Faith at Work Redux

It's Tuesday mid-day. Time for team reporting.

Ms. GermanO reports for the manufacturing team. She names the company coordinators who have scheduled upcoming rallies in the next week. Her teammates look on in support with a knowing smile.

Ms. Snacks-R-Us tells about presenting to Sheriff department(s) in our city. She tried to be "warm and fuzzy" at 6am roll call to an audience who wears at least one gun, handcuffs, two or more cell phones, and other unnameable "tools" of the trade around their belt. She gets a kick out of how different each department reacts and how she changed her schpeel mid-stream at one meeting.

Mr. Mom talks about going to a rally at a bank with a box of donuts in hand. The branch manager met him there. He expected at least 25 employees. There were only 4 due to layoffs. They sat at the conference room table, no video, and discussed how these remaining 4 could use different agencies to make ends meet if they, too, lost their jobs.

Our youngest, Mr. Americorps, relays how he used to be really nervous but now, after dozens of presentations, "someone could stop me on the curbside and I could do a rally for them." His growing confidence encourages us all, especially those of us whose rallies don't start until next week.

Our Pacesetter Chair, Ms. WeCanDoAnything, reminds us that it's about relationships. That's why people give, advocate or volunteer. They have a story in their heart and they connect to our story.

I realize this is morning prayer time.

As we name those in positions of authority (the city and county authorities & the United Way management), we are praying for their well being respecting their leadership.

As we compare mileage driven, we are praying for the community through which we pass and ask forgiveness for burning the oil in the meantime.

As we watch and share videos of other community's United Way campaigns, we pray for the welfare of the world and enjoy the robust creativity of the Spirit's movement.

As we meet and shake hands with each of our company campaign coordinators and the participants in the meetings who listen as we ask for them to give, we pray for the concerns of the local community and ask for God's grace to pour out into our presence in that room.

As we share our personal story about why we give to United Way, we pray for those who suffer and those in any trouble. As we pause between appointments and relate to each other our stories of parents and others who have died, we pray for the departed.

As we share a loaves-n-fishes style potluck lunch, we pray in gratitude for all our blessings.

It's faith at work!

In what ways are you praying at work, between the lines?
Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:17

First Love

I heard a story on NPR about first love...the first time a person fell in love with classical music.

This story informed listeners about the launch of NPR Music's new classical music blog, they are calling Deceptive Cadence. Even the name caught my ear (and will now be added to my blog reader!).

For Marin Alsop, she fell in love with classical music was when she was 14 years old at a summer music camp. She heard through a closed door this music and was awe-struck in the hallway. (Brahms: String Sextet in B-flat). She wrote on that blog, "...I gradually sank to the floor outside the door and found myself unexpectedly weeping." It was at that point that she "she fell hopelessly in love with becoming a musician."

For another man it was when he was 8 years old. He had been playing piano for four years already. Then he heard a recording of Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E Minor. It struck him - he had to take up the violin. For two years, he begged his parents for a violin. They finally asked why the violin? He told them how he had been listening to this Mendelssohn Violin concerto and they went silent. He got his violin and first lesson that week. It turns out he was descended from the Mendelssohns.

As I listened, I thought about the first time I fell in love with God.

I never had one of those "walk by the closed door, hear the music and know" kind of fallings in love. As a kindergartener, my Nana had shown me a very important verse from Jeremiah, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart." But I didn't really fall in love then, it was more like I knew I was loved. Kind of one-way.

As an adult, I was an attendant at the wedding of two very dear friends. In the tiny chapel, we stood very close together and sweated on a hot June day. Dozens of friends and family members along with each of their two kids from a previous marriage, we witnessed their deep love for each other. I wept unexpectedly with joy and with a knowing that just came over me. The really weird thing? It was in Holland. They all spoke Dutch. I could not understand a thing. And, I knew, deeply, that this was sacred ground and that something greater than any of us was alive in that space. Now I have a name ....God - Spirit - Love.

When was the first time you fell in Love?

So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. 1 Cor 13:13

Possibility

Krista Tippett was on my iPod today, interviewing author Michael Rose :

"... expansive reflection on the meaning of intelligence, not merely to education but to all kinds of work, including physical work, and to human possibility...."

While listening to the interview, the illuminated convergence of learning and intelligence and possibility caught my heart. Moments when teachers show up to a student and students are ready to hear teachers. Remember those days?

Tippett talked about moments in her own life when her mind "came to life" and it was "an ache as much as a thrill." She referred to a piece that Rose wrote,

"...And it was this paragraph that you had to go over and over and over again and underline. Where it made your brain hurt and it felt so good... because it somehow opened possibility. And,...how precious these educational experiences are because [that's when] we get into what my father would call "Real Life," capital "R" capital "L."

Rose replies that these powerful moments can be defining moments,

"... when people talk about either falling in love with a discipline, falling in love with a subject matter, or a teacher who made a difference, it's interesting how often they'll remember a moment...."

I was instantly brought back to my professor for a course called "Operations." I wrestled mightily with the subject, which made me so angry and yet I yearned to get it. My professor said something like "you can understand this - you just have to attack it back." I remember that moment when that professor pushed me. He believed in me: my capacity for work and the possibilities that could unfold for me when I "got" it. But he didn't give me the answer. I worked for it.

Then I remembered several moments in my life when teachers both pushed and inspired and helped me to envision possibilities.

Moments matter.

Today I met with a hospital chaplain for an informational interview. We talked about how vulnerable patients are in the hospital. And how vulnerable chaplains are, too, in the midst of the "we know exactly what we are doing" medical team. As he asked me about how do I integrate vulnerability and presence, I felt a familiar "this moment matters" countenance.

The grace-filled question is still stuck in my heart for an answer. Thanks be to Spirit for showing up in that moment and speaking through us both as we shared new possibilities of being with each other. God really showed up to that moment!

What is your memory of learning moments?

Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That's why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good. Romans 8:26 (The Message)

Dishonesty and Shrewdness

My sermon from yesterday, Proper 20 Year C – Luke 16:1-13

Have you seen the TV ad for a bank with the slogan “even kids know it’s wrong”… ?

It goes like this… A market researcher asks a little girl if she would like a pony. She says, “Yes!” and he reaches in his pocket for a plastic horse. She takes it and plays with it, smiling. He asks the other girl if she would like a pony. She, of course, says “Yes!” He leans a bit to the side, clicks, and out from behind the cubicle wall walks a live pony. Both kids are wide-eyed in amazement. The camera zooms into the first girl’s face – she says, “How come I didn’t get a real pony?” and the market researcher says, “Well, you didn’t ask for one,” The narrator closes the scene with the moral of the story… “Even kids know it's wrong to hold out on somebody… "

Hearing today’s gospel,we may feel like that first girl… “even kids know its wrong” to be dishonest, especially with someone else’s accounts. Why did the master commend the dishonest manager?

I recently watched a film called The Proposal. Sandra Bullock plays Margaret, Exec Editor of a big New York publishing company. She is bossy, pushy and cold. In the opening scenes, she barks out several commands to Andrew, her mistreated assistant.He has to help her to fire the #2 manager. Then, the company president calls her to his office. He explains that her visa expired - she is being deported to Canada.

You can almost see the bubble over her head, “what shall I do, now that my master is taking the position away from me?” (But it’s a film, so you have to imagine it.)

“I have decided what to do,” she explains to her president,and calls Andrew into the office. In that moment, she forces Andrew to say they are getting married. Andrew plays along, there, (he’s used to covering up for her), but is very reluctant later, when he thinks about it. He agrees to the deal after Margaret reminds him that if she goes, he goes, since he was complicit in firing of the #2 manager earlier.

You can almost see the bubble over his head, “what shall I do, now that my master is taking the position away from me?” (again, it’s a film!)

“I have decided what to do,” he explains to her after the INS interrogation, convincing the officer that they really were getting married. He shrewdly insists that Margaret make him the editor and also publish his book. So now they are both in this for personal reasons. The plot thickens as they go to Alaska for his grandmother’s 90th birthday – and they announce their engagement. After a weekend of shenanigans, they do hold the wedding with the whole community there.

At the last minute, right before the “I do’s,” Margaret calls off the wedding. She admits her selfishness in the situation and flies back to NY for the deportation. This forces Andrew to face his own selfishness. He has to now think about how he really feels. In the last scene, he arrives in New York just in time as she is cleaning out her office. He admits his selfish ambitions and that in all of this, he forgives her and says he is actually falling in love with her. He then asks her to marry him. She admits her part, too, she forgives him and agrees to marry him. The closing credits show them snuggling and smooching happily.

Like our gospel reading, this familiar plot shows how “someone in trouble can stumble into grace practically by accident.” Although they were in this for themselves,their hearts softened as their relationship deepened with the weekend shenanigans. In several scenes, they began to see each other as human and they learned to forgive.

The dishonest manager in the parable also “stumbles into grace.” In the debt-reduction scenes, those who owe money appreciate his forgiveness and begin to see him – and the master – in a new light. They appreciate the manager and this bodes well for future job possibilities. And, by grace, it works even better than planned! The debtors get a better deal and the manager gets praise from the master! Because of his shrewdness, the master looks like a good guy. Everyone wins, and the closing credits could show them snuggling and smooching.

Well that’s just crazy! Why would someone so bad end up in such a good situation? Some of us might want the manager to pay for his dishonesty – not get out of the situation even better than he started.

What kind of moral example is this? Well, it isn’t one.

Its simply an illustration of the outrageous nature of God’s grace, and our call to live in it with forgiveness.

It sounds a bit like the story of Jacob. He was the trickster patriarch who deceived his father, cheated his brother and then made off with most of his father-in-law’s flock. God’s blessing was always available to him. Jewish folklore – which Jesus knew – is full of stories of clever and wise rascals…

The dishonest manager is praised but not for his thievery. With one folklore-ish parable, Jesus pushes his disciples and critiques the scribes and Pharisees, whose efforts alienate the very people to whom they ought to be kind. Jesus rhetorically asks, in essence, if a selfish guy can make friends in this way, with a little forgiveness… what more can he do with the grace of God behind him the whole way? What if he used this cleverness to bring about good-ness, not just to serve himself?

We have to consider, what about us? When are stressed by this dog-eat-dog world, when we get anxious about earthly things – money, status, power, the kind of phone we have, the brand of clothes we wear… what do we do? We get clever and shrewd and use our best skills for ourselves alone.

That’s the challenge in today’s message: How can we, as disciples,use our cleverness to love things bring about good-ness, not just to serve ourselves? How can we, with God’s grace, offer forgiveness, feed the poor, welcome the outcast, love each other more deeply?

The good news in today’s message is that we can, with God’s surprising grace and with acts of forgiveness.

Forgiveness is an act of discipleship, not an emotion.

Through forgiveness, Margaret and Andrew found what really mattered.
Through forgiveness,the manager gained friends and the master saved face.
Through forgiveness and by the grace of God, our relationships are deepened, our hearts are softened, and unfair systems are up-ended.

Forgiveness, the starting place for living into God’s’ dream. If God was keeping score, we’d be in debt like the folks in the parable today. With grace preceding us, we accept it and pay-it-forward with forgiveness to others. That is how to be a disciple and to create ripples of goodness into an expansive sense of God’s justice.

It is grace that fuels the engine of forgiveness that drives our journey into God’s Love.

We who receive it gladly are called to share it freely.

Amen

Sermon: Even Kids Know Its Wrong

Proper 20 Year C – Luke 16:1-13

Vicki Hesse, Ministry Intern

Open our lips, O Lord, that our mouth might proclaim your praise

Luke 16:1-13

Then Jesus said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property. So he summoned him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Give me an accounting of your management, because you cannot be my manager any longer.’ Then the manager said to himself, ‘What will I do, now that my master is taking the position away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.’ So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ He answered, ‘A hundred jugs of olive oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.’ Then he asked another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He replied, ‘A hundred containers of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill and make it eighty.’ And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes. “Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”

Have you seen the TV ad

for a bank with the slogan

“even kids know it’s wrong”… ?

It goes like this…

A market researcher

asks a little girl if she would like a pony.

She says, “Yes!” and

he reaches in his pocket for a plastic horse. 

She takes it and plays with it, smiling.

He asks the other girl

if she would like a pony.

She, of course, says “Yes!” 

He leans a bit to the side, clicks,

and out from behind the cubicle wall

walks a live pony. 

Both kids are wide-eyed in amazement. 

The camera zooms into the first girl’s face – she says,

“How come I didn’t get a real pony?”

and the market researcher says,

“Well, you didn’t ask for one,”

The narrator closes the scene

with the moral of the story…

“Even kids know it's wrong to hold out on somebody… "

Hearing today’s gospel,

we may feel like that first girl…

“even kids know its wrong”

to be dishonest, especially with someone else’s accounts. 

Why did the master commend the dishonest manager?

I recently watched a film called The Proposal. 

Sandra Bullock plays Margaret, Exec Editor

of a big New York publishing company. 

She is bossy, pushy and cold. 

In the opening scenes,

she barks out several commands to

Andrew, her mistreated assistant.

He has to help her to fire the #2 manager. 

Then, the company president calls her

to his office.  He explains that her visa expired

- she is being deported to Canada.

You can almost see

the bubble over her head,

“what shall I do, now that my master

is taking the position away from me?” 

(But it’s a film, so you have to imagine it.) 

“I have decided what to do,”

she explains to her president,

and calls Andrew into the office. 

In that moment, she forces Andrew

to say they are getting married.

Andrew plays along, there,

(he’s used to covering up for her),

but is very reluctant later, when he thinks about it. 

He agrees to the deal

after Margaret reminds him that if she goes, he goes,

since he was complicit

in firing of the #2 manager earlier.

You can almost see

the bubble over his head,

 “what shall I do, now that my master

is taking the position away from me?”

(again, it’s a film!)

“I have decided what to do,”

he explains to her after the INS interrogation,

convincing the officer that

they really were getting married. 

He shrewdly insists that

Margaret make him the editor

and also publish his book. 

So now they are both in this for personal reasons.

The plot thickens as they go to Alaska

for his grandmother’s 90^th birthday –

and they announce their engagement. 

After a weekend of shenanigans,

they do hold the wedding in

his family’s completely renovated barn,

with the whole community there. 

At the last minute, right before the “I do’s,”

Margaret calls off the wedding. 

She admits her selfishness in the situation

and flies back to NY for the deportation. 

This forces Andrew to face his own selfishness. 

He has to now think about how he really feels. 

In the last scene, he arrives in New York just in time

as she is cleaning out her office. 

He admits his selfish ambitions

and that in all of this,  he forgives her and says

he is actually falling in love with her. 

He then asks her to marry him. 

She admits her part, too,

she forgives him and agrees to marry him.

The closing credits show them

snuggling and smooching happily. 

Like our gospel reading, this familiar plot shows how

“someone in trouble can stumble into grace

practically by accident.” 

Although they were in this for themselves,

their hearts softened

as their relationship deepened

with the weekend shenanigans. 

In several scenes, they began

to see each other as human and

they learned to forgive. 

The dishonest manager in the parable

also “stumbles into grace.” 

In the debt-reduction scenes,

those who owe money

appreciate his forgiveness and

begin to see him – and the master –

in a new light. 

They appreciate the manager

and this bodes well for future job possibilities. 

And, by grace, it works even better than planned! 

The debtors get a better deal and

the manager gets praise from the master!

Because of his shrewdness,

the master looks like a good guy. 

Everyone wins, and the closing credits

could show them snuggling and smooching.

Well that’s just crazy!

Why would someone so bad

end up in such a good situation? 

Some of us might want

the manager to pay for his dishonesty –

not get out of the situation even better

than he started. 

What kind of moral example is this? 

Well, it isn’t one. 

Its simply an illustration of

the outrageous nature of God’s grace,

and our call to live in it with forgiveness.

It sounds a bit like the story of Jacob.

He was the trickster patriarch

who deceived his father, cheated his brother and

then made off with most of his father-in-law’s flock.

God’s blessing was always available to him.

Jewish folklore – which Jesus knew –

is full of stories of clever and wise rascals…

The dishonest manager is praised

but not for his thievery. 

With one folklore-ish parable,

Jesus pushes his disciples and

critiques the scribes and Pharisees, whose efforts alienate the very people to whom they ought to be kind.

Jesus rhetorically asks, in essence,

if a selfish guy can make friends in this way,

with a little forgiveness…

what more can he do with the grace of God

behind him the whole way? 

What if he used this cleverness

to bring about good-ness,

not just to serve himself?

We have to consider, what about us?  

When are stressed by this dog-eat-dog world,

when we get anxious

about earthly things –

money, status, power,

the kind of phone we have,

the brand of clothes we wear…

what do we do?

We get clever and shrewd

and use our best skills for ourselves alone. 

That’s the challenge in today’s message:

How can we, as disciples,

use our cleverness

to love things heavenly,

bring about good-ness,

not just to serve ourselves?

How can we, with God’s grace,

offer forgiveness,

feed the poor,

welcome the outcast

love each other more deeply? 

The good news in today’s message is that

we can, with God’s surprising grace

and with acts of forgiveness. 

Forgiveness is an act of discipleship,

not an emotion. 

Through forgiveness,

Margaret and Andrew

found what really mattered.

Through forgiveness,

the manager gained friends

and the master saved face. 

Through forgiveness

and by the grace of God,

our relationships are deepened,

our hearts are softened, and

unfair systems are up-ended. 

Forgiveness, the starting place

for living into God’s’ dream.

If God was keeping score,

we’d be in debt

like the folks in the parable today. 

With grace preceding us,

we accept it and

pay-it-forward

with forgiveness to others. 

That is how to be a disciple and

to create ripples of goodness

into an expansive sense of God’s justice. 

It is grace

that fuels the engine of forgiveness

that drives our journey into God’s Love.

We who receive it gladly

are called to share it freely. 

Amen

Ca me manque

In the French language, there is a peculiar way to say you miss something or some one.

The verb 'manquer + à' means to miss a person, place, or thing, as in feeling the lack of it. Here are some examples:

• Paris manque à moi. Paris me manque. I miss Paris.

• Tu manques à moi. Tu me manques. I miss you.

In French, the person, place or thing that is missed is the subject of the sentence, whereas in English, the person missed is the object. The French construction literally says A is missing to Z, where in English we says Z misses A. I love how the language challenges me to think about what I am saying.

Which brings me to what I miss. "I miss ministry," I found myself lamenting the other day.

I miss being part of explicit healing and wholeness. I miss that marginalized and "on the edge of things" sense of being that comes with being a Chaplain. I miss explicitly praying with so many people every day. I miss the awkwardness of wondering if patients or families even want a prayer. I miss my colleagues and our sick sense of humor. I miss being called on my sh*t.

Then again, I don't miss being on call for 30 hours at a time. I don't miss being in the midst of wailing mourners who are crying out to God why why why. I don't miss being reminded day after day of the suffering that we humans go through. I don't miss living part time in Spartanburg.

I think that I'm just grieving.

Which is why the French way of saying "ca me manque" is really apropro. Ministry is not really missing me, ministry is missing TO me. I am struggling to remember that I am doing ministry in any kind of work I do. So part of my spiritual practice these days is to accept what I am doing now as really a step towards what is next. It's a reframe.

With God's help and grace, I see how working as a fundraising rep for United Way in the area of Healthcare is ministry. I pray for God to turn my heart of stone for "business" to a heart of flesh for relationships and for Love. I pray that I, too, can "connect the dots" - as our business slogan says - that the work I am doing to raise awareness of needs, will also soften the hearts of people who can give and thus make our community stronger. Jesus, I pray, keep me awake. Help ministry to not miss me.

Jesus said, "You're tied down to the mundane; I'm in touch with what is beyond your horizons. You live in terms of what you see and touch. I'm living on other terms. I told you that you were missing God in all this. You're at a dead end. If you won't believe I am who I say I am, you're at the dead end of sins. You're missing God in your lives." John 8:23 (The Message)

What is missing to you as you show up, in this moment?

Faith at Work

I was reminded today about not splitting my Sunday self from my 'rest of week' self.

As a hospital chaplain, every day was a God-be-present day.

Every morning we prayed - for the world, for each other, for our patients & families & staff. Every hour was marked by Love-relationships and Spirit-learning. Every visit was surprise encounter with the Holy. Every set of eyes beamed Jesus. Every threshold I crossed was prayed over. Every wall-mounted hand-sanitizer "washed my hands in innocence, O Lord, that I may go about your altar; singing a song of thanksgiving and proclaiming all your wonderful deeds..." Every evening on-call was surrender to the Almighty Pager. I felt drenched in God.

So what's changed? my spiritual director asked.

Um, well, it's - you know, WORK. Ahem.

Yea, so? How can you remain awake to how God's working in your whole-life, not just your Sunday-life?

First, I'll begin with prayer.

God help me to remain awake, since sleeping on the job is really not acceptable. Focus on the relationships and allow the interruptions to flow like water. Mark the day with prayer-spots, just as before. Enter meetings grounded. Breathe. Seek and serve Jesus in every person I meet. Extend hospitality - radically - to everyone and especially The Other. Laugh at my box-of-office. Be spontaneous. Speak out for justice. Become disinterested in numbers and love my coworkers, my campaign coordinators, my chief executives, my janitors, my agencies... and I'm going to try, with God's help, to show up. In this moment.


Stay wide-awake in prayer. Most of all, love each other as if your life depended on it. Love makes up for practically anything. Be quick to give a meal to the hungry, a bed to the homeless—cheerfully. Be generous with the different things God gave you, passing them around so all get in on it: if words, let it be God's words; if help, let it be God's hearty help. That way, God's bright presence will be evident in everything through Jesus, and he'll get all the credit as the One mighty in everything—encores to the end of time. Oh, yes! 1 Peter 4:7 (The Message)

How are you remaining awake in your rest-of-week Love Life?

Just Ask

I visited with one of the Campaign Coordinators this week.

She shared with me something very important. When she started at her company 20+ years ago, as a low-paid hourly employee (she's now a Director), she had to sign all kinds of paperwork. You know the drill: W-4, NC-4, employee application, this paper, that paper, etc. There was one piece of paper that caught her eye - and caught her heart.

The representative from HR was with her and explained, "This is the sheet that allows you to state how much you wish to donate to United Way directly from your payroll." "Oh," she replied, "what is United Way?" When the HR rep explained that the company had a culture of giving back to the community and that by indicating even 1% of her salary to be donated, it will make a difference in strengthening others' lives.

This Campaign Coordinator said at that moment, she realized in her heart that she wanted to give back to the community - this community that had formed her, held her, taught her and guided her into being a young adult. No one had ever asked her before to give back. She felt honored and although her donation was very very small, she took some amount of pride in that.

She told me that all it took was for them to ask. Just ask.

Something so simple - to be asked and to ask.

God, give me strength each day to ask - ask for what gives me life, gives my neighbors life, and brings you glory. Help me to just ask.

So the king and Haman went to dinner with Queen Esther. At this second dinner, while they were drinking wine the king again asked, "Queen Esther, what would you like? Half of my kingdom! Just ask and it's yours."Queen Esther answered, "If I have found favor in your eyes, O King, and if it please the king, give me my life, and give my people their lives. Book of Esther 7:1-3

What do you need to just ask in this moment?

Conviction

One of our colleagues quit this week.

Here's why. One of the agencies funded by UW of Asheville & Buncombe County is the local chapter of the Boy Scouts of America. As you may know, there is controversy around the national BSA discrimination policies.

"...In June 2000, the United States Supreme Court ruled that New Jersey public law violated the Boy Scouts of America's First Amendment right of expressive associate and ...is therefore entitled to establish their own exclusionary membership criteria...."

The website that describes the discrimination says that since the 1970's, the central issue of their exclusionary policy is "...the "3 G's" (gays, girls and the godless)..." (Those are fightin' words!)

In other words, the BSA can legally discriminate against gays.

Every United Way is locally organized and some have disassociated with the BSA and not funded any programs. However, as my colleague learned after researching it further, UWABC believes that the program offered by the Asheville-based BSA creates important results in our community. Results that impact educating children and meet the Education, Income and Health needs established by the over 100 community-based expert volunteers earlier this year.

This decision was not taken lightly - not the UWABC's decision to fund BSA of Asheville, not my colleague's decision to quit, not our team's decision to support her and not our individual efforts to confront our own allegiance to the UW of ABC.

Several of us decided to "undesignate" our gifts - that is, to say that we support our moneys going to the Community Fund, as long as NONE of our gift goes to the BSA programs. I'm sure that will create some accounting nightmare for the accounting department, but this was how I was able to live with myself.

Perhaps these pledge cards might raise the awareness at the board level of UWABC to be more discerning next year when funding programs. I give to the UWABC because I believe in a strong community. And, I cannot support discriminatory practices. For me, this was how I live into my conviction with love and compromise.

My colleague, however, felt that she would not be living in integrity to continue in this work. Her conviction was deeply felt in her heart, guts and being. I honor her efforts and learned a lot from her modeling living into what is "right" for her. I will miss her gifts and her grace on our team even as I support her doing what she needed to do.

Keep your eyes open, hold tight to your convictions, give it all you've got, be resolute, and love without stopping. 1 Corinthians 16:13 (The Message)

How is conviction showing up in this moment, for you?

R-e-s-p-e-c-t

Our 2010-2011 team of LE's (Loaned Executives at United Way of Asheville & Buncombe County) is age-diverse, from early 20's to 60's.

We practiced in front of each other our "Why I Live United" speeches and these are equally diverse. These include one person's story about having to feed his family from Manna Food Bank, or another person whose experience as an Agency Director for a NonProfit gives him special insight to meeting the requirements of foundations who give money away, or another person who is passionate about teaching and needs of children (of all ages).

My heart was warmed when one of the 20-somethings commented about one of the older folks how, "I appreciate so much your experienc and how you have so many stories about life to connect with others." Another 20-something agreed, saying that "your wisdom is so inspiring."

When the 20-something presented and shared how self-conscious he was - and frustrated because he didn't have a well from which to draw for stories. "Oh, but I appreciate our energy, your fresh ways of seeing the world, your endless possibilities," replied the aforementioned older folks.

In that moment, there was deep respect for each other's generation. In that moment, I am sure that I heard someone say, "Caring has no age limit." In that moment, I felt a rush of wind in the conference room. Yes, I'm sure that I did.

This is what the prophet Joel announced would happen: "In the Last Days," God says, "I will pour out my Spirit on every kind of people: Your sons will prophesy, also your daughters; Your young men will see visions, your old men dream dreams. When the time comes, I'll pour out my Spirit On those who serve me, men and women both... Acts 2:14

How is Spirit showing up in your work place, today?