,
Though on unfolding Heaven our gaze we bend
Where lost behind the bright angelic throng
We see CHRIST’S entering triumph slow ascend.

No fear but we shall soon behold,
Faster than now it fades, that gleam revive,
When issuing from his cloud of fiery gold
Our wasted frames feel the true sun, and live.

Then shall we see Thee as Thou art,
For ever fixed in no unfruitful gaze,
But such as lifts the new-created heart,
Age after age, in worthier love and praise.

My church is currently in a series called “Resurrection Stories” in which we’re going through each of the non-Jesus stories of resurrections (or “resuscitations”—whatever) found in the Bible. It is, after all, still Easter.

A few weeks ago, as we were talking about Elisha raising the Shunnamite’s son, our pastor pointed out that most of these resurrection stories seem to center more on the people around the dead person than the dead person themselves. And so, in a sense, these resurrections are more for the people affected by death than the one dead; the ones that “receive” the true resurrection power are mostly those around the resurrected one.

Further, as he pointed out, most all of these people that “receive” the truest benefits of these resurrections are women—the most alienated and disempowered group throughout world history.

In fact, when the writer of the eleventh chapter of Hebrews is listing out the notable and powerful things that were done by faith throughout redemptive history, it says specifically “Women received their dead by resurrection”.

Not just “people” or even “godly people”, but women.

Resurrection life seems to come most often and most easily to those who have been robbed of earthly fullness of life. Resurrection power seems to come to the powerless. Supernatural resurrection seems to come to those who have most often tasted death.

A Hebrews 11 Rabbit Trail (From Which We’ll Return with a Rabbit)

The aforementioned Hebrews chapter 11 ends on a really weird note. The writer spends almost a chapter listing out amazing, wonderful things that people have done and received “by faith”. These are positive and encouraging stories where people “conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness….”

Who wouldn’t love that?

But then there’s a weird shift in the same paragraph where it says that by faith, “Others were tortured,… suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned to death, they were sawn in two, they were killed by the sword; they went about… destitute, persecuted, tormented.”

And the only statement between this list of “good” things and “bad” things is that statement about women receiving their dead in Resurrection. It’s unclear which list that statement is supposed to be a part of.

It seems that Resurrection lies at the intersection of that which is most beautiful, powerful, and victorious about the Christian life, and that which is darkest, most painful, and terrifying.

This is what I saw in Guatemala.

Chasing Resurrection

I said last week, when summarizing my time there, that I didn’t go to the slums to “give them” anything they did not already possess. If anything, I came back to the states feeling pity on us.

Sure, those in the slums of Guatemala are “poor” in the things that the West often considers of most “usefulness” or worth, but when it comes to those things of ultimate value and highest worth, they are the richest people I’ve ever met. They have resources experience, and knowledge we need for more than we could give them.

We are the poor ones—the deprived. They are the wealthy—the privileged. It seems to be that the most “death” you experience in this life, the more Resurrection you see as well.

As I said in that return post, this is not to say that we wealthy Americans can’t experience Resurrection power in this life. It just means it’s more difficult for us.

But take heart! Death comes in all shapes and shades. The doorway to Resurrection life seeps into our lives in many possible ways.

God knows our limits and if we live long enough, he bring us to them. Even those “sufferings” that seem (and might very well be) trivial are not to be disregarded simply for their triviality. Press into them. Don’t artificially minimize them. Resurrection is there.

Go to where Resurrection is. Join in relationship with those in Guatemala. Live in the places of brokenness and injustice. Actually get to know those whose daily deaths are worse than the ones you’ve ever known.

Learn the disciplines of death, denial, and “lowering” of oneself by fasting, serving, and listening in prayer. You can bring a sort of “death” into your own daily existence—a death through which you can find life.

Bring your soul as low as it can go, pressing deep into the heart’s soil, praying to strike the water of gracious, Resurrection life. That sort of Life is there for the taking, but it begins at the lowest points of life and humanity and trickles upward.

And as we receive it from those who’ve drank more deeply than we most “naturally” do, we learn how it tastes, and so can offer it to those around us as well.

Resurrection doesn’t come without death, but be encouraged by those who have felt death’s sting at their deepest depths, and have come out singing of Life.

CLICK HERE to follow the rest of my Guatemala posts for Lemonade International 

WordPress’s Photo Challenge theme for this week is “From Above“

I have been very proud, up to this point, of not having ever posted an Instagram picture of my feet. I don’t know where that trend came from, but I’ve bucked it for so long. Until yesterday.

That’s when I received the above shoes in the mail.

No, those are not Tom’s, the shoe company famous for its idea of giving away one pair of shoes to a child in a developing country for every pair that is purchased.

Instead, they are Otto’s.

Otto is the local Guatemalan shoemaker I wrote about in one of my posts while in Guatemala. Though his son was paralyzed by gang violence, he still invites gang members into his shop to learn the craft and trade of shoemaking.

Lemonade International has a long-standing relationship with Otto and his son. They pay him a fair price to make shoes for staff and school-children throughout the year, and encourage his business growth.

He made tracings of our feet while we were there and handmade these shoes for each person on our team. It’s one of the proudest purchases of my life.

The Tom’s company has a good heart and good intentions–and they’ve established a business model that people love (it allows them to passively participate in the greater good)–but there are some downsides.

For every town village that Tom’s does (what they call) a “shoe dump”, there are often local shoemakers who are then out of business for months after the market is flooded with these shoes.

Further, there are often much greater needs in these areas than just shoes. I don’t know how helpful it is to give a pair of shoes to a kid who doesn’t have clean drinking water and may die the following week  from starvation.

Also (to my knowledge), Tom’s doesn’t partner long-term with specific communities or work with local organizations already doing work on the ground.

And so, if you really want to make real, lasting, systemic changes to communities, I’d encourage you to partner with an organization much like Lemonade International to effect amazing change in peoples’ lives and communities.

And get some awesome shoes.

CLICK HERE to follow the rest of my Guatemala posts for Lemonade International 

[photo of Otto by Scott Bennett]

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This is WordPress’ little plug for the Weekly Photo Challenges:

Whether you’re a beginner or a professional, you’re invited to get involved in our Weekly Photo Challenge to help you meet your blogging goals and give you another way to take part in Post a Day / Post a Week. Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography.

Here’s how it works:

1. Each week, we’ll provide a theme for creative inspiration. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Friday when the next photo theme will be announced.

2. To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “Weekly Photo Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ tag.

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Murse (n.): 1. a purse carried by a man. 2. used to describe a male handbag, or man-purse.

I’ve been a big fan of messenger bags, ever since college (my chiropractor can confirm this). From early on, these bags became known as my man-purses, or “murses”. After starting my new job, I decided to get a more “economical” bag off Ebay that ended up being a little more purse than man (see “before” picture above).

And then I went to Guatemala.

One of the more fun parts of the trip was when I had the chance to go to a large local market that held everything from fruit to clothing. No one spoke English, and everything was up for unashamed haggling.

After tasting some incredible fruits (that I still don’t know the name of), I and another blogger who knew Spanish started walking around. It was then that I saw it–the death blow to my murse-mania: the hand-made, hand-stitched, locally-crafted Guatemalan satchel you see above in the “after” photo.

I’d like to say that I was the one that haggled the satchel down by a third of it’s original price, but it was actually my Spanish-speaking blogger friends that did the haggling; I just stood there and watched.

Oh well. Either way, I ended up with a new bag for work, and I love it. A co-worker yesterday told me that I look like Indiana Jones every day when I walk in with it.

Biggest. Compliment. Ever.

Guatemala, you gave me many, many things while I was there. But thank you especially for this.

And while we’re at it, I do need to give a special shout-out to Chris Byers, husband to blogger Dana Byers, who also accompanied us on this trip, and ended up taking my murse-mantle and bringing it back to the States. Here’s a tweet he sent me yesterday:

@presbypaul me and my murse took a trip to @credohouse. You'd appreciate excellent coffee + theology. http://t.co/7wXNi1bxSw—
  (@rchrisbyers) May 02, 2013

Wear it proud, Chris.

And thank you, Whit Wilson, for conducting the awkward photo shoot that produced the pictures above.

CLICK HERE to follow the rest of my Guatemala posts for Lemonade International