Rev. Dr. Daniel C. Wilburn

Praying the Psalms

Posted by Rev. Dr. Daniel C. Wilburn | Sep 30, 2013 | Uncategorized |

Praying the Psalms is a time-tested spiritual discipline for developing a compassionate heart. St. Anthony said so. Evagrius Ponticus said so. Thomas Merton said so. Henri Nouwen said so. Thomas Green said so. Not one has a good reason for why contemplative prayer develops compassion. But I think they just assume that praying the Psalms takes us deep into the heart of God. We gain the heart of God through the Psalms. Now here’s some instruction about praying the Psalms. First, you should NOT begin with “an information quest.” Praying the Psalms IS NOT about gaining information or teaching. Yes, you will be instructed. More so, you will find yourself meditating (studying) on a phrase or word or concept in the Psalms. We begin to pray the Psalms not for depth therefore, but for “volume.” It is the sheer volume or amount of the Psalms we are leveraging. This is quantity over quality. I know that sounds wrong in our head-driven Christianity that has been with us since the Reformation (16th century). But we pray the Psalms to bath our day with the words of God, inspired by God, given by God, prayed back to God by us, and then the prayers of God are sent back to us as a balm of God’s divine Presence. Uh huh, that’s right. Complicated yes. Why? Praying the Psalms is mystical prayer. ...

The Poor Man With A Lot of Money

Posted by Rev. Dr. Daniel C. Wilburn | Jun 26, 2013 | An Unbidden Life, Uncategorized |

I am thinking of a man who has a lot of money. Thousands and tens of thousands he makes each year, each month. Yet he is poor. I mean broke all the time. The family and I recently watched the ESPN documentary series 30 For 30: Broke. It documents mostly poor kids from the ghetto who go on to be super athletes in the NBA and NFL. The story is the same: they are poor, they rise to the top and receive millions of dollars and end up in bankruptcy a few years after retirement. One commentator said receiving this kind of money is more like winning the lottery than receiving a paycheck or salary. How did they blow all that money? They lived like a poor man with a lot of money. Each night they spent thousands of dollars on parties, friends and things. They lived like what a poor man dreams of if he’d ever become a millionaire for a day. Here’s the quick rich/poor // with/without matrix: Poor Man with a lot of money = blows it all and has nothing in the end; think Andre Rison Poor Man without a lot of money = just simply poor; think any forgotten peasant around the world Rich Man with a lot of money = has it all and is wise; think Bill Gates/Warren Buffet Rich Man without...

God Gives the Lonely A Home To Live In

Posted by Rev. Dr. Daniel C. Wilburn | Jun 18, 2013 | Uncategorized |

Father of the orphan, defender of the widow, such is God in his holy place. God gives the lonely a home to live in; he leads the prisoners forth into freedom: but rebels must dwell in a parched land. – Vigils, Psalm 68 I spent my solitude time this morning at the Eastlynn Society House. No one was there. The sunlight shone brightly through the windows and openings, illuminating the gaping hole that was the dining room until we removed the rotten floor joists. The house was stone silent. As I drove west on Linwood Boulevard off of I-70 I soon smelled rotting flesh – a dog or whatever. The smell went on for five or six blocks. Something big died. The neighborhood. Long ago. Empty houses and overgrown vacant lots are the headstones. Eastlynn is our attempt to build over the unmarked mass grave, and bring new life. Right now the house is gutted and down to its bones. We are doing serious reconstruction of the first floor. My wife asked me why I seem so sleepless and anxious these days. I think about Eastlynn House all the time. The Eastlynn Board named security of the house as top priority. So, I went down to check on it, add another padlock and add some more support to the flimsy front door. Truth is, we are...

My Failure of Fast Gardening

Posted by Rev. Dr. Daniel C. Wilburn | May 7, 2013 | Uncategorized |

I just “installed” the vegetable garden. I got the basics in – tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, cucumbers and few other items. It is in. Success! Done! No, I failed. I put the whole thing in in less than an hour. I felt frantic. Turning the soil over, scattering and mixing in the fertilizer, grabbing the hand shovel and jamming the tomatoes in the ground, and finally putting the cage and rabbit protection around them all. Gardening isn’t supposed to be fast. The earth is slow. Weather is slow. Sunshine and warmth are slow. The moon is slow. But I thrashed about and got it done quick. You know it is supposed to storm tomorrow so I had to hurry. I have to study for sermon so I was in a hurry. Fortunately I just preached on how discontent our herd-mentality culture is and how Jesus is the Good Shepherd – so this totally makes perfect hypocritical sense. In a bit I have to run to a DARE graduation. And I have a couple of errands to run. Oh yeah and I need to return a book and get to class. All these calendar events killed my spirituality of planting my garden. Theologian Esther de Waal quotes and then comments… May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy. – Psalm 126:5 “Planting time for Israel meant something had...

Redefine What It Means To Be A Christian

Posted by Rev. Dr. Daniel C. Wilburn | Apr 29, 2013 | Uncategorized |

“When I was conservative, they called me ‘Christian.’ But when I wanted to help the poor, they called me ‘Liberal.’ – Rev. Dr. John Perkins Dr. Perkins then went on to say, “We got work to do. We gotta redefine what it means to be Christian in this country.” He said this at the 2012 Christian Community Development Association’s annual conference in Minneapolis (CCDA). Apparently those sins “outside the skin” are considered Liberal – feed the hungry, rescue the starving, comfort and assist undocumented workers (illegal immigrants), stand up against payday loans… you get the idea. Those sins “inside the skin” are considered proper Christian sins: abortion, gay marriage, pornography… you get the idea. Notice the “Liberal” sins are more economic and involve money to buy food or provide medical care. While “Christian” sins are more sexual – and require personal discipline to stop viewing pornography or voting for the marriage of gays. (Yes, I understand sexual immorality is political/social and therefore public. But both sides – “inside and outside the skin lists” are political, economic and social.) Theological CommentI believe this reveals one’s theological construct. If you believe Jesus inaugurated a new kingdom era with new creation bursting forth all around us, but yet not fully flowered until Jesus’ return, then you think of sins and what to do about them from a social or communal standpoint. If...